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Ivan the Terrible, 1530-1584

This paper will discuss the life and reign of Ivan the Terrible. The discussion will include a description of Muscovy and Russia during the 16th Century and how Ivan affected this environment. Most of the paper will focus on the reign of Ivan, touching only briefly upon his personal life.

Ivan was born on August 25, 1530 to Vasily III and Elena Glinsky. Vasily III was the son of Ivan the Great, the Prince of Muscovy and ruler of Russia who freed Russia from the control of the Tartars (or Mongols). Vasily expanded and consolidated the power of Muscovy over the greater realm of Russia, establishing the ascendancy of Imperial Russia over the geographical area to the east of Poland. Elena Glinsky, Vasily's second wife, came from a family which had been exiled from Lithuania and was raised with western values and tastes. These western influences would mark the character of Ivan; throughout the course of his reign he maintained contacts with governments in the west and sought to build a special relationship with England.

At the time of Vasily's and Ivan's rules, Muscovy was an agricultural state, built upon an almost enslaved peasantry. Unlike in the emerging monarchical states in western Europe, the commercial merchant class in Russia did not comprise a new monied gentry, with political and social power evolving along with its wealth. There were only two real classes in between the serfs and the monarchy, and they were largely intermixed with each other. There was the traditional landed gentry, or boyars, comprised of families who had vied with Ivan's family for power in Muscovy for centuries. There was also a sort of civil service class, comprised mainly of individuals from the gentry. State service was very important in Muscovy and power was derived from appointments, much as in modern bureaucratic governments. Besides the monarchy and the gentry, the other great power in Muscovy was the Orthodox Church. All elemen...

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Ivan the Terrible, 1530-1584. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 12:59, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686984.html