The oprichnina was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Russia between 1565 and 1572. The policy included mass repression of the boyars, including public executions and confiscation
Oprichniki, by Nikolai Nevrev, shows the mock coronation of Ivan Fyodorov-Chelyadnin (enthroned) accused of conspiracy, before his execution. The man with the knife is Ivan the Terrible himself: according to Alexander Guagnini, Ivan stabbed Fyodorov-Chelyadnin in the heart and the oprichniks finished him off.
The oprichniki and the Boyars, by Vasily Khudyakov
"The street in the town": people fleeing at the arrival of the oprichniki, inspired by the opera The Oprichnik by Tchaikovsky, painted by Apollinary Vasnetsov in 1911
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus', Moldavia and Wallachia, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans.
Oprichnina
…from, except') was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Russia between 1565 and 1572. The policy included mass repression of the boyars (Russian aristocrats), including public executions and confiscation of their land and property. In this context the term can also refer to: The notorious…
Portrait of Russian boyar Pyotr Potemkin by Godfrey Kneller
Russian boyars in the 16th–17th centuries
A mounted Russian boyar from the 17th century
Wallachian vornic Șerban Grădișteanu wearing an işlic, an indication of his boyar rank