ROMANOFF DYNASTY, the rulers of Russia from 1613 to 1917. The last direct descendant of the earlier dynasty of Rurik, Tsar Theodor, son of Ivan (John) the Terrible, died in 1598. After him the throne was occupied first by his brother-in law, Boris Godunov, then by an adventurer claiming to be a son of Ivan the Terrible (usually known as the false Demetrius). After his murder, in 1606, Prince Basil Shuiski was proclaimed tsar, but was dethroned four years later. The faction which was in power offered the crown to Vladislas, son of the king of Poland. A Polish army advanced to support his claim. Another faction brought in a Swedish army to fight the Poles. In the meantime two more men sprang up in succession, both pretending to be Demetrius, miraculously saved from death. The country was in confusion and civil war till Minin, a tradesman from Nijni-Novgo rod, joined hands with Prince Pojarski, one of the generals who had proved himself an efficient soldier. They formed an army and took Moscow in Oct. ; they then sent messengers all over the country urging the people to choose representatives who would assemble in Moscow to elect a new ruler. On Feb. 21, 1613, Michael Romanoff was unanimously proclaimed tsar.
The Romanoffs were not of Rurik's stock, nor were they even of very ancient lineage. They descended from a German noble man who had emigrated to Moscow early in the 14th century.
His fifth son, nicknamed Koshka (the Cat), became head of the family of Koshkins, many of whom were prominent at the court of Moscow in the 14th and 15th centuries. Early in the 16th cen tury one of them, whose first name was Roman, called himself Romanoff. His daughter, Anastasia, was Ivan the Terrible's first wife ; it was her son, Theodor, who was the last tsar of the Rurik dynasty. As Ivan the Terrible had no high opinion of his son's mental powers, he appointed a council of noblemen to transact business for his successor, and Anastasia's brother, Nikita, was chairman of this council. He made himself very popular by his constant defence of common people's rights, and one of his sons, Theodor, was celebrated for his learning and refined manners. Boris Godunov, fearing the popularity of the Romanoffs, had obliged Theodor and his wife to divorce and to become monk and nun. It was their son, Michael, who was elected tsar in 1613.
Theodor's monastic name was Philarete. After Boris Godunov's death Philarete became metropolitan of Rostov. At the time of his son's election to the throne, he was a prisoner in Poland. Michael was only 16 years old, and was living with his mother in a con vent. His personal reputation played a minor part with those who chose him, as in their eyes he was the lawful heir, being nephew to the last tsar descending from Rurik. His name had been often mentioned in those years of civil war as the only one on which all shades of opinion might meet. A popular rumour
asserted that when Tsar Theodor was dying, he appointed his cousin Theodor Romanoff (now the monk Philarete) as his suc cessor, but Godunov stepped in and prevented the tsar's will being fulfilled. As Philarete had taken monastic vows, he could not ascend the throne ; besides the boyars thought Michael, a mere boy, would be a more manageable sovereign. His election was no doubt due to the general striving after legitimacy, which was satisfied by his close relationship to the extinct dynasty. Three years later his father returned to Moscow and was made patriarch; he then reigned jointly with his son and up to his death in 1633 all State documents bore Philarete's signature on a par with Michael's.
The main work of the Romanoff dynasty was to extend Russia up to her natural geographical limits, and to turn her into a European State from the semi-Asiatic one she had become after being under Tatar rule. Though this policy is usually connected with the name of Peter the Great, it was actually started by his grandfather and unswervingly pursued by his successors down to the 2oth century. But though the general trend of Russia's in ternal and international development progressed along the same lines for three centuries, various undercurrents predominated at certain times and are characteristic of definite epochs. Those epochs, into which the history of the Romanoff dynasty may be divided for purposes of study, correspond fairly exactly with the customary division by centuries. The first epoch, when Moscow was the only important centre and when the general intercourse with western Europe was nearly as limited as in previous days, corresponds to the 17th century, as it lasted not only till 1689, when Peter the Great became sole ruler, but more exactly till the end of 1698, when, after his first journey abroad, he began trans acting State business himself. The second period, down to the death of Paul I., corresponds to the whole of the i8th century, during which Russia, with St. Petersburg as principal centre, gradually became a European country and reached the shores of all the seas bordering on the Russian plain. The third period, from the accession of Alexander I., in 18o1, down to the over throw of the dynasty in 1917, marks the highest point of Russia's activity as a European Power. Whatever territorial enlargements were acquired in this period were in Asia and mostly due to the necessity of reaching a natural and easily defensible frontier on the Asiatic continent, whereas most of the Government's energies were devoted to the work of internal progress, both economic and educational.