Table of contents:
- How the man nicknamed "Nameless" was imprisoned
- Which of the emperors took pity on the Nameless One and released him from the cellar
- Life after 30 years of imprisonment
- Who was hiding behind the "iron mask": versions of historians
Video: Who really was the secret prisoner whom the Russian emperors hid in the fortress for more than 30 years
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Until the end of the 18th century, the Korela fortress in Kexholm, located on the territory of present-day Priozersk, had an exclusively border value. Then they began to use it as a prison for political prisoners. At one time, the family of Emelyan Pugachev, Ioann Antonovich, the Semenovites, the Decembrists, the "Kyshtym Beast" Zotov, members of the circle of the Cretan brothers, millionaire Kharitonov and Petrashevets Chernosvitov were kept here. During the reign of Catherine II, a man was brought to the Keksholm fortress, who passed in all documents as "Nameless". The secret prisoner was kept in the strictest confidence for 30 years.
How the man nicknamed "Nameless" was imprisoned
Who Nameless was when he was born, why he went to prison and in what year he died is not known for certain. For the fact that the prisoner was kept in strict secrecy for almost half a century, he received the nickname "The Iron Mask of the Russian Empire."
Most likely at the time of imprisonment he was about 20 years old. He was brought to the fortress in haste, driving the horses. According to eyewitnesses, the man was wearing only a hat, shirt and overcoat. Upon arrival, he was placed in the Powder Magazine, and the door was tightly walled up. So, in complete isolation, he lived for three decades, without seeing the light and taking bread and water through a small window.
The accession to the throne of Paul I did not make any changes in his life. The emperor sought to build his own political line, contrary to the policy of his mother, and canceled many of her decrees, but he did not release the Kexholm prisoner. For historians, this fact became direct proof that the Nameless One was carrying a truly serious political threat.
Which of the emperors took pity on the Nameless One and released him from the cellar
After Paul I, his 24-year-old son Alexander I ascended the throne. Despite his youth, he was distinguished by progressive thinking and showed great hopes for liberalization, although he never realized many of his plans. Contemporaries characterized him as an intelligent and perceptive person, keen on mysticism and not devoid of sentimentality.
In 1802, Alexander I visited the fortress in Kexholm to talk with the prisoners. The prisoners were taken out into the courtyard, and the monarch approached each one in turn to learn his story. One of the prisoners, who had been in the cellar for 30 years, said that his story was not for everyone, and agreed to speak personally with the emperor.
Alexander I was so impressed by the history of the Nameless that on the same day he ordered to release him from the dungeon. What secret the half-blind prisoner told him and what crimes he confessed to, did not become known. According to legend, the sovereign gave the unfortunate a set of his spare clothes, ordered him to be washed, and even dined with him.
This event was first described in the book of the professor-philologist of the University of Helsingfors J. K. Grot "Travels in Finland", but it dates back to 1803. Describing the meeting between Nameless and the emperor, the author cites the words of eyewitnesses that the emperor had a long conversation with the prisoner and left him with tears in his eyes.
Another evidence of the meeting of Alexander I with Bezymyanny was a short message from the postmaster Grenkvist from the report of the Finnish Society of Antiquities. It said that in 1802, Emperor Alexander I ordered the abolition of the fortress in Kexholm and personally freed from it some person who had been imprisoned for 30 years.
Life after 30 years of imprisonment
The secret prisoner was released from the cellar on the condition that he must not leave the territory of the fortress. The unnamed received a small house and a modest maintenance. His eyes were so unaccustomed to the sunlight that he became completely blind shortly after his release. According to the people who visited the fortress, the old man was modest and harmless, so the locals treated him with respect and even came up with a new name - Nikifor Panteleevich. Despite his complete blindness, the secret resident of the fortress went out for a walk every day and talked with everyone who showed interest in him. After his release, he lived in the settlement for another 15 years, by the end of his life he completely lost his memory and mind, but he never said who he really was.
The Keksholm prisoner died in the first decade of the 19th century and was buried in the local cemetery. On his tombstone, instead of a name, they wrote "Nameless".
Who was hiding behind the "iron mask": versions of historians
Several versions have been put forward about the origin of the nameless prisoner. The most plausible of them is the assumption of A. P. Korela, a senior researcher at the Fortress Museum. Dmitrieva. He believes that Ivan Pakarin, the self-styled son of Catherine II and Nikita Panin, was hiding under an “iron mask”. The young man served as an interpreter in the College of Foreign Affairs, which was headed by one of the favorites of the Empress, Count Panin. Pakarin tried to impersonate the illegitimate son of the august person, because he considered himself very much like her. This hypothesis was supported by historians I. Kurukin and A. E. Nikulin in the book "Everyday life of the secret office".
Candidate of Historical Sciences O. G. Usenko suggested that Pakarin was posing not as the empress's son, but as the fiancé of her nonexistent daughter. According to the scientist, Bezymyanny did not pose a great danger to the emperors, as he belonged to the category of "blessed" impostors. They did not lay claim to sole power, but wanted to attract the attention of the rulers and achieve their recognition.
The third version says that John Antonovich (Ivan VI), the son of Anna Leopoldovna, was kept in the cellar of Kexholm. The little ruler was crowned two months after the death of Anna Ionovna. Under the regency of his mother, he occupied the throne for about a year, until he was overthrown by Elizabeth Petrovna. By order of the new empress, Anna Leopoldovna and her son were sent to Kholmogory. And when Ioann Antonovich was 16 years old, he was transported to the Shlisselburg fortress. Elizabeth forbade mentioning the name of the former ruler, at first he was called Gregory, and then - simply Nameless.
Historian M. I. Pylyaev notes that Catherine II ordered to take out a certain Nameless to Kexholm on the day of her accession to the throne, which is confirmed in her letter to Stanislav Ponyatovsky. According to the historian, the murder of Ivan VI could have been staged, after which he was taken to Kexholm.
And in this way in the prisons of the Russian Empire, dissenters were dealt with.
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