Name	Ivan III The Great
Title	Grand Prince of Moscow
Reign	1462–1505
Othertitles	Ruler of Greater, Smaller and White Rus
Full name	Ivan Vasilyevich
Predecessor	Vasily II
Successor	Vasily III
Spouse 1	Maria of Tver
Spouse 2	Sophia Paleologue
Issue	Ivan Ivanovich Vasili IvanovichYury IvanovichDmitry IvanovichSimeon IvanovichAndrey Ivanovich Еlena Ivanovna Feodosia Ivanovna Eudokia Ivanovna
Dynasty	Rurik Dynasty
Father	Vasily II
Mother	Maria of Borovsk
Birth date	January 22, 1440
Birth place	Moscow
Death date	October 27, 1505
Death place	Moscow
Place of burial	}}

Ivan III Vasilyevich () (22 January 1440, Moscow – 27 October 1505, Moscow), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and "Grand Prince of all Rus" (Великий князь всея Руси). Sometimes referred to as the "gatherer of the Russian lands", he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde over the Rus, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history.

Background

Ivan's parents were Vasily II and Yelena of Borovsk. He was co-regent with his father during the later years of his life until he turned 22 years old when Vasily, Ivan's father, died. Ivan tenaciously pursued the unifying policy of his predecessors. Nevertheless, he was cautious to the point of timidity. He avoided as far as possible any violent collision with his neighbors until all the circumstances were exceptionally favorable, always preferring to attain his ends gradually and circuitously. The Grand Duchy of Moscow had by this time become a compact and powerful state, whilst her rivals had grown weaker, a state of affairs very favorable to the speculative activity of a statesman of Ivan III's peculiar character. Before he died he made an impressive program for, centered around and directed by, Italian artists and craftsmen. His plan was able to make new buildings in Kremlin and the walls were strengthened and furnished with towers and gates. Ivan III reigned for forty three years, dying on October 27, 1505 and he left his empire to his son Vasili.

Gathering of Russian lands

His first enterprise was a war with the Republic of Novgorod, which had fought a series of wars stretching back to at least the reign of Dmitry Donskoi over Moscow's religious and political sovereignty more generally and over Moscow's efforts to seize land in the Northern Dvina region more specifically. Alarmed at Moscow's growing power, Novgorod had negotiated with Lithuania in the hope of placing itself under the protection of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Prince of Lithuania, a would-be alliance regarded by Moscow as an act of apostasy from orthodoxy. Ivan took the field against Novgorod in 1470, and after his generals had twice defeated the forces of the republic, at the Battle of Shelon River and on the Northern Dvina, both in the summer of 1471, the Novgorodians were forced to sue for peace, agreeing to abandon their overtures to Lithuania and ceding a considerable portion of their northern territories, and paying a war indemnity of 15,500 roubles.

Ivan visited Novgorod Central several times in the next several years, persecuting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars and confiscating their lands. In 1477, two Novgorodian envoys, claiming to have been sent by the archbishops and the entire city, addressed Ivan in public audience as ''Gosudar'' (sovereign) instead of the usual ''Gospodin'' (sir). Ivan at once seized upon this as a recognition of his sovereignty, and when the Novgorodians repudiated the envoys (indeed, one was killed at the veche and several others of the pro-Moscow faction were killed with him) and swore openly in front of the Moscow ambassadors that they would turn to Lithuania again, he marched against them. Deserted by Casimir IV and surrounded on every side by the Moscow armies, that occupied the major monasteries around the city, Novgorod recognized Ivan's direct rule over the city and its vast hinderland in a document signed and sealed by Archbishop Feofil of Novgorod (1470–1480) on 15 January 1478. Ivan took 81.7% of Novgorod's land half for himself the rest for his allies. Subsequent revolts (1479–1488) were punished by the removal en masse of the richest and most ancient families of Novgorod to Moscow, Vyatka and other central Russian cities. Archbishop Feofil, too, was removed to Moscow for plotting against the grand prince. The rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy. The other principalities were virtually absorbed, by conquest, purchase or marriage contract: Yaroslavl in 1463, Rostov was bought in 1474, Tver in 1485, Vyatka 1489.

Ivan's refusal to share his conquests with his brothers, and his subsequent interference with the internal politics of their inherited principalities, involved him in several wars with them, from which, though the princes were assisted by Lithuania, he emerged victorious. Finally, Ivan's new rule of government, formally set forth in his last will to the effect that the domains of all his kinsfolk, after their deaths, should pass directly to the reigning grand duke instead of reverting, as hitherto, to the princes' heirs, put an end once and for all to these semi-independent princelings.

Ivan had 4 brothers. The eldest, Iurii died childless September 12 1472. He only had a draft of a will which said nothing about his land. Ivan seized it, much to the surviving brothers' fury. He placated them with some land. Boris and Andrei the elder signed treaties with Basil in February and September 1473. They agreed to protect each others' land and not have secret dealings with foreign states. They broke this clause in 1480, fleeing to Lithuania. It is unknown if Andrei the younger signed a treaty. He died in 1481 leaving his lands to Ivan. In 1491 Andrei the elder was arrested by Ivan for refusing to aid the Crimean Tatars against the Golden Horde. He died in prison in 1493, Ivan seized his land. In 1494 Boris died, the only brother able to pass his land to his sons Ivan and Fedor. However, their land reverted to the Tsar upon their deaths in 1503 and 1515 respectively.

There was one semi autonomous prince in Muscovy when Ivan acceded: Prince Mikhail Andreevich of Vereia, who had been awarded a Appanage by Basil II. In 1478 he was pressured into giving Belozersk to Ivan who got all of Mikhail's land on his death in 1486.

Domestic policy

The character of the government of Moscow under Ivan III changed essentially and took on a new autocratic form. This was due not merely to the natural consequence of the hegemony of Moscow over the other Russian lands but to new imperial pretensions. After the fall of Constantinople, orthodox canonists were inclined to regard the Grand Princes of Moscow as the successors by the Byzantine emperors. Ivan himself appeared to welcome the idea, and he began to style himself tsar in foreign correspondence.

This movement coincided with a change in the family circumstances of Ivan III. After the death of his first consort, Maria of Tver (1467), at the suggestion of Pope Paul II (1469), who hoped thereby to bind Russia to the Holy See, Ivan III wedded Sophia Paleologue (also known under her original Greek and Orthodox name of Zoe), daughter of Thomas Palaeologus, despot of Morea, who claimed the throne of Constantinople as the brother of Constantine XI, last Byzantine emperor. Frustrating the Pope's hopes of re-uniting the two faiths, the princess endorsed Orthodoxy. Due to her family traditions, she encouraged imperial ideas in the mind of her consort. It was through her influence that the ceremonious etiquette of Constantinople (along with the imperial double-headed eagle and all that it implied) was adopted by the court of Moscow.

Ivan's son with Maria of Tver, Ivan the Young, died in 1490, leaving from his marriage with Helen of Moldavia an only child, Dmitry the Grandson. The latter was crowned as successor by his grandfather on 15 February 1491, but later Ivan reverted his decision in favour of Sophia's elder son Vasily who was ultimately crowned co-regent with his father (14 April 1502). The decision was dictated by the crisis connected with the Sect of Skhariya the Jew as well as by the imperial prestige of Sophia's descendants. Dmitry the Grandson was put into prison where he died, unmarried and childless, in 1509, already under the rule of his uncle.

The grand duke increasingly held aloof from his boyars. The old patriarchal systems of government vanished. The boyars were no longer consulted on affairs of state. The sovereign became sacrosanct, while the boyars were reduced to dependency on the will of the sovereign. The boyars naturally resented this revolution and struggled against it, at first with some .

It was in the reign of Ivan III that the new Russian Sudebnik, or law code, was compiled by the scribe Vladimir Gusev. Ivan did his utmost to make his capital a worthy successor to Constantinople, and with that object invited many foreign masters and artificers to settle in Moscow. The most noted of these was the Italian Ridolfo di Fioravante, nicknamed Aristotle because of his extraordinary knowledge, who built several cathedrals and palaces in the Kremlin. This extraordinary monument of the Moscow art remains a lasting symbol of the power and glory of Ivan III.

Foreign policy

It was in the reign of Ivan III that Russia rejected the Tatar yoke. In 1476 Ivan refused to pay the customary tribute to the grand Khan Ahmed. All through the autumn the Russian and Tatar hosts confronted each other on opposite sides of the Ugra, till the 11th of November 1480, when Ahmed retired into the steppe.

In the following year the grand khan, while preparing a second expedition against Moscow, was suddenly attacked, routed and slain by Ivak, the khan of the Nogay Horde, where upon the Golden Horde suddenly fell to pieces. In 1487 Ivan reduced the khanate of Kazan one of the offshoots of the Horde to the condition of a vassal-state, though in his later years it broke away from his suzerainty. With the other Muslim powers, the khan of the Crimean Khanate and the sultans of Ottoman Empire, Ivan's relations were pacific and even amicable. The Crimean khan, Meñli I Giray, helped him against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and facilitated the opening of diplomatic intercourse between Moscow and Istanbul, where the first Russian embassy appeared in 1495.

It was in Ivan’s reign that the Christian rulers in the Caucasus began to see the Russian monarchs as their natural allies against the Muslim regional powers. The first attempt at forging an alliance was made by Alexander I, king of a small Georgian kingdom of Kakheti, who dispatched two embassies, in 1483 and 1491, to Moscow. However, as the Russians were still too far from the Caucasus, neither of these missions had any effect on the course of events in the region. From Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, gun-founders, gold- and silversmiths and (Italian) master builders were requested by Ivan.

In Nordic affairs, Ivan III concluded an offensive alliance with Hans of Denmark and maintained a regular correspondence with Emperor Maximilian I, who called him a "brother". He built a strong citadel in Ingria named Ivangorod after himself, which proved of great consequence to Russians in Russo-Swedish War, 1496-1499 the war with Sweden, which had been preceded by Ivan's detention of the Hanseatic merchants trading in Novgorod.

The further extension of the Moscow dominion was facilitated by the death of Casimir IV in 1492, when Poland and Lithuania once more parted company. The throne of Lithuania was now occupied by Casimir's son Alexander, a weak and lethargic prince so incapable of defending his possessions against the persistent attacks of the Russians that he attempted to save them by a matrimonial compact, and wedded Helena, Ivan's daughter. But the clear determination of Ivan to appropriate as much of Lithuania as possible at last compelled Alexander in 1499 to take up arms against his father-in-law. The Lithuanians were routed at Vedrosha ( 14 July 1500), and in 1503 Alexander was glad to purchase peace by ceding to Ivan Chernigov, Starodub, Novgorod-Seversky and sixteen other towns.

Much information on Ivan III and his court is contained in Sigismund von Herberstein's ''Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii'' (1549).

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel-compact5 |style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%; |border=1 |boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; |1= 1. Ivan III Vasilevich of Moscow |2= 2. Vasily II Vasiliyevich of Moscow |3= 3. Maria Yaroslavna of Borovsk |4= 4. Vasiliy I Dmitriyevich of Moscow |5= 5. Sophia of Lithuania |6= 6. Yaroslav Vladimirovich, Prince of Serpukhov, Borovsk and Maloyaroslavets |7= 7. Maria Feodorovna Goltiayeva Koshkina |8= 8. Dmitriy Ivanovich Donskoy |9= 9. Eudoxia Dmitriyevna of Suzdal |10= 10. Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania |11= 11. Anna |12= 12. Vladimir Andreyevich, Prince of Serpukhov and Borovsk |13= 13. Elena of Lithuania |14= 14. Feodor Feodorovich "Goltiay" Koshkin |15= |16= 16. Ivan II Ivanovich of Moscow |17= 17. Alexandra Ivanovna Velyaminova |18= 18. Dmitry III Konstantinovich, Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal |19= 19. Vasilisa-Anna Konstantinovna of Rostov |20= 20. Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania |21= 21. Birutė |22= 22. Svyatoslav Ivanovich, Grand Prince of Smolensk (hypothecal) |23= |24= 24. Andrei Ivanovich, Prince of Novgorod, Borovsk and Serpukhov |25= 25. Maria Konstantinovna of Rostov |26= 26. Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania |27= 27. Uliana Alexandrovna of Tver |28= 28. Feodor Andreyevich "Koshka" Kobylin |29= |30= |31= }}

See also

Rulers of Russia family tree

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

Sudebnik

Category:1440 births Category:1505 deaths Category:14th-century Russian people Category:15th-century Russian people Category:Russian leaders Category:Grand Princes of Moscow Category:History of Russia Category:Rurik Dynasty Category:Rurikids Category:Orthodox monarchs

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This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "''the Great''", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as ''e Bozorg'' and ''e azam'' in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus) assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "''the Great''".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers

Abbas I of Persia (1571-1629), Shah of Iran

Akbar (1542-1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India

Alain I of Albret (1440-1522), French aristocrat

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia

Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia

Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias

Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex

Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire

Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty

Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),

Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire

Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand

Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736-1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)

Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden

Casimir III the Great (1310-1370), King of Poland

Catherine the Great (1729-1796), Empress of Russian

Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India

Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans

Chulalongkorn (1853-1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)

Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks

Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen

Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman Emperor

Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire

Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire

Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent

Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse

Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile

Frederick the Great (1712-1786), King of Prussia

Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire

Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594-1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader

Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea

Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC

Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)

Henry IV of France (1553-1610), King of France and King of Navarre

Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea

Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris

Hugh Magnus of France (1007-1025), co-King of France

Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057-1101)

Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat

Ivan III of Russia (1440-1505), Tsar of Russia

John I of Portugal (1358-1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve

John II of Aragon (1398-1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre

Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor

Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i

Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India

Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010-1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia

Kublai Khan (1215-1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty

Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales

Louis I of Hungary (1326-1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland

Mangrai the Great (1238-1317), Lanna, northern Thailand

Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), Emperor of Japan

Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)

Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)

Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom

Mstislav I of Kiev (1076-1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus

Narai (1633-1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)

Naresuan (1555-1605), King of Ayutthaya

Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)

K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque

Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka

Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia

Peter the Great (1672-1725), Tsar of Russia

Peter III of Aragon (1239-1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily

Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar

Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar

Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.

Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014-1044), Tamil King of India

Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt

Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082-1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties

Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)

Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev

Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent

Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre

Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire

Sejong the Great (1397-1450), Korean king

Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia

Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire

Stephen III of Moldavia (1433-1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks

Taksin (1734-1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)

Timur (1336-1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty

Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie

Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire

Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor

Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia

Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia

Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire

Valdemar I of Denmark (1131-1182), King of Denmark

Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor

Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus

Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy

William I, Count of Burgundy (1020-1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon

William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou

Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)

Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures

Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East

Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia

Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian

Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt

Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader

Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)

Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint

Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint

Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)

Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit

Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)

Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople

William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other

Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies

Emmy the Great, folk singer

Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III

Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also

Epithet

List of monarchs by nickname

List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I

James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus

Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater

Notes

Category:Monarchs Great, List of people known as The Category:Greatest Nationals Category:Epithets

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Type	monarch
Name	Ivan IV the Terrible
Imgw	190px
Succession	Tsar of All Russia
Reign	3 December 1533 –
Coronation	16 January 1547
Cor-type	Coronation
Predecessor	Vasili III (as Grand Prince of Moscow)
Successor	Feodor I
Spouse	Anastasia RomanovnaMaria TemryukovnaMarfa SobakinaAnna KoltovskayaAnna VasilchikovaVasilisa MelentyevaMaria DolgorukayaMaria Nagaya
Issue	Tsarevich Ivan IvanovichFeodor I of RussiaTsarevich Dmitri Ivanovich
Issue-link	#Issue
Issue-pipe	more...
Full name	Ivan Vasilyevich
House	Rurik
House-type	Dynasty
Father	Vasili III
Mother	Elena Glinskaya
Birth date	25 August 1530
Birth place	Kolomenskoye, near Moscow
Death date	(aged 53)
Death place	Moscow
Burial place	Kelmisvi Chapel, Moscow
Religion	Eastern Orthodox

Ivan IV Vasilyevich (, ''Ivan Chetvyorty, Vasilyevich''; 25 August 1530 – ), known in English as Ivan the Terrible (, ''Ivan Grozny''; lit. ''Fearsome''), was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres, approximately . Ivan managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval nation state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All Russia.

Historic sources present disparate accounts of Ivan's complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental illness. One notable outburst may have resulted in the death of his groomed and chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich, which led to the passing of the Tsardom to the younger son: the weak and possibly mentally retarded Feodor I of Russia. His contemporaries called him "Ivan ''Groznyi''" the name, which, although usually translated as "Terrible", actually means something closer to "Redoubtable" or "Severe" and carries connotations of might, power and strictness rather than horror or cruelty.

Early reign

Ivan was the son of Vasili III and his second wife, Elena Glinskaya. When Ivan was just three years old his father died from a boil and inflammation on his leg which developed into blood poisoning. Ivan was proclaimed the Grand Prince of Moscow at his father's request. At first, his mother Elena Glinskaya acted as a regent, but she died of what many believe to be assassination by poison when Ivan was only eight years old. According to his own letters, Ivan and his younger brother Yuri often felt neglected and offended by the mighty boyars from the Shuisky and Belsky families.

Ivan was crowned tsar with Monomakh's Cap at the Cathedral of the Dormition at age 16 on 16 January 1547. Despite calamities triggered by the Great Fire of 1547, the early part of his reign was one of peaceful reforms and modernization. Ivan revised the law code (known as the sudebnik), created a standing army (the streltsy), established the Zemsky Sobor or assembly of the land, a public, consensus-building assembly, the council of the nobles (known as the Chosen Council), and confirmed the position of the Church with the Council of the Hundred Chapters, which unified the rituals and ecclesiastical regulations of the entire country. He introduced local self-government to rural regions, mainly in the northeast of Russia, populated by the state peasantry. During his reign the first printing press was introduced to Russia (although the first Russian printers Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets had to flee from Moscow to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania).

In 1547 Hans Schlitte, the agent of Ivan, recruited craftsmen in Germany for work in Russia. However all these craftsmen were arrested in Lübeck at the request of Poland and Livonia. The German merchant companies ignored the new port built by Ivan on the river Narva in 1550 and continued to deliver goods in the Baltic ports owned by Livonia. Russia remained isolated from sea trade.

Ivan formed new trading connections, opening up the White Sea and the port of Arkhangelsk to the Muscovy Company of English merchants. In 1552 his army defeated the Kazan Khanate, whose armies had repeatedly devastated the northeast of Russia, and annexed its territory. In 1556, he annexed the Astrakhan Khanate and destroyed the largest slave market on the river Volga. These conquests complicated the migration of the aggressive nomadic hordes from Asia to Europe through Volga and transformed Russia into a multinational and multiconfessional state.

Ivan IV corresponded with Orthodox leaders overseas as well. In response to a letter of Patriarch Joachim of Alexandria asking the Tsar for financial assistance for the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, which had suffered from the Turks, Ivan IV sent in 1558 a delegation to Egypt led by archdeacon Gennady, who, however, died in Constantinople before he could reach Egypt. From then on, the embassy was headed by a Smolensk merchant Vasily Poznyakov. Poznyakov's delegation visited Alexandria, Cairo, and Sinai, brought the patriarch a fur coat and an icon sent by the Tsar, and left an interesting account of its two and half years' travels.

The Tsar had St. Basil's Cathedral constructed in Moscow to commemorate the seizure of Kazan. Legend has it that he was so impressed with the structure that he had the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, blinded, so that he could never design anything as beautiful again. In fact, Yakovlev went on to design more churches for Ivan and Kazan's Kremlin walls in the early 1560s, as well as the chapel over St. Basil's grave that was added to St. Basil's Cathedral in 1588, several years after Ivan's death.

Other events of this period include the introduction of the first laws restricting the mobility of the peasants, which would eventually lead to serfdom, and change in Ivan's personality, traditionally linked to his near-fatal illness in 1553 and the death of his first wife, Anastasia Romanovna in 1560. Ivan suspected boyars of poisoning his wife and of plotting to replace him on the throne with his cousin, Vladimir of Staritsa. In addition, during that illness Ivan had asked the boyars to swear an oath of allegiance to his eldest son, an infant at the time. Many boyars refused, deeming the Tsar's health too hopeless for him to survive. This angered Ivan and added to his distrust of the boyars. There followed brutal reprisals and assassinations, including those of Metropolitan Philip and Prince Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky.

The 1565 formation of the ''Oprichnina'' was also significant. The ''Oprichnina'' was the section of Russia (mainly the Northeast) directly ruled by Ivan and policed by his personal servicemen, the ''Oprichniki''. This system of ''Oprichnina'' has been viewed by historians as a tool against the powerful hereditary nobility of Russia (boyars) who opposed the absolutist drive of the Tsar, while some have also interpreted it as a sign of the paranoia and mental deterioration of the Tsar.

Later reign

The later half of Ivan's reign was less successful. Although Khan Devlet I Giray of Crimea repeatedly devastated the Moscow region and even set Moscow on fire in 1571, the Tsar supported Yermak's conquest of Tatar Siberia, adopting a policy of empire-building, which led him to launch an ultimately unsuccessful war of seaward expansion to the west finding himself fighting the Swedes, Lithuanians, Poles, and the Livonian Teutonic Knights.

For twenty-four years the Livonian War dragged on, damaging the Russian economy and military and failing to gain any territory for Russia. In the 1560s, Russia was devastated by the combination of drought and famine, Polish-Lithuanian raids, Tatar invasions, and the sea-trading blockade carried out by the Swedes, Poles and the Hanseatic League. The price of grain increased by a factor of ten. Epidemics of the plague killed 10,000 in Novgorod. In 1570 the plague killed 600–1000 in Moscow daily. One of Ivan's advisors, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, defected to the Lithuanians, headed the Lithuanian troops and devastated the Russian region of Velikiye Luki. This treachery deeply hurt Ivan. As the Oprichnina continued, Ivan became mentally unstable and physically disabled. In one week, he could easily pass from the most depraved orgies to anguished prayers and fasting in a remote northern monastery.

Because he gradually grew unbalanced and violent, the Oprichniki under Malyuta Skuratov soon got out of hand and became murderous thugs. They massacred nobles and peasants, and conscripted men to fight the war in Livonia. Depopulation and famine ensued. What had been by far the richest area of Russia became the poorest. In a dispute with the wealthy city of Novgorod, Ivan ordered the Oprichniki to murder inhabitants of the city, and it was never to regain its former prosperity. His followers burned and pillaged Novgorod and the surrounding villages. As many as 60,000 may have been killed during the infamous Massacre of Novgorod in 1570; many others were deported elsewhere. Yet the official death toll named 1,500 of Novgorod ''big'' people (nobility) and mentioned only about the same number of ''smaller'' people. Many modern researchers estimate number of victims between two and three thousand. (After the famine and epidemics of 1560s the population of Novgorod perhaps did not exceed 10,000–20,000.)

Having rejected peace proposals from his enemies, Ivan IV found himself in a difficult position by 1579, when Crimean Khanate devastated Muscovian territories and even burned down Moscow (see Russo-Crimean Wars). The dislocations in population fleeing the war compounded the effects of the concurrently occurring drought and exacerbated war engendered epidemics causing much loss of population.

All together, the prolonged war had nearly fatally affected the economy, Oprichnina had thoroughly disrupted the government, while The Grand Principality of Lithuania had united with The Kingdom of Poland and acquired an energetic leader, Stefan Batory, who was supported by Russia's southern enemy, the Ottoman Empire (1576). Ivan's realm was now squeezed by two of the great powers of the day.

With the failure of negotiations, Batory replied with a series of three offensives against Muscovy in each campaign seasons of 1579–1581, trying to cut The Kingdom of Livonia from Muscovian territories. During his first offensive in 1579, he retook Polotsk with 22,000 men. During the second, in 1580, he took Velikie Luki with a 29,000-strong army. Finally, he started the Siege of Pskov in 1581 with a 100,000-strong army. Narva in Estonia was reconquered by Sweden in 1581.

Frederick II had trouble continuing the fight against Muscovy, unlike Sweden and Poland. He came to an agreement with John III in 1580 giving him the titles in Livonia. That war would last from 1577 to 1582. Muscovy recognized Polish-Lithuanian control of Ducatus Ultradunensis only in 1582. After Magnus von Lyffland died in 1583, Poland invaded his territories in The Duchy of Courland and Frederick II decided to sell his rights of inheritance. Except for the island of Saaremaa, Denmark was out of the Baltic by 1585. As of 1598, Polish Livonia was divided into:

Wenden Voivodeship (''województwo wendeńskie'', Kieś)

Dorpat Voivodeship (''województwo dorpackie'', Dorpat)

Parnawa Voivodeship (''województwo parnawskie'', Parnawa)

In 1581, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing, and this may have caused a miscarriage. His son, also named Ivan, upon learning of this, engaged in a heated argument with his father, which resulted in Ivan striking his son in the head with his pointed staff, causing his son's (accidental) death. This event is depicted in the famous painting by Ilya Repin, ''Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on Friday, 16 November 1581'' better known as ''Ivan the Terrible killing his son''.

Legacy

In the centuries following Ivan's death, historians developed different theories to better understand his reign, but independent of the perspective through which one chooses to approach this, it cannot be denied that Ivan the Terrible changed Russian history and continues to live on in popular imagination. His political legacy completely altered the Russian governmental structure; his economic policies ultimately contributed to the end of the Rurik Dynasty, and his social legacy lives on in unexpected places.

Arguably Ivan's most important legacy can be found in the political changes he enacted in Russia. In the words of historian Alexander Yanov, "Ivan the Terrible and the origins of the modern Russian political structure [are]... indissolubly connected." At the core of this political revolution stands the newly adopted title of Tsar. By being crowned Tsar, Ivan was sending a message to the world and to Russia: he was now the one and only supreme ruler, and his will was not to be questioned. "The new title symbolized an assumption of powers equivalent and parallel to those held by former Byzantine caesar and the Tatar khan, both known in Russian sources as Czar. The political effect was to elevate Ivan's position." The new title not only secured the throne, but it also granted Ivan a new dimension of power, one intimately tied to religion. He was now a "divine" leader appointed to enact God's will, "church texts described Old Testament kings as 'Tsars' and Christ as the Heavenly Tsar." The newly appointed title was then passed on from generation to generation, "succeeding Muscovite rulers...benefited from the divine nature of the power of the Russian monarch...crystallized during Ivan's reign."

A title alone may hold symbolic power, but Ivan's political revolution went further, in the process significantly altering Russia's political structure. The creation of the Oprichnina marked something completely new, a break from the past that served to diminish the power of the boyars and create a more centralized government. "...the revolution of Tsar Ivan was an attempt to transform an absolutist political structure into a despotism... the Oprichnina proved to be not only the starting point, but also the nucleus of autocracy which determined... the entire subsequent historical process in Russia." Ivan created a way to bypass the Mestnichestvo system and elevate the men among the gentry to positions of power, thus suppressing the aristocracy that failed to support him. Part of this revolution included altering the structure of local governments to include, "a combination of centrally appointed and locally elected officials. Despite later modifications, this form of local administration proved to be functional and durable." Ivan successfully cemented autocracy and a centralized government in Russia, in the process also establishing "a centralized apparatus of political control in the form of his own guard." The idea of a guard as a means of political control became so ingrained in Russian history that it can be traced to Peter the Great, Vladimir Lenin, who "... [provided] Russian autocracy with its Communist incarnation", and Joseph Stalin, who "[placed] the political police over the party."

The acquisition of new territory brought about another of Ivan's lasting legacies: a relationship with Europe, especially through trade. "In 1555, Ivan IV granted the English the privilege of trading throughout his reign without paying the standard customs fees." Although the contact between Russia and Europe remained small at this time, it would later grow, facilitating the permeation of European ideals across the border. Peter the Great would later push Russia to become a European power, and Catherine I would manipulate that power to make Russia a leader within the region.

Contrary to his political legacy, Ivan IV's economic legacy was disastrous and became one of the factors that led to the decline of the Rurik Dynasty and the Time of Troubles. Ivan inherited a government in debt, and in an effort to raise more revenue instituted a series of taxes. "It was the military campaigns themselves... that were responsible for the increasing government expenses." Under the new political system, the Oprichniki were given large estates, but unlike the previous landlords, could not be held accountable for their actions. These men, "took virtually all the peasants possessed, forcing them to pay 'in one year as much as [they] used to pay in ten. This degree of oppression resulted in increasing cases of peasants fleeing which in turn led to a drop in the overall production. To make matters worse, successive wars drained the country both of men and resources. "Muscovy from its core, where its centralized political structures depended upon a dying dynasty, to its frontiers, where its villages stood depopulated and its fields lay fallow, was on the brink of ruin."

Another interesting and unexpected aspect of Ivan's social legacy emerged within Communist Russia. In an effort to revive Russia nationalist pride, Ivan the Terrible's image became closely associated with Joseph Stalin.

Ivan's political revolution not only consolidated the position of Tsar, but also created a centralized government structure with ramifications extending to local government. "The assumption and active propaganda of the title of Czar, transgressions and sudden changes in policy during the Oprichnina contributed to the image of the Muscovite prince as a ruler accountable only to God." on . Upon Ivan's death, the ravaged kingdom was left to his unfit and childless son Feodor.

Ivan was a patron of the arts and himself a poet and composer of considerable talent. His Orthodox liturgical hymn, "Stichiron No. 1 in Honor of St. Peter", and fragments of his letters were put into music by Soviet composer Rodion Shchedrin. The recording was released in 1988, the millennium of Christianity in Russia, as the first Soviet-produced CD.

Today, there exists a controversial movement in Russia campaigning in favor of granting sainthood to Ivan IV. The Russian Orthodox Church have stated their opposition to the idea.

Children

#Tsarevna Anna Ivanovna #Tsarevna Maria Ivanovna #Tsarevich Dmitri Ivanovich #Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich #Tsarevna Eudoxia Ivanovna #Tsar Feodor I of Russia #Tsarevich Vasili Ivanovich #Tsarevich Dmitri Ivanovich #Xenia Shestova (possibly)

Epistles

D.S. Mirsky called Ivan "a pamphleteer of genius". The epistles attributed to him are the masterpieces of old Russian (perhaps all Russian) political journalism. They may be too full of texts from the Scriptures and the Fathers, and their Church Slavonic is not always correct. But they are full of cruel irony, expressed in pointedly forcible terms.

The shameless bully and the great polemicist are seen together in a flash when he taunts the runaway prince Kurbsky with the question: "If you are so sure of your righteousness, why did you run away and not prefer martyrdom at my hands?" Such strokes were well calculated to drive his correspondent into a rage. "The part of the cruel tyrant elaborately upbraiding an escaped victim while he continues torturing those in his reach may be detestable, but Ivan plays it with truly Shakespearian breadth of imagination". These letters are often the only existing source on Ivan's personality and provide crucial information on his reign, but Harvard professor Edward Keenan has argued that these letters are 17th century forgeries. This contention, however, has not been widely accepted, and other scholars, such as John Fennell and Ruslan Skrynnikov continued to argue for their authenticity. Recent archival discoveries of 16th century copies of the letters strengthen the argument for their authenticity.

Besides his letters to Kurbsky he wrote other satirical invectives to men in his power. The best is his letter to the abbot of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, where he pours out all the poison of his grim irony on the unascetic life of the boyars, shorn monks, and those exiled by his order. His picture of their luxurious life in the citadel of ascetism is a masterpiece of trenchant sarcasm.

Sobriquet

The English word ''terrible'' is usually used to translate the Russian word ''groznyi'' in Ivan's nickname, but the modern English usage of terrible, with a pejorative connotation of bad or evil, does not precisely represent the intended meaning. The meaning of ''groznyi'' is closer to the original usage of terrible—''inspiring fear or terror'', ''dangerous'' (as in Old English ''in one's danger''), ''formidable'' or ''threatening''. Perhaps a translation closer to the intended sense would be ''Ivan the Fearsome'', or ''Ivan the Formidable''.

Ancestry

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Historical censorship

Historians faced great difficulties when trying to gather information about Ivan IV in his early years because "Early Soviet historiography, especially in the 1920s, paid little attention to Ivan IV as a statesman." This, however, was not surprising because "Marxist intellectual tradition attached greater significance to socio-economic forces than to political history and the role of individuals." By the second half of the 1930s, the method used by Soviet historians changed. They placed a greater emphasis on the individual and history became more "comprehensible and accessible". The way was clear for an emphasis on 'great men', such as Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great, who made a major contribution to the strengthening and expansion of the Russian state. From this time on, the Soviet Union's focus on great leaders would be greatly exaggerated, leading historians to gather more and more information on the great Ivan the Terrible.

Cinema and literature

The acclaimed Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein made two films based on the life of Great Tsar - ''Ivan the Terrible''. The first film is about early progressive years of young tsar, it was admired by Joseph Stalin. The second part tells us about the cruel period of Ivan's mature age - Stalin took this film rather coldly as it was much like the mirror of the Soviet regime of that time. The third one was never completed.

''Tsar'' – a 2009 Russian drama film directed by Pavel Lungin

Ivan the Terrible in Russian folklore

Night at the Museum 2

In Deadliest Warrior season 3, he will fight against Hernán Cortés.

''Russka'' (1991) the novel by Edward Rutherford

See also

Tsars of Russia family tree

Tsardom of Russia History of the Tsardom of Russia

References

Notes

General references

Bobrick, Benson. ''Ivan the Terrible''. Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 1990 (hardcover, ISBN 0-86241-288-9). (Also published as ''Fearful Majesty'')

Hosking, Geoffrey. ''Russia and the Russians: A History''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004 (paperback, ISBN 0-674-01114-7).

Madariaga, Isabel de. ''Ivan the Terrible. First Tsar of Russia''. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2005 (hardcover, ISBN 0-300-09757-3); 2006 (paperback, ISBN 0-300-11973-9).

Payne, Robert; Romanoff, Nikita. ''Ivan the Terrible''. Lanham, Maryland: Cooper Square Press, 2002 (paperback, ISBN 0-8154-1229-0).

Troyat, Henri. ''Ivan the Terrible''. New York: Buccaneer Books, 1988 (hardcover, ISBN 0-88029-207-5); London: Phoenix Press, 2001 (paperback, ISBN 1-84212-419-6).

''Ivan IV'', World Book Inc, 2000. World Book Encyclopedia.

Further reading

Cherniavsky, Michael. "Ivan the Terrible as Renaissance Prince", ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 27, No. 2. (Jun., 1968), pp. 195–211.

Hunt, Priscilla. "Ivan IV's Personal Mythology of Kingship", ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 52, No. 4. (Winter, 1993), pp. 769–809.

Perrie, Maureen. ''The Image of Ivan the Terrible in Russian Folklore (Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture; 14)''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987 (hardcover, ISBN 0-521-33075-0); 2002 (paperback, ISBN 0-521-89100-0).

Perrie, Maureen. ''The Cult of Ivan the Terrible in Stalin's Russia (Studies in Russian and Eastern European History and Society) ''. New York: Palgrave, 2001 (hardcopy, ISBN 0-333-65684-9).

Perrie, Maureen; Pavlov, Andrei. ''Ivan the Terrible (Profiles in Power)''. Harlow, UK: Longman, 2003 (paperback, ISBN 0-582-09948-X).

Platt, Kevin M.F.; Brandenberger, David. "Terribly Romantic, Terribly Progressive, or Terribly Tragic: Rehabilitating Ivan IV under I.V. Stalin", ''Russian Review'', Vol. 58, No. 4. (Oct., 1999), pp. 635–654.

External links

"Mad Monarchs" - Ivan IV

The throne of Ivan the Terrible

The holy gospel of Ivan the Terrible

The ancestors tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible (in the Russian languages)

new film

Ivan the Terrible with videos, images and translations from the Russian Archives and State Museums

Stalin's scheme to glorify Ivan the Terrible (RT article in English)

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Category:1530 births Category:1584 deaths Category:16th-century Russian people Category:Grand Princes of Moscow Category:History of Russia Category:Modern child rulers Category:Orthodox monarchs Category:Filicides Category:Rurik Dynasty Category:Rurikids Category:Russian leaders Category:Russian tsars * Category:Folk saints

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name	Ivan Reitman
birth date	October 27, 1946
birth place	Komárno, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
occupation	Film directorFilm producer
yearsactive	1968–present
spouse	Geneviève Robert
website	}}

Ivan Reitman, OC (born October 27, 1946) is a Canadian film producer and director. He is known for the comedies he has directed and produced, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.

He is the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 2000.

Early life

Reitman was born in Komárno, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), the son of Clara and Leslie Reitman. Reitman's parents were Jewish; his mother survived the Auschwitz concentration camp and his father was an underground resistance fighter. His family came to Canada as refugees in 1950. Reitman attended Oakwood Collegiate in Toronto and was a member of the Twintone Four singing group. He is the father of film director Jason Reitman.

Career

Reitman's first producing job was with the then-new station CITY-TV in Toronto. CITY was also the home of the first announcing job of his later friend and collaborator Dan Aykroyd. However, Reitman's tenure at CITY was short and he was fired during his first year by station owner Moses Znaimer.

Spellbound (1972), directed by Ivan Reitman, with music by Howard Shore, magic by Doug Henning and co-starring actress Jennifer Dale, a musical that combined an intense storyline and Henning's magic tricks. The show opened in Toronto and broke box office ticket records in that city.

Reitman worked on a number of films after graduating from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He produced two films for director David Cronenberg, ''Shivers''/''They Came from Within''/''The Parasite Murders'' (1974) and ''Rabid'' (1976). His big break came when he produced ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' in 1978 and directed ''Meatballs'' in 1979. From there, he directed and produced a number of comedies including ''Stripes'' (1981), ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), ''Legal Eagles'' (1986), ''Twins'' (1988), ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), ''Kindergarten Cop'' (1990), ''Dave'' (1993), ''Junior'' (1994), ''Six Days Seven Nights'' (1998), ''Evolution'' (2001), ''My Super Ex-Girlfriend'' (2006), and ''No Strings Attached'' (2011).

In the early 1990s, Reitman began to direct fewer films, but increased his role as a producer and executive producer. He helped to produce the animated film ''Heavy Metal'' (1981), as well as the live-action films ''Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone'' (1983), ''Beethoven'' (1992), ''Beethoven's 2nd'' (1993), ''Space Jam'' (1996), ''Private Parts'' (1997), ''Road Trip'' (2000), ''Old School'' (2003) ''EuroTrip'' (2004) and ''Trailer Park Boys: The Movie'' (2006).

Reitman is a founder of the McMaster Film Board at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. In 2007, Reitman was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Reitman founded The Montecito Picture Company, a film production company located just south of Santa Barbara, founded in 2000.

He next produced the comedy ''I Love You, Man'' (2009), starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Also in 2009, he produced the Academy Award-nominated film, Up in the air, directed by his son Jason Reitman. Later, Reitman had planned to direct the erotic thriller ''Chloe'' (2009), but he couldn't attract the cast he wanted; so Reitman decided to only serve as a producer and ask Atom Egoyan to direct the film. ''Chloe'' had since enjoyed commercial success and became Egoyan's biggest moneymaker ever.

''New York'' magazine, citing no sources, claimed in March 2007 that Sony Pictures Entertainment wanted to replace Reitman on ''Ghostbusters III'' with a younger director, but that Reitman's original contract precluded this. In early 2010, Reitman confirmed he will be directing the film. He was also the producer of Howard Stern's film ''Private Parts''.

Recurring cast members

Actor	! width=100px	! width=100px	''Ghostbusters''(1984)	! width=100px	''Ghostbusters II''(1989)	''Kindergarten Cop''(1990)	! width=100px	! width=100px	! width=100px	! width=100px
! Bill Murray			|
Arnold Schwarzenegger			|				1
Harold Ramis			|
Ernie Hudson			|
Dan Aykroyd			|
Kevin Kline			|
Sigourney Weaver			|
Danny DeVito			|
Frank Langella			|
Rick Moranis			|
Pamela Reed			|

¹ Schwarzenegger's appearance is a cameo as himself when he was chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Filmography

Directing

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="3" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#BOC4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#BOC4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#BOC4DE;" | Notes |- | 1971 | ''Foxy Lady'' | Also Producer |- | 1973 | ''Cannibal Girls'' | Also Writer/Executive Producer |- | 1979 | ''Meatballs'' | Golden Reel |- | 1981 | ''Stripes'' | Also Producer |- | 1984 | ''Ghostbusters'' | Also Producer |- | 1986 | ''Legal Eagles'' | Also Writer/Producer |- | 1988 | ''Twins'' | Also Producer |- | 1989 | ''Ghostbusters II'' | Also Producer |- | 1990 | ''Kindergarten Cop'' | Also Producer |- | 1993 | ''Dave'' | Also Producer |- | 1994 | ''Junior'' | Also Producer |- | 1997 | ''Fathers' Day'' | Also Producer |- | 1998 | ''Six Days Seven Nights'' | Also Producer |- | 2001 | ''Evolution'' | Also Producer |- | 2006 | ''My Super Ex-Girlfriend'' | |- | 2011 | ''No Strings Attached'' | Also Producer |}

Personal life

Reitman has been married to Geneviève Robert for over 30 years. Reitman has a son and two daughters. His son, Jason Reitman, is a film director best known for his films ''Juno'', ''Thank You for Smoking'' and ''Up in the Air'' for which he won a Golden Globe for his screenplay. His daughter Catherine Reitman is a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe in Los Angeles. His other daughter, Caroline Reitman, is a sophomore at Santa Barbara City College.

In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as a director and producer, and for his promotion of the Canadian film and television industries".

In April 2011 he received the "Prize of Major" at his born-city Komárno in Slovakia.

References

External links

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:People from Komárno Category:Slovak Jews Category:Canadian expatriate film directors in the United States Category:Canadian film directors Category:Canadian Jews Category:Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada Category:McMaster University alumni Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:People from Hamilton, Ontario Category:People from Toronto Category:Second City alumni Category:Canadian people of Slovak descent Category:Slovak film directors Category:Genie Award winning people

cs:Ivan Reitman da:Ivan Reitman de:Ivan Reitman fr:Ivan Reitman it:Ivan Reitman ja:アイヴァン・ライトマン pl:Ivan Reitman pt:Ivan Reitman ro:Ivan Reitman ru:Райтман, Айван fi:Ivan Reitman sv:Ivan Reitman tr:Ivan Reitman

Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951) is a Hungarian conductor.

Biography

Born in Budapest into a Jewish musical family, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest. He moved later to Vienna to study conducting with Hans Swarowsky at the University of Music and Performing Arts, where he also studied cello and early music, studying and working as assistant to Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

In 1976, Iván Fischer won the Rupert Foundation conducting competition in London. He began thereafter to guest-conduct such British orchestras as the BBC Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he conducted a world tour in 1982. His US conducting debut was with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1983.

Fischer returned to Hungary in 1983 to found the Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO). The partnership between Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra has proved to be one of the greatest success stories in the past 25 years of classical music. Fischer introduced several reforms, developed intense rehearsal methods for the musicians, emphasizing chamber music and creative work for each orchestra member. Intense international touring and a series of acclaimed recordings on Super Audio CD for Philips Classics, later for Channel Classics Records have contributed to Iván Fischer's reputation as one of the world's most visionary and successful orchestra leaders.

He has developed and introduced new types of concerts, "cocoa-concerts" for young children, "surprise" concerts where the programme is not announced, "one forint concerts" where he talks to the audience, open-air concerts in Budapest attracting tens of thousands of people, as well as concert opera performances applying scenic elements. He has founded several festivals, including a summer festival in Budapest on baroque music and the Budapest Mahlerfest which is also a forum for commissioning and presenting new music works. In addition, there is an annual competition from within the orchestra for soloist opportunities in concert.

Work in the US

In the USA, Fischer held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for seven years. In 2006, he became Principal Guest Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington. In April 2007, Fischer was named the principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), after Leonard Slatkin stepped down as music director in 2008. The position is for two years.

Other conducting work

As a guest conductor, Iván Fischer appears regularly with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Philharmoniker, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2006, he was named Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In 2011, he was named Music Director of Konzerthaus Berlin and Principal Conductor of Konzerthausorchester Berlin. This position will start in September 2012.

Opera

Fischer was Music Director at Kent Opera in the UK from 1984-89., He was Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon from 2000 to 2003. The Lyon production of ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' received the prize of ‘best regional opera production of the year’ given by the Association of French Music Critics. Other work in opera as a guest conductor has included a Mozart cycle in the Vienna State Opera, and productions in Zurich, London, Paris, Brussels, Stockholm and Budapest. He debuted in 2006 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in a new production of ''Così fan tutte'':

"…this summer's new Cosi fan Tutte represents the closest Glyndebourne has come to Mozartian perfection in quite some time. Nicholas Hytner's wonderfully detailed yet passive production and Iván Fischer's straight-forward conducting impose nothing on the piece, and the result is that Mozart is allowed to speak for himself."

– John Allison, ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 28 May 2006

Compositions

Fischer's compositions are usually written for intimate groups of human voices and instruments. His "Spinoza-Vertalingen" for Soprano and chamber emsemble composed on a 17th century Dutch translation of Spinoza's text has been performed first in the Netherlands, then in Hungary. For women's choir, he composed "Zigeunerlied" (Goethe), "La Malinconia" (Umberto Saba), "29. Canzone di Petrarca", "Sait gesund" with a Yiddish text and "A nay kleyd" (Rokhl Korn). The last two were commissioned by the Dutch memorial day (Dodenherdenking) and broadcast on Dutch National TV. In 2011 he composed "de slome slak" (Joke van Leeuwen) for children's choir, commissioned by the Koorbiennale in Holland and Festival Hymn 2011 commissioned by Young Euro Classic in Berlin. His most frequently performed work is "Eine Deutsch-Jiddische Kantate", which has been performed in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, USA and Switzerland.

Recordings

Fischer signed an exclusive recording contract with Philips Classics in 1995 and his Bartók and Liszt recordings with the Budapest Festival Orchestra have won a Gramophone Award, Diapason d'Or de l'Annee, four Cles de Telerama, the Arte, MUM and Erasmus prizes. Other Philips recordings include works by Kodály, Dvořák and Fischer's own orchestration of Brahms's Hungarian Dances, which combine improvisations from Gypsy musicians with a symphony orchestra.

Since 2004 Iván Fischer records for Channel Classics Records. One of his most recent releases with the BFO is Richard Strauss's little-known ballet, ''Josefslegende'', which was named CD of the Month in July 2007 by Gramophone and described by the New Yorker as "electrifying". His recording of Mahler's Second Symphony with the Budapest Festival Orchestra for Channel Classics won a 2007 "Editor's Choice" Gramophone Award. Previous Fischer/BFO releases of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, the Mahler Sixth, and the Tchaikovsky Fourth have been similarly praised. His Glyndebourne performance of Mozart's ''Così fan tutte'' is available on DVD and was nominated for Gramophone and Grammy Award. In 2007 Channel Classics released two new recordings: an all-Dvořák disc, featuring the Cello Concerto performed by Peter Wispelwey and the Symphonic Variations, and Beethoven's Seventh Symphony paired with music written at the same time by Rossini, Weber and the Dutch composer Wilhelm Wilms. In 2008 Gramophone Magazine nominated Iván Fischer as "Artist of the year".

Awards

Iván Fischer is a founder of the Hungarian Mahler Society, and Patron of the British Kodály Academy. He received the Golden Medal Award from the President of the Republic of Hungary, and the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum for his services to help international cultural relations. The French Government named him Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2006 he was honored with the Kossuth Prize, Hungary's most prestigious arts award. He is honorary citizen of Budapest. In 2011 he received the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award in the Conductor category.

References

External links

Budapest Festival Orchestra official site

Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Hungarian conductors (music) Category:Hungarian composers Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish composers and songwriters Category:Alumni of the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna Category:Hungarian Jews Category:Hungarian expatriates in Austria Category:People from Budapest Category:1951 births Category:Living people

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