We invite you to recall the history of the Romanov dynasty with the help of a chronological selection of important or interesting events.

February 21, 1613 Romanov was elected tsar

Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was elected tsar at the age of 16 by the Zemsky Sobor. The choice fell on the young prince, because he was a descendant of the Rurikids, the first dynasty of Russian tsars. The death of the last representative of their line, Theodore I (he was childless) in 1598 marked the beginning of a turbulent period in Russian history. The ascension to the throne of the founder of the Romanov dynasty marked the end of the Time of Troubles. Michael I pacified and restored the country. He made peace with the Poles and Swedes, took care of the finances of the kingdom, reorganized the army, created industry. He had ten children from his second wife Evdokia Streshneva. Five survived, including Tsarevich Alexei (1629-1675), who, like his father, came to the throne at 16.

May 7, 1682: murder of the first Romanov?

20 years. That was how much Tsar Fedor III had at the time of his death on May 7, 1682. The eldest son of Alexei I and his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya, was in very poor health. So, in 1676, the coronation ceremony (it usually lasts three hours) was reduced to the maximum so that the weak monarch could defend it to the end. Be that as it may, in fact he turned out to be a reformer and innovator. He reorganized the civil service, modernized the army, banned private tutors and the study of foreign languages ​​without the supervision of official teachers.

Be that as it may, his death seems suspicious to some experts: there are theories that Sister Sophia poisoned him. Perhaps he became the first in a long list of Romanovs who died at the hands of close relatives?

Two kings on the throne

After the death of Fedor III, Ivan V, the second son of Alexei I from his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya, was to replace him. Nevertheless, he was a man of narrow mind, incapable of ruling. As a result, he shared the throne with his half-brother Peter (10 years old), the son of Natalia Naryshkina. He spent more than 13 years on the throne, without really ruling the country. In the early years, Ivan V's elder sister Sophia ruled everything. In 1689, Peter I removed her from power after an unsuccessful plot to kill his brother: as a result, she had to take monastic vows. After the death of Ivan V on February 8, 1696, Peter became a full-fledged Russian monarch.

1721: Tsar becomes emperor

Peter I, monarch, autocrat, reformer, conqueror and winner of the Swedes (after more than 20 years of war on August 30, 1721, the Peace of Nystad was signed), received from the Senate (it was created by the king in 1711, and its members were appointed by him) the titles "Great ”, “Father of the Fatherland” and “Emperor of All Russia”. Thus, he became the first emperor of Russia, and since then this designation of the monarch has finally replaced the tsar.

Four empresses

When Peter the Great died without appointing an heir, his second wife Catherine was proclaimed empress in January 1725. This allowed the Romanovs to remain on the throne. Catherine I continued her husband's work until her death in 1727.

The second Empress Anna I was the daughter of Ivan V and the niece of Peter I. She sat on the throne from January 1730 to October 1740, but was not interested in state affairs, in fact transferring the leadership of the country to her lover Ernst Johann Biron.

Context

How the tsars returned to Russian history

Atlantico 19.08.2015

The Romanov dynasty - despots and warriors?

Daily Mail 02.02.2016

Moscow was ruled by "Russian" tsars?

Obozrevatel 04/08/2016

Tsar Peter the Great was not Russian

02/05/2016 The third empress was Elizaveta Petrovna, the second daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine. At first, she was not allowed to ascend the throne, because she was born before the marriage of her parents, but then she nevertheless stood at the head of the country after the bloodless coup d'état of 1741, removing the regent Anna Leopoldovna (the granddaughter of Ivan V and the mother of Tsar Ivan VI appointed by Anna I). After her coronation in 1742, Elizabeth I continued her father's conquests. The Empress restored and beautified St. Petersburg, which had been abandoned to please Moscow. She died in 1761, leaving no descendants, but appointing her nephew Peter III as her successor.

The last in a series of Russian empresses was Catherine II the Great, born in Prussia under the name of Sophia Augusta Frederick of Anhalt-Zerbst. She took power, overthrowing the wife of Peter III in 1762, just a few months after his coronation. Her long reign (34 years - a record among the Romanov dynasty) was also one of the most outstanding. Being an enlightened despot, she expanded the territory of the country, strengthened the central government, developed industry and trade, improved agriculture and continued the development of St. Petersburg. She became famous as a philanthropist, was a friend of philosophers and scientists, left a rich legacy after her death in November 1796.

March 11-12, 1801: conspiracy against Paul I

That night, Catherine II's son Paul I was murdered in the Mikhailovsky Castle after refusing to abdicate. A conspiracy against the emperor, who was considered by many to be crazy (he pursued a very extravagant domestic and foreign policy), was arranged by the governor of St. Petersburg, Pyotr Alekseevich Palen. Among the conspirators was the eldest son of the late Alexander I, who was convinced that they only wanted to overthrow, and not kill the king. According to the official version, the emperor died of apoplexy.

45 thousand dead and wounded

Such are the losses of the Russian army in the Battle of Borodino (124 kilometers from Moscow). There, the Great Army of Napoleon clashed on September 7, 1812 with the troops of Alexander I. At nightfall, the Russian army retreated. Napoleon could have marched on Moscow. This was a humiliation for the king and kindled his hatred for Napoleon: now his goal was to continue the war until the power of the French emperor in Europe fell. To do this, he made an alliance with Prussia. On March 31, 1814, Alexander I entered Paris in triumph. On April 9, Napoleon abdicated.

7 assassination attempts on Alexander II

Emperor Alexander II seemed too liberal to the aristocracy, but this was clearly not enough for the oppositionists who sought to eliminate him. The first assassination attempt took place on April 16, 1866 in a summer garden in St. Petersburg: the terrorist's bullet only touched him. The following year, they tried to kill him during the World Exhibition in Paris. In 1879 there were as many as three assassination attempts. In February 1880, an explosion occurred in the dining room of the Winter Palace. The king then gave a dinner in honor of his wife's brother. Luckily, he was not in the room at the time, because he was still receiving guests.

The sixth assassination attempt took place on March 13, 1881 on the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg: the explosion claimed the lives of three people. Uninjured Alexander approached the neutralized terrorist. At that moment, a Narodnaya Volya member Ignaty Grinevitsky threw a bomb at him. The seventh attempt was successful ...

Emperor Nicholas II was crowned with his wife Alexandra (Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt) on May 26, 1896 in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. The festive dinner was attended by 7 thousand guests. However, the events were overshadowed by tragedy: several thousand people died in a stampede during the distribution of gifts and food on the Khodynka field. The tsar, despite what had happened, did not change the program and went to see the French ambassador. This aroused the anger of the people and exacerbated the hostility between the monarch and his subjects.

304 years of reign

It was for so many years that the Romanov dynasty was in power in Russia. The descendants of Michael I ruled until the February Revolution of 1917. In March 1917, Nicholas II abdicated in favor of his brother Mikhail Alexandrovich, but he did not accept the throne, which marked the end of the monarchy.
In August 1917, Nicholas II and his family were sent into exile to Tobolsk, and then to Yekaterinburg. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, he was shot, along with his wife and five children, on the orders of the Bolsheviks.

The Romanovs, whose dynasty dates back to the sixteenth century, were simply an old noble family. But after the marriage concluded between Ivan the Terrible and a representative of the Romanov family, Anastasia Zakharyina, they became close to the royal court. And after the establishment of kinship with the Moscow Rurikovich, the Romanovs themselves began to claim the royal throne.

The history of the Russian dynasty of emperors began after the elected great-nephew of the wife of Ivan the Terrible, Mikhail Fedorovich, became the ruler of the country. His offspring were at the head of Russia until October 1917.

background

The founder of some noble families, including the Romanovs, is Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla, whose father, as records show, Divonovich Glanda-Kambila, who received the name Ivan in baptism, appeared in Russia in the last decade of the fourteenth century. He came from Lithuania.

Despite this, a certain category of historians suggests that the beginning of the Romanov dynasty (briefly - the House of Romanov) comes from Novgorod. Andrei Ivanovich had as many as five sons. Their names were Semyon Zherebets and Alexander Elka, Vasily Ivantai and Gavriil Gavsha, and also Fedor Koshka. They were the founders of as many as seventeen noble houses in Russia. In the first generation, Andrei Ivanovich and his first four sons were called the Kobylins, Fyodor Andreevich and his son Ivan - Koshkins, and the offspring of the latter - Zakhary - Koshkin-Zakharyin.

The emergence of the surname

The descendants soon discarded the first part - the Koshkins. And for some time now they began to be written only under the name of Zakharyin. From the sixth knee, the second half was added to it - the Yurievs.

Accordingly, the offspring of Peter and Vasily Yakovlevich were called the Yakovlevs, Roman - the roundabout and governor - the Zakharyins-Romanovs. It is from the children of the latter that the famous Romanov dynasty originates. The reign of this family began in 1613.

kings

The Romanov dynasty succeeded in placing five of its representatives on the royal throne. The first of them was the great-nephew of Anastasia - the wife of Ivan the Terrible. Mikhail Fedorovich - the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty, he was raised to the throne by the Zemsky Sobor. But, since he was young and inexperienced, the old woman Martha and her relatives actually ruled the country. After him, the tsars of the Romanov dynasty were not numerous. This is his son Alexei and three grandchildren - Fedor, and Peter I. It was on the last year that the royal dynasty of the Romanovs ended in 1721.

Emperors

When Peter Alekseevich ascended the throne, a completely different era began for the family. The Romanovs, whose dynasty history as emperors began in 1721, gave Russia thirteen rulers. Of these, only three were representatives by blood.

After - the first emperor of the Romanov dynasty - as an autocratic empress, the throne was inherited by his legal wife Catherine I, whose origin is still hotly debated by historians. After her death, power passed to the grandson of Peter Alekseevich from his first marriage - Peter the Second.

Due to strife and intrigue, his grandfather's line of succession was frozen. And after him, the imperial power and regalia were transferred to the daughter of the elder brother of Emperor Peter the Great - Ivan V, while after Anna Ioannovna, her son ascended the Russian throne from the Duke of Brunswick. His name was John VI Antonovich. He became the only representative of the Mecklenburg-Romanov dynasty to take the throne. He was overthrown by his own aunt - "Petrov's daughter", Empress Elizabeth. She was unmarried and childless. That is why the Romanov dynasty, whose board table is very impressive, ended in the direct male line precisely on it.

Introduction to history

The accession of this family to the throne took place under strange circumstances, surrounded by numerous strange deaths. The Romanov dynasty, a photo of whose representatives is in any history textbook, is directly related to the Russian chronicle. She stands out for her unwavering patriotism. Together with the people, they experienced hard times, slowly raising the country out of poverty and poverty - the results of constant wars, namely the Romanovs.

The history of the Russian dynasty is literally saturated with bloody events and secrets. Each of its representatives, although he honored the interests of his subjects, at the same time was distinguished by cruelty.

First ruler

The year of the beginning of the Romanov dynasty was very turbulent. The state did not have a legitimate ruler. Mainly due to the excellent reputation of Anastasia Zakharyina and her brother Nikita, the Romanov family was respected by everyone.

Russia was tormented by wars with Sweden and practically non-stop internecine strife. At the beginning of February 1613, in Veliky, left by foreign invaders along with a pile of dirt and debris, the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty was proclaimed - the young and inexperienced Prince Mikhail Fedorovich. And it was this sixteen-year-old son that marked the beginning of the reign of the Romanov dynasty. He entrenched himself in the reign for as much as thirty-two years.

It is with him that the Romanov dynasty begins, the genealogy table of which is studied at school. In 1645 Mikhail was replaced by his son Alexei. The latter also ruled for quite a long time - more than three decades. After him, the order of succession to the throne was associated with some difficulties.

Since 1676, Russia was ruled for six years by Mikhail's grandson, Fedor, named after his great-grandfather. After his death, the reign of the Romanov dynasty was adequately continued by Peter I and Ivan V - his brothers. For almost fifteen years they exercised dual power, although in fact the entire government of the country was taken over by their sister Sophia, who was known as a very power-hungry woman. Historians say that a special double throne with a hole was ordered to hide this circumstance. And it was through him that Sophia gave instructions to her brothers in a whisper.

Peter the Great

And although the beginning of the reign of the Romanov dynasty is associated with Fedorovich, nevertheless, almost everyone knows one of its representatives. This is a man who can be proud of both the entire Russian people and the Romanovs themselves. The history of the Russian dynasty of emperors, the history of the Russian people, the history of Russia are inextricably linked with the name of Peter the Great - the commander and founder of the regular army and navy, and in general - a person with very progressive views on life.

Possessing purposefulness, strong will and great capacity for work, Peter I, like, indeed, the whole, with a few exceptions, the Romanov dynasty, whose representatives are photographed in all history textbooks, studied a lot during his life. But he paid special attention to military and naval affairs. During the first trip abroad in 1697-1698, Peter took a course in artillery sciences in the city of Koenigsberg, then worked for half a year at the Amsterdam shipyards as a simple carpenter, studied the theory of shipbuilding in England.

This was not only the most remarkable personality of his era, the Romanovs could be proud of him: the history of the Russian dynasty did not know a more intelligent and inquisitive person. His whole appearance, according to contemporaries, testified to this.

Peter the Great was invariably interested in everything that somehow affected his plans: both in terms of government or commerce, and in education. His curiosity extended to almost everything. He did not neglect even the smallest details, if they could later be of some use.

The business of Peter Romanov's life was the rise of his state and the strengthening of its military strength. It was he who became the founder of the regular fleet and army, continuing the reforms of his father, Alexei Mikhailovich.

The state transformations of the Petrine rule turned Russia into a strong state, which acquired seaports, developed foreign trade and a well-established administrative system.

And although the beginning of the rule of the Romanov dynasty was laid almost six decades earlier, not a single representative of it managed to achieve what Peter the Great achieved. He not only established himself as an excellent diplomat, but also created the anti-Swedish Northern Alliance. In history, the name of the first emperor is associated with the main stage in the development of Russia and its formation as a great power.

At the same time, Peter was a very tough person. When at the age of seventeen he seized power, he did not fail to hide his sister Sophia in a distant monastery. One of the most famous representatives of the Romanov dynasty, Peter, better known as the Great, was known as a rather heartless emperor, who set himself the goal of reorganizing his uncivilized country in a Western manner.

Nevertheless, despite such advanced ideas, he was considered a wayward tyrant, quite a match for his cruel predecessor - Ivan the Terrible, the husband of his great-grandmother Anastasia Romanova.

Some researchers reject the great significance of Peter's restructuring and the general policy of the emperor during his reign. Peter, they believe, was in a hurry to achieve his goals, so he moved by the shortest path, sometimes even using obviously clumsy methods. And this was the reason why, after his untimely death, the Russian empire quickly returned to the state from which the reformer Peter Romanov tried to bring it out.

It is impossible to radically change one's people in one fell swoop, even by building a newly-made capital for them, shaving the boyars' beards and ordering them to gather for political rallies.

Nevertheless, the policy of the Romanovs, and in particular, the administrative reforms that Peter introduced, meant quite a lot for the country.

New branch

After the marriage of Anna (the second daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine) with the nephew of the Swedish king, the beginning of the Romanov dynasty was laid, which actually passed into the Holstein-Gottorp family. At the same time, according to the agreement, the son born from this marriage, and he became Peter III, nevertheless remained a member of this royal House.

Thus, according to the genealogical rules, the imperial family began to be called Holstein-Gottorp-Romanovsky, which was reflected not only on their family coat of arms, but also on the coat of arms of Russia. Since that time, the throne was passed in a straight line, without any intricacies. This happened due to a decree issued by Paul. It spoke of succession to the throne through the male direct line.

After Paul, the country was ruled by Alexander I - his eldest son, who was childless. His second descendant, Prince Konstantin Pavlovich, renounced the throne, which, in fact, became one of the reasons for the Decembrist uprising. The next emperor was his third son, Nicholas I. In general, since the time of Catherine the Great, all heirs to the throne began to bear the title of crown prince.

After Nicholas I, the throne passed to his eldest son, Alexander II. At the age of twenty-one, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich died of tuberculosis. Therefore, the next was the second son - Emperor Alexander III, who was succeeded by his eldest offspring and the last Russian ruler - Nicholas II. Thus, since the beginning of the Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp dynasty, eight emperors have come from this branch, including Catherine the Great.

nineteenth century

In the 19th century, the imperial family greatly expanded and increased. Special laws were even adopted that regulated the rights and obligations of each member of the family. The material aspects of their existence were also discussed. A new title was even introduced - prince of imperial blood. He assumed too distant offspring of the ruler.

From the time when the beginning of the Romanov dynasty was laid, and until the beginning of the nineteenth century, four branches along the female line began to enter the Imperial House:

• Holstein-Gottorpovskaya;
• Leuchtenberg - descended from the daughter of Nicholas I, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, and the Duke of Leuchtenberg;
• Oldenburg - from the marriage of the daughter of Emperor Paul with the Duke of Oldenburg;
• Mecklenburg - originating from the marriage of Princess Catherine Mikhailovna and the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Revolution and the Imperial House

Since the beginning of the Romanov dynasty, the history of this family is full of death and bloodshed. No wonder the last of the kind - Nicholas II - was nicknamed the Bloody. It must be said that the emperor himself was not at all distinguished by a cruel disposition.

The reign of the last Russian monarch was marked by the rapid economic growth of the country. At the same time, there was an increase in social and political contradictions within Russia. All this led to the beginning of the revolutionary movement and, as a result, to the uprising of 1905-1907, and then to the February revolution.

The Emperor of All Russia and the Tsar of Poland, as well as the Grand Duke of Finland - the last Russian emperor from the Romanov dynasty - ascended the throne in 1894. Contemporaries characterize Nicholas II as a gentle and highly educated, sincerely devoted to the country, but at the same time a very stubborn person.

Apparently, this was the reason for the stubborn rejection of the advice of experienced dignitaries in matters of government, which, in fact, led to fatal mistakes in the policy of the Romanovs. The surprisingly devoted love of the sovereign for his wife, who in some historical documents is even called a mentally unbalanced person, became the reason for discrediting the royal family. Her authority was called into question as the only true one.

This was due to the fact that the wife of the last Russian emperor had a fairly strong say in many aspects of government. At the same time, she did not miss a single opportunity to take advantage of this, while this did not suit many high-ranking persons in any way. Most of them considered the last reigning Romanov a fatalist, while others were of the opinion that he was simply completely indifferent to the suffering of his people.

End of reign

The bloody year of 1917 was the final year for the shaken power of this autocrat. And it all started with the First World War and the ineffectiveness of the policy of Nicholas II in this difficult period for Russia.

The antagonists of the Romanov family argue that during this period the last autocrat simply could not or failed to implement the necessary political or social reforms in time. The February Revolution forced the last emperor to abdicate after all. As a result, Nicholas II, together with his family, was taken under house arrest in his palace in Tsarskoye Selo.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the Romanovs ruled over more than a sixth of the planet. It was a self-sufficient, independent state concentrating in itself the greatest wealth in Europe. It was a huge era that ended after the execution of the royal family, the last of the Romanovs: Nicholas II with Alexandra and their five children. It happened in a basement in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 17, in 1918.

Romanovs today

By the beginning of 1917, the Russian Imperial House had sixty-five representatives, of which thirty-two belonged to the male half. Eighteen people were shot by the Bolsheviks between 1918 and 1919. It happened in St. Petersburg, Alapaevsk and, of course, in Yekaterinburg. The remaining forty-seven people fled. As a result, they ended up in exile, mainly in the United States and France.

Despite this, a significant part of the dynasty for more than a decade hoped for the collapse of the power of the Soviets and the restoration of the Russian monarchy. When, in December 1920, Olga Konstantinovna, the Grand Duchess, became the regent of Greece, she began to receive in this country many refugees from Russia, who were going to just wait it out and return home. However, this did not happen.

Nevertheless, the House of Romanovs had weight for a long time. Moreover, in 1942 two representatives of the House were even offered the throne of Montenegro. An Association was even created, which included all the living members of the dynasty.

Thanks to the marriage of Ivan IV the Terrible with Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina, a representative of the Romanov family, the Zakharyin-Romanov family became close to the royal court in the 16th century, and after the suppression of the Moscow branch of the Rurikovich began to claim the throne.

In 1613, the great-nephew of Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina, Mikhail Fedorovich, was elected to the royal throne. And the offspring of Tsar Michael, which was traditionally called House of Romanovs ruled Russia until 1917.

For a long period of time, members of the royal and then the imperial family did not have any surnames at all (for example, “Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich”, “Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich”). Despite this, the names "Romanovs" and "House of Romanovs" were used to informally designate the Russian Imperial House, the arms of the Romanov boyars were included in official legislation, and in 1913 the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanovs was widely celebrated.

After 1917, the surname of the Romanovs officially began to be borne by almost all members of the former reigning house, and at present many of their descendants bear it.

Tsars and emperors of the Romanov dynasty

Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov - Tsar and Grand Duke of All Russia

Years of life 1596-1645

Reigned 1613-1645

Father - boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, who later became Patriarch Filaret.

Mother - Ksenia Ivanovna Shestovaya,

in monasticism Martha.

Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was born in Moscow on July 12, 1596. He spent his childhood in the village of Domnino, the Kostroma estate of the Romanovs.

Under Tsar Boris Godunov, all the Romanovs were persecuted because of suspicion of conspiracy. The boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov and his wife were forcibly tonsured monks and imprisoned in monasteries. Fyodor Romanov received a name during tonsure Filaret, and his wife became a nun Martha.

But even after being tonsured, Filaret led an active political life: he opposed Tsar Shuisky and supported False Dmitry I (thinking that he was the real Tsarevich Dmitry).

False Dmitry I, after his accession, returned from exile the surviving members of the Romanov family. Fyodor Nikitich (monastic Filaret) with his wife Xenia Ivanovna (monastic Martha) and son Mikhail were returned.

Marfa Ivanovna and her son Mikhail first settled in the Kostroma patrimony of the Romanovs, the village of Domnino, and then hid from the persecution of the Polish-Lithuanian detachments in the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma.

Ipatiev Monastery. vintage image

Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was only 16 years old when, on February 21, 1613, the Zemsky Sobor, which included representatives of almost all segments of the Russian population, elected him tsar.

On March 13, 1613, a crowd of boyars and residents of the city approached the walls of the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma. Mikhail Romanov and his mother received the ambassadors from Moscow with respect.

But when the ambassadors presented the nun Martha and her son with a letter of the Zemsky Sobor with an invitation to the kingdom, Mikhail was horrified and refused such a high honor.

“The state has been ruined by the Poles,” he explained his refusal. The royal treasury has been plundered. Service people are poor, how can they be fed? And how, in such a distressful situation, can I, as a sovereign, stand against my enemies?

“And I can’t bless Mishenka for the kingdom,” nun Martha echoed her son with tears in her eyes. “After all, his father, Metropolitan Filaret, was captured by the Poles. And when the Polish king finds out that the son of his prisoner is in the kingdom, he orders to do evil to his father, or even completely deprive him of his life!

The ambassadors began to explain that Michael was chosen at will by the whole earth, which means by the will of God. And if Michael refuses, then God himself will exact from him for the final ruin of the state.

The persuasion of mother and son continued for six hours. Shedding bitter tears, the nun Martha finally accepted this fate. And since it is the will of God, she will bless her son. Michael, after the blessing of his mother, no longer resisted and accepted from the ambassadors the royal staff brought from Moscow as a sign of power in Moscow Russia.

Patriarch Filaret

In the autumn of 1617, the Polish army approached Moscow, and negotiations began on November 23. The Russians and Poles signed a truce for 14.5 years. Poland received the Smolensk region and part of the Seversk land, and Russia needed a respite from Polish aggression.

And only a little over a year after the armistice was concluded, the Poles released from captivity Metropolitan Filaret, the father of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. The meeting of father and son took place on the Presnya River on June 1, 1619. They bowed at each other's feet, both wept, embraced, and were silent for a long time, mute with joy.

In 1619, immediately after his return from captivity, Metropolitan Filaret became Patriarch of All Russia.

From that time until the end of his life, Patriarch Filaret was the de facto ruler of the country. His son, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, did not make a single decision without the consent of his father.

The patriarch ruled the ecclesiastical court, participated in resolving zemstvo issues, leaving only criminal cases for consideration by national institutions.

Patriarch Filaret “was of average height and fullness, he understood the divine scripture in part; in temperament he was passionate and suspicious, and so possessive that the tsar himself was afraid of him.

Patriarch Filaret (F. N. Romanov)

Tsar Michael and Patriarch Filaret considered cases together and made decisions on them, together they received foreign ambassadors, issued double letters of commendation and presented double gifts. In Russia there was dual power, the rule of two sovereigns with the participation of the Boyar Duma and the Zemsky Sobor.

In the first 10 years of Mikhail's reign, the role of the Zemsky Sobor in solving state issues grew. But by 1622, the Zemsky Sobor was rarely and irregularly convened.

After the peace treaties concluded with Sweden and the Commonwealth, a time of rest came for Russia. Fugitive peasants returned to their farms to cultivate the lands abandoned during the Time of Troubles.

During the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich there were 254 cities in Russia. Merchants were given special privileges, including permission to travel to other countries, provided they also trade in state-owned goods, monitor the work of customs and taverns to replenish the income of the state treasury.

In the 20-30s of the 17th century, the so-called first manufactories appeared in Russia. These were large plants and factories for those times, where there was a division of labor according to specialties, and steam engines were used.

By decree of Mikhail Fedorovich, it was possible to gather master printers and literate elders in order to restore the printing business, which practically ceased during the Time of Troubles. During the Time of Troubles, the Print Yard was burned along with all the printing presses.

By the end of the reign of Tsar Mikhail, the Printing Yard already had more than 10 machine tools and other equipment, and the printing house had over 10 thousand printed books.

During the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich, dozens of talented inventions and technical innovations appeared, such as a screw-cut cannon, a striking clock on the Spasskaya Tower, water engines for manufactories, paints, drying oil, ink, and much more.

In large cities, the construction of temples and towers was actively carried out, which differed from the old buildings in elegant decoration. The Kremlin walls were repaired, the Patriarchal Court on the territory of the Kremlin was expanded.

Russia continued to explore Siberia, new cities were founded there: Yeniseisk (1618), Krasnoyarsk (1628), Yakutsk (1632), the Bratsk prison was built (1631),

Towers of the Yakut prison

In 1633, the father of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, his assistant and teacher, Patriarch Filaret, died. After the death of the “second sovereign”, the boyars again increased their influence on Mikhail Fedorovich. But the king did not resist, now he was often not healthy. The serious illness that struck the king was most likely dropsy. The royal physicians wrote that Tsar Michael's illness came "from much sitting, cold drinking and melancholy."

Mikhail Fedorovich died on July 13, 1645 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Alexey Mikhailovich - The Quietest, Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Russia

Years of life 1629-1676

Reigned 1645-1676

Father - Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Russia.

Mother - Princess Evdokia Lukyanovna Streshneva.

Future king Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, the eldest son of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, was born on March 19, 1629. He was baptized in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and named Alexei. At the age of 6, he could read well. By order of his grandfather, Patriarch Filaret, a primer was created especially for his grandson. In addition to the primer, the prince read the Psalter, the Acts of the Apostles and other books from the library of the patriarch. The boyar was the tutor of the prince Boris Ivanovich Morozov.

By the age of 11-12, Alexei had his own small library of books that belonged to him personally. This library mentions Lexicon and Grammar published in Lithuania and serious Cosmography.

Little Alexei was taught to govern the state from early childhood. He often attended the receptions of foreign ambassadors and was a participant in court ceremonies.

At the age of 14, the prince was solemnly “announced” to the people, and at the age of 16, when his father, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, died, Alexei Mikhailovich ascended the throne. A month later, his mother also died.

By unanimous decision of all the boyars on July 13, 1645, all the nobility of the court kissed the cross to the new sovereign. The first person in the tsar's entourage, according to the last will of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, was the boyar B. I. Morozov.

The new Russian tsar, judging by his own letters and the reviews of foreigners, had a remarkably gentle, good-natured character and was "much quiet." The whole atmosphere in which Tsar Alexei lived, his upbringing and the reading of church books developed in him great religiosity.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Quiet

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, during all church fasts, the young king did not drink or eat anything. Alexei Mikhailovich was a very zealous performer of all church rites and had extraordinary Christian humility and meekness. Any pride was disgusting and alien to him. “And to me, a sinner,” he wrote, “this honor is like dust.”

But his good nature and humility sometimes gave way to brief outbursts of anger. Once the tsar, who was bled by the German "dokhtur", ordered the boyars to try the same remedy, but the boyar Streshnev did not agree. Then Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich personally "humbled" the old man, then did not know what gifts to appease him.

Alexei Mikhailovich knew how to respond to someone else's grief and joy, and in his meek nature he was simply a "golden man", moreover, intelligent and very educated for his time. He always read a lot and wrote a lot of letters.

Alexei Mikhailovich himself read petitions and other documents, wrote or edited many important decrees, and was the first of the Russian tsars to sign them with his own hand. The autocrat handed over to his sons a powerful state recognized abroad. One of them - Peter I the Great - managed to continue the work of his father, completing the formation of an absolute monarchy and the creation of a huge Russian empire.

Alexei Mikhailovich married in January 1648 the daughter of a poor nobleman Ilya Miloslavsky, Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, who bore him 13 children. Until the death of his wife, the king was an exemplary family man.

"Salt Riot"

B. I. Morozov, who began to rule the country on behalf of Alexei Mikhailovich, came up with a new system of taxation, which came into effect by royal decree in February 1646. An increased duty was imposed on salt in order to drastically replenish the treasury. However, this innovation did not justify itself, as they began to buy less salt, and revenues to the treasury decreased.

The boyars abolished the salt tax, but instead they came up with another way to replenish the treasury. The boyars decided to collect taxes, previously abolished, for three years at once. Immediately began the mass ruin of the peasants and even wealthy people. Due to the sudden impoverishment of the population, spontaneous popular unrest began in the country.

A crowd of people tried to give the tsar a petition when, on June 1, 1648, he returned from pilgrimage. But the king was afraid of the people and did not accept the complaint. The petitioners were arrested. The next day, during the procession, people again went to the tsar, then the crowd broke into the territory of the Moscow Kremlin.

The archers refused to fight for the boyars and did not oppose ordinary people, moreover, they were ready to join the disaffected. The people refused to negotiate with the boyars. Then a frightened Alexei Mikhailovich came out to the people, holding the icon in his hands.

archers

The rebels throughout Moscow sacked the chambers of the hated boyars - Morozov, Pleshcheev, Trakhaniotov - and demanded that the tsar extradite them. A critical situation arose, Alexei Mikhailovich had to make concessions. Pleshcheev was given to the crowd, then Trakhaniotov. The life of the educator of Tsar Boris Morozov was under the threat of popular reprisals. But Alexey Mikhailovich decided to save his teacher at any cost. He tearfully begged the crowd to spare the boyar, promising people to remove Morozov from business and send him out of the capital. Alexei Mikhailovich kept his promise and sent Morozov to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.

After these events, called "Salt Riot", Alexei Mikhailovich changed a lot, and his role in government became decisive.

At the request of the nobles and merchants, on June 16, 1648, the Zemsky Sobor was convened, at which a decision was made to prepare a new code of laws of the Russian state.

The result of the enormous and lengthy work of the Zemsky Sobor was Code of 25 chapters, which was printed in 1200 copies. The code was sent to all local governors in all cities and large villages of the country. In the Code, legislation was developed on land ownership, on legal proceedings, and the statute of limitations for the investigation of fugitive peasants was abolished (thus serfdom was finally approved). This code of laws became the guiding document for the Russian state for almost 200 years.

Due to the abundance of foreign merchants in Russia, Alexei Mikhailovich signed a decree on June 1, 1649 on the expulsion of English merchants from the country.

Georgia, Central Asia, Kalmykia, India and China became the objects of foreign policy of the tsarist government of Alexei Mikhailovich - countries with which the Russians tried to establish trade and diplomatic relations.

The Kalmyks asked Moscow to allocate territories for them to settle. In 1655 they swore allegiance to the Russian Tsar, and in 1659 the oath was confirmed. Since then, the Kalmyks have always participated in hostilities on the side of Russia, especially their help was tangible in the fight against the Crimean Khan.

Reunification of Ukraine with Russia

In 1653, the Zemsky Sobor considered the issue of reuniting Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia (at the request of the Ukrainians, who at that time fought for independence and hoped to receive the protection and support of Russia). But such support could provoke another war with Poland, which, in fact, happened.

On October 1, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor decided to reunite Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia. January 8, 1654 Ukrainian hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky solemnly proclaimed reunification of Ukraine with Russia at the Pereyaslav Rada, and already in May 1654 Russia entered the war with Poland.

Russia was at war with Poland from 1654 to 1667. During this time, Rostislavl, Drogobuzh, Polotsk, Mstislav, Orsha, Gomel, Smolensk, Vitebsk, Minsk, Grodno, Vilna, Kovno were returned to Russia.

From 1656 to 1658 Russia was at war with Sweden. During the war, several truces were concluded, but in the end, Russia was never able to regain access to the Baltic Sea.

The treasury of the Russian state was melting, and the government, after several years of constant hostilities with the Polish troops, decided to go to peace negotiations, which ended with the signing in 1667 Andrusovo truce for a period of 13 years and 6 months.

Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Under the terms of this truce, Russia renounced all conquests on the territory of Lithuania, but left Severshchina, Smolensk and the Left-Bank part of Ukraine behind it, and also Kyiv remained behind Moscow for two years. The almost century-long confrontation between Russia and Poland came to an end, and later (in 1685) an eternal peace was concluded, according to which Kyiv remained in Russia.

The end of hostilities was solemnly celebrated in Moscow. For successful negotiations with the Poles, the sovereign elevated the nobleman Ordin-Nashchokin to the rank of boyar, appointed him the keeper of the royal seal and the head of the Little Russian and Polish orders.

"Copper Riot"

In order to provide a constant income to the royal treasury, a monetary reform was carried out in 1654. Copper coins were introduced, which were supposed to circulate on a par with silver ones, and at the same time a ban on the trade in copper appeared, since from then on it all went to the treasury. But taxes continued to be collected only in silver coins, and copper money began to depreciate.

Immediately there were many counterfeiters minting copper money. The gap in the value of silver and copper coins grew larger every year. From 1656 to 1663 the cost of one silver ruble increased to 15 copper rubles. All the merchants begged for the abolition of copper money.

The Russian merchants turned to the tsar with a statement of dissatisfaction with their position. And soon there was a so-called "Copper Riot"- a powerful popular uprising on July 25, 1662. The reason for the unrest was the sheets pasted in Moscow with accusations of Miloslavsky, Rtishchev and Shorin of treason. Then a crowd of thousands moved to Kolomenskoye to the royal palace.

Alexei Mikhailovich managed to convince the people to disperse peacefully. He promised that he would consider their petitions. People turned to Moscow. Meanwhile, in the capital, merchants' shops and rich palaces were already looted.

But then a rumor spread among the people about the flight of the spy Shorin to Poland, and the excited crowd rushed to Kolomenskoye, meeting along the way the first rebels who were returning from the tsar to Moscow.

A huge crowd of people again appeared in front of the royal palace. But Aleksey Mikhailovich had already called in the archery regiments for help. Massacre began against the rebels. At that time, many people were drowned in the Moscow River, others were cut down with sabers or shot dead. After the suppression of the rebellion, an inquiry was conducted for a long time. The authorities tried to find out who was the author of the leaflets hung around the capital.

Copper and silver kopecks from the time of Alexei Mikhailovich

After all that had happened, the king decided to abolish copper money. This was stated by the royal decree of June 11, 1663. Now all calculations were again made only with the help of silver coins.

Under Alexei Mikhailovich, the Boyar Duma gradually lost its significance, and the Zemsky Sobor was no longer convened after 1653.

In 1654, the king created the "Order of his great sovereign of secret affairs." The Order of Secret Affairs delivered to the king all the necessary information about civil and military affairs and performed the functions of a secret police.

During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the development of Siberian lands continued. In 1648, the Cossack Semyon Dezhnev discovered North America. In the late 40s - early 50s of the 17th century, explorers V. Poyarkov and E. Khabarov reached the Amur, where the free settlers founded the Albazinsky Voivodeship. At the same time, the city of Irkutsk was founded.

Industrial development of deposits of minerals and precious stones began in the Urals.

Patriarch Nikon

At that time it became necessary to reform the church. Liturgical books were worn out to the limit, in the texts copied by hand, a huge number of inaccuracies and errors have accumulated. Often church services in one church were very different from the same service in another. All this "disorganization" was very hard for the young monarch to see, who was always very concerned about strengthening and spreading the Orthodox faith.

At the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin was circle of gods, which included Alexei Mikhailovich. Among the "God-lovers" were several priests, the abbot of the Novospassky Monastery Nikon, Archpriest Avvakum and several secular nobles.

To help the circle, Ukrainian learned monks were invited to Moscow, who were engaged in the publication of liturgical literature. The Print Yard was rebuilt and expanded. The number of published books intended for teaching has increased: "ABC", Psalter, Book of Hours; they have been reprinted many times. In 1648, by order of the tsar, Smotrytsky's Grammar was published.

But along with the distribution of books, the persecution of buffoons and folk customs coming from paganism began. Folk musical instruments were confiscated, playing the balalaika was banned, masquerade masks, divination and even swings were highly condemned.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich had already matured and no longer needed anyone's guardianship. But the soft, sociable nature of the king needed an adviser and friend. Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod became such a "sobin", especially beloved friend for the tsar.

After the death of Patriarch Joseph, the tsar offered to take the supreme priesthood to his friend, Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod, whose views Alexei fully shared. In 1652, Nikon became the Patriarch of All Russia and the closest friend and adviser to the sovereign.

Patriarch Nikon not one year carried out church reforms, which were supported by the sovereign. These innovations aroused protest among many believers; they considered corrections in liturgical books to be a betrayal of the faith of their fathers and grandfathers.

The first to openly opposed all innovations were the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery. Church turmoil spread throughout the country. Archpriest Avvakum became an ardent enemy of innovations. Among the so-called Old Believers who did not accept the changes introduced into the divine services by Patriarch Nikon, there were also two women from the upper class: Princess Evdokia Urusova and noblewoman Theodosia Morozova.

Patriarch Nikon

The Council of the Russian Clergy in 1666 nevertheless accepted all the innovations and book corrections prepared by Patriarch Nikon. All Old Believers the church anathematized (cursed) and called them schismatics. Historians believe that in 1666 there was a split in the Russian Orthodox Church, it was split into two parts.

Patriarch Nikon, seeing the difficulties with which his reforms are going, arbitrarily left the patriarchal throne. For this, and for the “worldly” punishments of schismatics, unacceptable for the Orthodox Church, on the orders of Alexei Mikhailovich, Nikon was defrocked by the cathedral of the clergy and sent to the Ferapontov Monastery.

In 1681, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich allowed Nikon to return to the New Jerusalem Monastery, but Nikon died on the way. Subsequently, Patriarch Nikon was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Stepan Razin

Peasant war led by Stepan Razin

In 1670, the Peasants' War broke out in southern Russia. The uprising was led by the Don Cossack chieftain Stepan Razin.

The object of hatred of the rebels were the boyars and officials, tsarist advisers and other dignitaries, not the tsar, but the people blamed them for all the troubles and injustices that were happening in the state. The king was for the Cossacks the embodiment of the ideal and justice. The church anathematized Razin. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich urged the people not to join Razin, and then Razin moved to the Yaik River, took the Yaitsky town, then robbed the Persian ships.

In May 1670, he went with his army to the Volga, took the cities of Tsaritsyn, Cherny Yar, Astrakhan, Saratov, Samara. He attracted many nationalities: Chuvash, Mordovians, Tatars, Cheremis.

Under the city of Simbirsk, the army of Stepan Razin was defeated by Prince Yuri Baryatinsky, but Razin himself survived. He managed to escape to the Don, where he was extradited by Ataman Kornil Yakovlev, brought to Moscow and executed there at the Execution Ground on Red Square

The participants in the uprising were also dealt with in the most cruel way. During the interrogation, the most sophisticated tortures and executions were applied to the rebels: cutting off hands and feet, quartering, gallows, mass exile, burning the letter “B” on the face, which meant involvement in the riot.

last years of life

By 1669, the wooden Kolomna Palace of fantastic beauty was built; it was the country residence of Alexei Mikhailovich.

In the last years of his life, the king became interested in theater. By his order, a court theater was founded, which presented performances based on biblical stories.

In 1669, the wife of the tsar, Maria Ilyinichna, died. Two years after the death of his wife, Alexei Mikhailovich married a second time to a young noblewoman Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, who gave birth to a son - the future Emperor Peter I and two daughters, Natalia and Theodora.

Alexei Mikhailovich outwardly looked like a very healthy man: he was white-faced and ruddy, fair-haired and blue-eyed, tall and stout. He was only 47 years old when he felt the signs of a terminal illness.

Royal wooden palace in Kolomenskoye

The tsar blessed Tsarevich Fedor Alekseevich (a son from his first marriage) to the kingdom, and appointed his grandfather, Kirill Naryshkin, as the guardian of his young son Peter. Then the sovereign ordered the release of prisoners and exiles and forgiveness of all debts to the treasury. Alexei Mikhailovich died on January 29, 1676 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Fedor Alekseevich Romanov - Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Russia

Years of life 1661-1682

Reigned 1676-1682

Father - Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Russia.

Mother - Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, the first wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

Fedor Alekseevich Romanov was born in Moscow on May 30, 1661. During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the question of succession to the throne arose more than once, since Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich died at the age of 16, and the second royal son Fyodor was nine years old at that time.

Still, it was Fedor who inherited the throne. This happened when he was 15 years old. The young tsar was crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on June 18, 1676. But Fedor Alekseevich was not in good health, from childhood he was weak and sickly. He ruled the country for only six years.

Tsar Fedor Alekseevich was well educated. He knew Latin well and spoke fluent Polish, knew a little ancient Greek. The tsar was versed in painting and church music, had “great art in poetry and composed a fair amount of verse”, trained in the basics of versification, he made a verse translation of the psalms for the “Psalter” by Simeon of Polotsk. His ideas about royal power were formed under the influence of one of the talented philosophers of that time, Simeon of Polotsk, who was the tutor and spiritual mentor of the prince.

After the accession of the young Fyodor Alekseevich, at first his stepmother, N.K. Naryshkina, who managed to be removed from business by the relatives of Tsar Fyodor, sent her and her son Peter (future Peter I) to “voluntary exile” in the suburban village of Preobrazhenskoye.

Boyar I.F. Miloslavsky, princes Yu.A. Dolgorukov and Ya.N. Odoevskoy were friends and relatives of the young tsar. Golitsyn. They were "educated, capable and conscientious people." It was they, who had influence on the young king, who energetically undertook to create a capable government.

Thanks to their influence, under Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, the adoption of important state decisions was transferred to the Boyar Duma, the number of members of which under him increased from 66 to 99. The Tsar was also inclined to personally take part in governance.

Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich Romanov

In matters of internal government of the country, Fedor Alekseevich left a mark on the history of Russia with two innovations. In 1681, a project was developed for the creation of the subsequently famous, and then the first in Moscow, Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, which opened after the death of the king. Many figures of science, culture and politics came out of its walls. It was here that the great Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov studied in the 18th century.

Moreover, representatives of all classes were supposed to be allowed to study at the academy, and scholarships were awarded to the poor. The tsar was going to transfer the entire palace library to the Academy, and future graduates could apply for high government positions at court.

Fedor Alekseevich ordered to build special shelters for orphans and teach them various sciences and crafts. The emperor wanted to arrange all the disabled in almshouses, which he built at his own expense.

In 1682, the Boyar Duma once and for all abolished the so-called parochialism. According to the tradition that existed in Russia, state and military people were appointed to various positions not in accordance with their merits, experience or abilities, but in accordance with localism, that is, with the place that the ancestors of the appointed person occupied in the state apparatus.

Simeon Polotsky

The son of a man who once occupied a low position could never rise above the son of an official who once occupied a higher position. This state of affairs annoyed many and hindered the effective administration of the state.

At the request of Fedor Alekseevich, on January 12, 1682, the Boyar Duma abolished localism; rank books, in which "ranks" were recorded, that is, positions, were burned. Instead, all the old boyar families were rewritten into special genealogies so that their merits would not be forgotten by their descendants.

In 1678-1679, Fedor's government conducted a population census, canceled Alexei Mikhailovich's decree on the non-extradition of fugitives who signed up for military service, introduced household taxation (this immediately replenished the treasury, but strengthened the oppression of serfdom).

In 1679-1680, an attempt was made to mitigate criminal penalties in the European manner, in particular, chopping off hands for theft was abolished. Since then, the perpetrators have been exiled to Siberia with their families.

Thanks to the construction of defensive structures in the south of Russia, it became possible to widely allocate nobles, who were striving to increase their land holdings, with estates and estates.

The successful Russo-Turkish War (1676-1681), which ended with the Bakhchisaray Peace Treaty, which secured the unification of the Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia, became a major foreign policy action during the time of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. Russia received Kyiv even earlier under an agreement with Poland in 1678.

During the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich, the entire Kremlin palace complex, including churches, was rebuilt. The buildings were interconnected by galleries and passages, they were decorated in a new way with carved porches.

The Kremlin was equipped with a sewerage system, a flowing pond and many hanging gardens with gazebos. Fyodor Alekseevich had his own garden, for the decoration and arrangement of which he spared no expense.

Dozens of stone buildings were built in Moscow, five-domed churches in Kotelniki and on Presnya. The sovereign issued loans from the treasury to his subjects for the construction of stone houses in Kitay-gorod and forgave many of their debts.

Fedor Alekseevich saw in the construction of beautiful stone buildings the best way to protect the capital from fires. At the same time, the tsar believed that Moscow was the face of the state and admiration for its splendor should cause respect for all of Russia among foreign ambassadors.

Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki, built during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich

The personal life of the king was very unhappy. In 1680, Fyodor Mikhailovich married Agafya Semyonovna Grushetskaya, but the tsarina died in childbirth along with her newborn son Ilya.

The new marriage of the tsar was arranged by his closest adviser I. M. Yazykov. On February 14, 1682, Tsar Fyodor was married almost against his will to Marfa Matveevna Apraksina.

Two months after the wedding on April 27, 1682, the tsar, after a short illness, died in Moscow at the age of 21, leaving no heir. Fedor Alekseevich was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Ivan V Alekseevich Romanov - the senior tsar and the great sovereign of all Russia

Years of life 1666-1696

Reigned 1682-1696

Father - Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Tsar

and the great sovereign of all Russia.

Mother - Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya.

The future Tsar Ivan (John) V Alekseevich was born on August 27, 1666 in Moscow. When in 1682 the elder brother of Ivan V - Tsar Fedor Alekseevich - died without leaving an heir, the 16-year-old Ivan V, as the next in seniority, was to inherit the royal crown.

But Ivan Alekseevich was a sickly person from childhood and completely incapable of governing the country. That is why the boyars and Patriarch Joachim proposed to remove him and choose his half-brother, 10-year-old Peter, the youngest son of Alexei Mikhailovich, as the next king.

Both brothers, one due to ill health, the other due to age, could not participate in the struggle for power. Instead, their relatives fought for the throne: for Ivan, his sister, Princess Sophia, and the Miloslavskys, relatives of his mother, and for Peter, the Naryshkins, relatives of the second wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. As a result of this struggle there was a bloody archers riot.

Streltsy regiments with their newly elected commanders were heading towards the Kremlin, followed by crowds of citizens. The streltsy, who walked in front, shouted accusations against the boyars, who allegedly poisoned Tsar Fedor and are already making an attempt on the life of Tsarevich Ivan.

The archers made a list in advance of the names of those boyars who were demanded for reprisal. They did not listen to any exhortations, and showing them alive and unharmed Ivan and Peter on the royal porch did not impress the rebels. And in front of the eyes of the princes, the archers threw the bodies of their relatives and boyars, familiar to them from birth, from the windows of the palace onto spears. Sixteen-year-old Ivan after that forever abandoned public affairs, and Peter hated the archers for life.

Then Patriarch Joachim proposed to proclaim both kings at once: Ivan - the senior king, and Peter - the junior king and appoint Princess Sofya Alekseevna, Ivan's sister, regent (ruler) under them.

June 25, 1682 Ivan V Alekseevich and Peter I Alekseevich were married to the kingdom in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. For them, even a special throne with two seats was built, currently stored in the Armory.

Tsar Ivan V Alekseevich

Although Ivan was called the elder tsar, he practically never dealt with state affairs, but only dealt with his family. Ivan V was the sovereign of Russia for 14 years, but his reign was formal. He only attended palace ceremonies and signed documents without understanding their essence. The real rulers under him were first Princess Sophia (from 1682 to 1689), and then power passed to his younger brother, Peter.

Ivan V from childhood grew up as a frail, sickly child with poor eyesight. Sister Sophia chose a bride for him, the beautiful Praskovya Fedorovna Saltykova. Marrying her in 1684 had a beneficial effect on Ivan Alekseevich: he became healthier and happier.

Children of Ivan V and Praskovya Fyodorovna Saltykova: Maria, Theodosia (died in infancy), Ekaterina, Anna, Praskovya.

Of the daughters of Ivan V, Anna Ivanovna subsequently became empress (ruled in 1730-1740). His granddaughter became the ruler Anna Leopoldovna. The reigning descendant of Ivan V was also his great-grandson - Ivan VI Antonovich (formally listed as emperor from 1740 to 1741).

According to the memoirs of a contemporary of Ivan V, at the age of 27 he looked like a decrepit old man, saw very poorly and, according to one foreigner, was stricken with paralysis. “Indifferently, like a dead statue, on his silver armchair under the images sat Tsar Ivan in a monomakh cap, pulled down over his very eyes, lowered down and not looking at anyone.”

Ivan V Alekseevich died at the age of 30, on January 29, 1696 in Moscow and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Silver double throne of Tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseevich

Princess Sofya Alekseevna - ruler of Russia

Years of life 1657-1704

Reigned 1682-1689

Mother - the first wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya.

Sofia Alekseevna born September 5, 1657. She never married and had no children. Her only passion was the desire to rule.

In the autumn of 1682, Sophia, with the help of the noble militia, suppressed the streltsy movement. The further development of Russia required serious reforms. However, Sophia felt that her power was fragile, and therefore refused to innovate.

During her reign, the search for serfs was somewhat weakened, minor concessions were made to the townspeople, in the interests of the church, Sophia intensified the persecution of the Old Believers.

In 1687, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was opened in Moscow. In 1686, Russia concluded the "Eternal Peace" with Poland. According to the agreement, Russia received Kyiv with the adjacent region “for all eternity”, but for this Russia was obliged to start a war with the Crimean Khanate, since the Crimean Tatars devastated the Commonwealth (Poland).

In 1687, Prince V.V. Golitsyn led the Russian army on a campaign against the Crimea. The troops reached a tributary of the Dnieper, at which time the Tatars set fire to the steppe, and the Russians were forced to turn back.

In 1689, Golitsyn made a second campaign against the Crimea. Russian troops reached Perekop, but they could not take it and returned ingloriously. These failures hit the prestige of the ruler Sophia hard. Many of the adherents of the princess have lost faith in her.

In August 1689 a revolution took place in Moscow. Peter came to power, and Princess Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent.

Sophia's life in the monastery was at first calm and even happy. With her lived a nurse and maids. Good food and various delicacies were sent to her from the royal kitchen. Visitors were allowed to see Sophia at any time, she could walk around the entire territory of the monastery at will. Only at the gate stood a guard of soldiers loyal to Peter.

Princess Sofia Alekseevna

During Peter's stay abroad in 1698, the archers raised another uprising in order to transfer the rule of Russia back to Sophia.

The uprising of the archers ended in failure, they were defeated by troops loyal to Peter, the leaders of the rebellion were executed. Peter returned from abroad. The executions of archers were repeated.

Sophia, after a personal interrogation of Peter, was forcibly tonsured a nun under the name of Susanna. She was placed under strict surveillance. Peter ordered the execution of archers right under the windows of Sophia's cell.

Another five years lasted her confinement in the monastery under the vigilant supervision of the guards. Sofya Alekseevna died in 1704 in the Novodevichy Convent.

Peter I - Great Tsar, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia

Years of life 1672-1725

Reigned 1682-1725

Father - Alexei Mikhailovich, Tsar and Great Sovereign of All Russia.

Mother - the second wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina.

Peter I the Great- Russian tsar (since 1682), the first Russian emperor (since 1721), an outstanding statesman, commander and diplomat, whose entire activity is connected with radical transformations and reforms in Russia aimed at eliminating the gap between Russia and European countries at the beginning of the 18th century .

Pyotr Alekseevich was born on May 30, 1672 in Moscow, and immediately bells rang joyfully throughout the capital. Different mothers and nannies were assigned to little Peter, special chambers were allocated. The best craftsmen made furniture, clothes, toys for the prince. From an early age, the boy was especially fond of toy weapons: a bow with arrows, sabers, guns.

Alexey Mikhailovich ordered an icon for Peter with the image of the Holy Trinity on one side, and the Apostle Peter on the other. The icon was made in the height of a newborn prince. Subsequently, Peter always carried it with him, believing that this icon protects him from misfortunes and brings good luck.

Peter was educated at home under the supervision of "uncle" Nikita Zotov. He complained that by the age of 11 the tsarevich did not do well in literacy, history and geography, captured by military "fun" first in the village of Vorobiev, then in the village of Preobrazhensky. In these "amusing" games of the king, specially created "fun" shelves(which later became the guard and the core of the Russian regular army).

Physically strong, mobile, inquisitive, Peter mastered carpentry, weapons, blacksmithing, watchmaking, printing crafts with the participation of palace masters.

The tsar knew German from early childhood, later he studied Dutch, partly English and French.

The inquisitive prince really liked books of historical content, decorated with miniatures. Especially for him, court artists created amusing notebooks with bright drawings depicting ships, weapons, battles, cities - Peter studied history from them.

After the death of the tsar's brother Fyodor Alekseevich in 1682, as a result of a compromise between the Miloslavsky and Naryshkin family clans, Peter was elevated to the Russian throne simultaneously with his half-brother Ivan V - under the regency (ruling of the country) of his sister, Princess Sofya Alekseevna.

During the years of her reign, Peter lived in the village of Preobrazhensky near Moscow, where the "amusing" regiments he created were located. There he met the son of the court groom Alexander Menshikov, who became his friend and support for life, and other "young robites of a simple kind." Peter learned to appreciate not nobility and generosity, but the abilities of a person, his ingenuity and dedication.

Peter I the Great

Under the guidance of the Dutchman F. Timmerman and the Russian master R. Kartsev, Peter learned shipbuilding, in 1684 he sailed on his small boat along the Yauza.

In 1689, his mother forced Peter to marry the daughter of a well-born nobleman - E. F. Lopukhina (who gave birth to his son Alexei a year later). Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina became the wife of 17-year-old Pyotr Alekseevich on January 27, 1689, but the marriage had almost no effect on him. The king did not change his habits and inclinations. Peter did not love his young wife and spent all his time with friends in the German Quarter. In the same place, in 1691, Peter met Anna Mons, the daughter of a German craftsman, who became his lover and friend.

Foreigners had a great influence on the formation of his interests. F. Ya. Lefort, I. V. Bruce and P. I. Gordon- at first, Peter's teachers in various fields, and later - his closest associates.

At the beginning of glorious days

By the beginning of the 1690s, real battles were already taking place near the village of Preobrazhensky, with the participation of tens of thousands of people. Soon, two regiments, Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky, were formed from the former "amusing" regiment.

At the same time, Peter founded the first shipyard on Lake Pereyaslavl and began building ships. Even then, the young sovereign dreamed of access to the sea, so necessary for Russia. The first Russian warship was launched in 1692.

Peter began public affairs only after the death of his mother in 1694. By this time, he had already built ships at the Arkhangelsk shipyard and sailed on them on the sea. The tsar came up with his own flag, consisting of three stripes - red, blue and white, which adorned Russian ships at the beginning of the Northern War.

In 1689, having removed his sister Sophia from power, Peter I became the de facto tsar. After the untimely death of his mother (who was only 41 years old), and in 1696 - and his co-ruler brother Ivan V, Peter I became autocrat not only in fact, but also legally.

Having barely established himself on the throne, Peter I personally participated in the Azov campaigns against Turkey in 1695-1696, which ended with the capture of Azov and the entry of the Russian army to the shores of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov.

However, trade relations with Europe could only be achieved by gaining access to the Baltic Sea and the return of Russian lands occupied by Sweden during the Time of Troubles.

Transfiguration Soldiers

Under the guise of studying shipbuilding and maritime affairs, Peter I secretly traveled as one of the volunteers at the Great Embassy, ​​and in 1697-1698 to Europe. There, under the name of Peter Mikhailov, the tsar took a full course in artillery sciences in Konigsberg and Brandenburg.

For six months he worked as a carpenter at the shipyards of Amsterdam, studying ship architecture, drawing, then he completed a theoretical course in shipbuilding in England. By his order, books, instruments, weapons were purchased for Russia in these countries, foreign craftsmen and scientists were recruited.

The Great Embassy prepared the creation of the Northern Alliance against Sweden, which finally took shape two years later - in 1699.

In the summer of 1697, Peter I negotiated with the Austrian emperor and also planned to visit Venice, but having received news of the impending uprising of archers in Moscow (whom Princess Sophia promised to increase their salaries in the event of the overthrow of Peter I), he urgently returned to Russia.

On August 26, 1698, Peter I began a personal investigation into the case of the Streltsy rebellion and did not spare any of the rebels - 1182 people were executed. Sophia and her sister Martha were tonsured nuns.

In February 1699, Peter I ordered the disbandment of the archery regiments and the formation of regular ones - soldiers and dragoons, since "until now this state had no infantry."

Soon, Peter I signed decrees, under pain of fines and flogging, ordering men to “cut their beards”, which were considered a symbol of the Orthodox faith. The young king ordered everyone to wear European-style clothes, and for women to open their hair, previously always carefully hidden under scarves and headdresses. So Peter I prepared Russian society for fundamental changes, eliminating by his decrees the patriarchal foundations of the Russian way of life.

Since 1700, Peter I introduced a new calendar with the beginning of the new year - January 1 (instead of September 1) and the chronology from the "Christmas", which he also considered as a step in breaking obsolete customs.

In 1699, Peter I finally broke with his first wife. More than once he persuaded her to take monastic vows, but Evdokia refused. Without the consent of his wife, Peter I took her to Suzdal, to the Pokrovsky maiden monastery, where she was tonsured a nun under the name of Elena. The king took the eight-year-old son Alexei to himself.

North War

The first priority of Peter I was the creation of a regular army and the construction of a fleet. On November 19, 1699, the tsar issued a decree on the formation of 30 infantry regiments. But the training of soldiers did not go as fast as the king wanted.

Simultaneously with the formation of the army, all conditions were created for a powerful breakthrough in the development of industry. Approximately 40 plants and factories sprang up within a few years. Peter I aimed Russian craftsmen to adopt all the most valuable things from foreigners and do even better than theirs.

By the beginning of 1700, Russian diplomats managed to make peace with Turkey and sign agreements with Denmark and Poland. Having concluded the Constantinople peace with Turkey, Peter I switched the country's efforts to the fight against Sweden, which at that time was ruled by the 17-year-old Charles XII, who, despite his youth, was considered a talented commander.

North War 1700-1721 for Russia's access to the Baltic began with the battle of Narva. But the 40,000th untrained and poorly trained Russian army lost this battle to the army of Charles XII. Calling the Swedes "Russian teachers", Peter I ordered reforms to be carried out that were supposed to make the Russian army combat-ready. The Russian army began to transform before our eyes, domestic artillery began to emerge.

A. D. Menshikov

Alexander Danilovich Menshikov

On May 7, 1703, Peter I and Alexander Menshikov on boats made a fearless attack on two Swedish ships at the mouth of the Neva and won.

For this battle, Peter I and his favorite Menshikov received the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.

Alexander Danilovich Menshikov- the son of a groom, who sold hot pies in his childhood, rose from the royal batman to the generalissimo, received the title of His Serene Highness.

Menshikov was practically the second person in the state after Peter I, his closest associate in all state affairs. Peter I appointed Menshikov governor of all the Baltic lands conquered from the Swedes. Menshikov put a lot of effort and energy into the construction of St. Petersburg, and his merit in this is invaluable. True, for all his merits, Menshikov was also the most famous Russian embezzler.

Founding of St. Petersburg

By the middle of 1703, all the lands from the sources to the mouth of the Neva were in the hands of the Russians.

On May 16, 1703, Peter the Great founded the fortress of St. Petersburg on Vesely Island - wooden, with six bastions. A small house for the sovereign was built next to it. Alexander Menshikov was appointed the first governor of the fortress.

The tsar predicted for St. Petersburg not only the role of a trading port, but a year later, in a letter to the governor, he called the city the capital, and to protect it from the sea, he ordered the construction of a sea fortress on the island of Kotlin (Kronstadt).

In the same 1703, 43 ships were built at the Olonets shipyard, and a shipyard called Admiralteyskaya was laid at the mouth of the Neva. On it, the construction of ships began in 1705, and the first ship was launched already in 1706.

The laying of the new future capital coincided with changes in the tsar's personal life: he met the washerwoman Marta Skavronskaya, who Menshikov inherited as a "war trophy". Marta was captured in one of the battles of the Great Northern War. The tsar soon named her Ekaterina Alekseevna, christening Martha into Orthodoxy. In 1704, she became the civil wife of Peter I, and by the end of 1705, Peter Alekseevich became the father of a son born to Catherine, Pavel.

Children of Peter I

Household affairs were very depressing to the tsar-reformer. His son Alexei showed disagreement with his father's vision of proper government. Peter I tried to influence him with persuasion, then threatened to imprison him in a monastery.

Fleeing from such a fate, in 1716 Alexei fled to Europe. Peter I declared his son a traitor, secured his return and imprisoned him in a fortress. In 1718, the tsar personally conducted his investigation, seeking the abdication of Alexei from the throne and the issuance of the names of his accomplices. The "prince's case" ended with the death sentence for Alexei.

The children of Peter I from marriage with Evdokia Lopukhina - Natalya, Pavel, Alexei, Alexander (all except Alexei died in infancy).

Children from a second marriage with Marta Skavronskaya (Ekaterina Alekseevna) - Ekaterina, Anna, Elizabeth, Natalya, Margarita, Peter, Pavel, Natalya, Peter (except Anna and Elizabeth died in infancy).

Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich

Poltava victory

In 1705-1706, a wave of popular uprisings took place in Russia. People were dissatisfied with the violence of governors, detectives and money-makers. Peter I brutally suppressed all unrest. Simultaneously with the suppression of internal unrest, the king continued to prepare for further battles with the army of the Swedish king. Peter I regularly offered peace to Sweden, which the Swedish king constantly refused.

Charles XII with his army slowly moved east, intending to eventually take Moscow. After the capture of Kyiv, it was supposed to be ruled by the Ukrainian hetman Mazepa, who went over to the side of the Swedes. All southern lands, according to the plan of Charles, were distributed among the Turks, Crimean Tatars and other supporters of the Swedes. The Russian state, in the event of the victory of the Swedish troops, was waiting for destruction.

On July 3, 1708, near the village of Golovchina in Belarus, the Swedes attacked the Russian corps, led by Repnin. Under the onslaught of the royal army, the Russians retreated, and the Swedes entered Mogilev. The defeat at Golovchin was an excellent lesson for the Russian army. Soon, the king with his own hand compiled the "Rules of Battle", which dealt with the stamina, courage and mutual assistance of soldiers in battle.

Peter I followed the actions of the Swedes, studied their maneuvers, trying to lure the enemy into a trap. The Russian army went ahead of the Swedish and, on the orders of the tsar, ruthlessly destroyed everything in its path. Bridges and mills were destroyed, villages and grain in the fields were burned. Residents fled into the forest and took their cattle with them. The Swedes were walking on scorched, devastated land, the soldiers were starving. The Russian cavalry harassed the enemy with constant attacks.

Poltava battle

The cunning Mazepa advised Charles XII to capture Poltava, which was of great strategic importance. On April 1, 1709, the Swedes stood under the walls of this fortress. The three-month siege did not bring Charles XII success. All attempts to storm the fortress were repulsed by the Poltava garrison.

On June 4, Peter I arrived at Poltava. Together with the military leaders, he developed a detailed action plan that provided for all possible changes in the course of the battle.

On June 27, the Swedish royal army was utterly defeated. The Swedish king himself could not be found, he fled with Mazepa towards the Turkish possessions. In this battle, the Swedes lost more than 11 thousand soldiers, of which 8 thousand were killed. The Swedish king, fleeing, abandoned the remnants of his army, which surrendered to the mercy of Menshikov. The army of Charles XII was practically destroyed.

Peter I after Poltava victory generously rewarded the heroes of the battles, distributed ranks, orders and lands. Soon the tsar ordered the generals to hurry up with the liberation of the entire Baltic coast from the Swedes.

Until 1720, hostilities between Sweden and Russia were sluggish, protracted. And only the naval battle at Grengam, which ended in the defeat of the Swedish military squadron, put an end to the history of the Northern War.

The long-awaited peace treaty between Russia and Sweden was signed in Nystadt on August 30, 1721. Sweden got back most of Finland, and Russia got access to the sea.

For the victory in the Northern War, on January 20, 1721, the Senate and the Holy Synod approved the new title of Tsar Peter the Great: “Father of the Fatherland, Peter the Great and Emperor of All Russia».

Having forced the Western world to recognize Russia as one of the great European powers, the emperor set about solving urgent problems in the Caucasus. The Persian campaign of Peter I in 1722-1723 secured the western coast of the Caspian Sea with the cities of Derbent and Baku for Russia. For the first time in the history of Russia, permanent diplomatic missions and consulates were established there, and the importance of foreign trade increased.

Emperor

Emperor(from the Latin imperator - sovereign) - the title of the monarch, head of state. Initially, in ancient Rome, the word imperator denoted the supreme power: military, judicial, administrative, which was possessed by the highest consuls and dictators. From the time of the Roman emperor Augustus and his successors, the title of emperor acquired a monarchical character.

With the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the title of emperor was preserved in the East - in Byzantium. Subsequently, in the West, it was restored by Emperor Charlemagne, then by the German King Otto I. Later, this title was taken by the monarchs of some other states. In Russia, Peter the Great was proclaimed the first emperor - that's how they began to call him now.

Coronation

With the adoption of the title "Emperor of All Russia" by Peter I, the wedding ceremony for the kingdom was replaced by a coronation, which led to changes both in the church ceremony and in the composition of the regalia.

Coronation - rite of entry into the kingdom.

For the first time, the coronation ceremony was performed in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on May 7, 1724, Emperor Peter I crowned his wife Catherine the Empress. The coronation process was drawn up according to the order of the wedding to the kingdom of Fedor Alekseevich, but with some changes: Peter I personally placed the imperial crown on his wife.

The first Russian imperial crown was made of gilded silver in the style of church wedding crowns. Monomakh's cap was not placed at the coronation, it was carried in front of the solemn procession. During the coronation of Catherine, she was presented with a golden small power - a "globe".

Imperial crown

In 1722, Peter issued a decree on succession to the throne, which stated that the reigning sovereign appointed the successor to power.

Peter the Great made a will where he left the throne to his wife Catherine, but he destroyed the will in a fit of rage. (The sovereign was informed about the betrayal of his wife with the chamber junker Mons.) For a long time, Peter I could not forgive the empress for this misconduct, and he did not have time to write a new will.

Fundamental reforms

Peter's decrees of 1715-1718 dealt with all aspects of the life of the state: tanning, workshops uniting craftsmen, the creation of manufactories, the construction of new weapons factories, the development of agriculture, and much more.

Peter the Great radically rebuilt the entire system of state administration. Instead of the Boyar Duma, the Near Office was established, consisting of 8 proxies of the sovereign. Then, on its basis, Peter I established the Senate.

The Senate existed at first as a temporary body of government in the event of the absence of the king. But soon it became permanent. The Senate had judicial, administrative and sometimes legislative power. The composition of the Senate changed according to the decision of the king.

All of Russia was divided into 8 provinces: Siberian, Azov, Kazan, Smolensk, Kyiv, Arkhangelsk, Moscow and Ingermanland (Petersburg). 10 years after the formation of the provinces, the sovereign decided to break up the provinces and divided the country into 50 provinces headed by governors. provinces survived, but there are already 11 of them.

Over the course of more than 35 years of his reign, Peter the Great managed to carry out a huge number of reforms in the field of culture and education. Their main result was the emergence of secular schools in Russia and the elimination of the monopoly of the clergy on education. Peter the Great founded and opened: the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences (1701), the Medical and Surgical School (1707) - the future Military Medical Academy, the Naval Academy (1715), the Engineering and Artillery Schools (1719).

In 1719, the first museum in Russian history began to operate - Kunstkamera with the public library. Primers, educational maps were published, and in general, a systematic study of the country's geography and cartography was laid.

The spread of literacy was facilitated by the reform of the alphabet (replacement of cursive writing with civil type in 1708), the release of the first Russian printed newspapers "Vedomosti"(since 1703).

Holy Synod- this is also an innovation of Peter, created as a result of his church reform. The emperor decided to deprive the church of its own funds. By his decree of December 16, 1700, the Patriarchal order was dissolved. The church no longer had the right to dispose of its property, all funds now went to the state treasury. In 1721, Peter I abolished the dignity of the Russian patriarch, replacing it with the Holy Synod, which included representatives of the highest clergy of Russia.

In the era of Peter the Great, many buildings were erected for state and cultural institutions, an architectural ensemble Peterhof(Petrodvorets). Fortresses were built Kronstadt, Peter-Pavel's Fortress, the planned development of the Northern capital - St. Petersburg, began, which marked the beginning of urban planning and the construction of residential buildings according to standard projects.

Peter I - dentist

Tsar Peter I the Great "on the throne was an eternal worker." He knew well 14 crafts or, as they said then, "needlework", but medicine (more precisely, surgery and dentistry) was one of his main hobbies.

During his trips to Western Europe, being in Amsterdam in 1698 and 1717, Tsar Peter I visited the anatomical museum of Professor Frederick Ruysch and diligently took lessons from him in anatomy and medicine. Returning to Russia, Peter Alekseevich established in Moscow in 1699 a course of lectures on anatomy for the boyars, with a visual demonstration on corpses.

The author of The History of the Acts of Peter the Great, I. I. Golikov, wrote about this royal hobby: “He ordered himself to be notified if in the hospital ... it was necessary to dissect the body or do some kind of surgical operation, and ... rarely missed such an opportunity , so as not to be present at it, and often even helped operations. Over time, he acquired so much skill in that that he was very skillfully able to dissect the body, bleed, pull out teeth and do it with great willingness ... ".

Peter I everywhere and always carried with him two sets of instruments: measuring and surgical. Considering himself an experienced surgeon, the king was always happy to help, as soon as he noticed some kind of illness in his entourage. And by the end of his life, Peter had a weighty bag in which 72 teeth he personally pulled out were kept.

It must be said that the king's passion for pulling out other people's teeth was very unpleasant for his entourage. Because it happened that he tore not only sick, but also healthy teeth.

One of the associates of Peter I wrote in his diary in 1724 that Peter's niece "is in great fear that the emperor will soon take up her sore leg: it is known that he considers himself a great surgeon and willingly undertakes all kinds of operations on the sick" .

Today we cannot judge the degree of surgical skill of Peter I, it could only be assessed by the patient himself, and even then not always. After all, it happened that the operation that Peter did ended in the death of the patient. Then the king, with no less enthusiasm and knowledge of the matter, began to dissect (cut) the corpse.

We must give him his due: Peter was a good connoisseur of anatomy, in his free time from state affairs he liked to carve anatomical models of the human eye and ear from ivory.

Today, the teeth pulled out by Peter I and the instruments with which he performed surgical operations (without anesthetics) can be seen in the St. Petersburg Kunstkamera.

Last year of life

The turbulent and difficult life of the great reformer could not but affect the health of the emperor, who by the age of 50 had earned many illnesses. Most of all, he was plagued by kidney disease.

In the last year of his life, Peter I went to mineral waters for treatment, but during the treatment he still did hard physical work. In June 1724, at the Ugodsky factories, he personally forged several strips of iron, in August he was present at the descent of the frigate, then went on a long journey along the route: Shlisselburg - Olonetsk - Novgorod - Staraya Russa - Ladoga Canal.

Returning home, Peter I learned terrible news for him: his wife Catherine cheated on him with 30-year-old Willy Mons, the brother of the former favorite of the emperor, Anna Mons.

It was difficult to prove his wife's infidelity, so Willy Mons was accused of bribery and embezzlement. According to the verdict of the court, he was beheaded. Catherine only hinted to Peter I about pardon, when, in great anger, the emperor broke a finely crafted mirror in an expensive frame and said: “This is the most beautiful decoration of my palace. I want it and I will destroy it!” Then Peter I subjected his wife to a severe test - he took her to see the severed head of Mons.

Soon his kidney disease worsened. Most of the last months of his life, Peter I spent in bed in terrible agony. At times, the disease receded, then he got up and left the bedroom. At the end of October 1724, Peter I even participated in extinguishing a fire on Vasilevsky Island, and on November 5, he looked at the wedding of a German baker, where he spent several hours watching a foreign wedding ceremony and German dances. In the same November, the tsar participated in the betrothal of his daughter Anna and the Duke of Holstein.

Overcoming the pain, the emperor drafted and edited decrees and instructions. Three weeks before his death, Peter I was busy compiling instructions to the leader of the Kamchatka expedition, Vitus Bering.

Peter-Pavel's Fortress

In mid-January 1725, attacks of renal colic became more frequent. According to contemporaries, for several days Peter I shouted so loudly that it was heard far around. Then the pain became so intense that the king only moaned muffledly, biting the pillow. Peter I died on January 28, 1725 in terrible agony. His body remained unburied for forty days. All the while, his wife Catherine (soon to be proclaimed empress) wept twice a day over the body of her beloved husband.

Peter the Great is buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, founded by him.

Prussian origin of the dynasty

The ancestor of the Romanov dynasty is considered to be the boyar Andrei Kobyla at the court of Ivan Kalita and his son Simeon the Proud. We know almost nothing about his life and origins. Chronicles mention him only once: in 1347 he was sent to Tver for the bride of Grand Duke Simeon the Proud, daughter of Prince Alexander Mikhailovich of Tver.

Having found himself at the time of the unification of the Russian state with a new center in Moscow in the service of the Moscow branch of the princely dynasty, he thus chose the “golden ticket” for himself and his family. Genealogists mention his numerous descendants, who became the ancestors of many noble Russian families: Semyon Zherebets (Lodygins, Konovnitsyns), Alexander Elka (Kolychevs), Gavriil Gavsha (Bobrykins), Childless Vasily Vantei and Fyodor Koshka - the ancestor of the Romanovs, Sheremetevs, Yakovlevs, Goltyaevs and Bezzubtsev. But the origin of the Mare itself remains a mystery. According to the Romanov family legend, he traced his lineage to the Prussian kings.

When a gap is formed in the genealogies, it provides an opportunity for their falsification. In the case of noble families, this is usually done with the aim of either legitimizing their power or gaining extra privileges. As in this case. The blank spot in the genealogies of the Romanovs was filled in the 17th century under Peter the Great by the first Russian King of Arms, Stepan Andreevich Kolychev. The new history corresponded to the “Prussian legend” fashionable even under the Rurikovichs, which was aimed at confirming the position of Moscow as the successor of Byzantium. Since the Varangian origin of Rurik did not fit into this ideology, the founder of the princely dynasty became the 14th descendant of a certain Prus, the ruler of ancient Prussia, a relative of Emperor Augustus himself. Following them, the Romanovs "rewrote" their history.

A family tradition, subsequently recorded in the “General Armorial of the Noble Families of the All-Russian Empire,” says that in the year 305 from the birth of Christ, the Prussian king Pruteno gave the kingdom to his brother Veydevut, and he himself became the high priest of his pagan tribe in the city of Romanov, where an evergreen sacred oak grew.

Before his death, Veidewut divided his kingdom among his twelve sons. One of them was Nedron, whose clan owned a part of modern Lithuania (Samogit lands). His descendants were the brothers Russingen and Glanda Kambila, who were baptized in 1280, and in 1283 Kambila came to Russia to serve the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich. After baptism, he began to be called Mare.

Who fed False Dmitry?

The personality of False Dmitry is one of the biggest mysteries of Russian history. Apart from the unresolvable question of the identity of the impostor, his "shadow" accomplices remain a problem. According to one version, the Romanovs, who fell into disgrace under Godunov, had a hand in the plot of False Dmitry, and the eldest descendant of the Romanovs, Fedor, the pretender to the throne, was tonsured a monk.

Adherents of this version believe that the Romanovs, Shuiskys and Golitsins, dreaming of the "Monomakh's hat", organized a conspiracy against Godunov, using the mysterious death of the young Tsarevich Dmitry. They prepared their pretender to the royal throne, known to us as False Dmitry, and led the coup on June 10, 1605. After, having dealt with their main rival, they themselves joined the struggle for the throne. Subsequently, after the accession of the Romanovs, their historians did everything to connect the massacre of the Godunov family exclusively with the personality of False Dmitry, and leave the hands of the Romanovs clean.

The Secret of the Zemsky Sobor 1613

The election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom was simply doomed to be covered with a thick layer of myths. How did it happen that in a country torn apart by turmoil, a young, inexperienced youth was elected to the kingdom, who at the age of 16 was not distinguished by either military talent or a sharp political mind? Of course, the future king had an influential father - Patriarch Filaret, who himself once aimed for the royal throne. But during the Zemsky Sobor, he was a prisoner of the Poles and could hardly have somehow influenced the process. According to the generally accepted version, the decisive role was played by the Cossacks, who at that time represented a powerful force to be reckoned with. Firstly, under False Dmitry II, they and the Romanovs ended up in “the same camp”, and secondly, they were certainly satisfied with the young and inexperienced prince, who did not pose a danger to their liberties, which they inherited during times of unrest.

The bellicose cries of the Cossacks forced Pozharsky's adherents to propose a two-week break. During this time, a wide agitation in favor of Mikhail unfolded. For many boyars, he also represented an ideal candidate, which would allow them to keep power in their hands. The main argument put forward was that the allegedly deceased Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, before his death, wanted to transfer the throne to his relative Fyodor Romanov (Patriarch Filaret). And since he languished in Polish captivity, the crown passed to his only son, Michael. As the historian Klyuchevsky later wrote, "they wanted to choose not the most capable, but the most convenient."

Defunct coat of arms

In the history of the dynastic coat of arms of the Romanovs, there are no less white spots than in the history of the dynasty itself. For some reason, for a long time, the Romanovs did not have their own coat of arms at all, they used the state emblem, with the image of a double-headed eagle, as a personal one. Their own family coat of arms was created only under Alexander II. By that time, the heraldry of the Russian nobility had practically taken shape, and only the ruling dynasty did not have its own coat of arms. It would be inappropriate to say that the dynasty did not have much interest in heraldry: even under Alexei Mikhailovich, the “Tsar's Titular” was published - a manuscript containing portraits of Russian monarchs with the coats of arms of the Russian lands.

Perhaps such loyalty to the double-headed eagle is due to the need for the Romanovs to show the legitimate succession from the Rurikids and, most importantly, from the Byzantine emperors. As you know, starting with Ivan III, they begin to talk about Russia as the successor of Byzantium. Moreover, the king married Sophia Paleolog, the granddaughter of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine. They adopted the symbol of the Byzantine double-headed eagle as their family crest.

In any case, this is just one of many versions. It is not known for certain why the ruling branch of the vast empire, which was related to the noblest houses of Europe, so stubbornly ignored the heraldic orders that had been developing over the centuries.

The long-awaited appearance of the Romanovs' own coat of arms under Alexander II only added to the questions. The then King of Arms Baron B.V. took up the development of the imperial order. Ken. The ensign of the governor Nikita Ivanovich Romanov, who at one time was the main oppositionist Alexei Mikhailovich, was taken as the basis. More precisely, its description, since the banner itself had already been lost by that time. It depicted a golden griffin on a silver background with a small black eagle with raised wings and lion heads on its tail. Perhaps Nikita Romanov borrowed it in Livonia during the Livonian War.

The new coat of arms of the Romanovs was a red griffin on a silver background, holding a golden sword and a tarch topped with a small eagle; on a black border are eight severed lion heads; four gold and four silver. First, the changed color of the griffin is striking. Historians of heraldry believe that Quesnay decided not to go against the rules established at that time, which forbade placing a golden figure on a silver background, with the exception of the coats of arms of such highest persons as the Pope. Thus, by changing the color of the griffin, he lowered the status of the family coat of arms. Or the “Livonian version” played a role, according to which Kene emphasized the Livonian origin of the coat of arms, since in Livonia from the 16th century there was a reverse combination of coat of arms colors: a silver griffin on a red background.

There is still a lot of controversy about the symbolism of the Romanov coat of arms. Why is so much attention paid to lion heads, and not to the figure of an eagle, which, according to historical logic, should be in the center of the composition? Why is it with lowered wings, and what, in the end, is the historical background of the Romanov coat of arms?

Peter III - the last Romanov?

As you know, the Romanov family was interrupted by the family of Nicholas II. However, some believe that the last ruler of the Romanov dynasty was Peter III. The young infantile emperor did not have a relationship with his wife at all. Catherine told in her diaries how anxiously she waited for her husband on their wedding night, and he came and fell asleep. This continued further - Peter III did not have any feelings for his wife, preferring her to his favorite. But the son, Pavel, was still born, many years after the marriage.

Rumors about illegitimate heirs are not uncommon in the history of world dynasties, especially in times of trouble for the country. So here the question arose: is Paul really the son of Peter III? Or the first favorite of Catherine, Sergei Saltykov, took part in this.

A significant argument in favor of these rumors was that the imperial couple had not had children for many years. Therefore, many believed that this union was completely fruitless, which the empress herself hinted at, mentioning in her memoirs that her husband suffered from phimosis.

Information that Sergei Saltykov could be Pavel's father is also present in Catherine's diaries: could not compare with him at court ... He was 25 years old, in general and by birth, and in many other qualities he was an outstanding gentleman ... I did not give in all spring and part of the summer. The result was not long in coming. September 20, 1754 Catherine gave birth to a son. Only from whom: from her husband Romanov, or from Saltykov?

There is a version according to which the initiator of the "affair" was Elizaveta Petrovna, who was desperate to get a grandson from her nephew. After "execution of her will" Saltykov was sent as an ambassador to Sweden.

The origin of Paul is still an unsolvable mystery that worried the subsequent generations of the Romanovs. It is not surprising, otherwise it turned out that the Romanov dynasty was interrupted by Peter III, and subsequent monarchs on the throne were nothing more than usurpers. And yet, in justification of Catherine the Great, it is worth saying that the similarity of the portraits of Paul and Peter III is obvious.

The mystery of Catherine's names

The choice of the name of the members of the ruling dynasty has always played an important role in the political life of the country. Firstly, with the help of names, intra-dynastic relations were often emphasized. So, for example, the names of the children of Alexei Mikhailovich were supposed to emphasize the connection of the Romanovs with the Rurik dynasty. Under Peter and his daughters, they showed a close relationship within the ruling branch (despite the fact that this did not correspond at all to the real situation in the imperial family). But under Catherine the Great, a completely new order of names was introduced. The former tribal affiliation gave way to another factor, among which political played a significant role. Her choice was based on the semantics of the names, going back to the Greek words: “people” and “victory”.

Let's start with Alexander. The name of the eldest son of Paul was given in honor of Alexander Nevsky, although another invincible commander, Alexander the Great, was also implied. About her choice, she wrote the following: “You say: Catherine wrote to Baron F.M. Grimm, that he will have to choose who to imitate: a hero (Alexander the Great) or a saint (Alexander Nevsky). You don't seem to know that our saint was a hero. He was a courageous warrior, a firm ruler and a clever politician and surpassed all other specific princes, his contemporaries ... So, I agree that Mr. Alexander has only one choice, and it depends on his personal talents which path he will take - holiness or heroism ".

The reasons for choosing the name Konstantin, unusual for Russian tsars, are even more interesting. They are connected with the idea of ​​Catherine's "Greek project", which meant the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the restoration of the Byzantine state, headed by her second grandson.

It is not clear, however, why the third son of Paul received the name Nicholas. Obviously, he was named after the most revered saint in Russia - Nicholas the Wonderworker. But this is just a version, since there is no explanation for this choice in the sources.

Catherine had nothing to do only with the choice of a name for the youngest son of Paul - Michael, who was born after her death. Here the father's long-standing passion for chivalry has already played a role. Mikhail Pavlovich was named in honor of the Archangel Michael, the leader of the heavenly host, the patron of the emperor-knight.

Four names: Alexander, Konstantin, Nikolai and Mikhail - formed the basis of the new imperial names of the Romanovs.

On February 21, 1613, the most representative Zemsky Sobor was convened in Moscow, which elected the 16-year-old Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov (1613-1645). On July 11, he was crowned in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.

Under the young king, his mother was in charge of the affairs of the state Great Elder Martha and her relatives from the Saltykov boyars (1613-1619) , and after returning from Polish captivity Patriarch Filaret, the latter became the de facto ruler of Russia (1619-1633) who held the title great sovereign. In essence, dual power was established in the country: state letters were written on behalf of the Sovereign Tsar and His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

The government faced a number of tasks: to improve the financial situation in the country, to restore the economy, to strengthen the state borders.

Financial tasks were solved by further strengthening the tax burden: the “fifth money” was introduced (a tax that amounted to a fifth of the profit), direct taxes on the collection of grain reserves and money for the upkeep of the army (1614).

During the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich, the craft began to rise and the first manufactories were formed. AT 1632. near Tula begins its activity the first in the country ironworks.

The situation in foreign policy was complex and ambiguous. In February 1617 between Russia and Sweden was concluded Stolbovsky peace (1617)(in the village of Stolbovo). At the same time, the Polish prince Vladislav tried to confirm his claims to the Russian throne by military actions. Polish troops met fierce resistance and in 1618 it was signed Truce of Deulin (1618) for 14.5 years. Poland departed Smolensk lands (except Vyazma), including Smolensk, Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky lands with 29 cities.

In 1632-1634. there was a Russian-Polish war, which is also known as Smolensk War 1632-1634. , caused by the desire of Russia to return their ancestral lands. was soon signed Polyanovsky peace (1634), under the terms of which the pre-war border was preserved, and the King of Poland Vladislav IV officially renounced claims to the Russian throne. For the successful conduct of hostilities during 1631-1634. military reform was carried out and " Shelves of the new system”, i.e. on the model of Western European armies. Reiter (1), dragoon (1) and soldier (8) regiments were created.

3. Prerequisites and features of the formation of Russian absolutism. The reign of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov (1645-1676).

During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich in Russia, the disintegration of feudalism begins. Manufactory begins to develop (more than 20), market relations are established (due to the widespread development of small-scale production), and merchants begin to play an increasingly important role in the country's economy.

Under Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed the Quietest, the prerequisites began to take shape for the formation of an absolute monarchy in Russia. The first sign of absolutism was Cathedral Code of 1649., which emphasized the sacredness of royal power and its inviolability. The chapter "Court on the Peasants" contains articles that finally formalized serfdom- the eternal hereditary dependence of the peasants was established, the "lesson years" for the search for fugitive peasants were canceled, a high fine was established for harboring the fugitives. Peasants were deprived of the right to legal representation in property disputes.

In the same period, the significance of zemstvo sobors began to decline, the last of which was convened in 1653., and immediately after that created Secret Affairs Order (1654-1676) for political investigation.

AT 1653 started Church reform of Patriarch Nikon byzantine style.

FROM 1654 to 1667. between Russia and Poland there was a war for the return of the original Russian lands of Russia and for the annexation of the Left-Bank Ukraine. In 1667 between Russia and Poland was signed Andrusovsky peace (1667), along which the Smolensk and Novgorod-Seversky lands, the left-bank Ukraine and Kyiv (the latter until 1669) returned to Russia.

The accession of Ukraine required the unification of church rites, for which Nikon chose the Byzantine ones as a model. In addition, the government wanted to generally unite the churches not only of Russia and Ukraine, but also of the eastern autocephalous churches.

After the annexation of Ukraine, Alexei Mikhailovich instead of the former “sovereign, tsar and grand prince of all Russia”, became known as “by the grace of God, the great sovereign, tsar and grand prince of all Great and Small and White Russia autocrat”.

Nikon's reforms gave rise to such a phenomenon as split and the movement of the Old Believers, which at the initial stage took exalted forms, namely, baptism by fire, i.e. self-immolation. The movement especially intensified after the church council of 1666-1667, at which they were anathematized for their heresy. The reflection of popular disagreement with the policy of the official church was found in Solovetsky uprising of 1668-1676.

The autocratic policy of the Moscow Patriarch was contrary to the interests of secular power, to the growing elements of absolutism, and could not but arouse royal discontent. At the cathedral in 1666-1667. Nikon was deposed and taken under escort to the Ferapontov Monastery on Beloozero. Nikon died in 1681.

In Russia, the replacement of the estate-representative monarchy by an absolute monarchy has begun: Zemstvo councils are no longer convened, the authority of the Boyar Duma has fallen, the church has been pushed into the background by secular power, the government’s control over the life of the country is increasing, and the government itself is under the supervision of the repressive apparatus (Order of secret affairs ), the importance of the nobility is enhanced (there is an equation of landed property with patrimony). At the same time, the formation of absolutism takes place under the sign of ever-increasing social oppression over the population - the peasantry and the township.

The policy of the government of Alexei Mikhailovich caused a number of popular indignations, the most significant of which were Salt Riot (1648) and Copper Riot (1662).

The salt riot (this is another name for the Moscow uprising) was initiated by the predatory policy of the government of B.I. Morozov after the tax reform: all indirect taxes were replaced by one direct tax on salt, as a result of which the price of salt increased several times.

The Copper Riot (or the Moscow Uprising of 1662) broke out due to the financial crisis: in 1654 the government introduced copper money at the silver rate, as a result of the mass production of copper money, their depreciation occurred, which led to increased speculation and the issuance of counterfeit coins (often by the ruling tip).