At the commencement of the fourteenth century Russia was parcelled out into the principalities of Suzdal, Nijni Novogorod, Riazan, and Tver. This age witnessed the rise of a fifth which was destined to subdue them all, and to become the nucleus of a world-shadowing empire. The village of Moscow had been fortified by a Dolgoroucki in the middle of the twelfth century; and its situation, at the point of intersection of many caravan routes, led to the rapid development of its wealth and population. The Church, ever alive to the advantage of recognising the imperial principle, set up its standard in a centre which promised to give full scope to its own influence. The Metropolitan migrated hither from Vladimir in 1325, taking with him a holy image of widely acknowledged efficacy, and the princes were encouraged by the wily priests to persist in a policy of weakening the adjacent states. In 1380 Prince Dmitri, finding his Mongol oppressors distracted with internecine feuds, was emboldened to refuse tribute; and, gathering a huge army, he met the enemy at Kulikovo on the Don. The conflict was indecisive; but the Russians asserted that victory had been bestowed on their arms at the intercession of the _eikon_ which had accompanied their hosts. The claim was acquiesced in by the Russian people, and from this epoch dates the rise of Moscow. But the Mongolian incubus still weighed upon them. A great chieftain named Tokhtamish Khān arose who united the rival hordes, and in 1381 their forces obtained possession of Moscow and massacred 24,000 of its citizens. But the citadel already known as the Kremlin defied his attacks, and became the rallying-point for a state more powerful than that which had undergone a baptism of blood. And now a greater warrior appeared on the scene and became an unconscious ally of the cause of Russian independence.