Sophia Paleologus (?-1503), wife (from 1472) of Grand Duke Ivan III, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Paleologus. Arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1472; on the same day, her wedding to Ivan III took place in the Assumption Cathedral. The marriage with Sophia Paleologus contributed to strengthening the prestige of the Russian state in international relations and the authority of the grand ducal power within the country. Special mansions and a courtyard were built for Sophia Paleolog in Moscow. Under Sophia Paleologus, the grand ducal court was distinguished by its special splendor. Architects were invited from Italy to Moscow to decorate the palace and the capital. The walls and towers of the Kremlin, the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals, the Faceted Chamber, and the Terem Palace were erected. Sofia Paleolog brought a rich library to Moscow. The dynastic marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Paleologus owes its appearance to the rite of royal crowning. The arrival of Sophia Paleologus is associated with the appearance of an ivory throne as part of the dynastic regalia, on the back of which was placed an image of a unicorn, which became one of the most common emblems of Russian state power. Around 1490, the image of a crowned double-headed eagle first appeared on the front portal of the Palace of Facets. The Byzantine concept of the sacredness of imperial power directly influenced Ivan III’s introduction of “theology” (“by God’s grace”) in the title and in the preamble of state charters.
KURBSKY TO GROZNY ABOUT HIS GRANDMOTHER
But the abundance of your Majesty’s malice is such that it destroys not only your friends, but, together with your guardsmen, the entire holy Russian land, a plunderer of houses and a murderer of sons! May God protect you from this and may the Lord, King of Ages, not allow this to happen! After all, even then everything is going as if on the edge of a knife, because if not your sons, then your half-brothers and close brothers by birth, you have overflowed the measure of bloodsuckers - your father and your mother and grandfather. After all, your father and mother - everyone knows how many they killed. In exactly the same way, your grandfather, with your Greek grandmother, having renounced and forgotten love and kinship, killed his wonderful son Ivan, courageous and glorified in heroic enterprises, born of his first wife, Saint Mary, Princess of Tver, as well as his divinely crowned grandson born of him Tsar Demetrius together with his mother, Saint Helena - the first by deadly poison, and the second by many years of imprisonment in prison, and then by strangulation. But he was not satisfied with this!..
MARRIAGE OF IVAN III AND SOFIA PALEOLOGIST
On May 29, 1453, the legendary Constantinople, besieged by the Turkish army, fell. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in battle defending Constantinople. His younger brother Thomas Palaiologos, ruler of the small appanage state of Morea on the Peloponnese peninsula, fled with his family to Corfu and then to Rome. After all, Byzantium, hoping to receive military assistance from Europe in the fight against the Turks, signed the Union of Florence in 1439 on the unification of the Churches, and now its rulers could seek asylum from the papal throne. Thomas Palaiologos was able to remove the greatest shrines of the Christian world, including the head of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. In gratitude for this, he received a house in Rome and a good boarding house from the papal throne.
In 1465, Thomas died, leaving three children - sons Andrei and Manuel and the youngest daughter Zoya. The exact date of her birth is unknown. It is believed that she was born in 1443 or 1449 in her father's possessions in the Peloponnese, where she received her initial education. The Vatican took upon itself the education of the royal orphans, entrusting them to Cardinal Bessarion of Nicaea. Greek by birth, former Archbishop of Nicaea, he was a zealous supporter of the signing of the Union of Florence, after which he became a cardinal in Rome. He raised Zoe Paleologue in European Catholic traditions and especially taught her to humbly follow the principles of Catholicism in everything, calling her “the beloved daughter of the Roman Church.” Only in this case, he inspired the pupil, will fate give you everything. However, everything turned out quite the opposite.
In February 1469, the ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow with a letter to the Grand Duke, in which he was invited to legally marry the daughter of the Despot of Morea. The letter mentioned, among other things, that Sophia (the name Zoya was diplomatically replaced with the Orthodox Sophia) had already refused two crowned suitors who had wooed her - the French king and the Duke of Milan, not wanting to marry a Catholic ruler.
According to the ideas of that time, Sophia was considered a middle-aged woman, but she was very attractive, with amazingly beautiful, expressive eyes and soft matte skin, which in Rus' was considered a sign of excellent health. And most importantly, she was distinguished by a sharp mind and an article worthy of a Byzantine princess.
The Moscow sovereign accepted the offer. He sent his ambassador, the Italian Gian Battista della Volpe (he was nicknamed Ivan Fryazin in Moscow), to Rome to make a match. The messenger returned a few months later, in November, bringing with him a portrait of the bride. This portrait, which seemed to mark the beginning of the era of Sophia Paleologus in Moscow, is considered the first secular image in Rus'. At least, they were so amazed by it that the chronicler called the portrait an “icon,” without finding another word: “And bring the princess on the icon.”
However, the matchmaking dragged on because Moscow Metropolitan Philip for a long time objected to the sovereign’s marriage to a Uniate woman, who was also a pupil of the papal throne, fearing the spread of Catholic influence in Rus'. Only in January 1472, having received the consent of the hierarch, Ivan III sent an embassy to Rome for the bride. Already on June 1, at the insistence of Cardinal Vissarion, a symbolic betrothal took place in Rome - the engagement of Princess Sophia and the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan, who was represented by the Russian ambassador Ivan Fryazin. That same June, Sophia set off on her journey with an honorary retinue and the papal legate Anthony, who soon had to see firsthand the futility of the hopes Rome placed on this marriage. According to Catholic tradition, a Latin cross was carried at the front of the procession, which caused great confusion and excitement among the residents of Russia. Having learned about this, Metropolitan Philip threatened the Grand Duke: “If you allow the cross in blessed Moscow to be carried before the Latin bishop, then he will enter the only gate, and I, your father, will go out of the city differently.” Ivan III immediately sent the boyar to meet the procession with the order to remove the cross from the sleigh, and the legate had to obey with great displeasure. The princess herself behaved as befits the future ruler of Rus'. Having entered the Pskov land, she first visited an Orthodox church, where she venerated the icons. The legate had to obey here too: follow her to the church, and there venerate the holy icons and venerate the image of the Mother of God by order of despina (from the Greek despot- “ruler”). And then Sophia promised the admiring Pskovites her protection before the Grand Duke.
Ivan III did not intend to fight for the “inheritance” with the Turks, much less accept the Union of Florence. And Sophia had no intention of Catholicizing Rus'. On the contrary, she showed herself to be an active Orthodox Christian. Some historians believe that she did not care what faith she professed. Others suggest that Sophia, apparently raised in childhood by the Athonite elders, opponents of the Union of Florence, was deeply Orthodox at heart. She skillfully hid her faith from the powerful Roman “patrons”, who did not help her homeland, betraying it to the Gentiles for ruin and death. One way or another, this marriage only strengthened Muscovy, contributing to its conversion to the great Third Rome.
Early in the morning of November 12, 1472, Sophia Paleologus arrived in Moscow, where everything was ready for the wedding celebration dedicated to the name day of the Grand Duke - the day of remembrance of St. John Chrysostom. On the same day, in the Kremlin, in a temporary wooden church, erected near the Assumption Cathedral under construction, so as not to stop the services, the sovereign married her. The Byzantine princess saw her husband for the first time. The Grand Duke was young - only 32 years old, handsome, tall and stately. His eyes were especially remarkable, “formidable eyes”: when he was angry, women fainted from his terrible gaze. Previously he was distinguished by a tough character, but now, having become related to the Byzantine monarchs, he turned into a formidable and powerful sovereign. This was largely due to his young wife.
The wedding in a wooden church made a strong impression on Sophia Paleolog. The Byzantine princess, raised in Europe, differed in many ways from Russian women. Sophia brought with her her ideas about the court and the power of government, and many of the Moscow orders did not suit her heart. She did not like that her sovereign husband remained a tributary of the Tatar Khan, that the boyar entourage behaved too freely with their sovereign. That the Russian capital, built entirely of wood, stands with patched fortress walls and dilapidated stone churches. That even the sovereign's mansions in the Kremlin are made of wood and that Russian women look at the world from a small window. Sophia Paleolog not only made changes at court. Some Moscow monuments owe their appearance to her.
She brought a generous dowry to Rus'. After the wedding, Ivan III adopted the Byzantine double-headed eagle as a coat of arms - a symbol of royal power, placing it on his seal. The two heads of the eagle face the West and the East, Europe and Asia, symbolizing their unity, as well as the unity (“symphony”) of spiritual and temporal power. Actually, Sophia’s dowry was the legendary “Liberia” - a library allegedly brought on 70 carts (better known as the “library of Ivan the Terrible”). It included Greek parchments, Latin chronographs, ancient Eastern manuscripts, among which were unknown to us poems by Homer, works by Aristotle and Plato, and even surviving books from the famous Library of Alexandria. Seeing wooden Moscow, burned after the fire of 1470, Sophia was afraid for the fate of the treasure and for the first time hid the books in the basement of the stone Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on Senya - the home church of the Moscow Grand Duchesses, built by order of St. Eudokia, the widow. And, according to Moscow custom, she put her own treasury for preservation in the underground of the Kremlin Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist - the very first church in Moscow, which stood until 1847.
According to legend, she brought with her a “bone throne” as a gift to her husband: its wooden frame was entirely covered with plates of ivory and walrus ivory with scenes on biblical themes carved on them. This throne is known to us as the throne of Ivan the Terrible: the king is depicted on it by the sculptor M. Antokolsky. In 1896, the throne was installed in the Assumption Cathedral for the coronation of Nicholas II. But the sovereign ordered it to be staged for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (according to other sources, for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna), and he himself wished to be crowned on the throne of the first Romanov. And now the throne of Ivan the Terrible is the oldest in the Kremlin collection.
Sophia brought with her several Orthodox icons, including, supposedly, a rare icon of the Mother of God “Blessed Heaven”... And even after the wedding of Ivan III, an image of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, the founder of the Paleologus dynasty, with which the Moscow people became related, appeared in the Archangel Cathedral rulers. Thus, the continuity of Moscow to the Byzantine Empire was established, and the Moscow sovereigns appeared as the heirs of the Byzantine emperors.
In the middle of the 15th century, when Constantinople fell to the Turks, the 17-year-old Byzantine princess Sophia left Rome to transfer the spirit of the old empire to a new, still nascent state.
With her fairy-tale life and journey full of adventures - from the dimly lit passages of the papal church to the snowy Russian steppes, from the secret mission behind her betrothal to the Moscow prince, to the mysterious and still unfound collection of books she brought with her from Constantinople, - we were introduced by journalist and writer Yorgos Leonardos, author of the book “Sophia Paleologus - from Byzantium to Rus',” as well as many other historical novels.
In a conversation with a correspondent of the Athens-Macedonian Agency about the filming of a Russian film about the life of Sophia Palaiologos, Mr. Leonardos emphasized that she was a versatile person, a practical and ambitious woman. The niece of the last Palaeologus inspired her husband, Prince Ivan III of Moscow, to create a strong state, earning the respect of Stalin almost five centuries after her death.
Russian researchers highly appreciate the contribution that Sophia left in the political and cultural history of medieval Rus'.
Giorgos Leonardos describes Sophia's personality this way: “Sophia was the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, and the daughter of Thomas Palaiologos. She was baptized in Mystras, giving her the Christian name Zoya. In 1460, when the Peloponnese was captured by the Turks, the princess, along with her parents, brothers and sister, went to the island of Kerkyra. With the participation of Vissarion of Nicaea, who by that time had already become a Catholic cardinal in Rome, Zoya and her father, brothers and sister moved to Rome. After the premature death of her parents, Vissarion took custody of three children who converted to the Catholic faith. However, Sophia's life changed when Paul II took the papal throne, who wanted her to enter into a political marriage. The princess was wooed to Moscow Prince Ivan III, hoping that Orthodox Rus' would convert to Catholicism. Sophia, who came from the Byzantine imperial family, was sent by Paul to Moscow as the heiress of Constantinople. Her first stop after Rome was the city of Pskov, where the young girl was enthusiastically received by the Russian people.”
© Sputnik. Valentin Cheredintsev
The author of the book considers a visit to one of the Pskov churches to be a key moment in Sophia’s life: “She was impressed, and although the papal legate was next to her at the time, watching her every step, she returned to Orthodoxy, neglecting the will of the pope. On November 12, 1472, Zoya became the second wife of Moscow Prince Ivan III under the Byzantine name Sophia.”
From this moment, according to Leonardos, her brilliant path begins: “Under the influence of a deep religious feeling, Sophia convinced Ivan to throw off the burden of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, because at that time Rus' was paying tribute to the Horde. And indeed, Ivan liberated his state and united various independent principalities under his rule.”
© Sputnik. Balabanov
Sophia’s contribution to the development of the state is great, since, as the author explains, “she introduced Byzantine order at the Russian court and helped create the Russian state.”
“Since Sophia was the only heir of Byzantium, Ivan believed that he had inherited the right to the imperial throne. He adopted the yellow color of the Palaiologos and the Byzantine coat of arms - the double-headed eagle, which lasted until the revolution of 1917 and was returned after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and also called Moscow the Third Rome. Since the sons of the Byzantine emperors took the name of Caesar, Ivan took this title for himself, which in Russian began to sound like “tsar”. Ivan also elevated the Archbishopric of Moscow to a patriarchy, making it clear that the first patriarchy was not Constantinople captured by the Turks, but Moscow.”
© Sputnik. Alexey Filippov
According to Yorgos Leonardos, “Sofia was the first to create in Rus', following the model of Constantinople, a secret service, the prototype of the Tsarist secret police and the Soviet KGB. This contribution of hers is still recognized by the Russian authorities today. Thus, the former head of the Federal Security Service of Russia, Alexei Patrushev, on Military Counterintelligence Day on December 19, 2007, said that the country honors Sophia Paleologus, since she defended Rus' from internal and external enemies.”
Moscow also “owes it a change in its appearance, since Sofia brought here Italian and Byzantine architects who built mainly stone buildings, for example, the Kremlin’s Archangel Cathedral, as well as the Kremlin walls that still exist today. Also, following the Byzantine model, secret passages were dug under the territory of the entire Kremlin.”
© Sputnik. Sergey Pyatakov
“The history of the modern - tsarist - state begins in Rus' in 1472. At that time, due to the climate, they did not farm here, but only hunted. Sofia convinced the subjects of Ivan III to cultivate the fields and thus marked the beginning of the formation of agriculture in the country.”
Sofia’s personality was treated with respect even under Soviet rule: according to Leonardos, “when the Ascension Monastery, in which the remains of the queen were kept, was destroyed in the Kremlin, they were not only not disposed of, but by decree of Stalin they were placed in a tomb, which was then transferred to Arkhangelsk cathedral."
Yorgos Leonardos said that Sofia brought from Constantinople 60 carts with books and rare treasures that were kept in the underground treasuries of the Kremlin and have not been found to this day.
“There are written sources,” says Mr. Leonardos, “indicating the existence of these books, which the West tried to buy from her grandson, Ivan the Terrible, to which he, of course, did not agree. Books continue to be searched to this day.”
Sophia Palaiologos died on April 7, 1503 at the age of 48. Her husband, Ivan III, became the first ruler in Russian history to be called the Great for his actions carried out with the support of Sophia. Their grandson, Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, continued to strengthen the state and went down in history as one of the most influential rulers of Russia.
© Sputnik. Vladimir Fedorenko
“Sofia transferred the spirit of Byzantium to the Russian Empire that was just beginning to emerge. It was she who built the state in Rus', giving it Byzantine features, and generally enriched the structure of the country and its society. Even today in Russia there are surnames that go back to Byzantine names, as a rule, they end in -ov,” noted Yorgos Leonardos.
Regarding the images of Sophia, Leonardos emphasized that “no portraits of her have survived, but even under communism, with the help of special technologies, scientists recreated the appearance of the queen from her remains. This is how the bust appeared, which is located near the entrance to the Historical Museum next to the Kremlin.”
“The legacy of Sofia Paleologus is Russia itself...” summed up Yorgos Leonardos.
What did Sophia Paleolog do? Sophia Paleologus a short biography of the famous Greek princess will tell about her contribution to history.
Sophia Paleolog biography the most important thing
Sofia Paleolog is an outstanding woman in Russian history. Sophia Paleologue is the second wife of Grand Duke Ivan III, as well as the mother of Vasily III and the grandmother of Ivan IV the Terrible. Her exact date of birth is unknown, but scholars suggest that she was born around 1455.
In 1469, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, who by this time had been a widower for two years, decided to marry again. But I couldn’t decide on the role of the bride. Pope Paul II invited him to marry Sophia. After much deliberation, he was seduced by her title as a Greek princess. The wedding of the crowned individuals took place in 1472. The ceremony took place in the Assumption Cathedral, and Metropolitan Philip married the couple.
Sofia was very happy in her marriage, which produced 9 children - four daughters and five sons. Separate mansions were built in Moscow for the Grand Duchess of Greek origin, which, unfortunately, were destroyed in a fire in 1493.
Sophia Paleolog what did she do? According to the testimony of contemporaries, Sophia Paleologus was an intelligent woman who skillfully guided her husband’s actions. There is an opinion that it was Sophia who pushed Ivan III to the decision not to pay tribute to the Tatars.
With the appearance of Sophia and her children at the Moscow court, real dynastic strife began in the city. Ivan III had a son, Ivan the Young, from his first marriage, who was to inherit the throne. Sophia's son, Vasily, seemed not destined to be the heir to his father's power.
But fate decreed something completely different. Ivan the Young, who already had a family and a son, took possession of the Tver lands, but suddenly fell ill and died. After this, there were rumors for a long time that he was poisoned. The only heir of Ivan III was Sophia's son Vasily Ivanovich.
The attitude towards the wife of Ivan III in the princely circle was different. One nobility revered the Grand Duchess, respected her for her intelligence, the other considered her very proud, not taking into account anyone’s opinion, and the third party was convinced that with the appearance of the Greek princess in Moscow, Prince Ivan III “changed the old customs” because of her "
Sophia Palaeologus died two years before the death of her husband in 1503. Until the end of her life, she considered herself the princess of Tsaregorod, the Greek, and only then the Grand Duchess of Moscow.
Ivan III and Sophia Paleologue
The sudden death of Ivan III's first wife, Princess Maria Borisovna, on April 22, 1467, made the Grand Duke of Moscow think about a new marriage. The widowed Grand Duke chose the Greek princess Sophia Paleologus, who lived in Rome and was reputed to be a Catholic. Some historians believe that the idea of the “Roman-Byzantine” marriage union was born in Rome, others give preference to Moscow, and still others to Vilna or Krakow.
Sophia (in Rome they called her Zoe) Palaeologus was the daughter of the Morean despot Thomas Palaeologus and was the niece of Emperors Constantine XI and John VIII. Despina Zoya spent her childhood in Morea and on the island of Corfu. She came to Rome with her brothers Andrei and Manuel after the death of her father in May 1465. The Palaiologos came under the patronage of Cardinal Vissarion, who retained his sympathies for the Greeks. The Patriarch of Constantinople and Cardinal Vissarion tried to renew the union with Russia through marriage.
Yuri the Greek, who arrived in Moscow from Italy on February 11, 1469, brought Ivan III a certain “leaf”. In this message, the author of which, apparently, was Pope Paul II himself, and the co-author was Cardinal Vissarion, the Grand Duke was informed about the stay in Rome of a noble bride devoted to Orthodoxy, Sophia Paleologus. Dad promised Ivan his support if he wanted to woo her.
In Moscow they did not like to rush in important matters and they pondered over the new news from Rome for four months. Finally, all thoughts, doubts and preparations were left behind. On January 16, 1472, Moscow ambassadors set off on a long journey.
In Rome, Muscovites were honorably received by the new Pope Sixtus IV. As a gift from Ivan III, the ambassadors presented the pontiff with sixty selected sable skins. From now on, the matter quickly came to an end. A week later, Sixtus IV in St. Peter's Cathedral performs a solemn ceremony of Sophia's betrothal in absentia to the Moscow sovereign.
At the end of June 1472, the bride, accompanied by Moscow ambassadors, the papal legate and a large retinue, went to Moscow. At parting, dad gave her a long audience and his blessing. He ordered that magnificent, crowded meetings be held everywhere for Sophia and her retinue.
Sophia Paleologus arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1472, and her wedding to Ivan III immediately took place. What is the reason for the rush? It turns out that the next day the memory of St. John Chrysostom, the heavenly patron of the Moscow sovereign, was celebrated. From now on, the family happiness of Prince Ivan was given under the protection of the great saint.
Sophia became the full-fledged Grand Duchess of Moscow.
The very fact that Sophia agreed to go from Rome to distant Moscow to seek her fortune suggests that she was a brave, energetic and adventurous woman. In Moscow, she was expected not only by the honors given to the Grand Duchess, but also by the hostility of the local clergy and the heir to the throne. At every step she had to defend her rights.
Ivan, for all his love for luxury, was thrifty to the point of stinginess. He saved on literally everything. Growing up in a completely different environment, Sofia Paleolog, on the contrary, strived to shine and show generosity. This was required by her ambition as a Byzantine princess, niece of the last emperor. In addition, generosity made it possible to make friends among the Moscow nobility.
But the best way to establish oneself was, of course, childbearing. The Grand Duke wanted to have sons. Sophia herself wanted this. However, to the delight of her ill-wishers, she gave birth to three daughters in a row - Elena (1474), Theodosia (1475) and again Elena (1476). Sophia prayed to God and all the saints for the gift of a son.
Finally her request was fulfilled. On the night of March 25-26, 1479, a boy was born, named Vasily in honor of his grandfather. (For his mother, he always remained Gabriel - in honor of the Archangel Gabriel.) Happy parents connected the birth of their son with last year's pilgrimage and fervent prayer at the tomb of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Trinity Monastery. Sophia said that when approaching the monastery, the great elder himself appeared to her, holding a boy in his arms.
Following Vasily, she gave birth to two more sons (Yuri and Dmitry), then two daughters (Elena and Feodosia), then three more sons (Semyon, Andrei and Boris) and the last, in 1492, daughter Evdokia.
But now the question inevitably arose about the future fate of Vasily and his brothers. The heir to the throne remained the son of Ivan III and Maria Borisovna, Ivan the Young, whose son Dmitry was born on October 10, 1483 in his marriage to Elena Voloshanka. In the event of the death of Derzhavny, he would not hesitate to get rid of Sophia and her family in one way or another. The best they could hope for was exile or exile. At the thought of this, the Greek woman was overcome with rage and impotent despair.
In the winter of 1490, Sophia’s brother, Andrei Paleologus, came to Moscow from Rome. The Moscow ambassadors who had traveled to Italy returned with him. They brought a lot of all kinds of craftsmen to the Kremlin. One of them, the visiting doctor Leon, volunteered to heal Prince Ivan the Young from a leg disease. But when he put jars for the prince and gave him his potions (from which he could hardly die), a certain attacker added poison to these potions. On March 7, 1490, 32-year-old Ivan the Young died.
This whole story gave rise to many rumors in Moscow and throughout Rus'. The hostile relationship between Ivan the Young and Sophia Paleolog was well known. The Greek woman did not enjoy the love of Muscovites. It is quite understandable that rumor attributed to her the murder of Ivan the Young. In “The History of the Grand Duke of Moscow,” Prince Kurbsky directly accused Ivan III of poisoning his own son, Ivan the Young. Yes, such a turn of events opened the way to the throne for Sophia’s children. Derzhavny himself found himself in an extremely difficult situation. Probably, in this intrigue, Ivan III, who ordered his son to use the services of a vain doctor, turned out to be only a blind tool in the hands of a cunning Greek woman.
After the death of Ivan the Young, the question of the heir to the throne intensified. There were two candidates: the son of Ivan the Young - Dmitry and the eldest son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog - Vasily. The claims of Dmitry the grandson were reinforced by the fact that his father was officially proclaimed Grand Duke - co-ruler of Ivan III and heir to the throne.
The sovereign was faced with a painful choice: to send either his wife and son, or his daughter-in-law and grandson to prison... The murder of a rival has at all times been the usual price of supreme power.
In the fall of 1497, Ivan III leaned towards Dmitry. He ordered that a solemn “crowning to the kingdom” be prepared for his grandson. Having learned about this, supporters of Sophia and Prince Vasily formed a conspiracy that included the murder of Dmitry, as well as Vasily’s flight to Beloozero (from where the road to Novgorod opened before him), and the seizure of the grand ducal treasury stored in Vologda and Beloozero. However, already in December, Ivan arrested all the conspirators, including Vasily.
During the investigation, it became clear that Sophia Paleolog was involved in the conspiracy. It is possible that she was the organizer of the enterprise. Sophia obtained poison and waited for the right opportunity to poison Dmitry.
On Sunday, February 4, 1498, 14-year-old Dmitry was solemnly declared heir to the throne in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Sophia Paleologus and her son Vasily were absent from this coronation. It seemed that their cause was completely lost. The courtiers rushed to please Elena Stefanovna and her crowned son. However, the crowd of flatterers soon retreated in bewilderment. The Sovereign never gave Dmitry real power, giving him control over only some northern districts.
Ivan III continued to painfully search for a way out of the dynastic impasse. Now the original plan did not seem successful to him. The sovereign felt sorry for his young sons Vasily, Yuri, Dmitry Zhilka, Semyon, Andrey... And he lived together with Princess Sophia for a quarter of a century... Ivan III understood that sooner or later Sophia’s sons would rebel. There were only two ways to prevent the performance: either destroy the second family, or bequeath the throne to Vasily and destroy the family of Ivan the Young.
This time the Sovereign chose the second path. On March 21, 1499, he “bestowed... his son Prince Vasil Ivanovich, named him Sovereign Grand Duke, gave him Velikiy Novgorod and Pskov as a grand prince.” As a result, three great princes appeared in Rus' at once: father, son and grandson!
On Thursday, February 13, 1500, a magnificent wedding was held in Moscow. Ivan III gave his 14-year-old daughter Theodosia in marriage to Prince Vasily Danilovich Kholmsky, the son of the famous commander and leader of the Tver “compatriots” in Moscow. This marriage contributed to a rapprochement between the children of Sophia Paleolog and the top of the Moscow nobility. Unfortunately, exactly a year later, Theodosia died.
The denouement of the family drama came only two years later. “The same spring (1502) the Great Prince, April 11, on Monday, put disgrace on his grandson Grand Duke Dmitry and his mother, Grand Duchess Elena, and from that day he did not order them to be remembered in litanies and litias, nor named Grand Duke, and put them behind the bailiffs.” Three days later, Ivan III “bestowed his son Vasily, blessed him and placed him in the Grand Duchy of Volodymyr and Moscow and All Rus' as autocrat, with the blessing of Simon, Metropolitan of All Rus'.”
Exactly one year after these events, on April 7, 1503, Sophia Paleologus died. The body of the Grand Duchess was buried in the cathedral of the Kremlin Ascension Monastery. She was buried next to the grave of the Tsar’s first wife, Princess Maria Borisovna of Tver.
Soon the health of Ivan III himself deteriorated. On Thursday, September 21, 1503, he, along with the heir to the throne Vasily and his younger sons, went on a pilgrimage to the northern monasteries. However, the saints were no longer inclined to help the repentant sovereign. Upon returning from the pilgrimage, Ivan was struck by paralysis: “... it took away his arm and leg and eye.”
Ivan III died on October 27, 1505. In the “History” of V.N. Tatishchev there are the following lines: “This blessed and praiseworthy great prince John the Great, formerly named Timothy, added many reigns to the great prince and multiplied his strength, refuted the barbaric wicked power and delivered the entire Russian land of tributary and captivity , and made many tributaries from the Horde, introduced many crafts, which I had never known before, brought love and friendship and brotherhood to many distant sovereigns, glorified the entire Russian land; in all this, his pious wife, Grand Duchess Sophia, helped him; and may they have eternal memory for ever and ever.”
This woman was credited with many important government deeds. What made Sofia Paleolog so different? Interesting facts about her, as well as biographical information, are collected in this article. 
Sofia Fominichna Paleolog, aka Zoya Paleologina, was born in October 1455. Origins from the Byzantine imperial dynasty of the Palaiologos.
Grand Duchess of Moscow, second wife of Ivan III, mother of Vasily III, grandmother of Ivan the Terrible.
Cardinal's proposal
The ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow in February 1469. He handed over a letter to the Grand Duke with a proposal to marry Sophia, daughter of Theodore I, Despot of Morea. By the way, this letter also said that Sofia Paleologus (real name is Zoya, they decided to replace it with an Orthodox one for diplomatic reasons) had already refused two crowned suitors who had wooed her. These were the Duke of Milan and the French king. The fact is that Sofia did not want to marry a Catholic. 
Sofia Paleolog (of course, you can’t find a photo of her, but portraits are presented in the article), according to the ideas of that distant time, was no longer young. However, she was still quite attractive. She had expressive, amazingly beautiful eyes, as well as matte, delicate skin, which in Rus' was considered a sign of excellent health. In addition, the bride was distinguished by her stature and sharp mind.
Who is Sofia Fominichna Paleolog? 
Sofia Fominichna is the niece of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last emperor of Byzantium. Since 1472, she was the wife of Ivan III Vasilyevich. Her father was Thomas Palaiologos, who fled to Rome with his family in 1453 after the Turks captured Constantinople. Sophia Paleologus lived after the death of her father in the care of the great Pope. For a number of reasons, he wished to marry her to Ivan III, who was widowed in 1467. He agreed. 
Sofia Paleolog gave birth to a son in 1479, who later became Vasily III Ivanovich. In addition, she achieved the declaration of Vasily as the Grand Duke, whose place was to be taken by Dmitry, the grandson of Ivan III, crowned king. Ivan III used his marriage to Sophia to strengthen Rus' in the international arena. 
Icon "Blessed Heaven" and the image of Michael III
Sofia Palaeologus, Grand Duchess of Moscow, brought several Orthodox icons. It is believed that among them was the “Blessed Heaven” icon, a rare image of the Mother of God. She was in the Kremlin Archangel Cathedral. However, according to another legend, the relic was transported from Constantinople to Smolensk, and when the latter was captured by Lithuania, this icon was used to bless the marriage of Princess Sofya Vitovtovna when she married Vasily I, Prince of Moscow. The image that is in the cathedral today is a copy of an ancient icon, made at the end of the 17th century by order of Fyodor Alekseevich. 
Muscovites traditionally brought lamp oil and water to this icon. It was believed that they were filled with healing properties, because the image had healing powers. This icon is one of the most revered in our country today.
In the Archangel Cathedral, after the wedding of Ivan III, an image of Michael III, the Byzantine emperor who was the founder of the Palaeologus dynasty, also appeared. Thus, it was argued that Moscow is the successor of the Byzantine Empire, and the sovereigns of Rus' are the heirs of the Byzantine emperors.
The birth of the long-awaited heir
After Sofia Palaeologus, the second wife of Ivan III, married him in the Assumption Cathedral and became his wife, she began to think about how to gain influence and become a real queen. Paleologue understood that for this she had to present the prince with a gift that only she could give: to give birth to him a son who would become the heir to the throne. To Sofia’s chagrin, the first-born was a daughter who died almost immediately after birth. A year later, a girl was born again, but she also died suddenly. Sofia Palaeologus cried, prayed to God to give her an heir, distributed handfuls of alms to the poor, and donated to churches. After some time, the Mother of God heard her prayers - Sofia Paleolog became pregnant again. 
Her biography was finally marked by a long-awaited event. It took place on March 25, 1479 at 8 pm, as stated in one of the Moscow chronicles. A son was born. He was named Vasily of Paria. The boy was baptized by Vasiyan, the Rostov archbishop, in the Sergius Monastery.
What did Sofia bring with her?
Sofia managed to instill in her what was dear to her, and what was valued and understood in Moscow. She brought with her the customs and traditions of the Byzantine court, pride in her own origins, as well as annoyance at the fact that she had to marry a tributary of the Mongol-Tatars. It is unlikely that Sophia liked the simplicity of the situation in Moscow, as well as the unceremoniousness of the relations that reigned at that time at court. Ivan III himself was forced to listen to reproachful speeches from the obstinate boyars. However, in the capital, even without it, many had a desire to change the old order, which did not correspond to the position of the Moscow sovereign. And the wife of Ivan III with the Greeks she brought, who saw both Roman and Byzantine life, could give the Russians valuable instructions on what models and how they should implement the changes everyone desired. 
The prince's wife cannot be denied influence on the behind-the-scenes life of the court and its decorative environment. She skillfully built personal relationships and was excellent at court intrigue. However, Paleologue could only respond to political ones with suggestions that echoed the vague and secret thoughts of Ivan III. The idea was especially clear that by her marriage the princess was making the Moscow rulers successors to the emperors of Byzantium, with the interests of the Orthodox East clinging to the latter. Therefore, Sophia Palaeologus in the capital of the Russian state was valued mainly as a Byzantine princess, and not as a Grand Duchess of Moscow. She herself understood this. As Princess Sofia, she enjoyed the right to receive foreign embassies in Moscow. Therefore, her marriage to Ivan was a kind of political demonstration. It was announced to the whole world that the heiress of the Byzantine house, which had fallen shortly before, transferred its sovereign rights to Moscow, which became the new Constantinople. Here she shares these rights with her husband. 
Ivan, sensing his new position in the international arena, found the previous environment of the Kremlin ugly and cramped. Masters were sent from Italy, following the princess. They built the Faceted Chamber, the Assumption Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral), and a new stone palace on the site of the wooden mansion. In the Kremlin at this time, a strict and complex ceremony began to take place at the court, imparting arrogance and stiffness to Moscow life. Just as in his palace, Ivan III began to act in external relations with a more solemn gait. Especially when the Tatar yoke fell off the shoulders without a fight, as if by itself. And it weighed heavily over all of northeastern Russia for almost two centuries (from 1238 to 1480). A new language, more solemn, appeared at this time in government papers, especially diplomatic ones. A rich terminology is emerging. 
Sofia Paleologue was not loved in Moscow for the influence she exerted on the Grand Duke, as well as for the changes in the life of Moscow - “great unrest” (in the words of boyar Bersen-Beklemishev). Sofia interfered not only in domestic, but also in foreign policy affairs. She demanded that Ivan III refuse to pay tribute to the Horde khan and finally free himself from his power. The skilful advice of the Paleologist, as evidenced by V.O. Klyuchevsky, always responded to her husband’s intentions. Therefore he refused to pay tribute. Ivan III trampled on the Khan's charter in Zamoskovreche, in the Horde courtyard. Later, the Transfiguration Church was built on this site. However, even then the people “talked” about Paleologus. Before Ivan III left for the great stand on the Ugra in 1480, he sent his wife and children to Beloozero. For this, the subjects attributed to the sovereign the intention to give up power if Moscow was taken by Khan Akhmat, and to flee with his wife.
"Duma" and changes in treatment of subordinates
Ivan III, freed from the yoke, finally felt like a sovereign sovereign. Through the efforts of Sofia, palace etiquette began to resemble Byzantine. The prince gave his wife a “gift”: Ivan III allowed Sofia to assemble her own “duma” from the members of her retinue and organize “diplomatic receptions” in her half. The princess received foreign ambassadors and politely talked with them. This was an unprecedented innovation for Rus'. The treatment at the sovereign's court also changed.
Sophia Palaeologus brought her spouse sovereign rights, as well as the right to the Byzantine throne. The boyars had to reckon with this. Ivan III used to love arguments and objections, but under Sophia he radically changed the way he treated his courtiers. Ivan began to act unapproachable, easily fell into anger, often brought disgrace, and demanded special respect for himself. Rumor also attributed all these misfortunes to the influence of Sophia Paleologus.
Fight for the throne
She was also accused of violating the succession to the throne. In 1497, enemies told the prince that Sophia Palaeologus was planning to poison his grandson in order to place her own son on the throne, that she was secretly visited by sorcerers preparing a poisonous potion, and that Vasily himself was participating in this conspiracy. Ivan III took the side of his grandson in this matter. He ordered the sorcerers to be drowned in the Moscow River, arrested Vasily, and removed his wife from him, demonstratively executing several members of the “Duma” Paleologus. In 1498, Ivan III crowned Dmitry in the Assumption Cathedral as heir to the throne.
However, Sophia had the ability for court intrigue in her blood. She accused Elena Voloshanka of adherence to heresy and was able to bring about her downfall. The Grand Duke put his grandson and daughter-in-law into disgrace and named Vasily the legal heir to the throne in 1500. 
The marriage of Sofia Paleolog and Ivan III certainly strengthened the Moscow state. He contributed to its transformation into the Third Rome. Sofia Paleolog lived for more than 30 years in Russia, giving birth to 12 children to her husband. However, she never managed to fully understand the foreign country, its laws and traditions. Even in official chronicles there are entries condemning her behavior in some situations that are difficult for the country.
Sofia attracted architects and other cultural figures, as well as doctors, to the Russian capital. The creations of Italian architects made Moscow not inferior in majesty and beauty to the capitals of Europe. This contributed to strengthening the prestige of the Moscow sovereign and emphasized the continuity of the Russian capital to the Second Rome.
Death of Sofia 
Sofia died in Moscow on August 7, 1503. She was buried in the Ascension Convent of the Moscow Kremlin. In December 1994, in connection with the transfer of the remains of the royal and princely wives to the Archangel Cathedral, S. A. Nikitin, using the preserved skull of Sophia, restored her sculptural portrait (pictured above). Now we can at least approximately imagine what Sophia Paleolog looked like.
