Analytical review reveals inaccuracies in Tatishchev's portrayal of Sophia Palaiologina's influence on Russian politics.
Tatishchev's information about the demarche of Sophia Palaiologina, which prompted Ivan III to end the Horde dependence, has no support in the sources and stems from Tatishchev's overestimation of Sophia's political role. Under the influence of his anticlerical views, Tatishchev kept silent about «The Epistle to the Ugra» by Vassian of Rostov and attributed the calls in this epistle to Sophia Palaiologina. In the draft versions of his "Russian History", changes in the succession to the throne and the distribution of appanages were associated with her influence. The historiographer's story about the participation of one of the Tatishchevs in the wedding embassy for Sophia to Rome is fictional.
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L. Aryayev (2025) studied this question.
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