(1462 – 1505)
With the accession to the Moscow throne of Ivan III, son of Vasily the Dark, a new stage of Russian history begins – the Moscow Russia.
His reign is marked by many important events.
The first place is occupied by the annexation to Moscow of the most significant destinies of northeastern Russia, namely, Novgorod, (1478), Tver, (1485), Vereisky’s estate and part of the Ryazan region. Only Pskov and the other part of Ryazan remained unconnected.
During the reign of Ivan III in Novgorod, there were 2 parties: Lithuanian, which stood for the transition to citizenship of the Polish-Lithuanian state, and Moscow, which stood for Orthodox Moscow.
At the head of the Lithuanian party was the intelligent, determined but extremely ambitious widow of the posadnik Marfa Boretskaya. She conceived independently of the Moscow prince to rule Novgorod. In view of this, the Lithuanian party persuaded the Veche to conclude an alliance with Polish King Casimir IV.
Ivan took advantage of this, accusing the Novgorodians of treason. And in July 1471 he put forward a large army. Broken on the river Sheloni by Prince Daniel of Kholm, the Novgorodians asked the Grand Duke for peace, sending Archbishop Theofan. Ioann agreed to peace, obliging the Novgorodians to renounce the alliance with Casimir IV, to pay 15,500 rubles. for military expenses and recognize the Grand Prince of Moscow as his supreme judge. The veche was left in its original form.
In 1478, Ivan III undertook a new campaign against Novgorod in order to destroy a very rebellious veche. This time the matter did not reach the clash, the Novgorodians accepted and kissed the cross as an autocratic sovereign. The veche was destroyed, the veche bell, the symbol of Novgorod’s liberties, and Maria Boretskaya were sent to Moscow, the instigators of the troubles were executed, several thousand Novgorod families were transferred to other areas, and the merchants and boyar children from the Moscow principality moved to their place. This was the last blow to Novgorod, and it became a secondary city.
Ivan finally overthrew the Mongol yoke (1480), which for 237 years gravitated over the Russian land (1223 – 1480 years).
Being married to Sophia Paleologus (Greek princess), Ivan III was the first to introduce the rite of the royal wedding.
Considering himself the heir of the Byzantine emperors, Ivan III takes in the intercourse with foreigners the title of king and connects the Moscow coat of arms, i.e. image of St. George, defeated by a dragon, with the Byzantine coat of arms – a two-headed eagle.
In 1497, on the orders of Ivan, the Sudebnik was drafted by the deacon Gusev on the basis of the Russian Truth, the litigations and customs of the Moscow judicial proceedings.