The Muscovite dynasty ended in 1598 with the death of Ivan IV's son Fyodor I. Real power during Fyodor's reign had been exercised by his brother-in-law Boris Godunov, who was chosen to succeed him. Although Boris was a strong ruler, he was regarded by many as a usurper. The exhausted country was, therefore, precipitated into turmoil marked by the appearance of a series of pretenders to the throne and provoking invasions by Poland, Sweden, and the Crimean Tatars ( 1598-1613). Disgruntled boyar families, enserfed peasants, COSSACKS, and lower clergy tried in turn to take advantage of the anarchy, but none succeeded. Eventually, a militia of noble servitors (dvoriane) and townspeople of the northeast, based in Nizhni Novgorod, expelled the Poles from Moscow, drove back the Swedes and Cossacks, and elected young MICHAEL Romanov as tsar in 1613. The ROMANOV dynasty was to rule Russia until 1917.
An Era of Conflict
Beneath a veneer of traditional forms and static structures profound changes took place in the course of the 17th century, changes that resulted in religious, cultural, political, and socioeconomic disarray. Efforts at reforming the church structure and at modernizing the ritual along Byzantine and Ukrainian lines, led by NIKON (patriarch from 1652 to 1666), were resisted in the name of earlier spiritualist traditions by large segments of the population (led by monks and parish priests). These OLD BELIEVERS, about 25 percent of the population, were persecuted by the state and virtually split away from official culture and civil society. In suppressing the Old Believers the church lost much of its moral authority and autonomy vis-a-vis the state.
