The Sovereign of all Russia,
also the Sovereign and Grand Prince of all Russia, was a title used by the
grand princes of Moscow. The title was later changed to
sovereign, tsar and grand prince.
History
Dmitry Shemyaka
Dmitriy Yurievich Shemyaka () (died 1453) was the second son of Yury of Zvenigorod by Anastasia of Smolensk and grandson of Dmitri Donskoi. His hereditary patrimony was the rich northern town Galich-Mersky. When his uncle prince Vasily I of ...
used the title sovereign from 1446 and issued coinage with the title.
After his brother
Vasily II
Vasily II Vasilyevich (; 10 March 141527 March 1462), nicknamed the Blind or the Dark (), was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1425 until his death in 1462.
He succeeded his father, Vasily I, only to be challenged by his uncle Yuri of Zvenig ...
returned to
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
and took back the title of
grand prince of Moscow
The Grand Prince of Moscow (), known as the Prince of Moscow until 1389, was the ruler of the Grand Principality of Moscow. The Moscow principality was initially established in the 13th century as an appanage within the Vladimir-Suzdal grand prin ...
, he also adopted the title of sovereign and began issuing coins with the title.
Following the expansion of his realm and his marriage to
Sophia Palaiologina, the grand prince
Ivan III took the title of sovereign and claimed inheritance to all the former territories of
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,.
* was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...
, including those under
Lithuanian control.
His full title was: ''Ivan, by the Grace of God, the Sovereign of all Russia and the Grand Prince of Vladimir, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tver, and Yugorsk, and Perm, and Bulgar and others''.
In diplomatic correspondence, the Latinized version of his title ''gospodar' vseia Rusi'' was ''dominus totius Russiae''.
The unification of the Russian principalities during his reign and the end of the "Mongol yoke" in Russia cultivated a sense of an imperial role for the Muscovite grand prince as the ruler of all Russia.
Ivan III also used the title of
tsar
Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...
in foreign correspondence,
especially as there was no longer a ''tsar'' in
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
.
Ivan had his grandson
Dmitry
Dmitry (); Church Slavic form: Dimitry or Dimitri (); ancient Russian forms: D'mitriy or Dmitr ( or ) is a male given name common in Orthodox Christian culture, the Russian version of Demetrios (, ). The meaning of the name is "devoted to, de ...
crowned as grand prince using the
crown of Monomakh for the first time, an item of
Russian regalia that would be used to strengthen the claim of
Moscow as the heir to the Byzantine Empire, though Dmitry would never reign.
Notes
References
{{Russian sovereigns, state=collapsed
Russian monarchy
Medieval history of Russia