Demetrius Alexandrovich of Pereyaslavl

Holy Right-⁠believing Demetrius Alexandrovich of Pereyaslavl was prince of Pereyaslavl and grand prince of Vladimir. He was born in 1250 and died in 1294, after becoming a monk. He was the son of Grand Prince Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky and his wife Alexandra, the daughter of Prince Bryachislav Vasilkovich of Polotsk, and the elder brother after Vasily, who had been deprived of inheritance by their father.

Prince of Novgorod and of Pereyaslavl

In 1259, after the unrest in Novgorod was quelled, Alexander Nevsky set his son, then very young, as prince in the city. In 1262 he was sent against the Livonian knights at Dorpat, a city that was taken. He was prince of Pereyaslavl from 1263 to 1294. In 1264, immediately after the death of Alexander Nevsky, the Novgorodians drove him out as a minor, and he withdrew to Pereyaslavl-⁠Zalessky. In 1268 he came to the aid of the Novgorodians in the battle of Rakovor, and his courage contributed greatly to their victory. In 1270 the Novgorodians offered him their throne, but he refused, not wishing to take a throne from which his uncle had been driven, and even helped the grand prince to take it again. In 1272, with the grand prince dead, he stood for the throne, but the Novgorodians, afraid, resolved to be rid of him, and he withdrew to Pereyaslavl.

Grand prince of Vladimir

In 1276, when the last of his uncles, Vasily Yaroslavich, died, Demetrius took, as the eldest of the line, the throne of grand prince. He was constantly in the midst of quarrels: he mediated between the princes of Rostov, persuaded the brothers, through Bishop Ignatius, to live in concord, and faced Novgorod over the fortress of Koporye, raised in 1278. In 1281-1282 his younger brother, Andrei of Gorodets, winning over the khan, came with a Tatar army; the grand prince fled, and the Tatars laid waste the lands of Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov and Tver, as far as Torzhok, and terribly punished Pereyaslavl. Demetrius fled to Novgorod, but was confronted by the Novgorodians; he returned to Pereyaslavl, gathered an army, and Andrei hastened to the Horde. After a series of reversals he fled to the powerful Nogai, who restored his throne by a mere letter, and in 1283 he regained the throne of Vladimir. In 1293 Andrei, with a Tatar army from Tokhta, laid waste fourteen cities, and Demetrius fled to Pskov, to his son-⁠in-⁠law Dovmont.

The end

When the Tatars withdrew, Demetrius resolved to return to Pereyaslavl. Nearly caught by Andrei near Torzhok, he left his baggage train and fled to Tver. The young prince Mikhail Yaroslavich received him and stood as mediator between the brothers: with the help of the bishop of Tver, Demetrius renounced the grand principality in favour of his brother, keeping his beloved city, Pereyaslavl-⁠Zalessky. On the way to it, near Volok, he fell ill, became a monk and died in 1294. His body was carried to Pereyaslavl and laid in the Transfiguration cathedral.