Part 1, Old Muscovy, Chapters 7-11 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 7, "The Regency of Sophia," sees new cohorts installed including Sophia's chief advisor, principle minister, and eventually her lover, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, who is responsible for the foreign policy highpoint of the Regency, the return of Kiev to Russian control, but also commands the two failed campaigns against the Khan of the Crimea, the Sultan's vassal, a condition of the Polish-Russian treaty. Upset by Sophia's hailing Golitsyn's heroism and by her assuming the title Autocrat, the boyars rally around the Naryshkins. Controlling the Streltsy, Sophia has the edge as tensions rise.

In Chapter 8, "Sophia Overthrown," the Streltsy mobilize against rumors that Peter will kill Ivan and Sophia. Other rumors, that they are marching on Preobrazhenskoe, send Peter fleeing by night to the historic Troitsky Monastery, whence Peter wins over the Patriarch and threatens...