Dmitri Yuryevich Shemyaka of Moscow (c1408-1453)

Date of birth
The dates of birth of Vasili Kosoy and of his younger brothers are not known. Their father Yuri Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod married princess Anastasia Yuryevna of Smolensk in 1400. She died on July 11, 1422 and during her marriage gave birth to four sons: Ivan Yuryevich, Vasili Kosoy, Dmitri Shemyaka and Dmitri Krasnyi Ivan is not mentioned by some studies, possibly because he retired to a monastery around 1432 and was not involved in the political turmoil of the following years. The year of birth of these sons is therefore limited to the interval between 1401 and 1422.

Some references indicate that the sons were born late, around 1420. Thus the compendium "Все монархии мира" indicates 1421 as year of birth of Vasily Kosoy and "around 1420" as birth of Dmitri Shemyaka  many researchers consider that they were born much earlier. The "Great Soviet Encyclopedia" indicates the year of Dmitri Shemyaka as being 1420 ; however the same encyclopedia indicates the birth year of Vasili Kosoy as unknown. These references simply indicate a year of birth, without any analysis. Some references indicate 1421 as date when Vasili Kosoy received the title of Prince of Zvenigorod, indicating that he was born at an unspecified earlier date.

Other researchers have carried out analyses of the probable birth years. These researchers consider that the birth years of Yuri Dmitrievich's sons must have been much earlier, because it is difficult to assume that Princess Anastasia gave birth to three sons in about three years and also because they could not have been in their early teens and had an important influence on the events preceding and after Yuri Dmitrievich's death in 1434.

In a study published in 1870, historian Mikhail Khrymov estimated that Dmitri Shemyaka was born in Zvenigorod around the year 1403, implying that Vasili Kosoy was born even earlier. Aleksandr Zimin estimated that in 1425, Dmitri Shemyaka was around 20-24 years old, meaning that he was born between 1401 and 1405. Valentin Yanin shows that, in 1453, Dmitri Shemyaka was about 45 years old, which would place his birth around 1209 Other references place Dmitri Shemyaka's birth around 1210.

Aleksandr Zimin also shows that Vasili Kosoy, the elder of Yuri Dmitrievich's sons as well as Dmitri Shemyaka seem to have sought to assert themselves as early as 1425. . This could not be the case if they were only 5-6 years old. The historian also notes that the conflict with their father matured as early as 1427/28

While the year of birth remains uncertain, it should be assumed that Vasili Kosoy was born c1405 and Dmitri Shemyaka c1408.