Venden Treaty

Alexander and Elena Ivanovna

Despite the conclusion of peace in 1494, at the turn of the XV — XVI centuries, relations between the Russian state and Lithuania were growing tensions. The ground for a new war with Lithuania, which Ivan III Vasilievich began in 1500 , was the attempts of Alexander Yagellonchik to persuade the Orthodox population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to unite with Catholics , as well as the religious oppression of Jagellonchik against his daughter Ivan III, who had been Prince of Lithuania since 1495. legal spouse. The English historian Bane also names the desire of the Lithuanian court to convert Helen to the Roman faith among the most important causes of the Russian-Lithuanian war of 1500-1503 ^[4] .

The extradition of Elena Ioannovna (1476-1513) ^{[5] to} marry Jagiellonchik was one of the conditions of the Russian-Lithuanian peace treaty of 1494 . At the same time, the future husband, a Catholic, undertook to preserve his wife "Greek law", the Orthodox faith , and guaranteed that he would not force her to adopt Catholicism. However, when Elena asked Alexander to build a church for her in Vilnius Castle, Jagiellonchik refused her, referring to the old Jagailo ban on building new Orthodox churches in Lithuania. In the year of his wedding with the Russian Grand Duchess (1495), Jagiellonchik appointed Metropolitan Makarios, "the Metropolitan of Kiev completely devoted to Orthodoxy." After Makarii was killed near Mazyr in the spring of 1497 by a detachment of Crimean Tatars, Jagiellonchik appointed Iosif Bulgariaovich in his place - a champion of the adoption of the Florentine Union by the Orthodox in 1439 ^[6] .

The new metropolitan of Kiev elected Vilna ^[7] as his residence, from where in 1500 he openly informed Pope Alexander VI (1431-1503) about the alleged readiness of the Orthodox in Lithuania to accept the Florence Union ^{[6] [8]} . This reckless move of Joseph gave rise to the Catholic prelates of Lithuania and Poland to aggravate the situation. Having stated that they are against the conditions of the Union of Florence (which allowed the Orthodox to preserve their traditional rites), the Catholics essentially demanded that the Orthodox of Lithuania and Poland completely convert to Catholicism. The pressure increased and personally on Elena Ioannovna with the aim of forcing her to go to " latinism " ^[9] ; and in 1501 she lost. Alexander himself, according to D. Stone, saw for himself in this dynastic marriage, first of all, the opportunity to present claims, if possible, to the Moscow throne, and considered Elena herself only as a hostage to the fulfillment by Moscow of the terms of the agreement of 1494 ^[10] .

On July 24, 1499, Jagiellonchik and his brother, the Polish king Jan I Olbracht (1459-1501) updated the ancient Gorodelsky Union of 1413 . Having established in the new Gorodel Union that the Polish king cannot be elected without the consent of the Principality of Lithuania, and vice versa, the brothers paved the way for the subsequent combination of these posts, seeing this as a way to strengthen the "vertical of power" ^[11] .

In view of the increasing pressure of the Catholic Church on the Orthodox part of the population of the Polish-Lithuanian state, some of the Russian princes of the Orthodox faith who lived there began to go over to the side of Moscow "with their volosts and cities." ^[12] . Among them, at the beginning of 1500, Prince Simon Ivanovich Belsky took Moscow citizenship, with which his possessions, the city of Bely, to the south-west of Tver, withdrew from Moscow's control. The protest, which Jagiellonchik sent to Moscow with ambassadors, was rejected by Ivan III. Following Belsky, princes Semyon Ivanovich Starodubsky-Mozhaysky and Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich Novgorod-Seversky expressed a similar desire to go to Moscow service. In their possession were such Russian cities as Novgorod-Seversky , Rylsk , Radogosh , Starodub , Gomel , Chernigov , Karachev , Khotiml ^[7] .

This meant considerable territorial and strategic losses for those who subjugated the Old Russian principalities. The transfer of Orthodox princes to the service of the sovereign of Moscow threatened punitive Polish-Lithuanian troops against both the “defectors” and Moscow. In anticipation of this outcome, Ivan III took preventive measures. In April 1500, clerk Ivan Ivanovich Teleshov and Athanasius Sheenok went to Vilna to declare war on the State of Lithuania and to accept the defected princes and lands to the Moscow state. After that, Lithuania moved its troops to defend its borders. A new Russian-Lithuanian war began ^[7] .

Already in its first battle - the Battle of Vedrosh on July 14, 1500 - a certain blow was dealt to the Lithuanian army. Some commanders of the Lithuanian army fell on the battlefield or were captured. On August 6 Putivl was taken; August 9 - Toropets , and then the estate of Prince S.I. Belsky - the city of Bely , which had already managed to occupy the Lithuanian troops by that time.

Lithuanian diplomats launched a broad campaign to find and attract allies to fight Moscow. Among those who eagerly responded and provided the most significant assistance to Lithuania was the master of the Livonian Order, Walter von Plettenberg . The contract was concluded at the master’s residence in the Venden Castle on June 21, 1501 .

The first anti-Russian action on the part of the order in the context of the agreement concluded with Lithuania was carried out by Livonia not on the battlefield, but in the commercial Derpt , once owned by the Russians under the name Yuryev . 150 Pskov merchants were immediately arrested there, allegedly in connection with the theft. Pskov was the goal of the joint performance of Livonia and Lithuania, which was planned for July 25. However, 4 days before the signing of the treaty, on June 17, 1501, the brother of Jagiellonchik, the king of Poland, suddenly died in Torun , and the campaign plan was apparently changed ^{[13] [14]} .

The first clash of the troops of the Grand Duchy of Moscow with the troops of the Livonian Confederation took place on August 27, 1501 on the Seritsa River near Izborsk , which is in the middle of the route between Livonia and Pskov. Under the personal command of Master Walter von Plettenberg, the Livonians, well armed with modern firearms - field guns and hand- squeakers , took revenge ^[14] .

Inspired by the victory won by the Livonians over the Russian warriors alone, without the help of the Lithuanian warriors, Plettenberg tried to take the Izborsk fortress, and then take the fords across the Great River. However, military fortune has changed the master; Pskov repulsed his attacks, but the Lithuanians never arrived. The annoyed Plettenberg turned south, and on September 7 ravaged the city of Ostrov , where up to 4 thousand civilians died ^[15] , after which he hurried to Livonia, where he returned already on September 14. (Already after the departure of the Livonians, the late Lithuanian troops unsuccessfully stormed the Opochka fortress, after which they also retreated) ^[14] .

In the fall of 1501, Russian troops went on the offensive both on the lands of the Livonian Confederation and on Lithuania. D.V. Schenya avenged the Island by the devastation of northeastern Livonia and parts of Estonia ; with honor for the Russian soldiers ended the battle at the Gelmed castle with the Germans and the battle of Mstislavl with the Lithuanians (however, the city itself was not taken) ^[13] .

In the 1502 campaign, Plettenberg decided to repeat his attempt to take Pskov. Having learned that the main Russian forces were bogged down in the siege of Smolensk , the Livonian landmaster again threw his army on a campaign.

September 2, he unsuccessfully stormed Izborsk. Leaving behind the stubborn fortress in the rear, Plettenberg moved to Pskov, and already on September 6 his 25,000th army stood under the walls of this city. He only had the strength to besiege this city for 3 days, after which Plettenberg turned the army into winter apartments. This time, the Novgorod governors, princes D.V. Shchen and V.V. Shuisky, decided to pursue the retreating Livonians, and sent their regiments in pursuit ^[13] .

On September 13, at Smolina Lake, 12,000 Russian warriors overtook the 5,000th Livonian contingent commanded by Plettenberg himself. Perceiving the tactical regrouping of a well-trained army as flight, the Russian soldiers succumbed to euphoria and disturbed the order in the regiments. Meanwhile, the rebuilt Livonians launched a counterattack - and the battle at Lake Smolina ended in the defeat of more than twice the superior forces of the Russian army ^[14] .

The successes of the Russian troops on other battle fronts forced Jagiellonchik to abandon the continuation of the campaign for the next year, and on March 25, 1503, the king of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania signed a six-year truce with Moscow ^[13] . In 1506, Alexander Jagiellonchik died, after which the Venden Treaty concluded by him lost its de facto force.

Moscow signed a separate truce with the Livonian Confederation as a party to the conflict on April 2, 1503 , guaranteeing the future inviolability of the borders of Livonia ^[13] . The guarantee turned out to be long-term and lasted for two generations: the next time the Russians met the Livonians on the battlefields only during the Livonian War , which began in 1558.

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