hands, but he found it more enjoyable to watch as others did it for him. Sometimes, he read out the list of people that he wanted killed in church, as well as the method of murder he had picked out for them. "More than one of the oprichniki attested to his full-throated joy when the blood of his victims spurted on his face"(Payne, p. 237). The corpses of the victims remained unburied for several days because Ivan felt that they didn't deserve a proper Christian burial. He couldn't sleep at night, and had to be told stories to fall asleep. He took the boyars' women and had his way with them, then threw them in the river. He blew up one boyar's house with gunpowder after he made the men strip down and go inside the house. The women were stripped and hunted like game. "A woman was hanged on her own gatepost. He ordered that her husband should pass through the gate without showing any sign of emotion, otherwise he too would be hanged. A woman was hanged from the roof beam above her dining table, and her family was ordered to take their meals at the table"(Payne, p. 254). During this time, his wife Maria died, but he had grown estranged from her and didn't mind her passing. In the city of Tver, around 9,000 people died during a two-day massacre. He killed 30,000 people the winter of 1569-1570 at Novgorod, and then sacked the city that February. 20,000 more people died from the famine and disease that came after the sack. Ivan was on his way to wipe out the city of Pskov, but the famous holy man by the name of Mikula predicted that the wrath of God was upon him. At that instant a great thunderstorm erupted, and Ivan began to beg for forgiveness. He then left the city before any killing ensued.On July 25, 1570, the oprichniki arrived in the Red Square and built 20 large fires with cauldrons of boiling water. Ivan then had approximately 150 prisoners publicly boiled alive. On May 24, 1571, Moscow was burned to the ground by ...
