How to read this Peter the Great family tree
Read the Peter the Great family tree from the top down, one generation to a row. Peter is the centre of the chart and carries a double ring. Two fathers on it married twice, Tsar Alexis and Peter himself, and each stands between his two wives with the children of each marriage below.
The family reused its names, so the dates matter. Two women called Eudoxia stand on the chart, Eudoxia Streshneva, the grandmother of Peter, and Eudoxia Lopukhina, his first wife. Two Annas stand in the fourth row, Anna Ioannovna, born in 1693, and Anna Petrovna, born in 1708. Peter I and Peter II stand two rows apart.
Russia kept the Julian calendar until 1918. The chart gives the years of the seventeenth century as the sources give them, and full Gregorian dates from the time of Peter onward.2
Michael I, the first Romanov tsar
On 21 February 1613 the Zemsky Sobor chose Michael Romanov as tsar, a compromise between the parties at the assembly.3 He married Eudoxia Streshneva in 1626, and their son Alexis succeeded him in 1645.34 These three stand at the top of the Peter the Great family tree.
Tsar Alexis and his two wives
Alexis married Maria Miloslavskaya in 1648.4 Three of their children stand on the Peter the Great family tree. Feodor III reigned from 1676 to 1682, Ivan V was born in 1666, and Sophia was born in 1657.756
After the death of Maria in 1669, Alexis married Natalya Naryshkina in 1671. Their son Peter was born in Moscow in 1672.42 Alexis died in 1676, and Feodor III, the eldest surviving son of the first marriage, became tsar.7
Ivan V and Peter, two tsars and a regent
Feodor III died in 1682 without an heir. The streltsy, the musketeers of Moscow, demanded that Ivan be named tsar, and a compromise made Ivan and Peter co-rulers. Ivan was sixteen and Peter ten.5 Their sister Sophia was named regent.5
Sophia ruled as regent until 1689. She then surrendered her leading boyars and was forced to withdraw to the Novodevichy Convent, where she died in 1704.6 Ivan V stayed co-tsar until his death in 1696.5 He married Praskovia Saltykova in 1684, and their daughter Anna Ioannovna became empress in 1730.512 She had married Frederick William, Duke of Courland, in 1710 and was widowed the next year.12
The two wives of Peter the Great
Peter married Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689, the first of the two wives beside him on the Peter the Great family tree. In 1698 he had her sent to the Intercession Convent at Suzdal. During the trial of their son Alexei, the bishops who had supported her were executed, and she was moved to a convent at Ladoga. She outlived Peter and kept her own court at the Novodevichy Convent until her death in 1731.8
His second wife, Catherine, had been married briefly to a Swedish dragoon in 1702.9 She was tsaritsa from 1712 and empress consort from 1721, and after Peter died in 1725 she reigned in her own right until 1727.9 Of their children, the Peter the Great family tree draws the two daughters who mattered to the throne, Anna Petrovna and Elizabeth.
The fate of Tsarevich Alexei
Alexei, the son of the first marriage, was born in 1690 and married Charlotte of Brunswick in 1711.10 She died in 1715, days after the birth of their son Peter.10 Rather than face his father, Alexei fled to Vienna in 1716. He was arrested when he returned to Russia, a court of 127 senators and officials sentenced him to death, and he died after interrogation under torture in June 1718, in the Peter and Paul Fortress at Saint Petersburg, two days after the sentence.10
In 1722 Peter decreed that the ruler would name the heir, and so ended the old rule that the throne passed to the next male descendant.2
Peter II, Anna and Elizabeth
Catherine I reigned until 1727, and then the son of Alexei became emperor as Peter II at the age of eleven.911 He died of smallpox in January 1730, before his wedding, and with him the male line of the Romanovs ended.11
The crown went to Anna Ioannovna, the daughter of Ivan V, who reigned from 1730 to 1740.12 In 1741 Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter and Catherine, seized the throne with the support of the army.13 Her sister Anna Petrovna had married Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp and died at Kiel in 1728.14 Their son became Peter III, and through him Anna is the ancestor of the later emperors.1
Catherine IEmpress from 1725.
Peter IIEmperor from 1727.
Anna IoannovnaEmpress from 1730.
ElizabethEmpress from 1741.
Who is who on the Peter the Great family tree
All 18 people on the chart are listed.
| Portrait | Person | Years | Life | On the chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Michael ITsar of Russia, 1613 to 1645 | 1596–1645 | The first Romanov tsar and the grandfather of Peter. Sources3 | |
 | Eudoxia StreshnevaWife of Michael I | c. 1608–1645 | Grandmother of Peter. Sources3 | |
 | Maria MiloslavskayaFirst wife of Alexis | 1624–1669 | Mother of Feodor III, Sophia and Ivan V. Sources4 | |
 | AlexisTsar of Russia, 1645 to 1676 | 1629–1676 | Father of Peter the Great. Sources4 | |
 | Natalya NaryshkinaSecond wife of Alexis | 1651–1694 | Mother of Peter the Great. | |
 | Sophia AlekseyevnaRegent, 1682 to 1689 | 1657–1704 | Half-sister of Peter. | |
 | Feodor IIITsar of Russia, 1676 to 1682 | 1661–1682 | Half-brother of Peter. Sources7 | |
 | Ivan VCo-tsar, 1682 to 1696 | 1666–1696 | Half-brother of Peter. Sources5 | |
 | Praskovia SaltykovaWife of Ivan V | 1664–1723 | Mother of Empress Anna. Sources5 | |
 | Eudoxia LopukhinaFirst wife of Peter | 1669–1731 | Sent to a convent in 1698. Sources8 | |
 | Peter the GreatTsar from 1682, emperor from 1721 | 1672–1725 | Son of Alexis and Natalya Naryshkina. Sources2 | |
| Catherine IEmpress of Russia, 1725 to 1727 | 1684–1727 | Second wife of Peter. Sources9 | |
| Anna IoannovnaEmpress of Russia, 1730 to 1740 | 1693–1740 | Daughter of Ivan V. Sources12 | |
 | Charlotte of BrunswickWife of Alexei | 1694–1715 | Mother of Peter II. Sources10 | |
 | Alexei PetrovichTsarevich | 1690–1718 | Son of Peter. He died in prison in 1718. Sources10 | |
 | Anna PetrovnaDaughter of Peter | 1708–1728 | Mother of Peter III. | |
| ElizabethEmpress of Russia, 1741 to 1762 | 1709–1762 | Daughter of Peter and Catherine I. Sources13 | |
| Peter IIEmperor of Russia, 1727 to 1730 | 1715–1730 | Grandson of Peter. The last Romanov of the male line. Sources11 |
Questions about the Peter the Great family tree
Who the parents of Peter the Great were
Tsar Alexis and his second wife, Natalya Naryshkina. On the Peter the Great family tree Feodor III, Sophia and Ivan V are his half-siblings from the first marriage of Alexis.
Who succeeded Peter the Great
His widow, Catherine I, who reigned from 1725 to 1727. His grandson Peter II followed her.
People and sources
A page of its own lists the 14 numbered sources this article cites. It also gives the credits of the portraits and this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.