SOFIA FOMINICHNA PALEOLOGIST(nee Zoya) (1443/1449–1503) – second wife of c. book. Moscow Ivan III Vasilyevich, daughter of the ruler (despot) of the Morea (Peloponnese) Thomas Palaiologos, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, who died during the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. She was born between 1443 and 1449 in the Peloponnese.

After 1453 Thomas of Morea moved with his family to Rome. There, Sophia received a good upbringing for that time at the court of the enlightened Pope Sixtus IV (known for his patronage of Michelangelo, to whom he ordered the painting of the chapel of his name at the papal chambers). The idea of ​​the marriage of the grown-up Zoya with the widowed ruler of the Moscow kingdom, Ivan III, who in 1467 buried his first wife Maria Borisovna, daughter of the Prince of Tver, also belonged to the papal curia. The main purpose of the marriage was to involve Rus' in a pan-European crusade against Turkey. The French and Milanese dukes unsuccessfully wooed Zoya, who wanted to intermarry with the noble Palaiologos family, but the curia was already focused on Moscow.

A papal legate sent to Russia in 1467, who proposed marriage, was received with honors. Ivan III, who strengthened the grand ducal power, hoped that kinship with the Byzantine house would help Muscovy increase international prestige, which had noticeably shaken over the two centuries of the Horde yoke, and help increase the authority of the grand ducal power within the country.

The ambassador of Ivan III, Ivan Fryazin, sent along with the legate to Rome in order to “see the bride”, said that Zoya was short, plump, with beautiful big eyes and unusually white skin (cleanliness of the skin as a sign of health was highly valued in Muscovy). With him from Rome, Fryazin brought a portrait of the bride in the form of a parsuna (images of a real person as a saint, the chronicler reports that Zoya was “painted on the icon”). Many contemporaries also talked about the sharp mind of a young woman.

In March 1472, the second embassy to the pope ended with the arrival of Zoe in Moscow. Together with her, her dowry arrived in Russia, which included (in addition to many material values ​​and jewelry) a huge "library" - Greek "parchments", Latin chronographs, Hebrew manuscripts, which later, apparently, entered the library of Ivan the Terrible. Many wagons with dowries were accompanied by the papal legate Anthony, dressed in a red cardinal dress and carrying a four-pointed Catholic cross as a sign of hope for the conversion of the Russian prince to Catholicism. The cross was taken away from Anthony at the entrance to Moscow on the orders of Metropolitan Philip, who did not approve of this marriage.

November 12, 1472, having converted to Orthodoxy under the name of Sophia, Zoya was married to Ivan III. At the same time, the wife “Catholicized” her husband, and the husband “orthodoxized” his wife, which was perceived by contemporaries as a victory of the Orthodox faith over “Latinism”.

On April 18, 1474, Sophia gave birth to the first (quickly deceased) daughter Anna, then another daughter (who also died so quickly that they did not have time to christen her). Disappointments in family life were compensated by activity in extra-home affairs. Her husband consulted with her in making state decisions (in 1474 he bought out half of the Rostov principality, a friendly alliance was concluded with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray). Baron Herberstein, who twice came to Moscow as the ambassador of the German emperor under Vasily II, after hearing a lot of boyar talk, wrote about Sophia in his notes that she was an unusually cunning woman who had a great influence on the prince.

Sophia actively participated in diplomatic receptions (the Venetian envoy Cantarini noted that the reception organized by her was "very majestic and affectionate"). According to a legend cited not only by Russian chronicles, but also by the English poet John Milton, in 1477 Sophia was able to outwit the Tatar Khan, declaring that she had a sign from above about the construction of a church to St. and the actions of the Kremlin. This story presents Sophia as a resolute nature (“she put them out of the Kremlin, she demolished the house, although she did not build the temple”). In 1478 Rus' actually stopped paying tribute to the Horde; two years remained before the complete overthrow of the yoke.

March 25, 1479 Sophia gave birth to a son, the future Prince Vasily III Ivanovich.

In 1480, again on the “advice” of his wife, Ivan III went with the militia to the Ugra River (near Kaluga), where the army of the Tatar Khan Akhmat was stationed. "Standing on the Ugra" did not end with a battle. The onset of frost and lack of food forced the khan and his army to leave. These events put an end to the Horde yoke. The main obstacle to strengthening the grand duke's power collapsed and, relying on his dynastic connection with "Orthodox Rome" (Constantinople) through his wife Sophia, Ivan III proclaimed himself the successor to the sovereign rights of the Byzantine emperors. The Moscow coat of arms with George the Victorious was combined with the double-headed eagle - the ancient coat of arms of Byzantium. This emphasized that Moscow is the heir of the Byzantine Empire, Ivan III is “the king of all Orthodoxy”, the Russian Church is the successor of the Greek one. Under the influence of Sophia, the ceremonial of the Grand Duke's court acquired an unprecedented splendor, similar to the Byzantine-Roman.

In 1483, Sophia's authority was shaken: she imprudently presented a precious family necklace ("sazhen") that had previously belonged to Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III, to her niece, the wife of the Vereisk prince Vasily Mikhailovich. The husband intended an expensive gift for his daughter-in-law Elena Stepanovna Voloshanka, the wife of his son Ivan the Young from his first marriage. In the conflict that arose (Ivan III demanded the return of the necklace to the treasury), but Vasily Mikhailovich chose to flee with the necklace to Lithuania. Taking advantage of this, the Moscow boyar elite, dissatisfied with the success of the prince's centralization policy, opposed Sophia, considering her the ideological inspirer of Ivan's innovations, which infringed on the interests of his children from his first marriage.

Sophia began a stubborn struggle to justify the right to the Moscow throne for her son Vasily. When her son was 8 years old, she even made an attempt to organize a conspiracy against her husband (1497), but he was uncovered, and Sophia herself was convicted on suspicion of magic and connection with the “witch woman” (1498) and, together with her son Vasily, was disgraced .

But fate was merciful to this indefatigable defender of the rights of her kind (during the years of her 30-year marriage, Sophia gave birth to 5 sons and 4 daughters). The death of the eldest son of Ivan III, Ivan the Young, forced Sophia's wife to change her anger to mercy and return the exiles to Moscow. To celebrate, Sophia ordered a church shroud with her name (“Tsarevna of Tsargorod, Grand Duchess of Moscow Sophia of the Grand Duke of Moscow”).

Feeling like a mistress in the capital again, Sophia managed to attract doctors, cultural figures and especially architects to Moscow; active stone construction began in Moscow. The architects Aristotle Fioravanti, Marco Ruffo, Aleviz Fryazin, Antonio and Petro Solari, who arrived from Sophia’s homeland and at her order, erected the Faceted Chamber, the Assumption and the Annunciation Cathedrals on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin; completed the construction of the Archangel Cathedral. Sophia's influence on her husband increased. Boyar Bersen reproachfully said then, according to the chronicler: "Our sovereign, locking himself up, does all sorts of things by the bed." According to the great Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, Sophia “cannot be denied influence on the decorative setting and backstage life of the Moscow court, on court intrigues and personal relationships; but she could act on political affairs only by suggestions that echoed the secret or vague thoughts of Ivan himself.

Sophia died on August 7, 1503 in Moscow two years earlier than Ivan III, having achieved many honors. She was buried in the Moscow Ascension Convent of the Kremlin.

In December 1994, in connection with the transfer of the remains of the princely and royal wives to the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral, a sculptural portrait of Sophia was restored from the well-preserved skull of Sophia by M.M. Gerasimov’s student S.A. Nikitin.

Lev Pushkarev, Natalya Pushkareva

Sophia Paleolog was one of the most significant figures on the Russian throne both in her origin and in personal qualities, and also because of the people she attracted to the service of the Moscow rulers. This woman had the talent of a statesman, she knew how to set goals and achieve results.

Family and lineage

The Byzantine imperial dynasty of Palaiologos ruled for two centuries, from the expulsion of the crusaders in 1261 to the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453.

Sophia's uncle Constantine XI is known as the last emperor of Byzantium. He died during the capture of the city by the Turks. Of the hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, only 5,000 went on the defensive, foreign sailors and mercenaries, led by the emperor himself, fought with the invaders. Seeing that the enemies were winning, Constantine exclaimed in despair: “The city has fallen, but I am still alive,” after which, having torn off the signs of imperial dignity, he rushed into battle and was killed.

Sophia's father, Thomas Palaiologos, was the ruler of the Despotate of Morea on the Peloponnese peninsula. By her mother, Catherine of Akhai, the girl came from a noble Genoese family of Centurione.

The exact date of Sophia's birth is unknown, but her older sister Elena was born in 1431, and her brothers in 1453 and 1455. Therefore, most likely, those researchers who claim that at the time of her marriage to Ivan III in 1472, she was, according to the concepts of that time, already quite a few years old are right.

Life in Rome

In 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople, and in 1460 they invaded the Peloponnese. Thomas managed to escape with his family to the island of Corfu, and then to Rome. To guarantee the location of the Vatican, Thomas converted to Catholicism.

Thomas and his wife died almost simultaneously in 1465. Sophia and her brothers were under the patronage of Pope Paul II. The training of young Palaiologos was entrusted to the Greek philosopher Bessarion of Nicaea, the author of the project for the union of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. By the way, Byzantium agreed to the above alliance in 1439, counting on support in the war against the Turks, but did not wait for any help from European rulers.

The eldest son of Thomas, Andrew, was the legitimate heir of the Palaiologoi. Subsequently, he managed to get two million ducats from Sixtus IV for a military expedition, but spent them on other purposes. After that, he wandered around European courtyards in the hope of finding allies.

Andrew's brother Manuel returned to Constantinople and ceded his rights to the throne to Sultan Bayezid II in exchange for maintenance.

Marriage with Grand Duke Ivan III

Pope Paul II hoped to marry Sophia Palaiologos for his own benefit, in order to expand his influence with her assistance. But although the pope gave her a dowry of 6,000 ducats, she had no land or military force behind her. She had a famous name, which only scared away the Greek rulers who did not want to quarrel with the Ottoman Empire, and Sophia refused marriages with Catholics.

The Greek ambassador proposed to Ivan III a marriage proposal to a Byzantine princess two years after the Grand Duke of Moscow had been widowed in 1467. He was presented with a miniature portrait of Sophia. Ivan III agreed to the marriage.

However, Sophia was brought up in Rome and was educated in the spirit of Uniatism. And the Rome of the Renaissance was the place of concentration of all the vices of mankind, and this moral decay was headed by the pontiffs of the Catholic Church. Petrarch wrote about this city: "It is enough to see Rome to lose faith." All this was well known in Moscow. And despite the fact that the bride unequivocally demonstrated her commitment to Orthodoxy while on the road, Metropolitan Philip disapproved of this marriage and avoided the wedding of the royal couple. The rite was performed by Archpriest Hosea of ​​Kolomna. The wedding took place immediately on the day of the bride's arrival - November 12, 1472. Such a rush was explained by the fact that it was a holiday: the day of memory of John Chrysostom - the patron saint of the Grand Duke.

Despite the fears of the zealots of Orthodoxy, Sophia never tried to create the basis for religious conflicts. According to legend, she brought with her several Orthodox shrines, including the Byzantine miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Blessed Sky”.

The role of Sophia in the development of Russian art

In Rus', Sophia faced the problem of the lack of sufficiently experienced architects of large buildings. There were good Pskov craftsmen, but they had experience in building mainly on a limestone foundation, while Moscow stands on fragile clay, sand and peat bogs. So, in 1474, the almost completed Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin collapsed.

Sophia Paleolog knew which of the Italian specialists was capable of solving this problem. One of the first invited by her was Aristotle Fioravanti, a talented engineer and architect from Bologna. In addition to many buildings in Italy, he also designed bridges across the Danube at the court of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus.

Maybe Fioravanti would not have agreed to come, but shortly before that he was falsely accused of selling counterfeit money, moreover, under Sixtus IV, the Inquisition began to gain momentum, and the architect considered it good to leave for Rus', taking his son with him.

For the construction of the Assumption Cathedral, Fioravanti set up a brick factory and identified as suitable deposits of white stone in Myachkovo, from where they took building material a hundred years before for the first stone Kremlin. The temple looks like the ancient Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir, but inside it is not divided into small rooms, but is one large hall.

In 1478, Fioravanti, as chief of artillery, went with Ivan III on a campaign against Novgorod and built a pontoon bridge across the Volkhov River. Later, Fioravanti participated in campaigns against Kazan and Tver.

Italian architects rebuilt the Kremlin, giving it a modern look, erected dozens of churches and monasteries. They took into account Russian traditions, harmoniously combining them with their new products. In 1505-1508, under the guidance of the Italian architect Aleviz the New, the Kremlin Cathedral of Michael the Archangel was erected, during the construction of which the architect made the zakomaras not smooth, as before, but in the form of shells. Everyone liked this idea so much that it was subsequently used everywhere.

Sophia's involvement in the conflict with the Horde

Historian V.N. Tatishchev in his writings cites evidence that, under the influence of his wife, Ivan III went into conflict with the Golden Horde Khan Akhmat, refusing to pay tribute to him, since Sophia was very oppressed by the dependent position of the Russian state. If this is true, then Sophia acted under the influence of European politicians. The events unfolded as follows: in 1472, the Tatar raid was repulsed, but in 1480 Akhmat went to Moscow, concluding an alliance with the king of Lithuania and Poland, Casimir. Ivan III was not at all sure of the outcome of the battle and sent his wife with the treasury to Beloozero. In one of the chronicles, it is even noted that the Grand Duke panicked: “Horror found me on the river, and I wanted to run away from the shore, and I sent my Grand Duchess Roman and the treasury with her to Beloozero.”

The Venetian Republic was actively looking for an ally who would help stop the advance of the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II. The mediator in the negotiations was the adventurer and merchant Jean-Battista della Volpe, who had estates in Moscow and was known to us as Ivan Fryazin, it was he who was the ambassador and head of the wedding procession of Sophia Paleolog. According to Russian sources, Sophia kindly received members of the Venetian embassy. From all of the above, it follows that the Venetians were playing a double game and made an attempt, through the Grand Duchess, to plunge Rus' into a difficult conflict with a bad prospect.

However, Moscow diplomacy also did not waste time: the Crimean Khanate of Girey agreed to interact with the Russians. Akhmat's campaign ended with "Standing on the Ugra", as a result of which the khan retreated without a general battle. Akhmat did not receive the promised help from Casimir because of the attack on his lands by Ivan III's allied Mengli Giray.

Difficulties in family relationships

The first two children (girls) of Sophia and Ivan died in infancy. There is a legend that the young princess had a vision of St. Sergius of Radonezh, the patron saint of the Moscow state, and after this sign from above, she gave birth to a son, the future Vasily III. In total, 12 children were born in the marriage, of which four died in infancy.

From his first marriage with a Tver princess, Ivan III had a son, Ivan Mladoy, heir to the throne, but in 1490 he fell ill with gout. From Venice, the doctor Mister Leon was discharged, who vouched for his recovery with his head. The treatment was carried out by such methods that completely ruined the prince's health, and at the age of 32 Ivan Mladoy died in terrible agony. The doctor was publicly executed, and two warring parties formed at the court: one supported the young Grand Duchess and her son, the other supported Dmitry, the infant son of Ivan the Younger.

For several years, Ivan III hesitated over who to give preference to. In 1498, the Grand Duke crowned Dmitry's grandson, but a year later he changed his mind and gave preference to Vasily, Sophia's son. In 1502, he ordered Dmitry and his mother to be imprisoned. A year later, Sophia Paleolog died. For Ivan, this was a heavy blow. In mourning, the Grand Duke made a number of pilgrimages to monasteries, where he diligently indulged in prayers. He died two years later at the age of 65.

What was the appearance of Sophia Paleolog

In 1994, the remains of the princess were removed and studied. Criminalist Sergei Nikitin restored her appearance. She was short in stature - 160 cm, full build. This was confirmed by the Italian chronicle, which sarcastically called Sophia fat. In Rus', there were other canons of beauty, which the princess fully corresponded to: fullness, beautiful, expressive eyes and beautiful skin. Scientists have determined that the princess died at the age of 50-60 years.

Sophia Palaiologos, who was also called Zoya Paleologne, was born in 1455 in the city of Mistra, Greece.

Childhood princess

The future grandmother of Ivan the Terrible was born in the family of the despot of Morea named Thomas Paleologus at a not very prosperous time - in decadent times for Byzantium. When Constantinople fell to Turkey and was taken by Sultan Mehmed II, the girl's father Thomas Palaiologos and his family fled to Kofra.

Later in Rome, the family changed their faith to Catholicism, and when Sophia was 10 years old, her father died. Unfortunately for the girl, her mother, Ekaterina Akhaiskaya, had died a year earlier, which crippled her father.

The children of Palaiologos - Zoya, Manuel and Andrei, aged 10, 5 and 7 - settled in Rome under the tutelage of the Greek scientist Bessarion of Nicaea, who at that time served as a cardinal under the Pope. The Byzantine princess Sophia and her brother princes were raised in the Catholic tradition. With the permission of the pope, Bessarion of Nicaea paid for the servants of the Palaiologos, doctors, language professors, as well as a whole staff of foreign translators and clergy. The orphans received an excellent education.

Marriage

As soon as Sophia grew up, the Venetian subjects began to look for her noble spouse.

• She was prophesied as a wife to the Cypriot king Jacques II de Lusignan. The marriage did not take place in order to avoid quarrels with the Ottoman Empire.
• A few months later, Cardinal Vissarion invited Prince Caracciolo of Italy to marry the Byzantine princess. The young people got engaged. However, Sophia threw all her efforts into not getting engaged to a non-Christian (she continued to adhere to Orthodoxy).
• By coincidence, in 1467, the wife of the Grand Duke of Moscow, Ivan the Third, died in Moscow. One son remained from the marriage. And Pope Paul II, in order to plant the Catholic faith in Rus', suggested that the widower should put a Greek Catholic princess on the throne of the princess of all Rus'.

Negotiations with the Russian prince lasted three years. Ivan the Third, having received the approval of his mother, churchmen and his boyars, decided to marry. By the way, during the negotiations about the transition of the princess to Catholicism that happened in Rome, the envoys from the Pope did not particularly spread. On the contrary, they reported slyly that the sovereign's bride is a true Orthodox Christian. Surprisingly, they could not even imagine that this is the true truth.

In June 1472, the newlyweds in Rome became engaged in absentia. Then, accompanied by Cardinal Vissarion, the Princess of Moscow left Rome for Moscow.

Princess portrait

The Bologna chroniclers eloquently described Sophia Paleolog as an attractive girl in appearance. When she got married, she appeared to be about 24 years old.

• Her skin is white as snow.
• The eyes are huge and very expressive, which corresponded to the then canons of beauty.
• The height of the princess is 160 cm.
• Build - knocked down, dense.

The dowry of Palaiologos included not only jewelry, but also a large number of valuable books, among which were the treatises of Plato, Aristotle, and the unknown works of Homer. These books became the main attraction of the famous library of Ivan the Terrible, which later disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

In addition, Zoya was very purposeful. She threw every effort not to convert to another faith, betrothed to a Christian man. At the end of her route from Rome to Moscow, when there was no turning back, she announced to her guides that she would renounce Catholicism in marriage and accept Orthodoxy. So the desire of the Pope to spread Catholicism to Rus' through the marriage of Ivan the Third and Palaiologos failed.

Life in Moscow

The influence of Sophia Paleolog on the married spouse was very great, it also became a great boon for Russia, because the wife was very educated and incredibly devoted to her new homeland.

So, it was she who prompted her husband to stop paying tribute to the Golden Horde that burdened them. Thanks to his wife, the Grand Duke decided to cast off the Tatar-Mongolian burden that had weighed on Russia for many centuries. At the same time, his advisers and princes insisted on paying dues, as usual, so as not to start a new bloodshed. In 1480, Ivan the Third announced his decision to the Tatar Khan Akhmat. Then there was a historical bloodless stand on the Ugra, and the Horde left Russia forever, never again demanding tribute from it.

In general, Sophia Palaiologos played a very important role in the further historical events of Rus'. Her broad outlook and bold innovative decisions later allowed the country to make a noticeable breakthrough in the development of culture and architecture. Sofia Paleolog opened Moscow for Europeans. Now Greeks, Italians, learned minds and talented craftsmen rushed to Muscovy. For example, Ivan the Third gladly took under the wing of Italian architects (such as Aristotle Fioravanti), who built many historical masterpieces of architecture in Moscow. At the behest of Sophia, a separate courtyard and luxurious mansions were built for her. They were lost in a fire in 1493 (together with the Palaiologos treasury).

Zoya's personal relationship with her husband Ivan the Third was also prosperous. They had 12 children. But some died in infancy or from disease. So, in their family, five sons and four daughters survived to adulthood.

But the life of a Byzantine princess in Moscow can hardly be called rosy. The local elite saw the great influence that the spouse had on her husband, and was very unhappy with this.

Sophia's relationship with the adopted son from the deceased first wife, Ivan Molody, did not work out either. The princess really wanted her first-born Vasily to become the heir. And there is a historical version that she was involved in the death of the heir, writing him an Italian doctor with poisonous potions, supposedly to treat sudden onset gout (later he was executed for this).

Sophia had a hand in the removal from the throne of his wife Elena Voloshanka and their son Dmitry. First, Ivan the Third sent Sophia herself into disgrace for inviting witches to her place to create poison for Elena and Dmitry. He forbade his wife to appear in the palace. However, later Ivan the Third ordered to send the grandson of Dmitry, already proclaimed heir to the throne, and his mother to prison for court intrigues, successfully and in a favorable light revealed by his wife Sophia. The grandson was officially deprived of the grand ducal dignity, and the son Vasily was declared the heir to the throne.

So, the Princess of Moscow became the mother of the heir to the Russian throne, Vasily III, and the grandmother of the famous Tsar Ivan the Terrible. There is evidence that the famous grandson had many similarities in both appearance and character with his domineering grandmother from Byzantium.

Death

As they said then, “from old age” - at the age of 48, Sophia Paleolog died on April 7, 1503. The woman was buried in a sarcophagus in the Ascension Cathedral. She was buried next to Ivan's first wife.

By coincidence, in 1929, the Bolsheviks demolished the cathedral, but the Palaiologini sarcophagus survived and was moved to the Archangel Cathedral.

Ivan the Third took the death of the princess hard. At the age of 60, this greatly crippled his health, moreover, recently he and his wife were in constant suspicion and quarrels. However, he continued to appreciate Sophia's mind and her love for Russia. Feeling the approach of his end, he made a will, appointing their common son Vasily as the heir to power.

S. NIKITIN, forensic expert and candidate of historical sciences T. PANOVA.

The past appears before us both in the form of a fragile archaeological find that has lain in the ground for several centuries, and a description of an event that happened a long time ago and entered on the page of the chronicle in the silence of a monastery cell. We judge the life of the people of the Middle Ages by the magnificent monuments of church architecture and by simple household items preserved in the cultural layer of the city. And behind all this are people whose names did not always find their way into the annals and other written sources of the Russian Middle Ages. Studying Russian history, you involuntarily think about the fate of these people and try to imagine what the heroes of those distant events looked like. Due to the fact that secular art in Rus' originated late, only in the second half of the 17th century, we do not know the true appearance of the great and specific Russian princes and princesses, church hierarchs and diplomats, merchants and chronicler monks, warriors and artisans.

Science and life // Illustrations

Science and life // Illustrations

Science and life // Illustrations

But sometimes a fortunate combination of circumstances and the enthusiasm of researchers help our contemporary, as if with his own eyes, to meet a person who lived many centuries ago. Thanks to the method of plastic reconstruction from the skull, at the end of 1994, a sculptural portrait of the Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog, the second wife of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, the grandmother of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, was restored. For the first time in the last almost five centuries, it became possible to peer into the face of a woman whose name is well known to us from chronicle stories about the events of the late 15th century.

And long-standing events involuntarily came to life, forcing me to mentally plunge into that era and look at the very fate of the Grand Duchess and the episodes associated with her. The life path of this woman began between 1443-1449 (the exact date of her birth is unknown). Zoya Palaiologos was the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI (in 1453 Byzantium fell under the blows of the Turks, and the emperor himself died defending the capital of his state) and, orphaned early, was brought up with her brothers at the court of the Pope. This circumstance decided the fate of the representative of the once powerful, but fading dynasty, which lost both its high position and all material wealth. Pope Paul II, in search of a way to strengthen his influence on Rus', offered Ivan III, widowed in 1467, to marry Zoya Paleolog. Negotiations on this matter, which began in 1469, dragged on for three years - Metropolitan Philip sharply opposed this marriage, who was not inspired by the marriage of the Grand Duke to a Greek woman who was brought up at the court of the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

And yet, at the beginning of 1472, the ambassadors of Ivan III went to Rome for a bride. In June of the same year, Zoya Paleolog, accompanied by a large retinue, set off on a long journey to Rus', to "Muscovy", as foreigners then called the Muscovite state.

The convoy of the bride of Ivan III crossed the whole of Europe from south to north, heading to the German port of Lübeck. During the stops of the distinguished guest in the cities, magnificent receptions and knightly tournaments were held in her honor. The authorities of the cities presented gifts to the pupil of the papal throne - silver dishes, wine, and the townspeople of Nuremberg handed her as many as twenty boxes of sweets. On September 10, 1472, a ship with travelers headed for Kolyvan - that is how Russian sources then called the modern city of Tallinn, but arrived there only after eleven days: stormy weather was in the Baltic in those days. Then, through Yuryev (now the city of Tartu), Pskov and Novgorod, the procession went to Moscow.

However, the final transition was somewhat overshadowed. The fact is that the papal representative Antonio Bonumbre was carrying a large Catholic cross in the head of the convoy. The news of this reached Moscow, which caused an unprecedented scandal. Metropolitan Philip said that if the cross was brought into the city, he would immediately leave it. An attempt to openly demonstrate the symbol of the Catholic faith could not but disturb the Grand Duke. Russian chronicles, which were able to find streamlined formulations when describing delicate situations, this time were unanimously frank. They noted that the envoy of Ivan III, the boyar Fyodor Davydovich Khromoy, fulfilling the order of the prince, simply took the "roof" from the papal priest by force, meeting the bride's convoy 15 miles from Moscow. As you can see, the tough position of the head of the Russian Church in upholding the purity of faith then turned out to be stronger than the traditions of diplomacy and the laws of hospitality.

Zoya Palaiologos arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1472, and on the same day she was married to Ivan III. So the Byzantine princess, a Greek by birth, Zoya Paleolog - the Grand Russian Princess Sophia Fominichna, as they began to call her in Rus', entered Russian history. But this dynastic marriage did not bring tangible results to Rome either in resolving religious issues or in drawing Muscovy into an alliance to combat the growing Turkish danger. Pursuing a completely independent policy, Ivan III saw in contacts with the Italian city-republics only a source of advanced ideas in various fields of culture and technology. All five embassies that the Grand Duke sent to Italy at the end of the 15th century returned to Moscow accompanied by architects and doctors, jewelers and money-makers, experts in the field of weapons and serfdom. The Greek and Italian nobility, whose representatives labored in the diplomatic service, reached out to Moscow; many of them settled in Rus'.

For a while, Sophia Paleolog kept in touch with her family. Twice her brother Andreas, or Andrei, as the Russian chronicles call him, came to Moscow with embassies. He was brought here primarily by the desire to improve his financial situation. And in 1480 he even favorably married his daughter Maria to Prince Vasily Vereisky, Ivan III's nephew. However, the life of Maria Andreevna in Rus' was unsuccessful. And Sophia Paleolog was to blame for this. She gave her niece jewelry that once belonged to the first wife of Ivan III. The Grand Duke, who did not know about this, was going, it turns out, to give them to Elena Voloshanka, the wife of his eldest son Ivan the Young (from his first marriage). And in 1483, a big family scandal erupted: "... the great prince would like to give the daughter-in-law of his first Grand Duchess a fathom, and asked that second princess of the Grand Roman. gave, and a lot ... ", - so, not without gloating, many chronicles described this event.

Enraged, Ivan III demanded that Vasily Vereisky return the treasures and, after the latter refused to do so, wanted to imprison him. Prince Vasily Mikhailovich had no choice but to flee to Lithuania with his wife Maria; at the same time, they barely escaped the chase sent for them.

Sophia Paleolog made a very serious mistake. The grand ducal treasury was the subject of special concern for more than one generation of Moscow sovereigns, who tried to increase family treasures. The chronicles continued to allow not very friendly comments about the Grand Duchess Sophia. Apparently, it was difficult for a foreigner to comprehend the laws of a new country for her, a country with a difficult historical fate, with its own traditions.

And yet, the arrival of this Western European woman in Moscow turned out to be unexpectedly interesting and useful for the capital of Rus'. Not without the influence of the Greek Grand Duchess and her Greek-Italian entourage, Ivan III decided on a grandiose restructuring of his residence. At the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century, according to the projects of invited Italian architects, the Kremlin was rebuilt, the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals, the Palace of Facets and the Treasury in the Kremlin were erected, the first stone grand ducal palace, monasteries and temples were built in Moscow. Today we see many of these buildings the same as they were during the life of Sophia Paleolog.

Interest in the personality of this woman is also explained by the fact that in the last decades of the 15th century she took part in the complex dynastic struggle that unfolded at the court of Ivan III. Back in the 1480s, two groups of Moscow nobility formed here, one of which supported the direct heir to the throne, Prince Ivan the Young. But he died in 1490, at the age of thirty-two, and Sophia wanted her son Vasily to become the heir (in total, she had twelve children in her marriage to Ivan III), and not Ivan III's grandson Dmitry (the only child of Ivan the Young). The long struggle went on with varying success and ended in 1499 with the victory of the supporters of Princess Sophia, who experienced many difficulties along the way.

Sophia Paleolog died on April 7, 1503. She was buried in the grand ducal tomb of the Ascension Convent in the Kremlin. The buildings of this monastery were dismantled in 1929, and the sarcophagi with the remains of the Grand Duchesses and Empresses were transferred to the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin, where they remain today. This circumstance, as well as the good preservation of the skeleton of Sophia Paleolog, allowed specialists to recreate her appearance. The work was carried out at the Moscow Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination. Apparently, there is no need to describe in detail the recovery process. We only note that the portrait was reproduced using all the scientific methods available today in the arsenal of the Russian school of anthropological reconstruction, founded by M. M. Gerasimov.

A study of the remains of Sophia Palaiologos showed that she was not tall - about 160 cm. The skull and each bone were carefully studied, and as a result it was found that the death of the Grand Duchess occurred at the age of 55-60 years and that the Greek princess ... I would like to stop here and remember deontology - the science of medical ethics. Probably, it is necessary to introduce into this science such a section as post-mortem deontology, when an anthropologist, forensic expert or pathologist is not entitled to inform the general public about what he became aware of the diseases of the deceased - even several centuries ago. So, as a result of research of the remains, it was found that Sophia was a plump woman, with strong-willed features and had a mustache that did not spoil her at all.

Plastic reconstruction (author - S. A. Nikitin) was carried out with the help of soft sculptural plasticine according to the original method, tested on the results of many years of operational work. The casting, which was then made in plaster, was tinted to look like Carrara marble.

Looking at the restored facial features of Grand Duchess Sophia Paleolog, one involuntarily comes to the conclusion that only such a woman could be a participant in those complex events that we described above. The sculptural portrait of the princess testifies to her mind, decisive and strong character, hardened and an orphan childhood, and the difficulties of adapting to the unusual conditions of Muscovite Rus'.

When the appearance of this woman appeared before us, it became clear once again that nothing happens by chance in nature. We are talking about the striking resemblance of Sophia Paleolog and her grandson, Tsar Ivan IV, whose true appearance is well known to us from the work of the famous Soviet anthropologist M. M. Gerasimov. The scientist, working on the portrait of Ivan Vasilyevich, noted the features of the Mediterranean type in his appearance, linking this precisely with the influence of the blood of his grandmother, Sophia Paleolog.

Recently, researchers had an interesting idea - to compare not only portraits recreated by human hands, but also what nature itself created - the skulls of these two people. And then a study of the skull of the Grand Duchess and an exact copy of the skull of Ivan IV was carried out using the shadow photo overlay method developed by the author of the sculptural reconstruction of the portrait of Sophia Paleolog. And the results exceeded all expectations, so many coincidences were revealed. They can be seen in the photographs (p. 83).

Today, it is Moscow, Russia, that has a unique portrait-reconstruction of a princess from the Palaiologos dynasty. Attempts to discover lifetime pictures of Zoe in her younger years in the Vatican Museum in Rome, where she once lived, were unsuccessful.

Thus, the studies of historians and forensic experts made it possible for our contemporaries to look into the 15th century and get to know the participants of those distant events better.

Sofia Paleolog: biography

Most historians agree that the grandmother of Ivan the Terrible, the Grand Duchess of Moscow Sophia (Zoya) Paleolog played a huge role in the formation of the Moscow kingdom. Many consider her the author of the concept "Moscow - the third Rome". And together with Zoya Palaiolognea, a double-headed eagle appeared. At first, it was the family coat of arms of her dynasty, and then migrated to the coat of arms of all the tsars and Russian emperors.

Zoya Paleolog was born (presumably) in 1455 in Morea (as the current Greek peninsula of the Peloponnese was called in the Middle Ages). The daughter of the Despot of Morea, Thomas Palaiologos, was born in a tragic and critical time - the time of the fall of the Byzantine Empire.

Sofia Paleolog |

After the capture of Constantinople by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II and the death of Emperor Constantine, Thomas Palaiologos fled to Corfu with his wife Catherine of Achaia and their children. From there he moved to Rome, where he was forced to convert to Catholicism. Thomas died in May 1465. His death happened shortly after the death of his wife in the same year. Children, Zoya and her brothers - 5-year-old Manuel and 7-year-old Andrei, moved to Rome after the death of their parents.

The education of orphans was taken up by the Greek scientist, Uniate Vissarion of Nicaea, who served as a cardinal under Pope Sixtus IV (it was he who became the customer of the famous Sistine Chapel). In Rome, the Greek princess Zoe Palaiologos and her brothers were brought up in the Catholic faith. The cardinal took care of the maintenance of the children and their education. It is known that Bessarion of Nicaea, with the permission of the pope, paid for the modest court of the young Palaiologos, which included servants, a doctor, two professors of Latin and Greek, translators and priests.

Sophia Paleolog received a fairly solid education for those times.

Grand Duchess of Moscow

Sofia Paleolog (painting) http://www.russdom.ru

When Sophia came of age, the Venetian Signoria took care of her marriage. To take a noble girl as a wife was first offered to the King of Cyprus, Jacques II de Lusignan. But he refused this marriage, fearing a conflict with the Ottoman Empire. A year later, in 1467, Cardinal Vissarion, at the request of Pope Paul II, offered the hand of a noble Byzantine beauty to the prince and Italian nobleman Caracciolo. A solemn betrothal took place, but for unknown reasons, the marriage was canceled.

There is a version that Sophia secretly communicated with the Athonite elders and adhered to the Orthodox faith. She herself made efforts not to marry a non-Christian, frustrating all marriages offered to her.

Sofia Paleolog. (Fyodor Bronnikov. “Meeting of Princess Sophia Paleolog by Pskov posadniks and boyars at the mouth of the Embakh on Lake Peipsi”)

In the turning point for the life of Sophia Paleolog in 1467, the wife of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III Maria Borisovna died. In this marriage, the only son Ivan Young was born. Pope Paul II, counting on the spread of Catholicism to Moscow, offered the widowed sovereign of all Rus' to marry his ward.

After 3 years of negotiations, Ivan III, having asked for advice from his mother, Metropolitan Philip and the boyars, decided to marry. It is noteworthy that the papal negotiators prudently kept silent about the transition of Sophia Palaiologos to Catholicism. Moreover, they reported that the proposed wife of Paleologne is an Orthodox Christian. They didn't even know it was true.

Sophia Paleolog: wedding with John III. 19th century engraving | AiF

In June 1472, in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome, the correspondence betrothal of Ivan III and Sophia Palaiologos took place. After that, the convoy of the bride left Rome for Moscow. The bride was accompanied by the same Cardinal Wisssarion.

Bologna chroniclers described Sophia as a rather attractive person. She looked 24 years old, she had snow-white skin and incredibly beautiful and expressive eyes. Her height was no higher than 160 cm. The future wife of the Russian sovereign had a dense physique.

There is a version that in the dowry of Sophia Paleolog, in addition to clothes and jewelry, there were many valuable books that later formed the basis of the mysteriously disappeared library of Ivan the Terrible. Among them were the treatises of Plato and Aristotle, the unknown poems of Homer.

At the end of a long route that ran through Germany and Poland, the Roman escorts of Sophia Palaiologos realized that their desire, through the marriage of Ivan III to Palaiologos, to spread (or at least bring closer) Catholicism to Orthodoxy was defeated. Zoya, who had barely left Rome, showed her firm intention to return to the faith of her ancestors - Christianity.

The main achievement of Sophia Paleolog, which turned into a huge boon for Russia, is considered to be her influence on her husband's decision to refuse to pay tribute to the Golden Horde. Thanks to his wife, Ivan the Third finally dared to throw off the centuries-old Tatar-Mongol yoke, although the local princes and the elite offered to continue paying dues in order to avoid bloodshed.

Personal life

Evgeny Tsyganov and Maria Andreichenko in the film "Sofia Paleolog"

Apparently, the personal life of Sophia Paleolog with Grand Duke Ivan III was successful. In this marriage, considerable offspring were born - 5 sons and 4 daughters. But the existence of the new Grand Duchess Sophia in Moscow can hardly be called cloudless. The boyars saw the enormous influence that the wife had on her husband. Many people didn't like it. Rumor has it that the princess had a bad relationship with the heir, born in the previous marriage of Ivan III, Ivan the Young. Moreover, there is a version that Sophia was involved in the poisoning of Ivan Molodoy and the further removal from power of his wife Elena Voloshanka and son Dmitry.

Evgeny Tsyganov and Maria Andreichenko in the film "Sofia Paleolog" | Region.Moscow

Be that as it may, Sophia Paleolog had a huge impact on the entire subsequent history of Rus', on its culture and architecture. She was the mother of the heir to the throne, Vasily III, and the grandmother of Ivan the Terrible. According to some reports, the grandson had a considerable resemblance to his wise Byzantine grandmother.

Maria Andreichenko in the film "Sofia Paleolog"

Death

Sofia Palaiologos, Grand Duchess of Moscow, died on April 7, 1503. Husband, Ivan III, survived his wife only 2 years.

Sophia was buried next to the previous wife of Ivan III in the sarcophagus of the tomb of the Ascension Cathedral. The cathedral was destroyed in 1929. But the remains of the women of the royal house survived - they were transferred to the underground chamber of the Archangel Cathedral.