Encyclopedia

Vasily III

Vasily III (Vasily Ivanovich) (vusē'lyē ēvä'nuvich) [key], 1479–1533, grand duke of Moscow (1505–33). Carrying on the policies of his father, Ivan III, he rounded out the territorial consolidation of the Russian state, formally annexing Pskov (1510), Ryazan (1517), and Novgorod-Seversk (1523) and gaining Smolensk (1514) in a war with Sigismund I of Poland and Lithuania. In 1525, he forced his childless first wife to become a nun and soon remarried. His older son from the second marriage succeeded him as Ivan IV.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

More on Vasily III from Fact Monster:

  • Russian Rulers from 1462 to 1917 (table) - Russian Rulers from 1462 to 1917 (including dates of reign) House of Rurik Ivan III (the Great), ...
  • Ivan III - Ivan III Ivan III or Ivan the Great,1440–1505, grand duke of Moscow (1462–1505), ...
  • Basil III - Basil III Basil III, Russian ruler: see Vasily III.
  • Sigismund I - Sigismund I Sigismund I, 1467–1548, king of Poland (1506–48), son of Casimir IV. ...
  • Ivan IV: Early Reign - Early Reign Ivan succeeded his father Vasily III, who died in 1533, under the regency of his ...

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Russian, Soviet, and CIS History: Biographies
© 2000–2008 Pearson Education, publishing as Fact Monster