Ivan the Terrible as a person and politician. I. Introduction Ivan 4 historical figure

Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible was born on August 25, 1530 in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow. In 1533, his father, Grand Duke Vasily III (Rurikovich), died. In 1538, Ivan Vasilyevich’s mother, Princess Elena Glinskaya (Lithuanian princess), passed away. The childhood of the future tsar was spent in an atmosphere of palace intrigue, struggle for power, and coups between the warring boyar families of the Belsky and Shuisky.

In 1547, the solemn crowning ceremony of Grand Duke Ivan IV was held in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. At that time, his title was translated as “emperor,” which placed Ivan the Terrible on a par with the Holy Roman Emperor.

Affairs domestic policy The tsar was helped to lead by the advisers of the Chosen Rada, which included Metropolitan Macarius, A.F. Adashev, A.M. Kurbsky, and Archpriest Sylvester.

Domestic policy

In 1549, Ivan Vasilyevich convened the first Zemsky Sobor, which was attended by all segments of the population except serfs, and political, administrative, and economic issues were resolved. Since the late 40s, the tsar carried out a number of reforms: zemstvo, military, labial, symbolic.

In 1550, the Code of Laws of Ivan IV was adopted, in which peasant communities were given the right to self-government, restore order, and distribute taxes. In 1551, the tsar convened the Stoglava Council, which resulted in the adoption of a collection of decisions on church life - “Stoglava”. In 1555–1556, the “feeding” system was abolished and the “Code of Service” was adopted, which made it possible to form a new army structure.

In 1565, Ivan the Terrible, whose biography already spoke for him as a great monarch, introduced a special form of government - the oprichnina, aimed at strengthening the autocracy. In 1572, the oprichnina was dissolved.

Foreign policy

In foreign policy, Ivan IV headed towards expanding territories in the east, mastering the shores of the Baltic Sea in the west and bringing to the end the struggle with the successors of the Golden Horde.

Grozny made significant military campaigns, as a result of which the Kazan Khanate was annexed to the Russian territories in 1547–1552, and the Astrakhan Khanate, the lands of the Urals and the Volga region in 1556. In 1555 - 1557, the Siberian Khan Ediger and the Great Nogai Horde became dependent on Ivan IV. In 1556, Russian troops destroyed the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai-Batu.

In 1554 - 1557, Grozny's troops won the war with Sweden, which was started by the Swedish king Gustav I. In 1558 - 1583, Grozny's troops failed in the Livonian War. At the same time, Ivan IV waged wars with the Crimean Khanate with varying success.

Tsar Ivan the Terrible died on March 18, 1584 in Moscow. The great ruler was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Other biography options

• Ivan the Terrible was one of the most educated personalities of his time, possessed theological erudition and a phenomenal memory. He created numerous messages (including to Prince Kurbsky), some church works.
• Ivan IV actively developed trade and political ties with the Netherlands, Kabarda, England, the Kakheti Kingdom, and the Bukhara Khanate.
• In 1569, the Tsar, suspecting that Novgorod was about to go over to Lithuania, personally carried out a pogrom, known as the suppression of the Novgorod rebellion, during which all the cities along the road from Moscow to Novgorod were plundered.
• A short biography of Ivan the Terrible would be incomplete without mentioning his tough character. The Tsar often carried out mass repressions and bloody massacres, for which he received the popular nickname “Terrible”. In 1582, the king’s son died from fatal beatings.
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Abstract on discipline: Domestic history

on the topic of: Ivan's personality IV (Grozny) in the history of the fatherland

Introduction

1. Biography and personality

1.1 Childhood

1.2 Crowning

1.3 Character

1.5 Death

2. Domestic policy

2.1 Reforms

2.1.1 “The Chosen Rada”

2.1.2 Zemstvo reform

2.1.3 Lip reform

2.1.4 Code of Laws of 1550

2.1.5 Military reform

2.1.6 Church reform

2.2 Oprichnina

3. Foreign policy

3.1 Kazan campaigns

3.2 Astrakhan campaigns

3.3 Russian-Crimean Wars

3.4 War with Sweden

3.5 Livonian War

3.6 England

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The reign of Ivan the Terrible can be divided into 2 completely different eras: the bright (1547-1560) and the dark (1564-1584). Between them there is a short period of 4 years (1560-1564), a kind of transition period from one life to another.

In the first era, the young king, full of energy and good undertakings, captured by active thought, took a number of government measures, and for the most part with success; supports the plans and initiatives of its employees and advisors; in the second era, although the state machine continues the work begun in the previous period, all its forces are spent on the ill-fated struggle with the internal enemy - with the princes and boyars.

In the mid-16th century, a group of people close to him formed around the tsar - the Elected Rada, which was not a formal state institution, in fact, it was a government on behalf of the tsar, governing the state. The elected Rada pursued a compromise policy of distributing the rights and privileges of the boyars to the nobles, which, despite its inconsistency, was beneficial, first of all, to the nobility.

1. Biography and personality

1.1 Childhood

Ivan IV, later nicknamed the Terrible, was born in 1530, when his father, Vasily III, was already over fifty. 3 years after the birth of his son, Vasily III died and Ivan’s mother, Grand Duchess Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya, began to rule the country as regent. In 1538, she too died, poisoned, as is commonly believed, by the seditious boyars, and power actually passed to the Boyar Duma.

The eight-year-old Grand Duke hated the boyars, blaming them for the death of his mother. Busy with their own affairs, the boyars did not pay attention to the young prince: they kept him in humiliating poverty for the prince, insulted the memory of his parents in his presence, did not pay attention to his wishes, it happened that almost before his eyes they killed friends and patrons belonging to to another camp. CM. Solovyov wrote that “surrounded by people who did not pay attention to him, insulted him, did not spare each other in their struggles, allowed themselves to commit violent acts in his eyes, John got used to not paying attention to the interests of others, got used to not respecting human dignity, not respect human life."

But when the young Grand Duke turned from a child into a teenager, and then into a young man, the attitude of the boyars towards him changed dramatically. They seemed to realize that sooner or later, this boy would rule the country and that it was necessary to gain his favor, the sooner the better. Therefore, disdain was replaced by flattery and indulgence in the slightest whims. According to Prince Kurbsky, Ivan was raised by the great and proud boyars to their own and their children’s misfortune, trying to please each other in all pleasure and voluptuousness.

The following event turned out to be a turning point in the fate of Ivan IV and Rus'. In June 1547, Moscow was consumed by a huge fire. Everything was on fire, even the Kremlin with its stone chambers, monasteries and cathedrals. About 1,700 townspeople suffocated in the smoke or burned alive. The outbreak of epidemic and famine decimated the people. Rumors spread: “The Glinskys set Moscow on fire, and the Tsar’s grandmother Anna Glinskaya cast a spell: she took out human hearts and put them in water and sprinkled that water while driving around Moscow, and that’s why Moscow burned out.”

The fall of the government accelerated the uprising of ordinary Muscovites. On June 26, they gathered at a meeting, and by his decision, the rebels moved to the Kremlin, captured and killed one of the Glinskys - the uncle of the Tsar, Boyar Prince Yuri Vasilyevich. The courts of the hated rulers were destroyed.

Tsar Ivan, who left Moscow due to the fire, was holed up in the village of Vorobyovo near Moscow (on the Vorobyovy Gory). On June 29, the rebels came here, armed with anything, and demanded that the Tsar give them Anna and Mikhail Glinsky for reprisal. Ivan tried to persuade them to stop the uprising, insisting that he did not have the Glinskys. Muscovites, believing him, went to the city. The uprising soon subsided. Ivan IV kept his memory for the rest of his life.

1.2 Crowning

The king’s favorite idea, realized already in his youth, was the idea of ​​unlimited autocratic power. In December 1546, 16-year-old Ivan consulted with Metropolitan Macarius about his desire to get married. A brideshow was held. The king's choice fell on Anastasia, the daughter of the widow Zakharyina. At the same time, Karamzin says that the tsar was guided not by the nobility of the family, but by the personal merits of Anastasia. On January 16, 1547, the solemn crowning of Grand Duke Ivan IV took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Signs of royal dignity were placed on him: the cross of the Life-Giving Tree, barmas and the cap of Monomakh. After receiving the Holy Mysteries, Ivan Vasilyevich was anointed with myrrh. The royal title allowed him to take a significantly different position in diplomatic relations with Western Europe. The grand ducal title was translated as “prince” or even “grand duke.” The title “Tsar” in the hierarchy stood on a par with the title “king”, that is, in second place after the imperial one.

1.4 Character

From an early age, Ivan grew up in an atmosphere of intrigue, palace coups and the struggle for power of the warring boyar families of the Shuisky and Belsky. Such a childhood could cripple the psyche of any child, and Ivan IV was no exception. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, as a child Ivan IV was nervous and easily excitable, and cruelty manifested itself in him very early. The same Kurbsky recalled that when Ivan IV was 12 years old, he “began, first of all, to shed the blood of the dumb, throwing them to the ground from high towers, and the pestuns allowed him to do this and even praised him, teaching the youth to their misfortune.”

S. Solovyov, analyzing the influence of the morals of the era on the character of Ivan IV, notes that he “did not recognize the moral, spiritual means for establishing truth and order, or, even worse, having realized it, he forgot about them; instead of healing, he intensified the disease, made him even more accustomed to torture, bonfires and the chopping block.”

Ivan IV was only 13 years old when, driven out of patience by the behavior of the boyars, he first tried to use power. On December 29, 1543, Ivan IV ordered that Prince Andrei Shuisky, at that time the de facto ruler of Russia, be handed over to the hounds and then killed. The execution order was given by a thirteen-year-old child. From then on, the boyars “began... to have fear and obedience from the sovereign.”

Despite the unattractive character traits listed above, Ivan IV was distinguished by his powers of observation and had an excellent memory. I read a lot and willingly. Having read almost everything that could be found in the Grand Duke's library. Ivan IV became acquainted with sacred history, the history of the church, Ancient Rome, Russian chronicles. Historian S.F. Platonov noted that in all his speeches before the clergy and boyars, the young tsar revealed that he was well-read and mentally developed: for his time, he was the most educated person.

1.4 Family

According to historical sources, Ivan the Terrible had 8 wives. Of these, 4 are legal, since according to Orthodox customs one cannot marry more than three times, but the tsar’s third wife died shortly after marriage as a virgin, and the church allowed the tsar, and only him, to marry for the fourth time. The graves of the legitimate wives of Ivan the Terrible from the point of view of the church are located next to the grave of the Tsar himself and his mother in the Ascension Monastery, the traditional burial place of the Grand Duchesses and Russian Tsarinas. Meanwhile, it is known that after his fourth marriage, Ivan the Terrible stopped asking permission from the church and married several more times.

1.4.1 Wives

Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yuryeva is the first wife of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and the first Russian queen. She was chosen by the king at a show of brides out of 1,500 girls. She married the king in February 1547, died in June 1560. She was famous for her kindness and helping the poor. Over 13 years of marriage, Anastasia gave birth to the Tsar six children, of whom the daughters and first son Dmitry died early, and two sons survived - Ivan, who was extremely similar in character to his father, and the weak-willed, frail Fedor.

Maria Temryukovna Cherkasskaya, the daughter of a Kabardian prince, became the second wife of Ivan the Terrible in 1561, a year after the death of his first wife. Their only child, a boy, lived only five weeks, and after that Ivan no longer showed any interest in his wife. She died of illness (or was poisoned) in 1569.

Marfa Vasilievna Sobakina is the third wife of Ivan the Terrible, the daughter of a Kolomna nobleman, a relative of the Tsar’s associate Malyuta Skuratov-Belsky. She was chosen as a wife after the traditional bride viewing procedure. The marriage took place on October 28, 1571, but after 15 days, Queen Martha died and, as the king claimed, she died a virgin. As in the case of the first two wives of Ivan the Terrible, the early death of the queen gave rise to suspicions of poisoning and aroused royal anger. Relatives of the late queens Anastasia and Maria came under suspicion. The latter’s brother, Mikhail Temryukovich, was impaled, and in total, as a result of the investigation of this case, about 20 people were executed.

Anna Ivanovna Koltovskaya (according to some sources, Anna Alekseevna) is the fourth wife of Ivan the Terrible, whom he married, again after a viewing of brides, having obtained personal permission from the clergy. This, another childless marriage of the tsar, lasted a year (1572-1573), after which Ivan the Terrible imprisoned his wife in the Tikhvin Monastery, where she died in 1627 under the name of sister Daria.

Maria Dolgorukaya is the fifth wife of Ivan the Terrible. The wedding feast for this marriage took place in November 1573 and was very magnificent and cheerful. Many distinguished guests arrived, and tables filled with bread, meat and fish, as well as dozens of barrels of beer and mash, were placed on the streets of Moscow. However, after the wedding night, Ivan left the bedchamber sad and even dejected. Then he ordered the sleigh train to be laid down and go to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. The next day, the inhabitants of the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda saw a sleigh ride out of the gates of the royal estate, and in it, entangled in ropes, lay the young wife of Ivan the Terrible. The horse dragged the sleigh to a hole made in the center of the frozen pond and stopped. The king followed from the gate, and next to him walked some kind of leader and, turning to the settlement residents crowded on the shore, he said loudly: “Orthodox! Now see how the great sovereign punishes treason. The Dolgoruky princes, using the deceitful thieves' custom, married the sovereign to a girl who, before the wedding, fell in love with a certain villain and came to the temple in the taint of fornication, about which the sovereign did not know. And for that evil, treacherous deed, the great sovereign ordered the girl Mariyka to be drowned in a pond!”

Anna Vasilchikova (according to some sources, Anna Grigorievna) is the sixth wife of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The Tsar took her as his wife around 1575. The wedding was celebrated in a narrow circle, no rituals were celebrated. After some time, the king forcibly sent his wife to the Suzdal-Pokrovsky Monastery.

Vasilisa Melentyeva, a Muscovite, the widow of the ambitious Nikita Melentyev (there are suggestions that he was either stabbed to death or poisoned by order of the Tsar), is considered the seventh wife of Ivan the Terrible, although, apparently, she was not married to him. The Tsar took her to himself in 1575. According to some sources, Vasilisa was tonsured a nun on May 1, 1577 in Novgorod, and according to others, she was buried alive in a coffin along with her murdered lover, the okolnik Ivan Kolychev in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda.

Maria Fedorovna Nagaya is the last, eighth wife of Ivan the Terrible, daughter of the okolnichy F.F. Naked. She got married in 1580 with a wedding and a rich wedding. In 1582 she gave birth to a son, Dmitry, to Ivan the Terrible, but soon became undesirable to the Tsar and was sent to Uglich (1584).

In biographical studies about Ivan the Terrible, there are also names of women with whom he wanted, but according to various reasons could not or did not enter into marriage.

1.4.2 Children

Anna Ivanovna (1549, August 10 - 1550) - the eldest daughter of Ivan the Terrible and his first wife. She lived only a year.

Dmitry Ivanovich (1552-1553), the baby was accidentally dropped by a nurse while being loaded onto a ship, he fell into the river and drowned.

The remaining children from his first marriage also died in infancy.

Ivan Ivanovich (1554-1581), according to one version, died during a quarrel with his father, according to another version, died as a result of illness on November 19. Married three times, left no offspring.

Fedor I Ioannovich (1557-1598), no male children. Upon the birth of his son, Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of a church in the Feodorovsky Monastery in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky. This temple in honor of Theodore Stratilates became the main cathedral of the monastery and has survived to this day.

Tsarevich Dmitry, died in childhood.

1.5 Death

A study of the remains of Ivan the Terrible showed that in the last six years of his life he developed osteophytes (salt deposits on the spine) to such an extent that he could no longer walk - he was carried on a stretcher. M. M. Gerasimov, who examined the remains, noted that he had not seen such thick deposits even in the very elderly. Forced immobility, combined with a general unhealthy lifestyle, nervous shocks, etc., led to the fact that at just over 50 years old, the tsar already looked like a decrepit old man.

A number of Grozny's contemporaries believed that the tsar was poisoned. Clerk Ivan Timofeev blames Boris Godunov (who became Tsar after Grozny) and Bogdan Believoy for this.

This is how the historian N. Kostomarov describes the death of Ivan the Terrible: “At the beginning of 1584, a terrible illness appeared in him; some kind of rotting inside; a disgusting smell emanated from him. Foreign doctors lavished their skill on him; Abundant alms were distributed throughout the monasteries, churches were ordered to pray for the sick king, and at the same time, the superstitious Ivan invited healers and healers to his place. They were brought from the far north; some magicians predicted for him, as they say, the day of death... Ivan either lost heart, prayed, ordered to feed the poor and prisoners, released prisoners from dungeons, then again rushed to his former uncontrollability... It seemed to him that he had been bewitched, then he imagined that this witchcraft had already been destroyed by other means. He was either going to die, or he was saying with confidence that he would live. Meanwhile, the body became covered with blisters and wounds. The stench from it became more unbearable.

March 17th arrived. About the third hour the king went to the bathhouse prepared for him and washed himself with great pleasure; there they amused him with songs. After the bath, the king felt fresher. They sat him down on the bed; in addition to his underwear he was wearing a wide robe. He ordered the chess set to be brought, he began to arrange it himself, but could not put the chess king in his place and at that time he fell. A cry went up; some ran for vodka, some for rose water, some for doctors and clergy. The doctors appeared with their medicines and began to rub him; The metropolitan appeared and hastily performed the rite of tonsure, naming John Jonah. But the king was already lifeless. They rang the bell for the outcome of the soul. The people became agitated, the crowd rushed to the Kremlin. Boris Godunov ordered the gates to be closed.

On the third day, the body of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich was buried in the Archangel Cathedral, next to the grave of the son he killed.”

2. Domestic policy

2.1 Ivan's reforms IV

A common feature of the reforms of the 50s is their anti-boyar orientation. In proclaiming these reforms, the government of Ivan IV portrayed them as measures whose purpose was to eliminate the consequences of boyar rule and strengthen the economic and political positions of those social groups, whose interests it expressed and on which it relied - nobles, landowners and the upper classes of the town. At the same time, there is reason to say that the government of Ivan IV had a whole plan of reforms, covering a wide range of issues of domestic policy and including measures in the field of land ownership, and financial reforms, and, finally, church reforms.

2.1.1 “The Chosen Rada”

After the Moscow events of the summer of 1547: a fire and then an uprising of Muscovites around the tsar, a select circle of people was formed who did not shine with nobility and were not closely related either to the royal house or to any of the powerful aristocratic clans. Consequently, no one was afraid that they would seize power. This circle of people was called the “Chosen Rada”

The most significant figures of the “Elected Rada” were the priest of the Annunciation Cathedral in the Kremlin, Sylvester, and the royal bed-keeper, Alexei Fedorovich Adashev. In addition to them, the “Elected Rada” included Prince Kurlyatev, Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky, clerk Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty and some other representatives of the aristocracy.

Scientists have different opinions about the goals of this circle and about the people who were part of it.

Platonov claims that this was a company of boyars who united with the goal of mastering Moscow politics and ruling it in their own way, that is, the “Elected Rada” expressed the interests of the people included in it. “... A private circle created by temporary workers for their purposes, and placed by them near the Tsar not in the form of an institution, but as a collection of “well-wishing” friends.”

Another group of scientists, in particular Zimin and Smirnov, believes that this group of boyars expressed the interests of the nobility and far-sighted circles of the boyars. “The elected Rada... was the conductor of noble interests.”

The “Elected Rada” has developed a reform project. At the same time, publicist Ivan Semenovich Peresvetov submitted his petitions to the Tsar. He advised looking for support in the nobility at the expense of the boyars. The reform program was based on Peresvetov’s petitions.

The “Elected Rada” was destined to exist for just a decade. But during this short period the state and social structure Russia has undergone such dramatic changes as have not occurred in centuries of quiet development. The “Elected Rada” arose no earlier than 1549, and in 1560 it no longer existed.

2.1.2 Zemstvo reform

February 1549 marks the beginning of the activity of Zemsky Sobors in Rus' - estate representative bodies. “Zemsky Sobors,” wrote L.V. Cherepnin, “are a body that replaced the veche,” which adopted the ancient Russian “traditions of the participation of public groups in resolving government issues,” but replaced “elements of democracy with the principles of class representation.”

The first council is usually considered to be a meeting convened by the king on February 27, 1549. First, he spoke before the boyars, okolnichy, butlers and treasurers in the presence of the church “consecrated council,” and on the same day he spoke before the governors, princes and nobles.

Thus, for the first time, the cathedral included not only members of the Boyar Duma and the clergy, but also numerous representatives of the nobility, officials and wealthy merchants.

The number of the Boyar Duma was also tripled. This was done in order to weaken the boyar aristocracy, which was slowing down the adoption of decisions necessary for the state

2.1.3 Lip reform

The power of governors was abolished, and their functions were reduced only to supervision of the activities of self-government bodies. Everywhere there was the creation of elected provincial (nobles) and zemstvo (black-sown peasants) huts, which were in charge of collecting taxes and fulfilling duties, and courts in civil and petty criminal cases. At the head of the huts were provincial and zemstvo elders. Feedings stopped. Instead of the previous “feeding income”, it was necessary to pay a “feeding tax”. The abolition of feedings completed the formation of the apparatus of state power in the form of class-representative power.

2.1.4 Code of Laws of 1550

In 1550, at one of the first zemstvo councils, a new code of laws was adopted. It was based on the Code of Laws of 1497, but expanded, better systematized, and took into account arbitrage practice.

The publication of the Law Code of 1550 was an act of enormous political importance. The main stages through which a newly issued law passes:

1 Report to the Tsar, motivating the need to issue a law

2 The king’s verdict formulating the norm that should form the content of the new law.

The very drafting of the law and the final editing of the text is carried out in orders, or more precisely, by treasurers, who carry out this work on the orders of the tsar. Finally, on the basis of the new laws, additional articles of the Code of Law are compiled, which are added to its main text. This is the general scheme of the legislative process in the Russian state in the second half of the 16th century. It is specified by indicating the type of laws. The basis for establishing several types of laws is that different laws go through the stages of the legislative process outlined above in different ways. The main differences fall into the second stage. If the report is common to all types of laws of the second half of the 16th century, then the second stage of the legislative process - the “sentence” - is carried out differently for different laws:

1. By the verdict of one king.

2. The verdict of the king and the boyars.

3. Oral order of the king (“sovereign word”).

It is hardly possible to talk about any dependence of the application of a particular legislative procedure on the content of the law. The involvement or non-involvement of the Boyar Duma in the discussion of the law depended entirely on the specific circumstances of the moment.

2.1.5 Military reform

Nobles and boyar children performed “service for the fatherland.” In 1550, the squeaker detachments, created under Vasily III, were transformed into the Streltsy army (the Streltsy were called “service people according to the instrument”). Any free person could join the “instrument service,” but it was not hereditary. The “instrument workers” also included Cossacks, gunners, collar workers, state blacksmiths, etc. They served in cities where they gathered in special settlements, and along the borders of the state. The Code of 1556 established the procedure for military service, according to which each feudal lord (patrimonial landowner and landowner) was obliged to field a set number of soldiers on horseback and in full armor from a certain amount of land (150 acres). Those feudal lords who fielded more warriors than the norm received a monetary reward, and those who fielded fewer warriors than the norm paid a fine. This order contributed to an increase in the number of troops and prevented boyars from evading service. Periodic military reviews served the same purpose. Those who did not show up for services or reviews had their estates and estates taken away. The adoption of the Service Code contributed to increasing the combat effectiveness of Russian troops, which was important for Ivan IV’s active foreign policy.

2.1.6 Church reform

The process of strengthening state power inevitably again raised the question of the position of the church in the state. The royal power, whose sources of income were few and whose expenses were high, looked with envy at the wealth of churches and monasteries.

At a meeting of the young tsar with Metropolitan Macarius in September 1550, an agreement was reached: monasteries were forbidden to found new settlements in the city, and to establish new courtyards in old settlements. Posad people, who fled from taxes to monastic settlements, were also “brought out” back. This was dictated by the needs of the state treasury.

However, such compromise measures did not satisfy the government. In January-February 1551, a church council was convened, at which the royal questions, compiled by Sylvester and imbued with a non-covetous spirit, were read out. The answers to them amounted to one hundred chapters of the verdict of the council, which received the name Stoglavogo, or Stoglav. The tsar and his entourage were worried about whether “it was worthy for monasteries to acquire land and receive various preferential charters.” By decision of the council, royal support to monasteries that had villages and other possessions ceased. Stoglav forbade giving money from the monastery treasury for “growth” and bread for “nasp”, i.e. - at interest, which deprived the monasteries of permanent income.

A number of participants in the Council of the Hundred Heads (Josephites) met the program set out in the royal questions with fierce resistance.

The program of tsarist reforms outlined by the Elected Rada was rejected in the most significant points by the Stoglavy Council. The wrath of Ivan IV the Terrible fell on the most prominent representatives of the Josephites. On May 11, 1551 (i.e., a few days after the end of the council), the purchase of patrimonial lands by monasteries “without reporting” to the tsar was prohibited. All the lands of the boyars, which they had transferred there during Ivan’s childhood (from 1533), were taken away from the monasteries. Thus, control of the royal power was established over the movement of church land funds, although the properties themselves remained in the hands of the church. The church retained its possessions even after 1551.

At the same time, transformations were carried out in the internal life of the church. The previously created pantheon of all-Russian saints was established, and a number of church rituals were unified. Measures were also taken to eradicate the immorality of the clergy.

2.2 Oprichnina

Oprimchnina is a period in the history of Russia (approximately from 1565 to 1572), marked by state terror and a system of emergency measures. Also called “oprichnina” was a part of the state, with special administration, allocated for the maintenance of the royal court and oprichniki (“Gosudareva oprichnina”). Oprichniks were the people who made up the secret police of Ivan the Terrible and directly carried out repression.

In 1565, Grozny announced the introduction of the Oprichnina in the country. The country was divided into two parts: “To the Sovereign's Grace Oprichnin” and the zemstvo. The Oprichnina included mainly the northeastern Russian lands, where there were few patrimonial boyars. The center of Oprichnina became the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda - the new residence of Ivan the Terrible, from where on January 3, 1565, messenger Konstantin Polivanov delivered a letter to the clergy, the Boyar Duma and the people about the Tsar’s abdication of the throne. Although Veselovsky believes that Grozny did not declare his renunciation of power, the prospect of the departure of the sovereign and the onset of a “sovereign time”, when nobles could again force city merchants and artisans to do everything for them for nothing, could not help but excite Moscow townspeople.

The decree on the introduction of the Oprichnina was approved by the highest bodies of spiritual and secular power - the Consecrated Cathedral and the Boyar Duma. There is also an opinion that this decree was confirmed by the decision of the Zemsky Sobor. However, according to other sources, members of the Council of 1566 sharply protested against the oprichnina, submitting a petition for the abolition of the oprichnina for 300 signatures; all the petitioners were immediately put in prison, but quickly released (as R. G. Skrynnikov believes, thanks to the intervention of Metropolitan Philip); 50 were subjected to trade execution, several had their tongues cut out, and three were beheaded.

The beginning of the formation of the oprichnina army can be considered the same year 1565, when a detachment of 1000 people selected from the “oprichnina” districts was formed. Each oprichnik swore an oath of allegiance to the tsar and pledged not to communicate with the zemstvo. Subsequently, the number of “oprichniks” reached 6,000 people. The Oprichnina Army also included detachments of archers from the oprichnina territories. From that time on, service people began to be divided into two categories: boyar children, from the zemshchina, and boyar children, “yard servants and policemen,” that is, those who received the sovereign’s salary directly from the “royal court.” Consequently, the Oprichnina army should be considered not only the Sovereign’s regiment, but also service people recruited from the oprichnina territories and who served under the command of the oprichnina (“yard”) governors and heads.

The introduction of the oprichnina was marked by mass repressions: executions, confiscations, disgraces. In 1566, some of the disgraced were returned, but after the Council of 1566 and demands for the abolition of the oprichnina, the terror resumed. Opposite the Kremlin on Neglinnaya, a stone Oprichnaya courtyard was built, where the Tsar moved from the Kremlin.

In December 1569, suspecting the Novgorod nobility of complicity in the “conspiracy” of Prince Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, who had recently been killed on his orders, and at the same time of the intention to surrender to the Polish king, Ivan, accompanied by a large army of guardsmen, set out on a campaign against Novgorod.

Moving towards Novgorod in the fall of 1569, the guardsmen carried out massacres and robberies in Tver, Klin, Torzhok and other cities they encountered. In the Tver Otrochy Monastery in December 1569, Malyuta Skuratov personally strangled Metropolitan Philip, who refused to bless the campaign against Novgorod. In Novgorod, many citizens, including women and children, were executed using various tortures.

After the campaign, a “search” began for the Novgorod treason, which was carried out throughout 1570, and many prominent guardsmen were also involved in the case. From this case, only a description has been preserved in the Census Book of the Ambassadorial Prikaz: “a pillar, and in it an article list from the detective from the treason case of 1570 on the Novgorod Bishop Pimen and on the Novgorod clerks and clerks, as they and the (Moscow) boyars... wanted Novgorod and Give Pskov to the King of Lithuania. ... and Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich ... with evil intent they wanted to kill Prince Volodimer Ondreevich and put Prince Volodimer Ondreevich in charge of the state ... in that case, from torture, many spoke about that treason against the Novgorod Archbishop Pimen and on his advisers and on themselves, and in that case many were executed by death, various executions , and others were sent to prisons... Yes, there’s a list of what it’s like to be executed by death, and what kind of execution, and what it’s like to be released...”

In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey invaded Rus'. According to V.B. Kobrin, the decayed oprichnina demonstrated complete incapacity for combat: the oprichnina, accustomed to robbing civilians, simply did not show up for the war, so there were only one regiment of them (against five zemstvo regiments). Moscow was burned. As a result, during the new invasion in 1572, the oprichnina army was already united with the zemstvo army; in the same year, the tsar completely abolished the oprichnina and banned its very name, although in fact, under the name of the “sovereign court,” the oprichnina existed until his death.

3. Foreign policy

3.1 Kazan campaigns

By the end of the 15th century, the Kazan Khanate pursued an aggressive policy towards Russia; it closed the Volga trade route to Russian merchants, carried out constant raids, ravaging settlements and taking Russians captive. By the middle of the 16th century, military operations against the Tatars and the struggle for the annexation of the Kazan Khanate to Russia intensified significantly. But two campaigns in the 1550s were unsuccessful.

The government of Ivan IV the Terrible launched serious preparations for a new campaign - a number of reforms were carried out to strengthen the army, and the Russian fortress of Sviyazhsk was built not far from the Khanate. A large and well-armed army was assembled for the campaign. For Ivan the Terrible and his entourage, the Kazan campaign had not only political, but also religious significance - it was a campaign of the Orthodox people against the infidels.

In the summer of 1552, the Russian army led by Ivan the Terrible set out from Moscow and moved to Kazan. It was a strong fortress of that time, surrounded by high wooden walls with fortifications. On both sides the city was protected by inaccessible rivers, with another deep ditch.

In August the siege of Kazan began, which turned out to be long and difficult. Despite the active resistance of the Tatars, Russian troops were superior in numbers and artillery power. They used battle towers, siege weapons, and mine tunnels. And as a result of the explosion, the spring from which Kazan residents took water was destroyed. And soon an epidemic began in the city. The Tatars made forays and tried to attack the Russian troops, but to no avail.

First, Tsar Ivan the Terrible tried to conduct peace negotiations: he invited the Kazan people to rely on the will of the sovereign, then he would forgive them. But they refused. This was the beginning of energetic preparations for the assault - the fortress’s defenses were blown up, walls, bridges and gates were set on fire, and cannons fired incessantly.

On October 2, 1552, the troops of Tsar Ivan the Terrible began an assault on the city. As a result of brutal street fighting, the capital of the Kazan Khanate fell. Not a single one of its defenders remained alive in the city, because the king ordered to kill all armed men and take only women and children captive. The fate of Kazan was decided.

On October 11, the Russian army marched back to Moscow, leaving a garrison in Kazan. As a result of this campaign, the Kazan Khanate was liquidated, and the Middle Volga region annexed to Russia. The prerequisites arose for advancement to the Urals and Siberia and the expansion of trade relations with the countries of the Caucasus and the East.

3.2 Astrakhan campaigns

After conquering the Muslim Kazan Khanate and storming its capital, Tsar Ivan the Terrible decided to subordinate his southern neighbor, a former enemy, to his influence. The conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate would make it possible to achieve control over the entire Volga basin and gain direct access to the Caspian Sea. The reason for the outbreak of hostilities was the capture of Moscow ambassadors in Astrakhan by local Khan Yamgurchey.

In the spring of 1554, an army led by Prince Pronsky set off along the Volga towards Astrakhan. On June 29, 1554, the Russian avant-garde under the command of Prince A. Vyazemsky defeated the lead detachment of Astrakhan near the Black Island (now the Volgograd region). After this, Yamgurchey did not enter into a new battle and, as the Russians approached Astrakhan, fled from the city to the Turkish fortress of Azov. The Russians occupied Astrakhan without a fight. Yamgurchey’s opponent and ally of the Moscow Tsar, Khan Dervish-Ali, reigned there, promising support to Moscow.

However, in 1556, this khan went over to the side of Russia’s long-time enemies, the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, thereby provoking a new Russian campaign against Astrakhan. It was headed by governor N. Cheremisinov. First, the Don Cossacks of Ataman L. Filimonov’s detachment defeated the Khan’s army near Astrakhan, after which Astrakhan was recaptured on July 2 without a fight.

As a result of this campaign, the Astrakhan Khanate was completely subordinated to Muscovite Rus'. After the conquest of Astrakhan, Russian influence spread to the Caucasus. In 1559, the princes of Pyatigorsk and Cherkassy asked Ivan the Terrible to send them a detachment to defend against the raids of the Crimean Tatars and priests to maintain the faith. The Tsar sent them two governors and priests, who renovated the fallen ancient churches, and in Kabarda they showed extensive missionary activity, baptizing many into Orthodoxy.

3.3 Russian-Crimean Wars

The troops of the Crimean Khanate staged regular raids on the southern territories of Muscovite Rus' from the beginning of the 16th century. Their goal was to plunder Russian cities and capture the population. During the reign of Ivan IV, the raids continued.

It is known about the campaigns of the Crimean Khanate in 1536, 1537, undertaken jointly with the Kazan Khanate, with the military support of Turkey and Lithuania. In 1541, the Crimean Khan Sahib I Giray made a campaign that ended in an unsuccessful siege of Zaraysk. His army was stopped at the Oka River by Russian regiments under the command of D. F. Belsky. In June 1552, Khan Devlet I Giray made a campaign to Tula. In 1555, Devlet I Giray repeated the campaign against Muscovite Rus', but, before reaching Tula, he hastily turned back, abandoning all the booty.

The tsar gave in to the demands of the opposition aristocracy to march on the Crimea: “brave and courageous men advised and gave cold weather, so that he (Ivan) himself, with his head, with great troops, would move against the Perekop Khan.”

In 1558, the army of the Moscow-allied Polish prince Dmitry Vishnevetsky defeated the Crimean army near Azov, and in 1559 the Moscow army under the command of D. F. Adashev made a campaign against the Crimea, destroying the large Crimean port of Gezlev (now Evpatoria) and freeing many Russian captives .

After Ivan the Terrible captured the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, Devlet I Giray vowed to return them. In 1563 and 1569, together with Turkish troops, he made two unsuccessful campaigns against Astrakhan.

After this, three more campaigns were carried out in the Moscow lands: 1570 - a devastating raid on Ryazan; and 1571 - the campaign against Moscow - ended with the burning of Moscow. As a result of the April Crimean Tatar raid coordinated with the Polish king, the southern Russian lands were devastated, tens of thousands of people died, more than 150 thousand Russians were taken into slavery; with the exception of the stone Kremlin, all of Moscow was burned. A week before the khan crossed the Oka, due to conflicting intelligence data, John left the army and went deep into the country to gather additional forces; upon news of the invasion, he moved from Serpukhov to Bronnitsy, from there to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, and from the settlement to Rostov, as his predecessors Dmitry Donskoy and Vasily I Dmitrievich did in similar cases.

1572 - the last big campaign of the Crimean Khan during the reign of Ivan IV ended with the destruction of the Crimean-Turkish army. A 120,000-strong Crimean-Turkish horde moved to decisively defeat the Russian state. However, in the Battle of Molodi, the enemy was destroyed by a 60,000-strong Russian army under the leadership of governors M. Vorotynsky and D. Khvorostinin - 5-10 thousand returned to Crimea. The death of a selected Turkish army near Astrakhan in 1569 and the defeat of the Crimean horde near Moscow in 1572 put a limit to Turkish-Tatar expansion in Eastern Europe.

3.4 War with Sweden 1554-1557

The war was caused by the establishment of trade relations between Russia and Britain through the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean, which greatly affected the economic interests of Sweden, which received considerable income from transit Russian-European trade (G. Forsten).

In April 1555, the Swedish flotilla of Admiral Jacob Bagge passed the Neva and landed an army in the area of ​​​​the Oreshek fortress. The siege of the fortress did not bring results; the Swedish army retreated.

In response, Russian troops invaded Swedish territory and on January 20, 1556 defeated a Swedish detachment near the Swedish city of Kivinebb. Then there was a clash at Vyborg, after which this fortress was besieged. The siege lasted 3 days, Vyborg held out.

As a result, in March 1557, a truce was signed in Novgorod for a period of 40 years (came into force on January 1, 1558). The Russian-Swedish border was restored along the old line, defined by the Orekhovsky Peace Treaty of 1323. According to the treaty, Sweden returned all Russian prisoners along with seized property, while Rus' returned Swedish prisoners for ransom.

3.5 Livonian War

The Livonian War became the “work of the whole life” of Ivan IV the Terrible, and K. Marx noted that its goal “was to give Russia access to the Baltic Sea and open communication routes with Europe.”

Livonia, created in the 13th century by the German knights of the sword, was a weak state in the 14th century, essentially divided between the Order, bishops and cities. The Order was headed by him only formally. At the same time, the Order, relying on the support of other states, prevented the establishment of contacts between Russia and Western European countries.

The immediate reason for the start of the Livonian War was the question of the “Yuriev tribute” (Yuriev, later called Dorpat (Tartu), was founded by Yaroslav the Wise). According to the treaty of 1503, an annual tribute had to be paid for it and the surrounding territory, which, however, was not done. In addition, the Order concluded a military alliance with the Lithuanian-Polish king in 1557. In January 1558, Ivan IV moved his troops to Livonia. The beginning of the war brought him victories: Narva and Yuriev were taken.

In the summer and autumn of 1558 and at the beginning of 1559, Russian troops marched throughout Livonia (as far as Revel and Riga) and advanced in Courland to the borders of East Prussia and Lithuania.

The threat of complete defeat forced the Livonians to ask for a truce. In March 1559 it was concluded for a period of six months. The hostilities that began in 1560 brought new defeats to the Order: the large fortresses of Marienburg and Fellin were taken, and the Master of the Order, Fürstenberg, was captured. The result of the company of 1560 was the virtual defeat of the Livonian Order as states. However, his lands came under the rule of Poland, Denmark and Sweden.

Thus, instead of weak Livonia, Russia now had three strong opponents. True, while Sweden and Denmark were at war with each other, Ivan IV led successful actions against Sigismund II Augustus. In February 1563 he took Polotsk. But already at the beginning of the next year, Russian troops suffered a series of defeats (battles on the Ula River and near Orsha). Then Ivan IV tried to restore the Livonian Order, but under the protectorate of Russia, and negotiated with Poland. The terms of peace were announced by the Tsar at the Zemsky Sobor in 1566. They turned out to be unacceptable, and the council spoke out in favor of continuing the war: “It is unsuitable for our sovereign to give up those cities of Livonia, which the king took for protection, but it is better for the sovereign to stand for those cities.” The council's decision also emphasized that abandoning Livonia would harm trade interests.

In 1568-1569 the war became protracted. And in 1569, at the Sejm in Lublin, the unification of Lithuania and Poland took place into a single state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with which in 1570 they managed to conclude a truce for three years. John took advantage of the truce to form a vassal state from Livonia under the auspices of Russia

In 1572, Sigismund-Augustus died, and Ivan put forward his candidacy for the Polish throne, which became electoral, but the French prince Henry of Anjou was elected, and after his departure from Poland - Stefan Batory (1576), who resumed the war, returning all the conquests to Poland. However, back in 1577, Russian troops occupied almost all of Livonia, except for Riga and Revel, which was besieged in 1576-1577. But this year was the last year of Russian success in the Livonian War. In 1579, Sweden resumed hostilities, and Batory returned Polotsk and took Velikiye Luki. In August 1581, Batory's siege of Pskov began. The Pskovites swore “to fight Lithuania to the death for the city of Pskov without any cunning.” They kept their oath, fighting off 31 attacks. After five months of unsuccessful attempts, the Poles were forced to lift the siege of Pskov, who withstood the siege under the command of Prince I.P. Shuisky. The Swedes, who entered into an alliance with Batory, then took Narva, Gapsal, Yam, Koporye and Korela. Ivan the Terrible sent Shevrigin to Rome with a request for mediation from Pope Gregory XIII; The pope sent the Jesuit Anthony Possevin, who arranged peace negotiations that led to a truce. In January 1582, a 10-year truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was concluded in Yama-Zapolsky (near Pskov). Russia renounced Livonia and Belarusian lands, but some border Russian lands were returned to it.

In May 1583, the 3-year Truce of Plyus with Sweden was concluded, according to which Koporye, Yam, Ivangorod and the adjacent territory of the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland were ceded. The Russian state again found itself cut off from the sea.

3.6 England

During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, trade relations were established with England. In 1553, the expedition of the English navigator Richard Chancellor rounded the Kola Peninsula, entered the White Sea and dropped anchor west of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery opposite the village of Nenoksa, where they established that this area was not India, but Muscovy; The next stop of the expedition was near the walls of the monastery. Having received news of the appearance of the British within his country, Ivan IV wished to meet with Chancellor, who, having covered about 1000 km, arrived in Moscow with honors. Soon after this expedition, the Moscow Company was founded in London, which subsequently received monopoly trading rights from Tsar Ivan. In the spring of 1556, the first Russian embassy was sent to England, headed by Osip Nepeya. In 1567, through the plenipotentiary English ambassador Anthony Jenkinson, Ivan the Terrible negotiated a marriage with the English Queen Elizabeth I, and in 1583, through the nobleman Fyodor Pisemsky, he wooed a relative of the queen, Mary Hastings.

Conclusion

In the 16th century, Russia went through a difficult and, in many ways, turning point time. For changing feudal fragmentation autocratic orders came. Their birth was associated with the activities of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

The figure of the Russian Tsar has long attracted the attention of historians and writers. In the eyes of some, he was perhaps the wisest ruler of medieval Russia, in the eyes of others, a suspicious and cruel tyrant, almost crazy, shedding the blood of innocent people.

The personality of Ivan IV is extremely controversial. On the one hand, he was an unbridled medieval despot, on the other, an educated, well-read man and writer. It is known that the king composed music and loved to play chess. Apparently, the appearance of a tyrant king on the Russian throne in the era of the formation of unified national states in Europe can be considered natural. Around the same time, despot kings Henry VIII ruled in England, Louis XI in France, and Philip II in Spain.

The bloody reign of Tsar Ivan left a deep mark in the memory of his contemporaries. The people awarded the “great sovereign” the nickname Grozny. And this nickname surprisingly accurately described the appearance of the first Moscow Tsar.

The transformations carried out by the Elected Rada were of a complex programmatic and structural nature. During this period, certain directions and sequence of reforms were formulated (at the initial stage), they covered the main spheres of society and the state. The positive reforms of the 50s would have continued if they had not encountered resistance from the Russian aristocracy and transformed into an oprichnina. But on the other hand, the reforms of the 50s of the 16th century played a huge positive role in the history of the Russian state.

Bibliography

1. Solovyov S. M. History of Russia since ancient times, volume 6. M., 2001

2. Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. Volume 8. Volume 9. M., 1991

3. Platonov S.F. Complete course of lectures on Russian history. M., 1988

4. Bestuzhev K. N. Russian history. M.: Veche, 2007.

5. V. Balyazina " Interesting story Russia. Mid XVI - end of XVII century." M., 2006

6. V. B. Kobrin. Ivan groznyj. M., 2001

7. Kostomarov N.I. Russian history in the biographies of its main figures. M., 1998

8. Zimin A. A., “Reforms of Ivan the Terrible”, M., 1982.

9. Veselovsky S. B. Research on the history of the oprichnina. - M., 1986.

10. Florya B. N. Ivan the Terrible. M., 1999

11. Skrynnikov R. G. Ivan the Terrible. M., 2002

12. Smirnov I. M. Ivan the Terrible. M., 1984.

13. Zuev M.N., Chernobaev A.A. Russian history. M: Higher School, 2000

Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. Volume 8.; p.98

Solovyov S. M. History of Russia since ancient times, volume 6. - M., 2001; p.154

Solovyov S. M. History of Russia since ancient times, volume 6. - M., 2001; p.158

V. Balyazin “An interesting history of Russia. Mid-16th - end of 17th century"

Smirnov I.M. Ivan the Terrible, - L., 1984.P. 145

OGOU VPO "Smolensky" state institute arts"

Department of Philosophy, Cultural Theory and Sociology

Essay

By national history

Ivan the Terrible as a personality and politician

Completed by a 1st year student

Faculty of Arts

Specialty "Directing in

theatrical performances

and holidays"

Yakovlev A. A.

Senior Lecturer

Zavyalova E.V.

Smolensk 2010

Introduction

§1 Ivan the Terrible

1 Ivan IV the Terrible

2 Years of boyar rule

§2 Reforms of Ivan IV

1 Uprising in Moscow 1547

2 Chosen Rada

3 Code of Law 1550

4 Military reform

5 Stoglavy Cathedral

§3 Foreign policy

1 Foreign policy of Ivan IV

3 Livonian War (1558-1583)

3.1 First stage

3.2 Second stage

3.3 Third stage

§4 Domestic policy of Ivan IV

2 Oprichnina

3 Management of Russia during the oprichnina period

Bibliography

Appendix No. 1

INTRODUCTION

The gloomy figure of Tsar Ivan the Terrible obscures the history of almost the entire Russian Middle Ages. They argued about him during his lifetime, and they still argue about him now - four centuries after his death. Some considered him a maniac who flooded the country with the blood of his unfortunate subjects. Others - a genius ahead of his time. Perhaps only one thing is certain: Russia after Grozny was a completely different country than before it.

The time of the oprichnina, along with the period of the Mongol-Tatar yoke and the first decades of communist rule, seem to me to be the most terrible years in the history of Russia. It was a time when the fear for their lives did not leave the majority of residents of the Russian state for a minute. The main culprit of the oprichnina is considered to be Ivan the Terrible, who, in general, had all the advantages of a good king and in the first years of his reign pursued a rather wise policy. In general, his personality is very contradictory and therefore is of particular interest.

The time of Ivan the Terrible has long attracted the attention of scientists and fiction writers with its dramatic situations and brightness of characters, unusual in Russian history. However, not only time, but also himself. How good a politician he was; what global changes occurred during the years of his reign? And how did they affect the history of modern countries that were previously the lands of Rus'?

Having studied a number of these and other important issues, it will help at this stage to see and understand how much this changed the course of further events in history. And accordingly it was reflected in our time. You can talk a lot about it and argue endlessly, but the facts remain facts, and based on what is given below, you can find out the pros and cons, the essence of that life and the influence on modernity and contemporaries.

§1 IVAN THE TERRIBLE

1 Ivan IV the Terrible (1533-1584)

formidable reform oprichnina

At the age of three he was left without a father (Vasily III). His mother Elena Glinskaya ruled for him, but she also died when her son was 8 years old.

This is how he was remembered by his contemporaries, who left us his contradictory portrait, beautiful and terrible at the same time: “Tsar Ivan had an absurd image, had sulfur eyes, a long nose and a gag (curved), was great in age (i.e., in height) , his body was dry, his shoulders were high, his chest was wide, his muscles were thick. A man of wonderful reasoning (a wonderful mind), in the science of book teaching he is content and very eloquent, he is daring towards the militia and stands up for his fatherland. He is hard-hearted against his servants, given to him by God, and is bold and implacable in shedding blood and killing; He destroyed many people, young and old, during his kingdom, and captured many of his cities, and imprisoned many holy (church) ranks and destroyed them with an unmerciful death... The same Tsar Ivan did a lot of good, he loved the army of the great people and generously gave what he required from his treasure . Such was Tsar Ivan.”1 See Appendix No. 2 In addition, we can also add that he had an extensive memory and showed great activity; he considered all requests; anyone could turn directly to him with complaints about the regional rulers.

The tragedy of the historical moment was that the will of an intelligent, energetic, but unbridled sovereign came into conflict with the will of an entire class, moreover, the most powerful in Russian society. This struggle caused irreparable damage to the state.

1.2 Years of boyar rule

After the death of Vasily III in 1533, his three-year-old son Ivan IV ascended the grand-ducal throne. In fact, the state was ruled by his mother Elena Glinskaya. Both during the reign of Elena and after her death, the struggle for power between the boyar groups of the Belskys, Shuiskys, and Glinskys did not stop. The future autocrat was brought up in an environment of constant civil strife, palace intrigues, and saw scenes of reprisals, which made him a suspicious, cruel, unbridled and despotic person. Everyone to whom young John became attached was exiled or tortured. A sensitive and impressionable boy, he deeply harbored within himself feelings of anger and revenge, which stirred early in his soul and hardened his heart.

Boyar rule led to the weakening of central power, and the arbitrariness of the patrimonial owners caused widespread discontent and open protests in a number of Russian cities.

In January 1547, Ivan IV, having reached adulthood, was officially crowned king. The ceremony of accepting the royal title took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. From the hands of the Moscow Metropolitan Macarius, who developed the ritual of crowning the king, Ivan IV accepted Manomakh's cap and other signs of royal power. From now on, the Grand Duke of Moscow began to be called Tsar. Ivan IV became the first Tsar of the Russian state. In the same year he married Anastasia Romanova.

§2 REFORM OF IVAN IV

Despite coming to power, the tsar continued to lead a disorderly, riotous life, leaving the management of affairs to the Glinskys, who continued to commit all sorts of lies and violence personally or through their governors. The people grumbled, but did not dare express their discontent.

1 Uprising in Moscow 1547

In June 1547, a strong fire broke out on the Arbat in Moscow. The fire raged for two days, the city was almost completely burned out. About 4 thousand Muscovites died in the fire. Rumors spread that the fire was the work of the Glinskys, with whose name the people associated the years of boyar rule.

A meeting gathered in the Kremlin on the square near the Assumption Cathedral. One of the Glinskys was torn to pieces by the rebel people. The yards of their supporters and relatives were burned and looted. With great difficulty the government managed to suppress the uprising.

The fire and popular unrest made a grave impression on the young king. Strong characters also require strong shocks for their correction. He became pious, serious, and tireless in his pursuit of public affairs.

2 Chosen Rada

Around 1549, a council of people close to him, called the Chosen Rada, formed around the young Ivan VI. It was headed by A.F. Adashev, who came from a rich, but not very noble family. It included the Tsar’s confessor Sylvester, princes A. Kurbsky,
D. Kurlyatev, M. Vorotynsky, Metropolitan Macarius and others. The elected council existed until 1560; she carried out transformations called reforms of the mid-16th century.

A new authority arose - the Zemsky Sobor. Zemsky Sobors met irregularly and dealt with the most important state affairs, primarily issues of foreign policy and finance. They included the Boyar Duma, the Consecrated Cathedral - representatives of the highest clergy. Representatives of the nobility and the top of the settlement were also present at the meetings of the Zemsky Sobors. The first Zemsky Sobor was convened in 1549. He decided to draw up a new Code of Law (approved in 1550) and outlined a program of reforms.

3 Code of Law 1550

In 1550 a new, improved Code of Laws was put into effect. Taking the Code of Law of Ivan III as a basis, the compilers of the new Code of Law made changes to it related to the strengthening of central power. It confirmed the right of peasants to move on St. George’s Day and increased the payment for the “elderly”. The feudal lord was now responsible for the crimes of the peasants, which increased their personal dependence on the master. For the first time, penalties were introduced for bribery of government officials. A system of orders—government bodies by industry—has emerged. Feeding (payment of the population to the governor) was abolished, taxes were streamlined, a large plow (400 - 600 hectares of land) became a single unit for collecting taxes, and a tax tax was introduced (monetary and in-kind duties in favor of the state).

4 Military reform

The core of the army was the noble militia. Near Moscow, the “chosen thousand” were planted on the ground - 1070 provincial nobles, who, according to the tsar’s plan, were to become his support. For the first time, the “Code of Service” was drawn up. A votchinnik or landowner could begin service at the age of 15 and pass it on by inheritance. From 150 dessiatines of land, both the boyar and the nobleman had to present one warrior and appear at the reviews “on horseback, with people and with weapons.”

In 1550, a permanent streltsy army was created. At first, the archers recruited three thousand people. In addition, foreigners began to be recruited into the army, the number of whom was insignificant. Artillery was reinforced. The Cossacks were recruited to perform border service.

5 Stoglavy Cathedral

In 1551, John convened a spiritual council, which discussed measures to eliminate church unrest and improve public morality. The cathedral was named Stoglav, and it approved “Stoglav” - a set of canonical (church) laws. The Council approved the adoption of the Code of Law of 1550 and the reforms of Ivan IV.

Reforms of the 50s of the 16th century. contributed to the strengthening of the Russian centralized many nation state. They strengthened the power of the king, led to the reorganization of local and central government, and strengthened the military power of the country.

§3 FOREIGN POLICY

1 Foreign policy of Ivan IV

The main objectives of Russian foreign policy in the 16th century. were: in the west - the struggle for access to the Baltic Sea, in the southeast and east - the struggle with the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and the beginning of the development of Siberia, in the south - the defense of the country from the raids of the Crimean Khan.

2 Conquest and development of new lands

In 1552, Kazan was taken by storm, and the Kazan Khanate fell. In 1556, tsarist troops entered Astrakhan. The entire Volga entered the Russian state, and access to the Caspian Sea was obtained. Many peoples of the Volga region were annexed to Russia. So new fertile lands and the entire Volga trade route became part of Russia. Russia's ties with peoples expanded North Caucasus and Central Asia.

In the 16th century The development of the territory of the Wild Field (fertile lands south of Tula) began. The Russian state was faced with the task of strengthening its southern borders from the raids of the Crimean Khan. For this purpose, Tula (in the middle of the 16th century), and later Belgorod (in the 30-40s of the 17th century) notched features were built - defensive lines consisting of forest rubble (notches), in the intervals between which wooden fortresses were placed (fortresses), which closed the passages in the abatis for the Tatar cavalry.

In 1581, a detachment of Cossacks led by Ermak, sent by the Stroganov merchants, entered the Siberian Khanate, and the conquest of Siberia began.

3.3 Livonian War (1558-1583)

Trying to reach the Baltic coast, Ivan IV fought the grueling Livonian War for 25 years.

3.1 First stage

Russia's state interests required the establishment of close ties with Western Europe, which were then most easily achieved through the seas, as well as ensuring the defense of Russia's western borders, where its enemy was the Livonian Order. If successful, the opportunity to acquire new economically developed lands opened up.

The reason for the war was the delay by the Livonian Order of 123 Western specialists invited to Russian service, as well as the failure of Livonia to pay tribute for the city of Dorpat (Yuryev) and the adjacent territory over the past 50 years.

The beginning of the Livonian War was accompanied by victories of Russian troops, who took Narva and Yuriev (Dorpat). A total of 20 cities were taken. Russian troops advanced towards Riga and Revel (Tallinn). In 1560, the Livonian Order was defeated, and its master W. Furstenberg was captured. This entailed the collapse of the Livonian Order (1561), whose lands came under the rule of Poland, Denmark and Sweden. The new Master of the Order, G. Ketler, received Courland and Semigallia as possession and recognized dependence on the Polish king. The last major success at the first stage of the war was the capture of Polotsk in 1563.

In 1565-1566, Lithuania was ready to give Russia all the lands it had conquered and conclude an honorable peace for Russia. This did not suit Ivan the Terrible: he wanted more.

3.3.2 Second stage

The second stage (1561 - 1578) coincided with the oprichnina. Russia, opposed by Lithuania, Poland and Sweden, had to go on the defensive. In 1569, Lithuania and Poland united to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The new ruler of Lithuania and Poland, Stefan Batory, went on the offensive and recaptured Polotsk (in 1579), captured Velikiye Luki (in 1580), and besieged Pskov (in 1581). A truce was concluded as the war with Sweden began.

3.3 Third stage

In the third stage, from 1578, Russia had to fight with the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stefan Batory, who besieged Pskov, and continue the war with Sweden. Pskov defended itself desperately, which allowed Ivan the Terrible to begin peace negotiations and in 1582 conclude a ten-year truce with Stefan Batory. Under the terms of the truce, Russia gave up everything it had conquered in Livonia and Lithuania. In 1583, peace was concluded with Sweden, which received the Russian cities of Narva, Yama, Koporye, Ivan-Gorod and others.

Russia was unable to break through to the Baltic Sea. This problem was solved by Peter I in the Northern War (1700-1721).

The failure of the Livonian War was ultimately a consequence of Russia's economic backwardness, which was unable to successfully withstand a long struggle against strong opponents. The ruin of the country during the oprichnina years only made matters worse.

§4 INTERNAL POLITICS OF IVAN IV

1 Government authorities in Russia in the middle of the 16th century.

The war became protracted, and several European powers were drawn into it. The contradictions within the Russian boyars, who were interested in strengthening the southern Russian borders, intensified, and dissatisfaction with the continuation of the Livonian War grew. Figures from the tsar’s inner circle, A. Adashev and Sylvester, also showed hesitation, considering the war futile. Even earlier, in 1553, when Ivan IV became dangerously ill, many boyars refused to swear allegiance to his little son Dmitry. The death of his first and beloved wife Anastasia Romanova in 1560 was a shock for the tsar.

All this led to the cessation of the activities of the Elected Rada in 1560. Ivan IV took a course towards strengthening his personal power. In 1564, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, who had previously commanded the Russian troops, went over to the side of the Poles. Ivan IV, fighting against the rebellions and betrayals of the boyar nobility, saw them as the main reason for the failures of his policies. He firmly stood on the position of the need for strong autocratic power, the main obstacle to the establishment of which, in his opinion, was the boyar-princely opposition and boyar privileges. The question was what methods would be used to fight.

In these difficult circumstances for the country, Ivan IV introduced the oprichnina (1565-1572).

2 Oprichnina

In January 1565, from the royal residence of the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, through the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, the tsar left for Alexandrovskaya Sloboda (now the city of Alexandrov Vladimir region). From there he addressed the capital with two messages. In the first, sent to the clergy and the Boyar Duma, Ivan IV reported the renunciation of power due to the betrayal of the boyars and asked to be allocated a special inheritance - oprichnina (from the word “oprich” - in addition, in the old days this was the name of additional land granted to the grand duchesses). In the second message, addressed to the townspeople of the capital, the tsar reported on the decision made and added that he had no complaints about the townspeople.

It was a well-calculated political maneuver. Using the people's faith in the tsar, Ivan the Terrible expected that he would be called to return to the throne. When this happened, the tsar dictated his conditions: the right to unlimited autocratic power and the establishment of the oprichnina. The country was divided into two parts: the oprichnina and the zemshchina. In the oprichnina, Ivan IV included the most important lands. It included Pomeranian cities, cities with large settlements and strategically important ones, as well as the most economically developed areas of the country. The nobles who were part of the oprichnina army settled on these lands. Its composition was initially determined to be one thousand people. The population of the zemshchina had to support this army. The oprichnina, in parallel with the zemshchina, developed its own system of governing bodies.

4.3 Management of Russia during the oprichnina period

see Appendix No. 1

Oprichnina is a system of measures of a terrorist military dictatorship to defeat the enemies of the tsar, strengthen autocracy, and further enslave the people.

It cannot be considered that the oprichnina was directed entirely against the willfulness of the boyars. It did not change the nature of feudal land tenure, nor did it eliminate the remnants of the appanage system. If the Elected Rada followed the path of gradual reforms necessary for the country, then the oprichnina is an attempt at accelerated centralization, the establishment of the most brutal despotism, autocratic order.

In an effort to destroy the separatism of the feudal nobility, Ivan IV did not stop at any cruelty. Oprichnina terror, executions, exiles began. In Tver, Malyuta Skuratov strangled Moscow Metropolitan Philip (Fedor Kolychev), who condemned the oprichnina lawlessness. In Moscow, Prince Vladimir Staritsky, who was summoned there, was poisoned, cousin the king who claimed the throne, his wife and daughter. His mother, Princess Evdokia Staritskaya, was also killed. The center and north-west of the Russian lands, where the boyars were especially strong, were subjected to the most severe defeat. In December 1569, Ivan undertook a campaign to Novgorod, whose inhabitants allegedly wanted to come under the rule of Lithuania. On the way, Klin, Tver, and Torzhok were destroyed. Particularly cruel executions (about 200 people) took place in Moscow on June 25, 1570. In Novgorod itself, the pogrom lasted six weeks. Thousands of its inhabitants died a cruel death, houses and churches were plundered.

However, an attempt to resolve contradictions in the country with brute force (executions and repression) could only give a temporary effect. It did not completely destroy boyar-princely land ownership, although it greatly weakened its power; was blown up political role boyar aristocracy. The wild tyranny and death of many innocent people who became victims of oprichnina terror still evoke horror and shudder. The oprichnina led to an even greater aggravation of contradictions within the country, worsened the position of the peasantry and largely contributed to its consolidation.

In 1571, the oprichnina army was unable to repel a raid on Moscow by the Crimean Tatars, who burned the Moscow settlement - this revealed the inability of the oprichnina army to successfully fight external enemies. True, the following year, 1572, not far from Podolsk (the village of Molodi), 50 km from Moscow, the Crimeans suffered a crushing defeat from the Russian army, led by the experienced commander M.I. Vorotynsky. However, the tsar abolished the oprichnina, which in 1572 was transformed into the “Sovereign Court”.

Oprichnina weakened the country politically and economically. A number of historians believe that an alternative to the oprichnina could be structural transformations similar to the reforms of the Chosen Rada. This would allow, according to experts who share this point of view, instead of the unlimited autocracy of Ivan IV, to have an estate-representative monarchy with a “human face.”

During the reign of Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible), the Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian khanates were conquered, and the raids of the Crimean hordes on Moscow were stopped. During his many-year reign, Ivan IV sought to create an autocratic government, a centralized power, introduced a legal code (Code), the Streltsy army, and significantly expanded the territory of Russia.

At the same time, the tsar led the country to economic ruin, political destabilization, and weakening positions in foreign policy.

There is an eternal dispute: “who was the Terrible - a hero or an executioner.” Oprichnina, senseless executions of prominent people, tyranny and arbitrariness do not go unnoticed by historians. The Livonian War, which lasted 25 years and cost Russia countless victims, was unsuccessful.

The reign of Ivan the Terrible largely predetermined the course of the further history of our country - the “rust” of the 70-80s of the 16th century, the establishment of serfdom on a state scale and that complex knot of contradictions at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, which contemporaries called “troubles”.

But, despite the “character of despotism” often characteristic of that era, every truly Russian person with feelings of gratitude and respect should remember the first dynasty, with which the Russian people, in the eyes of history, experienced more than six centuries of its existence, filled with and great deeds and great disasters; during whose reign it developed into a powerful nation, acquired a vast territory and took its rightful place among other historical peoples of Europe and the whole world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Valkova V.G., Valkov O.A. “Rulers of Russia”, Moscow, 1999.

Pushkarev S.G. “Review of Russian History”, St. Petersburg, 1999, Lan Publishing House.

Florya B.N. “Ivan the Terrible”, Moscow, 1999, Publishing House “Young Guard”.

Foizullin B. “Illustrated history of Russia”, St. Petersburg, 1994.

Yakover L.B. “Manual on the History of the Fatherland”, Moscow, 1998, Creative Center “Sphere”.

Material from Wikipedia - I. Grozny // #"justify">Appendix No. 1

Lines of comparisonOprichninaZemshchinaTerritoryCentre of Russia, Stroganov lands in the Urals, Primorye, part of MoscowAll lands outside the oprichninaCenterAlexandrovskaya SlobodaMoscowRulerGrand Duke of Moscow (Ivanets Vasiliev)Sovereign of All Rus' (Simeon Bekbulatovich)AdministrationOprichnina Duma Oprichnina orders Oprichnina treasuryZemskaya boyarskaya Duma Zemstvo orders Zemstvo treasuryMilitary forces Oprichnina armyZemstvo army

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In 1533, Vasily 3 died, passing the throne to his eldest son Ivan. Ivan Vasilyevich was 3 years old at that time. Until he came of age, he could not rule on his own, so the first years of his reign are characterized by the power of his mother (Elena Glinskaya) and the boyars.

Regency of Elena Glinskaya (1533-1538)

Elena Glinskaya was 25 years old in 1533. To govern the country, Vasily 3 left a boyar council, but actual power ended up in the hands of Elena Glinskaya, who mercilessly fought against everyone who could lay claim to power. Her favorite, Prince Ovchina-Obolensky, carried out reprisals against some of the boyars of the council, and the rest no longer resisted Glinskaya’s will.

Realizing that a three-year-old child on the throne is not what the country needs, and that the reign of her son Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible could be interrupted without actually beginning, Elena decided to eliminate the brothers of Vasily 3 so that there would be no contenders for the throne. Yuri Dmitrovsky was arrested and killed in prison. Andrei Staritsky was accused of treason and executed.

The reign of Elena Glinskaya, as regent of Ivan 4, was quite productive. The country has not lost its power and influence in the international arena, and important reforms have been carried out within the country. In 1535 it happened currency reform, according to which only the king could mint coins. There were 3 types of money at face value:

• Kopek (it depicted a horseman with a spear, hence the name).
• Money equaled 0.5 kopecks.
• Polushka was equal to 0.25 kopecks.

In 1538, Elena Glinskaya dies. Assume. That it was a natural death is naive. A young and healthy woman dies at 30! Apparently, she was poisoned by boyars who wanted power. Most historians studying the era of Ivan the Terrible agree on this opinion.

Boyar rule (1538-1547)

At the age of 8, Prince Ivan Vasilyevich was left an orphan. Since 1538, Rus' came under the rule of the boyars, who acted as guardians of the young king. Here it is important to understand that the boyars were interested in personal gain, and not the country and not the young king. In 1835-1547 this was a time of brutal massacre for the throne, where the main warring parties were 3 clans: Shuisky, Belsky, Glinsky. The struggle for power was bloody, and all this happened before the eyes of a child. At the same time, there was a complete decomposition of the foundations of statehood and an insane devouring of the budget: the boyars, having received full power into their own hands, and realizing that this would last for 1013 years, began to line their pockets as best they could. Two sayings can best demonstrate what was happening in Rus' at that time: “The treasury is not a wretched widow, you can’t rob her” and “A pocket is dry, so a judge is deaf.”

Ivan 4 was strongly impressed by the elements of boyar cruelty and permissiveness, as well as a sense of his own weakness and limited power. Of course, when the young king received the throne, there was a 180-degree turn in consciousness, and then he tried to prove everything that it was he main man in the country.

Education of Ivan the Terrible

The following factors influenced the upbringing of Ivan the Terrible:

• Early loss of parents. There were also practically no close relatives. Therefore, there really were no people who would strive to give the child the right upbringing.
• The power of the boyars. From his earliest years, Ivan Vasilyevich saw the strength of the boyars, saw their antics, rudeness, drunkenness, struggle for power, and so on. Everything that a child cannot see, he not only saw, but also took part in it.
• Church literature. The archbishop and later metropolitan, Macarius, had a great influence on the future king. Thanks to this man, Ivan 4 studied church literature, fascinated by aspects about the completeness of royal power.

In Ivan's upbringing, the contradictions between word and deed played a big role. For example, all the books and speeches of Macarius spoke about the completeness of royal power, about its divine origin, but in reality, every day the child had to deal with the tyranny of the boyars, who did not even feed him dinner every evening. Or another example. Ivan 4, as a virgin tsar, was always taken to meetings, meetings with ambassadors and other state affairs. There he was treated like a king. The child was seated on the throne, everyone bowed at his feet, talking about admiration for his power. But everything changed as soon as the official part ended and the king returned to his chambers. There were no longer bows, but the harshness of the boyars, their rudeness, sometimes even insulting a child. And such contradictions were everywhere. When a child grows up in an atmosphere where one thing is said and another is done, it breaks all patterns and affects the psyche. This is what ultimately happened, because in such an atmosphere, how can an orphan know what is good and what is bad?

Ivan loved to read and by the age of 10 he could quote many passages from it. He took part in church services, sometimes even participating in them as a singer. He played chess quite well, composed music, knew how to write beautifully, and often used folk sayings in his speech. That is, the child was absolutely talented, and with parental education and love could become a full-fledged personality. But in the absence of the latter, and with constant contradictions, the other side began to appear in it. Historians write that at the age of 12, the king threw cats and dogs from the roofs of the towers. At the age of 13, Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible ordered dogs to tear apart Andrei Shuisky, who, drunk and in dirty clothes, lay on the bed of the late Vasily 3.

Independent rule

Royal wedding

January 16, 1547 began independent rule Ivan the Terrible. The 17-year-old youth was crowned king by Metropolitan Macarius. For the first time, the Grand Duke of Rus' was named Tsar. Therefore, we can say without exaggeration that Ivan 4 is the first Russian Tsar. The coronation took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The Monomakh cap was placed on the head of Ivan 4 Vasilyevich. Monomakh's hat and the title "Tsar" Russia becomes the successor Byzantine Empire, and the king thereby rose above the rest of his subjects, including the governors. The population perceived the new title as a symbol of unlimited power, since not only the rulers of Byzantium, but also the rulers of the Golden Horde were called kings.

The official title of Ivan the Terrible after the coronation is Tsar and Grand Duke of All Rus'.

Immediately after the start of independent rule, the king got married. On February 3, 1947, Ivan the Terrible took Anastasia Zakharyina (Romanova) as his wife. This is an important event, since the Romanovs will soon form a new ruling dynasty, and the basis for this will be Anastasia’s marriage to Ivan on February 3.

The autocrat's first shock

Having received power, without a regency council, Ivan 4 decided that this was the end of his torment, and now he is truly the main person in the country with absolute power over others. The reality was different, and the young man soon realized this. The summer of 1547 turned out to be dry, and on June 21 the strong storm. One of the churches caught fire and, due to strong winds, the fire quickly spread throughout wooden Moscow. The fires continued from June 21-29.

As a result, 80 thousand of the capital's population were left homeless. Popular indignation was directed at the Glinskys, who were accused of witchcraft and starting a fire. When a maddened crowd rose up in Moscow in 1547 and came to the Tsar in the village of Vorobyovo, where the Tsar and the Metropolitan were taking refuge from the fires, Ivan the Terrible for the first time saw the uprising and the strength of the maddened crowd.

Fear came into my soul and trembling into my bones, and my spirit was humbled.

Ivan 4 Vasilievich

Once again, a contradiction occurred - the king was confident in the limitlessness of his power, but he saw the power of nature that caused the fire, the power of the people who rebelled.

State management system

The governance system of Russia under the reign of Ivan the Terrible should be divided into 2 stages:

• The period after the reforms of the Elected Rada.
• Oprichnina period.

After the reforms, the management system can be graphically depicted as follows.

During the Oprichnina period the system was different.

A unique precedent was created when the state had two control systems at the same time. At the same time, Ivan 4 retained the title of tsar in each of these branches of government of the country.

Domestic policy

The reign of Ivan the Terrible, in terms of internal governance of the country, is divided into the stage of reforms of the Elected Rada and the oprichnina. Moreover, these systems of governing the country were radically different from each other. The entire work of the Rada boiled down to the fact that power should be with the tsar, but in its implementation he should rely on the boyars. Oprichnina concentrated all power in the hands of the tsar and his system of government, and relegated the boyars to the background.

During the time of Ivan the Terrible, great changes occurred in Russia. The following areas were reformed:

• Ordering the law. Code of Laws of 1550 was adopted.
• Local control. The feeding system was finally abolished, when local boyars lined their pockets rather than solve the problems of the region. As a result, the local nobility gained more power into their own hands, and Moscow gained a more successful tax collection system.
• Central management. A system of “Orders” was implemented, which streamlined power. In total, more than 10 orders were created that covered all areas of the state’s internal policy.
• Army. A regular army was created, the basis of which was archers, gunners and Cossacks.

The desire to strengthen his power, as well as failures in the Livonian War, led to Ivan the Terrible creating the Oprichnina (1565-1572). We can further familiarize ourselves with this topic on our website, but for a general understanding it is important to note that as a result of this, the state actually went bankrupt. An increase in taxes and the development of Siberia began, as steps that could attract additional money to the treasury.

Foreign policy

By the beginning of the independent reign of Ivan 4, Russia had significantly lost its political status, since 11 years of boyar rule, when they cared not about the country, but about their own wallet, had an effect. The table below shows the main directions of Ivan the Terrible’s foreign policy and the key tasks in each direction.

East direction

Here maximum success was achieved, although everything did not start out in the best way. In 1547 and 1549, military campaigns against Kazan were organized. Both of these campaigns ended unsuccessfully. But in 1552 the city managed to take it. In 1556, the Astrakhan Khanate was annexed, and in 1581 Ermak’s campaign to Siberia began.

South direction

Campaigns were undertaken to the Crimea, but they were unsuccessful. The largest campaign took place in 1559. Proof that the campaigns were unsuccessful, in 1771 and 1572 the Crimean Khanate carried out raids on the young territories of Russia.

Western direction

To solve problems on the western borders of Russia in 1558, Ivan the Terrible begins the Livonian War. Until a certain time, it seemed that they could end in success, but the first local failures in the war broke the Russian Tsar. Blaming everyone around for the defeats, he started the Oprichnina, which actually ruined the country and made it incapable of fighting. As a result of the war:

• In 1582, peace was signed with Poland. Russia lost Livonia and Polotsk.
• In 1583, peace was signed with Sweden. Russia lost the cities: Narva, Yam, Ivangorod and Koporye.

Results of the reign of Ivan 4

The results of the reign of Ivan the Terrible can be characterized as contradictory. On the one hand, there are undeniable signs of greatness - Russia has expanded to enormous proportions, gaining access to the Baltic and Caspian seas. On the other hand, economically the country was in a depressing situation, and this despite the annexation of new territories.

Map

Map of Russia towards the end of the 16th century

Comparison of Ivan 4 and Peter 1

Russian history is amazing - Ivan the Terrible is portrayed as a tyrant, usurper and simply a sick person, and Peter 1 is portrayed as a great reformer, the founder of “modern Russia”. In fact, these two rulers are very similar to each other.

Upbringing . Ivan the Terrible lost his parents early, and his upbringing went on its own - he did whatever he wanted. Peter 1 - did not like to study, but loved to study the army. They didn’t touch the child - he did whatever he wanted.

Boyars. Both rulers grew up during a period of fierce boyar squabbling for the throne, when a lot of blood was shed. Hence the hatred of both for the nobility, and hence the approach of people without a family!

Habits. Today they are trying to denigrate Ivan 4, saying that he was almost an alcoholic, but the truth is that this fully suits Peter. Let me remind you that it was Peter who created the “most jocular and most drunken cathedral.”

Murder of a son. Ivan is accused of murdering his son (although it has already been proven that there was no murder and his son was poisoned), but Peter 1 also imposed a death sentence on his son. Moreover, he tortured him and Alexei died from torture in prison.

Expansion of territories. During the reign of both, Russia expanded significantly territorially.

Economy . Both rulers brought the country to complete decline, when the economy was in a terrible state. By the way, both rulers loved taxes and actively used them to fill the budget.

Atrocities. Everything is clear with Ivan the Terrible - a tyrant and murderer - that’s what official history calls him, accusing the tsar of atrocities against ordinary citizens. But Peter 1 was of a similar nature - he beat people with sticks, personally tortured and killed archers for rebellion. Suffice it to say that during the reign of Peter the population of Russia decreased by more than 20%. And this takes into account the seizure of new territories.

There are a lot of similarities between these two people. Therefore, if you praise one and demonize the other, perhaps it makes sense to reconsider your views on history.

Ivan IV Vasilievich , nicknamed Grozny , by direct name Titus and Smaragd, tonsured - Jonah

Sovereign, Grand Duke of Moscow and first Tsar of All Rus'

short biography

The nickname of John IV Vasilyevich, Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus' (since 1533), the first Russian Tsar, who ruled from 1547 for 50 years 105 days - among all those who have ever headed the Russian state, this is a record. Ivan the Terrible was the son of the Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus' Vasily III, a descendant of the Rurik dynasty. His mother, Princess Elena Glinskaya, belonged to the most ancient family, originating from Mamai.

Ivan Vasilyevich was born near Moscow, in the village. Kolomenskoye on August 25, 1530. He became a ruler, however, so far only a nominal one, at the age of three and was under the supervision of a special guardian boyar commission created by his father, who foresaw his imminent death. However, the state was under the power of this council for less than a year, after which numerous upheavals occurred.

In 1545, fifteen-year-old Ivan, who had become an adult by the standards of that time, became a full-fledged ruler. The solemn ceremony of his coronation took place on January 16, 1547 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The 16-year-old sovereign himself initiated this ritual, but many historians believe that he made this decision not without the influence of others. In 1560, the tsar abolished the Chosen Rada and began to rule exclusively independently.

The long years of Ivan the Terrible's reign were marked by a large number of various reforms and changes in the life of the state. For example, under him, zemstvo councils began to be created, a system of orders was formed, and the oprichnina was formed. The king fought his enemies, sometimes imaginary, with the most severe and merciless methods. He imposed a temporary ban on the traditional transfer of serfs to new owners on St. George's Day.

In the field of foreign policy, the reign of Ivan the Terrible was marked by a large number of wars that went on almost without interruption. If at first the sovereign was lucky (in 1552 the Kazan Khanate was conquered, in 1556 - the Astrakhan Khanate), then the 25th Livonian War ended with huge losses for Russia. At the same time, Ivan the Terrible did a lot to develop trade and political relations with other states, in particular with England, Holland, the Bukhara Khanate, etc.

Ivan the Terrible has remained for centuries not only as a ruler, but also as a unique, controversial personality. From the position of that time, the king was an educated man. The well-known letters to Kurbsky speak of his outstanding literary abilities. It is possible that some literary monuments of that time, in particular, chronicle collections, “Sovereign Discharge”, etc., were compiled not without the influence of the tsar. It is known that he did a lot for book printing, contributed to the development of architecture, initiating the construction of a number of buildings, in particular, St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.

The energy, determination, and foresight of the sovereign coexisted in his nature with doubts and spontaneous actions. The king had sadistic tendencies and a mania for persecution; his tough temper and fits of anger went down in history; one of these outbursts ended in 1582 with the murder of his own son. Shortly before his death, he accepted monasticism.

The biography of Ivan the Terrible came to an end on March 18, 1584. The Moscow Archangel Cathedral became his burial place. After the death of the sovereign, there was a lot of talk about the fact that she was violent. At the same time, it is known that in his mature years he was no different excellent health and looked much older than his years. 6 years before the death of the king, his spine was in such poor condition that the sovereign was moved on a stretcher. It is not possible to reliably confirm or refute rumors of a murder; the death of Ivan the Terrible remains shrouded in mystery.

Biography from Wikipedia

Ivan IV Vasilievich, nicknamed the Terrible, also had the names Titus and Smaragd, tonsured - Jonah (August 25, 1530, the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow - March 18 (28), 1584, Moscow) - sovereign, Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus' since 1533, the first king of all Rus' (since 1547; except 1575-1576, when Simeon Bekbulatovich was nominally the “Grand Duke of All Rus'”).

The eldest son of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya. Nominally, Ivan became ruler at the age of 3. After the uprising in Moscow in 1547, he ruled with the participation of a circle of close associates - the “Chosen Rada”. Under him, the convening of Zemsky Sobors began, and the Code of Laws of 1550 was compiled. Reforms of the military service, judicial system and public administration were carried out, including the introduction of elements of self-government at the local level (provincial, zemstvo and other reforms). The Kazan and Astrakhan khanates were conquered, Western Siberia, the Don Army Region, Bashkiria, and the lands of the Nogai Horde were annexed. Thus, under Ivan IV, the increase in the territory of the Russian state was almost 100%, from 2.8 million km² to 5.4 million km²; by the end of his reign, Russia had become larger than the rest of Europe.

In 1560, the Elected Rada was abolished, its main figures fell into disgrace, and the Tsar’s completely independent reign in Russia began. The second half of the reign of Ivan the Terrible was marked by a streak of failures in the Livonian War and the establishment of the oprichnina, during which the country was devastated and the old clan aristocracy was dealt a blow and the positions of the local nobility were strengthened. Formally, Ivan IV ruled longer than any ruler who has ever headed the Russian state - 50 years and 105 days.

early years

On his father's side, Ivan came from the Moscow branch of the Rurik dynasty, on his mother's side - from Mamai, who was considered the ancestor of the Lithuanian princes Glinsky. Paternal grandmother, Sophia Palaeologus, is from the family of Byzantine emperors. Maternal grandmother Anna Jaksic is the daughter of the Serbian governor Stefan Jaksic. Ivan became the first son of Grand Duke Vasily III from his second wife, after many years of childlessness. Born on August 25, he received the name Ivan in honor of St. John the Baptist, the day of the Beheading of whose head falls on August 29. He was baptized in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery by Abbot Joasaph (Skripitsyn); Two elders of the Joseph-Volotsk monastery were elected as successors - monk Cassian Bosoy and abbot Daniel.

Childhood of the Grand Duke

Tradition says that in honor of the birth of John, the Church of the Ascension was founded in Kolomenskoye. According to the right of succession to the throne established in Rus', the grand-ducal throne passed to the eldest son of the monarch, but Ivan (“direct name” by birthday - Titus) was only three years old when his father, Grand Duke Vasily III, became seriously ill. The closest contenders to the throne, except for the young Ivan , were Vasily’s younger brothers. Of the six sons of Ivan III, two remained - Prince Staritsky Andrei and Prince Dmitrovsky Yuri.

Anticipating his imminent death, Vasily III formed a “seven-strong” boyar commission to govern the state (it was to the guardian council under the young Grand Duke that the name “Seven Boyars” was first applied, more often in modern times associated exclusively with the oligarchic boyar government of the Time of Troubles in the period after the overthrow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky). The guardians were supposed to take care of Ivan until he reached the age of 15. The guardianship council included his uncle, Prince Andrei Staritsky (younger brother of his father - Vasily III), M. L. Glinsky (uncle of his mother - Grand Duchess Elena) and advisers: the Shuisky brothers (Vasily and Ivan), Mikhail Zakharyin, Mikhail Tuchkov, Mikhail Vorontsov. According to the Grand Duke’s plan, this should have preserved the order of government of the country by trusted people and reduced discord in the aristocratic Boyar Duma. The existence of the regency council is not recognized by all historians: thus, according to the historian A. A. Zimin, Vasily III transferred the management of state affairs to the Boyar Duma, and appointed M. L. Glinsky and D. F. Belsky as guardians of the heir. A.F. Chelyadnina was appointed mother for Ivan.

Vasily III died on December 3, 1533, and after 8 days the boyars got rid of the main contender for the throne - Prince Yuri of Dmitrov.

The Guardian Council ruled the country for less than a year, after which its power began to crumble. In August 1534, a number of changes took place in the ruling circles. On August 3, Prince Semyon Belsky and the experienced military commander Ivan Vasilyevich Lyatsky left Serpukhov and went to serve the Lithuanian prince. On August 5, one of the guardians of young Ivan, Mikhail Glinsky, was arrested and died in prison at the same time. Semyon Belsky's brother Ivan and Prince Ivan Vorotynsky and their children were captured for complicity with the defectors. In the same month, another member of the guardianship council, Mikhail Vorontsov, was also arrested. Analyzing the events of August 1534, the historian S. M. Solovyov concludes that “all this was a consequence of the general indignation of the nobles against Elena and her favorite Ivan Obolensky.”

Andrei Staritsky's attempt to seize power in 1537 ended in failure: locked in Novgorod from the front and rear, he was forced to surrender and ended his life in prison.

In April 1538, 30-year-old Elena Glinskaya died (according to one version, she was poisoned by the boyars), and six days later the boyars (princes Ivan and Vasily Vasily Shuisky with advisers) got rid of Obolensky. Metropolitan Daniil and clerk Fyodor Mischurin, staunch supporters of a centralized state and active figures in the government of Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya, were immediately removed from government. Metropolitan Daniel was sent to the Joseph-Volotsk Monastery, and Mishchurina " the boyars executed... not loving the fact that he stood for the Grand Duke's cause».

According to the recollections of Ivan himself, “ Prince Vasily and Ivan Shuisky arbitrarily imposed themselves […] as guardians and thus reigned", the future Tsar with his brother Yuri " began to educate them as foreigners or the last poor people,” up to “deprivation of clothing and food».

In 1545, Ivan came of age at the age of 15, thus becoming a full-fledged ruler. One of the strongest impressions of the tsar in his youth was the “great fire” in Moscow, which destroyed over 25 thousand houses, and the Moscow uprising of 1547. After the murder of one of the Glinskys, a relative of the Tsar, the rebels came to the village of Vorobyovo, where the Grand Duke had taken refuge, and demanded the extradition of the remaining Glinskys. With great difficulty, they managed to persuade the crowd to disperse, convincing them that there were no Glinskys in Vorobyov.

Royal wedding

Great sovereign title of Tsar John IV Vasilyevich at the end of his reign

Bzhgїey mlⷭ҇tїyu, great gdⷭ҇r tsr҃y and і great k҃z і҆ѡа́н васи́лїевичь зѧ̀рꙋсїи, Vladimirsk, Moscow, vogo Rodsk, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Pskov, Great Kazan, Smolensk, Tver, Yugorsk, Perm, in Turkish, Bulgarian and Inynykh, where ⷭ҇r and the Great Kazakh New Town Nizovsk land, Chernigov, Rizan, Polotsk, Rostov, ꙗ҆roslavsk, Beloyezersk, ᲂU҆dorsk, ѻ҆bdorsk, cond And the ruler of all Siberian lands and northern countries, and where is the land of Bethlehem and other countries.

On December 13, 1546, Ivan Vasilyevich for the first time expressed to Metropolitan Macarius his intention to marry, and before that Macarius invited Ivan the Terrible to marry into the kingdom.

A number of historians (N.I. Kostomarov, R.G. Skrynnikov, V.B. Kobrin) believe that the initiative to accept the royal title could not have come from a 16-year-old boy. Most likely, Metropolitan Macarius played an important role in this. The consolidation of the king's power was also beneficial to his maternal relatives. V. O. Klyuchevsky adhered to the opposite point of view, emphasizing the sovereign’s early desire for power. In his opinion, “the tsar’s political thoughts were developed in secret from those around him,” and the idea of ​​a wedding came as a complete surprise to the boyars.

Casket-ark for storing the letter of confirmation of Ivan IV's reign. Artist F. G. Solntsev. Russia, F. Chopin's factory. 1853-48 Bronze, casting, gilding, silvering, embossing. State Historical Museum

The ancient “Greek kingdom” with its divinely crowned rulers has always been a model for Orthodox countries, but it fell under the blows of the infidels. Moscow, in the eyes of Orthodox Russian people, was to become the heir of Tsaryagrad-Constantinople. The triumph of autocracy also personified for Metropolitan Macarius the triumph of the Orthodox faith, so the interests of the royal and spiritual authorities were intertwined (Philofey). At the beginning of the 16th century, the idea of ​​the divine origin of the sovereign's power became increasingly recognized. Joseph Volotsky was one of the first to talk about this. Archpriest Sylvester’s different interpretation of supreme power later led to the latter’s exile. The idea that the autocrat is obliged to obey God and his regulations in everything runs through the entire “Message to the Tsar.”

On January 16, 1547, a solemn wedding ceremony took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, the order of which was drawn up by the Metropolitan. The Metropolitan placed on Ivan the signs of royal dignity: the cross of the Life-Giving Tree, the barma and the cap of Monomakh; Ivan Vasilyevich was anointed with myrrh, and then the Metropolitan blessed the Tsar.

After the wedding, Ivan’s relatives strengthened their position, achieving significant benefits, but after the Moscow Uprising of 1547, the Glinsky family lost all their influence, and the young ruler became convinced of the striking discrepancy between his ideas about power and the real state of affairs.

Later, in 1558, Patriarch Joasaph II of Constantinople informed Ivan the Terrible that “ his royal name is commemorated in the Cathedral Church on all Sundays, like the names of former Greek Kings; this is ordered to be done in all dioceses where there are metropolitans and bishops», « and about your blessed wedding to the kingdom from St. Metropolitan of All Rus', our brother and colleague, was accepted by us for the good and worthy of your kingdom». « Show us, - wrote Joachim, Patriarch of Alexandria, - in these times, a new nourisher and provider for us, a good champion, chosen and instructed by God as the Ktitor of this holy monastery, as was once the divinely crowned and equal-to-the-apostles Constantine... Your memory will remain with us incessantly, not only in the church rule, but also at meals with the ancient, former formerly Kings».

The new title made it possible to take a significantly different position in diplomatic relations with Western Europe. The title of grand duke was translated as “great duke,” while the title “tsar” in the hierarchy stood on a par with the title emperor.

Unconditionally, the title of Ivan was recognized by England already in 1555, followed a little later by Spain, Denmark and the Florentine Republic. In 1576, Emperor Maximilian II, wanting to attract Ivan the Terrible to an alliance against Turkey, offered him the throne and the title of “emerging [Eastern] Caesar” in the future. John IV was completely indifferent to the “Greek kingdom”, but demanded immediate recognition of himself as the king of “all Rus'”, and the emperor conceded on this fundamentally important issue, especially since Maximilian I still titled Vasily III “ By the grace of God, Tsar and Possessor of the All-Russian and Grand Duke" The papal throne turned out to be much more stubborn, defending the exclusive right of popes to grant royal and other titles, and on the other hand, did not allow the principle of a “single empire” to be violated. In this irreconcilable position, the papal throne found support from the Polish king, who perfectly understood the significance of Moscow’s claims. Sigismund II Augustus presented a note to the papal throne in which he warned that the papacy’s recognition of Ivan IV’s title of “Tsar of All Rus'” would lead to the separation from Poland and Lithuania of lands inhabited by “Rusyns” related to the Muscovites, and would attract Moldovans and Wallachians to his side. For his part, John IV attached particular importance to the recognition of his royal title by the Polish-Lithuanian state, but Poland throughout the 16th century never agreed to his demand. Thus, one of the successors of Ivan IV, his imaginary son False Dmitry I, used the title of “Tsar,” but Sigismund III, who helped him take the Moscow throne, officially called him simply a prince, not even “great.”

About the digital designation in the title of Ivan the Terrible

With the accession to the throne in 1740 of the infant Emperor Ivan Antonovich, a digital indication was introduced in relation to the Russian tsars bearing the name Ivan (John). Ioann Antonovich began to be called Ioann III Antonovich. This is evidenced by rare coins that have come down to us with the inscription “ John III, by the grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia».

« The great-grandfather of John III Antonovich received the specified title of Tsar John II Alekseevich of All Rus', and Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible received the specified title Tsar Ivan I Vasilyevich of All Rus'" Thus, initially Ivan the Terrible was called Ivan the First.

The digital part of the title - IV - was first assigned to Ivan the Terrible by Karamzin in the “History of the Russian State”, since he began counting from Ivan Kalita.

Board under the “Elected Rada”

V. M. Vasnetsov Tsar Ivan the Terrible, 1897

Reforms

Since 1549, together with the “Chosen Rada” (A.F. Adashev, Metropolitan Macarius, A.M. Kurbsky, Archpriest Sylvester, etc.), Ivan IV carried out a number of reforms aimed at centralizing the state and building public institutions.

In 1549, the first Zemsky Sobor was convened with representatives from all classes, except the peasantry. A class-representative monarchy took shape in Russia.

In 1550, a new code of law was adopted, which introduced a single unit for collecting taxes - a large plow, which amounted to 400-600 acres of land, depending on the fertility of the soil and the social status of the owner, and limited the rights of slaves and peasants (the rules for the transfer of peasants were tightened).

In the early 1550s, zemstvo and provincial reforms were carried out (started by the government of Elena Glinskaya) that redistributed part of the powers of governors and volostels, including judicial ones, in favor of elected representatives of the black-growing peasantry and nobility.

In 1550, the “chosen thousand” of Moscow nobles received estates within 60-70 km from Moscow and a semi-regular infantry army armed with firearms was formed. In 1555-1556, Ivan IV abolished feeding and adopted the Code of Service. The patrimonial owners became obliged to equip and bring in soldiers depending on the size of their land holdings, on an equal basis with the landowners.

Under Ivan the Terrible, a system of orders was formed: Petition, Posolsky, Local, Streletsky, Pushkarsky, Bronny, Robbery, Pechatny, Sokolnichiy, Zemsky orders, as well as quarters: Galitskaya, Ustyug, Novaya, Kazan order. Since 1551, the functions of the Ambassadorial Order (Chapter 72 of Stoglav “On the Redemption of Prisoners”) were added by the tsar to carry out the ransom of captive subjects from the Horde (for this purpose, a special land tax was collected - “polonian money”).

In the early 1560s, Ivan Vasilyevich carried out a landmark reform of state sphragistics. From this moment on, a stable type appears in Russia state seal. For the first time, a rider appears on the chest of the ancient double-headed eagle - the coat of arms of the princes of Rurik's house, which was previously depicted separately, and always on the front side of the state seal, while the image of the eagle was placed on the back. New seal sealed the treaty with the Danish kingdom on April 7, 1562.

The Council of the Hundred Heads in 1551, at which the tsar, relying on non-covetous people, hoped to carry out the secularization of church lands, met from January-February to May. The Church was forced to answer 37 questions from the young king (some of which exposed unrest in the priesthood and monastic administration, as well as in monastic life) and accept a compromise collection of Stoglav decisions, which regulated church issues.

Under Ivan the Terrible, Jewish merchants were prohibited from entering Russia. When in 1550 the Polish king Sigismund Augustus demanded that they be allowed free entry into Russia, John refused the following words: “ There is no way for the Jew to go to his states, we don’t want to see any dashing in our states, but we want God willing that in my states my people will be in silence without any embarrassment. And you, our brother, would not write to us about Zhidekh in advance"because they are Russian people" They took away from Christianity, and they brought poisonous potions to our lands and many dirty tricks were done to our people».

Kazan campaigns (1547-1552)

In the first half of the 16th century, mainly during the reign of khans from the Crimean Girey family, the Kazan Khanate waged constant wars with Muscovite Russia. In total, the Kazan khans made about forty campaigns against Russian lands, mainly in the regions of Nizhny Novgorod, Vyatka, Vladimir, Kostroma, Galich, Murom, Vologda. “From the Crimea and from Kazan to half the earth it was empty,” the tsar wrote, describing the consequences of the invasions.

The history of the Kazan campaigns is often counted from the campaign that took place in 1545, which “had the character of a military demonstration and strengthened the positions of the “Moscow party” and other opponents of Khan Safa-Girey.” Moscow supported the Kasimov ruler Shah Ali, loyal to Rus', who, having become the Kazan Khan, approved the project of a union with Moscow. But in 1546, Shah Ali was expelled by the Kazan nobility, who elevated Khan Safa-Girey from a dynasty hostile to Rus' to the throne. After this, it was decided to take active action and eliminate the threat posed by Kazan. " From now on, - the historian points out, - Moscow has put forward a plan for the final destruction of the Kazan Khanate».

In total, Ivan IV led three campaigns against Kazan. During the first (winter of 1547/1548), due to an early thaw, siege artillery went under the ice on the Volga 15 versts from Nizhny Novgorod, and the troops that reached Kazan stood under it for only 7 days. The second campaign (autumn 1549 - spring 1550) followed the news of the death of Safa-Girey, also did not lead to the capture of Kazan, but the Sviyazhsk fortress was built, which served as a stronghold for the Russian army during the next campaign.

The third campaign (June-October 1552) ended with the capture of Kazan. A Russian army of 150,000 took part in the campaign; the armament included 150 cannons. The Kazan Kremlin was taken by storm. Khan Ediger-Magmet was captured by Russian commanders. The chronicler recorded: “ The sovereign did not order to invest a single copper worker on himself.(that is, not a single penny) , no captivity, just the one king Ediger-Magmet and the royal banners and city cannons" I. I. Smirnov believes that “ The Kazan campaign of 1552 and the brilliant victory of Ivan IV over Kazan not only meant a major foreign policy success for the Russian state, but also contributed to the strengthening of the tsar’s power" Almost simultaneously with the start of the campaign in June 1552, the Crimean Khan Devlet I Giray made a campaign to Tula.

In defeated Kazan, the tsar appointed Prince Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky as Kazan governor, and Prince Vasily Serebryany as his assistant.

After the establishment of the episcopal see in Kazan, the tsar and the church council by lot elected Abbot Gury to it in the rank of archbishop. Gury received instructions from the tsar to convert Kazan residents to Orthodoxy solely by at will every person, but “unfortunately, such prudent measures were not followed everywhere: the intolerance of the century took its toll...”.

From the first steps towards the conquest and development of the Volga region, the tsar began to invite to his service all the Kazan nobility who agreed to swear allegiance to him, sending “ in all uluses, black people received dangerous tribute letters, so that they would go to the sovereign without fear of anything; and whoever did it recklessly, God took revenge on him; and their sovereign would grant them, and they would pay tribute, just like the former Kazan king" This nature of the policy not only did not require the preservation of the main military forces of the Russian state in Kazan, but, on the contrary, made Ivan’s solemn return to the capital natural and expedient. During the Livonian War, the Muslim regions of the Volga region began to supply the Russian army with “many three hundred thousand battles,” well prepared for the offensive.

Immediately after the capture of Kazan, in January 1555, the ambassadors of the Siberian Khan Ediger asked the king to “ He took the entire Siberian land under his own name and stood up (defended) from all sides and laid his tribute on them and sent his man to whom to collect the tribute».

Astrakhan campaigns (1554-1556)

In the early 1550s, the Astrakhan Khanate was an ally of the Crimean Khan, controlling the lower reaches of the Volga. Before the final subjugation of the Astrakhan Khanate under Ivan IV, two campaigns were carried out.

The campaign of 1554 was carried out under the command of the governor Prince Yuri Pronsky-Shemyakin. In the battle of the Black Island, the Russian army defeated the lead Astrakhan detachment, and Astrakhan was taken without a fight. As a result, Khan Dervish-Ali was brought to power, promising support to Moscow.

The campaign of 1556 was due to the fact that Khan Dervish-Ali went over to the side of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire. The campaign was led by governor Ivan Cheremisinov. First, the Don Cossacks of Ataman Lyapun Filimonov’s detachment defeated the Khan’s army near Astrakhan, after which in July Astrakhan was retaken without a fight. As a result of this campaign, the Astrakhan Khanate was subordinated to the Russian kingdom.

In 1556, the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai-Batu, was destroyed.

After the conquest of Astrakhan, Russian influence began to extend to the Caucasus. In 1559, the princes of Pyatigorsk and Cherkassy asked Ivan IV to send them a detachment to protect against the raids of the Crimean Tatars and priests to maintain the faith; the tsar sent them two governors and priests, who renovated the fallen ancient churches, and in Kabarda they showed extensive missionary activity, baptizing many into Orthodoxy.

War with Sweden (1554-1557)

During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, trade relations between Russia and England were established through the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean, which greatly affected the economic interests of Sweden, which received considerable income from transit Russian-European trade. In 1553, the expedition of the English navigator Richard Chancellor rounded the Kola Peninsula, entered the White Sea and dropped anchor west of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery opposite the village of Nenoksa. Having received news of the appearance of the British within his country, Ivan IV wished to meet with Chancellor, who, having covered about 1000 km, arrived in Moscow with honors. Soon after this expedition, the Moscow Company was founded in London, which subsequently received monopoly trading rights from Tsar Ivan.

Swedish King Gustav I Vasa after unsuccessful attempt to create an anti-Russian union, which would include the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Livonia and Denmark, decided to act independently.

The first motive for declaring war on Sweden was the capture of Russian merchants in Stockholm. On September 10, 1555, the Swedish admiral Jacob Bagge with a 10,000-strong army besieged Oreshek; the Swedes' attempts to develop an attack on Novgorod were thwarted by a guard regiment under the command of Sheremetev. On January 20, 1556, a Russian army of 20–25 thousand defeated the Swedes at Kivinebb and besieged Vyborg, but failed to take it.

In July 1556, Gustav I made a proposal for peace, which was accepted by Ivan IV. On March 25, 1557, the Second Truce of Novgorod was concluded for forty years, which restored the border defined by the Orekhov Peace Treaty of 1323 and established the custom of diplomatic relations through the Novgorod governor.

Beginning of the Livonian War

Causes of the war

In 1547, the king ordered the Saxon Schlitte to bring artisans, artists, doctors, pharmacists, typographers, people skilled in ancient and modern languages, even theologians. However, after protests from Livonia, the Senate of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck arrested Schlitte and his men.

In 1554, Ivan IV demanded that the Livonian Confederation return arrears under the “Yuriev tribute” established by the 1503 treaty, renounce military alliances with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Sweden, and continue the truce. The first payment of the debt for Dorpat was supposed to take place in 1557, but the Livonian Confederation did not fulfill its obligation.

In the spring of 1557, on the shores of Narva, by order of Ivan, a port was established: “The same year, July, a city was established from the German Ust-Narova River Rozsene by the sea for a shelter for sea ships,” “The same year, April, the Tsar and the Grand Duke sent the okolnichy prince Dmitry Semenovich Shastunov and Pyotr Petrovich Golovin and Ivan Vyrodkov to Ivangorod, and ordered a city to be built on Narova below Ivangorod at the mouth of the sea for a ship shelter...” However Hanseatic League and Livonia did not allow European merchants to enter the new Russian port, and they continued to go, as before, to Revel, Narva and Riga.

The Posvolsky Treaty, concluded on September 15, 1557 between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Order, created a threat to the establishment of Lithuanian power in Livonia. The agreed position of the Hansa and Livonia to prevent Moscow from engaging in independent maritime trade led Tsar Ivan to the decision to begin the struggle for wide access to the Baltic.

Defeat of the Livonian Order

In January 1558, Ivan IV began the Livonian War for the capture of the Baltic Sea coast. Initially, military operations developed successfully. The Russian army carried out active offensive operations in the Baltic states, took Narva, Dorpat, Neuschloss, Neuhaus, and defeated the order troops at Tiersen near Riga. In the spring and summer of 1558, the Russians captured the entire eastern part of Estonia, and by the spring of 1559, the army of the Livonian Order was completely defeated, and the Order itself virtually ceased to exist. At the direction of Alexei Adashev, the Russian governors accepted the truce proposal coming from Denmark, which lasted from March to November 1559, and began separate negotiations with Livonian urban circles on the pacification of Livonia in exchange for some concessions in trade from the German cities. At this time, the lands of the Order came under the protection of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and Denmark.

In 1560, at the Congress of Imperial Deputies of Germany, Albert of Mecklenburg reported: “ The Moscow tyrant begins to build a fleet on the Baltic Sea: in Narva he turns merchant ships belonging to the city of Lübeck into warships and transfers control of them to Spanish, English and German commanders" The congress decided to address Moscow with a solemn embassy, ​​to which to attract Spain, Denmark and England, to offer eternal peace to the eastern power and stop its conquests.

Grozny's performance in the struggle for the Baltic Sea... amazed central Europe. In Germany, the “Muscovites” seemed to be a terrible enemy; the danger of their invasion was outlined not only in the official communications of the authorities, but also in the extensive flying literature of leaflets and brochures. Measures were taken to prevent Muscovites from accessing the sea and Europeans from entering Moscow and, by separating Moscow from the centers of European culture, to prevent its political strengthening. In this agitation against Moscow and Grozny, many false things were invented about Moscow morals and the despotism of Grozny...

Platonov S. F. Lectures on Russian history...

Campaigns against the Crimean Khanate

Since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean khans of the Girey dynasty were vassals of the Ottoman Empire, which was actively expanding in Europe. Part of the Moscow aristocracy and the Pope persistently demanded that Ivan the Terrible enter into a fight with the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the First.

Simultaneously with the beginning of the Russian offensive in Livonia, the Crimean cavalry raided the Russian kingdom, several thousand Crimeans broke through to the vicinity of Tula and Pronsk, and R. G. Skrynnikov emphasizes that Russian government in the person of Adashev and Viskovaty, “it was necessary to conclude a truce on the western borders,” since preparations were being made for a “decisive clash on the southern border.” The Tsar gave in to the demands of the opposition aristocracy to march on the Crimea: “ brave and courageous men advised and advised, so that Ivan himself, with his head, with great troops, would move against the Perekop Khan».

In 1558, the army of Prince Dmitry Vishnevetsky defeated the Crimean army near Azov, and in 1559 the army under the command of Daniil Adashev made a campaign against the Crimea, destroying the large Crimean port of Gezlev (now Yevpatoria) and freeing many Russian captives. Ivan the Terrible proposed an alliance with the Polish king Sigismund II against the Crimea, but he, on the contrary, leaned toward an alliance with the Khanate.

The Fall of the "Chosen One" War with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

On August 31, 1559, the Master of the Livonian Order Gotthard Ketler and the King of Poland and Lithuania Sigismund II Augustus concluded the Treaty of Vilna on the entry of Livonia under the protectorate of Lithuania, which was supplemented on September 15 by an agreement on military assistance to Livonia by Poland and Lithuania. This diplomatic action served as an important milestone in the course and development of the Livonian War: the war between Russia and Livonia turned into a struggle between states of Eastern Europe for the Livonian inheritance.

In January 1560, Grozny ordered the troops to go on the offensive again. The army under the command of princes Shuisky, Serebryany and Mstislavsky took the fortress of Marienburg (Aluksne). On August 30, the Russian army under the command of Kurbsky took the master's residence - Fellin Castle. An eyewitness wrote: “ An oppressed Estonian would rather submit to a Russian than to a German" Throughout Estonia, peasants rebelled against the German barons. The possibility of a quick end to the war arose. However, the king's commanders did not go to capture Revel and failed in the siege of Weissenstein. Aleksey Adashev (voivode of a large regiment) was appointed to Fellin, but he, being an honorable man, became mired in parochial disputes with the voivodes above him, fell into disgrace, was soon taken into custody in Dorpat and died there of fever (there were rumors that he poisoned himself, Ivan the Terrible even sent one of his nearby nobles to Dorpat to investigate the circumstances of Adashev’s death). In connection with this, Sylvester left the court and took monastic vows at the monastery, and with that their smaller associates also fell - the end of the Chosen Rada came.

In the autumn of 1561, the Union of Vilna was concluded on the formation of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia on the territory of Livonia and the transfer of other lands to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In January-February 1563, Polotsk was captured. Here, on the orders of Ivan the Terrible, Thomas, a preacher of reformation ideas and an associate of Theodosius Kosy, was drowned in an ice hole. Skrynnikov believes that the massacre of Polotsk Jews was supported by the abbot of the Joseph-Volokolamsk monastery, Leonid, who accompanied the tsar. Also, by order of the tsar, the Tatars who took part in the hostilities killed the Bernardine monks who were in Polotsk. The religious element in the conquest of Polotsk by Ivan the Terrible is also noted by Khoroshkevich.

On January 28, 1564, the Polotsk army of P.I. Shuisky, moving towards Minsk and Novogrudok, was unexpectedly ambushed and was completely defeated by the troops of N. Radziwill. Grozny immediately accused the governors M. Repnin and Yu. Kashin (heroes of the capture of Polotsk) of treason and ordered them to be killed. In this regard, Kurbsky reproached the tsar for shedding the victorious, holy blood of the governor “in the churches of God.” A few months later, in response to Kurbsky’s accusations, Grozny directly wrote about the crime committed by the boyars.

Oprichnina period (1565-1572)

Allegory of the tyrannical rule of Ivan the Terrible (Germany. First half of the 18th century). Picture from the German weekly David Fassmann “Conversations in the Kingdom of the Dead” (German: Gespräche in dem Reiche derer Todten; 1718-1739).

Reasons for introducing the oprichnina

According to Soviet historians A. A. Zimin and A. L. Khoroshkevich, the reason for Ivan the Terrible’s break with the “Chosen Rada” was that the latter’s program was exhausted. In particular, an “imprudent respite” was given to Livonia, as a result of which several European states were drawn into the war. In addition, the tsar did not agree with the ideas of the leaders of the “Chosen Rada” (especially Adashev) about the priority of the conquest of Crimea in comparison with military operations in the West. Finally, “Adashev showed excessive independence in foreign policy relations with Lithuanian representatives in 1559” and was eventually dismissed. It should be noted that such opinions about the reasons for Ivan’s break with the “Chosen Rada” are not shared by all historians. Thus, Nikolai Kostomarov sees the true background of the conflict in the negative characteristics of the character of Ivan the Terrible, and, on the contrary, evaluates the activities of the “Chosen Rada” very highly. V. B. Kobrin also believed that the personality of the tsar played a decisive role here, but at the same time he links Ivan’s behavior with his commitment to the program of accelerated centralization of the country, opposed to the ideology of gradual changes of the “Chosen Rada”. Historians believe that the choice of the first path was due to the personal character of Ivan the Terrible, who did not want to listen to people who did not agree with his policies. Thus, after 1560, Ivan embarked on a path of tightening power, which led him to repressive measures.

According to R. G. Skrynnikov, the nobility would easily forgive Grozny for the resignation of his advisers Adashev and Sylvester, but she did not want to put up with the attack on the prerogatives of the boyar Duma. The ideologist of the boyars, Kurbsky, protested most strongly against the infringement of the privileges of the nobility and the transfer of management functions into the hands of clerks (deacons): “ The Great Prince has great faith in Russian clerks, and he chooses them neither from the gentry nor from the nobles, but especially from the priests or from the common people, otherwise he makes his nobles hateful».

New discontent of the princes, Skrynnikov believes, was caused by the royal decree of January 15, 1562, limiting their patrimonial rights, even more than before, equating them with the local nobility.

At the beginning of December 1564, according to Shokarev’s research, an attempt was made to carry out an armed rebellion against the king, in which they took part Western forces: « Many noble nobles gathered a considerable party in Lithuania and Poland and wanted to go against their king with arms».

Establishment of the oprichnina

In 1565, Grozny announced the introduction of the Oprichnina in the country. The country was divided into two parts: “To the Sovereign's Grace Oprichnin” and the Zemshchina. The Oprichnina included mainly the northeastern Russian lands, where there were few patrimonial boyars. The center of Oprichnina became the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda - the new residence of Ivan the Terrible, from where on January 3, 1565, messenger Konstantin Polivanov delivered a letter to the clergy, the Boyar Duma and the people about the Tsar’s abdication of the throne. Although Veselovsky believes that Grozny did not declare his renunciation of power, the prospect of the sovereign leaving and the onset of a “sovereign time”, when nobles could again force city merchants and artisans to do everything for them for nothing, could not help but excite Moscow townspeople.

The first victims of the oprichnina were the most prominent boyars: the first governor in the Kazan campaign A. B. Gorbaty-Shuisky with his son Peter, his brother-in-law Pyotr Khovrin, the okolnichy P. Golovin (whose family traditionally occupied the positions of Moscow treasurers), P. I. Gorensky-Obolensky ( his younger brother, Yuri, managed to escape in Lithuania), Prince Dmitry Shevyrev, S. Loban-Rostovsky and others. With the help of the oprichniki, who were exempt from judicial responsibility, Ivan IV forcibly confiscated the boyar and princely estates, transferring them to the oprichniki nobles. The boyars and princes themselves were granted estates in other regions of the country, for example, in the Volga region.

The decree on the introduction of the Oprichnina was approved by the highest bodies of spiritual and secular power - the Consecrated Cathedral and the Boyar Duma. There is also an opinion that this decree was confirmed by the decision of the Zemsky Sobor. But a significant part of the zemshchina protested against the oprichnina, so in 1556 about 300 noble persons of the zemshchina filed a petition for the abolition of the oprichnina; Of the petitioners, 50 were subjected to trade execution, several had their tongues cut out, and three were beheaded.

“Moscow dungeon. The end of the 16th century (Konstantin-Eleninsky gates of the Moscow dungeon at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries)", 1912.

For the ordination of Metropolitan Philip, which took place on July 25, 1566, a letter was prepared and signed, according to which Philip promised “not to interfere in the oprichnina and royal life and, upon appointment, because of the oprichnina ... not to leave the metropolis.” According to R. G. Skrynnikov, thanks to Philip’s intervention, many petitioners of the 1566 Council were released from prison. On March 22, 1568, in the Assumption Cathedral, Philip refused to bless the Tsar and demanded the abolition of the oprichnina. In response, the guardsmen beat the metropolitan's servants to death with iron sticks, then a trial was initiated against the metropolitan in a church court. Philip was defrocked and exiled to the Tver Otroch Monastery.

As the oprichnina “abbot,” the tsar performed a number of monastic duties. So, at midnight everyone got up for the midnight office, at four in the morning for matins, and at eight the mass began. The Tsar set an example of piety: he himself rang for matins, sang in the choir, prayed fervently, and during the common meal read the Holy Scriptures aloud. In general, worship took about 9 hours a day. At the same time, there is evidence that orders for executions and torture were often given in the church. Historian G.P. Fedotov believes that “ Without denying the repentant sentiments of the tsar, one cannot help but see that he knew how to combine atrocity with church piety in established everyday forms, desecrating the very idea of ​​the Orthodox kingdom».

In 1569, the tsar's cousin, Prince Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, died (presumably, according to rumors, on the order of the tsar, they brought him a cup of poisoned wine and ordered that Vladimir Andreevich himself, his wife and their eldest daughter drink the wine). Somewhat later, Vladimir Andreevich’s mother, Efrosinya Staritskaya, who repeatedly stood at the head of boyar conspiracies against John IV and was repeatedly pardoned by him, was also killed.

Hike to Novgorod

In December 1569, suspecting the Novgorod nobility of complicity in the “conspiracy” of Prince Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, who had recently been killed on his orders, and at the same time of the intention to surrender to the Polish king, Ivan, accompanied by a large army of guardsmen, set out on a campaign against Novgorod. Moving towards Novgorod in the fall of 1569, the guardsmen carried out massacres and robberies in Tver, Klin, Torzhok and other cities they encountered.

In the Tver Otrochy Monastery in December 1569, Malyuta Skuratov personally strangled Metropolitan Philip, who refused to bless the campaign against Novgorod. The Kolychev family, to which Philip belonged, was persecuted; some of its members were executed on Ivan's orders.

January 2, 1570 fighting units surrounded the city, hundreds of priests were put under arrest, monasteries were taken under complete control. Four days later the king himself arrived here. He defended the service in the St. Sophia Cathedral and then ordered repressions to begin. The guardsmen began to loot throughout the city and its environs. According to chronicles, the punishers spared no one; adults and children were tortured, beaten, and then thrown directly into the Volkhov River. If anyone survived, they were pushed under the ice with sticks. According to various sources, from 2 thousand to 10 thousand people died.

Having dealt with Novgorod, the tsar set out for Pskov. The tsar limited himself only to the execution of several Pskov residents and the robbery of their property. At that time, as legend says, Grozny was visiting a Pskov holy fool (a certain Nikola Salos). When it was time for lunch, Nikola handed Ivan a piece of raw meat with the words: “Here, eat it, you eat human flesh,” and then threatened Ivan with many troubles if he did not spare the inhabitants. Grozny, having disobeyed, ordered the bells to be removed from one Pskov monastery. At the same hour, his best horse fell under the king, which impressed Ivan. The Tsar hastily left Pskov and returned to Moscow, where a “search” for Novgorod treason began, which was carried out throughout 1570, and many prominent guardsmen were also involved in the case.

Russian-Crimean War (1571-1572)

In 1563 and 1569, together with Turkish troops, Devlet I Giray made two unsuccessful campaigns against Astrakhan. Participated in the second campaign Turkish fleet, the Turks also planned to build a canal between the Volga and Don to strengthen their influence in the Caspian Sea, but the campaign ended with an unsuccessful 10-day siege of Astrakhan. Devlet I Giray, dissatisfied with the strengthening of Turkey in this region, also secretly interfered with the campaign.

Beginning in 1567, the activity of the Crimean Khanate began to increase, campaigns were carried out every year. In 1570, the Crimeans, having received almost no resistance, subjected the Ryazan region to terrible devastation.

In 1571, Devlet Giray launched a campaign against Moscow. Having deceived Russian intelligence, the khan crossed the Oka near Kromy, and not at Serpukhov, where the tsarist army was waiting for him, and rushed to Moscow. Ivan left for Rostov, and the Crimeans set fire to the outskirts of the capital, not protected by the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod. In the subsequent correspondence, the tsar agreed to cede Astrakhan to the khan, but he was not satisfied with this, demanding Kazan and 2000 rubles, and then announced his plans to seize the entire Russian state.

Devlet Giray wrote to Ivan:

I burn and waste everything because of Kazan and Astrakhan, and I apply the wealth of the whole world to dust, hoping for the majesty of God. I came against you, I burned your city, I wanted your crown and head; but you didn’t come and didn’t stand against us, and you still boast that I’m the sovereign of Moscow! If you had shame and dignity, you would come and stand against us.

Stunned by the defeat, Ivan the Terrible replied in a reply message that he agreed to transfer Astrakhan under Crimean control, but refused to return Kazan to the Gireys:

You write about the war in your letter, and if I start writing about the same, then we will not achieve a good deed. If you are angry for the refusal to Kazan and Astrakhan, then we want to give up Astrakhan to you, only now this matter cannot be done soon: for it we must have your ambassadors, but it is impossible to make such a great cause as messengers; Until then you would have granted it, given the terms and not fought our land

Ivan went out to the Tatar ambassadors in a homespun, telling them: “You see me, what am I wearing? This is how the king (khan) made me! Still, he captured my kingdom and burned the treasury, and I have nothing to do with the king.”

In 1572, the khan began a new campaign against Moscow, which ended with the destruction of the Crimean-Turkish army in the Battle of Molodi. The death of a selected Turkish army near Astrakhan in 1569 and the defeat of the Crimean horde near Moscow in 1572 put a limit to Turkish-Tatar expansion in Eastern Europe.

There is a version based on the “History” of Prince Andrei Kurbsky, according to which the winner of Molodi, Vorotynsky, the very next year, by denunciation of a slave, was accused of intending to bewitch the tsar and died from torture, and during the torture the tsar himself raked the coals with his staff.

Grand Duke John IV Vasilievich
(miniature from the Tsar's titular book of 1672)

Flight of the Tsar from Moscow

Sources report different versions of the king's flight. Most of them agree that the tsar was heading towards Yaroslavl, but only reached Rostov. In the news of Devlet-Girey's raid, which occurred in April - May 1571, Horsey's notes quite accurately, judging by other sources, convey the outline of events, starting with the burning of Moscow.

John Vasilyevich the Great, Emperor of Russia, Prince of Muscovy. From Ortelius' map of 1574

The end of the oprichnina

In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey invaded Rus'. According to V.B. Kobrin, the decayed oprichnina demonstrated complete incapacity for combat: the oprichnina, accustomed to robbing civilians, simply did not show up for the war, so there were only one regiment of them (against five zemstvo regiments). Moscow was burned. As a result, during the new invasion in 1572, the oprichnina army was already united with the zemstvo army; in the same year, the tsar completely abolished the oprichnina and banned its very name, although in fact, under the name of the “sovereign court,” the oprichnina existed until his death.

Unsuccessful actions against Devlet-Girey in 1571 led to the final destruction of the oprichnina elite of the first composition: the head of the oprichnina Duma, the tsar's brother-in-law M. Cherkassky (Saltankul Murza) “for deliberately bringing the tsar under the Tatar attack” was impaled; nurseryman P. Zaitsev was hanged on the gate of his own house; The oprichnina boyars I. Chebotov, I. Vorontsov, the butler L. Saltykov, the master F. Saltykov and many others were also executed. Moreover, the reprisals did not subside even after the Battle of Molodi - celebrating the victory in Novgorod, the tsar drowned the “children of the boyars” in Volkhov, after which a ban was introduced on the very name of the oprichnina. At the same time, Ivan the Terrible brought down repression on those who had previously helped him deal with Metropolitan Philip: the Solovetsky abbot Paisiy was imprisoned on Valaam, the Ryazan bishop Philotheus was deprived of his rank, and the bailiff Stefan Kobylin, who supervised the metropolitan in the Otroche Monastery, was exiled to the distant monastery of Kamenny islands.

International relations during the oprichnina period

In 1569, through her ambassador Thomas Randolph, Elizabeth I made it clear to the Tsar that she was not going to intervene in the Baltic conflict. In response, the tsar wrote to her that her trade representatives “do not think about our sovereign heads and about the honor and profit of the land, but are looking only for their own trade profits,” and canceled all the privileges previously granted to the Moscow Trading Company created by the British.

In 1569, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania united into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth confederation. In May 1570, the king signed a truce with King Sigismund for a period of three years, despite the huge number of mutual claims. The proclamation of the Livonian kingdom by the king delighted the Livonian nobility, who received freedom of religion and a number of other privileges, and the Livonian merchants, who received the right to free duty-free trade in Russia, and in return allowed foreign merchants, artists and technicians into Moscow. After the death of Sigismund II and the suppression of the Jagiellon dynasty in Poland and Lithuania, Ivan the Terrible was considered one of the candidates for the Polish throne. The main condition for consent to his election as the Polish king was the concession of Poland to Livonia in favor of Russia, and as compensation he offered to return “Polotsk and its suburbs” to the Poles. But on November 20, 1572, Maximilian II concluded an agreement with Grozny, according to which all ethnic Polish lands (Greater Poland, Mazovia, Kuyavia, Silesia) were to go to the empire, and Livonia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with all its possessions were to go to Moscow - that is Belarus, Podlasie, Ukraine, so the noble nobility hastened to elect a king and elected Henry of Valois.

In March 1570, Ivan the Terrible issued a “royal letter” (letter of marque) to the Dane Carsten Rohde. In May of the same year, having bought and equipped ships with royal money, Rode went to sea and until September 1570 hunted in the Baltic Sea against Swedish and Polish merchants.

Khan on the Moscow throne

In 1575, at the request of Ivan the Terrible, the baptized Tatar and Khan of Kasimov, Simeon Bekbulatovich, was crowned king as “Grand Duke of All Rus',” and Ivan the Terrible himself called himself Ivan of Moscow, left the Kremlin and began to live on Petrovka.

According to the English historian and traveler Giles Fletcher, by the end of the year the new sovereign took away all the charters granted to bishops and monasteries, which the latter had been using for several centuries. All of them were destroyed. After that (as if dissatisfied with such an act and the bad rule of the new sovereign), Ivan the Terrible took the scepter again and, as if to please the church and clergy, allowed the renewal of the charters that he had already distributed on his own behalf, retaining and adding to the treasury as much land as he himself had whatever.

In this way, Ivan the Terrible took from bishops and monasteries (except for the lands that he annexed to the treasury) a countless amount of money: some 40, others 50, others 100 thousand rubles, which he did in order not only to increase his treasury, but also to remove a bad opinion of his cruel rule, setting an example of even worse in the hands of another king.

This was preceded by a new surge of executions, when the circle of associates that had been established in 1572, after the destruction of the oprichnina elite, was destroyed. Having abdicated the throne, Ivan Vasilyevich took his “destiny” and formed his own “appanage” Duma, which was now ruled by the Nagys, Godunovs and Belskys.

The final stage of the Livonian War

On February 23, 1577, a 50,000-strong Russian army again besieged Revel, but failed to take the fortress. In February 1578, Nuncio Vincent Laureo reported with alarm to Rome: “The Muscovite divided his army into two parts: one is expected near Riga, the other near Vitebsk.” By this time, all of Livonia along the Dvina, with the exception of only two cities - Revel and Riga, was in Russian hands.

In 1579, the royal messenger Wenceslaus Lopatinsky brought the king a letter from Batory declaring war. Already in August Polish army took Polotsk, then moved to Velikiye Luki and took them.

At the same time, direct peace negotiations were underway with Poland. Ivan the Terrible proposed giving Poland all of Livonia, with the exception of four cities. Batory did not agree to this and demanded all Livonian cities, in addition Sebezh, and payment of 400,000 Hungarian gold for military costs. This infuriated Grozny, and he responded with a sharp letter.

After this, in the summer of 1581, Stefan Batory invaded deep into Russia and besieged Pskov, which, however, he was never able to take. At the same time, the Swedes took Narva, where 7,000 Russians fell, then Ivangorod and Koporye. Ivan was forced to negotiate with Poland, hoping to then conclude an alliance with her against Sweden. In the end, the tsar was forced to agree to the conditions under which “the Livonian cities that belong to the sovereign should be ceded to the king, and Luke the Great and other cities that the king took, let him cede to the sovereign” - that is, the war that lasted almost a quarter of a century ended in restoration status quo ante bellum, thus becoming sterile. A 10-year truce on these terms was signed on January 15, 1582 in Yam Zapolsky. After the intensification of hostilities between Russia and Sweden in 1582 (Russian victory at Lyalitsy, the unsuccessful siege of Oreshk by the Swedes), peace negotiations began, which resulted in the Truce of Plyus. Yam, Koporye and Ivangorod passed to Sweden along with the adjacent territory of the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. The Russian state found itself cut off from the sea. The country was devastated, and the northwestern regions were depopulated. It should also be noted that the course of the war and its results were influenced by the Crimean raids: only for 3 years out of 25 years of the war there were no significant raids.

Last years

With the direct support of the Nogai Murzas of Prince Ulus, unrest broke out among the Volga Cheremis: cavalry numbering up to 25,000 people, attacking from Astrakhan, devastated the Belyov, Kolomna and Alatyr lands. In conditions of insufficient numbers of three tsarist regiments to suppress the rebellion, a breakthrough of the Crimean Horde could lead to very dangerous consequences for Russia. Obviously, wanting to avoid such a danger, the Russian government decided to transfer troops, temporarily abandoning the attack on Sweden.

On January 15, 1580, a church council was convened in Moscow. Addressing the highest hierarchs, the tsar directly said how difficult his situation was: “countless enemies have risen up against the Russian state,” which is why he asks for help from the Church. The tsar finally managed to completely take away from the church the method of increasing church estates with the estates of service people and boyars - as they became poorer, they often gave their estates as a mortgage to the church and for the commemoration of their souls, which harmed the defense capability of the state. The council decided: bishops and monasteries should not buy estates from service people, nor take souls as mortgages or in remembrance. Estates purchased or taken as collateral from service people should be taken to the royal treasury.

In 1580 the king defeated German settlement. Frenchman Jacques Margeret, who lived in Russia for many years, writes: “ The Livonians, who were captured and taken to Moscow, professing the Lutheran faith, having received two churches inside the city of Moscow, held public services there; but in the end, because of their pride and vanity, the said temples... were destroyed and all their houses were destroyed. And, although in winter they were expelled naked and in what their mother gave birth to, they could not blame anyone for this but themselves, for ... they behaved so arrogantly, their manners were so arrogant, and their clothes were so luxurious that they could all be was to be mistaken for princes and princesses... Their main profit was the right to sell vodka, honey and other drinks, from which they make not 10%, but a hundred, which may seem incredible, but it’s true».

In 1581, the Jesuit A. Possevin went to Russia, acting as a mediator between Ivan and Poland, and, at the same time, hoping to persuade the Russian Church into a union with the Catholic Church. His failure was predicted by the Polish Hetman Zamoyski: “ He is ready to swear that the Grand Duke is disposed towards him and will accept the Latin faith to please him, and I am sure that these negotiations will end with the prince hitting him with a crutch and driving him away" M.V. Tolstoy writes in “History of the Russian Church”: “ But the pope’s hopes and Possevin’s efforts were not crowned with success. John showed all the natural flexibility of his mind, dexterity and prudence, to which the Jesuit himself had to give justice, rejected the requests for permission to build Latin churches in Rus', rejected disputes about faith and the union of Churches on the basis of the rules of the Florence Council and was not carried away by the dreamy promise of acquiring all the Byzantine Empire, lost by the Greeks allegedly for retreating from Rome" The ambassador himself notes that “the Russian Sovereign stubbornly avoided and avoided discussing this topic.” Thus, the papal throne did not receive any privileges; the possibility of Moscow joining the fold catholic church remained as vague as before, and meanwhile the papal ambassador had to begin his mediatory role.

Conquest Western Siberia Ermak Timofeevich and his Cossacks in 1583 and his capture of the capital of the Siberian Khanate - Isker - marked the beginning of the conversion of the local population to Orthodoxy: Ermak's troops were accompanied by four priests and a hieromonk. However, this expedition was carried out against the will of the king, who in November 1582, he scolded the Stroganovs for calling into their patrimony the Cossacks-“thieves” - the Volga atamans, who “before that they quarreled us with the Nogai Horde, beat the Nogai ambassadors on the Volga on transport, and robbed and beat the Ordo-Bazarians, and our many robberies and losses were caused to people". Tsar Ivan IV ordered the Stroganovs, under fear of “great disgrace,” to return Ermak from his campaign in Siberia and use his forces to “protect the Perm places.” But while the tsar was writing his letter, Ermak had already inflicted a crushing defeat on Kuchum and occupied his capital.

Death

A study of the remains of Ivan the Terrible showed that in the last six years of his life he developed osteophytes, to such an extent that he could no longer walk on his own and was carried on a stretcher. M. M. Gerasimov, who examined the remains, noted that he had not seen such thick deposits in very old people. Forced immobility, combined with a general unhealthy lifestyle and nervous shocks, led to the fact that at the age of 50 the king looked like a decrepit old man.

In August 1582, A. Possevin, in a report to the Venetian Signoria, stated that “the Moscow sovereign will not live long.” In February and early March 1584, the king was still engaged in state affairs. The first mention of the disease dates back to March 10, when the Lithuanian ambassador was stopped on his way to Moscow due to the sovereign’s illness. On March 16, things got worse, the king fell into unconsciousness, but on March 17 and 18 he felt relief from hot baths. On the afternoon of March 18, the king died. The sovereign’s body was swollen and smelled bad “due to the decomposition of the blood.” Jerome Horsey stated that the king died while playing chess.

Vivliofika preserved the dying commission of the Tsar to Boris Godunov: “When the Great Sovereign was vouchsafed the last farewell, the most pure body and blood of the Lord, then, as a testimony, presenting his confessor Archimandrite Theodosius, filling his eyes with tears, saying to Boris Feodorovich: I command you my soul and my son Theodore Ivanovich and his daughter Irina..." Also, before his death, according to the chronicles, the tsar bequeathed Uglich with all the counties to his youngest son Dmitry.

It is difficult to reliably determine whether the king's death was caused by natural causes or was violent due to the hostile turmoil at court.

There were persistent rumors about the violent death of Ivan the Terrible. A 17th-century chronicler reported that “the king was given poison by his neighbors.” According to the testimony of clerk Ivan Timofeev, Boris Godunov and Bogdan Belsky “ended the tsar’s life prematurely.” Crown Hetman Zholkiewski also accused Godunov: “He took the life of Tsar Ivan by bribing the doctor who treated Ivan, because the matter was such that if he had not warned him (had not forestalled him), he himself would have been executed along with many other noble nobles.” . The Dutchman Isaac Massa wrote that Belsky put poison in the royal medicine. Horsey also wrote about the secret plans of the Godunovs against the tsar and put forward a version of the strangulation of the tsar, with which V.I. Koretsky agrees: “Apparently, the tsar was given poison first, and then, for good measure, in the turmoil that arose after he suddenly fell , and also strangled.” The historian Valishevsky wrote: “Bogdan Belsky with his advisers harassed Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, and now he wants to beat the boyars and wants to find the kingdom of Moscow under Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich for his adviser (Godunov).”

The version of the poisoning of Grozny was verified during the opening of the royal tombs in 1963. Studies have shown normal levels of arsenic in the remains and elevated levels of mercury, which, however, was present in many medicines XVI century and which was used to treat syphilis, which the king was supposedly sick with. The murder version remained a hypothesis.

At the same time, the Kremlin’s chief archaeologist Tatyana Panova, together with researcher Elena Aleksandrovskaya, considered the conclusions of the 1963 commission incorrect. In their opinion, the permissible limit for arsenic in Ivan the Terrible was exceeded by more than 2 times. In their opinion, the king was poisoned by a “cocktail” of arsenic and mercury, which was given to him over a period of time.

Family and Children

The number of wives of Ivan the Terrible is not precisely established; historians mention the names of six or seven women who were considered the wives of Ivan IV. Of these, only the first 4 are “married,” that is, legal from the point of view of church law (for the fourth marriage, prohibited by the canons, Ivan received a conciliar decision on its admissibility).

The first, the longest of them, was concluded as follows: on December 13, 1546, 16-year-old Ivan consulted with Metropolitan Macarius about his desire to get married. Immediately after the crowning of the kingdom in January, noble dignitaries, okolnichy and clerks began to travel around the country, looking for a bride for the king. A brideshow was held. The king's choice fell on Anastasia, the daughter of the widow Zakharyina. At the same time, Karamzin says that the tsar was guided not by the nobility of the family, but by the personal merits of Anastasia. The wedding took place on February 3, 1547 in the Church of Our Lady. The Tsar's marriage lasted 13 years, until Anastasia's sudden death in the summer of 1560. The death of his wife greatly influenced the 30-year-old king; after this event, historians note a turning point in the nature of his reign. A year after the death of his wife, the tsar entered into a second marriage, marrying Maria Temryukovna, who came from a family of Kabardian princes. After her death, Marfa Sobakina and Anna Koltovskaya alternately became wives. The third and fourth wives of the king were also chosen based on the results of the bride review, and the same one, since Martha died 2 weeks after the wedding.

This ended the number of legal marriages of the king, and further information becomes more confusing. These were 2 similarities of marriage (Anna Vasilchikova and Maria Nagaya), illuminated in reliable written sources. Probably, information about the later “wives” (Vasilisa Melentyeva and Maria Dolgorukaya) are legends or pure falsification

In 1567, through the plenipotentiary English ambassador Anthony Jenkinson, Ivan the Terrible negotiated a marriage with the English Queen Elizabeth I, and in 1583, through the nobleman Fyodor Pisemsky, he wooed a relative of the Queen, Mary Hastings, not embarrassed by the fact that he himself was once again married at that time .

A possible explanation for the large number of marriages, which was not typical for that time, is the assumption of K. Walishevsky that Ivan was a great lover of women, but at the same time he was also a great pedant in observing religious rituals and sought to possess a woman only as a legal husband. On the other hand, according to the Englishman Jerome Horsey, who knew the king personally, “he himself boasted that he had corrupted a thousand virgins and that thousands of his children had been deprived of their lives.” According to V.B. Kobrin, this statement, although it contains a clear exaggeration, clearly characterizes the tsar’s depravity. Grozny himself, in his spiritual writings, recognized both “fornication” simply and “supernatural fornication” in particular.

Children

sons

Daughters

(all from Anastasia)

• Anna Ioannovna(August 10, 1549-1550) - died before reaching the age of one year.
• Maria Ioannovna(March 17, 1551 - December 8, 1552) - died in infancy.
• Evdokia Ioannovna(February 26, 1556-1558) - died at the age of 3.

Personality of Ivan the Terrible

Cultural activities

Ivan IV was one of the most educated people of his time, he had a phenomenal memory and theological erudition.

According to the historian S. M. Solovyov,

Not a single sovereign of our ancient history was distinguished by such a desire and such ability to talk, argue, orally or in writing, in a people's square, at a church council, with a departed boyar or with foreign ambassadors, which is why he received the nickname of rhetorician in the verbal wisdom.

He is the author of numerous letters (including to Kurbsky, Elizabeth I, Stefan Batory, Johan III, Vasily Gryazny, Jan Chodkiewicz, Jan Rokite, Prince Polubensky, to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery), stichera on the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, on the repose of Peter Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus', Canon Angel the Terrible Voivode (under the pseudonym Parthenius the Ugly). In 1551, by order of the Tsar, the Moscow Council obliged clergy to organize schools in all cities for children for “learning to read and write, and for the teaching of book writing and church singing psalter." The same cathedral approved the widespread use of polyphonic singing. On the initiative of Ivan the Terrible, something like a conservatory was created in Alexandrova Sloboda, where the best musical masters worked, such as Fyodor Krestyanin (Christian), Ivan Yuryev-Nos, the Potapov brothers, Tretyak Zverintsev , Savluk Mikhailov, Ivan Kalomnitin, crusade clerk Andreev. Ivan IV was a good speaker.

By order of the tsar, a unique literary monument was created - the Facial Chronicle.

In order to set up a printing house in Moscow, the tsar turned to Christian II with a request to send book printers, and he sent to Moscow in 1552 through Hans Missingheim the Bible in Luther's translation and two Lutheran catechisms, but at the insistence of the Russian hierarchs the king's plan was to distribute the translations in several thousand copies was rejected.

Having founded the Printing House, the tsar contributed to the organization of book printing in Moscow and the construction of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square. According to contemporaries, Ivan IV was “ a man of wonderful reasoning, in the science of book teaching he is content and very talkative" He loved to travel to monasteries and was interested in describing the lives of the great kings of the past. It is assumed that Ivan inherited from his grandmother Sophia Paleologus the most valuable library of the Morean despotates, which included ancient Greek manuscripts; what he did with it is unknown: according to some versions, the library of Ivan the Terrible died in one of the Moscow fires, according to others, it was hidden by the tsar. In the 20th century, the search undertaken by individual enthusiasts for the allegedly hidden library of Ivan the Terrible in the dungeons of Moscow became a story that constantly attracted the attention of journalists.

The choir of the sovereign's royal clerks included the largest Russian composers of that time, who enjoyed the patronage of Ivan IV, Fyodor Krestyanin (Christian) and Ivan Nos.

Tsar Ivan and the church

Rapprochement with the West under Ivan IV could not remain without foreigners coming to Russia talking with Russians and introducing the spirit of religious speculation and debate that was then dominant in the West.

In the fall of 1553, a council opened on the case of Matvey Bashkin and his accomplices. A number of charges were brought against the heretics: denial of the holy cathedral apostolic church, rejection of the worship of icons, denial of the power of repentance, disdain for the decrees of ecumenical councils, etc. The chronicle reports: “ Both the Tsar and the Metropolitan ordered him to be taken away and tortured for these reasons; he is a Christian confessing himself, hiding in himself the enemy’s charm, satanic heresy, because he thinks he’s crazy to hide from the All-Seeing Eye».

The most significant relations of the tsar with the saints Metropolitan Macarius, Metropolitan German, Metropolitan Philip, the Monk Cornelius of Pskov-Pechersk, as well as Archpriest Sylvester. The actions of the church councils that took place at that time are important - in particular, the Stoglavy Council.

One of the manifestations of Ivan IV’s deep religiosity is his significant contributions to various monasteries. Numerous donations for the commemoration of the souls of people killed by his decree have no analogues not only in Russia, but also in European history. However, modern researchers note the original profanation this list(inclusion of Orthodox Christians not by baptismal names, but by worldly nicknames, as well as Gentiles, “witch women,” etc.) and consider the synodik “just a kind of pledge, with the help of which the monarch hoped to“ redeem ”from the clutches of demons soul deceased prince" In addition, church historians, characterizing the personality of Ivan the Terrible, emphasize that “the fate of the metropolitans after St. Macarius is entirely on his conscience” (all of them were forcibly removed from the high priestly throne, and not even the graves of Metropolitans Athanasius, Cyril and Anthony survived). The mass executions of Orthodox priests and monks, the robberies of monasteries and the destruction of churches in the Novgorod lands and the estates of disgraced boyars also do not honor the tsar.

The question of canonization

At the end of the 20th century, part of the church and parachurch circles discussed the issue of canonization of Grozny. This idea met with categorical condemnation by the church hierarchy and the patriarch, who pointed out the historical failure of the rehabilitation of Grozny, its crimes before the church (the murder of saints), as well as those who rejected claims about his popular veneration.

The character of the king according to contemporaries

Ivan grew up in an atmosphere of palace conspiracies, a struggle for power among the warring boyar families of the Shuisky and Belsky. Therefore, it was believed that the murders, intrigues and violence that surrounded him contributed to the development of suspicion, vindictiveness and cruelty in him. S. Solovyov, analyzing the influence of the morals of the era on the character of Ivan IV, notes that he “did not recognize the moral, spiritual means for establishing truth and order, or, even worse, having realized it, he forgot about them; instead of healing, he intensified the disease, accustomed him even more to torture, bonfires and the chopping block.”

However, in the era of the Elected Rada, the tsar was described enthusiastically. One of his contemporaries writes about 30-year-old Grozny: “The custom of John is to keep himself pure before God. And in the temple, and in solitary prayer, and in the boyar council, and among the people, he has one feeling: “May I rule, as the Almighty ordered his true Anointed to rule!” An impartial judgment, the safety of each and everyone, the integrity of the states entrusted to him, the triumph of faith , the freedom of Christians is his constant thought. Burdened with affairs, he knows no other joys except a peaceful conscience, except the pleasure of fulfilling his duty; does not want the usual royal coolness... Affectionate towards the nobles and the people - loving, rewarding everyone according to their dignity - eradicating poverty with generosity, and evil - with an example of goodness, this God-born King wishes on the day of the Last Judgment to hear the voice of mercy: “You are the King of righteousness!” .

“He is so prone to anger that, while in it, he foams like a horse and goes as if into madness; in this state, he also gets angry at people he meets. - Ambassador Daniil Prince writes from Bukhov. - The cruelty that he often commits on his own, whether it originates in his nature, or in the baseness (malitia) of his subjects, I cannot say.<…>When he is at the table, the eldest son sits on his right hand. He himself is of rude morals; for he rests his elbows on the table, and since he does not use any plates, he eats food by taking it with his hands, and sometimes he puts the uneaten food back into the cup (in patinam). Before drinking or eating anything offered, he usually marks himself with a large cross and looks at the hanging images of the Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas.”

The historian Solovyov believes that it is necessary to consider the personality and character of the tsar in the context of his environment in his youth:

The historian will not utter a word of justification for such a person; he can only utter a word of regret if, peering carefully at the terrible image, under the gloomy features of the tormentor he notices the mournful features of the victim; for here, as elsewhere, the historian is obliged to point out the connection between the phenomena: the Shuiskys and their comrades sowed through self-interest, contempt for the common good, contempt for the life and honor of their neighbors - Grozny grew up.

- Solovyov S. M. History of Russia from ancient times.

Appearance

Evidence from contemporaries about the appearance of Ivan the Terrible is very scarce. All available portraits of him, according to K. Waliszewski, are of dubious authenticity. According to contemporaries, he was lean, tall and had a good physique. Ivan's eyes were blue with a penetrating gaze, although in the second half of his reign a gloomy and gloomy face was already noted. The king shaved his head, wore a large mustache and a thick reddish beard, which turned gray towards the end of his reign. “The Tale of the Book of Sowing from Previous Years” of the first third of the 17th century describes the ruler as follows: “ Tsar Ivan looks ridiculous, his eyes are gray, his nose is long, he gags; he is large in age, has a dry body, has high shoulders, wide chests, thick muscles; a man of wonderful reasoning, in the science of book veneration, he is content and eloquent...».

The Venetian ambassador Marco Foscarino in “Report on Muscovy” writes about the appearance of 27-year-old Ivan Vasilyevich: “Handsome in appearance.”

The German ambassador Daniil Prince, who visited Ivan the Terrible in Moscow twice, described the 46-year-old Tsar: “He is very tall. The body is full of strength and quite strong, large narrow eyes that observe everything most carefully. The jaw is prominent and courageous. His beard is red, with a slight tint of black, quite long and thick, curly, but, like most Russians, he shaves the hair on his head with a razor. In his hand is a staff with a heavy knob, symbolizing the strength of state power in Rus' and the great masculine dignity of the Tsar himself.”

In 1963, the tomb of Ivan the Terrible was opened in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The king was buried in the vestments of a schemamonk. Based on the remains, it was established that Ivan the Terrible’s height was about 180 cm. last years His life weight was 85-90 kg. Soviet scientist M. M. Gerasimov used the technique he developed to restore the appearance of Ivan the Terrible from the preserved skull and skeleton. Based on the results of the study, we can say that “by the age of 54, the king was already an old man, his face was covered with deep wrinkles, and there were huge bags under his eyes. Clearly expressed asymmetry (the left eye, collarbone and shoulder blade were much larger than the right ones), the heavy nose of the descendant of the Paleologians, and the disgustingly sensual mouth gave him an unattractive appearance.”

Board performance assessments

The dispute about the results of the reign of Ivan the Terrible began during his lifetime and continues at the present time.

In the eyes of contemporaries

J. Fletcher pointed out the increasing lack of rights of commoners, which negatively affected their motivation to work:

A. D. Litovchenko. Ivan the Terrible shows his treasures to the English ambassador Horsey. Canvas, oil. 1875. Russian Museum

I often saw how, having laid out their goods (such as furs, etc.), they kept looking around and looking at the doors, like people who are afraid that some enemy will overtake them and capture them. When I asked them why they were doing this, I learned that they doubted whether one of the royal nobles or some son of a boyar was among the visitors, and that they would not come with their accomplices and take from them by force all product.

That is why the people (although generally capable of enduring all kinds of labor) indulge in laziness and drunkenness, not caring about anything more than daily food. From the same thing, it happens that products characteristic of Russia (as mentioned above, such as wax, lard, leather, flax, hemp, etc.) are mined and exported abroad in quantities much smaller than before, for the people, being constrained and deprived of everything he gains, he loses all desire to work.

Assessing the results of the tsar’s activities to strengthen the autocracy and eradicate heresies, the German guardsman Staden wrote:

Although Almighty God punished the Russian land so hard and cruelly that no one can describe it, yet the current Grand Duke has achieved that throughout the Russian land, throughout his entire empire, there is one faith, one weight, one measure! He alone rules! Whatever he orders is carried out, and whatever he forbids really remains prohibited. No one will contradict him: neither the clergy nor the laity.

19th century historiography

Nikolai Karamzin described Ivan the Terrible as a great and wise sovereign in the first half of his reign, and a merciless tyrant in the second:

Between other difficult experiences of Fate, in addition to the disasters of the Appanage system, in addition to the yoke of the Mughals, Russia had to experience the threat of the tormenting autocrat: it resisted with love for the autocracy, because it believed that God sends plagues and earthquakes and tyrants; did not break the iron scepter in the hands of John and endured the destroyer for twenty-four years, arming herself only with prayer and patience, so that in better times she would have Peter the Great, Catherine the Second (History does not like to name the living). In magnanimous humility, the sufferers died on the execution site, like the Greeks at Thermopylae for their fatherland, for Faith and Fidelity, without even a thought of rebellion. In vain, some foreign historians, excusing Ioannova’s cruelty, wrote about conspiracies that were supposedly destroyed by her: these conspiracies existed only in the vague mind of the Tsar, according to all the evidence of our chronicles and state papers. The clergy, Boyars, famous citizens would not have summoned the beast from the den of Sloboda Aleksandrovskaya if they had been plotting treason, which was brought against them as absurdly as sorcery. No, the tiger reveled in the blood of lambs - and the victims, dying in innocence, with their last glance at the disastrous land demanded justice, a touching memory from their contemporaries and posterity!

John's good glory outlived his bad glory in the people's memory: the lamentations fell silent, the sacrifices decayed, and the old traditions were eclipsed by the newest ones.

From the point of view of Nikolai Kostomarov, almost all the achievements during the reign of Ivan the Terrible occurred in the initial period of his reign, when the young tsar was not yet an independent figure and was under the close tutelage of the leaders of the Elected Rada. The subsequent period of Ivan’s reign was marked by numerous foreign and domestic political failures. Kostomarov draws the reader’s attention to the contents of the “Spiritual Testament” compiled by Ivan the Terrible around 1572, according to which the country was supposed to be divided between the tsar’s sons into semi-independent fiefs. The historian argues that this path would lead to the actual destruction of a single state according to a scheme well known in Rus'.

Sergei Solovyov saw the main pattern of Grozny’s activity in the transition from “tribal” relations to “state” ones, which were completed by the oprichnina (“... in the will of John IV, the appanage prince becomes a completely subject of the Grand Duke, the elder brother, who already bears the title of tsar. This is the main, fundamental phenomenon - the transition of tribal relations between princes into state ones..."). (Ivan Boltin pointed out that, as in Western Europe, feudal fragmentation in Rus' is being replaced by political unification, and compared Ivan IV with Louis XI; the same comparison of Ivan with Louis is also noted by Karamzin).

Vasily Klyuchevsky considered Ivan’s internal policy aimless: “The question of state order turned for him into a question of personal safety, and he, like an overly frightened person, began to strike right and left, not distinguishing between friends and enemies”; the oprichnina, from his point of view, prepared “real sedition” - the Time of Troubles.

Historiography of the 20th century

S. F. Platonov saw the strengthening of Russian statehood in the activities of Ivan the Terrible, but condemned him for the fact that “a complex political matter was further complicated by unnecessary torture and gross debauchery”, and that the reforms “took on the character of general terror.”

R. Yu. Vipper considered Ivan the Terrible in the early 1920s as a brilliant organizer and creator of a major power; in particular, he wrote about him: “Ivan the Terrible, a contemporary of Elizabeth of England, Philip II of Spain and William of Orange, the leader of the Dutch Revolution, had solve military, administrative and international problems similar to the goals of the creators of the new European powers, but in a much more difficult situation. His talents as a diplomat and organizer perhaps surpass them all.” Vipper justified harsh measures in domestic politics by the seriousness of the international situation in which Russia was: “The division of the reign of Ivan the Terrible into two different eras contained at the same time an assessment of the personality and activities of Ivan the Terrible: it served as the main basis for belittling his historical role, for including him among the greatest tyrants. Unfortunately, when analyzing this issue, most historians focused their attention on changes in the internal life of the Moscow state and paid little attention to the international situation in which (it) found itself during... the reign of Ivan IV. Severe critics seemed to have forgotten that the entire second half of the reign of Ivan the Terrible took place under the sign of a continuous war, and, moreover, the most difficult war that the Great Russian state had ever waged.”

At that time, Vipper’s views were rejected by Soviet science (in the 1920-1930s, which saw Grozny as an oppressor of the people who prepared serfdom), but were subsequently supported during the period when the personality and activities of Ivan the Terrible received official approval from Stalin. During this period, the terror of Grozny was justified by the fact that the oprichnina “finally and forever broke the boyars, made it impossible to restore the order of feudal fragmentation and consolidated the foundations political system Russian national state"; This approach continued the concept of Solovyov - Platonov, but was complemented by the idealization of the image of Ivan.

In the 1940s-1950s, Academician S.B. Veselovsky studied a lot about Ivan the Terrible, who did not have the opportunity, due to the prevailing position at that time, to publish his main works during his lifetime; he abandoned the idealization of Ivan the Terrible and the oprichnina and introduced scientific circulation a large number of new materials. Veselovsky saw the roots of terror in the conflict between the monarch and the administration (the Sovereign's court as a whole), and not specifically with the large feudal boyars; he believed that in practice Ivan did not change the status of the boyars and the general order of governing the country, but limited himself to the destruction of specific real and imaginary opponents (Klyuchevsky already pointed out that Ivan “beat not only the boyars and not even the boyars primarily”).

At first, the concept of Ivan’s “statist” domestic policy was also supported by A. A. Zimin, speaking of justified terror against feudal lords who betrayed national interests. Subsequently, Zimin accepted Veselovsky’s concept of the absence of a systematic fight against the boyars; in his opinion, the oprichnina terror had the most destructive effect on the Russian peasantry. Zimin recognized both the crimes and state services of Grozny:

For Russia, the reign of Ivan the Terrible remained one of the darkest periods in its history. The defeat of the reform movement, the outrages of the oprichnina, the “Novgorod pogrom” - these are some of the milestones of Grozny’s bloody path. However, let's be fair. Nearby are the milestones of another path - the transformation of Russia into a huge power, which included the lands of the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates, Western Siberia from the Arctic Ocean to the Caspian Sea, reforms in the governance of the country, strengthening the international prestige of Russia, expanding trade and cultural ties with the countries of Europe and Asia

V. B. Kobrin assesses the results of the oprichnina extremely negatively:

“Scribe books compiled in the first decades after the oprichnina give the impression that the country experienced a devastating enemy invasion. “In the void” lies not only more than half, but sometimes up to 90 percent of the land, sometimes for many years. Even in the central Moscow district, only about 16 percent of arable land was cultivated. There are frequent references to “arable fallow land,” which has already been “overgrown with bushes,” “overgrown with a forest-grove,” and even “with forest overgrown into a log, into a stake, and into a pole”: the timber has managed to grow on the former arable land. Many landowners became so ruined that they abandoned their estates, from where all the peasants fled, and turned into beggars - “dragging between the yard.”

The internal policy of Ivan IV, after a streak of failures during the Livonian War and as a result of the sovereign’s own desire to establish undivided royal power, acquired a terrorist character and in the second half of his reign was marked by the establishment of the oprichnina (6 years), mass executions and murders, the defeat of Novgorod and atrocities in other cities (Tver, Klin, Torzhok). The oprichnina was accompanied by thousands of victims, and, according to many historians, its results, together with the results of a long and unsuccessful war, led the state to a socio-political crisis.

Positive characteristics

Despite the fact that in Russian historiography there has traditionally been a negative image of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, there was also a direction in it that was inclined to positively evaluate his results. As a general assessment of the results of the reign of Ivan IV, determined by historians adhering to this point of view, the following can be indicated:

Assessing the results of the heyday of the Russian state, the author (R. G. Skrynnikov) mentions the end of feudal strife, the unification of lands, the reforms of Ivan the Terrible, which strengthened the system of public administration and armed forces. This made it possible to crush the last fragments of the Golden Horde on the Volga - the Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms.

But next to this, at the same time, there were Russia’s failures in the Livonian War (1558-1583) for access to the Baltic, there were crop failures in the 60s. XVI century, famine, plague that devastated the country. There was discord between Ivan IV and the boyars, the division of the state into zemshchina and oprichnina, oprichnina intrigues and executions (1565-1572) , weakened the state. ...the invasion of the 40,000-strong Crimean horde, the large and small Nagai hordes on Moscow in 1571, the battle of Russian regiments with a new invasion in the summer of 1572 on the approaches to Moscow; the battle of Molodi, near the Danilov Monastery in July 1591. Those battles became victories.

S. V. Bushuev, G. E. Mironov. History of Russian Goverment

In addition, historians who are of the opinion about the beneficial influence of the reign of Ivan the Terrible on the development of the Russian state cite the following statements as positive results of his reign:

1) Preservation of the country's independence. With sufficient grounds for comparing the scale of the Battle of Kulikovo with the Battle of Molodi (participation of 5 thousand in the first, for example, according to S. B. Veselovsky or 60 thousand according to V. N. Tatishchev, and over 20 thousand in the second - according to R. G. Skrynnikov), the latter also had epochal significance for the further development of the state: it put an end to the inevitable danger of regular devastating Tatar-Mongol expansion; “The chain of Tatar ‘kingdoms’, stretching from Crimea to Siberia, was forever broken.”

2) Formation of defense lines; "...curious and important feature in the activities of the Moscow government in the darkest and darkest period of Grozny’s life - during the years of its political failures and internal terror... - concern for strengthening the southern border of the state and populating the “wild field”. Under pressure from many reasons, the Grozny government began a series of coordinated measures to defend its southern outskirts...”

Together with the crushing defeat of the troops of the Crimean Khanate, with the Astrakhan Khanate, - “The Capture of Kazan” (1552) opened the way for the Russians to the lower reaches of the great Russian river Volga and to the Caspian Sea.” “Among the continuous failures of the end of the war (Livonian) the Siberian capture of Ermak flashed like lightning in the darkness of the night,” predetermining, along with the strengthening of the success of the previous points, the prospect for further expansion of the state in these directions, with the death of Ermak, ““under the high royal hand” the Moscow government took upon itself, sending to Siberia , to the aid of the Cossacks, their governors with the “sovereign servicemen” and with the “people” (artillery)”; and as for the eastern direction of expansion, the fact that already “half a century after the death of Ermak, the Russians reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean” speaks for itself.

“The Livonian War of Grozny was a timely intervention by Moscow in the paramount international struggle for the right to use the Baltic sea routes.” And even in an unsuccessful campaign, most of the most thorough researchers trace positive factors to the fact that at that time there was long-term trade with Europe by sea (via Narva), and that subsequently, a hundred years later extra years implemented and developed as one of the main directions of his policy by Peter.

“The old view of the oprichnina as a senseless undertaking of a crazy tyrant has been abolished. It is seen as applying to the large landed Moscow aristocracy the “conclusion” that the Moscow government usually applied to the commanding classes of the conquered lands. The withdrawal of large landowners from their “patrimony” was accompanied by the fragmentation of their holdings and the transfer of land to the conditional use of small service people. This destroyed the old nobility and strengthened the new social stratum of “children of the boyars,” the oprichnina servants of the great sovereign.”

3) The general state of culture is characterized by an upsurge, the mature development of which became possible only after overcoming the turmoil. “The Crimean raids and terrible fires caused heavy damage to Moscow and Muscovites during the reign of John IV Vasilyevich. Moscow recovered slowly after that. “But the reign of Ivan the Terrible,” according to I.K. Kondratiev, “was still one of the remarkable reigns that left the stamp of special greatness on Moscow, and with it on the whole of Russia.” Indeed, during these years the first Zemsky Sobor took place in Moscow, Stoglav was created, the kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan were conquered, Siberia was annexed, trade with the British began (1553) (as well as with Persia and Central Asia), the first printing house was opened, Arkhangelsk, Kungur and Ufa were built, the Bashkirs were accepted into Russian citizenship, the Don Cossacks were established, the famous Church of the Intercession was erected in memory of the conquest of the Kazan kingdom, better known under the name of St. Basil." The Streletsky Army was established.

However, critics of this approach point to the small role that Ivan IV himself played in all these events. Thus, the main commander who ensured the conquest of Kazan in 1552 was Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky, while previous campaigns against Kazan in 1547 and 1549, led by Ivan IV personally, ended in failure. Subsequently, Gorbaty-Shuisky was executed by order of Ivan the Terrible. The initial successes in Livonia and the capture of Polotsk are associated with the name of the talented commander Pyotr Shuisky, after whose death military successes in the Livonian War ceased. Victory over the superior forces of the Crimean Tatars at Molodi was ensured thanks to the military talents of Mikhail Vorotynsky and Dmitry Khvorostinin, and the former was also subsequently repressed by Ivan. Ivan the Terrible himself, both during the first Crimean campaign in 1571 and during the second in 1572, fled from Moscow and waited out the hostilities in Novgorod and Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. In addition, it is believed that Ivan the Terrible was very distrustful of watchmen, who guarded the southern borders and from the executions of the tsar, many boyar children fled to Crimea, one of whom, Kudeyar Tishenkov, subsequently led the Crimeans along roundabout routes to Moscow. Also, cultural studies researchers point to the tenuous connection between the political regime of the state and the cultural state of society.

According to a FOM survey conducted in the fall of 2016, the overwhelming majority of Russians (71%) have a positive assessment of the role of Ivan the Terrible in history. 65% of Russians would approve of the installation of a monument to Ivan the Terrible in their locality.

Ivan the Terrible in culture

S. A. Kirillov. "Ivan groznyj". 1990

Cinema

• The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1909) - actor A. Slavin
• Song about the merchant Kalashnikov (1909) - actor Ivan Potemkin
• Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible (1915) - actor Fyodor Chaliapin
• The Wax Cabinet / Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (1924) - Conrad Veidt
• Wings of a Serf (1926) - Leonid Leonidov
• Pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov (1941) - Pavel Springfeld
• Ivan the Terrible (1944) - Nikolay Cherkasov
• The Tsar's Bride (1965) - Petr Glebov
• Sport, sport, sport (1970) - Igor Klass
• Ivan Vasilievich changes profession (1973) - Yuri Yakovlev
• Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1991) - Kakhi Kavsadze
• Kremlin secrets of the sixteenth century (1991) - Alexey Zharkov
• Revelation of John the Prime Printer (1991) - Innokenty Smoktunovsky
• Thunderstorm over Russia (1992) - Oleg Borisov
• Ermak (1996) - Evgeniy Evstigneev
• Old songs about the main thing 3 (1997) - Yuri Yakovlev
• Miracles in Reshetov (2004) - Ivan Gordienko
• Tsar (2009) - Peter Mamonov
• Ivan the Terrible (2009 television series) - Alexander Demidov
• Night at the Museum 2 (2009) - Christopher Guest
• Terrible time (2010) - Oleg Dolin
• Treasures O.K. (2013) - Gosha Kutsenko

Theater

• Ivan the Terrible (1943) is a play in two parts by Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy.
• Ivan Vasilievich (1936) - play by Mikhail Bulgakov.
• The Death of Ivan the Terrible is a play by Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy. It is the beginning of the trilogy “The Death of Ivan the Terrible. Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. Tsar Boris."
• Woman of Pskov (1871) - opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Written based on the plot of the play of the same name by Lev May.
• Vasilisa Melentyevna (1867) - play by Alexander Ostrovsky.
• The Great Sovereign (1945) - play by Vladimir Solovyov.
• Marfa Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novagorod (1809) - play by Fyodor Ivanov.
• 2016 - Chronicles “Ivan the Terrible” at the Municipal Theater. M. M. Bakhtin (Orel). Director - Valery Simonenko

Literature

• The novel-trilogy “Ivan the Terrible” by V. I. Kostylev (Stalin Prize 2nd degree for 1948).
• “Prince Silver. The Tale of the Times of Ivan the Terrible" by A. K. Tolstoy
• “Kudeyar” by N. I. Kostomarov
• The novel “The Third Rome” by L. Zhdanov
• "Ivan the Terrible" by Henri Troyat
• "Ivan IV. Grozny" by E. Radzinsky
• “Ivan the Terrible” R. Payne, N. Romanov
• “Corsairs of Ivan the Terrible” by K. S. Badigin
• “Kings and Wanderers” by V. A. Usov
• “Faces of immortal power. Tsar Ivan the Terrible” by A. A. Ananyeva
• “The Secret Year” by M. Gigolashvili

Music

• Songs “The Terrible Tsar” and “Tsar John” by Zhanna Bichevskaya
• Song “Ivan the Terrible kills the son of Ivan” by Alexander Gorodnitsky
• The song "The Terrible One" by German heavy metal band Grave Digger.

art

• Three paintings dedicated to the death of the son of Ivan the Terrible:
  • Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581 Repina I. E. (1885).
  • Ivan the Terrible at the tomb of the son he killed Shustova N. S.(1860s).
  • Ivan the Terrible near the body of his son he killed Shvarts V. G.
• Death of Ivan the Terrible (painting by Konstantin Makovsky, 1888)
• Two paintings dedicated to Vasilisa Melentyevna:
  • Vasilisa Melentyevna and Ivan the Terrible Nevreva N.V.(1880s).
  • Tsar Ivan the Terrible admires Vasilisa Melentyevna Sedova G. S. (1875)
• Tsar Ivan the Terrible Vasnetsova V. M. (1897).
• Oprichniki Nevreva N.V.(formerly 1904)Painting.
• Ivan the Terrible and Malyuta Skuratov Sedova G. S. Painting.
• Tsar Ivan the Terrible in the cell of the holy fool Nicholas Salos Pelevina I. A. Painting
• Tsar Ivan the Terrible asks Abbot Kirill (Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery) to bless him to become a monk Lebedeva K.V. Painting.
• Ivan the Terrible shows treasures to the English ambassador Horsey Litovchenko A. D. (1875).
• Metropolitan Philip refuses to bless Tsar Ivan the Terrible (Engraving based on the painting V. V. Pukireva).
• Ivan groznyj. Sculpture by Mark Antokolsky.

Monuments

• On October 1, 2016, in Orel, founded by decree of Ivan the Terrible, the first monument in Russian history was erected on the embankment near the Epiphany Cathedral at the confluence of the Oka and Orlik rivers. On October 14, 2016, in the presence of the governor of the Oryol region Vadim Potomsky, the writer Alexander Prokhanov, the leader of the “Essence of Time” movement Sergei Kurginyan, the leader of the Night Wolves biker club Alexander “The Surgeon” Zaldostanov and a large number of citizens, the grand opening of the monument took place.
• On November 4, 2017, in the village of Irkovo, Aleksandrovsky district, a monument to Ivan the Terrible was erected using public money. The author of the bust is Alexander Apollonov.

Computer games

• In Age of Empires III, Ivan the Terrible is introduced as the leader of the Russian civilization.
• In Night at the Museum 2, Ivan the Terrible is introduced as one of the four main villains, along with Al Capone, Kamunra and Napoleon.