Ivan IV Vasilyevich (1530-1584), known in Russia as Ivan Grozny, “Ivan the Terrible”, was the first ruler to be crowned Czar of All Russia in 1547.

Ivan distrusted the boyars, the highest members of the aristocracy, who molested him as a child and certainly poisoned his mother. In the first years of his reign, Ivan reformed the government, church and army, and improved the lives of lower people. But in 1560, when his beloved wife Anastasia died, Ivan became a cruel and merciless ruler, although he was very much involved in religion. Ivan became famous for his massacres, public executions, and furious temper: one day, he accenditally killed his own son. Some people think he died poisoned.