XPost: soc.history, soc.culture.russian   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
    In fact, there even was a third person pulling the strings behind the   
   throne.   
      
   At first sight, it is difficult to picture two people reining   
   17th-century Russia, with its long autocratic history, simultaneously   
   – without stabbing each other’s backs. But, it was a real case between   
   1682 – 1696, when two royal brothers, Ivan and Peter, sat on Russia’s   
   throne together and maintained good relations.   
   Strange-looking duo   
      
   In 1683, a Sweden mission visited Moscow and paid a visit to both   
   tsars. Engelbert Kämpfer, a German traveler who was accompanying the   
   Swedes as the ambassador’s secretary, recalled the meeting as follows:   
   “The two tsars were sitting in the Audience Chamber, on two silver   
   chairs, under icons, both dressed in royal clothes shining with gems.   
   The older brother barely moved, with his eyes on the floor, looking at   
   no one. The younger faced everybody openly… and he was speaking   
   quickly.”   
      
   The younger brother was 11-year-old Peter I (Peter the Great, 1672 –   
   1725), who, through enormous efforts, would turn Russia into a   
   European empire. The older brother, 16-year-old Ivan V (1666 – 1696)   
   left no palpable trace and now is forgotten. But how did the two get   
   to the throne in the first place?   
   Two brothers   
      
   Father to both Ivan and Peter, Alexei Mikhailovich (1629 – 1676) ruled   
   Russia for more than 30 years. The tsar had two marriages: first with   
   Maria Miloslavskaya, who gave birth to 13 children, and then, after   
   Maria’s death, with Natalya Naryshkina (3 children). Both the   
   Miloslavskis and the Naryshkins were influential noble houses eager to   
   put their offspring on the throne.   
      
   In 1682, after the death of Alexey and Maria’s older son Fyodor III,   
   who had reigned since 1676, the time came to decide who would next sit   
   on Russia’s throne: Maria’s son Ivan (15-year-old) – next in line, but   
   constantly ill and indifferent, or Natalya’s son Peter (10-year-old) –   
   active and ambitious but very young.   
   Power struggle   
      
   At first, it seemed as though the Naryshkins had got their way with   
   making Peter the tsar – his cause looked stronger. As 19th century   
   historian Sergey Soloviev wrote, “Supporting the untalented, fragile   
   Ivan meant immersing the country into chaos.” On April 27, 1682,   
   Patriarch Joakim, the head of Russian Orthodox Church, declared Peter   
   the tsar.   
      
   Nevertheless, the struggle was not over: while Ivan couldn’t care less   
   about the throne, his 25-year-old sister Sofia, who informally led the   
   group of Miloslavskis’ supporters, struck back. “Sofia couldn’t stand   
   the idea of her mother-in-law, whom she hated, [indirectly] becoming   
   the ruler,” Soloviev explained.   
   Bloodshed in the Kremlin   
      
   Streltsy Uprising of 1682. Natalia Naryshkina shows Ivan V to the   
   Streltsy in order to prove that he is alive and well, while Patriarch   
   Joachim of Moscow attempts to calm the crowd.   
   Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky   
      
   Sofia and her supporters outplayed the Naryshkins, provoking an   
   uprising of Streltsy regiments in Moscow. The Streltsy, an influential   
   group of elite infantry, felt unsafe as being stripped of their   
   privileges by the tsars and exploited by their commanders throughout   
   the 17th century, so this audience was easy to ignite. “The Streltsy   
   didn’t understand politics, but they believed that interfering into   
   state affairs was their duty in case the country was leaving the   
   Orthodox, righteous way,” Robert K. Massie, a British historian, wrote   
   in his book Peter the Great: His Life and World.   
      
   On May 15, the Streltsy crowded the Kremlin, raged by the rumors of   
   Ivan being killed by the Naryshkins (most likely spread by Sofia’s   
   supporters). And though Ivan appeared before them, the Streltsy   
   carried out a four-day massacre, brutally murdering two of Natalya’s   
   brothers, their advisor Artamon Matveev and many other Boyars   
   (noblemen) loyal to the Naryshkins. Finally, the well-armed crowd   
   imposed their will on the royal family: Peter would remain tsar, but   
   only together with Ivan.   
   How did it work?   
      
   On May 25, just days after the Streltsy covered the Kremlin with   
   blood, the official coronation of both Ivan V and Peter I took place.   
   “That strange, hastily arranged ceremony had no analogues – not only   
   in Russia but in any European monarchy,” Robert K. Massie notes.   
      
   They sat on a special two-seat throne and both were crowned with a   
   Monomakh’s Cap, the ancient crown of Russia’s tsars, though after the   
   coronation, Peter, as the younger brother, had to wear the specially   
   made duplicate. Behind the throne, there was a special place for the   
   young tsars’ tutor, who could give them advice on what to do and what   
   to say during the coronation.   
      
   Four days later, it was officially announced by the Boyar Duma,   
   pressured by the Streltsy, that Sofia would be a regent – and for the   
   next seven years, it was her and her close circle who really ruled   
   Russia. As for Ivan and Peter, they were “ceremonial” rulers, whose   
   duty was to receive delegations, attend prayers and official fests and   
   so on.   
      
   The end of the tandem   
      
   In addition, during 1682-1689, Peter spent most of his time outside   
   Moscow, in the Preobrazhenskoe village, along with his mother. The   
   younger tsar, who had witnessed members of his family and their   
   supporters being slaughtered in the Kremlin, had only bitter feelings   
   for the royal court.   
      
   “Gory, dreadful scenes before his eyes, excruciating deaths of his   
   family, his mother put in despair, the power being taken from them…”   
   Sergey Soloviev enlists the ghosts of the past, which impacted Peter’s   
   childhood and, most likely, turned him into a ruthless leader. By   
   1689, 17-year-old Peter would prevail and put his half sister Sofia   
   into a monastery.   
      
   As for Ivan, the older brother never showed any interest in state   
   affairs. With his poor health, many historians considered him mentally   
   challenged, though it could have been just rumors. In any case, Peter   
   always treated Ivan with respect – at least officially. After   
   overthrowing Sofia, he wrote to Ivan: “Now, Sire, my brother, it is   
   time for us to reign by ourselves… and I am ready to respect you like   
   my father.”   
      
   Ivan never spoke against Peter and formally they continued to rule   
   Russia together, though Ivan was hardly noticeable in politics,   
   overshadowed by his super-active brother. Ivan’s death in 1696, just   
   as quiet as his life was, put an end to the strange period of two   
   tsars reigning Russia simultaneously – and such a situation never   
   occurred again.   
      
      
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