Feodor III of Russia

Feodor (Theodore) III Alexeyevich of Russia (in Russian: Фёдор III Алексеевич) (9 June 1661 – 7 May 1682) was the Tsar of all Russia between 1676 and 1682.

Posthumous parsuna of Tsar Feodor Alexeevich

Life

Feodor was born in Moscow, the eldest surviving son of Tsar Alexis and Maria Miloslavskaya. In 1676, at the age of fifteen, he succeeded his father on the throne. He was endowed with a fine intellect and a noble disposition; he had received an excellent education at the hands of Simeon Polotsky, the most learned Slavonic monk of the day, knew Polish, and even possessed the unusual accomplishment of Latin; but, horribly disfigured and half paralyzed by a mysterious disease, supposed to be scurvy, he had been disabled from his birth. He spent most of his time with young nobles, Yazykov and Likhachov, who would later introduce the Russian court to Polish ceremonies, dress, and language.

On 28 July 1680 he married a Ukrainian noblewoman Agaphia Simeonovna Grushevskaya (1663 – after 14 Jul 1681), daughter of Simeon Feodorovich Grushevsky and wife Maria Ivanovna Zaborovskaya, and assumed the sceptre. His native energy, though crippled, was not crushed by his terrible disabilities; and he soon showed that he was as thorough and devoted a reformer as a man incompetent to lead armies and obliged to issue his orders from his litter, or his bed-chamber, could possibly be. The atmosphere of the court ceased to be oppressive; the light of a new liberalism shone in the highest places; and the severity of the penal laws was considerably mitigated. He founded the academy of sciences in the Zaikonospassky monastery, where everything not expressly forbidden by the Orthodox church, including Slavonic, Greek, Latin and Polish, was to be taught by competent professors.^[1]

The chief difference between the Fyodorean and the later Petrine reforms was that while the former were primarily, though not exclusively, for the benefit of the church, the latter were primarily for the benefit of the state. The most notable reform of Fyodor III, however, was the abolition in 1682, at the suggestion of Vasily Galitzine, of the system of mestnichestvo, or "place priority", which had paralyzed the whole civil and military administration of Muscovy for generations. Henceforth all appointments to the civil and military services were to be determined by merit and the will of the sovereign,^[1] while pedigree (nobility) books were to be destroyed.

Family

Fyodor's first consort, Agaphia Simeonovna Grushevskaya shared his progressive views. She was the first to advocate beard-shaving.^[1] On 11 July 1681, the Tsaritsa gave birth to her son, Tsarevich Ilya Fyodorovich, the expected heir to the throne. Agaphia died as a consequence of the childbirth three days later, on 14 July, and seven days later, on 21 July, the ten-days-old Tsarevich also died.

Seven months later, on 24 February 1682 Fyodor married a second time Marfa Apraksina (1667–1716), daughter of Matvei Vasilievich Apraksin and wife Domna Bogdanovna Lovchikova. Feodor died three months after his new wedding, on 7 May, without surviving issue. The news of his death sparked the Moscow Uprising of 1682.

Notes

1 2 3 Chisholm 1911.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Feodor III of Russia.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Theodore (tsars)". Encyclopædia Britannica 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

Romanovs. The second film. Feodor III, Sophia Alekseyevna; Ivan V; – Historical reconstruction "The Romanovs". StarMedia. Babich-Design(Russia, 2013)

Regnal titles
Preceded by Alexis	Tsar of Russia 1676–1682	Succeeded by Peter I and Ivan V
Russian royalty
Preceded by Alexei Alexeevich	Heir to the Russian Throne 1670–1676	Succeeded by Ivan V of Russia

Sovereigns of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality, Grand Principality of Moscow, Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire

Grand Princes	Yuri Dolgorukiy Andrei I Bogolyubsky Mikhail of Vladimir Vsevolod the Big Nest Yuri II of Vladimir Konstantin of Rostov Yuri II of Vladimir Yaroslav II of Vladimir Sviatoslav III of Vladimir Andrey II of Vladimir Alexander Nevsky Yaroslav of Tver Vasily of Kostroma Dmitry of Pereslavl Andrey of Gorodets Mikhail of Tver Yuri of Moscow Dmitry the Terrible Eyes Alexander of Tver Ivan I Simeon the Proud Ivan II Dmitry of Suzdal Dmitry Donskoy Vasily I Vasily II Ivan III the Great Vasily III

Tsars	Ivan IV the Terrible Simeon Bekbulatovich Feodor I Boris Godunov Feodor II Dmitriy I Vasili IV Vladislav I Michael I Alexis Feodor III Ivan V and Peter I the Great (co-rulers) Peter I the Great

Emperors and Empresses	Peter I the Great Catherine I Peter II Anna Ivan VI Elizabeth Peter III Catherine II the Great Paul Alexander I Nicholas I Alexander II Alexander III Nicholas II

Tsareviches of Russia

1st generation (Rurikids)	Dmitry Ivanovich (1552) Ivan Ivanovich Feodor I Ivanovich Vasili Ivanovich Dmitry Ivanovich (1582)

2nd generation (Rurikids)	Ivan Dmitriyevich (pretendent, murdered at the age of three)

1st generation (Godunovs)	Feodor II Borisovich

1st generation (Romanovs)	Alexei I Romanov Ivan Mikhailovich Vasili Mikhailovich

2nd generation (Romanovs)	Dmitri Alekseyevich Alexei Alekseyevich Feodor III Alekseyevich Simeon Alekseyevich Ivan V Alekseyevich Peter I Alekseyevich

3rd generation (Romanovs)	Ilya Fyodorovich Alexei Petrovich Alexander Petrovich Paul Petrovich Peter Petrovich Paul Petrovich Peter Petrovich

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 59896157 LCCN: n97008558 ISNI: 0000 0001 0977 8124 GND: 119529866 BNF: cb149534991 (data)

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