1682-1689 Tsarina of Russia (regent).
She was the first female ruler of Modern Russia. Although never officially crowned, her reign as a regent was very successful and progressive.
Background
Lived: 1657-1704.
Sophia Alexeyevna was the daughter of Alexis I and Maria Miloslavskaya. She received an excellent education.
When Sophia Alexeyevna’s brother tsar Fyodor III died, there were two successor-candidates. One was Sophia’s half-brother Peter (who later became known as Peter the Great) and the other was her own brother Ivan. Ivan was a blind boy, physically and mentally paralyzed.
When boyars decided to give Peter full power, Sophia protested. With the help of the Moscow Uprising (1682) of the Streltsy (military guardsmen) and Sophia’s own intrigues, she accomplished the crowning of both boys as co-rulers.
Regency
Sophia spent the following seven years as a universally accepted regent of both boys. She was never crowned, but nevertheless used the signature “autocrat” in the state documents.
With the help of her lover and advisor Vasily Golitsyn Sophia exercised wise and active politics. An Eternal Piece was signed with Poland in 1686 and the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed with China in 1689.
Sophia Alexeyevna opened the first higher education school in Russia, the Slavic Greek Latin Academy in Moscow, that is active to this day.
Peter the Great
When Peter I came of age he organized a coup against Sophia and had her put in the Novodevichy Convent for life.
Sophia Alexeyevna
1682-1689 Tsarina of Russia (regent).
She was the first female ruler of Modern Russia. Although never officially crowned, her reign as a regent was very successful and progressive.
Background
Lived: 1657-1704.
Sophia Alexeyevna was the daughter of Alexis I and Maria Miloslavskaya. She received an excellent education.
When Sophia Alexeyevna’s brother tsar Fyodor III died, there were two successor-candidates. One was Sophia’s half-brother Peter (who later became known as Peter the Great) and the other was her own brother Ivan. Ivan was a blind boy, physically and mentally paralyzed.
When boyars decided to give Peter full power, Sophia protested. With the help of the Moscow Uprising (1682) of the Streltsy (military guardsmen) and Sophia’s own intrigues, she accomplished the crowning of both boys as co-rulers.
Regency
Sophia spent the following seven years as a universally accepted regent of both boys. She was never crowned, but nevertheless used the signature “autocrat” in the state documents.
With the help of her lover and advisor Vasily Golitsyn Sophia exercised wise and active politics. An Eternal Piece was signed with Poland in 1686 and the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed with China in 1689.
Sophia Alexeyevna opened the first higher education school in Russia, the Slavic Greek Latin Academy in Moscow, that is active to this day.
Peter the Great
When Peter I came of age he organized a coup against Sophia and had her put in the Novodevichy Convent for life.
Vasily Golitsyn