Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya (; – 4 April 1538) was the grand princess consort of Moscow as the second wife of Vasili III of Russia, and de facto regent of Russia from 1533 until her death in 1538. She was the mother of the first crowned tsar Ivan IV. Despite strong opposition from the Russian Orthodox Church, the divorce was effected. They were married on 21 January 1526.

Elena gave birth to two sons – Ivan Vasilyevich (future Ivan the Terrible) in 1530 and Yuri Vasilievich (future Prince Yuri of Uglich) in 1532. It was later rumoured that she brought witches from Finland and Sami people to help her conceive by the help of magic.

Regency

On his deathbed, Vasili III transferred his powers to her until their oldest son Ivan, who was only 3 at the time, was mature enough to rule the country. The chronicles of those times do not provide any more or less precise information on her legal status after Vasili's death. All that is known is that it could be defined as regency and that the boyars had to report to her. That is why the time between Vasili's death on 3 December 1533 and her own demise in 1538 is called the Reign of Elena. She challenged the claims of her brothers-in-law, Yury Ivanovich and Andrey of Staritsa. The struggle ended with their respective incarcerations in 1534 and 1537.

Sources

|-

|-

|-