pale! The process commenced with the autocratic purposes of Andrew
Bogoliubski. And it was because his _boyars_ instinctively knew that
the success of his policy meant their ruin that they assassinated him.

In "Old Russia" a close and fraternal tie bound the Prince and his
_Drujina_ together. It was one family, of which he was the adored
head. What characterized the "New Russia" was a growing antagonism
between the Grand Prince and his lords or _boyars_. This developed
into a life-and-death struggle, similar to that between Louis XI. and
his nobility. His elevation meant their humiliation. It was a
terrible clash of forces--a duel in which one was the instrument of
fate, and the other predestined to destruction.

It was of less importance during the period between Andrew Bogoliubski
and Ivan IV. that Mongols were exercising degrading tyranny and making
desperate reprisals for defeat--that Lithuania and Poland, and
conspirators everywhere, were by arms and by diplomacy and by treachery
trying to ruin the state; all this was of less import than the fact
that every vestige of authority was surely passing out of the hands of
the nobility into those of the Tsar. The fight was a desperate one.
It became open and avowed under Ivan III., still more bitter under his
son Vasili II., and culminated at last under Ivan the Terrible, when,
like an infuriated animal, he let loose upon them all the pent-up
instincts in his blood.




CHAPTER XI