Marfa Sobakin

Marfa Sobakin ("Марфа Васильевна") was Tsarina of the Tsardom of Russia and was the third wife of Ivan the Terrible. The daughter of a Novgorod based merchant, Marfa was selected by Ivan among 12 marriage finalists. A few days after her selection, Marfa began to succumb to a mysterious ailment. It was rumoured that she was unintentionally poisoned by her mother, who gave her a potion supposedly meant to increase her fertility. Despite rapidly losing weight and barely standing, Marfa was nonetheless married to Ivan on October 28, 1571 in Aleksandrovskaja Sloboda. Marfa died a few days later. Her death increased her husbands paranoia, because she died in what was meant to be an impregnible fortress filled with loyal subjects. Ivan, remembering the death of his first wife, immediately suspected poisoning and put to death many of his subjects, including Mikail Temjruk (brother to the Tzars previous wife) who was impaled.

References

* Troyat, Henri "Ivan le Terrible". Flammarion, Paris, 1982
* de Madariaga, Isabel "Ivan the Terrible". Giulio Einaudi editore, 2005