View source for Tsarina

==Russia==
Since 1721, the official titles of the Russian male and female monarchs were [[emperor]] ({{Langx|ru|император|imperator|label=none}}) and [[empress]] ({{Langx|ru|императрица|imperatritsa|label=none}}) or empress consort, respectively. Officially the last Russian tsarina was [[Eudoxia Lopukhina]], [[Peter the Great]]'s first wife. [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)]], the wife of [[Nicholas II of Russia]], was the last Russian empress.

Eudoxia Lopukhina was sent to a monastery in 1698 (which was the usual way the emperor "divorced" his wife), and she died in 1731. In 1712 Peter married in church [[Catherine I of Russia]]. The [[Russian Empire]] was officially proclaimed in 1721, and Catherine became empress by marriage. After Peter's death she became ruling empress by her own right. In following centuries, the title "tsarina" was in unofficial informal use – a kind of "pet name" for empresses, whether [[Queen regnant|ruling queens]]<ref>Several "tsarinas" in the 18th century were the rulers of Russia, including empresses [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine I]] (reigned 1725–27), [[Anna of Russia|Anna]] (1730–40), [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]] (1741–62), and [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine the Great]] (1762–96).</ref> or [[Queen consort|queen consorts]]. ("Mother dear-tsaritsa" ({{lang|ru|матушка-царица}}) was used only for [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine the Great]], the most popular empress.)

[[File:Alexis I's bride-show by G.Sedov (1882, GTG).jpg|thumbnail|left|Tsar [[Alexis of Russia]] choosing his bride in 1648. Painting by [[Grigory Sedov]], 19th century]]
''[[De jure]]'' tsarinas in Russia existed from 1547 until 1721. Among the most famous tsarinas of this period were six or seven wives of [[Ivan the Terrible]], who were poisoned by his enemies, killed or imprisoned by him in monasteries. However, only the first four of them were crowned tsarinas, as the later marriages were not blessed by the Orthodox Church and were considered as [[cohabitation]]. Polish noblewoman [[Marina Mnishek]] also became tsarina of Russia by her marriage to the impostor [[False Dmitry I]] and later to [[False Dmitry II]].

Many wives were chosen by [[bride-show]] (the custom of beauty pageant, borrowed from the Byzantine Empire), when hundreds of poor but handsome noblewomen gathered in Moscow from all the regions of Russia and the tsar chose the most beautiful. This deprived Russia of the benefits of [[royal intermarriage]] with European monarchs, but protected from [[inbreeding]], as well as from the political influence of foreign princesses (Catholic or Protestant). The only foreign wife of a Russian tsar in this early era (except [[Marina Mnishek|Mnishek]]) was [[Maria Temryukovna]], a Circassian princess, who converted to Orthodoxy.