Absolute Rulers of Russia

Vocabulary flashcards covering the rise of absolute rulers in Russia, focusing on Ivan III, Ivan the Terrible, the Romanov dynasty, and Peter the Great's westernization policies.

Ivan III of Moscow

Russian ruler from 1462 to 1505 who conquered territory around Moscow, liberated Russia from the Mongols, and began centralizing the Russian government.

Boyar

A member of Russia's landowning nobility that struggled for power during the youth of Ivan the Terrible and later had estates seized and power curtailed.

Czar

A Russian title meaning "caesar," officially claimed and used for the first time by Ivan the Terrible when he crowned himself at age 16.

Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV, who took the Russian throne in 1533, established a legal code and expanded territory during his "good period," and later executed thousands of suspected traitors with a secret police force during his "bad period."

Time of Troubles

The period of Russian turmoil following the death of Ivan the Terrible's incapable son without an heir, characterized by boyar power struggles, mysterious deaths, and impostors claiming the throne.

Michael Romanov

The grandnephew of Anastasia Romanov chosen by representatives of Russian cities in 1613 to become czar, ending the Time of Troubles.

Romanov Dynasty

The ruling family of Russia established by Michael Romanov in 1613 that governed the country for 300 years until 1917.

Russian Serfdom

A labor system lasting into the mid-1800s in which peasant workers were bound to the land, treated as property by landowners, and legally barred from running away.

Archangel

Russia's only seaport prior to Peter the Great's Baltic conquests, situated in northern Russia and choked with ice for much of the year.

Eastern Orthodox

The branch of Christianity adopted by Russia that culturally separated Russians from Catholic and Protestant western Europeans, whom Russians viewed as heretics.

Peter the Great

Czar Peter I, who became the sole ruler of Russia in 1696 and served as one of its greatest reformers, strengthening the monarchy and modernizing Russian society.

Grand Embassy

A long visit undertaken by Peter the Great to western Europe in 1697 to learn about European customs and manufacturing techniques.

Westernization

The policy of using western Europe as a model for change to make a nation stronger commercially and militarily, introduced to Russia by Peter the Great.

Holy Synod

A council established by Peter the Great to run the Russian Orthodox Church under his direct authority following his abolition of the office of patriarch.

Patriarch

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, an ecclesiastical office abolished by Peter the Great to place the church under state control.

St. Petersburg

A new Baltic capital city begun by Peter the Great in 1703 on land taken from Sweden along the Neva River, designed to give Russia a warm-water "window on Europe."