Anastasia Romanovna ^{1 2}

   Another name for Anastasia was Anastasia Zakharina-Yureva.

  General Notes:

Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina (died in 1560) was the first wife of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible and the first Russian tsarina. She was the daughter of boyar Roman Zakharyin, who gave his name to the Romanov Dynasty of Russian monarchs. Feodor I of Russia was her son.

It is widely believed that Anastasia had assuaging influence on Ivan's volatile character. In the summer of 1560, she fell ill to a lingering illness. In consequence to these events, Ivan suffered a severe emotional collapse suspecting that his wife had been a victim of malicious actions and had been poisoned by the Boyars. Although he had no evidence of such crimes, he had a number of them tortured and executed. He had already had a strong dislike for the Boyars due to their abusive actions toward him during his childhood.

Further examination of the bone remains of Anastasia in the late 20th Century by archeologists and forensics experts have been able to provide evidence that could actually sustain her husband's claim.

Anastasia's brother Nikita Romanovich was the father of Feodor, the first to take the surname Romanov. In other words, Feodor Romanov was the first cousin of the last Rurikid tsar, Feodor I. This connection with the derelict dynasty facilitated the election of Feodor's son Mikhail Romanov to the throne after the Time of Troubles.

Anastasia married Ivan IV the Terrible of Russia, son of Basil III of Moscow and Helen Glinski, on 13 Feb 1547. (Ivan IV the Terrible of Russia was born on 25 Aug 1530 in Kolomenskoye, near Moscow [Russia] and died on 18 Mar 1584 in Moscow, Russia.)