We may pass over the turbulent times among the Souzdal princes during the reigns of Simeon the Proud, which closed in 1553, and Ivan II, who came to his end in 1359, both sons of "Ivan the Alms Giver," who were stoutly disputed by rival princes who did not desire the title of "Grand Prince" to be perpetuated in the house of Moscow.
All the contending parties seem to have appealed with equal readiness to the Mongol, but Simeon, wiser than his fellows, succeeded by backing up his claims with liberal bribes. By diplomacy, force and bribery he compelled even Novgorod to pay him a contribution and recognize him as supreme, as a result of which he first assumed the title of "Grand Prince of all the Russias."
When this dignity was challenged by Lithuania, who ventured to besiege Moscow, he gained moral support by the friendship of St. Alexis, the third Metropolitan, and he made return by further advancing the privileges and increasing the revenues of the church.
His brother, Ivan, who succeeded him and is surnamed in history "The Debonnaire," seems to have been a pacific and gentle prince who naturally had a brief reign. As a result of his weakness, Dimitri of Souzdal succeeded, but the power again returned to Moscow saved by St. Alexis, when the Muscovite capital had temporarily ceased to occupy the chief place in Eastern Russia.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
