How to choose brides Russian tsars

The custom of the king's bride in Russia there very long. Despite this he made history and are mercilessly exploited in literature, cinema and painting. Precisely because this action has acquired conjectures and few people know about the true nature of the event. How did we have a ritual of choosing a bride for the monarch, and by what criteria selected future Queen?

The custom of the king's bride came to us from Byzantium — as in, the once mighty Empire chose future wives for the emperors. On Russia, he was brought Sophia Palaeologus, the Byzantine Princess and grandmother of Ivan the terrible. With her light hand the bride began to practice among the Russian and sank into Oblivion after the first marriage of Peter I.

We are told that the king walked down the line of prospective brides and considered them, choosing a life partner. In fact, it happened and, most often, the future husband to the bride were not invited at all. The Byzantine Empress Irene, who introduced this custom to find the son of the bride sent out across the country measurements with parameters such as height, foot size and even girth of your head.

To the set standards of the attached paper, which stated additional requirements for girls — origin, health status, and more. The selection took place a lot of candidates, but in the whole of Byzantium found only 13 of those who respond to the requests of the Queen.

Lucky was an orphan from an aristocratic Armenian descent by the name Mary, which came on all counts, and also like mother of the groom. His son Constantine the Queen just put before the fact, not taking into account the fact that he was engaged in love with the Princess of the Franks.

Needless to say that this marriage is not out anything. After a few years Constantine was released from the custody domineering mother and insisted that his wife became a nun. Ended up Mary in the monastery, and the king found himself a new wife, without any rigorous auditions, and lived with her happily ever after. As we can see, innovation is at once shown to be ineffective, but it still made the rule.

Grand Prince Vasily III

The first Russian Emperor, who chose a bride on the bride, was the son of Sophia Paleolog Grand Prince Vasily III. He became the first in the history of Russia Rurik, who married the Princess overseas or his cousin, and the boyar's daughter. For Basil gathered on all corners of his realm 500 noble beauties and picked his bride from them.

It was 15-year-old orphan from the boyar family Solomonia Saburova. Wife monarchs, in General, liked to choose orphans, who had numerous greedy for money and power Rodney. After the wedding some time passed, and Vasily III, the heir became a full sovereign.

Unlike Konstantin Russian Prince loved his wife or was too honest — he patiently waited 20 years for her heir, forbidding all this time his brothers to have kids. In the end, his patience has ended and the wife was traditionally sent to a convent.

Shorn of Solomon by force — she desperately fought back, threw on the floor the monastic robe and trampled it underfoot. To pacify the woman her right in the wards he was whipped and cut by force. Basil immediately remarried, a young noblewoman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to Elena Glinsky, who gave her husband the heir of John, known as Tsar Ivan IV the terrible.

Ivan also married mostly after a shower. At age 16, barely ascending the throne, the Emperor decided to find a life partner. He was offered a great selection of the most beautiful boyar daughters, among whom Ivan selected Anastasia Zagarino-Yuriev. This girl was very pretty, but the bride was not the only reason.

Sacharine long served at the court, and the uncle of Anastasia even was the guardian of infant of Ivan. All this gives reason to think that the bride and groom were familiar to the bride, and the choice of the monarch was based on at least sympathy. Contemporaries recalled that the first wife of Grozny, the Russian Tsar was a girl of small stature with beautiful hair. Among her virtues mentioned meekness and unparalleled kindness.

Anastasia has a positive impact on the king with his temper, but their family happiness lasted only 13 years. The Queen suddenly fell ill and soon died, as many believe, poisoned by ill-wishers. The grief of Ivan was hard to describe, but after eight days preparations have begun for the new bride.

The second bride of Ivan IV was different from the first and was more like a date to meet. The king was advised to look for a wife among the princely families of Caucasian and soon in Moscow brought a girl named Kuchen — the daughter of Kabardian Prince Temryuk. The bride brought to the king, and he loved it. Since beauty was of another faith, before the wedding, she was baptized and called Mary .

Eight years later, Maria temryukovna died under the same mysterious circumstances as Anastasia. On the third bride Ivan decided not to be modest and he was offered two thousand maidens. As a result, the king met with from the third and fourth his wife. At the same time found the bride, and Ivan Ivanovich — the king's son, who according to the legend, the father later killed with a stick.

Marfa Sobakina

The third bride, Marfa Sobakina, as Anastasia, was a native of noble but not too noble family. To compensate for this, the king generously gave titles and lands of all men from the family of his wife. Father of Martha even made a Lord about what he could have possibly imagined. But the triumph was short-lived Sobakina and Martha lived after the wedding for a week. After the king married a fourth time, to "reserve" the bride that has looked in past shows.

I must say that the bride was almost a democratic event. If conventional marriage of the monarch took brides from the noble families or the pursuit of certain goals, then the bride could be girls from noble but impoverished families. Royal "casting" giving a chance to the girls, such as Anastasia, daughter of the courtier Zakharyin-Yuriev, whose families were no match for the king.

The wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, second Tsar of the Romanov dynasty, Maria Miloslavskaya, was from a poor family so that the child was collecting mushrooms for sale. Her father served as kravcik at the Embassy clerk that roughly corresponded to the position of barman. Mother of the Tsar Alexey Romanov has also been of a poor kind, so, as you can see, the bride gave the rich and the poor brides an equal chance.

The financial position of the brides of the kings were not interested in participating but the bride had a lot of other requirements. In addition to a beautiful face, right size and the appropriate physique, contestants had to "look humble", not to have relatives of politically unreliable persons, and not to be red. In fact, these rules are often violated — Elena Glinskaya was fun and daring, and besides this and a redhead.

There were other requirements, a minor. For example, had the value of the number of children in the family of the bride, as it was believed that having many children is hereditary and wife in the future will be able to give the king many offspring. And, of course, took into account women's health. The midwives examined the girls on the subject of correct development of reproductive organs and virginity.

Agatha grushetskaya, the first foreign Queen in the history of Russia

There were some exceptions. For example, for the older brother of Peter I, Tsar Feodor III, the bride arranged formally. He already knew who will be his choice and the event was a tribute to the ancient Byzantine tradition. The bride was Agatha grushetskaya, and she was from Polish nobility.

Met the girl with the king unusual — when the Emperor marched through the crowd charges during the procession, Agatha fell down before him in a swoon. The Queen of the Son was good — friendly and cheerful. She started in the court of fashion for a Polish clothing and entertainment, and the king seemed happy and in love. But in just a year and a half young Queen died of child bed fever, and after a week died with Fedor's son Ilya.

The selection of the bride was not without intrigue. Families often maligned each other and even openly substituted to increase your chances. Especially often spread rumors defaming the honor of the women of the family — the sexual revolution was still far away and the girl with a poor reputation had not the least chance to become Queen.

Before the bride hundreds of girls were brought to Moscow and placed in the chambers. They lived in the capital in barracks, as in the same room, put a dozen beds and more. Fed, watered brides due to the sovereign's Treasury, and for the makeup before going to the king was also the sovereign people.

It was not simply a manifestation of hospitality. It was important not to allow counterfeits, which was often eager to marry beauty. From time immemorial girls have wholsale yourself braids, weaving them into other people's hair, bleached face, he podmahivala chest, making it more elaborate.

The person responsible for the toilet of the bride, often bribing the relatives of rivals. The girl could be ugly braid or tighten the braid so that their owner fainted. In this case, we considered a version that the girl is unhealthy, and her family slyly want to deceive the Emperor.

After such incident, and the girl and all her family would be in disgrace. It happened with Efimia Vsevolozhsk, a candidate for a wife of Tsar Alexei Fedorovich, who together with his family was exiled under Tyumen. Father Alexey also became a victim of the intrigues already chosen bride Marie Hlopova envious organized disorder of the intestine. The king was immediately convinced that diarrhea of the bride — a sign of infertility and Hlopova the whole family went to meet Tobolsk.

Given this, it becomes clear why Ivan the terrible on their third account shows briefly spoke personally with each of the two thousand contestants. It did not help, as Marfa Sobakina still died after 15 days after the wedding. Analysis of the remains of the Queen, held in our days, have not revealed the presence in the tissues of the poison. Therefore, we can assume that Marfa Vasilievna poisoned vegetable poison or brought her into the coffin some quick and fatal disease.

But Ivan the terrible accused the family of Martha in that they got used to her with the light. Father of his late wife, who only recently made the Royal will of the boyar, was sent to the convent, and her cousins were executed. Intrigues and conspiracies were popular at the time, and the marriage of the sovereign was surrounded by them often. Ivan IV just to be safe, as was the custom of kings.

But the possible force majeure in their lives and the fate of his family, the girls thought. They longed to embroidered with pearls and gold scarf and ring — marks of the king's choice. After presenting these gifts, the future Queen remained in the wards she was taken to the upper room of the residence and treated her as already held by the Empress.

In the Middle ages in Russia was adopted by a certain standard of female beauty, but not all the Tsar's bride fell in the category of beauties. The monarchs differed quite a variety of tastes and didn't always take to wife young virgins, "the eyebrows of the Union", the burly and "white face."

Welcome dark tresses and eyebrows, rosy cheeks and red lips. Moles and freckles on the face were not allowed, and a painful pallor. Suspicious of too thin and, conversely, to overly full. Both, in the opinion of the people of the time could be signs of poor health.

A very important virtue of the bride was considered modesty. Ideally, the girl had to blush from a glance of the man. Agatha grushetskaya, and Elena Glinskaya, belonged not to the timid, had this quality, but he is forgiven because of the foreign origin.

Often after the wedding the newly minted Queen was forced to change the name to something more in line with the new rank. For example, Praskovya Lopukhina, the first wife of Peter I, turned into a more harmonious Evdokia. The Queen no longer belonged to myself after the wedding — she never left the female half of the king's house and the people only show up at Church.

Walk the Tsar's wife was limited to specially broken for these purposes, the garden, where he had access to women and persons close to the Emperor. Moments in movies, when the Queen sits next to her husband during receptions untrue. So there were only Irina Godunova wife of Feodor I and sister-in-law of Ivan the terrible. This behavior of the Queen shocked the conservative boyars, who behind called her shameless.