Dmitry Shemyaka
Encyclopedia
Dmitriy Yurievich Shemyaka (Дмитрий Юрьевич Шемяка in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

) (died 1453) was the second son of Yury of Zvenigorod by Anastasia of Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...

 and grandson of Dmitri Donskoi
Dmitri Donskoi
Saint Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy , or Dmitry of the Don, sometimes referred to as Dmitry I , son of Ivan II the Meek of Moscow , reigned as the Prince of Moscow from 1359 and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1363 to his death. He was the first prince of Moscow to openly challenge Mongol authority in...

. His hereditary patrimony was the rich Northern town Galich-Mersky. Shemyaka (1445, 1446–1447) was twice Grand Prince of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

The causes of the Muscovite Civil War waged in the second quarter of the 15th century are still disputed. No small part, however, was played by Dmitri Donskoi
Dmitri Donskoi
Saint Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy , or Dmitry of the Don, sometimes referred to as Dmitry I , son of Ivan II the Meek of Moscow , reigned as the Prince of Moscow from 1359 and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1363 to his death. He was the first prince of Moscow to openly challenge Mongol authority in...

's will, which ran contrary to Rurikid dynastic custom whereby the throne would pass from an elder brother to a younger one (lateral inheritance), rather than from father to son (linear succession). The testament provided for the accession of his son, Vasily I, which was still in keeping with the tradition of lateral succession since Vasily was the eldest of his generation.

In the event of Vasily having no surviving son at his death, his brother, Dmitry's second son, Yury of Zvenigorod
Zvenigorod
Zvenigorod is an old town in Moscow Oblast, Russia. Population: -History:The community has existed since the 12th century, although its first written mention is dated 1338. The town's name is based either on a personal name or on a hydronym Zvenigorod is an old town in Moscow Oblast, Russia....

, was to succeed as grand prince in Moscow. Upon Vasily I's death, however, Yury refused to come to Moscow and swear allegiance to his nephew, Vasily II, and claimed the throne himself in accordance with his right under the long-held custom of lateral inheritance. (He further claimed it was provided for in Dmitry's testament - but this ignored the provision that voided Yury's succession in the event of Vasily I producing a son). Yury's son, Dmitry Shemyaka, actively participated in all of his father's incursions against Moscow, culminating in Yury's capture of Moscow and accession as grand prince in 1433. Yury of Zvenigorod died in Moscow in 1434.
After Yury's death, Shemyaka continued to press his branch's claim to the grand princely throne, and was seldom at peace with Vasily II. Initially, Dmitry and his younger brother Dmitry Krasnyi concluded an alliance with Vasily against their elder brother Vasily Kosoy
Vasily Kosoy
-Life:Vasily Kosoy was the son of Yury Dmitrievich and Anastasia of Smolensk. His grandfather was Dmitry Donskoy who settled the issue of crown inheritance by passing a law according to which his oldest son Vasily I will become Grand Prince after his death and the second in line will be Donskoy's...

, who had proclaimed himself grand prince. They succeeded in driving Kosoy from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 and were rewarded with the towns of Uglich
Uglich
Uglich is a historic town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, which stands on the Volga River. Population: A local tradition dates the town's origins to 937. It was first documented in 1148 as Ugliche Pole...

 and Rzhev
Rzhev
Rzhev is a town in Tver Oblast, Russia, southwest of Staritsa and from Tver, on the highway and railway connecting Moscow and Riga. It is the uppermost town situated on the Volga River. Population:...

. The following year Shemyaka came to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 in order to invite Vasily II to his impending wedding with a princess of Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...

, but was accused of siding with Kosoy and taken prisoner. Released several months later, he was sent by Vasily II to defend Belyov
Belyov
Belyov is a town and the administrative center of Belyovsky District of Tula Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River. Population: 17,000 .As many other Upper Oka towns, Belyov was first mentioned in a chronicle in 1147...

 against a small army of the Kazan Khan Olug Moxammat but was defeated. Thereupon he refused to support Vasily in his hostilities against the khan, and only the mediation of a Trinity hegumen
Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra
The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about 70 km to the north-east from Moscow by the road leading to Yaroslavl, and currently is home to...

 could forestall a new civil war between the cousins.

The two men maintained an uneasy peace for much of the next decade until 1445, when Vasily II was taken prisoner by Olug Moxammat after the Muscovite forces were surprised by the Tatar prince outside Suzdal, Shemyaka seized Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, had the recently-released Vasily blinded and proclaimed himself the Grand Prince of Vladimir. He could claim this by right of lateral inheritance since his father had sat on the throne. (A prince was excluded from the succession (izgoi) if his father had not sat on the throne before him.) Shemyaka's lack of support among the Muscovite boyars forced him, however, to leave the city for Lake Chukhloma
Lake Chukhloma
Chukhloma Lake is a freshwater lake in Kostroma Oblast in Russia. It is located at around , at an altitude of 148 meters above sealevel. It has an area of 48.7 km², and an average depth of 4.5 meters....

, but he continued to press his claim to the grand princely throne.

Despite several peace treaties, Shemyaka continued to plot against his cousin. He suffered a series of defeats in 1450 and 1452 which forced him to seek refuge in Novgorod. There, on July 17, 1453, he was poisoned while eating a dinner of chicken in the Gorodishche, the princely compound south of the Market side of the city, his cook having been bribed by Muscovite agents. Delighted at the news, Vasily II ennobled a herald who had first brought him the message of Shemyaka's death. Nikolai Karamzin famously wrote in his history that the grand prince showed "indecent joy" at the news of his rival's untimely demise.

According to chronicle sources, Shemyaka was buried in the Church of St. George in the Yuriev Monastery
Yuriev Monastery
The St. George's Monastery is one of Russia's oldest monasteries. It stands south of Novgorod on the left bank of the Volkhov River near where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The monastery used to be the most important in the medieval Novgorod Republic...

 south of Novgorod,
however, twentieth-century archaeological excavations of the necropolis of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod
The Cathedral of St. Sophia in the Kremlin in Veliky Novgorod is the cathedral church of the Archbishop of Novgorod and the mother church of the Novgorodian Eparchy.-History:...

 in the Novgorod Kremlin
Novgorod Kremlin
Novgorod Kremlin stands on the left bank of the Volkhov River about two miles north of where it empties out of Lake Ilmen.-History:...

 suggest that the prince was actually buried there and his grave has been misidentified since at least 1616 as that of Prince Fedor Yaroslavich (died 1233).

In the aftermath of Shemyaka's murder, his wife and son fled Novgorod to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

, where they were given Rylsk
Rylsk
Rylsk is a town and the administrative center of Rylsky District of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Seym River southwest of Kursk. Population: 19,000 .-History:...

 and Novgorod-Seversky in appanage.

Shemyaka's male line died out by 1561, but there are many living descendants from his daughter's marriage to Prince Alexander Chertoryzhsky
Czartoryski
Czartoryski is the surname of a Polish-Ukrainian-Lithuanian magnate family also known as the Familia. They used the Czartoryski Coat of arms and were the leading noble family of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century.-History:The Czartoryski is a family of a Grand Ducal...

.

Shemyaka's name survives in the Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

expression "Shemyakin sud" ("Shemyaka's Justice", "Shemyaka's Judgement"), which means hasty and unfair judgement. It comes from the 17th century literary work The Tale of Shemyaka's Judgement(see its translation here). However modern researchers question the identification of Dmitry Shemyaka with Judge Shemyaka in the tale.
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