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The Cossacks and peasants rebelled against nobles and officials, demanding fairer treatment. These restrictions checked the growth of the Russian middle classes and stood in sharp contrast to economic and social developments in western Europe.Īfter the death of Ivan and his successor, Russia entered a chaotic period known as the "Time of Troubles" Ordinary people suffered drought, crop failure, and plague. He ordered that urban dwellers be bound to their towns and jobs so that he could tax them more heavily. Ivan responded by tying peasants to the land. To replace them, Ivan created a new service nobility, whose loyalty was guaranteed by their dependence on the state for land and titles.Īs landlords demanded more from the serfs, peasants fled toward territories to the east and south. After the death of his wife, Ivan began persecution against those he suspected of opposing him. Ivan defeated the remnants of Mongol power, added vast new territories to the realm, and laid the foundations for the Russian empire. At age sixteen Ivan pushed aside his advisers and crowned himself tsar. The tsars considered themselves rightful and holy rulers, an idea promoted by Orthodox churchmen who spoke of "holy Russia" as the "Third Rome." The marriage of Ivan III to the daughter of the last Byzantine emperor further enhanced Moscow's assertion of imperial authority.ĭevelopments in Russia took a chaotic turn with the reign of Ivan IV, the famous "Ivan the Terrible,". The title "tsar," first taken by Ivan IV, is a contraction of caesar. Loyalty from the highest-ranking nobles, or boyars, helped the Muscovite princes consolidate their power.Īfter the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, the princes of Moscow saw themselves as the heirs of both the caesars and Orthodox Christianity. The Muscovite state forced weaker Slavic principalities to render tribute previously paid to Mongols and borrowed Mongol institutions. To legitimize their new position, the princes of Moscow modeled themselves on the Mongol khans. Ivan III defied Mongol control and declare the autonomy of Moscow. Ivan II, known as Ivan the Great, successfully expanded the principality of Moscow toward the Baltic Sea.

The Mongols conquered Slavic princes and forced them to render payments of goods, money, and slaves. The Mongols, nomadic tribes from present-day Mongolia, established an empire that stretched from Korea to eastern Europe. The period of rule by the Mongol khan set the stage for the rise of absolutist Russia.