Belsky
Encyclopedia
The Belsky or Belski family was a princely family of Gediminid origin in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
. It later deflected to the Grand Duchy of Moscow
and played a key role during the regency of Ivan IV of Russia
. The family started with Ivan Vladimirovich, son of Vladimir Olgerdovich
and grandson of Algirdas
, and ended with Ivan Dmitrievich Belsky in 1571. The Belsky name was derived from their principal possession of Bely, Tver Oblast.
. After the death of Grand Duke Vytautas in 1430, Ivan was involved in the ensuing power struggle. Initially he supported Švitrigaila
and witnessed the anti-Polish Treaty of Christmemel
with the Teutonic Knights
. However, he changed sides and actively supported the 1432 coup against Švitrigaila in favor of Sigismund Kęstutaitis
. He then changed sides again and fought against Sigismund in the decisive Battle of Pabaiskas
in 1435. Ivan was taken prisoner during the battle. Around 1444, he was invited by the Novgorod Republic
to govern their city. However, his reign lasted only about a year and his further fate is unknown. Ivan married Vasilisa Olshanska
, sister of Queen of Poland Sophia of Halshany
. They had three sons – Ivan (married Princess Vorotynska
), Simeon (married to daughter of Yury Patrikeyevich
and Maria Vasilievna), Feodor – and three daughters. The daughters were married to Bolesław II of Cieszyn, to Ivan Ostrogski
, and to the voivode of Kiev Ivan Chodkiewicz
.
Of all three sons, only Feodor Ivanovich Belsky is known to have left issue. In 1481, Feodor, Mikhailo Olelkovich
, and Iwan Olshanski
-Dubrovicki planned a coup against Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon
. Their plans were divulged; Mikhailo and Iwan were executed while Feodor succeeded in escaping to the Grand Duchy of Moscow
. His wife, Princess Kobrynska, who he had married but several months before the coup, was left in Lithuania. Feodor Belski lived at the Muscovite court until 1493, when he was implicated in the so-called Lukomsky Conspiracy to murder Ivan III. He was banished to Galich
, but a year later he was pardoned and regained royal favor. Ivan III personally demanded from Alexander of Lithuania to hand over Belsky's wife to him. Seeing no prospect of success, the Russian sovereign consulted the metropolitan and they declared Feodor's previous marriage null and void. Belsky then married Ivan's own niece, Anna of Ryazan
, daughter of Vasily Tretnoy and Anna of Ryazan
. At the wedding, Feodor was rewarded with extensive votchina
s along the Volga River
, which would remain with his family until the Oprichnina
. In 1499, he was involved in the politics of the Khanate of Kazan
, hoping to install a khan backed by Moscow. He was last mentioned in the Russian chronicles in 1506, and it seems likely that he died shortly thereafter. Feodor's three sons Dmitry, Ivan and Simeon, being Vasily III's cousins, took a key part in the events of his reign and the following regency.
Feodor's elder brother, Simeon Ivanovich Belsky, left Lithuania for the Grand Duchy of Moscow in his brother's wake in 1500, citing the persecution of Orthodox believers as his reason. His defection intensified anti-Lithuanian rhetoric in Russia, which proclaimed itself a defender of all Orthodox believers, and hastened the renewed Muscovite–Lithuanian War. The war ended in 1503; Lithuania suffered large territorial losses, which included not only to Bely but also Chernigov, Starodub
, and Homel. Thus the Belsky family regained its patrimony.
had Shahgali replaced with his own brother, defeated Belsky's army on the banks of the Oka River
and devastated the area between Moscow and Kolomna
. While Belsky retreated to the stronghold of Serpukhov
, his absence from the capital left the field free for mutual jealousies and accusations. Although the majority of boyars complained about Belsky's cowardness, the monarch spared both Belsky and his own brother and put the blame for defeat on Prince Vorotynsky
.
Dmitry's younger brother, Ivan Feodorovich Belsky, while still in his early 20s, led the 150,000-strong Russian army against Kazan
in 1524. Belsky's huge army spent 20 days encamped at the island opposite Kazan, awaiting the arrival of Russian cavalry. Then the news came that part of cavalry had been defeated, and the vessels loaded with provisions had been captured by the Tatars. Although the army suffered from hunger, Belsky at once laid siege to the city and soon the Tatars sent their envoys proposing terms. Belsky accepted them and speedily returned to Moscow. Many boyars proceeded to accuse him of treason, but modern historians agree there was little he could achieve without provisions, being pressed to repel continuous attacks by Tatar and Udmurt
cavalry. Matters then remained quiet until 1530, when Ivan Belsky, still eager to revenge himself, returned with the Russian army to the walls of Kazan. On 10 July, the fortress was taken and the Tatars sued for peace, promising to accept any khan appointed from Moscow.
and himself tutors to young Ivan IV. After Grand Prince's death, a political struggle erupted between his widow Elena Glinskaya
and his brother Yury of Dmitrov, with whom the Belskys were on friendly terms. Yuri was executed in 1534 on charges of treason, while Ivan Belsky was thrown into prison. Anticipating further repressions, the youngest of brothers, Simeon Feodorovich Belsky, escaped to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was warmly welcomed by Sigismund the Old, at once joining the king's hostilities against Russia. When the war turned unsuccessful, the Lithuanian generals put the blame on Belsky and other Russian defectors. On this event, Simeon Belsky fled to Constantinople
. In 1537, he appeared in the Crimea
, with the purpose of escalating military tensions with Russia. Not only he failed in his designs, but was kidnapped by a ruler of the Nogai Horde
, from whom he was later ransomed by the khan.
In 1538, the regent Elena Glinskaya
died, probably poisoned by the Shuisky
s. They at once liberated Ivan Belsky from his prison and restituted him to the Boyar Duma. Thenceforward the regency become a story of intrigues between the Belskys and the Shuiskys. In 1540, Ivan Belsky was again thrown into prison, only to be released several months later, after the death of Vasily "Nemoy" Shuisky and on petition from Metropolitan Joasaphus. Belsky's power reached its peak in 1541, when he was installed as Ivan IV's "prime advisor" (первосоветник). Among his first enterprises was a letter to the Crimean khan asking him to bring Simeon Belsky to Moscow. The khan, persuaded by Simeon that Moscow stood completely unfortified and desiring to profit from the attendant disorder, advanced with his guards towards the Russian capital. His hope of putting Moscow to the sword proved ill-founded, however, and he retreated on espying the first contingent of the Russian soldiers and taking Simeon Belsky back with him. Simeon's subsequent fate in unknown.
In the meantime, Ivan Shuisky boycotted the royal palace and the Boyar Duma until 3 January 1542, when his soldiers broke into Belsky's house at night and took Ivan Belsky into custody. This time Belsky was immured in the distant Kirillov Monastery
, where the Shuiskys had him strangled in May 1542. Ivan left no children by his wife, Daniil Shchenya
's granddaughter. Writing several decades later, Prince Kurbsky described Ivan Belsky as the boldest commander and the cleverest politician of Muscovy.
. In 1547, Dmitry Belsky was commanded to reinstate Shahgali as the khan. Two years later, the tsar and Belsky led the Russian armies to take Kazan. They were forced to retreat, suffering heavy casualties. Belsky was again accused by fellow boyars of poor leadership, but he unexpectedly died on 13 January 1551.
By his wife, Ivan Chelyadnin's daughter, Dmitry had two daughters, Eudoxia and Anastasia. They were married to the boyars Mikhail Morozov and Vasily Zakharyin-Yuriev, respectively. Eudoxia, although renowned for her pious ways, was executed with her husband and children during the Oprichnina
purges. Dmitry also had one son, Prince Ivan Dmitrievich Belsky. When the Oprichnina was instituted, the tsar had his two noblest boyars, Ivan Belsky and Fyodor Mstislavsky
, appointed to run the lands of the state, or zemshchina. On 8 November 1555 the last Prince Belsky married Marfa, a posthumous daughter of Prince Vasily Shuisky
-Nemoy by Anastasia of Kazan, herself a granddaughter of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologue
. Ivan Belsky and Marfa Shuiskaya had five children but they all died in minority and were interred in the family sepulcher, Tikhon
's Hermitage near Kaluga
. In 1571, when khan Devlet I Giray
of Crimea assaulted Moscow and set the city on fire, Prince Belsky suffocated from smoke in his own mansion. With his death, the Belsky princely family became extinct.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
. It later deflected to the Grand Duchy of Moscow
Grand Duchy of Moscow
The Grand Duchy of Moscow or Grand Principality of Moscow, also known in English simply as Muscovy , was a late medieval Rus' principality centered on Moscow, and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia....
and played a key role during the regency of Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
. The family started with Ivan Vladimirovich, son of Vladimir Olgerdovich
Vladimir Olgerdovich
Vladimir Olgerdovich was a son of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his first wife Maria of Vitebsk. He was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1362 to 1394. His sons Ivan and Alexander started the Belsky and Olelkovich families....
and grandson of Algirdas
Algirdas
Algirdas was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. Algirdas ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and Ruthenians...
, and ended with Ivan Dmitrievich Belsky in 1571. The Belsky name was derived from their principal possession of Bely, Tver Oblast.
First princes
Ivan Vladimirovich was first mentioned in written sources as a witness to the 1422 Treaty of MelnoTreaty of Melno
The Treaty of Melno or Treaty of Lake Melno was a peace treaty ending the Gollub War. It was signed on September 27, 1422, between the Teutonic Knights and an alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at Lake Melno , east of Graudenz...
. After the death of Grand Duke Vytautas in 1430, Ivan was involved in the ensuing power struggle. Initially he supported Švitrigaila
Švitrigaila
Švitrigaila Švitrigaila Švitrigaila (ca 1370 – 10 February 1452; was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1430 to 1432. He spent most of his life in largely unsuccessful dynastic struggles against his cousins Vytautas and Sigismund Kęstutaitis.-Struggle against Vytautas:...
and witnessed the anti-Polish Treaty of Christmemel
Treaty of Christmemel
The Treaty of Christmemel was a treaty signed on June 16, 1431 between Paul von Rusdorf, Grand Master the Teutonic Knights, and Švitrigaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania. The treaty established anti-Polish alliance and prompted the Knights to invade the Kingdom of Poland, starting the Polish–Teutonic War...
with the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
. However, he changed sides and actively supported the 1432 coup against Švitrigaila in favor of Sigismund Kęstutaitis
Sigismund Kestutaitis
Sigismund Kęstutaitis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1432 to 1440. Sigismund was his baptismal name; Sigismund's pagan Lithuanian birth name is unknown. He was son of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Kęstutis and his wife Birutė....
. He then changed sides again and fought against Sigismund in the decisive Battle of Pabaiskas
Battle of Pabaiskas
The Battle of Pabaiskas took place on September 1, 1435 near Ukmergė , by the Šventoji River in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania...
in 1435. Ivan was taken prisoner during the battle. Around 1444, he was invited by the Novgorod Republic
Novgorod Republic
The Novgorod Republic was a large medieval Russian state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th centuries, centred on the city of Novgorod...
to govern their city. However, his reign lasted only about a year and his further fate is unknown. Ivan married Vasilisa Olshanska
Olshanski
Olshanski was a Lithuanian princely family from Galšia , Belarus, which used to be a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Their Coat of Arms was Hipocentaur...
, sister of Queen of Poland Sophia of Halshany
Sophia of Halshany
Sophia of Halshany , was a Lithuanian princess of Halshany, Queen of Poland from , and the last wife of Jogaila.-Biography:...
. They had three sons – Ivan (married Princess Vorotynska
Vorotynsky
Vorotynsky was one of the most eminent Rurikid princely houses of Muscovite Russia. Their lands lay principally in the Upper Oka region and comprised the towns of Peremyshl and Vorotynsk as well as parts of Novosil and Odoyev....
), Simeon (married to daughter of Yury Patrikeyevich
Patrikas
Patrikas Narimantaitis was a grandson of Gediminas who exchanged his lands in and near Starodub in Siveria for the Korela and Oreshek fortresses in the Novgorod Republic. He also founded the town of Yamburg in Ingria...
and Maria Vasilievna), Feodor – and three daughters. The daughters were married to Bolesław II of Cieszyn, to Ivan Ostrogski
Ostrogski
Ostrogski was one of the greatest Ruthenian princely families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.They were most likely of Rurikid stock and descended from Sviatopolk II of Kiev. Some scholars however claim their descent from Galicia-Volhynia line of Rurikid dynasty. Vasilko Romanovich Prince of...
, and to the voivode of Kiev Ivan Chodkiewicz
Ivan Chodkiewicz
Ivan Chodkiewicz was a noble from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was a son of Chodko Jurewicz and ancestor of the Chodkiewicz family. Ivan married Jawnuta Belska, first cousin of Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The marriage into the royal line helped him to...
.
Of all three sons, only Feodor Ivanovich Belsky is known to have left issue. In 1481, Feodor, Mikhailo Olelkovich
Mikhailo Olelkovich
Mikhailo Aleksandrovich Olelkovich was a noble from the Olelkovich family of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was the brother of Prince Semen Olelkovich of Kiev and cousin of Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow...
, and Iwan Olshanski
Olshanski
Olshanski was a Lithuanian princely family from Galšia , Belarus, which used to be a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Their Coat of Arms was Hipocentaur...
-Dubrovicki planned a coup against Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV KG of the House of Jagiellon was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death.Casimir was the second son of King Władysław II Jagiełło , and the younger brother of Władysław III of Varna....
. Their plans were divulged; Mikhailo and Iwan were executed while Feodor succeeded in escaping to the Grand Duchy of Moscow
Grand Duchy of Moscow
The Grand Duchy of Moscow or Grand Principality of Moscow, also known in English simply as Muscovy , was a late medieval Rus' principality centered on Moscow, and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia....
. His wife, Princess Kobrynska, who he had married but several months before the coup, was left in Lithuania. Feodor Belski lived at the Muscovite court until 1493, when he was implicated in the so-called Lukomsky Conspiracy to murder Ivan III. He was banished to Galich
Galich, Russia
Galich is a town in Kostroma Oblast, Russia, situated on the southern bank of Lake Galichskoye. It is also a minor railroad node of the Trans-Siberian railway. Population: -History:...
, but a year later he was pardoned and regained royal favor. Ivan III personally demanded from Alexander of Lithuania to hand over Belsky's wife to him. Seeing no prospect of success, the Russian sovereign consulted the metropolitan and they declared Feodor's previous marriage null and void. Belsky then married Ivan's own niece, Anna of Ryazan
Ryazan
Ryazan is a city and the administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Oka River southeast of Moscow. Population: The strategic bomber base Dyagilevo is just west of the city, and the air base of Alexandrovo is to the southeast as is the Ryazan Turlatovo Airport...
, daughter of Vasily Tretnoy and Anna of Ryazan
Anna of Ryazan
Grand Princess Anna Vasilievna of Ryazan was a Russian noblewoman, the only daughter of Grand Prince Vasily II of Moscow and the mother and grandmother of last Grand Princes of Ryazan Principality...
. At the wedding, Feodor was rewarded with extensive votchina
Votchina
Votchina or otchina was an East Slavic land estate that could be inherited. The term "votchina" was also used to describe the lands of a knyaz.The term originated in the law of Kievan Rus...
s along the Volga River
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
, which would remain with his family until the Oprichnina
Oprichnina
The oprichnina is the period of Russian history between Tsar Ivan the Terrible's 1565 initiation and his 1572 disbanding of a domestic policy of secret police, mass repressions, public executions, and confiscation of land from Russian aristocrats...
. In 1499, he was involved in the politics of the Khanate of Kazan
Khanate of Kazan
The Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar state which occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El,...
, hoping to install a khan backed by Moscow. He was last mentioned in the Russian chronicles in 1506, and it seems likely that he died shortly thereafter. Feodor's three sons Dmitry, Ivan and Simeon, being Vasily III's cousins, took a key part in the events of his reign and the following regency.
Feodor's elder brother, Simeon Ivanovich Belsky, left Lithuania for the Grand Duchy of Moscow in his brother's wake in 1500, citing the persecution of Orthodox believers as his reason. His defection intensified anti-Lithuanian rhetoric in Russia, which proclaimed itself a defender of all Orthodox believers, and hastened the renewed Muscovite–Lithuanian War. The war ended in 1503; Lithuania suffered large territorial losses, which included not only to Bely but also Chernigov, Starodub
Starodub
Starodub is a town and the administrative center of Starodubsky District of Bryansk Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Babinets River , southwest of Bryansk. Population: 16,000 .-History:...
, and Homel. Thus the Belsky family regained its patrimony.
Kazan campaigns
Dmitry Feodorovich Belsky (1499–1551) was first recorded in 1519, when he enthroned Shahgali as the khan of Kazan. Two years later, the Crimean khanCrimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
had Shahgali replaced with his own brother, defeated Belsky's army on the banks of the Oka River
Oka River
Oka is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as to the town of Kaluga. Its length exceeds...
and devastated the area between Moscow and Kolomna
Kolomna
Kolomna is an ancient city and the administrative center of Kolomensky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva and Oka Rivers, southeast of Moscow. The area of the city is about . The city was founded in 1177...
. While Belsky retreated to the stronghold of Serpukhov
Serpukhov
Serpukhov is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which is situated at the confluence of the Oka and the Nara Rivers. It is located south from Moscow on the Moscow—Simferopol highway. The Moscow—Tula railway passes through the town. Population: -History:...
, his absence from the capital left the field free for mutual jealousies and accusations. Although the majority of boyars complained about Belsky's cowardness, the monarch spared both Belsky and his own brother and put the blame for defeat on Prince Vorotynsky
Vorotynsky
Vorotynsky was one of the most eminent Rurikid princely houses of Muscovite Russia. Their lands lay principally in the Upper Oka region and comprised the towns of Peremyshl and Vorotynsk as well as parts of Novosil and Odoyev....
.
Dmitry's younger brother, Ivan Feodorovich Belsky, while still in his early 20s, led the 150,000-strong Russian army against Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
in 1524. Belsky's huge army spent 20 days encamped at the island opposite Kazan, awaiting the arrival of Russian cavalry. Then the news came that part of cavalry had been defeated, and the vessels loaded with provisions had been captured by the Tatars. Although the army suffered from hunger, Belsky at once laid siege to the city and soon the Tatars sent their envoys proposing terms. Belsky accepted them and speedily returned to Moscow. Many boyars proceeded to accuse him of treason, but modern historians agree there was little he could achieve without provisions, being pressed to repel continuous attacks by Tatar and Udmurt
Udmurt people
The Udmurts are a people who speak the Udmurt language. Through history they have been known in Russian as Chud Otyatskaya , Otyaks, or Votyaks , and in Tatar as Ar....
cavalry. Matters then remained quiet until 1530, when Ivan Belsky, still eager to revenge himself, returned with the Russian army to the walls of Kazan. On 10 July, the fortress was taken and the Tatars sued for peace, promising to accept any khan appointed from Moscow.
Heyday and regency
During Vasily III's fatal illness, Dmitry Belsky remained at his deathbed until the final hour. He was present when Vasily signed a testament proclaiming Michael GlinskiMichael Glinski
Michael Glinski was a noble from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of distant Tatar extraction who was also a tutor of his nephew, Ivan the Terrible. As a young man, Glinski served in the court of Emperor Maximilian I and earned distinction for his military service. Around 1498 he returned to Lithuania...
and himself tutors to young Ivan IV. After Grand Prince's death, a political struggle erupted between his widow Elena Glinskaya
Elena Glinskaya
Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya April 1538, Moscow) was the second wife of Grand Prince Vasili III and regent of Russia for 5 years .- Background :...
and his brother Yury of Dmitrov, with whom the Belskys were on friendly terms. Yuri was executed in 1534 on charges of treason, while Ivan Belsky was thrown into prison. Anticipating further repressions, the youngest of brothers, Simeon Feodorovich Belsky, escaped to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was warmly welcomed by Sigismund the Old, at once joining the king's hostilities against Russia. When the war turned unsuccessful, the Lithuanian generals put the blame on Belsky and other Russian defectors. On this event, Simeon Belsky fled to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. In 1537, he appeared in the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, with the purpose of escalating military tensions with Russia. Not only he failed in his designs, but was kidnapped by a ruler of the Nogai Horde
Nogai Horde
The Nogai Horde was a confederation of about eighteen Turkic and Mongol tribes that occupied the Pontic-Caspian steppe from about 1500 until they were pushed west by the Kalmyks and south by the Russians in the 17th century. The Mongol tribe called the Manghits constituted a core of the Horde...
, from whom he was later ransomed by the khan.
In 1538, the regent Elena Glinskaya
Elena Glinskaya
Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya April 1538, Moscow) was the second wife of Grand Prince Vasili III and regent of Russia for 5 years .- Background :...
died, probably poisoned by the Shuisky
Shuisky
The Princes Shuisky were a Rurikid family of boyars descending from Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich of Vladimir-Suzdal and Prince Andrey Yaroslavich, brother to Alexander Nevsky. Their name is derived from the town of Shuya, of which they gained ownership in 1403. The family briefly reached the...
s. They at once liberated Ivan Belsky from his prison and restituted him to the Boyar Duma. Thenceforward the regency become a story of intrigues between the Belskys and the Shuiskys. In 1540, Ivan Belsky was again thrown into prison, only to be released several months later, after the death of Vasily "Nemoy" Shuisky and on petition from Metropolitan Joasaphus. Belsky's power reached its peak in 1541, when he was installed as Ivan IV's "prime advisor" (первосоветник). Among his first enterprises was a letter to the Crimean khan asking him to bring Simeon Belsky to Moscow. The khan, persuaded by Simeon that Moscow stood completely unfortified and desiring to profit from the attendant disorder, advanced with his guards towards the Russian capital. His hope of putting Moscow to the sword proved ill-founded, however, and he retreated on espying the first contingent of the Russian soldiers and taking Simeon Belsky back with him. Simeon's subsequent fate in unknown.
In the meantime, Ivan Shuisky boycotted the royal palace and the Boyar Duma until 3 January 1542, when his soldiers broke into Belsky's house at night and took Ivan Belsky into custody. This time Belsky was immured in the distant Kirillov Monastery
Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery
Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery , loosely translated in English as the St. Cyril-Belozersk Monastery, used to be the largest monastery of Northern Russia. The monastery was dedicated to the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, for which cause it was sometimes referred to as the Dormition Monastery...
, where the Shuiskys had him strangled in May 1542. Ivan left no children by his wife, Daniil Shchenya
Daniil Shchenya
Prince Daniil Vasiliyevich Shchenya was a leading Russian military leader during the reigns of Ivan III and Vasili III....
's granddaughter. Writing several decades later, Prince Kurbsky described Ivan Belsky as the boldest commander and the cleverest politician of Muscovy.
The last Belskys
Dmitry Belsky managed to eschew repressions that befell his brothers, and he even increased his influence in the Boyar Duma. After the regency was abolished, Ivan IV at once resumed military operations against the Khanate of KazanKhanate of Kazan
The Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar state which occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El,...
. In 1547, Dmitry Belsky was commanded to reinstate Shahgali as the khan. Two years later, the tsar and Belsky led the Russian armies to take Kazan. They were forced to retreat, suffering heavy casualties. Belsky was again accused by fellow boyars of poor leadership, but he unexpectedly died on 13 January 1551.
By his wife, Ivan Chelyadnin's daughter, Dmitry had two daughters, Eudoxia and Anastasia. They were married to the boyars Mikhail Morozov and Vasily Zakharyin-Yuriev, respectively. Eudoxia, although renowned for her pious ways, was executed with her husband and children during the Oprichnina
Oprichnina
The oprichnina is the period of Russian history between Tsar Ivan the Terrible's 1565 initiation and his 1572 disbanding of a domestic policy of secret police, mass repressions, public executions, and confiscation of land from Russian aristocrats...
purges. Dmitry also had one son, Prince Ivan Dmitrievich Belsky. When the Oprichnina was instituted, the tsar had his two noblest boyars, Ivan Belsky and Fyodor Mstislavsky
Mstislavsky
Mstislavsky was a Russian princely family of Gediminid origin who prior to their move to Russia ruled the principality of Mstislavl. In the following, the Mstislavsky family produced some notable military commanders such as Ivan Mstislavsky who fought in the Livonian War...
, appointed to run the lands of the state, or zemshchina. On 8 November 1555 the last Prince Belsky married Marfa, a posthumous daughter of Prince Vasily Shuisky
Shuisky
The Princes Shuisky were a Rurikid family of boyars descending from Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich of Vladimir-Suzdal and Prince Andrey Yaroslavich, brother to Alexander Nevsky. Their name is derived from the town of Shuya, of which they gained ownership in 1403. The family briefly reached the...
-Nemoy by Anastasia of Kazan, herself a granddaughter of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologue
Sophia Paleologue
Zoe Palaiologina , later changed her name to Sophia Palaiologina , Grand Duchess of Moscow, was a niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI and second wife of Ivan III of Russia. She was also the grandmother of Ivan the Terrible.- Biography :...
. Ivan Belsky and Marfa Shuiskaya had five children but they all died in minority and were interred in the family sepulcher, Tikhon
Tikhon of Kaluga
Tikhon of Kaluga was a Russian abbot and saint. He grew up in Moscow and became a monk as a young man. He then moved to a forest near Medin in Kaluga, living in the hollow of an oak tree. It was on that spot that he founded a monastery, dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God ....
's Hermitage near Kaluga
Kaluga
Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...
. In 1571, when khan Devlet I Giray
Devlet I Giray
Devlet I Giray was a khan of the Crimean Khanate during whose long reign the khanate rose to the pinnacle of its power....
of Crimea assaulted Moscow and set the city on fire, Prince Belsky suffocated from smoke in his own mansion. With his death, the Belsky princely family became extinct.