What the society of the wives of the Decembrists condemned, who followed their husbands to hard labor

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

For many years, women who follow their husbands, despite the difficulties and problems, have been called Decembrists. It began in those distant times when, after the uprising on Senate Square on December 14, 1825, not only the direct participants in the events went into exile, but also their wives. The act of women who followed their husbands to Siberia is called a feat in the name of love. But at the same time, they prefer not to mention why the title of "Decembrist's wife" was considered a very dubious compliment.

Beautiful love

The feat of these women is glorified in art, their names have gone down in history, odes were composed in their honor. The wives of the Decembrists were called real heroines who decided to leave everything for the sake of being able to be close to a loved one, help and support him in difficult times.

121 people were sentenced to hard labor, 23 were married. Only 12 women came to the mines of Transbaikalia, including nine wives, two brides and one sister. If everything was clear with the sister and the brides, and condemning words never sounded in their address, then with the wives everything was far from so unambiguous.

After the announcement of the verdict, Emperor Nicholas I allowed the wives to unilaterally dissolve their marriage with criminals. Only three women took advantage of this right, all the rest decided to remain faithful to their men, and some were determined to obtain permission to follow their husband. Such an act is undoubtedly worthy of all respect. But there was one small, but very important detail, which they previously preferred not to mention in relation to the wives of the Decembrists.

Cruel choice

The wives of the Decembrists, who decided to follow their husbands and share all the hardships with them, were automatically deprived of everything: property, titles, the right to return. But, most importantly, they left their children in the literal sense of the word to fend for themselves, it was forbidden to take them into exile with them, regardless of the age of the heirs.

Yes, they attached their children to their relatives, but how can life next to a loving mother compare with life in a strange family, with their own family way of life, rules and not always loyal attitude? Some of them were not destined to live even to a conscious age. For example, Maria Volkonskaya, who was one of the first to follow her husband, by the time of receiving permission had in her arms a son, Nikolai, born on January 2, 1826. The boy was ill, but as soon as his condition improved, his mother immediately turned her thoughts to her husband. In letters to her husband, she herself admitted that she clearly sees the prospect of separation either from him or from their son.

However, she went to fetch her husband. True, until the last moment she hoped that she would be allowed to return, and her husband's relatives insisted on her departure. The son remained in her husband's family, while the children of the Decembrists, who were born in Siberia, were automatically registered as "state peasants". In March 1828, Maria Volkonskaya received news of the death of her first child. Nikolai lived a little over two years and died in January 1828.

By the way, despite the dedication of the wife and the birth of three more children, the relationship of the Volkonsky spouses was far from ideal. There were even persistent rumors that Maria Nikolaevna gave birth to children not from her legal husband.

Alexandra Muravyova, the very first Decembrist, decided to follow her husband, despite the last months of pregnancy and two babies, whom she left in the care of nannies. At that moment, she was most interested in thoughts about the fate of her husband, and regret about the abandoned children came a little later. Elena and Mikhail, who remained in St. Petersburg, had an unenviable fate. Mikhail died at the age of two, Elena lived to be 46 years old, but suffered from a mental illness.

In fact, the wives of the convicts could obtain permission to help their husbands without going after them to Siberia. For example, Natalya Dmitrievna Shakhovskaya, the wife of Fyodor Petrovich Shakhovsky, did not file a divorce, but decided to devote herself to children, Dmitry and Ivan, born in 1821 and 1826, respectively.

When she learned about her husband's mental illness, she petitioned the emperor for the possibility of custody of him. Not having received the highest consent, Natalya Dmitrievna was able to achieve the transfer of her husband to the Spaso-Efimiev Monastery and allow herself to settle near the monastery without prejudice to her rights. Unfortunately, in May 1829 Fyodor Shakhovskoy died. His widow never married again and raised two wonderful children, giving them an excellent education.

And it seems that her feat is actually no less than those Decembrists who went to Siberia.

Frenchwoman Polina Gebl became one of the brides of the Decembrists, who followed their beloved into exile. 30 difficult years in Siberia - such a price a foreigner paid to be close to the person whom she truly loved. In memory of the years of torment, she had a bracelet cast from the shackles of Ivan Annenkov …