Ivan the Terrible by Ian Grey

Author:Ian Grey
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Autobiography/Royalty - BIO014000, Biography &#38
ISBN: 9781612309873
Publisher: New Word City, Inc.
Published: 2016-09-29T21:00:00+00:00

The year 1560 was notable in Ivan’s reign, for it marked the beginning of his unfettered personal rule. Historians have often described it as the year of his dramatic transformation in character, when the devout and dedicated tsar suddenly became the cruel self-willed tyrant. But the transformation was apparent rather than real. He had always been extreme; it was something deep-rooted in his character and, indeed, in the character of his people. But in this year, two events - his liberation from the tutelage of Sylvester and Adashev and the death of his beloved tsaritsa - combined to give him freedom to rule without restraints of any kind. The two events also caused terrible loneliness from which he suffered acutely and which aggravated his fears.

By this time, Ivan’s position and authority were already beyond challenge, largely due to his force of personality and intellect. He was tall and powerfully built, with an imperious Roman nose and small, lively gray eyes. He could be benign and gracious or fearful to confront, and at all times, he was tsar, a natural leader and head of the nation.

Foreign visitors to the Kremlin were always strongly impressed. Anthony Jenkinson, reporting on his visit to Muscovy in 1557, wrote that Ivan “doth exceed his predecessors in name . . . even so much by report he doth exceed them in stoutness of courage and valiantness, and a great deal more. . . . He is not only beloved of his nobles and commoners, but also had in great dread and fear throughout all his dominions, so that I think no prince in Christendom is more feared of his own than he is, nor better beloved.”

For seven years after taking power into his own hands, Ivan retained Sylvester, Adashev, and their supporters at court and in positions of authority. They clung to power, resenting his independence. The conflict of wills must have come near to explosion on many occasions. Ivan exercised restraint because he needed their services, but he became guarded in his dealings with them and insisted on his own policies being pursued. Gradually, however, their presence became intolerable, and it was their hostility towards Tsaritsa Anastasia which apparently exhausted his patience.

In October 1559, Ivan and Anastasia were in Mozhaisk, some sixty-five miles southwest of Moscow, when a report reached him that the Livonians had broken the six-month armistice, agreed earlier in the year. The winter had set in earlier than usual, and the cold was intense. Great drifts of snow blocked the roads and made travel almost impossible by horse or sledge. But Ivan was so anxious about events in Livonia that with his wife he set out at once for Moscow. As a result of the hardships and cold suffered as they forced their way through the snow, Anastasia fell ill.

Ivan himself wrote later, “How shall I recall the hard journey to the ruling city from Mozhaisk with our ailing Tsaritsa Anastasia?” He accused Sylvester and his associates of neglecting to provide medical help for Anastasia at this time.

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