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HOUSE OF YAROSLAV III YAROSLAVICH, RULERS OF TVER

 
House of Tver bio of Vasilii Mikhailovich bio of Fedor Aleksandrovich bio of Aleksandr Semyonovich bio of Andrei Semyonovich bio of Iosif Andryeyevich bio of Andrei Dmitriyevich bio of Semyon Ivanovich bio of Ivan Dmitriyevich bio of Vasilii Mikhailovich bio of Dmitrii Yur'yevich bio of Andrei Borisovich bio of Mikhail Borisovich last grand prince of Tver bio of Boris Aleksandrovich bio of Yuri Aleksandrovich bio of Boris Aleksandrovich bio of Aleksandr Fedorovich bio of Fedor Mikhailovich bio of Ivan Borisovich bio of Aleksandr Ivanovich bio of Dimitrii Eremiyevich bio of Mikhail Vasiyevich bio of Eremei Konstantinovich bio of Boris Mikhailovich bio of Ivan Mikhailovich bio of Ivan Vsyevolodovich bio of Yuri Vsyevolodovich bio of Mikhail Aleksandrovich bio of Vsyevolod Aleksandrovich bio of Dmitrii Mikhailovich bio of Vasilii Mikhailovich bio of Konstantin Mikhailovich bio of Aleksandr Mikhailovich bio of Mikhail Yaroslavich Starshii bio of Svyatoslav Yaroslav bio of Mikhail Yaroslavich I bio of Yaroslav III Yaroslavich
 

Please put your cursor over each individual to find which are linked to brief biographical descriptions. All the biographies of individuals are linked to fathers and sons. Thus one can trace the whole family from Rurik to Fedor Ivanovich.
The first written mention of Tver in the chronicles dates from 1209. But the town undoubtedly existed long before that year. Its neighbor trading city, Torshsk, was mentioned first in 1139. But there were occupied sites at both places well before that also. What later was designated as the Tver land was in the domain of the Rus principality from the first part of the 10th century. However an independent principality with capital at Tver began only with the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the breakup of Vladimir-Suzdal-Rostov into competing domains under the various related Russian princes. Tver principality, then, existed from 1247 to 1485. The ruling house during that period sprang from Grand Prince Yaroslav III Yaroslavich, brother of Alexander Nevski and Andrei II, Yaroslavich. They were the sons of Yaroslav II Vsyevolodovich, who took over (with Mongol agreement) after the death of his elder brother, Yuri II Vsyevolodich in battle against the Mongols at Siti River. The main line of the princes of Tver traces from Yaroslav to Michael II to Alexander I, to Mikhail III to Ivan to Aleksandr II to Boris to the last prince, Mikhail Borisovich, that is for 8 generations in a little over 200 years. As was typical in the other regions the princes of Tver divided the grand principality into udels-appanages for their sons. The most important included Kashin, Mikulin, and Zubstov. If an incumbent died without heirs the udel reverted to the grand prince. Nevertheless while the domain was thusly divided it could be weakened if the Muscovite prince, for instance, played one appanage prince off against the grand prince of Tver. Tver remained the principal rival of Moscow until it was taken by Ivan III of Moscow, who married Maria, Borisovna, princess of Tver. The princes of Tver vied with those of Moscow for the favor of the Kypchak Khan at Sarai in hopes of receiving his yarlik as the Grand Prince of Vladimir.
Chronology:
1139 - first chronicle mention of Torzhok
1209 - first chronicle mention of Tver
1216 - first chronicle mention of Rzhev and Zubtsov
1238 - first chronicle mention of Kashin
1238 - 4 March, defeat of Yuri Vsyevolodovich by Mongols at Siti river in Tver region
1247 - 1485 - Tver principality (Grand Principality from 1340)
1271 - organization of Tver bishopric
1271 - 1318 - life of Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskii
1297 - first chronicle mention of Starits.
1317 - 22 December - victory of Mikhail Yaroslavich over prince Yuri Danilovich of Moscow and Tatar detachment of Kavgadia at battle of Bortenovo.
1327 - 15 August - major uprising by population of Tver against Tatars, suppressed with great loss to Tver.
1359 - first chronicle mention of Belia
1434 - foundation of Klyazin Troitski Makar'yev Monasteri at Kalyazin.
1466 - 1472 - Tver merchant Afanasii Nikitin travels to India and back overland.


The geneological structure shown here is taken from V. M. Kogan's Istoriya Doma Rurikovichei, St Petersburg 1993. The historical information about Tver and the leading princes is mostly from Valeri Kudashkin's Istoriya Tverskogo Kraya, Tver, 1996.

 
     

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