Marfa Sobakina

Marfa Vasilevna Sobakina (Марфа Васильевна Собакина; 1552–1571), was Tsaritsa of the Tsardom of Russia and was the third wife of Ivan the Terrible. The daughter of a Novgorod based merchant Vasiliy Sobakin, Marfa was selected by Ivan among twelve marriage finalists. A few days after her selection, Marfa began to succumb to a mysterious ailment. It was rumoured that she was unintentionally poisoned by her mother, who gave her a potion supposedly meant to increase her fertility. Despite rapidly losing weight and barely standing, Marfa was nonetheless married to Ivan on 28 October 1571 in Aleksandrovska Sloboda. Marfa died a few days later. Her death increased her husband's paranoia, because she died in what was meant to be an impregnable fortress filled with loyal subjects. Ivan, remembering the death of his first wife, immediately suspected poison and put to death many of his subjects, including Mikail Temrjuk (brother to the Tzar's previous wife) who was impaled.

Legacy

The story of Marfa's selection and death is the base of the historical verse drama The Tsar's Bride by Lev Mei. The opera by the same name by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is repertory opera in Russia.

References

Troyat, Henri Ivan le Terrible. Flammarion, Paris, 1982
de Madariaga, Isabel Ivan the Terrible. Giulio Einaudi editore, 2005

Russian royalty
Vacant Title last held by Maria Temryukovna	Tsaritsa of All Russia 1571	Vacant Title next held by Anna Koltovskaya

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