Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky came from a princely family. He was a member of what he called the “Chosen Rada,” a group of like-minded people and assistants to Ivan IV the Terrible, which carried out structural reforms aimed at strengthening the autocratic power of the tsar. He took an active part in the capture of Kazan in 1552. After the fall of the government of Sylvester and A.F. Adashev, little changed in the fate of Kurbsky. In 1560 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army. troops in Livonia, but after a series of victories he was defeated in the battle of Nevel in 1562. The wound he received saved Kurbsky from immediate disgrace; he was appointed governor of Yuriev Livonsky. Fairly assessing this appointment as an impending reprisal, Kurbsky fled to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1564, having agreed in advance with King Sigismund II Augustus, and wrote a “vicious” letter to Ivan IV, in which he accused the tsar of executions and cruelty towards innocent people. Kurbsky's works are vivid journalism and a valuable historical source. In his “History of the Grand Duke of Moscow, about the deeds that we heard from trustworthy men and that we saw before our eyes” (1573), Kurbsky spoke out against tyranny, believing that the tsar also has responsibilities towards his subjects.