Who was the first Russian Tsar. Who was the first Russian Tsar? Who became the first tsar in Rus'
The first tsar in Rus' was born not in Moscow, but in Kolomenskoye. At that time, Moscow was small, and Rus' was also small. However, the royal baby was clearly marked and protected by God. His childhood was not peaceful. The guardians of the three-year-old tsar - the princes Shuisky brothers - created such a bloody terror in the palace that every evening I had to thank God that he was alive: they didn’t poison him like a mother, didn’t kill him like an older brother, didn’t rot in prison like an uncle, didn’t torture him with torture , as many close associates of the father - Prince Vasily III.
Against all odds, the first tsar in Rus' survived! And at the age of 16, with an unexpected blow to the boyar aspirations, he was married to the kingdom! Surely, historians say, he was prompted by the smart Metropolitan Macarius. But it may well be that he himself guessed that the country needs one strong hand to stop civil strife and grow territories. The triumph of autocracy is the triumph of the Orthodox faith, Moscow is the successor of Tsargrad. Of course, the idea of a wedding was close and understandable to the Metropolitan. The first tsar in Rus' turned out to be a real one: he reined in the boyars, and increased the territories over 50 years of his reign - one hundred percent of the territories were added to the Russian state, and Russia became larger than all of Europe.
royal title
Ivan Vasilievich (the Terrible) used the royal title brilliantly, taking up completely different positions in European politics. The grand ducal title was translated as "prince" or even "duke", and even the king is the emperor!
After the coronation, the king's relatives on the mother's side achieved many benefits, as a result of which an uprising began, which showed the young John the real state of affairs regarding his reign. Autocracy is a new, difficult task, with which Ivan Vasilievich coped more than successfully.
That's interesting, why the first tsar in Rus' - John the Fourth? Where did this number come from? And it was much later that Karamzin wrote his "History of the Russian State" and began counting from Ivan Kalita. And during his lifetime, the first tsar in Russia was called John I, the letter of approval for the kingdom was kept in a special golden casket-ark, and the first tsar in Rus' sat on this throne.
The tsar considered the centralization of the state, carried out Zemsky and Gubnaya reforms, transformed the army, adopted a new Code of Laws and the Code of Service, and established a law prohibiting the entry of Jewish merchants into the country. A new coat of arms with an eagle appeared, since Ivan the Terrible is a direct descendant of the Rurikovichs. And not only them: on the maternal side, his near ancestor - Mamai, and even his grandmother - Sophia Paleolog herself, the heiress of the Byzantine emperors. There is someone to be smart, proud, hardworking. And cruel, too, there is someone. But, of course, at that time, and even in that environment, without cruelty, those transformations that the first tsar in Russia clearly carried out would not have been possible. The transformation of the army - two words, and how much is behind them! Appeared 25-thousandth of which was worth only arming them with squeakers, reeds and sabers, and tear them away from the economy! True, the archers were gradually torn off from the economy. Appeared artillery numbering at least 2 thousand guns. Ivan Vasilievich the Terrible even dared to change taxation to the great murmur of the boyar duma. Of course, the boyars did not just grumble about the infringement of their privileges. They undermined the autocracy to such an extent that they forced the appearance of the oprichnina. Oprichniki formed an army of up to 6 thousand fighters, not counting almost a thousand entrusted on special assignments.
The blood runs cold in the veins when you read about those tortures and executions that were carried out at the wave of the sovereign's hand. But not only Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, even today's historians are sure that the oprichnina did not arise by chance and not from scratch. The boyars needed to be reined in! In addition, heresies creeping from the West shook the foundation of the Orthodox faith so much that the throne staggered along with the tsar sitting on it and the entire Russian State. Ambiguous relations developed between the autocracy and the clergy. Prior to mysticism, the believing tsar took away the monastic lands and subjected the clergy to repressions. The Metropolitan was forbidden to delve into the affairs of the oprichnina and the zemshchina. At the same time, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich himself was an oprichny hegumen, performing many monastic duties, even singing in the kliros.
Novgorod and Kazan
Before the new year 1570, the oprichnina army set out on a campaign against Novgorod on suspicion of intending to betray Rus' to the Polish king. The oprichniki had already amused themselves to fame. They staged robberies with massacres in Tver, Klin, Torzhok and other associated cities, then destroyed Pskov and Novgorod. And in Tver, Metropolitan Philip was strangled by Malyuta Skuratov for refusing to bless this bloody campaign. Everywhere, the king destroyed the local nobility and clerks, one might say, purposefully, along with their wives, children and household members. This robbery lasted for years, until the Crimean Rus attacked. That's where the prowess to show the young oprichnina army! But the army simply did not come to the war. The guardsmen were spoiled, lazy. With the Tatars - it's not with the boyars and their kids to fight. The war was lost.
And then Ivan Vasilievich got angry! A menacing look turned to Kazan from Novgorod. Then the Girey dynasty reigned there too. The sovereign abolished the oprichnina, even banned its name, executed many traitors and villains, went to Kazan three times. For the third time, Kazan surrendered to the mercy of the winner and after a while became a completely Russian city. Also, from Moscow to Kazan, Russian fortresses lined up all over the earth. The Astrakhan Khanate was also defeated, joining the Russian lands. The Crimean Khan, too, eventually got over it: how much can you rob Rus' with impunity and burn its beautiful cities? In 1572, a 120,000-strong Crimean army was defeated by a 20,000-strong Russian army.
Expanding territories with wars and diplomacy
Then the Swedes were tangibly beaten by the forces of the Novgorod army, and an advantageous peace was concluded for as much as 40 years. The first tsar in Rus' rushed to the Baltic, fought with the Livonians, Poles, Lithuanians, from time to time capturing even the Novgorod suburbs, and so far (until the other great First Tsar - Peter) these attempts were unsuccessful. But he scared abroad in earnest. Even established diplomacy and trade with England. And the king began to think about the land of Siberia, unknown. But he was careful. It is good that Ermak Timofeevich and his Cossacks managed to defeat the army before receiving the order of the tsar to return to the protection of the Perm lands, Russia thus grew into Siberia. And half a century later, the Russians reached the Pacific Ocean.
Personality
The first tsar in Russia was not only the first tsar, but also the first person in terms of intelligence, erudition and education.
About the legends still do not subside. He knew theology at the level of the most learned men. He laid the foundation for jurisprudence. He was the author of many beautiful stichera and epistles (a poet!). He ordered the clergy to open schools everywhere to teach children to read and write. He approved polyphonic singing and opened something like a conservatory in He was an excellent speaker. What about typography? And St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square? The question arose about the canonization of Ivan Vasilyevich. But how to forget the robberies, torture, executions, disgrace and simply murders by the oprichnina and followers of Orthodox clergy? After all, with the end of the oprichnina, it did not end as such, it just began to be called differently. The king repented, wore chains, scourged himself. He donated a lot of money to the church for the remembrance of the souls of the executed and for the health of the disgraced. He died a schemamonk.
Disagreements on the question of who was the first Russian tsar in the history of Russia are observed if there is no specific definition - "who can be considered a tsar." But the period of the Russian kingdom lasted a little over 170 years.Historical reference
The Russian kingdom was a temporary formation between the Moscow principality and the Russian Empire. It is rather difficult to designate a strict date for the birth of the Russian kingdom, since it is necessary to be tied to some decisive episode in history.
Muscovy
Under Ivan the Great, a number of significant events took place that raise the status of the Moscow principality. In particular:
· The territory of the country has increased several times;
· Exit from under the Tatar-Mongolian dependence (after standing on the river Ugra);
· The process of forming a rigid vertical of power and the creation of state bodies has begun. management;
· Created the first collection of laws - "Sudebnik".
In addition to everything, Ivan the Great married a Byzantine princess - Sophia Paleolog. And she was the heiress of imperial blood. This further raised the status of the ruler. But Ivan the Third was not the first Russian Tsar, although he liked to call himself that.
Now few people know about it, but in 1498, the grandson of Ivan the Great, Dmitry Ivanovich, was crowned king in full Byzantine rank. It was not only a whim of the grandfather, but also the dying request of his son (Ivan the Young).
For 5 years, he was the co-ruler of his grandfather. And we can assume that the name of the first Russian Tsar is Dmitry. Although in the documents he had the title of Grand Duke.
But the intra-family strife, partly started by Sophia Paleolog, led to the fact that Dmitry Vnuk was removed from the board during the life of his grandfather, despite his royal status.
In other words, it was a sporadic element in the system of Russian rulers, without beginning or continuation.
What was the name of the first Russian tsar?
The year of the coronation of the first Russian tsar, who laid the foundation for the royal dynasty, was 1647. On January 16, a full Byzantine rite of enthronement was held. Tsar Ivan the Terrible sat on the royal throne.Ivan groznyj
By a strange coincidence, the name of the first Russian tsar, like the last, was Ivan. But the last tsar, Ivan V, was a co-ruler of Peter the Great. And since he died before Peter, Ivan V “rested in a bose” with royal regalia. But Peter the Great, dying, was already an emperor.And in fact it turns out that the last royal funeral was at Ivan V.
But discrepancies in these intricacies of historical facts arise from different points of view on the same episode.
Peter the Great was born a prince, was a king, became an emperor and died as an emperor.
But Ivan V, and in funeral litia was commemorated as a king.
The nuances of the succession to the throne of Russia
Before the adoption by Emperor Paul of the act of succession to the throne, at the death of the king (and later the emperor), discrepancies constantly arose with the definition of the next monarch.The undercover struggle in the royal environment destroyed stability and introduced troublesome thoughts into the power-hungry consciousness of relatives.
It was Paul the First who legislated the semi-Salic pro-geniture. Its principle was extremely simple, and the succession to the throne received the following sequence:
1. The eldest son and his offspring. If there are none, then -
3. The succession to the throne passes on the same principles to the female generation, to the eldest daughter, etc.
But this was already with the emperors, but the kings were still chosen. Although, these elections very much resembled a similar process with the election of governors in modern Russia.
In fact, the contender for the royal throne was known, this is the son of the last monarch. But he had to be formally elected.
For this, a special, "electoral for the kingdom", Zemsky Sobor was convened, and its participants made a unanimous decision.
In some critical situations, the Council was dispensed with. At the same time, a behind-the-scenes decision was required, the people confirmed. Maybe it was some echo of the ancient formula: "Voxpopuli - voxDei" (The voice of the people is the voice of God). But such kings did not rule for long, and they did not leave heirs.
Ivan the Terrible, although he was the first Russian tsar, avoided the election procedure. But the first tsar elected to the Russian throne was his son, Theodore Ioannovich.
Tsar Theodore Ioannovich
According to the notes of his contemporaries, Feodor Ioannovich was in poor health and mind. He did not have any particular desire to govern the country. He lived according to the principle "neither a candle to God, nor a poker to hell."
And what is especially important, being the last, direct descendant of the Rurikovich, he had no children. So, the heir to the throne had to get out of indirect relatives.
With the death of the first elected Russian tsar, leapfrog began with the change of rulers. Historically, this coincided with the peak of the "Little Ice Age", which led to monstrous crop failures and famine. Added to this was the extreme dissatisfaction of the Orthodox people with the appearance of drinking houses, which more than once led to riots. And as a result, this period between the death of Theodore Ioannovich and the accession of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich, was called the era of the Time of Troubles.
By the way, again a curious coincidence. If you do not know the history of the Time of Troubles, and judge by the patronymic, then an ignorant person may think that Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich was the son of Feodor Ivanovich.
Such strange coincidences have happened in Russian history.
Although each of us studied the history of Russia at school, not everyone knows who was the first tsar in Rus'. This high-profile title in 1547 began to be called Ivan IV Vasilyevich, nicknamed Terrible for his difficult character, cruelty and tough temper. Before him, all the rulers in the Russian lands were grand dukes. After Ivan the Terrible became tsar, our state began to be called the Russian kingdom instead of the Moscow principality.
Grand Duke and Tsar: what's the difference?
Having dealt with the one who was first named the king of all Rus', you should find out why a new title became necessary. By the middle of the 16th century, the lands of the Moscow principality occupied 2.8 thousand square kilometers. It was a huge state, stretching from the Smolensk region in the west to the Ryazan and Nizhny Novgorod districts in the east, from the Kaluga lands in the south to the Arctic Ocean and the Gulf of Finland in the north. About 9 million people lived on such a vast territory. Muscovite Rus (that is how the principality was called) was a centralized state in which all regions were subordinate to the Grand Duke, that is, Ivan IV.
By the 16th century, the Byzantine Empire had ceased to exist. Grozny hatched the idea of becoming the patron of the entire Orthodox world, and for this he needed to strengthen the authority of his state at the international level. The change of title in this matter played an important role. In the countries of Western Europe, the word “king” was translated as “emperor” or left untouched, while “prince” was associated with a duke or prince, which was one level lower.
The childhood of the sovereign
Knowing who became the first tsar in Rus', it will be interesting to get acquainted with the biography of this person. Ivan the Terrible was born in 1530. His parents were Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III and Princess Elena Glinskaya. The future ruler of the Russian lands was orphaned early. When he was 3 years old, his father died. Since Ivan was the only heir to the throne (his younger brother Yuri was born mentally retarded and could not lead the Moscow principality), the rule of the Russian lands passed to him. It happened in 1533. The actual ruler with a young son for some time was his mother, but in 1538 she also died (according to rumors, she was poisoned). Completely orphaned by the age of eight, the future first tsar in Rus' grew up among the boyar guardians Belsky and Shuisky, who were not interested in anything but power. Growing up in an atmosphere of hypocrisy and meanness, from childhood he did not trust others and expected a dirty trick from everyone.
Adoption of a new title and marriage
At the beginning of 1547, Grozny announced his intention to marry the kingdom. On January 16 of the same year, he was given the title of Tsar of all Rus'. The crown was placed on the head of the ruler by Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, a man who enjoys authority in society and has a special influence on young Ivan. The solemn wedding took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.
Being a 17-year-old boy, the newly-made king decided to marry. In search of a bride, dignitaries traveled all over the Russian lands. Ivan the Terrible selected his wife from one and a half thousand applicants. Most of all, he liked the young Anastasia Zakharyina-Yuryeva. She conquered Ivan not only with her beauty, but also with her intelligence, chastity, piety, and calm character. Metropolitan Macarius, who crowned Grozny to the kingdom, approved the choice and married the newlyweds. Subsequently, the king had other spouses, but Anastasia was the most beloved of all of them for him.
Moscow uprising
In the summer of 1547, a strong fire broke out in the capital, which could not be extinguished for 2 days. About 4 thousand people became its victims. Rumors spread throughout the city that the relatives of the Tsar Glinsky had set fire to the capital. An angry crowd of people went to the Kremlin. The houses of the Glinsky princes were plundered. The result of popular unrest was the murder of one of the members of this noble family - Yuri. After that, the rebels came to the village of Vorobyovo, where the young tsar was hiding from them, and demanded that all the Glinskys be handed over to them. The rebels were hardly managed to calm down and send back to Moscow. After the uprising waned, Ivan the Terrible ordered the execution of its organizers.
The beginning of the reform of the state
The Moscow uprising spread to other Russian cities. Before Ivan IV, it became necessary to carry out reforms aimed at restoring order in the country and strengthening his autocracy. For these purposes, in 1549, the tsar created the Elected Rada - a new government group, which included people loyal to him (Metropolitan Macarius, priest Sylvester, A. Adashev, A. Kurbsky and others).
This period includes the beginning of the active reformatory activity of Ivan the Terrible, aimed at centralizing his power. To manage various branches of state life, the first tsar in Rus' created numerous orders and huts. Thus, the foreign policy of the Russian state was led by the Ambassadorial Order, headed by I. Viskovity for two decades. The petition hut, which was under the control of A. Adashev, was obliged to accept applications, petitions and complaints from ordinary people, as well as conduct investigations on them. The fight against crime was assigned to the Rogue Order. He performed the functions of the modern police. Metropolitan life was regulated by the Zemsky order.
In 1550, Ivan IV published a new Code of Laws, in which all legislative acts existing in the Russian kingdom were systematized and edited. When compiling it, the changes that have taken place in the life of the state over the past half century were taken into account. The document for the first time introduced punishment for bribery. Prior to this, Muscovite Rus lived according to the Sudebnik of 1497, the laws of which by the middle of the 16th century were noticeably outdated.
Church and military policy
Under Ivan the Terrible, the influence of the Orthodox Church increased significantly, and the life of the clergy improved. This was facilitated by the Stoglavy Cathedral convened in 1551. The provisions adopted on it contributed to the centralization of church power.
In 1555-1556, the first tsar in Rus', Ivan the Terrible, together with the Chosen Rada, developed the "Code of Service", which contributed to an increase in the size of the Russian army. In accordance with this document, each feudal lord was obliged to field a certain number of soldiers with horses and weapons from their lands. If the landowner supplied the tsar with soldiers in excess of the norm, he was encouraged with a monetary reward. In the event that the feudal lord could not provide the required number of soldiers, he paid a fine. The Code of Service helped to improve the combat capability of the army, which was important in the context of Ivan the Terrible's active foreign policy.
Territory expansion
During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the conquest of neighboring lands was actively carried out. In 1552, the Kazan Khanate was added to the Russian state, and in 1556, the Astrakhan Khanate. In addition to this, the king's possessions expanded due to the conquest of the Volga region and the western part of the Urals. The dependence on the Russian lands was recognized by the Kabardian and Nogai rulers. Under the first Russian tsar, an active annexation of Western Siberia began.
During 1558-1583, Ivan IV waged the Livonian War for Russia's access to the shores of the Baltic Sea. The beginning of hostilities was successful for the king. In 1560, Russian troops managed to completely defeat the Livonian Order. However, the successfully launched war dragged on for many years, led to a deterioration in the situation inside the country and ended in complete defeat for Russia. The king began to look for those responsible for his failures, which led to massive disgraces and executions.
Break with the Chosen Rada, oprichnina
Adashev, Sylvester and other figures of the Chosen Rada did not support the aggressive policy of Ivan the Terrible. In 1560, they opposed the conduct of the Livonian War by Russia, for which they aroused the wrath of the ruler. The first tsar in Rus' dispersed the Rada. Its members were persecuted. Ivan the Terrible, who does not tolerate dissent, thought about establishing a dictatorship on the lands subject to him. To do this, from 1565 he began to pursue a policy of oprichnina. Its essence was the confiscation and redistribution of boyar and princely lands in favor of the state. This policy was accompanied by mass arrests and executions. Its result was the weakening of the local nobility and the strengthening of the power of the king against this background. Oprichnina lasted until 1572 and was terminated after the devastating invasion of Moscow by the Crimean troops led by Khan Devlet Giray.
The policy pursued by the first tsar in Rus' led to a strong weakening of the country's economy, the devastation of lands, and the ruin of estates. By the end of his reign, Ivan the Terrible abandoned execution as a way to punish the guilty. In his will of 1579, he repented of his cruelty towards his subjects.
Wives and children of the king
Ivan the Terrible married 7 times. In total, he had 8 children, 6 of whom died in childhood. The first wife, Anastasia Zakharyina-Yuryeva, presented the tsar with 6 heirs, of which only two survived to adulthood - Ivan and Fedor. The son of Vasily was born to the sovereign by the second wife Maria Temryukovna. He died at 2 months old. The last child (Dmitry) to Ivan the Terrible was born by his seventh wife, Maria Nagaya. The boy was destined to live only 8 years.
The first Russian tsar in Rus' killed the adult son of Ivan Ivanovich in 1582 in a fit of anger, so Fedor turned out to be the only heir to the throne. It was he who headed the throne after the death of his father.
Death
Ivan the Terrible ruled the Russian state until 1584. In the last years of his life, osteophytes made it difficult for him to walk independently. Lack of movement, nervousness, unhealthy lifestyle led to the fact that at 50 the ruler looked like an old man. In early 1584, his body began to swell and give off a foul odor. Doctors called the sovereign's illness "blood corruption" and predicted his quick death. Grozny died on March 18, 1584, while playing chess with Boris Godunov. Thus ended the life of the one who was the first tsar in Rus'. Rumors persisted in Moscow that Ivan IV had been poisoned by Godunov and his accomplices. After the death of the king, the throne went to his son Fedor. In fact, Boris Godunov became the ruler of the country.
And Elena Glinskaya was born the long-awaited heir John, who in 1547 became the first Russian tsar to be officially crowned on the throne.
The era of Ivan IV became the peak of the development of the Moscow principality, which won a higher status of the kingdom through military and diplomatic means.
After the death of his father, three-year-old Ivan remained in the care of his mother, who died in 1538, when he was less than 8 years old. Ivan grew up in an atmosphere of palace coups, the struggle for power of the boyar families at war with each other. The murders, intrigues and violence that surrounded him contributed to the development of suspicion, revenge and cruelty in him. Already in his youth, the tsar's favorite idea was the idea of unlimited autocratic power. In 1545 Ivan came of age and became a full-fledged ruler, and in 1547 he was married to the kingdom.
Thanks to the transformation of Muscovy into a kingdom and the establishment of the autocratic principle of power, the centralization policy pursued by the Moscow ruling house for centuries received a logical conclusion. Over the course of several decades, a number of internal reforms were carried out (order, judicial, zemstvo, military, church, etc.), the Kazan (1547–1552) and Astrakhan (1556) khanates were conquered, a number of Russian territories on the western borders were returned, penetration into Siberia began , Russia's positions in the international arena have strengthened, etc.
However, the well-being of the kingdom was largely undermined by the devastating and unsuccessful for Russia Livonian War (1558-1583) and the oprichnina that began in 1565.
Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich was one of the most educated people of his time, possessed a phenomenal memory, and was an erudite in theology. He entered the history of Russian literature as an outstanding author of numerous letters (in particular, to A. M. Kurbsky, V. G. Gryazny). The tsar wrote the music and the text of the service of the feast of the Mother of God of Vladimir, the canon to the Archangel Michael. He probably had a great influence on the compilation of a number of literary monuments of the middle XVI V. (Chronicles; "The Sovereign Genealogy", 1555; "The Sovereign's Rank", 1556); played an important role in the organization of printing. On his initiative, the construction of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow was also carried out, and the murals of the Faceted Chamber were created.
In Russian historiography, the activities of Ivan IV received a contradictory assessment: pre-revolutionary historians negatively characterized the tsar, Soviet historians emphasized the positive aspects of his activities. In the second half of the XX century. a deeper and more concrete study of the domestic and foreign policy of Ivan IV began.
Lit.: Veselovsky WITH. B. Essays on the history of the oprichnina. M., 1963; Zimin A. A. Reforms of Ivan the Terrible. M., 1960; Zimin A. A. Oprichnoe heritage // On the eve of terrible upheavals: prerequisites for the first peasant war in Russia. M., 1986; Correspondence of Tsar Ivan the Terrible with Andrei Kurbsky and Vasily Gryazny. L., 1979; The same [Electronic resource]. URL : http:// www. sedmitza. ru/text/443514. html; Skrynnikov R. G. Ivan the Terrible. M., 2001; That[Electronic resource]. URL : http:// militera. lib. ru/ bio/ skrynnikov_ rg/ index. html; Tikhomirov M. N. Russia in the XVI century. M., 1962; Florya B. N. Ivan the Terrible. M., 2009; The same [Electronic resource]. URL : http:// www. sedmitza. ru/text/438908. html; Schmidt S. O. Formation of the Russian autocracy. Study of the socio-political history of the time of Ivan the Terrible. M., 1973.
See also in the Presidential Library:
Belyaev I. V. Tsar and Grand Duke John IV Vasilievich the Terrible, Moscow and All Rus'. M., 1866 ;
Valishevsky K. F. Ivan the Terrible. (1530-1584): trans. from fr. M., 1912 ;
Velichkin V. G. The conquest of Kazan by the Moscow Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible: a story from Russian history. M., 1875;
Vipper R. Yu. Ivan the Terrible. [M.], 1922 ;
Kizevetter A. A. Ivan the Terrible and his opponents. M., 1898 ;
Kurbsky A. M. The story of the Grand Duke of Moscow: (extracted from the "Works of Prince Kurbsky"). SPb. ,1913;
