Ivan Molodoy

Ivan Ivanovich (also known as Ioann Ioannovich and Ivan Molodoy) (Иван Иванович, Иоанн Иоаннович, Иван Молодой in Russian) (1458 – March 6, 1490) was the son of Ivan III from his first marriage.

Ivan's father empowered him to deal with most administartive and military affairs of the state in order to make ordinary Russian people think of him as their future ruler. Ivan had a title of grand prince. The Muscovite ambassadors and government officials used to speak on behalf of the two grand princes. Ambassadors from different Russian cities (e.g. Novgorod), as well ambassadors from foreign countries, could equally address both Ivan III and Ivan Molodoy with the same requests or problems. Russian chronicles mention Ivan's participation in military campaigns against the king of Kazan Ibrahim in 1468 and Novgorod in 1471. In 1476 and 1478, Ivan III put Ivan in charge of the Russian lands. In 1480, when Akhmat Khan moved towards the Russian borders, the grand prince sent Ivan Molodoy with numerous regiments to the Ugra River. Ivan III moved towards the Oka River, but soon returned to Moscow and demanded his son's return, fearing for his life. Ivan Molodoy refused to obey his father, who then ordered his assistant Kholmsky to bring him back to the capital. Ivan insisted on staying on the shores of the Ugra. When the river froze up, Ivan Molodoy crossed it at the request of his father and went to Kremenets and then Borovsk, where the grand prince planned on attacking the Tatars. Akhmat Khan, however, chose to flee at the sight of the Russian army, which would then return to Moscow.

In 1485, Ivan became the ruler of Tver, conquered by his father. Soon afterwards, he fell ill with a type of arthritis. His doctor, a Jew named Leon, bragged to Ivan III that he could cure him and began treatment with the grand prince's permission. Ivan Molodoy's health continued to deteriorate until he finally died on March 6, 1490. Leon was later executed.

Ivan Molodoy left a son named Dmitry Ivanovich from his marriage to Yelena Stepanovna, daughter of a moldovan ruler.