A landowner who "loved" children very much: Why did officials turn a blind eye to the harem of minors Lev Izmailov

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

Some biographers insist that the direct prototype of Pushkin's master Troyekurov from the novel "Dubrovsky" is the landowner Lev Izmailov. And his rich estate, where atrocities were committed against the serfs, was in Khitrovshchina (a village in the Tula region). Izmailov was remembered not for some military exploits, not for charity, but for his unbridled, boundless tyranny. The rapist of the girls was not punished for all his atrocities - extensive connections, bribes, past military services and old age affected. The only thing that touched the outrageous lieutenant-general was lifelong custody of his estates by the highest command.

The glorious military path of the future fanatic

Historians describe Izmailov's childhood and youth as idle and trouble-free. His leisure time was not overshadowed by either tutors, or regimes, or books, which, perhaps, affected the future of boundless willfulness. Lev Dmitrievich was assigned to the service at an early age - he entered the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment at the eighth year of his life. But he was given the first officer rank only for about 20 years. Later, already in the rank of colonel, Izmailov was appointed to command the Kinburn dragoon regiment, and then the Shevichev hussar regiment.

Izmailov also had to fight: under Catherine II he took part in the Swedish War and was awarded the Order of St. George for his courage. During the Polish War in 1794, he went to many battles. Being in 1806 the Ryazan provincial leader of the nobility, he formed the militia (zemstvo army) of the Ryazan province, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Anna. And in 1812, the Ryazan nobility appointed him the head of the militia, in the ranks of which Izmailov made a campaign in Germany, where he visited during the blockade of several fortresses. For his recent achievements in the service, he was elevated to the rank of lieutenant general and awarded a snuffbox showered with diamonds with a portrait of the sovereign. A colleague of Izmailov in the regiment, Dolgorukov, said that Lev Dmitrievich was terribly passionate and did not want to submit to anyone, self-willed and not afraid of anyone.

Rich estates and loud drinking

Later, the retired general retired to his own wealthy estates. From his father and uncle, he inherited more than 10 thousand peasant souls. Despite the fact that, according to this indicator, he was not classified as a particularly large landowner, the main estates were extremely profitable. According to some reports, his annual profit was up to 300 thousand. And given Izmailov's craving for fabulous spending, subject to weighty residues at the time of death, this amount is quite real.

In the Khitrovshchina estate alone, the servants consisted of valets, lackeys, waiters, cooks, gardeners, laundresses, coachmen, grooms, hounds, Cossacks. The latter were chosen from among the strongest and most lively, armed with whips and put on the best horses to accompany the master everywhere, unquestioningly carrying out any of his extravagant orders. The Izmailovskaya kennel was very well known. She numbered about 700 different breeds of dogs. They were housed in specially built houses, and about 10 thousand rubles were spent every year to pay the hounds. Izmailov valued dogs much higher than people.

Izmailov was known as a vindictive and vindictive person. In 1812, Balashov, the Minister of Police, did not help him in creating a militia, he won back 6 years later, without forgetting the grievance. The serfs nailed by Izmailov cut down the best construction timber on the lands of Balashov, melting it into the Izmailov possessions of Izmailov. The rich gentleman lived constantly challenging society. He could show up with his retinue directly to Moscow, having arranged a loud drinking binge with orgies in the mansion there. And the shocked high society could only be amazed at Izmailov's impunity.

The cruelty of the elderly Izmailov

And if in relations with equals by origin, Izmailov was only unbridled and harsh, then the subordinate peasants knew him as a cruel and ruthless despot. He went beyond the permissible limits even in those days when the landowners were allowed almost everything in relation to the serfs.

The punishments practiced by Izmailov consisted of whips, sticks, slingshots, rods and imprisonment in a special prison room. The slingshot was used in up to 200 different sizes. These heavy metal devices were put on the neck of the offender and locked with a padlock or simply riveted on an anvil. The period of wearing sometimes reached a year, which gave the serf incredible torment.

The prisoner was terrified by its mere appearance: they did not clean it, insects lived everywhere, there were no windows, and chains hung along the walls. They also dealt with the guilty in the master's house. Moreover, the executors of the sentence were also punished if they inflicted insufficiently strong blows. Izmailov was not embarrassed by the guests, who often witnessed the lordly anger. The mortality rate among his servants was high, only a few of his peasants lived to see a gray beard.

Harem and bribery of judges

But especially terrible was the fate of the serf girls who were born at the master's estate. They entered the Izmailovsky harem from an early age. They were lodged in locked rooms with barred windows, and were only released for a short walk in the garden or a trip to the bathhouse. Communication with relatives was excluded, and anyone who tried to talk to the "concubines" was severely punished.

Girls were punished for the slightest offense along with the other working population of the estate. After the girl became uninteresting to the owner, she was sent to a cloth factory or potash factory, where they lived in cold, hunger and other needs. Izmailov's biographer Slovutinsky in his works was forced to cite the testimony of the inhabitants of the harem in an allegorical form, or even omit them altogether. Slovutinsky described numerous cases of violence against young girls both by Izmailov himself and by his guests.

Rumors of Izmailov's perversions reached even the sovereign himself, and he gave orders to investigate the situation. But Izmailov had wide connections, local officials were afraid of him, so the case was investigated sluggishly, and the results were completely kept secret. At least some justice was achieved only in 1826, when, after another complaint from the victims, the Izmailov case was transferred to the Ryazan court for the objectivity of the investigation. In 1826, guardianship was established over the estates of the aged tyrant, and he himself, due to his painful condition, was simply exiled to the village that belonged to him, where he soon died.

But along with the cruel tyrants among the aristocrats there were also humanists who sincerely help people. Thanks to their good deeds some serfs were even honored with the title of nobility.