Iurii Danilovich
Iurii Danilovich
Date of birth unknown; died Nov. 21, 1325. Prince of Moscow from 1303; grand prince of Vladimir from 1317. Eldest son of Prince Daniil Aleksandrovich of Moscow.
Iurii Danilovich incorporated Mozhaisk and other territories into the Grand Principality of Moscow. In 1304 he began a struggle against Prince Mikhail Iaroslavich of Tver’ for the throne of the grand prince of Moscow. He later received the support of the metropolitan, Petr, and in 1314 he entered into an alliance with Novgorod against Tver’. After spending approximately two years in the Golden Horde and marrying Konchaka, a sister of Khan Uzbek’s, Iurii Danilovich received a iarlyk (charter of the khan) entitling him to the position of grand prince. In late 1317 he was defeated by Prince Mikhail and fled first to Novgorod and then to the Golden Horde, where late in 1318 his rival was murdered.
In 1322, Iurii Danilovich assumed command of a campaign of Novgorod citizens against Sweden, and in 1323 he concluded the Orekhovets Peace. Iurii Danilovich was killed in the Golden Horde by Prince Dmitrii Mikhailovich of Tver’.