Ivan the Terrible (22 page)

There was for once no danger from Sweden, Livonia or Poland–Lithuania. The old King Sigismund I of Poland–Lithuania had just died, and the new King Sigismund II Augustus was still feeling his way. The war was encouraged by Metropolitan Makarii and by the Archbishop of Novgorod, Pimen, who proclaimed the religious inspiration which lay behind it in missives to Ivan, urging special prayers to the Virgin of the Don (who had succoured Dmitri Donskoi in his time). In an epistle delivered at Sviiazhsk, Makarii stressed that the Russian people were called upon by God to defend the true faith, in the words engraved on the crown above the throne in the Archangel Cathedral quoted from the Bible: ‘I have raised you to be Tsar saith the Lord and taken you by the right hand.’

On 16 June 1552 Ivan started out on his fourth campaign against Kazan'. He took a touching farewell of his pregnant wife in Moscow, who fell at his feet praying for his safety. He then went to the Cathedral of the Dormition to pray. He dealt with new threats from the Crimean Tatars as he advanced on Kolomna, while Princes Shcheniatev and Kurbsky defeated a Crimean corps advancing on Tula in a battle in which Kurbsky received serious injuries, a large number of Russian captives was freed and the Crimean Khan lost many herds of camels. In July Ivan's army at last advanced on Kazan'. The Russians were well supplied with artillery, while the Tatars were unable to use more than their muskets and arquebuses.
³⁶
The twenty-two-year-old Tsar was in theory the commander in chief of the Russian forces and he had been
very active in their inspection and in the various councils of war in Moscow.

Ivan was, however, disturbed by reports of orgies worthy of Sodom and Gomorrah taking place in the fort of Sviiazhsk and sent a priest to admonish the warriors. The priest, Protoerei Timofei, reported that some warriors had even shaved their beards.
³⁷
Ivan, who was a firm believer in magic, countered the evil Tatar spells by sending for a potent counter-magic, namely the splinters of wood from the True Cross, which formed part of the Tsar's regalia and which were brought with all speed from Moscow. Kurbsky, who was also a firm believer in magic and evil spells, describes the part played by Tatar magicians in the battles by bringing on intense rainstorms. This was achieved by the very old men and women in the fortress who appeared on the walls at sunrise, shouting out Satanic words, waving their clothes at the army and turning around in an ‘indecorous manner’.
³⁸
The wind would rise and the clouds form and the rain would fall only on the Russian forces. The priests went in procession around the army, bearing the holy relic and performing Christian rites, and the signs of Tatar magic ended.

On 23 August 1552, the seven-week siege of Kazan' began, directed by an experienced and talented general, Prince Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky, while the twenty-four-year-old Prince A.M. Kurbsky was appointed one of the commanders of the right wing.
³⁹
At last the underground explosive charge placed by a foreign engineer under the walls of the city exploded and the Russian assault began. While the Russians stormed the city Ivan, who – following the practice of Joshua before Jericho – had been attending a church service, returned to the church and listened to the interrupted liturgy, punctuated by further explosions, leaving Kurbsky, at least, with an unfavourable impression of his military capacities. It was still a time when a ruler was expected to take a personal part in a battle. But Ivan was fulfilling the even more important religious duties of a tsar.

The fighting was very fierce, and casualties piled up on both sides. As Tsar Ivan, having heard the liturgy to the end, took communion, and then mounted a charger to advance into the field of battle, his banner already flew over the fortress. The Russians turned aside for a while to indulge in killing and looting, in spite of Ivan's orders. The principality of Kazan' collapsed, only a small contingent of horsemen succeeding in getting away, while those remaining in the city were dispatched by the victorious Russians, who collected a huge amount of loot. Ivan marked the occasion by further prayers, and indicated the place where a Christian church was to be built to commemorate the occasion. The
prisoners and the treasure were handed over to the fighters, and Ivan kept only the actual regalia used by the ‘tsars’ of Kazan'.
⁴⁰

The Tsar attempted to win over the surrounding population by assurances of good government, and many of the people swore allegiance to him. The Nogai Horde was now in friendly hands, and some of the Kabardian princes also accepted Russian overlordship. But the fighting was not at an end.

Vast numbers of prisoners were taken; some were deported to Russia and forced to convert, whereupon they could be incorporated into the Russian armed forces – or they were simply killed. Their lands in Kazan' were placed in the hands of the new Russian governor of Kazan', Prince Petr Ivanovich Shuisky, an energetic and efficient commander appointed in 1555 (a correspondent of Maksim Grek), and the newly established archbishop of the city, who were jointly charged with its government. The lands were widely distributed to the Russian service gentry in 1557.

Having given orders for the removal of the corpses from the streets, Ivan himself left Kazan' and returned to Moscow. On the way back he was greeted by the news of the birth of his first son, Dmitri, and in an outburst of joy he gave the horse he was riding to the lucky messenger. As he approached Moscow he was greeted by rejoicing multitudes, who kissed his hands and feet as he advanced among them. The Metropolitan, surrounded by the hierarchy and bearing icons, greeted him. Ivan thanked them for their prayers and gave an account of the battle in which he more than once paid tribute to the courage of his cousin Prince Vladimir Andreevich of Staritsa. Like a warrior chief of old, he addressed his troops, thanked them and promised good government in the future. The Metropolitan replied in kind, and finally Ivan shed his soldier's clothes and donned the rich purple over his shoulder, the miracle-working cross around his neck and breast, and the cap of Monomakh on his head. He appeared before his subjects as the triumphant king who had led his people to victory in the battle for the purity of their religion and their freedom from the oppression of the Moslems. Then a few days later, he gave his forces a splendid banquet which lasted three days. Never, says the chronicler, was there such a lavish display, such magnificence, such rejoicing, seen at the Russian court. The commanders and
voevody
were showered with beautiful furs, golden bowls, horses and money, all together worth forty-eight thousand rubles, as well as
votchiny
and
pomest'ia
.
⁴¹
It was the apogee of Ivan's reign so far and he was himself in a state of exultation and exaltation at the fulfilment of his role as a Christian conqueror.

The Tsar had allegedly been persuaded by the brothers of the Tsaritsa
to leave Kazan' and return to his wife, against the advice of his military specialists, notably that of Prince Kurbsky, who believed that the situation around Kazan' was still precarious, the presence of the Tsar necessary, and that Russia should assert its control by force over all the tribes previously subordinate to the Tatars. Indeed, the leaders of the various tribes which made up the population of the Khanate soon rose in open revolt and continued unsubdued for a number of years, which made it necessary for Russia to keep troops in the area and led to many casualties on both sides. The fall of Kazan' inevitably altered the situation of the Tatars settled in Russia, and increased their number. A number of Tatar tsarevichi, whether converted or not, now played a part in the Russian court, and a considerable number were recruited into the armed forces. Ivan also arranged for the baptism of two leading Tatar princes. The young Khan of Kazan', Utemish Girey, the son of Safa Girey, was given the name of Alexander and taken by Ivan into his own household, where he was to be taught his letters and the tenets of the Christian religion. His mother, Suiunbek, was married off, apparently much against her will, to Shigali of Kasimov. A little later Ediger Mehmet, also a
tsar
' of Kazan', who had been taken prisoner, declared his wish to become a Christian and was baptized Simeon by Metropolitan Makarii, in a lavish public ceremony attended by Ivan's brother Iuri, his cousin Vladimir, many boyars and the whole Holy
Sobor
. He was provided with a household and boyars of his own, and was kept not like a prisoner but like an appanage prince.
⁴²
As a result of their conversion these Tatar princes lost some of their authority over their own people, but they also became useful to Ivan as military commanders.

On his return to his capital Ivan arranged for the commemoration of his victory by the building of a church which has remained one of the most striking in Moscow, familiar to all tourists as the very emblem of Muscovite Russia – namely the Cathedral of the Protection (or Veil) of the Virgin, better known as the church of St Basil the Blessed, with its nine multicoloured domes, situated just outside the Kremlin.

A second dramatically vivid memorial to Ivan's victory is the icon dedicated to St Michael, known as either the ‘Church Militant’ or the ‘Blessed Host of the Tsar of Heaven’, which is placed opposite the ‘tsar's place’ or throne in the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin. It is generally held to have been painted to commemorate the conquest of Kazan' at some time in the 1550s, though the exact date, as usual, is not known. Warriors in three separate processions move forwards leaving far behind them a city in flames (said to be Kazan'). In the middle of the
central procession a dominant figure, possibly the Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh, advances on a towering horse, led by a solitary horseman who turns towards him and is identified as Tsar Ivan IV himself, who is preceded in turn by the Archangel Michael on a winged charger, urging him forwards and showing the way on to Jerusalem, where the Virgin with the baby Jesus in her arms awaits him. Two of the three processions are composed of warriors on horseback, with haloes and emblazoned shields. They are warrior saints of Russian history, ancestors of Ivan in the performance of heroic deeds, such as Alexander Nevsky and Dmitri Donskoi. In the middle procession the horseman is evidently an emperor, but the warriors are on foot, and do not have haloes. One Russian expert on this icon has suggested that it may be a symbolical representation of Ivan's return to Moscow after the conquest of the Tatar city. But an alternative version has been put forward in which the third and largest figure is not Vladimir Monomakh, but Ivan himself, clothed in imperial garb. The presence of Ivan in an icon of this kind would in any case be unusual, since it was against Russian practice to represent living beings on icons.
⁴³

After his triumphant return from the conquest of Kazan' in late autumn 1552 Ivan stayed in Moscow and took up the threads of domestic policy again. However, early in 1553, an incident occurred which sowed the seeds of Ivan's suspicions of incipient treason among his boyars. The outline of events, as first related in the Chronicles,
¹
is as follows: on 1 March 1553, the day after the christening of the Tatar Khan Simeon of Kazan', Ivan fell seriously ill of an unspecified fever. He was at times unconscious, at times delirious, and his life was feared for. His only son, Dmitri, was barely six months old, still in swaddling clothes. For the members of the Tsar's court, the problem of the succession was acute. With an infant on the throne, a regency was inevitable, and at the time Ivan himself was too ill even to appoint one. In the circumstances, if his baby son inherited the throne, power would inevitably be concentrated in the hands of the Tsaritsa's relatives, the Iur'ev Zakhar'ins, since Ivan's brother, Iuri, was incapable. One must remember that primogeniture was only fairly recently established in Russia (as in Lithuania) and there were many advantages for a country as vulnerable as Russia in being ruled by a grown man capable of commanding armies and whose authority was indisputable.

The court divided along a number of different fault lines: there were those who maintained the absolute right of the baby Dmitri to inherit the throne. These were mainly the Iur'ev Zakhar'in relatives of the Tsaritsa, and their supporters, who could expect to monopolize positions of power at court and to benefit in rank and wealth should Dmitri become tsar. But there were also powerful boyars who, remembering the childhood of Ivan himself, thought that one experience of a minority was enough and, resenting the status and power the Zakhar'ins might acquire, threw their weight behind Vladimir of Staritsa, Ivan's first cousin and only adult male relative, who, if he were ever to rule, would
remember those who had first supported him. Moreover, Vladimir was only seventeen years old and was regarded as not very bright, which would enable his boyar supporters to dominate the political scene. On the other hand, there was an unpredictable factor in his ambitious and formidable mother. Finally there were a number of prominent courtiers who adhered not particularly enthusiastically to the principle of primogeniture and supported the young Dmitri.

The illness of Ivan was so serious that he was urged by a prominent
d'iak
, Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty (we shall meet him again), to make his will. A will was undoubtedly written, appointing guardians for Dmitri, but no trace of it has ever been found, nor is there any mention of its possible contents in the Chronicles. Strangely enough, there is no mention throughout Ivan's illness of the presence of Metropolitan Makarii, or of Ivan's confessor, the priest Andrei,
²
though it was normal for a confessor to be present at a deathbed and for a metropolitan to witness the tsar's will.

The accounts of what now happened vary according to who wrote them and when they were written. Substantial additions were made to the principal chronicle long after the original contemporary entry, as well as to a later chronicle; it is generally accepted that these interpolations were either dictated by Ivan himself or added with his approval.
³
According to this revised version at one stage Ivan recovered consciousness enough to require the courtiers to swear allegiance to his son as heir, and this brought the divergences to a head. On the day he signed his will, he himself, already somewhat recovered, brought a number of prominent boyars to the cross to swear their fealty; these may possibly have been the boyars mentioned as guardians in his will.
⁴
Feeling too weak to proceed further, Ivan now handed over the task of collecting the oaths from the boyars to the Princes I.F. Mstislavsky and V.I. Vorotynsky (who had already sworn), while the
d'iak
Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty held the cross.