Dmitry of Tver | |
Succession1: | Prince of Tver |
Reign1: | 1318–1326 |
Predecessor1: | Mikhail of Tver |
Successor1: | Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver |
Succession: | Grand Prince of Vladimir |
Reign: | 1322–1326 |
Predecessor: | Yury of Moscow |
Successor: | Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver |
Birth Date: | 1298 |
Birth Place: | Tver |
Death Place: | Sarai |
Burial Place: | Tver |
House: | Yaroslavichi of Tver |
Father: | Mikhail of Tver |
Mother: | Anna of Kashin |
Religion: | Russian Orthodox |
Dmitry Mikhailovich (Russian: Дмитрий Михайлович; 1298 – 15 September 1326), nicknamed the Fearsome Eyes or the Terrible Eyes (Russian: Грозные Очи),[1] was Prince of Tver from 1318 and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1322 until his death in 1326, when he was executed in Sarai by the Mongols.[2] He was a son of Mikhail of Tver and Anna of Kashin.[3] [4]
Dmitry continued his father's fight with Grand Prince Yuri Danilovich of Moscow for the yarlik (also iarlik) that is, the diploma or patent of office for the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir, which was granted by the Khan of the Golden Horde. The title was much desired because the Grand Prince of Vladimir was the khan's tax-collector in Rus', and as such could gain authority and real power over the other princes of Rus'.
Following Yury's machinations which led the khan to grant the yarlik to Moscow and their father's execution by the Horde in 1318, Dmitry and his brother, Alexander, fought a series of battles with Yury. They prevailed against him at the Horde, culminating in Dmitry's acquisition of the yarlik of office for the grand princely throne in 1322 and his murder of Yury at the Horde (in Sarai) three years later in 1325. Dmitry was himself arrested for the murder and executed in Sarai on the orders of Uzbeg Khan in 1326, while Yury's remains were returned to Moscow and buried by the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church headed by Metropolitan Peter.[5] Dmitry's remains were taken back to Tver and interred in the cathedral there.[6]