ABSTRACT
In Cathedral Square within the Moscow Kremlin is the Archangel Cathedral, the burial place of many of the Grand Dukes of Muscovy and the Tsars including Ivan I, known as Ivan the Moneybags, and Ivan IV, better known as Ivan the Terrible, who among other cruelties murdered his son and heir. He became the first Tsar of Russia at the age of 17 in 1547 having been Grand Duke of Muscovy since the age of three. By this time he was already well known for his murderous rages, drunken acts of cruelty and sexual passions. Yet as a ruler his character was full of contradictions; he brought about much needed land and church reforms, consolidated Russia’s borders to the East, and opened up diplomatic relationships with England. He died in 1584 after a continuous final twenty-year reign of terror.
