Artamon Sergeyevich Matveyev (Артамон Сергеевич Матвеев in Russian) (1625 - 1682) was a Russian statesman, diplomat and Ukraine and took part in some of Russia's wars with Poland. He was a member of the Russian delegation at the conclusion of the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654 and Russian diplomatic mission to Poland in 1656-1657. As the head of the Streltsy Department, Matveyev participated in suppression of the Moscow Uprising of 1662, also known as the Copper Riot (Медный бунт). In 1669, he was appointed head of the Malorossiysky Prikaz, i.e. Ministry of the Ukrainian Affairs, and in 1671 _ head of the Posolsky Prikaz and other ministries. Matveyev was known to have considered unification of Ukraine and Russia as the most important issue of the Russian foreign policy. He once said that it was even possible to temporarily forget about the struggle with the Swedes for the Baltic Sea for the sake of unification with Ukraine. In 1672, Matveyev managed to secure Kiev for Russia during the talks with Poland.

In 1671, the tsar Alexius I and Artamon were already on intimate terms, and, on the retirement of Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin, Matvyeev became the tsar's chief counselor. It was at his house that Alexius, after the death of his first consort Maria Miloslavskaya, met Matvyeev's niece and favorite student, the beautiful Natalia Naryshkina, whom he married on January 22, 1671. At the end of the year Matvyeev was raised to the rank of okolnichy, and on September 1, 1674 attained the still higher dignity of boyar. The deplorable physical condition of Alexius's immediate successor, Feodor III , suggested to Matvyeev the desirability of elevating to the throne the sturdy little tsarevich Peter, then in his fourth year. He purchased the allegiance of the Streltsy and then, summoning the boyars of the council, earnestly represented to them that Feodor was unable to reign and urged the substitution of little Peter. But the reactionary boyars, among whom were the near kinsmen of Feodor, proclaimed him tsar and Matvyeev was banished to Pustozersk, where he remained till Feodor's death on May 7, 1682. Immediately afterwards Peter was proclaimed tsar by Patriarch Joachim, and the first ukaz issued in Peter's name summoned Matvyeev to return to the capital and act as chief adviser to the tsaritsa Natalia. Matveyev came to Moscow on May 11, and four days later had to meet with the rebellious Streltsy, who had been instigated to rebel by the anti-Petrine faction. He had already succeeded in partially pacifying them, when one of their colonels began to abuse the still hesitating and suspicious musketeers. Infuriated, they seized Matvyeev and hacked him to pieces.

Matvyeev was a very educated and versatile individual for his time. He organized a publishing house on the premises of the Posolsky Prikaz and compiled the so_called Book of Titles (Царский титулярник), an illustrated reference book about titles of the Russian tsar and foreign rulers, with some information on Russian history, pictures of different coats of arms, stamps, monarchs and patriarchs. Matveyev was also a collector of rare books and had a huge library. He decorated his house with pieces of fine art, optical devices and models of different ships. Matveyev was the one to introduce theater to the court by organizing a group of actors who staged various plays. He was also one of the organizers of the first apothecary in Moscow.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclop�dia Britannica.