Ivan II of Russia

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Ivan II Ivanovich the Fair (Иван II Иванович Красный in Russian) (March 30, 1326 – November 13, 1359) was the second son of Ivan Kalita who succeeded his brother Simeon the Proud as Grand Duke of Muscovy and Vladimir in 1353. Until that date, he had ruled the towns of Ruza and Zvenigorod.

Upon succeeding his brother, Ivan briefly toyed with the idea of abandoning traditional Muscovite allegiance to the Mongols and allying himself with Lithuania. This policy was quickly abandoned, however, as Ivan asserted his allegiance to the Golden Horde.

Contemporaries describe Ivan as an apathetic ruler, who didn't flinch even when Olgierd of Lithuania captured his father-in-law's capital, Bryansk. By his second wife, Alexandra Ivanovna Velyaminova, daughter of a Moscow mayor, he had several children, including Dmitri Donskoi, who succeeded him.

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