The Rurik dynasty began with the founding of the Moscow principality in 1263 and lasted only 355 years. During this period of history, ten generations of kings have changed. The clan, the first representatives of which were distinguished by remarkable health and died, for the most part, from the enemy sword, as befits a brave warrior, by the end of its existence practically outlived its usefulness.
Related marriages
It is known that the princes of the first four generations of Rurikovich married exclusively to the daughters of sovereign rulers. The overwhelming number of marriages - 22 - were concluded with representatives of the Russian principalities: Tver, Mezetsk, Serpukhov, Smolensk and Yaroslavl and others. In three cases, with the permission of the Church, the Rurikovichs married fourth cousins of Moscow origin. 19 alliances were concluded with the princesses Rurikovna from the northeastern lands and adjacent principalities in the upper reaches of the Oka.
Those who got married had a common ancestor - Vsevolod the Big Nest - which means that such a union led to incest in one related group. The result was genetic degradation of the offspring. Children often died in infancy. In total, 137 princes and princesses were born from intradynastic marriages. 51 children died before reaching the age of 16.
So, Tsar Vasily I was the father of nine children, five of whom died as infants, one as a boy. The heir to Dmitry Donskoy, who died at the age of 15, grew up weak and frail. The son of Vasily II could not walk, grew up apathetic and lethargic. In the annals of 1456, it is said that a three-year-old child was brought in his arms to church services. And although the prince lived to be 29 years old, he never got on his feet.
The demon beguiled
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In addition to physiological abnormalities, mental diseases were noted in the heirs of the Rurik family. Historians note that already in the fifth generation of Moscow princes, strange behavior was observed, as well as head diseases unknown at that time, which in our century could be diagnosed as mental deviations.
From childhood, Ivan IV was distinguished by a hot-tempered character, suspiciousness and cruelty, surpassing the deeds of Caligula and Nero. At the end of the 19th century, psychiatrist P. I. Kovalevsky published a work in which he claimed that the formidable tsar had symptoms of paranoia, persecution mania and congenital dementia. By the end of his reign, he was on the verge of madness, showing a strange affection for the holy fools and frightening those close to him with inexplicable rage. In a fit of anger, he committed the massacre of his own son, after which he fell into a severe depression.
The situation was aggravated by the "overseas ailment" - syphilis, which struck the king, who after the death of the wife of the queen Anastasia fell into turmoil and tasted "the vile delights of voluptuousness." The chroniclers claim that Grozny boasted that he corrupted a thousand virgins and deprived a thousand of his children of their lives. The German pastor Oderborn wrote that the father and the eldest son exchanged both mistresses and lovers.
Inappropriate behavior was also noticed in his brother, Tsarevich, Yuri. The son of Ivan IV, Fyodor Ioannovich, had a reputation as an inferior person. Foreign submissions in reports to their homeland reported that the Russians called their ruler the word durak. The last son of the formidable tsar, Dmitry Uglichsky, from infancy suffered from an epilepsy, now known as epilepsy, and lagged behind in mental development. The events of the era of Ivan the Terrible pushed the princely families to abandon kinship unions.
Perthes disease
In 2010, with the participation of scientists from Ukraine, Sweden, Great Britain and the United States, a study of the DNA of bone remains from sarcophagi found in the church of St. Sophia of Kiev was carried out. According to Ukrainian anthropologists and archaeologists, the examination helped to identify a hereditary disease that prince Yaroslav the Wise suffered - Perthes disease, in which the blood supply to the femoral head is disrupted, as a result of which the nutrition of the joint deteriorates, leading to its necrosis. Indeed, the Grand Duke limped greatly during his lifetime and complained of constant pain.
Apparently, the Rurikovichi could have inherited the gene mutation from their ancestor, Prince Vladimir the Great. Pathogenic autosomes as a result of intrageneric marriages were passed on to descendants from Yaroslav Vladimirovich himself and his blood sister Pryamyslava. Chromosomes with a genetic disease were distributed to all branches of the princely family, as well as in the dynasty of Hungarian and Polish sovereigns, which was confirmed by DNA analyzes of remains from burials in Chernigov, Krakow and Hungarian Tihany, where the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise Queen Anastasia rested.