Peter the Great

Peter the Great (Russian: Пётр Вели́кий, tr. Pyotr Velikiy, IPA: [ˈpʲɵtr vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj]), Peter I (Russian: Пётр Первый, tr. Pyotr Pyerviy, IPA: [ˈpʲɵtr ˈpʲɛrvɨj]) or Pyotr Alekseevich (Russian: Пётр Алексе́евич, IPA: [ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ]; 9 June [O.S. 30 May] 1672 – 8 February [O.S. 28 January] 1725)[lower-alpha 2] ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May [O.S. 27 April] 1682 until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V.

This article is about the Russian monarch. For other uses, see Peter the Great (disambiguation).

Peter I
Portrait by Jean-Marc Nattier, after 1717
Tsar / Emperor of All Russia[lower-alpha 1]
Reign7 May 1682 – 8 February 1725
Coronation25 June 1682
PredecessorFeodor III
SuccessorCatherine I
Co-monarchIvan V (1682–1696)
RegentSophia Alekseyevna (1682–1689)
Born(1672-06-09)9 June 1672
Moscow, Tsardom of Russia
Died8 February 1725(1725-02-08) (aged 52)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Burial
Peter and Paul Cathedral
Consort
    Eudoxia Lopukhina
    (
    m. 1689⁠–⁠1698)
      Martha Skavronskaya
      ​
      (
      m. 1707)
      Issue
      among others
      Full name
      Peter Alekseyevich Romanov
      HouseRomanov
      FatherAlexis of Russia
      MotherNatalya Naryshkina
      ReligionRussian Orthodoxy
      Signature

      Through a number of successful wars, he expanded the Tsardom into a much larger empire that became a major European power and also laid the groundwork for the Imperial Russian Navy after capturing ports at Azov and the Baltic Sea. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, Westernised and based on the Enlightenment.[1] Peter's reforms had a lasting impact on Russia, and many institutions of the Russian government trace their origins to his reign. He is also known for founding and developing the city of Saint Petersburg, which remained the capital of Russia until 1917.

      Title

      The imperial title of Peter the Great was the following:[2]

      By the grace of God, the most excellent and great sovereign emperor Pyotr Alekseevich the ruler of all the Russias: of Moscow, of Kiev, of Vladimir, of Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan and Tsar of Siberia, sovereign of Pskov, great prince of Smolensk, of Tver, of Yugorsk, of Perm, of Vyatka, of Bulgaria and others, sovereign and great prince of the Novgorod Lower lands, of Chernigov, of Ryazan, of Rostov, of Yaroslavl, of Belozersk, of Udora, of Kondia and the sovereign of all the northern lands, and the sovereign of the Iverian lands, of the Kartlian and Georgian Kings, of the Kabardin lands, of the Circassian and Mountain princes and many other states and lands western and eastern here and there and the successor and sovereign and ruler.

      Early life

      Named after the apostle, and described as a newborn as "with good health, his mother's black, vaguely Tatar eyes, and a tuft of auburn hair",[3] from an early age Peter's education (commissioned by his father, Tsar Alexis of Russia) was put in the hands of several tutors, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon, and Paul Menesius. On 29 January 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the weak and sickly Feodor III of Russia.[4] Throughout this period, the government was largely run by Artamon Matveev, an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of the Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors.

      This position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family (Maria Miloslavskaya was the first wife of Alexis I) and Naryshkin family (Natalya Naryshkina was the second wife) over who should inherit the throne. Peter's other half-brother, Ivan V of Russia, was next in line for the throne, but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar with his mother as regent.

      Peter the Great as a child

      This arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia, one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a rebellion of the Streltsy (Russia's elite military corps) in April–May 1682. In the subsequent conflict, some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence.[5]

      The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan) and their allies to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior. Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat. A large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems. This throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow.

      Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name. He engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt a more conventional approach and arranged his marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689.[6] The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced his wife to become a nun and thus freed himself from the union.

      By the summer of 1689, Peter, then age 17, planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns against the Crimean Khanate in an attempt to stop devastating Crimean Tatar raids into Russia's southern lands. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with some leaders of the Streltsy, who continually aroused disorder and dissent. Peter, warned by others from the Streltsy, escaped in the middle of the night to the impenetrable monastery of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra; there he slowly gathered adherents who perceived he would win the power struggle. Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name and her position as a member of the royal family.[7]

      The Tsardom of Russia, c. 1700

      Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina. It was only when Natalya died in 1694 that Peter, now aged 22, became an independent sovereign.[8] Formally, Ivan V was a co-ruler with Peter, though being ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in 1696, while Peter was 24 years old.

      Peter grew to be extremely tall as an adult, especially for the time period. Standing at 6 ft 8 (203 cm) in height, the Russian tsar was literally head and shoulders above his contemporaries both in Russia and throughout Europe.[8] Peter, however, lacked the overall proportional heft and bulk generally found in a man that size. Both his hands and feet were small,[9] and his shoulders were narrow for his height; likewise, his head was small for his tall body. Added to this were Peter's noticeable facial tics, and he may have suffered from petit mal, a form of epilepsy.[10]

      During his youth, Peter befriended Patrick Gordon, Franz Lefort and several other foreigners in Russian service and was a frequent guest in Moscow's German Quarter, where he met his Dutch mistress Anna Mons.

      Reign
      Capture of Azov, 1696, by Robert Ker Porter

      Peter implemented sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia.[11] Heavily influenced by his advisors from Western Europe, Peter reorganized the Russian army along modern lines and dreamed of making Russia a maritime power. He faced much opposition to these policies at home but brutally suppressed rebellions against his authority, including by the Streltsy, Bashkirs, Astrakhan, and the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the Bulavin Rebellion.

      Peter implemented social modernization in an absolute manner by introducing French and western dress to his court and requiring courtiers, state officials, and the military to shave their beards and adopt modern clothing styles.[12] One means of achieving this end was the introduction of taxes for long beards and robes in September 1698.[13]

      In his process to westernize Russia, he wanted members of his family to marry other European royalty. In the past, his ancestors had been snubbed at the idea, but now, it was proving fruitful. He negotiated with Frederick William, Duke of Courland to marry his niece, Anna Ivanovna. He used the wedding in order to launch his new capital, St Petersburg, where he had already ordered building projects of westernized palaces and buildings. Peter hired Italian and German architects to design it.[14]

      As part of his reforms, Peter started an industrialization effort that was slow but eventually successful. Russian manufacturing and main exports were based on the mining and lumber industries. For example, by the end of the century Russia came to export more iron than any other country in the world.[15]

      To improve his nation's position on the seas, Peter sought to gain more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the White Sea at Arkhangelsk. The Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by Sweden in the north, while the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea were controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empire respectively in the south.

      Peter attempted to acquire control of the Black Sea, which would require expelling the Tatars from the surrounding areas. As part of an agreement with Poland that ceded Kiev to Russia, Peter was forced to wage war against the Crimean Khan and against the Khan's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov, near the Don River. In the summer of 1695 Peter organized the Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure.

      Peter returned to Moscow in November 1695 and began building a large navy. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. On 12 September 1698, Peter officially founded the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog.

      Grand Embassy
      Main article: Grand Embassy of Peter the Great
      Portrait of Peter I by Godfrey Kneller, 1698. This portrait was Peter's gift to the King of England.

      Peter knew that Russia could not face the Ottoman Empire alone. In 1697, he traveled "incognito" to Western Europe on an 18-month journey with a large Russian delegation–the so-called "Grand Embassy". He used a fake name, allowing him to escape social and diplomatic events, but since he was far taller than most others, he did not fool anyone of importance. One goal was to seek the aid of European monarchs, but Peter's hopes were dashed. France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and Austria was eager to maintain peace in the east while conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen an inopportune moment: the Europeans at the time were more concerned about the War of Spanish Succession over who would succeed the childless King Charles II of Spain than about fighting the Ottoman Sultan.[6]

      The "Grand Embassy" continued nevertheless. While visiting the Netherlands, Peter learned much about life in Western Europe. He studied shipbuilding [16] in Zaandam (the house he lived in is now a museum, the Czar Peter House) and Amsterdam, where he visited, among others, the upper-class de Wilde family. Jacob de Wilde, a collector-general with the Admiralty of Amsterdam, had a well-known collection of art and coins, and de Wilde's daughter Maria de Wilde made an engraving of the meeting between Peter and her father, providing visual evidence of "the beginning of the West European classical tradition in Russia".[17] According to Roger Tavernier, Peter the Great later acquired de Wilde's collection.[18]

      Thanks to the mediation of Nicolaes Witsen, mayor of Amsterdam and expert on Russia, the Tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in the largest shipyard in the world, belonging to the Dutch East India Company, for a period of four months. The Tsar helped with the construction of an East Indiaman ship especially laid down for him: Peter and Paul. During his stay the Tsar engaged many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights, and seamen—including Cornelis Cruys, a vice-admiral who became, under Franz Lefort, the Tsar's advisor in maritime affairs. Peter later put his knowledge of shipbuilding to use in helping build Russia's navy.[19] Peter paid a visit to surgeon Frederik Ruysch, who taught him how to draw teeth and catch butterflies, and to Ludolf Bakhuysen, a painter of seascapes. Jan van der Heyden, the inventor of the fire hose, received Peter, who was keen to learn and pass on his knowledge to his countrymen. On 16 January 1698 Peter organized a farewell party and invited Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen, who had to sit between Lefort and the Tsar and drink.[20]

      Peter on board of his yacht en route to the Peter and Paul

      In England, Peter met with King William III, visited Greenwich and Oxford, posed for Sir Godfrey Kneller, and saw a Royal Navy Fleet Review at Deptford. He studied the English techniques of city-building he would later use to great effect at Saint Petersburg.[21] When he left he gave the singer, and his mistress, Letitia Cross £500 to thank her for her hospitality. Cross said it was not enough.[22] The Embassy next went to Leipzig, Dresden, Prague and Vienna. He spoke with Augustus II the Strong and Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.[21]

      Peter's visit was cut short in 1698, when he was forced to rush home by a rebellion of the Streltsy. The rebellion was easily crushed before Peter returned home from England; of the Tsar's troops, only one was killed. Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers. Over one thousand two hundred of the rebels were tortured and executed, and Peter ordered that their bodies be publicly exhibited as a warning to future conspirators.[23] The Streltsy were disbanded, some of the rebels were deported to Siberia, and the individual they sought to put on the Throne — Peter's half-sister Sophia — was forced to become a nun.

      Statue of Peter in Rotterdam

      In 1698, Peter sent a delegation to Malta, under boyar Boris Sheremetev, to observe the training and abilities of the Knights of Malta and their fleet. Sheremetev investigated the possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base.[24]

      Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to wear European clothing and cut off their long beards, causing his Boyars, who were very fond of their beards, great upset.[25] Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual beard tax of one hundred rubles. Peter also sought to end arranged marriages, which were the norm among the Russian nobility, because he thought such a practice was barbaric and led to domestic violence, since the partners usually resented each other.[26]

      In 1699, Peter changed the date of the celebration of the new year from 1 September to 1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from the purported creation of the World, but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the birth of Christ. Thus, in the year 7207 of the old Russian calendar, Peter proclaimed that the Julian Calendar was in effect and the year was 1700.[27]

      Great Northern War
      Main article: Great Northern War

      Peter made a temporary peace with the Ottoman Empire that allowed him to keep the captured fort of Azov, and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by the Swedish Empire a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on Sweden, which was at the time led by the young King Charles XII. Sweden was also opposed by Denmark–Norway, Saxony, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

      Peter I of Russia pacifies his marauding troops after retaking Narva in 1704, by Nikolay Sauerweid, 1859

      Russia was ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the Battle of Narva in 1700. In the conflict, the forces of Charles XII, rather than employ a slow methodical siege, attacked immediately using a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian army.

      While the Poles fought the Swedes, Peter founded the city of Saint Petersburg in 1703, in Ingermanland (a province of the Swedish Empire that he had captured). It was named after his patron saint Saint Peter. He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg, which he intended to become Russia's capital, so that all stonemasons could participate in the construction of the new city. Between 1713 and 1728, and from 1732 to 1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia.

      Peter the Great Meditating the Idea of Building St Petersburg at the Shore of the Baltic Sea, by Alexandre Benois, 1916

      Following several defeats, Polish King Augustus II the Strong abdicated in 1706. Swedish king Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in 1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at Golovchin in July. In the Battle of Lesnaya, Charles suffered his first loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from Riga. Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on Moscow.[28]

      Charles XII refused to retreat to Poland or back to Sweden and instead invaded Ukraine. Peter withdrew his army southward, employing scorched earth, destroying along the way anything that could assist the Swedes. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of 1708–1709. In the summer of 1709, they resumed their efforts to capture Russian-ruled Ukraine, culminating in the Battle of Poltava on 27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for the Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in Ukraine and forcing him south to seek refuge in the Ottoman Empire. Russia had defeated what was considered to be one of the world's best militaries, and the victory overturned the view that Russia was militarily incompetent. In Poland, Augustus II was restored as King.

      Peter I in the Battle of Poltava, a mosaic by Mikhail Lomonosov

      Peter, overestimating the support he would receive from his Balkan allies, attacked the Ottoman Empire, initiating the Russo-Turkish War of 1710.[29] Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire was disastrous, and in the ensuing Treaty of the Pruth, Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697.[29] In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII.

      Normally, the Boyar Duma would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the boyars; he instead abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. The Senate was founded as the highest state institution to supervise all judicial, financial and administrative affairs. Originally established only for the time of the monarch's absence, the Senate became a permanent body after his return. A special high official, the Ober-Procurator, served as the link between the ruler and the senate and acted, in Peter own words, as "the sovereign's eye". Without his signature no Senate decision could go into effect; the Senate became one of the most important institutions of Imperial Russia.[30]

      Peter I, by Carel de Moor, 1717

      Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of Livonia (the northern half of modern Latvia, and the southern half of modern Estonia), driving the Swedes into Finland. In 1714 the Russian fleet won the Battle of Gangut. Most of Finland was occupied by the Russians.

      In 1716 and 1717, the Tsar revisited the Netherlands and went to see Herman Boerhaave. He continued his travel to the Austrian Netherlands and France. Peter obtained the assistance of the Electorate of Hanover and the Kingdom of Prussia.

      The Tsar's navy was powerful enough that the Russians could penetrate Sweden. Still, Charles XII refused to yield, and not until his death in battle in 1718 did peace become feasible. After the battle near Åland, Sweden made peace with all powers but Russia by 1720. In 1721, the Treaty of Nystad ended the Great Northern War. Russia acquired Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and a substantial portion of Karelia. In turn, Russia paid two million Riksdaler and surrendered most of Finland. The Tsar retained some Finnish lands close to Saint Petersburg, which he had made his capital in 1712.[31]

      Later years
      Diamond order of Peter the Great
      Monument to Peter the Great in St. Petersburg

      Peter's last years were marked by further reform in Russia. On 22 October 1721, soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was officially proclaimed Emperor of All Russia. Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the East, but he refused. Gavrila Golovkin, the State Chancellor, was the first to add "the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias" to Peter's traditional title Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of Pskov in 1721. Peter's imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Frederick William I of Prussia, and Frederick I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations.

      In 1717, Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky led the first Russian military expedition into Central Asia against the Khanate of Khiva. The expedition ended in complete disaster when the entire expeditionary force was slaughtered.

      In 1718, Peter investigated why the formerly Swedish province of Livonia was so orderly. He discovered that the Swedes spent as much administering Livonia (300 times smaller than his empire) as he spent on the entire Russian bureaucracy. He was forced to dismantle the province's government.[32]

      After 1718, Peter established colleges in place of the old central agencies of government, including foreign affairs, war, navy, expense, income, justice, and inspection. Later others were added. Each college consisted of a president, a vice-president, a number of councilors and assessors, and a procurator. Some foreigners were included in various colleges but not as president. Peter believed he did not have enough loyal and talented persons to put in full charge of the various departments. Peter preferred to rely on groups of individuals who would keep check on one another.[33] Decisions depended on the majority vote.

      In 1722, Peter created a new order of precedence known as the Table of Ranks. Formerly, precedence had been determined by birth. To deprive the Boyars of their high positions, Peter directed that precedence should be determined by merit and service to the Emperor. The Table of Ranks continued to remain in effect until the Russian monarchy was overthrown in 1917.

      Peter decided that all of the children of the nobility should have some early education, especially in the areas of sciences. Therefore, on 28 February 1714, he issued a decree calling for compulsory education, which dictated that all Russian 10- to 15-year-old children of the nobility, government clerks, and lesser-ranked officials must learn basic mathematics and geometry, and should be tested on the subjects at the end of their studies.[34]

      The once powerful Persian Safavid Empire to the south was heavily declining. Taking advantage of the profitable situation, Peter launched the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723, otherwise known as "The Persian Expedition of Peter the Great", which drastically increased Russian influence for the first time in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea region, and prevented the Ottoman Empire from making territorial gains in the region. After considerable success and the capture of many provinces and cities in the Caucasus and northern mainland Persia, the Safavids were forced to hand over territory to Russia, comprising Derbent, Shirvan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Baku, and Astrabad. However, within twelve years all the territories would be ceded back to Persia, now led by the charismatic military genius Nader Shah, as part of the Treaties of Resht and Ganja respectively, and the Russo-Persian alliance against the Ottoman Empire, which was the common enemy of both.[35]

      Peter introduced new taxes to fund improvements in Saint Petersburg. He abolished the land tax and household tax and replaced them with a poll tax. The taxes on land and on households were payable only by individuals who owned property or maintained families; the new head taxes, however, were payable by serfs and paupers. In 1725 the construction of Peterhof, a palace near Saint Petersburg, was completed. Peterhof (Dutch for "Peter's Court") was a grand residence, becoming known as the "Russian Versailles".

      Illness and death
      Peter the Great on his deathbed, by Nikitin

      In the winter of 1723, Peter, whose overall health was never robust, began having problems with his urinary tract and bladder. In the summer of 1724, a team of doctors performed surgery releasing upwards of four pounds of blocked urine. Peter remained bedridden until late autumn. In the first week of October, restless and certain he was cured, Peter began a lengthy inspection tour of various projects. According to legend, in November, at Lakhta along the Finnish Gulf to inspect some ironworks, Peter saw a group of soldiers drowning near shore and, wading out into near-waist deep water, came to their rescue.[36]

      This icy water rescue is said to have exacerbated Peter's bladder problems and caused his death. The story, however, has been viewed with skepticism by some historians, pointing out that the German chronicler Jacob von Staehlin is the only source for the story, and it seems unlikely that no one else would have documented such an act of heroism. This, plus the interval of time between these actions and Peter's death seems to preclude any direct link.

      In early January 1725, Peter was struck once again with uremia. Legend has it that before lapsing into unconsciousness Peter asked for a paper and pen and scrawled an unfinished note that read: "Leave all to ..." and then, exhausted by the effort, asked for his daughter Anna to be summoned.[lower-alpha 3]

      Peter died between four and five in the morning 8 February 1725. An autopsy revealed his bladder to be infected with gangrene.[10] He was fifty-two years, seven months old when he died, having reigned forty-two years. He is interred in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

      Religion
      The 1782 statue of Peter I in Saint Petersburg, informally known as the Bronze Horseman

      Peter was deeply religious, being brought up in the Russian Orthodox faith, but he had low regard for the Church hierarchy, which he kept under tight governmental control. The traditional leader of the Church was the Patriarch of Moscow. In 1700, when the office fell vacant, Peter refused to name a replacement, allowing the Patriarch's Coadjutor (or deputy) to discharge the duties of the office. Peter could not tolerate the patriarch exercising power superior to the Tsar, as indeed had happened in the case of Philaret (1619–1633) and Nikon (1652–66). Peter therefore abolished the Patriarchy, replacing it with a Holy Synod that was under the control of a senior bureaucrat, and the Tsar appointed all bishops.

      In 1721, Peter followed the advice of Theophan Prokopovich in designing the Holy Synod as a council of ten clergymen. For leadership in the church, Peter turned increasingly to Ukrainians, who were more open to reform, but were not well loved by the Russian clergy. Peter implemented a law that stipulated that no Russian man could join a monastery before the age of fifty. He felt that too many able Russian men were being wasted on clerical work when they could be joining his new and improved army.[37][38]

      A clerical career was not a route chosen by upper-class society. Most parish priests were sons of priests, were very poorly educated, and very poorly paid. The monks in the monasteries had a slightly higher status; they were not allowed to marry. Politically, the church was impotent.[39]

      Marriages and family
      Peter I interrogating his son Alexei, a painting by Nikolai Ge (1871)

      Peter the Great had two wives, with whom he had fourteen children, three of whom survived to adulthood. Peter's mother selected his first wife, Eudoxia Lopukhina, with the advice of other nobles in 1689.[40] This was consistent with previous Romanov tradition by choosing a daughter of a minor noble. This was done to prevent fighting between the stronger noble houses and to bring fresh blood into the family.[41] He also had a mistress from Holland, Anna Mons.[40]

      Upon his return from his European tour in 1698, Peter sought to end his unhappy marriage. He divorced the Tsaritsa and forced her to join a convent.[40] The Tsaritsa had borne Peter three children, although only one, Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, had survived past his childhood.

      He took Martha Skavronskaya, a Polish-Lithuanian peasant, as a mistress some time between 1702 and 1704.[42] Martha converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and took the name Catherine.[43] Though no record exists, Catherine and Peter are described as having married secretly between 23 Oct and 1 December 1707 in St. Petersburg.[44] Peter valued Catherine and married her again (this time officially) at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on 19 February 1712.

      His eldest child and heir, Alexei, was suspected of being involved in a plot to overthrow the Emperor. Alexei was tried and confessed under torture during questioning conducted by a secular court. He was convicted and sentenced to be executed. The sentence could be carried out only with Peter's signed authorization, and Alexei died in prison, as Peter hesitated before making the decision. Alexei's death most likely resulted from injuries suffered during his torture.[45] Alexei's mother Eudoxia had also been punished; she was dragged from her home and tried on false charges of adultery.

      In 1724, Peter had his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler. All of Peter's male children had died.

      Issue

      By his two wives, he had fourteen children. These included three sons named Pavel and three sons named Peter, all of whom died in infancy.

      NameBirthDeathNotes
      By Eudoxia Lopukhina
      Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia18 February 1690[46]26 June 1718,[46] age 28Married 1711, Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg; had issue
      Alexander Petrovich13 October 169114 May 1692, age 7 months 
      Pavel Petrovich16931693 
      By Catherine I
      Peter Petrovich1704[46]in infancy[46]Born and died before the official marriage of his parents
      Paul Petrovich1705[46]in infancy[46]Born and died before the official marriage of his parents
      Catherine PetrovnaDec 1706[46]Jun 1708,[46] age 18 monthsBorn and died before the official marriage of her parents
      Anna Petrovna27 January 170815 May 1728, age 20Married 1725, Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp; had issue
      Yelisaveta Petrovna,
      later Empress Elizabeth      		29 December 17095 January 1762, age 52Reputedly married 1742, Alexei Grigorievich, Count Razumovsky; no issue
      Maria Petrovna20 March 171327 May 1715, age 2 
      Margarita Petrovna19 September 17147 June 1715, age 9 months 
      Peter Petrovich15 November 171519 April 1719, age 3 
      Pavel Petrovich13 January 171714 January 1717, age 1 day 
      Natalia Petrovna31 August 171815 March 1725, age 6 
      Peter Petrovich7 October 17237 October 1723, born and died same day 

      Legacy

      Peter's legacy has always been a major concern of Russian intellectuals. Riasanovsky points to a "paradoxical dichotomy" in the black and white images such as God/Antichrist, educator/ignoramus, architect of Russia's greatness/destroyer of national culture, father of his country/scourge of the common man. Voltaire's 1759 biography gave 18th-century Russians a man of the Enlightenment, while Alexander Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman" poem of 1833 gave a powerful romantic image of a creator-god.[47] [48].[49] Slavophiles in mid-19th century deplored Peter's Western ionization. Western writers and political analysts recounted "The Testimony" or secret will of Peter the Great. It supposedly revealed his grand evil plot for Russia to control the world via conquest of Constantinople, Afghanistan and India. It was a forgery made in Paris at Napoleon's command when he started his invasion of Russia in 1812. Nevertheless it is still quoted in foreign policy circles.[50] the Communist executed the last Romanoff, and their historians such as Mikhail Pokrovsky presented strongly negative views of the entire dynasty. Stalin however admired how he strengthened the state, and wartime, diplomacy, industry, higher education, and government administration. Stalin wrote in 1928, when Peter the Great, who had to deal with more developed countries in the West, feverishly built works in factories for supplying the Army and strengthening the country's defenses, this was an original attempt to leap out of the framework of backwardness." [51] As a result Soviet historiography emphasize both the positive, and the negative factor of oppressing the common people.[52]

      After the fall of Communism in 1991, scholars and the general public in Russia and the West gave fresh attention to Peter and his role in Russian history. His reign is now seen as the decisive formative event in the Russian imperial past. Many new ideas have merged, such as whether he strengthened the autocratic state or whether the tsarist regime was not statist enough given its small bureaucracy.[53] Modernization models have become contested ground.[54] Historian Ia. Vodarsky said in 1993 that Peter, "did not lead the country on the path of accelerated economic, political and social development, did not force it to 'achieve a leap' through several stages.... On the contrary, these actions to the greatest degree put a brake on Russia's progress and created conditions for holding it back for one and a half centuries!" [55] The autocratic powers that Stalin admired appeared as a liability to Evgeny Anisimov, who complained that Peter was, "the creator of the administrative command system and the true ancestor of Stalin."[56]

      While the cultural turn in historiography has downplayed diplomatic, economic and constitutional issues, new cultural roles have been found for Peter, for example in architecture and dress. James Cracraft argues:

      The Petrine revolution in Russia—subsuming in this phrase the many military, naval, governmental, educational, architectural, linguistic, and other internal reforms enacted by Peter’s regime to promote Russia’s rise as a major European power—was essentially a cultural revolution, one that profoundly impacted both the basic constitution of the Russian Empire and, perforce, its subsequent development.[57]
      Tomb of Peter the Great in Peter and Paul Fortress

      Peter has been featured in many histories, novels, plays, films, monuments and paintings.[58][59] They include the poems The Bronze Horseman, Poltava and the unfinished novel The Moor of Peter the Great, all by Alexander Pushkin. The former dealt with The Bronze Horseman, an equestrian statue raised in Peter's honour. Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy wrote a biographical historical novel about him, named Pëtr I, in the 1930s.

      There was a man named Peter the Great who was a Russian Tzar;
      When remodeling his the castle put the throne behind the bar;
      He lined the walls with vodka, rum, and 40 kinds of beers;
      And advanced the Russian culture by 120 years!

      gollark: == has 95% accuracy, === 97.5%, etc.
      gollark: Idea: Bloom filters?
      gollark: If they don't want people using it, DON'T SHIP IT IN CLIENT CODE.
      gollark: It's true*!
      gollark: Kubernetes was created by Google to damage competitors.

      See also

      Notes

      Footnotes
      1. Office renamed from "Tsar" to "Emperor" on 2 November 1721.
      2. Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are in the Julian calendar with the start of year adjusted to 1 January. All other dates in this article are in Gregorian calendar (see Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe).
      3. The 'Leave all ..." story first appears in H-F de Bassewitz Russkii arkhiv 3 (1865). Russian historian E.V. Anisimov contends that Bassewitz's aim was to convince readers that Anna, not Empress Catherine, was Peter's intended heir.

      Citations
      1. Cracraft 2003.
      2. Лакиер А. Б. §66. Надписи вокруг печати. Соответствие их с государевым титулом. // Русская геральдика. – СПб., 1855.
      3. Robert K. Massie, Peter the Great: His Life and World (1980), p. 22.
      4. Massie, 25–26.
      5. Riasanovsky 2000, p. 214.
      6. Riasanovsky 2000, p. 218.
      7. Massie, (1980) pp 96–106.
      8. Riasanovsky 2000, p. 216.
      9. Merriman, John (15 September 2008). "Peter the Great and the Territorial Expansion of Russia". Retrieved 16 February 2018.
      10. Hughes 2007, pp. 179–82.
      11. Evgenii V. Anisimov, The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress Through Violence in Russia (Routledge, 2015)
      12. Riasanovsky 2000, p. 221.
      13. Abbott, Peter (1902). Peter the Great. Project Gutenberg online edition.
      14. Montefiore p. 187.
      15. Roberts, J. M. (John Morris), 1928-2003 (2014). The Penguin history of the world. Westad, Odd Arne (Sixth revised ed.). London. ISBN 978-1-84614-443-1. OCLC 862761245.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
      16. Peter the Great: Part 1 of 3 (The Carpenter Czar). Radio Netherlands Archives. 8 June 1996. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
      17. Wes 1992, p. 14.
      18. Tavernier 2006, p. 349.
      19. Massie 1980, pp. 183–188.
      20. Petros Mirilas, et al. "The monarch and the master: Peter the Great and Frederik Ruysch." Archives of Surgery 141.6 (2006): 602-606.
      21. Massie 1980, p. 191.
      22. "Cross, Letitia (bap. 1682?, d. 1737), singer and actress | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64328. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
      23. Riasanovsky 2000, p. 220.
      24. "Russian Grand Priory – Timeline". 2004. Archived from the original on 8 February 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2008.
      25. O.L. D'Or. "Russia as an Empire". The Moscow News weekly. pp. Russian. Archived from the original (PHP) on 3 June 2006. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
      26. Dmytryshyn 1974, p. 21.
      27. Oudard 1929, p. 197.
      28. Massie 1980, p. 453.
      29. Riasanovsky 2000, p. 224.
      30. Palmer & Colton 1992, pp. 242–43.
      31. Cracraft 2003, p. 37.
      32. Pipes 1974, p. 281.
      33. Palmer & Colton 1992, p. 245.
      34. Dmytryshyn 1974, pp. 10–11.
      35. Lee 2013, p. 31.
      36. Nisbet 1905.
      37. Dmytryshyn 1974, p. 18.
      38. James Cracraft, The church reform of Peter the Great (1971).
      39. Lindsey Hughes, Russia in the Age of Peter the Great (1998) pp. 332–56.
      40. Hughes 2004, p. 134.
      41. Hughes 2004, p. 133.
      42. Hughes 2004, p. 131,134.
      43. Hughes 2004, p. 131.
      44. Hughes 2004, p. 136.
      45. Massie 1980, pp. 76, 377, 707.
      46. Hughes 2004, p. 135.
      47. Nicholas Riasanovsky, The Image of Peter the Great in Russian History and Thought (1985) pp. 57, 84, 279, 283.
      48. A. Lenton, "Voltaire and Peter the Great" History Today (1968) 18#10 online
      49. Kathleen Scollins, "Cursing at the Whirlwind: The Old Testament Landscape of The Bronze Horseman." Pushkin Review 16.1 (2014): 205-231 online.
      50. Albert Resis, "Russophobia and the 'Testament' of Peter the Great, 1812-1980 Slavic Review 44#4 (1985), pp. 681-693 online
      51. Lindsey Hughes, Russia in the Age of Peter the Great (1998) p 464.
      52. Riasanovsky, p. 305.
      53. Zitser, 2005.
      54. Waugh, 2001
      55. Hughes, p. 464
      56. Hughes, p. 465.
      57. James Cracraft, "The Russian Empire as Cultural Construct," Journal of the Historical Society (2010) 10#2 pp. 167–188, quoting p 170.
      58. Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, The Image of Peter the Great in Russian History and Thought (1985).
      59. Lindsey Hughes, "'What manner of man did we lose?': Death-bed images of Peter the Great." Russian History 35.1-2 (2008): 45-61.
      60. BBC Radio 4 – Drama, Tsar, Peter the Great: The Gamblers. BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
      61. BBC Radio 4 – Drama, Tsar, Peter the Great: Queen of Spades. BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2020.

      References
      • Anisimov, Evgenii V. (2015) The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress Through Violence in Russia (Routledge)
      • Bain, R. Nisbet (1905). Peter the Great and his pupils. Cambridge UP. Archived from the original on 26 May 2007.
      • Bushkovitch, Paul (2003). Peter the Great. Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 978-0847696390.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) online
      • Cracraft, James (2003). The Revolution of Peter the Great. Harvard UP.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Dmytryshyn, Basil (1974). Modernization of Russia Under Peter I and Catherine II. Wiley.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Grey, Ian (1960). Peter the Great: Emperor of All Russia.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Hughes, John R (2007). "The seizures of Peter Alexeevich". Epilepsy & Behavior. 10 (1): 179–82. doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2006.11.005. PMID 17174607.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Hughes, Lindsey (1998). Russia in the Age of Peter the Great. Yale UP. ISBN 978-0-300-08266-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) online
      • Hughes ed, Lindsey (2001). Peter the Great and the West: New Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-92009-1.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Hughes, Lindsey (2002). Peter the Great: A Biography. Yale UP. ISBN 978-0-300-10300-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Lee, Stephen J. (2013). Peter the Great. Routledge. ISBN 978-1136453250.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Massie, Robert K. (1980). Peter the Great: His Life and World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-29145-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link), a popular biography; online
      • Hughes, Lindsey (2004). "Catherine I of Russia, Consort to Peter the Great". In Campbell Orr, Clarissa (ed.). Queenship in Europe 1660–1815: The Role of the Consort. Cambridge UP. pp. 131–54. ISBN 978-0-521-81422-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Montefiore, Simon Sebag (2016). The Romanovs: 1613–1918. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Oudard, Georges (1929). Peter the Great. Translated by Atkinson, Frederick. New York: Payson and Clarke.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Pipes, Richard (1974). Russia under the old regime.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Raeff, Mafrc, ed. (1963). Peter the Great, Reformer or Revolutionary?.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Riasanovsky, Nicholas (2000). A History of Russia (6th ed.). Oxford: Oxford UP.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) online
      • Tavernier, Roger (2006). Russia and the Low Countries: An International Bibliography, 1500–2000. Barkhuis. p. 349. ISBN 978-90-77089-04-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Wes, Martinus A. (1992). Classics in Russia, 1700–1855: Between Two Bronze Horsemen. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-09664-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
      • Palmer, R.R.; Colton, Joel (1992). A History of the Modern World.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

      Historiography and memory
      • Brown, Peter B. "Towards a Psychohistory of Peter the Great: Trauma, Modeling, and Coping in Peter's Personality." Russian History 35#1-2 (2008): 19-44.
      • Brown, Peter B. "Gazing Anew at Poltava: Perspectives from the Military Revolution Controversy, Comparative History, and Decision-Making Doctrines." Harvard Ukrainian Studies 31.1/4 (2009): 107-133. online
      • Cracraft, James. "Kliuchevskii on Peter the Great." Canadian-American Slavic Studies 20.4 (1986): 367-381.
      • Daqiu, Zhu. "Cultural Memory and the Image of Peter the Great in Russian Literature." Russian Literature & Arts 2 (2014): 19+.
      • Gasiorowska, Xenia. The image of Peter the Great in Russian fiction (1979) online
      • Platt, Kevin M. F. Terror and Greatness: Ivan and Peter as Russian Myths (2011)
      • Raef, Mark, ed. Peter the Great, Reformer or Revolutionary? (1963) excerpts from scholars and primary sources online
      • Resis, Albert. "Russophobia and the" Testament" of Peter the Great, 1812-1980." Slavic Review 44.4 (1985): 681-693 online.
      • Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. The Image of Peter the Great in Russian History and Thought (1985).
      • Waugh, Daniel Clarke. "We have never been modern: Approaches to the study of Russia in the age of Peter the Great." Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas H. 3 (2001): 321-345 online in English.
      • Zitser, Ernest A (Spring 2005). "Post-Soviet Peter: New Histories of the Late Muscovite and Early Imperial Russian Court". Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. 6 (2): 375–92. doi:10.1353/kri.2005.0032.
      • Zitser, Ernest A. "The Difference that Peter I Made." in The Oxford Handbook of Modern Russian History. ed. by Simon Dixon (2013) online

      Further reading
      • Anderson, M.S. "Russia under Peter the Great and the changed relations of East and West." in J.S. Bromley, ed., The New Cambridge Modern History: VI: 1688-1715 (1970) pp. 716–40.
      • Anisimov, Evgenii V. The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress through Coercion in Russia (1993) online
      • Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Peter I." . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 288–91.
      • Bushkovitch, Paul. Peter the Great: The Struggle for Power, 1671–1725 (2001) online
      • Cracraft, James. The Revolution of Peter the Great (2003) online
      • Duffy, Christopher. Russia's Military Way to the West: Origins and Nature of Russian Military Power 1700-1800 (Routledge, 2015) pp 9–41 online
      • Graham, Stephen. Peter The Great (1929) online
      • Kamenskii, Aleksandr. The Russian Empire in the Eighteenth Century: Searching for a Place in the World(1997) pp 39–164.
      • Kluchevsky, V.O. A history of Russia vol 4 (1926) online pp 1–230.
        • Cracraft, James. "Kliuchevskii on Peter the Great." Canadian-American Slavic Studies 20.4 (1986): 367-381.
      • Oliva, Lawrence Jay. ed. Russia in the era of Peter the Great (1969), excerpts from primary and secondary sources two week borrowing
      • Pares, Bernard. A History Of Russia (1947) pp 193–225. online
      • Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, David, and Bruce W. Menning, eds. Reforming the Tsar's Army – Military Innovation in Imperial Russia from Peter the Great to the Revolution (Cambridge UP, 2004) 361 pp. scholarly essays
      • Sumner, B. H. Peter the Great and the emergence of Russia (1950), brief history by scholar online
      Regnal titles
      Preceded by
      Feodor III      		 Tsar of Russia
      1682–1721
      with Ivan V      		 Russian Empire
      New title Emperor of Russia
      1721–1725      		 Succeeded by
      Catherine I
      Preceded by
      Frederick      		 Duke of Estonia and Livonia
      1721–1725
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