Marfa Vasilevna Sobakina (russian: Марфа Васильевна Собакина; 1552–1571), was

Tsaritsa Tsarina or tsaritsa (also spelled ''csarina'' or ''csaricsa'', ''tzarina'' or ''tzaritza'', or ''czarina'' or ''czaricza''; bg, царица, tsaritsa; sr, / ; russian: царица, tsaritsa) is the title of a female autocratic ruler (mona ...

of the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I i ...

and was the third wife of

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Ivan ...

Life

The daughter of a

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

-based merchant, Vasiliy Sobakin, Marfa was selected by Ivan among twelve marriage finalists. A few days after her selection, Marfa began to succumb to a mysterious ailment. It was rumoured that she was unintentionally poisoned by her mother, who gave her a potion supposedly meant to increase her fertility. Despite rapidly losing weight and barely standing, Marfa was nonetheless married to Ivan on 28 October 1571 in Aleksandrovska Sloboda. Marfa died sixteen days later. Her death increased her husband's

paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concer ...

, because she died in what was meant to be an impregnable fortress filled with loyal subjects. Ivan, remembering the death of his first wife, immediately suspected poison and put to death many of his subjects, including Mikail Temrjuk (brother to the Tsar's previous wife) who was impaled. Marfa was a cousin to Maluta Skuratov.

Legacy

The story of Marfa's selection and death is the base of the historical verse drama ''

The Tsar's Bride ''The Tsar's Bride'' (russian: Царская невеста, translit=Tsarskaja nevesta) is an historical verse drama in four acts by Lev Mei from 1849.Golub (1998, 951). Fifty years later Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov used the play as the basis for ...

'' by Lev Mei. The opera by the same name by

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...

is repertory opera in Russia.

References

* Troyat, Henri ''Ivan le Terrible''. Flammarion, Paris, 1982 * de Madariaga, Isabel ''Ivan the Terrible''. Giulio Einaudi editore, 2005 , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sobakina, Marfa Wives of Ivan the Terrible 1552 births 1571 deaths Burials at Ascension Convent Deaths by poisoning