Ivan IV, "the Terrible" NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division

Ivan IV (1530–1584) came to the throne in 1533 at the age of three, and experienced a harrowing childhood; his mother was poisoned, and he was mistreated at the hands of boyars. These early years probably induced the sadism and paranoia that later emerged as a part of Ivan’s personality. His reign is usually divided into the “good” and “bad” parts. During the “good” part (ca. 1549–62), he was advised by a Chosen Council that included his beloved wife Anastasiia Romanovna Zakharina (1530–1560), and a number of political, military, and ecclesiastical reforms were carried out, including the convening of a zemskii sobor to advise on taxation, law codes, and war policy. In the “bad” part (ca. 1562–84), Ivan carried out a reign of terror against the boyars. Ivan waged successful wars of eastward expansion – opening up Siberia to conquest – but failed miserably in a lengthy war against Poland-Lithuania and Sweden for territories with access to the Baltic Sea.