FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Ива́н Васильевич; 25 August 1530 – 28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible (from Russian: Ива́н Гро́зный​ (help·info), romanized: Ivan Grozny, lit. “Ivan the Formidable” or “Ivan the Fearsome”, Latin: Ioannes Severus, monastic name: Jonah), was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Moscow ruler who declared himself tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584.

Ivan was the first Moscow ruler born after its independence. The son of Vasili III, the Rurikid ruler of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, he was appointed grand prince when he was three years old after his father’s death. A group of reformers known as the “Chosen Council” united around the young Ivan, declaring him tsar (emperor) of All Rus’ in 1547 at the age of 16 and establishing the Tsardom of Russia with Moscow as the predominant state. Ivan’s reign was characterised by Russia’s transformation from a medieval state to an empire under the tsar but at an immense cost to its people and its broader, long-term economy.

During his youth, there was a conquest of the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. After he had consolidated his power, Ivan got rid of the advisers from the “Chosen Council” and triggered the Livonian War, which ravaged Russia and resulted in the loss of Livonia and Ingria but allowed him to establish greater autocratic control over Russia’s nobility, which he violently purged with the Oprichnina. The later years of Ivan’s reign were also marked by the Massacre of Novgorod and the burning of Moscow by Tatars.

Contemporary sources present disparate accounts of Ivan’s complex personality. He was described as intelligent and devout but also prone to paranoia, rage, and episodic outbreaks of mental instability that increased with age. In one fit of anger, he murdered his eldest son and heir, Ivan Ivanovich, and he might also have caused the miscarriage of the latter’s unborn child. This left his younger son, the politically ineffectual Feodor Ivanovich, to inherit the throne, a man whose rule and subsequent childless death directly led to the end of the Rurikid dynasty and the beginning of the Time of Troubles.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

What does the term “buckdancer’s choice” mean, and what is its origin?A buck dance, or buckdance, generally refers to a dance done solo. For instance, the buck-and-wing is a solo tap dance that originated in the South. The term also may have come from a ceremonial dance performed by a Native American wearing the costume of a male animal such as a deer or antelope, known as a buck. Buckdancer’s choice,” then, would seem to refer to a solo dancer’s own style or choice of dance to be performed.”

Advice of the Day

The finger of God never leaves identical fingerprints.

Home Hint of the Day

You can restore the appearance of a wood stove with traditional stove black applied with a rag. Stove black is available from wood stove and hardware stores.

Word of the Day

BabblerAn idle talker; an irrational prater; a teller of secrets. A hound too noisy on finding a good scent. A name given to any one of family of thrushlike birds, having a chattering note.

Puzzle of the Day

You may travel abroad in a carriage whose name read backward or forward is always the same.Gig

Died

• William Carter (printer, hanged for printing lewd pamphlets) – 1584
• Tom Longboat (runner) – 1949

Born

• Catharine Parr Traill (writer) – 1802
• John Knowles Paine (composer) – 1839
• Gracie Fields (comedienne) – 1898
• Simone de Beauvoir (novelist) – 1908
• Richard Nixon (37th U.S. president) – 1913
• Fernando Lamas (actor) – 1915
• Judith Krantz (author) – 1928
• Bart Starr (football player) – 1934
• Joan Baez (singer) – 1941
• Jimmy Page (guitarist) – 1944
• Sir Alec Jeffreys (geneticist) – 1950
• Crystal Gayle (singer) – 1951
• J. K. Simmons (actor) – 1955
• Joely Richardson (actress) – 1965
• Dave Matthews (musician) – 1967
• Catherine Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge) – 1982

Events

• Ivan the Terrible of Russia, suspecting a revolt in the city of Novgorod, captured the city and executed many of its inhabitants– 1570
• Connecticut became the fifth state to join the U.S.– 1788
• First successful U.S. balloon flight was completed in Philadelphia, PA, by Jean Pierre Blanchard– 1793
• Mississippi seceded from the Union (U.S. Civil War)– 1861
• U.S. Forces invaded Luzon, Philippines (WW II)– 1945
• U.N. headquarters opened in New York City– 1951
• U.S. and Japan concluded a formal agreement for the final settlement of U.S. postwar economic assitance to Japan– 1962
• U.S. spacecraft Surveyor VII made a successful landing on the moon– 1968
• The Queen Elizabeth, luxury ocean liner, was gutted by fire in Hong Kong harbor– 1972
• 5.9 earthquake shook eastern Canada and New England– 1982
• 5.7 earthquake struck Miramichi, New Brunswick– 1982
• NBA’s Toronto Raptors became the first team to miss all free throw attempts in a game– 1996
• Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone– 2007
• A 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the shore of Eureka in Northern California– 2010
• A venomous yellow-bellied sea snake was found on shore in Newport Beach, California. This was the fifth recorded sighting of the snake species in California history, and the first outside of an El Niño year. Scientists believe that rising ocean temperatures may have been a factor. The snake typically lives in tropical water, spending its whole life at sea; it does not go on shore unless it is ill.– 2018

Weather

• 28.5” snow, Olympia, Washington– 1880
• Columbia River froze at Portland, Oregon, until January 26th– 1888
• Citrus freeze in S. California– 1888

COURTESY www.almanac.com