Tver

Tver, a town of Russia, capital of the government of the same name, 104 m. by rail N.W. of Moscow, on both banks of the Volga (here crossed by a floating bridge) at its confluence with the Tvertsa. The low right bank is protected from inundations by a dam. Pop. (1885), 39, 280; (1900), 45,644. Tver is an archiepiscopal see of the Orthodox Greek Church. The oldest church dates from 1564, and the cathedral from 1689. A public garden occupies the site of the former fortress. The city possesses a good archaeological museum, housed in a former imperial palace. The industries have developed greatly, especially those in cotton, the chief works being cotton and flour mills, but there are also machinery works, glass works, sawmills, tanneries, railway carriage works and a steamer-building wharf. Among the domestic industries are nail-making and the manufacture of hosiery. for export to Moscow and St Petersburg. The traffic of the town is considerable, Tver being an intermediate place for the trade of both capitals with the governments of the upper Volga.

Tver dates its origin from 1180, when a fort was erected at the mouth of the Tvertsa to protect the Suzdal principality against Novgorod. In the 13th century it became the capital of an independent principality, and remained so until the end of the 15th century. Michael, prince of Tver, was killed (1318) fighting against the Tatars, as also was Alexander his son. It long remained an open question whether Moscow or Tver would ultimately gain the supremacy in Great Russia, and it was only with the help of the Tatars that the princes of the former eventually succeeded in breaking down the independence of Tver. In 1486, when the city was almost entirely burned down by the Muscovites, the son of Ivan III. became prince of Tver; the final annexation to Moscow followed four years later. In 1570 Tver had to endure, for some reason now difficult to understand, the vengeance of Ivan the Terrible, who ordered the massacre of 90,000 inhabitants of the principality. In1609-1612the city was plundered both by the followers of the second false Demetrius and by the Poles.