Robert Massie

Black Sea. For his services in the Turkish war, he was awarded a diamond-studded sword and a miniature portrait of the empress set in diamonds to be worn over his heart, a gift previously awarded only to Gregory Orlov. One after another

would also fall on them. Nor was it widely seen as immoral. Indeed

, whom Sophia already had appointed as their commander, the Streltsy pointed out that there was a certain illegality to Peter’s election as tsar; he was the son of the second wife, while Ivan, the son of the first wife and the older of the two

which numerous court personages

suitors doubtless few. Alexis declared that there were still a few

Today, Peter’s boat is the most prized exhibit of the Navy Museum of the U.S.S.R. in the former Stock Exchange building on the point of Leningrad’s Vasilevsky Island.

Thus, Peter’s arrival and the rapid assembly of his forces inside the powerful walls of the fortified monastery had been carefully prearranged.

The city walls were constructed just inside the outermost canal so that the canal itself made a natural moat.

thirty years of age, with a dark complexion, proud and grave, and with an expressive countenance

razor and with his own hands began shaving off their beards. He began with Shein, the commander