Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
After a seven-year assault, Ivan's army finally subdued the prosperous merchant princip-
ality of Novgorod and evicted the Hansa trading league. After Novgorod's fall, the 'gather-
ing of the lands' picked up pace as the young Muscovite state annexed Tver, Vyatka,
Ryazan, Smolensk and Pskov.
In 1480 Ivan's army faced down the Mongols at the Ugra River without a fight. Ivan now
refused outright to pay tribute or deference to the Golden Horde, and the 200-year Mongol
yoke was lifted. A triumphant Ivan had himself crowned 'Ruler of all Russia' in a solemn
Byzantine-style ceremony, earning him the moniker Ivan the Great.
The Arbat is one of Moscow's oldest streets, dating back to the 15th century. Linguists
believe the word Arbat comes from the Arabic word arbad,which means 'outskirts'. The
Arabic word might have entered the Russian language by way of the Crimean Khanate,
which was frequently attacking Moscow at this time.
Ivan the Terrible
At the time of Ivan the Great's death, the borders of Muscovy stretched from the Baltic re-
gion in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east and the Barents Sea in the north. The
south was still the domain of hostile steppe tribes of the Golden Horde.
In the 16th century, the Golden Horde fragmented into four Khanates, which continued to
raid Russian settlements. At this time, the grandson of Ivan the Great, Ivan IV (the Terrible),
led the further expansion and consolidation of the upstart Muscovy state, defeating three out
of four Khanates, securing control over the Volga River and opening up a vast wilderness
east of the Urals. Ivan was less successful against the Crimean Tatars, who dominated the
southern access routes to the Black Sea.
On the home front, the reign of Ivan IV spelt trouble for Moscow. Ivan came to the throne
at age three with his mother as regent. Upon reaching adulthood, 13 years later, he was
crowned 'Tsar of all the Russias'. (The Russian word 'tsar' is derived from the Latin term
'caesar'.) Ivan's marriage to Anastasia, a member of the Romanov boyar family, was a
happy one, unlike the five that followed her early death.
When his beloved Anastasia died, it marked a turning point for Ivan. Believing her to
have been poisoned, he started a reign of terror against the ever-intriguing and jealous boy-
ars, earning himself the sobriquet 'the terrible'. Later, in a fit of rage, he even killed his eld-
est son and heir to the throne.
Ivan suffered from a fused spine and took mercury treatments to ease the intense pain.
The cure, however, was worse than the ailment; it gradually made him insane.
