Ivan the Terrible in the Russian Historiography of the 19th–21st Centuries
Ivan the Terrible in the Russian Historiography of the 19th–21st Centuries

Problems, Methodology, Opinions

Summary/Abstract: The rise of academic interest in the Russo-European relationships shed light on one ofthe most intense periods of Russian history, the reign of Ivan the Terrible (Ivan Grozny).Although the ruler himself is known worldwide, his Russian historiography of 19th – 21stcenturies is nether widely studied nor systematized. To set it in order, this contributionsuggests a two-pronged approach. Firstly, in overviews the Grozny’s historiography as aninterdisciplinary field called the Grozny studies (Russian „groznovyedenie“), dealing withthe tsar’s personality and rule. They take the form of three lines of study, „apologetic“,„criticizing“ and „objectivist“, conflicting but nevertheless complementary. Secondly, itmaps out four categories of problems on which historians focus. They are Ivan’s personality(heavily tilted to his psychopathological traits in 19th century), his home policies andcampaigns against the Tartars, the terror of oprichnina and lastly, the foreign policy, wherethe Livonian war clearly dominates.

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