Streltsy uprising of 1682 and the coming to power of Princess Sophia
Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich was not distinguished by good health. He was ill for a long time and died on April 27, 1682 at the age of 21. There was a question that arises after the death of every monarch who did not leave a will: who will be the new king? According to the law that existed then, the throne was to go to the eldest of the remaining sons of Tsar Alexei. Fedor did not leave heirs, and the elder was the feeble-minded fifteen-year-old Ivan, who even spoke with difficulty. It was clear to everyone that he would not be able to rule the country, so the patriarch proposed to proclaim the youngest of the princes, ten-year-old Peter, as king.
The struggle for power began. Two families claimed it: the Miloslavskys, relatives of the first wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, their candidate was the older, but feeble-minded Ivan; and the Naryshkins, relatives of the second wife of Tsar Alexei Natalya, their candidate was her son, 10-year-old Peter.
Before the storm
It would seem that Ivan would have been dismissed as incapable of ruling the country, they would have proclaimed Peter the Tsar, and until he came of age, his mother, Queen Natalya, would rule the country as regent. So it would have been, if not for one "but". The accession of Peter did not suit the influential Miloslavsky family, headed by Peter's sister Princess Sophia and her favorite Ivan Mikhailovich Miloslavsky. A force was also discovered that could help them - archers.
The Streltsy army was more privileged than the rest of the troops. Under Tsar Alexei, the archers received all kinds of handouts from the authorities. In total there were 19 archery regiments, two of them lived with their families in the archery settlements of Moscow. Although the archers were privileged, their service was lifelong, and their salary was meager.
Ivan V. In 1682-1696 he was formally the king, but did not take any part in state affairs
The archers decided to take advantage of the change of the king and on April 30, 3 days after the death of Fedor, they turned to the government with a complaint against Colonel Semyon Griboyedov. They accused the colonel of mistreating them and demanded that he be punished. Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna satisfied the requirements of the archers: Colonel Griboedov was beaten by batogs, his estate was taken away from him and forced to pay the amount indicated by the archers. They felt their strength, and on the same day the government was forced to punish the colonels of another 19 regiments. Sagittarius realized that now they have become masters of the situation.
Tsarina Natalya returned her supporter Artamon Sergeevich Matveev from exile, returned to him his former titles, ranks and estates. Matveev was almost the only intelligent and politically experienced person in the Naryshkin party. His house was always furnished in a European way, and he himself was a Westerner, for which many boyars hated him, especially the Miloslavskys wanted to get rid of him.
Artamon Matveev
Matveev arrived in Moscow only on May 12 in the evening. It is not known what exactly he wanted to do against the archers, but no action was taken. And the conspiracy to remove the Naryshkins from power expanded before everyone's eyes. The Miloslavskys spared neither money nor wine to bribe the archers. Some of them even compiled a list of boyars who were planned to be destroyed.
Insurrection
On the morning of May 15, the Naryshkins continued to be absolutely calm, not knowing that their fate had already been decided. At noon on the same day, archers with unfurled banners and drum beats moved towards the Kremlin. The formal reason for this was that someone spread rumors among them that the Naryshkins had killed Tsarevich Ivan. While Matveev and Tsarina Natalya were thinking about whether to close the gates of the Kremlin, the archers burst into it. Natalya with two princes and boyars went out onto the porch, below which a crowd of archers raged. Seeing Tsarevich Ivan alive, the archers at first calmed down. But then several drunken archers gathered on the porch and began to ask Ivan if he was a real prince. It seemed that having received an affirmative answer, they should have dispersed. But they presented Tsarina Natalya with a list of boyars whom they demanded to be extradited to them. Boyar Mikhail Dolgoruky interrupted the cries of the archers and turned to them with the rudeness of the winner:
The angry crowd of archers went berserk. They climbed onto the porch, grabbed Mikhail Dolgorukov and threw their comrades who were standing below onto spears. Boyar Matveev was the next to fly to the spears. Then came the turn of the boyar Yazykov, the steward of Saltykov, the Duma clerk Larion Ivanov. Instead of the brother of the tsarina Ivan Kirillovich, her other brother, Afanasy Kirillovich, was killed by mistake by the archers. The archers sneered at the dead - they dragged the corpses along the ground, shouting:
On the left, Prince M. Dolgoruky and boyar A. Matveev are persuading the archers who broke into the Kremlin to disperse. On the right, Princess Sophia is visible in the tower. Miniature from a manuscript
The next day, the archers did not calm down, demanding to give them Ivan Naryshkin. The queen was forced to betray her brother, knowing that the archers would kill him. Having received Naryshkin, the archers first took him to the dungeons of the Konstantinovskaya Tower, where they tortured him for several hours, knocking out a confession of treason. But never having received a confession, bloody, he was carried out to Red Square and there he was chopped into pieces in front of everyone.
Streltsy rebellion in 1682. Archers are dragging Ivan Naryshkin out of the palace. Tsarina Natalia is crying on her knees, 10-year-old Peter consoles her, Princess Sophia is standing nearby. Painting by A. I. Korzukhin, 1882
Ten-year-old Peter, who watched all these bloody events, the murder of the boyars, the murder of his own uncle, remembered them for the rest of his life, hating the archers. He, too, could have lost his life. But after the archers seized and brutally killed Matveyev, Tsarina Natalya hastily took both princes to the palace and hid them there.
All these events shocked Peter to the core, who learned what the power of the mob is. In the depths of his soul, of course, he swore to take revenge on the archers for these murders of his relatives and friends. And the cruelty that later manifested itself in Peter was a consequence of the bloody May days of 1682. Yes, the psyche of the future autocrat was seriously affected. This is not surprising, in his place, any ten-year-old child would have a hard time accepting such events.
In total, during the bloody events of May 15-17, the rioters killed several hundred people, including children and frail old people. Many were killed by mistake, as drunken crowds of archers cut down everyone who was in their way.
So Moscow actually ended up in the power of the archers. They, feeling their impunity, became even more insolent and dictated their conditions to the government. At first they demanded that all the surviving Naryshkins be expelled from Moscow. Fearing new pogroms, this demand was satisfied. Then the archers demanded that not Peter himself rule the country, but together with his brother Ivan, while Ivan was considered the first king. Three days later, a new demand was announced: that real power should pass to Princess Sophia. He was also satisfied.
Archers in the XNUMXth century
In early June, the archers demanded that a pillar be erected in Moscow, on which their merits to the sovereigns during the murders of May 15-17 should be written. The massacres of innocent people, the archers called their feat, and the dead people - villains. This pillar was installed on Red Square and stood there for three whole months. In addition, the rebels demanded that they be awarded royal letters for "merits" to the sovereigns. They also appropriated the property of those killed and deported by them from Moscow.
In the summer of 1682, power in Moscow was actually in the hands of the new head of the archers, Prince Ivan Khovansky, whom the archers adored and called their "father".
Sophia's role
At first glance, it may seem that the archers, killing hundreds of people, were uncontrollable. But it is not. In reality, Princess Sophia controlled all their actions. She gave them orders, watching their actions. And the fact that all the archers were drunk during the days of the uprising is also the merit of Sophia, who spared neither wine nor vodka for them.
She, of course, understood that she had gone too far, that the archers now did not obey anyone except their “father” Khovansky. Something had to be done with them. But how? After all, they have become a significant force.
Princess Sophia. In 1682 she was only 25 years old, but she was already acting as an experienced politician.
Sophia had long hatched a plan to remove Khovansky from power. August 20 is the time to act. Sophia took with her two princes, members of the Boyar Duma, and left Moscow for the village of Kolomenskoye. The outward infantry, as the archers were now called, was in a panic, but Sophia convinced them that she had left Moscow of her own free will. From Kolomenskoye, the royal motorcade headed for the Trinity Monastery with a long stop in the village of Vozdvizhenskoye. From there, on September 14, Sophia issued a decree stating that the entire noble militia with all the nobles and boyars should arrive in Vozdvizhenskoye. They were supposed to arrive by September 18th. Received an invitation and Khovansky.
Three days later, the boyar Mikhail Lykov was ordered to lead a detachment to take Prince Ivan Khovansky and his son Andrei on the road and bring them to the village of Vozdvizhenskoye.
Ends in the water
Even before these events, some archer threw a letter into Kolomna, which said that Prince Khovansky wanted to kill two princes, Sophia and Tsarina Natalya, the patriarch and bishops, as well as the boyars who would not obey him. Then he allegedly intends to send the royal daughters to a monastery, and to marry his son to one of them. After that, Khovansky plans to seize power with the help of archers and return the Old Believers. The letter was signed:To hand over to the Empress Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna».
Sophia, already in Vozdvizhensky, received a letter and on September 17 read it to the members of the Boyar Duma. The boyars sentenced Khovansky and his son to death.
Meanwhile, the boyar Lykov arrested Khovansky with his retinue, and later the son of Khovansky and those connected, took them to Vozdvizhenskoye. Upon learning of what he was accused of, Khovansky demanded an investigative hearing. However, Sophia, knowing that during the trial everyone would learn about her leading role in the May Streltsy rebellion, ordered that the sentence be carried out immediately. On the same day, without trial or investigation, Prince Ivan Khovansky and his son Andrei were executed: their heads were cut off.
Having executed the Khovanskys, Sophia was afraid to return to Moscow, as she was afraid of the revenge of the archers. Gathering troops, she went to the Trinity Monastery, which was an impregnable fortress with high walls, on which there were cannons. Sophia's fears were not in vain. The youngest son of Khovansky Ivan, having learned about the execution of his father and brother, fled to Moscow, where he raised the archers to a new rebellion. They captured the Kremlin and were preparing to defend it, thinking that the troops were coming to Moscow to kill them. But there were no troops and Sophia, they were sitting in the Trinity Monastery, waiting for the archers. In case of a siege of the monastery, Sophia appointed her favorite boyar Vasily Golitsyn as commander of the defense. The archers were ordered to select 20 people from each regiment, and they went to the Trinity Monastery. Arriving and seeing Sophia, they began to ask her forgiveness. Sophia forgave them and said that she was going to Moscow soon.
Possessing a huge army, Sophia was no longer afraid of archers, and on November 2, the royal cortege entered the capital. The archers were forced to leave the Kremlin, and also to remove the pillar on which their "merits" were written from Red Square. All the rebels got off with very mild punishments, since Sophia ordered the judicial investigation not to begin, because then her participation in the rebellion would become obvious. Streltsy, who especially distinguished themselves during the riots, were sent to other cities. The leader of the streltsy order was the favorite of Sophia, the duma clerk Fyodor Shaklovity.
Thus began the seven-year reign of Princess Sophia, who dreamed of the royal crown, but never became a queen.
A woman began to rule the country, which is still in stories There were only two times in Russia: the first time was Princess Olga in the XNUMXth century, the second was Elena Glinskaya during the juvenile Ivan the Terrible in the XNUMXth century. In some ways, Sophia was like Princess Olga: a strong and powerful woman, smart, who took revenge on her enemies vilely and cruelly. In fact, she used the archers to come to power, and then, so that they did not feel like a significant force, she punished them for the same. It is true what they say that ingratitude is a royal trait.
- Andrey Sarmatov
- https://ru.wikipedia.org
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