ALEXANDER I, GRAND PRINCE OF TVER

(Redirected from Alexander of Tver)
"Prince Alexander of Tver in Pskov", engraving by Boris Chorikov

Grand Prince 'Alexander of Tver' () (7 October 130129 October 1339) was a Grand Prince of Tver and, for some time, of Vladimir.
Aleksandr was a second son of Prince Mikhail of Tver by his wife Anna of Kashin. As a young man, his appanages included Kholm and Mikulin. In 1326, he succeeded his childless brother Dmitry the Terrible Eyes who had been executed on behest of Uzbeg Khan in the Horde.
In the next year a Tatar official, Shevkal (the cousin of Uzbeg), arrived from the Horde, with a large retinue. They took up residence at Aleksandr's palace and, according to chronicle reports, started terrorizing the city, randomly robbing and killing. Rumors spread that Shevkal wanted to kill the prince, occupy the throne for himself and introduce Islam to the city. When, on 15 August, 1327, the Tatars tried to take a horse from a deacon named Dyudko, he cried for help and a mob of furious people rushed on the Tatars and killed them all. Shevkal and his remaining guards were burnt alive in one of the houses where they had attempted to hide.[1]
The massacre led, inevitably to Tatar reprisals. Ivan Kalita of Moscow, brother of Yury of Moscow who had been murdered by Dmitri the Terrible Eyes in 1322, immediately went to the Horde amd, before Aleksandr had time to justify himself to Uzbeg Khan, persuaded the khan to grant Moscow the yarlik or patent of office for the throne of Vladimir. The khan also sent Ivan at the head of an army of 50,000 soldiers to punishment Tver. Alexander fled with his family to Novgorod, but he not was accepted there for fear of the Tatars, so he went on to Pskov.
Pskov not only allowed Aleksandr to enter their city, but made him their prince. Desiring to save the Russian land from further devastation - had Ivan Kalita left Aleksandr in Pskov, the Tatars would have certainly sent another punitive expedition which would have destroyed that city - Aleksandr agreed to abandon the city, but Pskov residents would not let him go. Metropolitan Feognost (Theognostus) arrived in Novgorod and he and Archbishop Moisei of Novgorod (1325-1330; 1352-1359) excommunicated the city at the behest of Ivan Kalita. In 1329, fulfilling the order of the khan, Ivan Kalita and many other princes declared war to Pskov. Aleksander fled into Lithuania and then to Sweden, after which the metropolitan lifted the ban of excommunication against Pskov. Aleksander returned to Pskov a year and a half later under the patronage of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania.
In 1335, Aleksandr sent his son, Fyodor, to the Horde in order to gain forgiveness. Two years later he went ther himself 1337. Uzbeg Khan, at least for a time, forgave his old enemy and sent him back to Tver. This led to renewed hostilities with Moscow, which Tver' could not sustain.
In October 1338 Aleksander and Fyodor were quartered in Sarai by orders of the Khan.[2]

Contents
Family
References
External links

Family


Alexander was married ca. 1320 to Anastasia of Halych and had eight children:
# Fyodor of Tver (d. 1339)
# Lev (b. 1321)
# Mikhail II of Tver (13331399)
# Vsevolod of Kholm (d. 1364)
# Andrey (d. 1365)
# Vladimir (d. 1365)
# Maria (d. 1399), married to Simeon of Russia
# Uliana (ca. 1325 – 1392), married to Algirdas

References


1. Arsenii Nikolaevich Nasonov, ed., ''Novgorodskaia Pervaia Letopis Starshego i Mladshego Izvodov'' (Moscow and Leningrad: ANSSR, 1950), 98-99, 342; A. N. Nasonov, ed., ''Pskovskie Letopisi'' (Moscow and Leningrad: ANSSSR, 1941-1955), Vol. 1, p. 17, Vol. 2, p. 23; John Fennell, "The Tver Uprising of 1327: A Study of the Sources," ''Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas'' 15 (1967), 161-179; Michael C. Paul, "Secular Power and the Archbishops of Novgorod Before the Muscovite Conquest," ''Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History'' 8, No. 2 (2007), 251
2. John Fennell, "Princely Executions in the Horde 1308-1339," ''Forschungen zur Osteuropaischen Geschichte'' 38 (1988), 9-19.

External links



Biography at hrono.ru

Biography at rulex.ru

Pedigree of Alexander of Tver

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