Vasilisa Melentyeva
| Vasilisa Melentyeva | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Nikolai Nevrev in 1886 | |
| Tsaritsa of All Russia | |
| Tenure | 1579 |
| Died | 1579 |
| Spouse | Ivan IV of Russia |
| Dynasty | Rurik |
| Religion | Eastern Orthodox |
Vasilisa Melentyeva (Russian: Васили́са Меле́нтьева) (died 1579) was Tsaritsa of the Tsardom of Russia and was the sixth wife of Ivan the Terrible. Before her marriage to Ivan, Vasilisa is recorded to have been a widow of a prince serving in the Livonian War. Though Ivan considered her beautiful and sweet natured, he discovered her a few months after their marriage having an affair with a prince named Devletev. Ivan forced Vasilisa to watch her lover be impaled, and as further punishment, confined her to life in a cloister.
References
- Troyat, Henri Ivan le Terrible. Flammarion, Paris, 1982
- de Madariaga, Isabel Ivan the Terrible. Giulio Einaudi editore, 2005
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