Nikolai Poppel’s second visit to Moscow in 1489 and the unexpected proposals that he addressed to Grand Duke Ivan III encouraged the Moscow court to examine the political structure of the Holy Roman Empire. This required the help of an...
moreNikolai Poppel’s second visit to Moscow in 1489 and the unexpected proposals that he addressed to Grand Duke Ivan III encouraged the Moscow court to examine the political structure of the Holy Roman Empire. This required the help of an unknown expert, who, however, was not always accurate in his comments. To legitimize the Moscow ruler in the eyes of the German emperor, a theory was elaborated about the primordial «brotherhood» between the Moscow dynasty and the Roman-Byzantine emperors. The crucial point in it, along with some «historical» dates from the Donation of Constantine, took the marriage of John VIII Palaiologos to the princess Anna Vasilievna of Moscow.
