The life of St Michael of Tver
Yuri of Moscow refused to accept that outcome and set about winning the favor of the newly installed Khan Uzbek instead, a recent convert to Islam remembered for both cruelty and religious fervor in his rule.
Fighting broke out between the two princes, and in December 1317 Michael's forces defeated Yuri's at Tver, taking captive in the process Yuri's own wife, who happened to be the Khan's sister. When she died unexpectedly still in captivity, Yuri went before the Khan and accused Michael of having poisoned her, adding charges of withheld tribute and open rebellion against Mongol authority for good measure. Enraged, the Khan summoned Michael to the Horde to answer for it all.
Michael went, knowing well what the summons likely meant, choosing that over risking a war his own people could not have survived. He was executed at the Horde on November 22, 1318, remembered as a prince who chose his own death over his people's ruin.
