Russia: Notable Groups, Organizations, and Movements

Boyars (All Facts)

• Class of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in (the Tsardom of) Russia

• They were considered the old nobility or aristocratic class

• Tsar Ivan IV worked to eliminate them from Russian society

• They were represented, however, in the Zemsky Sobor

1549 - 1684 - Zemsky Sobor / Assembly of the Land (All Facts)

• Organization founded by Tsar Ivan IV

• Organization which

  • was essentially Parliament of the Tsardom of Russia's estates of the realm

    • It was given the task of deciding important measures of state

  • was made up of representatives of

    • the old nobility / aristocrats (boyars)

    • the new (lesser) nobility / aristocrats (living in the towns and districts)

    • the (Russian Orthodox) church (clergy)

    • merchants

• Organization, which, in its first meeting, Tsar Ivan IV

  • gave a speech in which

    • he harked back to his youth when the Boyars

      • plotted against him

      • dealt harshly with the gentry and the peasants

  • warned the Boyars that they would be punished if they did not obey his orders without question

  • proposed setting up courts to hear complaints against the Boyars

  • introduced the new Sudebnik law code, dealing with court procedure and criminal laws, and which consisted of 100 articles

    • In this law code, capital punishment was prescribed for everyone guilty of armed rebellion and conspiracy against the Tsar

• Organization which “elected” the Tsars including

  • Tsar Ivan IV

  • Boris Godunov

  • Michael Romanov

1565 - 1572 - Oprichnina / Oprichniki (All Facts)

• Organization which was essentially a state within the state of Muscovy, which essentially functioned as a political police force, the first in the history of Russia, established by Tsar Ivan IV of Russia

  • It was essentially a separate administration and court set up to the bidding of Tsar Ivan IV

  • It oversaw years of absurd denunciations, executions, and terror simply for the sake of terror which shattered Muscovite society at the time

• Organization dominated by a private army called the latter namesake, which was its main instrument

  • This was a select corps of 6,000 men who

    • wore black uniforms

    • had badges of a dog’s head and broom, which were symbols of

      • their doglike devotion to the Tsar

      • their role in sweeping away treason from the state

• Organization which set the precedent for the existence of future political police forces

• Organization which heavily persecuted against the Boyars

• Organization which carried out the Massacre of Novgorod; they

  • were ordered by Tsar Ivan IV to savagely destroy Novgorod, as Tsar Ivan IV was pre-empting moves by the feudal lords at the time towards their independence

  • carried it out because Novgorod was suspected of seeking union with Poland

  • made it so that Novgorod was devastated as 60K people were killed, many of which were pushed through holes in the ice

• Organization which facilitated Tsar Ivan IV’s reign of terror; they were eventually disbanded by him

Cossacks (All Facts)

• People-Group that were East Slavic, Eastern Orthodox Christian, and militant

• People-Group who originated in the steppes of Ukraine and southern Russia

• People-Group who were roving bands of warriors, as much brigands as regular soldiers

• They were led by Yermak Timofeyevich when they were hired out as mercenaries by the Stroganov Family of Muscovy (Russia) to conquer Sibir (modern-day Siberia)

1650s - Old Believers (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the numerous religious communities that maintain the old liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church, as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow during the Russian Orthodox Church Schism / Raskol

• They were a sect within Russia that was founded by Avvakum during the Russian Orthodox Church Schism / Raskol

• Along with Avvakum, thousands of them were hanged as a result of their dissent