Alexis

Czar of Russia (r. 1645-1676)

• Born: March 19, 1629
• Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
• Died: February 8, 1676
• Place of death: Moscow, Russia

Alexis faced major social and political changes. His rule was marked by riots, an uprising, and a great schism in Russian religion. Despite these difficulties, his rule led to a professionalized Russian military, the establishment of a code of laws, and, for better and for worse, the Westernization of Russia, promoted further by his son and heir, Peter the Great.

Early Life

Alexis, whose full name is Aleksei Mikhailovich Romanov, was the oldest son of Michael Romanov , the first of the Romanov Dynasty of Russian czars. Michael had been chosen in 1613 as czar by a zemskii sobor, or assembly of the land, composed of Russian notables, and he reigned until 1645. The time of Czar Michael’s selection was a difficult period in Russian history, known as the Time of Troubles, because the country suffered from conflicts over who was the legitimate ruler, from social disorder, and from invasions by Polish and Swedish forces. To avoid falling into the same political and social crises again, it was important that Michael produce an heir with a clear right to the throne.

In accordance with custom, Alexis spent his earliest childhood in the terem, or women’s quarters of the family home, with his mother, Evdokia Streshneva, and other women and small children. At the age of five, Alexis was placed in the care of the politically influential noble Boris Ivanovich Morozov. Morozov introduced him to books and ideas from the European nations to the west, as well as to the religious literature that made up the entire education of most high-born Russians.

Alexis had two younger brothers, but both of them died as children. Alexis’s survival was therefore a matter of considerable concern. Mortality rates were high and life was uncertain in seventeenth century Russia. If Alexis had died, there would have been no Romanov Dynasty and Russia might well have faced another Time of Troubles. Michael was trying to marry his daughter, Irina, to a Danish prince to provide an alternative heir, when the czar fell ill and died unexpectedly in July of 1645. At the age of sixteen, the same age that his father had been when chosen by the assembly of the land, Alexis became the second Romanov czar.

Life’s Work

Even as czar, Alexis was still under the tutelage of Boris Morozov. The young emperor busied himself with searching for a healthy, appropriate wife to produce a future ruler, while Morozov controlled the country. Morozov sought to secure his power by encouraging Alexis to marry, in 1648, Mariya Ilinichna Miloslavskaya (d. 1669), and then by taking Mariya’s sister, Anna, as his own wife. Morozov’s government was unpopular, though. The tutor imposed high taxes, especially on salt, and placed administration in the hands of men who were often corrupt. Outrage at corruption and opposition to the tax on salt, a necessary item for the preservation of fish and other foods, led to rioting in the summer of 1648. Alexis was forced to dismiss Morozov, who went into exile in the Arctic north.

Alexis’s problems did not end with the exile of Morozov. In 1650, a revolt broke out in the province of Pskov, which had suffered a severe famine, and spread to the neighboring city of Novgorod. The czar’s troops put down the revolt through brutal suppression of the local populace. Twelve years later, riots broke out in Moscow to protest the government’s minting of cheap copper coins, which had resulted in inflation and economic hardships. As in Pskov, Alexis responded by calling in his troops to massacre thousands of his subjects and to torture or disfigure others, many of whom were then sent into exile.

Public discontent led to the first of the great peasant rebellions of Romanov Russia (1667-1671). Hoping to escape serfdom and economic hardship, many peasants had fled to the Cossack region in the south and southeast of Russia. The Cossacks were warlike freebooters, organized into their own communities. A bandit chief named Stenka Razin became the leader of the peasants and the Cossacks, and turned from banditry to political rebellion. Razin proclaimed that he was fighting on behalf of the czar, and against the czar’s corrupt advisers and administrators. In 1670, after a series of victories, Razin led his troops in a march on Moscow. The Romanov Dynasty could well have ended then, but Razin’s mistakes and the effectiveness of Alexis’s general, Prince Vasily Vladimirovich Dolgoruky (1667-1746), led to Razin’s capture and public dismemberment in Moscow.

As a result of pressures from the early rebellions and complaints about the corruption and arbitrariness of his administrators, Alexis called an assembly of the land to draw up a code of laws for Russia. This produced the Sobornoye Ulozheniye (1649). While giving the country a written system of law, it also defined legal statuses, in particular the status of serfdom. Serfdom tied peasants to the land, making them in most respects slaves of those who owned the land.

During Alexis’s rule, the military moved toward becoming a permanent, professional force. This was the consequence of responses to the internal rebellions, and also to external warfare. Poland and Sweden had long been enemies of Russia and had occupied Russian territory during the reign of Alexis’s father. At the beginning of 1654, Russia extended its sovereignty over the Cossacks of the Dnieper region. This brought the nation into conflict with Poland in the spring of 1654. Sweden then became involved in the war against Russia from 1656 to 1661. The war with Poland did not end until January, 1667. Unlike earlier conflicts with Poland, during which Russia had lost territory, the Russians won back the cities of Smolensk and Kiev, and took the part of Ukraine east of the Dnieper River.

Perhaps the most dramatic development of Alexis’s rule was the religious schism, or divide. The schism, or raskol , was provoked by the effort of Nikon (1605-1681), the patriarch of Moscow from 1652 to 1658, to reform religious texts and practices in Russia by bringing them into closer conformity with Greek usages. Nikon’s reforms enjoyed the support of Czar Alexis, but many conservative Russian Christians saw these reforms as an attack on sacred traditions. After church councils adopted the new texts and practices in 1666 and 1667, the opponents of reform were persecuted by church and state. These persecuted religious dissenters became known as the Old Believers. This introduced a split in Russian religion and social life that continued even past the revolution of 1917. Nikon himself lost the favor of Czar Alexis because of the patriarch’s insistence on the power of the church over the state.

The latter part of Alexis’s reign saw a growing Westernization that reached a climax during the time of Alexis’s son, Peter the Great . Alexis’s socially conservative first wife, Mariya, died in 1669. A few years later, Alexis married Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina (1651-1694). Natalya was an orphan and had been raised by the pro-West adviser of Alexis, Artamon Sergeyevich Matveyev (1625-1682), his most trusted adviser during the latter part of his reign. Under the influence of Matveyev and Natalya, Alexis forged closer cultural, military, and political ties with Western Europe.

Significance

Alexis’s reign was a critical time in Russian history. The Romanov Dynasty, which had begun with his father, Michael, became established as the ruling family of Russia and political stability began to emerge from the social disorders of Alexis’s early years on the throne. Government greatly extended its control over the life of the nation, and a comprehensive set of laws emerged. The professionalization of the military, together with a more centralized political administration, aided Russia in its wars, particularly against Sweden and Poland. The Westernization of Russia, which would be pushed further in the next generation by Peter the Great, may be seen as having begun during the time of Alexis.

During Alexis’s years on the throne, some of the serious divisions and conflicts that would haunt Russia throughout its history took shape. The code of laws contributed to making peasants into serfs, creating a moral and social problem that lasted for centuries. The schism that produced the Old Believers introduced a deep religious split. The introduction of Western culture and customs intensified both of these rifts. Under Peter the Great, the nobility would become Westernized and the peasants would retain older Russian traditions. The factions of Old Believers rejected Westernization as evil.

Bibliography

Kliuchevsky, V. O. A Course in Russian History: The Seventeenth Century. Translated by Natalie Duddington. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1994. A translation of a classic work by one of Russia’s most eminent historians. Events of Alexis’s reign are dealt with throughout; Chapter 16 looks specifically at Czar Alexis.

Kotilaine, Jarmo, and Marshall Poe, eds. Modernizing Muscovy: Reform and Social Change in Seventeenth Century Russia. New York: Routledge Curzon, 2004. A collection of articles that provides an encyclopedic account of politics and society in Russia during the seventeenth century. Includes useful references in footnotes of each article and an index.

Lincoln, W. Bruce. The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias. New York: Dial Press, 1981. A comprehensive history of the entire Romanov Dynasty. The first quarter of the book is devoted to the seventeenth century. Enjoyable illustrations, including a portrait of Alexis, extensive bibliography, and index.

Michels, Georg Bernhard. At War with the Church: Religious Dissent in Seventeenth Century Russia. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1999. A study of the religious dissenters involved in the schism of the Russian church during Alexis’s reign.