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He was the son of Gleb Vasil'kovich, appanage prince of Beloozero and
Feodora, a Tatar princess. He was appanage prince of Beloozero. He married
about in 1278 with the daughter of Fedor
Rostislavich Chernii, appanage prince of Yaroslavl. Their sons were
Fedor, prince of Beloozero; and
Roman, appanage prince of Beloozero. The family is
shown on this chart. Mikhail regained control of
Beloozero in 1286. He took an active interest in strengthening his domain and
played an active role in the political intriges of the time. In 1293 he was an
ally of Andrei Aleksandrovich against Dmitrii
Aleksandrovich. By the mid -14th century Beloozero, thanks to staying clear of
the internal Rus inter-princely fights as well as the Tatar raids, was becoming
an important trade center. On the other hand, the far northern location meant
that it eventually lost out in importance to Moscow and Tver. It reached its
zenith in the 1330's but after that generated unwelcome interest on the part of
the Moscow grand princes who saw it not only as a lucrative location in itself
but also as a strategic location from which to conduct campaigns against
Novgorod. Trying to retain independence the Beloozero government switched from
one side to the other. Mikhail's son, Roman, followed an anti-Muscovite policy
of alliance with Tver that brought reaction from Ivan
I. Never one to refrain from using Tatars, Ivan in 1339 got the Tatars to
execute the Tver prince, leaving Roman Mikhailovich out in the open. Then Ivan
of Moscow used his daughter, by marrying her to Roman's son, Fedor. From then
on the Beloozero princes were loyal subordinates of Moscow. By 1389 Dmitrii
Donskoi was able to indicate in his will that Beloozero had been "bought'
by Ivan. And the Beloozero principality was divided into various udels for
several of Gleb's descendents. (see chart). The last independent prince of
Beloozero was Yurii Vasil'yevich
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