The Reign of Ivan the Terrible

There was the traditional come gentry, or boyars, comprised of families who had vied with Ivan's family for power in Muscovy for centuries. There was also a sort of civil assistant class, comprised mainly of individuals from the gentry. State service was very important in Muscovy and power was derived from appointments, much as in modern bureaucratic governments. Besides the monarchy and the gentry, the other outstanding power in Muscovy was the Orthodox church building. All elements in monastic order claimed faithful adherence and obedience to the Church and various monasteries had acquired large tracts of land over the centuries. Both the gentry and the Church represented rivals to any prince of Muscovy; Ivan would unconstipatedtually come into violent conflict with both.

By the time of Vasily's death in 1533, Muscovy was expanding its territories both east and westbound and had come to be equated with greater Russia, both geographically and politically. It tenanted most of the central European plain, from the Carpathian mountains in the west to the Urals in the East. The vast majority of this area, however, was unoccupied and most of it's 10 to 12 million inhabitants lived on aristocratic or monastic estates or in small villages. The largest towns and cities were Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk, possessing populations which arounded 50,000. Less than 10 percent of the population, however, lived in such metropolitan areas. Under Vasily, Muscovy/Russia had been opened to fo

The last twenty years of Ivan's reign passed as a blur of curse. Ivan used the Oprichniki to carry out his vindicate upon the boyars for opposing him. Land was confiscated for use by the members of the Oprachnina government and numerous executions were carried out in the early days of the Oprachnina. In the prove years, whole boyar families, including women and children, would be tortured and executed by the Oprachniki. Church leaders who dared speak out against such activities were dealt with similarly. The Oprachnina government became a force unto itself, supplying its own momentum without the aid of Ivan. Eventually, even Ivan would no longer trust the Oprachniki.

Bobrick, Ben intelligence.

Fearful Majesty: The look and Reign of Ivan the Terrible. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1987.

In 1571, Ivan abolished the Oprachnina after the concretions were defeated near Moscow. The damage to Russian society, however, had already been done. Repression had demoralized the Russians and ruined the economy. The terror did not balance completely end with the abolition of the Oprachnina. Ivan abdicated a second time in 1575 and placed a Tartar Khan on the throne in a power-sharing arrangement. The Khan's boldness was used an unofficial oprachnina, although the arrests and executions affected a far little group this second time around. The Khan lasted only a year on the throne before Ivan resumed his sole rule. In his last years, Ivan grew increasingly paranoid, suspecting conspiracies everywhere. His temperament also grew erratic, as testify by the reportedly accidental beating death of his son in 1581. Ivan never recovered from this incident and deteriorated both mentally and physically, dying in 1584.

At his coronation, Ivan was proclaimed Tsar, direct replacement to the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and, therefore, the Roman Empire. Intrigue among the boyars did not end with the coronation and some factions benefited from Ivan's assumption of power.
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