COXe’o TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
597
The tomb of Ivan Vaffilievitch I., juftly efteemed the founder of Ruffian greatnefs,claimed my principal attention. At his acceffion to the throne, in 1462, Ruflia formeda colle&ion of petty principalities, engaged in perpetual wars with each other, fomenominally fubjedt to the Great-duke of Mofcow, and all, with that monarch himfelf,tributary to the Tartars *. Ivan, in the courfe of a long and profperous reign, gavea new afpedl to the Ruffian affairs: he annexed to his dominions the duchies of Tverand other neighbouring principalities, fubdued Novogorod, and, what was ftill moreglorious and beneficial, he refcued this country from the Tartar yoke, and refufed thepayment of the ignominious tribute exacted from his predeceffors. He had no fconerdelivered Ruffia from this dependence, than his alliance .was courted by many Euro-pean fovereigns; and during his reign Mofcow faw, for the firft time, ambaffadorsfrom the Emperor of Germany, the Pope, the Grand-fignor, the Kings of Poland andDenmark, and the Republic of Venice .
The talents of this able Monarch were not confined to military atchievements: Ruf-fia was indebted to him for the improvement of her commerce, and for opening a moreready communication with the European nations. Under his aufpices, the know-ledge of gunpowder and the art of calling cannon were firft brought into Rufiia byAriftotle of Bologna f. Pie employed the fame artift J, as well as other foreigners,to recoin the Ruffian money, hitherto disfigured by Tartar infcriptions ; he engaged, ata vaft expence, Italian artifts to enclofe the Kremlins of Mofcow and Novogorod withWalls of brick, and to ere& feveral churches and other public ftrudfures with the famematerials §. For his various civil and military fervices he defervedly required thename of Great. Ivan is defcribed as a perfon of gigantic ftature, and ferocious afpedt.His manners and deportment, ftrongly infefied with the barbarifm of his age and coun-try, were fomewhat foftened and poliffied by the example of his fecond wife Sophia ||,a Grecian Princefs of confummate beauty and winning addrefs, who to all the foftergraces of her fex added a manly fpirit; and who, while Ihe infufed into her hulbanda tafte for the arts of peace, animated him to thole glorious enterprizes which tendedto the aggrandizement of his country.
Ivan the Great died in 1505, in the fixty-feventh year of his age: on each fide ofhis remains are depofited tliofe of his father Vafili Vaffilievitch, furnamed The Blind j
* The fervitude of the Great-duke will appear from a paffage in Cromer, the Polifh hiftoriarr.“ Whenever the Tartar ambaffadors were fent to Mofcow, iri order to colled the accuftomed tribute, theGreat-duke uftd to meet them, and offer, as a mark of his refpedt, a cup of mare’s milk ; and if a dropchanced to fall upon the mane of the horfe, on which the Tartar ambaffador was fitting, he would himfelflick it up. When they reached the hall of audience, the ambaffadors read the Khan’s letter, feated upona carpet of the choicell furs, while the Great-duke with his nobles knelt, and liftened in refpcdfi.l filence.”Cromer, 1 xxix. p. 647. t Bachmeilter’s Effai fur laBib.de Peterf. p. 20. J Poflevinu.v
§ A vaft effort in thofe barbarous times, and which deferves to be mentioned, bccaufe at his acceflionto the throne almoft all the buildings of Mofcow were of wood.
|| Sophia was daughter of Thomas Palaologus, brother of Conftantine, the laft Grecian Emperor,who loft his life when Conflantinople was taken by the Turks in 14^. Soon after that event Sophia re-paired to Rome with her father, where they lived under the protedlion of the Pope, who is faid to havenegociated her marriage with the Great-duke, and even to have beftowed her portion, in hopes of pro-curing, through her influence, great advantages to the Roman Catholic religion in Ruffia. But thefehopes were fruit rated ; for Sophia, on her marriage in 1482, embraced the Greek religion. She encou-raged her hufband in (haking off the Tartar yoke, and probably affifted him in procuring the abltfl archi-te&s from Italy . See Herberftein, in Rer. Mof. Comm. p. 7. alfo Pan Jovii de Leg. Mof.—Ibid p. 129.
«r He received the appellation of The Blind, becaufe his eyes had been put out by order of liis uncle,who, having formerly depofed him, pra&ifed this cruel expedient to difqualify him from re-akending theilirone. He vva6 afterwards, however, retaliated in the fovereignty by the affe&ion of his fubjedts.
4t
and