Russian Field Marshal and Politician. Son of a boyar, in 1685 he started out as a stolnik at the royal court. In 1700 he was then enlisted in the Preobrazhensky regiment and saw action in the Russian Northern Wars where he distinguished himself during the siege of Mitava in 1705. The following year, he was transferred to Ukraine, where he was under the command of Ivan Mazepa, where again he distinguished himself during the squelching of the Bulavin Rebellion (1707 to 1708). In 1715, he was sent to Poland as a representative of Tsar Peter the Great (who was ill at that time), where he formalized a pact with Danzig, forcing the city into an anti-Swedish policy. He also accompanied Peter during his foreign travels in 1717 and 1718. Despite being a favorite of Peter, he disapproved a number of Peter's reforms, and eventually became a partisan of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich. In 1718, following Alexei's trial and death, he reproached Peter such a violent behavior towards his own son and as a result was was tried, demoted and exiled to Solikamsk. Following Catherine I's coronation in May 1724, he was brought back from his exile and given the rank of colonel and then brigadier general. In 1726 he was appointed commander-in-chief of Caucasus forces and two years later, he was promoted to the rank of field marshal and member of the Supreme Privy Council. After Empress Anna Ioanovna's coronation in 1730, he was appointed to Senate and made president of College of War. However, he reportedly made insulting remarks regarding persecutions staged by Anna against his family. In 1731, after a complex plot, he was accused of insulting remarks regarding the Empress and sentenced to death. His sentence was changed to life imprisonment, first in Schlisselburg fortress, then in Ivangorod in 1737, and finally he was exiled for life to the Solovetsky Monastery in 1739. Two years later, following Empress Elizabeth's coronation, he was brought back from his exile and fully rehabilitated. Elizabeth named him president of the College of War, where he was credited with making significant improvements to the Russian military. He died at the age of 79.