The reign of Sofia Alekseevna. Sofia Paleolog

On the picture: Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna.

Sofya Alekseevna, sister of Peter I. No other princess has left such a bright mark on history. .

Sofya Alekseevna was born in 1657 into the family and his first wife. She received a good education at home, spoke Latin and Polish, and wrote poetry. The princess was trained by the poet and.

Already in her early years, it was obvious that Sophia was extremely power-hungry. She had a hard time with the death of her mother in 1671, the tsar’s imminent marriage to Natalya Naryshkina, and the birth of Pyotr Alekseevich, who was distinguished by good health from childhood (while Sophia’s half-brothers were very sick). Ivan Alekseevich, who ruled in 1676-1682, lived for 20 years, and was not distinguished by physical and mental strength.

Sofya Alekseevna - the path to power

As soon as Tsar Fedor passed away on April 27, 1682, he declared Peter heir to the throne. The Miloslavskys, who did not like this turn of events, began to act. They took advantage of the dissatisfaction of the archers, who had not received a salary for a long time, saying that under the Naryshkins they would be worse off.

In mid-May 1682, a rumor spread that the Naryshkins had strangled Tsarevich Ivan. The Sagittarius staged a riot, not calming down even when Queen Natalya showed everyone the living young man. Almost all of the Naryshkins and their associates and like-minded people were killed or exiled. Natalya fled with Peter to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow. Sophia ensured that Ivan became Peter's co-ruler. A short period has begun in the history of Russia.

Soon she sensed another danger. The Sagittarius behaved cheekily, and their boss Ivan Khovansky Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna suspected of wanting to remove her from power. In addition, he began to show sympathy for the Old Believers, whom Sophia did not favor. The princess behaved cautiously: she often appeared on pilgrimages together with her brother-co-rulers and generously gave gifts to the faithful archers. By September 1682, she was able to politically isolate the dangerous Khovansky. Soon Sophia lured him to the village of Vozdvizhenskoye near Moscow, where people loyal to her executed the Streltsy chief. On September 15 (25), 1682, the princess officially became regent, “so that the government, for the sake of the young years of both sovereigns, would be entrusted to their sister.”

Domestic policy of Sofia Alekseevna

• In the interests of the nobility, who supported her in 1682, Sophia carried out land surveying.
• In 1683-1684 The Bashkir uprising was extinguished (it began back in 1681).
• Sophia supported the spread of education in Russia. In 1687, the Likhud brothers opened the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in Moscow.
• The persecution of the Old Believers continued. Decrees of 1682 and 1684 obligated to search for and execute schismatics and to seize those who did not go to church.

Foreign policy of Princess Sophia

• In the west, Russia sought to establish peaceful relations with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1686, an “eternal peace” was concluded between them with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against Turkey and Crimea.
• In the south, Russia joined the anti-Turkish Holy League in 1686 and tried to annex Crimea. In 1687 and 1689, under the leadership of V.V. Golitsyn, campaigns were undertaken against the Crimean Tatars (to no avail).
• In the east, diplomatic relations were established with China. In 1689, the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed, according to which the border between Russia and China was drawn along the river. Arguni, but most of the border lands and rivers remained undelimited.
• In 1689, Sophia was removed from the regency by Peter 1 and tonsured a nun.

Results of Sofia Alekseevna's reign.

• Education and science spread in Russia.
• Peace was established with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• It was not possible to achieve access to the Black Sea.
• The borders with China were not fully defined.

The historian S. M. Solovyov considered Sofya Alekseevna a “hero-princess” who was unable to secure support for herself in society for a long time. In the “ideological” novel by A.N. Tolstoy's "Peter I" she appears as the personification of "old, pre-Petrine Rus'." But to consider her a “zealot of antiquity” would be incorrect. On the contrary, her steps can be seen as a harbinger of Peter's reforms.

Among them, we note the opening in 1687 in Moscow of the first higher educational institution in the Russian state. Under Sofya Alekseevna, a unified system of weights and measures was approved. In addition, she continued the fight against the Old Believers. On the basis of the “12 Articles” adopted in 1685, thousands of zealots of the former rite were executed.

Sofya Alekseevna Romanova was born on September 27, 1657. She was smart and ambitious, spoke many languages, was well versed in politics and even wrote poetry. In 1682, she was appointed regent for her young brothers.

While the future Peter I was busy having fun, his sister was trying with all her might to gain a foothold as firmly as possible in the role of ruler. Firstly, the Naryshkins, relatives of the mother of Peter I, had to be eliminated. To do this, she used the ever-rebellious rebel archers.

After this, an uprising of schismatics arose, seeking the “old piety.” She moved the “Debate on Faith” to the palace, this helped isolate religious leaders from the crowd and avoid major riots. And then, by order of Sophia, the main instigators of the riot were captured and executed. The rest were persecuted, and the most ardent supporters of the split were publicly burned.

Following the schismatics, Sophia pacified the archers. Their leader, Prince Khovansky, who showed disrespect for Sophia and her allies, was executed. At the head of the Streltsy order, Sophia placed her accomplice, Duma clerk Slakovity.

Her merits also include the conclusion of an extremely profitable “eternal peace” with Poland. According to the agreement, Russia forever received Kyiv, Smolensk and control over the left bank of Little Russia.

However, when Pyotr Alekseevich turned seventeen, he decided to rule on his own. Sophia was removed from power. All her allies were executed, and she herself was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent.

During Peter's absence in Russia, the archers tried to raise an uprising and return Sophia's throne, but the uprising was brutally suppressed. Sophia was tonsured a nun under the name of Susanna and spent the rest of her life in a monastery cell.

Sofya Alekseevna Romanova died on July 14, 1704 and was buried in the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow.

Princess Sophia - the forbidden ruler

She became the first woman on the throne in the history of our country. And she paid for it with imprisonment in a monastery, a lonely death and long oblivion. Chroniclers and rulers of Russia hid the truth about it for many centuries. Therefore, only a few know what this great woman really was like - Princess Sofya Alekseevna from the Romanov family.

Alexei Mikhailovich, the father of Princess Sophia, received the nickname Quiet. But it’s unlikely that his palace in Kolomenskoye, near Moscow, where Sophia was born in September 1657, could be called a quiet place. Alexei Mikhailovich's tower became a real children's kingdom - during his reign it is difficult to find a year when the sovereign's wife Marya Miloslavskaya did not give birth to a child. True, many of them died in infancy. Seven survived - five daughters and two sons, Fedor and Ivan.

Unfortunately for their father, the princes grew up frail and weak-minded, while their sisters grew up healthy and strong. But the fate of princesses in the 17th century was unenviable. They could not even be married off - neither boyar children nor foreign princes were considered a suitable match for the tsar’s daughters. They were to spend their entire lives locked up. As the German ambassador Sigismund Herberstein wrote, in Rus' “a woman is considered honest only when she lives locked up in a house and does not go out anywhere.” Those who did not want to spend their whole lives in a mansion, where men could only enter once a year, at Easter, had only one alternative - a monastery.

Sophia grew strong, broad-boned, impetuous in her movements. And at the same time, living up to her name - Sophia (Wisdom), she loved to read.

It was not customary in Rus' to teach daughters - many princesses could hardly write their names. Their education was limited to embroidery, a set of prayers and nursery tales. But the Quiet One agreed to assign a teacher to his daughter - Simeon of Polotsk, the greatest scientist of his time and the first Russian professional poet.

Polotsky taught Sophia not only reading and writing, but also foreign languages. The princess especially liked history, so she knew about the Byzantine Empress Pulcheria, who stabbed her drunken husband alive into a coffin and began to rule independently, and about the English Queen Elizabeth, who did not have a husband at all.

It is possible that when Sophia saw the changes taking place in the royal palace, she gradually developed a desire to imitate these brave women. In 1669, Maria Miloslavskaya died, and two years later Alexey Mikhailovich married twenty-year-old Natalya Naryshkina. A year later, she gave birth to a son, Peter, strong and smart, a real heir. Sophia immediately disliked her stepmother, who was not much older than her. Naryshkina reciprocated her stepdaughter's feelings. Sophia spent more and more time in the library. Among the collection of books was a treatise by the Italian Machiavelli on how to gain power. And it is unlikely that the inquisitive princess left this book without attention.

In 1676, Alexei Mikhailovich suddenly died. The new tsar, fifteen-year-old Fyodor, was constantly ill - even at his father’s funeral he was brought on a stretcher. At court, a struggle for power immediately unfolded between the relatives of the Quiet One’s wives – the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins – in which Sophia was actively involved.

To begin with, she managed to escape from the mansion, having received permission to be with her sick brother. This gave the princess the opportunity to communicate with the boyars and governors. She knew how to say something nice to everyone and found a common language with everyone.

Sophia's intelligence, erudition and piety amazed not only the inhabitants of the Kremlin, but also European ambassadors. Rumors about the princess’s virtues also penetrated the people: people pinned their hopes for a better life on her.

Tsar Feodor died in April 1682. Contrary to custom, Sophia attended his funeral and followed the coffin closest to all his relatives. But the Boyar Duma, at the suggestion of the Naryshkins, declared the son of Alexei Mikhailovich from his second wife, Peter, king. The princess, however, was not going to put up with her stepmother’s rise.

Sophia's ally was the forty-year-old Prince Vasily Golitsyn, heir to an old family and a fan of the West. Foreigners who came to Moscow were delighted with their conversations with this intelligent and well-read nobleman, whose house “shone with splendor and taste.” Under Fyodor, Golitsyn was close to the throne and conceived a broad program of reforms, but due to palace feuds his position was threatened. Another ally of Sophia was the 50,000-strong Streltsy army, dissatisfied with the oppression of the authorities. According to rumors, the Naryshkins wanted to prohibit the archers not only from trading duty-free, but also from living with their wives and children. In fact, this information was spread by Sophia’s agents, who flatteringly called the archers “the royal support.” All that was needed was a reason for rebellion, and it was quickly found. In May, supporters of Princess Sophia spread a rumor that the Naryshkins had killed the “real” Tsar Ivan. To the sound of the alarm bell, the archers burst into the Kremlin. Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna brought the princes alive and unharmed to them. But this did not stop the bloodthirsty crowd. The Naryshkins were thrown from the porch onto the Streltsy pikes right before the eyes of Peter and Ivan. Their supporters were searched throughout the city and chopped down with sabers, and the mutilated bodies were dragged through the streets shouting “Love!” They even killed a German doctor who was found with a dried snake; they said that with the help of its poison he wanted to kill Tsarevich Ivan.

During these terrible days, Sophia sat in her chambers and led the actions of the rebels. She persuaded their leaders to go to the end, promising, if successful, each archer ten rubles - huge money at that time. The frightened boyars declared both brothers kings, and Sophia became the ruler until they reached adulthood. A double throne was made for Ivan and Peter, which is now kept in the Armory. A window was made in the gilded back, through which the princess suggested to the brothers their “royal will.”

However, she not only advised, but also acted herself. Sophia personally met with the archers and announced that none of them would be punished for participating in the rebellion - if they immediately stopped rebellion and returned to service. Such a step required courage - by that time the archers no longer wanted to submit to anyone. For example, the head of the Streletsky Prikaz, Ivan Khovansky, claimed that the princess did not take a step without him. For which he paid - the royal servants lured him out of the capital and cut off his head. The Sagittarius were calmed down with cash handouts, and the most active ones were sent to distant garrisons.

After the suppression of the Khovanshchina, Sophia had to face a new threat. Dissenters gathered in Moscow, demanding the return of “ancient piety.” The princess showed courage here too - she came to the militant Old Believers and entered into a discussion with their leader Nikita Pustosvyat. He was so embarrassed by her theological erudition that he agreed to lead the crowd of rioters away from the Kremlin. He was soon captured and executed. Everyone was expecting new repressions, but here, too, Sophia showed wisdom. She not only pardoned the rebels, but also softened the punishments for other crimes - for example, wives who killed their husbands were no longer buried alive in the ground, but “only” beheaded. Russian women had another reason to thank Sophia: she freed them from seclusion, allowing them to attend all kinds of events.

According to the historian Vasily Klyuchevsky, the princess “came out of the tower and opened the doors of this tower for everyone.”

Historians still write little about Sophia’s seven-year reign, considering it a “dark period” before the brilliant era of Peter. But the facts prove otherwise. Despite her tough masculine character, Sophia ruled with feminine gentleness and prudence. Even Prince Boris Kurakin, who often criticized her, admitted in his memoirs: “The reign of Princess Sofia Alekseevna began with all diligence and justice to everyone and to the pleasure of the people, so there has never been such a wise reign in the Russian state.”

The princess intensified the fight against bribes and arbitrariness of officials, as well as against denunciation, which has become a real scourge in Russia. She forbade the acceptance of anonymous denunciations, and ordered the scoundrels who filled the courtrooms to be flogged. Nor was she a fan of antiquity, a defender of the “patterned chamber,” as her admirer Marina Tsvetaeva wrote. Continuing her father’s policy, Sophia actively invited foreign specialists to Russia. The domestic education system also developed - in 1687, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, conceived by the princess’s teacher Simeon of Polotsk, was opened. There is information that the princess even thought about opening a school for girls.

The careful diplomacy of Sophia and Golitsyn brought success in foreign policy. Poland agreed to an “eternal peace” that legitimized the annexation of Ukrainian lands to Russia. The Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed with China, which recognized the interests of the Russians on the distant banks of the Amur. Envoys from the French, Austrian, and Turkish courts appeared in Moscow. One of them, de Neuville, wrote about Sophia: “As wide, short and rough as her figure is, so subtle, sharp and political is her mind.” Almost all contemporaries agreed with this.

Elsewhere in his Notes on Russia, de Neuville spoke even less flatteringly of the princess's appearance: "She is terribly fat, she has a head the size of a pot, hair on her face, lupus on her legs, and she is at least forty years old." But Sophia was then barely thirty. One could attribute this to the arrogant foreigner’s hostility towards the “Russian barbarians,” but it must be admitted that the princess was indeed ugly.

Therefore, a number of historians believe that her alliance with Golitsyn was purely political. Perhaps - but not for Sophia. Judging by her letters, the princess was really in love: “But I, my light, have no faith that you will return to us; then I will understand faith when I see you in my arms... My light, father, my hope, hello for many years to come! That day would be great for me when you, my soul, will come to me.”

No, Sophia loved Golitsyn with all her heart. It's harder to say what feelings he had for her. A discerning connoisseur of beauty could hardly be captivated by this woman who withered before her time, even if she was smart and strong-willed. In addition, the prince was happy with his second wife Evdokia Streshneva, who bore him four children. But he did not want to part with Sophia either, so as not to lose his position as the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz - in fact, the first minister.

The situation became more complicated when the princess in love demanded that he divorce his wife. Golitsyn found himself at a crossroads. According to the same de Neuville, the prince “could not decide to remove his wife, firstly, as a noble man, and secondly, as a husband who has large estates behind her.” Finally, Golitsyn began to give in, and his loving wife agreed to go to a monastery so as not to ruin her husband’s career.

Rumors about a future marriage leaked into the Moscow “high society” and caused universal condemnation. They even said that the princess and her favorite wanted to destroy Ivan and Peter, found a new dynasty and convert to the “Latin faith,” that is, Catholicism - many were suspicious of their sympathies for the West. Then Sophia decided to send her lover on a campaign against the Crimean Khanate. Returning as a winner, he could win the sympathy of society and the hand of the ruler. This decision became fatal. The first campaign in 1687 was unsuccessful - the Tatars set fire to the steppe, poisoned wells, and the army, suffering from hunger and thirst, had to retreat.

The second campaign in the spring of 1689 ended in the same failure. This time, the Russian army of one hundred thousand reached Perekop, stood there for two weeks and returned back with nothing. Golitsyn was blamed for everything, who allegedly received two chests of gold coins from the Crimean Khan, and even those turned out to be fake.

This is probably a lie - the diplomat simply turned out to be a worthless commander. Under these conditions, Sophia decided that it was better for Vasily Golitsyn to leave the capital for a while. But feelings again turned out to be stronger than royal duty. She did not want to part with her beloved again. Sophia tried to turn the failure of the Crimean campaign into victory by ordering prayers to be held in all churches in honor of Golitsyn.

The young Tsar Peter did not share the sympathies of his older sister. He refused to accept Golitsyn, who had returned from the campaign - “the serf did a bad job.” Soon Peter was to come of age and become a sovereign monarch. In this case, Golitsyn’s life—and Sophia’s—would be in jeopardy. However, the soft, indecisive prince refused to take extreme measures. Another of her favorites, the okolnichy Fyodor Shaklovity, the new commander of the archers, came to the aid of the princess. He more than once suggested to Sophia that he take away the “old bear” - that is, Natalya Kirillovna, “and if the son begins to intercede, then there is no point in letting him down.” The princess did not dare shed her brother’s blood, but she appreciated Shaklovity’s loyalty. Soon he not only spent the day, but also spent the night in her chambers. Golitsyn endured - perhaps even secretly rejoiced at the respite from the boring novel.

The denouement came in August 1689, while both sides were accumulating strength. Peter trained his “amusing regiments” in Preobrazhenskoe, which by that time had become a real army. Sophia and her supporters persuaded the archers to rise again against the Naryshkins. At the same time, sophisticated provocations were used: some relative of Shaklovity, dressed as Peter’s uncle Lev Naryshkin, drove around the city and beat the archers, shouting: “It was you who killed my relatives, dogs!”

However, at first all efforts were unsuccessful. The last rebellion did not improve the situation of the archers much, and the reign of Sophia and Golitsyn was not pleasing - neither campaigns nor military spoils. Only when rumors began to reach from Preobrazhensky that the “amusing” ones were going to the Kremlin, did the archers begin to prepare for defense.

Having learned about this, seventeen-year-old Peter was frightened - he well remembered the horrors of the first rebellion. In the middle of the night, leaving his mother and pregnant wife, Peter, wearing only his shirt, rode off on horseback to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. There he was taken under the protection of Patriarch Joachim, who did not like Sophia for her pro-Western sympathies (if only he had known what Peter himself would do in Russia later). Gradually, supporters of the Naryshkins, as well as “amusing” people with guns and arquebuses, gathered at the Lavra.

And while Sophia and Golitsyn sat idly by, Peter lured more and more new adherents to his side. Two rifle regiments with unfurled banners arrived at the Lavra and swore allegiance to the Tsar.

Sophia tried to hold back the rest of the archers, telling them: “If you go to the Trinity, your wives and children will remain here.” But neither threats nor generous promises worked - regiment after regiment went to Peter. The archers who remained in Moscow demanded that the princess hand over Shaklovity to them, and immediately executed their commander. The next day, boyar Troekurov came to Sophia with a royal order: to renounce power and go to the Novodevichy Convent for eternal residence. Vasily Golitsyn and his family were exiled to distant northern Kargopol, where he died in 1714. Before he left, the princess was able to give her beloved money and the last letter, but she was never destined to see the prince again. Sophia had no right to leave the monastery, but continued to live like a king, surrounded by a large retinue. The younger brother clearly had no intention of starving her. Every day Sophia was sent a huge amount of food: fish, pies, bagels, even beer and vodka.

Gradually, everyone dissatisfied with Peter’s innovations rallied around her. Including the archers, whom the tsar forced to change the freedom of the capital for dangerous service in the border cities.

The role of liaison between them and Sophia was played by her sisters, Martha and Maria. Through them, the princess handed over letters to the archers asking them to come to the monastery with weapons in their hands to free her, and then go together to Moscow. It seemed to Sophia that Peter’s power was about to fall, and she would be able to enter the Kremlin as a sovereign queen.

In the summer of 1698, when the tsar was traveling around Europe, the archers rebelled under the slogan “Sophia for the kingdom!” They did not act too decisively, and even before Peter’s arrival the rebellion was suppressed.

When the king returned, the first thing he did was go to his cell to see his sister, whom he had not seen for nine long years. Nothing remained of the former round-faced boy - the king looked more like a formidable demon in a German caftan.

Perhaps at that moment Sophia regretted not holding on to power more tightly. Those descendants who did not believe the chroniclers who slandered the princess also regretted this. Who knows - perhaps her careful transformations would have achieved their goal without causing such enormous damage to Russia as the bloody reforms of Peter the Great?

The brother demanded for a long time that Sophia hand over the instigators of the rebellion to him, but she remained silent. In the end, Peter left and never visited his sister again.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, massacres were in full swing. On Red Square they chopped off the heads of the archers, and the Tsar himself willingly took part in the bloody fun. In the Novodevichy Convent, the rebels were hanged on the battlements of the walls so that Sophia could see the death of her supporters.

The prisoner was now guarded day and night by soldiers. Guests were rarely allowed to see her, and there was no one to visit her - sisters Martha and Maria were sent to other monasteries after the suppression of the rebellion. Therefore, we do not know how Sophia’s last years went. Perhaps she entrusted her cherished thoughts to paper, but not a single line of her notes survived. Peter knew well the power of the printed word and made sure that only one version of events reached his descendants - his own.

Chernitsa Susanna - this was the name the princess took when she was tonsured a nun - died on July 4, 1704. The story of her life was first forgotten, and then became a legend. For Voltaire, Sophia was a “beautiful but unlucky princess of the Muscovites,” for Alexei Tolstoy, an evil opponent of reforms, for Marina Tsvetaeva, a fairy-tale Tsar Maiden. Her portraits have not survived either. No one today knows the true face of the princess, who, in a cruel male age, tried to rule with feminine gentleness and wisdom - but could not.

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From May 16, 1682 The reign of Princess Sofia Alekseevna began. Important appointments were made. Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn became the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz, Prince Ivan Andreevich Khovansky - the Streletsky Prikaz, boyar Ivan Mikhailovich Miloslavsky - the head of the Foreign, Reitarsky and Pushkarsky Prikas.

Sophia was in complete control of the situation in the capital. Natalya Kirillovna's relatives were either killed or miraculously escaped from Moscow. Her father, Kirill Poluektovich, according to the petition of the archers to the “Great Sovereign and the Empress Princesses,” was tonsured by decree of the Great Sovereign. Peter's mother was isolated from everyone.

The ruler rewarded the archers well. She ordered that they be paid 10 rubles each in addition to their salaries and ordered that a sale be held only for the archers at the lowest prices, “boyar bellies and disgraced remains.” Sophia ordered them to clear the streets of Moscow from corpses, they did it unquestioningly. She awarded the Streltsy army the honorary name “Outdoor Infantry”.

But Peter still remained the sole ruler. At any moment, Sophia's power could be shaken. The ruler, through Prince I.A. Khovansky, who was devoted to her for the first few weeks, agreed with the archers on another deal, and on May 23, the winners and “many officials of the Moscow state” (who simply could not physically be interviewed in a week due to the range of distances between cities) wished for both brothers, Peter and Ivan, to sit on the throne. The petition, presented by I. A. Khovansky to Princess Sophia, ended menacingly: “If anyone opposes him, they will come again with weapons and there will be a considerable rebellion.”

The princess listened to I. A. Khovansky, gathered the highest officials of the state in the Faceted Chamber and briefly outlined to them the “demand of the archers.” The boyars, Duma nobles, Duma clerks and okolnikov obediently nodded their heads: “We agree! We agree!”

Sophia convened the Council, but there was a hitch. Some people believed that dual power would not bring anything good to the country. In response, their opponents developed at the Council a whole theory about the benefits and benefits of this method of government. Indeed, it is difficult for one king to rule a large country. It's much easier for two! One goes on a campaign with an army, and the other rules the state. The Sagittarius came up with a very wise idea!

Sophia didn’t stop there either. And two days later the archers demanded that Ivan be made the first king, and Peter the second. On May 26, the Council fully satisfied their demand. It was Sophia's endless performance.

Tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseevich and ruler Sofya Alekseevna (from a drawing by V. Vereshchagin)

Already on May 29, the archers appeared again with the demand that “the government, for the sake of the young years of both sovereigns, hand them over to their sister.” The “wise” Sophia, as some historians call her, made a womanly stupid mistake. Was it possible for the princess to humiliate the court, the hereditary boyars, the patriarch, the tsars and the queen, who, having received a severe order from the archers, were forced to ask, beg Sofya Alekseevna to accept rule? She held luck in her hands, but in inept hands, luck can cause a lot of trouble.

Sophia affected, did not agree, played a role; and they begged her almost with tears in their eyes. And she flirted again, and finally agreed. “For the perfect approval and permanent strength of all,” she ordered that in all decrees her name be written along with the names of the kings, without demanding another title other than “Grand Empress, Blessed Princess and Grand Duchess Sofia Alekseevna.”

The Sagittarius, without feeling any measure, demanded from Sophia moral compensation for the great atrocities and for the services rendered to her. And she could not refuse the brave warriors. On June 6, Sophia presented the archers with a letter of grant, sealed with a red seal and the signatures of the first Tsar Ivan and the second Tsar Peter, in which the riot of May 15-16, 1682 was called “a beating for the house of the Most Holy Theotokos.” In honor of the glorious feat of the archers, it was ordered to erect a stone pillar near the Execution Ground with a long list of crimes of people innocently killed by them. At the same “monument of death” it was strictly forbidden to call the archers bad words. The stone pillar was installed. Tin boards with inscriptions were attached to it. The Sagittarius were happy. And Sophia too. She began to single-handedly rule the country. Proud, arrogant, domineering, Sophia gave the impression of a self-confident and all-powerful regent. But this greatness was deceptive!

Raskolniki

Already in June, schismatics raised their heads. There were many of them among the archers. Prince I. A. Khovansky flirted with them, often recalling his genealogy, which supposedly traced back to Gediminas himself. Sophia, afraid of the soldiers, was unable to decisively stop the schismatics’ attempts to return the old orders and rituals to the churches.

Things got to the point that Nikita Pustosvyat (a like-minded friend of Archpriest Avvakum) imposed on her the idea of ​​crowning Ivan and Peter according to the old rites. Hardworking Nikita baked prosphora and on June 25 carried them to the Assumption Cathedral, where people were rushing from all over Moscow and its immediate surroundings. “Ours took it!” - it was written in the happy eyes of the schismatic. But suddenly he found himself in a dense traffic jam in front of Red Square and could not get through to the Assumption Cathedral.

The offensive misfire only irritated the Old Believers. But it’s okay, it will be possible to re-crown the kings.

Dispute about faith and religion

Dissenters gathered in Moscow. I. A. Khovansky played with them the same game that Princess Sophia had recently played with the archers. The descendants of Gediminas were respected in Europe. The Old Believers could have served I. A. Khovansky well. Sophia, in need of military strength, allowed the schismatics, for whom he asked, to organize a debate about faith and religion in the Faceted Chamber. But she demanded, apparently for purely feminine reasons, that this important action take place in her presence. On June 5, a debate took place in the Faceted Chamber. Although, strictly speaking, there was and could not be any dispute.

The schismatics and supporters of Patriarch Nikon will never be able to agree among themselves. Sophia did not understand this, and she was not interested in the problems of the schismatics. She was interested in the problem of power. She tried to impose her will on those gathered, but Nikita Pustosvyat deftly dodged her question: “Why did they (the schismatics) come to the palace so boldly and brazenly?”

And he began to argue with the Patriarch and Archbishop of Kholmogory Athanasius, with whom he almost got into a fight in the end. The archers were in place. Then Nikita, not paying attention to Sophia’s harsh suggestions, spoke rudely about Simeon of Polotsk. The ruler besieged him. Pustosvyat, stubbornly continuing his work, said that the heretic Nikon shook the soul of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

Debate of schismatics in the Chamber of Facets (from a drawing by N. Dmitriev)

At this point Sophia (she stood firmly in the position of the official Orthodox Church) became completely heated, burst into tears and blurted out: “We need to leave the kingdom and go to the Christian kings!” And then a satisfied voice was heard from the crowd of schismatics: “It’s high time for you, Empress, to go to the monastery. The kingdom is full of trouble. For us, two kings are enough, if only they were healthy and strong in mind. And without you, the state will not be empty!”

The boyars and elected archers stood up to defend Sophia, surrounded her, calmed her down, and persuaded her to take her place. The dispute did not work out. In the days that followed, Sophia - we must give her her due! - she treated the elected archers kindly, treated them to honey and wines from the royal cellars, promised rewards and an increase in salary. The Sagittarius understood her perfectly and said firmly: “We are against the old faith. This is a church matter and does not concern us. We will not offend the Empress.” And the executions of schismatics began. They suffered a terrible blow. The schismatics fled to the north, to Siberia, to the west, or left Russia altogether.

Danger from Prince I. A. Khovansky

In the second half of the summer of 1682. Sophia felt a serious danger from Prince I. A. Khovansky. Rumors circulated around Moscow that the “descendant of Gediminas” was inciting the archers to revolt against the boyars. Ivan Miloslavsky was the first to respond to these rumors. He left Moscow and “roamed” around the estates near Moscow, not telling anyone where he would be the next morning.

The Sagittarius also did not live in peace. They lost the excitement of fighting. He needed constant support. But with what? The Sagittarius had families in Moscow. This circumstance left an imprint on their morale. In a home environment, a person changes. This is not a military camp, not a barracks. I. A. Khovansky’s people, realizing that a major explosion of anger required equally powerful ideological preparation, told the archers about the plan for their destruction being prepared in the Kremlin.

The Kremlin was also uneasy. Information was received here that the archers were about to rebel. At the end of August, Sophia and the royal family moved to Kolomenskoye. The Sagittarius were frightened by this step and sent Sophia people who convincingly assured her of their devotion. But the princess was on her guard. She did not like the behavior of I. A. Khovansky, the commander of the entire Streltsy army. He arrived in Kolomenskoye and reported, apparently hoping to frighten the royal family, that an army was being prepared in Novgorod for a campaign against Moscow.

"Khovanshchina". 1682 Miniature from “The History of Peter the Great” by P. Krekshin. List 1st half. XVIII century

Sophia demanded that the Stremyannaya Regiment be invited to Kolomenskoye. I. A. Khovansky did not do this. She repeated her command several more times before the prince carried it out. He was clearly up to something. The ruler decided to act proactively. She lured him and his son into a trap, the Khovanskys were captured, some charges were brought against them and they were executed. The youngest son, Ivan, accidentally escaped from the trap, rushed to Moscow and raised the Streltsy. Sophia at that time was already in the Trinity Monastery.

Prince V.V. Golitsyn organized work to strengthen the monastery and called on foreign specialists from the German settlement to help. The Sagittarius, seeing how harmoniously people worked in the Trinity Monastery, got scared and sent elected people to the princess along with a block and an ax: cut off our heads, Sofya Alekseevna! The ruler did not get carried away with executions. She presented generally worthy demands to the archers, and they agreed to everything.

An experienced military leader and statesman could easily determine that the archers, after everything that happened from May to September 1682. no longer represented a serious military force. Sophia did not see in them, outwardly menacing, progressive degradation and still believed in them. The Sagittarius promised not to pester schismatics and not to meddle in state affairs, including the matter of the execution of I. A. Khovansky. A few days later they brought Sophia a petition in which they asked... to break the pillar with the list near the Place of Execution.

One can easily guess that after this it was useless to rely on the archers. In 1683 Sophia issued a decree in which it was forbidden, on pain of death, to praise the events of 1682.

Prince V.V. Golitsyn.

The ruler entrusted many specific state affairs to V.V. Golitsyn, an enthusiastic, erudite, progressive man, but not strong-willed.

He was born in 1643, held high positions under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and during the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich he participated in the Chigirin campaigns.

In his magnificent house, according to various sources, there were various astronomical shells, beautiful engravings, portraits of Russian and foreign sovereigns, mirrors in tortoiseshell frames, geographical maps, statues, carved furniture, chairs upholstered in gold leather, armchairs upholstered in velvet, fighting clocks and dining rooms, boxes with many drawers, amber inkwells...

Books in Latin, Polish and German, works related to state sciences, theology, church history, drama, veterinary art, geography, as well as the manuscript of Yuri Serbinin.

There is no doubt that this was one of the works of Krizhanich, who designed a whole system of reforms several years before the reign of Peter and was distinguished by his enormous learning, erudition and extraordinary familiarity with the institutions and life of Western Europe.

Foreigners had an extremely high opinion of V.V. Golitsyn. He did everything to stabilize the situation in the country and strengthen Sophia’s position. He was just unlucky. Peter needed such people, but life placed him next to Sophia. This deeply decent man could not refuse the Ambassadorial order, from Sophia. Being “in close connection with Princess Sophia” back in the time of Fyodor Alekseevich, V.V. Golitsyn did not participate in the events of May 15-16, but as soon as the princess took the reins of government, he took one of the most important posts.

In Sophia's immediate circle, in addition to V.V. Golitsyn, Nikolai Spafariy, monk Sylvester Medvedev and Duma clerk Fyodor Shaklovity stood out.

About Sophia's reign

Briefly about the reign of Sophia, we can say, quoting A.G. Brickner: “The nature of foreign policy in the reign of Sophia, namely the war with the Tatars in the south, as well as the program of transformations attributed to Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn, is fully consistent with the direction in which Peter and regarding the Eastern Question, and regarding reforms in the spirit of Western European enlightenment." If we agree with this, then a reasonable question arises: “Why didn’t Sophia succeed in what Peter did?” Why did Sophia remain at the 1682 mark during the 7 years of her reign?

Because it was not a generator, it could neither give birth to a powerful state idea nor implement it. Because Sophia, although gifted, as some historians believe, was just a consumer. And that was her problem.

Capable of nothing more, not possessing the gift of a political chess player, Princess Sophia was able to do only one useful thing - neutralize I. A. Khovansky, who would have caused a lot of trouble in Moscow.

In all cases, Sophia acted as a consumer. She even took power, like a raging consumer: “Mine! Give it back!” And she used the Streltsy precisely as a consumer: someone “prepared” the Streltsy, offended them, and she ended up right there... She didn’t do anything interesting or new in international affairs either. In 1684 Poles and Russians in Andrusov, after 39 conversations between the representatives, did not solve the tasks assigned to them. Poland refused to return Kyiv to the Russians forever, and the Russians refused to fight the Turks and Crimeans, who periodically launched raids on Polish lands.

In 1686 negotiations resumed. From the Russian side they were led by Prince V.V. Golitsyn. From Poland - the governor of Poznan Grimultovsky and the Chancellor of Lithuania Oginsky. V.V. Golitsyn showed exceptional diplomatic skill in negotiations that lasted 7 weeks, and as a result, “eternal peace” was concluded on April 21.

Russia received Kyiv, pledged to fight with the Sultan and Khan, and Sophia, as the most immodest consumer, told the people: “Never before under our ancestors has Russia concluded such a profitable peace as now.” And then, after a stream of laudatory words, it was proudly said: “The eminent power of the Russian kingdom thunders with glory to all ends of the world!” Naturally, nothing was said in this appeal about the clause of the treaty in which the Russians pledged to fight the mighty Ottomans.

Sophia ended the matter with the agreement, again, as a consumer, ordering to call herself “autocrat.” This is how a new rank appeared in Russia. Previously there were just autocrats, but now autocrats have been added to them.

Crimean campaigns

But no matter how Sophia called herself, things had to be done - prepare an army for the Crimea. But she clearly didn’t succeed with specific matters! The first campaign in Crimea failed. In that Russian campaign, about 40-50 thousand people died (according to the Swede Cohen).

Sophia met V.V. Golitsyn, who led the extremely unsuccessful campaign... as a great winner! Without stinting, she rewarded the military leaders, especially the commander-in-chief.

The following year, preparations began for a new campaign, and the Crimeans carried out another raid on the lands north of the Black Sea region and captured 60 thousand prisoners. These figures (perhaps slightly exaggerated) were known to many in the Kremlin. V.V. Golitsyn’s position was shaken. Due to his personal qualities, he could not (and hardly wanted!) to dream of the laurels of great commanders. He was a cabinet leader, he would have made a wonderful diplomat, a courtier, some kind of Russian Chateaubriand, but it was impossible to make Vasily Vasilyevich a real warrior. And Sophia probably understood this.

Her trouble also lay in the fact that she did not find loyal, competent assistants capable of accomplishing great deeds. And this sad fact for Sophia suggests that she “got into the wrong sleigh.” V. V. Golitsyn was reluctant to go on his second campaign; he foresaw trouble. One winter, a man with a knife rushed into his sleigh and wanted to kill him.

The servants barely saved the prince. A few days before the second campaign, a coffin with a note was thrown at the gates of the Golitsyn courtyard: “If the campaign is the same as the first, a coffin awaits you, prince.” Some foreigners, in reports to their governments, said that Russia was on the verge of revolt and the reason for it could be failure in the second Crimean campaign. V.V. Golitsyn knew this very well.

Princess Sofya Alekseevna. Drawing from the 19th century.

At the end of January 1689 Tsar Peter married Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, which at that time indicated his coming of age. This means that there is no need for a regent. Sophia urgently needed to strengthen her position. And she sent Golitsyn on the second Crimean campaign. Vasily Vasilyevich led the army without joy, constantly thinking about Moscow and the princess.

Back in August 1687 in a conversation with Shaklovity, she asked him to find out what the archers would say if she decided to marry into the kingdom. Shaklovity brought her a disappointing answer. The Sagittarius refused to submit a petition on this matter. But Sophia (if you believe Shaklovity’s later confessions) could no longer stop. Several times she started frank conversations with him on the topic: “Shouldn’t we kill Tsarevich Peter?”

Going on a campaign, V.V. Golitsyn probably knew about these attempts of the princess - she was extremely frank with him. He also knew that Sophia did not have enough strength in the fight against young Peter! That is why he was often sad during that campaign, dreaming of quickly escaping to Moscow.

This time the Russian army reached the Crimea. But Prince Golitsyn did not dare to storm Perekop; he went out secretly from the commanders, among whom were experienced military leaders, to negotiate with the khan, agreed on something with him (maybe that the Crimeans would allow the Russians to reach Moscow in peace?) and led the army returned, having lost 20 thousand people killed and 15 thousand captured.

This military failure put an end to Golitsyn’s political career and was the beginning of Sophia’s downfall. The further events of her life will be discussed in the story about Peter, because she did everything destined for in the history of Russia, and now the Great Transformer took the word and deed.

Romanova Sofya Alekseevna - (1657-1704) - ruler of Russia from May 29, 1682 to September 7, 1689 with the title "Great Empress, Blessed Tsarina and Grand Duchess", the eldest daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from her first marriage to Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna, née Miloslavskaya.

Born on September 17, 1657 in Moscow. She received a good education at home, knew Latin, spoke fluent Polish, wrote poetry, read a lot, and had beautiful handwriting. Her teachers were Simeon of Polotsk, Karion Istomin, Sylvester Medvedev, who from childhood instilled in her respect for the Byzantine princess Pulcheria (396-453), who achieved power under her sick brother Theodosius II. Trying to appear God-fearing and humble in public, Sophia in reality from her youth strove for complete power. A good education and natural tenacity of mind helped her win the trust of her father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Having lost her mother at the age of 14 (1671), she painfully experienced her father’s imminent second marriage to Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina and the birth of her half-brother Peter (the future Tsar Peter I). After the death of her father (1676), she began to become interested in state affairs: the country was ruled in 1676-1682 by her brother, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, on whom she had a strong influence. Sick, fond of poetry and church music, four years younger than his 19-year-old sister, Fyodor was not independent in his actions. Therefore, at first, the widowed Tsarina Naryshkina tried to manage the country, but the relatives and sympathizers of Fyodor and Sophia managed to moderate her activity for a while, sending her and her son Peter into “voluntary exile” to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.

Sophia perceived the sudden death of Fyodor on April 27, 1682 as a sign and signal for active action. Patriarch Joachim’s attempt to proclaim Sophia’s 10-year-old half-brother, Tsarevich Peter, king, and to remove 16-year-old Ivan V Alekseevich, the last male representative of the Romanov family from his marriage to M.I. Miloslavskaya, from the throne, was challenged by Sophia and her like-minded people. Taking advantage of the uprising of the Streltsy on May 15-17, 1682, who rebelled against burdensome taxes, Sophia managed to achieve the proclamation of two brothers as heirs to the throne - Ivan V and Peter (May 26, 1682) with Ivan’s “primacy”. This gave Sophia the reason to be “shouted out” by the regent on May 29, 1682 - “so that the government, for the sake of the young years of both sovereigns, would be handed over to their sister.” The kings were crowned a month later, on June 25, 1682.

Having essentially usurped supreme power, Sophia became the head of the country. The leading role in her government was played by experienced courtiers close to the Miloslavskys - F.L. Shaklovity and especially Prince. V.V. Golitsyn is an intelligent, European-educated and courteous handsome man, at the age of 40, experienced in dealing with women. The status of a married man (he remarried in 1685 to the boyar E.I. Streshneva, the same age as Sophia), did not prevent him from becoming the favorite of the 24-year-old princess. However, in the way of the reforms conceived by this government were adherents of the “old faith” (Old Believers), of whom there were many among the Streltsy who elevated Sophia to the heights of power. They were patronized by Prince Ivan Khovansky, who became the head of the Court Order in June 1682 and had deceptive hopes for a political career. The Old Believers wanted to achieve equality in matters of doctrine and insisted on opening a “debate on faith,” to which Sophia, educated and confident in her intellectual superiority, agreed. The debate opened on July 5, 1682 in the Kremlin chambers in the presence of Sophia, Patriarch Joachim and a number of high-ranking clergy. The main opponent of the official church in the person of Patriarch Joachim and Sophia was the “schismatic teacher” Nikita Pustosvyat, who suffered a shameful defeat.

The regent immediately showed decisiveness: she ordered the execution of Pustosvyat and his supporters (some of them were beaten with whips, the most stubborn were burned). Then she set to work on Khovansky, who, with his lust for power, arrogance and vain hopes for the throne for himself or his son, alienated not only the “Miloslavsky party”, but also the entire aristocratic elite. Since rumors spread among the archers he led about the inadmissibility of women on the Russian throne (“It’s high time to join the monastery!”, “Enough of stirring up the state!”), Sophia, along with her entourage, left Moscow for the village of Vozdvizhenskoye near the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Rumors about Khovansky's intention to exterminate the royal family forced her to save the princes: on August 20, 1682, Ivan V and Peter were taken to Kolomenskoye, and then to the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery near Zvenigorod. By agreement with the boyars, Khovansky was summoned along with his son to Vozdvizhenskoye. Having obeyed, he arrived, not knowing that he was already doomed. On September 5 (17), 1682, the execution of Khovansky and his son put an end to the “Khovanshchina.”

However, the situation in the capital stabilized only by November. Sophia and her court returned to Moscow and finally took power into her own hands. She placed Shaklovity at the head of the Streletsky order to eliminate the possibility of riots. Small concessions were made to the Sagittarius regarding everyday life (the prohibition of separating husband and wife when paying off a debt, the cancellation of debts from widows and orphans, the replacement of the death penalty for “outrageous words” with exile and whipping).

Having strengthened her position, Sophia, with the support of Golitsyn, took up foreign policy issues, regularly attending meetings of the Boyar Duma. In May 1684, Italian ambassadors arrived in Moscow. After talking with them, Sophia - unexpectedly for many adherents of antiquity and the true faith - “granted freedom” of religion to the Jesuits living in Moscow, thereby causing dissatisfaction with the patriarch. However, a flexible approach to foreign Catholics was required by the interests of foreign policy: guided by her teacher, the “pro-Westernist” S. Polotsky and with the support of Golitsyn, Sophia ordered the preparation of confirmation of the previously concluded Kardis peace with Sweden, and on August 10, 1684 she concluded a similar peace with Denmark. Considering Russia's main task to be the fight against Turkey and the Crimean Khanate, in February-April 1686 Sophia sent Golitsyn to defend the country's interests in negotiations with Poland. They ended with the signing of the “Eternal Peace” with her on May 6 (16), 1686, which assigned Left Bank Ukraine, Kyiv and Smolensk to Russia. This peace, which granted freedom of Orthodox religion in Poland, conditioned all concessions on Russia's entry into the war with Turkey, which threatened the southern Polish lands.

Bound by the obligation to start a war in 1687, the government of Sophia issued a decree on the start of the Crimean campaign. In February 1687, troops under the command of Golitsyn (who was appointed field marshal) went to the Crimea, but the campaign against Turkey’s ally, the Crimean Khanate, was unsuccessful. In June 1687, Russian troops turned back.

The failures of the military campaign were compensated by the successes of the cultural and ideological plan: in September 1687, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy opened in Moscow - the first higher educational institution in Russia, which gave Sophia the status of an educated and enlightened ruler. The Tsar's court began to turn into the center of scientific and cultural life in Moscow. Construction revived, the Kremlin walls were updated, and the construction of the Big Stone Bridge near the Kremlin across the Moscow River began.

In February 1689, Sophia again gave the order to begin a campaign against the Crimeans, which also turned out to be inglorious. Despite another failure, Sophia Golitsyn’s favorite was rewarded for him “above all merit” - a gilded cup, a sable caftan, an estate and a monetary gift of 300 rubles in gold. And yet, the failure of the Crimean campaigns became the beginning of his fall, and with it the entire government of Sophia. The far-sighted Shaklovity advised the regent to immediately take radical measures (first of all, kill Peter), but Sophia did not dare to take them.

Peter, who turned 17 on May 30, 1689, refused to recognize Golitsyn’s campaign as successful. He accused him of “negligence” during the Crimean campaigns and condemned him for submitting reports to Sophia alone, bypassing the co-ruler kings. This fact became the beginning of an open confrontation between Peter and Sophia.

In August 1689, Golitsyn, sensing the approach of an imminent outcome, hid in his estate near Moscow and thereby betrayed Sophia. She tried to gather the forces of the Streltsy army, while Peter, together with the Naryshkins, took refuge under the protection of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Patriarch Joachim, sent by Sophia, went over to his side (who did not forgive her for allowing the Jesuits into the capital), and then the archers handed over Shaklovity to Peter (he was soon executed). (16) September tried to repent and declare his loyalty to Sophia’s half-brother and her former “heart friend” Golitsyn, but was not accepted by Peter. The next day, September 7, 1689, Sophia's government fell, her name was excluded from the royal title, and she herself was sent to the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow - however, without being tonsured as a nun. Two centuries later I.E. Repin depicted her as formidable in anger and ready to resist (Princess Sophia in the Novodevichy Convent, 1879): in the picture he depicts a gray-haired old woman, although she was only 32 years old at that time.

Peter exiled Sophia Golitsyn's favorite with his family to the Arkhangelsk region, where he died in 1714. But even in his absence, the princess was not going to give up. She looked for supporters and found them. However, attempts to organize real resistance to Peter I failed: denunciations and surveillance of her in the monastery ruled out success. In 1691, among the executed supporters of Sophia was the last student of S. Polotsk - Sylvester Medvedev. In March 1697, another Streltsy conspiracy in her favor, led by Ivan Tsykler, failed. In January 1698, taking advantage of the absence of Peter in the capital, who had left for Europe as part of the Great Embassy, ​​Sophia (who was 41 years old at that time) again tried to return to the throne. Taking advantage of the discontent of the archers, who complained about the burdensomeness of Peter's Azov campaigns in 1695-1696, as well as about the conditions of service in the border cities, she called on them to disobey their superiors and promised to free them from all hardships if she was elevated to the throne.

Peter received news of the conspiracy while in Western Europe. Urgently returning to Moscow, he sent an army against the archers led by P.I. Gordon, which defeated the conspirators near the New Jerusalem Monastery on June 18, 1698.

On October 21, 1698, Sophia was forcibly tonsured a nun under the name of Susanna. She died in captivity on July 3, 1704, having adopted the schema under the name of Sophia before her death. She was buried in the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent.

Having never been married and having no children, she remained in the memories of her contemporaries as a person of “great intelligence and the most tender insight, a maiden full of more masculine intelligence.” According to Voltaire (1694-1778), she “had a lot of intelligence, composed poetry, wrote and spoke well, and combined many talents with a beautiful appearance, but all of them were overshadowed by her enormous ambition.” No real portraits of Sophia have survived, with the exception of an engraving created by order of Shaklovity. On it Sophia is depicted in royal vestments, with a scepter and orb in her hands.

Assessments of Sophia's personality vary greatly. Peter I and his admirers consider her a retrograde, although the state abilities of Peter's half-sister were noted already in the historiography of the 18th - early 20th centuries. - G.F. Miller, N.M. Karamzin, N.A. Polev, N.V. Ustryalov and I.E. Zabelin saw in her the embodiment of the Byzantine ideal of an autocrat, S.M. Solovyov considered her a “hero-princess” , who, with the inner freedom of her personality, liberated all Russian women from prison seclusion, who tragically did not find support in society. Other historians (N.A. Aristov, E.F. Shmurlo, some Soviet scientists) were also inclined to this assessment. Foreign researchers consider her “the most decisive and capable woman who has ever ruled in Russia” (S.V.O’Brien, B.Lincoln, L.Hughes, etc.).