Fyodor Ivanovich Sheremetev (, c. 1570–1650) was a Russian statesman in

Tsar Mikhail Michael I (; ) was Tsar of all Russia from 1613 after being elected by the Zemsky Sobor of 1613 until his death in 1645. He was elected by the Zemsky Sobor and was the first tsar of the House of Romanov, which succeeded the Rurikids, House o ...

's times, head of government in 1613–18 and 1642–46.

Life

Sheremetev descended from the same old Moscow milieu as the

Romanovs The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Nic ...

; he was their relative and supporter. In 1605 he was made a boyar by

False Dmitry I False Dmitry I or Pseudo-Demetrius I () reigned as the Tsar of all Russia from 10 June 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of Dmitriy Ivanovich (). According to historian Chester S.L. Dunning, Dmitry was "the only Tsar ever raise ...

, in 1610 became one of the so-called Seven Boyars - a self-appointed provisional government. Sheremetev took an active part in the

Zemsky Sobor The ''Zemsky Sobor'' ( rus, зе́мский собо́р, p=ˈzʲemskʲɪj sɐˈbor, t=assembly of the land) was a parliament of the Tsardom of Russia's estates of the realm active during the 16th and 17th centuries. The assembly represented ...

of 1613; he's ascribed famous words (in a letter to prince Golitsyn, perhaps apocryphal): "Let's elect Misha Romanov, he is young and stupid, he will be obedient to us". Since 1613 he was informal head of government. In 1618 took part in bringing forth Treaty of Deulino. Patriarch Filaret, after his return from captivity in 1619, pushed Sheremetev aside from state affairs, for the latter disapproved Filaret's straightforward anti-Polish policy. After Filaret's death in 1633 Sheremetev came back to politics. In 1634 he was a head of Russian delegation (together with Alexey Lvov) in Russo-Polish negotiations and signed the

Treaty of Polyanovka The Treaty of Polyanovka, also known as the Peace of Polyanovka (; ) was a peace treaty signed on 14 June 1634 between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia in the village of located near the river between Vyazma and ...

. After Ivan Cherkassky's death in 1642 Sheremetev was appointed head of Russian government, but his power was feeble: court marshal Alexey Lvov had more influence, and Sheremetev was disliked by

Prikaz A prikaz (; , plural: ) was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive bureaucracy , office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Tsardom of Russia from the 15th ...

dyaks. His weak position was reflected in a contemporary chronicler's remark: "This Fedor was evil-tempered and unskillful in affairs". In 1646, as

Boris Morozov Boris Ivanovich Morozov (; 1590 – 1661) was a Russian statesman and boyar who led the Russian government during the early reign of Tsar Alexis. Morozov came from a long noble line, yet was poor before his appointments. Life In 1634, when Tsar ...

came to power, Sheremetev retired.

References

* Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона. * Козляков В. Михаил Федорович. М., 2004. Russian nobility 17th-century Russian diplomats 1650 deaths Year of birth uncertain Sheremetev family {{Russia-diplomat-stub