Elena Glinskaya

Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya (Елена Васильевна Глинская in Russian) (? – April 4(13).1538, Moscow) was the second wife of Grand Prince Vasili III, daughter of Vasili Lvovich Glinsky and Anna Glinskaya.

In 1526, Vasili III decided to marry Elena Glinskaya due to lack of children from his first marriage with Solomoniya Saburova. Elena Vasilyevna gave birth to Ivan IV (future Ivan the Terrible) and Yuri Vasilyevich (future prince of Belozersk). In 1533, dying Vasili III transferred his powers to Elena Glinskaya until his oldest son Ivan was mature enough to rule the country. The chronicles of those times do not provide any more or less precise information on Elena's legal status after Vasili's death. All that is known is that it could be defined as regency and that the boyars had to report to her. That is why the time between Vasili's death and her own demise in 1538 is called the reign of Elena.

Elena Glinskaya fought with the appanage princes Yuri Ivanovich and Andrey Ivanovich, Vasili III's brothers. The struggle ended with their incarceration in 1534 and 1537, correspondingly. Elena's reign is also known for conflicts inside the government, caused by Elena's close association with a boyar named Ivan Feodorovich Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky and Metropolitan Daniel. In 1535, Elena conducted a currency reform, which resulted in introduction of a unified monetary system in the state. In foreign affairs, Glinskaya succeeded in signing an armistice with Lithuania in 1536, simultaneously neutralizing Sweden.

Some historians believe that Elena Glinskaya was poisoned.