The image of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich has become a textbook image. The last one before the Troubles. The unnoticeable life of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich

The real personality of Tsar Fedor I Ivanovich, despite the relatively short historical period of time (460 years) that separates us from him, is hidden. The whole question revolves around whether he was weak-minded or not. We will try to answer this. There are few sources left that give his true image. This sovereign is overshadowed by two powerful figures: father Ivan the Terrible and co-ruler Boris Godunov. Our historians recreate, and writers interpret, him as a man and a ruler.

The end of the Rurik dynasty

In the 16th century, the first Russian Tsar, Ivan Vasilyevich, ascended the throne. He ruled for a long time, more than 50 years, but extremely unevenly, shaking his lands and family with his fiercely brutal character.

Of his eight wives, only three bore him children. And even the eldest, whom he was preparing for the kingdom, was killed by the king himself in a fit of uncontrollable anger, which he bitterly regretted. The heir was Fyodor Ivanovich, the son of Ivan IV the Terrible from his first marriage.

Family in childhood

The royal parents loved each other and had lived for ten years at the time of Fyodor’s birth, sharing both joys and sorrows. The prince had an older brother, Ivan. Their age difference was three years. As they grow up, they will play together and be watched loving parents. But in the year of birth of the prince, baptized in the Chudov Monastery, in 1557, no one yet knows that peace and silence are only still standing over the country. This is the last halcyon year. In 1558, the long, quarter-century bloody Livonian War began. She will darken his entire childhood. And after the death of his mother, there is almost no information about the prince, who was then three years old. The father goes on pilgrimages and does not take his son with him. He leaves, leading an army, to war, and the five-year-old boy, seeing him off, does not know whether he will return back. And then in the royal chambers there will be a series of wives who see in Ivan and Fyodor an obstacle for their children to the throne, and there is no need to talk about spiritual warmth here. The boys, of course, experienced hidden enmity. But the sources contain virtually no information about how Ivan Vasilyevich raised his youngest. It is known that from the age of eight he took him with him on pilgrimages, and later ordered him to attend state ceremonies. Even when the prince was not yet seven years old, he participated in the elevation to the rank of Metropolitan of Moscow, and when the oprichnina was established, he, along with his family and court, left for At the age of 10, his father took him with him to Vologda for examination. So little by little Tsarevich Fyodor took a closer look at state affairs.

Marriage

The father himself chose a bride for his son from the strong, reliable Godunov clan, but not too well-born, such that they would depend on everything royal family and were grateful for such a high fate. And the prince, without thinking about political motives, I simply became attached with my soul to my wife, the clever Irina.

Death of an heir

The Tsar of All Rus' did not get around to fully raising his youngest son Fedor. Ivan Ivanovich was always in the foreground. And when he died, in 1581, at the age of 24, he had to seriously accustom the heir Fedor to state affairs. And he no longer had any interest in them. After all, before all the attention was paid to Ivan, and you, Fedenka, advised him to go to God’s church, talk to the monks, listen to the singers, and listen to the deacon’s bass, or else go hunting.

The prince was surrounded by mothers, nannies and monks. They taught him book knowledge and the law of God. So the prince grew up timid, meek, and pious. And God gave him a royal crown.

Royal wedding

The death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584 is surrounded by omissions and secrets. There are suggestions that he was poisoned or strangled, which, however, has not been reliably proven. But the boyars, rejoicing at liberation from the powerful oppression of the tyrant who held them with an iron hand, raised an uprising, taking advantage of rumors about the mysterious death of the Tsar, and brought him to the walls of the Kremlin. Negotiations with the rebels ended with them retreating and the instigators being exiled. Just in case, young Dmitry and his mother were also sent to Uglich. Who was behind these actions? Well, not Fyodor Ivanovich. he was not interested in business, he was passive. The great princes Shuisky, Mstislavsky, and Yuryev were in charge of everything.

Shortly before the uprising there was a royal wedding; it happened on Fedor’s birthday. He turned exactly 27 years old. The ceremony went like this. Walking ahead was Fyodor Ivanovich, the Tsar, dressed in the richest attire. Behind him are the highest clergy and then all the nobility by rank. A crown was placed on his head. The clergy from Mount Athos and Mount Sinai were invited to the celebration, which meant the importance of the event for the entire Orthodox world. The celebration lasted a week.

This is how Fyodor Ivanovich received the right and opportunity to manage everything. The king became an unlimited ruler. In his hands was all the power - legislative, executive, judicial and military.

king: historical portrait

Foreigners, the British, the French, the Swedes, the Poles are trying to convince us that Fyodor Ivanovich was too simple, sensitive and overly pious and superstitious, even stupid. He spent too much time in monasteries. But, getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning, according to the same foreigners, having prayed, conveying greetings to his wife, who occupied separate chambers, he received boyars, military leaders, and members of the Duma. This suggests that Fyodor Ivanovich is a tsar: he listens to the nobles and gives instructions.

True, he does not devote too much time to these matters, since they do not occupy him very much, but like a true sovereign, he still carries out the affairs. Yes, he prefers prayer to politics, but there are no signs of dementia in this. He is simply not by nature statesman, and an ordinary person who likes to talk with his wife, watch bear baiting or hand-to-hand combat, laugh at jesters. Intrigues, political moves, thought out like chess, long in advance, are not his element. Fyodor I Ioannovich is a kind, calm, pious person. Other foreigners, the Austrians, for example, to whom the tsar gave a kind welcome and promised assistance in the fight against the Turks, nowhere give any indication that the tsar was weak-minded. Maybe the whole point is in the biased assessments of the same Swedes, since political affairs were resolved by force of arms in a direction unfavorable to them?

Russian people's perception of the Tsar

They all note that Fyodor I Ioannovich is extremely pious and exhausts himself with spiritual exploits. And during the crowning ceremony he made speeches in which he was not noted as a sign of feeblemindedness. A weak-minded person would not have survived the entire ceremony and would not have been able to make a speech. And the king behaved with appropriate dignity. Russian chroniclers call him merciful, and his death was perceived as a great grief that could bring enormous disasters. Which, by the way, came true.

Patriarch Job, who saw the king every day and knew him well, expressed his lively admiration for the sovereign. The Tsar appears before us as a true ascetic of the faith, and a well-fed, calm life with him was perceived as the grace of God, which came down through his prayers to the Russian land. Everyone emphasizes his incredible piety. Therefore, the nickname of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich was Blessed. And one of the princes close to him, I.A. Khvorostinin noted the tsar’s love of reading. His father Ivan the Terrible himself, drawing up a will when his eldest son Ivan was still alive, warned 15-year-old Fyodor against rebelling against his brother. But a complete fool, as some foreigners try to portray him as, could hardly go to war against his brother. This means that Ivan Vasilyevich imagined his son to be not a simpleton at all. What happened next showed that the king was an excellent commander, leading the campaign against the Swedes. He ended up in the Russian army being mentally healthy and not a holy fool. The defeat of the Swedes in the Livonian War was the great deed of Fyodor Ivanovich.

Co-rulers

Godunov stood behind the throne, but besides him, the noble one, there were aristocrats with whom Fyodor Ivanovich had to reckon. And who could keep the Shuiskys, Mstislavskys, Odoevskys, Vorotynskys, Zakharyins-Yuryevs-Romanovs in check? Only the king who was above all. Yes, he could afford to stroke the cat in the meeting of the Duma boyars, leaving the throne, but his gaze is clear and full of wisdom.

Theodore the Blessed, listening to the high men, could think his own thoughts that every creation of God is worthy of love and affection, just like his own people, who flourished under him. And let the nobles rejoice that he does not cut heads from their shoulders, like his father. Godunov, listening to the opinion of the tsar, became a co-ruler by the tsar's will. He represented the best of what was possible. They made a well-coordinated couple together when Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich (1584 - 1598) reigned.

Refusal of divorce

The king revered the sacrament of marriage. And although God gave him one child who died in infancy, despite the demands of the boyars to divorce his wife and remarry and have legal heirs, the sovereign resolutely refused. In this position, it was necessary to show courage, will and perseverance, so great was the pressure from the aristocrats. The fact that the king had no children partly explains the long hours spent in prayer and the frequent pilgrimage trips that the couple made on foot, of course, accompanied by guards and retinue. They were guided by faith and hope.

Patriarchate

After Byzantium fell, the Russian state turned out to be the largest of all Orthodox. But the head of the church only bore the rank of metropolitan, which was clearly not enough. But could a tsar, incapable of long negotiations and intrigue, play such a complex and subtle political game? He always avoided worries of this kind, since he was quiet and had the mentality of a monastic monk, staying away from everyday affairs. Chroniclers write that the sovereign, after consulting with the boyars, brought the idea of ​​establishing the patriarchate to the council. They needed to fulfill the sovereign's decision. And no matter whose original idea this idea was, the king voiced it, and things slowly began to develop.

It took several years of negotiations and intrigues of the Greeks for everything to be completed, as required by the autocrat, and Job became the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. The king, carried away by this idea, himself developed a new, more magnificent ceremony than the Greeks had.

Typography in Moscow

At the direct request of Fyodor Ivanovich, as sources say, the printing house was restored in Moscow. It was intended for the reproduction of liturgical books, but the beginning of book printing was laid. Further it will develop, bringing enlightenment, first church, and then secular. Could a stupid, mentally retarded person come up with such an idea? The answer suggests itself. Of course not. But the country needed books. Under Fyodor Ivanovich, cities, temples, monasteries were built, and everything required the acquisition of learning and, consequently, books.

Death of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich

The king, who remained on the throne for 13 years and seven months, was ill for a long time and died quickly. Before his death, he did not have time to become a monk, as he wished. There were three great deeds in his life: the establishment of the patriarchate, the liberation of Russian lands from Swedish occupation and the construction of the Donskoy Monastery. In them he took an active part. It remains unclear to this day to whom he transferred the throne. Perhaps no one, deciding that “God will judge.” He took over the devastated country, and left it stronger, expanding its borders. It was during his time that the Tsar Cannon was cast. The quiet king, who deeply believed in God's providence, saw that God ruled his country and preserved his kingdom. Such was the last Rurikovich, Fyodor Ivanovich - the tsar, whose biography and deeds left a good mark on the history of the country.

After the death of Ivan the Terrible (March 18, 1584), his son Fedor (1584-1598) ascended the throne. The new king was almost 27 years old. No one thought that this kind, but weak-willed and very limited man would become the ruler of Russia. For many years his elder brother was heir to the throne Ivan. However, in November 1581, the king, according to rumors, in a fit of anger killed Ivan with his heavy staff. So Fedor became the heir.

The reign of Fyodor Ioannovich

Understanding Fedor’s inability to rule independently, Ivan the Terrible bequeathed the creation of a kind of “guardian council” under him. He hoped that the boyar guardians, experienced in state affairs, would guide Fedor along the right path. However, the internal logic of the Russian autocracy did not allow collective rule. The guardians quickly quarreled among themselves. At the beginning of Fedor’s reign, the Polish ambassador noted: “There are incessant discords and fights between the nobles, and the sovereign is not such as to hinder (them”). At the same time, there is a rapid rise Boris Godunova.

Under a weak king, the boyars fought for power. Boris Godunov managed to stop the discord with harsh measures. He became the de facto ruler of the state. Commanding in the name of the tsar, Godunov acted as he himself saw fit. The brother of the tsar's wife, he had the rank of great boyar and was a large landowner. An intelligent, power-hungry and cunning courtier, Godunov became the tsar's closest assistant.

On January 6, 1598, Tsar Fedor died at the age of 40. With his death, the ruling Rurik dynasty, which had been in power for more than seven centuries, ended.

Death of Tsarevich Dmitry

Tsar Fedor had no children. In Uglich, surrounded by “mothers and nannies,” the last son of Ivan the Terrible, Dmitry, grew up, to whom power was to pass after the death of Fyodor. But fate decreed otherwise.

Tsar Fedor died without leaving an heir. Thus ended the Rurik dynasty, which ruled in Rus' for more than 700 years. After the end of the prescribed 40-day mourning, the Zemsky Sobor was convened in Moscow. After much debate and behind-the-scenes struggle, the council elected a new king. Boris Godunov ascended the throne.

English ambassador to Russia in the 17th century. this is how he spoke about Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich: “Small in stature, squat and thick, with a weak physique; his nose is like a hawk, his gait is unsteady; he is heavy and inactive, but always smiles. He is simple and weak-minded, but very kind and good in manners, quiet, merciful, has no inclination towards war, has little ability for political affairs and is extremely superstitious.”

Feodor I Ioannovich

Predecessor:

Ivan groznyj

Successor:

Irina I Feodorovna

Religion:

Orthodoxy

Birth:

Buried:

Archangel Cathedral in Moscow

Dynasty:

Rurikovich

Ivan IV the Terrible

Anastasia Romanovna

Irina I Fedorovna Godunova

Daughter: Feodosia

Theodore I Ioannovich(nicknamed Blessed; May 11, 1557, Moscow - January 7, 1598, Moscow) - Tsar of All Rus' and Grand Duke of Moscow from March 18, 1584, the third son of Ivan IV the Terrible and Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna, the last representative of the Moscow branch of the Rurik dynasty.

Upon the birth of his son, Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of a church in the Feodorovsky Monastery in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky. This temple in honor of Theodore Stratilates became the main cathedral of the monastery and has survived to this day.

Shortly before the death of Ivan the Terrible, on November 19, 1581, his son, the heir to the throne, Ivan, tragically died. From that time on, Fedor became the heir to the royal throne.

On the royal throne, where the formidable king had recently sat, sat a twenty-seven-year-old monarch, who, in the words of Ivan the Terrible himself, was “a faster and a silent person, born more for the cell than for the power of the sovereign.” From his marriage to Irina Fedorovna Godunova, he had one daughter, Feodosia, who lived only nine months and died in 1594. Fedor’s son was never born. At the end of 1597 he fell ill with a fatal illness and on January 7, 1598. died at one o'clock in the morning. It ended the Moscow line of the Rurik dynasty (descendants of Ivan I Kalita).

Most historians believe that Fedor was incapable of government activities, and according to some sources, weak in health and mind; took little part in governing the state, being under the tutelage first of the council of nobles, then of his brother-in-law Boris Fedorovich Godunov, who from 1587 was actually sole ruler state, and after the death of Fedor became his successor. Boris Godunov's position at the royal court was so significant that overseas diplomats sought an audience with Boris Godunov; his will was law. Fedor reigned, Boris ruled - everyone knew this both in Rus' and abroad.

From “Russian history in the biographies of its main figures” by N. I. Kostomarov:

Tsar Feodor Ivanovich was alien to everything, according to his dementia. He got up at four o'clock, and his confessor came to him with holy water and an icon of the saint whose memory was celebrated that day. The king read prayers aloud, then went to the queen, who lived separately, went to matins with her, then sat down in a chair and received close people, especially monks. At nine o'clock in the morning he went to mass, at eleven o'clock he had dinner, then he slept, then he went to vespers, and sometimes before vespers he went to the bathhouse. After Vespers, the king spent time until nightfall in amusements: they sang songs to him, told him fairy tales, and jesters amused him with antics. Theodore was very fond of ringing bells and sometimes went to ring the bell tower himself. He often made pious journeys, walked on foot to Moscow monasteries. But in addition to such pious inclinations, Theodore also showed others that resembled the disposition of his parent. He loved to watch fist fights and people fighting bears. The petitioners who turned to him did not see any participation from him: “avoiding worldly vanity and boredom,” he sent them to Boris Godunov. Theodore's dementia did not, however, inspire contempt for him. According to popular belief, the weak-minded were considered sinless and therefore were called “blessed.” The monks praised the piety and holy life of Tsar Theodore; the gift of insight and divination was attributed to him while alive.

Main events during the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich

The Moscow Zemsky Sobor in 1584 elected the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, Fyodor Ioannovich (the only living son of the tsar), as tsar.

In 1584 Don Cossacks took an oath of allegiance to Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich.

In 1585-1591, the Russian architect Fyodor Savelyevich Kon erected the walls and towers of the White City. The length of the walls is 10 kilometers. Thickness - up to 4.5 meters.

In 1586, the Russian cannon foundry Andrei Chokhov cast the famous Tsar Cannon.

1589 - the establishment of the patriarchate in Russia, Job, an ally of Boris Godunov, became the first patriarch. Fyodor Ivanovich, although he was not canonized, was nevertheless recognized as such by Patriarch Job, who compiled his life.

1590-1593 - Russian-Swedish war. Return of the cities to Russia: Yama, Ivangorod, Koporye, Korela.

The founder of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich, was cousin Fedor I (since Fedor’s mother, Anastasia Romanovna, was the sister of Mikhail’s grandfather, Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin); The Romanovs' rights to the throne were based on this relationship.

Contemporaries about Fyodor Ioannovich

According to the opinion of the English diplomat Giles Fletcher, the new king was

Dutch merchant and trading agent in Moscow Isaac Massa:

Clerk Ivan Timofeev gives Fedor the following assessment:

They also wrote about him that he discussed state affairs with the boyars in the Front Chamber, and he discussed particularly sensitive issues with his associates in his office.

Fyodor I Ioannovich (or Fyodor the Blessed) - (born May 31, 1557 - death January 7 (17), 1598) - Tsar of All Rus' and Grand Duke of Moscow (1584 - elected to the throne by the Moscow Zemsky Council). From the family of Moscow Grand Dukes, the son of Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible and Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna Yuryeva-Zakharova. The last of the Rurik family. 1584 - 1598 years of the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich. He was a candidate for the Polish throne in 1573, 1576 and 1577. He married Irina Fedorovna Godunova in 1580.

Early years. Characteristic

The future tsar was born in 1557 in the Sobilka tract, Pereslavl-Zalessky. At the age of three he lost his mother, his childhood and adolescence fell on the darkest years of the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible. Morbidity and features of degeneration were generally characteristic of the offspring of Vasily III. Katyrev-Rostovsky wrote that Fyodor “was a noble fool from his mother’s womb,” and the bloody horrors and wild amusements of the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, without a doubt, could disfigure the psyche of a healthy child.

None of the chroniclers and memoirists cite facts of obvious insanity and inappropriate behavior of the prince, although many foreigners reported his dementia as something generally known. The Swedish king Johan even said in his speech from the throne that the Russian tsar was half-witted and that “the Russians in their language call him durak.” The Roman envoy Possevino called the tsar “almost an idiot,” the English ambassador Fletcher “simple and weak-minded,” and the Polish ambassador Sapieha reported to his monarch: “He has little reason, or, as others say and as I myself noticed, none at all. When, during my presentation, he sat on the throne in all the royal decorations, then, looking at the scepter and the orb, he kept laughing.”

Possible causes of dementia

Perhaps the prince suffered from some form of autism, but, most likely, his personality simply did not develop - it could have been a kind of mental self-defense against his father’s despotism and the nightmares of the surrounding reality. Fyodor had before his eyes the example of his older brother: the active and strong-willed Ivan Ivanovich had to take part in the bloody games of his parent, sometimes he dared to contradict him - and we know what this strength of character led to. It was safer to abandon character altogether.

Appearance description

The prince was slow in his movements and speeches, there was nothing royal in his appearance and behavior. “The current king, in relation to his appearance, his height, is small, squat and plump, of a weak physique and inclined to be watery,” said Fletcher. – His nose is like a hawk, his step is unsteady due to some kind of relaxation in his limbs; he is heavy and inactive, but he constantly smiles, so that he almost laughs.”

The frail body could not withstand the weight of the royal ceremonial vestments; Monomakh's hat was too big for his disproportionately small head. During the coronation, Fyodor Ioannovich was forced, without waiting for the end of the long ceremony, to remove the crown and hand it over to the first boyar, Prince Mstislavsky, and gave the golden orb (the royal “apple”) to Godunov, which, of course, was a shock to the superstitious public and was perceived by them as a symbolic renunciation of real power.

Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich puts a gold chain on Boris Godunov.

Religiosity

WITH early years Fyodor Ioannovich found consolation and refuge only in religion. He was distinguished by deep and devout piety, he could stand for hours at church services, prayed for a long time, loved to ring the bells himself and showed interest only in spiritual conversations (proof that he was not an idiot). This excessive piety irritated Ivan Vasilyevich, who called the young man “a sexton’s son.”

The reign of Fyodor Ioannovich

During the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich, Moscow was decorated with new buildings. China Town has been updated. In 1586-1593, a still powerful building was built in the capital from brick and white stone. defensive line- White City.

I also remember the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich, the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate. After the baptism of Rus', the Metropolitan was the main representative of the church in the state. He was appointed Byzantine Empire, considered the center of Orthodoxy. But in 1453, the Muslim Turks captured Constantinople and this state was destroyed. Since that time, debates have not stopped in Moscow about the need to create its own patriarchate.

In the end, this issue was discussed between Boris Godunov and the Tsar. The adviser briefly and vividly described to the sovereign the benefits of the emergence of his own patriarchy. He also proposed a candidacy for the new rank. He became Metropolitan Job of Moscow, who was a faithful associate of Godunov for many years.

During the reign of Theodore the Blessed, it was possible to complete, not without profit, Livonian War(by the way, the sovereign himself took part in the campaign) and win back everything lost; strengthen in Western Siberia and the Caucasus. Large-scale construction of cities (Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, Ufa, Kursk, Belgorod, Yelets, etc.) and fortifications in Astrakhan and Smolensk was launched.

However, during his reign, the situation of the peasants changed sharply for the worse. Around 1592, peasants were deprived of the right to move from one master to another (St. George's Day), and in 1597 a royal decree was issued on a 5-year search for fugitive serfs. A decree was also issued that prohibited enslaved people from ransoming for freedom.

Reconstruction of the appearance of Fyodor Ioannovich (M. Gerasimov).

Everyday life

Having become sovereign and freed from his father's oppression, Feodor I began to live as he liked.

The autocrat got up before dawn to pray to the saints commemorated on that day. Then he sent to the queen to ask if she slept well. After some time, he himself appeared to her, and they went with her to stand at Matins. Then he talked with the courtiers, whom he especially favored. By nine it was time for mass, which lasted at least two hours, and then it was already time for lunch, after which the king slept for a long time. After - if not fasting - it was time for entertainment. Waking up long after noon, the sovereign leisurely steamed in the bathhouse or amused himself with the spectacle of a fist fight, which at that time was considered a non-violent pleasure. After the vain, one should pray, and the sovereign advocated vespers. Then he retired with the queen until a leisurely dinner, during which he had fun with buffoonery and bear-baiting.

Every week the royal couple necessarily went on tireless pilgrimages to nearby monasteries. Well, those who along the way tried to approach state affairs, the “autocrat” sent to the boyars (later - to Godunov alone).

Manifestation of character

But for all his lack of will, for all his affection and complaisance, the tsar at times showed inflexibility, which led to serious state consequences. These bouts of stubbornness manifested themselves when someone tried to encroach on the sovereign’s private life, or more precisely, on his relationship with his wife, whom Fyodor loved very much.

Ivan the Terrible believed that he could arrange the matrimonial fate of his children at his own discretion. At his whim, he divorced his eldest son twice, and he was forced to obey. But when Ivan IV decided to separate the seemingly weak-willed Fyodor from Irina, who could not give birth to offspring, he encountered inexorable resistance - and he had to retreat. The only harsh act of the monarch during his reign was the disgrace that he brought down on the boyars and the metropolitan when they also tried to divorce the king from his wife.

Irina Fedorovna Godunova. Sculptural reconstruction based on the skull (S. Nikitin).

Irina Fedorovna. The role of the Godunovs

Irina Fedorovna Godunova, Boris’s sister, did not strive for power - on the contrary, she tried in every possible way to distance herself from it - but at the same time she had the opportunity to play important role in Russian history. She was 5 or 6 years younger than Boris and the same age as Fedor. Like her brother, she grew up at court, under the care of her uncle Dmitry Ivanovich Godunov, who, at the time of greatest favor, in 1580, arranged his niece as a bride to the younger prince. The marriage, however, was of dubious benefit, because the sickly Fyodor had no significance at all at court. Most likely, this marriage promised big troubles in the future. Upon ascending the throne, the new tsar (and he was supposed to be Ivan Ivanovich) as a rule mercilessly dealt with his closest relatives, and dementia would hardly have saved his brother - just as it did not save the equally harmless Vladimir Staritsky.

But fate decreed that Irina became a queen - and not a “terem” queen, that is, doomed to be locked up, but a real one. Because Fyodor was unrepresentative and behaved strangely at official ceremonies or avoided them altogether, Irina was forced to sit in the Boyar Duma and receive foreign ambassadors, and in 1589, during an unprecedented event, the visit of the Patriarch of Constantinople, she even addressed to the distinguished guest with welcoming speech- this has not happened in Moscow since the time of Elena Glinskaya and will not happen again for another century, right up to the ruler Sofia Alekseevna.

In the first, “non-royal” period of his reign, Boris Godunov held on through his friendship and kinship with the queen, who obeyed his advice in everything. At that time, the boyar could hardly think about taking the throne himself, and pinned his hopes for the future on a regency under an heir whose birth had been awaited for a long time and in vain.

The fact is that Fyodor Ioannovich, although weak, was, as they said then, not “childless.” Irina was often pregnant, but the children were born dead. (The study of the queen's remains, which was carried out in Soviet time, discovered a pathology in the structure of the pelvis, which made childbearing difficult.)

1592 - Irina was still able to give birth to a living baby - however, a girl. In those days, the system of power did not provide for female autocracy, but there was hope for saving the dynasty. They immediately began to select a future groom for the little princess Feodosia, about which negotiations were started with the most authoritative court in Europe - the imperial court. The Viennese ambassador was asked to send some little prince to Moscow in order to teach him the Russian language and customs in advance. But the girl was born weak and died before she was one and a half years old.

Saint Job, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.

Death of the King

At the end of 1597, Fyodor the Blessed became seriously ill. He gradually lost his hearing and vision. Before his death, he wrote a spiritual letter, which indicated that the power should pass into the hands of Irina. Two main advisers to the throne were appointed - Patriarch Job and the Tsar's brother-in-law Boris Godunov.

1598, January 7 - at one o'clock in the afternoon the sovereign died, unnoticed, as if he had fallen asleep. Some sources claim that the monarch was poisoned by Boris Godunov, who wanted to take the throne himself. When examining the king's skeleton, arsenic was discovered in his bones.

The fatal illness of the last tsar from the Moscow Rurik dynasty caused a commotion at court. Everyone had no time for ceremonies - a brutal struggle for power began, so the king died almost alone. Before his death, he was not even tonsured into the schema. The opening of the sarcophagus showed that the Tsar of All Rus' was buried in some kind of shabby caftan, with a simple, not at all royal myrrh (vessel for ointment) at the head. Fyodor took great care of himself: his nails, hair and beard were carefully trimmed. Judging by the remains, he was stocky and strong, noticeably shorter than his father (about 160 cm), his face was very similar to him, the same Dinaric anthropological type.

With his death, the ruling Rurik dynasty ceased to exist. In the popular consciousness, he left behind a good memory as a merciful and God-loving monarch.

After the death of her husband, Irina Feodorovna refused the offer of Patriarch Job to take the throne and went to the monastery.

Feodor I Ioannovich, also known by the name Theodore the Blessed, (May 11, 1557, Moscow - January 7 (17), 1598, Moscow) - Tsar of All Rus' and Grand Duke of Moscow from March 18 (28), 1584, the third son of Ivan IV the Terrible and Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yuryeva, the last representative of the Moscow branches of the Rurik dynasty. Canonized Orthodox Church as "Holy Righteous Theodore I Ioannovich, Tsar of Moscow." Memory January 7 (20), Sunday before August 26 (old style) / September 4 (new style), i.e. first Sunday in September (Cathedral of Moscow Saints).

  • 1 Biography
  • 2 Death
  • 3 Main events during the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich
  • 4 Written sources about Fyodor Ioannovich
  • 5 Ancestors
  • 6 Memory
    • 6.1 Orthodox Church
    • 6.2 Sculpture
    • 6.3 Burial
  • 7 Notes
  • 8 Literature

Biography

Upon the birth of his son, Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of a church in the Feodorovsky Monastery in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky. This temple in honor of Theodore Stratilates became the main cathedral of the monastery and has survived to this day.

On November 19, 1581, the heir to the throne, Ivan, died from a wound, according to one unconfirmed version, inflicted by his father. From that time on, Fedor became the heir to the royal throne.

In the words of Ivan the Terrible himself, Fyodor was “a faster and a silent person, born more for his cell than for sovereign power.” From his marriage to Irina Fedorovna Godunova, he had one daughter (1592), Feodosia, who lived only nine months and died the same year (according to other sources, she died in 1594). At the end of 1597 he became mortally ill and died on January 7, 1598 at one o'clock in the morning. It ended the Moscow line of the Rurik dynasty (descendants of Ivan I Kalita).

Most historians believe that Fedor was incapable of government activities, according to some sources, he was weak in health and mind; took little part in governing the state, being under the tutelage first of the council of nobles, then of his brother-in-law Boris Fedorovich Godunov, who from 1587 was actually a co-ruler of the state, and after the death of Fedor became his successor. Boris Godunov's position at the royal court was so significant that overseas diplomats sought an audience with Boris Godunov; his will was law. Fedor reigned, Boris ruled - everyone knew this both in Rus' and abroad.

The historian and philosopher S. M. Solovyov in “History of Russia since Ancient Times” describes the usual daily routine of the Sovereign as follows:

“He usually gets up around four o’clock in the morning. When he gets dressed and washed, the spiritual father comes to him with the Cross, to which the Tsar venerates. Then the clerk of the cross brings into the room the icon of the Saint celebrated on that day, in front of which the Tsar prays for about a quarter of an hour. The priest enters again with holy water, sprinkles it on the icons and the Tsar. Returning from church, the Tsar sits down in big room, where the boyars, who are in special favor, come to bow... At about nine o'clock the Tsar goes to mass, which lasts two hours. After lunch and sleep he goes to vespers... Every week the Tsar goes on a pilgrimage to one of the nearby monasteries.”

Death

Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich died on January 7, 1598. According to the testimony of Patriarch Job, in his dying languor the tsar talked with someone invisible to others, calling him the great Saint, and at the hour of his death a fragrance was felt in the Kremlin chambers. The Patriarch himself performed the sacrament of consecration of oil and communed the dying King of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Theodore Ioannovich died without leaving any offspring, and with his death the Rurik dynasty on the royal throne in Moscow ended. He was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Main events during the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich

Reconstruction of Gerasimov

The Moscow Zemsky Sobor in 1584 elected the middle son of Ivan the Terrible, Fyodor Ioannovich, as tsar.

In 1584, the Don Cossacks swore an oath of allegiance to Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich.

In 1585-1591, the Russian architect Fyodor Savelyevich Kon erected the walls and towers of the White City. The length of the walls is 10 kilometers. Thickness - up to 4.5 meters. Height - from 6 to 7 meters.

In 1586, the Russian cannon foundry Andrei Chokhov cast the famous Tsar Cannon.

1589 - the establishment of the patriarchate in Russia, Job, an ally of Boris Godunov, became the first patriarch.

1590-1595 - Russian-Swedish war. Return of the cities to Russia: Yama, Ivangorod, Koporye, Korela.

The founder of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich, was a cousin of Fedor I (since Fedor’s mother, Anastasia Romanovna, was the sister of Mikhail’s grandfather, Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin); The Romanovs' rights to the throne were based on this relationship.

Written sources about Fyodor Ioannovich

According to the British diplomat Giles Fletcher:

“The current Tsar (named Feodor Ivanovich) regarding his appearance: small in stature, squat and plump, weak in build and inclined to be watery; his nose is like a hawk, his gait is unsteady due to some relaxation in his limbs; he is heavy and inactive, but he always smiles, so that he almost laughs. As for his other properties, he is simple and weak-minded, but very kind and good at handling, quiet, merciful, has no inclination towards war, has little ability for political affairs and is extremely superstitious. Besides the fact that he prays at home, he usually goes on pilgrimage every week to one of the nearby monasteries.”

Dutch merchant and trading agent in Moscow Isaac Massa:

Very kind, pious and very meek... He was so pious that he often wanted to exchange his kingdom for a monastery, if only this were possible.

Clerk Ivan Timofeev gives Fedor the following assessment:

“With his prayers, my king kept the land unharmed from the enemy’s machinations. He was meek by nature, very merciful and blameless to everyone and, like Job, in all his ways he protected himself from every evil thing, most of all loving piety, church splendor and, after the holy priests, the monastic order and even the least brothers in Christ, blessed in the Gospel by the Lord himself. It’s easy to say - he devoted himself entirely to Christ and throughout his holy and venerable reign; not loving blood, like a monk, he spent time in fasting, in prayers and supplications with kneeling - day and night, exhausting himself with spiritual exploits all his life... Monasticism, united with the kingdom, without being separated, mutually adorned each other; he reasoned that for the future (life) one thing matters no less than the other, an unharnessed chariot leading to heaven. Both were visible only to the faithful, who were attached to him with love. From the outside, everyone could easily see him as a king, but inside, through his feats of monasticism, he turned out to be a monk; In appearance he was a crowned man, but in his aspirations he was a monk.”

The evidence of an unofficial, in other words, private historical monument - the “Piskarevsky Chronicler” - is extremely important. So many good things have been said about Tsar Fedor that none of the Russian rulers have ever received. He is called “pious”, “merciful”, “benevolent”; on the pages of the chronicle there is a long list of his works for the benefit of the Church. His death is perceived as a real catastrophe, as a harbinger of the worst troubles of Russia: “The sun is darkened and has ceased from its course, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars have fallen from the sky: for the many sins of Christianity, the last luminary, the collector and benefactor of all the Russian lands, the sovereign, has passed away. Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich...” Turning to the previous reign, the chronicler speaks with extraordinary tenderness: “And the faithful and Christ-loving Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich reigned... quietly and righteously, and mercifully, carelessly. And all people were in peace and in love, and in silence, and in prosperity during that summer. In no other year, under any king in the Russian land, except for the Grand Duke Ivan Danilovich Kalita, has there been such peace and prosperity as under him, the blessed king and Grand Duke Theodore Ivanovich of all Russia.” A contemporary and close to the Sovereign’s court, Prince I.M. Katyrev-Rostovsky, said about the Sovereign this way:

“He was noble from his mother’s womb and cared for nothing except spiritual salvation.” According to his testimony, in King Theodore, “the kingdom and the kingdom were intertwined without division, and one served as an adornment to the other.”

The famous historian V. O. Klyuchevsky wrote about Saint Theodore:

“...blessed on the throne, one of those poor in spirit, to whom the Kingdom of Heaven, and not the earthly one, belongs, whom the Church so loved to include in its calendar”

In an article dedicated to the glorification of Patriarchs Job and Tikhon as saints, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) noted:

“Tsar Feodor Ioannovich was an amazing, bright man. It was truly a saint on the throne. He was constantly in contemplation and prayer, was kind to everyone, church service was his life, and the Lord did not darken the years of his reign with disorder and turmoil. They started after his death. Rarely has the Russian people loved and pitied a tsar so much. He was revered as a blessed and holy fool, and was called the “sanctified king.” It was not for nothing that soon after his death he was included in the calendar of locally revered Moscow saints. The people saw in him the wisdom that comes from a pure heart and in which the “poor in spirit” are so rich. This is exactly how Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy portrayed Tsar Fyodor in his tragedy. But to someone else's eyes, this sovereign was different. Foreign travelers, spies and diplomats (such as Pearson, Fletcher or the Swede Petreus de Erlesund) who left their notes on Russia call him, at best, a “quiet idiot”. And the Pole Lev Sapega argued that “it is in vain to say that this sovereign has little reason, I am convinced that he is completely devoid of it.”

Ancestors

Fedor I Ioannovich - ancestors
Vasily II the Dark
Ivan III
Maria Borovskaya
Vasily III
Thomas Paleologus
Sofia Paleolog
Ekaterina Zaccaria
Ivan groznyj
Lev Borisovich Glinsky
Glinsky, Vasily Ivanovich
Elena Glinskaya
Stefan Jaksic
Anna Jaksic
Milica Belmushevich
Fedor Ioannovich
Zakhary Ivanovich Koshkin
Yuri Zakharyevich Koshkin
Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin-Yuryev
Ivan Borisovich Tuchko-Morozov
Irina Ivanovna Tuchkova
Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yuryeva
Ulyana Fedorovna

Memory

In the Orthodox Church

The veneration of the blessed Tsar began soon after his death: the holy Patriarch Job (†1607) compiled “The Tale of the Honest Life of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich”; icon images of St. Theodore in a halo have been known since the beginning of the 17th century. “The Book of the Verb Description of the Russian Saints” (1st half of the 17th century) Tsar Theodore was installed as one of the Moscow Wonderworkers. Some handwritten calendars also list his wife, Queen Irina, monastic Alexandra (†1603) among the Moscow saints. The memory of Saint Theodore is celebrated on the day of his repose, January 7 (20), and on the Sunday before August 26 (September 8) in the Cathedral of Moscow Saints.

Sculpture

On November 4, 2009, a monument to Tsar Fyodor I Ioannovich was unveiled in Yoshkar-Ola, during whose reign the city was founded (sculptor - People's Artist of the Russian Federation Andrei Kovalchuk).

Burial

He was buried in the Archangel Cathedral along with his father and brother Ivan, on the right side of the altar, behind the cathedral iconostasis.

Ivan the Terrible “during his lifetime, he prepared for himself a burial place in the deaconry of the Archangel Cathedral, turning it into a side-chapel church. The Tsar himself and his two sons, Ivan Ivanovich and Fyodor Ivanovich, subsequently found rest there. The frescoes of the tomb are the little that have been preserved from the original painting of the 16th century. Here in the lower tier are presented the compositions “Farewell of the Prince to his Family”, “Allegory of Sudden Death”, “Funeral Service” and “Burial”, which make up a single cycle. It was called upon to remind the autocrat of unhypocritical judgment, of the futility of worldly vanity, of the constant remembrance of death, which does not distinguish “whether there is a beggar, or a righteous person, or a master, or a slave.”

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Holy Blessed Theodore I Ioannovich, Tsar of Moscow, commemorated January 7 (20).
  2. 1 2 3 4 Dmitry Volodikhin. . Magazine "Foma" (September, 21 2009 08:11).
  3. Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov). Patriarchs of troubled times.
  4. Burials of Ivan the Terrible and his sons

Literature

  • Zimin A.A. the eve of terrible upheavals. - M., 1986.
  • Pavlov A.P. Sovereign's court and political struggle under Boris Godunov (1584-1605). - St. Petersburg, 1992.
  • Morozova L. E. Two Tsars: Fedor and Boris. - M., 2001.
  • Volodikhin D. Tsar Feodor Ivanovich. - M., 2011.

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