A request that this article title be changed to Skällebreven is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
The name "Scolding Letters" (Swedish: Skällebreven) is used in Swedish historiography to denote the letters exchanged between the Swedish king John III and the Russian tsar Ivan IV the Terrible in 1572 and 1573. The letters have a unique character and reveal an irreconcilable hatred between the two monarchs. The letters made peace settlements between their countries impossible to reach, prolonging the Russian Twenty-five years' War and worsening the atrocities committed during its duration; an example of which is the execution of Hans Boije af Gennäs.