When Ivan the Terrible assumed the title "Tsar of All the Russias" which "Russias" was he referring to? Are/were there more than one Russia?

by RunRunDie
mknbrd

Russian Царь всея Руси doesn’t actually use plural, it’s simply “Tsar of all Rus.”

Do other European languages use plural in translations of this title, or is it an English-only thing?

musashi1974miyamoto

Well there were Belarussia, Russia, and in a sense, the Ukrainians were the original Rus (from the Norse word for Rowers), a Viking kingdom in the area of Kiev which the Vikings had called Gardarige. http://vikinghistorytales.blogspot.ca/2013/11/862-roric-returned.html https://tidsskrift.dk/index.php/historisktidsskrift/article/view/34154/66036

Why-Chromosome

I cannot say specifically as to Ivan's title, but traditionally the Eastern Slavic Language-speaking area was all considered "Russia." This area was further subdivided into multiple "Russias," namely Great Russia, which roughly corresponds to modern Russia; Little Russia, which very loosely refers to Ukraine; and White Russia, which refers to Belarus. Belarus's name translates to White Rus', reflecting this split.