Andrey of Staritsa

Who was Andrey of Staritsa?

Andrey Ivanovich was the youngest son of Ivan the Great by Sophia of Byzantium. Since 1519, his appanages included Volokolamsk and Staritsa.

When his elder brother Vasily III ascended the throne, Andrey was just 14. Like his other brothers, he was forbidden to marry until Vasily could produce an heir. This didn't come to pass until 1530, but it was only two years later, when Vasily's second son was born, that Andrey was finally allowed to find himself a wife. Several months later, on February 2, 1533, he married a Gedyminid Princess, Euphrosinia Andreyevna Khovanskaya. Their only child, Vladimir, was born later that year.

Next month, however, Vasily died. After 40 days of mourning, Andrey applied to his widow Elena Glinskaya for extension of his demesnes. Elena denied him that favour and Andrey departed for Staritsa in anger. There he heard that his only living brother, Yury, had been taken to prison and died there. It is only natural that he declined Elena's emphatic invitations to visit Moscow and lived in Staritsa in seclusion for three following years. He built there a fine cathedral, which still stands.