Kurbsky: Mikhail Nazvanov
Sigismund, King of Poland:
Pavel Massalsky
It is the year fifteen hundred
and sixty-four
the year in which the Tsar
formed his special bodyguard
the Oprichniki
The year in which Tsar Ivan
withdrew to Alexandrov
The year in which the people
organized a procession
to beg the Tsar to return
The year in which Prince Kurbsky
committed the base treachery
of surrendering
the Russian armies to the Poles
and transferred his allegiance
to King Sigismund
There are certain defeats
that are more resounding
than victories
The defeat of my Russian army
near Revel
will spark off the revolt
Tsar Ivan has fled the wrath
of the boyars
and taken refuge
in Alexandrov
The Moscow boyars,
the Kolychevs,
have managed to get some
messages through
The Tsar is assailed
on every side
like a baited bear
The boyars are seething with
revolt:
The Tsar will fall
without a blow being struck
and the throne of Moscow
will be free for a new Tsar
well-disposed towards Poland
God in his wisdom decreed
that Lithuania, Poland
and the Baltic States should
serve as the outposts of Europe
in order that the civilized
nations of the West
might be protected from
the Muscovite barbarians
They say the Muscovites
eat children alive
Russian soil is fertile.
The herds are well-fed
The sub-soil conceals
inexhaustible riches
Of course, the Russians
have to be kept down
But a strong man on the throne
of Moscow would shatter
the most cherished dreams of
all the European sovereigns
We need the dim-witted
Vladimir Staritsky
We must support the rebel boyars
The solitary reins of absolute
power must be wrenched
from the Tsar and returned
to the feudal princes
We must destroy the unity
of Ivan's Russia
Once that has been done,
the Christian kings will embark
on a new crusade
We will force the Muscovite
to serve the West
We will drive the Russians out
of Europe
and force them back
to their Asian steppes
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Tsar Ivan is on his way
back to Moscow!
So I've caught you!
You didn't expect me back, eh?
You were delighted by
the Tsar's departure!
You've shown yourselves
for what you are - traitors!
The rogues
They wanted to govern the land
themselves!
Alright, if that's
what you want!
From now I'll give you land
to govern!
I'll give you land
But as the widower
I shall keep
the widower's portion
the towns along our borders.
From there
I will watch over the security
of the State
and guard the integrity of
Russian frontiers
And I shall stamp out treason!
I have no confidence
in you boyars
Therefore as God created man
in his own image
so I have created men in mine.
They will carry out my orders
and only they will enjoy
my confidence
that is why I have christened
them Oprichniki
These plans come not from God
but from the devil
He who defies
ancestral traditions
shall not remain sovereign
for long
Fyodor Kolychev!
Say no more
Why are you so severe with me,
Fyodor Kolychev?
Why, my good friend,
are you so cruel?
You should really pity me!
I am not Kolychev, I am
Philip the monk
I carry out the will of God
not the designs of the Tsar
Listen
Ever since I was a child
The boyars showed their hatred
of the Grand Duke of Moscow
After my father's death
My mother was killed
They have poisoned me!
Ah! I am dying!
My son!
They have killed me!
Watch out for poison!
Beware of the boyars!
Elena Glinskaya is dead
That's how I came to be an
orphan, alone and abandoned
whilst the boyars governed
in my name and
handed over Russian territory
to foreign enslavement
Ivan Vasilievich, Grand Duke
of Moscow
has graciously ratified
a commercial treaty
and agrees to pay duties for the
transit of goods via the Baltic
to the great Hanseatic League
of the German merchant