A Boyar of the Terrible. A romance of the court of Ivan the Cruel, etc

Front matter

A BOYAR OF THE TERRIBLE BY THE SAME AUTHOR. OUT OF DOORS IN TSARLAND : a Record of the Seeings and Doings of a Wanderer in Russia. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. THE ROMANCE OF THE WOODS: Reprinted Articles and Sketches. Crown 8vo. 6s. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. London, New York, and Bombay. The competitors advanced one by one A BOYAR OF THE TERRIBLE A EOMANCE OF THE COURT OF IVAN THE CEUEL FIEST TSAE OF EUSSIA BY K FRED. WHISHAW AUTHOR OF 'OUT OF DOORS IN TSARLAND ' 'BORIS THE BEAR-HUNTER* ' A LOST ARMY ' ( THE ROMANCE OF THE WOODS ' ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY H. G. MASSEY Royal Society of Painter-Etchers LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY 1896 All rights reserved CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. AN IMPERIAL FOOTPAD . . . . 1 II. CAMPAIGNING 13 III. THE YOUNG EAGLE RUFFLES HIS FEATHERS 21 IV. A WOLF FIGHT 33 V. PRINCESS VERA 44 VI.

AMONG THE BRIGANDS .... 57 VII. A NIGHT SWIM 67 VIII. FREEDOM 78 IX. AN IMPERIAL PROCLAMATION . . . 88 X. A BEAUTY SHOW . . . . V . 99 XI. BOYAR AND HIGHWAYMEN . . . . Ill XII. A WOLF-PACK 122 XIII. THE TERRIBLE TSAR 134 XIV. THE TSAR'S BRIDE-CHOICE . . . 140 XV. THE ROMANOVA A BOYAR OF THE TERRIBLE VI CHAPTER PAGB XVI. A LOST PRINCESS 109 XVII. THE tsar's disclaimer . . . . 183 XVIII. SIGNS AND WONDERS . . . .194 XIX. MY PRINCESS 205 XX. FLIGHT 216 XXI. THE FIGHT ON THE STAIRS . . . . 227 XXII. YERMAK 237 XXIII. SIBERIAN PROJECTS ... . . 248 XXIV. AN INTERVIEW WITH THE TSAR . . 258 XXV. AMONG THE ENGLISH 268 XXVI. THE STROGANOF DESTINY IS FULFILLED . LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS The Competitors advanced One by One . Frontispiece The next instant he plunged in with a Grand Splash to face p. 7 'Now march,' said Ivan, pointing to the Door „ 29 I STRUGGLED INEFFECTUALLY, WHILE VeRA slashed at the Men with her Kiding Whip 61 He swung her High in the Air ... „ 79 Threw them to the Wolves, to gain Time . „ 133 He pinned my Foot to the Ground with his Spiked Staff „ 142 ' i favour thee with bread and salt ' . ,, 187 Without a Thought of the Consequences i turned suddenly and felled the man „ 217 vera picked up my sword and dared them, Dagger in one hand and Sword in the other „ 235 i was knocked on the head by one of my own Men and sent tumbling into the Street of the Town „ 262 He suddenly Died while playing at Chess „ A BOYAR OF THE TERRIBLE

Chapter I An Imperial Footpad I

like David, have been young, though now I am old ; and before I go down to the grave I have a mind to set down some of my recollections of the curious rela tions that subsisted between myself and my master Ivan, the first Russian Cæsar, and I suppose the greatest Russian who has up to this time tasted God's air and walked this earth of His. My dear master and friend has gone to the grave before me ; but I thank the Almighty that before it pleased Him to take my sovereign to Himself, it seemed good to Him to reconcile us two, one to the other ; for, alas ! we had been, largely through my own action, as I freely acknowledge and admit, estranged for many years, and though I have many and many a time endeavoured to reinstate myself in my master's favour, yet until the last few years of his eventful life I never fully did so.

Doubtless, I did not deserve his friendship. I repeat A BOYAE OF THE TEEIUBLE again and again that mine was the fault, for I offended against the Anointed of the Lord, and set my youthful will against that of my beloved friend and sovereign ; and for this sin my severe but just master could never forgive me in my manhood, nor, indeed, till advancing age had softened both our hearts, and drawn together the spirits which had been so familiar in youth. My master has been called cruel. It is said that he will be known to all time as Ivan Grosnui : the cruel, the terrible. Knowing him as I knew him I must say this : that if ever one human body contained two distinct personalities ; or rather, if ever the good and the evil which co-exist in the person of every human being on this earth, were so divided in the in dividuality of one man that they gave to that man the appearance of being now wise and good as a god, and now cruel and wanton as a devil, the Tsar Ivan Vas silievitch was he.

My master was distinctly two men in one. Who shall blame him ; who shall judge him? Consider his boyhood, of which I shall presently give a picture — for was not I one of his chosen companions and playmates ? — fatherless from the age of three ; motherless from the age of eight years ; the de liberately neglected victim of those base men— Shuisky and Belsky and their following, the self-appointed Regents of the Empire : left by them, of their fiend ish and interested cunning, to indulge his unbridled tempers and passions to the top of his bent, without warning or remonstrance, without advice or saving counsel, or even the bare classification of matters into the Eight and the Wrong : what chance, I say, had this lad of growing up into a merciful and wise and clement prince, such as nature perhaps intended him to be ?

I say that my dear master did not enjoy such opportunity, in his boyhood, of learning to dis tinguish vice from virtue, as is enjoyed at his ignorant mother's knee by the lowest serf-boy in the land. Shuisky was to blame, and Shuisky only. But before I enter upon a description of my youthful days and of my relations with my beloved young Tsar, let me say a word about myself, and explain who I am and why I am writing this record. Well, I am Alexander Stroganof, a count and boyarin of the holy Russian Empire. My English friends, in after years, used to call me ' strong enough,' which words in the English language approach some what in sound to that of my name ' Stroganof,' and signify, in their tongue, 'possessing sufficient strength,' which, the English were wont to declare laughingly, was an appropriate title for me — and in truth, I think it was ; for I am, or was, strong enough to be too strong for most of my fellow-creatures with whom I have come at various times in contact.

As for my reason for setting down this record, it is enough to say that I can write without effort, being an educated man and travelled ; and that I am old and somewhat worn and depressed ; and that it com n THE TERRIBLE forts me to occupy myself with my pen ; and, further more, that I have much to tell, and wish to tell it before I go down to the grave. My home is at Perm, beneath the Urals, near the great Kama river, and it was with my uncle, Simeon Stroganof, the renowned merchant, that I first came, as a boy, to Moscow : I to see the world, my older kinsman to see the guardians of the Tsar as to the widening of our territory on the Kama, and other matters of business. My kinsman left me very much to myself in the, great capital city, and I — knowing no one, and igno rant of and wondering at everything I saw — was allowed to wander about the streets at will ; being at this time about fourteen years of age and remarkably strong and tall for a boy of so few summers.

My first meeting with my master the Tsar was in this wise. I was standing close to the bank of the small river, the Moskva, reflecting how mean and small, in comparison with our own beautiful Kama, was this streamlet which runs through the streets of the capital city, when I was suddenly startled by a loud yell from behind the wall of an adjacent house, and at the same instant received a very violent blow on the back, from a stick or stone, which precipitated me into mid -stream. Being a good swimmer I thought nothing of the incident as a disaster ; as an insult, however, my pride revolted immediately against it, and as I swam back to shore I looked out eagerly for someone upon whom to vent my wrath and desire for vengeance. I did not long remain in doubt as to the identity of my assailants, for at that moment a band of boys of all ages, from twelve to about seventeen, came shouting and waving sticks from behind the wall, headed by one of about my own age, or perhaps a trifle older : a striking-looking lad, slim and elegant in figure, and with the eyes and nose of a bird of prey.

He wore the Russian shirt and trowsers, without kaftan ; but his shirt was richly worked in blue and red, and the belt about his waist was of silver, chased and filigreed, and his cap was adorned with valuable jewels. This lad held up his hand, and the rest were silent in an instant, all but one who had not noticed the sign, and continued to shout and boo at me as I swam about looking for a place to land. ' Be silent, Petka, you dog ! ' shrieked the young leader of this rowdy band — ' here, Gregory, Timothy, in with him ; no disobedience here ! ' ' Oh, don't throw me in,' howled Petka, blubbering ; ' I can't swim a stroke — I shall be drowned ! ' ' Did you swear obedience with the rest ? ' said the be-jewelled lad. 'Yes,' blubbered the other, ' but ' 'In with him, then,' shouted the leader, stamping; and instantly two or three of the others caught poor Petka by shoulders and heels, and swung him far out into the stream.

TIIE TERRTBLE I postponed my landing to see what would come of his statement that he could not swim, and it was fortunate for Petka that I did so ; for after splashing and floundering for a minute or two, struggling and blubbering, while of those on shore some laughed and some looked grave, down he went. Down went I also, after him, and fished him up, and together we struggled to the shore. Here the young captain interfered again. ' That's enough for Petka,' he cried, ' he won't disobey his general again — let him up ; but take that new fellow and pitch him back for interfering where he was not asked ! ' Two of the boys, those whom he had addressed as Timofey, or Timothy, and Gregory, came down to the bank at this, and each laid hold of a shoulder of mine to pull me out. But I caught each by a leg, and, having a good foothold, easily pulled them down into the water, where I put both their heads under, and then left them to scramble out as best they could, while I set them an example by getting ashore as quickly as I might before others should be told off to prevent me.

The boy whom I have described as the leader of this precious crew, as well as many of his companions, was at this time in fits of laughter over Timothy and Gregory's discomfiture ; but I put a sudden end to his mirth by bounding straight up to him as he stood and pointed and laughed, and seizing him in my The next instant he plunged In with a grand splash arms — ' Now,' I said, ' my friend, it is your turn to swim and ours to laugh ! ' The boy stamped his foot at me and would have spoken, but his surprise or his passion was too great. Foam came from between his lips, but no articulate words. I cared nothing for the stamping of his foot, nor yet for the foaming of his mouth. The rest shouted at me, but I did not listen. I took the boy up by the breast of his shirt in one hand, holding his kicking legs together at the knees with the ether, and swung him once, twice, thrice — he found his voice at the second swing — ' Let me go,' he shrieked, ' I am Ivan ! ' ' I don't care who you are,' I said, ' you impudent young bully, you'll be a wet Ivan directly ! ' ' But I can't swim,' he blubbered, as he flew through the air, and the next instant he plunged with a grand splash into the Moskva, half-way across, and struggled and floundered for all the world as Petka had.

Of course I was not going to allow him to drown ; but he was quite half-drowned by the time I went to his assistance ; and when I placed him on the bank, he lay there panting and spitting water from his mouth for some minutes before he could find breath to speak. When he was able to raise his head and look around, he glared at me with a very wicked look; his eyes — as sharp as a hawk's — seemed to glow like two little live coals. He foamed and fumed and gnashed his teeth at me, and again at his companions before he spoke; they all appeared frightened or abashed, and said nothing ; as for me, I could not forbear to laugh, for in truth it appeared to me a foolish and ridiculous thing that this boy, far smaller than many of his comrades, should have so successfully dominated the rest that they were appalled because of his absurd anger.

At last he spoke. ' I told you I was Ivan,' he said. ' And I told you you would be a wet Ivan before long,' I rejoined ; ' if you feel a desire to have a little more of the Moskva inside you, you will con tinue to make faces at me, for that is the straight way into the river.' At this the boy commenced to writhe and shriek with passion. ' Gregory, Timothy, Stepan, kill him ; tell him who I am and kill him instantly, do you hear me ? ' he blustered, jumping to his feet and stamping about in rage. ' Tie stones to his feet and pitch him into the water — knock him on the head with your sticks.' Then I thought I had to deal with a godsman, as we call the unfortunate demented, and pitied him. ' Is he a godsman ? ' I asked of the crowd of lads around. 'He is the Grand Duke of Russia, you fool,' said one of them ; ' and you will pay for what you have done to-day.' ' This the Grand Duke of Russia ? ' I said, laughing ; ' are you all mad ?

He is a boyar by his dress, certainly, but not by his manners ; as for all of you, you ' ' I am Ivan, I say,' cried the leader, recommen cing his shrieks and stamping ; ' Timothy, seize him you, or Vainka if he and Gregory are afraid — seize him and tie weights to him and drown him — and may the devil have him — I hate him — kill him ! ' But no one moved, though several glowered at me ; they did not like the look of me and my stick — one I had taken up from the ground, where somebody, Ivan himself, I think, had laid it. The stick was furnished with an iron spike at the end, and was a formidable weapon. ' By St. Cyril and St. Methodius you shall ali suffer for this — every one of you ! ' cried Ivan, looking around with an expression that a demon might have envied. ' Will not one of you obey ? ' ' Let him put down the stick, and I will try him,' said a big boy -Vainka by name.

I threw down the weapon, and we wrestled. When we were close to the bank of the river I tripped Vainka, and he splashed head first into the water. To my surprise I found that Ivan had recovered from his fit of passion, and was laughing at Vainka's discomfiture. I looked at him fixedly. Could this really be young Ivan Vasilitch, the Grand Duke of Muscovy — my sovereign — or was the whole thing a play, acted by a rowdy party of boys for their own diversion ? His countenance, now that the passion had disappeared from it, was refined and noble ; his eyes were hawk-like still, but the evil glow had de parted from them ; his body had a natural aristocratic pose ; I gazed at him and felt unaccountably attracted. Grand Duke, or mere boyar, this lad was a remarkable personality. I had reached this point in my reflec tions when he turned his head and caught me looking at him.

He stamped his foot and frowned; but whether it was that he discerned more respect and admiration in my expression, or whether my victory over Vainka had pleased him, his eyes did not glow with passion as before. We stared in one another's faces for a moment. During that moment I came to the conclusion — I scarcely knew why, though I now understand that the majesty in that face was quite unmistakable when not concealed by the contortions of passion — that this must certainly be the youthful Head of the realm : the young Grand Duke Ivan, and that I had gone within sight of drowning the Lord's Anointed. At this thought (for we Stroganofs, though independent, are the most loyal of the subjects of the Tsar) I was conscious of a great horror, and hid my face in my hands and dropped on my knees. ' What have I done — what have I done ? ' I murmured. ' If you are indeed Ivan Vasilitch, the Grand Duke, what have I done in throwing you into the river ? ' 'You have certainly committed a great sin,' said Ivan, ' but since you pulled me out again you have partially atoned for it ; you shall fully atone by instantly joining my band and obeying my orders.

Is it agreed ? ' ' So long as your way is God's way, I agree,' I said. The boy looked grave for a moment, then he smiled. ' That is a good answer,' he said ; ' you please me. Now take Timothy and Gregory and throw them into the water, and afterwards every one of the others excepting Vainka Koltso, who alone obeyed orders, though it were to his own disadvantage. Now, sir — take Gregory first — resist, Gregory — don't be a sheep.' My orders astonished me mightily. ' But what about those who cannot swim ? ' I said, hesitating. ' Oh, Lord have mercy upon us, save them if you think them worth it ! ' said Ivan ; ' I don't ! ' Then there arose such a wailing and blubbering as I never thought to hear on this earth ; yet not one of those boys dared run away and thus avoid the punishment in store for him.

There were thirteen in all, counting the prince and Vainka Koltso, and eleven of these had to be ducked. Some of them resisted violently, and four times I was myself tripped and ducked by my assailants. But in the end each of the eleven had his ducking, and the sentence was duly executed ; but since I had been obliged to wrestle many times, and had been worsted at least four times (though in the end I overthrew each of my conquerors), and was besides obliged to plunge in to save half a dozen of my victims, I was fairly exhausted when the business was done and my duty performed, and had scarcely strength to crawl out after my last immer sion, or breath to thank my new friend and master when he called encouragingly to me as I scrambled ashore, and said I had done well, and he should like me. ' Now you can all go to your homes, poor creatures that you are ! ' he added, frowning around at the rest ; ' why are you not all like him ?

I should make something of my Russia by-and-by, if you were ! The company is dissolved till to-morrow — march ! Stay here with me, you ! ' he added, laying his hand upon my arm. The dripping band of boys dispersed with shouts and rejoicings, leaving me alone with my new friend. A moment after there was not one in sight, and only the distant sound of their happiness could be heard. It was like the breaking up of a school. This lad was evidently a hard taskmaster, and his playmates took more pleasure in the dispersion of the band than in the assembling of the same.

Chapter II Campaigning

' I believe I shall like you ; I think we may be friends,' said my companion when the rest had gone ; ' you are strong and bold, and may be of great use to me in my campaigning. But who are you ; what is your name ? ' I wondered at the prince's manner of expressing himself. What did he mean by campaigning ! How ever, I told him my name. ' Oh ! ' he said, ' then you have come up from Perm with the man who has been bargaining with Shuisky these days ? ' I concurred. ' Then you may tell your relative,' he continued, 'to be careful in his dealings with that thief and liar, for he will swindle him and deceive him as he has swindled every other boyar in the empire who has dealings with him. I heard him telling someone, Belsky or one of the Glinskys I think, that he found these Stroganofs were as rich as Crœsus, and he was going to milk them like so many cows.' I was greatly surprised to hear this, for the Regent had been all that was courteous and kind towards my uncle.

But I afterwards learned that this Shuisky was of all men the most crafty and deceitful. But I only said that I would warn my relative as the prince suggested ; and then I asked my companion why he had had me attacked and pitched into the water. What had I done to deserve this treatment at his hands ? ' Done ! ' he said, astonished. ' Why, nothing of course. What an odd question. I had never seen you before, so that you could have done nothing to offend me ! ' ' Then why attack an innocent lad ? ' I repeated. ' How could you tell that I should not have been drowned ? I might not have been able to swim ! ' ' Oh well,' said Ivan, laughing, ' you would not have been the first. The other day we did drown a boy; he was not of the boyar class, like yourself, and nothing was said ; he went down without a struggle, and never came up again.

If his folks had come down to the river and made any fuss about it we should have beaten them. They are all very harmless, as soon as they are told who I am.' I gazed at the Grand Duke in horror. ' And why do you do this kind of thing ? ' I asked him. ' What else is there to do ? ' he said, quite sur prised. ' The Grand Duke may surely amuse himself as he pleases, without consulting his subjects. How ever, we do not often take life — human life, I mean ; we drown all the stray dogs and other animals we can CAMPAIGNING 15 catch — drown them, or get our fun out of them some other way. My campaigners and I have better fun with our captives than drowning them, as a rule. You shall come and see for yourself now that you are enrolled.' ' But I am only conditionally enrolled,' I said. ' I undertook to be of your party so long only as your ways are God's ways.' ' But the Grand Duke is God in Russia,' said Ivan. ' Shuisky says so ; nothing that I do can possibly be wrong, he says.' ' And what is his opinion of your drowning your subjects, and doing I know not what besides with them ? ' I asked, feeling that I was in a sort of dream. ' Oh, we only frighten them and beat them, if they resist, and take their money,' said the prince ; ' I always tell Shuisky of our adventures, because it puts him in good humour ; he laughs and says that I am the kind of king that Russia wants, one who is not afraid of his people or of anything else.

Ask him, if you like, what he thinks of me. Sometimes I fancy he is anxious that I should come to harm during our marauding expeditions, for though he professes to be my most faithful regent and friend, yet if I were to die I know not who would step into my place if it were not Shuisky. Therefore tell him, as an entertaining anecdote, of how you threw me into the stream and were obliged to fish me out again ; you will see by his face whether the story really alarms him on my account, or whether he is only sorry that your pitching me in was followed by your fishing me out.' I mentally resolved that I would do exactly as this cunning youth suggested. ' But why,' I said, ' must you rob and beat your people ? Is there no better way of amusing yourself than this ? ' ' As for their money,' he replied, ' I need it.

I depend upon it for everything I buy. Shuisky gives me none. I should not even have food enough, but for what I purchase for myself.' All this was perfectly true, as I discovered after wards. The miscreant Shuisky not only made light of the prince's misconduct, but actually deprived him of the necessaries of life in order to compel him to act the common highwayman and street robber, in company with his rascally young confederates, those whom I had had the pleasure of ducking ; praising and treating as — at the worst — amiable youthful eccentricity, con duct which an honest guardian would instantly have execrated and forbidden. But instead of allowing my poor young master to see such conduct as his own in its proper light : as disgraceful and unworthy in the meanest of his subjects, and contemptible and abomin able in the highest degree when indulged in by one oc cupying his position, this villanous regent or minister for his own ends obscured the truth, and allowed the prince to go from wickedness to wickedness, until at CAMPAIGNING 17 length, as I hinted before, he actually was unable to distinguish right from wrong, and was convinced that in the successful execution of his miserable robberies and street bullyings he was evincing the highest and princeliest qualities, and showing, for all men to see, how wise and brave a ruler he should be when old enough to take upon himself the reins of government.

Out of curiosity, and without binding myself to take part in any enterprise of which I disapproved, I joined the band of the Grand Duke's confederates on the following day, and saw with my own eyes what manner of entertainment was this which the young prince, my master, had invented and organised for his own recreation, and which Shuisky, his responsible guardian, approved as a fitting occupation for the titular head of this great Empire of Muscovy. We stationed ourselves, I remember, behind a paling at the outskirts of the city, not far from the spot at which I had myself been surprised and attacked on the previous day ; and there we lay in ambush awaiting whatever prey fortune should send into our net. Presently a peasant came driving along the dusty road in his cart. With him were two women wearing red handkerchiefs over their heads and singing merrily, as our Russian peasant women do.

As they passed us, the horse was startled and seized, and the serf pulled out of the cart. The women stopped their singing to cry aloud in their terror ; the man blubc A BOYAR OF TIIE TERRIBLE bered for mercy. His pockets were searched and those of the women also ; the cart was full of butter tubs, and the three vowed and protested that they were without money. A few coppers were found, and these were taken, after which the peasant was well beaten and released. I had thought the women would be spared, but this was not the case, and they were beaten also. I protested against this useless cruelty, but Ivan laughed and said his ' men ' must be amused. He added that if I objected to the action of those who had beaten the women I might settle with them for myself, and this I was glad to do, for it relieved my feelings ; and with the same birch sticks that had belaboured the peasant women I soon gave the two offenders as much as I thought the occasion demanded, they making little or no resistance but much noise, and the young Grand Duke applauding and laughing, mightily pleased and amused.