Maria Miloslavskaya

Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya (, 1 April 1624 – 18 August 1669) was a Russian tsaritsa as the first spouse of tsar Alexis of Russia. She was the mother of tsar Feodor III of Russia, tsar Ivan V of Russia, and the princess regent Sophia Alekseyevna. Life Maria Ilyinichna was a younger daughter of the noble Ilya Danilovich Miloslavsky (d. 1668) and Ekaterina Fedorovna Miloslavskaya (Narbekova). Her father was a relative and supporter of Boris Morozov, the influential tutor and favorite of the tsar. Marriage In 1647, tsar Alexis I of Russia reached the age required for marriage. The tsar was to choose his bride from a bride-show of hundreds of daughters of the nobility, who were summoned to the imperial court for selection. This method to select a bride for the tsar reportedly originated from the reign of Ivan III, whose spouse Sophia Palaiologina came from the Byzantine empire, where this method had once been used to choose a bride for the Byzantine emperor.