During the reign of Alexis the peasants were tied to the land and to the landlord and were thus finally enserfed; the land assemblies were allowed to fall into gradual disuse; and the professional bureaucracy and regular army grew in importance. Because of Alexis' encouragement of trade with the West, foreign influences also began to crack the hitherto fairly solid wall separating Russia from its European neighbours. Dissatisfaction with his reign centred in the cities (which chafed under the economic competition of foreigners) and among the peasantry (which was deprived of the last vestiges of freedom). This social dissatisfaction expressed itself in frequent rebellions, the most savage of which was the peasant uprising on the eastern borderlands led by Stenka Razin from 1667 to 1671.
Virtually all the sources agree that Alexis was a gentle, warmhearted, and popular ruler. His main fault was weakness; throughout most of his reign, matters of state were handled by favourites, some of whom were incompetent or outright fools.
He was married twice, first to Mariya Ilinichna Miloslavskaya (with whom he had two sons, the future tsars Fyodor III and Ivan V, as well as several daughters), then to Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, whose son became Peter I the Great.
Catherine I
▪ empress of Russia
Russian in full Yekaterina Alekseyevna, original name Marta Skowronska
born April 15 [April 5, Old Style], 1684
died May 17 [May 6], 1727, St. Petersburg, Russia
peasant woman of Baltic (probably Lithuanian) birth who became the second wife of Peter I the Great (reigned 1682–1725) and empress of Russia (1725–27).
Orphaned at the age of three, Marta Skowronska was raised by a Lutheran pastor in Marienburg (modern Alūksne, Latvia). When the Russians seized Marienburg (1702) during the Great Northern War, Marta was taken prisoner. She later was handed over to a close adviser of Peter I. A short time later she and the tsar became lovers.
In 1703, after the birth of their first child, she was received into the Russian Orthodox church and rechristened Catherine (Yekaterina) Alekseyevna. Subsequently, she became Peter's inseparable companion, and, in February 1712, his wife. On May 18 (May 7), 1724, she was crowned empress-consort of Russia.
When Peter died (Feb. 8 [Jan. 28], 1725) without naming an heir, Catherine's candidacy for the throne was supported by the guards and by several powerful and important individuals. As a result, the Holy Synod, the Senate, and the high officials of the land almost immediately proclaimed Catherine empress of Russia. In February 1726, however, she created the Supreme Privy Council, named six of Peter's former advisers as its members, and effectively transferred control of government affairs to it, thereby undermining the authority of the Senate and the Synod, which had been Peter's main administrative instruments.
Shortly before her death, Catherine appointed Peter's grandson Pyotr Alekseyevich (reigned as Peter II; 1727–30) as her heir. Later, her daughter Elizabeth (reigned 1741–62) and her grandson Pyotr Fyodorovich (reigned as Peter III; 1762) became Russia's sovereigns.
Naryshkina, Natalya Kirillovna
▪ Russian regent
born 1651, Russia
died 1694, Moscow
second wife of Tsar Alexis of Russia and mother of Peter I the Great. After Alexis' death she became the centre of a political faction devoted to placing Peter on the Russian throne.
The daughter of the provincial nobleman Kirill Naryshkin, Natalya married the tsar in 1671. After she gave birth to Peter, Natalya and her relatives and associates increased their political influence.
Immediately after Alexis' death, Natalya's adherents, known as the Naryshkin party, tried to obtain the throne for Peter. But Fyodor, the eldest son of Alexis by his first wife, succeeded his father, and the Naryshkin party lost influence to Fyodor's maternal relatives, the Miloslavsky family. Nevertheless, during Fyodor's reign (1676–82), Natalya, though living in relative obscurity, gained the additional support of the patriarch of Moscow, Ioakim, and of many boyar and gentry families.
When Fyodor died, Ioakim bypassed Ivan (Ivan V), the late tsar's brother, and secured the throne for Peter, naming Natalya regent (April 1682). But the Miloslavsky family, claiming the throne for Ivan, encouraged the streltsy (sovereign's bodyguard), who were the only organized armed force in Moscow, to revolt. After several members of the Naryshkin family had been killed, the Naryshkin party submitted and recognized Ivan V and Peter as corulers, with Ivan as the senior tsar and his sister Sophia as regent for both youths.
During the period of Sophia's regency (1682–89), Natalya and Peter were effectively confined to Preobrazhenskoye, and the Naryshkin family was again excluded from governmental affairs. But in 1689, when Sophia apparently tried to seize the throne in her own name, the Naryshkins rallied their supporters and forced her to yield the throne to Peter (September 1689). Subsequently, until Peter assumed personal control over the government in 1694, Natalya, aided by her brother Lev and Patriarch Ioakim, played the major role in the Muscovite government.
Matveyev, Artamon Sergeyevich
▪ Russian diplomat
Matveyev also spelled Matveev
born 1625
died May 15 [May 25, New Style], 1682, Moscow, Russia
Russian diplomat and statesman who was a friend and influential adviser of Tsar Alexis of Russia (ruled 1645–76) and did much to introduce western European culture into Russia.
Son of an obscure government clerk, Matveyev rose through the ranks to become chief of the Moscow streltsy (household troops) in 1654. In that year he also was entrusted with the negotiations with the Poles that resulted in their surrender of Smolensk to Russia. In 1669 Matveyev became head of the department for Ukrainian affairs, and in 1671 he was appointed head of the foreign department.
In addition to his activities as a statesman, Matveyev was intensely concerned with western European cultural affairs. He imitated Western custom by holding social gatherings at which his wife participated in the discussions; he also taught his son Latin and Greek. As a well-educated man with broad intellectual interests, he enjoyed the confidence of Tsar Alexis, and in 1671 he gave his ward Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina in marriage to the tsar. Subsequently, he arranged the first theatrical performance to be presented at the Russian court (1672). Despite Matveyev's low birth, Alexis honoured him by raising him to the rank of boyar.
When Alexis died in 1676, Matveyev advocated the succession of Natalya's son Peter. But Fyodor III, Alexis' eldest son by his first wife, ascended the throne, and Matveyev as a consequence of his indiscretion was accused of black magic and fraud. As head of the government department on pharmacy, he had been preparing a book on drugs and medicines, the text of which was found when his house was searched for incriminating evidence. Matveyev was deprived of his rank and possessions and exiled to the far northeastern section of Russia, where he lived until 1682, when he was pardoned and allowed to live at Lukh. After Peter I the Great succeeded Fyodor (April 1682), Matveyev was recalled to Moscow. Four days after his return, however, he was killed by rebellious streltsy, who were intervening in the contest between Peter and his half brother Ivan for possession of the throne.
▪ tsarina of Russia
Russian in full Yevdokiya Fyodorovna Lopukhina
born Aug. 9 [July 30, Old Style], 1669, Moscow, Russia
died Sept. 7 [Aug. 27], 1731, Moscow