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Charlemagne- King of the Franks
On a cold, blistering winter day in 742,
Charlemagne was born into greatness. His
father, Pepin the Short, controlled a huge
amount of European land ranging from presentday France to Switzerland. Charlemagne did
not receive proper education as a child, which
attributed to his life-long battle with illiteracy.
His childhood was overtaken by the laborious
task of preparing himself to control his father's
land. On September 24, 768, just minutes
before his death, King Pepin divided his lands
between his two sons. As Russell
Chamberlain's biography "Charlemagne" tells us Charlemagne was allotted all lands
running westward from present-day Ratisbon on the Danube River and from the
River Saal to the North Sea. His brother, Carloman, controlled part of present-day
Germany, France, and Switzerland until his untimely death in 771. This placed
Charlemagne in charge of an enormous section of land and unified the kingdom of
King Pepin under one ruler once again.
HUGH CAPET
c.944 - 996
French King
Hugh Capet was a duke who controlled estates around Paris and Orlean. Hugh was allied with the
German emperors and exercised greater influence than the weak Carolingian king Lothair. After
Lothair and his son died the archbishop of Reims convinced an assembly of nobles to elect Hugh
Capet king.
Elected and crowned king with the assistance of the pro-German party in Paris Hugh Capet
initiated a hereditary line of French kings, the Capetians.
William the Conqueror
William, the illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy and
Herleva of Falaise, was born in 1027. Instead of marrying Herleva,
Robert persuaded her to marry his friend, Herluin of Conteville.
After marriage, Herleva had two more sons, Odo of Bayeux and
Robert of Mortain.
In 1035, Robert of Normandy went on a pilgrimage. Before setting
out on his trip Robert he forced his lords to swear fealty to William.
Although William was illegitimate, he was Robert's only living son.
When Robert of Normandy died in 1035 William inherited his
father's title. Several leading Normans, including Gilbert of
Brionne, Osbern the Seneschal and Alan of Brittany, became
William's guardians.
A number of Norman barons would not accept an illegitimate son
as their leader and in 1040 an attempt was made to kill William.
The plot failed but they did manage to kill Gilbert of Brionne, Alan of Brittany and Osbern
the Seneschal. William survived but he was forced to accept Ralph of Wacy as his
guardian and leader of his armed forces. William was unhappy with this as Ralph had
been involved in the plot against him and had been responsible for the murder of Gilbert
of Brionne.
William began to govern Normandy in 1045. Two years later, the lords of the western
region of the duchy rebelled, but William successfully defeated them at Val-es-dunes. In
1051 William visited Edward the Confessor, the king of England. Later, William claimed
that Edward promised him that he would become his heir.
In 1053 William married Matilda of Flanders, the daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders.
Over the next sixteen years the couple had nine children. Robert Curthose, Richard (killed
in a hunting accident in 1075), Cecily, William Rufus, Agatha, Henry Beauclerk and Adela.
William's power in Normandy was constantly under threat. In 1053 he suppressed a revolt
led by William of Arques. After repulsing two French invasions, William eventually
managed to capture Maine. At first the people of Maine were unwilling to accept William
as their leader. In 1063 William's army ravaged the land until he received their
submission.
In 1064 Harold of Wessex was on board a ship that was wrecked on the coast of
Ponthieu. He was captured by Count Guy of Ponthieu and imprisoned at Beaurain.
William, demanded that Count Guy release him into his care. Guy agreed and Harold
went with William to Rouen. Later the two men went into battle against Conan of Brittany.
For his role in the capture of Dinan, Harold was knighted by William. During the ceremony
at Bayeux, Harold took an oath that he would do his best to help William to become king
when Edward the Confessor died. Harold also agreed to marry William's daughter,
Eadmer. In return, William promised Harold half the realm of England.
In 1065 Edward the Confessor became very ill. Harold claimed that Edward promised him
the throne just before he died on 5th January, 1066. The next day there was a meeting of
the Witan to decide who would become the next king of England. The Witan was made up
of a group of about sixty lords and bishops and they considered the merits of four main
candidates: William, Harold, Edgar Etheling and Harald Hardrada. On 6th January 1066,
the Witan decided that Harold was to be the next king of England.
When William heard the news he sent a message to Harold reminding him of the oath he
took in 1064. Harold responded that he was duty bound to follow the decision taken by
the Witan.
William now began to prepare for war. After a meeting with his barons at Lillebonne, he
sent Gilbert, the Archdeacon of Lisieux, to gain permission from Pope Alexander II, to go
into battle against Harold. Although the action was opposed by many of the cardinals,
Alexander II eventually agreed and sent William his blessing.
William was also visited by Harold's brother Tostig. Tostig offered to help William against
Harold and it was agreed that Tostig's army would sail to England. In May 1066 Tostig
landed in the Isle of Wight and forced the inhabitants to give him money and provisions.
He then sailed north with sixty ships and entered the Humber before being driven away
by Morcar.
After spending time in Scotland Tostig went to Denmark and asked his cousin, King
Sweyn, to help him against Harold. He refused and so Tostig went to Norway to meet
King Hardrada. He agreed to join the campaign and in early September Tostig and 300
ships sailed along the coast and did some plundering, including the burning of
Scarborough. They then entered the Humber and on 20th September defeated Morcar's
army at Gate Fulford. Four days later the invaders took York.
On 24th September Harold's army arrived at Tadcaster. The following day he took Tostig
and Hardrada by surprise at a place called Stamford Bridge. It was a hot day and the
Norwegians had taken off their byrnies (leather jerkins with sewn-on metal rings). Harold
and his English troops devastated the Norwegians. Both Hardrada and Tostig were killed.
The Norwegian losses were considerable. Of the 300 ships that arrived, less than 25
returned to Norway.
While Harold had been fighting against King Hardrada, William had been completing his
preparations for the attack on England. To make sure he had enough Normans to defeat
Harold, he asked the men of Poitou, Burgundy, Brittany and Flanders to help. William also
arranged for soldiers from Germany, Denmark and Italy to join his army. In exchange for
their services, William promised them a share of the land and wealth of England. William
also managed to enlist the support of the Pope in his campaign to gain the throne of
England.
These negotiations took all summer. William also had to arrange the building of the ships
to take his large army to England. About 700 ships were ready to sail in August but
William had to wait a further month for a change in the direction of the wind. The invasion
fleet eventually departed on 27th August. Travelling by night, the Normans landed at
Pevensey Bay on 28th August.
He fortified a camp at Hastings and then began ravaging the area. Harold was at York
when he heard the news and he immediately assembled the housecarls who had
survived Stamford Bridge and marched south. He travelled at such a pace that many of
his troops failed to keep up with him. When Harold arrived in London on 5th October and
there he waited for the local fyrd to assemble and for the troops of the Earl of Mercia and
the Earl of Northumbria to arrive from the north.
Harold's brother, Gyrth, offered to lead the army against William, pointing out that as king
he should not risk the chance of being killed. Harold rejected the advice and after five
days Harold decided to head for the south coast without his northern troops.
When Harold realized he was unable to take William by surprise he positioned himself at
Senlac Hill near Hastings. Harold selected a spot that was protected on each flank by
marshy land. At his rear was a group of trees. He further strengthened his position with a
ditch and a palisade. The English housecarls provided a shield wall at the front of Harold's
army. They carried large battle-axes and were considered to be the toughest fighters in
Europe.
The fyrd were placed behind the housecarls. The leaders of the fyrd, the thegns had
swords and javelins but the rest of the men were inexperienced fighters and carried
weapons such as iron-studded clubs, scythes, slings, reaping-hooks and hay-forks.
We have no accurate figures of the number of soldiers who took part in the Battle of
Hastings. Historians have estimated that William had 5,000 infantry and 3,000 knights
while Harold had about 2, 500 housecarls and over 6,000 members of the fyrd. Before the
fighting started on 14th October, William spoke to his men reminding them they had never
lost a battle under his command.
At nine in the morning the Norman archers walked up the hill and when they were about a
100 yards away from Harold's army they fired their first batch of arrows. Using their
shields, the housecarls were able to block most of this attack. The Norman infantry then
charged up the hill.
The English held firm and the Normans were forced to retreat. Members of the fyrd broke
ranks and chased after the Bretons. William ordered his cavalry to attacked the English
who had left their positions on Senlac Hill. English losses were heavy and very few
managed to return to their place at the top of the hill.
At about twelve noon there was a break in the fighting for an hour. This gave both sides a
chance to remove the dead and wounded from the battlefield. William, who had originally
planned to use his cavalry when the English retreated decided to change his tactics. At
about one in the afternoon he ordered his archers forward.
This time he told them to fire higher in the air. The change of direction of the arrows
caught the English by surprise. The arrow attack was immediately followed by a cavalry
charge. Casualties on both sides were heavy. Those killed included Harold's two
brothers, Gyrth and Leofwine. However, the English line held and the Normans were
eventually forced to retreat. The fyrd, this time chased the Flemings down the hill. William
ordered his knights to turn and attack the men who had left the line. Once again the
English suffered many casualties.
William decided to take another rest. He had lost a quarter of his cavalry. Many horses
had been killed and the ones left alive were exhausted. William decided that the knights
should dismount and attack on foot. This time all the Normans went into battle together.
The archers fired their arrows and at the same time the knights and infantry charged up
the hill.
It was now four in the afternoon. Heavy English casualties from previous attacks meant
that the front line was shorter. The Normans could now attack from the side. The few
housecarls that were left were forced to form a small circle round the English standard.
The Normans attacked again and this time they broke through the shield wall and Harold
and most of his housecarls were killed.
The next day Harold's mother, Gytha, sent a message to William offering him the weight
of the king's body in gold if he would allow her to bury it. He refused, declaring that Harold
should be buried on the shore of the land which he sought to guard.
William and his army now marched on Dover where he remained for a week. He then
went north calling in on Canterbury before arriving on the outskirts of London. He met
resistance in Southwark and in an act of revenge set fire to the area. Londoners refused
to submit to William so he turned away and marched through Surrey, Hampshire and
Berkshire. He revaged the countryside and by the end of the year the people of London,
surrounded by devastated lands, submitted to William. On 25th December, 1066, William
was crowned king of England by Aldred, Archbishop of York, at Westminster Abbey.
After his coronation in 1066, William claimed that all the land in England now belonged to
him. However, those powerful lords, such as Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, who had not
fought him, were allowed to redeem their lands back as a grant from William.
William retained about a fifth of this land for his own use. The rest was distributed to those
men who had helped him defeat Harold at the Battle of Hastings. Under the feudal system
the 170 tenants-in-chief (or barons) had to provide armed men on horseback for military
service. The number of knights a baron had to provide depended on the amount of land
he had been given. The leading Norman landowners installed by William were Odo of
Bayeux, Robert of Mortain, William Fitz Osbern, Geoffrey of Coutances and Richard Fitz
Gilbert.
In 1067 William and his army went on a tour of England where he organised the
confiscating of lands, built castles and established law and order. His chroniclers claim
that he met no opposition during his travels around the country. After appointing his half-
brother Odo of Bayeux, and William Fitz Osbern, as co-regents, William went to
Normandy in March 1067.
While he was away, disturbances broke out in Kent, Herefordshire, and in the north of the
country. William returned to England in December, 1067, and over the next few months
the rebellions were put down. However, in 1068, another insurrection, led by Harold's
sons, took place at Exeter. Once again he successfully defeated the rebels. Afterwards
he built castles in Exeter and other key towns. This included Durham which was the
scene of a rebellion in 1069.
Pope Urban II's Speech Calling for the First
Crusade
In 1094 or 1095, Alexios I Komnenos, the Byzantine emperor, sent to the pope,
Urban II, and asked for aid from the west against the Seljuq Turks, who taken nearly
all of Asia Minor from him. At the council of Clermont, Urban addressed a great
crowd and urged all to go to the aid of the Greeks and to recover Palestine from the
rule of the Muslims. The acts of the council have not been preserved, but we have
five accounts of the speech of Urban which were written by men who were present
and heard him.
Saladin
Saladin was a great Muslim leader. His real name was
Salah al-Din Yusuf. He united and lead the Muslim world
and in 1187, he recaptured Jerusalem for the Muslims after
defeating the King of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin near
the Lake of Galilee. When his soldiers entered the city of
Jerusalem, they were not allowed to kill civilians, rob people
or damage the city. The more successful Saladin was, the
more he was seen by the Muslims as being their natural
leader.
The Christians of western Europe were stunned by the success of Saladin. The pope,
Gregory VIII, ordered another crusade immediately to regain the Holy City for the
Christians. This was the start of the Third Crusade. It was led by Richard I (Richard the
Lionheart), Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany and King Philip II of France.
These were possibly the three most important men in western Europe - such was the
importance of this crusade. It was to last from 1189 to 1192.
John and the Magna Carta
John became King in 1199 when his brother, King Richard I, died. To many John was cruel,
greedy and ultimately a failure as King. He fell out with both his father and his brother in family
feuds.
He argued with his nephew, Arthur, over succession. This trouble led to the loss of English
territory in France in 1205. King John unsuccessfully attempted to regain France for the rest of his
reign. He kept raising taxes to pay for his campaigns, but every time he went to France to fight, he
lost.
When he came to the throne, his reign was full of trouble. After a quarrel with the church England
was placed under an interdict in 1207, and King John was excommunicated in 1209. John had
refused to go along with the Pope's choice as Archbishop of Canterbury.
By 1215, the nobility of England had enough of paying extra taxation. The discontented barons
rebelled and captured London in May 1215. In June, the King met these barons to try and reach a
peaceful settlement. The meeting took place at Runnymede on the river Thames. The King agreed
to their demands by signing a document known as the Magna Carta - Latin for 'Great Charter'. It
was amended and reissued with alterations in 1216, 1217, and 1225.
Many people see the Magna Carta as a vital piece of English history where the rights of individuals
are protected against the power of the King or Queen. At the time, the agreement was merely King
John's was of obtaining peace between him and his rebellious barons.
Important points that the Magna Carta covered were:
"The Church is free to make its own appointments."
Meaning: The Church had the final say who was
appointed to Church positions of power.
"No more than the normal amounts of money can be collected
to run the government, unless the king's feudal tenants give
their consent."
Meaning: The King was not allowed to demand
more and more money from his nobility.
"No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or
possessions... except by the lawful judgement of his peers."
Meaning: Everyone has the right to a fair trial.
King John signed the document to keep peace with the rebel barons - to buy time - and did not
keep to what he agreed to. Civil war thus broke out in England. The nobility called on the French
to invade. John proved himself an able soldier, but died in October 1216, leaving a divided country
- still occupied with French invaders - to his nine year old son, King Henry III.
King John was not a total failure. Recent historians have praised his administrative skills and his
success on military campaigns in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. However, his loss of France
together with the mess he left England in mean that King John will always be seen as one of the
least successful rulers of England.
Richard the Lionheart, King John, and the Magna Carta
Lionheart. Richard (1189-99) is known to history as "Coeur de Lion", or
Lionheart, because of his bravery in battle. He was without a doubt a great
warrior, but he was a very poor king for England. In his ten year reign he
spent only tem months in England, and that only to raise money for his
foreign wars. He fought brilliantly and cruelly in the Third Crusade, and was
captured on his way home by a personal enemy, Leopold of Austria.
Richard the Lionheart
Both Philip of France and Richard's brother and regent John bid for his
ransom. John won and Richard was freed only to die a short time later
fighting in France. Richard's later popularity rests as much on romantic
wishful thinking as it does on facts. During his reign, however, the first
known merchant guild was founded, in 1193. The guilds were to play a
major role in medieval society, as we shall see.
"King John was not a Good King..." Whereas Richard exhibited little interest in his
responsibilities as a king, John (1199-1216) exhibited too much. A bad press over the years
has portrayed him as a villain, and the sad truth is that John was really not a very good king.
He was greedy, a poor administrator, and a poor warrior. In 1204 he lost all the lands north
of the Loire to Philip of France. This had the effect of severing the Norman aristocracy of
England from their continental possessions. They were forced to turn all their energies and
attention to England, where they began to flex their muscles.
The Magna Carta. The rebellious attitude of the great barons led to inevitable confrontation
with John. In 1215 the barons were powerful enough to force John to sign the Magna Carta
(Great Charter). Contrary to later opinion, the Magna Carta was not an outline of universal
freedom and democracy. It was a document which bound the king to observe common law
and tradition, particularly where it affected the rights and privileges of the nobility. It put the
crown directly under the thumb of the law, rather than vice versa, as John would have it. It
did have several clauses that were later interpreted in ways that led to a definition of
democratic freedom and the rights of the individual under law. It is rightly regarded as the
basis of the modern English constitution, but at the time it was little more than a power grab
by the barons.
John tried to repudiate the Charter as soon as he was out of the barons' control. Their
struggle continued until the following year when John died after bingeing on peaches.
HUGH CAPET
c.944 - 996
French King
Hugh Capet was a duke who controlled estates around Paris and Orlean. Hugh was allied with the
German emperors and exercised greater influence than the weak Carolingian king Lothair. After
Lothair and his son died the archbishop of Reims convinced an assembly of nobles to elect Hugh
Capet king. Elected and crowned king with the assistance of the pro-German party in Paris Hugh
Capet initiated a hereditary line of French kings, the Capetians.
Joan of Arc
(1412-1431)
Joan of Arc, in French, Jeanne d'Arc, also called the Maid of Orleans, a patron saint
of France and a national heroine, led the resistance to the English invasion of France
in the Hundred Years War. She was born the third of five children to a farmer,
Jacques Darc and his wife Isabelle de Vouthon in the town of Domremy on the
border of provinces of Champagne and Lorraine. Her childhood was spent attending
her father's herds in the fields and learning religion and housekeeping skills from her
mother.
When Joan was about 12 years old, she began hearing "voices" of St. Michael, St.
Catherine, and St. Margaret believing them to have been sent by God. These voices
told her that it was her divine mission to free her country from the English and help
the dauphin gain the French throne. They told her to cut her hair, dress in man's
uniform and to pick up the arms.
By 1429 the English with the help of their Burgundian allies occupied Paris and all of
France north of the Loire. The resistance was minimal due to lack of leadership and a
sense of hopelessness. Henry VI of England was claiming the French throne.
Joan convinced the captain of the dauphin's forces, and then the dauphin himself of her calling.
After passing an examination by a board of theologians, she was given troops to command and the
rank of captain.
At the battle of Orleans in May 1429, Joan led the troops to a miraculous victory over the English.
She continued fighting the enemy in other locations along the Loire. Fear of troops under her
leadership was so formidable that when she approached Lord Talbot's army at Patay, most of the
English troops and Commander Sir John Fastolfe fled the battlefield. Fastolfe was later stripped of
his Order of the Garter for this act of cowardice. Although Lord Talbot stood his ground, he lost
the battle and was captured along with a hundred English noblemen and lost 1800 of his soldiers.
Charles VII was crowned king of France on July 17, 1429 in Reims Cathedral. At the coronation,
Joan was given a place of honor next to the king. Later, she was ennobled for her services to the
country.
In 1430 she was captured by the Burgundians while defending Compiegne near Paris and was sold
to the English. The English, in turn, handed her over to the ecclesiastical court at Rouen led by
Pierre Cauchon, a pro-English Bishop of Beauvais, to be tried for witchcraft and heresy. Much was
made of her insistence on wearing male clothing. She was told that for a woman to wear men's
clothing was a crime against God. Her determination to continue wearing it (because her voices
hadn't yet told her to change, as well as for protection from sexual abuse by her jailors) was seen as
defiance and finally sealed her fate. Joan was convicted after a fourteen-month interrogation and
on May 30, 1431 she was burned at the stake in the Rouen marketplace. She was nineteen years
old. Charles VII made no attempt to come to her rescue.
In 1456 a second trial was held and she was pronounced innocent of the charges against her. She
was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
Ferdinand and Isabella
A wedding of 1469 proves of profound significance in the history of Spain. Isabella, aged
eighteen, marries Ferdinand, a year younger than herself. Five years later, in 1474, she inherits the
throne of Castile. Her husband argues (on the grounds of masculinity rather than seniority) that the
crown should be his, but the nobles of Castile support Isabella. It is agreed that the young couple
shall rule jointly.
After another five years, in 1479, Ferdinand inherits the throne of Aragon. At first he keeps it to
himself, but the habit of partnership has become engrained. In 1481 he shares this crown too with
Isabella. They become known as Los Reyes Católicos, the Catholic Monarchs.
The policy of Ferdinand and Isabella was consistently anti-Semitic, and its climax came in 1492
after the fall of Granada. They then decreed that all Jews in Spain must either be baptized or leave
the country. Estimates as to the numbers involved vary greatly. Anywhere from 165,000 to
400,000 may have left; perhaps 50,000 remained and became converted. Thus there were officially
no Jews in Spain after 1492, but popular hatred and bigotry made no distinction between Jews and
converts.
The establishment of the Inquisition came about as an attempt to deal with the problem of the
conversos who were secretly adhering to Judaism. The Inquisition had no authority to deal with
unconverted Jews, who were still numerous when it began its operations in 1480. Its affairs were
managed by the Council of the Inquisition, of which the president came to be known as the
Inquisitor General. Tom s de Torquemada, a Dominican, was the first Inquisitor General. The
Inquisition was established in all the Spanish kingdoms, and became the only institution whose
jurisdiction ran throughout all the territories of the Spanish crown. It was controlled by the
monarchy, which appointed and dismissed the Inquisitors, and this no doubt helps to explain the
consistent support it enjoyed from the rulers of Spain. Attempts by the pope to assert some
authority over it were successfully warded off, and complaints of injustice in its procedure were
ignored.
The Inquisition administered a wide range of punishments from reprimands to burning. The death
penalty was called "relaxation," because the victim was "relaxed" to the secular arm, or the state,
which carried out the sentence in accordance with the doctrine that the church itself did not shed
blood. Many persons fled abroad to avoid the Inquisition, so that the number who were burned in
the flesh was much smaller than those who were out of reach and had to be burned in effigy. The
exact number of persons punished by the Spanish Inquisition cannot be precisely known. A
chronicler who was secretary to Ferdinand and Isabella estimated that by 1490 two thousand
persons had been burned. Another contemporary claimed that in Seville, between 1480 and 1488,
over seven hundred had been burned. At Toledo, between 1485 and 1501, the number was 250
with twice that number being burned in effigy. This level of activity was not constant; there were
great waves of punishment, followed by periods that were more quiet.
The effects of the Inquisition cannot be gauged merely by estimating the number of persons put to
death by it. For one thing, the number of persons who received lesser punishments far exceeded
the number of those executed. Furthermore, "reconciliation," in which the penitent was received
back into the church, was always accompanied by one of the punishments such as confiscation or
imprisonment. Other punishments included scourging, assignment to galleys, and exile to another
locality.
The Moriscos also came under the Inquisition's jurisdiction. The Moslems of Aragon were not
affected by the decree of 1502, but their turn came in the reign of Charles V. In 1525 he ordered
the expulsion of all Moors from the territories of Aragon by the end of January 1526. The resultant
wave of conversions vastly increased the number of Moriscos. They differed from the conversos in
that they were never assimilated into Spanish society. They remained a subject population of
agricultural laborers, frequently unable to speak Spanish. In 1526, Charles and the Inquisitor
General promised that the Moriscos would be free from persecution for forty years. This promise
was ignored, and the Inquisition soon began prosecuting those suspected of reverting to the
Moslem faith or customs. Through bribery, the Moriscos secured some mitigation in the severity
of their treatment; but in 1567 in the reign of Philip II, the government decreed that the Moriscos
of Granada must give up their traditional language, clothing, customs, and books. This brought a
serious uprising in the following year, which took two years to subdue. To prevent a recurrence, all
Moriscos were deported from Granada and scattered to various parts of Castile.
King Philip II of Spain
King Phillip II of Spain played a major role in English history at the time of the
Tudors. King Phillip had been married to Mary I and was a staunch Catholic. It was
the quarrel between Phillip of Spain and Queen Elizabeth I that led to the Spanish
Armada being sent to England. Phillip of Spain was a very powerful emperor, his
lands spreading not only throughout Spain but also throughout much of Europe: his
inheritance being much of Holland, Austria and other parts of the 'Low Countries'.
Did Spain want to conquer England?
It is fairly certain that Spanish king Philip II did not want or
intend to rule England as part of the Spanish empire - or to make
English people speak Spanish. As a zealous Catholic, his deepest
wish was to return England to the "true church", to restore Church
lands and property stolen by Henry VIII, reopen the monasteries,
and restore Catholic forms of worship. The Pope had agreed to support an invasion. He
excommunicated the English Queen Elizabeth, absolved her subjects from any duty to obey her,
and offered financial help and papal blessing for an invasion. Philip, subject to the Pope's approval,
would choose a new ruler pledged to restore the Catholic faith.
Ivan the Great
Ivan III Vasilevich, better known as Ivan the Great ruled
from 1462-1505. In many ways, he became great by
continuing with the work that his predecessors had started.
However, he worked on a larger scale. Ivan the Great
united many of the previously autonomous provinces and
succeeded in freeing Russia from the Mongols (Tatars).
The Grand Dukes of Moscow had been attempting to
overthrow the Mongols for many years, and even won
some battles against them. However the Mongols always
retaliated regaining control. Ivan the Great first subjugated
the surrounding cities and then in 1480 refused to pay the
tribute demanded by the Mongols. This set the stage for a
battle that never happened. The troops for both sides faced
off against each other but no battle was ever fought.
Instead, both sides retreated. This was in effect victory for
Ivan the Great because he hadn't paid the tribute and tribute
was never again demanded. The Russians were free from
Mongol overlordship. Ivan the Great became the first
national sovereign, but not the first tsar. This distinction
belongs to Ivan IV, his grandson.