The 6 to 8 Wives of Ivan the Terrible

[Music] the six to eight wives of ivan the terrible what 16th century megalomaniac monarch magnified the power of his nation ordered the violent executions of thousands of his own people became obsessed with fathering male heirs and went through at least six wives several of whom were murdered why ivan the terrible tsar of russia of course in fact he outdid henry viii of england in many terrible ways including having not six unfortunate spouses but as many as eight the exact number is still debated by historians but six or eight they would all come to regret their wedding vows let's meet the women who were unfortunate enough to call one of the most evil men in history their husband after the terror of his childhood it's little wonder that ivan turned out so terrible himself his very birth was believed to have been cursed his father vasily grandprince of moscow had been married for 20 years but his wife had failed to give him an heir so he locked her up in a convent and married again to a beautiful 16 year old named elena glinskaya a priest condemned the sinful second marriage you will have a wicked son your state will be prey to terror and tears rivers of blood will flow cities will be devoured in flames it took elena for tense years to become pregnant and it was rumored that she brought sami witches from northern finland to help her conceive using black magic but on a stormy night in august 1530 ivan was born the prince grew up in a hostile environment of political intrigue and violence when he was just three his father died of an abscess on his leg the toddler was proclaimed grand prince of moscow and his mother elena acted as regent she tried desperately to protect ivan and his younger brother yuri and run the government she fended off the claims of her brothers-in-law and had them both imprisoned but the boyars russia's noble families would stop at nothing to claim power at 27 grand princess elena was poisoned her son's governess was arrested for the crime without his mother eight-year-old ivan was completely vulnerable the boyar families struggled to control the throne and the young prince was held prisoner by whoever was in power ivan and yuri were neglected dressed in dirty rags and often had to beg for food if the grand prince was needed for a presentation to important state visitors he would be bathed dressed in finery and paraded out only to be ignored again once the guests departed at least 14 people close to him were murdered during his youth moscow's high priest was beaten to death and a group of men were skinned alive right before his impressionable eyes the damaged boy began expressing his own cruelty by throwing dogs and cats from the belfry of the cathedral at the age of 13 ivan made a power play to rest back control during a christmas banquet the teenage prince stood up and accused the boyars of treason you have all conspired to steal my throne but i will be satisfied if one among you prince andre schwieski is punished schwisky was dragged to the kennels where ivan's dogs ripped him apart with this act ivan made it clear that the boyar's struggles were over and the throne now belonged to him alone at 16 ivan had himself crowned in a lavish coronation not merely as grand prince of moscow but the first tsar of all the ruse the title tsar derives from the ancient roman title caesar meaning emperor ivan declared moscow to be the third rome the second being constantinople the heart of the byzantine empire from which earlier russian rulers had adopted their religion and a great deal of cultural and artistic influence thus he established the tsardom of russia with moscow at its heart though not yet the full expanse of russia today ivan's empire stretched one million square miles dwarfing all the kingdoms in western europe a month after his coronation ivan invited all the noble houses of russia to travel to moscow and present their eligible daughters before him so that he might choose a bride between 500 and 1500 young women were paraded before the teenage tsar this custom known as a bride show was common practice among rulers of russia and the byzantine empire the lady selected from the many candidates was anastasia romanovna daughter of a boyar named roman eurevitch zorkin ivan had likely met or at least seen anastasia during their childhood as her father and uncles were members of the court she had been raised by her mother and educated primarily in religion and domestic skills as was typical for upper class girls at the time anastasia was a beauty of small stature with fine and soft features dark eyes and rich chestnut hair she had a kind and mild personality and was pious and honest in character in typical sour grapes fashion many noble families decried ivan's choice as they considered anastasia beneath the greatness of the tsar they would have preferred one of their own daughters be crowned his sarina ivan and anastasia were married at the cathedral of the annunciation she was 16 the same age as her groom and the pair got on well and had an affectionate relationship she calmed his volatile nature and harsh tendencies and she was one of the few people he trusted and listened to the years of their marriage were the happiest of ivan's life and a golden age for his court the poles germans turks and english all sought peaceful relations with ivan an envoy from queen elizabeth the first of england recorded of the royal couple he being young and riotous she ruled him with admirable affability and wisdom ivan ordered the construction of saint basil's cathedral which remains one of the most recognizable landmarks in russia anastasia and ivan's first two children were daughters anna and maria but they both died within their first year of life from common childhood ailments in 1552 a sun and heir dimitri was delivered and the tsar rejoiced ivan made the boyars swear loyalty to his son and named him the first sarovich of russia the title of the heir apparent ivan decided to take his wife and baby son on a pilgrimage to saint cyril's monastery a monk warned the tsar that he should not go such a long way with his wife and newborn lad but ivan wasn't one to heed advice while traveling down the river the royal boat was hit by a wave and overturned baby dimitri was dropped by his wet nurse the adult managed to escape but by the time they got to dimitri he had drowned anastasia gave birth to three more children ivan eudozia and theodore the daughter eudoxia died at 20 months of age but the sons ivan and fyodor both survived to adulthood while he may have been tender at home ivan was ruthless everywhere else he created a standing army and firmed up the russian feudal system establishing a hierarchy of localized governments all of which was designed to weaken the power of the boyers and consolidated into his own hands ivan left no doubt that the boyars owed their position to him and felt no qualms about destroying them at will though thanks to anastasia's mediations most were spared execution when the tsar learned of corruption among a group of local officials he had all 70 of them stripped naked in the snow and had their beards burned off but he didn't have them killed his ferocity earned the tsar countless enemies but he feared assassination at every turn and guarded his own safety fanatically anastasia was a more vulnerable target in the summer of 1560 after 13 years of marriage anastasia fell ill with a raging fever doctors were unable to treat the ailing sarina and ivan watched helpless as his beloved wife suffered and died at the age of 29. the heartbroken tsar had a complete emotional collapse he banged his head on the floor and smashed his furniture he tore his hair out and ripped his clothes at his wife's funeral he cried uncontrollably and could barely stand courtiers had to support him so that he could walk behind her coffin all the people of moscow came to ascension convent to bury their first beloved sarina ivan emerged from the ordeal a changed man he had lost his mother to poison and he was now convinced that his beloved wife had been taken from him in the same fashion though he had no evidence of foul play he turned on everyone around him once trusted advisors and generals were imprisoned tortured and executed several of the prominent boyar families were wiped out it was said the closer to the tsar the closer to death 20th century examination of anastasia's remains found extremely high levels of mercury so ivan was right to suspect that she had been poisoned even though he was heartbroken ivan needed to remarry he had two young sons but as four of his six offspring had already died this was not enough to secure the future of his dynasty negotiations for the hand of catherine yegelon daughter of king zigmund the first of poland fell through the tsar was instead captivated by a beautiful young woman who was presented to him at the russian court she was a kyrgyzstan muslim by the name of koishinay bint timur anastasia had warned ivan on her deathbed not to marry a pagan so when he declared that he would marry coishnae she converted to russian orthodoxy and took the christian name maria to moriak nova she was 16 just as anastasia had been on their wedding day and ivan hoped to recapture his lost happiness with his new bride but he soon regretted marrying her maria did not integrate well into russian society and was hated by the court who considered her illiterate manipulative and vindictive rumors of witchcraft circled her as they did many other 16th century women in power she was also considered a poor stepmother to ivan's two young sons ivan and theodore maria gave birth to a son of her own vasili but he died within a year of his birth ivan's top general defected to lithuania and invaded russia's western border this blatant defiance outraged the tsar and made him all the more paranoid about the loyalty of those around him like anastasia maria had a great deal of influence on her husband though hers was not always as benevolent some historians believe it was she who incited him to his next power play the tsar and zarina packed their bags and left the kremlin ivan sent a letter back to the people of moscow complaining that the boyars were stealing from him and that he was not being allowed to rule so he abdicated the throne without atsar the country feared chaos and civil war just as ivan had hoped the people begged him to return he agreed only on the condition that he be allowed to punish his enemies without constraint and so the real terror began ivan created the ulprich nikki a core of fearsome secret police six thousand men recruited from the dregs of society they dressed in black cloaks rode black horses and were given free reign to terrorize the russian people into total submission to the tsar's will with ivan's blessing the ulbridge nicki targeted boyar families turned them out of their homes raped the women and tortured or outright killed the man the tsar himself became a connoisseur of torture and enjoyed inventing new methods of mutilation and murder he roasted people alive and blew up priests with gunpowder so that they would be shot straight to heaven ivan himself wrote that atsar has to inspire terror and so he earned the nickname ivan grossney ivan the terrible he became convinced without evidence that the city of novgorod was on the verge of rebellion so he rode to novgorod at the head of the operating army and they reigned death upon the city hundreds of citizens were hanged or tied in bags and thrown in the icy river after a month of devastation the city of novgorod was gone while ivan was busy decimating his own people russia's longtime nemesis the totters took the opportunity to ride in and burn moscow to the ground the wooden metropolis was destroyed in three hours and 160 000 people died so many bodies were dumped in the river that it changed course many who survived the holocaust were sold into slavery after the disaster in the heart of the empire ivan's fury burned out but like any good psychopath he refused to accept responsibility he blamed the albrechniki for failing to protect the capital and disbanded them sarina maria may also have been a victim of her husband's bloodlust at the age of 25 after nine years of marriage she felt dead from poison though ivan had 20 servants tortured on suspicion of her assassination it is believed that he killed her himself over the next decade the rest of ivan's wives would come fast and furious the tsar called for another bride show and from the 12 finalists he selected martha sobikina to be his third wife the 18 year old beauty was the daughter of a merchant a surprisingly lowly choice for itsar but his relationship with the noble families wasn't exactly friendly ivan also wed his 17 year old son and heir ivan ivanovic to one of the brideshow contestants he himself had rejected marfa's mother was eager that her daughter might please the tsar by conceiving quickly and bearing him a son so she fed her a potion meant to increase her fertility by the wedding day marfa was rapidly losing weight and could barely stand up at the altar she died 16 days into her honeymoon ivan naturally suspected poison and his paranoia grew he put yet more people to death including his second wife's brother who was impaled in 1849 lev may wrote the tsar's bride which dramatizes marfa's life and death nikolai rimsky-korsakov transformed the play into an opera and it remains a repertoire piece in russia with three brides buried tsar ivan turned his gaze to the runner-up in the previous bride show anna koltovskaya she was the daughter of a courtesan a sex worker who catered to the nobles of the court but the church wasn't keen on allowing the tsar to marry for a fourth time russian orthodox law stated that the first marriage is law the second an extraordinary concession the third is a violation of the law the fourth is an impiety a state similar to that of animals ivan met the high-ranking priests at the church of the assumption he claimed that because of marfa's frail health he had never consummated that marriage and it therefore didn't count he compelled them to bless this one final marriage and they agreed with a few conditions ivan could not attend church until easter and for a year he must spend his time with penitence the tsar took his new bride on a honeymoon to novgorod the city which only two years earlier he had massacred what a romantic but after two years of marriage anna failed to become pregnant he banished her to a convent where she spent the rest of her life she was one of only two wives to outlive the monstrous monarch ivan moved on to wife number five anna vasilichikova by this time the church flat out refused to bless any more of the tsar's marriages little is known of ana's background and she only lasted as sarina for a year before she too was banished to a convent for failing to get pregnant vasilisa melinda was wife number six or maybe not she may be referred to in a court document as a concubine to the tsar but many historians now believe she was made up in the 19th century to exaggerate ivan's terribleness as though that were needed alexander ostrovsky wrote a play about vasilisa in 1867. the story of vasilisa is that she was the widow of a war hero whom the tsar took to his bed after banishing the two anas but when ivan discovered that she was having an affair with a prince he forced her to watch as her lover was impaled and then sent her to join his previous wives at the convent seventh wife maria dolgarukaya also fails to appear in official records and may 2 have been a 19th century fantasy the story goes that the aging tsar discovered his young bride was not a virgin on their wedding night and in a rage he had her drowned wife number eight or six maria nagaya did undoubtedly exist and had the distinction of being the elderly tsar's last unfortunate spouse the surly and bitter 50 year old king treated his 28 year old bride coldly and would have banished her to a convent as well had she not bore him a son ivan named his last child dimitri after his firstborn son who had died more than 30 years earlier he offered to divorce maria in order to marry elizabeth the first cousin mary hastings but the english queen declined while ivan had cut back on the wholesale massacre of his people he was still an abusive tyrant at home since arranging his son ivan ivanovich's marriage at 17 he had demanded that his daughter-in-law become pregnant at once when she failed to do so he had her banished to a convent and replaced then he had the replacement replaced the tsaravich was now on wife number three yalina sharimitiva and she was finally pregnant but ivan accused her of wearing a modest clothing and disrespecting him he flew into a rage and beat her causing her to miscarry the long-awaited child hearing her screams that sarovic rushed to his wife's defense an argument ensued and that sar struck his air in the temple with his scepter the sarovich fell to the floor bleeding and ivan immediately ran to him cradled him kissed his face and tried to stop the bleeding he cried may i be damned i've killed my son i've killed my son ivan ivanovic died and with him the tsar's hopes for the future he prayed for days for his son to be miraculously resurrected but to no avail in his final years ivan the terrible unraveled he was haunted by the many thousands he had murdered not least of which his own son and unborn grandchild but he never truly accepted his own responsibility for the bloodshed he wrote to an old enemy why did you separate me from my wife anastasia if you hadn't taken my young wife from me there would have been no bloody victims ivan became increasingly frail and spent most of his time locked in his room playing chess which is what the 53 year old tsar was doing when a stroke ended his life or he may have been strangled by one of the many many enemies he had made over the 51 years of his horrifying reign zarina maria was granted nothing in her husband's will she lived on the property of her son dimitri who had been bequeathed the town of aglich while one might hope that ivan the terrible's death would ring in happier days for russia it actually resulted in an even worse era known as the time of troubles ivan's next surviving son theodore followed him as sarr but he was ill-prepared and probably intellectually disabled during his 14-year reign boyars overran the government his younger brother dimitri died at the age of nine the official story was that he had stabbed himself in the throat during an epileptic seizure but his mother was pretty sure that he had been assassinated by order of tsar theodore's regent boris gordonov to prevent him making any claims on the throne to silence maria goranov accused her of neglecting her son and had her entire family incarcerated tsar theodore died childless at the age of 40. he was the last surviving child of ivan the terrible the godanov family tried to hold on to power but a polish man claiming to be zarovic dimitri gained the support of the russian people and the polish-lithuanian army he claimed that his mother maria nagaya had foreseen the assassination hidden him away and allowed the murderers to stab an imposter child in the neck maria herself backed up his story and confirmed he was her long-lost son dimitri invaded moscow took the throne and in thanks freed maria and her family from imprisonment he reigned for 11 months but when he exhumed the body of the real dimitri in order to prove that it was the body of another maria was so offended that she turned on him and declared him an impostor the boyars killed the false dimitri burned his body stuffed his ashes in a cannon and fired him back home to poland russia crippled by internal chaos and a devastating famine was vulnerable to attack sweden and poland invaded and king wadislav iv of poland claimed the russian throne for three years he imprisoned the patriarch of the russian church who on his deathbed pled to the russian people to rise up and claim back their nation and they answered his call boyars and peasants banded together to form militias and they retook moscow but they knew they needed a strong ruler to survive a national assembly convened to elect a new tsar many candidates were dismissed as the assembly wanted someone with blood ties to the rightful tsar ivan the terrible finally a grandson of the brother of ivan's first wife anastasia rominovna was unanimously elected mikhail romanov was 16 years old and living in a convent with his mother she initially refused not wishing to send her young son into the jaws of the kremlin but mikhail was eager to be taken out of obscurity and placed on the throne he reigned for 32 considerably more harmonious years and founded the romanov dynasty and thus the family of first wife anastasia ruled over russia for the next 300 years until their downfall in the 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Channel: History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday

Views: 1,276,524

Keywords: history, game of thrones, documentary, royal family, nobility, royalty, bbc, the crown, scandal, royal wedding, european royalty, queens of europe, women in history, badass women in history, ivan the terrible, tsar ivan the terrible, 6 wives of Ivan the, 6 wives of ivan the terrible, the six wives of Ivan the terrible, Anastasia Romanovna, russian history, romanov dynasty, romanov documentary, romanov family, ivan the terrible documentary, most evil men in history, henry viii

Id: Wnbcnx9ygm4

Length: 28min 53sec (1733 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 11 2022