Ivan V

1682-1696 Tsar of Russia (co-ruler).

Ivan V, Peter the Great’s half-brother, was his formal co-ruler for 14 years. He was mentally and physically disabled and had no political.

Background
Lived: 1666-1696.
Ivan V was a son of Alexey I and Maria Miloslavskaya. He was the brother of tsar Fyodor III and a half-brother to Peter the Great.

Ivan was a mentally and physically disabled. He had trouble walking. He would spend his days sitting quietly, sometimes praying and fasting. He was also nearly blind.

Double tsars
For seven years Ivan V and Peter the Great ruled as the “double tsars” (Dvoetsarstvenniki). There was even a double throne constructed for the two boys. Real power, however, was in the hands of Regent Sophia Alexeyevna.

When Peter the Great finally took power into his hands, he let Ivan V continue being a formal tsar until his death.

Family
Ivan V was greatly dependant on his wife Praskovia Saltykova, with whom he had five daughters, among them the future tsarina Anna Ivanovna and regent Anna Leopoldovna.