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Autographs/I: Czarina Anna Ivanovna

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Autographs/I: Czarina Anna Ivanovna
ANNA IVANOVNA, Czarina of Russia 1730-1740. Manuscript Document Signed "Anna" as Czarina, April 6, 1731, no place, 12.5" x 8", Very Fine. Headed "Decree to the Captain of the Office of Russian, Imperial and Royal Medals," and orders "one thousand rubles as pocket money...as the expense money, advanced...." Minor soiling to laid, watermarked paper. Boldly signed. As the daughter of Ivan V and niece of Peter the Great, Anna was elected to the throne by the Supreme Privy Council, which she then abolished, surrounding herself with German favorites, and leaving much of the governing to them, especially her lover, Count Bireb. She intervened successfully in the War of the Polish Succession and fought in alliance with Austria against the Turks. The escalating expenditures of the court, combined with war expenses, led to relentless extortion of taxes from the peasants.