Vasili Ill Ivanovich Rurikid ) Russian prince, who was

knyaz , or ( Old Church Slavonic: Кнѧзь) is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times of history and different ancient Slavic lands. It is usually translated into English as prince or duke, dependi ...

Severia Severia or Siveria ( orv, Сѣверія, russian: Северщина, translit=Severshchina, uk, Сіверія or , Romanization of Ukrainian, translit. ''Siveria'' or ''Sivershchyna'') is a historical region in present-day southwest Russia, ...

(1479–1533) and lord of

Putyvl Putyvl′Frank SysynBetween Poland and the Ukraine: The Dilemma of Adam Kysil, 1600-1653 - P. 25. (, ) or Putivl′ ( rus, Пути́вль, p=pʊˈtʲivlʲ) is a city in north-east Ukraine, in Sumy Oblast. The city served as the administrative c ...

(1500–1523).

Biography

Vasili Ivanovich Shemyachich was a grandson of the famous knyaz of Galich, Dmitry Yurievich Shemyaka. His father, Ivan Dmitrievich, was forced to flee to

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

in 1454; the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

king

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (in full Casimir IV Andrew Jagiellon; pl, Kazimierz IV Andrzej Jagiellończyk ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the ...

( who was also the

Grand Duke of Lithuania The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Lithuania, which was established as an absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three ducal dynasties that managed to stay in power—House ...

) bestowed him the duchy of Novgorod-Seversky. Novgorod-Seversky was an ancient duchy of

Kievan Rus Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

but was annexed to Lithuania for a long time. Vasili Ivanovich became duke of Novgorod-Seversky after his father's death. When there were some

anti-Eastern Orthodox The persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians is the religious persecution which has been faced by the clergy and the adherents of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Eastern Orthodox Christians have been persecuted during various periods in the hist ...

inklings appeared in Lithuania, Vasili Ivanovich went back to Russia in 1500. He was accepted by

Ivan III of Moscow 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 ...

as a vassal, and his feud, Novgorod-Seversky fell in control of Moscow. Ivan III also gave him a new feud, Putyvl, a very small duchy in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. After that, Vasili Ivanovich had fought against Poland-Lithuania sometimes for

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite Rus' or Grand Principality of Moscow (russian: Великое княжество Московское, Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye; also known in English simply as Muscovy from the Lati ...

, and had been involved in a struggle with

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate ( crh, , or ), officially the Great Horde and Desht-i Kipchak () and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary ( la, Tartaria Minor), was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to ...

. There were some princes around the Grand Duke hated Vasili Ivanovich, especially Vasili Semenovich of

Mozhaysk MozhayskAlternative transliterations include ''Mozhaisk'', ''Mozhajsk'', ''Mozhaĭsk'', and ''Možajsk''. ( rus, Можа́йск, p=mɐˈʐajsk) is a town and the administrative center of Mozhaysky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located to th ...

. In 1523, Vasili Ivanovich Shemyachich was indicted for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. He was called to Moscow, then detained. He died in prison in 1529, most likely by natural causes.

References

*''Historical Encyclopedia of USSR'' (Советская историческая энциклопедия), Volume of Persons, published in 1961-1973 Year of birth missing 1529 deaths Russian nobility {{Russia-noble-stub