Ivan the Terrible (78 page)

41
The failure to impose many of the central authority's decrees throughout the country illustrates how thin was the administration on the ground and how slow was the process of unification.

42
A.N. Kurat, ‘The Turkish Expedition to Astrakhan’ in 1569 and the Problem of the Don-Volga Canal’,
SEER
, XL, 94, December 1961, pp. 7–23.

43
Vasily III had experienced difficulty in sending envoys to Charles V and to Ferdinand of Habsburg, and was also prevented by Sigismund I of Poland–Lithuania from developing his relations with Peter Raresh of Moldavia. Übersberger,
Österreich und Russland
, pp. 267ff. For the Sound tolls, see Chapter VIII, n. 7.

44
Ibid., pp. 289–307. Karamzin,
Istoria
, VIII, ch. 3, pp. 70ff and p. 28ff. of notes, starting at p.25, which has additional details on Schlitte.

45
Quoted in Karamzin, op. cit., vol. VIII, ch. 3, notes p. 62, n. 479.

46
The
Bona Speranza
, under Sir Hugh Willoughby, was eventually found, with all the crew frozen to death where they sat or lay.

47
Roast swan was also a gourmet dish at the English court. See Weir,
Henry VIII
, p. 68. Cygnets were particularly tasty.

48
Berry and Crummey, eds,
Rude and Barbarous Kingdom
, pp. 24ff. The same ‘buffets’ were used in the English court for the same display of silver, see Weir, op. cit., pp. 49–50.

1
According to Filiushkin,
Istoria odnoi mistifikatsii
, pp. 127ff, it had been formally decided around 1555 that the next campaign after the conquest of Astrakhan' would be against Crimea, for which anti-Moslem allies would have to be sought, such as Poland–Lithuania. A courier had already been sent in 1554 to Vilna to discuss a possible alliance, ‘so as to free Christianity from the hands of Islam’ (‘ot besermenskikh ruk’), but nothing came of these talks.

2
Iuzefovich,
Kak v posol'skikh obychaiakh vedetsia
, pp. 16ff.

3
I have drawn extensively on E. Donnert,
Der livländische Ordensritterstaat und Russland: Der livländische Krieg und die baltische Frage in der europäischen Politik 1558–1583
, Berlin (GDR), 1963; and M. Roberts,
The Early Vasas: A History of Sweden, 1523–1611
. Donnert tends to stress the welcome and assistance the Russian troops received from the native Latvian and Estonian peasants against the Germans of the Order.

4
Roberts, op. cit., p. 155.

5
These claims dated back to the fifteenth century and were founded on the theory that the Livonians paid tribute in exchange for the permission to settle on land which was Russian until it was conquered by the Knights of the Sword in the thirteenth century. See Floria,
Ivan Groznyi
, pp. 124ff, and Filiushkin, op. cit., p. 125.

6
There is an interesting footnote to this episode: since the original charter was granted in England under Philip and Mary it extended to Philip's subjects in the Netherlands, who took immediate advantage to trade ‘at the Corelian mouth of the Dvina’. They continued to do so up to 1587, much to the indignation of Queen Elizabeth. Tolstoy,
England and Russia
, pp. viii–ix.

7
A tax imposed by Denmark on shipping passing through the Sound or narrow channel which controlled the entrance to the Baltic Sea.

8
Floria, op. cit., p. 132.

9
Skrynnikov,
Tsarstvo Terrora
, pp. 130–31;
Sbornik imperator skogo istoricheskogo obshchestva
, St Petersburg (SIRIO), 129, pp. 7ff.

10
Roberts, op. cit., pp. 155–6.

11
T.S. Willan,
The Early History of the Russia Company, 1553–1603
, Manchester University Press, 1956, pp. 12ff. and 52ff. but see T. Esper, ‘A Sixteenth-Century Arms Embargo’,
JGOE
, 15, 1967, pp. 180–96.

12
See Martin,
Medieval Russia
, pp. 306ff., for a discussion of relations between Russia and Lithuania at this time.

13
Donnert, op. cit., pp. 42ff and 223–4.

14
Filiushkin, op. cit., p. 132;
PSRL
, XIII, pt 2, pp. 292–3; XXIX, p. 265.

15
Roberts, op. cit., p. 159.

16
See p. 124 above.

17
Roberts, op. cit., pp. 161–2, where the author gives a delightful account of the negotiations and details of the possible commercial implications of such a marriage.

18
SIRIO
, 59, diplomatic relations with Poland–Lithuania, p. 570; Alfer'ev's account of 8 March 1558, p. 572. See also Floria,
Ivan Groznyi
, p. 132.

19
Mainly based on Filiushkin,
Istoria odnoi mistifikatsii
, pp. 126ff.

20
‘Zatem zakhotela za nego zamuzh’, Filiushkin, op. cit., p. 145.

21
See Filiushkin, op. cit., pp. 145ff; Donnert, op. cit., pp. 46ff. Donnert suggests that the armistice was the work of Adashev, who was more in favour of attacking the Crimean Tatars than of war in Livonia. But where is the evidence?

22
Skrynnikov,
Tsarstvo terrora
, p. 133.

23
Kurbsky,
Correspondence
, pp. 98–9.

24
Floria,
Ivan Groznyi
, pp. 132–3. See also Zimin,
Reformy
, pp. 471–5, on differing views at Ivan's court, including differences between Adashev and Viskovaty.

25
See Schmidt, ‘A.F. Adashev i Livonskaia voina’ in
Rossia Ivana Groznogo
, pp. 246–9, where the author suggests that Adashev preferred negotiated solutions to war.

26
On Sylvester, see S.B. Veselovsky, ‘Po povodu trilogii tov. Kostyleva, i
voznikshei o nei polemiki’ (August 1943), in
Tsar Ivan Groznyi v rabotakh pisatelei i istorikov
, Moscow, 1999, pp. 7–34, at p. 27.

27
Gralia,
Ivan Mikhailov Viskovaty
, p. 257 and n. 312.

28
Ibid., p. 116, slightly modified.

29
Filiushkin,
Istoria odnoi mistifikatsii
, pp. 148–9.

30
Kurbsky,
History
, pp. 149 and 151; see also Skrynnikov,
Tsarstvo terrora
, p. 133, n. 35.

31
Schmidt, ‘Pravitel'stvennaia deiatel'nost' A.F. Adasheva’, pp. 50ff. For a detailed account of the family and career of A. Adashev see Filiushkin, op. cit., Appendix, pp. 281–308.

32
Schmidt, op. cit., p. 55, quoted from the early seventeenth-century Piskarevsky Chronicle (
PSRL
, XXXIV, p. 181) in which Sylvester is described as governing Russia and sitting with Adashev in the Office of the Master of Requests.

33
Kurbsky,
Correspondence
, p. 13.

34
Schmidt, op. cit., p. 61.

35
Grobowski, ‘
The Chosen Council
’, Addenda, pp. 147ff.

36
See Zimin,
Reformy,
p. 328, where the Chamber of Requests is described as an appeal court and a body exercising powers of inspection over all other government institutions.

37
Adashev was not involved in the first period of reforms in 1547–52, when the Iur'ev Zakhar'ins dominated the government.

38
Filiushkin,
Istoria odnoi mistifikatsii
, p. 305, n. 29.

39
Owners of estates in Novgorod were not considered of sufficient rank to take part in high government office; they could not belong to the ruler's court (Floria,
Ivan Groznyi
, p. 136).

40
Filiushkin, op. cit., pp. 300–1.

41
Quoted in Filiushkin, pp. 178–9, from the diary of A.I. Turgenev in 1837.

42
See Skrynnikov,
Tsarstvo terrora,
pp. 157–8; Veselovsky, ‘Sinodik opal'nykh tsaria Ivana Groznogo kak istoricheskii istochnik’, in
Issledovania po istorii oprichniny
, pp. 354–5, notes that neither Aleksei nor Daniil and his son were mentioned in Ivan's
Sinodiki
.

43
Filiushkin,
Istoria odnoi mistifikatsii
, pp. 323–4.

44
Zimin,
I.S. Peresvetov i ego sovremenniki
, p. 46.

45
The timing of these events is extremely confused. Kurbsky says that Adashev was banished from the sight of the Tsar without a trial to the fortress of Fellin. Since he was only there for a very short time in late August/September this very unlikely meeting of the Council must have taken place in summer 1560. See Kurbsky,
History
, p. 159.

46
Pouncy, in ‘“The Blessed Sil'vestr”’ p. 563, states that there is no authentic sixteenth-century source confirming the existence of the Church Council allegedly called to judge Sylvester and Adashev for their role in the death of the Tsaritsa Anastasia.

47
This account is reconstructed from Kurbsky's
History,
pp. 153ff.; Skrynnikov,
Tsarstvo terrora,
pp. 136ff.; Grobowski, ‘
The Chosen Council
’, pp. 98ff., and
Tsar Ivan i Silvestr: Istoria odnogo mifa
, tr. from the English by Israel and Irina Rabinovich, London, 1987; and Filiushkin, op. cit., pp. 309ff.

48
See Kurbsky,
Correspondence
, Ivan to Kurbsky, pp. 12ff. See Chapter X below for a full discussion of the correspondence.

1
PSRL, XIII, pt 2, p. 327.

2
Ibid., p. 328. This is the account given in the chronicle, but there are historians who regard Ivan IV as incapable of any human emotion.

3
Anne Boleyn suffered several miscarriages because of Henry VIII's lack of consideration.

4
Kurbsky,
History,
pp.153–4; Karamzin,
Istoria
, VIII, ch. 5, p. 195.

5
The use of poison at Ivan's court has been the subject of intensive discussion on the H-Early Slavic discussion group on the internet. A communication dated 24 September 2002, from Sergei Bogatyrev, summarizes the evidence used by D. Babichenko, ‘Kremlevskie tainy: 33-i element’, in
Itogi
, no. 37 (327), 17 September 2002, pp. 36–39, based on material provided by T.D. Panova, Head of the Archaeological Department of the Moscow Kremlin Museum. (
www.h-net.org/~ess/
), 24 September 2002. I do not find the evidence for wholesale poisoning convincing.

6
Veselovsky quotes with bitter irony the scenes in Kostylev's novel on Ivan IV where the Tsar, a touchingly tender father, treats his wife as an equal, whispers confidential political information into her ear, asks her advice on the appointment of generals, complains that he is not understood, in fact behaves like a sensitive and liberal ‘intelligent’. Veselovsky,
Tsar Ivan Groznyi v rabotakh pisatelei i istorikov,
Moscow, 1999, p. 30. As Pushkin put it, you cannot harness a horse and a quivering doe together to a chariot.

7
Karamzin,
Istoria,
vol. IX, notes, p. 5, n. 28, from one of the MSS of the Synodal Chronicle.

8
Kurbsky,
Correspondence
, pp. 192–3; ‘sacrifices to Cronus’ is an ambiguous reference to Saturnalia: Cronus killed and ate his own children. ‘Sacrifices to Cronus’ is also used by Kurbsky to describe victims of Ivan's executioners.

9
Karamzin, op. cit., IX, notes pp. 1ff., quoting from several Chronicles.

10
PSRL
, XIII, pt 2, p. 325, ‘i o sem gosudariu skorb' byst' ne malaia’.

11
Ibid., p. 329, year 1560. Henry VIII inspected six portraits before choosing Anne of Cleves as his wife. Scarisbrick,
Henry VIII
, p. 355.

12
Because of the marriage between Sofia Vitovtovna and Grand Prince Vasily I.

13
SIRIO
, 71, pp. 1ff. Solov'ev, III,
Istoria Rossii
, ch. 6, pp. 572ff.

14
Karamzin,
Istoria,
VIII, ch. 1, pp. 22–3.

15
Reconstructed from Russian diplomatic accounts in SIRIO, 71, pp. 1–46, and Donnert,
Der livländische Ordensritterstaat
, pp. 228ff.

16
See PSRL, XIII, pt 2, p. 283, describing the arrival of a group of Circassian (Kabardian) princes wishing to enter Russian service.

17
Ibid., p. 333; Karamzin,
Istoria
, IX, ch. 1, pp. 23–4.

18
Zimin,
Oprichnina Ivana Groznogo,
p. 90. Zimin suggests that Glinsky may have opposed a Tatar marriage.

19
Horsey,
Travels
, p. 264. It has been suggested that the marriage with Maria was encouraged by the Iur'ev Zakhar'ins because the young Prince Mikhail Temriukovich, her brother, was married to a Iur'ev Zakhar'in niece of Anastasia's.

20
Floria,
Ivan Groznyi
, p. 139.

21
Solov'ev, op. cit., p. 702.

22
Karamzin, op. cit., IX, ch.1, p. 29.

23
Skrynnikov,
Tsarstvo terrora
, p. 178.

24
Kurbsky,
Correspondence
, pp. 9–10.

25
Kurbsky,
History
, p. 167. The reference to Manasseh, Fennell points out, is in 2 Chron. 33. Note also Kurbsky's reference to free will.

26
Ibid., p. 155.

27
Those who remember Eisenstein's film of Ivan the Terrible will recall the scene.

28
Guagnini, based on A.A. Schlichting, ‘A Brief Account of the Character and Brutal Rule of Ivan Vasil'evich, Tyrant of Muscovy’, pp. 204–67. There
is little point in discussing whether Ivan was or was not a homosexual. He was evidently bisexual and there is really nothing surprising about that. Russians were frequently considered to be addicted to sodomy and one of the articles in the
Stoglav
which attached significance to the wearing of beards was specifically devised as a guard against this vice in monasteries.

29
Zimin,
Oprichnina Ivana Groznogo
, p. 92.

30
See also G. Alef, ‘Bel'skies and Shuiskies in the XVIth Century’,
FOG
, 38, Berlin, 1986, pp. 221–40.