The activity of this "bogatyr-tsarevna", as Sergey Solovyov called her, was all the more extraordinary, as upper-class Muscovite women were confined to the upper-floor terem, veiled and guarded in public, and invariably kept aloof from any open involvement in politics.

At the previous change of ruler in 1676, Sophia may have acted in the interest of her brother, Feodor, as various rumours exist of her pleading then with her father, the dying Tsar Alexis, not to proclaim Peter his heir.

Promoting the case of her full brother Ivan as the legitimate heir to the throne, Sophia attempted to convince the patriarch and the boyars that they should reverse their recent decision to crown Peter.

Insisting that Peter's proclamation broke monarchic laws by skipping over her brother, who would have been next in line to rule if not for his ineptitude, she proposed a shared crown with Ivan and herself.

Multiple issues, including merciless motivational tactics and lack of rest, drove the streltsy to violent opposition against the "unjust" election of Peter.

As the fighting ceased and Peter's life was left forever scarred by the blood spilt by his Naryshkin relatives, the streltsy achieved their initial demands.

Sophia had been deemed the sole intellectually mature member of the ruling family at the time of Feodor's death, making her the favourite to govern on behalf of the child Peter and of the inept Ivan.

As Sophia had arranged before Tsar Feodor's death, Vasily Golitsyn was installed as de facto head of government, executing most of the policies during her regency.

[10] When the Old Believers joined the rebels in the fall of 1682 and demanded the reversal of Nikon's reforms, Sophia lost control of the unsteady Streltsy to her once ally, Prince Ivan Khovansky.

After aiding Sophia in May, Khovansky used his influence with the troops to force her court to flee the Moscow Kremlin and seek refuge in the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra.

The streltsy rebels, who instigated the rebellion, hoped to depose Sophia and to make Prince Ivan Khovansky a new regent, to satisfy their increasing desire for concessions.

Calling together the gentry militia, Sophia suppressed the so-called Khovanshchina with the help of Fyodor Shaklovityi, who succeeded Khovansky in charge of the Muscovite army.

[5] During the seven years of her regency, Sophia made a few concessions to posads and loosened detention policies towards runaway peasants, which caused dissatisfaction among the nobles.

Intrigued by baroque style architecture, Sophia held responsibility for the promotion of the foreign district, and the creation of the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy,[citation needed] the first Russian higher learning institution.

Despite her other achievements, Sophia's influence and effect on a young Peter remains as the most historically significant portion of her reign, as the rebellion of 1682 bred a distrust in nobility that came to define his leadership.