The oprichnina (russian: опри́чнина, ) was a state policy implemented by Tsar
Ivan the Terrible in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
between 1565 and 1572. The policy included mass
repression of the
boyars (Russian aristocrats), including public executions and confiscation of their land and property. In this context it can also refer to:
*The notorious organization of six thousand
Oprichnik
Oprichnik (russian: опри́чник, , ''man aside''; plural ''Oprichniki'') was the designation given to a member of the Oprichnina, a bodyguard corps
established by Tsar Ivan the Terrible to govern a division of Russia from 1565 to 1572.
F ...
i, the first
political police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
in the history of Russia.
*The portion of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, ruled directly by
Ivan the Terrible, where his Oprichniki operated.
*The corresponding period of Russian history.
The term ''oprichnina'', which Ivan coined for this policy, derives from the Russian word ''oprich'' (russian: опричь, ''apart from'', ''except'').
Causes
In 1558, Tsar Ivan IV started the
Livonian War
The Livonian War (1558–1583) was the Russian invasion of Old Livonia, and the prolonged series of military conflicts that followed, in which Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia (Muscovy) unsuccessfully fought for control of the region (pr ...
. A broad coalition, which included
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
,
Lithuania and Sweden, became drawn into the war against Russia. The war became drawn-out (it continued until 1583) and expensive; raids by
Crimean Tatars, Polish and Lithuanian invasions, famines, a trading blockade and escalating costs of war ravaged Russia.
In 1564, Prince
Andrey Kurbsky
Knyaz (Prince) Andrey Mikhailovich Kurbsky (russian: Андрей Михайлович Курбский, pl, Andriej Michajłowicz Kurbski; 1528–1583) was a Russian political figure, military leader, and political philosopher, known as an intim ...
defected to the
Lithuanians and commanded the Lithuanian army against Russia, devastating the Russian region of
Velikiye Luki.
Tsar Ivan began to suspect other aristocrats of readiness to betray him.
Historians
Vasily Klyuchevsky
Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky (russian: Василий Осипович Ключевский; in Voskresnskoye Village, Penza Governorate, Russia – , Moscow) was a leading Russian Imperial historian of the late imperial period. Also, he addres ...
(1841–1911) and (1876–1952) explained the oprichnina in terms of Ivan's paranoia and denied larger social aims for the oprichnina. However, historian
(1860–1933) argued that Ivan IV intended the oprichnina as a suppression of the rising
boyar aristocracy.
Professor
Isabel de Madariaga
Isabel Margaret de Madariaga (27 August 1919 – 16 June 2014) was a British historian who specialised on Russia in the 18th century and Catherine the Great. She published six books on Russia and is credited for changing the perception of Cather ...
(1919–2014) expanded this idea to explain the oprichnina as Ivan's attempt to subordinate all independent social classes to the autocracy.
Establishment
On December 3, 1564, Ivan IV departed Moscow on
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
. While such journeys were routine for the throne, Ivan neglected to set in place the usual arrangements for rule in his absence. Moreover, an unusually large personal guard, a significant number of boyars, and the treasury accompanied him.
After a month of silence, Ivan finally issued two letters from his fortifications at
Aleksandrova Sloboda
Alexandrov ( rus, Александров, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandrəf) is a town and the administrative center of Alexandrovsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia. It is located northeast of Moscow and has a population of It was previously known as ...
on January 3, 1565. The first addressed the elite of the city and accused them of embezzlement and treason. Further accusations concerned the clergy and their protection of denounced boyars. In conclusion, Ivan announced his
abdication
Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...
. The second letter addressed the population of Moscow and claimed "he had no anger against" its citizenry. Divided between Aleksandrova Sloboda and Moscow, the boyar court was unable to rule in absence of Ivan and feared the wrath of the Muscovite citizenry. Envoys departed for Aleksandrova Sloboda
to beg Ivan to return to the throne.
Ivan IV agreed to return on condition that he might prosecute people for
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
outside legal limitations. He demanded the right to execute and confiscate the land of traitors without interference from the boyar council or from the church. To pursue his investigations, Ivan decreed the establishment of the oprichnina (originally a term for land left to a noble widow, separate from her children's land). He also raised a levy of 100,000 rubles to pay for the oprichnina.
Organization
The oprichnina consisted of a separate territory within the borders of Russia, mostly in the territory of the former
Novgorod Republic
The Novgorod Republic was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east, including the city of Novgorod and the Lake Ladoga regions of mod ...
in the north. This region included many of the financial centers of the state, including the salt region of
Staraia Russa and prominent merchant towns. Ivan held exclusive power over the oprichnina territory. The Boyar Council ruled the
zemshchina ('land'), the second division of the state. Until 1568, the oprichnina relied upon many administrative institutions under zemshchina jurisdiction. Only when conflict between the zemshchina and oprichnina reached its peak did Ivan create independent institutions within the oprichnina.
Ivan also stipulated the creation of a personal guard known as the oprichniki. Originally it was a thousand strong. The noble oprichniki Aleksei Basmanov and Afanasy Viazemsky oversaw recruitment. Nobles and townsmen free of relations to the zemshchina or its administration were eligible for Ivan’s new guard. Henri Troyat has emphasized the lowly origin of the oprichnina recruits. However, historian
Vladimir Kobrin
Vladimir Borisovich Kobrin (Владимир Борисович Кобрин; 1930–1990) was a leading authority on the aristocracy of late medieval Russia.
He graduated from the Moscow University in 1951 and continued Stepan Veselovsky's studi ...
has contested that a shift to the lower classes constituted a late development in the oprichnina era. Many early oprichniki had close ties to the princely and boyar clans of Russia.
Territorial divisions under the oprichnina led to mass resettlement. When the property of zemshchina nobles fell within oprichnina territory, oprichniki seized their lands and forced the owners onto zemshchina land. The oprichnina territory included primarily service estates.
Alexander Zimin and Stepan Veselovsky have argued that this division left heredity landownership largely unaffected. However, Platonov and other scholars have posited that resettlement aimed to undermine the power of the landed nobility. Pavlov has cited the relocation of zemshchina servicemen from oprichnina territories onto heredity estates as a critical blow to the power of the princely class. The division of hereditary estates diminished the influence of the princely elites in their native provinces. The worst affected was the province of
Suzdal which lost 80% of its gentry.
The oprichniki enjoyed social and economic privileges under the oprichnina. While zemshchina boyars lost both heredity and service land, the oprichniki retained hereditary holdings that fell in zemshchina land. Moreover, Ivan granted the oprichnina the spoils of a heavy tax levied upon the zemshchina nobles. The rising oprichniki owed their allegiance to Ivan, not heredity or local bonds.
Operations
![Khudiakov-Oprichniki](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Khudiakov-Oprichniki.jpg)
The first wave of persecutions targeted primarily the princely clans of Russia, notably the influential families of Suzdal. Ivan executed, exiled, or tortured prominent members of the boyar clans on questionable accusations of conspiracy. 1566 saw the oprichnina extended to eight central districts. Of the 12,000 nobles there, 570 became oprichniks, and the rest were expelled. They had to make their way to the zemshchina in mid-winter; peasants who helped them were executed. In a show of clemency, Ivan recalled a number of nobles to Moscow. The Tsar even called upon zemshchina nobles for a
zemskii sobor
The Zemsky Sobor ( rus, зе́мский собо́р, p=ˈzʲemskʲɪj sɐˈbor, t=assembly of the land) was a parliament of the Tsardom of Russia's estates of the realm active during the 16th and 17th centuries.
The assembly represented Russi ...
concerning the Livonian War. Ivan posed the question whether Russia should surrender the Livonian territories to recently victorious Lithuania or maintain the effort to conquer the region. The body approved war measures and advanced emergency taxes to support the draining treasury.
However, the zemskii sobor also forwarded a petition to end the oprichnina. The Tsar reacted with a renewal of the oprichnina terror. He ordered the immediate arrest of the petitioners and executed the alleged leaders of the protest. Further investigations tied Ivan Federov, leader of the zemshchina duma, to a plot to overthrow Tsar Ivan; Federov was removed from court and executed shortly thereafter.
The overthrow of King
Erik XIV of Sweden in 1568 and the death of Ivan's second wife in 1569 exacerbated Ivan's suspicions. His attention turned to the northwestern city of
Novgorod. The second-largest city in Russia, Novgorod housed a large service
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
with ties to some of the condemned boyar families of Moscow. Despite the sack of the city under Ivan III, Novgorod maintained a political organization removed from Russia’s central administration. Moreover, the influence of the city in the northeast had increased as the city fronted the military advance against the Lithuanian border. The treasonous surrender of the border town
Izborsk
Izborsk (russian: Избо́рск; et, Irboska; vro, Irbosk, Irbuska, label=Seto) is a rural locality (village) in Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast, Russia. It contains one of the most ancient and impressive fortresses of Western Russia. ...
to Lithuania also caused Ivan to question the faith of border towns.
Ivan IV and an oprichniki detachment instituted a month-long terror in Novgorod (the
Massacre of Novgorod). The oprichniki raided the town and conducted executions among all classes. As the Livonian campaign constituted a significant drain on state resources, Ivan targeted ecclesiastical and merchant holdings with particular fervor. After Novgorod, the oprichniki company turned to the adjacent merchant city
Pskov. The city received relatively merciful treatment. The oprichniki limited executions and focused primarily upon the seizure of ecclesiastical wealth. According to a popular apocryphal account,
Nicholas Salos of Pskov the
fool-for-Christ prophesied the fall of Ivan and thus motivated the deeply religious Tsar to spare the city. Alternatively, Ivan may have felt no need to institute a terror in Pskov due to his prior sack of the city in wake of the Izborsk treason. The dire financial condition of the state and the need to bolster the war treasury likely inspired the second raid.
Ivan IV maintained the heightened terror as he returned to Moscow. A series of particularly brutal open-air executions took place in Moscow's Pagan Square. The persecutions began to target the oprichnina leadership itself. The tsar had already refused Basmanov and Viazemsky participation in the Novgorod campaign. Upon his return, Ivan condemned the two to prison, where they died shortly thereafter. Pavlov links Ivan's turn against the higher echelons of oprichniki to the increasing number of the lower-born among their ranks. Ivan may have reacted to the apparent discontent among the princely oprichniki over the brutal treatment of Novgorod. Furthermore, class disparity may have set the lower recruits against the princely oprichniki. As Ivan already suspected the older oprichniki on the issue of Novgorod, the lower-born recruits may have advanced the new persecutions to increase their influence in the oprichnina hierarchy.
Disbandment
1572 saw the fall of the oprichnina state structure. The zemshchina and oprichnina territories were reunited and placed under rule of a reformed Boyar Council, which included members from both sides of the divided apparatus.
Scholars have cited diverse factors to explain the dissolution of the oprichnina. When the
Crimean Tatars
, flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg
, flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars
, image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg
, caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...
burnt Moscow in 1571 during the
Russo-Crimean War, the oprichniki failed to offer serious resistance. The success of the Tatars may have shaken the Tsar’s faith in the effectiveness of the oprichnina. Ivan may have found state division ineffective in a period of war and its significant social and economic pressures. Alternatively, Ivan may have deemed the oprichnina a success; the weakening of the princely elite achieved, the Tsar may have felt that the terror had simply outlived its usefulness.
Legacy
Scholar Robert O. Crummey and Platonov have emphasized the social impact of the mass resettlements under the oprichnina. The division of large estates into smaller oprichnik plots subjected the peasants to a stricter landowning dominion. Furthermore, a new itinerant population emerged as state terror and the seizure of lands forced many peasants from their lands. The increase in itinerants may have motivated the ultimate institutionalization of serfdom by the Russian throne. The oprichnina coincided with
the major social and economic crisis in Russia and, according to some contemporary and historical accounts, contributed to it.
Historian Isabel de Madariaga has emphasized the role of the oprichnina in the consolidation of aristocratic power. Resettlement drastically reduced the power of the hereditary nobility. Oprichniki landowners who owed their loyalty to the throne replaced an aristocracy that might have evolved independent political ambitions. Alternatively, Crummey has summarized the social effects of the oprichnina as a failure. From this perspective, the oprichnina failed to pursue coherent social motives and instead pursued a largely unfocused terror.
[Robert O. Crummey, "Ivan IV: Reformer or Tyrant?" in ''Reinterpreting Russian History'', ed. Daniel H. Kaiser and Gary Marker (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 162.] Such interpretations are derived from the 1960s works by
Ruslan Skrynnikov who described the Oprichnina as the reign of terror designed to root out every possible challenge to the autocracy:
Cultural depictions
Ivan Lazhechnikov wrote the tragedy ''The Oprichniki'' (russian: Опричники), on which
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
based his opera ''
The Oprichnik''. In turn, Tchaikovsky's opera inspired a 1911 painting by
Apollinary Vasnetsov, depicting a city street and people fleeing in panic at the arrival of the oprichniki.
A fantasy variation on the Oprichnina appears in the Japanese light novel franchise
''Gate''. It retains the name, purpose, activities, dog head motif, and even the use of brooms from the historic original.
Vladimir Sorokin's 2006 novel ''
Day of the Oprichnik'' envisions a dystopian near future in which the Russian monarchy and oprichnina have been reestablished. The novel's oprichnina drive red cars with severed dog heads as hood ornaments, rape and kill dissenting nobles, and consume massive amounts of alcohol and narcotics, all while praising the monarchy and the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
.
See also
*
Crisis of the late 16th century in Russia
Russia suffered from an economic and social crisis in the second half of the 16th century which led to famines, depopulation and the abandonment of agricultural lands. The economic crisis overlapped with the oprichnina and happened at the time wh ...
*
Cheka
*
Reign of Terror
*
Al-Ahbash
Al-Ahbash ( ar, الأحباش, , en, "The Ethiopians"), also known as the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects ( ar, جمعية المشاريع الخيرية الإسلامية, , AICP) is a neo-traditionalist Sufi religious movem ...
*
Anti-clericalism in France
*
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
*
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
*
Okhrana
*
Burning of books and burying of scholars
The burning of books and burying of scholars (), also known as burning the books and executing the ru scholars, refers to the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE by the Chinese emperor Qin ...
*
literary inquisition
*
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...
References
Further reading
* Walter Leitsch. "Russo-Polish Confrontation" in Taras Hunczak, ed. "Russian Imperialism". Rutgers University Press. 1974, p. 140
*
Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky, CMG (; born 10 October 1938) is a former colonel of the KGB who became KGB resident-designate (''rezident'') and bureau chief in London, and was a double agent, providing information to the British Secret Intelli ...
and
Christopher Andrew (1999). ''KGB: The Inside Story of its intelligence operations from Lenin to Gorbachev'' (Russian language edition, Moscow, Centerpoligraph, {{ISBN, 5-227-00437-4, page 21)
External links
The New York Times Book Review- A Dystopian Tale of Russia’s Future (2011/03/13)
1560s in Russia
Political and cultural purges
1570s in Russia