All the rulers in Russia were personalities with a capital letter. Each of them stood out with special qualities. Some have left a special mark in history. Such was the personality of the son of Vasily 3 (III) and Elena Glinskaya - John. Why was Ivan 4 nicknamed the Terrible? In this article, let's talk about the person of the king, who was considered the greatest despot in Russia.
Ivan the Terrible had a terrible temper. He was extremely suspicious, harsh, intolerant, nervous. Everyone had to listen unquestioningly to the great king. His vindictiveness killed many innocent people. The boyars who disobeyed were executed along with their innocent servants, yard servants, peasants, and serfs. Even in adolescence, suspicion and cruelty began to appear, but there were reasons for this. The tsar's life could hardly be called happy, and his orphan childhood was spent in fear of being killed by the boyars.
The prince of Moscow Ivan IV was crowned king in mid-January 1547of the year. He did a lot for the development of the state, but his cruelty was known all over the world. He sees conspiracies and treason everywhere. Sometimes suspicions are confirmed.
In 1570, he kills almost the entire population of Novgorod. This terrible event happened due to the fact that people are suspected of treason and serving King Sigismund Augustus.
Tyrant reformer
One cannot ignore the fact that the king did a lot for his state. He was a great reformer, but he could not cope with his cruelty and suspicion. His contemporaries could easily answer the question "Why was Ivan the Terrible nicknamed the Terrible?". Let us briefly outline the advantages of his reign, so as not to show an outstanding person only from the negative side.
- He opened the first post office and printing house in Russia, which was a real breakthrough.
- During his reign, population growth almost doubled.
- 30 new settlements and 155 fortresses were built.
- The territory of Russia doubled under his command. He returned Kazan, Astrakhan, western Siberia, the Central Urals.
- His reforms affected the military service, courts, government.
From here we can conclude that he ruled the state well. It is very difficult to describe this outstanding person briefly. Why was Ivan 4 nicknamed the Terrible? There were at least 5 reasons for this, which we will describe below.
Tough childhood
As a child, he lived in constant stress. As a result, a developed paranoidfear of conspiracies and mass repression in adulthood.
His father dies when Ivan was three years old from a hunting wound and blood poisoning. The mother, an insidious woman who killed two of her husband's brothers, passes away when the boy is eight years old. As it turns out later, Elena Glinskaya did not die a natural death, she was poisoned.
The child remains in the care of the boyars, who treated him very cruelly, they did not always remember that the baby needed to be fed, they beat him severely for the slightest offense, and sometimes they simply took out their anger on him. Ivan's childhood passed in fear that he could be killed at any moment. The boyars quarreled among themselves, some of them destroyed each other.
The beginning of the oprichnina, the reign of terror
In January 1565, the ruler introduced the oprichnina. Now he has absolute power in his hands. The oprichnina is the lands that he takes away for himself, confiscating from the boyars and their families. He sends these people to distant and poor parts of the state - the zemshchina. Most noble families decide to flee. Among the petty nobles, he chooses the most cruel and makes them his guardsmen, in fact, mercenaries who engage in terror. The king is paying them off with the lands confiscated by them.
Oprichnina lasted seven years. During this time, mercenaries kill people with impunity, rob them. The regime allowed the ruler to imprison a large number of boyars and mock them.
Great ingenuity intorture and sophistication in atrocities
Prisons were built in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, in which executioners used:
- stakes;
- spikes;
- whips;
- burning coals;
- rope used to cut the body to pieces.
Cauldrons with boiling and ice water stood here. A person objectionable to the sovereign was lowered in turn into boiling water, then into cold water. Because of these manipulations, soon the skin itself began to peel off the human body in shreds. That's why Ivan 4 was nicknamed the Terrible.
His atrocities knew no bounds. In 1581, Elyseus Bomelius fell under suspicion of poisoning. He not only treated the ruler, but also supplied poisons for Ivan the Terrible. The unfortunate medic was hung on a rack and fried.
He locks a company of monks in a yard with wild angry bears. Of the weapons, the clergy had only rosaries and stakes. The courtyard is surrounded by high walls that make it hard to escape.
Particularly perverted torture was patricide and fratricide. The son had to kill his own father in prison in order to be released, the brother had to take the life of his brother. Naturally, after committing a crime, these people were not pardoned, but executed.
He was very vindictive
If we talk about why Ivan 4 is called Grozny, then it is worth mentioning his vindictiveness. Even after many years, he could remember the offense and punish the person. This is what happened to his cousin.
In 1553, the king fell very ill and that's allbelieved that he was dying. At this time, his brother Vladimir Andreevich has the intention to ascend the throne and is plotting. Ivan the Terrible suddenly recovers, and they report to him about the betrayal of a relative. He will take revenge on him in 16 years, when his wife, Queen Mary, dies. He will accuse Vladimir Andreevich of poisoning his wife. An innocent relative and his family are forced to drink poison and die.
Killing a son with his own staff
In fits of anger, Ivan the Terrible used his favorite object - a wooden staff with an iron tip. He beat them with people he did not like to such an extent that some gave their souls to God. In 1581 he quarrels with his son. There were two reasons for this. On the eve of Ivan the Terrible, he beat his pregnant wife, whose behavior seemed obscene to him. The second reason is the divergence of views on the tactics of the Lithuanian war. Enraged, in a frenzy, he hits his son on the head, hitting the temple. The young man, having suffered for two days, dies. He was 27 years old. Infanticide is one of the most terrible reasons why Ivan 4 was nicknamed the Terrible.
Son Fyodor, crowned in 1584, is trying to somehow correct the mistakes of his father. After the death of the most cruel ruler in the history of Russia, it became clear why Ivan IV was nicknamed the Terrible.
