Ivan IV. was an infant when his father died; his youth was turbulent and riotous; gifted by nature with great talents and force of character, with lofty aspirations, but strong and ungovernable passions, with untiring energy and unbounded confidence, his education was purposely neglected by his guardians, who, while intriguing and disputing among themselves for power, each in turn, in order to strengthen and prolong their authority, gratified his caprices, encouraged his excesses, pandered to his vicious propensities, sedulously fostered his harsh and tyrannical disposition, and, by adulation and flattery, imbued his mind with the conviction that as Tsar he could do no wrong. In early life he gave evidence of his impatience of control and of his cruel nature. When but thirteen years of age he joined in the overthrow of the ruling faction, viewed with complacency the torture and death of its chief, whose body he ordered to be thrown to his dogs to be devoured. At seventeen years of age, in 1547, he assumed sovereign authority, and was crowned as Tsar. This title, derived from the Hebrew, borne by Chaldean kings of Biblical history and by Greek emperors, sometimes adopted by his father and grandfather, was henceforth to be the designation of the monarchs of Russia. He married Anastasia Romanoff, a native princess of great beauty, rare intelligence, and piety.
By a singular contradiction, Ivan, in his wildest excesses, always exhibited extraordinary regard for devotional observances, scrupulous adherence to religious ceremonial, and superstitious reverence for the Church.
In the year following his marriage Moscow was destroyed by a furious conflagration; popular insurrections broke out, and general anarchy threatened the stability of the government. At this juncture, when Ivan was
