Nikita Zakharyin-Yuriev during the reign of Ivan the Terrible was a boyar, statesman and founder of the Romanov royal dynasty. He was also a voivode, participated in several wars, and did a lot for the good of the Fatherland.
Biography
Nikita Romanovich was born in 1522. His father was the okolnichy and voivode Roman Yurievich Zakharyin-Koshkin. His sister Anastasia Romanovna became the wife of Ivan the Terrible, and Nikita was present at the royal wedding not only as an honorary guest - a relative, but was also appointed a "sleeping bag" and "movnik".
During the Kazan campaign Nikita Zakharyin was with the tsar. In 1559, in the Livonian campaign, he was an ally of Prince Vasily Serebryany in the forward regiment, and then an assistant to Prince Andrei Nogtev-Suzdal in his guard regiment, where Nikita Romanovich served in the rank of devious. In 1562 the boyars were granted to Zakharyin.
Military career and sovereign service
In 1564 Nikita Romanovich was appointed governor of Kashira and military adviser to Prince Mstislavsky.
In 1565, during the division of the Moscow state by Ivan the Terrible into "oprichnina" and "zemstvo", Zakharyin began to serve in the capital as a member of the Zemsky government.
In 1566, after the death of his brother, he was made a butler and received the honorary title of "governor of Tverskoy". Nikita Romanovich regularly negotiated with foreign ambassadors about state affairs, most often he had to communicate with ambassadors from the Polish king.
In 1572, during the winter campaign of the tsar against the Swedes, Zakharyin was one of the main commanders of the forward regiment.
In the winter of 1574, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich sent Nikita Romanovich to the Livonian campaign as an assistant to the Nogai Murza Afanasy Sheydyakovich in a large regiment.
As a result of the battles, Zakharyin took the city of Pernau (Pernov) and surprised the local residents with his generosity, giving them the right to choose to voluntarily swear allegiance to the Moscow Tsar or leave the city with things.
In addition to military campaigns and negotiating with foreign ambassadors, Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Yuriev was directly involved in many state affairs, was involved in documentation and was a very influential person at court.
However, all the honors, awards and influence of Zakharyin ended with the death of Ivan the Terrible. And only thanks to the personal intercession of Boris Godunov, Nikita Romanovich managed to preserve his fortune and position in society without great losses.
In the summer of 1584, he became very ill and could no longer take part in the affairs of the government.
Personal life and family
Zakharyin's first wife was Varvara Ivanovna Khovrina. In this marriage, the spouses had no children.
From the second marriage of Nikita Romanovich with Princess Evdokia Gorbataya-Shuiskaya, twelve children were born: six sons and six daughters.
Subsequently, all the daughters, except for Juliana (died an infant), were married to princes and boyars from well-known and respected families, and the sons were known for their valiant service and fraternal solidarity. It was the sons of Zakharyin who eventually began to bear the surname Romanovs, which came from the name of their grandfather, Roman Yurievich.
Nikita Romanovich died in April 1586, before his death he accepted monasticism under the name of Niphont. Zakharyin-Yuryev was buried in the family crypt, which is located in the Novospassky monastery.
