Mikhail II of Tver

Mikhail Alexandrovich (Russian: Михаил Александрович) (1333 – August 26, 1399) was Grand Prince of Tver and briefly held the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir. He was one of only two Tver princes after 1317 (the other was his father, Aleksandr) to hold the grand princely title, which was almost the exclusive purview of the Muscovite princes.

Mikhail Alexandrovich was the third son of Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver. Mikhail grew up in Pskov, where his father had fled after the Tver Uprising of 1327. He was christened by the Archbishop of Novgorod, Vasily Kalika, in 1333.^[1] Five years later, he and his mother were called to Tver when Aleksandr returned to the city. In 1341, he went to Novgorod where Archbishop Vasily taught him reading and writing (which would have meant reading the Scriptures). In 1368, he became prince of Tver.

Mikhail Alexandrovich was among the last princes to seriously threaten Grand Duchy of Moscow for possession of the office of Grand Prince of Vladimir, hoping to unseat Moscow with the aid of his brother-in-law Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania. In 1371, he managed to gain the yarlik or patent of office as Grand Prince of Vladimir from the Khan of the Golden Horde, and was accepted as Prince of Novgorod, an important economic asset for any Russian prince. He seems to have lost power the following year when Algirdas concluded Treaty of Lyubutsk with Dmitri Donskoi of Moscow, but it is not clear who was considered grand prince between 1372 and 1375,^[2] at which time Dmitri Donskoi defeated Mikhail.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Mikhail II of Tver

16. Yaroslav II of Vladimir 8. Yaroslav of Tver 17. Fedosia Igorevna 4. Mikhail of Tver 18. Youri Mikhailovich (son of Michael of Chernigov) 9. Xenia of Tarusa 2. Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver 20. Boris Vasylkovych (son of Vasilko Konstantinovich) 10. Dmitry Borisovich 21. Maria Yaroslavna, Princess of Murom 5. Anna of Kashin 1.Mikhail II of Tver 24. Daniel of Galicia 12. Leo I of Galicia 25. Anna of Toropets 6. Yuri I of Galicia 26. Béla IV of Hungary 13. Constance of Hungary, Queen of Galicia 27. Maria Laskarina 3. Anastasia of Halych 28. Conrad I of Mazovia 14. Casimir I of Kuyavia 29. Agafia of Rus 7. Euphemia of Kuyavia 30. Casimir I of Opole 15. Euphrosyne of Opole 31. Viola, Duchess of Opole

References

1. Arsenni Nasonov, ed. Novgorodskaia Pervaia Letopis Starshego i mladshego izvodov (Moscow and Leningrad: AN SSSR, 1950),345.
2. Michael C. Paul, “Was the Prince of Novgorod a ‘Third-rate Bureaucrat’ after 1136?” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 56, Heft 1 (2008): 111.

Preceded by Dmitry Donskoy	Grand Prince of Vladimir 1371–1375	Succeeded by Dmitry Donskoy
Preceded by Vasily of Kashin	Prince of Tver 1368–1399	Succeeded by Ivan of Tver