IVAN THE TERRIBLE

A RUTHLESS RULER (RUSSIA)

REIGN: 1533–1584

FATHER: Vasili III / MOTHER: Grand Princess Elena

SUCCESSOR: Feodor I

OTHER NAMES: Tsar Ivan IV

WHAT WAS SO TERRIBLE ABOUT IVAN?

Ivan has gone down in history as one of the worst rulers ever because of his cruelty, his strange behavior, and his lack of accomplishments. His tactics for oppressing his people were so terrible that his name has forever been associated with evil.

BECOMING TERRIBLE

To set the record straight, in Russian, Ivan’s nickname was Ivan Grozny. In English, that can be translated as “Ivan the Terrible,” “Ivan the Fearsome,” or “Ivan the Formidable,” but it can also be translated as “Ivan the Awesome” (as in inspiring awe).

TERRIBLE FATHER

Ivan’s personal life was as terrible as his public life. He had six marriages, although only three were legal. It’s said he wasn’t a great husband or father.

But was Ivan so bad that he’d actually murder his son? The story goes that when Ivan’s daughter-in-law was pregnant, Ivan told her she wasn’t appropriately dressed for his court. He began hitting her with his walking stick. When Ivan’s son defended his wife, Tsar Ivan killed the son (but maybe by accident).

Legend has it that when Ivan was born, there was a terrible storm in Moscow, with thunder crashing throughout the night. A priest who advised Ivan’s father told him that Ivan would be wicked and that rivers of blood would flow in their country. So Ivan’s life didn’t get off to a great start.

Ivan had a tough childhood. He was orphaned at age eight, and those left in charge of him didn’t really care about him. They set a bad example for him by murdering their enemies, among other terrible acts. It’s said that Ivan often didn’t have enough to eat. Could that account for his horrible childhood behavior, which is said to have included throwing cats out the upper floor windows of his palace just for fun?

Ivan was the first Russian ruler to take the title of tsar—“tsar of all Russia,” to be exact. He thought this title sounded more important than “prince,” which is what his predecessors had used for centuries. He wanted to sound more like a European or Roman emperor instead of just another monarch.

REIGN OF TERROR

Ivan wasn’t completely terrible—at first—even though he had a rival executed shortly after taking the throne at age sixteen. He accomplished a few good things in his early years, such as expanding the Russian empire and developing some new administrative departments in the government.

THANKS, BUT NO THANKS

Ivan really wanted to be seen as important to the rest of the world. Legend has it that he asked Queen Elizabeth I of England (see here) to marry him because he thought it would boost Russia’s reputation as an important country. She wrote back saying, no thanks, I’d rather stay single. On the other hand, the two countries did begin trading with each other around the same time, and Elizabeth and Ivan were said to have remained pen pals for years.

PLOTS! PLAGUE! POISON!

Because of his paranoia, Ivan believed those around him were plotting against him. There isn’t any evidence that these plots actually existed, but he believed they did, and it led him to develop his secret police.

During Ivan’s time, Russia experienced a devastating crop failure, followed by an outbreak of the plague. The plague killed thousands of people. The city of Moscow also caught fire and was invaded by the Tartars while Ivan was in power. Strangely, the tsar decided to take a break from being ruler and let the invading general be tsar for a year while he went out to the countryside for some recovery time.

Poison also played a big part in Ivan’s life. His mother, Elena, and his first wife, Anastasia, were both thought to have been poisoned. When Anastasia died, some thought Ivan had done it (although it’s said that she was the only person he ever really loved). Some speculate that Anastasia somehow ingested poison meant for Ivan. When Ivan’s second wife, Maria, died, the suspected cause of death was—you guessed it—poison. Ivan married again after a two-year search for a wife. And his third wife’s cause of death? Poison. When Ivan died, poison was also suspected to have played a part.

Modern forensic researchers have found that there was a lot of mercury in the system of both Ivan’s first wife and his mother. At the time, mercury was common in both cosmetics and medicine. Mercury poisoning might account for some of Ivan’s paranoia and instability. So maybe it wasn’t poison after all, but rather a lack of scientific understanding that caused his mental instability and the deaths of those he loved.

But he always had a difficult personality. His main traits were paranoia and uncontrolled rage. He expressed interest only in himself. He demanded absolute loyalty from his subjects and those in his court. If he sensed betrayal of any sort, he would have the person (or people) eliminated.

IVAN’S SECRET POLICE

Ivan didn’t get his reputation for terribleness on his own. Much of it came from the ruthless secret police force he developed in order to spy on his subjects. This secret police force was called the oprichnina (oh-prich-NEE-na), and they were authorized to do whatever they wanted—all in the name of protecting Ivan.

The oprichnina was formed after one of Ivan’s best friends (a nobleman) betrayed him. At this point, Ivan became very paranoid and decided he needed a secret police squad to prevent anyone from betraying him ever again. He was out to get all nobles after that one incident. Ivan recruited young men from the lower classes, who had to prove they had no connections to nobility, to serve on the force. Once they were chosen, the new members had to take an oath to protect the tsar.

The members of the oprichnina were terrifying to see. They wore dark robes. Around the necks of their horses hung two items: a severed dog’s head and a broom. This was meant to symbolize that they’d tear people to shreds like dogs and sweep them away if they misbehaved or plotted against the tsar.

If a member of the secret police didn’t like someone, they could accuse him of plotting against Ivan, take his land, and kill him. They terrorized everyone, but especially the nobles.

Eventually, Ivan lost control of his secret police, and he had its leaders killed. But it was said that every noble family in Russia had lost at least one family member to their brutality.

Ivan was petty and vindictive. The beautiful St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow was built during his reign. But he is said to have blinded the architect afterward so that he couldn’t build something as beautiful for anyone else.

Ivan started several (mostly unsuccessful) wars during his reign. One of them lasted twenty-five years and left the country bankrupt. But it was the widespread oppression against his people (see below) that cemented Ivan’s “terrible” reputation. In one town alone (Novogard), he’s said to have had tens of thousands of his citizens killed, including women and children. Today, he’s known as one of the most evil rulers ever.

A DEADLY GAME OF CHESS

Ivan died in 1584 while playing chess. Some say that he was poisoned (or that maybe the chess set was poisoned). Or perhaps all that mercury he had been ingesting, over time, may have done him in. It’s also possible that he could have suffered a stroke, a common cause of death for someone his age.

Ivan’s Legacy

Ivan’s secret police are said to have inspired the KGB, the Soviet secret police that terrorized people in the USSR (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, including Russia and its allied countries) in the twentieth century.

IF YOU HAD LIVED IN IVAN’S TIME… YOU MAY HAVE:

eaten a lot of cabbage soup

used hand warmers to get you through the winter (these were little metal cases with hot coals inside them to stuff in your gloves)

ice-skated by tying pieces of animal bones to your shoes