The House of Tolstoy, or Tolstoi (), is a family of Russian gentry that acceded to the high aristocracy of the Russian Empire. The name Tolstoy (Russian "Толстой") is itself derived from the Russian adjective "толстый" ("thick, stout, fat"). They are the descendants of Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy ("the Fat"), who moved from Chernigov to Moscow and served under Vasily II of Moscow in the 15th century. The "wild Tolstoys", as they were known in the high society of Imperial Russia,have left a lasting legacy in Russian politics, military history, literature, and fine arts. Origins The Tolstoys were a family of provincial Muscovite gentry who claimed their ancestry to a mythical Lithuanian nobleman named Indris stated by Pyotr Tolstoy as supposedly having arrived from the Holy Roman Empire to Chernigov in 1353, the very year when the city became part of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, together with his two sons Litvinos (or Litvonis, "Lithuanian") and Zimonten (or Zigmont, or "Samogitian") and a druzhina of 3000 men. Litvonis and Zimonten possibly refer to the two main parts of Lithuania at the time - Samogitia was considered administratively separate from Lithuania Proper (in the narrow sense) for much of history. Indris was then supposedly converted to Eastern Orthodoxy as Leonty and his sons — as Konstantin and Feodor, respectively; adopting religion of the locals was typical of Lithuanian nobility at the time and characteristic of the Lithuanian style of governing. Konstantin's grandson, Andrei Kharitonovich, was nicknamed Tolstiy (translated as fat) by Vasily II of Moscow after he moved from Chernigov to Moscow. Because of the pagan names and the fact that Chernigov at the time was ruled by Demetrius I Starshy some research concluded that they were Lithuanians who arrived from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then in conflict with the State of the Teutonic Order. At the same time, no mention of Indris was ever found in the 14-16th century documents, while the Chernigov Chronicles used by Pyotr Tolstoy as a reference were lost. The first documented members of the Tolstoy family also lived in the 17th century. Pyotr Tolstoy is the founder of the titled branch of the family; he was granted the title of count by Peter the Great. The untitled branch of the same stem is descended from Ivan Andreevich Tolstoy. Their common ancestor was Andrey Vasilievich Tolstoy, who married Stepanida Andreevna Miloslavskaya, a cousin of the tsarina. This