Ivan IV Vasilyevich, known as Ivan the Terrible (August 25, 1530, the village of Kolomenskoye — March 18, 1584, Moscow) — Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533, and the first crowned Tsar of All Russia from 1547. He ruled for 50 years and 105 days — longer than any other head of the Russian state.[1] A number of events in the history of the Nizhny Novgorod land are associated with his name: the Kazan campaigns of 1552 passed through the territory of what is now the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and the victory over the Kazan Khanate led to the distribution of Nizhny Novgorod lands among the campaign's participants and the mass founding of new settlements.
The Kazan Campaigns and the Nizhny Novgorod Land
In 1552, the army of Ivan the Terrible marched on Kazan through the lands of what is now the Nizhny Novgorod Region. On the territory of the present-day Shatkovsky District, soldiers raised earthen burial mounds near the villages of Arkhangelskoe and Korino — to serve as landmarks on the return journey; weapons and military equipment were placed inside the mounds. One of these mounds, known among the local people as a "shikh," was investigated around 1912–1913 by a landowner named Bogodurov. According to available accounts, the army's route also passed through the territory of the present-day Shatkovsky District, where the Arzamas fortress with its fortified line (zasechnaya cherta) was later established, protecting the south of the Nizhny Novgorod land.
In early August 1552, according to legend, the army made its tenth encampment on the Medyanka River: after a spell of foul weather, it suddenly turned warm, and the tsar named the stopping point Tyoply Stanovishche (Warm Encampment). This gave rise to the future village of Tyoply Stan, now known as Sechenovo. According to official records, in that same year of 1552, following the campaign, Vorotynets hereditary estate (votchina) for the military governor (voivode) Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky, although historians have found no documentary confirmation of this date.
The name of the town of Arzamas is linked to a legend about two brothers — Arzay and Masay — who met Ivan the Terrible with gifts and, in his presence, were the first to convert to the Orthodox faith.
The Distribution of Nizhny Novgorod Lands
After the capture of Kazan, the tsar granted the campaign's participants uninhabited Nizhny Novgorod lands. Voivode Mikhail Vorotynsky, for the assault and capture of Kazan, received the rank of boyar, the title of the tsar's servant, and a palace volost near the Volga as a hereditary estate — with villages, arable fields, forests, and beekeeping grounds. Voivode Ivan Vasilyevich Gagin received lands along the Pyana (disambiguation); the settlement he established gave rise to the village of Gagino. According to legend, in 1558 the tsar granted lands in the area of present-day Diveevo to Divey, son of Butakov, from whose name the village's name derives.
Bogorodsk, according to one version, grew out of a settlement of Novgorodians exiled in disgrace by Ivan the Terrible: around three hundred people were resettled along the road between Murom and Nizhny Novgorod.
State Activities
Under Ivan IV, the Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberian khanates were conquered, Bashkiria and part of the Nogai Horde's lands were annexed, and the territory of the Russian state roughly doubled during his reign — from 2.8 to 5.4 million km². Reforms were carried out in military service, the judicial system, and local administration; the Law Code (Sudebnik) of 1550 was compiled; and the convening of Zemsky Sobors began. The second half of his reign was marked by the oprichnina and setbacks in the Livonian War.[1] In 1572, Ivan IV took part in the royal election in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but subsequently renounced his claim to the Polish throne.[1]
Sources
- Wikipedia (ru) — Ivan the Terrible (archive)
Materials from articles used (11)
Lyakhovo, Gaginsky District, Shatkovsky District, Arzamas, Bogorodsk, Diveevo, Sechenovo, Vorotynets, Shatki, Mikhail Vorotynsky, Gagino