Alexey Romanov
From Moscowiki
Mikhail Romanov’s heir, Alexey the Quiet (1645-1676) made further steps in modernizing Russia, carried out the codification of the law, although it was exactly during his reign that serfdom, actual slavery, was legalized. In 1654 the Ukraine joined Russia extending influence of the Moscow state to the South. The most important event of Alexey’s reign was the schism in the Church between the reformers, led by Patriarch Nikon, and the conservative Old Believers. Difference of opinion concerned mostly ritual details but the schism echoed in following centuries splitting the country into two camps always at enmity.
