Ivan Kalita - biography, information, personal life. Ivan Kalita. Biography. Prince's reign

Ivan I Danilovich Kalita

Ivan I Danilovich Kalita

Ivan Danilovich Kalita (c. 1283 - March 31, 1340 or 1341) - the second son of Moscow Prince Daniil Alexandrovich.
He received the nickname "Kalita" for his wealth and generosity (Kalita (from the Turkic word "Kalta") - an old Russian name a small belt bag).

In 1296 - 1297. Viceroy of his father Daniil Alexandrovich in Novgorod.
In 1304, in the absence of his older brother, Ivan went to Pereslavl to defend it from the princes of Tver. Soon, Tver regiments appeared under the city under the command of the boyar Akinf. For three days he kept Ivan under siege, on the fourth day the boyar Rodion Nestorovich appeared from Moscow, went to the rear of the Tverites, and Ivan at the same time made a sortie out of the city, and the enemy was completely defeated.

Prince of Moscow: 1322/1325 - 1340

In 1320, Ivan Danilovich first went to the Horde to Uzbek Khan, to establish himself as the heir to the Moscow principality. Yuri Danilovich received a label from the Khan for a great reign and left for Novgorod, Moscow was left in the full control of Ivan.
In 1321, Dmitry of Tver recognized the power of Yuri Danilovich and transferred to him the Horde tribute from all over. But Yuri, instead of taking the tribute from Tver to the Horde, took it to Novgorod and put it into circulation through intermediary merchants, wanting to receive interest. Yuri's actions with the Horde tribute angered Uzbek Khan, and he handed over the label to the great reign to Dmitry. Ivan Danilovich, who was at that time in Sarai-Berka, defiantly did not interfere in anything, completely withdrawing from his brother's affairs. When Yuri tried to return the label, he was hacked to death by Dmitry in Sarai-Berk on November 21, 1325, on the eve of the day of the death of Mikhail of Tver, and Ivan became the Moscow prince. A year later (1326), Dmitry himself was killed in the Horde, and the label was transferred to his brother Alexander.

In the first year of Ivan's reign, the residence of the metropolitan was transferred to Moscow from Vladimir (1325).

Prince of Novgorod: 1328 - 1337

Alexander Mikhailovich of Tverskoy concluded an agreement with Novgorod in 1327, and in the same year a popular uprising took place in Tver, in which the Tverites killed the Horde ambassador Chol Khan (Shevkal) and his entire retinue. Upon learning of this, Uzbek sent for the Moscow prince, but, according to other sources, Kalita went to the Horde himself. Uzbek Khan gave him a label for a great reign and 50,000 troops. Having united with the Suzdalians, Kalita went to where the Horde burned cities and villages, took people into captivity and, as the chronicle says, "laid the whole Russian land empty." Prince Alexander of Tver fled to Novgorod, then to Pskov. Novgorod paid off, giving the Horde 2,000 hryvnias of silver and many gifts. Ivan and his allies demanded the extradition of Alexander, the metropolitan excommunicated Alexander and the people of Pskov from the church. Removing the threat of invasion from Pskov, Alexander left for Lithuania in 1329 (for a year and a half).
In 1328, the khan divided the great reign between Ivan, who received Veliky Novgorod and Kostroma, and who received Vladimir himself and the Volga region (presumably Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets). After his death in 1331 or 1332, his brother became Prince of Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod, and Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets returned to the Grand Duchy for about a decade.
In 1328 - 1330. Ivan gave his two daughters in marriage to Vasily Davydovich Yaroslavsky and Konstantin Vasilyevich Rostovsky in order to manage their destinies.

In 1331, the appearance (1331 - 1492), the capital Zvenigorod.

Great reign

Grand Duke Vladimirsky: 1331 - 1340

In 1331 a conflict arose between Moscow and Novgorod. refused to appoint Arseniy, elected by the council of Galician-Volyn bishops, as archbishop of Novgorod, and appointed his candidate Vasily Kalika. And Ivan Kalita, having bought a label in the Horde and planning the construction of a new stone church in Moscow for the arrival of the metropolitan, demanded that the Novgorodians pay tribute in an increased amount (in particular, “Zakama silver”). After receiving a refusal, Ivan entered the Novgorod land with his troops and occupied Torzhok, then Bezhetsky Verkh. Novgorod Archbishop Vasily began the construction of a new stone Detinets in Novgorod, fearing the troops of Ivan and the Swedes. But the troops did not enter the battle. Negotiations were held, which ended with the fact that Archbishop Vasily went to Pskov and made peace between Pskov and Novgorod.
Ivan, after these events, concluded a separate peace with Gediminas with the help of Metropolitan Theognost, who had just arrived in Moscow. The world was sealed by the marriage of the heir of Ivan Kalita - Simeon Ivanovich with the daughter of Gediminas Aigusta. Ivan Kalita bought Narimunt Gediminovich from captivity in the Horde, secured his favor, baptized him into Orthodoxy and sent him to Lithuania, to Father Gedimin. Novgorodians, fearing both Kalita (at that time only the titular Novgorod prince) with the Horde, and the Swedes, invited Narimunt (to the northern volosts), giving him Ladoga, the Oreshek fortress, Korelsk (Korela), Korelskaya land and half of Koporye as his fatherland, but he entrusted the management of them to his son Alexander (Prince Orekhovsky Alexander Narimuntovich), and Narimunt lived more in Lithuania, and in 1338, when he not only did not appear at the call of Novgorod to defend him against the Swedes, he also recalled his son Alexander.

In 1336, through the mediation of Metropolitan Theognost, Ivan made peace with Novgorod, became a prince of Novgorod and received the due tribute. Ivan also wanted to send troops to Pskov, but Novgorod opposed this. At this time, Gediminas raided the Novgorod land, avenging peace with Moscow. Ivan, in retaliation, sent his troops to Lithuania, where they plundered the outlying lands near the border. Gediminas, busy quarreling with Livonian Order did not start a war.
In 1337, Alexander of Tverskoy submitted to the Khan, thereby regaining the reign of Tver. In 1339, Ivan went to the Horde with a denunciation of Alexander, after which he received an order to appear before the khan. Alexander and his son Fyodor, who came to the Khan, were executed. Kalita returned to Moscow and ordered the bell to be removed from the Tver Church of the Holy Savior and brought to Moscow. The brother of Alexander Mikhailovich, Konstantin, was again forced to obey.
In 1340, Ivan organized a campaign against Prince Ivan Alexandrovich, who entered into an alliance with Gediminas and refused to pay tribute to the Horde. In addition to the Horde, the Ryazan princes with their army, as a rule, participated in the campaigns of Kalita. In the same year, a new conflict arose between Moscow and Novgorod, which was resolved already in the reign of Ivan's son, Semyon the Proud.

Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin

Cathedral of the Savior on Bor. Reconstruction.

Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin

Belfry "Ivan the Great" (Church of John of the Ladder).

Under Ivan Kalita, white-stone buildings were built in the Moscow Kremlin Assumption Cathedral Cathedral of the Savior on Bor(demolished 1933), Cathedral of the Archangel(the original temple has not been preserved), Church of John of the Ladder(the original temple has not been preserved). A new one was built oak Moscow Kremlin, which protected not only the center of the former city, but also the settlement outside it. Villages sprang up one after another around the Kremlin. The boyars willingly passed to the Moscow prince and received lands from him with the duty of service; the boyars were followed by free men fit for arms. Ivan took care of internal security, strictly pursued and executed robbers and thieves, and thus made it possible for merchants to travel along the roads.

In 1339/1340, the Siysk Gospel was written in Moscow, which are stored in the library Russian Academy Sciences.

A. Vasnetsov Moscow Kremlin under Ivan Kalita

The problem of dating death

Chronicles reproduce the following sequence of events (their traditional dating in historiography is placed in brackets):
Murder in the Horde with his son (October 29, 1339);
The campaign of the troops of Tovlubiy, Ivan Kalita and their allies to Smolensk (winter 1340);
Death of Ivan Kalita (March 31);
The trip of Semyon Ivanovich and other princes to the Horde, the attacks of the Novgorodians on Ustyug and Beloozero;
News of fires in Novgorod (June 7) and Smolensk (Spas, August);
The return of Semyon the Proud from the Horde and the occupation of Torzhok;
The murder in Bryansk of Prince Gleb Svyatoslavich (December 6, 1340);
The campaign of Semyon the Proud against Novgorod and the conclusion of peace (winter);
Death of Uzbek and Gediminas (winter 1341).

Board results

One of Ivan's main character traits is flexibility in dealing with people and perseverance. He often went to the khan in the Horde and soon earned the favor and trust of Uzbek Khan. While other Russian lands suffered from the Horde invasions, the possessions of the Prince of Moscow remained calm, their population and well-being grew steadily: The filthy ones stopped fighting the Russian land, they stopped killing Christians; rested and rested Christians from the great languor and much burden and from the violence of the Tatars; and since then there has been silence throughout the land

He played a big role in strengthening the economic and political union of the Moscow principality and the Golden Horde, for which he collected tribute from the Russian lands. Ruthlessly suppressed popular discontent caused by heavy requisitions, dealt with political opponents - other Russian princes.

Ivan I strengthened the Moscow-Horde influence on a number of lands of the North of Russia (Tver, Pskov, Novgorod, etc.). He accumulated great wealth (hence his nickname "Kalita" - "purse", "money bag"), which he used to buy land in foreign principalities and possessions, another version from the habit of constantly carrying a wallet ("Kalita") with money for distribution of mercy. His grandson in his spiritual letter said that Ivan Kalita bought Uglich and Beloozero. In addition, he bought and bartered villages in different places: near Kostroma, Vladimir, Rostov, along the Msta and Kirzhach rivers, and even in Novgorod land, contrary to the laws of Novgorod, which forbade the princes to buy land there. He started settlements in the Novgorod land, populated them with his people, thus spreading his power.

Ivan I Kalita died on March 31, 1340, was buried in Moscow - in the Archangel Cathedral. His eldest son Simeon Ivanovich Gordy ascended the Moscow throne.

Children

Semyon the Proud (1318-1353).
Daniel, born 1320
Ivan II the Red (March 30, 1326 - November 13, 1359).
Andrew, (July 1327 - 27 April 1353).

Maria (d. 1365), married since 1328 to Konstantin Vasilyevich (prince of Rostov-Borisoglebsky).
Evdokia (d. 1342), married to Prince Vasily Davydovich of Yaroslavl Terrible Eyes
Theodosia, married to the Belozersky prince - Fedor Romanovich.

Holy spring of the Archangel Michael in the city of Protasovo, Moscow Region.

Holy Spring of the Archangel Michael Monument to Ivan Kalita

KOLOMENSKOE

High above the steep banks of the Moskva River is the ancient Kolomenskoye unique place, where cultural monuments were created for many centuries.
The first mention of Kolomenskoye is contained in the spiritual letters of Ivan Kalita in 1336 and 1339.

Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye

In 1341 - the appearance Serpukhov Principality (1341 - 1472). - 1246 - 1248 - Prince of Moscow.
Prince Boris Mikhailovich. 1248 - 1263 - Prince of Moscow.
Muscovy
. 1263/1276 - 1303 - Prince of Moscow.
. 1303 - 1325 - Prince of Moscow.
State of Moscow

Ivan I Kalita. 1322/1325 - 1340 - Prince of Moscow.
1340 - 1353
1353-1359

During the reign of Ivan Kalita, the successor of Yuri Danilovich of Moscow, the struggle with Tver for a great reign continued. Kalita was helped to take over by an unexpected event. Tatar ambassadors with military detachments often came to Russia to receive tribute or to put on the throne a prince granted by a label, etc. These ambassadorial visits were accompanied by robbery and ruin. The Tatars allowed themselves possible insults and violence, as a result of which violent outbursts and even beatings of the hated barbarians took place in places. Even under Alexander Nevsky, there were popular uprisings in northern Russian cities against the cruel tax farmers of the Tatar tribute. Such rebellions, apparently, served to change the very system of these collections. In the era after Ivan Kalita, we no longer meet Besermen tax-farmers in northern Russia. Instead, the princes themselves collect tribute from their possessions and take it to the Horde or hand it over to the khan's ambassadors. This was already a significant relief. But resentment and violence from the Horde ambassadors continued to cause bloody clashes with the inhabitants. A similar uprising took place in 1302 in Rostov.

Baskaks. Painting by S. Ivanov, 1909

In 1327, Kalita's rival, Grand Duke Alexander, arrived in Tver with a large retinue, the Horde ambassador Cholkhan (in Russian - Shchelkan), the son of that governor Duden, who brutally ruined Northern Russia under the sons of Alexander Nevsky. He occupied the old princely court in Tver and behaved with great pride; its Tatars created insults and violence to the inhabitants. Rumors began to circulate among the people about the intention of Cholkhan himself to sit on the Tver principality and about the intention of the Tatars to exterminate the Orthodox faith. An insignificant incident served as a pretext for a bloody event. The deacon, nicknamed Dyudko, led his mare to water on the Volga. The Tatars of Cholkhan wanted to take away the mare (August 15, on the feast of the Assumption). The deacon yelled. The Tverichi rushed to his aid. Tatars began to cut opponents. Someone struck the alarm bell; the people gathered, went to the Tatars and began to beat them. The rest of them locked themselves up with Cholkhan in the prince's court, but the enraged mob set it on fire. The entire embassy of Cholkhan perished; Tatar merchants who were in the city were also beaten.

The ruin of Tver, the triumph of Moscow in the struggle for a great reign.

Ivan Kalita rejoiced at this opportunity to destroy his rival. Khan Uzbek was informed that the popular uprising was raised by the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich himself, although there are no exact indications of his participation in this event. 50 thousand Tatars immediately united with the Moscow troops of Kalita, whom the Khan instructed to punish the rebels. This army raided the Tver region and severely devastated it. Cities, including Tver itself, were devastated; The inhabitants fled to the forests. Alexander Mikhailovich did not even try to resort to defense. With his family, he fled from the Tatars and Kalita to Novgorod, but was not received there for fear of the Tatars and retired to Pskov.

In 1328, Ivan Kalita went to the Horde, where he received from the Khan a label for a great reign. And the Khan gave the reign of Tver to his brother Alexander Mikhailovich Konstantin, who called the inhabitants out of the forests and restored the devastated cities. Uzbek ordered the Russian princes to "search" for Prince Alexander. Kalita and other princes were sent to Pskov to persuade the former prince of Tver to go to the Horde. But the Pskovites did not let Alexander in, promising to die for him if necessary. Ivan Kalita with his comrades and Novgorodians went to Pskov; but, having learned about the preparations of the Pskovites for defense, he came up with the following measure: Metropolitan Feognost sent an excommunication to Alexander and all of Pskov if the demand of the princes was not fulfilled. Alexander left for Lithuania. The princes left the Pskovites alone. After a short time, Alexander returned to Pskov under the auspices of Gediminas and reigned there for several years. However, he missed Tver; he was tormented by the thought that his children and all offspring would be deprived of reign in the Tver land. Alexander sent his son Fyodor to Uzbek, and then he himself went to the Horde with a confession. The Uzbek forgave him and returned the reign of Tver to him. But such a turn of affairs was not to the taste of Ivan Kalita. The rivalry has resumed. Some Tver boyars were also dissatisfied with the return of Alexander: they left Tver and went to the service of a stronger prince, that is, to Moscow.

The death of Alexander Mikhailovich of Tver in the Horde

Ivan Kalita with his sons went to the Horde, blackening the Prince of Tver before the Khan. Uzbek demanded to Alexander. This latter sent his son Fyodor in advance, and then he went himself. He had already received news from his son and sensed trouble from the intrigues of Kalita; but, just like his father, he preferred to die himself rather than to deprive his children of their hereditary reign by a new flight. When, escorted by his family, boyars and citizens, the prince got into the boat, rose strong wind; the rowers could not cope with it, the boat was carried back. This was considered a bad omen.

In the Horde, Alexander learned that the day of his execution had already been appointed - October 29 (1339). On this day, Alexander confessed to his spiritual father and received St. the gifts; his son Fedor and the boyars who were with him did the same; no one wanted to stay alive. The prince himself went out to meet the killers. The barbarians seized him, tore off his clothes and led him naked to the nobleman Tovlubiy, who was sitting on a horse. "Kill," shouted Tovlubiy. The assassins pierced Alexander and his son Fedor and cut off their heads. The boyars took the bodies of their princes to Tver. The meek, cautious Konstantin Mikhailovich again sat down on the Tver table. Ivan Kalita ordered to remove the bell from the Tver Spassky Cathedral and bring it to Moscow.

Russia in the first half of the 14th century

Rise of Moscow under Ivan Kalita

Ivan Danilovich Kalita(i.e., a money bag or a purse - a hoarder) during his reign is, on the one hand, with the unsightly features of a cruel and sly man who groveled in the Horde. On the other hand, we see a smart, caring owner of his land, who has established peace and security in it from Tatar devastation. “Ivan Danilovich sat on the great reign,” the chroniclers say, “and there was silence for Christians for many years, and the Tatars were ready to fight the Russian land.” The founders of state power, the gatherers of some fragmented nationality, were usually like that in other countries, and posterity, enjoying the fruits of their policy, usually remembers him with respect and gratitude.

As a true master and hoarder, Ivan Danilovich Kalita elevated Moscow in his reign and significantly increased the reign of Moscow. He accomplished this increase not by arms and bloodshed, but by money purchase. He "invented" from the neighboring principalities several cities and volosts, which he bought from impoverished princes, boyars and monasteries. During the reign of Kalita, Moscow land included the entire course of the Moscow River with Mozhaisk, Zvenigorod, Moscow and Kolomna; to the southwest it stretched up the Oka, with Kashira and Serpukhov; in the north-east, Moscow's possessions already covered part of the Volga region, including the Volga cities of Uglich and Kostroma. Ivan Kalita bought from the impoverished princes (descendants of Konstantin Vsevolodovich of Rostov) not only Uglich, but also Galich Mersky and Beloozersk; however, for the time being he left them in the possession of hereditary princes, content with the complete obedience of the latter. To subjugate the Rostov princes, Ivan Kalita gave his two daughters to Vasily Yaroslavsky and Konstantin Rostovsky. Konstantin Rostovsky, was in perfect obedience to his father-in-law: the Moscow boyars disposed of in his capital city. In 1330, the Moscow governor Vasily Kocheva arrived in Rostov and inflicted great oppression on citizens, extorting money from them (probably for the Tatar exit). They subjected the elder Rostov boyar Averky to beatings, hanging him upside down for a while. Another son-in-law of Ivan Kalita, Vasily Yaroslavsky, on the contrary, not only did not want to obey his father-in-law, but even by tribal relations considered himself older than the Moscow prince and entered into an alliance with Alexander of Tver against him.

Unification of North-Eastern Russia by Moscow 1300-1462

These land inventions during the reign of Kalita greatly elevated Moscow, but cost Prince Ivan dearly. Moreover, he had to spend on Tatar tributes, bribery of the Horde nobles. Kalita acquired the necessary funds for this with income from his own lands and thrift. Thanks to the tranquility that had come in his time, internal and external, the elevated Moscow volosts began to recover from their former devastation; agriculture and crafts revived, and princely incomes increased. (There is news that Ivan Kalita strictly persecuted thieves and robbers in his land). Another source was the collection of Tatar tribute. During the years of his reign, Kalita, apparently, obtained permission from the khan to collect these tributes from the regions of Northern Russia and deliver them to the khan's treasury. Of course, a considerable share of these fees remained in the hands of the Grand Duke. Since this collection could always be based on Tatar assistance, the subordination of the specific princes to the risen Moscow went more successfully. It must be assumed that the very inventions of Kalita were in connection with the insolvency of some specific princes, ruined by Tatar tributes. Rich Novgorod served as an important source of grand ducal income. During the years of his reign, Ivan Kalita, at every opportunity, tried to squeeze the Novgorodians in order to get more from them to the Tatar outlets. In 1332, he demanded for himself "silver from Zakamsk", i.e. tributes that they levied from the Chud peoples of the Urals. The Novgorodians refused; Kalita went to them with an army, captured their suburbs of Torzhok and Bezhetsky Verkh and began to devastate the Novgorod volosts. But his rival, Alexander of Tverskoy, was at that time in Pskov as an assistant to Gediminas of Lithuania. The Novgorodians entered into relations with Alexander and Gedimin, called Gedimin's son Narimont to them; Kalita changed his tone and made peace with Novgorod. At the end of his reign, he again demanded a large amount from the Novgorodians, referring to the demands of the khan to leave. Novgorodians again rested. Ivan Kalita recalled his deputies, but soon died, and the strife ended already with his son.

The silence, security and prosperity of the Moscow region during the reign of Kalita attracted immigrants here, and the population began to noticeably multiply. Many boyars from specific princes began to move to the service of Ivan Danilovich. Boyars came to Moscow from Tver, Chernigov, Kyiv, Volyn, etc.; even from the Horde, noble people left for the elevated Moscow, who were baptized, received estates and salaries. The most distinguished of these visiting boyars sometimes became higher than their own Moscow Duma members; already in those days, the so-called “parochialism” began between them.

Ivan Kalita, Metropolitans Peter and Theognost

The sharpness of Ivan Kalita was especially expressed in his attitude towards church authorities. Showing deep respect and protecting him from rivals, he managed not only to make him his friend, but also encouraged him to leave Vladimir and move to Moscow. This resettlement took place at a time when the dispute for primacy between Moscow and Tver was in full swing. The Metropolitan's stay in Moscow, informing her of the significance of the church capital, also contributed to her superiority over her rival.

Traveling around the Russian regions, Peter returned to Vladimir less and less often and stayed longer and longer in Moscow, where, little by little, the center of the metropolis moved. Having received such importance during the reign of Ivan Kalita, Moscow was supposed to have a large cathedral church. According to the life of Peter, the metropolitan began to ask Kalita to build in Moscow the same stone cathedral in the name of the Assumption of the Virgin, as in Vladimir. They say that Peter, addressing the prince, uttered a prophecy at the same time: “if, son, you listen to me, then you yourself will be glorified more than all the princes, and your whole family, and this city will be exalted over all Russian cities; the saints will dwell in him, and his hands will rise up on the splashing of his enemies. In the summer of 1326, Ivan Kalita laid the foundation of the stone Assumption Church in the Moscow Kremlin. In December of the same year, Metropolitan Peter died, barely having time to prepare a niche in the wall of the temple for his tomb. The following year, the Assumption Church was completed, but it could not be compared either in size or interior decoration with the cathedral that Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest built in Vladimir. Russian architecture and art, which flourished at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries, fell heavily due to the grave consequences of the Mongol invasion.

The burial in Moscow of Metropolitan Peter moved in her favor the question of transferring the metropolia, however, the final decision depended on his successor. The Patriarch of Constantinople appointed a Greek, Theognostos, as this successor. When Theognost arrived in Vladimir (1328), the dispute over the great reign between Tver and Moscow had already been decided in favor of the latter. Naturally, the new metropolitan finally moved to live in Moscow. Theognost became the same devoted accomplice of Kalita as Peter was, and soon threatened to excommunicate the Pskovites if they did not expel Alexander of Tver.

Buildings of Ivan Kalita

In addition to the Assumption Cathedral, Kalita during the years of his reign decorated the Moscow Kremlin with several more stone churches. On Borovitsky Hill, he built, instead of the former, wooden, stone church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, built a monastery with it and transferred here part of the monks and the archimandry from his father's Danilov Monastery, subordinating it to the Transfiguration of the Savior. In honor of his angel, Kalita built the stone church of John of the Ladder (on the site of the later bell tower of Ivan the Great). On the very edge of Borovitsky Hill stood the wooden church of Michael the Archangel, where the remains of Yuri, Kalita's brother, rested. Prince Ivan erected in its place stone temple, appointing him to serve as a tomb for himself and his offspring. All the stone temples built during the reign of Kalita were small in size and not distinguished by great elegance. A vivid example of them is the aforementioned Spaso-Preobrazhensky Church, partly surviving in its former volume and better known among the people under the name "Savior on Bor". Moscow has long been full of wooden temples; the chronicle reports that 18 churches burned down in one fire. The fire once destroyed the Kremlin walls. Ivan Kalita then built new, stronger walls from oak wood.

Moscow Kremlin under Ivan Kalita. Artist A. Vasnetsov

The last event of the reign of Ivan Kalita was a campaign against the Smolensk prince Ivan Alexandrovich. This prince, who apparently entered into an alliance with Gediminas of Lithuania, turned out to be a recalcitrant tributary to the khan. Uzbek sent a Tatar army to Smolensk with the governor Tovlubiy, ordering the northeastern Russian princes to join him. The princes of Ryazan, Suzdal, Rostov and some others brought their detachments; Ivan Kalita sent the Moscow army with two governors. The militia devastated the surroundings of Smolensk and, without taking the city, returned back. Kalita, perhaps, did not personally go on a campaign due to a serious illness. He died on March 31, 1341.

Testament of Kalita

From Ivan Kalita, two spiritual testaments have come down to us, relating, however, not to the end, but to the beginning of his reign. Such wills, apparently, were made by him before each trip to the Horde. In the wills, Kalita divides her land among her three sons: Simeon, Ivan, and Andrei. He refused the elder the best part lands with the most significant cities, Mozhaisk and Kolomna, Ivan - Zvenigorod and Ruza, Andrei - Serpukhov and Lopasna, and some other volosts to his wife Elena and her daughters. In addition to volosts, Kalita divides among them her clothes, utensils and jewelry, such as: golden chains, belts studded with pearls and expensive stones, golden bowls and ladles, and so on. The testator does not forget about churches.

On the one hand, we see in the testamentary letters of the reign of Kalita the same amazing system, the fragmentation of land between sons. But we already notice a significant difference with the former system. First, the younger sons, wife and daughters of the Grand Duke orders eldest son, gives them under his protection. Secondly, the division of the land itself is arranged in such a way that it is difficult for the younger sons of Kalita to get out of obedience to the older one. Their destinies do not represent special, somewhat rounded possessions; their volosts are partly surrounded by the possessions of their elder brother, partly mixed with him. Their destinies are rather insignificant in comparison with its part. Although the city of Moscow was denied the common possession of all three sons of Ivan Kalita, but, of course, the eldest of them was its sovereign, and the younger ones used only a third of the known income. Then the whole region of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky and all distant acquisitions in the Volga region were to go to the elder.

Great politicians get into history thanks to their deeds, not nicknames, but it is they, once aptly given, that allow descendants to assess the scale of the ruler's personality. Ivan Danilovich received his nickname Kalita during his lifetime for

generosity shown to the poor. Kalita is a leather bag, purse. In the Moscow lands, a legend has been preserved about how the prince distributed silver money, which he took out of a leather purse hanging on his belt. In addition, not sparing money, he bought neighboring principalities, tirelessly adding new lands. A man of remarkable diplomatic talent, smart and generous, quirky and tough, who united many Russian lands and founded the Muscovite state - this is all the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Kalita, whose reign is from 1325 to 1340. Today we will talk about him.

Descendant of Alexander Nevsky

The annals did not preserve the exact data on the time of the birth of Ivan Danilovich: historians focus on the period from 1282 to 1283. He was the fourth son of Prince Daniil Alexandrovich of Moscow and the grandson of Alexander Nevsky. According to the laws of that time, the fourth son could not hope for the princely throne, but it so happened that it was Ivan I Danilovich Kalita who occupied it. often occupied government positions unexpectedly.

Path to the throne

The first mention of Ivan Danilovich is dated 1296 in connection with his appearance in the city. At the beginning, he reigned in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky and successfully defended it in a battle with the Tver boyar Akinf in 1305.

In 1303, Ivan's father Daniil Alexandrovich dies, and the princely throne passes to his elder brother Yuri, who ruled the Moscow lands from 1303 to 1325. All this time, Ivan provided Yuri with powerful support.

Often participating in campaigns and leaving for Golden Horde with a calm heart he left the principality, which Ivan Kalita successfully looked after. The years of the reign of Yuri Danilovich are from 1303 to 1325. During this time, for various reasons, the rest of the brothers of Ivan Kalita die, and when Yuri Danilovich dies in the Horde at the hands of the Prince of Tver, the time comes for the reign of Ivan Kalita.

Beginning of the reign

It was a difficult period. Horde power spread throughout Russia. And the reign of each prince was confirmed in the Horde. When Ivan Danilovich took the throne, he was forced to go to the Golden Horde. There, in all its brilliance, his amazing diplomatic abilities were manifested. He knew how to negotiate with the Tatars: he gave gifts of great value, thereby achieving a peaceful existence and protecting him from the raids of the Tatars, which brought innumerable troubles.

In those days, peace and quiet were almost impossible. After all, if it was possible, by paying a huge tribute, to temporarily get rid of the Tatar attacks, the neighbors - the princes - could unleash a new campaign. Moscow princes have always competed with those of Tver. And Tver was in a better position than Moscow. She stood on the Volga, grew rich in trade and every year subjugated more and more Russian lands.

Ivan Danilovich Kalita understood this. The years of government taught him patience and the use of falling chances, even the most tragic ones.

Participation in the punitive expedition to Tver and its consequences

The uprising that took place in August 1327 in Tver against the Tatars, who oppressed the Tver people, turned the course of history in the other direction. The result of the popular revolt was the complete extermination of the Tatar garrison, to which the Horde could not but respond. And in 1328, she equips a punitive expedition to Tver, in which many princes participate, including Ivan Kalita, whose reign was just beginning. He could not disobey, and he saw in the suppression of Tver the future power of the Muscovite state. After the defeat of Tver, Prince Alexander, who ruled in it, fled to Pskov. Ivan Kalita received from Khan Uzbek the Kostroma Principality and the ability to control Novgorod the Great.

After the death of the Prince of Suzdal in 1331, the Moscow prince obtained from Khan Uzbek a label (permission) for the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and became the head of the entire political system of Eastern Russia.

In addition, Ivan Danilovich, showing extraordinary abilities, persuaded the khan to an unprecedented agreement: Uzbek instructed Ivan 1 to collect taxes from the population in exchange for a promise not to organize raids and not to send Baskaks. Both sides kept their promises, the Tatars stopped plundering the Russian lands, fearing the wrath of the Uzbek, and Kalita paid the established taxes in full.

Internal Affairs

The chronicles of those times glorify the reign of Prince Ivan Danilovich Kalita: negotiating with the Horde, he achieved a significant period of peace and quiet, during which he carried out several grandiose projects that greatly contributed to the strengthening of Moscow power.

Forty years of silence was presented to the Russian land by Ivan Danilovich. Until 1368, not a single raid was made on the Moscow lands. How was it possible? The prince fulfilled all his obligations to the Horde: he regularly paid tribute, made countless gifts to the khan, periodically visiting him.

Ivan Kalita: years of reign

There is no single answer to the question of how such huge funds were collected. Nevertheless, it is known that already at the beginning of his reign, the prince was able to clear the roads of robbers and robbers who made disgrace on them, for which he received a second nickname - Kind, and attracted merchants and trade caravans to Moscow, increasing turnover and customs duties.

In addition, realizing that the local rulers appropriated a large share of the collected tribute, Ivan Danilovich used cruel methods to collect it in full, punished the stealing governors and was merciless to his opponents.

Ivan Danilovich undertakes several trips to the Russian north, during which he discovers another source of income - fur fishing. These methods, probably, allowed him not only to fully settle accounts with the Golden Horde, but also to carry out grandiose changes in the principality.

Moscow - the capital of the Russian church

Ivan Danilovich was not just religious, he was confident in his own exclusivity thanks to God's providence and counted on the help of the Metropolitan in realizing his plans to unite the Russian lands and strengthen the Muscovite state. Taking care of the security of the principality, Ivan Danilovich erects a new oak Kremlin, protecting the city center and the suburbs. From 1326 to 1333, magnificent stone churches were built on the territory of the Kremlin: the Archangel, Spassky and Assumption Cathedrals, the Church of St. John of the Ladder and the Church of the Transfiguration.

One of the important achievements of the struggle of the Moscow princes for primacy in the Russian lands of the North-East is the alliance with the metropolitan see, the beginning of which was laid by Yuri Danilovich.

Perhaps it was this grand construction project that influenced the decision

Metropolitan Peter to arrange his residence in Moscow. For several years he was looking for suitable land for this. In 1326 he died and was buried in Moscow. Later, being Prince of Vladimir, Ivan Danilovich achieved the canonization of Peter.

Board and activities of Ivan Kalita

With the active support of the Russian Orthodox Church and pursuing a competent policy of unification of Russian lands, Ivan 1 bought or conquered new principalities, leaving the reins of government in the hands of local princes who passed into the status of governors of the Moscow prince. The spiritual charter of Dmitry Donskoy, the grandson of Ivan Danilovich, indicates the accession to the Moscow lands of those purchased in different time Uglich, Galich Mersky and Beloozero.

Relations with Tver have always been difficult for Ivan Danilovich. After the uprising from 1327 to 1337, it was ruled by quite loyal Konstantin Mikhailovich, but then the prince-exile, forgiven by Khan Uzbek, Alexander Mikhailovich returned to Tver. Realizing that the confrontation is starting again, Ivan Danilovich leaves for the Horde and, having presented the Khan with gifts, inspires him that Alexander Mikhailovich is playing a double game while in the service of Lithuania. In turn, the Prince of Tver also weaves intrigues, but Kalita wins, and in 1339, in the Horde, Khan Uzbek executed him along with his son Fedor. Ivan 1 Kalita dealt cruelly with his enemies. The years of government coincided with a merciless and difficult time, which is why he played by its rules.

Evaluation of the deeds of the ruler by contemporaries

This was the last success of Ivan Danilovich. In the spring of 1340, he fell seriously ill, retired and took monastic vows in the Spassky Monastery, which he built not far from his residence. There he spent his last months of life and died in March 1341.

An excellent literary monument, written by one of the monks, has been preserved. It is called “Praise to Ivan Kalita”, where the deeds and deeds of the “collector of the Russian land”, which was Prince Ivan Kalita, whose biography, policy and aspirations were subordinated to one noble goal - to create the Muscovite state, are highly appreciated.

IVAN I DANILOVICH KALITA(c. 1283-1340) - Grand Duke of Moscow from 1325 and Grand Duke of Vladimir from 1328. The second son of the prince, who laid the foundations for the political and economic power of Moscow. He received the nickname Kalita (purse) for his generosity to the poor (“give the beggars a chipping away”) and the huge wealth that he used to increase his territory by “purchases” in foreign principalities.

In his youth, he was for a long time in the shadow of his older brother, the Moscow prince Yuri Danilovich. In 1304, in the absence of his brother in Moscow, Ivan, with a small army, managed to defend Pereyaslavl, which belongs to the principality, from the Tverites, who had gathered an army led by the boyar Akinf, which proved to his brother his ability to hold on to what he had won. In 1319, Ivan's brother, Yuri, having received the title of Grand Duke in the Horde, left for Novgorod. Thus, even then, and from 1322 in full, Moscow was at the disposal of Ivan. From that time on, he showed himself to be a domineering, cruel, cunning, intelligent and stubborn ruler in achieving his goals. In 1325, Ivan inherited Moscow according to the will of the deceased Yuri. The years of his administration of the principality (about twenty) became an era of strengthening and elevation of Moscow over the rest of the Russian lands. It was based on Ivan's special ability to get along with the Horde Khan. He often traveled to the Horde, which earned him the favor and trust of Khan Uzbek. While other Russian lands suffered from the invasions of the Horde clerks and Baskaks, the possessions of the Prince of Moscow remained calm, replenished numerically with immigrants from other principalities and lands. (“The filthy ones stopped fighting the Russian land,” the chronicle says, “they stopped killing Christians; the Christians rested and rested from the great languor and much burden and from the violence of the Tatars; and from that time silence came over the whole earth”).

Soon after the beginning of Ivan's sole control of the Moscow land, the metropolitan see was transferred to Moscow from Vladimir (1325). This immediately made Moscow the spiritual capital of Russia. The prince managed to acquire the favor of Metropolitan Peter, so that from 1326 he moved to Moscow, where he died and was buried. The new Metropolitan Theognost also expressed a desire to stay in Moscow, which caused a dull discontent among the specific princes, who feared the strengthening of the Moscow principality.

Ivan deftly took advantage of the circumstances in order, on the one hand, to increase his possessions, on the other hand, to influence the princes in other Russian lands. His main rival was Prince Alexander Mikhailovich of Tver, who tried to defend his countrymen, who in 1327 killed the Horde ambassador Cholkhan and his retinue for “burning cities and villages and taking people into captivity.” Having learned about these events in Tver, Ivan himself went to the Horde to Uzbek, in a hurry to express his readiness to help the Horde in reprisals against the recalcitrant. For such devotion, Khan Uzbek gave Kalita a label for a great reign, the right to independently collect tribute for sending to the Horde and 50,000 troops. Having united him with his own, having added to him the army of the prince of Suzdal Alexander Vasilyevich, Kalita went to Tver and there "laid the whole earth empty." New detachments of Baskaks sent later from the Horde completed the rout. The ruler of Tver, Alexander, fled to Novgorod, from there to Pskov and, finally, in 1329 to Lithuania. The devastated Tver land was left to manage his brother Konstantin, who began to servilely please the Moscow ruler. The princes of the Rostov-Suzdal land found themselves in the same position. This allowed Kalita (perhaps it was then that he received his nickname) after the death of the Suzdal prince Alexander in 1332, to keep Vladimir from Moscow.

From two wives (the first time Kalita married Elena in 1332; the second wife was a certain Ulyana), the Moscow prince had seven children, including daughters - Maria, Evdokia, Feodosia and Fetinya. He managed to make them “expensive goods” and profitably marry them off: one to Prince Vasily Davydovich of Yaroslavl, the other to Prince Konstantin Vasilyevich of Rostov. At the same time, he set the condition for the autocratic disposal of the inheritances of the sons-in-law. Ryazan also obeyed Moscow: standing on the outskirts of Russia, for its obstinacy, it could be the first to be subjected to the cruel punishment of the Horde. Uglich was annexed by Kalita through a purchase. In addition, he bought and bartered villages in different places: near Kostroma, Vladimir, Rostov, on the Meta River, Kirzhach. The acquisition of the cities of Galich, Uglich and Belozersk by Kalita is doubtful, since he subsequently did not mention them in his spiritual letters (perhaps these were purchases with the right of temporary use). Particularly persistent were his attempts to seize the lands of Veliky Novgorod. Contrary to the laws of Novgorod, which forbade the princes of other lands to buy property there, he managed to establish several settlements in the Novgorod land and populate them with his people. In 1332, he even started a war with Novgorod, since the Novgorodians refused to pay the ancient tribute (the so-called “Zakama silver”), but soon he was forced to make peace. At the end of his reign, he made another attempt to subjugate this free city to his power and again demanded a large amount of money from the Novgorodians. After their refusal, he recalled his governors from the city, and this strife was destined to end after the death of his son Semyon Ivanovich Proud. The last act aimed at expanding the possessions of the principality was sending troops in 1340 (perhaps by order of the khan) to the disobedient Horde of the Smolensk prince Ivan Alexandrovich and the devastation of the Smolensk land by the Muscovites together with the Tatars.

In 1337 Prince Alexander of Tver decided to make peace with the Horde and try to get his principality back. But Kalita was ahead of the Tverich: in 1339 he himself was the first to go to the Horde with a denunciation of Alexander. Alexander received an order to come to the Khan in the Horde. There, both he and his son Fedor were executed. Kalita returned to Moscow "in great joy" and immediately sent to Tver for the main bell from the church of St. Spas. The bell was removed and brought to Moscow as a symbol of victory over an opponent.

In the capital itself, in 1325–1340, both the city center and the settlement outside it were rebuilt. The number of villages around the Kremlin grew rapidly, the prince himself owned more than 50 of them. The boyars willingly moved to Kalita, received lands from him with the duty of service; they were followed by free men fit for arms. Even the Horde Murzas strove to be “under his hand,” including Chet, who, according to legend, ended up in Moscow, the ancestor of Boris Godunov. Chronicles mention active ecclesiastical and secular stone and wooden construction. Thus, in 1330, the wooden Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior was replaced by a stone church in the princely court, and a monastery was founded (the archimandrite and monks from the Danilov Monastery were transferred here). In 1333, by order of Kalita, the church of St. John of the Ladder "under the Bells" was founded and rebuilt. In gratitude for the deliverance of Moscow from hunger, a stone church was erected on the edge of Borovitsky Hill on the site of the wooden church of Michael the Archangel (currently the Kremlin's Archangel Cathedral). A little later, the Assumption Cathedral was laid nearby. In 1339, the construction of the oak Kremlin was completed in Moscow. At the same time, the prince was well versed "in books." By his order, churches were not only built, but also replenished with valuable libraries (the Siysk parchment Gospel, supplied by his order with a considerable number of cinnabar headpieces and sketches, is now stored in the Manuscript Department of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

Before his death, John received tonsure and a schema. He divided all his movable and immovable property between his three sons and his wife: he left Moscow in common possession of the heirs, and the eldest son Semyon Ivanovich (later Proud) was appointed the main “sad” and the first among equals. He gave him the cities of Mozhaisk, Kolomna and 16 volosts, Ivan Ivanovich (the future Red) - Zvenigorod, Kremichna, Ruza and 10 more volosts, Andrei - Lopasnya, Serpukhov and 9 more volosts, his wife Elena with her daughters - 14 volosts.

Kalita died on March 31, 1340 in Moscow and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral rebuilt on his orders.

Historians highly appreciated the activities of Kalita on the Moscow throne (S.M. Soloviev, V.O. Klyuchevsky, M.N. Tikhomirov), noting also his enlightenment and assistance not only to the growth of the political power of the principality, but also to the transformation of the latter into a cultural and religious center .

Lev Pushkarev, Natalya Pushkareva

Ivan I Danilovich Kalita the Good (in Baptism John, in schema - Ananias)
Years of life: 1283 - March 31, 1341
Reign: 1328-1340

From the family of the Moscow Grand Dukes.
Son of Daniil Alexandrovich. Mother is Maria. Grandson of Alexander Nevsky.
Grand Duke of Moscow in 1325-1341.
Grand Duke Vladimirsky in 1328-1341.
Prince of Novgorod in 1328-1337.

IVAN I DANILOVICH KALITA - the second son of the prince, who laid the foundations for the political and economic power of Moscow. He received the nickname Kalita (purse) for his generosity to the poor (“give the beggars a chipping away”) and the huge wealth that he used to increase his territory by “purchases” in foreign principalities.

Ivan Kalita distributing alms. Koshelev R.

Kalita

In 1296-1297 he was the governor of his father in Novgorod.
In 1304, in the absence of his older brother, Ivan went to Pereslavl to defend it from the princes of Tver. Soon, Tver regiments appeared under the city under the command of the boyar Akinf. For three days he kept Ivan under siege, on the fourth day the boyar Rodion Nestorovich appeared from Moscow, went to the rear of the Tverites, and Ivan at the same time made a sortie out of the city, and the enemy was completely defeated.

In his youth, he was for a long time in the shadow of his elder brother, Prince of Moscow Yuri Danilovich, but having managed to defend Pereyaslavl belonging to the principality from the Tverites, he proved to his brother his ability to keep what he had won. In 1320, Ivan Danilovich first went to the Horde to Uzbek Khan, to establish himself as the heir to the Moscow principality. Yuri Danilovich received a label from the Khan for a great reign and left for Novgorod, Moscow was left in the full control of Ivan.

V.P. Vereshchagin. Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Kalita

In 1321, Dmitry of Tver recognized the power of Yuri Danilovich and transferred to him the Horde tribute from all over the Tver principality. But Yuri, instead of taking the tribute from Tver to the Horde, took it to Novgorod and put it into circulation through intermediary merchants, wanting to receive interest. Yuri's actions with the Horde tribute angered Uzbek Khan, and he handed over the label to the great reign to Dmitry. Ivan Danilovich, who was at that time in Sarai-Berka, defiantly did not interfere in anything, completely withdrawing from his brother's affairs. When Yuri tried to return the label, he was hacked to death by Dmitry in Sarai-Berk on November 21, 1325, on the eve of the day of the death of Mikhail of Tver, and Ivan became the Moscow prince. A year later (1326), Dmitry himself was killed in the Horde, and the label was transferred to his brother Alexander.

From that time on, he showed himself to be a domineering, cruel, cunning, intelligent and stubborn ruler in achieving his goals. In 1325, Ivan inherited Moscow according to the will of the deceased Yuri. The years of his administration of the principality (about twenty) became an era of strengthening and elevation of Moscow over the rest of the Russian lands. It was based on Ivan's special ability to get along with the Horde Khan. He often traveled to the Horde, which earned him the favor and trust of Khan Uzbek. While other Russian lands suffered from the invasions of the Horde clerks and Baskaks, the possessions of the Prince of Moscow remained calm, replenished numerically with immigrants from other principalities and lands. (“The filthy ones stopped fighting the Russian land,” the chronicle says, “they stopped killing Christians; the Christians rested and rested from the great languor and much burden and from the violence of the Tatars; and from that time silence came over the whole earth”).

A. Vasnetsov. Moscow Kremlin under Ivan Kalita.

Shchelkanovshchina. Popular uprising against the Tatars in Tver. 1327. Miniature from the Illuminated Chronicle of the 16th century.

Prince Alexander of Tver fled to Novgorod, then to Pskov. Novgorod paid off, giving the Horde 2,000 hryvnias of silver and many gifts. Ivan and his allies demanded the extradition of Alexander, Metropolitan Feognost excommunicated Alexander and the people of Pskov from the church. Removing the threat of invasion from Pskov, Alexander left for Lithuania in 1329 (for a year and a half).

In 1328, the Khan divided the great reign between Ivan, who received Veliky Novgorod and Kostroma, and Alexander Vasilyevich Suzdal, who received Vladimir himself and the Volga region (presumably Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets). After his death in 1331 or 1332, his brother Konstantin became the Prince of Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod, who began to servilely please the Moscow ruler, and Nizhny and Gorodets returned to the Grand Duchy for about a decade.

In 1328-1330, Ivan gave his two daughters in marriage to Vasily Davydovich Yaroslavsky and Konstantin Vasilyevich Rostovsky in order to manage their destinies.
The princes of the Rostov-Suzdal land found themselves in the same position. This allowed Kalita, after the death of the Suzdal prince Alexander in 1332, to keep Vladimir from Moscow.

Uglich was annexed by Kalita through a purchase. In addition, he bought and bartered villages in different places: near Kostroma, Vladimir, Rostov, on the Meta River, Kirzhach. The acquisition of the cities of Galich, Uglich and Belozersk by Kalita is doubtful, since he subsequently did not mention them in his spiritual letters (perhaps these were purchases with the right of temporary use).

Particularly persistent were his attempts to seize the lands of Veliky Novgorod. Contrary to the laws of Novgorod, which forbade the princes of other lands to buy property there, he managed to establish several settlements in the Novgorod land and populate them with his people. In 1332, he even started a war with Novgorod, since the Novgorodians refused to pay the ancient tribute (the so-called “Zakama silver”), but soon he was forced to make peace. At the end of his reign, he made another attempt to subjugate this free city to his power and again demanded a large amount of money from the Novgorodians. After their refusal, he recalled his deputies from the city, and this strife was destined to end after the death of his son Semyon Ivanovich Proud. The last act aimed at expanding the possessions of the principality was sending troops in 1340 (perhaps by order of the khan) to the disobedient Horde of the Smolensk prince Ivan Alexandrovich and the devastation of the Smolensk land by the Muscovites together with the Tatars.

Apollinary Vasnetsov. In the Moscow Kremlin.

Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin, 1797.

In gratitude for the deliverance of Moscow from hunger, a stone church was erected on the edge of Borovitsky Hill on the site of the wooden church of Michael the Archangel (currently the Kremlin's Archangel Cathedral). A little later, the Assumption Cathedral was laid nearby.

In 1339, the construction of the oak Kremlin was completed in Moscow. At the same time, the prince was well versed "in books." By his order, churches were not only built, but also replenished with valuable libraries (the Siysk parchment Gospel, supplied by his order with a considerable number of cinnabar headpieces and sketches, is now stored in the Manuscript Department of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

Dormition belfry of the Moscow Kremlin

Kalita died on March 31, 1340 in Moscow and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral rebuilt on his orders.

Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel. (Archangel Cathedral) in the Kremlin

Ivan Danilovich had 2 wives:
1) Princess Elena;

Elena (Olena) († March 1, 1331) - Grand Duchess-nun, the first wife of the Prince of Moscow and Grand Duke of Vladimir Ivan I Kalita.

Where Elena was from is unknown. In the world she bore the name Elena (Olena), in monasticism - Solomonida. The data on the year of her birth and the date of the wedding with I. Kalita have not been preserved either.

She was called the Grand Duchess - nun. She died on March 1, 1331, having taken monastic vows before her death.

Married to Ivan I Kalita, she gave birth to eight children: 4 sons and 4 daughters:

Simeon, (1318-1353)
Daniel, (born 1320 - died at an early age)
Ivana, (March 30, 1326 - November 13, 1359)
Andrew, (July 1327 - April 27, 1353)
Maria (d. 1365), married since 1328 to Konstantin Vasilyevich (Prince of Rostov-Borisoglebsky).
Evdokia (1314 - 1342), was married to Prince Vasily Davydovich of Yaroslavl Terrible Eyes
Theodosius, was married to the Belozersky prince - Fedor Romanovich.
Feotinia

She left the widower - the prince of three young sons: 13-year-old Simeon, 5-year-old Ivan and 3-year-old Andrei.

They buried Princess Elena in the walls of the Cathedral of the Spassky Monastery in Moscow.

Dying, in February 1340, Ivan Kalita bequeathed to his second wife Uliana with "smaller children" cities and villages, as well as the gold of his first wife Elena:

And what about the gold of my princess Olenina, otherwise I gave my daughter Feotinya, 14 hoops and a necklace of her mother, monisto new, that I forged ...

Under the year 1332, the Rogozhsky chronicler reports: “The same summer, on another, the great prince Ivan Danilovich married.” The second wife of the prince was Ulyana.

2) Princess Ulyana,

Ulyana († mid-1360s) - Grand Duchess of Moscow, second wife of Prince of Moscow and Grand Duke of Vladimir Ivan I Kalita.

The origin of Ulyana is unknown. After the death in March 1331 of the first wife of Grand Duchess-Nun Elena, Prince Ivan I Kalita, a year later in 1332 he remarried Uliana. The Rogozhsky chronicler under 1332 reports: “The same summer, on another, the great prince Ivan Danilovich married.”

This marriage lasted until the death of Prince Kalita in March 1341. Anticipating death, Ivan I in February 1340 compiled a spiritual charter, according to which he divided the Moscow principality between his three sons and his second wife Ulyana with "smaller children", listing cities, villages and settlements, as well as the gold of his first wife Elena:

“And behold, I give my princess with smaller children ...”

After the death of her husband, Princess Ulyana lived for about 20 more years.

The widowed princess Ulyana owned an inheritance, which included 14 volosts in the east and north of the Moscow principality. She owned more than ten villages in the Moscow region. In favor of the princess, the Moscow trade tax was collected. The princess received all these possessions and taxes under the will of her husband Ivan Kalita. The towns, volosts and villages that she inherited (in particular, Surozhik, Beli, Luchinskoye, Mushkova Gora, Izhva, Ramenka, the settlement of Prince Ivanov, Vorya, Korzenevo, Rogozh or Rotozh, Zagarye, Vokhna, Selna, Guslitsa, Sherna-gorodok, Lutsinskoye on Yauza with a mill, Deuninskoye) managed to keep in her hands to death. Although the eldest sons of Kalita and Elena and their grandchildren, who later became grand dukes, were her stepsons, until her death, Ulyana remained the eldest princess and enjoyed honor and respect among them, and even outlived many of them.

After death, the inheritance that was the property of Ulyana, in the mid-sixties of the XIV century. was divided between the grandchildren of Ivan Kalita - Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy and Prince Vladimir Andreevich of Serpukhov.

Married to Ivan I Kalita, Ulyana gave birth to a daughter, Maria.
According to other sources, a number of historians, in particular, the director of the Center for History Ancient Russia Institute Russian history RAS, Doctor of Historical Sciences V. A. Kuchkin, suggest that under the “younger children” in the will, Kalita meant his two daughters, who were born in a marriage with Ulyana - Maria the Younger and Theodosia.

***
The main dates of the life and work of Ivan Kalita
About 1288 - the birth of Ivan Danilovich.
1293 - "Dudenev's army", the defeat of 14 Russian cities by the Tatars.
1303, March 5 - Ivan's father, Prince Daniel Alexandrovich, died.
1304 - accompanied his elder brother Yuri on a campaign against Mozhaisk.
1304 - defeated the Tver army in the battle of Pereyaslavl-Zalesskaya.
1310 - participated in the church council in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky.
1315, spring - 1317, autumn - rules Moscow in the absence of Yuri.
1317 - son Semyon was born.
1317 - traveled to Novgorod on behalf of Yuri.
1319 - son Daniel was born.
1320 - accompanied Yuri on a campaign against Ryazan.
1320 - 1321 - lived in the Horde at the court of Khan Uzbek.
1322 - returned to Russia with a detachment of the Horde "ambassador" Akhmyl.
1322 - began to independently manage Moscow.
1326 - a trip to the Horde.
1327, August 14 - consecration of the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow.
1327, August 15 - uprising against the Tatars in Tver.
1328, the beginning - together with the Tatars participated in the defeat of Tver.
1328, summer - received a label in the Horde for the great reign of Vladimir.
1329, spring - visit to Novgorod and a trip to Pskov.
1329, September 1 - consecration of the Church of St. John of the Ladder in Moscow.
1331, March 1 - Princess Elena, Kalita's first wife, died.
1333, September 20 - consecration of the Archangel Cathedral.
1335 - Ivan Kalita's trip to Novgorod.
1339 - traveled to the Horde with his sons.
1339, November 25 - the laying of new walls of the Moscow Kremlin.
1340, March 31 - the death of Ivan Kalita.