"Ivan IV and Elizabeth I: Сomparison of Two Historical Figures"

Муниципальное бюджетное  общеобразовательное учреждение

Щелковская гимназия

Щелковского муниципального района Московской области

г.Щелково

"Ivan IV and Elizabeth I: Сomparison of  Two Historical Figures"

Выполнил ученик 9Г класса: Дергачев Антон

Учитель английского языка: Самбурова Ю.В.

  Щелково 2014

"Ivan IV and Elizabeth I:

Сomparison of  Two Historical Figures"

         In our history the  reign of  tsar Ivan Vasilyevich  Grozny,  which   makes  half of  years of  the XVI  century, is considered to be one of the  most important eras. It was  important both for the expansion of the Russian  territory, and for  important and significant events and changes in internal life.

  In days of  Elizabeth I England  achieved great  successes in trade and navigation development. They  finished the Reformation and  won a victory over their  immemorial rival  Spain.

            Ivan IV, also known as Ivan the Terrible and Elizabeth I,  who is sometimes called "The Virgin Queen", "Gloriana" or "Good Queen Bess",  are one of the most known governors around the world. Ivan IV   was the last governor from the  Rurik Dynasty, while Elizabeth I was the  last monarch of the Tudor Dynasty. Their destinies, foreign and domestic policy left their marks  in the history of the countries which they ruled and their contribution to culture development is unequivocal. Thanks to a large number of sources, narrating about their acts and deeds, we understand what   great governors Ivan IV  and Elizabeth I were. Now I want to compare these two historic figures and to find out what they were similar and different in.

Foreign Policy.

The main tendency of  Ivan IV foreign policy was the fight for an exit to the Baltic Sea and the war with the Kazan, Astrakhan and Crimean kingdoms. As for his campaigns against Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms, they were successful, but in an attempt to gain access to the Baltic Sea and its major trade routes, Ivan launched unsuccessful 24 years Livonian war of seaward expansion to the west and found himself fighting the Swedes, Lithuanians, Poles and the Livonian Teutonic Knights. Russia didn’t get the exit to the Baltic Sea. The Crimean kingdom wasn’t subdued either.

On the contrary, Elizabeth's foreign policy was largely defensive. Though, through the activities of her fleet Elizabeth pursued an aggressive policy which was paid off in the war against Spain. The sea battle between the British and Spanish fleet to the North from Calais ended with the defeat of Spanish “Invincible armada”. Thanks to the victory England was entitled “the main sea power”.

Domestic Policy.

Ivan IV carried out a large number of reforms: Territorial and Provincial. The Army Reform of  Ivan IV helped to shape a new structure of the army. During his reign military forces were well armed. The internal policy of  Ivan the Terrible concerning the army was based on the strengthening of military discipline, and the  improvement of fighting capacity. He  revised the Law Code, known as the sudebnik. He established the Zemsky Sobor assembly of the land, the council of the nobles, known as the Chosen Council, and confirmed the position of the Church with the Council of the Hundred Chapters, which unified the rituals and ecclesiastical regulations of the entire country.

At the same time  Ivan IV entered oprichnina -  a domestic policy of secret police, mass repressions, public executions, and confiscation of land from Russian aristocrats. Oprichnina is  known all over the world for its cruelty and a big number of people,  whose lives it carried away. Though the main goal of oprichnina was to destroy the remains of feudal dissociation, it led to an aggravation of contradictions within the country and weakened military power of the state.

Elizabeth I also  carried out a number of reforms, but generally they  were church ones. Elizabeth followed  the Reformation which Henry VIII began,   but which was suspended during Maria I board. Elizabeth I was a Protestant, but she  didn't forbid Catholics to carry out the church services. This act of toleration helped the ruler to avoid the Civil war. During her reign she preserved stability in a nation divided by political and religious dissension, and she maintained the authority of the monarchy against the growing pressures of  Parliament. To avoid the threat of religious war in  the country she even scaffold her relative the Scottish queen – Catholic Maria Stewart applying for an English throne.

The last fifteen years of her reign were difficult for Elizabeth.  The economy was hit by poor harvests and the cost of war. Prices steadily  rose and the standard of living fell. To maintain the illusion of peace and prosperity, she increasingly relied on internal spies and propaganda, but all these brought to the decline in the public's affection for her.

Private Life.

Ivan's IV private life is surrounded  by mystery. He was officially married four times, but historians argue  how many wives Ivan the Terrible had. According to Englishman Jerome Gorsey,  who personally knew the tsar Ivan the Terrible "corrupted more than one thousand maidens, and more than one thousand his children were deprived by life". The same data are confirmed by the Soviet historian V.B.Kobrin. Nevertheless, Ivan the Terrible had 5 sons and 3 daughters, but the majority of  his children died at juvenile age. Ivan IV asked in marriage to Elizabeth I, the main character of my work, but received resolute refusal. As for Elizabeth, she was proposed several times, but for the unclear reason she never married and gave no birth to a heir. But there were persistent rumors about her long-life affair with Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and her secret maternity, but the Queen denied all these and claimed her being innocent. “I have already joined myself in marriage to a husband, namely the kingdom of England”.
(Elizabeth to Parliament)

Conclusion.

Though Elizabeth and Ivan's destinies are quite similar, they are different. Many will remember Ivan IV as a  bloody tyrant and  despot for his oprichnina, and Elizabeth – as the great ruler, in whose board England got a rank of "the empress of the seas".  But I consider that even though Ivan the Terrible was a cruel governor, he  made a lot of things for the Russian state, and Elizabeth nevertheless was wrong when resolutely refused to marry, after all sometimes it is so difficult to bear a burden of board in loneliness and without support someone from close people.

Summing up, I can say  that  Ivan the Terrible era,  despite its  success and advances  left thorny  heritage and led to the Time of Troubles,  notorious in the history of Russia. During Elizabeth's board thunderclouds of  English revolution gathered over England.  Both Ivan IV and Elizabeth I made a lot for their  countries, they were ahead of the time, and it caused the  consequences, but the periods of their board indisputably became dawns and the brightest stages of history of the XVI century for Russia and  England.  

1. References:

1. Zimin A.A., Khoroshkevich A.L. “Russia of Times of Ivan the Terrible”, М., 2006.
2. Khoroshevich A.A, «Russia in the System of the International Relations of the Middle of the XVI Century" , M., 2003г.
3. James O’Driscoll, “Britain”, Oxford University Press

3. http://www.britannia.com