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History:
The date of foundation of Kashin is not know. From the before 8th century at
least there were Finno-ugric tribes there, Meri and Chud. Then Slavyan arrived.
The town name is from the eKashinka river. From ancient times there were many
villages in the Kashin area, for instance Ksnyatin and Belgorod. Kashin is
first mentioned in the Chronicles for 1237 as one of the towns attacked and
ruined by the Mongols. But the date is wrong, it was 1238 instead. The
Chronicles note for 1288 that grand prince Dmitrii Aleksandrovich in conflict
with the Tver prince took Kashin by storm. About 1300 Kashin was given to the
daughter of Dmitri Borisovich Rostovski and left the Tver principality. Then
about 1319 it seems to have disappeared from the chronicles. But in 1318 as a
result of his the trip to the Horde Tver prince Mikhail II Yaroslavich divided
his otchina and took from it Kashin as a udel for his fourth son,
Vasilii. Kashin had a very significant strategic importance since it was
located on the important route to Tver from the north-east. Thus it became the
area for bitter conflict in the 14th century between Moscow and Tver. In order
to preserve its independence the Kashin leaders waffled, and then helped Moscow
in order to weaken Tver.
In 1321 Yuri III Danilovich decided that he would himself collect thee 'dan'
tribute for the Tatar khans. He began to war with the Tver prince Dmitrii
Mikhailovich Groznii Ochi and descended on Kashin. The Tver leaders qhickly
came to aid Kashin, but then a peace was concluded and Kashin was saved.
Nevertheless, in 1327 after the major anti-Tatar uprising in Tver, the town was
burned by the Moscow forces.
Despite having political dependence from Tver the Kashin rulers were full
rulers of their votchina and even minted their own coin money. The
boundaries of the Kashin principality are not clearly known today. They can be
approximately identified in a Kashin docum,ent of 1504.
In 1345 Vasilii Mikhailovich I became the senior prince in the Tver lands and
began to pretend to the grand princely throne. This starteed a war between
Kashin rulers and Vsyevolod Aleksandrovich of Kholm that ended in 1349 with
Vasilii taking Tver. Soon, however, conflict developed between Tver and Mikulin
and in the end Mikhail Aleksandrovich Mikluinski managed to take the Tver
throne and Valilii Mikhailvoich I was relagated to Kashin. After that as the
new Tver prince in his turn was in opposition to Moscow, Vasilii took the side
of Dmitrii Donskoi and together with him besieged Tver. They were not able to
take the town and were soon forced to conclude a peace agreement.
After the death of Vasilii Mikhailovich I in 1368 his son, Mikhail, sat on the
Kashin throne. Soon the Tver prince with the aid of the Lithuanian grand duke
Vitvot forced Kashin into alliance with Tver. Now princeVasilii Mikhailovich II
was required in 1374 to flee to Moscow and soon with Dmitri Donskoi he returned
to besiege Tver. In achieving the independence of his udel from Tver he came
under the power of Moscow. After the death in 1382 of the heirless Kashin
prince his udel again fell under the power of Mikhail Aleksandrovich who sent
his own son there to rule.
In 1399 by the will of the Tver prince Mikhail, Kashin udel was given to
his son Vasilii and his nephew Ivan Borisovich for joint rule. After the new
Tver grand prince, Ivan Mikhailovich began to tighten udel government Ivan
Borisovich in 1408 fled to Moscow .
In 1412 the Tver prince tried to capture Kashin prince Vasilii Mikhailovich III
but Vasilii managed to flee to Moscow. Soon Vasilii received support from the
Kypchak Horde and with Tatar troops fell on Kashin but he couldn't take it and
again returned to the Horde. In 1425 he again returned to his udel.
In 1485 after Ivan III took Tver, Kashin principality as a dependency of Tver
was finally united into the Moscow principality.
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