Vasili II of Russia
| Vasily II the Blind | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Grand Prince of Moscow | |
| Reign | 27 February 1425 – 27 March 1462 |
| Predecessor | Vasily I |
| Successor | Ivan III |
| Born |
10 March 1415 Moscow, Grand Duchy of Moscow |
| Died | 27 March 1462 (aged 47) Moscow, Grand Duchy of Moscow |
| Consort | Maria Yaroslavna |
| Issue |
Ivan Vasilievich Anna Vasilievna Andrey Bolshoy |
| Dynasty | Rurik |
| Father | Vasily I |
| Mother | Sophia of Lithuania |
| Religion | Eastern Orthodox |
Vasily Vasiliyevich (Russian: Василий Васильевич; 10 March 1415–27 March 1462), known as Vasily II the Blind (Василий II Темный), was the Grand Prince of Moscow whose long reign (1425–1462) was plagued by the greatest civil war of Old Russian history.
Vasily II was the youngest son of Vasily I of Moscow by Sophia of Lithuania, the only daughter of Vytautas the Great, and the only son to survive his father (his elder brother Ivan died in 1417 at the age of 22). On his father's death Vasily was proclaimed Grand Duke at the age of 10. His mother acted as a regent. His uncle, Yuri of Zvenigorod (Prince of Galich-Mersky), and his two sons, Vasily the Cross-Eyed and Dmitry Shemyaka, seized on the opportunity to advance their own claims to the throne. These claims were based on the Testament of Dmitri Donskoi, Yuri's father and Vasily's grandfather, who had stated that if Vasily I died Yuri would succeed his appanage. However, Dmitri had written the testament when Vasily I had no children of his own, and it might be argued that this provision had been made only for the case of Vasily's childless death. Vasily's claim was supported by Vytautas, his maternal grandfather.
Upon Vytautas' death in 1430, Yuri went to the Golden Horde, returning with a license to take the Moscow throne. But the Khan did not support him any further, largely due to the devices of the Smolensk princeling and Moscow boyarin Ivan Vsevolzhsky. When Yuri assembled an army and attacked Moscow, Vasily, betrayed by Vsevolzhsky, was defeated and captured by his enemies (1433). Upon being proclaimed Grand Duke of Moscow, Yuri pardoned his nephew and sent him to reign in the town of Kolomna. That proved to be a mistake, as Vasily immediately started to plot against his uncle and gather all sort of malcontents. Feeling how insecure his throne was, Yuri resigned and then left Moscow for his northern hometown. When Vasily returned to Moscow, he had Vsevolzhsky blinded as a traitor.
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