Tsarevich Alexey Alexeevich: biography, facts from life, photo

In Russian history, several cases are known when the rebels against the tsarist authorities were shielded by the desire to protect the rights of a "real" sovereign or his legitimate heir. One of the examples of such falsification is Stepan Razin's announcement that he has Nechay in his camp - Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich, whose biography is presented below.

Parents

Alexey Alekseevich was the grandson of the first Russian tsar from the Romanov family and the second child of a male in the family of his parents. His mother was Maria Ilinichna Miloslavskaya, who was extremely religious and was known as a great benefactor. The father of the boy, Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, who was one of the most educated people of his time, and who appreciably gravitated toward Westernism, possessed a kind and easy-going character.

In all, the couple had 13 children, including 5 sons. After the death of Queen Mary, Alexei Petrovich married again. In the second marriage with Natalia Naryshkina, he had a son, later known as Tsar Peter the First, and also two daughters.

It is interesting that, despite the fact that the father and son bore the name Alexei, their name-day celebrations were not celebrated on the same day, as they had different heavenly patrons.

Childhood

Alexey Alekseevich was born in 1654. Two years after his birth, he was declared the heir to the throne, since his elder brother Demetrius died a few years before his birth.

Among others, Simeon of Polotsk was engaged in the formation of the boy, who is considered one of the most outstanding representatives of Russian poetry before the Trediakovsky era. He taught Latin and Polish to the prince and his younger brother Fedor. In addition, Alexey Alekseevich also studied arithmetic, Slavic grammar and philosophy. The father was anxious about the heir and specially from abroad he wrote out illustrated books and all sorts of "children's fun". According to reviews of his contemporaries, the prince had a good memory, was curious and showed himself to be a diligent student.

Youth

Under the laws of that time, for the time of his father's absence in the capital, Aleksei Alekseevich was considered a temporary ruler of the state, and official letters were signed on his behalf.

As a teenager, he preferred to spend most of his time reading. Among his favorite books were "Lexicon" and "Grammar", brought from Lithuania, as well as the famous scientific work "Cosmography". A great influence on Alexei Alekseevich was rendered by one of the most famous Westerners at the Russian court - boyar Artamon Matveyev, who often arranged theater performances. On them he invariably invited the prince, to whom the tsarina and princesses often joined. In addition, Matveev acquainted Alexei Alekseevich with educated foreigners living in Moscow or coming there on business.

Matchmaking

During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich it was customary to marry young people at a rather early age. The heir to the throne was no exception. Moreover, not only his father, but also the Polish queen was involved in the organization of his personal life. The wife of Jan II of Casimir was going to give his niece for him and in every way contributed to this marriage. The union of the Russian Tsarevich with the Polish princess seemed attractive to her relatives, because after the death of the heir to the throne of the Commonwealth in 1951 Alexei Alekseevich was considered a good candidate for this title. In addition, the ambassadors who came to Moscow in order to find out the attitude of the royal family to such a marriage union were absolutely fascinated by the young man and were delighted with his welcome speech, which he read in their native language, which he mastered perfectly.

Her plans were not destined to come true, since after the death of Queen Mary, Alexey Mikhailovich himself became the girl's hand. He ordered the boyar Matveyev to tell the Poles that the prince was still young, and the Orthodox faith was far from Roman.

Aleksei Alekseevich: death

Being sixteen years old, the heir to the throne died suddenly. This was not preceded by any disease, so the people spread various rumors. The young man was buried in the Arkhangelsk cathedral. Funeral service was held by Patriarch Joasaph II, as well as the eastern patriarchs who were at that time in the capital. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was inconsolable, because he had high hopes for his son, who, among other things, enjoyed the people's love, owned several foreign languages and in the future could become a wise and just ruler.

Alexey Alekseyevich - Prince Nechay

Almost 20 years after the death of the heir to the Russian throne, Stenka Razin decided to use his name in order to legitimize his rebellion. His people let out a rumor that in their ranks there is a lively and healthy Alexey Alexeevich (the biography of the Crown Prince is briefly presented above). Since, according to them, he appeared in their camp unexpectedly, they called him Nechaev. Soon this nickname became a battle cry, with which the Razyns began to attack the people of the king.

Many peasants, and even more so merchants and servicemen, would hardly have joined ataman Stenka, if they had not thought that he was fighting for a charitable cause-the return of the throne to the tsarevich, who was declared dead and illegally bypassed, having put his brother on the throne.

The authorities in the capital quickly understood the full danger of the appearance of an impostor, so even for the pronunciation of only the word "nechai" was ordered to be taken to prison.

Andrei Kambulatovich

For certain it is known about three people who in different years pretended to be such a famous personality as Tsarevich Alexey Alexeevich (see the photo of the most famous portrait of the heir to the Russian throne above). First of all, his role was played by Prince Andrew, who is the son of the Kabardian Murza of Prince Kambulata Prshimahovich Cherkassky. In his childhood he was baptized, he spoke Russian well and had aristocratic manners. When taking Astrakhan, the young man was taken prisoner, and Razin decided to use it to maintain the legend of the prince Nechaeus. He ordered one of the strings to be clad in red velvet and gave it to the "heir to the throne" for personal use. There are several versions about the future fate of Andrei Kambulatovich. It is for certain only known that after a while he disappeared, and Razin had to look for another "prince".

Maxim Osipov

Since the insurrection was already in full swing, and the power of the rioters grew every day, they decided that now Nechay would be one of their most daring and cruel leaders. The choice fell on Maxim Osipov. Under the guise of Tsarevich Alexei, he captured the cities of Alatyr, Temnikov, Kurmysh, Yadrin and Lyskov. There is a well-known case when his army with the cry "Nechai!" Attacked the Makarevsky Zheltovodsky monastery, but could not destroy the monastery.

After the failure, Osipov retreated to Murashkino, where new crowds of Mordvins, Tatars and Chuvashes rushed to him. Lzhetsarevich even decided to go with the army to Nizhny Novgorod, where he was called by the local rabble. However, a messenger from Stepan Razin arrived with an order to help him to Simbirsk.

Ivan Cleopin

There is also another known impostor who declared himself Alexis II. The name of this man is Ivan Cleopin, and he appeared in 1671. It is known that the impostor was born around 1648 in the local village Zasapinye of the Novgorod district.

At the age of 15-16 he was drafted into the militia of the nobility and sent to Dinaburg, on the border with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the autumn of 1666, he returned home, according to one version, because of insanity attacks. In 1671 Ivan declared home that he was Alexey Alexeevich (the photo with the portrait of the impostor did not survive), and fled into the forest. Then he tried to move to Rzeczpospolita, but was detained, questioned and tortured. Although it was proved that Ivan - crazy, he was executed for edification to all others who want to impersonate the royal family.

Now you know who Alexei Alexeyevich was. Interesting facts from his biography are almost unknown to the general public, but they allow historians to better understand what life was like at the Russian court in the second half of the 17th century.