This means that the Romanov dynasty is currently composed. Legitimate members of the house, the fading branch of the Alexandrovichs

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 the 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 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 sentence to be carried out. 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 the old order of succession to the throne, according to which power would pass to his grandson Peter, son of Alexei Petrovich, and issued a decree according to which the autocrat could appoint himself successor, 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, carried out a 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's appearance to the people on the Red Porch after the 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.

2013 marks the 400th anniversary of the accession to the Russian throne of the first representative of the Romanov dynasty, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. The surname under which Russia stood on a par with the greatest powers of the world is dedicated to the exhibition “Orthodox Rus'” opening on Monday, November 4th. The Romanovs." In this regard, “Reedus” suggests remembering where the Romanovs came from, why at the end of the ruling dynasty the tsars were called “Germans” and how things are with the descendants of the Russian tsars today.

Coat of arms of the Romanov family. © RIA Novosti

On National Unity Day, November 4, the exhibition “ Orthodox Rus'. The Romanovs." This is a tribute to the memory of the rulers of that old Russia, which remained in the chronicles, the first historical works, diary entries and, in its twilight, in the photographs of Prokudin-Gorsky. The organizers of the exhibition, which promises to be truly interesting and useful, invite you and me to look at our history impartially, without idealizing the sovereign rulers.

“In many ways, today we enjoy the fruits of their (Romanovs - editor’s note) labors, forgetting about who we owe it to,” notes Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), executive secretary of the Patriarchal Council for Culture.

There is probably no point in retelling the story of the three hundred years of the reign of the Romanovs, since, one way or another, we all learned it at school. But it’s interesting to talk about the origin of the family, which largely predetermined the development of Russian statehood.

The founder of the dynasty is considered to be the Moscow boyar Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Yuryev, whose sister Anastasia Romanovna became the first wife of the first Russian Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. Nikita Romanovich was a prominent figure - in Moscow there are still street names that are closely connected with the grandfather of the first tsar from the House of Romanov, Mikhail Fedorovich. Romanov Lane got its name from the chambers of Nikita Romanovich, which were located in it. And the longest street in the center of the capital - Bolshaya Nikitskaya - is named after Nikitsky monastery, which was founded by Nikita Romanovich.

Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov (1596–1645).

The origin of Nikita Romanovich can be traced back to the boyar Andrei Kobyla, who served at the court of the Moscow princes Ivan Kalita and Simeon the Proud. The Velvet Book, which contains the genealogies of the most notable boyar and noble families of Russia, says that Andrei Kobyla arrived in Rus' from Prussia. Modern historians, however, consider this version untenable, and attribute the appearance of this legend to the fashion of the 17th century (the time of the appearance of the Velvet Book): then it was considered prestigious among the boyars to trace their origins to Western families. A major historian of boyar families, Stepan Veselovsky, as well as a number of other researchers, including Alexander Zimin, trace the origins of Andrei Kobyla to the Novgorod nobility.

The first to bear the surname Romanov, in honor of his grandfather, was Fyodor Nikitich, more famous history as Patriarch Filaret. Fyodor Nikitich was forcibly tonsured as a monk together with his wife Ksenia Shestova, when all the Romanov brothers fell into disgrace under Boris Godunov. Having taken monastic vows, Filaret remained a secular man and at the same time a strong politician. His son Mikhail Fedorovich, largely thanks to his father, was elected tsar in 1613. Until the end of his life, Filaret was a co-ruler under the tsar and from 1619 he actually led Moscow politics and, along with the tsar, used the title “Great Sovereign”.

Patriarch Filaret. Artist Tyutryumov Nikanor.

Under Peter the Great, the royal house turned into an imperial one. But already under Elizaveta Petrovna, who remained unmarried and childless, the direct female line of the Romanov dynasty was cut short. The male one ended thirty years earlier, under Peter II in 1730. Before her death, Elizabeth decided to transfer power to the son of her late sister, the second daughter of Peter I and Catherine I Anna Petrovna. She was married to Duke Karl of Holstein-Gottorp, so in fact the Romanov family passed into the Holstein-Gottorp family. So Peter III was recognized as a member of the House of Romanov only by dynastic agreement. From this moment on, according to genealogical rules, the imperial family is called Holstein-Gottorp-Romanovsky.

In popular historiography, as a rule, they do not pay attention to this detail, continuing to call the rulers simply the Romanovs. However, Russian aristocrats always remembered the origin of the rulers, and that the Romanov family “extinct in the male tribe in 1730,” as it was stated in the “Small encyclopedic dictionary» Brockhaus and Efron (1907–1909). Many politicians built intrigues on the “German” origin of the ruling dynasty, and some even called, for example, Alexander II “serving the position of Romanov in Russia.” Such speculation reached its apogee by the beginning of 1917, when almost the entire Russian aristocracy turned its back on the royal family, and Emperor Nicholas II decided to abdicate the throne. Abandoned and betrayed by the top Russian society The last Romanovs found their end in the basement of Ipatiev's house in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 16-17, 1918, where they were shot by the Bolsheviks.

All the Romanovs: Emperor Nicholas II with his wife Alexandra Fedorovna and children - son Alexei and daughters - Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia.

After October revolution 47 representatives of the House of Romanov, who found themselves in exile abroad, managed to escape. Some of them, until the end of the 30s, hoped for the restoration of the monarchy in Russia. In 1942, two representatives of the House of Romanov were offered the Montenegrin throne. Currently, most representatives of the family are members of the Association of Members of the House of Romanov. The head of the association since 1989 is Prince Nikolai Romanovich Romanov.

Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexei.

Tsarevich Alexei studying. The last generation of the royal family.

Russian Emperor Nicholas II with his heir, Tsarevich Alexei (in the background in the arms of a Cossack) are leaving the Novospassky Monastery. Celebrating the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov. © RIA Novosti

The house where I spent last days family of Emperor Nicholas Romanov. © Igor Vinogradov/RIA Novosti

Princess Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya-Romanova. © Vitaly Ankov/RIA Novosti

400 years ago, the first ruler of the Romanov family, Mikhail Fedorovich, reigned in Russia. His ascension to the throne marked the end of the Russian Troubles, and his descendants were to rule the state for another three centuries, expanding the borders and strengthening the power of the country, which thanks to them became an empire. We remember this date with an associate professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities, head of the department of auxiliary historical disciplines, author of the books “The Romanovs. History of the dynasty", "Genealogy of the Romanovs. 1613-2001" and many others by Evgeny Pchelov.

- Evgeny Vladimirovich, where did the Romanov family come from?

The Romanovs are an ancient family of Moscow boyars, the origins of which go back to the first half of the 14th century, when the earliest ancestor of the Romanovs lived, Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla, who served Semyon Proud, the eldest son of Ivan Kalita. Thus, the Romanovs are associated with the family of the Great Moscow Princes almost from the very beginning of this dynasty; this, one might say, is the “indigenous” family of the Moscow aristocracy. The earlier ancestors of the Romanovs, before Andrei Kobyla, are unknown to chronicle sources. Much later, in the 17th – 18th centuries, when the Romanovs were in power, a legend arose about their foreign origin, and this legend was created not by the Romanovs themselves, but by their relatives, i.e. descendants of clans of the same origin as the Romanovs - the Kolychevs, Sheremetevs, etc. According to this legend, the ancestor of the Romanovs allegedly left for Rus' “from Prussian”, i.e. from the Prussian land, once inhabited by the Prussians - one of the Baltic tribes. His name was allegedly Glanda Kambila, and in Rus' he became Ivan Kobyla, the father of that same Andrei, who was known at the court of Semyon the Proud. It is clear that Glanda Kambila is a completely artificial name, distorted from Ivan Kobyla. Such legends about the departures of ancestors from other countries were commonplace among the Russian nobility. Of course, this legend has no basis in reality.

- How did they become the Romanovs?

The descendants of Fyodor Koshka’s grandson, Zakhary Ivanovich, were nicknamed the Zakharyins, his son, Yuri, was the father of Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin, and on behalf of Roman the surname Romanovs was formed. In fact, these were all generic nicknames, derived from patronymics and grandfatherings. So the Romanov surname has a rather traditional origin for Russian surnames.

- Were the Romanovs related to the Rurik dynasty?

They became related to the dynasties of the Tver and Serpukhov princes, and through the branch of the Serpukhov princes they found themselves in direct kinship with the Moscow Rurikovichs. Ivan III was the great-great-grandson of Fyodor Koshka on his mother’s side, i.e. starting with him, the Moscow Rurikovichs were descendants of Andrei Kobyla, but Kobyla’s descendants, the Romanovs, were not descendants of the family of Moscow princes. IN 1547 g . The first Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible married Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yuryeva, daughter of Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin, who is often incorrectly called a boyar, although he did not have this rank. From his marriage to Anastasia Romanovna, Ivan the Terrible had several children, including Tsarevich Ivan, who died in a quarrel with his father in 1581 g ., and Fedor, who became king in 1584 g . Fyodor Ioannovich was the last of the dynasty of Moscow kings - the Rurikovichs. His uncle Nikita Romanovich, Anastasia's brother, enjoyed great fame at the court of Ivan the Terrible, Nikita's son, Fyodor, later became Moscow Patriarch Filaret, and his grandson, Mikhail, became the first tsar from the new dynasty, elected to the throne in 1613

- Were there other contenders for the throne in 1613?

It is known that that year, at the Zemsky Sobor, which was supposed to choose a new king, the names of several contenders were heard. The most authoritative boyar at that time was Prince Fyodor Ivanovich Mstislavsky, who headed the seven-boyars. He was a distant descendant of Ivan III through his daughter, i.e. was a royal relative. According to sources, the leaders of the Zemstvo militia, Prince Dmitry Timofeevich Trubetskoy (who spent heavily during the Zemsky Council) and Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, also claimed the throne. There were other notable representatives of the Russian aristocracy.

- Why was Mikhail Fedorovich elected?

Of course, Mikhail Fedorovich was a very young man, he could be controlled, and he stood outside the court groups fighting for power. But the main thing is the family connection of Mikhail Fedorovich and the Romanovs with Tsar Fedor Ivanovich, the son of Ivan the Terrible. Fyodor Ivanovich was perceived at that moment as the last “legitimate” Moscow Tsar, the last representative of the real Tsar’s “root”. His personality and reign were idealized, as always happens after an era of bloody crimes, and the return to the interrupted tradition seemed to restore those quiet and calm times. It was not for nothing that the zemstvo militia minted coins with the name of Fyodor Ivanovich, who had already been dead for 15 years by that time. Mikhail Fedorovich was the nephew of Tsar Fedor - he was perceived as a kind of “reincarnation” of Fedor, a continuation of his era. And although the Romanovs did not have a direct relationship with the Rurikovichs, their inherent and family ties through marriages were of great importance. The direct descendants of the Rurikovichs, be they the Pozharsky princes or the Vorotynsky princes, were not perceived as part of the royal family, but only as subjects of the royal dynasty, which in its status rose above its peers. That is why the Romanovs turned out to be the closest relatives of the last of the Moscow Rurikovichs. Mikhail Fedorovich himself did not take any part in the work of the Zemsky Sobor and learned about its decision when an embassy came to him with an invitation to the throne. It must be said that he and especially his mother, nun Martha, stubbornly refused such an honor. But then, succumbing to persuasion, they finally agreed. Thus began the reign of a new dynasty - the Romanovs.

- Who is the most famous representatives House of the Romanovs? What are they doing?

Now the Romanov clan, we will talk specifically about the clan, is not very numerous. Representatives of the generation of the 1920s, the first generation of Romanovs born in emigration, are still alive. The oldest today are Nikolai Romanovich, living in Switzerland, Andrei Andreevich, living in the USA, and Dmitry Romanovich, living in Denmark. The first two recently turned 90 years old. All of them came to Russia several times. Together with their younger relatives and some female Romanov descendants (like Prince Michael of Kent, for example), they make up public organization"Association of members of the Romanov family." There is also a Romanov assistance fund for Russia, which is headed by Dimitri Romanovich. However, the activities of the Association in Russia, at least, are not too strongly felt. Among the members of the association there are also very young people, like Rostislav Rostislavich Romanov, for example. A notable figure is the descendant of Alexander II from his second, morganatic marriage, His Serene Highness Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky. He lives in Switzerland and St. Petersburg, where he often visits. There is the family of the late Prince Vladimir Kirillovich - his daughter Maria Vladimirovna and her son from her marriage to the Prussian prince Georgy Mikhailovich. This family considers itself legitimate contenders for the throne; it does not recognize all the other Romanovs and behaves accordingly. Maria Vladimirovna makes “official visits”, favors the nobility and orders of old Russia and in every possible way presents herself as the “Head of the Russian Imperial House”. It is clear that this activity has a very definite ideological and political connotation. The family of Vladimir Kirillovich is seeking some kind of special legal status for itself in Russia, the rights to which are being very convincingly questioned by many. There are other descendants of the Romanovs, more or less noticeable, such as Paul Edward Larsen, who now calls himself Pavel Eduardovich Kulikovsky - the great-grandson of the sister of Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. He often appears at numerous events and presentations as a guest. But as such, almost none of the Romanovs and their descendants conduct meaningful and useful activities in Russia.

Perhaps the only exception is Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya-Romanova. By origin, she does not belong to the Romanov family, but is the widow of Nicholas II’s own nephew, Tikhon Nikolaevich Kulikovsky-Romanov, the eldest son of the already mentioned Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. It must be said that her activities in Russia, unlike her other relatives, are extremely active and productive. Olga Nikolaevna heads Charitable Foundation named after V.kn. Olga Alexandrovna, which was founded by her together with her late husband Tikhon Nikolaevich, who lived in Canada. Now Olga Nikolaevna spends even more time in Russia than in Canada. The foundation has carried out enormous charitable work, providing real help many medical and social institutions Russia, the Solovetsky Monastery, etc., down to individual individuals in need of such help. IN last years Olga Nikolaevna carries out extensive cultural activities, regularly organizing exhibitions of artistic works of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, who was a lot and fruitfully engaged in painting, in different cities of the country. This side of the history of the royal family was completely unknown until recently. Now exhibitions of the Grand Duchess’s works have been held not only in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, but also in centers as distant from the capitals as Tyumen or Vladivostok. Olga Nikolaevna has traveled almost all of Russia, she is well known in many parts of our country. Of course she's completely unique person, literally charging with its energy everyone who had to deal with it. Her fate is very interesting - after all, before the Second World War, she studied at the Mariinsky Don Institute, formed even before the revolution in Novocherkassk following the example of the famous Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens, and in exile was located in the Serbian city of Bila Tserkva. Excellent upbringing in a Russian family of emigrants of the first wave and education in this educational institution could not but affect Olga Nikolaevna’s personality; she told me a lot about this period of her biography. She knew, of course, the Romanovs of the older generation, for example, the daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, the famous poet K.R. – Princess Vera Konstantinovna, with whom she and Tikhon Nikolaevich had friendly relations.

Each page of history holds its own lessons for future generations. What lesson does the history of the Romanovs’ reign teach us?

I believe that the most important thing that the Romanovs did for Russia is the emergence of the Russian Empire, a great European power with great culture and science. Even if they know Russia abroad (precisely Russia, not Soviet Union), then by the names of those people who lived and worked during this period. We can say that it was under the Romanovs that Russia stood on a par with the leading world powers, and on absolutely equal terms. This was one of the highest rises of our country in the entire history of its diverse existence. And the Romanovs played a very big role in this, for which we can be sincerely grateful to them.

Some sources say that they come from Prussia, others that their roots come from Novgorod. The first known ancestor is a Moscow boyar from the time of Ivan Kalita - Andrei Kobyla. His sons became the founders of many boyar and noble families. Among them are the Sheremetevs, Konovnitsyns, Kolychevs, Ladygins, Yakovlevs, Boborykins and many others. The Romanov family descended from the son of Kobyla - Fyodor Koshka. His descendants first called themselves Koshkins, then Koshkins-Zakharyins, and then simply Zakharyins.

The first wife of Ivan VI “the Terrible” was Anna Romanova-Zakharyina. This is where the “kinship” with the Rurikovichs and, consequently, the right to the throne can be traced.
This article tells how ordinary boyars, with a fortunate combination of circumstances and good business acumen, became the most significant family for more than three centuries, until the Great October Revolution of 1917.

Family tree of the royal Romanov dynasty in full: with dates of reign and photos

Mikhail Fedorovich (1613 - 1645)

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, not a single blood heir of the Rurikovich family remained, but a new dynasty was born - the Romanovs. The cousin-nephew of John IV’s wife, Anastasia Zakharyina, Mikhail, demanded his rights to the throne. With the support of the ordinary Moscow people and the Cossacks, he took the reins of government into his own hands and began new era in the history of Russia.

Alexey Mikhailovich “The Quietest” (1645 - 1676)

Following Mikhail, his son, Alexei, sat on the throne. He had a gentle character, for which he received his nickname. Boyar Boris Morozov had a strong influence on him. The consequence of this was the Salt Riot, the uprising of Stepan Razin and other major unrest.

Fedor III Alekseevich (1676 - 1682)

The eldest son of Tsar Alexei. After the death of his father, he legally took the throne. First of all, he elevated his confidants - the bed servant Yazykov and the room steward Likhachev. They were not from the nobility, but throughout their lives they helped in the formation of Feodor III.

Under him, an attempt was made to mitigate punishments for criminal offenses and amputation of limbs as an execution was abolished.

The decree of 1862 on the destruction of localism became important in the reign of the tsar.

Ivan V (1682 - 1696)

At the time of the death of his elder brother, Fedor III, Ivan V was 15 years old. His entourage believed that he did not have the skills inherent in a tsar and the throne should be inherited by his younger brother, 10-year-old Peter I. As a result, the rule was given to both at once, and their older sister Sophia was made their regent. Ivan V was weak, almost blind and weak-minded. During his reign, he did not make any decisions. Decrees were signed in his name, and he himself was used as a ceremonial king. In fact, the country was led by Princess Sophia.

Peter I "The Great" (1682 - 1725)

Like his older brother, Peter took the place of the Tsar in 1682, but due to his youth he could not make any decisions. He devoted a lot of time to studying military affairs while his older sister Sophia ruled the country. But in 1689, after the princess decided to single-handedly lead Russia, Peter I brutally dealt with her supporters, and she herself was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent. She spent the rest of her days within its walls and died in 1704.

Two tsars remained on the throne - Ivan V and Peter I. But Ivan himself gave his brother all the powers and remained the ruler only formally.

Having gained power, Peter carried out a number of reforms: the creation of the Senate, the subordination of the church to the state, and also built a new capital - St. Petersburg. Under him, Russia won the status of a great power and recognition of countries Western Europe. The state was also renamed the Russian Empire, and the tsar became the first emperor.

Catherine I (1725 - 1727)

After the death of her husband, Peter I, with the support of the guard, she took the throne. The new ruler did not have the skills to conduct foreign and domestic policy, she didn’t want this, so in fact the country was ruled by her favorite, Count Menshikov.

Peter II (1727 - 1730)

After the death of Catherine I, the rights to the throne were transferred to the grandson of Peter “the Great” - Peter II. The boy was only 11 years old at that time. And after 3 years he died suddenly from smallpox.

Peter II paid attention not to the country, but only to hunting and pleasure. All decisions were made for him by the same Menshikov. After the overthrow of the count, the young emperor found himself under the influence of the Dolgorukov family.

Anna Ioannovna (1730 - 1740)

After the death of Peter II, the Supreme Privy Council invited Ivan V's daughter Anna to the throne. The condition for her ascension to the throne was the acceptance of a number of restrictions - “Conditions”. They stated that the newly-crowned empress does not have the right, by unilateral decision, to declare war, make peace, get married and appoint an heir to the throne, as well as some other regulations.

After gaining power, Anna found support from the nobility, destroyed the prepared rules and dissolved the Supreme Privy Council.

The Empress was not distinguished by either intelligence or success in education. Her favorite, Ernst Biron, had a huge influence on her and the country. After her death, it was he who was appointed regent to the infant Ivan VI.

The reign of Anna Ioannovna is dark page in the history of the Russian Empire. Under her, political terror and disregard for Russian traditions reigned.

Ivan VI Antonovich (1740 - 1741)

According to the will of Empress Anna, Ivan VI ascended the throne. He was a baby, and therefore the first year of his “reign” was spent under the leadership of Ernst Biron. Afterwards, power passed to Ivan’s mother, Anna Leopoldovna. But in fact, the government was in the hands of the Cabinet of Ministers.

The emperor himself spent his entire life in prison. And at the age of 23 he was killed by prison guards.

Elizaveta Petrovna (1741 - 1761)

As a result palace coup With the support of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, the illegitimate daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine came to power. She continued the foreign policy of her father and marked the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment, opened State University named after Lomonosov.

Peter III Fedorovich (1761 - 1762)

Elizaveta Petrovna left no direct heirs in the male line. But back in 1742, she made sure that the line of Romanov rule did not end, and appointed her nephew, the son of her sister Anna, Peter III, as her heir.

The newly-crowned emperor ruled the country for only six months, after which he was killed as a result of a conspiracy led by his wife, Catherine.

Catherine II "The Great" (1762 - 1796)

After the death of her husband Peter III, she began to rule the empire alone. Nothing came of it loving wife, no mother. She devoted all her strength to strengthening the position of the autocracy. Under her rule, the borders of Russia were expanded. Her reign also influenced the development of science and education. Catherine carried out reforms and divided the country's territory into provinces. Under her, six departments were established in the Senate, and Russian empire received the proud title of one of the most developed powers.

Paul I (1796 - 1801)

Mother's dislike affected the new emperor strong influence. His entire policy was aimed at erasing everything that she had done during the years of her reign. He tried to concentrate all power in his hands and minimize self-government.

An important step in his policy is the decree banning the succession to the throne by women. This order lasted until 1917, when the reign of the Romanov family came to an end.

The policies of Paul I contributed to a slight improvement in the lives of the peasants, but the position of the nobility was greatly reduced. As a result, already in the first years of his reign, a conspiracy began to be prepared against him. Dissatisfaction with the emperor grew in various strata of society. The result was death in own room during the coup d'etat.

Alexander I (1801 - 1825)

He took the throne after the death of his father, Paul I. It was he who took part in the conspiracy, but knew nothing about the impending murder and suffered from guilt all his life.

During his reign, several important laws saw the light of day:

• The decree on “free cultivators”, according to which peasants received the right to redeem themselves with the land by agreement with the landowner.
• A decree on educational reform, after which representatives of all classes could undergo training.

The emperor promised the people the adoption of a constitution, but the project remained unfinished. Despite liberal policies, large-scale changes in the life of the country have not occurred.

In 1825, Alexander caught a cold and died. There are legends that the emperor faked his death and became a hermit.

Nicholas I (1825 - 1855)

As a result of the death of Alexander I, the reins of power were supposed to pass into the hands of his younger brother Constantine, but he voluntarily renounced the title of emperor. So the throne was taken by the third son of Paul I, Nicholas I.

The strongest influence on him was his upbringing, which was based on severe suppression of the individual. He could not count on the throne. The child grew up in oppression and suffered physical punishment.

Study travels largely influenced the views of the future emperor - conservative, with a pronounced anti-liberal orientation. After the death of Alexander I, Nicholas showed all his determination and political abilities and, despite a lot of disagreements, ascended the throne.

An important stage in the development of the ruler’s personality was the Decembrist uprising. It was brutally suppressed, order was restored, and Russia swore allegiance to the new monarch.

Throughout his life, the emperor considered his goal to be the suppression of the revolutionary movement. The policy of Nicholas I led to the largest foreign policy defeat during Crimean War 1853 - 1856. The failure undermined the emperor's health. In 1955, an accidental cold took his life.

Alexander II (1855 - 1881)

The birth of Alexander II attracted enormous public attention. At this time, his father did not even imagine him in the place of ruler, but young Sasha was already destined for the role of heir, since none of Nicholas I’s older brothers had male children.

The young man received a good education. He mastered five languages ​​and had a perfect knowledge of history, geography, statistics, mathematics, natural science, logic and philosophy. Special courses were conducted for him under the guidance of influential figures and ministers.

During his reign, Alexander carried out many reforms:

• university;
• judicial;
• military and others.

But the most important is rightfully considered the abolition of serfdom. For this move he was nicknamed the Tsar Liberator.

Nevertheless, despite the innovations, the emperor remained faithful to the autocracy. This policy did not contribute to the adoption of the constitution. The emperor's reluctance to choose a new path of development caused an intensification of revolutionary activity. As a result, a series of assassination attempts led to the death of the sovereign.

Alexander III (1881 - 1894)

Alexander III was the second son of Alexander II. Since he was not initially the heir to the throne, he did not consider it necessary to receive a proper education. Only at a conscious age did the future ruler begin to prepare for his reign at an accelerated pace.

As a result of the tragic death of his father, power passed to a new emperor - tougher, but fair.

A distinctive feature of the reign of Alexander III was the absence of wars. For this he was nicknamed the “peacemaker king.”

He died in 1894. The cause of death was nephritis - inflammation of the kidneys. The cause of the disease is considered to be both the crash of the imperial train at Borki station and the emperor’s addiction to alcohol.

Here is practically the entire family genealogical tree of the Romanov family with years of reign and portraits. Special attention should be paid to the last monarch.

Nicholas II (1894 - 1917)

Son of Alexander III. He ascended the throne as a result of the sudden death of his father.
He received a good education aimed at military education, studied under the leadership of the current Tsar, and his teachers were outstanding Russian scientists.

Nicholas II quickly became comfortable on the throne and began to promote an independent policy, which caused discontent among some of his circle. The main goal of his reign was to establish the internal unity of the empire.
Opinions about Alexander's son are very scattered and contradictory. Many consider him too soft and weak-willed. But his strong attachment to his family is also noted. He did not part with his wife and children until the last seconds of his life.

Nicholas II played a big role in the church life of Russia. Frequent pilgrimages brought him closer to the indigenous population. The number of temples during his reign increased from 774 to 1005. Later, the last emperor and his family were canonized as saints of Russia Church Abroad(ROCOR).

On the night of July 16-17, 1918, after the October Revolution of 1917, the royal family was shot in the basement of Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg. It is believed that the order was given by Sverdlov and Lenin.

On this tragic note, the reign of the royal family ends, which lasted for more than three centuries (from 1613 to 1917). This dynasty left a huge mark on the development of Russia. It is to her that we owe what we have now. Only thanks to the rule of representatives of this family, serfdom was abolished in our country, educational, judicial, military and many other reforms were launched.

The diagram of a complete family tree with the years of reign of the first and last monarchs from the Romanov family clearly shows how from the usual boyar family it turned out to be a great family of rulers who glorified the royal dynasty. But even now you can trace the formation of the successors of the family. At the moment, the descendants of the imperial family who could lay claim to the throne are alive and well. There is no longer any “pure blood” left, but the fact remains. If Russia again switches to a form of government such as a monarchy, then the successor of the ancient family may become the new king.

It is worth noting that most Russian rulers lived relatively short lives. After fifty, only Peter I, Elizaveta I Petrovna, Nicholas I and Nicholas II died. And the threshold of 60 years was overcome by Catherine II and Alexander II. Everyone else died in pretty early age due to illness or coup d'etat.

On Ivan IV the Terrible (†1584) The Rurik dynasty in Russia was interrupted. After his death it began Time of Troubles.

The result of the 50-year reign of Ivan the Terrible was sad. Endless wars, oprichnina, and mass executions led to unprecedented economic decline. By the 1580s, a huge part of the previously prosperous lands had become deserted: abandoned villages and villages stood all over the country, arable land was overgrown with forest and weeds. As a result of the protracted Livonian War, the country lost part of its western lands. Noble and influential aristocratic clans strove for power and waged an irreconcilable struggle among themselves. A heavy inheritance fell on the lot of the successor of Tsar Ivan IV - his son Fyodor Ivanovich and guardian Boris Godunov. (Ivan the Terrible still had one more son-heir - Tsarevich Dmitry Uglichsky, who was 2 years old at that time).

Boris Godunov (1584-1605)

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, his son ascended the throne Fedor Ioannovich . The new king was unable to rule the country (according to some reports he was weak in health and mind) and was under the tutelage first of the council of boyars, then of his brother-in-law Boris Godunov. A stubborn struggle between the boyar groups of the Godunovs, Romanovs, Shuiskys, and Mstislavskys began at court. But a year later, as a result of the “undercover struggle,” Boris Godunov cleared the way for himself from his rivals (some were accused of treason and exiled, some were forcibly tonsured as monks, some “died into another world” in time). Those. The boyar became the de facto ruler of the state. During the reign of Fyodor Ivanovich, the position of Boris Godunov became so significant that overseas diplomats sought an audience with Boris Godunov, his will was the law. Fedor reigned, Boris ruled - everyone knew this both in Rus' and abroad.

S. V. Ivanov. "Boyar Duma"

After the death of Fedor (January 7, 1598), a new tsar was elected at the Zemsky Sobor - Boris Godunov (thus, he became the first Russian Tsar to receive the throne not by inheritance, but by election at the Zemsky Sobor).

(1552 - April 13, 1605) - after the death of Ivan the Terrible, he became the de facto ruler of the state as the guardian of Fyodor Ioannovich, and since 1598 - Russian Tsar .

Under Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov was first a guardsman. In 1571 he married the daughter of Malyuta Skuratov. And after the marriage of his sister Irina in 1575 (the only "Tsarina Irina" on the Russian throne) On the son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Fyodor Ioannovich, he became a close person to the Tsar.

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, royal throne went first to his son Fedor (under the guardianship of Godunov), and after his death - to Boris Godunov himself.

He died in 1605 at the age of 53, at the height of the war with False Dmitry I, who had moved to Moscow. After his death, Boris’s son, Fedor, an educated and extremely intelligent young man, became king. But as a result of the rebellion in Moscow, provoked by False Dmitry, Tsar Fedor and his mother Maria Godunova were brutally killed.(The rebels left only Boris’s daughter, Ksenia, alive. She faced the bleak fate of the impostor’s concubine.)

Boris Godunov was pburied in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin. Under Tsar Vasily Shuisky, the remains of Boris, his wife and son were transferred to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and buried in a sitting position at the northwestern corner of the Assumption Cathedral. Ksenia was buried there in 1622, and Olga was buried in monasticism. In 1782, a tomb was built over their tombs.

The activities of Godunov's reign are assessed positively by historians. Under him, the comprehensive strengthening of statehood began. Thanks to his efforts, he was elected in 1589 first Russian patriarch which he became Moscow Metropolitan Job. The establishment of the patriarchate testified to the increased prestige of Russia.

Patriarch Job (1589-1605)

An unprecedented construction of cities and fortifications began. To ensure the safety of the waterway from Kazan to Astrakhan, cities were built on the Volga - Samara (1586), Tsaritsyn (1589) (future Volgograd), Saratov (1590).

In foreign policy Godunov proved himself to be a talented diplomat - Russia regained all the lands transferred to Sweden following the unsuccessful Livonian War (1558-1583).Russia's rapprochement with the West has begun. There was never before in Rus' a sovereign who was so favorable to foreigners as Godunov. He began to invite foreigners to serve. For foreign trade, the government created the most favored nation regime. At the same time, strictly protecting Russian interests. Under Godunov, nobles began to be sent to the West to study. True, none of those who left brought any benefit to Russia: having studied, none of them wanted to return to their homeland.Tsar Boris himself really wanted to strengthen his ties with the West by becoming related to a European dynasty, and made a lot of efforts to profitably marry off his daughter Ksenia.

Having started successfully, the reign of Boris Godunov ended sadly. A series of boyar conspiracies (many boyars harbored hostility towards the “upstart”) gave rise to despondency, and soon a real catastrophe broke out. The silent opposition that accompanied Boris's reign from beginning to end was no secret to him. There is evidence that the tsar directly accused the close boyars of the fact that the appearance of the impostor False Dmitry I could not have happened without their assistance. The city population was also in opposition to the authorities, dissatisfied with the heavy exactions and arbitrariness of local officials. And the rumors circulating about Boris Godunov’s involvement in the murder of the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Dmitry Ioannovich, “heated up” the situation even more. Thus, hatred of Godunov by the end of his reign was universal.

Troubles (1598-1613)

Famine (1601 - 1603)

IN 1601-1603 erupted in the country catastrophic famine , which lasted 3 years. The price of bread increased 100 times. Boris prohibited the sale of bread above a certain limit, even resorting to persecution of those who inflated prices, but did not achieve success. In an effort to help the hungry, he spared no expense, widely distributing money to the poor. But bread became more expensive, and money lost value. Boris ordered the royal barns to be opened for the hungry. However, even their reserves were not enough for all the hungry, especially since, having learned about the distribution, people from all over the country flocked to Moscow, abandoning the meager supplies that they still had at home. In Moscow alone, 127,000 people died of hunger, and not everyone had time to bury them. Cases of cannibalism appeared. People began to think that this was God's punishment. The conviction arose that Boris's reign was not blessed by God, because it was lawless, achieved through untruth. Therefore, it cannot end well.

A sharp deterioration in the situation of all segments of the population led to mass unrest under the slogan of overthrowing Tsar Boris Godunov and transferring the throne to the “legitimate” sovereign. The stage was ready for the appearance of an impostor.

False Dmitry I (1 (11) June 1605 - 17 (27) May 1606)

Rumors began to circulate throughout the country that the “born sovereign,” Tsarevich Dmitry, miraculously escaped and was alive.

Tsarevich Dmitry (†1591) , the son of Ivan the Terrible from the Tsar’s last wife, Maria Feodorovna Nagaya (monastically Martha), died under circumstances that have not yet been clarified - from a knife wound to the throat.

Death of Tsarevich Dmitry (Uglichsky)

Little Dmitry suffered from mental disorders, more than once fell into causeless anger, threw his fists even at his mother, and suffered from epilepsy. All this, however, did not negate the fact that he was a prince and after the death of Fyodor Ioannovich (†1598) he had to ascend to his father’s throne. Dmitry posed a real threat to many: the boyar nobility had suffered enough from Ivan the Terrible, so they watched the violent heir with alarm. But most of all, the prince was dangerous, of course, to those forces that relied on Godunov. That is why, when news of his strange death came from Uglich, where 8-year-old Dmitry was sent with his mother, popular rumor immediately, without any doubt that it was right, pointed to Boris Godunov as the mastermind of the crime. The official conclusion that the prince killed himself: while playing with a knife, he allegedly had an epileptic fit, and in convulsions he stabbed himself in the throat, few people were convinced.

The death of Dmitry in Uglich and the subsequent death of the childless Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich led to a crisis of power.

It was not possible to put an end to the rumors, and Godunov tried to do this by force. The more actively the king fought against people’s rumors, the wider and louder it became.

In 1601, a man appeared on the scene posing as Tsarevich Dmitry, and went down in history under the name False Dmitry I . He, the only one of all Russian impostors, managed to seize the throne for a while.

- an impostor who pretended to be the miraculously saved youngest son of Ivan IV the Terrible - Tsarevich Dmitry. The first of three impostors who called themselves the son of Ivan the Terrible and claimed the Russian throne (False Dmitry II and False Dmitry III). From June 1 (11), 1605 to May 17 (27), 1606 - Tsar of Russia.

According to the most common version, False Dmitry is someone Grigory Otrepiev , fugitive monk of the Chudov Monastery (which is why the people received the nickname Rasstriga - deprived of clergy, i.e. the degree of priesthood). Before becoming a monk, he served in the service of Mikhail Nikitich Romanov (brother of Patriarch Filaret and uncle of the first tsar of the Romanov family, Mikhail Fedorovich). After the persecution of the Romanov family by Boris Godunov began in 1600, he fled to the Zheleznoborkovsky Monastery (Kostroma) and became a monk. But soon he moved to the Euthymius Monastery in the city of Suzdal, and then to the Moscow Miracle Monastery (in the Moscow Kremlin). There he quickly becomes a “deacon of the cross”: he is engaged in copying books and is present as a scribe in the “sovereign Duma”. ABOUTTrepiev becomes quite familiar with Patriarch Job and many of the Duma boyars. However, the life of a monk did not attract him. Around 1601, he fled to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), where he declared himself a “miraculously saved prince.” Further, his traces are lost in Poland until 1603.

Otrepyev in Poland declares himself Tsarevich Dmitry

According to some sources, Otrepievconverted to Catholicism and proclaimed himself prince. Although the impostor treated questions of faith lightly, being indifferent to both Orthodox and Catholic traditions. There in Poland, Otrepiev saw and fell in love with the beautiful and proud lady Marina Mnishek.

Poland actively supported the impostor. In exchange for support, False Dmitry promised, after ascending the throne, to return half of the Smolensk land to the Polish crown along with the city of Smolensk and the Chernigov-Seversk land, to support the Catholic faith in Russia - in particular, to open churches and allow Jesuits into Muscovy, to support the Polish king Sigismund III in his claims to the Swedish crown and promote rapprochement - and ultimately, merger - between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the same time, False Dmitry turns to the Pope with a letter promising favor and help.

Oath of False Dmitry I to the Polish King Sigismund III for the introduction of Catholicism in Russia

After a private audience in Krakow with the King of Poland, Sigismund III, False Dmitry began to form a detachment for a campaign against Moscow. According to some reports, he managed to gather more than 15,000 people.

On October 16, 1604, False Dmitry I with detachments of Poles and Cossacks moved towards Moscow. When the news of the attack of False Dmitry reached Moscow, the boyar elite, dissatisfied with Godunov, was willingly ready to recognize a new contender for the throne. Even the curses of the Moscow Patriarch did not cool the people’s enthusiasm on the path of “Tsarevich Dmitry.”

The success of False Dmitry I was caused not so much by the military factor as by the unpopularity of the Russian Tsar Boris Godunov. Ordinary Russian warriors were reluctant to fight against someone who, in their opinion, could be the “true” prince; some governors even said out loud that it was “not right” to fight against the true sovereign.

On April 13, 1605, Boris Godunov died unexpectedly. The boyars swore allegiance to the kingdom to his son Fedor, but on June 1 there was an uprising in Moscow, and Fedor Borisovich Godunov was overthrown. And on June 10, he and his mother were killed. The people wanted to see the “God-given” Dmitry as king.

Convinced of the support of the nobles and the people, on June 20, 1605, to the festive ringing of bells and the welcoming cries of the crowds crowded on both sides of the road, False Dmitry I solemnly entered the Kremlin. The new king was accompanied by the Poles. On July 18, False Dmitry was recognized by Tsarina Maria, the wife of Ivan the Terrible and the mother of Tsarevich Dmitry. On July 30, False Dmitry was crowned king by the new Patriarch Ignatius.

For the first time in Russian history, Western foreigners came to Moscow not by invitation and not as dependent people, but as the main characters. The impostor brought with him a huge retinue that occupied the entire city center. For the first time, Moscow was filled with Catholics; for the first time, the Moscow court began to live not according to Russian, but according to Western, or more precisely, Polish laws. For the first time, foreigners began to push Russians around as if they were their slaves, demonstratively showing them that they were second-class citizens.The history of the Poles' stay in Moscow is full of bullying uninvited guests over the owners of the house.

False Dmitry removed obstacles to leaving the state and moving within it. The British, who were in Moscow at that time, noted that no European state had ever known such freedom. In most of his actions, some modern historians recognize False Dmitry as an innovator who sought to Europeanize the state. At the same time, he began to look for allies in the West, especially the Pope and the Polish king; the proposed alliance was also supposed to include the German emperor, French king and Venetians.

One of the weaknesses of False Dmitry was women, including the wives and daughters of boyars, who actually became the tsar’s free or involuntary concubines. Among them was even the daughter of Boris Godunov, Ksenia, whom, because of her beauty, the impostor spared during the extermination of the Godunov family, and then kept with him for several months. In May 1606, False Dmitry married the daughter of a Polish governor Marina Mnishek , who was crowned as a Russian queen without observing Orthodox rites. The new queen reigned in Moscow for exactly a week.

At the same time, a dual situation arose: on the one hand, the people loved False Dmitry, and on the other, they suspected him of being an impostor. In the winter of 1605, the Chudov monk was captured, publicly declaring that Grishka Otrepyev was sitting on the throne, whom “he himself taught to read and write.” The monk was tortured, but without achieving anything, he was drowned in the Moscow River along with several of his comrades.

Almost from the first day, a wave of discontent swept through the capital due to the tsar’s failure to observe church fasts and violation of Russian customs in clothing and life, his disposition towards foreigners, his promise to marry a Polish woman and the planned war with Turkey and Sweden. At the head of the dissatisfied were Vasily Shuisky, Vasily Golitsyn, Prince Kurakin and the most conservative representatives of the clergy - Kazan Metropolitan Hermogenes and Kolomna Bishop Joseph.

What irritated the people was that the tsar, the more clearly he mocked Muscovite prejudices, dressed in foreign clothes and seemed to deliberately tease the boyars, ordering them to serve veal, which the Russians did not eat.

Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610)

17 May 1606 as a result of a coup led by Shuisky's people False Dmitry was killed . The mutilated corpse was thrown onto the Execution Ground, with a buffoonish cap put on its head and bagpipes placed on its chest. Subsequently, the body was burned, and the ashes were loaded into a cannon and fired from it towards Poland.

1 9 May 1606 Vasily Shuisky became king (was crowned by Metropolitan Isidore of Novgorod in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin as Tsar Vasily IV on June 1, 1606). Such an election was illegal, but this did not bother any of the boyars.

Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky , from the family of Suzdal princes Shuisky, who descended from Alexander Nevsky, was born in 1552. Since 1584 he was a boyar and head of the Moscow Court Chamber.

In 1587 he led the opposition to Boris Godunov. As a result, he fell into disgrace, but managed to regain the king’s favor and was forgiven.

After the death of Godunov, Vasily Shuisky tried to carry out a coup, but was arrested and exiled along with his brothers. But False Dmitry needed boyar support, and at the end of 1605 the Shuiskys returned to Moscow.

After the murder of False Dmitry I, organized by Vasily Shuisky, the boyars and the crowd bribed by them, gathered on Red Square in Moscow, elected Shuisky to the throne on May 19, 1606.

However, 4 years later, in the summer of 1610, the same boyars and nobles overthrew him from the throne and forced him and his wife to become monks. In September 1610, the former “boyar” tsar was handed over to the Polish hetman (commander-in-chief) Zholkiewski, who took Shuiski to Poland. In Warsaw, the Tsar and his brothers were presented as prisoners to King Sigismund III.

Vasily Shuisky died on September 12, 1612, in custody in Gostyninsky Castle, in Poland, 130 versts from Warsaw. In 1635, at the request of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, the remains of Vasily Shuisky were returned by the Poles to Russia. Vasily was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

With the accession of Vasily Shuisky to the throne, the Troubles did not end, but entered an even more complex phase. Tsar Vasily was not popular among the people. The legitimacy of the new king was not recognized by a significant number of the population, who were awaiting the new coming of the “true king.” Unlike False Dmitry, Shuisky could not pretend to be a descendant of the Ruriks and appeal to the hereditary right to the throne. Unlike Godunov, the conspirator was not legally elected by the council, which means he could not, like Tsar Boris, claim the legitimacy of his power. He relied only on a narrow circle of supporters and could not resist the elements that were already raging in the country.

In August 1607 a new contender for the throne has appeared, reanimated” by the same Poland -.

This second impostor received the nickname in Russian history Tushino thief . In his army there were up to 20 thousand multilingual rabble. This whole mass roamed the Russian soil and behaved as occupiers usually behave, that is, they robbed, killed and raped. In the summer of 1608, False Dmitry II approached Moscow and camped near its walls in the village of Tushino. Tsar Vasily Shuisky and his government were locked up in Moscow; An alternative capital with its own government hierarchy arose under its walls.

The Polish governor Mniszek and his daughter soon arrived at the camp. Oddly enough, Marina Mnishek “recognized” her ex-fiancé in the impostor and secretly married False Dmitry II.

False Dmitry II actually ruled Russia - he distributed land to nobles, considered complaints, and met foreign ambassadors.By the end of 1608, a significant part of Russia came under the rule of the Tushins, and Shuisky no longer controlled the regions of the country. The Moscow state seemed to cease to exist forever.

In September 1608 it began siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery , and inFamine struck besieged Moscow. Trying to save the situation, Vasily Shuisky decided to call on mercenaries for help and turned to the Swedes.

Siege of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra by the troops of False Dmitry II and the Polish hetman Jan Sapieha

In December 1609, due to the advance of a 15,000-strong Swedish army and the betrayal of Polish military leaders who began to swear allegiance to King Sigismund III, False Dmitry II was forced to flee from Tushin to Kaluga, where a year later he was killed.

Interregnum (1610-1613)

Russia's situation worsened day by day. The Russian land was torn apart by civil strife, the Swedes threatened war in the north, the Tatars constantly rebelled in the south, and the Poles threatened from the west. During the Time of Troubles, the Russian people tried anarchy, military dictatorship, thieves' law, tried to introduce a constitutional monarchy, and offer the throne to foreigners. But nothing helped. At that time, many Russians agreed to recognize any sovereign, if only there would finally be peace in the tormented country.

In England, in turn, the project of an English protectorate over all Russian land not yet occupied by the Poles and Swedes was seriously considered. According to the documents, King James I of England “was carried away by the plan to send an army to Russia to govern it through his delegate.”

However, on July 27, 1610, as a result of a boyar conspiracy, Russian Tsar Vasily Shuisky was removed from the throne. A period of rule has begun in Russia "Seven Boyars" .

"Seven Boyars" - a “temporary” boyar government formed in Russia after the overthrow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky (died in Polish captivity) in July 1610 and formally existed until the election of Tsar Mikhail Romanov to the throne.

Consisted of 7 members of the Boyar Duma - princes F.I. Mstislavsky, I.M. Vorotynsky, A.V. Trubetskoy, A.V. Golitsyna, B.M. Lykov-Obolensky, I.N. Romanov (uncle of the future Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and younger brother of the future Patriarch Filaret) and F.I. Sheremetyev. The prince, boyar, governor, and influential member of the Boyar Duma Fyodor Ivanovich Mstislavsky was elected head of the Seven Boyars.

One of the tasks of the new government was to prepare for the election of a new king. However, “military conditions” required immediate decisions.
In the west of Moscow, in the immediate vicinity of Poklonnaya Hill near the village of Dorogomilov, the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, led by Hetman Zholkiewski, stood up, and in the southeast, in Kolomenskoye, False Dmitry II, with whom was the Lithuanian detachment of Sapieha. The boyars were especially afraid of False Dmitry because he had many supporters in Moscow and was at least more popular than them. In order to avoid the struggle of boyar clans for power, it was decided not to elect representatives of Russian clans as tsar.

As a result, the so-called “Semibyarshchina” concluded an agreement with the Poles on the election of a 15-year-old to the Russian throne Polish prince Vladislav IV (son of Sigismund III) on the terms of his conversion to Orthodoxy.

Fearing False Dmitry II, the boyars went even further and on the night of September 21, 1610 secretly allowed the Polish troops of Hetman Zholkiewski into the Kremlin (in Russian history this fact is considered an act of national treason).

Thus, real power in the capital and beyond was concentrated in the hands of the governor, Władysław Pan Gonsiewski, and the military leaders of the Polish garrison.

Disregarding the Russian government, they generously distributed lands to supporters of Poland, confiscating them from those who remained loyal to the country.

Meanwhile, King Sigismund III had no intention of letting his son Vladislav go to Moscow, especially since he did not want to allow him to convert to Orthodoxy. Sigismund himself dreamed of taking the Moscow throne and becoming king of Muscovite Rus'. Taking advantage of the chaos, the Polish king conquered the western and southeastern regions of the Moscow state and began to consider himself the sovereign of all Rus'.

This changed the attitude of the members of the government of the Seven Boyars themselves towards the Poles they called. Taking advantage of the growing discontent, Patriarch Hermogenes began sending letters to the cities of Russia, calling for resistance to the new government. For this he was taken into custody and subsequently executed. All this served as a signal for the unification of almost all Russians with the goal of expelling the Polish invaders from Moscow and electing a new Russian Tsar not only by the boyars and princes, but “by the will of the whole earth.”

People's militia of Dmitry Pozharsky (1611-1612)

Seeing the atrocities of foreigners, the robbery of churches, monasteries and the episcopal treasury, the residents began to fight for the faith, for their spiritual salvation. The siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery by Sapieha and Lisovsky and its defense played a huge role in strengthening patriotism.

The defense of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, which lasted almost 16 months - from September 23, 1608 to January 12, 1610

The patriotic movement under the slogan of electing the “original” sovereign led to the formation in the Ryazan cities First Militia (1611) who began the liberation of the country. In October 1612, troops Second Militia (1611-1612) Led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, they liberated the capital, forcing the Polish garrison to surrender.

After the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow, thanks to the feat of the Second People's Militia led by Minin and Pozharsky, the country was ruled for several months by a provisional government led by princes Dmitry Pozharsky and Dmitry Trubetskoy.

At the very end of December 1612, Pozharsky and Trubetskoy sent letters to the cities in which they summoned the best and most intelligent elected people from all cities and from every rank to Moscow, “for the zemstvo council and for state election.” These elected people were to elect a new king in Rus'. The Zemsky Militia Government (“Council of the Whole Land”) began preparations for the Zemsky Sobor.

Zemsky Sobor of 1613 and the election of a new tsar

Before the start of the Zemsky Sobor, a 3-day strict fast was announced everywhere. Many prayer services were held in churches so that God would enlighten the elected people, and the matter of election to the kingdom would be accomplished not by human desire, but by the will of God.

On January 6 (19), 1613, the Zemsky Sobor began in Moscow , at which the issue of electing a Russian Tsar was decided. This was the first indisputably all-class Zemsky Sobor with the participation of townspeople and even rural representatives. All segments of the population were represented, with the exception of slaves and serfs. The number of “council people” gathered in Moscow exceeded 800 people, representing at least 58 cities.

The conciliar meetings took place in an atmosphere of fierce rivalry between various political groups that had taken shape in Russian society during the ten-year Troubles and sought to strengthen their position by electing their contender to the royal throne. The Council participants nominated more than ten candidates for the throne.

At first, the Polish prince Vladislav and the Swedish prince Karl Philip were named as contenders for the throne. However, these candidates met with opposition from the vast majority of the Council. The Zemsky Sobor annulled the decision of the Seven Boyars to elect Prince Vladislav to the Russian throne and decreed: “Foreign princes and Tatar princes should not be invited to the Russian throne.”

Candidates from old princely families also did not receive support. Various sources name Fyodor Mstislavsky, Ivan Vorotynsky, Fyodor Sheremetev, Dmitry Trubetskoy, Dmitry Mamstrukovich and Ivan Borisovich Cherkassky, Ivan Golitsyn, Ivan Nikitich and Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov and Pyotr Pronsky among the candidates. Dmitry Pozharsky was also proposed as king. But he decisively rejected his candidacy and was one of the first to point out the ancient family of Romanov boyars. Pozharsky said: “According to the nobility of the family, and the amount of services to the fatherland, Metropolitan Filaret from the Romanov family would have been suitable for king. But this good servant of God is now in Polish captivity and cannot become king. But he has a sixteen-year-old son, and he, by the right of the antiquity of his family and by the right of his pious upbringing by his nun mother, should become king.”(In the world, Metropolitan Filaret was a boyar - Fyodor Nikitich Romanov. Boris Godunov forced him to become a monk, fearing that he might displace Godunov and sit on the royal throne.)

Moscow nobles, supported by the townspeople, proposed to elevate 16-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, the son of Patriarch Filaret, to the throne. According to a number of historians, the decisive role in the election of Mikhail Romanov to the kingdom was played by the Cossacks, who during this period became an influential social force. A movement arose among service people and Cossacks, the center of which was the Moscow courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, and its active inspirer was the cellarer of this monastery, Avraamy Palitsyn, a very influential person among both the militias and Muscovites. At meetings with the participation of cellarer Abraham, it was decided to proclaim Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov Yuryev, the son of Rostov Metropolitan Filaret captured by the Poles, as Tsar.The main argument of Mikhail Romanov’s supporters was that, unlike elected tsars, he was elected not by people, but by God, since he comes from a noble royal root. Not kinship with Rurik, but closeness and kinship with the dynasty of Ivan IV gave the right to occupy his throne. Many boyars joined the Romanov party, and he was also supported by the highest Orthodox clergy - Consecrated Cathedral.

On February 21 (March 3), 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom, laying the foundation for a new dynasty.

In 1613, the Zemsky Sobor swore allegiance to 16-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich

Letters were sent to the cities and districts of the country with the news of the election of a king and the oath of allegiance to the new dynasty.

On March 13, 1613, the ambassadors of the Council arrived in Kostroma. At the Ipatiev Monastery, where Mikhail was with his mother, he was informed of his election to the throne.

The Poles tried to prevent the new Tsar from arriving in Moscow. A small detachment of them went to the Ipatiev Monastery to kill Michael, but got lost along the way, because the peasant Ivan Susanin , agreeing to show the way, led him into a dense forest.

On June 11, 1613, Mikhail Fedorovich was crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. The celebrations lasted 3 days.

The election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom put an end to the Troubles and gave rise to the Romanov dynasty.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK