When Fyodor died childless, he was succeeded, after some dispute, by both his brother, Ivan V (coruled 1682–96), and his half-brother, Peter I (coruled 1682–96; reigned alone 1696–1725); his sister Sophia Alekseyevna served as regent for the two young tsars (1682–89).
Golitsyn, Vasily Vasilyevich, Knyaz
▪ Russian statesman
(Prince)
born 1643, Russia
died May 2 [April 21, old style], 1714, Kholmogory, Russia
Russian statesman who was the chief adviser to Sophia Alekseyevna and dominated Russian foreign policy during her regency (1682–89).
Extremely well educated and greatly influenced by western European culture, Golitsyn was awarded the rank of boyar (next in rank to the ruling princes) in 1676 by Tsar Alexis (ruled 1645–76) and was also given a military command in the Ukraine with broad political powers. Continuing his state service under Tsar Fyodor III (ruled 1676–82), Golitsyn worked on a commission established to reorganize the military service and on its behalf recommended that the system of mestnichestvo (hereditary precedence) be abolished.
When Sophia Alekseyevna became regent for her brother Ivan V and her half brother, Peter I, in 1682, she made Golitsyn, who was also her lover, the head of the posolsky prikaz (foreign office); in 1684 she named him keeper of the great seal. Golitsyn formulated many far-reaching reform measures, including the development of close diplomatic and cultural relations with western European nations, the abolition of serfdom, the establishment of religious toleration in Russia, and the construction of industrial enterprises. But he was prevented from enacting these measures by the opposition of traditionalists, who favoured Sophia's political rivals, the Naryshkins—the family of Peter's mother.
Golitsyn's activities, therefore, became confined to foreign affairs. In addition to improving commercial relations with Sweden, Poland, England, and other western states, he negotiated a treaty of perpetual peace and alliance with Poland (1686), in which the Poles recognized Kiev and all the territory east of the Dnieper River as Russian possessions, and Russia agreed to join Poland and its allies, Austria and Venice, in a Holy League against the Ottoman (Ottoman Empire) Turks. In accordance with this agreement, Golitsyn led two campaigns against the Crimean Tatars (vassals of the Turks; 1687, 1689); both were dismal defeats for Russia. Golitsyn also directed the negotiations with China and concluded the Treaty of Nerchinsk (Nerchinsk, Treaty of) (ratified 1689), which set the Russo-Chinese border along the Amur River, thereby preparing the way for Russia's subsequent expansion to the Pacific Ocean. But the diplomatic success of the Treaty of Nerchinsk did not engender enough support for Sophia's regime to save it from the Naryshkin coup d'etat that displaced Sophia in August 1689 and placed Peter on the throne. The new Naryshkin government exiled Golitsyn to the far north, where he remained until his death.
regent of Russia
Russian in full Sofya Alekseyevna
born September 17 [September 27, New Style], 1657, Moscow
died July 3 [July 14], 1704, Moscow
regent of Russia from 1682 to 1689.
The eldest daughter of Tsar Alexis (ruled 1645–76) and his first wife, Mariya Miloslavskaya, Sophia was tutored by the Belorussian monk Simeon Polotsky, from whom she received an exceptionally good education. When her brother Fyodor III died (April 27 [May 7], 1682), her half brother Peter (Peter I), son of Alexis and his second wife, Natalya Naryshkina, was proclaimed tsar. Sophia, as leader of the Miloslavsky family, however, objected to a government dominated by the Naryshkins and incited the discontented streltsy (household troops) to riot. After several members of the Naryshkin family were murdered, Sophia calmed the streltsy by arranging for her younger brother Ivan V to be proclaimed coruler with Peter; she assumed the role of regent (May 29 [June 8], 1682).
Ruling under the guidance of her chief adviser and lover, Prince Vasily V. Golitsyn (Golitsyn, Vasily Vasilyevich, Knyaz), Sophia took steps to consolidate her regime. To prevent the unreliable streltsy from reversing their position and removing her, she replaced their commander, Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky (who was executed for treason), with one of her favourites, Fyodor Leontyevich Shaklovity. In addition, she transferred 12 of the 19 Moscow regiments from the city to guard the frontier and revoked many of the privileges she had granted the troops when she seized power.
Sophia also promoted the development of industry and encouraged foreign craftsmen to settle in Russia. Despite Golitsyn's numerous plans for domestic reform, however, the regent failed to meet discontent among the peasants and religious dissidents. She also overruled several of her advisers and approved Golitsyn's plan to conclude a permanent peace with Poland (1686; which confirmed a truce of 1667), by which Russia obtained Kiev and the territory east of the Dnieper River in exchange for a promise to join a European coalition against the Turks; in 1687 and 1689 she sponsored two disastrous military campaigns, led by Golitsyn, against the vassals of the Turks, the Crimean Tatars. Although her government also concluded the favourable Treaty of Nerchinsk with China (1689), setting Russia's eastern border at the Amur River, Golitsyn's failures reinforced the increasing dissatisfaction among both the Naryshkins and the general population with her rule. Recognizing this and hoping to eliminate Peter, the figurehead of her rivals, Sophia tried once more to incite the streltsy against the Naryshkins (August 1689); many of the streltsy colonels, however, supported Peter, who overthrew Sophia and forced her to enter the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow (September 1689).
In 1698 an unsuccessful attempt was made by her supporters among the streltsy to restore her to the throne; although Sophia did not initiate the plot, she was afterward tried by a special tribunal and compelled to take the veil (October 1698).
streltsy
▪ Russian military unit
singular Strelets
(Russian: “musketeer”), Russian military corps established in the middle of the 16th century that formed the bulk of the Russian army for about 100 years, provided the tsar's bodyguard, and, at the end of the 17th century, exercised considerable political influence. Originally composed of commoners, the streltsy had become a hereditary military caste by the mid-17th century. Living in separate settlements (slobody), they performed police and security duties in Moscow and in the border towns where they were garrisoned; they often also engaged in trades and crafts. In 1681 there were about 55,000 streltsy, 22,500 of whom were stationed in Moscow.
The streltsy became discontented and unreliable in the second half of the 17th century after the government began paying them in land instead of money and grain. They then became involved in the succession struggle begun in 1682 between rival partisans of the half brothers Peter I and Ivan V. Supporting Ivan, they staged a revolt against the Naryshkin family (the relatives of Peter's mother, who had assumed actual power), named both Ivan and Peter tsars, and made Ivan's sister Sophia regent. In 1698, having unsuccessfully attempted to unseat Peter I (the Great) and restore Sophia to the regency (Peter had displaced her in 1689), the streltsy were forcibly disbanded by the tsar, with hundreds of them being executed or deported. Though revived briefly by Peter to participate in the Great Northern War (1702), the corps was gradually absorbed into the regular army thereafter.
Ivan V
▪ emperor of Russia
in full Ivan Alekseyevich
born Aug. 27 [Sept. 6, New Style], 1666, Moscow, Russia
died Jan. 29 [Feb. 8], 1696, Moscow