Ivan IV

Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Ива́н Четвёртый, Васи́льевич​  Ivan Chetvyorty, Vasilyevich; 25 August 1530 – 28 March 1584),known in English as Ivan the Terrible (Russian: Ива́н Гро́зный​ , Ivan Grozny;  ), was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres, approximately 4,046,856 km2 (1,562,500 sq mi). Ivan managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All Russia.

Historic sources present disparate accounts of Ivan's complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental illness. One notable outburst resulted in the death of his groomed and chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich, which led to the passing of the Tsardom to the younger son: the weak and intellectually disabled Feodor I of Russia.

Ivan was the son of Vasili III and his second wife, Elena Glinskaya. When Ivan was just three years old his father died from a boil and inflammation on his leg which developed into blood poisoning. Ivan was proclaimed the Grand Prince of Moscow at his father's request. At first his mother Elena Glinskaya acted as a regent, but she died of what many believe to be assassination by poison when Ivan was only eight years old. According to his own letters, Ivan along with his younger brother Yuri often felt neglected and offended by the mighty boyars from the Shuisky and Belsky families.

Ivan was crowned with Monomakh's Cap at the Cathedral of the Dormition at age 16 on 16 January 1547. He was the first person to be crowned as "Tsar of All the Russias", hence, claiming the ancestry of Kievan Rus. Prior to that, rulers of Muscovy were crowned as Grand Princes, although Ivan III the Great, his grandfather, styled himself "tsar" in his correspondence.