Halperin Charles J. Ivan the Terrible: Free to Reward and Free to Punish

Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019. — xii, 365 p. — (Russian and East European Studies). — ISBN: 978-0-8229-4591-8.Ivan the Terrible is infamous as a sadistic despot responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people, particularly during the years of the oprichnina, his state-within-a-state. Ivan was the first ruler in Russian history to use mass terror as a political instrument. However, Ivan’s actions cannot be dismissed by attributing the behavior to insanity. Ivan interacted with Muscovite society as both he and Muscovy changed. This interaction needs to be understood in order properly to analyze his motives, achievements, and failures.Ivan the Terrible: Free to Reward and Free to Punish provides an up-to-date comprehensive analysis of all aspects of Ivan’s reign. It presents a new interpretation not only of Ivan’s behavior and ideology, but also of Muscovite social and economic history. Charles Halperin shatters the myths surrounding Ivan and reveals a complex ruler who had much in common with his European contemporaries, including Henry the Eighth.Charles J. Halperin is one of the world’s foremost historians of medieval Muscovy. He is an independent scholar and resides in Bloomington, Indiana.Muscovy in the Sixteenth Century
Muscovy in 1533
The Young Ivan’s World
Ivan’s Life from His Accession to the Oprichnina
Ivan’s Minority
Ivan’s Coronation and First Marriage
Life at Ivan’s Court
The Dynastic Crisis of 1553
The Prehistory of the Oprichnina
Muscovy from Ivan’s Accession to the Oprichnina
Domestic Political Reform
Church Reform and Heresy
Intellectual and Cultural History
The Economy and Economic Management
Early Foreign Policy
Ivan and Muscovy during and after the Oprichnina
The Oprichnina and Its Aftermath, 1564—1584
The Problem of the Oprichnina
The Oprichnina in Action
Ivan’s Ideology, the Oprichnina, and Muscovite Society
Muscovy, 1572—1584
Ivan, 1572—1584