How the oligarch Nikolai Martynov died. His daughter or "mystery of the investigation"

Nikolai Solomonovich Martynov

Date of Birth	October 9(1815-10-09 )
Place of Birth	Nizhny Novgorod , Russian empire
Date of death	December 25(1875-12-25 ) (60 years)
A place of death	Moscow Uyezd, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire
Citizenship	Russian empire Russian empire
Occupation	retired major
Awards and prizes

Nikolai Solomonovich Martynov(October 9, 1815 - December 25, 1875) - a retired major who killed M. Yu. Lermontov in a duel.

Biography

Representative of the wealthy Martynov family, who owned the estate near Moscow Martynovo-Znamenskoye (in the village of Ievlevo, now Solnechnogorsk district). The son of State Councilor Solomon Mikhailovich Martynov (d. 1839) and his wife Elizaveta Mikhailovna, nee Tarnovskaya. The Martynov family was large, four sons and four daughters. Martynov's cousin is the author of historical novels M. N. Zagoskin.

Nikolai Martynov "received an excellent education, he was a very well-read man and wrote poetry from an early age." Almost simultaneously with Lermontov, he entered the cadet school, where he was the poet's usual fencing partner in espadrons. After serving for some time in the cavalry guard regiment, Martynov volunteered for the Caucasus in 1837 and participated in the expedition of the Caucasian detachment beyond the Kuban. He was awarded the Order of St. Anna 3rd degree with a bow. By the time of the quarrel with Lermontov, he had the rank of retired major.

Poetic and prose works of art Martynov are not numerous: the poem "Gerzel-aul", which is seen as an imitation of "Valerik" Lermontov and at the same time a controversy with him, the story "Guasha" again with features of the controversy against Lermontov and his "Hero of Our Time", a number of poems - original and translated. “... His poems would have found a place among the mass of mediocre poems printed at that time ... He wrote, apparently, easily, the language was free, the rhythm and rhymes were almost always unmistakable ... Sometimes Martynov was also inclined to serious reflections,” wrote researcher O. P. Popov. At the same time, Martynov is characterized (and manifested in his texts) by increased pride, intolerance for a different opinion, and a certain cruelty of character.

According to the memoirs, Lermontov in Pyatigorsk was ironic about the romantic "prose" of Martynov and his poems. Martynov, with resentment, considered himself (it is not known how justified) Grushnitsky's prototype in A Hero of Our Time. Lermontov is credited with two impromptu of 1841, ridiculing Martynov: "" and "", and Martynov - a similar epigram" Mon cher Michel". After that, according to Martynov, Lermontov more than once made him out to be a jester and completely ridiculed him.

Similar, but sharper mutual barbs and an accidental stop of the music, due to which the insulting ending of Lermontov's remark became audible throughout the hall, caused Martynov to challenge Lermontov to a duel (July 13, 1841 at the Verzilins' house); at 6 pm on July 15 (27), the duel took place, and M. Yu. Lermontov was mortally wounded.

The details of the clash and duel were largely hidden and mystified by Martynov and the seconds of both duelists before a military court, and not all of its details have been reconstructed reliably enough by now. The version that the poet was not killed by him, but by a shooter allegedly hiding in the bushes (such a version existed in the 1950s-1970s) and based on an unusual angle between the inlet and outlet of the through wound, has not been confirmed.

Martynov was sentenced for the duel court-martial to demotion and deprivation of all rights of the state, however, according to the final verdict, confirmed by Nicholas I, he was sentenced to three months' arrest in the guardhouse and church repentance, and for several years served penance in Kiev. Subsequently, he wrote memoirs of the duel.

N. S. Martynov died at the age of 60 and was buried in the family vault next to the Church of the Sign in the village of Ievlevo. His grave was not preserved, since in 1924 the Alekseevskaya school colony MONO moved to the estate, whose students, in a fit of revenge for the murder of Lermontov, devastated the crypt, and Martynov's remains were drowned in a nearby pond.

Nikolai Solomonovich Martynov (1815-1875) son of a Penza landowner, colonel; was born in Nizhny Novgorod, was brought up in October 1832 at the School, from where three years later he was released as a cornet to the cavalry guards, on March 6, 1837, with the rank of lieutenant, he was sent to the Caucasus, where he participated in the expedition of General Velyaminov to lay the fortifications of Novotroitsky and Mikhailovsky, And awarded the order St. Anna 3rd class. with a bow. In April 1838, he arrived back at the Cavalier Guard Regiment; the following year, he was enrolled in the cavalry as a captain with secondment to the Grebensky Cossack regiment, and on February 23, 1841, he was dismissed for domestic reasons as a major.

The Caucasian comrades speak of him thus: "Martynov was a kind fellow in appearance, not bad-looking, was very concerned about his appearance and loved ladies' society." According to another Caucasian, Martynov "was a very handsome young guards officer, tall, blond with a slightly arched nose. He was always very kind, cheerful, decently sang romances, wrote poetry not badly and always dreamed of ranks, orders and thought nothing more than rise to the rank of general in the Caucasus", but suddenly in 1841 he retired and "from a cheerful, secular, elegant young man became some kind of savage: he grew huge sideburns, in a simple Circassian costume, with a huge dagger, pulled down a white hat, eternally gloomy and silent. which Martynov, unfortunately, actually fully personified.

According to the memoirs of Ya. I. Kostenetsky, “at that time in the Caucasus there was a special well-known family of elegant young people - high-society people who considered themselves superior to others in their aristocratic manners and secular education, constantly speaking French, cheeky in society, dexterous and courageous with women and arrogantly despising the rest of the people, all these barchats from the height of their greatness proudly looked at our brother army officer and met with us only on expeditions, where we, in turn, looked at them with regret and mocked at their aristocracy. This category included most of the guards officers who were then annually sent to the Caucasus, and Lermontov also belonged to this category, who, moreover, by his nature did not like to make friends with people: he was always arrogant, caustic and hardly ever had at least one friend."

“Lermontov,” testifies Prince A.I. Vasilchikov, “was a man of a strange and at the same time arrogant disposition ... there were two people in him: one was good-natured for a small circle of his closest friends and for those few people to whom he had special respect, the other - arrogant and provocative for all his other acquaintances ... According to his concepts, the whole human race belonged to the second category, and he considered it his best pleasure to make fun and make fun of all sorts of small and large oddities, pursuing them sometimes playfully, and very often with stinging ridicule. This mood of his mind and feelings was unbearable for people whom he chose as the target of his nit-picking and taunts for no apparent reason, but simply as an object over which he refined his powers of observation.

We cannot dwell here on the reasons why Lermontov was like this, but we must admit that he really was like that.

Nikolai Martynov met Lermontov at the Junker School, where they entered almost at the same time. "He (Lermontov) was a kind person by nature, but the light completely spoiled him," says Martynov. Being with Lermontov "in a very close relationship," he "had the opportunity to repeatedly notice that all the good movements of the heart, every impulse of tender feeling, he tries to drown out in himself just as carefully and hide from others, as others try to hide their vile vices.

The real reason for the duel is Lermontov's courtship of Martynov's sister, Natalya, and the "disappearance" of the famous letter in connection with this.

Is it so?

There is hardly any doubt that Lermontov liked Natalya Solomonovna, but there is no evidence to assert that her parents and brother desired this marriage. On the contrary, there is reason to believe that the parents did not want this marriage, therefore, the fact that Nikolai Martynov defended the honor of his sister is out of the question for the simple reason that the honor of the sister was in no way affected.

The story of the “disappearance” of the letter is as follows: on October 5, 1837, Nikolai Martynov wrote to his father in Pyatigorsk about the end of the expedition in which he took part. In the same letter, he thanked his father for the money sent. “Three hundred rubles,” writes Martynov, “that you sent me through Lermontov, I received, but no letters, because he was robbed on the road, and this money, invested in the letter, also disappeared; but he, of course, gave me his If you remember the content of your letter, then do me a favor - repeat it, and also ask the sisters from me ... "

"The whole point is," says P.I. Bartenev, "that this time there was no letter from my father from Pyatigorsk to the expedition." According to Martynov himself, in 1837 Lermontov from Pyatigorsk, where the Martynov family was, leaving for an expedition (where Nikolai Martynov was already), undertook to deliver a package in which Natalya Solomonovna put her Pyatigorsk diary and a letter to her brother. Before sealing the letter, she suggested to her father whether he would also like to write or attribute. He took the package and went with it to his room, but did not write anything, but only invested money and, after sealing the package, brought it back to Lermontov, to whom nothing was said about the money. Therefore, having received a letter from his son in October, old Martynov was surprised by those lines that speak of money. When Nikolai Martynov, on his return from the expedition, saw his father for the first time, he expressed his suspicion of Lermontov to him and added: "But I completely forgot to write on the package that 300 rubles were invested." In a word, the Martynovs suspected Lermontov of curiosity to find out what they were writing about him...

Suspicion remained suspicion, but later, when Lermontov pursued Martynov with ridicule, he sometimes hinted at him about the letter, resorting to such hints in order to get rid of his harassment.

“In an explanation with Lermontov about the loss of the letter, N. S. Martynov told L. that his father could not explain this story to himself, but that he (N. S.) answered his father that he did not allow the thought of L.’s immodesty, on which no decent person is capable of.Lermontov later said that during this explanation he tried to call N. S. M-va, feeling the irony in his intercession, but did not find anything to complain about.

At that time, the family of General Verzilin lived in Pyatigorsk, consisting of a mother and three adult girls, of whom Emilia Alexandrovna was especially distinguished by her beauty and wit. It was the only house in Pyatigorsk in which all the graceful youth of Pyatigorsk visitors, including Lermontov and Martynov, gathered almost daily.

Once, at the very end of June, at a party at the Verzilins', Lermontov and Martynov, as usual, courted Emilia Alexandrovna.

“I danced with Lermontov,” she writes. “We were joined by a young man who was also distinguished by slander, and the two of them vied with each other to sharpen their tongues. Despite my warnings, it was difficult to keep them. Nothing particularly evil was said, but there was a lot of funny Here they saw Martynov, talking very kindly with my younger sister Nadezhda, standing at the piano, which Prince Trubetskoy played. Lermontov could not stand it and began to joke about him, calling him montagnard au grand poignard (highlander with a large dagger (fr. )) (Martynov wore a Circassian coat and a dagger of remarkable size.) It must have happened that when Trubetskoy struck the last chord, the word poignard resounded throughout the hall. Martynov turned pale, bit his lips, his eyes flashed with anger; he approached us in a voice , very restrained, said to Lermontov: "How many times have I asked you to leave your jokes with the ladies" - and so quickly turned away and walked away that he did not even let Lermontov come to his senses; and to my remark: "My tongue is my enemy" - M. Yu. answered calmly: "Se n" est fieri, demain nous serons bons amis "(" It's nothing, tomorrow we will be friends again "(fr.)). The dancing went on, and I thought that was the end of the whole quarrel."

But the quarrel did not end there. When leaving the house of the Verzilins, Martynov took Lermontov by the arm and walked beside him along the boulevard. "Je vous ai prevenu, Lermontow, que je ne souffrirais plus vos sarcasmes dans le monde, et cependant vous recommencez de nouveau" ("You know, Lermontov, that I have endured your jokes for a very long time, continuing despite my repeated demand that you stopped them" (fr.)), - said Martynov and added in Russian: "I will make you stop." “But you know, Martynov, that I am not afraid of a duel and I will never refuse it: it means that instead of empty threats, it is better for you to act,” Lermontov replied. “Well, in that case, tomorrow you will have my seconds,” Martynov said and went home, where he invited Glebov, whom he instructed to call Lermontov the next morning. The next day, he informed Martynov that his challenge had been accepted and that Lermontov had chosen Prince Vasilchikov as his second.

Vasilchikov conveys the conversation on the boulevard in almost the same terms. “Leaving the house on the street,” he says, “Martynov went up to Lermontov and said to him in a very quiet and even voice in French: “You know, Lermontov, that I very often put up with your jokes, but I don’t like to be repeated at ladies,” to which Lermontov answered in the same calm tone: “And if you don’t love, then demand satisfaction from me.” We, Vasilchikov continues, considered this quarrel insignificant and were sure that it would end in reconciliation.

It is more than frivolous to consider a quarrel, at the end of which the word satisfaction is uttered, as insignificant. However, if Prince Vasilchikov and others who were present during the conversation between Martynov and Lermontov on the street were only eyewitnesses, one or another of their attitudes to this conversation might not have been of particular importance. We owe a completely different attitude to the same Vasilchikov, M. P. Glebov, A. A. Stolypin and Prince S. V. Trubetskoy, when they assumed the duties of seconds.

With the exception of Prince Vasilchikov, none of the seconds left us a story about the duel; Vasilchikov's story was compiled many years after the sad event, and this story was caused by Martynov's insistence. The court case remains. It should, as we will see below, be treated with even more caution than Vasilchikov's story, because the defendants (Martynov, Vasilchikov and Glebov) had every opportunity to conspire in their testimony.

We continue the story of Prince Vasilchikov: despite the certainty that the quarrel would end in reconciliation, “nevertheless, all of us, and especially MP Glebov, exhausted our peace-loving efforts within three days without any success. Martynov, but everyone will agree that the above words of Lermontov contained already an indirect invitation to the challenge, and then it remained to decide which of the two was the instigator and who should take the first step towards reconciliation before whom.

We have no right to take Vasilchikov's unfounded testimony about the three-day efforts of the seconds to end the matter peacefully, especially since his story is very unclear: who did the seconds ultimately consider to be the "instigator"? If - as it should - Lermontov, then it was necessary to insist that he "take the first step towards reconciliation." It was impossible for the seconds not to be aware not only of their right, but also of the duty not to allow a duel because of a quarrel "so insignificant" ...

After the duel, Martynov learned from Glebov that Lermontov, during the negotiations on the terms of the duel, said to his second Vasilchikov: "No, I am so guilty before Martynov that I feel that my hand will not rise against him." Whether Lermontov hinted here at the opening of the letter or at the absurdity of his antics at the evening at the Verzilins - it remains unknown, but Martynov's regret after the duel is known: "Tell me about these words Vasilchikov or anyone else, I would extend a hand to Lermontov of reconciliation and our duel, of course it wouldn't."

What the “peace-loving efforts” of the seconds consisted of can be seen from the draft of Nikolai Martynov’s answer to the investigators’ question points: “Vasilchikov and Glebov tried with all their might to reconcile me with him, but since they could not tell me anything on his behalf, they only wanted ( check me) to persuade me to take back my challenge, I could not agree to this. Such a presentation was “somewhat unpleasant” for the seconds, and therefore Glebov wrote to Martynov: “We hope that you will speak and write that we persuaded you by all means ... Say that we persuaded you from beginning to end.”

Martynov agreed and answered the seconds that "at the trial he will show all their efforts to reconcile him with Lermontov, but he demands that after the end of the duel case they restore the truth and, in order to cleanse his memory, publish the case as it really was."

We find some explanation for this strange behavior of the seconds from Prince Vasilchikov himself. The “friends” of Lermontov and Martynov “until the last minute were convinced that the duel would end in empty shots and that, having exchanged two bullets for honor, the opponents would shake hands with each other.”

Subsequently, Martynov explained this attitude of the seconds "by the noise that the previous duel between Lermontov and Barant in 1840 made, where the opponents fought with swords and pistols, and, apart from the empty scratch received by Lermontov, none of them was wounded, which made both duelists, and their seconds are the laughingstock of all Petersburg.

The duel took place on July 15 at seven o'clock in the evening on the left side of Mount Mashuk, along the road leading to one of the German colonies. There was no doctor. Vasilchikov and Glebov measured out a barrier of 15 steps and another 10 steps from it in each direction. Opponents stood at the extreme points. According to the duel, each of the opponents had the right to shoot whenever he liked, standing still or approaching the barrier.

"They loaded the pistols. Glebov gave one to Martynov, I," says Vasilchikov, "to Lermontov, and ordered:" Get down! the minute I looked at him for the last time and I will never forget that calm, almost cheerful expression that played on the poet's face at the muzzle of a pistol already pointed at him. Martynov approached the barrier with quick steps. The opponents did not shoot for such a long time that one of the seconds remarked: "Will this be over soon?" Martynov looked at Lermontov - a mocking, half-contemptuous smile played on his face ... Martynov pulled the trigger ... A fatal shot rang out ...

“Lermontov fell as if he had been beveled on the spot, without making a movement either back or forward, without even having time to grab a sore spot, as wounded or bruised people usually do. We ran up ..." Martynov "kissed him and immediately set off home, believing that help might still arrive in time for him."

“Hand on heart,” Prince Vasilchikov ends his story, “an impartial witness must admit that Lermontov himself, one might say, asked for a duel and put his opponent in such a position that he could not help but challenge him.”

There is no doubt: Martynov could not respond to the challenge on the merits of Lermontov except by sending a formal challenge, but neither Vasilchikov nor the other seconds can be recognized as "impartial witnesses" to the duel. Predilection, and, moreover, a personal predilection, they showed not only during the duel itself, but also for many, many years after it ...

N. S. Martynov was first brought to a civil court in Pyatigorsk, but at his request the case was transferred to the Pyatigorsk military court. The sovereign confirmed the verdict with the following resolution: "To keep Major Martynov in the fortress for three months, and then to commit church repentance."

Martynov served his sentence in the Kyiv fortress, and then the Kiev consistory determined the term of penance at 15 years. On August 11, 1842, Martynov filed a petition with the Synod, asking "as far as possible to alleviate his plight." The Synod rejected the request, pointing out that "in the event of Martynov's true repentance, his spiritual father may, at his own discretion, shorten the time of penance." The next year, the term was reduced to seven years by the confessor.

In 1846, Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev allowed the communion of the holy mysteries of Martynov, and on November 25 of the same year, the Synod determined: "To release Martynov, as having brought worthy fruits of repentance, from further public penance, with the provision of his own conscience to bring and for this sincere repentance before God in the crime he committed..."

In Kyiv, N. S. Martynov in 1845 married the daughter of the Kyiv provincial leader Joseph Mikhailovich Proskur-Sushchansky, the maiden Sofya Iosifovna, and had five daughters and six sons from this marriage.

From the memoirs of I. A. Arsenyev: "As a poet, Lermontov rose to genius, but as a person he was petty and unbearable. These shortcomings and a sign of reckless persistence in them were the cause of death brilliant poet from a shot fired by the hand of a kind, warm-hearted man, whom Lermontov brought almost to madness with his ridicule and even slander. Martynov, whom I knew well, suffered and suffered until the end of his life because he was responsible for the death of Lermontov "...

Question “M.Yu. Lermontov and Mrs. Adele Ommer de Gelle” was reflected in many writings about the poet. Most of them were written in the first half of the twentieth century, already in Soviet time when it was ideologically fashionable to denounce the tsarist autocracy and, especially, the epoch of Nicholas in all sins. Let us recall some of them: the story "Shtos in Life" by Boris Pilnyak, "Michel Lermontov" by Sergei Sergeev-Tsensky, "The Thirteenth Tale of Lermontov" by Pyotr Pavlenko, the novel "The Escape of Prisoners, or the Story of the Suffering and Death of Lieutenant of the Tenginsky Infantry Regiment Mikhail Lermontov" by Konstantin Bolshakov.
There is no need to prove how politicized our whole life has been for decades. This applies not only to fiction, but also to literary criticism. According to the version, which was essentially the official one, the main reason for Lermontov's death was the tsar's hatred for the rebel poet, and the efforts of Lermontov scholars were mainly aimed at substantiating this version. Moreover, the role of the organizer of the duel was assigned to Prince A. Vasilchikov, the son of one of the royal favorites. So, E. Gershtein calls A.I. Vasilchikov the hidden enemy of the poet and devotes a whole chapter of his book “The Fate of Lermontov” to him under the title “Secret Enemy”. O.P. Popov believes that the role of Prince Vasilchikov "is more composed than studied, and was hardly significant." (See: Popov O.P. Lermontov and Martynov // Measure. - St. Petersburg, 1994. - No. 4. - P. 84-90).
The main role in the tragedy at the foot of Mashuk, of course, was played by Nikolai Martynov, and one should first of all turn to his personality and the history of his relationship with the poet, while abandoning his primitive characterization, which was given to him for a long time: he was allegedly stupid, proud, embittered loser, graphomaniac, always under someone's influence.
Firstly, one cannot call him a loser - after all, at the age of 25 he already had the rank of major, while Lermontov himself was only a lieutenant of the Tenginsky regiment, and his literary hero, Maxim Maksimych, who served all his life in the Caucasus, was a staff captain .
He probably wasn't stupid either. For example, the Decembrist N.I. Lorer wrote that Nikolai Solomonovich had an excellent secular education. The very fact of long communication between Lermontov and Martynov suggests that the latter was not a primitive person and was somehow interesting to the poet.
In fact, Lermontov's classmate at the Junker School was Nikolai Solomonovich's elder brother Mikhail (1814-111860). However, it was Nicholas who was destined to become the killer of the poet.
They were both born in October (only Lermontov a year earlier), both graduated from the Junker School, were released into the Horse Guards (Martynov, by the way, had a chance to serve in the same regiment with Dantes), and they went to the Caucasus at the same time. In the heavy company of 1840, they participated in expeditions and numerous skirmishes with the highlanders. And both wrote poems about this war.
It is customary to speak disparagingly about Martynov's poetic experiments. He himself is often called a "graphomaniac" and a "talentless rhymer". hardly fair
call him that. Martynov rarely took up a pen, and everything he wrote could fit in a very small book. His poems really do not stand comparison with Lermontov's. And whose, in fact, can withstand such a comparison? He does have good lines though. Here, for example, is how ironically he describes the parade in his poem " Horrible dream»:
Like a slender forest, peaks flash.

The weathervanes are brightly dazzling,
All people, horses are great,
Like a monument to Tsar Peter!
All faces on one cut,
And one camp, like the other,
All ammunition from a needle,
Horses have a haughty look
And from the tail to the withers
Wool has the same sheen.
Any soldier is the beauty of nature,
Any horse is a type of breed.
What are the officers? - a series of paintings
And all - as if one!

Martynov also tried his hand at prose: the beginning of his story “Guasha” has been preserved - which tells about the sad story of a Russian officer falling in love with “a young Circassian woman of extraordinary beauty”: “Judging by the growth and flexibility of her camp, it was a young girl; by the absence of forms, and especially by the expression of the face, a perfect child; there was something childish, something unfinished in those narrow shoulders, in that flat, not yet full chest...
- Imagine, Martynov, because she is only 11 years old! But what a marvelous and sweet creature!
And his gaze at these words was full of inexpressible tenderness.
- Here, prince, girls are married at the age of 11 ... Do not forget that we are not here in Russia, but in the Caucasus, where everything soon matures ...
From the first day Dolgoruky saw Guasha (as the young Circassian woman was called), he felt an irresistible attraction to her; but what is strangest of all: she, for her part, immediately fell in love with him ... It happened that in impulses of noisy gaiety she would run up behind him, grab him unexpectedly by the head and, kissing him warmly, burst into loud laughter. And all this happened in front of everyone; at the same time, she did not show either childish shyness or female modesty, not even somewhat embarrassed by the presence of her family.
Everything I heard greatly surprised me: I did not know how to reconcile in my mind such a free treatment of a girl with those stories about the impregnability of Circassian women and about the severity of morals in general ... Subsequently, I became convinced that this severity exists only for married women, but their girls enjoy extraordinary freedom ... "
The main work of Martynov - the poem "Gerzel-aul" - is based on personal experience. It is a documented accurate description of the June campaign in Chechnya in 1840, in which Martynov himself took an active part:

The baptism of gunpowder has come to pass,
All were in combat;
And they loved it so much
That talk is only about him;
Tom got to go with hostility
With the fourth company to the blockage,
Where hand-to-hand was played,
As they were aptly called,
Second act final.
Here's what we learned from him:
They fired at us point-blank
Kurinsky officer killed;
We have lost a lot of people
A whole platoon of carabinieri lay down,
The colonel with the battalion ripened
And carried the company on his shoulders;
Chechens knocked out with damage,
Twelve bodies in our hands...

Interestingly, the realities of that time were also truthfully reflected in Martynov's work. There is in it, for example, a mention of the famous Caucasian chain mail:

Dzhigits boldly drive around,
Prancing briskly ahead;
In vain our people are shooting at them ...
They only answer with swearing
They have mail on their chests...

He quite realistically describes the scene of the death of a Russian soldier wounded in battle:

Deaf confession, communion,
Then they read the waste:
And here it is earthly happiness ...
Is there much left? A handful of earth!
I turned away, it hurt
I have to look at this drama;
And I asked myself involuntarily:
Shall I die like this: ..

Similar scenes can be found in Lermontov's famous poem "Valerik", created on the material of the same summer campaign of 1840. It is not surprising that Martynov was subsequently accused of both "attempting a creative competition" with Lermontov and "direct imitation."
However, views on the war were different. Lermontov perceived what was happening in the Caucasus as a tragedy, tormented by the question: “Why?” These doubts were unknown to Martynov. He was fully confident in Russia's right to use scorched earth tactics against the enemy (a question on which Russian society split into two camps today):

The village is on fire in the distance ...
There our cavalry walks,
In other people's possessions, the court creates,
Invites children to warm up
Mistress cooks gruel.
All the way where we go
The husks of the fugitives are burning.
Let's catch the cattle - we take it away,
There is a living for the Cossacks.
Fields sown with trampling,
Destroy them all...

Probably, it is up to future researchers to appreciate, as a historical source, such works. However, it must be admitted that there is a lot of truth in them.
It is believed that the same poem by Martynov contains a caricatured portrait of Lermontov:

Here the officer lay down on a cloak
With a book in hand,
And he himself dreams of a mazurka,
About Pyatigorsk, about balls.
He is dreaming of a blonde,
He is head over heels in love with her.
Here he is the hero of the duel,
Guardsman, immediately removed.
Dreams are replaced by dreams
Imagination is given space
And the path, strewn with flowers,
He rode at full speed.

What kind of blonde Martynov writes about in his poems, we can only guess ...
Returning to the question of the causes and reasons for the fatal duel at the foot of Mashuk, I would like to note that, perhaps, of all the researchers who have devoted entire volumes to this problem, O.P. Popov came closest to solving the old riddle. In his article "Lermontov and Martynov" he analyzed all possible reasons collisions. And all of them do not seem to him weighty enough to dictate such harsh conditions for a duel.
The story of Salieri and Mozart? - Of course not. “It is impossible to find anything like this in Martynov,” writes O.P. Popov, “and he is not suitable for the role of Salieri.” - Indeed, after all, Martynov, in fact, did not finish any of his literary work. Apparently, he did not consider his literary vocation to be the main one. Although… Every Mozart has his own Salieri. Popov reasonably refutes the version of V. Vatsuro, who once wrote: “Neither Nicholas 1, nor Benckendorff, nor even Martynov hatched plans to kill Lermontov - a man. But all of them - each in their own way - created an atmosphere in which there was no place for Lermontov - the poet.
Martynov killed Lermontov, the man. How it was possible to create an atmosphere in which there would be no place for Lermontov, the poet, is incomprehensible. So it turns out that if we discard the absurd inventions that there was no duel at all, but that a bribed Cossack killed the poet (Korotkov’s version, Schwemberger’s version), an unresolved riddle with the name “Adel” remains in Lermontov’s studies, and even the version about Martynov defending the honor of his sister . Refuting the latter, Oleg Panteleymonovich Popov says that "that the sister was proud of being considered the prototype of Princess Mary", and, therefore, did not need to protect her honor. Well, my sister might have been proud. Yes, but the relatives did not like it at all. Again, a matter of culture and mentality of that time. After all, there is evidence that not only idle gossips, but also quite serious readers of Lermontov’s novel (Granovsky, Katkov) saw Martynov’s younger sister in Princess Mary, and they believed that the princess, like her mother, was depicted in an unfavorable light. As for the story with the package of letters from Natalya, transferred from the house to Martynov through the poet, which apparently left a negative imprint on the relationship of friends earlier, even though the Lermontov scholars convincingly prove that there was no Lermontov’s fault, he didn’t open the package, he didn’t read the letters and didn’t destroy it, but Martynov’s mother thought differently…
In our opinion, two points turned out to be very important in the discussions about the pre-duel situation: firstly, the need to connect the version of the history of Lermontov’s relationship with the Frenchwoman Adel with the version about Martynov defending the honor of his sister. Secondly, it was no less important to deal with the issue of dating the stay of Adele Ommer de Gelle in the Caucasus, which the Lermontov scholars have not been able to do so far. And just an introduction to scientific turnover The materials of Karl Baer (in relation to Lermontov studies, this was first done by us - E.S.) made it possible to reasonably say that the French traveler was in the Caucasus from 1839 to 1841 inclusive.
Thus, in our opinion, a completely convincing version of the quarrel between Lermontov and Martynov emerges. After all, the trifling, not even offensive joke said by Lermontov in French at an evening in the house of General Verzilin could not be the real cause of the quarrel: “Highlander with a large dagger” (montaqnard au qrand poiqnard). “Martynov, when he wanted to, knew how to laugh it off, in the end, he could stop acquaintance, while maintaining his dignity,” writes O.P. Popov.
What happened in Pyatigorsk is regarded by us as a great human tragedy. The tragedy of misunderstanding. Mismatch of two mentalities, two outlooks on life. Respectable, built into the social structure of the society of his time, Martynov and a transcendental lyricist, who was destined to become the music of the soul of his people. He was not born in order to reproduce the biological mass. He had a different destiny, which is given to one of the millions. Many of Lermontov's contemporaries failed to realize this destiny.
And today you can still hear a lot of questions about this complex, multifaceted nature. Probably, it can be understood only from the standpoint of philosophical knowledge. That is why we turn with a noticeable delay to the works of Russian religious philosophers Danilevsky, Solovyov. With their help, we will have to understand in all depth both the life of the great Lermontov and his work, which has become the most precious stone in the treasury of Russian literature.

Addition.

We meet an interesting episode in the work of D.M. Pavlov "Prototypes of Princess Mary" (separate prints from the newspaper "Kavkazsky Krai" Nos. 156 and 157 of 1916). He cites the witticism that allegedly exchanged between Lermontov and Martynov:
- "Marry Lermontov," his self-confident comrade told him, "I will make you a cuckold."
“If my most ardent desire,” the poet seemed to answer, “is realized, then it will be impossible for you, dear friend.
Further, Pavlov writes: “From these words, Martynov concluded that Lermontov “has views of his sister’s hand.” These guesses, however, were not justified. In 1841, Lermontov was already interested in other prominent charmers and did this in front of the brother of his former sympathy ...
It is entirely possible that it was this change of front that gave the Martynov family an imaginary right to state that "Lermontov compromised the sisters of his future murderer" (Russian Archive, 1893, v. 2. - p. 610, v. D. Obolensky). And this circumstance, in connection with the inflated story about the letter and diary of Natalya Solomonovna, allegedly printed by the poet, played, as you know, the role of the main reason in the history of Martynov's hatred for his former friend ...
No wonder the crowd gathered in the courtyard of the Chilaevsky estate, where the lifeless body of the poet was brought, repeated the rumor that the young lady was the cause of the duel.
- The duel happened because of the young lady! - Someone shouted to Lieutenant Colonel Untilov, who was conducting the investigation (Karpos, Rus.M., 78. - 1890., S. KhP).

Every year in Russia, thousands of genetic examinations are carried out to establish paternity. An analysis of judicial practice shows that in 95% of cases, when making decisions, the court is guided only by DNA analysis. Due to the fact that the problem of establishing paternity through the court is now very relevant, in May of this year, a resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court No. 16 "On the application of legislation by courts when considering cases related to the establishment of the origin of children" appeared.

Despite this, the binding decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court are not carried out not only by lower courts, but also by judges of the Supreme Court. And one example of this is the story of Nikolai Martynov, Lada Ryasnova and their daughter Yaroslava.

Now Yaroslava is already 7 years old, in this photo she is not even four. Here she is in the kitchen playing some kind of childish game with her godfather, a friend of her father. She has no joint photos with her father: Martynov was killed in March 2014. However, the judges do not believe that Martynov is her father - despite the fact that the DNA examination is convinced of their relationship by 99.99999999994%.

Yaroslav's mother, blames herself for everything.

- I probably should have insisted on marriage earlier, while Kolya was alive, and that he registered his daughter as himself, but I have always been indifferent to the legal side of the matter. It’s just that I was so confident in him as in a man, I didn’t doubt for a second that he would never leave us without support, that I didn’t even start such conversations. “We should have already registered you,” Kolya said more than once, and I just brushed it off. "Everything is fine with us, why these formalities?" – I thought then.

“You should already be registered,” Kolya said more than once.

They met when Ryasnova worked in a financial company and several times on business crossed paths with Martynov, co-owner of a large oilfield services company. Martynov suggested that she go to his company, to the control and audit department, Lada analyzed the purchases and the intended use of funds. At first they just worked together for about a year, in the spring of 2009 they began a closer relationship.

Lada at that time was 25, Nikolai - 51, both were de jure married, although in fact they did not live with their other halves. Martynov's wife with a common adult son lived mainly in Paris. Lada Ryasnova lived alone. They hid their relationship from colleagues.

- Kolya never talked about his wife, he only talked about his son, so the presence of an official family did not bother me at all. He lived mainly in the country, looked great, very athletic, always followed his health and nutrition, his age was given out only by gray hair and wrinkles. In general, he was an ideal man, smart, interesting, caring, generous, one can only dream of such a thing, Lada cries. - When I gave birth to Yaroslav, he bought an apartment, we were just planning repairs. I came to work that day to discuss the estimate... There they told me that a killer had shot at Kolya at night, he was in critical condition in intensive care.

Bullets hit the head and chest, on the sixth day Martynov died

Nikolai Martynov worked for many years in the largest Russian and international oil companies, and then organized his own business, becoming a co-founder of a Cypriot company Clinolina Holding Limited, which owns enterprises in Russia for the production of equipment for the oil and gas and chemical industries. Late on the evening of March 30, 2014, he returned to his cottage in Iksha near Moscow. A killer was waiting near the businessman's house, who shot him several times. Bullets hit the head and chest, on the sixth day Martynov died.

- I was told that while Kolya was in intensive care, his wife flew to Moscow, who found an album with our photos in a safe at the dacha and found out about Yaroslava and me. Of course, she was hysterical, he didn’t tell her anything about us,” says Lada, who divorced her husband after the birth of her daughter. - When Kolya died, friends arranged a farewell for us the day before, advising us not to come to the funeral. Nadezhda, the official wife, tears and flies, if you come, there will be a fight, they told me. Because of the album found in the safe, they found out about our relationship at work, there were different conversations, including a murder motivated by jealousy, but in general all kinds of versions were discussed.

The killer turned out to be retired GRU colonel Gennady Korotenko, whom Erokhin hired for 1 million rubles.

They searched for the killer and the customer for a long time. According to investigators, another co-owner was the customer of the murder Clinolina Holding Limited, 35-year-old Anton Erokhin. A year before the assassination attempt on Martynov, there was a long conflict between him and Erokhin over one of the assets - a chemical plant. After lengthy negotiations, Martynov agreed to sell his stake for 2.5 billion rubles, Erokhin asked for time to find the money. And during this time he found the killer. As follows from the indictment, he turned out to be retired GRU colonel Gennady Korotenko, whom Erokhin hired for 1 million rubles.

The killer was approached by officers of the Federal Security Service of the Nizhny Novgorod region, who discovered a garage with weapons and ammunition. The owner of the garage was Gennady Korotenko. During a personal search, a Makarov pistol (PM) was confiscated from him. The examination and study of the bullet-sleeve case showed that it was from this PM that Martynov was shot. Both Erokhin and Korotenko were accused of contract killing, now the court is considering this case.

Immediately after the death of Martynov, his property was seized, and the widow, son and mother of the deceased claimed their inheritance. Lada Ryasnova filed a civil lawsuit with the Zyuzinsky Court of Moscow to establish the paternity of her daughter Yaroslava, give her the surname Martynova, and she, as a minor, could claim her rights to the inheritance. Lada says that for the sake of her daughter, she tried to communicate with Nadezhda, Martynov's widow, directly and agree on everything with her, but she did not make contact, so she had to go to court.

Posthumous acknowledgment of paternity is a fairly common procedure. Article 49 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation (RF IC) states that in this case it is necessary to prove "the origin of the child from a specific person", and paragraph 19 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court No. 16 states that "with a high degree of accuracy" this allows you to establish DNA -expertise.

The investigators did not provide the DNA material of the deceased for research due to the "secrecy of the investigation"

At the request of the court, the investigators provided data on the DNA profile of the murdered Nikolai Martynov. They were used during the investigation. A DNA profile is one of the evidence in a criminal case. Actually, it was possible to prove the involvement of ex-gareushnik Gennady Korotenko in the murder of a businessman largely thanks to DNA examinations. The investigators did not provide the DNA material of the deceased Martynov to the experts for examination, citing "secrecy of the investigation."

By appointment of the court, the examinations were carried out at the Russian Center for Forensic Medical Examination of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, the leading state expert institution in the country. The examination showed that Nikolai Martynov, with a probability of more than 99.9%, is Yaroslav's father. An examination of the DNA of Martynov's 24-year-old son, also Nikolai, was also carried out, which established that Nikolai Martynov Jr. and Yaroslav were paternal relatives with a probability of more than 99.7%. Lada told the court that Nikolai bore all the costs of maintaining the child: after giving birth, she did not work, her daughter had a nanny, they went on vacation abroad, he paid for children's toys, a sports club, etc. with his card.

Martynov's relatives, in response, stated that the deceased father of the girl could not be, since since 2009 he "suffered from erectile dysfunction up to impotence" and had not had sexual intercourse with anyone for a long time due to the disease, they brought certificates from a private clinic where he was treated .

- The judge rejected our SMS correspondence with Kolya, because I could not prove that it was my phone. She considered the testimonies of witnesses and neighbors who knew about our relationship with him to be contradictory and also rejected, as well as the attached video. Friends told me that Nadezhda, whose female pride was very much hurt, promised more than once to do everything possible and impossible, if only Yaroslav was not recognized as Kolya's daughter, ”says Lada. - But I, however, was still calm, because all the examinations showed that he was the father of the child. And there could be no other father there.

Lemudkin could not answer a single question, where they met, how they met and why they broke up.

However, a certain Kirill Lemudkin came to court, who stated that he allegedly had a close relationship with Lada and that he was Yaroslav's father. Not a single question - where they met, how they met and why they broke up - he could not really answer. And when asked how she looked when they met, he said that "just like now, only fatter." In fact, before giving birth, Lada was a thin blonde.

Again, a DNA examination was scheduled, this time in another institution - Center for Molecular Genetics LLC. Lada Ryasnova again turned to the investigation so that specialists would be given the genetic material of the deceased Martynov, and not just a DNA profile, for research. By this time, the criminal investigation had already been completed. The investigator replied that he would issue the material if there was a request from the court. But the judge denied her request. The second request, to impose interim measures so that the genetic material does not accidentally disappear anywhere, was again denied.

The conducted DNA examination showed that the probability that Lemudkin is the father of Yaroslav is 0%. And she confirmed the conclusions of previous experts in relation to both Martynovs: the eldest is Yaroslav's father, the youngest is his father's brother.

According to the law, she still has a chance to review the case if the chairman of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev takes it.

And then a court decision was made - Ryasnova and her daughter to refuse all claims, since the evidence provided was allegedly not enough to establish the paternity of Nikolai Martynov. Although data excluding his paternity was not obtained in any of the examinations. Comparing the genetic profile of Martynov-father with the genetic profile of Martynov-son ( from marriage with his wife Nadezhda, relationship has never been disputed. - Approx. RS), the experts came to the conclusion that the probability of their relationship is 99.999994%, but for some reason this fact was not reflected at all in the court decision. In the Moscow City Court, the decision of the first instance was rewritten word for word, in the Supreme Court, Ryasnova's complaint was rejected, refusing to transfer the case for consideration. According to the law, she still has a chance to review the case if it is taken by the Chairman of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev.

Boris Nemtsov during the "Big White Circle" action on the Garden Ring, 2012

Less than six months ago, the Supreme Court considered a similar case to establish the paternity of a child - it was about the murdered politician Boris Nemtsov. The decision was made in favor of the child. Muscovite Ekaterina Iftodi, who acted in the interests of her minor son Boris, filed a complaint with the Supreme Court. She claimed that she was in a close relationship with Nemtsov and in April 2014 gave birth to a son from him, in the documents of the child in the father column there was a dash. Iftodi, it follows from the decision of the Supreme Court, has repeatedly requested a genetic examination, since biological material of the murdered Nemtsov was seized as part of a criminal investigation, but was refused all the time. The court considered that in the refusal to conduct an examination, the norms of substantive and procedural law were “substantially violated”, the case was returned to the first instance for a new consideration. The examination carried out confirmed that the deceased Nemtsov and the three-year-old Boris Iftodi are father and son. As a result, the court recognized the boy as the son of a politician and his heir.

In accordance with Art. 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, when considering a complaint about the establishment of paternity, the courts must pay special attention to the interests of the individual child

A similar case was considered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2009 - the case of Kalacheva v. Russia. The father of the child was alive, but he did not want to recognize his daughter. genetic expertise confirmed the fact of paternity, but the court did not want to take it into account, considering that the examination procedure had been violated. Other evidence - joint photos, a pass to the hostel, etc. - the judges also considered insufficient. The ECtHR ruled in favor of Kalacheva and awarded her compensation of 5,000 euros. And at the same time he reminded the Russian authorities that, in accordance with Art. 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, when considering a complaint about the establishment of paternity, the courts must pay special attention to the interests of a particular child. If the court considered the first DNA analysis unacceptable for any reason, then, according to the decision of the ECtHR, it was obliged to order a second examination.

Lada Ryasnova says that she no longer hopes that her daughter will receive at least some kind of inheritance. According to her, there is nothing left of him, since most of the assets were "registered" in offshore, and the accounts are already empty. If Yaroslava was recognized as the daughter of the murdered businessman Martynov, she would claim 1/8 of his inheritance (the businessman's mother had already died and new heirs had appeared in her share).

I want my daughter to have her father's last name. She knew him until the age of four, loved him and remembers him very well. And he also loved her and took care of her,” explains Ryasnova. - In addition, I want the judges to finally consider our case on the merits, deal with the examinations, thus fulfilling the requirements of the ECHR and the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which are mandatory. We don't need anything else.

A retired major who killed M. Yu. Lermontov in a duel.

The son of a Penza landowner, a colonel; was born in Nizhny Novgorod, was brought up in October 1832 at the School, from where three years later he was released as a cornet to the cavalry guards, on March 6, 1837, with the rank of lieutenant, he was sent to the Caucasus, where he participated in the expedition of General Velyaminov to lay the fortifications of Novotroitsky and Mikhailovsky, and was awarded the Order of St. Anna 3rd class. with a bow. In April 1838, he arrived back at the Cavalier Guard Regiment; the following year, he was enrolled in the cavalry as a captain with secondment to the Grebensky Cossack regiment, and on February 23, 1841, he was dismissed for domestic reasons as a major.

We have no information about Martynov's stay in the cavalry guards, but his Caucasian comrades speak of him like this: "Martynov was a kind fellow in appearance, not bad-looking, was very concerned about his appearance and loved ladies' society." According to another Caucasian, Martynov "was a very handsome young guards officer, tall, blond with a slightly arched nose. He was always very kind, cheerful, decently sang romances, wrote poetry not badly and always dreamed of ranks, orders and thought nothing more than rise to the rank of general in the Caucasus", but suddenly in 1841 he retired and "from a cheerful, secular, elegant young man became some kind of savage: he grew huge sideburns, in a simple Circassian suit, with a huge dagger, pulled down by a white hat, eternally gloomy and silent." The author suggests that "the reason for such a strange course of action by Martynov was the desire to play the role of Pechorin, the hero of that time, whom Martynov, unfortunately, really personified."

We cannot dwell here on the reasons why Lermontov was like this, but we must admit that he really was like that.

Nikolai Martynov met Lermontov at the Junker School, where they entered almost at the same time. "He (Lermontov) was a kind person by nature, but the world completely spoiled him," says Martynov. Being with Lermontov "in a very close relationship", he "had the occasion to repeatedly notice that all the good movements of the heart, every impulse of tender feeling, he tries to drown out and hide from others just as carefully as others try to hide their vile vices."

The real reason for the duel is Lermontov's courtship of Martynov's sister, Natalya, and the "disappearance" of the famous letter in connection with this.

Is it so?

Suspicion remained suspicion, but later, when Lermontov pursued Martynov with ridicule, he sometimes hinted at him about the letter, resorting to such hints in order to get rid of his harassment.

Once, at the very end of June, at a party at the Verzilins', Lermontov and Martynov, as usual, courted Emilia Alexandrovna.

From the memoirs of I. A. Arsenyev: "As a poet, Lermontov rose to genius, but as a person he was petty and unbearable. These shortcomings and a sign of reckless persistence in them were the cause of the death of a brilliant poet from a shot fired by the hand of a kind, warm-hearted man, whom Lermontov brought his ridicule and even slander almost to madness. Martynov, whom I knew well, suffered and suffered until the end of his life because he was responsible for the death of Lermontov "...

How the oligarch Nikolai Martynov died. His daughter or "mystery of the investigation"

Biography

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