Tsar Ivan the Terrible was known not only for his great reforms, which allowed Russia to take its rightful place among the strongest powers of that time, but also for eccentricities that caused no less horror than mass executions because of its unpredictability. One of these acts of the king was the reign of Simeon Bekbulatovich. His date of birth is unknown. At the same time, many documentary, often conflicting, evidence of his so-called reign has survived.
Simeon Bekbulatovich: biography (young years)
Little is known about the childhood of a man who subsequently even briefly occupied the Russian throne. Sain-Bulat Khan was the son of Bek-Bulat, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan and the Sultan of the Nogai Horde. His grandfather Ahmet was the last ruler of the Golden Horde, who continued to hold Moscow princes politically dependent.
Ivan the Fourth invited Beck-Bulat with his son to his service. The old prince was betrayed to Grozny and proved himself to be a good warrior, therefore, after his death, he treated Sain Bulat.
By order of the sovereign, the young prince married a girl from a famous boyar family - Maria Andreevna Kleopina-Kutuzova. He already stood above the Russian nobility in his position, since he was from the Genghisides, and marriage to the Russian aristocrat only strengthened his position.
Reign in Kasimov
According to the then existing practice, Russian rulers often granted entire cities to invited Tatar princes. Therefore, no one was surprised when in the late 60s Simeon Bekbulatovich was appointed khan to Kasimov, at the same time he received the title "servant of the sovereigns", while even the most noble boyars were called only "serfs of Ivan the Terrible."
During the reign in Kasimov, Simeon Bekbulatovich took part in the Livonian War, as well as in campaigns on Paida, Oreshek and Kolyvan. Then, at the insistence of Ivan the Terrible, he was baptized and took the name Simeon. By that time, Bekbulatovich was a widower and remarried to Princess Anastasia Cherkasskaya, who had recently lost her husband.
Thanks to this marriage, Simeon Bekbulatovich - Tsar Kasimovsky - became related to the royal family, as the blood of Sofia Paleolog flowed in the veins of his second wife .
In the marriage, the couple had three sons and three daughters.
Why did the transfer of power take place?
Until now, the reason why Ivan the Terrible has put such an inconspicuous person as Simeon Bekbulatovich at the head of the state remains the subject of discussion by historians.
There are many versions. According to the most common Ivan the Terrible, an omen was made about the imminent death of the ruler of all Russia, therefore, by planting another person on the throne, he hoped to deceive fate. There is also an opinion that he wanted to step back into the shadows for a while in order to reveal his hidden enemies. Some historians also hypothesize that in this way the tsar wanted to ward off the discontent of the people, who came to their senses with difficulty after the horrors that he had to endure during the oprichnina, “turning arrows” on the newly arrived prince.
On the throne of the Russian state
Be that as it may, in 1575 Ivan the Terrible ordered the marriage to the kingdom of Simeon Bekbulatovich, who received the title “Grand Duke of All Russia”. He himself and his family moved from the Kremlin to Petrovka. At the same time, the country was formally divided, giving Ivan the Moscow, as the "former" ruler of the country decided to call himself from now on, a small inheritance. There he started his own Duma, in which Godunovs, Nagoya and Belsky were in charge.
In total, the new sovereign reigned for 11 months. During this time, according to the testimony of foreign ambassadors, he took from the monasteries and churches all the letters granted to her for centuries, and destroyed. In addition, formally, by order of Simeon, and in fact, from the order of Ivan the Terrible, some courtiers were executed, who were brought closer to them after the oprichnina, but did not live up to expectations. Thus, another “sweep” was conducted in the upper echelon of power.
Simeon Bekbulatovich and his reforms were not unambiguously accepted by contemporaries, however, the turmoil that Ivan the Terrible feared did not happen.
Bias
After making sure that the political castling was completed successfully, Grozny expressed "dissatisfaction" with the actions of Simeon and "was forced" to take the scepter again to compensate for the evil, the damage that the church inflicted.
At least, the actions of Ivan the Fourth were presented to the people and nobles in this vein. At the same time, the tsar allowed to renew the destroyed letters, but distributed them on his own behalf, holding and joining part of the church lands to the sovereign treasury. In addition, there were rumors that many church hierarchs had to pay considerable sums to return at least part of the property of their cloisters.
As the foreign ambassadors reported to their governments, the short-term Great reign of Simeon Bekbulatovich (the date of accession to the throne is unknown, but scientists believe that it happened in October 1576) allowed Ivan the Terrible to painlessly take a significant part of the property from the church, and also show everyone who was unhappy that “ an even worse reign is possible. ”
Reign
After removal from power, Simeon Bekbulatovich (photo below) received an order to leave for Tver, where he was allocated a new inheritance. At the same time, he retained the title of Grand Duke, who also had Ivan Vasilyevich. However, the latter at the same time in official documents was also called the king. Having lost power, which only formally belonged to him, Simeon Bekbulatovich became one of the largest landowners of that time. According to the preserved scribe book of his property, compiled around 1580, in Tver and Mikulinsky districts he had only arable land of up to 13500 acres. In addition, he was endowed with special privileges, giving him the right to levy taxes and surcharges in his favor, which was not allowed to the rest, even the most senior, serving people of the Moscow kingdom.
Further career
Since the end of 1577, for 5 years, Simeon Bekbulatovich took an active part in military operations against Poland. However, he failed to achieve results in this field, since he did not possess the courage or talent of the commander.
After the death of Ivan the Terrible in 1588, Grand Duke Simeon was able to maintain his high position for some time. However, Boris Godunov, who approached the throne, began in every possible way to set up the young Tsar Fyodor the First against the Tver Prince.
Opal
Having become king, Godunov ordered the sworn boyars to swear that they would not take action to transfer the throne to Simeon Bekbulatovich or his children. In addition, a reason was soon found for eliminating a dangerous candidate for power in the country: a close relative of Simeon Bekbulatovich - I. Mstislavsky - became involved in one of the intrigues against the all-powerful Tsar’s brother-in-law, and after he was arrested, the former “ruler of all Russia” befell the opal. His estate and dignity were taken from him, but he was not exiled, allowing him to live in his former specific capital Kushalin.
Godunov’s fears were not groundless, as some boyars did indeed plot to plot the king, who already held the throne with the consent of Ivan the Terrible. Such famous political figures of the time as Theodore Nikitich Romanov and Belsky took part in the plot. Their intrigue was upset, and Simeon himself, according to some reports, was blinded.
Monasticism
Having lost his sight and fell into disgrace, Simeon Bekbulatovich began to seek solace in the Orthodox faith. He built temples and donated to monasteries. He had to temporarily abandon these studies during the accession of False Demetrius the First, who first invited him to Moscow and treated him kindly. However, this situation did not last long, and the unfortunate was sentenced by an impostor to imprisonment in the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery. There is even a document signed by him that ordered the abbot of the monastery to cut the monks of Simeon Bekbulatovich and write about it personally to him.
On April 3, 1616, the former king received tonsure under the name of Stephen. From that moment on, Simeon Bekbulatovich, whose biography resembles an adventure novel, lived almost like a prisoner.
His position worsened even more under Vasily Shuisky, who exiled the monk to Solovki.
Simeon, a monk Stephen, graduated from his bitter days in Moscow in 1616 and was buried in the Simonov Monastery.
Now you know who Simeon Bekbulatovich was, whose years of life can only be called presumably (1540s - 1616th). The reasons for the sharp turn in his fate, as a result of which he ended up on the Russian throne, are still the subject of discussion by historians and are unlikely to be ever established.