Speaker 1: Hey everybody. Hey, welcome back to Ridiculous Romance.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm oh well, no after you, Yeah, after me?
Speaker 1: How about you introduced me. That's Eli and this is
Speaker 1: my lovely wife Diana.
Speaker 2: Oh, I didn't know you were going to do fun descriptors.
Speaker 2: I would have done something. Well, well, handsome darling husband, Eli.
Speaker 1: That's lovely. I don't know why you need me to
Speaker 1: prompt it, just to use some nice adjectives. Well, oh,
Speaker 1: getting a real peak behind the veil today, everybody.
Speaker 2: You have a very high self esteem and I don't
Speaker 2: need to worry about you.
Speaker 1: Oh is that what you think? Does that explain the
Speaker 1: last few years?
Speaker 2: In fact, I want to take you down a peck.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. You know I can't handle that. I'm
Speaker 1: very unstable.
Speaker 2: Well I know that's why I'm not very mean to you. Well, hey,
Speaker 2: watch you.
Speaker 1: Like I said, real peak behind This is what it's
Speaker 1: like when the mics aren't on. No, we've been having
Speaker 1: a good time over here, haven't we. Yeah, going out
Speaker 1: to a friend's birthday. Get to that age where birthday
Speaker 1: parties take place during the day, Yeah they do.
Speaker 2: It's even just grown people with no children, and it's
Speaker 2: still like look, I'm good from three to seven pm.
Speaker 2: And that's about as much as you're gonna get from me.
Speaker 1: I told her. I was like, I, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know if we'll be out too late because you know,
Speaker 1: we've got a lot of work to do. And she's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be out late. It's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're all older now.
Speaker 2: Oh it's so funny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, actually I like being out late. Yeah. If I
Speaker 1: can sleep in till noon the day of and the
Speaker 1: day after a party, I could go late. No, I'm
Speaker 1: with that.
Speaker 2: With that, and I stay up late at home all
Speaker 2: the time. I mean it's just the idea of like
Speaker 2: full face of makeup, nice outfit until two am.
Speaker 1: It's not like we're happening. Yeah, we ain't going to
Speaker 1: bed at nine pm.
Speaker 2: What I call it revenge bedtime.
Speaker 1: Procrastination, Yeah, something like that. Yeah, where it's.
Speaker 2: Like you're not having enough free time or personal time.
Speaker 1: Or whatever during today. Yeah, so you.
Speaker 2: Just like make yourself stay up even if you're not
Speaker 2: even doing anything you want to do, just like scrolling
Speaker 2: on your phone.
Speaker 1: I'll teach you bring for being busy all day. I'm
Speaker 1: going to ruin your night.
Speaker 2: I mean like, Okay, that's only going to hurt you.
Speaker 1: But yeah, and it does and does well. Speaking of revenge,
Speaker 1: speaking of revenge for real, today we're talking about a
Speaker 1: good one. I'm very into this story. Oh yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's a name we all know and love. I've In
Speaker 1: the Terrible, Oh or i've In the fourth, the first
Speaker 1: Czar of Russia. But actually i've In the Terrible as
Speaker 1: a nickname I learned as actually something of a mistranslation,
Speaker 1: because back in the sixteenth century they called him Ivan Grozni,
Speaker 1: which does directly translate to the English word terrible, but
Speaker 1: at that time it more accurately meant awe inspiring or
Speaker 1: powerful or courageous, something like that. But coincidentally, Ivan was
Speaker 1: also pretty terrible, so you know they still Yeah, but
Speaker 1: for a while, Ivan was actually a pretty great ruler,
Speaker 1: mostly due to the loving relationship he had with his
Speaker 1: first wife, Anastasia Romanov. Not the Anastasia Romanov that you're
Speaker 1: thinking of, right, But let's dive into it. Let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and hear about the first of Ivan's eight marriages,
Speaker 1: his war with a dozen noble families, a few poisonings,
Speaker 1: a couple of fires, and the first unified Russia.
Speaker 3: Let's go Hayla friends, come listen.
Speaker 2: Well, Eli and Diana got some stories to tell. There's
Speaker 2: no match making a romantic tips. It's just about ridiculous
Speaker 2: relation ships.
Speaker 3: A lover might be any type of person at all,
Speaker 3: and abstract asatore a concrete wall. But if there's a
Speaker 3: story where the second glance, who put it and show
Speaker 3: ridiculous romance.
Speaker 2: A production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: So we start our story with Vasily the Third, who
Speaker 1: had been ruling what was known as the Grand Duchy
Speaker 1: of Moscow or Muscovy for twenty years alongside his wife
Speaker 1: Solomonia Saburova. And these two were doing a great job.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is sixteenth century Russia, early fifteen hundreds
Speaker 1: at a lot of scattered kingdoms, not necessarily all united
Speaker 1: under one Russian banner. Yet territory under Vasili the Third
Speaker 1: and Solomonia was being expanded. They recaptured land which had
Speaker 1: been taken by neighboring countries one hundred years earlier, and
Speaker 1: all of their oppositions quickly getting shut down. They were
Speaker 1: just doing, you know, just what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 1: But twenty years in he realized that he never got
Speaker 1: around to producing an air whoopsie, which I mean you know,
Speaker 1: we know in monarchies from this show especially, people don't
Speaker 1: like that so much.
Speaker 2: Not at all, like make one or bring one or
Speaker 2: do something.
Speaker 1: Yes, however you gotta do it, give that one guy's
Speaker 1: a girl as a boy in color king whatever you
Speaker 1: gotta do. What. Well, the old fashioned way of getting
Speaker 1: pregnant was not working for these two, so Solomonia tried
Speaker 1: the new fashioned way, which was going to consult with
Speaker 1: sorcerers and taking pilgrimages to holy sites. Vasili and Solomonia
Speaker 1: even appealed to God for a child by having a
Speaker 1: few churches built.
Speaker 2: Ah, yes, the sixteenth century version of IVF building church.
Speaker 1: Well. Surprisingly, none of these things was working, and eventually
Speaker 1: the grand Prince's boyars, who were basically these like highly
Speaker 1: influential Russian nobles, told him you know what, buddy, you
Speaker 1: gotta ditch this wife and get the new one because
Speaker 1: you need a baby.
Speaker 2: You need baby. Well, the Russian Orthodox clergy did not
Speaker 2: like this. They were always fighting with the boy yard
Speaker 2: oh right, and I mean they probably didn't like divorce
Speaker 2: like any church. Sure, but Vassili the third decided to
Speaker 2: go through with a divorce, and in November of fifteen
Speaker 2: twenty five, their marriage was annulled and Solomonia was taken
Speaker 2: to a convent. Russian chronicles tend to say it was willingly,
Speaker 2: but other historians say it was forcefully.
Speaker 1: I have a hard time thinking that this woman is like, oh,
Speaker 1: my husband, the ruler of all the lands, is divorcing me. Sure,
Speaker 1: I'm happy to go to a convent instead.
Speaker 2: Right, I don't think. I don't think willingly. This is
Speaker 2: the one.
Speaker 1: She was very religious, so she might have considered it
Speaker 1: her duty and like, Okay, well, if I can't produce
Speaker 1: a baby, God's telling me I gotta go do this instead.
Speaker 1: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know. There was at least a part of
Speaker 2: her who was like, I want to do this.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: She was eventually brought to the Intercession Monastery in Suzdl,
Speaker 2: which was one of the churches that she and Vastly
Speaker 2: had built to try to get pregnant in the first place.
Speaker 2: Oh not a full circle, I guess right. Rumors persisted
Speaker 2: that she actually gave birth to a child while inside
Speaker 2: the monastery only months after their annulments. Whops, and the
Speaker 2: rumor became the foundation for a Russian folk hero named Kudeyar,
Speaker 2: who's sort of like a robin Hood type.
Speaker 1: Vasili the third did marry again, this time to a
Speaker 1: princess named Elena Glinskaya. She was from a family of
Speaker 1: boyars named the Glinskis, but other boyars, who were the
Speaker 1: ones who encouraged him to remarry in the first place,
Speaker 1: did not like this choice because Elena and the Glinskis
Speaker 1: were Catholic, not Russian orthodox Man.
Speaker 2: Every country in this period of time is having a real,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, real problem with Catholicism.
Speaker 1: But Vasili was obsessed with this girl, so much so
Speaker 1: that he trimmed his beard when he went to see
Speaker 1: her so that he would look younger. Now, I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I regularly do this myself.
Speaker 1: You gotta keep it high and tight. It takes a
Speaker 1: few years off, you know. But apparently this was a
Speaker 1: huge no no in Muscovite customs. You got your beard,
Speaker 1: shows your rage, you gotta grow it out. Yeah. But
Speaker 1: none of this mattered, because ultimately Vassili the third and
Speaker 1: Elena Glenskaya did marry and they had their first son,
Speaker 1: Ivan the fourth, named for his grandfather Ivan the Great,
Speaker 1: who was the previous grand Prince of Muscovy. Unfortunately, Vassili
Speaker 1: died only three years later from an infection shortly after
Speaker 1: the birth of their second son, Yuri. On his deathbed,
Speaker 1: Vasili transferred rulership of Moscovy to his son Ivan the
Speaker 1: fourth before his death in fifteen thirty three, but of course,
Speaker 1: at only three years old, somebody was going to have
Speaker 1: to rule in Ivan's stead, so the next five years
Speaker 1: are referred to as the Reign of Elena. Oh I
Speaker 1: like it. I like that, Yeah, Ayne of Elena. It
Speaker 1: sounds like a It sounds like a se. Someone try
Speaker 1: rain Elena.
Speaker 2: It should be rain, a rain by Elena. Dry rain
Speaker 2: by Elena. It's like Margot Robbie, like running through a
Speaker 2: hallway with like a curtain. There's like soft filters everywhere
Speaker 2: by Lena.
Speaker 1: By Elena.
Speaker 2: Anyway, I'm ready to buy it, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It smells like the Russian countryside.
Speaker 2: Oh wait, now I don't know. I'm not so sure. Well, anyway,
Speaker 2: the reign of Elena was going on to the next
Speaker 2: five years, and Vassili's brothers tried to challenge Elena for
Speaker 2: her role, but they both ended up locked up and
Speaker 2: Elena did a bomb ass job ruling in Muscovy. She
Speaker 2: brought a currency reform that unified money across the state.
Speaker 2: She signed an armistice with longtime enemy Lithuania. She had
Speaker 2: new city walls built around Moscow, she protected travelers from bandits,
Speaker 2: and she paid to have Muscabite prisoners freed. But she
Speaker 2: also had a super high drama government and might have
Speaker 2: been having a fling with both a boyar and an
Speaker 2: Orthodox bishop.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, messie, for real, those are like two
Speaker 1: sworn enemies, I.
Speaker 2: Know, and she would go from one to the other
Speaker 2: and just talk shit about the other guy.
Speaker 1: It's really we've been watching The Great a little bit,
Speaker 1: and that's of course way later in time than this
Speaker 1: is happening, but you get the same kind of impression
Speaker 1: of just like there's high up nobles and there's high
Speaker 1: up priests, and they are always scheming against each other
Speaker 1: in this world. They so are.
Speaker 2: But Elena only ruled for five years before dying at
Speaker 2: twenty eight years old. Her son, Ivan's governess was arrested,
Speaker 2: and some historians think the Shoe Whiskeys, which is a
Speaker 2: family of boyars who seized power after her death, were
Speaker 2: behind the whole thing. Recent forensics have found supportive evidence
Speaker 2: that she was poisoned.
Speaker 1: Oh man, this one no natural death, no no. And
Speaker 1: it's one of those situations where you're like, oh, this lady,
Speaker 1: and then this family rushed in and was like, we'll
Speaker 1: be in charge. Okay. Kind of suspicious that you've been
Speaker 1: you just swept in right.
Speaker 2: Also, you had to be real careful with your food. Oh,
Speaker 2: my dad, back in the day, my god, everybody was
Speaker 2: out to poison someone.
Speaker 1: So now little Ivan, who was only eight years old,
Speaker 1: was being raised by the Boyar family, who probably poisoned
Speaker 1: his mother, and they basically took over control of Muscovy
Speaker 1: to rule in his stead while he was a kid,
Speaker 1: and he later wrote letters about how poorly he and
Speaker 1: his little brother Yuri were treated by the Shuisky family,
Speaker 1: who quote brought us up like vagrants. I suffered for
Speaker 1: want of governments and food. But when Ivan was thirteen,
Speaker 1: he decided he was going to be a real thirteen
Speaker 1: year old boy and start testing the limits of his
Speaker 1: power over everyone. I mean, he was still technically the
Speaker 1: ruler of Muscovy, after all, his father had named him
Speaker 1: in charge. A feast in fifteen forty three that saw
Speaker 1: some of the highest ranking Muscovites in attendance, and just
Speaker 1: after the main course, this little teenage tyrant turned to
Speaker 1: a guy named Prince Andre, who was the most powerful
Speaker 1: of the Shuisky family and the guy who was effectively
Speaker 1: the de facto ruler of Moscow right now, and he
Speaker 1: just said, you and your family, you've completely mismanaged the country.
Speaker 1: Someone ar asked him and executed him. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: just like that. And the guards stood up and they
Speaker 1: were like, yes, sir, and they marched right over. They
Speaker 1: snatched up Prince Andrew and took him away, and according
Speaker 1: to history dot com, some say that Prince Andre was
Speaker 1: then torn apart by dogs, but the more credible history
Speaker 1: is just that his jailers beat him to death. Oh
Speaker 1: he so either way, I even stepping in and being like,
Speaker 1: by the way, I'm in charge now.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I guess he was like, man, y'all don't
Speaker 2: feed me and stuff, but if I ask for something,
Speaker 2: they do give it to him. Oh I guess I'll
Speaker 2: just keep asking.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day. The Royal guard listens to.
Speaker 2: Me, very good to know.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, after that, everyone was like, oh, okay, I guess
Speaker 2: Ivan's in charge now, so excited about that love that
Speaker 2: for you and me and everyone. But in an effort
Speaker 2: to distract this hopped up, you know, little teenager, the
Speaker 2: boy yars decided to just throw girls at him. Oh sure, like,
Speaker 2: what does a thirteen year old boy want ladies?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 2: In fact, the noble families were all trying to outperform
Speaker 2: each other by finding the best girls for him. And
Speaker 2: because of this, teenaged Ivan was rumored to take a
Speaker 2: different mistress every day for almost four years.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, can.
Speaker 2: You imagine going back in time to thirteen year old
Speaker 2: Eli and being like, you're gonna have a different girl
Speaker 2: every day?
Speaker 1: If thirteen year old Eli talked to one girl, uh
Speaker 1: well it wasn't talking. Let's just say it with a
Speaker 1: stammering mess of syllables.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, but in this scenario, teenaged Eli's in charge
Speaker 2: of all of muscovy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just it's hard to imagine that for the
Speaker 1: teenage Eli, I know, because he was barely in charge
Speaker 1: of all of his own bedroom chaos everywhere.
Speaker 2: Well, so you would have sat and chatted with him,
Speaker 2: had like maybe not so much sex.
Speaker 1: No, I would have The first girl would have come
Speaker 1: in and I was Hi, Hi, good, I'm what's your name?
Speaker 1: Your name's well mine, I'm Eli, And oh you know what,
Speaker 1: you know? What is it hot in here? I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna get some water. I'll be, I'll be, I'll be Eli.
Speaker 1: Oh ship, and then that would be and then then
Speaker 1: I would never leave my room for the next four years.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, I guess Ivan was not like that.
Speaker 1: No, that's a short list of differences between me and
Speaker 1: I'm in the terrible and I'd say that.
Speaker 2: That's just first, I know, I guess I guess if
Speaker 2: you had, if you had ordered a man beat to
Speaker 2: death already, you might feel more confident. Well, anyway, the
Speaker 2: boy ours learned from all of this throwing ladies at
Speaker 2: him for four years that I've been loved cheerful, lively
Speaker 2: and passionate women, which is like, who doesn't, I mean,
Speaker 2: come up? Yeah, But historian Alexander Bushkov points out that
Speaker 2: quote from time immemorial. In Russia, it was believed that
Speaker 2: true adulthood does not occur upon reaching a certain age,
Speaker 2: but only after marriage. A single person was considered to
Speaker 2: be not even quite full grown.
Speaker 1: Wow, so you could be.
Speaker 2: Like an eighty year old spinster, and they'd be like,
Speaker 2: look at that baby walking around. Shit, just a child
Speaker 2: after all, So all the boyar families also started scheming
Speaker 2: to try and be the ones who would find his wife.
Speaker 1: So, after getting slapped around by the boyars for most
Speaker 1: of his life and then distracted with women as they
Speaker 1: ruled in his stead, I'm in the fourth stepped up
Speaker 1: and it was time for him to take his place
Speaker 1: as the Grand Prince of Russia, just like his father
Speaker 1: on his sixteenth birthday in fifteen forty six. But look,
Speaker 1: ivan we've already seen is unpredictable, and he's volatile, and
Speaker 1: he had been pushed around, his mother had been assassinated.
Speaker 1: He did not like these shwhiskies and all these other boyars,
Speaker 1: thinking that they were the ones who were really in charge.
Speaker 1: So at his coronation he said, hey, the what I
Speaker 1: am not Grand Prince of Russia. I am the Tzar
Speaker 1: of all Russia. And this is the first time that
Speaker 1: Russia had one supreme ruler in a tzar. And in
Speaker 1: this he sent a symbolic message to everyone that yes,
Speaker 1: I am supremely the not to be questioned. Now the
Speaker 1: Orthodox metropolitan or the bishop of the Orthodox Church whose
Speaker 1: name was Makarius, who had also become one of Ivan's
Speaker 1: closest advisors, was just immediately like, yes, King, whatever you say,
Speaker 1: you do the thing. You're in charge now totally. And
Speaker 1: so the church was totally on his side. So at
Speaker 1: this point the Boyers have no other choice but be like, uh, yeah, yeah, cool,
Speaker 1: no doubt, no doubt, no, no, no, that sounds pretty good.
Speaker 1: They're probably shitting themselves as they realized how they've been
Speaker 1: treating this kid who was going to be their leader one.
Speaker 2: Day, all right, which they should have thought. I mean,
Speaker 2: as I said, they should have thought about that from
Speaker 2: the beginning, I mean dumb. Well, now that he was
Speaker 2: sixteen and the ruler of Russia, he really needed to
Speaker 2: get married number one classical royal problem, and the Boyars
Speaker 2: had been searching all over other kingdoms for his bride.
Speaker 2: But Ivan told them I wish to marry a Russian bro.
Speaker 1: Oh, he says, I heard. You can just send out
Speaker 1: for them in the mail. They just show up like
Speaker 1: uber eats.
Speaker 2: No problem. I can pick from colors of him, I
Speaker 2: can pick from size.
Speaker 1: Where's the menu, give me the catalog?
Speaker 2: Well, anyway, Metropolitan Macarius, the Czar's number one brown noser,
Speaker 2: you know, in reference to him wanting to marry a
Speaker 2: Russian woman said quote, God himself inspired you with this intention.
Speaker 2: I'd bless it in the name of the heavenly fathers.
Speaker 1: This guy's always just like, yes, I'm I'm your number
Speaker 1: one cheerleader.
Speaker 2: The church got you boy, total yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 2: Only two weeks after his coronation, an invitation went out
Speaker 2: for all the hottest ladies in Russia to come an
Speaker 2: audition to be Tzar Ivan the fourth Bride, and every
Speaker 2: noble family and the Grand Duchy of Moscow was invited
Speaker 2: to submit their daughters for consideration, and in the end
Speaker 2: as many as fifteen hundred girls showed up hoping to
Speaker 2: be missus Ivan. That's crazy. It's like the world's first
Speaker 2: and biggest dating show.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, what's it called. I haven't.
Speaker 2: That's pretty good. I showed it like a czar one,
Speaker 2: like oh yeah, like a like flavor of love, but
Speaker 2: likear version.
Speaker 1: Car of love would be the easy one.
Speaker 2: But maybe it's like the czar the bachelor's art.
Speaker 1: Now, don't go breaking my zart. Oh, I mean, if
Speaker 1: you must, now I must not.
Speaker 2: I like striving for ivans, driving for IVN, driving for
Speaker 2: iving or doors So you think you can marry the czar?
Speaker 1: These fifteen hundred women, they're all striving for driving.
Speaker 2: Who will get the rose and who will be sent home?
Speaker 1: First? Up, Katerina, what's your favorite root vegetable? Katerina Ali,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. We'll be moving on to Bettanova, Bettanova, what's
Speaker 1: your favorite root vegetable in Russia? It's okay, that's the
Speaker 1: number two answer. And finally, another girl named Katerina, what's
Speaker 1: your favorite fame root vegetable in the Russia? Beat that
Speaker 1: it is you in that's the answer. We would wait things.
Speaker 2: Ooh, I thought you wanted my favorite.
Speaker 1: Not the right hand, I wanted Catterina's favorite.
Speaker 2: I want. I'm so sorry, Well, I want to beat
Speaker 2: the competition.
Speaker 4: Hey see which girl beats the competition and which girls
Speaker 4: go krembling back to their families.
Speaker 2: This show is going to be canceled.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this show did not make it very far.
Speaker 2: Well, of course, you know, and they got all these
Speaker 2: fifteen hundred girls, they all you know, hoping to get
Speaker 2: the rose at the end or whatever, and all the
Speaker 2: boy ares were pushing their you know, their girls for
Speaker 2: the usual reasons right, powerful unification of families, merging land,
Speaker 2: investing their dowries and royalty, all that stuff. But the
Speaker 2: eventual winner would surprise everyone. And we'll meet Ivan's first
Speaker 2: wife right after this break. Welcome back to striving for riding.
Speaker 1: Russians like the Russian Tasmanian devil.
Speaker 2: Well, he's their main voice every so he does all
Speaker 2: the voiceover work there.
Speaker 1: So the invitation that went out to every noble family
Speaker 1: in Russia to bring their daughters out for this contest
Speaker 1: was not so much an invitation as it was a
Speaker 1: direct order. According to a Russian collection of histories that
Speaker 1: I found on a website called sato I, the letter
Speaker 1: everyone got said quote, when this letter of ours come
Speaker 1: to you, if you have daughters, then you would immediately
Speaker 1: go with them to the city for a review. And
Speaker 1: under no circumstances would you have these daughters concealed, which
Speaker 1: one of you will be in great disgrace with the
Speaker 1: bizarre and face execution. Send the letter amongst yourselves without
Speaker 1: delaying even an our. Jeez, this very chain letter, like
Speaker 1: I know, I send them forward.
Speaker 2: This to seven people or get.
Speaker 1: Bad luck for the next ten years. Good bad luck.
Speaker 2: So fifteen hundred young women were brought to Moscow to
Speaker 2: be judged and what Alexander Bushkov calls quote the first
Speaker 2: all Russian beauty contest. Sign me up, I know, I
Speaker 2: bet a lot of them are really hot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sign me up to compete. Not to compete, but
Speaker 1: just to attend judge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just to attend. You don't even want to judge.
Speaker 1: Oh, I don't want to judge. I don't like judging women.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that about you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'll watch a big line if pretty women
Speaker 1: walk past me. Of course, sign me up for that.
Speaker 2: Who wouldn't. Now, some of these ladies were pretty excited
Speaker 2: about this. The prospect of marrying the Czar must have
Speaker 2: sounded like a pretty sweet deal, sure, especially if they
Speaker 2: didn't know anything about it, like he could be anything
Speaker 2: in there. But of course some of them were already
Speaker 2: in love with someone else and they just had not
Speaker 2: gotten married yet. Oh that would suck, which kind of
Speaker 2: reminds me of Catherine Parr from our last episode. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: she was gonna marry Thomas Seymour and then King Henry's like,
Speaker 2: actually I'd like to marry you. She was like, well,
Speaker 2: I guess I got to marry the king. I mean,
Speaker 2: I can't know. So these fifteen hundred girls were first
Speaker 2: brought before a team of governors who like whittled the
Speaker 2: stack down to a more smaller manageable number. Oh so
Speaker 2: it's like the pre auditions from ya can Idol, right right.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, I get to perform for Simon. No no, no,
Speaker 1: no no.
Speaker 2: Not got to see if you're good TV first.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: So now about a large party's worth of the prettiest
Speaker 2: young women in Russia were brought before Ivan and they
Speaker 2: all flirted and giggled and tried to get his attention.
Speaker 2: But there was one girl in the corner of the
Speaker 2: room who didn't say too much.
Speaker 1: That's right. Her name was honest, That Sia Ramanov, the
Speaker 1: Zakaria Yureva.
Speaker 2: Too many names.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of names, but she's from a lot
Speaker 1: of fans families. Uh. And like we said, this is
Speaker 1: not Anastasia, and in fact, the name Anastasia doesn't exist
Speaker 1: in Russia. I saw a lot of angry Russian YouTubers saying,
Speaker 1: announced Anastasia, that's it's anesthesia. So that's what we'll go
Speaker 1: with the proper pronunciation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're welcome Russia.
Speaker 1: Well, this girl was about seventeen years old, so about
Speaker 1: the same age as Ivan, and her modesty at this
Speaker 1: party had already been ridiculed by the boyers and the
Speaker 1: other girls. She was just a little too modests, you know, Tyrie. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: She wasn't out there shagging her boobs for Ivan and
Speaker 1: trying to get to the frontal line. So all the
Speaker 1: boyers like weren't impressed with this girl. And maybe it
Speaker 1: was Ivan's just total hatred of these guys that made
Speaker 1: him cross the room and take this girl's hand. He
Speaker 1: had made his choice, and many sources say that her
Speaker 1: family was noble but not particularly important, but historian l. E.
Speaker 1: Morozova said that she might even have been chosen because
Speaker 1: of her quote nobility and proximity to the grand Duke's court.
Speaker 1: Her father had been an advisor of Ivan's grandfather, Ivan
Speaker 1: the Third, but he died before he could do very much,
Speaker 1: so he wasn't, like, you know, a well known guy.
Speaker 1: But her uncle was actually a very trusted advisor to
Speaker 1: Ivan's father, Vassili. He was even nicknamed the Eye of Vassili,
Speaker 1: So Ivan was probably pretty well acquainted with this family
Speaker 1: of Romanov's well.
Speaker 2: They married on February third, fifteen forty seven, officiated by
Speaker 2: who else but Metropolitan Macarius. He was probably like so excited,
Speaker 2: and as Ivan was Russia's first czar, Anastasia became the
Speaker 2: first Russian czarina. She was famously beautiful at a young age,
Speaker 2: with dark eyes and long, thick, dark blonde hair. But
Speaker 2: she was also a sweet, small, polite, affectionate girl, and
Speaker 2: everyone was kind of worried how this little sweetie was
Speaker 2: gonna hold up married to Ivan, who was, you know,
Speaker 2: known to be pretty reactive, violent and controlling. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 2: but remember Ivan always liked cheerful, lively girls and honest
Speaker 2: Essia actually brought out the best in Ivan. The fourth
Speaker 2: Russian histories say that quote Anastasia instructed and led him
Speaker 2: to all sorts of virtues.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: An English explorer and diplomat who spent much of his
Speaker 2: life in Russia wrote, quote, this queen was so wise, virtuous, pious,
Speaker 2: and influential that she was revered and loved by all subordinates.
Speaker 2: Ivan Vassilievitch was young and quick tempered, but she ruled
Speaker 2: him with amazing meekness and intelligence. Not bad, pretty good, honest,
Speaker 2: Essilla Well.
Speaker 1: Ivan and Anastasia were incredibly happy together and they seemed
Speaker 1: to be deeply in love. But things got off to
Speaker 1: a rocky start for Ivan and his rain with the
Speaker 1: Great Fire of Moscow in the summer of fifteen forty seven,
Speaker 1: just a few months after his coronation and their marriage.
Speaker 1: At this time, most of the city of Moscow was
Speaker 1: built out of wood, and when the fire broke out,
Speaker 1: nearly a third of the city was destroyed. Between two
Speaker 1: and three thousand people died. And if you remember the Shuiskys,
Speaker 1: that family of boyars who ruled while Ivan was a child,
Speaker 1: Well they're still around causing trouble, and they decided they
Speaker 1: were going to investigate the fire, and in their investigation
Speaker 1: they found out that, oh my goodness, what do you know,
Speaker 1: their sworn enemies, the Glinskis, started it. If you remember
Speaker 1: the Glinskis, that was Ivan's mother, Elena Glinskaya, who the
Speaker 1: Shwiskys had poisoned back in the day while her mother
Speaker 1: was still around, Anna Glinsky, and they claimed that she
Speaker 1: had used sorcery to start the fire, because there was
Speaker 1: already this local folklore that she was like a witch
Speaker 1: who could transform into a bird, according to the historian
Speaker 1: Uri Bosin, So, the sh Whiskeys suggested that she tore
Speaker 1: out human hearts, boiled them, and then turned into a
Speaker 1: bird and flew around the city sprinkling this cursed blood
Speaker 1: water down on houses, which immediately erected into flames.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna say something.
Speaker 1: Go ahead.
Speaker 2: This is obviously bullshit, but it's also so metal, like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, taking lady tearing out human hearts and
Speaker 2: boiling them and then like turning into a bird and
Speaker 2: sprinkling blood water that turns into flames. I mean, holy,
Speaker 2: that's a whole like that could be a whole metal
Speaker 2: music video right there.
Speaker 1: And my response when the sh Whiskys tell me this
Speaker 1: is and you want to go after this woman? You
Speaker 1: want to? I say, we get futter with it. What
Speaker 1: she wants?
Speaker 2: I think I need to hire right, maybe rain these
Speaker 2: powers in for myself. Well, instead of that, the sh
Speaker 2: Whisky's got people all worked up, and soon an angry
Speaker 2: mob was storming around the city looking for Glinsky's, any Glinski's,
Speaker 2: and they found Yuri Glinsky hiding in a cathedral, dragged
Speaker 2: him out to the streets and stoned him to death.
Speaker 2: They raided Glinsky homes, they killed the Glinsky's serfs. According
Speaker 2: to Bushkov, the mob even killed random people that were
Speaker 2: suggested to be associated with the Glinskis without kicking any
Speaker 2: of their identities. Oh my god, that is so.
Speaker 1: Crazy, Like I think that guy was the Glinsky's bartender.
Speaker 2: Last night, right, the historian rites quote, A mass of
Speaker 2: people is stupid, and when the people are stupid, it
Speaker 2: is easy to control them, which is what the sh
Speaker 2: Whiskys took advantage of.
Speaker 1: I'm a historian to tell me that I would.
Speaker 2: Get that embroidered. A of people is stupid. That's like
Speaker 2: the most real thing I've heard.
Speaker 1: That's I love that. It's my one of my favorite
Speaker 1: movie quotes in Men in Black, Yes, Timi Lee Jones,
Speaker 1: A person is smart, but people are stupid, and.
Speaker 2: You know it goes on yep, and he ain't wrong.
Speaker 1: He ain't wrong.
Speaker 2: So then the mob turned towards Ivan's palace, where they
Speaker 2: knew his grandmother, the sorceress Anna Glinsky, was hiding. Ivan
Speaker 2: is only seventeen at this point. He's just crowned Czar.
Speaker 2: He's never seen a huge mob of angry villagers with
Speaker 2: pitchforks before. This is a real unprecedented situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but Ivan did not hand over his grandmother to
Speaker 1: the angry mob. Now. Posen says that Ivan was quote
Speaker 1: forced to give generous promises to pacify the protesters, and
Speaker 1: then the mob just kind of fizzled out over about
Speaker 1: a week. But Bushkov writes that Ivan wanted to set
Speaker 1: an example and quote ordered the instigators to be seized
Speaker 1: and immediately executed, and the crowd fled to their home.
Speaker 1: Holmes He's saying Ivan learned from his early days with
Speaker 1: the Shwhiskies that if you're timid, they will walk all
Speaker 1: over you, but when you show force, a lot of
Speaker 1: the times they'll flinch. Playwright and historian Edward Radzinski said
Speaker 1: Ivan the Fourth was quote the true grandson of Ivan
Speaker 1: the third. He already understood his people a kingdom without
Speaker 1: a thunderstorm, like a horse without a bridle. So you
Speaker 1: need this big, thunderous person to come in and you know,
Speaker 1: kind of put you in your place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, ah, I guess, well, I mean, you know, anyway,
Speaker 2: The point is Ivan was ready to be terrible. He
Speaker 2: was like, one day this is gonna be my whole thing.
Speaker 1: Yea.
Speaker 2: But in fact, his early years were not terrible. And
Speaker 2: many attribute that largely to his marriage with Anastasiev. Their
Speaker 2: early rule was marked with peaceful reforms and modernizations. He
Speaker 2: formed the Zemski Sabor, which was Russia's parliament. He established
Speaker 2: a standing army called the Streltzi, and he unified religious
Speaker 2: rituals across the country.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about that. It's interesting to think when
Speaker 1: you've got a large country with churches, you know, hundreds
Speaker 1: of miles apart from each other, How do you know
Speaker 1: they're doing the same thing, right?
Speaker 2: I guess that's a good point.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever came in and said, hey, mass goes like this,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess they all get trained right in someplace.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but then you kind of go off on
Speaker 1: your own, and you know, just gradually it turns into
Speaker 1: your own thing. I guess, well, that's why I.
Speaker 2: Always hated it when they were like, oh, the Bible
Speaker 2: used to be written, you know, in whatever language the
Speaker 2: common people did not speak. Oh, so that they had
Speaker 2: to go to a priest and told like what God's
Speaker 2: word was or whatever, and so the priest could tell
Speaker 2: you anything. They could literally be like, oh, yeah, this
Speaker 2: Bible says you have to sleep with me. Once to
Speaker 2: meet or something, and they'd be, well, I guess this
Speaker 2: is in the book, you know. Like well, Ivan also
Speaker 2: took a look at the mess the Shwhiskys had made
Speaker 2: after the fire, and you know, he already hated these
Speaker 2: boyars plenty, but this just like added to it. So
Speaker 2: he started working on reforms that curbed their power. He's like,
Speaker 2: I want you all to be able to do less,
Speaker 2: you know. So a special council was established called the Isbranayarada,
Speaker 2: which allowed lower class representatives to advise the czar on
Speaker 2: what was going on out in these streets there you go,
Speaker 2: which is pretty cool, like the common man around him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sick of you rich people going on. Yeah right,
Speaker 1: and I mean mostly involved in the Isbranaya Rada was
Speaker 1: still pretty rich people. It wasn't the one percenters, but
Speaker 1: he was talking to the middle class.
Speaker 2: Now at least, I was gonna say, it must have
Speaker 2: been at least landowners, like probably not a lot of peasants.
Speaker 1: He actually, yeah, he did put some some laws into
Speaker 1: place that actually curbed peasants' abilities to like move around
Speaker 1: so much. But in general, he was like, let me
Speaker 1: stop making this such a you know, where only the
Speaker 1: rich people are allowed to have any say things.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, what.
Speaker 1: About the slightly less rich people. No one's thinking to them, poor.
Speaker 2: People, no one cares, but the slightly restless rich people
Speaker 2: to get more representation.
Speaker 1: Well, look, obviously Ivan is a complicated guy. And who
Speaker 1: knew that this little slice of Russian history would be
Speaker 1: so dense and dramatic.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, no one could guess that.
Speaker 1: Always thought Russian history was supposed to be boring, so easy.
Speaker 1: And well, we should, however, zero in on this marriage
Speaker 1: and the family that they started, and the boatload of
Speaker 1: tragedy that followed. So let's take a break and we
Speaker 1: will look at all that right after this.
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone.
Speaker 1: So honest, Asia and Ivan the Fourth, as we've said,
Speaker 1: are very much in love. There's just a really good
Speaker 1: relationship going on here. And while she was not directly
Speaker 1: involved in policy, she did help him keep a cool
Speaker 1: head while Ivan was off czarring to see you created
Speaker 1: this embroidery workshop, very famous. A lot of women came
Speaker 1: to work for her, like the best artists in town.
Speaker 1: And there's this famed style of facial sewing that they
Speaker 1: do in sixteenth century Russia, and they would embroider these
Speaker 1: works that reflected state events or army victories under Ivan's rule,
Speaker 1: and religious symbols as well, and quite a few of
Speaker 1: these works apparently are preserved in museums to this day.
Speaker 1: So if you're at a Russian art museum, keep an
Speaker 1: eye up for some of Anssia's embroidery. Yeah, but look, look,
Speaker 1: I know that we all want this happy couple to
Speaker 1: just sit around and stitch fancy art and bring down
Speaker 1: rich nobles and live happily ever after. Right, I'm sorry, folks,
Speaker 1: this is a Russian story. If you haven't heard so,
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna be tragic.
Speaker 2: Oh man. Yes, Together, Ivan and Anastasia had six children.
Speaker 2: The first two were daughters, Anna and Maria, but each
Speaker 2: of them died at less than a year old, which,
Speaker 2: as in many of our stories, it's just not that uncommon,
Speaker 2: especially in Russia at the time. Bushkov wrote that infant
Speaker 2: mortality was hi throughout Europe and Asia at this time,
Speaker 2: with some women giving birth every year and often only
Speaker 2: one in four surviving well. After this, they gave birth
Speaker 2: to a son, Dmitri, in fifteen fifty two. The next spring,
Speaker 2: Ivan got terribly sick and even he thought he would
Speaker 2: not make it. He's like, this is the end, and
Speaker 2: all the boyard in fighting between the families meant that
Speaker 2: most of them had never liked Anastasia, and he knew
Speaker 2: that she would be in a lot of trouble if
Speaker 2: he died without an air.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so he asked.
Speaker 2: The boy yards to swear loyalty to the new infant son, Dmitri,
Speaker 2: and a lot of them were like no, damn, which
Speaker 2: is like, do you remember how he had that guy
Speaker 2: beat to death.
Speaker 1: Some of them straight up apparently saw how sick he
Speaker 1: was and was like, I'm not gonna do anything you
Speaker 1: say because you'll be dead tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Oh so he was already so powerless in your mind.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: Well that was stupid because maybe had a pure spite
Speaker 2: alone I've been made a full and miraculous recovery and
Speaker 2: started ordering them executions.
Speaker 1: Baby, oh he sure did. Oh, Like he.
Speaker 2: Promised as a child, He's gonna kill you if you
Speaker 2: say no.
Speaker 1: But sadly, tragedy struck again when the royal family took
Speaker 1: a pilgrimage to the Curillo Belzyorski monastery up north. The
Speaker 1: whole expedition had to cross these makeshift gangways across the
Speaker 1: Sphere River and the baby, Dimitri's nurse was holding him
Speaker 1: as two of us to see his relatives held the
Speaker 1: nurse's arms to sort of steady her as they crossed
Speaker 1: this makeshift bridge. But suddenly the gangway collapsed and all
Speaker 1: four of them were thrown into the river, and while
Speaker 1: the three adults made it safely out, tragically the baby
Speaker 1: had drowned. Now, some historians have questioned how this makeshift bridge,
Speaker 1: this gangway, which was heavy and sturdy and used all
Speaker 1: the time and allowed the entire rest of the party
Speaker 1: to cross safely, suddenly flipped over while the Czar's only
Speaker 1: infant Air was crossing. But you know, no accusations at
Speaker 1: the time were really made. Obviously huge tragedy, and Ivan
Speaker 1: was furious, but no one was necessarily crying murder that
Speaker 1: we know of at the time.
Speaker 2: Ooh, but it's like a little conspiracy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, people are looking back at it and going, that's
Speaker 1: really weird.
Speaker 2: That is very strange.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: Well, the next year, fifteen fifty four, honest Acio gave
Speaker 2: birth to their fourth child, a son who they gave
Speaker 2: the name Ivan. And this one actually live hey for
Speaker 2: a while, Okay, his story is tragic too, but he'll
Speaker 2: last at least until the next episode. Oh, their weekend
Speaker 2: rest easy for a minute. And in fifteen fifty six,
Speaker 2: another daughter named Yevdokiya was born, but she only lived
Speaker 2: two years.
Speaker 1: Oh awful, my god.
Speaker 2: It must be just you're just sad all the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Their sixth and final child was a son named Theodor,
Speaker 2: born in May of fifteen fifty seven, and he would
Speaker 2: live even longer than his older brother Ivan. So all
Speaker 2: in all, only two of Ivan and Honestessia's children lived
Speaker 2: past infancy. But by the time she had given birth
Speaker 2: to Feodor, Honestessia had fallen very ill. Some historians attribute
Speaker 2: this to her being quote weakened by frequent childbirths, but
Speaker 2: Bushkov wrote that again, people were having babies constantly back then.
Speaker 2: Six kids in ten years was quote, even by the
Speaker 2: standards of the sixteenth century, below the average norm.
Speaker 1: Right, And she's between eighteen and twenty eight when she's
Speaker 1: having these babies. There, it's not like she was frail
Speaker 1: or right anything like that. So, but she kept getting
Speaker 1: sicker and sicker. Then in fifteen six, another fire broke
Speaker 1: out in Moscow. This one wasn't quite as intense or
Speaker 1: deadly as the fifteen forty seven fire, but clouds of
Speaker 1: smoke were pouring into the palace, and Anasticia was moved
Speaker 1: to nearby village because of her health concerns. Historian Nikolay
Speaker 1: Karamzin wrote that Ivan stayed back and quote extinguished the
Speaker 1: fire himself. Being exposed to the greatest danger. He stood
Speaker 1: against the wind, showered with sparks, and with his fearlessness,
Speaker 1: aroused such a zeal in noble officials that the boyars
Speaker 1: threw themselves into the flames, carried water, climbed.
Speaker 2: Roofs inspirational leader time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the fire was extinguished, but the Sarina's condition continued
Speaker 1: to worsen. On August seventh of fifteen sixty, honest Assia
Speaker 1: died quietly at twenty nine years old. They say that
Speaker 1: she died really peacefully, in quietly, in bed, almost embarrassed
Speaker 1: that she was drawing so much attention to herself.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, yeah, little sweetie she was.
Speaker 1: She was the sweetest.
Speaker 2: Now. Ivan had called all the best doctors to care
Speaker 2: for her, but no one could save her. At her funeral,
Speaker 2: Ivan could barely walk behind her casket and had to
Speaker 2: be held up by his little brother Yuri and one
Speaker 2: of his cousins. He cried at her coffin and tore
Speaker 2: at his hair. The sight was so tragic that even
Speaker 2: many of the boyars started weeping as well, and Metropolitan
Speaker 2: Macarius burst into tears as her coffin was lowered into
Speaker 2: the grave. Kadamzine wrote, quote, the common sorrow was never
Speaker 2: portrayed stronger. Not just one courtyard, but all of Moscow
Speaker 2: buried its first, most amiable queen. Everyone was crying, and
Speaker 2: the poor the beggars were the most inconsolable man. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's so sad to see him like keening.
Speaker 1: He was just a wreck, they said, Yeah, really heartbreaking.
Speaker 1: I think all of his goodness was with her, you know,
Speaker 1: like everything that made him feel like a good person.
Speaker 2: Right, so maybe even just kind of not even consciously,
Speaker 2: but kind of mourning that part of yourself now that
Speaker 2: it doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 1: Yep, Because I think he had a lot of rage
Speaker 1: and sadness already, and she quelled that she made him
Speaker 1: feel at peace, And now I think he, yeah, like
Speaker 1: you said, maybe even subconsciously recognized I'm gonna be awful
Speaker 1: right from now on. Nothing's going to make me happy anymore.
Speaker 2: I actually read something about that about grief, where it's
Speaker 2: like you're not just grieving the person who's gone, but
Speaker 2: who you were with that person, and that relationship that
Speaker 2: you had with that person, and all the special things
Speaker 2: about just the two of you.
Speaker 1: This is so true, and I think.
Speaker 2: That's really so special because it is like a part
Speaker 2: of yourself is gone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, who are we if not are connections to
Speaker 1: other people in a lot of ways. While all of
Speaker 1: the doctors that Ivan called out also could not determine
Speaker 1: a cause of death, but he didn't need them. He
Speaker 1: knew what the cause of death was. It was the
Speaker 1: same thing that happened to his mother. Honest Asia was
Speaker 1: poisoned by the Boyars. He didn't even need evidence. He'd
Speaker 1: been locked in a battle with these families like the Shuiskys,
Speaker 1: and they never liked the idea of bowing to her family,
Speaker 1: the Romanovs. She had been growing sick for a while, gradually,
Speaker 1: just like his mother did when she died. And after this,
Speaker 1: Ivan the Terrible started to earn his nickname. His wife,
Speaker 1: like we said, who had always cooled him, was gone.
Speaker 1: He was now angry, paranoid, and vengeful. Someone described him
Speaker 1: coming out of his room a week later, and he
Speaker 1: just looked different, and his eyes were sunk, and his
Speaker 1: skin was yellow, and he just had this scowl on
Speaker 1: his face. As Karamzine writes, quote, people did not yet
Speaker 1: know what Anastassia had taken with her to the grave.
Speaker 1: Here's the end of the happy days of Ivan and Russia,
Speaker 1: for he lost not only his wife but also his virtue. Yeah,
Speaker 1: dark days ahead, right.
Speaker 2: Well, the question remains now was she actually poisoned or
Speaker 2: was this just Ivan's paranoia and resentment against the boy.
Speaker 1: Art understand you?
Speaker 2: Yeah right, But he didn't. I mean, he just said
Speaker 2: it didn't heed proof. I was like, well, maybe you
Speaker 2: should get proved.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: In the year two thousand, four hundred and forty years
Speaker 2: after her death, T. D. Panova, the head of the
Speaker 2: archaeological department at Moscow State Historical and Cultural Museum, led
Speaker 2: a study on honest Asia's remains. Together with forensic specialists.
Speaker 2: They found some pretty shocking results. So the best material
Speaker 2: to determine the accumulation of mercury in the body is
Speaker 2: the hair, and in Zarena honest Esssilla's hair, they found
Speaker 2: mercury concentrations at four point eight milligrams, which is over
Speaker 2: ten times the toxic amount for human.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Even fragments of the stone sarcophagus she was buried in
Speaker 2: came up with mercury readings.
Speaker 1: Oh, they had pumped her full of.
Speaker 2: It, full of that shit.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Oh my god. Now, some of the
Speaker 1: medicines at the time were also mercury based, so it
Speaker 1: had been previously suggested that maybe she just accidentally overdosed
Speaker 1: like that, which has happened before. I can't remember, but
Speaker 1: I feel like we've even mentioned that on this show before.
Speaker 2: Maybe, So I do know that in cleaning out my
Speaker 2: grandfather's medicine cabinet we found some medicine with mercury in it,
Speaker 2: good time, from like a million years ago whatever. My
Speaker 2: cousin was like, why is this still here? What we
Speaker 2: need to get?
Speaker 1: How do you even throw the s of it safely?
Speaker 2: Right? Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Well, and with these quantities that they were finding in
Speaker 1: Anastasia's body, modern scholars are basically totally certain that yes,
Speaker 1: she was in fact poisoned. Now, unfortunately we'll never know
Speaker 1: who specifically carried out this order, but we do know
Speaker 1: one thing Czar, Ivan the Fourth was right, Yeah, yes
Speaker 1: she was poisoned, and yes he's gonna do something about
Speaker 1: it now. Unfortunately, he also did not know exactly who
Speaker 1: did this, so his rage just kind of went in
Speaker 1: all directions. But he definitely was not having it with
Speaker 1: the boyers. No more. Nope, in his life he would
Speaker 1: take seven more brides. Now, none of those marriages lasted
Speaker 1: nearly as long as his and Anesthesias, and none of
Speaker 1: them were as passionate or loving. But the reign of
Speaker 1: Ivan the Terrible was just getting started, all triggered by
Speaker 1: the murder of not only his mother but his most
Speaker 1: beloved wife. Now, obviously there's so much to say about
Speaker 1: Ivan and Anastasia. It's been a full episode. We've been
Speaker 1: here nearly an hour now already. So we got seven
Speaker 1: more wives to get to, and I think we'll get
Speaker 1: to them all in one episodeties aren't quite so intense,
Speaker 1: but we will come back next time with the rest
Speaker 1: of Ivan's marriages.
Speaker 2: Man, yeah, I've been straight up was like, I don't
Speaker 2: even need to do an investigation. Y'all killed my wife.
Speaker 1: I know you weren't subtle about it.
Speaker 2: And now I'm like, well, who are the boyars who
Speaker 2: were crying at her funeral?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's that's kind of what's tough about it,
Speaker 1: is there everybody's a boy are There's like, they're boy
Speaker 1: as all over the place. Boy are here? Boy are there?
Speaker 1: Boy or boy are everywhere? But the Shwhiskys were the
Speaker 1: main ones that keep coming up in my research, but
Speaker 1: there were a few other families whose names really popped
Speaker 1: up a lot. So there was probably some still that
Speaker 1: liked her, totally on her side, but the real power
Speaker 1: grabby ones, these are the ones to look out for.
Speaker 2: Well that's so, I'm like, were they crying thinking like, Oh,
Speaker 2: he's really gonna just beat the shit out of me
Speaker 2: by dogs, He's going to have his grandma sprinkle some
Speaker 2: blood flames on the oh names, there's something this might
Speaker 2: have been a bad idea, guys.
Speaker 1: Oh No, Grandma Glinsky uh vanished from record. But she
Speaker 1: was not killed. She They think she just kind of
Speaker 1: escaped somewhere and took another name and lived out her
Speaker 1: life just.
Speaker 2: Fine, smart, very smart, or like a sorcerer. She just
Speaker 2: made herself disappeared.
Speaker 1: She turned into a bird and flew away away to
Speaker 1: torment some other town children and eating their hearts. I
Speaker 1: was fascinated by this story. I didn't know nothing about
Speaker 1: Ivan the Terrible, No me neither.
Speaker 2: I've never heard of him.
Speaker 1: Actually, you know, I don't think heard the name, you know,
Speaker 1: just like maybe the game itself.
Speaker 2: I feel like you might be right and I've heard it,
Speaker 2: but I know there's like several like Peter the Greats
Speaker 2: for example, so like there's a like, well, I wonder
Speaker 2: which one, but it's really cool. I'm always loved to
Speaker 2: spend time in Russia, I know, because it's just such
Speaker 2: an interesting country. I feel. I just feel like it's
Speaker 2: so it's kind of alien in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: Culturally, Yeah, you can tell there's this raw survival kind
Speaker 1: of mentality behind everyone. Yeah, and we're in the cold,
Speaker 1: we're you know, resources are sparse. They had to they
Speaker 1: had to make it work, and they had to and
Speaker 1: you know, they used that cold, they had that ice
Speaker 1: in their veins.
Speaker 2: It feels right well, and like the quote about needing
Speaker 2: a thunderstorm, Yeah, I think it's still still pretty true
Speaker 2: culturally there. And again I'm not Russian, so happy to
Speaker 2: be corrected. But you know, like Putin's always run around
Speaker 2: like look at my I'm riding this horse and I'm
Speaker 2: really strong, you know, like there's this macho there's a
Speaker 2: machismo to who they see as being powerful, right, and influential.
Speaker 2: That's very important for that perception. I think even Olga
Speaker 2: of Kiev had it. Remember her, That's right, she would
Speaker 2: like the thunderstorm.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, a lot of people up and buried
Speaker 1: them and burned them alive.
Speaker 2: I was speaking of birds that cause fires, that's right.
Speaker 1: She tied a little flames to pigeons and they like
Speaker 1: flew into houses and lit him on fire.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, yeah, did that. That's why I'm like, I
Speaker 2: wonder if they I don't. I don't remember when. I
Speaker 2: think that was way before this, so maybe they got that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was way before this.
Speaker 2: So the Legend of Kiev.
Speaker 1: If but you haven't heard, we did her story in
Speaker 1: an earlier episode and it is.
Speaker 2: Awesome, so fun.
Speaker 1: Go check it out. But thanks for tuning in for
Speaker 1: this one. Yeah, they're excited to bring you the first
Speaker 1: of Ivan's eight wives, and like I said, we'll come
Speaker 1: back with I'm pretty sure all seven in the next episode.
Speaker 2: We're Russian to get that done. You're welcome.
Speaker 1: Don't have a Moss cow Man while you're waiting.
Speaker 2: I love it. Yeah, perfect, Perfect.
Speaker 1: Tell us your Russia puns and give us your feedback
Speaker 1: on this episode or any episode or suggestions for new
Speaker 1: ones in the future. We would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can email us at ridic Romance at gmail dot
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Speaker 2: Right, or we're on Instagram. I'm at danam.
Speaker 1: Boone and I'm at O Great.
Speaker 2: It's Eli and the show is at ridic Romance.
Speaker 1: So please follow us along, drop us a review. We
Speaker 1: love hearing from you and we can't wait to bring
Speaker 1: in the next one. Love you, bye bike.
Speaker 2: So long friends, it's time to go.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to our show. Tell your friends, nabors, uncles,
Speaker 3: and dance to listen to our show, Ridiculous Romance.