Feodor I of Russia

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Feodor I Feodor the Bellringer
Tsar of all Russia

Reign	18 March 1584 - 16/17 January (NS), 1598
Coronation	31 May 1584
Born	31 May 1557(1557-05-31)
Birthplace	Moscow
Died	16/17 January (NS), 1598 (aged 40)
Place of death	Moscow
Predecessor	Ivan IV
Successor	Boris
Wife	Irene Godunova
Dynasty	Rurik
Father	Ivan IV
Mother	Anastasia Romanovna

Fyodor I Ivanovich (Russian: Фёдор I Иоаннович) (May 31, 1557 - January 16/17 (NS), 1598) was the last Rurikid Tsar of Russia (1584 - 1598), son of Ivan the Terrible and Anastasia Romanovna. He is known as Feodor the Bellringer in consequence of his inclination to travel the land and ring the bells at churches. He was born in Moscow and crowned Czar and Autocrat of all Russia at Assumption Cathedral, Moscow, on May 31, 1584.

Feodor, reputedly mentally retarded, took little interest in politics. He was of pious character and spent most of his time in prayers. Having inherited a land devastated by the excesses of his father, Ivan the Terrible, he left the task of governing the country to his able brother-in-law, Boris Godunov.

He married in 1580 Irina (Alexandra) Feodorovna Godunova (1557 – October 26/November 23, 1603), sister of Boris Godunov. After almost twelve years of marriage, Irina gave birth a daughter, Feodosia, in 1592. When she died in 1594 aged two, the tsar approached a state of mental breakdown. In 1588 he added on to St. Basils Cathedral in the Red Square. Constructed between 1555-1561 by his father Ivan IV (or Ivan the Terrible), he built more towers on the eastern side of the cathedral over the grave of St. Basil the blessed. His failure to procreate other children brought an end to the centuries-old Rurik dynasty and led Russia into the Time of Troubles. He died in Moscow and was buried at Archangel Cathedral, Kremlin.