Fyodor Alexeyevich Basmanov

Fyodor Alexejewitsch Basmanow ( Russian : Фёдор Алексе́евич Басма́нов) (* around 1550; † 1571?) Was a Russian oprichnik and confidante of Tsar Ivan the Terrible . According to Andrei Kurbsky and many others, he was even the tsar's lover, which is no longer controversial today.

Life

Basmanov's mention by name is first recorded for the year 1562. In 1564, together with his father Alexei Danilowitsch Basmanov , he defended the city of Ryazan against an attack by the Tatars . For this he and his father were honored by the tsar and Fyodor came closer to the tsar. In 1565 he and his father joined the oprichniks. A year later Fyodor Basmanow received the rank of cupbearer (Russian Кравчий).

In 1569 Basmanov became commander-in-chief of the Oprichnina troops in the south of Russia, and convinced there especially with his martial arts.

When Fyodor's father fell out of favor around 1570, Kurbsky said, Fyodor himself killed his father. According to the historian Michel Heller , Fyodor is said to have killed his father to prove his love for the tsar.

There was a rumor of a conspiracy against the Tsar in Novgorod . Several people were arrested who allegedly tried to help Ivan's enemy, the Polish King Sigismund II , by “preparing” for him the transition from Novgorod and Pskov . Alexei and Fyodor as well as Ivan Wiskotov were among those arrested .

Alexei Basmanov was executed, but Fyodor's verdict is not known.

The name Fyodor Basmanov has not been mentioned since 1571 and all traces are lost. Allegedly he was exiled by the tsar in Beloosero , where he died of an illness in a monastery.

Alexei Konstantinowitsch Tolstoy assumes in his book The Silver Prince that Fyodor was beheaded . Other theories suggest that Fyodor was impaled .

family

Ivan married Fyodor rather involuntarily to the niece of his first wife Varwara Sizkaja , with whom he had two sons, whom she gave birth to around 1568. After Fjodor's execution, Sizkaja remarried and the two sons, who were only about three years old at the time, were brought up well. His son Ivan was killed in September 1603 while suppressing a peasant revolt, his son Pyotr defended Novgorod-Seversky against the troops of False Dimitri . Later, however, he betrayed Boris Godunov and ran over to the wrong person Dimitri, became one of his closest confidants and was murdered with him on May 17, 1606. With the death of the two sons, neither of whom had children, the line of the Basmanovs ended.

personality

“ It was a young person of about twenty years of age, of an extraordinary beauty, which was greatly marred by an uncomfortably brazen expression. He was dressed even more exquisitely than the others and, contrary to the general custom of the time, had his hair long, and in his beardless face, as in all his demeanor, there was something unmanly casual expression. The behavior of the others towards him seemed a bit strange. They talked to him as if they were a person of their own kind and showed him no particular respect; but when he approached one of the groups, the oprichniks immediately moved apart, and those who had been sitting on the benches rose and offered him their seats. It seemed as if they wanted to beware of him or feared him. When he noticed Serebrjani and Micheitsch, he measured them with a haughty look, beckoned the oprichniks who had led the strangers into the Sloboda and seemed to be asking for their names, then blinked again at Serebrjani and whispered with a malicious smile softly to his companions something. ” - AK Tolstoy : The silver prince

Contemporary witnesses describe Basmanov as arrogant and conceited: he loved wealth, liked to wear jewelry and expensive clothes that the tsar gave him. According to sources, he was a skillful and ambitious soldier, which he proved several times. He is often depicted with a wreath of blue cornflowers on his head and red boots. He owes these characteristics to the portrayal of Dmitri Pissarenko in the 1991 film "Ivan the Terrible". Another very striking feature of Basmanov was that, unlike all other men at the time, he did not have a beard and long hair. According to contemporary witnesses, he had an unusually beautiful and feminine appearance but an unpleasant character. He complained to the tsar about everything that he did not like or disliked, and those responsible had to face the corresponding consequences. In addition, he often got into conflict with others and used his position with the tsar to his advantage.

Relationship with the tsar

Viktor Vasnetsov : Tsar Ivan the Terrible . Painting from 1897

" Ivan's first favorites: Alexei Basmanov, a spirited governor, but a shameless saint of tyranny, and his son Fyodor, he had a beautiful face and a mean soul, without whom Ivan could not have fun at banquets or the desire to kill." - NM Karamsin : History of the Russian State

The relationship between Ivan and Fyodor is actually no longer denied by historians today. Fyodor was a symbol of power for the tsar as well as useful in an aesthetic sense, and he probably reminded him of his first wife Anastasija Romanovna Sakharjina-Jurjewa . Basmanov also openly revealed that he was the tsar's lover, and it was no secret at court. It is very likely that Ivan sincerely loved Feodor.

Andrei Kurbsky in particular often reports on the connection between Fyodor and the tsar and skeptically calls him “lover of the tsar”.

The intimate relationship between Ivan the Terrible and Fyodor Basmanov noted foreigners who were visiting the Moscow kingdom at the time. For example, B. the German mercenary Heinrich Staden in Notes on barbarism :

"Alexei (Basmanov) and his son (Fyodor), with whom the Grand Duke used to fornicate, were executed."

reception

In the literature

• Character in the book The Silver Prince by Alexei Konstantinowitsch Tolstoy. In this book, Tsar Basmanov's favorite is described as arrogant, depraved and devoid of principles, but at the same time as a brilliant war leader.

In music

• Sung by a mezzo-soprano or an alto in the opera Der Opritschnik by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky from 1874.
• In the cantata Ivan the Terrible by Sergei Sergejewitsch Prokofjew from 1858. Prokofjew wrote this music as film music for the film Ivan the Terrible Part I and II. Basmanov is sung by a baritone / tenor.

In the cinema

• In the film Ivan the Terrible I (1944) and Ivan the Terrible II (1958) by Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein played by Mikhail Kuznetsov . The scene in Ivan the Terrible II in which Fyodor is dancing in women's clothes for the tsar became famous.
• In the film Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1991) by Gennady Vasilyev played by Dmitri Pissarenko . The film adaptation of the book The Silver Prince by Alexei Konstantinowitsch Tolstoy. Basmanov owes his image to the personification of Pissarenko today, as well as the appearance attributed to him. Pissarenko became the model for many of Basmanov's paintings.
• In the film Thunderstorm over Russia (1992) played by Sergei Besduzhny.
• In the film The King (2009) played by Alexander Ilyin.
• In the television series Ivan the Terrible (2009) played by Dmitry Murashev.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Manfred Hildermeier: History of Russia: From the Middle Ages to the October Revolution . CH Beck, 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-64552-5 ( google.de [accessed on May 13, 2019]).
2. ↑ РАЗРЯДНАЯ КНИГА. Retrieved May 13, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Basmanov Family. Retrieved June 14, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Глава VII. О казнях бояр и дворян . In: Церковно-Научный Центр "Православная Энциклопедия" . ( sedmitza.ru [accessed May 13, 2019]).
5. ↑ krotov.info. Retrieved May 13, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Г.В. Вернадский. Московское царство. I. Основание русской евразийской империи (4 часть). Retrieved May 13, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Электронная библиотека Центра изучения православия и древнерусской культуры http: // www. Retrieved May 13, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Chapter 35 of the book: The Silver Prince by Alexei Konstantinowitsch Tolstoy | Gutenberg project. Retrieved July 10, 2020 . 
9. ↑ krotov.info. Retrieved May 25, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Басманов Пётр Фёдорович. Retrieved May 25, 2019 . 
11. ↑ Н.М. Карамзин. История государства Российского. Том 9. Глава 3. Продолжение царстования Иоанна Грозного. Г. 1569-1572. Retrieved May 14, 2019 . 
12. ↑ Содержание «Военная Литература» Биографии - Война за Ливонию. Олег Рубецкий, accessed May 13, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Генрих ШТАДЕН. Retrieved May 13, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Tsar Ivan Groznyy. Retrieved May 14, 2019 .