Prince Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky (russian: Фёдор Юрьевич Ромодановский; ca. 1640 – 1717) was one of

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

's foremost assistants in the task of modernizing

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He served as the country's first head of

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

, operating the from 1686 to his death. An influential

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Russian nobility, Russia, Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, Wallachia and ...

from the

Romodanovsky family The House of Romodanovsky (russian: Ромодановские) was a Rurikid princely family descending from sovereign rulers of Starodub-on-the-Klyazma. Their progenitor was Prince Vasily Fyodorovich Starodubsky (Василий Фёдорови ...

, Prince Fyodor was given the post of the head of the Preobrazhensky

prikaz A prikaz (russian: прика́з, ''prikaz''; , plural: ) was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities in Muscovy and in Russia from the 15th to the 18 ...

in 1686, when its functions involved the administration of the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky units. His integrity and resolution won him the admiration of young Tsar Peter (), who made him "

Generalissimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ) is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. Usage The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative of ('general') thus me ...

" of his toy army. During Peter's frequent absences from the capital between 1695 and 1699 he entrusted Romodanovsky with governing the country. When the Streltsy Uprising of 1698 erupted in Peter's absence, Romodanovsky ruthlessly suppressed it. For his vital services to the crown Peter jocundly styled Romodanovsky "His Caesarean Majesty" (кесарское величество) and "Prince Caesar" (князь-кесарь). Romodanovsky also had the right to keep his own court at

Ropsha Ropsha ( rus, Ропша, p=ˈropʂə) is a settlement in Lomonosovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated about south of Peterhof and south-west of central Saint Petersburg, at an elevation of to . The palace and park ensemble ...

(south of Peterhof) and to promote officers. The Tsar addressed him in German as "Min Herr Koenig" ("My Lord King") and signed his own letters "Your Majesty's humblest servant Piter". Until his death, on 17 September 1717, Romodanovsky remained in charge of the secret police, the

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

n prikaz, and the

Apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Ameri ...

; basically he operated as the second-most powerful man (and the most feared man) in Russia until his death. Long after Romodanovsky's death, Klyuchevsky (1841-1911) described him as a "a monstrum by appearance, a vicious tyrant by character". Most of Peter the Great's biographies tend to overlook the role of Romodanovsky, who served as an unconditional supporter of Peter and as his most-feared and very effective official. While other Peter's adherents built and fought, Romodanovsky ensured, with an iron hand, that there was no opposition. Fyodor Romodanovsky's only son, ( 1677–1730) succeeded him in office at the Preobrazhensky prikaz from 1717 to 1729.

See also