Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV
Иван IV
Tsar of all Russia
Reign26 January [O.S. 16 January] 1547 – 28 March 1584
Coronation26 January [O.S. 16 January] 1547
PredecessorHimself as Grand Prince
SuccessorFeodor I
Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia
Reign13 December [O.S. 3 December] 1533 – 26 January 1547
PredecessorVasili III
SuccessorHimself as Tsar of all Russia
RegentElena Glinskaya (1533–1538)
Born25 August [O.S. 15 August] 1530
Kolomenskoye, Grand Duchy of Moscow
Died28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584 (aged 53)
Moscow, Tsardom of Russia
Burial
Spouses
(m. 1547; died 1560)
(m. 1561; died 1569)
(m. 1571; died 1571)
(m. 1572; div. 1572)
(m. 1575; div. 1576)
(m. 1580)
Issue
more...
Names
Ivan Vasilyevich
DynastyRurik
FatherVasili III of Russia
MotherElena Glinskaya
ReligionRussian Orthodox

Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Иван IV Васильевич;[a] 25 August 1530 – 28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584),[2] commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,[note 1][3][4][5] was Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533,[6][7][8] and Tsar of all Russia from 1547 until his death in 1584.[7][9] He was the first Russian monarch to be crowned as tsar.

Ivan IV was the eldest son of Vasili III by his second wife Elena Glinskaya, and a grandson of Ivan III and Sophia Palaiologina. He succeeded his father after his death, when he was three years old. A group of reformers united around the young Ivan, crowning him the tsar of all Russia in 1547 at the age of 16. Ivan's reign was characterised by Russia's transformation from a medieval state to an empire under a tsar, but at an immense cost to its people, and long-term economy.

In the early years of his reign, Ivan ruled with the group of reformers known as the Chosen Council and established the Zemsky Sobor, a new assembly convened by the tsar. He also revised the legal code and introduced reforms, including elements of local self-government, as well as establishing the first Russian standing army, the streltsy. Ivan conquered the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan, and significantly expanded the territory of Russia.

After he had consolidated his power, Ivan rid himself of the advisers from the Chosen Council and triggered the Livonian War, which ravaged Russia and resulted in failure to take control over Livonia and the loss of Ingria, but allowed him to establish greater autocratic control over the Russian nobility, which he violently purged using Russia's first political police, the oprichniki. The later years of Ivan's reign were marked by the massacre of Novgorod and the burning of Moscow by the Tatars.

Ivan pursued cultural improvements, such as importing the first printing press to Russia. He also began several processes that would continue for centuries, including deepening connections with other European states, particularly England, fighting wars against the Ottoman Empire, and the gradual conquest of Siberia.

Contemporary sources present disparate accounts of Ivan's complex personality. He was described as intelligent and devout, but also prone to paranoia, rage, and episodic outbreaks of mental instability that worsened with age.[10][11][12] Historians generally believe that in a fit of anger, he murdered his eldest son and heir, Ivan Ivanovich;[13] he might also have caused the miscarriage of the latter's unborn child. This left his younger son, the politically ineffectual Feodor Ivanovich, to inherit the throne, a man whose rule and subsequent childless death led directly to the end of the Rurik dynasty and the beginning of the Time of Troubles.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gerasimov was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ 28 March: This Date in History. Webcitation.org. Retrieved 7 December 2011
  3. ^ "Иван Васильевич Грозный". www.hrono.ru. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  4. ^ ""Иван Грозный — первый русский модернист"". Год Литературы (in Russian). Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  5. ^ "Ioannes Severus dictus (1530–1584), inde ab anno 1533 magnus princeps Moscoviensis"[1].
  6. ^ Payne, Robert (2002). Ivan the Terrible (1st Cooper Square Press ed.). New York: Cooper Square Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 9780815412298.
  7. ^ a b Filjushkin, Alexander (2008). Ivan the Terrible : a military history. London. p. 278. ISBN 9781848325043.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ HALPERIN, CHARLES J. (2014). "Ivan Iv as Autocrat (Samoderzhets)". Cahiers du Monde russe. 55 (3/4): 197–213. doi:10.4000/monderusse.8000. ISSN 1252-6576. JSTOR 24567509.
  9. ^ Julicher, Peter (2003). Renegades, rebels and rogues under the Tsars. Jefferson (N.C.) London: McFarland. p. 5. ISBN 0786416122.
  10. ^ Shvidkovskiĭ, Dmitriĭ Olegovich (2007) Russian Architecture and the West. Yale University Press. p. 147. ISBN 0300109121.
  11. ^ Yanov, p. 208
  12. ^ Del Testa, David W. (2001) Government Leaders, Military Rulers and Political Activists. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 91. ISBN 1573561533
  13. ^ Perrie & Pavlov 2014, p. 192.


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