The Death of Vasily III

the brief rule of the Terrible’s mother

In late November 1533, Grand Prince Vasily III of Muscovy fell ill due to an infected scratch. He was 54, an old man by the standards of the time. But Vasily was a hardy fellow. Just a few days earlier he had been hunting in the forests near his “hunting lodge” – the palace at Alexandrova Sloboda.

Seven years earlier, Vasily had sent his wife of many years, Solomoniya Saburova, off to a convent and immediately wed Yelena Glinskaya, a young woman of relatively unimpressive lineage. Evidently, the fact that his first wife had not been able to bear him an heir was not the only reason the Grand Prince embarked on this heartless divorce and scandalous marriage. He seems to have been very much taken by Yelena Glinskaya and, as his contemporaries remarked reproachfully, started dressing up to please her. As if that were not enough, he trimmed his beard, to the great consternation of his courtiers. Of course Vasily III could not go so far as to shave off his facial hair. In medieval Russia, going about with a clean-shaven face was the rough equivalent of appearing naked in public today, but even trimming a beard was seen as a radical move. The man was clearly head over heels in love, or at least in the grip of a consuming passion.

As much as Vasily may have admired certain of Yelena’s qualities, he did not, apparently, feel she would be a suitable ruler for Muscovy. When he came down with symptoms of blood poisoning, he understood that his three-year-old son and heir to the throne would need help and guidance. The dying prince appointed a council of boyars to govern the principality until young Ivan Vasilyevich came of age.

Vasily could not have foreseen the energy with which his widow would fight for power. With an unwavering hand, Yelena Glinskaya made quick work of her late husband’s relatives and ousted the council he had appointed. Her husband’s younger brother, Yury Ivanovich, who ruled over the Dmitrov Principality, was thrown in prison right after Vasily’s funeral. Prince Yury may actually have posed a threat to Yelena. For many years he lived with the thought that he would ascend to the throne after the childless Vasily’s death. Ivan’s birth in 1530 came as a terrible blow to Yury. Furthermore, the ancient tradition of brothers rather than sons (especially three-year-olds) inheriting the throne lived on in recent memory. In the end, however, Yury was forced to end his days in prison.

Yelena next targeted one of her own relatives, her uncle Mikhail Glinsky. An outgoing and energetic fortune-seeker who had spent time in Europe and enjoyed influence within Russia, Mikhail had evidently decided that he would be able to control his niece, especially as he had played a part in arranging her marriage. He was mistaken. Instead, he was charged with having plotted to poison Vasily and take power into his own hands. Mikhail also wound up in prison, where he died two years later.

Only one threat remained: Andrei of Staritsa, Vasily’s youngest brother. At first he supported his brother’s widow and recognized his nephew as heir to the throne, but once he realized what Yelena was up to, he apparently started to worry about his own future. A few years later, when Andrei was summoned to Moscow to take part in a military campaign, he claimed to be ill. Yelena immediately sent a doctor to Staritsa to examine him, and Andrei was proclaimed a malingerer. Another stern summons to Moscow followed, but this time the prince of Staritsa replied with a letter in which he expressed indignation and refused to come. When his messenger to Moscow was arrested, Andrei responded with armed rebellion. Who knows? Perhaps this rebellion was intentionally provoked to give Yelena an excuse to deal decisively with Andrei’s insubordination.

The army that Muscovy sent to put down the revolt was led by Yelena Glinskaya’s close advisor, the boyar Ivan Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky, a key figure in this story. Apparently, he was the young princess’ favorite. There were even rumors that he was Ivan’s true father. The only evidence we have in support of these rumors is circumstantial. Vasily was unable to father a child with his first wife, and his second wife did not become pregnant for the first four years of their marriage. Perhaps Vasily really was infertile? By now, it is difficult to settle this question, and surely Ovchina’s enemies would have been happy to spread such gossip no matter how little evidence there was to back it up. But one fact is certain: the boyar was extremely close to Yelena.

Ovchina crushed Prince Andrei’s army and then promised clemency if he surrendered and came to Moscow peaceably. When Andrei did just that, Yelena Glinskaya expressed surprise. She told him that Ovchina lacked the authority to make such a promise, and she did apparently punish her protégé for taking this liberty, although he did not spend much time in disfavor. Andrei, on the other hand, spent the rest of his life in prison, not even surviving as long as his brother Yury. Within a few months he was dead. One source describes him dying “in torments.”

And so, Yelena Glinskaya did away with everyone she felt posed a threat to her own power or, later, that of her son. It is difficult to know what might have happened had she lived into old age. During her five years on the throne, she did have a few achievements beyond dealing with her rivals (in this regard her behavior was fairly typical of sixteenth-century rulers). She reorganized local government, placing the authority to prosecute crimes in the hands of local elected elders (губные старосты), and introduced the kopek coin, thereby strengthening Russia’s monetary system and enhancing Moscow’s position as a financial center and capital of a unified state. The new coin was emblazoned with a horseman armed with a spear, St. George, the patron saint of Muscovy’s princes (Георгий Победоносец, or George the Victorious, in Russian).

Yelena Glinskaya might actually have proven to be a fairly effective ruler, perhaps not as outstanding as her contemporaries Catherine de’ Medici or Elizabeth I of England, but then again we will never know. Had she lived, her presence might have been beneficial both for Russia and for her son, who grew up to be exceptionally ruthless. Be that as it may, in 1538 the young and health Yelena died, perhaps poisoned by the boyars or perhaps simply due to some sudden illness. Several weeks after her death, Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky was arrested by boyars and soon died in prison from “lack of food and the weight of his fetters.” Another council of boyars came to power. Nine years later, young Ivan IV proclaimed himself tsar and, perhaps learning from his mother’s example, began to brutally crush his enemies.

Ivan the Terrible reigned for 37 years.