Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya (; – 4 April 1538) was the grand princess consort of Moscow as the second wife of Vasili III of Russia, and de facto regent of Russia from 1533 until her death in 1538. She was the mother of the first crowned tsar Ivan IV.

Overview

Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya (; – 4 April 1538) was the grand princess consort of Moscow as the second wife of Vasili III of Russia, and de facto regent of Russia from 1533 until her death in 1538. She was the mother of the first crowned tsar Ivan IV. Biography Marriage Elena was born in 1510 as the daughter of Prince Vasili Lvovich Glinsky (d. 1515), a member of a Lipka Tatar clan claiming descent from the Mongol ruler Mamai, and Serbian Princess Ana Jakšić from the Jakšić noble family. It is to her powerful uncle, Prince Mikhail Lvovich Glinsky, that the family owed its distinction. In 1525, Vasili III resolved to divorce his infertile wife, Solomoniya Saburova, and marry Elena. According to the chronicles, he chose Elena "because of the beauty of her face and her young age." Despite strong opposition from the Russian Orthodox Church, the divorce was effected. They were married on 21 January 1526. Elena gave birth to two sons – Ivan Vasilyevich (future Ivan the Terrible) in 1530 and Yuri Vasilievich (future Prince Yuri of Uglich) in 1532. It was later rumoured, that she brought witches from Finland and people of the Sami to help her conceive by the help of magic

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