3. the first Romanovs government 1613-89

1613-45 Reign of Tsar Mikhail (Romanov): 16 years old

• his young, mild disposition attracted some powerful boyars

• relative lowness of his family averted possible feuds among more powerful rivals

• links with the old dynasty (Anastasia – Michael’s grand aunt)

• Some historians argue he was mediocrity on the throne? Not sure if he is literate? Just an image of a weak ruler?

• Always seemed as constrained, controlled by others

Purpose of government (passive)

• 1613 as a conservative restoration

• To deter foreign invasion (Poland king who was invited by Shuiskii, Swedes who occupied parts of Northern Russia)

• To re-establish internal stability

• To maintain the social elite

• To preserve tradition and lead people to salvation

• Orthodoxy the main part of the regime

Deterring foreign invasion:

1617 Treaty of Stolbovo: ended fighting with Sweden. Novgorod was restored back to Russia. Russia lost direct trade access to the Baltic sea by surrendering border fortresses. Places which protect Russia was lost to Sweden.

1618 Treaty of Deulino: end of fighting with Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but western territories of Rus', inc. Smolensk, forfeited to the Commonwealth, Wladyslaw (Polish King) maintained his claim to the Muscovite throne.

purpose of government

• Smolensk War (death of Sigismund III, Russia’s alliance with Sweden, failed to recapture Smolensk, but Wladyslaw dropped his claims on the Muscovite throne)

• 1654: Treaty of Pereiaslav (alliance with anti-Polish Cossack rebels in Ukraine) Cossack believed this was an agreement of 2 people, however Moscow saw it as the Cossacks acknowledging Russias power.

• 1654-67:   Thirteen Years’ War v. the Commonwealth: Russian numerical superiority against Lithuania, carefully planned invasion; Smolensk and Chernihiv/Chernigov conceded to Muscovy; Muscovite sovereignty over left-bank Ukraine, incl Kyiv – Truce of Andrusovo)

  • 1656-61: v Sweden: Russia tried to reclaim territories (around gulf of Finland) lost to Sweden, but eventually confirmed the terms of the Treaty of Stolbovo

• Geopolitics around the area changed: Ottoman was expanding, Eu was worried.

• 1678-81: Russo-Turkish War (dissatisfied Cossacks accept Ottoman support, but other Cossacks allied with Russia. Outcome: Russia failed to protect the Cossack capital of Chyhyryn, but secured the left bank of the Dnieper and Kyiv.

• 1686: ‘Eternal Peace’ – the Poles renounced all claims on the territories conquered by Russia, Russia pledges to join the Holy Roman Empire, Venice and the Commonwealth to wage war on Turkey and Crimea

• 1687 and 1698: Failed campaigns v. Crimea (drought, lack of fodder)

reason for successful expansion

• Military modernisation (Aleksei hiring mercenary officers in Sweden, the Netherlands and Scotland to train a new ‘foreign formation’ troops (end of Aleksei reign they made up 80% of the army), reorganising command-and-control, infantry training using a translated military manual) huge finances was centralised to help the military.

• Reform and centralisation of taxation

• Growing experience of Muscovite diplomacy (they were able to talk to EU powers, consolidate alliances)

• Blunders of Russia’s opponents

re-establishing internal stability

• Gradual enforcement of serfdom

• Prevention of resistance to the tsar

• Suppression of social revolt:

  • Moscow revolt of 1648

Tsar Aleksei: preserving tradition and leading people to salvation:

• Restoring orthodoxy to his country

• Nancy Kollmann: balance between majesty and humanity

• Images made him look like a christ like ruler

• Rule with full harmony with his subjects

• Emphasis on humility, piety

• Was seen as the quietest ruler

• No evidence of his personal ambitions or original ideas

• First ruler with autographs, compiled a manual for hunting

how did the tsar govern?

Advisory bodies:

• Autocracy

• But did this make them a despotism?

• Consultation between the tsar and various groups of elite:

  • Church hierarchs

  • Court elite, boyar council, powerful clans

  • Broad assembly of the church and court elite, merchants, cavalrymen:  Became known as the assembly of the land(members of the entire country participated in the discussion) important things were discussed:

    • Choosing as tsar

    • Approved of new law code

    • Raising taxes

• Evident that the tsar didn’t make rules himself, he listened to the boyars

• Mikhail’s father Patriarch Filaret (Fedor), ca 1554-1633, becomes patriarch in the ca,p of the Second False Dmitrii. returns from Polish captivity in 1619, dual rule of Filaret (‘Great Sovereign)

• Marriages to the royal family was essential for a good place in the court.

Assembly of the land:

• Not a permament institution

•  no prescribed size or sphere of authority

• No official defined sphere of authority, generally, it was the tsar who questioned and the assembly discussed it

• Was the level of consulation any more than ritual/symbolic

• Act in full agreement with the bible

• United will of the tsar and his people

• The tsar deliberated with his advisors as christ deliberated with apostles

• The reason the time of troubles happened is because the tsar listened to bad advisors like Judas instead of good advisors  (Muscovites believed this)

maintaining social elite

• Boyars increased 1500-50 - 19 men

• 1550-1600 - 40 men

• There was an inflation of boyar honour and the rank became less ceremonial, still it was connected with military posts, but administrative jobs went to lesser ranks.

• Boyars could challenge the tsar over inappropriate appointments because the tsar could appoint (precedence system)

• But boyars never rebelled against the tsar, because they needed tsar support to keep and esxploit their peasants, could not challenge the Gods representative on earth.

The court elite:

• Tsar and his closest advisors

• Not a place, but a hierarchy of military ranks

• After 1649, growing elites get too big for irl negotiations

Central administration:

• Chancelleries:

  • All performed different things like ambassadorials, military, different territories (little Russian)

    • Were functional

    • Geographic

    • Overlapping

    • Expanding in numbers

    • Fluctuating over time

law code of 1649 + local administrative units

• Bureaucratic

• Written instructions

• Regular reports and accounts

Local administrative institutions

• Town governors under Patriarch Filaret

• Impact of codified law after 1649

  • Written instructions

Regular reports and accounts 

problems michael faced on the throne

• Foreign intervention: (Sweden + Poland)

  • Does not have control over certain areas of Russia

  • Expansion of Russia's territory

• Social issues:

  • Rebellions (Cossacks war)

• Reconstruction (political systems + economy

  • Authority of the tsar was slightly lost before this due to lack of lineage, change, upheaval

  • Michael must assert his right to the throne

  • Taxation was increased = war is expensive, but you need a functioning government = re-establish a taxation system

  • Civil war led to devastated lands = crops ruined

  • Trade - internal + external = extremely hard to do during wartime

Was Muscovy rule a despotism?

YES:

• Western travel writing:

  • Hasburg wrote about the tsar having absolute power

  • Protestants/Catholics compared to Eastern Orthodox power in Muscovy

• Eastern travel writing:

  • Syrian scholar wrote the same thing

  • Many were Orthodox, so understood rituals more

• Law code:

  • Serfdom

  • Russian Tsar isn't bound by the law (magna carta)

• Language: servants and master

• Climate:

  • No trade route (Silk Road)

  • Harsh climate (Siberia)

  • Powerful enemies (Sweden, Poland, Ottomann)

• You need a leader to pave the way and help you find light. Must be through having an absolute leader

• Religion - lead to salvation, tsar is supposed to look after his flock. Its his divine right

NO:

• Tsar given the right to rule by the church

• Saint Sergei - helped fight of the Tartars

• The Tsar in full humility (bowing down, no shoes), visiting the saint, showcases Tsar cannot do as he wants

• Looks after the church

• Religion acts as a check to his power

• Powerful boyars check his power

• Ruling with the boyars’ consultation

 

How does Marshall Poe interpret Muscovite rule?

Poe explains that many 16th-century Western visitors saw Muscovy as despotic, believing the tsar held absolute power over people and property. Russian historian Vasily Kliuchevsky described Muscovy as a “service state”, where all social groups owed duties to the tsar (nobles fought, clergy prayed, merchants traded, peasants laboured).

However, Poe stresses these views were shaped by Western misunderstandings and later ideological interpretations. During the Cold War some thinkers argued Russia had a continuous tradition of autocracy from Ivan the Terrible to Soviet rulers, but Poe argues this oversimplifies Muscovite political culture and exaggerates tyranny.

How does Valerie A. Kivelson challenge the idea that Muscovite rule was despotic?

Kivelson argues Muscovite rule was not purely despotic because it was constrained by Orthodox ideology, tradition, and legal practice.

Legitimacy came from Orthodox political theory, which portrayed the tsar as God’s ruler responsible for justice and order. Court ritual reinforced both divine authority and moral obligations to subjects.

Muscovy also had structured legal codes and judicial procedures, and subjects frequently petitioned the tsar using the law, showing they expected accountability. Although tsars could violate norms, tradition, piety, and legal culture limited arbitrary rule, making the system more complex than simple tyranny.