Daughter of the nobleman Alexei Ignatievich Goryainov Koltovsky. The year of her birth is unknown. It is indicated (possibly erroneously) that early orphaned, she was brought up in the family of Prince Andrei Kurbsky.
Martha was married on October 28, already sick, and died on November 13 (two weeks later). Anna, as the "runner-up" at this show, became the next bride. This would be Ivan's fourth marriage, which was not permitted by canon law. The tsar took advantage of the death of Metropolitan Kirill in February 1572 (the new Metropolitan Anthony was installed only in May) and convened a council in Moscow. Karamzin writes that the Novgorod Archbishop Leonid, “a greedy man and a saint of worldly power,” took precedence at the cathedral.
On it, Ivan swore to the clergy that because of the illness of the newlywed Martha and her sudden death, she did not manage to become his wife - the dark forces of the devil "raise up many people who are close to our queen, still maidens, dry land ... and so her evil uchinish poison".
“Evil people have wiped out my first wife, Anastasia, by sorcery,” the tsar wrote in his address. - The second, Princess Cherkasskaya, was also poisoned, and in torment, in torment, she passed away to the Lord. I waited a long time and decided on a third marriage, partly for bodily needs, partly for my children, who had not yet reached their perfect age: their youth hated me to leave the world; and living in a world without a wife is tempting. Blessed by Metropolitan Kirill, I have been looking for a bride for myself for a long time, I felt, finally, I chose; but envy and enmity ruined Martha, only in the name of the Queen: while still in brides she lost her health and after two weeks of marriage she passed away as a virgin. In despair, in sorrow, I wanted to devote myself to the life of the Monk; but, seeing again the pitiful youth of his sons and the State in distress, he dared to marry him for the fourth time. Now, falling down with emotion, I pray to the Saints for permission and blessing, ”said the tsar (in Karamzin's retelling).
The higher clergy, by a special verdict dated April 29, confirmed that the marriage was not consummated, since the married husband did not allow the bride to be virgin. As an exception, for reasons of state, the tsar was allowed the 4th marriage (the following "wives" did not receive such an honor), but a 3-year penance was imposed on him: on Easter, then for a year he had to stand in the church with the “falling down” and for a year with the “faithful”, he could eat the antidor on holidays. "
Luta 7080, Apr. въ 29, the Ruskia of the Metropolis, the Moscow State and the entire Russian land - not by whom the custom is the Archbishops and Bishops, and the Archimandrites and Abbots, and the whole of Osv. The Cathedral was blessed by the Tsar, Tsar and V.K.Iv. You. marry a fourth marriage, past Christ's Gospel, and the Apostles, and the Church of Christ, and the Holy Councils, and the Great and Ecumenical Seven Councils.
The Council emphasized "all mankind" to others that an exception was made only for the tsar: "may (no one) dare to do this, the fourth marriage will be combined"; the rules are damned. "
The date of Ivan's wedding to Anna is not known, and a description of the ceremony has not been preserved either. Obviously, it happened between April 29 (the date of permission) and June 1, that is, in May. As noted by the Novgorod chronicler, already on May 31, Novgorod Archbishop Leonid "sang prayers ... for the great Empress Anna."
In the definition of the Council there was a clause according to which penance is removed from the tsar, "if he goes to war against the infidels for the holy churches and for the Orthodox faith." In early August 1572, the Russian army, led by I.M. Vorotynsky, 45 versts from Moscow, near the village of Molodi, defeated the united Crimean-Nogai Horde. Since the end of May, the tsar was in Novgorod, and the news came to him on the 6th, and on the 7th he defended a thanksgiving prayer service in the St. Sophia Cathedral.
Already on June 1, the tsar with the newlywed arrived in Novgorod, where he wanted to arrange a new residence for himself. It is believed that it was there (June-August 1572) that he compiled a spiritual one, in which he wrote to Anna the city of Rostov "with volosts, and with a path, and from a village, and with all duties", 14 villages "with villages and with all land »In the Moscow, Yuryev-Polsky and Yaroslavl districts, as well as the former estates of the princes Zaozersky-Penkovs.
“And God will give me a son with my wife Anna, and I bless him the city of Coal, and Ustyuzhna (...) with volosts, and with ways, and from the village, and with all the duties. And God will give me a daughter with his wife and Anna, and I bless her, I give the city of Zubtsov with volosts, (...) with all the villages and land. Yes, I bless my wife Anna, I give her the city of Rostov, with volosts, and with roads, and from the village, and with all the duties, but near Moscow the village of Aleshnya, the village of Boltino, the village of Astankovo, and with the attached villages, (...) with all the villages and land ". (Spiritual letter of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich) .
There is, however, an assumption that the will was drawn up after the wedding with his next wife, also Anna - Vasilchikova; and Koltovskaya is not mentioned there as being exiled to a monastery.
The 2nd Novgorod Chronicle has a record that on August 16, on Saturday, "the Orthodox Queen Anna was praying at night in the Church of the Wisdom of God, Sophia, and it was marked by the graves of miracles - Ivan, Archbishop of Navgorotsky, and Nikita, Bishop of Navgorotsky." The next day, the tsarina left Novgorod for Moscow.
The contribution to the Kolomna Spassky monastery, "which is in the settlement behind the bargaining," should be dated to the same period. In the description of his property (for 1577/78). indicates "the image of the archangel Michael, overlaid with silver, the little spider, given according to Anna by Koltovskaya."
The marriage did not last even six months - in September 1572, Queen Anne was removed to a monastery and soon tonsured into a nun with the name "Darius".
The reasons for the disgrace are unknown. The aforementioned imperial envoy Daniel Prince von Buchau writes: "The fourth [wife], the sister of his courtier Koltovsky, I do not know for what reason, he imprisoned in a monastery, killing his brother and his entire family." It is indicated that the queen fell into disgrace after the treason and flight of Prince Kurbsky, but it happened ten years earlier - in 1563-1564. The opinion of L. E. Morozova and B. N. Morozov: “In September, Tsar Ivan divorced Anna Alekseevna Koltovskaya. How he explained his decision is unknown. After all, the tsar could not accuse her of sterility: the marriage lasted only a little over four months. Only one thing is obvious: Koltovskaya very quickly fell out of favor with the monarch. In addition, he could consider her an illegitimate wife, with whom one should not stand on ceremony. "
Skrynnikov writes: “At that time Malyuta was at the zenith of fame. Obviously, the case was not without him, and he contributed to the divorce. Perhaps he was worried about the rapid rise of the new temporary worker, Prince Boris Tulupov. The prince married his sister to the tsar's brother-in-law Grigory Koltovsky, the brother of Tsarina Anna, and thus became related to the autocrat's family. "
The exact date and place of her tonsure are unknown, perhaps not in 1572 (directly in the year of the wedding), but in 1575, which is why there is a discrepancy about the three-year marriage.
In the last years of Tsar Ivan's life (d. 1584), she lived in the Intercession Monastery (Suzdal), where other royal prisoners lived, including Maria Nagaya and the 2nd wife of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich - Theodosius Solovaya. This is known from a fragment of the decree of Tsar Theodore I Ioannovich, indirectly dated 1584-1585. It also says about her desire to move to Goritsy.
From the mid-1580s. she lived in the Resurrection Goritsky Monastery (Goritsy, near Kirillov).
In 1586, the next tsar, his former stepson Fyodor I, was granted lands in the Belozersk district - the village of Nikolskoye. In the diploma she is referred to not only as an "old lady", but also as a "queen and grand duchess."
In 1607, the nun Daria came to the capital, apparently on monastic affairs. The text of the road has been preserved.
On September 14, 1613, the Vvedensky Monastery was burned down by the Swedes, and the nuns, including the nun-queen, according to legend, were hiding in the forest on the banks of Tsaritsyn Lake. Among the documents of the Novgorod clerk hut of 1611-1617 (State Archives of Sweden, Stockholm) there is an extract relating to the years of occupation - it describes a rather poor "salary" for the maintenance of the queen.
Then she was resettled to live in Ustyuzhna-Zhelezopolskaya (near Vologda, halfway between Tikhvin and Goritsy). Daria, and the eldresses who were with her were settled in Gennady's "two cells ... of a black priest" at the Christmas city cathedral, and her confessor - in the distance, where the boyar children, archers and other worldly people lived. According to the tsar's charter, she received "the tsar's annual salary - money and supplies ... from the Ustyuzhsk customs and ist's tavern income, which remains from the archers and archers".
In 1614, in the Ustyuzhny district, she was granted land from the new Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich - the village of Nikiforovo instead of the seized Nikolskoye.
“The tsar’s salary went to me for the annual reserves of money, and that I had income from the patrimony, and we ate it. And after the devastation of Lithuanian and German in the monastery in the temples, and cells, and granaries, and a mill, and a stable yard, and a cow, priest's and service households, and every monastery building with that money was arranged. " Later, her nieces were buried next to her. In 1814, with the blessing of Metropolitan Ambrose (Podobedov) of St. Petersburg and Novgorod, a new tombstone was erected.
The Vvedensky Monastery was closed in 1926, the tomb in the Vvedensky Cathedral (a gym, a martial arts school, a sauna) has not survived.
The monastery kept a copy of the Tikhvin Mother of God - a blessing to Daria to one of the Tikhvin residents, who later returned to the monastery, and two covers on her tomb (one was made of red velvet, covered with ermine).
Daria was venerated in Tikhvin and the surrounding area as a locally revered saint, as an organizer and benefactor of the Vvedensky (Tsaritsyn) monastery. Her memory was celebrated here - on the name day (March 19) and the day of her repose (April 5).
On December 4, 1998, the inhabitants of the Tikhvin Big Assumption Monastery consecrated a worship cross near the altar of the Vvedensky Cathedral. Memorial services are performed in front of him
For Ivan the Terrible, as you might guess, the laws were not written. This time, the tsar chose as his wife Anna Ivanovna Koltovskaya (according to some sources, Anna Alekseevna Koltovskaya). By the way, the question of the name of her father remains open. Prince P.V. Dolgorukov in the "Russian genealogical book" calls her Anna Ivanovna Koltovskaya, but P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky in the "Geographical and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire" - by Anna Alekseevna Koltovskaya. She is also called Anna Alekseevna by N.M. Karamzin.
She, like Martha Sobakina, was a noblewoman - the daughter of a boyar's son from the Kolomna district.
According to some sources, Anna was the daughter of a noble Kashirian nobleman, whose ancestors were Ryazan boyars. But, for example, Professor R.G. Skrynnikov argues that "the Koltovskys were not at all noble nobles."
Henri Troyat is also sure that on April 29, 1572, Ivan the Terrible married a "little girl" and he did it "without a bishop's blessing."
A.A. Bushkov, we read: “In 1572, Grozny leads to the altar a certain Anna Koltovskaya, in relation to whom historians have not yet come to a consensus: either she was the daughter of one of the courtiers, or came from such a thin family that her after the wedding of their daughter, they did not even invite their parents to the court (although the merchants, relatives of Sobakina, came to the court and were awarded ranks). Moreover, even the very fact of Grozny's church wedding with Koltovskaya is being questioned. Anyway, M.V. Lomonosov (and he was much closer to those times than the historians of the subsequent, nineteenth century) still mentions Koltovskaya among the official wives of Grozny. "
Concerning the exact date of L.E. Morozov and B.N. Morozov writes: "The wedding of Ivan IV and Anna took place after April 29, 1572 (on this day he received a marriage license from the consecrated cathedral)."
In fact, Anna Koltovskaya was the great-great-granddaughter of the Ryazan boyar Mikhail Ivanovich Glebov, to whom the Koltovskaya volost in the Kashirsky district was granted “for feeding”. In the 16th and 17th centuries, many Koltovskys were voivods in various cities. For example, Artemy Ivanovich Koltovsky (Bolshoi) was a regimental head, and then a siege commander and governor in Rylsk. In 1583, being the second voivode, he took part in a punitive campaign to Kazan, and two years later he became a voivode in Ryazhsk.
Anna Koltovskaya's father “died in full,” so she was an orphan and had no powerful patrons. In any case, none of her closest relatives had the boyar title.
How did the marriage take place? Ivan Vasilievich ordered the priest to marry himself to Anna, whom he liked. Of course, he did not dare to contradict the autocrat and performed the wedding ceremony.
After that, the king summoned the bishops and addressed them with the following speech:
- Prelates! Evil people witchcraft witchcraft my first wife Anastasia. The second, Princess Cherkasskaya, was also poisoned and in torment and torment went to the Lord. I waited a long time and decided on a third marriage, partly for bodily needs, partly for the sake of my children, who had not yet reached the age of majority. Having received the blessing of the Metropolitan himself, I searched for a bride for myself for a long time, tested it and finally chose, but someone else's envy and enmity ruined Martha too, but she was only a queen in her name. Even as a bride, she lost her health and after two weeks of marriage, she passed away, remaining a virgin. In grief, I wanted to devote myself to the monastic life, but seeing again the pitiful youth of my sons and the misery of the kingdom, I dared to marry for the fourth time. And now I pray you for permission and blessing.
However, everything turned out to be not as simple as we would like.
B.N. Florea in his book “Ivan the Terrible” says: “We learn about all these delicate circumstances from the tsar's appeal to the participants of the Church Council convened at his request. The convening of the Council was caused by the fact that after the death of his third wife, the tsar found himself in a difficult position, especially difficult for such a ruler like Ivan IV, who constantly referred to his deep knowledge of church canons and constantly emphasized his unyielding devotion to Orthodox teaching down to the smallest detail. The fact is that both ecclesiastical law and those who enjoyed the same great authority of establishing Orthodox tsars, condemning the entry of a Christian into a third marriage and imposing punishments on him for this, categorically prohibited the fourth marriage. This ban was specially confirmed by the Church Council of 920, convened in connection with the attempt to enter into the fourth marriage of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI ”.
Now it becomes clear where the version came from that Martha Sobakina was seriously ill even before her marriage to Ivan the Terrible. When asking for permission for a new marriage, the tsar referred to the fact that he allegedly did not allow virginity because of the bride's illness, that is, in fact, he did not enter into marriage. Indeed, what kind of marriage is it without physical intimacy? So, one name ...
A.A. Bushkov writes in this regard: “Grozny turned to the higher clergy for permission to marry again (in those days it was allowed to marry only three times). To make matters easier, Grozny assured that he “did not have time” to exercise his marital rights, and Martha died as a virgin, which makes the third marriage, from the point of view of the tsar, as if “not existed”. Of course, there are strong suspicions that Grozny was cunning about the "unprecedented" marriage. "
Nobody began to delve into how everything was in reality. As a result, on April 29, 1572, the Church Council, by special determination, allowed the tsar to enter into a fourth marriage “for the sake of his warm affection and repentance”.
B.N. Florea says: “A“ penance ”was imposed on the tsar: during the first year he was not allowed to enter the church (he could only be allowed there on Easter), in the second year he was allowed to stand in the church with“ leaning ”- sinners who had to stand the service on his knees, and only in the third year he could stand in church with the believers, and on Easter the confessor could admit him to communion. However, all these regulations were accompanied by an important reservation: "And the sovereign will go against the enemies for the holiness of the Church of God, and he, the sovereign, will be allowed to penance." Since the tsar constantly made campaigns against neighboring states - enemies of the Orthodox faith, he had opportunities to get rid of the established punishments. "
As we can see, having done this, the participants in the Church Council did not show adherence to principles, but resigned themselves to the tsar's will. There is no point in condemning them for this - few dared to resist the will of Ivan the Terrible, and we know how it ended. But even the most minimal restrictions imposed by spiritual hierarchs, the tsar endured, in the words of the famous historian of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Macarius, "only for a very short time." Going to Novgorod, he already on May 31, 1572 listened to the service in the Khutynsky monastery. True, then he was standing at the door of the temple, but already on August 7, he calmly attended the St. Sophia Cathedral at a thanksgiving service for the victory over the Tatars. Later, entering into new marriages, according to the same Metropolitan Macarius, Ivan the Terrible "did all this without any permission from the church authorities and did not even consider it necessary to even ask her for forgiveness and prayers."
However, this is just one version of the events that took place. And there were others, according to which, in the relationship between the tsar and the church, not everything was exactly as Metropolitan Macarius believed. For example, a Jesuit from Mantua, Antonio Possevino, who was in Moscow and tried to persuade Ivan Vasilievich to Catholicism, noted in his Muscovy that the tsar had his own confessor, who accompanied him everywhere. According to the testimony of Antonio Possevino, although the emperor confessed his sins to him every year, he did not take the sacrament, since "it is not allowed to eat the body of Christ to those who are married more than three times."
As you can see, church penances - these spiritual and corrective measures aimed at correcting a person - still did not remain only on paper.
Professor R.G. Skrynnikov states: “The higher clergy, by a special verdict, testified that the third marriage actually did not take place, because the married husband did not allow the bride's virginity. It was officially announced that the queen was poisoned by evil people from the entourage of the sovereign himself: “The devil has raised up many people’s neighbors to enmity against our queen, even in maidens… and this is how the evil uchinisha poison her.” It is not difficult to guess from what source this rumor came. Skuratov inspired the tsar that the lives of members of the tsar's family were again threatened by his enemies - traitors and sorcerers. He again acted as the savior of the dynasty. The death of Martha helped Skuratov to deal with the suspected “close people” of the tsar, in other words, with the old oprichnina leadership ”.
What is typical, so that the marriage lawlessness of the tsar would not have a detrimental effect on the morality of the people and did not become a temptation, the same Church Council issued a decree in which it threatened everyone who dared to enter into a fourth marriage with a curse. In the decree, addressed to "all mankind" from boyars to simple ones, it was said: "May no one dare to marry a fourth marriage," the rules are damned. "
As the saying goes, Quod licet Jovi, non licet bovi (What is allowed to Jupiter is not allowed to the bull).
Biographer of Ivan the Terrible B.N. Florea writes on this occasion: “Obviously, by the time the Tsar made his request to the Council, he already had a new bride in mind. As the Novgorod chronicler noted, already on May 31, Novgorod Archbishop Leonid “sang prayers ... for the great Empress Anna” ...
Simultaneously with these efforts, the tsar was energetically engaged in arranging a residence for himself in Novgorod. For this purpose, the tsar "in peace" visited Novgorod in December 1571. Together with him, his treasury was brought to the city, placed in the basements of several Novgorod churches; 500 archers were assigned to guard the royal chests. The tsar soon left, and in February 1572 the main part of his treasury was delivered to the city on 450 wagons. Again, the tsar arrived in Novgorod on May 31 with his new wife and sons, as well as his favorite singers. Together with the king, his court arrived, in the midst of which, apparently, the search for traitors continued. The Novgorod chronicler noted: “That same summer, the Orthodox Tsar threw many of his boyar children into the Volkhov River, drowning them with a stone.” The tsar spent two months in Novgorod. "
The fourth marriage of Ivan the Terrible, concluded "after April 29, 1572", was, in the opinion of many historians, very successful. Anna Koltovskaya married Ivan Vasilyevich as an eighteen-year-old girl and, according to the concepts of that time, was already "overdone". But on the other hand, all her already formed become (no match for the semblance of the figure of a fifteen-year-old teenage girl) literally breathed passion. Thanks to this, Anna was able to have a significant impact on the formidable king.
She even looked somewhat like Maria Temryukovna. In any case, like the latter, she was distinguished by imperiousness and unbridledness, which - especially after the frail and quiet Martha Sobakina - liked Ivan the Terrible very much. In many ways, Anna resembled Anastasia, and not without her influence, as historians believe, it was in 1572 that the oprichnina ceased to exist.
Anna Koltovskaya was an intelligent, lively and cheerful woman, and these qualities more than compensated for her "art". She managed to distract Ivan the Terrible from endless executions, created an atmosphere of fun and serenity in the palace, and, gathering around her the most beautiful women, ready to dance at any moment and entertaining the sovereign with whatever he wanted, she tried to keep her husband by her side for a longer time. She completely succeeded, and Ivan Vasilyevich spent whole days with the new tsarina. At the same time, Anna was not jealous, looked at the "games" of the crowned spouse calmly, quickly responded to the slightest changes in his mood, met him at the door with deep bows and tried to please in everything. This purely feminine tactic has proven highly successful. Without asking unnecessary questions, never openly interfering in affairs, Anna Koltovskaya nevertheless managed to achieve a lot.
Ivan Vasilyevich spent whole days in the palace half of the tsarina. There, he often received reports from the governors and courtiers, which had not been noticed before. The people closest to the king were forced to recede into the background. Even the "faithful dog" Malyuta Skuratov himself temporarily lost influence, and now the sovereign in the most important cases could only be reached with the help of the women who surrounded Anna.
A clear proof that Ivan the Terrible favored his new wife was his will, written in 1572. According to this document, Anna, in the event of the death of her husband, was to receive an appanage principality with the capital in ancient Rostov, as well as fourteen villages "with villages and all lands."
But the Koltovskys did not take root at court: Ivan Vasilyevich did not even begin to introduce them to the boyars.
According to one version, Anna fought against the oprichin out of revenge on the king. The fact is that the prince Andrei Vorotynsky, her recent chosen one, a man whom she loved very much, was tortured by the guardsmen in one of the Moscow torture chambers. Naturally, this was done at the direction of the king, and the girl had personal scores with him.
Perhaps this is just a coincidence, but it was during the time of Ivan the Terrible's marriage on Koltovskaya that almost all the leaders of the oprichnina were executed or exiled.
No, of course it was not a coincidence. Anna, using her influence on the king, slowly but surely destroyed the people responsible for the terrible death of her beloved. She took revenge for her ruined feeling, but at the same time, without knowing it, she was fighting the whole oprichnina. She was guided by personal revenge, but at the same time it was of great benefit to the whole of Russia, exhausted by the atrocities of the guardsmen. As a result, during the year during which Ivan the Terrible was under Anna's influence, many of those who had raged in murders yesterday, before whom even the most courageous and battle-hardened people trembled, were destroyed. First of all, Prince Afanasy Ivanovich Vyazemsky, the king's favorite, who enjoyed his unlimited confidence, was killed (for example, the sovereign only took medicines prepared by doctors from his hands). He was accused of conducting secret negotiations, plotting to place Novgorod and Pskov under the rule of the Polish king, and died during torture.
Fyodor Basmanov, a recent tsarist favorite, was also killed. According to the testimony of Prince Andrei Kurbsky, Fedor, on the orders of Ivan the Terrible, killed his father, Alexei Danilovich Basmanov. In this case, the king showed the highest degree of inhumanity and cynicism: he said that he would have mercy on the one who was able to kill another. The younger and more agile Fyodor killed his father, but Ivan the Terrible then shouted: "You have betrayed your father, you will betray the king too!"
So there were no three most high-ranking guardsmen. Others followed.
Now the slightest attempts at atrocities on the part of ordinary guardsmen began to be severely punished. One word from Anna Koltovskaya was enough, and the enamored Ivan Vasilyevich, without any trial or investigation, sent to the scaffold people whom he had recently considered his most faithful servants.
Historian Yu.F. Kozlov regrets that “history does little to illuminate the act of this brave woman” and that “somehow her attempts to free Russia from the oprichnina remained in the shadows and unnoticed. But Anna Koltovskaya, on a par with Metropolitan Philip, should be in the same row of fighters against terror. "
It is not surprising that Anna was very popular among the people, but at the court she had the most dangerous enemies. These were formerly influential guardsmen, as well as ... Prince Vorotynsky, the father of her ex-fiancé. Surprisingly, this man sincerely believed that it was because of Anna that his son Andrei was brutally tortured. A very strange conclusion, but the fact remains: Prince Vorotynsky conceived an intrigue worthy of the pen of the great Shakespeare.
The old prince madly hated Anna Koltovskaya, and his train of thought looked something like this: his son died because she aspired to become a queen and, fearing persecution from Andrei, eliminated him.
As a result, Prince Vorotynsky vowed to overthrow the one whom he considered the culprit in the death of his son. He had a nephew, Boris Romodanovsky, a nineteen-year-old fair-haired young man who slightly resembled a woman and more than once, dressed in a woman's dress, captivating young people. This effeminate and not very intelligent handsome man loved adventure, and therefore, when Prince Vorotynsky called him to him, he easily let himself be drawn into an incredible adventure. Almost no one knew Boris in Moscow, and the prince persuaded him to enter the chambers of Anna Koltovskaya under the guise of Irina's hawthorn. There he supposedly had to get into the trust of the queen and gain influence at court. In fact, the prince hoped that the substitution would quickly be revealed and the king would accuse his wife of adultery, and further consequences were easily predictable. Frivolous Boris, without hesitation, agreed.
Prince Vorotynsky introduced "Irina" to the tsar, and he brought "her" into Anna's chambers. At first, everything seemed to go according to plan, but then events, as is usually the case, began to develop in a completely different way. The beauty "Irina" with a gorgeous braid glued on fell in love with the tsar himself, and he gave "her" a pearl necklace.
Boris Romodanovsky was seriously scared, but his uncle reassured him, assuring him that the tsar was so weak from endless excesses that things would not go further than talking. But here he was clearly cunning: if you believe the words of eyewitnesses, Ivan Vasilyevich by that time was still full of strength and energy. But, as they say, the end justifies the means.
And in the evening the tsar's order to make his bed followed, and "Irina", trembling with fear, was taken to Ivan Vasilyevich's bedchamber.
Left alone with the king, the young man, seized with terror, backed away.
- Do not be afraid, my beauty, - said the king, - do not be afraid of me.
And he immediately began stroking Irina's cheeks with his rough hand. Boris Romodanovsky goggled, not daring to argue.
Meanwhile, the king, not accustomed to meeting resistance, pushed him onto the pillows. It happened so unexpectedly that "Irina" screamed and tried to get up, but it was already too late ... No explanation was needed - Ivan Vasilyevich found him himself, and since it turned out to be not at all what he was looking for, his august hands dropped in amazement, but his mouth parted in surprise.
- Oh, you mangy dog! I decided to joke with the tsar ...
A faint wheeze escaped from Boris Romodanovsky's throat, and he, paralyzed by fear, limp helplessly like a sack. Ivan Vasilyevich, meanwhile, picked up a discarded staff from the floor.
- Oh, you smerd! The snout is dung!
Distraught with horror, Boris weakly moved his lips when Ivan Vasilyevich raised his staff, but did not have time to utter a sound. The king squeezed Ohalnik's throat and hit him on the head.
- Get it, mean dog!
The blow came out so strong that it broke Boris Romodanovsky's skull and shattered his nose. Warm blood spattered into the king's face, and his victim began to throw herself back, gasping for air with a twisted mouth. The young man arched, and then calmed down, cringed, wilted, like a fish bladder crushed by a boot.
After that, Ivan Vasilyevich grabbed him by the hair and began to beat his head on the floor. He continued to beat Romodanovsky even when he stopped shouting. He did not stop when a spray of blood scattered over the wall, and a huge pool of blood appeared on the floor. He beat and beat this hated head on the floor, not paying attention to the fact that with each new blow, bloody drops appeared on his face.
Only the servants who ran in, having heard the heartbreaking screams that turned into a wheeze, somehow calmed the formidable king. After that, he rushed to his wife and again swung his deadly staff, slippery with blood, like soap. But he didn’t have time to strike, collapsing in an epileptic seizure.
In fact, this seizure of Ivan Vasilyevich saved the tsarina from instant death, but did not save her from severe punishment. According to R.G. Skrynnikov, "Anna's beauty and freshness was not enough to sit on the throne."
Prince Vorotynsky's crazy plan succeeded: Anna Koltovskaya was accused of conspiracy against the sovereign.
- Burn you in hell for your sins! Anna shouted.
- You will burn yourself, you assassin!
- Tie to a pole or to a rack? - Malyuta Skuratov asked helpfully.
According to Professor R.G. Skrynnikov, “at that time Malyuta was at the zenith of fame. Obviously, the case was not without him, and he contributed to the divorce. "
“A lot of honor,” Ivan Vasilyevich muttered through clenched teeth. - Out of her sight, lewd woman, to the monastery ...
This strange custom of forcible tonsure as a punishment appeared in Russia in the XIV century. He clearly came into conflict with the very idea of monasticism, that is, voluntary seclusion with doom to celibacy and renunciation of all the blessings of the world, but only strengthened in the XV-XVI centuries. To some extent, it can be considered a boon for a disgraced person who was kept alive and hoping for pardon. But this hope was weak, and life was such that sometimes death would be more desirable.
Of course, Anna tried to make excuses. But it's useless. Ivan the Terrible did not want to hear that she had nothing to do with the disguised man in her chambers. Realizing that the excuses were meaningless, she began to resist, so desperately that she had to tie her hands and feet: “Shut your mouth, satanic soul! And if you oppose, we will put you in chains. "
In Kazimir Valishevsky we read: “Ivan's educators indulged his base instincts and insulted his best feelings. Taube and Kruse speak with conviction of his "insidious crocodile heart." Terrible was crafty and angry. As a child, he was offended and mocked at him. Throughout his life, he tried to repay people for these humiliations. Hence his insane passion to mock people when he could not or did not want to torture them in other ways. He experienced a keen delight in confusing them and reveling in the consciousness of his superiority at the sight of their confusion. There was absolutely no pity or sympathy in him. In this way, he reminds Peter the Great. A similar trait developed in both under the influence of similar reasons. Read the lines that Ivan writes to Kurbsky after the victorious campaign: “You wrote that I sent you out of favor to distant cities ... With God's help, we came even further! .. Where did you think to find peace after the labors? In Wolmar? We have already reached there. You had to run away further. "
But the opinion of L.E. Morozova and B.N. Morozova: “In September, Tsar Ivan divorced Anna Alekseevna Koltovskaya. How he explained his decision is unknown. After all, the tsar could not accuse her of sterility: the marriage lasted only a little over four months. Only one thing is obvious: Koltovskaya very quickly fell out of favor with the monarch. In addition, he could consider her an illegal wife, with whom one should not stand on ceremony. Therefore, Anna was tonsured into a nun by the order of the sovereign and sent to distant Tikhvin. "
To the vengeful joy of the guardsmen who were still alive, they were entrusted with delivering the now former queen to the monastery. And they already justified the trust placed in them ... First, Anna was brought to the Resurrection Monastery in the village of Goritsy (in the present-day Vologda Oblast).
Less than a year later, Ivan the Terrible ordered her to be tonsured as a nun under the name of Sister Daria at the Vvedensky Monastery in Tikhvin (in the present Leningrad Region).
Malyuta Skuratov personally supervised the tonsure ceremony.
Early in the morning a covered wagon drove up to the Tikhvin monastery, tightly surrounded by horse guardsmen. The heavy gates of the monastery swung open, and a couple of minutes later the carriage stopped in front of the temple. The guardsmen dismounted, and Malyuta Skuratov gave several abrupt orders.
A young woman was pulled out of the cart, her head wrapped in a fur coat. Four guardsmen carried her into the church and there they put her in a chair prepared in advance. The fur coat was thrown off her, and the nuns saw that the woman was bound hand and foot. It was obvious that the unfortunate woman resisted and arrived at the monastery clearly not of her own free will.
The service began, but the woman (and this was Anna Koltovskaya) remained indifferent to everything that was happening. And suddenly a terrible cry echoed through the temple: “I don’t want to! Damn you: I am the queen! You don't dare! "
Anna was hysterical. Malyuta Skuratov, who was standing next to her, grabbed a long knife from his belt, cut off the end of the belt, crumpled it up and thrust the resulting gag into the queen's mouth. Former queen ...
The screams ceased, and the service continued. Then the ceremony of tonsure began. To the usual question, whether the one who is tonsured by her own will renounces the world and whether she makes a vow to strictly observe the rules of monasticism, Anna did not answer: she was unconscious. Malyuta Skuratov answered for her. And after about an hour, Queen Anne ceased to exist. The humble nun Daria remained.
However, Ivan the Terrible did not stop at the forced tonsure of Anna Koltovskaya, and she was soon promoted to a schema nun, putting on a schema - a black rough-haired robe with an ominous white skull on her chest. Her head was also covered with a hood, on which a skull was embroidered, and this meant the death of the last earthly joys for the shorn and complete loneliness until the last day of her life.
The schema-nun Daria was placed in an underground cell, where she remained alone for many, many years. After the death of Ivan Vasilyevich, she was released from the dungeon, but she continued to remain in the monastery.
Sometimes she, always silent and barefoot, was asked:
- You, they say, are the same Queen Anna?
She bowed in response and quietly replied:
- I'm the old woman Daria, but there was no past.
She died on April 5, 1626 (according to some sources, in 1627), thus surviving her crowned husband by more than forty years.
In total, Anna Koltovskaya spent almost fifty-five years in monasteries, having lived up to the accession of the first Romanov, the nephew of Queen Anastasia.
IN AND. Badelin in his book “The Gold of the Church” notes: “And yet Anna Koltovskaya at the end of her life (she died in 1626) was expected to be relaxed. During the reign of Mikhail Romanov, the great eldress Martha twice sent her rich gifts. "
But under Ivan the Terrible, all the estates of her relatives were immediately taken away, and then, as Robert Payne and Nikita Romanov write, not without irony, the tsar executed everyone “just in case”.
Sergey Nechaev. From the book "Ivan the Terrible. Wives and Concubines of" Bluebeard ".
The fourth wife of Ivan the Terrible, Anna Alekseevna, was born into the family of the nobleman Alexei Goryainov Koltovsky, who was listed as a serving landowner. Historians are inclined that his daughter was born in the period from 1554 to 1556. According to some sources, the girl lost her parents early and was taken up by Prince Andrei Kurbsky. Later, Anna's relatives, including her brother, received minor positions at the court.
Ivan IV the Terrible married her in the spring of 1572 with the permission of the clergy, since, according to him, his third wife, Martha Vasilievna, who died two weeks after the wedding, "did not manage to become his wife."
Wedding
“Evil people have wiped out my first wife, Anastasia, by sorcery,” the tsar wrote in his address. - The second, Princess Cherkasskaya, was also poisoned, and in torment, in torment, she passed away to the Lord. I waited a long time and decided on a third marriage, partly for bodily needs, partly for my children, who had not yet reached their perfect age: their youth hated me to leave the world; and living in a world without a wife is tempting. Blessed by Metropolitan Kirill, I have been looking for a bride for myself for a long time, I felt, finally, I chose; but envy and enmity ruined Martha, only in the name of the Queen: while still in brides she lost her health and after two weeks of marriage she passed away as a virgin. In despair, in sorrow, I wanted to devote myself to the life of the Monk; but, seeing again the pitiful youth of his sons and the State in distress, he dared to marry him for the fourth time. Now, falling down with emotion, I pray to the Saints for permission and blessing ",- said the king (in the retelling of Karamzin).
The higher clergy, by a special sentence dated April 29, as an exception for state reasons, allowed the tsar to marry the 4th, but they imposed a 3-year penance on him:
“During the year before Easter, the king was forbidden to enter the temple, it was only possible to take communion on Easter, then he had to stand in the temple with the“ falling down ”and for a year with the“ faithful ”, he could eat the antidor on holidays."
The choice of the bride took place on the same principle as the previous time, at the time of the tsar's marriage to Martha Sobakina - the bridegroom was again held for young noblewomen brought to the capital from all over Russia. Anna Koltovskaya by that time was at least eighteen years old. Voluptuous Ivan IV liked a stately girl, who favorably differs from fourteen to fifteen-year-old adolescents in a fully formed figure.
The exact date of the wedding of Ivan and Anna is not indicated in the annals, it is only known for certain that it took place between April 29 and June 1, 1572.
Marriage life
On the first day of summer, the newlyweds went to Novgorod to arrange a new residence. This marriage is considered by many historians to be successful. The cheerful Anna Alekseevna exerted a significant influence on Ivan the Terrible, without openly interfering in his affairs. The tsar liked to spend time in her chambers, as the young woman tried to please him in everything and was not at all jealous.
Having created a serene and cheerful atmosphere in the palace, the fourth wife was able to distract her bloodthirsty husband from endless executions. It was this tactic that allowed Anna to achieve a lot, for example, to end the existence of the oprichnina. She had personal reasons for this: the chosen one of the future tsarina was tortured at the direction of the tsar in the Moscow dungeons. A short time of her reign went down in Russian history under the name of the "woman's kingdom".
“And God will give me a son with my wife Anna, and I bless him the city of Coal, and Ustyuzhna (...) with volosts, and with ways, and from the village, and with all the duties. And God will give me a daughter with his wife and Anna, and I bless her, I give the city of Zubtsov with volosts, (...) with all the villages and land. Yes, I bless my wife Anna, I give her the city of Rostov, with volosts, and with roads, and from the village, and with all the duties, but near Moscow the village of Aleshnya, the village of Boltino, the village of Astankovo, and with the attached villages, (...) with all the villages and land "... - Spiritual charter of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich).
Opal
From the outside, a successful marriage lasted just over four months. For hitherto unknown reasons, Queen Anne was imprisoned in a monastery in September 1572, where she continued her life as nun Daria.
According to one version, the influence of Malyuta Skuratov affected. According to Skrynnikov:
“At that time Malyuta was at the zenith of fame. Obviously, the case was not without him, and he contributed to the divorce. Perhaps he was worried about the rapid rise of the new temporary worker, Prince Boris Tulupov. "
Tsar's Decree.
(Malyuta Skuratov)
P.V. Ryzhenko.
Monasticism
Presumably, the tonsure of the fourth wife of Ivan the Terrible took place in 1574 in the Suzdal Intercession Monastery.
Anna Koltovskaya expressed her desire to move to the Sunday Goritsky Monastery, where she was sent in the mid-1580s.
With the coming to the throne of the former stepson, Theodore I, in 1586, Anna was granted land in the village of Nikolskoye - Belozersky district. Subsequently, Nikolskoye was seized, and in his place in 1614 a new tsar, Mikhail Fedorovich, allocated land to her in the Ustyuzhny district.
Since 1604, nun Dariya lived in the impoverished Tikhvin Vvedensky monastery "on a promise ... to arrange a community." On September 14, 1613, the Swedes burned down the monastery and the nuns had to hide on the shores of Tsaritsyn Lake. Soon Dariya and the old women who were with her were moved to the town of Ustyuzhna-Zhelezopolskaya, located between Tikhvin and Goritsy. According to the royal charter, she received "The tsar's annual salary - money and supplies ... from the Ustyuzhensky customs and ist's tavern income, which remains from the archers and the archers".
The Stolbovsky Peace with the Swedes, concluded in 1617, gave the country peace and the Tikhvin Vvedensky Monastery was rebuilt. Since 1624, Daria participated in its restoration, being abbess.
Death
The fourth wife of Ivan the Terrible, who survived him by more than forty years, died on April 5, 1626. The nun Daria, in the world Anna Koltovskaya, rested in the porch of the cathedral church of the Tikhvin Vvedensky monastery.
In 1926, the Vvedensky Monastery was closed, the tomb has not survived.
According to the last will of Daria, most of the state was transferred to the needs of the monastery, the rest was divided between other temples. The sisters must "To remember the monk Tsarina Daria and to arrange her soul, to write her name in the daily prosviromisalnye, and in the foundry, and in the sub-wall senadiki".
In total, Anna Alekseevna lived in the monastery walls for about fifty-five years and died during the reign of the first Romanov, who was the nephew of Queen Anastasia Romanovna.
Queen Anna Alekseevna, nee Koltovskaya(in monasticism Daria; OK. 1554/1556 - April 5, 1626, Tikhvin) - the fourth wife of Ivan the Terrible, whom he married in the spring of 1572 with the permission of the clergy (the marriage lasted less than six months). Subsequently, a nun ("nun-queen") of the Tikhvin Vvedensky monastery, where she was venerated locally.
Biography
Daughter of the nobleman Alexei Ignatievich Goryainov Koltovsky. The year of her birth is unknown. It is indicated (possibly erroneously) that early orphaned, she was brought up in the family of Prince Andrei Kurbsky.
The Koltovskys, as the Orthodox Encyclopedia described in detail, were service landowners. Her father and brother Gregory in the 2nd half. XVI century are listed as yard children of the boyars in Kolomna, and in the yard notebook it is indicated that the father died in captivity. In 1562, Gregory was named among the guarantors by the boyar ID Belsky, and in 1571, together with Artemy Grigorievich and Peter Afanasyevich Koltovsky, he vouched for Prince I.F. Mstislavsky. By the time of Anna's wedding, her brother and other relatives apparently held minor court positions. This is also confirmed by the envoy in Moscow von Buchau, calling Gregory "the king's courtier."
- Mikhail Ivanovich Sorokoum Glebov
- Ignatiy Goryain
- Alexey Ignatievich Goryainov
- Grigory Alekseevich
- Anna Alekseevna
- Afanasy Ignatievich
- Petr Afanasevich
- Alexey Ignatievich Goryainov
- Ignatiy Goryain
Wedding
She was chosen at the same review of brides (1571) as the third wife of the king, Martha Sobakina, and was called after the sudden death of the latter. It was the 2nd review organized by the tsar, who had been widowed for 2 years already, and the 3rd in Russia in general. Its other participant, Evdokia Saburova, was given to the wife of Tsarevich Ivan. On it, according to the census of noble "girls" in 1570, about 2 thousand girls were collected, of which first 24, then 12 girls were selected.
In the notes of the Germans Johann Taube and Elert Kruse, information about this procedure has been preserved. When the girls were brought to the bride, the tsar “entered the room<…>bowed to them, talked to them a little, examined them and said goodbye to them. According to the testimony of the Germans, the last dozen of the girls were examined already naked. At the same time, there was an English doctor Eliza Bomelius, a Cambridge graduate who came to serve in Russia, and "the doctor was supposed to examine their urine in a glass."
Martha was married on October 28, already sick, and died on November 13 (two weeks later). Anna, as the "runner-up" at this show, became the next bride. This would be Ivan's fourth marriage, which was not permitted by canon law. The tsar took advantage of the death of Metropolitan Kirill in February 1572 (the new Metropolitan Anthony was installed only in May) and convened a council in Moscow. Karamzin writes that the Novgorod Archbishop Leonid, “a greedy man and a saint of worldly power,” took precedence at the cathedral.
On it, Ivan swore to the clergy that because of the illness of the newlywed Martha and her sudden death, she did not manage to become his wife - the devilish dark forces "raised up many people 's neighbors to enmity against our queen, still maidens, dry land ... and so she was poisoned by the evil uchinish."
“Evil people have wiped out my first wife, Anastasia, by sorcery,” the tsar wrote in his address. - The second, Princess Cherkasskaya, was also poisoned, and in torment, in torment, she passed away to the Lord. I waited a long time and decided on a third marriage, partly for bodily needs, partly for my children, who had not yet reached their perfect age: their youth hated me to leave the world; and living in a world without a wife is tempting. Blessed by Metropolitan Kirill, I have been looking for a bride for myself for a long time, I felt, finally, I chose; but envy and enmity ruined Martha, only in the name of the Queen: while still in brides she lost her health and after two weeks of marriage she passed away as a virgin. In despair, in sorrow, I wanted to devote myself to the life of the Monk; but, seeing again the pitiful youth of his sons and the State in distress, he dared to marry him for the fourth time. Now, falling down with emotion, I pray to the Saints for permission and blessing, ”said the tsar (in Karamzin's retelling).
After the death in 1571 of his third wife, Martha Sobakina, the tsar gathered the clergy and tearfully asked for forgiveness for the 4th marriage, explaining it by the state necessity and the impossibility of raising children alone. By a conciliar decision of April 29, 1572, the church allowed Ivan to marry A.I.K., but so that the lawlessness of the tsar (the Orthodox Church hardly allowed 3 marriages) did not become a temptation for the common people, the same council issued a decree in which it threatened a curse to everyone who dares to enter into the 4th marriage. Ivan the Terrible married 18-year-old A.I.K. and lived with her for 3 years. Since A.I.K. behaved very independently in relation to the tsar's closest oprichnina entourage, and many oprichniki were executed with her assistance, the oprichnina elite tried to get rid of her in the usual way for that time: in 1575 she was imprisoned in the Tikhvin monastery. There the queen was forcibly tonsured under the name of Daria; the tonsure ceremony was led by Malyuta Skuratov-Belsky. In the spiritual testament of Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible in 1572, A.I.K. was appointed to the inheritance of the city of Rostov "with volosts and empty spaces, and from villages and with all duties", as well as 14 villages "with villages and all land" ... The letters of gratitude to "the elder tsarina and the grand duchess Daria" from 1586, 1604, etc. have survived. She died in 1626 or 1627. She had no children from her marriage with the tsar.
Third wife of the Terrible - Anna Koltovskaya
The last time Ivan was married in the church was on April 28, 1572, when Anna Ivanovna Koltovskaya, the daughter of a noble Kashirian nobleman, whose ancestors were Ryazan boyars, became his wife.
Anna Ivanovna in many ways resembled Anastasia, and not without her influence, as many historians believe, it was in 1572 that the oprichnina ceased to exist.
It is not known why, less than a year later, Ivan ordered her to be tonsured as a nun under the name of nun Daria. However, Ivan did not stop there, and on the same day she was tonsured as a schema nun, putting on a schema - a black coarse robe with a white skull on her chest, which meant the death of all earthly joys for the tonsured woman and loneliness until the last day of her life.
Schema-nun Daria was taken to an underground cell, where she remained alone for many years. After Ivan's death, she was released from the dungeon, but she continued to remain in the monastery and died in August 1626, thus surviving her crowned husband by more than forty years.
Whether this secret wedding took place is unknown. It is only known that the wedding feast was very merry, and tables filled with bread, meat and fish, as well as dozens of barrels of beer and mash were displayed on the streets of Moscow.
However, after the wedding night, Ivan came out of the bedchamber boring, sad and dejected.
Best of the day
Then he ordered to lay the sled train and go to the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. He brought Mary there, and the next day the inhabitants of the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda saw a sleigh drive out of the gates of the royal estate, and in them, wrapped in ropes, lay, as if asleep, a young queen.
The horse pulled the sled to a hole in the center of the frozen pond and stopped.
The tsar left the gate after him, and with him walked next to some initial man and, addressing the residents of the village, crowded on the shore, he said loudly:
Orthodox! Now see how the great sovereign punishes treason. The Dolgoruky princes, by deceitful thieves' custom, married the sovereign to a girl who fell in love with a certain villain to the crown and came to church in the filth of fornication, which the sovereign did not know about. And for that evil, treasonous deed, the great sovereign commanded the maiden Mariyka to be drowned in the pond!
Used material from the book: Voldemar Balyazin Entertaining history of Russia, M. 2001
