Ivan I Danilovich Kalita was Prince of Moscow from 1325 to at least 1340, and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1332 until at least 1340. The policy by Öz Beg Khan of allowing the grand prince to collect tribute and taxes from the Russian cities allowed Ivan to lay the foundations for Moscow's future as a regional great power.
Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy was Prince of Moscow from 1359 and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1363 until his death. He was the heir of Ivan II.
Vasily I Dmitriyevich was Grand Prince of Vladimir and Moscow from 1389. He was the heir of Dmitry Donskoy, who reigned from 1359 to 1389.
Vasily II Vasilyevich, nicknamed the Blind or the Dark (Тёмный), was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1425 until his death in 1462.
Ivan III Vasilyevich, also known as Ivan the Great, was Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1462 until his death in 1505. Ivan served as the co-ruler and regent for his blind father Vasily II before he officially ascended the throne.
Giyasuddin Muhammad Uzbek Khan, better known as Uzbeg, Uzbek or Ozbeg (1282–1341), was the longest-reigning khan of the Golden Horde (1313–1341), under whose rule the state reached its zenith. He was succeeded by his son Tini Beg. He was the son of Toghrilcha and grandson of Mengu-Timur, who had been khan of the Golden Horde from 1267 to 1280.
The Battle on the Irpin River was a semi-legendary battle between the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Principality of Kiev. According to the story, Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, conquered Volhynia before turning his attention to Kiev. He was opposed by Prince Stanislav of Kiev allied with the Principality of Pereyaslavl and Bryansk. Lithuanians achieved a great victory and extended their influence to Kiev. There are no contemporary sources attesting to the battle. It is known only from late and generally unreliable Lithuanian Chronicles. Therefore, historians disagree whether it was an actual battle in the early 1320s or a fictional story invented by later scribes. Lithuanians gained full control of the city only in 1362 after the Battle of Blue Waters against the Golden Horde.
Dmitriy Yurievich Shemyaka was the second son of Yury of Zvenigorod by Anastasia of Smolensk and grandson of Dmitri Donskoi. His hereditary patrimony was the rich northern town Galich-Mersky. When his brother prince Vasily I of Moscow died in 1425, he and his 10-year-old nephew Vasily started fighting over the right to the throne, causing the Muscovite War of Succession (1425–1453). Intermittently, Shemyaka managed to be recognised twice as Prince of Moscow.
The Belsky or Belski family was a Ruthenianized princely family of Gediminid origin in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It later defected to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and played a key role during the regency of Ivan IV of Russia. The family started with Ivan Vladimirovich, son of Vladimir Olgerdovich and grandson of Algirdas, and ended with Ivan Dmitrievich Belsky in 1571. The Belsky name was derived from their principal possession of Bely, Tver Oblast.
Alexander or Aleksandr Mikhailovich was Prince of Tver and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1326 to 1327 and Grand Prince of Tver from 1338 to 1339. His rule was marked by the Tver Uprising in 1327. He was executed in Sarai by the Mongols, together with his son Fyodor.
Yury Svyatoslavich or Georgy Svyatoslavovich was the last sovereign ruler of the Principality of Smolensk and Bryansk whose life was spent in vain attempts to fend off aggression by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Yury Dmitrievich, also known as George II of Moscow, Yury of Zvenigorod and Jurij Zwenihorodski, was the second son of Dmitri Donskoi. He was the Duke of Zvenigorod and Galich from 1389 until his death. During the reign of his brother Vasily I, he took part in the campaigns against Torzhok (1392), Zhukotin (1414), and Novgorod (1417). He was the chief orchestrator of the Muscovite Civil War against his nephew, Vasily II, in the course of which he twice took Moscow, in 1433 and 1434.
The Principality of Ryazan, later known as the Grand Principality of Ryazan, was a principality from 1129 to 1521. Its capital was the city of Ryazan, now known as Old Ryazan, which was destroyed in 1237 during the Mongol invasions. The capital was moved to Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, later renamed Ryazan.
Sophia Vitovtovna of Lithuania was the grand princess of Moscow as the wife of Vasily I from 1391 to 1425. She was regent for her son Vasily II from 1425 to 1432. Her father was Vytautas, the grand duke of Lithuania.
Alexandra Vasilyevna Velyaminova was the grand princess consort of Moscow as the second wife of Ivan II of Moscow from 1345.
The Principality of Tver was a Russian principality which existed between the 13th and the 15th centuries with its capital in Tver. The principality was located approximately in the area currently occupied by Tver Oblast and the eastern part of Smolensk Oblast in Russia.
The Lithuanian–Muscovite War, known in the Rogozh Chronicle as Litovschina, encompasses three raids by Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Principality of Moscow in 1368, 1370, and 1372. Algirdas organized the raids against Dmitry Donskoy in support of the Principality of Tver, chief rival of Moscow. In 1368 and 1370, Lithuanians besieged Moscow and burned the posad, but did not succeed in taking the city's Kremlin. In 1372, the Lithuanian army was stopped near Lyubutsk where, after a standoff, the Treaty of Lyubutsk was concluded. Lithuanians agreed to cease their aid to Tver, which was defeated in 1375. Mikhail II of Tver had to acknowledge Dmitry as "elder brother".
Ivan III or Ivan Fyodorovich was the Grand Prince of Ryazan (1427–1456) and younger son of Grand Prince Fyodor II of Ryazan. During his reign, he retained good diplomatic relationships with both the Grand Duchies of Lithuania and Moscow. He signed treaties with both Vytautas of Lithuania and Vasily II of Moscow, and sent his children to the court in Moscow for safety. Towards the end of his life, he took monastic vows and was succeeded by his eight-year-old son, Vasily.
Fyodor Olgovich, also known as Fyodor Olegovich, was Grand Prince of Ryazan from 1402 until his death in 1427. He was a son of Oleg II of Ryazan. Fyodor reigned during a period of unrest for the principality, fending off incursions from the Golden Horde. He was defeated and expelled from Ryazan by Ivan Vladimirovich, the prince of Pronsk, in 1408, but in turn defeated Ivan Vladimirovich at the Battle on the Smyadva later the same year. The two later reconciled. He also agreed a peace treaty with Vasily I of Moscow, and married Vasily's sister Sofia, forming a peaceful relationship with the Grand Principality of Moscow. He was succeeded by his youngest son, Ivan.
