by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Co-ruler with his half-brother Peter I (the Great), Ivan V, Tsar of All Russia (Ivan Alexeevich) was born in Moscow on September 6, 1666. He was the twelfth of the thirteen children and the youngest of the five sons of Alexei, Tsar of All Russia and his first wife Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya.

Ivan had twelve siblings. None of his sisters married. They lived in seclusion with their sisters and aunts in the terem, the separate living quarters occupied by royal and noble Russian women. Only two of Ivan’s seven brothers survived childhood.

• • Tsarevich Dmitri Alexeievich (1648–1649); died in infancy
  • Tsarevna Yevdokia Alexeievna (1650–1712)
  • Tsarevna Marfa Alexeievna (1652–1707)
  • Tsarevich Alexei Alexeievich (1654–1670); died unmarried, age 15
  • Tsarevna Anna Alexeievna (1655–1659); died in infancy
  • Tsarevna Sofia Alexeievna (1657–1704), Regent of Russia (1682–89) for her two younger brothers Ivan V and Peter I; unmarried
  • Tsarevna Ekaterina Alexeievna (1658–1718)
  • Tsarevna Maria Alexeievna (1660–1723)
  • Feodor III, Tsar of All Russia (1661–1682); succeeded his father as Tsar of Russia; married (1) Agaphia Simeonovna Gruszewska, no surviving children (2) Marfa Matveievna Apraksina, no children
  • Tsarevna Feodosia Alexeievna (1662–1713)
  • Tsarevich Simeon Alexeievich (1665–1669); died in infancy
  • Tsarevna Yevdokia Alexeievna (1669–1669)

From childhood, Ivan had serious physical and mental disabilities which may have been caused by Down’s Syndrome or a consequence of a disease. In 1669, 3-year-old Ivan’s mother Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya died due to childbirth complications following the birth of her thirteenth child who also died. The death of Ivan’s brother the heir 15-year-old Tsarevich Alexei in January 1670, so soon after his mother’s death, was especially difficult for his father Tsar Alexei because his only surviving sons were the physically and mentally disabled Ivan and his elder brother Feodor who was disabled by an unknown disease which left him disfigured and partially paralyzed.

Nineteen-year-old Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina was picked as Tsar Alexei’s second wife. On February 1, 1671, the couple was married in Moscow. Alexei hoped his second marriage would give him a healthy son, and it did, Peter the Great.

Ivan had three half-siblings from his father’s second marriage with Alexei Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina had three children:

• • Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia (1672–1725), married (1) Eudoxia Feodorovna Lopukhina, had three sons including Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia (2) Martha Skavronskaya (Catherine I, Empress of All Russia), had eleven children, only two daughters survived childhood Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna (mother of Peter III, Emperor of All Russia) and Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia
  • Tsarevna Natalya Alexeievna (1673–1716), unmarried, a playwright and founder of the first public theater in Russia
  • Tsarevna Fyodora Alexeievna (1674–1677)

On February 9, 1676, five years after marrying Natalya Kiillovna, Alexei I, Tsar of All Russia died of a heart attack at the age of 46. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son from his first marriage, 15-year-old Feodor III. Even though Feodor was well educated and had a fine intellect, his debilitating physical condition prevented him from really reigning. Throughout Feodor’s reign, the government was largely run by Artamon Sergeyevich Matveev, who had raised Natalya Kirillovna and had become a close friend of her husband Alexei. Feodor married twice but he had no surviving children and died on May 7, 1682, at the age of 20.

Feodor’s death triggered the Streltsy Uprising of 1682, a struggle for the succession between the families of the two wives of Alexei I. Alexei’s son by his first wife, Feodor III, left no surviving heir. Feodor was followed next in the line of succession by his only surviving full brother, 15-year-old Ivan. The family of Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, instead wanted her healthy ten-year-old son Peter to succeed. The Boyar Duma, a council of Russian nobles, chose Peter to become Tsar of All Russia with his mother as regent.

To protect her brother Ivan’s interests, his sister Sophia Alexeievna led a rebellion of the Streltsy, an elite military corps, in April – May 1682. During the rebellion, some of Peter’s relatives and allies were murdered, including two of his maternal uncles and his father’s good friend Artamon Sergeyevich Matveev. The rebellion made it possible for Sophia, her maternal family the Miloslavskys, and their allies to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, with Ivan being the senior Tsar. Sophia acted as Regent during the minority of Ivan and Peter and ruled as an autocrat. Although Ivan was called the senior Tsar, he never directly dealt with government affairs due to his disability. He did, however, participate in ritual ceremonies. On  June 25, 1682, Ivan V and Peter I were crowned in the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.

Sophia recognized that Ivan would never be able to truly reign. She thought if she could arrange a marriage for Ivan and if he could father a son, Ivan might be recognized as Russia’s sole Tsar. Sophia could then continue as Ivan’s Regent and if Ivan died before his son reached the age of majority, she could then be her nephew’s Regent. Finding a bride for disabled Ivan was easy. Young Russian noblewomen were fated to arranged marriages or living lives in isolation in the terem and they would be eager to marry the gentle Ivan. On January 9, 1684, Ivan married Praskovia Feodorovna Saltykova.

Ivan and Praskovia had five children but all of them were daughters.

• • 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 who served as Regent for her infant son Ivan VI, Emperor of All Russia
  • Anna Ivanovna, Empress of All Russia (1693–1740), married Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Courland who died three months after the wedding, no issue, Anna became Empress of All Russia upon the death of Peter II, Emperor of All Russia, the grandson of Peter I (the Great)
  • Tsarevna Praskovia Ivanovna (1694–1731), married Ivan Ilich Dmitriev-Mamonov, had one son who died in childhood

In 1689, 17-year-old Peter overthrew his half-sister Sophia Alexeievna. Peter I and Ivan V continued as co-rulers, and Sophia was forced to enter a convent and give up her position as a member of the royal family. With Ivan being both incapable and disinterested, Peter functioned as though he were the only Tsar and eventually Ivan became a non-entity in the Russian court. For the last decade of his life, Ivan spent his days with his wife Praskovia fasting and praying and was completely overshadowed by Peter.

By the age of 27, Ivan was senile, paralyzed, and almost blind. He died February 8, 1696, at the age of 29, and was buried in the Cathedral of the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin. Because Ivan’s children were all daughters, there was no question about the succession upon his death. Peter I (the Great), his half-brother and co-ruler, was left to be Tsar of All Russia and later Emperor 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

• De.wikipedia.org. (2017). Iwan V. (Russland). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwan_V._(Russland) [Accessed 18 Dec. 2017].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Ivan V of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_V_of_Russia [Accessed 18 Dec. 2017].
• Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of  All the Russias. New York, NY.: Doubleday
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2017). Иван V. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD_V [Accessed 18 Dec. 2017].