THE MOST POWERFUL IN ISRAEL: PRINCE YU. I. TOKMAKOV

“The retinue makes the king” is a well-known expression in a certain sense characterizes the relationship between the monarch and his entourage, clearly demonstrating the degree of involvement of the representatives of the ruling elite in state affairs and the dependence of the monarch on them in solving political and other issues arising in the course of state activity. It seems natural that historians are interested in the personalities surrounding the monarch and in their relationships. True, this interest rarely goes beyond the inner circle of the sovereign’s inner circle, although it is no less interesting to study the “peripheral” elite, which, in fact, is the main character in politics — the decisions that are made by the monarch and his inner circle are implemented through her hands. The study of its role and significance in the implementation of political and other decisions taken by the supreme power in agreement with the upper echelon of the ruling elite has not progressed so far to date. The development of these studies seems promising, despite all the difficulties that a researcher who has embarked on this path faces. The article proposes a reconstruction, based on the few documents and materials that have survived, of the biography of one of such minor military figures of the era of Ivan the Terrible — voivode Prince Yu. I. Tokmakov, whose career peaked in the Polotsk War of 1562–1572. His biography is a curious example of a career made thanks to personal talents and abilities that allowed Prince Tokmakov to enter, over time, into the inner circle of confidants of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, despite the fact that he clearly did not have the proper “corpority”.