Peter’s upbringing in a Moscow suburb was patently non-traditional for a tsar prince who was traditionally confined to a palace to receive a rigorous formal education. He was instead tutored by a succession of clerks who undoubtedly couldn’t begin to fathom the prodigious curiosity and intelligence of the autodidact. Moreover, he was free to develop his keen interests and skills in vocational trades, such as carpentry, blacksmith’s work, and printing, all of which would serve him well during his reign.
He brought the late-medieval Russia he inherited, often kicking and screaming, into the milieu of European enlightenment culture through the reformation of government administration and social habits of the nobility, such as dress code requirements and forbidding beards. He became self-taught in many facets of European society through his productive travels there, mainly learning government and economic practices he would later adopt. He even spent many months working as a shipyard carpenter, which proved to be an invaluable experience in his buildout of the first-ever Russian naval fleet Behind only the U.S. and China, today, the Russian Navy is currently ranked third as a military seapower.
The military games he loved to play as a child likely began to hone his skill as a battlefield commander and strategist. His victory over the Swedish army during the Second Northern War (1700 – 1721) secured the coastal territory needed to establish a seaport to provide Russia with shipping lane access to the Baltic Sea. The first modern European-style Russian city, he founded Saint Petersburg in 1703. It was the capital of the country from then until Vladimir Lenin moved it back to Moscow in 1918 and renamed it Leningrad.
Especially considering his height (6’8″) when fully grown, any comparison of the stature of Peter the Great’s herculean legacy as a tsar would be difficult to render; although Ivan the Terrible would be a contender as one of the “greatest” in Russian history.
He’s ranked #88 in Hart’s Most Influential People in History – Top 500 List (125).
Rurik, Grand Prince of Novgorod, 1st Tsar of Russia, Primogenitor of Rurik Dynasty (830 – 879)
Vladimir I Svyatoslavich (ca. 950 – 1015) Ruler of Kievan Rus
Ivan IV “The Terrible” Vasilyevich (1530 – 1584) Tsar of All Russia
Catharine II “the Great” Romanov, Tsarina and Empress of All Russia (1729 – 1796)
Nicholas II Alexandrovich Romanov (1868 – 1918) Last Tsar of Russia
Christopher Columbus, a.k.a. Prince Segismundo Jogaila (1451 – 1506)
European Royalty, Peerage & Nobility
Pjotr I Alexeiovich Romanov
Birth June 9, 1672 in Moscow
Death 8 Feb 1725 in St Petersburg, Russia
Ancestry.com citation/Lineages
33rd cousin 12x removed KOSHKIN-ROSTOV-SMOLENSK-KIEV-YNGLING-WESSEX-HOWARD-WOOD-COLLINS
father-in-law of 16th cousin 13x removed OLDENBERG-VON ISENBERGEN-HOLLAND-SIMMONS-COLLINS
SOURCES
10 modern paintings from the life of Peter the Great
Who really built Russian Saint Petersburg? Did they dig it out?
11 Fascinating Facts About Peter the Great
Seafarer and Carpenter. Peter the Great in Russian Artistic Culture
The Patricians, A Genealogical Study – Ebook Editions US$5.95
Steven Wood Collins (1952 – ) Antiquarian, Genealogist, Novelist
The Patricians Genealogical Research Foundation 