Vasilisa Melentyeva

Vasilisa Melentyeva
Portrait by Nikolai Nevrev in 1886
Tenure	1579
Died	1579
Spouse	Ivan IV of Russia
Dynasty	Rurik
Religion	Eastern Orthodox

Vasilisa Melentyeva (Russian: Васили́са Меле́нтьева) (died 1579) was the legendary sixth wife of Ivan the Terrible. The marriage (not authorized by the Church) could be celebrated in 1575 or she was simply concubine. Modern scholars now considered her as the 19th-century fake.^[1][2][3]

According to the "dark legend", before her marriage to Ivan, Vasilisa is recorded to have been a widow of a dyak (clerk) Melentiy Ivanov serving in the Livonian War. Though tsar considered her beautiful and sweet natured, he discovered her a few months after their marriage having an affair with a prince named Devletev. Ivan forced Vasilisa to watch her lover be impaled, and as further punishment, confined her to life in a cloister.^[2]

Of all the 8 wives of Ivan the Terrible, only Maria Dolgorukaya (who is also considered as 19th-century fake) and Vasilisa Melentyeva don't have graves or any mentions in official court documents.^[1][4]

There is no evidence of her existence in the medieval sources except 2 minor mentions: the first, cited by Karamzin, simply listed her name "as concubine" with other Ivan's spouses. The more extensive second mention (see "dark legend" above), believed to be possibly Alexander Sulakadzev's fake (early 19th century).^[1][5]

Alexander Ostrovsky wrote in 1867 play about her - "Василиса Мелентьева".

References

1. Сперанский М. Н. Русские подделки рукописей в начале XIX в. — ПИ, 1956, т. V, с. 100
2. Йена, Детлеф. Русские царицы (1547—1918). М., 2008. С. 43
3. Скрынников Р. Г. Иван Грозный. М., 2007
4. Сергей Нечаев. Иван Грозный. Жены и наложницы "Синей Бороды"
5. Зимин А. А. В канун грозных потрясений: Предпосылки первой Крестьянской войны в России. М., 1986

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