I. Read the text to get the general understanding of it. In 1564, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, who had defected to the Lithuanians, led the Lithuanian army against Russia

In 1564, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, who had defected to the Lithuanians, led the Lithuanian army against Russia, devastating the Russian region of Velikiye Luki.

Tsar Ivan began to suspect that other aristocrats were also ready to betray him. On the third of December, 1564, Tsar Ivan left Moscow, carrying all of its religious and historical relics with him, for the neighboring suburb of Alexandrov. The church, unable to do anything, begged the tsar to return to Moscow. In 1565, the officials of the church met with Ivan and consented to his creation of the Oprichnina in exchange for his return to Moscow.

That same year, Ivan formed the Oprichnina, which gave him a section of territory (mainly the Northeast). There were few large landowners; the area was dominated by service nobility and state peasantry. In the territory of the Oprichnina he could be free from the interference of the powerful feudal aristocracy and rule as a completely unlimited autocrat.

This whole system of the Oprichnina has been viewed by some historians as a tool against the powerful hereditary nobility of Russia (boyars) who opposed the trend toward centralization. The Oprichnina contained much of Russia’s best land, including parts of Moscow and many of the large central cities. In total area, the Oprichnina covered almost one-third of all Russia. The rest of the country was referred to as the Zemshchina; these areas were ruled by powerful boyars.

The Oprichnina was treated very similarly to the church at the time, enjoying the same freedom from taxes and monastic organization (with the tsar himself as abbot). The main difference between the two was that, instead of being a religious body, the Oprichnina was exclusively Ivan’s means of carrying out his will.

The Oprichnina was administered by the oprichniks, who used extreme violence against any opposition to Ivan’s rule. This included both nobles and peasants, with many of the oprichniks being members of the elite. The oprichniks were described as “trusties of Ivan who wore black cowls and carried brooms and dogs’ heads at their saddle-bows”.

During the era of the Oprichnina, oprichniks killed thousands and devastated the area. For example, in 1570 Ivan’s concern at the strategic value of the city in the war with the Teutonic Order and Sweden led him to order the sacking of Novgorod. The oprichniks plundered the city in response and by some accounts killed as many as 30,000 of its inhabitants. Many modern researchers estimate the number of victims to be between two and three thousand.

The oprichniks would be dressed in black and rode black horses. The saddle pommels were emblazoned with a dog’s head and a broom, signifying the hounding and sweeping of treason from the realm.

In the 1560s the combination of the very poor harvests, the plague, Polish-Lithuanian raids, Tatar attacks, and the sea-trading blockade carried out by the Swedes, Poles and the Hanseatic League devastated Russia. The Oprichnina did nothing to help reverse these effects, perhaps even helping to undermine Russia’s stability. What had once been Russia’s best and most fertile areas had been devastated and had fallen well below the rest of the country. In fact, the price of grain increased by a factor of ten. Many people living within the Oprichnina even fled to other regions. Under these circumstances the existence of the two systems of authority (Oprichnina and Zemshchina) and the struggle against aristocracy added to the economic and political disorganization of the country.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprichnina]

II. Match the following words with the words in bold from the text and use them in the sentences of your own:

1) крестьянство

2) грабить, разорять, опустошать

3) подрывать, расшатывать

4) опустошать, разорять

5) предательство

6) наследственный, потомственный

7) вмешательство

8) урожай

9) плодородный; изобилующий, богатый

10) обращаться, обходиться

11) мор, эпидемия; чума

12) соглашаться, давать согласие

13) оценивать

14) государство, область