A biography of the infamous czar.

Czar Ivan IV (1530-1584), the first Russian ruler to take the title czar, is known as one of the worst tyrants in history, but few people among the general public know how he got such an infamous reputation. Relying on extensive research based heavily on original Russian sources, this definitive biography depicts an incredibly complex man living in a time of simple, harsh realities. Robert Payne, the distinguished author of many historical and biographical works, and Russian scholar Nikita Romanoff, describe in vivid and lively detail Ivan's callous upbringing; the poisoning of his second wife and the murder of his son; his obsession with religion and sin; his predilection for mass murder, evidenced by his massacre of 30,000 citizens of Novgorod; yet his remarkable intelligence as a ruler, supporting the growth of trade and expanding Russia's borders.

Ivan IV, 'the Terrible' (1533-1584), is one of the key figures in Russian history, yet he has remained among the most neglected. Notorious for pioneering a policy of unrestrained terror—and for killing his own son—he has been credited with establishing autocracy in Russia. This is the first attempt to write a biography of Ivan from birth to death, to study his policies, his marriages, his atrocities, and his disordered personality, and to link them as a coherent whole. Isabel de Madariaga situates Ivan within the background of Russian political developments in the sixteenth century. And, with revealing comparisons with English, Spanish, and other European courts, she sets him within the international context of his time. The biography includes a new account of the role of astrology and magic at Ivan's court and provides fresh insights into his foreign policy. Facing up to problems of authenticity (much of Ivan's archive was destroyed by fire in 1626) and controversies which have paralyzed western scholarship, de Madariaga seeks to present Russia as viewed from the Kremlin rather than from abroad and to comprehend the full tragedy of Ivan's reign.

Portrays Ivan the Terrible with his many contradictions: as an outstanding military leader, diplomat, and man of letters, and as a savage and almost insane tyrant. -- Author's introduction.

"A complex dramatic reconstruction of Russian history concerned with the founding in 1905 of one of the earliest soviets, at the textile center of Ivanovo-Voznesensk, the poem widens to take in the reigns of Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Tsar Nicholas II" -- from inside flap.

Traces the role of Ivan the Terrible in Russian history and the thinking of Russian historians, emphasizing the political actions and ideals of the sixteenth-century czar as they have shaped Russia's development through the present

"Ivan the Terrible: the name evokes the legend of a cruel and dangerously insane tyrant. Fearful Majesty explores that legend and exposes the man, his nature, and his time. Benson Bobrick has written the most complete and vivid account to date of Russia under its first world-class leader"--Jacket.