The boyars will never submit
to the offspring
of the Prince of Moscow.
Power must pass to a Tsar
who will share it with the boyars,
and who will serve not
some unknown Russian State
but the noble boyars.
Swear allegiance to the Tsar Vladimir!
Long live the Tsar of the boyars!
Which road shall I travel?
The one which leads to the throne
or the one which leads to marriage?
Who should I choose?
Anastasia? Efrosinia?
Anastasia, if you will be mine,
I will protect you from the boyars.
If you will be mine,
I will raise you to the throne.
If you will be mine,
we will rule Russia together!
Without you my life has no meaning.
Nor death either.
With you, the throne...
or the scaffold it's all the same!
My Tsarina of Moscow!
Prince, one does not bury a man
before he is dead.
You mean Ivan isn't dead?
God will be your judge!
Ivan is not dead!
If Ivan is not dead...
Kurbsky can no longer live.
In the name of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost,
I swear by the Holy Writ
to serve faithfully
the heir to the throne,
the legitimate Tsar of Moscow,
Dmitri Ivanovich.
In evidence of which,
I kiss the cross.
The Holy Sacrament has cured me!
You... have always been close to the Tsar.
I shall raise you higher still,
for at the hour of the supreme test,
you alone remained faithful.
I shall invest you with a sacred mission.
We have consolidated the East,
you will lead the Russian forces
to the West... to the Baltic!
Flying like an arrow?
Well, fly!
And to defend our southern borders
against the Crimean Khan,
I appoint Alexei Basmanov.
Who? Who is he?
The Tsar trusts no one.
He sends away the boyars
who are closest to him.
He surrounds himself with nobodies.
Like these low-born Basmanovs
and takes them into his confidence.
I know.
He strips us of our hereditary possessions
and distributes them to absolutely anyone.
He persecutes the boyars.
Shchenyatov has been arrested!
Kurletov has been arrested!
I know.
I'm going to escape.
I dare not.
I'm frightened...
I shall flee to Livonia.
Ivan Ivanovich, aren't you ashamed?
The Archbishop has gone to see the Tsar.
He'll get us pardoned.
The Tsar pardons no one.
He has stripped me, his confessor...
of everything.
He's sending me from Moscow to Novgorod.
I'm going to get away!
For God's sake fly.
Let cowards run away!
Those who stay will fight!
Whilst the Tsar's best friend
Kurbsky is away...
we must take him firmly in hand.
To start with,
we must curb Ivan's power.
We must oppose his military campaigns,
refuse the money for the war
in the Baltic provinces.
But above all else,
we must separate Anastasia from Ivan.
It is I who will take charge of that.
I need the maritime towns,
the Baltic towns.
Riga... Revel.
I need Narva.
Once again the Rigans and the Hanseatics
have intercepted the English ships.
Once again they deprive me
of lead, of sulphur,
and my artillery of trained gunners!
I shall use force to stop
these treacherous neighbors
from throttling our commerce.
Not only the Germans are stumbling-blocks
to our ambitions,
but also you boyars!
In opposing my campaigns in the Baltic,
you are worse than the Germans
and the Livonians.
You are Russia's worst enemies.
You see, Nepeya, just why I have
to bring about this alliance.
Take this present to the gracious
Queen Elizabeth of England.
You will demonstrate to her
with these pieces
just how the English boats
can go around the Baltic,
to reach us by the White Sea,
in the teeth of the Germans and Livonians.
And remind her that Tsar Ivan in Moscow
is solely in charge of negotiations.
That he orders and controls all commerce.
He accords privileges to whosoever pleases him,
and whosoever does not please him
will never enter Moscow
On the other hand,
his friends will have the route to the East
completely open.
Are you troubled, Tsar Ivan?
I am alone.
There is no one I can trust.
Kurbsky is far away...
fighting in the Baltic