The first tsar of the House of Romanov is reflected in the Presidential Library collections

20 July 2018

July 22, 2018 marks the 422th anniversary of the birth of the founder of the Russian royal dynasty, Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov. Details about the reign of the first Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty are illustrated at the large-scale digital collection "The House of Romanov. Zemsky Sobor of 1613", which is available on Presidential Library portal.

The selection includes, for example, electronic copies of book rarities "The reign of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich and a look at the interregnum" by V. Berkh (1832), "The Book of the election of the great sovereign, the tsar and the Grand Duke Mikhail Feodorovich" (1856), "The First tsar from the House of the Romanovs Mikhail Feodorovich" by A. Belkovsky (1913), "The Election of Mikhail Feodorovich for the Throne" by M. Dyakonov (1913).

According to the above-mentioned authors, the beginning of the reign of Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov put an end to the Time of Troubles - a difficult period for Rus’ originating in 1598 after the death of Tsar Feodor Ioannovich, the son of Ivan the Terrible and the last representative of the Rurikovich family for the Russian throne. He did not leave behind a legitimate heir, that was the main reason for the outbreak of riots in the state. According to the publication "The book on the election of the great sovereign, the tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Feodorovich for the throne” (1856), foreign power prepares for the throne no longer Russian, but his own prince. All this rapid and consistent change in government concepts and orders was accompanied by a terrible whirlwind of all the forces of Russian life, known as the Time of Troubles".   

One by one, the impostors began to appear, splitting the national unity, chaos reigned everywhere, the brother went to his brother. "At this time, the country was flooded with Polish, Lithuanian and Cossack detachments, which ravaged cities and villages, killed and robbed. They called this time "fierce", because there was such a misfortune with the Russian land, which never happened ... ", - writes A. Belkovsky in the book "The First Tsar from the House of Romanov Mikhail Feodorovich".

"During hard times", - he continues, "when the Russian state seemed to come to an end, people appeared who courageously rose to defend their native land and began to organize order in it. These were unforgettable for every Russian ascetics: the patriarch Hermogenes (whom the Poles starved to death), Archimandrite of the Holy Trinity Lavra Dionysius and kelar Avraamy Palitsyn. They exhorted the people to unite, to become all the same against the enemies of St. Rus’, to stand up for the faith and fatherland. "Their appeal was heard: "... Russian people moved from everywhere to save the perishing state. "The merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky assembled the people's militia, which saved Moscow from the Poles and liberated the country. After that, the elected people gathered for "tsar's robbery", because "without the sovereign the Moscow state is not built and divided into many parts ... hence they came to the desire to quickly have a sovereign "who will be plundered with the whole earth",- writes M. Khmyrov in his historical essay "Election and accession to the throne of Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov" (1863).  

"After the liberation of Moscow from the Poles in front of the Russian land, the first question arose about the replacement of the throne", - wrote a historian who ran the archive of the Ministry of Justice, a participant in the creation of the Central State Archives of Ancient Acts in Moscow, "The Election of Mikhail Romanov to the Throne" (1913) (RGADA) D. Tsvetaev. "Only one institution possessed in the eyes of the country a powerful authority for the election of the Tsar - the Zemsky Sobor". "Events of the Time of Troubles," - emphasizes the historian, "put forward the moral significance of the consecrated cathedral. His Russian members were unswervingly in favor of the Orthodox-Russian principles".

February 21 (March 3), 1613 in Moscow, the Great Zemsky Sobor elected a new tsar. The candidacy of Mikhail Romanov arranged everyone.

The books tell that in response to the offer to take the throne, young Romanov burst into tears and at first refused such a high honor. "The boyar thought for a long time: Should he take the royal crown? - N. Kicheev writes in the book "Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, the great sovereign of all Russia, the ancestor of our sovereigns from the now reigning house of the Romanovs" (1871). - It was terrible for a sixteen-year-old boy to take on his conscience an answer before God the shamed native land and the exhausted Russian people. But there was nothing to do. To renounce the crown is to leave the Russian throne for violence and robbery for the enemies; to take care of the Tsar - is to save our native Rus’ from misfortune and grief".  

Upon learning of the election of Romanov, the Poles attempted to prevent the new tsar from arriving in Moscow for the coronation. The Polish detachment went to the Ipatievsky monastery in order to kill Mikhail Feodorovich, but on the way the foreigners got lost: the peasant Ivan Susanin, who agreed to show the right road, took them into a deep forest.

Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov has been ruling the country for 32 years. During this time, much has been changed in the state: "the people have become poor - and the Tsar has eased taxes; The Russian land was devastated - the Tsar built new cities: Orel, Kozlov, Tambov and others ... For more than thirty years the people of Russia have seen the tsar's graces and care for their needs. It was joyful for him to know that there could be no more unsanctioned in the Russian land: the Tsar had a legitimate heir, Tsarevich Alexei", - these words are quoted in the book “Russian Sovereigns. Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich" from the Presidential Library collections.

"The throne was endured by Russian historical life",  Professor D. Tsvetaev concludes in his work "Election of Mikhail F. Romanov to the Throne" - From the area of narrow economic interests, it gradually rose to the interests of the whole people. The Moscow prince-patrimony became the representative of all Rus’, the spokesman of the highest national aspirations, the organic embodiment of the ideal of external security and independence, internal unification and prosperity. Hence, according to popular conscience, the closeness of the tsar to all and the closeness of all to him has been formed. A clan or a person who does not enjoy a broad national disposition and trust could not launch the beginning to a new dynasty".