Fragments of a Chronicle Written at the Metropolitan’s Court on the Eve of the Oprichnina

Abstract

The article presents a study of five entries for the year 7070/71 (1562), placed in the continuation of the ”Abbreviated Russian Chronicle”, which is found in a manuscript miscellany of historical and ecclesiastical texts from the late 16th — early 17th century. Although A. N. Nasonov and A. A. Zimin brought this chronicle to the attention of scholars in the middle of the 20th century, the text remains poorly studied and unpublished. The entries are devoted to major events that occurred in 1562: the beginning of the MuscoviteLithuanian War, the departure of Ivan IV to Mozhaisk, the death of Bishop Guriy of Ryazan, the arrest of the Vorotynsky princes, the visit of Archbishop Pimen of Novgorod to Moscow, and the fire in Pskov. Of the greatest value is the Chronicle’s information about the previously unknown ”Serpukhov treason case” that took place in the summer and fall of 1562, which led to the arrest and exile of Princes Mikhail Ivanovich and Aleksandr Ivanovich Vorotynsky, the dismissal of several other military commanders (voevody) from governmental service, and the aggravation of relations between Tsar Ivan and Prince Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky. Most likely, this selection of chronicle entries was produced by someone in Metropolitan Makarii’s entourage between the years 1563 and 1565. The selection reflected the range of problems and essential issues that Makarii faced in his later years. The article is accompanied by the publication of the Chronicle