Andrey II of Vladimir

File:Андрей II на ВЛадимирском престоле.png

The earliest surviving image of Andrew from the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible (16th century)

Andrey II Yaroslavich (Template:Langx; c. Template:Trim – 1264) was the third son of Yaroslav II who succeeded his uncle Sviatoslav III as Grand Prince of Vladimir in 1249. Three years later, he challenged the Mongols and was ousted by them.

The house of Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal, which has been known since the 14th century as the House of Shuysky, descends from Andrey II.

Life

Early 1240s campaigns

According to the Novgorod First Chronicle (NPL), the Novgorodians expelled his brother Alexander Nevsky from the city in the winter of 1240–1241, and asked their father Yaroslav II to send them another commander.Template:Sfn Andrey was sent to the wayward republic in Alexander's stead.Template:Sfn In 1241, Andrey joined his Suzdalian forces with Alexander's, and they jointly retook Pskov, raided the Estonian (Chud') countryside, and saw action in the Battle on the Ice.Template:Sfn

Grand prince of Vladimir (c. 1248/9–1252)

Rus' chronicles preserve different versions of when and how Andrey became prince of Vladimir.Template:Sfn In one version, when their father Yaroslav Vsevolodovich died in 1247, Andrey and Alexander went to Karakorum in Mongolia, where Andrey was appointed the next grand prince of Vladimir by jarlig of the great khan Güyük. On their return to Vladimir two years later (1249),Template:Sfn they found that the capital had been seized by their young brother Mikhail Khorobrit. The latter, however, was killed in battle with Lithuanians several months later. Another version of events has Andrey seize the throne of Vladimir from his uncle Sviatoslav Vsevolodovich (who initially laterally succeeded their father in 1247) in 1248.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A year later, his uncle Sviatoslav, offended by his ousting from Vladimir, went to the Horde to secure the throne for himself; how his trip ended is unknown, but he died in February 1253 without retrieving Vladimir.Template:Sfn

In the winter of 1250–1251, some time after taking the throne of Vladimir, Andrey married Ustynia, a daughter of Danylo of Halych,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn who had submitted to Batu Khan in 1245Template:Sfn and was well-received in Sarai, but by 1251 appears to have attempted forming an anti-Mongol coalition.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Aside from his marriage alliance with Andrey of Vladimir, the recently widowed Danylo himself married the niece of Lithuanian king Mindaugas in the same year.Template:Sfn However, when great khan Güyuk also died in 1251, and Andrey was expected to go back to Sarai and receive a renewal of his jarlig as grand prince of Vladimir from Batu in the name the new great khan Möngke, Andrey defiantly refused,Template:Sfn even though his brother Alexander Nevsky complied.Template:Sfn The Golden Horde interpreted his refusal as a challenge to Mongol authority, and Batu Khan's son Sartak ordered a punitive expedition against Vladimir, while another punitive campaign was sent against Danylo of Halych–Volyn.Template:Sfn Andrey was defeated in battle (near Pereslavl') and fled via Novgorod to Sweden.Template:Sfn With his brother Andrey exiled, Alexander Nevsky submitted to Möngke Khan, and as a reward for his loyalty to the Golden Horde, he received the throne of Vladimir from the Mongols (1252).Template:Sfn

Modern scholars have interpreted these events described in the earliest sources as showing a rivalry between brothers Andrey and Alexander, with Andrey trying to form an anti-Mongol alliance with Danylo, while Alexander was happy to 'collaborate with the Mongols against his own people.'Template:Sfn The later hagiographic Life of Alexander Nevsky is almost completely silent on the relations of Andrey, Alexander and Yaroslav, limiting itself to a single sentence in which the Mongols launch a punitive expedition against Andrey, who escapes:Template:Sfn

"Later Tsar Baty became angry with Aleksandr’s younger brother, Andrey, and sent his general, Nevruy, to sack the land of Suzdal."Template:Sfn

Prince of Suzdal (c. 1255/6–1264)

In 1255, Andrey returned from exileTemplate:Sfn and travelled to Sarai to ask pardon for his former infidelity. He received Suzdal.Template:Sfn On his return to Vladimir, he received from Alexander the easternmost lands of Vladimir, including the towns of Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets on the Volga. After Alexander died in 1263, Andrey aspired to add Vladimir to his possessions, but was thwarted in his designs by his younger brother Yaroslav of Tver.

Family

He married in 1250/51 to Ustynia, daughter of Daniel of Galicia and had issue:

• Yury
  • Konstantin
    • Dmitri of Suzdal. His descendant of 8th generation was Tsar Vasily IV of Russia.

See also

• Family tree of Russian monarchs