Biography
Russian history contains many interesting pages inhabited no less curious characters. Among them, Simeon Bekbulatovich, in the years of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, he managed to visit the Grand Duke of All Russia, that is, nominally performed the duties of the king. This episode illustrates an example of a puppet rule, which in the history of the state will repeat more than once. However, over the reasons why Simeon Bekbulatovich is briefly, but still found himself on the Moscow throne, historians are thinking so far.Childhood and youth
Simeon was born in the first half of the 1500s, and his name before baptism was Sain Bulat. Good half of life about baptism is a man and did not think, being a descendant of the Horde Khan. His father Beck Bulat served Ivan Grozny and wore the title of Astrakhan Tsarevich. Simeon's mother was the princess Altynchach - the daughter of the Kabardian Prince Temryuk Idarovich.
If you trace the pedigree Bekbulatovich in the father's line, then it comes to the very Genghis Khan. And the great-grandfather Simeon Ahmat-Khan ruled the Big Horde at the end of the 15th century and became its last ruler held in political subordination of Moscow princes. It is his label (certificate with the requirements) defiantly ruined Ivan III, marking the final overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.
Personal life
Information about the personal life of the descendant of Genghisids has been preserved. Despite the fact that the man was Tatarin by nationality, he married the Orthodox Russian woman - Princess Anastasia Mstislavskaya. Bekbulatovich's son-in-law was the head of the land of the prince Ivan Fedorovich Mstislavsky. By that time, the man had already taken baptism with the advent of Simeon. Casimovsky Khan's wife was a young widow and gave birth to her husband of six children, Feodorore, Dimitri, John, Evdokia, Maria and Anastasia.Bekbulatovich's wife was a relative of the royal family, and their children became the latest descendants of Ivan III and Sofia Paleolog, however, their fate threads are lost in the dusk history. It is only known that Bekbulatovich turned out to be stronger than his heirs and survived everyone as a spouse. She died in 1607, having previously accepted the monastic stop under the name of Alexandra, and was buried in Simonov's Assumption Monastery of Moscow.
Prince and Moscow throne
Since the beginning of the 1560s, Bekbulatovich begins to serve Ivan Grozny, having achieved the position of the Khan city of Kasimov. At that time, siblings of the Horde dynasty often occupied prominent places at the Moscow courtyard, and the honor of Tatar Tsarevichov turned out to be "Boyar above." The Kasimov kingdom was populated by Tatars-Mishairs and Mordvoy, subordinate to Moscow, but had a special device. During the reign, Simeon managed to participate in the Livonian war and other military campaigns.
Tsar John was famous for unpredictability, but his decision, adopted in 1575, still forces the perplexity of historians. The sovereign suddenly refused the throne and planted on his place Simeon Bekbulatovich. At the same time, he himself not only refused the title and the residence, moving to live on Petrovka, but also wrote his checker, humbly subscribing to the Ivaque.
This castling researchers are not different as "historical Masquerad", explaining that the actual power remained in the hands of Ivan IV, while Simeon lived surrounded by a lush yard and signed government decrees. Sooting to the reasons forcing the king to take such an extraordinary decision, the problems in foreign policy were called, the superstitious fears of Grozny and his intention to revive the Ochrichnin, abolished several years earlier.
However, the reign of Bekbulatovich did not last and years: the horsephair king returned to the Kremlin in August 1576, and the period of the reign of Tatar Khan was not noted by special achievements and merits both in domestic politics and in external. Ivan Grozny made Simeon the Grand Duke Tver and bestowed by land, but after the death of his patron Bekbulatovich fell into a difficult position.
Death
Boris Godunov, seeing in the former Great Prince of All Russia's serious competitor, did everything to get rid of. Since the beginning of the reign, Bekbulatovich lost titles, most lands and was sent to his village Kusalino, where he lived in poverty and obscurity. By that time, a man is blind, although there is a version that he was blinded by order of Tsar Boris, who continued to see a threat.
They did not leave Bekbulatovich alone and other persons fighting for the Moscow throne. Falsmitry I Sceed Simeon to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, where they spent schima and gave a name in honor of St. Stephen. Vasily Shui and Togo seemed a little: having come to power, he sent the elderly blind Tatar on the Solovki. From there, a man got out only in 1612 after numerous written requests to return him to the shores of Siversky Lake.
There he died in 1616 at that age, when it was not accepted before the causes of death. Bekbulatovich buried next to his wife in Simonov Assumption Monastery, which was destroyed during the years of Soviet power. Then it was irretrievably lost and the grave of the former king.