The death of Nevski fell on Russia like a thunderbolt. It was a national calamity expected by no man, for with all his great services Nevski died when only forty-two years had passed over him. Even when burying him people could not believe that he had left them forever. His name, his very coffin seemed sacred. When the great Peter had founded St. Petersburg on the Neva, concluded peace with the Swedes and restored the ancient patrimony of Ijora, he brought Nevski’s bones to the capital, where they repose in the monastery of Alexander Nevski, and are honored at present and will be for the ages to come as relics of a saint and a hero. There is no better saint in the whole Russian calendar, and no greater statesman or warrior in its history than Alexander Nevski. By his wisdom and by his policy of yielding with apparent resignation to the tyranny of the Mongols, he suppressed revolts which would have perhaps brought about the abolition of native government, with the substitution of Mongol for Russian princes. Such substitution would have endangered the language, religion and race of the Russian people. This had to be avoided at every sacrifice. No man knew the relative strength of the Mongols and Russians better than Alexander Nevski; no man was more devoted to Russia than he; no man was more respected by his own; therefore his words had weight, and when he explained that resistance would be ruin and submission was the only road to salvation the people believed and obeyed him. In this way he rescued Novgorod and many another city from utter destruction, and saved the lives of untold thousands. Above all his influence remained; it curbed passion and instilled patience and courage into the minds of men, and the knowledge that violence only made the yoke more oppressive. About the time of Nevski’s death, Moscow began to increase in size and importance. Daniel, his youngest son, received this town, then very small, and a few villages around it, as his inheritance.