Ivan the Terrible had at least six (perhaps eight) wives

Ivan the Terrible had at least six (perhaps eight) wives, however, the Church officially recognized four of them. Three of them were said to have been poisoned by his rivals or competing for aristocratic families who wanted to promote their daughters to be his wives.

Confirmed marriages are with Anastasia Romanovna (in 1547-1560, death); Tsarevna Anna Ivanovna (10 August 1548 - 20 July 1550); Tsarevna Maria Ivanovna (17 March 1551 - young); Tsarevich Dmitri Ivanovich (October 1552 - 26 June 1553); Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich (28 March 1554 - 19 November 1581); Tsarevna Eudoxia Ivanovna (26 February 1556 - June 1558); Tsar Feodor I of Russia (31 May 1557 - 6 January 1598); Maria Temryukovna (in 1561 - 1569, death); Tsarevich Vasili Ivanovich (21 March 1563 - 3 May 1563); Marfa Sobakina (28 October - 13 November 1571, death); Anna Koltovskaya (in 1572, sent to the monastery); Anna Vasilchikova (in 1575/76, sent to the monastery) and Maria Nagaya (from 1580). Unconfirmed marriages are with Vasilisa Melentyeva (?-1579) and Maria Dolgorukaya (1580).

Ivan the Terrible's reputed sixth wife was Vasilisa Melentyeva. The marriage (not sanctioned by the Church) may have taken place in 1575, or she was only a concubine. Scholars now regard her as a 19th-century forgery. According to folklore, prior to her marriage to Ivan, Vasilisa was the widow of a dyak, Melentiy Ivanov, who served in the Livonian War. Though the Tsar thought her attractive and sweet-natured, he discovered her having an affair with a prince named Devletev a few months after their marriage. Ivan ordered Vasilisa to see her lover be impaled and sentenced her to life in a cloister as punishment. Only Maria Dolgorukaya (also considered a 19th-century hoax) and Vasilisa Melentyeva have graves or are mentioned in official court documents of Ivan the Terrible's eight wives.