Q 01/05

The title tsar, which Ivan was the first Russian ruler to be crowned with, comes from which ancient name?

A) Caesar

B) Cyrus

C) Xerxes

D) Cicero

Answer · why

A) Caesar

Caesar. Russians already used the word for the khans of the Golden Horde, so taking it at his coronation, aged 16, announced that he now answered to n...

Q 02/05

The Russian word 'grozny' in Ivan's epithet is better translated as what?

A) Wicked or evil-hearted

B) Cruel or bloodthirsty

C) Mad or mentally unstable

D) Formidable or awe-inspiring

Answer · why

D) Formidable or awe-inspiring

Formidable or awe-inspiring. When the nickname was first put into English, 'terrible' still meant inspiring terror and awe rather than bad or wicked, ...

Q 03/05

Who first ruled as regent for the three-year-old Ivan?

A) His mother

B) His uncle

C) His elder sister

D) The Church's head

Answer · why

A) His mother

His mother. Elena Glinskaya held power until she died in 1538, leaving the seven-year-old Ivan in the hands of feuding boyar clans.

Q 04/05

Ivan's grandmother Sophia Palaiologina belonged to the imperial family of which fallen power?

A) Bulgaria

B) Serbia

C) Byzantium

D) The Golden Horde

Answer · why

C) Byzantium

Byzantium. She was a niece of its last emperor, and she brought the old empire's court ceremony to the Kremlin, feeding Moscow's claim to be the 'Thir...

Q 05/05

Ivan's mother, Elena Glinskaya, died in 1538; what do many believe happened to her?

A) She died of plague

B) She was poisoned

C) She died in childbirth

D) She was strangled by boyars

Answer · why

B) She was poisoned

She was poisoned. That is the long-standing suspicion, and her death threw the seven-year-old Ivan into nine years of murderous feuding among the boya...