Are there really different rulers hiding under the name of Ivan the Terrible: Four "faces" of the first Russian tsar

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In 1533, on December 6, Muscovites were in bewilderment and superstitious fear. In the Archangel Cathedral, an uninterrupted panikhida was served, psalms were sung for the deceased Grand Duke Vasily III on December 4. At the same time, in the neighboring Assumption Cathedral, Metropolitan Daniel crowned the grand reign of the young prince John. The lament for the repose of the soul of the deceased Grand Duke, the joyful chime of the bells, the voices of the singers proclaiming "many years" to baby John, gave rise to whispering among the people about the accession to the princely throne of the "bloody" prince. On that day, life and death crossed on Cathedral Square, - to the funeral chime, funeral prayers, the cap of Monomakh was placed on the head of the future tsar.

Almost 500 years have passed since that day. Disputes about the personality of Ivan IV do not subside. Contradictory were his accession to the throne of the Moscow state, life and events that filled it, a psychological portrait.

Tsar reformer

About the reforms carried out by the Chosen Rada under the leadership of Ivan Vasilyevich, textbooks report: 1. For the first time in the history of the Russian state, the Zemsky Sobor was convened, representing the advisory body of the so-called. estate representation. It consisted of employees of the Boyar Duma, the highest clergy. Foundation date - 1549 2. Compiled in 1550, the New Code of Laws, which made changes to the then legal proceedings: limited the power of governors, established uniform state duties, abolished the feeding system. 3. Military reforms, starting in 1550, determined a unified procedure for direct military service; the organization of the streltsy army began.

4. Formed orders - Ambassadorial, Robbery, as well as Chelobitny and Razryadny. 5. A tax reform was carried out, introducing the tax unit "plow".6. Church reform was marked by the Church Council, convened in 1551. The Council documented unified the all-Russian pantheon of saints, established general rules for amazing church painting, and introduced a single cult and rituals. 7. Educational reform gave birth to book schools in cities, private two-year schools. The reforms strengthened the central government, the serving nobility, reorganized local and central government, strengthened state power, created the preconditions for successful military operations: • the conquest of Kazan in 1552; • the annexation of Bashkiria and Astrakhan four years after the capture of Kazan; • the defeat of the Livonian Order at the beginning of the Livonian War, 1558-1583 The capture of Astrakhan subjugated the peoples of the Volga region and the North Caucasus to the Muscovite state. Having conquered the Volga, Russia reached the Caspian Sea, which facilitated trade with Persia. Along with foreign policy and economic successes, the Moscow state experienced a cultural upsurge. A journalistic genre appears in literature, and chronicles acquire an official character: "The History of the Kazan Kingdom" (1564-1566), "Nikonov's Code", "The Book of the Decent Tsar's Genealogy" (1561-1563). The largest literary work is the 12-volume work of Macarius "Great Chetiya Menaia". The apogee was the first printed edition of The Apostle, which happened in 1564.

Terror

Loud victories in the Livonian War continued until 1561. Scientists associate subsequent defeats with the sudden death of the tsar's wife, Anastasia Romanovna, nee Zakharyina, the tsar's mental insanity, and the introduction of the oprichnina.

Anastasia Romanovna died suddenly in 1560, and the insanity of Ivan IV, associated with the death of his beloved wife, is unfounded. In 1561, the question of curtailing hostilities in Livonia and transferring the theater of hostilities to the Crimea was being decided. In the same year, the tsar married Maria Temryukovna, a Circassian princess. Reforms continued until 1564 inclusive. A contradiction arises: it took the tsar almost 5 years to lose his mind.

The oprichnina officially existed from 1565 to 1572, and was marked by terror against those close to Ioann Vasilievich. The Chosen Rada was dissolved, sent into exile, the boyar estate, which constituted the ruling class, was killed. New people came to power, destroying all objectionable … to whom? Crazy Tsar John Vasilyevich or another ruler who seized the throne?

The last version is interesting because of the change in the behavioral psychology of the sovereign. A bold, decisive, intelligent, competent ruler became shortsighted, suspicious, cowardly. The bookman, who owns the richest library in the world, has become a lover of cruel fun. The Orthodox Tsar became a murderer of priests, including the Moscow Metropolitan Philip. The events associated with the guardsmen of the time of Ivan IV make it possible to draw an analogy with 1917-1939, when terror served as a means to strengthen the illegally seized power.

Simeon Bekbulatovich - Tsar of Moscow

For ten months, from October 1575 to August 1576, the baptized Tatar Khan Simeon Kasimovsky ruled the Moscow state. John Vasilievich gave him the title of Grand Duke, renouncing the throne. The Tsar withdrew from the Kremlin, and repressions began again on Russian soil. The former guardsmen were subjected to them. Having returned to the royal throne in 1576, Ivan IV issued a decree on the compilation of a memorial list of those executed. Monasteries and churches were instructed to pray for the repose of their souls. The king became pious, but remained mediocre, concluding a shameful peace after the unsuccessful Livonian War.

Royal family

The face of the sovereign of Moscow for 51 years of rule radically changed four times. Politics changed, both internal and external. Not a single person manages to change his character, habits, mental state, mental state, sphere of activity during his life, as Ivan IV succeeded during the years of his reign. The number of his marriages speaks of the fact that it could not be one person, but four. The tsar was married seven times, despite the fact that the Orthodox Church forbade marriage more than two times. An exception was made for the Moscow prince Simeon the Proud, 1341-1353, who married for the third time to the Tver princess Maria. This step was caused by the need to give birth to heirs, establish a dynasty, and then centralize the power of the Moscow princes.

There was no need to continue the dynasty after the death of Ivan IV. From his first marriage, the tsar had two sons - Ivan, Fedor, Dmitry. The latter died in infancy. Another contradiction arises: the last wife Maria Feodorovna Nagaya gave birth to a son named Dmitry to the tsar. According to long-standing traditions based on superstition, children born were not named by the name of a previously deceased brother or sister. But the Moscow sovereign had two sons, named the same. The younger Dmitry was killed in Uglich.

The Orthodox Church could not bless so many marriages to one person. Consequently, different people got married under the name of Ivan the Terrible

Conclusion

The fact that in the period from 1533 to 1584. under the name of Ivan the Terrible, four different people could rule, indicate facts that are not recognized by official science. Equally, as the official science bases its arguments on the works of people who were not contemporaries of Ivan IV, for example N. M. Karamzin, who was born 182 years after the death of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich. Literary monuments of that time have not survived, destroyed by the Moscow fires.