Feodor or Fyodor III Alekseyevich (; 9 June 1661 – 7 May 1682) was

Tsar of all Russia The Tsar of all Russia, formally the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, was the title of the Russian monarch from 1547 to 1721. During this period, the state was a tsardom. The first Russian monarch to be crowned as tsar was Ivan ...

from 1676 until his death in 1682. Despite poor health from childhood, he managed to pass reforms on improving meritocracy within the civil and military state administration as well as founding the

Slavic Greek Latin Academy The Slavic Greek Latin Academy () was the first higher education establishment in Moscow. History Beginning The academy's establishment may be viewed as a result of the incorporation of the Left-Bank Ukraine into Muscovy after the Treaty of Perey ...

Life

Born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Fyodor, as the eldest surviving son of

Tsar Alexis Alexei Mikhailovich (, ; – ), also known as Alexis, was Tsar of all Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. He was the second Russian tsar from the House of Romanov. He was the first tsar to sign laws on his own authority and his council ...

and

Maria Miloslavskaya Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya (, 1 April 1624 – 18 August 1669) was a Russian tsaritsa as the first spouse of tsar Alexis of Russia. She was the mother of tsar Feodor III of Russia, tsar Ivan V of Russia, and the princess regent Sophia A ...

, succeeded his father on the throne in 1676 at the age of fifteen. He had 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. He knew

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

and even possessed the unusual accomplishment of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. He had been disabled from birth, however, horribly disfigured and half paralysed by a mysterious disease, supposedly

scurvy Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...

. He spent most of his time with young nobles, and . On 28 July 1680 he married a noblewoman, Agaphia Simeonovna Grushevskaya (1663–1681), daughter of Simeon Feodorovich Grushevsky and of his wife Maria Ivanovna Zaborovskaya, and assumed the sceptre. His native energy, though crippled, was not crushed by his disabilities. He soon showed himself as a thorough and devoted reformer. The atmosphere of the court ceased to be oppressive, the light of a new

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

shone, and the severity of the penal laws was considerably mitigated. The Tsar founded the academy of sciences in the

Zaikonospassky monastery The Monastery of the Holy Mandylion or Zaikonospassky Monastery () is an Russian Orthodox Church, Orthodox monastery on the Nikolskaya Street in Kitai-gorod, Moscow, just one block away from the Moscow Kremlin, Kremlin. It was founded in 1600 by ...

, where competent professors were to teach everything not expressly forbidden by the Orthodox church – the syllabus included Slavonic,

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

. The Feodorean and the later Petrine reforms differed in 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. A household census took place in 1678. The most notable reform of Feodor III, made at the suggestion of

Vasily Galitzine Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn (, tr. ; 1643–1714) was a Russian aristocrat and statesman of the 17th century. He belonged to the Golitsyn as well as Romodanovsky Muscovite noble families. His main political opponent was his cousin Princ ...

, involved the abolition in 1682 of the system of ''mestnichestvo'', or "place priority", which had paralyzed the whole civil and military administration of

Muscovy Muscovy or Moscovia () is an alternative name for the Principality of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 *Muscovy duck (''Cairina mosch ...

for generations. Henceforth all appointments to the civil and military services were to be determined by merit and by the will of the sovereign, 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. 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 Tsarevich also died. Marfa Apraxina 2

Seven months later, on 24 February 1682 Fyodor married a second time

Marfa Apraksina Marfa Matveyevna Apraksina (; 1664–1716) was a Tsarina of Russia and the second spouse of Tsar Feodor III of Russia. Life She was the daughter of the Pantler (Eastern Europe), pantler Matvey Vasilyevich Apraksin and Domna Bogdanovna Apraksina, ...

(1667–1716), daughter of Matvei Vasilievich Apraksin and wife Domna Bogdanovna Lovchikova. Feodor was so weak that he could not stand at the wedding. Feodor died three months after his second wedding, on 7 May, without surviving issue. The news of his death sparked the

Moscow Uprising of 1682 The Moscow uprising of 1682, also known as the Streltsy uprising of 1682 (), was an Rebellion, uprising of the Moscow Streltsy regiments that resulted in supreme power devolving on Sophia Alekseyevna, the daughter of the late Tsar Alexis I of Russ ...

Ancestors

Notes

Sources

References

External links

Romanovs. The second film. Feodor III, Sophia Alekseyevna; Ivan V
– Historical reconstruction "The Romanovs". StarMedia. Babich-Design(Russia, 2013) {{DEFAULTSORT:Feodor 03 Of Russia 1661 births 1682 deaths 17th-century Russian monarchs Royalty from Moscow House of Romanov Tsars of Russia Candidates for the Polish elective throne Child monarchs from Europe Tsareviches of Russia Children of Alexis of Russia