Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
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Ivan IV Strikes Dead His Son!
On November 16, 1581 (all dates according to our era!) Tsar Ivan IV ...
... enters the private quarters of his son and designated successor Ivan ...
... in the Moscow Kremlin.
This is the only contemporary picture that shows father and son together ...:
Ivan IV doesn’t meet his son there, but his pregnant daughter-in-law Jelena Stepanovna ...
... who, in the view of the tsar, was "too lightly clad", as it says in a chronicle (although it was the tsar who had entered her rooms without being asked and was clearly in the wrong!)
The tsar, a choleric, suffers one of his notorious fits of anger and begins to insult his daughter-in-law and beats her with his ruler's staff - she will lose her child as a result!
Tsarevich Ivan intervenes to protect his wife.
A bitter argument develops between father and son, which soon leaves the private sphere.
A few weeks earlier, Tsarevich Ivan had dared to ask his father for an army of his own against Poland-Lithuania, which had made the Tsar very bitter.
The tsar now scolds: “You poor fool! Do you dare to commit high treason and oppose me? "
The son, just as violently inclined as the father, remains firm and - rightly - denies any high treason. His goal is to serve the country and defeat Poland-Lithuania, with which Russia is once again at war.
At some point the tsar freaks out completely and hits his son with the iron point of his ruler's staff. Although the boyar Boris Godunov, who was also present (the picture of Ilja Repin shows him with Ivan IV) ...
... tries to fall into the arms of the tsar, tsarevich Ivan is hit in the head and collapses.
That brings the tsar back to his senses!
He throws himself down next to his son, hugs and kisses him, and tries to stop the bleeding. “I killed my son!” He groans and calls crying for a doctor.
The Russian painter Ilja Repin captured this scene in his famous painting ...:
I know of no other picture that shows the blazing madness in a person's eyes better than this one ...:
Tsarevich Ivan, however, only unconscious, comes to his senses for a moment, says to his father, "I have always been devoted to you!" And kisses the Tsar's hand.
The whole scene has been passed down from Boris Godunov, who will later become tsar himself ...
But the injury is too severe (probably an open skull fracture).
Three days later, on November 19, 1581, Tsarevich Ivan died of his injury ...:
We also owe this very precise description to the papal legate at the court of the tsars, Antonio Possevino (1534 - 1611) ...
... who recorded it in a book about his time in Moscovia ...:
On November 16, 1581 (all dates according to our era!) Tsar Ivan IV ...
... enters the private quarters of his son and designated successor Ivan ...
... in the Moscow Kremlin.
This is the only contemporary picture that shows father and son together ...:
Ivan IV doesn’t meet his son there, but his pregnant daughter-in-law Jelena Stepanovna ...
... who, in the view of the tsar, was "too lightly clad", as it says in a chronicle (although it was the tsar who had entered her rooms without being asked and was clearly in the wrong!)
The tsar, a choleric, suffers one of his notorious fits of anger and begins to insult his daughter-in-law and beats her with his ruler's staff - she will lose her child as a result!
Tsarevich Ivan intervenes to protect his wife.
A bitter argument develops between father and son, which soon leaves the private sphere.
A few weeks earlier, Tsarevich Ivan had dared to ask his father for an army of his own against Poland-Lithuania, which had made the Tsar very bitter.
The tsar now scolds: “You poor fool! Do you dare to commit high treason and oppose me? "
The son, just as violently inclined as the father, remains firm and - rightly - denies any high treason. His goal is to serve the country and defeat Poland-Lithuania, with which Russia is once again at war.
At some point the tsar freaks out completely and hits his son with the iron point of his ruler's staff. Although the boyar Boris Godunov, who was also present (the picture of Ilja Repin shows him with Ivan IV) ...
... tries to fall into the arms of the tsar, tsarevich Ivan is hit in the head and collapses.
That brings the tsar back to his senses!
He throws himself down next to his son, hugs and kisses him, and tries to stop the bleeding. “I killed my son!” He groans and calls crying for a doctor.
The Russian painter Ilja Repin captured this scene in his famous painting ...:
I know of no other picture that shows the blazing madness in a person's eyes better than this one ...:
Tsarevich Ivan, however, only unconscious, comes to his senses for a moment, says to his father, "I have always been devoted to you!" And kisses the Tsar's hand.
The whole scene has been passed down from Boris Godunov, who will later become tsar himself ...
But the injury is too severe (probably an open skull fracture).
Three days later, on November 19, 1581, Tsarevich Ivan died of his injury ...:
We also owe this very precise description to the papal legate at the court of the tsars, Antonio Possevino (1534 - 1611) ...
... who recorded it in a book about his time in Moscovia ...:
