On January 25, 1547, Ivan the Terrible, for the first time in Russian history, was crowned the state throne, replacing the usual grand-ducal title with the royal one. The Grand Duchy of Moscow, uniting many fragmented lands, took another step towards the empire, and on the basis of the ceremony, the rite of the royal wedding was drawn up - an order that will be followed with minor changes by the Russian monarchs for the next almost 350 years.
The first Russian tsar was 16 years old at the time of his coronation.
Search for ranks of ancestors
By the time of his accession to the throne, John had been the nominal ruler of the Grand Duchy of Moscow for 13 years, and a year before that he had come of age. This meant that John could become a full-fledged ruler, emerging from the influence of the "seven-numbered" boyar commission of guardians established by Vasily III, which anticipated the Seven Boyars of the era of the Time of Troubles.
In December 1546, 16-year-old John announced to Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow about his intention to marry. According to one of the versions, the metropolitan called on the young man to first marry the kingdom, according to another, the future Ivan IV himself announced his intention to "search for the ranks of the ancestors."
From the Grand Duchy of Moscow to the Russian Empire
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Before that, only the khans of the Golden Horde and the Byzantine emperors were called tsars in Russia. The Russian rulers bore the title of Grand Duke and for a long time were appointed by the horde, and were not married to reign, but were appointed by a special church rite of entreaty.
However, decades before Grozny, the first attempt was made to hold a wedding ceremony for the Moscow princely throne - but then the royal title was not used, and the wedding did not bring success in the struggle for rule to the potential Grand Duke.
In 1498, Ivan III, the husband of Sophia Palaeologus, first performed the Byzantine coronation ceremony, making his grandson Dmitry his co-ruler. Dmitry will soon be imprisoned by the father of Ivan IV, Vasily III, and by 1509 Dmitry will perish in captivity, never becoming an independent ruler.
The decision of Ivan the Terrible to accept the royal title and the royal crown meant not only the strengthening of ties with the Byzantine tradition, but also the next step in the development of Russian statehood. The Grand Duchy of Moscow, which has risen above the rest of the fragmented principalities, will be replaced by the Russian Empire, which will last until 1721, when the Russian Empire will replace it, in turn.
Autocrat with extended powers
The ceremonial wedding ceremony for the kingdom of Ivan IV was in many ways reminiscent of the wedding ceremony for the grandson of Ivan IV. But it was in the image and likeness of the ceremony of 1547 that the official rite of the royal wedding was drawn up - it, with minor changes, was followed by all subsequent Russian tsars and emperors.
During the service in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, Metropolitan Macarius laid on Ivan IV a cross, a crown and barmas, according to legend, transferred by the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh to Prince Vladimir.
"Great sovereign, by God's grace the tsar and grand duke of all Russia, Vladimir, Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov, Ryazan, Tver, Yugorsk, Perm, Vyatsk, Bulgarian and others" (later, with the expansion of the borders of the Russian state, the title was added, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Siberia "," and the sovereign of all the Northern countries "), - read the full title adopted that day by Ivan IV. Subsequently, with the expansion of the boundaries of the kingdom, the names of new territories continued to be added to it.
In 1584, the ceremony was supplemented by the rite of anointing to the kingdom, in which the forehead of the monarch ascending to the throne is anointed with myrrh or oil - hence the expression "the anointed of God." Moreover, in Russia, in contrast to Europe and Byzantium, the ceremony was carried out after the wedding, and not before. And, according to some historians, in this way the Russian tsar was likened not to the tsars of Israel, but to Christ himself.
Ivan the Terrible made his own adjustments to the Byzantine traditions: for example, the term "autocrat" that came from Byzantium initially spoke of the independence of the ruler. Under Grozny, the meaning of the word was expanded - in addition to independence from external forces, it began to mean the unlimited power of the ruler in the country.
The mystery of the Muscovite crown
In 1610, after the death of Vasily Shuisky, the boyars invited Vladislav, the son of the Polish king Sigismund III, to the Russian throne. According to the agreement concluded with the Russian embassy, Vladislav was supposed to convert to Orthodoxy and arrive in Moscow to be enthroned. Especially for the coronation of his son, Sigismund III ordered the "Moscovite crown" from the jewelers - a crown topped with 255 precious stones: pearls, sapphires, emeralds and rubies. In Russia, on behalf of Tsar Vladislav Zhigimontovich, they even began to print coins.
However, Vladislav did not accept Orthodoxy and did not arrive in Moscow. The crown, after the death of his father, was dismantled into jewelry, most of which fell into the possession of the German Electors of the Hohenzoller, after which their traces were lost. According to legend, one of the stones included in the Moscovite crown, a carved sapphire, was later donated to Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich and is still kept in the Armory. Allegedly, a parchment with the inscription Ex Corona Moscoviae was found with him. However, historians do not believe in this theory.
Sovereign apple
But the Russian monarchs borrowed from the Polish one of the two main symbols of monarchical power - the state, which in Poland in the old days was called "the apple of the tsarist rank", and in Russia - "the sovereign apple."
For the first time as a symbol of power, it was used by the Russian tsar in 1557, and for the wedding to the kingdom, the power was first used by False Dmitry I in 1605. From then until the coronation of the last Russian emperor Nicholas II in 1896, the state remained an integral part of the ceremony.
The last of the powers that belonged to the Russian rulers was made for the coronation of Catherine II in 1762. At the same time, under Catherine II, the famous Great Imperial Crown of the Russian Empire replaced Monomakh's hat.