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 States
Fyodor Kolychev is even
further away:
He is praying in the Solovyets
monastery
I have only you
It's from Ryazan!
It's from Basmanov!
Again the boyars! They have
disobeyed my orders again!
They betray Russia. They are
preventing Basmanov and
the people from defending Ryazan
They are ready to surrender
the city
to the Khan of the Crimea
Be firm!
I will be. So much the worse
for the boyars!
I shall confiscate all their
estates
The only concessions I will make