MUSCOVITE RUSSIA, 1480–1689 - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 21

man whose family ranked low could not become a commander. Sometimes for
important campaigns, the government would issue a temporary exemption
from mestnichestvo, and sometimes generals would keep high-ranking but unable
commanders back in Moscow “for advice,” but the system was still cumbersome
and unworkable. A similar system existed for the civil service. Most of the fam-
ily records of service were burned when the system was abolished.
Feodor died childless in 1682, and for about seven years there was constant
infighting about which of Feodor's half brothers (Peter or Ivan) would take over,
under the direction of Ivan's full sister Sophia. Peter's father, Aleksei, had been
married twice, first to Maria Miloslavskaia and then to Natalia Naryshkina. With
Maria he had 13 children, but only two sons, Feodor and Ivan, survived. Peter
was the first son of the second marriage. Feodor took over after Aleksei's death
in 1676, then died without an heir in 1682. Without an acknowledged heir, it
came to a question of which son would rule, and the families of the two wives
competed for the throne. Peter's mother's side gained an early victory, and Peter
was proclaimed czar in April 1682, with his mother as regent.
But a month later, the Miloslavskii family led a rebellion of the streltsy (the
military caste of musketeers) regiments in Moscow. Probably the true leader of
the rebellion was Aleksei's daughter Sophia, Peter's half sister. Members of
Peter's mother's family were murdered, and Peter witnessed some of the mur-
ders. The streltsy requested that Ivan be declared senior czar, with Peter as junior
czar, and then made Sophia regent. The streltsy, influenced by Old Believers,
tried to pressure for more changes, but they were put down.
From 1682 to 1689, Sophia really ruled Muscovy—Ivan was mentally and
physically incapable of ruling, and Peter was kept away from affairs of state.
Sophia relied on Prince Vasili Golitsyn, a strong and relatively enlightened
adviser, who liberalized the penal code and arranged a lasting peace treaty with
Poland. That treaty, however, brought war with the Crimean Tartars, backed by
Turkey. Golitsyn led the army to war against the Tartars but suffered disastrous
defeats.
Sophia wanted to rule by herself in her own right and in 1689 encouraged
the streltsy to try another coup, but they refused. Hearing about this, Peter
escaped from the village of Preobrazhenskoe (near Moscow) to the Holy
Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. The patriarch, most boyars and the gentry, and
the Western-oriented units of the military (and even some streltsy ) rallied
behind Peter. Sophia was left without strong support. She left without a fight
and was sent to a convent; Golitsyn and other prominent boyars and support-
ers of Sophia were exiled; a few inciters of the streltsy were executed.