The proceedings of the Stoglav also included a speech by the tsar which presented the court feuds of Ivan's minority in a favourable light to the dynasty. In his speech, Ivan recalled his childhood as a period of revolt and blamed the boyars for seizing power and eliminating his uncles.[80] Since the extant text of Ivan's speech has been edited, it is not easy to determine who personally was behind this attempt to absolve Elena Glinskaia of any responsibility for the deaths of Iurii of Dmitrov and in particular of Andrei of Staritsa. Nevertheless, the speech can be seen as Ivan's contribution to the reinterpretation of recent dynastic history. The utilisation of personal information about Ivan's early years and about his closest relatives for ideological purposes at least required his sanction. Furthermore, it is very likely that Ivan participated in the compilation of the speech, since its original text was written, according to the surviving documents of the council, in Ivan's own hand or was signed by him.[81] There was a tradition of literacy in the royal family, and so the evidence of Ivan's involvement in the preparation of the speech is highly plausible.[82]
Makarii's model of harmony between the ruling family and the Church, however, was not always as effective as at the Stoglav. In 1553, a dynastic crisis broke out when Ivan was seriously ill and ordered his boyars to swear an oath of allegiance to his infant son Dmitrii. The crisis, which was highly reminiscent of the last days of Vasilii III, caused quarrels between various groups of courtiers, some of whom considered Vladimir of Staritsa, son of the late Andrei, a better candidate. It was up to the metropolitan to act as a mediator in the conflict, but Makarii for some reason refrained from any interference.[83]Makarii's involvement in government activities began decreasing from the mid-i550s, apparently due to his ambiguous position during the i553 crisis and active intercession with the tsar on behalf of some of Ivan's courtiers.[84]
A further step in the changing relationship between the monarch and the head of the Russian Church was the obtaining of a sanction for Ivan's title of tsar from the patriarch of Constantinople in the second half of the 1550s. As part of this project, Ivan's ideological advisers prepared new instructions on the ritual of coronation for the tsar's heir, Ivan Ivanovich. Unlike the 1547 coronation masterminded by Makarii, the new version of the ritual included the anointing of the ruler, that is, likening him to Christ. Capitalising on this idea, Ivan soon began treating his subjects, including many Church hierarchs, with unprecedented violence (see below). After Makarii's death in i563, the tsar resolutely deposed and sometimes even executed those metropolitans who did not accept his erratic domestic policy.
The strengthening of the position of the ruler was reflected in the official heraldry and the design of Ivan's coins.[85] In 1560-3, the Church ideologists produced the ImperialBook of Degrees (Stepennaia kniga), a workthat glorified the Muscovite dynasty.[86] Starting from the mid-i560s, Ivan also began promoting the concept ofthe divine nature of his power and his hereditary right to the title of tsar in his letters addressed to the fugitive boyar Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbskii and the rulers of Poland, Sweden and England.[87] In his letters to Kurbskii, Ivan elaborated on the ideas of the Stoglav concerning the danger of boyar rule to the state. He again blamed the boyars for their aspirations to seek power during his minority and made similar accusations against his entourage of the 1550s.
Keenan argues that Ivan was illiterate and never wrote the works attributed to him, but most historians now disagree.[88] Keenan's assumption is based primarily on his controversial study of the correspondence between Ivan and Kurbskii. At the same time, there are other letters of Ivan. Many of them, full of irony, parody and mockery of opponents, have survived in sixteenth- century copies in the archives of the Foreign (Ambassadorial) Chancellery. Keenan fails to offer an alternative attribution for or any cultural explanation of the appearance of these documents. Judging by the excessive formality of Muscovite diplomatic practice, it would be unrealistic to assume that anyone except the tsar could have had enough authority to write such unusual letters to foreign rulers. Though we can hardly trust the romantic stories about Ivan IV's Renaissance library, it is obvious that he was familiar with literary culture. Ivan's treasury included a typical Muscovite selection of Church books, some chronicles, and a Western book of herbal remedies. Contemporary sources show that Ivan frequently borrowed books from clerics and courtiers, read them and also donated books to churches and monasteries.[89]
The 1550s policy of reconciliation had little application to the collateral branches ofthe dynasty. Ivan elevated his family at the expense ofthe Dmitrov and Staritsa lines of the dynasty. The tsar's chancellery promoted the ancient roots of the dynasty by preparing a special list (sinodik) of its members, starting with the medieval princes of Kiev and ending with Ivan's deceased children, to be commemorated by the patriarch of Constantinople.[90] Neither Iurii of Dmitrov nor Andrei of Staritsa was mentioned in the tsar's sinodik, though Ivan did make donations to the monasteries in memory of Iurii.[91] Ivan's attitude to Vladimir of Staritsa was also very circumspect. In the 1550s and 1560s, the tsar regularly involved Vladimir in military campaigns and provided him with experienced foreign architects.[92] At the same time, after the 1553 crisis, the tsar demanded from Vladimir unconditional support for the ruling family, ordered him to reside in Moscow and limited the size of his court.[93] During the 1560s, Ivan increased pressure on the Staritsa family. Many historians have seen Vladimir and Efrosin'ia of Staritsa as leaders of conservative political forces opposing the centralising policy of the tsar, but this interpretation relies too heavily on Ivan's official propaganda. Vladimir did not need to have any political views to arouse Ivan IV's suspicion since distrust of their own kin was typical of pre-modern monarchs. Ivan's relationship with the Staritsa family was a result of his dynastic policy and his own concept of personal power. Equipped with the idea of the divine nature of his authority, Ivan took to extremes the traditional repressive policy of the ruling family towards collateral branches of the dynasty.
Metropolitan Makarii's death in 1563 apparently freed Ivan's hands. Beginning in I564, the tsar several times forced Vladimir of Staritsa to exchange his hereditary possessions, which eventually led to the destruction of the Staritsa apanage (udel). Ivan IV also compelled Vladimir's mother, Efrosin'ia, who was an influential figure at the Staritsa court, to become a nun and peopled Vladimir's court with the tsar's loyalists. In 1569, the tsar accused Vladimir and his family of high treason and poisoned them.48
After the death of his infant son Dmitrii in 1553, Ivan IV paved the way to the throne for his next son, Ivan Ivanovich. The tsar promoted his son in line with the traditions of the royal family, adapting them for the new political and cultural circumstances. Following the lead of Vasilii III, the tsar ordered a helmet for his three-year-old son in 1557, to emphasise the continuity of power within the family (see Plate 12b). At the same time, the inscriptions on the helmet of Ivan Ivanovich included new rhetoric which stressed the piety of the tsar and his son, and Ivan IV's love of God, and exalted Moscow as the capital of the tsardom.49 Together with the heraldic images of double-headed eagles reproduced on the helmet, this rhetoric revealed the new political status of the dynasty and its close association with divine forces. In the early 1560s, the tsar presented his under-age son as a ruler capable of issuing state documents and created a small court for him.50 The heir, however, never became tsar. Ivan IV accidentally killed his son during a brawl on 9 November 1581. Numerous speculations about what caused this accident are unverifiable, but it is clear that the tsar did not intend to kill Ivan Ivanovich.
82
On the literacy of Vasilii III and Andrei of Staritsa, see V V Kalugin,
83
See I. Gralia(Hieronim Grala),
84
See Smirnov,
85
Uspenskii,
86
David B. Miller, 'The Velikie Minei Chetii and the Stepennaia Kniga of Metropolitan Makarii and the Origins of Russian National Consciousness',
87
D. S. Likhachev and Ia. S. Lur'e (eds.),
88
See Edward L. Keenan,
89
For a list of books from the tsar's private treasury, see 'Opis' domashnemu imushch- estvu tsaria Ivana Vasil'evicha, po spiskam i knigam 90 i 91 godov', in
90
S. M. Kashtanov 'The Czar's Sinodik of the 1550s',
92
See