1/14 died, leaving the scepter to Ivan IV., an infant son three years old. Now the humiliated Princes and _boyars_ were to have their turn. The mother of Ivan IV., Helena Glinski, was the only obstacle in their way. She speedily died, the victim of poison, and then there was no one to stem the tide of princely and oligarchic reaction against autocracy; and the many years of Ivan's minority would give plenty of time to re-establish their lost authority. |