(Start)
Petr Fedorovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna. In 1742, Elizabeth declared the heir of her nephew, the grandson of Peter the Great (and the grandson of the sister of Charles XII of Sweden), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein Karl Peter Ulrich. For the Russian people, he was the same German prince as those from whom Russian society was freed in 1741 and who were so hateful to him. Elizabeth soon began to consider this choice, or, better to say, the necessity of this choice, as a serious misfortune. The fourteen-year-old orphaned Duke was transported from Holstein to Russia, found a second mother in Elizabeth, converted to Orthodoxy, and began to receive a Russian education instead of a German one. In 1745 they rushed to marry him. The issue of a bride was discussed at court for a very long time, because marriage was given political significance and they were afraid of making a mistake. Finally, Elizabeth settled on the person that, in contrast to Bestuzhev, the French-Prussian party pointed out, which Frederick of Prussia also pointed out - Princess Sophia-Augustus-Frederike of Anhalt-Zerbst. Her father was only a general in the Prussian service, commandant of Stetin; The mother, in caring for a rather poor household, managed to lose her sense of tact and good character, acquiring a penchant for money-grubbing and gossip. The bride and her mother came to Russia, converted to Orthodoxy and were named Ekaterina Alekseevna; On August 25, 1745, the wedding of 17-year-old Peter and 16-year-old Catherine took place. But everyone noticed that the groom was cold towards the bride and was directly quarreling with his future mother-in-law. However, Catherine’s mother showed her quarrelsome character towards everyone and therefore was sent from Russia in the same 1745. The young couple remained as if alone in the large Elizabethan palace, being cut off from the German environment, from the environment of their childhood. Both husband and wife had to define their own identities and their relationships at court.
Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (future Peter III) and Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna (future Catherine II)
Pyotr Fedorovich was a man weakly gifted both physically and mentally; he lost his mother and father early and remained in the hands of Marshal Brümmer, who was more of a soldier than an educated man, more of a groom than a teacher. Peter's childhood passed in such a way that nothing good could be remembered. His upbringing was neglected, as was his education. Brümmer established such a routine of life for his pupil, which could not help but upset his health, which was already weak: for example, during long classes the boy had no exercise and did not eat until two o’clock in the afternoon. And at lunchtime, the sovereign duke often only watched from the corner as his servants ate lunch, which he himself was denied by the teachers. By feeding the boy poorly, he was not allowed to develop, which is why he became lethargic and weak. Moral education was neglected: kneeling on peas, decorating with donkey ears, blows of a whip and even beating with anything were a common means of pedagogical persuasion. A series of moral humiliations in front of the courtiers, rude shouts from Brummer and his impudent antics could not, of course, develop in the prince either sound moral concepts or a sense of human dignity. Mental education was also bad. Peter studied many languages, many subjects, but they taught him by force, not in accordance with his weak abilities, and he learned little and became disgusted with learning. Latin, which at that time was obligatory for every educated person, became so boring to him that he forbade placing Latin books in his library in St. Petersburg. When he came to Russia and Elizabeth met him, she was surprised at the poverty of his knowledge. They began to teach him again, this time in the Orthodox Russian way. But science was hampered by Peter’s illness (in 1743–1745 he was seriously ill three times), and then by his marriage. Having learned the Orthodox catechism hastily, Peter remained with the views of a German Protestant. Getting to know Russia from the lessons of Academician Shtelin, Peter was not interested in it, was bored by the lessons and remained a very ignorant and undeveloped person with German views and habits. He didn’t like Russia and thought superstitiously that he wouldn’t do well in Russia. He was only interested in “fun”: he loved to dance, play childish pranks and play soldiers. He was interested in military affairs to the highest degree, but he did not study it, but amused himself with it and, like a German, was in awe of King Frederick, whom he wanted to imitate always and in everything and was never able to do anything.
Marriage did not and could not bring him to his senses because he did not feel his strangeness and had a very good opinion of himself. He looked down on his wife, who was immeasurably taller than him. Since they stopped teaching him, he considered himself an adult and, of course, did not want to learn from his wife either her tact, or her restraint, or, finally, her efficiency. He didn’t want to know any business; on the contrary, he expanded his repertoire of amusements and strange antics: he spent hours slapping rooms with a coachman’s whip, he practiced the violin unsuccessfully, he gathered together palace footmen and played soldiers with them, he held inspections of toy soldiers, and organized toy games. fortresses, posted guards and performed toy military exercises; and once, in the eighth year of his marriage, he was judged by military law and hanged the rat that had eaten his starched soldier. All this was done with serious interest, and it was clear from everything that these games of toy soldiers occupied him extremely. He woke up his wife at night so that she would eat oysters with him or stand watch in his office. He described to her in detail the beauty of the woman who captivated him and demanded attention to such a conversation that was offensive to her. Treating Catherine tactlessly and insulting her, he had no tact towards strangers and allowed himself various vulgarities: for example, in church during services, behind his aunt’s back, he mimicked the priests, and when the ladies-in-waiting looked at him, he stuck his tongue out at them , but so that the aunt would not see it: he was still very afraid of his aunt. Sitting at the table, he mocked the servants, doused their dresses, pushed dishes onto his neighbors and tried to get drunk as quickly as possible. This is how the heir to the throne, an adult and the father of the family behaved (in 1754 his son Pavel was born). “Peter showed all the signs of arrested spiritual development,” says S. M. Solovyov, “he was an adult child.” Empress Elizabeth understood Peter's qualities and often cried, worrying about the future, but she did not dare change the order of succession to the throne, because Peter III was a direct descendant of Peter the Great.
However, they did not lose hope of getting Peter used to business. Shtelin continued to introduce him to state affairs theoretically, and in 1756 Peter was appointed a member of the Conference, established, as we have seen, for particularly important matters. At the same time, as Duke of Holstein, Peter every week “on Monday and Friday, with his Holstein ministers, held the council and managed the affairs of his duchy.” All these worries had some result. Peter became interested in affairs, but not in Russia, but in Holstein. It is unlikely that he got to know them well, but he adopted the Holstein views, wanting to win the Holstein lands from Denmark and was very busy with the Holstein soldiers and officers, whom he was allowed to bring to Russia since 1755. In the summer he lived with them in the camps in Oranienbaum, adopted their soldierly manners and foppery, learned from them to smoke, drink like a soldier and dream of Holstein conquests.
Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Portrait by V. Eriksen
Peter's attitude towards Russia and Russian affairs was determined over time. He told his wife that “he was not born for Russia, that he was unsuitable for the Russians and the Russians were unsuitable for him, and he was convinced that he would die in Russia.” When the Swedish throne became vacant and Peter could not take it, although he had the right, he angrily said out loud: “They dragged me to this damned Russia, where I must consider myself a state prisoner, whereas if they had left me free, then now I would sit on the throne of a civilized people." When Peter was present at the Conference, he presented his opinions and in them revealed complete unfamiliarity with the political situation in Russia; He talked about Russian interests from the point of view of his love for the Prussian king. Thus, ignorance of Russia, contempt for it, the desire to leave it, Holstein sympathies and the absence of a mature personality distinguished the future Russian emperor. Chancellor Bestuzhev seriously thought about either completely removing Peter from power, or otherwise protecting the interests of Russia from his influence.
Peter's wife, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna, was a completely different kind of person. Growing up in the modest family of an insignificant prince, a strict Protestant and a father, Catherine received some education, enhanced by her own powers of observation and sensitivity. As a child, she traveled a lot around Germany, saw and heard a lot. Even then, with her liveliness and abilities, she attracted the attention of observant persons: in Brunswick, one canon who was engaged in predictions remarked to her mother: “On your daughter’s forehead I see at least three crowns.” When Catherine and her mother were called to Russia, the purpose of the trip was no secret to her, and the lively girl managed to take her first steps at the Russian court with great tact. Her father wrote a number of rules of prudent restraint and modesty for her guidance. Catherine added her own tact and remarkable practical sense to these rules and charmed Elizabeth, won the sympathy of the court, and then the people. Not more than 15 years old, she behaved better and smarter than her leader, her mother. When the mother quarreled and gossiped, the daughter tried to gain mutual favor. She diligently studied the Russian language and Orthodox faith. Her brilliant abilities allowed her to make great progress in a short time, and at the baptism ceremony she read the creed so firmly that she surprised everyone. But news has been preserved that the change of religion for Catherine was not as easy and joyful as she showed to the empress and court. In pious embarrassment before this step, Catherine cried a lot and, they say, sought consolation from a Lutheran pastor. However, the lessons of the Orthodox teacher of the law did not stop there. “Ambition takes its toll,” one diplomat noted in this regard. And Catherine herself admitted that she was ambitious.
Catherine II after her arrival in Russia. Portrait by L. Caravaque, 1745
Not loving either her husband or Elizabeth, Catherine nevertheless behaved very well towards them. She tried to correct and cover up all her husband’s antics and did not complain about him to anyone. She treated Elizabeth with respect and seemed to seek her approval. In the court environment, she sought popularity, finding a kind word for everyone, trying to adapt to the morals of the court, trying to seem like a purely Russian pious woman. At a time when her husband remained a Holsteiner and despised Russians, Catherine wanted to stop being German and, after the death of her parents, renounced all rights to her Anhalt-Zerbst. Her intelligence and practical prudence forced those around her to see great strength in her and predict great court influence behind her. And indeed, over the years, Catherine occupied a prominent position at court; she was well known even among the masses. For everyone, she became more visible and prettier than her husband.
But Catherine's personal life was unenviable. Placed far from business and left for whole days by her husband, Catherine did not know what to do, because she had no company at all: she could not get close to the court ladies, because “she dared to see only maids in front of her,” in her own words; she could not get close to the circle of court men because it was inconvenient. All that remained was to read, and Catherine’s “reading” continued for the first eight years of her married life. At first she read novels: a chance conversation with the Swedish Count Gyllenborg, whom she knew back in Germany, directed her attention to serious books. She re-read many historical works, travels, classics and, finally, wonderful writers of French philosophy and journalistic literature of the 18th century. During these years, she received that mass of information with which she surprised her contemporaries, that philosophical liberal way of thinking that she brought with her to the throne. She considered herself a student of Voltaire, worshiped Montesquieu, studied the Encyclopedia and, thanks to constant thought, became an exceptional person in the Russian society of her time. The degree of her theoretical development and education reminds us of the strength of the practical development of Peter the Great. And both of them were self-taught.
In the second half of Elizabeth's reign, Grand Duchess Catherine was already a well-established and very prominent person at court. Much attention was paid to her by diplomats, because, as they find, “no one has so much firmness and determination” - qualities that give her many opportunities in the future. Catherine behaves more independently, is clearly at odds with her husband, and incurs Elizabeth’s displeasure. But Elizabeth’s most prominent “fit” people, Bestuzhev, Shuvalov, Razumovsky, now do not ignore the Grand Duchess, but try, on the contrary, to establish good but cautious relations with her. Catherine herself enters into relations with diplomats and Russian government officials, monitors the progress of affairs and even wants to influence them. The reason for this was Elizabeth’s illness: one could expect an imminent change on the throne. Everyone understood that Peter could not be a normal ruler and that his wife should play a big role with him. Elizabeth also understood this: fearing that Catherine would take any step in her favor against Peter, she began to treat her poorly and even downright hostile; Over time, Peter himself treats his wife the same way. Surrounded by suspicion and hostility and driven by ambition, Catherine understood the danger of her position and the possibility of enormous political success. Others also told her about this possibility: one of the envoys (Prussian) assured her that she would be an empress; The Shuvalovs and Razumovskys considered Catherine a contender for the throne; Bestuzhev, together with her, made plans to change the succession to the throne. Catherine herself had to prepare to act both for her personal protection and to achieve power after Elizabeth's death. She knew that her husband was attached to another woman (Eliz. Rom. Vorontsova) and wanted to replace his wife with her, in whom he saw a person dangerous to himself. And so, so that Elizabeth’s death does not take her by surprise and leave her defenseless in the hands of Peter, Catherine strives to acquire political friends for herself and form her own party. She secretly intervenes in political and court affairs, and corresponds with many prominent persons. The case of Bestuzhev and Apraksin (1757–1758) showed Elizabeth how great the importance of Grand Duchess Catherine was at court. Bestuzhev was accused of excessive respect for Catherine. Apraksin was constantly influenced by her letters. Bestuzhev's fall was due to his closeness to Catherine, and Catherine herself suffered the empress's disgrace at that moment. She was afraid that she would be expelled from Russia, and with remarkable dexterity she achieved reconciliation with Elizabeth. She began to ask Elizabeth for an audience to clarify the matter. And Catherine was given this audience at night. During Catherine’s conversation with Elizabeth, Catherine’s husband Peter and Ivan Iv were secretly behind the screens in the same room. Shuvalov, and Ekaterina guessed this. The conversation was crucial for her. Under Elizabeth, Catherine began to claim that she was not guilty of anything, and, to prove that she did not want anything, she asked the Empress to be released to Germany. She asked for this, being sure that they would do just the opposite. The result of the audience was that Catherine remained in Russia, although she was surrounded by surveillance. Now she had to play the game without allies and assistants, but she continued to play it with even more energy. If Elizabeth had not died so unexpectedly soon, then Peter III probably would not have had to ascend the throne, for the conspiracy already existed and Catherine already had a very strong party behind her. Catherine could not reconcile with her husband, she could not stand him; he saw in her an evil woman, too independent and hostile to him. “We need to crush the snake,” said the Holsteins surrounding Peter, conveying with this expression his thoughts about his wife. During Catherine’s illness, he even directly dreamed of her death.
Thus, in the last years of Elizabeth, the complete inability of her heir and the great importance and intelligence of his wife were revealed. The question of the fate of the throne occupied Elizabeth very much; according to Catherine, the empress “looked with trepidation at the hour of death and at what could happen after it.” But she did not dare to dismiss her nephew outright. The court environment also understood that Peter could not be the ruler of the state. Many wondered how to eliminate Peter and came up with various combinations. It could have been eliminated by transferring the rights to the young Pavel Petrovich, and his mother Ekaterina would have received a larger role. It would be possible to put Catherine in power directly. Without her, the issue could not be resolved in any case (no one thought about the former Emperor John at that time). Therefore, Catherine, in addition to her personal qualities and aspirations, received great importance and was the center of political combinations and the banner of the movement against Peter. It can be said that even before Elizabeth’s death, Catherine became a rival to her husband, and a dispute began between them about the Russian crown.
Peter III Fedorovich (born Karl Peter Ulrich, German Karl Peter Ulrich). Born on February 10 (21), 1728 in Kiel - died on July 6 (17), 1762 in Ropsha. Russian Emperor (1762), the first representative of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov dynasty on the Russian throne. Sovereign Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (1745). Grandson of Peter I.
Karl Peter, the future Emperor Peter III, was born on February 10 (21 according to the new style) 1728 in Kiel (Holstein-Gottorp).
Father - Duke Karl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp.
Mother - Anna Petrovna Romanova, daughter.
In the marriage contract concluded by his parents back under Peter I in 1724, they renounced any claims to the Russian throne. But the king reserved the right to appoint as his successor “one of the princes born by Divine blessing from this marriage.”
In addition, Karl Friedrich, being the nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII, had rights to the throne of Sweden.
Shortly after Peter's birth, his mother died, catching a cold during a fireworks display in honor of her son's birth. The boy grew up in the provincial surroundings of a tiny North German duchy. The father loved his son, but all his thoughts were aimed at returning Schleswig, which Denmark occupied at the beginning of the 18th century. Having neither military strength nor financial resources, Karl Friedrich pinned his hopes on either Sweden or Russia. Marriage to Anna Petrovna was a legal confirmation of Karl Friedrich's Russian orientation. But after Anna Ioannovna ascended the throne of the Russian Empire, this course became impossible. The new empress sought not only to deprive her cousin Elizaveta Petrovna of the rights to the inheritance, but also to assign it to the Miloslavsky line. Growing up in Kiel, the grandson of Peter the Great was a constant threat to the dynastic plans of the childless Empress Anna Ioannovna, who repeated with hatred: “The little devil still lives.”
In 1732, by a demarche of the Russian and Austrian governments, with the consent of Denmark, Duke Karl Friedrich was asked to renounce the rights to Schleswig for a huge ransom. Karl Friedrich categorically rejected this proposal. The father placed all hopes for restoring the territorial integrity of his duchy on his son, instilling in him the idea of revenge. From an early age, Karl Friedrich raised his son in a military way - in the Prussian way.
When Karl Peter was 10 years old, he was awarded the rank of second lieutenant, which made a huge impression on the boy; he loved military parades.
At the age of eleven he lost his father. After his death, he was brought up in the house of his paternal cousin, Bishop Adolf of Eitinsky, later King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden. His teachers O.F. Brummer and F.V. Berkhgolts were not distinguished by high moral qualities and more than once cruelly punished the child. The Crown Prince of the Swedish Crown was repeatedly flogged and subjected to other sophisticated and humiliating punishments.
The teachers cared little about his education: by the age of thirteen he only spoke a little French.
Peter grew up fearful, nervous, impressionable, loved music and painting and at the same time adored everything military - however, he was afraid of cannon fire (this fear remained with him throughout his life). All his ambitious dreams were connected with military pleasures. He was not in good health; on the contrary, he was sickly and frail. By character, Peter was not evil; he often behaved simple-mindedly. Already in childhood he became addicted to wine.
Elizabeth Petrovna, who became Empress in 1741, wanted to secure the throne through her father and ordered her nephew to be brought to Russia. In December, soon after the accession of Empress Elizabeth to the throne, she sent Major von Korff (husband of Countess Maria Karlovna Skavronskaya, cousin of the Empress) and with him G. von Korff, the Russian envoy to the Danish court, to Kiel to take the young duke to Russia .
Three days after the Duke's departure, they learned about this in Kiel; he was traveling incognito, under the name of the young Count Duker. At the last station before Berlin they stopped and sent the quartermaster to the local Russian envoy (minister) von Brakel, and began to wait for him at the post station. But the night before, Brakel died in Berlin. This accelerated their further journey to St. Petersburg. In Keslin, in Pomerania, the postmaster recognized the young duke. Therefore, they drove all night to quickly leave the Prussian borders.
On February 5 (16), 1742, Karl Peter Ulrich arrived safely in Russia, to the Winter Palace. There was a large crowd of people to see the grandson of Peter the Great. On February 10 (21), the 14th anniversary of his birth was celebrated.
At the end of February 1742, Elizaveta Petrovna went with her nephew to Moscow for her coronation. Karl Peter Ulrich was present at the coronation in the Assumption Cathedral on April 25 (May 6), 1742, in a specially arranged place, next to Her Majesty. After his coronation, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the Preobrazhensky Guard and wore the uniform of this regiment every day. Also colonel of the First Life Cuirassier Regiment.
At the first meeting, Elizabeth was struck by the ignorance of her nephew and upset by his appearance: thin, sickly, with an unhealthy complexion. Academician Jacob Shtelin became his tutor and teacher, who considered his student quite capable, but lazy. The professor noticed his inclinations and tastes and organized his first classes based on them. He read picture books with him, especially those depicting fortresses, siege weapons, and engineering weapons; He made various mathematical models in small form and arranged complete experiments from them on a large table. From time to time he brought ancient Russian coins and, while explaining them, told ancient Russian history, and, based on the medals of Peter I, the modern history of the state. Twice a week I read newspapers to him and quietly explained to him the basis of the history of European states, while entertaining him with the land maps of these states and showing their position on the globe.
In November 1742, Karl Peter Ulrich converted to Orthodoxy under the name Peter Fedorovich. His official title included the words “Grandson of Peter the Great.”
Peter III (documentary)
Height of Peter III: 170 centimeters.
Personal life of Peter III:
In 1745, Peter married Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna (née Sophia Frederica Augusta) of Anhalt-Zerbst, the future empress.
The heir's wedding was celebrated on a special scale. Peter and Catherine were granted possession of palaces - Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg and Lyubertsy near Moscow.
After the Holstein heir Brummer and Berchholtz were removed from the throne, his upbringing was entrusted to the military general Vasily Repnin, who turned a blind eye to his duties and did not prevent the young man from devoting all his time to playing toy soldiers. The heir's training in Russia lasted only three years - after the wedding of Peter and Catherine, Shtelin was relieved of his duties, but forever retained Peter's favor and trust.
The Grand Duke's immersion in military fun caused increasing irritation of the Empress. In 1747, she replaced Repnin with the Choglokovs, Nikolai Naumovich and Maria Simonovna, in whom she saw an example of a married couple who sincerely loved each other. In accordance with the instructions drawn up by Chancellor Bestuzhev, Choglokov tried to limit his ward’s access to games and replaced his favorite servants for this.
Peter's relationship with his wife did not work out from the very beginning. Catherine noted in her memoirs that her husband “bought himself German books, but what books? Some of them consisted of Lutheran prayer books, and the other - of the stories and trials of some highwaymen who were hanged and wheeled.”
It is believed that until the early 1750s there was no marital relationship between husband and wife at all, but then Peter underwent some kind of operation (presumably circumcision to eliminate phimosis), after which in 1754 Catherine gave birth to his son Paul. At the same time, the Grand Duke’s letter to his wife, dated December 1746, suggests that the relationship between them was immediately after the wedding: “Madam, I ask you this night not to bother yourself at all to sleep with me, since it is too late to deceive me , the bed has become too narrow, after a two-week separation from you, this afternoon your unfortunate husband, whom you never honored with this name. Peter".
Historians cast great doubt on the paternity of Peter, calling S. A. Poniatovsky the most likely father. However, Peter officially recognized the child as his own.
The infant heir, the future Russian emperor, was immediately taken away from his parents after birth, and Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself took up his upbringing. Pyotr Fedorovich was never interested in his son and was quite satisfied with the empress’s permission to see Paul once a week. Peter increasingly moved away from his wife; Elizaveta Vorontsova, E.R.’s sister, became his favorite. Dashkova.
Elizaveta Vorontsova - mistress of Peter III
Nevertheless, Catherine noted that for some reason the Grand Duke always had an involuntary trust in her, all the more strange since she did not strive for spiritual intimacy with her husband. In difficult situations, financial or economic, he often turned to his wife for help, calling her ironically “Madame la Ressource” (“Lady Help”).
Peter never hid his hobbies for other women from his wife. But Catherine did not at all feel humiliated by this state of affairs, having by that time a huge number of lovers. For the Grand Duke, his wife’s hobbies were also no secret.
After Choglokov’s death in 1754, General Brockdorff, who arrived incognito from Holstein and encouraged the militaristic habits of the heir, de facto became the manager of the “small court.” In the early 1750s, he was allowed to write out a small detachment of Holstein soldiers (by 1758 their number was about one and a half thousand). Peter and Brockdorff spent all their free time doing military exercises and maneuvers with them. Some time later (by 1759-1760), these Holstein soldiers formed the garrison of the amusing fortress of Peterstadt, built at the residence of the Grand Duke Oranienbaum.
Peter's other hobby was playing the violin.
During the years spent in Russia, Peter never made any attempt to better know the country, its people and history; he neglected Russian customs, behaved inappropriately during church services, and did not observe fasts and other rituals. When in 1751 the Grand Duke learned that his uncle had become the king of Sweden, he said: “They dragged me to this damned Russia, where I must consider myself a state prisoner, whereas if they had left me free, now I would be sitting on the throne civilized people."
Elizaveta Petrovna did not allow Peter to participate in resolving political issues, and the only position in which he could somehow prove himself was the position of director of the gentry corps. Meanwhile, the Grand Duke openly criticized the activities of the government, and during the Seven Years' War publicly expressed sympathy for the Prussian king Frederick II.
The defiant behavior of Peter Fedorovich was well known not only at court, but also in wider layers of Russian society, where the Grand Duke enjoyed neither authority nor popularity.
Personality of Peter III
Jacob Staehlin wrote about Peter III: “He is quite witty, especially in disputes, which was developed and supported in him from his youth by the grumpiness of his chief marshal Brümmer... By nature he judges quite well, but his attachment to sensual pleasures frustrated him more than it developed him judgments, and therefore he did not like deep thinking. Memory is excellent down to the last detail. He willingly read travel descriptions and military books. As soon as a catalog of new books came out, he read it and noted for himself many books that made up a decent library. He ordered his late parent’s library from Kiel and bought Melling’s engineering and military library for a thousand rubles.”
In addition, Shtelin wrote: “Being a Grand Duke and not having room for a library in his St. Petersburg palace, he ordered it to be transported to Oranienbaum and kept a librarian with it. Having become emperor, he instructed State Councilor Shtelin, as his chief librarian, to build a library on the mezzanine of his new winter palace in St. Petersburg, for which four large rooms were assigned and two for the librarian himself. For this, in the first case, he assigned 3,000 rubles, and then 2,000 rubles annually, but demanded that not a single Latin book be included in it, because pedantic teaching and coercion had disgusted him with Latin from an early age...
He was not a hypocrite, but he also did not like any jokes about faith and the word of God. He was somewhat inattentive during external worship, often forgetting the usual bows and crosses and talking to the ladies-in-waiting and other persons around him.
The Empress did not like such actions very much. She expressed her disappointment to Chancellor Count Bestuzhev, who, on her behalf, on similar and many other occasions, instructed me to give the Grand Duke serious instructions. This was carried out with all care, usually on Monday, regarding such indecency of his actions, both in church and at court or at other public meetings. He was not offended by such remarks, because he was convinced that I wished him well and always advised him how to please Her Majesty as much as possible and thus create his own happiness...
Alien to all prejudices and superstitions. Thoughts regarding faith were more Protestant than Russian; therefore, from an early age, I often received admonitions not to show such thoughts and to show more attention and respect for worship and the rites of faith.”
Shtelin noted that Peter “always had with him a German Bible and a Kiel prayer book, in which he knew by heart some of the best spiritual songs.” At the same time: “I was afraid of thunderstorms. In words he was not at all afraid of death, but in reality he was afraid of any danger. He often boasted that he would not be left behind in any battle, and that if a bullet hit him, he was sure that it was intended for him,” wrote Shtelin.
Reign of Peter III
On Christmas Day, December 25, 1761 (January 5, 1762), at three o'clock in the afternoon, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna died. Peter ascended the throne of the Russian Empire. Imitating Frederick II, Peter was not crowned, but planned to be crowned after the campaign against Denmark. As a result, Peter III was posthumously crowned Paul I in 1796.
Peter III did not have a clear political program of action, but he had his own vision of politics, and, imitating his grandfather Peter I, planned to carry out a number of reforms. On January 17, 1762, Peter III, at a meeting of the Senate, announced his plans for the future: “The nobles continue to serve of their own free will, as much and where they wish, and when wartime comes, they must all appear on the same basis as in Livonia with sacrificed by the nobles.”
Several months in power revealed the contradictory nature of Peter III. Almost all contemporaries noted such character traits of the emperor as a thirst for activity, tirelessness, kindness and gullibility.
Among the most important reforms of Peter III:
Abolition of the Secret Chancellery (Chancery of Secret Investigative Affairs; Manifesto of February 16, 1762);
- the beginning of the process of secularization of church lands;
- encouragement of commercial and industrial activities through the creation of the State Bank and the issuance of banknotes (Nominal Decree of May 25);
- adoption of a decree on freedom of foreign trade (Decree of March 28); it also contains a requirement to respect forests as one of the most important resources of Russia;
- a decree that allowed the establishment of factories for the production of sailing fabric in Siberia;
- a decree that qualified the murder of peasants by landowners as “tyrant torture” and provided for lifelong exile for this;
- stopped the persecution of the Old Believers.
Peter III is also credited with the intention to carry out the reform of the Russian Orthodox Church according to the Protestant model (In the Manifesto of Catherine II on the occasion of her accession to the throne dated June 28 (July 9), 1762, Peter was blamed for this: “Our Greek Church is already extremely exposed to its last danger of change ancient Orthodoxy in Russia and the adoption of a heterodox law").
Legislative acts adopted during the short reign of Peter III largely became the foundation for the subsequent reign of Catherine II.
The most important document of the reign of Peter Fedorovich - “Manifesto on the freedom of the nobility” (Manifesto of February 18 (March 1), 1762), thanks to which the nobility became the exclusive privileged class of the Russian Empire.
The nobility, having been forced by Peter I to compulsory and universal conscription to serve the state all their lives, and under Anna Ioannovna, having received the right to retire after 25 years of service, now received the right not to serve at all. And the privileges initially granted to the nobility, as a serving class, not only remained, but also expanded. In addition to being exempt from service, nobles received the right to virtually unhindered exit from the country. One of the consequences of the Manifesto was that the nobles could now freely dispose of their land holdings, regardless of their attitude to service (the Manifesto passed over in silence the rights of the nobility to their estates; while the previous legislative acts of Peter I, Anna Ioannovna and Elizaveta Petrovna regarding noble service, linked official duties and landownership rights).
The nobility became as free as a privileged class could be free in a feudal country.
Under Peter III, a broad amnesty was carried out for persons who had been subjected to exile and other punishments in previous years. Among those returned were the favorite of Empress Anna Ioannovna E.I. Biron and Field Marshal B.K. Minich, close to Peter III.
The reign of Peter III was marked by the strengthening of serfdom. The landowners were given the opportunity to arbitrarily resettle the peasants who belonged to them from one district to another; serious bureaucratic restrictions arose on the transition of serfs to the merchant class; During the six months of Peter's reign, about 13 thousand people were distributed from state peasants to serfs (in fact, there were more: only men were included in the audit lists in 1762). During these six months, peasant riots arose several times and were suppressed by punitive detachments.
The legislative activity of the government of Peter III was extraordinary. During the 186-day reign, judging by the official “Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire,” 192 documents were adopted: manifestos, personal and Senate decrees, resolutions, etc.
Peter III was much more interested in internal affairs in the war with Denmark: the emperor decided, in alliance with Prussia, to oppose Denmark in order to return Schleswig, which it had taken from his native Holstein, and he himself intended to go on a campaign at the head of the guard.
Immediately upon his accession to the throne, Peter Fedorovich returned to the court most of the disgraced nobles of the previous reign, who had languished in exile (except for the hated Bestuzhev-Ryumin). Among them was Count Burchard Christopher Minich, a veteran of palace coups and a master of engineering of his time. The Emperor's Holstein relatives were summoned to Russia: Princes Georg Ludwig of Holstein-Gottorp and Peter August Friedrich of Holstein-Beck. Both were promoted to field marshal general in the prospect of war with Denmark; Peter August Friedrich was also appointed governor-general of the capital. Alexander Vilboa was appointed Feldzeichmeister General. These people, as well as the former teacher Jacob Shtelin, who was appointed personal librarian, formed the emperor's inner circle.
Bernhard Wilhelm von der Goltz arrived in St. Petersburg to negotiate a separate peace with Prussia. Peter III valued the opinion of the Prussian envoy so much that he soon began to “direct the entire foreign policy of Russia.”
Among the negative aspects of the reign of Peter III, the main one is his actual annulment of the results of the Seven Years' War. Once in power, Peter III, who did not hide his admiration for Frederick II, immediately stopped military operations against Prussia and concluded the Peace of St. Petersburg with the Prussian king on extremely unfavorable terms for Russia, returning the conquered East Prussia (which by that time had already been a constituent part of part of the Russian Empire) and abandoning all acquisitions during the Seven Years' War, which was practically won by Russia. All the sacrifices, all the heroism of the Russian soldiers were crossed out in one fell swoop, which looked like a real betrayal of the interests of the fatherland and high treason.
Russia's exit from the war once again saved Prussia from complete defeat. The peace concluded on April 24 was interpreted by the ill-wishers of Peter III as a true national humiliation, since the long and costly war, by the grace of this admirer of Prussia, ended in literally nothing: Russia did not derive any benefits from its victories. However, this did not prevent Catherine II from continuing what Peter III had started, and the Prussian lands were finally liberated from the control of Russian troops and given to Prussia by her. Catherine II concluded a new treaty of alliance with Frederick II in 1764. However, Catherine’s role in ending the Seven Years’ War is usually not advertised.
Despite the progressive nature of many legislative measures and unprecedented privileges for the nobility, Peter’s poorly thought-out foreign policy actions, as well as his harsh actions towards the church, the introduction of Prussian orders in the army not only did not add to his authority, but deprived him of any social support. In court circles, his policy only generated uncertainty about the future.
Finally, the intention to withdraw the guard from St. Petersburg and send it on an incomprehensible and unpopular Danish campaign served as the “last straw”, a powerful catalyst for the conspiracy that arose in the guard against Peter III in favor of Ekaterina Alekseevna.
Death of Peter III
The origins of the conspiracy date back to 1756, that is, to the time of the beginning of the Seven Years' War and the deterioration of Elizabeth Petrovna's health. The all-powerful Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, knowing full well about the pro-Prussian sentiments of the heir and realizing that under the new sovereign he was threatened with at least Siberia, hatched plans to neutralize Peter Fedorovich upon his accession to the throne, declaring Catherine an equal co-ruler. However, Alexey Petrovich fell into disgrace in 1758, hastening to implement his plan (the chancellor’s intentions remained undisclosed; he managed to destroy dangerous papers). The Empress herself had no illusions about her successor to the throne and later thought about replacing her nephew with her great-nephew Paul.
Over the next three years, Catherine, who also came under suspicion in 1758 and almost ended up in a monastery, did not take any noticeable political actions, except that she persistently multiplied and strengthened her personal connections in high society.
In the ranks of the guard, a conspiracy against Pyotr Fedorovich took shape in the last months of Elizaveta Petrovna’s life, thanks to the activities of three Orlov brothers, officers of the Izmailovsky regiment brothers Roslavlev and Lasunsky, Preobrazhensky soldiers Passek and Bredikhin and others. Among the highest dignitaries of the Empire, the most enterprising conspirators were N. I. Panin, teacher of the young Pavel Petrovich, M. N. Volkonsky and K. G. Razumovsky, Ukrainian hetman, president of the Academy of Sciences, favorite of his Izmailovsky regiment.
Elizaveta Petrovna died without deciding to change anything in the fate of the throne. Catherine did not consider it possible to carry out a coup immediately after the death of the Empress: she was five months pregnant (in April 1762 she gave birth to her son Alexei). In addition, Catherine had political reasons not to rush things; she wanted to attract as many supporters as possible to her side for complete triumph. Knowing well the character of her husband, she rightly believed that Peter would soon turn the entire metropolitan society against himself.
To carry out the coup, Catherine preferred to wait for an opportune moment.
Peter III's position in society was precarious, but Catherine's position at court was also precarious. Peter III openly said that he was going to divorce his wife in order to marry his favorite Elizaveta Vorontsova. He treated his wife rudely, and on June 9, during a gala dinner on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with Prussia, a public scandal occurred. The Emperor, in the presence of the court, diplomats and foreign princes, shouted “folle” (fool) to his wife across the table. Catherine began to cry. The reason for the insult was Catherine’s reluctance to drink while standing the toast proclaimed by Peter III. The hostility between the spouses reached its climax. On the evening of the same day, he gave the order to arrest her, and only the intervention of Field Marshal Georg of Holstein-Gottorp, the emperor's uncle, saved Catherine.
By May 1762, the change of mood in the capital became so obvious that the emperor was advised from all sides to take measures to prevent a disaster, there were denunciations of a possible conspiracy, but Pyotr Fedorovich did not understand the seriousness of his situation. In May, the court, led by the emperor, as usual, left the city, to Oranienbaum. There was a calm in the capital, which greatly contributed to the final preparations of the conspirators.
The Danish campaign was planned for June. The emperor decided to postpone the march of the troops in order to celebrate his name day. On the morning of June 28 (July 9), 1762, on the eve of Peter's Day, Emperor Peter III and his retinue set off from Oranienbaum, his country residence, to Peterhof, where a gala dinner was to take place in honor of the emperor's name day.
The day before, a rumor spread throughout St. Petersburg that Catherine was being held under arrest. Violent unrest began in the guard; one of the participants in the conspiracy, Captain Passek, was arrested. The Orlov brothers feared that the conspiracy was in danger of being exposed.
In Peterhof, Peter III was supposed to be met by his wife, who, in the duty of the empress, was the organizer of the celebrations, but by the time the court arrived, she had disappeared. After a short time, it became known that Catherine fled to St. Petersburg early in the morning in a carriage with Alexei Orlov - he arrived in Peterhof to see Catherine with the news that events had taken a critical turn and it was no longer possible to delay).
In the capital, the Guard, the Senate and the Synod, and the population swore allegiance to the “Empress and Autocrat of All Russia” in a short time. The guard moved towards Peterhof.
Peter's further actions show an extreme degree of confusion. Rejecting Minich's advice to immediately head to Kronstadt and fight, relying on the fleet and the army loyal to him stationed in East Prussia, he was going to defend himself in Peterhof in a toy fortress built for maneuvers, with the help of a detachment of Holsteins. However, having learned about the approach of the guard led by Catherine, Peter abandoned this thought and sailed to Kronstadt with the entire court, ladies, etc. But by that time Kronstadt had already sworn allegiance to Catherine. After this, Peter completely lost heart and, again rejecting Minich’s advice to go to the East Prussian army, returned to Oranienbaum, where he signed his abdication of the throne.
The circumstances of the death of Peter III have not yet been fully clarified.
The deposed emperor on June 29 (July 10), 1762, almost immediately after the coup, accompanied by a guard of guards led by A.G. Orlov was sent to Ropsha, 30 versts from St. Petersburg, where a week later, on July 6 (17), 1762, he died. According to the official version, the cause of death was an attack of hemorrhoidal colic, worsened by prolonged alcohol consumption and diarrhea. During the autopsy, which was carried out by order of Catherine, it was discovered that Peter III had severe cardiac dysfunction, inflammation of the intestines and signs of apoplexy.
However, according to another version, Peter’s death is considered violent and Alexei Orlov is called the murderer. This version is based on Orlov’s letter to Catherine from Ropsha, which was not preserved in the original. This letter has reached us in a copy taken by F.V. Rostopchin. The original letter was allegedly destroyed by Emperor Paul I in the first days of his reign. Recent historical and linguistic studies refute the authenticity of the document and name Rostopchin himself as the author of the forgery.
A number of modern medical examinations, based on surviving documents and evidence, revealed that Peter III suffered from bipolar disorder with a mild depressive phase, suffered from hemorrhoids, which is why he could not sit in one place for a long time. Microcardia discovered at autopsy usually suggests a complex of congenital developmental disorders.
Initially, Peter III was buried without any honors on July 10 (21), 1762 in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, since only crowned heads were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the imperial tomb. The full Senate asked the Empress not to attend the funeral. According to some reports, Catherine nevertheless arrived at the Lavra incognito and paid her last debt to her husband.
In 1796, immediately after the death of Catherine, by order of Paul I, his remains were transferred first to the house church of the Winter Palace, and then to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Peter III was reburied simultaneously with the burial of Catherine II.
At the same time, Emperor Paul personally performed the ceremony of coronation of the ashes of his father. The head slabs of the buried bear the same date of burial (December 18, 1796), which gives the impression that Peter III and Catherine II lived together for many years and died on the same day.
On June 13, 2014, the world's first monument to Peter III was erected in the German city of Kiel. The initiators of this action were the German historian Elena Palmer and the Kiel Royal Society (Kieler Zaren Verein). The sculptor of the composition was Alexander Taratynov.
Impostors under the name of Peter III
Peter III became the absolute record holder for the number of impostors who tried to take the place of the untimely deceased king. According to the latest data, in Russia alone there were about forty false Peter III.
In 1764, Anton Aslanbekov, a bankrupt Armenian merchant, played the role of false Peter. Detained with a false passport in the Kursk district, he declared himself emperor and tried to rouse the people in his defense. The impostor was punished with whips and sent to eternal settlement in Nerchinsk.
Soon after this, the name of the late emperor was appropriated by the fugitive recruit Ivan Evdokimov, who tried to raise an uprising in his favor among the peasants of the Nizhny Novgorod province, and Nikolai Kolchenko in the Chernigov region.
In 1765, a new impostor appeared in the Voronezh province, publicly declaring himself emperor. Later, arrested and interrogated, he called himself Gavrila Kremnevoy, a private in the Lant-militia Oryol Regiment. Having deserted after 14 years of service, he managed to get himself a horse and lure two serfs of the landowner Kologrivov to his side. At first, Kremnev declared himself “a captain in the imperial service” and promised that from now on, distilling would be prohibited, and the collection of capitation money and recruitment would be suspended for 12 years, but after some time, prompted by his accomplices, he decided to declare his “royal name.” For a short time, Kremnev was successful, the nearest villages greeted him with bread and salt and the ringing of bells, and a detachment of five thousand people gradually gathered around the impostor. However, the untrained and unorganized gang fled at the first shots. Kremnev was captured and sentenced to death, but was pardoned by Catherine and exiled to eternal settlement in Nerchinsk, where his traces were completely lost.
In the same year, shortly after Kremnev’s arrest, in Sloboda Ukraine, in the settlement of Kupyanka, Izyum district, a new impostor appears - Pyotr Fedorovich Chernyshev, a fugitive soldier of the Bryansk regiment. This impostor, unlike his predecessors, was captured, convicted and exiled to Nerchinsk, did not abandon his claims, spreading rumors that the “father-emperor,” who incognito inspected the soldier’s regiments, was mistakenly captured and beaten with whips. The peasants who believed him tried to organize an escape by bringing the “sovereign” a horse and providing him with money and provisions for the journey. The impostor got lost in the taiga, was caught and cruelly punished in front of his admirers, sent to Mangazeya for eternal work, but died on the way there.
In the Iset province, the Cossack Kamenshchikov, previously convicted of many crimes, was sentenced to have his nostrils cut out and eternal exile to work in Nerchinsk for spreading rumors that the emperor was alive, but imprisoned in the Trinity Fortress. At the trial, he showed as his accomplice the Cossack Konon Belyanin, who was allegedly preparing to act as emperor. Belyanin got off with whippings.
In 1768, a second lieutenant of the Shirvan army regiment, Josaphat Baturin, who was kept in the Shlisselburg fortress, in conversations with the soldiers on duty, assured that “Peter Fedorovich is alive, but in a foreign land,” and even with one of the guards he tried to convey a letter for the allegedly hiding monarch. By chance, this episode reached the authorities, and the prisoner was sentenced to eternal exile to Kamchatka, from where he later managed to escape, taking part in the famous enterprise of Moritz Benevsky.
In 1769, near Astrakhan, the fugitive soldier Mamykin was caught, publicly announcing that the emperor, who, of course, managed to escape, “will take over the kingdom again and will give benefits to the peasants.”
An extraordinary person turned out to be Fedot Bogomolov, a former serf who fled and joined the Volga Cossacks under the name Kazin. In March-June 1772 on the Volga, in the Tsaritsyn region, when his colleagues, due to the fact that Kazin-Bogomolov seemed too smart and intelligent to them, suggested that the emperor was hiding in front of them, Bogomolov easily agreed with his “imperial dignity.” Bogomolov, following his predecessors, was arrested and sentenced to have his nostrils pulled out, branded and eternal exile. On the way to Siberia he died.
In 1773, the robber ataman Georgy Ryabov, who had escaped from the Nerchinsk penal servitude, tried to impersonate the emperor. His supporters later joined the Pugachevites, declaring that their deceased chieftain and the leader of the peasant war were one and the same person. The captain of one of the battalions stationed in Orenburg, Nikolai Kretov, unsuccessfully tried to declare himself emperor.
In the same year, a Don Cossack, whose name has not been preserved in history, decided to benefit financially from the widespread belief in the “hiding emperor.” His accomplice, posing as a secretary of state, traveled around the Tsaritsyn district of the Astrakhan province, taking oaths and preparing the people to receive the “father-tsar”, then the impostor himself appeared. The duo managed to profit enough at someone else's expense before the news reached the other Cossacks, and they decided to give everything a political aspect. A plan was developed to capture the town of Dubovka and arrest all the officers. The authorities became aware of the plot, and one of the high-ranking military men, accompanied by a small convoy, arrived at the hut where the impostor was located, hit him in the face and ordered his arrest along with his accomplice. The Cossacks present obeyed, but when the arrested were taken to Tsaritsyn for trial and execution, rumors immediately spread that the emperor was in custody, and muted unrest began. To avoid an attack, the prisoners were forced to be kept outside the city, under heavy escort. During the investigation, the prisoner died, that is, from the point of view of ordinary people, he again “disappeared without a trace.”
In 1773, the future leader of the peasant war, Emelyan Pugachev, the most famous of the false Peter III, skillfully turned this story to his advantage, asserting that he himself was the “emperor who disappeared from Tsaritsyn.”
In 1774, another candidate for emperor came across, a certain Metelka. In the same year, Foma Mosyagin, who also tried to try on the “role” of Peter III, was arrested and deported to Nerchinsk along with the other impostors.
In 1776, the peasant Sergeev paid for the same thing, gathering a gang around himself that was going to rob and burn the landowners' houses. Voronezh governor Ivan Potapov, who managed to defeat the peasant freemen with some difficulty, determined during the investigation that the conspiracy was extremely extensive - at least 96 people were involved in it to one degree or another.
In 1778, a drunken soldier of the Tsaritsyn 2nd battalion, Yakov Dmitriev, told everyone in the bathhouse that “in the Crimean steppes the former third emperor Peter Feodorovich is with the army, who was previously kept on guard, from where he was kidnapped by the Don Cossacks; under him, the Iron Forehead is leading that army, against whom there was already a battle on our side, where two divisions were defeated, and we are waiting for him like a father; and on the border Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev stands with the army and does not defend against it, but says that he does not want to defend from either side.” Dmitriev was interrogated under guard, and he stated that he heard this story “on the street from unknown people.” The Empress agreed with Prosecutor General A.A. Vyazemsky that there was nothing more than drunken recklessness and stupid chatter behind this, and the soldier punished by the batogs was accepted into his former service.
In 1780, after the suppression of the Pugachev rebellion, the Don Cossack Maxim Khanin in the lower reaches of the Volga again tried to raise the people, posing as “the miracle of Pugachev’s escape.” The number of his supporters began to grow rapidly, among them were peasants and rural priests, and panic began among the authorities. On the Ilovlya River, the challenger was captured and taken to Tsaritsyn. Astrakhan Governor-General I.V., who came specially to conduct the investigation. Jacobi subjected the prisoner to interrogation and torture, during which Khanin confessed that back in 1778 he had met in Tsaritsyn with his friend named Oruzheinikov, and this friend convinced him that Khanin was “exactly” like Pugachev-“Peter”. The impostor was shackled and sent to Saratov prison.
The scopal sect had its own Peter III - it was its founder, Kondraty Selivanov. Selivanov wisely neither confirmed nor denied rumors about his identity with the “hidden emperor.” A legend has been preserved that in 1797 he met with Paul I and when the emperor, not without irony, inquired, “Are you my father?” Selivanov allegedly replied, “I am not the father of sin; accept my work (castration), and I recognize you as my son.” What is thoroughly known is that Paul ordered that the osprey prophet be placed in a nursing home for the insane at the Obukhov hospital.
The Lost Emperor appeared abroad at least four times and enjoyed considerable success there. For the first time it appeared in 1766 in Montenegro, which at that time was being fought for independence against the Turks by the Venetian Republic. This man named Stefan, who came from nowhere and became a village healer, never declared himself emperor, but a certain captain Tanovich, who had previously been in St. Petersburg, “recognized” him as the missing emperor, and the elders who gathered for the council managed to find a portrait of Peter in one from Orthodox monasteries and came to the conclusion that the original is very similar to its image. A high-ranking delegation was sent to Stefan with requests to take power over the country, but he flatly refused until internal strife was stopped and peace was concluded between the tribes. Unusual demands finally convinced the Montenegrins of his “royal origin” and, despite the resistance of the Church and the machinations of the Russian general Dolgorukov, Stefan became the ruler of the country.
He never revealed his real name, leaving Yu.V. Dolgoruky has three versions to choose from - “Raicevic from Dalmatia, a Turk from Bosnia and finally a Turk from Ioannina.” Openly recognizing himself as Peter III, he, however, ordered to be called Stefan and went down in history as Stefan the Small, which is believed to come from the impostor’s signature - “Stephen, small with small ones, good with good, evil with evil.” Stefan turned out to be an intelligent and knowledgeable ruler. In the short time he remained in power, civil strife ceased. After short friction, friendly relations were established with Russia, and the country defended itself quite confidently against the onslaught from both the Venetians and the Turks. This could not please the conquerors, and Turkey and Venice made repeated attempts on Stephen’s life. Finally, one of the attempts succeeded and after five years of rule, Stefan Maly was stabbed to death in his sleep by his own doctor, Stanko Klasomunya, bribed by the Skadar Pasha. The impostor's belongings were sent to St. Petersburg, and his associates tried to receive a pension from Catherine for “valiant service to her husband.”
After the death of Stefan, a certain Stepan Zanovich tried to declare himself the ruler of Montenegro and Peter III, who once again “miraculously escaped from the hands of murderers,” but his attempt was unsuccessful. After leaving Montenegro, Zanovich corresponded with monarchs from 1773 and kept in touch with Voltaire and Rousseau. In 1785 in Amsterdam, the swindler was arrested and his veins were cut.
Count Mocenigo, who was at that time on the island of Zante in the Adriatic, wrote about another impostor in a report to the Doge of the Venetian Republic. This impostor operated in Turkish Albania, in the vicinity of the city of Arta.
The last impostor was arrested in 1797.
The image of Peter III in the cinema:
1934 - The Loose Empress (actor Sam Jaffe as Peter III)
1934 - The Rise of Catherine the Great (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.)
1963 - Catherine of Russia (Caterina di Russia) (Raoul Grassili)
Peter III Fedorovich, Emperor of All Russia (1761 - 1762), son of the daughter of Peter I Anna and Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Karl Friedrich.
He was born on February 10, 1728 in Holstein and received the name Karl Peter Ulrich at birth. The death of his mother and the chaotic life of his father, which followed 7 days later, affected the upbringing of the prince, which was extremely stupid and absurd. 1739 he was left an orphan. Peter's teacher was a rude, soldier-like man, von Brumer, who could not give anything good to his pupil. Peter was intended to be the heir to the Swedish throne, as the great-nephew of Charles XII. He was taught the Lutheran catechism, and was instilled with hatred of Muscovy, the original enemy of Sweden. But Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, immediately after her accession to the throne, began to take care of her successor, which was necessary to strengthen the throne for herself due to the existence of the Brunswick family (Anna Leopoldovna and Ivan Antonovich). Peter was brought from his homeland to St. Petersburg at the beginning of January 1742. Here, in addition to the Holsteiners Brumaire and Berchholz, Academician Shtelin was assigned to him, who, despite all his labors and efforts, could not correct the prince and bring his upbringing to the proper level.
Peter III. Portrait by Pfanzelt, 1762
In November 1742, the prince converted to Orthodoxy and was named Peter Fedorovich, and in 1744 he was matched with Princess Sophia Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, later Catherine II. In the same year, during a trip with the empress to Kyiv, Peter fell ill with smallpox, which distorted his entire face with mountain ash. His marriage to Catherine took place on August 21, 1745. The life of the young couple in terms of the mutual relations of the spouses was most unsuccessful; At Elizabeth's court, their situation was quite difficult. In 1754, Catherine gave birth to a son, Pavel, who was separated from his parents and taken into care by the empress. In 1756, Catherine gave birth to another daughter, Anna, who died in 1759. At this time, Peter, who did not love his wife, became close to the maid of honor, Count. Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova. At the end of her life, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was very afraid for the future that lay ahead during the reign of her heir, but she died without making any new orders and without officially expressing her last will.
Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (future Peter III) and Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna (future Catherine II)
Peter III marked the beginning of his reign with a number of favors and preferential government orders. Minich, Biron, and Lestok, Lilienfelds, Natalya Lopukhina and others, a decree was given to abolish the oppressive salt duty, granted certificate of liberty of the nobility, the secret office and the terrible “word and deed” were destroyed, schismatics who fled persecution under the Empresses Elizabeth and Anna Ioannovna were returned, and now received complete freedom of faith. But the reason for taking these measures was not Peter III’s actual concern for his subjects, but his desire to initially gain popularity. They were carried out inconsistently and did not bring popular love to the new emperor. The military and clergy began to be especially hostile towards him. In the army, Peter III aroused displeasure with his passion for the Holsteins and Prussian order, the destruction of the noble guard, influential in St. Petersburg, the change of Peter's uniforms to Prussian ones, and the naming of regiments after the names of their chiefs, and not as before - according to the provinces. The clergy was dissatisfied with the attitude of Peter III towards schismatics, the emperor’s disrespect for the Orthodox clergy and icon veneration (there were rumors that he was going to change all Russian priests from cassocks into civilian dress - according to the Protestant model), and, most importantly, with the decrees on the management of bishops’ and monastic estates, turning the Orthodox clergy into salaried officials.
Added to this was general dissatisfaction with the foreign policy of the new emperor. Peter III was a passionate admirer of Frederick II and completely submitted to the influence of the Prussian ambassador in St. Petersburg, Baron Goltz. Peter not only stopped Russian participation in the Seven Years' War, which constrained the Prussians to the extreme, but concluded a peace treaty with them to the detriment of all Russian interests. The Emperor gave Prussia all the Russian conquests (i.e., its eastern provinces) and concluded an alliance with it, according to which the Russians and Prussians were to provide assistance in the event of an attack on either of them in the amount of 12 thousand infantry and 4 thousand cavalry. They say that the terms of this peace treaty, with the consent of Peter III, were personally dictated by Frederick the Great. By secret articles of the treaty, the Prussian king pledged to help Peter acquire the Duchy of Schleswig from Denmark in favor of Holstein, to assist Prince George of Holstein in occupying the Ducal throne of Courland and to guarantee the then constitution of Poland. Frederick promised that after the death of the reigning Polish king, Prussia would contribute to the appointment of a successor pleasing to Russia. The last point was the only one that gave some benefit not to Holstein, but to Russia itself. The Russian army, stationed in Prussia under the command of Chernyshev, was ordered to oppose the Austrians, who had previously been allies of Russia in the Seven Years' War.
The troops and Russian society were terribly outraged by all this. The Russians' hatred of the Germans and the new order intensified thanks to the cruelty and tactlessness of the Emperor's uncle Georg Holstein, who arrived in Russia and was promoted to field marshal. Peter III began to prepare for a war for Holstein interests with Denmark. Denmark responded by entering Mecklenburg and occupying the area around Wismar. In June 1762, orders were given to the guards to prepare to go to war. The Emperor wanted to open the campaign after his name day on the 29th, this time not listening to the advice of Frederick II: to be crowned before the start of the war.
Emperor Peter III. Portrait by Antropov, 1762
Meanwhile, Peter III's relationship with his wife Catherine became increasingly strained. The tsar was not a deeply vicious person, as his wife later wrote about him, but he barely maintained an officially correct relationship with her, interrupting them often with rude antics. There were even rumors that Catherine was threatened with arrest. On June 28, 1762, Peter III was in Oranienbaum, and a conspiracy had already been prepared against him among the troops, to which some prominent nobles also joined. The accidental arrest of one of its participants, Passek, precipitated the 28 June coup. On the morning of this day, Catherine went to St. Petersburg and declared herself empress, and her son, Paul, heir. On the evening of the 28th, at the head of the guard, she moved to Oranienbaum. Confused, Peter went to Kronstadt, which was occupied by supporters of the Empress, and was not allowed there. Not heeding Minich’s advice to retire to Revel, and then to Pomerania to join the troops, the emperor returned to Oranienbaum and signed his abdication.
On the same day, June 29, Peter III was brought to Peterhof, arrested and sent to Ropsha, his chosen place of residence, until decent apartments were prepared for him in the Shlisselburg fortress. Catherine left with Peter her lover Alexei Orlov, Prince Baryatinsky and three guards officers with a hundred soldiers. On July 6, 1762, the emperor died suddenly. The cause of the death of Peter III in the manifesto published on this occasion was clearly mockingly called “hemorrhoidal sockets and severe colic.” At the burial of Peter III, held in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, Catherine was not at the request of the Senate, caused by the proposal of Count N. Panin, to postpone her intention to attend for the sake of health
Literature about Peter III
M. I. Semevsky, “Six months from Russian history of the 18th century.” (“Otech. Zap.”, 1867)
V. Timiryazev, “The six-month reign of Peter III” (“Historical Bulletin, 1903, Nos. 3 and 4)
V. Bilbasov, “The History of Catherine II”
"Notes of Empress Catherine"
Shchebalsky, “Political system of Peter III”
Brickner, “The Life of Peter III before Accession to the Throne” (“Russian Bulletin”, 1883).
Russian Emperor Peter III (Peter Fedorovich, born Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein Gottorp) was born on February 21 (10 old style) February 1728 in the city of Kiel in the Duchy of Holstein (now a territory of Germany).
His father is Duke of Holstein Gottorp Karl Friedrich, nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII, his mother is Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter I. Thus, Peter III was the grandson of two sovereigns and could, under certain conditions, be a contender for both the Russian and Swedish thrones .
In 1741, after the death of Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden, he was chosen to succeed her husband Frederick, who received the Swedish throne. In 1742, Peter was brought to Russia and declared heir to the Russian throne by his aunt.
Peter III became the first representative of the Holstein-Gottorp (Oldenburg) branch of the Romanovs on the Russian throne, which ruled until 1917.
Peter's relationship with his wife did not work out from the very beginning. He spent all his free time engaged in military exercises and maneuvers. During the years spent in Russia, Peter never made any attempt to better know this country, its people and history. Elizaveta Petrovna did not allow him to participate in resolving political issues, and the only position in which he could prove himself was the position of director of the Gentry Corps. Meanwhile, Peter openly criticized the activities of the government, and during the Seven Years' War publicly expressed sympathy for the Prussian king Frederick II. All this was widely known not only at court, but also in wider layers of Russian society, where Peter enjoyed neither authority nor popularity.
The beginning of his reign was marked by numerous favors to the nobility. The former regent Duke of Courland and many others returned from exile. The Secret Investigation Office was destroyed. On March 3 (February 18, old style), 1762, the emperor issued a Decree on the liberty of the nobility (Manifesto “On the granting of liberty and freedom to the entire Russian nobility”).
The material was prepared based on information from open sources
Russian Emperor Peter III (Peter Fedorovich, born Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein Gottorp) was born on February 21 (10 old style) February 1728 in the city of Kiel in the Duchy of Holstein (now a territory of Germany).
His father is Duke of Holstein Gottorp Karl Friedrich, nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII, his mother is Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter I. Thus, Peter III was the grandson of two sovereigns and could, under certain conditions, be a contender for both the Russian and Swedish thrones .
In 1741, after the death of Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden, he was chosen to succeed her husband Frederick, who received the Swedish throne. In 1742, Peter was brought to Russia and declared heir to the Russian throne by his aunt.
Peter III became the first representative of the Holstein-Gottorp (Oldenburg) branch of the Romanovs on the Russian throne, which ruled until 1917.
Peter's relationship with his wife did not work out from the very beginning. He spent all his free time engaged in military exercises and maneuvers. During the years spent in Russia, Peter never made any attempt to better know this country, its people and history. Elizaveta Petrovna did not allow him to participate in resolving political issues, and the only position in which he could prove himself was the position of director of the Gentry Corps. Meanwhile, Peter openly criticized the activities of the government, and during the Seven Years' War publicly expressed sympathy for the Prussian king Frederick II. All this was widely known not only at court, but also in wider layers of Russian society, where Peter enjoyed neither authority nor popularity.
The beginning of his reign was marked by numerous favors to the nobility. The former regent Duke of Courland and many others returned from exile. The Secret Investigation Office was destroyed. On March 3 (February 18, old style), 1762, the emperor issued a Decree on the liberty of the nobility (Manifesto “On the granting of liberty and freedom to the entire Russian nobility”).
The material was prepared based on information from open sources
