On his deathbed, Ivan appoints Boris Godunov,…

On his deathbed, Ivan appoints Boris Godunov, together with his Romanov relatives, as guardians of his son and successor; for Fyodor, despite his twenty-seven years, is both physically weak and feeble-minded.

Ivan's achievements have been many.

In foreign policy, all his actions have been directed toward forcing Russia into Europe—a line that Peter I the Great is to continue.

Internally, Ivan's reign of terror had eventually resulted in the weakening of all levels of the aristocracy, including the service gentry he had sponsored.

These factors, together with Tatar incursions, have resulted in the depopulation of a number of Russian provinces.

Nevertheless, he leaves his realm far more centralized both administratively and culturally than it had been previously.

Ivan has also encouraged Russia's cultural development, especially through printing.

He himself wrote well, and, though his surviving writings are mainly of a political nature, his command of words and his biting sarcasm are very evident.

Ivan has been a devout adherent of the Orthodox church.

His arguments on religious questions are striking in their power and conviction, but he places the most emphasis on defending the divine right of the ruler to unlimited power under God—a view with which most other monarchs of the time would have been in agreement.

The zemsky sobor, “assembly of the land”), composed of representatives from the ecclesiastical and monastic authorities, the boyar council, the landowning classes, and the urban freemen, had first been called by Ivan, and the assemblies had met often during his reign; the most important one (1566) considered the Livonian War against Poland.

A zemsky sobor confirms the accession of Fyodor at Ivan’s death in 1584.

With Moscow reportedly on the verge of anarchy due to the Tsar’s draconian policies, Feodor assumes the throne on May 31.

His reign begins with a rebellion in favor of the infant Tsarevich Dmitry, the son of Ivan's fifth wife Maria Nagaya; the result is the banishment of Dmitry, with his mother and her relations, to their appanage at Uglich.

On the occasion of the Tsar's coronation, Godunov is given honors and riches, yet he holds the second place in the regency during the lifetime of the Tsar's uncle Nikita Romanovich, on whose death, in August, he will be left without any serious rival.

Fyodor takes no part in government affairs, which are dominated by Godunov.