Boris Ivanovich Morozov
Boris Ivanovich Morozov was a prominent figure in early 17th-century Russia, known for his close association with the Romanov family, particularly as the tutor and guardian of Tsar Alexis. Born into a notable Russian family, Morozov's rise to influence began when he became the tutor of the young Alexis, introducing him to a broader curriculum that included military strategy and Western literature. After Tsar Michael's death, Morozov assumed the role of chief minister, effectively governing Russia on behalf of the young emperor. His tenure was marked by efforts to modernize the military and improve financial stability, although his administration faced significant backlash due to corruption and heavy taxation. The unrest culminated in the Moscow riots of 1648, leading to Morozov's temporary exile. Despite his fall from grace, he played a critical role in drafting the Sobornoye Ulozheniye in 1649, which established a written legal code in Russia and formalized serfdom. Morozov's legacy is complex; while he enriched himself and his circle, his contributions helped shape the political landscape that facilitated Russia's emergence as a significant power.
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Boris Ivanovich Morozov
Chief minister of Russia (1645-1648)
- Born: 1590
- Birthplace: Unknown
- Died: November 11, 1661
- Place of death: Unknown
Morozov directed the education of the second emperor of the Romanov Dynasty, helped to stabilize the Russian economy, and crafted a significant part of the Russian legal code of 1649, which stabilized Russian society but also established serfdom.
Early Life
Boris Ivanovich Morozov (bohr-YEES i-VAHN-ehv-yihch MOH-raw-zawf) was born into a prominent Russian family. Like most Russians of the time, Morozov had little formal education. He was, however, a shrewd individual who formed close personal connections to the Romanov family. In early 1633, for example, Morozov accompanied the imperial family on its yearly pilgrimage to the monasteries of Trinity-St. Sergius at Zagorsk.
Because of his frequent association with the Romanovs, Morozov began to play an important role in the life of Alexis, the son of the first emperor of the Romanov Dynasty, Czar Michael Romanov. In late 1633, after the death of Alexis’s grandfather, Philaret, Morozov was appointed tutor to the young heir to the throne, who was then four years old. Morozov taught the boy fencing with toy swords, selected playmates for the child, and appointed teachers.
Despite Morozov’s own limited education, he pushed Alexis’s schedule far beyond the religious teachings that normally constituted the schooling of a Russian prince in the seventeenth century. Alexis built a small library of works on a variety of secular as well as religious subjects. He also studied military strategy and tactics. Morozov was open to influences from Western Europe and helped to introduce Alexis to Western technology and literature.
After becoming tutor to Alexis, Morozov was raised by Czar Michael to the rank of boyar, or noble. Morozov also became a member of the Duma, or czar’s council. This began his rise to power. On July 12, 1645, Michael suffered a sudden fit of illness. He then called the sixteen-year-old Alexis to his bedside and appointed his son as his successor. The dying czar also appointed Morozov as the young man’s guardian. With the death of Michael’s widow, Eudoxia, one month later, Morozov became the most powerful person in Russia.
Life’s Work
As guardian, Morozov also acted as chief minister, running Russia in the name of the emperor. Immediately after he was crowned, the new czar dismissed his father’s chief minister and other major governmental figures. Morozov received the most critical offices in the imperial administration, and he appointed his allies and members of his family to other major positions. Alexis showed up at ceremonies and signed the documents that Morozov and the other ministers placed in front of him.
Alexis’s own primary concern was to find a healthy, appropriate wife. This was an important matter of state for a new dynasty in a time of high death rates. A sudden illness, accident, or act of violence could leave the country without a clear ruler, or it could plunge it into conflicts such as those Russia had suffered before Alexis’s father came to the throne. Morozov’s ambition led him to use Alexis’s search for a wife as a way of securing his own connections to the imperial family. The tutor encouraged Alexis to marry Mariya Ilinichna Miloslavskaya (d. 1669) in 1648.
Morozov was eager to obtain wealth as well as political power. Gifts from the young emperor and the use of public resources for private profit enabled him to quickly build a vast fortune. It was recorded that within two years after Alexis came to the throne, Morozov owned numerous estates and peasants in six thousand families who lived on the estates. Though Morozov was self-serving, he also was an able and farsighted administrator. He saw the need to improve Russia’s military capability and to achieve financial stability. Russia’s military was far behind that of the West, a dangerous situation because the country was continually at war with its Western neighbors. Morozov introduced reforms aimed at modernization. He sent a mission to Holland to hire mercenaries to train Russian soldiers and organize new regiments. He also imported firearms from the West and established a government department to oversee the manufacture of modern weapons in Russia.
Morozov believed that government spending in Russia was too high, so to reduce spending, he lowered the pay of many military officers and state officials. He 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, which was necessary to preserve fish and other foods, led to rioting in the summer of 1648. An angry crowd surrounded Morozov’s home, where they found his wife. Although they did not harm her, they ripped the jewels and ornaments from her dress and sacked the house.
The mob continued, looting the houses of a number of officials. The soldiers managed the crowd, but many resented the cuts in pay imposed by Morozov. Members of the Duma began to suggest to the czar that he get rid of Morozov and perhaps even hand over some of Morozov’s allies to the angry crowd.
The influential citizens of Moscow presented the emperor with a petition. Among other requests, they asked that Morozov be removed from office and sent into exile. Bowing to pressure, the czar ordered that his powerful adviser be taken under guard and conducted to St. Cyril Monastery, about 300 miles north of Moscow. However, Alexis also took care that his old guardian would come to no harm.
The rebellion in Moscow spread to other parts of Russia. As a result of pressures from the rebellion and complaints about the corruption and arbitrariness of his administrators, Alexis called a zemskii sobor, or assembly of the land, to draw up a code of law for Russia. The assembly produced the Sobornoye Ulozheniye, or code of law, of 1649. The code gave the country a written system of law, but it also defined legal statuses, in particular the status of serfdom. Serfdom tied peasants to the land, making them slaves of those who owned the land.
After the czar issued the order for the zemskii sobor, he wrote the authorities at St. Cyril Monastery and instructed them to allow Morozov to leave for his estate in the province of Tver and to provide an escort to ensure Morozov’s safety. The exiled minister spent a brief time in Tver before quietly returning to Moscow. Upon Morozov’s exile, Alexis dismissed the leader of the soldiers and replaced him with Ilya Miloslavsky, father-in-law to both Alexis and Morozov. Quietly operating within the newly reorganized government, Morozov helped to write the Ulozheniye, and by some accounts was one of its chief authors.
Morozov never again reached the prominence he had held during the first years of Alexis’s rule. Still, he continued to serve the czar. When Alexis rode off in person to make war against Poland and claim Ukraine for Russia in 1654, Morozov rode with him. When Morozov was dying toward the end of 1661, Alexis went to his deathbed and then attended the funeral and ordered masses sung for Morozov’s soul.
Significance
Boris Ivanovich Morozov was ambitious, and he enriched himself and his allies through the Russian government. Nevertheless, he helped to stabilize Russia politically by providing the young Alexis Romanov with a wide and practical education. His work on the code of 1649 helped organize Russian society, although the code also established serfdom in Russia.
Morozov’s improvement of the Russian military enabled the country to stand up against Western neighbors that had earlier dominated Russia. By these achievements, Morozov helped to prepare for Russia’s rise as a major power under the rule of Alexis’s son, Peter the Great.
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 Alexis and Morozov’s guardianship.
Kotilaine, Jarmo, and Marshall Poe, eds. Modernizing Muscovy: Reform and Social Change in Seventeenth Century Russia. New York: Routledge Curzon, 2004. 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 fourth of the book is devoted to the seventeenth century. Includes an extensive bibliography and an index.
Longworth, Philip. Alexis: Tsar of All the Russias. New York: Franklin Watts, 1984. Numerous passages in this work deal with Morozov’s life, but the second chapter, “In the Shadow of Morozov,” looks specifically at his control of Russia.