This is an I-Heart podcast.

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky.

Listener discretion advised.

The year is 1718 and the Russian jurists are about to hand down their verdict.

The charge is incredibly serious.

Treason against the Tsar, Peter the Great, punishable by death.

Some of the members of the jury are sweating, but they're all pretending not to.

They've been instructed that they should treat the accused in exactly the same way that they would treat any man who comes before them.

They should not play nice or go gentle on him.

They've been promised that they won't be punished, even if they find him guilty.

But the jury has reason to be a little anxious about the

situation, because the accused, the man standing trial for treason against the Tsar of Russia,

is the Tsarevich, the son of the Tsar. And so, the jury handed in their verdict.

Tsarevich Alexei, 28 years old,

the heir to the Russian throne,

the only one of Peter's many children

who had survived to adulthood,

was guilty.

Everyone in the courtroom knew what that meant. A sentence of

death. The jurors all prayed that the emperor would not rescind his promise and decide to kill

them after all. But they also knew that the ultimate fate of Alexi did not rest with them. Peter the Great would have to

sign off on any punishment himself. If he wanted his own son and heir killed, then he would have to

...