The St. Petersburg police chief, a Russian diplomat, and a comedian all sit down together at the Seder… It sounds like a joke, but Peter the Great may well have attended such a gathering, for Jews were surprisingly crucial in his court

Peter I, also known as Peter the Great (1672–1725), is a controversial figure in Russian history. His admirers are as many and varied as his detractors, and his life and works are filled with contradictions, both positive and negative. He spearheaded Russia’s meteoric rise from primitive backwater to European power, but his methods were brutal, and he was a merciless opponent.

Peter’s whole career was full of strife. He began his reign in 1682, when he was barely a man, and his army’s elite musketeers (or streltsy) promptly rebelled against him. Many of his friends and relatives were killed in the aftermath, and Peter’s beloved mentor, his mother’s guardian Artamon Matveyev, was cut down before his eyes.

Later in the young czar’s career, his authority was challenged by his own son, Prince Alexis, who was promoted by a reactionary faction to overturn his father’s reforms. In the autumn of 1721, Peter labored to rebuild the capital of his dreams, St. Petersburg, after severe flooding. And in 1724, while inspecting iron-works in Finland, he plunged into icy waters to save drowning sailors, catching a chill that eventually claimed his life.

 

Jewish Roots

Peter’s father, Romanov czar Alexis Mikhailovich, married twice. Both his wives bore him children, giving rise to a bitter and bloody succession struggle after his death. The eldest son, Fyodr, died after less than five years in power, and the two remaining sons, Ivan and Peter, were both appointed in his place, with Sophia – their sister and half-sister, respectively – as regent. Peter’s mother, Natalya Naryshkina, was Alexis’ second wife. Highly intelligent, Natalya was rare among Russian women for her European education. She also had a Karaite ancestor – one Naryshko of the Crimean Peninsula – about whom she was quite open.

Interestingly enough, all Romanov rulers after Peter remembered their descent from this gentleman, exercising tolerance toward the Karaite minority in both Crimea and Lithuania. Peter himself ignored his roots; the Karaite connection doesn’t seem to have affected his attitude toward Jews.

Peter’s critics, however, never missed an opportunity to dredge up his Jewish origins and denounce him as the Antichrist himself. The Russian Orthodox Church particularly resented what it perceived as his modernizing crusade against religion and morality.

Extremely attached to his mother, Peter consulted her as his closest adviser in the first years of his reign. As regent for the two young czars, his half-sister Sophia had attempted to banish Natalya, forcing her to cede any authority she might have had and ordering many of the queen mother’s relatives killed. (Sophia tried to assassinate Peter too, during the musketeers’ revolt, which she masterminded.)

Once his rule was established, Peter made Leib Naryshkin, Natalya’s brother, his foreign minister and acting prime minister, while Natalya served as regent. Peter’s reign commenced in earnest only after his mother’s death in 1694. His feeble-minded half-brother Ivan, who was to rule jointly with him, died in 1696, leaving Peter the sole, undisputed czar.