Romanov Dynasty

The Romanov dynasty (Рома́нов) was the ruling royal house in Russia from the 17th century XVII to early XX century. It began with the coronation of Michael I in 1613, son of Patriarch Philaret (cousin of Theodore I of Russia), and they ruled the country until the monarchy was abolished as a result of the February 1917 revolution.

Origin

Currency of a ruble commemorating the third centenary of the Románov dynasty (1913).

Patriarch Philaret, born Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, was the son of Nikita Romanovna Zakharin-Yuriev, brother of Anna Romanovna Zakharina-Yurieva (wife of knyaz Vasily Sitsky) and Anastasia Romanovna Zakharina (favorite wife of Ivan IV the Terrible) and were sons of Roman Zakharin-Yuriev (from whom the name Romanov comes), son of Yuri Zakharievich Koshkin, son of Zakhari Ivanovich Koshkin, son of Ivan Fyodorovich Koshkin, son of Fyodor Andreevich Kobylin, called Fyodor Koshka, son of Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla, of Lithuanian origin, boyar of the century XIV (apparently from 1341), who was in the service of Simeon I of Russia and is the ancestor of at least 24 noble families, apart from the one mentioned. In addition to this, the Philaret's mother was Evdokiya Alexandrovna Gorbataya-Shuiskaya, a member of the Shuisky family and thus a descendant of the ancient Rurikovichs (see also the family tree of Russian monarchs).

Accession to the Russian throne

They gained influence during the Great Interregnum generated by the death of Ivan IV (1584). In 1613 an assembly of nobles elected Ivan's great-nephew, Michael I of Russia (1613), tsar, with whom the dynasty began. Michael was succeeded by his son Alexios I of Russia (1645) and his grandson Theodore III of Russia (1676), whose death started a succession conflict between Alexios I's descendants Peter the Great and his half-siblings Ivan V and Sofia.

German influence

Flag of the Romans.

Peter I “the Great”, emperor of the Russian Empire.

Peter prevailed over both tsars (himself and Ivan V) in 1689, and began a reign marked by the modernization of Russia, which promoted territorial colonization and the founding of Saint Petersburg. He was the first monarch to adopt the title of Emperor of All Russia in 1721. He sent 55 soldiers for the Potsdam Giant Guard of the Kingdom of Prussia, whose minimum height was 1.85m, in gratitude for the Amber Chamber that Federico Guillermo I had given him. Peter changed the law of succession, establishing that each monarch would be free to choose his successor, however he himself died before having established who would be his successor. The boyars chose his wife Catherine I (1725) as tsarina. When she died, the Throne returned to the Romanov lineage with his grandson Peter II (1727) and her niece Anna Ivanovna (1730). Finally Ivan VI, who was German, became Czar. The Throne returned to the Romanovs with the daughter of Peter I, Tsarina Elizabeth (1741). With her the lineage died out and, although the dynasty retained the Romanov name, it was in fact replaced by the House of Holstein-Gottorp. For many decades in the rest of Europe and the Gotha almanac it was called the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Románov, in fact in Russia itself the imperial family was reproached for being of foreign origin.^{[citation required]}

The coronation of Pedro III (Elizabeth's nephew) in 1761 reinforced the German presence in Imperial Russia. This Tsar felt deep admiration for Frederick II the Great of Prussia, because once in power he made peace in the Seven Years' War.

Conspiracies and fall

A conspiracy of the nobility and the clergy forced Peter III to abdicate, succeeded by his wife, Catherine II of Russia (born in Prussia) 1762, who usurped the throne from her son, Paul I, although he appointed him to succeed him in the throne. Paul was assassinated in a conspiracy led by his son, Prince Constantine^{[citation required]} in 1801. The throne fell to Catherine's grandson, Alexander I (1801-1825), and later to her brother, Nicholas I (1825-1855). Then the normal order of succession from father to son was followed, with Alexander II (1855-1881), Alexander III (1881-1894) and Nicholas II (1894-1917).

The Last Romanov

Las Grandes Duquesas Tatiana, Olga, Anastasia and María Románova with their mother the zarina Alejandra, the family of Nicholas II

The Romanov dynasty began in 1613 when Mikhail Fyodorovich was elected ruler of all Russia. The dynasty came to an end 304 years later, when Nicholas II and his family were assassinated by Bolshevik revolutionaries during the Russian revolution and civil war.

Nicholas II had a weak personality and was not prepared for his future position as tsar. This man, who was inspired only by his quiet family life, became the head of a huge state full of changes after his father's death. Nicholas did not anticipate such a change in Russia and always reacted under the pressure of events, too late, or awkwardly. Furthermore, he was aware of the holy principle of his mission and that he would always defend the monarchy when concessions were unavoidable.

Nicholas II's wife was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, Princess Alix von Hessen-Darmstadt, who became Alexandra when she joined the Russian Orthodox Church in preparation for their wedding. They had five children (ages at time of death): Grand Duchesses Olga Nikolaevna Romanova (22), Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova (21), Maria Nikolaevna Romanova (19), Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova (17), and Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov (13).

The reign of Nicholas II began on several sinister notes: When the future Tsarina Alexandra appeared officially for the first time, in Russia, during the funeral of Alexander III, people said: "She comes behind a coffin, she will bring bad luck." A sign to mark the coronation of a new tsar was the Russian tradition of offering people food and drink. When Nicholas came to the throne, about 700,000 people gathered on the Jodynka field to celebrate, but a stampede occurred, killing 2,000 attendees.

Imperial soldiers handled this shock nine years later, when they opened fire on a group of 120,000 workers who had marched on the Winter Palace to protest working conditions. Thousands of people were shot dead in that massacre; that is why it is called Bloody Sunday.

As a result, Nicholas II introduced a constitution and created a parliament, the Duma, to give the people a voice, but the moves were too timid and too late. Riots continued in Russia; an echo of disorder on the scene of the world on which the First World War was about to break out. At first, the Russians viewed her participation in the battle against Germany as heroic, but as the death toll mounted, public opinion turned against her continued involvement in the conflict and against Nicholas II's wife, Alexandra..

The arrest and murder of the Romanovs

The government of Aleksandr Kérensky initially held the imperial family under house arrest in his palace. His first intentions were to send them into exile in England, but the government could no longer cope with the growing power of the Bolsheviks. By the winter of 1917, the Bolsheviks had prevailed over the major revolutionary groups and had Moscow and St. Petersburg under their control. Very soon they established their government.

Nicholas was the last Tsar of Russia; he was dethroned during the February Revolution of 1917, which occurred within the framework of the First World War. After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks shot the imperial family in Yekaterinburg (Urals) in 1918.

After the loss of power

After the assassination of Michael IV in Perm and of Nicholas II and his son Alexis Nikolaevich in Yekaterinburg (1918), a great family conflict began to establish who had the rights of succession to the Russian throne. Nicholas II's cousin, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich (1876-1938), became the dynasty's outraged male and pretender to the throne. In 1924, in exile, he proclaimed himself Tsar of all Russia. His only son, Prince Vladimir Kirilovich of Russia, died in Miami in 1991. His daughter, Maria Vladimirovna Romanova, took over his rights. The other male descendants of the dynasty are gathered in a Romanov Family Association, whose head is Prince Nicholas Romanovich, born in 1922 and residing in Switzerland.

For years it was speculated that Anastasia, one of Nicolás's daughters, had survived the revolution. Even a woman named Anna Anderson claimed that she was Anastasia. Although through the mitochondrial DNA analysis technique it was ruled out that this woman was the princess.

Genealogical tree of the Romans from Catherine the Great and Peter III.

Confirmation of the death of the entire Romanov family

In the early morning of July 18, 1918, the tsar, his family and four faithful servants are taken to the basement of the Ipatiev house, where they have been held since April. Nicholas II had abdicated in March of the previous year after the February revolution. He was expelled first to Tobolsk, in the Urals, and then to Yekaterinburg. He had been forbidden to wear the shoulder pads that bore his rank and had to endure how the sentinels made obscene pictures to offend his daughters.^{[citation needed ]}

That early morning of July 18, fearing that the white army loyal to the tsar would try to free him, the Soviets from the Urals who are holding them captive shoot the entire family and their four servants.

Apparently, the executioners had instructions to mutilate and hide the bodies so they could not be recognized. “Some of the bones were burned,” Walther Parson of the Institute for Legal Medicine in Innsbruck, Austria, who has studied the remains, reported by email. "The samples were severely decomposed and showed signs that can be explained by chemical aggression" such as sulfuric acid.^{[citation needed]}

The concealment of the corpses fueled speculation about the possible survival and escape of Tsarevich Alexei or one of the tsar's daughters. In 1991, the discovery of a grave in Yekaterinburg with remains that could be from the tsar's family was made public. Genetic analyzes then showed that they were the bones and teeth of nine people: Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, three of his daughters, and the four servants. Far from appeasing the rumours, the finding fueled new speculation as the tsar's fourth daughter and Tsarevich Alexei had not been found.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2007, a second grave with more remains was found about 60 meters from the first. Genetic analyzes of these new remains are unequivocal. According to the results presented in PLoS ONE, these are the bones and teeth of two people. One is a boy between 12 and 15 years old with a chromosome the same as that of Tsar Nicholas II and a mitochondrial DNA the same as that of Tsarina Alexandra: it can only be his son, Tsarevich Alexei, executed at the age of 13. The other person is a girl between the ages of 15 and 19 with mitochondrial DNA equal to that of the tsarina and her three other daughters found in 1991: it could be both Anastasia —who was 17— and Maria — who was 19. ^{[citation required]}

To make sure the remains are indeed from the Russian imperial family, researchers have matched the mitochondrial DNA of the tsarina and her children with those of the Duke of Edinburgh — consort of Queen Elizabeth of England — and confirmed that they match. They have matched the Y chromosome of the tsar and tsarevich with that of a living descendant of the family and confirmed that they also match. And they have matched the tsar's DNA with that of a bloodstain left on the shirt he was wearing when he was attacked in Japan in 1891 and which was preserved as a relic: the match is complete. «Mystery solved —they conclude in Plos One—: no member of the family survived the execution at dawn on July 17, 1918”.^{[citation required]}

Members of the House

Chart of the monarchs of the Románov dynasty.

The monarchs of the Romanov dynasty were:

1. Miguel I Fiódorovich (1613-1645)
2. Alejo I Mikhailovich the Pacific (1645-1676), son of Miguel I
3. Fiódor III Alekséyevich (1676-1682), also called Theodore III of Russia, son of Alejo I
4. Ivan V Alekséyevich (1682-1696), brother of Teodoro III, along with his brother Pedro I
5. Pedro I Alekséyevich the Great (1682-1725), brother of Teodoro III and Ivan V
6. Catherine I Alekséyevna (1725-1727), widow of Peter I, single Marta Skavronska
7. Peter II Alekséyevich (1727-1730), son of Alexis Petróvich, firstborn of Peter I
8. Ana Ioánnovna (1730-1740), daughter of Ivan V
9. Ivan VI Antónovich (1740-1741), son of Ana Leopóldovna, niece of Ana Ioánnovna
10. Isabel I Petrovna la Clemente (1741-1762), daughter of Peter I and Catherine I
11. Pedro III Fiódorovich (1762), son of Ana Petrovna, daughter of Peter I and Catherine I
12. Catherine II the Great Alekséyevna the Great (1762-1796), widow of Peter III, single Sofia de Anhalt-Zerbst
13. Paul I Petróvich (1796-1801), son of Peter III and Catherine II
14. Alexander I Pávlovich (1801-1825), son of Paul I
15. Nicholas I Pávlovich (1825-1855), brother of Alexander I
16. Alexander II Nikolayevich (1855-1881), son of Nicholas I
17. Alexander III Aleksándrovich (1881-1894), son of Alexander II
18. Nicholas II Aleksándrovich (1894-1917), son of Alexander III
19. Miguel II Aleksándrovich (1917), brother of Nicholas II, Rationale for one day.

suitors

1. Cyril Vladimirovich, Cyril I (1917-1938)
2. Vladimiro Kirílovich, Vladimiro I (1938-1992)
3. Maria Vladimirovna, Maria I (1992-present)

There are still 26 members of the Romanov dynasty alive in modern times. The Romanov family headship is disputed between Prince Andrei Andreevich of Russia and Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia.

Romanovs murdered

The following members of the Imperial Family were assassinated by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution:

• Grand Duke Miguel Aleksándrovich (f. 1918)
• Grand Duke Paul Aleksándrovich (f. 1919)
• Grand Duke Demetrio Constantinovich (f. 1919)
• Grand Duchess Isabel Fiódorovna (f. 1918)
• Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich (f. 1919)
• Grand Duke Jorge Mijáilovich (f. 1919)
• Grand Duke Sergio Mijáilovich (f. 1918)
• Prince Constantine Constantinovich (f. 1918)
• Prince Igor Constantinovich (f. 1918)
• Prince Iván Constantinovich (f. 1918)

descendants killed by the Románov:

• Prince Vladimir Pávlovich Paléy (f. 1918)
• Prince Artemio Nikoláievich Iskander (f. 1919)
• Count Alekséi Alekséievich Beliovsky-Zhukovsky (f. 1931), killed after the Revolution by the Soviets.