The palaces and chapels of the Terem with their many means of communication afforded a secure hiding place, and means of escape would usually be found by reaching one of the churches with their treasuries and subterranean vaults. In the early times it was a capital offence to be found behind the Golden Gate, but two Chamberlains who accidentally encountered the Tsaritsa Natalia in one of the corridors were merely dismissed from office for a single day and reinstated; life was more free and easy in the days of Theodore than ever before in Moscow. The faction intrigues and riots that followed the succession to the throne of his brother Ivan and half-brother Peter were chiefly the result of the unjust treatment of the Streltsi. What took place at the palace is soon stated. Matviev had been recalled; the Naryshkins and Miloslavskis, the relatives of the first and second wives of the late Tsar Alexis, were opposed to each other; the son of each wife sat on the throne; Peter, the younger, had his mother to protect him; Ivan, the elder, his sister Sophia. It was too good an opportunity for deciding the supremacy of the Miloslavskis, and they having caused it to be reported that Ivan's life was in jeopardy, the Streltsi advanced to the Kremlin crying "Death to those who oppose royalty! Death to all traitors!" Before the gates could be closed they were in the Kremlin, and with pikes, halberds, and partisans thronging the state entrance and the square of the palace itself. They wished to be sure that both Tsars were well: they wanted the lives of the Matvievs and Naryshkins if Ivan was not. Matviev momentarily saved the situation. He went with Natalia, who led the Tsars one by each hand out on to the terrace before the infuriated mob. "By God's mercy both are well as you see," he said, and added words that soothed the mob, but all too soon he retired following Natalia into the palace. Dolgorooki, the head of the Streltsi, then turned to the rioters and ordered them to be gone. He irritated them by his address; some seized him and threw him over the balustrade, and those below caught him on their pikes. Another troop, partisans of Sophia, were searching for Matviev, dragged him from the presence of the ex-Tsaritsa and near Blagovieshchenski Sobor he too was thrown on to the pikes of the Streltsi in the square below, and they were not content merely with killing now, but cut his body in morsels. Three days later, a faithful black servant ventured forth and collected the remains for burial. The rioters having now committed two crimes reverted to their original determination to settle with those opposed to Ivan. They wished particularly for the uncles of Peter, Ivan and Athanasius Naryshkin--they mistook