Mikhail's Reign

As a result of the Time of Troubles, autocracy emerged stronger than ever in Russia, as did the rising service gentry. However, both the boyars and the peasants lost power. The boyars became permanently subservient to the tsar after having gained power during the Time of Troubles, while the common people gained nothing and the peasantry were permanently enserfed.

Mikhail Romanov became tsar of a country in ruins, with a burned capital, an empty treasury, and many of its lands held by foreign powers. As a result, Mikhail asked that the zemskii sobor remain intact and help him rule, and it did so for the first decade of his reign. In addition, he received help from the boyar duma

In 1619, his father was returned from prison, and Filaret became his most frequent advisor. He was made patriarch and became the most important person in the state. In fact, at the behest of Mikhail, Filaret actually received the title of Great Sovereign, and unprecedented (and unrepeated) show of significance. When Filaret died in 1633, he was nearly 80 years old.

Foreign Policy in the Early Years

The major problems that both Mikhail and Filaret were forced to deal with were the invasions, the financial collapse, and the internal lack of stability which had plagued Russia throughout the Time of Troubles. Several of the ringleaders were executed, and eventually the internal enemies were defeated, but at a price. Poland was allowed to keep Smolensk and parts of western Russia; the Swedes returned Novgorod but were allowed to keep parts of Finland and they received reparations of 20000 rubles.

One of the foreign developments that significantly impacted the Russians was not of their making. The Don Cossacks seized control of Azov from Turkey in 1637 and offered it to the Russian crown. Accepting would have meant war with Turkey, and eventually the zemskii sobor of 1642 decided not to accept the offer, feeling that Russia was simply not ready to fight the Turks. Years later, Azov would be one of the targets sought by Peter I, and he would wage a bloody campaign to gain control of it.

Finances

The Russian financial situation remained horrible throughout Michael's reign, despite increased taxes and huge loans and levies. The cost of expelling the invaders, coupled with the reparation payments, nearly bankrupted the treasury. Enough funds would eventaully be raised to keep the state going, but overall the situation was serious and at times precarious, and would remain so into the reigns of his successors.

A Quick Note on Names

All Russians have three names; their Christian or given name, their patronymic, and their surname. The Christian or given name is the first name: Mikhail, Aleksei, Peter, Ekaterina, etc. The patronymic is a combination of the father's first name and an ending (-vich for men, -evna or -ovna for women). The surname, which was rarely used until the 20th century, was the family's name, and for women it typically ends in an -a. So, the second Romanov tsar would be Aleksei Mikhailovich Romanov; his daughter Sophia was Sophia Alekseievna Romanova. Most Russians addressed each other by their first names and patronymics until the Bolshevik take over, when they were address as Comrade (Tovarich) plus the surname, so Comrade Stalin. This was true of nearly all relationships; in the pre-Bolshevik years, the term "gospodin" (which translates badly to "master") would be used for added emphasis on a title for someone who was clearly your superior; my first Russian teacher insisted on being addressed as "Gospodin Profesor", but never by his Christian name and patronymic. The reason first names were called Christian names is that Russians celebrated (and still celebrate) their name day; that is, the day which belongs to their patron or name saint. For example, someone named Patrick would celebrate their name day on March 17th. In many cases, especially when birthdates were not recorded (usually among the peasantry), the name day was celebrated as a modern birthday would be.

I will use the Christian name and patronymic for a few of the major figures (Aleksei Mikhailovich is one) to differentiate them from other figures (Aleksei Nikolaivich, the only son of Nicholas II).

The Reign of Aleksei Mikhailovich

Mikhail died in 1645, leaving behind a 16 year old son, Aleksei, to become the new tsar. Aleksei has always been viewed favorably by historians; his sobriquet was "Tishashii", or the Quiet(est) One. he was known for his piety, for his dedication to his family, and for his interest in a wide range of activities, including Western style theater and architecture. While he is sometimes overlooked because the accomplishments of his son, Peter I, are so significant, in fact many of the things Peter did would not have been possible without his father's influence.

The transition to power for Aleksei was accomplished relatively peacefully, due in large part to the machinations of the new tsar's tutor, Boris Morozov. Morozov was from one of the oldest boyar families, well known and well respected, and he had been chosen to serve as Aleksei's tutor when the tsarevich was in his early teens. In addition, shortly after coming to power, Aleksei married Maria Miloslavskaia, the daughter of one of the most prominent boyars in Moscow, and so linked his reign to two powerful figures. This was both a positive and a negative; it insured that the transition and the first few years were smooth, but it also put Aleksei at the mercy of two of the most powerful men in Russia, both of whom appear to have been more interested in personal gain than in helping the new tsar (Morozov is guilty of this less than Miloslavskii). In 1648, fed up with the greed and corruption that had come to be a part of everyday life in Moscow, the Muscovites rebelled, killing a number of officials and threatening the tsar himself. Both Morozov and Miloslavskii escaped, but were removed from power and sent into partial exile. From that point on, in 1648, Aleksei largely ruled on his own, with one notable exception: the patriarch Nikon became Aleksei's closest advisor, and was so powerful in the 1650s and 1660s that he was given the title Great Sovereign, just as Filaret had been.

Foreign Policy

Aleksei was forced to contend with the same problems that his father had been faced with in terms of foreign policy, and most of these problems came from the West. Russia found itself embroiled in conflicts with Poland and Sweden throughout the 1650s and 1660s. Eventually, after years of struggle, a treaty was worked out between the Russians and Poles, with the Dneiper River serving as the boundary between the two states. Russia laid claim to the western bank of the river, but also claimed Kiev (which was on the left bank). The city, along with Smolensk, were supposed to remain under the control of the tsar for 13 years after conclusion of the treaty, but in fact remained under Russian control permanently, with the control of the cities being confirmed in 1686. Ukrainians refer to this period in their history as "The Ruin", as it mirrored, in many ways, the Russian Time of Troubles.

The wars with Sweden were far more inconclusive; Russia and Sweden were almost constantly battling for control of northern areas, and as a result were in almost continual diplomatic mode to work out agreements. This would continue into the eighteenth century under the rule of Aleksei's sons Fyodor and Peter.

Domestic Policy

The most significant part of Aleksei's domestic policy, other than the ecclesiastical reforms (see below), was the promulgation of the Ulozhenie of 1649. This new law code, which took the Sudebnik of 1550 and revised and expanded it, was significant for a variety of reasons, but none as important as the fact that it enserfed the Russian peasantry. Prior to 1649, peasants had been more or less tied to their lands, but there was always a period of time (ranging from two weeks to a day, by the 1640s) that peasants could move off the land, provided that they were not in debt to their landlord. The Ulozhenie changed that; the peasantry was tied to the land, and could not move off of it. This would remain in place until 1861, when Alexander II emancipated the serfs; the Ulozhenie would not be superceded until the reign of Nicholas I, in 1835.

The Church Schism

The church schism is what Aleksei Mikhailovich is most known for (other than his paternity of Peter the Great), and he is frequently villified for allowing it to happen during his reign. His close ties to both Avvakum and Nikon helped to complicate the issue, as did the fact that one of the most famous adherents to the Old Belief was Feodosiia Morozova, the sister-in-law of Aleksei's beloved tutor and mentor.

The details of the schism are discussed in lecture 11, but it is important to look at the reasons that the schism happened when it did. Nikon, who became patriarch in 1652, was an exceptionally strong willed personality; well educated, familiar with the ideas of the Western Catholic Church, he was the first Russian to assert that the church was superior to the state. While this was a common view in the West, it was unknown in the East, and Nikon was eventually denounced as a papist (one who follows the Pope). Nikon's reforms, which extended to the styles of icons and the print used in the psalters for the services, eventually became too extreme even for the mild-mannered Aleksei, and the two quarrelled, as early as 1658 according to some sources. By the Church Council of 1666-67, they were not speaking, and the assembly of patriarchs deposed and defrocked Nikon, who was sent to a monastery for the remainder of his life.

However, his reforms lived on, and were confirmed by Aleksei Mikhailovich and the Church Council of 1666-67. It was only in the later part of his reign that the reforms were fully enacted, and that the schism began. The first great uprising, by the monks of the Solovki monastery in the northern part of Russia, set the tone early on. The monks refused to accept the new psalters and boarded up the monastery, denying admission to anyone who was not an Old Believer. After an 8 year stalemate, they were betrayed from within, and the majority of the monks were put to death. Solovki became the property of the Russian state, and in the 20th century was home to one of the many gulag camps in the north.

Solovki Monastery as it appears today: Note the stone/brick walls with the watchtowers (which are virtually identical, other than size, to the Kremlin) and the gold cupolas.

Aleksei seemed to have stayed his hand against the Old Believers while his first wife, Mariia Miloslavskaia, was still alive, but following her death in 1669, his attitude changed. Mariia had, by all accounts, been sympathetic to the Old Believers, and one of her ladies-in-waiting was Feodosiia Morozova. Aleksei remarried in 1671, and his new wife, Nataliia Naryshkina, was much more inclined towards the West, having been raised by a Scottish guardian. As a result, Aleksei became less and less tolerant of the Old Believers, eventually ordering the arrest of Morozova (who had refused to serve as one of Nataliia's ladies-in-waiting, and whose Moscow home had become a refuge for Old Believers). Her arrest clearly spelled problems for the movement: if the tsar was willing to arrest a boyarina (and, for that matter, a boyarina who had been friends with his wife), anyone could be placed in chains. The painting of Morozova being taken to prison (below) is one of the most famous in Russian art. Morozova died, after being placed underground in a pit, in late 1675; her sister, the Princess Urusova, survived her by about a month under the same conditions. Their martyrdoms, along with those of Avvakum and other monks in 1682, became rallying cries for the Old Believers.

Boyarina Morozova, by Vasilii Surikov

The End of Aleksei's Reign

Aleksei's first marriage, to Mariia, had produced no fewer than thirteen children, but only two, Fyodor and Ivan, survived Aleksei. His second marriage, to Nataliia, produced at least two children, the first of whom, Peter, was born on June 9, 1672. Peter, unlike his brothers, was a healthy, active child, and appeared to be, in many ways, a stronger candidate to succeed Aleksei. Had he lived longer, Aleksei may very well have named Peter to be his heir, or, possibly, Peter might simply have outlived his older brothers. However, this was not to be the case; Aleksei became ill in 1676 and died shortly thereafter, leaving behind three sons. Fyodor, as the eldest, was named the heir, and his rule, from 1676-1682, was unremarkable. However, his death, in 1682, led to one of the most trying periods in Peter's life, and in fact would mark the young man for life.