During the century preceding the reign of Ivan IV, the Muscovite princes had overseen an expansion of their territories, the development of political institutions to administer them, and the formation of a military organization to defend them. They had nurtured economic activities and molded social structures to support and operate their political and military establishments. They had, furthermore, exploited images and ideologies, expressed in a variety of cultural genres for purely ecclesiastical reasons or even to delimit princely authority, to legitimize and justify these developments.

The result was that by the end of Vasily III's reign a centralized political structure had evolved in Muscovy. At its core was the dynasty. But it too had evolved so that the figure of the grand prince, followed by his eldest son and heir, assumed prominence over even his closest relatives. Although the latter princes remained politically significant as secondary heirs, they were steadily pushed to the periphery of the political structure, leaving the grand prince alone at its center. The grand prince was surrounded and assisted by members of other elite families, his highest-ranking courtiers. Administrative officials conducted the business of state and, more remotely, lower ranks of Moscow and provincial servicemen provided the personnel for civil and military posts. With this apparatus the grand princes had gradually tightened their control over key elements, such as the military, tax collection, and the judicial systems, which were essential to the establishment and maintenance of their authority in all areas of their expanding realm.