When it comes to the emperor's children Peter the Great, as a rule, they remember the eldest son Tsarevich Alexei, and also a daughter Elizaveta Petrovna who became empress.
In fact, in two marriages, Peter I had more than 10 children. Why did he not have obvious heirs at the time of the emperor’s death, and what was the fate of the offspring of the most famous Russian reformer?
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich. reproduction
Alexei
Firstborn of Peter and his first wife Evdokia Lopukhina, named Alexey, was born on February 18 (28 according to the new style) 1690 in the village of Preobrazhenskoye.
The first years of his life, Alexey Petrovich was in the care of his grandmother, the queen Natalia Kirillovna. The father, immersed in state affairs, paid practically no attention to raising his son.
After the death of Natalya Kirillovna and the imprisonment of his mother, Evdokia Lopukhina, in a monastery, Peter handed over his son to be raised by his sister, Natalya Alekseevna.
Peter I, who nevertheless became concerned with the education of the heir to the throne, could not find worthy teachers for him.
Alexey Petrovich spent most of his time away from his father, surrounded by people who were not distinguished by high moral principles. Peter's attempts to involve his son in state affairs turned out to be failures.
In 1711, Peter arranged the marriage of his son with the princess Charlotte of Wolfenbüttel, who gave birth to Alexey’s daughter Natalia and son Petra. Shortly after the birth of her son, she died.
The gap between Peter and Alexei by that time had become almost insurmountable. And after the emperor’s second wife gave birth to his son, named Peter, the emperor began to seek from the first-born his renunciation of rights to the throne. Alexei decided to flee and left the country in 1716.
The situation was extremely unpleasant for Peter I - the heir could well be used in political games against him. Russian diplomats were ordered to return the prince to his homeland at any cost.
At the end of 1717, Alexei agreed to return to Russia and in February 1718 solemnly renounced his rights to the throne.
Despite this, the Secret Chancellery began an investigation, suspecting Alexei of treason. As a result of the investigation, the prince was put on trial and sentenced to death as a traitor. He died in the Peter and Paul Fortress on June 26 (July 7), 1718, according to the official version, from a stroke.
Peter I published an official notice, which said that, having heard the death sentence, the prince was horrified, demanded his father, asked him for forgiveness and died in a Christian way, in complete repentance for his deeds.
Alexander and Pavel
Alexander, the second child of Peter and Evdokia Lopukhina, like his older brother, was born in the village of Preobrazhenskoye on October 3 (13), 1691.
The boy lived only seven months and died in Moscow on May 14 (May 24), 1692. The prince was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The inscription on his tombstone reads: “In the summer of 7200 in the month of May, from the 13th day at the fifth hour of the night in the second quarter from Friday to Saturday, in memory of the holy martyr Isidore, who on the island of Chios reposed the servant of God of the Blessed and Pious Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich, all "The Autocrat of Great, Lesser and White Russia, and the Blessed and Pious Empress Queen and Grand Duchess Evdokia Feodorovna, son, the Most Blessed Sovereign Tsarevich and Grand Duke Alexander Petrovich, of all Great, Lesser and White Russia, and was buried in this place of the same month on the 14th day" .
The existence of another son of Peter and Evdokia Lopukhina, Pavel, is completely questioned by historians. The boy was born in 1693, but died almost immediately.
Catherine
In 1703, she became the mistress of Emperor Peter I Marta Skavronskaya, which the king in the first years of the relationship called in letters Katerina Vasilevskaya.
Even before marriage, Peter's mistress was pregnant several times by him. The first two children were boys who died shortly after birth.
On December 28, 1706 (January 8, 1707) in Moscow, Marta Skavronskaya gave birth to a daughter named Ekaterina. The girl lived for one year and seven months and died on July 27, 1708 (August 8, 1709).
Like her two younger sisters, Catherine was born out of wedlock, but was later officially recognized by her father and posthumously recognized as a Grand Duchess.
She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Anna
Anna Petrovna was born on January 27 (February 7), 1708. The girl, being an illegitimate child, received the same family name “Anna”, like her legal cousin, the daughter of Ivan V Anna Ioannovna.
Anna became the first of Peter's daughters and the first of Martha Skavronskaya's children to survive infancy.
In 1711, the father, having not yet entered into a legal marriage with Anna’s mother, officially proclaimed her and her sister Elizabeth princesses.
A large plot of land in St. Petersburg was transferred to Anna's ownership. Subsequently, the Annenhof country estate was built for Anna near Ekateringhof.
In 1724, Peter I gave his consent to his daughter’s marriage to the Duke Karl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp.According to the marriage contract, Anna Petrovna retained the Orthodox religion and could raise daughters born in marriage in Orthodoxy, while sons had to be raised in the faith of their father. Anna and her husband refused the opportunity to claim the Russian crown, but the agreement had a secret article, according to which Peter reserved the right to proclaim the son from their marriage as heir.
The father did not see his daughter's wedding - Peter died two months after signing the marriage contract, and the marriage was concluded on May 21 (June 1), 1725.
Anna and her husband were very influential figures in St. Petersburg during the short reign of her mother, formerly Maria Skavronskaya, who ascended the throne as Catherine I.
After Catherine's death in 1727, Anna and her husband were forced to leave for Holstein. In February 1728, Anna gave birth to a son, who was named Karl Peter Ulrich. In the future, Anna's son ascended to the Russian throne under the name of Emperor Peter III.Anna Petrovna died in the spring of 1728. According to some sources, the cause was the consequences of childbirth; according to another, Anna caught a bad cold at the celebrations in honor of the birth of her son.
Before her death, Anna expressed a desire to be buried in St. Petersburg, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, next to her father’s grave, which was fulfilled in November 1728.
Elizabeth
The third daughter of Peter I and his second wife was born on December 18 (29), 1709, during the celebrations of the victory over Charles XII. In 1711, together with his older sister Anna, Elizabeth was officially proclaimed princess.
Her father made big plans for Elizabeth, intending to become related to the French kings, but proposals for such a marriage were rejected.
During the reign of Catherine I, Elizabeth was considered as the heir to the Russian throne. Opponents, primarily Prince Menshikov, in response began to promote the project of the princess’s marriage. The groom, Prince Karl August of Holstein-Gottorp, came to Russia to get married, but in May 1727, in the midst of preparations for the wedding, he contracted smallpox and died.After the death of Emperor Peter II in 1730, the throne passed to Elizabeth's cousin, Anna Ioannovna. For ten years of her cousin's reign, Elizabeth was in disgrace and under constant surveillance.
In 1741, after the death of Anna Ioannovna, Elizabeth led a coup against the young Emperor Ivan VI and his relatives. Having achieved success, she ascended the throne under the name of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.Peter's daughter occupied the throne for twenty years, until her death. Unable to enter into an official marriage, and, accordingly, give birth to legitimate heirs to the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna returned her nephew, Duke Karl-Peter Ulrich of Holstein, from abroad. Upon arrival in Russia, he was renamed in the Russian manner to Peter Fedorovich, and the words “grandson of Peter the Great” were included in the official title.
Elizabeth died in St. Petersburg on December 25, 1761 (January 5, 1762) at the age of 52, and was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Natalya (senior) and Margarita
On March 3 (14), 1713, in St. Petersburg, Peter I and his second wife had a daughter, who was named Natalia. The girl became the first legitimate child of the emperor and his new wife.
Named after her grandmother, the mother of Peter the Great, Natalya lived for 2 years and 2 months. She died on May 27 (June 7), 1715 and was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
On September 3 (14), 1714, Tsarina Catherine gave birth to another daughter, who was named Margarita. The girl lived for 10 months and 24 days and died on July 27 (August 7), 1715, that is, exactly two months after her sister. Margarita was also buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Tsarevich Peter Petrovich in the image of Cupid in a portrait by Louis Caravaque Photo: reproduction
Peter
On October 29 (November 9), 1715, the son of Peter the Great was born, who, like his father, was named Peter. The Tsar made big plans in connection with the birth of his son - he was supposed to succeed his older brother Alexei as heir to the throne.
But the boy was in poor health; by the age of three he did not begin to walk or speak. The worst fears of doctors and parents came true - at the age of three and a half years, on April 25 (May 6), 1719, Pyotr Petrovich died.
For Peter the Great, this death was a heavy blow. The hope for a son who would continue the business was completely destroyed.
Paul
Unlike Pavel, who was allegedly born to Evdokia Lopukhina, the fact of the birth of a son with that name by the second wife of Peter I was confirmed.
The boy was born on January 2 (13), 1717 in Wesel, Germany, during Peter the Great’s foreign trip. The king was in Amsterdam at that time and did not find his son alive. Pavel Petrovich died after living only one day. However, he received the title of Grand Duke and was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, becoming the first male of the Romanov family to be buried there.
Natalya (junior)
On August 20 (31), 1718, during peace negotiations with Sweden, the queen gave birth to Peter the Great another daughter, who was destined to become his last child.
The baby was named Natalya, despite the fact that just three years earlier, the royal couple’s daughter with the same name died.
The youngest Natalya, unlike most of her brothers and sisters, managed to survive infancy. At the time of the official proclamation of the Russian Empire in 1721, only three daughters of Peter the Great remained alive - Anna, Elizabeth and Natalya.Alas, this girl was not destined to become an adult. In January 1725, her father, Peter I, died without leaving a will. A fierce struggle for power broke out among the tsar's associates. Under these conditions, few people paid attention to the child. Natasha fell ill with measles and died on March 4 (15), 1725.
By that time, Peter I had not yet been buried, and the coffins of father and daughter were exhibited together in the same room. Natalya Petrovna was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral next to her brothers and sisters.
.Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich (Alexei Petrovich Romanov; February 18, 1690, Preobrazhenskoye - June 26, 1718, St. Petersburg) - heir to the Russian throne, the eldest son of Peter I and his first wife Evdokia Lopukhina.
Unknown artist Portrait of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich Russia, XVIII century.
Demakov Evgeny Alexandrovich. Peter I and Evdokia-Lopukhina
Alexey Petrovich was born on February 18 (28), 1690 in Preobrazhenskoye. Baptized on February 23 (March 5), 1690, his successors were Patriarch Joachim and Princess Tatyana Mikhailovna. Name day March 17, heavenly patron - Alexy, man of God. Was named after his grandfather, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
Joachim, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'
Alexy man of God
Portrait of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
In the first years he lived under the care of his grandmother Natalya Kirillovna. At the age of six he began to learn to read and write from Nikifor Vyazemsky, a simple and poorly educated man, whom he sometimes beat. Equally tore "honest honor to your guardian" confessor Yakov Ignatiev.
Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, née Naryshkina (August 22 (September 1), 1651 - January 25 (February 4), 1694) - Russian queen, second wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, mother of Peter I.
After being imprisoned in a monastery in 1698, he was transferred to his mother under the guardianship of his aunt Natalya Alekseevna and transported to her in the Preobrazhensky Palace. In 1699, Peter I remembered his son and wanted to send him along with General Karlovich to study in Dresden. However, due to the death of the general, the Saxon Neugebauer from the University of Leipzig was invited as a mentor. He failed to bind the prince to himself and in 1702 lost his position.
Family portrait of Peter with Catherine, son Tsarevich Alexei and children from his second wife
Musikiysky, Grigory Semenovich Miniature on enamel
Tsarevna Natalya Alekseevna (August 22, 1673—June 18, 1716) - beloved sister of Peter I, daughter of Alexei Mikhailovich and Natalya Naryshkina.
The following year, Baron Huyssen took the place of teacher. In 1708 N. Vyazemsky reported that the prince was studying the German and French languages, studying "four parts of digits", repeats declensions and cases, writes an atlas and reads history. Continuing until 1709 to live far from his father, in Preobrazhenskoye, the prince was surrounded by people who, in his own words, taught him “to have hypocrisy and conversion with priests and monks and often go to them and get drunk.”
Transfiguration Cathedral and the Imperial Palace.
Then, as the Swedes advanced deeper into the continent, Peter instructs his son to monitor the training of recruits and the construction of fortifications in Moscow, but he remains dissatisfied with the result of his son’s work - the king was especially angry that during the work the prince went to the Suzdal monastery, where his mother was.
Evdokia Lopukhina in monastic vestments
Suzdal, Intercession Monastery. Artist Evgeny Dubitsky
In 1707, Huyssen proposed Princess Charlotte of Wolfenbüttel, sister of the future Austrian Empress, as his wife to Alexei Petrovich.
"Ceremonial portrait of Princess Sophia-Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel"
Unknown artist
In 1709, accompanied by Alexander Golovkin and Prince Yuri Trubetskoy, he traveled to Dresden to study German and French, geometry, fortification and “political affairs.” At the end of the course, the prince had to pass an exam in geometry and fortification in the presence of his father. However, fearing that he would force him to make a complex drawing that he might not be able to cope with and thereby give himself a reason to reproach himself, Alexey tried to injure his hand with a pistol shot. The angry Peter beat his son and forbade him to appear at court, but later, trying to reconcile, he lifted the ban. In Schlakenwerth in the spring of 1710, he met his bride, and a year later, on April 11, a marriage contract was signed. The wedding was celebrated magnificently on October 14, 1711 in Torgau.
Alexey Petrovich Romanov.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich Romanov
Franke Christophe Bernard.
The portrait from the collection of the Radishchev Museum in Saratov was apparently painted by one of the court artists of Augustus the Strong. This is the earliest known painted portrait of Charlotte Christina Sophia. It is quite possible that it was written in connection with the upcoming wedding in 1711.
Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Johann Paul Luden
Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Unknown artist
G.D. Molchanov
In the marriage, the prince had children - Natalya (1714-1728) and Peter (1715-1730), later Emperor Peter II.
Birth of Peter II
Peter II and Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna
Louis Caravaque
Soon after the birth of her son, Charlotte died, and the prince chose a mistress from Vyazemsky’s serfs, named Euphrosyne, with whom he traveled to Europe and who was later interrogated in his case and was acquitted.
Ekaterina Kulakova, in the role of Euphrosyne in the feature film by Vitaly Melnikov "Tsarevich Alexei"
Stills from the film "Tsarevich Alexei"
Fleeing abroad
The death of his son and the death of his wife coincided with the birth of the long-awaited son of Peter himself and his wife Catherine - Tsarevich Peter Petrovich.
Tsarevich Peter Petrovich (October 29 (November 9) 1715, St. Petersburg - April 25 (May 6), 1719, ibid.) - the first son of Peter I from Catherine Alekseevna, who died in infancy.
As Cupid in a portrait by Louis Caravaque
This shook Alexei’s position - he was no longer of interest to his father, even as a forced heir. On the day of Charlotte's funeral, Peter gave his son a letter in which he reprimanded him for "does not show any inclination towards government affairs", and urged him to correct himself, otherwise threatening not only to remove him from the inheritance, but even worse: “if you marry, then be aware that I will deprive you of your inheritance, like a gangrenous ud, and do not imagine that I am doing this only to disturb I write - I will fulfill it in truth, for for My Fatherland and the people I have not spared my life and do not regret it, how can I spare You, the indecent one.”
Posthumous romanticized portrait of Peter I. Artist Paul Delaroche (1838).
In 1716, as a result of a conflict with his father, who demanded that he quickly decide on the issue of tonsure, Alexey, with the help of Kikin (the head of the St. Petersburg Admiralty, who gave the prince the idea to become a monk), left Poland formally in order to visit his father, who was then in Copenhagen, but secretly fled from Gdansk to Vienna and conducted separate negotiations there with European rulers, including a relative of his wife, the Austrian Emperor Charles. To maintain secrecy, the Austrians transported Alexei to Naples. Alexey planned to wait on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire for the death of Peter (who was seriously ill during this period) and then, relying on the help of the Austrians, to become the Russian Tsar.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich Romanov
According to his testimony at the investigation, he was ready to rely on the Austrian army to seize power. In turn, the Austrians planned to use Alexei as their puppet in the intervention against Russia, but abandoned their intention, considering such an enterprise too dangerous
It is not impossible for us to achieve certain successes in the lands of the king himself, that is, to support any uprisings, but we actually know that this prince has neither sufficient courage nor sufficient intelligence to derive any real advantage or benefit from these [ uprisings]
- from the memorandum of Vice-Chancellor Count Schönborn (German) to Emperor Charles
Portrait of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor"
The search for the prince for a long time did not bring success, perhaps for the reason that along with Kikin was A.P. Veselovsky, the Russian ambassador to the Viennese court, whom Peter I instructed to find Alexei. Finally, Russian intelligence tracked down the location of Alexei (Ehrenberg Castle in Tyrol), and the emperor was demanded to hand over the prince to Russia.
Ehrenberg Castle (Reutte)
Tannauer Johann Gonfried. Portrait of Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy. 1710s
Portrait of Peter I's associate Alexander Ivanovich Rumyantsev (1680-1749)
Borovikovsky, Vladimir Lukich
The Holy Roman Emperor refused to extradite Alexei, but allowed P. Tolstoy to be admitted to him. The latter presented Alexei with a letter from Peter, where the prince was guaranteed forgiveness of any guilt in case of immediate return to Russia
If you are afraid of me, then I reassure you and promise to God and His judgment that you will not be punished, but I will show you better love if you listen to my will and return. If you do not do this, then... as your sovereign, I declare you a traitor and will not leave all the ways for you, as a traitor and scolder of your father, to do what God will help me with in my truth.
— from Peter’s letter to Alexey
The letter, however, could not force Alexei to return. Then Tolstoy bribed an Austrian official to "by secret" informed the prince that his extradition to Russia was a settled matter
And then I admonished the viceroy’s secretary, who was used in all transfers and is a much smarter person, so that, as if it were a secret, he told the prince all the above words that I advised the viceroy to announce to the prince, and gave that secretary 160 gold ducats, promising to reward him in advance , which is what this secretary did
- from Tolstoy's report
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
This convinced Alexei that hopes for help from Austria were unreliable. Realizing that he would not receive help from Charles VI, and fearing a return to Russia, Alexey, through the French officer Duret, secretly sent a letter to the Swedish government asking for help. However, the answer given by the Swedes (the Swedes undertook to provide Alexei with an army to enthronement him) was late, and P. Tolstoy managed, with threats and promises on October 14, to obtain from Alexei consent to return to Russia before he received a message from the Swedes.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
The case of Tsarevich Alexei
After returning for secret flight and activities while abroad, Alexey was deprived of the right to succession to the throne (manifesto of February 3 (14), 1718), and he himself took a solemn oath to renounce the throne in favor of his brother Pyotr Petrovich in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin in the presence of father, senior clergy and senior dignitaries.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
At the same time, he was granted forgiveness on the condition of admitting all the wrongdoings committed (“Yesterday I received forgiveness in order to convey all the circumstances of my escape and other things like that; and if anything is hidden, you will be deprived of your life; ... if you hide something and then openly it will happen, don’t blame me: just yesterday it was announced in front of all the people that sorry for this, sorry not”).
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich Romanov.
****
The very next day after the abdication ceremony, an investigation began, entrusted to the Secret Chancellery and headed by Count Tolstoy. Alexey, in his testimony, tried to portray himself as a victim of his environment and blame all the blame on his associates. The people surrounding him were executed, but this did not help Alexei - his mistress Euphrosyne gave exhaustive testimony that exposed Alexei as a lie.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich. Steel engraving by Grietbach
In particular, it turned out that Alexei was ready to use the Austrian army to seize power and intended to lead a rebellion of Russian troops at the right opportunity. It got to the point that there were hints of Alexei’s attempts to contact Charles XII. At the confrontation, Alexey confirmed Efrosinya’s testimony, although he said nothing about any real or imaginary connections with the Swedes. It is now difficult to establish the full reliability of these testimonies. Although torture was not used at this stage of the investigation, Efrosinya could have been bribed, and Alexey could have given false testimony out of fear of torture. However, in cases where Euphrosyne's testimony can be verified from independent sources, it is confirmed (for example, Euphrosyne reported letters that Alexei wrote to Russia, preparing the ground for coming to power - one such letter (unsent) was found in the Vienna archive).
Death
Based on the facts that emerged, the prince was put on trial and sentenced to death as a traitor. It should be noted that Alexei’s connections with the Swedes remained unknown to the court, and the conviction was made on the basis of other episodes, which, according to the laws in force at that time, were punishable by death.
The Tsarevich died in the Peter and Paul Fortress on June 26 (July 7), 1718, according to the official version, from a stroke. In the 19th century, N. G. Ustryalov discovered documents according to which the prince was tortured shortly before his death (after the verdict was passed), and this torture could have been the direct cause of his death. According to the records of the chancellery, Alexei died on June 26. Peter I published an official notice, which said that, having heard the death sentence, the prince was horrified, demanded his father, asked him for forgiveness and died in a Christian way, in complete repentance for his deeds.
Alexey Zuev as Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich in the feature film by Vitaly Melnikov "Tsarevich Alexey"
There is evidence that Alexei was secretly killed in a prison cell on Peter's orders, but they strongly contradict each other in detail. Published in the 19th century with the participation of M. I. Semevsky “letter from A. I. Rumyantsev to D. I. Titov”(according to other sources, Tatishchev) with a description of the murder of Alexei is a proven fake; it contains a number of factual errors and anachronisms (which was pointed out by N.G. Ustryalov), and also closely retells the official publications about Alexei’s case that had not yet been published.
Alexey Zuev as Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich in the feature film by Vitaly Melnikov "Tsarevich Alexey"
In the media you can find information that during his lifetime Alexey suffered from tuberculosis - according to a number of historians, his sudden death was the result of an exacerbation of the disease in prison conditions or the result of a side effect of medications.
Alexey was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the fortress in the presence of his father. Posthumous rehabilitation of Alexei, removal from circulation of manifestos condemning him and aimed at justifying the actions of Peter "Truth of the monarch's will" Feofan Prokopovich occurred during the reign of his son Peter II (from 1727).
Chapel of St. Catherine with the graves of Tsarevich Alexei, his wife and aunt of Princess Maria Alekseevna
In culture.
The personality of the prince attracted the attention of writers (starting with Voltaire and Pushkin), and in the 19th century. and many historians. Alexey is depicted in the famous painting by N. N. Ge “Peter interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof”(1871).
Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof. N. N. Ge, 1871
In Vladimir Petrov’s feature film “Peter the First” (1937), the role of the prince was played with high dramatic skill by Nikolai Cherkasov. Here, the image of Alexei Petrovich is interpreted in the spirit of official historiography as the image of a protege of obsolete forces within the country and hostile foreign powers, an enemy of Peter’s reforms and the imperial power of Russia. His conviction and murder are presented as a fair and necessary act, which served as an indirect argument in favor of Stalin’s repressions during the years of the film’s creation. At the same time, it is absurd to see the ten-year-old Tsarevich as the head of the boyar reaction already by the time of the Battle of Narva.
Glass of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich (17th century).
In the feature film by Vitaly Melnikov “Tsarevich Alexey” (1997), Alexey Petrovich is shown as a man who is ashamed of his crowned father and only wants to live an ordinary life. At the same time, according to the filmmakers, he was a quiet and God-fearing man who did not want the death of Peter I and a change of power in Russia. But as a result of palace intrigues, he was slandered, for which he was tortured by his father, and his comrades were executed.
A. N. Tolstoy, “Peter the First” - the most famous novel about the life of Peter I, published in 1945 (Alexey is shown as a minor)
D. Mordovtsev - novel “Herod’s Shadow. (Idealists and realists)"
D. S. Merezhkovsky - novel “Antichrist. Peter and Alexey"
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
Film "Tsarevich Alexei" (1995)
Tsarevich Alexei is a very unpopular personality not only among novelists, but also among professional historians. He is usually portrayed as a weak-willed, sickly, almost weak-minded young man who dreams of returning to the order of old Moscow Rus', avoids cooperation with his famous father in every possible way and is absolutely unfit to rule a huge empire. Peter I, who sentenced him to death, on the contrary, is portrayed in the works of Russian historians and novelists as a hero from ancient times, sacrificing his son to public interests and deeply suffering from his tragic decision.
Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof. Artist N.N. Ge
“Peter, in his grief as a father and in the tragedy of a statesman, arouses sympathy and understanding... In the entire unsurpassed gallery of Shakespearean images and situations, it is difficult to find anything similar in its tragedy,” writes, for example, N. Molchanov. And indeed, what else could the unfortunate emperor do if his son intended to return the capital of Russia to Moscow (by the way, where is it now?), “abandon the fleet” and remove his faithful comrades from governing the country? The fact that the “chicks of Petrov’s nest” managed well without Alexei and destroyed each other on their own (even the incredibly cautious Osterman had to go into exile after the accession of the beloved daughter of the prudent emperor) does not bother anyone. The Russian fleet, despite the death of Alexei, for some reason still fell into decay - there were a lot of admirals, and the ships existed mainly on paper. In 1765, Catherine II complained in a letter to Count Panin: “We have neither a fleet nor sailors.” But who cares? The main thing, as official historiographers of the Romanovs and Soviet historians who agree with them say, is that the death of Alexei allowed our country to avoid returning to the past.
And only a rare reader of near-historical novels will come up with a strange and seditious thought: what if it was precisely such a ruler, who did not inherit the temperament and warlike disposition of his father, that mortally tired and ruined Russia needed? So-called charismatic leaders are good in small doses; two great reformers in a row are too much: the country can break down. In Sweden, for example, after the death of Charles XII, there is a clear shortage of people who are ready to sacrifice the lives of several tens of thousands of their fellow citizens in the name of great goals and the public good. The Swedish Empire did not materialize, Finland, Norway and the Baltic states were lost, but no one in this country is lamenting about this.
Of course, comparing Russians and Swedes is not entirely correct, because... The Scandinavians got rid of excessive passionarity back in the Viking era. Having scared Europe to death with terrible berserker warriors (the last of whom can be considered Charles XII, who was lost in time) and, having provided the Icelandic skalds with the richest material for creating wonderful sagas, they could afford to take a place not on the stage, but in the stalls. The Russians, as representatives of a younger ethnic group, still had to splash out their energy and declare themselves as a great people. But for the successful continuation of the work begun by Peter, at a minimum it was necessary for a new generation of soldiers to grow up in a depopulated country, future poets, scientists, generals and diplomats to be born and educated. Until they come, nothing will change in Russia, but they will come, they will come very soon. V.K. Trediakovsky (1703), M.V. Lomonosov (1711) and A.P. Sumarokov (1717) were already born. In January 1725, two weeks before the death of Peter I, the future field marshal P.A. Rumyantsev was born, on February 8, 1728 - the founder of the Russian theater F.G. Volkov, on November 13, 1729 - A.V. Suvorov. Peter's successor must provide Russia with 10, or better yet, 20 years of peace. And Alexei’s plans are fully consistent with the historical situation: “I will keep the army only for defense, but I don’t want to have a war with anyone, I will be content with the old,” he tells his supporters in confidential conversations. Now think about it, is the unfortunate prince really so bad that even the reigns of the eternally drunk Catherine I, the creepy Anna Ioannovna and the cheerful Elizabeth should be considered a gift of fate? And is the dynastic crisis that shook the Russian empire in the first half of the 18th century and the subsequent era of palace coups that brought extremely dubious contenders to power, whose rule Germaine de Staël characterized as “autocracy limited by a stranglehold,” really such a good thing?
Before answering these questions, readers should be told that Peter I, who, according to V.O. Klyuchevsky, “ruined the country worse than any enemy,” was not at all popular among his subjects and was by no means perceived by them as a hero and savior of the fatherland. The era of Peter the Great for Russia became a time of bloody and not always successful wars, mass self-immolations of Old Believers and extreme impoverishment of all segments of the population of our country. Few people know that it was under Peter I that the classic “wild” version of Russian serfdom, known from many works of Russian literature, arose. And about the construction of St. Petersburg, V. Klyuchevsky said: “There is no battle in history that would claim so many lives.” It is not surprising that in the people's memory Peter I remained the oppressor tsar, and even more than that, the Antichrist, who appeared as punishment for the sins of the Russian people. The cult of Peter the Great began to be introduced into the national consciousness only during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. Elizabeth was the illegitimate daughter of Peter (she was born in 1710, the secret wedding of Peter I and Martha Skavronskaya took place in 1711, and their public wedding only in 1712) and therefore was never seriously considered by anyone as a contender for the throne . Having ascended to the Russian throne thanks to a palace coup carried out by a handful of soldiers of the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment, Elizabeth spent her entire life fearing becoming a victim of a new conspiracy and, by glorifying the deeds of her father, sought to emphasize the legitimacy of her dynastic rights.
Subsequently, the cult of Peter I turned out to be extremely beneficial to another person with adventurous character traits - Catherine II, who, having overthrown the grandson of the first Russian emperor, declared herself the heir and continuer of the work of Peter the Great. To emphasize the innovative and progressive nature of the reign of Peter I, official historians of the Romanovs had to resort to forgery and attribute to him some innovations that became widespread under his father Alexei Mikhailovich and brother Fyodor Alekseevich. The Russian Empire in the second half of the 18th century was on the rise; great heroes and enlightened monarchs of the educated part of society were needed much more than tyrants and despots. Therefore, it is not surprising that by the beginning of the 19th century, admiration for the genius of Peter began to be considered good manners among the Russian nobility.
However, the attitude of the common people towards this emperor remained generally negative, and the genius of A.S. was required. Pushkin in order to radically change it. The great Russian poet was a good historian and intelligently understood the inconsistency of the activities of his beloved hero: “I have now sorted out a lot of materials about Peter and will never write his story, because there are many facts that I cannot agree with in any way with my personal respect for him,” - he wrote in 1836. However, you cannot command your heart, and the poet easily defeated the historian. It was with the light hand of Pushkin that Peter I became a true idol of the broad masses of Russia. With the strengthening of the authority of Peter I, the reputation of Tsarevich Alexei perished completely and irrevocably: if the great emperor, tirelessly concerned about the good of the state and his subjects, suddenly begins to personally torture, and then signs an order for the execution of his own son and heir, then there was a reason. The situation is like the German proverb: if a dog was killed, it means it had scabies. But what really happened in the imperial family?
In January 1689, 16-year-old Peter I, at the insistence of his mother, married Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, who was three years older than him. Such a wife, who grew up in a closed mansion and was very far from the pressing interests of young Peter, of course, did not suit the future emperor. Very soon, the unfortunate Evdokia became for him the personification of the hated order of old Moscow Rus', boyar laziness, arrogance and inertia. Despite the birth of children (Alexey was born on February 8, 1690, then Alexander and Pavel were born, who died in infancy), relations between the spouses were very strained. Peter's hatred and contempt for his wife could not but be reflected in his attitude towards his son. The denouement came on September 23, 1698: by order of Peter I, Empress Eudokia was taken to the Intercession Suzdal Nunnery, where she was forcibly tonsured a nun.
In the history of Russia, Evdokia became the only queen who, when imprisoned in a monastery, was not assigned any maintenance and was not assigned servants. In the same year, the Streltsy regiments were cashed out, a year before these events a decree on shaving beards was published, and the next year a new calendar was introduced and a decree on clothing was signed: the tsar changed everything - his wife, the army, the appearance of his subjects, and even time. And only the son, in the absence of another heir, remained the same for now. Alexei was 9 years old when Peter I’s sister Natalya snatched the boy from the hands of his mother, who was forcibly taken to the monastery. From then on, he began to live under the supervision of Natalya Alekseevna, who treated him with undisguised hatred. The prince saw his father rarely and, apparently, did not suffer much from separation from him, since he was far from delighted with Peter’s unceremonious favorites and the noisy feasts received in his circle. However, it has been proven that Alexey never showed open dissatisfaction with his father. He also did not shy away from studying: it is known that the prince had a good knowledge of history and sacred books, mastered the French and German languages perfectly, studied 4 operations of arithmetic, which was quite a lot for Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, and had the concept of fortification. Peter I himself, at the age of 16, could boast only of the ability to read, write and knowledge of two arithmetic operations. And Alexei’s older contemporary, the famous French king Louis XIV, may seem ignorant compared to our hero.
At the age of 11, Alexey traveled with Peter I to Arkhangelsk, and a year later, with the rank of a soldier in a bombardment company, he already participated in the capture of the Nyenschanz fortress (May 1, 1703). Please note: “meek” Alexei first takes part in the war at the age of 12, his warlike father only at the age of 23! In 1704, 14-year-old Alexey was constantly in the army during the siege of Narva. The first serious disagreement between the emperor and his son occurred in 1706. The reason for this was a secret meeting with his mother: Alexey was called to Zholkva (now Nesterov near Lvov), where he received a severe reprimand. However, later the relationship between Peter and Alexei normalized, and the emperor sent his son to Smolensk to stockpile provisions and collect recruits. Peter I was dissatisfied with the recruits that Alexei sent, which he announced in a letter to the prince. However, the point here, apparently, was not a lack of zeal, but a difficult demographic situation that developed in Russia not without the help of Peter himself: “At that time, I couldn’t find a better one soon, but you deigned to send it soon,” he justifies himself. Alexey, and his father is forced to admit that he is right. April 25, 1707 Peter I sends Alexei to supervise the repair and construction of new fortifications in Kitay-Gorod and the Kremlin. The comparison is again not in favor of the famous emperor: 17-year-old Peter amuses himself with building small boats on Lake Pleshcheyevo, and his son at the same age is preparing Moscow for a possible siege by the troops of Charles XII. In addition, Alexei is entrusted with leading the suppression of the Bulavinsky uprising. In 1711, Alexey was in Poland, where he managed the procurement of provisions for the Russian army stationed abroad. The country was devastated by the war and therefore the activities of the prince were not crowned with much success.
A number of very authoritative historians emphasize in their works that Alexei in many cases was a “figurehead.” Agreeing with this statement, it should be said that the majority of his illustrious peers were the same nominal commanders and rulers. We calmly read reports that the twelve-year-old son of the famous Prince Igor Vladimir in 1185 commanded the squad of the city of Putivl, and his peer from Norway (the future king Olav the Holy) in 1007 ravaged the coasts of Jutland, Frisia and England. But only in the case of Alexey we maliciously notice: but he could not seriously lead because of his youth and inexperience.
So, until 1711, the emperor was quite tolerant of his son, and then his attitude towards Alexei suddenly changed sharply for the worse. What happened in that ill-fated year? On March 6, Peter I secretly married Martha Skavronskaya, and on October 14, Alexei married Crown Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Charlotte Christina-Sophia. At this time, Peter I thought for the first time: who should now be the heir to the throne? To the son from an unloved wife, Alexei, or to the children of a dearly beloved woman, “Katerinushka’s dear friend,” who would soon, on February 19, 1712, become the Russian Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna? The relationship between an unloved father and a son unloved by his heart could hardly be called cloudless before, but now they are completely deteriorating. Alexei, who was previously afraid of Peter, now experiences panic when communicating with him and, in order to avoid a humiliating exam when returning from abroad in 1712, even shoots him in the palm. This case is usually presented as an illustration of the thesis about the pathological laziness of the heir and his inability to learn. However, let's imagine the composition of the “examination committee”. Here, with a pipe in his mouth, lounging on a chair, sits the not entirely sober Emperor Pyotr Alekseevich. Standing next to him, grinning impudently, is an illiterate member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Great Britain, Alexander Danilych Menshikov. Other “chicks of Petrov’s nest” crowd nearby, who carefully monitor any reaction of their master: if he smiles, they will rush to kiss him, if he frowns, they will trample on him without any pity. Would you like to be in Alexey's place?
As other evidence of the “unfitness” of the heir to the throne, the prince’s own letters to his father are often cited, in which he characterizes himself as a lazy, uneducated, physically and mentally weak person. Here it should be said that until the time of Catherine II, only one person had the right to be smart and strong in Russia - the ruling monarch. All the rest, in official documents addressed to the tsar or emperor, called themselves “poor in mind,” “poor,” “slow serfs,” “unworthy slaves,” and so on, so on, so on. Therefore, by humiliating himself, Alexei, firstly, follows the generally accepted rules of good manners, and secondly, demonstrates his loyalty to his father, the emperor. And we won’t even talk about testimony obtained under torture in this article.
After 1711, Peter I began to suspect his son and daughter-in-law of treachery and in 1714 he sent Mrs. Bruce and Abbess Rzhevskaya to monitor how the birth of the Crown Princess would proceed: God forbid, they would replace a stillborn child and finally close the path to the top for Catherine’s children. A girl is born and the situation temporarily loses its urgency. But on October 12, 1715, a boy was born into Alexei’s family - the future Emperor Peter II, and on October 29 of the same year, the son of Empress Catherine Alekseevna, also named Peter, was born. Alexei’s wife dies after giving birth, and at her funeral the emperor hands his son a letter demanding that he “improperly correct himself.” Peter reproaches his 25-year-old son, who served not brilliantly, but served fairly well, for his dislike for military affairs and warns: “Don’t imagine that you are my only son.” Alexei understands everything correctly: on October 31, he renounces his claims to the throne and asks his father to let him go to the monastery. And Peter I was afraid: in the monastery, Alexei, having become inaccessible to secular authorities, would still be dangerous for Catherine’s long-awaited and previously beloved son. Peter knows perfectly well how his subjects treat him and understands that the pious son, who innocently suffered from the tyranny of his “Antichrist” father, will certainly be called to power after his death: the hood is not nailed to his head. At the same time, the emperor cannot clearly resist Alexei’s pious desire. Peter orders his son to “think” and takes a “time out” - he goes abroad. In Copenhagen, Peter I makes another move: he offers his son a choice: go to a monastery, or go (not alone, but with his beloved woman - Euphrosyne!) to join him abroad. This is very similar to a provocation: the prince, driven to despair, is given the opportunity to escape, so that he can later be executed for treason.
In the 30s of the twentieth century, Stalin tried to repeat this trick with Bukharin. In February 1936, in the hope that the “party favorite”, severely criticized in Pravda, would run away and ruin his good name forever, he sent him and his beloved wife to Paris. Bukharin, to the great disappointment of the leader of the peoples, returned.
And naive Alexey fell for the bait. Peter calculated correctly: Alexey was not going to betray his homeland and therefore did not ask for asylum in Sweden (“Hertz, this evil genius of Charles XII ... terribly regretted that he could not use Alexey’s betrayal against Russia,” writes N. Molchanov) or in Turkey. There was no doubt that from these countries Alexei, after the death of Peter I, would sooner or later return to Russia as emperor, but the prince preferred neutral Austria. The Austrian emperor had no need to quarrel with Russia, and therefore it was not difficult for Peter’s emissaries to return the fugitive to his homeland: “Sent to Austria by Peter to return Alexei, P.A. Tolstoy managed to complete his task with amazing ease... The Emperor hastened to get rid of his guest” (N. Molchanov).
In a letter dated November 17, 1717, Peter I solemnly promises his son forgiveness, and on January 31, 1718, the prince returns to Moscow. And already on February 3, arrests begin among the heir’s friends. They are tortured and forced to give the necessary testimony. On March 20, the notorious Secret Chancellery was created to investigate the prince’s case. June 19, 1718 was the day the torture of Alexei began. He died from these tortures on June 26 (according to other sources, he was strangled so as not to carry out the death sentence). And the very next day, June 27, Peter I threw a luxurious ball on the occasion of the anniversary of the Poltava victory.
So there was no trace of any internal struggle and no hesitation of the emperor. It all ended very sadly: on April 25, 1719, the son of Peter I and Ekaterina Alekseevna died. The autopsy showed that the boy was terminally ill from the moment of birth, and Peter I in vain killed his first son, clearing the path to the throne for the second.
.Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich (Alexei Petrovich Romanov; February 18, 1690, Preobrazhenskoye - June 26, 1718, St. Petersburg) - heir to the Russian throne, the eldest son of Peter I and his first wife Evdokia Lopukhina.
Unknown artist Portrait of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich Russia, XVIII century.
Demakov Evgeny Alexandrovich. Peter I and Evdokia-Lopukhina
Alexey Petrovich was born on February 18 (28), 1690 in Preobrazhenskoye. Baptized on February 23 (March 5), 1690, his successors were Patriarch Joachim and Princess Tatyana Mikhailovna. Name day March 17, heavenly patron - Alexy, man of God. Was named after his grandfather, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
Joachim, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'
Alexy man of God
Portrait of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
In the first years he lived under the care of his grandmother Natalya Kirillovna. At the age of six he began to learn to read and write from Nikifor Vyazemsky, a simple and poorly educated man, whom he sometimes beat. Equally tore "honest honor to your guardian" confessor Yakov Ignatiev.
Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, née Naryshkina (August 22 (September 1), 1651 - January 25 (February 4), 1694) - Russian queen, second wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, mother of Peter I.
After being imprisoned in a monastery in 1698, he was transferred to his mother under the guardianship of his aunt Natalya Alekseevna and transported to her in the Preobrazhensky Palace. In 1699, Peter I remembered his son and wanted to send him along with General Karlovich to study in Dresden. However, due to the death of the general, the Saxon Neugebauer from the University of Leipzig was invited as a mentor. He failed to bind the prince to himself and in 1702 lost his position.
Family portrait of Peter with Catherine, son Tsarevich Alexei and children from his second wife
Musikiysky, Grigory Semenovich Miniature on enamel
Tsarevna Natalya Alekseevna (August 22, 1673—June 18, 1716) - beloved sister of Peter I, daughter of Alexei Mikhailovich and Natalya Naryshkina.
The following year, Baron Huyssen took the place of teacher. In 1708 N. Vyazemsky reported that the prince was studying the German and French languages, studying "four parts of digits", repeats declensions and cases, writes an atlas and reads history. Continuing until 1709 to live far from his father, in Preobrazhenskoye, the prince was surrounded by people who, in his own words, taught him “to have hypocrisy and conversion with priests and monks and often go to them and get drunk.”
Transfiguration Cathedral and the Imperial Palace.
Then, as the Swedes advanced deeper into the continent, Peter instructs his son to monitor the training of recruits and the construction of fortifications in Moscow, but he remains dissatisfied with the result of his son’s work - the king was especially angry that during the work the prince went to the Suzdal monastery, where his mother was.
Evdokia Lopukhina in monastic vestments
Suzdal, Intercession Monastery. Artist Evgeny Dubitsky
In 1707, Huyssen proposed Princess Charlotte of Wolfenbüttel, sister of the future Austrian Empress, as his wife to Alexei Petrovich.
"Ceremonial portrait of Princess Sophia-Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel"
Unknown artist
In 1709, accompanied by Alexander Golovkin and Prince Yuri Trubetskoy, he traveled to Dresden to study German and French, geometry, fortification and “political affairs.” At the end of the course, the prince had to pass an exam in geometry and fortification in the presence of his father. However, fearing that he would force him to make a complex drawing that he might not be able to cope with and thereby give himself a reason to reproach himself, Alexey tried to injure his hand with a pistol shot. The angry Peter beat his son and forbade him to appear at court, but later, trying to reconcile, he lifted the ban. In Schlakenwerth in the spring of 1710, he met his bride, and a year later, on April 11, a marriage contract was signed. The wedding was celebrated magnificently on October 14, 1711 in Torgau.
Alexey Petrovich Romanov.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich Romanov
Franke Christophe Bernard.
The portrait from the collection of the Radishchev Museum in Saratov was apparently painted by one of the court artists of Augustus the Strong. This is the earliest known painted portrait of Charlotte Christina Sophia. It is quite possible that it was written in connection with the upcoming wedding in 1711.
Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Johann Paul Luden
Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Unknown artist
G.D. Molchanov
In the marriage, the prince had children - Natalya (1714-1728) and Peter (1715-1730), later Emperor Peter II.
Birth of Peter II
Peter II and Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna
Louis Caravaque
Soon after the birth of her son, Charlotte died, and the prince chose a mistress from Vyazemsky’s serfs, named Euphrosyne, with whom he traveled to Europe and who was later interrogated in his case and was acquitted.
Ekaterina Kulakova, in the role of Euphrosyne in the feature film by Vitaly Melnikov "Tsarevich Alexei"
Stills from the film "Tsarevich Alexei"
Fleeing abroad
The death of his son and the death of his wife coincided with the birth of the long-awaited son of Peter himself and his wife Catherine - Tsarevich Peter Petrovich.
Tsarevich Peter Petrovich (October 29 (November 9) 1715, St. Petersburg - April 25 (May 6), 1719, ibid.) - the first son of Peter I from Catherine Alekseevna, who died in infancy.
As Cupid in a portrait by Louis Caravaque
This shook Alexei’s position - he was no longer of interest to his father, even as a forced heir. On the day of Charlotte's funeral, Peter gave his son a letter in which he reprimanded him for "does not show any inclination towards government affairs", and urged him to correct himself, otherwise threatening not only to remove him from the inheritance, but even worse: “if you marry, then be aware that I will deprive you of your inheritance, like a gangrenous ud, and do not imagine that I am doing this only to disturb I write - I will fulfill it in truth, for for My Fatherland and the people I have not spared my life and do not regret it, how can I spare You, the indecent one.”
Posthumous romanticized portrait of Peter I. Artist Paul Delaroche (1838).
In 1716, as a result of a conflict with his father, who demanded that he quickly decide on the issue of tonsure, Alexey, with the help of Kikin (the head of the St. Petersburg Admiralty, who gave the prince the idea to become a monk), left Poland formally in order to visit his father, who was then in Copenhagen, but secretly fled from Gdansk to Vienna and conducted separate negotiations there with European rulers, including a relative of his wife, the Austrian Emperor Charles. To maintain secrecy, the Austrians transported Alexei to Naples. Alexey planned to wait on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire for the death of Peter (who was seriously ill during this period) and then, relying on the help of the Austrians, to become the Russian Tsar.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich Romanov
According to his testimony at the investigation, he was ready to rely on the Austrian army to seize power. In turn, the Austrians planned to use Alexei as their puppet in the intervention against Russia, but abandoned their intention, considering such an enterprise too dangerous
It is not impossible for us to achieve certain successes in the lands of the king himself, that is, to support any uprisings, but we actually know that this prince has neither sufficient courage nor sufficient intelligence to derive any real advantage or benefit from these [ uprisings]
- from the memorandum of Vice-Chancellor Count Schönborn (German) to Emperor Charles
Portrait of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor"
The search for the prince for a long time did not bring success, perhaps for the reason that along with Kikin was A.P. Veselovsky, the Russian ambassador to the Viennese court, whom Peter I instructed to find Alexei. Finally, Russian intelligence tracked down the location of Alexei (Ehrenberg Castle in Tyrol), and the emperor was demanded to hand over the prince to Russia.
Ehrenberg Castle (Reutte)
Tannauer Johann Gonfried. Portrait of Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy. 1710s
Portrait of Peter I's associate Alexander Ivanovich Rumyantsev (1680-1749)
Borovikovsky, Vladimir Lukich
The Holy Roman Emperor refused to extradite Alexei, but allowed P. Tolstoy to be admitted to him. The latter presented Alexei with a letter from Peter, where the prince was guaranteed forgiveness of any guilt in case of immediate return to Russia
If you are afraid of me, then I reassure you and promise to God and His judgment that you will not be punished, but I will show you better love if you listen to my will and return. If you do not do this, then... as your sovereign, I declare you a traitor and will not leave all the ways for you, as a traitor and scolder of your father, to do what God will help me with in my truth.
— from Peter’s letter to Alexey
The letter, however, could not force Alexei to return. Then Tolstoy bribed an Austrian official to "by secret" informed the prince that his extradition to Russia was a settled matter
And then I admonished the viceroy’s secretary, who was used in all transfers and is a much smarter person, so that, as if it were a secret, he told the prince all the above words that I advised the viceroy to announce to the prince, and gave that secretary 160 gold ducats, promising to reward him in advance , which is what this secretary did
- from Tolstoy's report
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
This convinced Alexei that hopes for help from Austria were unreliable. Realizing that he would not receive help from Charles VI, and fearing a return to Russia, Alexey, through the French officer Duret, secretly sent a letter to the Swedish government asking for help. However, the answer given by the Swedes (the Swedes undertook to provide Alexei with an army to enthronement him) was late, and P. Tolstoy managed, with threats and promises on October 14, to obtain from Alexei consent to return to Russia before he received a message from the Swedes.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
The case of Tsarevich Alexei
After returning for secret flight and activities while abroad, Alexey was deprived of the right to succession to the throne (manifesto of February 3 (14), 1718), and he himself took a solemn oath to renounce the throne in favor of his brother Pyotr Petrovich in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin in the presence of father, senior clergy and senior dignitaries.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
At the same time, he was granted forgiveness on the condition of admitting all the wrongdoings committed (“Yesterday I received forgiveness in order to convey all the circumstances of my escape and other things like that; and if anything is hidden, you will be deprived of your life; ... if you hide something and then openly it will happen, don’t blame me: just yesterday it was announced in front of all the people that sorry for this, sorry not”).
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich Romanov.
****
The very next day after the abdication ceremony, an investigation began, entrusted to the Secret Chancellery and headed by Count Tolstoy. Alexey, in his testimony, tried to portray himself as a victim of his environment and blame all the blame on his associates. The people surrounding him were executed, but this did not help Alexei - his mistress Euphrosyne gave exhaustive testimony that exposed Alexei as a lie.
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich. Steel engraving by Grietbach
In particular, it turned out that Alexei was ready to use the Austrian army to seize power and intended to lead a rebellion of Russian troops at the right opportunity. It got to the point that there were hints of Alexei’s attempts to contact Charles XII. At the confrontation, Alexey confirmed Efrosinya’s testimony, although he said nothing about any real or imaginary connections with the Swedes. It is now difficult to establish the full reliability of these testimonies. Although torture was not used at this stage of the investigation, Efrosinya could have been bribed, and Alexey could have given false testimony out of fear of torture. However, in cases where Euphrosyne's testimony can be verified from independent sources, it is confirmed (for example, Euphrosyne reported letters that Alexei wrote to Russia, preparing the ground for coming to power - one such letter (unsent) was found in the Vienna archive).
Death
Based on the facts that emerged, the prince was put on trial and sentenced to death as a traitor. It should be noted that Alexei’s connections with the Swedes remained unknown to the court, and the conviction was made on the basis of other episodes, which, according to the laws in force at that time, were punishable by death.
The Tsarevich died in the Peter and Paul Fortress on June 26 (July 7), 1718, according to the official version, from a stroke. In the 19th century, N. G. Ustryalov discovered documents according to which the prince was tortured shortly before his death (after the verdict was passed), and this torture could have been the direct cause of his death. According to the records of the chancellery, Alexei died on June 26. Peter I published an official notice, which said that, having heard the death sentence, the prince was horrified, demanded his father, asked him for forgiveness and died in a Christian way, in complete repentance for his deeds.
Alexey Zuev as Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich in the feature film by Vitaly Melnikov "Tsarevich Alexey"
There is evidence that Alexei was secretly killed in a prison cell on Peter's orders, but they strongly contradict each other in detail. Published in the 19th century with the participation of M. I. Semevsky “letter from A. I. Rumyantsev to D. I. Titov”(according to other sources, Tatishchev) with a description of the murder of Alexei is a proven fake; it contains a number of factual errors and anachronisms (which was pointed out by N.G. Ustryalov), and also closely retells the official publications about Alexei’s case that had not yet been published.
Alexey Zuev as Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich in the feature film by Vitaly Melnikov "Tsarevich Alexey"
In the media you can find information that during his lifetime Alexey suffered from tuberculosis - according to a number of historians, his sudden death was the result of an exacerbation of the disease in prison conditions or the result of a side effect of medications.
Alexey was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the fortress in the presence of his father. Posthumous rehabilitation of Alexei, removal from circulation of manifestos condemning him and aimed at justifying the actions of Peter "Truth of the monarch's will" Feofan Prokopovich occurred during the reign of his son Peter II (from 1727).
Chapel of St. Catherine with the graves of Tsarevich Alexei, his wife and aunt of Princess Maria Alekseevna
In culture.
The personality of the prince attracted the attention of writers (starting with Voltaire and Pushkin), and in the 19th century. and many historians. Alexey is depicted in the famous painting by N. N. Ge “Peter interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof”(1871).
Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof. N. N. Ge, 1871
In Vladimir Petrov’s feature film “Peter the First” (1937), the role of the prince was played with high dramatic skill by Nikolai Cherkasov. Here, the image of Alexei Petrovich is interpreted in the spirit of official historiography as the image of a protege of obsolete forces within the country and hostile foreign powers, an enemy of Peter’s reforms and the imperial power of Russia. His conviction and murder are presented as a fair and necessary act, which served as an indirect argument in favor of Stalin’s repressions during the years of the film’s creation. At the same time, it is absurd to see the ten-year-old Tsarevich as the head of the boyar reaction already by the time of the Battle of Narva.
Glass of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich (17th century).
In the feature film by Vitaly Melnikov “Tsarevich Alexey” (1997), Alexey Petrovich is shown as a man who is ashamed of his crowned father and only wants to live an ordinary life. At the same time, according to the filmmakers, he was a quiet and God-fearing man who did not want the death of Peter I and a change of power in Russia. But as a result of palace intrigues, he was slandered, for which he was tortured by his father, and his comrades were executed.
A. N. Tolstoy, “Peter the First” - the most famous novel about the life of Peter I, published in 1945 (Alexey is shown as a minor)
D. Mordovtsev - novel “Herod’s Shadow. (Idealists and realists)"
D. S. Merezhkovsky - novel “Antichrist. Peter and Alexey"
Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
Film "Tsarevich Alexei" (1995)
Rus' and its autocrats Anishkin Valery Georgievich
TSAREVICH ALEXEY PETROVICH, SON OF PETER I
Born on February 18, 1690 from Evdokia Lopukhina and Peter I. Seeing how his father treated his mother, Alexey could not feel filial love for him, but felt fear. The Orthodox Church was on the side of Peter’s wife, so Alexei also involuntarily reached out to everything religiously Orthodox. In Moscow, he was immediately surrounded by people who condemned Peter's transformations.
Tsarevich Alexei did not have any special abilities or talents. Under his mother, Nikifor Vyazemsky taught him, mainly grammar, and then he was raised by the German Neugebauer. This German treated the Russians with arrogance and, in the end, angered Peter himself so much that he expelled him.
Peter wanted to send his son abroad, but changed his mind, perhaps because he saw how foreign courts immediately began to fuss in the hope of getting the heir to the Russian throne. A new teacher, Huysen, was assigned to Alexei, who taught him superficially, only so that the prince could show some education in conversations. When Peter took his son with him on campaigns, his training was interrupted. After Huysen, the prince continued to study German, geometry, and fortification under the guidance of Vyazemsky, who reported to Peter that Alexei was doing poorly in his studies. When the upbringing of the prince was entrusted to A. Menshikov, he deliberately did not work with him, so that later he could be presented as incapable of inheriting the throne.
Peter mutually disliked his son and recognized him as heir only because he was heir by birth and Russia had no other choice.
In 1711, by order of his father, Alexei married Princess Sophia Charlotte of Wolfenbüttel, from whom was born a son, Peter, the future Emperor Peter III. Shortly after the birth of her son, Charlotte died.
Among the close people surrounded by Alexei were the Naryshkins (Vasily and Mikhail Grigorievich, Alexey and Ivan Ivanovich), the Vyazemskys (teacher Nikifor, Sergei, Lev, Peter, Andrei), housekeeper Fyodor Evarlakov, the husband of the Tsarevich’s wet nurse Kolychev, Krutitsy Bishop Hilarion and several priests and monks (confessor, Verkhospassky priest, then archpriest Yakov Ignatiev, Blagoveshchensk sacristan Alexey, priest Leonty, etc.). It is also necessary to name Alexander Kikin, since he became the main culprit in the death of Alexei.
Alexei's entertainment was similar to that of his father with his all-drunken cathedral. The Tsarevich’s company was also called the cathedral, and his friends were called by nicknames: Father Cow, Father Judas, Hell, Zhibanda, Mr. Zasypka, Zakhlyustka, Moloch, Shaved, Rook, etc. “We had a lot of fun yesterday,” the Tsarevich wrote to his confessor. “My spiritual father Chizh went home barely alive, let’s support him with his son.”
Alexey began to hide his thoughts from his father early and, fearing denunciations, preferred to be careful.
In 1716, Alexei fled to Vienna with his mistress Euphrosyne Fedorova, a former serf of Vyazemsky, to whom the prince was very attached.
Hiding abroad, Alexei was afraid that his compatriots sent to him would kill him. Emperor Charles VI considered such an outcome quite possible. In the West at that time, there was generally an idea of Russians as a people capable of any wild act prohibited by European rules.
Tolstoy and Rumyantsev cunningly lured Alexei from Vienna, where he was hiding with Charles VI, and brought him to Moscow.
Peter I did not keep his word to give his son permission to marry Euphrosyne and let him go with her to the village. He ordered him to renounce the succession to the throne in writing and to hand over those who advised him to flee abroad.
Under torture, Alexey slandered many people. On June 24, 1718, one hundred and twenty members of the court sentenced the prince to death. On June 25 he was still interrogated, and on June 26 he died. According to one version, Alexei was strangled in prison.
On June 30, 1718, Tsarevich Alexei was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral next to his wife. There was no mourning for the deceased.
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