29th of June, 1174. The king was sleeping in a chateau, two
miles from Moscow. At midnight the conspirators, twenty in number,
having inflamed themselves with brandy, burst into the house and
rushed towards the chamber where the aged monarch was reposing. The
clamor awoke the king, and he sprang from the bed just as two of the
conspirators entered his chamber. Aged as the monarch was, with one
blow of his vigorous arm he felled the foremost to the floor. The
comrade of the assassin, in the confusion, thinking it was the king
who had fallen, plunged his poignard to the hilt in his companion's
breast. Other assassins rushed in and fell upon the monarch. He was a
man of gigantic powers, and struggled against his foes with almost
supernatural energy, filling the chateau with his shrieks for help.
At last, pierced with innumerable wounds, he fell in his blood,
apparently silent in death. The assassins, terrified by the horrible
scene, and apprehensive that the guard might come to the rescue of the
king, caught up their dead comrade and fled.

The monarch had, however, but fainted. He almost instantly revived,
and with impetuosity and bravery, seized his sword and gave chase to
the murderers, shouting with all his strength to his attendants to
hasten to his aid. The assassins turned upon him. They had lanterns in
their hands, and were twenty to one. The first blow struck off the
right arm of the king; a saber thrust pierced his heart, passed
through his body, and the monarch fell dead. His last words were,
"Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit." There is, to this day,
preserved a cimeter of Grecian workmanship, which tradition says was
the sword of Andre. Upon the blade is inscribed in Greek letters,
"Holy mother of God, assist thy servant."

The death of the monarch was the signal for the universal outbreak of
violence and crime. Where the sovereign is the only law, the death of
the monarch is the destruction of the government. The anarchy which
sometimes succeeded his death was awful. The Russian annalists cherish
the memory of Andre affectionately. They say that he was courageous,
sagacious and a true Christian, and that he merited the title he has
received of a second Solomon. Had he established his throne in the
more central city of Kief instead of the remote village of Moscow, he
could more efficiently have governed the empire; but, blinded by his
love for his own northern realms, he was ambitious of elevating his