The state of chaos to which the country had been reduced in the first years of the r 7th century, set a hard task to the new dynasty. The pervading poverty, insecurity and disorder required protracted and patient labours before the country could over come its weakness and disorganization. All the first tsars of the Romanoff house came to the throne at such an early age that no personal guidance could be expected from any one of them for a long time. Michael, and his son Alexis, were both tsars at 16; Alexis's eldest son Theodor, at 14; Peter the Great at io. There fore the actual work of government was always in the hands of a council. The first three tsars never took any decision without its having been discussed by this council, but favouritism and intrigue naturally influenced the choice of its members, and all through the century continual popular risings aimed at the exclusion of one boyar or another, to whose predominance or to whose cupidity common gossip attributed the calamities of the day. In order to disarm public opinion the Government was constantly convening assemblies of deputies from the whole land—sometimes to discuss a special question, sometimes for submitting all pending business to their decisions. In those assemblies, called zemski sobor, the permanent boyar council represented the nobles; in addition came deputies from the clergy and from "all the land," both towns and villages. The first nine years of Michael's reign sobors sat in Moscow almost uninterruptedly; three more were called together in 1632, 1637 and 1642 ; in the first eight years of Tsar Alexis's reign there were five sobors. Those of later days, between 1653 and 1682 became mere commissions for elaborating points of law and had no positive authority. The Government had become stronger and had built up an efficient staff of agents of its own. On the other hand the sobor of 1648-49 had promulgated a code of laws, which was commonly followed and did not require further commissions to enforce universality.
A great part of the country's strength was wasted in attempts to counteract the encroachments effected by the neighbouring powers on its territory during the period of anarchy. Out of the first 7o years of the new dynasty's rule, 3o were spent in wars against Poland and Sweden. Russia got back Smolensk and Seversk, which had been seized by the Poles, and annexed Kief and part of Little Russia, east of the Dnieper, owing to a rising against Poland of the Cossack hetman, Bogdan Khmelnitski, whom Moscow after long hesitations de cided to back. But the effort required for obtaining those ad vantages did not allow of an equal amount being spent in the direction of the Baltic, where Sweden had put Russia's weakness to profit and had annexed a large area of land. The wars against Sweden led to no result in the 17th century, and Russia had to wait for Peter the Great in order to regain what she had lost in the north-west.
Down south, where since the 15th century a separate State, the khanate of Crimea, had arisen under Turkey's protectorate, the first Romanoffs waged no regular wars ; but the danger of Tatar incursions demanded the building up of defences which slowly advanced into the Steppe, for when outposts gradually became prosperous towns, they required in turn a new line of forts to protect them. At the end of the i6th century the Crimean Tatars had twice raided the country up to the very walls of Moscow; 'co years later the fortified line of defence was already 400 m. south of the capital. But the farther Russia
spread down in that direction the clearer it became that no peace ful agreement was possible so long as the Black sea was not reached, and that would have meant war with Turkey, a much too formidable opponent at that stage. A cossack hetman, Doroshenko, went to war with the Turks, applied to Moscow for help and was eventually supported; but this adventure merely led to a disastrous peace (i68i) by which Western Ukraine had to be surrendered to Turkey. It took 10o years more, and all the energy of Catherine II. and of Potemkin to reverse the situation.
The finances of the country at the be ginning of the new dynasty's rule were perhaps in a still more dis astrous condition than any other branch of public service. The main spring of former revenue, taxation of cultivated land, was no more adequate owing to so many fields having been abandoned during the years of anarchy. Besides, those peasants who returned to their devastated villages were often successful in defrauding the State of their taxes. The Government was obliged gradually to work out a new system, that of taxing no more the land, but the landowner, not the "field," but the "house," as owing to the vast expanse of Russia and Siberia, where runaways could always escape with ease from official supervision, taxation of communal land laid too heavy and too iniquitous a burden on the thrifty agriculturists, whereas the lazy ones paid nothing. The same occurred with large landowners; they were responsible for the taxes due from peasants who were settled on their land, besides being obliged to come forward with a fixed number of soldiers in case of war. In order that they should be able to fulfil their obligations the peasants were gradually attached to the soil ; and thus a serfdom arose which lasted up to 186i and practically transformed the peasants into slaves.
The administration of the Church was at first entirely in the hands of Philarete, who was elected patri arch in 1616. Till his death, in 1633, he was the actual sovereign, and in ecclesiastical matters his power was absolute. In 1652 the patriarchal see was again occupied by a strong personality, Nikon. Tsar Alexis called him his "particular friend" and gave him a free hand in the reforms he undertook. He revised and corrected the texts of prayer books, the mss. of which had been disfigured by ignorant scribes, and abolished ceremonial practices for which no authority existed. But his activity met with strong opposition, due in most part to Nikon's tactlessness, and led to a schism, Raskol. Its followers, Raskolniki, are still numerous. Nikon's opposition to secular legislation about monastic property, and his efforts to place his own authority above that of the tsar, eventu ally made Alexis alter his attitude towards him. He then retired to a convent and refused to perform his duties. For nearly ten years the tsar ruled the Church in his stead, till a council was convened which deposed Nikon and appointed a new patriarch. The danger of having a man next to himself who might succeed in usurping such a measure of power, made Peter the Great abolish the Russian patriarchate.