The Romanovs. The History of the Russian Dynasty
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The quiet monastery at Kostroma had never seen so many nobles.
They were envoys from the National Assembly in Moscow,
come to beg the great nun, Martha,
to allow her son to take his rightful place as the next Tsar of Russia.
Michael Romanov was the only one who hadn't stained his good name
during the time of troubles.
He was their only hope.
If he refused, Anarchy would return.
Russia, they said, could not endure such grief again.
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In 1598, Zafiodor, son of Ivan the Terrible, died childless.
He was the last of the Rurik dynasty,
rulers of Russia for more than 700 years.
His younger brother, Dmitry, had died 7 years earlier,
in suspicious circumstances.
The National Assembly elected Boris Gudanov as the next Tsar.
But a rival soon emerged,
an imposter claiming to be the last Tsar's dead younger brother.
This so-called false Dmitry seized the throne
and married the Polish noblewoman, Marina Mniszek.
Within a year, the false Dmitry was slain in a palace coup
and Marina fled Moscow.
In exile, she recognized a second false Dmitry as her husband
and bore him a son, Ivan.
Russia was leaderless
and Sweden and Poland took advantage of her weakness,
attacking on two fronts.
Russia lost Karelia, Novgorod and Smolensk.
Amid the anarchy and devastation,
only 10% of Russian lands were still being farmed.
Famine and fear stormed the land.
Without a strong legitimate ruler,
it seemed the Russian state would soon cease to exist.
Towards the end of the brutal winter of 1613,
delegates of the country's National Assembly travelled to Moscow,
where they would decide the fate of the motherland.
The Zemsky Sobor, or National Assembly,
was Russia's parliament of the 16th and 17th centuries,
brought together to advise on the most important political issues.
In 1613, the Assembly had about 1,000 delegates,
drawn from the nobility, clergy, merchants and free townsmen.
The decisive vote was held on March 3rd.
After lengthy debate, the 16-year-old Michael Romanov was elected Tsar.
Michael's father was Fyodor Nikitich Romanov,
the cousin of Tsar Fyodor, the son of Ivan the Terrible.
This gave him a strong claim to the throne.
When Boris Gudanov took the throne, he saw Michael's father as a potential threat
and forced him to become a monk under the name of Filaret.
Michael's mother, Zhenya, became a nun, taking the name Martha.
Filaret rose to the rank of bishop,
was imprisoned by the Poles while on a diplomatic mission.
His Polish captors didn't bother to inform him that his son had been made Tsar of Russia.
The people of Moscow, meanwhile, were informed of the National Assembly's decision
through public announcements in Red Square.
Michael Fyodorovich Romanov, it was declared,
was the new sovereign of the Grand Duchy of Muscovy and Tsar of all the Russias.
Michael had grown up amid the 15-year anarchy known as the Time of Troubles.
When he was just four, he was taken from his parents and sent to the country.
Later, his mother came to take Michael back,
and together they went to live a quiet life in the Apatiev Monastery,
200 miles northeast of Moscow.
Horse and exhausted ambassadors, bearing the holy icon of Our Lady of St. Fyodor,
spent hours persuading the Romanovs to accept power.
Finally, they consented.
After many years of lawlessness and violence, a new Tsar ascended to the Russian throne.
Michael Fyodorovich Romanov, founder of the Romanov dynasty,
by God's will, Tsar and ruler of all Russia.
The coronation of Tsar Michael I was held on July 22nd, 1613.
Chapter 1. Michael I. Fyodorovich.
Chapter 1. Michael I. Fyodorovich.
There was no going back for Michael Romanov.
He ascended the steps of the Cathedral of the Assumption, the son of a noble,
and descended them as Tsar.
The state he was to rule was on the verge of collapse,
so the young Tsar followed his intuition and ruled not as an autocrat,
but in consultation with his advisors.
On his initiative, the National Assembly, which had formally met once every few years,
began to meet more regularly to offer him advice.
Despite the expectations of many,
Michael didn't become a puppet of the noble factions at court.
He remained his own man, biding his time.
When one Dutch visitor suggested that Michael should take firm measures against his enemies,
he answered,
''Don't you know that our Russian bears never hunt in the first year of life?
They only hunt when they are older.''
Michael faced three rival claimants to the throne.
To the north, the Swedish King Carl Philip.
To the west, the Polish Prince Wladyslaw.
And in the south, the three-year-old Ivan,
son of Marina Manishek and the second False Dmitry.
The boy's claim was upheld by 3,000 Cossacks,
led by the adventurer Ivan Zarutsky.
But their followers soon deserted their cause,
and he and the boy were handed over to the Tsar's soldiers
and brought to Moscow to meet their fate.
The executions took place in front of a huge crowd,
by the city's Serpukhov Gate.
The Dutch traveller Elias Herkman remembered it for the rest of his life.
Zarutsky was impaled on a stake.
Then Dmitry's son was brought out.
A snowstorm was blowing, wet snow slapping the boy on the face.
He kept asking, ''What's the matter?''
The wet snow slapping the boy on the face.
He kept asking, ''Where are you taking me?''
Those carrying the child kept him calm
and brought him, like a lamb to the slaughter, to the gallows.
The poor boy was hanged as a thief.
The Tsar's enemies could have used the boy to ferment civil war,
casting Russia back into the time of troubles.
Michael would take any measure, no matter how brutal, to prevent that.
Anarchy had been avoided, but war seemed inescapable.
Swedish troops were besieging Pskov, 360 miles west of Moscow.
Michael ordered his diplomats to negotiate peace at any price.
In 1617, the Treaty of Stalbov was signed
and the city of Novgorod and surrounding lands were returned to Russia.
The next threat was a Polish army advancing on Moscow,
led by Prince Wladyslaw in person.
The Poles reached the walls of the Kremlin itself,
the citadel at the heart of the city.
Russian spies learned that the Poles were digging a mine under the Arbat Gate,
but the Tsar ignored the pleas of his advisors and refused to abandon the city.
Weighing on his mind was not just the fate of the city, but a personal dilemma.
The Poles still held his father prisoner.
Michael knew if he left Moscow, he would lose the throne.
If he lost the throne, he would never see his father again.
On December 1st, 1618, Poland and Russia signed the Truce of Dulina.
Region from Vyazma to Chernigov was returned, but many issues remained unresolved.
Smolensk remained under Polish control
and Prince Wladyslaw refused to renounce his claim to the Russian throne.
But Russia was exhausted by war.
It desperately needed peace, a breathing space and time to rebuild.
However, the treaty was a personal triumph for Michael.
Under its terms, all prisoners taken during the time of troubles were to be returned,
amongst them his father.
It was a moment of great joy for the Russian Tsar.
His father.
It was nine years since their separation.
Michael had always looked up to his father and tried to emulate him.
Now, he was finally to be reunited with this legendary figure,
the Metropolitan Bishop Filaret.
The father could see that his son had become a real Tsar of Russia,
God's chosen ruler.
Ten days later, the Tsar made his father Patriarch of Moscow,
the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
From henceforth, they would rule together as father and son.
The influence of the Tsar's mother, the once all-powerful great-nun Martha, began to wane.
She no longer had any say in affairs of state and had less and less access to her son.
The Tsar was now in his twenties, a grown man.
Accordingly, it was announced that by God's will, the great ruler Tsar Michael
had reached the age of adulthood and the time had come for him to take a wife.
The Tsar's mother had found a bride for her son, but Michael made his own decision.
Years ago, during his exile, he had fallen in love with Masha Klopova,
the daughter of one of his guardians, and promised to marry only her.
The Tsar's decision was announced, and his bride-to-be was found rooms within the palace.
The Solchikov brothers, relatives of the Tsar's mother, were put in charge of her safety.
But just before the wedding, Masha suddenly fell dangerously ill.
The palace was alive with rumor and suspicion.
The Solchikovs summoned the best foreign doctors, who announced that a terrible disease
was devouring the royal bride from within, and no cure was possible.
People were soon whispering that the Tsar's mother was behind it, because she was opposed to the marriage.
In any event, Masha eventually recovered, only to be exiled to Siberia
for apparently concealing an illness from the Tsar's advisors.
An investigation later concluded she'd been poisoned by the Solchikovs, who were dismissed from court.
But the whole affair put Michael off any thought of marriage for many years.
When Tsar Michael turned 28, his relatives began to worry.
Without an heir, the future of the dynasty was in doubt.
Once more, his mother had a candidate.
This time, reluctantly, Michael agreed to the match,
and was married to Princess Maria Dalkarukova.
But four months later, Maria fell sick and died, the cause never fully established.
After this latest disaster, Michael dismissed his mother from any involvement in his marital affairs,
and instead arranged for the traditional election of a Russian royal bride.
The advice he received was to watch the girls carefully from afar, appraising their age, complexion, eyes and hair.
Look for signs of injury or illness, and ensure she's healthy in mind and kind by nature.
The tradition of electing a Tsar's bride was essentially a beauty contest, involving thousands of candidates from noble families.
First, royal officials sorted applicants on the basis of their height, size of head and size of feet.
Then, senior nobles and court doctors inspected the girls in the capital.
Finally, 10 to 20 of the most beautiful girls were brought to the court, where they were introduced to the Tsar in person.
When Michael announced his decision, his advisors were speechless.
He chose Evdokia Streshneva as his queen.
She hadn't even been in the contest, she was the maid of one of the candidates, and the daughter of a poor nobleman.
From bitter experience, the Tsar decided to handle all the arrangements himself.
The identity of his bride was kept a closely guarded secret, and she was brought to the palace just three days before the wedding.
Tsaritsa Evdokia, the Russian Cinderella, proved to be kind, considerate and loving.
She bore Michael 10 children, though only four survived infancy, three daughters and a son, Alexei.
It was enough to ensure the dynasty would live on.
Michael and the land were at peace for a short while.
Michael was determined to reclaim Russian lands lost during the time of troubles.
It would mean war with Poland.
First, he reorganized the army, introducing new weapons and equipment based on developments in Europe.
In particular, Michael learned from the Swedish army, the strongest in Europe.
New regiments were formed with eight companies of 200 men.
Each had 120 musketeers and 80 pikemen.
New muskets were bought, which weighed 4 kilograms instead of 6, so they could be fired without a support.
By 1632, 10 new regiments had been formed with a strength of 17,000 men.
It was one thing to create a new army, it was another to teach it how to win on the battlefield.
Russian forces were defeated outside Smolensk, and after two years of war, both sides sought a settlement.
The 1634 Treaty of Volyanovka brought no territorial gains for Russia apart from the town of Sierpiesk,
ceded by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Russia also paid an indemnity of 20,000 rubles,
in exchange for which King Wladyslaw of Poland renounced his claim to the Russian throne.
Russia itself was gradually becoming more and more independent.
Russia itself was gradually becoming a more prosperous society.
Thanks to Michael's efforts, English and Dutch specialists came to Russia to share their expertise.
They lived in the foreign districts of the big cities, such as Moscow's famous German Quarter,
and invested capital in local enterprises.
Russians referred to the Germans, or often any foreigner, as Nemez,
from the Russian word Nemoj, meaning mute, because they couldn't speak Russian.
In the tenth year of his reign, Tsar Michael invited English geologists
to investigate iron and copper ore deposits in the Ural Mountains.
Eight years later, the first state steelmaking plant was opened in the region.
Twelve years after that, a Dutch entrepreneur built an armory at Tula,
100 miles south of Moscow, that's still in operation today.
Russia soon began to export arms to some of the most developed countries in Europe.
The average wage at this time was 3 kopecks a day,
for which one could buy 3 chickens, or 45 eggs, or 1.5 kilos of salmon.
A sheepskin coat cost 50 kopecks, or about 2 weeks' wages.
A pair of boots was 10 days' wages,
while a cow cost 2 rubles, or about 2 months' wages.
Abroad, the Russian state was gaining greater influence.
In 1625, Shah Abbas, the ruler of Persia,
sought to win favour by sending the Patriarch of Russia a holy robe.
This sacred relic was believed to be the one worn by Christ before his crucifixion,
later taken by one of the Roman soldiers.
The patriarch was a man of great character,
and the patriarch was a man of great wisdom.
He was the patron saint of the cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.
After the barbarism of the time of troubles,
the Romanovs sought to nurture a cultural revival within Russia.
One of Patriarch Filaret's first decrees was to restore the Tsar's once vast library,
now largely destroyed.
Scholars were sent to search for books in distant monasteries,
collect copies of rare manuscripts, and return with them to Moscow.
Just 30 years after the time of troubles,
Russia was back to the level of prosperity she'd enjoyed before the state had slid into anarchy.
Trade and productivity were on the rise, people had enough to eat and felt safe.
It was an age of economic and political stability.
Tsar Michael had achieved the impossible,
and brought the Russian state back from the brink.
On July 12th, 1645, the Tsar celebrated his 49th birthday.
That morning after church, Michael seemed to have a pre-sentiment of his own approaching death.
He publicly forgave all those who had ever insulted or sinned against him,
and ordered a general amnesty for all prisoners.
On coming home, the first Romanov Tsar of Russia said goodbye to his wife and son,
and died peacefully later that day.
The End
Russia mourned its much-loved ruler for three days.
Many thousands from all ranks and walks of life came to pay their respects before his coffin.
Services were held in his honour in all the churches of the land.
The End
Alexei Mikhailovich, Michael's eldest son and heir,
was as young as his father had been when he ascended to the throne.
But the country he inherited had been utterly transformed.
Famine, civil war and destruction no longer stalked the land.
Russia was now stable and prosperous.
The new ruler of this reinvigorated state, Tsar Alexei,
was handsome, intelligent, virile and devout.
Ahead lay great victories and bloody revolts.
Remarkable achievements and fatal mistakes.
Alexei Mikhailovich was destined to become one of Russia's most controversial rulers.
Chapter Two. Alexei I. Mikhailovich.
The young Tsar was not overawed by his new responsibility.
It was a role he'd prepared for since early childhood.
His education had begun at the age of six.
After learning the alphabet, he was taught to read using stories from the Bible.
The prince's household included 20 stewards, 6 teachers and 18 musicians,
as well as bodyguards, acrobats and jesters.
When Alexei was seven, he was given a set of miniature weapons.
An arquebus, a bow and arrows, swords, armour made in Germany
and musical instruments, maps and engravings from Western Europe.
Alexei's chief tutor was a nobleman named Boris Marazov.
He encouraged his pupil to broaden his outlook and introduced him to Western culture.
Many Europeans were invited to the Tsar's court, including interpreters, diplomats and scholars.
Alexei's personal doctor, an Englishman named Samuel Collins, admired his patient greatly.
The emperor is handsome and strongly built.
He has fair hair and doesn't shave his beard.
He is tall with noble bearing.
He can be cruel when angry, but he is mostly kind and gentle.
He has an excellent memory and is devout.
One could name him among the most kind and wise rulers.
But for the cloud of advisors and noblemen who surround him and turn his good intentions to evil.
During the first years of his reign, Alexei pursued many passions.
Much of his time was spent visiting remote monasteries to perform acts of worship.
He also collected rare and exotic birds, kept an elk farm and experimented with new agricultural techniques.
He tried to grow melons, almonds, cotton and grapes.
But without doubt, his greatest love was hunting with his falcons.
The Tsar owned no fewer than 3,000 falcons, each of which, it was said, he knew by name.
His household included 100 falconers of varied rank, paid between 6 and 60 roubles a year, not including bonuses.
All were members of the Department of Secret Affairs, which handled the Tsar's amusements and private business.
The head falconer, Afanasy Matyushkin, was Alexei's close friend.
The upkeep of the mews and hunting stables cost the treasury 75,000 roubles a year, equivalent of about 10 million dollars today.
On the road, the Tsar's hunting party was more than half a mile long.
First came 300 stewards mounted on richly decorated horses, three abreast.
They were followed by 300 guardsmen in crimson caftans, five abreast.
Then 500 armored cavalry, three abreast.
Next came 40 parade horses in ornately decorated harnesses, followed by the reserve carriage horses.
And finally, the Tsar himself in his English carriage, accompanied by courtiers and hangers-on, no more than a few dozen.
Young Alexei was enjoying himself in a manner worthy of a Tsar.
He left affairs of state to his tutor, Boris Marzov.
But the nobles, jealous of Marzov's influence, urged the Tsar to marry, since a married man had no need of a tutor.
But Marzov was not to be so easily outmaneuvered.
When the Tsar expressed his desire to marry, the greatest beauties were brought to him from across Russia.
He picked his favorite.
But when she was brought to him a second time in court clothes, Marzov instructed the servant to tie her headscarf so tightly that the girl quickly fainted.
It was declared that the girl had fainting sickness.
To conceal this from the Tsar was a crime.
Her father was exiled to Siberia, and her family fell from favor.
Marzov, an elderly widower, then asked the Tsar to help him pick his own bride, and introduced him to the Miroslavskye sisters.
Alexei fell in love with the eldest sister, Maria, and married her, while Marzov married Anna, young enough to be his granddaughter.
So, strengthening further his ties to Alexei.
Alexei's family life proved a source of great joy to him.
Maria was five years his senior, which he proved a perfect match, and ideal Tsaritsa.
They lived together for twenty years, and had thirteen children.
The Tsar's gentle manners earned him the nickname, the most quiet.
But his reign itself would prove anything but.
The clouds of war and revolt were gathering.
On June 1st, 1648, Alexei and his court were returning to Moscow from the Trinity St. Sergius Monastery.
When the procession reached the city gates, they found the way blocked by a huge crowd.
The people of the city had come to present a petition to the Tsar, complaining of the excesses of his bureaucrats.
But the Tsar refused to speak to them. His guards drove them away, and arrested the ringleaders.
The next day, the Tsar was returning from another monastery, when he was again met by a huge crowd.
They pushed his guards aside, broke through to the Tsar's coach, and seized control of the horses.
The nineteen-year-old Alexei was face to face with his subjects for the first time.
Despite being surrounded by an angry mob, he remained calm.
He listened to their complaints, and was not afraid to speak.
He listened to their complaints, and promised to stamp out government corruption,
and to dismiss all bride-takers and embezzlers from office.
Top of their list was the Tsar's old tutor, Boris Mazurov.
In the course of two years, Marazov had amassed a huge personal fortune, and made himself the second richest person in Russia.
As chief treasurer of the state, he reduced spending by slashing the wages of all bureaucrats,
forcing many to accept bribes, simply to survive.
He appointed friends and allies to offices of state, but only after they paid him an enormous bribe.
But Marazov's most dangerous policy had been to raise the tax on salt.
Salt was the universal food preservative.
When its price rose fourfold, everyone was affected, and the poorest were threatened with starvation.
The events that followed were reported in all the courts of Europe.
One account was left by a Dutch traveller to Russia, thought to be a spy.
A crowd of people forced their way into the palace courtyard.
The guards sided with the people and burst into Marazov's house.
They trampled everything underfoot, threw his belongings from the windows, and ransacked the place, taking all they could.
They shouted furiously, ''This is our blood!''
Marazov himself escaped into one of his Majesty's chambers and hid there.
There were revolts across Russia, from Ust-Yog and Salvichugodsk in the north to Kursk in the south.
The Tsar was under siege in his own palace.
The pregnant Tsaritsa nearly miscarried.
She gave birth five months later, but their first child died within the year.
To appease the people, the Tsar ordered the execution of many corrupt officials, but not Marazov.
Alexei would not sacrifice his beloved tutor, and instead exiled him to a monastery 300 miles north of Moscow.
In response to the salt riots, the National Assembly was urgently convened within the Kremlin.
It advised the people to take action, and to take the Tsar's life.
The National Assembly was urgently convened within the Kremlin.
It advised the Tsar that only a comprehensive new legal code could restore order.
A special commission was established, in which the Tsar himself took an active role.
The result was the Sobornyi Ulozhenia, a legal code that sought to consolidate all the state's existing laws into a single document for the first time.
It would prove a cornerstone of Russian law for centuries to come.
The code's 25 chapters and nearly 1,000 articles were copied and glued together into a single roll 309 meters long.
After its approval, 1,200 copies were printed, and one sent to every major city.
The code entrenched the privileges of the nobility, who became the only people legally allowed to own serfs.
The status of these peasants was made permanent and hereditary.
The Sobornyi Ulozhenia was in force for almost 200 years, from 1649 until 1832.
When the rioting finally abated, Boris Marazov quietly returned from exile.
But his place as Alexei's closest advisor had been taken by another, the 43-year-old abbot of Novosibirsk Monastery, Nikon.
Nikon made a great impression on the devout Tsar.
Soon he was ordained Metropolitan Bishop of Nogorod.
Three years later, Alexei appointed him Patriarch, head of the entire Russian Orthodox Church.
With the Tsar's backing, the new Patriarch began a large-scale reform of the Russian Church.
Nikon believed that over the last four centuries, the Russian Orthodox Church had been the most important religious institution in the world.
In those days, the rituals and beliefs of his native church had become riddled with corruption and abuse,
and were increasingly at odds with the rites performed by the Greek Orthodox Church.
The morality and conduct of Russian priests and monks had also been called into question.
Nikon's reforms were intended to bring the Russian Church back into line with its own early practices and those of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Russians were now to cross themselves using three fingers and not two.
They were told how many times to bow during services, what musical instruments could be played in church,
and how to correctly spell the name Jesus Christ, which was a very important religious tradition.
For a deeply conservative church, such reforms were no small matter.
They led to sharp divisions within the church.
So-called old believers denounced them as heresy and continued to practice the old forms of worship in secret.
But ultimately, it was their leader, Archpriest Avokum, who would be burnt as a heretic.
Nikon's support grew steadily, until by the end of Alexei's reign, his cause had become impossible to resist.
Die-hard opponents remained, but many more embraced the practical benefits of his reforms,
such as restoring discipline among the clergy and promoting education.
Tsar Alexei had supported Nikon's reforms, but the Patriarch began to overreach himself,
becoming involved in every aspect of government, from politics to diplomacy and the conduct of military campaigns.
Meanwhile, the Patriarch's enemies at court spread rumors to undermine his authority.
The Patriarch's enemies were the Russians, who had been in power for more than a century.
The Patriarch's enemies were the Russians, who had been in power for more than a century.
Meanwhile, the Patriarch's enemies at court spread rumors to undermine him.
Relations between the head of the church and the head of state reached a new low,
when Tsar Alexei failed to attend the Patriarch's service at the Cathedral of the Assumption.
It could mean only one thing.
Patriarch Nikon had fallen from favor and could no longer count on the Tsar's support.
Patriarch Nikon's death was a sign of the end of the Patriarch's reign.
Nikon left for the New Jerusalem Monastery, a day's journey from Moscow,
where he planned to await the Tsar's apology.
But it never came.
Instead, the Tsar appointed a new Patriarch.
In 1666, a Great Synod was held in Moscow,
attended by the most senior priests of the Greek and Russian Orthodox Church.
The Synod dismissed Patriarch Nikon from his post,
but at the same time excommunicated his great adversary, Archpriest Avakum,
and upheld Nikon's entire program of church reform.
Marazov and now Nikon were gone.
Tsar Alexei, this passionate youth, lover of falconry, loving husband and father,
would now rule alone for the first time.
Little did he know he was about to face one of the most turbulent periods in all of Russian history.
The first threat would come from the south,
and the Cossack renegade Stepan Razin would be the first to be killed.
And the Cossack renegade Stepan Razin.
Razin was a Cossack chief, or ataman, from the Don region.
He had a long record of insurrection and banditry along the Volga River and around the Caspian Sea.
But in 1670, he aimed at nothing less than the creation of a new, free state for the Cossacks.
After he seized the towns of Zaritsyn and Cherkask, thousands rallied to his cause.
Government troops were eventually able to stamp out the rebellion,
and Razin was betrayed to the authorities by his Cossack rivals.
He was brought to Moscow and executed.
Even while he struggled with church reform and Cossack rebellion,
Tsar Alexei faced war against the old enemy, Poland.
Since the time of troubles, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania had occupied former Russian lands,
including the important city of Smolensk.
But while the Tsar was away with the army, the dreaded news arrived that plague had broken out in Moscow.
The Tsar's family and court were hurriedly evacuated to the monastery of Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius,
and the capital was quarantined.
By the 1670s, Moscow was one of the largest cities in Europe.
Before the epidemic, its population was around 300,000, which made it about the same size as Paris.
Naples had a population of 270,000, London and Amsterdam about 200,000,
Venice and Antwerp about 150,000, Rome, Genoa and Prague 100,000.
In five months, the plague claimed 150,000 lives.
About half the population of Moscow.
Bodies piled up in the streets.
But the army still had to be paid, and the treasury was in plague-ravaged Moscow.
If the epidemic spread to the troops, it would be a disaster.
So the Tsar came up with the idea of literally laundering the money.
He ordered the silver coins to be washed with soap and lye,
before they were distributed to the troops.
Plague never reached the army.
The war with Poland lasted 13 years.
The Russians managed to win back some territory on their western border,
but an empty treasury forced the Tsar to seek an armistice.
In the truce of Andrizov, Russia won back Smolensk, Genoa, and Moscow.
Russia won back Smolensk, Chenyakhov, and other lands lost more than 50 years ago in the time of troubles.
Eastern Ukraine also became part of the Russian state.
To refill his treasury, Tsar Alexei decided to reform the currency.
Because of the country's shortage of gold and silver,
he introduced a copper coin with the same value as a silver coin.
Wages were now paid out in copper, while taxes were still gathered in silver.
The copper coins soon began to lose much of their value, but the Tsar's mints continued to produce them.
Within five years, in Moscow, a single silver ruble was worth 12 or even 15 copper rubles.
At the end of July 1662, when the Tsar was at his palace at Kalamanskoye,
a few miles outside Moscow,
posters appeared in the city calling those responsible for minting copper coins thieves and traitors.
People of Moscow travelled to Kalamanskoye to see the Tsar.
When he left church, he was surrounded by a huge angry crowd.
But Alexei kept his composure.
He promised the people that the issue would be resolved.
He even swore an oath to it.
The crowd began to disperse.
The Tsar's guards led him away.
But more protesters kept arriving from Moscow, angrier and shouting insults at the Tsar.
For a while, Alexei listened to their jeers in silence.
Troops were already moving into position.
When the Tsar saw that they encircled the crowd, he gave the order.
The slaughter began.
2,500 people were killed at Kalamanskoye in just a few hours.
The revolt was suppressed, but the copper coinage had to be withdrawn.
The state even offered compensation at 5 kopecks, or 5% to the ruble.
The Tsar's agents interrogated the people.
They were given a list of the people who had been killed.
150 were hanged.
About 1,000 were sent into exile with the letter B branded on their faces.
For Buntavchik, rebel.
The Tsaritsa was pregnant during the copper riot,
as she'd been 14 years before during the salt riot.
She was a young woman, but she was pregnant.
She was a young woman, but she was pregnant.
She was a young woman, but she was pregnant.
She was pregnant during the copper riot,
as she'd been 14 years before during the salt riot.
It was said the shock took its toll on her later,
when the Tsaritsa died in childbirth.
Their baby girl died just five days later.
After the revolt, Tsar Alexei became deeply suspicious.
He created a special section of the Department of Secret Affairs
that combined the functions of counterintelligence,
secret police, censorship and a prison.
It oversaw the work of all other state departments
and was based not with them in the Kremlin,
but at its own headquarters a few streets away, at Lubyanka.
Torture was used routinely during its interrogations.
It also relied on a large network of paid informers,
including state bureaucrats, shopkeepers and innkeepers.
The Tsar had his own office within the department,
from where he increasingly handled all affairs of state.
The Department of Secret Affairs also continued to run
the Tsar's household and entertainments,
and produced the day reports,
the first weather reports in Russian history.
By the end of his reign, Alexei had surrounded himself
with flatterers and yes-men, who competed with each other
to sing the praises of their glorious monarch.
His public appearances became increasingly formal and magnificent,
with new ceremonies devised in detail by the Tsar himself.
The Tsar, recently widowed, seemed set on the path
towards ageing despotism and ever-increasing isolation.
But an encounter one evening, as he dined at the house
of his friend, Artemon Matveev, turned everything on its head.
As per custom, the Tsar's first cup was presented
by the host's young ward, the 19-year-old Natalia Narushkina.
The Tsar was instantly captivated by her beauty
and became determined to make her his wife.
But proper protocol had to be observed.
The selection of a new royal bride was announced,
and 74 women of great beauty were brought to Moscow
for the Tsar's appraisal.
Only one of them knew the result had already been decided.
Natalia Narushkina had won the Tsar's heart,
and the selection was a mere formality.
The wedding took place in the Kremlin,
in the Cathedral of the Assumption, on February 1, 1671.
A year and a half later, the new Tsaritsa gave birth to a son.
The boy would be known to history as Peter the Great.
In his newfound joy, Tsar Alexei decided to realise
a long-cherished dream, to build Russia's first professional theatre.
The theatre was built in the village of Priyobrazhenskoye,
on the outskirts of Moscow.
Pastor Johann Gregory from the city's German Quarter
was invited to write its first play,
entitled The Comedy of Artaxerxes,
based on the story of Esther from the Bible.
All parts were played by students from the Lutheran school.
The first performance took place on October 30, 1672.
The play lasted an exhausting ten hours.
The Tsaritsa and princesses watched from behind a screen
that hid them from sight.
Soon, five more plays had been staged,
all based on stories from the Bible,
as well as the first ballet, Orpheus.
Tsar Alexei was filled with a new zeal for theatre,
a zest for life, and a horror of growing old.
He started to study medical textbooks,
and to use herbs to mix his own potions.
He would listen attentively to his doctors,
and became obsessed with bloodletting,
which was believed to restore the balance of the body's humours,
necessary for good health.
He strongly recommended the practice for all his courtiers.
It was said, he sometimes let his favourite falcon make the incision,
as the bird never missed the vein.
In January 1676, Alexei caught a cold,
which he decided to treat himself.
But his health deteriorated rapidly,
and within a week, his condition was without hope.
On January 29th, the Tsar received the last rites,
and blessed his eldest son, Fyodor, as he passed away.
He was his heir, and the next Tsar of Russia.
He died the following night, aged 46.
Alexei Romanov weathered many storms,
to leave behind a state that was rich, strong and stable.
His successors would build upon his legacy,
a state of reform and modernisation,
none more so than his youngest son, Peter the Great,
whose achievements would eclipse those of his father.
Alexei died in the prime of his life,
with many great ambitions unfulfilled.
The country felt bereaved, as though it had lost a father.
The heir to this mighty Russian state,
Alexander the Great, was a rich man,
who was not even able to attend his father's funeral unaided.
His ill health meant he had to be carried to the cathedral on a special litter.
Looking at the sickly face beneath the Tsar's fur hat,
some whispered a warning.
Prepare yourselves, soon the nobles will be back in charge,
and another time of troubles will be upon us.
To be continued...
