The article explores the ways in which the sixteenth-century Illuminated Chronicle (Litsevoi letopisnyi svod) demonstrates the ideology of state legitimacy through its illustrations. Analyzing images of judicial punishment, it explores how artists worked within iconographic conventions to demonstrate a consistent image of legitimate, and illegitimate, uses of coercive power, using such devices as gesture, pose, regalia, and composition. As one of the few sources of somewhat secular art in Muscovy, these images provide a valuable source for political ideology.