Ivan the Terrible: The Life of the Czar

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A long time ago, in Moscow, a child was born. Little did he know that he was very soon to take on a huge responsibility. He was destined to be czar, but nobody had imagined that it would become of him at such a tender age. The young boy did do well building up his power, but his overwhelming childhood may have had an effect on his future harsh behavior. The brutal actions that occurred during his reign were undoubtedly the cause of his declination.

When people think of Ivan IV, they think of a mad man that had no mercy for anyone. It was hard to stop his horrible fits of cruelty and paranoia. That is when Ivan IV took the name of “Ivan the Terrible” from his bazaar behavior. He was one of the most ruthless tyrants in history. Yet for many people in Russia, he is a national hero, even thought he is a man of contradiction. One example of that is when he believed he was chosen to save the souls of his people, but he was the one who brutally killed thousands of people.

Ivan, born in 1530, was only three years old when he inherited the Russian throne after his father’s death. In 1538 when Ivan was seven, his mother was poisoned by the boyars of the court. Because of this, Ivan and his brother Yuri were left in the hands of the boyars to be taken care of. At the age of 17, Ivan was crowned Russia’s first Tsar. Three weeks later he was to choose his bride; Anastasia Romanov the daughter of a minor noble, they were happily married. It is said that she calmed him down when he had his horrible outbreaks of anger.

Ivan the Terrible had shown signs of mental instability since he was a young child. For fun, he would throw small animals out of the Kremlin tower windows (Wallace, 77), and pluck the feathers out of birds, then gouge out their eyes and cut open their bodies. Riding on horseback through Moscow he would slash peoples face with a whip (Wallace, 77). Later in his life when a delegation from Pskov requested that he take action on the wrongs that had been done by their appointed governor, Ivan poured boiling wine over them and burned off their beards (Wallace, 79). He proceeded to make them take off their clothes and lie down on the floor. The distraction of church bells ringing gave the delegates time to escape whatever horrors he had in mind for them next. Ivan would go through phases of violence and repentance in which he would often bang his head on the floor. He sent lists of over 4,000 victims names to monasteries so their souls could be prayed for (Bobrick, 105-10).

Ivan married a young Russian lady from the Roman family. He did this despite the unspoken rule that the ruler should marry a foreign princess. This is where the later, more famous Romans received their claim to the throne. Ivan’s first marriage was supposed to have been a love match. Two of the most influential people to Ivan was the Metropolitan of Moscow, Sylvester, and his friend, Alexi Adashev. They showed Ivan how to reform some of the laws and the church. Ivan was very religious during this time. He called a Church council in 1551. It clearly stated the relation between the Church and the state. A new legal code was presented in 1550. Reforms in the military were made. These included defense lines, changing the emphasis of the army and adding new regiments. After these reforms, Ivan used his military in a series of wars. He also built a cathedral in Moscow. (Bobrick, 105-10).

During this time, Ivan showed little sign of what was to come in the future. It was only after his wife died that the influence of the church ended and Ivan’s cruel side once again come out. Ivan had launched a war against Russia’s biggest enemy, the Tartars. He showed no mercy towards these Muslim people and destroyed their culture without thinking twice. He became the Orthodox crusader of the sixteenth century when he set a conquest of Kazan and later of Astrakhan and Siberia. (Dersin, 45-48).

He was the first Russian ruler to be formally crowned as czar. When Ivan became Grand Duke in 1533, the nobles saw an opportunity to reclaim their power in Moscow. By inheriting the thrown, Ivan was thrust into an incomprehensible childhood of terror and privation. (Duffy and Ricci 120) Immediately after he had become czar until his czarina Anastasia’s death in 1560, were referred to as the Good Years. (Butson 27) They were the Good Years because it was when his aggrandizement occurred. He gathered advisors, known as the Chosen Council, and acted upon their guidance and criticism. His willingness to heed his advisors was very beneficial. They gave him ideas such as attempting modernization. Ivan was deeply concerned with trying to improve the life of the average Russian. He made prudent government policies, which kept Russian life in order.

Secondly, Ivan the Terrible was indeed the right nickname for this czar. Sorrow and violence took a major role in Ivan’s life after the Good Years. He became more remarkable for brutality and erratic behavior than for statesmanship. (Encarta 98) The nobles that tried to reclaim rule left Moscow because Ivan had suspicions about them that led to execution. (Butson 53) He heard of a conspiracy against himself and he ordered the slaying of the inhabitants of the town Novgorod. (Encarta 98) Ivan struck and killed his eldest and favorite son in a fit of anger with an iron tipped staff. He afterwards exclaimed, “Wretch that I am, I have killed my son!” (Butson 83) His wife, whom he had loved dearly, Anastasia died. He then no longer listened to his advisors. If he didn’t like their criticism, they were executed or imprisoned. Also, after Anastasia’s death, he abandoned himself to drunkenness and he pursued a mistress. (Troyant 103).

Lastly, after all of Ivan’s sorrow and violence, he suffered a great declination before his final days. He went downhill after he bound many peasants to work on lands as serfs. (Cracraft 520) The people of Russia disliked him even more due to his terrorization of nobles, merchants, and peasants. The boyars pressured Ivan to appoint his other living son to lead the army, and that didn’t turn out as well as expected. In 1583, Moscow concluded a three-year truce with Sweden, and Ivan lost all of the territory that he had gained during the Good Years”he even had to cede a number of other towns to Sweden. (Butson 83) Then, Moscow’s first great dive to establish a foothold on the Baltic had ended in dismal failure. Ivan began to speak increasingly of suicide and abdication. (Duffy and Ricci 121) Eventually, Ivan acquired dropsy and other ailments. (Troyant 102) Townspeople wanted him to abdicate, for they felt he was too weakened by illness to go on. He stated, as a defense of refusal to abdicate that, “Christians are being enslaved, Christendom is being destroyed, and my children are not yet grown up.” (Butson 71) He was, also, too occupied with relinquishing the power and obligations of his office. Not far behind death, Ivan gained conquest of Western Siberia to add to the realm. (Cracraft 520) Then, in that winter, physical and mental conditions deteriorated his swollen body, and he soon died.

The Archbishop of Novgorod then asked him to return, Ivan agreed but only on some certain conditions. Ivan divided the country into two sections, the zemshchina and the oprichnina. Ivan controlled the oprichnina, and gave control of zemshchina to a Tatar named Simeon. Ivan then would have his men, the Oprichniks, dressed in black and riding on black horses ride through towns tutoring, killing and steal from people in other parts of Russia. Finally, in 1572, the oprichnina was abolished. Ivan had many more fits of rage but the worst was in 1581 when he had a fit of rage and killed his own son Ivan. It happened when Ivan attacked his son’s pregnant wife because she was not wearing the customary clothing for a pregnant woman. His son tried to defend his wife but Ivan swung a pointed staff at him and it killed him. Ivan died in 1584.

In conclusion, Ivan was a negatively memorable czar. Although he helped Russia in many ways, he cast a shadow over the people’s lives due to his bitterness. He worked his way up to the top with great ambition, but fell to the bottom twice as fast because of the way he was treating the Russians and his Chosen Council. Ivan lived a long, depressing life and then died on a cold winter day in 1584.

Works Cited

Bobrick, Benson. Fearful majesty: The Life and Reign of Ivan the Terrible. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1987. 105-10.

Butson, Thomas G. Ivan the Terrible. United States of America: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 27-83.

Cracraft, James. “Ivan IV, the Terrivle.” World Book Encyclopedia, 2000 ed. 520.

Dersin, Denise, ed. What Life Was Like in the Time of War and Peace: Imperial Russia, AD 1696-1917. Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1998. 45-48.

Duffy, James P. and Vincent L. Ricci. Czars. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1995. 120-21.

Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia; “Ivan IV Vasilyevich,” 1993- 1997 Microsoft Corporation.

Troyant, Henri. Ivan the Terrible. France: E.P. Dutton, Inc., 1984. 102-3.

Wallace, Robert. Rise of Russia. NewYork: Time-Life Books, 1967. 77.

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Ivan the Terrible: The Life of the Czar

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