Grand Prince Grand prince or great prince (feminine: grand princess or great princess) ( la, magnus princeps; Greek: ''megas archon''; russian: великий князь, velikiy knyaz) is a title of nobility ranked in honour below emperor, equal of king ...

ss Anna Vasilievna of Ryazan (russian: Анна Васильевна; 1451–1501) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

noblewoman, Regent of the

Ryazan Principality The Grand Duchy of Ryazan (1078–1521) was a duchy with the capital in Old Ryazan ( destroyed by the Mongol Empire in 1237), and then in Pereyaslavl Ryazansky, which later became the modern-day city of Ryazan. It originally split off from the ...

in 1483 and in 1500–1501, during the minority of her son and grandson. She was the only daughter of Grand Prince

Vasily II of Moscow Vasily Vasiliyevich (russian: Василий Васильевич; 10 March 141527 March 1462), also known as Vasily II the Blind (Василий II Тёмный), was the Grand Prince of Moscow whose long reign (1425–1462) was plagued by the ...

and the mother and grandmother of last Grand Princes of

. Anna was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

to the family of Vasily II of Moscow, who was blinded five years before her birth during a time of troubles, and Maria Yaroslavna of

Borovsk Borovsk (russian: Бо́ровск) is a town and the administrative center of Borovsky District of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Protva River just south from the oblast's border with Moscow Oblast. Population: 12,000 (1969). History ...

Life

Before his death in 1456 Grand Prince Ivan Fyodorovich of Ryazan entrusted his friend Vasily of Moscow with temporary governing of the principality and taking care of his children

Vasily Vasili, Vasily, Vasilii or Vasiliy ( Russian: Василий) is a Russian masculine given name of Greek origin and corresponds to ''Basil''. It may refer to: *Vasili I of Moscow Grand Prince from 1389–1425 *Vasili II of Moscow Grand Prince fr ...

and Theodosia until their maturity. But soon after Ivan's death Vasily of Moscow moved orphans to Moscow and appointed a

voevoda Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

to Ryazan. This decision started a process of joining of Ryazan Principality to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Vasily II's heir

Ivan III of Russia Ivan III Vasilyevich (russian: Иван III Васильевич; 22 January 1440 – 27 October 1505), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'. Ivan served as the co-ruler and regent for his blin ...

continued his father's policy towards Ryazan and Anna grew together with Ryazan prince Vasily.

Marriage

When Anna grew up her mother has decided to marry Anna and Vasily. She asked her son Ivan III to delay annexation of Ryazan because it was not suitable to a Grand Princess to marry an ordinary nobleman even of princely descent. Ivan III agreed and allowed on Summer 1464 to return sixteen-year Prince Vasily to his family seat. But the same winter he came to Moscow to marry Anna and, after the wedding, the couple returned to Ryazan. In 1467 Anna bore a son

Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

and until the death of her husband in 1483 did not participate in governing the principality and did not protest when her brother two times annexed Ryazan territories.

Regency

In 1483 Anna became the

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of her sixteen-year son. In her policy Anna tried to expand her domain, she visited often Moscow and due her diplomatic efforts the

Pronsk Pronsk (russian: Пронск) is the name of several inhabited localities in Ryazan Oblast, Russia. ;Urban localities *Pronsk, Pronsky District, Ryazan Oblast, a work settlement in Pronsky District ;Rural localities * Pronsk, Ukholovsky Distri ...

principality was added to Ryazan. A major problem in Ryazan-Moscow relations was so-called ''ryazan ukraina'', a huge steppe region in the basin of

Don River The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its ...

. According to treaties, Ryazan was obliged not to settle in these lands, but many years Ryazan princes secretly colonized this area and during the Anna's regency this process become much more significant. Numerous immigrants received considerable privileges, being released for 3–7 years from taxes if agreed to remain in steppe for ever. Anna's son died in 1500 and until her death in 1501 she was the regent of her grandson

Ivan V of Ryazan Grand Prince Ivan V of Ryazan (Ivan Ivanovich, russian: Иван Иванович Рязанский) (1496 – 1533 or 1534) was the last nominally independent ruler of Ryazan Principality. Ivan V of Ryazan was the only son of Prince Ivan V ...

. After the end of Anna's reign Ryazan Principality finally lost its independence. Except of Ivan, Anna had son Fyodor and daughter Anna who was married to Lithuanian Prince Feodor Ivanovich Belski.

References

* * Славянская энциклопедия. Киевская Русь-Московия. Т. 1: А-М, Published by Olma Media Group, 2001, , (available in

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Anna of Ryazan 1451 births 1501 deaths Grand Princes of Ryazan Rurikids 15th-century women rulers 16th-century women rulers 16th-century monarchs in Europe 15th-century Russian people 16th-century Russian people 15th-century Russian women 16th-century Russian women