The founder of Moscow, Kniaz Yuri Dolgoruki Vladimirovich, or, as the English call him, Prince George Long-ith'-arm, Vladimir's son, was a son of that Prince of Kief who married Gyda, the daughter of Harold II. of England. Yuri, like his father, was a man of great energy and did much to strengthen and improve the towns within his territory. He is described as "above the middle height, stout, fair complexioned, with a large nose, long and crooked; his chin small; a great lover of women, sweet things and liquor; great at merry-makings, and not backward in war." For a century or more Moscow remained in obscurity, an insignificant appanage of the younger sons of the princes of Suzdal. It was long before any of the reigning house made it a place of residence. In the meantime, a stronghold, it attracted traders and the attention of enemies. Gleb of Riazan has the distinction of being the first to set fire to the town, but the earliest enemy of importance was the Tartar. In 1224 the Golden Horde defeated the Slavs in South Russia, destroyed Kief, marched towards Novgorod Sverski, then, "without ostensible reason," returned to Bokhara, to the camp of their leader, Khingiz Khan. In 1237 Baati, a grandson of Khingiz, crossed the Volga and laid the country waste. On the march of this horde westward Moscow was burnt; Vladimir was first taken. There the princess and other persons of distinction took refuge in a church, where they were burnt alive. Yuri II., the reigning prince, absent at the time, then attempted revenge and was slain in battle. There was little resistance; the Tartars subdued many towns and reduced whole provinces; marched within sixty miles of Novgorod Sverski, then again "without ostensible cause" turned eastward and left Russia. The Tartar was not driven from his own country; he raided because it was his nature so to do. The object of these early incursions, as of subsequent raids into Russian territory, was "to get stores of captives, both boys and girls, whom they sell to the Turks and other neighbouring Mahometan countries." Rich towns, therefore, could buy the Tartar off; a fact [Illustration: DANILOVSKI MONASTYR] which influenced the later policy of the Muscovites. Poor towns and ill-protected districts were, until a comparatively recent period, liable to "slave-raids" from Tartars and others. The Sultan Ahmed I. of Constantinople asked of Osman, his eldest son and heir, "My Osman, wilt thou conquer Crete for me?" "What have I to do with Crete? I will conquer the land of the white Russian girls," answered the boy. And as he thought to do, so many of his race did. It was not until the present century that the exchange of prisoners of war became the practice of Turks and Russians. The Tartars, with their enormous crowd of captives, could not winter in Russia, hence their timely withdrawal "without ostensible cause" on several occasions.