Principality of Tver
Principality of Tver | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1246–1485 | |||||||||
| Status | Principality | ||||||||
| Capital | Tver 57°00′N 36°00′E / 57.000°N 36.000°E | ||||||||
| Common languages | Russian | ||||||||
| Religion | Russian Orthodoxy | ||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||
| Prince | |||||||||
• 1247–1271 | Yaroslav | ||||||||
• 1461–1485 | Mikhail III | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 1246 | ||||||||
• Annexation | 1485 | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• Total | 28,450 km2 (10,980 sq mi) | ||||||||
| |||||||||
The Principality of Tver (Russian: Тверское княжество, romanized: Tverskoye knyazhestvo) was a Russian principality which existed between the 13th and the 15th centuries with its capital in Tver. The principality was located approximately in the area currently occupied by Tver Oblast and the eastern part of Smolensk Oblast.
It was one of the states established after the fall of Kievan Rus'. Originally part of the Pereyaslavl-Zalessky principality, Tver became an independent principality when Yaroslav Yaroslavich was given the western slice of his father's patrimony. During the 14th century, Tver rivaled the Principality of Moscow with the aim to become the center of the unified Russian state. Eventually it lost, decayed, and in 1485, it was annexed by Moscow.