Regency of Elena Glinskaya. Elena Glinskaya - reforms

The first wife of Vasily III was Solomonia Saburova. She was chosen from 500 girls presented to the court from different parts of the country. Solomonia won this "beauty contest". For 20 years of marriage, the heir was never born. Vasily III decided on, with the support of the boyar duma. He sent his wife to a monastery. Here the woman spent 17 years. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, like other representatives of the clergy, condemned the divorce of the Grand Duke and predicted the birth of a child in his second marriage, the cruelty of which the whole world would talk about.

Wedding. (wikipedia.org)

The next chosen one of the sovereign was the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Elena Glinskaya. Two children were born in the marriage - Ivan and Yuri. On December 3, 1533, Vasily III died. Elena became the ruler of Russia as a regent, removing her guardians from the throne.

Board of Elena Glinskaya

Her reign was marked by success in the international arena - for example, a free trade agreement was concluded with Sweden. Another victory was the peace with the Polish king Sigismund I, which put an end to the Starodub War. Lithuania started this war, hoping to return to the borders of 1508. The attack ended in failure. In accordance with the agreement of 1537, Zavolochye, Velizh and Sebezh remained part of the Russian state.

Basil III. (wikipedia.org)

Despite diplomatic successes, Elena Glinskaya never established relations with the boyars. They tried to overthrow the wayward princess several times. Formally, the reason for dissatisfaction was her relationship with a married man, which Elena ceased to hide immediately after the death of her husband.

Reforms of Elena Glinskaya

The Grand Duchess of Moscow carried out a monetary reform. Each of the principalities had its own mint, and this made it difficult to trade with neighbors. Counterfeiters took advantage of the situation and made good money. Now a unified system of monetary circulation was introduced, which was of great importance for the development of foreign trade.

Under Glinskaya, Russian cities are growing. Yaroslavl and Ustyug were restored, new settlements appeared on the border with Lithuania. Kitay-gorod was founded in Moscow.

In April 1538, Elena Glinskaya died. During the study of her remains, it was possible to find out that the cause of death was mercury poisoning. However, it is not clear whether the Grand Duchess of Moscow was poisoned by enemies - in the 16th century, mercury was used to treat various diseases, it could enter the body in small doses for a long time. A week after Glinskaya's death, her favorite Ivan Telepnev-Ovchin-Obolensky was captured. He died in prison from malnutrition.

During the reign of Elena Glinskaya, regent for her young son Ivan IV (the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible), an important monetary reform was carried out, which became the first centralized monetary reform in the history of the country.
Glinskaya Elena Vasilievna (c. 1508 - 1538) - Grand Duchess of Moscow, daughter of Prince Vasily Lvovich from the Lithuanian family of Glinsky and his wife Anna Yakshich. In 1526 she became the wife of Grand Duke Vasily III, divorced from his first wife, and bore him two sons, Ivan and Yuri.
After the death of her husband in December 1533, Elena Vasilievna made a coup, removing from power the guardians (regents) appointed by her husband's last will and became the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Thus, she became the first ruler of the Russian state after Grand Duchess Olga (as a regency) 1533–1538.

The niece of the Lithuanian magnate Mikhail Lvovich Glinsky, the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Vasily Lvovich Glinsky-Blind and Princess Anna, Elena was married to the 45-year-old Tsar Vasily III after his divorce in November 1525 from the allegedly barren first wife Solomonia from the ancient Saburov family.

Compared with Solomonia, she was known in the eyes of the Moscow boyars as “rootless”. The choice of the tsar was also considered unsuccessful because Elena's uncle was at that time in a Russian prison for treason (an attempt to surrender Smolensk to Lithuania when he considered that the tsar did not reward him enough). However, Elena was beautiful and young (the tsar chose “beautifulness for the sake of her face and the goodness of her age, and especially for the sake of chastity”), brought up in a European way: the sources preserved the news that the tsar, wanting to please his wife, “put a razor on his beard”, changed the traditional Moscow attire for a fashionable Polish kuntush and began to wear red morocco boots with turned up toes. All this was seen by contemporaries as a violation of age-old Russian traditions; the tsar's new wife was blamed for the violations.

The marriage of Elena and Vasily III was started with one goal: so that the new wife could give birth to an heir, to whom the Moscow “table” should be transferred. However, Elena and Vasily did not have children for a long time. Contemporaries explained this by the fact that the king "was burdened with the vile vice of his father and ... felt disgust for women, respectively, transferring his voluptuousness to the other [sex]."
The long-awaited child - the future Ivan the Terrible - was born only on August 25, 1530.

In honor of the fact that Elena was able to give birth to an heir, Vasily III ordered the Church of the Ascension to be laid in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow. In November 1531, Elena gave birth to her second son, Yuri, sickly, weak-minded (according to A.M. Kurbsky, he was “mad, without memory and dumb”, that is, deaf and mute). There were rumors in the city that both children were not the children of the Tsar and the Grand Duke, but of Elena's "heart friend" - Prince Ivan Fedorovich Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky.

Ivan Fedorovich Ovchina Telepnev-Obolensky (? - 1539) - prince, boyar (since 1534), then a groom and governor in the reign of Vasily III Ivanovich and Ivan IV Vasilyevich. Favorite of Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya, second wife of Grand Duke Vasily III. He enjoyed great influence on Elena, and as a result, on state affairs.
Son of Prince Fyodor Vasilievich Telepnya-Obolensky.

According to the historian of the era of Ivan the Terrible, Ruslan Skrynnikov, Prince Ivan Fedorovich, who was granted the high rank of equestrian by Vasily III for military merits, became in fact the head of the Boyar Duma. But, dying, Vasily III did not include him in the special guardianship (regency) council and, thus, the equerry was removed from government, which, of course, offended the young commander and became the reason for rapprochement with Elena Glinskaya. The widow of Grand Duke Vasily III was born and raised in Lithuania and had a strong character, the Moscow tradition did not provide for the political significance of the widow of the deceased sovereign, then the ambitious young Grand Duchess decided on a coup d'état and found her main ally in the face of a disgruntled equerry.

As a result of the coup, Elena Vasilievna became the ruler of the state. The elimination (exile or imprisonment) of the guardians-regents appointed by Vasily III also followed. The first to suffer was the eldest of the then living brother of the late Grand Duke Vasily, Yuri, the appanage prince Dmitrovsky. He was accused of calling back to his service some of the Moscow boyars and thinking of taking advantage of Ivan Vasilievich's infancy in order to seize the Grand Duke's throne. Yuri was captured and imprisoned, where he was said to have starved to death. A relative of the Grand Duchess, Mikhail Glinsky, was also captured and died in prison. Ivan Fedorovich Belsky and Ivan Mikhailovich Vorotynsky were imprisoned. Prince Semyon Belsky and Ivan Lyatsky fled to Lithuania.

The younger uncle of the sovereign, Prince Andrei Ivanovich Staritsky, tried to enter into a fight with Moscow. When in 1537 Elena demanded him to Moscow for a meeting on Kazan affairs, he did not go, citing illness. They did not believe him, but sent a doctor who did not find a serious illness in the prince. Seeing that his relationship with Elena was escalating, Prince Andrei Ivanovich decided to flee to Lithuania. With the army, he moved to Novgorod; some Novgorodians stuck to him. A detachment under the command of the voivode Buturlin came out against Prince Andrei from Novgorod, and from Moscow - under the command of Prince. Sheepskin-Telepnev-Obolensky.

It didn't come to a battle. Prince Andrei entered into negotiations with Ovchina-Telepnev, and the latter took an oath that if Prince. Andrey will go to confess to Moscow, then he will remain safe and sound. Ovchiny-Telepnev's oath was violated: he was declared feigned disgrace for arbitrarily given a promise, and Prince Andrei was sent into exile, where he died a few months later. Sigismund I thought to take advantage of the infancy of Ivan IV in order to regain the Smolensk region.

His troops were at first successful, but then the advantage went over to the side of the Russians; their advanced detachments under the command of Ivan Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky reached Vilna. In 1537 a five-year truce was signed. At the end of the reign of Elena Glinskaya, Ovchin-Telepnev-Obolensky was the most important adviser to the ruler and continued to bear the title of equerry.

On April 3, 1538, the ruler Elena Vasilievna died suddenly. On the seventh day after her death, Telepnev-Ovchina-Obolensky and his sister Agrafena were captured. Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky died in prison from lack of food and the severity of the chains, and his sister was exiled to Kargopol and tonsured a nun. The horseman was overthrown by one of the regents - Prince Vasily Shuisky-Nemoy, an old and experienced commander, who, with the rank of Moscow governor, took the vacant position of the actual ruler of the state.
In 1533 Vasily III died. His last will was to transfer the throne to his son, and he ordered “to his wife Olena with the boyar council” to “keep the state under his son” Ivan until he matured. The real power in the state was in the hands of Glinskaya as a regent. A strong temper and ambition helped her to defend her position, despite several boyar conspiracies aimed at overthrowing her. During the years of her reign, her favorite continued to play a significant role in public affairs - Prince. I.F. Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky and Metropolitan Daniel (a student of Joseph Volotsky, a fighter against non-possessors), who sanctioned the divorce of Vasily III from the childless Solomonia Saburova.
Glinskaya's foreign policy as regent was firm and consistent. In 1534 the Lithuanian king Sigismund started a war against Russia, attacked Smolensk, but lost. According to the armistice of 1536–1537, Chernigov and Starodub lands were assigned to Moscow, although Gomel and Lyubech remained with Lithuania. In 1537 Russia concluded an agreement with Sweden on free trade and benevolent neutrality.
During the reign of Glinskaya, a successful struggle was waged against the growth of monastic landownership, a lot was done to strengthen the centralization of power: in December 1533, the inheritance of Prince Yuri Ivanovich of Dmitrovsky was liquidated, in 1537 - the old inheritance of Prince Andrei Ivanovich, conspiracies of princes Andrei Shuisky and the uncle of the ruler Mikhail Glinsky were revealed , claiming first places in government. Uncle, Mikhail Glinsky, was imprisoned for dissatisfaction with her favorite Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky.
She did not enjoy the sympathy of either the boyars or the people as a woman not of Moscow, but rather of European morals and upbringing.
However, in the five years of her regency, Elena Glinskaya managed to do as much as not every male ruler manages to accomplish during the entire period of his reign.

Glinskaya's government was constantly engaged in intricate intrigues in the field of international diplomacy, trying to gain the "top" in rivalry with the Kazan and Crimean khans, who felt like masters on Russian soil half a century ago. Princess Elena Vasilievna herself negotiated and, on the advice of loyal boyars, made decisions.
In 1537, thanks to her far-sighted plans, Russia concluded an agreement with Sweden on free trade and benevolent neutrality.

The domestic policy of Elena Glinskaya was also very active.
Reflecting the actions of the feudal authorities, maneuvering between various groups of feudal lords, the government of Elena Glinskaya continued to pursue a course towards strengthening the grand ducal power. It limited the tax and judicial privileges of the church, put under its control the growth of monastic agriculture, and forbade buying land from serving nobles.

During the reign of Glinskaya, the reorganization of local self-government (“lip reform”) also began: Elena ordered that cases be removed from the jurisdiction of the governors and transferred to the governors and “beloved heads” subordinate to the Boyar Duma, since the governors, as she was reported, were “fierce, like a Lviv ". Guba (lip - administrative district) letters were introduced.
In addition, the government of Elena Glinskaya is taking measures to strengthen the army, build new and reorganize old fortresses. This largely anticipated the future reforms of Glinskaya's son, Ivan the Terrible.

Like Princess Olga, who founded in the tenth century. many new settlements, Elena Vasilievna ordered the construction of cities on the Lithuanian borders, the restoration of Ustyug and Yaroslavl, and in Moscow in 1535 Kitay-gorod was founded by the builder Peter Maly Fryazin.

Emigrants from other countries reached out to wealthy Muscovy; 300 families left Lithuania alone.
From 1536, on the orders of Glinskaya, they began to rebuild and fortify the cities of Vladimir, Tver, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Kostroma, Pronsk, Balakhna, Starodub, and later - Lyubim and cities on the western borders (protection from Lithuanian troops), southern (from the Crimean Tatars) and eastern ( from the Kazan Tatars: in particular, the cities of Temnikov and Buigorod were founded).

One of the most significant events in the economic and political development of the Russian state was the monetary reform of 1535, which eliminated the rights of specific princes to mint their own coins. The reform led to the unification of monetary circulation in the country, as it introduced a single monetary system for the entire state. It was based on a silver ruble, equal to 100 kopecks.

Under Elena Glinskaya, the main and most common monetary unit of Muscovite Rus became precisely the “penny” - a coin with the image of a horseman (according to some sources - George the Victorious, according to others - the Grand Duke, but not with a sword, as before, but with a spear, hence the name of the coin). This was a silver penny weighing 0.68 g; one fourth of a penny is a penny.
This was a significant step towards stabilizing the Russian economy. The monetary reform of Glinskaya completed the political unification of the Russian lands and in many ways contributed to their more intensive development, as it contributed to the revival of the economy.
Elena Glinskaya opened wide prospects. She was young, energetic, full of ideas...

But on the night of April 3-4, 1538, Elena Glinskaya died suddenly (according to some sources, she was only thirty years old, but the exact date of birth is unknown, so her age is also unknown). The chronicles do not mention her death. Foreign travelers (for example, S. Herberstein) left messages that she was poisoned.

The reforms of Elena Glinskaya were carried out in conditions when the young united Russian state was changing its way of life, abandoning the outdated orders of the fragmentation period.

Personality of Elena Glinskaya

In 1533, Grand Duke Vasily III died suddenly. His first wife was never able to bear him a child. Therefore, quite shortly before his death, he concluded his own despite the fact that it was contrary to church rules. His second wife was Elena Glinskaya. As in any monarchy, in the Moscow principality, in the absence of an heir, the question of the succession of power sharply arose. Because of this, the personal life of the ruler became an invariable part of public life.

Elena gave birth to Vasily two sons - Ivan and Yuri. The eldest of them was born in 1530. At the time of his father's death, he was only three years old. Therefore, a regency council was assembled in Moscow, which included boyars from various influential aristocratic families.

Board of Elena Glinskaya

Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya, the mother of the young prince, stood at the head of the state. She was young and full of energy. According to law and tradition, Elena was supposed to transfer power to her son when he reached the age of majority (17 years).

However, the regent died suddenly in 1538 at the age of 30. Rumors circulated in Moscow that she had been poisoned by the Shuisky boyars, who wanted to seize all power in the council. One way or another, but the exact causes of death have not been clarified. Power for another decade passed to the boyars. It was a period of unrest and excesses, which influenced the character of the future king.

Nevertheless, in the short period of her reign, Elena managed to implement many state changes that were designed to improve life within the country.

Prerequisites for monetary reform

In 1535, an unprecedented transformation of the monetary system began, initiated by Elena Glinskaya. Reforms have been needed for decades. Under Ivan III and Vasily III, it annexed many new sovereign territories of Pskov, the Ryazan principality, etc.). Each region had its own currency. Rubles differed in denomination, coinage, share of precious metals, etc. While the specific princes were independent, each of them had his own mint and determined the financial policy.

Now all the scattered Russian lands were under the jurisdiction of Moscow. But the mismatch of money led to the complication of interregional trade. Often, the parties to the transaction simply could not settle among themselves due to the discrepancy between their coins. This chaos could not remain without consequences. Counterfeiters were caught all over the country, who flooded the market with low-quality fakes. There were several methods of their work. One of the most popular was circumcision of coins. In the 1930s, the amount of low-quality money became threatening. The execution of criminals did not help either.

The essence of the changes

The first step towards correcting the financial situation was to be a ban on the monetary regalia (the right to mint) of the former free appanages, on whose territory their own mints existed. The essence of the monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya - the whole

At this time, the number of European merchants increased, who happily traveled to trade in the markets of Muscovy. There were many goods rare for Western buyers (furs, metals, etc.) in the country. But the growth of trade was hampered by the turmoil with counterfeit coins within the Moscow principality. The monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya was supposed to correct this situation.

Continuation of the policy of Basil III

It is interesting that measures to change the monetary policy were discussed even under Vasily III. The prince led an active foreign policy (fought with Lithuania, Crimea, etc.). The cost of the army was reduced due to the deliberate deterioration of the quality of coins, in which the proportion of precious metals decreased. But Vasily III died prematurely. Therefore, the monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya took place in unexpected circumstances. The princess successfully coped with her task in a short time. This can only be explained by the fact that she was an active assistant in Vasily's affairs when he was still alive. That is why Elena Glinskaya was aware of all the cases and the necessary measures. The confusion inside and the regency council could not prevent the young ruler.

Reform implementation

In February 1535, a decree on changes in monetary circulation was announced in Moscow. Firstly, all old coins that had been minted up to that day became invalid (this applied to both low-grade fakes and coins of the corresponding quality). Secondly, new money was introduced weighing a third of a gram. For the convenience of small calculations, they also began to mint coins twice as light (0.17 grams). They were called polushki. At the same time, the word of Turkic origin "money" was officially fixed. Initially, it was distributed among the Tatars.

However, there were also reservations that provided for the monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya. In short, some exceptions were introduced for Veliky Novgorod. It was this city that was the merchant capital of the principality. Merchants from all over Europe came here. Therefore, for ease of calculation, Novgorod coins received their own weight (two-thirds of a gram). They depicted a rider armed with a spear. Because of this, these coins began to be called kopecks. Later this word spread throughout Russia.

Consequences

It is difficult to overestimate the benefits brought by the reforms of Elena Glinskaya, which are very difficult to describe briefly. They helped the country move to a new stage of development. A unified monetary system facilitated and accelerated trade. Rare goods began to appear in distant provinces. The food shortage has decreased. Merchants grew rich and invested their profits in new projects, raising the country's economy.

The quality of coins minted in Moscow has improved. Among European merchants, they began to be respected. The country's foreign trade was activated, which made it possible to sell rare goods abroad, which gave a significant profit to the treasury. All this was facilitated by the reforms of Elena Glinskaya. The table shows the main features of these transformations not only in the financial, but also in other spheres of society.

lip reform

Princess Elena Glinskaya, whose reforms did not end with finances, also began to change the system of local government. The change in the borders of the state under her husband led to the fact that the old internal administrative division became ineffective. Because of this, the lip reform of Elena Glinskaya began. It concerned local government. The adjective "labial" comes from the word "ruin". The reform also covered criminal justice in the province.

According to the innovation of the princess, labial huts appeared in the country, in which labial elders worked. Such bodies were to begin work in each volost city. The labial elder could conduct a trial over the robbers. This privilege was taken away from the feeders, who appeared during the growth of the Moscow principality. The boyars who lived outside the capital became not just governors. At times their power was too dangerous for the political center.

Therefore, the transformations in local self-government began, initiated by Elena Glinskaya. The reforms also introduced new territorial districts (lips), which corresponded to the territory that was under the jurisdiction of the lip elders. It was a division according to criminal jurisdiction. It did not cancel the usual volosts, which corresponded to the administrative boundaries. The reform began under Elena and continued under her son Ivan. In the 16th century, the borders of the lips and volosts coincided.

Changes in local government

The elders were chosen from local boyars. They were controlled by the Duma, which met in the capital, as well as the Rogue Order. This governing body was in charge of criminal cases of robberies, robberies, murders, as well as the work of prisons and executioners.

The division of powers between the local administration and the judiciary made it possible to increase the efficiency of their work. The position of a lip kisser also appeared. He was elected from among wealthy peasants and had to help the headman in his work.

If the criminal case could not be considered in the lab hut, then it was sent to the Robbery order. All these innovations have been brewing for a long time, but they appeared precisely at the time when Elena Glinskaya ruled. The reforms have made it safer for merchants and travelers to travel on the roads. The new system came in handy in the improvement of the Volga lands, annexed at the time (Kazan and Astrakhan khanates).

Also, the mouth huts helped the authorities to fight against anti-government protests among the peasantry. As mentioned above, the reform was necessary not only to change local government, but also to combat feeding. The abandonment of this outdated practice occurred a little later, when, under the successors of Elena, they began to update the Zemstvo legislation. As a result, over time, the appointed governors were replaced by elected ones, who knew their volost better than the appointees from Moscow.

The work of the labiums

The emergence of labial huts and the beginning of an organized fight against crime were the result of understanding that any violation of the law is not a private matter of the victim, but a blow to the stability of the state. After Elena Glinskaya, the criminal norms were also updated in her son's Code of Laws. Each labial headman received a staff of employees (tsolovalnikov, tenths, etc.). Their number depended on the size of the bay and the number of residential yards within this territorial unit.

If before that the feeders were engaged only in the adversarial and accusatory process, then the elders conducted search and investigative activities (for example, interviewing witnesses, searching for evidence, etc.). It was a new level of legal proceedings, which made it possible to more effectively fight crime. The reforms of Elena Glinskaya became an unprecedented impetus in this sphere of society.

480 years ago, on April 4, 1538, the Grand Russian Princess Elena Glinskaya, wife of Vasily III and mother of Ivan Vasilyevich, suddenly died. The boyar rule, difficult for the Russian state, began.

Elena Glinskaya

The daughter of Prince Vasily Lvovich from the Lithuanian family of the Glinskys and his wife Anna Yakshich, who was from Serbia, the daughter of a Serbian governor. She was born around 1508 (the exact date of birth is not known).

Elena's uncle, Prince Mikhail Lvovich, was a major statesman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia. After the defeat of the Glinsky rebellion, he fled with his relatives to Moscow. Among the refugees was young Elena. According to legend, the Glinskys descended from Mamai, "whom Dmitry Ivanovich beat on the Don." Prior to their exile, the Glinskys owned cities and lands on the territory of present-day Left-Bank Ukraine.

In 1526, Elena became the second wife of Vasily III, Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus'. By his first marriage, he was married to Solomonia from the ancient and noble family of the Saburovs. But the sovereign decided to divorce her, because of her infertility. After twenty years of marriage, Solomonia never gave birth. Basil was very concerned about this fact, as he opposed his brothers or their possible sons becoming contenders for the throne. The decision to divorce was supported by the Boyar Duma and part of the clergy.

In 1525, with the approval of Metropolitan Daniel, Vasily III divorced Solomonia. Such a divorce with the forced exile of the wife to the monastery was the first in Rus'. In November 1525, Solomonia was tonsured at the Moscow Mother of God-Nativity Monastery under the name Sophia. Later, Solomonia was transferred to the Intercession Monastery in the city of Suzdal, which she had previously supported as a Grand Duchess. There is a legend that Solomonia was pregnant during the tonsure and already in the monastery she gave birth to a boy, George.

Vasily chose Elena Glinskaya as his wife not only for political reasons. According to historians, the swiftness of the divorce and the wedding itself testified that the Russian sovereign liked the young princess very much. Chronicles call the only reason why the Grand Duke chose Elena: "beauty for the sake of her face and good looks." The prince fell in love with a young and intelligent beauty. Elena, in comparison with Solomonia, according to the Moscow boyars, was rootless. Among Elena's opponents were Simeon Kurbsky and relatives of the Grand Duchess Solomonia - the Saburovs, the Godunovs. But she was beautiful, young, brought up in a European way, well educated (she knew German and Polish, spoke and wrote Latin), which made her stand out sharply from among Russian women. For the sake of a beautiful young wife, Prince Vasily himself “younger”, even shaved his beard (which was not welcomed in Rus' then). In 1530, the long-awaited son Ivan (in the future - Ivan the Terrible) was born to the princely couple, and later the son Yuri, who, as it turned out later, was sickly.

It is worth noting that in Rus' already during this period an elite opposition was taking shape to the course of sovereigns to strengthen autocratic power. Vasily III continued the line of his father Ivan III to strengthen the central (autocratic) power. Not everyone liked it. The top of the Russian aristocracy was Shuisky, Kurbsky, Kubensky, Rostov, Mikulinsky, Vorotynsky and others. Until relatively recently, their ancestors were independent princes - Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Rostov, Tver, etc. The rulers of independent states. Moreover, they came from the older branches of the Rurik family, and the Moscow grand dukes - from the younger. There were also persons related by kinship with the Grand Duke himself. So, a noble defector from Lithuania, Prince Belsky, Ivan III married his sister's daughter; the baptized Kazan prince Peter was married to the sister of Vasily III, and Mstislavsky, a native of Lithuania, was married to his niece. The Grand Duke also had four brothers: Yuri Dmitrovsky, Simeon Kaluga, Dmitry Uglichsky and Andrey Staritsky. According to the will of Ivan III, they received specific principalities. Two of them, Simeon and Dmitry, by the 1520s. left for another world, but Yuri and Andrei retained vast possessions, their own courts and troops. As the closest relatives of the sovereign, they were forgiven what was not forgiven to others. However, they were dissatisfied, they wanted more - power, land, wealth. If Tsar Vasily had been left without an heir, then Yuri Dmitrovsky or Andrey Staritsky would have taken the Moscow throne.

Many representatives of the aristocracy considered their position to be not much lower than the sovereign, they were dissatisfied with the current situation, they were not averse to “correcting” it. They behaved independently, often failed the instructions of the sovereign. But the high position allowed them to avoid the deserved punishment. The main temptation for a number of representatives of the aristocracy was a return to the former order of feudal fragmentation or to introduce orders similar to the Polish or Lithuanian ones. There, the magnates could dictate their will to the monarchs and rule uncontrollably in their domains. They envied the willfulness and independence of the Polish-Lithuanian aristocracy, their "freedoms". It is clear that the western neighbors of Rus' and Rome tried to use these sentiments to subjugate the Russian land, destroy the "Orthodox heresy" and seize Russian wealth. That is, the situation was rather shaky. Illness, death, the absence of an heir could immediately destroy the autocracy and the centralized state that was taking shape in Rus', serve as the beginning of internecine strife and unrest. And all this in very difficult foreign policy conditions, when Rus' was surrounded by strong enemies in all strategic directions.

Vasily severely suppressed the tendencies towards the renewal of the fragmentation of Rus'. He finally deprived Pskov of independence. The reason was the complaints of the local poor about the oppression of the nobility and the rich, who crushed the veche democracy. In turn, the local nobility and merchants complained about the Grand Duke's governor. Vasily ordered to cancel the veche. The veche bell was removed and sent to Novgorod. Vasily arrived in Pskov and treated him in the same way as his father did with the Novgorod Republic in 1478. 300 of the most noble families of the city were resettled in Moscow lands, and their villages were given to Moscow service people.

Then came the turn of the Ryazan land. Ryazan has long been listed as Moscow's "handmaids". There, under the young prince Ivan, his mother ruled, who obeyed Moscow and received her support. But the boy grew up and decided to enter into an alliance with the Crimean Khanate. This led to a new civil strife, the collapse of the defensive system in the south, opened the way for the Crimean robbers into the depths of Rus'. In 1517, Vasily called the Ryazan prince Ivan Ivanovich to Moscow and ordered him to be taken into custody. They guarded him poorly, so he fled to Lithuania. Ryazan inheritance was liquidated.

In 1523, Vasily Shemyakin, the specific prince of Seversk, was arrested, caught in a secret connection and correspondence with Lithuania. For various reasons, Chernigov, Rylsk and Starodub princes were deprived of their sovereign rights. The processes of centralization of the Russian state were natural, but increased the number of those dissatisfied with Moscow's policies. Opposition moods persisted in Novgorod and Pskov, despite the defeat of the local boyars. The local nobility, including the new one, and the merchants remembered the former "freedoms". Foreigners sought connections with them, tried to use them to their advantage.

Sovereign Vasily and the people who supported him, including part of the clergy, decided to take emergency measures in order to maintain autocratic power and not give the throne to Yuri or Andrei. Hence such an extraordinary and unprecedented decision - a divorce from his wife.

Vasily's family happiness was short-lived; in the fall of 1533, the sovereign caught a cold while hunting and fell seriously ill. On his deathbed, he blessed his son Ivan for a great reign and handed him the "scepter of great Rus'", and he ordered his "wife Olena with boyar advice" "to hold the state under his son until his son matures." Obviously, Vasily was very much afraid for the fate of his wife and son. Before his death, he forced the brothers to repeat the oath to Prince Ivan (the first time he took an oath from them in 1531). He urged the boyars to "keep watchful" of his son and state. He especially asked Mikhail Glinsky for the child and Elena "to shed her blood." Vasily felt a threat to his son and autocracy.

1526 Vasily III, Grand Duke of Moscow, introduces his bride, Elena Glinskaya, into the palace. Painting by Claudius Lebedev

Helena's reign

The regency council under the child-sovereign included Andrei Staritsky, boyar Zakharyin-Yuriev, princes Mikhail Glinsky, Vasily and Ivan Shuisky, Mikhail Vorontsov and governor Tuchkov. Obviously, Emperor Vasily wanted to unite representatives of various boyar clans in the council. However, intrigue began almost immediately.

The first conspiracy was organized by Yuri Dmitrovsky. Vasily did not trust his brother, an accomplice in the old Shuisky conspiracy, and did not even include him in the regency council. The conspirators believed that the oath to the Grand Duke was invalid. Andrei Shuisky joined the conspiracy. But the plot was exposed. At the beginning of 1534, Prince Yuri with his boyars and Andrei Shuisky were arrested. Two years later he died in prison, his lot was liquidated. The boyars did not protest against the imprisonment of their brother, as did his brother Andrey Staritsky. He was on the winning side. Now the role of the closest candidate for the throne passed to him. Moreover, he still wanted to profit at the expense of his brother's lot. However, Elena refused to grant his request. In compensation, she gave Andrei a large number of gifts.

We know little about Elena Glinskaya. The chroniclers gave extremely sparse descriptions of Russian figures, usually recording only events. From them we know only about the beauty of the princess. But the facts of her reign indicate that she was also very smart. It is not surprising that she became the first real ruler of the Russian state after Grand Duchess Olga. Probably, Grand Duke Vasily, dying, did not think about such a possibility. Therefore, he tried to strengthen his wife and son with regents, relatives and the church. But she became a real ruler and handled the burden of power quite well. The hostile relations that developed between the regency council and the Boyar Duma, as well as various boyar groups, played in its favor. The Duma was a legal, well-established body, and the boyars painfully accepted the rise of the seven guardian regents appointed at the bedside of the dying. Helena played on these contradictions by pursuing her decisions.

In addition, the princess found herself a reliable military support. Her favorite was Ivan Fedorovich Ovchina Telepnev-Obolensky. An experienced commander who distinguished himself in battles with Lithuania, Crimea and Kazan. So, in 1530, Prince Obolensky was appointed the first governor of the regiment of the right hand in the equestrian army during a campaign against the Kazan Khanate under the command of the boyar Prince Mikhail Glinsky. He punched a hole in the city wall, the first to burst into the suburbs of the capital of the khanate. Only the criminal inaction of the chief governors saved Kazan from falling. In 1533, during the next Crimean invasion, Prince Telepnev-Obolensky once again distinguished himself and the Grand Duke granted him the highest rank of equestrian and sent him to the province in Kolomna. His sister Agrippina (Agrafena) Chelyadnina became the mother (teacher) of Prince Ivan (the future tsar). After the death of the Grand Duke, the still young princess and the dashing commander, who always commanded the advanced units in the war, was in the thick of things, agreed.

Interestingly, the mother of Ivan the Terrible, as well as himself, tried harder to denigrate foreigners, domestic Western liberals, starting with the Freemason-historian Karamzin. They accused Yuri Dmitrovsky and Andrey Staritsky of persecuting "innocent" people. They inflated the "criminal relationship" of Elena with Prince Ivan Fedorovich. However, in that era, this connection was not "criminal." The woman, a widow, needed support and help, and received it. Therefore, the church, which at that time was not afraid to say its word, did not protest. In addition, there is no evidence that the empress gave her favorite fiefdoms, awards and money. Moreover, Obolensky did not even become the chief governor. He conceded the command of the representative of the oldest and most noble families, as it was, and was content with the secondary position of the commander of the advanced regiment.

Grand Duchess Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya ruled the Russian state from 1533. The ruler was not popular with either the people or the boyars. Known for financial reform and the end of the Russo-Lithuanian war.

Childhood and youth

Princess Elena was born in the family of Vasily Lvovich Glinsky (nicknamed "Dark") and Anna Yakshich in 1508. The exact date of birth is not preserved in the annals. Glinskaya's uncle on his father's side was a major government official in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but after the rebellion he fled to Moscow with his whole family. Legends say that the Glinsky family originates from.

The girl grew up as a stately red-haired beauty. She studied languages, the political structure of the country, painting and art. In 1526, Elena became the bride and wife of the Russian Grand Duke, who divorced his first wife because of her infertility.

Governing body

In 1533, Elena Glinskaya became a widow and made a revolution in the country. The princess took power from everyone whom her husband had appointed regents before his death. He ordered his wife to protect the state until his eldest son grows up, but he did not entrust power to a woman.

Elena banned the purchase of land from service people and increased control over the monastic lands. So the princess decided to fight dishonest boyars who wanted to increase their territories at any cost. Glinskaya waged a tough fight against the princes and boyars, who were against the central government. The woman wanted to give her son a calm, submissive and prosperous country.

The main assistant to Elena Vasilievna was Prince Ivan Fedorovich Ovchina Telepnev-Obolensky. There were rumors that they had an affair, despite the fact that the man was married to the daughter of Prince Osip Andreevich Dorogobuzhsky.

Prince Ivan Fedorovich could easily influence Elena, and therefore all the affairs of the Russian state. The subjects were dissatisfied with the arrogant behavior of the favorite, the fact that he did not hide his status.

Elena Vasilievna was strict with those who allowed themselves to publicly speak out badly in the direction of the ruling princess or Prince Ivan Fedorovich. They were punished. So Glinskaya put her uncle Mikhail Glinsky behind bars. He went to prison after the woman found out that Mikhail was talking about Telepnev-Obolensky. There my uncle died of starvation.

In 1537, Elena Glinskaya concluded a peace treaty with the Polish king Sigismund I. She achieved favorable conditions for the country with the help of a professional and cohesive army. The king understood that this was the best that he would get from this war, which devastated the treasury of Poland.

During the reign of the princess, many defensive structures appeared. One of them is the Kitaigorod wall. It was built in three years in order to protect Moscow from the raids of the Crimean Tatars. To our time, the wall has not survived.

The most important of the reforms of Princess Glinskaya is the monetary one. Elena Glinskaya introduced a single monetary currency on the territory of the Russian state - a silver coin weighing 0.34 g. One quarter of this coin was called a "polushka". The Grand Duke was minted on the coin on horseback and with a spear in his hands. All counterfeit coins were confiscated and melted down into original ones. This reform has made a significant contribution to strengthening the country's economy.

Elena was in power for a short time (five years), but managed to lay the foundation for the reign of her son Ivan. So, the woman began lip reform. She ordered the lands to be taken away from the governors and transferred to the labial elders and "beloved heads" who were subordinate to the Boyar Duma.

All these years, the growing Ivan the Terrible watched the reign of his mother and drew his own conclusions. The boy was raised by his grandmother Anna Yakshich. Looking at the struggle for power between the boyar families and the boyar rule itself, Ivan became cruel, harsh and secretive. He understood that such feuds lead to the decline of the state and theft from the treasury.

Ivan was the only contender for the throne, since his father himself, before his death, gave him the "scepter of great Rus'." The second son of Elena and Vasily Ivanovich was deaf and dumb and "simple in mind", as they say in the surviving annals. He did not compete with his brother in the struggle for power.

Death

Princess Elena Glinskaya died on April 4, 1538. Some historians claim that there is evidence that the Shuisky boyars poisoned the woman. Studies conducted centuries after the death of the princess indicate the presence of rat poison in the body. However, this version is not considered the main one, because in those days mercury was often used for the production of cosmetics, which could cause death. Elena constantly emphasized her beauty, including a thick layer of cosmetics.

The ruler of the Russian state was buried in the Kremlin, in the Ascension Convent. After her death, the remains were collected dozens of times by scientists in order to learn more about the princess. A portrait of a woman was drawn from the bones of her skull.

If at the beginning of the reign, the citizens of the country treated the foreigner who seized power with caution, then five years later they fell in love with her. They noted the strengthening of the protection of state borders, financial stability and the weakening of the power of the boyars.

Memory

• 1945 - The film "Ivan the Terrible"
• 1999 - Reconstruction of the appearance of Elena Glinskaya
• 2009 - TV series "Ivan the Terrible"