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Birthday anniversary of the first Russian tsar Ivan IV
On August 25, 1530 the grand duke of Moscow Vasiliy III and Elena Glinskaya gave birth to long-awaited successor who became the first Russian tsar officially crowned in 1547.
During the age of Ivan IV the Moscow principality achieved the peak of its development and by military and diplomatic means gained the higher status of kingdom.
After his father’s death Ivan, at the age of 3, had been in charge of his mother who died in 1538 when Ivan was almost 8 years old. Ivan was growing in the atmosphere of palace revolutions, struggles for power between Boyar families at war. Murders, intrigues and violence around him made the future tsar suspicious, vindictive and cruel. In his youth tsar cherished the idea about the unlimited autocracy. In 1545 Ivan was in age and became a competent ruler. In 1547 he was crowned.
Owing to the fact that Muscovy became a kingdom and the autocracy established the centralization policy that the Moscow ruling house pursued for centuries was accomplished. Throughout several decades the series of domestic reforms took place (departmental one, judicial one, zemskaya one, military one, religious one and other), Khanates of Kazan (1547-1552) and Astrakhan (1556) khanates were conquered, some of the Russian territories at Western borders were restored, the penetration to Siberia began, the positions of Russia at the international scene consolidated, etc.
However the kingdom prosperity was considerably undermined by a wasteful and unsuccessful for Russia Livonian war (1558-1583) and by oprichnina that appeared in 1565.
Tsar Ivan was one of the most educated people of the time. He had a phenomenal memory, was erudite person in matters of theology. The history of the Russian literature marks him as an outstanding author of numerous epistles (in particular to A. M. Kurbsky, V. G. Gryazny). Tsar had written the text and music for the service of Our Lady of Vladimir, canon to Archangel Michael. He had a great impact on a series of literature monuments of the middle of 16th century (chronicle codes, “Monarch genealogies” 1555), had played an important role in the foundation of book publishing. The Saint Basil’s Cathedral on the Red Square in Moscow was built on his initiative. He also initated the paintings in the Faceted Chamber.
In Russian historiography the activity of Ivan IV received a contradictory appraisal: prerevolutionary historians gave him negative testimonial, while the Soviet ones emphasized his positive aspects. In the second half of 20th century a deeper and more precise study of the domestic and foreign policy of Ivan IV began.
Lit.: Веселовский С. Б. Очерки по истории опричнины. М., 1963; Зимин А. А. Реформы Ивана Грозного. М., 1960; Зимин А. А. Опричное наследие // В канун грозных потрясений: предпосылки первой крестьянской войны в России. М., 1986; Переписка Царя Ивана Грозного с Андреем Курбским и Василием Грязным. Л., 1979; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.sedmitza.ru/text/443514.html; Скрынников Р. Г. Иван Грозный. М., 2001; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://militera.lib.ru/bio/skrynnikov_rg/index.html; Тихомиров М. Н. Россия в XVI столетии. М., 1962; Флоря Б. Н. Иван Грозный. М., 2009; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL:http://www.sedmitza.ru/text/438908.html; Шмидт С. О. Становление российского самодержавства. Исследование социально-политической истории времени Ивана Грозного. М., 1973.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Иван IV Грозный // Государственная власть: [цифровая коллекция];