Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 18, RHI-SCR

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unable to refift the barbarians, And therefore purchafed
' an exemption from general pillage by great prefents,
and a promife of renewed allegiance. The Tartars re¬
tired, but carried off immenfe booty, and nearly 300,000
prifoners, the greater part of whom they fent to Theo-
dofia in the Crimea, and fold them to the Turks. This
humiliation of Vafilii did not, however, long continue,
and he was foon enabled to make head againft the Tar¬
tars, and to recover poffeffion of the city Kazan, and of
Pfcove, a city which had been built by the princefs
Olga, and was the great rival of Novgorod in wealth
and commercial importance. Under this prince all the
principalities of Ruffia were once more united, and they
have remained ever fince under the dominion of one fo-
1
R tr s
vereign.
It was under the fon and fucceffor of Vafilii, Ivan IV.
or, as he is ftyled by the Ruffian hiftorians, Ivan Vafilii-
vitch II. that Ruffia completely emancipated herfelf from
her fubjeftion to the Tartars, and acquired a vaft accef-
fion of territory, which extended her empire into the
north-eaft of Alia, and rendered her, for the firlt time,
fuperior in extent to any ftate that had appeared fince
the Roman empire. Vafilii died in 1533, having reign¬
ed 28 years, and lived 55. His fon Ivan was only
three years old when he fucceeded to the throne, and
the queen-mother was appointed regent during his mi¬
nority. During her adminiffration the ftate became a
prey to anarchy and confufion. She feems to have had
no talents for government, and devoted herfelf entirely
to the purfuit of pleafure, fo that the ambitious nobles,
and in particular the uncles of the young prince, had
the moft favourable opportunity for aggrandizing them-
felves at the expence of the fovereign. The queen mo¬
ther died in 1538 ; and though the names and charac¬
ters of thofe who affumed the regency after her death
are not known, it appears that they muft have conduc¬
ed the adminiftration with confiderable prudence and
circumfpe&ion, as, when Ivan attained his 17th year,
he was enabled to affume the reins of government with¬
out oppofition 5 and from the important tranfaCions in
which he immediately engaged, muft have been poffef-
fed of confiderable refources.
In taking into his own hands the government of the
ftate, Ivan difplayed fo much prudence and manly for¬
titude, as foan raifed him very high in the eftimation of
his fubje&s. At the fame time he (hewed marks of a
tyrannical difpofition, and irritability of temper, which
made him rather feared than admired by his friends,
while they rendered him an objeC of terror to his neigh¬
bours and his enemies. He faw himfelf furrounded on
all fides by contending fadions, and to fupprefs thefe
was the firft objeC of his care. In the choice of means
for effe&ing this, he does not feem to have been very
fcrupulous, provided they tended to the accomplifltment
of his aim ; and in punifliing the offences of thofe who
oppofed his purpofe, his violence of temper not unfre-
quently led him to confound the innocent with the
guilty. He was, however, fuccefsful in his great de~
fign, and having fecured the domeftic tranquillity of his
dominions, he had leifure to direft his attention to the
niore remote, but not lefs predominant objeCs of his
ambition. He refolved to attempt liberating his coun¬
try for ever from the dominion of the Tartars, and he
succeeded. In 1551, he marched an army in the depth
3-
of winter into the diftriC of Kazan, and laid fiege to Kuffia'
the capital, regardlefs of the murmurs of his troops,
who loudly and openly exprefled their diflike to this
expedition, declaring that no good commander would
think of conduCing his forces to fieges and battles dur¬
ing the inclemencies of winter, or attempt at fuch a
feafon to attack the enemy in their quarters. Exafpe-
rated at thefe murmurs, he determined to punilh fe-
verely the principal officers who had contributed to fo¬
ment the difcontents of the foldiers, and by this well-
timed feverity he effeCually repreffed all oppofition to
his will.
Before entering ferioufly on the fiege of Kazan, he His fiege
built feveral forts on the frontiers of the Tartar terri-°f th* ^r-
tories, by which he hoped to awe thefe barbarians, andtar caB2ta^-
prevent them from difturbing the peace of his domi¬
nions. He then invefted Kazan, and in the year 1552,
made himfelf mafter of it by the new, and, to the Tar¬
tars, unheard-of method of fpringing a mine below the
walls. We are told by fome hiftorians, that the city
had made an obftinate defence, and that, during the
fiege, which lafted above feven years, another alarming
mutiny broke out in the befieging army ; that Ivan was
in great danger of his life, and was obliged for a time
to abandon the enterprife, and retire to Mofco, where
he made an example of the chief mutineers, and again
returned to the fiege of Kazan. How far this ftatemenfc
is to be relied on, it is difficult now to determine 5 but
perhaps this mutiny is confounded with that which we
have already noticed, as having taken place at the com¬
mencement of the enterprife.
As Kazan was taken by ftorm, the inhabitants were
treated with much rigour; and the (laughter was fo
dreadful, that even the flinty heart of Ivan is faid to
have relented at the heaps of dead bodies which (truck
his fight on entering the city. The inhabitants that
efcaped (laughter, and the remains of the Tartars, were
offered mercy on condition that they ffiould embrace the
Chriftian faith. By this important conqueft the domi¬
nion of the Tartars, which had oppreffed the Ruffians
for more than three centuries, was completely and per¬
manently overthrown.
About two years after he had aboliftied the power of His men-
the Tartars, he extended his conquefts eaftward to the ^on the
(hores of the Cafpian, and took poffeffion of the terri- Ruff*an ter.
tory that lay on the right bank of the Volga, round theruor,es’
city of Aftracan, which was’ alfo inhabited by the Tar¬
tar hordes.
7«
Ivan, as well as his grandfather, had found it necef-His fevere
fary to chaftife the inhabitants of Novogorod 5 but intreattnen,t
the year 1570, this city being fufpefted of forming
plot for delivering itfelf and the furrounding territory
into the hands of the king of Poland, felt (till more
feverely the effects of his vengeance. All who had been
in any degree implicated in the confpiracy, to the num¬
ber of 25,000, fuffered by the hands of the executioner.
The city of Pfcove was threatened with a fimilar pro-
fcription ; but Ivan, on their voluntary fubmiffion, con¬
tented himfelf with the execution of a few monks, and
the confifcation of the property of the moft opulent in¬
habitants. It is not furprifing that aftslike thefe (hould
have given to this prince the names of terrible and ty¬
rant, by which hiftorians have occa%mally diftinguilhed
him ; though it is not a little extraordinary, that he
(houldt