Vorotynskii Family

a princely family in the Russian state from the 15th century to the 17th. They were descended from the Chernigov Riurik family. The founder of the line was the second son of Prince Roman Novosil’skii, Lev Romanovich Vorotynskii. In his time, in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Vorotynskii lands became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where the Vorotynskii s were appanage princes in the service of the grand duke. In the mid-15th century a major political role was played by Lev Romanovich’s son, Fedor L’vovich Vorotynskii, who was married to Maria, the daughter of Prince Koribut (Dmitrii) Ol’gerdovich. In the late 15th century descendants of Fedor L’vovich entered the service of the grand prince of Muscovy, Ivan III. These included Fedor’s grandson, Ivan Mikhailovich Vorotynskii (1487), and his sons, Dmitrii Fedorovich (1489) and Semen Fedorovich (1492). Ivan Mikhailovich, whose year of birth is unknown and who died July 21, 1535, was an appanage prince in the service of the Russian state. His appanage (on the upper Oka) included PeremyshT, a third of Vorotynsk, and parts of Novosil’ and Odoev. He served in the Russian-Lithuanian wars of the first third of the 16th century and in military actions against the Crimean Tatars. He had three sons. Vladimir Ivanovich, whose year of birth is unknown and who died Sept. 27, 1553, became a boyar in 1550. He was a member of the Selected Rada (Council) of Ivan IV and a participant in the Kazan campaign. Aleksandr Ivanovich, whose birthdate is unknown and who died Feb. 6, 1565, was the first voevoda (military governor) of Kazan (1558). He became a boyar in 1560 and eventually fell into disfavor. Mikhail Ivanovich was born circa 1510 and died June 12, 1573. He was a Russian military commander. About 1551 he received the honorary title of Tsar’s servant, and in 1552 at the seizure of Kazan he commanded the Large Regiment (the main body of the army). In the 1550’s and early 1560’s he frequently commanded the Russian Army on the southern border. He fell into disgrace in November 1562 and his lands were confiscated. He was pardoned in 1566, his lands were returned, and he received the rank of boyar. In the late 1560’s and early 1570’s in exchange for his ancestral lands he received an appanage in StarodubRiapolovskii, Nizhny Novgorod, and Murom. As head of defense and defense fortification on the southern borders he signed the document that codified regulations for border defense on Feb. 16, 1571. In the summer of 1572 he headed the Russian Army that won the victory over the Crimean Tatars in the battle at Molodi. In 1573 he was arrested on a false denunciation and subjected to torture, which resulted in his death. His principality was liquidated. Ivan Mikhailovich, whose birthdate is unknown and who died Jan. 8, 1627, was the eldest son of Mikhail Ivanovich. He led the suppression of the uprising of Kazan Tatars and Cheremis in 1583 and was voevoda in Nizhny Novgorod from 1586 to 1587. He participated in the court struggles of 1585-87 as an opponent of Boris Godunov and suffered disgrace and exile. In the spring of 1605 he became a boyar. In 1606 and 1607 he took an active part in suppressing a peasant revolt headed by I. I. Bolotnikov, and in July 1610 he participated in the overthrow of Tsar Vasilii Shuiskii. Subsequently, he was briefly a member of the semiboiarshchina (boyar government of 1610-12). In October 1610 he was arrested on suspicion of participating in an anti-Polish conspiracy but was freed in 1612. He took part in the final meetings of the National Assembly of 1613. Aleksei Ivanovich, who was born in 1610 and died June 20, 1642, was the son of Ivan Mikhailovich. He became a stol’nik (officer in the tsar’s court) in 1625 and governor of Tula in 1642. Ivan Alekseevich, whose birth date is unknown and who died July 24, 1679, was the son of Aleksei Ivanovich and a relative of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich on his mother’s side. He became a blizhnii boyar (member of the Blizhniaia Duma) in 1664. He took part in diplomatic negotiations in the 1660’s and 1670’s and in the military action of the Russo-Polish war of 1654-67. He was a large landholder (according to the 1678 census). With his death the line of Vorotynskii princes died out.