Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin

He was the first junior noble to attain the boyar title and highest offices of state not as a result of family connections but due to his personal capabilities and achievements.

[1] Ordin-Nashchokin attracted the attention of the young Tsar Alexis because of his resourcefulness during the Pskov rebellion of 1650, which he succeeded in bringing under control through his personal efforts.

He was regarded as the only Russian statesman of the day with sufficient foresight to grasp the fact that the Baltic seaboard, or even a part of it, was worth more to Russia than ten times the same amount of territory in Lithuania, and, despite opposition from a number of his colleagues, in December 1658 he succeeded in concluding a three-year Treaty of Valiesari whereby the Russians were left in possession of all their conquests in Livonia.

[1] It was Ordin-Nashchokin who first abolished the onerous system of tolls on exports and imports, and brought together Russian merchants with the aim of promoting direct commercial relations between Sweden and Russia.

In January 1671 he attended upon the tsar on the occasion of his second marriage; but in February 1671 he was dismissed, and withdrew to the Krypetsky monastery near his native Pskov.