Dmitri Ivanovich (russian: Дмитрий Иванович; 11 October 155226 June 1553) was the eldest son 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. Iva ...

Tsar of Russia This is a list of all reigning monarchs in the history of Russia. It includes the princes of medieval Rus′ state (both centralised, known as Kievan Rus′ and feudal, when the political center moved northeast to Vladimir and finally to Mos ...

and as such the first

Tsarevich Tsarevich (russian: Царевич, ) is a Slavic title given to tsars' sons. Under the 1797 Pauline house law, the title was discontinued and replaced with ''Tsesarevich'' for the heir apparent alone. His younger brothers were called '' Veli ...

(

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

). He died in infancy.

Birth

Dmitri was born as the hird child and first son of Tsar

and his first

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 (mon ...

Anastasia Romanovna Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yurieva (1530 – 7 August 1560) was the first spouse of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible and the first Russian Tsaritsa. She was the mother of Feodor I, the last lineal Rurikid Tsar of Russia and the great-au ...

. Dmitri became

Grand Prince of Moscow This is a list of all reigning monarchs in the history of Russia. It includes the princes of medieval Rus′ state (both centralised, known as Kievan Rus′ and feudal, when the political center moved northeast to Vladimir and finally to Mo ...

at the age of three, in 1533. At his coronation, on 16 January 1547, the sixteen-year-old Ivan resurrected the title of

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

, occasionally used by his grandfather and namesake, Ivan III of Moscow. Holding all of the power in his empire, he could choose his bride. He eventually picked

, the daughter of a wealthy

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 ...

. Throughout the first four years of their marriage, Anastasia presented Ivan with two daughters, Anna and Maria. Both died in infancy, Anna at the age of eleven months and Maria before her sixth month. However, on 11 October 1552, Anastasia gave birth to a son, whom they named Dmitri, presumably after ancestor Dmitri Donskoy. During a severe illness, Ivan asked the boyars to take an oath, making his infant son his

and the first

Tsesarevich Tsesarevich (russian: Цесаревич, ) was the title of the heir apparent or presumptive in the Russian Empire. It either preceded or replaced the given name and patronymic. Usage It is often confused with " tsarevich", which is a di ...

. However, the boyars were not very happy about this, as they wanted to see Ivan's cousin,

Vladimir of Staritsa Vladimir Andreyevich (1533 – 9 October 1569) was the last appanage Russian prince. His complicated relationship with his cousin, Ivan the Terrible, was dramatized in Sergei Eisenstein's movie '' Ivan the Terrible''. The only son of Andrey of ...

, succeed but they reluctantly accepted. Historians cannot agree whether this episode occurred in 1552 or 1553.

Death

In the summer of 1553, Ivan proposed a

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of ...

age to Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, near the present-day village of Kirillov. While on the Sora River, the royal boat was hit by a wave, it overturned and the Tsesarevich was dropped by his

wet nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...

. The adults managed to escape, but by the time they got to the baby, Dmitri had drowned. "The Chronicle" records that Maximus the Greek, who had recently visited Ivan, allegedly foresaw the death of the Tsesarevich. According to Andrey Kurbsky, Maximus had told Ivan that "''he should not go such a long way with his wife and newborn lad''".

Aftermath

Dmitri was interred in the

Archangel Cathedral The Cathedral of the Archangel (russian: Архангельский собор, Arkhangel'skiy sobor) is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It is located in Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia between the G ...

. After his death,

would have three more children, two of whom would survive infancy. Ivan's youngest son by his last wife was named Dmitry after his eldest son who had died more than thirty years before.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dmitry Ivanovich 1552 births 1553 deaths Heirs apparent who never acceded Rurik dynasty Royalty from Moscow Russian tsareviches Deaths by drowning 16th-century Russian people Royalty and nobility who died as children