Russia

In addition to its current status as the largest country in the world be present borders, Russia has previously held other territories across Eastern Europe through union or conquest. The Kievan Rus’ emerged as a state during the ninth century, laying the foundations for the area now known as Russia. The decline of Kievan Rus’ from the eleventh century onwards saw the emergence of several successor states. The Tsardom of Russia emerged in 1547 and continued until the establishment of the Russian Empire in 1721. Monarchical rule in Russia ended with the 1917 Russian Revolution.

This list includes monarchs who ruled Russia and surrounding geopolities that at times were under Russian control before the Russian Revolution, therefore there may be overlap with other Eastern European countries who came under its authority in the premodern era.

Check out some of these Russian rulers below!

• Olga (c. 890/925-969)
• Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-1762)
• Catherine the Great (1729-1796)
• Alexandra Fyodorovna (1872-1918)

Bibliography

Beem, Charles. Queenship in Early Modern Europe. London: Bloomsbury, 2019

Bellinson, Orel. “Female Rule in Imperial Russia: Is Gender A Useful Category of Analysis?” In A Companion to Global Queenship, edited by Elena Woodacre, 79-93. Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 2018

Campbell Orr, Clarissa. Queenship in Europe 1660-1815: The Role of the Consort. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004

Franklin, Simon, and Jonathan Shepard, The Emergence of Rus 750-1200 Abingdon: Routledge, 1996

Earenfight, Theresa. Queenship in Medieval Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Homza, Martin. Mulieres suadentes – Persuasive Women. Female Royal Saints in Medieval East Central and Eastern Europe. Leiden: Brill, 2017

Sebag Montefiore, Simon. The Romanovs. London: Orion Publishing, 2017.