Editing Alexander Nevsky (section)

===Grand Prince of Vladimir===
[[File:Seal of Alexander Nevsky 1236.png|thumb|Seal of Aleksandr Yaroslavich (front and back) with images of the prince himself as a horseman and saint [[Theodore Stratelates]]. After 1236.]]
Upon the conquest of the [[Grand Principality of Vladimir]] by the Mongols in 1238,<ref name="Feldbrugge">{{cite book |last1=Feldbrugge |first1=Ferdinand J. M. |title=A History of Russian Law: From Ancient Times to the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649 |date= 2017 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-35214-8 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDI9DwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> its reigning prince, [[Yuri II of Vladimir|Yuri II Vsevolodovich]], was killed in the [[Battle of the Sit River]]; his younger brother, [[Yaroslav II of Vladimir|Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich]] (Alexander's father), requested and received from the Mongol khan his permission to become the new prince. As prince, he assigned Novgorod to his son Alexander. However, while traveling in 1245 to the Mongol capital [[Karakorum]] in Central Asia, Yaroslav died. When, in 1248, Alexander and his older brother [[Andrey II of Vladimir|Andrey II Yaroslavich]] also traveled to Karakorum to attend upon the Great Khan, Andrey received the title of [[grand prince of Vladimir]] and Alexander the nominal lordship of Kiev.<ref name="Feldbrugge"/> The two returned in the autumn of 1249.{{sfn|Fennell|2014|p=107}}

The [[Rurikids|Rurikid]] princes of Rus' were obliged to appear before the khans in person, pay homage to them and receive their ''[[jarlig]]'' (patent) to be affirmed in their principalities.{{efn|"The khans were recognized as suzerains of the Riurikid princes. Within the Rus' lands, however, they exercised their authority primarily through the dynasty. But the khans appointed and confirmed individual princes within the dynasty for each ruling position. Riurikid princes were, accordingly required to appear personally before the khans to pay obeisance and receive their patents to rule."{{sfn|Martin|2007|p=173}}}} When [[Möngke Khan|Möngke]] became the new great khan in 1251, only two years after [[Güyük Khan|Guyuk]]'s death, he demanded another appearance at [[Sarai (city)|Sarai]] on the [[Volga]], but Andrey refused to go.{{sfn|Martin|2007|p=178}} Thanks to his friendship with [[Sartaq Khan]], the subsequent invasion by the Mongols, their first venture into northeastern Rus' since the initial conquest, saw Andrey exiled to Sweden and Alexander assuming the title of [[grand prince of Vladimir]] in 1252,{{sfn|Martin|2007|pp=158–161, 178}} the most senior of the princes at the time following the fall of Kiev.<ref name="Figes">{{Cite book |last=Figes |first=Orlando |title=The Story of Russia |publisher=Metropolitan Books |year=2022 |pages=38–39|quote=In 1252, Nevsky travelled to Sarai, where Batu Khan appointed him the grand prince of Vladimir, the most senior of the princes following the fall of Kiev. He acted as the Mongols' loyal servant, suppressing a rebellion in Novgorod and other towns against their census officials. Nevsky's collaboration was no doubt motivated by his distrust of the West, which he regarded as a greater threat to Orthodox Russia than the Golden Horde, generally tolerant of religions. He recognised the Mongols as powerful protectors of the lucrative north Russian trade with the Baltic Germans and Sweden. But Nevsky's realpolitik caused a problem for the chroniclers, particularly after he was made a saint by the Russian Church in 1547, for in their terms he had colluded with the infidel.}}</ref> Alexander faithfully supported Mongol rule within his own domains. In 1259, he led an army to the city of Novgorod and forced it to pay tribute it had previously refused to the Golden Horde.{{sfn|Martin|2007|pp=168–170}}