How many years did the Romanov family rule? History of the Romanov family 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 cannon with a screw thread, 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),

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.

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.

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.

B. I. Morozov, who began to rule the country on behalf of Alexei Mikhailovich, came up with a new taxation system, 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.

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 canceled (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.

In 1653, the Zemsky Sobor considered the issue of reuniting the 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.

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.

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 Aleksei 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 chopped up 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.

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.

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 Feodosia Morozova.

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.

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.

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 tsar's wife, 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.

The tsar blessed Tsarevich Fyodor Alekseevich (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.

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 along with her son Peter (the future Peter I) to “voluntary exile” in the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.

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.

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 sovereign 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.

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 fortifications 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.

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.

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, then 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 elect 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.

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, Tsar Ivan sat in a monomakh hat, 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.

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.

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 imprisonment in the monastery under the vigilant supervision of the guards. Sofya Alekseevna died in 1704 in the Novodevichy Convent.

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, all of whose activities are 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 lamented that by the age of 11 the prince 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 at the same time as 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.

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.

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 the Russian lands seized by Sweden during the Time of Troubles.

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 the 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 reckoning 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 tsar took the eight-year-old son Alexei to himself.

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.

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.

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 wooden fortress of St. Petersburg on Vesely Island, 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.

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).

In 1705-1706, a wave of popular uprisings took place in Russia. People were dissatisfied with the violence of the 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, the Swedes near the village of Golovchina in Belarus 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 king, 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.

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.

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. The 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".

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.

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.

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 stored.

I must say 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.

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 took part in extinguishing a fire on Vasilyevsky 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.

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.

The genus belongs to the ancient families of the Moscow boyars. The first ancestor of this family known to us from the annals, Andrei Ivanovich, who had the nickname Mare, in 1347 was in the service of the Great Vladimir and Moscow Prince Semyon Ivanovich Proud.

Semyon Gordy was the eldest son and heir and continued his father's policy. At that time, the Moscow principality was significantly strengthened, and Moscow began to claim leadership among other lands of North-Eastern Russia. The Moscow princes not only established good relations with the Golden Horde, but also began to play a more important role in all-Russian affairs. Among the Russian princes, Semyon was revered as the eldest, and few of them dared to contradict him. His character was clearly manifested in family life. After the death of his first wife, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas, Semyon married a second time.

The Smolensk princess Evpraksia became his chosen one, but already a year after the wedding, the Moscow prince for some reason sent her back to her father, Prince Fyodor Svyatoslavich. Then Semyon decided on a third marriage, this time turning to the old rivals of Moscow - the princes of Tver. In 1347, an embassy went to Tver to woo Princess Maria, the daughter of Prince Alexander Mikhailovich of Tver.

At one time, Alexander Mikhailovich tragically died in the Horde, falling victim to the intrigues of Ivan Kalita, Semyon's father. And now the children of irreconcilable enemies were united by marriage. The embassy in Tver was headed by two Moscow boyars - Andrei Kobyla and Alexei Bosovolkov. Thus, for the first time, the ancestor of Tsar Mikhail Romanov appeared on the historical arena.

The embassy has been successful. But Metropolitan Theognost suddenly intervened, refusing to bless this marriage. Moreover, he ordered the closure of Moscow churches to prevent weddings. This position was apparently caused by Semyon's previous divorce. But the prince sent generous gifts to the Patriarch of Constantinople, to whom the Metropolitan of Moscow was subordinate, and received permission to marry. In 1353, Semyon the Proud died from the plague that raged in Russia. Nothing more is known about Andrei Kobyl, but his descendants continued to serve the Moscow princes.

According to the pedigrees, the offspring of Andrei Kobyla was extensive. He left five sons, who became the founders of many famous noble families. The sons were named: Semyon the Stallion (did he get his name in honor of Semyon the Proud?), Alexander Yolka, Vasily Ivantei (or Vantei), Gavrila Gavsha (Gavsha - the same as Gabriel, only in a diminutive form; such endings of names on "-sha" were common on Novgorod land) and Fedor Koshka. In addition, Andrei had a younger brother, Fyodor Shevlyaga, from whom the noble families of the Motovilovs, Trusovs, Vorobins and Grabezhevs descended. The nicknames Kobyla, Stallion and Shevlyaga (“nag”) are close in meaning to each other, which is not surprising, since several noble families have a similar tradition - representatives of the same family could bear nicknames, as it were, of the same semantic circle. However, what was the origin of the brothers Andrei and Fyodor Ivanovich themselves?

Genealogies of the 16th - early 17th century do not report anything about this. But already in the first half of the 17th century, when they strengthened themselves on the Russian throne, a legend about their ancestors appeared. Many noble families erected themselves to people from other countries and lands. This became a kind of tradition of the ancient Russian nobility, which, therefore, almost without exception had a "foreign" origin. Moreover, the most popular were two “directions”, from where the “departure” of the noble ancestors allegedly took place: either “from the German”, or “from the Horde”. By "Germans" was meant not only the inhabitants of Germany, but in general all Europeans. Therefore, in the legends about the "departure" of the founders of the clans, one can find the following clarifications: "From the Germans, from the Prus" or "From the Germans, from the Svei (i.e. Swedish) land."

All these legends were similar to each other. Usually a certain “honest man” with a strange name, unusual for Russian hearing, came, often with a retinue, to one of the Grand Dukes for the service. Here he was baptized, and his descendants found themselves in the Russian elite. Then noble families arose from their nicknames, and since many clans erected themselves to the same ancestor, it is quite understandable that various versions of the same legends appeared. The reasons for creating these stories are quite clear. By inventing foreign ancestors for themselves, Russian aristocrats “justified” thereby their leading position in society.

They made their clans older, constructed a high origin, because many ancestors were considered descendants of foreign princes and rulers, thereby emphasizing their exclusivity. Of course, this does not mean that absolutely all the legends were fictitious, probably the most ancient of them could have real grounds (for example, the ancestor of the Pushkins - Radsha, judging by the end of the name, was related to Novgorod and lived in the XII century, according to some researchers, could indeed be of foreign origin). But it is not easy to single out these historical facts behind layers of speculation and conjecture. And besides, it can be difficult to unequivocally confirm or refute such a story due to the lack of sources. By the end of the 17th century, and especially in the 18th century, such legends acquired an increasingly fabulous character, turning into pure fantasies of authors poorly familiar with history. The Romanovs did not escape this either.

The creation of the family legend was “undertaken” by representatives of those families that had common ancestors with the Romanovs: the Sheremetevs, the already mentioned Trusovs, the Kolychevs. When in the 1680s the official genealogy book of the Moscow kingdom was created, which later received the name “Velvet” because of its binding, noble families submitted their genealogies to the Discharge Order in charge of this business. The Sheremetevs also presented the painting of their ancestors, and it turned out that, according to their information, the Russian boyar Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla was actually a prince who came from Prussia.

The "Prussian" origin of the ancestor was very common at that time among the ancient families. It has been suggested that this happened because of the "Prussian street" in one of the ends of ancient Novgorod. Along this street there was a road to Pskov, the so-called. "Prussian way". After the annexation of Novgorod to the Muscovite state, many noble families of this city were resettled in Moscow volosts, and vice versa. So, thanks to a misunderstood name, “Prussian” immigrants joined the Moscow nobility. But in the case of Andrei Kobyla, one can rather see the influence of another, very famous at that time, legend.

At the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, when a single Muscovite state was formed and the Moscow princes began to claim the royal (Caesar, i.e., imperial) title, the well-known idea "Moscow - the Third Rome" appeared. Moscow became the heir to the great Orthodox tradition of the Second Rome - Constantinople, and through it the imperial power of the First Rome - the Rome of the emperors Augustus and Constantine the Great. The succession of power was ensured by the marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Palaiologos, and the legend of "the gifts of Monomakh" - the Byzantine emperor, who transferred the royal crown and other regalia of royal power to Russia to his grandson Vladimir Monomakh, and the adoption of the imperial double-headed eagle as a state symbol. Visible proof of the greatness of the new kingdom was the magnificent ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin built under Ivan III and Vasily III. This idea was also supported at the genealogical level. It was at this time that a legend arose about the origin of the then ruling Rurik dynasty. The foreign, Varangian origin of Rurik could not fit into the new ideology, and the founder of the princely dynasty became a descendant in the 14th generation of a certain Prus, a relative of Emperor Augustus himself. Prus was allegedly the ruler of ancient Prussia, once inhabited by the Slavs, and his descendants became the rulers of Russia. And just as the Rurikovichs turned out to be the successors of the Prussian kings, and through them the Roman emperors, so the descendants of Andrei Kobyla created a “Prussian” legend for themselves.
In the future, the legend acquired new details. In a more complete form, it was framed by the stolnik Stepan Andreyevich Kolychev, who under Peter I became the first Russian king of arms. In 1722, he headed the King of Arms office under the Senate, a special institution that dealt with state heraldry and was in charge of accounting and class affairs of the nobility. Now the origin of Andrey Kobyla has "acquired" new features.

In 373 (or even 305) from the Nativity of Christ (at that time the Roman Empire still existed), 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. This city seemed to be located on the banks of the rivers Dubyssa and Nevyazh, at the confluence of which a sacred, evergreen oak of unusual height and thickness grew. Before his death, Veidewut divided his kingdom among his twelve sons. The fourth son was Nedron, whose descendants owned the Samogit lands (part of Lithuania). In the ninth generation, the descendant of Nedron was Dibo. He lived already in the XIII century and constantly defended his lands from the knights of the sword. Finally, in 1280, his sons - Russingen and Glanda Kambila were baptized, and in 1283 Glanda (Glandal or Glandus) Kambila came to Russia to serve the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich. Here he was baptized and became known as the Mare. According to other versions, Glanda was baptized with the name Ivan in 1287, and Andrei Kobyla was his son.

The artificiality of this story is obvious. Everything in it is fantastic, and no matter how some historians tried to verify its authenticity, their attempts were unsuccessful. Two characteristic motifs stand out. Firstly, the 12 sons of Veydevut are very reminiscent of the 12 sons of Prince Vladimir, the baptizer of Russia, and the fourth son of Nedron is the fourth son of Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise. Secondly, the author's desire to connect the beginning of the Romanov family in Russia with the first Moscow princes is obvious. After all, Daniil Alexandrovich was not only the founder of the Moscow principality, but also the founder of the Moscow dynasty, whose successors were the Romanovs.
Nevertheless, the “Prussian” legend became very popular and was officially recorded in the “General Armorial of the Noble Families of the All-Russian Empire”, created on the initiative of Paul I, who decided to streamline all Russian noble heraldry. Noble family coats of arms were entered into the coat of arms, which were approved by the emperor, and along with the image and description of the coat of arms, a certificate of the origin of the family was also given. The descendants of Kobyla - Sheremetevs, Konovnitsyns, Neplyuevs, Yakovlevs and others, noting their "Prussian" origin, introduced the image of the "sacred" oak as one of the figures in their family coats of arms, and the central image itself (two crosses, over which the crown is placed) borrowed from the heraldry of the city of Danzig (Gdansk).

Of course, with the development of historical science, researchers not only critically treated the legend about the origin of the Mare, but also tried to find in it any real historical foundations. The most extensive study of the "Prussian" roots of the Romanovs was undertaken by the outstanding pre-revolutionary historian V.K. Trutovsky, who saw some correspondence between the information in the legend about Gland Kambile and the real situation in the Prussian lands of the 13th century. Historians did not leave such attempts in the future. But if the legend of Gland Kambile could convey to us some grains of historical data, then its “external” design practically reduces this meaning to nothing. It may be of interest from the point of view of the public consciousness of the Russian nobility of the 17th-18th centuries, but not in the matter of clarifying the true origin of the reigning family. Such a brilliant connoisseur of Russian genealogy as A.A. Zimin, wrote that Andrei Kobyla "probably came from native Moscow (and Pereslavl) landowners." In any case, be that as it may, it is Andrei Ivanovich who remains the first reliable ancestor of the Romanov dynasty.
Let's return to the real genealogy of his descendants. The eldest son of Kobyla, Semyon Zherebets, became the ancestor of the nobles Lodygins, Konovnitsyns, Kokorevs, Obraztsovs, Gorbunovs. Of these, the Lodygins and Konovnitsyns left the greatest mark on Russian history. Lodygins come from the son of Semyon the Stallion - Grigory Lodyga (“lodyga” is an old Russian word meaning foot, stand, ankle). The famous engineer Alexander Nikolaevich Lodygin (1847–1923), who in 1872 invented the electric incandescent lamp in Russia, belonged to this family.

The Konovnitsyns are descended from the grandson of Grigory Lodyga, Ivan Semyonovich Konovnitsa. Among them, General Pyotr Petrovich Konovnitsyn (1764–1822), the hero of many wars waged by Russia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including the Patriotic War of 1812, became famous. He distinguished himself in the battles for Smolensk, Maloyaroslavets, in the "Battle of the Nations" near Leipzig, and in the Battle of Borodino he commanded the Second Army after the wounding of Prince P.I. Bagration. In 1815-1819, Konovnitsyn was Minister of War, and in 1819 he was elevated, together with his offspring, to the dignity of a count of the Russian Empire.
From the second son of Andrei Kobyla, Alexander Yolka, the Kolychevs, Sukhovo-Kobylins, Sterbeevs, Khludenevs, and Neplyuevs descended. The eldest son of Alexander Fyodor Kolych (from the word "kolcha", that is, lame) became the ancestor of the Kolychevs. Of the representatives of this genus, St. Philip (in the world Fedor Stepanovich Kolychev, 1507-1569). In 1566 he became Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia. Angrily denouncing the atrocities of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Philip was deposed in 1568 and then strangled by one of the leaders of the guardsmen, Malyuta Skuratov.

Sukhovo-Kobylins descend from another son of Alexander Yolka - Ivan Sukhoi (that is, "thin"). The most prominent representative of this kind was the playwright Alexander Vasilievich Sukhovo-Kobylin (1817–1903), the author of the trilogy Krechinsky's Wedding, The Case and Tarelkin's Death. In 1902, he was elected an honorary academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature. His sister, Sofya Vasilievna (1825–1867), an artist who received a large gold medal from the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1854 for a landscape from nature (which she depicted in a painting of the same name from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery), also painted portraits and genre compositions. Another sister, Elizaveta Vasilievna (1815–1892), married Countess Salias de Tournemire, gained fame as a writer under the pseudonym Eugenia Tour. Her son, Count Evgeny Andreevich Salias-de-Tournemire (1840–1908), was also a famous writer in his time, a historical novelist (he was called the Russian Alexandre Dumas). His sister, Maria Andreevna (1841–1906), was the wife of Field Marshal Iosif Vladimirovich Gurko (1828–1901), and his granddaughter, Princess Evdokia (Eda) Yuryevna Urusova (1908–1996), was an outstanding theater and film actress of the Soviet era.

The youngest son of Alexander Yolka, Fyodor Dyutka (Dyudka, Dudka or even Detko), became the founder of the Neplyuev family. Among the Neplyuevs, Ivan Ivanovich Neplyuev (1693–1773), a diplomat, who was a Russian resident in Turkey (1721–1734), and then governor of the Orenburg Territory, since 1760 a senator and conference minister, stands out.
The offspring of Vasily Ivantey was cut short by his son Gregory, who died childless.

From the fourth son of Kobyla, Gavrila Gavsha, came the Boborykins. This family gave birth to the talented writer Pyotr Dmitrievich Boborykin (1836–1921), the author of the novels "Businessmen", "China Town" and among others, by the way, "Vasily Terkin" (except for the name, this literary character has nothing to do with the hero A. T. Tvardovsky).
Finally, the fifth son of Andrei Kobyla, Fyodor Koshka, was the immediate ancestor of the Romanovs. He served Dmitry Donskoy and is repeatedly mentioned in the annals among his associates. Perhaps it was he who was instructed by the prince to defend Moscow during the famous war with Mamai, which ended with the victory of the Russians on the Kulikovo field. Before his death, Koshka took the tonsure and was named Theodorite. His family intermarried with the Moscow and Tver princely dynasties - branches of the Rurik dynasty. So, the daughter of Fyodor - Anna in 1391 was married to the Mikulin prince Fyodor Mikhailovich. Mikulinsky inheritance was part of the Tver land, and Fedor Mikhailovich himself was the youngest son of the Tver prince Mikhail Alexandrovich. Mikhail Alexandrovich was at enmity with Dmitry Donskoy for a long time. Three times he received a label in the Horde for the Great Vladimir reign, but each time, due to the opposition of Dmitry, he could not become the main Russian prince. However, gradually the strife between the Moscow and Tver princes came to naught. Back in 1375, at the head of a whole coalition of princes, Dmitry made a successful campaign against Tver, and since then Mikhail Alexandrovich abandoned attempts to seize leadership from the Moscow prince, although relations between them remained tense. Marriage with the Koshkins was probably supposed to contribute to the establishment of friendly relations between the eternal enemies.

But not only Tver was embraced by the descendants of Fyodor Koshka with their matrimonial policy. Soon, the Moscow princes themselves fell into their orbit. Among the sons of Koshka was Fyodor Goltyay, whose daughter, Maria, in the winter of 1407, one of the sons of Serpukhov and Borovsk prince Vladimir Andreevich, Yaroslav, married.
Vladimir Andreevich, the founder of Serpukhov, was a cousin of Dmitry Donskoy. Between them there were always the kindest friendships. The brothers took many important steps in the life of the Moscow State together. So, together they led the construction of the white-stone Moscow Kremlin, together they fought on the Kulikovo field. Moreover, it was Vladimir Andreevich with the governor D.M. Bobrok-Volynsky commanded an ambush regiment, which at a critical moment decided the outcome of the entire battle. Therefore, he entered with the nickname not only Brave, but also Donskoy.

Yaroslav Vladimirovich, and in his honor the city of Maloyaroslavets was founded, where he reigned, also bore the name Athanasius in baptism. This was one of the last cases when, according to a long tradition, the Rurikovich gave their children double names: secular and baptismal. The prince died from pestilence in 1426 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, where his grave exists to this day. From marriage with the granddaughter of Fyodor Koshka, Yaroslav had a son, Vasily, who inherited the entire Borovsko-Serpukhov inheritance, and two daughters, Maria and Elena. In 1433, Maria was married to the young Moscow prince Vasily II Vasilyevich, the grandson of Dmitry Donskoy.
At this time, a cruel strife began on Moscow land between Vasily and his mother Sofya Vitovtovna, on the one hand, and the family of his uncle Yuri Dmitrievich, Prince Zvenigorodsky, on the other. Yuri and his sons - Vasily (in the future blinded in one eye and became Oblique) and Dmitry Shemyaka (the nickname comes from the Tatar "chimek" - "outfit") - claimed the Moscow reign. Both Yuryevich were present at Vasily's wedding in Moscow. And it was here that the famous historical episode took place, fueling this irreconcilable struggle. Seeing on Vasily Yurievich a golden belt that once belonged to Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna tore it off, deciding that it did not belong to the Zvenigorod prince by right. One of the initiators of this scandal was the grandson of Fyodor Koshka Zakhary Ivanovich. The offended Yurievichs left the wedding feast, and the war soon broke out. During it, Vasily II was blinded by Shemyaka and became the Dark One, but in the end, the victory remained on his side. With the death of Shemyaka, who was poisoned in Novgorod, Vasily could no longer worry about the future of his reign. During the war, Vasily Yaroslavich, who became the brother-in-law of the Moscow prince, supported him in everything. But in 1456, Vasily II ordered his relative to be arrested and sent to prison in the city of Uglich. There the unfortunate son of Maria Goltyaeva spent 27 years until he died in 1483. His grave can be seen at the left side of the iconostasis of the Moscow Archangel Cathedral. There is also a portrait image of this prince. The children of Vasily Yaroslavich died in captivity, and the second wife with her son from her first marriage, Ivan, managed to escape to Lithuania. There, the family of Borovsky princes did not last long.

From Maria Yaroslavna Vasily II had several sons, including Ivan III. Thus, all representatives of the Moscow princely dynasty, starting with Vasily II and up to the sons and granddaughter of Ivan the Terrible, were descendants of the Koshkins in the female line.
Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna tearing off the belt from Vasily Kosoy at the wedding of Vasily the Dark. From a painting by P.P. Chistyakov. 1861
The descendants of Fyodor Koshka consistently bore the surnames of the Koshkins, Zakharyins, Yuryevs, and, finally, the Romanovs as generic names. In addition to the daughter of Anna and the son of Fyodor Goltai, mentioned above, Fyodor Koshka had sons Ivan, Alexander Bezzubts, Nikifor and Mikhail the Bad. The descendants of Alexander were nicknamed the Bezzubtsevs, and then the Sheremetevs and the Yepanchins. The Sheremetevs descend from Alexander's grandson, Andrey Konstantinovich Sheremet, and the Yepanchins from another grandson, Semyon Konstantinovich Yepanchi (an old cloak-like garment was called an epancha).

The Sheremetevs are one of the most famous Russian noble families. Probably the most famous of the Sheremetevs is Boris Petrovich (1652–1719). An associate of Peter the Great, one of the first Russian field marshals (the first Russian by origin), he participated in the Crimean and Azov campaigns, became famous for his victories in the Northern War, commanded the Russian army in the Battle of Poltava. One of the first he was elevated by Peter to the dignity of a count of the Russian Empire (obviously, this happened in 1710). Among the descendants of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, Russian historians especially revere Count Sergei Dmitrievich (1844–1918), a prominent researcher of Russian antiquity, chairman of the Archaeographic Commission under the Ministry of Public Education, who did a lot for the publication and study of documents of the Russian Middle Ages. His wife was the granddaughter of Prince Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky, and his son Pavel Sergeevich (1871–1943) also became a famous historian and genealogist. This branch of the family owned the famous Ostafyevo near Moscow (inherited from the Vyazemskys), preserved through the efforts of Pavel Sergeevich after the revolutionary events of 1917. The descendants of Sergei Dmitrievich, who ended up in exile, became related there with the Romanovs. This family still exists, in particular, a descendant of Sergei Dmitrievich, Count Pyotr Petrovich, who now lives in Paris, heads the Russian Conservatory named after S.V. Rachmaninov. The Sheremetevs owned two architectural gems near Moscow: Ostankino and Kuskovo. How not to recall here the serf actress Praskovya Kovaleva-Zhemchugova, who became Countess Sheremeteva, and her wife Count Nikolai Petrovich (1751–1809), the founder of the famous Moscow Hospice House (now the building houses the N.V. Sklifosovsky Institute for Emergency Medicine). Sergei Dmitrievich was the grandson of N.P. Sheremetev and a serf actress.

The Yepanchins are less noticeable in Russian history, but they also left their mark on it. In the 19th century, representatives of this family served in the navy, and two of them, Nikolai and Ivan Petrovich, heroes of the Battle of Navarino in 1827, became Russian admirals. Their great-nephew, General Nikolai Alekseevich Yepanchin (1857–1941), a well-known military historian, served as director of the Page Corps in 1900–1907. Already in exile, he wrote interesting memoirs "In the service of three emperors", published in Russia in 1996.

Actually, the Romanov clan comes from the eldest son of Fyodor Koshka - Ivan, who was the boyar of Vasily I. It was the son of Ivan Koshka Zakhary Ivanovich who identified the notorious belt in 1433 at the wedding of Vasily the Dark. Zacharias had three sons, so the Koshkins were divided into three more branches. The younger ones - Lyatsky (Lyatsky) - left to serve in Lithuania, and their traces were lost there. The eldest son of Zacharias - Yakov Zakharievich (died in 1510), boyar and governor under Ivan III and Vasily III, for some time governor in Novgorod and Kolomna, took part in the war with Lithuania and, in particular, took the cities of Bryansk and Putivl, which then departed to the Russian state. The descendants of Jacob formed the noble family of the Yakovlevs. He is known for his two “illegal” representatives: in 1812, the wealthy landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev (1767–1846) and the daughter of a German official Louise Ivanovna Haag (1795–1851), who were not legally married, had a son, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (d. . in 1870) (grandson of A.I. Herzen - Pyotr Alexandrovich Herzen (1871–1947) - one of the largest domestic surgeons, a specialist in clinical oncology). And in 1819, his brother Lev Alekseevich Yakovlev had an illegitimate son, Sergei Lvovich Levitsky (d. 1898), one of the most famous Russian photographers (who was A.I. Herzen's cousin).

The middle son of Zakhary - Yuri Zakharyevich (died in 1505 [?]), boyar and voivode under Ivan III, like his elder brother, fought with the Lithuanians in the famous battle near the Vedrosha River in 1500. His wife was Irina Ivanovna Tuchkova, a representative of a well-known noble family. The surname of the Romanovs came from one of the sons of Yuri and Irina okolnichiy Roman Yuryevich (died in 1543). It was his family that became related to the royal dynasty.

On February 3, 1547, the sixteen-year-old tsar, who had been crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin a fortnight before, married Anastasia, the daughter of Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin. Ivan's family life with Anastasia was happy. The young wife gave her husband three sons and three daughters. Unfortunately, the daughters died in childhood. The fate of the sons was different. The eldest son Dmitry died at the age of nine months. When the royal family made a pilgrimage to the Kirillov Monastery on Beloozero, they took the little prince with them.

There was a strict ceremonial at court: the baby was carried in her arms by a nanny, and two boyars, relatives of Queen Anastasia, supported her by the arms. The journey took place along the rivers, on plows. One day, the nanny with the prince and the boyars stepped onto the shaky gangway of the plow, and, unable to resist, everyone fell into the water. Dimitri choked. Then Ivan called this name his youngest son from his last marriage to Maria Naga. However, the fate of this boy turned out to be tragic: at the age of nine he. The name Dmitry was unlucky for the Grozny family.

The second son of the tsar, Ivan Ivanovich, had a difficult character. Cruel and domineering, he could become a complete likeness of his father. But in 1581, the 27-year-old prince was mortally wounded by Grozny during a quarrel. The reason for the unbridled outburst of anger was allegedly the third wife of Tsarevich Ivan (he sent the first two to the monastery) - Elena Ivanovna Sheremeteva, a distant relative of the Romanovs. Being pregnant, she showed herself to her father-in-law in a light shirt, "in an indecent form." The king beat his daughter-in-law, who then had a miscarriage. Ivan stood up for his wife and immediately received a blow to the temple with an iron staff. A few days later he died, and Elena was tonsured with the name of Leonid in one of the monasteries.

After the death of the heir, Grozny's successor was his third son from Anastasia, Fedor. In 1584 he became the Tsar of Moscow. Fyodor Ivanovich was distinguished by a quiet and meek disposition. He was disgusted by the cruel tyranny of his father, and he spent a significant part of his reign in prayers and fasts, atoning for the sins of his ancestors. Such a high spiritual mood of the tsar seemed strange to his subjects, which is why the popular legend about Fedor's dementia appeared. In 1598, he peacefully fell asleep forever, and his brother-in-law Boris Godunov took over the throne. Fedor's only daughter, Theodosius, died a little before the age of two. Thus ended the offspring of Anastasia Romanovna.
With her kind, gentle character, Anastasia restrained the cruel temper of the king. But in August 1560, the queen died. An analysis of her remains, now in the basement chamber of the Archangel Cathedral, already carried out in our time, showed a high probability that Anastasia was poisoned. After her death, a new stage began in the life of Ivan the Terrible: the era of Oprichnina and lawlessness.

Ivan's marriage to Anastasia brought her relatives to the forefront of Moscow politics. The queen's brother, Nikita Romanovich (died in 1586), was especially popular. He became famous as a talented commander and brave warrior during the Livonian War, rose to the rank of boyar and was one of the close associates of Ivan the Terrible. He entered the inner circle and Tsar Fedor. Shortly before his death, Nikita took the tonsure with the name of Nifont. Was married twice. His first wife - Varvara Ivanovna Khovrina - came from the Khovrin-Golovin family, which later gave rise to several famous figures in Russian history, including an associate of Peter I, Admiral Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin. The second wife of Nikita Romanovich - Princess Evdokia Alexandrovna Gorbataya-Shuiskaya - belonged to the descendants of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod Rurikovich. Nikita Romanovich lived in his chambers on Varvarka Street in Moscow, where in the middle of the 19th century. museum was opened.

Seven sons and five daughters of Nikita Romanovich continued this boyar family. For a long time, researchers doubted from which marriage Nikita Romanovich was born his eldest son Fyodor Nikitich, the future patriarch Filaret, the father of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty. After all, if his mother was Princess Gorbataya-Shuiskaya, then the Romanovs are thus the descendants of the Rurikovich through the female line. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, historians assumed that Fyodor Nikitich was most likely born from his father's first marriage. And only in recent years this question, apparently, was finally resolved. During the study of the Romanov necropolis in Moscow's Novospassky Monastery, a tombstone of Varvara Ivanovna Khovrina was discovered. In the tomb epitaph, the year of her death, perhaps, should be read as 7063, i.e. 1555 (she died on June 29), and not 7060 (1552), as previously thought. Such dating removes the question of the origin of Fyodor Nikitich, who died in 1633, having been “more than 80 years old”. The ancestors of Varvara Ivanovna and, consequently, the ancestors of the entire royal House of Romanov, Khovrina, came from the merchant people of the Crimean Sudak and had Greek roots.

Fyodor Nikitich Romanov served as a regimental governor, participated in campaigns against the cities of Koporye, Yam and Ivangorod during the successful Russian-Swedish war of 1590-1595, defended the southern borders of Russia from the Crimean raids. A prominent position at court made it possible for the Romanovs to intermarry with other then-known families: the princes Sitsky, Cherkassky, and also with the Godunovs (Boris Fedorovich's nephew married the daughter of Nikita Romanovich, Irina). But these family ties did not save the Romanovs after the death of their benefactor Tsar Fedor from disgrace.

With the accession to the throne, everything changed. Hating the entire Romanov family, afraid of them as potential rivals in the struggle for power, the new tsar began to eliminate his opponents one by one. In 1600-1601, repressions fell upon the Romanovs. Fyodor Nikitich was forcibly tonsured a monk (under the name Filaret) and sent to the distant St. Anthony Monastery in the Arkhangelsk district. The same fate befell his wife Xenia Ivanovna Shestova. She was tonsured under the name of Marfa, she was exiled to the Tolvuysky churchyard in Zaonezhye, and then lived with her children in the village of Klin, Yuryevsky district. Her young daughter Tatyana and son Mikhail (the future tsar) were taken to a prison on Beloozero together with her aunt Anastasia Nikitichnaya, who later became the wife of a prominent figure in the Time of Troubles, Prince Boris Mikhailovich Lykov-Obolensky. The brother of Fyodor Nikitich, boyar Alexander, was exiled on a false denunciation to one of the villages of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, where he was killed. Another brother died in disgrace, the devious Mikhail, who was transported from Moscow to the remote Permian village of Nyrob. There he died in prison and in chains from hunger. Another son of Nikita, stolnik Vasily, died in the city of Pelym, where he and his brother Ivan were kept chained to the wall. And their sisters Efimia (monastic Evdokia) and Martha went into exile together with their husbands - the princes of Sitsky and Cherkassky. Only Martha survived the imprisonment. Thus, almost the entire Romanov family was defeated. Miraculously, only Ivan Nikitich, nicknamed Kasha, survived after a short exile.

But the Godunov dynasty was not allowed to rule in Russia. The fire of the Great Troubles was already flaring up, and in this seething cauldron the Romanovs emerged from oblivion. The active and energetic Fyodor Nikitich (Filaret) returned to "big" politics at the first opportunity - False Dmitry I made his benefactor Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl. The fact is that once Grigory Otrepyev was his servant. There is even a version that the Romanovs specially prepared the ambitious adventurer for the role of the "legitimate" heir to the Moscow throne. Be that as it may, Filaret occupied a prominent place in the church hierarchy.

He made a new career "jump" with the help of another impostor - False Dmitry II, "Tushinsky Thief". In 1608, during the capture of Rostov, the Tushinos captured Filaret and brought an impostor to the camp. False Dmitry offered him to become patriarch, and Filaret agreed. In Tushino, in general, a second capital was formed, as it were: there was its own tsar, there were their own boyars, their own orders, and now also their own patriarch (in Moscow, the patriarchal throne was occupied by Hermogenes). When the Tushino camp collapsed, Filaret managed to return to Moscow, where he participated in the overthrow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky. The Seven Boyars that formed after that included the younger brother of the "patriarch" Ivan Nikitich Romanov, who received the boyars on the day of Otrepiev's wedding to the kingdom. As you know, the new government decided to invite the son of the Polish king, Vladislav, to the Russian throne and concluded an appropriate agreement with the hetman Stanislav Zholkevsky, and in order to settle all the formalities, a “great embassy” was sent from Moscow near Smolensk, where the king was Filaret. However, negotiations with King Sigismund stalled, the ambassadors were arrested and sent to Poland. There, in captivity, Filaret stayed until 1619, and only after the conclusion of the Deulino truce and the end of a long war, he returned to Moscow. The Russian Tsar was already his son Michael.
Filaret had now become the "legitimate" Patriarch of Moscow and exerted a very significant influence on the policy of the young tsar. He proved to be a very domineering and sometimes even tough person. His court was built on the model of the royal one, and several special, patriarchal, orders were formed to manage land holdings. Filaret also took care of enlightenment, resuming the printing of liturgical books in Moscow after the ruin. He paid much attention to foreign policy issues and even created one of the diplomatic ciphers of that time.

The wife of Fyodor-Filaret, Xenia Ivanovna, came from an ancient family of Shestovs. Mikhail Prushanin, or, as he was also called, Misha, an associate of Alexander Nevsky, was considered their ancestor. He was also the ancestor of such famous families as the Morozovs, Saltykovs, Sheins, Tuchkovs, Cheglokovs, Scriabins. Misha's descendants became related to the Romanovs back in the 15th century, since the mother of Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin was one of the Tuchkovs. By the way, the Kostroma village of Domnino, where Ksenia and her son Mikhail lived for some time after the liberation of Moscow from the Poles, also belonged to the Shestovs' patrimonial estates. The headman of this village, Ivan Susanin, became famous for saving the young king from death at the cost of his life. After her son's accession to the throne, the "great old woman" Martha helped him in governing the country until his father, Filaret, returned from captivity.

Ksenia-Martha was distinguished by a kind character. So, remembering the widows of previous tsars - Ivan the Terrible, Vasily Shuisky, Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich - who lived in monasteries, she repeatedly sent them gifts. She often went on a pilgrimage, was strict in matters of religion, but did not shy away from the joys of life: in the Ascension Kremlin Monastery she organized a gold-embroidery workshop, from which beautiful fabrics and clothes came out for the royal court.
Mikhail Fedorovich's uncle Ivan Nikitich (died in 1640) also occupied a prominent place at the court of his nephew. With the death of his son, boyar and butler Nikita Ivanovich, in 1654, all other branches of the Romanovs, except for the royal offspring of Mikhail Fedorovich, ceased. The family tomb of the Romanovs was the Moscow Novospassky Monastery, where in recent years great work has been carried out to explore and restore this ancient necropolis. As a result, many burial places of the ancestors of the royal dynasty were identified, and according to some remains, experts even recreated portrait images, including those of Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin, the great-grandfather of Tsar Mikhail.

The family coat of arms of the Romanovs dates back to the Livonian heraldry and was created in the middle of the 19th century. outstanding Russian heraldist Baron B.V. Köhne on the basis of emblematic images on objects that belonged to the Romanovs in the second half of the 16th - early 17th centuries. The description of the coat of arms is as follows:
“In a silver field, a scarlet vulture holding a golden sword and a tarch crowned with a small eagle; on a black border are eight torn off lion heads: four gold and four silver.

Evgeny Vladimirovich Pchelov
Romanovs. History of the great dynasty

For the final end of the Time of Troubles, it was necessary not only to elect a new monarch to the Russian throne, but also to ensure the safety of the Russian borders from the two most active neighbors - the Commonwealth and Sweden. However, this was impossible until a social consensus was reached in the Moscow kingdom, and a person who would fully suit the majority of the delegates of the Zemsky Sobor of 1612-1613 would not appear on the throne of the descendants of Ivan Kalita. For a variety of reasons, 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov became such a candidate.

CONTRIDENTS TO THE MOSCOW THRONE

With the liberation of Moscow from the interventionists, the zemstvo people got the opportunity to proceed with the election of the head of state. In November 1612, the nobleman Filosofov told the Poles that the Cossacks in Moscow were in favor of electing one of the Russian people to the throne, “and they were trying on Filaret’s son and the thieves’ Kaluga one,” while the older boyars were in favor of electing a foreigner. The Cossacks remembered "Tsarevich Ivan Dmitrievich" in a moment of extreme danger, Sigismund III stood at the gates of Moscow, and the surrendered members of the Seven Boyars could at any moment again go over to his side. Behind the back of the Kolomna prince stood the army of Zarutsky. The chieftains hoped that at a critical moment, old comrades-in-arms would come to their aid. But the hopes for the return of Zarutsky did not materialize. In the hour of trials, the ataman was not afraid to unleash a fratricidal war. Together with Marina Mnishek and her young son, he came to the walls of Ryazan and tried to capture the city. Ryazan governor Mikhail Buturlin came forward and put him to flight.

Zarutsky's attempt to get Ryazan for the "Vorenka" failed. The townspeople expressed their negative attitude towards the candidacy of "Ivan Dmitrievich". Agitation in his favor began to subside in Moscow by itself.

Without the Boyar Duma, the election of the tsar could not have legal force. With a thought, the election threatened to drag on for many years. Many noble families claimed the crown, and no one wanted to give way to another.

SWEDEN PRINCE

When the Second Militia stood in Yaroslavl, D.M. Pozharsky, with the consent of the clergy, service people, settlements, feeding the militia with funds, entered into negotiations with the people of Novgorod about the candidacy of the Swedish prince for the throne of Moscow. On May 13, 1612, letters were written to Metropolitan Isidore of Novgorod, Prince Odoevsky and Delagardie and sent to Novgorod with Stepan Tatishchev. For the sake of the importance of the matter with this ambassador, the Militia went and the elected ones - from each city, one person. It is interesting that Metropolitan Isidore and the voivode Odoevsky were asked how the relations between them and the Novgorodians with the Swedes were? And Delagardie was informed that if the new Swedish king Gustav II Adolf releases his brother to the throne of Moscow and orders him to be baptized in the Orthodox faith, then they are glad to be with the Novgorod land in council.

Chernikova T. V. Europeanization of Russia inXV-XVII centuries. M., 2012

ELECTION TO THE KINGDOM OF MIKHAIL ROMANOV

When quite a lot of authorities and elected officials gathered, a three-day fast was appointed, after which councils began. First of all, they began to talk about whether to choose from foreign royal houses or their natural Russian, and decided not to elect the Lithuanian and Swedish king and their children and other German faiths and none of the states of the non-Christian faith of the Greek law on the Vladimir and Moscow state, and They don’t want Marinka and her son in the state, because the Polish and German kings saw in themselves a lie and a crime of the cross and a peaceful violation: the Lithuanian king ruined the Muscovite state, and the Swedish king Veliky Novgorod took it by deceit. They began to choose their own: here intrigues, unrest and unrest began; everyone wanted to do according to his own thoughts, everyone wanted his own, some wanted the throne themselves, bribed and sent; sides formed, but none of them prevailed. Once, says the chronograph, some nobleman from Galich brought a written opinion to the cathedral, which said that Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was the closest in kinship with the former tsars, and he should be elected tsars. Dissatisfied voices were heard: “Who brought such a letter, who, from where?” At that time, the Don ataman comes out and also submits a written opinion: “What did you submit, ataman?” - Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky asked him. “About the natural tsar Mikhail Fedorovich,” answered the ataman. The same opinion, submitted by a nobleman and the Don ataman, decided the matter: Mikhail Fedorovich was proclaimed tsar. But not all of the elected were in Moscow; there were no noble boyars; Prince Mstislavsky and his comrades immediately after their liberation left Moscow: it was embarrassing for them to remain in it near the liberators; now they sent to call them to Moscow for a common cause, they also sent reliable people around the cities and counties to find out the people's thoughts about the new chosen one, and the final decision was postponed for two weeks, from February 8 to February 21, 1613. Finally, Mstislavsky and his comrades arrived, the belated elected representatives also arrived, envoys from the regions returned with the news that the people gladly recognized Michael as king. On February 21, the week of Orthodoxy, that is, on the first Sunday of Great Lent, there was the last council: each rank submitted a written opinion, and all these opinions were found to be similar, all the ranks pointed to one person - Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. Then the Archbishop of Ryazan Theodorit, the Trinity cellar Avraamy Palitsyn, the Novospassky archimandrite Joseph and the boyar Vasily Petrovich Morozov went up to the Lobnoye Mesto and asked the people who filled Red Square who they wanted to be king? "Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov" - was the answer.

1613 CATHEDRAL AND MIKHAIL ROMANOV

The first thing the great Zemsky Sobor, which elected the sixteen-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the Russian throne, was to send an embassy to the newly elected tsar. When sending the embassy, ​​the cathedral did not know where Michael was, and therefore the order given to the ambassadors said: “To go to Sovereign Mikhail Fedorovich, Tsar and Grand Duke of All Russia, to Yaroslavl.” Arriving in Yaroslavl, the embassy here only found out that Mikhail Fedorovich lives with his mother in Kostroma; without delay, it moved there, along with many Yaroslavl citizens who had already joined here.

The embassy arrived in Kostroma on March 14; On the 19th, having convinced Mikhail to accept the royal crown, they left Kostroma with him, and on the 21st they all arrived in Yaroslavl. Here, all Yaroslavl residents and the nobles who had gathered from everywhere, boyar children, guests, merchants with their wives and children met the new tsar with a procession, brought him images, bread and salt, and rich gifts. Mikhail Fedorovich chose the ancient Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery as the place of his stay here. Here, in the cells of the archimandrite, he lived with his mother, nun Marfa, and the temporary State Council, which was composed of Prince Ivan Borisovich Cherkassky with other nobles and the clerk Ivan Bolotnikov with stewards and solicitors. From here, on March 23, the first letter from the tsar was sent to Moscow, informing the Zemsky Sobor of consent to accepting the royal crown.

According to some sources, the Romanovs are not of Russian blood at all, but came from Prussia, according to the historian Veselovsky they are still Novgorodians. The first Romanov appeared as a result of the plexus of childbirth Koshkin-Zakharyin-Yuryev-Shuisky-Rurik in the guise of Mikhail Fedorovich, elected tsar of the Romanov dynasty. The Romanovs, in different interpretations of surnames and names, ruled until 1917.

The Romanov family: a story of life and death - a summary

The era of the Romanovs is a 304-year-old usurpation of power in the expanses of Russia by one boyar family that was born. According to the social classification of the feudal society of the 10th - 17th centuries, the boyars were called large landowners in Moscow Russia. AT 10th - 17th for centuries it was the upper stratum of the ruling class. According to the Danube-Bulgarian origin, "boyar" is translated as "noble". Their history is a time of unrest and an irreconcilable struggle with the kings for complete power.

Exactly 405 years ago, a dynasty of kings of this name appeared. 297 years ago, Peter the Great took the title of All-Russian Emperor. In order not to degenerate by blood, leapfrog began with its mixing along the male and female lines. After Catherine the First and Paul II, the branch of Mikhail Romanov sank into oblivion. But new branches sprang up, mixed with other bloodlines. Fyodor Nikitich, Patriarch of Russia Filaret, also bore the surname Romanov.

In 1913, the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty was splendidly and solemnly celebrated.

The highest officials of Russia, invited from European countries, did not even suspect that a fire was already warming up under the house, which would burn the ashes of the last emperor and his family in just four years.

In the times under consideration, members of the imperial families did not have surnames. They were called crown princes, grand dukes, princesses. After the Great October Socialist Revolution, which critics of Russia call a terrible coup for the country, its Provisional Government decided that all members of this house should be called Romanovs.

More on the main reigning persons of the Russian state

16-year-old first king. Appointment, election of essentially inexperienced in politics or even young children, grandchildren during the transition of power is nothing new for Russia. Often this was practiced in order for the curators of minor rulers to solve their own tasks before they came of age. In this case, Mikhail the First razed the "Time of Troubles" to the ground, brought peace and brought the almost collapsed country together. Of his ten family offspring, also 16-year-old Tsarevich Alexei (1629 - 1675) succeeded Michael as king.

The first attempt on the Romanovs by relatives. Tsar Theodore the Third dies at the age of twenty. The tsar, who was in poor health (even barely survived the time of the coronation), meanwhile, turned out to be strong in politics, reforms, organization of the army and civil service.

Read also:

He forbade foreign tutors who poured from Germany, France to Russia to work without control. Russian historians suspect that the tsar's death was prepared by close relatives, most likely his sister Sophia. What will be discussed below.

Two kings on the throne. Again about the infancy of Russian tsars.

After Fedor, Ivan the Fifth was supposed to take the throne - the ruler, as they wrote, without a king in his head. Therefore, two relatives shared the throne on the same throne - Ivan and his 10-year-old brother Peter. But all state affairs were in charge of the already called Sophia. Peter the Great removed her from her affairs when he found out that she had prepared a state conspiracy against his brother. He sent an intriguer to the monastery to atone for sins.

Tsar Peter the Great becomes a monarch. The one about whom they said that he cut a window to Europe for Russia. Autocrat, military strategist, who finally defeated the Swedes in the wars of twenty years. Titled Emperor of All Russia. The monarchy changed the reign.

The female line of monarchs. Peter, already nicknamed the Great, died in another world, without officially leaving an heir. Therefore, power was transferred to the second wife of Peter, Catherine the First, a German by birth. Rules for only two years - until 1727.

The female line was continued by Anna the First (Peter's niece). During her ten years on the throne, her lover Ernst Biron actually reigned.

The third empress along this line was Elizaveta Petrovna from the family of Peter and Catherine. At first she was not crowned, because she was an illegitimate child. But this grown-up child made the first royal, fortunately, bloodless coup d'état, as a result of which she sat on the All-Russian throne. Eliminating the regent Anna Leopoldovna. It is to her that contemporaries should be grateful, because she returned to St. Petersburg its beauty and significance of the capital.

About the end of the female line. Catherine II the Great, arrived in Russia as Sophia Augusta Frederick. Overthrew the wife of Peter III. Rules for over three decades. Becoming a Romanov record holder, a despot, she strengthened the power of the capital, increasing the country territorially. Continued to improve architecturally the northern capital. Strengthened the economy. Patron, loving woman.

New, bloody, conspiracy. The heir Paul was killed after refusing to abdicate.

Alexander the First entered the government of the country on time. Napoleon went to Russia with the strongest army in Europe. The Russian one was much weaker and bled dry in battles. Napoleon is within easy reach of Moscow. We know from history what happened next. The Emperor of Russia agreed with Prussia, and Napoleon was defeated. The combined troops entered Paris.

Assassination attempts on a successor. They wanted to destroy Alexander II seven times: the liberal did not suit the opposition, which was already ripening then. They blew it up in the Winter Palace of the Emperors in St. Petersburg, shot it in the Summer Garden, even at the world exhibition in Paris. In one year there were three assassination attempts. Alexander II survived.

The sixth and seventh assassination attempts took place almost simultaneously. One terrorist missed, and the Narodnaya Volya Grinevitsky finished the job with a bomb.

The last Romanov is on the throne. Nicholas II was crowned for the first time with his wife, who had previously had five female names. It happened in 1896. On this occasion, they began to distribute the imperial present to those gathered on Khodynka, and thousands of people died in the stampede. The emperor seemed not to notice the tragedy. Which further alienated the bottom from the top and prepared the coup.

The Romanov family - the story of life and death (photo)

In March 1917, under pressure from the masses, Nicholas II terminated his imperial powers in favor of his brother Mikhail. But he was even more cowardly, and refused the throne. And that meant only one thing: the end of the monarchy. At that time, there were 65 people in the Romanov dynasty. Men were shot by the Bolsheviks in a number of cities in the Middle Urals and in St. Petersburg. Forty-seven managed to escape into exile.

The emperor and his family were put on a train and sent to Siberian exile in August 1917. Where all those objectionable to the authorities were driven into severe frosts. The small city of Tobolsk was briefly identified as the place, but it soon became clear that Kolchak’s men could capture them there and use them for their own purposes. Therefore, the train was hastily returned to the Urals, to Yekaterinburg, where the Bolsheviks ruled.

Red terror in action

Members of the imperial family were secretly placed in the basement of a house. The shooting took place there. The emperor, members of his family, assistants were killed. The execution was given a legal basis in the form of a resolution of the Bolshevik Regional Council of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies.

In fact, without a court decision, and it was an illegal action.

A number of historians believe that the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviks received the sanction from Moscow, most likely from the weak-willed All-Russian headman Sverdlov, and maybe personally from Lenin. According to testimony, the people of Yekaterinburg rejected the court hearing because of the possible advance of Admiral Kolchak's troops to the Urals. And this is legally not a repression in retaliation for tsarism, but a murder.

The representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Solovyov, who investigated (1993) the circumstances of the execution of the royal family, argued that neither Sverdlov nor Lenin had anything to do with the execution. Even a fool would not have left such traces, especially the top leaders of the country.

The wise man avoids all extremes.

Lao Tzu

The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for 304 years, from 1613 to 1917. She replaced the Rurik dynasty on the throne, which ended after the death of Ivan the Terrible (the tsar did not leave an heir). During the reign of the Romanovs, 17 rulers changed on the Russian throne (the average duration of the reign of 1 tsar is 17.8 years), and the state itself changed its form with the light hand of Peter 1. In 1771 Russia changed from a Tsardom to an Empire.

Table - Romanov Dynasty

In the table, people who ruled (with the date of reign) are highlighted in color, and people who were not in power are marked with a white background. Double line - marital ties.

All rulers of the dynasty (who accounted for each other):

• Mikhail 1613-1645. Ancestor of the Romanov dynasty. Received power largely thanks to his father - Filaret.
• Alexei 1645-1676. Son and heir of Michael.
• Sophia (regent under Ivan 5 and Peter 1) 1682-1696. Daughter of Alexei and Maria Miloslavskaya. Sister of Fyodor and Ivan 5.
• Peter 1 (independent rule from 1696 to 1725). A man who is for the majority a symbol of the dynasty and the personification of the power of Russia.
• Catherine 1 1725-1727. Real name - Marta Skavronska. Wife of Peter 1
• Peter 2 1727-1730. Grandson of Peter 1, son of the murdered Tsarevich Alexei.
• Anna Ioannovna 1730-1740. Daughter of Ivan 5.
• Ivan 6 Antonovich 1740-1741. The baby ruled under the regent - his mother Anna Leopoldovna. Grandson of Anna Ioannovna.
• Elizabeth 1741-1762. Daughter of Peter I.
• Peter 3 1762. Grandson of Peter 1, son of Anna Petrovna.
• Catherine II 1762-1796. Wife of Peter 3.
• Pavel 1 1796-1801. Son of Catherine 2 and Peter 3.
• Alexander 1 1801-1825. Son of Paul 1.
• Nicholas 1 1825-1855. Son of Paul 1, brother of Alexander 1.
• Alexander 2 1855-1881. Son of Nicholas 1.
• Alexander 3 1881-1896. Son of Alexander II.
• Nicholas 2 1896-1917. Son of Alexander 3.

Diagram - rulers of dynasties by years

The amazing thing is that if you look at the diagram of the duration of the reign of each king from the Romanov dynasty, then 3 things become clear:

1. The greatest role in the history of Russia was played by those rulers who have been in power for more than 15 years.
2. The number of years in power is directly proportional to the importance of the ruler in the history of Russia. The greatest number of years in power were Peter 1 and Catherine 2. It is these rulers that most historians associate as the best rulers who laid the foundation for modern statehood.
3. All those who ruled for less than 4 years are outright traitors, and people unworthy of power: Ivan 6, Catherine 1, Peter 2 and Peter 3.

Also an interesting fact is that each ruler from the Romanovs left his successor a territory larger than he received. Thanks to this, the territory of Russia expanded significantly, because Mikhail Romanov took control of a territory slightly larger than the Muscovite kingdom, and in the hands of Nicholas 2, the last emperor, was the entire territory of modern Russia, other former republics of the USSR, Finland and Poland. The only serious territorial loss is the sale of Alaska. This is a rather dark story with many ambiguities.

The fact of close connection between the ruling house of Russia and Prussia (Germany) attracts attention. Practically all generations had family ties with this country, and some of the rulers associated themselves not with Russia, but with Prussia (the clearest example is Peter 3).

vicissitudes of fate

Today it is customary to say that the Romanov dynasty was interrupted after the Bolsheviks shot the children of Nicholas 2. This is indeed a fact that cannot be disputed. But something else is interesting - the dynasty also began with the murder of a child. We are talking about the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry, the so-called Uglich case. Therefore, it is quite symbolic that the dynasty began on the blood of a child and ended on the blood of a child.