Ivan IV Vasilyevich, commonly known as Ivan the Terrible, was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and Tsar of all the Russias from 1547 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional state spanning nearly a billion acres. Ivan managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval state to an empire and an emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned Tsar of all the Russias. Historical sources present disparate accounts of Ivan's complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, but prone to anger and prone to episodic bouts of mental illness. In one of these outbursts he killed his curate and chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich. This left the tsar passing to Ivan's youngest son, the weak and intellectually disabled Feodor Ivanovich. Ivan's legacy is complex: he was a skilled diplomat, a patron of arts and commerce, founder of the first Russian Print Yard, a very popular leader among Russian common people, b...