Vasilisa Melentyeva (russian: Васили́са Меле́нтьева) (died 1579) was the legendary sixth 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 ...

. The marriage (not authorized by the Church) may have been celebrated in 1575 or she was simply a concubine. Modern scholars now tend to consider her to be a 19th-century fraud.Сперанский М. Н. Русские подделки рукописей в начале XIX в. — ПИ, 1956, т. V, с. 100Йена, Детлеф. Русские царицы (1547—1918). М., 2008. С. 43

Life

According to the legend, before her marriage to Ivan, Vasilisa is on record to have been a widow of a dyak, Melentiy Ivanov, serving in 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 (pre ...

. Though the Tsar considered her beautiful and sweet natured, a few months after their marriage, he discovered her having an affair with a prince named Devletev. Ivan forced Vasilisa to watch her lover be impaled, and as further punishment, confined her to life in a

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

. Of all the eight wives of Ivan the Terrible, only

Maria Dolgorukaya Maria Dolgorukaya (died 1580) possibly was the seventh wife of Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia. The marriage (unauthorized by the church) may have been celebrated in 1580. Legend says she did not bear the Tsar any children and was revealed to hav ...

(who is also considered a 19th-century fraud) and Vasilisa Melentyeva do not have graves or any mentions in official court documents. There is apparently no evidence of her existence in the early modern sources except two minor mentions: the first, cited by

Nikolay Karamzin Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (russian: Николай Михайлович Карамзин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kərɐmˈzʲin; ) was a Russian Imperial historian, romantic writer, poet and critic. He is best remembered for ...

, simply listed her name "as concubine" with Ivan's other spouses. The more extensive second mention, is believed to be the work of Alexander Sulakadzev, a notorious forger of the early 19th century. However it is claimed that researchers have more recently found documents confirming her special relationship with the tsar.Йена, Детлеф (2008)
''Русские царицы (1547—1918)''
Moscow, p. 43

Alexander Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Остро́вский; ) was a Russian playwright, generally considered the greatest representative of the Russian realistic period. The author of 47 origina ...

wrote a play about her in 1867: " Василиса Мелентьева".

References

Sources

* Troyat, Henri ''Ivan le Terrible''. Flammarion, Paris, 1982 * de Madariaga, Isabel ''Ivan the Terrible''. Giulio Einaudi editore, 2005 , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Melentyeva, Vasilisa 1579 deaths Concubines People whose existence is disputed Wives of Ivan the Terrible Year of birth unknown