Biography
Coming from a petty noble family, daughter of Kirill Poluektovich Naryshkin (1623–1691) and wife Anna Leontyevna Leontyeva (d. 1706, daughter of Leonty Dimitriyevich Leontyev and spouse Praskovya Ivanovna Rayevskaya who died in 1641), she was brought up in the house of the great Western-leaning boyar Artamon Matveyev. She was given a freer and more Western-influenced upbringing than most Russian women of the time.
On 1 February 1671 she married Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich as his second spouse. They had three children, the future Emperor Peter I of Russia (1672–1725); Tsarevna Natalya who founded the first public theatre in Russia, writing a number of its plays herself; and Tsarevna Theodora (Feodora). After the throne was secured for her son Peter, Natalya, her brothers, and the patriarch effectively controlled the government.
She became widowed when Tsar Alexei died in 1676; a son from his previous marriage ascended the throne as Tsar Feodor. Feodor and brother Ivan treated their stepmother with affection, always referring to her as "Mama". When Feodor died in 1682, her 10-year old son became Tsar Peter the Great. She became regent, with her foster father Artamon Matveyev who was called back from exile, as advisor. However, during the revolt of the Streltsy on 15 May 1682, two of her brothers and Matveyev were killed and her blood father Kyril Naryshkin was forced to become a monk in a convent. Feodor's elder sister, Sofia Alekseyevna replaced her as Regent.
With Sofia heading the regime of her son Peter as a co-Tsar, Natalya lived in poverty, receiving financial support from the Patriarch or others in the Orthodox Church. She spent her time mainly in Alexei's summer palace in Preobrazhenskoe, about 5 km from Moscow, together with her son Peter.
In August 1689, Peter overthrew Sofia, and he and his half-brother Ivan continued to be co-Tsars. Natalya was back as nominal leader in the court. Her brother, Lev Naryshkin, was appointed minister of foreign affairs and a de facto prime minister.
When the Patriarch Joachim died in 1690, Peter wanted to appoint Marcellus, Bishop of Pskov, who had travelled overseas and spoke several languages, as the new patriarch. However, Natalya led the conservative faction in the court to nominate the conservative Adrian, Bishop of Kazan, to head the Russian Orthodox Church.
Read more about this topic: Natalya Naryshkina
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