Editing Russia (section)

=== Grand Principality of Moscow ===
{{Main|Grand Principality of Moscow}}
[[File:Lissner TroiceSergievaLavr.jpg|thumb|[[Sergius of Radonezh]] blessing [[Dmitry Donskoy]] in [[Trinity Sergius Lavra]], before the [[Battle of Kulikovo]], depicted in a painting by [[Ernst Lissner]]]]
The destruction of Kievan Rus' saw the eventual rise of the [[Grand Principality of Moscow]], initially a part of [[Vladimir-Suzdal]].{{sfn|Curtis|1998|loc=Chapter 1–2. Historical Setting}}{{Rp|pages=11–20}} While still under the domain of the [[Mongol]]-[[Tatars]] and with their connivance, Moscow began to assert its influence in the region in the early 14th century,<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Brian L. |title=Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700 |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |page=4 |url=http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Davies.pdf#page=20 |access-date=31 March 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009193828/http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Davies.pdf#page=20 |url-status=live }}</ref> gradually becoming the leading force in the "gathering of the Russian lands".{{sfn|Curtis|1998|loc=Chapter 1–2. Historical Setting}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mackay |first1=Angus |title=Atlas of Medieval Europe |date=11 September 2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-80693-5 |page=187 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X6KIAgAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> When the seat of the Metropolitan of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] moved to Moscow in 1325, its influence increased.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gleason |first1=Abbott |title=A Companion to Russian History |date=2009 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Chichester |isbn=978-1444308426 |pages=126}}</ref> Moscow's last rival, the [[Novgorod Republic]], prospered as the chief [[fur trade]] centre and the easternmost port of the [[Hanseatic League]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Halperin |first=Charles J. |title=Novgorod and the 'Novgorodian Land' |jstor=20171136 |volume=40 |number=3 |pages=345–363 |date=September 1999 |publisher=EHESS |journal=Cahiers du Monde russe}}</ref>

Led by Prince [[Dmitry Donskoy]] of Moscow, the united army of Russian principalities inflicted [[List of conflicts in Eastern Europe during Turco-Mongol rule|a milestone defeat]] on the Mongol-Tatars in the [[Battle of Kulikovo]] in 1380.{{sfn|Curtis|1998|loc=Chapter 1–2. Historical Setting}} Moscow gradually absorbed its parent duchy and surrounding principalities, including formerly strong rivals such as [[Principality of Tver|Tver]] and [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]].{{sfn|Curtis|1998|loc=Chapter 1–2. Historical Setting}}

[[Ivan III]] ("the Great") threw off the control of the [[Golden Horde]] and consolidated the whole of northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion, and was the first Russian ruler to take the title "Grand Prince of all Rus". After the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, Moscow [[Third Rome|claimed succession to the legacy]] of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]]. Ivan&nbsp;III married [[Sophia Palaiologina]], the niece of the last [[Byzantine emperor]] [[Constantine&nbsp;XI]], and made the Byzantine [[double-headed eagle]] his own, and eventually Russia's, coat-of-arms.{{sfn|Curtis|1998|loc=Chapter 1–2. Historical Setting}} [[Vasili III of Russia|Vasili III]] united all of Russia by annexing the last few independent [[List of tribes and states in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine|Russian states]] in the early 16th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=M.S. |title=The Origins of the Modern European State System, 1494–1618 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317892755 |url={{GBurl|id=smCgBAAAQBAJ|pg=PT281}}}}</ref>