The pre-Tatar period is not represented, and the cycle proper begins with Ivan the Terrible, and ends with the reign of Peter the Great.

Epic marvels are not wholly lacking in the Moscow cycle, evidently copied from the earlier cycles.

But these songs are inferior in force.

Fantastic as are some of the adventures in these songs, there is always a solid historical foundation.

Ivan the Terrible, for instance, is credited with many deeds of his grandfather (his father being ignored), and is always represented in rather a favorable light.
The conquest of Siberia, the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, the wars against Poland, and the Tatars of Crimea, and so forth, are the principal points around which these songs are grouped.