Do you have regular bouts of fear of certain things or phenomena? Obviously, this is a phobia - an obsessive state of fear. There are a huge number of varieties of phobias: an obsessive fear of blushing - erythrophobia, fear of enclosed spaces - claustrophobia, fear of sharp objects - oxyphobia, fear of heights - hypsophobia. And there is even a fear of experiencing fear: phobophobia.

Here, for example, is a phobia described by a famous doctor. “He is frightened by the girl playing the flute; as soon as he hears the first note played on the flute, he is terrified.” The fear of the flute is called aulophobia, and the physician who described this condition was Hippocrates.

Nowadays, doctors have more than 500 different phobias. No one definitely knows what the cause of the phobia is. Some experts believe that the nature of the phenomenon is psychological, others - that it is biological. But there is more and more evidence that it is a combination of both. It is known that phobia tends to be inherited. If one of your parents had a phobia, you may have a predisposition to it, but not necessarily to the same one.

Some phobias are more serious than others. If your fears are seriously interfering with your life, you should seek professional help. Every person has phobias to one degree or another, just not everyone is in a hurry to admit it. The Greats were no exception. Here is a brief description of the phobias of some of them.

Napoleon was afraid of horses

One of the greatest historical characters, the conqueror of Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte was afraid, what would you think? - white horses. Psychiatrists see here as many as two phobias: the fear of horses (hippophobia) and the fear of white (leukophobia). Numerous paintings, where Bonaparte is depicted riding a white horse, are nothing more than the artist's fantasy. The little artilleryman hated and feared these animals, though they were never in his stables.

Peter the Great avoided free space

However, the Russian autocrats were not without some phobias. When visiting the house of Peter the Great and his summer palace in St. Petersburg, the modesty of the autocrat is striking: low ceilings, small rooms. In the summer house, the so-called “false ceiling” is generally arranged: a lower one is suspended from a higher one, creating the feeling of a box. Turns out it's not about modesty. The king could not feel comfortable in large spacious rooms with high ceilings. This indicates ecophobia and spaceophobia (fear of one's home and empty spaces). These phobias of Peter were not limited: all his life he suffered from acarophobia (fear of insects).

Generalissimo's fears

The fears of Comrade Stalin, obviously, largely determined the tragic fate of many of his associates. So, the Generalissimo suffered from toxicophobia (fear of poisoning). Stalin was also pathologically afraid of air travel (aviaphobia). So, being the commander in chief, he was never at the front. And he went to Potsdam for a peace conference by train under heavy guard. In addition, Stalin's famous night vigils make it possible to suspect that he has somniphobia (fear of going to bed). It is known that he fell asleep in a state of complete exhaustion, to which he brought himself at night.

Gogol foresaw the future

Nikolai Gogol from his youth suffered from tatephobia (fear of being buried alive). This fear was so excruciating that he repeatedly gave a written order to bury him only when signs of obvious decomposition appeared. In addition, from the age of thirty, Gogol suffered from pathophobia - the fear of the diverse.

Fear of women: it happens

The outstanding Russian artist, author of The Demon, Mikhail Vrubel was afraid of the women he liked (kaliginephobia). In his youth, because of an unsuccessful love, he cut his chest with a knife. Lost and timid in front of the object of his love, the artist easily resorted to the services of prostitutes. From one of them, he contracted syphilis, which led him to loss of vision and damage to the nervous system.

St. Petersburg, Peter and Paul Fortress. Sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin (USA).

The mannequin of this man is in the Hermitage of St. Petersburg. The sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin (USA, expelled from the USSR) did not dissemble much about the image of a great man, and there was no need - he copied one to one from a mannequin in the Hermitage, conscientiously fulfilled the terms of the contract. Creative torment was unnecessary. Hyper-realistic sculpture - the image of Peter the Great, like Russia itself. One-to-one head with the "original face" from the death mask. Huge and disproportionate parts of the body are striking: a small and ugly head, thin legs, a huge torso and stomach.

In the works of art and writings of all Russian historians, Peter I is depicted as a parade and heroic figure. However, for the most part, they do not always correspond to reality, behind his accomplishments everyone forgets the negative, pathological features of the monarch - cruelty, debauchery, drunkenness, which bring him closer to the personality of his predecessor Ivan the Terrible than to the humanistic ideals of the Enlightenment.

Peter as a child.

Who is Peter's father? There are actually two theories, two great Georgian princes from the Bagration family are registered in Peter's fathers, these are:

Archil II - King of Imereti (1661-1663) and Kakheti (1664-1675), lyric poet, eldest son of King Vakhtang V of Kartli. One of the founders of the Georgian colony in Moscow.
Heraclius I - King of Kartli (1688-1703), King of Kakheti (1703-1709). Son of Prince David and Elena Diasamidze, grandson of King Teimuraz I of Kartli and Kakheti.

It is likely that it was Heraclius who could become the father, it was Heraclius who stayed at the time suitable for the conception of the king in Moscow, while Archil moved to Moscow only in 1681.

It can be assumed that Peter inherited the pathographic features from his Georgian relatives, since his description fit the Bagration family with accuracy. But not in essence, not even visually, but in character, Peter definitely, in no way, belonged to the Romanov family, he was a real Caucasian in all his habits.

Yes, he inherited the unthinkable cruelty of the Moscow tsars, but this feature could have come to him on the maternal side, since their whole family was more Tatar. It was this feature that gave him the opportunity to turn the county Horde principality of Muscovy into the Russian Empire.

It seems that at that time everyone knew about the relationship of the king. So Princess Sophia wrote to Prince Golitsyn: “You can’t give power to a Basurman!” Peter's mother, Natalya Naryshkina, was also terribly afraid of what she had done, and repeatedly declared: "He cannot be a king!" Yes, and the king himself, at the moment when the Georgian princess was being married to him, declared publicly: “I won’t marry namesakes!”

In physical development, Peter was an accelerator. Large from birth, at the age of eleven he looked 14-15 years old. Everyone noted his high growth and outstanding physical strength. At the same time, with a height of 203 cm, his figure was dysplastic - he wore shoes 39, and clothes - 48 sizes. He had narrow shoulders for his height, small palms, a disproportionately large belly, and his head was small compared to his body. The artist Gottfried Kneller, who painted a portrait of Peter I, gave the following description of his appearance: “With his great stature, his legs seemed very thin to me, his head often jerked convulsively to the right.”

His voice was loud, and his movements were jerky, he walked so fast that his companions always could not keep up with his wide step. Even in early childhood, some haste and impatience were noticed in his behavior. Peter was distinguished by a lively temperament and increased nervous excitability from nature. Energetic, enterprising, courageous, with a developed practical intellect, the king aroused sympathy among ordinary people. Peter loved noisy drinking parties, which used to go on for several days in a row.

Unknown artist. Peter the Great in a Dutch tavern.

He affectionately called alcohol "Ivashka Khmelnitsky." There have been suggestions about Peter's homosexual inclinations, based on the facts that, in the absence of a woman, he forced the orderly to go to bed with him, but this was dictated more by fear of sleeping alone than by pathological attraction. And yet his cheerful character was sometimes overshadowed by outbursts of anger, which arose more and more often with age, from which his associates fled because of fear. Among representatives of the Orthodox Church, Peter was tacitly considered the Antichrist. During trips abroad, Peter I stunned European aristocrats with a vulgar, almost muzhik manner of communication. Later, in 1717, during Peter's stay in Paris, Duke Saint-Simon wrote down his impression of Peter: “He was very tall, ...; his nose is rather short, but not too short, and is somewhat thick towards the end; the lips are rather large, the complexion is reddish and swarthy, ... ; a look majestic and friendly when he watches himself and restrains himself, otherwise severe and wild, with convulsions in the face, which are not often repeated, but distort both the eyes and the whole face, frightening all present. The convulsion usually lasted for an instant, and then his glance became strange, as if bewildered, then everything immediately took on a normal look.

Unknown artist. Portrait of Peter I

During experiences, emotional stress or fatigue, Peter developed a tic that affected the left side of his face and neck. These paroxysms, as a rule, were followed by dysphoria, when he could not bear not only the presence of strangers, but even his best friends. The Hungarian Cardinal Kollonitz, describing the tics of the Russian emperor, found an original explanation for them: “His left eye, left arm and left leg suffered from the poison that was given to him during the life of his brother, but now only a frozen look in the eye and the constant movement of his hand remain from this and legs". Peter was also tormented by paroxysmal headaches, which only Catherine could calm down. He laid his head on her knees and fell asleep like that, and after waking up a few hours later, the attack was amnesic. There were cases when Peter's nervous tic turned into a convulsive attack and led to loss of consciousness. So, some experts (according to Vivian Green) suggested that Peter had temporal lobe epilepsy. In 1710, the Danish diplomat Just Yul described a fit of rage that happened to Peter on the background of alcohol intoxication during a solemn entry into Moscow after the victory in the Battle of Poltava: pale, with a face distorted by convulsions, making “terrible movements of the head, mouth, arms, shoulders, hands and feet”, the king attacked the guilty soldier and began to “ruthlessly cut him with a sword”. Peter tried to treat painful conditions with overseas medicines like a powder prepared from the stomach and wings of a magpie. Although the attacks often had a psychogenic onset, one cannot rule out exogenous hazards that affected Peter's body and could cause epileptic activity. First of all, this is alcohol, which Peter consumed in large quantities (abuse was in the nature of domestic drunkenness more likely than alcoholism). Also in November 1693 - January 1694. he was seriously ill with a "fever" (possibly encephalitis), the attacks of which made themselves felt in the future. However, the diagnosis is more likely not of epilepsy, but of an organic personality disorder that developed against the background of alcohol dependence and was accompanied by tic disorder, epileptiform seizures, and emotional lability with dysphoria.

Artist Alexei Petrovich Antropov. See lifetime portraits of Peter I.

Peter often gave vent to his hands - guilty officials, sometimes even close friends, such as Menshikov and Lefort, were personally beaten by the emperor for misconduct. For such punishments, he had a special club. Among the most innocent sadistic hobbies of the emperor is pulling out the teeth of the courtiers (though not as a punishment, but to help with a toothache). When Peter's companions became ill from what they saw in the Dutch anatomical theater, he ordered them to bend down to the dissected corpse and tear the muscles with their teeth. Peter loved to watch torture and torment.

Unknown artist. Portrait of Peter I → See Peter I (1672-1725) in painting.

During the conspiracy of 1689, he ordered that the hands and feet of the conspirators be cut off before they were beheaded. Three years later, after the uprising of the archers, Peter personally acted as an executioner, chopping heads with an ax. When the participation in the conspiracy of the heir's mother, Evdokia Lopukhina, was revealed, and it turned out that, being exiled to a monastery, she was in love with Major Glebov, Peter ordered to put him on a stake, and in order to prolong the suffering, it was winter, to put a hat on him and a fur coat.

Vasily Ivanovich Surikov. Morning of the archery execution. 1881.

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Already at the very beginning of his reign, Peter I showed great interest in anatomy. Gradually, it turned into a mania: the king personally (or under his supervision) dissected the corpses of his closest relatives. He maniacally searched for confirmation of certain conjectures: were his sisters poisoned, did his brother's wife remain a virgin? What explained such a passion for Peter I, in the Rodina magazine, No. 11, 2012, says historian Alexei Morokhin

Already during his first trip abroad in 1697, Peter showed himself as an enthusiastic visitor to the anatomical theaters in Amsterdam and Leiden. Returning to Russia, in 1699 the tsar ordered lectures on anatomy to be organized in Moscow with demonstrations on corpses, and he himself took an active part in these events. The sovereign also loved to be personally present at the anatomy of corpses and even considered himself a “great surgeon” (sending those sentenced to death under the knife).

This sovereign interest was usually explained as the eccentricity of the monarch, who thus demonstrated his absolute power over his subjects. However, the monarch had his reasons. First of all, this concerned finding out the causes of death of the king's relatives.

For the first time, Peter's keen interest in the causes of death of his family members manifested itself in October 1715, when his daughter-in-law, the wife of Tsarevich Alexei, Crown Princess Charlotte Christina Sophia, died shortly after giving birth. Peter "watched the anatomy of the crown princess", that is, he was present at the autopsy. We find the details of this “watching” in the report of the Austrian resident in Russia A. Pleyer: “After opening the body, Peter saw blood spasms, unexpectedly ordered nothing to be taken out, everything was sewn up again and ordered about the burial.”

It would be too easy to explain this only by royal eccentricity. Peter, being well aware of the difficult family life of his son, having received news that changes began to occur with the remains of the deceased daughter-in-law, he could well suspect Tsarevich Alexei (or his entourage) of poisoning his unloved wife, to find out this, he wanted to find out the causes of the death of his daughter-in-law and personally was present at the autopsy of her body.

Shortly thereafter, on December 31, 1715, another daughter-in-law of Peter I, Tsarina Marfa Matveevna, the widow of his elder brother, Tsar Fedor Alekseevich, died. A representative of the Apraksin family, Marfa Matveevna, at the age of 18, was married off to a recently widowed and sick tsar. He soon died and his young wife, who became a widow two months after the wedding, "as many reliable people claimed, she remained a maiden after him." According to Prince P. Dolgorukov, the tsar "wanted to know the truth about this short marriage." Peter I, with his characteristic cynicism, did not stop before examining the corpse: only after making sure with his own eyes of the virginity of his deceased daughter-in-law.

However, the personal participation of Peter I in the autopsy of the body of his brother's widow can hardly be explained only by his increased interest in the family life of Fyodor Alekseevich. The tsar could be interested in Marfa Matveevna's short dying illness, which could necessitate an autopsy of her body to determine the causes of death.

On June 18, 1716, “Princess Natalya Alekseevna, Peter's beloved sister, died. Neither Peter nor his wife, Tsarina Ekaterina Alekseevna, was in St. Petersburg in 1716: they were on a trip abroad. In this regard, the king instructed his sister to look after his young children - daughters Anna and Elizabeth and son Peter. Natalia wrote twice a week, on Monday and Friday, to her brother and daughter-in-law, informing them about the health of the children. Natalya, in turn, was followed by Menshikov.

Having received the news of the death of his beloved sister, on August 26, Peter informed Menshikov "not to bury him until his return." The monarch again wanted to personally verify the naturalness of his sister's death. The body of the princess was embalmed and left in the palace "until the return of His Majesty" - in the glacier (in fact, the corpse was frozen). Returning from Europe in October 1717, the tsar, even after finding out the causes of his sister's death, delayed the funeral for another month. Only on November 17 did her funeral take place. That is, the corpse of Natalia was not buried for almost a year and a half.

On May 1, 1718, another sister of Peter, Ekaterina Alekseevna, died. All the time since the founding of St. Petersburg, the tsar demanded her relocation there from Moscow. Catherine refused. Peter began to suspect something was wrong. In April 1718, he ordered the force to deliver her to the capital. But the order was not carried out.

Another incident happened. Ekaterina Alekseevna was quickly buried in Moscow. But the king ordered to remove the corpse from the grave and dissect it, which was done on May 20, 1718. The second time the princess was reburied on May 24.

In addition to relatives, Peter anatomized or was present at the autopsy of other close associates - court stewards and life doctors. He was terribly afraid that the poisoning enemies could get to him.

When Peter's physical health deteriorated, Catherine took a lover Wilhelm Mons, the brother of the German tsar's previously mentioned passion. Upon learning of the betrayal, the emperor did not touch his wife, but executed the latter, and ordered his head to be alcoholized and taken to Catherine's bedroom as a reminder of her infidelity.

In 1709, Peter developed urolithiasis complicated by uremia. He suffered from strangury accompanied by severe pain. Peter, who loved to brag about his medical knowledge, applied it to himself as well. So, the silver catheters with which he independently bougiens the urethra have been preserved.

Peter I in the last years of his life. From the book: V.O. Klyuchevsky. "Russian history".

His health became critical at the end of January 1725. Peter I died on January 28, 1725, according to the official version, from pneumonia. The autopsy documents stated the following: “a sharp narrowing in the region of the posterior part of the urethra, hardening of the neck of the bladder and anton fire”, that is, with the greatest probability, death followed from inflammation of the bladder, which turned into gangrene due to urinary retention caused by urethral stricture.

Boris Chorikov. Death of Peter the Great.

After the death of Peter, his body was also opened: Ekaterina, Menshikov and other people from the court circle were looking for evidence of poisoning.

They began to bury him 40 days after his death. And this funeral lasted for ... 6 years. The coffin of Peter was installed in the Peter and Paul Cathedral - for a long farewell.

sad horror

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the coffin with the body of Peter began to be carried out through the open window of the Winter House - he did not pass through any door - and they lowered him down to the embankment along a specially built porch and stairs. The procession was opened by 48 trumpeters and 8 timpani players. The lingering sounds of the regimental trumpets and the roar of the timpani and drums of the regiments that stood along the Neva set a mourning motif. At that moment, sobbing was heard in the crowd. And there were a lot of people. Thousands of Petersburgers crowded along the entire embankment, in the windows, on the roofs, along the railing of the bridge built across the Neva, looking with greedy attention at something that had never happened before in Russia - they were burying the emperor! The people were overwhelmed by the mournful melodies of the regimental bands, the dull roar of drums, the heavy blows of the timpani, the singing of churchmen, the glare and rattling of weapons, the smoke of dozens of censers rising to the sky. The continuous ringing of church bells rushed over the Neva, went into the low sky. All noises and sounds at regular intervals were muffled by cannon fire. These volleys made a particularly depressing impression: throughout the many hours of the ceremony, measured - in a minute - shots were heard from the bolter guns of the Peter and Paul Fortress. And the beats of this gigantic metronome poured into everyone, as Feofan Prokopovich wrote, "a kind of sad horror."

He was betrayed to the earth only on May 21, 1731; the heart and entrails of the king were buried separately at the bottom of the grave.

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Testament of Peter the Great

The program of actions of the emperor's heirs, according to the "Testament", contained 14 main points and began with the words: "In the name of the holy and inseparable Trinity, we, Peter, the emperor and autocrat of all Russia, to all our descendants and successors on the throne and the government of the Russian nation." The instructions were listed below:

1. To keep the Russian people in a state of continuous war, so that the soldier is hardened in battle and does not know rest: leave him alone only to improve the finances of the state, to reorganize the army and in order to wait for the time convenient for the attack. Thus, to use peace for war and war for peace in the interests of expanding the limits and increasing prosperity of Russia.
2. To summon by all possible means military leaders from the most enlightened countries in times of war and scientists in times of peace, so that the Russian people may take advantage of other countries without losing anything of their own.
3. In any case, intervene in the affairs and strife of Europe, especially Germany, which, as the nearest, is of more direct interest.
4. Divide Poland, maintaining unrest and constant strife in it, attracting the strong to their side with gold, influence the Sejms, bribe them in order to have influence on the elections of kings, hold their supporters in these elections, provide them with patronage, introduce Russians there troops and temporarily leave them there until the opportunity presents itself to leave them there permanently. If, however, neighboring states begin to create difficulties, then they should be appeased by the temporary fragmentation of the country until it will be possible to take back what was given to them.
5. Make as big captures as possible from Sweden and provoke her into attacks so that there is a reason for her capture. To do this, break all ties between Denmark and Sweden and constantly play them off.
6. All Russian emperors to marry only German princesses.
7. England: seek an all-round union.
8. Move north to the Baltic and south to the Black Sea.
9. Move as close as possible to Constantinople and India (he who possesses them will be the owner of the world). To this end, initiate constant wars against Turkey and Persia, establish shipyards on the Black Sea, gradually take possession of both this sea and the Baltic, for they are needed for the implementation of the plan - to conquer Persia, reach the Persian Gulf, restore, if possible, the ancient trade of the Levant through Syria and reach India as a world storage point. By mastering it, you can do without English gold.
10 Austria: openly support the alliance, but secretly provoke ill will against her, the ultimate goal is to establish a Russian protectorate over her.
11. Together with Austria to push the Turks.
12. Proclaim yourself the defender of the Orthodox in the Commonwealth, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire in order to further subjugate these powers.
13. When Sweden, Persia, Poland, Turkey and Austria are defeated, the armies are united, and the Black and Baltic Seas are guarded by the fleet, then it is proposed in special secrecy to propose first to France (in the text - the “Treaty of Versailles”), and then to Germany (in the text - "Vienna Treaty") to divide the spheres of influence in the world. If one of them accepts the offer (and this will inevitably happen) - destroy the remaining enemy first, and then the survivor. The outcome of the struggle will be predetermined, since Russia at that time will already have the whole East and most of Europe.
14. If both refuse the offer, then between them it is necessary to unleash a war and exhaust them both. After that, Russia should send ground forces to Germany, and fleets from the Sea of ​​Azov and Arkhangelsk to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic, respectively. This will isolate France and Germany and hasten their surrender, and after that Europe will be de facto conquered.

Thus, the "Testament" instructs Peter's successors to conduct continuous military operations, subjugate all of Europe through wars and diplomatic intrigues, divide Poland, neutralize Turkey and conquer India, thus achieving complete Eurasian hegemony. Some of Peter's "precepts" had already been "fulfilled" by the time the falsification appeared (for example, dynastic alliances with the German states, active involvement of the cultural experience of the West, expansion of access to the Black Sea and the partition of Poland), which made the rest of the "plans" more convincing → Wikipedia.

In the spring of 1698, a second streltsy revolt broke out in Moscow. The rebellion was quickly suppressed, the instigators were punished. However, the Sovereign, having learned about the uprising, interrupted his foreign trip in order to personally lead the "great search". The morning of October 10, 1698 is inscribed in the history of Russia with bloody letters - on this day about 2000 people were executed, beaten with a whip, branded and exiled more than 600. Peter I personally chopped off the heads of the rebels.

In torture, the tsar found out that the boyar Ivan Mikhailovich Miloslavsky, who died back in 1685, was involved in the streltsy conspiracy. Peter did not forgive betrayal even to the dead, so he ordered Miloslavsky's coffin to be dug and brought to Preobrazhenskoye on pigs. Then, by order of the tsar, the coffin was opened and placed under the chopping block - the blood of the executed flowed like a river on the decomposed remains of the disgraced boyar.

Peter the Great is an outstanding political figure. However, many historians and contemporaries noted his extreme cruelty. According to Professor M.V. Zyzykin, “Peter in cruelty surpassed even Ivan the Terrible…”. The sovereign was prone to uncontrollable outbursts of anger: once he beat a servant to death with a stick because the poor fellow hesitated and did not immediately take off his hat in the presence of the king.

It would seem that what can be learned from this villain? After reading to the end, you will understand that Peter was not called the Great for nothing.

1. Continuous thirst for knowledge

Carpenter, locksmith, blacksmith, carpenter, navigator, artilleryman, cartographer, paramedic, accountant, dentist - Peter I owned 15 professions and crafts. He spoke fluent German and Dutch, understood Polish, Swedish and other languages.

At the same time, in childhood, the prince received a meager education - he was taught by semi-literate clerks. The sovereign wrote with errors all his life.

Peter acutely felt the lack of education, so he constantly strove for new knowledge. With his characteristic passion, he mastered new activities. He was not afraid to get his hands dirty and preferred to experience everything firsthand.

2. Breaking stereotypes

Peter I introduced the Julian calendar in Russia, Arabic numerals, a new simplified alphabet, ordered the boyars to dress in European style and celebrate the New Year on January 1. The process of Europeanization was slow and difficult - people did not want to part with their usual way of life.

Peter was called the Antichrist, the persecutor of Orthodoxy, the epigon. But he, in spite of everything, continued to “cut” a window to Europe, instilling secular values ​​by all available means.

3. Energy

There is a desire, a thousand ways; no desire - a thousand reasons

One can have different attitudes towards the personality of Peter I, but one cannot but admit that this person was at one time in his place. Both the opponents and supporters of the Sovereign noted his dedication and selflessness in everything related to governing the country.

He gave his colossal energy to Russia, at any moment he was ready to sacrifice private (including personal) interests for the sake of the state. There is no such social sphere that Peter's reforms would not touch.

There is hardly another such energetic ruler in the history of Russia. Peter the Great, because he had a great desire to transform Russia and a thousand ways to do it.

And what, in your opinion, can be learned from the villain of this week, Peter I?

man playing

Probably, there is no figure in world historiography about which as much has been written as about Peter I. And despite this, his personality still remains a mystery: this man was painfully bright and controversial. He drastically changed the life and customs of the Russian court, reformed the army, conquered new lands - and at the same time undermined the country's economy so much that most of the territorial acquisitions subsequently had to be abandoned. He proclaimed himself emperor, but killed his own son, jeopardizing the continuation of the dynasty. He founded the first museums and libraries in Russia, and personally participated in torture and executions. He arranged gallant assemblies and blasphemous "joking councils." Almost all of his numerous biographers wondered how two such different natures could coexist in one person.

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that Peter tried to turn his life into a game and was most afraid of clashes with reality, because it did not bode well for him.

As magnificent and perfect Peter was in his games, he became just as vile and disgusting when confronted with reality. Starting with amusing campaigns and flotillas, he gradually expanded the scope of his games, transferring them from the village of Preobrazhensky to the Crimean steppes, then to the fields of the Northern War, and sincerely enjoyed it. He loved and forgave those who supported the game, but severely avenged those who did not want to participate in it.

First toys

Peter was the fourteenth child of Tsar Alexei and the firstborn of his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Tsarina Natalya was brought up in the family of the boyar Artamon Matveev, a lover of everything Western, so she transferred her usual European environment to the palace: Peter from infancy was surrounded by foreign things: musical boxes, German-made “cymbals”, as well as a “clevichord” with copper strings are mentioned . Natalya loved music - but Peter subsequently did not reveal any ear for music - he preferred the army drum to all other instruments.

Alexei Mikhailovich. Polish engraving. 17th century

Natalya Naryshkina. Unknown artist. 17th century

Seeing the boy's interest in military affairs, Natalya bought for him a whole arsenal of toy weapons: the prince had miniature fortresses, wooden squeaks, cannons, horses and figures of soldiers.

His father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, nicknamed the Quietest for his calm, complaisant character, was the second tsar of the Romanov dynasty. He was a very educated man, like his wife, who was interested in European culture. It was under him that secular life appeared in Moscow: books of non-spiritual content appeared. He built in the village of Preobrazhensky a "comedy mansion", where Pastor Gregory from the German Quarter staged performances.

The king was very fond of books and even wrote a treatise on hunting himself. Everyone knows a quote from this essay, which has turned into a saying: “Time for work, an hour for fun.”

He was married twice: to Maria Ilyinishna Miloslavskaya, from whom he had 13 children, and to Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, who bore him three offspring.

Being a late child, Peter lost his father very early: in the fourth year of his life. This was the first intrusion of harsh reality into his comfortable existence. At that time, Peter was not considered the heir to the throne: after all, he had older brothers and sisters - the children of the first wife of Alexei Mikhailovich - Sophia, Fedor and John, and several more princesses. It should be noted that all the sons of Maria Miloslavskaya were distinguished by extremely poor health, some of them died in childhood, others in their youth, and no one stepped over the age of thirty.

After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, the throne was taken by fifteen-year-old Fyodor - an intelligent, educated man, but very sick. His relatives Miloslavsky, to put it mildly, did not like Natalya Kirillovna and her children. They suspected the young, active and beautiful widow of intent to bring damage to the new king, explaining his numerous ailments as witchcraft.

The situation of Natalya Kirillovna and her son deteriorated sharply. The Miloslavskys tried to remove all her relatives away from Moscow: brothers, uncles ... even the teacher Matveev was exiled to the north, to Pustozersk (a town that has now disappeared near present-day Naryan-Mar). Natalya Kirillovna tried to be less at court and settled with her daughter and son in the village of Preobrazhensky, the beloved palace of her late husband.

Meanwhile, Peter was already five years old - the age when the royal children were supposed to begin teaching. He was hired as an educator - clerk Nikita Moiseev, son of Zotov, who, although he did not know sciences and languages, was quite knowledgeable in history, and even more domestic. Unfortunately, Zotov was very fond of drinking: subsequently, Peter even appointed him president of the jester's college of drunkenness - a kind of gesture in relation to the "first teacher".

Nikita Moiseevich told the prince about the faces and events of the past, using "amusing books with kunshtami" - that is, with drawings. These "funny notebooks" the queen specially ordered from the masters of the Armory. From there, the young sovereign now and then dragged squeaks, carbines and drums - for review. In addition, Zotov showed him the "Article with all the military exercises" drawn up under Alexei Mikhailovich. The teacher introduced Peter to the life of the West through pictures depicting "noble European cities, magnificent buildings, ships, and so on." But the "digital alphabet", that is, arithmetic, was not included in the program of royal education.

Zotov went through the alphabet with Peter, the Book of Hours, the Psalter, the Gospel and the Apostle. According to the old Russian pedagogical rules, “to pass” meant to learn by heart. Even in adulthood, Peter could quote these books by heart. But literacy left much to be desired: the future tsar wrote with absolutely incredible mistakes, for example, he inserted solid signs between two consonants. Probably, modern psychologists would diagnose Peter with dyslexia - a feature of the perception of the world, characteristic of creative people with non-standard thinking.

Bloody end of childhood

As soon as Peter was ten years old, reality declared itself again: in the spring of 1682, Tsar Fedor died at the age of twenty. And then the intrigue began!

From Maria Miloslavskaya, Alexei Mikhailovich had another son - John, a weak and sickly boy. Therefore, the Naryshkins who remained in the capital began to persuade the patriarch to proclaim Peter Tsar - bypassing John. In revenge, the Miloslavskys began to spread rumors that Tsarevich John had been killed by the Naryshkins in the Moscow Kremlin. This provoked the first Streltsy rebellion, which is also known as the Moscow Troubles, or Khovanshchina.

The Miloslavskys hoped to use the archers for their own purposes, setting them on the Naryshkins, but events got out of control: such a massacre began that none of the Miloslavskys could have foreseen.

On May 11, 1682, a crowd of archers captured the Kremlin, in front of the ten-year-old Peter, many relatives and friends of his mother were hacked to death and stabbed to death, including Artamon Matveev, who had returned from Pustozersk. To calm the archers and save the rest, Natalya Kirillovna with the children went out onto the porch, directly towards the angry crowd. She showed the archers a living and more or less healthy John, he assured everyone that his stepmother did not offend him and took care of him as if he were his own, but this did not convince everyone. The sent people continued to convince the people that the king was being poisoned slowly, which is why the boy was pale!

The archers were led by Ivan Khovansky, a mediocre commander who did not win a single battle, but who earned the nickname Roughneck - for his love of public speeches. Now he turned to the most real banditry: the archers completely seized power in the city, beggars and vagabonds joined them, robberies began. The royal family was held hostage in the besieged Kremlin.

Tsaritsa Natalya Kirillovna shows Ivan V to the archers to prove that he is alive and well. Nikolay Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. 19th century

In all the people's troubles - from crop failure to scrofula - the Naryshkins were blamed. Natalya Kirillovna has not yet been touched: after all, the queen, but her brothers were demanded for reprisal.

Natalya resisted for several days, but in the end she had to give up - Sophia insisted.

“Your brother can’t leave because of the archers, we can’t all die for him!” she insisted.

Cyril was torn to pieces right in the palace. Ivan Naryshkin was confessed, communed and unctioned in the Church of the Savior behind the Golden Grid, and then, with an icon in his hands, he went out to the rebels. They dragged him to the dungeon and tortured him for a long time, hoping to get a confession that he and the queen were trying to exterminate Tsar John - this would justify their rebellion. But Naryshkin was silent. Having achieved nothing, the archers quartered him on Red Square.

Sofia Aleksevna. Unknown artist of the 17th century.

This was not the only execution - the riot continued for another whole week. One after another, the archers filed “petitions”, and the Kremlin hostages obediently fulfilled all the requirements: they tonsured monks and expelled those who were objectionable, they gave out money from the treasury. For this, even silver dishes were melted down into coins.

Satisfied archers, having received "freedom", feasted in the Kremlin chambers. They did not object to Sophia declaring herself the ruler - regent under two young kings, John and Peter: all the same, Khovansky considered himself the real ruler. But already in the autumn of that year, he realized how deeply mistaken he was. However, it was too late: Sophia sent him to the chopping block. She executed several more leaders - and spared everyone who went over to her side.

These events forced the young king to grow up early: a year later, a foreign ambassador mistook him for a 16-year-old. At the same time he had his first epileptic seizure. Convulsions, convulsions, migraines and attacks of panic fear and uncontrollable anger from then on would torment him all his life. These attacks looked very scary: “He made various terrible grimaces and movements with his head, mouth, arms, shoulders, hands and feet ... He turned his eyes and jerked back and forth with his feet.” During the attacks, Peter was truly dangerous: the Danish envoy Just Yul describes how he hacked to death an innocent soldier.

Sofya Alekseevna Romanova, by all accounts, was an intelligent, strong and talented woman. She knew Latin and Polish, read a lot, wrote poetry. But nobody needed all this, because Sophia was a woman. Her fate was predetermined: the young princesses were kept locked up in their chambers, and then tonsured into a monastery. Even marriage did not shine for them: Russian suitors were considered unworthy of the royal daughters, and foreign ones professed a different faith. Such a fate did not suit Sophia, and she entered the struggle for power at first quite successfully. The situation in Russia in those years was strange: the “senior tsar” was John, the “junior tsar Peter” and the regent Sophia. It was she who was the real ruler of Russia in those years.

Merry German Quarter

After the terrible events of 1682, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna finally retired to Preobrazhensky, trying not to remind herself in Moscow, where the Miloslavskys were in charge. She lived very modestly, constantly needed money, but she did not save on her son: in the surviving palace records, squeakers and amusing cannons, which the growing Peter used to play, are still mentioned. It was then that he acquired a "amusing" army and now and then arranged campaigns in the surrounding villages, ruining the peasant gardens and fields. Looking around the barns of his second cousin, Nikita Ivanovich Romanov, Peter found an old English boat, which became the ancestor of the entire Russian fleet.

All Russian tsars of his age had "amusing" troops, "amusing" stables. Funds were allocated for them from the treasury, funny soldiers were paid a salary - but no one took them seriously, despite the fact that after the toy battles, the real dead and wounded remained on the fields.

The history of Russia could have turned out quite differently if it were not for the neighborhood of two settlements on the Yauza River - Preobrazhensky and Nemetskaya Sloboda. Scouring the neighborhood, Peter inevitably wandered there too.

However, there is an anecdote that connects Peter's introduction to Western culture with the astrolabe presented to him by Prince Dolgoruky - a device for measuring distances. Neither Dolgoruky nor Peter himself had any idea how to use it, and through the intermediary of the court physician, a German by birth, they tried to find a knowledgeable person in the German Quarter. It turned out to be the Dutchman Timmerman, under whose guidance Peter began to study arithmetic, geometry, artillery and fortification. Timmerman invited young Peter to the German Quarter and introduced him to Franz Lefort, a famous reveler. Foreigners called Franz Lefort a man of great intelligence, well aware of the state of Europe, and pleasant to deal with.

In the house of Lefort, Peter "began to get along with foreign ladies and cupid began to be the first to be with one merchant's daughter", there he "learned to dance in Polish"; mastered fencing and horseback riding, learned foreign languages. Loving and appreciating Lefort, Peter appointed him Admiral General.

"Merchant's daughter" - German Anna Mons was the daughter of a wine merchant from the German Quarter. For more than ten years, she was considered the official favorite of Peter, who was very attached to her, and, according to rumors, even thought about getting married. He gave her rich gifts, built a stone house for Anna, and granted estates to her relatives.

This novel ended sadly, but not through the fault of Peter. On the contrary, he loved Anna "with rare tenderness", but the girl turned out to be ungrateful, and in 1704 a break followed. The wife of the British ambassador, Lady Rondo, in a letter to her friend conveys the following gossip:

“One fateful day he (Tsar Peter - M. G.), accompanied by his own and foreign ministers, went to inspect the fortress he built at sea. On the way back, the Polish minister accidentally fell off the bridge and drowned, despite all attempts to save him. The emperor ordered all papers to be taken out of his pockets and sealed in front of everyone. When they searched the pockets, a portrait fell out; the emperor picked it up, and imagine his surprise: he saw that it was a portrait of that same lady. In a sudden fit of anger, he opened some papers and found several letters written by her to the deceased in the most tender terms. He immediately left the company, came alone to the apartment of my narrator and ordered her to send for the lady. When she entered, he locked himself in the room with the two of them and asked her how it had come to her mind to write to such a person. She denied it; then he showed her a portrait and letters, and when he told about his death, she burst into tears, and he reproached her with such fury for ingratitude that he was ready to kill his lady. But he suddenly also wept and said that he forgave her, because he felt so deeply how impossible it was to win the inclination of the heart, “for,” he added, “despite the fact that you answered my adoration with deceit, I feel that I cannot hate you although I hate myself for the weakness of which I am guilty. But I would deserve complete contempt if I continued to live with you. Therefore, leave while I can contain my anger without going beyond the limits of humanity. You will never be in need, but I don't want to see you again." He kept his word and shortly thereafter gave her in marriage to a man who served in a remote area, and always cared for their well-being.

Portrait of an unknown, presumably Anna Mons. Unknown artist. 1700s

In fact, after the break, Anna was subjected to strict house arrest, and only in April 1706 was she allowed to attend church. At the same time, Peter started a process about bribes that Anna's relatives took.

As for her marriage, the Prussian ambassador Keyserling wanted to marry Anna Mons, but he received permission only in 1711. They did not live long: Keyserling soon died, leaving Anna two children. She died in 1714 from tuberculosis.

But Lefort was not the only interesting person with whom Peter made acquaintance in the German Quarter! It is impossible not to talk about Andrei Andreevich Vinius, a Dutch merchant who taught Peter I his language. A translator, compiler of dictionaries, he is also known for his collection of maps, plans, engravings and books. Works on geography, Dutch engravings introduced young Peter to a foreign way of life and extremely interested the prince.

Peter's relationship with Vinius was complicated.

At first, his career developed very successfully, but already in 1703 he was convicted of bribery, beaten with a whip and sentenced to pay 7,000 rubles.

“There is such a habit here that at first a person is given the opportunity to accumulate a lot, and then some accusation is brought against him - and everything accumulated is taken away under torture,” one of the foreigners remarked about his arrest.

In 1706, Vinius fled to Holland, but already in 1708 he came to Russia again, having received the forgiveness of Peter I. The merciful tsar ordered the return of his property “the house was opened, the villages were returned”, only the clerk’s huge library was not in the house: valuable books were transferred in Aptekarsky order. But then they fixed it. But after the death of Vinius in 1717, Peter again took the books for himself, and then they ended up in the Academy of Sciences.

Faithful Dunka

Peter's mother did not like such liberties, and in order to reason with her 17-year-old son, Natalya Kirillovna decided to quickly marry him. The bride was chosen even without the required bride-to-be - in absentia. Peter did not contradict his mother, and in January 1689 they played the wedding of the "younger tsar" and twenty-year-old Evdokia Lopukhina, the daughter of the okolnichi.

In Russia at that time there was a custom: the royal bride and even her father changed their names, as if starting a new life, counting the time with the high honor shown to them. The daughter of the roundabout Praskovya became Evdokia, and the roundabout Hilarion himself became Fedor.

Evdokia Lopukhina in monastic vestments. Unknown artist of the 17th century.

The life of this woman was unhappy. Although she stayed as queen for 9 years, Peter did not love her, and her mother-in-law soon hated her. It is customary to consider her limited and stupid, but in fact she was exactly like thousands of boyars, brought up in towers, in the old fashioned way, and in no way deserved universal condemnation.

Evdokia loved her husband, during partings she wrote tender letters to him, in humiliated terms, as it should be for a wife brought up according to Domostroy:

“My dear, hello for many years! Yes, I ask you for mercy, how will you let me be with you? And you, perhaps, about that, my dear, write it down. For this, your wife beats with her forehead.

“To my dearest sovereign of joy, Tsar Peter Alekseevich. Hello, my light, for many years! Perhaps, my father, do not despise, light, my petition: write, my father, to me about your health, so that I, hearing about your health, rejoice. And your sister, Princess Natalya Alekseevna, is in good health. And you deign to remember us with your mercy, and I am alive with Alyoshenko. Your wife Dunka.

Evdokia bore Peter three sons, of whom only one survived - Alexei.

In 1698, she was exiled to Suzdal to the Intercession Monastery and forcibly tonsured under the name of Elena. Six months later, Evdokia returned to worldly life, and then she got a lover - officer Stepan Glebov. The king did not support the disgraced wife, relatives sent her money. However, her life was tolerable until Peter accused her son Alexei of treason. Then the lover of the former queen was put on a stake, and she herself was exiled to the distant Ladoga-Assumption Monastery, and then, after the death of Peter, the jealous Catherine imprisoned her rival in the Shlisselburg fortress. The fifty-eight-year-old Evdokia was released by her grandson, Peter II, and spent the rest of her life in respect and prosperity.

Fight with sister

News of the military amusements of her half-brother reached Sophia, and she could not help but understand that in a few years she would have to give up power. Her brother John did not cause such fears: he was "sorrowful head" and, moreover, was fading away before our eyes. Sophia would have been crowned herself, but Patriarch Joachim was categorically against it: after all, she is a woman.

It was her gender that caused the first conflict with her brother. In 1689, on the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, according to custom, a religious procession was made from the Kremlin to the Kazan Cathedral. Seventeen-year-old Peter approached his sister and announced that she should not dare to go along with the men in the procession. Sophia did not answer, but took the image of the Most Holy Theotokos in her hands and went for crosses and banners. Peter defiantly left the holiday.

Further events are extremely indistinct. It is generally accepted that Sophia again began to spread the rumor that Tsar Peter decided to occupy the Kremlin with his "amusing" ones, kill the princess, Tsar John's brother and seize power. The new head of the archers, Shaklovity, gathered regiments in order to march in a "great assembly" to Preobrazhenskoye and beat all the supporters of Peter. But he did not take any real action or did not have time to take it. And just at that time, Peter had an epileptic seizure, coupled with the suspicion and anger characteristic of these painful attacks.

Having recovered, he abandoned his mother and pregnant wife and, jumping on a horse, rushed off to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. What for? Indeed, in Preobrazhensky he had "amusing" troops - and in the monastery he could only hope for the piety of the monks.

However, the very next day, Peter pulled himself together: he transported both queens to the monastery and called in "amusing" troops. Then he publicly announced that Sophia was going to deprive him of power and marry the kingdom herself.

The confrontation between brother and sister continued throughout August. They took turns issuing "letters", calling on the troops to them, they hesitated, not knowing which side to take. As a result, most of the troops still obeyed Tsar Peter: after all, he was a man.

Sophia had to admit defeat. Soon she was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent under strict supervision, and Shaklovity was executed. The elder brother of the king, John, met Peter in the Assumption Cathedral and officially transferred all power to him.

John V was considered king, but never showed interest in public affairs. Most likely, he suffered from some kind of genetic disorder: at the age of 27 he looked completely decrepit, had poor vision and was partially paralyzed. He died at the age of 30 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

John was married to Praskovya Fedorovna Saltykova and had several daughters from her, including Anna, who was elected Russian empress in 1731. Another daughter of John, Catherine, was married to Duke Karl-Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and gave birth to his daughter Anna Leopoldovna, who later became regent for her unfortunate son Ivan Antonovich.

Azov games

A few more years after the power passed into his hands, Peter did not do business, but continued to play and gossip in the German Quarter. “Here a debauchery began, drunkenness so great that it is impossible to describe that for three days, having locked themselves in that house, they were drunk and that many happened to die because of this,” wrote Prince Kurakin. The death of Natalya Kirillovna at the beginning of 1694 only briefly interrupted the usual way of life for the tsar.

"Funny" troops also did not get bored. A few months after the death of his mother, the tsar staged the so-called Kozhukhovsky campaigns, in which "Tsar Fedor Pleshburskoy" (Fyodor Romodanovsky) defeated "Tsar Ivan Semenovsky" (Alexander Borisovich Buturlin), leaving 24 dead and 59 wounded on the amusing battlefield.

The expansion of sea amusements prompted Peter to make a trip to the White Sea twice, and during his trip to the Solovetsky Islands he was in serious danger due to a storm.

As a continuation of the games, Peter approached his first military campaigns - the Azov ones.

Military showdowns with the Tatars were traditional for Russia. The Tatars were supported by the Ottoman Empire - once powerful, but now increasingly weakening.

Peter set himself the goal of recapturing the fortress of Azov, located at the confluence of the Don River with the Sea of ​​Azov.

The first campaign ended unsuccessfully: the Russians besieged the fortress from land, but they continued to bring supplies there by sea.

Mistakes were taken into account, and by the spring of the following year, a rowing flotilla was built. It was built at a shipyard near Voronezh, at the confluence of the Voronezh River with the Don. In April 1696, the 36-gun sailing and rowing frigate Apostol Peter was launched. It was created by a Dane named Meyer. The length of this flat-bottomed three-masted frigate, which also had 15 pairs of oars, almost reached 35 meters, and its width exceeded 7 and a half meters. This ship served for 14 years - until the unsuccessful Prut campaign.

In the spring of 1696, the fortress of Azov, surrounded on all sides, surrendered.

The next step of the young king was the so-called. The Grand Embassy is a diplomatic mission to Western Europe, in which Peter Lefort's faithful friend and, incognito, he himself participated. For Russia, this was an unprecedented adventure: Russian tsars never left the country.

The initial goal was to boast of military successes, announce the capture of Azov and enlist the support of European governments in the further struggle against the Crimean Khanate. But instead, Peter abandoned the fight for the Crimea and allowed himself to be drawn into the twenty-year Northern War. It is possible that he ingeniously foresaw the benefits for Russia from future territorial acquisitions in the North. May be. But something else is also quite probable: the young sovereign simply wanted to take part in the great European game.

In a letter to August II, Viceroy Furstenberg describes in detail how he received Peter as a guest and, on the orders of Augustus, pleased him in every possible way, indulging the most ridiculous whims. A funny detail: Peter kept incognito, and therefore ordered that no one see him when visiting the castle. However, everyone was aware of his visit: the governor even had to put guards around the castle, which drove away the curious.

Most of all, Peter was interested in the army and everything connected with it, as well as the Cabinet of Curiosities.

“During dinner, I ordered trumpeters and flute players to be placed on the balcony under his room, and also ordered the bodyguards, the Life Guards, dressed in Swiss dress with halberds, to march to the balcony, since I know that drums and whistles are his favorite music and in general, his taste is directed most of all to everything related to the war. I put him in such a wonderful frame of mind that he himself took the drum and, in the presence of the ladies, began to beat with such perfection that he far surpassed the drummers.

told Viceroy Furstenberg.

The poor governor complained that, against his own will, he was forced to drink a lot, as Peter demanded it. After drinking, they walked around the garden with the governor, and Peter went to where the carousel was, and for more than half an hour he swayed on a lion.

Here is the famous review of the Elector Sophia of Hanover about Peter: “... he admitted to us that he does not like music very much. I asked him: does he like hunting? He replied that his father loved him very much, but that from his youth he had a real passion for navigation and fireworks. He told us that he himself was working on the construction of ships, showed his hands and forced us to touch the calluses formed on them from work. It must be admitted that this is an extraordinary person. This sovereign is both very kind and very evil, he has a character - absolutely the character of his country. If he had received a better education, he would have been an excellent person, because he has a lot of dignity and an infinite amount of natural intelligence.

Peter was not a secular person. One can also leave an impression of his manners from this entry of a German courtier: “The Tsar surpassed himself throughout the entire evening: he did not burp and slurp, he did not pick his teeth, at least I did not hear or see this, he spoke completely at ease with the queen and princesses.

king executioner

The great embassy was interrupted by a second streltsy revolt. They suppressed it very quickly, but Peter still hastily returned to Moscow. Investigations and executions began, in which all the worst qualities of Peter's nature were manifested: he personally chopped off the heads of the hated archers, avenging the horror experienced in childhood. “The Tsar, Lefort and Menshikov each took an axe. Peter ordered to distribute axes to his ministers and generals. When everyone was armed, everyone set to work and cut off their heads. Menshikov got down to business so awkwardly that the tsar slapped him in the face and showed him how to cut off heads, ”Georg Gelbig, an eyewitness to the events, testified.

About 800 people were executed at a time (except those killed during the suppression of the rebellion), and subsequently several thousand more, until the spring of 1699.

Tsarevna Sophia, who until then had simply been in a monastery, was now tonsured a nun under the name of Susanna. In order to further punish his hated sister, Peter ordered that the executed archers be hanged right at her windows.

Peter had every reason to regard this rebellion as a betrayal, a stab in the back. "Holy Russia" betrayed - and she had to pay for it. Therefore, the tsar did not limit himself to reprisals against the rebels, but immediately began to change the established way of Russian life: right at the feast, he cut off the traditional Russian long-brimmed clothes of dignitaries with scissors right at the feast, and cut off the beards of close boyars. He ordered everyone to change into European clothes. By decree, he introduced a new, Julian calendar: canceling the chronology from the creation of the world and moving the celebration of the New Year to January 1. Before that, New Year was celebrated in the fall.

Then Peter got into the habit of walking with a large club in his hands, with which he beat the courtiers at fault.

The sovereign, turning a human figure on a lathe and being very cheerful that the work was going well, asked the mechanic Nartov:

- What do I sharpen?

"Very well," answered Nartov.

- Such is it, Andrey, I sharpen the bones with a chisel fairly, but I cannot grind the stubborn with a club.

An old joke.

The Vile Story of Mary Hamilton

Gossip related to one of his mistresses, Maria Hamilton, also tells about the excessive cruelty of Peter the Great. As if he had executed her for treason, and when the beauty's head rolled to the ground, he picked it up and began to talk about anatomy, showing the courtiers the severed spine and blood vessels.

Maria Hamilton before her execution. Pavel Svedomsky. 1904

In fact, the atrocity of the king is greatly exaggerated: Mary really had an intimate relationship with him at one time, but the hobby had long since passed. Since then, she had other lovers and was pregnant several times, but miscarried. She nevertheless gave birth to the last baby alive, but immediately drowned it in the vessel (i.e., in the chamber pot), and then threw the corpse into the latrine. It was for this heinous crime that she was sentenced to death, and quite humanely: she was cut off her head, and not buried alive in the ground, as required by the Code of 1649. Maria's head was alcoholized and kept for some time in the Kunstkamera, but then some sailors stole the vessel, drank the alcohol, and threw the head away.

Antichrist of glass city

“The most jesting and most drunken cathedral” is one of the most extravagant undertakings of Peter. For him, it was an opportunity not only to have fun and get into revelry, but also to mock the real, serious life that he hated. Thus arose the collegium of drunkenness, or "the most extravagant, the most joking and the most drunken cathedral." It was presided over by the former tsar's teacher Nikita Zotov, the prince-papa, or "the most noisy and most joking patriarch of Moscow, Kokui and all Yauza." Under him was a conclave of 12 cardinals, notorious drunkards and gluttons, with a huge staff of the same bishops, archimandrites and other clergy who bore frankly indecent nicknames.

Peter bore the rank of protodeacon and himself composed the charter of this cathedral, in which the ranks of the election of the patriarch and ordination to various degrees of the drunken hierarchy were determined to the smallest detail. The first commandment of the order was to get drunk every day and not go to bed sober, and the goal was declared to be to glorify Bacchus with exorbitant drinking. The order of drunkenness, "serving Bacchus and honest treatment with strong drinks" was determined. The jesters had their own vestments, prayers and hymns, there were even the most joking mother-bishops and abbesses, or rather x * abbess - just like that, with a hint of an obscene word. One of them was Anastasia Petrovna Golitsyna - a smart woman, but devoid of any concept of decent behavior and, moreover, an alcoholic. She knew how to amuse the sovereign and for a long time was in favor - but then she was accused of treason in connection with the case of Tsarevich Alexei and beaten with batogs. Humiliated and sick, she lived out her life in the Cheryomushki estate in the south of Moscow.

As in the ancient church they asked the person being baptized: “Do you believe?” - so in this cathedral the newly received member was asked the question: “Are you drinking?” The sober were excommunicated from all taverns in the state, drunken fighters were anathematized.

Often during Christmas week, Peter gathered a huge company, about two hundred people, and spent the night riding in a sleigh around Moscow or St. Petersburg. At the head of the procession is the jester's patriarch in his vestments, with a rod and in a tin mitre; behind him, headlong, rush sleigh, packed full of his co-servants, with songs and whistles. The owners of houses honored by the visit of these glorifiers were obliged to treat them and pay for glorification.

Once, at Shrovetide, the tsar arranged a service to Bacchus: the patriarch, Prince-Pope Nikita Zotov drank and blessed the guests kneeling before him, overshadowing them with two chibouks folded crosswise, just as bishops do with dikirium and trikirium; then, with a staff in his hand, the "master" began to dance.

Christmas fun was familiar, but the jokes that the sovereign threw out during Lent jarred on many. Members of the Most Joking Council in turned-out sheepskin coats rode out in sledges pulled by pigs, bears and goats.

"Jester's weddings" were often arranged. Peter could give up all his affairs in order to compose another clownish "decree" or a regulation of the clownish rite. With the death of Peter, the cathedral ceased to exist, leaving behind a bad memory not only as an example of the emperor's tyranny, but also as another proof that he really was the "Antichrist".

Of alcoholic beverages, Peter preferred vodka. The boxes in which the bottles of vodka were stored were shaped like the gospel.

In those years, distillery production was still poorly developed. We would now call the then vodka poorly purified moonshine or raw alcohol. It was no more than 18 degrees strong, but it desperately stank of fuselage. At assemblies, Peter ordered the vessels with this drink to be carried throughout the park and forcibly gave them to guests, including ladies and clerics, until everyone was kicked to the point of a pig.

These amusements gave rise to legends about the impostor king and the Antichrist king. Peter was declared the son of a German woman and "Lafert", they said that in the "Glass Kingdom" (Stockholm) the real sovereign was kidnapped and put in a barrel, put into the sea, and instead of him they sent a "nemchin". The schismatics interpreted the holy books, where it was written that the Antichrist would be born from a bad connection from a bad wife and an imaginary girl, from the tribe of Dan, and recalled that Peter was born from a second wife - illegal, thinking that Dan's tribe is the royal one. tribe.

Was Peter such a notorious blasphemer or an unbeliever? That would be strange given his upbringing. In addition, it is known for certain that Peter took care of the construction of temples and even drew sketches for architects himself. So, according to his drawings, the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg and the church on Novaya Basmannaya Street were built - very close to Yauza and Kukuy. In addition, having a good voice and hearing, Peter often sang on the kliros, thereby expressing respect for the church and worship.

"Min hertz" and batmen

Alexander Danilovich Menshikov was the son of a baker, and became a close friend of Peter and the Most Serene Prince of the Russian Empire, the Duke of Izhora, a member of the Supreme Privy Council, President of the Military Collegium, Senator, Field Marshal General, and so on and so forth ... He was a brave and successful military leader, but mediocre a diplomat, a talented organizer, but an unscrupulous bribe-taker. For embezzlement he was repeatedly beaten by Peter himself. In the end, Menshikov made a lot of enemies for himself, was exiled to Berezov, where he died.

“Menshikov was strongly attached to the tsar and sympathized with his rules regarding the enlightenment of the Russian nation. With foreigners, unless they considered themselves smarter than him, he was polite and amiable. He also did not touch the Russians, who knew how to bend their backs. He treated the lower ones meekly and never forgot the service rendered. In the greatest dangers, he showed all due courage, and once he fell in love with someone, he became his zealous friend.

On the other hand, his ambition was immeasurable; he did not tolerate anything higher than himself, nor an equal, much less a man who would think of surpassing him in intelligence. Greed was insatiable and an implacable enemy. He did not have a lack of intelligence, but his lack of education was reflected in his rude treatment.

Colonel K. G. Manstein told.

Rumors are also connected with Menshikov about the alleged bisexuality of Peter the Great. One of the reasons for the emergence of these gossip is the dizzying career of the handsome Menshikov and the address that the tsar used in correspondence with him - “min hertz” - “my heart”.

Another source of rumors is the memoirs of the turner Andrei Konstantinovich Nartov, which says that in the absence of Catherine, Peter put young batmen to sleep with him. However, Nartov explained it differently:

“The sovereign truly sometimes had such convulsions at night that he put Murzin’s orderly on the bed with him, holding on to whose shoulder he fell asleep, which I myself saw. During the day, he often tossed his head up. This began to be in his body from the time of the riots, but before that it did not happen.

Menshikov's excessive love for luxury was reflected in numerous anecdotes of that time. The court jester Balakirev often made fun of the royal favorite.

Jokes:

In St. Petersburg, Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov built a palace for himself on Vasilyevsky Island. This palace is modest by today's standards. At that time it was considered one of the largest. The emperor himself supervised the work and more than once came to admire the buildings under construction. On one of these visits, he suddenly noticed that Balakirev, armed with a arshin, with the air of a connoisseur, was importantly pacing around the just finished one, and arguing with himself, measuring everything.

Calling him to him, Peter asked:

- How long have you, Balakirev, become a land surveyor and what are you measuring there?

“I have been a land surveyor, sir, since I began to walk on mother earth, and what I measure, you yourself will deign to see.

– What is it?

- Earth.

- Why?

- Yes, I want to measure out on this foundation how much space of the earth Danilych will occupy when he dies.

The sovereign smiled and looked at Menshikov, who grimaced at Balakirev's words.

One fine day, Balakirev bantered Menshikov for a particularly long and sharp time, so that the prince finally lost patience and wanted to beat the jester. The latter managed to escape.

“Well, you are a swindler,” Menshikov shouted after him, “I will deal with you in order!” Not only to the living, but also to the dead, you will not have peace from me. Even the bones know my strength.

The next day, after the threat, Balakirev appeared to the sovereign bored and saddened.

- Father-king, have mercy! he yelled.

- What does it mean? Peter asked.

- Give me your club.

- Excuse me, but first tell me why you need it?

“And this is why I need it: when I die, I will order you to put it with me in the grave. And do you know what for? Danilych is very afraid of her, so she will protect me. And then the prince threatens that my bones will not have peace from him.

The emperor, smiling, promised him to give him his royal club.

The next day, all the courtiers found out about this, and Menshikov began to treat Balakirev more friendly and favorably.

Prince Menshikov, angry at d'Acosta for something, shouted:

"I'll beat you to death, you bastard!"

The frightened jester ran as fast as he could, and,

running to the sovereign, complained about the prince.

“If he truly kills you,” the emperor said smiling, “then I will have him hanged.”

I don’t want that,” the jester objected, “but I want Your Royal Majesty to order him to be hanged before I am alive.

Narva - broke through!

In addition to Russia, the Northern Alliance against the Swedish King Charles XII included Denmark, Saxony and the Commonwealth (Poland). In order not to be distracted by the Crimea, Peter urgently concluded a truce with the Ottoman Empire for a period of 30 years, and on August 19, 1700 he declared war on Sweden.

But, alas, this game was not successful for Peter at first, the allies let him down: Denmark almost immediately withdrew from the war, and the Polish king Augustus failed to take Riga. The Russian attempt to capture Narva ended in complete defeat. The Swedes even issued a medal with the image of the woefully wandering Peter and the gospel inscription: "And the crying cry is bitter, gone out."

However, the Swedes rejoiced early: Peter knew how to learn from his mistakes. He reorganized and re-trained the army, cast cannons, built new ships, and already from 1702 won the first victories. “Narva, which has been tearing up for 4 years, now, thank God, has broken through,” Peter wrote joyfully in a letter. The exit to the Baltic Sea was open.

Baltic beauty

In 1703, during the siege of the Marienburg fortress, Peter I met 19-year-old Marta Skavronskaya, a Baltic peasant woman. At first, Menshikov liked her, but Peter took the beauty from him and made her his mistress. Soon she converted to Orthodoxy: Peter's half-sister Ekaterina (one of the daughters of Maria Miloslavskaya) became the godmother, and his son from his first marriage, Alexei, became the godfather. Since then, Marta began to be called Ekaterina Alekseevna.

The Frenchman Lavi in ​​1715 described her appearance as follows: “... has a pleasant fullness; her complexion is very white, with an admixture of a natural, somewhat bright blush. Her eyes are black, small, her hair of the same color is long and thick, her neck and arms are beautiful, her expression is meek and very pleasant. Lavi noted that the king treats his wife "with special respect."

Interestingly, despite the abundance of portraits, many biographers stubbornly call Catherine a blonde. Not wanting to abandon the image of a "blonde German", they even came up with the idea that Catherine specially dyed her blond hair black to match Peter's tastes. In this case, they should have mentioned that she was also the first person to wear dark contact lenses.

“Once, when the king was at a dinner with the king of Denmark, where he drank more than usual, the latter, wanting to joke, said:

“Ah, brother, I heard that you also have a mistress?”

The king, finding such a joke far from his taste, objected:

“Brother, my favorites cost me little, but your public women cost you thousands of thalers, which you could use much better.”

In 1706, the king changed in Poland, and Charles XII began a new campaign against Russia, enticing hetman Ivan Mazepa to his side. But luck left him: the battle near the village of Lesnoy and the Battle of Poltava decided the outcome of the war. The Swedish king with a handful of soldiers fled to Turkish possessions. There he was not received too kindly, and soon he was forced to return to his homeland, where in 1718 he died under mysterious circumstances.

Russian diplomacy and dancing on the table

The Swedish Queen Ulrika Eleonora tried to resist for another two years, but in the end she was forced to negotiate peace. In the autumn of 1721, the Treaty of Nystadt was concluded, ending more than twenty years of war. Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea and annexed the vast Baltic lands.

An anecdotal story is connected with the Nishtadt peace talks, which were conducted by remarkable diplomats and, in general, outstanding people Andrei Ivanovich Osterman and Yakov Vilimovich Bruce. Peter, wanting to end the war as soon as possible, was ready to make concessions and give the Vyborg fortress to the Swedes. He sent Pavel Yaguzhinsky to negotiate, empowering him to make peace on Swedish terms. Osterman and Bruce, believing that the Swedes were about to agree to give up the fortress, sent people to meet Pavel Ivanovich with a letter addressed to the commandant of this same Vyborg. The letter contained a request to intercept the envoy, persuade him to go out, get him drunk, and thus detain him on the road. The plan succeeded. Yaguzhinsky was delayed for two days, and when, suffering from a headache and suffering from a hangover, he reached Nystadt, peace was already concluded and became a triumph for Russian diplomats.

The conclusion of peace was celebrated with a seven-day masquerade. Peter was overjoyed and, forgetting his years and illnesses, sang songs and even danced on the tables.

Yakov Vilimovich Bruce- the famous "sorcerer" and scientist. He came from a noble Scottish family and was a descendant of King Bruce of Scotland. His brother, Roman Bruce, was the first chief commandant of St. Petersburg. Their ancestors lived in Russia since 1647.

Yakov Vilimovich participated in all the wars that Peter fought, and was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, many titles and titles.

He was one of the most educated people in Russia, a naturalist and astronomer. He spoke six languages, was actively engaged in the translation and publication of scientific literature, collected a library of more than one and a half thousand volumes and a “cabinet of curious things”, which formed the basis of the Kunstkamera. He compiled the "Map of Lands from Moscow to Asia Minor", was the author of the zodiacal radial-circular layout of Moscow.

Jacob Bruce. 18th century engraving

In 1702, Bruce opened the first observatory in Russia at the Navigation School in Moscow in the Sukharev Tower. His passion for astrology was expressed in the publication of the famous Bruce Calendars.

The people made up many legends about Bruce. Allegedly, once Bruce hosted guests at his estate, and in order to entertain them, in the July heat he froze the pond so that his guests could skate.

This text is an introductory piece.

Reading time: 8 min

Peter I is a great Russian emperor and an incredibly attractive and creative person, so interesting facts from the biography of the tsar of the Romanov dynasty will be of interest to everyone. I will try to tell you something that is definitely impossible to find in any school textbooks.

Peter the Great, according to the new style, was born on June 8, according to the sign of the zodiac - twins. It is not surprising that it was Peter the Great who became the innovator for the conservative Russian Empire. Gemini is an air sign that is characterized by ease of decision-making, a sharp mind and amazing imagination. Only the "horizon of expectation" usually does not justify itself: the rough reality is too different from blue dreams.

An unusual fact about the character of Peter the Great

According to the calculations of the square of Pythagoras, the character of Peter 1 consists of three units, which means that the emperor was distinguished by a calm character. It is believed that it is a person with three or four units that is most suitable for working in government structures.

For example, a person with one or five, six units has a despotic character and is ready to “go over their heads” for the sake of power. So, Peter the Great had all the prerequisites for occupying the royal throne.

Is it an heir?

There is an opinion that Peter the Great is not the native son of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov. The fact is that the future emperor was distinguished by strong health, unlike his brother Fedor and sister Natalya. But this is only an assumption. But the birth of Peter was predicted by Simeon of Polotsk, he informed the sovereign that he would soon have a son who would go down in Russian history as a great ruler!

But the wife of the Emperor Catherine I was of peasant origin. By the way, this is the first woman who was aware of all state affairs. Peter discussed everything with her and listened to any advice.

Innovator

Peter the Great introduced many new ideas into Russian life.

• While traveling in Holland, I noticed that skating is much more convenient if they are not tied to shoes, but are tightly attached to special boots.

• In order for the soldiers not to confuse right and left, Peter I ordered hay to be tied to the left leg, and straw to the right. During drill training, the commander, instead of the usual "right - left", commanded "hay - straw". By the way, only educated people used to be able to distinguish between right and left.
• Peter intensively fought against drunkenness, especially among the courtiers. In order to completely eradicate the disease, he came up with his own system: to give out iron, seven-kilogram medals for each spree. Such an award was hung around the neck in the police station and it was necessary to walk with it for at least 7 days! It was impossible to take pictures on your own, and it was dangerous to ask someone else.
• Peter I was impressed by the beauty of overseas tulips; he brought flower bulbs from Holland to Russia in 1702.

Peter I's favorite pastime is dentistry, with such interest he pulled out bad teeth from everyone who just asked. But sometimes he got so carried away that he could vomit healthy ones too!

Substitution of Peter I

The most unusual and interesting fact in Russian history. Researchers A. Fomenko and G. Nosovsky argue that the fact of substitution was and provide strong evidence to confirm. In those days, the names of the future heirs to the throne were given in accordance with the day of the angel of the Orthodox canons, and this is where the discrepancy opened up: the birthday of Peter the Great falls on the name Isakiy.

Peter the Great from his youth was distinguished by his love for everything Russian: he wore a traditional caftan. But after a two-year stay in Europe, the sovereign began to wear exclusively fashionable European clothes and never again put on his once beloved Russian caftan.

• Researchers claim that the impostor who returned from distant countries had a body structure that was different from Peter the Great. The impostor was taller and thinner. It is believed that Peter 1 actually wasn’t two meters tall before, this is logical, because his father’s height was 170 cm, his grandfather’s was 167. And the king who came from Europe was 204 cm. Therefore, there is a version that the impostor did not wear favorite clothes of the king due to size discrepancies.
• Peter I had a mole on his nose, but after his stay in Europe, the mole mysteriously disappeared, this is confirmed by numerous portraits of the sovereign.
• When Peter returned from a trip abroad, he did not know where the oldest library of Ivan the Terrible was located, although the secret of its location was inherited. Princess Sophia constantly visited her, and the new Peter could not find a repository of rare editions.
• When Peter returned from Europe, his companions consisted of the Dutch, although when the tsar was just setting off on his journey, there was a Russian embassy with him, consisting of 20 people. Where did the 20 Russian subjects go during the two years of the tsar's stay in Europe remains a mystery.
• After arriving in Russia, Peter the Great tried to bypass his relatives and associates, and then got rid of everyone in various ways.

It was the archers who announced that the returned Peter was an impostor! And staged a riot, which was brutally suppressed. This is very strange, because only close associates of the king were selected for the archery troops, the title of archer was inherited with the confirmation of the king.

Therefore, each of these people was clearly dear to Peter the Great before his trip to Europe, and now he suppressed the uprising in the most cruel way, according to historical data, 20 thousand people were killed. After that, the army was completely reorganized.

In addition, while in London, Peter the Great imprisoned his wife Lopukhina in a monastery without announcing the reason and married a peasant woman, Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya-Kruse, who in the future would become Empress Catherine I.

The researchers note that the calm and fair Peter the Great became a real despot after returning from a foreign campaign.

All his orders were aimed at the destruction of Russian heritage: Russian history was rewritten by German professors, many Russian chronicles disappeared without a trace, a new chronology system was introduced, the usual measures of measurement were abolished, repressions against the clergy, the eradication of Orthodoxy, the distribution of alcohol, tobacco and coffee, a ban on cultivation of medicinal amaranth and much more.

Whether this is really so, one can only guess, all the historical documents of those times that we have cannot be considered valid, because. Everything has been rewritten many times. It remains only to guess and assume, you can also watch a film on this topic.

In any case, Peter I is a significant personality in Russian history.