What did ivan the terrible do

Tsar Ivan IV's personal domain between 1565 and 1572, and by extension the domestic policy of that period.

The term oprichnina (from oprich, "separate") denoted a part of something, usually specific landholdings of a prince or a prince's widow.

Ivan IV (the Terrible, or Grozny) established his Oprichnina after he unexpectedly left Moscow in December 1564. He settled at Alexandrovskaya sloboda, a hunting lodge northeast of Moscow, which became the Oprichnina's capital.

Ivan IV accused his old court of treason and demanded the right to punish his enemies. He divided the territory of his realm, his court, and the administration into two: the Oprichnina under the tsar's personal control; and the Zemshchina (from zemlya, "land"), officially under the rule of those boyars who stayed in Moscow.

The servitors were divided between the Zemshchina and the Oprichnina courts on the basis of personal loyalty to the tsar, but the courts were largely drawn from the same elite