The next step was to be the setting aside of the old Slavonic law of
inheritance, and claiming the throne of the Grand Principality for the
oldest son of the last reigning Grand Prince; making sure at the same
time that this Prince belonged to the Muscovite line. This was not
entirely accomplished until 1431, when Vasili carried his dispute to
the Horde for the Khan's decision. The other disputant, who was making
a desperate stand for his rights under the old system of seniority, was
the "presumptuous uncle" already mentioned, who was, it will be
remembered, commanded to lead by the bridle the horse of his triumphant
Muscovite nephew. The sons of the disappointed uncle, however,
conspired with success even after that; and finally, in a rage, Vasili
ordered that the eyes of one of his cousins be put out. But time
brings its revenges. Ten years later the Grand Prince, on an evil day,
fell into the hands of the remaining cousin,--brother of his
victim,--and had his own eyes put out. So he was thereafter known as
"Vasili the Blind." This wily Prince kept his oldest son Ivan close to
him; and, that there might be no doubt about his succession, so
familiarized him with his position and placed him so firmly in the
saddle that it would not be easy to unseat him when his own death
occurred.

Many things had been happening during these two centuries besides the
absorption of the Russian principalities by Moscow. The ambitious
designs of Lithuania, in which Poland and Hungary, and the German
Knights and Latin Christianity, were all involved, had been checked,
and the disappointed state of Lithuania was gravitating toward a union
with Poland. More important still, the Empire of the Khan was falling
into pieces. The process had been hastened by a tremendous victory
obtained by the Grand Prince Dmitri in 1378, on the banks of the Don.
In the same way that Alexander Nevski obtained the surname of Nevski by