Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV Vasilyevich—better known as ‘Ivan The Terrible’—officially came to the Russian throne in 1533 as the Grand Duke of Moscow at the age of three. His parents died while he was young and the Russian nobility fought for the power they left unused. Ivan grew up afraid and alone with his bible, in constant fear of being murdered. This most probably fueled his obsession for suffering: he would tear off birds’ wings or throw cats and dogs from tall buildings. Ivan was an emotional wreck.

A golden age for Russia

As Ivan grew older (and escaped murder) he came to believe God protected him. At the time, Russians believed orthodoxy was the true faith. Ivan saw Russia as the centre of Christianity and Russia’s ruler as it’s protector—hence the greatest ruler in the world. Therefore in 1547 Ivan crowned himself Czar of Russia, claiming sacred descendance from the Roman emperors. This ‘sacred power’ placed him above the nobility. Ivan married Anastasia Romanov, who kept her husband’s cruelty remarkably well in check. Czar Ivan expanded the country, centralized power and reformed the government, the army, the economy and the church.

But Russia’s golden age of development and expansion was disrupted by the death of Anastasia. Ivan, suspecting murder, went mad with grief. His old cruelty and sadism resurfaced as he took revenge on the Russian nobles by torturing entire families. Ivan reasoned: if God is so cruel as to take away my wife, than I should rule cruel as well. He established an absolute, unchallenged rule. His newly-created secret terror police, the Oprichniks, raped, murdered and plundered, while in their ‘monastry’s’ dungeons Ivan reconstructed hell on earth. Here people were cruelly tortured with religious justification. Peasant girls were raped in massive orgies and used for target practice by the Oprichniks.

Ivan was merciless towards opposition. He murdered thousands of nobles and had the head of the Russian church murdered when he begged for mercy for the people. Upon hearing rumours of rebellion by the city of Novgorod Ivan practically had the whole city destroyed. More than 15,000 people were tortured—sometimes by the Czar himself. Ivan even linked the Novgorod rebellion to Moscow. He held massive executions at the red square, killing over 300 government and military officials in one day. For years Ivan the Terrible waged war on his own country.

Consumption by guilt and paranoia

In a heated argument Ivan accidentally killed his son and heir. Grief, guilt and paranoia slowly consumed Ivan from the inside. He was depressed, in constant physical pain and a broken man. In remorse he had lists drawn up of all the people he had executed. Ivan the Terrible would die at the age of 54, having destroyed himself, his dynasty and most of his country. Russia’s chances for survival were slim.

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Published:
10.03.06 / 3pm
Category:
Middle Ages