Video: The spoiler of fate: from a beggar 17-year-old widow-duchess to the Russian empress
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Anna Ioannovna - one of the youngest rulers in the history of Russia, who, of course, due to her age and upbringing, did not know much about governing the state. Widowed at 17, she became the Duchess of Courland, and later, in 1730, became the autocratic empress. A lover of luxury and an idle life, she went down in history as a windy and narrow-minded nature.
Anna Ioannovna was the niece of Peter I. Her relationship with her mother was complicated, perhaps that is why she suffered the fate of being married to Frederick Wilhelm, Duke of Courland and Semigalia. True, after the wedding ceremony, the young husband did not live long, he died three months later, not having reached after stormy celebrations from St. Petersburg to his fiefdom. After her sudden death, according to the law, power over Courland passed into the hands of Anna Ioannovna, and she did not accept the opportunity.
It would seem that fate was already quite supportive of the young duchess, but an even brighter future was in store for her. The return to Russia took place in 1730, after the death of Peter II, a serious struggle for the throne flared up. The candidacy of Anna Ioannovna seduced the members of the Supreme Council, since it could be easily controlled. Initially, it was decided to admit her to the throne, subject to the so-called "Condition", a set of laws that significantly limit her political activities. After accession to the throne, Anna Ioannovna abolished the "Condition" and became a full empress. In this regard, the military swore allegiance to Anna twice.
Anna Ioannovna was in power for 10 years. During this time, little was done on her initiative, many decisions were made under the influence of her favorite - Ernst Biron, a nobleman from Courland. The only thing that really fascinated Anna was the festivities. The Empress did not spare money for entertainment, surrounded herself with jesters and courtiers who were obliged to entertain the crowned person.
The apotheosis of the empress's reign was the wedding of jesters, an expensive and large-scale event that Anna started for fun. For this wedding, by her order, a palace of ice was built, richly decorated with ice sculptures. Her jesters became newlyweds - 30-year-old Kalmyk woman Avdotya Buzheninova (her last name was awarded by the empress for her addiction to the national meat dish) and the nobleman Mikhail Kvasnik, demoted to jesters (real name Golitsyn). A native of a noble family fell into disgrace for having arbitrarily changed religion by marrying a Catholic.
For the clownish wedding, Anna ordered that Golitsyn's wife be exiled abroad, and returned the apostate to the true, in her mind, faith. For the ceremony, representatives of different nationalities (about 300 people) were discharged from the distant corners of the Russian Empire. After the solemn wedding ceremony, Anna ordered to send the young to their icy apartments for their wedding night. The unfortunate jesters were doomed to freeze on an ice bed until dawn in a -40 frost. Fortunately, both managed to survive.
The years of Anna Ioannovna's reign were not marked by significant reforms, but on her initiative the Tsar Bell was cast, the largest church bell in the world that can be seen today on the territory of the Kremlin.
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