“, however, this too, when applied to Alexey, is a strong lulz.
Historical portrait
The friendly, affectionate Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich valued the greatness of his royal power, his autocratic dignity: it captivated and satisfied him. He delighted in his high-profile titles and was ready to shed blood for them. The slightest accidental failure to maintain the correctness of titles was considered a major criminal offense.
- Kostomarov. Russian history..., p.423. According to the 2004 edition.
To modern people, before whose eyes an unprecedented number of wars, revolutions, changes of power, genocides and other entertainments of Mother History have passed, the seventeenth century seems quiet, peaceful and absolutely not interesting time. Probably, the majority of readers of this article, who were at least a little amused at school by studying the life of their own fatherland, happily skipped this period and hastily flipped through their textbook to the next paragraph, where Peter I and his violent endeavors awaited them.
In fact, the century in which the hero of our article happened to rule, despite its apparent inertia, was very eventful. Rus' was just beginning to recover from the chaos of the Troubles, the guns had not yet fallen silent Polish gentry, and new powerful states rose in the north and south. At the same time, the people, who were between Scylla and Charybdis of devastation, taxes, and also the arbitrariness of the governors, still remembered what “will” was, and often rebelled. The slightest mistake - and your power will collapse into tartarar, where both internal and external forces. There was an urgent need for a hand capable of hitting hard and at the same time stroking softly.
Alexey Mikhailovich became this hand.
He became king very early - at the age of 16. Of course, for that time the boy Alyosha was quite enlightened, loved to read books, was thoughtful and peaceful, was well developed physically, which compared to his weak-willed and almost holy fool father Mikhail Fedorovich a definite plus. But, of course, he could not rule the state alone. He was helped in this difficult matter by his uncle, the boyar Boris Morozov, who initially ruled for him and even acted as a matchmaker, organizing an all-Russian beauty contest and personally selecting a good bride for the king. After the dirty story with salt, the help of his beloved uncle had to be abandoned, and Patriarch Nikon took his place. Initially, he and Alyosha were in the same relationship, but soon the power-hungry patriarch began to pull the blanket over himself, claiming that “the priesthood is higher than the kingdom,” as canonically should have been. By that time, the Tsar had already grown up, become stronger, had been on military campaigns, personally pacified uprisings, and shot a billion Russian people. In general, I began to get used to holding the reins in my hands. He no longer needed any assistants, and soon Nikon went into exile. But you will read about all these ups and downs in much more detail below, but here we will tell you specifically about the tsar himself.
As already mentioned, Alexey Mikhailovich was a strong man. What was especially striking was the size of his belly, which, however, according to the standards of beauty of that time was considered very sexy for both men and women. His strength was also impressive - in his youth, the king alone went at a bear with a knife and a spear, and, moreover, successfully, although once the bear crushed him. In general, he loved hunting, and especially falconry, which, as he put it, “makes glad the hearts of the sad and amuses with joyful joy.” He even wrote a collection of rules for falconry, which included the immortal “Time for business, time for fun.”
Alexei Mikhailovich is best characterized by a portrait made by a visiting Dutch artist... of his cat. Yes, yes, this is not a typo, just a cat. It’s just that it wasn’t very Christian to draw the monarch himself, so they depicted him, according to the fashion of that time, allegorically, in Aesopian language. One glance at the drawing is enough to understand that the king did not have a simple character. The cat's face is stern and not conducive to cozy stroking, the sharpness of the whiskers burns, the ears are like those of a bull enraged by a bullfight, ready to simply pierce the offender. Interestingly, his son Peter was also called a cat for his mustache. Moreover, his great-grandfather’s nickname was Koshkin. So it is quite possible that we could have a dynasty not of the Romanovs, but of the Koshkins.
In general, the image of Alexey Mikhailovich among the people remained quite positive. After all, it was with him that all the parables about the “Tsar-Father, Under Whom the Milk Rivers and Kiselnye Banks” were associated. How could it be otherwise, because despite all the repressions, the breaking of consciousness, church schisms, etc., he was the first to pursue a policy of paternalism (from the Latin paternus - paternal), in which the king thinks for his subjects. Yes, and outwardly he looked exactly like the one we call the Tsar with capital letters. Isn't it?
What did you do?
In short, it is Alexei who bears the heavy blame for turning Russia into a terrible, terrible, super-centralized empire. In essence, absolutism was natural historical stage any European state.
But this, of course, was not within Mikhailovich’s competence. He knew his task quite well and was a completely Orthodox tyrant: all the years of his reign he was mainly engaged in the anal domination of his subjects and the expansion of boundaries. Even created the first real one secret service in Rus' - the Order of Secret Affairs, which was supposed to monitor all sorts of unreliable boyars, warriors, officials, and conduct investigations pleasing to the king in boyar affairs. However, thanks to the love for its effects youngest son, who had already sowed on the plowed soil and eclipsed his father in the face of grateful descendants, the latter is now often remembered almost as a rag tsar. But in vain, because it was his doing...
Sawing out democracy
Khmelnitsky didn’t even have time to catch himself - he died. And they hung psheks on the Swedes and decided to figure out what they were doing there in the east. Khmelnitsky’s successor Vyhovsky (whose legitimacy was strongly questioned) quickly realized that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth could help him retain power (Moscow would not have allowed such a thing to happen unambiguously), and decided to defect back, but that was not the case - the Muscovites did not let him go, moving to pacify the Ukrainians, a decent army, which suffered from the Ukrainian-Tatar-Pshek team one of the most serious defeats in the entire seventeenth century - the flower of the Russian nobility almost completely perished (here, from source to source, the number of participants in the event and losses differ tens of times). This was almost the only victory of the Ukrainians over Moscow, this victory is still mentioned by Svidomo with or without reason. But as a result, Ukrainian society was deeply split, the Psheks were unable to establish a vertical power structure, the help of the Psheks was not particularly useful for the hetman, and he was slightly revolted, and a strong pro-Moscow force appeared. After this, the Ukrainians trolled the Muscovites with the help of the Poles in the Battle of Chudnov, where the Russian professional army died. However, the tsar quickly handed out life-giving piss to the guilty and began to act more subtly: with bribes, promises, and agitation. As a result, ukrov was torn apart by an epic, but little-known civil war Ruin, which lasted thirty years (1657-1687), where two (and sometimes even three) Ukrainian states fought, proving that only one of them was true, and the others were fucking traitors, and sawing each other out under the supervision of the Poles, Turks and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. But the Crimean Tatars robbed and killed as much as they wanted, for them all this turned into fierce wine.
Church smoking
Death
The king died before he was 47 years old, which was somewhat unexpected. Now they are speaking out about this interesting versions, associated with lead water supply in seventeenth-century Moscow. Allegedly, Alexey and all his children, except Petya, drank water from this water supply and therefore had serious health problems. Peter, exiled together with the Naryshkins outside Moscow with early age, was spared this fate and retained good physical health (although this did not save him from a severe illness on his head).
The holivar between the Naryshkins and the Miloslavskys, which followed the death of Alexei, at first glance looked like a loosening of the screws. But in fact, the System was simply waiting until it had a worthy main cog - and waited until Pyotr Alekseevich grew up. Then the loose nuts were tightened until the threads broke.
Under him, the borders of Russia grew significantly at the expense of Ukraine, which became part of it. Eastern Siberia, Far East and other territories.
Why is it still the Quietest?
So cunning. This little son could swagger to the fullest - moreover, this was even expected of him. Alexey had to repeatedly break the resistance of the most different layers society, and therefore it was vitally important for him to pretend to be a good uncle in front of at least someone. And indeed, he tried not to repress “his own people”, but at most broke into their personal pussies with his hands and feet, which in those days was considered paternal affection. And then he made amends with gifts.
In addition, as already mentioned, outwardly the king showed fierce piety. This was also necessary in order to show himself to the people not only as the Master, but also as a real authority in matters of faith - so that they could somehow come to terms with the bullshit perpetrated on the apologists of this very faith.
It should be admitted that Alexey not only achieved his main goal - securing unlimited power to the House of Romanov for two hundred years and building a super-powerful empire - but also managed to fuck everyone's brains out.
Let's clap while standing.
On the pages historical works era “the quietest king” Alexei Mikhailovich and his very personality appears full of contradictions. On the one hand, it was during this period that the real overcoming of the humiliation in which he found himself began Russian state V Time of Troubles. On the other hand, many opportunities were not fully exploited, and Moscow achieved much less than it could have achieved with a more reasonable and firm course. .
Alexey Mikhailovich Romanov, first years on the throne, Morozov's regency
Alexey Mikhailovich was born in 1629 and was brought up completely in the spirit of Old Russian traditions. Until he was five years old, he was nurtured by his “mothers,” and then by his “uncle,” boyar Boris Ivanovich Morozov. Morozov managed to bind his pupil to himself with the strongest ties, becoming necessary for him after the death of his parents (Alexey Mikhailovich was orphaned at the age of 16), and later “orchestrating” his marriage to Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya - in order to marry her sister himself.
Using significant influence on the young tsar, Morozov did not always use it for the good of the country. He tried to keep Alexei Mikhailovich at a distance from serious government affairs, allowing him to participate in the palace and church ceremonies so beloved by him and to have fun with falconry. But the results achieved by Morozov in governing the state were very bad. In 1648, the Salt Riot broke out. The mob demanded that the tsar hand over Morozov to her, but he sent his favorite away from harm's way. After a few months, however, he returned, but during this time Alexei Mikhailovich got used to doing without him, and Morozov did not regain his former influence (although the tsar’s love for him did not waver).
Alexey Mikhailovich - a true autocrat and Patriarch Nikon
Gradually, Alexey Mikhailovich began to imagine himself a true autocrat, a formidable sole ruler. “My word became fearful in the palace,” he wrote in 1651. And he wrote to Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod, his new adviser and “my brother’s friend.” So the tsar was not left without a guardian, and in 1652 he elevated the bishop even more, facilitating his installation to the Patriarchate.
But what was hoped for did not happen. Until the Council of 1666, which removed him from the Patriarchate, Nikon lived in New Jerusalem as a voluntary recluse, not being honored by the royal attention. At the Council, the Patriarch accepted the insult from the Tsar as a personal one and deeply grieved, it seems, not so much about the exile to a distant place as about the loss of former friendship.
The “quietest tsar” Alexei Mikhailovich himself also deeply felt what had happened and tried to soften the heart of his “own friend” with affectionate, but non-binding gestures - he sent him fur coats, church utensils, etc. into exile. At the same time, of course, there was no talk of returning only to Moscow, but even to New Jerusalem there was no talk. And Nikon understood this, although not immediately. I understood and submitted. In 1667, he sent the Tsar a “pacifying letter”, the only note of protest of which was the signature: “Humble Nikon, Patriarch by the grace of God.” The king turned a blind eye to this “humble protest.”
War of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden
In the meantime, in the 1650s, Alexei Mikhailovich was busy mainly with the war, and Nikon replaced him in Moscow, taking advantage of great freedom orders.
Another war with Poland had been brewing for a long time. External position Russia remained shaky after the Time of Troubles; it still has not returned those lost in early XVII centuries of land (not to mention earlier losses).
V. O. Klyuchevsky writes about this time:
“The new dynasty had to strain the people’s forces even more than the previous one in order to return what was lost: this was its national duty and the condition for its strength on the throne. Since her first reign, she has waged a series of wars with the goal of defending what she owned or regaining what was lost. Popular tension intensified by the fact that these wars, defensive in origin, spontaneously, imperceptibly, against the will of Moscow politicians, turned into offensive ones, into a direct continuation of the unification policy of the previous dynasty, into a struggle for such parts of the Russian land that Moscow State has not yet owned it until now. International relations V Eastern Europe then they developed in such a way that they did not allow Moscow to take a breath after the first unsuccessful efforts and prepare for further ones. In 1654, Little Russia, which rebelled against Poland, surrendered to the protection of the Moscow sovereign. This involved the state in new fight with Poland. This is how it arose new question- Little Russian, further complicating the old complicated Smolensk and Seversk scores of Moscow with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...”
Although Moscow delayed for a long time in accepting Bogdan Khmelnitsky “and the Zaporozhian Army with their cities and lands” under its authority, it was impossible to endlessly postpone the resolution of this issue, and in the fall of 1653 Zemsky Sobor drew up a corresponding “resolution”, tantamount to a declaration of war on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The formal announcement followed less than a month later. The king got ready to go on a campaign.
At first our military efforts were met with extraordinary success. We returned Dorogobuzh, Roslavl, Smolensk, Nevel;
“all Lithuania submitted to the king; Alexei Mikhailovich was titled Grand Duke of Lithuania; an uninvited ally, swedish king Carl Gustav conquered all crown Polish lands. The centuries-old dispute between Rus' and Poland was then resolved.”
But then Russia went to war with Sweden, which forced it to conclude a truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1658-1659 there was a jam in the Zaporozhian Army, new hetman whom Ivan Vygovsky went over to the side of Poland. And in 1660, the latter made peace with Sweden, and from that moment on, events in the theater of military operations developed extremely unsuccessfully for us.
The return of the original Russian lands and the last years of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, the “Silent Tsar” of Russia
In 1667, in the village of Andrusovo near Smolensk, Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth signed a truce, according to which Smolensk and other Russian lands that had gone to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were returned to Russia, Left Bank Little Russia was assigned to it, and the Zaporozhye Sich remained under the joint control of Moscow and Poland. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth abandoned the protectorate over the Sich only in 1686.
Thus, certain positive results have been achieved. But final decision The Polish-Lithuanian-Little Russian issue was postponed, although with some persistence Russia could, already under Alexei Mikhailovich, consolidate its influence in White and Little Rus' and firmly stand on the shores of the Baltic Sea. But the manifestation of this persistence was hampered by internal troubles: church reform was not taking root well in the country, and in 1662 Moscow was shocked by the Copper Riot.
In 1676, Alexey Mikhailovich died. His heir, Tsarevich Fyodor, was fifteen years old. And the one who will later go down in history as the first Russian Emperor Peter the Great is four years old.
The “quiet” Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was married twice, which gave rise to considerable unrest in late XVII century (rivalry between the Miloslavskys and Naryshkins at court, the “plot” of the regent, Streltsy riots etc.).
By the time of his death in early 1676, he had two living sons (the elder Fyodor and the younger Ivan) from his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya, and one (Peter) from his second, Natalya Naryshkina. The throne was taken, of course, by the eldest, officially declared successor back in 1674 - he was fifteen years old at that time, and his health left much to be desired. The latter gave the Naryshkins reason to harbor hopes for revenge, that is, for Peter’s quick accession to the throne, since the other brother, Ivan Alekseevich, did not shine with mental abilities from a young age.
Sasha Mitrakhovich 20.05.2017 09:53
In the photo: Monument to Alexei Mikhailovich (the only one in Russia) in Novy Oskol. The city was founded by decree of the Tsar in 1637 as a “standing fort with a fence.”
It should be noted that the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich the Quiet - the second tsar from the Romanov dynasty - had a beneficial effect on the strengthening of statehood. By the second half of the 17th century, Russia was already considered a “great power” in the international arena, having extended its possessions from the banks of the Dnieper in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.
One of the innovations was the creation in 1654 of the so-called Order of Secret Affairs, whose responsibilities included control over everything and everyone, including the spending of government money.
In the same year, Ukraine reunited with Russia, local power passed from clerks and elders to governors, and leadership Orthodox Church completely concentrated in the hands of the patriarch. But it caused discontent among believers; moreover, attempts to separate the church from the state led to a break between the patriarch and the tsar, and in 1666 he lost power.
The main occupation of Russians at that time remained agriculture. At the same time, the land is still cultivated using rather primitive methods - plows and harrows - and is mainly owned by the sovereign, the church, boyars and nobles.
Shortly before his death, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich the Quietest harshly suppressed the uprising led by Stenka Razin, which broke out as a result of discontent Don Cossacks Moscow authorities. The fact is that after the adoption, the peasants found themselves in absolute enslavement, as a result, the flow of fugitives from the internal districts to the south of Russia sharply increased.
By that time, pilgrimages of pilgrims to . Leads from Moscow to the Lavra (now Yaroslavskoe highway), according to which not only ordinary people and commoners, but also the sovereign and his family periodically go on pilgrimage. Crowned persons preferred to walk part of the route. The pilgrimage took several days, so so-called travel palaces were built for rest and overnight stays over a certain distance. The first from Moscow was the palace in the village of Alekseevskoye, which is about ten miles from the Kremlin. Now this is the VDNH area next to the Cosmos Hotel.
He was nicknamed “The Quietest” for his gentle character, but his politics were by no means quiet. He legitimized the concept of “autocrat,” annexed Left Bank Ukraine, and extended the state’s border to the Pacific Ocean.
Annexation of Left Bank Ukraine
There was always a certain understatement between Russia and Poland: under Alexei Mikhailovich, the stumbling block became the Ukrainian lands, some of which Rus' lost during the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Despite the fact that a number of pro-Polish historians accuse Alexei Mikhailovich of “Asian cruelty,” evidence from contemporaries of the events suggests the opposite.
In 1654, a nobleman from Vilna reported with alarm: “The men are praying to God that Moscow will come,” “The men are hostile to us, everywhere royal name give up and do more harm than Moscow; this evil will continue to spread; one must be wary of something like a Cossack war.”
In this case we are talking about the possibility civil war, religious conflict. At that time, cultural and national ties among the population of Left Bank Ukraine had not yet been lost; residents of Orthodox lands suffered under the onslaught of the “Latin yoke.” People of a different confession automatically became “second class.” The situation was fueled by the spreading plague. Against the backdrop of general unrest, a leader stood out in the separatist movement - the leader of the Cossacks, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, who was unable to achieve self-government from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Zaporozhye Sich. The hetman turned to the Moscow Tsar with a request to support him in national struggle and accept “under the high hand of the Moscow Tsar.” Alexey Mikhailovich agreed, sacrificing access to Baltic Sea. Russia could not fight on two fronts. Started bloody war with Poland, as a result of which the Russian state received Left Bank Ukraine, Kyiv, and the Smolensk and Chernigov lands returned.
By the way, the royal decrees of those times prove Alexei’s desire to limit himself to “ little blood" He ordered not to burn the cities, and allowed those who surrendered to the mercy of the winner to leave unhindered. The remaining gentry was able to freely swear allegiance to the new king and retain their privileges.
Fight for the Baltic
In parallel with Russian-Polish war Quiet Sovereign tried to “open a window to Europe” and provide the Russian state with access to the Baltic Sea. In October 1655, about six months after the conclusion of the agreement with Khmelnitsky, Austrian ambassadors visited Alexei Mikhailovich and tried to convince the tsar to make peace with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and throw all his strength into the war with the growing Sweden. In case of victory, Moscow could annex the entire Baltic states. The Quiet One refused peace with Poland; the issue of protecting his Orthodox brothers was of fundamental importance to him. It was necessary to wage a war on two fronts: Russian troops occupied some strategically important cities in Livonia - Yuriev, Kukonois, Dinaburg, but they could not take Riga. The Treaty of Kardis annulled all Russian military successes. Access to the Baltic Sea had to be postponed for another half a century.
To the Pacific Ocean
If under Mikhail Fedorovich the Russian state extended to the Sea of Okhotsk, then under the Quiet Alexei it grew to the Pacific Ocean, already then turning Russia into largest state peace. In 1648, Cossack Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev and his comrades overcame sea vessels- “kochakh” - the strait separating Eurasia from North America. Around the same time, Russian explorers Poyarkov and Khabarov made trips to the Amur and brought the population of those regions into Russian citizenship. Despite the sovereign’s order to bring the Siberian natives into citizenship “with affection and greetings,” service people they often resorted to violence - they took away valuable furs by force and imposed an exorbitant tribute.
With the development of the Far East, relations with China improved. The emperor of the Qin dynasty treated Russian missions with the special vanity characteristic of Asian monarchs. According to Chinese ideas about the world order, arriving from distant lands meant the spread of the emperor’s good influence throughout the world and served as proof of the greater his power, the further away the land of the visitor was.
Therefore, at the imperial court, “people from afar” were given a warm welcome. Russian misunderstanding of Chinese traditions sometimes led to diplomatic incidents. So, in 1670, governor Danila Arshinsky sent a mission to the Chinese emperor, with the goal of convincing him to become a subject of the Russian Tsar. The statement was so reckless that the dignitaries translated the message in reverse, informing the emperor that the Russians themselves had brought him a letter of submission, asking him to take them into citizenship. The Bishop appreciated this step, the ambassadors were given the most cordial welcome, they were even awarded an imperial audience - an unheard of honor among the Chinese people.
Autocratic sovereign
Despite his nickname, Alexey did not pursue a “quiet” policy. Under him, autocracy was consolidated in Rus'. At the beginning of Alexei’s reign, the estate-representative monarchy flourished in the country: the tsar could not take a step without the consent of the Boyar Duma; in the early years, the young man was completely controlled by his educator, boyar Morozov. The historian Kostomarov wrote about the tsar: “Alexei Mikhailovich, considering himself autocratic and independent of anyone, was always under the influence of one or the other.”
Contemporaries, especially foreign ambassadors, on the contrary, recalled: “Alexei Mikhailovich, unlike his father, is an autocrat and “rules his state according to his own will.” The imperial ambassador A. Meyerberg also noted that Tsar Alexei behaved like a complete master in the Boyar Duma.
Despite his kindness, if necessary, the king could also be cruel. Stepan Razin's rebellion drowned in blood, opponents were brutally massacred church reform Nikon. Under Alexei, the term “autocrat” was approved, and for his new name, the Quiet One was ready to shed blood. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, failure to maintain the correct titles was equal to a criminal offense - a person could be flogged or even executed.
Alexey put an end to widespread influence Boyar Duma, establishing a system of orders, in particular the Order of Secret Affairs - a supervisory body that controls the activities of other structures. Alexey also violated another tradition of the Russian court by declaring the heir to the throne, his eldest son Fedor, during his lifetime.
Capital of Orthodoxy
There are legends about the religiosity of the Quiet King. According to contemporaries: “no monarch could surpass him in religious strictness.” The Orthodox orientation is generally very characteristic of the entire policy of Alexei Mikhailovich. His main desire, which later became an integral feature of the Russian autocracy, was to strengthen ties with Orthodox peoples: liberation of Ukrainians from the “Catholic yoke”, establishment of friendly relations with the Transylvanian princes, and even the Serbs, Bulgarians and Greeks who were under the Turks. The old concept of Moscow as the successor of Constantinople, the new “Third Rome”, is acquiring new relevance. The well-known correction of translations of dogmatic books, which led to the emergence of Old Believers, established the role of Russia in the international arena as the defender of peoples of the same faith and secured for Moscow the status of the capital of Orthodoxy.
First in Europe
Peter I clearly had a hereditary love for everything European. His father Alexei Mikhailovich loved Western “curiosities”. Even as a child, he was brought up on “German printed sheets", and in his youth, his teacher Boris Morozov ordered him several dresses of French and English cut. He was interested European history and politics, became the first sovereign to read European media! English, French, Dutch and other newspapers were specially translated for him in the Ambassadorial Prikaz.
Under Alexei, foreign ambassadors increasingly came to the court to celebrate the oriental splendor of the royal court. When on holidays Alexei left his chambers and “went out among the people,” the royal procession turned into a magnificent event.
“The court of the Moscow sovereign is so beautiful and kept in such order that there is hardly one of all Christian monarchs who would surpass the Muscovite in this,” the Englishman Collins did not hide his admiration, contemplating the royal cortege.
Meanwhile, patronage had its own motives. Alexey wanted to surpass all the royal courts of the world, especially the French. Travelers of that time celebrated the correspondence competition between Alexei Mikhailovich and Louis XIV: both passionately cared about the ritual and splendor of their yards, trips and hunts. They were even called: “Sun King” and “Sun King”.
New law
Created to match a gentle autocrat new law, combining a strong central royal power with elected people's self-government at the local level - the Council Code of Tsar Alexei. The rights of subjects included the opportunity to choose zemstvo and community elders, zemstvo bailiffs, clerks, kissers, sotskie, and the notorious “presumption of innocence” protected from arbitrariness senior officials. Klyuchevsky wrote the following about the new legislation, which was ahead of Europe: “Both sources of government powers - public choice and government conscription - then were not opposed to each other, but served aids for each other." “No country in the world knew self-government equal to Moscow at that time,” reported another historian Solonevich. But for the peasants Cathedral Code became fateful. From now on, the transition from one landowner to another on St. George's Day was prohibited and an open-ended search for fugitives was announced. Serfdom was established in Russia.
Alexey Mikhailovich - the second sovereign from the Romanov clan, who ascended to Russian throne. The tsar is known for his many years of war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Copper and Salt riots. The birth of the future Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was recorded in the New Chronicle. It said that on March 17, 1629, an heir appeared.
The christening of the newborn took place at the Chudov Monastery. Patriarch Filaret Nikitich was present at the boy’s baptism. Godfather Troitsk cellarer Alexander became Alexei. The parents chose a name for the future ruler in accordance with the calendar. The royal “mothers” raised children up to the age of 5. After passing this age limit, Alexei Mikhailovich was handed over to the boyar Boris Morozov. The first teacher taught the Tsarevich literacy and reading.
Among the table books were the Acts of the Holy Apostles, the Book of Hours and the Psalter. The future king gradually mastered such sciences as writing and church singing. Books were Alexei Mikhailovich's passion. By the age of 13, the boy had accumulated a small library, which included the Lithuanian “Grammar” and “Lexicon”, “Cosmography”.
The Tsarevich had other hobbies, including musical instruments, children's armor and even a horse. B.I. Morozov had a direct influence on the development of Alexei Mikhailovich. The teacher used German clothes for the boy for the first time. Only at the age of 14 was the heir to the throne presented to the public. After just 2 years, the young guy had to take the reins of government into his own hands. Alexey Romanov made Kolomenskoye his official residence.
Beginning of reign
Alexei's training was somewhat one-sided, therefore, when the tsar ascended the throne, he was faced with a number of problems for which he was not prepared. This contributed to a rapprochement with Uncle Morozov. At first, Alexei Mikhailovich listened to the boyar’s advice, but later formed a personal opinion regarding state issues.
This helped strengthen the king's character. Foreign guests in their memoirs described Alexei as a gentle, good-natured and quiet ruler. Such qualities were highlighted by S. Collins, A. Meyerberg and even G.K. Kotoshikhin. Alexey Mikhailovich zealously followed church rituals and abstained from food and water three times a week. Thanks to his religiosity, the king received the nickname the Quietest.
Boris Morozov's influence was still too great. When the tsar decided to get married at the age of 18, he chose the daughter of Raf Vsevolozhsky as his wife. The wedding never took place due to the intervention of the boyar. However, a year later the wedding of Alexei Mikhailovich and Marya Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya took place. Soon Morozov also followed the beaten path. The faithful teacher married the girl’s sister, Anna.
From that time on, the influence of Miloslavsky and Morozov on royal court has increased noticeably. Despite this, Alexey Mikhailovich revealed negative points in internal management by the state. The boyar had a hand in this. The king decides to introduce a tax on salt. The new tax replaced the salt duty, Streltsy and Yam money. But this did not cause rejoicing among the people; on the contrary, the population showed dissatisfaction with the innovations. The situation was aggravated by the abuse of power by the Miloslavskys and talk about the tsar’s love for foreign customs.
The Salt Riot broke out. Riots took place in Moscow and other cities of the country. Ordinary citizens wanted to get their hands on Boris Morozov. Not getting what they wanted, the people attacked the boyar’s house, killed the Duma clerk Chistoy and the devious Pleshcheev. The Tsar had no choice but to secretly transport Morozov to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.
The riot helped the people achieve the abolition of the new duty on salt. Gradually the discontent faded away and the boyar returned to the palace. From that time on, Morozov lost the opportunity to govern the state, but the royal favor remained. The new duty on salt was abolished in the same year. After the popular unrest subsided, Morozov returned to the court, enjoyed the royal favor, but did not have primary importance in government.
Domestic policy
The tsar's domestic policy includes several important orders for the state. The reign of Alexei the Quiet introduced a ban on Belomest residents owning lands and establishments, including commercial and industrial ones. In accordance with the adopted Code of the Council, peasants were prohibited from passing from one owner to another. This also applied to families.
Historians identify several main orders that played a role in the internal life of the state. These include Secret Affairs, Khlebny, Reitarsky orders, Accounting Affairs, Lithuanian, Monastic and Little Russian.
Romanov did not ignore the financial side. The king ordered a census of tax households to be carried out and the number of male representatives to be established. Alexey Mikhailovich made an attempt to introduce an updated salt duty, but the idea was unsuccessful.
Minor customs duties were eliminated by order of the tsar. The only possible option for collecting a tax or anniversary is to farm it out. Due to a lack of money, the treasury was forced to release additional funds. We are talking about copper coins. This caused copper money to become virtually worthless compared to silver coins. Again bad decision led to a riot, which was dubbed the Copper.
Alexei Mikhailovich makes a strange decision in 1667 to build several ships. The shipyard was established on the Oka River near the village of Dedinovo. It is unknown how the king planned to use the ships. There was no particular need for ships. One of the buildings left the port only once and sailed to Astrakhan.
Alexey Tishaishy made minor changes in legislation. By order of the tsar, they developed the Council Code, which included the New Trade Charter, New Decree Articles on estates, robbery and murder, and military regulations.
Foreign policy
Alexey Mikhailovich tried to protect the western borders. This became the reason for the outbreak of wars against states located in the west of the continent. The main enemy for Russia was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. For a century, the rulers of Russia tried to defend their territories and conquer others.
Military actions did not help Romanov pave the way to the Baltic Sea. There were positive steps in foreign policy. In particular, again part big country became Chernigov and Smolensk lands, separated during the Time of Troubles. Alexey Mikhailovich did not allow raids Crimean Tatars, pushing back the southern borders.
During the reign of Alexei the Quiet, part of Ukraine belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian state. Serfdom made it difficult for local residents to live in peace, so discontent resulted in trouble for the local authorities. Zaporizhian Cossacks headed into battle against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Success was on the side of the Cossacks. The country's rulers had to start negotiations. Ukraine became an autonomous state. But the Poles did not agree with this decision. The Cossacks had no choice but to accept defeat. The leader of the Cossack movement began searching for a strong ally. Numerous attempts to improve relations with Russia took effect within a few years. The Zemsky Sobor gave the go-ahead for the start of joint military operations with the Cossacks against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The year 1654 became a landmark year for Ukraine and Russia. The two states united and became one. Ukrainian lands the hetman was in charge, he received a lot of help Cossack army. The authorities of the Polish-Lithuanian side were dissatisfied with this decision. The war has begun. The first months were successful for the Romanovs: 30 cities were captured, including Smolensk.
Unexpectedly, the Swedish king attacked the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The state could not resist Western army, so Sweden received some lands, including Warsaw. Alexey Mikhailovich did not want to give in and concluded a temporary peace with the Polish-Lithuanian country. This was a strategically wrong decision.
After his death, the new hetman goes over to the Polish side and organizes a war against Russia. The tsar could not resist Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Having lost many soldiers, the countries decide on a truce. Russia lost its lands in the Baltic states.
Personal life
The biography of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich speaks of two marriages. Romanov first joined the union at a young age. His wife is Miloslavsky's daughter Maria. At the age of 44, the woman died. Heiress famous surname She left her husband 13 children. Less than two years have passed since the news spread across Russia - the Tsar married for the second time. Natalya Naryshkina became his wife. The young woman gave her husband three children.
Alexey Mikhailovich raised 16 boys and girls. Only three sons ascended to the throne. This is Ivan V and. The king could not arrange the marriage of his daughters. Interestingly, children from different mothers did not communicate with each other. Historians claim enmity between them. In those days there were no photographs, so only paintings with portraits of the royal family have survived to this day.
Death
Death overtook Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov unexpectedly. Shortly before his 47th birthday, the ruler suffered a heart attack. Health problems turned out to be fatal for the king.
Two years before his death, Alexey Mikhailovich publicly announced that Fedor would become the heir to the throne in the event of the ruler’s death.
Memory
- 1939 – " "
- 1956 – “300 years ago...”
- 1988 – “Walking People”
- 2010 – monument to Alexei Mikhailovich in Novy Oskol
- 2011 – “Split”
- 2013 – “The Romanovs. Film one"
Officially The quietest king Alexey Mikhailovich is considered. The historian Klyuchevsky called him a glorious Russian soul and was ready to see in him better man ancient Rus'. Let's try to figure out why this sovereign received such a flattering assessment.
Alexei Mikhailovich ascended the throne in 1645, as a 16-year-old boy. He received the usual old Moscow education, that is, he could quickly read the clock in church and, not without success, sing with the sexton in the choir along the hook notes. At the same time, he studied the order of church services to the smallest detail and could compete with any monk in his subtle sophistication in terms of prayers and fasting. The prince of the old time would probably have stopped there. But Alexei was brought up in a different time, when the Russian people vaguely felt the need for something new, and therefore foreign. As a child, Alexei already held in his hands intricate overseas toys: a horse made in Germany, German engravings, and even children’s armor made for him by the German master Peter Schalt.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich remained in history with the nickname “The Quietest.” But what does it mean?
It is usually believed that Alexei Mikhailovich was nicknamed so for his gentle kindness. Indeed, the king was a good-natured man. However, he was not at all “quiet” in this sense of the word — either by nature or by deeds. Let us first consider his character.
If the second Romanov showed a certain “quietness,” it was only in the first years of his reign, when he was young. But his natural temper quickly made itself felt. The king easily lost control and gave free rein to his tongue and hands. So, once, having quarreled with Patriarch Nikon, he publicly cursed him as a peasant and son of a bitch. In general, Alexey Mikhailovich knew how to swear in a very inventive and sophisticated way, not like today’s foul-mouthed people with their wretched high school vocabulary. Here, for example, is the letter the tsar sent to the treasurer of the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery, Father Nikita, who, having drunk, got into a fight with the stationed archers: “From the tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Rus' to the enemy of God and the hater of God and the seller of Christ and the destroyer of the miracle-working house and the like-minded Satan , the damned enemy, the useless spy and the evil, nosy villain, Treasurer Mikita.” This was the king's language.
Let's talk about hands now. Once the issue of war with Poland was discussed in the Duma, and the Tsar’s father-in-law, Boyar Miloslavsky, who had never been on a campaign, unexpectedly announced that if the Tsar appointed him governor, he would bring him the Polish King himself as a prisoner. This impudent boasting so outraged the king that he slapped the old man in the face, tore his beard and kicked him out of the room. And this is the Quiet King? Hardly.
As for affairs, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich there was least peace and quiet. The king demanded that his henchmen serve tirelessly. Remembering “his incessant work,” boyar Artamon Matveev noted that “this has never happened before.” And according to Archpriest Avvakum, the king “has made a lot of messes in this life, like a goat galloping over the hills and driving the wind.” And when could Alexei Mikhailovich rest, if during his reign rebellion followed rebellion, war after war. Contemporaries themselves called the 17th century “the rebellious century.”
But it is precisely this last circumstance that provides the key to correct understanding nicknames "The Quiet One". Its origins lie in the ancient formula “peace and quiet,” which symbolized a well-ordered and prosperous state. Alexei Mikhailovich precisely “calmed down” Russia, torn apart by riots and splits. In one document of that time it is said that after the death of Mikhail Fedorovich Monomakh’s hat was put on by “his noble son, the most pious, the quietest, the most autocratic great sovereign, king and Grand Duke Alexey Mikhailovich. Then, under his sovereign hand, piety was firmly observed throughout the entire kingdom, and all orthodox christianity glowed with serene silence.”
This is the meaning our ancestors put into the epithet “quietest” - it was an official sovereign title that had to do with the rank, and not the character, of the king.
During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, many things happened turning points in the life of the Russian people. The first was salt riot, where Alexei Mikhailovich had to enter into humiliating negotiations with the rebels. He asked not to touch Morozov, promising to send him away, and managed to defend his favorite. But Pleshcheev and Trakhaniotov were handed over to the crowd, who immediately literally tore the clerks into pieces. This terrible spectacle had such an effect on the 20-year-old king that with tears in his eyes he began to beg the rebels for mercy, vowing to destroy monopolies, improve financial management and give the country a fair government. Little by little, the unrest of the people subsided and the riot stopped.
The next event was church schism. During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the accumulated faults in the established customs and traditions and disagreements began to greatly hurt the eyes of educated Russian people. A natural desire arose to rewrite church books according to ancient models. Under Patriarch Nikon from the Orthodox East and from different angles Russia brought mountains of ancient handwritten books — Greek and Church Slavonic—to Moscow. New editions corrected from them were sent to Russian churches with orders to select and destroy old printed and ancient written books. This is where the confusion and fermentation in the minds began.
Alexey Mikhailovich tried for a long time to reason with the rebellious elders with exhortations, and sent them letters in a conciliatory spirit. But when he was informed that the monks were holding a “black cathedral” among themselves (that is, a self-proclaimed, illegal one), at which they anathematized the sovereign, Alexei Mikhailovich reluctantly ordered the monastery to be taken by storm.
Finally, among the schismatics there were also outright fanatics who pushed people to commit self-immolation — the infamous schismatic “burnings.” Despite all the efforts of the government, it turned out to be impossible to stop this fiery epidemic - it gradually died down on its own, like other types of general insanity.
Looking at the behavior and policies of the tsar, Alexei Mikhailovich, we understand that he ruled wisely and took an active part in the reign, and not the other way around, as it might seem.
