not forget this, and terrible was his vengeance upon the (p. 115)
boyards. At this time he gave his confidence to two men, one a priest
named Silvester, who had the reputation of being a very honest man;
the other, a member of the smaller nobility, named Adachef who, in
1551, as Minister of the Interior, gave to Russian cities the first
municipal liberties. Ivan showed an unusual interest in the people; it
was under his orders that a new code of laws (Soudebnik) was prepared,
and many reforms were made in the Church.

This rather increased than diminished the hostility of the nobles.
Ivan's favorites, Silvester and Adachef had grown ambitious and the
former especially was overbearing. He openly opposed the czar, and
tried to sow discord between him and his wife. When Ivan's favorite
son died, Silvester told him that it was a punishment from heaven for
his disobedience. The two men tried to procure the dismissal of the
Glinskis and Romanofs, and for that purpose made friends with the
boyards whom Ivan suspected. In 1553, the czar fell dangerously ill;
he called in the boyards and ordered them to swear loyalty to his
infant son Dmitri. They refused. He was informed that the nobles were
conspiring with his cousin Vladimir, whose mother was distributing
money in the army. He was in terror for the lives of his wife and son.
Once he said to the boyards who had remained faithful, "Do not, I pray
you, forget that you have sworn an oath to my son and to me; do not
let him fall into the hands of the boyards; fly with him to some
foreign country, whithersoever God may guide you." Ivan recovered but
he never could forget the anguish of those days.

Ivan's character at this time was far from bad. He was only twenty (p. 116)
years old, and on several occasions showed that he was compassionate
instead of cruel. It was only natural that his nature should be
perverted, surrounded as he was by men of whom he was suspicious.
Still, such a change could only be gradual. The immediate consequence
of the conduct of his nobles, was that it drew him closer to the
people. This was shown in 1506, when he convoked the three orders,
nobles, priests, and people, to discuss public affairs.

His first act, after his recovery, was to banish his former favorites.
Silvester was ordered to the monastery of St. Cyril, and Adachef was
sent to Livonia. Soon afterwards the Czarina Anastasia died; there was
a strong suspicion that she had been poisoned. To