Principality of Beloozero

The Principality of Beloozero was a small Russian principality in the forested north around Lake Beloye, in what is now western Vologda Oblast. Its capital, Beloozero, is one of the five original towns named in the Primary Chronicle, and the region was long tied to Rostov and Novgorod before it became an independent principality in 1238, during the Mongol invasion of Rus'. Its first prince, Gleb, ruled from about 1238 to 1278 and strengthened his position by marrying a daughter of Sartaq, a Mongol prince, so that later Beloozero rulers could claim descent from Genghis Khan. Under Gleb the principality embraced the Lake Beloye basin, the lower Sheksna and Lake Kubenskoye. By the early fourteenth century it had lost much of its former importance, and the grand princes of Moscow were already appointing governors there. Dmitry Donskoy brought Beloozero under Muscovite control in 1389 and gave it to his son Andrey. Two great monasteries, Kirillo-Belozersky and Ferapontov, were founded on its lands at the end of the fourteenth century, extending Moscow's influence in the north. The principality was formally annexed by Ivan III in 1485.