Vitovt replied,—
"We will not give Toktamish into thy hands; as for Kan Temir-Kutlu, I wish to see him also."
Then they drew up in battle array, but before the battle began Temir sent again,—
"Why dolt thou come out against me? I touch not thy land nor thy cities nor thy villages."
Vitovt replied,—
"God has brought all lands into my power. Submit also to me; be my son, and I will be thy father. Give me every year gifts and tribute. But if thou wilt not be my son, then shalt thou be my slave, and all thy Horde shall be given to the sword."
The Kan, to gain time, appeared to yield to all Vitovt's demands; and Vitovt, encouraged, further demanded that the Kan should place his father's "bearings on the Mongol coins. "Give me three days to think," said the Kan.
Before the three days were run the Tartar general Edige came up with a great army, and said, "Better die than yield."
Then Vitovt stood opposite to Edige, and Edige challenged him:—
"Easily didst thou take our Kan and his sons, since thou art old and he is young; but I am older than thou, therefore it is proper for thee to be my son, to give me tribute every year, and put my arms upon thy coins."
THE TARTARS VICTORIOUS.
The question was brought to the test of battle. Edige had the most men. Vitovt had a great array of cannon. The Tartars outflanked the Lithuanians. The day was lost. Thirty princes and two thirds of Vitovt's army were left upon the field; the rest fled in dire dismay to the banks of the Dnieper, pursued by the relentless barbarians, who turned upon Kief and took a tribute of three thousand rubles. Again the Monastery of the Caves was plundered.
Basil of Moscow carefully held aloof from this quarrel between his two foes. Vitovt thrice marched against his son-in-law, but never risked a pitched battle with him, and at last, seeing that they both had too many enemies to afford to quarrel with each other, they signed a treaty of peace, which fixed the boundary between the two states.
After Edige had thus put Vitovt to rout, he made up his mind to extort tribute from Moscow. He collected another army, and took pains to spread the rumor that it was against the Lithuanians; and even while Basil was rejoicing that his wife's father was going again to be punished, he heard that the Tartar was at his gates.. He had barely time to escape in the same manner as his father had done to Kostroma, where he assembled an army, while his uncle, Vladimir the Brave, defended the city. The Kreml was now furnished with cannon, and before Edige had time to reduce the town by famine, he heard that his master was in danger at the Horde, and, raising the siege, he departed. Before he went, he sent a haughty letter to the Grand Prince, and collected a tribute of three thousand rubles from the citizens of Moscow.
How Dimitri Donski's
GRANDCHILDREN QUARRELLED
After Basil's death a civil war broke out in his family. His brother George of Galitch appealed to the patriarchal law of succession, and as "eldest" claimed the throne of Moscow. His other brothers upheld Basil's son, Basil, a lad ten years of age. The quarrel lasted half a dozen years, and was at last taken to the Kan. George of Galitch won the favor of Tegini, a powerful Tartar murza, who promised to get him the title. Basil's interests were represented by Ivan, a boyar of Moscow, "artful, adroit, full of resources," who kindled the jealousy of the other Tartars at Tegini's power.
"It is in vain," said he, "to lay our cause before the Kan. He cannot escape from Tegini's will, and by his will the throne of Moscow is given to George of Galitch. But what will become of us if the Kan hears Tegini? George will be Grand Prince of Moscow his friends will reign in Lithuania, and at the Horde Tegini will be stronger than we."
By such words "he wounded their hearts as with arrows," and they beat their brows in the dust before the Kan for Basil's sake, and so worked upon the Kan that he threatened Tegini with death if he spoke again in George's favor. All that year there was discord between uncle and nephew. George founded his right upon the ancient customs of his land, brought the chronicles to bear upon his side, and, finally, cited the will of Dimitri of the Don. But Ivan, the boyar of Moscow, said,—
"Prince George demands the throne because of his father's will, Prince Basil, by thy mercy; thou gayest it to his father Basil the son of Dimitri, and he, depending on thy favor, gave it to his son who has already ruled these many years, and has not shaken off thy authority; therefore is he Prince by thy mercy."
This flattery won the Kan; he bade George lead his nephew's horse, and sent a baskak to represent him at the coronation, which for the first time took place at the Cathedral of the Assumption at Moscow. This same year the great Vitovt died. It may perhaps seem strange that this ambitious Prince had not taken advantage of these discords to fulfil the plans of his youth. But fortune did not favor him. His own subjects were rebellious; he quarrelled with the Patriarch of Constantinople; and just as the old man was expecting to be recognized King of Lithuania, and the ambassadors of Sigismond, Emperor of Germany, were bringing him the crown and sceptre, the Poles secured an injunction from the Pope. The Prince, now eighty years of age, fell ill of disappointment and died. His court had been royal in its magnificence; princes, kings, kans, governors, and ambassadors mingled in its gayeties, and each day it is said that seven hundred oxen, fourteen hundred sheep, and numberless fowls were killed to serve the princely board.
Basil owed his throne to the clever boyar Ivan, whose daughter he promised to marry, but the haughty Sofia, Vitovt's daughter, had more ambitious designs for her son. She married him to the Princess Maria, granddaughter of Vladimir the Brave.
They made a grand wedding; among the guests were George's two sons, Basil the Cross-eyed, and Dimitri, surnamed Shemiaka. The Cross-eyed wore around his waist a beautiful golden belt studded with jewels which was once a part of the dower of his grandmother, Dimitri Donski's wife. One of the old nobles knew it and told its romantic story to the Princess Sofia, who snatched it from its owner at the public banquet. The two brothers, not brooking such an open affront, at once mounted horse and rode off to their father.
George, urged by his two sons and the jilted boyar of Moscow, took up arms and made his nephew prisoner. Basil wept and begged to be set free, and George, contrary to his sons' advice, instead of putting him to death, gave him the town of Kostroma. George was now Grand Prince, but he found it an empty glory, for as soon as the men of Moscow learned that Basil was established as governor of Kostroma, they left Moscow, princes, boyars, captains, domestics, all, and pressed around their favorite prince as "bees cluster around their queen." George was forced to let his nephew return to Moscow and take the throne again, but even then he was loath to give up the struggle.
Once more the Kreml, together with Basil's wife and mother, fell into his hands. Hardly was he acknowledged as Grand Prince when he died suddenly at the age of sixty. Another war followed, and Basil took his cousin, Basil the Cross-eyed, prisoner, and in a fit of wrath put out his eyes. His repentance was as quick as his fury; as an act of atonement he set free Shemiaka, who promised to be his faithful ally.
CHURCH IN CATHEDRAL PLACE.
About this time the Kan Ulu was expelled from the Golden Horde, and gathering a great army of Tartars, Lithuanians, Novgorod Freebooters, and "good companions" of all races and tongues, he established an empire at Kazan on the ruins of the ancient "White City" of the Bulgars, and began to tyrannize over the Mordva and all the other tribes of the Volga valley. He grew rapidly in power and wealth, and soon came in collision with Basil. A battle took place near Moscow. Shemiaka played the traitor; Basil was left with only fifteen hundred men to bring into the field, but he fought with the energy of despair; an arrow pierced his hand, he lost several fingers by the stroke of a Tartar sword, and at last, struck down by a battle-axe and covered with fifteen wounds, he fell into the hands of the Kan, at whose court he found his faithless ally trying to get himself appointed Grand Prince.