Tver existed 1246–1485. On this map it is drawn 1294–1486.

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Tver covered about 7,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Northern Eurasia · The medieval principalities

Tver

1246–1485

The Principality of Tver, on the upper Volga north-west of Moscow, was detached from Pereyaslavl-Zalessky by Grand Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich; in 1246 his son Yaroslav Yaroslavich (brother of Alexander Nevsky) became the first prince of Tver, founding a dynasty that ruled until 1485.

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Existed: 1246–1485
Shown on the map: 1294–1486
Peak area: 7k km²
Region: Northern Eurasia

Founding

The rivalry with Moscow

Through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Tver was Moscow's principal rival for supremacy in north-eastern Rus' and for the grand-princely title of Vladimir.

Mikhail of Tver (Mikhail Yaroslavich) held the grand-princely title but clashed with Moscow's Yuri Danilovich; he was executed at the Horde in 1318 and later canonized.

The Tver Uprising of 1327 against the Golden Horde was crushed by a joint Horde–Muscovite force under Ivan Kalita, badly weakening Tver.

Under Mikhail Aleksandrovich, Tver allied with Lithuania (Algirdas) in the campaigns against Moscow of 1368, 1370, and 1372 (the Litovshchina). In 1375 Dmitry Donskoy decisively defeated Tver and forced it to acknowledge Moscow's suzerainty, though Tver retained independence and around this time became a Grand Principality.

Under Boris Aleksandrovich (1425–1461) Tver flourished culturally and economically while keeping cordial relations with Moscow.

Fall

The last grand prince, Mikhail III Borisovich (1461–1485), allied by marriage with Casimir IV of Poland-Lithuania. In response, Ivan III besieged and took the city on 12 September 1485, annexing Tver to Moscow; Mikhail fled to Lithuania ("Michael the Exile"). Ivan gave Tver as an appanage to his son Ivan the Young. The last scions of the Tver dynasty were later executed under Ivan the Terrible's oprichnina.

Common questions

What was Tver?: The Principality of Tver, on the upper Volga north-west of Moscow, was detached from Pereyaslavl-Zalessky by Grand Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich; in 1246 his son Yaroslav Yaroslavich (brother of Alexander Nevsky) became the first prince of Tver, founding a dynasty that ruled until 1485.
When did Tver exist?: Tver existed 1246–1485. On this map it is drawn 1294–1486.
How large was Tver?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Tver covered about 7,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
How did Tver end?: The last grand prince, Mikhail III Borisovich (1461–1485), allied by marriage with Casimir IV of Poland-Lithuania. In response, Ivan III besieged and took the city on 12 September 1485, annexing Tver to Moscow; Mikhail fled to Lithuania ("Michael the Exile").

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity, ruler and battle as the basis of these profiles, cross-checked against Encyclopaedia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Russian History, and against the scholarship of Janet Martin, Charles Halperin, Serhii Plokhy, Simon Franklin and Krivosheev. The article this entry is anchored on:

Wikipedia — Principality of Tver en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Tver

This entry was last updated 20 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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