Brief biography of Peter III.
Peter III Fedorovich Romanov
Peter III (Pyotr Fedorovich Romanov , birth nameKarl Peter Ulrich Holstein-Gottorp; February 21, 1728, Kiel - July 17, 1762, Ropsha- Russian emperor in 1761-1762, the first representative of the Holstein-Gottorp (or rather: the Oldenburg dynasty, branches of Holstein-Gottorp, officially bearing the name "Imperial House of the Romanovs")on the Russian throne, husband of Catherine II, father of Paul I
Peter III (in the uniform of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment, 1762)
Peter III
The short reign of Peter III lasted less than a year, but during this time the emperor managed to turn against himself almost all influential forces in the Russian noble society: the court, the guard, the army and the clergy.
He was born on February 10 (21), 1728 in Kiel in the Duchy of Holstein (northern Germany). The German prince Karl Peter Ulrich, who received the name Pyotr Fedorovich after the adoption of Orthodoxy, was the son of Duke Karl Friedrich Holstein-Gottorp and the eldest daughter of Peter I, Anna Petrovna.
Karl Friedrich Holstein-Gottorp
Anna Petrovna
Having ascended the throne, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna summoned the son of her beloved sister to Russia and appointed her heir in 1742. Karl Peter Ulrich was brought to St. Petersburg at the beginning of February 1742 and declared her heir on November 15 (26). Then he converted to Orthodoxy and received the name of Peter Fedorovich
Elizaveta Petrovna
Academician J. Shtelin was assigned to him as a teacher, who could not achieve any significant success in the education of the prince; He was fascinated only by military affairs and playing the violin.
Pyotr Fedorovich when he was the Grand Duke. Work portrait G. H. Groota
In May 1745, the prince was proclaimed the ruling duke of Holstein. In August 1745 he married Princess Sophia Frederica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, the future Catherine II.
Peter Fedorovich (Grand Duke) and Ekaterina Alekseevna (Grand Duchess
Tsarevich Peter Fedorovich and Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna. 1740s Hood. G.-K. Groot.
The marriage was unsuccessful, only in 1754 they had a son, Pavel, and in 1756, a daughter, Anna, who died in 1759. He had a relationship with the lady-in-waiting E.R. Vorontsova, niece of Chancellor M.I. Vorontsov. As an admirer of Frederick the Great, he publicly expressed his pro-Russian sympathies during the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. Peter's open hostility to everything Russian and his obvious inability to deal with state affairs aroused the anxiety of Elizaveta Petrovna. In court circles, projects were put forward to transfer the crown to the underage Paul under the regency of Catherine or Catherine herself.
Portrait of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich as a child ( Rokotov F.S.,)
Peter and Catherine were granted possession of Oranienbaum near Petersburg
However, the Empress did not dare to change the order of succession to the throne. The former duke, who was trained from birth to assume the Swedish throne, since he was also the grandson of Charles XII, studied Swedish, Swedish law and Swedish history, from childhood he used to treat Russia with prejudice. A zealous Lutheran, he could not come to terms with the fact that he was forced to change his faith, and at every opportunity he tried to emphasize his contempt for Orthodoxy, the customs and traditions of the country he was to rule. Peter was neither evil nor insidious; on the contrary, he often showed gentleness and mercy. However, his extreme nervous instability made the future sovereign dangerous, like a person who concentrated absolute power over a huge empire in his hands.
Peter III Fedorovich Romanov
Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova, favorite of Peter III
Having become the new emperor after the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter quickly angered the courtiers against himself, attracting foreigners, the guards to government positions, abolishing Elizabethan liberties, the army, concluding a peace unfavorable for Russia with defeated Prussia, and, finally, the clergy, ordering to take out all the icons from the churches besides the most important ones, shave beards, take off vestments and change into frock coats in the likeness of Lutheran pastors.
Empress Catherine, the Great with her husband Peter III in Russia and their son, the future Emperor Paul I
On the other hand, the emperor softened the persecution of the Old Believers, signed in 1762 a decree on the freedom of the nobility, canceling the compulsory service for representatives of the noble class. It seemed he could count on the support of the nobles. However, his reign ended tragically.
Peter III is depicted on horseback among a group of soldiers.The emperor wears the orders of St. Andrew the First-Called and St. Anne.Snuffbox decorated with miniatures
Many were not happy with the fact that the emperor entered into an alliance with Prussia: not long before, under the late Elizaveta Petrovna, Russian troops won a number of victories in the war with the Prussians, and the Russian Empire could count on considerable political benefits from the successes achieved on the battlefields. The alliance with Prussia canceled all such hopes and broke good relations with the former allies of Russia - Austria and France. Even greater dissatisfaction was caused by the recruitment of numerous foreigners by Peter III to the Russian service. At the Russian court there were no influential forces, the support of which would provide the new emperor with the stability of his rule.
Portrait of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich
Unknown Russian artist PORTRAIT OF EMPEROR PETER III The last third of the 18th century.
Taking advantage of this, a strong court party, hostile to Prussia and Peter III, in alliance with a group of guardsmen, made a coup.
Pyotr Fedorovich was always afraid of Catherine. When, after the death of Empress Elizabeth, he became the Russian Tsar Peter III, the crowned spouses were almost unconnected, but much shared. Rumors reached Catherine that Peter wanted to get rid of her, imprisoning her in a monastery or taking her life, and declaring their son Paul illegitimate. Catherine knew how tough the Russian autocrats dealt with hateful wives. But for many years she had been preparing to ascend the throne and was not going to yield him to a man whom everyone did not love and "spoke out loud without trepidation."
Georg Christoph Groot.Portrait of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (later Emperor Peter III
Six months after Peter III ascended the throne on January 5, 1762, a group of conspirators led by Catherine's lover, Count G.G. Orlov took advantage of Peter's absence at court and issued a manifesto on behalf of the regiments of the imperial guard, according to which Peter was deprived of the throne, and Catherine was proclaimed empress. She was crowned Bishop of Novgorod, while Peter was imprisoned in a country house in Ropsha, where he was killed in July 1762, apparently with the knowledge of Catherine. According to a contemporary of those events, Peter III "allowed himself to be overthrown from the throne, like a child who is sent to sleep." His death soon finally cleared the road to power for Catherine.
in the Winter Palace, the coffin was placed next to the coffin of Empress Catherine II (the hall was designed by the architect Rinaldi)
After the official ceremonies, the ashes of Peter III and Catherine II were transferred from the Winter Palace to the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress
This allegorical engraving by Nicholas Anselen is dedicated to the exhumation of Peter III.
Tombs of Peter III and Catherine II in the Peter and Paul Cathedral
Hat of Emperor Peter III. 1760th
Ruble of Peter III 1762 St. Petersburg silver
Portrait of Emperor Peter III (1728-1762) and view of the monument to Empress Catherine II in St. Petersburg
Unknown North Russian carver. Plaque with a portrait of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich. SPb (?), Ser. 19th century. Mammoth tusk, relief carving, engraving, drilling
A series of messages "":
Part 1 - Peter III Fedorovich Romanov
In Russian history, there is, perhaps, no ruler more blasphemed by historians than Emperor Peter III. Even about the crazy sadist Ivan the Terrible, the authors of historical studies speak better than about the unfortunate emperor. What epithets did not the historians of Peter III have awarded: "spiritual insignificance", "revelry", "drunkard", "Holstein soldier" and so on and so forth. How did the emperor, who reigned for only six months (from December 1761 to June 1762), be guilty of the learned men?
Holstein prince
The future emperor Peter III was born on February 10 (21 - in a new style) February 1728 in the German city of Kiel. His father was Duke Karl Friedrich Holstein-Gottorp, the ruler of the North German land of Holstein, and his mother was the daughter of Peter I, Anna Petrovna. As a child, Prince Karl Peter Ulrich Holstein-Gottorp (that was the name of Peter III) was declared heir to the Swedish throne.
Emperor Peter III
However, at the beginning of 1742, at the request of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, the prince was taken to St. Petersburg. As the only descendant of Peter the Great, he was declared heir to the Russian throne. The young Duke of Holstein-Gottorp converted to Orthodoxy and was named Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich.
In August 1745, the Empress married the heir to the German princess Sophia Frederick Augusta, daughter of Prince Anhalt-Zerbst, who was in the military service of the Prussian king. Having adopted Orthodoxy, the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst began to be called the Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna.
Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna - future Empress Ekaterina II
The heir and his wife could not stand each other. Pyotr Fedorovich had mistresses. His last passion was Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova, daughter of General-in-Chief Roman Illarionovich Vorontsov. Ekaterina Alekseevna had three permanent lovers - Count Sergei Saltykov, Count Stanislav Ponyatovsky and Count Chernyshev.
Soon the officer of the Life Guards Grigory Orlov became the favorite of the Grand Duchess. However, she often amused herself with other guard officers.
On September 24, 1754, Catherine gave birth to a son, who was named Paul. It was rumored at court that the real father of the future emperor was Catherine's lover, Count Saltykov.
Pyotr Fedorovich himself smiled bitterly:
“God knows where my wife gets her pregnancy from. I don't really know if this is my child and if I should take it personally ...
Short reign
On December 25, 1761, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna rested in Bose. Peter Fyodorovich, Emperor Peter III, ascended the throne.
First of all, the new sovereign ended the war with Prussia and withdrew the Russian troops from Berlin. For this, Peter was hated by the guards officers, who yearned for military glory and military awards. Unhappy with the actions of the emperor and historians: pundits complain that de Peter III "nullified the results of Russian victories."
It would be interesting to know exactly what results do the respected researchers have in mind?
As you know, the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 was caused by the aggravation of the struggle between France and England for overseas colonies. For various reasons, seven more states were drawn into the war (in particular, Prussia, which was in conflict with France and Austria). But what interests the Russian Empire pursued, acting in this war on the side of France and Austria, is completely incomprehensible. It turned out that Russian soldiers died for the right of the French to plunder the colonial peoples. Peter III put an end to this senseless slaughter. For which he received a "severe reprimand with entry" from grateful descendants.
Soldiers of the army of Peter III
After the end of the war, the emperor settled in Oranienbaum, where, according to historians, he "indulged in drunkenness" with his Holstein companions. However, judging by the documents, from time to time Peter was engaged in state affairs. In particular, the emperor wrote and promulgated a number of manifestos on the transformation of the state system.
Here is a list of the first measures that Peter III outlined:
First, the Secret Office was abolished - the famous secret state police, which terrified all subjects of the empire, without exception, from a commoner to a noble nobleman. According to one denunciation, the agents of the Secret Chancellery could seize any person, imprison him in casemates, betray him to the most terrible tortures, and execute him. The emperor freed his subjects from this arbitrariness. After his death, Catherine II re-established the secret police - called the "Secret Expedition".
Secondly, Peter declared freedom of religion for all his subjects: "let them pray to whoever they want, but not to have them outraged or cursed." It was an almost unthinkable step for that time. Even in enlightened Europe there was still no complete freedom of religion.
After the death of the emperor, Catherine II, a friend of the French enlighteners and "philosopher on the throne", canceled the decree on freedom of conscience.
Thirdly, Peter abolished church supervision over the personal lives of his subjects: "to have no condemnation of an adulterous sin, for Christ did not condemn either." After the death of the tsar, church espionage was revived.
Fourth, realizing the principle of freedom of conscience, Peter stopped persecuting Old Believers. After his death, the government resumed religious persecution.
Fifth, Peter announced the release of all the monastery serfs. He subordinated the monastic estates to civil collegia, gave arable land to the former monastic peasants for eternal use, and overlaid them with only ruble dues. For the maintenance of the clergy, the tsar appointed "his own salary".
Sixth, Peter allowed the nobles to travel abroad unhindered. After his death, the "iron curtain" was restored.
Seventh, Peter announced the introduction of a public court in the Russian Empire. Catherine canceled the publicity of the proceedings.
Eighth, Peter issued a decree on the "lack of silver service", forbidding to present gifts of peasant souls and state lands to senators and government officials. Only orders and medals were to be signs of encouragement for senior officials. Having ascended the throne, Catherine first of all endowed her comrades-in-arms and favorites with peasants and estates.
One of the manifestos of Peter III
In addition, the emperor prepared a host of other manifestos and decrees, including those on limiting the personal dependence of peasants on landlords, on the non-obligation of military service, on the non-obligation of observing religious fasts, etc.
And all this was done in less than six months of the reign! Knowing this, how can one believe the tales of Peter III's "unrestrained drunkenness"?
It is obvious that the reforms that Peter intended to carry out were long ahead of their time. Could their author, who dreamed of affirming the principles of freedom and civic dignity, be a "spiritual insignificance" and a "Holstein soldier"?
So, the emperor was engaged in state affairs, in between which, according to historians, he smoked in Oranienbaum.
And what was the young empress doing at this time?
Ekaterina Alekseevna with her many lovers and hangers-on settled in Peterhof. There she actively intrigued against her husband: she gathered supporters, spread rumors through her lovers and their drinking companions, and attracted officers to her side. By the summer of 1762, a conspiracy had arisen, the soul of which was the empress.
The conspiracy involved influential dignitaries and commanders:
Count Nikita Panin, actual privy councilor, chamberlain, senator, educator of Tsarevich Paul;
his brother Count Pyotr Panin, general-in-chief, hero of the Seven Years War;
Princess Yekaterina Dashkova, nee Countess Vorontsova, Catherine's closest friend and companion;
her husband, Prince Mikhail Dashkov, one of the leaders of the St. Petersburg Masonic organization; Count Kirill Razumovsky, Marshal, Commander of the Izmailovsky Regiment, Hetman of Ukraine, President of the Academy of Sciences;
Prince Mikhail Volkonsky, diplomat and commander of the Seven Years War;
Baron Korf, chief of the St. Petersburg police, as well as numerous officers of the Life Guards led by the Orlov brothers.
According to a number of historians, influential Masonic circles were involved in the conspiracy. In the immediate circle of Catherine, the "free masons" were represented by a certain mysterious "Mr. Odar". According to an eyewitness to the events of the Danish envoy A. Schumacher, the famous adventurer and adventurer Count Saint-Germain was hiding under this name.
Events was accelerated by the arrest of one of the conspirators, Lieutenant-Captain Passek.
Count Alexey Orlov - assassin of Peter III
On June 26, 1762, the Orlovs and their friends began to solder the soldiers of the capital's garrison. With the money that Catherine borrowed from the English merchant Felten, allegedly to buy jewelry, more than 35 thousand buckets of vodka were bought.
On the morning of June 28, 1762, Catherine, accompanied by Dashkova and the Orlov brothers, left Peterhof and went to the capital, where everything was already ready. The dead drunken soldiers of the guards regiments took the oath to "Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna", the heavily intoxicated crowd of townsfolk greeted the "dawn of a new reign".
Peter III with his retinue was in Oranienbaum. Having learned about the events in Petrograd, the ministers and generals betrayed the emperor and fled to the capital. With Peter remained only the old Field Marshal Munnich, General Gudovich and a few close associates.
On June 29, the emperor, amazed by the betrayal of the most trusted people and not wanting to get involved in the struggle for the hateful crown, abdicated the throne. He wanted only one thing: to be released to his native Holstein with his mistress Ekaterina Vorontsova and faithful adjutant Gudovich.
However, by order of the new ruler, the deposed king was sent to the palace in Ropsha. On July 6, 1762, the brother of the Empress's lover, Alexei Orlov, and his drinking companion, Prince Fyodor Baryatinsky, strangled Peter. It was officially announced that the emperor "died of intestinal inflammation and stroke" ...
Petersburg poet Viktor Sosnora decided to sort out this problem. First of all, he was interested in the question: from what sources did the researchers draw (and continue to draw!) The dirty gossip about the "dementia" and "insignificance" of the emperor?
And this is what it turned out to be: it turns out that the sources of all the characteristics of Peter III, all these gossip and fables, are the memoirs of the following persons:
Empress Catherine II - who hated and despised her husband, who was the inspirer of the conspiracy against him, who actually guided the hand of Peter's killers, who finally, as a result of the coup, became the autocratic ruler;
Princess Dashkova, a friend and associate of Catherine, who hated and despised Peter even more (contemporaries gossiped: because Peter preferred her older sister, Yekaterina Vorontsova), who was the most active participant in the conspiracy, who after the coup became the "second lady of the empire" ;
Count Nikita Panin, a close associate of Catherine, who was one of the leaders and the main ideologist of the conspiracy against Peter, and soon after the coup became one of the most influential nobles and headed the Russian diplomatic department for almost 20 years;
Count Pyotr Panin, Nikita's brother, who was one of the active participants in the conspiracy, and then became a trusted and affectionate military leader (it was Pyotr Panin that Catherine instructed to suppress the uprising of Pugachev, who, by the way, declared himself "Emperor Peter III").
Even without being a professional historian and not being familiar with the intricacies of source study and criticism of sources, it is safe to assume that the above-named persons are unlikely to be objective in assessing the person whom they betrayed and killed.
It was not enough for the Empress and her "accomplices" to overthrow and kill Peter III. To justify their crimes, they had to slander their victim!
And they lied assiduously, piling up vile gossip and filthy inventions.
Ekaterina:
"He spent his time in unheard-of childishness ...". "He was stubborn and quick-tempered, was weak and frail."
"From the age of ten, he became addicted to drunkenness." "He mostly showed disbelief ..." "His mind was childish ..."
"He was desperate. This often happened to him. He was cowardly in heart and weak in head. He loved oysters ..."
In her memoirs, the empress portrayed her murdered husband as a drunkard, a revelry, a coward, a fool, a loafer, a tyrant, a feeble-minded, a libertine, an ignoramus, an atheist ...
"What kind of slop is she pouring on her husband just because she killed him!" - exclaims Victor Sosnora.
But, oddly enough, pundits who have written dozens of volumes of dissertations and monographs have not doubted the veracity of the murderers' recollections of their victim. Until now, in all textbooks and encyclopedias, one can read about the "insignificant" emperor, who "nullified the results of Russian victories" in the Seven Years' War, and then "drank with the Holsteins in Oranienbaum."
Lies have long legs ...
: https://www.softmixer.com
Peter III Fedorovich (nee Karl Peter Ulrich, born on February 10 (21), 1728 - death on July 6 (17), 1762) - the Russian emperor in 1762. The grandson of Peter I is the son of his daughter Anna.
Origin
Peter III's mother, Anna Petrovna, died of consumption two months after his birth in the small Holstein town of Kiel. She was overwhelmed by the life there and the unhappy family life. Peter's father, Duke of Holstein Karl Friedrich, nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII, was a weak sovereign, poor, ill-looking, small in stature and weak build. He died in 1739, and his cousin, the Duke of Holstein and the Bishop of Lubeck, Adolf Friedrich, took custody of his son, who was at that time about 11 years old, who later came to the Swedish throne. Peter was naturally weak, frail and nondescript-looking child.
Childhood, youth, education
The main educators were the court marshal Brummer and the chief chamberlain Berchholz. None of them were suitable for this role. According to the testimony of the Frenchman Millet, Brummer was only fit for "raising horses, not princes." He treated his pupil extremely rudely, subjecting him to humiliating and painful punishments, forced him to kneel on peas scattered on the floor, left him without dinner, and even subjected him to beatings.
Humiliated and shy in everything, the prince adopted bad tastes and habits, became irritable, absurd, stubborn and fake, acquired a sad tendency to lie, believing in his own fiction with innocent enthusiasm. At the same time, Peter remained puny and unattractive, both physically and morally. He possessed a strange, restless soul, trapped in a narrow, anemic, prematurely emaciated body. Even in childhood, he discovered a tendency to drunkenness, which is why the teachers were forced to closely monitor him at all receptions.
Heir to the throne
Initially, the prince was prepared for accession to the Swedish throne, while forcing him to learn the Lutheran catechism, Swedish and Latin grammar. However, having become the Russian empress and wanting to secure the inheritance through her father, she sent Major Korf with instructions to take her nephew from Kiel at any cost and bring him to Petersburg.
Arrival in Russia
Peter arrived in the Russian capital on February 5, 1742 and was soon declared Grand Duke and heir to the Russian throne. After communicating with her nephew, Elizabeth was amazed at his ignorance and ordered to immediately start teaching. This good intention was of little use. From the very beginning, the teacher of the Russian language Veselovsky rarely appeared, and then, convinced of the complete inability of his ward, he completely stopped walking. Professor Stehlin, who was tasked with teaching the heir to mathematics and history, showed great perseverance. And soon he realized that the Grand Duke "does not like deep reflection."
Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich
He brought books with pictures, ancient Russian coins to lessons and told the ancient history of Russia using them. With medals, Shtelin spoke about the history of his reign. Reading the newspapers to him, he went through universal history.
However, it was much more important for the empress to introduce her nephew to Orthodoxy. On this side, we also met with considerable difficulties, because from childhood Peter learned the rules of the strictest and least tolerant Lutheranism. In the end, after many troubles for himself, he obeyed the will of the empress, but at the same time he said several times that it would be more pleasant for him to leave for Sweden than to stay in Russia.
One occupation to which the prince indulged himself with selfless perseverance was playing with soldiers. He ordered to make himself many different soldiers: wax, lead and wood, and arranged them in his study on tables with such devices that if you pulled the laces stretched across the tables, sounds like a running gun fire were heard. On regular days, Peter gathered his courtyard, put on a general's uniform and performed a ceremonial review of his toy troops, pulling on the laces and listening with pleasure to the battle sounds. The Grand Duke kept his love for these childish games for a long time, even after his marriage to Catherine.
Catherine about Peter
From Catherine's notes it is known what kind of fun he liked to indulge in soon after the wedding. In the village, he made himself a doghouse and began to train the dogs himself.
“With amazing patience,” wrote Ekaterina, “he trained several dogs, punishing them with stick strikes, shouting hunting terms and walking from one end of his two rooms to the other. As soon as a dog got tired or ran away, he subjected her to severe torture, which made her howl even louder. When these exercises, unbearable for the ears and the calmness of his neighbors, eventually bored him, he took up the violin. Peter did not know the notes, but he had a strong ear and believed that the main advantage of playing was to move the bow harder and to make the sounds as loud as possible. His playing tore his ears, and often the listeners had to regret that they did not dare to plug their ears.
Then the dogs were trained and tortured again, which truly seemed to me extremely cruel. Once I heard a terrible, incessant screeching. My bedroom, where I sat, was near the room where the dog training took place. I opened the door and saw how the Grand Duke lifted one of the dogs by the collar, ordered the Kalmych boy to hold her by the tail and beat the poor animal with all his might with a thick stick of his whip. I began to ask him to spare the unfortunate dog, but instead he began to beat her even harder. I went to my room with tears in my eyes, unable to endure such a cruel sight. In general, tears and screams, instead of arousing pity in the Grand Duke, only made him angry. Pity was a painful and, one might say, intolerable feeling for his soul ... "
Through Madame Cruz, Peter got himself dolls and children's trinkets, to which he was a passionate hunter. “During the day, he hid them from everyone under my bed,” Ekaterina recalled. - The Grand Duke immediately after supper went to his bedroom, and as soon as we were in bed, Madame Cruz locked the door, and the Grand Duke began to play until one o'clock and until two in the morning. I, along with Madame Cruz, am glad not happy, should have taken part in this pleasant lesson. Sometimes I amused myself with it, but much more often it bored me and even bothered me, because dolls and toys, some very heavy, filled and filled up the whole bed. "
Contemporaries about Peter
Is it any wonder that Catherine gave birth to a child only 9 years after the wedding? Although there were other explanations for this delay. Champeau, in a report drawn up for the Versailles court in 1758, wrote: “The Grand Duke, without suspecting it, was unable to produce children, due to the obstacle removed from the Eastern peoples by means of circumcision, but which he considered incurable. The Grand Duchess, who did not love him and was not imbued with the consciousness of having heirs, was not saddened by this. "
For his part, Caster wrote: “He (the Grand Duke) was so ashamed of the misfortune that struck him that he did not even have the determination to confess it, and the Grand Duchess, who received his affection with disgust and was at that time as inexperienced as she did not think of either comforting him or encouraging him to seek means to bring him back into her arms. "
Peter III and Catherine II
If you believe the same Champeau, the Grand Duke got rid of his lack with the help of Catherine's lover Sergei Saltykov. It happened like this. Once the whole courtyard was present at a big ball. The Empress, passing by the pregnant Naryshkina, Saltykov's sister-in-law, who was talking to Saltykov, told her that she should have conveyed a little of her virtue to the Grand Duchess. Naryshkina replied that this might not be as difficult to do as it seems. Elizabeth began to question her and thus found out about the physical handicap of the Grand Duke. Saltykov immediately said that he enjoyed Peter's confidence and would try to persuade him to agree to the operation. The Empress not only agreed to this, but made it clear that by doing so he would be of great service. On the same day, Saltykov arranged a dinner, invited all Peter's good friends to it, and in a cheerful moment they all surrounded the Grand Duke and asked him to agree to their requests. The surgeon immediately entered, and in one minute the operation was done and was a great success. Peter was finally able to enter into normal communication with his wife and soon after that she became pregnant.
But if Peter and Catherine united to conceive a child, after his birth they felt absolutely free from marital obligations. Each of them knew about the love interests of the other and treated them with complete indifference. Catherine fell in love with Augustus Poniatowski, and the Grand Duke began courting Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova. The latter soon took complete power over Peter.
Contemporaries amicably expressed bewilderment on this score, because they absolutely could not explain how she could bewitch the Grand Duke. Vorontsova was completely ugly and even more. “Ugly, rude and stupid,” Masson said about her. Another witness put it even more harshly: "She swore like a soldier, mowed, smelled and spat while talking." It was rumored that Vorontsova encouraged all the vices of Peter, got drunk with him, scolded and even beat her lover. By all accounts, this was a wicked and ignorant woman. Nevertheless, Peter did not want anything so much as to marry her, having previously divorced Catherine. But while Elizabeth was alive, one could only dream about it.
Everyone who more or less knew the Grand Duke had no doubt that with his coming to power, Russia's policy would change dramatically. Peter's Prussian affections were generally known, because he did not consider it necessary to hide them (and indeed, by his very nature, he could not keep secrets and immediately blurted them out to the first person he met; this vice more than all others later damaged him).
Accession to the throne of Peter III
1761, December 25 - Elizabeth died. On the very first night of his accession to the throne, Peter sent messengers to various corps of the Russian army with orders to stop enemy actions. On the same day, the favorite of the new emperor, the brigadier and chamberlain Andrei Gudovich, was sent to the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst with a notice of the accession to the throne of Peter III and took the emperor's letter to Frederick. In it, Peter III proposed to Frederick to renew harmony and friendship. Both were received with the greatest gratitude.
Foreign and domestic policy of Peter III
Friedrich immediately sent his adjutant Colonel Golts to Petersburg. On April 24, peace was concluded, while on the most favorable terms for Frederick: the Prussian king was returned to all his lands occupied by Russian troops in the former war; a separate paragraph proclaimed the desire of both sovereigns to conclude a military alliance, which was obviously directed against Austria, Russia's former ally.
Elizaveta Vorontsova
Peter behaved in the same radical way in domestic politics. On February 18, a manifesto on the liberty of the nobility was promulgated. From now on, all nobles, no matter what service they were in, military or civil, could continue it or retire. Prince Peter Dolgorukov tells an anecdote about how this famous manifesto was written. One evening, when Peter wanted to cheat on his mistress, he called State Secretary Dmitry Volkov to his place and turned to him with these words: “I told Vorontsova that I would work with you for part of the night on a law of extreme importance. That is why I need a decree tomorrow, which would be discussed at court and in the city. " After that, Volkov was locked in an empty room with a Danish dog. The unhappy secretary did not know what to write about; In the end, I remembered what Count Roman Larionovich Vorontsov often told the sovereign about — namely, the liberty of the nobility. Volkov wrote a manifesto, which was approved the next day by the sovereign.
On February 21, a very important manifesto is issued, abolishing the Secret Chancellery, an agency known for its many abuses and obvious atrocities. On March 21, a decree appears on the secularization of church holdings. According to him, monasteries were deprived of their numerous land holdings, and monks and priests were given fixed state salaries.
Meanwhile, Goltz, who even after the signing of the peace continued to remain in St. Petersburg and had a great influence on the sovereign in all matters, anxiously informed Frederick about the growing discontent against the emperor. Bolotov wrote about the same thing in his notes. Mentioning some of the decrees of the new reign that aroused the pleasure of the Russians, he further writes:
“But then other orders of the emperor that followed aroused strong murmur and indignation in the subjects, and most of all, he intended to completely change our religion, for which he showed special contempt. He summoned the leading (Novgorod) bishop Dmitry Sechenov and ordered him that only icons of the Savior and the Mother of God be left in the churches, and there would be no others, also that the priests shave their beards and wear dresses like foreign pastors. It is impossible to describe how astonished Archbishop Dmitry was at this order. This prudent elder did not know how to proceed with the fulfillment of this unexpected command, and saw clearly that Peter had an intention to change Orthodoxy to Lutheranism. He was forced to declare his will to the sovereign's most noble clergy, and although the matter stopped there for a while, it caused great displeasure in all the clergy. "
Palace coup
The displeasure of the troops was added to the displeasure of the clergy. One of the first deeds of the new reign was the dissolution of the Elizabethan life-company, in the place of which they immediately saw a new, Holstein, guard, which enjoyed the clear preference of the sovereign. This aroused murmur and indignation in the Russian guard. As Catherine herself later admitted, she was offered a plan to overthrow Peter III soon after the death of Elizabeth. But she refused to take part in the conspiracy until June 9. On this day, when there was a celebration of peace with the Prussian king, the emperor publicly insulted her at dinner, and in the evening gave the order to arrest her. Uncle Prince George forced the sovereign to cancel this order. Catherine remained at large, but no longer discouraged herself and agreed to accept the help of her volunteers. Chief among them were the Orlov brothers, the guards officers.
The coup was carried out on June 28, 1762 and was crowned with complete success. Upon learning that the guard unanimously supported Catherine, Peter was confused and abdicated the throne without further ado. Panin, who was instructed to transfer the will of his wife to the deposed sovereign, found the unfortunate man in the most miserable state. Peter tried to kiss his hands, begged not to be separated from his mistress. He cried like a guilty and punished child. The favorite threw herself at the feet of Catherine's messenger and also asked that she was allowed not to leave her lover. But they were still separated. Vorontsova was sent to Moscow, and Peter was assigned a house in Ropsha as a temporary stay, "a very secluded area, but very pleasant", according to Catherine's assurance, and located 30 miles from St. Petersburg. Peter had to live there until that time, until a suitable room was prepared for him in the Shlisselburg fortress.
Death
But, as it soon became clear, he did not need these apartments. On the evening of July 6, Catherine was given a note from Orlov, written in an unsteady and hardly sober hand. One could understand only one thing: that day Peter at the table argued with one of the interlocutors; Orlov and others rushed to separate them, but did it so awkwardly that the frail prisoner turned out to be dead. “We didn't have time to separate, but he was gone; we don’t remember what we did, ”wrote Orlov. Catherine, in her words, was touched and even amazed by this death. But none of those responsible for the murder was punished. Peter's body was brought directly to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery and there he was modestly buried next to the former ruler Anna Leopoldovna.
Russian Emperor Peter III (Peter Fedorovich, nee Karl Peter Ulrich Holstein Gottorp) was born on February 21 (10 old style) in 1728 in the city of Kiel in the Duchy of Holstein (now - the territory of Germany).
His father is the Duke of Holstein Gottorp Karl Friedrich, nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII, mother - Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter I. Thus, Peter III was the grandson of two sovereigns and could, under certain conditions, be a contender for both the Russian and Swedish thrones ...
In 1741, after the death of the Queen of Sweden, Ulrika Eleanor, he was elected to succeed her husband Friedrich, who was given the Swedish throne. In 1742, Peter was brought to Russia and declared by his aunt the heir to the Russian throne.
Peter III became the first representative of the Holstein-Gottorp (Oldenburg) branch of the Romanovs on the Russian throne, which ruled until 1917.
Peter's relationship with his wife did not work out from the very beginning. He spent all his free time doing military exercises and maneuvers. During the years spent in Russia, Peter never made an attempt to get to know this country, its people and history better. Elizaveta Petrovna did not allow him to participate in solving political issues and the only position in which he could prove himself was the position of director of the gentry corps. Meanwhile, Peter openly criticized the activities of the government, and during the Seven Years' War he publicly expressed sympathy for the Prussian king Frederick II. All this was widely known not only at court, but also in wider strata of Russian society, where Peter did not enjoy either authority or popularity.
The beginning of his reign was marked by numerous favors to the nobility. Returned from exile, the former regent Duke of Courland and many others. The Secret Investigation Office was destroyed. On March 3 (February 18, old style), 1762, the emperor issued a decree on the freedom of the nobility (Manifesto "On the granting of liberty and freedom to the entire Russian nobility").
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
Each of the Russian rulers had many still unsolved secrets, however, one of the most mysterious Russian emperors was Peter III Fedorovich.
The young years of the German prince
Karl Peter Ulrich Holstein-Gottorp (that was the name of Peter from birth), was born into the family of the German Duke Karl Friedrich and the daughter of Peter I, the crown princess Anna.
From birth, Peter was a contender for two European thrones at once - he could become the king of Sweden, as the grand-nephew of the childless Charles XII, and, being the grandson of Peter I, claimed the Russian throne. The prince was orphaned early and was brought up by his uncle, Bishop Eitinsky, who hated everything Russian and raised his nephew according to Protestant customs.
Little care was taken of the child's education, so Peter knew only German and spoke a little French. The boy grew up very nervous and cowardly, was fond of music and painting and adored everything related to military affairs (at the same time, he was terribly afraid of cannon shots).
In 1741, by order of Empress Elizabeth, the thirteen-year-old heir came to Russia, which at that time he already hated with all his heart. A year later, Peter, by order of the empress, converted to Orthodoxy under the name of Peter Fedorovich.
Married life
In 1745, Peter married Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst, the future Catherine II. Their marriage from the first days was doomed to failure - the young spouses were too different. Catherine was more educated and intellectual, and Peter was not interested in anything except playing soldiers. The spouses did not work out and intimate relationships, for a long time they did not exist at all, and later Catherine had to wear a German military uniform in order to arouse her husband.
At the same time, despite the coldness in the relationship, Peter trusted his wife very much, and in difficult situations often turned to her for help, for which he even came up with the nickname "Lady Help".
Empress Elizabeth and the entire Russian nobility laughed at the Grand Duke's enthusiasm for playing in a soldier, so the prince played secretly, and during the day the toys hid in the matrimonial bed, at night, when the spouses were alone, he played until two in the morning.
Peter's adultery
Ignoring his beautiful wife, Peter, surprisingly to all the courtiers, got himself a mistress - Elizaveta Vorontsov, daughter of Count Roman Vorontsov. The girl was ugly - fat, with a slightly flabby and wide face. Although Peter declared that he loved and respected Vorontsova, he called her in society simply "Romanovna". Surprisingly, Catherine did not take offense at her husband at all and called his mistress "Russian Pompadour".
Peter, without hesitation, appeared in the company of the favorite, and after becoming emperor immediately promoted her to the chamber-maid of honor and handed her the Catherine's ribbon. Moreover, Peter almost openly declared that he would divorce Catherine, send her to a monastery, and he himself would marry Vorontsova. It was these statements that became the impetus for the future palace coup.
Spy activities of the heir
Hating Russia, Pyotr Fedorovich adored Prussia and considered King Frederick his idol, therefore, during the Seven Years War, the heir passed on secret documentation to King Frederick, which said about the number and location of Russian regiments.
When Empress Elizaveta Petrovna found out about this, she was furious, but in memory of her late sister Anna and, realizing that she had no other heir, she forgave her nephew. The case was hushed up, and Peter himself was convinced that King Frederick was looking for friendship with the Grand Duke.
Peter's children
Pyotr Fedorovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna had two children - Grand Duke Pavel and Grand Duchess Anna. The first son was born after nine years of marriage, which gave rise to many rumors that Peter was not the father of the newborn Paul. There were rumors at court that the child's father was Sergei Saltykov, although Pavel was very similar to Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich.
The Grand Duchess Anna lived for less than two years, and although she was recognized as the daughter of the Grand Duke, whether she was such is unknown. Peter himself stated that he did not know where his wife's pregnancies came from, he had nothing to do with them.
The Grand Duke was not involved in the upbringing of his son Paul, since he was immediately selected by the Empress Elizabeth, and Peter himself was not interested in the development of his son.
Emperor Peter III
Emperor Peter stayed only 186 days, however, during these days he was able to show himself as an intelligent and energetic ruler. So he abolished the Secret Chancellery, began the secularization of lands, created the State Bank, stopped the persecution of the Old Believers, and carried out a fairly broad amnesty for political prisoners.
Most of his documents became the foundation for the Catherine era. The reason that was chosen for the coup d'etat - Peter's fantasies about the baptism of Russia according to the Protestant rite, was not documented by historians, and most likely was specially thought up by the entourage of Catherine II.
Death Riddle
According to the official version, Emperor Peter died of illness, which in principle may be true, since the events of the palace coup undermined the already poor health of the emperor. There is also a legend that Peter was killed by Catherine's favorite Alexei Orlov.
Such a sudden death gave rise to a lot of legends that Peter was saved, therefore, for a long time in Russia and abroad, there were figures of false Petrov impostors, one of whom even became the king of Montenegro, and the second became the famous robber Emelyan Pugachev. The last of the impostors was arrested in 1802, already under Peter's grandson, Emperor Alexander.
Coronation after death
Since the reign of Peter lasted, they did not have time to hold the official coronation ceremony for six months, it was because of this that he was buried not in the tomb of the imperial family in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, but in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra without any honors. Only 34 years later, his son, Emperor Paul, ascended the throne, transferred his father's ashes to the Peter and Paul Cathedral and personally performed the coronation ceremony over the ashes of his dead father.
