1689: Fyodor Shaklovity, marking the arrival of Peter the Great

ExecutedToday.com ^ | October 11, 2015 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

On this date* in 1689, Fyodor Shaklovity was beheaded in Russia: a signal of the transfer of imperial power just days before to the young Peter the Great.

A commoner who rose to the apex of political power — or at least its orbit — Shaklovity (English Wikipedia entry | Russian) was the “second favorite”** of Sophia Alekseyevna during her run as the Russian regent in the 1680s.

She was able to occupy this position because the last tsar had died without issue in 1682. The result was a shaky power-share split between two male tsars who could not rule: Ivan, who was mentally disabled, and Peter, who was 10 years old.

But the problem with 10-year-olds is that, seven years later, they become 17-year-olds.

By 1689, Peter was chafing at his sister’s power. As the regent, how much longer could she expect to rule the tsar now that he was no longer a boy?

A disturbance on the night of August 7, 1689 brought the matter to a head. Moscow’s Streltsy, a body of soldiers who had murderously run amok in the Kremlin in 1682, paraded or demonstrated near the Kremlin.

Shaklovity would claim that this was nothing but a bodyguard for the routine procession of Sophia, but Peter — either actually alarmed or simulating it — bolted to the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius north of Moscow and “immediately threw himself upon a bed and fell a weeping bitterly.”†....

[flaglady47]

I love these execution threads. Lots of history to be had.

[Notthereyet]

“Lots of history to be had.”
_________________________

I find them to be extremely interesting.

Though I’ve read about many of the executions themselves, the backstory was often not in the books.

Context really is everything, isn’t it?

[HChampagne]

Russia is and always will be a thugery. Poor peasants. They don’t stand a chance.