Vasili II Vasiliyevich Tyomniy (Blind) (Василий II Васильевич Тёмный in Russian) (March 10, 1415—March 27, 1462) was the Grand Prince of Moscow whose long reign (1425-1462) was plagued by the greatest civil war of medieval Russian history.

First ten years of internecine struggle

At the wedding of Vasili the Dark his mother pulls the golden belt from Prince Vasili the Cross-Eyed (1861)

Vasily II was the eldest son of Vasili I Dmitriyevich by Sofia, daughter of Vytautas the Great. On his father's death he was proclaimed Grand Duke at the tender age of 10. His uncle, Yuri Dmitriyevich (Prince of Galich-Mersky), and his two sons, Vasily the Cross-Eyed and Dmitry Shemyaka, seized on the opportunity to advance their own claims to the throne. Vasili's bid was supported by his powerful grandfather. The causes for the great feudal war that followed are disputed. There are reasons to believe that Yuri's family, whose Northern dominions were rich in salt and ore, could offer Russia a more liberal, proto-capitalistic path of development.

Upon Vytautas' death in 1430, Yuri went to the Golden Horde, returning with a license to take Moscow throne. But the khan did not support him any further, largely due to the guileful policies of the Smolensk princeling and Muscovite boyarin Ivan Vsevolzhsky. When Yuri assembled an army and attacked Moscow, Vasili, betrayed by Vsevolzhsky, was defeated and captured by his enemies (1433). Upon being proclaimed Grand Duke of Muscovy, Yuri pardoned his nephew and sent him to reign in the town of Kolomna. That proved to be a mistake, as Vasili immediately started to plot against his uncle and gather all sort of malcontents. Feeling how insecure his throne was, Yuri resigned and then left Moscow for his Northern hometown. On his return to Moscow, Vasili had the traitor Vsevolzhsky blinded.

Meanwhile, Yuri's claim was inherited by his sons who decided to continue the fight. They managed to defeat Vasili, who had to seek refuge in the Golden Horde. After death of Yuri in 1434, Vasili the Cross-Eyed entered the Kremlin and was proclaimed new Grand Duke. Dmitry Shemyaka, who had his own plans for the throne, quarelled with his brother and concluded an alliance with Vasili II. Together they managed to banish Vasily the Cross-Eyed from the Kremlin in 1435. The latter was captured and blinded, thus having been effectively removed from the contest for the throne.

Vasili's fight with Kazan and Shemyaka

Vasili's reign saw the collapse of the Golden Horde and its break up into smaller Khanates. Now that his throne was relatively secure, he had to deal with the Tatar threat.

In 1439, Vasili had to flee the capital, when it was besieged by Olug Moxammat, ruler of the nascent Kazan Khanate. Six years later, he personally led his troops against Olug Moxammat, but was defeated and taken prisoner. The Muscovites were forced to gather an enormous ransom for their prince, so that Vasili could be released some 5 months later.

During that time, the control of Moscow passed to Dmitry Shemyaka. Keeping in mind the fate of his own brother, Dmitry had Vasili blinded and exiled him to Uglich (1446). Hence, Vasili's nickname Tyomniy, which stands for "blind" (or, more accurately, "seeing darkness"). As Vasili still had a number of supporters in Moscow, Dmitry recalled him from exile and gave him Vologda as an appanage. That proved to be a new mistake, as Vasili quickly assembled his supporters and regained the throne.

Vasili's final victory against his cousin came in 1450s, when he captured Galich-Mersky and poisoned Dmitry. The latter's children managed to escape to Lithuania. These events finally put to rest the principle of collateral succession, which was a major cause of medieval internecine struggles.

Later reign and policies

Now that the war was over, Vasili eliminated almost all of the small appanages in Muscovy, so as to strengthen his sovereign authority. As a result of his military campaigns, republican governments in Novgorod, Pskov and Vyatka were forced to acknowledge him as their overlord.

In the meantime, Constantinople fell to the Turks, and the Patriarch agreed to acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope in the Council of Florence. Vasili promptly rejected this concession. By his order in 1448, bishop Jonah was appointed metropolitan of Russia, which was tantamount to declaration of independence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the Patriarch of Constantinople. This move further strengthened Russia’s reputation among Orthodox states.

External link

History of the Great Feudal War (http://kultura-portal.ru/tree/cultpaper/article.jsp?number=516&rubric_id=1000037)