Secret Lives of the Tsars Read Online Free PDF Page A

insistence was torn down.
    Though Sophia was now Russia’s undisputed ruler, her strength and position depended entirely on her brothers—the co-tsars Ivan and Peter—remaining ineffectual puppets. Peter could one day rise to challenge her, as indeed he did, but for now his youth kept him at bay. Sophia was content to have him away from court while she attempted to build a power base around her ever pliable brother Ivan. “She guards Ivan so well that he never goes anywhere and no one visits him without her leave,” one observer reported.
    Like Sophia, Ivan was a Miloslavsky. And she needed her brother to sire more Miloslavskys to ensure that the succession would be perpetuated by their side of the family before Peter grew old enough to have his own sons. Accordingly, Sophia arranged a marriage for her decidedly less thansprightly sibling. The Austrian envoy, for one, was doubtful the marriage would be fruitful, writing, “In my humble opinion this seems a lost cause insofar as Tsar Ivan is very infirm and congenitally blind, with a growth of skin right over his eyes.” Yet despite his numerous handicaps, Ivan V did manage to father three girls—including the future Empress Anna—but this was not enough to permanently secure Sophia’s position. She needed to reign as well as rule.
    The regent gradually began behaving as if she was in fact the third sovereign, adopting many of the monarchical trappings of the tsars themselves. Her face was stamped on coins. Portraits featured her in full royal regalia, which she often adorned herself with when meeting foreign visitors. In 1684, for example, after a Swedish delegation was received by the two enthroned tsars, Ivan and Peter, they were taken to another chamber to see Sophia, “who was seated on her royal throne which was studded with diamonds, wearing a crown adorned with pearls, a cloak of gold-threaded samite [a luxurious, heavy silk fabric] lined with sables, and next to the sables an edging of lace. And the sovereign lady was attended by ladies-in-waiting, two on each side of the throne … and by female dwarves wearing embroidered sashes and gold sable-lined cloaks.”
    Sophia’s name was always included with her brothers’ on all official documents, but in 1686 she began sharing the title of autocrat with them. The following year, she actually tried to get herself formally crowned—an effort that never gathered much momentum as no one was prepared to elevate a woman quite that high. Big sister would have to content herself looking and behaving like the sovereign, and for seven years she did. But then, in a most unwelcome development, half-brother Peter began to assert himself.

    While Sophia was busy ruling Russia, Peter was often away from court at his late father’s country estate, Preobrazhenskoe, happily pursuing his own interests—particularly war games, which became increasingly sophisticated, and, later, shipbuilding. The young tsar only came to Moscow, most reluctantly, when his presence was required at various ceremonials. Otherwise, he lived almost entirely free, indulged in his interests by an ambitious half-sister who was pleased to have him out of her way. It was an ideal state of affairs, but, inevitably, change was coming.
    “Tsar Peter has already grown taller than all the gentlemen of the court,” the Dutch ambassador recorded in July 1688. “We are convinced that this young prince will soon undertake the duties of a sovereign. If those changes do take place, then we shall see affairs taking a new direction.”
    Urged on by his adherents, including his mother, Natalya, Peter did gradually begin to take more of an active part in governing. Early in 1688, for example, it was reported that he joined Sophia and Ivan at a council meeting for the first time, and soon after he appointed some of his Naryshkin relatives to powerful posts. But it wasn’t until the following year that Peter finally took on his sister, at a time when her regime was