His distance from southern Europe protected him from annoyance from the powerful nations which were forming there.

His latter years seem to have been devoted to the arts of peace, for he secured to an unusual degree the love, as well as the admiration, of his subjects.

Ancient annalists record that all Russia moaned and wept when he died.

He is regarded, as more prominently than any other man, the founder of the Russian empire.

He united, though by treachery and blood, the northern and southern kingdoms under one monarch.