He lived a great and tragic life. His name is known to everyone, but real events are often hidden or distorted by ill-wishers and not very honest historians. The name of the first Russian Tsar is Ivan IV Vasilyevich (the Terrible).

Since ancient times, the highest title of a ruler in Rus' has been considered “prince.” After the unification of the Russian principalities under the rule of Kyiv took place, the highest rank of the ruler became the title “Grand Duke”.

The title "king" was borne by the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople. In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Turks, and shortly before that, Greek Orthodoxy concluded the Union of Florence with Catholic Rome. In this regard, the last Greek metropolitan was expelled from the Moscow see, which declared itself independent from Byzantium. New metropolitans were chosen from natural russians.

Muscovite Rus', unlike Byzantium, through the efforts of the great princes, including the father of Ivan IV, and then by himself, united, expanded and strengthened. The great Moscow princes began to call themselves “sovereigns of all Rus'” and gradually accustom foreign diplomats and their subjects to the idea that their state was not a backyard, but the center of a true Christian world, not subject to apostate unions. The idea of ​​Moscow as the third Rome, which is the heir of the non-Uniate Byzantium, both in politics and in faith, about the special purpose of Rus', appears and strengthens in the mind.

In addition to all of the above, the title “Grand Duke” in Europe was perceived as “prince” or “duke” and, accordingly, as a vassal or subordinate of the emperor.

The title “tsar” put the “sovereign of all Rus'” on the same level as the only emperor at that time - the emperor of the Roman Empire, to whom all European kings were nominally subordinate.

Ivan IV was crowned king in 1547, at the age of 17. The boyar elite who ruled the country at that time hoped that the tsar would remain a puppet in their hands and the official sign of the state.

Official recognition by Europe of the royal title of the Moscow sovereign occurred in 1561, when the Eastern Patriarch Joasaph confirmed it with his charter. Some states, for example, England and Sweden, recognized the title of the Russian Tsar before the Patriarch.

Truth and slander

For many hundreds of years, the events of the life of the first crowned Russian Tsar were subject to openly slanderous insinuations from enemies, traitors and those who wrote official history. One of their main postulates is that “all the king’s undertakings ended in failure.” However, among the significant reforms of Ivan IV, the indisputable ones, and those that have received further development, are:

Contrary to popular belief, Ivan the Terrible left behind a more developed country than he inherited. The country owes its ruin to another boyar unrest that occurred after the death of the tsar.

People receive most of their “knowledge” about history from school textbooks, feature films, books and the media, which shamelessly repeat established myths. Here are some of them about Ivan the Terrible:

is far from clear, just like the time in which he lived. Power is a burden that must be carried, and the better it is, the more opposition there will be. This happened with Ivan IV when he “modernized” the country. This is what happens to his legacy over the centuries when his deeds are thrown into the mud.

Tsar- from the Latin caesar - sole sovereign, emperor, as well as the official title of the monarch. In the Old Russian language, this Latin word sounded like tsesar - “tsar”.

Initially, this was the name given to the Roman and Byzantine emperors, hence the Slavic name of the Byzantine capital - Tsargrad, Tsargrad. After the Mongol-Tatar invasion in Rus', this word in written monuments also began to designate the Tatar khans.

Royal crown

In the narrow sense of the word “tsar” is the main title of the monarchs of Russia from 1547 to 1721. But this title was used much earlier in the form of “cesar” and then “tsar”; it was used sporadically by the rulers of Rus' starting from the 12th century, and systematically from the time of Grand Duke Ivan III (most often in diplomatic communication). In 1497, Ivan III crowned his grandson Dmitry Ivanovich as tsar, who was declared heir but then imprisoned. The next ruler after Ivan III, Vasily III, was pleased with the old title “Grand Duke”. But his son Ivan IV the Terrible, upon reaching adulthood, was crowned tsar (in 1547), thus establishing in the eyes of his subjects his prestige as a sovereign ruler and heir to the Byzantine emperors.

In 1721, Peter I the Great adopted the title “emperor” as his main title. However, the title “tsar” continued to be used unofficially and semi-officially until the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II in February 1917.

The title “Tsar” was used, in particular, in the national anthem of the Russian Empire, and the word, if it referred to the Russian monarch, was supposed to be written with a capital letter.

In addition, the title “Tsar” was included in the official full titulature as the title of the ruler of the former Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian khanates, and then Poland.

In Russian usage of the 19th century, especially among the common people, this word sometimes meant the monarch in general.

The territory that is under the control of the king is called a kingdom.

Titles of the royal family:

Queen- a reigning person or the king's wife.

Tsarevich- son of the Tsar and Tsarina (before Peter I).

Tsesarevich- male heir, full title - Heir Tsesarevich, abbreviated in Tsarist Russia to Heir (with a capital letter) and rarely to Tsesarevich.

Tsesarevna- wife of the Tsarevich.

During the imperial period, a son who was not an heir had the title Grand Duke. The latter title was also used by grandchildren (male line).

Princess- daughter of a king or queen.

Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible - Grand Duke of Moscow, Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Rus'

Years of life 1530-1584

Reign 1533-1584

Father - Vasily Ivanovich, Grand Duke of Moscow.

Mother - Grand Duchess Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya.

Ivan (John) the Terrible - Grand Duke from 1533 and Russian Tsar from 1547 - was a controversial and extraordinary personality.

Reign Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible It was very stormy. The future “formidable king” ascended the throne after the death of his father, Vasily III Ivanovich, only three years old. His mother, Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya, became the real ruler of Rus'.

Her short-lived (only four years) reign was accompanied by brutal infighting and intrigue among her fellow boyars - former appanage princes and their associates.

Elena Glinskaya immediately took drastic measures against the boyars who were dissatisfied with her. She made peace with Lithuania and decided to fight the Crimean Tatars who were attacking Russian possessions, but during preparations for war she died suddenly.

After the death of Grand Duchess Elena Glinskaya, power passed into the hands of the boyars. Vasily Vasilyevich Shuisky became the eldest among Ivan’s guardians. This boyar, who was already over 50 years old, married Princess Anastasia, a cousin of the young Grand Duke Ivan.

The future formidable king, in his own words, grew up in “negligence.” The boyars cared little about the boy. Ivan and his younger brother, deaf and mute from birth, Yuri, even suffered from lack of clothing and food. All this embittered and outraged the teenager. Ivan retained an unkind attitude towards his guardians throughout his life.

The boyars did not initiate Ivan into their affairs, but kept a vigilant eye on his affections and were in a hurry to remove Ivan’s possible friends and associates from the palace. Having reached adulthood, Ivan more than once recalled his orphan childhood with bitterness. The ugly scenes of boyar self-will and violence, among which Ivan grew up, made him nervous and timid. The child suffered a terrible nervous shock when the Shuisky boyars broke into his bedroom one day at dawn, woke him up and scared him. Over the years, Ivan developed suspicion and distrust of all people.

Ivan IV the Terrible

Ivan developed quickly physically; at the age of 13 he was already a real big guy. Those around him were amazed by Ivan’s violence and violent temper. At the age of 12, he climbed onto the peaked towers and pushed cats and dogs out of there - “a dumb creature.” At the age of 14, he began to “drop little men.” These bloody amusements greatly amused the future “great sovereign.” In his youth, Ivan misbehaved in every possible way and a lot. With a gang of peers - children of the noblest boyars - he rode through the streets and squares of Moscow, trampled people with horses, beat and robbed the common people - “jumping and running around indecently.”

The boyars did not pay any attention to the future king. They were engaged in disposing of state lands in their favor and plundering the state treasury. However, Ivan began to show his unbridled and vindictive character.

At the age of 13, he ordered the hounds to beat his teacher V.I. Shuisky to death. He appointed the Glinsky princes (mother's relatives) as the most important over all other boyar and princely families. At the age of 15, Ivan sent his army against the Kazan Khan, but that campaign was unsuccessful.

Royal wedding

In June 1547, a terrible Moscow fire caused a popular revolt against the relatives of Ivan’s mother, the Glinskys, to whose charms the crowd attributed the disaster. The riot was pacified, but the impressions from it, according to Ivan the Terrible, brought “fear” into his “soul and trembling into his bones.”

The fire almost coincided with Ivan's crowning, which for the first time was then combined with the sacrament of Confirmation.

Crowning of Ivan the Terrible in 1547

Royal wedding - a solemn ceremony borrowed by Russia from Byzantium, during which future emperors were dressed in royal clothes and a crown (diadem) was placed on them. In Russia, the “first-crowned” is the grandson of Ivan III Dmitry, he was married to the “great reign of Vladimir and Moscow and Novgorod” on February 4, 1498.

On January 16, 1547, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan IV the Terrible was crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin with the cap of Monomakh, with the placement of a barm, a cross, a chain and the presentation of a scepter. (At the coronation of Tsar Boris Godunov, the awarding of an orb as a symbol of power was added.)

Barmy – a precious mantle, decorated with images of religious content, was worn during the wedding of the Russian tsars.

Power – one of the symbols of royal power in Muscovite Rus', a golden ball with a cross on top.

Scepter – rod, one of the attributes of royal power.

Scepter (1) and orb (2) of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and princely barmas (3)

The church sacrament of Confirmation shocked the young king. Ivan IV suddenly realized himself as “abbot of all Rus'.” And this awareness from that moment largely guided his personal actions and government decisions. With the crowning of Ivan IV, for the first time in Russia there appeared not only a Grand Duke, but also a crowned tsar - the anointed one of God, the sole ruler of the country.

Conquest of the Kazan Khanate

The royal title allowed Grand Duke Ivan IV to take a completely different position in diplomatic relations with Western Europe. The title of grand duke in the West was translated as “prince” or even “grand duke”, and the title “tsar” was either not translated at all, or translated as “emperor” - the sole ruler. The Russian autocrat thereby stood on a par with the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.

When Ivan turned 17, the influence of the Glinsky princes on him ceased. Sylvester, Ivan’s confessor, archpriest of the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, began to strongly influence the tsar. He managed to convince the young king of the possibility of saving the country from all sorts of disasters with the help of new advisers, who were selected on the instructions of Sylvester and formed a special circle that essentially performed the functions of the government. This circle was named by one of its members, Prince Andrey Kurbsky, "The Chosen Rada".

Since 1549, together with his friends and associates, the so-called “Chosen Rada”, which included A.F. Adashev, Metropolitan Macarius, A.M. Kurbsky, priest Sylvester, Ivan IV carried out a number of reforms aimed at centralizing the state.

He carried out the Zemstvo reform, and reforms were carried out in the army. In 1550 a new Code of Law of Ivan IV.

In 1549, the first Zemsky Sobor was convened, and in 1551 the Stoglavy Sobor, consisting of representatives of the church, which adopted a collection of 100 decisions on church life "Stoglav".

In 1550-1551, Ivan the Terrible personally took part in campaigns against Kazan, which at that time was Mohammedan, and converted its inhabitants to Orthodoxy.

In 1552, the Kazan Khanate was conquered. Then the Astrakhan Khanate submitted to the Moscow state. This happened in 1556.

In honor of the conquest of the Kazan Khanate, Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of a cathedral in honor of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Red Square in Moscow, known to everyone as St Basil's Church.

Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral)

Over the years, the tsar began to believe that the strengthening of his sovereign power also strengthened the power of his entourage, who “began to go AWOL.” The Tsar accused his closest associates, Adashev and Sylvester, of being in charge of everything themselves, and he was being “led along like a young man.” The divergence of opinions revealed the question of the direction of further actions in foreign policy. Ivan the Terrible wanted to wage a war for Russia’s access to the Baltic Sea, and members of his “rada” wanted further advancement to the southeast.

In 1558, it began, as Ivan the Terrible intended, Livonian War. It was supposed to confirm that the king was right, but the successes of the first years of the war gave way to defeats.

The death of his wife Anastasia in 1560 and the slander of her relatives forced the king to suspect his former associates of malicious intent and poisoning of the queen. Adashev died at the moment of the reprisal being prepared against him. Archpriest Sylvester, by order of Ivan the Terrible, was tonsured and exiled to the Solovetsky Monastery.

The “Chosen Rada” ceased to exist. The second period of Ivan the Terrible's reign began, when he began to rule absolutely autocratically, without listening to anyone's advice.

In 1563, Russian troops captured Polotsk, at that time a large Lithuanian fortress. The Tsar was proud of this victory, won after the break with the “Chosen Rada”. However, already in 1564 Russia suffered serious defeats. The tsar began to look for those “to blame,” and mass disgraces and executions began.

In 1564, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, a trusted and closest friend of Ivan the Terrible, a member of the “Chosen Rada,” secretly, at night, leaving his wife and nine-year-old son, went to the Lithuanians. Not only did he betray the tsar, Kurbsky betrayed his homeland by becoming the head of Lithuanian troops in a war with his own people. Trying to portray himself as a victim, Kurbsky wrote a letter to the Tsar, justifying his betrayal by “confusion of heartfelt grief” and accusing Ivan of “torment.”

A correspondence began between the Tsar and Kurbsky. In their letters, both accused and reproached each other. The Tsar accused Kurbsky of treason and justified the cruelty of his actions by the interests of the state. Kurbsky justified himself by saying that he was forced to flee to save his own life.

Oprichnina

To put an end to the dissatisfied boyars, the tsar decided on a demonstrative “offense.” Together with his family, he left Moscow in December 1564, as if abdicating the throne, and went to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. The people, thrown into confusion, demanded that the boyars and higher clergy beg the Tsar to return. Grozny accepted the deputation and agreed to return, but under certain conditions. He outlined them when he arrived in the capital in February 1565. In essence, this was a demand to grant him dictatorial powers so that the king could, at his discretion, execute and pardon traitors and take away their property. By special decree the king proclaimed the establishment oprichnina(the name comes from the Old Russian word oprich - “except”).

Ivan the Terrible (this nickname was given to Ivan IV by the people) demanded at his disposal land holdings made up of the confiscated lands of his political enemies, and again redistributed them among those who were loyal to the tsar. Each oprichnik swore an oath of allegiance to the tsar and pledged not to communicate with the “zemskie.”

Lands not subject to redistribution were called "Zemshchina", the autocrat did not lay claim to them. "Zemshchina" was governed by the boyar duma, had an army, a judicial system and other administrative institutions. But the real power was possessed by the guardsmen, who performed the functions of the state police. About 20 cities and several volosts fell under the redistribution of land.

From his devoted “friends,” the tsar created a special army—the oprichnina—and formed courts with servants to support them. In Moscow, several streets and settlements were allocated for the guardsmen. The number of guardsmen quickly increased to 6 thousand. More and more estates were taken away for them, and the previous owners were expelled. The guardsmen received unlimited rights from the tsar, and the truth in court was always on their side.

Oprichnik

Dressed in black, on black horses with black harness and a dog's head and a broom tied to the saddle (symbols of their office), these merciless executors of the king's will terrified people with mass murders, robberies and extortions.

Many boyar families were then completely exterminated by the guardsmen, among them were the king’s relatives.

In 1570, the oprichnina army attacked Novgorod and Pskov. Ivan IV accused these cities of seeking to “become allegiance” to the Lithuanian king. The king personally led the campaign. All the cities along the road from Moscow to Novgorod were plundered. During this campaign in December 1569 Malyuta Skuratov strangled the first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Tver Otrochesky Monastery Metropolitan Philip, who publicly opposed the oprichnina and executions of Ivan IV.

In Novgorod, where no more than 30 thousand people lived at that time, 10-15 thousand people were killed; innocent Novgorodians were subjected to painful executions on suspicion of treason.

However, while dealing with their people, the guardsmen were unable to repel external enemies from Moscow. In May 1571, the army of the guardsmen showed themselves unable to resist the “Crimeans” led by Khan Devlet-Gerey, then Moscow was set on fire by the attackers and burned out.

In 1572, Ivan the Terrible abolished the oprichnina and restored the previous order, but executions in Moscow continued. In 1575, on the square near the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, 40 people were executed, participants of the Zemsky Sobor, who expressed a “special opinion”, in which Ivan IV saw a “rebellion” and a “conspiracy”.

Despite the obvious mistakes in the struggle for access to the Baltic Sea, the government of Ivan the Terrible during these years managed to establish trade relations through Arkhangelsk with England and the Netherlands. The advance of the Russian army into the lands of the Siberian Khan, which ended under the son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, was also very successful.

But Ivan IV the Terrible was not only a cruel tyrant, he was one of the most educated people of his time. He had a phenomenal memory and was an erudite in matters of theology. Ivan the Terrible is the author of numerous messages (including letters to Andrei Kurbsky, who fled Russia), the author of the music and text of the Orthodox service for the feast of Our Lady of Vladimir and the canon to Archangel Michael.

Wives and children of the Terrible Tsar

Ivan the Terrible understood that in fits of anger he committed unjustified and senseless cruelty. The king had periods not only of bestial cruelty, but also of bitter repentance. Then he began to pray a lot, make thousands of prostrations, put on black monastic robes, and refused food and wine. But the time of religious repentance was again replaced by terrible attacks of rage and anger. During one of these attacks on November 9, 1582, in the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda (his country residence), the tsar accidentally killed his beloved son, the adult and married Ivan Ivanovich, hitting him in the temple with a staff with an iron tip.

The death of the heir to the throne plunged Ivan the Terrible into despair, since his other son, Fyodor Ivanovich, was little capable of ruling the country. Ivan the Terrible sent large contributions (money and gifts) to the monasteries to commemorate the soul of his son, and he himself wanted to go to the monastery, but the flattering boyars dissuaded him.

The tsar entered into his first (out of seven) marriage on February 13, 1547 - with the unborn and humble noblewoman Anastasia Romanovna, daughter of Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin-Koshkin.

Ivan IV lived with her for 13 years. His wife Anastasia gave birth to Ivan three sons (who did not die in infancy) - Fyodor Ivanovich (the future Tsar), Ivan Ivanovich (killed by Ivan the Terrible) and Dmitry (who died in adolescence in the city of Uglich) - and three daughters, giving rise to a new royal dynasty - the Romanovs.

First marriage with Anastasia Zakharyina-Yuryeva was happy for Ivan IV, and his first wife was his most beloved.

The very first (who died in infancy) son Dmitry was born to the Tsar's wife Anastasia immediately after the capture of Kazan in 1552. Ivan the Terrible vowed, in the event of his victory, to make a pilgrimage to the Kirillov Monastery on Beloozero and took his newborn baby on the journey. Tsarevich Dmitry's relatives on his mother's side - the Romanov boyars - accompanied Ivan the Terrible on this journey. And wherever the nanny appeared with the prince in her arms, she was always supported by the arms of two Romanov boyars. The royal family traveled on pilgrimage in plows - wooden, flat-bottomed ships with both sails and oars. One day, the boyars, together with their wet nurse and baby, stepped onto the shaky gangplank of a plow and all immediately fell into the water. Baby Dmitry choked in the water, and it was never possible to pump him out.

The king's second wife was the daughter of a Kabardian prince Maria Temryukovna.

Third wife - Marfa Sobakina, who died completely unexpectedly three weeks after the wedding. Most likely, the king poisoned her, although he swore that the new wife was poisoned before the wedding.

According to church rules, it was forbidden for any person, including the tsar, to marry more than three times in Rus'. Then, in May 1572, a special church council was convened to allow Ivan the Terrible a “legal” fourth marriage - with Anna Koltovskaya. However, that same year, shortly after the wedding, she was tonsured a nun.

She became the king's fifth wife in 1575 Anna Vasilchikova, died in 1579.

Sixth wife - Vasilisa Melentyeva(Vasilisa Melentyevna Ivanova).

The last, seventh marriage was concluded in the fall of 1580 with Maria Fedorovna Naga.

On November 19, 1582, Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich was born, who died in 1591 in Uglich at the age of 9, and was subsequently canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. He was supposed to become the next tsar after Ivan the Terrible. If Tsarevich Dmitry had not died as a boy, perhaps there would not have been the so-called Time of Troubles in Rus'. But, as they say, history does not tolerate subjunctive moods.

Sorcerers of Ivan the Terrible

In Muscovite Rus', foreign doctors were for a long time mistaken for warlocks capable of knowing the future. And, I must say, there was every reason for that. When treating a patient, foreign doctors then certainly “checked” with the stars and drew up astrological horoscopes, which were used to determine whether the patient would recover or die.

One of these astrologer doctors was the personal physician of Tsar Ivan the Terrible Bomelius Elysius, originally from Holland or Belgium.

Bomelius came to Russia to seek money and happiness and soon found access to the Tsar, who made him his personal “doctor.” In Moscow, Elisius began to be called Elisha Bomelius.

The Russian chronicler wrote very impartially about Bomelius: “The Germans sent a fierce sorcerer, called Elisha, to the Tsar, and he was to be... close.”

This “doctor Elisha,” who was popularly considered a “fierce sorcerer and heretic,” deliberately passed himself off as a magician (sorcerer). Noticing fear and suspicion of those around him in the king, Bomelius tried in every possible way to support this painful state of mind in Grozny. Bomelius often gave the tsar advice on many political issues and destroyed many boyars with his slander.

On the instructions of Ivan the Terrible, Bomelius prepared poisons, from which the boyars suspected of treason later died in terrible agony at royal feasts. Moreover, the “fierce sorcerer” Bomelius composed poisonous potions with such skill that, as they say, the person being poisoned died at the exact time appointed by the king.

Bomelius served the Tsar as a doctor-poisoner for more than twenty years. But, in the end, he himself was suspected of conspiring with the Polish king Stefan Batory, and in the summer of 1575, on the orders of Ivan the Terrible, he was, according to legend, roasted alive on a huge spit.

It must be said that all sorts of fortunetellers, magi, and sorcerers were not transferred to the king’s court until his death. In the last year of his life, Ivan the Terrible kept with him more than sixty soothsayers, fortune-tellers and astrologers! The English envoy Jerome Horsey wrote that in the last year of his life “the king was busy only with the revolutions of the sun,” wanting to know the date of his death.

Ivan the Terrible demanded that his predictors answer the question of when he would die. And the Magi, without talking to each other, “set” the day of the king’s death on March 18, 1584.

However, on the “appointed” day of March 18, 1584, in the morning, Ivan the Terrible felt more than fine and in terrible anger ordered to prepare a large fire in order to burn alive all his would-be soothsayers who had deceived him. The Magi then prayed and asked the king to wait until the evening with the execution, for “the day will end only when the sun sets.” Ivan the Terrible agreed to wait.

After taking a bath, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, Ivan the Terrible decided to play chess with the boyar Belsky. The king himself began to place chess pieces on the board and then he was struck by a blow. Ivan the Terrible suddenly lost consciousness and fell backward, clutching the king's last unplaced chess piece in his hand.

Less than an hour passed before Ivan the Terrible died. Soon after his death, all the royal soothsayers were released. Ivan IV the Terrible was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Fyodor Ivanovich - Blessed, Tsar and Sovereign of All Rus'

Years of life 1557-1598

Reigned 1584-1598

Father - Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, autocrat, tsar.

Mother - Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yuryeva, sister of Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin and aunt of his son, Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, known as Patriarch Filaret. (Fyodor Nikitich Romanov is the father of Mikhail Romanov, the first Russian Tsar of the Romanov dynasty.)

Tsar Fedor Ivanovich born on May 31, 1557 in Moscow and was the third eldest son of Ivan the Terrible. He ascended the throne at the age of 27 after the death of his father Ivan the Terrible. Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich was short and plump, he always smiled, moved slowly and seemed constrained.

On the very first night after the death of Ivan IV, the Supreme Boyar Duma expelled from Moscow the people who had participated in the villainous deeds of the late sovereign; some of them were put in prison.

The boyars swore allegiance to the new Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich (Ioannovich). The next morning, messengers dispersed through the streets of Moscow, informing the people of the death of the formidable sovereign and the accession of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich to the throne.

Boyar Boris Godunov immediately decided to approach the new sovereign. This was not difficult to do, since he was the brother of Tsar Fedor’s wife, Irina Fedorovna Godunova. After Fyodor's crowning of the kingdom, which took place on May 31, 1584, Godunov was gifted with royal favor unprecedented until that time. Together with the title of the closest great boyar (as well as the governor of the Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms), he received the best lands on the banks of the Moscow River and the opportunity to collect various fees in addition to his usual salary. All this brought Godunov an income of about 900 thousand silver rubles a year. None of the boyars had such income.

Tsar Feodor Ivanovich

Fyodor Ivanovich loved his wife very much, so he also saw only good things in her brother; he trusted Godunov unconditionally. Boris Fedorovich Godunov became, in essence, the sole ruler of Russia.

Tsar Fedor did not even try to take an interest in the affairs of the state. He got up very early, received his spiritual father in his chambers, then the clerk with the icon of the saint whose day was now celebrated, the king kissed the icon, then after a long prayer he began to have a hearty breakfast. And all day the sovereign either prayed, or spoke affectionately to his wife, or talked with the boyars about trifles. In the evening he loved to have fun with the court jesters and dwarfs. After dinner, the king again prayed for a long time and went to bed. He regularly went on pilgrimages to holy monasteries and Orthodox monasteries, accompanied by a whole retinue of bodyguards assigned to the Tsar and his wife Godunov.

Meanwhile, Boris Godunov himself was dealing with important issues of foreign and domestic policy. The reign of Fyodor Ivanovich was peaceful, since neither the Tsar nor Boris Godunov liked war. Only once did Russian troops have to take up arms, in 1590, to recapture Korela, Ivan-Gorod, Koporye and Yama from the Swedes, captured under Ivan the Terrible.

Godunov always remembered the young Tsarevich Dmitry (son of Ivan the Terrible), exiled to Uglich with his mother, and understood perfectly well that he would not remain in power if Fyodor Ivanovich suddenly died. After all, then Dmitry will be declared the successor to the throne as the son of Ivan IV, the legal heir to the throne and the successor of the Rurikovich family.

The cunning Godunov then began to spread rumors about Dmitry’s incurable illness, about the boy’s cruelty towards animals and people. Boris tried to convince everyone that Dmitry was as bloodthirsty as his father.

Tragedy in Uglich

Tsarevich Dmitry born two years before the death of his father, Ivan the Terrible. In Uglich, Boris Godunov assigned his informer, Mikhailo Bityagovsky, to monitor the prince and his mother.

Tsarevich Dmitry suffered from epilepsy from birth, causing him to fall to the ground at times and suffer from convulsions. Under unclear circumstances, on May 15, 1591, he died in Uglich, at the age of nine.

Together with his nanny, Dmitry went for a walk in the yard, where at that moment other children were playing “poke” (knives were stuck in for accuracy). What happened at that moment in the yard is still unknown to anyone for certain. Perhaps Tsarevich Dmitry was killed by one of the children playing or nearby servants (killed on the orders of Boris Godunov).

Or he had a seizure, Dmitry fell to the ground and accidentally cut his own throat. Kolobov, who was playing with the prince Petrusha, later said this: “... The prince was playing “poke” with a knife... and an illness came upon him, an epileptic illness, and he attacked the knife.”

There is a third version: another boy was killed in Uglich, but Tsarevich Dmitry remained alive, but this version is the most unlikely.

The people who came running saw the mother and nurse crying over the body of the prince on the porch of the palace, shouting out the names of the murderers sent by Godunov. The crowd dealt with Bityagovsky and his assistant Kachalov.

Tsarevich Dmitry

A messenger was sent to Moscow with tragic news. The messenger from Uglich was met by Godunov and, perhaps, replaced the letter, which stated that the prince had been killed. In the letter that was handed to Tsar Fedor from Boris Godunov, it was written that Dmitry, in a fit of epilepsy, himself fell on a knife and stabbed himself.

An investigative commission headed by Prince Vasily Shuisky, which arrived from Moscow, questioned everyone for a long time and decided that an accident had occurred. Soon the mother of the stabbed Tsarevich Dmitry was tonsured a nun.

Cancellation of St. George's Day and the introduction of the patriarchate

Soon, in June 1591, the Crimean Khan Kazy-Girey attacked Moscow. In letters sent to the Tsar, he assured the Tsar that he was going to fight with Lithuania, and he himself came close to Moscow.

Boris Godunov opposed Khan Kazy-Girey and in battles that took place right on the fields around Moscow, he managed to defeat the Tatars. In memory of this event, a stone was laid in Moscow Donskoy Monastery, where they placed the icon of the Don Mother of God, who once helped Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo Field and Godunov in the battle of Moscow.

In June 1592, the wife of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich and Tsarina Irina had a daughter, but the girl did not live long and died in infancy. The unfortunate parents bitterly mourned the death of the princess, and the entire capital mourned with them.

In the winter of 1592, Boris Godunov, on behalf of Tsar Fedor, sent large troops on a military campaign against Finland. They successfully reached the borders of Finland, burned out several cities and villages, and captured thousands of Swedes. A two-year truce with the Swedes was concluded a year later, and an eternal peace with Sweden was concluded on May 18, 1595.

The reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich became memorable for Russians for the abolition of the day when the transfer of peasants from one landowner to another was allowed, when in the fall, in St. George's day, they left the owner. Now peasants, having worked for one owner for more than six months, became his complete property. In memory of this decree, a popular saying appeared: “Here’s St. George’s Day for you, grandma!”

Patriarch Job

Under Fyodor Ivanovich, the patriarchate was introduced in Russia, and the metropolitan became the first patriarch of all Rus' in 1589 Job. This innovation was the only decision not of Godunov, but of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich himself. This happened due to the fact that after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the patriarch of the Eastern Empire lost its significance. By that time, the Russian Church was already independent. Two years later, the Council of Eastern Patriarchs approved Russian Patriarchate.

Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, nicknamed the Blessed, died on January 7, 1598. He was ill for a long time and seriously, and died quietly and unnoticed. Before his death, Fedor said goodbye to his beloved wife. He did not name anyone as his successor, trusting in God's will.

Boris Godunov announced to his subjects that the sovereign had left his wife to reign, and as advisers to her the Patriarch Job, the Tsar’s cousin Fyodor Nikitich and Boris Godunov’s brother-in-law.

Historian N.M. Karamzin wrote: “This is how the famous Varangian generation, to whom Russia owes its existence, name and greatness, was cut short on the throne of Moscow... The sad capital soon learned that, along with Irina, the throne of the Monomakhs was widowed; that the crown and scepter lie idle on him; that Russia does not have a king, nor does it have a queen.”

The last representative of the Rurik dynasty was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Boris Godunov - Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Rus'

Years of life 1551-1605

Reign 1598-1605

The Godunov family descended from the Tatar Murza Chet, who settled in Rus' in the 15th century and converted to Orthodoxy. Wife Boris Fedorovich Godunov was the daughter of the notorious executioner Malyuta Skuratov - Maria. The children of Boris Godunov and Maria are Fedor and Ksenia.

On the ninth day after the death of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, his widow Irina announced that she was renouncing the kingdom and entering a monastery. The Duma, nobles and all citizens persuaded the queen not to leave the throne, but Irina was adamant in her decision, leaving power to the boyars and the patriarch until the start of the Great Council in Moscow of all ranks of the Russian state. The queen retired to the Novodevichy Convent and took monastic vows under the name of Alexandra. Russia was left without power.

The Boyar Duma began to decide what to do in this situation. Patriarch Job turned to Boris, calling him the chosen one from above, and offered him the crown. But Godunov pretended that he never dreamed of the throne; he never succumbed to persuasion, decisively refusing the throne.

The Patriarch and the boyars began to wait Zemsky Sobor(Great Council), which was to take place in Moscow six weeks after the death of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. The state was ruled by the Duma.

The State Zemsky Great Cathedral began work on February 17, 1598. In addition to the noble Moscow boyars, it was attended by more than 500 elected people from different regions of Russia. Patriarch Job reported to the Council that the sovereign died without leaving an heir, his wife and Boris Godunov refused to rule. The Patriarch introduced everyone to the opinion of the Moscow Council on the transfer of power to Godunov. The State Council agreed with the proposal of the Moscow boyars and the patriarch.

The next day, the Great Council knelt and prayed in the Church of the Assumption. And this continued for two more days. But Boris Godunov, while in the monastery, still refused the royal crown. Queen Irina blessed Boris to reign, and only then Godunov agreed to reign, to the general joy of those gathered. Patriarch Job blessed Boris right in the Novodevichy Monastery and declared him king.

Godunov began to reign, but was still an unmarried sovereign. Boris decided to postpone the royal wedding. He had known for a long time that Khan Kazy-Girey was again going to march on Moscow. Godunov ordered to gather an army and prepare everything for a campaign against the khan.

On May 2, 1598, Godunov, at the head of a huge army, went beyond the walls of the capital. On the banks of the Oka River they stopped and waited. The Russian soldiers camped for six weeks, but Kazy-Girey’s troops were still missing.

Boris Godunov

At the end of June, Boris received the khan's ambassadors in his camp tent, who conveyed a message from Kazy-Girey about the desire to conclude an eternal alliance with Russia. The troops returned to the capital. In Moscow they were greeted as victors, who frightened the Tatars with their very appearance and thereby saved the state from a new invasion.

After returning from the campaign, Boris was crowned king. In honor of the wedding, people in rural areas were exempt from taxes for a whole year, and service people received double salary all year. Merchants traded duty free for two years. The king constantly helped widows, orphans, the poor and the crippled.

There were no wars, trade and culture developed. It seemed that the time had come for prosperity in Russia. Tsar Boris managed to establish friendly relations with England, Constantinople, Persia, Rome and Florence.

However, since 1601, terrible events began in the country. There were long rains that year, and then early frosts struck, destroying everything that had grown in the fields. And the next year the harvest failed again. The famine in the country lasted three years, and the price of bread increased 100 times.

The famine had a very serious impact on Moscow.

A stream of refugees from surrounding towns and villages poured into the capital because Boris Godunov organized a free distribution of bread from the state treasury in the capital. In 1603, 60-80 thousand people received “royal alms” in Moscow every day. But soon the authorities were forced to admit their powerlessness in the fight against hunger, and then in Moscow, approximately 127 thousand people died from a terrible famine in 2.5 years.

People began to say that this was God’s punishment. And the famine is due to the fact that Boris’s reign is illegal and therefore not blessed by God. In 1601-1602, Godunov, in order to strengthen his position, even went to the temporary restoration of St. George’s Day, but this did not increase love for the Tsar. Popular riots began everywhere in the country. The most serious was the uprising in 1603, led by Ataman Cotton. The tsarist troops suppressed the rebellion, but they failed to completely calm the country.

Approach of False Dmitry

At that time, many rich people set free their servants (slaves) so as not to feed them, which is why crowds of homeless and hungry people appeared everywhere. Robber gangs began to be created from slaves who were released or who fled without permission.

Most of these gangs were on the western outskirts of the state, which was then called Seversk Ukraine and where previously criminals were often exiled from Moscow. Thus, on the western outskirts of the country, huge crowds of hungry and angry people appeared, who were only waiting for an opportunity to unite and rebel against Moscow. And such an opportunity was not long in coming. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Poland), an impostor tsar suddenly appeared - False Dmitry.

There have long been rumors in Russia that the real Tsarevich Dmitry is alive, and these rumors were very persistent. Godunov was frightened by the threat hanging over him and wanted to know who was spreading these rumors. He created a system of surveillance, denunciations and went so far as to punish those who spread rumors.

Many famous boyar families then suffered from royal persecution. Particularly suffered were the representatives of the Romanov family, who had more than others the right to the royal throne. Fyodor Romanov, the cousin of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, posed the greatest danger to Boris Godunov. Tsar Boris forcibly imprisoned him in a monastery, where he was tonsured a monk under the name Filaret. Godunov exiled the rest of the Romanovs to various distant places. Many innocent people suffered from this persecution.

The people, exhausted by hunger and disease, blamed Tsar Boris for everything. In order to keep people busy, to give people work, Boris Godunov began several large construction projects in Moscow, the Reserve Palace began to be built, and at the same time they began to complete the Bell tower of Ivan the Great- the tallest bell tower in Russia.

However, many hungry people gathered into bands of robbers and robbed on all the main roads. And when the news appeared about the miraculously surviving Tsarevich Dmitry, who would soon come to Moscow and sit on the throne, the people did not doubt for a minute the veracity of this news.

At the beginning of 1604, the tsar's entourage intercepted a letter from a foreigner from Narva, in which it was reported that Tsarevich Dmitry, who had miraculously escaped, was living with the Cossacks, and that great disasters and misfortunes would soon befall Russia. As a result of the search, it was found that the impostor was the nobleman Grigory Otrepiev, who fled to Poland in 1602.

The head of the bell tower of Ivan the Great and the inscription with the names of Boris and Fyodor Godunov

On October 16, 1604, False Dmitry, accompanied by Poles and Cossacks, moved towards Moscow. The people were full of enthusiasm and did not listen to the speeches of even the Moscow Patriarch, who said that an impostor and a deceiver was coming.

In January 1605, Godunov sent an army against the impostor, which defeated False Dmitry. The impostor was forced to leave for Putivl. His strength lay not in the army, but in the popular belief that he was the rightful heir to the throne, and Cossacks and fugitive peasants began to flock to False Dmitry from all over Russia.

On April 13, 1605, unexpectedly healthy-looking Boris Godunov complained of lightheadedness. They called a doctor, but the king was getting worse and worse every minute, and bleeding started coming from his ears and nose. Boris managed to name his son Fyodor as his successor and lost consciousness. He died soon after. Boris Godunov was buried first in the Varsonofevsky Monastery in Moscow, and later, by order of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, his ashes were transferred to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

Fedor Godunov - Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Rus'

Years of life 1589-1605

Year of reign 1605

Father - Boris Fedorovich Godunov, Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Rus'.

Mother - Maria, daughter of Malyuta Skuratov (Grigory Lukyanovich Skuraty-Belsky).

Son of Boris Godunov Fedor Borisovich Godunov was an intelligent and educated young man who was liked by everyone around him. The boyars and those close to him swore allegiance to the young heir to the throne, but behind his back they quietly said that Fedor would not reign for long. Everyone was waiting for the arrival of False Dmitry.

Soon, governor Basmanov, together with his army, recognized the impostor as king and swore allegiance to False Dmitry. The army proclaimed the impostor sovereign and moved towards Moscow. People believed that they were seeing the real Tsarevich Dmitry, and greeted him all the way to the capital with joyful exclamations and bread and salt.

Fyodor Borisovich reigned for less than two months, not even having time to be crowned king. The young sovereign was then only 16 years old.

Tsar Fyodor Borisovich Godunov

On June 1, ambassadors of False Dmitry appeared in Moscow. The ringing of bells brought citizens to Red Square. The ambassadors read a letter to the people, where False Dmitry gave people his forgiveness and threatened God's judgment on those who did not want to recognize him as sovereign. Many doubted that this was the same Dmitry - the son of Ivan the Terrible. Then they called Prince Shuisky, who was investigating the death of Tsarevich Dmitry, to Lobnoye Mesto, and asked him to tell the truth about the death of the Tsarevich in Uglich. Shuisky swore and admitted that it was not the prince who was killed, but another boy - the priest’s son. The crowd of people became indignant, and the people rushed to the Kremlin to deal with the Godunovs.

Fyodor Godunov sat on the throne, hoping that when they saw him in royal garb, people would stop. But for the rushing crowd, he had already ceased to be a sovereign. The palace was looted. All the estates and houses of the boyars close to Godunov were devastated. Patriarch Job was removed, his patriarchal vestments were removed from him and he was sent to a monastery.

By order of False Dmitry, Fyodor Godunov and his mother, Maria Godunova, were strangled, but his sister Ksenia was left alive. The people were told that the Tsar and Tsarina had committed suicide. Their bodies were put on public display. They also dug up the coffin with the body of Boris Godunov. All three were buried without church rites in the poor Varsonofevsky Monastery. Subsequently, by order of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, their remains were transferred to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

Time of Troubles

Russian people call the Time of Troubles the difficult years for the Russian state at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, when our country was in a very difficult situation.

In 1584, Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich, nicknamed the Terrible for his tough temper, died in Moscow. With his death, the Time of Troubles began in Russia.

The Time of Troubles or Time of Troubles refers to many events that took place in Russia for almost 30 years, until 1613, when a new tsar, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, was popularly elected.

During the 30 years of the Troubles in Rus', so much happened!

Two impostor “kings” appeared - False Dmitry I and False Dmitry II.

The Poles and Swedes regularly made attempts - overt and covert - to take over our country. For some time in Moscow, it was as if the Poles were in charge of their own home.

The boyars went over to the side of the Polish king Sigismund III and were ready to install his son, Prince Vladislav, as Russian Tsar.

The Swedes, whom Tsar Vasily Shuisky called for help against the Poles, ruled in the north of the country. And the First Zemstvo militia under the leadership of Prokopiy Lyapunov failed.

Of course, the reign of the kings of that difficult time - Boris Godunov and Vasily Shuisky - played a significant role in the events of the Time of Troubles.

And to put an end to the Time of Troubles and ascend to the throne of a new tsar from the Romanov dynasty, chosen by all the people, two Russian heroes - the zemstvo elder from Nizhny Novgorod - helped Kuzma Minin and the prince Dmitry Pozharsky.

Tsar False Dmitry I

Years of life? – 1606

Reign 1605-1606

The origin of False Dmitry, the history of his appearance and the appropriation of the name of the son of Ivan the Terrible remain mysterious to this day and are unlikely to ever be fully explained.

Grigory Otrepiev, the son of the Galician boyar Bogdan Otrepiev, from childhood he lived in Moscow as slaves for the Romanov boyars and Prince Boris Cherkassky. Then he became a monk and, moving from one monastery to another, ended up in the Chudov Monastery in the Moscow Kremlin, where Patriarch Job took him as a scribe.

In Moscow, Grigory Otrepiev constantly boasted that he could one day become king on the Moscow throne. His words reached Boris Godunov, and he ordered Gregory to be exiled to the Kirillov Monastery. But Gregory was warned about exile, and he managed to flee to Galich, and then to Murom, from there he again moved to Moscow.

In 1602, Otrepiev fled with a certain Varlaam to Kyiv, to the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. From there, Gregory went to the city of Ostrog to Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky, then entered the service of Prince Vishnevetsky. Then he first announced to the prince about his supposed royal origin.

Prince Vishnevetsky believed the story of False Dmitry and some Russian people who allegedly identified him as the prince. False Dmitry soon became friends with the governor Yuri Mnishek from the city of Sandomierz, whose daughter, Marina Mnishek, he fell in love.

False Dmitry I

False Dmitry promised, in the event of his accession to the Russian throne, to convert Russia to Catholicism. The papal curia decided to provide the prince with all possible assistance.

On April 17, 1604, False Dmitry converted to Catholicism. King of Poland Sigismund III recognized False Dmitry and promised him 40 thousand zlotys of annual maintenance. Officially, Sigismund III did not help, he only allowed those who wanted to support the prince. For this, False Dmitry promised to give Smolensk and the Seversk land, which belonged to Russia, to Poland.

On October 13, 1604, together with a three-thousand-strong Polish-Lithuanian detachment, False Dmitry crossed the Russian border and fortified himself in the city of Putivl.

Many in Rus' also believed the deceiver and took his side. Every day Boris Godunov was informed that more and more cities were recognizing the impostor as tsar.

Godunov sent a large army against False Dmitry, but Godunov’s army had doubts: were they going against the real Dmitry, the son of Ivan the Terrible?

On April 13, 1605, Boris Godunov died unexpectedly. After the death of Boris Godunov, his entire army immediately went over to the side of False Dmitry.

On June 20, False Dmitry solemnly entered Moscow to the ringing of bells and joyful cries of those who greeted him. He rode a white horse, and to Muscovites he seemed tall and handsome, although his face was spoiled by a wide, flattened nose and a large wart on it. False Dmitry looked at the Kremlin with tears in his eyes and thanked God for saving his life.

He walked around all the cathedrals and especially bowed to the coffin of Ivan the Terrible, sincerely shedding tears, and no one doubted that he was a real prince. People were waiting for the meeting of False Dmitry with his mother Maria.

On July 18, False Dmitry was recognized by Queen Martha, the wife of Ivan the Terrible, and even by the mother of Tsarevich Dmitry herself. On July 30, 1605, False Dmitry I was crowned king.

The king's first actions were numerous favors. The disgraced boyars and princes (Godunovs, Shuiskys) were returned from exile and their estates were returned to them. Service people had their allowance doubled, and landowners were given land allotments. The peasants were allowed to leave the landowners if he did not feed them during the famine. In addition, False Dmitry simplified leaving the state.

During his short reign, the Tsar was present almost daily in the Duma (Senate) and participated in disputes and decisions on state affairs. He willingly accepted petitions and often walked around the city, communicating with artisans, merchants and ordinary people.

For himself, he ordered the building of a new rich palace, where he often held feasts and walked with the courtiers. One of the weaknesses of False Dmitry I was women, including the wives and daughters of boyars, who actually became the tsar’s concubines. Among them was even the daughter of Boris Godunov, Ksenia, who was later exiled by False Dmitry I to a monastery, where she gave birth to a son.

Murder of False Dmitry I

However, soon the Moscow boyars were very surprised that the “legitimate Tsar Dmitry” did not observe Russian customs and rituals. Imitating the Polish king, False Dmitry I renamed the boyar Duma into the Senate, made changes to the palace ceremonies and very soon emptied the treasury with expenses for the maintenance of the Polish and German guards, for entertainment and for gifts to the Polish king.

Fulfilling his promise to marry Marina Mnishek, on November 12, 1605, False Dmitry I invited her and his retinue to Moscow.

Soon a dual situation arose in Moscow: on the one hand, the people loved him, and on the other, they began to suspect him of being an impostor. Almost from the first day, a wave of discontent swept through the capital due to the tsar’s failure to observe church fasts and violation of Russian customs in clothing and life, his disposition towards foreigners, and his promise to marry a Polish woman.

The group of dissatisfied people was headed by Vasily Shuisky, Vasily Golitsyn, Prince Kurakin, Mikhail Tatishchev, and the Kazan and Kolomna metropolitans. To kill the tsar, the archers and the killer of Fyodor Godunov, Sherefedinov, were hired. But the assassination attempt planned on January 8, 1606 failed, and its perpetrators were torn to pieces by the crowd.

On April 24, 1606, the Poles arrived at the wedding of False Dmitry I with Marina Mnishek - about 2 thousand people - noble nobles, lords, princes and their retinue, to whom False Dmitry allocated huge sums for gifts and presents.

On May 8, 1606, Marina Mniszech was crowned queen, and their wedding took place. During the multi-day celebration, False Dmitry I retired from government affairs. At this time, the Poles in Moscow, in a drunken revelry, broke into Moscow houses, rushed at women, and robbed passers-by. The conspirators decided to take advantage of this.

On May 14, 1606, Vasily Shuisky gathered merchants and servicemen loyal to him, together with whom he drew up a plan of action against the insolent Poles. The houses in which they live were marked. The conspirators decided to sound the alarm on Saturday and call on the people, under the pretext of protecting the king, to revolt. Shuisky, on behalf of the tsar, changed the guards in the palace, ordered the prisons to be opened and issued weapons to the crowd.

Marina Mnishek

On May 17, 1606, the conspirators entered Red Square with an armed crowd. False Dmitry tried to escape, jumped out of the window onto the pavement, where the archers picked him up alive and hacked him to death.

The body of False Dmitry I was dragged to Red Square, his clothes were taken off, a mask was placed on his chest, and a pipe was stuck in his mouth. For two days, Muscovites cursed at the body, and then buried it in the old cemetery behind the Serpukhov Gate.

But soon rumors spread that “miracles were being done” over the grave thanks to the magic of the dead False Dmitry I. His body was dug up, burned and, after mixing ashes with gunpowder, they fired from a cannon in the direction from which he came - to the West.

False Dmitry II

False Dmitry II, often called Tushino thief(his year and place of birth are unknown - he died on December 21, 1610 near Kaluga), - the second impostor posing as the son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry. His real name and origin have not been established.

Immediately after the death of False Dmitry I, Mikhail Molchanov (one of the murderers of Fyodor Godunov), who fled from Moscow towards the western border, began to spread rumors that another person had been killed in the Kremlin instead of “Dmitry”, and the tsar himself had escaped.

Many people were interested in the appearance of a new impostor, both those associated with the old one and those not satisfied with the power of Vasily Shuisky.

False Dmitry II first appeared in 1607 in the Belarusian town of Propoisk, where he was captured as a spy. In prison, he called himself Andrei Andreevich Nagim, a relative of the murdered Tsar Dmitry, hiding from Shuisky, and asked to be sent to the town of Starodub. From Starodub he began to spread rumors that Dmitry was alive and was there. When they began to ask who Dmitry was, friends pointed to “Nagogo”. At first he denied it, but when the townspeople threatened him with torture, he called himself Dmitry.

Supporters began to gather at False Dmitry II in Starodub. These were various Polish adventurers, South Russian nobles, Cossacks and the remnants of the defeated army Ivan Bolotnikova.

Tushino thief

When about 3,000 soldiers gathered, False Dmitry II defeated the royal troops near the city of Kozelsk. In May 1608, False Dmitry II defeated Shuisky's troops near Volkhov, and in early June he approached Moscow. He became a camp in the village of Tushino near Moscow (that’s why he was nicknamed the Tushino Thief).

Having learned that Marina Mnishek was released to Poland, False Dmitry II recaptured her from the tsarist army. Once in the camp of False Dmitry II, Marina Mnishek allegedly recognized him as her husband, False Dmitry I.

On April 1, 1609, False Dmitry II came out to the people in a royal hat, shining with numerous diamonds burning in the sun. It was from then on that the saying began: “The thief’s cap burns.”

In the summer of 1609, the troops of the Polish king Sigismund III openly invaded the territory of Muscovite Rus' and besieged Smolensk. Royal envoys arrived in Tushino and invited the Poles and Russians to leave the impostor and go into the service of Sigismund. Many warriors followed this call. The Tushino thief was left almost without an army and without his followers. Then the impostor, in disguise, fled from Tushino to Kaluga, where Marina Mnishek also came for him.

On December 11, 1610, near Kaluga, the Tushinsky thief was killed while hunting by baptized Tatars Peter Urusov, who cut his shoulder with a saber, and his younger brother, who cut off False Dmitry II's head. Thus, Urusov took revenge on the impostor for the execution of his friend, the Tatar king of Kasimov - Uraz-Magomet.

And a few days after the death of the Tushinsky thief, Marina Mnishek gave birth to his son Ivan - “the little crow,” as he was called in Rus'. But the ex-wife of False Dmitry I, Marina Mnishek, did not long grieve for the Tushinsky thief. She soon became friends with the Cossack ataman Ivan Zarutsky.

Vasily Shuisky - Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Rus'

Years of life 1552-1612

Reign 1606-1610

Father - Prince Ivan Andreevich Shuisky from the family of Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod princes, a descendant of Prince Andrei Yaroslavich, brother of Alexander Nevsky.

The plot to overthrow False Dmitry I was led by a boyar Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky, whom the conspiratorial boyars “shouted out” as the new king. But Vasily Shuisky himself was also quite a deceiver.

In 1591, Shuisky headed the commission of inquiry in Uglich into the death of Tsarevich Dmitry. Then Shuisky swore that Dmitry died due to his illness.

Immediately after the death of Boris Godunov, Shuisky went over to the side of False Dmitry I and again swore before all the people that False Dmitry I was the real Tsarevich Dmitry.

And then Shuisky led a conspiracy to overthrow the “real prince.”

Having become king, Shuisky publicly swore for the third time, this time that Tsarevich Dmitry really died as a child, but not because of illness, but was killed on the orders of Boris Godunov.

In a word, Vasily Shuisky always said what was beneficial to him, which is why the people did not like Shuisky, they considered him not a national, but only a “boyar” king.

Shuisky had two wives: Princess Elena Mikhailovna Repnina and Princess Ekaterina Petrovna Buinosova-Rostovskaya; from his second marriage daughters were born - Anna and Anastasia.

Even under Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky received the rank of boyar. He did not shine with military successes and had no influence on the sovereign. He was in the shadow of other boyars, wiser and more talented.

Shuisky was elected to the kingdom by the boyars and the crowd bribed by them, gathered on Moscow's Red Square on May 19, 1606. Such an election was illegal, but this did not bother any of the boyars.

Vasily Shuisky, upon his accession to the throne - Tsar Vasily IV Ivanovich Shuisky, was crowned king on June 1, 1606 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Tsar Vasily Shuisky

In August 1607, the Poles made a new attempt at a disguised intervention in Muscovite Rus', this time with the participation of False Dmitry II. An attempt to remove Polish troops from the country through diplomatic means failed. And in February 1609, Shuisky’s government concluded an agreement with the Swedish king Charles IX, according to which Sweden gave Russia mercenary troops (mainly Germans and Swedes), which were paid for by Russia. For this, Shuisky's government ceded part of Russian territory to Sweden, and this led to the capture of Pskov and Novgorod by the Swedes.

Poland at that time was at war with Sweden. And the Polish king Sigismund III saw the invitation of the Swedes to Russia as an unacceptable strengthening of his enemy. Without hesitation, he invaded Russian lands with an army of thousands, and Polish troops were quickly approaching Moscow.

The Russian-Swedish army was commanded by the Tsar's brother, Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky. Near the village of Klushino (which was located between Vyazma and Mozhaisk), Skopin-Shuisky’s troops were completely defeated by the Poles.

The defeat at Klushino caused a storm of indignation among the people and among the nobles. This defeat was the reason for the removal of Vasily Shuisky from power.

In the summer of 1610, the boyars and nobles overthrew Shuisky from the throne and forced him to become a monk. The former “boyar” tsar was handed over to the Polish hetman (commander-in-chief) Zholkiewski, who took Shuiski to Poland. Vasily Shuisky died in 1612, in custody, in Poland, in Gostynsky Castle.

Later, his remains were taken to Russia and buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Seven Boyars and Interregnum

The boyars and nobles, enraged by the defeat of the Russian troops near Klushino, burst into the chambers of Tsar Vasily Shuisky in Moscow on July 17, 1610 and demanded that he abdicate the throne. Under threat of death, Shuisky had no choice but to agree.

The participants in the conspiracy swore to the overthrown Shuisky to “choose a sovereign with the whole earth,” but did not keep their oath.

Power in the country passed to the provisional boyar government headed by Prince Mstislavsky; this government was popularly nicknamed Seven Boyars. And historians dubbed this period of time (from 1610 to 1613, when there was no tsar in Moscow Rus') Interregnum.

In order to get rid of the threat of the Tushino thief standing near Moscow and his claims to the throne, members of the Seven Boyars decided to urgently elevate the son of the Polish king Sigismund III, the young Prince Vladislav.

In August 1610, the government of the Seven Boyars concluded an agreement with the commander-in-chief of the Polish army, Hetman Zolkiewski, that the sixteen-year-old prince Vladislav would sit on the Russian throne (provided that he accepted the Orthodox faith).

Under the pretext of defending Moscow, the boyars opened the gates to the Moscow Kremlin, and on the night of September 20-21, 1610, a Polish garrison (which included Lithuanian soldiers) under the command of Pan Gonsevsky entered the capital.

King Sigismund III

These actions of the Seven Boyars were regarded by everyone in Rus' as treason. All this served as a signal for the unification of almost all Russians with the goal of expelling the Polish invaders from Moscow and electing a new Russian Tsar not only by the boyars and princes, but “by the will of the whole earth.”

Waiting for Prince Vladislav

During the Interregnum, the position of the Moscow state seemed completely hopeless. The Poles were in Moscow and Smolensk, the Swedes in Veliky Novgorod. Numerous gangs of robbers (“thieves”) constantly killed and robbed the civilian population.

Soon, the government of the Seven Boyars was headed by boyar Mikhail Saltykov and some “trading man” Fyodor Andronov, who tried to rule the country on behalf of the absent prince Vladislav.

After the entry of Polish troops into Moscow, real power in the Moscow state was in the hands of the commander of the Polish-Lithuanian garrison Gonsevsky and several boyars who danced to his tune.

And King Sigismund III had no intention of letting his son Vladislav go to Moscow, especially since he did not want to allow him to convert to Orthodoxy. Sigismund himself dreamed of taking the Moscow throne and becoming king of Muscovite Rus', but he kept these intentions in deep secret.

Election of a new king

After the Poles were expelled from Moscow thanks to the feat Second People's Militia Under the leadership of Minin and Pozharsky, the country was ruled for several months by a provisional government headed by princes Dmitry Pozharsky and Dmitry Trubetskoy.

At the very end of December 1612, Pozharsky and Trubetskoy sent letters to the cities in which they summoned the best and most intelligent elected people from all cities and from every rank to Moscow, “for the zemstvo council and for state election.” These elected people were to elect a new king in Rus'.

A three-day strict fast was declared everywhere. Many prayer services were held in churches so that God would enlighten the elected people, and the matter of election to the kingdom would be accomplished not by human desire, but by the will of God.

The Zemsky Sobor met in January and February 1613. All segments of the population were represented, with the exception of slaves and serfs.

At the very first meetings, the electors unanimously agreed that “the Lithuanian and Swedish kings and their children and other... foreign-speaking non-Christian faiths... should not be elected to the Vladimir and Moscow states, and Marinka and her son should not be wanted for the state.”

We decided to elect one of our own. This is where disagreements began. Among the Moscow boyars, many of whom had recently been allies of the Poles or the Tushino thief, there was no worthy candidate.

They proposed Dmitry Pozharsky as king. But he decisively rejected his candidacy and was one of the first to point out the ancient family of Romanov boyars.

Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky

Pozharsky said: “Based on the nobility of the family, and the number of services to the fatherland, Metropolitan Filaret from the Romanov family would be suitable for king. But this good servant of God is now in Polish captivity and cannot become king. But he has a sixteen-year-old son, and he, by the right of the antiquity of his family and by the right of his pious upbringing by his nun mother, should become king.”

After some debate, all elected officials agreed on the candidacy of sixteen-year-old Mikhail Romanov, the son of Metropolitan Philaret. (In the world, Metropolitan Filaret was a boyar - Fyodor Nikitich Romanov. Boris Godunov forced him to become a monk, fearing that he might displace Godunov and sit on the royal throne.)

But the electors did not know how the entire Russian land would react to the very young Mikhail Romanov. Then they decided to hold something like a secret vote.

“They sent secretly... to all sorts of people to find out who they want as Tsar for the Moscow State... And in all the cities and districts, all the people have the same thought: why should Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov be the Sovereign Tsar in the Moscow State. .."

After the return of the envoys, the Zemsky Sobor, which took place on Red Square in Moscow on February 21, 1613, unanimously elected Mikhail Romanov as the new Tsar. Everyone who was on Red Square at that time shouted something like this: “Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov will be the Tsar-Sovereign of the Moscow State and the entire Russian state!”

Then, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, a prayer service was served with bells ringing, at which they sang many years to the new Tsar. An oath was taken to Sovereign Mikhail: first the boyars swore allegiance, then the Cossacks and archers.

The election document stated that Mikhail Fedorovich was desired to become king by “all Orthodox Christians of the entire Moscow state,” and his family ties with the former royal dynasty that ruled in Rus', the Rurikovichs, were indicated. Letters of notification about the election of a new king were scattered throughout the cities.

The embassy of the Zemsky Sobor went to Kostroma, to the monastery, where Mikhail Romanov was at that time with his mother nun Martha. On March 13, the embassy arrived at the Ipatiev Monastery.

And Elena Glinskaya gave birth to the long-awaited heir John, who in 1547 became the first Russian Tsar to be officially crowned on the throne.

The era of Ivan IV became the peak of development of the Moscow principality, which won a higher status of the kingdom through military and diplomatic means.

After the death of his father, three-year-old Ivan remained in the care of his mother, who died in 1538, when he was less than 8 years old. Ivan grew up in an environment of palace coups and the struggle for power among the warring boyar families. The murders, intrigues and violence that surrounded him contributed to the development of suspicion, vindictiveness and cruelty in him. Already in his youth, the tsar’s favorite idea was the idea of ​​unlimited autocratic power. In 1545, Ivan came of age and became a full-fledged ruler, and in 1547 he was crowned king.

Thanks to the transformation of Muscovy into a kingdom and the establishment of the autocratic principle of power, the policy of centralization pursued by the Moscow ruling house for centuries received its logical conclusion. Over the course of several decades, a number of internal reforms were carried out (mandatory, judicial, zemstvo, military, church, etc.), the Kazan (1547–1552) and Astrakhan (1556) khanates were conquered, a number of Russian territories on the western borders were returned, and penetration into Siberia began , Russia’s position in the international arena has strengthened, etc.

However, the well-being of the kingdom was largely undermined by the devastating and unsuccessful for Russia Livonian War (1558–1583) and the oprichnina that began in 1565.

Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich was one of the most educated people of his time, had a phenomenal memory, and was an erudite in theology. He entered the history of Russian literature as an extraordinary author of numerous letters (in particular, to A. M. Kurbsky, V. G. Gryazny). The Tsar wrote the music and text of the service for the feast of Our Lady of Vladimir, the canon to the Archangel Michael. He probably had a great influence on the compilation of a number of literary monuments of the middle XVI V. (chronicle collections; “The Sovereign’s Genealogist,” 1555; “The Sovereign’s Discharge,” 1556); played an important role in organizing book printing. On his initiative, the construction of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow was also carried out, and the paintings of the Chamber of Facets were created.

In Russian historiography, the activities of Ivan IV received contradictory assessments: pre-revolutionary historians characterized the tsar negatively, while Soviet historians emphasized the positive aspects of his activities. In the second half of the 20th century. a deeper and more specific study of the domestic and foreign policies of Ivan IV began.

Lit.: Veselovsky WITH. B. Essays on the history of the oprichnina. M., 1963; Zimin A. A. Reforms of Ivan the Terrible. M., 1960; Zimin A. A. Oprichnina legacy // On the eve of terrible upheavals: prerequisites for the first peasant war in Russia. M., 1986; Correspondence of Tsar Ivan the Terrible with Andrei Kurbsky and Vasily Gryazny. L., 1979; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www. sedmitza. ru/text/443514. html; Skrynnikov R. G. Ivan the Terrible. M., 2001; Thatsame [Electronic resource]. URL: http://militera. lib. ru/ bio/ skrynnikov_ rg/ index. html; Tikhomirov M. N. Russia in the XVI century. M., 1962; Florya B. N. Ivan the Terrible. M., 2009; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www. sedmitza. ru/text/438908. html; Schmidt S. O. The formation of the Russian autocracy. A study of the socio-political history of the time of Ivan the Terrible. M., 1973.

See also in the Presidential Library:

Belyaev I.V. Tsar and Grand Duke John IV Vasilyevich the Terrible, Moscow and All Rus'. M., 1866 ;

Valishevsky K. F. Ivan the Terrible. (1530-1584): trans. from fr. M., 1912 ;

Velichkin V. G. The conquest of Kazan by the Moscow Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible: a story from Russian history. M., 1875;

Whipper R. Yu. Ivan the Terrible. [M.], 1922 ;

Kizevetter A. A. Ivan the Terrible and his opponents. M., 1898 ;

Kurbsky A. M. The story of the Grand Duke of Moscow: (extracted from “The Works of Prince Kurbsky”). SPb. ,1913;

The traditional form of government in Russia is considered to be a monarchy. Once upon a time, part of this large country was part of Kievan Rus: the main cities (Moscow, Vladimir, Veliky Novgorod, Smolensk, Ryazan) were founded by princes, descendants of the semi-legendary Rurik. Hence the first ruling dynasty is called the Rurikovichs. But they bore the title of princes; the tsars of Russia appeared much later.

Kievan Rus period

Initially, the ruler of Kyiv was considered the Grand Duke of All Rus'. The appanage princes paid him tribute, obeyed him, and sent squads during the military campaign. Later, when the period of feudal fragmentation began (eleventh to fifteenth centuries), there was no single state. But still, it was the Kiev throne that was most desirable for everyone, although it had lost its former influence. The invasion of the Mongol-Tatar army and the creation of the Golden Horde by Batu deepened the isolation of each principality: separate countries began to form on their territory - Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. On modern Russian territory, the most influential cities were Vladimir and Novgorod (it did not suffer at all from the invasion of nomads).

History of the Tsars of Russia

Prince Ivan Kalita of Vladimir, having secured the support of the Great Khan of Uzbek (with whom he had good relations), moved the political and ecclesiastical capital to Moscow. Over time, the Muscovites united other Russian lands near their city: the Novgorod and Pskov republics became part of a single state. It was then that the kings of Russia appeared - for the first time such a title began to be worn. Although there is a legend that the royal regalia were transferred to the rulers of this land much earlier. It is believed that the 1st Tsar of Russia is Vladimir Monomakh, who was crowned according to Byzantine customs.

Ivan the Terrible - the first autocrat in Russia

So, the first tsars of Russia appeared with the rise to power of Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584). He was the son of Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya. Having become a Moscow prince very early, he began to introduce reforms and encouraged self-government at the local level. However, he abolished the Chosen Rada and began to rule personally. The monarch's rule was very strict, even dictatorial. The defeat of Novgorod, outrages in Tver, Klin and Torzhok, oprichnina, protracted wars led to a socio-political crisis. But the international influence of the new kingdom also increased and its borders expanded.

Transition of the Russian throne

With the death of the son of Ivan the Terrible - Fyodor the First - the Godunov family came to the throne. Boris Godunov, even during the life of Feodor the First, had great influence on the tsar (his sister Irina Fedorovna was the wife of the monarch) and actually ruled the country. But Boris's son, Fyodor II, failed to retain power in his hands. The Time of Troubles began, and the country was ruled for some time by False Dmitry, Vasily Shuisky, the Seven Boyars and the Zemsky Council. Then the Romanovs reigned on the throne.

The great dynasty of kings of Russia - the Romanovs

The beginning of a new royal dynasty was laid by Mikhail Fedorovich, elected to the throne by the Zemsky Sobor. This ends the historical period called the Troubles. The House of Romanov is the descendants of the great Tsar who ruled Russia until 1917 and the overthrow of the monarchy in the country.

Mikhail Fedorovich was from an old Russian noble family, who bore the surname Romanovs from the mid-sixteenth century. Its founder is considered to be a certain Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla, whose father came to Russia either from Lithuania or Prussia. There is an opinion that he came from Novgorod. The five sons of Andrei Kobyla founded seventeen noble families. A representative of the family, Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina, was the wife of Ivan IV the Terrible, of whom the newly-minted monarch was a great-nephew.

The Tsars of Russia from the House of Romanov stopped the Troubles in the country, which earned them the love and respect of the common people. Mikhail Fedorovich was young and inexperienced at the time of his election to the throne. At first, the great eldress Martha helped him rule, and therefore the Orthodox Church significantly strengthened its position. The reign of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty is characterized by the beginning of progress. The first newspaper appeared in the country (it was published by clerks specifically for the monarch), international ties were strengthened, factories were built and operating (iron smelting, iron making and weapons), and foreign specialists were attracted. Centralized power is strengthened, new territories are annexed to Russia. His wife gave Mikhail Fedorovich ten children, one of whom inherited the throne.

From kings to emperors. Peter the Great

In the eighteenth century he transformed his kingdom into an empire. Therefore, in history, all the names of the kings of Russia who ruled after him were already used with the title emperor.

A great reformer and an outstanding politician, he did a lot for the prosperity of Russia. His reign began with a fierce struggle for the throne: his father, Alexei Mikhailovich, had very numerous offspring. At first he ruled together with his brother Ivan and the regent, but their relationship did not work out. Having eliminated other contenders for the throne, Peter began to rule the state alone. Then he began military campaigns to secure Russia's access to the sea, built the first fleet, reorganized the army, recruiting foreign specialists. If the great tsars of Russia previously did not pay due attention to the education of their subjects, then Emperor Peter the Great personally sent nobles to study abroad, brutally suppressing dissent. He remade his country according to the European model, since he traveled a lot and saw how people lived there.

Nikolai Romanov - the last tsar

The last Russian emperor was Nicholas II. He received a good education and a very strict upbringing. His father, Alexander the Third, was demanding: from his sons he expected not so much obedience as intelligence, strong faith in God, a desire to work, and especially did not put up with children denouncing each other. The future ruler served in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, so he knew well what the army and military affairs were. During his reign, the country actively developed: the economy, industry, and agriculture reached their peak. The last Tsar of Russia actively participated in international politics and carried out reforms in the country, reducing the length of military service. But he also conducted his own military campaigns.

The fall of the monarchy in Russia. October Revolution

In February 1917, unrest began in Russia, in particular in the capital. The country at that time took part in the First World War. Wanting to end the contradictions at home, the emperor, while at the front, abdicated the throne in favor of his young son, and a few days later did the same on behalf of Tsarevich Alexei, entrusting his brother to rule. But Grand Duke Mikhail also refused such an honor: the rebel Bolsheviks were already putting pressure on him. Upon returning to his homeland, the last Tsar of Russia was arrested along with his family and sent into exile. On the night of July 17-18 of the same year, 1917, the royal family, along with the servants who did not want to leave their sovereigns, were shot. All representatives of the Romanov dynasty who remained in the country were also destroyed. Some managed to emigrate to Great Britain, France, America, and their descendants still live there.

Will there be a revival of the monarchy in Russia?

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many began to talk about the revival of the monarchy in Russia. At the site of the execution of the royal family - where the Ipatiev house used to stand in Yekaterinburg (the death sentence was carried out in the basement of the building) a temple was built dedicated to the memory of the innocent murdered. In August 2000, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church canonized everyone as saints, establishing the Fourth of July as their day of remembrance. But many believers do not agree with this: voluntary abdication of the throne is considered a sin, since the priests blessed the kingdom.

In 2005, the descendants of Russian autocrats held a council in Madrid. After which they sent a demand to the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation to rehabilitate the Romanov house. However, they were not recognized as victims of political repression due to a lack of official data. This is a criminal offense, not a political one. But representatives of the Russian imperial house do not agree with this and continue to appeal the verdict, hoping for the restoration of historical justice.

But whether modern Russia needs a monarchy is a question for the people. History will put everything in its place. In the meantime, people honor the memory of members of the royal family who were brutally executed during the Red Terror and say prayers for their souls.

This seems like a simple question, but you can’t immediately remember who was the first king. For me the king is the ruler. But there were many rulers. And Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko, Oleg, and so on. But I read the story in more detail and found out something. I’ll tell you about this.

The first Tsar of All Rus'

It turned out that earlier in Rus' rulers were called grand dukes, there was no title of king. Whereas in other countries the titles tsar, king, and emperor were used with all their might and meant autocratic power. Our princes were perceived as princes or dukes. The urgent need for a “king” appeared in the 16th century, when Prince Ivan IV found himself embroiled in a power struggle. Ivan was the son of Vasily III, the direct heir. When he was three years old, his father died, his mother became the boy's guardian, but she also died five years later. The boyars Shuisky and Belsky became guardians. A serious struggle broke out between them. Boy from an early age observed violence, cruelty, intrigue, deceit. This is what led to the fact that he became distrustful, bitter, and even then he decided to become a king, to have unlimited power.

At the age of 16, Ivan, who was later named Grozny, was crowned the kingdom of all Rus'. It was also beneficial for the clergy at that time to appoint a tsar, since this contributed to the strengthening of the Orthodox Church in the country. So, Ivan the Terrible became the first tsar.

Reign of Ivan the Terrible

There are many legends about this historical figure. But his very nickname suggests that he was tough, wayward and even cruel character. He was characteristic outbursts of aggression, at the moment of one of which he killed his son.

But what did he do for Russia? Here are his main achievements:

But the worst thing that happened under Ivan the Terrible was his oprichnina army, which for many years robbed and killed the population. The people were afraid andhated the king.