Topic summary
Russian principalities
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Appanage Russia.
13th–15th centuries
By the early 14th century, two dynastic houses, those of Tver and Moscow, competed for the grand princely title. Due to conflict among the princes, political life in the Russian principalities was highly unstable, with at least 10 Russian princes being executed during the reign of Özbeg Khan. He later gave his support to Ivan I of Moscow, which allowed the house of Moscow to eventually dominate the other principalities, and later challenge the Golden Horde itself. The seat of the Russian metropolitan was also moved to Moscow in 1325, establishing it as the spiritual center of Russian Orthodoxy. Jani Beg (r. 1342–1357) continued to support the house of Moscow and relations between the Russian principalities became stable. He was also able to maintain the balance of power between Moscow, Tver and Nizhny Novgorod.