Secret Lives of the Tsars Read Online Free PDF Page B

became a stampede, Sophia was left alone at the Kremlin, stubbornly resistant to whatever fate awaited her. Peter addressed the Sophia problemin a letter to his co-ruler, Ivan, with whom he had no quarrel, and indeed declared, “I shall be ready to honor you as I would my father.” Ivan would continue to serve as the senior tsar, but Sophia had to go.
    Realistically, Ivan V had little choice in the matter, and soon enough Sophia was hauled away to a convent—never to emerge again. It was perhaps worse than death for the woman who had dared assert herself outside the terem and for a brief period wielded unprecedented, intoxicating power. She was “a princess endowed with all the accomplishments of body and mind to perfection,” Peter the Great later said of his half-sister, “had it not been for her boundless ambition and insatiable desire for governing.”
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    * 1 As historian Grigorii Kotoshikhin wrote, “Princes and noblemen are their [the tsarevnas’] slaves. And it would be considered an eternal disgrace if a lady were to be given away in marriage to a slave.”
    * 2 Old Believers were those who refused to adopt the new church rituals decreed by Tsar Alexis—see footnote, this page .
    * 3 A Russian’s first name was often followed by a patronymic—a variation of his or her father’s given name. Thus, Ivan V, son of Tsar Alexis, was called Ivan Alekseevich. In the interest of simplicity, the author has avoided the use of patronyms, except in source quotations and in Chapter 5 .

Peter I (1696–1725): The Eccentricities of an Emperor
… debauchery and drunkenness so great that it is impossible to describe it.
—P RINCE B ORIS K URAKIN
    After the fall of the regent Sophia in 1689, Peter I continued to rule jointly with his half-brother Ivan V until the latter’s death in 1696. Then, as sole autocrat, Peter proceeded to utterly transform Russia. He had grown to be a giant of a man, standing nearly seven feet tall, with grand ambitions to match his stature. With relentless will, he opened his insulated realm to the rest of Europe, eagerly adopting new ideas and customs while forcing his often recalcitrant subjects to do the same. Having transformed the army and building a navy from nothing, the tsar was able to crush the power of the Swedish Empire, seizing its Baltic possessions and, in so doing, achieving for his kingdom open access to the sea for the first time. In the process, he built his magnificent new capital of St. Petersburg—known as Russia’s “window to the West”—undeterred by the marshy, inhospitable condition of the land he had chosen. It was these stunning accomplishments, among many, that earned Peter his sobriquet, “the Great.” But there was another side to this most dynamic monarch, when he behaved more like a depraved maniac than the enlightened ruler he so wanted to be .
    Mary Hamilton had a date with the executioner, and her escort to the fatal rendezvous was none other than her ex-lover, Peter the Great himself. She had hoped her past relationship with the tsar, as well as her status as one of his wife’s favorite ladies, might save her from her fate. But not even the beguiling white silk dress she wore for the occasion, adorned with black ribbons, was enough to move the implacable monarch—even as he stood by her side—for Mary’s crimes were unpardonable. Not only had she stolen the tsarina’s jewels and mocked her ruddy complexion, but, far worse, she had done away with a succession of unwanted children immediately after delivering them.
    “I cannot save you without breaking laws both human and divine,” Peter whispered in his former mistress’s ear. “Accept your punishment in the hope that God will pardon you if you repent.” Although the tsar’s final words to her were delivered with a kiss, it was certainly not the reprieve Mary hoped to hear.
    Having bid her farewell, Peter turned away while the headsman completed his grisly task. But the tsar wasn’t