- Ivan Cherkassky
prince Ivan Borisovich Cherkassky (Rus. "Ива́н Бори́сович Черка́сский", ca.1580-
April 4 ,1642 ) was a Russian statesman, for 20 years head of government underTsar Mikhail , his cousin.Ivan Cherkassky was the only son of Boris Kambulatovich Cherkassky and Marfa Nikitichna Romanova, a sister of
Patriarch Filaret . In his youth he was a friend ofGrigory Otrepyev . In 1599 he was arrested together with other prominent members ofRomanovs ' party, in 1601 exiled, but soon, in 1602 returned to Moscow.After
Mikhail Romanov 's election in 1613 Ivan Cherkassky was made aboyar . After Filaret's administrative reform in 1619 he was put in charge of key ministries: Treasury (1621/22),Streletsky Prikaz andAptekarsky Prikaz (1622/23). That made him in essence a de facto head of government. He was also the richest man in Moscow.Isaac Massa , in a 1624 report for the Swedish government, reported that Prince Ivan Borisovich Cherkassky was the head of the “military council”: “In general they think that he shall receive the whole direction of the government.”A contemporary in 1634 wrote that Ivan Cherkassky managed affairs well and didn't allow red tape whatever a petitioner may have been.
Cherkassky was married to Evdokia Vasilievna Morozova, a cousin of
Boris Morozov .Adam Olearius mentioned her outstanding beauty and that though she didn't want to be bleached and rouged, public opinion made her do so.He died childless.
References
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* [http://monderusse.revues.org/document2600.html Paul Bushkovitch, Princes Cherkasskii or Circassian Murzas. The Kabardians in the Russian boyar elite, 1560-1700, in: Cahiers du Monde russe 45, 1-2, 2004, p. 9-30.]
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