Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV - the Terrible
Born: 25 Aug., 1530
Crowned: 1547
Died: 18 Mar, 1584

Father: Vasily III, Prince of Moscow
Mother: Helene of Glinski
Married:
13 Feb., 1547 to Anastasia Romanovna
Children:
Anna, b. 10 Aug., 1548
Maria, b. 17 Mar, 1551
Ivan, b. 28 Mar 1554
Theodore I, b. 31 May, 1557
Dimitri, b Oct. 1552
Eudoxia, b. 26 Feb. 1556
Married:
21 Aug., 1561 to Maria Tscerkaski
Children:
Vasilli, b. 21 Mar 1563
Married:
28 Oct. 1571 to Maria Sobakin
1572 Divorce 1574 Anna to Koltoskaia
1574 Divorce 1576 to Anna Vassiltschikov
1576 Divorce 1577 to Vassilisa Malentieva
Sept. 1580 to Maria Nagoy
Children:
Dimitri, b. 19 Oct. 1583

The first Russian ruler to be crowned tsar and to hold that official title was Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible. He centralized the administration of Russia and expanded the boundaries of the Russian empire.
Ivan was born on Aug. 25, 1530 in Moscow, the son of Vasily III, , who died in 1533 when Ivan was only three years old. Ivan's mother, Yelena Glinskaya, who was from a noble, family, established a regency, but it soon degenerated into intrigue, and wild violence as rival boyars disputed the dominance of the Glinsky family.
Following Yelena's death in 1538 misrule continued. Ivan, who suffered from poor health, was largely ignored, his education neglected. In 1547, Ivan was crowned, not as grand duke but as tsar. In the same year, he married Anastasia Romanov, and although he was to marry several more times following her death in 1560, Ivan was never able to recapture the happiness he had enjoyed with Anastasia. The years 1547 through 1560 are usually considered the constructive period of Ivan's reign. He appointed an advisory council, founded a national assembly, enacted reforms in local government , drew up a new law code, and standardized the responsibilities and duties of the aristocracy. Ivan annexed two of the three Tatar states in Russia--Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556)--the first non-Slavic states in the empire. Thus Russian control of the Volga River and access to the Caspian Sea. Expansion to the east, beyond the Ural Mountains, also began during this period. Before Ivan's death Russia had established itself in Siberia. In addition, trade contacts with the English, French, and Dutch were begun.
Anastasia's death in 1560 marked the end of Ivan's constructive policies. Increasingly powerful, Ivan turned against his advisors--convinced that they, backed by the boyars, had caused her death. Threatening to abdicate unless the boyars were punished for their greed and treachery, Ivan abandoned Moscow in 1564, settling in the village of Aleksandrovsk. Confused and frightened, the people of Moscow begged Ivan to return and rule over them. He eventually agreed to do so on two conditions: he was to have the right to punish traitors and wrongdoers, executing them when necessary and confiscating their possessions; and a political and territorial subdivision--the oprichnina--was to be established, managed entirely at the discretion of the tsar.
The oprichnina included most of the wealthy towns, trade routes, and cultivated areas of Russia and was, therefore, a stronghold of wealthy old boyar families. To Ivan's select bodyguard, the oprichniki, fell the task of destroying many of these great lords. Contemporary estimates of the number killed are from 400 to as high as 10,000. Only a few of the old boyar families survived. Those who were not killed were ruined by Ivan's political and economic reforms. Ivan controlled this personal territory until 1572. Turmoil and disaster marked the latter part of Ivan's reign. Russia attempted, unsuccessfully, to gain access to the Baltic Sea in the Livonian War with Poland-Lithuania. Ivan died on Mar. 18, 1584. Although the transition from Ivan to his son and successor, Fyodor I, was relatively easy and quiet, Moscow was, according to most observers, on the verge of anarchy as a result of Ivan's policies.