Ivan III., styled "The Uniter of Russia," was twenty-two years of age when, in 1462, he succeeded his father Vasili, the Blind. He continued the policy of the princes of Moscow and early obtained a success against the Tartars of Kazan. In 1472 he married Sophia, a daughter of Thomas Paleologus, a brother of the last emperor of Byzantium, and this union, with a member of the race that had so long held sway over all orthodox Christianity, greatly influenced his policy. His wife, less patient than the Russians, found the Mongol yoke unbearable. "How long am I to be the slave of Tartars?" she would ask, and there is little doubt that it is to her urging that Ivan became aggressive. He was not personally courageous, preferring to remain in Moscow, and allow his people to fight on the frontiers of Russia; when forced into the field, his method was to avoid giving battle and wear out the enemy with delays, retreats, and puzzling, irritating marches and counter-marches. In 1472 he conquered Perm; in 1475 he was successful against Novgorod the Great; in 1478 he openly rebelled against the Khan; in 1499 he pushed the confines of Russia to Petchora on the Arctic Sea. He was a puzzle to his enemies, gaining victories over Lithuanians, Livonians and Siberians, without leaving the Kremlin. Stephen of Moldavia said of him, "Ivan is a strange man; he stays quietly at home yet triumphs over his enemies, whilst I, although always on horseback, cannot defend my own country." Born a despot he was initiated into the mysteries of autocratic government by his wife. Cold, cruel and cunning, he brooked no opposition where he thought he could triumph; was an arrant coward whenever the issue was doubtful. When he vanquished Novgorod, he brought the boyards to Moscow, and settled them there; three years later he tortured some, and put others to death. He was relentless in punishing rebellion, no matter what the rank of the offender. He whipped Prince Oukhtomski, and ordered the archimandrite of a monastery to be flogged; mutilated the counsellors of his son, cowed the boyards, burnt alive Poles who had conspired against him; pillaged the German traders of goods to the value of £40,000, and played the tyrant so thoroughly that even when he slept no boyard "durst open his mouth in whispers" for fear of disturbing his master's slumber.