The main hypothesis sees the Cap as originating in ancient Moscow. One alternative account classifies it as of Central Asian origin (from the
ethnological or cultural point of view); this has led some modern scholars to view the crown as a gift from
Uzbeg Khan of the
Golden Horde () to his brother-in-law, Grand Prince of Moscow
Ivan Kalita () during Mongol-
Tatar yoke era after the
Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' of 1223-1241.
Boris Uspensky (1996) in particular argues that the Tatar headgear was originally used in coronation ceremonies to signify the Muscovite ruler's subordination to the khan. According to
Sergey Solovyov (1879) "after the death of Ivan Kalita all Russian princes traveled to the Horde... and the Khan announced the eldest son of Kalita, Simeon, the Grand Prince of Vladimir". After
Muscovy overcame the period of feudal fragmentation, and
Ivan III of Moscow and
Vladimir () asserted his position as successor to the Roman emperors, there arose a legend that the cap had been presented by the
Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachus () to his grandson
Vladimir Monomakh, the traditional founder in 1108 of the city of
Vladimir and patrilineal ancestor of Ivan III. In the early part of the 16th century
The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir elaborated the legend, which reinforced the 15th-century claims for the
"Moscow as the Third Rome" political theory. The crown became known as "Monomakh's Cap", the term first recorded in a Muscovite document from 1518. However the fact that
Constantine IX Monomachus died 50 years before the coronation of Vladimir Monomakh makes the attribution a mere legend. The first version of the orient origin of the Cap (Uzbeg Khan) was suggested by
George Vernadsky. Vernadsky was pointing to an interesting fact that according to
Paul Pelliot Özbäg can be interpreted as a freeman (
maître de sa personne). Professor M. G. Kramarovsky, who worked at the
Hermitage Museum and was specifically interested in the origin of the cap, remarks that according to the technology of the headgear, the cap originated in the 14th or 15th century - either in the Volga cities or in
Crimea, where the school of Golden Horde
filigree had developed. According to (1858-1931), possibly the cap was initially topped with the similar cross of the
Jani Beg crown, however account of the German ambassador of the
Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I,
Sigismund von Herberstein (known for his
Notes on Muscovite Affairs, published in 1549) does not support that view. After
Ivan the Terrible had himself crowned the first Russian Tsar with this headgear in 1547, the Polish king asked Ivan to explain the meaning of his new title. To that Ivan replied that whoever is crowned with Monomakh's Cap is traditionally called a tsar, because it was a gift from a tsar (i.e., Constantine IX) who had sent the Metropolitan of
Ephesus to Kiev to crown Vladimir Monomakh with this cap. Ivan was presumably not aware that at the time of
Constantine IX Monomachus' death,
Vladimir Monomakh was only two years old and he was not the Kievan sovereign yet. The Monomakh Cap was last used in the dual coronation of
Ivan V and
Peter I of Russia in 1682, though it was carried in the coronation procession thereafter. After Peter I (Peter the Great) assumed the title of
emperor in 1721, was fashioned and used in the coronation of the
empress-consort Catherine in 1724. ==See also==