Origins . In the 1230s or the 1240s,
Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, the
grand prince of Vladimir, detached the city of Tver from the
Pereyaslavl-Zalessky principality (where it previously belonged), and gave it to his son
Alexander "Nevsky" Yaroslavich. In 1246, another son of Yaroslav,
Yaroslav Yaroslavich, became the first
prince of Tver, and the principality was ruled by his descendants until 1485, when it was abolished. The
Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' (1237–1241) and subsequent Mongol raids for about 25 years devastated many cities, towns and their countryside in northeastern Rus', such as
Vladimir on the Klyazma and
Ryazan.
Depopulation was less severe in the regions around Tver, Moscow, and Yaroslavl, which sometimes received refugees from more war-torn areas. In particular, Tver and Moscow received many displaced inhabitants of Vladimir, and experienced population growth during the early
Golden Horde hegemony. After the 1264 death of Alexander "Nevsky" Yaroslavich, his brothers Yaroslav Yaroslavich of Tver and
Andrey Yaroslavich got into a succession struggle over the title of
grand prince of Vladimir. As the first khan of the Golden Horde,
Batu, had done twice before in 1249 and 1252, his brother
Berke Khan settled the dispute and with a
jarlig (patent) confirmed Yaroslav of Tver as the next Vladimirian grand prince. A
bishopric was founded during the reign of Yaroslav, sometime before his death in 1271. No other important events are known to have occurred in the principality during the reigns of Yaroslav and his son Sviatoslav, who died in the first half of the 1280s. Nevertheless, Tver had an advantageous location on the
Upper Volga for luxury goods transported by traders from the far north down the river towards the Jochid capital of
Sarai. It was one of the first northeastern Rus' cities to begin post-invasion major construction works, such as the Transfiguration Church () in the late 13th century.
Emergence and decline as a great power In 1285,
Mikhail of Tver, a son of Yaroslav of Tver, succeeded his father and became the prince of Tver. In 1305 he became the grand prince of Vladimir as well; however,
Özbeg Khan of the Golden Horde decided that Tver became too strong, and supported Moscow against Tver. This led to a military campaign led by
Yuri Danilovich of Moscow against Mikhail, supported by Özbeg in 1317. Mikhail met Yuri's army at a small village called Bortenevo, where he was victorious. In the same encounter, Özbeg's sister and Yuri's wife, Konchaka, was captured by Mikhail and made a
prisoner of war. Konchaka later died in captivity in Tver, where Yuri was able to blame Mikhail for the death of the khan's sister. Mikhail was summoned to the Golden Horde and tried there in 1318, where he faced a month of imprisonment and torture before being executed. His son and successor,
Dmitry, was executed in the Golden Horde in 1326, and another son and also a prince of Tver,
Aleksandr Mikhailovich, was executed there in 1339 as well together with his son Fyodor. In 1327, an
anti-Tatar uprising in Tver was suppressed. The city of Tver was burned down, and the principality lost a considerable part of its population. Moscow remained on good terms with the Tatars, and absorbed surrounding principalities.
Muscovite annexation In the subsequent 1425–1533 period, the rulers of Moscow nevertheless managed to gain the economic and military overhand, switch the order of dynastic succession from the chaotic
horizontal to
vertical inheritance, reincorporate all Suzdalian appanages, and during wars with Lithuania even annex Ryazan, Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk into the Muscovite realm. In the 1470s,
Mikhail III of Tver had to sign a number of treaties with Moscow (ruled by
Ivan III) which essentially discriminated against Tver. When Mikhail II tried to compensate for the treaties by seeking an alliance with Lithuania, the army of Ivan III swiftly conquered Tver in 1485. The principality was then annexed by Moscow. ==Geography==