Tsarina

Tsarina Marfa Apraxina of Russia, wife of Tsar Feodor III and Peter the Great's sister-in-law
One of the young wives of Ivan the Terrible. Painting by Nikolai Nevrev, 19th century

Tsarina or tsaritsa (also spelled csarina or csaricsa, tzarina or tzaritza, or czarina or czaricza; Bulgarian: царица, romanizedtsaritsa; Serbian: царица / carica; Russian: царица, romanizedtsaritsa) is the title of a female autocratic ruler (monarch) of Bulgaria, Serbia or Russia, or the title of a tsar's wife. The English spelling is derived from the German czarin or zarin, in the same way as the French tsarine / czarine, and the Spanish and Italian czarina / zarina.[1] (A tsar's daughter is a tsarevna.)

"Tsarina" or "tsaritsa" was the title of the female supreme ruler in the following states:

  • Bulgaria: in 913–1018, in 1185–1422 and in 1908–1946
  • Serbia: in 1346–1371
  • Russia: officially from about 1547 until 1721, unofficially in 1721–1917 (officially "Empresses").
  1. ^ "tsarina", Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.), 1989