Andrey of Staritsa

Andrey Ivanovich (August 5, 1490 – December 11, 1537) was the youngest son of Ivan III of Russia the Great by Sophia Paleologue of Byzantium. Since 1519, his appanages included Volokolamsk and Staritsa.

When his elder brother Vasily III ascended the throne, Andrey was just 14. Like his other brothers, he was forbidden to marry until Vasily could produce an heir. This didn't come to pass until 1530, but it was only two years later, when Vasily's second son was born, that Andrey was finally allowed to find himself a wife. Several months later, on February 2, 1533, he married a Gedyminid Princess, Euphrosinia Andreyevna Khovanskaya. Their only child, Vladimir, was born later that year.

Next month, however, Vasily died. After 40 days of mourning, Andrey applied to his widow Elena Glinskaya for extension of his demesnes. Elena denied him that favour and Andrey departed for Staritsa in anger. There he heard that his only living brother, Yury Ivanovich, had been taken to prison and died there. It is only natural that he declined Elena's emphatic invitations to visit Moscow and lived in Staritsa in seclusion for three following years. He built there a fine cathedral, which still stands.

In 1537, however, it was rumoured that Andrey was going to escape to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Upon hearing the news, Elena closed the Lithuanian border and dispatched her minion, Prince Obolensky, to seize him. Andrey escaped to Novgorod, where he persuaded local nobility to join his cause. Reluctant to appeal to arms, however, he surrendered to the mercy of Obolensky. At Moscow, he was tried and thrown into prison with all his family. He died several months later and was succeeded in Staritsa by his son Vladimir.

Ancestry

Family of Andrey of Staritsa

16. Dmitriy Ivanovich Donskoy 8. Vasiliy I Dmitriyevich of Moscow 17. Eudoxia Dmitriyevna of Suzdal 4. Vasily II Vasiliyevich of Moscow 18. Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania 9. Sophia of Lithuania 19. Anna 2. Ivan III Vasilevich of Moscow 20. Vladimir Andreievich, Prince of Sierpukhov and Bobrovsk 10. Yaroslav Vladimirovich, Prince of Serpukhov, Borovsk and Maloyaroslavets 21. Elena of Lithuania 5. Maria Yaroslavna of Bobrovsk 22. Feodor "Koshka" Goltiayev 11. Maria Feodorovna Goltiayeva 1. Andrey of Staritsa 24. John V Palaiologos 12. Manuel II Palaiologos 25. Helena Kantakouzene 6. Thomas Palaiologos 26. Constantine Dragaš 13. Helena Dragaš 3. Zoe Palaiologina 28. Andronikos Asen Zaccaria 14. Centurione II Zaccaria 29. Daughter of Erard III Le Maure, Baron of Arcadia 7. Catherine Zaccaria 30. Leonardo II Tocco 15. Creusa Tocco

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)