Vasilisa Melentev

Vasilisa melentev ("Васили́са Меле́нтьева") was Tsarina of the Tsardom of Russia and was the sixth wife of Ivan the Terrible. Before her marriage to Ivan, Vasilisa is recorded to have been a widow of a prince serving in the Livonian War. Though Ivan considered her beautiful and sweet natured, he discovered her a few months after their marriage having an affair with a prince named Devletev. Ivan forced Vasilisa to watch her lover be impaled, and as further punishment, buried her alive in a cloister.

References

* Troyat, Henri "Ivan le Terrible". Flammarion, Paris, 1982
* de Madariaga, Isabel "Ivan the Terrible". Giulio Einaudi editore, 2005