7
7
0
On January 2, 1570, Tsar Ivan the Terrible's march to Novgorod began. From the article:
"Ivan (Vasilyevich) IV
(Ivan the Terrible)
grand prince of Moscow and first tsar of Russia, b. 25 August 1530 (Kolomenskoye near Moscow, Russia), d. 18 March 1584 (Moscow).
Ivan IV was the son of Grand Prince Vasily III of Moscow and the grandson of Ivan III the Great. He was proclaimed Grand Prince at the age of three, following his father's death. His mother died when Ivan was eight years old (some suspected poisoning). The next ten years witnessed the resurgence of the murderous infighting amongst the warrior class (boyars) and nobles that Ivan's grandfather had fought to suppress.
In 1547, not quite 17 years old, Ivan was crowned Grand Prince of Russia and given the title Tsar (derived from the Latin Caesar and translated by Europe's other heads of state into "emperor"). He set himself the task to overcome the constant boyar quarrels that led to disintegration of the country, and to improve and expand the administration for a centralized state created by his grandfather.
Following the convocation of two church councils in 1547 and 1549, which established a strict church administration, the first national assembly of boyars, clergy and elected representatives of the public service class (the semski sobor) was called in 1549. In the following year a new legal code was introduced. New administrative departments were created; promotion of military commanders became based on merit rather than noble birth; the provinces were given regional self-government under district administrators, who were elected by the local aristocracy.
The reforms severely limited the powers of the boyars and hereditary aristocracy in favour of the new public service class, who received land tenure of large estates for life in return for loyal service and thus depended on the sovereign of the centralized state.
Ivan also continued to expand the state's territory. By taking Khazan on the Volga River in 1552 and Astrakhan on the mouth of the Volga in 1556 he made the Volga an entirely Russian river, thus securing the trade to the Caspian Sea. He then turned to the question of access to the ocean. With the Livonian War, which he started in 1558, he tried to annex parts of the Baltic coast in today's Latvia and Estonia.
The war went well for Russia at first but dragged on. Then one of his best field commanders defected to Poland in 1564. Ivan, shocked by the boyar's betrayal, announced his resignation. Implored by the clergy and loyal servants to continue to rule he agreed on the condition that he be allowed to establish the oprichnina, effectively a state within the state under direct tsarist control with a 1,000 - 6,000 strong military guard, the oprichniki, and property exclusively under the Tsar's jurisdiction in every major city.
The oprichnina quickly developed into a reign of terror. Ivan took no interest in the regular administration of the zemschina ("the land") but lived surrounded by his oprichniki, who were beyond the law. Determined to break the power of the old boyar and noble classes, Ivan used the oprichniki for expropriations and executions. More than 3,000 public executions of boyars and other gentry are documented. In 1570 Ivan led the oprichniki against Novgorod, where they destroyed the city and executed several thousand inhabitants.
An incursion of the Crimean Tatars into Russia during 1571 brought the oprichnina to an end. The oprichniki were unable to defend Moscow; the city was burned to the ground; only the Kremlin was left standing. The oprichnina was abolished in the following year.
During the last ten years of his life Ivan became more and more irrational. He spoke of plans to establish diplomatic and trade relations with England but did not follow them through. In 1575 he abdicated for a period but then returned to reign. He married five wives within nine years. In 1581 he murdered his heir Ivan in senseless rage. As his only other son Fyodor was infirm, this death created the conditions for a political crisis and the end of the Rurik dynasty for the time after his death.
In 1583, a year before his death, Ivan IV had to sign an armistice with Sweden; it ended the 24 year Livonian War with Russia's retreat to the positions it held before it started the war, without the desired access to the Baltic Sea.
Ivan IV shared with other European rulers of his time the belief in unlimited power for the monarch, bestowed by God. He was determined to steer Russia towards Europe politically and culturally. To this end he aimed at strengthening the centralized state and its administration and curtail the power of the old feudal and warrior classes.
Ivan left Russia a better administration of the country and accelerated cultural development, but at a heavy price. The unsuccessful attempt to reach the Baltic Sea exhausted the state finances, and the Tatar incursions decimated the population of several provinces. The death of his son Fyodor not only brought the end of the Rurik dynasty but Russia's slide into anarchy during the "Years of Trouble" of 1598 - 1613."
"Ivan (Vasilyevich) IV
(Ivan the Terrible)
grand prince of Moscow and first tsar of Russia, b. 25 August 1530 (Kolomenskoye near Moscow, Russia), d. 18 March 1584 (Moscow).
Ivan IV was the son of Grand Prince Vasily III of Moscow and the grandson of Ivan III the Great. He was proclaimed Grand Prince at the age of three, following his father's death. His mother died when Ivan was eight years old (some suspected poisoning). The next ten years witnessed the resurgence of the murderous infighting amongst the warrior class (boyars) and nobles that Ivan's grandfather had fought to suppress.
In 1547, not quite 17 years old, Ivan was crowned Grand Prince of Russia and given the title Tsar (derived from the Latin Caesar and translated by Europe's other heads of state into "emperor"). He set himself the task to overcome the constant boyar quarrels that led to disintegration of the country, and to improve and expand the administration for a centralized state created by his grandfather.
Following the convocation of two church councils in 1547 and 1549, which established a strict church administration, the first national assembly of boyars, clergy and elected representatives of the public service class (the semski sobor) was called in 1549. In the following year a new legal code was introduced. New administrative departments were created; promotion of military commanders became based on merit rather than noble birth; the provinces were given regional self-government under district administrators, who were elected by the local aristocracy.
The reforms severely limited the powers of the boyars and hereditary aristocracy in favour of the new public service class, who received land tenure of large estates for life in return for loyal service and thus depended on the sovereign of the centralized state.
Ivan also continued to expand the state's territory. By taking Khazan on the Volga River in 1552 and Astrakhan on the mouth of the Volga in 1556 he made the Volga an entirely Russian river, thus securing the trade to the Caspian Sea. He then turned to the question of access to the ocean. With the Livonian War, which he started in 1558, he tried to annex parts of the Baltic coast in today's Latvia and Estonia.
The war went well for Russia at first but dragged on. Then one of his best field commanders defected to Poland in 1564. Ivan, shocked by the boyar's betrayal, announced his resignation. Implored by the clergy and loyal servants to continue to rule he agreed on the condition that he be allowed to establish the oprichnina, effectively a state within the state under direct tsarist control with a 1,000 - 6,000 strong military guard, the oprichniki, and property exclusively under the Tsar's jurisdiction in every major city.
The oprichnina quickly developed into a reign of terror. Ivan took no interest in the regular administration of the zemschina ("the land") but lived surrounded by his oprichniki, who were beyond the law. Determined to break the power of the old boyar and noble classes, Ivan used the oprichniki for expropriations and executions. More than 3,000 public executions of boyars and other gentry are documented. In 1570 Ivan led the oprichniki against Novgorod, where they destroyed the city and executed several thousand inhabitants.
An incursion of the Crimean Tatars into Russia during 1571 brought the oprichnina to an end. The oprichniki were unable to defend Moscow; the city was burned to the ground; only the Kremlin was left standing. The oprichnina was abolished in the following year.
During the last ten years of his life Ivan became more and more irrational. He spoke of plans to establish diplomatic and trade relations with England but did not follow them through. In 1575 he abdicated for a period but then returned to reign. He married five wives within nine years. In 1581 he murdered his heir Ivan in senseless rage. As his only other son Fyodor was infirm, this death created the conditions for a political crisis and the end of the Rurik dynasty for the time after his death.
In 1583, a year before his death, Ivan IV had to sign an armistice with Sweden; it ended the 24 year Livonian War with Russia's retreat to the positions it held before it started the war, without the desired access to the Baltic Sea.
Ivan IV shared with other European rulers of his time the belief in unlimited power for the monarch, bestowed by God. He was determined to steer Russia towards Europe politically and culturally. To this end he aimed at strengthening the centralized state and its administration and curtail the power of the old feudal and warrior classes.
Ivan left Russia a better administration of the country and accelerated cultural development, but at a heavy price. The unsuccessful attempt to reach the Baltic Sea exhausted the state finances, and the Tatar incursions decimated the population of several provinces. The death of his son Fyodor not only brought the end of the Rurik dynasty but Russia's slide into anarchy during the "Years of Trouble" of 1598 - 1613."
Science, civilization and society
Posted from mt-oceanography.info
World History
Military History
Monarchy
Murder
Policy
Posted 5 y ago
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google