Difference between revisions of "Ivan IV of Russia" - New World Encyclopedia
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[[image:Attach.jpg|thumb|left|''St. Basil's Cathedral'']] | [[image:Attach.jpg|thumb|left|''St. Basil's Cathedral'']] | ||
| − | Other less positive aspects of this period include the introduction of the first laws restricting the mobility of the [[peasant]]s, which would eventually lead to [[serf]]dom. The dramatic change in Ivan's personality is traditionally linked to his near-fatal illness in 1553 | + | Other less positive aspects of this period include the introduction of the first laws restricting the mobility of the [[peasant]]s, which would eventually lead to [[serf]]dom. The dramatic change in Ivan's personality is traditionally linked to his near-fatal illness in 1553. Ivan suspected boyars of poisoning his wife and of plotting to replace him on the throne with his cousin, [[Vladimir of Staritsa]]. In addition, during that illness Ivan had asked the boyars to swear an oath of allegiance to his eldest son, an infant at the time. Many boyars refused, for doctors deemed the tsar's health too hopeless to survive. However, he unexpectedly got well. This angered Ivan and added to his distrust of the boyars. [[image:X1-i085.jpg|thumb|right|''Ivan IV in the illness'']] |
| − | + | 1560 is traditionally marked as year of his mental and emotional break down. His beloved wife[[Anastasia of Russia|Anastasia Romanovna]] dies after 13 years of marriage. Ivan blamed boyars for her death and after that Russia began to sink steadely in to the terror. His former suppoters, one after another, are executed, exiled or forced to flee. Previously famous for his ascetic live style, Ivan changes to the opposit - lavish feasts and orgies. To overcome opposition, in 1564 Ivan threatens witrh resignation. While boyars fractions thought what to do, population paniced and forced them to accept Ivan's conditions - demand for dictatorial | |
| + | power. | ||
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[[image:X1-Z5 028.jpg|thumb|left|''Ivan IV chooses the bride. All together he had seven wifes, divorcing some weeks after the marriage'']] | [[image:X1-Z5 028.jpg|thumb|left|''Ivan IV chooses the bride. All together he had seven wifes, divorcing some weeks after the marriage'']] | ||
| − | + | The next step was establishment of the ''[[Oprichnina]]''. The ''Oprichnina'' was the section of Russia directly ruled by Ivan and policed by his personal servicemen, the ''[[Oprichnik]]s''. This whole system of ''Oprichnina'' has been viewed by some historians as a tool against the omnipotent hereditary nobility of Russia ([[boyar]]s) who opposed the absolutist drive of the tsar, while others have interpreted it as a sign of the [[paranoia]] and mental deterioration of the tsar. There followed brutal reprisals and mass murders of innocent people, including [[Metropolitan Philip]] and Prince [[Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky]]. | |
[[image:X1-149.jpg|thumb|right|''Last minutes of Metropolitan Philip'']] | [[image:X1-149.jpg|thumb|right|''Last minutes of Metropolitan Philip'']] | ||
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== Later reign == | == Later reign == | ||
Revision as of 17:57, 15 September 2006
- "Ivan the Terrible" redirects here. For other uses, see Ivan the Terrible (disambiguation).
Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Иван IV Васильевич) (August 25, 1530 – March 18, 1584) was the Grand Duke of Muscovy from 1533 to 1547 and was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of tsar. His long reign saw the conquest of Tartary and Siberia and subsequent transformation of Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. This tsar retains his place in the Russian tradition simply as Ivan Grozny (Russian: Ива́н Гро́зный which translates into English as Ivan the Fearsome, listen ▶). He is commonly referred to in English as Ivan the Terrible.
Early reign
Ivan (or Ioann, as his name is rendered in Church Slavonic) was a long-awaited son of Vasili III. Upon his father's death, he formally came to the throne at the age of three, but his minority was dominated by regents. Initially his mother Elena Glinskaya acted as regent. Under her leadership Moscow successfuly waged wars with Lithuania, Crimean khanate and tatars. She carried out monetary reforms, introducing the smallest unit - kopeyka. She died, however, when Ivan was only eight (it is rumored she was poisoned). She was replaced as regent by boyars from the Shuisky family until Ivan assumed power in 1544. According to his own letters, Ivan customarily felt neglected and offended by the mighty boyars from the Shuisky and Belsky families. In one letter, he painfully recalls an episode when one drunken boyar put his dirty boots on Ivan's bed. These traumatic experiences doubtlessly contributed to his hatred of the boyars and to his mental instability. Constant struggle among the boyars formed a suspicious, cruel character. He was known to throw cats and dogs out of the Kremlin windows, among other cruel acts. At the age of 13 he ordered beat to death his mentor boyarin Shuisky.
Ivan was crowned tsar with Monomakh's Cap at the Cathedral of the Dormition at age sixteen on January 16 1547. February 13 he married to Anastasia Romanovna. Though she was from not so prominent family, she brought love and reconciliation in his life for a while and was dearly loved by him. They had three sons - Fyodor (future tsar), Ivan (killed by Ivan IV in 1581) and Dmitriy (died in Uglitch from unknown reason) - and three daughters, giving rise to the new dynasty of Romanov's. The early part of his reign was one of peaceful but radical reforms and modernization. Ivan revised the law code (known as the sudebnik), created a standing army (the streltsy), introduced a new system of government - prikaz (a prototype of state department), established the Zemsky Sobor, the council of the nobles (known as the Chosen Council), and confirmed the position of the Church with the Council of the Hundred Chapters, which unified the rituals and ecclesiastical regulations of the entire country. During his reign the first printing press was introduced to Russia (although the first Russian printers Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets had to flee from Moscow to Grand Duchy of Lithuania). Mean time diplomatic relations with England, Belgium and Holland are established.
In 1547 Hans Schlitte, the agent of tsar Ivan, employed handicraftsmen in Germany for work in Russia. However all these handicraftsmen were arrested in Lübeck at the request of Poland and Livonia. The German merchant companies ignored the new port built by tsar Ivan on the river Narva in 1550 and delivered the goods still in the Baltic ports owned by Livonia. Russia remained isolated from sea trade.
Ivan formed new trading connections, opening up the White Sea and the port of Arkhangelsk to the Muscovy Company of English merchants. He also annexed the Kazan in 1552 and Astrakhan Khanates to the east, thus transforming Russia into a multinational and multiconfessional state. He had St. Basil's Cathedral constructed in Moscow to commemorate the seizure of Kazan khanate. Legend has it that he was so impressed with the structure that he had the architects blinded, so that they could never design anything as beautiful again.
Other less positive aspects of this period include the introduction of the first laws restricting the mobility of the peasants, which would eventually lead to serfdom. The dramatic change in Ivan's personality is traditionally linked to his near-fatal illness in 1553. Ivan suspected boyars of poisoning his wife and of plotting to replace him on the throne with his cousin, Vladimir of Staritsa. In addition, during that illness Ivan had asked the boyars to swear an oath of allegiance to his eldest son, an infant at the time. Many boyars refused, for doctors deemed the tsar's health too hopeless to survive. However, he unexpectedly got well. This angered Ivan and added to his distrust of the boyars.
1560 is traditionally marked as year of his mental and emotional break down. His beloved wifeAnastasia Romanovna dies after 13 years of marriage. Ivan blamed boyars for her death and after that Russia began to sink steadely in to the terror. His former suppoters, one after another, are executed, exiled or forced to flee. Previously famous for his ascetic live style, Ivan changes to the opposit - lavish feasts and orgies. To overcome opposition, in 1564 Ivan threatens witrh resignation. While boyars fractions thought what to do, population paniced and forced them to accept Ivan's conditions - demand for dictatorial power.
The next step was establishment of the Oprichnina. The Oprichnina was the section of Russia directly ruled by Ivan and policed by his personal servicemen, the Oprichniks. This whole system of Oprichnina has been viewed by some historians as a tool against the omnipotent hereditary nobility of Russia (boyars) who opposed the absolutist drive of the tsar, while others have interpreted it as a sign of the paranoia and mental deterioration of the tsar. There followed brutal reprisals and mass murders of innocent people, including Metropolitan Philip and Prince Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky.
Later reign
The latter half of Ivan's reign was far less successful. He supported Yermak's conquest of Siberia and he had adopted a policy of empire-building, which led him to launch a victorious war of seaward expansion to the west, only to find himself fighting the Swedes, Lithuanians, Poles, and the Livonian Teutonic Knights. For twenty-four years the Livonian War dragged on, damaging the Russian economy and military but winning it no territory. Ivan's best friend and closest advisor, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, defected to the Poles, deeply hurting Ivan. As the Oprichnina continued, Ivan became mentally unstable and physically disabled. In one week, he could easily pass from the most depraved orgies to prayers and fasting in a remote northern monastery.
Because he gradually grew unbalanced and violent, the Oprichniks under Malyuta Skuratov soon got out of hand and became murderous thugs. They murdered nobles and peasants, and conscripted men to fight the war in Livonia. Depopulation and famine ensued. What had been by far the richest area of Russia became the poorest. In a dispute with Novgorod Republic, Ivan ordered the Oprichniks to murder the inhabitants of this city. All towns between Moscow and Novgorod were plundered. Between thirty and forty thousand were killed.[citation needed] Yet the official death toll named 1,500 of Novgorod big people (nobility) and only mentioned about the same number of smaller people.
Khan Devlet I Giray of Crimea repeatedly devastated Moscow region and burnt down Moscow in 1571.
In 1581, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing, causing a miscarriage. His son, also named Ivan, upon learning of this, engaged in a heated argument with his father which resulted in the son's (accidental) death. This event is depicted in the famous painting by Ilya Repin, Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on Friday, November 16, 1581 better known as Ivan the Terrible killing his son.
In the late years of his reign Ivan turns his attention again to the territotial conquest. This time in the Eastern direction - Sibirea. In 1577 1650 troops under the leadership of Yermak crosses over Ural mounaines. By heavy use of muscets (introduced to Russian troops just a couple decades ago) and applaying tactics that ristricted mobility of the famous tatar cavalry, Yermak crushes outnumbering tatar troops. Within one year Sibirean khanate is conquered and Sibirea becomes a part of Russia.
Death and legacy
In 1578 Ivan stopped executions. Soon he ordered to creat lists of all executed and send donations to various monasteries. Ivan died while playing chess with Bogdan Belsky on March 18 1584, a date which had previously been prophesied for his death. When Ivan's tomb was opened during renovations in the 1960s, his remains were examined and discovered to contain very high amounts of mercury, indicating a high probability that he was poisoned. Modern suspicion falls on his advisors Belsky and Boris Godunov (who became tsar in 1598). Three days earlier, Ivan had allegedly attempted to rape Irina, Godunov's sister and Fyodor's wife. Her cries attracted Godunov and Belsky to the noise, whereupon Ivan let Irina go, but Belski and Godunov considered themselves marked for death. The tradition says that they either poisoned or strangled Ivan in fear for their own lives. The mercury found in Ivan's remains may also be related to treatment for syphilis, which it is speculated that Ivan had. Upon Ivan's death, the ravaged kingdom was left to his unfit and childless son Feodor.
Sobriquet
The English word terrible is usually used to translate the Russian word grozny in Ivan's nickname, but the modern English usage of terrible, with a pejorative connotation of bad or evil, does not precisely represent the intended meaning. Grozny's meaning is closer to the original usage of terrible—inspiring fear or terror, dangerous (as in Old English in one's danger), formidable, threatening, or awesome. Perhaps a translation closer to the intended sense would be Ivan the Fearsome. (Compare the city name Grozny.) The Russian people gave Ivan this nickname after he seized Kazan.
| Preceded by: Vasili III |
Grand Prince of Muscovy 1533–1547 |
Succeeded by: became Tsar |
| Preceded by: None |
Tsar of Russia 1547–1584 |
Succeeded by: Feodor I |
See also
- Ivan the Terrible - the film by Sergei Eisenstein.
- Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future - the film by Leonid Gaidai
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Troyat, Henri Ivan the Terrible. London : Phoenix, 2001 ISBN 1842124196 Translated by Joan Pinkham.
- Bobrick, Benson. Ivan the Terrible. Canongate Books Ltd, 1990 ISBN 0862412889
- Payne, Robert and Romanoff, Nikita. Ivan the Terrible. Cooper Square Press, 2002 ISBN 0815412290
- Madariaga, Isabel de. Ivan the Terrible. First Tsar of Russia. New Haven, CT ; London : Yale University Press, c2005 ISBN 0300097573
- The World Book Encyclopedia, "Ivan IV". Chicago : World Book, c2000 ISBN 0716601001
External links
- BBC History page - Ivan the Terrible
- "Mad Monarchs" - Ivan IV
- The ancestors tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible (in the Russian languages)
- British Film Institute - About Eisenstein's films
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