Feat in the name of love: Ekaterina Trubetskaya - the first wife of the Decembrist, who followed her husband into exile
Feat in the name of love: Ekaterina Trubetskaya - the first wife of the Decembrist, who followed her husband into exile

Video: Feat in the name of love: Ekaterina Trubetskaya - the first wife of the Decembrist, who followed her husband into exile

Video: Feat in the name of love: Ekaterina Trubetskaya - the first wife of the Decembrist, who followed her husband into exile
Video: Russian Revolution and Civil War: Crash Course European History #35 - YouTube 2024, November
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Sergey and Ekaterina Trubetskoy
Sergey and Ekaterina Trubetskoy

The history of the feat wives of the Decembrists has long become a textbook: 11 women, not afraid of the hardships and hardships of camp life, voluntarily went into exile in Siberia after their husbands. She was the first to take such a brave step Ekaterina Trubetskaya (nee Laval): the Countess gave up the title and any privileges, just not to abandon Sergei Trubetskoy, the leader of the Decembrist uprising, to the mercy of fate.

The fate of Catherine Laval was to develop as well as possible. Her French father Jean Laval served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Alexander's mother was the daughter of the millionaire Myasniky. Since childhood, Catherine was brought up in an intelligent environment, her parents organized literary and musical evenings, at which all the bloom of St. Petersburg gathered. Catherine's acquaintance with her future husband took place in Paris, the girl was then 19 years old, and with her erudition and education, she managed to captivate the heart of the hero of the Patriotic War, Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy, who became famous for his military career.

Ekaterina Trubetskaya (nee Laval)
Ekaterina Trubetskaya (nee Laval)

The life of a married couple was going well until the fateful day came - December 15. On the night before the uprising, Sergei was arrested, after that he was sentenced to be hanged, but at the last moment the measure of restraint was replaced by life in exile. Catherine's character turned out to be stoic: not afraid of the unknown, she received permission from Emperor Nicholas I to accompany her husband, and went to Transbaikalia. The road was not easy, the officials refused to help the young woman. Despite the fact that Ekaterina set off the next day after the departure of Sergei Trubetskoy, she was able to meet with her husband only after a year and a half.

Sergey Trubetskoy
Sergey Trubetskoy

Ekaterina Trubetskaya set off on a difficult road with Maria Volkonskaya. Their visit to the convicts became a fateful event, because for exhausted men the feat of strong and strong-willed women became a sign that the human spirit can be unbreakable. The princesses (although they had already lost their titles) lived in a tiny rented house, they helped the convicts as much as they could, conveyed news about them to their homeland, passed them warm things that they themselves managed to bring, supported and did not give up.

Portrait of Ekaterina Trubetskoy
Portrait of Ekaterina Trubetskoy

It is interesting that it was in exile that Catherine and Sergei had eight children, however, four died in infancy. It is amazing that in St. Petersburg, Catherine could not get pregnant, despite the fact that she even underwent treatment in Baden-Baden, and in distant Siberia she was able to become a mother. Trubetskaya often wrote to the capital, the whole of Petersburg was read through her letters, her courage was admired, but for her it was not distant recognition that was much more important, but the opportunity to live next to her husband.

The house where Trubetskaya and Volkonskaya lived
The house where Trubetskaya and Volkonskaya lived

Ekaterina Trubetskaya died at the age of 54 in Irkutsk from tuberculosis. Affected by constant deprivation, hypothermia, malnutrition. In Russian history, the name of Yekaterina Trubetskoy will forever remain a symbol of devotion and responsiveness, virtue and love.

Continuing the topic - 7 facts about the participants in the legendary December uprising of 1825.

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