Raising the Children of Monarchs: Different Approaches in Europe, Asia and Russia

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Future kings, by all accounts, should not be raised in the same way as ordinary boys. Indeed, the lives of princes often differed from the lives of their peers. After all, they were not prepared to make a career, but to rule destinies … Although sometimes, on the contrary, no one imagined that the prince would become famous and even more so - a monarch. The more interesting it is to look at the result.

Edward VI: emphasis on hygiene

One of the most famous little kings, Edward is familiar to many thanks to the book "The Prince and the Pauper". He was the long-awaited son of King Henry VIII, for the sake of whose appearance he got rid of several wives in a row. Edward had two older sisters, but according to the laws of that time, they moved in line to the throne in second and third places after the birth of a younger brother - sons had priority over daughters.

Edward was born a strong boy, but his father, nevertheless, was constantly afraid that the heir would get sick. In this regard, in the palace around the boy, an unprecedented level of hygiene was maintained by the standards of the time, and the prince himself was surrounded for a long time by a large crowd of caring ladies. With regard to the heir, they followed all the latest recommendations of doctors to improve health - walks, outdoor games (he had a lot of toys), clean sheets, food without spices. As a result, Edward's only problem was his poor eyesight. He grew up a tall, strong boy and even endured a life-threatening fever at the age of four without complications.

In addition to nannies and servants, Edward had a group of minstrels at his disposal: to entertain him and to shape his taste for art, as well as to encourage him to dance with music, thereby strengthening his legs and dispersing blood. The prince was often visited by sisters whom he loved very much and who, probably, were also attached to him.

Eduard did not begin his studies alone, he was picked up by a company so that the competitive spirit encouraged him to try harder in his studies and so that the boy would not get bored. Together with him studied the elder sister Elizabeth (who, unlike Mary, did not draw up a separate program) and some noble boys, the sons of courtiers known to Edward.

He studied languages, geography, mathematics and military history, and, of course, received a religious education in accordance with the requirements of the time. Military history was his favorite course; Edward loved weapons and war games. Since he lost his father at the age of nine, he continued to study and receive lessons in good manners, no longer a prince, but a king. Alas, his reign was short-lived, and the young king died of tuberculosis at the age of sixteen.

Peter I: do not stop moving

The father of the future emperor, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, was one of the most pro-Western rulers of Russia. At meetings of the noble duma, he personally read the news from the Western press in translation, and tried to raise children according to the European model. Each of them knew that at home he was a prince, and for foreigners - a prince, and neither one nor the other title should be dropped.

They were given "German sheets" - informative engravings depicting the life of different peoples or animals from different regions. They taught ancient Greek, Latin and Polish (the latter was considered a particularly literary language for Slavic cultures), etiquette and the basics of versification, gave an idea of painting and church music. Of course, they learned to read and write and arithmetic.

Under the influence of the tsar, all the boyars of Moscow prescribed mentors for their children from well-educated Poles and Polonized Belarusians. All this greatly influenced the next generation, and under Peter's brother Fyodor, Moscow youth almost en masse dressed in Polish fashion (variations of the common European and national Slavic at the same time), while the young men shaved off everything except their mustache.

Of the children of Alexei Mikhailovich, however, Peter was the least educated. The fact is that he was the fourteenth in a row and was orphaned at a young age, so his upbringing got the least attention. In addition, he was incredibly restless and easily carried away and distracted. His mother selected mentors for him who knew how to occupy his imagination and teach so that he could move or make something in the process.

Peter got all the same "German sheets" that his older brothers and sisters, and foreign toys, but the end result of his education was poor literacy and a little better - arithmetic. No one saw this as a problem, because the prince was far from the beginning on the list of heirs to the throne. All his life, Peter wrote with mistakes. But the habit of learning through hands or taking in information on the go remained with him.

Mehmed II: from little savage to enlightened dictators

The Turkish sultan, known for his confrontation with Vlad Dracula, was the third son of Sultan Murad II and, like Peter, was not initially seen as the main heir. His two older brothers were born of women from noble Turkish families, and Mehmed himself was born of a European slave. However, the brothers mysteriously died one after another, and Murad wished to see his third son.

To Murad's horror, the only education that Mehmed received by the age of eleven can be called sexual. The boy was immediately hired a mentor, but at first things went wrong - the prince did not have a habit of learning, and his character was not the easiest. The teacher simply did not know how to deal with him and, alas, interest him. In the end, Sultan Murad allowed the mentor to use the rod, and the rod managed to replace the latter's missing pedagogical talent.

The boy learned Latin, Greek, Arabic and Persian - it was in these languages that all scientific treatises and most of high poetry were written. The Turkish sultans, whose possessions looked to the west and east, tried to get acquainted with the achievements of both parts of the world. They taught him, including from the remaining Byzantine books, astronomy, philosophy, mathematics and geography. As for public affairs, the father and his chief wazir discussed topical issues with Mehmed. And, according to custom, Mehmed was taught one craft so that he knew what it was like to work with his hands.

Mehmed grew up a cruel, arrogant and voluptuous man, but no one called him uneducated, not understanding the arts and mentally undeveloped. Even the worst enemies. And the Sultan, nicknamed the Conqueror, made a lot of them.

Some monarchs also raised foreign princes. How the future kings of Europe were raised in ancient Russia under Yaroslav the Wise: the homeless princes of Ingigerda.