48 Facts About Ivan Iv

1.

Ivan Iv was appointed grand prince after his father's death, when he was three years old.

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2.

Ivan Iv's reign was characterised by Russia's transformation from a medieval state to an empire under the tsar but at an immense cost to its people and its broader, long-term economy.

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3.

The later years of Ivan Iv's reign were marked by the Massacre of Novgorod and the burning of Moscow by Tatars.

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4.

Ivan Iv was described as intelligent and devout but prone to paranoia, rage, and episodic outbreaks of mental instability that increased with age.

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5.

English word terrible is usually used to translate the Russian word in Ivan Iv's nickname, but this is a somewhat archaic translation.

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6.

Ivan Iv was the first son of Vasili III and his second wife, Elena Glinskaya.

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7.

Ivan Iv was a daughter of Thomas Palaiologos, the younger brother of the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos.

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8.

When Ivan Iv was three years old, his father died from an abscess and inflammation on his leg that developed into blood poisoning.

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9.

Ivan Iv was proclaimed the Grand Prince of Moscow at the request of his father.

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10.

Ivan Iv was the first to be crowned as "Tsar of All the Russias", partly imitating his grandfather, Ivan III the Great, who had claimed the title of Grand Prince of all Rus'.

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11.

Ivan Iv was now a "divine" leader appointed to enact God's will, as "church texts described Old Testament kings as 'Tsars' and Christ as the Heavenly Tsar".

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12.

Ivan Iv revised the law code, creating the Sudebnik of 1550, founded a standing army, established the and the council of the nobles and confirmed the position of the Church with the Council of the Hundred Chapters, which unified the rituals and ecclesiastical regulations of the whole country.

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13.

Ivan Iv introduced local self-government to rural regions, mainly in northeastern Russia, populated by the state peasantry.

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14.

In 1553, Ivan Iv suffered a near-fatal illness and was thought not able to recover.

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15.

Ivan Iv ordered in 1553 the establishment of the Moscow Print Yard, and the first printing press was introduced to Russia.

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16.

Ivan Iv had St Basil's Cathedral constructed in Moscow to commemorate the seizure of Kazan.

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17.

The personal tragedy deeply hurt Ivan Iv and is thought to have affected his personality, if not his mental health.

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18.

Ivan Iv agreed to return on condition of being granted absolute power.

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19.

Ivan Iv demanded the right to condemn and execute traitors and confiscate their estates without interference from the boyar council or church.

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20.

Ivan Iv executed, exiled or forcibly tonsured prominent members of the boyar clans on questionable accusations of conspiracy.

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21.

Ivan Iv then tortured its inhabitants and killed thousands in a pogrom.

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22.

In 1575, Ivan Iv pretended to resign from his title and proclaimed Simeon Bekbulatovich, his statesman of Tatar origin, the new Grand Prince of All Rus'.

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23.

Ivan Iv opened up the White Sea and the port of Arkhangelsk to the company and granted it privilege of trading throughout his reign without paying the standard customs fees.

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24.

Ivan Iv was the first ruler to begin cooperating with the free cossacks on a large scale.

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25.

In 1545, Ivan Iv mounted an expedition to the River Volga to show his support for the pro-Russians.

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26.

Ivan Iv celebrated his victory over Kazan by building several churches with oriental features, most famously Saint Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow.

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27.

In early 1570, Ivan Iv's ambassadors concluded a treaty at Constantinople that restored friendly relations between the Sultan and the Tsar.

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28.

In 1558, Ivan Iv launched the Livonian War in an attempt to gain access to the Baltic Sea and its major trade routes.

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29.

Ivan Iv's realm was being squeezed by two of the time's great powers.

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30.

Ivan Iv came to an agreement with John III of Sweden in 1580 to transfer the Danish titles of Livonia to John III.

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31.

The next year, Ivan Iv, who had sat out in distant Novgorod during the battle, killed Mikhail Vorotynsky.

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32.

Ivan Iv established distant forts in the newly conquered lands.

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33.

Ivan Iv agreed to reinforce the Cossacks with his streltsy, but the detachment sent to Siberia died of starvation without any benefit.

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34.

The argument ended with the elder Ivan Iv fatally striking his son in the head with his pointed staff.

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35.

Ivan Iv was a poet and a composer of considerable talent.

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36.

Ivan Iv was a devoted follower of Christian Orthodoxy but in his own specific manner.

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37.

Ivan Iv placed the most emphasis on defending the divine right of the ruler to unlimited power under God.

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38.

Ivan Iv freely interfered in church affairs by ousting Metropolitan Philip and ordering him to be killed and accusing of treason and deposing the second-oldest hierarch, Novgorod Archbishop Pimen.

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39.

Ivan Iv was somewhat tolerant of Islam, which was widespread in the territories of the conquered Tatar khanates, since he was afraid of the wrath of the Ottoman sultan.

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40.

Ivan Iv was tall and athletically built, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist.

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41.

Chemical and structural analysis of his remains disproved earlier suggestions that Ivan Iv suffered from syphilis or that he was poisoned by arsenic or strangled.

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42.

Ivan Iv's body was rather asymmetrical, had a large amount of osteophytes uncharacteristic of his age and contained excessive concentration of mercury.

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43.

Researchers concluded that Ivan Iv was athletically built in his youth but, in his last years, had developed various bone diseases and could barely move.

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44.

Ivan Iv completely altered Russia's governmental structure, establishing the character of modern Russian political organisation.

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45.

Ivan Iv bypassed the Mestnichestvo system and offered positions of power to his supporters among the minor gentry.

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46.

Ivan Iv had inherited a government in debt, and in an effort to raise more revenue for his expansionist wars, he instituted a series of increasingly-unpopular and burdensome taxes.

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47.

The earliest and most influential account of his reign prior to 1917 was by the historian N M Karamzin, who described Ivan as a 'tormentor' of his people, particularly from 1560, though even after that date Karamzin believed there was a mix of 'good' and 'evil' in his character.

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48.

Ivan Iv read the scripts of Tolstoy's play and the first of Eisenstein's films in tandem after the Battle of Kursk in 1943, praised Eisenstein's version but rejected Tolstoy's.

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