Daniil Kholmsky
Encyclopedia
Daniel of Kholm was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....

, boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....

 and voyevoda, one of the most prominent military leaders of Ivan the Great. He belonged to the princely house of Kholmsky
Kholmsky
Kholmsky , Kholmskaya , or Kholmskoye may refer to:*House of Kholmsky, a great Rurikid dynasty of Kholm, Kholmsky District, Novgorod Oblast, medieval Russia, the senior branch in the House of Tver...

 and was the father of another voyevoda, Vasily Kholmsky
Vasily Kholmsky
Prince Vasily Danilovich Kholmsky was a Russian boyar and Muscovite voyevoda, son-in-law of Grand Prince Ivan III and son of Prince Daniil Kholmsky....

.

Biography

Daniel of Kholm was the son of the knyaz Dmitry Yurievich Kholmsky and was a descendant of Princes of Tver. In 1460s, he entered the Muscovite service. He became famous after his brilliant victory over Kazan tatars
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,...

 near Murom
Murom
Murom is a historic city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the left bank of Oka River. Population: -History:In the 9th century CE, the city marked the easternmost settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the land of the Finno-Ugric people called Muromians. The Russian Primary Chronicle...

 in 1468, where he was successful with an unexpected strike from the besieged city. However, since the Tatar assaults on Russian borders continued, the Muscovite army started a campaign 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...

. Daniel was the commander of the avantgarde troops and defeated khan Ibrahim, forcing him to sign a peace treaty with Ivan III. The treaty obliged the khanate to return all the Russian captives and to establish a friendly relationship with Moscow.

In 1471, Daniel Kholmsky led Ivan's military campaign against Novgorod. After achieving two minor victories near Korostyn and Staraya Russa
Staraya Russa
Staraya Russa is a town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located south of Veliky Novgorod. It is a wharf on the Polist River in the Lake Ilmen basin. It serves as the administrative center of Starorussky District, although administratively it is not a part of it...

, he soundly defeated the Novgorodians in the battle of Shelon
Battle of Shelon
The Battle of Shelon was a decisive battle between the forces of the Grand Duchy of Moscow under Ivan III and the army of the Novgorod Republic, which took place on the Shelon River on July 14, 1471. Novgorod suffered a major defeat and ended with the de facto unconditional surrender of the city...

 which had a decisive impact on the power balance between the both sides and paved the way for the future annexation of Novgorod.

In the summer 1472, Kholmsky led an army against the Tatar forces of Akhmat Khan
Akhmat Khan
Akhmat Khan was a khan of the Great Horde between 1465 and 1481.In 1465, Akhmat seized power in the Horde by rising against his brother Maxmud of Astrakhan, who had been its ruler since 1459. In 1472, Akhmat entered into alliance with the Polish king Casimir IV against Ivan III...

 of the Great Horde
Great Horde
- Dissolution of the Golden Horde :The peripheral regions of the Golden Horde broke off as follows: 1438: Kazan Khanate, 1441: Crimean Khanate, 1466: Astrakhan Khanate The remnant, which became known as the Great Horde, was left with the steppe between the Dnieper and Yaik, the capital Sarai and a...

 who captured and destroyed the town of Alexin. The Khan didn't risk to fight with Kholmsky and returned to the steppes. The next year, Kholmsky helped the allied city of Pskov
Pskov
Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...

 which was being besieged by Livonian knights
Livonian Order
The Livonian Order was an autonomous Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order and a member of the Livonian Confederation from 1435–1561. After being defeated by Samogitians in the 1236 Battle of Schaulen , the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were incorporated into the Teutonic Knights...

. Due to courageous and clever action, Kholmsky could enforce a peace treaty which obliged to Livonians to leave the lands of Pskov and to grant Russian merchants free trade rights in the Baltic. This treaty was later called Daniel's peace by the chronists. For this, Ivan III gave Daniel the boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....

 title.

Soon, Kholmsky was confronted with false accusations of intended treason by begrudging boyars. It was the support of the clergy and the surety of 2000 rubles by eight Muscovite nobles that helped Kholmsky to regain the confidence of the Grand Prince.

During the second campaign of Ivan III against Novgorod in the autumn of 1477, Daniel led the main Muscovite army over the ice of the Ilmen
Ilmen
*For a lake in Russia, see Lake Ilmen.*For the atmospheric region of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth stories see Middle-earth cosmology#Ilmen....

 lake. In the course of one night, he managed to encircle Novgorod and forced the city to surrender to Ivan III.

In October and November 1480 Daniel Kholmsky took part in the famous Great Standing on the Ugra River
Great standing on the Ugra river
The Great Standoff on the Ugra river The Great Standoff on the Ugra river The Great Standoff on the Ugra river ( in Russian, also (Ugorschina in English, derived from Ugra) was a standoff between the forces of Akhmat, Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Prince Ivan III of Russia in 1480, which...

 where he was the one of the commanders of the Russian forces and organized the fortifications. With his efforts, Kholmsky substantially contributed to the final overthrowing of the Tatar rule over Russia.

In 1487, Kholmsky once again led a Muscovite army against Kazan and captured the besieged city on July 9. The result of this event was the deposition of Ivan III's adversary and his replacement by the Moscow-friendly Möxämmädämin.

In 1492 knyaz Kholmsky took part in the war against Lithuania and helped Upper Oka Principalities
Upper Oka Principalities
The Upper Oka Principalities is a term traditionally applied in Russian historiography to about dozen tiny and ephemeral polities situated along the upper course of the Oka River at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries...

 to protect their independence from Alexander Jagiellon
Alexander Jagiellon
Alexander of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jagiellon...

. Kholmsky died in 1493.

External links

  • Knyaz Kholmsky, Н.С. Борисов "Русские полководцы XIII-XVI веков"
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