Editing Ivan the Terrible (section)

== Domestic policy ==
Despite calamities triggered by the [[Fire of Moscow (1547)|Great Fire of 1547]], the early part of Ivan's reign was one of peaceful reforms and modernization. Ivan revised the law code, creating the [[Sudebnik of 1550]], founded a [[standing army]] (the {{transliteration|ru|[[streltsy]]}}),<ref>{{cite journal |first=Michael C. |last=Paul |title=The Military Revolution in Russia 1550–1682 |journal=The Journal of Military History |volume=68 |issue=1 |year=2004 |pages=9–45 [esp. pp. 20–22] |doi=10.1353/jmh.2003.0401|s2cid=159954818 }}</ref> established the {{transliteration|ru|[[Zemsky Sobor]]}} (the first Russian parliament of feudal estates) and the council of the nobles (known as the Chosen Council) and confirmed the position of the Church with the [[Council of the Hundred Chapters]] (Stoglavy Synod), which unified the rituals and ecclesiastical regulations of the whole country. He introduced local self-government to rural regions, mainly in northeastern Russia, populated by the state peasantry.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

In 1553 Ivan suffered a near-fatal illness and was thought not able to recover. While on his presumed deathbed Ivan had asked the boyars to swear an oath of allegiance to his eldest son, an infant at the time. Many boyars refused since they deemed the tsar's health too hopeless for him to survive. This angered Ivan and added to his distrust of the boyars. There followed brutal reprisals and assassinations, including those of [[Metropolitan Philip]] and Prince [[Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Riasanovsky |first1=Nicholas V. |title=A History of Russia |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195121791 |chapter = The Second Part of Ivan the Terrible's Rule}}</ref>

Ivan ordered in 1553 the establishment of the [[Moscow Print Yard]], and the first [[printing press]] was introduced to Russia. Several religious books in Russian were printed during the 1550s and 1560s. The new technology provoked discontent among traditional scribes, which led to the Print Yard being burned in an arson attack. The first Russian printers, [[Ivan Fedorov (printer)|Ivan Fedorov]] and [[Pyotr Mstislavets]], were forced to flee from Moscow to the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]]. Nevertheless, the printing of books resumed from 1568 onwards, with Andronik Timofeevich Nevezha and his son Ivan now heading the Print Yard.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}
[[File:Ivan IV the Terrible portrait by Weigel 1882.jpg|thumb|left|16th century portrait of Ivan by Hans Weigel]]
Ivan had [[Saint Basil's Cathedral]] constructed in Moscow to commemorate the seizure of [[Kazan]]. There is a legend that he was so impressed with the structure that he had the architect, [[Postnik Yakovlev]], blinded so that he could never design anything as beautiful again. However, in reality Postnik Yakovlev went on to design more churches for Ivan and the walls of the [[Kazan Kremlin]] in the early 1560s as well as the chapel over Saint Basil's grave, which was added to Saint Basil's Cathedral in 1588, several years after Ivan's death. Although more than one architect was associated with that name, it is believed that the principal architect is the same person.<ref>[https://slovar.cc/enc/bse/2031865.html Постник]. [[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]</ref><ref>[http://ecology-mef.narod.ru/arch/postnik.htm Барма и Постник (Постник Яковлев)]. ecology-mef.narod.ru.</ref><ref>[http://www.russiancity.ru/hbooks/h005.htm Постник Барма – строитель собора Василия Блаженного в Москве и Казанского кремля]. russiancity.ru.</ref>

Other events of the period include the introduction of the first laws restricting the mobility of the peasants, which would eventually lead to [[serfdom]] and were instituted during the rule of the future Tsar [[Boris Godunov]] in 1597.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Boris Fedorovich Godunov |volume=4 |page=254 |first=Robert |last=Bain |authorlink=Robert Nisbet Bain}} This cites:
* Platon Vasilievich Pavlov, ''On the Historical Significance of the Reign of Boris Godunov'' (Rus.) (Moscow, 1850)
* [[Sergey Solovyov (historian)|Sergyei Mikhailivich Solovev]], ''History of Russia'' (Rus.) (2nd ed., vols. vii–viii, St. Petersburg, 1897).</ref> (See also [[Serfdom in Russia]].)

The combination of bad harvests, devastation brought by the ''[[oprichnina]]'' and Tatar raids, the prolonged war and overpopulation caused [[Crisis of the late 16th century in Russia|a severe social and economic crisis]] in the second half of Ivan's reign.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

=== {{transliteration|ru|Oprichnina}} ===
{{Main|Oprichnina}}
[[File:Vasnetsov Ioann 4.jpg|thumb|200px|Portrait of Ivan IV by [[Viktor Vasnetsov]], 1897 ([[Tretyakov Gallery]], Moscow)]]
The 1560s brought to Russia hardships that led to a dramatic change in Ivan's policies. Russia was devastated by a combination of drought, famine, unsuccessful wars against the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], [[Russo-Crimean Wars|Tatar invasions]] and the sea-trading blockade carried out by the Swedes, the Poles and the [[Hanseatic League]]. His first wife, Anastasia Romanovna, died in 1560, which was suspected to be a poisoning. The personal tragedy deeply hurt Ivan and is thought to have affected his personality, if not his mental health. At the same time one of Ivan's advisors, Prince Andrey Kurbsky, defected to the Lithuanians, took command of the Lithuanian troops and devastated the Russian region of [[Velikiye Luki]]. This series of treacherous acts made Ivan paranoically suspicious of nobility.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

On 3 December 1564 Ivan left Moscow for [[Aleksandrova Sloboda]], where he sent two letters in which he announced his [[abdication]] because of the alleged embezzlement and treason of the aristocracy and the clergy. The boyar court was unable to rule in Ivan's absence and feared the wrath of the Muscovite citizens. A boyar envoy departed for Aleksandrova Sloboda to beg Ivan to return to the throne.{{sfn|Madariaga|2006|pp=176–178}}<ref name="Pavlov">Pavlov, Andrei and Perrie, Maureen (2003) ''Ivan the Terrible (Profiles in Power)''. Harlow, UK: Longman. pp. 112–113. {{ISBN|058209948X}}.</ref> Ivan agreed to return on condition of being granted absolute power. He demanded the right to condemn and execute traitors and confiscate their estates without interference from the boyar council or church. Ivan decreed the creation of the {{transliteration|ru|[[oprichnina]]}}.{{sfn|Madariaga|2006|pp=179–180}}

The {{transliteration|ru|oprichnina}} was a separate territory within the borders of Russia, mostly in the territory of the former [[Novgorod Republic]] in the north. Ivan held exclusive power over the territory. The Boyar Council ruled the {{transliteration|ru|zemshchina}} ('land'), the second division of the state. Ivan also recruited a personal guard known as the {{transliteration|ru|[[oprichniki]]}}, originally numbered 1,000.<ref name=Pavlov/>{{sfn|Madariaga|2006|pp=182–183}} The {{transliteration|ru|oprichniki}} were headed by [[Malyuta Skuratov]]. One known {{transliteration|ru|oprichnik}} was the German adventurer [[Heinrich von Staden (author)|Heinrich von Staden]]. The {{transliteration|ru|oprichniki}} enjoyed social and economic privileges under the {{transliteration|ru|oprichnina}}. They owed their allegiance and status to Ivan, not heredity or local bonds.<ref name=Pavlov/>

The first wave of persecutions targeted primarily the princely clans of Russia, notably the influential families of Suzdal. Ivan executed, exiled or forcibly [[tonsure]]d prominent members of the boyar clans on questionable accusations of conspiracy. Among those who were executed were the Metropolitan Philip and the prominent warlord Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky. In 1566 Ivan extended the {{transliteration|ru|oprichnina}} to eight central districts. Of the 12,000 nobles, 570 became {{transliteration|ru|oprichniki}} and the rest were expelled.{{sfn|Madariaga|2006|p=183}}{{efn|As the tonsure was the distinctive hairstyle of monastic orders, a forcibly tonsured boyar was effectively exiled from power by being made to enter a monastic life.}}

Under the new political system the {{transliteration|ru|oprichniki}} were given large estates but, unlike the previous landlords, could not be held accountable for their actions. The men "took virtually all the peasants possessed, forcing them to pay 'in one year as much as [they] used to pay in ten.{{' "}}{{sfn|Martin|2007|p=410}} This degree of oppression resulted in increasing cases of peasants fleeing, which in turn reduced overall production. The price of grain increased ten-fold.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Ivan was repentant after the death of his son and his actions with the ''{{transliteration|ru|oprichnina}}'', and afterwards, he sent out lists compiling the deaths of his Christian victims killed by the system and asked monasteries to pray for every known one.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Great Mysteries of the Past: Experts Unravel Fact and Fallacy Behind the Headlines of History |date=April 1997 |publisher=[[Reader's Digest]] |isbn=978-0-89577-377-7 |location=Pleasantville, New York |pages=188–189}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2024}}

=== Sack of Novgorod ===
{{Main|Massacre of Novgorod}}
Conditions under the {{transliteration|ru|oprichnina}} were worsened by the 1570 epidemic, a plague that killed 10,000 people in Novgorod and 600 to 1,000 daily in Moscow. During the grim conditions of the epidemic, a famine and the ongoing Livonian War, Ivan grew suspicious that noblemen of the wealthy city of Novgorod were planning to defect and to place the city under the control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A Novgorod citizen, Petr Volynets, warned the tsar about the alleged conspiracy, which modern historians believe not to have been real. In 1570 Ivan ordered the {{transliteration|ru|oprichniki}} to raid the city. The {{transliteration|ru|oprichniki}} burned and pillaged Novgorod and the surrounding villages and the city has never regained its former prominence.<ref name="Novgorod1911">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Novgorod (town) |display=Novgorod |volume=19 |pages=839–840 |first1=Peter |last1=Kropotkin |first2=John Thomas |last2=Bealby}}</ref>
[[File:0NevrevNV Oprichniki BISH.jpg|thumb|left|''The Oprichniki'' by [[Nikolai Nevrev]] (1888). The painting shows the last minutes of {{transliteration|ru|boyarin}} Feodorov, who was arrested for treason. To mock his alleged ambitions on the tsar's title, the nobleman was given tsar's [[regalia]] before his execution.]]
Casualty figures vary greatly from different sources. The First Pskov Chronicle estimates the number of victims at 60,000.<ref name=Novgorod1911/><ref>[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat0.htm#IvanT Ivan the Terrible, Russia, (r. 1533–84)]. Users.erols.com. Retrieved 7 December 2011</ref><ref name="PskovChronicle">According to the Third Novgorod Chronicle, the massacre lasted for five weeks. Almost every day, 500 or 600 people were killed or drowned.</ref> According to the Third Novgorod Chronicle, the massacre lasted for five weeks. The massacre of Novgorod consisted of men, women and children who were tied to sleighs and run into the freezing waters of the [[Volkhov]] River, which Ivan ordered on the basis of unproved accusations of treason. He then tortured its inhabitants and killed thousands in a pogrom. The archbishop was also hunted to death. Almost every day, 500 or 600 people were killed, some by drowning, but the official death toll named 1,500 of Novgorod's "big" people (nobility) and mentioned only about the same number of "smaller" people.{{Citation needed|date=June 2014}} Many modern researchers estimate the number of victims to range from 2,000 to 3,000 since after the famine and epidemics of the 1560s the population of Novgorod most likely did not exceed 10,000–20,000.<ref>Having investigated the report of Maljuta Skuratov and commemoration lists (''sinodiki''), R. Skrynnikov considers that the number of victims was 2,000–3,000. (Skrynnikov R.G., "Ivan Grosny", M., AST, 2001)</ref> Many survivors were deported.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

The {{transliteration|ru|oprichnina}} did not live long after the sack of Novgorod. During the [[Russo-Crimean War (1571)|1571–72 Russo-Crimean War]] the {{transliteration|ru|oprichniki}} failed to prove themselves worthy against a regular army. In 1572, Ivan abolished the {{transliteration|ru|oprichnina}} and disbanded his {{transliteration|ru|oprichniki}}.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

=== Appointment of Simeon Bekbulatovich ===
In September or October 1575,<ref name="lloyd">{{cite book |title=Rude & barbarous kingdom: Russia in the accounts of sixteenth-century English voyagers |date=1968 |publisher=Univ. of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Wis. |isbn=0299047644 |page=166}}</ref> Ivan proclaimed [[Simeon Bekbulatovich]], his statesman of Tatar origin, the new grand prince of all Russia.{{sfn|Madariaga|2006|p=301}} Simeon reigned as a figurehead leader for about a year. According to the English envoy [[Giles Fletcher the Elder]], Simeon acted on Ivan's instructions to confiscate all of the lands that belonged to monasteries, and Ivan pretended to disagree with the decision. When the throne was returned to Ivan in September 1576<ref name="lloyd"/> he returned some of the confiscated land and kept the rest.{{cn|date=January 2025}}