The real personality of Tsar Fyodor I Ivanovich, despite the relatively short historical period of time (460 years) that separates us from him, is hidden. The whole question revolves around whether he was imbecile or not. We will try to answer this. There are few sources left that give him a true image. This sovereign is overshadowed by two powerful figures: Father Ivan the Terrible and co-ruler Boris Godunov. Our historians recreate and writers interpret him as a man and ruler.
The end of the Rurik dynasty
In the 16th century, the first Russian Tsar Ivan Vasilievich ascended the throne. He ruled for a long time, more than 50 years, but extremely unevenly, shaking his lands and family with a fiercely brutal character.
Out of eight wives, only three bore him children. And even the elder, whom he was preparing for the kingdom, the king himself killed in a fit of uncontrollable anger, which he bitterly regretted. The heir was Fedor Ivanovich, son of Ivan IV the Terrible from his first marriage.
Family in childhood
The royal parents loved each other and had lived for ten years by the time Fedor was born, sharing both joy and sorrow. AtThe tsarevich had an older brother, Ivan. Their age difference was three years. Growing up, they will play together, and loving parents watch them. But in the year of the birth of the prince, who was baptized in the Miracle Monastery, in 1557, no one yet knows that peace and silence only so far stand over the country. This is the last serene year. In 1558, a long, for a quarter of a century, bloody Livonian war will begin. She will overshadow his entire childhood. And after the death of his mother, there is almost no information about the prince, who was then three years old. The father travels to the pilgrims and does not take his son with him. He leaves, leading an army, to the war, and a five-year-old boy, seeing him off, does not know if he will return back. And then a series of wives will go to the royal chambers, who see in Ivan and Fedor an obstacle to their children to the throne, and there is no need to talk about spiritual warmth here. The boys, of course, experienced a hidden enmity. But in the sources there is practically no information about how Ivan Vasilyevich raised the youngest. It is known that from the age of eight he took him with him on pilgrimages, and later ordered him to attend state ceremonies. Even when the prince was not yet seven years old, he participated in the erection to the rank of Metropolitan of Moscow, and when the oprichnina was established, he, together with his family and court, went to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. At the age of 10, his father took him to Vologda for examination. So, little by little, Tsarevich Fedor looked closely at state affairs.
Marriage
The father himself chose a bride for his son from a strong, reliable Godunov clan, but not too well-born, such that they depended on the royal family in everything and were grateful forsuch a high destiny. And the prince, not thinking about political motives, simply became attached to his wife, clever Irina.
Death of the heir
The Tsar of All Russia did not get around to fully educating his youngest son Fyodor. Always in the foreground was Ivan Ivanovich. And when he died, in 1581, at the age of 24 he had to seriously accustom the heir Fedor to state affairs. And he had no interest in them. After all, before all attention was paid to Ivan, and you, Fedenka, advised him to go to the church of God, talk to the monks, listen to the choristers, and the deacon's bass, otherwise go hunting.
The prince was surrounded by mothers, nannies and monks. They also taught him book knowledge and the law of God. So the prince grew up timid, meek, pious. And God gave him a royal crown.
The wedding on the kingdom
The death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584 is surrounded by omissions and secrets. There are suggestions that he was poisoned or strangled, which, however, has not been reliably proven. But the boyars, rejoicing at the liberation from the powerful oppression of the tyrant who held them with an iron hand, raised an uprising, taking advantage of the rumors about the mysterious death of the tsar, and brought him to the walls of the Kremlin. Negotiations with the rebels ended with the fact that they retreated, and the instigators were exiled. Just in case, the young Dmitry and his mother were removed to Uglich. Who was behind these actions? Well, not Fedor Ivanovich. The king was not interested in these matters, he was passive. Everything was run by the noble princes Shuisky, Mstislavsky, Yuryev.
Shortly before the uprising there was a wedding onkingdom, it happened on Fedor's birthday. He was exactly 27 years old. The ceremony went like this. Fedor Ivanovich walked in front - the tsar, dressed in the richest attire. Behind him - the higher clergy and then all know by rank. A crown was placed on his head. The clergy from Mount Athos and Mount Sinai were invited to the celebration, which meant the importance of the event for the entire Orthodox world. The celebration lasted a week.
So Fedor Ivanovich got the right and opportunity to dispose of everything. The king became the absolute ruler. In his hands was all the power - legislative, executive, judicial and military.
Fyodor Ivanovich, Tsar: historical portrait
Foreigners, British, French, Swedes, Poles are trying to convince us that Fyodor Ivanovich was too simple, sensitive and overly pious and superstitious, even stupid. He spent too much time in monasteries. But, getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning, according to the same foreigners, having prayed, conveyed greetings to his wife, who occupied separate chambers, he received boyars, military leaders, members of the Duma. This suggests that Fedor Ivanovich is a tsar: he listens to the nobles and gives instructions.
True, he doesn’t spend too much time on these things, since they don’t occupy him very much, but, like a true sovereign, he still does things. Yes, he prefers prayer to politics, but there are no signs of dementia in this. He is simply by nature not a statesman, but an ordinary person wholikes to talk to his wife, watch bear-baiting or hand-to-hand combat, laugh at jesters. Intrigues, political moves, thought out, like chess, for a long time to come, are not his element. Fedor I Ioannovich is a kind, calm, pious person. Other foreigners, the Austrians, for example, to whom the tsar gave a kind welcome and promised assistance in the fight against the Turks, nowhere indicate that the tsar was weak-minded. Maybe it's all about the biased assessments of the same Swedes, since political affairs were resolved by force of arms in an unfavorable direction for them?
Perception of the Tsar by the Russian people
They all note that Fyodor I Ioannovich is extremely pious and exhausts himself with spiritual exploits. And during the wedding to the kingdom, he delivered speeches in which he did not mark a sign of stupidity. A poor-minded person would not have survived the whole ceremony and could not deliver a speech. And the king behaved with due dignity. Russian chroniclers call him merciful, and his death was perceived as a great grief that could bring great disasters. Which, by the way, came true.
Patriarch Job, who saw the king every day and knew him well, expressed his lively admiration for the sovereign. The tsar appears before us as a true ascetic of faith, and a well-fed, calm life under him was perceived as the grace of God, descended by his prayers on Russian soil. Everyone emphasizes his incredible piety. Therefore, the nickname of Tsar Fedor Ivanovich was - Blessed. And one of the princes close to him, I. A. Khvorostinin noted the tsar's love of reading. His father Ivan the Terrible himself, drawing up a will,when the eldest son Ivan was still alive, he warned the 15-year-old Fyodor against rebellion against his brother. But the complete fool, as other foreigners try to present him, could hardly go to war against his brother. So, Ivan Vasilyevich imagined his son not at all a simpleton. Further showed that the king was an excellent commander, leading a campaign against the Swedes. He got into the Russian army, being mentally he althy, and not a holy fool. The defeat of the Swedes in the Livonian War is a great deed of Fyodor Ivanovich.
Co-rulers
Godunov stood behind the throne, but besides him, the emaciated one, there were aristocrats with whom Fyodor Ivanovich had to reckon. And who could keep the Shuiskys, Mstislavskys, Odoevskys, Vorotynskys, Zakharyins-Yuryevs-Romanovs in check? Only the king, who was above all. Yes, he could allow himself in the meeting of the Duma boyars, having descended from the throne, stroking a cat, but his gaze is clear and full of wisdom.
Theodore the Blessed, listening to high-ranking men, could think of his own thoughts that every creation of God is worthy of love and affection, like his own people, who flourished under him. And let the nobles rejoice that he does not cut the head from their shoulders, like his father. Godunov, listening to the opinion of the tsar, became co-ruler by the tsar's will. He represented the best possible. Together they made a harmonious couple when Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich ruled (1584 - 1598).
No divorce
The king revered the sacrament of marriage. And although God gave him one child who died in infancy, despite the demands of the boyars to divorce his wife and marryagain and to have legitimate heirs, the sovereign resolutely refused. In this position, it was necessary to show courage, will and stamina, so great was the pressure of the aristocrats. The fact that the king had no children partly explains the long hours spent in prayer, and the frequent trips to the pilgrimage, which the couple made on foot, accompanied, of course, by guards and retinue. They were led by faith and hope.
Patriarchate
After the fall of Byzantium, the Russian state turned out to be the largest of all the Orthodox. But the head of the church bore only the rank of metropolitan, which was clearly not enough. But could the tsar, incapable of long negotiations and intrigues, play such a complex and subtle political game? He always shunned worries of this kind, as he was quiet and had the mentality of a monk-monk, who is away from worldly affairs. The chroniclers write that the sovereign, after consulting with Tsarina Irina, submitted to the council of the boyars the idea of establishing the patriarchate. They needed to comply with the sovereign's decision. And no matter whose original idea this idea was, the king voiced it, and the matter slowly, but began to develop.
It took several years of negotiations and intrigues of the Greeks for everything to be completed, as required by the autocrat in 1589. Job became Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. The king, carried away by this idea, himself developed a new, more magnificent ceremony than the Greeks had.
Printing in Moscow
At the direct request of Fyodor Ivanovich, sources say, the printing house was restored in Moscow. She iswas intended for reproduction of liturgical books, but the beginning of book printing was laid. Further it will develop, bringing enlightenment, first ecclesiastical, and then secular. Could a stupid, mentally retarded person put forward such an idea? The answer suggests itself. Of course not. And the country needed books. Under Fyodor Ivanovich, cities, temples, monasteries were built, and everything required the acquisition of learning and, consequently, books.
Death of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich
The king, who stayed on the throne for 13 years and seven months, was ill for a long time, and died quickly. He did not have time to become a monk before his death, as he wished. There were three great deeds in his life: the establishment of the patriarchate, the liberation of Russian lands from Swedish occupation, and the construction of the Donskoy Monastery. In them he took active action. It remains unclear to this day to whom he handed over the throne. Perhaps no one, deciding that "God will judge." He accepted a devastated country, and left it strengthened, pushing its limits. Under him, the "Tsar Cannon" was cast. Quiet, deeply believing in God's providence, the king saw that the Lord ruled his country and preserved his kingdom. Such was the last Rurikovich, Fedor Ivanovich - the tsar, whose biography and deeds left a good mark in the history of the country.
