Human selection in Russia: why Peter I bred dwarfs and giants

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

Tsar Peter went down in history as a brave reformer. But ideas moved the manager not only in the state arena. He also experimented in his unusual predilections. In 1710, he tried to carry out the first experiment in human selection. Peter the Great seriously decided to engage in “breeding” and improving the species of non-standard people - dwarfs and giants.

The Tsar's childhood affection for the Lilliputians and the amusing maneuvers of the dwarf company

On his 10th birthday, the future ruler received the first two court dwarfs. In 1682, when during the Streletsky revolt the lives of Peter the Great himself and his family were threatened, one of the dwarfs serving with them saved the life of Andrei Matveyev, the future associate of the tsar. So the king has become attached to little people since childhood. He practically never parted with his favorite of the Lilliputians, Yakov Volkov.

Young Peter personally came up with scenarios of all kinds of festive ceremonies with a dwarf in the lead roles, and selected outfits for him. The king did not give up this hobby even as an adult. A lover of amusing events, Peter once arranged the Kozhukhov maneuvers, during which a real company of Lilliputians marched. Moreover, the ceremonial uniforms on them were richer than on the soldiers of the active army. And at one of the court weddings, the guests enthusiastically watched the minuet of a pair of dwarfs jumping out of a huge cake.

At the age of 38, the autocrat seriously decided to tackle the issues of breeding the Lilliputian breed in Russia. At this time, an unusual decree was presented to the court, according to which the tsar ordered to send to St. Petersburg all dwarfs from the district in solemn outfits. And all this was started by Peter I with the aim of organizing the wedding of Yakov Volkov and the beloved dwarf queen.

Lush dwarf wedding and special wedding inventory

The tsar has planned the most real wedding. Up to a hundred Lilliputians arrived at the festival as guests on the tsar's order. According to all the wedding canons, those who were married were crowned in the church, and Peter I personally held the crown over the bride's head. The feast was decided to be held in the luxurious house of Prince Alexander Menshikov. All the "mini-guests" of the dwarf wedding sat in the center of the hall, and the distinguished guests were placed around the perimeter for a better overview of what was happening.

The emperor and his high-ranking guests, including foreign ones, were entertained with an unprecedented spectacle. Dozens of dwarfs were dressed in outfits of all kinds of colors. They dazzled with light blue, green and pink French caftans with swords, their heads were decorated with triangular hats. The outfits of dwarfs made of expensive white fabrics with pink ribbons were not inferior. The guests drank and danced until late in the evening. As noted by one of the guests present, everyone laughed until they drop, watching the actions and antics of "freaks" on short legs with big bellies. The magnificent celebration ended with the fact that Emperor Peter I personally accompanied the young to the chambers prepared for them and made sure that all the traditions of the first wedding night were observed.

Failed experiments and lavish funerals

Trying to increase the number of dwarfs in Russia, Peter I deliberately created families of midgets. Despite all the attempts of the king to bring out as many midgets in the country as possible, he was in for a failure. The couple of court dwarfs never gave offspring. Yakov Volkov's wife was much older than her husband and soon died. After the death of his life companion, Yakov began to drink deeply. He briefly outlived his wife.

Frustrated by the loss of the court jester, Peter I ordered to organize a magnificent funeral, which apparently differed little in terms of the level of pomp from his wedding. The funeral procession gathered three dozen boys-singers and the lowest priest, who was specially selected for his height. To move the coffin, a small sleigh was built, which was pulled by ponies driven by dwarfs. On top of the sleigh, next to the coffin, sat the brother of the deceased, also a midget, and behind was another with a huge marshal's baton. The unusual funeral procession was completed by several dwarfs and dwarfs in black mourning robes. Yakov was buried in the cemetery in Yamskaya Sloboda, after which all the dwarfs were invited to a generous memorial dinner. A foreign witness to this action recalled in his notes that he had never seen such a strange procession in any other country in the world.

Meeting with the French "giant" and a new exhibit of the Kunstkamera

Not having received the desired result from the knowledge of the Lilliputians, Peter I was carried away by another idea.

In 1717, while visiting the French city of Calais, Tsar Peter I met the giant and strongman Nicolas Bourgeois on the street. The growth of this Frenchman was 2 meters 27 cm. His appearance impressed the Tsar so much that he immediately became interested in a new idea - breeding giant people in the Russian Empire. Only this time, non-standard representatives were needed not for amusement, like dwarfs, but for service.

Peter I set out to make such people the grenadiers of the tsarist army, pinning hopes on their strength and size. To implement his ideas, the autocrat brought Nicolas Bourgeois to St. Petersburg, took him into his service and married him to the tallest "chukhonka". He hoped that the couple would produce offspring of the same tall children. But even these intentions of Peter were not destined to be realized. The descendants of Bourgeois never happened, because he died suddenly. But the head of the Russian state decided to perpetuate the memory of his experiments by ordering to prepare the remains of the Frenchman for the Kunstkamera.

The bones of his skeleton and internal organs underwent special processing and were transferred to the exhibition hall as an unusual exhibit. The skeleton is on display to this day. True, the skull had to be replaced by outsiders. The original burned down in a fire in 1747. In addition to the skeleton, Peter the Great ordered Rastrelli to make a movable wooden figure-mannequin of the deceased giant, covered with his real skin. The dummy was in the Museum of Anthropology until the 19th century. It is believed that the surviving portrait of Nicolas Bourgeois was painted from this exhibit, and not from the nature of a giant.

In general, Peter the First did not realize that even dwarfs perfectly normal children can be born.