Editing House of Romanov (section)

===Rise to power===
The family fortunes soared when Roman's daughter, [[Anastasia Romanovna|Anastasia Zakharyina]], married [[Ivan IV of Russia|Ivan IV]] ("the Terrible") on 3 (13) February 1547.<ref name="burkeI"/> Since her husband had assumed the title of [[Tsar of all Russia]], which derives from the title "[[Caesar (title)|Caesar]]", on 16 January 1547, she was crowned as the first [[tsaritsa]] of Russia. Her mysterious death in 1560 changed Ivan's character for the worse. Suspecting the boyars of having poisoned his beloved, Ivan launched a [[Oprichnina|reign of terror]] against them. Among his children by Anastasia, the eldest, [[Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich of Russia|Ivan]], was murdered by the tsar in a quarrel; the younger [[Feodor I of Russia|Feodor]], a pious but lethargic prince, inherited the throne upon his father's death in 1584.

[[File:Kostromatsar.jpg|thumb|left|A crowd at the [[Ipatiev Monastery]] imploring Mikhail Romanov's mother to let him go to Moscow and become their tsar ([[illuminated manuscript|Illumination]] from a book dated 1673).]]

Throughout Feodor's reign (1584–1598), the tsar's brother-in-law, [[Boris Godunov]], and his Romanov cousins contested the ''de facto'' rule of Russia. Upon the childless death of Feodor, the 700-year-old line of the [[Rurik dynasty]] came to an end, ushering in the [[Time of Troubles]]. After a long struggle, the party of Boris Godunov prevailed over the Romanovs, and the ''[[Zemsky Sobor]]'' elected Godunov as tsar in 1598. Godunov's revenge on the Romanovs led to all the family and its relations being deported to remote corners of the Russian North and [[Ural (region)|Urals]], where most of them died of hunger or in chains. The family's leader, [[Feodor Nikitich Romanov]], was exiled to the [[Antoniev Siysky Monastery]] and forced to take monastic vows with the name [[Patriarch Filaret (Feodor Romanov)|Filaret]].

The Romanovs' fortunes again changed dramatically with the fall of the Godunov dynasty in June 1605. As a former leader of the anti-Godunov party and cousin of the last legitimate tsar, Filaret Romanov's recognition was sought by several [[impostor]]s who attempted to claim the Rurikid legacy and throne during the [[Time of Troubles]]. [[False Dmitriy I]] made him a [[metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]], and [[False Dmitriy II]] raised him to the dignity of [[patriarch]]. Upon the expulsion of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish army]] from Moscow in 1612, the ''Zemsky Sobor'' offered the Russian crown to several Rurikid and [[Gediminids|Gediminian]] princes, but all declined the honour.<ref name="gotha"/>

On being offered the Russian crown, Filaret's 16-year-old son [[Mikhail I of Russia|Mikhail Romanov]], then living at the [[Ipatiev Monastery]] of [[Kostroma]], burst into tears of fear and despair. He was finally persuaded to accept the throne by his mother [[Kseniya Ivanovna Shestova]], who blessed him with the holy image of [[Our Lady of St. Theodore]]. Feeling how insecure his throne was, Mikhail attempted to emphasize his ties with the last Rurikid tsars<ref>[An ancestor of Czar Mikhail I was [[Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky]] of a Rurikid princely house]</ref> and sought advice from the ''Zemsky Sobor'' on every important issue. This strategy proved successful. The early Romanovs were generally accepted by the population as in-laws of [[Ivan the Terrible]] and viewed as innocent martyrs of Godunov's wrath.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}