BASIL III., IVANOVICH tsar of Muscovy, son of Ivan III. and Sophia Palaeologa, succeeded his father in 1505. A crafty prince, with all the tenacity of his race, Basil succeeded in incorporating with Muscovy the last remnants of the ancient independent principalities, by accusing the princes of Ryazan and Syeversk of conspiracy against him, seizing their persons, and an nexing their domains (1517-23) . Seven years earlier (Jan. 24 151o) the last free republic of old Russia, Pskov, was deprived of its charter and assembly bell, which were sent to Moscow. Basil also captured Smolensk, the great eastern fortress of Poland (1512), chiefly through the aid of the rebel Lithuanian, Prince Michael Glinsky, who provided him with artillery and engineers from western Europe. Although in 1519 he was obliged to buy off the khan of the Crimea, Mohammed Girai, under the very walls of Moscow, towards the end of his reign he established the Russian .influence on the Volga, and in 1530 placed the pretender Elanyei on the throne of Kazan. Basil was the first grand-duke of Moscow who adopted the title of tsar and the double-headed eagle of the East Roman empire. By his second wife, Helena Glinska, whom he married in 1526, Basil had a son Ivan, who succeeded him as Ivan IV.
See Sigismund Herberstain Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii