In 16th century Europe, wars were burning. Italy and Portugal fought with the Ottoman Empire, England with Scotland. In France, religious battles unfolded. Protestantism was gaining strength. In Muscovy, as foreigners called the Russian kingdom, at that time an autocrat appeared, crowned by God with the kingdom. Ivan 4, whose historical portrait is presented below, was a unique sovereign, whose great autocracy always amazed foreigners.
Fathers and grandfathers
Ivan III, the grandfather of Ivan the Terrible, sought to centralize his possessions. He saw the Russian lands as a single state, the third Rome. He had five sons - Vasily, Yuri, Dmitry, Semyon and Andrey. How to divide the land between sons? Previously, they shared, but now everything went to the eldest, Vasily III. The remaining brothers had only their inheritance.
For a long time Vasily had no children. I had to imprison his wife in a monastery and take the second, Elena Glinsky, who had fled from the Principality of Lithuania. And while there were no heirs, the younger brothers were not allowed to marry, so that the candidates for the board did not breed. Finally, in 1530, the future Tsar Ivan 4 was born to Vasily and Elena Glinsky.
Vasily ruled until 1533. Once he got a small scratch on the hunt, which suddenly began to be chased and brought the king to death. When he died, his little son of three years ascended the throne. Under him, seven guardians were appointed by will. Elena Glinskaya, Ivan’s mother, eliminated them all and rules herself.
Ivan's childhood
Ivan 4 began to paint his historical portrait himself - he possessed an enviable literary gift. Mentioned the sovereign and childhood in his writings.
Mother Elena Glinskaya died at the age of thirty when he was eight years old. She was poisoned, and after the funeral, they began to release everyone who was imprisoned by her in prison. Among them will be the wife of Andrei Staritsky, the youngest son of Ivan III, and their little son Vladimir. They decided to leave his boyars as a "fallback option" in case of Ivan's illness or death. Now cousins are brought up together.
Ivan watched what was happening in the palace, and hatred was ripening in it. The boyars fought for power and stole in unheard of amounts. For example, the tsar’s guardian, Prince Vasily Shuisky, will rob the richest Pskov so that neither the poor nor the rich will remain there. All will be paupers.
Once, when Ivan was only thirteen years old, he waited with kennels at the Boyars Duma for his other guardian, Prince Andrei Shuisky, and ordered them to seize him and kill him.
So already at a very young age the fierce character of Ivan 4. manifested itself. The boyars now began to have "great love" for him.
Together with a company of peers, Ivan 4 had fun, whose historical portrait would be incomplete without mentioning the period of his adolescence. Young people (including Prince Vladimir) trampled Muscovites with horses, robbed passers-by, drove and raped the girls.
Adolescence
At the age of 16, the tsar decided to take two steps of national importance, which strengthened his support among the people and gave weight to the international position of Russia:
- get married to the kingdom;
- marry.
Perhaps these decisions were prompted to him by Metropolitan Macarius, who had previously supported Ivan's father, Vasily III. He sought to limit the arbitrariness of the boyars by strengthening the autocracy.
The wedding to the kingdom took place in January 1547. The church was now considered the "mother" of tsarist rule, Prince Ivan became the "divine" autocrat, Moscow was titled the reigning city.
Interestingly, after almost twenty years, in 1565, Ivan 4’s policy regarding the church will change. He will require restrictions on the power of the clergy in order to deal with the boyars unhindered. Otherwise, he will threaten to renounce the reign.
Personal as a state
It is important to mention the wives of Ivan 4, whose historical portrait largely depended on the personality of the women close to him. Ivan was going to marry only a Russian girl. He well remembered how he hated the people of foreigners - his mother, Elena Glinsky, and his grandmother, Sophia Paleolog. He was chosen by Anastasia, not the most noble, but very chaste girl. She gave birth to six heirs, of whom four died as children; the king is supposed to kill one son himself; the last child, Fedor Ivanovich, will inherit the kingdom.
Ivan loved Anastasia, listened to her words and pacified his anger. The second wife, Maria Temryukovna, was passionate, licentious and cruel. Many historians believe that this Asian woman raised the dregs from the bottom of Ivan's soul. Under her, feasts and orgies did not stop in the palace; buffoons and magicians were constantly present as a sign of a return to paganism.
Both wives, both Anastasia and Mary, were poisoned. The third, Martha Sobakina, died of a cold, having lived in a marriage for only two weeks. The fourth married wife, Anna Koltovskaya, also had an influence on her husband. It is believed that a virtuous and wise woman managed to convince Ivan to abolish the oprichnina. But in a few years, Ivan will send Anna to the monastery.
The remaining wives, their number is not exactly known, will already have the status of concubines, and their children will be illegitimate. As, for example, the last wife, Maria Nagaya, and her son, who died a child, Dmitry Uglitsky.
Reformer King
The historical image of Ivan the Terrible during his youth was quite attractive. After a terrible Moscow fire in 1547, when a rebellious mob attacked a member of the royal family (Yu. Glinsky), pop Ivan (possibly, under the patronage of Makarii) pop Sylvester, a priest from the Epiphany Cathedral. He tells Ivan that all that happened is the finger of God, for the sins of the king. As the king himself writes, he was afraid, and fear shook him. And there was a transformation.
The great grace period begins in the life of Ivan and the country, which will last thirteen years:
- An informal government is formed around the king - the Chosen Council: there will be Sylvester and Makarios, nobleman Aleksey Adashev, Prince Kurbsky and other young people who are striving for change and want to create a new great state.
- In 1549, for the first time, all classes were convened for advice, except for peasants. It was the Zemsky Sobor, a powerful deliberative body, which, along with the Boyar Duma, helped make difficult decisions for the country. Bringing elected candidates from different classes to the adoption of government decisions is a notable democratic step.
- The updated Code of Law is adopted, introducing a new tax, enslaving the peasants even more and declaring bribe-taking a crime (for the first time!).
- A Stoglav is being created, a collection of initiatives by the church council, which also demonstrates the special significance of Ivan the Terrible in the history of Russia, namely, the prosperity of Orthodoxy. Church lands were now controlled by the sovereign, a church court was approved, a list of saints, a method of baptism, etc.
The reforms were of tangible importance for the country: they strengthened the autocracy and contributed to the development of the state.
Military affairs
Perestroika also affected the army. A permanent army was created, twelve thousand archers alone. The result - the kingdom of Kazan was subordinated for the first time. Then there was the capture of Astrakhan, the conquest of Siberia. During the reign of Ivan 4, the territory of the state doubled. The closest ally and friend of Ivan was brother Vladimir Staritsky, who turned out to be an excellent military leader.
Further, the king decided to fight with Livonia. He sought to break through to the Baltic. Rada opposed: the Crimean khan was dangerous, and fighting on two fronts is not easy. Khan sold boys and girls stolen from the devastated Russian cities into slavery in Turkish markets, and Vladimir offered to put an end to this. This was a reasonable proposal, but the king did not like the opposition. Again, the dark side of the personality of Ivan 4. appeared. He insisted on war to subdue the rad.
The rebellion at the royal bed
The historical description of Ivan 4 would be incomplete without mentioning his cunning and cunning. In 1553, the king fell ill with fever. Being at death, he asked the boyars to swear allegiance to his newborn son. But many refused. It was more expedient to provide control to Vladimir Staritsky. The father of the royal favorite, Alexei Adashev, openly said that he was ready to swear allegiance to Vladimir.
Once the boyars entered the royal room, and Ivan sat on the bed, as if nothing had happened, and no signs of the disease were already visible. He said that God saved from the disease. Perhaps there was no illness, there was a great performance conceived to test subjects for fidelity. And Ivan did not forgive those who refused to swear allegiance to his son.
The end has come. Sylvester tried to appease the king, but the fear of God was no longer dominant over Ivan. They will send Sylvester to a distant monastery, imprison Alexei Adashev in prison, Prince Kurbsky will have time to escape to Lithuania, and Vladimir Staritsky will be in disgrace. Then he and his family will be forced to drink poison. Now the reign of Ivan 4 is no longer threatened by the fulfillment of the dream of most boyars - the meek Vladimir instead of the tyrant on the throne.
Oprichnina 1565-1572
The lands united by the grandfather, Ivan IV orders to divide again - into the Zemstvo and the oprichnina. He will ask himself for the oprichnina share of the land and the thousand oprichniks who will have to protect him. This is the “chosen thousand,” the personal imperial guard, which will then grow to six thousand.
The main purpose of the oprichnina is believed to be to undermine the land tenure of the richest boyars. There is an opinion of historian A. A. Zimin that not all land tenure will be destroyed, but only those whose names are associated with the name of Vladimir Staritsky. It is a certain circle of boyars that will take the blow of the oprichnina’s corps.
Together with the guardsmen, the sovereign will punish Novgorod and Pskov. Then the reprisals will begin in Moscow - they are looking for "conspirators" against the government. When in 1571 the Crimean khan attacked Moscow and burned it, the guardsmen not only fought ineptly, but even sabotaged mobilization. Many will then be sent to the gallows. Oprichnina will end. Bottom line: terror and robbery led the Russian economy to a crisis.
The defeat of Novgorod
The sovereign, who became pathologically suspicious, began to think that a conspiracy was brewing in Novgorod against him. In 1570, he arrived in the former Novgorod Republic, annexed by his grandfather, Ivan III. Oprichniki staged a revelry, punishing up to six hundred people daily. Estate did not matter. The city was cordoned off, the monasteries were busy, the treasury was ravaged.
There is another point of view: there was a conspiracy. Novgorod and the surrounding territories sought to become part of the Kingdom of Lithuania and adopt Catholicism. In this case, Ivan’s actions seem logical. In any case, together with Veliky Novgorod, the alternative path of development of Russia - the republic - was finally killed.
The end of the Livonian war
The exhausting Livonian war lasted from 1558. Success was until Lithuania united with Poland (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). Further, the Russian state only lost its gains, the economy plunged into decline.
The king decided to end the war through diplomatic means. In 1580 he sent an embassy to the Pope, Gregory XIII, which demonstrates how Ivan the Terrible was a gifted diplomat. The sovereign knew that the Pope was dreaming of an alliance of Christian kings against Turkey. To stop the confrontation between Christians, the Pope sends the Russian ambassador, priest Antonio Posevino. He managed to make sure that negotiations with the Polish king and commander Batory ended in a cessation of hostilities.
The struggle for territory, which lasted twenty-five years, was suspended. Livonian and Belarusian lands were lost, the state was ruined.
Death of the king
Shortly before his death, the king was frightened of his deeds and began to send synodics to the monasteries - lists of those whom he sent for execution. He sent money and asked to pray for those indicated on these lists. The tormenting fear of God's punishment was drowned out by unbridled debauchery. This completely ruined the autocrat’s health, and in March 1584 the demise came.
For more than fifty years Ivan ruled from 1533 to 1584, a record time for the Russian state on the throne. When Ivan died, a powerful kingdom remained after him.
The results of the policy of Ivan 4
After centuries of feudal fragmentation, the Russian tsars begin to act on a different scale: they strengthen their international and domestic position, continue to unite the lands, carry out large-scale reforms, and solve the problems of the class struggle. The democratic model of the development of society in Russia finally died with the fall of Novgorod. The population for centuries had the impression that the course of history in the country depends on only one person. It is relevant to this day.