Birth name : Ivan IV Vasilievich Date of birth : August 25, 1530. Place of birth : Kolomenskoye, Moscow district, Date of death : March 18 (28), 1584. Genus : Rurikovich Children : sons: Dmitry, Ivan, Fedor, Vasily, Dmitry Uglitsky daughters: Anna, Maria, Evdokia
Ivan the Terrible is a Russian Tsar, who at baptism was named Titus-Smaragd-John Vasilyevich Rurik. He is deservedly considered the most controversial historical figure in Russian history. Many historians have ambivalent assessments of his activities. Some scientists are sure that the king was pious and may be canonized. Others consider Ivan a tyrant and executioner who disdained Orthodox shrines and blasphemed God.
The reign of Ivan the Terrible is associated with numerous executions, violence, and the appearance of guardsmen. On the other hand, it was then that the Principality of Moscow reached the pinnacle of its development and received a high status. Reforms were constantly carried out then. They helped the state become invincible and powerful. The Tsar doubled the size of the country - from 2.80 to 5.40 million square meters. km. The principality became larger than all the countries of Europe combined.
Childhood
Ivan the Terrible was born on August 25, 1530 in the small village of Kolomenskoye, which was located near Moscow. The father was Vasily the Third, the mother was Elena Glinskaya. Ivan is the eldest among the other sons, and therefore received the right to inherit the throne. However, they did not have to wait too long, since the father died when the legal heir reached the age of 3. Five years later, Ivan’s mother, the Lithuanian princess Elena, died. At the age of 8, the boy was orphaned.
During Ivan's childhood, palace coups, violence, and battles for power constantly occurred. It was precisely this situation that caused the young king’s cruel behavior. The trustees paid virtually no attention to the legitimate heir to the Russian throne. He had to be content with a small amount of food. Then the makings of a despotic character began to appear. At first, Ivan the Terrible took out his aggression on animals, then on his subjects.
When Ivan the Terrible was a minor, the rulers were the princes Belsky and Shuisky and relatives on his mother's side. They sold off state property. The sabotage became obvious even to the heir to the throne.
The guardians first saw the willful nature of the heir in 1543, when he ordered the murder of Andrei Shuisky. Then those close to him began to fear the future ruler. Basically, the state was ruled by the Glinskys. They gradually gained Ivan's trust and supported his behavior. Despite the developing situation at court, Ivan the Terrible studied various sciences and was fond of reading. Then Ivan decided practically nothing. This contributed to the formation of hatred towards the environment and the desire to seize power at any cost.
Who inherited the crown
Ivan the Fourth had another son - Tsarevich Fyodor, born in marriage with his first wife. Fedor, by the way, was the older brother of Ivan and Dmitry - two more living and healthy contenders for the crown. So the myth that Ivan the Terrible had no heirs has long been debunked.
It was Fyodor Ioannovich who was the heir of Ivan the Terrible, but he ruled under the strict suppressive supervision of Boris Godunov. Even during the life of the tsar, no hopes were pinned on Fyodor; Ivan the Terrible believed that his son was “a faster and a silent person, born more for his cell than for sovereign power.”
Read also: Why Peter I was not buried for 6 years: what illnesses did the Russian emperor have
Beginning of reign
Ivan reached adulthood in 1545 and ascended the throne.
His first decision was the sacred coronation. He began to single-handedly rule the country and observe Orthodox traditions. Thanks to the presence of the royal title, Ivan's reign had a favorable impact on the foreign policy of the Moscow principality. The state has risen in the eyes of Western European countries. The country soon became a leader among other European countries - and in several respects at once. After the arrival of the young king, large-scale reforms began. They were approved by the Select Board. Russia began to gradually transition to autocracy. Power was concentrated in the hands of just one ruler. Grozny devoted the next decade to global reform. The tsar laid the foundation for the zemstvo reform and established a new code of laws - the legislative code of that time. Life for the lower class became significantly more difficult. The powers of the governors were distributed.
In 1550, Ivan the Terrible allocated land holdings located 70 kilometers from Moscow to the best thousand Moscow nobles. It was then that the Streltsy army appeared. The soldiers were armed with firearms. Peasants often fell into serfdom. European merchants were prohibited from entering the state.
In terms of foreign policy, Ivan the Terrible often fought successful wars. He personally commanded the army. Inspired warriors quickly occupied Kazan and Astrakhan. Soon the Siberian lands became part of the Russian state. In 1553, Grozny began to establish trade relations with Great Britain. In 1558 he began to fight against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, instead of victory there was defeat. The Russian state lost part of its lands.
After the crushing defeat, the king tried to find those responsible and stopped cooperating with the Elected Council. He decided to transfer the country to autocracy. Large-scale repressions and executions began. Persecution extended to all those who disagreed with the ruler's policies.
Oprichnina
The 2nd stage of the king's reign was marked by cruelty and bloodiness.
Thus, in 1565, an additional form of government appeared in the state, dividing it into zemshchina and oprichnina. The guardsmen supported the monarch in all his endeavors. They stopped communicating with the zemstvo people. They gave almost all their income to the sovereign. The oprichnina had a great army, which was located on estates. The ruler gave him complete freedom of action. The guardsmen were engaged in robbery and robbery. When the boyars began to show resistance, they were executed. In 1571, the Russian state faced an attack from the Crimean Khan named Devlet-Girey. The guardsmen, praised by the ruler, were unable to give a worthy rebuff to the enemy, because they were too spoiled and refused to fight. The warriors did not take part in the battles. Despite the fact that the sovereign managed to assemble one regiment, such a number of soldiers was clearly not enough against the Khan’s army. The result was the widespread abolition of the oprichnina. The repressions stopped. Over time, lists of people executed by the guardsmen were compiled. All monasteries began to pray for the repose of the souls of the murdered.
The reign of Ivan the Terrible ended with the complete collapse of the country's economy. In addition, under the sovereign, the Livonian War, which was considered the main business of the ruler’s life, was lost. Ivan Vasilyevich gradually realized that his reign had caused significant damage to the state. All that remained for the Terrible was to repent before God. It was then that the Russian monarch began to have attacks of uncontrollable aggression. During the next attack, Ivan the Terrible killed the only heir to the throne - his son Ivan Ivanovich. After the murder, Grozny planned to spend the rest of his life in a monastery.
Personal life of Ivan the Terrible
As for the personal life of the odious ruler, it was not easy.
Historians say that Ivan the Terrible married 7 times. The first wedding took place in 1574. Anastasia Zakharyina-Yuryeva became the tsar’s chosen one. During family life, 6 children were born. Only 2 of them survived - Fedor and Ivan. In 1560, the wife died. The Tsar married Maria Cherkasskaya, the daughter of a Kabardian prince. Maria gave birth to her only son, who lived only 1 month. Grozny was disappointed in his wife. She died 8 years after the birth of her first child.
The third wife of the ruler was Maria Sobakina, the daughter of a nobleman from the village of Kolomenskoye. The wedding took place in 1571. 15 days after this solemn event, Maria died. The true cause of the woman's death is still unknown.
Six months later, the tsar married again - to Anna Koltovskaya. There were no children in the marriage. 1 year after the wedding, the royal wife ended up in a monastery, where she died as a result.
The fifth wife of Ivan the Terrible, named Maria Dolgorukaya, is known for her sad fate. The ruler drowned the girl in a pond after the first night, when he learned that she had lost her virginity before marriage.
In 1575 the king married again. This time Anna Vasilchikova became the wife. She remained queen for a relatively short time. Ivan the Terrible forcibly exiled his wife to a monastery for treason.
The last, seventh wife of the sovereign, was Maria Nagaya. According to surviving written evidence, the wedding took place in 1580. In 1582, the wife gave birth to the heir to the throne, Dmitry. After the death of Ivan Vasilyevich, the new tsar exiled Maria to the city of Uglich. There he forced her to become a monk. In Russian history, she became known as the mother of False Dmitry, whose reign was marked by the beginning of the Time of Troubles in the state.
Children from Anastasia Romanovna (Zakharyina-Yuryeva)
This was the king's first marriage. Ivan Vasilyevich married at the age of 17 and loved his wife until her death. They lived in marriage for 13 years. Anastasia gave birth to 6 children, 4 of whom died in infancy.
Anna (10.08.1549 ‒ 20.07.1550)
She was born in the second year of marriage. Lived for 11 months. The cause of death is unknown. The Tsar buried her in the Church of Joachim and Anna, specially built for the princess, in the Novodevichy Convent. The temple stood unconsecrated for 150 years and began to collapse. The child's tomb was moved by Princess Sophia in 1685 to the tomb of the cathedral church of the Novodevichy Convent.
Maria (03/17/1551 ‒ 11/18/1551)
The girl died without living even a year. She was buried in the Ascension Monastery. Mary's remains were transferred in 1929 to the Moscow Archangel Cathedral.
When opening the burial of a child in our time, scientists discovered significantly higher levels of arsenic and mercury in the remains, which presumably indicates poisoning.
Dmitry (10.1552 ‒ 06.06.1553)
The long-awaited heir was born after the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. Named Dmitry in honor of Dmitry Donskoy.
In March 1553, the Tsar fell ill and demanded that members of the Duma take an oath to the baby Dmitry. A significant part of the boyars refused. They preferred to see Vladimir Staritsky, the sovereign’s cousin, on the throne. However, the tsar's supporters won, forcing all the boyars to swear an oath to the tsarevich. Having recovered, Ivan Vasilyevich learned about the split, this greatly upset him, but he did not punish the rebels.
Ivan the Terrible and his family went on a pilgrimage to the monasteries in the summer of 1553. The tragedy happened on the way back to Moscow, when the royal ships were sailing along the Sheksna River. According to one version, the boy was dropped into the water by his sleeping nanny. According to the second, when the royal family left the ship, the bridge overturned. The adults were able to get out of the water, but the baby drowned. According to the third version, seven-month-old Dmitry fell ill on the way and died. The Tsarevich was buried in the same grave with his grandfather Ivan III in the Archangel Cathedral.
Death
The date of death of Ivan the Terrible is March 28, 1584. This happened during a game of chess. It is believed that death was caused by overgrown osteophytes, which made the ruler inactive. In addition to a serious illness, death could be caused by an unhealthy lifestyle and constant nervous shock. At the time of his death, Ivan Vasilyevich was 53 years old. Despite his relatively young age, he looked like an old man.
The ruler was buried next to his son, Ivan. The final resting place was the Archangel Cathedral near the Moscow Kremlin. Immediately after the king’s burial, speculation began to appear that his death was due to poisoning. There was an assumption among the people that the poisoner was Boris Godunov, who ascended the Russian throne after Fyodor Ivanovich.
The widespread version of the poisoning of the Tsar was considered by historians until 1963, when the tomb of Ivan the Terrible was opened. Studies have shown the absence of arsenic in the remains of the sovereign. After this, the version of the violent death event ceased to be discussed by scientists. The death of Ivan Vasilyevich marked the end of the Rurik dynasty. Time of Troubles began in the Russian state.
Marfa Sobakina, who won the royal beauty contest
Ivan the Terrible chose Marfa Sobakina from among many girls. /Photo: felicina.ru
In 1571, Ivan the Terrible organized a real beauty contest among brides. At least two thousand young beauties were brought to Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. The picky king initially chose 24 girls, and then twelve of them. All participants were examined. This was what grandmothers and doctors did. Marfa Sobakina won this unique competition. An engagement was announced. By the way, this girl was recommended to Ivan by Malyuta Skuratov. Most likely, he pursued the goal of becoming related to the sovereign family. During the wedding, Malyuta’s wife and daughter were matchmakers, and Skuratov himself acted as a groomsman (together with Boris Godunov). Unfortunately, after the wedding, the bride became very ill and a couple of weeks later she gave her soul to God. There are many versions of what happened, and they all talk about one thing - the king’s wife left this world due to poisoning, witchcraft, and other similar reasons.
