Yaroslavl

The Princedom of Yaroslavl (and Tver) is one of the contestants for the title of Grand Prince of Rus. The princedom is the northernmost Russian state outside of the Novgorodian Confederation and it has a large Uniate community, including the family of the prince.

After the downfall and death in captivity of Ivan III, his wife (and briefly regent for Ivan the Young) Zoe Palaiologina and the Moscow Metropolitan were banned from Moscow. The over 50 years old Zoe married the young Boris II of Tver, bringing with her the byzantine myths of autocracy and unity with the Church of Rome, which had failed in Moscow. Zoe and Boris miraculously had a child, Konstantin II "the Prodigious", who would reign for almost 40 years.

As the Metropolitan of Tver fought against Kiev's for authority over Northern and Southern Russians, the schismatic orthodox reorganized with a new Patriarch of Moscow. During a war caused by this religious dispute, Konstantin the Prodigious' grandson died heirless, so his wife's father, Wladyslaw IV Jagiellon, declared himself ruler of the princedom and Grand Prince of Rus, a title claimed by the Princes of Tver (despite not controlling the traditional capitol of Vladimir). He moved in to conquer the divided region. In the following years, also marked by a ruinous famine that killed a third of the Russian population, the Volga valley was laid to ruin by German mercenaries, Tatar slave raids and peasant armies supporting the most charismatic pretenders. These were the Troubles.

Novgorod, with the support of Scandinavia, maintained an armed neutrality and only fought against the Commonwealth in the Baltic area to protect its interests. The inflow of desperate peasants brought fortune to the Republic, while the South was laid to ruins for a quarter of a century. Eventually the Boyar Sabor of Yaroslavl crowned Dimitri I Belsky Grand Prince of Rus. He managed to make peace with the Poles at the expense of fringe territory and the recognition of Polish predominance in the territory of Smolensk.

However, the rule of Dimitri proved to be shaky as he made a series of unpopular attempts to solidify his rule. He attempted to remove the Patriarch of Moscow and enforce Unitarianism but the Metropolitan of Tver was assassinated and orthodox uprisings started in the South. He tried to create a special police to target and destroy powerful boyars under his direct rule, but he ended up creating a host of unreliable bandits. After his umpteenth attempt to reduce the powers of the Sabor, Dimitri was publicly hanged as a common criminal on the public square and his four years old son Andrey was forced to sign with the help of his nanny the dissolution of the Grand Princedom.

The coalition born to end the Troubles and free Russia collapsed back to a semi-anarchic situation, where Princes big and small would fight for supremacy. Unlike the other Russian princedoms, Yaroslavl quickly turned back to its autocratic roots after a series of weak rulers. The brief but effective rule of Feodor II effectively rescinded most privileges of the boyars and cemented the gains by making the Prince greatest land and serf owner of the nation. Feodor was a very effective ruler and held Smolensk, Nizhny Novgorod and even Moscow for a few months, but his fortune was cut short by a Finnish mercenary in a field near Beloozero. A descendant of his, Konstantin IV Belsky, currently rules in Yaroslavl.

In 1836, Tver-Yaroslavl is surrounded by powerful enemies. The Novgorodian Republic has been crippled by the Scandinavians, but remains a very real threat. Moscow has profited from the weakness of the Commonwealth and has gained some lands in the west During the most recent war with this foe, Yaroslavl was defeated and was forced to recognize the independence of Nizhny Novgorod, ruled by the cousin of Konstantin IV, Alexey the Green Prince. The young man has been married to the sister of the Prince of Moscow, but he seems to be more interested in frivolous liberal arts than fathering an heir for his tiny fief.

A fight between Yaroslavl and Moscow might start if Alexey dies before completing his royal duties. Yaroslavl certainly has the strongest claim for the unification of the Russians, but it has to deal with two big problems: autocracy angering the Northerners and Unitarianism angering the Southerners. Only by vanquishing its foes on the battlefield will the claiming of the title of Grand Prince be considered legitimate.