People’s memory, of course, corrected by historians, has kept the label “The Quietest” for Alexei Mikhailovich. It was partially born of demonstrative Christian humility in his demeanor, good-natured, “quiet” personality, and the capacity to listen to others around him. His main interests were reading books and falconry. He personally produced the first guidebook for hunters in Russian history, “The Book of the Constable: a New Code and Organization of the Order of the Falconer’s Way.”
However, moments of royal “quietness” were regularly overtaken by outbursts of certain firmness and resolve, and occasionally even rage. But the key point is that under his reign an unusual phenomena emerged – a divide. The arrival of the Old Believers brought numerous hardships and anguish into the lives of Russian people.
ON THE REIGN
Alexei Mikhailovich was anointed king at the age of sixteen, after the death of his father Mikhail Fedorovich in July 1645.
Alexey, the son and successor of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov and Evdokia Lukyanovna Streshneva, was born in Moscow on March 19, 1629.
The de facto ruler under Alexei Mikhailovich was the boyar Boris Ivanovich Morozov, who had been the prince’s tutor for thirteen years. The teacher ordered the prince to wear German clothes as a youngster, just like his workers.
As soon as he became king, he signed an edict on assembling Census Books, that is, conducting a census. After the oprichnina terror of the past century, instability, civil war and intervention, the census was essential to carry out reliable economic calculations. The financial policy of the administration of Alexei Mikhailovich was centered on increasing taxes and restocking the treasury at their cost. The introduction of a hefty tariff on salt in 1645 led to widespread dissatisfaction.
The “salt riot” in Moscow replied with similar protests in several locations, right up to Siberia. In Moscow, the revolting masses sought the “extradition” of the chief covetous boyar, B.I. Morozov. However, Alexei Mikhailovich managed to save his “uncle”, transfer him to the Kirillov Monastery, promising – at the same time – the repeal of the tax loathed by the people. Alexey Mikhailovich met his word (the levy on salt was repealed). Meanwhile, boyar Nikita Odoevsky was placed at the head of the government. He authorized an increase in the salaries of the Streltsy army, the major military backing of the dictator. The Streltsy smothered the revolt in blood.
It was Nikita Odoevsky who subsequently handed over to the Tsar the petition presented by the nobility and the top levels of the township for the convening of the Zemsky Sobor to restore order in the court and administration. At the beginning of 1649, Alexei Mikhailovich signed the draft of the Council Code – the new foundations of Russian legislation. This text upheld the notion of a centralized state with the autocratic power of the king. Where elective roles were kept, they were subservient to the governors – the tsar’s local representatives. The cathedral law banned the “lesson years” for looking for escaped peasants. The situation of the lower classes of the townsfolk also altered significantly: all urban settlements were thus “turned into taxes,” that is, they had to shoulder the whole tax load.
In economic policy, the administration of Alexei Mikhailovich fostered industrial activity, patronized domestic commerce, shielding it from competition from foreign goods. These aims were supported by the Customs and New commerce Charters, which fostered the expansion of international commerce on the basis of protectionism and mercantilism. However, miscalculations in financial policy, such as the creation of copper money equivalent to silver, which depreciated the ruble, generated resentment among the public, which escalated into the “Copper Riot”. The insurrection was repressed by the archers, and copper money was outlawed.
Census booklets were prepared. The edict on the compilation of books read: “As peasants and peasants and their households are rewritten, according to those census books, peasants and peasants, and their children, and brothers, and nephews will be strong and without a lesson…”.
The new census indicated that after the oprichnina horror of the past century, civil war and intervention, in the cities of Russia by 1646, about 41 percent of the townspeople’s houses survived from the level of the mid-16th century.
The years of the reign of the “quiet tsar” went down in Russian history with numerous examples of vigorous governmental change. The Council Code was enacted – the new foundations of Russian legislation. Financial reform has been carried out, although unsuccessfully.
By command of the autocrat, new central orders were founded – Monastic, Little Russian, Reitar, Accounting, Lithuanian, Khlebny, Secret Affairs.
The Order of Secret Affairs oversaw the actions of all government institutions, and, in addition, diplomats and governors; The whole household of the royal family was subservient to him. It is notable that the Order was involved in organizing the hunt for minerals throughout the state. From 1654 until the end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich’s son, Fyodor, the Zemsky Sobor was no longer assembled. But the order system of management reached its apex, and the process of its bureaucratization proceeded relentlessly.
At the Printing Yard in Moscow, by command of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the book “The Teaching and Cunning of the Military System,” a translation of the German dissertation, was printed. For the first time in history, 35 engravings of this edition were particularly made in Holland.
“The teaching and cunning of the military structure of infantry people” became, in reality, the first Russian Military Regulations and determined the first legislatively created system of military ranks. By the way, the Charter included recommendations on teaching soldiers to swim.
The first Russian fire service was founded. On April 17, 1649, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich signed: “Order on civil deanery.” The Order talks about the foundation of professional fire protection in Moscow. The “Order on City Decoration” became the first normative legislative act encompassing the basic characteristics of establishing a professional fire service. The Order regulates the staffing of the fire department, its equipment, continual duty, city patrols, and establishes penalties for infractions of the norms for managing fire. Moreover, all these laws applied not just to Moscow, but also to all Russian towns.
SPLIT
It all started with the uprisings in Pskov and Novgorod in 1650. They became a response to these changes in the tax system. The repression of the uprisings was headed by Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod. This is how he acquired the royal trust and became the “beloved friend” of the tyrant. In 1652, Nikon was appointed patriarch.
Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod (in the world Nikita Minin (Minov) became the sixth patriarch. The sixth patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’, Joseph, died in April.
According to legend, Nikon agreed to the patriarchal throne, on the condition that the tsar, the boyars, the consecrated cathedral and all the Orthodox would make a solemn vow before God that they would preserve the “evangelical dogmas of Christ and the rules of the holy apostles and the holy father, and the laws of the pious kings “and they will obey him, Nikon, in everything, “like a ruler and a shepherd and a most noble father.” The spiritual authorities and boyars swore to this.
The Tsar entrusted the seventh Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’, Nikon, with carrying out church reform, the need for which had been talked about for a long time, but they could not get around to implementing it. Nikon’s participation promised success for the enterprise. He was an energetic, strong-willed man and, moreover, enjoyed Alexei’s complete trust.
During his enthronement, Nikon forced the tsar to promise not to interfere in the affairs of the Church. The king and the people swore to “listen to him in everything, as a ruler and a shepherd and a most noble father.” Nikon was officially called the Great Sovereign, and the Tsar sought his advice not only in church but also in state affairs. The full title given to himself by Nikon: “By the grace of God, great lord and sovereign, archbishop of the reigning city of Moscow and all great and small and white Russia and all northern countries and Pomoria and many states, patriarch.”
But the reform introduced into Russian life a heretofore new phenomena – a divide, about which you can read in greater detail at the “Russia – My History” displays.
On an unlucky date, according to popular belief, May 13, the Great Church Council of 1667 condemned all those who did not submit to the new rituals and newly revised printed books. Those convicted who did not recognize the decisions of the council found themselves outside the church. This was in fact the last act that recorded the brewing split between adherents of the old faith – the Old Believers – and supporters of the church reform carried out by Patriarch Nikon.
The Council condemned the Old Believers to curse and anathema, based on incorrect views on the old Russian church rites. Thus, Old Believers have already become an ineradicable phenomenon of Russian life. It is believed that after this Holy Rus’ no longer existed. She went on the run, into the forests, into the fires, into the distant provinces of Russia.
When Nikon began to exert direct influence on state affairs and imagined himself superior to the tsar, guided by the thesis “the priesthood is higher than the kingdom,” Alexei Mikhailovich openly contributed to his condemnation at a church council. Nikon was deprived of the archbishop’s rank and imprisoned in the Belozersky Ferapontov Monastery. But the Church was already split.
FOREIGN POLICY
As a statesman, Alexey Mikhailovich did not limit the interests of only the territories of the state, but was also interested in foreign policy. At this time, the Cossack centurion Bogdan Khmelnitsky, who raised Little Russia against the Poles, turned to the “Eastern Tsar” for help. At the Zemsky Sobor of 1653, the Cossacks of Khmelnitsky were accepted into citizenship, and at the same time war was declared on Poland. In May 1654, Russian troops set out on a campaign and occupied Smolensk. In the spring of 1655, by order of the tsar, the war was continued and the cities of Vilna, Kovno and Grodno were occupied.
At the same time, fearing the strengthening of Sweden, in July 1656 Russia declared war on it and the tsar ordered the army to move to Livonia. After a series of successful campaigns and the capture of Dinaurg, Kokenhusen, Dorpat, the Russian troops nevertheless had to retreat and conclude an unfavorable peace with the Swedes in Kardiss that same year. The reason for agreeing to unfavorable conditions with the Swedes was the “turmoil” in Little Russia, which began after the death of Khmelnitsky and caused a new war with Poland. Alexey Mikhailovich personally participated in many of the military campaigns, led diplomatic negotiations, and supervised the activities of Russian ambassadors.
A noteworthy triumph of Russian diplomacy under the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich was the reunification of Little Russia with Russia. On January 8, 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada accepted the accession of a number of Little Russian regions to Russia.
Under Alexei Mikhailovich, the process of rapprochement between Russian and Western European cultures began. Having visited the Baltic states during the war, he became acquainted with a different way of life, level of culture, with new morals and customs. The Ambassadorial Order was entrusted with the translation of foreign literature, treatises, historical chronicles, and scientific works.
IN THE FAMILY CIRCLE
According to the testimony of some foreigners, the life of the Russian Tsar was a model of moderation and simplicity; Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was always served with the simplest dishes, rye bread, a little wine, oatmeal or light beer, and sometimes only cinnamon water. But this table had no comparison with those that the sovereign kept during fasts.
In “Russia-My History” you can read that, according to some history researchers, Alexei Mikhailovich’s favorite pastime, reading, formed a very deep and conscious religiosity in the tsar. He was completely imbued with religious feeling. He prayed a lot, kept his fasts strictly, and knew all the church rules very well. His main spiritual interest was the salvation of the soul. From this point of view he judged others. When reprimanding anyone guilty, the king certainly pointed out that by his action he was ruining his soul and serving Satan. According to the general idea at that time, the king saw the means to save the soul in strict adherence to rituals and therefore observed all rituals very strictly.
The king’s personal life was going well. The marriage of 19-year-old Alexei Mikhailovich and 23-year-old Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya took place on January 16, 1648.
The Miloslavskys were an old service family, known since the end of the 15th century, but they did not stand out for their wealth and position in society. It is believed that Alexei Mikhailovich accidentally saw Maria Ilyinichna in the church, after which he ordered her to be taken to Verkh, where “he looked at the girl and fell in love and named her princess and, in obedience, betrayed her to his sisters until the hour of marriage arrived.” According to other sources, this acquaintance, like the marriage itself, was arranged by the boyar Morozov, who had in mind to become related to the tsar by marrying his younger sister Maria. The wedding was celebrated in an unusual way: at the insistence of the royal confessor, “blasphemy, demonic games, cold sniffling songs and trumpet singing” were not allowed, but instead spiritual songs were “arranged”.
With Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, he produced 13 children, including the future Tsars Fyodor and Ivan, as well as the princess-ruler Sophia.
After the death of M.I. Miloslavskaya in 1669, Alexey Mikhailovich married in 1671 Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, a relative of A.S. Matveev.
Attention to his young wife, who delivered him three children and, in particular, the future Emperor Peter I, drove Alexei Mikhailovich to establish a theater in the palace.
Alexei Mikhailovich died on January 30, 1676. The main result of his more than 30-year reign was the transformation of an estate-representative monarchy into an absolute one. The autocrat himself was in charge of state affairs and controlled the activities of state institutions through the Order of Secret Affairs. Being an educated man, Alexei Mikhailovich was the first of the Russian tsars to sign decrees with his own hand. The autocrat inherited a powerful state recognized abroad to his sons.
More information about this time period may be found at the historical park “Russia-My History”.