Who is Emperor Pavel Petrovich, son of Catherine II. Literary and historical notes of a young technician

On April 5, 1797, Emperor Paul I was crowned, who ascended the throne after the death of his mother Catherine II on November 6, 1796.

Pavel I
S.S. Schukin, 1797

Paul I is a peculiar and tragic figure on the Russian throne. For a long time, researchers, based on the testimony of contemporaries, represented Paul I as an unbalanced despot on the throne, whose entire reign was reduced to a demand to ban the wearing of French hats and the use of the words “citizen” and “fatherland” (replaced by “philistine” and “state”, respectively). IN Lately in historical science, interest arose in this mysterious person. New documents were discovered, opposite opinions of contemporaries about Paul I were compared. Latest Research suggest that Paul I and his father Peter III are the most maligned figures on the Russian throne; Paul I as a person is much deeper than is commonly believed, and it is no longer possible to paint his activities only with dark colors.

Paul I began to reign with a sharp break in the orders of his mother. Decrees followed one after another, as if the emperor knew that he was measured out for a short time.

First of all, Paul removed the ashes of his father Peter III from the grave, dressed him in imperial clothes, crowned him, then placed his father's coffin next to his mother's coffin for farewell. A month later, in accordance with court ceremonial, Paul I buried Catherine II and Peter III in the Peter and Paul Cathedral as Russian emperors. At the same time, rumors began to spread in St. Petersburg that the emperor was insane. Why, after 34 years, did he disturb the ashes of his father? Who needs it? There is another explanation for this act of Paul I: he loved his father, and did not allow his contemporaries to splatter the name of his father with mud for history.

Then Paul I generously rewarded his associates who shared with him many years of seclusion in Gatchina: A.A. Arakcheev, Count P.A. Palena, I.P. Kutaisova and others. Trustees of Paul I were appointed to key positions in the state and favorites and proteges of Catherine II were removed.

On the day of his coronation, April 5, 1797, he issued the most significant decree of his reign on the succession to the throne, "Institution of the Imperial Family." This decree canceled the law of Peter I on succession to the throne "The Truth of the Will of the Monarchs" and established the "natural" right of succession. Paul I for the first time in the history of Russia established a firm and unshakable order of succession to the throne. From now on, only a descendant of the ruler in the male line could take the throne. A woman could only be a regent (temporary ruler) with a minor heir. Women received the throne only if there were no representatives of the dynasty - men. The "Institution" also determined the composition of the imperial family, the hierarchical seniority of its members. "Institution" was changed and specified by Alexander III in 1886 and lasted until 1917.

The main direction in the domestic policy of Paul I was the strengthening, exaltation of the principle of autocracy and the centralization of government. At first, the highest institutions in the state were reorganized, since many of them by this time no longer corresponded to their purpose. In 1769, Catherine II created Her Imperial Majesty's Council as an advisory body. It has not been convened for a long time and has lost its significance. In 1796, Paul I restored it and gave it the status of the Highest State. Prior to this, the Council consisted of seven people. Now, 17 more new persons have been added to the seven members of the Council: the heir to the throne Alexander Pavlovich, the state treasurer, the prosecutor general, the governor general of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Members of the State Council concentrated in their hands all the threads of state government. The Council met regularly 2-3 times a month. The most important issues in the life of the state were presented to him for consideration: the budget, the state of industry and trade, the accession of Georgia, trade with Persia, Khiva and China.

Then the emperor began to reform the highest judicial body - the Senate. The Senate by this time was burdened with many small cases and could not cope with current affairs. In 1796, a new regulation on the Senate was approved. The number of departments of the Senate increased, the number of senators doubled, new rules and forms of office work were introduced, aimed at speeding up decisions on criminal administrative cases. These activities soon brought results. By the beginning of 1800, the Senate had finished considering all outstanding cases.

Paul I reformed the "eye of the sovereign" - the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor's office became the main body supervising military, financial, administrative, police, judicial, and other matters. He endowed prosecutors at all levels with special confidence, which allowed them to exert great influence on public administration.

Paul's real passion was the army. He paid a lot of attention to her. By the end of the XVIII century. The Russian army was one of the largest armies in Europe, and there was an urgent need to reorganize its recruitment, management, supply and armament. Transformations in the army, Paul I began with the Military Collegium. The military board was released from administrative, economic, judicial functions. From now on, she was supposed to be engaged in recruiting, armament, combat and drill training of troops, uniforms and food for personnel, operational and tactical management of the army.

In order to eradicate the widespread embezzlement in the army, the emperor created an audit department in the Military Collegium, giving him broad control and audit powers. In order to strengthen control over the army, Paul I introduced monthly reports of units and divisions, the Military Collegium. Pavel I conducted an audit of the personnel officers in the army. All officers were ordered to report to duty immediately. As a result, all juvenile officers, all formally registered in the service, were dismissed from the army, and the practice of long-term leave was discontinued. This caused irritation in wide circles of officers, but made it possible to put in order the sets of regiments and units and reduce payments from the budget for the maintenance of the officer corps.

At the same time, in the army, blindly, without taking into account Russian specifics, the principles of command and equipment of the Prussian army were copied. The traditions of P.A. were forgotten. Rumyantseva, G.A. Potemkina, A.V. Suvorov. Already three weeks after his accession, Paul I began to dress Russian soldiers in uncomfortable German uniforms and wigs with braids and curls, strict discipline and drill were established. This caused a murmur of officers and soldiers. Army morale and military training fell. At the same time, many military transformations of Paul I later showed themselves from the very beginning. better side and survived until the beginning of the 20th century. And in the twentieth century. the guard of honor in the Soviet Army walked with a high printed Prussian step, introduced by Paul I.

Paul I also centralized the management of the fleet. Even under Catherine II, the Tsarevich was appointed Admiral General Russian fleet and President of the Admiralty Board. After accession to the throne, Paul I retained the rank of Admiral General, which meant the combination in one person of the army and navy. The Admiralty Board was reorganized, which made it possible to clearly establish the competence of the maritime department. Now the Admiralty Board was engaged in the management of the Baltic, White Sea, Caspian and Black Sea fleets, river flotillas, the construction of ships and various vessels, their technical equipment and weapons, the recruitment of the fleet and uniforms of the lower ranks, etc.

The changes also affected the central authorities and local government. The powers of the Berg Collegium were specified, the Chambers and Commerce Collegiums were restored. Moreover, the emperor gave preference to the sole beginning over the collegiate. The emperor granted the leaders of all ranks the widest powers under the control of the sovereign. Centralization, simplification and cheapening of local government were carried out. During 1796 - 1797. the number of provinces was reduced from 50 to 41, some bodies of local legal proceedings and administration were abolished, and the costs of their maintenance were reduced. At the same time, direct appointments by the emperor of officials to positions were introduced, as well as the compulsory service of the nobles. These events limited the effect of the "Charter to the nobility".

Provincial noble assemblies were abolished, the circle of persons who had the right to vote was limited, the election procedure was shortened, and the influence of the emperor, the Senate, prosecutors general, governors and provincial prosecutors on noble organizations was strengthened. In 1798, Paul I forbade nobles who had served less than a year in officer positions to ask for their resignation, and in 1800 to accept nobles who had not completed military service for civil service. From now on avoiding military service was considered as a serious violation of state laws, and their implementation was assigned to governors and prosecutors. This caused dissatisfaction among the nobility, but made it possible to maintain the personnel of the army and navy.

Carrying out reforms in the army and navy required significant financial outlays. Paul I introduced permanent fees from the nobility. The amount of fees depended on the amount of land and the number of serfs.

Corporal punishment of nobles for murder, robbery, drunkenness, debauchery, and official violations were introduced.

With regard to the peasantry, the policy of Paul I was contradictory and inconsistent. For four years, the emperor issued over a hundred manifestos, decrees and orders dedicated to various categories of the peasantry. On December 12, 1796, a decree was issued prohibiting the transition of peasants in the southern provinces of Russia and allowing landowners to secure them as missed or listed according to the latest revision. In fact, this turned fugitive and free people into serfs. At the same time, in 1797, the emperor allowed the peasants to file complaints about the harassment of the landlords in court, the governors and the emperor. In the same year, Paul I canceled all the arrears of the peasants, replaced household, road duties, grain tax with a cash collection, organized in 1798 in all provinces and districts stocks of grain in case of crop failure and famine.

Particular attention was paid to specific and state-owned peasants. They were provided with a land plot of 15 acres of land, when they went to work they could receive passports, they were allowed to move into the merchant class by paying the redemption amount. The same decree allowed the marriages of state and specific peasants with landlord peasants, and also expanded the powers of rural local self-government bodies.

Some measures were taken to alleviate the situation of the landlord peasants. On April 5, 1797, right on the day of his coronation, Paul I issued a decree "On the three-day work of landlord peasants in favor of the landowners and not forcing them to work on Sundays." Then decrees were issued prohibiting the sale of peasants without land, at auctions and auctions, with the fragmentation of families, and also giving the peasants the right to appeal to the court. And in 1798, a decree was issued allowing breeders from merchants to buy peasants with land and without land to factories and plants.

Immediately after accession to the throne, Paul I began to fight against his mother's favoritism. At first, he did not tolerate privileged persons in the state. He began the disgrace of major dignitaries. His words are known: "In Russia, only the one with whom I speak is great, and for the time being I speak with him." But soon he himself surrounded himself with favorites and favorites, among them Admiral G.G. Kushelev, Count I.P. Kutaisov, E.V. Musina - Pushkin, A.A. Arakcheev, E.I. Nelidova. If Catherine II distributed about 800 thousand peasants to her favorites during the entire period of her reign, then Paul I in just 5 years - 600 thousand peasants.

The policy of Paul I in relation to various strata of society was imbued with the spirit of paternalism. Paul I was convinced that he should not only manage his subjects, but regulate their life, economy, life. According to the decrees of Paul I in St. Petersburg it was forbidden to wear round hats, tailcoats, boots. Petersburg, according to imperial decrees, had to fall asleep at 10 pm and wake up at 6 am. Paul I banned the import of literature from abroad and all private printing houses. On the other hand, N.I. was released from prison. Novikov, and A.N. Radishchev was allowed to return from Siberian exile to his estate.

More and more Paul I began to be accused of imbalance, despotism, arbitrariness, rumors about his insanity intensified.

The domestic policy of Paul I only at first glance seems inconsistent and contradictory. On closer examination, it clearly shows the desire of the emperor to establish law and order in the country. Paul I was in a hurry all the time, and this created the impression of throwing from side to side.

Sharp turns in domestic and foreign policy in a short time, the lack of balance of the emperor, the abolition of the privileges of the nobles caused dissatisfaction with wide circles of the nobility. Therefore, soon a conspiracy arose among the emperor's inner circle with the aim of removing him from the throne and transferring power to the heir Alexander Pavlovich. The emperor’s inner circle participated in the conspiracy: the governor-general of St. Petersburg, Count P.A. Palen, General L.L. Bennigsen, the last favorite of Catherine II P.A. Zubov, N.P. Panin and others.

The conspirators dedicated their heir to their plans. Alexander Pavlovich was convinced that for the good of Russia, his father must be removed from the throne. Alexander demanded that in any case his father's life should be spared.

On the night of March 11-12, 1801, drunken conspirators broke into Pavel's chambers. Paul had only to accept the terms of the conspirators. But he considered himself a man and began to defend his dignity: he began to defend himself. The conspirators overdid it - the emperor was strangled. Alexander waited for the outcome of the coup. When they entered, Alexander realized from their faces that the most terrible thing had happened. 24-year-old Alexander fainted. He woke up from the fact that Count P.A. Palen shook him by the shoulders: "Enough childishness! Please reign!" After that, P.A. Palen pushed Alexander to the guards.

So, not willingly stepping over the corpse of his father, Alexander I ascended the throne.

Russian Emperor Peter III(Peter Fedorovich, born Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein of Gottorp) was born on February 21 (10 according to the old style) February 1728 in the city of Kiel in the Duchy of Holstein (now - the territory of Germany).

His father is Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein of Gottorp, nephew of the Swedish King Charles XII, his mother is 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 Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden, he was chosen to succeed her husband Frederick, who received the Swedish throne. In 1742, Peter was brought to Russia and declared by his aunt to be 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. All free time he spent 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 the 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 Liberty of the Nobility (Manifesto "On the Granting of Liberty and Freedom to All the Russian Nobility").

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Childhood, education and upbringing

Pavel was born on September 20 (October 1), 1754 in St. Petersburg, in the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna. Subsequently, this palace was demolished, and the Mikhailovsky Castle was built in its place, in which Pavel was killed on March 11 (March 23), 1801.

On September 20, 1754, in her ninth year of marriage, Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna finally had her first child. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, Grand Duke Peter and the Shuvalov brothers were present at the birth. Washed and sprinkled with holy water, the newborn baby Elizaveta Petrovna immediately picked up and carried into the hall to show the courtiers the future heir. The Empress baptized the baby and ordered him to be named Pavel. Catherine, like Peter III, was completely removed from raising her son.

Deprived in essence of his parents, due to the vicissitudes of a merciless political struggle, Paul was deprived of the love of people close to him. Of course, this affected the child's psyche and his perception of the world. But, we should pay tribute to the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, she ordered to surround him with the best, in her opinion, teachers.

The first educator was the diplomat F. D. Bekhteev, who was obsessed with the spirit of all sorts of charters, clear orders, and military discipline comparable to drill. This created in the imagination of the impressionable boy that everything is happening in Everyday life. And he didn’t think about anything except soldiers’ marches and battles between battalions. Bekhteev came up with a special alphabet for the little prince, the letters of which were cast from lead in the form of soldiers. He began to print a small newspaper in which he told about all, even the most insignificant deeds of Paul.

The birth of Paul was reflected in many odes written by contemporary poets.

In 1760, Elizaveta Petrovna appointed a new teacher for her grandson. They became, at her choice, Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin. He was a forty-two-year-old man who occupied a very prominent place at court. Possessing extensive knowledge, he had previously spent several years on a diplomatic career in Denmark and Sweden, where his worldview was formed. Having very close contacts with the Masons, he picked up the ideas of the Enlightenment from them, and even became a supporter of the constitutional monarchy. His brother Pyotr Ivanovich was a great local master of the Masonic order in Russia.

The first wariness towards the new teacher soon disappeared, and Pavel quickly became attached to him. Panin opened Russian and Western European literature to young Pavel. The young man was very willing to read, and in the next year he read quite a lot of books. He was well acquainted with Sumarokov, Lomonosov, Derzhavin, Racine, Corneille, Moliere, Werther, Cervantes, Voltaire and Rousseau. He was fluent in Latin, French and German, loved mathematics.

His mental development proceeded without any deviations. One of Pavel's junior mentors, Poroshin, kept a diary in which, day after day, he noted all the actions of little Pavel. It does not note any deviations in the mental development of the personality of the future emperor, about which numerous haters of Pavel Petrovich were so fond of discussing later.

On February 23, 1765, Poroshin wrote: “I read to His Highness Vertotov the story of the Order of the Maltese Knights. He deigned, then, to amuse himself and, having tied the admiral's flag to his cavalry, present himself as a gentleman of Malta.

Already in early years Paul became interested in the idea of ​​chivalry, the idea of ​​honor and glory. And in the mother presented at the age of 20, military doctrine, who by that time was already the Empress of All Russia, he refused to conduct an offensive war, explained his idea by the need to observe the principle of reasonable sufficiency, while all the efforts of the Empire should be aimed at creating internal order.

The spiritual father and mentor of the Tsesarevich was one of the best Russian preachers and theologians, Archimandrite, and later Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) of Moscow. Thanks to his pastoral work and instructions in the Law of God, Pavel Petrovich for the rest of short life became a deeply religious, true Orthodox man. In Gatchina, until the revolution of 1917, they kept a rug worn by Pavel Petrovich's knees during his long nightly prayers.

Thus, we can notice that in childhood, adolescence and youth Paul received an excellent education, had a broad outlook, and even then came to knightly ideals, firmly believed in God. All this is reflected in his future policy, in his ideas and actions.

Relations with Catherine II

Immediately after his birth, Paul was evicted from his mother by Empress Elizabeth. Catherine could see him very rarely and only with the permission of the empress. When Paul was eight years old, his mother, Catherine, relying on the guards, carried out a coup, during which Paul's father, Emperor Peter III, was killed. Paul was to take the throne.

Catherine II removed Paul from interfering in the decision of any state affairs, he, in turn, condemned her whole way of life and did not accept the policy that she pursued.

Pavel believed that this policy was based on love of glory and pretense, dreamed of establishing in Russia, under the auspices of the autocracy, strictly legal administration, limiting the rights of the nobility, and introducing the strictest, according to the Prussian model, discipline in the army. In the 1780s he became interested in Freemasonry.

All the time, the aggravated relationship between Paul and his mother, whom he suspected of complicity in the murder of his father, Peter III, led to the fact that Catherine II presented her son to the Gatchina estate (that is, “removed” him from the capital). Here Pavel introduced customs that were sharply different from those in St. Petersburg. But in the absence of any other concerns, he concentrated all his efforts on creating the "Gatchin army": several battalions placed under his command. Officers in full form, wigs, tight uniforms, impeccable order, punishment with gauntlets for the slightest omissions and a ban on civilian habits.

Significantly narrowed the rights of the nobility compared to those granted by Catherine II, and the procedures established in Gatchina were transferred to the entire Russian army. The most severe discipline, the unpredictability of the behavior of the emperor led to mass dismissals of nobles from the army, especially the officers of the guard (out of 182 officers who served in the Horse Guards Regiment, only two did not quit by 1801). Also, all the officers on the staff who did not appear by decree in the military collegium to confirm their service were dismissed.

It should be noted, however, that Paul I started the military, as well as other reforms, not only out of his own whim. The Russian army was not at the peak of its form, discipline in the regiments suffered, titles were not deservedly given out - for example, noble children were assigned to some rank from birth, to one regiment or another. Many, having a rank and receiving a salary, did not serve at all (apparently, mostly these officers were fired from the state). and sent them to Siberia. Especially Paul I pursued the theft of generals and embezzlement in the army. As a reformer, Paul I decided to follow his favorite example - Peter the Great - like the famous ancestor, he decided to take as a basis the model of the modern European army, in particular the Prussian one, and what, if not German, can serve as an example of pedantry, discipline and perfection. In general, military reform was not stopped even after the death of Paul.

During the reign of Paul I, personally devoted to the emperor, Arakcheev, Kutaisov, Obolyaninov rose to prominence.

Fearing the spread of the ideas of the French Revolution in Russia, Paul I forbade young people to go abroad to study, the import of books, including notes, was completely banned, and private printing houses were closed. The regulation of life reached the point that the time was set when it was supposed to put out the fires in the houses. By special decrees, some words of the Russian language were withdrawn from official use and replaced by others. So, among those seized were the words “citizen” and “fatherland” with a political connotation (replaced by “philistine” and “state”, respectively), but a number of Paul’s linguistic decrees were not so transparent - for example, the word “detachment” was changed to “detashement” or "command", "execute" to "execute", and "doctor" to "healer".

Foreign policy

Paul's foreign policy was inconsistent. In 1798, Russia entered into an anti-French coalition with Great Britain, Austria, Turkey, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. At the insistence of the allies, the disgraced A. V. Suvorov was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian troops. Austrian troops were also transferred to his jurisdiction. Under the leadership of Suvorov, Northern Italy was liberated from French rule. In September 1799, the Russian army made Suvorov's famous crossing of the Alps. However, already in October of the same year, Russia broke off the alliance with Austria due to the failure of the Austrians to fulfill their allied obligations, and Russian troops were withdrawn from Europe.

Shortly before the assassination, Pavel sent the Don army 22,507 people on a campaign against India. The campaign was canceled immediately after the death of Paul by decree of Emperor Alexander I.

Conspiracy and death

Mikhailovsky Castle - the place of the emperor's death

Emperors of all Russia, Romanovs Holstein-Gottorp branch (after Peter III)

Pavel I Maria Fedorovna

Nicholas I Alexandra Fedorovna

Alexander II Maria Alexandrovna

Paul I was strangled in his own bedroom on March 11, 1801 at the Mikhailovsky Castle. The conspiracy was attended by Agramakov, N. P. Panin, vice-chancellor, L. L. Benningsen, commander of the Izyuminsky light-horse regiment P. A. Zubov (Ekaterina’s favorite), Palen, governor-general of St. Petersburg, commanders of the guards regiments: Semenovsky - N. I. Depreradovich, Kavalergardsky - F.P. Uvarov, Preobrazhensky - P.A. Talyzin.), And according to some sources - the adjutant wing of the emperor, Count Pyotr Vasilievich Golenishchev-Kutuzov, immediately after the coup, he was appointed commander of the Cavalier Guard regiment.

Initially, the overthrow of Paul and the accession of the English regent were planned. Perhaps the denunciation to the tsar was written by V.P. Meshchersky, formerly the chief of the St. Petersburg regiment, quartered in Smolensk, perhaps by the Prosecutor General P. Kh. Obolyaninov. In any case, the plot was uncovered, Lindener and Arakcheev were called in, but this only accelerated the execution of the plot. According to one version, Pavel was killed by Nikolai Zubov (Suvorov's son-in-law, Platon Zubov's older brother), who hit him with a massive golden snuffbox (there was a joke at court later: "The Emperor died with an apoplectic blow to the temple with a snuffbox"). According to another version, Paul was strangled with a scarf or crushed by a group of conspirators who, leaning on the emperor and each other, did not know exactly what was happening. Mistaking one of the killers for the son of Konstantin, he shouted: “Your Highness, are you here? Have mercy! Air, Air!.. What have I done wrong to you?” Those were his last words.

The question of whether Alexander Pavlovich knew and gave sanction for the palace coup and the murder of his father remained unexplained for a long time. According to the memoirs of Prince A. Czartoryski, the idea of ​​a conspiracy arose almost in the first days of Paul's reign, but the coup became possible only after it became known about the consent of Alexander, who signed the corresponding secret manifesto, in which he recognized the need for a coup and pledged not to persecute conspirators after accession to the throne. One of the organizers of the conspiracy, Count Palen, wrote in his memoirs: “Grand Duke Alexander did not agree to anything without first demanding an oath from me that they would not encroach on his father’s life; I gave him my word: I was not so devoid of meaning as to internally take upon myself the obligation to fulfill the impossible thing, but it was necessary to calm the scrupulousness of my future sovereign, and I encouraged his intentions, although I was convinced that they would not be fulfilled. Most likely, Alexander himself, like Count Palen, was well aware that without assassination, a palace coup would be impossible, since Paul I would not voluntarily abdicate the throne.

The conspirators got up from dinner, after midnight. According to the plan worked out, Argamakov, the adjutant of the grenadier battalion of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, whose duty was to report to the emperor about the fires occurring in the city, was to give the signal to invade the inner apartments of the palace and into the emperor’s office itself. Agramakov ran into the foyer of the sovereign's office and shouted: "Fire!"

At this time, the conspirators, up to 180 in number, rushed through the door a (see Fig.). Then da Marin, who commanded the internal infantry guard, removed the Preobrazhensky Life Battalion loyal to the Grenada, placing them as sentries, and placed those of them who had previously served in the Life Grenadier Regiment in the front of the sovereign's office, thus preserving this important post in the hands conspirators.

Two chamber hussars, standing at the door a, bravely defended their post, one of them was stabbed to death, and the other was wounded *. Finding the first door a, leading to the bedroom, unlocked, the conspirators at first thought that the emperor had hidden in the inner staircase (and this could easily have been done), as Kuytasov did. But when they came to the second door in, they found it locked from the inside, which proved that the emperor was undoubtedly in the bedroom.

Having broken the door in, the conspirators rushed into the room, but the emperor was not in it. The search began, but without success, despite the fact that the door leading to the bedchamber of the empress was also locked from the inside. The search continued for several minutes, when General Benigsen entered, he went up to the fireplace e, leaned against it and at that time saw the emperor hiding behind the screen.

Pointing his finger at him, Benigsen said in French "le voila", after which Pavel was immediately pulled out of his cover.

Prince Platon Zubov**, who acted as orator and chief leader of the conspiracy, addressed the emperor with a speech. Distinguished, as usual, by great nervousness, Pavel, this time, however, did not seem particularly agitated, and, maintaining full dignity, asked what they all needed?

Platon Zubov replied that his despotism had become so difficult for the nation that they came to demand his abdication.

The emperor, filled with a sincere desire to bring happiness to his people, to preserve inviolably the laws and regulations of the empire and to establish justice everywhere, entered into a dispute with Zubov, which lasted about half an hour, and which, in the end, took on a stormy character. At this time, those of the conspirators who had drunk too much champagne began to express impatience, while the emperor spoke louder and louder and began to gesticulate violently. At this time, the master of the horse, Count Nikolai Zubov ***, a man of enormous growth and extraordinary strength, being completely drunk, hit Pavel on the arm and said: "Why are you screaming like that!"

________________

• It was the chamber hussar Kirilov, who later served as a valet to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.
  • Zubov, Prince Platon Alexandrovich. 1767 - 1822 General from. inf., chief of the 1st cadet corps. Subsequently, a member of the state advice.
    • Zubov, Count Nikolai Alexandrovich. Ober-stallmaster. 1763 - 1805 He was married to the only daughter of Field Marshal Suvorov, Prince Natalia Alexandrovna, known as "Suvorochka".

At this insult, the emperor indignantly pushed left hand Zubov, to which the last one, squeezing a massive golden snuffbox in his fist, with all his might struck the emperor’s left temple with his right hand, as a result of which he fell unconscious to the floor. At the same moment, the French valet Zubov jumped up with his feet on the emperor's stomach, and Skaryatin, an officer of the Izmailovsky regiment, heeding the emperor's own scarf hanging over the bed, strangled him with it. Thus he was killed.

On the basis of another version, Zubov, being very drunk, allegedly put his fingers into the snuffbox that Pavel held in his hands. Then the emperor hit Zubov first, and thus he himself began a quarrel. Zubov allegedly snatched the snuffbox from the hands of the emperor and knocked him down with a strong blow. But this is hardly plausible, given that Pavel jumped right out of bed and wanted to hide. Be that as it may, there is no doubt that the snuffbox played a certain role in this event.

So, the words uttered by Palen at the dinner table: "qu" il faut commencer par casser les ocufs ", were not forgotten, and, alas, were carried out. *

They called the names of some persons who expressed a lot of cruelty on this occasion, even atrocities, wanting to take out the insults received from the emperor on his lifeless body so that it was not easy for doctors and make-up artists to bring the body into such a form that it could be put up for worship, according to existing customs. I saw the late emperor lying in a coffin.** On his face, despite the diligent make-up, black and blue spots were visible. His three-cornered hat was pulled over his head so as to hide, as far as possible, his left eye and temple, which was bruised.

So died on March 12, 1801, one of the sovereigns, whom history speaks of as a monarch, full of many virtues, distinguished by tireless activity, who loved order and justice.

________________

• This must be done now so as not to break later.
  • They say (from a reliable source) that when the diplomatic corps was admitted to the body, the French ambassador, passing, bent over the coffin and touching the emperor's tie with his hand, found a red mark around the neck, made by a scarf.

Versions of the origin of Paul I

Due to the fact that Pavel was born almost ten years after the wedding of Peter and Catherine, when many were already convinced of the futility of this marriage (and also under the influence of the free personal life of the Empress in the future), there were persistent rumors that the real father Paul I was not Peter III, but the first favorite of the Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna, Count Sergei Vasilyevich Saltykov.

historical anecdote

The Romanovs themselves belonged to this legend
(about the fact that Paul I was not the son of Peter III)
with great humour. There is a memoir about
how Alexander III, learning about her,
crossed himself: "Thank God, we are Russians!"
And having heard a refutation from historians, again
crossed himself: “Thank God we are legal!”.

The memoirs of Catherine II contain an indirect indication of this. In the same memoirs, one can find a hidden indication of how the desperate Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, so that the dynasty would not die out, ordered the wife of her heir to give birth to a child, no matter who his genetic father would be. In this regard, after this instruction, the courtiers assigned to Catherine began to encourage her adultery. Nevertheless, Catherine in her memoirs is rather sly - in the same place she explains that the long-term marriage did not bring offspring, since Peter had "some kind of obstacle", which, after the ultimatum given to her by Elizabeth, was eliminated by her friends who performed a violent surgical operation on Peter , in connection with which he nevertheless turned out to be able to conceive a child. The paternity of Catherine's other children born during her husband's lifetime is also doubtful: Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna (born) was most likely the daughter of Poniatovsky, and Alexei Bobrinsky (born) was the son of G. Orlov and was born secretly. More folklore and in line with traditional ideas about a “changed baby” is the story that Ekaterina Alekseevna allegedly gave birth to a dead child and he was replaced by a certain “Chukhonian” baby.

Family

Gerard von Kugelgen. Portrait of Paul I with his family. 1800. Pavlovsk State Museum-Reserve

Married twice:

• 1st wife: (since October 10, St. Petersburg) Natalya Alekseevna(1755-1776), born Princess Augusta-Wilhelmina-Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. Died in childbirth with a baby.

• 2nd wife: (since October 7, St. Petersburg) Maria Fedorovna(1759-1828), born Princess Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg, daughter of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg. Had 10 children:
  • Alexander I(1777-1825), Russian Emperor
  • Konstantin Pavlovich (1779-1831), Grand Duke.
  • Alexandra Pavlovna (1783-1801)
  • Elena Pavlovna (1784-1803)
  • Maria Pavlovna (1786-1859)
  • Ekaterina Pavlovna (1788-1819)
  • Olga Pavlovna (1792-1795)
  • Anna Pavlovna (1795-1865)
  • Nicholas I(1796-1855), Russian Emperor
  • Mikhail Pavlovich(1798-1849), Grand Duke.

Military ranks and titles

Colonel of the Life Cuirassier Regiment (July 4) (Russian Imperial Guard) Admiral General (December 20) (Russian Imperial Navy)

Pavel I Petrovich (1754-1801)

The ninth All-Russian Emperor Pavel I Petrovich (Romanov) was born on September 20 (October 1), 1754 in St. Petersburg. His father was Emperor Peter III (1728-1762), who was born in the German city of Kiel, and received the name Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp at birth. By coincidence, Karl Peter simultaneously had the right to two European thrones - Swedish and Russian, since in addition to kinship with the Romanovs, the Holstein dukes were in direct dynastic connection with the Swedish royal house. Since the Russian Empress Elizabeth Petrovna had no children of her own, in 1742 she invited her 14-year-old nephew Karl Peter to Russia, who was baptized into Orthodoxy under the name of Peter Fedorovich.

Having come to power in 1861 after the death of Elizabeth, Pyotr Fedorovich spent 6 months in the role of the All-Russian Emperor. The activity of Peter III characterizes him as a serious reformer. He did not hide his Prussian sympathies and, having taken the throne, immediately put an end to Russia's participation in the Seven Years' War and entered into an alliance against Denmark, Holstein's longtime offender. Peter III liquidated the Secret Chancellery - a gloomy police institution that kept all of Russia at bay. In fact, no one canceled the denunciations, just from now on they had to be submitted in writing. And then he took away the lands and peasants from the monasteries, which even Peter the Great could not do. However, the time allotted by history for the reforms of Peter III was not great. Only 6 months of his reign, of course, cannot be compared with the 34-year reign of his wife, Catherine the Great. As a result of a palace coup, Peter III was dethroned on June 16 (28), 1762 and killed in Ropsha near St. Petersburg 11 days after that. During this period, his son, the future Emperor Paul I, was not yet eight years old. With the support of the guards, the wife of Peter III came to power, proclaiming herself Catherine II.

The mother of Paul I, the future Catherine the Great, was born on April 21, 1729 in Stettin (Szczecin) in the family of a general in the Prussian service and received a good education for that time. When she was 13 years old, Frederick II recommended her to Elizabeth Petrovna as a bride for Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich. And in 1744, the young Prussian princess Sophia-Friederike-Augusta-Anhalt-Zerbst was brought to Russia, where she received orthodox name Ekaterina Alekseevna. The young girl was smart and ambitious, from the first days of her stay on Russian soil she diligently prepared herself to become a Grand Duchess, and then the wife of the Russian Emperor. But the marriage with Peter III, concluded on August 21, 1745 in St. Petersburg, did not bring happiness to the spouses.

It is officially believed that Pavel's father is Catherine's legal husband, Peter III, however, in her memoirs there are indications (however, indirect) that Pavel's father was her lover Sergei Saltykov. In favor of this assumption is the well-known fact of the extreme hostility that Catherine always had for her husband, and against - the significant portrait resemblance of Paul to Peter III, as well as Catherine's steady hostility to Paul. The examination of the DNA of the remains of the emperor, which has not yet been carried out, could finally reject this hypothesis.

September 20, 1754, nine years after the wedding, Catherine gave birth to Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich. This was a major event, because after Peter I, Russian emperors had no children, confusion and confusion reigned at the death of each ruler. It was under Peter III and Catherine that there was hope for the stability of the state system. In the first period of her reign, Catherine was worried about the legitimacy of her power. After all, if Peter III was still half (by mother) a Russian person and, moreover, was the grandson of Peter I himself, then Catherine was not even a distant relative of the legitimate heirs and was only the wife of the heir. Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich was the legitimate, but unloved son of the empress. After the death of his father, he, as the only heir, was supposed to take the throne with the establishment of a regency, but this, by the will of Catherine, did not happen.

Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich spent the first years of his life surrounded by nannies. Immediately after his birth, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna took him to her. In her notes, Catherine the Great wrote: “Just as they swaddled him, her confessor appeared at the order of the empress and named the child Paul, after which the empress immediately ordered the midwife to take him and carry him with her, and I remained on the maternity bed.” The whole empire rejoiced at the birth of the heir, but they forgot about his mother: "Lying in bed, I continuously cried and moaned, I was alone in the room."

Paul's baptism was performed in a magnificent setting on September 25th. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna expressed her good will to the mother of the newborn by the fact that after the baptism she herself brought her a decree to the cabinet on the issue of 100 thousand rubles to her on a golden platter. After the baptism at the court, solemn holidays began - balls, masquerades, fireworks on the occasion of the birth of Paul lasted about a year. Lomonosov, in an ode written in honor of Pavel Petrovich, wished him to compare with his great great-grandfather.

Catherine had to see her son for the first time after giving birth only after 6 weeks, and then only in the spring of 1755. Catherine recalled: “He was lying in an extremely hot room, in flannel diapers, in a bed upholstered in black fox fur, they covered him with a satin blanket quilted on wadding, and, moreover, with a pink velvet blanket ... sweat appeared on his face and all over his body "When Pavel grew up a little, the slightest breath of wind caused him a cold and made him sick. In addition, a lot of stupid old women and mothers were assigned to him, who, with their excessive and inappropriate zeal, caused him incomparably more physical and moral evil than good." Improper care led to the fact that the child was characterized by increased nervousness and impressionability. Also in early childhood Pavel's nerves were upset to the point that he hid under the table when the doors were slammed with any force. There was no system in caring for him. He went to bed either very early, at 8 o'clock in the evening, or at the first hour of the night. It happened that he was given food when he “pleased to ask”, there were also cases of simple negligence: “Once he fell out of the cradle, so no one heard it. They woke up in the morning - Paul was not in the cradle, looked - he was lying on the floor fast asleep."

Pavel received an excellent education in the spirit of the French Enlightenment. He knew foreign languages, possessed knowledge of mathematics, history, applied sciences. In 1758, Fyodor Dmitrievich Bekhteev was appointed his tutor, who immediately began to teach the boy to read and write. In June 1760, Nikita Ivanovich Panin was appointed chief chamberlain under Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, Semyon Andreevich Poroshin, the former aide-de-camp of Peter III, was the tutor and teacher of mathematics for Pavel, and Archimandrite Platon, hieromonk of the Trinity- Sergius Lavra, later Metropolitan of Moscow.

On September 29, 1773, 19-year-old Paul marries, marrying the daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, Princess Augustine-Wilhelmina, who received the name Natalya Alekseevna in Orthodoxy. Three years later, on April 16, 1776, at 5 o'clock in the morning, she died in childbirth, and the child died with her. The medical report, signed by doctors Kruse, Arsh, Bock and others, speaks of the difficult birth of Natalya Alekseevna, who suffered from a curvature of the back, and the "large child" was incorrectly positioned. Catherine, however, not wanting to waste time, begins a new matchmaking. This time, the queen chose the Württemberg princess Sophia-Dorotea-August-Louise. A portrait of the princess is delivered by courier, which Catherine II offers to Pavel, saying that she is "meek, pretty, charming, in a word, a treasure." The heir to the throne falls more and more in love with the image, and already in June he goes to Potsdam to marry the princess.

Seeing the princess for the first time on July 11, 1776 in the palace of Frederick the Great, Paul writes to his mother: “I found my bride the way I could only mentally wish for: not ugly, great, slender, answers intelligently and quickly. As for her heart, then she has it very sensitive and gentle ... She loves to be at home and practice reading and music, she is greedy to learn in Russian ... "Acquainted with the princess, the Grand Duke fell passionately in love with her, and after parting, he writes tender letters to her from the road with a declaration of love and devotion.

In August, Sophia Dorothea arrives in Russia and, following the instructions of Catherine II, on September 15 (26), 1776, she receives Orthodox baptism under the name of Maria Feodorovna. Soon the wedding took place, a few months later she writes: "My dear husband is an angel, I love him to the point of madness." A year later, on December 12, 1777, the young couple had their first son, Alexander. On the occasion of the birth of the heir in St. Petersburg, 201 cannon shots were fired, and the sovereign grandmother Catherine II gave her son 362 acres of land, which laid the foundation for the village of Pavlovskoye, where the palace-residence of Paul I was later built. 1778. The construction of a new palace designed by Charles Cameron was carried out mainly under the supervision of Maria Feodorovna.

With Maria Feodorovna, Pavel found true family happiness. Unlike mother Catherine and great-aunt Elizabeth, who did not know family happiness, and whose personal life was far from generally accepted moral norms, Pavel appears as an exemplary family man who set an example for all subsequent Russian emperors - his descendants. In September 1781, the Grand Ducal couple, under the name of the Count and Countess of the North, set off on a long journey through Europe, which lasted a whole year. During this trip, Paul did more than just sightseeing and acquiring works of art for his palace under construction. The journey was also great. political significance. For the first time escaping from the tutelage of Catherine II, the Grand Duke had the opportunity to personally get acquainted with European monarchs, paid a visit to Pope Pius VI. In Italy, Paul, following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, Emperor Peter the Great, is seriously interested in the achievements of European shipbuilding and gets acquainted with the organization of naval affairs abroad. During his stay in Livorno, the Tsarevich finds time to visit the Russian squadron stationed there. As a result of assimilation of new trends in European culture and art, science and technology, style and way of life, Pavel largely changed his own worldview and perception of Russian reality.

By this time, Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna already had two children after the birth of their son Konstantin on April 27, 1779. And on July 29, 1783, their daughter Alexandra was born, in connection with which Catherine II presented Pavel with the Gatchina manor, bought from Grigory Orlov. Meanwhile, the number of Paul's children is constantly increasing - on December 13, 1784, daughter Elena was born, on February 4, 1786 - Maria, on May 10, 1788 - Catherine. Pavel's mother, Empress Catherine II, rejoicing for her grandchildren, wrote to her daughter-in-law on October 9, 1789: "Really, ma'am, you are a craftswoman to bring children into the world."

The upbringing of all the older children of Pavel Petrovich and Maria Feodorovna was personally handled by Catherine II, in fact, taking them away from their parents and not even consulting with them. It was the Empress who came up with the names for the children of Paul, naming Alexander in honor of the patron saint of St. Petersburg, Prince Alexander Nevsky, and gave Konstantin this name because the second grandson was intended by her for the throne of the future Constantinople Empire, which was to be formed after the expulsion of the Turks from Europe. Catherine personally engaged in the search for a bride for the sons of Paul - Alexander and Constantine. And both of these marriages did not bring family happiness to anyone. Emperor Alexander only at the end of his life will find in his wife a devoted and understanding friend. And Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich will violate generally accepted norms and divorce his wife, who will leave Russia. Being the vicegerent of the Principality of Warsaw, he will fall in love with a beautiful Polish woman - Joanna Grudzinsky, Countess Lovich, in the name of preserving family happiness, he will renounce the Russian throne and will never become Constantine I, Emperor of All Rus'. In total, Pavel Petrovich and Maria Feodorovna had four sons - Alexander, Konstantin, Nikolai and Mikhail, and six daughters - Alexandra, Elena, Maria, Ekaterina, Olga and Anna, of whom only 3-year-old Olga died in infancy.

It would seem that, family life Pavel was shaping up happily. loving wife, a lot of children. But the main thing was missing, which every heir to the throne strives for - there was no power. Pavel patiently awaited the death of his unloved mother, but it seemed that the great empress, who had an imperious character and good health, was never going to die. In previous years, Catherine wrote more than once about how she would die surrounded by friends, to the sounds of gentle music among the flowers. The blow suddenly overtook her on November 5 (16), 1796, in a narrow passage between two rooms of the Winter Palace. She had a severe stroke, and several servants with difficulty managed to pull the heavy body of the empress out of the narrow corridor and put it on a mattress spread on the floor. Couriers rushed to Gatchina to tell Pavel Petrovich the news of his mother's illness. The first was Count Nikolai Zubov. The next day, in the presence of her son, grandchildren and close courtiers, the Empress died without regaining consciousness at the age of 67, of which she spent 34 years on the Russian throne. Already on the night of November 7 (18), 1796, everyone was sworn in to the new emperor - 42-year-old Paul I.

By the time of accession to the throne, Pavel Petrovich was a man with established views and habits, with a ready-made, as it seemed to him, program of action. Back in 1783, he broke off all relations with his mother, among the courtiers there were rumors about the deprivation of Paul of the right to the throne. Pavel plunges into theoretical discussions about the urgent need to change the management of Russia. Far from the court, in Pavlovsk and Gatchina, he creates a kind of model new Russia, which seemed to him a model of government for the whole country. At the age of 30, he received a large list from his mother literary works for deep learning. There were books by Voltaire, Montesquieu, Corneille, Hume and other famous French and English authors. Paul considered the purpose of the state "the blessedness of each and all." He recognized only the monarchy as a form of government, although he agreed that this form "is associated with the inconvenience of mankind." However, Paul argued that autocratic power is better than others, as it "combines the power of the laws of the power of one."

Of all the occupations, the new king had the greatest passion for military affairs. The advice of the combat general P.I. Panin and the example of Frederick the Great drew him to the military path. During the reign of his mother, Paul, removed from business, filled his long hours of leisure with the training of military battalions. It was then that Paul formed, grew and strengthened that "corporal spirit", which he sought to instill in the entire army. In his opinion, the Russian army of Catherine's time was more of a disorderly crowd than a properly arranged army. Embezzlement flourished, the use of the labor of soldiers in the landowners' estates of commanders, and much more. Each commander dressed the soldiers to his liking, sometimes trying to save in his favor the sums of money allocated for uniforms. Pavel considered himself a successor to the cause of Peter I to transform Russia. The ideal for him was the Prussian army, by the way, the strongest in Europe at that time. Pavel introduced a new uniform form, charter, weapons. Soldiers were allowed to complain about the abuses of their commanders. Everything was strictly controlled and, in general, the situation, for example, of the lower ranks became better.

At the same time, Paul was distinguished by a certain peacefulness. During the reign of Catherine II (1762-1796), Russia participated in seven wars, which lasted more than 25 years in total and inflicted heavy damage on the country. Having ascended the throne, Paul declared that Russia under Catherine had the misfortune to use its population in frequent wars, and inside the country things were running. Nevertheless, foreign policy Paul was inconsistent. In 1798, Russia entered into an anti-French coalition with England, Austria, Turkey and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. At the insistence of the allies, the disgraced A.V. was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian troops. Suvorov, to whose jurisdiction the Austrian troops were also transferred. Under the leadership of Suvorov, Northern Italy was liberated from French rule. In September 1799, the Russian army made the famous crossing of the Alps. For the Italian campaign, Suvorov received the rank of Generalissimo and the title of Prince of Italy. However, already in October of the same year, Russia broke off the alliance with Austria, and Russian troops were withdrawn from Europe. Shortly before the murder, Paul sent the Don army on a campaign against India. It was 22,507 men without a wagon train, supplies, or any strategic plan. This adventurous campaign was canceled immediately after the death of Paul.

In 1787, leaving for the first and last time in the army, Paul left his "Instruction", in which he outlined his thoughts on the administration of the state. Enumerating all the estates, he stops at the peasantry, which "contains all the other parts by itself and by its labors, and therefore worthy of respect." Pavel tried to enforce the decree that serfs work no more than three days a week for the landowner, and on Sunday they did not work at all. This, however, led to their even greater enslavement. After all, before Paul, for example, the peasant population of Ukraine did not know corvée at all. Now, to the delight of the Little Russian landlords, a three-day corvee was introduced here. In Russian estates, it was very difficult to follow the implementation of the decree.

In the field of finance, Paul believed that the revenues of the state belonged to the state, and not to the sovereign personally. He demanded that expenditures be coordinated with the needs of the state. Pavel ordered that part of the silver services of the Winter Palace be melted down into coins, and up to two million rubles in banknotes should be destroyed to reduce the state debt.

Attention was also paid to public education. A decree was issued on the restoration of a university in the Baltic states (it was opened in Dorpat already under Alexander I), a Medical and Surgical Academy was opened in St. Petersburg, many schools and colleges. At the same time, in order to prevent the idea of ​​"depraved and criminal" France from entering Russia, the study of Russians abroad was completely prohibited, censorship was established on imported literature and notes, and it was even forbidden to play cards. Curiously, for various reasons, the new tsar turned his attention to improving the Russian language. Shortly after accession to the throne, Paul ordered in all official papers "to express themselves in the purest and simplest style, using all possible accuracy, and grandiloquent expressions that have lost their meaning should always be avoided." At the same time, strange, arousing distrust of mental capacity Paul, there were decrees forbidding the use of certain types of clothing. So, it was impossible to wear tailcoats, round hats, waistcoats, silk stockings; instead, a German dress with exact definition Collar color and size According to A.T. Bolotov, Pavel demanded that everyone honestly fulfill their duties. So, driving through the city, writes Bolotov, the emperor saw an officer walking without a sword, and behind a batman carrying a sword and a fur coat. Pavel went up to the soldier and asked whose sword he was carrying. He replied: "The officer who goes ahead." "Officer! So, is it difficult for him to carry his sword? So put it on yourself, and give him your bayonet!" So Pavel promoted a soldier to an officer, and demoted the officer to the rank and file. Bolotov notes that this made a huge impression on the soldiers and officers. In particular, the latter, fearing a repetition of this, began to treat the service more responsibly.

In order to control the life of the country, Pavel hung a yellow box at the gates of his palace in St. Petersburg for filing petitions addressed to him. Similar reports were accepted by mail. This was new for Russia. True, this was immediately used for false denunciations, libels and caricatures of the king himself.

One of the important political acts of Emperor Paul after accession to the throne was the reburial on December 18, 1796 of his father Peter III, who was killed 34 years ago. It all started on November 19, when "by the order of Emperor Pavel Petrovich, the body of the buried late Emperor Pyotr Fedorovich was taken out in the Nevsky Monastery, and the body was laid in a new magnificent coffin, upholstered with a golden eyelet, with imperial coats of arms, with an old coffin." On the same day in the evening, "his majesty, her majesty and their highnesses deigned to arrive at the Nevsky Monastery, at the Lower Annunciation Church, where the body stood, and upon arrival, the coffin was opened; they deigned to kiss the body of the late sovereign ... and then it was closed" . Today it is difficult to imagine what the tsar "applied" to and forced his wife and children to "apply" to. According to eyewitnesses, the coffin contained only bone dust and pieces of clothing.

On November 25, according to the ritual developed by the emperor in the smallest detail, the ashes of Peter III and the corpse of Catherine II were crowned. Russia has never seen this before. In the morning in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, Paul laid the crown on the coffin of Peter III, and in the second hour of the day, Maria Feodorovna in the Winter Palace laid the same crown on the deceased Catherine II. There was one terrible detail in the ceremony in the Winter Palace - the chamber junker and the empress's valets during the laying of the crown "raised the body of the deceased." Obviously, it was imitated that Catherine II was, as it were, alive. In the evening of the same day, the body of the empress was transferred to a magnificently arranged mourning tent, and on December 1, Pavel solemnly transferred the imperial regalia to the Nevsky Monastery. The next day, at 11 o'clock in the morning, a funeral procession slowly set off from the Lower Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In front of the coffin of Peter III, the hero of Chesma Alexei Orlov carried the imperial crown on a velvet pillow. Behind the hearse, the whole august family marched in deep mourning. The coffin with the remains of Peter III was transported to the Winter Palace and installed next to the coffin of Catherine. Three days later, on December 5, both coffins were transferred to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. For two weeks they were put up there for worship. Finally, on December 18, they were interred. On the tombs of the hated spouses, the same date of burial was indicated. On this occasion, N.I. Grech remarked: "You would think that they spent their whole lives together on the throne, died and were buried on the same day."

This whole phantasmagoric episode struck the imagination of contemporaries who tried to find at least some reasonable explanation for it. Some argued that all this was done in order to refute the rumors that Paul was not the son of Peter III. Others saw in this ceremony a desire to humiliate and insult the memory of Catherine II, who hated her husband. Having crowned the already crowned Catherine at the same time as Peter III, who did not have time to be crowned during his lifetime, with the same crown and almost simultaneously, Paul, as it were, again, posthumously, married his parents, and thereby nullified the results of the palace coup of 1762. Paul forced the killers of Peter III to carry the imperial regalia, thereby exposing these people to public ridicule.

There is evidence that the idea of ​​a secondary burial of Peter III was suggested to Paul by the Freemason S.I. Pleshcheev, who wanted to take revenge on Catherine II for the persecution of "free masons". One way or another, the ceremony of reburial of the remains of Peter III was performed even before the coronation of Paul, which followed on April 5, 1797 in Moscow - the new tsar paid so much attention to the memory of his father, emphasizing once again that his filial feelings for his father were stronger than his feelings for an overbearing mother. And on the very day of his coronation, Paul I issued a law on succession to the throne, which established a strict order in the succession to the throne in a direct male descending line, and not at the arbitrary desire of the autocrat, as before. This decree was in effect throughout the 19th century.

Russian society was ambivalent about the government events of the Pavlovsk time and personally to Paul. Sometimes historians said that under Paul, the Gatchina people became the head of the state - ignorant and rude people. Among them, A.A. Arakcheev and others like him. The words of F.V. Rostopchin that "the best of them deserves to be wheeled". But we should not forget that among them were N.V. Repnin, A.A. Bekleshov and other honest and decent people. Among the associates of Paul we see S.M. Vorontsova, N.I. Saltykova, A.V. Suvorov, G.R. Derzhavin, under him the brilliant statesman M.M. Speransky.

Relations with the Order of Malta played a special role in Paul's politics. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which appeared in the 11th century, was associated with Palestine for a long time. Under the onslaught of the Turks, the St. Johnites were forced to leave Palestine, settling first in Cyprus, and then on the island of Rhodes. However, the struggle with the Turks, which lasted for more than one century, forced them to leave this refuge in 1523. After seven years of wandering, the Johnites received a gift from Spanish king Charles V of Malta. This rocky island became an impregnable fortress of the Order, which became known as Maltese. By the Convention of January 4, 1797, the Order was allowed to have a Grand Priory in Russia. In 1798, Paul's manifesto "On the Establishment of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem" appeared. The new monastic order consisted of two priors - Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox with 98 commanderships. There is an assumption that Paul wanted to thereby unite the two churches - Catholic and Orthodox.

On June 12, 1798, Malta was taken by the French without a fight. The knights suspected Grand Master Gompesh of treason and defrocked him. In the autumn of the same year, Paul I was elected to this post, willingly accepting the signs of the new rank. An image of a knightly union was drawn before Paul, in which, in contrast to the ideas of the French Revolution, the principles of the order would flourish - strict Christian piety unconditional obedience to elders. According to Paul, the Order of Malta, having so long and successfully fought against the enemies of Christianity, must now gather all the "best" forces of Europe and serve as a mighty bulwark against the revolutionary movement. The residence of the Order was moved to St. Petersburg. A fleet was equipped in Kronstadt to expel the French from Malta, but in 1800 the island was occupied by the British, and soon Pavel also died. In 1817 it was announced that the Order no longer existed in Russia.

At the end of the century, Pavel moved away from his family, and his relationship with Maria Feodorovna worsened. There were rumors about the infidelity of the Empress and the unwillingness to recognize the younger boys as her sons - Nikolai, born in 1796, and Mikhail, born in 1798. Trusting and straightforward, but at the same time suspicious, Paul, thanks to the intrigues of von Palen, who became his closest courtier, begins to suspect all people close to him of hostility towards him.

Pavel loved Pavlovsk and Gatchina, where he lived in anticipation of the throne. Having ascended the throne, he began to build a new residence - Mikhailovsky Castle, designed by the Italian Vincenzo Brenna, who became the chief court architect. Everything in the castle was adapted to protect the emperor. Canals, drawbridges, secret passages seemed to make Paul's life long. In January 1801, the construction of the new residence was completed. But many plans of Paul I remained unfulfilled. It was in the Mikhailovsky Palace that Pavel Petrovich was killed on the evening of March 11 (23), 1801. Having lost his sense of reality, he became maniacally suspicious, removed loyal people from himself, and himself provoked the disaffected in the guard and high society to a conspiracy. The conspiracy was attended by Argamakov, Vice-Chancellor P.P. Panin, favorite of Ekaterina P.A. Zubov, Governor-General of St. Petersburg von Palen, commanders of the guards regiments: Semenovsky - N.I. Depreradovich, Kavalergardsky - F.P. Uvarov, Preobrazhensky - P.A. Talyzin. Thanks to treason, a group of conspirators entered the Mikhailovsky Castle, went up to the emperor’s bedroom, where, according to one version, he was killed by Nikolai Zubov (Suvorov’s son-in-law, Platon Zubov’s older brother), who hit him on the temple with a massive golden snuffbox. According to another version, Paul was strangled with a scarf or crushed by a group of conspirators who piled on the emperor. "Have mercy! Air, air! What have I done wrong to you?" Those were his last words.

The question of whether Alexander Pavlovich knew about the conspiracy against his father remained unclear for a long time. According to the memoirs of Prince A. Czartoryski, the idea of ​​a conspiracy arose almost in the first days of Paul's reign, but the coup became possible only after it became known about the consent of Alexander, who signed a secret manifesto, in which he pledged not to pursue the conspirators after accession to the throne. And most likely, Alexander himself was well aware that without the assassination, a palace coup would be impossible, since Paul I would not voluntarily abdicate. The reign of Paul I lasted only four years, four months and four days. His funeral took place on March 23 (April 4), 1801 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Maria Fedorovna devoted the rest of her life to her family and perpetuating the memory of her husband. In Pavlovsk, almost on the edge of the park, in the middle of the wilderness, above the ravine, the Mausoleum to the benefactor spouse was erected according to the project of Thomas de Thomon. Like an ancient temple, it is majestic and silent, all nature around seems to mourn along with a porphyry-bearing widow sculpted from marble, crying over the ashes of her husband.

Paul was ambivalent. A knight in the spirit of the outgoing century, he could not find his place in the 19th century, where the pragmatism of society and the relative freedom of representatives of the top of society could no longer coexist. Society, which a hundred years before Paul tolerated any antics of Peter I, did not tolerate Paul I. "Our romantic tsar", as A.S. called Paul I. Pushkin, failed to cope with the country, which was waiting not only for the strengthening of power, but, above all, for various reforms in domestic policy. The reforms that Russia expected from every ruler. However, due to his upbringing, education, religious principles, experience of relationships with his father and, especially, with his mother, it was in vain to expect such reforms from Paul. Pavel was a dreamer who wanted to transform Russia and a reformer who displeased everyone. The unfortunate sovereign, who accepted death during the last palace coup in the history of Russia. The unfortunate son who repeated the fate of his father.

Madam dearest mother!

Take a break, do me a favor, please, for a moment from your important activities in order to accept the congratulations that my heart, submissive and obedient to your will, brings on the birthday of Your Imperial Majesty. May the Almighty God bless your precious days for the whole fatherland until the most remote times. human life and may Your Majesty never run dry for me of the tenderness of the mother and ruler, always dear and revered by me, the feelings with which I remain for you, Your Imperial Majesty, the most humble and most devoted son and subject Pavel.

Name: Pavel I

Age: 46 years old

Place of Birth: Saint Petersburg

A place of death: Saint Petersburg

Activity: Russian Emperor

Family status: was married

Biography of Emperor Paul I

If it were not for the constant humiliation and insults, perhaps Emperor Paul I became a ruler equal in majesty to Peter. However, his domineering mother thought differently. At the mention of Paul, an image of a short-sighted martinet-"Prussian" arises in one's thoughts. But was he really like that?

Pavel I - childhood

Paul was born under very mysterious circumstances. Emperor Peter III and Catherine II could not give birth to an heir for ten years. There was a simple explanation for this: Peter was a chronic alcoholic. Nevertheless, the Empress became pregnant. Few people considered Peter III the father of the baby, but they preferred to keep quiet about this.

Born long-awaited child did not become happiness for parents. The father matured that the son was not his, and the mother considered the appearance of the baby, rather, " state project", rather than a desired child. Engaged in raising a newborn strangers. The whole horror of the saying: "V seven nannies a child without an eye" Paul experienced on himself. He was often forgotten to feed, repeatedly dropped, left alone for a long time. He hasn't seen his parents in years! The boy grew up shy, withdrawn and deeply unhappy...

Pavel I: Far from the throne

In 1762, Peter III was overthrown, and his wife Catherine II took the Russian throne for a long 34 years. She treated her son coldly and with suspicion: he was the direct heir to the throne, and the empress was not going to share power with anyone.

September 20, 1772, Paul turned 18 years old - it's time to ascend the throne. However, all that he received from his mother was the position of Admiral General of the Russian Navy and colonel of the cuirassier regiment. For the prince, this was the first serious humiliation. Others followed him: he was not awarded a seat either in the Senate or in the Imperial Council. On April 21, on her birthday, the Empress gave Pavel a cheap watch, and Count Potemkin, her favorite, an expensive one for 50 thousand rubles. And the whole yard saw it!

Pavel I_- two wives, two worlds

To distract her son from thoughts of power, Catherine decided to marry him. The choice fell on the Prussian princess Wilhelmina. In the autumn of 1773, the young people got married. Contrary to expectations, the marriage did not bring happiness to Paul. His wife turned out to be a powerful woman - she actually subjugated her husband and began to cheat on him. It did not last long - three years later Wilhelmina died in childbirth. The empress consoled the grief-stricken Pavel in a peculiar way: she personally handed over to her son the love correspondence of his wife with Razumovsky, a close friend of the prince. The double betrayal made Paul an even more gloomy and closed person.

The emperor did not remain single for long. In the same year, 1776, he went to Berlin to meet the 17-year-old Princess Sophia Dorothea. Prussia made a strong impression on Pavel: unlike Russia, the Germans were dominated by order and exemplary morality. Pavel's love for a foreign country quickly grew into sympathy for his bride; The German woman reciprocated. The marriage took place in October 1776. In Russia, Sophia Dorothea received the name Maria Fedorovna.

For many years, Paul lived in two worlds - in his personal life he enjoyed happiness, and in his public life he suffered from general contempt. If in Europe he had long been revered as a full-fledged emperor, then in Russia every courtier looked at him with a squeamish grin - the country was ruled by Catherine II and her lover Count Potemkin.

When the sons of Paul grew up. the empress personally took up their education, demonstrating that she would rather agree to give the throne to one of her grandchildren than to her son. The Tsarevich's nerves gave way... On May 12, 1783, Catherine and Paul finally broke up. In August of the same year, Pavel received an estate near St. Petersburg as a gift from his mother. It meant only one thing - an invitation to voluntary exile.

Pavel I - Prisoner of Gatchina

Pavel's new estate became for him both a place of unspoken imprisonment and an island of long-awaited freedom.

First of all, the prince defended the right to have three personal battalions in Gatchina consisting of 2399 people. They lived and served according to Prussian laws; Paul himself commanded the daily exercises.

Having inflicted a dressing down on the soldiers, the prince went to supervise numerous construction projects. In Gatchina, under his leadership, a hospital, a school, manufactories for the production of porcelain and glass, four churches (Orthodox, Lutheran, Catholic and Finnish), as well as a library were built. Its funds totaled 36 thousand volumes.

Pavel forgot his sharpness and unsociableness only in the evenings with his relatives. He spent all his evenings with his wife Maria Fedorovna. Dinner was modest - a glass of Burgundy claret and sausages with cabbage. It seemed that until the end of his days he would lead this measured and calm life.

Pavel I - The Great and Terrible

Catherine II died unexpectedly - November 6, 1796 from apoplexy. Had the empress lived six months longer, the throne would have gone to Alexander. All the papers with the order of his succession were ready.

The suddenly acquired power became for Paul not only a long-awaited gift, but also a real curse: the country went to him in a terrible state. The ruble depreciated, corruption and theft reigned everywhere, up to 12 thousand pending cases accumulated in the Senate. Three quarters of the officer corps Russian army existed only on paper. Many received ranks without serving, desertion became the norm, and the fleet was still equipped with cannons from the time of Peter I.

With lawlessness and decadence, morals Paul fought hard. Arrests, trials and exile began all over the country. From the punishment of the highest ranks, neither connections nor past merits saved. The officers also had a hard time: Paul forbade revelry and trips to balls, they were replaced by early rises and exhausting exercises. Dissatisfaction with Paul's reforms was also expressed by ordinary officials - as early as 5 in the morning they were required to be in the service.

Paul I reigned for only four years and four months. During this time, he demoted 7 marshals and more than 300 senior officers, distributed 600 thousand peasants to landowners and issued 2179 laws.

Despite Paul's tough temper, his eldest son Alexander always sided with his father. But the emperor managed to lose this ally as well. Once, in front of everyone, he called his son a fool, which restored the heir against himself.

Feast on Blood

The emperor foresaw his death. In any case, numerous memoirs of his contemporaries testify to this.

Here S. M. Golitsyn writes about the last evening: “It was customary that after dinner everyone went into another room and said goodbye to the sovereign. That evening he did not say goodbye to anyone and said only: "What will be, will not be avoided."

Another eyewitness said: “After dinner, the emperor looked at himself in the mirror, which had a flaw and made faces crooked. He laughed at this and said: "Look, what a funny mirror; I see myself in it, with my neck on the side." It was an hour and a half before his death .., "

The last meeting of the conspirators took place on the night of March 12, 1801. Everything was commanded by General Bennigsen, the princes Zubov, and also Count Palen. Dissatisfaction with the policies of Paul I was discussed over champagne and wine. Having reached the desired condition, the men moved to the chambers of the emperor.

Having overcome the barrier of two sentries, the conspirators rushed to Pavel. Zubov invited the emperor to sign the act of renunciation. Paul's refusal infuriated the visitors. According to one version, they strangled the unfortunate man with a pillow, and then cut the body with sabers.

Even before dawn, St. Petersburg learned that Pavel had died suddenly from an "apoplexy," and Alexander had taken his place. In the Northern capital, stormy fun began ...

A few years later, General Ya.I. Sanglen, head of the secret police under Alexander I, wrote: “Paul will forever remain a psychological task. With a kind, sensitive heart, an exalted soul, an enlightened mind, a fiery love for justice .. he was an object of horror for his subjects. Neither his contemporaries nor his descendants-historians could fully understand the nature of Paul I.