Biography of Princess Sophia Alekseevna Romanova. Sophia Palaiologos - Byzantine princess Byzantine princess Sophia Palaiologos

Sophia Palaiologos, who was also called Zoya Paleologne, was born in 1455 in the city of Mistra, Greece.

Childhood princess

The future grandmother of Ivan the Terrible was born in the family of the despot of Morea named Thomas Paleologus at a not very prosperous time - in decadent times for Byzantium. When Constantinople fell to Turkey and was taken by Sultan Mehmed II, the girl's father Thomas Palaiologos and his family fled to Kofra.

Later in Rome, the family changed their faith to Catholicism, and when Sophia was 10 years old, her father died. Unfortunately for the girl, her mother, Ekaterina Akhaiskaya, had died a year earlier, which crippled her father.

The children of Palaiologos - Zoya, Manuel and Andrei, aged 10, 5 and 7 - settled in Rome under the tutelage of the Greek scientist Bessarion of Nicaea, who at that time served as a cardinal under the Pope. The Byzantine princess Sophia and her brother princes were raised in the Catholic tradition. With the permission of the pope, Bessarion of Nicaea paid for the servants of the Palaiologos, doctors, language professors, as well as a whole staff of foreign translators and clergy. The orphans received an excellent education.

Marriage

As soon as Sophia grew up, the Venetian subjects began to look for her noble spouse.

• She was prophesied as a wife to the Cypriot king Jacques II de Lusignan. The marriage did not take place in order to avoid quarrels with the Ottoman Empire.
• A few months later, Cardinal Vissarion invited Prince Caracciolo of Italy to marry the Byzantine princess. The young people got engaged. However, Sophia threw all her efforts into not getting engaged to a non-Christian (she continued to adhere to Orthodoxy).
• By coincidence, in 1467, the wife of the Grand Duke of Moscow, Ivan the Third, died in Moscow. One son remained from the marriage. And Pope Paul II, in order to plant the Catholic faith in Rus', suggested that the widower should put a Greek Catholic princess on the throne of the princess of all Rus'.

Negotiations with the Russian prince lasted three years. Ivan the Third, having received the approval of his mother, churchmen and his boyars, decided to marry. By the way, during the negotiations about the transition of the princess to Catholicism that happened in Rome, the envoys from the Pope did not particularly spread. On the contrary, they reported slyly that the sovereign's bride is a true Orthodox Christian. Surprisingly, they could not even imagine that this is the true truth.

In June 1472, the newlyweds in Rome became engaged in absentia. Then, accompanied by Cardinal Vissarion, the Princess of Moscow left Rome for Moscow.

Princess portrait

The Bologna chroniclers eloquently described Sophia Paleolog as an attractive girl in appearance. When she got married, she appeared to be about 24 years old.

• Her skin is white as snow.
• The eyes are huge and very expressive, which corresponded to the then canons of beauty.
• The height of the princess is 160 cm.
• Build - knocked down, dense.

The dowry of Palaiologos included not only jewelry, but also a large number of valuable books, among which were the treatises of Plato, Aristotle, and the unknown works of Homer. These books became the main attraction of the famous library of Ivan the Terrible, which later disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

In addition, Zoya was very purposeful. She threw every effort not to convert to another faith, betrothed to a Christian man. At the end of her route from Rome to Moscow, when there was no turning back, she announced to her guides that she would renounce Catholicism in marriage and accept Orthodoxy. So the desire of the Pope to spread Catholicism to Rus' through the marriage of Ivan the Third and Palaiologos failed.

Life in Moscow

The influence of Sophia Paleolog on the married spouse was very great, it also became a great boon for Russia, because the wife was very educated and incredibly devoted to her new homeland.

So, it was she who prompted her husband to stop paying tribute to the Golden Horde that burdened them. Thanks to his wife, the Grand Duke decided to cast off the Tatar-Mongolian burden that had weighed on Russia for many centuries. At the same time, his advisers and princes insisted on paying dues, as usual, so as not to start a new bloodshed. In 1480, Ivan the Third announced his decision to the Tatar Khan Akhmat. Then there was a historical bloodless stand on the Ugra, and the Horde left Russia forever, never again demanding tribute from it.

In general, Sophia Palaiologos played a very important role in the further historical events of Rus'. Her broad outlook and bold innovative decisions later allowed the country to make a noticeable breakthrough in the development of culture and architecture. Sofia Paleolog opened Moscow for Europeans. Now Greeks, Italians, learned minds and talented craftsmen rushed to Muscovy. For example, Ivan the Third was happy to take under the wing of Italian architects (such as Aristotle Fioravanti), who built many historical masterpieces of architecture in Moscow. At the behest of Sophia, a separate courtyard and luxurious mansions were built for her. They were lost in a fire in 1493 (together with the Palaiologos treasury).

Zoya's personal relationship with her husband Ivan the Third was also prosperous. They had 12 children. But some died in infancy or from disease. So, in their family, five sons and four daughters survived to adulthood.

But the life of a Byzantine princess in Moscow can hardly be called rosy. The local elite saw the great influence that the spouse had on her husband, and was very unhappy with this.

Relations with Sophia did not work out with the adopted son from the deceased first wife, Ivan Molody. The princess really wanted her first-born Vasily to become the heir. And there is a historical version that she was involved in the death of the heir, writing him an Italian doctor with poisonous potions, supposedly to treat sudden onset gout (later he was executed for this).

Sophia had a hand in the removal from the throne of his wife Elena Voloshanka and their son Dmitry. First, Ivan the Third sent Sophia herself into disgrace for inviting witches to her to create poison for Elena and Dmitry. He forbade his wife to appear in the palace. However, later Ivan the Third ordered to send the grandson of Dmitry, already proclaimed heir to the throne, and his mother to prison for court intrigues, successfully and in a favorable light revealed by his wife Sophia. The grandson was officially deprived of the grand ducal dignity, and the son Vasily was declared the heir to the throne.

So, the Princess of Moscow became the mother of the heir to the Russian throne, Vasily III, and the grandmother of the famous Tsar Ivan the Terrible. There is evidence that the famous grandson had many similarities in both appearance and character with his domineering grandmother from Byzantium.

Death

As they said then, “from old age” - at the age of 48, Sophia Paleolog died on April 7, 1503. The woman was buried in a sarcophagus in the Ascension Cathedral. She was buried next to Ivan's first wife.

By coincidence, in 1929, the Bolsheviks demolished the cathedral, but the Palaiologini sarcophagus survived and was moved to the Archangel Cathedral.

Ivan the Third took the death of the princess hard. At the age of 60, this greatly crippled his health, moreover, recently he and his wife were in constant suspicion and quarrels. However, he continued to appreciate Sophia's mind and her love for Russia. Feeling the approach of his end, he made a will, appointing their common son Vasily as the heir to power.

What did Sophia Paleolog do? Sophia Paleolog a brief biography of the famous Greek princess will tell about her contribution to history.

Sophia Paleolog biography the most important thing

Sophia Paleolog is an outstanding woman in Russian history. Sophia Paleolog is the second wife of Grand Duke Ivan III, as well as the mother of Vasily III and the grandmother of Ivan IV the Terrible. Her exact date of birth is unknown, but scholars suggest that she was born around 1455.

In 1469, the Great Moscow Prince Ivan III, who by this time had been a widower for two years, decided to marry again. But he could not decide on the role of the bride. Pope Paul II invited him to marry Sophia. After much deliberation, he was seduced by her title of Greek princess. The wedding of crowned individuals took place in 1472. The ceremony took place in the Assumption Cathedral, the couple was married by Metropolitan Philip.

Sophia was very happy in a marriage in which 9 children were born - four daughters and five sons. For the Grand Duchess of Greek origin, separate mansions were built in Moscow, which, unfortunately, perished during a fire in 1493.

Sophia Paleolog what did she do? According to contemporaries, Sophia Paleolog was a smart woman who skillfully directed her husband to actions. There is an opinion that it was Sophia who pushed Ivan III to the decision not to pay tribute to the Tatars.

With the advent of Sophia and her children at the Moscow court, real dynastic strife began in the city. Ivan III had a son, Ivan Young from his first marriage, who was supposed to inherit the throne. Sophia's son, Vasily, it seemed, was not destined to be the heir to his father's power.

But fate decreed otherwise. Ivan Molodoy, who already had a family and a son, received the Tver lands, but suddenly fell ill and died. After that, rumors circulated for a long time that he had been poisoned. Sophia's son Vasily Ivanovich remained the only heir of Ivan III.

The attitude towards the wife of Ivan III in the princely environment was different. One of the nobility revered the Grand Duchess, respected her for her mind, while the other considered her very proud, not considering anyone's opinion, and the third side was convinced that with the advent of the Greek princess in Moscow, Prince Ivan III because of her "changed the old customs ".

Sophia Palaiologos died two years before the death of her husband in 1503. Until the end of her life, she considered herself a princess of Tsaregorod, a Greek, and only then the Grand Duchess of Moscow.

On the radio "Echo of Moscow" I heard an exciting conversation with the head of the archaeological department of the Kremlin Museums Tatiana Dmitrievna Panova and expert anthropologist Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin. They spoke in detail about their latest work. Sergey Alekseevich Nikitin very competently described Zoya (Sofya) Fominichna Paleolog, who arrived in Moscow on November 12, 1473 from Rome from the most prominent Orthodox authority and then a cardinal under Pope Vissarion of Nicaea to marry the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Vasilyevich III. About Zoe (Sofya) Paleolog as the bearer of the exploded Western European subjectivity and about her role in the history of Russia, see my previous notes. Interesting new details.

Tatyana Dmitrievna, Doctor of Historical Sciences, admits that during her first visit to the Kremlin Museum she experienced a strong shock from the image of Sophia Paleolog reconstructed from the skull. She could not move away from the appearance that struck her. Something in Sophia's face attracted her - interestingness and harshness, a certain zest.

On September 18, 2004, Tatyana Panova spoke about research in the Kremlin necropolis. “We open every sarcophagus, remove the remains and the remains of burial clothes. I must say that, for example, anthropologists work for us, of course, they make a lot of interesting observations on the remains of these women, since the physical appearance of people of the Middle Ages is also interesting, we, in general "we don't know much about him, and what diseases people had then. But in general, there are a lot of interesting questions. But in particular, one of such interesting areas is the reconstruction of skulls of portraits of sculptural people of that time. But you yourself know that we have a secular painting appears very late, only at the end of the 17th century, and here we have already reconstructed 5 portraits today.We can see the faces of Evdokia Donskaya, Sophia Paleolog - this is the second wife of Ivan III, Elena Glinskaya - the mother of Ivan the Terrible. Sophia Paleolog - Ivan's grandmother Ivan the Terrible, and Elena Glinskaya - his mother. Then now we have a portrait of Irina Godunova, for example, we also succeeded because the skull was preserved. And the last work is the third wife of Ivan the Terrible - Marfa Sobakina. Still a very young woman" (http://echo.msk.ru/programs/kremlin/27010/).

Then, as now, it was a turning point - Russia had to respond to the challenge of subjectivization, or the challenge of breaking through capitalism. The heresy of the Judaizers could well have prevailed. A serious struggle flared up at the top and, as in the West, took the form of a struggle for succession to the throne, for the victory of one party or another.

So, Elena Glinskaya died at the age of 30 and, as it turned out from the studies of her hair, a spectral analysis was carried out - she was poisoned with mercury salts. The same thing - the first wife of Ivan the Terrible, Anastasia Romanova, also turned out to have a huge amount of mercury salts.

Since Sophia Paleolog was a pupil of the Greek and Renaissance culture, she gave Rus' a powerful impulse of subjectivity. The biography of Zoe (she was nicknamed Sophia in Rus') Paleolog managed to recreate, collecting information bit by bit. But even today, even the exact date of her birth is unknown (somewhere between 1443 and 1449). She is the daughter of the Despot of Morea Thomas, whose possessions occupied the southwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula, where Sparta once flourished, and in the first half of the 15th century in Mistra, under the auspices of the famous herald of the Right Faith, Gemistus Plethon, was the spiritual center of Orthodoxy. Zoya Fominichna was the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, who died in 1453 on the walls of Constantinople while defending the city from the Turks. She grew up, figuratively speaking, in the hands of Gemist Plethon and his faithful disciple Vissarion of Nicaea.

Under the blows of the Sultan's army, Morea also fell, and Thomas moved first to the island of Corfu, then to Rome, where he soon died. Here, at the court of the head of the Catholic Church, where Bessarion of Nicaea firmly established himself after the Union of Florence in 1438, the children of Thomas, Zoya and her two brothers, Andreas and Manuel, were brought up.

The fate of the representatives of the once powerful Palaiologos dynasty was tragic. Converted to Islam, Manuel died in poverty in Constantinople. Andreas, who dreamed of returning the former possessions of the family, never reached the goal. Zoya's older sister, Elena, the Serbian queen, deprived of the throne by the Turkish conquerors, ended her days in one of the Greek monasteries. Against this background, the fate of Zoya Paleolog looks prosperous.

The strategically thinking Bessarion of Nicaea, who plays a leading role in the Vatican, after the fall of the Second Rome (Constantinople), turned his eyes to the northern stronghold of Orthodoxy, to Moscow Rus', which, although it was under the Tatar yoke, was clearly gaining strength and could soon appear as a new world power . And he led a complex intrigue in order to marry the heiress of the Byzantine emperors of the Palaiologos to marry shortly before (in 1467) the widowed Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III. The negotiations dragged on for three years because of the resistance of the Metropolitan of Moscow, but the will of the prince prevailed, and on June 24, 1472, a large convoy of Zoe Palaiologos left Rome.

The Greek princess crossed the whole of Europe: from Italy to the north of Germany, to Lübeck, where the motorcade arrived on September 1. Further sailing in the Baltic Sea proved to be difficult and lasted 11 days. From Kolyvan (as Tallinn was then called in Russian sources) in October 1472, the procession headed through Yuryev (now Tartu), Pskov and Novgorod to Moscow. Such a long journey had to be made because of bad relations with the Kingdom of Poland - a convenient overland road to Rus' was closed.

Only on November 12, 1472, Sophia entered Moscow, where on the same day she met and married Ivan III. Thus began the "Russian" period in her life.

She brought with her devoted Greek helpers, including Kerbush, from whom the Kashkin princes descended. She also brought a number of Italian things. Embroideries also came from her, setting patterns for future "Kremlin wives". Having become the mistress of the Kremlin, she tried in many ways to copy the images and orders of her native Italy, which in those years was experiencing a monstrously powerful explosion of subjectivity.

Bessarion of Nicaea sent a portrait of Zoe Paleologus to Moscow earlier, which impressed the Moscow elite as a bombshell. After all, a secular portrait, like a still life, is a symptom of subjectivity. In those years, every second family in the same most advanced "capital of the world" Florence had portraits of their owners, and in Rus' they were closer to subjectivity in "Judaizing" Novgorod than in more mossy Moscow. The appearance of a painting in Rus', unfamiliar with secular art, shocked people. From the Sophia Chronicle, we know that the chronicler, who first encountered such a phenomenon, could not renounce the church tradition and called the portrait an icon: "... and bring the princess written on the icon." The fate of the painting is unknown. Most likely, she died in one of the numerous fires of the Kremlin. No images of Sophia have survived in Rome either, although the Greek woman spent about ten years at the papal court. So we probably will never know what she was like in her youth.

Tatyana Panova in her article "Personification of the Middle Ages" http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/publishing/vs/column/?item_id=2556 notes that secular painting appeared in Rus' only at the end of the 17th century - before that it was under strict church ban. That's why we don't know what famous characters from our past looked like. "Now, thanks to the work of specialists from the Moscow Kremlin Museum-Reserve and forensic experts, we have the opportunity to see the appearance of the three legendary women of the Grand Duchesses: Evdokia Dmitrievna, Sofya Paleolog and Elena Glinskaya. And reveal the secrets of their life and death."

The wife of the Florentine ruler Lorenzo Medici - Clarissa Orsini - found the young Zoya Paleolog very pleasant: "Short in stature, the eastern flame sparkled in her eyes, the whiteness of her skin spoke of the nobility of her family." Mustache face. Height 160. Full. Ivan Vasilyevich fell in love at first sight and went with her to the marriage bed (after the wedding) on ​​the same day, November 12, 1473, when Zoya arrived in Moscow.

The arrival of a foreign woman was a significant event for Muscovites. The chronicler noted in the retinue of the bride "blue" and "black" people - Arabs and Africans, never seen before in Russia. Sophia became a participant in a complex dynastic struggle for the succession to the Russian throne. As a result, her eldest son Vasily (1479-1533) became the Grand Duke, bypassing the legitimate heir Ivan, whose early death allegedly from gout remains a mystery to this day. Having lived in Russia for more than 30 years, having given birth to her husband 12 children, Sophia Paleolog left an indelible mark on the history of our country. Her grandson Ivan the Terrible in many ways resembled her. Anthropologists and forensic experts have helped historians learn details about this man that are not in written sources. Now it is known that the Grand Duchess was short - no more than 160 cm, suffered from osteochondrosis and had serious hormonal disorders that led to a masculine appearance and behavior. Her death occurred due to natural causes at the age of 55-60 years (the scatter of numbers is due to the fact that the exact year of her birth is unknown). But, perhaps, the most interesting were the works on recreating Sophia's appearance, since her skull is well preserved. The technique of reconstructing a sculptural portrait of a person has long been actively used in forensic and search practice, and the accuracy of its results has been repeatedly proven.

“I,” says Tatyana Panova, “was lucky to see the stages of recreating the appearance of Sophia, not yet knowing all the circumstances of her difficult fate. As the facial features of this woman appeared, it became clear how much life situations and illness hardened the character of the Grand Duchess. and it could not be - the struggle for her own survival and the fate of her son could not but leave traces. Sophia ensured that her eldest son became Grand Duke Vasily III. The death of the legitimate heir, Ivan the Young, at the age of 32 from gout is still in doubt in her naturalness. By the way, the Italian Leon, invited by Sophia, took care of the prince's health. Vasily inherited from his mother not only the appearance that was captured on one of the icons of the 16th century - a unique case (the icon can be seen in the exposition of the State Historical Museum), but also a tough character Greek blood also affected Ivan IV the Terrible - he is very similar to his royal grandmother with a Mediterranean type of face. This is clearly seen when you look at the sculptural portrait of his mother, Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya."

As the forensic expert of the Moscow Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination S.A. Nikitin and T.D. Panova write in the article "Anthropological reconstruction" (http://bio.1september.ru/article.php?ID=200301806), the creation in mid-twentieth century national school of anthropological reconstruction and the work of its founder M.M. Gerasimov performed a miracle. Today we can look into the faces of Yaroslav the Wise, Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky and Timur, Tsar Ivan IV and his son Fyodor. To date, historical figures have been reconstructed: researcher of the Far North N.A. Begichev, Nestor the chronicler, the first Russian doctor Agapit, the first abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Varlaam, archimandrite Polikarp, Ilya Muromets, Sophia Paleolog and Elena Glinskaya (respectively, the grandmother and mother of Ivan the Terrible), Evdokia Donskaya (wife of Dmitry Donskoy), Irina Godunova (wife of Fyodor Ioanovich). The restoration of the face, carried out in 1986, from the skull of a pilot who died in 1941 in the battles for Moscow, made it possible to establish his name. Portraits of Vasily and Tatyana Pronchishchev, members of the Great Northern Expedition, have been restored. Developed by the school of M.M. Gerasimov, methods of anthropological restoration are also successfully used in the disclosure of criminal offenses.

And research on the remains of the Greek princess Sophia Paleologus began in December 1994. She was buried in a massive white stone sarcophagus in the tomb of the Ascension Cathedral in the Kremlin next to the grave of Maria Borisovna, the first wife of Ivan III. On the lid of the sarcophagus, “Sophia” was scratched with a sharp instrument.

The necropolis of the female Ascension Monastery on the territory of the Kremlin, where in the XV-XVII centuries. buried Russian Grand and specific princesses and queens, after the destruction of the monastery in 1929, it was saved by museum workers. Now the ashes of high-ranking persons rest in the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral. Time is ruthless, and not all burials have come down to us completely, but the remains of Sophia Palaiologos are well preserved (almost a complete skeleton with the exception of individual small bones).

Modern osteologists can determine a lot by studying ancient burials - not only the sex, age and height of people, but also the illnesses they suffered during their lives and injuries. After comparing the skull, spine, sacrum, pelvic bones and lower limbs, taking into account the approximate thickness of the missing soft tissues and interosseous cartilage, it was possible to reconstruct Sophia's appearance. According to the degree of overgrowth of the sutures of the skull and wear of the teeth, the biological age of the Grand Duchess was determined at 50–60 years, which corresponds to historical data. At first, her sculptural portrait was molded from special soft plasticine, and then a plaster casting was made and tinted to look like Carrara marble.

Looking into the face of Sophia, you are convinced that such a woman could really be an active participant in the events, which are evidenced by written sources. Unfortunately, in modern historical literature there is no detailed biographical sketch dedicated to her fate.

Under the influence of Sophia Paleolog and her Greek-Italian entourage, Russian-Italian ties are activated. Grand Duke Ivan III invites qualified architects, doctors, jewelers, miners and weapon makers to Moscow. By decision of Ivan III, foreign architects were entrusted with the reconstruction of the Kremlin, and today we admire the monuments, the appearance of which in the capital is due to Aristotle Fiorovanti and Marco Ruffo, Aleviz Fryazin and Antonio Solari. It is amazing, but many buildings of the late XV - early years of the XVI century. in the ancient center of Moscow remained the same as they were during the life of Sophia Paleolog. These are the temples of the Kremlin (Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe), the Faceted Chamber - the main hall of the Grand Duke's court, the walls and towers of the fortress itself.

The strength and independence of Sophia Palaiologos were especially clearly manifested in the last decade of the life of the Grand Duchess, when in the 80s. 15th century in a dynastic dispute at the court of the Moscow sovereign, two groups of feudal nobility developed. The leader of one was the heir to the throne, Prince Ivan Molodoy, the son of Ivan III from his first marriage. The second was formed surrounded by "Greeks". Around Elena Voloshanka, the wife of Ivan the Young, a powerful and influential group of "Judeans" developed, which almost pulled Ivan III over to their side. Only the fall of Dmitry (the grandson of Ivan III from his first marriage) and his mother Elena (in 1502 they were sent to prison, where they died) put an end to this protracted conflict.

The sculptural portrait-reconstruction resurrects Sophia's appearance in the last years of her life. And today there is an amazing opportunity to compare the appearance of Sophia Paleolog and her grandson, Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich, whose sculptural portrait was recreated by M.M. Gerasimov back in the mid-1960s. It is clearly visible: the oval of the face, forehead and nose, eyes and chin of Ivan IV are almost the same as those of his grandmother. Studying the skull of the formidable king, M.M. Gerasimov singled out significant features of the Mediterranean type in it and unequivocally connected this with the origin of Sophia Paleolog.

In the arsenal of the Russian school of anthropological reconstruction, there are different methods: plastic, graphic, computer and combined. But the main thing in them is the search and proof of patterns in the shape, size and position of one or another part of the face. When recreating a portrait, various techniques are used. These are the developments of M.M. Gerasimov on the construction of the eyelids, lips, wings of the nose and the technique of G.V. Lebedinskaya concerning the reproduction of the profile drawing of the nose. The technique of modeling the general cover of soft tissues using calibrated thick ridges makes it possible to reproduce the cover more accurately and noticeably faster.

Based on the technique developed by Sergey Nikitin for comparing the appearance of the details of the face and the underlying part of the skull, specialists from the Forensic Expert Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation created a combined graphical method. The regularity of the position of the upper border of hair growth was established, a certain connection between the setting of the auricle and the degree of severity of the "supra-mastoid ridge" was revealed. In recent years, a method has been developed for determining the position of the eyeballs. The signs that allow to determine the presence and severity of the epicanthus (Mongoloid fold of the upper eyelid) are revealed.

Armed with advanced techniques, Sergei Alekseevich Nikitin and Tatyana Dmitrievna Panova revealed a number of nuances in the fate of Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya and great-granddaughter Sophia Paleolog - Maria Staritskaya.

The mother of Ivan the Terrible - Elena Glinskaya - was born around 1510. She died in 1538. She is the daughter of Vasily Glinsky, who, together with his brothers, fled from Lithuania to Russia after a failed uprising in his homeland. In 1526, Elena became the wife of Grand Duke Vasily III. His tender letters to her have been preserved. In 1533-1538, Elena was regent for her young son, the future Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. During the years of her reign, the walls and towers of Kitay-gorod in Moscow were built, and a monetary reform was carried out (“the great prince Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus' and his mother, Grand Duchess Elena, ordered to remake old money for a new coinage, for what was in old money a lot of circumcised money and mix ... "), concluded a truce with Lithuania.
Under Glinskaya, two of her husband's brothers, Andrei and Yuri, pretenders to the Grand Duke's throne, died in prison. So the Grand Duchess tried to protect the rights of her son Ivan. The ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire, Sigmund Herberstein, wrote about Glinskaya: “After the death of the sovereign, Mikhail (the uncle of the princess) repeatedly reproached his widow for a dissolute life; for this she accused him of treason, and he unfortunately died in custody. A little later, the cruel one herself died from poison, and her lover, nicknamed Sheepskin, as they say, was torn to pieces and cut into pieces. Evidence of the poisoning of Elena Glinskaya was confirmed only at the end of the 20th century, when historians studied her remains.

“The idea of ​​the project that will be discussed,” recalls Tatyana Panova, “arose several years ago, when I participated in the examination of human remains found in the basement of an old Moscow house. The NKVD in Stalin's times.But the burials turned out to be part of a destroyed cemetery of the 17th-18th centuries.The investigator was glad to close the case, and Sergei Nikitin, who worked with me from the Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination, suddenly discovered that he and the historian-archaeologist had a common object for research - the remains of historical figures. Thus, in 1994, work began in the necropolis of Russian Grand Duchesses and Empresses of the 15th - early 18th centuries, which has been preserved since the 1930s in an underground chamber near the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin.

And now the reconstruction of the appearance of Elena Glinskaya highlighted her Baltic type. The Glinsky brothers - Mikhail, Ivan and Vasily - moved to Moscow at the beginning of the 16th century after a failed conspiracy of the Lithuanian nobility. In 1526, Vasily's daughter, Elena, who, according to the then concepts, had already sat up in girls, became the wife of Grand Duke Vasily III Ivanovich. She died suddenly at the age of 27-28. The face of the princess was distinguished by soft features. She was quite tall for women of that time - about 165 cm and harmoniously built. Anthropologist Denis Pezhemsky discovered a very rare anomaly in her skeleton: six lumbar vertebrae instead of five.

One of Ivan the Terrible's contemporaries noted the redness of his hair. Now it is clear whose suit the tsar inherited: the remains of the hair of Elena Glinskaya, red, like red copper, were preserved in the burial. It was the hair that helped to find out the cause of the unexpected death of a young woman. This is extremely important information, because the early death of Elena undoubtedly influenced the subsequent events of Russian history, the formation of the character of her orphaned son Ivan, the future formidable tsar.

As you know, the cleansing of the human body from harmful substances occurs through the liver-kidney system, but many toxins accumulate and remain for a long time also in the hair. Therefore, in cases where soft organs are not available for research, experts do a spectral analysis of the hair. The remains of Elena Glinskaya were analyzed by forensic expert Tamara Makarenko, candidate of biological sciences. The results are stunning. In the objects of study, the expert found concentrations of mercury salts that are a thousand times higher than the norm. The body could not accumulate such quantities gradually, which means that Elena immediately received a huge dose of poison, which caused acute poisoning and caused her imminent death.

Later, Makarenko repeated the analysis, which convinced her: there was no mistake, the picture of poisoning turned out to be so vivid. The young princess was exterminated with the help of mercury salts, or sublimate, one of the most common mineral poisons in that era.

So more than 400 years later, it was possible to find out the cause of the death of the Grand Duchess. And thus confirm the rumors about the poisoning of Glinskaya, given in the notes of some foreigners who visited Moscow in the 16th-17th centuries.

Nine-year-old Maria Staritskaya was also poisoned in October 1569, along with her father Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, cousin of Ivan IV Vasilyevich, on the way to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, in the midst of the Oprichnina, when potential contenders for the Moscow throne were destroyed. The Mediterranean ("Greek") type, clearly seen in the appearance of Sophia Paleolog and her grandson Ivan the Terrible, also distinguishes her great-granddaughter. Humpbacked nome, plump lips, manly face. And prone to bone disease. So, Sergei Nikitin found signs of frontal hyperostosis (growth of the frontal bone) on the skull of Sophia Paleolog, which is associated with the production of excess male hormones. And the great-granddaughter Maria was diagnosed with rickets.

As a result, the appearance of the past became close, tangible. Half a millennium - but as if yesterday.

Her personality has always worried historians, and opinions about her varied up to the opposite: some considered her a witch, others idolized and called her a saint. A few years ago, director Alexei Andrianov also presented his interpretation of the phenomenon of the Grand Duchess in the serial film "Sofia", which was broadcast on the Russia 1 TV channel. What is true in it, and what - we understand.

The film novel "Sofia", which made itself known on the wide screen, stands out against the background of other historical domestic films. It covers a distant era, which was not even taken to film before: the events in the film are dedicated to the beginning of the formation of Russian statehood, in particular, the marriage of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III with the last heir to the Byzantine throne.

A little digression: Zoya (that's what the girl was named at birth) was offered as a wife to Ivan III at the age of 14. Pope Sixtus IV himself very much hoped for this marriage (he hoped through marriage to strengthen Catholicism in Russian lands). The negotiations lasted a total of 3 years and were eventually crowned with success: at the age of 17, Zoya was betrothed in absentia in the Vatican and sent along with her retinue on a trip to the Russian lands, which only after inspecting the territories ended with her arrival in the capital. The Pope's plan, by the way, finally fell apart when the newly-minted Byzantine princess was baptized in a short time and received the name Sophia.

The film, of course, does not reflect all the historical twists and turns. In 10 hour series, the creators tried to contain, in their opinion, the most important of what happened in Rus' at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. It was during this period, thanks to Ivan III, that Rus' finally freed itself from the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the prince began to unite the territories, which eventually led to the formation of an integral strong state.

The fateful time in many respects became such thanks to Sophia Palaiologos. She, educated, culturally enlightened, did not become a mute addition for the prince, capable only of continuing the family and the princely family, as was established at that distant time. The Grand Duchess had her own opinion on everything and could always voice it, and her husband invariably put it highly. According to historians, it was probably Sofia who put Ivan III in the head with the idea of ​​uniting the lands under a single center. The princess saw in Rus' an unprecedented power, believed in its great goal, and, according to the hypothesis of historians, it is she who owns the famous phrase "Moscow is the third Rome."

The niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Sophia also "gave" Moscow the coat of arms of her dynasty - that same double-headed eagle. It was inherited by the capital as an integral part of its dowry (along with the book library, which later became part of the legacy of the great library of Ivan the Terrible). Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals - designed and created thanks to the Italian Alberti Fioravanti, whom Sofia personally invited to Moscow. In addition, the princess summoned artists and architects from Western Europe to ennoble the capital: they built palaces, erected new temples. It was then that Moscow was adorned with the Kremlin towers, the Terem Palace and the Archangel Cathedral.

Of course, we cannot know what the marriage of Sophia and Ivan III really was, unfortunately, we can only guess about this (it is only known that, according to various hypotheses, they had 9 or 12 children). A serial film is primarily an artistic perception and understanding of their relationship; it is in its own way the author's interpretation of the fate of the princess. In the film novel, the love line is brought to the fore, and all other historical ups and downs seem to be an accompanying background. Of course, the creators do not promise absolute certainty, it was important for them to make a sensual picture that they would believe, the characters of which would sympathize with, and sincerely worry about their serial fate.

However, everything that concerns the details, the filmmakers have given tremendous importance. In this regard, it is possible and necessary to learn history on a film: historically accurate scenery was created especially for filming (the decoration of the princely palace, the secret offices of the Vatican, even the smallest household items of the era), costumes (of which more than 1000 were made and mostly by hand). For the filming of Sofia, consultants and experts were involved so that even the most fastidious and attentive viewer would not have questions about the picture.

In the film novel, Sofia is a beauty. Actress Maria Andreeva - the star of the popular Duhless - in her incomplete 30s on the screen (on the date of filming) really looks 17. But historians confirmed that in fact Paleologus was not a beauty. However, ideals change not only over centuries, even over decades, and therefore it is difficult for us to rant about this. But the fact that she was overweight (according to her contemporaries, even critically) cannot be omitted. However, the same historians confirm that Sophia was indeed a very smart and educated woman for her time. This was understood by her contemporaries, and some of them, either out of envy or because of their own ignorance, were sure that such a smart Paleolog could only become thanks to connections with dark forces and the devil himself (based on this ambiguous hypothesis, one federal TV channel even directed the film "The Witch of All Rus'").