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He was the son of Yaroslav III Yaroslavich, appanage prince of Tver and
his second wife, Ksyenia Yur'yevna, daughter of a Novgorod Boyar. He was grand
prince of Tver from 1285 - 1318 and grand prince of Vladimir, 1305 - 1317. He
married in 1294 with Anna, daughter of Dmitrii
Borisovich, appanage prince of Rostov. Their sons were
Dmitrii Groznii Ochi (Steely eyed),
Aleksandr grand prince of Tver, grand prince of
Vladimir and prince of Pskov; Konstantin, appanage
prince of Dorogobuzh, and grand prince of Tver; and Vasilii, appanage prince of Kashin and grand prince of
Tver. The family is shown on this chart. The photo
is of a memorial to Mikhail in Tver.
Chronology:
In 1285, on the death of his elder brother, Svyatoslav, he becomes grand prince
of Tver. In 1304 - the grand prince of Vladimir, Andrei III Alexandrovich, dies. Mikhail then enters a
struggle with Yurii III of Moscow for the vacant
throne. After prolonged conflicts and undignified conduct by both contenders at
the Golden Horde, Khan Tokhty gives the "yarlyk" ( a written
decree issued by khans designating a prince to hold a certain title) to the
nephew of Aleksandr Nevski, Prince Michael Yaroslavich because he offered more
tribute money than Yuri; Mikhail was the first to assume the title of "The
Grand Prince of All Rus"(Russia).
1304 - Initially Mikhail has the support of Metropolitan Maxim, but when the
metropolitan dies in 1304, he is succeeded by Peter, rather than Mikhail's
candidate and Peter sides with Moscow. Mikhail shows his hostility to Peter, so
Peter moves from Vladimir to Moscow
Mikhail blunders even more when Novgorod invites Yurii to become its prince. To
impose his rule over the free city Mikhail needs the help of Tatar troops; he
then imposes ruthless repression, and finally loses the war when Tatar support
is withheld. At this time changes took place at the Golden Horde too; Khan
Uzbek replaces Khan Tokhti, who died. Yurii rushes to pay respect to the new
khan and stays at his court for two years. After marrying the khan Uzbek's
sister, Konchak, there and promising to collect even higher tribute for the
khan from his subjects, he is appointed grand prince of Vladimir (1318-1322).
1317 - Mikhail defeats Yuri III of Moscow at battle of
Bortenovo.
However he also captures Yuri's wife, the sister of the Kypchak khan Ozbeg, and
she dies in captitivy in Tver. This enables Yuri to bring a Tatar army against
Mikhail.
1318 - Mikhail is executed by Kypchak khan Ozbeg.
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