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Czar Peter and Catherine the Great 1750

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Peter the Great was a Russian czar in the late 17th century, who is
best known for his extensive reforms in an attempt to establish Russia
as a great nation.

Synopsis
Born in Moscow, Russia on June 9, 1672, Peter the Great was a Russian czar in the late 17th
century who is best known for his extensive reforms in an attempt to establish Russia as a great
nation. He created a strong navy, reorganized his army according to Western standards,
secularized schools, administered greater control over the reactionary Orthodox Church, and
introduced new administrative and territorial divisions of the country.

Early Rule
Peter the Great was born Pyotr Alekseyevich on June 9, 1672 in Moscow, Russia. Peter the Great
was the 14th child of Czar Alexis by his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Having
ruled jointly with his brother Ivan V from 1682, when Ivan died in 1696, Peter was officially
declared Sovereign of all Russia. Peter inherited a nation that was severely underdeveloped
compared to the culturally prosperous European countries. While the Renaissance and the
Reformation swept through Europe, Russia rejected westernization and remained isolated from
modernization.
During his reign, Peter undertook extensive reforms in an attempt to reestablish Russia as a great
nation. Peter overcame opposition from the country's medieval aristocracy and initiated a series
of changes that affected all areas of Russian life. He created a strong navy, reorganized his army
according to Western standards, secularized schools, administered greater control over the
reactionary Orthodox Church, and introduced new administrative and territorial divisions of the
country.

Sweeping Changes
Peter focused on the development of science and recruited several experts to educate his people
about technological advancements. He concentrated on developing commerce and industry and
created a gentrified bourgeoisie population. Mirroring Western culture, he modernized the
Russian alphabet, introduced the Julian calendar, and established the first Russian newspaper.
Peter was a far-sighted and skillful diplomat who abolished Russia's archaic form of government
and appointed a viable Senate, which regulated all branches of administration, as well as making,
groundbreaking accomplishments in Russia's foreign policy.

Territorial Gains
Peter acquired territory in Estonia, Latvia and Finland; and through several wars with Turkey in
the south, he secured access to the Black Sea. In 1709, he defeated the Swedish army by
purposely directing their troops to the city of Poltva, in the midst of an unbearable Russian
winter. In 1712, Peter established the city of St. Petersburg on the Neva River and moved the

capital there from its former location in Moscow. Shortly after, St. Petersburg was deemed
Russia's "window to Europe."

Shortcomings and Death

Under Peter's rule, Russia became a great European nation. In 1721, he proclaimed Russia an
empire and was accorded the title of Emperor of All Russia, Great Father of the Fatherland, and
"the Great." Although he proved to be an effective leader, Peter was also known to be cruel and
tyrannical. The high taxes that often accompanied his various reforms led to revolts among
citizens, which were immediately suppressed by the imposing ruler. Peter, a daunting 6 1/2 feet
tall, was a handsome man who drank excessively and harbored violent tendencies.
Peter married twice and had 11 children, many of whom died in infancy. The eldest son from his
first marriage, Alexis, was convicted of high treason by his father and secretly executed in 1718.
Peter the Great died on February 8, 1725, without nominating an heir. He is entombed in the
Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, located in in St. Petersburg.

USSIA IN THE 17th CENTURY

His brother-in-law, Boris Godunov was persuaded to take the throne of
Russia. Unfortunately Russia suffered from famine in 1601-1603.
Worse when Boris died in 1605 Russia entered a period of turmoil. In
1603 a man turned up in Poland claiming to be Ivan the Terrible's
youngest son Dmitry. In reality Dmitry had his throat cut in 1591.
However the pretender, known as False Dmitry raised an army of
Poles and rebel Russians and advanced on Moscow in 1605. Boris
conveniently died and Dmitry captured Moscow where he became
Tsar. However his reign was short lived. He was replaced by Prince
Vasily Shusky in 1606. Russia then descended into anarchy. There
were several uprisings and order was not restored until 1613 when a
man named Michael Romanov was made Tsar of Russia.
In 1645 he was succeeded by his son Alexis known as 'Most Gentle'.
During his reign the Ukrainians, who were ruled by the Poles, sought
protection from Russia. In 1654 they formed a union with Russia. The
Poles then went to war against Russia but they were defeated. In
1667 Russia gained all of the Ukraine east of the Dneiper and Kiev
and Smolensk. Meanwhile Russian settlers moved into Siberia. The
Bering Straits were discovered in 1648 and in the late 17th century

many Russians moved into the area. In 1689 the Russians made a
treaty with the Chinese which fixed the border between them.
Meanwhile Alexis also made a new code of laws in 1649. The
peasants lost the vestiges of freedom. However in 1670-71 a Cossack
named Stepan Razin led a rebellion against the Russian landlords.
However his rebellion was crushed and he was executed.
In the 17th century Russia was also torn by schism. Patriarch Nikon
(1652-1666) decided to 'update' books used by the Russian church by
making sure they were correctly translated from the Greek originals.
He hoped to remove any mistakes that had crept in over the years. He
also made some changes to church rites. However some Russians
refused to accept the changes. They were called Old Believers and
they were mercilessly persecuted. Alexis was followed by his son
Fyodor III (1676-1682) who in turn was followed by the great Tsar
Peter.
However it looked, at first as if Fyodor's 15 year old brother Ivan might
claim the throne but he had low intelligence. So the patriarch called a
meeting of powerful Russians and they proclaimed Ivan's half brother
Peter Tsar even though he was only 9 years old. However shortly
afterwards Ivan's sister Sophia staged a coup, although Peter was not
removed completely. Instead Ivan was made a Co-Tsar alongside him.
Since both boys were underage Sophia was made regent. In 1689
Sophia plotted to seize the throne but Peter's supporters staged a
coup and sent her to a convent. Peter's mother was made regent.
Peter did not finally gain power in Russia until 1694. When he did he
was determined to bring Russia up to date. In 1696-97 he traveled to
the west. While he was away Sophia's supporters staged a rebellion.
However the rebellion was crushed and when Peter returned he
executed over 1,000 people. Meanwhile Peter embarked on his plan
to modernize Russia. He built a navy and in 1696 he captured Azov
from the Turks. Peter also encouraged foreign trade. He also
encouraged the translation of foreign books into Russian. He
encouraged the building of factories (peasants were conscripted to
work in them). Peter also introduced the Julian calendar and he
reformed Russian government and administration. Peter also

introduced western dress and he banned the Russian nobles (boyars)

from wearing beards. When the patriarch died in 1700 Peter refused
to replace him. Instead he formed a body called a Holy Synod to head
the Russian Orthodox Church. The church was made subordinate to
the Tsar and was meant to serve him. Peter also founded a port in
northwest Russia called St Petersburg. The new city was built in the
years 1703-1712. Vast numbers of peasants were conscripted to do
the work and many thousands of them died because of the harsh
conditions. Peter also imposed heavy taxation on his people.
RUSSIA IN THE 18th CENTURY
In 1700 Peter the Great went to war with Sweden in what became
known as The Great Northern War. (Poland and Denmark were his
allies). In 1700 the Russians were defeated at Neva. However in 1709
the Swedes invaded Ukraine and were crushed at the Battle of
Poltava. In 1721 the Russians and Swedes made peace. Russia
gained Estonia and land around the Gulf of Finland. However Peter
was less successful against the Turks. In 1710 he went to war with
them but in 1711 his army was defeated and he was forced to make
peace. Russia was forced to return Azov. However Peter did prevail in
a war against Persia in 1722-23. Peter the Great also founded the
Russian Academy of Sciences in 1724. However he died in 1725.
He was succeeded by Catherine I. She was followed by Peter II in
1727. Then in 1730 Anna became Empress of Russia. When she died
in 1740 a small child named Ivan VI became Tsar but he died in 1741.
Empress Elizabeth replaced him. She seized the throne with the help
of Palace guards. She ruled until her death in 1762. During her reign
Russia fought a successful war with the Turks in the years 1736-39.
As a result the Russians regained Azov. Meanwhile Russia's first
university was founded in Moscow in 1755. Peter III became Tsar in
1762 but he reigned for only a few months. Supporters of his wife
Catherine assassinated him in 1762. She became known as Catherine
the Great.
Although she liked to be seen as an enlightened despot and she
corresponded with Voltaire and Diderot many of Catherine's subjects

were poor and oppressed. In 1773 man named Yemelyan Pugachev

led a rebellion. The rebellion had considerable success but it was
finally crushed in 1774. Pugachev was brought to Moscow in an iron
cage. He was beheaded and his body was cut into quarters.
Afterwards, in 1775, Catherine reformed local government. In 1785
she gave the gentry (wealthy landowners) a charter (a document
granting or confirming certain rights).
Meanwhile Russia continued to expand in the 18th century. Russia
fought a successful war with the Turks in 1768-1774. As a result the
Russians gained land by the Black Sea. In 1783 Russia took the
Crimea. The Turks lost still more territory after a war in 1787-1791.
Meanwhile Russia took parts of Poland. In 1772 Russia, Prussia and
Austria helped themselves to a slice of Polish territory each. Russia
and Prussia helped themselves to more Polish territory in 1793.
Finally in 1795 Russia, Prussia and Austria divided up what was left of
Poland between them.
During the 18th century Russian territory and population greatly
increased. Russia's new territory in the south was called New Russia
and many people migrated there. Meanwhile Russians settled in the
east. Russian industry also grew at this time and foreign trade
expanded rapidly. By the time Catherine died in 1796 Russia was very
powerful. Catherine was succeeded by her son Paul I. In 1797 he
passed a law that in future the eldest son should inherit the throne of
Russia. He joined the war against France in 1798 but withdrew in
1800. Paul was assassinated in 1801.
oyhood of Peter the Great: 1676-1689

The death of the tsar Alexis, in 1676, is followed by a struggle between two halves of his family. His many children by h
talented daughter, Sophia, and two extremely feeble sons. The elder, Fedor, is merely sickly; the younger, Ivan, is ment

By his second wife, Natalia Naryshkina, Alexis has a vigorous and bright child, Peter, who is only four when the tsar die
the rivalry between the families is muted, because Fedor III is the obvious heir and is capable of ruling. But he dies, at
1682.

The unsuitability of Ivan for the throne causes a zemski soborin Moscow to proclaim Peter as tsar. But
Sophia and her relations contrive to turn an uprising by the dissatisfied household troops, the Streltsy,

against the family of Peter's mother, the Naryshkin - many of whom are killed in a palace massacre.
The result is an agreement that Ivan V and Peter I shall be joint tsars, with Sophia acting as regent.
Sophia sends Peter, now aged ten, out of Moscow to live with his mother in the village of
Preobrazhenskoye. An important influence in the boy's life proves to be a nearby settlement where
foreigners are allowed to live. He is fascinated by news of a wider world than Russia.
By 1689, when Peter is seventeen, Sophia faces the likelihood of losing her status as regent. She fosters
a new plan by the Streltsy to wipe out the Naryshkin clan and with them the young tsar. This time the
Naryshkin are able to foil the plot and to take control of Moscow themselves.
Sophia is confined to a convent. Peter comes into his inheritance, nominally at first as co-tsar - until his
half-witted half-brother, Ivan V, dies in 1696.

Azov: 1695-1696
Peter's first military campaigns indicate vividly the character of the man. He is irked, like his
predecessors, by Russia's lack of a port on any sea (except the White Sea in the north, frozen for much
of the year). He selects the fortified town of Azov as a suitable target. If he can take this from the
Crimean Tatars, it will give him access to the sea of Azov and thus to the Black Sea. As the Tatars are
Muslim vassals of the Turks, he will also be striking a blow for Christendom.
In the summer of 1695 he leads a large Russian army to the south. For two months they besiege Azov
without success. By the end of November the young tsar is back in Moscow.
Peter's reaction to this total failure is characteristic. He organizes a rapid and astonishing response,
gathering some 26,000 craftsmen and labourers in and around Voronezh. This is a town in a forested
region on a tributary of the river Don, which reaches the sea at Azov. During the winter of 1695-6
Peter's labourers fell trees, drag them to new timber yards, saw them into planks and assemble them
into ships. The tsar, in whose childhood the pleasures of carpentry and boating have featured
prominently, now toils in the yards alongside his work force.
By April two warships, four fire-ships, twenty-three galleys and many smaller boats are ready for
launching.
In mid-May the tsar and his fleet set off downstream towards Azov. This time, when they reach the
fortress, Russian naval power prevents Turkish relief from arriving by water. In July Azov surrenders.
This brilliant revenge for last year's failure gives Peter more ambitious ideas. He decides to visit the
most powerful European nations to enlist support against the Turks. At the same time he will be able to
oberve at first hand details of western technology which may be of use to Russia. The proposed
expedition becomes known as the Grand Embassy.
The Grand Embassy: 1697-1698
The Grand Embassy, led by three official ambassadors and consisting of some 250 people, leaves
Moscow in March 1697. Peter sometimes adopts the semi-anonymous role of Petr Mikhailhov, a Russian
sailor, but often - when there are negotiations to conduct or military establishments to inspect - he
admits to being the tsar.
He works for four months as a ship's carpenter in the dockyards of the Dutch East India Company at
Saardam. Perhaps there he manages to preserve his disguise. But in England, where he also spends
time in the dockyard at Deptford, his identity is well known. He rents the house of John Evelyn, who
notes in his diary some of the Tsar's engagements in the spring of 1698.
It becomes all too evident during Peter's travels that he has no chance of putting together an alliance

against Turkey. The nations of Europe are preparing for a conflict on their own territory, now seen to be
inevitable, when the childless king of Spain dies.
With this established, Peter again demonstrates his flexibility and resolution. If he cannot secure his new
port on the Sea of Azov, perhaps he can win a much more valuable presence on the Baltic. Russia's
access to that sea is blocked by Sweden. But Sweden's Charles IX has just died, in 1697. He has been
succeeded by a 15-year-old.
As soon as he is back in Moscow, in 1698, Peter begins negotiations to make peace with Turkey. While
they progress, secret discussions are held between Denmark, Poland and Russia to form an alliance
against Sweden.
On 8 August 1700 the message reaches Peter that peace has been concluded with Turkey (it does not
even involve the return of Azov). The very next day the Russian army is given new orders - to march
into Livonia, the Swedish province which lies between Russia and the Baltic. It is the beginning of
Russia's involvement in the long Northern War which will leave the country transformed, twenty-one
years later, into a major European power.

The reforming tsar: 1698-1725

From the moment of his return from the Grand Embassy, in 1698, Peter makes it
dramatically plain that he intends to westernize Russia's hide-bound oriental society
and that he will be ruthless in achieving his purpose. He has had to hurry back from
his European tour because the streltsy have again attempted an uprising against
him.
The rebellion has been easily put down and the culprits are under arrest. Over the
coming months Peter takes a personal interest in the interrogation, torture and
brutal execution of some 800 rebels. This is his insurance policy against further
threats to his rule. His programme of reform will take longer. But it too begins with a
dramatic gesture.

The tsar celebrates his first evening back in Moscow with friends in the foreign
settlement near Preobrazhenskoe, the village where he has grown up. He then
spends the night in a favourite wooden hut from his childhood days, after ordering
the leading boyars to attend him there in the morning.
They assemble in their long robes and beards, markedly different in appearance
from Peter's own European clothes and shaven face. The beard in particular has
been consciously preserved over the years as a symbol of the standards of old

Russia. But on this morning the young tsar emerges from his hut with a pair of
shears. He cuts a slice from the profuse whiskers of every boyar.
Peter accompanies this assault with a practical measure containing a touch of wit.
Anyone who so wishes may remain unshaven. But there is to be a new tax - on
beards.
This symbolic gesture is followed by an extensive programme of practical reform.
Never, perhaps, has a ruler so rapidly transformed an antiquated society. Using the
absolute power which he has established, Peter introduces new government
structures at local and central levels. He replaces a chaotically unreliable army (a
militia of noblemen and the professional streltsy) with a large standing force of
peasants conscripted for life and properly trained. He creates a naval service and a
fleet of warships.
The tsar launches industrial enterprises (as many as 200, for the most part using
the labour of state-owned serfs) to develop mines and to build weapons and
equipment for his army and navy. Encouragement is given to an entrepreneurial
class to set up private commercial ventures.
Education is promoted. Secular schools are founded, for which western texts are
translated into Russian. Russians needing specalist skills are sent abroad to learn
them in foreign academies. At home professors of mathematics are employed to
visit the houses of the gentry, whose sons are not allowed to marry until they attain
a certain educational standard. The first Russian newspaper (Vedomosti, 'Records')
is published from 1703.
Peter's measures touch all aspects of life. The currency is reformed, as is the
Russian script (eight letters are lopped from an unwieldy Cyrillic alphabet). The
Russian new year, previously September 1 (supposedly the date of the creation of
the world) now becomes January 1. The Christian chronology of Anno Domini is
adopted - though Peter's new calendar is less modern than it might be, for he
chooses the Julian system rather than the Gregorianreform.
The problem of corruption is tackled by encouraging a pernicious system of
informers. But nothing is too small for the tsar's attention. Building and fire
regulations are introduced, and one ukase (imperial decree) even orders that crops
are to be cut with scythes rather than sickles.
St Petersburg: 1703-1712

From 1703 Peter the Great has gratifying evidence of his achievements on behalf of
Russia. A great project is taking shape at the mouth of the river Neva, on marshy
wooded land which comes into Peter's possession in 1703. Within two weeks of
gaining the area he starts to build the Peter and Paul fortress on the right bank of
the river; the following year a royal shipyard is founded across the water. The first

warship is launched from the yard in 1706.

A town grows rapidly on the site. In 1712 it becomes the capital, named St
Petersburg after the tsar's patron saint. Its main street, the Nevsky Prospekt, is built
by Swedish prisoners captured in the Northern War.

Peter the Great first intervenes in the Northern War early in 1700, seizing the
southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. This territory has belonged since 1617 to
Sweden, cutting Russia off from the Baltic. The campaign of 1700 ends
ignominiously when the young Swedish king, Charles XII, defeats the Russians
at Narva and regains the coastline. But Charles then turns south against other
enemies. By 1703 Peter is able to recapture the mouth of the Neva from its Swedish
garrison.
In 1707 the Swedish king prepares an invasion of Russia, now plainly emerging as
his main rival in the Baltic. This time Peter the Great responds with the classic
Russian tactic when Moscow itself is threatened.
Sweden and Russia: 1707-1711

In the autumn of 1707 Charles XII moves northeast from Saxony with an army of
almost 40,000 men. His intention is to move towards Moscow during the summer of
1708, forcing Peter to withdraw from the Baltic to defend his capital. The plan is
frustrated by Peter's strategy of avoiding a pitched battle while devastating the
countryside between the advancing Swedish army and Moscow. By the autumn of
1708 Charles XII is forced to turn south into the Ukraine in search of food.
The winter of 1708-9 is unusually cold even for these inhospitable regions. It is a
much reduced Swedish army, of some 18,000 men, which finally comes to grips
with the Russians in July 1709 at Poltava.
The engagement is the first major disaster in Charles's brilliant military career. With
almost the whole Swedish army either captured or killed, Charles himself escapes
south into Turkish territory. He immediately enters negotiations with the Turks, who
share his hostility to the Russians and are eager to recover Azov.
Charles summons a new army from Sweden, to provide his share of an anti-Russian
alliance with Turkey. It never arrives, but the Turks on their own defeat Peter the

Great in 1711 at the Prut river. In the ensuing negotiations Peter agrees to return
Azov - and considers himself to have escaped lightly in giving no concessions at all
to Sweden, as Turkey's supposed ally.
Emperor of all Russia: 1721

The eventual peace between Russia and Sweden, signed at Nystad in 1721, gives
Peter everything he has hoped for from the twenty-one years of the Northern War.
The coast of the eastern Baltic is now his. St Petersburg, which he has had the
courage and effrontery to build on appropriated land, is internationally accepted as
the capital of Russia.
The new city is perfectly placed to prosper at the junction of two great trade routes,
just as Novgorodwas when founded in this region almost a millennium earlier. At this
northern apex, the river routes from the Black Sea and the Caspian link with the sea
route through the Baltic to western Europe.
A few weeks after the signing of the peace of Nystad a service of thanksgiving is
held in St Petersburg's cathedral. After the ceremony Peter goes in procession to the
senate, where he is acclaimed under a new title greater than that of tsar. He is now
'Father of the fatherland, Peter the Great, emperor of all Russia'.
This reign, so triumphant on the political scene, has been accompanied by a dismal
record in the emperor's private life. Within his family he behaves with the tyranny
and the cruelty revealed also at times in his public career.
The tsarevich Alexis: 1716-1718

Peter's most pathetic victim is his only surviving son, Alexis. Intellectual in his
interests, conservative in his attitudes and inclined to a life of ease and pleasure,
the young man could not be more different from the hyperactive, intensely physical,
practical-minded reformer who is his father. The tension between them causes
Alexis to flee from Russia in 1716, taking refuge with the Austrian emperor.
His father, viewing this as an act of treason, tricks the young man into returning to
Russia on a promise of clemency. He then imprisons him, and tortures his friends
and his mistress to discover evidence of a conspiracy.
Little emerges, other than reports of Alexis saying that when he is tsar he will return
the capital to Moscow and reduce the size of the navy. Such intentions may be
capital offences in his father's eyes, but they are not enough to justify the scandal
resulting from a formal execution of the heir to the throne.
Instead the prince dies discreetly in the St Petersburg fortress, after twice being
flogged within inches of his life (with the fearsome Russian whip known as the
knout) during the enquiry into his supposed rebellion. He has made the tactical
error of having a son, the future Peter II, just three years earlier. With two male

descendants of Peter the Great in existence, one is perhaps expendable.

Peter and Catherine: 1701-1725

The only lasting affection shown by Peter proves him as independently minded in
his emotional life as in politics. Early in 1703 he becomes the lover of a Lithuanian
peasant, captured in the Northern War and now working as the domestic serf of a
Russian prince. Later in the same year, when their first child is born, the mother is
received into the Russian Orthodox church under a new name, Catherine. She
becomes the tsar's inseparable companion, bearing him seven children of whom
two daughters survive infancy. Divorced from his first wife, Peter marries Catherine
formally in 1712 (they may have married secretly in 1707) and has her crowned
empress in 1724.
Less than a year later she succeeds him on the throne, as the empress Catherine I.
Seventy years of empresses: 1725-1796

It is a remarkable fact that the Russian empire established by Peter the Great is
ruled for the next seven decades by women.
Cultural life of the 17th century as well as public life of that epoch in general was at the
crossroads, where the antiquity and the novelty were mixed together, according to contemporaries.
Researchers conclude that it was the time of cultural revolution meaning transition from Old Russian
culture to that of modern age. The determining attribute of that shift was addressing the personality of
an individual.

The modern researcher of Russian culture A.M. Panchenko points to the roots of this
cultural phenomenon of the 17th century. In the Time of Troubles literature was almost free
from nonliterary bans, and governmental and church control, whereas the Russian writer
had the freedom of speech and the right for ideological choice. While gauging the book
characters the author was not limited by their social or religious status or even the state
hierarchy... It promoted unfolding the character in art as a whole, which became an
irreversible gain.
The number of literate people increased in the 17th century. Thus, there were 40 percent of
literate people among tradespeople, 96 percent among merchants and 65 percent among landowners.

Business writing expanded, with qualified office-work conducted not only in central major
offices, but also in counties and estates.
Hand-written books were still largely distributed. From 1621 the hand-written newspaper
Kuranty consisting mostly of translated foreign news was made for the tsar. Along with
hand-written editions the printed materials produced on the Moscow Print Yard were
becoming more and more usual. Already in the first half of the 17th century about 200
books under various titles were published. Private individuals started arranging libraries. The
first book-store was opened in Moscow in 1672.
Book-printing craft made it possible to publish numbers of textbooks on grammar and
arithmetics. The ABC-book (aka Alphabet) by Vasily Burtsev published in 1634 was

subsequently republished several times. Illustrated ABC-book by Karion Istomin was off the
press in the late 17th century and the multiplication table was first published in 1882. Psalm
Books and Horologions were also published for educational purposes.
Literacy was usually taught in families, or by sextons and scribes. However, the need for
organized education was growing more and more. The first church school was organized in
the Moscow Andreevsky Monastery at the initiative of the prominent statesman F. M.
Rtishchev. A school for training scribes was opened in Zaikonospassky Monastery in 1665,
and another school was founded at the Print Yard in 1680.
The first schools made the ground for the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy opened in 1687 and
headed by Greeks brothers Ioannicius and Sophronios Lichouds. The academy was aimed at
teaching people of any rank, status and age to subjects from grammar, poetics, rhetoric,
dialectics, philosophy... to theology. Education was optimized for the clergy and public
service officials.

As for scientific knowledge, mainly its practical side was developed, whereas its
theoretical basis was not tackled upon. For example, mathematical knowledge was related
to exposition of lands, trade and military schooling. Thus, Military Training Charter (1621)
provided practical information on geometry, mechanics, physics, and chemistry.
Medical knowledge was based on old Russian healing traditions as well as translated
foreign doctor books and herbals. The Pharmaceutical Board consisted of experts in pestle
and mortar and educated druggists and doctors. 30 soldiers were trained in 1654 and sent
to regiments for treating the military people.
Astronomical and geographical knowledge was accumulated and developed as well. In
the mid 17th century studies based on Copernicus heliocentric system made their way to
Russia.
In the first half of the century maps were constructed on a large scale, including the Big
Drawing Book published in 1627 and the Map of Russian and Swedish Cities up to the
Varangian Sea constructed in Novgorod.
Expansion of geographic vision was promoted by materials of pioneering expeditions by
Stadukhin, Poyarkov, Dezhnev, Khabarov, Atlasov, and others in Siberia. Description of New
Lands that is the Siberian Kingdom came out after 1683. Previous descriptions and map
drawings along with this study made the foundation for S. U. Remizov's fundamental work
Drawing Book of Siberia.

Architecture was going through transformative changes in the 17th century. Though wood
remained the main construction material, stone (brick) building was introduced more and more into
Russian architecture. New types of construction materials began to be applied, such as multi-color
tiles, profile bricks, and white stone details. Lots of buildings were constructed by masters of the
Masonry Board established in the late 16th century.

One of the outstanding works of wooden architecture was the imperial palace built in
the Kolomenskoye Estate near Moscow in 1667-1678. It was an entire little town with
turrets, scaled roofs, ground floor galleries, and porches with wreathed columns. Various

mansions, each of them built in individual manner, were connected with flyovers and totaled
270 rooms with 3000 windows. The contemporaries referred to it as the 8th Wonder of the
World.
Tent-shaped buildings prevailed in wooden church architecture. However, level churches
were also built. As a whole, wooden architecture came under the influence of stone
architecture.
Despite an attempt of Patriarch Nikon to forbid construction of stone tent-shaped
churches this type became prevailing in church architecture. The Nativity Church in Putinki,
the Trinity Church in Nikitniki, the Alekseevsky Monastery in Uglich, the Assumption Church,
Zosimus and Sabbatius Church in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery were built in Moscow, as
well as churches were constructed in Vyazma, Murom and Ustyug. All of them were notable
for rich architectural decoration and fine ornamentation.
At the same time, under the influence of Patriarch Nikon a number of monumental
constructions were made in traditional style of the previous periods in the middle and the
second half of the 17th century. They were aimed at showing the power of church. Such is
the majestic Resurrection Cathedral built in the Moscow New Jerusalem Monastery following
the model of Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. In the 1670s-80s the Rostov
Kremlin, an ensemble of constructions of the Rostov metropolitan courtyard was built. The
housing estate was combined with the church there. All the buildings were surrounded with
massive defense walls with towers.

Those were not only the authorities but also parishioners, i.e. suburbs and settlement
dwellers, who ordered churches to be built. Hence the notion of the suburban architecture.
Characteristic of that is church architecture in Yaroslavl, one of the largest craft and trade
centers. The examples of it are the churches of Elijah the Prophet, Johann Zlatoust, and the
grand St. John the Baptist Church in Tolchkov. Church buildings in other old Russian towns,
such as Kostroma, Romanov-Borisoglebsk, etc. are also remarkable.
In the late 17th century church architecture had a new style, Naryshkin (aka Moscow)
baroque developed. Its most considerable monument is the Holy Protection Church in Fili,
Moscow. It excels in grace, perfect proportions, decorative columns with caps, and its red
and white colours.
Civil engineering was also considerably developing along with church architecture in the
17th century. The Moscow Kremlin was subject to essential reconstruction. The Kremlin
towers were built on, the Spasskaya Tower was built in its present-day look, thus creating a
front gate into the Kremlin. Hipped roofs on all the towers were replaced with tent-shaped
tops. It all gave a new look to the Moscow Kremlin: it was turned from a defensive fortress
into a solemn ensemble.

However, the interior design of the Kremlin was also transformed. The Teremnoy Palace
(1635-1636) was an outstanding example of secular architecture. It was a three-storeyed
building set on high basements and topped with high tower chambers. The building was
ornated with a gold roof, two belts of tile eaves, and stone carving. Its gold porch had rich
finery. Wooden architecture had direct impact on the type of finishing. The Patriarchal
Chambers with the Krestovy Hall and the building of the Territorial Board were built in a
different style in the same place.
The monumental Sukharev Tower constructed by Mikhail Choglokov became an example
of the quest for new design of public buildings. It had two storeys over the massive
basement and was crowned with a tower bearing the State Emblem on its top. A broad
grand staircase led to the second storey.
Industrial business architecture was further developed in the 17th century. Thus,
shopping arcades were built in Kitai Gorod, Moscow and in Arkhangelsk. The Arkhangelsk
Gostiny Dvor (i.e. shopping arcade) stretched 400 m long on the bank of Northern Dvina
and was surrounded with tall stone walls with arming towers. It included more than two
hundred shopping premises.

Literature of the first half of the 17th century focused on the events of the Time of Troubles.
Those were mostly publicistic works. Thus, The New Story about Glorious Russian Kingdom and the
Great Moscow State was distributed in 1610 - 1611 in Moscow. It was imbued with passionate patriotic
appeal to fight against foreign invaders and condemned helpers of interventionists. Its anonymous
author called people of all ranks for making head against the enemy. The author of another work
under the title Cry for Capture and Ruin of the Glorious Moscow State (1612) grieved over the fate
that befell the Fatherland.

Unknown writers of that time also resorted to showing the heroes of the Time of
Trouble, both positive and negative. Among such writings there was the story of Prince
Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, one of the leaders of resistance forces, and the legend of
adventures of False Dmitry I.
The first attempts to explain the reasons and events of the Time of Troubles were made
in The Annals by clerk Ivan Timofeyev and The Legend by cellarer Abramius Palitsyn and the
so-called Different Legend and books by Prince I.A. Khvorostinin and Prince P.M. KatyrevRostovsky. The New Chronicler of 1630 described the events from the death of Ivan the
Terrible to the return of Patriarch Philaret.
The New Chronicler was one of the last Russian chronicles, which connected various
plots with the time grid. The so-called Siberian chronicles were already literary and narrative
works.
Social and political life of Russia was also reflected in works written in the second half of
the 17th century. Yury Krizhanich treatise The Politician and writings by Simeon Polotsky
expressed support of autocracy. Archpriest Avvakum, the Life Written by Himself became an
outstanding monument of Russian literature. It is an action-packed book, in which the
author narrates about his own life replete with sufferings and dramatic collisions and shows
devotion to ideals of ancient Russian life and reprobation of Latin novelty. His story is
written in simple language, with dynamic and emotional narration.

A peculiar literary monument is the book by the Ambassadorial clerk Grigory

Kotoshikhin who fled to Sweden in 1664; it is a detailed though not quite objective
description of the Russian political machinery.
A new literary genre was the realistic story of manner. The stories marked withdrawal
from the medieval ideas of the predestined human life and pointed out that a characters life
depended in many respects on his or her personal qualities, such us, for example, dexterity
and efficiency. So it was a turn to throwing light on persons private life and an increased
interest in the inward man. At the same time, the focus was not on historical but fictional
characters, and hence was the creation of purely literary character studies.
The story of manner of the 17th century narrated lives of people from a broad spectrum
of society, first of all merchants and the nobility. The most considerable works are The Story
about Frol Skobeyev, The Story about Savva Grudtsyn, The Story about Grief and Distress,
and The Story about Uliania Osoryina.
Satirical stories became another new genre of literature of the 17th century. Most of
them were pointing at life and customs of churchmen. Hypocrisy and acquisitiveness of the
clergy, alcoholism and libertinism of monks were caustically derided. The court with its
corruptible judges and unscrupulous decisions became an object of satire too.
The Belarusian educator Simeon (Samuil) Polotsky invited to Moscow for teaching
imperial children in 1661 created syllabic versification. Two collections of his poems Multicolored Vertograd and Rifmologion were published in 1678-1679. His poems in the so-called
Baroque style were grandiose and elegant, with panegyric intonations idealizing the
autocratic rule. Sylvester Medvedev and Karion Istomin continued this poetic trend in the
late 17th century.
Among popular translated stories one should mention The Story about Bowe the King's
Son and The Story about Eruslan Lazarevich. Under the influence of Russian folklore they
acquired fairytale character.
Oral folk arts were still very popular among grassroots. One of the most favorite
characters was Stephan Razin, with legends and songs created about him. It is interesting
to note that in renewed ancient epics (bylinas) the popular leader found himself among the
epic heroes, such as Ilya Muromets, who was even a Cossack captain at Razin's ship in
some versions of stories.