ruled as regent of Russia from 1682 to 1689. She allied herself with a singularly capable courtier and politician, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, to install herself during the minority of her brother Ivan V and half-brother Peter I. She carried out her regency with a firm and heavy hand, not hesitating to use violent tactics to promote her agenda. The activity of this "bogatyr-tsarevna" (as Sergey Solovyov called her) was all the more extraordinary, as upper-class Muscovite women, confined to the upper-floor terem and veiled and guarded in public, invariably were kept aloof from any open involvement in politics.
