From Rurik to Nicholas II: Little-known facts about the monarchs of the Romanov Dynasty, revealing them from an unexpected side

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

Throughout the history of the Russian State, more than a dozen rulers have changed on the throne, and each of them had their own character traits, their own secrets, and legends were made about each of them. In 1913, when the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov was celebrated, a set of postcards was issued, which depicted Russian rulers, starting with Rurik. It is these portraits, which, by the way, were approved by Emperor Nicholas II himself, and this review is illustrated.

How it all began

It all began with him … The figure of Rurik is one of the most mysterious and key figures in Russian history. He laid the foundations for the statehood of the Eastern Slavs. But at the same time, scientists do not have reliable facts about this prince and did not even come to a consensus about where he comes from.

The biography of Rurik, the prince of Novgorod, did not differ in bright events. The only exception can be considered the unrest in the city, when in 864 residents dissatisfied with its rule raised an uprising. The leader of the rebels was Vadim the Brave, he and his main comrades-in-arms were killed by Rurik.

Gray-haired old man

Vladimir was the son of Vsevolod Yaroslavovich and the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh Anna. He is his grandfather and he got his nickname. The Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Monomakh united most of the territory of Russia under his command. The power and influence of Russia under Vladimir Monomakh were such that foreign rulers considered it an honor to become related to the Kiev prince. It is known that Monomakh's daughter Euphemia became the wife of King Kalman I of Hungary. Vladimir Monomakh was known as a thinker and a writer. " The teachings of Vladimir Monomakh"Contains a set of moral rules and the most important principles of a statesman.

On March 24, 1613, 16-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich was crowned king in Moscow. From this day, the era of the Romanov dynasty began. By the age of 30, from a sedentary lifestyle, the young, recently married tsar stopped walking., - he wrote to his father. However, this did not prevent Mikhail from “knocking down” the queen's 10 children and living to the age of 49.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich "The Quiet" was very fond of writing. Poems, excerpts from memoirs, instructions on falconry and instructions for singing polyphony, as well as more than a hundred letters and notes written by the royal hand, have survived. His syllable is not devoid of expressiveness. Here is how he wrote to Patriarch Nikon about the difficult situation in the Savvo-Storozhevsky monastery:.

The next were ruled by the sons of Alexei Mikhailovich, first Fedor, after him Ivan and Peter as co-rulers - two equal parties of boyars did not come to the conclusion of whom to put on the throne: the frail and incapable Ivan or the young Peter. They were crowned for the kingdom of both, and the originals of the royal attributes were worn on Ivan, and a copy on Peter. At the age of 27, Ivan was paralyzed, and he soon died, giving birth to 5 girls, including Empress Anna Ioanovna. By the way, she became one of the 5 enviable famous brides who never got married.

The era of change

When Pushkin wrote about Peter I “Now an academician, now a hero, now a navigator, now a carpenter,” he missed one more profession in the list of professions: a dentist. Taking an interest in medicine in Holland, the emperor was passionately carried away by furry. He always carried with him a wardrobe trunk with tools and willingly removed sick teeth from his courtiers. In Amsterdam, a queue lined up for him: the king skillfully pulled his teeth, and even paid extra for a shilling. A collection of teeth torn out by Peter is still kept in the Kunstkamera.

Peter II, the grandson of Peter I and the son of Tsarevich Alexei, did not speak Russian. Latin, German and Tatar swear words - this is the range of his knowledge. Peter II was on the throne for only three years, preferring a riotous life to state concerns. The royal teenager moved the capital from St. Petersburg to Moscow, where hunting was better and more abundant. He died of smallpox at the age of 14.

Babi age

Anna Ioanovna, daughter of Ivan V, was summoned from Courland. The woman is simple, she skillfully shot birds and arranged a clownish wedding in the ice house. One day a double, a doppelganger, appeared to her. In the memoirs of the lady-in-waiting A. Bludova, Princess Dashkova and others, Biron found the double in the throne room, returning from the Empress's bedroom. Anna Ioannovna hurried into the hall and saw … herself there. "Who are you and what do you want?" she cried, but she disappeared. Three months later, the Empress died, bequeathed to inherit the throne to her young nephew Ivan VI.

"Daughter of Petrov", Elizabeth I won the throne from a one-year-old baby and first exiled him with his family to Kholmogory, and then imprisoned him in the Shlisselburg fortress. There, Ivan slowly went crazy in solitary confinement, until the guards stabbed a 23-year-old prisoner while trying to free him. They whispered about how Elizabeth I turned the infant sovereign into a mad captive.

"The Merry Queen Elizabeth" loved to dress up in men's clothes at masquerades. After her, over 15 thousand dresses remained in the wardrobe. A passion for entertainment was combined with piety. She could go straight from the ball to matins. The queen went on pilgrimage on foot, sometimes for the whole summer. If Elizabeth didn’t have the strength to make it to bed, the carriage took her to a hospitable home, and in the morning returned her to the place from which she took her.

Peter III, the grandson of Peter I, claimed the Swedish throne, and instead the 13-year-old boy was brought to wild Muscovy and declared the heir to the Russian throne. He played toy soldiers even in the matrimonial bed.

Once, arguing with his wife, Peter III threw himself at her with a sword. "If you expect to fight me in a duel," wrote Catherine II the Great in her memoirs, "then I also need to take a sword." As a result, she overthrew her husband and successfully ruled the country for 34 years.

So different emperors

Paul I, one of 7 Russian monarchs who were killed, eccentricities went to his father. He streamlined life in the capital: he ordered to have lunch at exactly one o'clock and go to bed at 8 pm. He ordered the officers to ride on horseback, not in carriages; banned round hats, and left seven fashion stores in St. Petersburg: according to the number of deadly sins. But he was also fair. So, when a drunken officer, caught by Pavel, refused to leave his post, because according to the regulations he must be replaced, he forgave the campaigner, noting that “he is drunk, but he knows the business better than we, sober ones”!

Alexander I he loved to walk and travel incognito in the uniform of a simple officer. He did not shy away from the people and could bring a laundress sled loaded with linen up a hill. Walking around the city during the Congress of Vienna, he was so confused by the head of a Russian sailor sent to the emperor with a dispatch that he told his whole life, not knowing that he was talking to the addressee himself. But when they met the Prussian king Frederick Wilhelm III and Alexander opened up and ordered the sailor to give the dispatch, he did not believe it. “The Russian Emperor? The Prussian king? Well, then I am a Chinese emperor!"

Nicholas I, with a severity of character, had a sense of humor. The maid of honor Anna Tyutcheva recalls that as soon as she settled down in the palace garden with the book of the Viscount de Beaumont Vassi "The History of the Reign of Emperor Nicholas", the Emperor sat down on a bench with her and asked what she was reading. "The history of your reign," Tyutcheva babbled. “She's all in front of you, madam,” Nikolai replied with a half-bow. - At your service".

Alexander II was fond of "table-turning". At seances in the Winter Palace, knocks were heard, the table soared into the air, invisible hands felt the ladies. At the same time, the imperial family strictly observed Orthodox rituals, stoically enduring kissing on Easter by more than 2 thousand army of courtiers and dignitaries. “The sovereign reluctantly turned his cheek to me, rather crumpled,” writes A. Tyutchev in his diary.

Alexander III possessed great physical strength. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich wrote that he amused the son of Nikki and his friends by tearing a deck of cards or tying an iron rod in a knot. Physical strength greatly helped the emperor during a train wreck in Borki: Alexander III held the roof on his shoulders while his family got out of the destroyed carriage.

Nicholas II, according to his contemporaries, was stingy in the expression of feelings and easily fell under the influence of others. Sending the fleet to perish in Tsushima, he consulted with his relatives-ministers five times, changing his decision after each. Renouncing the throne, he planned to live as a private person in the province. But ahead was the Ipatiev House and the execution, marking the end of the reign of the Romanov dynasty.

The time has come when the swindlers became the guardians of the monarchy. And today, many are haunted by who actually were the false Romanovs, who claimed to have escaped from being shot.