Open questions of history: what did Peter I die of?

At the end of November 1724, Peter the Great became fatally ill.

Recently, students asked me in a lecture if it was true that Peter the Great died of syphilis. No it is not true. But how tenacious the old gossip is! For nearly three hundred years, it excites the imagination of the ignorant ordinary people.

Polish historian Kazimir Waliszewski, a brisk author of novels about the intimate life of Russian monarchs, launched the absurdity into the “broad masses”. In the book "Peter the Great" he wrote: "On September 8, 1724, the diagnosis of the disease became clear: it was sand in the urine, complicated by the return of a poorly healed venereal disease." Founder Soviet school historical falsification, “red professor” Mikhail Pokrovsky “developed” Valishevsky, excluding kidney disease from the diagnosis and leaving only syphilis in it: “The death of the reformer was a worthy ending of this feast during the plague. Peter died, as you know, from the consequences of syphilis, which he received, most likely in Holland and poorly cured by the then doctors. " Pokrovsky has no references to sources, and the methods of introducing dirty gossip ("as you know," "in all likelihood") are typical of any forger.

The first French ambassador to the Russian court, Count Campredon, was the first to tell the world about Peter's venous disease as the cause of his death. In his report to Versailles in January 1725, he reported that a "competent Italian doctor" had told him, Campredon, in great secrecy, that the urinary retention suffered by the tsar was "a consequence of an old venereal disease," namely, "poorly cured syphilis." ...

The "knowledgeable Italian" referred to by Campredon is a certain Azarini, one of many who tried to heal the dying Peter and did not succeed in this. Academician Pavlenko, who analyzed in detail the story of the death of Peter the Great, noted that the arrogant physician was confident in the possibility of "completely curing" the tsar four days before his death, "if only his advice was used." They were used - and Peter died. From which it is possible to draw certain conclusions about the degree of medical knowledge of Azarini. The close associates of Tsar Peter - chamber-junker Buchholz, Feofan Prokopovich, data from the "Travel Journal", which recorded every step of Peter, speak of the death of the emperor from an inflammation of the bladder. The same opinion was held by historians of medicine, concerning the death of the Russian transformer in their works - V. Richter, N. Kupriyanov. But we have at our disposal data of a completely different degree of reliability - the conclusion of the Central Dermatovenerologic Institute in Moscow, made in 1970.A unique case for this kind of gossip - the USSR government and the Academy of Sciences, worried about the negative impact of dirty gossip on the country's image, entrusted the venereology luminaries privately to figure out what is the truth.

All the available documents and sources about the illness and death of Tsar Peter, including the reports of Campredon to Versailles, were presented to the doctors for consideration. The commission consisting of professors A.A.Studnitsyn, N.S.Smelov, Doctor of Medical Sciences T.V. Vasiliev and Candidate of Medical Sciences O.I. Nikonov came to the unequivocal conclusion: “Peter I did not die from the consequences of syphilis. According to the available data, we can conclude that he suffered from a malignant disease of the prostate gland, or bladder, or urolithiasis. "

It is clear that with such a diagnosis, Peter the Great, who in November 1724 threw himself into the icy water to save a grounded boat with soldiers, women and children near Lahti, received severe inflammation and could no longer recover from it. The gossip burst - instead of a lecher, deservedly punished for sins, we see Pushkin's "now an academician, now a hero, now a navigator, now a carpenter", who fell ill while saving "lower ranks" on stormy Ladoga. You can close the story by stating that Peter the Great has enough merits and sins before Russia to hang on him all sorts of dirt. But the question remains - why are such "stories" so tenacious?

If you collect all the historical gossip together, it turns out that almost all outstanding historical characters are moral monsters or perverts, or alcoholics and degenerates in general. In particular, apart from Peter, Ivan the Terrible, Lenin, Cortes and Hitler were “buried” from syphilis (in all cases, the diagnosis was equally “truthful”). The nature of such a thirst of the crowd to savor the dirty details “from the life of the greats” was revealed by A.S. Pushkin: “The crowd eagerly reads confessions ... because in its meanness it rejoices in the humiliation of the tall, the weaknesses of the mighty. At the discovery of all abominations, she is delighted. He is small as we are, he is disgusting as we are! You are lying, scoundrels: he is small and disgusting - not like you - otherwise. "

The history is full of various secrets and mysteries. Even yesterday's news is sometimes overgrown with rumors and speculation, let alone the events that took place several centuries ago.

According to numerous testimonies, last years In his life, Peter I developed serious health problems, in particular, signs of urolithiasis began to appear. When studying the emperor's letters to his wife, we can conclude that for 5-6 years before his death, he almost never parted with medicines. To restore his health, the emperor repeatedly received treatment at Russian and foreign resorts, famous for their mineral waters. In the summer of 1724, he twice (in June and August) underwent a course of water treatment in the Moscow region and the Olonets province. During this period, the emperor's illness began to take on an inflammatory character. It got to the point that the operator V. Gorn had to insert a catheter. The treatment helped; by the fall of 1724, Peter I began to feel somewhat better. His health condition even allowed him to go by sea to Shlisselburg and Lakhta. But here the emperor caught a bad cold. This happened in November, when he spent a long time waist-deep in icy water - rescuing sailors from a boat that ran aground off the coast of Lakhta. From that time on, the health of the emperor was completely shaken. But, despite this, almost to the end of his days, Peter I led a rich life. He was engaged state activities, took an active part in the life of the city. It is known, for example, that in October 1724, Peter I was one of those who extinguished the fire that occurred on Vasilievsky Island. In early November, the emperor personally attended the wedding of a German baker. In addition, the emperor attended various social events. His eldest daughter Anna was betrothed to the Duke of Holstein in November 1724. On this occasion, festivities were held in the palace for two weeks, some of which were also attended by Peter I. On December 18, they celebrated the fifteenth birthday of Elizabeth, the future Empress of Russia, and just two days later, the emperor visited the election of a new "prince-pope" (a comic post established Peter I). The beginning of 1725 turned out to be no less intense. Peter attended one wedding, and also attended the assemblies of P. Tolstoy and K. Kreutz.

By mid-January, the emperor felt so bad that he ordered to place a camp church in the chambers adjacent to his bedroom. The attacks were so painful that the cries of the sick man echoed throughout the palace. Prayers were held in the churches; on January 27, an amnesty was announced for all prisoners sentenced to death or hard labor (the only exceptions were murderers and persons convicted of repeated robbery). Despite the efforts of the court doctors, Peter was getting worse. On January 26, he had an attack, as a result of which Peter I lost speech and the right half of his body was taken away. Early in the morning on January 28, 1724, the first emperor of Russia died.

According to the testimony of Jacob Shtelin (a figure in the Russian Academy of Sciences), on February 2, 1724, an autopsy was performed by the court physician Paulson and operator Horn. Unfortunately, none of the documents documenting the results of this medical study have survived to this day. After the death of the emperor, his archives were kept in the cellars of the Winter Palace. Only dozens of years later, already during the reign of Catherine II, an attempt was made to disassemble the documents. As a result, it turned out that many papers died due to the impact of water that penetrated into the basements during seasonal floods. But in some works you can read that the autopsy did not confirm urolithiasis as the cause of the emperor's death. In particular, Shtelin writes: "When opening the imperial body, they found hardening in the neck of the bladder and anton fire (ie gangrene) in the parts around the bladder, and it was so swollen and hardened that it was difficult to cut it with an anatomical knife."

Some researchers put forward a version of the poisoning. But upon studying all the known facts, it does not seem to be consistent.

Several years before his death, namely in 1722, Peter I issued a decree according to which the eldest in the male line does not necessarily become the heir to the throne. From now on, the emperor himself could appoint a successor to himself. But it was Peter I who was unable to exercise this right. The disease developed so rapidly, the attacks were so severe and painful that the emperor could not leave behind him any instructions as to who he sees as his successor. As you know, the dying man was able to inscribe only two words "Give it all." It was this that led to the fact that in the following decades the kings were enthroned not by law, but by force. Sudden deaths and the lack of wills of subsequent rulers gave rise to a whole series of palace coups... And only 75 years after the death of Peter I, the law on succession issued by him was canceled.

From what Peter I died is not the only question associated with this significant figure. Some modern researchers, relying on known facts, it is assumed that he was replaced by another person during the so-called "great embassy" (1697-1698). This once again confirms that history is full of secrets that you really want to unravel.

In November 1724, near the village of Lakhty, at the mouth of the Neva, Peter the Great rushed into the icy water to save a boat with soldiers, women and children who had run aground. As a result, he fell ill and never recovered. On February 8 (January 28, old style), 1725, the emperor, commander, reformer, navigator and carpenter died, leaving two words instead of a will - "Give everything back." Since then - from Poles and Napoleon to Hitler - everyone interpreted the will of the emperor in their own interests.

"Dutch disease" and the image of Russia

Legends and speculations about the reasons and circumstances of the death of Peter the Great arose, probably on the same day. They have been discussed for almost three hundred years. The close associates of Tsar Peter - chamber-junker Buchholz and Feofan Prokopovich, on the basis of data from the "Travel Journal", which recorded every step of Peter, announced the death of the emperor from an inflammation of the bladder. The same opinion was held by the historians of medicine, who wrote about the death of the tsar-reformer in their writings - V. Richter, N. Kupriyanov. At the same time, the French ambassador to the Russian court, Count Campredon, hastened to send a report to Versailles, in which he informed the French court, and therefore the whole world, that the "competent Italian doctor" had told him, Campredon, in great secrecy, that urine retention, which the king suffers, "is a consequence of an old venereal disease," namely, "poorly cured syphilis."

Soon the secret of Peter's death became known to the general public. Polish historian Kazimir Waliszewski added fuel to the fire. He wrote a series of novels about the life of Russian monarchs. In particular, in his book "Peter the Great" he wrote: "On September 8, 1724, the diagnosis of the disease became clear: it was sand in the urine, complicated by the return of a poorly healed venereal disease."

V Soviet times Professor Mikhail Pokrovsky supplemented Valishevsky's research, excluding kidney disease from the diagnosis and leaving only syphilis in it: “The death of the reformer was a worthy ending of this feast during the plague. Peter died, as you know, from the consequences of syphilis, which he received, most likely in Holland and poorly cured by the then doctors. " At the same time, Pokrovsky does not provide references to historical sources.

In 1970, the Central Dermatovenerologic Institute in Moscow, made an official conclusion about the disease of Peter the Great. This was a unique case - the government of the USSR and the Academy of Sciences, worried about the negative impact of historical gossip on the country's image, instructed the venereology luminaries to conduct a closed study of the emperor's medical history. The commission consisting of professors A. Studnitsyn, N. Smelov, Doctor of Medical Sciences T. Vasiliev and Candidate of Medical Sciences O. Nikonov came to the unequivocal conclusion: “Peter I did not die from the consequences of syphilis. According to the available data, we can conclude that he suffered from a malignant disease of the prostate gland, or bladder, or urolithiasis. " It should be noted that the majority of historians and biographers of Peter the Great adhere to this particular version.

"Amazing carelessness in legislation"

Peter died without leaving a will and not having time to appoint an heir. There was no king in a country where all power was concentrated in his hands, and there was no one who could adequately replace him. Recall that Peter had eight sons, three were bore to him by Evdokia Lopukhina, five - by Catherine. But of all the male heirs, only the grandson survived - Peter Alekseevich, who lived in the family of a royal grandfather and was outwardly similar to him. True, there were four female heiresses. Daughters: tiny Natalia, who outlived her father by only a few weeks, the middle one is Elizabeth, an eccentric teenager, Tarshaya is Anna, who was betrothed to the Duke of Holstein, and his wife is the "queen of the heart" Catherine. Whom did Peter I see on the eve of his death as his successor? Crowned in May 1724 by the "Empress, Autocrat of All Russia" Catherine, whose credibility was shaken in connection with the sensational case of her favorite Willim Mons? The nine-year-old son of Tsarevich Alexei - Peter Alexeevich? One of your daughters - Anna or Elizabeth? Or is it another person, according to the statute of succession to the throne: "To whom he (ie the emperor - ed.) Wants, he will determine the inheritance ..."?

The incompleteness of the phrase in Peter's testament - "Give everything ..." - provoked a long-term tough political struggle, which over time was overgrown with new rumors and speculation. Francois Voltaire in a book about the Russian emperor, written by order of the Russian government, and more than once, starting in 1759, published in Western Europe, wrote: “Many thought, and even published, that the emperor, in his spiritual life, had appointed his wife Catherine the heiress to the throne, but it is true that he did not make the spiritual at least, nobody saw it. Amazing carelessness in the legislation, and which clearly shows that he did not consider the disease to be fatal. "

V mid XVIII For centuries, the ghost of the testament of Peter the Great walked across Europe. According to historians, at the origins of the legend of the will was a French diplomat and spy maiden d'Eon, who, in a biography compiled from his / her words by La Fortelle, presented the partition of Poland in 1772 as the implementation of “the favorite plan of Peter the Great, passionately who wanted to bring their borders closer to Germany in order to play a serious role there. " D'Eon also claimed that he had allegedly predicted this in a memorandum presented to the minister in 1757. Later, this legend will give rise to one of the variants of the famous forgery of the will of Peter I, which sets out a plan to conquer Europe.

His version is put forward by Kazimir Walishevsky, who wrote in the monograph “The Kingdom of Women” that “Peter made a will when he was sent to the Persian campaign (1722 - ed.) And appointed Catherine as his successor, but then the Mons case happened and the will was destroyed”.

The "Russian threat" and the fate of the will

Even Napoleon played a role in spreading the legend about Peter's will and, consequently, about the "Russian threat". Preparing for the campaign against Russia in 1812, the emperor of France by all the rules military science used propaganda and counter-propaganda. According to the biographer of Peter the Great, Professor Nikolai Pavlenko, it was on the instructions of Napoleon that the historian Lezure published the book “On the rise of Russian power from its very beginning to late XVIII century ". Following the instructions of Napoleon, Lesure assured that "in the private archives of the Russian emperors there are secret memoirs written by Peter the Great with his own hand, which openly set forth the plans of this sovereign."

In 1836, the "testament" itself appeared, according to which Russia must continuously wage wars of conquest and tirelessly expand its borders north and south along the Black Sea. The successors were instructed to "move as close as possible to Constantinople and India," and the maximum program was to conquer Europe.

Interest in this pseudo-document increased in 1854-1855, when the British and French waged a war in the Crimea and tried to explain their actions by the need to prevent the aggressive plans of Peter and his successors. In 1876, a will was needed in connection with the beginning liberation movement Balkan peoples.

In the twentieth century, the will was twice remembered in Germany. During World War I, at the suggestion of the Germans, it was published in Iranian newspapers in order to sow distrust of Russia in the Middle East. During the Second World War in 1939, in the same Germany, there was a study by Heinrich Derris "The Russian invasion of Europe in the era of Peter the Great." This book is a rather tendentious attempt to justify Hitler's aggressive plans, his Russophobia and to remind half-conquered Europe of the "Russian threat". In November 1941, during the battle of Moscow and the failure of the "blitzkrieg", the "testament" was published once again under the headline "The Bolsheviks fulfill the testament of Peter the Great about world domination."

At the end of the twentieth century, a friend was remembered about the "Russian danger" in prosperous France. In 1979, the monograph "Peter the Great" by Henri Troyes appeared in Paris. French historian considered it his duty to tell the world about the eternal barbarism and aggressiveness of Russia.

Over the 280 years that have passed since the death of Peter the Great, no will has been found either in Russian or in foreign archives. The tsar simply did not have time to write it. Peter ruled for 42 years and, according to Radishchev, "becoming more glorious to be, ascended himself and ascended his fatherland, affirming private liberty." As the author of the 29-volume History of Russia, Sergei Solovyov, wrote, after the death of the emperor, it was time to test the strength of all Peter's reforms: “There was no more iron hand holding back the enemies of the reforms. The Russian people could now freely dispose of, freely decide whether they needed a new order, and overthrow it in the event of a negative decision. " The test of time showed that through the efforts of Peter, Russia successfully passed “from one age to another, from ancient history into a new one.

On March 8, 1725, Peter the Great was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Execution of archers

Head for a beloved wife

Relationship with children

And here is an example of Peter's attitude to his daughters from Catherine - Anna and Elizabeth. Eyewitnesses point out that Peter was greatly enraged by Mons' testimony, and because of this, his fits of anger became dangerous for everyone who came in his way. In this state, he almost killed his own daughters. The tsar's face was convulsed every now and then, sometimes he took out his hunting knife and, in the presence of his daughters, beat them on the table and on the wall, pounded his feet and waved his arms. As he left, he slammed the door so hard that it crumbled.

It is clear that the first son of the royal family, Alexei Petrovich, who grew up among such passions, could not inflame with a special love for his stern father, could not forgive his mother's imprisonment in a monastery, for which he paid with his life.

There was a version that Veide advised Peter to poison the 27-year-old prince. Peter agreed, and Weide ordered a very strong poison to the pharmacist. But he refused to hand over the poison to the general, and agreed to hand it over only to the king himself. Veide brought the pharmacist to Peter, and together they brought the poison to Alexei, but the prince flatly refused to take the drug. Then they knocked Alexei to the floor, tore off the floorboard so that the blood could drain into the underground, and with an ax they decapitated him, who had fainted, exhausted by torment and fear.

And yet the tragedy did not end there: another character appeared in the foreground of the story - Anna Ivanovna Kramer, whom Peter trusted no less than General Weide.

Peter's relationship with his beloved woman

Let's add to this the unenviable fate of Peter's mistress, Mary Hamilton, who was executed in 1719. Peter himself carefully escorted the dressed-up beauty to the block, and until the last minute she hoped for pardon, remembering the words of her lover that the executioner's hand would not touch her. The hand did not touch ... touched the ax. Peter raised the head of his mistress and began to lecture the audience on anatomy, showing the blood vessels and vertebrae. He did not miss a single opportunity to educate his "dark" people. Then he crossed himself, kissed his pale lips and threw his head into the mud ... The alcohol-covered head of Maria Hamilton was kept for a long time in the Cabinet of Curiosities along with the head of the unlucky Mons. Catherine II ordered to bury the heads.

Peter the First did not disdain even his own niece

The Tsar's niece, Ekaterina Ivanovna, was short, very plump, with unusually black eyes and raven-colored hair. She was distinguished by excessive talkativeness, loud and frequent laughter and great frivolity. In addition, from a young age they knew her as a windy person, prone to love pleasures with just anyone: if only her hero was good-looking and strong, like a man. She did not care whether the prince was in front of her, the page or the servant.

Kamer Junker Friedrich-Wilhelm Bergolz, a native of Holstein, called her "an extremely cheerful woman who says whatever comes into her head."

When Ekaterina Ivanovna was 24 years old, her uncle - Tsar Peter - decided to marry her to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Karl-Leopold.

The young people were married by the Orthodox bishop - the confessor of Ekaterina Ivanovna, who sailed with her to Danzig, and from there everyone who was at the wedding went to the duke's palace, which was also quite nearby.

The wedding feast was rather modest and not crowded.

The testimony of the Chief Marshal of the Duke of Eichholtz has survived that Karl-Leopold left the bedroom in the middle of the night, feeling that he could not fulfill his marital duty.

Tsar's anger

Accustomed from a young age to complete freedom of action, Peter did not allow any circumstances to restrict his will. His most extravagant whims seemed to him perfectly justified, if he caught fire with any idea. And if he wanted something, no one could convince him. To amuse the guests, he made the eighty-year-olds dance until they fell off their feet, imitating the young, and the young people had to dance like the old, dragging their feet on the floor. Catherine stood up for the wife of Marshal Olsufiev, who was expecting a child, so that the tsar would allow her not to be present at the next drinking party. Peter was indignant at such a request, demanded the presence of the unfortunate woman at the banquet and did not feel any remorse when he learned that as a result of this, a dead child was born to her. Minister Fyodor Golovin refused salad during one of the dinners because he could not stand vinegar. The enraged king grabbed the taken aback guest and began pouring vinegar into his mouth until he was bleeding from his mouth. Another Golovin, a senior representative of a noble family, was supposed to participate in a masquerade by order of the tsar, dressed up as a devil. When he abandoned this venture, referring to his age and position, Peter forced him to undress, put on a hat with horns and sit naked on the ice of the Neva. In this position, in a strong wind, he spent an hour. Returning to his place, he fell ill with high temperature and died. And Peter did not see any guilt behind himself.

In 1721, during a wedding feast, when Prince Trubetskoy, an elderly man, married a young girl of twenty, fruit jelly, a favorite delicacy of the newlyweds, was served at the table. Immediately, Peter opened his mouth by force and began to push this food, pushing the pieces with his fingers farther and farther into his throat. At the same time, by order of the Empress, other guests were tickling the girl's brother, who writhed and screamed, if you believe the words of Bergholz, "like a calf in a slaughterhouse."

In Copenhagen, Peter saw a mummy that he liked and wanted to pick it up. But since it was a one-of-a-kind specimen, the king of Denmark responded with a polite refusal to the requests of his distinguished guest. The king returned to the museum, tore out the mummy's nose and, damaging it, said to the astonished guardian: "Now you can guard it."

On the morning of July 11, 1705, after visiting a monastery in Polotsk, Peter stopped in front of a statue of the glorified martyr of the order, Blessed Jehoshaphat, who was depicted with an ax stuck in his head. The king, not yet completely sober, asked: "Who tortured this saint?" - "Schismatics", - answered the rector, pastor Kozikovsky. This word, which the Catholic called the Orthodox, was enough to piss the Tsar out of himself. He pierced pastor Kozikovsky with a sword and killed him; officers from his retinue attacked the rest of the monks. Three were also stabbed to death, and two others, mortally wounded, died a few days later; the monastery was given over to plunder, and a storeroom for the tsarist troops was made in the devastated church. On the same evening, the Tsar's secretary Makarov wrote in His Majesty's "Journal": "On July 11, I was in the Uniate church in Polotsk and killed five Uniates, who called our generals heretics." The news of this, immediately sent from Polotsk to Rome, caused a lot of noise in the Uniate churches, the incident was overgrown with new terrible and outrageous details. The tsar allegedly ordered to cut off the breasts of women, who were only to blame for being present at the massacre and were unable to hide their excitement. There was a certain amount of exaggeration in the rumors.

Five years later, during the celebration of the victory at Poltava, in Moscow, the tsar approached a soldier who carried the Swedish banner, and, distorted by rage, struck him flat with his sword, not caring what became of his victim. In 1721 in Riga, seeing another soldier carrying copper fragments that fell from the roof of St. Peter's Church after being struck by lightning, he killed him by hitting him with his club. Romodanovsky and Zotov tried to calm the tsar during one of the fits of rage, then Peter drew his sword, made several strokes with the blade and cut off the fingers of one half and wounded the other in the head. Some time later, when he saw in the middle of the ball that Menshikov was dancing with a sword on his side, he gave him such a strong slap in the face that the favorite began to bleed.

Death and funeral of Peter the Great

The sick emperor especially struck everyone when, on January 6, in frost, he marched at the head of the Preobrazhensky regiment along the banks of the Neva, then went down to the ice and stood during the entire church service, while the Jordan was sanctified, an ice-hole cut in the ice. that Peter caught a bad cold, went to bed and from January 17 began to experience terrible torment. This disease was the last in his life.

There are several versions of the diagnosis of Peter's fatal illness. The French ambassador to Russia Campredon reported to Paris: the tsar “summoned one Italian doctor, my friend (Dr. Azariti - V. B.), with whom he wished to consult in private. " Further, Campredon wrote that, according to Azariti, "urinary retention is the result of an old venereal disease, from which several small ulcers have formed in the urinary canal."

The German doctors, the Blumentrost brothers, who were treating Peter, were against the surgical intervention, and when the English surgeon Gorn nevertheless performed the operation, it was already too late and Peter soon began "Antonov's fire", as gangrene was called at that time in Russia. Convulsions followed, followed by delirium and deep fainting. For the last ten days, if the patient regained consciousness, he screamed terribly, for his torment was terrible.

In brief moments of relief, Peter prepared himself for death and received Holy Communion three times in the last week. He ordered to release all debtors from prison and cover their debts from his own sums, ordered to release all prisoners, except for murderers and state criminals, and asked to serve prayers for him in all churches, not excluding those of other faiths.

Catherine sat by his bed, not leaving the dying man for a minute. Peter died on January 28, 1725 at the beginning of the sixth morning. Catherine herself shut his mouth and eyes and, having done this, left the small study room, or "office," as she was called, into the next room, where she was expected to be proclaimed the successor of Peter.

Peter I died without leaving a will. The heirs to the throne could be considered: firstly, the son of the executed Alexei - Peter, secondly, the daughters of Peter I and Catherine - Anna and Elizabeth, thirdly, the nieces of Peter I, the daughter of his older brother Ivan Alekseevich - Anna, Catherine and Praskovya ... Anna occupied at this time the ducal throne in Courland, Catherine was the duchess in Mecklenburg, and Praskovya lived in Moscow without being married. Fourth, - crowned imperial crown Ekaterina Alekseevna.

For three weeks Peter lay in bed and every day all people were given access to the late Emperor. As a result, the corpse turned green and smelled badly. Then it was decided to embalm it, put it in a coffin and put it in the hall until Easter. A huge coffin the size of an oblique fathom was squeezed into the cramped office where Peter died (the Russian measure of length - oblique fathom - was 216 cm), unfolding and tilting it in all directions. For forty days, all of Petersburg, dignitaries, clergy and merchants from Moscow and the cities close to the new capital bade farewell to the embalmed body of the emperor.

And three weeks after Peter's death, on February 22, the youngest of his daughters, six-year-old Natalya, died, and there was one more coffin in the Winter Palace.

During the preparation of the funeral ceremony, it turned out that the coffin with the emperor's body did not pass through the door, and then, by order of the chief administrator of the funeral, General Feldzheikh-maester, senator and gentleman, Count Jacob Bruce, one of the windows was turned into the door, and a spacious platform was erected at the bottom of the window. , on both sides of which there were wide staircases draped with black cloth. They did not last until Easter, the corpse was rapidly disintegrating, and on the fortieth day it was decided to bury it two days later, and declare a year's mourning in Russia.

... At noon on March 10, 1725, three cannon shots announced the beginning of the emperor's funeral. Past the regiments lined up along the banks of the Neva, the coffin of Peter was carried down the stairs to the embankment, and eight horses covered with blankets of black velvet carried the coffin to the berths of the main pier, and from there to a wooden platform specially built on the ice of the Neva, leading to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

More than thirty banners were carried behind the coffin. And the first of them were: the yellow standard of the Russian fleet, the black with a golden double-headed eagle, the imperial banner and the white flag of Peter with the emblem depicted on it - the sculptor's steel chisel, carving out of the stone a still unfinished statue.

And in front of this banner group were the family members of the deceased and two "first senators." The order in which they followed the coffin said a lot to both dignitaries and foreign diplomats, for this order accurately reflected the alignment of forces and the importance of each of these people at court.

The first was the now dowager Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. On both sides she was supported by Field Marshal and His Serene Highness Prince Menshikov and the Grand Chancellor, Count Golovkin.

They were followed by the daughters of Peter and Catherine - seventeen-year-old Anna and fifteen-year-old Elizabeth, then Peter's nieces - Princess Praskovya Ivanovna and the Duchess of Mecklenburg Ekaterina Ivanovna, and behind them were relatives on the mother of the deceased - the Naryshkins. Together with them was the nine-year-old grandson of the deceased, the son of the executed Alexei - Peter and the groom of Anna Petrovna, Duke of Holstein Karl-Friedrich. Due to the fact that the duke was in this procession, it should be assumed that he was considered a member of the royal family, although there was no wedding yet.

… In less than ten years, almost all of these people will die. Only the Great Chancellor Golovkin and the daughter of Peter I - Elizabeth will be centenarians ...

The coffin of Peter was placed in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which was still being built at that time, and he stood there unburied for six years. And only after that the coffin with the body of the deceased was buried ...

Thanks to the novel by A.K. Tolstoy "Peter Ι" and the films "Peter Ι" (1937), "Youth of Peter" (1980) and "At the beginning of glorious deeds" (1980), filmed based on his motives, the inhabitants have the impression of strong and strong health Peter Ι. In many respects, on the basis of these films, feelings of patriotism and pride in their homeland were brought up among young people. The novel was written between 1929 and 1945. It is worth noting that the year of the beginning of writing fell on the year of the "great turning point", the year in which the policy of industrialization began. And it should be noted that A.N. Tolstoy drew analogies between the events of the novel and contemporary events. And the tsar, who raised Russia from his knees, could not look like a weak and sick person. According to the films, Peter is a huge man with good health.

Reality

The researcher of the life of Peter Ι N.I. Pavlenko notes that Peter Ι was not distinguished by good health. He was sick almost every year, and the disease was bedridden for a long time. Sometimes he used the services of doctors, but while on the way he treated himself and carried a first-aid kit with him. With a height of 2 meters 4 centimeters, he was incredibly thin, even the clothes of Peter that have survived to us Ι shows that he really stood out in height, but not a mighty physique.

Peter's contemporary Ι Yust Yul, Danish envoy to Russia, in his essay "Notes of the Danish Ambassador under Peter the Great" shows a description of the tsar's behavior: “We got out of the carriage and saw how the king drove up to one ordinary soldier, carrying the Swedish banner, began to ruthlessly chop it down with a drawn sword and shower it with blows, perhaps because he did not go the way the tsar wanted. Then the king stopped his horse, but he continued to do ... terrible grimaces, turned his head, twisted his mouth, turned his eyes, jerked his arms and shoulders and jerked his legs back and forth. All the most important dignitaries who surrounded him at that moment were frightened by this, and no one dared to approach him, since everyone saw that the tsar was angry and annoyed with something. " The author pointed out that doctors call these terrible movements convulsions.

Even contemporaries pointed out that the behavior of Peter I was distinguished by some anomalies. In the twentieth year of his life, his head began to shake, and convulsions appeared on his beautiful round face in minutes of long thought.

Historians point to two reasons for this behavior of the king. This is a childish fear, experienced by him during the rifle revolt in 1682, and revelry in the German settlement. N.I. Pavlenko also draws attention to the fact that Peter's health was greatly undermined by his tireless activity. These are endless journeys during the Northern War to different points of the state. After all, from his point of view main feature the ruler was serving the fatherland.

A.S. Pushkin, in The History of Peter, draws numerous allusions to colds, fevers and fevers. As noted above, Peter Ι himself was never distinguished by good health, and continuous work and travel associated with the conduct of the Northern War led to the fact that in 1708-1709. he suffered from a terrible fever for several weeks.

We also know that the tsar repeatedly resorted to mineral water treatment both in Russia and abroad: in Baden in 1698 and 1708, in Karlsbad in 1711 and 1712.

In addition, according to contemporaries, Peter Ι was characterized by sudden outbursts of anger, seizures and involuntary movements. Moreover, the sovereign had fits of rage quite often. They appeared suddenly under the influence of unpleasant news or some other external stimuli, but sometimes for no apparent reason. The emperor's fits of anger could only be removed by one person - his wife, the future Empress Catherine Ι. Count Henning-Friedrich Bassevich in his notes indicates that she “ she would sit him down and take him, caressing him, by the head, which she lightly scratched. This produced a magical effect on him, he fell asleep in a few minutes. So as not to disturb his sleep, she held his head on her chest, sitting motionless for two or three hours. After that he woke up completely fresh and vigorous. " Some scholars attributed this to the presence of Peter Ι. N.N. Pukhovsky suggests that Peter Ι suffered from localized epilepsy.

It seems that on the basis of only the aforementioned, selective news, it is possible with complete confidence to dispel the myth about Peter's "heroic" health Ι. This is largely understandable, because the reforms themselves, difficult North War brought severe emotional and psychological shock to the emperor.

Sources and Literature

Pavlenko P.I. Peter Ι M., 2010.

Pukhovsky N.N. Emperor and Sovereign of All Russia Peter I Alekseevich Romanov the Great // Psychology of the Elite. 2009. No. 4. P. 83.