Empire of the Romanovs. Royal Romanov dynasty

The first emperor of the Romanov dynasty was Peter the Great. With the death of Peter II, the Romanov dynasty ended in direct male generation. Mikhail Fedorovich (1596-1645), Tsar from 1613. Son of Fyodor (in monasticism Philaret) Nikitich Romanov. Thus, according to genealogical rules, the imperial family is called Holstein-Gottorp-Romanovsky, which is reflected on the Romanov family coat of arms and the coat of arms of the Russian Empire.

She was succeeded by the great-grandson of Ivan V - John VI Antonovich, son of the Duke of Brunswick, the only representative on the Russian throne of the Mecklenburg-Brunschweig-Romanov dynasty.

Thus, during this period, five emperors ruled, of which only three were Romanovs by blood. With the death of Elizabeth, the direct male line of succession was cut short. In 1942, two representatives of the House of Romanov were offered the Montenegrin throne. There is an Association of Members of the Romanov Family. During the reign of the Romanovs, the Russian monarchy experienced an era of prosperity, several periods of painful reforms and a sudden decline. The Muscovite Kingdom, in which Mikhail Romanov was crowned king, in the 17th century annexed vast territories of Eastern Siberia and reached the border with China.

Results of the Romanov reign

In 1917, Nicholas II abdicated the throne and was arrested by the Provisional Government. Today, representatives of two branches of the Romanov dynasty: the Kirillovichs and the Nikolaeviches - claim the right to be considered locums of the Russian throne.

Many bloody and vivid episodes preceded the ascension to the throne of the great Romanovs. The first known ancestor of the Romanovs was Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla. Until the beginning of the 16th century, the Romanovs were called Koshkins, then Zakharyins-Koshkins and Zakharyins-Yuryevs. From the house of Romanov, Alexei Mikhailovich and Fyodor Alekseevich reigned; During the childhood of Tsars Ivan V and Peter I, their sister Sofya Alekseevna was the ruler.

With the death of Elizaveta Petrovna, the Romanov dynasty came to an end in the direct female line. However, the surname Romanov was borne by Peter III and his wife Catherine II, their son Paul I and his descendants.

In 1918, Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov and members of his family were shot in Yekaterinburg, other Romanovs were killed in 1918–1919, some emigrated

In fact, E.I. Biron was the ruler under her. Ivan VI Antonovich (1740-1764), emperor in 1740-1741. Pavel I Petrovich (1754-1801), Russian emperor since 1796. Son of Peter III and Catherine II. He introduced a military-police regime in the state, and Prussian order in the army; limited noble privileges. Alexander I Pavlovich (1777-1825), emperor from 1801. The eldest son of Paul I. At the beginning of his reign, he carried out moderate liberal reforms developed by the Secret Committee and M.M. Speransky.

To understand how the first of the Romanovs took control of proud Russia, we need to start with Grozny itself.

During the reign of Alexander III, the annexation of Central Asia to Russia was basically completed (1885), and the Russian-French alliance was concluded (1891-1893). The first reliable ancestor of the Romanovs and a number of other noble families is considered to be Andrei Kobyla, a boyar of the Moscow prince Simeon the Proud. Due to intrigues, the line of succession for the children of Peter the Great was frozen, and the imperial throne was given to the daughter of Tsar Ivan V (Peter I's elder brother) - Anna Ioannovna.

In the 1920s-1930s, a significant part of the dynasty continued to hope for collapse Soviet power in Russia and the restoration of the monarchy. Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna was the regent of Greece in November-December 1920 and accepted some refugees from Russia into the country.

Moscow nobles, supported by the townspeople, proposed electing 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov as sovereign of all Rus'

Everything coincided. Including genetic mutation" As a result, the final conclusion was made: both burials indeed contain the remains of the entire royal family, executed in 1918. For example, Peter I tried to expand the territory of the country and make Russian cities similar to European ones, and Catherine II put her whole soul into promoting the ideas of enlightenment.

The monarchy in Russia was abolished. Another year and a half later, the last emperor and his entire family were shot by decision of the Soviet government. It would be more correct to separate activities within the internal and foreign policy. I'd like to see more full information about Alexander II and Catherine the Great - the most prominent representatives of the dynasty. In 1605, his body was buried, and his son Fedor and his wife took upon themselves the responsibility of governing the country.

During the reign of the Romanov dynasty, Russia became a powerful empire that all countries reckoned with. Ivan V Alekseevich (1666-1696), Tsar from 1682. Son of Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage to M.I. Miloslavskaya. Each ruler from the Romanov dynasty paid attention to those issues that seemed most relevant and important to him.

Meeting of the Great Embassy by Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov and nun Martha at the Holy Gate of the Ipatiev Monastery on March 14, 1613. Miniature from the “Book on the election of the Great Sovereign and Grand Duke Mikhail Feodorovich of All Great Russia, Samrodzher, to the highest throne of the great Russian kingdom. 1673"

The year was 1913. A jubilant crowd greeted the Emperor, who arrived with his family in Kostroma. The solemn procession headed to the Ipatiev Monastery. Three hundred years ago, young Mikhail Romanov hid from the Polish interventionists within the walls of the monastery; here Moscow diplomats begged him to marry the kingdom. Here, in Kostroma, the history of the Romanov dynasty’s service to the Fatherland began, tragically ending in 1917.

The first Romanovs

Why was Mikhail Fedorovich, a seventeen-year-old boy, given responsibility for the fate of the state? The Romanov family was closely connected with the extinct Rurik dynasty: the first wife of Ivan the Terrible, Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina, had brothers, the first Romanovs, who received their surname on behalf of their father. The most famous of them is Nikita. Boris Godunov saw the Romanovs as serious rivals in the struggle for the throne, so all the Romanovs were exiled. Only two sons of Nikita Romanov survived - Ivan and Fedor, who was tonsured a monk (in monasticism he received the name Filaret). When did the disaster for Russia end? Time of Troubles, it was necessary to choose a new king, and the choice fell on Fyodor’s young son, Mikhail.

Mikhail Fedorovich ruled from 1613 to 1645, but in fact the country was ruled by his father, Patriarch Filaret. In 1645, sixteen-year-old Alexei Mikhailovich ascended the throne. During his reign, foreigners were willingly called up for service, interest in Western culture and customs arose, and the children of Alexei Mikhailovich were influenced by European education, which largely determined the further course of Russian history.

Alexei Mikhailovich was married twice: his first wife, Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, gave the Tsar thirteen children, but only two of the five sons, Ivan and Fedor, survived their father. The children were sickly, and Ivan also suffered from dementia. From his second marriage to Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, the tsar had three children: two daughters and a son, Peter. Alexei Mikhailovich died in 1676, Fyodor Alekseevich, a fourteen-year-old boy, was crowned king. The reign was short-lived - until 1682. His brothers had not yet reached adulthood: Ivan was fifteen years old, and Peter was about ten. They were both proclaimed kings, but the government of the state was in the hands of their regent, Princess Sophia of Miloslavskaya. Having reached adulthood, Peter regained power. And although Ivan V also bore the royal title, Peter alone ruled the state.

The era of Peter the Great

The Peter the Great era is one of the brightest pages national history. However, it is impossible to give an unambiguous assessment of either the personality of Peter I himself or his reign: despite all the progressiveness of his policies, his actions were sometimes cruel and despotic. This is confirmed by the fate of his eldest son. Peter was married twice: from his union with his first wife, Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, a son, Alexei, was born. Eight years of marriage ended in divorce. Evdokia Lopukhina, the last Russian queen, was sent to a monastery. Tsarevich Alexei, raised by his mother and her relatives, was hostile to his father. Opponents of Peter I and his reforms rallied around him. Alexei Petrovich was accused of treason and sentenced to death. He died in 1718 in the Peter and Paul Fortress, without waiting for the execution of the sentence. From his second marriage to Catherine I, only two children - Elizabeth and Anna - survived their father.

After the death of Peter I in 1725, a struggle for the throne began, in fact provoked by Peter himself: he abolished old order succession to the throne, according to which power would pass to his grandson Peter, the son of Alexei Petrovich, and issued a decree according to which the autocrat could appoint a successor for himself, but did not have time to draw up a will. With the support of the guard and the closest circle of the deceased emperor, Catherine I ascended the throne, becoming the first empress of the Russian state. Her reign was the first in a series of reigns of women and children and marked the beginning of the era of palace coups.

Palace coups

Catherine's reign was short-lived: from 1725 to 1727. After her death, eleven-year-old Peter II, the grandson of Peter I, finally came to power. He ruled for only three years and died of smallpox in 1730. This was the last representative of the Romanov family in the male line.

Management of the state passed into the hands of Peter the Great's niece, Anna Ivanovna, who ruled until 1740. She had no children, and according to her will, the throne passed to her grandson sister Ekaterina Ivanovna, Ivan Antonovich, a two-month-old baby. With the help of the guards, Peter I's daughter Elizabeth overthrew Ivan VI and his mother and came to power in 1741. The fate of the unfortunate child is sad: he and his parents were exiled to the north, to Kholmogory. He spent his entire life in captivity, first in a remote village, then in the Shlisselburg fortress, where his life ended in 1764.

Elizabeth reigned for 20 years - from 1741 to 1761. - and died childless. She was the last representative of the Romanov family in a direct line. The rest of the Russian emperors, although they bore the Romanov surname, actually represented the German Holstein-Gottorp dynasty.

According to Elizabeth's will, her nephew, the son of Anna Petrovna's sister, Karl Peter Ulrich, who received the name Peter in Orthodoxy, was crowned king. But already in 1762, his wife Catherine, relying on the guard, committed palace coup and came to power. Catherine II ruled Russia for more than thirty years. Perhaps that is why one of the first decrees of her son Paul I, who came to power in 1796 already in adulthood, was to return to the order of succession to the throne from father to son. However, his fate also had a tragic ending: he was killed by conspirators, and his eldest son Alexander I came to power in 1801.

From the Decembrist uprising to the February revolution.

Alexander I had no heirs; his brother Constantine did not want to reign. The unclear situation with the succession to the throne provoked an uprising on Senate Square. It was harshly suppressed by the new Emperor Nicholas I and went down in history as the Decembrist uprising.

Nicholas I had four sons; the eldest, Alexander II, ascended the throne. He reigned from 1855 to 1881. and died after an assassination attempt by Narodnaya Volya.

In 1881, the son of Alexander II, Alexander III, ascended the throne. He was not the eldest son, but after the death of Tsarevich Nicholas in 1865, they began to prepare him for public service.

Alexander III appears before the people on the Red Porch after his coronation. May 15, 1883. Engraving. 1883

After Alexander III, his eldest son, Nicholas II, was crowned king. At the coronation of the last Russian emperor there was tragic event. It was announced that gifts would be distributed on Khodynka Field: a mug with an imperial monogram, half a loaf of wheat bread, 200 grams of sausage, gingerbread with a coat of arms, a handful of nuts. Thousands of people were killed and injured in the stampede for these gifts. Many inclined towards mysticism see a direct connection between the Khodynka tragedy and the murder of the imperial family: in 1918, Nicholas II, his wife and five children were shot in Yekaterinburg on the orders of the Bolsheviks.

Makovsky V. Khodynka. Watercolor. 1899

With the death of the royal family, the Romanov family did not fade away. Most of the grand dukes and princesses with their families managed to escape from the country. In particular, to the sisters of Nicholas II - Olga and Ksenia, his mother Maria Feodorovna, his uncle - the brother of Alexander III Vladimir Alexandrovich. It is from him that the family leading the Imperial House today comes.

Background of the Romanovs. Genus name changes

According to family tradition, the ancestors of the Romanovs left for Rus' “from Prussia” at the beginning of the 14th century. However, many historians believe that the Romanovs came from Novgorod.

The first reliable ancestor of the Romanovs and a number of other noble families is considered to be Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla, a boyar of the Moscow prince Ivan Kalita. Andrei Ivanovich had five sons: Semyon Zherebets, Alexander Yolka, Vasily Ivantey, Gavriil Gavsha and Fyodor Koshka. They were the founders of many Russian noble houses.

The descendants of Fyodor Koshka began to be called Koshkins. The children of Zakhary Ivanovich Koshkin became the Koshkins-Zakharyins, and the grandchildren simply became the Zakharyins. From Yuri Zakharyevich came the Zakharyins-Yuryevs, and from his brother Yakov - the Zakharyins-Yakovlevs.

Rise of the family

Thanks to the marriage of Ivan IV the Terrible with Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina, the Zakharyin-Yuryev family became close to the royal court in the 16th century, and after the suppression of the Moscow branch of the Rurikovichs began to lay claim to the throne. In 1613, Anastasia's great-nephew Mikhail Fedorovich was elected to the throne, and his descendants (traditionally called the "House of Romanov") ruled Russia until 1917.

Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp branch

After Anna Petrovna’s marriage to Duke Karl of Holstein-Gottorp, the Romanov clan actually passed into the Holstein-Gottorp clan, however, according to a dynastic agreement, the son from this marriage (the future Peter III) was recognized as a member of the House of Romanov. Thus, according to genealogical rules, the clan is called the Romanovs-Holstein-Gottorp, which is reflected on the Romanov family coat of arms and the coat of arms of the Russian Empire.

Surname "Romanov"

Legally, members of the royal, and then imperial, family did not bear any surnames at all (“Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich”, “Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich”, etc.). In addition, since 1761, Russia was ruled by the descendants of the daughter of Anna Petrovna and the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Karl Friedrich, who in the male line were no longer descended from the Romanovs, but from the Holstein-Gottorp family (the younger branch of the Oldenburg dynasty, known since the 12th century). In genealogical literature (especially foreign), representatives of the dynasty, starting with Peter III, are called Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp. Despite this, the names “Romanovs” and “House of Romanov” were almost generally used to informally designate the Russian Imperial House, the coat of arms of the Romanov boyars was included in official legislation, and in 1913 the three-hundredth anniversary of the House of Romanov was widely celebrated.

After 1917, almost all members of the reigning house officially began to bear the Romanov surname (according to the laws of the Provisional Government, and then in exile). The exception is the descendants of Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich. He was one of the Romanovs who recognized Kirill Vladimirovich as emperor in exile. The marriage of Dmitry Pavlovich to Audrey Emery was recognized by Kirill as a morganatic marriage of a member of the reigning house, and the wife and children received the title of Princes Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (now it is borne by two of Dmitry Pavlovich’s grandchildren - Dmitry and Michael/Mikhail, as well as their wives and daughters). The rest of the Romanovs also entered into morganatic (from the point of view of the Russian law on succession to the throne) marriages, but did not consider it necessary to change their surname. After the creation of the Association of Princes of the House of Romanov in the late 1970s, the Ilyinskys became its members on a general basis.

Romanovs after 1917

At the beginning of 1917, the Romanov dynasty consisted of 32 male representatives, 13 of whom were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918-19. Those who escaped this settled in Western Europe(mainly in France) and the USA. In the 1920s and 30s, a significant part of the dynasty continued to hope for the collapse of Soviet power in Russia and the restoration of the monarchy.

All representatives of the dynasty are descendants of the four sons of Nicholas I:
Alexandrovich, descendants of Alexander Nikolaevich. This branch has two living representatives - the brothers Dmitry and Mikhail Pavlovich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky, the younger of whom was born in 1961.
Konstantinovich, descendants of Konstantin Nikolaevich. In the male line, the branch was terminated in 1973 (with the death of Vsevolod, the son of John Konstantinovich).
Nikolaevichs, descendants of Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder. The two living male representatives are brothers Nikolai and Dmitry Romanovich Romanov, the youngest of whom was born in 1926.
Mikhailovichi, descendants of Mikhail Nikolaevich. All other living male Romanovs belong to this branch (see below), the youngest of them was born in 1987.

In total, as of September 2008, the Romanov clan consisted of 12 male representatives. Among them, only four (grandsons of Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich) are not older than forty years.

Leadership in the dynasty

After the abolition of the monarchy in Russia, a number of members of the dynasty continued to adhere to the imperial legislation on succession to the throne, according to which, however, none of the living members of the dynasty are included in the Imperial House, since they were all born in unequal marriages and, naturally, their parents did not ask permission to marry at the emperor's.

If we recognize imperial legislation as no longer in force in 1917, then the order of leadership in the dynasty under the semi-Salic succession scheme approved by Paul I is as follows:
1917-1938 - Kirill Vladimirovich (1876-1938), cousin of Nicholas II
1938-1992 - Vladimir Kirillovich (1917-1992), his son
1992-2004 - Pavel Dmitrievich (1928-2004), second cousin of Vladimir Kirillovich
from 2004 - Dmitry Pavlovich (b. 1954), son of Pavel Dmitrievich

Further order of dynastic precedence:
Mikhail Pavlovich (b. 1961), brother of Dmitry Pavlovich
Nikolai Romanovich (b. 1922), great-grandson of Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder
Dimitry Romanovich (b. 1926), brother of Nikolai Romanovich
Andrey Andreevich (b. 1923), grandson of Alexander Mikhailovich
Alexey Andreevich (b. 1951), son of Andrei Andreevich
Pyotr Andreevich (b. 1961), son of Andrei Andreevich
Andrei Andreevich (b. 1963), son of Andrei Andreevich
Rostislav Rostislavovich (b. 1985), great-grandson of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich
Nikita Rostislavovich (b. 1987), brother of Rostislav Rostislavich
Nikolai-Christopher Nikolaevich (b. 1968), great-grandson of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich
Daniil Nikolaevich (b. 1972), brother of Nikolai Nikolaevich

However, neither Pavel Dmitrievich nor his sons Dmitry and Mikhail, living in the USA, ever made claims to leadership in the dynasty. The daughter of Vladimir Kirillovich, Maria Vladimirovna, who calls herself the head of the Imperial House, and Nikolai Romanovich, who heads the “Association of Members of the House of Romanov,” which includes most of the living representatives of the dynasty, are vying for this role. Nikolai Romanovich believes that the question of the monarchy in Russia, as well as who should take the throne, should be decided in a national referendum.

Famous representatives of the Zakharyin-Yuryev-Romanov family
Zakhary Ivanovich.
Yuri Zakharyevich.
Mikhail Yurievich.
Pyotr Yakovlevich, okolnichy since 1510; in 1512-1514 he participated in the Lithuanian War, in 1521 - in campaigns against the Crimeans.
Ivan Vasilyevich, nicknamed Lyatsky. He took part in the Lithuanian War of 1514-1519 and especially distinguished himself in 1517, when he defeated a six-thousand-strong enemy army near Konstantinov; then he was on a campaign against the Crimeans (1522) and Kazan (1524); in 1526 he was sent to Warsaw to approve the treaty; in 1534 he fled, together with his son Ivan and Belsky, to Lithuania and died there.
Roman Yuryevich - okolnichy; was a commander in the campaign of 1531. Died in 1543.
Grigory Yuryevich was a commander in the campaigns of 1531, 1536 and 1543. In 1547 - boyar. Around 1556 he accepted monasticism under the name Guria and died in 1567. He was an opponent of the Glinsky princes and greatly contributed to the uprising of the mob against them during the Moscow fire of 1547.
Vasily Mikhailovich, Tver butler and boyar, was in 1547 “at the bedside at the prince’s wedding. Yuri Vasilievich." In 1548 he ruled in Kazan. He is mentioned among the boyars who remained in Moscow in 1559 to govern the state, then his name appears in the response letter (1566) to the ambassadors of the Polish king. Died in 1567.
Daniil Romanovich, brother of Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna, okolnichy (1547), boyar (1548). He took part in the Kazan campaign of 1551-1552, and especially distinguished himself during the capture of the Arsk fort and in campaigns against the Crimeans and Lithuanians in 1556-1557, 1559 and 1564. Died in 1571.
Nikita Romanovich is the grandfather of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. Participated in the Swedish campaign of 1551; was a governor during the Lithuanian campaign (1559, 1564-1557). In 1563 he was made a butler and a boyar. In 1584-1585 he participated in government. He died in 1585, having become a monk with the name Nifont.
Fyodor Nikitich - Filaret, patriarch.
Alexander Nikitich in 1585 was in the palace on the day of the reception of the Lithuanian ambassador. In 1586 he was the governor of Kashira. In 1591 he took part in the campaign against Gaza II Giray. In 1598 - boyar. Boris Godunov in 1601 deprived him of his boyar title and exiled him to Usolye-Luda, where, according to the chronicler, he was strangled.
Mikhail Nikitich - steward in 1597, okolnichy in 1598. In 1601 he was exiled to Nyrob, where he soon died.
Vasily Nikitich, steward (1597), was exiled to Yaransk in 1601, a month later transferred to Pelym, where he was kept chained to the wall. Died in 1602.
Ivan Nikitich, nicknamed Kasha, steward (1591). In 1601 he was exiled to Pelym, in 1602 he was transferred to Nizhny Novgorod; soon returned to Moscow. On the day of the coronation of False Dmitry I he was made a boyar. In 1606-1607 he was a governor in Kozelsk and defeated Prince Masalsky, a supporter of False Dmitry II, on the banks of the Vyrka River (1607). Under Mikhail Fedorovich he played a very prominent role, leading mainly external affairs. Died in 1640.
Nikita Ivanovich, the last boyar of the non-royal line of the Romanovs. He was a steward in 1644, a boyar in 1646. Died in 1655.

The ancient Moscow courtyard of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich or the so-called Chamber of Romanovs was restored under Emperor Alexander II. Things that belonged to Patriarch Filaret, Mikhail Fedorovich and Queen Evdokia are kept here. All materials relating to the Romanovs were collected in a special Romanov department, founded by N. N. Selifontov in 1896, at the Kostroma Scientific Archival Commission.

Historical coincidences

The royal dynasty of the Romanovs began with the rite of calling to the kingdom in the Ipatiev Monastery (in Kostroma) and ended with the execution of the royal family in the Ipatiev House (in Yekaterinburg).
- Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov stepped over 23 steps, ascending to the throne during the coronation. In 1918, the last Romanov, after 23 years of rule, crossed 23 steps going down to the basement of the Ipatiev House.

Based on materials from the Wikipedia encyclopedia

For 10 centuries, the domestic and foreign policies of the Russian state were determined by representatives of the ruling dynasties. As you know, the greatest prosperity of the state was under the rule of the Romanov dynasty, descendants of an old noble family. Its ancestor is considered to be Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla, whose father, Glanda-Kambila Divonovich, baptized Ivan, came to Russia in the last quarter of the 13th century from Lithuania.

The youngest of the 5 sons of Andrei Ivanovich, Fyodor Koshka, left numerous offspring, which include such surnames as the Koshkins-Zakharyins, Yakovlevs, Lyatskys, Bezzubtsevs and Sheremetyevs. In the sixth generation from Andrei Kobyla in the Koshkin-Zakharyin family there was the boyar Roman Yuryevich, from whom the boyar family, and subsequently the Romanov tsars, originated. This dynasty ruled in Russia for three hundred years.

Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov (1613 - 1645)

The beginning of the reign of the Romanov dynasty can be considered February 21, 1613, when the Zemsky Sobor took place, at which the Moscow nobles, supported by the townspeople, proposed electing 16-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov as sovereign of all Rus'. The proposal was accepted unanimously, and on July 11, 1613, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, Mikhail was crowned king.

The beginning of his reign was not easy, because the central government still did not control a significant part of the state. In those days, robber Cossack detachments of Zarutsky, Balovy and Lisovsky were walking around Russia, ruining the state already exhausted by the war with Sweden and Poland.

Thus, the newly elected king was faced with two important tasks: first, ending hostilities with his neighbors, and second, pacifying his subjects. He was able to cope with this only after 2 years. 1615 - all free Cossack groups were completely destroyed, and in 1617 the war with Sweden ended with the conclusion of the Stolbovo Peace. According to this agreement, the Moscow state lost access to the Baltic Sea, but peace and tranquility were restored in Russia. It was possible to begin to lead the country out of a deep crisis. And here Mikhail’s government had to make a lot of efforts to restore the devastated country.

First, the authorities took up the development of industry, for which purpose they went to Russia to preferential terms foreign industrialists were invited - ore miners, gunsmiths, foundry workers. Then the turn came to the army - it was obvious that for the prosperity and security of the state it was necessary to develop military affairs, in connection with this, in 1642, transformations began in the armed forces.

Foreign officers trained Russian military men in military affairs, “regiments of a foreign system” appeared in the country, which was the first step towards the creation of a regular army. These transformations turned out to be the last in the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich - 2 years later the tsar died at the age of 49 from “water sickness” and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin.

Alexey Mikhailovich, nickname Quiet (1645-1676)

His eldest son Alexei, who, according to contemporaries, was one of the most educated people of his time, became king. He himself wrote and edited many decrees and was the first of the Russian tsars to begin signing them personally (others signed decrees for Mikhail, for example, his father Filaret). Meek and pious, Alexey earned the people's love and the nickname Quiet.

In the first years of his reign, Alexei Mikhailovich took little part in government affairs. The state was ruled by the Tsar's educator, boyar Boris Morozov, and the Tsar's father-in-law, Ilya Miloslavsky. Morozov's policy, which was aimed at increasing tax oppression, as well as Miloslavsky's lawlessness and abuses, caused popular indignation.

1648, June - an uprising broke out in the capital, followed by uprisings in southern Russian cities and in Siberia. The result of this rebellion was the removal of Morozov and Miloslavsky from power. 1649 - Alexei Mikhailovich had the opportunity to take over the rule of the country. On his personal instructions, they compiled a set of laws - the Council Code, which satisfied the basic wishes of the townspeople and nobles.

In addition, the government of Alexei Mikhailovich encouraged the development of industry, supported Russian merchants, protecting them from competition from foreign traders. Customs and new trade statutes were adopted, which contributed to the development of domestic and foreign trade. Also, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the Moscow state expanded its borders not only to the southwest, but also to the south and east - Russian explorers explored Eastern Siberia.

Feodor III Alekseevich (1676 - 1682)

1675 - Alexei Mikhailovich declared his son Fyodor heir to the throne. 1676, January 30 - Alexei died at the age of 47 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin. Fyodor Alekseevich became the sovereign of all Rus' and on June 18, 1676 he was crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral. Tsar Fedor reigned for only six years, he was extremely unindependent, power ended up in the hands of his maternal relatives - the Miloslavsky boyars.

The most important event of the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich was the destruction of localism in 1682, which provided the opportunity for promotion to not very noble, but educated and enterprising people. In the last days of the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich, a project was drawn up to establish a Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and a theological school for 30 people in Moscow. Fyodor Alekseevich died on April 27, 1682 at the age of 22, without making any order regarding the succession to the throne.

Ivan V (1682-1696)

After the death of Tsar Fyodor, ten-year-old Pyotr Alekseevich, at the suggestion of Patriarch Joachim and at the insistence of the Naryshkins (his mother was from this family), was proclaimed tsar, bypassing his older brother Tsarevich Ivan. But on May 23 of the same year, at the request of the Miloslavsky boyars, he was approved by the Zemsky Sobor as the “second tsar,” and Ivan as the “first.” And only in 1696, after the death of Ivan Alekseevich, Peter became the sole tsar.

Peter I Alekseevich, nickname the Great (1682 - 1725)

Both emperors pledged to be allies in the conduct of hostilities. However, in 1810, relations between Russia and France began to take on an openly hostile character. And in the summer of 1812, war began between the powers. Russian army, having expelled the invaders from Moscow, completed the liberation of Europe with a triumphal entry into Paris in 1814. The successfully ended wars with Turkey and Sweden strengthened the country’s international position. During the reign of Alexander I, Georgia, Finland, Bessarabia, and Azerbaijan became part of the Russian Empire. 1825 - During a trip to Taganrog, Emperor Alexander I caught a severe cold and died on November 19.

Emperor Nicholas I (1825-1855)

After Alexander's death, Russia lived without an emperor for almost a month. On December 14, 1825, an oath was announced to his younger brother Nikolai Pavlovich. That same day, an attempted coup took place, which was later called the Decembrist uprising. December 14 produced indelible impression on Nicholas I, and this was reflected in the nature of his entire reign, during which absolutism reached its highest rise, expenses for officials and the army absorbed almost all state funds. During the years, the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire was compiled - a code of all legislative acts that existed in 1835.

1826 - established Secret Committee, engaged peasant question, in 1830 a general law on estates was developed, in which a number of improvements were designed for peasants. About 9,000 rural schools were established for the primary education of peasant children.

1854 - began Crimean War, which ended in the defeat of Russia: according to the Treaty of Paris of 1856, the Black Sea was declared neutral, and Russia was able to regain the right to have a fleet there only in 1871. It was the defeat in this war that decided the fate of Nicholas I. Not wanting to admit the error of his views and beliefs, which led the state not only to military defeat, but also to the collapse of the entire system of state power, the emperor is believed to have deliberately taken poison on February 18, 1855.

Alexander II the Liberator (1855-1881)

The next from the Romanov dynasty came to power - Alexander Nikolaevich, the eldest son of Nicholas I and Alexandra Fedorovna.

It should be noted that I was able to somewhat stabilize the situation both within the state and on the external borders. Firstly, under Alexander II, serfdom was abolished in Russia, for which the emperor was nicknamed the Liberator. 1874 - a decree was issued on universal conscription, which abolished conscription. At this time, higher educational institutions for women were created, three universities were founded - Novorossiysk, Warsaw and Tomsk.

Alexander II was able to finally conquer the Caucasus in 1864. According to the Argun Treaty with China, the Amur Territory was annexed to Russia, and according to the Beijing Treaty, the Ussuri Territory was annexed. 1864 - Russian troops began a campaign in Central Asia, during which the Turkestan region and Fergana region were captured. Russian rule extended all the way to the peaks of the Tien Shan and the foot of the Himalayan range. Russia also had possessions in the United States.

However, in 1867, Russia sold Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to America. The most important event in Russian foreign policy during the reign of Alexander II was the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878, which ended in the victory of the Russian army, which resulted in the declaration of independence of Serbia, Romania and Montenegro.

Russia received part of Bessarabia, seized in 1856 (except for the islands of the Danube Delta) and a monetary indemnity of 302.5 million rubles. In the Caucasus, Ardahan, Kars and Batum with their surroundings were annexed to Russia. The Emperor could have done a lot more for Russia, but on March 1, 1881, his life was tragically cut short by a bomb from Narodnaya Volya terrorists, and the next representative of the Romanov dynasty, his son Alexander III, ascended the throne. Difficult times have come for the Russian people.

Alexander III the Peacemaker (1881-1894)

During the reign of Alexander III, administrative arbitrariness increased significantly. In order to develop new lands, a massive resettlement of peasants to Siberia began. The government took care of improving the living conditions of workers - the work of minors and women was limited.

In foreign policy at this time, there was a deterioration in Russian-German relations and a rapprochement between Russia and France took place, which ended with the conclusion of the Franco-Russian alliance. Emperor Alexander III died in the fall of 1894 from kidney disease, aggravated by bruises received during a train accident near Kharkov and constant excessive consumption of alcohol. And power passed to his eldest son Nicholas, the last Russian emperor from the Romanov dynasty.

Emperor Nicholas II (1894-1917)

The entire reign of Nicholas II passed in an atmosphere of growing revolutionary movement. At the beginning of 1905, a revolution broke out in Russia, marking the beginning of reforms: 1905, October 17 - the Manifesto was published, which established the foundations of civil freedom: personal integrity, freedom of speech, assembly and unions. The State Duma was established (1906), without whose approval not a single law could enter into force.

Agrarian reform was carried out according to the project of P.A. Stolshin. In the field of foreign policy, Nicholas II took some steps to stabilize international relations. Despite the fact that Nicholas was more democratic than his father, popular discontent with the autocrat grew rapidly. At the beginning of March 1917, the Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko told Nicholas II that the preservation of autocracy was possible only if the throne was transferred to Tsarevich Alexei.

But, given the poor health of his son Alexei, Nicholas abdicated the throne in favor of his brother Mikhail Alexandrovich. Mikhail Alexandrovich, in turn, abdicated in favor of the people. The republican era has begun in Russia.

From March 9 to August 14, 1917, the former emperor and members of his family were kept under arrest in Tsarskoe Selo, then they were transported to Tobolsk. On April 30, 1918, the prisoners were brought to Yekaterinburg, where on the night of July 17, 1918, by order of the new revolutionary government, the former emperor, his wife, children and the doctor and servants who remained with them were shot by security officers. Thus ended the reign of the last dynasty in Russian history.

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

Semyon Proud was the eldest son and heir and continued the policies of his father. At that time, the Moscow principality strengthened significantly, and Moscow began to claim leadership among other lands of North-Eastern Rus'. 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 considered the eldest, and few of them dared to contradict him. His character was clearly evident in his family life. After the death of his first wife, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas, Semyon remarried.

His chosen one was the Smolensk princess Eupraxia, but 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 Moscow's old rivals - the Tver princes. In 1347, an embassy went to Tver to woo Princess Maria, the daughter of Tver Prince Alexander Mikhailovich.

At one time, Alexander Mikhailovich died tragically 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 to Tver was headed by two Moscow boyars - Andrei Kobyla and Alexei Bosovolkov. This is how the ancestor of Tsar Mikhail Romanov appeared on the historical stage for the first time.

The embassy was successful. But Metropolitan Theognost unexpectedly intervened and refused 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 Moscow Metropolitan was subordinate, and received permission for the marriage. In 1353, Semyon the Proud died from the plague that raged in Rus'. Nothing more is known about Andrei Kobyl, but his descendants continued to serve the Moscow princes.

According to genealogists, the offspring of Andrei Kobyla was extensive. He left five sons, who became the founders of many famous noble families. The sons' names were: Semyon Stallion (didn't he get his name in honor of Semyon the Proud?), Alexander Yolka, Vasily Ivantey (or Vantey), Gavrila Gavsha (Gavsha is the same as Gabriel, only in a diminutive form; such endings of names in “-sha” were common in Novgorod land) and Fedor Koshka. In addition, Andrei had a younger brother Fyodor Shevlyaga, from whom came the noble families of Motovilovs, Trusovs, Vorobins and Grabezhevs. The nicknames Mare, 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 from the same semantic circle. However, what was the origin of the brothers Andrei and Fyodor Ivanovich themselves?

The genealogies of the 16th – early 17th centuries do not report anything about this. But already in the first half of the 17th century, when they gained a foothold on the Russian throne, a legend about their ancestors appeared. Many noble families traced themselves to people from other countries and lands. This became a kind of tradition of the ancient Russian nobility, which, thus, almost entirely had “foreign” origin. Moreover, the most popular were the two “directions” from which the noble ancestors supposedly “exited”: either “from the Germans” or “from the Horde”. “Germans” meant not only the inhabitants of Germany, but all Europeans in general. Therefore, in the legends about the “excursions” of the founders of the clans, one can find the following clarifications: “From German, from Prus” or “From German, from 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 ears, came, often with a retinue, to serve one of the Grand Dukes. Here he was baptized, and his descendants became part of the Russian elite. Then, from their nicknames, noble surnames arose, and since many clans traced themselves back to one ancestor, it is quite understandable that various options the same legends. The reasons for creating these stories are quite clear. By inventing foreign ancestors for themselves, Russian aristocrats “justified” their leadership position in society.

They made their families more ancient, constructed a high origin, because many of the 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 had a real basis (for example, the ancestor of the Pushkins, Radsha, judging by the end of the name, was related to Novgorod and lived in the 12th century, according to some researchers, could actually be of foreign origin). But highlight these historical facts behind the layers of conjectures and conjectures, it’s not quite simple. And besides, it can be difficult to unambiguously 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 “took upon themselves” by representatives of those families who had common ancestors with the Romanovs: the Sheremetevs, the already mentioned Trusovs, the Kolychevs. When the official genealogical book of the Muscovite kingdom was created in the 1680s, which later received the name “Velvet” because of its binding, noble families submitted their genealogies to the Rank Order, which was in charge of this matter. 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 in fact a prince who came from Prussia.

The “Prussian” origin of the ancestor was very common at that time among ancient families. It has been suggested that this happened because of the “Prussian Street” at one end of ancient Novgorod. Along this street there was a road to Pskov, the so-called. "The Prussian Way". After the annexation of Novgorod to the Moscow state, many noble families of this city were resettled to the Moscow volosts, and vice versa. Thus, 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 legend, very famous at that time.

At the turn of the 15th–16th centuries, when a unified Moscow state was formed and the Moscow princes began to lay claim to the royal (cesar, i.e., imperial) title, the well-known idea “Moscow is the Third Rome” appeared. Moscow became the heir to the great Orthodox tradition 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 continuity of power was ensured by the marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Palaeologus, and the legend “about the gifts of Monomakh” - the Byzantine emperor, who transferred the royal crown and other regalia of royal power to his grandson Vladimir Monomakh in Rus', 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 maintained at the genealogical level. It was at this time that the legend about the origin of the then ruling Rurik dynasty arose. Rurik’s foreign, Varangian origin could not fit into the new ideology, and the founder of the princely dynasty became a 14th-generation descendant of a certain Prus, a relative of Emperor Augustus himself. Prus was supposedly the ruler of ancient Prussia, once inhabited by Slavs, and his descendants became the rulers of Rus'. 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.
Subsequently, the legend acquired new details. In a more complete form, it was drawn up by the steward Stepan Andreevich Kolychev, who under Peter I became the first Russian king of arms. In 1722, he headed the Heraldry 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 origins of Andrei Kobyla have “acquired” new features.

In 373 (or even 305) AD (at that time the Roman Empire still existed), the Prussian king Pruteno gave the kingdom to his brother Weidewut, 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 Dubissa and Nevyazha rivers, at the confluence of which a sacred, evergreen oak tree of extraordinary height and thickness grew. Before his death, Veidevuth 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, a descendant of Nedron was Divon. He lived already in the 13th 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 Rus' to serve the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich. Here he was baptized and began to be called 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 about it is fantastic, and no matter how hard some historians tried to verify its authenticity, their attempts were unsuccessful. Two characteristic motifs are striking. Firstly, the 12 sons of Veydevut are very reminiscent of the 12 sons of Prince Vladimir, the baptist of Rus', and the fourth son Nedron is the fourth son of Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise. Secondly, the author’s desire to connect the beginning of the Romanov family in Rus' 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 Arms Book of the Noble Families of the All-Russian Empire,” created on the initiative of Paul I, who decided to streamline all Russian noble heraldry. The noble family coats of arms were entered into the armorial book, 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 - the Sheremetevs, Konovnitsyns, Neplyuevs, Yakovlevs and others, noting their “Prussian” origin, introduced the image of a “sacred” oak as one of the figures in their family coats of arms, and borrowed the central image itself (two crosses above which a crown is placed) from the heraldry of the city of Danzig (Gdansk).

Of course, as historical science developed, researchers not only were critical of the legend about the origin of the Mare, but also tried to discover any real historical basis in it. 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 Glanda Kambila and the real situation in the Prussian lands of the 13th century. Historians did not abandon such attempts in the future. But if the legend of Glanda Kambila could convey to us some grains of historical data, then its “external” design practically reduces this significance to nothing. It may be of interest from the point of view of the social 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 expert on 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 pedigree of his descendants. The eldest son of Mare, Semyon Stallion, became the founder of the nobles Lodygins, Konovnitsyns, Kokorevs, Obraztsovs, Gorbunovs. Of these, the Lodygins and Konovnitsyns left the greatest mark on Russian history. The Lodygins come from the son of Semyon Stallion - Grigory Lodyga (“lodyga” is an ancient 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 descend 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 at the end of the 18th century, became famous. early XIX century, including Patriotic War 1812. 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 Prince P.I. was wounded. Bagration. In 1815–1819, Konovnitsyn was Minister of War, and in 1819, together with his descendants, he was elevated to the dignity of count of the Russian Empire.
From the second son of Andrei Kobyla, Alexander Yolka, came the families of the Kolychevs, Sukhovo-Kobylins, Sterbeevs, Khludenevs, Neplyuevs. Alexander's eldest son Fyodor Kolych (from the word "kolcha", i.e. lame) became the founder of the Kolychevs. Of the representatives of this genus, the most famous is St. Philip (in the world Fyodor Stepanovich Kolychev, 1507–1569). In 1566 he became Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'. 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.

The Sukhovo-Kobylins descend from another son of Alexander Yolka, Ivan Sukhoi (i.e., “thin”). The most prominent representative of this family was the playwright Alexander Vasilyevich Sukhovo-Kobylin (1817–1903), author of the trilogy “Krechinsky’s Wedding”, “The Affair” and “The Death of Tarelkin”. 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 life (which she depicted in the 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 Evgenia Tour. Her son, Count Evgeniy Andreevich Salias de Tournemire (1840–1908), was also a famous writer and historical novelist in his time (he was called the Russian Alexandre Dumas). His sister, Maria Andreevna (1841–1906), was the wife of Field Marshal Joseph 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 the governor of the Orenburg region, and from 1760 a senator and conference minister, stands out.
Vasily Ivantey's descendants ended with his son Gregory, who died childless.

From the fourth son of Kobyla, Gavrila Gavsha, came the Boborykins. This family produced the talented writer Pyotr Dmitrievich Boborykin (1836–1921), author of the novels “Businessmen”, “China Town” and, among others, by the way, “Vasily Terkin” (except for the name, this literary character has nothing in common with the hero A. T. Tvardovsky).
Finally, Andrei Kobyla's fifth son, Fyodor Koshka, was the direct ancestor of the Romanovs. He served Dmitry Donskoy and is repeatedly mentioned in chronicles among his entourage. Perhaps it was he who was entrusted by the prince to defend Moscow during the famous war with Mamai, which ended in the victory of the Russians on the Kulikovo Field. Before his death, the Cat took monastic vows and was named Theodoret. His family became related to the Moscow and Tver princely dynasties - branches of the Rurikovich family. Thus, Fyodor’s daughter Anna was married to the Mikulin prince Fyodor Mikhailovich in 1391. The Mikulin inheritance was part of the Tver land, and Fyodor 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 from the Horde for the Great Reign of Vladimir, but each time, due to Dmitry’s opposition, he could not become the main Russian prince. However, gradually the strife between the Moscow and Tver princes faded away. Back in 1375, at the head of an entire 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. The marriage with the Koshkins was probably supposed to help establish friendly relations between the eternal enemies.

But not only Tver was embraced by the descendants of Fyodor Koshka with their matrimonial politics. Soon the Moscow princes themselves fell into their orbit. Among the sons of Koshka was Fyodor Goltai, whose daughter, Maria, was married in the winter of 1407 by one of the sons of the Serpukhov and Borovsk prince Vladimir Andreevich, Yaroslav.
Vladimir Andreevich, the founder of Serpukhov, was brought to Dmitry Donskoy cousin. There were always the kindest friendly relations between them. Many important steps The brothers did everything together in the life of the Moscow state. So, together they supervised 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, he also bore the name Afanasy in baptism. This was one of the last cases when, according to a long-standing tradition, the Rurikovichs gave their children double names: secular and baptismal. The prince died of a pestilence in 1426 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, where his grave exists to this day. From his marriage to the granddaughter of Fyodor Koshka, Yaroslav had a son, Vasily, who inherited the entire Borovsk-Serpukhov inheritance, and two daughters, Maria and Elena. In 1433, Maria was married to the young Moscow prince Vasily II Vasilyevich, grandson of Dmitry Donskoy.
At this time, a brutal strife began on Moscow soil between Vasily and his mother Sofia Vitovtovna, on the one hand, and the family of his uncle Yuri Dmitrievich, Prince of Zvenigorod, on the other. Yuri and his sons - Vasily (in the future, blinded in one eye and became Kosym) and Dmitry Shemyaka (the nickname comes from the Tatar “chimek” - “outfit”) - laid claim to the Moscow reign. Both Yuryevichs attended Vasily’s wedding in Moscow. And it was here that the famous historical episode took place, fueling this irreconcilable struggle. Seeing Vasily Yuryevich wearing a gold belt that once belonged to Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna tore it off, deciding that it did not rightfully belong to the Zvenigorod prince. One of the initiators of this scandal was Fyodor Koshka’s grandson Zakhary Ivanovich. The offended Yuryevichs left the wedding feast, and war soon broke out. During it, Vasily II was blinded by Shemyaka and became Dark, but ultimately victory remained on his side. With the death of Shemyaka, 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 the arrest of a relative and sent him 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 on 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 his second wife and her son from her first marriage, Ivan, managed to flee to Lithuania. The family of Borovsk princes continued there for a short time.

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 on 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. Chistyakova. 1861
The descendants of Fyodor Koshka successively bore the family names Koshkins, Zakharyins, Yuryevs and, finally, Romanovs. In addition to his daughter Anna and son Fyodor Goltai, mentioned above, Fyodor Koshka had sons Ivan, Alexander Bezzubets, Nikifor and Mikhail Durny. Alexander's descendants were called the Bezzubtsevs, and then the Sheremetevs and Epanchins. The Sheremetevs descend from Alexander’s grandson, Andrei Konstantinovich Sheremet, and the Epanchins from another grandson, Semyon Konstantinovich Epancha (ancient clothing in the form of a cloak 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 Northern War, commanded the Russian army in the Battle of Poltava. He was one of the first to be 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 found themselves in exile, became related there with the Romanovs. This family still exists today, in particular, the 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 pearls near Moscow: Ostankino and Kuskovo. How can one not 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 N.V. Sklifosovsky Institute of Emergency Medicine is located in its building). Sergei Dmitrievich was the grandson of N.P. Sheremetev and the serf actress.

The Epanchins 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 Epanchin (1857–1941), a famous military historian, served as director of the Corps of Pages in 1900–1907. Already in exile, he wrote interesting memoirs “In the Service of Three Emperors,” published in Russia in 1996.

Actually, the Romanov family descends from the eldest son of Fyodor Koshka, Ivan, who was a boyar of Vasily I. It was Ivan Koshka’s son Zakhary Ivanovich who identified the notorious belt in 1433 at the wedding of Vasily the Dark. Zachary had three sons, so the Koshkins were divided into three more branches. The younger ones - the Lyatskys (Lyatskys) - left to serve in Lithuania, and their traces were lost there. The eldest son of Zakhary, Yakov Zakharyevich (died in 1510), a boyar and governor under Ivan III and Vasily III, served as viceroy in Novgorod and Kolomna for some time, took part in the war with Lithuania and, in particular, took the cities of Bryansk and Putivl, which then seceded to the Russian state. The descendants of Yakov 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 Aleksandrovich Herzen (1871–1947) - one of the largest domestic surgeons, a specialist in the field of clinical oncology). And in 1819, his brother Lev Alekseevich Yakovlev had an illegitimate son, Sergei Lvovich Levitsky (died in 1898), one of the most famous Russian photographers (who was thus A.I. Herzen’s cousin).

Zakhary's middle son, Yuri Zakharyevich (died in 1505 [?]), a boyar and governor under Ivan III, like his older 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 famous noble family. The surname Romanov came from one of the sons of Yuri and Irina, the okolnichy 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 half a month earlier in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, married the daughter of Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin, Anastasia. Family life Ivana and Anastasia were 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 royal family made a pilgrimage to the Kirillov Monastery on Beloozero, and took the little prince with them.

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

The tsar’s second son, Ivan Ivanovich, had a difficult character. Cruel and domineering, he could become a complete image 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 appeared to her father-in-law in a light shirt, “in an indecent appearance.” The king beat his daughter-in-law, who later 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 Leonidas in one of the monasteries.

After the death of the heir, Ivan the Terrible was succeeded by 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, atonement for the sins of his ancestors. Such a high spiritual attitude of the tsar seemed strange to his subjects, which is why the popular legend about Fedor’s dementia appeared. In 1598, he serenely fell asleep forever, and his brother-in-law Boris Godunov took over the throne. Fyodor's only daughter Theodosia died before reaching the age of two. Thus ended the offspring of Anastasia Romanovna.
With her kind, gentle character, Anastasia restrained the king’s cruel temper. But in August 1560 the queen died. An analysis of her remains, now located 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 was part of the inner circle of Tsar Fedor. Shortly before his death, Nikita took monastic vows with the name Nifont. Was married twice. His first wife, Varvara Ivanovna Khovrina, came from the Khovrin-Golovin family, which later produced several famous figures in Russian history, including Peter I’s associate, Admiral Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin. Nikita Romanovich’s second wife, Princess Evdokia Alexandrovna Gorbataya-Shuyskaya, belonged to the descendants of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod Rurikovichs. Nikita Romanovich lived in his chambers on Varvarka Street in Moscow, where in the middle of the 19th century. a museum was opened.

Seven sons and five daughters of Nikita Romanovich continued this boyar family. For a long time researchers doubted from which marriage of Nikita Romanovich his eldest son Fyodor Nikitich, the future Patriarch Filaret, father of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty, was born. After all, if his mother was Princess Gorbataya-Shuiskaya, then the Romanovs are thus descendants of the Rurikovichs 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 last years this issue appears to have been finally resolved. During the study of the Romanov necropolis in the Moscow Novospassky Monastery, the tombstone of Varvara Ivanovna Khovrina was discovered. In the tombstone epitaph, the year of her death should perhaps be read as 7063, i.e. 1555 (she died on June 29), and not 7060 (1552), as previously believed. This dating removes the question of the origin of Fyodor Nikitich, who died in 1633, being “more than 80 years old.” The ancestors of Varvara Ivanovna and, therefore, the ancestors of the entire royal House of Romanov, the Khovrins, came from the trading people of the Crimean Sudak and had Greek roots.

Fyodor Nikitich Romanov served as a regimental commander, took part 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 Crimean raids. A prominent position at court made it possible for the Romanovs to become related to other then-known families: the princes of Sitsky, Cherkasy, as well as the Godunovs (Boris Fedorovich’s nephew married Nikita Romanovich’s daughter, Irina). But these family ties did not save the Romanovs from disgrace after the death of their benefactor Tsar Fedor.

With his accession to the throne, everything changed. Hating the entire Romanov family and fearing them as potential rivals in the struggle for power, the new tsar began to eliminate his opponents one by one. In 1600–1601, repression fell on the Romanovs. Fyodor Nikitich was forcibly tonsured a monk (under the name Filaret) and sent to the distant Anthony Siysky Monastery in Arkhangelsk district. The same fate befell his wife Ksenia Ivanovna Shestova. Tonsured under the name of Martha, she was exiled to the Tolvuisky 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 prison on Beloozero along with her aunt Anastasia Nikitichna, who later became the wife of a prominent figure in the Time of Troubles, Prince Boris Mikhailovich Lykov-Obolensky. Fyodor Nikitich's brother, boyar Alexander, was exiled on a false denunciation to one of the villages of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, where he was killed. Another brother, the okolnichy Mikhail, also died in disgrace, transported from Moscow to the remote Perm village of Nyrob. There he died in prison and in chains from hunger. Another son of Nikita, steward Vasily, died in the city of Pelym, where he and his brother Ivan were kept chained to the wall. And their sisters Efimiya (monastically Evdokia) and Martha went into exile together with their husbands, the princes of Sitsky and Cherkassy. Only Martha survived imprisonment. Thus, almost the entire Romanov family was destroyed. Miraculously, only Ivan Nikitich, nicknamed Kasha, survived, returned after a short exile.

But the Godunov dynasty was not allowed to rule in Rus'. 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 Grigory Otrepiev was once 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 took a prominent place in the church hierarchy.

He made a new career “leap” with the help of another impostor - False Dmitry II, the “Tushinsky Thief”. In 1608, during the capture of Rostov, the Tushins captured Filaret and brought the impostor to the camp. False Dmitry invited him to become patriarch, and Filaret agreed. In Tushino, in general, a kind of second capital was formed: it had its own king, it had its own boyars, its own orders, and now also its own patriarch (in Moscow patriarchal throne 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 this included the younger brother of the “patriarch” Ivan Nikitich Romanov, who received the boyars on the day of Otrepiev’s crowning. As is known, the new government decided to invite the son of the Polish king, Vladislav, to the Russian throne and concluded a corresponding agreement with Hetman Stanislav Zolkiewski, and in order to settle all the formalities, a “great embassy” was sent from Moscow to Smolensk, where the king was located, headed by Filaret. However, negotiations with King Sigismund reached a dead end, the ambassadors were arrested and sent to Poland. There, in captivity, Filaret remained until 1619 and only after the conclusion of the Deulin truce and the end of the many years of war did he return to Moscow. His son Mikhail was already the Russian Tsar.
Filaret had now become the “legitimate” Moscow Patriarch and had a very significant influence on the policies of the young tsar. He showed himself to be a very powerful and at times even tough person. His courtyard was built on the model of the royal one, and several special, patriarchal orders were formed to manage land holdings. Filaret also cared about education, resuming the printing of liturgical books in Moscow after the ruin. He paid great attention to foreign policy issues and even created one of the diplomatic ciphers of that time.

Fyodor-Filaret's wife Ksenia Ivanovna came from the ancient Shestov family. Their ancestor was considered to be Mikhail Prushanin, or, as he was also called, Misha, an associate of Alexander Nevsky. He was also the founder 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 Shestovs’ ancestral estates included the Kostroma village of Domnino, where Ksenia and her son Mikhail lived for some time after the liberation of Moscow from the Poles. 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 lady” Martha helped him in governing the country until his father, Filaret, returned from captivity.

Ksenia-Marfa had a kind character. So, remembering the widows of previous tsars who lived in monasteries - Ivan the Terrible, Vasily Shuisky, Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich - she repeatedly sent them gifts. She often went on pilgrimages, 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, which produced beautiful fabrics and clothes for the royal court.
Mikhail Fedorovich's uncle Ivan Nikitich (died in 1640) also occupied a prominent place at his nephew's court. 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, were cut short. The ancestral tomb of the Romanovs was the Moscow Novospassky Monastery, where in recent years much work has been carried out to study and restore this ancient necropolis. As a result, many burials of the ancestors of the royal dynasty were identified, and from some remains, experts even recreated portrait images, including those of Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin, the great-grandfather of Tsar Mikhail.

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

Evgeny Vladimirovich Pchelov
Romanovs. History of a great dynasty