(1425 – 1462)
The son of Vasily I, Vasily II, nicknamed the Dark One, took the throne by virtue of the new order of succession to the throne.
But his uncle, Yuri Dmitrievich, joined with him in the struggle for the great reign, relying on the right of seniority.
Opponents went to the Horde to resolve the dispute, and Khan Ulu-Makhmet approved on the throne of Basil.
Despite this, Yuri again began a war with Vasily, expelled him from Moscow and died here as Grand Duke.
Sons Yuri, Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka, continued the war. Having captured Vasily Koso, Vasily II ordered him to be blinded, but then he fell into the hands of Dmitry Shemyaka and was also blinded.
Vasily II was the winner of this struggle, which lasted 20 years, for a new order of succession to the throne.
On the side of Vasily the Dark there were Moscow boyars, clergy and people. All of them sympathized with the new order of succession to the throne (from father to elder son), with whom the previous internecine strife for seniority ceased.
Vasily II destroyed all the possessions in the Moscow principality, except for the Verey estate. All the north-eastern regions obeyed him. In the Ryazan principality, he sent his deputies. The Principality of Tver also depended on it.
Dying, Vasily II blessed his eldest son John, the grand prince of Moscow, as Vladimir was included in the Moscow region.
During the Vasily the Dark, the chronicle first mentions the Cossacks (namely the Ryazan, under the year 1444).