The order of the Russian tsars of the Romanov dynasty. Origin of the Romanov royal dynasty
On February 21, 1613, at the Great Moscow Council there was collected, that is acquired The founder of the new Royal Dynasty is the young boyar Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov. The spiritual difference between the strong-willed "collective" election by the power of the majority and unanimously gaining the rightful Heir to the Throne through a conciliar test of God’s will is very significant, although in historiographical literature it is customary to speak specifically about the “election” of the Tsar by the Council. But the conciliar documents themselves testify only to unanimous, unanimous meeting- finding a new Sovereign and Dynasty. The same documents name Tsar Michael chosen one of God, and not only as a personal chosen one, but also according to the dignity of His Family, chosen by God.
According to genealogical legends, the Russian boyar Family of the Romanovs originates from the governor of the princely family, Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla, who originated “from Lithuania,” who arrived around the 1330s from Veliky Novgorod to serve at the Court of Grand Duke John Danilovich Kalita. In some genealogical records, Andrei Kobyla is indicated as having arrived “from Prus,” that is, from Prussia, or “from the Germans.” All these characteristics - from Lithuania, from Prussia or from the Germans do not contradict each other - they mean the same lands on the southeastern coast of the Varangian (Baltic) Sea.
Ancient Prussia, a vast region on the south-eastern coast of the Baltic, was conquered by the German Teutonic Order in the first quarter of the 13th century and forcibly Germanized. But part of the lands of East Prussia at the same time found itself in the possession of the Principality of Lithuania, whose statehood in turn was based on the Old Russian cultural tradition: until the first third of the 16th century, the written language of Lithuania was the Old Russian language, in which chronicles, legal and commercial records were written.
Since ancient times, these lands were inhabited by Japhetic Slavic and Baltic tribes, who lived in close cultural interaction. The surviving fragments of the ancient Prussian language indicate its closeness, on the one hand, to the Slavic language, on the other hand, to the Baltic dialects, which then included the unwritten Lithuanian language.
Since ancient times, Prusskaya Street has existed in Veliky Novgorod. Located at the Zagorodsky End, it originated from the Pokrovsky Gate of the Novgorod Detinets (the central part of the Kremlin), and this was a place of settlement not for visiting foreigners, but for native Orthodox Novgorodians. The first mention of Prusskaya Street in the history of Novgorod dates back to 1218, when during the rebellion of the Trade Side and the Nerevsky End, Lyudin End and the residents of Prusskaya Street supported the mayor Tverdislav. The name of the street appears in the Novgorod Chronicle under 1230. But archaeological research indicates that, as an urban structure, long before 1218, a street already existed in this place, possibly with the same name, because the mention of 1218 does not refer to the founding or name of this Prussian street. It’s just that the oldest mention of it that has reached us dates back to this year. Another mention in the Novgorod Chronicle dates back to 1230 - in connection with the Temple of the Twelve Apostles on Propastekh, near which Novgorodians who died of hunger in 1230 were massively buried. It is also significant that the year 1218 indicates a compact settlement of Orthodox Prussian Slavs in Novgorod even before the start of the seizure of East Prussia in 1225 by the Teutonic Order.
Many noble native Novgorod families had their origins “from Prus”. For example, there was a famous Prussian governor of Slavic origin, Mikhail Prushanin, who arrived in Veliky Novgorod with his squad at the beginning of the 13th century and then served the Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. According to some legends, Mikhail Prushanin took part in the famous Battle of the Neva (1240); according to others, his son was a participant in the battle.
Mikhail Prushanin was the founder of the Russian noble and boyar families of the Shestovs, Morozovs, and Saltykovs. The mother of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich Ksenia Ioannovna, the Great Nun Martha, was the daughter of Ivan Vasilyevich Shestov.
According to family legend, Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla was one of the sons of the Prussian prince Divon Alexa (Bear) - a direct descendant of the Prussian Tsar Videvut, whose life dates back to the 4th century AD.
Prince Divon received Holy Baptism in Novgorod the Great with the name John. The famous Novgorodian, hero of the Battle of the Neva Gavrila Aleksich († 1241) according to legend was the brother of Prince Divon-John, perhaps not a brother, but a cousin or second cousin. Gavrilo Aleksich also became the founder of many noble Russian families - the Pushkins, Akinfovs, Chelyadins, Khromykh-Davydovs, Buturlins, Sviblovs, Kamenskys, Kuritsyns, Zamytskys, Chulkovs and others.
Their common ancestor, the Prussian Tsar Videvut, and his brother Prince Bruten arrived along the Vistula or Neman on the Baltic coast and founded under their leadership an ancient Kingdom, which they named, apparently, after the name of their ancestor Prus - Prussia.
The name “Prusius” appears repeatedly in the famous dynasty of Thracian Kings, who reigned from the 5th to the 1st centuries BC. in Bithynia (Asia Minor) and the Balkans. And in the name of the Prince Brutus ena, the brother of Tsar Videvut, the name “Prus” also sounds distantly. In Latin, "Prussia" is written as "Borussia" or "Prutenia". In turn, “The Tale of St. Spyridon-Sava” and “The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir” indicate the origin of the Grand Duke Rurik of Novgorod from Prince Prus, the brother of Emperor Augustus. Roman history does not know such a sibling with Octavian Augustus, but the twinning, say, legal twinning of the Emperor Augustus himself or his predecessor, the first consul Julius Caesar, with one of the descendants of the Bithynian Kings, who bore the name Prusius, could well have been, which is what has been reported to us news from ancient Russian legend. This indicates that, according to such genealogical legends, both the ancestors of the Grand Duke Rurik of Novgorod and the ancestors of the boyar Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla could have a common ancestor of Tsarist origin.
Similar legends about common and common roots in antiquity can be traced for most of the Royal European Dynasties; they are well known to specialists in August genealogies. It is impossible to prove the documentary historical authenticity of such legends on the basis of strict written sources. But at the same time, history is not mathematics or classical physics, although the vast majority of historical material operates with fairly accurate chronological data and documented facts. Pointing to the understandable instability of such genealogical legends, the written recording of which occurred only in the XIV-XVIII centuries, genuine historical science should not immediately reject them. On the contrary, it must testify to them and carefully preserve what the ancestral memory of our ancestors preserved and passed on from mouth to mouth for many, many centuries, otherwise what is called “scientifically” will be rejected human memory.
The very fact that Andrei Ioannovich Kobyla, who arrived from Veliky Novgorod to Moscow at the Court of the Moscow Grand Dukes John Kalita and Simeon Ioannovich the Proud, was boyar, indicates that this man at that time was famous for his nobility and noble origin. The boyar rank was the highest state rank in the hierarchy of that time, then at the same time under the Grand Duke the number of boyars rarely exceeded 5-6 people; such a high rank simply would not have been awarded to some unknown, clever upstart in those days. Only really noble man Boyar Andrei Kobyla could have been sent in 1347 by the matchmaker of the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow Simeon Ioannovich the Proud to the Court of Tver Prince Vsevolod Alexandrovich for his bride Princess Maria Alexandrovna. Moreover, that marriage contract was associated with the most important diplomatic mission, as a result of which Prince Vsevolod Alexandrovich Tverskoy had to renounce the khan's label for the Tver inheritance and return to the Reign in the Hill near Tver, transferring the Tver Reign to Prince Vasily Mikhailovich Kashinsky. Such difficult issues of dynastic marriages and changes of appanage could not be entrusted to people of nobility, not versed in the intricacies of grand-ducal diplomacy.
The very concept of “knowing” does not mean widespread fame, as many now believe. The Old Russian concept of “to know” denotes the bearers of special, hereditary knowledge about the wisdom of the Supreme Power, knowledge that was not taught anywhere, but was passed on only from older generations to younger ones from generation to generation. Noble people were descendants of the bearers of the Supreme Power. The nobility are the keepers of the most ancient power traditions, representatives of noble families themselves were a living legend, a living tradition, which, due to the secret nature of that knowledge, was not recorded in detail in writing, but this special knowledge was highly valued by those around them, putting noble people in a special position in ancient society.
The ancient Prussians, under the leadership of Tsar Videvut and Prince Bruten, developed the cult of the sacred white horse, known among the Baltic Slavs since ancient times, and the cult of the sacred oak in the village of Romov, the name of which may indicate the archaic memory of Apennine Rome (Roma). The symbolism of these cults was displayed on the coat of arms of Prussia, which depicted Videvut and Bruten themselves, a white horse, and an oak tree. According to Moscow genealogies, it is known that A.I. Kobyla had five sons - Semyon Zherebets, Alexander Yolka, Vasily Ivantey, Gavriil Gavsha and Fyodor Koshka. In addition, the noble Novgorod families of the Sukhovo-Kobylins and Kobylins are known, whose origins Novgorod and Tver genealogists associate with A.I. Kobyla.
Semyon Zherebets became the founder of Russian noble families - Zherebtsovs, Lodygins, Konovnitsyns, Kokorevs, Obraztsovs. The Kolychevs, Neplyuevs and Boborykins descend from Alexander Yolka. From Fyodor Koshka - Koshkins, Romanovs, Sheremetevs, Yakovlevs, Golyaevs, Bezzubtsevs and others.
“Horse” theme in the nicknames Mare, Stallion, in the surnames - Kobylins, Zherebtsovs, Konovnitsyns, toponym - Kobylye Settlement near Lake Peipsi not far from the site of the Battle of the Ice (1242), which, by the way, in 1556 was given by Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible for feeding alone from the Sukhovo-Kobylins, but according to written sources it has been known with this name since the middle of the 15th century (the city of Kobyla) - all this may indicate the ancestral memory of the “totem” white horse of the Prussian Tsar Videvut. And the sacred oak from Romov is present on almost all the coats of arms of the above-mentioned noble families, which trace their origins to Andrei Kobyla.
Fyodor Andreevich Koshka († 1407) was also a Moscow boyar; during the campaign of Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich on the Kulikovo Field in 1380, boyar Fyodor Andreevich Koshka-Kobylin was entrusted with guarding Moscow. His eldest son Ivan Fedorovich Koshkin-Kobylin (†1427) was also very close to Grand Duke Dimitri Donskoy (he is mentioned as such in the will of Prince Dimitri), and then became a boyar with Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich († 1425) and even with the then young Grand Duke Vasily II Vasilyevich (1415-1462). His youngest son Zakhary Ivanovich Koshkin-Kobylin († 1461) also occupied a high boyar position at the Court of Grand Duke Vasily II Vasilyevich.
It should be noted that the boyar rank was never literally hereditary, although it was assigned only to the most noble people of the state; the boyar rank was necessarily earned through personal exploits and merits to the Sovereign, although family ties along the female line were also of considerable importance. The service from generation to generation of the descendants of boyar Andrei Kobyla to the Moscow Sovereigns in such high ranks meant the presence of high personal merits among representatives of this noble family. Unfortunately, no information has been preserved about the spouses of these four generations of statesmen, starting from Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla to Zakhary Ivanovich Koshkin. But there is no doubt that some of these marriages were concluded with representatives of the highest Moscow aristocracy, most of whom at that time were either direct, albeit distant descendants of the Grand Duke Rurik, or their closest relatives. This is precisely what can additionally explain the stability of the boyar status of the Kobylin-Koshkin family, when the degree of “competition” with the direct Rurikovichs could be mitigated precisely by family ties.
Under Grand Duke John III Vasilyevich, Yuri Zakharyevich Zakharyin-Koshkin († 1504) became a governor, participated in the battle on the Ugra in 1480, in the campaign against Veliky Novgorod (1480) and Kazan in 1485, from 1488 he became the Grand Duke's Viceroy in Veliky Novgorod , where he eradicated the heresy of the Judaizers, and received the rank of boyar in 1493. The wife of Yuri Zakharyevich Koshkin was the daughter of the Grand Duke's boyar Ivan Borisovich Tuchkov. I.B. Tuchkov was not a representative of the Moscow aristocracy, but came from a Novgorod boyar family and entered the service of the Grand Duke of Moscow John III Vasilyevich. In 1477, already as a grand-ducal boyar, he carried out an important military-diplomatic mission to annex Veliky Novgorod to Moscow. Apparently, these “Novgorod” family ties can explain why the Moscow governor Yuri Zakharyevich Zakharyin-Koshkin became governor of Novgorod in 1488. Boyar Yuri Zakharyevich had six sons, the names of five of them are Ivan, Grigory, Vasily, Mikhail, Roman and daughter Anna. Mikhail Yuryevich (†1538) earned the boyar title in 1521, Grigory Yuryevich (†1558) became a boyar in 1543.
Apparently, the youngest of the brothers, Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin-Yuryev (†1543), rose “only” to the rank of okolnichy and governor. But the rank of okolnichy - second after the boyar, was extremely high in the Old Russian hierarchy; the number of okolnichy in the government of the Grand Duke usually did not exceed three or four. The very fact that his siblings were boyars testifies to the continued high status of the family in this generation. Roman Yuryevich is mentioned in the categories of 1533 and 1538, he was married twice, the second of his wives was named Ulyana (†1579), presumably nee Karpova, children: Dolmat (†1545), Daniil (†1571), Nikita, Anna, Anastasia. Daniil Romanovich Zakharin-Yuryev became a boyar in 1548.
Anna Romanovna married Prince Vasily Andreevich Sitsky (†1578) from the Yaroslavl branch of the Rurikovichs. And the youngest daughter, the beautiful Anastasia Romanovna (†1560), became the first Russian Tsarina in 1547 - the Wife of the young Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. She bore the Tsar six children, three Tsarevichs - Dimitri, John and Theodore, and three daughters - Anna, Maria and Evdokia. Tsarevich Dimitri was carelessly drowned in infancy, and three Daughters of the Russian Tsarina did not survive infancy.
Perhaps the most famous boyar of the direct descendants of Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla was his great-great-great-great-grandson Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Yuryev (†1586; before his death, he took monastic vows with the name Nifont). He was one of the closest associates, advisers of Tsar John and educator of Tsarevichs John and Theodore. He became a okolnichy in 1558, a boyar in 1562. The fame of Nikita Romanovich’s nobility of character and valor was so widespread that people composed songs about him that were sung centuries later.
Nikita Romanovich was married twice. His first wife was Varvara Ivanovna, née Khovrina (†1552). The Khovrins came from the ancient Crimean Gothic princely family of the Gavras (in Tatar: Khovra). From his first marriage, Nikita Romanovich had two daughters - Anna Nikitichna (†1585), who married Prince Ivan Fedorovich Troekurov (from the Rurikovichs) and Euphemia (†1602), who married a close relative of Prince Ivan Vasilyevich Sitsky.
After the death of Varvara Ivanovna in 1552, Nikita Romanovich married a second time to Evdokia Alexandrovna, nee Princess Gorbata-Shuiskaya from the Rurik Family, from the Monomakhovichs through the line of the Suzdal Princes. Eleven more children of Nikita Romanovich are known from this marriage - the elder Fedor (in monasticism Filaret; †1633), Martha (†1610) - the wife of the Kabardian prince Boris Keibulatovich Chekrassky, Lev (†1595), Mikhail (†1602), Alexander (†1602 ), Nikifor (†1601), Ivan nicknamed Kasha (†1640), Ulyana (†1565), Irina (†1639) - the wife of the okolnichy Ivan Ivanovich Godunov (†1610), Anastasia (†1655) - the wife of the groom Boris Mikhailovich Lykov -Obolensky (†1646) and, finally, Vasily (†1602).
Nikita Romanovich's eldest son Fedor, born around 1554, became a boyar in the government of his cousin - Tsar Feodor Ioannovich - immediately after his father's death in 1586. Shortly before this, around 1585, Fyodor Nikitich married Ksenia Ivanovna, nee Shestova, one of the Kostroma nobles, whose father Ivan Vasilyevich Shestov was called up in 1550 as one of the Tsar's Thousand to serve in Moscow. Let me remind you that the Shestovs traced their ancestry back to the Novgorod boyar and governor of the early 13th century, Mikhail Prushanin. Fyodor Nikitich and Ksenia Ivanovna had six children, four of whom died in infancy: Tatyana (†1612) - wife of Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Katyrev-Rostovsky (†about 1640), Boris (†1592), Nikita (†1593), Mikhail ( †1645), Leo (†1597), Ivan (†1599).
In the tsarist service, boyar Fyodor Nikitich was successful, but far from being in the first positions: from 1586 he served as viceroy in Nizhny Novgorod, in 1590 he took part in a victorious campaign against Sweden, then in 1593-1594. he was the governor in Pskov, negotiated with the ambassador of Emperor Rudolf - Varkoch, in 1596 he was the governor of the Tsar's regiment of the right hand, from the 1590s several local cases have reached us concerning the boyar Theodore Nikitich Romanov, indicating his rather influential position among Moscow boyars, some of his younger brothers were members of the expanded composition of the Sovereign Duma.
Before his death, boyar Nikita Romanovich bequeathed to Boris Fedorovich Godunov the care of his children, and according to known documents, the guardianship of the tsar's brother-in-law and the first boyar - in fact, the ruler of Russia B.F. Godunov about the Nikitichs was quite sincere, and the Romanovs themselves considered themselves faithful allies of B.F. Godunov, this was also facilitated by family ties - Irina Nikitichna was the wife of I.I. Godunov. The sudden death of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich on January 7, 1598 did not change this situation in the relationship between B.F. Godunov and the Romanovs. Although the eldest son of Tsar John's brother-in-law, cousin Tsar Theodore, boyar Fedor Nikitich had a certain advantage of, if not closer, then more significant kinship over the brother-in-law of Tsar Theodore and brother Tsarina Irina Feodorovna (†1603) by the first boyar Boris Godunov, at the Great Moscow Council in January-March 1598, the question of other contenders for the Royal Throne besides the first boyar and ruler B.F. Godunov was not even raised. There is no clear unofficial evidence of the nomination of other candidates from the same period.
There are no such indications even in diplomatic reports from Russia for January-March 1598, in which foreign ambassadors tried to reflect any rumors about palace political intrigues. However, for the Western European legal consciousness of that time, the superiority of the rights of Fyodor Nikitich Romanov to the Royal Throne over the similar rights of B.F. Godunov was incomprehensible. They could rather see contenders among the direct Rurikovichs, primarily the Shuisky princes, or wanted to look for military reasons for interfering in the internal politics of Russia to impose claimants from the Dynasties of Europe, rather than compare the rights to the Throne of B.F. Godunov and F.N. Romanov.
One of the reports from the Polish ambassador in January or early February 1598 even contained a “forecast” that B.F. Godunov, in order to maintain his position in power, would suddenly announce that Tsarevich Dimitri Ioannovich Uglitsky was not actually killed on May 15 1591, and will place his man on the Throne under the guise of the son of Tsar John. This mysterious intrigue, developed by the Poles in a completely different way by 1604, indicates that at the end of February 1598, foreigners could not even foresee the real decision of the Great Moscow Council.
The decisive factor in the issue of succession to the Throne, obviously, was the position of St. Job, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', who believed that the brother of the Queen, in whose hands since 1586 were all the main reins of government of the state, who had established himself as an experienced and courageous politician, a large-scale organizer The Russian Land in urban planning, military, tax and economic affairs, like no one else, was able to bear the heavy Royal Cross. Of course, His Holiness the Patriarch well understood that the twelfth in honor of the boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov also had some inherited advantages, but his services in state building since 1584 were immeasurably less than the contribution to the prosperity of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church by B.F. Godunov, who did a lot to establish the Patriarchate in Rus'. Perhaps such a firm position of the Patriarch, which led to the fact that the Council did not even discuss other contenders for the Throne in advance, will turn the spiritual-political compromise into a difficult state problem in the next two years.
At the Council of 1598, for the first time in the history of Russia, a terrible oath of allegiance to Tsar Boris and His Heirs was taken. Apparently, His Holiness the Patriarch, who was directly involved in the drafting of the text of the Council Oath and the formidable spiritual punishments that were imposed on possible violators of this oath, was confident that the Russian believers would not violate such a Council Oath. However, the secret opponents of the new Tsar, and perhaps opponents of peace itself in our Fatherland, who did not dare to raise their voices at the Council against the position of the Patriarch and the candidacy of B.F. Godunov, already in 1600 began to hatch a conspiracy or weave an even more subtle palace intrigue, imitating CONSPIRACY. As a sign for such an obvious conspiracy or an insidious mystification thereof, the villains chose the Nikitich Romanovs, and first of all the eldest of them, the boyar Fyodor Nikitich, as the heir to the Throne, according to Russian customs, was closer to the ladder of the heir to the Throne than Tsar Boris. Historians can only speculate who was the main organizer of this conspiracy or its imitation; no direct documents related to its investigation have survived. Only one thing is clear, that the Romanovs themselves in no way belonged to the initiators or organizers of the conspiracy, but they were still insidiously informed about this secret action, which drew them into the circle of those involved, into the circle of the guilty.
Instead of his closest associates and relatives, Tsar Boris saw in the Romanovs the main danger to himself and, more importantly, the main danger to peace in the Russian State. He was fully aware of what, now, after the terrible Council Oath of 1598, its violation threatens Russia and the Russian People. In order to exclude the very idea of boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov pretending to the Throne, he ordered the forcible tonsure of his relative and his wife into monasticism and exiled the monk Philaret to the Anthony-Siysky Monastery in the Russian North. And the rest of the Nikitich Romanovs - Mikhail, Alexander, Nikifor, Ivan, Vasily were taken into custody and sent into exile, where they were kept in the harshest conditions, from which they died in 1601-1602. Only Ivan Nikitich survived. He was kept chained in the same pit with Vasily Nikitich. The death of the brothers caused a softening of the conditions of Ivan Nikitich's exile.
After the villainous ritual slaughter of the young Tsar Theodore Borisovich Godunov and his own Crowning of the Kingdom, False Dmitry I in 1605 returned from exile all the surviving Romanovs and their relatives, and the remains of the dead were also brought to Moscow and buried in the tomb of the Romanov boyars in the Novospassky Monastery. Monk Filaret (Fedor Nikitich Romanov) was ordained a monk and soon consecrated as Metropolitan of Rostov. And Ivan Nikitich Romanov was given the rank of boyar. Young Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was returned to the care of his Mother, the Great Nun Martha. The Romanovs, who had suffered so much from their previous reign, accepted the benefits of the impostor, but did not show him any servility during the entire period of his false reign, which lasted less than a year. Placed on the Throne by the local Moscow Council in 1606, Tsar Vasily Ioannovich Shuisky contributed to the election of a new Patriarch - Metropolitan Hermogen of Kazan, who treated Metropolitan Philaret of Rostov with great respect, but Metropolitan Philaret did not arrive at the Moscow Council of Repentance in early 1607 with the participation of Patriarch Job, deposed by the False Dmitry. .
In 1608, traitorous Cossack and Polish-Lithuanian gangs besieged Rostov the Great, and although Metropolitan Philaret tried to organize a defense, traitors to Russia opened the gates of the Metropolitan Court, Saint Philaret was captured and in a humiliating manner taken near Moscow to the Tushino camp of False Dmitry II. However, this impostor decided to give honor to his “relative” and even “elevated” St. Philaret to “patriarch.” Metropolitan Philaret did not recognize false rank, but he performed divine services in Tushino. In 1610, Metropolitan Filaret (Romanov) was recaptured from the Tushins and after the overthrow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky during the Seven Boyars, he became the closest associate of His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes. In 1611, the Moscow government sent Metropolitan Philaret at the head of a large embassy to Smolensk for negotiations with the Polish King Sigismund III. The entire embassy was captured by the Poles, in which Metropolitan Filaret remained until 1619 - until the Truce of Deulino.
During the brief period of the “Seven Boyars,” the son of Metropolitan Philaret, young Mikhail Feodorovich, was elevated to the rank of boyar. The Poles, who captured Moscow and the Kremlin in 1611, kept Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov and his Mother under house arrest, from which he was released only on October 22, 1612 and after that, together with his Mother, he left for his Kostroma estate Domnino.
Thus, none of the Romanovs influenced the decision of the Great Moscow Council on February 21, 1613. More precisely, a participant in the council, the Metropolitan’s brother and Mikhail Feodorovich’s uncle, Ivan Nikitich Romanov was initially even against the nomination of his nephew as one of the candidates, saying: “...Mikhailo Fedorovich is still young...» According to researchers, at the very beginning of the Council, Ivan Nikitich supported the candidacy of the Swedish Prince Carl Philip. But when the Cossacks and representatives of the Militia began to reject any representatives of foreign dynasties, and the Don Cossacks and Russian provincial nobles nominated the young boyar Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov as the main candidate, naturally, his uncle agreed with this unanimous point of view.
The Great Council of 1613 took the terrible oath of allegiance stripped Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich and his supposed descendants. The new oath practically word for word, letter for letter, repeated the text of the Council Oath of 1598, but this time the strength of this council decision was enough for three centuries and four years.
This excursion into the area of ancient legends and genealogies is necessary to better understand the way of thinking of our ancestors, who, in the cathedral debates in February 1613, found out which of the possible contenders for the All-Russian Throne should accept the Royal Cross for themselves and their descendants. The exceptional nobility of the origin of the Romanov Family was of paramount importance in this decision.
Illustrations:
1. Crowning of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov
2. The legendary coat of arms of the Prussians (from the chronicle of Johannes Mellmann, 1548) Arma Prutenorums - Shield (coat of arms) of Prussia
2013 marks the 400th anniversary of the accession to the Russian throne of the first representative of the Romanov dynasty, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. The surname under which Russia stood on a par with the greatest powers of the world is dedicated to the exhibition “Orthodox Rus'” opening on Monday, November 4th. The Romanovs." In this regard, “Reedus” suggests remembering where the Romanovs came from, why at the end of the ruling dynasty the tsars were called “Germans” and how things are with the descendants of the Russian tsars today.
Coat of arms of the Romanov family. © RIA Novosti
On National Unity Day, November 4, the exhibition “Orthodox Rus'. The Romanovs." This is a tribute to the memory of the rulers of that old Russia, which remained in the chronicles, the first historical works, diary entries and, in its twilight, in the photographs of Prokudin-Gorsky. The organizers of the exhibition, which promises to be truly interesting and useful, invite you and me to look at our history impartially, without idealizing the sovereign rulers.
“In many ways, today we enjoy the fruits of their (Romanovs - editor’s note) labors, forgetting about who we owe it to,” notes Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), executive secretary of the Patriarchal Council for Culture.
There is probably no point in retelling the story of the three hundred years of the reign of the Romanovs, since, one way or another, we all learned it at school. But it’s interesting to talk about the origin of the family, which largely predetermined the development of Russian statehood.
The founder of the dynasty is considered to be the Moscow boyar Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Yuryev, whose sister Anastasia Romanovna became the first wife of the first Russian Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. Nikita Romanovich was a prominent figure - in Moscow there are still street names that are closely connected with the grandfather of the first tsar from the House of Romanov, Mikhail Fedorovich. Romanov Lane got its name from the chambers of Nikita Romanovich, which were located in it. And the longest street in the center of the capital - Bolshaya Nikitskaya - is named after the Nikitsky Monastery, which was founded by Nikita Romanovich.
Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov (1596–1645).
The origin of Nikita Romanovich can be traced back to the boyar Andrei Kobyla, who served at the court of the Moscow princes Ivan Kalita and Simeon the Proud. The Velvet Book, which contains the genealogies of the most notable boyar and noble families of Russia, says that Andrei Kobyla arrived in Rus' from Prussia. Modern historians, however, consider this version untenable, and attribute the appearance of this legend to the fashion of the 17th century (the time of the appearance of the Velvet Book): then it was considered prestigious among the boyars to trace their origins to Western families. A major historian of boyar families, Stepan Veselovsky, as well as a number of other researchers, including Alexander Zimin, trace the origins of Andrei Kobyla to the Novgorod nobility.
The first to bear the surname Romanov, in honor of his grandfather, was Fyodor Nikitich, better known to history as Patriarch Filaret. Fyodor Nikitich was forcibly tonsured as a monk together with his wife Ksenia Shestova, when all the Romanov brothers fell into disgrace under Boris Godunov. Having taken monastic vows, Filaret remained a secular man and at the same time a strong politician. His son Mikhail Fedorovich, largely thanks to his father, was elected tsar in 1613. Until the end of his life, Filaret was a co-ruler under the tsar and from 1619 he actually led Moscow politics and, along with the tsar, used the title “Great Sovereign”.
Patriarch Filaret. Artist Tyutryumov Nikanor.
Under Peter the Great, the royal house turned into an imperial one. But already under Elizaveta Petrovna, who remained unmarried and childless, the direct female line of the Romanov dynasty was cut short. The men's line ended thirty years earlier, under Peter II in 1730. Before her death, Elizabeth decided to transfer power to the son of her late sister, the second daughter of Peter I and Catherine I Anna Petrovna. She was married to Duke Karl of Holstein-Gottorp, so in fact the Romanov family passed into the Holstein-Gottorp family. So Peter III was recognized as a member of the House of Romanov only by dynastic agreement. From this moment on, according to genealogical rules, the imperial family is called Holstein-Gottorp-Romanovsky.
In popular historiography, as a rule, they do not pay attention to this detail, continuing to call the rulers simply the Romanovs. However, Russian aristocrats always remembered the origin of the rulers, and that the Romanov family “in the male tribe died out in 1730,” as it was stated in the “Small Encyclopedic Dictionary” of Brockhaus and Efron (1907–1909). Many politicians built intrigues on the “German” origin of the ruling dynasty, and some even called, for example, Alexander II “serving the position of Romanov in Russia.” Such speculation reached its apogee by the beginning of 1917, when almost the entire Russian aristocracy turned its back on the royal family, and Emperor Nicholas II decided to abdicate the throne. Abandoned and betrayed by the elite of Russian society, the last Romanovs found their end in the basement of Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 16-17, 1918, where they were shot by the Bolsheviks.
All the Romanovs: Emperor Nicholas II with his wife Alexandra Fedorovna and children - son Alexei and daughters - Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia.
After the October Revolution, 47 representatives of the House of Romanov, who found themselves in exile abroad, managed to escape. Some of them, until the end of the 30s, hoped for the restoration of the monarchy in Russia. In 1942, two representatives of the House of Romanov were offered the Montenegrin throne. Currently, most representatives of the family are members of the Association of Members of the House of Romanov. The head of the association since 1989 is Prince Nikolai Romanovich Romanov.
Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexei.
Tsarevich Alexei studying. The last generation of the royal family.
Russian Emperor Nicholas II with his heir, Tsarevich Alexei (in the background in the arms of a Cossack) are leaving the Novospassky Monastery. Celebrating the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov. © RIA Novosti
The house where the family of Emperor Nicholas Romanov spent their last days. © Igor Vinogradov/RIA Novosti
Princess Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya-Romanova. © Vitaly Ankov/RIA Novosti
Virtual exhibition
400th anniversary of the House of Romanov
In 2013, the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty is celebrated. The celebration is timed to coincide with the accession of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the Moscow throne on June 11, 1613 (in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin by decision of the Zemsky Sobor). The accession of Mikhail Fedorovich marked the beginning of a new ruling dynasty of the Romanovs.
In the extensive literature devoted to the history of the House of Romanov and individual reigns, there is no unambiguous interpretation of the role of autocrats - extreme, often polar points of view prevail. However, no matter how you feel about the Romanov dynasty and its representatives, objectively assessing our historical path, it should be recognized that it was under the Romanovs that Russia became one of the great powers of the world, its victories and defeats, ups and downs, achievements and political and economic failures, largely due to the growing incompatibility of the social system with the challenges of the time. The House of Romanov is not the history of a private family, but in fact is the history of Russia.
The Romanovs are a Russian boyar family that has had this surname since the end of the 16th century; from 1613 - the dynasty of Russian Tsars and from 1721 - the Emperors of All Russia, and subsequently - the Tsars of Poland, the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and Finland, the Dukes of Oldenburg and Holstein-Gottorp and the Grand Masters of the Order of Malta. The direct branch of the Romanov family on the All-Russian throne was cut short after the death of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna; from January 5, 1762, the imperial throne passed to the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov dynasty, the son of Anna Petrovna and Duke Karl-Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp; according to a dynastic agreement, their son Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp (future All-Russian Emperor Peter III) was recognized as a member of the Imperial House Romanovs. Thus, according to genealogical rules, the imperial family (dynasty) is called the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov dynasty (Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov dynasty), and the imperial house is called the Romanovs.
Start
End of the 16th century brought our Motherland a severe shock, which became the first step towards the Troubles. With the death of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich (1598), the Rurik Dynasty came to an end. Even earlier, in 1591, the youngest representative of the Dynasty, St., died in Uglich. Tsarevich Dimitri. However, his rights to inherit the Throne were very controversial, because he was born from the fifth married (and actually from the seventh) marriage of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and was considered illegitimate.
For over 700 years the Rurikovichs ruled Russia. And now they are gone. It is difficult to describe the impression that the end of the Dynasty made. The Russian people were faced with an unprecedented case and it was necessary to resolve an issue on which the fate of the state depended. The House of Moscow Grand Dukes and Tsars was to be inherited by the Family, which had the full legal right to do so. Of the descendants of Rurik, after the death of the Staritsky Princes, there was no one left who would have such rights. The closest relatives of the Moscow House were the Shuisky princes, but their relationship was of the 12th (!) degree. In addition, in accordance with the norms of Byzantine law accepted in Rus' at that time, close kinship (i.e., kinship through a wife) was preferred to distant blood kinship.
Based on this (husband and wife constitute “one flesh”) the brother of Irina Godunova, the wife of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, Boris Godunov, was considered at the same time His brother. It was Godunov who was then called to the Kingdom with the blessing of Patriarch Job. A ruling on this matter was made by the Zemsky Sobor in 1598.
And Tsar Boris took the Throne not by “right” of election, but by right of inheritance. The next clan in this order of succession were the Romanovs, descendants of the first brother-in-law of Ivan the Terrible - Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Yuryev.
Boris Godunov reigned relatively serenely until the first rumors about the Pretender arose in 1603. The appearance of "Tsarevich Dimitri" made the people doubt the legality of Godunov's accession to the throne. Paradoxical as it may seem, the phenomenon of impostor testifies to the spontaneous legitimism of the Russian people. In order to occupy the Throne, it was necessary to have legal rights to do so or to pass oneself off as having such rights. Otherwise, you can “elect”, “appoint” and “proclaim” the Tsar as much as you want - this could not receive any support. But “Tsarevich Dimitri” - the supposedly miraculously saved son of Ivan the Terrible - could not help but find a response in Russian hearts. And so death takes away Tsar Boris, his son Theodore is killed, and the triumphant Pretender enters Moscow, accompanied by the Poles.
Sobering up did not come immediately. Perhaps the process dragged on even longer if it were not for the reckless behavior of False Demetrius in relation to the Orthodox Church. The impostor dared to crown his wife Marina Mnishek in the Assumption Cathedral, without baptizing her, but limiting herself to anointing. The son of Ivan the Terrible, according to popular belief, would never have acted in such a way. Less than two weeks after the blasphemous wedding, the Pretender was killed. But the foundations of the Russian Kingdom were so shaken that it was no longer possible to stop the Troubles by simply eliminating False Demetrius.
Tsar Vasily Shuisky, in his own way, sought to benefit the Fatherland. But the throne of this only elected Tsar in the history of Russia could not be durable. “Shouted out” on Red Square by a random crowd, having bound himself with obligations to the boyars, Tsar Vasily never felt like a confident Autocrat. Therefore, he could not effectively resist either external or internal enemies, and the story of his - ridiculously easy - overthrow tells us about the futility of introducing alien traditions and laws. There was no end in sight for the Troubles.
It was the II Militia that was destined to save Russia, whose leaders were able to learn some lessons from previous mistakes and create a unified popular movement. Inspired by the messages of Patriarch Hermogenes, Nizhny Novgorod citizen K. Minin and Prince. D. Pozharsky united the Russian people under the banner of the struggle for the liberation and restoration of the Orthodox Kingdom. Later the prince joined them. D. Trubetskoy with the remnants of the First Militia. In October 1612, the Cossacks took Kitay-Gorod by storm, and soon the Poles besieged in the Kremlin capitulated. In the liberated capital, conditions appeared for the establishment of state life.
At the beginning of 1613, envoys from “the whole earth” came to Moscow for the Great Zemsky and Church Council, the main task of which was to determine the Legitimate Heir to the Throne.
When once again a dispute about a candidacy flared up at the Council, a certain Galician nobleman submitted a note substantiating the rights of Mikhail Feodorovich on his relationship with Tsar Theodore Ioannovich (Mikhail’s father, Metropolitan Philaret, was a cousin of Tsar Theodore and would have succeeded himself if not for the monastic tonsure performed over him during the reign of Boris Godunov), with reference to the authority of the martyred Patriarch Hermogenes. By his act, he aroused the wrath of the boyars, who threateningly asked who dared to bring such a scripture. Then the Cossack ataman spoke and also made a written statement. To the question of the book. Pozharsky, what is being discussed, the ataman replied: “About the natural (emphasis added by me - A.Z.) Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich.” "The Tale of the Zemsky Sobor of 1613" cites the ataman’s speech, in which he definitely pointed out the illegality of the “elections” of the Tsar and justified the rights to the Throne of young Mikhail Romanov.
The final decision on the issue of succession to the throne was made on February 21, 1613. A letter sent to all corners of the Russian Land proclaimed that “the philanthropic God, according to His vision, put in the hearts of all the people of the Moscow state, from young to old and even to mere infants, unanimity in order to turn to Vladimir, both to Moscow and to all states of the Russian Kingdom by the Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke of All Russia Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov-Yuryev." The approved charter of the Council assigned the Throne to the Dynasty “for generations and generations” and anathematized any violator of the sacred oath of allegiance to the House of Romanov. The accession of the House of Romanov was a victory of order over unrest, and at the beginning of the 17th century. A new dynasty established itself in Russia, with which the state functioned for more than three hundred years, experiencing ups and downs.
The last Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who was executed with his family in Yekaterinburg in 1918, is still one of the most controversial figures in Russian history. Despite almost a century that has passed since those tragic events, the attitude towards him in society is sharply polarized. On the one hand, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized him and his family as saints, on the other hand, the “master of the Russian land” (his own definition) is perceived by public opinion as an incompetent head of state who could not save not only the country, but even own family.
It should be noted that legally, members of the royal, and then imperial, family did not bear any surnames at all (“Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich”, “Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich”, etc.). In addition, since 1761, Russia was ruled by the descendants of the son of Anna Petrovna and the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Karl-Friedrich, who in the male line were no longer descended from the Romanovs, but from the Holstein-Gottorp family (the younger branch of the Oldenburg dynasty, known since the 12th century). In genealogical literature, representatives of the dynasty, starting with Peter III, are called Holstein-Gottorp-Romanovs. Despite this, the names “Romanovs” and “House of Romanov” were almost generally used to unofficially designate the Russian Imperial House, and the coat of arms of the Romanov boyars was included in official legislation.
After 1917, almost all members of the reigning house officially began to bear the Romanov surname (according to the laws of the Provisional Government, and then in exile). The exception is the descendants of Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich. He was one of the Romanovs who recognized Kirill Vladimirovich as emperor in exile. The marriage of Dmitry Pavlovich to Audrey Emery was recognized by Kirill as a morganatic marriage of a member of the reigning house, and the wife and children received the title of Princes Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (now it is borne by two of Dmitry Pavlovich’s grandchildren - Dmitry and Michael/Mikhail, as well as their wives and daughters). The rest of the Romanovs also entered into morganatic (from the point of view of the Russian law on succession to the throne) marriages, but did not consider it necessary to change their surname. After the creation of the Association of Princes of the House of Romanov in the late 1970s, the Ilyinskys became its members on a general basis.
Family tree of the Romanovs
Genealogical roots of the Romanov family (XII-XIV centuries)
EXHIBITION MATERIALS:
The Romanov family ruled the Russian kingdom and the Russian Empire for a long time - their family was very numerous. In this section, we tried to collect interesting information about the relatives of Peter I the Great, primarily paying special attention to his parents, wives and children. To study a detailed biography of the person of interest, click on the button under the photo.
Ruling Romanov dynasty
Parents
Wives
Children of Peter I
Children from his first marriage with Evdokia Lopukhina
Alexey Petrovich Romanov
Heir to the Russian throne, eldest son of Peter I. Born on February 28, 1690 in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. He grew up mostly away from Peter I; after he became close to his second wife and the birth of their half-brother, Peter Petrovich, he fled to Poland. He tried to organize a conspiracy against his own father with the help of Austria, was arrested, deprived of the right to succession to the throne and subjected to investigation in the Secret Chancery. He was convicted of treason and died in the Peter and Paul Fortress on July 7, 1718, presumably as a result of torture.
Alexander Petrovich Romanov- second son of Peter I, died in infancy
Children from his second marriage to Catherine I Alekseevna
Ekaterina Petrovna Romanova(January 8, 1707 - August 8, 1709) - the first illegitimate daughter of Peter I from Catherine, who was at that time the Tsar’s mistress. She died at the age of one year and six months.
Natalia Petrovna Romanova(eldest, March 14, 1713 - June 7, 1715) - the first legitimate daughter of Catherine. She died in St. Petersburg at the age of two years and two months.
Margarita Petrovna Romanova(September 14, 1714 - August 7, 1715) - daughter of Peter I from Ekaterina Alekseevna, died in infancy.
Pyotr Petrovich Romanov(October 29, 1715 - May 6, 1719) - the first son of Peter and Catherine, was considered the official heir to the throne after the abdication of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich. Lived 3 years and 5 months.
Pavel Petrovich Romanov(January 13, 1717 - January 14, 1717) - the second son of Peter I from Ekaterina Alekseevna, died the day after birth.
Natalya Petrovna Romanova
(youngest, August 31, 1718 - March 15, 1725) - the last child of Peter I and Ekaterina Alekseevna, namesake of her older sister, who died at the age of two. Natalya died at the age of six and a half in St. Petersburg from measles, more than a month after the death of her father. Emperor Peter I had not yet been buried, and the coffin of his deceased daughter was placed nearby in the same hall. She was buried next to the other children of Peter and Catherine in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Anna Petrovna Romanova
The second child of Peter and Catherine, the eldest of their surviving children, born before marriage - on January 27, 1708. In 1725 she married Duke Karl-Friedrich of Holstein, with whom she gave birth to a son, Karl Peter Ulrich (who became Emperor of the Russian Empire under the name Peter III). She died at the age of 20 on May 15, 1728. She was buried on November 12, 1728 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Today they talk more and more about the Romanov dynasty. Her story can be read like a detective story. And its origin, and the history of the coat of arms, and the circumstances of accession to the throne: all this still causes ambiguous interpretations.
Prussian origins of the dynasty
The ancestor of the Romanov dynasty is considered to be the boyar Andrei Kobyla at the court of Ivan Kalita and his son Simeon the Proud. We know practically nothing about his life and origins. The chronicles mention him only once: in 1347 he was sent to Tver for the bride of Grand Duke Simeon the Proud, daughter of Prince Alexander Mikhailovich of Tver.
Finding himself during the unification of the Russian state with a new center in Moscow in the service of the Moscow branch of the princely dynasty, he thus chose the “golden ticket” for himself and his family. Genealogists mention his numerous descendants, who became the ancestors of many noble Russian families: Semyon Stallion (Lodygins, Konovnitsyns), Alexander Elka (Kolychevs), Gavriil Gavsha (Bobrykins), Childless Vasily Vantey and Fyodor Koshka - the ancestor of the Romanovs, Sheremetevs, Yakovlevs, Goltyaevs and Bezzubtsev. But the origins of the Mare himself remain a mystery. According to the Romanov family legend, he traced his ancestry back to the Prussian kings.
When a gap is formed in genealogies, it provides an opportunity for their falsification. In the case of noble families, this is usually done with the aim of either legitimizing their power or achieving extra privileges. As in this case. The blank spot in the Romanov genealogies was filled in the 17th century under Peter I by the first Russian king of arms Stepan Andreevich Kolychev. The new history corresponded to the “Prussian legend”, fashionable even under the Rurikovichs, which was aimed at confirming the position of Moscow as the successor of Byzantium. Since Rurik’s Varangian origin did not fit into this ideology, the founder of the princely dynasty became the 14th descendant of a certain Prus, the ruler of ancient Prussia, a relative of Emperor Augustus himself. Following them, the Romanovs “rewrote” their history.
A family legend, subsequently recorded in the “General Arms of Arms of the Noble Families of the All-Russian Empire,” says that in 305 AD, the Prussian king Pruteno gave the kingdom to his brother Veidewut, and he himself became the high priest of his pagan tribe in the city of Romanov, where the evergreen sacred oak tree grew.
Before his death, Veidevuth divided his kingdom among his twelve sons. One of them was Nedron, whose family owned part of modern Lithuania (Samogit lands). His descendants were the brothers Russingen and Glanda Kambila, who were baptized in 1280, and in 1283 Kambila came to Rus' to serve the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich. After baptism, he began to be called Mare.
Who fed False Dmitry?
The personality of False Dmitry is one of the biggest mysteries of Russian history. In addition to the unresolved question of the identity of the impostor, his “shadow” accomplices remain a problem. According to one version, the Romanovs, who fell into disgrace under Godunov, had a hand in the conspiracy of False Dmitry, and the eldest descendant of the Romanovs, Fedor, a contender for the throne, was tonsured a monk.
Adherents of this version believe that the Romanovs, Shuiskys and Golitsins, who dreamed of the “Monomakh’s hat,” organized a conspiracy against Godunov, using the mysterious death of the young Tsarevich Dmitry. They prepared their contender for the royal throne, known to us as False Dmitry, and led the coup on June 10, 1605. Afterwards, having dealt with their biggest rival, they themselves joined the fight for the throne. Subsequently, after the accession of the Romanovs, their historians did everything to connect the bloody massacre of the Godunov family exclusively with the personality of False Dmitry, and leave the Romanovs’ hands clean.
The Mystery of the Zemsky Sobor 1613
The election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the throne was simply doomed to be covered with a thick layer of myths. How did it happen that in a country torn apart by turmoil, a young, inexperienced youth was elected to the throne, who at the age of 16 was not distinguished by either military talent or a sharp political mind? Of course, the future king had an influential father - Patriarch Filaret, who himself once aimed for the royal throne. But during the Zemsky Sobor, he was captured by the Poles and could hardly have somehow influenced the process. According to the generally accepted version, the decisive role was played by the Cossacks, who at that time represented a powerful force to be reckoned with. Firstly, under False Dmitry II, they and the Romanovs found themselves in the “same camp”, and secondly, they were certainly satisfied with the young and inexperienced prince, who did not pose a danger to their liberties, which they had inherited during the time of unrest.
The warlike cries of the Cossacks forced Pozharsky’s followers to propose a break of two weeks. During this time, widespread campaigning in favor of Mikhail unfolded. For many boyars, he also represented an ideal candidate who would allow them to keep power in their hands. The main argument put forward was that supposedly the late Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, before his death, wanted to transfer the throne to his relative Fyodor Romanov (Patriarch Filaret). And since he languished in Polish captivity, the crown passed to his only son, Mikhail. As the historian Klyuchevsky later wrote, “they wanted to choose not the most capable, but the most convenient.”
Non-existent coat of arms
In the history of the Romanov dynastic coat of arms there are no less blank spots than in the history of the dynasty itself. For some reason, for a long time the Romanovs did not have their own coat of arms at all; they used the state coat of arms, with the image of a double-headed eagle, as a personal one. Their own family coat of arms was created only under Alexander II. By that time, the heraldry of the Russian nobility had practically taken shape, and only the ruling dynasty did not have its own coat of arms. It would be inappropriate to say that the dynasty did not have much interest in heraldry: even under Alexei Mikhailovich, the “Tsar’s Titular Book” was published - a manuscript containing portraits of Russian monarchs with the coats of arms of Russian lands.
Perhaps such loyalty to the double-headed eagle is due to the need for the Romanovs to show legitimate continuity from the Rurikovichs and, most importantly, from the Byzantine emperors. As is known, starting with Ivan III, people begin to talk about Rus' as the successor of Byzantium. Moreover, the king married Sophia Palaeologus, the granddaughter of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine. They took the symbol of the Byzantine double-headed eagle as their family coat of arms.
In any case, this is just one of many versions. It is not known for certain why the ruling branch of the huge empire, which was related to the noblest houses of Europe, so stubbornly ignored the heraldic orders that had developed over the centuries.
The long-awaited appearance of the Romanovs’ own coat of arms under Alexander II only added more questions. The development of the imperial order was undertaken by the then king of arms, Baron B.V. Kene. The basis was taken as the ensign of the governor Nikita Ivanovich Romanov, at one time the main oppositionist Alexei Mikhailovich. Its description is more accurate, since the banner itself was already lost by that time. It depicted a golden griffin on a silver background with a small black eagle with raised wings and lion heads on its tail. Perhaps Nikita Romanov borrowed it from Livonia during the Livonian War.
The new coat of arms of the Romanovs was a red griffin on a silver background, holding a golden sword and tarch, crowned with a small eagle; on the black border there are eight severed lion heads; four gold and four silver. Firstly, the changed color of the griffin is striking. Historians of heraldry believe that Quesne decided not to go against the rules established at that time, which prohibited placing a golden figure on a silver background, with the exception of the coats of arms of such high-ranking persons as the Pope. Thus, by changing the color of the griffin, he lowered the status of the family coat of arms. Or the “Livonia version” played a role, according to which Kene emphasized the Livonian origin of the coat of arms, since in Livonia since the 16th century there was a reverse combination of coat of arms colors: a silver griffin on a red background.
There is still a lot of controversy about the symbolism of the Romanov coat of arms. Why is so much attention paid to lion heads, and not to the figure of an eagle, which, according to historical logic, should be in the center of the composition? Why is it with lowered wings, and what, ultimately, is the historical background of the Romanov coat of arms?
Peter III – the last Romanov?
As you know, the Romanov family ended with the family of Nicholas II. However, some believe that the last ruler of the Romanov dynasty was Peter III. The young infantile emperor did not have a good relationship with his wife at all. Catherine told in her diaries how anxiously she waited for her husband on her wedding night, and he came and fell asleep. This continued - Peter III did not have any feelings for his wife, preferring her to his favorite. But a son, Pavel, was nevertheless born, many years after the marriage.
Rumors about illegitimate heirs are not uncommon in the history of world dynasties, especially in turbulent times for the country. So here the question arose: is Paul really the son of Peter III? Or perhaps Catherine’s first favorite, Sergei Saltykov, took part in this.
A significant argument in favor of these rumors was that the imperial couple had not had children for many years. Therefore, many believed that this union was completely fruitless, as the empress herself hinted at, mentioning in her memoirs that her husband suffered from phimosis.
Information that Sergei Saltykov could be Pavel’s father is also present in Catherine’s diaries: “Sergei Saltykov made me understand what the reason for his frequent visits was... I continued to listen to him, he was as beautiful as day, and, of course, no one could not compare with him at court... He was 25 years old, in general, both by birth and by many other qualities, he was an outstanding gentleman... I did not give in all spring and part of the summer.” The result was not long in coming. On September 20, 1754, Catherine gave birth to a son. Only from whom: from her husband Romanov, or from Saltykov?
The choice of name for members of the ruling dynasty has always played an important role in the political life of the country. Firstly, intra-dynastic relations were often emphasized with the help of names. So, for example, the names of the children of Alexei Mikhailovich were supposed to emphasize the connection of the Romanovs with the Rurikovich dynasty. Under Peter and his daughters, they showed close relationships within the ruling branch (despite the fact that this was completely inconsistent with the real situation in the imperial family). But under Catherine the Great, a completely new order of naming was introduced. The former clan affiliation gave way to other factors, among which the political played a significant role. Her choice came from the semantics of names, going back to the Greek words: “people” and “victory”.
Let's start with Alexander. The name of Paul's eldest son was given in honor of Alexander Nevsky, although another invincible commander, Alexander the Great, was also implied. She wrote the following about her choice: “You say: Catherine wrote to Baron F. M. Grimm, that he will have to choose who to imitate: a hero (Alexander the Great) or a saint (Alexander Nevsky). You apparently don't know that our saint was a hero. He was a courageous warrior, a firm ruler and a clever politician and surpassed all other appanage princes, his contemporaries... So, I agree that Mr. Alexander has only one choice, and it depends on his personal talents which path he will take - holiness or heroism "
The reasons for choosing the name Constantine, unusual for Russian tsars, are even more interesting. They are connected with the idea of Catherine’s “Greek project,” which implied the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the restoration of the Byzantine state led by her second grandson.
It is unclear, however, why Paul's third son received the name Nicholas. Apparently, he was named after the most revered saint in Rus' - Nicholas the Wonderworker. But this is just a version, since the sources do not contain any explanation for this choice.
Catherine had nothing to do with the choice of name for Pavel’s youngest son, Mikhail, who was born after her death. Here the father’s long-standing passion for chivalry already played a role. Mikhail Pavlovich was named in honor of the Archangel Michael, the leader of the heavenly army, the patron saint of the emperor-knight.
Four names: Alexander, Konstantin, Nicholas and Mikhail - formed the basis of the new imperial names of the Romanovs.
