s or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia
and Russian Empire
, it is known as Tsarist autocracy
, or Tsarism. The term is derived from the Latin
word Caesar
, which meant "Emperor
" in the European medieval sense of the term - a ruler who claims the same rank as a Roman
emperor, with the approval of another emperor or a supreme ecclesiastical official (the Pope
or the Ecumenical Patriarch).
Occasionally, the word could be used to designate other, secular, supreme rulers.
1547 Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
1613 Mikhail I is elected unanimously as Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
1676 Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia.
1698 In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
1703 Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
1727 Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1762 Catherine II becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia.
1801 Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death in his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle.
1855 Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1861 Emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia: Tsar Alexander II signs the emancipation reform into law, abolishing Russian serfdom.