Tsar Fedor III Alekseevich
340 years ago, 30 January 1676, Fyodor III Alekseevich ascended the throne. The son of Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna, nee Miloslavskaya. He came to the throne at the 14 age after the death of his father. In childhood and adolescence, Fedor received a good education, studied ancient Greek, Latin and Polish, had a rich personal library, knew painting, had a good understanding of music, and even composed several songs. However, this was a painful young man, and the most important state affairs were solved with the participation of his entourage: I. M. Miloslavsky, I. M. Yazykova, A. T. Likhacheva and others. The teacher of the tsar Simeon Polotsky and Moscow Patriarch Joachim also had a great influence on the affairs. .Fedor Alekseevich was the third son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The first child in the royal family was Dmitry, but he did not survive infancy. Heir to the throne was considered the second son - Alexey Alekseevich. He showed great promise, received a good education. But in January, 1670 died unexpectedly. Heir was declared Fedor. Born 31 in May 1661. At the time of his accession to the throne, he was not yet 15 years old.
Some kind of rock or a serious hereditary disease (there is a version that the heirs were deliberately poisoned) was pursued by the sons of Alexei Mikhailovich. Simeon, who was born in 1665, died in 1669, Ivan, who was born in 1666, was crowned kingdom in 1682, but suffered from dementia and died in 1696.
Fyodor Alekseevich was also not distinguished by his health, was of weak physique, but he was distinguished by the clarity of mind, which he developed by reading books. According to some sources, his tutor was the theologian Simeon of Polotsk. As a result, the king knew Latin and Polish. True, the problem is that it was not the best teacher for the future king. A graduate of the Vilna Jesuit Academy, a member of the Greek Catholic Order of St. Basil the Great, Simeon of Polotsk did not know and did not like Russian storiesRussian traditions. He did not have an independent mind, being an ordinary compiler and translator of European spiritual literature. Apparently, this very dexterous and resourceful man, who could speak beautifully, and who became the teacher of Tsarevich Alexei and Fyodor, was an agent of Western influence in Russia. Jesuit school students have long been skilled spies.
However, Simeon could not fully form the consciousness of the future king. Among his entourage were other people. So, Fedor Alekseevich was keenly interested in Russian history. After becoming king, he ordered scholarly clerks to compile a book of Russian history. And such work was carried out, unfortunately, the book has not reached our days. Among the people who dealt with this problem was another tsarevich mentor Alexei Timofeevich Likhachev. At the beginning of the reign of Fedor, he had the rank of "solicitor with a key", in 1680, he was elevated to okolnichye.
The fact that the tsar attached great educational significance to Russian history is also indicated by the choice of the role of teacher of the minor stepbrother Peter Alekseevich deacon of the Petite order of Nikita Zotov. Apparently, the king was well aware of the danger of his illness and the fragility of life. Therefore, I tried to prepare a successor. Many signs indicate that he saw a successor in Peter.
Fedor Alekseevich was married twice. The first marriage of the king with the daughter of a Smolensk nobleman Agafya Grushetskaya was concluded on July 18 of the year 1680. 11 July 1681 was born the only son of the king, heir to the throne, Tsarevich Ilya Fedorovich, who died on July 21 1681 year shortly after birth. Queen Agafia died July 14 1681 of the year. The second marriage was 15 of February 1682 of the year, with Marfa Matveyevna Apraksina, the sister of the future famous admiral Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin. Children from this marriage, which lasted a little more than two months, the king was not.
Fedor Alekseevich died on 27 on April 1682 of the year at the age of 20, without making an order regarding succession to the throne. He reigned all 6 with a little years. However, his short reign was eventful.
The first significant act of Fyodor Alekseevich was undertaken after the coronation, which took place on 18 (28) on June 1676, an attempt to return to its power the Baltic lands - Ingermanland and part of Livonia, which belonged to the Troubles of Russia. Since ancient times these lands belonged to the Russian state, and the removal from the Baltic has had a detrimental effect on the country's economy. Began negotiations with the Swedes. Russia was ready to be satisfied with the return of Narva and Izhora land, but the Swedes rejected this fair demand. Moscow was ready to start a war for the return of the seized territory, but the military threat from Turkey forced them to postpone these plans.
The war with Turkey and the Crimean Khanate for the Right-Bank part of Little Russia was fought since 1672 in the summer. In the summer of 1677, the Turks and the Crimean Tatars attempted to seize the capital of the hetman autonomy Chigirin. Moscow sent additional troops to Little Russia. The small garrison of Chigirin withstood the siege of a huge enemy army (60-thousand Turkish army, 40 thousand Crimean cavalry and 20-thousand auxiliary corps of Moldovans and Valahs) until the arrival of 49-thousand. Russian Army Romodanovsky. In the battle on the banks of the Dnieper 27 and 28 in August, the Russian regiments inflicted a heavy defeat on the Turkish-Crimean army. Throwing artillery and carts, the enemy fled.
Wanting to stop the war, Fedor III Alekseevich sent envoy Afanasy Porosukov at the end of 1677 to Constantinople. However, in Moscow, there were news of the preparation of a new campaign of the Turkish army in Little Russia. Russia began to prepare for war. To supply the army, the young king ordered to collect a ruble from each court. With the same purpose, a census of people began at the beginning of 1678. The center of opposition in the summer of 1678 was again Chigirin.
In fact, there was a confrontation between Turkey and Russia for control over Little Russia. Fedor Alekseevich was ready to make peace with the Turks, on the condition that Chigirin remains behind Russia. But this fortress was also needed by Turkey, since it had strategic importance (control over the Dnieper and Zadnepviem). Therefore, the Turkish Sultan Mehmed IV, having familiarized himself with the proposals of Moscow, which Afanasy Porosukov brought, ordered to write to Moscow that he agreed to an armistice on condition that Russia gave Turkey Chigirin and the Dnieper possessions of Hetman Doroshenko. The Russian tsar was in a difficult situation: on the one hand, peace was necessary for Russia exhausted by the war; on the other hand, Moscow could not give in to the hetman’s capital Chigirin under any circumstances. Therefore, the king ordered the commander of the Russian troops in Little Russia voivode Grigory Romodanovsky and his son Kiev voivode Mikhail Romodanovsky to make every effort to maintain the fortress and destroy it if they could not keep it.
As a result, the heroic defense of Chigirin ended with his fall. Part of the garrison died when the Turks broke into the fortress, blowing up powder depots, others flopped to the army of Romodanovsky. The Russian commander broke the enemy’s advanced units, but did not advance further to support the bleeding garrison. He executed the order of Moscow to destroy the city, which was an obstacle to the conclusion of peace. The fighting continued until the end of the year. Then began a two-year peace negotiations. 4 March 1681 an agreement was reached on an 20-year truce between Russia, on the one hand, and Turkey and the Crimean Khanate, on the other. The border between Turkey and Russia was established along the Dnieper, the sultan and the khan undertook not to help the enemies of Russia. Russia annexed the left bank lands of the Dnieper and Kiev with the district. Zaporozhye formally became independent.
Reconciliation with Turkey and the Crimean Khanate was beneficial to Russia and became one of the greatest achievements of the Fyodor government. However, the war showed significant shortcomings in the organization of the Russian army. The main one was connected with regionalism, that is, with the old custom of appointing certain individuals to command positions depending on the tribal and official status of their family. Localism hindered the development of the state, because the nobility often put its interests above the general. The intricate nature of local relations created the ground for constant strife and became one of the premises of the Troubles. Not surprisingly, the kings, starting with Ivan the Terrible, attempted to limit localism. 12 January 1682 was issued a catholic act on the abolition of regionalism.
The historian Ivan Boltin wrote about this reform of Tsar Fyodor: “By destroying localism, the dishonest and harmful right to destroy the honors and ranks without merit and merit and the strife and hatred between grandees and even single-rangers that harm public welfare and in public affairs is destroyed. , slowness, omission. The breed then occupied a place of merits and abilities: the merits of a father or grandfather pompous with the pride of an unworthy son or grandson and robbed him of the desire to learn, work and delight in gaining distinction. The abolition of this laughter of worthy vanity encouraged the service, returned to the dignity of his preference, and merit - honor; All abuse of breed-related benefits has been stopped. ”
Apparently, the rejection of localism was to be the beginning of a fundamental reform of the civil service system. This is indicated by the draft statute on the seniority of boyars, okolnichy and dumny people in 34 degrees, drawn up at the end of 1681 - the beginning of 1682. The project assumed that specific positions would correspond to the ranks and that it would determine the status, not the origin, consisting of a public service.
In the last year of the reign of Fyodor, another important document for the development of the state was drawn up - the draft law on the establishment of an academy in Moscow. As a result of March 1681, Tsar Fedor Alekseevich became one of the founders of the Printing School at the Zaikonospassky Monastery - the forerunner of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy.
In addition, the young king was preparing the land, tax and diocesan reforms. A system of measures for the socialization of the needy and the poor was developed and put into practice. In the autumn of 1681, a decree was issued on the charity of the needy and the reduction of the poor. It was also supposed to create special courtyards for teaching the children of the poor to different crafts - “who wants something”. At the same time, it was suggested that children should be given to home schooling for masters, and beggar girls to monasteries “for teaching”. Upon reaching the age of majority and the acquisition of their profession, they had to be set free. For family allowed the possibility of buying at the expense of the state yards for housekeeping.
The death of the young king became a great loss for the Russian society. The reaction to the death of the merciful sovereign was a sincere general grief. In general, the reign of Fyodor III Alekseevich in many respects anticipated many reforms of the era of Peter the Great. Two main directions of Russia's foreign policy, the Baltic and Black Sea region, were identified, the need for structural reforms and modernization of the country was shown.
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