The name of Ivan IV is associated with fundamental changes in the system of public administration, which were both constructive, progressive, and regressive in nature. These processes are visible in different periods of his reign, which makes it possible to identify and characterize them.
1533 - 1547 - the first period - childhood and adolescence - within which the rule took place with the participation regency council , created on the initiative of Elena Glinskaya (a council of guardians, which included representatives of noble boyar families, which operated until the tsar came of age).
The selected period took place against the backdrop of fierce hostility between the boyar families - the Belskys, Shuiskys, Obolenskys, Buturlins, Zakharyins, Penkovs, Kubenskys, Barbashins, Mikulskys, Vorontsovs, Morozovs, Glinskys - for the possession of the Moscow throne, which created an unfavorable atmosphere in terms of the personal formation of Ivan IV.
1547 - 1565 - an independent period of rule, marked by constructive reforms of Ivan IV and the “Chosen Rada” government he created.
The main events of this time included:
1547 - the crowning of Ivan IV, which was seen as an act of legal (legitimate) accession and official assignment of the title "Tsar and Grand Duke of All Rus'" on the one hand, and the involvement of the church in terms of justifying state power (from the position of the “Osifites” - “the king is God’s vicegerent on earth”), on the other. The same time was marked by the creation of the “Chosen Rada” - a circle of close friends, which included A. M. Kurbsky, M. I. Vorotynsky, I. A. Viskovaty, A. Adashev, clergyman Sylvester, Metropolitan Macarius. The circle was assigned a legislative mission;
1549 - marked by the holding of the first Zemsky Sobor (Cathedral of Reconciliation) and the creation estate-representative monarchy (representatives of privileged classes - boyars, nobility, clergy);
1550 - associated with an appeal to To the Code of Law - a set of laws of state life (a revised version of the Code of Laws of Ivan III), which reflected steps to create a vertical power structure;
1551 - creation Stoglava- a set of canons of intra-church life;
1552 - organization of the system Orders - the prototype of the executive power in the country (Posolsky, Petition, Razryadny, Streletsky, etc.). It is noteworthy that individual Orders appeared under Ivan III, but during the reign of Ivan IV, the formation of executive power began to be systemic.
In fact, every year was marked by an internal state event aimed at strengthening the vertical of state power.
In the second half of the 1550s. happened:
Abolition of the system of localism and feeding (in connection with changes in Ivan IV’s views on the boyar environment), compilation of the “List of the Tsar’s Court,” which included a selected thousand children of noble boyar families;
Introduction of a unified taxation system - plow (share system) and the introduction of a single monetary unit - Moscow ruble, Novgorod kopeck - for the purpose of controlled formation and replenishment of the state treasury and as a sign of memory of his mother Elena Glinskaya, who began the monetary reform;
Introduction of a “local land use system” - instead of patrimonial ( in the central part of Russia ), which led to Ivan IV’s final break with the boyars.
Thus, the vertical of power created during this period, was represented by the following political institutions:
1. Tsar and Grand Duke of All Rus';
2. The elected council, which developed the main reforms;
3. Zemsky Sobor (estate-representative monarchy);
4. Orders;
5. Zemstvos - lips and districts - local government bodies.
This model of administrative hierarchy allows us to conclude that at this stage of the reign of Ivan IV, the idea of separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial was introduced (especially since in Western Europe it received conceptual design in the works of the French thinker S. L. Montesquieu) , which anticipated the possible path of development of Russia in the direction of building a constitutional monarchy.
It is in these internal transformations, very organic both for the state apparatus of that time and for Russian society, that the constructive principle of the reign of Ivan IV is seen.
Foreign policy during the selected period was aimed at annexing the territories captured by the assimilated Tatar-Mongols (Kazan Khanate, Astrakhan Khanate, Siberian Khanate, Crimean Khanate), in particular:
in 1552 - Kazan was captured;
in 1556 - Astrakhan was annexed;
1558 - associated with the beginning of the Livonian War for possession of the Baltic Sea coast, the territory of which was almost entirely captured by the Streltsy army of Ivan IV. It should be especially emphasized that by the time of Ivan IV, the princely squad, representing a large army, was a morally outdated form of strengthening the state by force. It was necessary to introduce a new model, on a fundamentally different basis (entirely on state subsidies). In this regard, the Streletsky army was created, in which they served "by fatherland" (noble children who received a salary and estate land), and "by instrument" (streltsy who received land for collective use). It was with this army that Ivan IV carried out victorious campaigns, expanding the territorial borders of Russia.
Cultural life developed in the aspect of “inheritance and renewal.” Following spiritual religious traditions was visible in architecture and painting (the construction of churches continued - the Church of the Ascension, cathedrals - St. Basil's Cathedral, in which architects, builders, and painters were involved). However, fundamentally new forms appeared that enriched Russian culture. In particular, the breakthrough was book printing, which developed in 1553, and in 1564 the first dated printed book by Ivan Fedorov, “The Apostle,” was published, ten years later a Russian primer was created. It is known that, possessing the gift of abstract thinking, endowed with musical talent, and mastering the artistic word, Ivan IV himself composed hymns and composed canons.
The foreign policy line of Ivan IV, consistently aimed at expanding the territorial borders of the Russian state, was also a reflection of internal political transformations that were rational and constructive in nature.
Hypothetically, if Russia had continued to develop along this path, then the position of a constitutional monarchy would have been strengthened in its state structure already in the 16th century.
However, this progressive path of development was interrupted by Ivan IV himself. In this regard, special mention should be made of the period 1565 - 1572, went down in history as oprichnina. It was there that constructive initiatives were curtailed and a course was taken towards the absolutization of power: personal motivation came to the fore in the implementation of government.
The reasons for Ivan IV the Terrible’s break with the boyars include:
1. The desire to concentrate power in one’s own hands;
2. To this end, he needed to bring the politically and economically powerful class of boyars (who became an economically powerful class thanks to the richest lands that were privately owned and generated income) beyond the limits of political influence;
3. To achieve this, Ivan the Terrible came up with a proposal to introduce a universal system of land ownership, which involved the establishment of state control over state land ( besides ), distribution of land plots for rent in order to replenish the state treasury;
4. The boyars were offered distant lands ( zemshchina) ;
5. The disagreement of the boyars led to the demonstrative abandonment of the throne by Ivan the Terrible, and most importantly, to the continuation of the Livonian War, in which the boyars saw an opportunity to compensate for the lost patrimonial lands.
Based on the above reasons, it is legal to give definitions of oprichnina:
· Oprich - state land;
· The policy of ousting the boyars from their patrimonial lands and annexing them to the state;
· A form of mass repression and terror established against the boyar opposition;
· A form of genocide established against one’s own people through the creation of an oprichnina army (and, in fact, a small punitive squad, which recruited people loyal to the king; Quite odious figures appeared in the circle of Ivan IV the Terrible himself - Malyuta Skuratov, the Basmanov brothers).
This form made it possible to eliminate all political opposition in the shortest possible time and rule the state with sole authority.
The consequences of the oprichnina were as sharp as negative character for the entire population: strengthening absolute monarchy in its harshest form - terror and mass repression, actually reflecting genocide against its own people. However, one can also see a positive moment for the state: state control was established over all the land.
1572 - 1584 - last period of reign Ivan IV the Terrible, which outlines steps to stabilize domestic life, in particular:
in 1581 - “reserved summers” were introduced: “St. George’s Day” was abolished - a measure aimed at strictly attaching peasants to their owners due to “disorder and vacillation” among the masses after the oprichnina.
In addition, in 1583, the Livonian War ended, in which Russia lost (in fact, from the beginning of the oprichnina, the attention of Ivan IV was switched to resolving internal issues, and the Livonian War was sluggish in nature). In 1582, Ivan IV the Terrible, having signed a truce with Livonia, ceded all his conquests in Livonia and Lithuania; and in 1583, having made peace with Sweden, he ceded to her his lands along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland.
We especially note that in 1582 - 1584. - the first campaigns of Ermak to Siberia were organized, with whose name the beginning of the development of Siberian lands is associated;
in 1584 - the largest sea trading port was founded in Arkhangelsk.
After the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible, his middle son ascended the throne - 1584 - 1598 - reign of Fyodor Ioannovich, which has rightly been described as "Fedor reigned - Boris ruled."
The main events of this period of reign may include:
The removal of Maria Nagoya and Tsarevich Dmitry (the last son of Ivan IV the Terrible) to Uglich and the exile of boyar Bogdan Belsky, which contributed to a further escalation of tensions in relations between Uglich and Moscow, and an intensification of the struggle of political forces concentrated locally;
1586 - 1589. - establishment of the institution of patriarchy in Russia;
1595- with the direct participation of Boris Godunov, the lands of the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland (which were ceded to Sweden as a result of the Livonian War) were returned to Moscow;
1597- “prescribed summer” - a five-year search for peasants, after which the person who fled was considered free.
Thus, the reign of Ivan the Terrible was associated with controversial processes. On the one hand, positive steps were taken towards the development of a constitutional monarchy (pre-oprichine stage), on the other - a clearly expressed absolutization of power in its most severe form of genocide against its own people. It was this form that led the state to the Great Troubles - popular protest against the arbitrariness of state power.
Literature:
1. Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State: XII volumes in 4 books. / N. M. Karamzin. - M., 1998.
2. Klyuchevsky V. O. Selected lectures of the “Course of Russian History” / V. O. Klyuchevsky. - Rostov n/d: Phoenix, 2002. - 672 p.
3. Platonov S.F. Complete course of lectures on Russian history / S.F. Platonov. - St. Petersburg: Crystal, 2000. - 839 p.
4. History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century: Textbook. manual for universities / A. P. Novoseltsev, A. N. Sakharov, V. I. Buganov, V. D. Nazarov. - M.: AST, 2000. - 575 p.
5. Skrynnikov R. G. Ivan the Terrible and his time / R. G. Skrynnikov. - M., 1991.
6. History of Russia. Textbook / ed. A. S. Orlova, N. A. Georgieva. - M.: Prospekt, 2002. - 544 p.
Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible was born on August 25, 1530 in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow. His father died in 1533, Grand Duke Vasily III (Rurikovich). In 1538, Ivan Vasilyevich’s mother, Princess Elena Glinskaya (Lithuanian princess), passed away. The childhood of the future tsar was spent in an atmosphere of palace intrigue, struggle for power, and coups between the warring boyar families of the Belsky and Shuisky.
In 1547, the solemn crowning ceremony of Grand Duke Ivan IV was held in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. At that time, his title was translated as “emperor,” which placed Ivan the Terrible on a par with the Holy Roman Emperor.
The tsar was helped to conduct domestic affairs by the advisers of the Elected Rada, which included Metropolitan Macarius, A.F. Adashev, A.M. Kurbsky, and Archpriest Sylvester.
Domestic policy
In 1549, Ivan Vasilyevich convened the first Zemsky Sobor, which was attended by all segments of the population except serfs, and political, administrative, and economic issues were resolved. Since the late 40s, the tsar carried out a number of reforms: zemstvo, military, labial, symbolic.
In 1550, the Code of Laws of Ivan IV was adopted, in which peasant communities were given the right to self-government, restore order, and distribute taxes. In 1551, the tsar convened the Stoglava Council, which resulted in the adoption of a collection of decisions on church life - “Stoglava”. In 1555–1556, the “feeding” system was abolished and the “Code of Service” was adopted, which made it possible to form a new army structure.
In 1565, Ivan the Terrible, whose biography already spoke for him as a great monarch, introduced a special form of government - the oprichnina, aimed at strengthening the autocracy. In 1572, the oprichnina was dissolved.
Foreign policy
In foreign policy, Ivan IV headed towards expanding territories in the east, mastering the shores of the Baltic Sea in the west and bringing to the end the struggle with the successors of the Golden Horde.
Grozny made significant military campaigns, as a result of which the Kazan Khanate was annexed to the Russian territories in 1547–1552, and the Astrakhan Khanate, the lands of the Urals and the Volga region in 1556. In 1555 - 1557, the Siberian Khan Ediger and the Great Nogai Horde became dependent on Ivan IV. In 1556, Russian troops destroyed the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai-Batu.
In 1554 - 1557, Grozny's troops won the war with Sweden, which was started by the Swedish king Gustav I. In 1558 - 1583, Grozny's troops failed in the Livonian War. At the same time, Ivan IV waged wars with the Crimean Khanate with varying success.
Tsar Ivan the Terrible died on March 18, 1584 in Moscow. The great ruler was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
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Ivan IV the Terrible |
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1st Tsar of All Rus' |
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Coronation: |
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Predecessor: |
Vasily III |
Successor: |
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Heir: |
Dmitry (1552-1553), Ivan (1554-1582), after Fedor |
Religion: |
Orthodoxy |
Birth: |
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Buried: |
Archangel Cathedral in Moscow |
Dynasty: |
Rurikovich |
Vasily III |
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Elena Glinskaya |
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1) Anastasia Romanovna |
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Sons: Dmitry, Ivan, Fedor, Dmitry Uglitsky daughters: Anna, Maria |
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Origin
Biography
Childhood of the Grand Duke
Royal wedding
Domestic policy
Reforms of Ivan IV
Oprichnina
Reasons for introducing the oprichnina
Establishment of the oprichnina
Foreign policy
Kazan campaigns
Astrakhan campaigns
Wars with the Crimean Khanate
War with Sweden 1554-1557
Livonian War
Causes of the war
Cultural activities
Khan on the Moscow throne
Appearance
Family and personal life
Contemporaries
Historiography of the 19th century.
Historiography of the 20th century.
Tsar Ivan and the church
The question of canonization
Cinema
Computer games
Ioann Vasilievich(nickname Ivan (John) the Great, in later historiography Ivan IV the Terrible; August 25, 1530, the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow - March 18, 1584, Moscow) - Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus' (from 1533), Tsar of All Rus' (from 1547) (except 1575-1576, when Simeon Bekbulatovich was nominally king).
Origin
Son of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya. On his father's side he came from the dynasty of Ivan Kalita, on his mother's side - from Mamai, who was considered the ancestor of the Lithuanian princes Glinsky.
Grandmother, Sophia Paleologus - from the family of Byzantine emperors. He traced himself back to the Roman Emperor Augustus, who was allegedly the ancestor of Rurik, according to the genealogical legend invented by that time.
Brief description of the board
Came to power at a very early age. After the uprising in Moscow in 1547, he ruled with the participation of a circle of close associates, which Prince Kurbsky called the “Chosen Rada”. Under him, the convening of Zemsky Sobors began, and the Code of Laws of 1550 was compiled. Military service reforms were carried out, judicial system and public administration, including the introduction of elements of self-government at the local level (Gubnaya, Zemskaya and other reforms). In 1560, the Elected Rada fell, its main figures fell into disgrace, and the Tsar’s completely independent reign began.
In 1565, after Prince Kurbsky fled to Lithuania, the oprichnina was introduced.
Under Ivan IV, the increase in the territory of Rus' was almost 100%, from 2.8 million km? up to 5.4 million km?, the Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556) khanates were conquered and annexed, thus, by the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the area of the Russian State became larger than the rest of Europe.
In 1558-1583 the Livonian War was fought for access to the Baltic Sea. In 1572, as a result of persistent long-term struggle, the invasions of the Crimean Khanate were put to an end (see Russian-Crimean Wars), and the annexation of Siberia began (1581).
Trade relations were established with England (1553) as well as Persia and Central Asia, the first printing house was created in Moscow.
The internal policy of Ivan IV, after a streak of failures during the Livonian War and as a result of the desire of the tsar himself to establish despotic power, acquired a terrorist character and in the second half of his reign was marked by the establishment of the oprichnina, mass executions and murders, the defeat of Novgorod and a number of other cities (Tver, Klin, Torzhok). The oprichnina was accompanied by thousands of victims, and, according to many historians, its results, combined with the results of long and unsuccessful wars, led the state to ruin and a socio-political crisis, as well as to an increased tax burden and the formation of serfdom.
Biography
Childhood of the Grand Duke
According to the law of succession to the throne that existed in Rus', the Grand Duke's throne passed to the eldest son of the monarch, but Ivan (“direct name” by birthday - Titus) was only three years old when his father, Grand Duke Vasily, became seriously ill. The closest contenders to the throne, besides the young Ivan, were Vasily’s younger brothers. Of the six sons of Ivan III, two remained - Prince Andrey of Staritsky and Prince of Dmitrov Yuri.
Anticipating his imminent death, Vasily III formed a “seven-strong” boyar commission to govern the state. The guardians were supposed to take care of Ivan until he reached the age of 15. The guardianship council included Prince Andrei Staritsky - the younger brother of Ivan's father, M. L. Glinsky - the uncle of Grand Duchess Elena and advisers: the Shuisky brothers (Vasily and Ivan), M. Yu. Zakharyin, Mikhail Tuchkov, Mikhail Vorontsov. According to the Grand Duke’s plan, this should have preserved the order of government of the country by trusted people and reduced discord in the aristocratic Boyar Duma. The existence of the regency council is not recognized by all historians, so according to the historian A. A. Zimin, Vasily transferred the management of state affairs to the Boyar Duma, and appointed M. L. Glinsky and D. F. Belsky as guardians of the heir.
Vasily III died on December 3, 1533, and after 8 days the boyars got rid of the main contender for the throne - Prince Yuri of Dmitrov.
A council of trustees governed the country less than a year, after which his power began to crumble. In August 1534, a number of changes took place in the ruling circles. On August 3, Prince Semyon Belsky and the experienced military commander Ivan Lyatsky left Serpukhov and went to serve the Lithuanian prince. On August 5, one of the guardians of young Ivan, Mikhail Glinsky, was arrested and died in prison at the same time. Semyon Belsky's brother Ivan and Prince Ivan Vorotynsky and their children were captured for complicity with the defectors. In the same month, another member of the guardianship council, Mikhail Vorontsov, was also arrested. Analyzing the events of August 1534, the historian S. M. Solovyov concludes that “all this was a consequence of the general indignation of the nobles against Elena and her favorite Obolensky.”
Andrei Staritsky's attempt to seize power in 1537 ended in failure: locked in Novgorod from the front and rear, he was forced to surrender and ended his life in prison.
In April 1538, 30-year-old Elena Glinskaya died, and six days later the boyars (princes I.V. Shuisky and V.V. Shuisky with advisers) got rid of Obolensky. Metropolitan Daniel and clerk Fyodor Mischurin, staunch supporters centralized state and active figures in the government of Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya were immediately removed from government. Metropolitan Daniel was sent to the Joseph-Volotsk Monastery, and Mischurin “the boyars executed... not loving the fact that he stood for the Grand Duke of the cause.”
« Many among the boyars had enmity about self-interest and about the tribes, everyone cares about their own, and not about the sovereign's", this is how the chronicler describes the years of boyar rule, in which " Each one desires different and the highest ranks for himself... and self-love, and untruth, and the desire to steal other people's property began to exist in them. And they raised great sedition among themselves, and lust for power for the sake of each other, deceitful... rising up against their friends, and their houses and villages for themselves, and filling their treasures with unrighteous wealth».
In 1545, at the age of 15, Ivan came of age, thus becoming a full-fledged ruler.
Royal wedding
On December 13, 1546, Ivan Vasilyevich for the first time expressed to Macarius his intention to marry (see below for more details), and before that to be crowned king “following the example of his ancestors.”
A number of historians (N.I. Kostomarov, R.G. Skrynnikov, V.V. Kobrin) believe that the initiative to accept the royal title could not have come from a 16-year-old boy. Most likely, Metropolitan Macarius played an important role in this. The consolidation of the king's power was also beneficial to his maternal relatives. V. O. Klyuchevsky adheres to the opposite point of view, emphasizing the sovereign’s early desire for power. In his opinion, “the tsar’s political thoughts were developed in secret from those around him,” and the idea of a wedding came as a complete surprise to the boyars.
The ancient Byzantine kingdom with its divinely crowned emperors has always been an image for Orthodox countries, but it fell under the blows of the infidels. Moscow, in the eyes of Russian Orthodox people, was to become the heir of Constantinople - Constantinople. The triumph of autocracy also personified for Metropolitan Macarius the triumph of the Orthodox faith. This is how the interests of the royal and spiritual authorities intertwined (Philofey). At the beginning of the 16th century, the idea of the divine origin of the sovereign's power became increasingly recognized. Joseph Volotsky was one of the first to talk about this. A different understanding of the power of the sovereign by Archpriest Sylvester later led to the latter’s exile. The idea that the autocrat is obliged to obey God and his regulations in everything runs through the entire “Message to the Tsar.”
On January 16, 1547, a solemn wedding ceremony took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, the order of which was drawn up by the Metropolitan himself. The Metropolitan placed on him the signs of royal dignity - the cross of the Life-Giving Tree, the barma and the cap of Monomakh; Ivan Vasilyevich was anointed with myrrh, and then the Metropolitan blessed the Tsar.
Later, in 1558, the Patriarch of Constantinople informed Ivan the Terrible that “his royal name is commemorated in the Cathedral Church on all Sundays, like the names of former Byzantine Kings; this is commanded to be done in all dioceses where there are metropolitans and bishops,” “and about your blessed wedding to the kingdom from St. Metropolitan of All Rus', our brother and colleague, has been accepted by us for the good and worthy of your kingdom.” " Show us, - wrote Joachim, Patriarch of Alexandria, - in these times, a new nourisher and provider for us, a good champion, chosen and instructed by God as the Ktitor of this holy monastery, as was once the divinely crowned and equal-to-the-apostles Constantine... Your memory will remain with us incessantly, not only in the church rule, but also at meals with the ancient, former formerly Kings».
The royal title allowed him to take a significantly different position in diplomatic relations with Western Europe. The grand ducal title was translated as “prince” or even “grand duke.” The title “king” in the hierarchy stood on a par with the title emperor.
Unconditionally, the title had been granted to Ivan by England since 1554. The question of the title was more difficult in Catholic countries, in which the theory of a single “sacred empire” was firmly held. In 1576, Emperor Maximilian II, wanting to attract Ivan the Terrible to an alliance against Turkey, offered him the throne and the title of “emerging [Eastern] Caesar” in the future. John IV was completely indifferent to the “Greek Tsarship”, but demanded immediate recognition of himself as the Tsar of “All Rus'”, and the Emperor conceded on this important fundamental issue, especially since Maximilian I recognized the royal title for Vasily III, calling the Sovereign “by God’s grace” Tsar and the owner of the All-Russian and Grand Duke." The papal throne turned out to be much more stubborn, which defended the exclusive right of popes to grant royal and other titles to sovereigns, and on the other hand, did not allow the principle of a “single empire” to be violated. In this irreconcilable position, the papal throne found support from the Polish king, who perfectly understood the significance of the claims of the Moscow Sovereign. Sigismund II Augustus presented a note to the papal throne in which he warned that the papacy’s recognition of Ivan IV’s title of “Tsar of All Rus'” would lead to the separation from Poland and Lithuania of lands inhabited by “Rusyns” related to the Muscovites, and would attract Moldovans and Wallachians to his side. For his part, John IV attached particular importance to the recognition of his royal title by the Polish-Lithuanian state, but Poland throughout the 16th century never agreed to his demand. Of the successors of Ivan IV, his imaginary son False Dmitry I used the title of “emperor,” but Sigismund III, who placed him on the Moscow throne, officially called him simply prince, not even “great.”
As a result of the coronation, the tsar's relatives strengthened their position, achieving significant benefits, but after the Moscow uprising of 1547, the Glinsky family lost all their influence, and the young ruler became convinced of the striking discrepancy between his ideas about power and the real state of affairs.
Domestic policy
Reforms of Ivan IV
Since 1549, together with the Elected Rada (A.F. Adashev, Metropolitan Macarius, A.M. Kurbsky, Archpriest Sylvester), Ivan IV carried out a number of reforms aimed at centralizing the state: Zemstvo reform, Guba reform, carried out reforms in the army. In 1550, a new code of law was adopted, which tightened the rules for the transfer of peasants (the size of the elderly was increased). In 1549, the first Zemsky Sobor was convened. In 1555-1556, Ivan IV abolished feeding and adopted the Code of Service.
The code of laws and royal charters granted peasant communities the right of self-government, distribution of taxes and supervision of order.
As A.V. Chernov wrote, the archers were all armed with firearms, which put them above the infantry of Western states, where some of the infantrymen (pikemen) had only edged weapons. From the author’s point of view, all this indicates that in the formation of infantry, Muscovy, in the person of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, was far ahead of Europe. At the same time, it is known that already at the beginning of the 17th century in Russia they began to form the so-called “Foreign Order” regiments based on the model of the Swedish and Dutch infantry, which impressed Russian military leaders with their effectiveness. The regiments of the “Foreign System” also had at their disposal pikemen (spearmen), who covered the musketeers from the cavalry, as A.V. Chernov himself mentions.
The “verdict on localism” contributed to a significant strengthening of discipline in the army, increasing the authority of governors, especially those of non-noble origin, and improving the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, although it met great resistance from the clan nobility.
Under Ivan the Terrible, Jewish merchants were prohibited from entering Russia. When in 1550 the Polish king Sigismund Augustus demanded that they be allowed free entry into Russia, John refused the following words: “ There is no way for the Jew to go to his states, we don’t want to see any dashing in our states, but we want God willing that in my states my people will be in silence without any embarrassment. And you, our brother, would not write to us about Zhidekh in advance"because they are Russian people" They took away from Christianity, and they brought poisonous potions to our lands and many dirty tricks were done to our people».
In order to set up a printing house in Moscow, the tsar turned to Christian II with a request to send book printers, and he sent to Moscow in 1552 through Hans Missingheim the Bible in Luther's translation and two Lutheran catechisms, but at the insistence of the Russian hierarchs the king's plan was to distribute the translations in several thousand copies was rejected.
In the early 1560s, Ivan Vasilyevich carried out a landmark reform of state sphragistics. From this moment on, a stable type of state press appeared in Russia. For the first time, a rider appears on the chest of the ancient double-headed eagle - the coat of arms of the princes of Rurik’s house, which was previously depicted separately, and always on the front side of the state seal, while the image of the eagle was placed on the back: “ In the same year (1562) February, on the third day, the Tsar and the Grand Duke changed the old smaller seal that was under his father Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich, and made a new folding seal: a double-headed eagle, and among it there is a man on a horse, and on the other side the eagle is two-headed, and among it is an eagle" The new seal sealed the treaty with the Kingdom of Denmark dated April 7, 1562.
According to Soviet historians A. A. Zimin and A. L. Khoroshkevich, the reason for Ivan the Terrible’s break with the “Chosen Rada” was that the latter’s program was exhausted. In particular, an “imprudent respite” was given to Livonia, as a result of which several European states were drawn into the war. In addition, the tsar did not agree with the ideas of the leaders of the “Chosen Rada” (especially Adashev) about the priority of the conquest of Crimea in comparison with military operations in the West. Finally, “Adashev showed excessive independence in foreign policy relations with Lithuanian representatives in 1559.” and was eventually dismissed. It should be noted that such opinions about the reasons for Ivan’s break with the “Chosen Rada” are not shared by all historians. Thus, N.I. Kostomarov sees the true background of the conflict in the negative characteristics of the character of Ivan the Terrible, and, on the contrary, evaluates the activities of the “Chosen Rada” very highly. V. B. Kobrin also believes that the personality of the tsar played a decisive role here, but at the same time he links Ivan’s behavior with his commitment to the program of accelerated centralization of the country, opposed to the ideology of gradual changes of the “Chosen Rada”.
Oprichnina
Reasons for introducing the oprichnina
The fall of the Elected Rada is assessed by historians differently. According to V.B. Kobrin, this was a manifestation of the conflict between two programs for the centralization of Russia: through slow structural reforms or rapidly, by force. Historians believe that the choice of the second path was due to the personal character of Ivan the Terrible, who did not want to listen to people who did not agree with his policies. Thus, after 1560, Ivan took the path of tightening power, which led him to repressive measures.
According to R. G. Skrynnikov, the nobility would easily forgive Grozny for the resignation of his advisers Adashev and Sylvester, but she did not want to put up with the attack on the prerogatives of the boyar Duma. The ideologist of the boyars, Kurbsky, protested most strongly against the infringement of the privileges of the nobility and the transfer of management functions into the hands of clerks (deacons): “ The Great Prince has great faith in Russian clerks, and he chooses them neither from the gentry nor from the nobles, but especially from the priests or from the common people, otherwise he makes his nobles hateful».
New discontent of the princes, Skrynnikov believes, was caused by the royal decree of January 15, 1562 on the limitation of their patrimonial rights, which equated them even more than before with the local nobility. As a result, in the early 1560s. Among the nobility there is a desire to flee from Tsar Ivan abroad. Thus, I. D. Belsky tried to escape abroad twice and was twice forgiven; Prince V. M. Glinsky and Prince I. V. Sheremetev were caught trying to escape and were forgiven. Tension was growing among those around Grozny: in the winter of 1563, boyars Kolychev, T. Pukhov-Teterin, and M. Sarokhozin defected to the Poles. He was accused of treason and conspiracy with the Poles, but later the governor of Starodub, Prince V. Funikov, was pardoned. For attempting to leave for Lithuania, the Smolensk voivode, Prince Dmitry Kurlyatev, was recalled from Smolensk and exiled to a remote monastery on Lake Ladoga. In April 1564, Andrei Kurbsky fled to Poland in fear of disgrace, as Grozny himself later indicated in his writings, sending an accusatory letter from there to Ivan.
In 1563, the clerk of Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, Savluk Ivanov, who was imprisoned by the prince for something, filed a denunciation of the latter’s “great treasonous deeds,” which immediately found a lively response from Ivan. The clerk claimed, in particular, that Staritsky warned the Polotsk governors about the tsar’s intention to besiege the fortress. The tsar forgave his brother, but deprived him of part of his inheritance, and on August 5, 1563, Princess Efrosinya Staritskaya ordered to be tonsured a nun at the Resurrection Monastery on the river. Sheksne. At the same time, the latter was allowed to keep with her the servants, who received several thousand quarters of land in the vicinity of the monastery, and nearby noblewoman-advisers, and were also allowed to travel to Bogomolye to neighboring monasteries and embroidery. Veselovsky and Khoroshkevich put forward a version of the princess’s voluntary tonsure as a nun.
In 1564, the Russian army was defeated on the river. Ole. There is a version that this was the impetus for the start of the executions of those whom Ivan the Terrible considered to be the culprits of the defeat: cousins were executed - Princes Obolensky, Mikhailo Petrovich Repnin and Yuri Ivanovich Kashin. It is believed that Kashin was executed for refusing to dance at a feast in a buffoon mask, and Dmitry Fedorovich Obolensky-Ovchina for reproaching Fedor Basmanov for his homosexual relationship with the tsar; the famous governor Nikita Vasilyevich Sheremetev was also executed for a quarrel with Basmanov.
At the beginning of December 1564, according to Shokarev’s research, an armed rebellion was attempted against the king, in which Western forces took part: “ Many noble nobles gathered a considerable party in Lithuania and Poland and wanted to go against their king with arms».
Establishment of the oprichnina
In 1565, Grozny announced the introduction of the Oprichnina in the country. The country was divided into two parts: “To the Sovereign's Grace Oprichnin” and the zemstvo. The Oprichnina included mainly the northeastern Russian lands, where there were few patrimonial boyars. The center of Oprichnina became the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda - the new residence of Ivan the Terrible, from where on January 3, 1565, messenger Konstantin Polivanov delivered a letter to the clergy, the Boyar Duma and the people about the Tsar’s abdication of the throne. Although Veselovsky believes that Grozny did not declare his renunciation of power, the prospect of the departure of the sovereign and the onset of a “sovereign time”, when nobles could again force city merchants and artisans to do everything for them for nothing, could not help but excite Moscow townspeople.
The decree on the introduction of the Oprichnina was approved by the highest bodies of spiritual and secular power - the Consecrated Cathedral and the Boyar Duma. There is also an opinion that this decree was confirmed by the decision of the Zemsky Sobor. However, according to other sources, members of the Council of 1566 sharply protested against the oprichnina, submitting a petition for the abolition of the oprichnina for 300 signatures; all the petitioners were immediately put in prison, but quickly released (as R. G. Skrynnikov believes, thanks to the intervention of Metropolitan Philip); 50 were subjected to trade execution, several had their tongues cut out, and three were beheaded.
The beginning of the formation of the oprichnina army can be considered the same year 1565, when a detachment of 1000 people selected from the “oprichnina” districts was formed. Each oprichnik swore an oath of allegiance to the tsar and pledged not to communicate with the zemstvo. Subsequently, the number of “guardsmen” reached 6,000 people. The Oprichnina Army also included detachments of archers from the oprichnina territories. From that time on, service people began to be divided into two categories: boyar children, from the zemshchina, and boyar children, “courtyard and policemen,” that is, those who received the sovereign’s salary directly from the “royal court.” Consequently, the Oprichnina army should be considered not only the Sovereign’s regiment, but also service people recruited from the oprichnina territories and who served under the command of the oprichnina (“yard”) governors and heads.
Schlichting, Taube and Kruse mention 500-800 people of the “special oprichnina”. These people, if necessary, served as trusted royal agents, carrying out security, intelligence, investigative and punitive functions. The remaining 1,200 guardsmen are divided into four orders, namely: Bed, in charge of maintaining the palace premises and household items of the royal family; Bronny - weapon; Stables, which was in charge of the huge horse farm of the palace and the royal guard; and Nourishing - food.
The chronicler, according to Froyanov, places the blame for the troubles that befell the state on the “Russian land itself, mired in sins, internecine warfare and betrayals”: “ And then, due to the sin of the Russians of the whole earth, there was a great rebellion and hatred in all people, and the internecine strife and misfortune were great, and they provoked the sovereign to anger, and for the great betrayal the tsar committed oprichnina».
As the oprichnina “abbot,” the tsar performed a number of monastic duties. So, at midnight everyone got up for the midnight office, at four in the morning for matins, and at eight the mass began. The Tsar set an example of piety: he himself rang for matins, sang in the choir, prayed fervently, and during the common meal read the Holy Scriptures aloud. In general, worship took about 9 hours a day.
At the same time, there is evidence that orders for executions and torture were often given in the church. Historian G.P. Fedotov believes that “ Without denying the repentant sentiments of the tsar, one cannot help but see that he knew how to combine atrocity with church piety in established everyday forms, desecrating the very idea of the Orthodox kingdom».
With the help of the guardsmen, who were exempt from judicial responsibility, John IV forcibly confiscated the boyar and princely estates, transferring them to the noble guardsmen. The boyars and princes themselves were given estates in other regions of the country, for example, in the Volga region.
For the ordination of Metropolitan Philip, which took place on July 25, 1566, he prepared and signed a letter, according to which Philip promised “not to interfere in the oprichnina and royal life and, upon appointment, because of the oprichnina ... not to leave the metropolis.”
The introduction of the oprichnina was marked by mass repressions: executions, confiscations, disgraces. In 1566, some of the disgraced were returned, but after the Council of 1566 and demands for the abolition of the oprichnina, the terror resumed. Opposite the Kremlin on Neglinnaya (on the site of the current Russian State Library) a stone Oprichnina courtyard was built, where the Tsar moved from the Kremlin.
At the beginning of September 1567, Ivan the Terrible summoned the English envoy Jenkinson and through him conveyed to Queen Elizabeth I a request for asylum in England. This was due to the news of a conspiracy in the zemshchina, which aimed to overthrow him from the throne in favor of Vladimir Andreevich. The basis was the denunciation of Vladimir Andreevich himself; R. G. Skrynnikov recognizes the fundamentally insoluble question as to whether the “Zemshchina”, outraged by the oprichnina, really formed a conspiracy, or whether it all came down to just careless conversations of an oppositional nature. A series of executions followed in this case, and the equestrian boyar Ivan Fedorov-Chelyadnin, extremely popular among the people for his incorruptibility and judicial integrity, was also exiled to Kolomna (not long before he proved his loyalty to the tsar by handing over a Polish agent sent to him with letters from the king).
Metropolitan Philip's public speech against the tsar is connected with these events: on March 22, 1568, in the Assumption Cathedral, he refused to bless the tsar and demanded that the oprichnina be abolished. In response, the guardsmen beat the metropolitan's servants to death with iron sticks, then a trial was initiated against the metropolitan in a church court. Philip was defrocked and exiled to the Tver Otroch Monastery.
In the summer of the same year, Chelyadnin-Fedorov was accused of allegedly planning to overthrow the tsar with the help of his servants. Fedorov and 30 people recognized as his accomplices were executed. In the Tsar's Synodikon disgraced it is written on this occasion: Finished by: Ivan Petrovich Fedorov; Mikhail Kolychev and his three sons were executed in Moscow; by city - Prince Andrei Katyrev, Prince Fyodor Troekurov, Mikhail Lykov and his nephew". Their estates were destroyed, all the servants were killed: “369 people were finished and the total was finished on July 6th (1568)”. According to R. G. Skrynnikov, “The repressions were generally chaotic. They indiscriminately grabbed Chelyadnin’s friends and acquaintances, surviving supporters of Adashev, relatives of exiled nobles, etc. They beat everyone who dared to protest against the oprichnina.” The overwhelming majority of them were executed without even the appearance of a trial, based on denunciations and slander under torture. The Tsar personally stabbed Fedorov with a knife, after which the guardsmen cut him up with their knives.
In 1569, the tsar committed suicide with his cousin: he was accused of intending to poison the tsar and executed along with his servants; his mother Euphrosyne Staritskaya was drowned with 12 nuns in the Sheksna River.
March on Novgorod and the “search” for Novgorod treason
In December 1569, suspecting the Novgorod nobility of complicity in the “conspiracy” of Prince Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, who had recently been killed on his orders, and at the same time of the intention to surrender to the Polish king, Ivan, accompanied by a large army of guardsmen, set out on a campaign against Novgorod.
Moving towards Novgorod in the fall of 1569, the guardsmen carried out massacres and robberies in Tver, Klin, Torzhok and other cities they encountered. In the Tver Otrochy Monastery in December 1569, Malyuta Skuratov personally strangled Metropolitan Philip, who refused to bless the campaign against Novgorod. In Novgorod, many citizens, including women and children, were executed using various tortures.
After the campaign, a “search” began for the Novgorod treason, which was carried out throughout 1570, and many prominent guardsmen were also involved in the case. From this case, only a description has been preserved in the Census Book of the Ambassadorial Prikaz: “ pillar, and in it is an article list from the investigation of the treason case of 1570 on the Novgorod Bishop Pimen and on the Novgorod clerks and clerks, as they with the (Moscow) boyars... wanted to give Novgorod and Pskov to the Lithuanian king. ... and Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich ... with evil intent they wanted to kill Prince Volodimer Ondreevich and put Prince Volodimer Ondreevich in charge of the state ... in that case, from torture, many spoke about that treason against the Novgorod Archbishop Pimen and on his advisers and on themselves, and in that case many were executed by death, various executions , and others were sent to prisons... Yes, here is a list of what it is to be executed by death, and what kind of execution, and what it is to release... ».
In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey invaded Rus'. According to V.B. Kobrin, the decayed oprichnina demonstrated complete incapacity for combat: the oprichnina, accustomed to robbing civilians, simply did not show up for the war, so there were only one regiment of them (against five zemstvo regiments). Moscow was burned. As a result, during the new invasion in 1572, the oprichnina army was already united with the zemstvo army; in the same year, the tsar abolished the oprichnina altogether and banned its very name, although in fact, under the name of the “sovereign court,” the oprichnina existed until his death.
Foreign policy
Part of the aristocracy and the Pope persistently demanded to enter into a fight with the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the First, who had 30 kingdoms and 8 thousand miles of coastline under his control.
The king's artillery was varied and numerous. " Russian artillerymen always have at least two thousand guns ready for battle...“- his ambassador John Cobenzl reported to Emperor Maximilian II. What was most impressive was the heavy artillery. The Moscow Chronicle writes, without exaggeration: “... large cannons have twenty pounds of cannonballs, while other cannons have a little lighter.” The largest howitzer in Europe, the Kashpirova Cannon, weighing 1,200 pounds and caliber 20 pounds, brought terror and took part in the siege of Polotsk in 1563. Also, “one more feature of Russian artillery of the 16th century should be noted, namely its durability,” writes modern researcher Alexey Lobin. " The guns, cast by order of Ivan the Terrible, were in service for several decades and took part in almost all the battles of the 17th century.».
Kazan campaigns
In the first half of the 16th century, mainly during the reign of khans from the Crimean Girey family, the Kazan Khanate waged constant wars with Muscovite Russia. In total, the Kazan khans made about forty campaigns against Russian lands, mainly in the outlying regions of Nizhny Novgorod, Vyatka, Vladimir, Kostroma, Galich, Murom, Vologda. “From the Crimea and from Kazan to half the earth it was empty,” the tsar wrote, describing the consequences of the invasions.
Trying to find peaceful means of settlement, Moscow supported the Kasimov ruler Shah Ali, loyal to Rus', who, having become the Kazan Khan, approved the project of a union with Moscow. But in 1546, Shah-Ali was expelled by the Kazan nobility, who elevated Khan Safa-Girey from a dynasty hostile to Rus' to the throne. After this, it was decided to take active action and eliminate the threat posed by Kazan. " From now on, - the historian points out, - Moscow has put forward a plan for the final destruction of the Kazan Khanate».
In total, Ivan IV led three campaigns against Kazan.
First trip(winter 1547/1548). The Tsar left Moscow on December 20; due to an early thaw, 15 versts from Nizhny Novgorod, siege artillery and part of the army went under the ice on the Volga. It was decided to return the king from the crossing back to Nizhny Novgorod, while the main commanders with part of the army that managed to cross reached Kazan, where they entered into battle with the Kazan army. As a result, the Kazan army retreated behind the walls of the wooden Kremlin, which the Russian army did not dare to storm without siege artillery and, after standing under the walls for seven days, retreated. On March 7, 1548, the tsar returned to Moscow.
Second trip(autumn 1549 - spring 1550). In March 1549, Safa-Girey suddenly died. Having received a Kazan messenger asking for peace, Ivan IV refused him and began to gather an army. On November 24, he left Moscow to lead the army. Having united in Nizhny Novgorod, the army moved towards Kazan and on February 14 was at its walls. Kazan was not taken; however, when the Russian army retreated near Kazan, at the confluence of the Sviyaga River into the Volga, it was decided to build a fortress. On March 25, the Tsar returned to Moscow. In 1551, in just 4 weeks, a fortress was assembled from carefully numbered components, which received the name Sviyazhsk; it served as a stronghold for the Russian army during the next campaign.
Third trip(June-October 1552) - ended with the capture of Kazan. A Russian army of 150,000 took part in the campaign; the armament included 150 cannons. The Kazan Kremlin was taken by storm. Khan Ediger-Magmet was handed over to the Russian governors. The chronicler recorded: “ The sovereign did not order the imposition of a single coin (that is, not a single penny) on himself, nor captivity, only the single king Ediger-Magmet and the royal banners and city cannons" I. I. Smirnov believes that “ The Kazan campaign of 1552 and the brilliant victory of Ivan IV over Kazan not only meant a major foreign policy success for the Russian state, but also contributed to the strengthening of the tsar’s foreign policy positions».
In defeated Kazan, the tsar appointed Prince Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky as Kazan governor, and Prince Vasily Serebryany as his comrade.
After the establishment of the episcopal see in Kazan, the tsar and the church council by lot elected Abbot Gury to it in the rank of archbishop. Gury received instructions from the tsar to convert Kazan residents to Orthodoxy solely at the own request of each person, but “unfortunately, such prudent measures were not followed everywhere: the intolerance of the century took its toll...”
From the first steps towards the conquest and development of the Volga region, the tsar began to invite to his service all the Kazan nobility who agreed to swear allegiance to him, sending “ in all the uluses, black people received dangerous yasak letters so that they would go to the sovereign without fear of anything; and whoever did it recklessly, God took revenge on him; and their sovereign would grant them, and they would pay tribute, just like the former Kazan king" This nature of the policy not only did not require the preservation of the main military forces of the Russian state in Kazan, but, on the contrary, made Ivan’s solemn return to the capital natural and expedient.
Immediately after the capture of Kazan, in January 1555, the ambassadors of the Siberian Khan Ediger asked the king to “ He took the entire Siberian land under his own name and stood up (defended) from all sides and laid his tribute on them and sent his man to whom to collect the tribute.».
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The conquest of Kazan was of enormous importance for folk life. The Kazan Tatar horde united under its rule a complex foreign world into one strong whole: the Mordovians, Cheremis, Chuvash, Votyaks, Bashkirs. Cheremisy beyond the Volga, on the river. Unzhe and Vetluga, and the Mordovians beyond the Oka delayed the colonization movement of Rus' to the east; and the raids of the Tatars and other “languages” on Russian settlements terribly harmed them, ruining farms and taking many Russian people to the “full”. Kazan was a chronic sore of Moscow life, and therefore its capture became a national triumph, sung in folk song. After the capture of Kazan, within just 20 years, it was turned into a large Russian city; in different points of the foreign Volga region, fortified cities were erected as a support for Russian power and Russian settlement. The masses of people immediately moved to the rich lands of the Volga region and to the forest areas of the middle Urals. Vast expanses of valuable land were pacified by the Moscow authorities and developed by people's labor. This was the meaning of the “Capture of Kazan”, sensitively guessed by the people's mind. The occupation of the lower Volga and Western Siberia was a natural consequence of the destruction of the barrier that the Kazan kingdom was for Russian colonization. Platonov S.F. Complete course of lectures on Russian history. Part 2 |
It should be noted that the history of the Kazan campaigns is often counted from the campaign that took place in 1545, which “had the character of a military demonstration and strengthened the positions of the “Moscow party” and other opponents of Khan Safa-Girey.”
Astrakhan campaigns
In the early 1550s, the Astrakhan Khanate was an ally of the Crimean Khan, controlling the lower reaches of the Volga.
Before the final subjugation of the Astrakhan Khanate under Ivan IV, two campaigns were carried out:
Campaign of 1554 was committed under the command of governor Yu. I. Pronsky-Shemyakin. In the battle of the Black Island, the Russian army defeated the lead Astrakhan detachment. Astrakhan was taken without a fight. As a result, Khan Dervish-Ali was brought to power, promising support to Moscow.
Campaign of 1556 was associated with the fact that Khan Dervish-Ali went over to the side of the Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire. The campaign was led by governor N. Cheremisinov. First, the Don Cossacks of Ataman L. Filimonov’s detachment defeated the Khan’s army near Astrakhan, after which in July Astrakhan was retaken without a fight. As a result of this campaign, the Astrakhan Khanate was subordinated to Muscovite Rus'.
Later, the Crimean Khan Devlet I Giray made attempts to recapture Astrakhan.
After the conquest of Astrakhan, Russian influence began to extend to the Caucasus. In 1559, the princes of Pyatigorsk and Cherkassy asked Ivan IV to send them a detachment to protect against the raids of the Crimean Tatars and priests to maintain the faith; the tsar sent them two governors and priests, who renovated the fallen ancient churches, and in Kabarda they showed extensive missionary activity, baptizing many into Orthodoxy.
In the 1550s, the Siberian Khan Ediger and Bolshiye Nogai became dependent on the king.
Wars with the Crimean Khanate
The troops of the Crimean Khanate staged regular raids on the southern territories of Muscovite Rus' from the beginning of the 16th century (raids of 1507, 1517, 1521). Their goal was to plunder Russian cities and capture the population. During the reign of Ivan IV, the raids continued.
It is known about the campaigns of the Crimean Khanate in 1536, 1537, undertaken jointly with the Kazan Khanate, with the military support of Turkey and Lithuania.
- In 1541, the Crimean Khan Sahib I Giray made a campaign that ended in an unsuccessful siege of Zaraysk. His army was stopped at the Oka River by Russian regiments under the command of Prince Dmitry Belsky.
- In June 1552, Khan Devlet I Giray made a campaign to Tula.
- In 1555, Devlet I Giray repeated the campaign against Muscovite Rus', but, before reaching Tula, he hastily turned back, abandoning all the booty. During the retreat, he entered into battle near the village of Sudbischi with a Russian detachment that was inferior in number to him. This battle did not affect the result of his campaign.
The Tsar gave in to the demands of the opposition aristocracy to march on the Crimea: “ brave and courageous men advised and advised, so that Ivan himself, with his head, with great troops, would move against the Perekop Khan».
In 1558, the army of Prince Dmitry Vishnevetsky defeated the Crimean army near Azov, and in 1559 the army under the command of Daniil Adashev made a campaign against the Crimea, destroying the large Crimean port of Gezlev (now Yevpatoria) and freeing many Russian captives.
After Ivan the Terrible captured the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, Devlet I Giray vowed to return them. In 1563 and 1569, together with Turkish troops, he made two unsuccessful campaigns against Astrakhan.
The campaign of 1569 was much more serious than the previous ones - together with the Turkish land army and Tatar cavalry, the Turkish fleet rose along the Don River, and between the Volga and Don the Turks began construction of a shipping canal - their goal was to lead the Turkish fleet into the Caspian Sea for the war against their traditional enemy - Persia. The ten-day siege of Astrakhan without artillery and under the autumn rains ended in nothing; the garrison under the command of Prince P.S. Serebryany repulsed all attacks. The attempt to dig a canal also ended unsuccessfully - Turkish engineers did not yet know the lock system. Devlet I Giray, not happy with the strengthening of Turkey in this region, also secretly interfered with the campaign.
After this, three more campaigns are made to the Moscow lands:
- 1570 - devastating raid on Ryazan;
- 1571 - the campaign against Moscow ended with the burning of Moscow. As a result of the April Crimean Tatar raid, agreed with the Polish king, the southern Russian lands were devastated, tens of thousands of people died, more than 150 thousand Russians were taken into slavery; with the exception of the stone Kremlin, all of Moscow was burned. A week before the khan crossed the Oka, due to conflicting intelligence data, John left the army and went into the interior of the country to gather additional forces; upon news of the invasion, he moved from Serpukhov to Bronnitsy, from there to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, and from the settlement to Rostov, as his predecessors Dmitry Donskoy and Vasily I Dmitrievich did in similar cases. The winner sent him an arrogant letter:
Tsar Ivan answered the humble petition:
He went out to the Tatar ambassadors in a homespun, telling them: “Do you see me, what am I wearing? This is how the king (khan) made me! Still, he captured my kingdom and burned the treasury, and I have nothing to do with the king.” Karamzin writes that the tsar handed over to Devlet-Girey, at his request, a certain noble Crimean captive who converted to Orthodoxy in Russian captivity. However, Devlet-Girey was not satisfied with Astrakhan, demanding Kazan and 2000 rubles, and the next summer the invasion was repeated.
- 1572 - the last big campaign of the Crimean Khan during the reign of Ivan IV ended with the destruction of the Crimean-Turkish army. A 120,000-strong Crimean-Turkish horde moved to decisively defeat the Russian state. However, in the Battle of Molodi, the enemy was destroyed by a 60,000-strong Russian army under the leadership of governors M. Vorotynsky and D. Khvorostinin - 5-10 thousand returned to Crimea (see Russian-Crimean War 1571-1572). The death of the selected Turkish army near Astrakhan in 1569 and the defeat of the Crimean horde near Moscow in 1572 put a limit to Turkish-Tatar expansion in Eastern Europe.
The winner at Molodi, Vorotynsky, the very next year, following a denunciation from a slave, was accused of intending to bewitch the Tsar and died from torture, and during the torture the Tsar himself raked up the coals with his staff.
War with Sweden 1554-1557
The war was caused by the establishment of trade relations between Russia and Britain through the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean, which greatly affected the economic interests of Sweden, which received considerable income from transit Russian-European trade (G. Forsten).
In April 1555, the Swedish flotilla of Admiral Jacob Bagge passed the Neva and landed an army in the area of the Oreshek fortress. The siege of the fortress did not bring results; the Swedish army retreated.
In response, Russian troops invaded Swedish territory and on January 20, 1556 defeated a Swedish detachment near the Swedish city of Kivinebb. Then there was a clash at Vyborg, after which this fortress was besieged. The siege lasted 3 days, Vyborg held out.
As a result, in March 1557, a truce was signed in Novgorod for a period of 40 years (came into force on January 1, 1558). The Russian-Swedish border was restored along the old line, defined by the Orekhov Peace Treaty of 1323. According to the treaty, Sweden returned all Russian prisoners along with the seized property, while Rus' returned Swedish prisoners for ransom.
Livonian War
Causes of the war
In 1547, the king instructed the Saxon Schlitte to bring artisans, artists, doctors, pharmacists, typographers, people skilled in ancient and modern languages, even theologians. However, after protests from Livonia, the Senate of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck arrested Schlitte and his men (see Schlitte Affair).
In the spring of 1557, on the shores of Narva, Tsar Ivan established a port: “That same year, July, a city was established from the German Ust-Narova River Rozsene by the sea for a shelter for sea ships,” “The same year, April, the Tsar and the Grand Duke sent the Okolnichny prince Dmitry Semenovich Shastunov and Pyotr Petrovich Golovin and Ivan Vyrodkov to Ivangorod, and ordered on Narova below Ivangorod at the mouth on sea city set up for a ship's shelter..." However, the Hanseatic League and Livonia do not allow European merchants to enter the new Russian port, and they continue to go, as before, to Revel, Narva and Riga.
The Posvolsky Treaty of September 15, 1557 between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Order, which created a threat to the establishment of Lithuanian power in Livonia, played a significant role in Ivan IV’s choice of direction of military action.
The agreed position of the Hansa and Livonia to prevent Moscow from engaging in independent maritime trade leads Tsar Ivan to the decision to begin the fight for wide access to the Baltic.
During the war, the Muslim regions of the Volga region began to supply the Russian army with “many three hundred thousand battles,” well prepared for the offensive.
The situation of Russian spies on the territory of Lithuania and the Livonian Order in 1548-1551. described the Lithuanian publicist Michalon Litvin:
The beginning of hostilities. Defeat of the Livonian Order
In January 1558, Ivan IV began the Livonian War for the capture of the Baltic Sea coast. Initially, military operations developed successfully. Despite the raid on the southern Russian lands by a hundred-thousand-strong Crimean horde in the winter of 1558, the Russian army carried out active offensive operations in the Baltic states, took Narva, Dorpat, Neuschloss, Neuhaus, and defeated the order’s troops at Tiersen near Riga. In the spring and summer of 1558, the Russians captured the entire eastern part of Estonia, and by the spring of 1559, the army of the Livonian Order was completely defeated, and the Order itself virtually ceased to exist. At the direction of Alexei Adashev, Russian governors accepted the truce proposal coming from Denmark, which lasted from March to November 1559, and began separate negotiations with Livonian urban circles on the pacification of Livonia in exchange for some concessions in trade from German cities. At this time, the lands of the Order came under the protection of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and Denmark.
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The Tsar understood that without a navy it was impossible to return the Russian Baltic lands, waging a war with Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Hanseatic cities, which had armed forces at sea and dominated the Baltic. In the very first months of the Livonian War, the Tsar tried to create a privateer fleet, attracting Danes to Moscow service, turning sea and river vessels into warships. At the end of the 70s, Ivan Vasilyevich began building his own navy in Vologda and tried to transfer it to the Baltic. Alas, the great plan was not destined to come true. But even this attempt caused real hysteria among the maritime powers. N. Parfenyev. Voivode of the Russian land. Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible and his military activities. |
Entry of Poland and Lithuania into the war
On August 31, 1559, Master of the Livonian Order Gotthard Ketteler and King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland and Lithuania concluded an agreement in Vilna on the entry of Livonia under the protectorate of Poland, which was supplemented on September 15 by an agreement on military assistance to Livonia by Poland and Lithuania. This diplomatic action served as an important milestone in the course and development of the Livonian War: Russia’s war with Livonia turned into a struggle between the states of Eastern Europe for the Livonian inheritance.
In 1560, at the Congress of Imperial Deputies of Germany, Albert of Mecklenburg reported: “ The Moscow tyrant begins to build a fleet on the Baltic Sea: in Narva he turns merchant ships belonging to the city of Lübeck into warships and transfers control of them to Spanish, English and German commanders" The congress decided to address Moscow with a solemn embassy, to which Spain, Denmark and England were to be invited, to offer the eastern power eternal peace and stop her conquests.
About the reaction of European countries, professor of St. Petersburg University, historian S. F. Platonov writes:
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Grozny's performance in the fight for the Baltic Sea... was amazing central Europe. In Germany, the “Muscovites” seemed to be a terrible enemy; the danger of their invasion was outlined not only in the official communications of the authorities, but also in the extensive flying literature of leaflets and brochures. Measures were taken to prevent Muscovites from accessing the sea or Europeans from entering Moscow and, by dividing Moscow from the centers European culture, to prevent its political strengthening. In this agitation against Moscow and Grozny, many false things were invented about Moscow morals and the despotism of Grozny... Platonov S. F. Lectures on Russian history... |
In January 1560, Grozny ordered the troops to go on the offensive again. The army under the command of princes Shuisky, Serebryany and Mstislavsky took the fortress of Marienburg (Aluksne). On August 30, the Russian army under the command of Kurbsky took Fellin. An eyewitness wrote: “ An oppressed Estonian would rather submit to a Russian than to a German" Throughout Estonia, peasants rebelled against the German barons. The possibility of a quick end to the war arose. However, the king's commanders did not go to capture Revel and failed in the siege of Weissenstein. Alexey Adashev (voivode of a large regiment) was appointed to Fellin, but he, being a thin-born man, was mired in local disputes with the voivodes above him, fell into disgrace, was soon taken into custody in Dorpat and died there of fever (there were rumors that he poisoned himself, Ivan the Terrible even sent one of his nearby nobles to Dorpat to investigate the circumstances of Adashev’s death). Due to this, Sylvester left the court and took monastic vows at the monastery, and with that their smaller associates also fell - the end of the Chosen Rada came.
During the siege of Tarvast in 1561, Radziwill convinced the governors Kropotkin, Putyatin and Trusov to surrender the city. When they returned from captivity, they spent about a year in prison, and Grozny forgave them.
In 1562, due to the lack of infantry, Prince Kurbsky was defeated by Lithuanian troops near Nevel. On August 7, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Denmark, according to which the tsar agreed with the annexation of the island of Ezel by the Danes.
On February 15, 1563, the Polish-Lithuanian garrison of Polotsk surrendered. Here, on the orders of Ivan the Terrible, Thomas, a preacher of reformation ideas and an associate of Theodosius Kosy, was drowned in an ice hole. Skrynnikov believes that the massacre of the Polotsk Jews was supported by the abbot of the Joseph-Volokolamsk monastery, Leonid, who accompanied the tsar. Also, by order of the tsar, the Tatars who took part in the hostilities killed the Bernardine monks who were in Polotsk. The religious element in the conquest of Polotsk by Ivan the Terrible is also noted by Khoroshkevich.
« The prophecy of the Russian saint, the wonderworker Peter Metropolitan, about the city of Moscow, that his hands would rise up against the shoulders of his enemies, was fulfilled: God poured out unspeakable mercy on us unworthy, our patrimony, the city of Polotsk, was given to us into our hands“- wrote the tsar, pleased that “all the wheels, levers and drives of the power mechanism he had debugged acted accurately and clearly and justified the intentions of the organizers.”
In response to the proposal of the German Emperor Ferdinand to conclude an alliance and join forces in the fight against the Turks, the Tsar declared that he was fighting in Livonia practically for his own interests, against the Lutherans. The Tsar knew what place the idea of the Catholic Counter-Reformation occupied in Habsburg policy. By speaking out against “Luther’s teaching,” Ivan the Terrible touched a very sensitive chord in Habsburg politics.
As soon as Lithuanian diplomats left Rus', hostilities resumed. On January 28, 1564, the Polotsk army of P.I. Shuisky, moving towards Minsk and Novogrudok, was unexpectedly ambushed and was completely defeated by the troops of N. Radziwill. Grozny immediately accused the governors M. Repnin and Yu. Kashin (heroes of the capture of Polots) of treason and ordered them to be killed. In this regard, Kurbsky reproached the tsar for shedding the victorious, holy blood of the governor “in the churches of God.” A few months later, in response to Kurbsky’s accusations, Grozny directly wrote about the crime committed by the boyars.
In 1565, Augustus of Saxony stated: “ The Russians are quickly building a fleet, recruiting skippers from everywhere; when the Muscovites improve in maritime affairs, it will no longer be possible to cope with them...».
In September 1568, the king's ally Eric XIV was overthrown from the throne. Ivan the Terrible could only vent his anger at this diplomatic failure by arresting the ambassadors sent by the new Swedish king Johan III by announcing the termination of the 1567 treaty, but this did not help change the anti-Russian nature of Swedish foreign policy. The Great Eastern Program aimed to capture and incorporate into the Kingdom of Sweden not only those lands in the Baltic states that were occupied by Russia, but also Karelia and the Kola Peninsula.
In May 1570, the king signed a truce with King Sigismund for a period of three years, despite the huge number of mutual claims. The proclamation of the Livonian kingdom by the king delighted both the Livonian nobility, who received freedom of religion and a number of other privileges, and the Livonian merchants, who received the right to free duty-free trade in Russia, and in return allowed foreign merchants, artists and technicians to enter Moscow. On December 13, the Danish king Frederick entered into an alliance with the Swedes, as a result of which the Russian-Danish alliance did not take place.
The main condition for consent to his election as the Polish king was the concession of Poland to Livonia in favor of Russia, and as compensation he offered to return “Polotsk and its suburbs” to the Poles. But on November 20, 1572, Maximilian II concluded an agreement with Grozny, according to which all ethnic Polish lands (Greater Poland, Mazovia, Kuyavia, Silesia) went to the empire, and Moscow received Livonia and the Principality of Lithuania with all its possessions - that is, Belarus, Podlasie, Ukraine , so the noble nobility hastened to elect a king and elected Henry of Valois.
On January 1, 1573, Russian troops under the command of Grozny took the Weisenstein fortress, Skuratov died in this battle.
On January 23, 1577, a 50,000-strong Russian army again besieged Revel, but failed to take the fortress. In February 1578, Nuncio Vincent Laureo reported with alarm to Rome: “The Muscovite divided his army into two parts: one is expected near Riga, the other near Vitebsk.” In the same year, having lost cannons during the siege of Wenden, the king immediately ordered the release of others, with the same names and signs, in even greater numbers than before. As a result, all of Livonia along the Dvina, with the exception of only two cities - Revel and Riga, was in Russian hands.
The king did not know that already at the beginning of the summer offensive of 1577, Duke Magnus betrayed his overlord, secretly contacting his enemy, Stefan Batory, and negotiated with him for a separate peace. This betrayal became obvious only six months later, when Magnus, having escaped from Livonia, finally went over to the side of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Batory's army gathered many European mercenaries; Batory himself hoped that the Russians would take his side against their tyrant, and for this he started a traveling printing house in which he printed leaflets. Despite this numerical advantage, Magmet Pasha reminded Bathory: “ The king takes on a difficult task; the strength of the Muscovites is great, and, with the exception of my master, there is no more powerful Sovereign on earth».
In 1578, the Russian army under the command of Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin took the city of Oberpalen, which was occupied by a strong Swedish garrison after the flight of King Magnus.
In 1579, the royal messenger Wenceslaus Lopatinsky brought the king a letter from Batory declaring war. Already in August, the Polish army surrounded Polotsk. The garrison defended itself for three weeks, and its bravery was noted by Batory himself. In the end, the fortress surrendered (August 30), and the garrison was released. Stephen's secretary Bathory Heidenstein writes about the prisoners:
However, “many archers and other Moscow people” went over to Batory’s side and were settled by him in the Grodno region. Following this, Batory moved to Velikiye Luki and took them.
At the same time, direct peace negotiations were underway with Poland. Ivan the Terrible proposed giving Poland all of Livonia, with the exception of four cities. Batory did not agree to this and demanded all the Livonian cities, in addition Sebezh, and payment of 400,000 Hungarian gold for military costs. This infuriated Grozny, and he responded with a sharp letter.
After this, in the summer of 1581, Stefan Batory invaded deep into Russia and besieged Pskov, which, however, he was never able to take. At the same time, the Swedes took Narva, where 7,000 Russians fell, then Ivangorod and Koporye. Ivan was forced to negotiate with Poland, hoping to then conclude an alliance with her against Sweden. In the end, the tsar was forced to agree to the conditions under which “the Livonian cities that belong to the sovereign should be ceded to the king, and Luke the Great and other cities that the king took, let him cede to the sovereign” - that is, the war that lasted almost a quarter of a century ended in restoration status quo ante bellum, thus becoming sterile. A 10-year truce on these terms was signed on January 15, 1582 in Yam Zapolsky.
Even before the completion of the negotiations in Yama-Zapolsky, the Russian government began preparations for a military campaign against the Swedes. The gathering of troops continued throughout the second half of December and at the turn of 1581-82, when the main controversial issues between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had already been resolved, and the final decision was made to organize a campaign “against the Svei Germans.” The offensive began on February 7, 1582 under the command of Voivode M.P. Katyrev-Rostovsky, and after the victory near the village of Lyalitsy, the situation in the Baltic States began to change noticeably in favor of Russia.
The prospect of Russia regaining its lost access to the Baltic Sea caused great concern among the king and his entourage. Batory sent his representatives to Baron Delagardie and King Johan with an ultimatum demand to transfer Narva and the rest of the lands of Northern Estonia to the Poles, and in return promised significant monetary compensation and assistance in the war with Russia.
Negotiations between official representatives of Russia and Sweden began in 1582 and ended in August 1583 with the signing of a two-year truce at the Grange with the concession of the Novgorod fortresses of Yama, Koporye and Ivangorod to the Swedes. By signing a truce for such a period, Russian politicians hoped that with the outbreak of the Polish-Swedish War they would be able to return the Novgorod suburbs captured by the Swedes and did not want to tie their hands.
England
During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, trade relations were established with England.
In 1553, the expedition of the English navigator Richard Chancellor rounded the Kola Peninsula, entered the White Sea and dropped anchor west of the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery opposite the village of Nenoksa, where they established that this area was not India, but Muscovy; The next stop of the expedition was near the walls of the monastery. Having received news of the appearance of the British within his country, Ivan IV wished to meet with Chancellor, who, having covered about 1000 km, arrived in Moscow with honors. Soon after this expedition, the Moscow Company was founded in London, which subsequently received monopoly trading rights from Tsar Ivan. In the spring of 1556, the first Russian embassy was sent to England, headed by Osip Nepeya.
In 1567, through the plenipotentiary English ambassador Anthony Jenkinson, Ivan the Terrible negotiated a marriage with the English Queen Elizabeth I, and in 1583, through the nobleman Fyodor Pisemsky, he wooed a relative of the queen, Mary Hastings.
In 1569, through her ambassador Thomas Randolph, Elizabeth I made it clear to the tsar that she was not going to intervene in the Baltic conflict. In response, the tsar wrote to her that her trade representatives “do not think about our sovereign heads and the honor and profit of the land, but are looking only for their own trade profits,” and canceled all the privileges previously granted to the Moscow Trading Company created by the British. The next day (September 5, 1569) Maria Temryukovna died. The Council verdict of 1572 records that she was “poisoned by the enemy’s malice.”
Cultural activities
Ivan IV went down in history not only as a conqueror. He was one of the most educated people of his time, had a phenomenal memory and theological erudition. He is the author of numerous letters (including to Kurbsky, Elizabeth I, Stefan Batory, Johan III, Vasily Gryazny, Jan Chodkiewicz, Jan Rokite, Prince Polubensky, to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery), the stichera for the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, the canon to the Archangel Michael (under the pseudonym Parfeniy the Ugly). Ivan IV was a good speaker.
By order of the tsar, a unique literary monument was created - the Facial Chronicle.
The Tsar contributed to the organization of book printing in Moscow and the construction of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square. According to contemporaries, Ivan IV was “ a man of wonderful reasoning, in the science of book teaching he is content and very talkative" He loved to travel to monasteries and was interested in describing the lives of the great kings of the past. It is assumed that Ivan inherited from his grandmother Sophia Paleologus the most valuable library of the Morean despots, which included ancient Greek manuscripts; what he did with it is unknown: according to some versions, the library of Ivan the Terrible died in one of the Moscow fires, according to others, it was hidden by the tsar. In the 20th century, the search undertaken by individual enthusiasts for the allegedly hidden library of Ivan the Terrible in the dungeons of Moscow became a story that constantly attracted the attention of journalists.
Khan on the Moscow throne
In 1575, at the request of Ivan the Terrible, the baptized Tatar and Khan of Kasimov, Simeon Bekbulatovich, was crowned king as the Tsar “Grand Duke of All Rus',” and Ivan the Terrible himself called himself Ivan of Moscow, left the Kremlin and began to live on Petrovka. After 11 months, Simeon, retaining the title of Grand Duke, went to Tver, where he was given an inheritance, and Ivan Vasilyevich again began to be called the Grand Duke of All Rus'.
In 1576, Staden proposed to Emperor Rudolf: “ Your Roman-Caesarian Majesty should appoint one of Your Majesty's brothers as a sovereign who would take over this country and rule it... Monasteries and churches should be closed, cities and villages should become the prey of military people»
At the same time, with the direct support of the Nogai Murzas of Prince Urus, unrest of the Volga Cheremis broke out: cavalry numbering up to 25,000 people, attacking from Astrakhan, devastated the Belevsky, Kolomna and Alatyr lands. In conditions of insufficient numbers of three tsarist regiments to suppress the rebellion, a breakthrough of the Crimean Horde could lead to very dangerous consequences for Russia. Obviously, wanting to avoid such a danger, the Russian government decided to transfer troops, temporarily abandoning the attack on Sweden.
On January 15, 1580, a church council was convened in Moscow. Addressing the highest hierarchs, the tsar directly said how difficult his situation was: “countless enemies have risen up against the Russian state,” which is why he asks for help from the Church.
In 1580, the tsar defeated the German settlement. Frenchman Jacques Margeret, who lived in Russia for many years, writes: “ The Livonians, who were captured and taken to Moscow, professing the Lutheran faith, having received two churches inside the city of Moscow, held public services there; but in the end, because of their pride and vanity, the said temples... were destroyed and all their houses were ruined. And, although in winter they were expelled naked, and with what their mother gave birth to, they could not blame anyone but themselves for this, for ... they behaved so arrogantly, their manners were so arrogant, and their clothes were so luxurious that they could all be mistaken for princes and princesses... Their main profit was the right to sell vodka, honey and other drinks, from which they make not 10%, but a hundred, which may seem incredible, but it’s true».
In 1581, the Jesuit A. Possevin went to Russia, acting as a mediator between Ivan and Poland, and at the same time hoping to persuade the Russian Church into a union with the Catholic Church. His failure was predicted by the Polish Hetman Zamolsky: “ He is ready to swear that the Grand Duke is disposed towards him and will accept the Latin faith to please him, and I am sure that these negotiations will end with the prince hitting him with a crutch and driving him away" M.V. Tolstoy writes in “History of the Russian Church”: “ But the pope’s hopes and Possevin’s efforts were not crowned with success. John showed all the natural flexibility of his mind, dexterity and prudence, which the Jesuit himself had to give justice to, rejected the requests for permission to build Latin churches in Rus', rejected disputes about faith and the union of Churches on the basis of the rules of the Florence Council and was not carried away by the dreamy promise of acquiring all the Byzantine Empire, lost by the Greeks allegedly for retreating from Rome" The ambassador himself notes that “the Russian Sovereign stubbornly avoided and avoided discussing this topic.” Thus, the papal throne did not receive any privileges; the possibility of Moscow joining the Catholic Church remained as vague as before, and meanwhile the papal ambassador had to begin his mediating role.
The conquest of Siberia by Ermak Timofeevich and his Cossacks in 1583 and his capture of the capital of Siberia - Iskera - marked the beginning of the conversion of local foreigners to Orthodoxy: Ermak’s troops were accompanied by two priests and a hieromonk.
Death
A study of the remains of Ivan the Terrible showed that in the last six years of his life he developed osteophytes (salt deposits on the spine) to such an extent that he could no longer walk - he was carried on a stretcher. M. M. Gerasimov, who examined the remains, noted that he had not seen such thick deposits even in the very elderly. Forced immobility, combined with a general unhealthy lifestyle, nervous shocks, etc., led to the fact that at just over 50 years old, the tsar already looked like a decrepit old man.
In August 1582, A. Possevin, in a report to the Venetian Signoria, stated that “ The Moscow sovereign will not live long" In February and early March 1584, the king was still engaged in state affairs. The first mention of the disease dates back to March 10 (when the Lithuanian ambassador was stopped on his way to Moscow “due to the sovereign’s illness”). On March 16, things got worse, the king fell into unconsciousness, however, on March 17 and 18 he felt relief from hot baths. But on the afternoon of March 18, the king died. The sovereign’s body was swollen and smelled foul “due to the decomposition of the blood”
Bethliofika preserved the dying order of the Tsar to Boris Godunov: “ When the Great Sovereign was honored with the last instructions, the most pure body and blood of the Lord, then presenting his confessor Archimandrite Theodosius as a testimony, filling his eyes with tears, saying to Boris Feodorovich: I command you with my soul and my son Feodor Ivanovich and my daughter Irina..." Also, before his death, according to the chronicles, the tsar bequeathed Uglich with all the counties to his youngest son Dmitry.
It is difficult to reliably determine whether the king’s death was caused by natural causes or was violent.
There were persistent rumors about the violent death of Ivan the Terrible. A 17th century chronicler reported that “ the king was given poison by his neighbors" According to the testimony of clerk Ivan Timofeev, Boris Godunov and Bogdan Belsky " the king's life ended prematurely" Crown Hetman Zholkiewski also accused Godunov: “ He took the life of Tsar Ivan by bribing the doctor who treated Ivan, because the matter was such that if he had not warned him (had not forestalled him), he himself would have been executed along with many other noble nobles" The Dutchman Isaac Massa wrote that Belsky put poison in the royal medicine. Horsey also wrote about the Godunovs’ secret plans against the tsar and put forward a version of the strangulation of the tsar, with which V.I. Koretsky agrees: “ Apparently, the king was first given poison, and then, just to be sure, in the confusion that arose after he suddenly fell, they also strangled him" The historian Waliszewski wrote: “ Bogdan Belsky (with) his advisors harassed Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, and now he wants to beat the boyars and wants to find the kingdom of Moscow under Tsar Fedor Ivanovich for his advisor (Godunov)».
The version of the poisoning of Grozny was tested during the opening of the royal tombs in 1963: studies showed normal levels of arsenic in the remains and increased levels of mercury, which, however, was present in many medicines XVI century and which was used to treat syphilis, which the king was supposedly ill with. The version of the murder was considered not confirmed, but not refuted either.
The character of the king according to contemporaries
Ivan grew up in an environment of palace coups, the struggle for power between the boyar families of the Shuisky and Belsky, warring among themselves. Therefore, it was believed that the murders, intrigues and violence that surrounded him contributed to the development of suspicion, vindictiveness and cruelty in him. S. Solovyov, analyzing the influence of the morals of the era on the character of Ivan IV, notes that he “did not recognize the moral, spiritual means for establishing truth and order, or, even worse, having realized it, he forgot about them; instead of healing, he intensified the disease, made him even more accustomed to torture, bonfires and the chopping block.”
However, in the era of the Elected Rada, the tsar was described enthusiastically. One of his contemporaries writes about 30-year-old Grozny: “The custom of John is to keep himself pure before God. And in the temple, and in solitary prayer, and in the boyar council, and among the people, he has one feeling: “Let me rule, as the Almighty ordered his true Anointed to rule!” impartial judgment, the safety of each and everyone, the integrity of the states entrusted to him, the triumph of faith , the freedom of Christians is his constant thought. Burdened with affairs, he knows no other joys except a peaceful conscience, except the pleasure of fulfilling his duty; does not want the usual royal coolness... Affectionate towards the nobles and the people - loving, rewarding everyone according to their dignity - eradicating poverty with generosity, and evil - with an example of goodness, this God-born King wishes on the day of the Last Judgment to hear the voice of mercy: “You are the King of righteousness!”
“He is so prone to anger that when he is in it, he foams like a horse and goes as if into madness; in this state, he also gets angry at people he meets. - Ambassador Daniil Prince writes from Bukhov. - The cruelty that he often commits on his own, whether it originates in his nature, or in the baseness (malitia) of his subjects, I cannot say. When he is at the table, the eldest son sits on his right hand. He himself is of rude morals; for he rests his elbows on the table, and since he does not use any plates, he eats food by picking it up with his hands, and sometimes he puts what he has not eaten back into the cup (in patinam). Before drinking or eating anything offered, he usually marks himself with a large cross and looks at the hanging images of the Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas.”
Prince Katyrev-Rostovsky gives Grozny the following famous description:
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Tsar Ivan looks ridiculous, with gray eyes, a long nose and a gag; He is tall in age, has a lean body, has high shoulders, broad chests, thick muscles, a man of wonderful reasoning, content in the science of book teaching, and highly eloquent, daring in the militia and standing up for his fatherland. For his servants, given to him by God, he is cruel-hearted, and for shedding blood for murder he is impudent and implacable; Destroy many people from small to great in your kingdom, and captivate many of your own cities, and imprison many holy ranks and destroy them with unmerciful death, and desecrate many other things against your servants, wives and maidens through fornication. The same Tsar Ivan did many good things, loving the army of the great ones and demanding them from their treasures generously. Such is Tsar Ivan. N.V. Vodovozov. History of Old Russian Literature |
The historian Solovyov believes that it is necessary to consider the personality and character of the tsar in the context of his environment in his youth:
Appearance
Evidence from contemporaries about the appearance of Ivan the Terrible is very scarce. All available portraits of him, according to K. Waliszewski, are of dubious authenticity. According to contemporaries, he was lean, tall and had a good physique. Ivan's eyes were blue with a penetrating gaze, although in the second half of his reign a gloomy and gloomy face was already noted. The king shaved his head, wore a large mustache and a thick reddish beard, which turned gray towards the end of his reign.
The Venetian ambassador Marco Foscarino writes about the appearance of 27-year-old Ivan Vasilyevich: “handsome.”
The German ambassador Daniil Prince, who visited Ivan the Terrible in Moscow twice, described the 46-year-old Tsar: “He is very tall. The body is full of strength and quite thick, with large eyes that constantly run around and watch everything most carefully. His beard is red (rufa), with a slight tint of black, quite long and thick, but, like most Russians, he shaves the hair on his head with a razor.”
In 1963, the tomb of Ivan the Terrible was opened in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The king was buried in the vestments of a schemamonk. Based on the remains, it was established that Ivan the Terrible’s height was about 179-180 centimeters. In the last years of his life, his weight was 85-90 kg. Soviet scientist M. M. Gerasimov used the technique he developed to restore the appearance of Ivan the Terrible from the preserved skull and skeleton. Based on the results of the study, we can say that “by the age of 54, the king was already an old man, his face was covered with deep wrinkles, and there were huge bags under his eyes. Clearly expressed asymmetry (the left eye, collarbone and shoulder blade were much larger than the right ones), the heavy nose of the descendant of the Paleologians, and the disgustingly sensual mouth gave him an unattractive appearance.”
Family and personal life
On December 13, 1546, 16-year-old Ivan consulted with Metropolitan Macarius about his desire to get married. Immediately after the crowning of the kingdom in January, noble dignitaries, okolnichy and clerks began to travel around the country, looking for a bride for the king. A brideshow was held. The king's choice fell on Anastasia, the daughter of the widow Zakharyina. At the same time, Karamzin says that the tsar was guided not by the nobility of the family, but by the personal merits of Anastasia. The wedding took place on February 13, 1547 in the Church of Our Lady.
The Tsar's marriage lasted 13 years, until Anastasia's sudden death in the summer of 1560. The death of his wife greatly influenced the 30-year-old king; after this event, historians note a turning point in the nature of his reign.
A year after the death of his wife, the tsar entered into a second marriage, marrying Maria, who came from a family of Kabardian princes.
The number of wives of Ivan the Terrible has not been precisely established; historians mention the names of seven women who were considered the wives of Ivan IV. Of these, only the first four are “married,” that is, legal from the point of view of church law (for the fourth marriage, prohibited by the canons, Ivan received a conciliar decision on its admissibility). Moreover, according to the 50th rule of Basil the Great, even a third marriage is already a violation of the canons: “ there is no law against trigamy; therefore the third marriage is not consummated by law. We look at such deeds as impurities in the Church, but we do not subject them to public condemnation, as being better than lascivious fornication." The justification for the need for a fourth marriage was the sudden death of the king's third wife. Ivan IV swore to the clergy that she did not have time to become his wife. The king's 3rd and 4th wives were also chosen based on the results of the bride review.
A possible explanation for the large number of marriages, which was not typical for that time, is the assumption of K. Waliszewski that John was a great lover of women, but at the same time he was also a great pedant in observing religious rituals and sought to possess a woman only as a legal husband.
In addition, the country needed an adequate heir.
On the other hand, according to John Horsey, who knew him personally, “he himself boasted that he had corrupted a thousand virgins and that thousands of his children were deprived of their lives.” According to V. B. Kobrin, this statement, although it contains an explicit exaggeration, clearly characterizes the depravity of the king The Terrible himself in his spiritual letter recognized both “fornication” simply and “supernatural fornication” in particular:
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From Adam to this day, all have failed in the iniquities of those who have sinned, for this reason I am hated by everyone, I have passed through the murder of Cain, I have become like Lamech, the first murderer, I have followed Esau with nasty intemperance, I have become like Reuben, who desecrated my father’s bed, gluttony, and many others with the rage and anger of intemperance. And since the mind of God and the king was in vain with the passions, I was corrupted by reason, and bestial by the mind and understanding, because I had desecrated the very head with the desire and thought of inappropriate deeds, the mouth with thoughts of murder, and fornication, and every evil deed, the tongue of obscene language, and foul language, and anger, and rage, and intemperance of any inappropriate deed, the neck and chest of pride and the aspirations of a high-voiced mind, the hand of an incomparable touch, and insatiable robbery, and insolence, and internal murder, her thoughts with all sorts of nasty and inappropriate defilements, gluttony and drunkenness, loins supernatural fornication, and inappropriate abstinence and adoration for every evil deed, but with the swiftest flow to every evil deed, and desecration, and murder, and the plunder of insatiable wealth, and other inappropriate mockery. (Spiritual letter of Ivan the Terrible, June-August 1572) |
The burials of the four wives of Ivan the Terrible, legal for the church, were until 1929 in the Ascension Monastery, the traditional burial place of grand duchesses and Russian queens: „ Next to Grozny’s mother are his four wives“.
Sequence |
Years of life |
Wedding date |
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Anastasia Romanovna, died during her husband’s lifetime |
Anna (died at 11 months of age), Maria, Evdokia, Dmitry (died in infancy), Ivan and Fedor |
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Maria Temryukovna ( Kuchenyi) |
Son Vasily (b. 2 /old style/ March - † 6 /old style/ May 1563. Buried in the royal tomb of the Archangel Cathedral. |
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Marfa Sobakina (died (poisoned) two weeks after the wedding) |
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Anna Koltovskaya (forced to become a nun under the name Daria) |
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Maria Dolgorukaya (died for unknown reasons, according to some sources she was killed (drowned) after her wedding night by Ivan) |
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Anna Vasilchikova (forced to become a nun, died a violent death) |
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Vasilisa Melentyevna (mentioned in sources as “ wife“; forcibly tonsured a nun in 1577, according to legendary sources - killed by Ivan) |
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Maria Nagaya |
Dmitry Ivanovich (died in 1591 in Uglich) |
Children
Sons
- Dmitry Ivanovich (1552-1553), heir to his father during a fatal illness in 1553; that same year, the baby was accidentally dropped by a nurse while being loaded onto a ship; he fell into the river and drowned.
- Ivan Ivanovich (1554-1581), according to one version, died during a quarrel with his father, according to another version, died as a result of illness on November 19. Married three times, left no offspring.
- Feodor I Ioannovich, no male children. Upon the birth of his son, Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of a church in the Feodorovsky Monastery in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky. This temple in honor of Theodore Stratilates became the main cathedral of the monastery and has survived to this day.
- Tsarevich Dmitry, died in childhood
The results of the activities of Ivan the Terrible through the eyes of contemporaries and historians
The dispute about the results of the reign of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich has been going on for five centuries. It began during the life of Ivan the Terrible. It should be noted that in Soviet times, the prevailing ideas about the reign of Ivan the Terrible in official historiography were directly dependent on the current “general line of the party.”
Contemporaries
Assessing the results of the tsar’s activities in creating Russian artillery, J. Fletcher wrote in 1588:
The same J. Fletcher pointed out the increasing lack of rights of commoners, which negatively affected their motivation to work:
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I often saw how, having laid out their goods (such as furs, etc.), they all looked around and looked at the doors, like people who are afraid that some enemy will overtake them and capture them. When I asked them why they were doing this, I found out that they doubted whether one of the royal nobles or some son of a boyar was among the visitors, and that they would not come with their accomplices and take from them by force all product. That is why the people (although generally capable of enduring all kinds of labor) indulge in laziness and drunkenness, not caring about anything more than daily food. From the same thing it happens that products characteristic of Russia (as mentioned above, such as wax, lard, leather, flax, hemp, etc.) are mined and exported abroad in quantities much smaller than before, for the people, being cramped and deprived of everything he gains, he loses all desire to work. |
Assessing the results of the tsar’s activities to strengthen the autocracy and eradicate heresies, the German guardsman Staden wrote:
Historiography of the 19th century.
Karamzin describes Ivan the Terrible as a great and wise sovereign in the first half of his reign, a merciless tyrant in the second:
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Between other difficult experiences of Fate, in addition to the disasters of the Appanage system, in addition to the yoke of the Mongols, Russia had to experience the threat of a tormenting autocrat: it resisted with love for autocracy, because it believed that God sends plagues and earthquakes and tyrants; did not break the iron scepter in the hands of John and endured the destroyer for twenty-four years, armed only with prayer and patience (...) In magnanimous humility, the sufferers died on the execution site, like the Greeks at Thermopylae for the fatherland, for Faith and Fidelity, without even a thought of rebellion. In vain, some foreign historians, excusing Ioannova’s cruelty, wrote about conspiracies that were supposedly destroyed by her: these conspiracies existed only in the vague mind of the Tsar, according to all the evidence of our chronicles and state papers. The clergy, Boyars, famous citizens would not have summoned the beast from the den of Sloboda Aleksandrovskaya if they had been plotting treason, which was brought against them as absurdly as sorcery. No, the tiger reveled in the blood of lambs - and the victims, dying in innocence, with their last glance at the disastrous land demanded justice, a touching memory from their contemporaries and posterity! |
From the point of view of N.I. Kostomarov, almost all the achievements during the reign of Ivan the Terrible occurred in the initial period of his reign, when the young tsar was not yet an independent figure and was under the close tutelage of the leaders of the Elected Rada. The subsequent period of Ivan’s reign was marked by numerous foreign and domestic political failures. N.I. Kostomarov also draws the reader’s attention to the contents of the “Spiritual Testament” compiled by Ivan the Terrible around 1572, according to which the country was supposed to be divided between the sons of the tsar into semi-independent fiefs. The historian argues that this path would lead to the actual collapse of a single state according to a scheme well known in Rus'.
S. M. Solovyov saw the main pattern of Grozny’s activity in the transition from “tribal” relations to “state” ones.
V. O. Klyuchevsky considered Ivan’s internal policy aimless: “The question of state order turned for him into a question of personal safety, and he, like an overly frightened person, began to strike right and left, without distinguishing between friends and enemies”; the oprichnina, from his point of view, prepared “real sedition” - the Time of Troubles.
Historiography of the 20th century.
S. F. Platonov saw the strengthening of Russian statehood in the activities of Ivan the Terrible, but condemned him for the fact that “a complex political matter was further complicated by unnecessary torture and gross debauchery,” and that the reforms “took on the character of general terror.”
R. Yu. Vipper considered Ivan the Terrible in the early 1920s as a brilliant organizer and creator of a major power, in particular, he wrote about him: “Ivan the Terrible, a contemporary of Elizabeth of England, Philip II of Spain and William of Orange, the leader of the Dutch Revolution, had solve military, administrative and international problems similar to the goals of the creators of the new European powers, but in a much more difficult situation. His talents as a diplomat and organizer perhaps surpass them all.” Vipper justified tough measures in domestic politics by the seriousness of the international situation in which Russia was: “In the division of the reign of Ivan the Terrible into two different eras At the same time, it contained an assessment of the personality and activities of Ivan the Terrible: it served as the main basis for belittling his historical role, for listing him among the greatest tyrants. Unfortunately, when analyzing this issue, most historians focused their attention on changes in the internal life of the Moscow state and paid little attention to the international situation in which (it) found itself during... the reign of Ivan IV. Severe critics seemed to have forgotten that the entire second half of the reign of Ivan the Terrible took place under the sign of continuous war, and, moreover, the most difficult war that the Great Russian state had ever waged.”
At that time, Vipper’s views were rejected by Soviet science (in the 1920-1930s, which saw Grozny as an oppressor of the people who prepared serfdom), but were subsequently supported during the period when the personality and activities of Ivan the Terrible received official approval from Stalin. During this period, the terror of Grozny was justified by the fact that the oprichnina “finally and forever broke the boyars and made the restoration of order impossible.” feudal fragmentation and strengthened the foundations political system Russian national state"; This approach continued the concept of Solovyov-Platonov, but was complemented by the idealization of the image of Ivan.
In the 1940s-1950s, Academician S.B. Veselovsky studied a lot about Ivan the Terrible, who did not have the opportunity, due to the prevailing position at that time, to publish his main works during his lifetime; he abandoned the idealization of Ivan the Terrible and the oprichnina and introduced a large number of new materials into scientific circulation. Veselovsky saw the roots of terror in the conflict between the monarch and the administration (the Sovereign's court as a whole), and not specifically with the large feudal boyars; he believed that in practice Ivan did not change the status of the boyars and the general order of governing the country, but limited himself to the destruction of specific real and imaginary opponents (Klyuchevsky already pointed out that Ivan “beat not only the boyars and not even the boyars primarily”).
At first, the concept of Ivan’s “statist” domestic policy was also supported by A. A. Zimin, speaking of justified terror against feudal lords who betrayed national interests. Subsequently, Zimin accepted Veselovsky’s concept of the absence of a systematic fight against the boyars; in his opinion, the oprichnina terror had the most destructive effect on the Russian peasantry. Zimin recognized both the crimes and state services of Grozny:
V. B. Kobrin assesses the results of the oprichnina extremely negatively:
Tsar Ivan and the church
The rapprochement with the West under John IV could not remain without the foreigners who came to Russia talking with Russians and introducing the spirit of religious speculation and debate that was then dominant in the West.
In the fall of 1553, a council opened on the case of Matvey Bashkin and his accomplices. A number of charges were brought against the heretics: denial of the holy catholic apostolic church, rejection of the worship of icons, denial of the power of repentance, disdain for the decisions of ecumenical councils, etc. The chronicle reports: “ Both the Tsar and the Metropolitan ordered him to be taken away and tortured for these reasons; he is a Christian confessing himself, hiding in himself the enemy’s deception, satanic heresy, I think he’s crazy from All-Seeing Eye take cover».
The most significant relations of the tsar with Metropolitan Macarius and his reforms, Metropolitan Philip, Archpriest Sylvester, as well as the councils that took place at that time - they were reflected in the activities of the Stoglavy Cathedral.
One of the manifestations of Ivan IV’s deep religiosity was his significant contributions to various monasteries. Numerous donations for the commemoration of the souls of people killed by order of the sovereign himself have no analogues not only in Russian, but also in European history.
The question of canonization
At the end of the 20th century, part of the church and parachurch circles discussed the issue of canonization of Grozny. This idea met with categorical condemnation by the church hierarchy and the patriarch, who pointed out the historical failure of the rehabilitation of Grozny, its crimes before the church (the murder of saints), as well as those who rejected claims about his popular veneration.
Ivan the Terrible in popular culture
Cinema
- Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible (1915) - Fyodor Chaliapin
- The Wax Cabinet (1924) - Conrad Veidt
- Wings of a Serf (1924) - Leonid Leonidov
- First printer Ivan Fedorov (1941) - Pavel Springfeld
- Ivan the Terrible (1944) - Nikolay Cherkasov
- The Tsar's Bride (1965) - Petr Glebov
- Ivan Vasilievich changes profession (1973) - Yuri Yakovlev
- Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1991) - Kakhi Kavsadze
- Kremlin secrets of the sixteenth century (1991) - Alexey Zharkov
- Revelation of John the Prime Printer (1991) - Innokenty Smoktunovsky
- Thunderstorm over Russia (1992) - Oleg Borisov
- Ermak (1996) - Evgeniy Evstigneev
- Tsar (2009) - Peter Mamonov.
- Ivan the Terrible (2009 television series) - Alexander Demidov.
- Night at the Museum 2 (2009) - Christopher Guest
Computer games
- In Age of Empires III, Ivan the Terrible is introduced as the leader of the playable Russian civilization
- In Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare, Imran Zakhaev was created from the skull of Ivan the Terrible
Ivan IV was three years old when his father Vasily III died. His mother, Elena Glinskaya (1533-1538), who came from an old Western Russian princely family, became regent for her young son. Elena's uncle Mikhail Glinsky became the de facto ruler of the state, and then the favorite of the Grand Duchess Ivan Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky. During the years of Elena Glinskaya's regency, there was a fierce struggle for power mainly between two feudal groups - the Shuisky and Velsky, which weakened the central government.
At the same time, thanks to individual measures during Glinskaya’s reign, the remnants of the former feudal fragmentation were gradually eliminated. The local system was further developed. Land distributions to Moscow service people who received possessions on new lands, i.e. "located" there began to be called estates, and the owners themselves - landowners. As a form of conditional holding, estates differed from fiefdoms: they were forbidden to be sold or given away. This form of feudal land ownership increased the number of people who were entirely dependent on the central Moscow government and were its supporters.
An administrative reform was carried out in order to strengthen the local government apparatus and increase the role of service people in it. The country was divided into territorial districts - lips, the boundaries of which did not always coincide with the previous boundaries of the destinies. Throughout the territory of the Moscow State, the same units of measurement of weight, volume of bulk masses and length were introduced. Previously, all of them (measures, zolotniks, arshins, elbows, etc.), although they were called the same, differed from each other in different parts of the country.
The monetary reform of 1535 established a unified monetary system. The main counting unit was the Moscow silver kopeck with a horseman with a spear depicted on it, instead of the two most common previously Novgorod and Moscow “money” (“denga” is the name of the coin).
The marriage of 17-year-old Ivan IV to Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Koshkina meant his coming of age and the opportunity to rule independently. But 1547 was marked by an uprising in Moscow, the reason for which was a terrible fire that destroyed almost the entire city. Outraged Muscovites blamed the Glinsky boyars for all the troubles. Taking refuge in the village of Vorobyovo (present-day Vorobyovy Gory), Ivan barely managed to suppress the unrest.
The actual coming to power of Ivan IV (1533-1584) was accompanied by an unprecedented ritual: in 1547, he was solemnly crowned king with the “cap of Monomakh” in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, taking the title of tsar (short for “cesar”, lat. - caesar) from the hands of the head of the church, Metropolitan Macarius, who developed the wedding ritual. This gave the grand ducal power the character of absolute, unlimited power of the autocrat over his subjects. The Church became its spiritual guarantor. The tsar was considered equal to the German emperor; the Byzantine emperors and khans of the Golden Horde were previously called tsars in Rus'. The full title of the head of the Russian state reflected the “composite” nature of this state, which still represented not so much a single centralized state as a collection of former lands and principalities.
In a work from the beginning of the 16th century. “The Tale of the Grand Dukes of Vladimir,” which substantiated the authority of the supreme power, the author traced the origin of the Russian royal dynasty to the Roman Emperor Augustus. References to it allowed Ivan IV to assert more and more insistently that the Russian state was the heir to the traditions of Rome and Constantinople. The chronicles were subordinated to the same idea - “The Chronicler of the Beginning of the Kingdom” and “The Degree Book,” which symbolized the rise of royal power and the inviolability of its union with the church.
One of the lists of the huge Nikon Chronicle, named after its owner in the 17th century. Patriarch Nikon, was richly illustrated with thousands of color miniatures and was called the Facial Vault (“face” - image).
The highest level of chronicle writing was facilitated by the use of paper (14th century), the acceleration of writing (the transition from the “charter” and “half-charter” to cursive writing in the 15th century) and the beginning of Russian printing. The pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov worked in a printing house on Nikolskaya Street in Moscow, where he published the first Russian dated book, “The Apostle” (1564).
In the architecture of this era, the tent style was established, the temples of which were built according to a new principle: without internal supports (pillars), their entire skyward structure rested on the foundation. The most famous of the tented churches are the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye, built in honor of the birth of Ivan IV, and the Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral) on Red Square in honor of the capture of Kazan. IN mid-16th century V. In Moscow, new lines of stone fortifications were erected - the brick Kitay-Gorod (east of the Kremlin walls) and the white-stone White City (along the line of the modern boulevard ring, architect Fyodor Kon).
The first period of the reign of Ivan IV is usually called the “policy of compromise” between the authorities and the boyar aristocracy. An attempt was made to strengthen state power by softening the contradictions between all layers of the ruling class. The “policy of compromise” was based on the program of the Elected Rada - a council of figures close to the tsar. In addition to Metropolitan Macarius in Elected Rada entered the rich but humble nobleman Alexei Adashev, the priest of the Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral and the Tsar’s personal confessor Sylvester, Prince Andrei Kurbsky and others.
In the middle of the 16th century. The elected Rada carried out a series of reforms aimed at centralizing the state. First of all, the composition of the Boyar Duma was almost tripled in order to weaken the role of the old aristocracy in it. In 1549, the first Zemsky Sobor was convened - a body that reflected the unification of lands under the authority of one sovereign. The Zemsky Sobor included the Boyar Duma, the Consecrated Cathedral of the highest clergy, as well as representatives of the nobility and the top of the posad (cities). All members of this class-representative body were appointed by the king.
The main issues of domestic and foreign policy were resolved at the councils. In the event of an interregnum, new kings were elected at the Zemsky Councils, and other decisions important for the fate of the country were made.
In the XVI-XVII centuries. the convening of Zemsky Sobors reflected the division of supreme power between the monarch and the feudal aristocracy, whose support and approval the authorities still needed and which participated directly in state activities through an estate-representative body. And the participation of the clergy, nobility and townspeople in the Zemsky Councils balanced the influence of the nobility.
The most important event was the creation of an order system. The orders as executive authorities were in charge of certain branches of government (Ambassadorship, Razryadny, Pushkarsky, Streletsky orders) or certain territories of the Moscow state (orders of the Siberian Palace, Kazan Palace, etc.). At the head of the order was a boyar or clerk, to whom the clerks were subordinate. The orders were in charge of administration, tax collection and the courts. The design of the order system made it possible to centralize the management of the country.
A unified local management system began to take shape, which made it possible to abolish the feeding system in 1556. The labial reform was continued: investigation and trial of particularly important state affairs were transferred to the hands of provincial elders from local nobles. Where there was no private land ownership, zemstvo elders were elected from among the wealthy black-sown (state-owned) peasants. In the city, the functions of local government were carried out by city clerks or “favorite heads,” also from the local nobility. Unlike the alien feeders, the local administration was vitally interested in the implementation of politics, central authority and the establishment of strict order.
In 1550, a new Sudebnik (code of laws) was adopted. Based on the Code of Laws of 1497, it was better systematized and took into account the new judicial practice. The development of the local system was inextricably linked with the strengthening of serf relations. The Code of Law of 1550 confirmed the rule of St. George’s Day and increased the fee for the “elderly”. The power over the peasants of the feudal lord, who was now held responsible for the crimes of his charges, increased. This was a new step towards strengthening serfdom.
With the abolition of feeding, the need arose to centralize tax collection. The population of the country was obliged to bear taxes - a complex of natural and monetary duties in favor of the state. For this purpose, a territorial taxation unit was established - a large plow (400-600 hectares of land), from which taxes were levied. In continuation of the monetary reform begun by E. Glinskaya, a single Moscow ruble was introduced, which became the main unit of account.
Centralization also affected the church sphere. A single pantheon of saints was created in the state from among the local saints who were revered in individual Russian lands. These decisions were approved in 1551 by the so-called Stoglavy Church Council, according to the number of articles included in the document it adopted. The council, whose work was led by Metropolitan Macarius, unified church rites throughout the country. He regulated art, approving examples: in painting - the work of Andrei Rublev, in architecture - the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, in literature - the works of Metropolitan Macarius. All the lands acquired before the Council of the Hundred Heads remained with the church, but later the acquisition of land became possible only with the consent of the tsar.
Important foreign policy tasks required military reform. The core of the army was the noble militia: within a radius of 60-70 versts from Moscow, the “chosen thousand” were planted on the ground, obliged to always be ready to carry out important assignments. According to the Code of Service drawn up for the first time, all patrimonial owners and landowners were required to begin military service at the age of 15 and pass it on by inheritance. The service was lifelong and terminated only in case of serious illness. This replenished the category of “serving people for the fatherland”, i.e. by origin. For every 150 dessiatines of his land (about 165 hectares), the feudal lord put up one warrior and appeared at the reviews “on horseback, in crowds and armed.” This is how the permanent noble cavalry developed.
In the middle of the 16th century. the composition of the aristocratic families was precisely determined by the genealogical reference book - “The Sovereign's Genealogist”. During military campaigns, localism was limited. Although localism gave the aristocracy some guarantees of its dominant position, it increasingly brought to the fore those who had long and faithfully served the Moscow government. All appointments were recorded in the Rank Books, which were maintained in the Rank Order. All records were systematized in the official “Sovereign Order”, which streamlined parochial disputes.
In 1550, a permanent streltsy army was also formed, which formed the basis of the infantry. The artillery was strengthened, and the Cossacks were brought in to perform border service. This group was made up of “service people according to the instrument,” i.e. by set. These also included the city guard, the “staff” (from the plow) - an auxiliary service made up of peasants and townspeople. In addition to military service, they fed themselves from their land plots or crafts. Gradually their service became hereditary.
Thus, in the middle of the 16th century. A class-representative monarchy emerged in Russia. Simultaneously with internal reforms, the government of Ivan IV pursued an active foreign policy. It had three main directions: in the west (the struggle for access to the Baltic Sea), in the east (the fight against the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and the beginning of the development of Siberia) and in the south (protecting the borders from the raids of the Crimean Khan). The development of a centralized state required an active foreign policy.
The Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, formed as a result of the collapse of the Golden Horde, controlled the Volga trade route and the fertile southern steppes, raided Russian lands, and held many thousands of Russian slaves captive. The campaign against these khanates became a national task. A number of diplomatic and military attempts to subjugate the Kazan Khanate ended in failure, and Ivan IV began preparations for the decisive campaign. At the r. Sviyazhsk, at its confluence with the Volga, the Sviyazhsk fortress was built, which became a stronghold for the offensive. Kazan was taken by storm on October 2, 1552 (on the Feast of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary), and Khan Yadigar-Magmet was captured and subsequently baptized, receiving the name Simeon Kasaevich, and became a loyal ally of the tsar. In battle, Prince Andrei Kurbsky distinguished himself with his bravery. The Kazan Khanate lost its independence and was annexed to the Moscow state. In honor of the victory, the Intercession Cathedral was built in the center of Moscow, which later also received the name St. Basil's Cathedral.
In 1556, Astrakhan was conquered, and in 1557 Chuvashia and most of Bashkiria voluntarily became part of Russia. Thus, the entire Middle and Lower Volga region became part of the Moscow state.
These military successes opened up vast expanses of fertile and sparsely populated lands for Russian colonization, where from the second half XVI V. a stream of Russian colonists rushed in. New Russian cities emerge - Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, Ufa, in the 17th century. - Simbirsk, Syzran, Penza, Tambov, etc. The annexation of the Volga region opened up the opportunity to advance to Siberia. Rich industrialists of the Perm region, the Stroganovs, fur buyers, used their own funds to equip an army led by the ataman of the Don Cossacks, Vasily Timofeevich Alenin, nicknamed Ermak. In 1581, Ermak defeated the troops of Khan Kuchum and took the capital of the Siberian Khan, Kashlyk (Isker). Colonization flows of Russian peasants moved into the vast expanses of Siberia. In the 80-90s. XVI century Western Siberia became part of Russia.
The new situation in the Volga region disrupted the aggressive plans of the Crimean Khanate and its patron, the Ottoman Empire. The Moscow government did not consider direct confrontation with Crimea possible and limited itself to defensive measures. So, in the 1550s. construction of the first “zasechnaya line” began - a defensive line of forest abatis, fortresses and natural barriers south of the Oka in the Tula region.
Having achieved success in the east, Ivan IV turned his attention to the west. Here, his goal was access to the Baltic Sea and the opening of communication routes with Western Europe. Initially, Ivan IV gave trading privileges to English merchants who landed at the mouth of the Northern Dvina near Kholmogory. In fact, they monopolized foreign trade on the White Sea for a long time. In 1555, the later famous “Moscow Company” was formed in London, to which Ivan IV granted the right to duty-free trade in Russia. This continued until the middle of the 17th century, when, under the influence of the English bourgeois revolution (1640-1649) and the execution of Charles I, a friendly attitude towards the British gave way to hostility. In 1649, the Russian government broke off diplomatic relations with England and abolished the privileges of English merchants in Russia: “... the English committed a great evil deed all over the world, they killed their sovereign King Charles to death...”. The New Trade Charter of 1667 formalized the deprivation of all privileges to English merchants and prohibited them from trading within the country (except for Arkhangelsk). Some of these privileges were transferred to the Dutch, which was associated with the expansion of trade with Holland.
And in the middle of the 16th century. Access to the Baltic Sea and trade with Europe was still blocked by the possessions of the Livonian Order in the Baltic states. The reason for the start of the war was the Order’s failure to pay the so-called “Yuriev tribute” for the city of Yuriev (founded by Yaroslav the Wise) in favor of the Moscow state. The difficult and grueling 25-year Livonian War (1558-1583) began with the victories of Russian troops, who took Narva, Yuryev and about 20 Livonian cities, and led to the collapse of the Livonian Order (1561). The last master of the Order recognized vassalage to the Polish king, receiving Courland into possession. The other part of the Order's former possessions ended up in Sweden (northern Estonia with Revel) and Denmark (Esel Island).
Failures required Livonia to exert extreme military and financial forces, forcing it to ask for outside help and come under the protectorate of Lithuania. After the capture of Polotsk by Russian troops, the Lithuanian government became convinced that it could not continue the war on its own, and was forced to begin negotiations with Poland on a union. In 1569, a union was concluded in Lublin, according to which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of Poland formed a single state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with a jointly elected common sovereign and Sejm. Gradually, Poland, Sweden and Denmark, which controlled the lands of the former Livonian Order, were drawn into the war. Instead of one Livonian Order, Russia found itself with three strong opponents. Thus, the continuation of the Livonian War by the Moscow state caused severe and long-term military-political complications.
Failures in the war revealed the resistance of the feudal nobility to the central government and led to the crisis of the Elected Rada. Adashev and Sylvester considered continuation of the war futile. Only the growing nobility and representatives of the few developed cities were in favor of continuing the war. As a result, Ivan IV took a course towards strengthening his personal power, and the Elected Rada ceased its activities in 1560.
The protracted war continued without success and ended in the defeat of Russia. In 1582, peace was concluded with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Yama-Zapolsky, and in 1583, the Plyusskoe Truce with Sweden. Under their terms, Russia lost all its acquisitions in Livonia and Belarus, although some Russian cities, except Polotsk, were returned to Russia. Most of the coast of the Gulf of Finland passed to Sweden.
The defeat in the Livonian War was a consequence of Russia's economic backwardness. Russia's separation from the sea coast contributed to the preservation and strengthening of the feudal-serf system and prevented the emergence of pre-bourgeois elements that could not develop successfully without access to sea trade routes. Meanwhile, the country's participation in world trade could have become - but did not become - a powerful capitalizing factor.
The cessation of the activities of the Elected Rada and failures in the Livonian War served as a prologue to one of the darkest periods of Russian history - the oprichnina (1565-1572). It constitutes the second stage of the reign of Ivan IV, who established autocracy as absolute, unlimited power in his country. Oprichnina received its name from the personal inheritance of the sovereign, which in turn was named from the word “oprich”, i.e. “except” for all the rest of the land - “zemshchina”. It meant a decisive turn in domestic policy, which allowed the tsar to carry out merciless terror in the country. Hence the king's nickname - Grozny. The terror was directed primarily against the feudal nobility, in the rebellions and resistance of which the tsar saw the main reason for the failures of his policies.
The situation was aggravated by the flight to Lithuania of A. Kurbsky, which he had thought out and prepared in advance. It was not just about going over to the enemy’s side, but about the stability of ideas about their political rights among the feudal nobility: its representatives continued to consider themselves free to elect their overlord. In the new Russian state, leaving, as before, meant non-recognition of the state system and was equated to high treason.
A. Kurbsky enters into correspondence with Ivan the Terrible. And it is no coincidence that the tsar’s letters contain negative examples of the Western monarchical system, the absolutism of which is limited by the emerging semblance of parliamentarism, the institutions of church and law, and the powers of the aristocracy. It is curious that after his failed matchmaking with Queen Elizabeth of England, the rejected king reproached her that in her country she was “like a vulgar (i.e., ordinary, simple) girl,” “it’s the people who control you, and not just the people.” , but also trading men and... looking for their trade profits.” By “merchant men” Ivan the Terrible understood the third estate represented in the English Parliament.
Oprichnina was a political enterprise aimed at redistributing land - the lands of opponents of the central government were given to its supporters - and the physical extermination of the opposition. The main meaning of the oprichnina was to inflict the final blow on feudal fragmentation through executions, massacres, and deprivation of land. In real Russian reality, there were no social forces on which Ivan IV could rely; he also could not centralize the state by other, primarily economic, means.
Strengthening the nobility and undermining patrimonial land ownership were necessary for state power primarily for reasons of foreign policy. The level of economic development of the country after the Horde yoke did not allow maintaining the army on one monetary salary. For military service, the nobility received land cultivated and settled by peasants. The undeveloped land had no economic value, and therefore the manorial system in the sparsely populated outskirts almost did not develop.
The threat of deprivation of the estate was a powerful means of subordinating the nobility to the state. Growing out of conditional holding, the local system became the predominant centralizing factor, while large patrimonial land ownership with the autonomy of the boyars came into conflict with the interests of the central government. The undermining of the power of large feudal corporations, conceived by Ivan IV, facilitated their subordination to state power.
However, Ivan IV solved his problems using feudal means. The whole country was divided into parts - the personal destiny of the sovereign - oprichnina and zemshchina. The most economically and militarily important lands with rich cities were taken into the oprichnina, for example, the black-plowed Pomeranian lands, which became the financial base of the oprichnina, part of Moscow. These were counties with developed feudal land ownership, whose service people were the original support and faithful servants of the Moscow grand princely power (Suzdal, Rostov, Kostroma, as well as counties bordering Lithuania). Here Ivan IV took away estates and estates from opponents of state centralization and distributed them to the guardsmen. The guardsmen were not only the tsar’s personal guards, but also obedient executors of punitive operations. The terror began immediately after the establishment of the oprichnina in February 1565. At the head of the oprichnina were a relative of the late Tsarina Anastasia A. Basmanov, the brother of the tsar’s second wife, Kabardian princess Maria Temryukovna (Kuchenei), Prince M. Cherkassky, as well as Prince A. Vyazemsky and the tsar’s assistant nobleman Malyuta Skuratov-Belsky.
The rest of the state became part of the Zemshchina, the administration of which was entrusted to the “Zemstvo boyars.” The population of the zemshchina had to support the oprichnina army. In his desire to put an end to the separatism of the feudal nobility, Ivan the Terrible mercilessly defeated Novgorod the Great (1570), which rose in its economic and social level above Moscow. On the way to Novgorod, the guardsmen staged pogroms in Tver and Torzhok. In Novgorod and Pskov, Ivan the Terrible literally exterminated the entire population that was in any way capable of forming the “third estate.”
The consequences of the oprichnina and the Livonian War for the future fate of Russia were extremely difficult. An economic crisis began in the country. The center and north-west were devastated. In many counties, only 20% of previously developed land was cultivated. The population was dying of hunger and epidemics, many fled from devastated places to the south, to the Middle Volga region, the Urals, and Western Siberia. The government sought a way out of the crisis in the further formalization of serfdom in Russia. In 1581, a decree on “reserved years” was announced for the first time (“commandment” meant prohibition), canceling St. George’s Day and the transfer of peasants for an indefinite period. Given the underdevelopment of economic ties, only despotic rule could keep the peasants in obedience.
Being violent in nature, the oprichnina could not lead to genuine internal unity of the country. It did not change the feudal structure of land ownership, since it did not destroy boyar-princely land ownership, although it greatly weakened its power. The personal, but not the social composition of land owners has changed. The feudal path of Russia's development with all its negative consequences, such as the impoverishment of the peasantry and the strengthening of conservative features in ideology and culture, was finally consolidated. The feudal reaction won a crushing victory over the sprouts of a new, more progressive system. Russia's lag behind Western Europe, which entered this period in the era of great geographical discoveries and capital accumulation, increased.
Ivan IV, Tsar of Russia and Grand Duke of Moscow, who later received the nickname Grozny, was born on August 25, 1530. After the death of his father, Grand Duke Vasily III, in 1533, Ivan was in the care of his mother, Elena Glinskaya, until the age of eight. When she was poisoned by the boyars (1538), the influential Shuisky family came to power in Moscow.
Elena Glinskaya. Reconstruction from the skull, S. Nikitin, 1999
The Shuiskys became famous for their cruel, selfish rule. Metropolitan Daniel was overthrown by them, and the royal treasury was plundered. Supporters of the Shuiskys seized the lucrative positions of governors and judges in areas where they oppressed the people with impunity through extortion and traded justice. In 1540, the Shuiskys were removed from power, and it passed to the smart Ivan Belsky. During his six-month reign, he carried out reforms that anticipated many future transformations of the Chosen Rada. On Belsky’s initiative, robbery and tateb cases were excluded from the jurisdiction of government officials (governors and tiuns) and transferred to the elected court lip prefects or heads together with jurors or kissers. The campaign against Moscow launched by the Crimean Khan Saip-Girey in 1541 failed: Dmitry Belsky forced him to retreat. But in January 1542 Ivan Belsky was overthrown by Ivan Shuisky and killed. Power passed to Ivan Shuisky, and then to his relative Andrei, who had previously become famous for robbery and oppression in the position of Pskov governor.
P. Pleshanov. Ivan IV and Sylvester during the Moscow fire of 1547
The most important matter of this time during the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible was the convening of the first Zemsky Sobor in Rus' in 1550, the result of which was to provide the population of the Moscow state with wider elected self-government. In the same year appeared new code of law. In 1551, a church council was convened, which received the name Stoglavogo. Of the foreign policy affairs of this period of the reign of Ivan IV, the main ones were the conquest of the Kazan kingdom and the campaign against Astrakhan. After the Kazan Khan Safa-Girey died in 1549, discord and unrest began among his subjects. Ivan approached the walls of Kazan with his army (1550). He did not take the city that time, but founded the strong fortress of Sviyazhsk 37 versts opposite Kazan - a convenient stronghold for new campaigns. There the Russian government imprisoned Shig-Aley, who had been the Kazan Khan more than once before. Soon he was restored to the Kazan throne as an assistant to Moscow, and then Ivan IV overthrew him and directly sent his governor, Prince Semyon Mikulinsky, to Kazan.
The Kazan people did not let him into the city. All parties of local Murzas and mullahs reconciled, inviting the Nogai prince Ediger, with 10,000 Nogais, to their city. The Russian government gathered 100,000 troops, Ivan the Terrible himself became their leader. The Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey, who tried to help his co-religionists, attacked Moscow lands from the south, but was repulsed from Tula. The troops of Ivan IV besieged Kazan on August 20, 1552 and continued the siege until October 2. On this day, the wall was destroyed by an explosion. The Russians burst into the city and took it. The conquest of the Kazan kingdom subjugated to the Russian state a significant area of land to the east to Vyatka and Perm and to the south to the Kama. Taking advantage of the disagreements in Astrakhan and the precarious position of Khan Yamgurchey, Ivan the Terrible in 1554 sent an army that expelled Yamgurchey and imprisoned the Nogai prince Derbysh. He, however, soon entered into relations with the Crimean Devlet-Girey and opened a war against Moscow. The Russian detachment remaining in Astrakhan defeated and drove out Derbysh, and Astrakhan was annexed to the Moscow state (1556). The entire Volga region became part of Russia.
Siege and capture of Kazan in 1552
In 1553, Ivan IV began to have disagreements with his advisers on government affairs, who were too constraining for the power-hungry tsar. The beginning of disagreements was the question of succession to the throne during the serious illness of the king (1553). Ivan wanted to see his young son Dmitry on the throne, and his closest advisers, fearing the excessive influence of Dmitry’s mother’s relatives, the Zakharyins, stood for the sovereign’s cousin, Vladimir Andreevich. Ivan IV recovered and harbored a grudge against the members of the Chosen Rada. At the same time, departures and secret negotiations with Lithuania began for some of the most cautious boyars. Ivan the Terrible also disagreed with his advisers on foreign policy issues: the Rada tried to focus all its attention on Crimean affairs, and Ivan turned his gaze to the West. In 1560, Tsarina Anastasia, who had a restraining influence on her husband, died. Saddened by the death of his wife, Ivan IV distanced himself even more from his entourage. Alexey Adashev was soon sent by the governor to the remote city of Fellin, and the priest Sylvester voluntarily went to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Their enemies, especially the Zakharins, began to slander their favorites, as if they had tormented Anastasia. Ivan allegedly gave credence to the accusations and brought the recent rulers of the state to trial, but did not allow them to appear for explanations. Sylvester was exiled to the Solovetsky monastery, Alexey Adashev was transferred to custody in Dorpat, where he soon died.
A year after the death of his first wife, Ivan the Terrible married the baptized Circassian princess Maria, but soon lost interest in her and indulged in dissipation along with his new favorites, who greatly influenced him in a bad way, but did not embarrass him in any way. These were Alexey Basmanov and his son Fyodor, Prince Afanasy Vyazemsky, Malyuta Skuratov-Belsky and Vasily Gryaznoy. At the same time, still fragmentary persecutions and executions of boyars who seemed suspicious for some reason began. In the early 1560s. Daniil Adashev (Alexei's brother), Prince Dmitry Ovchina-Obolensky, Mikhail Repnin, Dmitry Kurlyatov and his family, etc. were executed. The heroes of the wars with Kazan and Crimea, Mikhail Vorotynsky, Ivan Vasilyevich Bolshoi, Sheremetev and others, were sent to prison. Ivan the Terrible took oaths from some other noble boyars that they would faithfully serve the Tsar and would not leave for Lithuania and other states. But the flights to Lithuania continued - the head of the Dnieper Cossacks, Prince Dmitry Vishnevetsky, who had previously arrived from there to serve Ivan IV, two princes of Cherkassy, Vladimir Zabolotsky and others went there. Disgrace also befell members of the Moscow ruling dynasty: Vladimir Andreevich and his wife Efrosinya. The tsar's particular anger was caused by the flight to Lithuania of Andrei Kurbsky, who burst out with thunderous letters and denunciations. Also in 1564, Metropolitan Macarius, who retained some authority before Ivan IV, died. By the will of the tsar, the church council elected his former confessor, the Archpriest of the Annunciation Elder Athanasius, as the new metropolitan.
N. Nevrev. Oprichniki (Murder of Boyar Fedorov by Ivan the Terrible)
The end of 1564 was marked by an unusual and unexpected act of the king. Ivan the Terrible left Moscow with his courtiers and a large baggage train and settled not far from the capital, in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. A month after leaving, on January 3, 1565, he sent a letter to Moscow addressed to the clergy and boyars. It listed “the betrayals of boyars and governors and all sorts of commanding people,” and then it was reported that the tsar, “not though they could tolerate many treacherous deeds,” put his disgrace on them and went to live where God would indicate. At the same time, another letter was brought, dividing the interests of the Moscow population: it was written that the anger and disgrace of Ivan IV did not concern Moscow guests, merchants and ordinary people. Numerous petitioners went to Alexandrovskaya Sloboda to ask the Tsar to resign from disgrace, continue to reign, execute his villains and bring out treason. After intense requests, Ivan the Terrible agreed to change his anger to mercy, but on the condition of allocating for himself oprichnina- a special part of the state, which he will rule independently of the boyars.
Explanations of the oprichnina by historians are varied. Kostomarov sees in her a semi-robber squad of royal servants, in whom he could trust and destroy everyone and everything that seemed suspicious and unpleasant to him. Close to the same opinion is V. O. Klyuchevsky, who represents the oprichnina as a detective agency, “the highest police in cases of high treason.” Solovyov saw in the oprichnina an attempt by Ivan the Terrible to formally separate himself from the boyar government class, which was unreliable in his eyes; The new tsar's court, built for this purpose, degenerated into an instrument of terror in matters of boyar and any other treason. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and E. Belov give the oprichnina a greater political meaning: they think that the oprichnina was directed against the descendants of appanage princes and had the goal of breaking their traditional rights and advantages. S. F. Platonov, believing the latter opinion to be close to the truth, explains the oprichnina more broadly and more thoroughly, pointing out its consequences in the further course of Russian history. Ivan IV set up a special courtyard in Moscow on Vozdvizhenka, although he lived more in the Alexandrovskaya Sloboda, established a special government household in it, chose boyars, okolnichi, a butler, treasurer, clerks, clerks, clerks, selected special nobles, boyar children, stewards, solicitors , residents. Grozny supplied all kinds of trusted henchmen, as well as special archers, to the royal services.
All possessions of the Moscow state were divided into two parts. Ivan IV chose cities with volosts for himself and his sons, which were supposed to cover the costs of the royal household and the salaries of service people selected for the oprichnina. In the volosts of these cities, estates were exclusively distributed to those nobles and boyar children who were enrolled in the oprichnina. The rest of Rus' was called Zemshchina and entrusted the leadership of the zemstvo boyars, Ivan Belsky, Ivan Mstislavsky and others (in 1575, the baptized Tatar prince Simeon Bekbulatovich was placed at the head of the zemshchina, as if in mockery, with the title of Grand Duke). In the zemshchina there were old ranks with the same names as in the oprichnina. All matters of zemstvo administration were referred to the boyar council, and the boyars reported to the sovereign in the most important cases. Zemshchina had the meaning of a disgraced land suffered by the tsar's wrath. The territory of lands that went to the oprichnina in the 1570s. XVI century covered almost half of the Muscovite kingdom and was made up of cities and volosts located in the central and northern regions of the state - in Pomorie, Zamoskovnye and Zaoksky cities, in the Pyatina areas of Novgorod land, Obonezh and Bezhetsk. Resting in the north on the White Sea, the oprichnina lands cut like a wedge into the “zemshchina”, dividing it in two. In the east, the Perm and Vyatka cities, Ponizovye and Ryazan remained behind the zemshchina; in the west - the cities of border and Seversky.
The territory of the oprichnina was largely the territory of the old specific estates, where the ancient orders still lived and the old authorities still acted next to the power of the Moscow sovereign. With few and insignificant exceptions, all those places in which these old appanage principalities previously existed were introduced into the oprichnina administration. Thus, the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible systematically destroyed the patrimonial land tenure of the service princes throughout its entire territory. With the oprichnina, the “armies” of several thousand servants, with whom the princes used to come to the sovereign’s service, should have disappeared, just as all other traces of old appanage customs and liberties in the field of official relations should have been eradicated. Thus, taking ancient appanage territories under the control of the oprichnina to house his new servants, Ivan IV made radical changes in them, replacing the remnants of appanage remnants with new orders that made everyone equal before the sovereign in his “special everyday life”, where there could no longer be appanage memories and aristocratic traditions. Eliminating the old land relations in the oprichnina, the government of Ivan IV, in their place, established monotonous orders everywhere, tightly linking the right of land ownership with compulsory service.
So, the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible crushed the land ownership of the nobility in its form as it existed from ancient times. The former appanage aristocracy turned into ordinary service landowners. If we remember that along with this land movement there were disgraces, exiles and executions, directed primarily at the same princes, then we can be sure that in the oprichnina there was a complete defeat of the appanage aristocracy. The guardsmen included at first about 1000 people with families, and then more than 6000. At the head of the oprichnina were the favorites of Ivan IV: Malyuta Skuratov, Basmanovs, Afanasy Vyazemsky, etc. During this period of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, terrible times of violence, deprivation of land and property came. and the rights of the “zemstvo” people, robberies and executions. At this time, the following died: son-in-law of Ivan Mstislavsky Alexander Gorbaty Shuisky, Ivan Chelyadnin, Prince Kurakin-Bulgakov, Dmitry Ryapolovsky, princes of Rostov, Turuntai-Pronsky, Pyotr Shchenyatev, Duma clerk Kazarin-Dubrovsky and many others.
A. Vasnetsov. Moscow dungeon during the oprichnina era
Ivan IV created a strange lifestyle at the oprichnina court. He started a kind of monastery in the Alexandrovskaya Sloboda, selected 300 guardsmen, put black robes on them over gold-embroidered caftans, and taffeta or hats on their heads. The Terrible called himself abbot, others - cellarer and sexton, etc., composed a monastic rule for the brethren, rang in the bell tower, read the lives of saints at meals in a monastic manner, etc. From this “monastic life” Ivan IV directly passed to searches, torture, torment, revelry and debauchery. Then Metropolitan Philip also died. He was from a noble family of boyars, the Kolychevs, elected from among the abbots of the Solovetsky Monastery, at the insistence of Ivan IV, appointed metropolitan after the retirement of Athanasius (June 1566) and did not cease to grieve and beat the Tsar with his forehead for those who had been disgraced. Philip denounced the tsar for his behavior and attacked the guardsmen and their self-will. In 1568 he was deposed and imprisoned in the Otroch Monastery, where he was strangled by Malyuta Skuratov. At the beginning of the same year, Ivan the Terrible’s cousin Vladimir Andreevich died. They suspected him that he wanted to go to King Sigismund Augustus, and they killed him along with his wife in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda.
Entire cities and regions began to fall into disgrace. Based on a false denunciation accusing Archbishop Pimen and many Novgorodians of wanting to surrender to the Polish king Sigismund Augustus, Ivan IV decided to conduct a search and punish the perpetrators. In December 1569, Grozny set out on a military campaign in his own state. Klin, Tver and Torzhok were plundered, and many residents were killed. Through Vyshny Volochok, Valdai and Yazhelbitsy, Ivan IV with his guardsmen and army approached Novgorod. Even earlier, an advanced regiment arrived in the city and arrested a number of residents. The king, who arrived on January 6, 1570, ordered the killing of many of the black clergy. Then Archbishop Pimen and other clergy and inhabitants of Novgorod were captured. Monasteries and churches were robbed, and then, on the orders of Ivan the Terrible, the massacre of Novgorodians began indiscriminately. The beating was accompanied by preliminary torture and torment. The guardsmen drowned people in the Volkhov River, sparing neither women nor children. The dead must be counted at least 15,000 people. The city and all its surroundings were destroyed and plundered. On February 13, Ivan IV went to Pskov, whose frightened inhabitants expressed humiliation and submission and were spared. In Moscow, the tsar continued to investigate the case of Novgorod treason, carried out torture interrogations of many of those arrested, and in June up to 120 people were executed on Red Square - and among them were many prominent guardsmen.
All these bloody events within the state took place simultaneously with the continuation of the mostly unsuccessful campaigns and battles in the war for Livonia. Ivan the Terrible began this war in 1558 with the Livonian Order. The Russians passed through Livonia, devastated it and took Narva, Dorpat, and other large cities and castles north of the Western Dvina. The master of the order, Ketler, had to look for allies in the person of the Poles. He concluded an agreement with the Polish-Lithuanian king: Livonia was given under the protection of Sigismund II. The Lithuanians, however, did not help the Germans well, and the Russians captured the fortified places of Marienburg and Fellin. Soon Livonia fell apart, and the Order completely ceased to exist. His possessions were divided between neighboring powers. The island of Ezel and the adjacent coast were captured by the Danes, Revel and the lands near the Gulf of Finland by the Swedes. The rest (most) of the Order's possessions were placed under the supreme rule of Sigismund in vassal relations. In the fall of 1561, Ketler accepted the title of hereditary Duke of Courland and Semigallia, and Livonia, in which he remained royal governor, was united with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Now Russia had to fight with Poland and Lithuania. Ivan IV himself moved with an army and took Polotsk in 1563, but in January 1565 the Russian army was defeated near Orsha by Polish-Lithuanian troops. In 1570, a three-year truce was concluded, subsequently continued, on the terms of ownership of what was captured by whom. In 1576, the warlike Stefan Batory, an excellent commander, was elected to the Polish-Lithuanian throne. Already in 1578, an 18,000-strong Russian detachment was defeated by united Polish, German and Swedish troops near Wenden. In 1579, Batory, with a large, well-organized army, took Polotsk from Ivan the Terrible, in 1580 - Velikiye Luki, Nevel, Toropets, Opochka, Krasny, and at the end of August 1581 he approached the walls of Pskov. However, the siege of Pskov by the Poles dragged on, and Batory was unable to take it. New diplomatic negotiations began, at which the pope's envoy, the Jesuit Anthony Possevin, acted as a mediator. The negotiations ended on January 6, 1582 in Zapolsky Yam with a ten-year truce. Ivan IV abandoned Livonia, returned Polotsk and Velizh to Lithuania, and Batory agreed to return the Pskov suburbs he had taken.
Taking advantage of the distraction of Russian forces in Livonia, the Muslims resumed their attack on it from the south. The Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey, encouraged by the Sultan, who did not think of abandoning the Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms, in 1571 organized a campaign against Moscow with 120,000 Crimeans and Nogais. The governors of Ivan the Terrible did not have time to block his path across the Oka. The Khan walked around them and headed to Serpukhov, where the Tsar and the guardsmen were at that time. Ivan IV cowardly fled to the north. Devlet-Girey approached Moscow and burned it, except the Kremlin. Many people died or were taken into captivity by the Tatars. Panic-stricken Ivan the Terrible at one time even intended to return Astrakhan to the Muslims, but abandoned this promise in view of the success achieved by the Russian commanders the following year. In 1572 Devlet-Girey again moved towards Moscow, but was defeated on the banks of the river. Lopasni, y Younger, Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky. Ivan the Terrible then refused to return Astrakhan to the Tatars.
Things were more successful at the end of the reign of Ivan IV in the East, where in 1582 the Cossacks of the ataman annexed part of Siberia. From the history of Russia's relations with the West during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, it is important to establish close contacts with England. In 1553, three English ships set off to explore the northeastern trade routes. Two ships with the head of the expedition, Willoughby, froze off the coast of Lapland, the third, under the command of Richard Chancellor, reached the mouth of the Northern Dvina. Chancellor was reported to Ivan IV, who was delighted at the opportunity to establish new relations with foreigners. He sent a letter to the English king, and then approved the privilege of an English merchant company founded to trade with Russia.
Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895
Exhausted by an abnormal and dissolute life and the hardships of his cruel rule, Ivan the Terrible fell mortally ill and died on March 18, 1584 at the age of 53.
Ivan IV was a brilliant publicist and orator. The contents of two of his speeches have reached us. One of them was said by him at the Zemsky Sobor in 1550. In it, the tsar regretted the injustices that were committed by the boyars during his childhood, promised that this would not happen in the future and asked the people to reconcile with the boyars. Another speech was delivered by him at the Church Council of the Stoglavy, preserved in the acts of the latter and remarkable for its acquaintance with the shortcomings of church life of that time. But the most famous is the Correspondence of Ivan the Terrible with Prince A. M. Kurbsky. From this Correspondence Ivan the Terrible owns two letters in which the idea of unlimited royal power is ardently defended. The same idea is conveyed in two other letters from Ivan: to the Polish king Stefan Batory and the English Queen Elizabeth (the latter is distinguished by extremely cynical expressions). In addition, he wrote the “Message to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery,” which is remarkable for its vivid depiction of the shortcomings of monastic life of that time. The shortcomings of Ivan the Terrible as a writer should include the absence of any plan in his works, an excessive number of quotes and examples from the Holy Scriptures and other sources, and extreme verbosity, which was aptly characterized by his opponent Kurbsky, saying that he cannot “many in short words.” close the mind." However, the corrosive irony, which Kurbsky aptly called biting, the ability to notice the weak side of the enemy, deftly reflect the blow, as well as strong figurative language force one to recognize Grozny as one of the most gifted Russian writers of pre-Petrine times.