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Article: Ivan III (Muscovy) (1440–1505; Ruled 1462–1505)
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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IVAN III (MUSCOVY) (1440
–
1505; ruled 1462
–
1505)
IVAN III (MUSCOVY)
(1440
–
1505; ruled 1462
–
1505), grand prince of Muscovy. Ivan III Vasil'evich grew up during the dynastic civil war of his father's reign and went on to lay the foundations of Russian statehood and ethnographic territory.
After ascending the throne in 1462, Ivan expanded the territory of the Grand Principality of Moscow by annexing the small but crucial principalities of Yaroslavl' (1463), Rostov (1474), Tver' (1485), Vyatka (1489), and most importantly, the Novgorod republic (1478). Exploiting internal rivalries among the ruling elite of Novgorod, Ivan was able to annex it without serious ...