Vorontsov, Fedor

Vorontsov, Fedor (Demid) Semenovich 

Year of birth unknown; died July 21, 1546. Russian statesman, boyar; son of the boyar S. I. Vorontsov.

In 1531-32, Vorontsov was a member of the diplomatic commission on Kazan affairs and was part of a diplomatic mission to Lithuania. Under the government of the Shuiskiis, as the result of a struggle between court factions, he was exiled in 1543 to Kostroma. After the overthrow of the Shuiskii faction in late 1543, he occupied an important position in the government of the child tsar Ivan IV, becoming his chief adviser. To strengthen his position he depended upon the old Moscow nobility and tried to establish contact with prosperous circles of the urban (posad) population. Under Vorontsov, the struggle with Kazan intensified (campaign of 1545). Under pressure from the Glinskii faction, he was accused of treason, and together with others close to him—his nephew Vasilii Mikhailovich and Prince Ivan Kubenskii—he was executed by order of Ivan IV.

REFERENCES

Smirnov, I. I. Ocherki politicheskoi istorii Russkogo gosudarstva 30-50-kh gg. XVI v. Moscow-Leningrad, 1958.
Zimin, A. A. Reformy Ivana Groznogo. Moscow, 1960.