Mikhail Cherkassky

Mikhail Temryukovich Cherkassky
Sultankul Temruqo
An imprint of a seal with the image of Mikhail Cherkassky
Oprichnik
In office 1558–1571
Appointed by	Ivan the Terrible
Personal details
Born	1540s Kabardia
Died	1571 Alexandrov, Vladimir Oblast
Father	Temruqo Idar
Military service
Allegiance	Tsardom of Russia
Rank	Voivode Prince

Prince Mikhail Temryukovich Cherkassky, also known as Sultankul Temruqo before baptism, was a Kabardian prince from the princely house of Cherkassky and Russian court noble of the 16th century. He was the younger son of Temruqo Idar, Grand Prince of Kabardia, and entered the service of the Tsardom of Russia in 1558, when he and his brother Ulgairuk were baptized under the orders of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, becoming members of the Russian service nobility.

Biography

Sulkankul was the younger son of the Grand Prince of Kabardia, Temruqo Idar. In 1558, Sulkankul arrived in the Russian Tsardom together with his elder brother Ulgairuk, where, by order of their father, he accepted baptism and received the status of a hereditary service prince. Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered his baptism, he was given the Christian name Mikhail and taught to read and write.

Sultankul (bottom right) during baptism

In 1559, Mikhail distinguished himself in battles against the Crimean Tatars. As prince Dmytro Vyshnevetsky wrote to Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Mikhail "destroyed a cavalry detachment." By becoming related to the tsar through his sister Maria Temryukovna, Prince Mikhail Cherkassky gained influence and power at court.

Ulgairuk and Sultankul (Mikhail) pledging allegiance to the Tsar

During the Polotsk campaign of 1562–1563, Mikhail served as a "rynda with a large saiadak," (commander-in-chief) and after the capture of Polotsk he was sent to Moscow to report the victory. In Moscow, Mikhail delivered messages and gifts from the sovereign to Metropolitan Macarius, Tsarina Maria Temryukovna, and the tsareviches Ivan and Fyodor. As a reward, he received the town of Gorokhovets as an appanage.

Mikhail married the fifteen-year-old daughter of boyar Vasily Mikhailovich Zakharyin-Yuriev, and from the tsar he received vast estates in landownership, including holdings around Gorokhovets along the Oka and Klyazma rivers. The captured German nobleman Albert Schlichting reported curious details about the relationship between the Tsar and Mikhail:

"The tyrant does not miss any opportunity to show him his favor, of course, during those twenty or thirty days when he is not raging. But as soon as his soul is inflamed with something that excites cruelty and irascibility, he orders a pair or two of wild bears to be tied to each gate (of his house), due to which the unfortunate man cannot leave, not only himself, but no one at all..."

From September 1567, Mikhail is mentioned among the oprichniki, and in the same year he became a boyar and rose to prominence as one of the leaders of the oprichnina. Mikhail was close to the tsar; immediately after the establishment of the oprichnina, Ivan the Terrible lived in Cherkassky’s house on Vozdvizhenka. Cherkassky "sat first in the Boyar Duma and was always listed first in the ranking of boyars."

As an oprichnik, Mikhail Cherkassky took part in the torture and executions of both real and imagined enemies of the tsar. In 1567, he "cut to pieces the tsar’s treasurer Tyutin together with his wife, two sons, and two young daughters." Mikhail took part in the Livonian War and in 1568–1570 commanded the Grand Regiment in military actions against the Crimean Tatars.

In 1571, Crimean Khan Devlet Giray carried out a campaign against Moscow, capturing and burning the city and killing and capturing a vast number of people. Ivan the Terrible fled toward Yaroslavl, abandoning a small army. The oprichnik forces led by Mikhail Cherkassky were unable to stop the 120,000-strong Crimean Tatar army. When the Tatars had already abandoned the plundered Moscow and reached Serpukhov, Mikhail Temryukovich rushed after them with an assembled regiment, but it was too late and the Tatars retreated unpunished into the steppes. However, there is evidence that his position had already deteriorated earlier, at the beginning of 1571. In an instruction to the Russian envoy S. Klavshov, it was stated that "Prince Mikhail was in the regiment with the tsar's and grand prince's Voivodes, and during the khan's attack he moved from regiment to regiment and disappeared without trace.

Mikhail was summoned to Alexandrov and executed there, allegedly for treason. This happened between 16 and 23 May 1571. According to Taube and Kruse, his wife and six-month-old son Sylvester were executed earlier, and their bodies were ordered by the tsar to be placed in the courtyard of the prince's house.

The German author Heinrich von Staden wrote:

"The Grand Prince began dealing with the leading men of the oprichnina… Prince Mikhail, son [of Temryuk] from the Cherkassky land, the tsar’s brother-in-law, was struck down by archers with axes and halberds…"

Other versions imply Mikhail Cherkassky was instead impaled.

In 1583, Ivan the Terrible, establishing commemorations for those who had fallen into disgrace, sent a large donation to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius for the soul of Prince Mikhail Temryukovich Cherkassky.

Notes

This article "Mikhail Cherkassky" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Mikhail Cherkassky. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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