Simeon Bekbulatovich and the question of the «literary game» played by Ivan the Terrible

Contesting the latest biography (compiled by A. V. Belyakov) of the Tatar Prince Simeon Bekbulatovich, who, at the request of Ivan the Terrible, had occupied the Moscow throne for a whole year, the author of the article discusses the famous petition addressed by the Tsar to his «substitute». The petition is generally considered to be a sample of the Tsar’s «buffoonish» manner of verbal manipulations, that are also traceable in quite a number of his epistles. The author of the article suggests that Ivan the Terrible’s game technique should be understood as a sequence of actions and statements stimulated by his religious experience. This is in better agreement with the cultural context of the 16^th century than the standard references to the sophisticated cruelty of the tyrant, who pretended to be a holy fool.