EVDOKIA FEDOROVNA LOPUHINA, TSARITSA

B. Aug. 9 (July 30, O.S.), 1669, Moscow - D. Sept. 7 (Aug. 27), 1731, Moscow, tsarina and first wife of Peter I the Great of Russia.

In 1689 she was given in marriage to Peter I, a bridegroom of only 17. Endowed with beauty but lacking intelligence and ambition, she had little in common with the young tsar, whose chief interest was the mechanics of war.

In 1698 Peter sent her to a monastery. There she took vows (1699) but left after six months and resumed life as a laywoman. Following the trial of her son, Tsarevich Alexis, for treason (1718), she was kept in confinement at a fortress east of St. Petersburg on Lake Ladoga. Upon the accession (1727) of her grandson Peter II, she was released and later installed at the Voznesenski Convent in Moscow and provided with a generous allowance. After the death of Peter II (1730), she made a feeble, unsuccessful attempt to succeed him.