The Romanov dynasty, representatives of an old Russian noble family, was in power for three centuries, from the accession to the throne of Mikhail Romanov in 1613 and until the abdication of Nicholas II Romanov in 1917.
The Romanovs lead their family from the Lithuanian (according to other sources - from Novgorod) Ivan Divonovich, whose son Andrei Kobyla came to Moscow in the 14th century and created a large family, whose sons became the founders of several noble dynasties. The Romanov surname has a long history: initially, the ancestors of this family were called the Koshkin-Zakharyins, then the Zakharyins-Yuryevs, after the Zakharyins-Romanovs and, finally, simply the Romanovs, named after Roman Yuryevich, one of the elders of the clan. It was this surname that Patriarch Filaret, or Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, took in the world.
The Romanov dynasty for two centuries, along with the Sheremetevs, Sukhovo-Kobylins and Yurievs, was considered one of the most eminent noble families in Russia. The approach to the royal court became possible thanks to the marriage of Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible with one of the representatives of the Romanov branch, Anastasia Zakharyina-Koshkina.
After the death of Grozny and the accession to the throne of Boris Godunov, difficult times came for the Romanovs: the new autocrat tried to exterminate competitors on his royal path. Some of the men in the family were forcibly tonsured into monks, some were arrested and exiled. The situation changed with the appearance of False Dmitry the First: the young man insisted that he himself belonged to the noble family of the Romanovs and, as proof of the veracity of his words, ordered the return of all surviving family members from the places of exile. There were not many of them: Filaret, his wife Martha and their children. One of the sons of Filaret (Fedor) was soon destined to become the first Russian tsar from the Romanov family.
The great-nephew of Ivan the Terrible, 16-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, was elected to the kingdom by the Zemsky Sobor in 1613. The beginning of his reign symbolized the end of the Time of Troubles in Russia. Michael ruled for 33 years and left behind ten children, five of whom died in infancy. The third son, Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed the Quietest, became the recipient of the throne. During his reign, the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, the Russian-Polish War and the Salt Riot in Moscow fell. However, the main achievement of Alexei was the paternity of, perhaps, the most famous sovereign of the Romanov family, Peter the Great.
The era of Peter the Great's reforms gave way to a period of Palace coups, then to the coming to power of Catherine II, who married Peter III Romanov. Catherine's descendants Pavel, Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II ruled the country in turn until the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917. The Romanov dynasty, after 300 years on the throne, surrendered its positions with the abdication of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II. And in 1918 the former emperor and his family were shot by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg.
