Born: 1657
Regent Sophia Alekseyevna was the first woman to rule Russia. When her older brother, Tzar Feodor, died, the boyars wanted to crown to go to her 9 year old half-brother, Peter. However, Sophia argued that this illegally bypassed the throne rights of their older brother Ivan, who had a mental retardation. She suggested the boys ruled as co-tzars with her as Regent (a position which meant she would be the one responsible for all actually tzar duties) until Peter turned 17. Sophia was given a shelf-life of 8 years. During the time, she minted coins in her name, with her portrait on them, became the first “western” monarch to sign a trade agreement with Imperial China, signed the Eternal Peace Treaty with Poland in 1686, and established Russia’s first school for post-secondary education, the Slavic Greek Latin Academy in Moscow. By 1689, when Peter became of age, Sophia had gotten the feel for her position as Regent and wished to rule longer. However, the Streltsy (Russian guardsmen for the royal family) one by one began to leave her side and joined in arms with Peter, who was living in a fortified monastery outside the city of Moscow. Sophia knew the consequences of a coup without the support of the Streltsy and relinquished her right to rule. Ten years later, however, some of her supporters tried to reinstate her. There is no evidence Sophia was involved in the attempted coup, however the traitors’ corpses were strung up outside her window anyway as a warning from her younger brother not to threaten his rule again. With that, she left the palace and joined the Novodevichy Convent, in the southwestern part of the city, as Nun Susanna. She died there five years later.
She is also rumored to have had romantic relations with Prince Vasily Galitzine, though the only cited evidence is circumstantial evidence surrounding his rise to power during her reign. Though it is also stated that this may be the case because the two destroyed all evidence (letters, etc.) of their romance during the reign of Peter in order to protect Galitzine.
The above portrait was painted of her in the convent. Outside the window, you can see one of her supporters hanging. Sophia wanted great power and knew what to do with it, but also knew the price of maintaining such power for someone of her sex during the time.
Reincarnated: 1993 (Age 22)
My name’s Sophia. Double majoring in Sociology and Government at a state university in Pittsburgh. With no internships lined up, I’m trying really hard to figure out what I’m going to do after graduation.