Yury of Zvenigorod

The Muscovite Civil War or the Great Feudal War is a prolonged conflict that casts its shadow over the entire reign of Vasily II of Moscow (from 1425 to 1453).

The two warring parties are Vasily II, the Grand Prince of Moscow, as one party, and his uncle, Yury Dmitrievich, the Prince of Zvenigorod, and the sons of Yuri Dmitrievich, Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka, as the other party.

At the intermediate stage, the party of Yury conquers Moscow, but at the end Vasily II regains his crown.

This is the first civil war in the history of Muscovy, whose largely peaceful rise had been predicated on a lack of conflict within the ruling family.

Vasily II is the youngest son of Vasily I of Moscow by Sophia of Lithuania, the only daughter of Vytautas the Great, and the only son to survive his father (his elder brother Ivan had died in 1417 at the age of twenty-two).

On his father's death at fifty-four in 1425, ten-year-old Vasily is proclaimed Grand Duke.

His mother acts as a regent.

His uncle, Yuri of Zvenigorod (Prince of Galich-Mersky), and his two sons, Vasily the Cross-Eyed and Dmitry Shemyaka, seize on the opportunity to advance their own claims to the throne.

These claims are based on the Testament of Dmitri Donskoi, Yuri's father and Vasily's grandfather, who had stated that if Vasily I died Yuri would succeed his appanage.

However, Dmitri had written the testament when Vasily I had no children of his own, and it might be argued that this provision had been made only for the case of Vasily's childless death.

Vasily's claim is supported by Vytautas, his maternal grandfather, and by the boyars.

Yuri of Zvenigorod, Prince of Galich-Mersky and uncle of Vasily II, the seventeen-year-old grand prince of Moscow, gains the support of the boyars due to a marriage contract dispute with Vasili.

Civil conflict, long brewing, erupts into open warfare.

Yuri assembles an army and attacks Moscow.

Vasili, betrayed by the Muscovite boyarin Ivan Vsevolzhsky, is in 1433 defeated and captured by his enemies.

Upon being proclaimed Grand Duke of Muscovy, Yuri pardons his nephew and ...

…sends him to reign in the town of Kolomna.

This proves to be a mistake, as Vasili immediately starts to plot against his uncle and gather all sorts of malcontents.

Yury, feeling the insecurity of his throne, resigns and then leaves Moscow for his northern hometown.

Yuri’s sons Vasily the Cross-Eyed and Dmitry Shemyaka continue the struggle and manage to defeat Vasili, who has to seek refuge in the Golden Horde.

After the death of Yuri in 1434, Vasily the Cross-Eyed enters the Kremlin and is proclaimed the new Grand Duke.

Dmitry Shemyaka, who has his own plans for the throne, quarrels with his brother and concludes an alliance with Grand Prince Vasily.