Nikita Zotov

Count Nikita Moiseevich Zotov (Russian: Никита Моисеевич Зотов, tr. Nikita Moiseevich Zotov; IPA: [nʲ'kʲta moɨ'sʲɛɪvʲɪt͡ɕ 'zotv]) (1644 – December 1717) was a childhood tutor and lifelong friend of Russian Tsar Peter the Great. Historians disagree on the quality of Zotov's tutoring. Robert K. Massie, for example, praises his efforts, but Lindsey Hughes criticizes the education that he gave to the future tsar.

Not much is known about Zotov's life aside from his connection to Peter. Zotov left Moscow for a diplomatic mission to Crimea in 1680 and returned to Moscow before 1683. He became part of the "Jolly Company", a group of several dozen of Peter's friends that eventually became The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters. Zotov was mockingly appointed "Prince-Pope" of the Synod, and regularly led them in games and celebrations. He accompanied Peter on many important occasions, such as the Azov campaigns and the torture of the Streltsy after their uprising. Zotov held a number of state posts, including from 1701 a leading position in the Tsar's personal secretariat. Three years before his death, Zotov married a woman 50 years his junior. He died in December 1717 of unknown causes.

Alexis I, Tsar of Russia, married twice in his lifetime, first to Maria Miloslavskaya and then to Natalia Naryshkina after Maria's death. Peter I was born to Natalia Naryshkina on 30 May 1672. After the death of Tsar Alexis on 8 February 1676, Peter's half-brother and godfather Feodor, the "semi-invalid eldest surviving son of Maria Miloslavskaya", became the Tsar of Russia.Ivan Miloslavsky, Feodor's uncle, returned to Moscow from virtual exile as Governor of Astrakhan to become Chief Minister. His family had not been in power for some time as a result of Tsar Alexis' remarriage. As a result, Ivan Miloslavsky hated the Naryshkin family, which included Peter, Natalia Naryshkina, and Natalia's foster father, Artamon Matveyev. When a new ruling family took over, the previous ruling family was usually banished to a ceremonial position somewhere far from Moscow. Instead, Ivan Miloslavsky tried to arrest the Naryshkins, but Feodor would only permit him to exile Artamon Matveyev. Feodor was fond of his half-brother Peter and Peter's mother, and both were allowed to remain in the Kremlin in private apartments.

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