The study of the first years of Peter's life is of great importance in that it allows us to understand the environment in which Peter's character developed, what impressions Peter made from his childhood, how his mental life went, what kind of relationship he developed with the environment that raised him. There is an opinion that his stormy childhood was the reason for all further harshness in Peter’s behavior and aroused in him a burning bitterness against antiquity, which stood in his way. Peter himself sometimes spoke bitterly about his childhood years.
Peter was the youngest son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Tsar Alexei was married twice: the first time to Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya (1648-1669), the second time to Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina (from 1671). From his first marriage he had thirteen children. Many of them died during their father’s lifetime, and of the sons only Theodore and Ivan survived him. Both were sickly: Theodore had scurvy, Ivan suffered from eyes, stuttered, and was weak in body and mind. Perhaps the thought of being left without heirs prompted Tsar Alexei to rush into a second marriage. The Tsar met his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna, in the house of Artamon Sergeevich Matveev, where she grew up and was brought up in a reformation environment. Infatuated with a beautiful and intelligent girl, the king promised to find her a groom and soon wooed her himself. In 1672, they had a strong and healthy boy, named Peter. His birth is surrounded by a swarm of legends, it is unknown when they developed. They said that Simeon of Polotsk predicted even before the birth of Peter his great future, that the holy fool determined in advance how long he would live, that in the church a deacon, not yet knowing about the birth of Peter, at the moment of his birth proclaimed his health, etc.
Tsar Alexei was very happy about the birth of his son. The relatives of his young wife, Matveev and the Naryshkin family were also happy. Until then, unknown nobles (about Natalya Kirillovna, her enemies said that before becoming a queen, she wore bast shoes), the Naryshkins, with the marriage of the tsar, approached the court and began to play a significant role in court life. Their rise was met with hostility by the relatives of the king by his first wife - the Miloslavskys. The birth of Peter increased this enmity between the first and second families of the king and gave it a new character. For the Miloslavskys, the birth of Peter could not be a holiday, and here’s why: although Tsarevich Theodore was always considered the heir to the throne, and since 1674 Tsarevich Theodore was officially declared, nevertheless, given the illness of him and Ivan, Peter could have hope for the throne. If Theodore or Ivan had reigned, political influence would have belonged entirely to their relatives - the Miloslavskys; if power passed to Peter, guardianship over him and influence on affairs would belong to Peter’s mother and the Naryshkins. Thanks to this state of circumstances, with the birth of Peter, the family discord between the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins lost its narrow family character and acquired broader political significance.
The lack of familial love and hostility between the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins existed during the life of Tsar Alexei; but he restrained this hostility with his personal authority, although we can confidently say that his authority could not reconcile the warring parties. Despite the complete contrast of interests, the king’s relatives differed in their views and upbringing. The tsar's eldest children (especially Theodore and the fourth daughter, Sophia) received a brilliant upbringing for that time under the leadership of S. Polotsk. In this upbringing, the ecclesiastical element was strong, and there was a Polish influence, noticeable among the southern Russian monks. On the contrary, Naryshkina came from an environment (the Matveevs), which, in the absence of a theological direction, absorbed the influence of Western European culture. This difference could only intensify the hostility. A collision was inevitable.
In January 1676, Tsar Alexei died. He was only forty-seven years old; his early death could not have been foreseen. Therefore, both family parties were taken by surprise by the disaster. Fourteen-year-old Theodore ascended the throne, but for some time affairs remained in the hands of Matveev: a representative of one family party reigned, a representative of another ruled. This happened because in the last years of Tsar Alexei, the relatives of his second wife were closer to the Tsar and affairs than the Miloslavskys. However, the Miloslavskys soon took over the affairs; but at court, in addition to the Miloslavskys and Naryshkins, a third party was formed. Under the leadership of the old boyars of Khitrovo and Yuri Alekseevich Dolgorukov, some individuals led by the boyar Ivan Maksimovich Yazykov captured the sympathy of Tsar Theodore and removed all other influences from him. Having lost hope of seeing offspring from the tsar, and realizing the approaching domination (in the event of the death of Theodore) of either the Naryshkins or the Miloslavskys, Yazykov’s party subsequently began to seek rapprochement with the Naryshkins. That is why at the end of Theodora’s reign Matveev was returned from exile. That is why, when Theodore died (April 27, 1682), the Naryshkins, and not the Miloslavskys, triumphed. The complex game of court parties, which united the interests of the Yazykov side with the Naryshkin side, led to the fact that in addition to the eldest - the sick and incapable Ivan - the younger brother, Tsarevich Peter, was elected tsar. After the death of Theodore, the king had to be elected, because there was no established succession to the throne. According to the prevailing custom, the father was succeeded by the son, but Theodore had no children. In centuries past, it happened that brother inherited from brother (the sons of Kalita, for example), but this was already an old antiquity that had lost its binding force, and it was difficult to justify Ivan’s rights on it. The Patriarch, Yazykov and the rest of the boyars, the Naryshkins wanted Peter. Ten-year-old healthy Peter, in fact, by his personality seemed more capable of taking the throne than half-dead and also young Ivan (he was fifteen years old). Peter was elected king. But custom in the Moscow state legitimized the form of royal election through the Zemsky Sobor. Boris Godunov and Mikhail Feodorovich were elected to the Council; Tsar V.I. was reproached for the absence of the Council. Shuisky and his contemporaries. In this case, when Peter was elected, they did not resort to convening a Council. The matter was decided by the patriarch and the Boyar Duma, after a crowd of people (Moscow veche, if this archaic expression is appropriate) decided with a shout that they wanted Peter as king. This form of election provided few guarantees for the future, especially since the times were very troubled. The Miloslavskys could not come to terms with failure, their supporters openly shouted in the square in favor of Ivan, not Peter; not all archers swore allegiance to Peter with equal willingness; sharp party clashes were feared in the palace; the boyars wore armor under their clothes.
Nevertheless, Peter became king. Guardianship over him, according to Moscow custom, belonged to his mother. Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna became the center of government. But there were no sincerely devoted assistants and leaders next to her: Matveev had not yet returned to Moscow from exile, the queen’s brothers did not have the necessary abilities and experience to rule. Thus, the new government was weak. The Miloslavsky side, among whom there were many prominent people, took advantage of this. The main representative of this party was Princess Sophia. Her opponents (that is, the Naryshkins, and most of all Natalya Kirillovna) were hated by her, as offenders to her and her family. At the same time, Sophia’s very developed ambition showed her the possibility, in the event of Ivan’s accession, to become the head of the state, guardian of her incapable brother, replace his mother, and rule the state. With the accession of Peter, this place was occupied by Natalya Kirillovna, who, of course, saw her rival in Sophia.
On May 15, the so-called Streltsy riot occurred. The Miloslavskys let it be known in the morning of that day in the Streltsy settlements that the traitors had strangled Tsar Ivan. Streltsov were invited to the Kremlin. The Streltsy regiments marched into the Kremlin in battle formation, managed to occupy the Kremlin gates, stopped relations with the rest of the city and approached the palace. Having heard about the approach of the archers, the boyars who were in the Kremlin and the patriarch gathered in the palace. From the cries of the Streltsy they knew why the Streltsy army had come, they knew that they considered Tsar Ivan killed. Therefore, at the palace council, it was decided to show the archers both Ivan and Peter in order to immediately convince them of the complete absence of any treason and unrest in the palace. Queen Natalya led both brothers to the Red Porch, and the archers, having entered into a conversation with Ivan himself, heard from him that no one was harassing him and he had no one to complain about. These words showed the archers that they were a victim of someone’s deception, that there were no traitors and there was no one to exterminate. Old man Matveev, with his skillful and restrained speech, managed to calm the archers so much that they wanted to disperse. But Mikhail Yuryevich Dolgoruky ruined the matter. Being, after his father, Yuri, the second chief of the Streletsky order and thinking that now the Streltsy had completely resigned himself, he treated the crowd with abuse and rudely ordered them to disperse. The archers, angry and incited by people from the Miloslavsky party, rushed at him, killed him and, intoxicated by the first murder, rushed to the palace to look for other “traitors.” They grabbed Matveev in front of Tsarina Natalya and Peter (some said that they even snatched him from their hands) and cut him into pieces. After Matveev, the prince's boyars were captured and killed. G.G. Romodanovsky, A.K. Naryshkin and other persons. The archers especially looked for Ivan Kirillovich Naryshkin, the queen’s most capable brother, who was hated by Miloslavsky, but they did not find him, although they searched the entire palace. Murders were also committed outside the palace. Prince Yuri Dolgoruky was killed in his house. Ivan Maksimovich Yazykov, a representative of the third palace party, was found on the street and then executed. The archers cursed over the corpses of the dead until late in the evening and, leaving their guards in the Kremlin, went home.
On May 16, the murder scenes resumed. The archers exterminated all those whom the Miloslavsky side considered traitors. But the desired Ivan Kirillovich Naryshkin was not found that day either - he skillfully hid in the palace. On the morning of May 17, the archers urgently demanded his extradition as the last surviving traitor. To stop the rebellion, the palace found it necessary to extradite Ivan Kirillovich. He took communion and surrendered to the archers; he was tortured and killed. This ended the rebellion.
Peter and his mother were shocked by the death of their relatives, the horrors of the massacre that was committed before their eyes, and the insults they received from the rude archers. Not a single assistant or adviser remained near them: all their supporters were exterminated, and the survivors hid. The Miloslavskys thus lost their political opponents. Now they, the Miloslavskys, became the masters of affairs; Sophia became the representative of the authorities, because Natalya Kirillovna retired from business. In those days they even threatened to expel her from the palace. The entry into power by the Miloslavskys was expressed immediately after the riot by the fact that the places previously occupied in the highest Moscow administration by people close to the Naryshkins, even before the end of the riot, went to Sophia’s supporters.
But, having actually seized power, destroying some and eliminating others from their enemies, Sophia and her supporters have not yet secured any legal basis for their dominant position. Such a legal basis could be the accession of Tsar Ivan and the transfer of guardianship over him to some person in his family. Sophia achieved this with the help of the same archers. Of course, at the instigation of her supporters, the archers argued that not only Peter, but both brothers should reign. The Boyar Duma and the highest clergy, fearing a repetition of the Streltsy rebellion, on May 26 proclaimed Ivan the first Tsar, and Peter the second. Immediately then the archers insisted that the reign should be entrusted - due to the youth of the kings - to Sophia.
On May 29, Sophia agreed to rule. At the beginning of November, the so-called reign of Princess Sophia began (1682-1689).
Such were the courtly and political circumstances in which Peter was born and spent his childhood years. With the beginning of Sophia's reign, his adolescence began. Much interesting information has been preserved about the first days of the prince’s life. His birth sparked a series of court celebrations. The Tsarevich was baptized only on June 29, in the Chudov Monastery, and his godfather was Tsarevich Feodor Alekseevich. According to ancient custom, the measure was “taken off” from the newborn and the icon of the Apostle Peter was painted in its size. The newborn was surrounded by a whole staff of mothers and nannies; his nurse fed him. According to some reviews, Peter was very strong physically since childhood, “aged and handsome and strong in body.” Very early he began to amuse himself with toys, and these toys were of a military nature. From the palace consumable books, we know that Peter was constantly being made in court workshops and that bows, wooden guns and pistols, drums, toy banners, etc. were bought in the markets. The prince himself amused himself with this weapon and armed the “amusing children”, that is, his peers from the families of the court nobility, who always surrounded the young princes. If Tsar Alexei had lived longer, one could guarantee that Peter would have received the same excellent - in time - education as his brother Theodore. But Tsar Alexei died when Peter was not even four years old. This is why Peter was left without a proper education. Peter first sat down to study the alphabet under the guidance of Zotov, five years old. This Zotov was appointed to Peter by his godfather, Tsar Theodore, who loved his brother very much. Zotov used to be an official clerk and upon his appointment to Peter he was subjected to an examination: he read and wrote in the presence of the Tsar and was approved by both the Tsar himself and the famous Simeon of Polotsk. Course of study in Ancient Rus' began with the ABC, continued with reading and studying the Book of Hours, Psalms, Apostolic Acts and the Gospel. Learning to write came later than reading. Peter began to learn to write, it seems, at the beginning of 1680 and never knew how to write in decent handwriting. Apart from writing and reading, Zotov taught Peter nothing. But Zotov, as a teaching aid, used illustrations brought to Moscow from abroad and known as “amusing Fryazhsky or German sheets.” These sheets, depicting historical and ethnographic scenes, could give a lot of mental food to the child. In addition, Zotov introduced Peter to the events of Russian history, showing and explaining to him chronicles decorated with drawings. That Zotov, even in the absence of broad education and intelligence, conducted his business conscientiously and warmly, is proven by the constant disposition of Peter, who did not forget his teacher, towards him.
The older Peter became, the worse his situation became. Beloved and caressed under his father, Peter and his mother shared her disgrace under Theodora. Although Theodore loved him, the struggle of the court parties removed him and his mother from the king. Beginning to understand the conversations of those around him, Peter learned from them, of course, about family feud, about the persecution of his mother and people close to her. He learned not to love the Miloslavskys, to see them as enemies and oppressors. Elected king for ten years, in 1682 he experienced a number of difficult moments. He saw the mutiny of the archers; old Matveev, they say, was torn out of his hands by the archers; Uncle Ivan Naryshkin was handed over to him before his eyes; he saw a river of blood; his mother and himself were in danger of every minute death; Peter was so shocked by the May days of 1682 that convulsive movements of his head and face appeared from fear and remained for the rest of his life. The feeling of hostility towards the Miloslavskys, cultivated earlier, turned into hatred when Peter found out how much they were to blame for the Streltsy movements. He also treated the Streltsy with hatred, calling them the seed of Ivan Mikhailovich (that is, Miloslavsky), because his idea of ​​the Streltsy was combined with the memory of their riots in 1682.
This is how Peter’s childhood ended turbulently. It contains the beginning of his military fun, it contains difficult, even terrible moments that influenced Peter’s whole life. In Peter's childhood, finally, there are no rudiments of proper education; he is taught to read and write, other information is passed by by chance, acquired in passing.
But along with the political struggle in Moscow at that time there was a religious struggle: a heretical opinion arose that the transubstantiation of the Holy Gifts is performed during the liturgy not during the prayer of the priest calling on the Holy Spirit, but during the utterance of the words of Christ (“Take, eat...” ). This Catholic opinion, which appeared in Little Russia under Polish influence, was brought to Moscow by the famous S. Polotsky, then supported by his student, the Russian learned monk Sylvester Medvedev and those Russians who were educated in southern Russian schools. The noisy debates that raged in Moscow about this subject under Patriarch Joachim (1674-1690) spilled over into literature. S. Medvedev wrote the book “Manna” in defense of his “bread-worshipping heresy.” In response to it, representatives of Orthodoxy, the Greek brothers Likhud, wrote the book “Akos”. Others came for these works. The theological dispute ended only in 1690 with a Church Council that condemned heresy and the persecution of Little Russian scientists who were in a hurry to leave Moscow. Following the development of this theological dispute, we notice that the representatives of the heresy (S. Medvedev and others) are very close to Princess Sophia, brought up in their own spirit, to V.V. Golitsyn and other persons from the Miloslavsky side. Being close to the government even helps heretics spread their views. On the contrary, the Orthodox Patriarch seeks to rely on Peter’s side in the fight against them. Heresy is only subject to church condemnation when power passes to the Naryshkins in 1689. Thus, various religious movements joined in their struggle with ready-made political parties and they looked for support in them. S. Medvedev therefore suffered both as a heretic and as a political criminal, a follower of Sophia. The dispute over transubstantiation attracted the attention of not only Russian society, but also the Catholic hierarchy. Wanting the triumph of heresy, Catholicism sent its Jesuit representatives to Moscow, who looked out for the state of affairs, preparing to take advantage of every opportunity for their own purposes. In Moscow - probably through their efforts - Catholic books appeared. Prince V.V. Golitsyn was friends with the Jesuits and tried to get them permission to live permanently in Moscow. It is difficult to say exactly what the hopes of Catholicism were, but there is no doubt that Catholic propaganda clung to the strongest party of the 80s of the 17th century, with its sights on Russia. At the same time, the young man Peter fell under foreign influence of a completely different kind. Far from theological subtleties, he was hostile to Catholicism, was not interested in Protestant worship, but was keen on Western European culture as it developed in Protestant states. With the fall of Sophia, Catholic propaganda efforts in Rus' fell; the Jesuits were driven out of Moscow, and with Peter's reform, Protestant culture began to widely influence Rus'.
Thus, along with the struggle of family, political and church at the end of the 17th century, the question of the form of influence of Western European culture on Moscow was resolved. It was resolved by the influences under which Peter was in his adolescence and youth.
Since 1683, instead of “amusing children” near Peter we see amusing regiments (amusing, because they were stationed in amusing villages, and not because they served only for amusement). In November 1683, Peter began to form the Preobrazhensky regiment of willing people (up to recent years Peter remembered that the first hunter was the court groom Sergei Bukhvostov). In relation to this amusing regiment, Peter was not a sovereign, but a comrade-in-arms who studied military affairs along with other soldiers. With the permission, of course, of his mother and with the approval, perhaps, of B. Golitsyn (even, perhaps, with some of his assistance), Peter, as they say, spends his days and nights with his amusing ones. Maneuvers and small campaigns are undertaken, an amusing fortress is built on the Yauza (1685), called Presburg - in a word, military affairs is practically studied not according to the old Russian models, but according to the order of regular military service that was borrowed by Moscow from the West in the 17th century. These military "funs" require military supplies and Money, which are released to Peter from Moscow orders. The government of Sophia does not see any danger for itself in such “fun of Mars” and does not interfere with the development of amusing troops. It became afraid of these troops later, when the amusing ones grew into a solid one. military force. But Peter grew this power without hindrance. One should not think that Peter was amusing himself with just the servants of the courtyard. Along with him in the ranks of the amusements were his comrades from the upper strata of society. Standing outside of court etiquette, Peter mixed noble people and commoners into one squad, as S.M. put it. Solovyov, and from this squad he unconsciously prepared himself a circle of devoted employees in the future. Military affairs and the personality of Peter united heterogeneous aristocratic and democratic elements into one society with one direction. While this society was having fun, later it began to work with Peter.
Somewhat later than Peter’s war games were organized, a conscious desire to learn awoke in him. Self-study somewhat distracted Peter from exclusively military pastimes and broadened his mental horizons and practical activities. Deprived of a proper education, Peter, however, grew up in a circle that was far from completely ignorant. The Naryshkins from Matveev's house gained some familiarity with Western culture. Son of A.S. Matveeva, close to Peter, was educated in a European way. Peter had a German doctor. In a word, not only was there no national isolation, but there was a certain habit of the Germans, familiarity with them, sympathy for the West. This habit and sympathy passed on to Peter and made it easier for him to get closer to foreigners and their science.
This rapprochement took place around 1688 in this way: in the preface to the maritime regulations, Peter himself says that Prince Ya. Dolgov brought him an astrolabe as a gift from abroad, and no one knew how to deal with the foreign instrument; then they found Petra knowledgeable person, the Dutchman Franz Timmerman, who explained that to use the astrolabe you need to know geometry and other sciences. It was from this Timmerman that Peter “much eagerly began to learn geometry and fortification.” At the same time, he found an old English boat lying in a barn in the village of Izmailovo. Timmerman explained to Peter that on this boat you can walk against the wind and maneuver (which the Russians could not do). Peter became interested and found a man (like Timmerman - from the German settlement) - the Dutchman Karsten-Brant - who began to teach Peter how to control the sails. First we studied on the narrow Yauza, and then in the village of Izmailovo, on the pond.
The art of navigation fascinated Peter so much that it became his passion. He took the study of this matter very seriously. In 1688, dissatisfied with the fact that there was nowhere to sail near Moscow, he transferred his fun to Lake Pereyaslavl (more than a hundred miles from Moscow to the north). His mother agreed to Peter’s departure, and Peter began building ships in Pereyaslavl with the help of Dutch craftsmen. At this time, he did not want to know anything except mathematics, military affairs and shipboard fun. But he was already seventeen years old, he was very developed both physically and mentally. His mother had the right to expect that her son, who had reached adulthood, would pay attention to state affairs and remove the hated Miloslavskys from them. But Peter was not interested in this and did not think of giving up his studies and fun for politics. To settle him down, his mother married him (January 27, 1689) to Evdokia Feodorovna Lopukhina, to whom Peter had no attraction. Obeying the will of his mother, Peter got married, but a month after the wedding he left for Pereyaslavl from his mother and wife to the ships. But in the summer of 1689, he was summoned by his mother to Moscow, because the fight with the Miloslavskys was inevitable.
The Pereyaslav fun and marriage ended the period of Peter's adolescence. Now he is an adult young man, accustomed to military affairs, accustomed to shipbuilding, educating himself - not theologically, as his father and brothers were educated, but semi-practically, semi-theoretically, mainly in the field of exact and applied knowledge. He has no habit of etiquette, he has a habit of foreigners - his teachers, he has a democratic circle of camaraderie. He was accustomed to studies and work, but had not yet matured into social activities; Promising a lot as a capable person, he arouses displeasure and anxiety among his loved ones, because he is busy only with fun, and fun that is strange for a king. His interests as a sovereign are protected by others, others choose minutes for last fight with the usurpers of his power, others guide Peter’s actions in this struggle.
These others were: Natalya Kirillovna, her brother Lev Naryshkin and, it seems, most of all Peter’s uncle, Prince B. Golitsyn. In 1689, when Peter was seventeen years old, he could already, as an adult, abolish Sophia’s regency. The failure of the second Crimean campaign in 1689 aroused general discontent and provided a convenient reason for action against it. Considering these circumstances, Peter's party prepared to act; The leader in these preparations, according to a fairly widespread opinion, was Prince B. Golitsyn.
But they did not dare to directly start a case against Sophia. At the same time, Sophia, realizing that time was approaching a denouement, that power should be given to Peter, and not wanting this, did not dare to take any drastic measures to strengthen herself on the throne. She really wanted to change from being a ruler to becoming an autocrat, in other words, to be crowned king. Back in 1687, she and Shaklovity thought to achieve this goal with the help of the Streltsy army. But the archers did not want to raise a new rebellion against the Naryshkins and demand the illegal accession of Sophia to the throne. Deprived of the sympathy of the archers in this matter, Sophia abandons the idea of ​​a wedding, but decides to call herself an autocrat in official acts. Having learned about this, the Naryshkins loudly protest; There is also a murmur among the people against this innovation. In order to retain power, Sophia has only one thing left: to attract popular sympathy and at the same time incite the people against Peter and the Naryshkins. That is why both Sophia and her faithful servant Shaklovity slander the people about their opponents and use all means to quarrel with them the people, especially the archers. But the archers were very little swayed by Sophia’s speeches, and this deprived her of courage. She watched the Naryshkins’ behavior with fear and expected an attack from them. Relations between the two sides worsened from hour to hour.
Peter, summoned by his mother from Pereyaslavl to Moscow, in the summer of 1689 began to show Sophia his power. In July, he forbade Sophia to participate in the procession, and when she did not listen, he himself left the procession, thus causing public trouble for his sister. At the end of July, he barely agreed to issue awards to the participants of the Crimean campaign and did not receive Moscow military leaders when they came to thank him for the awards. When Sophia, frightened by Peter's antics, began to excite the Streltsy with the hope of finding support and protection in them, Peter did not hesitate to temporarily arrest the Streltsy chief Shaklovity.
Peter, or rather those who led him, were afraid of the Streltsy movement in favor of Sophia. While in Preobrazhenskoye, they closely monitored the state of affairs and the mood of the archers in Moscow through persons loyal to them. At the same time, Sophia was afraid of further troubles from Peter and sent her spies to Preobrazhenskoye. Relations by the beginning of August 1689 had become so strained that everyone was expecting an open break; but neither side wanted to be a beginner, but both were diligently preparing for defense.
The gap occurred in this way: on the evening of August 7, Sophia gathered a significant armed force in the Kremlin. They say that she was frightened by the rumor that on the night of August 7-8, Peter and his amusing people would appear in Moscow and deprive Sophia of power. The Streltsy, called to the Kremlin, were agitated in favor of Sophia and against Peter by several persons loyal to the ruler. Seeing military preparations in the Kremlin, hearing incendiary speeches against Peter, the tsar’s followers (including the archers) let him know about the danger. But they exaggerated the danger and told Peter that the archers were rioting against him and his mother and were plotting capital murder against them. Peter jumped straight out of bed onto his horse and, with three guides, galloped away from Preobrazhensky to the Trinity Lavra. In the following days, starting from August 8, all the Naryshkins, all the nobles and officials who were on Peter’s side, came to the Lavra; An armed force also appeared - the Amusing Regiment and the Sukharev Streltsy Regiment. With the departure of Peter and his court to the Lavra, an open break came.
From the Lavra, Peter and his leaders demanded from Sophia a report on the armaments on August 7 and the sending of deputations from all rifle regiments. Without releasing the archers, Sophia sent Patriarch Joachim to Peter as a mediator for a truce. But the patriarch, devoted to Peter, did not return to Moscow. Peter again demanded representatives from the archers and from the tax people of Moscow. This time they came to the Lavra against Sophia’s wishes. Seeing that it is impossible to resist Peter, that there is no support among the archers, Sophia herself goes to the Trinity to make peace with Peter. But she is brought back from the road in the name of Peter and with the threat that if she comes to Trinity, they will treat her “dishonestly.” Returning to Moscow, Sophia tries to raise the archers and the people against Peter, but fails. The Sagittarius themselves force Sophia to hand over Shaklovity to Peter, whom he demanded. Sophia and Prince V.V. are deprived. Golitsyn; After the extradition of Shaklovity, Golitsyn voluntarily appeared at the Lavra, and Peter announced to him an exile to Kargopol (later to Pinega) for arbitrariness in administration and for negligence in the Crimean campaign. Shaklovity was interrogated and tortured, confessed to many plans against Peter in favor of Sophia, betrayed many like-minded people, but did not admit to plotting against Peter’s life. He and some Streltsy close to him were executed (September 11). Sylvester Medvedev, devoted to Sofya, did not escape execution either. Accused as a heretic and state criminal, he was first sentenced to exile, but later (1691), as a result of new accusations against him, he was executed.
Together with the fate of Sophia's friends, her fate was also decided. Dealing with these friends, Peter wrote a letter to his brother Ivan about his intentions: “Now, brother Sovereign, the time has come for both of our persons to rule the kingdom entrusted to us by God ourselves, since we came to the measure of our age, and the third shameful person, our sister, with We don’t deign to have our two men in titles and in dealing with everyday affairs... It’s shameful, sir, that at our perfect age, that shameful person should own the state bypassing us.” This is how Peter expressed his desire to remove Sophia and take over power, and a little later than this letter, Sophia received a direct order from Peter to go to the monastery. Obeying necessity, she moved to live in the Novodevichy Convent (near Moscow), but did not become a nun.
Thus, in the fall of 1689, Sophia’s reign ended. The kings began to rule without guardianship, or, more precisely, with the sick and feeble-minded Ivan, Peter alone ruled with his loved ones.

Peter I is the most famous representative of the Romanov family. Many are dedicated to him scientific works and works of art both in our country and abroad. During his reign the course was dramatically changed Russian history: The country turned into a powerful empire, on par with modern European powers. The entire imperial period of Russia followed the path outlined by this sovereign.

Pyotr Alekseevich was born on May 30, 1672 in Moscow, baptized on June 29, 1672 in the Moscow Miracle Monastery. At the sixth month of life, he already began to walk. From the age of five, clerk Nikita Moiseevich Zotov was assigned to him. He helped his ward master literacy, but Peter never received a good education as a child.

In 1697, Peter traveled to Europe with educational purpose. He visited Livonia, Courland, Holland, England, Germany and Austria. There the king studied shipbuilding, anatomy, learned how to remove teeth and acquired many more skills in various crafts.

After the death of Fyodor Alekseevich on April 27, 1682, ten-year-old Peter was elected tsar. However, as a result of the intrigues of Princess Sophia and the Miloslavsky clan, which led to the Streltsy riot in Moscow in May of the same year, dual power was established in the state with the proclamation of Sophia as ruler. After these events, Peter’s mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, was forced to retire with her son in the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow. The once beloved estate of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, which, according to historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, “a station yard on the way to St. Petersburg,” became a temporary royal residence.

The Russian Emperor Peter the Great lived a complex and stormy life. A life filled with deeds and events, sometimes scary and bloody, sometimes majestic...
The childhood of the transformer of the Russian state was also complex and stormy...

Peter was born on the night of May 30 (June 9), 1672.
Or in 7180 according to the then accepted calendar “from the creation of the world.”

The exact place of Peter's birth is unknown.
- Some historians indicated the Kremlin’s Terem Palace as the birthplace.
- And according to folk tales, he was born in the village of Kolomenskoye.
- Izmailovo was also indicated.

His father, the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, “The Quietest,” as he was popularly called, had numerous offspring.
He was married 2 times.
For the 1st time on Marya Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya (1648-1669).
For the 2nd time - on Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina (since 1671).
From his first marriage he had 13 children.
True, many of them left the sinful earth quite early - even during their father’s lifetime.
And of his sons, only Fyodor and Ivan survived him. But both were very sickly and grew frail.
Perhaps the thought of being left without heirs prompted the king to rush into a second marriage.
The Tsar met his second wife Natalya in the house of Artamon Sergeevich Matveev, where she grew up and was brought up.
Infatuated with a beautiful and intelligent girl, the king promised to find her a groom and soon wooed her himself.
This young queen, bursting with health, gave birth to a beautiful and healthy boy.
On the day when Tsarevich Peter was born, thanksgiving services were held throughout Moscow and cannons were fired.
And the happy father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, joyfully forgave government debts, gave gifts to his neighbors, and canceled harsh sentences for criminals.
People with gifts traveled from near and far to the royal palace.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich had high hopes for his youngest son.
Of the two sons from the first marriage, one, Fyodor, was sick, and the other, Ivan, was weak-minded.
Daughter Sophia did not count.
So all hope was only in Peter.
It was he who should have become a worthy heir.

The prince was baptized on June 29, 1672 in the Chudov Monastery. It was the day of the holy apostles Peter and Paul.
According to other sources, in the Church of Gregory of Neocaesarea in Derbitsy.
He was baptized by Archpriest Andrei Savin and named Peter.
And the godfather was Tsarevich Fyodor Alekseevich.
According to ancient custom, the measure was “taken off” from the newborn and the icon of the Apostle Peter was painted in its size.

Peter's first childhood years were carefree and fun.
The newborn had many nannies and a wet nurse.
According to some reviews, Peter was very physically strong from childhood, “aged and handsome and strong in body.”
In winter, Petrusha enjoyed rolling around the icy mountains. And in the summer he traveled around the capital in a funny little carriage, which was drawn by four dark red horses and accompanied by five amusing dwarfs.

If Tsar Alexei had lived longer, one could guarantee that Peter would have received the same excellent, for that time, education as his brother Fedor...

We read about the first years of Peter’s life from Lev Zhdanov:
“Everyone sees how much the king loves the child.
None of the sons, even the first-born, the late Tsarevich Alexei, who was at one time declared heir to the throne, was shown such love and attention by his father.
How many times has it happened, not to mention sending someone to inquire about the child’s health, he himself goes to the queen’s half, to Petrusha’s chamber and inquires whether the baby slept well. Are you healthy, are you happy?..
Not a single new manifestation of the boy’s inner life escapes his father: the word that Petrusha babbled for the first time, a frisky prank, the first steps of his full, strong, as if engorged legs... The first pranks and whims... The Tsar watched everything sensitively, almost jealously, as if regretting if he did not follow them himself, if mothers and sisters, even the mother herself, announced to him some good news about the manifestations of a quickly growing, such a lively, such a smart child.
“And he’s so good looking... You’re like a glove,” Alexey often says to Natalya, admiring his son.
“I would be happy, but beauty is something... Happiness is not in her,” the mother answers with a sigh and baptizes the baby, as if wanting to drive away from him any ghost of grief and misfortune with the sacred sign of the cross.
And, as if sensing how much love and care he is surrounded by, the prince grows stronger and grows quickly, like a rare flower stretches upward, in warmth and comfort, under the rays of the sun, under the care of the caring, skillful hand of a gardener.
Both the body and spirit of the baby quickly grow stronger. What he desires must be given to him. He was so accustomed that his every desire was a law for those around him. And the trouble is if this desire is not fulfilled soon, or for some reason they want to dissuade him from an uncomfortable undertaking. He can cry for hours. He doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink anything, doesn’t listen to anyone until he gets his way.
Only the father, and not with severity, but with affection and persuasion, can calm Petrusha down.
He also loves and listens to his mother. But at critical moments she is ready to cry with the child, ready to do everything, and does not even try to curb the obstinate, unrestrained boy.
- All the boys are on the same page. Look, my Natasha is completely different... - she says.
The only good thing is that there was almost no case when the prince demanded something dangerous, harmful to him or those around him.
Sometimes those around us don’t understand why a child wants to run out into the open air in bad weather, admire the flashes of lightning, which, of course, gets his feet wet, and his whole head, from which he even pulls off his cap...
Or you may be asked to ride a horse. And if you put him on a small bush, the boy won’t be able to resist.
Brilliant, beautiful things that were on display in a mother’s chambers or on a father’s shelf—all of them were in his hands. And carved goblets, and figurines, clocks, so temptingly ticking. Much is broken at the same time... And he strives to take a closer look at everything.
Almost the little one does not play with his own toys - dolls, and various utensils, although he and his sister Natalya have quite a few of them.
And, on the day of the angel, the Moscow merchants gave him a whole military outfit, tiny, but fine workmanship, just like a real one.
And apparently they pleased the child. Since then, all he has been tinkering with is his weapons. I remember how on the Kremlin Square in his presence the warriors waved their sabers, welcoming the Tsar. And you know, every now and then, he waves his saber... He prances on his horse on a wooden one - and fights endlessly with some invisible enemies...”
(“Rus at the turning point”).

Peter loved war games.
In the court workshops they made bows, wooden guns and pistols, drums, and toy banners.
The prince himself amused himself with this weapon and armed the “amusing children”, that is, his peers from the families of the court nobility, who always surrounded the young princes.

The king himself was not yet old at that time and intended to live a long time.
But in 1676 he died unexpectedly.
Peter was still very young at this time (he was only 4 years old).
And his elder brother Fyodor Alekseevich ascended the throne. By that time he was less than 14 years old.
The death of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the accession of his eldest son Fyodor (from Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna, née Miloslavskaya) pushed Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna and her relatives, the Naryshkins, into the background.
Queen Natalya was forced to go to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow...

After the death of his father, his half-brother, godfather and new Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich became the guardian of 4-year-old Peter.

The Tsar and the Patriarch came to the opening of the course, served a prayer service with the blessing of water, sprinkled holy water on the new spude and, after blessing him, sat him down to learn the alphabet.
Clerk Nikita Moiseevich Zotov bowed to the ground to his student and began the course of his teaching.
And he immediately received a fee:
- the patriarch gave him a hundred rubles,
- the sovereign granted him a court, made him a nobleman,
- and the queen mother sent two pairs of rich outer and underwear and “the whole outfit,” which Zotov immediately dressed up in after the departure of the sovereign and patriarch.

The prince studied willingly and smartly.
He took with his teacher the course of science required at that time - the alphabet, that is, reading and writing, memorized the Book of Hours and the Psalter, the Gospel and the Apostle. And subsequently he remembered well and quoted texts from the Holy Scriptures, and could outshine many clergymen. He loved to read and sing in the church choir.

Anna Romanova in the book “Peter the First. Emperor of All Russia" writes:

“Peter suddenly showed considerable abilities: he learned to read and spell with ease, was extremely intelligent and had a good memory. His idols were such outstanding figures of Russian history as Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Alexander Nevsky and, of course, his own father, Alexei Romanov. The prince greedily absorbed knowledge from books and pictures, which were more for fun, but they depicted ships, famous buildings of the world, astronomical phenomena and other objects that developed children's imagination. Since childhood, Peter dreamed of creating his own cities, erecting beautiful buildings, storming impregnable fortresses and sailing - however, the latter dream still seemed unrealistic: the boy did not know how to swim and was terribly afraid of water.”

In his spare time, the boy loved to listen to different stories and look at books with “kunsts” (drawings and pictures).
Zotov told the queen about this.
And she ordered him to give out “historical books,” manuscripts with drawings from the palace library. And she ordered several new illustrations from the painters at the Armory.

Noticing when Peter began to get tired of reading books, Zotov took the book from his hands and showed him these pictures, accompanying the review with explanations.

From Alexandra Osipovna Ishimova we read:
“When Peter lost the care of his tender father, his equally tender brother took his place, and his upbringing continued with the same care.
Then clerk Nikita Moiseevich Zotov was assigned to him as his teacher. He taught him to read and write in Russian, as well as history - universal and especially domestic. Although Zotov himself did not receive an excellent education, which was too rare at that time in our fatherland, and did not know foreign languages, he was a very smart man who understood how to make learning enjoyable, and, moreover, was diligent and tireless. His historical lessons could not be called by this strict name. No, these were not lessons, but entertaining conversations, during which he told his little student about the glorious Russian sovereigns, especially about Svyatoslav, Vladimir, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, John the Great and Terrible, and, finally, about Mikhail and Alexei. To make his stories even more diverse, Zotov ordered to present in drawings all the most important incidents that happened during these famous reigns, and placed them in all the rooms of the prince.
Oh, if you could imagine, my little friends, how Peter liked these pictures and stories! What fire shone in his eyes when he heard about the courage of Svyatoslav or Vladimir! How joyfully Donskoy smiled at his victory! How I admired the great deeds of Ivan the Terrible! How upset I was at his crimes! In a word, Zotov fully achieved his goal: the five-year-old prince, despite his infant mind, realized that only history can teach a sovereign how to reign, and he fell in love with this science more than all others. Sometimes, listening to a description of a city or fortress, he asked to be shown their plans, and, to the surprise of everyone around him, he examined them with the attentiveness and curiosity of an adult. It often happened that the quick mind of a student penetrated further than the knowledge of the teacher, and good Zotov, despite all his zeal, was unable to answer his incessant questions and was forced in such cases to resort to learned foreigners who were in the royal service, and sometimes to the king himself, who with particular pleasure loved to talk with the smart little one and was amazed at his extraordinary abilities.
Such was the mind of Peter in his tenderest childhood. Now I will tell my little readers an incident that will show them his heart and character at this age.
Tsarina Natalia Kirillovna, despite all the filial respect Feodor Alekseevich had for her, had many sorrows during her widowhood. The close boyars who surrounded the tsar, mostly relatives of his mother, the Miloslavskys, hated the second wife of Alexei Mikhailovich and with her all the Naryshkins. Taking advantage of Theodore's frequent painful attacks and the meekness of Natalia, who did not like to disturb the sick sovereign with her complaints, they and their followers slandered her, tried to alienate her from the king and even sometimes dared to show her their disrespect. One day, the most daring of them, boyar Yazykov, boasted that he would force the dowager queen to leave the palace and live in another house, distant from the royal one. And in fact, he appeared the next day to Natalia Kirillovna and made her his bold proposal under the pretext that her large court could not fit in the same house as the sovereign’s.
First the queen, knowing. That this was Yazykov’s invention, she was not alarmed by this reckless proposal and firmly refused it, but then, when the deceiver said that he had come on behalf of the tsar, Natalia shuddered and, frightened by the danger that threatened her son in the disgrace of his royal brother, could not hold back her tears . Meanwhile, this son, the object of her tenderest care, was right there in the room. The little one listened in amazement to the impudent man who dared to speak so rudely to the empress. He was already ready to scream in anger, when suddenly tears shone in his mother’s beautiful eyes. Oh, how hard Peter’s baby heart beat! The queen, his adored mother, cried at the bold words of her subject! At that moment he saw that his own anger was not enough to punish Yazykov, and, without saying a word to anyone, he went to the king.
Feodor Alekseevich, as usual, was delighted to see his pet, but was frightened by his alarmed appearance and carefully asked what was wrong with him. Then Peter kissed his brother’s hand several times and said: “Sir! I came to you with a complaint about Yazykov. He wants to drive me and my mother out of my father’s house and alienate me from you, just as in the old days Godunov alienated and then killed Tsarevich Dimitri. If you like the house where we are being sent, then I will live in it with you, but I will not leave my father’s house without you, sir, anywhere.” Having said this, the little prince turned to everyone surrounding the sovereign at that time and added with tears in his eyes: “Am I not the son of the great Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, that there is no place for me in my father’s house?”
Theodore was touched almost as much as his little brother. He hastened to calm and console him with his caresses and immediately went to the queen to assure her that he had never thought of giving Yazykov such unfair orders. He left it to her to punish the deceiver as she pleased, but the meek Natalia refused this and generously forgave the guilty boyar. She was pleased to show this favor: such joy spread in her soul when she thanked her little protector with tender caresses that she would like to give everyone at least half of the happiness that her mother’s heart could feel.
So Peter, even in childhood, was the consolation and glory of his mother and the entire royal family.”
(“History of Russia in stories for children”).

Peter loved his teacher, always treated him warmly and with respect...

On April 27 (May 7), 1782, after 6 years of reign, the sickly Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich died.
His death was followed by turbulent events, which turned out to be unexpected and bloody in many ways...

After the king there were 2 of his brothers left:
- Sr. Ivan, son of Tsar Alexei from his 1st wife Miloslavskaya, and
- Peter, son from his 2nd wife Naryshkina.

The question arose as to who should inherit the throne:
- the eldest - sickly and weak-minded 16-year-old Ivan, according to custom or
- the youngest – healthy and cheerful 10-year-old Peter.

As always in such cases, a struggle between boyar groups for power began...

Having secured the support of Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins and their supporters enthroned Peter on April 27 (May 7), 1682. At the same time, they proclaimed Peter tsar, bypassing his older brother Ivan.

In fact, the Naryshkin clan came to power and Artamon Matveev, summoned from exile, was declared the “great guardian.”

It was difficult for Ivan Alekseevich’s supporters to support their candidate as a “mournful leader,” that is, by nature mentally limited and stupid.
The organizers actually palace coup announced a version of the hand-written transfer of the “scepter” by the dying Fyodor Alekseevich to his younger brother Peter.
But no reliable evidence of this was presented.

However, the Miloslavskys, relatives of Tsarevich Ivan and Princess Sophia through their mother, saw in the proclamation of Peter as tsar an infringement of their interests. And, naturally, they did not accept this.
Moreover, the elder sister of the new king, Sophia, also dreamed of the throne.
She was brought up with Fyodor Alekseevich. She was smart and ambitious. And she did not want to be content with the usual fate of a Russian princess.

The Miloslavskys provoked the Streltsy riot.
The Streltsy, of whom there were more than 20 thousand in Moscow, had long shown discontent and waywardness. Their growing dissatisfaction was caused by violence, extortion, bribes of the leaders of the Razryadny, Streletsky and other orders, streltsy and soldier colonels.
The Sagittarians were constantly delayed in their salaries and forced to work for the lower-ranking people for a living. They were transferred, regardless of protest, from one duty station to another.
Even in the winter and spring of 1682, the Streltsy complained more than once about the colonels, but to no avail. Now, due to the change of power and the struggle of court factions, things have taken a different turn...

The intrigues of the Miloslavskys and Princess Sophia caused ferment and chaos among the Moscow archers.

The Miloslavskys skillfully took advantage of the unrest that had begun among the Streltsy.
They started a rumor that the Naryshkins intended to find the instigators of the riots and execute them and all those dissatisfied.
They spread the fiction that Peter's uncle, the young boyar Ivan Kirillovich Naryshkin, under the pretext of his nephew's youth, wanted to reign himself. And Tsarevich Ivan, in order not to be allowed to the throne, has either already been secretly strangled by assassins sent, or is about to do so.
Who knows, the archers believed or did not believe in these fables. The main thing is that they received a pretext for rebellion.
And, incited by the Miloslavskys, on May 15 (25), 1682, they spoke out openly.
They, armed to the teeth, shouting that the evil Naryshkins had strangled Tsarevich Ivan, moved towards the Kremlin.

Natalya Kirillovna, hoping to calm the rioters, together with the patriarch and boyars, led Peter and his brother to the Red Porch.
However, this did not at all cool the archers, and the rebellion did not end there. On the contrary, it continued to flare up.
Patriarch Joachim tried to calm down the troublemakers. But his efforts came to nothing.

Maria Demkina in her book “The Age of Peter I” writes:
“Ivan’s appearance somewhat confused the rebels. Then the especially daring ones dragged ladders, climbed up them to the porch and began to look at the prince. “Are you Ivan?” - they asked.
Peter, according to eyewitnesses, looked at everything calmly, without changing his face. But the worst was yet to come. “They didn’t kill Ivan, which means they will kill him again!” - the archers reasoned. Miloslavsky’s people reminded that the traitors had not yet been punished. All those undesirable were demanded to Sophia and Miloslavsky.
At this time, Matveev came out onto the porch of the palace. He recalled how the archers calmed various troublemakers - from Razin to the slaves who rebelled in Kolomenskoye, how gloriously they fought with the Turks and Poles. Then he advised them to disperse, promising that all their requests would be considered. The Sagittarius hesitated: Matveev enjoyed authority among them.
The matter was ruined by Mikhail Dolgoruky, who was in charge together with Prince Yuri in the Streletsky Prikaz. Deciding to show his power, he told the archers: “Go home, there’s no fuss, we’ll sort it out without you!” Enraged by his words, the archers pulled the obese boyar off the porch and threw him onto the spears...”

The heated archers, pushing back the guards, rushed to the Chamber of Facets to find the traitors and deal with them.
The boyar Artamon Matveev was thrown onto the poles and hacked to death.
After this the massacre began.
And it continued all day...
The archers hacked to death the governor Grigory Romodanovsky.
They also killed 2 brothers of Queen Natalia - Ivan and Afanasy Naryshkin. Ivan Kirillovich, unfoundedly accused of treason and encroachment on the life of the prince, after terrible torture, was dragged to Red Square and there he was literally cut into pieces.

10-year-old Peter witnessed a brutal massacre of people close to him.
These events left an indelible mark on the boy’s memory, affecting both his mental health and his worldview...

Here is what V.I. Buganov writes about this:
“The reprisals of the rebels against people close to him could not help but shake Peter’s young and impressionable nature - they happened before his eyes and left a heavy mark on his soul. Neither then nor later did he understand the justice of the archers’ complaints; He kept the hatred for them, or at best, hostility, which entered his heart at the age of 10 for many years, and it broke out more than once, sometimes becoming wild. Unbridled forms. Contemporaries, including foreigners, who observed him in adulthood, believed that the fits of anger and convulsive twitching of the head that were characteristic of him largely stemmed from the shocks of childhood and adolescence.”

On May 26, elected officials from the Streltsy regiments came to the palace and demanded that the elder Ivan be recognized as the first tsar, and the younger Peter as the second.
Fearing a repetition of the pogrom, the patriarch and bishops, boyars and elected people of the Moscow state followed the lead of the archers. And they agreed.
And Patriarch Joachim immediately - on June 25 - crowned them kings. He performed a solemn prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral for the health of the two named kings.
By the way, in the Kremlin Armory there is a two-seat throne for young kings with a small window in the back. It was through him that Princess Sophia and those close to her, like a prompter in a theater, told the boys how to behave and what to say during palace ceremonies.

On May 29, the archers insisted that Princess Sofya Alekseevna take over control of the state due to the minor age of her brothers. She, as usual, refused and refused the offered honor. But, in the end, she was “persuaded” and she pretended to agree.

So, with the help of the archers, Sophia ensured that, along with Peter, his weak-minded brother Ivan was proclaimed tsar, and she herself was appointed co-ruler.

Thus, as a result of the rebellion, a political compromise was reached: Ivan and Peter were placed on the throne together, and their elder sister, Princess Sofya Alekseevna, was named ruler.

After these events, the widow queen Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, together with her son Peter, the second tsar, had to retire from the court to a palace near Moscow in the village of Preobrazhenskoye and retire there.
So the boy lost his teacher-clerk and stopped studying.

From that time on, Peter and his mother lived mainly in the villages of Preobrazhenskoye and Izmailovo.
And they appeared in the Kremlin only to participate in official ceremonies.
And their relationship with Sophia became more and more hostile.

The boy was left to his own devices.
And, active and energetic, he spent a lot of time playing with his peers - the “palace kids”.

Since 1683, not guided by anyone, Peter began a long game here, which taught him a lot.
He became addicted to war games.
In Preobrazhenskoye, he formed two “amusing” companies from sleeping bags, yard grooms, and then falconers and gyrfalcon keepers - his peers.
They were replenished with hunters from nobles and other ranks.
These companies soon grew into two “amusing” battalions.
Peter started a restless fuss with these amusing creatures in Preobrazhenskoye.
He built an amusing yard, an amusing hut for managing the team, an amusing stable. I took the harness for my artillery from the Konyushenny Prikaz.
In a word, the game has turned into an entire institution with a special staff, a budget, and a “funny treasury.”
Peter spent all his free time away from the palace - in the villages of Vorobyovo and Preobrazhenskoye.
Every year his interest in military affairs increased.
Peter dressed and armed his “amusing” army, which consisted of peers from boyhood games.
In 1685, his “amusing” men, dressed in foreign caftans, marched in regimental formation through Moscow from Preobrazhenskoye to the village of Vorobyovo to the beat of drums.
Peter himself served as a drummer.
In 1686, 14-year-old Peter started artillery with his “amusing” ones.
Gunsmith Fyodor Zommer showed the Tsar grenade and firearms work. 16 guns were delivered from the Pushkarsky order.
To control the heavy guns, the tsar took from the Stable Prikaz adult servants who were keen on military affairs. They were dressed in foreign-style uniforms and identified as amusing gunners.
Sergei Bukhvostov was the first to put on a foreign uniform.
Subsequently, Peter ordered a bronze bust of this 1st Russian soldier, as he called Bukhvostov.

In Preobrazhenskoye, opposite the palace, on the banks of the Yauza, an “amusing town” was built.
During the construction of the fortress, Peter himself worked actively, helping to cut logs and install cannons.
The “Most Joking, Most Drunken and Most Extravagant Council”, created by Peter, was located here - a parody of the Orthodox Church.
The fortress itself was named Preshburg.
Probably named after the then famous Austrian fortress of Presburg (now Bratislava - the capital of Slovakia). Peter heard about her from Captain Sommer.
At the same time, in 1686, the first amusing ships appeared near Preshburg on the Yauza - a large shnyak and a plow with boats.
During these years, Peter became interested in all the sciences that were related to military affairs.

The closest “neighbor” of the village of Preobrazhenskoye was the German settlement.
And Peter had been looking at her life with curiosity for a long time.
It was populated mainly by military people. Of these, Peter began to take officers into his army.
There he first became acquainted with European life, experienced his first passions and made friends among European merchants. Gradually, a company of friends formed around Peter, with whom he spent all his free time.
Peter lit a German pipe.
I started attending German parties with dancing and drinking.
I met Patrick Gordon and Franz Lefort - future associates of Peter.
Started an affair with Anna Mons...

At the beginning of the 1690s, the battalions deployed into 2 regular regiments, settled in the villages of Preobrazhenskoye and Semyonovskoye.
In the future, they became real military units - the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments - the basis of Peter's guard.
Foreign officers trained them.

Peter staged real battles with cannon fire and storming of fortresses.

Peter's best friend was a native of Geneva, Franz Lefort. He told him a lot about European countries and taught him the art of war.
Lefort taught the young king fencing, dancing, foreign languages, artillery, shipbuilding.

With great interest (“much willingly”) the tsar studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences, which were taught to him by the Dutchman Franz Timmerman.

One day, walking with Timmerman through the village of Izmailovo, Peter entered the Linen Yard.
And in one of the barns I found an English boat lying around.
In 1688, he commissioned the Dutch shipwright Carsten Brandt to repair, arm and equip this boat. And then take it down to the Yauza River.
And under his leadership I swam on my boat.
However, the Yauza and Prosyany Pond turned out to be too small for the ship. Therefore, Peter went to Pereslavl-Zalessky, to Lake Pleshcheevo.
There, at the mouth of the Trubezha River, which flows into this lake, he founded the 1st shipyard for the construction of ships.
And a few years later another shipyard was built in Arkhangelsk...

Princess Sophia considered Peter's military activities to be stupid extravagance. But she was pleased that he did not interfere in royal affairs.
For the time being, the mother was also calm about her son’s fun.
But then I decided that it was time for him to settle down. It's time to lead a life worthy of a king's title.
And in order to bring her 17-year-old son to reason, Natalya Kirillovna decided to marry him.
And she found him a bride, young and beautiful girl- Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina is the daughter of a okolnichy.
His mother was the closest person to Peter, he loved her very much and did not contradict her.
And on January 27, 1689, the wedding of the “junior” king took place.

Anna Romanovna:
“At first he liked his wife - young, beautiful, smart, though not too rich, but that’s okay. However, realizing that his mother married him only in order to curb her son’s willful and freedom-loving nature, he fell into depression and left his wife at home, going to Pereyaslavl to build ships.
Evdokia, together with Natalya Kirillovna, wrote touching letters to the flighty Tsar, begging him to return to Moscow. But Peter was adamant, dissuading women from the presence of urgent matters. This continued until the summer of 1689..."

* * *
After his marriage, according to Russian custom, Peter was now considered an adult.
And he could already lay claim to independent rule.
Consequently, the inevitable end to Sophia's regency came.
Peter's activity greatly worried Princess Sophia.
After all, she understood perfectly well that with the coming of age of her half-brother, she would have to give up power. And she really didn’t want to part with her...

On July 8, 1689, on the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the first public conflict occurred between the matured Peter and the Ruler.
Without challenging the rights of his elder brother, Peter was ready to remain the 2nd great sovereign. But he was not going to tolerate the 3rd reigning person in the person of his sister.
On that day, according to custom, a religious procession was held from the Kremlin to the Kazan Cathedral.
At the end of the mass, Peter approached his sister and announced that she should no longer dare to walk with the men in the procession.
Sophia accepted the challenge: she picked up the image Holy Mother of God and went for crosses and banners.
Unprepared for such an outcome, Peter defiantly left the ceremony and left Moscow.

Princess Sophia did not want to lose power and was not going to give up her position so easily.
And therefore, not expecting Peter to make his claims to the throne, she decided to launch a preemptive strike. She decided to seize power by resorting to a palace coup.

On August 7, 1689, unexpectedly for everyone, a decisive event occurred.
On this day, Princess Sophia ordered the devoted and obedient chief of the Streltsy, Fyodor Shaklovity, to send more of his people to the Kremlin. As if to accompany him to the Donskoy Monastery on a pilgrimage.
At the same time, rumors about the letter spread. A letter with the news that Tsar Peter at night decided to occupy the Kremlin with his “amusing” regiments. That he decided to kill the princess, the brother of his Tsar Ivan, and seize power.

Shaklovity gathered the Streltsy regiments to march in a “great assembly” to Preobrazhenskoye and beat all of Peter’s supporters for their intention to kill Princess Sophia.
Then they sent three horsemen to observe what was happening in Preobrazhenskoe with the task of immediately reporting if Tsar Peter went anywhere alone or with regiments.
Peter's supporters among the archers, in turn, sent two like-minded people to Preobrazhenskoye.

Peter learned about this event on the night of August 7-8, 1689.
And, without thinking for a minute, he jumped out of bed and rushed to the stable.
He, still in his nightgown, mounted his horse and rode off into the nearest forest. The grooms caught up with him and brought him clothes. Then several commanders and soldiers arrived. With this escort, Peter rushed at full speed to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
At about 6 am, broken in body and exhausted in soul, he reached the monastery.
They say that upon entering the room, the king threw himself on the bed and, bursting into tears, told the archimandrite about his misfortune and begged him for protection.
According to historians, this was the only time when he was mortally afraid for his life, remembering his childhood horror after the death of his father, when in front of his eyes the archers raised his own uncle to spears and killed his other relatives...
The archimandrite managed to calm Peter down.
On the same day, Boris Golitsyn, Buturlin and other commanders of the Preobrazhensky camp arrived in time for Trinity.
On August 8, both queens, Natalya and Evdokia, arrived at the monastery.
Following them came the Semenovsky, Preobrazhensky and Streltsy Sukharevsky regiments.
Negotiations began between Moscow and Trinity, which lasted more than a month.

On August 16, a letter came from Peter, ordering commanders and 10 privates from all regiments to be sent to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.

Princess Sophia strictly forbade the execution of this command under penalty of death.
And a letter was sent to Tsar Peter informing him that there was no way his request could be fulfilled.

Meanwhile, the Streltsy settlements in Moscow were emptying.
And the number of soldiers and all types of weapons in Trinity was constantly increasing.
Even the people most devoted to the princess began to notice signs of loss of spirit.
Having failed to raise the Streltsy in August, Sophia now had to yield step by step to her brother’s insistence.

On August 27, a new letter from Tsar Peter arrived - all regiments should go to Trinity.
Most of the troops obeyed the legitimate king.
And Princess Sophia - with nowhere to go - had to admit defeat.
She herself went to the Trinity Monastery.
But in the village of Vozdvizhenskoye she was met by Peter’s envoys with an order to return to Moscow.
Soon Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent under strict supervision. She was forbidden to leave its boundaries.
There she died 15 years later...

The elder brother, Tsar Ivan (or John), met Peter at the Assumption Cathedral and actually gave him all power.
Since 1689, he no longer took part in the board. Although until his death on January 29 (February 8), 1696, he nominally continued to be a co-tsar.

On October 7, Fyodor Shaklovity was captured and then executed.
In addition to him, the 2 most active supporters of Princess Sophia were executed. And three of the princess’s followers, after being whipped and having their tongues cut, were sent to eternal hard labor in Siberia...

Thus began the reign of Peter...

Introduction

The era of Peter I in the history of Russia, the personality of this outstanding statesman, commander, diplomat and worker enjoy the constant attention of Russian and foreign historians, and not only historians.

IN historical science There are many different, often contradictory points of view on the history of Peter’s transformations, on the personality of Peter himself and the results of his activities. In writing this essay, I was helped by the works of Solovyov S.M., Pavlenko N.I., Molchanov N.N. and etc.

It is impossible to give a comprehensive description of the personality of Peter I in one abstract, therefore only the most important stages the childhood and youth of the Russian emperor, respectively, in the first and second paragraphs of the main part.

Territorial scope of the abstract - Russian empire: Moscow, s. Preobrazhenskoye, German settlement.

The chronological framework of the abstract is the end of the 17th century.

The purpose of the essay is to consider the events that occurred in the childhood and youth of Peter I.

Childhood years of Peter I

Peter I, the future first Russian emperor, was born on the night of May 30, 1672 in the Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin. For his father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, he was only the fourteenth child, but for his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna from the Naryshkin family, he was the first-born son. On the eve of Peter's Fast, this event was celebrated very modestly: with the ringing of bells and a dinner in the Tsarina Golden Chamber. On June 29, the day of Saints Peter and Paul, the child was baptized in the Chudov Monastery and named Peter. The Tsar-Father ordered to take a “measure” from the newborn - to measure the length and width of his body - and to paint an icon of the same dimensions. The icon was painted by the famous painter Simon Ushakov: on one side the Trinity was depicted, and on the other, the face of the Apostle Peter. Under no circumstances in life did Peter be separated from this icon, he took it with him everywhere, and after the death of the emperor it was hung over the royal tombstone.

From childhood, Peter was assigned mothers and nannies, but Natalya Kirillovna did not let go of her favorite “light-Petrushenka” for a moment. The baby was entertained with rattles, harps and cymbals, and he was drawn to toy soldiers, skates and cannons. When Peter was three years old, his father gave him a children's gun and saber.

Thanks to the first happy and calm years of his life spent in his mother’s little house, Peter forever fell in love with small rooms with low ceilings and small windows. Such rooms were in the houses that he built for himself and where he loved to live. Once, while on an official visit to France, Peter preferred a private mansion to the huge chambers prepared for him in the Louvre, ordering his bedroom to be arranged in a cramped and dark room, which previously served as a dressing room. Bogoslovsky M.M. Peter I. Materials for biography. T.1 - M.: OGIZ, 1942. - p.57

At the end of January 1676, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died. Peter was only four years old. In the summer of the same year, fifteen-year-old Fyodor, Peter’s half-brother, the son of Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage to Maria Miloslavskaya, was crowned king. The “bookish” man, Fyodor, was worried that his brother was not being taught to read and write, and repeatedly reminded Tsarina Natalya about this. She believed that her son was still too young, and was in no hurry to educate him. Finally, after a year and a half, they found a suitable teacher, in the queen’s opinion. If the training of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich took place under the guidance of his grandfather, Patriarch Philaret, and boyar Boris Morozov - people educated and experienced in book wisdom, and the mentor of Fyodor and Sophia was Simeon of Polotsk - an outstanding writer, teacher and learned monk, then Peter was assigned nothing as a teacher the unremarkable clerk Nikita Moiseevich Zotov. The lack of education, however, was compensated by the fact that, being a patient and kind man, Zotov not only did not strive to suppress the natural curiosity and restlessness of the royal offspring, but also managed to win the trust of the prince. In addition, as Queen Natalya wished, he “knew the Divine Scripture,” the study of which he paid special attention to in his studies with Peter. Already as an adult, the king remembered these lessons and could freely quote the Holy Scriptures or argue about the interpretation of this or that place in the Gospel.

Zotov was charged with instilling in the boy royal majesty and stateliness. But the “uncle” did not try to force the lively, active child to sit for many hours with a straight back on a chair to develop the habit of the throne. He allowed the prince to climb into attics to his heart's content, play and even fight with noble and streltsy children. When Peter got tired of running around, Nikita Moiseevich sat down next to him and, slowly talking about incidents from his own life, cut out wooden Toys. The prince looked at the “uncle’s” deft hands and began to diligently sharpen the workpiece with a knife. Zotov did not possess any special craftsman skills; he did everything by eye. Peter adopted this skill and, always relying more on his own eye than on drawings and mathematical calculations, he was rarely mistaken.

The habit of filling his leisure hours with various handicrafts, which little Peter developed when his teacher and tutor was clerk Nikita Zotov, remained throughout his life. Even when receiving foreign ambassadors, the tsar could, during a conversation, plan boards for covering a boat, turn chess pieces on a lathe, or tie knots on ship rigging. Rumor claims that once the Prussian ambassador von Prince had to climb to the top of the mast to present the tsar with his credentials - he was so carried away by the equipment of the battleship Predestination, the design of which was personally designed by Peter. Bogoslovsky M.M. Peter I. Materials for biography. T.1 - M.: OGIZ, 1942. - p.75

From the Armory, Nikita Zotov constantly brought books with illustrations to Peter, and later, as the student’s interest in “historical” subjects developed - military art, diplomacy and geography - he ordered for him “amusing notebooks” with colorful images of warriors, foreign ships and cities . In adulthood, Peter I more than once demonstrated diverse and deep historical knowledge. The prince learned everything willingly and subsequently wrote fluently, but with numerous errors.

Classes with Zotov left a mark on Peter’s memory for the rest of his life. As an adult, carrying out reforms in the country, he dreamed that a book would be written on the history of the fatherland; I myself compiled the alphabet of the Russian language, simple to write and easy to remember.

Tsar Fedor Alekseevich died in the spring of 1682 without naming the name of his successor. After him, two brothers could lay claim to the Russian throne - sixteen-year-old Ivan and ten-year-old Peter. Brothers on their father's side, they had different mothers, whose relatives began a fierce struggle for power. Having secured the support of the clergy, the Naryshkins and their supporters elevated Peter to the throne, and his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, was declared ruler. However, the relatives of Tsarevich Ivan and Princess Sophia, the Miloslavskys, did not want to come to terms with this, seeing in the proclamation of Peter as tsar an infringement of their interests. Dissatisfied, they found support among the archers, of whom there were more than 20 thousand people in Moscow.

Early in the morning of May 15, 1681, the alarm sounded in the Streltsy settlements. The archers, incited by the Miloslavskys, armed themselves and, shouting that the Naryshkins had killed Tsarevich Ivan, moved to the Kremlin. Ruler Natalya Kirillovna, hoping to calm the rioters, came out to them on the Red Porch, leading Ivan and Peter by the hands. In the first hours of the riot, major statesmen Artamon Matveev and Mikhail Dolgoruky were killed, and then many other supporters of Queen Natalia. For several days, archers went on a rampage in the capital, robbing and killing. Only on May 26 did they calm down and demand that Peter’s sickly and feeble-minded half-brother, Tsarevich Ivan, also be crowned king. Due to the youth of both kings, the governance of the country was entrusted to Princess Sofya Alekseevna.

Ten-year-old Peter witnessed the horrors of the Streltsy riot. For the rest of his life, the word “streltsy” became hateful to him, which evoked a burning desire to avenge the death of loved ones, tears and humiliation of his mother.

After the solemn ceremony of crowning the princes, named Tsars Ivan V and Peter I, took place, ruler Sophia, who suspected Natalya Kirillovna of intrigue, forced her and Peter to leave Moscow. Queen Natalya settled in a palace near Moscow in the village of Preobrazhenskoye.

The future first Russian emperor was born on May 30 (old style) 1672 ᴦ. He was the 14th child of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, but the first from his second wife Natalia Naryshkina. A big role in the life of Peter was played by the three children of Tsar Alexei from Maria Miloslavskaya: Fyodor, who became king after the death of his father, Sophia, who claimed the role of ruler under her younger brothers, and Ivan, who, although older than Peter, turned out to be sickly and incapable of governing the state. . His father died when Peter was only 4 years old. Under Tsar Fyodor, the Miloslavsky clan strengthened, the Naryshkins were pushed out of power, and Peter spent his childhood years with his mother in the village of Preobrazhenskoye.

Peter was not even 10 years old when he died in 1682. Tsar Feodor
Posted on ref.rf
The question arose: who should be king: the older, sickly and feeble-minded Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich or the young, but healthy and promising Tsarevich Peter? Zemsky Sobor was not convened to resolve this issue, but the patriarch went out to the people in the square and asked who they wanted to see as king. The almost unanimous answer was Petra.

After this, the boyars agreed that Peter should be king. But this haste in the election and failure to comply with the necessary procedures caused misunderstandings and discontent among part of the population. The relatives of Tsarevich Ivan, especially his sister Sophia, did not come to terms with the accession of Peter and the strengthening of the Naryshkins. With the help of her assistants - princes V.V. Golitsyn and Khovansky, Sophia provoked unrest among the archers. May 15, 1682 ᴦ. The archers burst into the Kremlin, entered the palace and killed those whom Sophia considered dangerous to herself. As a result of the Streltsy revolt, Tsarevich Ivan was proclaimed tsar, and Tsarevna Sophia became the ruler of the state under her young brothers. Peter and his mother again retired to Preobrazhenskoye.

The childhood and youth spent in Preobrazhenskoye were not lost for Peter. From an early age he was interested in military toys, and gradually a group of peers gathered around him, with whom Peter played war games. Over time, these games became more and more like real military training. Already at the age of 11, Peter and his “amusing” friends were engaged in real gun shooting, in 1685. The “amusing” ones were dressed in foreign caftans and marched in regimental formation through Moscow from Preobrazhenskoye to Vorobyovo. Peter himself began his service as a drummer and rose through the ranks to general. From these “amusing” troops of Peter, the two future best guards regiments of the Russian army grew - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky.

At the same time, Peter's interest in the fleet and ship building arose. He finds and restores a boat (a small ship), on which he sails along the Yauza, then goes to Lake Pleshcheyevo, where he builds larger ships and travels to the White Sea and goes out on the open sea on a ship for the first time. At the same time, Peter showed a greedy interest in everything new: he trained his “amusing” troops according to a foreign model, learned fortification, mastered geodetic instruments, etc.

In 1689 ᴦ. Princess Sophia, as a result of turbulent events in which the archers were again involved, is removed from power, Peter already becomes the de facto king, but for a long time he does little state affairs. The turning point comes in 1695-1696. during the campaign to Azov. After the capture of Azov in 1696 ᴦ. With the help of Russian ships built on the Don near Voronezh, Peter decides to get to know Europe better and in 1697 ᴦ. goes there as part of the Grand Embassy under the name of Pyotr Mikhailov. The purpose of the embassy was to conclude an alliance with European countries against the Turks. This goal could not be achieved, but another, implicit goal - acquaintance with European culture, science, industry, the skill of Europeans in various matters and especially in shipbuilding - was achieved.

At the beginning of his independent reign, Peter I still adhered to the traditional direction at that time foreign policy Russia - protecting the southern borders from the Crimean Khanate and thereby creating conditions for the development of fertile black soil and steppe lands, the struggle for access to the Black Sea and the organization of a coalition against Turkey to achieve these goals. But after the capture of Azov and the failure of the Great Embassy, ​​Peter decisively changed his foreign policy course. And it’s not just the refusal of Poland and the German emperor to fight with Turkey - access to the Black Sea gave Russia little in geopolitical, military and foreign economic terms, since this sea is closed, the Black Sea straits were reliably controlled by Turkey, and the fight for them, given the strength of the then Turkey and the inevitable opposition of the European powers, promised to be long and unpromising. Advancement to the south, the development of fertile lands was in the interests of the landed aristocracy, and Russia as a whole, as shown further history. But the positions of the landed aristocrats in Russia have always been weak, and they were once again forced to come to terms with the policies of the autocrat, who acted in the geostrategic interests of the state, not society. And in this situation, the Baltic Sea was destined to become a new target for Peter’s energetic activities. It is worth saying that it had long been clear to him that without the sea, Russia could not exist as a strong, powerful European state.

But the Baltic coast was owned entirely and indivisibly by the powerful Sweden, which had the best army in Europe at that time. And Sweden, naturally, was not going to cede the Baltic to Russia without a fight. The war with Sweden began in 1700. with a humiliating defeat near Narva, although Russian troops had numerical superiority. This defeat spurred the feverish activity of Peter I to modernize the Russian army.

The childhood and youth of Peter I - concept and types. Classification and features of the category “Childhood and Youth of Peter I” 2017, 2018.