Mysteries & Secrets - Ivan the Terrible
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Ivan IV was only three years old when he succeeded his father, Basil III, as grand prince of Moscow in 1533, and for five years his mother served as regent while the boy was educated in statecraft. But when she died, possibly a poison victim, he became the center of a power struggle among several factions of boyars, or noblemen. At the age of 13 he made a decisive move, ordering one of the rivals arrested in his presence and later executed. It was a cruel age.
Fortunately, there was a restraining influence in the person of the metropolitan Makary of the Russian Orthodox Church. At 16, Ivan took the churchman's advice on two critical matters: his coronation as czar (a shortened form of "caesar") of all Russia on January 16, 1547, and his marriage a month later to Anastasia Romanova. It was Makary's goal to make Moscow the new center of Christianity, a "third Rome" (after Rome and Constantinople). "Two Romes have fallen," he proclaimed, "but the third stands and a fourth there will not be." Ivan was thus said to be not only the direct descendant of the Roman emperor Augustus but also the principal temporal ruler of Christendom. To bolster his grandiose plan, Makary scoured church documents for legends of Russian holy men and convened two church synods to proclaim Russian saints.
In addition to this religious resurgence, political reform was in the air. Guided by a group of advisers known as the Chosen Council, Ivan instituted a new legal code, tried to improve the terms of military service, and gave local governments more power.
As for the marriage, it was apparently a happy one. Before her death in 1560, Anastasia bore six children, although only two survived infancy. She had a calming influence on her husband, helping to curb his appetites for crude entertainment, heavy drinking, cruel sports, and wanton displays of power.
In 1581 Ivan's oldest son and namesake, the czarevitch Ivan, was 27 and married for a third time. His first two wives had been banished by the czar and the third, Elena, was equally displeasing to him. When Ivan reprimanded his pregnant daughter in law for immodesty of attire, the czarevitch intervened. As their voices rose in anger, Ivan lunged out with an iron-pointed staff and mortally wounded his son with a blow to the head.
Overcome with remorse, Ivan began compiling a list of the victims of his terror, a list that grew to more than 3,000 names before his death in 1584. Copies of the list, along with donations, were sent to Russia's principal monasteries with instructions that prayers be offered for the repose of their souls.
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