117 An inaccuracy in the text. Ivan III had four brothers, whose appanages were annexed to the possessions of the Grand Prince at different times. One of his brothers, Andrei Bolshoi, died in confinement.
118 After Casimir’s death in 1492, his son Jan Albrecht succeeded to the Polish throne, and another son, Alexander, to the Lithuanian throne.
119 Elena Ivanovna. the daughter of Ivan III and Sophia Palaeologus, was married to the Lithuanian Grand Prince Alexander on the initiative of and pressure from the Lithuanian nobles who hoped by this means to win concessions from Ivan III.
120 As a result of the wars waged by Ivan III against the Grand Principality of Lithuania (1487-94 and 1500-03) western Russian towns (Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky, Gomel, Bryansk) and the lands adjoining them were appended to Moscow. Smolensk was incorporated into Russia in 1514, after Ivan III’s death.
121 The facts are inaccurate here. In an attempt to save the Byzantine Empire from the Turkish invasion the representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church entered into union with the Catholic Church at the Council of Florence in 1439. Under the terms of the Union of Florence the Eastern Orthodox Church acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope and accepted the Catholic dogmas, while retaining its own rites. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, Thomas, the brother of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palacologus, and his family, fled to Rome.