Eudoxia Streshneva (, ''Yevdokiya Lukyanovna Streshneva''; 1608 – 18 August 1645) was the

Tsaritsa Tsarina or tsaritsa (also spelled ''csarina'' or ''csaricsa'', ''tzarina'' or ''tzaritza'', or ''czarina'' or ''czaricza''; bg, царица, tsaritsa; sr, / ; russian: царица, tsaritsa) is the title of a female autocratic ruler (mona ...

of Russia as the second spouse of Tsar

Michael of Russia Michael I (Russian: Михаил Фёдорович Романов, ''Mikhaíl Fyódorovich Románov'') () became the first Russian tsar of the House of Romanov after the Zemskiy Sobor of 1613 elected him to rule the Tsardom of Russia. He w ...

Life

Eudoxia Streshneva was a daughter of the noble Lukyan Stepanovich Streshnev (d. 1630) from

Mozhaysk MozhayskAlternative transliterations include ''Mozhaisk'', ''Mozhajsk'', ''Mozhaĭsk'', and ''Možajsk''. ( rus, Можа́йск, p=mɐˈʐajsk) is a town and the administrative center of Mozhaysky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located to th ...

and Anna Konstantinovna Volkonskaya. Her mother died shortly after birth, and her father left home to serve in the military. She was thus regarded almost an orphan and was raised by a rich relative who belonged to the circle of the tsar's court in Moscow.

Marriage

Eudoxia Streshneva was among those daughters of the nobility summoned to appear in the

bride-show The bride-show ( el, δείχνουν οι νύμφες, russian: смотр невест) was a custom of Byzantine emperors and Russian tsars to choose a wife from among the most beautiful maidens of the country. A similar practice also existed ...

at court, when the tsar was to select his new tsaritsa, after his first spouse had died. Tsar Michael did not like any of those selected for him to choose from, but was pressed by his parents to make a choice. He eventually chose Eudoxia because of her beauty, polite behavior and mild disposition. The parents of the tsar were reportedly displeased with his choice. His mother,

Xenia Shestova Boyarinya Kseniya Ioannovna (Ivanovna) Shestova (russian: Ксения Ивановна Шестова (or Романова); 1560–1631) was a spouse of Fyodor Romanov and the mother of Mikhail Romanov. Life The origins of Xeniya Ivanovna have b ...

, claimed that Streshneva was not of an important enough family, and that he risked angering all the most high ranked noble families by choosing a bride from a family of a lower rank than them. However, the tsar refused to change his mind. He did not only refer to his feelings, but also to his Christian duty to help a girl who would otherwise be forced to leave court and anger her family. She was described as a modest and virtuous girl, dominated by her proud relatives, who sometimes brought her to tears but still did not complain. Reportedly, the tsar was moved by her situation and felt sorry for her. The wedding was conducted on 5 February 1626. As was the custom, Eudoxia was given the title of Tsaritsa prior to the wedding, but only three days before the wedding, which was a much shorter time period than usual. Her parents-in-law both participated in the ceremony. They wished to change her name to Anastasia from the tsaritsa of tsar Ivan, but she successfully refused. After the wedding, she was given several lands, and a substantial fortune of her own.

Tsaritsa

As tsaritsa, Eudoxia Streshneva lived secluded from contact with men, as was expected from a Russian noblewoman at the time, but despite this, she was also expected to participate in public religious and charitable duties and manage the imperial household.Massie, Robert K., Peter the Great: his life and world, Abacus, London, 1995 980/ref> Tsaritsa Eudoxia was known to have been in a difficult situation in the imperial court because of her mother-in-law,

, who dominated her and the life of the imperial court. She and her mother-in-law shared the same

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.diak. Xenia Shestova accompanied her daughter-in-law during all her official visits to monasteries and churches, and managed her public life as a tsaritsa. She also chose tutors for her grandchildren, dominating her relationship to them. Eudoxia never managed to achieve any influence over tsar Mikhail, either during or after the death of her mother-in-law. Reportedly, Eudoxia was under great pressure to produce a son and heir to the throne, a task which gave her great anxiety until the birth of Tsarevich Aleksei in 1629. After the birth of her last child in 1639, tsar Michael reportedly did no longer wish to share her bed. She is noted to have given donations to churches and convents in order to be given another child, but without success. In 1642, Eudoxia financed the rebuilding of the Saint George Monastery in Meshchovsk. She also benefited the

Ivanovsky Convent Ivanovsky Convent (Ивановский монастырь) is a large stauropegic Russian Orthodox convent in central Moscow, inside the Boulevard Ring, to the west of Kitai-gorod, in the district formerly known as Kulishki. It is the main shri ...

, where she made several visits and often prayed to Saint Martha during her pregnancies. She founded several charitable institutions, and made public donations to charitable and religious subjects.

Death

Eudoxia Streshneva died shortly after her spouse. She was buried in the Ascension Convent.

Issue

Yevdokiya and Mikhail had ten children:

References

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Streshneva, Yevdokiya 1608 births 1645 deaths 17th-century Russian people 17th-century Russian women House of Romanov Russian tsarinas