A summary of "Prince Silver" by Alexei Tolstoy Automatic translate

This book is a historical novel by Alexei Tolstoy, transporting the reader to the oprichnina era of Ivan the Terrible. Completed in 1861, the work deliberately moved the executions of some historical figures from 1570 to 1565 for the sake of narrative conciseness and the creation of a dense, rich picture of the era, sacrificing strict chronology for artistic expressiveness. The book was successfully adapted for the silver screen: the well-known films "Tsar Ivan the Terrible" (1991) and "Storm over Russia" (1992) were based on it.

The return of the prince and meeting with the oprichnina

In the summer of 1565, the young boyar Prince Nikita Romanovich Serebryany returns to Moscow from Lithuania. It’s a hot day, and in the village of Medvedevka near Moscow, the peasants are joyfully celebrating the feast of Ivan Kupala. Their joy is interrupted by the appearance of fifty armed horsemen with brooms and dog heads tied to their saddles. The raiders mercilessly rob the peasants, kill innocents, and carry off young girls. The outraged prince engages them in an unequal battle.

With the help of his warriors, he breaks up the detachment and orders the flogging of the Cossack leader, Matvey Khomyak. During the skirmish, Serebryany frees two captives. One of them calls himself Vanyukha Ring and urges the boyar to be more careful in Moscow.

In the capital, Serebryany goes to see his father’s old friend, the boyar Druzhina Andreevich Morozov. Druzhina Andreevich is under severe disgrace from the Tsar for his unwillingness to bow to the Tsar’s new favorites. The old man recently married the young and beautiful Elena Dmitrievna. Elena is Serebryany’s longtime love. She married the elderly boyar only to escape the advances of the cruel Prince Afanasy Vyazemsky.

A secret meeting in the garden breaks the dam of pent-up emotions. Serebryany and Elena share a passionate kiss by the oak fence. Morozov accidentally spots a stranger’s silhouette in the darkness of the garden and becomes desperately jealous of his young wife. To expose her, he throws a feast and forces Elena to serve glasses to the guests, suspiciously watching every kiss, as required by old Russian custom.

In Alexandrova Sloboda

Serebryany is sent to Alexandrova Sloboda to see Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich. Terrible order reigns in the sovereign’s residence. Right in the courtyard, for fun, a huge wild bear is unleashed on Serebryany. The unarmed prince is saved from certain death by the cunning young oprichnik Maxim Skuratov, son of the terrifying executioner Malyuta Skuratov.

Hundreds of roast swans and giant sugar kremlins are served at the lavish royal table. There, Ivan Vasilyevich notices the prince. Suddenly, Matvey Khomyak publicly accuses Serebryany of attacking the Tsar’s men in Medvedevka. The Tsar immediately sentences Nikita Romanovich to beheading. Maxim Skuratov boldly intercedes for the condemned man. The cunning Boris Godunov stays the executioner Tereshka’s hand in time. Ivan Vasilyevich, secretly appreciating Serebryany’s forthrightness, commutes the execution and extracts from the prince a firm oath never to flee the Tsar’s court.

The abduction of Elena and the escape of Maxim

Obsessed with a fatal passion, Afanasy Vyazemsky travels on a moonlit night to a forest miller-healer for a love potion. The healer forces the prince to gaze into the dark water beneath a spinning wheel. There, Vyazemsky imagines streams of blood and iron tongs. Having failed to achieve Elena’s affections, Afanasy Ivanovich assembles a detachment. He attacks Morozov’s house, sets fire to its outbuildings, and forcibly carries off the sobbing noblewoman.

In a brutal fight on the grand staircase, Morozov and Serebryany, who had arrived just in time, seriously wound the kidnapper. Bleeding profusely, Vyazemsky falls from his saddle in the middle of the dark forest. The frightened horse carries Elena into the impenetrable thicket. The girl finds temporary shelter in a mill, and then hides safely in a convent.

Meanwhile, Maxim Skuratov can’t bear the bloody deeds of the oprichniki and the constant atrocities of his own father. He decides to secretly leave Alexandrov Sloboda. At night, he rides away on his faithful horse, accompanied only by his shaggy dog, Buyan. Maxim longs to serve his homeland through honest military service, far from the sovereign’s court.

Bandit freemen and the battle with the Tatars

Serebryany finds himself back in the damp dungeon, following a false conspiracy by the oprichniks. Ivan Vasilyevich is plagued by nightmares. The shadows of the murdered boyars haunt him. Disguised as blind storytellers, Vanyukha Persten and the old robber Korshun sneak into the tsar’s bedroom. They want to steal the prison keys. Korshun is captured by the guards. Persten escapes and frees the prince.

The bandits tie up the reluctant Serebryany and carry him to his long-awaited freedom. The prince flatly refuses to rebel against the sovereign. But he willingly agrees to lead the daring men in defending the Ryazan lands from the advancing Tatar hordes. In the forest camp, the prince unexpectedly saves Maxim Skuratov from a brutal reprisal. The young warriors develop a deep respect. They exchange copper crosses and become sworn brothers.

In a brutal battle, Serebryany’s detachment, along with Fyodor Basmanov, who had arrived just in time, utterly routed the infidels. At the height of the battle, Maxim Skuratov was mortally wounded by a well-aimed Tatar arrow. Dying, the young man asked his mother to convey his last respects. Serebryany buried Maxim with honors under a high burial mound. The prince voluntarily returned to Alexandrov Sloboda to fulfill his oath to the formidable tsar.

God’s judgment and reprisal against the boyar

Insidious intrigues are raging in the settlement. Fyodor Basmanov, desperate to regain the tsar’s wavering favor, informs on Vyazemsky. He accuses his recent favorite of black magic against Ivan Vasilyevich. At the same time, Druzhina Andreevich Morozov demands the tsar’s supreme justice. The old man directly accuses Vyazemsky of abducting his wife in the middle of the night. Vyazemsky brazenly responds with a lie.

Ivan Vasilyevich orders a "trial by God" — an armed duel on Red Square. Vyazemsky, weakened by deep wounds, nominates Matvey Khomyak in his place. Old Morozov also seeks a hired fighter. A commoner named Mitka ardently intercedes on his behalf. Armed with a heavy cart shaft, the clumsy youth enters the fray. He effortlessly avoids the enemy’s sabre and fatally strikes down the nimble Khomyak. The harsh truth remains with Morozov.

The Tsar, enraged by the victory of the rebellious Druzhina Andreevich, invites him to his table. In a cruel mockery, he bestows upon the old man the caftan of the murdered jester. The proud commander is forced to don a comical dress with bells. He sits directly across from Ivan Vasilyevich and delivers a fearless diatribe. He loudly predicts the Tsar’s eternal torment in hell for the innocent bloodshed. The enraged Tsar orders Morozov imprisoned until the day of mass executions.

A wave of bloody terror engulfs Moscow. Gallows rise and enormous cauldrons boil on the Lobnoye Mesto. Along with Morozov, the oprichniki who had fallen from favor — Afanasy Vyazemsky and Alexei Basmanov — mount the wooden execution block. His son, Fyodor, dies from Malyuta Skuratov’s sharp saber right on the plank platform. He only manages to attempt a public confession. The forest miller is burned at the stake.

The executions are stopped only by the brazen intervention of the holy fool, St. Basil the Blessed. St. Basil openly calls Ivan Vasilyevich a cruel bloodsucker and points to the tsar’s growing goat horns. The tsar, enraged, swings his spear at the holy fool. The angry murmurs of the crowd force the sovereign to lower his weapon. Sated with the bloody spectacle, the monarch rides away.

Monastery and embassy from Siberia

Ivan Vasilyevich, learning of the brilliant victory over the Tatars, pardons the villagers and Serebryany himself. He graciously offers the prince a high position in the oprichnina, but Nikita Romanovich firmly refuses and asks to be sent to a guard regiment on the distant border. Before leaving, the prince rides to the monastery to see Elena.

The widowed Elena Dmitrievna bitterly blames herself for her old husband’s death and takes strict monastic vows under the name Sister Evdokia. She blesses Serebryany for new military exploits. The prince bids farewell to his beloved forever and departs for the Bryansk forests to defend the state’s borders.

Seventeen years later, an embassy from the famous ataman Yermak Timofeevich arrives in Moscow. The ambassadors solemnly bow to the aging tsar with a new, vast Siberian kingdom. At the head of the Cossack embassy stands the daring Ivan Koltso (Ivan the Ring). This is the same robber Vanyukha Persten (Peresten) who once saved Serebryany (Serebryanny). The Tsar generously gifts the Cossacks with expensive sables and forged weapons.

At a sumptuous feast hosted by the cunning Boris Godunov, Ivan Koltso sadly recalls Nikita Romanovich. The ataman wishes to drink to the health of his faithful comrade. He learns bitter news from his hospitable host. Prince Serebryany, along with his entire loyal retinue, has long since fallen. He perished in an unequal battle with the Tatars on the banks of the Zhizdra.