Russian philology
Alexis I) and Naryshkin family (Natalya Naryshkina was the second wife) over who should
inherit the throne. Peter's other half-brother, Ivan V of Russia, was next in line for the throne,
but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of
Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar with his mother as regent.
This arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded,
and was ratified. Sophia Alekseyevna, one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a
rebellion of the Streltsy (Russia's elite military corps) in AprilMay 1682. In the subsequent
conflict some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter
witnessed some of these acts of political violence.
The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan) and their allies to
insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior.
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