Konstantin Vasilyevich (Prince of Rostov)

Born in 1312. The second son of Prince of Rostov Vasily Konstantinovich , the first prince of the younger line of the clan Vasily Konstantinovich, who owned the Borisoglebsky side of the city of Rostov since 1320.

In 1328, Prince Constantine was married to Mary, daughter of Prince Ivan Kalita . Due to this relationship with the strong Moscow prince, he was, of course, stronger than all the other Rostov princes, who, however, were already very weak in the XIV century. At the same time, he was completely subordinate to the Prince of Moscow, being his assistant, in the area of ​​which Ivan Kalita disposed, as in his own, having sent even Rostov, as his viceroy, boyar Vasily Kochev with his assistant Mina, who disposed of them there as sovereign gentlemen. Tiuns and tributaries mercilessly extorted money and goods from the population for the Tatar exit. To intimidate the discontented, the Moscow governors even hung upside down the oldest Rostov boyar and the thousand Averky . ^[one]

In 1340, Prince Konstantin was sent by Kalita to help the Tatar commander Tovlub , who was going to punish the Smolensk princes for something, and in the same year he accompanied Kalita’s son, Semyon Proud , on a campaign to Novgorod ; 2 years later, like other Russian princes, he went to the Horde to bow to the new Khan Chanibek . In 1348, at the order of Prince Semyon Proud, together with his son, he went to the aid of the Novgorodians against the Swedes.

For 11 years after this campaign, the chronicles do not mention him; his name appears only in 1360, when he, taking advantage of the discord between the prince of Moscow and Suzdalsky at that time, got a label for himself from the khan for the whole of the Rostov principality - which means for the Sretensky side, owned by his nephew Andrei Fedorovich . In the same 1360, he took part in the congress of princes formed in Kostroma , by order of the khan, to resolve the issue of “robbers” (Novgorod’s ushkuniki, who had robbed and beaten many Tatars in Zhukotin ), the result of which meeting was the handing over of ushkuyns to the Tatar authorities. In 1361, among other Russian princes, he traveled to the Horde to resolve, apparently, his domestic disputes. His stay in the Horde coincided with a “ wilderness, ” which resulted in the murder of Khan Khidir ; not counting themselves safe, the princes hastened to retire from the Horde, but not everyone got out happily from there: there is news that the Tatars then "robbed the princes of Rostov and hollowed them naked"; Nikon's chronicle alone says that it was the Rostov princes who escaped "robbery."

In 1363, with his permission, the Rostov Borisoglebsky Monastery was founded. The receipt of the Khan’s label by Prince Konstantin for the whole Principality of Rostov created “dislike” between him and his nephew Andrei Fedorovich, after which Andrei Fedorovich was to leave Rostov in 1363, but the next year he had to leave Rostov and Prince Konstantin himself and retire to Ustyug - from -for the impossibility of fighting the nephew, supported by the Moscow army. A year later, he probably made peace with his nephew, came to Rostov, where a year later (in 1365) he died from a pestilence with his wife and was buried in the Rostov Assumption Cathedral .

He was married since 1328 to the Grand Duchess of Moscow Maria (Feotinje) Ivanovna (? —2 June 1365) ^[2] , daughter of Prince Ivan Kalita .

Children ^[3] :

• Vasilisa Konstantinovna (d. 1406, Nizhny Novgorod ) - the second wife of the Prince of Suzdal Dmitry Konstantinovich .

• Olga-Agafya Konstantinovna (d. After 1386) - the second wife of Prince Volyn Prince Lyubart (Dmitry) Gediminovich .

• Ivan Konstantinovich (d. 1365) - died with his parents from a pestilence.

• Gleb Konstantinovich (d. 1365) - died with his parents from a pestilence.

• Vasily Konstantinovich (d. 1375) - Prince of Rostov-Borisoglebsky in 1365-1375.

• Alexander Konstantinovich (d. 1404) - Prince of Rostov-Borisoglebsky in 1375-1404.

• Vladimir Konstantinovich, from August 28, 1380 he was a governor in his right hand in a campaign against Mamaia . The further fate is unknown.

• Vinogradov. A. Rostov and Belozersky specific princes // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Vasily Konstantinovich, Prince of Rostov, son of Konstantin Vasilyevich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.