How Did Ivan The Terrible Die?

Ivan IV Vasilyevich better known in history as Ivan the Terrible was the first monarch of Russia to assume the title Tsar. Ivan's reign (1547-1584) marked by repressive policies as well as his bouts of mental instability during one in which he killed his son may have earned him the nick name of Ivan the Terrible. Ivan's death has been a point of controversy as there are several versions some of which assume that he died a natural death while according to others he was murdered.

It is said that Ivan died while playing chess with one of his close associates Bogdan Belsky however in the 1960s after Ivan's tomb was opened and his remains exhumed it was discovered that they contained high amounts of mercury which led to speculations that he was poisoned. Another theory which is much contested states that Ivan was strangled by Belsky and Boris Godunov as an act of reprisal for Ivan's attempt to rape Godunov's sister.

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