Welcome to the Russian rulers podcast. I'm your host Mark Shouse.

Episode 13 Vassili III and Why Moscow.

Ivan the Great is dead, and Vassili, his son, has secured the throne.

Despite having fallen in and out of favor with his father, Vassili III was now the Grand Prince of Moscow and he was to rule wisely

for the next 28 years by basically following his far more famous father's footsteps.

First off, though, Vassili needed to make sure that none of his four brothers could gain enough of a power base to threaten his authority.

While each of the sons received land, Vassili's holdings were greater than all his brothers

combined.

Ivan, before he passed, also made all his sons sign an oath to the oldest brother, as well as spelling out what each could and could not do.

For instance, Vassili could mint coinage and settle serious criminal matters,

while the others were forbidden to do so.

One of his brothers, though, Simeon, tried to break away by enlisting Lithuania as an ally,

but that failed and only pleadings from the church and close friends of

Aseili were able to save Simeon's life from the wrath of the Grand Prince.

According to Russian chroniclers of the time, the Sealy regularly had secret agents

spy on his brothers.

The Sealy the third was as ruthless, if not more so than his father.

One law he instituted showed how far he would go to keep things in check.

This rule, started but not fully implemented,

was one that repealed the right of departure.

In the past, if a prince of a city felt he was being mistreated by the Grand Prince,

he could leave the protection of the Muscovite prince and ally himself with another country.

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