V. Give the English interpretation of the following Russian text.

Несмотря на силу татаро-монголов, их большую численность и громадные территории, которые они заняли, их власть постепенно убывала. В начале XVI века (1502) Золотая Орда распалась, но ещё долго после этого крымские и казанские татары продолжали совершать набеги и грабили русские земли. Тогда и произошло главное событие – разрозненные земли русских были собраны воедино. Образовалось Московское государство. Как символ нового государства появился новый герб – двуглавый орел, который пришел из Византии, когда Иван III женился на племяннице последнего византийского императора.

Изоляция, в которой Россия существовала на протяжении более двух веков, закончилась. Иван III установил отношения со многими европейскими государствами. Начала развиваться торговля.

Развивались также и культурные связи. Приглашались архитекторы из Италии, которые создали такие монументальные сооружения, как Грановитая Палата и успенский Собор.

Text 3

VASILY III

I. Read the text and put the following events of Vasily’s life and reign in the correct order:

Vasily puts Cangali khan on the throne of Kazan;

Vasily captures the great eastern fortress of Lithuania, Smolensk;

Vasily dies from a malignant abscess;

Vasily marries Elena, daughter of prince Vasily Glinsky;

Vasily accedes to the throne.

Add to this list other events of his life that you consider to be important.

After death of the successor – Ivan the Young, Ivan’s III son of the first marriage, there was a struggle for the throne succession, the winner of which became Vasily Ivanovich. He was appointed at first the grand prince of Novgorod and Pskov, and then co-regent of Ivan III, after whose death Vasily III easily acceded to the throne on October 27, 1505.

Vasily III continued the policies of his father Ivan III and spent most of his reign consolidating Ivan’s gains. Vasily annexed the last surviving autonomous provinces: Pskov, Volokolamsk, Ryazan and Novgorod-Seversky.

Vasily also took advantage of the difficult position of Sigismund of Poland to capture Smolensk, the great eastern fortress of Lithuania in 1512. The loss of Smolensk was an important injury inflicted by Russia on Lithuania in the course of the Russo-Lithuanian Wars.

Equally successful were Vasily’s actions against the Crimean Khanate. Although in 1519 he was obliged to buy off the khan of the Crimea, Mehmed I Giray, under the very walls of Moscow, towards the end of his reign he established Russian influence on the Volga. In 1531–32 he placed the pretender Cangali khan on the throne of Kazan.

In his internal policy, Vasily III enjoyed the support of the Church in his struggle with the feudal opposition. There were taken measures against boyars and notable people in general, those were made to give “guarantee records” that they would not leave. However, Vasily III treated boyars with care: no one, except for rather not notable Bersen Beklemishev, underwent death penalty, and the number of disgraces was not great. During the reign of Vasily III, the gentry’s landownership increased; authorities were actively trying to limit immunities and privileges of boyars and nobility.

Vasily did not have children from the marriage with Solomoniya Saburova, and in 1526 he divorced from her, admitted her to the veil and married Elena, daughter of prince Vasily Glinsky. From this marriage sons Ivan (the future Terrible) and feeble-minded Yury were born.

Vasily III, according to the contemporaries, was of severe and abrupt temper; he was a typical Moscow prince, but, in opinion of some historians, without gifts of the father. Vasily III died from a malignant abscess, having taken of monastic vows in the agony under the name of Varlaam. Vasily passed away at midnight, December 4, 1533.

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