The Death of a Quiet Tsar and the Seeds of Crisis

On January 29, 1676, the Kremlin held its breath as Tsar Alexis I, ruler of Muscovy for 31 years, lay dying. Known as the “Quiet Tsar,” Alexis had collapsed a week earlier from a sudden heart ailment. His reliance on bloodletting—a common but perilous remedy—accelerated his decline. Foreign physicians stood helpless as the ailing monarch slipped toward death.

Alexis left behind a complicated legacy: 16 children from two marriages, but his chosen successor, 15-year-old Feodor Alekseyevich, was frail from the Romanovs’ hereditary scurvy and a childhood sledging accident that left him with chronic chest pain. Feodor had to be carried to his father’s deathbed on a stretcher, and the boyars—Muscovy’s powerful nobility—exchanged grim whispers: “He won’t live long.” Their prediction seemed inevitable as Alexis closed his eyes for the last time, plunging Muscovy into 13 years of instability.

The Miloslavsky Resurgence and Court Intrigues

With Feodor III too weak to govern, his maternal relatives—the Miloslavsky clan—seized power. This Lithuanian-origin family had long influenced Moscow’s politics, but their resurgence was controversial. Alexis’s first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya, had been selected through the machinations of his infamous tutor, Boris Morozov, who married her sister Anna to cement his influence. Though Morozov’s power crumbled during the 1648 Salt Riot, the Miloslavskys absorbed his allies.

Two cousins now dominated: Ivan Bogdanovich Miloslavsky, a war hero celebrated for recapturing Smolensk, and the cunning Ivan Mikhailovich Miloslavsky, a former pharmacy director exiled to Astrakhan. While Ivan Bogdanovich fought the Ottomans in Ukraine, Ivan Mikhailovich returned to Moscow, securing boyar status and dismantling the government into 60 departments—many under his control. By 1678, he held the keys to the treasury, overseeing foreign affairs, military logistics, and royal estates.

Their primary rival was Artamon Matveyev, Alexis’s childhood friend and a Westernizing reformer who had negotiated Ukraine’s annexation. The Miloslavskys despised him for promoting Natalia Naryshkina, Alexis’s second wife, who displaced their influence. In 1676, they accused Matveyev of treason and exiled him to the Arctic, then to Mezen near the White Sea.

Feodor’s Brief Awakening and Reforms

Against expectations, the sickly Feodor III began asserting independence. His 1680 marriage to Agafya Grushetskaya—a Polish-educated noblewoman—defied Miloslavsky plans. When rumors smeared her reputation, Feodor publicly defended her, stripped Ivan Mikhailovich of titles (though leaving him treasury control), and rewarded loyalists like Ivan Yazykov, whom he appointed to oversee the Armory.

Empowered by love, Feodor launched reforms:
– Taxation: Conducted Russia’s first census to stabilize finances.
– Military: Reorganized districts and fortified southern borders against Crimean raids.
– Culture: Established schools teaching Latin and Polish, abolished brutal corporal punishments, and burned genealogical records to weaken aristocratic privilege.

Tragedy struck in 1681 when Agafya died postpartum, followed days later by their infant heir. Heartbroken, Feodor remarried Matveyev’s daughter Marfa but died within months, leaving a power vacuum.

The Streltsy Uprising and Sophia’s Coup

As Feodor lay dying, Patriarch Joachim backed Peter (Natalia’s son) as successor over the mentally disabled Ivan V (a Miloslavsky). The Miloslavskys, facing oblivion, turned to Feodor’s sister Sophia Alekseyevna.

Sophia, 25, orchestrated a coup using the Streltsy—Moscow’s discontented musketeers. Exploiting their grievances over unpaid wages, she spread rumors that the Naryshkins had poisoned Feodor. On May 15, 1682, the Streltsy stormed the Kremlin, butchering Naryshkin allies, including Matveyev and Natalia’s brother Ivan, who was dismembered before young Peter’s eyes.

Sophia forced a dual coronation: Peter and Ivan became co-tsars, with her as regent. She later crushed a rebellion by the Streltsy’s leader, Ivan Khovansky, who allied with Old Believers (Orthodox traditionalists). After a staged debate, Sophia had Old Believer leader Nikita Pustosvyat beheaded and exiled Khovansky.

Sophia’s Rule and the Crimean Campaigns

Sophia’s lover, Vasily Golitsyn, spearheaded her government. A Francophile, he modernized the military and founded Moscow’s first Western-style university. Diplomatically, he negotiated the 1686 Eternal Peace with Poland, securing Kyiv in exchange for war against Crimea.

Two disastrous campaigns followed (1687, 1689). Golitsyn’s 150,000-strong army faltered in the steppe as Tatars burned grasslands and poisoned wells. Though Sophia spun retreats as victories, the failures eroded her legitimacy.

Peter’s Rise and Sophia’s Fall

In 1689, 17-year-old Peter I married, symbolizing adulthood. Sophia refused to relinquish power, but Peter fled to the Trinity Monastery, rallying support. As nobles defected, Sophia’s regime collapsed. Golitsyn was exiled to the Arctic; she was confined to Novodevichy Convent.

The Streltsy’s 1698 revolt—aimed at restoring Sophia—ended brutally. Peter executed over 1,000, hanging corpses outside her window. She died in 1704, forgotten as Peter ushered in Russia’s imperial age.

Legacy: Between Bloodshed and Progress

Sophia’s reign was marked by violence but also modernization. Her reforms presaged Peter’s, proving that even in turmoil, Russia inched toward Europe. The Streltsy’s annihilation symbolized the end of medieval Muscovy—and the birth of an empire.