The Pseudodemetrian Imperial Commonwealth:
Dynastic History
The False Dmitri
The origins of the dynastic union that preceded the Imperial Commonwealth lie in the Time of Troubles in Russia. When nobody could agree who should be Tsar, a young Polish aristocrat appeared claiming to be the son of Ivan the Terrible. He amassed enough support to become Tsar himself.
The essential difference from our timeline is that Dmitri was a savvier and/or better advised imposter than the hapless young manwe know. He was able to ally himself with key boyars, including marrying the daughter of a potential rival, in order to secure support within the Russian state.He continued to cultivate relationships with those in Poland who had supported his accession, without appearing to favor Polish interests over those of his own people. Thus the blending of nations that marks the PIC began in False Dmitri's court, with its combination of Polish and Russian elements He lived a long time.
Tsar Vasily IV and Queen Kristina
Dmitri's greatest diplomatic coup, however, was marrying his eldest son Vasily to the reigning Queen Kristina of Sweden. Kristina was notably eccentric, and speculation runs rampant about her psychological condition, sexuality, and gender identity. What convinced her to marry after having refused so many other suitors? Every historian, poet and librettist to tackle the question has come up with a different answer. Some simply describe Vasily as a charming man who appealed to Kristina's sense of curiosity. Others portray it as a kind of rebellion, marrying this Eastern Orthodox prince from savage Muscovy. Still others say Kristina was persuaded by the realpolitik of it: that marrying someone with connections in both Russia and Poland would help her dynasty gain the upper hand over the rival Polish branch of the Vasa family. Certainly one of the first things that the couple did together was attack Poland, ultimately forcing Vasily's election as king.
Just as much rumor surrounds the pair's two children, Ivan/Johan and Fyodora. Many people at the time were convinced that they never had any children together. In this version, the old Tsar Dmitri, that sneaky snake, faked both pregnancies, both times convincing Kristina to seclude herself in castles for a few months and then emerge with one of Vasily's children by one of his various mistresses. Historians are not totally in agreement, but the amount of time that Vasily and Kristina were apart governing their separate realms does continue to leave researchers raising their eyebrows and scratching their heads.
Ivan V and III
The elder son Ivan succeeded to his parents' realms piecemeal. Vasily arranged for the Sejm to elect him king of Poland when he was still very young. Almost immediately thereafter Kristina abdicated her throne to him. He ruled both countries until his father's death in 1679, when he was crowned Tsar, uniting the three crowns for the first time.
Ivan was a warlike ruler, attacking Turkey and expanding his borders to the east. He also took steps to make the unification more permanent. He established the first joint institutions in the Baltic and used the Swedish navy to seize control of the Duchy of Courland's small Atlantic colonies. He expanded the city of Nevaburg, laying the foundations for the great imperial capital at the head of the Baltic. Domestically, Ivan, or Jan, was most concerned with shoring up his support among the Polish nobles. He married a daughter of the powerful Sapieha family.
The tsars Dmitri and Vasily forged the union through military victories and skullduggery, but as the first person to securely rule all three countries, Ivan V and III is acknowledged as the founder of the empire. He was not a revolutionary Peter the Great figure. He could not afford to be: he had to appear acceptable to the ruling classes of all three of his realms, and that meant respecting traditions. Ivan's real innovation was beginning to create an imperial bureaucracy that could give the nobles opportunities for advancement in the service of the monarch. This is how his co-opting of the Courland colonies must be seen: the tiny colonies were not profitable at any point in their existence, but they were useful as a source of patronage. Even more useful were his conquests in the Ukraine and Transylvania, his first steps to organize the administration of Siberia, and his strengthening of the Baltic fleet. This "imperialization" of the nobility, fully developed in the 18th century, would be the source of the empire's strength and cohesion. It distracted the powerful boyars and the szlachta as their traditional privileges were abolished one by one over the course of the century.
When Ivan died after more than twenty successful years, he was able to pass all three crowns to their son Kasimir.
Kasimir I and V
Kasimir brought the Enlightenment to Poland and Russia, though he did not live long enough to see many of his projects come to fruition. Sweden's alliance with France now went back almost a century, and Kasimir strengthened it by bringing French culture into his court, making French the international language of an increasingly cosmopolitan capital. He purchased the Caribbean island of St. Barts from France.
Kasimir I and V was more of a cultural rebel than his father, but this meant bringing the Englightenment into his courts rather than trying to force it onto the rest of the country. He followed Western fashions but did not expect anyone else to. He sponsored some impressive Baroque buildings in Nevaburg, but he did not set out with a grand vision of a Western capital. The city instead grew gradually and its buildings come from many different traditions and eras.
Kasimir died childless and spent his last years gathering support among his nobles for his first cousin, Karl II, Count-Palatine of Pfalz-Zweibrücken. That house had past connections to the Swedish royal family, and Karl was the son of Fyodora, Tsar Vasily's daughter by either Kristina or a mistress, depending on the story you believe.
The origins of the dynastic union that preceded the Imperial Commonwealth lie in the Time of Troubles in Russia. When nobody could agree who should be Tsar, a young Polish aristocrat appeared claiming to be the son of Ivan the Terrible. He amassed enough support to become Tsar himself.
The essential difference from our timeline is that Dmitri was a savvier and/or better advised imposter than the hapless young manwe know. He was able to ally himself with key boyars, including marrying the daughter of a potential rival, in order to secure support within the Russian state.He continued to cultivate relationships with those in Poland who had supported his accession, without appearing to favor Polish interests over those of his own people. Thus the blending of nations that marks the PIC began in False Dmitri's court, with its combination of Polish and Russian elements He lived a long time.
Tsar Vasily IV and Queen Kristina
Dmitri's greatest diplomatic coup, however, was marrying his eldest son Vasily to the reigning Queen Kristina of Sweden. Kristina was notably eccentric, and speculation runs rampant about her psychological condition, sexuality, and gender identity. What convinced her to marry after having refused so many other suitors? Every historian, poet and librettist to tackle the question has come up with a different answer. Some simply describe Vasily as a charming man who appealed to Kristina's sense of curiosity. Others portray it as a kind of rebellion, marrying this Eastern Orthodox prince from savage Muscovy. Still others say Kristina was persuaded by the realpolitik of it: that marrying someone with connections in both Russia and Poland would help her dynasty gain the upper hand over the rival Polish branch of the Vasa family. Certainly one of the first things that the couple did together was attack Poland, ultimately forcing Vasily's election as king.
Just as much rumor surrounds the pair's two children, Ivan/Johan and Fyodora. Many people at the time were convinced that they never had any children together. In this version, the old Tsar Dmitri, that sneaky snake, faked both pregnancies, both times convincing Kristina to seclude herself in castles for a few months and then emerge with one of Vasily's children by one of his various mistresses. Historians are not totally in agreement, but the amount of time that Vasily and Kristina were apart governing their separate realms does continue to leave researchers raising their eyebrows and scratching their heads.
Ivan V and III
The elder son Ivan succeeded to his parents' realms piecemeal. Vasily arranged for the Sejm to elect him king of Poland when he was still very young. Almost immediately thereafter Kristina abdicated her throne to him. He ruled both countries until his father's death in 1679, when he was crowned Tsar, uniting the three crowns for the first time.
Ivan was a warlike ruler, attacking Turkey and expanding his borders to the east. He also took steps to make the unification more permanent. He established the first joint institutions in the Baltic and used the Swedish navy to seize control of the Duchy of Courland's small Atlantic colonies. He expanded the city of Nevaburg, laying the foundations for the great imperial capital at the head of the Baltic. Domestically, Ivan, or Jan, was most concerned with shoring up his support among the Polish nobles. He married a daughter of the powerful Sapieha family.
The tsars Dmitri and Vasily forged the union through military victories and skullduggery, but as the first person to securely rule all three countries, Ivan V and III is acknowledged as the founder of the empire. He was not a revolutionary Peter the Great figure. He could not afford to be: he had to appear acceptable to the ruling classes of all three of his realms, and that meant respecting traditions. Ivan's real innovation was beginning to create an imperial bureaucracy that could give the nobles opportunities for advancement in the service of the monarch. This is how his co-opting of the Courland colonies must be seen: the tiny colonies were not profitable at any point in their existence, but they were useful as a source of patronage. Even more useful were his conquests in the Ukraine and Transylvania, his first steps to organize the administration of Siberia, and his strengthening of the Baltic fleet. This "imperialization" of the nobility, fully developed in the 18th century, would be the source of the empire's strength and cohesion. It distracted the powerful boyars and the szlachta as their traditional privileges were abolished one by one over the course of the century.
When Ivan died after more than twenty successful years, he was able to pass all three crowns to their son Kasimir.
Kasimir I and V
Kasimir brought the Enlightenment to Poland and Russia, though he did not live long enough to see many of his projects come to fruition. Sweden's alliance with France now went back almost a century, and Kasimir strengthened it by bringing French culture into his court, making French the international language of an increasingly cosmopolitan capital. He purchased the Caribbean island of St. Barts from France.
Kasimir I and V was more of a cultural rebel than his father, but this meant bringing the Englightenment into his courts rather than trying to force it onto the rest of the country. He followed Western fashions but did not expect anyone else to. He sponsored some impressive Baroque buildings in Nevaburg, but he did not set out with a grand vision of a Western capital. The city instead grew gradually and its buildings come from many different traditions and eras.
Kasimir died childless and spent his last years gathering support among his nobles for his first cousin, Karl II, Count-Palatine of Pfalz-Zweibrücken. That house had past connections to the Swedish royal family, and Karl was the son of Fyodora, Tsar Vasily's daughter by either Kristina or a mistress, depending on the story you believe.
Karl of the Palatinate
Karl ascended the thrones of Sweden and Poland without much fuss, but the Russian boyars were more reluctant to accept this Protestant Westerner. He secured his throne after two years of violent unrest. He is considered the founder of the "Wittelsbach-Rurik" royal house, which has ruled the empire ever since.
Karl I and X is credited with introducing absolutism to the empire, though only in Sweden. Absolutism took much longer to bring about in Russia and never really happened in Poland. The Swedish military became a well-oiled machine under the king's personal command. Some of those military reforms started to gradually extend to Poland and Russia, but Karl was not able to control the governments there like he did in Sweden.
In military affairs Karl had to fight off a combined attack from Brandenburg and Austria, a recurring event of the 18th century and beyond. As a result of this war, he strengthened his hold on Prussia and Pomerania, blocking Brandenburg's access to the sea.
During Karl's rule Sweden again started to pay attention to its former colony in North America, modern Christiana. After negotiating with the Penn family, Karl formed a small land company that bought and sold plots in the colony to settlers from Sweden, Finland, and the allied German state of Holstein-Gottorp. The tsar also sponsored the first trade and colonization attempts in the Pacific, which resulted in several small forts in Alaska, Oregon, and Hawaii.
Karl had married a daughter of a Hessian landgrave when just a teenager, before coming to the throne; but he married most of his many children off to Polish and Russian magnates. By the time of his death in 1738, he believed he had established his dynasty in all three kingdoms. However, the empire was in for one more fight over the succession.
The Karlovichi (Kasimir, Ivan, and Fridrich)
Kasimir's reign began in war. Austria and Prussia had again been intriguing with Polsh nobles who feared that their kingdom was drifting toward hereditary succession and domination by Russia. When the Sejm made Kasimir king, a significant group immediately announced that they did not accept the result, then gathered their forces in the southwest to join with the invading armies. Kasimir, caught off guard, was slow to respond. Large areas of Poland fell to rebel and foreign troops before he could mount an organized counterattack.
After two years in the field, Kasimir succumbed to an infection that had spread through camp, an inauspicious misfortune in a war of succession. His brother Ivan carried on the fight, launching at the invader the full strength of Sweden's military discipline, the vast resources of Russia, and the fighting spirit of the remaining loyal Poles. He even secured an alliance with Russia's old enemy, the Turks, who attacked Austrian territory from the south. Ivan VI and IV secured his hold on Poland after another three years of fighting. He had to permanently renounce any Polish pretensions to Silesia and return Transylvania to the Austrians, but in general the war had strengthened his position. The magnates who had led the opposition were executed or exiled, or lost their lands and titles. Some who had played a minor role in the rebellion threw themselves at the king's mercy, tripping over each other in their rush to profess their newfound loyalty. Many were later dispatched to govern distant corners of the empire.
Ivan also exploited his postwar popularity to compel Russia's boyars to accept the principle of hereditary succession, the very thing the Polish szlachta had been so afraid of. He made no attempt to introduce such a law in Poland, but it was clear now that no one who was not from the House of Wittelsbach-Rurik would have much chance of winning an election for king.
But Ivan also died after just a few years, passing the thrones to the third son of Karl of the Palatinate, Fridrich I. Fridrich already had an infant son when he came to power, and he and his wife Anastasia Golitsyn would have one more, along with their three daughters. The dynasty's loyalists breathed a sigh of relief.
Fridrich's productive reign lasted just under twenty years. Under him the empire truly stepped into its role as a great power. Rather than fight for survival, he struggled for influence against shifting alliances of rival kings and emperors. Fighting along the southern border saw Poland re-conquer Transylvania and convert Moldavia into a vassal state. Fridrich's children were married not to local nobility, but to the sons and daughters of European royal houses.
Dmitri I and VI
The tsar's son was named for his maternal grandfather Dmitri Golitsyn, a great Russian magnate who had become a close ally of the imperial family. His long reign - exactly forty years - saw a consolidation of the imperial system and a great expansion of Russian power in Asia and the Pacific.
Dmitri's long years on the throne made the empire seem permanent. The three realms might still resent each other over some issues, but there was no longer any question that their union would endure. The imperialization of the nobility proceeded. Whether Polish, Swedish, or Russian, the great landowners now no longer restricted themselves to local concerns. They sought commercial opportunities in the colonies, spoils from new conquests, state titles and pensions from governing territories. Keeping the upper class on board required the empire to continue to expand. In economics, Sweden led the way; in territorial growth, the main driver was Russia.
Wars against the Turks and Tatars extended Russia's territory to the Black Sea. The Khanate of Crimea was transferred from Ottoman to Russian vassalage; within a few years, the Khan was deposed and the khanate brought into personal union. Further east, Russia encroached a little further every year into the territory of the Central Asian khanates and trading cities.
In the Pacific, the small trading posts began to transform into colonies during Dmitri's reign. Soldiers, administrators, and priests took up residence in fortified settlements from Aleutia to California. At this time, furs remained the most valuable commodity to be gained in North America. Small groups of Cossack hunters, masters of the fur trade in Siberia, began to cross to America to try their luck there. Slowly, the northwest coast of the continent developed a Russian-speaking population that knew the land and the culture. This presence on the ground would prevent Russia from being displaced by the English despite having an inferior fleet.
Dmitri also oversaw growth in seagoing trade in the Atlantic, mostly by Swedish mariners and trading companies. It was during this time that Pennsylvania's newly independent government made overtures to Dmitri, as King of Sweden, about restoring links with the old colony of New Sweden - now an emerging dependent state called Christiana. Pennsylvania's government needed allies, while the mixed society of Christiana needed a unifying figure. Dmitri was happy to serve as both. The reunification was carefully arranged so that Pennsylvania still was responsible for supervising Christiana's government and the king could not interfere however he wanted. But - very importantly - the deal allowed Sweden to send troops to America and to set up trading posts west of the Allegheny Mountains. Dmitri and his officers in the Swedish government envisioned Christiana becoming the anchor for a great commercial empire in the mid-continent. Dmitri organized the first mass migration project to the state, mostly consisting of German peasants from Sweden's client state and future vassal, Holstein-Gottorp. Swedish forces set about building forts alongside Pennsylvanians in the eastern parts of the Ohio Country.
- Manchu Rebellion
- Co-opting vassal states
- Wars of revolution
Karl ascended the thrones of Sweden and Poland without much fuss, but the Russian boyars were more reluctant to accept this Protestant Westerner. He secured his throne after two years of violent unrest. He is considered the founder of the "Wittelsbach-Rurik" royal house, which has ruled the empire ever since.
Karl I and X is credited with introducing absolutism to the empire, though only in Sweden. Absolutism took much longer to bring about in Russia and never really happened in Poland. The Swedish military became a well-oiled machine under the king's personal command. Some of those military reforms started to gradually extend to Poland and Russia, but Karl was not able to control the governments there like he did in Sweden.
In military affairs Karl had to fight off a combined attack from Brandenburg and Austria, a recurring event of the 18th century and beyond. As a result of this war, he strengthened his hold on Prussia and Pomerania, blocking Brandenburg's access to the sea.
During Karl's rule Sweden again started to pay attention to its former colony in North America, modern Christiana. After negotiating with the Penn family, Karl formed a small land company that bought and sold plots in the colony to settlers from Sweden, Finland, and the allied German state of Holstein-Gottorp. The tsar also sponsored the first trade and colonization attempts in the Pacific, which resulted in several small forts in Alaska, Oregon, and Hawaii.
Karl had married a daughter of a Hessian landgrave when just a teenager, before coming to the throne; but he married most of his many children off to Polish and Russian magnates. By the time of his death in 1738, he believed he had established his dynasty in all three kingdoms. However, the empire was in for one more fight over the succession.
The Karlovichi (Kasimir, Ivan, and Fridrich)
Kasimir's reign began in war. Austria and Prussia had again been intriguing with Polsh nobles who feared that their kingdom was drifting toward hereditary succession and domination by Russia. When the Sejm made Kasimir king, a significant group immediately announced that they did not accept the result, then gathered their forces in the southwest to join with the invading armies. Kasimir, caught off guard, was slow to respond. Large areas of Poland fell to rebel and foreign troops before he could mount an organized counterattack.
After two years in the field, Kasimir succumbed to an infection that had spread through camp, an inauspicious misfortune in a war of succession. His brother Ivan carried on the fight, launching at the invader the full strength of Sweden's military discipline, the vast resources of Russia, and the fighting spirit of the remaining loyal Poles. He even secured an alliance with Russia's old enemy, the Turks, who attacked Austrian territory from the south. Ivan VI and IV secured his hold on Poland after another three years of fighting. He had to permanently renounce any Polish pretensions to Silesia and return Transylvania to the Austrians, but in general the war had strengthened his position. The magnates who had led the opposition were executed or exiled, or lost their lands and titles. Some who had played a minor role in the rebellion threw themselves at the king's mercy, tripping over each other in their rush to profess their newfound loyalty. Many were later dispatched to govern distant corners of the empire.
Ivan also exploited his postwar popularity to compel Russia's boyars to accept the principle of hereditary succession, the very thing the Polish szlachta had been so afraid of. He made no attempt to introduce such a law in Poland, but it was clear now that no one who was not from the House of Wittelsbach-Rurik would have much chance of winning an election for king.
But Ivan also died after just a few years, passing the thrones to the third son of Karl of the Palatinate, Fridrich I. Fridrich already had an infant son when he came to power, and he and his wife Anastasia Golitsyn would have one more, along with their three daughters. The dynasty's loyalists breathed a sigh of relief.
Fridrich's productive reign lasted just under twenty years. Under him the empire truly stepped into its role as a great power. Rather than fight for survival, he struggled for influence against shifting alliances of rival kings and emperors. Fighting along the southern border saw Poland re-conquer Transylvania and convert Moldavia into a vassal state. Fridrich's children were married not to local nobility, but to the sons and daughters of European royal houses.
Dmitri I and VI
The tsar's son was named for his maternal grandfather Dmitri Golitsyn, a great Russian magnate who had become a close ally of the imperial family. His long reign - exactly forty years - saw a consolidation of the imperial system and a great expansion of Russian power in Asia and the Pacific.
Dmitri's long years on the throne made the empire seem permanent. The three realms might still resent each other over some issues, but there was no longer any question that their union would endure. The imperialization of the nobility proceeded. Whether Polish, Swedish, or Russian, the great landowners now no longer restricted themselves to local concerns. They sought commercial opportunities in the colonies, spoils from new conquests, state titles and pensions from governing territories. Keeping the upper class on board required the empire to continue to expand. In economics, Sweden led the way; in territorial growth, the main driver was Russia.
Wars against the Turks and Tatars extended Russia's territory to the Black Sea. The Khanate of Crimea was transferred from Ottoman to Russian vassalage; within a few years, the Khan was deposed and the khanate brought into personal union. Further east, Russia encroached a little further every year into the territory of the Central Asian khanates and trading cities.
In the Pacific, the small trading posts began to transform into colonies during Dmitri's reign. Soldiers, administrators, and priests took up residence in fortified settlements from Aleutia to California. At this time, furs remained the most valuable commodity to be gained in North America. Small groups of Cossack hunters, masters of the fur trade in Siberia, began to cross to America to try their luck there. Slowly, the northwest coast of the continent developed a Russian-speaking population that knew the land and the culture. This presence on the ground would prevent Russia from being displaced by the English despite having an inferior fleet.
Dmitri also oversaw growth in seagoing trade in the Atlantic, mostly by Swedish mariners and trading companies. It was during this time that Pennsylvania's newly independent government made overtures to Dmitri, as King of Sweden, about restoring links with the old colony of New Sweden - now an emerging dependent state called Christiana. Pennsylvania's government needed allies, while the mixed society of Christiana needed a unifying figure. Dmitri was happy to serve as both. The reunification was carefully arranged so that Pennsylvania still was responsible for supervising Christiana's government and the king could not interfere however he wanted. But - very importantly - the deal allowed Sweden to send troops to America and to set up trading posts west of the Allegheny Mountains. Dmitri and his officers in the Swedish government envisioned Christiana becoming the anchor for a great commercial empire in the mid-continent. Dmitri organized the first mass migration project to the state, mostly consisting of German peasants from Sweden's client state and future vassal, Holstein-Gottorp. Swedish forces set about building forts alongside Pennsylvanians in the eastern parts of the Ohio Country.
- Manchu Rebellion
- Co-opting vassal states
- Wars of revolution