The statehood of Russia went through many difficult stages, sometimes one was worse than the other. Most historians call the years of the oprichnina the most terrible and dark period in the history of Russia. Oprichnik - is it a myth, or did he really exist? There was a terrible rumor about these sovereign servants, they said that they were not human at all, real monsters, "demons in the flesh." So what can be said about the guardsmen, who they really were and why such really scary stories are told about them?
Forced measures
The appearance of the oprichnina is preceded by a series of negative events for Moscow. The Muscovite kingdom during this period waged a bloody Livonian war. The Livonian conflict is one of the largest military campaigns of the 16th century in the B altic region, which was conducted by large, influential states in those regions - the Muscovy, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Swedenkingdom, Danish kingdom. In January 1558, Moscow attacked Livonia. At the beginning of the company, Russian troops brought Ivan the Terrible a number of significant victories, Narva, Dorpat and many other cities and villages of the B altic were conquered.
At war
For seven years, the Russian state continued a bloody and difficult war with the Livonian state. Not only Emperor Peter I dreamed of "cutting a window to Europe." Ivan the Terrible also decided to dot the “and” in the seemingly eternal problem of the Russian economy. The beginning of the military campaign was quite successful for Russia. After a crushing defeat near Ulla, the commander-in-chief of the Russian troops fled to the Lithuanians. In connection with the situation that had arisen, Ivan the Terrible introduced martial law in the country, creating a guardianship structure in the state.
Strict selection
At that time, not only the king had power in the country, large feudal lords, who were divided into eight nests, influenced foreign and domestic policy - according to the kinship and allotment principle. None of them acted for the good of their country and, naturally, they put taxes in their pockets. For one slave sometimes there were two feudal lords. Only the Yaroslavl princes at that time numbered about eighty. All these princes did not put a penny into the treasury, which made the Russian Tsar very angry. Since the country already had enough problems, and especially during the war, the king needed to solve this feudal problem. On January 3, 1565, Ivan the Terrible announced that he was abdicating the throne due to anger at the nobles. After suchshocking announcement, thousands of people gathered and went to the king to beg him to return to the throne and again lead the country. Exactly one month later, the Russian tsar announced that he would return to rule, but with the right to execute the boyars without trial or investigation, tax them, and deprive them of their property. All the rest of the state had to give the zemshchina. To all this, he added that he was introducing oprichnina into the country. In it, he identified individual boyars, clerks and servicemen. Therefore, the guardsman is a person who has certain powers and carries out orders directly from the king himself. The tsar obliged certain cities to maintain the oprichnina: Veliky Ustyug, Vologda, Suzdal, Vyazma, Kozelsk, Medyn and others.
The essence of the oprichnina
An oprichnik is a person who took on the function of a lightning rod, depriving a prince, a feudal lord of power in a certain region. Ivan the Terrible acted very cunningly, thus killing two birds with one stone. Deprived the arbitrariness of the nobles and distributed the remaining lands conquered in the B altic states. The meaning of the word oprichnik is “a person who holds a position with the king in the ranks of his supporters.”
Black Guards
Oprichnik is the tsar's personal guard, which recruited not only mature husbands, but also boyar children and selected nobles. The main condition under which the selection was carried out was the absence of family, blood ties with noble persons of the nobility. All that Ivan the Terrible demanded from his people was unquestioning obedience. The most important for domestic politics was the oprichnik. Its meaning wasnarrowly focused and somewhat reminiscent of the function of special forces in our time.
Battle clashes
Since the princes had under their command military servants (a detachment of warriors who guarded the interests of their master), it was not an easy task to deprive this nobleman of his land. This is where the “black horseman” appeared - the guardsman. The definition of the word we gave a little higher. His occupation, in fact, was to strengthen the unified power of the king and kill those who did not agree with this. Often they are characterized as cowardly and mean people. But not everyone was like that, among the guardsmen there were good military leaders and field commanders. There was a case: during the capture of the Livonian city, the army under the command of Prince Tyufyakin stood near the fortress and began to “argue”, the reluctance to go on the attack and constant excuses angered the king, and he sent a guardsman there, who, having shown the royal decree, removed Tyufyakin and him from command of the army assistants, and he himself undertook to lead the assault on the fighters.
Dog head and broom
Modern historians describe the personal protection of the king as follows. A man dressed all in black, with a dog's head strapped to his saddle and a broom on his back. The head symbolized that the young oprichnik would sniff out treason and sweep it away with a broom. This was not entirely true. Yes, the oprichnik was dressed in a black caftan, as they were a kind of order and dressed accordingly. As for carrion - complete nonsense, on a hot day with a severed head, you can’t really clear up. For the first time this information came from foreigners who,most likely, they drew an analogy with the Dominican monks, this order had a dog's head, which adorned the gates of the monastery, as a symbol. Why a dog's head? The Dominicans called themselves the dogs of the Lord. They, like the guardsmen, investigated crimes (against the faith), and perhaps this was the reason for the emergence of such an analogy. And the broom wasn't exactly a broom. As a sign of their belonging to the chosen caste of the king, the guardsmen wore a woolen brush on their belt - a broom sweeping treason.
Hard facts
During the oprichnina, a lot of people died, it is still not possible to say exactly how many. Oprichnik is a murderer, through whose fault at least 6 thousand people died. It is this figure that the historian Skrynnikov calls.
Oprichniks
Those terrible years are characterized by many as a period of repression and arbitrariness. And, of course, there are the most famous guardsmen who are most remembered for their deeds.
Fyodor Basmanov is the son of the guardsman Alexei Danilovich. There was a rumor about Fedor that he was the lover of Ivan the Terrible himself, in particular, they refer to the stories of foreigners. Reflected the Tatar attack on Ryazan. In 1569 he commanded the oprichnina troops in the south of the country. Awarded.
Malyuta Skuratov is an oprichnik, the main villain who got his nickname because of his small stature. He was the head of the oprichnina. He started his way from the lowest position, but, thanks to his cruelty, he reached great heights. He became famous for the fact that he liked to spendinquiries with passion. He was more of an assassin than an oprichnik. Killed in battle in 1573.
Afanasy Vyazemsky is another famous oprichnik. He had a special status with the tsar, they even said that he was the favorite of Ivan the Terrible and enjoyed unlimited confidence. It was so strong that the tsar took the medicines prepared by Grozny's personal doctor Lensey only from the hands of Athanasius Vyazemsky. During the time of cruel repressions, Vyazemsky, together with Malyuta Skuratov, was at the head of the guardsmen. Vyazemsky ended his earthly existence during torture, accused of collusion with Russian enemies and the desire to transfer Pskov to Lithuania.
Mikhail Temryukovich Cherkassky is a prince. He came to Muscovy in 1556. Obeying the will of his father, he was baptized and became one of the specific princes. Mikhail became an oprichnik thanks to his valiant company against the Tatars and his sister Maria, who made him related to Tsar Ivan the Terrible. After some time, Prince Cherkassky gained sufficient influence at the court of the Moscow Tsar.
Officially, Mikhail Cherkassky has been mentioned among the guardsmen since September 1567. He, like all significant figures of the tsar's personal guard, actively took part in the torture of gentlemen objectionable to the monarch. In May, Cherkassky was executed allegedly for treason, and one of the popular versions says that he was even impaled.
