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Events in Russia and in the life of Ivan The Terrible

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Ivan The Terrible by Henri Troyat @ Amazon.com
1530August 15: Birth in Moscow of Ivan, eldest son of Vasily III and Elena Glinskaya
1532Embassy sent by Sultan Baber of Delhi arrives in Moscow. Construction of the Church of the Assumption at Kolomenskoye.
1533October 30: Birth of Yuri. Ivan's younger brother.
December 4: Death ofthe Grand Duke of Moscow, VasilyIII. Regency of Elena. Boyar conspiracies. Assasination of the late Grand Duke's two brothers. War against Lithuania resumed.
1536Ivan receives the Lithuanian embassadors.
1537New truce with Lithuania. Gomel falls. Signature in Novgorod of a sixty-year treaty with Gustav I of Sweden.
1538April 3: Elena dies, probably poisoned by boyars. Boyars fight over the regency, held first by Prince Vasily Shuiskiy, then by Ivan Belsky, and then by the Shuiskys
1542Macarius, new Metropolitan of Moscow, undertakes education of Ivan. Metropolitan Joseph, supporter of Ivan Belsky, exiled to a monastery.
1543Andrei Shuisky imprisons Feodor Verontzov and Ivan orders Shuisky killed. The Glinskys seize power.
1546Tatars defeated at the Oka, then at the Volga.
1547January 16: Coronation of Ivan, who takes the title Czar and begins his autocratic reign.
February 3: Marries Anastasia Romanovna.
June 3: Ivan abuses delegation of prominent men from city of Pskov. June 20: Third fire that year in Moscow; Glinskys blamed and disgraced.
1548Birth of Anne, first daughter of Ivan and Anastasia. New council created, the Izbrannaya Rada (Chosen Council) headed bu Ivan's favorites: Metropolitan Macarius, the priest Sylvester, Alexei Adashev, and Andrei Kurbsky.
1550Death of Ivan's daughter, Anne. Assembly or representatives from all provinces of Russia (Zemsky Sobor). Promulgation of Sylvester's Domostroy, a household guide, and of the Czar's Code of 1550, a new code of justice. Reorganization of the army. Campaign against Kazan and foundation of Sviazhsk.
1551Birth of Marie, second daughter of Ivan and Anastasia. February 23: Convocation of the third ecclesiastical council. Proposals for ecclesiastical reforms (the Stoglav). Reorganization of the nobility.
1552Birth of Czarevich Dimitri, first son of Ivan and Anastasia. June 16: Ivan departs on campaign against the tatars. August 23: Siege of Kazan begins. October 2: Yadigar-Mohammed, the governor of Kazan, surrenders. October 29: Ivan's truimphal return to Moscow.
1553Baptism of Czarevich Dimitri.
February 26: Baptism of Yadigar-Mohammed.
March: Ivan falls ill and prepares his will. Ivan and family undertake pilgrimage to Kirillov. Czarevich Dimitri dies at Kirillov.
June: Dimitri buried. The priest Sylvester and Alexei Adashev in disgrace. Epidemic of ulcerous plague in the city of Pskov. Death of Archbishop Serapion. Mongolian tribes revolt against Russian tax collectors and kill Boris Saltykov. Boyar conspiracies abound during Ivan's illness.
August 24: English ship commanded by Richard Chancellor arrives at the mouth of the Dvina.
December: Chancellor arrives in Moscow with letter from Edward VI.
1554February: Richard Chancellor leaves for England with a letter for Mary Tudor.
March 28: Birth of Ivan, second son of Ivan and Anastasia. Conquest of Astrakhan. Short was against Sweden for posession of Finland.
1555Richard Chancellor returns to Russia. Charter authorizes English subjects to trade freely throughout Russia.
1556July 21: Osip Napeia sent as an ambassador to England. Richard Chancellor perishes in a shipwreck. Astrakhan annexed to Russian territory.
1557May 31: Birth of Feodor, third son of Ivan and Anastasia.
1558January 22: Russian army invades Livonia.
May 12: Narva captured.
July 18: Dorpal surrenders. Large territory on the banks of the Kama ceded to the Stroganov family. The Englishman Anthony Jenkinson leaves for Khiva and Bukhava via the Caspian Sea.
1559Sigismund Augustus of Poland undertakes defense of Livonia. Livonian Order of the Knights of the Sword defeated at Ermes. Series of signal victories over the Tatars in the Crimea.
1560August 7: Death of Anastasia. The priest Sylvester exiled and Alexei Adashev dies. New favorites: Alexei and Fyodor Basmanov, Maliuta Skuratov, Vasily Griaznoy. Ivan demands to take Sigismund Augustus's sister Catherine, as his wife. Reprisals against the boyars. Cathedral of Basil the Blessed completed.
1561August 21: Ivan marries Maria, daughter of Circasian Prince Temriak.
November 21: Kettler cedes Levonia to the King of Poland. Jenkinson's second commercial voayge to Persia. Patriarch of Constantinople recognizes Ivan's title as Czar.
1562Andrei Kurbsky, defeated by the Poles at Nevel, falls in disfavor.
1563March: Birth of Vasily, Ivan's fourth son.
May: Death of Vasily. Death of Yuri, Ivan's younger brother. Ivan becomes known as "the Terrible." Russian army dispatched to Lithuania.
February 15: Capture of Polotsk. Six-month truce iwth Poland. Death of Macarius; Athanasius elected Metropolitan.
1564Andrei Kurbsky flees to Poland; long and extravagant correspondence between him and Ivan begins.
December 3: Ivan leaves Moscow.
December 25: Ivan in residence with Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. Defeat of the Khan of Crimea, Devlet-Guirey. Poles defeated at Polotsk. First Russian printing press installed in Moscow.
1565Ivan transfers his residence from Moscow to Alexandrovskaya Sloboda.
January-February: Ivan renounces throne of Russia, is begged by Delegation to return, and returns.
February 4: Oprichnina and oprichniki formed. Executions of boyars. Lutherans authorized to open a church in Moscow. Extension of the English trade monopoly.
1566First meeeting of the Zemsky Sobor (General Assembly) votes to pursue the war against Lithuania.
1567Ivan demands the hand of Elizabeth I in marriage.
1568Trial and life imprisonment of Metropolitan Philip. Election of Metropolitan Kirill.
1569September 1: Death of Czarina Maria. Imprisonment of Vladimir Andreyevich and his family. Five hundred families from Pskov and one hundred and fifty from Novgorod deported to Moscow.
August: Savin leaves for England to negotiate a treaty of political alliance.
December: Punitive expedition massacres inhabitants of all Russian towns between Moscow and Novgorod.
1570Euphemis, Ivan's niece, marries Magnus, brother of the King of Denmark. Disgrace and executin of Basmanov and Viazemsky, former favorites.
January 8: Ivan invades Novgorod and massacres the inhabitants. Famine and plague spread throughout Russia. Administration of Livonia conferred on Magnus, who is defeated in the siege of Reval.
1571Ivan flees to Alexandrovskaya Sloboda; he returns to Moscow in June and marries Martha Sobakina in October.
November: Czarevich Ivan marries Eudoxia Saburova.
November 13: Death of Czarina Martha. Tatars of Crimea invade southern territories and set fire to Moscow. Renewed retaliations against the boyars.
1572Ivan's fourth marriage, to Anna Koltovskaya, is at first condemned then later approved by Leonid, Archbishop of Novgorod. Death of Metropolitan Athanasius; appointment of Metropolitan Anthony. Boris Godunov in favor. Death of Maliuta-Skuratov. New Tatar invasion arrested by Prince Vorotynsky. Conquest of Estonia. Swedish troops defeat Russians at Lode. Dissolution of the oprichnina. Cheremiss tribes in Kazan region revolt.
1573Ivan solicits the throne of Poland.
1574Ivan repudiates Czarina Anna and marries Anna Vassilchikova; then after her death, marries Vasilissa Melentieva; dismisses her and briefly marries Maria Dolgorukaya. Tatars pillage the Ukraine. Between reigns in Poland, Russians occupy Livonia and part of Lithuania.
1575Ivan installs a Tatar prince, Simeon, on the throne.
1576Ivan returns to the Kremlin and exiles Simeon to Tver.
1577Ivan returns to Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. Defeat at the siege of Reval. Estonia, Livonia, and Lithuania in fierce resistance; siege and "punishment" of Wenden; executions. Armistice between Russia and Denmark. Death of Devlet-Guirey.
1578Poles recapture Wenden and defeat the Russians.
1579August: Stephen Bathory of Poland invades Lithuania and liberates Polotsk, Sokol, and Karsnoy.
1580Ivan's eigths marriage, to Maria Feodorovna Nagaya. Feodor, Ivan's second son, marries Irina, Boris Godunov's sister. Stephen Bathory captures Veliki Luki. Swedes invade Karelia and Estonia.
1581September 1: Ermak and his cossaks, in the sevice of Stroganov, set off to cross the Urals.
October: Sibir captured.
November 19: Ivan murders his eldest son Ivan. Stephen Bathory defeated near Pskov. Swedes occupy Narva and conquer the Gulf of Finland. Ivan proposes crusade against Moslems.
1582Ivan proposes to marry Mary Hastings. Ermak's cossacks and Koltzo conquer all of Siberia. Negotiations with Sweden and Poland through Possevino. Ten-year armistice with Poland: Russia loses Livonia.
1583October 19: Birth of Dimitri, son of Ivan and Maria Nagaya. Truce signed ceding Estonia to Sweden.
1584Death of Ivan the Terrible. The "Time of Troubles"l beings, a period of dynastic disruptions.