Alexis of Russia illustrated on the Presidential Library’s portal

March 29, 2020 marks the 391st anniversary of the birth of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov - the second Russian tsar from the House of Romanov, the father of the first Russian emperor, the great reformer Peter I. Although the people called the sovereign the Quietest and under this name a noble and well-educated sovereign went down in history, during his reign, Alexei Romanov showed remarkable strength of will and character.

The Presidential Library’s portal features digital collection The House of Romanov. Zemsky Sobor of 1613, one of the sections of which is dedicated to Alexei Mikhailovich. It includes copies of the rarest documents and rare books that highlight government activities and the outstanding personal qualities of the tsar.

The “Second Romanov”, like his father, Mikhail Feodorovich, became tsar at the age of 16. Alexei's mother, Tsarina Evdokia Streshneva, died a month after the death of her husband. Left to his own, Alexei was initially led by the advice of his educator, boyar Boris Ivanovich Morozov. He had a place at court by Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich and, therefore, one of the closest and most trusted persons to the Tsar. He was put to prince Alexei as "uncle" when he was still three years old.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich devoted his free time to falconry, which Morozov accustomed him to. He even wrote a treatise on this subject. The publication of N. Fedorov mentioned above The Silent Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich says: “The tsar loved the nature very much and was especially happy when he could enjoy it in private. Only those who are pure in heart and bright in mind can know the beauty of nature and love it, as the Quietest Tsar loved”.

The author notes a powerful intellectual component in nature of the Quietest Sovereign, claiming that one of the most educated people of his time stood at the head of the country, which was rare in pre-Petrine Russia.

Military campaigns... There were lots of them during the reign of this sovereign. Alas, under none of the other sovereigns there was so much unrest in the country, so many popular rebellions and riots as under Alexei Mikhailovich. The reason, according to some authors of the digitized rarities of the Presidential Library, is the plight of the Russian state, which has not yet recovered from the turmoil of the Time of Troubles. People's indignation, as a rule, was prepared by selfish and power-hungry people from the tsar’s entourage. When Aleksei Mikhailovich learned that Morozov was one of the main culprits of the Moscow Uprising of 1648, the patron saint of bribe takers and embezzlers stealing salt, the tsar sent an apostate to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, N. Fedorov reports in the book The Quietest Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich: "Alexei Mikhailovich found out that Morozov did not justify his trust, and completely removed him from public administration". 

Alexei Mikhailovich began to rule on his own, the sovereign understood that the country needed reforms. The current legislation is very outdated, therefore, at the Zemsky Sobor of 1649 the Code of the Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich was adopted, which remained the main code of laws of our state for two hundred years. It contained the rules of not only procedural nature, but also state, civil, administrative and criminal law. In particular, the privileges of the clergy were seriously limited: in addition to the highest dignitaries and the patriarch, church servants should now be judged on a common basis. This innovation seriously spoiled the relationship of Alexei Mikhailovich with Patriarch Nikon close to him.

The Presidential Library’s collections contain many publications that spotlight the personal life of the monarch. It is reflected in the essay by I. M. Kataev Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his time. Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov was twice married. In the first marriage - with Maria Miloslavskaya - 13 children appeared. And after her death, the king married a relative of his favorite Artamon Matveev - Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, who gave birth to three more children. The senior was the future emperor Peter the Great.

At the same time, historians say that father and son were completely different that is detailed in the book Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his time.

However, the "quietest" sovereign was certainly less active than his great son, still played a prominent role in the development of the country. Under Tsar Alexei, the colonization movement continued to Siberia, while the Cossacks A. Bulygin, E. Khabarov and others became famous. The cities of Nerchinsk and Irkutsk were founded, the reunification of Ukraine with Russia took place.

The tsar devoted considerable time to the intellectual development not only of Tsarevich Peter, but of the whole people. V. N. Berkh in his book The Reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1831) states: “Alexei Mikhailovich... put his Tsardom on such a level of education that Russia has already begun to have considerable weight in the political system of the European States”.

Having made peace in the war with the Poles in 1676, Alexei Mikhailovich died at the age of 46.

I. M. Kataev’s book Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his time provides the opinion of one of the Tsar’s contemporaries that “he is such a sovereign as all Christian peoples wish to have, but only few have”; exaggerated, perhaps, but nevertheless by its nature Alexei Mikhailovich was one of the best Russian sovereigns until the 19th century”.