Peter the Great

Basics

Name: Peter Alekseevich Romanov Birthday: June 9th Zodiac Sign: Gemini Height: 203 cm Nationality: Russian

Appearance

Even as a child, Peter amazed people with the beauty and liveliness of his face and figure. As an adult, due to his height, he stood out in a crowd by a whole head. At the same time, although he was tall, he was not of a strong build - he wore size 39 shoes and size 48 clothes. Peter's hands were also small, and his shoulders were narrow for his height, his head was also small compared to his body[53][54].

Character

Peter I combined practical ingenuity and dexterity, gaiety, and apparent straightforwardness with spontaneous impulses in the expression of both affection and anger, and sometimes with unbridled cruelty. In his youth, Peter indulged in crazy drunken orgies with his comrades. In anger, he could beat those close to him. He chose “noble persons” and “old boyars” as victims of his evil jokes - as Prince Kurakin reports, “fat people were dragged through chairs where it was impossible to stand, many had their dresses torn off and left naked...”. The Most Jocular, Most Drunken and Extraordinary Council he created was engaged in mockery of everything that was valued and revered in society as primordial everyday or moral and religious foundations. He personally served as executioner during the execution of participants in the Streltsy uprising. The Danish envoy Just Yul said that allegedly during the ceremonial entry into Moscow after the victory at Poltava, Peter, deathly pale, with an ugly face distorted by convulsions, made “terrible movements of his head, mouth, arms, shoulders, hands and feet,” in a mad frenzy jumped on a soldier who had made a mistake in some way and began to “mercilessly chop him with a sword”[57]. During the fighting on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on July 11 (22), 1705, Peter attended vespers in the Basilian monastery in Polotsk. After one of the Basilians called Josaphat Kuntsevich, who was oppressing the Orthodox population, a holy martyr, the king ordered the monks to be seized. The Basilians tried to resist and four of them were hacked to death. The next day, Peter ordered the hanging of a monk who was distinguished by his sermons directed against the Russians[58]. Those around were frightened by very strong convulsive twitching of the face, especially in moments of anger and emotional excitement. Contemporaries attributed these convulsive movements to the childhood shock experienced by Peter I during the Streltsy riots.

Early years

Peter was born on the night of May 30 (June 9), 1672 (in 7180 according to the then-accepted calendar “from the creation of the world”). The exact place of Peter's birth is unknown; Some historians indicated the birthplace of the Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin[1][2], and according to folk tales, Peter was born in the village of Kolomenskoye, and Izmailovo was also indicated[3][4]. The father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, had numerous offspring: Peter I was the 14th child, but the first from his second wife, Tsarina Natalya Naryshkina. June 29, St. Day Apostles Peter and Paul, the prince was baptized in the Miracle Monastery (according to other sources in the Church of Gregory of Neocaesarea, in Derbitsy), by Archpriest Andrei Savinov and named Peter. The reason why he received the name "Peter" is unclear, perhaps as a euphonic correspondence to the name of his older brother Fyodor, born eleven years earlier on the same day on May 30.[6][7] It was not found among either the Romanovs or the Naryshkins. The last representative of the Moscow Rurik dynasty with that name was Pyotr Dmitrievich, who died in 1428[8].

Early years 2

After spending a year with the queen, he was given to nannies to raise. In 1676, when Peter was 3.5 years old, his father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, died. The Tsarevich's guardian was his half-brother, godfather and new Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. Peter received a poor education and until the end of his life he wrote with errors, using a poor vocabulary[9]. This was due to the fact that the then Patriarch of Moscow, Joachim, as part of the fight against “Latinization” and “foreign influence”, removed from the royal court the students of Simeon of Polotsk, who taught Peter’s older brothers, and insisted that Peter’s education be carried out by less educated clerks Nikita Zotov and Afanasy Nesterov[9]. In addition, Peter did not have the opportunity to receive an education from any university graduate or from a high school teacher, since neither universities nor secondary schools existed in the Russian kingdom during Peter’s childhood, and among the classes of Russian society there were only clerks, clerks, the clergy, boyars and some merchants were taught to read and write[10]. The clerks taught Peter to read and write from 1676 to 1680. Peter was later able to compensate for the shortcomings of basic education with rich practical training[11]. The death of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the accession of his eldest son Fyodor (from Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna, née Miloslavskaya) pushed Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna and her relatives, the Naryshkins, into the background. Queen Natalya was forced to go to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.

Streltsy riots

On April 27 (May 7), 1682, after 6 years of reign, the sickly Tsar Fedor III Alekseevich died. The question arose of who should inherit the throne: the older, sickly Ivan, according to custom, or the young Peter. Having secured the support of Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins and their supporters enthroned Peter on the same day. In fact, the Naryshkin clan came to power and Artamon Matveev, summoned from exile, was declared the “great guardian.” It was difficult for supporters of Ivan Alekseevich to support their candidate, who could not reign due to extremely poor health. The organizers of the de facto palace coup announced a version of the hand-written transfer of the “scepter” by the dying Fyodor Alekseevich to his younger brother Peter, but no reliable evidence of this was presented. The Miloslavskys, relatives of Tsarevich Ivan and Princess Sophia through their mother, saw in the proclamation of Peter as tsar an infringement of their interests. The Streltsy, of whom there were more than 20 thousand in Moscow, had long shown discontent and waywardness; and, apparently incited by the Miloslavskys, on May 15 (25), 1682, they came out openly: shouting that the Naryshkins had strangled Tsarevich Ivan, they moved towards the Kremlin. Natalya Kirillovna, hoping to calm the rioters, together with the patriarch and boyars, led Peter and his brother to the Red Porch. However, the uprising was not over. In the first hours, the boyars Artamon Matveev and Mikhail Dolgoruky were killed, then other supporters of Queen Natalia, including her two brothers Naryshkin.

Streltsy riots 2

On May 26, elected officials from the Streltsy regiments came to the palace and demanded that the elder Ivan be recognized as the first tsar, and the younger Peter as the second. Fearing a repetition of the pogrom, the boyars agreed, and Patriarch Joachim immediately performed a solemn prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral for the health of the two named kings; and on June 25 he crowned them kings. On May 29, the archers insisted that Princess Sofya Alekseevna take over control of the state due to the minor age of her brothers. Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna was supposed to, together with her son Peter - the second Tsar - retire from the court to a palace near Moscow in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. In the Kremlin Armory, a two-seat throne for young kings with a small window in the back was preserved, through which Princess Sophia and her entourage told them how to behave and what to say during palace ceremonies. Peter's supporters among the archers sent two like-minded people to Preobrazhenskoye. After the report, Peter with a small retinue galloped in alarm to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The consequence of the horrors of the Streltsy demonstrations was Peter's illness: with strong excitement, he began to have convulsive facial movements. On August 8, both queens, Natalya and Evdokia, arrived at the monastery, followed by “amusing” regiments with artillery. On August 16, a letter came from Peter, ordering commanders and 10 privates from all rifle regiments to be sent to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Princess Sophia strictly forbade the fulfillment of this command on pain of the death penalty, and a letter was sent to Tsar Peter informing him that there was no way to fulfill his request. On August 27, a new letter from Tsar Peter arrived - all regiments should go to Trinity. Most of the troops obeyed the legitimate king, and Princess Sophia had to admit defeat. She herself went to the Trinity Monastery, but in the village of Vozdvizhenskoye she was met by

First marriage

The German settlement was the closest “neighbor” of the village of Preobrazhenskoye, and Peter had been looking at its life with curiosity for a long time. More and more foreigners at the court of Tsar Peter, such as Franz Timmermann and Karsten Brandt[13], came from the German Settlement. All this imperceptibly led to the fact that the tsar became a frequent visitor to the settlement, where he soon turned out to be a big fan of relaxed foreign life. Peter lit a German pipe, began attending German parties with dancing and drinking, met Patrick Gordon and Franz Lefort - Peter's future associates, and started an affair with Anna Mons. Peter's mother strictly opposed this. In order to bring her 16-year-old son to reason, Natalya Kirillovna decided to marry him to Evdokia Lopukhina, the daughter of a okolnichy. Peter did not contradict his mother, and on January 27 (February 6), 1689, the wedding of the “junior” king took place. However, less than a month later, Peter left his wife and went to Lake Pleshcheyevo for several days. From this marriage, Peter had two sons: the eldest, Alexei, was heir to the throne until 1718, the youngest, Alexander, died in infancy.

Family

For the first time, Peter married at the age of 16, at the insistence of his mother, to Evdokia Lopukhina in 1689. A year later, Tsarevich Alexei was born to them, who was raised by his mother in concepts alien to Peter’s reform activities. The remaining children of Peter and Evdokia died soon after birth. In 1698, Evdokia Lopukhina became involved in the Streltsy revolt, the purpose of which was to elevate her son to the kingdom, and was exiled to a monastery. Alexei Petrovich, the official heir to the Russian throne, condemned his father's reforms, and eventually fled to Vienna under the patronage of his wife's relative (Charlotte of Brunswick), Emperor Charles VI, where he sought support in the overthrow of Peter I. In 1717, the prince was persuaded to return home, where he was taken into custody. On June 24 (July 5), 1718, the Supreme Court, consisting of 127 people, sentenced Alexei to death, finding him guilty of treason. On June 26 (July 7), 1718, the prince, without waiting for the sentence to be carried out, died in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The true cause of the death of Tsarevich Alexei has not yet been reliably established. From his marriage to Princess Charlotte of Brunswick, Tsarevich Alexei left a son, Peter Alekseevich (1715-1730), who became Emperor Peter II in 1727, and a daughter, Natalya Alekseevna (1714-1728).

Family 2

In 1703, Peter I met 19-year-old Katerina, maiden name Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya (widow of the dragoon Johann Kruse), captured by Russian troops as booty during the capture of the Swedish fortress of Marienburg. Peter took a former maid from the Baltic peasants from Alexander Menshikov and made her his mistress. In 1704, Katerina gave birth to her first child, named Peter, and the following year, Paul (both died soon after). Even before her legal marriage to Peter, Katerina gave birth to daughters Anna (1708) and Elizabeth (1709). Elizabeth later became empress (reigned 1741–1761). Katerina alone could cope with the king in his fits of anger; she knew how to calm Peter’s attacks of convulsive headaches with affection and patient attention. The sound of Katerina's voice calmed Peter; then she “she sat him down and took him, caressing him, by the head, which she lightly scratched. This had a magical effect on him; he fell asleep within a few minutes. So as not to disturb his sleep, she held his head on her chest, sitting motionless for two or three hours. After that, he woke up completely fresh and alert.”

Family 3

The official wedding of Peter I with Ekaterina Alekseevna took place on February 19 (March 1), 1712, shortly after returning from the Prut campaign. The wedding took place in the first, wooden St. Isaac's Cathedral[60]. In 1724, Peter crowned Catherine as empress and co-regent. Ekaterina Alekseevna bore her husband 11 children, but most of them died in childhood, except for Anna and Elizaveta. After Peter's death in January 1725, Ekaterina Alekseevna, with the support of the serving nobility and guards regiments, became the first ruling Russian Empress Catherine I, but she did not rule for long and died in 1727, vacating the throne for Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich. The first wife of Peter the Great, Evdokia Lopukhina, outlived her lucky rival and died in 1731, having managed to see the reign of her grandson Peter Alekseevich.

Death

In the last years of his reign, Peter was very ill (presumably from kidney stones complicated by uremia). In the summer of 1724, his illness intensified; in September he felt better, but after a while the attacks intensified. In October, Peter went to inspect the Ladoga Canal, contrary to the advice of his physician Blumentrost. From Olonets, Peter traveled to Staraya Russa and in November traveled by water to St. Petersburg. Near Lakhta, he had to stand waist-deep in water to save a boat with soldiers that had run aground. The attacks of the disease intensified, but Peter, not paying attention to them, continued to engage in government affairs. On January 17 (28), 1725, he felt so bad that he ordered a camp church to be erected in the room next to his bedroom, and on January 22 (February 2) he confessed. The patient’s strength began to leave him; he no longer screamed, as before, from severe pain, but only moaned. On January 27 (February 7), all those sentenced to death or hard labor (excluding murderers and those convicted of repeated robbery) were amnestied. On the same day, at the end of the second hour, Peter demanded paper, began to write, but the pen fell out of his hands, and only two words could be made out from what was written: “Give everything up...”. The Tsar then ordered his daughter Anna Petrovna to be called so that she could write under his dictation, but when she arrived, Peter had already fallen into oblivion. The story about Peter’s words “Give up everything...” and the order to call Anna is known only from the notes of the Holstein Privy Councilor G. F. Bassevich; according to N.I. Pavlenko and V.P. Kozlov, it is a tendentious fiction aimed at hinting at the rights of Anna Petrovna, the wife of the Holstein Duke Karl Friedrich, to the Russian throne[64].

Death 2

When it became obvious that the emperor was dying, the question arose as to who would take Peter's place. The Senate, the Synod and the generals - all institutions that did not have the formal right to control the fate of the throne, even before Peter's death, gathered on the night of January 27 (February 7) to January 28 (February 8) to resolve the issue of Peter the Great's successor. Guards officers entered the meeting room, two guards regiments entered the square, and to the drumbeat of troops withdrawn by the party of Ekaterina Alekseevna and Menshikov, the Senate made a unanimous decision by 4 a.m. on January 28 (February 8). By decision of the Senate, the throne was inherited by Peter's wife, Ekaterina Alekseevna, who became the first Russian empress on January 28 (February 8), 1725 under the name Catherine I. At the beginning of six o'clock in the morning on January 28 (February 8), 1725, Peter the Great died in terrible agony in his Winter Palace near the Winter Canal. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. The autopsy showed the following: “a sharp narrowing in the posterior part of the urethra, hardening of the bladder neck and Antonov fire.” Death followed from inflammation of the bladder, which turned into gangrene due to urinary retention caused by narrowing of the urethra[65]. The court icon painter Simon Ushakov painted an image of the Life-Giving Trinity and the Apostle Peter on a cypress board. After the death of Peter I, this icon was installed above the imperial tomb[66].

Memory of the Emperor

The praise of Peter, a very unpretentious man in private life, began almost immediately after his death and continued regardless of the change of political regimes in Russia. Peter became the object of reverent cult in St. Petersburg, which he founded, as well as throughout the Russian Empire[46]. In the 20th century, the cities of Petrograd, Petrodvorets, Petrokrepost, Petrozavodsk bore his name; Large geographical objects are also named after him - Peter I Island and Peter the Great Bay. In Russia and abroad, the so-called houses of Peter I are protected, where, according to legend, the monarch stayed. Monuments to Peter I have been erected in many cities, the most famous (and first) of which is the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square in St. Petersburg.