Overview
Sain Bulat, son of Bek Bulat and great-grandson of Ahmad Khan of the Great Horde, is remembered for one of the strangest episodes of Ivan the Terrible's reign: for about a year Ivan made him nominal sovereign of Russia.
Rise to Power
He succeeded Shah Ali as khan of Qasim in 1567.
Rule and Achievements
- Commanded the main regiment of the Russian army in the Livonian War
- Was baptised as Simeon in 1573, giving up the throne of Qasim, and married Anastasia Mstislavskaya
- In the autumn of 1575 Ivan IV proclaimed him Grand Prince of all Rus, while keeping real power for himself; he stepped down in 1576 and was made Grand Prince of Tver
Legacy
He lost Tver in 1585, went blind in 1595, became the monk Stefan in 1606 and died in Moscow in January 1616.