16,951
edits
Changes
m
link
Thus, from 1619 until Patr. Philaret's death in 1633 there were two actual sovereigns of Russia, Tsar Michael and his father, the ''most holy Patriarch Philaret''. While theoretically they were co-regents, Patr. Philaret frequently transacted affairs of state without consulting Michael. Philaret replenished the treasury by a more equable and rational system of assessing and collecting the taxes. His most important domestic measure was the chaining of the peasantry to the soil, a measure directed against the ever increasing migration of the down-trodden serfs to the steppes, where they became freebooters instead of tax-payers. The taxation of the tsar's military tenants was a first step towards the proportional taxation of the hitherto privileged classes. After the death of Patr. Philaret, Michael’s maternal relatives played prominent roles in his government until he died and left his throne to his son Alexis.
Tsar Michael married twice, first in 1624, to Princess Maria Vladimirovna Dolgorukova, who died four months later, and then, on [[February 5]], 1626, to [[w:Eudoxia Streshneva|Eudoxia Streshneva]], with whom he had ten children, three sons and seven daughters. Tsar Michael reposed on [[July, 12]], 1645.
==Sources==
