Ivan the terrible when was he born

In the same year, Ivan married Anastasia Romanov. He married several more times after her death in , but this first marriage seems to have been the happiest. The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia from to , and traces its claim to the throne through Anastasia's brother, Nikitu. Ivan ruled with a deep-seated paranoia and ruthlessness; it's said that he gouged out the eyes of the architects who built St.

Basil's so that a cathedral of such beauty could never again be created. It is said that as a boy he took delight in throwing young animals to their death from high rooftops.

He also formed the habit of robbing and beating the people of his capital. There is also the terrible event in , when Ivan, in a fit of anger, lashed out at his year-old son, Ivan Ivanovich, and struck him dead with an iron-pointed staff. It would, therefore, be foolish to argue that the personality of Ivan IV is irrelevant to an understanding of his reign.

It has been shown, in fact, that there was a very real cause for the monstrous aspects of Ivan's personality. A contemporary study of Ivan's skeleton showed that he must have suffered horribly for many years from osteophytes, which virtually fused his spine.

Ivan was born on Aug. Ivan was only 3 years old when his father died in His mother became regent, and the throne rapidly degenerated into a center of wild violence, intrigue, and denunciation as rival boyar families disputed the Glinksy regency.

At times they brought their feuds into the Kremlin itself. Evidence indicates that Ivan was a sensitive, intelligent boy with a remarkably quick and intuitive mind. He became quite aware of all the intrigues around him and of the precariousness of his own position.

He was neglected and at times treated with scorn. Apparently, he was even short of food and clothes. This environment, therefore, nourished a hatred for the boyars that revealed itself in Ivan's later policies toward them. In Glinsky died suddenly, and years of strife and misrule ensued. In , however, Ivan decided, much to the astonishment of those around him, to be crowned, not as grand prince, but as czar God's anointed. In the same year Ivan married Anastasia Romanov.

The marriage seems to have been a happy one, and when Anastasia died in , deep grief overcame Ivan. Although he married four more times, he was never able to recapture the happiness he had enjoyed with Anastasia. In Ivan even issued an edict forbidding some peasants on service lands from moving. Looking to further expand his empire, Ivan targeted Livonia, a small, Baltic-coast nation in After the annexation of the Volga, Muscovy had two expansionist alternatives: either to conquer and annex the Crimean khanate, which was ceaselessly raiding Russia and Poland for slaves; or to reconquer Slavic lands to the west which had been annexed by Livonia, Lithuania, and Poland.

Adopting a defensive posture toward Crimea the Russians plunged into an war against the Livonians on the western front. With the Livonian monopoly on trade between Russia and Western Europe broken, merchants from as far away as Holland and France rushed to Narva to negotiate trade agreements with the Russians.

Ivan had pursued relations with England, opened the port of Archangel to British merchant ships, and started trading directly with Western Europe.

He brought Moscow a wide variety of artisans to teach his people the new trades that were essential for success in the modern world. He instituted sweeping reforms in the Church and the army, as well as in the way the country was governed Ivan's much-loved wife Anastasia withered away due to a lingering illness in of Ivan suffered a severe emotional collapse. He banged his head on the floor in full view of the court and smashed his furniture. His suspicion deepened into paranoia. Angry and depressed, with his old cruelty resurfacing.

Ivan had alternately violent fits of temper and feelings of remorse. In December Ivan left Moscow with some of his court supposedly to visit various monasteries.

In reality, the paranoid tsar had abandoned the capital, taking valuables and relatives with him. Ivan returned to the capital in February , the hair on his head had fallen out and his beard had turned white, signs of major psychological stress. Shortly after Ivan returned, he set up the Oprichniki, which became a separate police state within Russia. They dressed in black, the traditional colors of death, and rode black horses, from whose saddle hung two emblems - those of a broom and a dog's head.

The broom signified the rider's mission to sweep Russia clean of Ivan's enemies; the dog's head symbolized that he was watchful for the czar. The Oprichniki didn't hesitate to burst into a church during mass, either abducting the priest or murdering him in front of the altar. Subsequently, Ivan founded a pseudo-monastic order: he was the 'abbot' and his Oprichniki were the 'monks'. Supposedly they regularly performed sacrilegious masses that were followed by extended orgies of sex, rape and torture.

Drunken licentiousness was alternated with passionate acts of repentance. After throwing himself down before the altar with such vehemence that his forehead would be bloody and covered with bruises, Ivan would rise and read sermons on the Christian virtues to his drunken retainers.

In, on the basis of unproved accusations of treason, Ivan massacred the 60, citizens of Novgorod with his Oprichniki. Novgorod's archbishop was first sewn up in a bearskin and then hunted to death by a pack of hounds.

Men, women and children were tied to sleighs, which were then run into the freezing waters of the Volkhov River. The mass of corpses made it flood its banks. The role of the man who spent 37 years on the Russian throne is still disputed. A ruthless monarch and skilled manipulator, he was also a prominent theologian, an accomplished public speaker and one of the most well-educated people of his time. Throughout his life he remained a passionate reader and was said to have kept a unique collection of some manuscripts in Greek and Latin.

While some claim it has perished, others believe the literary treasure still lies hidden in the Kremlin — the mystery of the legendary collection remains unsolved. Some believe the original intended sense could have been Ivan the Fearsome or Ivan the Formidable.

All rights reserved. On this day. Foreigners in Russia. August 25, — March 18, Ivan IV the Terrible — portrait in full dress image from art-portrets. Ivan the Terrible and his nurse, painting by Karl wenig, image from bibliotekar. Oprichniki, painting by Nikolay Nevrev image from art-portrets. Vladimir Monomakh Monomachus Vladimir Monomakh played an important role in the development of Russia during the extremely turbulent Middle Ages in Russia.