November 12, 1472 Ivan III marries for the second time. This time, the Greek princess Sophia, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, becomes his chosen one.
Belokamennaya
Three years after the wedding, Ivan III will begin the arrangement of his residence with the construction of the Assumption Cathedral, which was erected on the site of the dismantled Kalita temple. Whether this will be due to the new status - the Grand Duke of Moscow by that time will position himself as the "sovereign of all Russia" - or whether his wife Sophia, dissatisfied with the "wretched situation", will "prompt" the idea, it's hard to say for sure. By 1479, the construction of the new temple will be completed, and its properties will later be transferred to the whole of Moscow, which is still called "white stone". Large-scale construction will continue. The Annunciation Cathedral will be built on the foundations of the old palace church of the Annunciation. To store the treasury of the Moscow princes, a stone chamber will be built, which will later be called the Treasury Yard. Instead of the old wooden choirs for the reception of ambassadors, they will begin to build a new stone chamber, called the Embankment. The Palace of Facets will be built for official receptions. A large number of churches will be rebuilt and built. As a result, Moscow will completely change its appearance, and the Kremlin will turn from a wooden fortress into a "Western European castle."
New title
With the advent of Sophia, a number of researchers associate the new ceremonial and the new diplomatic language - complex and strict, prim and strained. Marrying a noble heiress of the Byzantine emperors will allow Tsar John to position himself as the political and ecclesiastical successor of Byzantium, and the final overthrow of the Horde yoke will make it possible to transfer the status of a Moscow prince to an unattainably high level of national ruler of the entire Russian land. “Ivan, Sovereign and Grand Duke” leaves the government acts and “John, by the grace of God, Sovereign of All Russia” appears. The significance of the new title is complemented by a long list of the limits of the Muscovite state: "The Sovereign of All Russia and the Grand Duke of Vladimir, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tver, and Perm, and Yugorsky, and Bulgarian, and others."
divine origin
In his new position, the source of which was partly the marriage with Sophia, Ivan III finds the former source of power insufficient - the succession from his father and grandfather. The idea of the divine origin of power was not alien to the ancestors of the sovereign, however, none of them expressed it so firmly and convincingly. To the proposal of the German Emperor Frederick III to reward Tsar Ivan with a royal title, the latter will answer: “... by the grace of God we are sovereigns on our land from the beginning, from our first ancestors, and we have the appointment from God”, indicating that in the worldly recognition of his power, the Moscow prince does not need.
double headed eagle
To visually illustrate the succession of the fallen house of the Byzantine emperors, a visual expression will also be found: from the end of the 15th century, the Byzantine emblem - a double-headed eagle - will appear on the royal seal. There are a large number of other versions of where the two-headed bird "flew" from, but it is impossible to deny that the symbol appeared during the marriage of Ivan III and the Byzantine heiress.
The best minds
After Sophia's arrival in Moscow, a rather impressive group of immigrants from Italy and Greece will form at the Russian court. Subsequently, many foreigners will occupy influential public positions, and more than once will carry out the most important diplomatic state assignments. The ambassadors visited Italy with enviable regularity, but often the list of tasks did not include the solution of political issues. They returned with another rich "catch": architects, jewelers, coiners and weapons craftsmen, whose activities were directed in one direction - to contribute to the prosperity of Moscow. Visiting miners will find silver and copper ore in the Pechora Territory, and in Moscow they will start minting coins from Russian silver. There will also be a large number of professional doctors among the visitors.
Through the eyes of foreigners
During the reign of Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog, the first detailed notes of foreigners about Russia appear. Before some, Muscovy appeared as a wild land in which rude morals reign. For example, for the death of a patient, a doctor could be beheaded, stabbed, drowned, and when one of the best Italian architects, Aristotle Fioravanti, fearing for his life, requested to return to his homeland, he was deprived of his property and imprisoned. Other travelers saw Muscovy, those who did not stay long in the bear region. The Venetian merchant Josaphat Barbaro was amazed at the well-being of Russian cities, "abundant in bread, meat, honey and other useful things." The Italian Ambrogio Cantarini noted the beauty of Russians, both men and women. Another Italian traveler, Alberto Campenze, in a report for Pope Clement VII, writes about the well-established border service by the Muscovites, the ban on selling alcohol, except on holidays, but most of all he is captivated by Russian morality. “To deceive each other is revered by them as a terrible, heinous crime,” writes Campenze. - Adultery, violence and public debauchery are also very rare. Unnatural vices are completely unknown, and perjury and blasphemy are not heard at all.
New orders
External paraphernalia played a significant role in the exaltation of the king in the eyes of the people. Sofya Fominichna knew about this on the example of the Byzantine emperors. Lush palace ceremonial, luxurious royal robes, rich decoration of the courtyard - all this was not in Moscow. Ivan III, already a powerful sovereign, lived not much wider and richer than the boyars. Simplicity was heard in the speeches of the closest subjects - some of them came, like the Grand Duke, from Rurik. The husband heard a lot about the court life of the Byzantine autocrats from his wife and from the people who came with her. He probably wanted to become “real” here as well. Gradually, new customs began to appear: Ivan Vasilyevich “began to behave majestically”, was titled “king” before the ambassadors, received foreign guests with special pomp and solemnity, and ordered to kiss the royal hand as a sign of special mercy. A little later, court ranks will appear - the bed-keeper, nursery, equestrian, and the sovereign will begin to favor the boyars for merit.
After a while, Sophia Paleolog will be called an intriguer, she will be accused of the death of her stepson Ivan the Young and they will justify “disorders” in the state with her witchcraft. However, this marriage of convenience will last 30 years and become, perhaps, one of the most significant matrimonial unions in history.
This woman was credited with many important state deeds. Why is Sophia Paleolog so distinguished? Interesting facts about her, as well as biographical information are collected in this article. 
Sofia Fominichna Paleolog, aka Zoya Paleologina, was born in October 1455. Origin from the Byzantine imperial dynasty of Palaiologos.
Grand Duchess of Moscow, second wife of Ivan III, mother of Vasily III, grandmother of Ivan the Terrible.
Cardinal's Proposal
In February 1469, the ambassador of Cardinal Vissarion arrived in Moscow. He handed over a letter to the Grand Duke with a proposal to marry Sophia, the daughter of Theodore I, Despot of Morea. By the way, this letter also said that Sophia Paleolog (real name - Zoya, they decided to replace it with an Orthodox one for diplomatic reasons) had already refused two crowned suitors who were wooing her. They were the Duke of Milan and the French king. The fact is that Sophia did not want to marry a Catholic. 
Sophia Palaiologos (of course, her photo cannot be found, but the portraits are presented in the article), according to the ideas of that distant time, she was no longer young. However, she was still quite attractive. She had expressive, amazingly beautiful eyes, as well as matte delicate skin, which was considered in Russia a sign of excellent health. In addition, the bride was distinguished by her article and a sharp mind.
Who is Sofia Fominichna Paleolog? 
Sofia Fominichna is the niece of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last emperor of Byzantium. Since 1472, she was the wife of Ivan III Vasilyevich. Her father was Thomas Palaiologos, who fled to Rome with his family in 1453, after the Turks captured Constantinople. Sophia Palaiologos lived after the death of her father in the care of the great pope. For a number of reasons, he wished to marry her to Ivan III, who was widowed in 1467. He answered yes. 
Sofia Paleolog gave birth to a son in 1479, who later became Vasily III Ivanovich. In addition, she achieved the announcement of Vasily the Grand Duke, whose place was to be taken by Dmitry, the grandson of Ivan III, who was crowned king. Ivan III used his marriage to Sophia to strengthen Russia in the international arena. 
Icon "Blessed Sky" and the image of Michael III
Sophia Paleolog, Grand Duchess of Moscow, brought several Orthodox icons. It is believed that among them was the icon "Blessed Sky", a rare image of the Mother of God. She was in the Kremlin Archangel Cathedral. However, according to another legend, the relic was transported from Constantinople to Smolensk, and when the latter was captured by Lithuania, Sofya Vitovtovna, the princess, was blessed with this icon for marriage when she married Vasily I, the Moscow prince. The image, which is now in the cathedral, is a list from an ancient icon, made at the end of the 17th century by order of Fyodor Alekseevich. 
Muscovites, according to tradition, brought lamp oil and water to this icon. It was believed that they were filled with healing properties, because the image had healing power. This icon today is one of the most revered in our country.
In the Archangel Cathedral, after the wedding of Ivan III, an image of Michael III, the Byzantine emperor, who was the ancestor of the Palaiologos dynasty, also appeared. Thus, it was argued that Moscow is the successor of the Byzantine Empire, and the sovereigns of Russia are the heirs of the Byzantine emperors.
The birth of the long-awaited heir
After Sophia Paleolog, the second wife of Ivan III, married him in the Assumption Cathedral and became his wife, she began to think about how to gain influence and become a real queen. Paleolog understood that for this it was necessary to present the prince with a gift that only she could do: to give birth to a son who would become the heir to the throne. To Sophia's chagrin, the firstborn was a daughter who died almost immediately after birth. A year later, a girl was born again, who also died suddenly. Sophia Palaiologos cried, prayed to God to give her an heir, handed out handfuls of alms to the poor, donated to churches. After some time, the Mother of God heard her prayers - Sophia Paleolog became pregnant again. 
Her biography was finally marked by a long-awaited event. It took place on March 25, 1479 at 8 pm, as stated in one of the Moscow chronicles. A son was born. He was named Vasily Pariysky. The boy was baptized by Vasiyan, Archbishop of Rostov, in the Sergius Monastery.
What did Sofia bring with her?
Sophia managed to inspire what was dear to her, and what was appreciated and understood in Moscow. She brought with her the customs and traditions of the Byzantine court, pride in her own lineage, and annoyance at having to marry a Mongol-Tatar tributary. Sophia hardly liked the simplicity of the situation in Moscow, as well as the unceremonious relations that prevailed at that time at court. Ivan III himself was forced to listen to reproachful speeches from obstinate boyars. However, in the capital, even without it, many had a desire to change the old order, which did not correspond to the position of the Moscow sovereign. And the wife of Ivan III with the Greeks brought by her, who saw both Roman and Byzantine life, could give the Russians valuable instructions on what models and how to implement the changes desired by everyone. 
The prince's wife cannot be denied influence on the behind-the-scenes life of the court and its decorative setting. She skillfully built personal relationships, she was excellent at court intrigues. However, Paleolog could only respond to political ones with suggestions that echoed the vague and secret thoughts of Ivan III. Especially clear was the idea that by her marriage the princess was making the Muscovite rulers the successors of the emperors of Byzantium, with the interests of the Orthodox East holding on to the latter. Therefore, Sophia Paleolog in the capital of the Russian state was valued mainly as a Byzantine princess, and not as a Grand Duchess of Moscow. She herself understood this. As Princess Sophia enjoyed the right to receive foreign embassies in Moscow. Therefore, her marriage to Ivan was a kind of political demonstration. It was announced to the whole world that the heiress of the Byzantine house, which had fallen shortly before, transferred its sovereign rights to Moscow, which became the new Constantinople. Here she shares these rights with her husband. 
Ivan, sensing his new position in the international arena, found the old Kremlin environment ugly and cramped. From Italy, following the princess, the masters were discharged. They built the Palace of Facets, the Assumption Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral), and a new stone palace on the site of the wooden choirs. In the Kremlin at that time, a strict and complex ceremonial began to start up at the court, imparting arrogance and stiffness to Moscow life. Just as in his own palace, Ivan III began to act in external relations with a more solemn step. Especially when the Tatar yoke without a fight, as if by itself, fell off the shoulders. And it weighed almost two centuries over the entire north-eastern Russia (from 1238 to 1480). A new language, more solemn, appears at this time in government papers, especially diplomatic ones. There is a lot of terminology. 
Sophia Paleolog in Moscow was not loved for the influence she exerted on the Grand Duke, as well as for the changes in the life of Moscow - "great disorders" (in the words of the boyar Bersen-Beklemishev). Sophia interfered not only in internal, but also in foreign affairs. She demanded that Ivan III refuse to pay tribute to the Horde Khan and finally free himself from his power. Skillful advice Paleolog, as evidenced by V.O. Klyuchevsky, always met the intentions of her husband. Therefore, he refused to pay tribute. Ivan III trampled on the khan's charter in Zamoskovreche, in the Horde courtyard. Later, the Transfiguration Church was built on this site. However, even then the people "spoke" of Paleologus. Before Ivan III came out in 1480 to the great stand on the Ugra, he sent his wife and children to Beloozero. For this, the subjects attributed to the sovereign the intention to quit power in the event that Khan Akhmat took Moscow, and to flee with his wife.
"Duma" and a change in the treatment of subordinates
Ivan III, freed from the yoke, finally felt like a sovereign sovereign. Palace etiquette through the efforts of Sophia began to resemble Byzantine. The prince gave his wife a "gift": Ivan III allowed Sophia to gather her own "thought" from the members of the retinue and arrange "diplomatic receptions" in her half. The princess received foreign ambassadors and conversed politely with them. This was an unprecedented innovation for Russia. The treatment at the court of the sovereign also changed.
Sophia Palaiologos brought sovereign rights to her husband, as well as the right to the Byzantine throne. The boyars had to reckon with this. Ivan III used to love disputes and objections, but under Sophia, he radically changed the treatment of his courtiers. Ivan began to hold himself impregnable, easily fell into anger, often imposed disgrace, demanded special respect for himself. Rumor also attributed all these misfortunes to the influence of Sophia Palaiologos.
Fight for the throne
She was also accused of violating the throne. Enemies in 1497 told the prince that Sophia Paleologus planned to poison his grandson in order to put her own son on the throne, that fortune-tellers preparing a poisonous potion were secretly visiting her, that Vasily himself was participating in this conspiracy. Ivan III took the side of his grandson in this matter. He ordered the soothsayers to be drowned in the Moscow River, arrested Vasily, and removed his wife from him, defiantly executing several members of the Paleolog "thought". In 1498, Ivan III married Dmitry in the Assumption Cathedral as heir to the throne.
However, Sophia had in her blood the ability to court intrigues. She accused Elena Voloshanka of heresy and was able to bring about her downfall. The Grand Duke placed his grandson and daughter-in-law in disgrace and named Vasily in 1500 as the legitimate heir to the throne. 
The marriage of Sophia Paleolog and Ivan III, of course, strengthened the Muscovite state. He contributed to its transformation into the Third Rome. Sofia Paleolog lived for over 30 years in Russia, having given birth to 12 children to her husband. However, she never managed to fully understand a foreign country, its laws and traditions. Even in official chronicles there are records condemning her behavior in some situations that are difficult for the country.
Sofia attracted architects and other cultural figures, as well as doctors, to the Russian capital. The creations of Italian architects have made Moscow not inferior in majesty and beauty to the capitals of Europe. This helped to strengthen the prestige of the Moscow sovereign, emphasized the continuity of the Russian capital to the Second Rome.
Sophia's death 
Sophia died in Moscow on August 7, 1503. She was buried in the Ascension Convent of the Moscow Kremlin. In December 1994, in connection with the transfer of the remains of the royal and princely wives to the Archangel Cathedral, S. A. Nikitin restored her sculptural portrait based on the preserved skull of Sophia (pictured above). Now we can at least roughly imagine what Sophia Paleolog looked like.
1. Sofia Paleolog was the daughter of the Despot of the Morea (now the Peloponnese) Thomas Palaiologos and niece of the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire Constantine XI.
2. Sophia was named at birth Zoey. It was born two years after the Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453, and the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. Morea was captured five years later. Zoe's family was forced to flee, finding refuge in Rome. To obtain the support of the Pope Thomas, Palaiologos converted to Catholicism with his family. With the change of faith, Zoya became Sophia.
3. The immediate guardian of Sophia Paleolog was appointed cardinal Vissarion of Nicaea, supporter of the union, that is, the unification of Catholics and Orthodox under the authority of the Pope. Sophia's fate was supposed to be decided by an advantageous marriage. In 1466 she was offered as a bride to a Cypriot King Jacques II de Lusignan, but he refused. In 1467 she was offered as a wife Prince Caracciolo, a noble Italian rich man. The prince agreed, after which a solemn betrothal took place.
4. The fate of Sophia changed dramatically after it became known that Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III widowed and looking for a new wife. Vissarion of Nicaea decided that if Sophia Paleolog becomes the wife of Ivan III, the Russian lands could be brought under the influence of the Pope.
Sofia Paleolog. Reconstruction from the skull of S. Nikitin. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
5. On June 1, 1472, in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome, Ivan III and Sophia Palaiologos were betrothed in absentia. Russian Deputy Grand Duke Ambassador Ivan Fryazin. The wife of the ruler of Florence was present as guests Lorenzo the Magnificent Clarice Orsini and Queen Katarina of Bosnia.
6. During the marriage negotiations, representatives of the Pope were silent about the transition of Sophia Palaiologos to Catholicism. But a surprise awaited them too - immediately after crossing the Russian border, Sophia announced to Bessarion of Nicaea who accompanied her that she was returning to Orthodoxy and would not perform Catholic rites. In fact, this was the end of the attempt to carry out the union project in Russia.
7. The wedding of Ivan III and Sophia Paleolog in Russia took place on November 12, 1472. Their marriage lasted 30 years, Sofia gave birth to her husband 12 children, but the first four were girls. Born in March 1479, the boy, named Vasily, later became the Grand Duke of Moscow Basil III.
8. At the end of the 15th century, a fierce struggle unfolded in Moscow for the right to succession to the throne. The son of Ivan III from his first marriage was considered the official heir Ivan Young, who even had the status of co-ruler. However, with the birth of her son Vasily, Sophia Palaiologos joined the struggle for his rights to the throne. The Moscow elite was divided into two warring parties. Both of them fell into disgrace, but in the end, the victory remained with the supporters of Sophia Palaiologos and her son.
The course of Russian politics sometimes depended on little predictable turns in the political elite of Moscow society, on complex relationships in the grand ducal family. The latter was due to special circumstances. In 1467, during the days when the Grand Duke was not in the capital, his first wife, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Tver, Maria Borisovna, died. Her death may not have been natural. A second marriage under such conditions was inevitable: the Grand Duke at that moment was not even 28 years old. In the literature, they argue on whose initiative the idea of marrying the Moscow sovereign to a representative of the imperial Byzantine family of the Paleologs arose. Zoya (in Russia her name was Sophia) was the niece of the last two emperors and the daughter of their brother, the Morean despot Thomas Palaiologos. She never lived in Constantinople, from 1465 she was in Rome. The exchange of embassies took place for several years, the final decision was made only in 1472. In November of the same year, she, along with the ambassador of Ivan III and the Pope, arrived in Moscow. In the temporary wooden building of the Assumption Cathedral (it was being rebuilt at that time), on November 12, the marriage of the Moscow sovereign with the Byzantine despina took place. The fact of a second marriage and the fact that a representative of the imperial family became the chosen one gave rise to many consequences, but even more myths.
Most of them tell about Sophia's exceptional influence on her husband in solving political issues. As early as the beginning of the 16th century. in the court environment there was a legend that it was the Grand Duchess who suggested to Ivan III how to remove the Horde ambassador from the Kremlin, which contributed to the elimination of dependence. The story has no basis in real sources. What we know for sure about Sophia (perhaps, with the exception of the last few years), shows the normal course of life of the grand-ducal family, where the functions of the wife were limited to the birth and upbringing of children (boys only up to a certain age), some economic issues. The text of Contarini, the Venetian ambassador to Ak-Koyunlu, who happened to be in Moscow in the autumn of 1476 by special circumstances, is indicative. He gets to see her only on the initiative and with the permission of the Grand Duke. In conversations with Ivan III, any influence of Sophia on her husband is not visible. Yes, and the reception at the Grand Duchess was purely protocol, the Venetian tells in more detail and more interestedly about his conversations with the Grand Duke (Sofya was not present at them). Stand out at least somehow position, style of behavior of the Moscow Grand Duchess, it is unlikely that an observant diplomat would have missed such a detail. After all, he knows about the hostility of Prince Ivan Ivanovich to Sofya and that because of this, the prince is in disfavor with his father.
The Assumption Chronicle tells how in 1480 Sophia “ran” with her children to Beloozero, what violence her retinue did against the local population. Here she looks very unsightly, although it is clear that the decision to travel was not made by her. The chronicles speak in detail about the disgrace of the Grand Duke on her in 1483. When Ivan III wanted to give his daughter-in-law, the wife of his eldest son, the jewelry of his first wife, it turned out that Sophia gave away a significant part of them to her niece (she married Prince Vasily Vereisky and fled with him to Lithuania) and his brother. A new disgrace lay in wait for Sophia at the end of the 15th century, when hostility and contradictions in the grand ducal family escalated into a major political conflict.
His background is this. Sophia regularly performed the main function - she bore Ivan III five sons and several daughters. Her firstborn was born on March 25, 1479. This fact, as well as the final subjugation of Novgorod and the completion of the construction of the Assumption Cathedral, marked the most important final events of the Grand Duke's chronicle in the edition of 1479. But Ivan Ivanovich was the co-ruler of the father, still formal, civil maturity (and for the great princes it came early) in 1471, when he was 13 years old, he already bore the title of grand duke. The sad experience of the former princely turmoil was taken into account.
After 1480, Ivan Ivanovich, who proved himself excellently in repelling the hordes of Akhmad on the Ugra, began to actually fulfill the functions of the grand duke-co-ruler under his father. Tver, after annexation, for a long time retained a special, semi-autonomous status, there was its own Boyar Duma, its own sovereign's court, its own palace department, and a special organization of military service. Some of these features of the Tver land survived until the middle of the 16th century. The own Grand Duke is recorded only twice. For the first time immediately after 1485, when Ivan Ivanovich combined the functions of the Grand Duke-co-ruler under his father and the Grand Duke of Tver. In this status, Prince Ivan Ivanovich died in March 1490.
On October 10, 1483, his son Dmitry was born. Sooner or later, Ivan III had to face the question of who would become the heir to the throne. In the 1990s, the situation remained tense. Dmitry was still small, while Vasily, who was four years older, was "admitted" to public administration (in the same Tver), but was called only with a princely title.
Everything was resolved within a few years at the turn of the 16th century. Sophia and Vasily were the first to fall into disgrace. Prince Dmitry the grandson in February 1498 was solemnly crowned in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin from the hands of Ivan III (“with him and after himself”) by the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and Moscow. This was an act of outstanding significance, which was emphasized by the special rite of the Metropolitan's clergy (thus, in particular, Ivan III was called the Orthodox tsar and autocrat). The fundamental novelty was that the legitimacy of the power of the Russian monarch was henceforth self-sufficient: her inheritance in a direct descending male line and divine sanction ensured her full sovereignty. Not without reason, back in 1488, Ivan III, in response to the proposal of the imperial ambassador N. von Poppel about the possible granting of a royal title to him from the emperor, answered: “We are the sovereigns of God on our land from the beginning from God.” In the preface to the new Paschalia, Metropolitan Zosima called Ivan III in 1492 an autocrat and compared him with the new Constantine, and called Moscow the new Konstantinov city. However, back in the autumn of 1480, Archbishop Vassian of Rostov, strengthening the spirit of courageous opposition to Ivan III Khan, addressed him as follows: "the great Christian king of the Russian countries."
This tradition of ecclesiastical texts, which emphasized not so much the political sovereignty of the Muscovite ruler (but also him) as his role as the defender of Orthodox Christianity, corresponds to diplomatic documentation. It was in it that the claims of the Moscow prince for international recognition of his state-political status should have been reflected first of all. Treaties with the Livonian Order, the Derpt Bishopric, the Hanseatic League, documentation on relations with the Empire and Hungary give a very clear picture. Firstly, the Moscow sovereign acquires the title of tsar (Kaiser in German), which is recognized, as a rule, by the authorized representatives of these countries. This wording also contains the all-Russian character of the title of the Moscow sovereign. It is difficult to say to what extent the rulers and authorities of the Western states understood that this, to a certain extent, formed the international legal basis for Moscow's claims to ancient Russian lands and cities within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Later, the Lithuanian Grand Dukes sometimes protested against this practice of conciliation. Naturally, Lithuanian politicians did not recognize such a title for the Grand Duke of Moscow. In diplomatic correspondence, they proved the illegitimacy of the titles of the Moscow monarch, mainly by the fact that until recently he was a khan's serf.
She was born on September 27 (17 O.S.) September 1657 in Moscow. One of six daughters from her marriage to Maria Miloslavskaya, who gave birth to the tsar also two sons - Fedor and Ivan.
The princess started a procedure that had not been practiced before - she, a woman, was present at the royal reports, and over time, without hesitation, she publicly began to give her own orders.
Sophia's reign was marked by her desire for a broad renewal of Russian society. The princess took all measures for the development of industry and trade. During the reign of Sophia, Russia began to produce velvet and satin, previously imported from Europe. Under her, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was created. Sofya Alekseevna sent the first Russian embassy to Paris. During her reign, the famous dispute about faith took place in the Faceted Chamber of the Kremlin, which put an end to many years of church schism.
In addition, the first population census was held, the tax system was reformed, and the rules for obtaining public positions were changed (now officials were required not only to have a title, but also the business qualities of applicants). Sophia began the reorganization of the army according to the European model, but did not have time to complete what she started.
During the reign of Sophia, small concessions were made to the settlements and the investigation of fugitive peasants was weakened, which caused discontent among the nobles. In foreign policy, the most significant actions of the government of Sofia Alekseevna were the conclusion of the "Eternal Peace" of 1686 with Poland, which secured the Left-Bank Ukraine, Kiev and Smolensk for Russia; Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 with China; entry into the war with Turkey and the Crimean Khanate. In 1689, there was a gap between Sophia and the boyar-noble group that supported Peter I. The party of Peter I won.