Mikhailo Olelkovich

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Mikhail Olelovich, also known as Mikhail Aleksandrovich, was a Lithuanian prince, the brother of Prince Semen (Simon) of Kiev and cousin of Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow. Mikhail was allegedly involved both in bringing the Judaizer Heresy to Novgorod the Great and the failed defection of the city to the Grand Principality of Lithuania.

Mikhail entered Novgorod on November 8, 1470 with a large retinue and remained in the city until March 15, 1471.^[1] His large retinue included a Jew by the name of Skhariya (Zechariah) who gained a following in Novgorod. The heresy spread from there to Moscow in 1479 when Grand Prince Ivan III transferred several heretical priests to Moscow.^[2]

It was alleged in an account purported to have been drawn up in the archiepiscopal scriptorium in the mid-1470s that Mikhail arrived in Novgorod initially to marry Marfa Boretskaia, the matriarch of the pro-Lithuanian faction in the city (or else to have her married to an unnamed Lithuanian nobleman).^[3] The marriage would have thus cemented ties between Novgorod and, it was hoped, would have saved Novgorod from a Muscovite takeover. It did not. Ikhail withdrew from the city and Ivan III defeated the Novgorodians at Shelon River in July. Seven years later, he took direct control of the city. There were also allegations that the marriage would have brought Novgorod over to Catholicism, but Gail Lenhoff and Janet Martin argue that the pro-Lithuanian, pro-Catholic allegations are highly suspect and, indeed, very unlikely. Mikhail was Orthodox (as was Marfa Boretskaia) and he and his brother had strong differences of opinion with King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV Jagiellon. ^[4]

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