Marfa Sobakina

Who was Marfa Sobakina?

Marfa Vasilevna Sobakina, was Tsaritsa of the Tsardom of Russia and was the third wife of Ivan the Terrible. The daughter of a Novgorod based merchant Vasiliy Sobakin, Marfa was selected by Ivan among 12 marriage finalists. A few days after her selection, Marfa began to succumb to a mysterious ailment. It was rumoured that she was unintentionally poisoned by her mother, who gave her a potion supposedly meant to increase her fertility. Despite rapidly losing weight and barely standing, Marfa was nonetheless married to Ivan on 28 October 1571 in Aleksandrovska Sloboda. Marfa died a few days later. Her death increased her husband's paranoia, because she died in what was meant to be an impregnable fortress filled with loyal subjects. Ivan, remembering the death of his first wife, immediately suspected poison and put to death many of his subjects, including Mikail Temjruk who was impaled.