Wedding and funeral of the court jester Yakov Volkov: How dwarfs entertained Peter I

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

Peter I, being himself over two meters, especially liked to keep dwarfs at court. And although there were some among these dwarfs who, under the guise of jokes and pampering, could tell the sovereign the truth, which others did not dare to, most of the dwarfs were still not very intelligent and educated - their business was to make them laugh. In the midst of one of the holidays, the tsar decided to "breed a special breed" of dwarfs in Russia and organized a pompous wedding.

The dwarfs at court were jesters - their business was to distract and amuse, they received their salaries for tomfoolery, for an idle life and funny remarks. Dwarfs and dwarfs were dressed in a European manner, imitating Western European court life. One of the many dwarf jesters was just Yakim Volkov.

It all began with the celebration of the wedding of Princess Anna Ioanovna with the Duke of Courland Friedrich Wilhelm in the fall of 1710. The holiday was gorgeous - a feast for several days, fireworks, constant entertainment, a huge number of guests. So, when this celebration came to an end, Peter I decided to continue the holiday and arrange another wedding, and at the same time "breed his own breed" of dwarfs.

For this, the tsar ordered to bring all the dwarfs from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and put one of his jesters - Yakov Volkov and the dwarf who served under Tsarina Praskovya Fyodorovna - at the head of the ceremony. According to the tsarist decree, the owners of the dwarfs should have sent their "karls" to St. Petersburg "on vacation" in beautiful outfits, so that the buttons were gilded, and they had swords, and German shoes, and the dwarf should be dressed in a German top and underwear dress.

In total, about 80 dwarfs and dwarfs were collected in St. Petersburg, which were kept on the spot in cages, like cattle. Preparations were slow, so more than a month passed between the two weddings. But on the eve of the appointed day, the "action" began: two dwarfs in a tricot, harnessed to a pony, drove around the guests with invitations. The next day, the guests gathered at the designated house to observe the celebration.

A dwarf walked in front with a staff decorated with ribbons, followed by a groom and brides with groomsmen, followed by the king, ministers and other noble persons. The procession was "closed" by 72 dwarfs and dwarfs, who walked in pairs, dressed in their best outfits. And already for the dwarfs were ordinary people who came to gaze at an amazing event. The couple was married according to the Russian rite, Peter I himself held the crown over the bride. When the priest asked the groom if he wanted to marry his bride, Yakim replied: "With her and no other." When the priest asked the bride if she had been promised to someone else, she replied: "That would be a joke!" This caused laughter in the crowd.

After the wedding, everyone went to the house of Prince Menshikov, where the wedding of Anna Ioanovna had been celebrated a month earlier. For the dwarfs, special tables were laid in the middle of the hall, the newlyweds were seated at different tables, and each of them was prepared with beautiful places decorated with canopies and wreaths. The rest of the guests sat at tables along the walls so that they "could more conveniently see the bustle of dwarfs."

Then a noisy and cheerful holiday began. "After the table, all the Karls danced very merrily 'Russian', until eleven o'clock," entertaining the guests, among whom were not only Russian officials, but also foreign ministers and German officers. The guests were amused by absolutely everything that concerned the dwarfs, even their very appearance seemed to delight the guests.

“Some had short legs and a high hump, the other had a large belly, the third had crooked and twisted legs, like a master's dog, or a huge head, or a crooked mouth and long ears, or small eyes and a face that was blurry with fat, and so on. more …”How much to say that alcohol poured like a river at this festival, and the king personally made sure that the young were poured enough to make them drunk.

At the end of the evening, the dwarfs were taken to the royal chambers and Peter I personally made sure that the newlyweds went to the same bed.

Yakim Volkov's wife was much older than him and died earlier. After her death, Jacob began to drink heavily. When he died, Peter I ordered him to organize a magnificent funeral, which in the end did not differ much in pomp from the wedding itself. The funeral procession was attended by 30 boys-singers, the shortest priest, who was specially chosen because of his height. A small sleigh was specially built for the coffin, which was carried by ponies, led by dwarfs. On the sleigh with a coffin sat Yakima's brother, also a dwarf, and behind the sleigh walked another dwarf with a huge marshal's baton. Behind this procession were several pairs of dwarfs, all in black robes, and behind them were dwarfs, who also walked in pairs. Yakov was buried in the cemetery of the Yamskaya Sloboda, after which all the dwarfs were treated to dinner.

“Hardly,” writes one foreigner who witnessed this event in his notes, “anywhere in another state, except Russia, you can see such a strange procession!..”

You may also be interested in reading the article. "Love triangles with a fatal outcome, or How Peter I dealt with rivals."