The Presidential Library spotlights Peter the Great accepting the title of Emperor of all the Russias

On November 2, 1721, Peter the Great accepted the title of “Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of all the Russias”. By this time, the long Northern War had victoriously ended, and the Treaty of Nystad was signed. The victory over Sweden solidified Russian international authority and made it one of the largest European states.

For the “striving for the welfare of the state during the Swedish war”, which brought the country to the “powerful and good state” and its people “to such worldwide glory”, the Most Holy Synod together with the Senate made the decision to convince His Highness Peter I to accept the title of “Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of all the Russias”.

The Senate wrote a letter to His Highness asking him to accept the title. Prince Alexander Menshikov was assigned to deliver the document to Peter I.

It took two weeks to prepare the unprecedented celebrations that then continued for a whole month. The Presidential Library’s collections contain the recording of Sergei Tsvetkov’s radio program St. Petersburg. Emperor Peter I. Treaty of Nystad, which tells about the grandiose awarding of the emperor’s title to Peter I in St. Petersburg.

On November 2, the Senate, the Synod and the Generalitat gathered in the Trinity Cathedral. Peter I headed the service, sang with priests and beat time with his feet. After the mass, the articles of the peace treaty were read. Bishop Theophan Prokopovich gave a grand speech praising the deeds of the tsar, and Chancellor Golovkin dared to ask the tsar to accept the titles of Father of the Fatherland and Emperor of all the Russias on behalf of the Senate, the Synod and the Generalitat. A cheer rang out in the cathedral: “Long live Peter the Great, Emperor of all the Russias, Father of the Fatherland!” Then the cheer was repeated by the army and people at the square. The book Military and Historical Review of the Northern War (1851) by Alexander Kravtsov tells about the ceremony of accepting the title of Emperor of all the Russias by Peter. The book is available in the Presidential Library’s collections.

After leaving the cathedral, the tsar lead the parade to the Senate, where tables for a thousand people were set in the great hall. The banquet was followed by a ball, and fireworks broke out at night. A thousand shots rang out from the Peter and Paul Fortress, and ships on the Neva were lit with bonfires. At three o’clock in the morning, a huge bowl with Tokaji wine, carried on the strong shoulders of two grenadiers, was passed around the hall. Before going to sleep, Peter I came out to Petersburg citizens and raised a glass for the health of the Russian people. The next morning, Petersburg woke up being an imperial city, while the Tsardom of Muscovy became the Russian Empire.

Peter I accepting the emperor’s status was captured in the commemorative and award medal, which depicted Noah’s Ark and a dove flying above it with a symbol of peace – a palm branch – in its beak. The description on the flip side of the medal said: “This gold (or silver) medal is diligently given to the great and righteous ruler Peter I, great Russian emperor by name and deeds, and father by twenty-year-long triumphs who tamed the North”. The medal was minted from gold and silver, mined in Nerchinsk.

The acceptance of the title of Emperor of all the Russias caused a number of changes within the government and outside of it. Almost immediately, an emperor’s crown appeared on the coat-of-arms above the double-headed eagle. Later, the coronation of Catherine I, wife of Emperor Peter I, became another significant ceremonial change.

Nevertheless, the most important thing in Peter’s acceptance of the emperor’s title was the new understanding of the monarch’s power and the sovereign’s mission. From then on, the idea of being a ruler by God’s choice began to blend with his role in the society: service to the sovereign became equal to the service to the Fatherland and the country.

Internationally, the imperial status of Russia caused protests from numerous European states. The new title of the Russian tsar was immediately recognized by Prussia and Holland, two years later – by Sweden, and in the following years, after long diplomatic struggles, other countries acknowledged the status of the Russian Empire as well.

More information on this topic is available in the book The Great Northern War of Russia with Sweden (1700–1721): reading for schools and the people (1909) by Dmitry Tikhomirov, featured in the Presidential Library’s collections.

The Presidential Library owns a large collection, dedicated to Peter I, the first Emperor of all the Russias. The collection contains over 600 depositary items: scientific and popular publications of the XVIII-XX centuries, dedicated to the personality of the innovator and his reforms; documentary prose of the XVIII-XIX centuries, including compositions of the first biographers of Peter I; collections of documents, decrees, letters of Peter I and selected issues of the most important legislative acts of the Peter’s era; maps, plans, drafts and drawings from the Collection of Peter I of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, journals and other archival materials; images of the monuments dedicated to the Emperor, as well as of historic sites and objects, associated with him. The collection will be useful for everyone interested in the history of the Russian state.