by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Anna I, Empress of All Russia was the fourth of the five daughters of Ivan V, Tsar of All Russia and Praskovia Feodorovna Saltykova. She was born at the Terem Palace in the Moscow Kremlin on February 7, 1693. Anna’s father Ivan V was co-ruler of Russia with his younger half-brother Peter I (the Great) until Ivan’s death in 1696. However, Ivan had serious physical and mental disabilities which may have been caused by Down’s Syndrome or a consequence of a disease, and was unable to participate in ruling Russia so Peter ruled alone. Upon Ivan’s death, there was no question about the succession because all his children were daughters. Peter became the sole Tsar of All Russia and later Emperor of All Russia.

Anna had three older sisters and one younger sister. Only two of her sisters survived to adulthood.

• Tsarevna Maria Ivanovna (1689–1692), died young
• Tsarevna Feodosia Ivanovna (1690–1691), died young
• Tsarevna Ekaterina Ivanovna (1691–1733), married Karl Leopold, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had one surviving daughter Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, later known as Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna, mother of Ivan VI, Emperor of All Russia
• Tsarevna Praskovia Ivanovna (1694–1731), married Ivan Ilich Dmitriev-Mamonov, had one son who died in childhood

After the death of her father, three-year-old Anna and her two surviving sisters, five-year-old Ekaterina Ivanovna and two-year-old Praskovia Ivanovna, along with their mother Praskovia Feodorovna, were moved from the Moscow Kremlin to the Izmaylovo Estate, a Romanov country residence outside of Moscow. From an early age, the sisters were taught reading, mathematics, geography, French and German, and dancing.

In 1708, Anna’s mother Praskovia Feodorovna and her three daughters, by order of Peter the Great, moved to the new city of St. Petersburg where Peter gifted her with a home on the banks of the Neva River.  She had great respect for her brother-in-law Peter I and often served as the first lady, welcoming visitors to the Russian court. Praskovia Feodorovna understood the need for the changes Peter was making in Russia, and raised her daughters and held her court in a modern Western manner, which made her well-regarded by Peter.

In 1710, Peter the Great made a diplomatic deal related to the Great Northern War to marry 17-year-old Anna to 17-year-old Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (now part of Latvia).  This marriage was important to Peter the Great.  Anna was the first Russian princess to marry a foreign prince in two hundred years. The marriage signaled Europe’s acceptance of Russia’s new status in the world and that Russian princesses could be used in diplomacy. The wedding took place on November 11, 1710, in St. Petersburg at the palace of Prince Alexander Menshikov, a close friend of Peter the Great. The next day, Menshikov hosted a spectacular banquet in honor of the couple. The newlyweds spent two months in Russia before heading to Courland. Just twenty miles outside of Moscow, Friedrich Wilhelm died on January 21, 1711, probably due to excessive drinking while in Russia.

After her husband’s death, Anna continued to Courland, where from 1711 to 1730, Anna acted as reigning Duchess of Courland using a local Russian resident Peter Bestuzhev as her advisor, and perhaps also as a sometime lover. Anna decided not to remarry after her husband’s death but had a long-term relationship with Ernst Johann von Biron, a prominent courtier.

Meanwhile in Russia, upon the death of Anna’s uncle, Peter the Great died in 1725, Peter’s second wife succeeded to the throne as Catherine I, Empress of All Russia.  However, she died two years later and was succeeded by Peter the Great’s 11-year-old grandson as Peter II, Emperor of All Russia.  In 1730, 14-year-old Peter II died of smallpox. With Peter II’s death, the direct male line of the Romanov dynasty ended. He had left no descendants and had not named an heir.

There were five possible candidates for the throne, four adult females and one two-year-old male: the three surviving daughters of Peter the Great’s half-brother Ivan V who were all in their 30s: Ekaterina Ivanovna, Anna Ivanovna, and Praskovia Ivanovna, and the only surviving child of Peter the Great and Catherine I: 20-year-old Elizabeth Petrovna, and Peter the Great’s grandson: two-year-old Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, son of Anna Petrovna, who died due to childbirth complications, and her husband Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. (Note: Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp was later Peter III, Emperor of All Russia.) The Supreme Privy Council selected Anna Ivanovna, the daughter of Ivan V, to be the new Empress of All Russia.

Anna was chosen because the Supreme Privy Council thought she would be easy to manipulate and was too conservative to restore Peter the Great’s reforms. To become Empress, Anna had to sign “The Conditions” which gave substantial power to the Supreme Privy Council. None of the following powers could be exercised by Anna without the approval of the Supreme Privy Council: declaring war, signing treaties, imposing new taxes, appointing officers to ranks higher than Colonel, depriving and granting estates, appointing to the court ranks, and using public revenues. However, when Anna returned to Russia from Courland, she revoked her approval of “The Conditions” and dissolved the Supreme Privy Council. The members of the Council were removed from the government and some were exiled to Siberia, allowing Anna to become an absolute monarch like her uncle Peter the Great.

The coronation of Anna, Empress of All Russia took place on April 28, 1730. Anna’s reign, which lasted ten years, left the Russians with a bitter memory and was considered more Germanic than Russian. Her favorite Ernst Johann von Biron and his wife, who was Anna’s lady-in-waiting, moved with her to Russia where he was appointed Great Chamberlain, was made a Count of the Russian Empire, and had much influence at court. Biron surrounded himself with German ministers and generals who were driven by greed.

Anna continued Peter the Great’s Westernization plans including the continued building of St. Petersburg and the canals for seafaring ships and the expansion of the navy. She founded the Cadet Corps, a school for young boys who started at the age of eight being trained for the military. Anna also continued to fund the Russian Academy of Science which Peter the Great had founded to allow for the development of science in Russia.

In 1732, Empress Anna announced that the throne would be inherited in the male line of her niece, born Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the daughter of Anna’s sister Ekaterina Ivanovna and Karl Leopold, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. This was an attempt to secure the future of the Russian throne for the descendants of Ivan V, Tsar of All Russia instead of the descendants of his half-brother Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia.

Ekaterina Ivanovna’s marriage was unhappy and she returned to Russia in 1722 with her surviving daughter. The couple never divorced and never saw each other again. In 1733, Elisabeth converted to Russian Orthodoxy and was given the name Anna Leopoldovna and the title Grand Duchess. Six years later, Anna Leopoldovna married Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, son of Ferdinand Albrecht II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Anton had lived in Russia since 1733 so the couple could get to know each other. On August 23, 1740, Anna Leopoldovna gave birth to a son, Ivan Antonovich. Empress Anna adopted the infant Ivan Antonovich on October 5, 1740, and proclaimed him heir to the Russian throne.

Suffering from an ulcer on her kidney and repeated attacks of gout, Empress Anna was not in good health. On October 16, 1740, Anna sat down to dine with her favorite Ernst Johann von Biron. Suddenly, she felt ill and became unconscious. Doctors deemed her condition to be serious. The question of succession to the throne had previously been solved, but it remained to decide who would be the regent for the young Ivan Antonovich. Biron was able to secure enough votes to be named regent. Anna I, Empress of All Russia died on October 28, 1740, at the age of 48, apparently from gout and a very painful kidney stone. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

Anna’s two-month-old great-nephew succeeded her as Ivan VI, Emperor of All Russia. However, a little more than a year later, Peter the Great’s surviving daughter Elizabeth Petrovna sat upon the throne as Empress of All Russia, and little Ivan was imprisoned until his murder 22 years later during the reign of Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia.

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Romanov Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Tsardom of Russia/Russian Empire Index
• Romanov Births, Marriages and Deaths
• Romanov Burial Sites
• Romanovs Killed During the Russian Revolution
• Romanovs Who Survived the Russian Revolution

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Anna of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_of_Russia [Accessed 27 Dec. 2017].
• Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of  All the Russias. New York, NY.: Doubleday
• Massie, Robert K. (1980). Peter The Great: His Life and World. New York, NY.: Alfred A. Knopf
• https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%98%D0%BE%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0