Ivan V of Russia

Ivan V
Tsar of All Russia
Reign	7 May 1682 – 8 February 1696
Coronation	25 June 1682
Predecessor	Feodor III
Successor	Peter I
Co-monarch	Peter I
Regent	Sophia Alekseyevna (1682–1689)
Born	(1666-09-06)6 September 1666 Moscow
Died	8 February 1696(1696-02-08) (aged 29) Moscow
Burial	Archangel Cathedral
Consort	Praskovia Saltykova
Issue	Tsarevna Maria Ivanovna Tsarevna Feodosia Ivanovna Catherine, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Empress Anna of Russia Tsarevna Praskovia Ivanovna
Names Ivan Alekseyevich Romanov
House	House of Romanov
Father	Alexis
Mother	Maria Miloslavskaya
Religion	Eastern Orthodox

Ivan V Alekseyevich (Russian: Иван V Алексеевич, 6 September [O.S. 27 August] 1666 – 8 February [O.S. 29 January] 1696) was a joint Tsar of Russia (with his younger half-brother Peter I) who co-reigned between 1682 and 1696. He was the youngest son of Alexis I of Russia by his first wife Maria Miloslavskaya, while Peter was the only son of Alexis by his second wife Natalya Naryshkina. Ivan's reign was only formal, since he had serious physical and mental disabilities. He sat still for hours at a time and needed assistance in order to walk.

Background

Ivan V was the 12th child of Tsar Alexis, but he had only two older brothers who reached adulthood. His eldest brother, Alexai, died aged 16 in 1670, and therefore the second brother, Feodor III, became Tsar upon the death of their father. However, Feodor suffered from a disfiguring disease, possibly scurvy, and it was feared that he would not be able to sire an heir. This meant that Ivan could well succeed his brother as Tsar, which would be a problem because he suffered from physical and mental problems. Fortunately, Ivan had a younger half-brother, namely Peter, the son of his step-mother Natalia Naryshkina, who was healthy of mind and body. During the whole six-year reign of Ivan's elder brother Feodor III, there existed a faction at court, led by the Naryshkin family, who lobbied for Ivan to be set aside and for Peter to be declared heir apparent. This did not happen, perhaps because Feodor III never gave up hope of producing a son, and when he died in May 1682, Ivan was still the heir to the throne.

Yet the ambitions of the Naryshkin family were well known in court and outside, and when Feodor III died, their rivals and other courtiers spread the rumour that they had caused Ivan to be strangled so that his half-brother, the 10-year-old Peter, could become Tsar. This rumour fomented the Moscow Uprising of 1682, and major riots broke out in the city. These disturbances subsided only after Ivan appeared in person in the city and proved to everybody that he was alive and well. In fact, Ivan enjoyed a close relationship with his step-mother and young step-brother. Natalia Naryshkina, who had married Ivan's father when Ivan was only four years old, had also grown fond and protective of her simple-minded and rather helpless step-son. In any case, the fact was that during this period, it was not Ivan's step-mother but his full elder sister, Sofia Alekseyevna, who was the most powerful person at court.

That court was now in a dilemma. On the one hand, Ivan was genuinely and clearly incapable of running the government of Russia, especially during a particularly unruly period in its turbulent history. On the other hand, the city and public did not know or believe that he was incapable, and the riots indicated that any move to set him aside would bring infamy to his successor, whoever that might be. Princess Sofia Alekseyevna was no doubt powerful at court, but so were her step-mother's family, the Naryshkins, and their candidate, Peter, the Queen and her 10-year-old son Peter, and soil their reputations for all time to come. The good news was that Ivan himself was a guileless boy who did not wish to cause trouble and did not indulge in political activity at all.

She and her counselors therefore devised a workable formula: Both Ivan and Peter would be crowned together as co-rulers, and the country would be ruled by a regency until the boys came of age; history could then take its own course in later years. Ivan did not really want to become Tsar but was persuaded to agree to this plan.

Praskovia Saltykova, Portrait by Ivan Nikitin.

On 25 June 1682, less than two months after the death of Feodor III, Ivan and Peter were crowned in the Cathedral of the Dormition as "dvoetsarstvenniki" (double tsars). A special throne with two seats was executed for the occasion (now on display in the Kremlin Armoury). While Ivan was 16 years old at this time, his co-ruler Peter I was only ten. Although Ivan was considered the "senior tsar", actual power was wielded by his elder (and full) sister, Sophia Alekseyevna. In 1689, when she realized that power was slipping from her hands, she attempted to raise another riot, speculating that the Naryshkins had destroyed Ivan's crown and were poised to set his room on fire. However, Ivan's tutor, Prince Prozorovsky, persuaded him to change sides, whereupon Ivan declared his allegiance to his brother's cause.

During the last decade of his life, Ivan was completely overshadowed by the more energetic Peter I. He spent his days with his wife, Praskovia Saltykova, caring about little but "praying and fasting day and night". Ivan's purported debility did not prevent him from producing robust offspring in the shape of five daughters, one of whom — Anna Ivanovna — would assume the throne in 1730. His granddaughter through another child, Anna Leopoldovna would become a non-crowned ruler of Russia. Her son and Ivan's great-grandson, Ivan VI would be the last Russian emperor among the issue of Maria Miloslavskaya, the first wife of Tsar Alexis. The last surviving descendant of Ivan V, Catherine Antonovna of Brunswick, died in 1807 after being imprisoned for her entire life.

At the age of 27 he was described by foreign ambassadors as senile, paralytic and almost blind. He died two years later and was interred in the Archangel Cathedral.

For many years Ivan was treated like a puppet ruler of Muscovy. His largest ruling influence was his older sister Sophia. She vied for power along with Ivan and her half brother Peter, and is even blamed for the murders of Peter's mother and immediate family. Due to this and other situations tension arose between the two groups of Tsar Alexis's children. After Ivan's death on 8 February 1696 his half brother Peter I was left to become supreme ruler and Tsar of all of Russia. The struggle for power between the family had finally come to an end, and Peter was left to bring Russia into a new age.

See also

• Rulers of Russia family tree

External links

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