The Coinage of Peter I Part Five: 1718-1721
THE RUSSIAN MONETARY system underwent profound changes in 1718. In many respects, these were almost as interesting as those of two decades earlier when Peter I began issuing coins in a form familiar to the rest of Europe. The last of the debased silver coins were struck and replaced by a strong coinage of rubles and half rubles. Significant changes came also for the copper and gold.
Yet, if one were able to return to the Russia of 1718, the important changes in the monetary system would have been of secondary importance for the first few months of the year. Instead, one of the great tragedies in Russian history was being played out in a grim St. Petersburg dungeon. The central figure was none other than Alexis, son and heir of Czar Peter I.
Alexis had been born in 1690, the first child of Peter and Eudoxia. By 1692, Peter and his wife had drifted apart; the ruler found solace with a mistress, Anna Mons. Alexis and a sister were brought up by their mother, who believed in the values of old Russia and not the Western ways forcibly introduced by the giant czar.
By 1710, Alexis had become clearly identified with those who would destroy the reforms
