Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya (russian: Елена Васильевна Глинская; 1510 – 4 April 1538) was the Grand Princess consort 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-ei ...

, as the second wife of

Grand Prince Grand prince or great prince (feminine: grand princess or great princess) ( la, magnus princeps; Greek: ''megas archon''; russian: великий князь, velikiy knyaz) is a title of nobility ranked in honour below emperor, equal of king ...

Vasili III and

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

regent of

for 5 consecutive years, from 1533 until her death in 1538. She was the mother of Tsar

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. Iva ...

Grand Princess

Marriage

Elena was born in 1510 as the daughter of Prince Vasili Lvovich Glinsky (d. 1515), a member of a Lipka Tatar clan claiming descent from the Mongol ruler Mamai, and Serbian Princess Ana Jakšić from the Jakšić noble family. It is to her powerful uncle, Prince

Mikhail Lvovich Glinsky Michael Lvovich Glinsky ( lt, Mykolas Glinskis, russian: Михаил Львович Глинский, pl, Michał Gliński; 1460s – 24 September 1534) was a noble from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of distant Tatar extraction, who was also a t ...

, that the family owed its distinction. In 1525, Vasili III resolved to divorce his infertile wife,

Solomoniya Saburova Saint Solomonia Yuryevna Saburova (russian: Соломония Юрьевна Сабурова) (c. 1490 – 18 December 1542) was the first wife of Grand Prince Vasili III of Muscovy. She was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint '' ...

, and marry Elena. According to the chronicles, he chose Elena "because of the beauty of her face and her young age." Despite strong opposition from 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 ...

, the divorce was effected. They were married on 21 January 1526. Elena gave birth to two sons - Ivan Vasilyevich (future Ivan IV the Terrible) in 1530 and Yuri Vasilievich (future Prince

Yuri of Uglich Yuri Vasilievich (Юрий Васильевич; 30 October 1532 – 24 June 1563) was the only brother of Ivan the Terrible. He was born deaf, and was thus never considered to be a candidate as heir to the Russian throne. He ruled the appa ...

) in 1532. It was later rumoured, that she brought

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

es from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

and people of the

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

to help her conceive by the help of magic Isabel de Madariaga (in Swedish) : ''Ivan den förskräcklige'' ("Ivan the Terrible") (2008)

Regency

On his deathbed, Vasili III transferred his powers to her until their oldest son Ivan, who was only 3 at the time, was mature enough to rule the country. The

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...

s of those times do not provide any more or less precise information on her legal status after Vasili's death. All that is known is that it could be defined as

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

and that the

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars were ...

s had to report to her. That is why the time between Vasili's death on 3 December 1533 and her own demise in 1538 is called the Reign of Elena. She challenged the claims of her brothers-in-law,

Yury Ivanovich Yury Ivanovich (russian: Юрий Ива́нович; (23 March 14803 August 1536) was the second surviving son of Ivan the Great by Sophia of Byzantium. Since 1519, his appanages included Dmitrovskoe knjazevstvo. When his elder brother Vasily ...

and

Andrey of Staritsa Andrey Ivanovich (5 August 1490 – 11 December 1537) was the youngest son of Ivan III of Russia the Great by Sophia Palaiologina of Byzantium. Since 1519, his appanages included Volokolamsk and Staritsa. When his elder brother Vasily III ascen ...

. The struggle ended with their incarceration in 1534 and 1537, respectively. Elena was a very capable stateswoman. In 1535, she carried out a

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...

reform that introduced a unified

monetary system A monetary system is a system by which a government provides money in a country's economy. Modern monetary systems usually consist of the national treasury, the mint, the central banks and commercial banks. Commodity money system A commodity m ...

in the state. In foreign affairs, she succeeded in signing an

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

with

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

in 1536, while simultaneously neutralizing

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. She had a new defensive wall constructed around Moscow, invited settlers from Lithuania, bought Russian prisoners free and instigated measures to protect travellers against street bandits. She is also recorded as having visited several convents. In a negative note, her reign was infamous for conflicts inside the government caused by her close association with a handsome young boyar named Ivan Feodorovich Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky and the Metropolitan Daniel. Elena died in 1538 at a relatively young age. Her son's governess, Agrippina Fedorovna Chelyadnina, was arrested in connection with Elena's death. Some historians believe that Elena was poisoned by the Shuiskys, who usurped power after her death. Recent studies of her remains tend to support the thesis that she was poisoned.

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

, p. 331

References

Sources

External links

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Glinskaya, Elena 1538 deaths Russian royal consorts Regents of Russia Female regents Russian people of Serbian descent Russian people of Tatar descent People of the Grand Duchy of Moscow 16th-century women rulers 16th-century Russian people Year of birth unknown Rurik dynasty 16th-century Russian women