Feodor III (ruled 1676-1682), Ivan V and Sofiia were children of their father Aleksei Mikhailovich’s first marriage to Maria Ilichina Miloslavskaia. Feodor’s early, unexpected death left the throne empty without a named successor. Peter, his father’s son by his second marriage to Natalia Naryshkina, was elected his successor by the Zemskyi Sobor, but the Miloslavsky and the Streltsy insisted the crippled and blind older half-brother should be co-tsar with the strong-minded Tsarevna Sofia as regent. In September/October 1689 Peter, aged 17, ousted the regent imprisoning her in the Novodevichi monastery, and ruling with his half-brother until the latter’s death in January 1696 leaving Peter to rule alone.

I.F. Nelidov, a member of an old family recorded from the 14th century, had taken part in the Polish war of 1654-56 and in the Turkish campaigns, being twice wounded, and promoted stol’nik and polkovnik in 1686.