History of Russia
Heads of the stateTsar Fedor I (1557 - 1598)
Reign 1584-1598
Parents: Tsar
Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible
(1530-1584) and Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna Zakharina-Yurieva (?- 1560).Wive:
Irina Fedorovna Godenova (1557-1604), sister of Boris Godunov.
Married: 1580.
Children:
Feodosia (1592-1593).
Important events:
- 1584 - Foundation of Archangel. Death of Yermak.
- 1586 - Foundation of Tobolsk.
- 1589 - Establishment of the patriarchate.
- 1590 - Founding of Saratov and Tsaritsyn.
- 1590-93 - War with Sweden ending with the return of the towns lost in 1583.
- 1591 - Death of Tsarevich Dmitry.
- 1593 - Founding of Berezov.
- 1597 - Law on the capture and registration of runaway peasants.
- 1598 - Final conquest of Siberia. Death of Tsar Fedor and the end of the Rurikid dynasty.
......1571 In 1571, Boris Godunov was the best man at the wedding of Ivan the Terrible and Martha Vasilyevna Sobakina. Two weeks later, Tsarina Martha died "with her virginity still intact". This event inspiried Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Tsar's Bride, based on a drama by Lev Mey.
Fedor I was born in Moscow on 31 May 1557. A contemporary described him as "short, squat and flattish, with a weak constitution inclined to dropsy. He has a hooked nose and unsteady gait resulting from a weakness of the limbs. He is overweight and inactive, but always simple, almost laughing... Although simple and weak-minded, he is always kind and pleasant in conversation, quiet and gracious. Not aggressive or a plotter, he is extremely superstitious".
Fedor was crowned tsar on 31 May 1584. The coronation ceremony was performed by Methropolitan Dionysius, who dressed him in the royal regalia and handed him the sceptre with the words: "Treasure the gonfalons of great Russia".
Everyone in the cathedral, however, knew that Fedor was incapable of ruling by himself. A fierce battle soon broke out among the boyars for influence over the new tsar.
The power struggle was by the tsar's brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, who became the de facto ruler of the country. Fedor was married to Boris's sister Irina. In 1592, they had a daughter called Feodosia, who died a year later. There was a rumour that Irina had given birth to a son, whom her brother substituted for a girl, to ensure that there were no heirs to the throne.
Fedor led a modest and moderate lifestyle, piously attending church services, visiting monasteries and holding long conversations with artisans and icon-painters. He watched with interest bear fights and fist fights, although he did not receive much pleasure from them. Mundane affairs were of little interest to the tsar, whose thoughts were concentrated on higher things.
The most important event during the reign of Tsar Fedor was the election of Metropolitan Job as patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was originally called Ioann and brought up at the Monastery of the Dormition in the town of Staritsa. He took the habit between 1552 and 1555 and was promoted to the rank of archimandrite after Ivan the Terrible visited the monastery around 1569. Soon after this, he was transferred to Moscow. Between 1571 and 1589, he was the abbot of first St Simon's Monastery and then the Novospassky Monastery. Job's ascetic lifestyle and expert knowledge of the scriptures and liturgical books led to his promotion to the post of bishop. In December 1586, he was appointed metropolitan of Russia, in place of Dionysius.
In 1588, the eastern patriarchs decided to found a patriarchate in Russia, elevating the Russian Orthodox Church to an independent and equal standing with the other national churches. Job was elected to the post on 23 January 1589 and ordained on 26 January. In 1591, he headed the official enquiry into the death of Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich. After consulting with the church council and the duma of boyars, the patriarch announced his verdict - the tsarevich had accidentally stabbed himself and not been murdered.
After the death of Tsar Fedor I and the refusal of his wife, Irina Godunova, to accept the throne, Patriarch Job became the head of state in 1598. As he was much obliged to Boris Godunov for his promotion to the post of patriarch, Job offered the former's candidature as tsar to the Land Council. On 21 February 1598, he led a religious procession to Boris Godunov, imploring him to accept the throne.
When False Dmitry I appeared, Patriarch Job denounced the pretender. He declared that the person claiming to be Tsarevich Dmitry was in fact an heretic and defrocked monk, Grishka Otrepiev, and the tsarevich had really died.
After the death of Boris Godunov, Job supported his son Fedor. When the royal family was overthrown by forces loyal to False Dmitry I in June 1605, the patriarch was arrested during a service at the Dormition Cathedral. He was driven on a rough cart to the Monastery of the Dormition in Staritsa, where he was blinded, while his house was ransacked. Job was succeeded by Archbishop Ignatius of Ryazan and only returned to Moscow following the murder of False Dmitry I, the imprisonment of Patriarch Ignatius at the Monastery of the Miracle and the accession of Basil Shuisky. On 20 February 1607, he reappeared at the Dormition Cathedral, where he forgave the people of Moscow and gave them his blessing. He then returned to Staritsa, where he died on 19 June 1607. He was buried at the Monastery of the Dormition. In 1652, his remains were transferred to the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. The acts of Patriarch Job include the foundation of the Don Monastery in Moscow in 1591 and the sending of missionaries to the Volga region, Siberia and the Far North. In 1990, he was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 1586, the foundry man Andrei Chokhov (Chekhov) cast the world's largest cannon in Moscow. The Tsar Cannon stands on an enormous gun carriage cast in 1835. Andrei Chokhov created over twenty cannons, each of which had its own name - the Bear Cannon, Wolf Cannon, Fox Cannon or Achilles Cannon. He also designed a multi-barrel cannon and a gun with a special wedge-shaped breech mechanism.
As Tsar Fedor I was incapable of ruling on his own, a council of regents was created, consisting of Bogdan Belsky, Nikita Yuriev and Prince Ivan Mstislavsky. Each council member had his own personal interests and influenced government policy in his own way. Bogdan Belsky was the nephew of Malyuta Skuratov, the former right-hand man of Ivan the Terrible. Belsky attempted to capture power for himself and restore the oprichnina system. In 1584, a popular uprising broke out in Moscow against Belsky, banishing this energetic and ambitious man from the capital.
Boris Godunov, a former member of the oprichniki, had enormous influence over Fedor. Descended from an old family of boyars, he was the son-in-law of Malyuta Skuratov and the brother-in-law of the tsar. Boris Godunov gradually ousted all his rivals - Prince Ivan Mstislavsky was forced into a monastery, Nikita Yuriev died and Prince Ivan Shuisky fell into disfavor and was killed. This left Godunov as the de facto tsar of Russia. The word "ruler" was included in his boyar title and he entered into personal correspondence with foreign kings and queens, who referred to him as "prince" or "lord protector".
Boris Godunov expanded Russian trade with Britain, Holland and the rest of Western Europe through the northern port of Archangel. Foreign experts were invited to work and teach in Russia, while young Russian noblemen were sent abroad to study foreign languages. In 1586, the king of Kakheti (now part of eastern Georgia) appealed to Reussia for protection, but the country was still not strong enough to offer any real assistance. A series of fortifications were built in the south of Russia to repel the attacks of Khan Kaza-Girei and the Crimean Tatars. The peace treaty with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was renewed in 1587. After a war with Sweden (1590-93), lands lost by Ivan the Terrible were returned to Russia under the terms of the Treaty of Tayssina (1595). All these and other events took place during the reign of the "good fool in God", as Fedor I was known by his subjects. The tsae's personality evoked the interest of both contemporaries and future generations. In 1868, Alexei Tolstoy published his tragedy Tsar Fedor Ioannovich, which is still widely performed to this day in Russia. The writer described the concept of the play to theatrical directors: "Not departing from the traditional story, merely filling in the gaps, I have allowed myself to depict Fedor not simply as a week-willed and meek ascetic, but someone naturally endowed with great mental qualities, despite a certain dullness of mind and the complete absence of any will. His innate inability to act was increased by his father's oppression and the constant fear in which he lived until the age of twenty-seven, when Tsar Ivan died.
Fedor's kindness exceeded all normal bounds. It was so great that it could sometimes reach the point when feeling and thoughts, constituting separate attributes on the lower levels, come together and mix in an indissoluble knowledge of the truth. Notwithstanding his mental limitations, Fedor was therefore often capable of holding views no less wise than those of Boris Godunov. In the scene of the report on the boyars who have fled to Lithuania, both come to the same conclusion - Godunov through the mind and Fedor through the heart. Fedor was not always capable, however, of replacing the mind with the heart.
In normal circumstances, this talent was eclipsed by certain shortcomings, closely linked to his weakness of character. He did not like, for example, to confess to others or to himself that he was weak. This often led to inappropriate - though generally short-lived - stubbornness.
He sometimes wanted to show that he was independent and nothing flattered him more than accusations of inflexibility or severity. He was a great busybody in everything that did not concern affairs of state. In his opinion, no one knew the human heart better than he did. The reconciliation of enemies was not only a duty, but a great delight. Although piety was part and parcel of his natural disposition, it verged on asceticism, as a result of his early protest against the depravity and harshness of his father. Asceticism subsequently became a habit, though he was never a pedant. He did not regard secular festivities as a sin; he enjoyed bear baiting and did not regard mummer shows as serving the devil. Like all timid people, he had great admiration for courage. The heroic character of Prince Shuisky and the daring of the merchant Krasilnikov tugged at his heart strings.
Fedor's magnanimity knew no bounds. Personal insults could not touch him, though any insult to someone else was capable of making him forget his usual meekness. If the insult concerned someone he especially liked, his indignation made him lose his self-control. He shouted and fumed, seeing nothing but the delivered injustice. In doing so, he hastened to make good use of this mood. Knowing that he did not have long to live, he was quick to issue strict orders - justified in his mind, yet not in keeping with his character.
When Fedor succeeded to the throne, he was in no doubt about his own inability and gave Godunov carte blanche, not intending to interfere in anything himself. But Godunov did not count on initially taking full responsibility. He found it useful to hide behind the authority of Fedor. He maintained the outward show of an unlimited sovereign, reporting everything to Fedor and asking his advice on all matters.
Fedor gradually, with the assistance of the inevitable court flatterers, convinced himself that he was not as incapable as he had thought. Tragedy, however, overtook him. His natural laziness and dislike for governing continued to distance him from affairs of state, yet he was already accustomed to think that Godunov acting in accordance with his own instructions. Only during major crises, when Godunov's will directly contradicted Fedor's clemency, like when Godunov threatened to abandon him if he did not give up Basil Shuisky, did Fedor's self-delusions vanish. He understood Godunov's independent power and, incapable of opposing him as tsar, reproached him as a human being and a Christian".
Fedor I died in Moscow on 7 January 1598. He was remembered chiefly for his piety and politeness. After his death, Irina Godunova was offered the throne, but she refused. On the ninth day after her husband's death, she entered a convent as Sister Alexandra. The only other lawful of Ivan the Terrible's cousin, Vladimir Staritsky, and the widow of King Magnus of Livonia. When she returned to Russia, she was forced to enter a nunnery. Her daughter Eudokia died in suspicious circumstances, thus ending the Rurikid dynasty.
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