Alexis of Russia

Alexis was born on , At the age of sixteen, he acceded to the throne after his father's death on 12 July 1645. In August, the Tsar's mother died, and following a pilgrimage to Sergiyev Posad he was crowned on 28 September in the Dormition Cathedral. He was committed to the care of his tutor Boris Morozov, a shrewd boyar open to Western ideas. Morozov pursued a peaceful foreign policy, securing a truce with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and carefully avoiding complications with the Ottoman Empire. His domestic policy aimed at limiting the privileges of foreign traders and abolishing useless and expensive court offices. On 17 January 1648, Morozov procured the marriage of the tsar with Maria Miloslavskaya, himself marrying her sister Anna ten days later; both were daughters of Ilya Danilovich Miloslavsky. Alexis empowered Morozov to conduct reforms to reduce social tensions; however, his measure of tripling the tax burden (arrears for the two years preceding 1648 was demanded) caused heightened popular discontent. Morozov was regarded as a corrupt, self-seeking boyar and was accused of sorcery and witchcraft. In May 1648 Muscovites rose against his faction in the Salt Riot, and the young Tsar was compelled to dismiss them and exile Morozov to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Four months later, Morozov secretly returned to Moscow to regain some of his power. The popular discontent demonstrated by the riot was partially responsible for Alexis' 1649 issuance of a new legal code, the Sobornoye Ulozheniye. ==Later reign==

Military reform In 1648, using the experience of creating regiments of the foreign system during the reign of his father, Alexis began reforming the army. The main direction of the reform was the mass creation of New Order Regiments: Reiters, Soldiers, Dragoons and Hussars. These regiments formed the backbone of the new army of Tsar Alexis. To fulfill the reform goals, a large number of European military specialists were hired for service. This became possible because of the end of the Thirty Years' War, which created a colossal surplus of military professionals in Europe. Rebellions Throughout his reign, Alexis faced rebellions across Russia. After resolving the 1648 Salt Riot Alexis faced rebellions in 1650 in the cities of Pskov and Great Novgorod. Alexis put down the Novgorod rebellion quickly, but was unable to subdue Pskov, and was forced to promise the city amnesty in return for surrender. The Metropolitan Nikon distinguished himself at Great Novgorod and in 1651 became the Tsar's chief minister. By the 1660s, Alexis's wars with Poland and Sweden had put an increasing strain on the Russian economy and public finances. In response, Alexis's government had begun minting large numbers of copper coins in 1654 to increase government revenue but this led to a devaluation of the ruble and a severe financial crisis. As a result, angry Moscow residents revolted in the 1662 Copper Riot, which was put down violently. Schism with the Old Believers In 1653, Patriarch Nikon established a series of reforms that aimed to bring the practices of the Russian Orthodox Church into line with its Greek counterpart. Most notably, the church began to mandate the use of three fingers instead of two in making the sign of the cross. This resulted in significant dissent among the church community. Nevertheless, Alexis continued to support Nikon until 1658, when Nikon abandoned his post due to a personal insult, leaving the seat of the patriarch vacant. In 1666, the tsar convened the Great Moscow Synod, which was attended by Patriarch Macarius III Ibn al-Za'im and Patriarch Paisius of Alexandria, in order to address the problems caused by Nikon. The synod agreed to formally depose Nikon, and also decided to excommunicate all who opposed the reforms of the church; those opponents broke away from the official Russian Orthodox Church to form the Old Believers movement. Several old believers fled to the monastery of Solovki which had revolted in the Solovetsky Monastery uprising. The monastery would be besieged for seven years until 22 January 1676 which was a few days before Alexis's death on 8 February 1676. ==Assessment==

in the presence of Patriarch Nikon, painting by Alexander Litovchenko, 1886 According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition: Alexis's letters were first published by Pyotr Bartenev in 1856. They have earned him a place in the history of Russian literature, as assessed by D. S. Mirsky: A few private letters and an instruction to his falconers is all we have of him. But it is sufficient for Sergey Platonov to proclaim him the most attractive of Russian monarchs. He acquired the moniker Tishayshy, which means "most quiet" or "most peaceful". He received this moniker through the ways he behaved—he would be kind and friendly, but the sounds created from instruments would provoke him. Certain aspects of Russian Orthodoxy, not its most purely spiritual, but its aesthetic and worldly aspects, found in him their most complete expression. The essence of Alexis's personality is a certain spiritual Epicureanism, manifested in an optimistic Christian faith, in a profound, but unfanatical, attachment to the traditions and ritual of the Church, in a desire to see everyone round him happy and at peace, and in a highly developed capacity to extract a quiet and mellow enjoyment from all things. ==Personal description==

monument in Veliky Novgorod In 1666, his doctor Samuel Collins described Alexis (then aged 37) as having "a sanguine complexion with light brown hair, his beard uncut. He is tall and fat of a majestical deportment, severe in his anger, bountiful, charitable". ==Title==

The full title of Alexis in 1667 was: ==Family and children==

, 1882. The winner of the tsardom-wide contest organized by Boris Morozov was his relative Maria Miloslavskaya. Alexis's first marriage to Miloslavskaya was harmonious and felicitous. They had 13 children (five sons and eight daughters) in 21 years of marriage, and she died only weeks after her thirteenth childbirth. Four sons survived her (Alexei, Fyodor, Semyon and Ivan), but within six months of her death, two of these were dead, including Alexei, the 15-year-old heir to the throne. The couple's children were: • Dmitri Alexeevich (1648–1649); crown prince; died in infancy • Yevdokia Alekseevna (1650–1712) • Marfa Alekseyevna (1652–1707) • Alexei Alexeevich (1654–1670); crown prince; died unmarried aged 15 • Anna Alexeevna (23 January 1655– 8 May 1659); died in infancy • Sofia Alexeevna (1657–1704), regent of Russia (1682–1689) for her two younger brothers; never married • Ekaterina Alexeevna (1658–1718) • Maria Alexeevna (1660–1723) • Fyodor III (1661–1682); succeeded his father as Tsar of Russia; died childless • Feodosia Alexeyevna (1662–1713) • Simeon Alexeyevich (1665–1669); died in infancy • Ivan V (1666–1696); was co-ruler along with his younger half-brother Peter, father of Empress Anna • Yevdokia Alexeevna (1669–1669) Alexis remarried on 1 February 1671 to Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina (1 September 1651 – 4 February 1694). She had been brought up in the house of Artamon Matveyev, whose wife was the Scottish-descended Mary Hamilton. Their children were: • Peter I (1672–1725), later known as "Peter the Great", Tsar and first Emperor of Russia • Natalya Alexeevna (1673–1716) • Fyodora Alexeevna (1674–1678) ==Ancestry==