Because of what the Russian poet Afanasy Fet at the age of 14 lost his surname and title of nobility

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

The mystery of the birth of an outstanding Russian poet of the 19th century Afanasy Feta there is no comparison with the mystery of the origin of other famous personalities born under mysterious circumstances. Oddly enough it sounds, in the biography of Fet, there are four versions of his actual origin, as such. Moreover, none of his biographers was able to say specifically what the month of his birth was: the beginning or the end of 1820. And the fact that almost throughout his life the great poet fought for the right to bear a different surname - Shenshin, the surname of his father, also adds a number of question marks to his biography. But was Afanasy Shenshin really his own father - further in the review.

In the life of this extraordinary person, so many incredible and tragic things literally intertwined that would be enough for several human destinies. However, the ideologues of Soviet literature considered it inappropriate to devote readers, especially young people, to some "inconvenient" facts of his biography, deliberately avoiding the sharp turns of his fate. But other times have come, the mysterious veil has opened a little, and we can learn about the circumstances that left a tragic imprint on the entire life of the poet.

Only one thing can be reliably asserted: Athanasius Fet was the son of Charlotte-Elizabeth Fet (Foeth), the wife of the Darmstadt official Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm Fet, and that at birth the baby was baptized according to the customs of the Orthodox faith, named Athanasius and recorded in the birth register the legitimate son of a bachelor at that time A. N. Shenshin. And that the future poet was born not at all in Germany, but on Russian soil, namely in the Oryol province, in the village of Novoselki, owned by the wealthy landowner Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin.

However, all this was preceded by a very strange circumstance and incredible events, which are further described in four versions.

Version No. 1

At the beginning of 1820 in Germany, in Darmstadt, a 44-year-old Russian officer, a retired captain of the Oryol landowner Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin was undergoing treatment. By coincidence, there were no vacant rooms in the hotel, and he had to settle in the house of the Chief Kriegs Commissioner Karl Becker. The widower Becker lived with his 22-year-old daughter Charlotte, son-in-law Johann Föth and granddaughter. Before Shenshin appeared in their house, the young couple lived for a year and a half, Charlotte managed to give birth to her daughter Caroline and was already expecting her second child.

It was not easy for those around to understand Charlotte's act when she left her husband, father, one-year-old daughter, her country and literally fled with an elderly, twice her senior, ugly and gloomy foreigner to distant Russia. Why did the Russian officer so charm a young woman that, without even taking a divorce, she rushed after him as if into a pool with her head?.. This thoughtless step of Charlotte could be understood if the child she was expecting was from Afanasy Shenshin. But the likelihood of this was absolutely excluded, which is confirmed for certain by letters from the correspondence of the fugitive woman with her brother, the son of Becker.

The heartbroken father later wrote to Shenshin:

Version No. 2

The contradictory and confusing circumstance of the birth of the future poet contributed to the gradual spread of the second version of his birth, according to which Afanasy Fet was not the son of either Captain Shenshin or Assessor Fet. His father was a Jewish innkeeper who sold his beautiful wife, who was in position, to the captain Shenshin. To prove this version, the artist I. E. Grabar wrote: But then the question immediately arises: where did the surname Fet come from then?

However, this version confirms what is obvious to everyone - the Semitic type of appearance of Fet. Many people spoke about this: both the poet's contemporaries and researchers of his work. So, the son of Leo Tolstoy, in his memoirs, indicated:. This is evidenced not only by the numerous diary entries of persons who knew Fet during his lifetime, but also by his picturesque portraits, as well as photographs.

Literally all the entourage considered Fet a Jew or half-Jew, and how this indisputable fact tormented his wounded pride from childhood was known only to God alone.

Version No. 3

According to this version, one well-known literary critic of that time, stated in his writings: “Friends and courtyards A. N. Shenshina told me that he bought his wife Elisaveta Petrovna for forty thousand rubles from her husband I. Fet. " And this circumstance sheds light on why the real father, I. Fet, subsequently repeatedly extorted money from the Shenshins. Apparently, for the silence … Since at that time "two-men" were prosecuted by law. And as we remember, our fugitive, without divorcing her Catholic husband, married an Orthodox Christian.

Version number 4. The most reliable

It is this version, which combines some of the above facts, is the most probable. Mother Athanasius, a young girl, was bought from a Jewish tavern and was adopted by Ober Kriegs Commissioner Karl Becker, a widower who had dreamed of a daughter all his life. In Charlotte, he doted, therefore, when it came time to marry her to Assessor Fet, he put forward a condition for the young: they would live with him in the same house. Soon the young family had a first-born, and a little later Charlotte again carried a child under her heart. It was at this time that the captain Shenshin appeared in the house of her guardian, who "laid eyes" on the beautiful Charlotte and, if he bought her, from I. Fet, he actually incited her to escape, now we can only guess.

But, curiously, the young woman's character was extraordinary, she was prone to impulsive behavior and could make any decision, even a fateful one, with lightning speed. And I must say, Charlotte's explosive nature, of course, made an extraordinary impression on the men around her. Of course, Captain Afanasy Shenshin was no exception. In addition, his stories about distant snow-covered Russia struck Charlotte to the depths of her soul, and in all likelihood made her decide to escape one day.

At first, impulsiveness, attributed to Charlotte's character and, so touching men, over time developed into the onset of mental illness, which led to numerous tragedies, but more on that later …

And be that as it may, Afanasy Fet himself considered Shenshin his father all his adult life, at least he tried to assure others of this. And in the memoirs he wrote at the end of his life, where he concealed and distorted much, he did not even leave doubts about this dark question.

So, Shenshin brought someone else's pregnant wife to the family estate in Novoselki at the end of September 1820, and in November she gave birth to a boy who would become a famous poet. The son of the Oryol landowner, Athanasius was recorded by a local priest, who was a hopeless drunkard, who received a considerable bribe from Shenshin for this forgery. What was the forgery, you ask, but the fact that the illegitimate boy could not receive either the surname or the title of his father. And Shenshin got married according to the Orthodox ceremony with Charlotte, baptized in Orthodoxy by Elizabeth Petrovna, only two years after the birth of his son. Later, the brothers and sisters of Fet, who were born, were called Shenshins already legally. But the boy, living on the estate of his stepfather, for the time being, did not even know about anything, considering himself the eldest son of the landowner.

And according to the laws of the Russian Empire, only the eldest son had the right to inherit his father's estate and his serfs. Subsequent children could only receive a monetary inheritance.

Fet bore the surname Shenshin only until he was fourteen years old, and then a forgery surfaced, and he was deprived of his surname, the status of the eldest son and the title of nobility. And this happened due to the investigation by the Oryol provincial government of the details of the birth of the son of captain A. N. Shenshin. When everything became clear, Afanasy suddenly began to bear the surname Fet and passed into the status of an illegitimate …

And this was only the beginning of the drama that the villainess-fate will play in his life … In the next review, you will find out about the poet's tragic love, his desire to earn the selected title of nobility, and much more …

Looking ahead, I would like to say that after 40 years of mental anguish and persistent desire to acquire the title of nobility assigned to him by birth, Fet achieved his goal. In December 1873, by decree of the emperor, a document was issued in which it was written "about the annexation of the retired guard captain Afanasy Afanasievich Fet to the family of his father Shenshin with all the rights, title and family belonging to him."