'
Prince Daniil Vasiliyevich Shchenya' (''Даниил Васильевич Щеня'' in
Russian) (? - no later than
1519) was a leading Russian military leader during the reigns of
Ivan III and
Vasili III.
Schenya was a
Gediminid princeling whose great grandfather settled in Moscow and married a sister of the grand duke. In
1489, the prince and his army of 64,000 men
besieged and captured the city of
Khlynov, the inhabitants of which had often pillaged the northern lands of
Russia. All citizens of Khlynov were taken to different Muscovite towns; the fittest of them were moved to
Moscow.
Shchenya took an active part in the war against the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania and border disputes and skirmishes, which had preceded the war. In
1493, Shchenya and his relative Prince
Vasili Ivanovich Patrikeyev (also known as
Vassian Kosoy) captured the city of
Vyazma and transferred its princes to Moscow. During the
Russo-Swedish War, 1496-1499 his army devastated
Finland. In
1499, under the leadership of Prince
Daniil Kholmsky, Shchenya defeated the
Grand Hetman of Lithuania Konstantin Ostrozhsky at the
Battle of Vedrosha and took him prisoner.
In
1501, however, Shchenya's army was crushed near
Izborsk by
Wolter von Plettenberg, master of the
Livonian Order and ally of the
Lithuanian ruler
Aleksandras II. After the fall of
Ivan Yuriyevich Patrikeyev and his son-in-law
Semeon Ivanovich Ryapolovsky, Shchenya took the post of the second
voyevoda of Moscow.
In
1508, he and Dmitriy Shemyachich unsuccessfully sieged
Orsha. That same year Shchenya became the first voyevoda of Moscow after the fall of Daniil Kholmsky. In
1514 Shchenya aptly crowned his military career by capturing
Smolensk from the Lithuanians.