440 Years Ago in Russia

-EXCERPT-

In 1582, Ivan the Terrible, Russia’s first tsar, doomed his venerable dynastic line when, in a rage, he killed his eldest son. Two years later, upon his own demise, he was succeeded by his younger son, Fyodor, a simpleton, “somewhat lowe and grosse,” in one contemporary English description, “of a sallow complexion, and inclining to the dropsie, unsteady in his pase, yet commonly smiling almost to laughter.”

Fyodor’s incapacities were a clear temptation to plots, and a power struggle ensued among his ambitious advisors. The dominant figure to emerge behind the throne was Boris Godunov, a noble of Tartar origin on whom Ivan had often relied in his last years and whose sister was Fyodor’s wife. Before long, he was universally recognized as Lord Protector and de facto head of state.