Iakov Kudenetovich Cherkasskii

(also Uruskan Cherkasskii). Date and place of birth unknown; died July 8 (18), 1666, in Moscow. State, political, and military figure in 17th-century Russia; boyar (1645); wealthy landowner.

A descendant of Kabardinian princes (seeCHERKASSKII), Cherkasskii moved to Russia and was baptized in 1624. In 1648 he took part in a power struggle as the head of a boyar faction opposed to B. I. Morozov. After Morozov was exiled on June 12, 1648, Cherkasskii became the head of the government, but he was removed from all his posts upon Morozov’s return to Moscow on Oct. 26, 1648. Cherkasskii took part in the Russo-Polish War of 1654–67 and the Russo-Swedish War of 1656–58.