Peter 2 dates. Russian Emperor Peter II. Accession to the throne
Peter II Alekseevich Romanov (1715-1730) - Russian emperor who reigned in 1727-1730. He was the grandson of Peter I and the son of Tsarevich Alexei (1690-1718). The boy's mother is the German princess Sophia-Charlotte of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1694-1715). Pyotr Alekseevich was the last direct male representative of the Romanov family.
Portrait of Peter II
(artist I. Vedekind, 1730)
After the death of his father, he was under the supervision of the main tsarist favorite Menshikov, who picked up teachers for the boy. But those did not give the child any deep knowledge. Peter I never considered his grandson as a direct heir to the throne. In the family of the emperor, another Peter grew up, born of a love affair with Catherine.
The situation was aggravated by the sovereign's attitude to his son Alexei. He, by the will of the emperor, abdicated the throne, was accused of treason and strangled in prison. The father's abdication automatically deprived his son of the right to inherit the crown.
However, in 1719, the heir from the marriage of the Tsar and Catherine died. In the family of men, only the sovereign himself and his half-blood grandson, deprived of the crown, remained. The noble boyars, pushed aside from state affairs by the Petrine reformers, began to group near the latter. The main oppositionists were the Dolgoruky family. They began to take care of the boy in every possible way.
In 1725, the Russian reformer emperor died suddenly. He did not manage to appoint an heir, and his wife Catherine I took power into her own hands, relying on His Serene Highness Prince Menshikov and the guard. During her reign, the Supreme Privy Council was created, which concentrated in the hands of all the real power in the state.
Mother Empress's health was poor. Menshikov, seeing this, decided to play it safe and began to persuade the young Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich to his side. When the empress was seriously ill, Menshikov persuaded her to sign a will, according to which, after her death, the throne was to pass to the young Grand Duke, who at that time was 11 years old. However, the condition was set that the young emperor should marry Maria, Menshikov's daughter.
The reign of Peter II (1727-1730)
Catherine I died on May 6, 1727 at the age of 43. Peter II Alekseevich Romanov ascended the throne. This was the third Russian emperor from the Romanov dynasty. But taking into account his young age, he was to be patronized by the Supreme Privy Council until he was 16 years old. However, the young sovereign immediately ordered his grandmother Evdokia Lopukhina to be rescued from the Suzdal monastery. She was transported to the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow and was given a decent maintenance.
Meanwhile, the actual ruler Russian Empire Menshikov transported the sovereign to his house. And at the end of May 1727 he was betrothed to Maria. The girl at that time was 16 years old, and the boy was only 11. Everything worked out, as conceived by His Serene Highness Prince and former favorite of the reformer emperor.
Portrait of Maria Menshikova
However, in the summer Menshikov fell ill and lay in bed for a month and a half. This time was enough for the opposition to turn the young sovereign against him. Already at the beginning of September, the emperor left the house of His Serene Highness. Literally 2 days later, more recently, a powerful ruler was accused of high treason, plundering the treasury and was exiled to the distant Tobolsk region along with the whole family, including Maria.
There, the Most Serene Prince died in the city of Berezovsk in November 1729 at the age of 56. And on December 26 of the same year, the failed Empress Maria died at the age of 18.
Meanwhile, the young emperor was rapidly growing up and maturing. Contemporaries noted that his character was heavy and capricious. The boy did not want to study and dropped out. I got carried away by hunting, which was encouraged in every possible way by the environment, consisting of empty and narrow-minded people.
The family of the Dolgoruky princes was strengthened at the imperial court. They began to persuade the sovereign to move from St. Petersburg to Moscow. With this they wanted to return the good old days and again make the capital of the capital.
The sovereign succumbed to persuasion, and his arrival in Moscow began with the coronation. It took place on February 25, 1728 on the territory of the Kremlin in the Assumption Cathedral. This was the very first coronation of the Russian emperor.... She served as a model for subsequent coronations.
At the end of November 1728, the 14-year-old sister of the sovereign, Natalya Alekseevna, died. The young man loved her very much and was very worried about the death of a person dear to him.
Taking advantage of the youth of the ruler, Dolgoruky settled tightly in the Supreme Privy Council. The closest to the emperor was Ivan Dolgoruky. He constantly accompanied the sovereign on the hunt, organized carousing and various dubious adventures.
The family decided to strengthen their position by marrying Peter II to Ivan's sister, Princess Catherine Dolgoruka (1712-1747). It was sweet and beautiful girl... The young people got engaged on November 30, 1729. The wedding was scheduled for January 19, 1730.
Portrait of Ekaterina Dolgoruka
Death of Peter II
As they say, man proposes, and God disposes. The sovereign received the parade on January 6, 1730. It was a severe frost, and the young man caught a cold. Immediately after the parade, he had a fever and smallpox. And on January 19, 1730, Peter II Alekseevich Romanov died at the age of 14. With his death, the Romanov family was interrupted in the male line. The sovereign was buried on the territory of the Kremlin in the Archangel Cathedral. An epitaph was placed on the tombstone.
The Dolgoruky family tried to deceive everyone and presented a false testament to the Tsar in the name of Ekaterina Dolgoruka, who was engaged to him. But the boyars, led by Prince D.M. Golitsyn, rejected the intrigues of the family and called the Duchess of Courland Anna Ioannovna (1693-1740) to the throne. She was the daughter of Tsar Ivan Alekseevich - co-ruler of Peter I.
A woman lived in the capital of Courland, Mitave, and the embassy urgently left for her with conditions (conditions). They said that the empress's power would be limited in favor of the Supreme Privy Council. Anna signed the conditions and arrived in Moscow. A new stage began in the history of the Russian Empire.
Alexey Starikov
Origin and upbringing
Charlotte Christine of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (?)
Grand Duke Pyotr Alekseevich, born on October 12, 1715 in St. Petersburg, was the son of the heir to the throne, Alexei, who was executed in 1718, and his wife Sophia-Charlotte of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, who died ten days after giving birth. The future heir to the throne, like his elder sister Natalia for a year, was not the fruit of love and family happiness. The marriage of Alexei and Charlotte was the result of diplomatic negotiations between Peter I, the Polish king August II and the Austrian emperor Charles VI, and each of them wanted to get his own benefit from the family union of the Romanov dynasty and the ancient Germanic family of Welfs, connected by many kindred threads with the royal ones who then ruled in Europe. houses. Naturally, no one was interested in the feelings of the bride and groom. , as, incidentally, it almost always happened in dynastic marriages.
Crown Princess Charlotte hoped that her marriage to the "barbarian Muscovite" would not take place. In a letter to her grandfather, Duke Anton-Ulrich, in the middle of 1709, she said that his message made her happy, since “it gives me some opportunity to think that Moscow matchmaking may be passing away”. But the princess's hopes were not justified: the wedding was played in Torgau in October 1711 and amazed everyone with the magnificence of the table and the nobility of the guests.
In connection with the hostile attitude of Alexei Petrovich to the reforms of his father, the tsarevich, as if mocking his desire to have European-educated heirs, assigned to his son two always drunk "mothers" from the German settlement, who, in order to mess with Peter less, served him wine. from which he fell asleep.
After the execution of Alexei in 1718, Peter I drew attention to his only grandson. He ordered to drive away the careless mothers, and ordered Menshikov to select teachers for him. Soon the clerk Semyon Marvin and the Carpathian Ruthenian from Hungary Zeykan I.A. were assigned to the Grand Duke.After some time, Peter I checked his grandson's knowledge and was furious: he could not speak Russian, knew a little German and Latin and much better - Tatar curses. The emperor personally beat Marvin and Zeykan, but Peter Alekseevich never received more worthy mentors.
Removal from the throne
In the first four years of Peter's life, he was not considered as a future emperor, since Peter I's sons Peter and Paul grew up. Both died in early childhood, raising the question of succession to the throne.
From birth, Pyotr Alekseevich was called grand duke... Before that, the sons of kings were called princes; the birth of Peter was the first since the introduction of the royal title (and the first in the history of the Romanov dynasty) that a grandson appeared at the reigning sovereign.
In February 1718, Alexei Petrovich, who was arrested abroad and brought to Russia, renounced the throne in favor of the young son of Peter I from his second marriage to Catherine, Peter Petrovich, who was born a few days after his nephew Peter Alekseevich. In the summer of the same year, Tsarevich Alexei died in prison. Thus, Pyotr Alekseevich was, after his father, removed from the throne.
The nobility became interested in Pyotr Alekseevich in 1719, after the three-year-old Pyotr Petrovich, officially recognized as the heir, died, and the tsar's grandson remained the only male representative of the Romanov family, except for the sovereign. The passage of the throne from grandfather to grandson was in keeping with the tradition of monarchical houses; so, shortly before that in France after death Louis XIV in 1715, the throne passed to his young great-grandson Louis XV. During his grandfather's illness, Pyotr Alekseevich met Ivan Dolgorukov, his future favorite. The child often visited the Dolgorukovs' house, in which the metropolitan youth from old noble families gathered. There he also met his aunt, Elizaveta Petrovna. This is how the party began to take shape, which considered Pyotr Alekseevich to be the emperor. At meetings in the Dolgorukovs' house, they explained to him his rights to the throne of the Russian Empire, and Pyotr Alekseevich vowed to crush his grandfather's favorite, Menshikov, who led the opposition to the old boyar families.
However, the supporters of the enthronement of Pyotr Alekseevich had strong opposition. Quite certain fears for their lives and property arose among those associates of Peter who signed the death warrant to his father. If the emperor followed the custom and announced his grandson - the son of the disgraced Alexei and the grandson of the conservative-minded Evdokia Lopukhina - as the heir, this would arouse the hopes of opponents of the reforms to return the old order.
Youth (1725-1727)
Peter II in the late 1720s
Under Catherine I
After the death of Peter I, the question of an heir began to be decided. Representatives of the old clan nobility (Lopukhins, Dolgorukovs) supported the candidacy of 9-year-old Pyotr Alekseevich, while representatives of the new service nobility, who became influential under Peter I, spoke in favor of declaring Peter's widow Catherine the empress. The question was resolved simply - Prince Menshikov surrounded the palace with a guard and elevated his former mistress Catherine to the throne.
Over time, the main supporter of Catherine, Menshikov, knowing about her poor health and assuming her imminent death, began to think about how to lure Peter over to his side. He hoped to betrothal his daughter Mary to the heir to the throne, and after his accession to the throne, become regent until his adulthood and thereby expand his already strong power, and in the long term - become the grandfather of the future emperor if Peter and Mary have children. Despite the fact that Maria was married to the Polish tycoon Peter Sapega, Menshikov managed to get Catherine's consent to marry his daughter with Peter Alekseevich. Sapieha was married to Sophia Karlovna Skavronskaya, the niece of the Empress.
Menshikov's opponents wanted to avoid the enthronement of Peter, as this would strengthen Menshikov's power. They hoped, under the pretext of training, to send Peter Alekseevich abroad, and after the death of Catherine, to elevate one of her daughters, Anna or Elizabeth, to the throne. Anna Petrovna's husband, the Duke of Holstein Karl-Friedrich, also joined this party. The conspirators' plans were thwarted by the empress's sudden illness.
Accession to the throne
Shortly before the death of the empress, members of the Supreme Privy Council, the Senate, the Synod, the presidents of the collegia and the staff officers of the guard gathered in the palace for a meeting on who should become emperor after the death of Catherine. Enemies of Menshikov began to discuss the idea of coronation of one of the princes, but the majority was in favor of Pyotr Alekseevich, who was to be under the tutelage of the Supreme Privy Council until the age of 16 and pledged to take an oath not to take revenge on anyone who signed the death sentence on his father, Alexei Petrovich.
After resolving the issue of succession to the throne, Menshikov, on behalf of the empress, began an investigation into the intrigues of his enemies. Many opponents of Menshikov were arrested and tortured, exiled and deprived of ranks, some were only demoted. The Duke of Holstein tried to come to an agreement with Menshikov through his minister Bassevich. Menshikov set a condition that the daughters of Peter I, Anna and Elizabeth, would not interfere with the accession to the throne of Peter Alekseevich, and Menshikov agreed to give out a million rubles for each crown princess.
Catherine's testament
It follows from this document that the articles of the will provided for custody of the minor emperor, determined the power of the Supreme Council, the order of the inheritance of the throne in the event of the death of Peter Alekseevich (in this case, the throne passed to the daughters of Catherine - Anna and Elizabeth and their descendants, in case they did not renounce the Russian throne or Orthodox faith, and then to Peter's sister - Natalya Alekseevna). Article 11 amazed those who read the will. It commanded all the nobles to promote the betrothal of Peter Alekseevich to one of the daughters of Prince Menshikov, and then, upon reaching adulthood, to promote their marriage. Literally: " so do our princes and the administration government try to arrange a marriage between his love [Grand Duke Peter] and the one princess Prince Menshikov».
Such an article clearly indicated that Menshikov took an active part in drawing up the will, but for Russian society, the right of Peter Alekseevich to the throne - the main article of the will - was indisputable, and there was no excitement about the content of the 11th article.
Reign
Portrait of Peter II.
Hood. I. Wedekind, 1730
General overview of the board
Peter II was not able to rule independently, as a result of which practically unlimited power was at first in the hands of Menshikov, and then - of Osterman and Dolgoruky. As with its predecessor, the state was ruled by inertia. The courtiers tried to follow the precepts of Peter the Great, but the conservation of the political system he created revealed all the shortcomings inherent in it.
The time of Menshikov's regency was not much different from the reign of Catherine I, since the actual ruler of the country remained the same, only gaining more power. After his fall, the Dolgorukovs came to power, and the situation changed radically. Last years reign of Peter II, some historians are inclined to consider the "boyar kingdom": much of what appeared under Peter I fell into decay, the old order began to be restored. The boyar aristocracy was strengthened, and the "chicks of Petrov's nest" faded into the background. On the part of the clergy, there were attempts to restore the patriarchate. The army and especially the navy fell into decay, corruption and embezzlement flourished. The capital was moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
The result of the reign of Peter II was the strengthening of the influence of the Supreme Privy Council, which included mainly old boyars (out of eight seats in the council, five belonged to the Dolgorukovs and Golitsins). The council became so strong that it forced Anna Ioannovna, who became ruler after Peter, to sign the "Conditions", which transferred all power to the Supreme Privy Council. In 1730, the "Konditsii" were destroyed by Anna Ioannovna, and the boyar families lost their strength again.
Peter II under Menshikov (1727)
Menshikov led a struggle against all those whom he considered dangerous in the sense of succession to the throne. The daughter of Peter I, Anna Petrovna, was forced to leave Russia with her husband. Anna Ioanovna, the daughter of Tsar John (the elder brother of Peter I and co-ruler until 1696), was forbidden to come from Mitava to congratulate her nephew on his ascension to the throne. Baron Shafirov, president of the Commerce Collegium, a longtime enemy of Menshikov, was removed to Arkhangelsk, ostensibly "to set up a whaling company."
Trying to strengthen his influence on the emperor, Menshikov moved him on May 17 to his home on Vasilievsky Island. On May 25, 11-year-old Peter II was betrothed to 16-year-old Princess Maria, Menshikov's daughter. She received the title "Her Imperial Highness" and the annual allowance of 34 thousand rubles. Although Peter was kind to her and her father, in his letters from that time he called her "a porcelain doll."
It is unlikely that Menshikov had anything to do with the emperor's initiative to call his grandmother, Evdokia Lopukhina, from the Suzdal captivity, whom he had never seen before. She was moved to the Novodevichy Convent, where she received a decent maintenance.
Domestic policy
Soon after the accession of Peter II to the throne, Menshikov drew up two manifestos on his behalf, designed to tune the population in his favor. With the first of these decrees, serfs were forgiven for long-term arrears, and freedom was granted to those exiled to hard labor for non-payment of taxes. This undertaking was continued. Under Peter, the punishment code softened in Russia, a process that will culminate under Elizabeth. In particular, the imperial decree was henceforth forbidden "for intimidation" to expose the dismembered bodies of the executed.
Was abolished and the so-called "turnaround tax" - that is, to submit from each arriving wagon. The explanation for this was “the government’s concern about protecting its subjects from offenses caused by collectors,” however, the amount usually received in this way for a year was in the form of an indirect tax spread over the imperial taverns.
Along with the forgiveness of old arrears, which, apparently, it was still impossible to collect, the Menshikov government made efforts leading to tightening control over tax collections. So, after a failed attempt to appoint zemstvo commissars from local residents to collect taxes (in the hope that they would better know the situation on the ground), it was decided to oblige local governors to send messengers directly to local estates, and demand arrears from landlords, their clerks or stewards.
Andrey Osterman
The education of the emperor
Osterman drew up a teaching plan for Peter, consisting of ancient and modern history, geography, mathematics and geometry:
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The training plan also included entertainment: billiards, hunting, etc. According to Osterman's instructions, the Collegium of Foreign Affairs for the emperor, based on materials from the European press, compiled a "curious" handwritten newspaper. In addition to the training plan drawn up by Osterman, there is also a note written personally by Peter II:
According to Osterman's plan, Peter was to attend the Supreme Privy Council on Wednesdays and Fridays. However, he appeared there only once, on June 21, 1727. More about Peter's visits to the highest government body under Menshikov is unknown.
The young emperor did not like to study, preferring merry amusements and hunting, where he was accompanied by the young prince Ivan Dolgorukov and the 17-year-old daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth. Menshikov also did not come to the meetings of the Council, papers were rushed to his house. By giving orders as an autocratic ruler, the “semi-sovereign ruler” turned the rest of the nobility against himself, as well as the sovereign himself.
In 1727, on the territory of the Menshikov estate, on the site where the house of the butler prince was located, the construction of the palace of Peter II began. The butler's house entered this palace as the southeast wing. After the death of Peter II in 1730, construction was stopped. By this time, only the foundation and the lower floor of the palace had been erected. The building was completed in -1761 as part of the Stable Yard of the Land Gentry Corps.
The fall of Menshikov
Gradually, the emperor began to grow cold towards Menshikov and his daughter. There were several reasons for this: on the one hand - the arrogance of Menshikov himself, on the other - the influence of Elizaveta Petrovna and the Dolgoruky. On the name day of Natalya Alekseevna, August 26, Peter treated Maria quite dismissively. Menshikov reprimanded Peter, to which he remarked: “ I love her in my heart, but caresses are unnecessary; Menshikov knows that I have no intention of getting married before 25 years". As a result of this disagreement, Peter ordered the Supreme Privy Council to transport all his belongings from the Menshikov Palace to the Peterhof Palace and make an order that state money should not be given to anyone without a decree signed personally by the emperor.
Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina.
Unknown Russian artist of the 18th century. Canvas, oil. Museum-Estate of Kuskovo
According to E.V. Anisimov, it was not the young emperor who came up with decrees to move the court from Vasilievsky Island, to disobey Menshikov's orders, to house arrest, and to replace the commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress, who was loyal to the Generalllisimus. In a series of imperial decrees signed by Peter II in early September 1727, the experienced hand of Peter's educator, Andrei Ivanovich Osterman, is clearly visible. However, it would be a mistake to assume that the time of Menshikov was replaced by the time of Osterman: the new favorite of the tsar, Prince Ivan Alekseevich Dolgoruky, came to the fore.
After the fall of Menshikov, Evdokia Lopukhina began to call herself queen and on September 21 she wrote to her grandson:
Most Reigning Emperor, Dearest Grandson! Although for a long time my desire was not only to congratulate your Majesty on the perception of the throne, but rather to see you, but in my misfortune, this number was not honored, before Prince Menshikov, not allowing your Majesty's permission, sent me to guard Moscow. And now she has been informed that she has been excommunicated from you for her opposition to your Majesty; and tacos take the courage to write and congratulate you. Moreover, I ask, if your Majesty will not soon be in Moscow, so that I am commanded to be with me, so that, out of the hot blood, I can see you and your sister, my dear grandson, before my death.
Evdokia Lopukhina, letter to Peter II
Thus, the emperor's grandmother urged him to come to Moscow, but was afraid to know that if Peter came to Moscow, Lopukhina would be released and become the ruler. Despite this, at the end of 1727, preparations began for the move of the court to Moscow for the upcoming coronation on the model of the Russian tsars.
In early January, the emperor with his court left Petersburg, but on the way Peter fell ill and was forced to spend two weeks in Tver. For some time, Peter stopped near Moscow to prepare for the ceremonial entry. It took place on February 4, 1728.
Peter II under the Dolgorukovs (1728-1730)
The camisole of Peter II, sewn in 1727-30, makes it possible to represent the skinny figurine of a teenager
Peter II's stay in Moscow began with the coronation in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (February 25 (March 8)). This was the first coronation of an emperor in Russia, and in many ways set the pattern for the future. Like all subsequent emperors, Peter II (according to a certificate specially drawn up in the Supreme Privy Council) at the coronation received communion in the altar, not reaching the throne, according to the order of the clergy (from the cup); Archbishop of Novgorod Feofan Prokopovich gave him the cup with the Holy Gifts.
On November 22, 1728, the 14-year-old elder sister of the Emperor Natalya Alekseevna, whom he loved very much and who, according to his contemporaries, had a beneficial effect on him, died in Moscow.
After moving to Moscow, the Dolgorukovs received great power: on February 3, 1728, princes Vasily Lukich and Alexei Grigorievich Dolgorukiy were appointed members of the Supreme Privy Council; On February 11, the young prince Ivan Alekseevich was made chief chamberlain.
The fall of Menshikov brought Peter closer to Anna Petrovna. At the end of February 1728, a message came to Moscow that Anna Petrovna had a son, Peter (the future Peter III). On this occasion, a ball was arranged. The messenger who announced the birth of Peter was presented with 300 ducats, and Feofan Prokopovich sent the Duke of Holstein, Anna Petrovna's husband, a long congratulatory letter in which he praised the newborn in every possible way and humiliated Menshikov.
After Peter's arrival in Moscow, he met with his grandmother, Evdokia. This meeting is touchingly described by many historians. But the emperor treated his grandmother rather dismissively, despite the fact that she loved her grandson very much.
Domestic policy
In the Moscow period of his life, Peter II mainly entertained himself, leaving the princes Dolgoruky to conduct state affairs. The Dolgorukovs themselves, and especially Ivan Alekseevich, spoke with indignation about the constant amusements of the emperor, but, nevertheless, did not interfere with him and did not force him to deal with state affairs. According to the historian Solovyov, foreign envoys reported the following about the state of affairs in Russia:
In the Supreme Privy Council, Apraksin, Golovkin and Golitsyn - that is, almost half of the members - expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that the emperor was not present in the Council and two of its members, Prince Alexei Dolgorukov and Osterman, were intermediaries between the emperor and the Council; they themselves almost never go to meetings, and the opinions of the Council should be sent to them with a request to conduct the matter, reporting to the emperor.
The army and navy were in crisis: the Military Collegium, after Menshikov's exile, was left without a president, and after the capital was moved to Moscow - and without a vice president, the army lacked ammunition, and many capable young officers were fired. Peter was not interested in the army, the organization of military maneuvers near Moscow in the spring of 1729 did not attract his attention. The construction of ships was discontinued, they wanted to limit themselves to the release of some galleys, which practically led to a war with Sweden. The transfer of the capital to Moscow also did not contribute to the development of the fleet. When Osterman warned Peter that the fleet might disappear due to the removal of the capital from the sea, Peter replied: “ When the need calls for the use of ships, then I will go to sea; but I do not intend to walk on it like grandfather».
During the reign of Peter II, disasters often occurred: for example, on April 23, 1729, a fire broke out in Moscow, in the German settlement. When it was extinguished, the grenadiers took away valuable things from the owners of the houses, threatening them with axes, and only the arrival of the emperor stopped the robberies. When Peter was informed about the robbery, he ordered to take the guilty ones; but Ivan Dolgorukov tried to hush up the matter, since he was their captain.
At that time, robberies were very often committed. For example, in the Alatorsk district, robbers burned down the village of Prince Kurakin and killed the clerk, two churches and more than 200 households were burned. They wrote that more than one of this village was affected and robbers are standing near Alatyr in large numbers with weapons and cannons and boasting that they will take and ruin the city where there is no garrison, and there is no one to send to catch the thieves. A similar thing happened in the Penza region and the Lower Volga region.
Bribery and embezzlement flourished on a large scale. In December 1727, the trial began against Admiral Matvey Zmaevich, who abused his powers and plundered the treasury. The court sentenced Zmaevich and his accomplice Major Pasynkov to death, which was replaced by a demotion, honorary exile to Astrakhan and compensation for damages.
The ruble of Peter II in silver. 1727
After the repressions of Peter's time, relief from monetary obligations and recruitment was given, and on April 4, 1729, the punitive body, the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, was liquidated. His affairs were divided between the Supreme Privy Council and the Senate, according to their importance.
The contradictions in the church intensified. After Menshikov's death, the opposition clergy felt strong and began to advocate for the restoration of the patriarchate. Since the time of Peter I, all church affairs were in charge of the vice-president of the Holy Synod, Theophan Prokopovich, who was accused of condescension to the spread of Lutheranism and Calvinism, as well as of participation in the All-Sentimental and All-Drunken Council. The main prosecutors were the Rostov bishop Georgy (Dashkov) and Markell (Rodyshevsky).
Many of Peter the Great's undertakings continued by inertia. So, in 1730 Vitus Bering returned to St. Petersburg and announced the discovery of the strait between Asia and America.
Betrothal to Ekaterina Dolgorukova
Through his friend, Ivan Dolgorukov, the emperor in the fall of 1729 met and fell in love with his sister, 17-year-old princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova. On November 19, Peter II convened the Council and announced his intention to marry the princess; on November 30, the betrothal took place in the Lefort palace. On the other hand, there were rumors that the Dolgorukovs forced the emperor to marry. Observers noted that Peter II in public treats the bride coldly. On January 19, 1730, a wedding was scheduled, which did not take place due to the untimely death of Peter II.
Meanwhile, there was no unity in the Dolgoruky camp: for example, Alexei Dolgorukov hated his son Ivan, whom his sister Catherine also did not like because he did not allow her to take away the jewelry that belonged to the deceased sister of the emperor. In early January 1730 there was a secret meeting between Peter and Osterman, at which the latter tried to dissuade the emperor from marriage, talking about the embezzlement of the Dolgorukovs. Elizaveta Petrovna was also present at this meeting, who talked about the Dolgorukovs' bad attitude towards her, despite Peter's constant decrees that she should be given due respect. Probably, the Dolgorukovs disliked her due to the fact that the young emperor was very attached to her, although he was going to marry Ekaterina Dolgorukova.
Death of the emperor
Foreign policy
Despite the short reign of Peter, the foreign policy of Russia in his time was quite active. Osterman, who was in charge of foreign policy, relied entirely on an alliance with Austria. The emperor did not doubt this policy, because his maternal uncle was Emperor Charles VI, and his cousin was the future Empress Maria Theresa. The interests of Russia and Austria coincided in many areas - in particular, with regard to opposition to the Ottoman Empire.
Union with Austria, according to the concepts of that time, automatically meant strained relations with France and England. They wanted to use the coronation of George II to improve relations between Russia and Great Britain, but the death of the main ambassador of Russia to France and England, Boris Kurakin, ruined these plans.
Russia's relations with Poland deteriorated significantly due to the fact that the Poles considered Courland, in which Anna Ioannovna ruled, as their province and openly said that it should be divided into voivodships. Moritz of Saxony, the illegitimate son of the Polish king August II, was refused marriages with Elizaveta Petrovna and Anna Ioannovna.
The news of Peter's accession to the throne was well received in Denmark, since a close relative of the king, the Duke of Holstein, was married to Peter's aunt, which could serve as the basis for an alliance with Denmark. Alexei Bestuzhev reported to Peter from Copenhagen: "The king hopes to get your friendship and is ready to seek it in all possible ways, directly and through the Caesar."
At first, relations with Sweden were very hostile: the Russian envoy was treated coldly, while the Turkish was showered with favors; Sweden forced Russia to start a war in order to attribute to it the beginning of a hostile movement and to get help from France and England. Disputes about Peter's conquests continued: Sweden threatened that it would not recognize Peter as emperor if Russia did not return Vyborg to Sweden. However, later, the Swedes, having learned that the army and navy in Russia were still in a combat-ready state, abandoned these requirements. Despite this, relations remained tense: in Sweden, many regretted that Menshikov was exiled, and, in addition, the invasion of Russia by Sweden and Turkey with the support of England and France was being prepared. However, the relationship soon changed, and the main enemy of Russia, Count Horn, began to swear allegiance to the emperor. At the end of Peter's reign, King Frederick I of Sweden himself tried to enter into an alliance with Russia.
The personality of Peter II
Peter II was distinguished by laziness, did not like to study, but he adored entertainment and at the same time was very wayward. Historian Nikolai Kostomarov cites a historical anecdote from his life:
He was only 12 years old, but he already felt that he was born an autocratic monarch, and at the first opportunity presented himself showed the consciousness of his royal origin over Menshikov himself. Petersburg masons presented the young sovereign with 9,000 ducats. The Tsar sent this money as a gift to his sister, Grand Duchess Natalia, but Menshikov, meeting the minister walking with the money, took the money from him and said: "The Tsar is too young and does not know how to use money." The next morning, having learned from his sister that she had not received money, Peter asked the courtier about them, who announced that Menshikov had taken the money from him. The sovereign ordered to call Prince Menshikov and shouted angrily:
How dare you prevent my courtier from carrying out my order?
Our treasury is exhausted, ”said Menshikov,“ the state is in need, and I intend to give this money a more useful purpose; however, if your Majesty pleases, I will not only return this money, but I will give you a whole million out of my money.
I am the emperor, - said Peter, stamping his foot, - I must obey.
The king is similar to his grandfather in that he stands his ground, does not tolerate objections and does what he wants.
Lefort, Saxon Ambassador to Russia
Previously, it was possible to oppose all this, but now it is impossible to even think about it, because the sovereign knows his unlimited power and does not want to correct himself. He acts solely at his own discretion, following only the advice of his favorites.
Hohenholz, Austrian Ambassador to Russia
One cannot help but be surprised at the sovereign's ability to hide his thoughts; his art of pretending is wonderful. Last week he dined twice at Osterman's, whom he at the same time mocked in the company of the Dolgoruks. Before Osterman, he hides his thoughts: he tells him the opposite of what the Dolgoruky assured him ... The art of pretending is the predominant character trait of the emperor.
Count Vratislav, Austrian Ambassador to Russia
Although it is difficult to say anything decisive about the character of the 14-year-old sovereign, one can guess that he will be hot-tempered, decisive and cruel.
Duke De Liria, Spanish Ambassador to Russia
Titles
| Years | Title |
|---|---|
| - | Grand Duke |
| - | Bozhіeyu pospѣshestvuyuscheyu milostіyu We Petr Second, the Imperator and Samoderzhets Vserossіyskіy, Moskovskіy, Kіevskіy, Vladimіrskіy, Novgorodskіy, King Kazanskіy, King Astrahanskіy, King Sibirskіy, Emperor Pskovskіy and Velikіy Prince Smolenskіy, Prince Estlyandskіy, Liflyandskіy, Korelskіy, Tverskіy, Yugorskіy, Permskіy, Vyatskiy, Bulgarian and other Sovereign and Great Prince of Novgorod, Nizovskiy lands, Chernigovskiy, Ryazanskiy, Rostovskiy, Yaroslavskiy, Buloozerskiy, Udorskiy, Obdorskiy, Kondiy'skiy lands and all countries of the Northern Princes and others, the Hereditary Sovereign and Possessor of |
Impostors
Pedigree
| Alexei Mikhailovich |
Natalia Naryshkina |
Peter I 1672 - 1725 |
Evdokia Lopukhina 1669 - 1731 |
Ludwig Rudolf 1671 - 1735 |
Kristina Louise 1671 - 1747 |
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| Alexander Petrovich 1691 - 1692 |
Pavel Petrovich 1693 - 1693 |
Alexei Petrovich 1690 - 1718 |
Sofia Charlotte 1694 - 1715 |
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) Peter succeeded her on the throne. Peter was the grandson of Peter I, from his father Alexei. Since Peter was small and did not show interest in power, all power remained in the hands of Menshikov, as it was under Catherine I.
Trying to strengthen his influence on the emperor, Menshikov moved him on May 28 to his home on Vasilievsky Island. And on June 5, Peter II was betrothed to Princess Maria, Menshikov's daughter. She received the title "Her Imperial Highness" and the annual allowance of 34 thousand rubles. Although Peter was kind to her and her father, in his letters from that time he referred to her as a "porcelain doll."
Soon after the accession of Peter II to the throne, Menshikov drew up two manifestos on his behalf, designed to tune the population in his favor. With the first of these decrees, serfs were forgiven for long-term arrears (unpaid part of the mandatory payment), and those exiled for non-payment of taxes to hard labor were granted freedom. Under Peter, in Russia, the mitigation of the punishment code began. In particular, the imperial decree was henceforth forbidden "for intimidation" to expose the dismembered bodies of the executed.
Peter II Alekseevich (g / f October 23, 1715 - January 30, 1730)
Gradually, the emperor began to grow cold towards Menshikov and his daughter. Because of Menshikov's captiousness and because of the influence of the Dolgorukovs. On Natalya Alekseevna's name day, September 6, Peter treated Maria quite dismissively. Menshikov reprimanded Peter, to which he remarked: “I love her in my heart, but caresses are unnecessary; Menshikov knows that I have no intention of getting married before 25 years. " As a result of this disagreement, Peter ordered the Supreme Privy Council to transport all his belongings from the Menshikov Palace to the Peterhof Palace and make an order that state money should not be given to anyone without a decree signed personally by the emperor.
In addition to this, in the summer of 1727, Menshikov fell ill. While he was ill at court, Menshikov's opponents extracted the protocols of the interrogations of Tsarevich Alexei, the father of Emperor Peter I, in which Menshikov participated, and acquainted the Emperor with them. On September 18, Peter, upon his arrival from hunting in Petersburg, sent an announcement to the guards that they obey only his orders. And on September 19, Menshikov was accused of high treason, embezzlement of the treasury and, together with his entire family (including Maria), was exiled to the city of Berezov, Tobolsk Territory. So the clever was dishonestly destroyed statesman, a favorite of Peter I.
The young emperor did not want to deal with state affairs at all. The new favorite of the emperor, Ivan Dolgoruky, often and for a long time took him away for hunting and entertainment. As the foreign ambassadors wrote: “Everyone in Russia is in terrible disorder, the tsar is not engaged in business and does not think to do it. Nobody gets paid money, and God knows where finances will go. Everyone steals as much as they can ... ”. Peter stopped visiting the Supreme Privy Council, which caused dissatisfaction among the members of the council, the Supreme Collegium was left without a president. Corruption and embezzlement flourished. Almost all the officers were disbanded, the army was in decline, and the construction of ships ceased. Wanting to return Peter to St. Petersburg, Andrei Osterman tried to convince the emperor that without the sea the fleet would disappear. But Peter answered: “When the need demands the return of the ships, then I will go to sea. But I do not intend to walk around it like my grandfather. "
The contradictions in the church intensified. After the death of Menshikov, the opposition clergy felt strong and began to advocate for the restoration of the patriarchate. All church affairs since the time of Peter I were in charge of the vice-president of the Holy Synod, Theophan Prokopovich, who was accused of condescension to the spread of Lutheranism and Calvinism.
Although the people were pleased. Decreased extortions from people, there was no peace-war. Trade and industry developed thanks to Osterman. In the Irkutsk and Yenisei provinces, it was allowed to build factories for anyone who could, and the produced metals and minerals were freely sold (with a minimum tax).
November 19, 1729 it was solemnly announced that Peter would marry the daughter of Prince Dolgoruky, Ekaterina Alekseevna. The engagement took place on November 30. True, Peter quickly cooled to his wife.
On the feast of the Epiphany in 1730, despite the severe frost, Peter II, along with Field Marshal Minich and Osterman, hosted a parade dedicated to the consecration of water on the Moskva River. When Peter returned home, he developed a fever caused by smallpox. In the first hour of the night from January 30, 1730, the 14-year-old emperor came to his senses and said: “Lay the horses. I will go to Natalia's sister, ”but it was fever, Natalia died long ago. He died a few minutes later, leaving no descendants or an appointed heir. Peter II was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
On his tombstone (near the southern edge of the cathedral's northeastern pillar) is the following:
The most pious and autocratic sovereign Peter the Second All-Russian Emperor. Born in the summer of 1715 October 12, the ancestral possession of the reception in 1727 May 7 crowned and anointed in 1728 February 25 days. Having briefly reassured the great blessings of their subjects, by the will of God to the eternal kingdom they were retired in the summer of 1730 Januarius 18. Spread the joy of our hearts, turn our face into a cry,recession a crown from our head, woe to us, for we have sinned
Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin,
Facade of the Archangel Cathedral
Ivan Dolgorukov wanted to forge the handwriting of Emperor Peter on the will, since at one time he entertained Peter by copying his handwriting. The fabricated “last will of the emperor Peter II Alekseevich”Provided for the transfer of power to his bride - Ekaterina Dolgoruka. But the signature was not certified, since Osterman did not give the Dolgorukovs a single chance to be left alone with the emperor.
Dolgoruky's attempt ended in disaster for them. Ivan Dolgorukov, who tried to shout out Catherine Dolgoruky to the kingdom, was arrested, and Catherine was later sent into exile for life.
The extravagant and tragic reign of Peter the Great's grandson is over. After his death, there were no direct male descendants of the Romanov dynasty.
The camisole of Peter II, sewn in 1727-30, makes it possible to represent the skinny figurine of a teenager
Ruble of Peter II in silver
On January 6, 1730, Tsar [Peter II] went to the city to bless the water, and, returning to his Slobodskoy palace, complained of ill health. The next day smallpox poured down his body. This disease, as is known, is generally of such a nature that for several days it is impossible to make positive predictions about its outcome; but as Peter was the last of the male line of the Romanov family, the possibility of his death aroused questions in advance about who he would be. a successor and who should by himself discover another dynasty or another line of the previous dynasty. This occupied not only the Russian state people, but also the ministers of foreign courts, who were obliged to look after the interests of those states that they were representatives in Russia. Among these foreign ministers in Russia was the Danish minister Westfalen, a great diplomat and intriguer. Even under Catherine 1, as we have cited above, he approached Menshikov and encouraged him to join the party of Petrov's grandson. At that time, the Danish minister was trying to ensure that Peter II ascended the throne after Catherine's death, because otherwise either the Holstein Duchess, or her sister Elizabeth, who was in great friendship with her, could have taken the throne, and this would be dangerous and contrary to the policy of the Danish government ... Now, in the event of the early death of Peter II, the old fear arose. Upon the death of the last of the male lineage of the Romanov house, the inheritance of the throne could pass either to the crown princess Elizabeth, or to the young son of the late Holstein duchess. It would be useful for Denmark if a person who has no friendly connection with the Holstein house succeeded to the throne in Russia, and it would be best if he could; become hostile to the latter. Westphalen witnessed how, after the death of Peter the Great, the throne went to his widow, who had no family right; therefore, as he realized, in Russia the succession may be, past, any blood connection with the formerly reigning house. The Danish minister wrote a letter to Vasily Lukich Dolgorukov and threw into it the seductive idea of declaring the Tsar's bride to be Peter's successor, just as after the death of Peter the Great, Catherine was proclaimed the reigning Empress. Then - he remarked - Menshikov and Tolstoy arranged such a thing, why can't the Dolgorukovs do it now? Vasily Lukich reported this idea to Prince Alexei Grigorievich. On January 12, the Tsar felt better, and the case was abandoned.
Everyone hoped that Peter's illness was no longer dangerous. But on January 17, Peter, who in his adolescent liveliness never took care of himself from the effects of temperature, opened the window. Suddenly, all the smallpox that had poured out on the body closed. Then everyone saw the hopelessness. The king immediately began to fall into unconsciousness.
Then Prince Alexei Grigorievich invited his relatives to his Golovinsky Palace for a secret family council. His brothers, Sergei and Ivan Grigorievich, Vasily Lukich and the brother of the tsar's bride, Ivan Alekseevich, got together. Prince Alexei Grigorievich, leaving them in his bedroom, went to the Lefortovo Palace to inquire about the health of the sovereign. In his absence, princes Vasily and Mikhail Vladimirovichi arrived at the Golovinsky Palace. Perhaps the father of the tsar's bride deliberately left the house in order to give the opportunity to tell the brothers Vladimirovich without himself about what was being undertaken at the instigation of Westphalen: it seemed to him indecent to speak in favor of his daughter to those who had previously looked unfavorably at the alleged tsar marriage.
The princes Grigorievich said to the princes Vladimirovich:
- Here is His Majesty very sick and unconscious; if he dies, then it is necessary as much as possible to be kept, so that after his majesty the heiress of the Russian throne to be betrothed to his majesty's bride, Princess Catherine.
“Princess Catherine did not marry the sovereign,” said Prince Vasily Vladimirovich.
- Not married, so engaged, - answered the Grigorievichs.
- It's a different matter of a wedding, but a different betrothal, - said Vasily Vladimirovich. Even if she was married, and then in the act of her heiress it would not be without hesitation. Not that outsiders, and other persons of our surname will not want to be her citizenship. Although the late Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna reigned, only Her Majesty the Emperor crowned with his belly.
- One has only to have a strong desire, said the Grigorievichs. We will persuade Count Golovkin and Prince Dmitry Golitsyn, and if they argue, so we will begin to beat them. How not to become our way? You, Prince Vasily Vladimirovich, are a lieutenant colonel in the Preobrazhensky regiment, and Prince Ivan is a major; and there is no one in the Semenovsky regiment to argue against us.
Prince Vasily Vladimirovich said to this:
- What are you, childish, lying! Is it a sufficient matter? And then, how do I announce the regiment? They will hear about it from me, not only will they scold, they will also beat you!
Then the Grigorievichs said:
- And if Princess Catherine deigns to declare the sovereign his heiress in the spiritual?
Prince Vasily Vladimirovich answered:
- That would be good, since this matter is in the will of His Majesty, only how can we talk about such an untenable matter, when you yourself know that His Majesty is very sick and cannot say: how can His Majesty do this business!
Then Prince Alexei Grigorievich arrived and said that the position of the sovereign was not improving at all and, on the contrary, seemed hopeless. There was again a talk about inheritance, and Prince Vasily Vladimirovich in sharp terms began to object to the intention to make the royal bride the heiress to the throne. “You will ruin everything yourself if you begin to strive for this,” he prophetically told Prince Alexei Grigorievich and then left with his brother Mikhail.
The Dolgorukovs who remained in the Golovinsky Palace again took up the question of inheritance. Prince Sergei Grigorievich said:
- Is it possible to write a spiritual one on behalf of the sovereign, allegedly he made his bride, Princess Catherine, his heiress?
There were no brothers Vladimirovich, and no one objected to such a lawless enterprise. Prince Vasily Lukich volunteered to compose a forged document, sat down at the butt, took a sheet of paper and began to write; but, not finishing everything, he threw down the paper and said:
- The letter is thin on my hand. Who would write better?
Then Prince Sergei Grigorievich took up pen and paper, and princes Vasily Lukich and Alexei Grigorievich composed the spiritual and dictated to him, so that one would say, and the other would add. In this way, Prince Sergei wrote the spiritual on behalf of the emperor in two copies. Then Prince Ivan Alekseevich took out of his pocket the emperor's letter and his own writing and said:
- Look, here is a letter from the sovereign and my hand. Writing in my hand word for word like a sovereign letter. I know how to sign under the arm of the sovereign, because I jokingly wrote with the sovereign.
And under one of the copies of the compiled spiritual, he signed: "Peter."
All in unison decided that the handwriting of Prince Ivan Alekseevich was surprisingly similar to that of the sovereign.
But from the first time they did not dare to give the meaning of a valid document to the false spiritual, signed by the prince for the sovereign. There remained another copy, not yet signed. Father and uncles said to Prince Ivan:
- You wait and take a time when his majesty becomes freer from illness, then ask him to sign this spiritual one, and if that spiritual is not signed by his hand, then after the death of the sovereign we will declare the one signed by your hand, allegedly he made his bride an heiress. And your hands with the hand of His Imperial Majesty, perhaps, will not know.
After such advice, Prince Ivan, taking both copies of the spiritual, went to the Lefortovo Palace and walked there, constantly inquiring whether the sovereign had become better and whether it was possible to be admitted to him. But he had the same answer: the sovereign is extremely ill and unconscious. Osterman was relentlessly close to the sovereign, because Peter himself had previously wanted this.
- Where is your spiritual one?
“Here,” answered Prince Ivan. I didn't get time from His Imperial Majesty to ask him to sign a spiritual one.
The father told him:
- Come here, so that those spiritual who do not see and would not fall into the hands of someone.
Prince Ivan Alekseevich gave both spiritual lists to his father. (Kashperova, Pam. New. Russian. Ist. I, p. 160 ff.).
The state of health of the sovereign was finally hopeless. He was given communion by St. of mysteries, and three bishops performed the sacrament of blessing of oil on him. Osterman was relentlessly at the head of his dying royal pupil. Peter, in fits of agony, incessantly pronounced his name. Finally, on the night of January 18-19, 1730, at two o'clock, Peter shouted: "Harness the sleigh, I want to go to my sister!" With that, he let out his breath.
Peter II did not reach the age when the personality of a person is fully determined, and history hardly has the right to pronounce any judgment about him. Although contemporaries praised his ability, his natural intelligence and kind heart- everything that could give hope to see a good sovereign, but such praises should not be given big flails, because those were only hopes for good things in the future. In essence, the behavior and inclinations of the royal youth, who occupied the Russian throne under the name of Peter II, did not give the right to expect from him in time a talented, intelligent and efficient ruler of the state. He not only disliked teachings and deeds, but hated both, did not show any curiosity; nothing attracted him in the sphere of public administration, he was completely addicted to idle amusements and so obeyed the will of those close to him that he could not by himself, without the help of others, free himself from that which already weighed him down; meanwhile, he was constantly carried away by the seductive thought that, as an autocrat, he could make weight according to his own disposition, and everyone around him should do as he ordered. The royal youth was deeply corrupted by ambitious people, who took advantage of his orphanhood for their own selfish purposes, and by his name arranged intrigues against each other. Death befell him at a time when he was at the mercy of the Dolgorukovs; Probably, if he had survived, then the Dolgorukovs, by the intrigues of some other favorites of happiness, would have suffered the fate of Menshikov, and those others who would have overthrown the Dolgorukovs, in turn, would have been overthrown by other favorites. In any case, one could expect the reign of court intrigues and petty tyranny. State affairs would have fallen into utter neglect, as it has already begun: the example of the supreme autocratic head has an infectious effect on the entire government environment. Moving the capital back to Moscow would have pulled the whole of Russia to its former inactivity, to stagnation and hibernation, as the supporters of the transformation already feared. Of course, it cannot be argued that it would have been so probably, and not differently, because unexpected events occur that change the course of things. Such an accidental, unexpected event was actually the early death of Peter II, which, for reasons, can be considered the greatest happiness sent from above for Russia: the death of the young sovereign was nevertheless a reason for the fact that Russia was again moved along the path, paved by the Great Peter, although with incomparably less speed, energy and clarity of views and goals.
