Elizaveta Petrovna, Empress of Russia (1741-1761) was born on December 18, 1709 (December 29 according to the new style) in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, even before the church marriage between her parents, Tsar Peter I and Marta Skavronskaya (Catherine I).
She grew up in Moscow, leaving in the summer for Pokrovskoye, Preobrazhenskoye, Izmailovskoye or Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. I rarely saw my father as a child. When the mother left for St. Petersburg, the future empress was raised by her father's sister, Princess Natalya Alekseevna, or the family of an associate of Peter I.
The Tsesarevna was taught dance, music, dressing, ethics, and foreign languages.
At the age of 14, Elizabeth was declared an adult and they began to look for suitors for her. intended to marry her to the French king Louis XV. This plan did not materialize, and they began to marry Elizabeth to minor German princes, until they settled on Prince Karl August of Holstein. But the death of the groom upset this marriage. So without waiting for the groom blue blood, 24-year-old beauty gave her heart to the court chorister Alexei Razumovsky.
Razumovsky, a Ukrainian Cossack, from 1731 was the soloist of the imperial chapel. When Elizaveta Petrovna noticed him, she begged him from Catherine I. When Razumovsky lost his voice, she made him a bandura player, later instructed him to manage one of her estates, and then her entire court. There is evidence that at the end of 1742 she was married to him in a secret marriage in the village of Perov near Moscow.
Having become Empress, Elizabeth raised her morganatic husband to the dignity of a count, made her a field marshal and a holder of all orders. But Razumovsky deliberately abstained from participation in public life.
According to the description of her contemporaries, Elizaveta Petrovna was beautiful in a European way. Tall (180 cm), had slightly reddish hair, expressive blue-gray eyes, a regular mouth, healthy teeth.
The Spanish envoy Duke de Lirna wrote about the princess in 1728: "Princess Elizabeth is such a beauty that I have rarely seen. She has an amazing complexion, beautiful eyes, an excellent neck and an incomparable waist. She is tall, extremely lively, dances well and rides without the slightest fear. She is not devoid of intelligence, graceful and very coquettish."
During the reigns of her mother and her nephew, Elizabeth led a merry life at court. Under the empress and the regent, her position became difficult. Elizaveta Petrovna lost her brilliant position at court and was forced to live almost without a break in her estate, Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda.
On the night of November 25, 1741, with the help of a company of guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Elizaveta Petrovna carried out a palace coup. The little emperor Ivan VI and his family were arrested, the favorites of the former empress were sentenced to death, but then they were pardoned and exiled to Siberia.
At the time of the coup, Elizaveta Petrovna did not have a specific program for her reign, but the idea of her accession to the throne was supported by ordinary citizens and lower guards because of dissatisfaction with the dominance of foreigners in the Russian court.
The first document signed by Elizabeth Petrovna was a manifesto, which proved that after the death of Peter II, she was the only legitimate heir to the throne. The coronation celebrations took place on April 25, 1742 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The Empress herself put the crown on herself.
Having secured power for herself, Elizaveta Petrovna hastened to reward the people who contributed to her accession to the throne or were generally devoted to her, and to form a new government out of them. The grenadier company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment was called the Life Campaign. Soldiers not from the nobility were enrolled in the nobility, corporals, sergeants and officers were promoted to the ranks. All of them were granted lands mainly from estates confiscated from foreigners.
Elizaveta Petrovna proclaimed a course towards a return to the legacy of Peter the Great. Decree of December 12, 1741 prescribed all the decrees of the time of Peter the Great "to maintain the strongest and follow them without fail in all governments of our state." The Cabinet of Ministers was liquidated. The Senate, the Berg and Manufaktura Collegiums, the Chief Magistrate, the Provisional Collegium were restored. Also in the 1740s, the prosecutor's office was restored. Elizaveta Petrovna replaced the common punishments for embezzlement and bribery under Peter I (execution, whip, liquidation of property) by demotion, transfer to another service and occasionally dismissal. humanization public life during her reign, it was expressed in the abolition of the death penalty (1756), decrees on the construction of invalid homes and almshouses.
Unlike her father, Elizabeth assigned a large role in administrative affairs and culture not only to St. Petersburg, but to Moscow. Branches were created for all collegiums and the Senate in Moscow; Moscow University, founded in 1755, was given two gymnasiums on Mokhovaya Street in 1756. At the same time, the newspaper "Moskovskie Vedomosti" began to appear, and since 1760 - the first Moscow magazine "Useful Entertainment".
An important role in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna was played by her favorites. In the early 1750s, the country was practically led by the young favorite of the Empress Pyotr Shuvalov, whose name is associated with the implementation of the Elizabethan idea of abolishing internal customs, which gave impetus to the development of entrepreneurship and foreign trade (1753-1754).
The development was also promoted by the decree on the establishment in 1754 of the Loan and State Banks for nobles and merchants.
A significant revival and rise in the economic life of Russia during the reign of Elizabeth was also caused by the administrative activities of Chancellor Alexei Bestuzhev Ryumin, one of the initiators of the convening of the Commission on the Code in the 1750s, Chief Prosecutor Yakov Shakhovsky, brothers Mikhail and Roman Vorontsov.
The names of Ivan Shuvalov and the Russian encyclopedist Mikhail Lomonosov are associated with the foundation of Moscow University (1755), the opening of gymnasiums in Moscow and Kazan, with the name of Fyodor Volkov - the formation of the Russian national theater. In 1757 the Academy of Arts was founded in St. Petersburg.
Responding to the requests of the social stratum that supported her, Elizaveta Petrovna allowed the nobles, who were obliged by the law of 1735 to serve in the military or civil service for 25 years, to take preferential long-term holidays, which were so ingrained that in 1756-1757 they had to resort to drastic measures to force the officers who had settled down on the estates to come to the army. The Empress encouraged the custom of enrolling children in regiments as early as infancy, so that long before they came of age they could reach officer ranks. The continuation of these measures was the order to prepare the Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility (was signed later by Catherine II), encouraging the nobles to spend huge amounts on their daily needs, and increasing the cost of maintaining the court.
Elizabeth's foreign policy was also active. Upon accession to the throne, Elizabeth found Russia in a war with Sweden. During the Russian-Swedish war of 1741-1743, Russia received a significant part of Finland. Trying to resist the increased power of Prussia, Elizabeth abandoned traditional relationships with France and concluded an anti-Prussian alliance with Austria. Russia under Elizabeth successfully participated in the Seven Years' War. After the capture of Koenigsberg, Elizabeth issued a decree on the annexation of East Prussia to Russia as its province. The culmination of Russian military glory under Elizabeth was the capture of Berlin in 1760.
Elizaveta Petrovna herself had weaknesses that were costly to the state treasury. The main thing was the passion for clothes. Since the day of her accession to the throne, she has not worn a single dress twice. After the death of the empress, 15 thousand dresses, two chests of silk stockings, a thousand pairs of shoes and more than a hundred pieces of French fabrics remained in her wardrobe. Her outfits formed the basis of the textile collection of the State Historical Museum in Moscow.
Elizaveta Petrovna died on December 25, 1761. She appointed her nephew (Anna's sister's son), Pyotr Fedorovich, as the official heir to the throne.
After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, many impostors appeared who called themselves her children from her marriage to Razumovsky. The most famous figure among them was the so-called Princess Tarakanova.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
- Years of life: December 29 (18 old style) December 1709 - January 5, 1762 (December 25, 1762 old style)
- Years of government: December 6 (November 25), 1741 - January 5, 1762 (December 25, 1761)
- Father and mother: and Catherine I.
- Spouse: Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky.
- Children: No.
Elizaveta Petrovna (December 29 (18), 1709 - January 5, 1762 (December 25, 1761)) - Russian Empress, who ruled for 20 years from 1741.
Elizaveta Petrovna: childhood
On December 29 (18), 1709, in the Kolomna Palace, Catherine I gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, whose father was Emperor Peter I. On this day, the emperor returned to Moscow, intending to celebrate the victory in, but postponed the celebration in order to celebrate his daughter's birthday.
Elizabeth became an illegitimate child, her parents got married only 2 years later. In 1711, Elizabeth and her sister Anna became princesses.
Elizabeth from childhood was distinguished by her extraordinary beauty, already at the age of 8 she attracted attention with her attractive appearance. She was distinguished by grace, ease of movement, and knew how to dance perfectly.
Catherine, her mother, had no education, so she did not pay due attention to the education of her daughters. But Elizabeth was fluent in French, she could speak it fluently at the age of 16. The training was conducted by Veselovsky. Such attention was paid specifically to French, since Elizabeth's parents planned to marry her to Louis XV or the Duke of Orleans. Peter the Great negotiated on this issue, but could not agree on a marriage.
Elizabeth paid attention to her appearance, outfits, was fond of horse and boat riding, hunting. She had beautiful handwriting, read French novels, which also left its mark on her upbringing.
Elizabeth and her sister were surrounded by luxury from childhood: they wore Spanish outfits, dresses embroidered with gold and silver.
Courtship of Elizabeth Petrovna
After an unsuccessful attempt to marry Elizabeth to the French Dauphin, Portuguese and Persian applicants wooed her, but they were refused. As a result, Elizabeth agreed to marry Karl-August of Holstein, he was the younger brother of the then-ruling duke and bishop of the Lubsk diocese, but in 1727 he died in St. Petersburg before he could marry. Elizabeth, left without the prospect of a successful marriage, was greatly saddened by the untimely death of her fiancé.
Osterman, statesman, decided to marry Elizabeth to the emperor - Peter II. The church opposed this marriage, since Elizabeth was his aunt, as well as Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, because. he planned to marry his daughter to the emperor.
Peter II and Elizabeth in 1727 were united by close friendship. The emperor, together with his aunt, hunted, went for a walk. But despite their warm relationship, the wedding did not take place.
In the same year, portraits of Elizabeth Petrovna were sent to Moritz of Saxony and Karl-August of Holstein. Prince Karl-August decided to marry the princess and went to St. Petersburg. But in the process of preparing for the wedding, he fell ill with smallpox and died. Elizabeth finally resigned herself to the prospect of remaining unmarried.
In 1727, she fell in love with the military leader Alexander Borisovich Buturlin. In this regard, the meetings of Elizabeth with Peter II were significantly reduced.
When Elizabeth began to live in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, Buturlin often visited her. This caused dissatisfaction with Peter II, who in 1729 sent him to Ukraine. The relationship between Elizabeth and Buturlin ended there.
After Semyon Naryshkin became the favorite of Elizabeth Petrovna, there were rumors about their possible engagement. But the tsar again took his part and sent Naryshkin abroad.
The Prussian ambassador offered to arrange the marriage of Elizabeth and the Elector Karl of Brandenburg, but Peter refused, without even discussing this issue with the princess herself.
The third lover of Elizaveta Petrovna was the grenadier Shubin, who served as an orderly with her.
Life of Elizabeth Petrovna under Anna Ioannovna
On January 30 (19) Peter II died. According to the will of Catherine I, power was to go to Elizabeth, but the throne was offered. Relations between Elizabeth and Anna were strained, the Empress envied Elizabeth's beauty, and also saw her as a strong political rival.
Elizabeth lived in an estate near Moscow and did not participate in political life. After Anna Ioannovna (her great aunt) moved her to St. Petersburg. Elizabeth was forced to live very modestly, she experienced financial difficulties, she gave her own funds for the education of her cousins - the daughters of Karl Skavronsky.
Elizabeth actively communicated with ordinary people, participated in their holidays. The barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment were located near her house, Elizaveta Petrovna had good relations with the guards, she gave them gifts and even baptized their children. Elizabeth rarely appeared at court.
Elizabeth's favorite - Alexei Yakovlevich Shubin Anna ordered him to be imprisoned in a fortress, and then exiled to Siberia, where he was married against his will to a local resident.
Elizabeth did not seek power, she did not try to arrange a coup d'état. She also never claimed her rights to the throne.
Coup d'état and accession to the throne of Elizabeth Petrovna
Domestic policy of Elizabeth Petrovna
Elizaveta Petrovna said that she planned to continue the policy of Peter I. On December 13 (12), 1741, she abolished the Cabinet of Ministers and restored the Governing Senate, which performed the functions of legislative and executive power. The Berg Collegium, the Manufactory Collegium, the Chief Magistrate, and the Prosecutor's Office were also restored.
Under Peter I, for embezzlement and bribes, they were executed, beaten with a whip, property was taken away, Elizabeth mitigated the punishment for demotion, transfer to another service and dismissal. She abolished the death penalty and was actively engaged in the construction of almshouses and homes for the disabled.
In 1741, the Empress forgave the arrears of the peasants for 17 years. On the initiative of her favorite Shuvalov, commissions were organized that were involved in the development of new legislation, the Noble, Merchant and Copper banks were established, internal customs were destroyed and duties on imported goods were increased.
The rights of nobles were expanded. During their service, they could take long-term leave. In 1746, the nobles were given the right to own land and peasants, and in 1760 the landowners were given the right to exile them to Siberia.
Under Elizabeth Petrovna, there was a rise in the development of Russian culture. M.V. Lomonosov began to publish his works, the first complete geographical atlas of Russia appeared, the first chemical laboratory, the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper was opened, a university and 2 gymnasiums were approved in Moscow, and the first Russian state theater in St. Petersburg.
Also under the empress, the role of the Synod increased, and the persecution of the Old Believers increased. In 1742, she issued a decree according to which all citizens who professed Judaism were to be expelled, those who wanted to convert to Orthodoxy could stay. The construction of mosques was prohibited.
Foreign policy of Elizabeth Petrovna
In foreign policy, Elizaveta Petrovna also adhered to the principles of Peter I. When she ascended the throne, the country was at war with Sweden. In 1743, it ended, the Russian Empire received part of Finland.
The power of Prussia grew, so the Russian Empire entered into an anti-Prussian alliance with Austria, as a result, our country became a participant. Actions Russian Empire were quite successful: the Russian army occupied East Prussia and even briefly occupied Berlin.
Personal life of Elizabeth Petrovna
Favoritism flourished under Elizabeth, as under other eighteenth-century monarchs. For a long time in the life of the Empress, Alexei Grigoryevich Razumovsky played a big role. It is believed that even at the end of 1742 they secretly got married in the village of Perov near Moscow, although there is no written confirmation of this event. He lived in apartments connected to the chambers of the Empress. Razumovsky under Elizabeth Petrovna became one of the richest nobles at court. There were also rumors that the Empress and Razumovsky had a child, so after her death, the so-called "heirs" began to appear, the most famous impostor was Princess Tarakanova.
At the end of 1749, Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov became another favorite of Elizabeth. He influenced both internal and foreign policy Russian Empire. Shuvalov contributed to the development of science, founded Moscow University and created the Academy of Arts.
Life at court under Elizabeth Petrovna
The Empress loved to buy new outfits and arrange celebrations. After the death of Elizaveta Petrovna, about 15,000 dresses were found in her wardrobe, and in 1753, 4,000 dresses burned down during a fire in one of the Moscow palaces. She also had two chests of silk stockings, thousands of pairs of shoes, and a huge amount of French cloth.
The Empress also liked to arrange masquerades, where women dressed in men's costumes and vice versa. People around often praised the Empress's legs, she believed that men's suits suit her, while they spoil other women.
Dresses of the new style could only be worn by Elizabeth, other noble ladies could afford only those outfits that the Empress herself had already stopped wearing.
Elizaveta Petrovna: the last years of life and death
Since 1757, the Empress had hysterical fits. She was tormented by weakness, fainting, after such seizures, it was difficult for Elizabeth to speak. She had non-healing wounds on her legs.
Shortly before her death, she developed a severe cough with blood, after 10 days severe bleeding began. January 5 (December 25) Elizaveta Petrovna died.
Choosing an heir
The Empress was the last representative of the Romanov dynasty in a direct female line. As her heir, she chose her nephew, Duke Karl-Peter Ulrich of Holstein (). After her death, he became emperor.
“Looking at the affairs of Petrova,
To the hail, to the fleet and to the shelves
And it's good for your shackles,
The power of someone else's hand is strong,
Russia sighed earnestly
And every hour she cried out with her heart
To you, your Defender:
Deliver, cast down our burden,
Raise up to us the Petrovo Tribe,
Comfort, comfort your people,
Cover the Fatherly laws,
Regiments of nasty otzheni
And the sanctity of Your Crown
Strangers touch the taboo;
Turn away taxes from the church:
Monarchs are waiting for you,
Porphyry, Scepter and Throne;
The Almighty will go before You
And with your strong hand
It will protect everyone from terrible evils.
IRONIC POEMS by A.K. TOLSTOY
"Merry queenElizabeth was:
Sing and have fun
There is just no order."
RUSSIA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 18TH CENTURY
“In ... a vast space in the 40-50s of the XVIII century. only 19 million people of both sexes lived. They were extremely unevenly distributed throughout the country. If the population of the Central Industrial Region, which covered only Moscow and the provinces adjacent to it, numbered at least 4.7 million people, then the population of Siberia and the North was no more than 1 million people.
No less curious is the social structure of the population of Russia at that time. No more than 600 thousand people lived in cities, or less than 4% of the total population. The peasant population was divided into two main groups: the possessing peasants (landlords, palaces, monasteries) and the state, whose overlord was the state. In the total mass taken into account in the second revision (census) of 1744-1747. the peasant population (7.8 million male souls) of the landlord peasants was 4.3 million souls, or 50.5%. In general, the serf population accounted for 70% of the peasant and 63.2% of the total population. Such a significant predominance of serfs quite convincingly testifies to the nature of the Russian economy in the middle of the 18th century.
The Petrine era of reforms contributed to the intensive industrial development of the country. In the first half of the XVIII century. outstanding achievements were made in the iron and steel industry. Back in 1700, Russia smelted 5 times less iron than England, which was advanced at that time (respectively, 2.5 thousand tons and 12 thousand tons). But already in 1740, the production of pig iron in Russia reached 25 thousand tons, and it left England far behind, which smelted 17.3 thousand tons. Later on, this gap continued to increase, and in 1780 Russia already smelted 110 thousand tons of pig iron, and England - only 40 thousand tons. And only at the end of the 18th century. the industrial revolution that began in England put an end to the economic power of Russia, built on manufacturing production and semi-serf labor organization.
In the second quarter of the XVIII century. there is no need to talk about the crisis of the Russian economy. In just 15 years (from 1725 to 1740) the output of cast iron and iron in the country more than doubled (from 1.2 million to 2.6 million poods). In those years, other industries, as well as trade, developed. During the Elizabethan period, heavy industry was further developed. Thus, the smelting of pig iron from 25 thousand tons in 1740 increased to 33 thousand tons in 1750 and by 1760 amounted to 60 thousand tons. According to experts, the 50s were truly a record for the metallurgical industry throughout the entire 18th century.
Anisimov E.V. Russia in the middleXVIIIcentury. M., 1986
ANGER AND MERCY
On November 25, 1741, a new coup took place. At night, guards soldiers, led by their daughter Elizabeth, dressed in a cuirass, burst into the bedroom of the ruling Brunswick family. The little emperor and his parents were arrested. The soldier who was carrying Ivan VI dropped him on the stairs. The overthrown family was first intended to be sent abroad. Then they considered it too dangerous. The captives were sent to Kholmogory, to the north. The brothers and sisters of Ivan VI were born there. Anna Leopoldovna and Anton of Brunswick died in exile. Their children, who were even banned from being taught to read and write, eked out a miserable existence. Ivan VI was kept separately from the age of four - in the Shlisselburg fortress. In 1764, he was killed by guards during an attempt to free him by the adventurer Mirovich.
During the overthrow of the Brunswick family, Minich and Osterman were arrested. They were sent into exile in Siberia. But Elizabeth remembered the "merits" of Biron. In 1730-1740. The Duke of Courland did not allow Empress Anna Ioannovna to imprison Elizabeth in a monastery. (Biron hoped to marry his son to Elizabeth.) Elizabeth allowed Biron to return from Siberia and live in Yaroslav.
The company of the Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment that carried out the coup was named label company. Non-noble soldiers received hereditary nobility from it. All life-companies were granted estates. In the future, the Life Company did not play a prominent role in the Elizabethan reign.
The Life Company and other participants in the coup received 18,000 peasants and about 90,000 rubles. But in general, from 1741 to 1761, 800 thousand souls of both sexes were given to the nobles.
PRIVILEGED ESTATE
The nobles were not only freely released into retirement after 25 years of service, but they were not particularly monitored for whether they came to the service at a certain age. Under Elizabeth, the custom spread to record the nobles in the regiments as minors - from 3-4 years old, while the children, of course, lived in the homes of their parents, but the ranks and length of service were already on. When the young nobles really began to serve, they were already in officer ranks and they did not have long to serve before the expiration of the 25-year term.
The officer service in the guards regiments did not have the former strictness and was a pleasant and prestigious entertainment, which, however, required a lot of money.
In order to raise the income of the nobility, Elizabeth in 1754 declared distillation (vodka production) a monopoly of the nobles. This meant that only the nobles could now produce such a lucrative commodity. Merchants who had distilleries were ordered to break them down or sell them to the nobles within six months.
The state-owned factories of the Urals also began to be transferred to the nobles. In 1754, the Noble Bank was organized, which gave the nobles a loan at a low interest rate (6% against the traditional 30% for that time).
In 1746, Elizabeth issued a decree forbidding anyone other than nobles to buy serfs with or without land. Even the personal nobles who had served themselves out were forbidden to have serfs. In 1754, the General land surveying began. Non-nobles (including rich merchants) were generally forbidden to have estates with serfs. In 6 months they had to sell their estates. As a result, the "gentry" acquired an additional 50 million acres of land.
In the same 1754, internal customs were abolished in Russia, from which everyone who was engaged in trade, especially merchants, benefited.
In 1760, the landowners received the right to exile their peasants under the age of 45 to Siberia. Each exile was counted as a recruit, so the nobles widely used their right, exiling objectionable, poor or sick peasants and retaining the best workers. From 1760 to 1765 more than 20,000 serfs were exiled to the Tobolsk and Yenisei provinces.
Serfdom intensified. Serfs were almost not considered human beings: Elizabeth even excluded them from the oath taken by her subjects.
Elizabeth all the time emphasized that she was the daughter of Peter I and would rule like him. But the queen did not possess the genius of her father, so the similarity of these manifestations was only external. Elizabeth restored the system of institutions of central power that was under Peter I. The Cabinet of Ministers was abolished, but at the end of the reign of Elizabeth, when the empress began to get sick often, a body arose that, in fact, repeats it and stands above the Senate and collegiums - the Conference at the highest court. The conference included the presidents of the military and diplomatic departments and persons appointed by the empress.
EMPRESS ELIZABETH
“The nineteen-year reign of this empress gave the whole of Europe the opportunity to get acquainted with her character. They are accustomed to seeing in her an empress full of kindness and humanity, magnanimous, liberal and generous, but frivolous, careless, averse to business, loving above all pleasure and entertainment, true to her tastes and habits rather than passions and friendship, extremely trusting and always under someone's influence.
All this is still true to a certain extent, but the years and disordered health, having made gradual changes in her body, were also reflected in her moral state. Thus, for example, love for pleasures and noisy festivities gave way in her to a disposition to silence and even solitude, but not to work. To this latter, Empress Elisaveta Petrovna feels more disgust than ever. For her, any reminder of business is hateful, and those close to her often happen to wait half a year for a convenient minute to persuade her to sign a decree or a letter.
IN. KLYUCHEVSKY ABOUT ELIZAVETA PETROVNA
Her reign was not without glory, not even without benefit.<…>Peaceful and carefree, she was forced to fight for almost half of her reign, defeated the first strategist of that time, Frederick the Great, took Berlin, laid the abyss of soldiers on the fields of Zorndorf and Kunersdorf; but since the reign of Princess Sophia, life in Rus' has never been so easy, and not a single reign before 1762 left such a pleasant memory. With two large coalition wars that exhausted Western Europe it seemed that Elizabeth with her 300,000-strong army could become the arbiter of European destinies; the map of Europe lay before her at her disposal, but she looked at it so rarely that for the rest of her life she was sure of the possibility of traveling to England by land; and she also founded the first real university in Russia - Moscow. Lazy and capricious, frightened by any serious thought, abhorred by any business occupation, Elizabeth could not enter into difficult international relationships Europe of that time and understand the diplomatic intricacies of their Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin. But in her inner chambers, she created for herself a special political environment of hangers-on and storytellers, gossips, headed by an intimate cabinet of solidarity, where the prime minister was Mavra Yegorovna Shuvalova, the wife of the inventor and schemer we know, and the members were Anna Karlovna Vorontsova, nee Skavronskaya, a relative of the Empress, and some simply Elizaveta Ivanovna, who was called the Minister of Foreign Affairs. “All cases were submitted to the empress through her,” a contemporary notes.<…>With all that in her, not like in her Courland predecessor, somewhere deep under a thick crust of prejudices, bad habits and spoiled tastes, a man still lived, sometimes breaking through either in a vow before seizing the throne not to execute anyone by death and in the decree of May 17, 1744 that fulfilled this vow, which actually abolished the death penalty in Russia, then in the non-approval of the ferocious criminal part of the Code, drawn up in the Commission of 1754 and already approved by the Senate, with exquisite types of death penalty, then in preventing obscene petitions Synod about the need to abandon the vow given by the Empress, then, finally, in the ability to cry from an unjust decision, torn out by the intrigues of the same Synod. Elizabeth was a smart and kind, but disorderly and capricious Russian lady of the 18th century, who, according to Russian custom, was scolded by many during her lifetime and, according to Russian custom, everyone mourned after her death.
COURT LIFE 30-50 18th century
Elizabeth's court was buried in luxury and exquisite nightly entertainment (the queen was afraid to sleep at night, because she was afraid of conspiracies carried out in Russia usually at night). The customs of Elizabeth's court differed little from European court life. Pleasant music played at the balls, performed by excellent orchestras, Elizaveta Petrovna shone with beauty and dresses. At the court, masquerade balls were regularly held, and in the first ten years, so-called "metamorphoses", when ladies dressed up in men's costumes, and men in women's costumes. Elizaveta Petrovna herself set the tone and was a trendsetter. Her wardrobe included 15 thousand dresses. The queen did not wear any of them twice. Nevertheless, V.O. Klyuchevsky noted: Having ascended the throne, she wanted to fulfill her girlish dreams into a magical reality; performances, pleasure trips, courts, balls, masquerades stretched out in an endless string, striking with dazzling brilliance and luxury to the point of nausea. Sometimes the whole courtyard turned into a theatrical foyer: day after day they talked only about the French comedy, about the Italian comic opera and its owner Locatelli, about the intermezza, etc. But the living rooms, where the palace inhabitants left the lush halls, were struck by crampedness, squalor of the situation, slovenliness: the doors did not close, the windows blew; water ran over the wall-boards, the rooms were extremely damp; Grand Duchess Ekaterina had huge cracks in her bedroom in the oven; near this bedroom, 17 servants crowded in a small chamber; the furniture was so meager that mirrors, beds, tables and chairs were transported as needed from palace to palace, even from St. Petersburg to Moscow, broken, beaten and placed in this form in temporary places. Elizabeth lived and reigned in gilded poverty; she left behind in her wardrobe too 15,000 dresses, two chests of silk stockings, a bunch of unpaid bills and the unfinished huge Winter Palace, which had already absorbed more than 10 million rubles from our money from 1755 to 1761. Shortly before her death, she really wanted to live in this palace; but in vain she tried in vain to have the builder Rastrelli hasten to finish at least her own living rooms. French haberdashery shops sometimes refused to release newfangled goods to the palace on credit..
An integral feature of the Russian autocracy in the 1725-1750s. became favoritism. The rulers changed, but everyone had favorites who had great power and influence in the state, even if they did not hold high government posts. These favorites, "nobles in case," cost the treasury a lot of money. They were constantly showered with a golden rain of gifts, thousands, and even tens of thousands of serfs were given. Under Elizabeth Petrovna, Alexey Razumovsky and Ivan Shuvalov enjoyed a special location. Relatives and people close to the favorites also possessed colossal weight.
ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MOSCOW UNIVERSITY AND TWO GYMNASIUMS
WITH THE APPENDIX OF THE HIGHEST APPROVED PROJECT ON THIS SUBJECT
1755, January 12
When immortal glory in Bose resting, our dearest parent and sovereign Peter the Great, the great emperor and the renovator of his fatherland, immersed in the depths of ignorance and weakened in strength, Russia led to the knowledge of the true well-being of the human race, what and colic during all the time of the most precious of his life the monarch’s labors believed in that, not only Russia feels, but most of the world is a witness to it; and although during the life of only the highly glorious monarch, our father and sovereign, we did not achieve his all-useful enterprise to perfection, but we have the most high favor, since our accession to the All-Russian throne, we have hourly care and work, both for the fulfillment of all his glorious enterprises, and for the production of everything that can only serve for the benefit and well-being of the entire fatherland, which indeed, in many matters, all loyal subjects of our motherly mercies now descendants continue to use and will continue to use it, which times and actions daily prove. Following this, from our true patriots and knowing enough that our only desire and will is to produce the people's well-being for the glory of the fatherland, exercising in that, to our perfect pleasure, we applied our diligence and labor for the benefit of the whole people; but as all good comes from an enlightened mind, and, on the contrary, evil is rooted out, therefore, it is necessary to strive to make all useful knowledge grow in our vast empire in the way of decent sciences; which, imitating for the glory of the common fatherland, our Senate, and recognizing as very useful for the well-being of the people, most submissively reported to us that our real chamberlain and gentleman Shuvalov submitted to the Senate with a report, with the application of a project and staff on the establishment of one university and two gymnasiums in Moscow, presented the following: how science is needed and useful everywhere, and how enlightened peoples are exalted and glorified over the living in this way me ignorance of people, what is the visible evidence of our age from God bestowed, to the well-being of our empire, the parent of our sovereign, Emperor Peter the Great, proves that his divine enterprise had fulfillment through science, his immortal glory left in eternal times, reason surpassing deeds, in only short time a change in morals and customs and ignorance, long established, the building of cities and fortresses, the establishment of an army, the establishment of a fleet, the correction of uninhabited lands, the establishment of waterways, all for the benefit of the common human life, and that finally all the bliss of human life, in which the countless fruits of every good are presented to the senses; and that our vast empire established here by our dearest parent, Sovereign Peter the Great, the St. Petersburg Academy, which we, among the many well-being of our subjects with mercies of a considerable amount against the former, for the greatest benefit and for the reproduction and encouragement of sciences and arts, omnipotently granted, although it produces its fruits with foreign glory and with the benefit of the local, but only about cannot be satisfied with a scientific corps, in such an argument that many nobles and raznochintsy have obstacles to coming to St. Petersburg due to the distance, and although the first to proper education and training for our service, except for the Academy, in the Land and Naval Cadet Corps, in Engineering and Artillery have an open way, but for teaching the higher sciences to those who wish nobles, or those who are in the above places for which -no reasons are written down, and for general education of raznochintsy, our real chamberlain and cavalier Shuvalov, mentioned above, about the establishment of the university announced above in Moscow for nobles and raznochintsy, following the example of European universities, where people of all ranks freely use science, and two gymnasiums, one for nobles, the other for raznochintsy, except for serfs ...
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RUSSIAN THEATER
We have now ordered the establishment of a Russian theater for the performance of tragedies and comedies, for which the Golovninsky stone house, on Vasilyevsky Island, near the Cadet House, should be given.
And for this, it was ordered to recruit actors and actresses: actors from Yaroslavl students and singers in the Cadet Corps, who will be needed, and in addition to them, actors from other non-serving people, as well as a decent number of actresses.
For the maintenance of this theater, according to the force of our decree, from now on, a sum of money of 5,000 rubles should be determined per year, which should always be released from the State Office at the beginning of the year after the signing of our decree. To supervise the house, Alexei Dyakonov is appointed from the life company's cops, whom we granted as an army lieutenant with a salary of 250 rubles a year from the amount put on the theater. Determine in this house, where the theater is established, a decent guard.
The directorate of that Russian theater is entrusted from us to foreman Alexander Sumarokov, who is determined from the same amount in addition to his foreman's salary of 1,000 rubles ... And what salary both actors and actresses, and others at the theater to produce, about that he, foreman Sumarokov, was given a register from the court.
- Russian Empress (1741-24 December 1761), daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine I (born December 18, 1709). From the day of the death of Catherine I, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Petrovna went through a difficult school. Especially dangerous was her position under Anna Ioannovna and Anna Leopoldovna, who were constantly frightened by the commitment of the guard to Elizabeth. She was saved from being tonsured as a nun by the existence abroad of her nephew Prince Holstein; during his lifetime, any drastic measure with Elizabeth would have been useless cruelty. Foreign diplomats, the French ambassador Chétardie and the Swedish ambassador, Baron Nolken, decided, from the political views of their courts, to take advantage of the mood of the guards and elevate Elizabeth to the throne. The mediator between the ambassadors and Elizabeth was the life doctor Lestok. But Elizabeth managed without their assistance. The Swedes declared war on the government of Anna Leopoldovna, under the pretext of liberating Russia from the yoke of foreigners. The regiments of the guard were ordered to march. Before the performance, the soldiers of the grenadier company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, most of whom Elizabeth baptized children, expressed her fear: would she be safe among the enemies? Elizabeth decided to take action. At 2 am on November 25, 1741, Elizabeth appeared at the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment and, recalling whose daughter she was, ordered the soldiers to follow her, forbidding them to use weapons, for the soldiers threatened to kill everyone. During the night there was a coup, and on November 25 a short manifesto was issued on the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, drawn up in very vague terms. Not a word was said about the illegality of the rights of Ivan Antonovich. Before the guards, Elizabeth showed great tenderness for John. In a completely different tone, a detailed manifesto of November 28 was written, reminiscent of the order of succession to the throne established by Catherine I and approved by a general oath (see Catherine I). The manifesto says that the throne, after the death of Peter II, followed Elizabeth. Its compilers forgot that, according to the will of Catherine, after the death of Peter II, the throne was to go to the son of Anna Petrovna and the Duke of Holstein, who was born in 1728. In the accusations directed against the German temporary workers and their friends, they were charged with much that they were not guilty of: this is due to the fact that Elizabeth Petrovna was very annoyed by the attitude towards her of people exalted by her father - Minich, Osterman and others Public opinion did not think, however, to enter into an analysis of the degree of guilt of one or another person; the irritation against the German temporary workers was so strong that they saw in the cruel execution, determined by him, retribution for the painful execution of Dolgoruky and Volynsky. Osterman and Munnich were given the death penalty by quartering; Levenvold, Mengden, Golovkin - just the death penalty. The death penalty has been replaced by exile for everyone. It is remarkable that Munnich was also accused of appointing Biron as regent, and Biron himself was not only not touched, but even eased his fate: he was transferred from Pelym to Yaroslavl (since Biron himself did not press Elizabeth).
Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Portrait by I. Vishnyakov, 1743
In the first years of the reign of Elizabeth, conspiracies were continually sought out; from here arose, by the way, the gloomy case of the Lopukhins. Cases like Lopukhin's arose from two reasons: 1) from an exaggerated fear of the adherents of the Brunswick dynasty, whose number was extremely limited, and 2) from the intrigues of persons who were close to Elizaveta Petrovna, for example, from the tunnels of Lestok and others against Bestuzhev-Ryumin. Lestok was an adherent of an alliance with France, Bestuzhev-Ryumin - an alliance with Austria; therefore, foreign diplomats intervened in the domestic intrigue. Natalya Fedorovna Lopukhina, the wife of a lieutenant general, was famous for her outstanding beauty, education and courtesy. It was said that under Anna Ioannovna, at court balls, she overshadowed Elizaveta Petrovna, and that this rivalry instilled in Elizabeth Petrovna enmity towards Lopukhina, who at that time already had a son, an officer. She was friendly with Anna Gavrilovna Bestuzheva-Ryumina, nee Golovkina, the wife of the vice chancellor's brother. Lopukhina, who was in connection with Levenvold, sent him a bow with one officer, saying that he should not lose heart and hoped for better times, and Bestuzheva sent a bow to her brother, Count Golovkin, also exiled in the so-called case of Osterman and Munnich. Both were acquainted with the Marquis Botta, the Austrian envoy in St. Petersburg. Botta, not embarrassed, expressed with his acquaintances the ladies on an unfounded assumption that the Brunswick dynasty would soon reign again. Transferred to Berlin, he repeated the same assumptions there. All this idle chatter gave Lestocq an excuse to concoct a plot by which he wanted to strike at Vice-Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the defender of the Austrian alliance. The investigation of the case was entrusted to the Prosecutor General Prince Trubetskoy, Lestok and General-General Ushakov. Trubetskoy hated Bestuzhev-Ryumin as much as Lestok, but he hated Lestok even more; he belonged to the oligarchic party, which, after the overthrow of the German temporary workers, hoped to seize power in their own hands and renew the attempt of the supreme leaders. From people who did not hide their regret for the exiled, it was easy to get a confession in impudent speeches against the empress and in censure of her private life. Torture was used in the case - and for all that, only eight people were brought to trial. The verdict was terrible: Lopukhin with her husband and son, having cut out their tongues, be driven on the wheel. Elizaveta Petrovna abolished the death penalty: Lopukhin with her husband and son, after cutting out their tongues, were ordered to beat with a whip, others - only with a whip. The manifesto, in which Russia was informed about the Lopukhins' case, again spoke of the illegality of the previous reign. All this caused sharp criticism of Elizabeth and did not bring the result desired by the intrigue - the overthrow of the Bestuzhevs. The importance of the vice-chancellor not only did not decrease, but even increased; after a while he received the rank of chancellor. Shortly before the start of the Lopukhina case, Bestuzhev stood for the dismissal of Anna Leopoldovna, with her family, abroad; but the Lopukhins' case and Anna Leopoldovna's refusal to renounce, for her children, the rights to the Russian throne were the cause of the sad fate of the Brunswick family (see Anna Leopoldovna). To calm the minds, Elizabeth hastened to summon her nephew Karl-Peter-Ulrich, the son of Anna Petrovna and the Duke of Holstein, to Petersburg. On November 7, 1742, just before the announcement of the Lopukhins' case, he was proclaimed heir to the throne. Before that, he converted to Orthodoxy, and in church pronouncements, it was ordered to add in his name: the grandson of Peter the Great.
Having secured power for herself, Elizabeth hastened to reward people who contributed to her accession to the throne or were generally devoted to her. The grenadier company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment was called the Life Campaign. Soldiers not from the nobility are enrolled in the nobility; they were given estates. The officers of the company were equated with the ranks of generals, Razumovsky and Vorontsov were appointed lieutenants, with the rank of lieutenant general, the Shuvalovs - second lieutenants, with the rank of major generals. Sergeants became colonels, corporals became captains. The riot of soldiers in the first days of Elizabeth's accession to the throne reached extremes and caused bloody clashes. Alexey Razumovsky, the son of a simple Cossack, showered with orders, in 1744 was already a count of the Roman Empire and the morganatic spouse of Elizabeth. His brother Cyril was appointed president of the Academy of Sciences and Hetman of Little Russia. Lestocq, who worked so hard for Elizabeth, was granted the title of count. At the same time, the rise of the Shuvalov brothers, Alexander and Peter Ivanovich, with their cousin Ivan Ivanovich, began. The head of the secret office, Alexander Ivanovich, enjoyed the greatest confidence in Elizabeth Petrovna. He left behind the most hateful memory. The Shuvalovs were followed by Vorontsov, appointed vice-chancellor, after the appointment of Count Bestuzhev-Ryumin as chancellor. Before the Seven Years' War, Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, whom Lestok wanted to destroy, but who himself ruined Lestok, enjoyed the strongest influence. He deciphered the letters of the French ambassador Chétardie, a friend of Lestocq, and found harsh expressions in the letters about Elizaveta Petrovna. Lestok's estates were confiscated, he was exiled to Ustyug.
IN foreign policy Bestuzhev knew how to put Russia in such a position that all the powers were looking for her alliance. Frederick II says that Bestuzhev took money from foreign courts; this is likely, because all the advisers of Elizabeth took the money - some from Sweden, some from Denmark, some from France, some from England, some from Austria or Prussia. Everyone knew this, but they kept silent about this sensitive issue until, as over Lestocq, a thunderstorm broke out for some other reason. When Elizabeth Petrovna ascended the throne, peace with Sweden could be expected; but the Swedish government demanded the return of the conquests of Peter the Great, which led to the resumption of the war. The Swedes were defeated and in the world in Abo, in 1743, they had to make new territorial concessions to Russia (part of Finland, along the Kumen River). In the same year, the issue of succession to the throne in Sweden was resolved, which had been shaking this country since 1741, from the day of the death of Ulrich Eleonora. On the advice of Bestuzhev, armed assistance was sent to the Holstein party and Adolf Friedrich, the uncle of the heir to Elizabeth Petrovna, was declared the heir to the throne. The War of the Austrian Succession was also ended with the assistance of Russia. England, an ally of Austria, being unable to keep the Austrian Netherlands behind her ally, asked for help from Russia. The appearance of a corps of Russian troops on the banks of the Rhine River helped end the war and conclude the Peace of Aachen (1748). The Chancellor's influence grew stronger; Elizaveta Petrovna took his side even in his dispute with the heir to the throne on the issue of Schleswig, which the Grand Duke wanted, against the will of the Empress, to keep behind his house. In the future, this discord threatened Bestuzhev-Ryumin with troubles, but at the same time he managed to attract Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna to his side. It was only during the Seven Years' War that the Chancellor's enemies finally succeeded in breaking him (cf. Seven Years' War and Bestuzhev-Ryumin). A court was ordered over the chancellor, he was deprived of his ranks and exiled.
Important things were done under Elizabeth on the outskirts of Russia; a very dangerous fire could break out there at the same time. In Little Russia, the management of the Little Russian collegium left behind a terrible displeasure. Elizaveta Petrovna, having visited Kyiv in 1744, calmed the region and allowed to elect a hetman in the person of her favorite brother, Kirill Razumovsky. But Razumovsky himself understood that the time of hetmanship had passed. At his request, the cases from the Little Russian Collegium were transferred to the Senate, on which the city of Kyiv directly depended. The end of Zaporozhye was also approaching (see this word and Catherine II), for the steppes, from the time of Anna Ioannovna, were populated more and more. In the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, new settlers are called; in 1750, in the current counties of Alexandria and Bobrinetsky of the Kherson province, Serbs were settled, of which two hussar regiments were formed. These settlements are called New Serbia. Later, in the current Ekaterinoslav province, in the counties of Slavyanoserbsky and Bakhmut, new Serbian settlers (Slavyanoserbia) were settled. Near the fortress of St. Elizabeth, on the upper reaches of the Ingul, formed from Polish immigrants, Little Russians, Moldavians and schismatics of the settlement, which gave rise to the Novoslobodskaya line. So Zaporizhia was squeezed almost from all sides by the already forming second Novorossia. In the first New Russia, that is, in the Orenburg Territory, in 1744, as a result of serious unrest of the Bashkirs, the Orenburg province was established, the governor of which was subordinate to the Ufa province and the Stavropol district of the current Samara province. Neplyuev was appointed governor of Orenburg. He caught the Bashkir rebellion; Bashkirs could easily connect with other foreigners; Neplyuev had few troops - but he raised the Kirghiz, Teptyars, Meshcheryaks against the Bashkirs, and the rebellion was pacified. He was greatly helped by the fact that, due to the small number of Russian elements in the region, factories under Anna Ioannovna were built there as fortresses. The general displeasure and irritation of foreigners also affected the remote northeast: the Chukchi and Koryaks in Okhotsk threatened to exterminate the Russian population. The Koryaks, who sat in a wooden prison, showed particular bitterness: they burned themselves voluntarily, if only not to surrender to the Russians.
Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Portrait by V. Eriksen
A few weeks after her accession to the throne, Elizabeth issued a personal decree stating that the Empress saw a violation of the order government controlled, established by her parent: "through the intrigues of some (persons), the Supreme Privy Council was invented, then a cabinet was composed in equal strength, as was the Supreme Privy Council, only the name was changed, from which there was a lot of omission of cases, and justice came to a complete weakness." The Senate under Elizabeth received a power that it had neither before nor since. The number of senators has been increased. The Senate stopped the flagrant turmoil both in the colleges and in the provincial institutions. The Arkhangelsk prosecutor, for example, reported that secretaries go to office when they want, from which they keep the convicts for a long time. The Senate rendered a particularly important service in one of the years when the poor people in Moscow were in danger of being left without salt. Thanks to the diligence of the Senate, salt was delivered and the salt tax, one of important income treasury, was put in order. Since 1747, when the Elton salt was discovered, the salt issue has not escalated to such an extent. In 1754, at the suggestion of Peter Ivanovich Shuvalov, internal customs and outposts were abolished. According to S. M. Solovyov, this act completed the unification of eastern Russia, destroying the traces of specific division. According to the projects of the same Shuvalov: 1) Russia, for the sake of easing the severity of recruiting sets, was divided into 5 lanes; in each strip, recruitment occurred after 5 years; 2) commercial and noble banks were established. But the merits of Shuvalov were not understood by everyone, and the results of his greed were evident to everyone. He turned seals and fisheries on the White and Caspian Seas into his monopoly; managing the conversion of copper coins, he privately gave money at interest. The Razumovskys, the closest people to Elizaveta Petrovna, did not intervene in state affairs; their influence was great only in the field of church government. Both Razumovskys were imbued with boundless respect for the memory of Stefan Yavorsky and enmity for the memory of Feofan Prokopovich. Therefore, people who hated Prokopovich's educational aspirations began to be elevated to the highest levels of the hierarchy. The very marriage of Elizabeth with Razumovsky was inspired by her confessor. The liberation of Russia from the German temporary workers, aggravating the already then strong spirit religious intolerance, cost Russia dearly. Sermons in this direction did not spare not only the Germans, but also European science. Minich and Osterman were seen as emissaries of Satan sent to destroy Orthodox faith. The abbot of the Sviyazhsky monastery, Dimitry Sechenov, called his opponents the prophets of the Antichrist, who silenced the preachers of Christ's word. Ambrose Yushkevich accused the Germans of deliberately slowing down the progress of education in Russia, persecuting the Russian disciples of Peter the Great - a weighty accusation, supported by Lomonosov, who, however, equally accused both German academics and the clergy of the same obscurantism. Having received censorship in their hands, the synod began by submitting in 1743 for signature a decree banning the importation of books into Russia without prior viewing. Chancellor Count Bestuzhev-Ryumin rebelled against the draft of this decree. He convinced Elizabeth that not only the prohibition, but also the censorship of foreign books would have a harmful effect on education. He advised to release historical and philosophical books from censorship, to look through only theological books. But the chancellor's advice did not stop the zeal for the banning of books. Thus, Fontenelle's book On the Many Worlds was banned. In 1749, it was ordered to select a book printed under Peter the Great - "Featron, or Shame of History", translated by Gabriel Buzhansky. In the church itself, phenomena were discovered that indicated the need for a broader education for the clergy themselves: when fanatical self-immolations intensified among schismatics, our pastors were not able to stop the wild manifestations of fanaticism with a word and appealed to the secular authorities for help. But representatives of the clergy armed themselves even against church schools. Archbishop Varsonofy of Arkhangelsk expressed dissatisfaction with the large school built in Arkhangelsk: schools de loved the bishops of Cherkasy, i.e. Little Russians. No wonder that people of this way of thinking had to deal with the Senate in state and legislative matters. Elizaveta Petrovna, due to her personal nature, significantly softened our criminal legislation, abolishing the death penalty, as well as torture in tavern cases. The Senate submitted a report so that minors under seventeen years of age would be completely freed from torture. The Synod rebelled against softening here too, arguing that infancy, according to the teachings of St. fathers, is considered only up to 12 years. At the same time, it was forgotten that the resolutions referred to by the synod were issued for southern countries, where the puberty of girls begins at the age of 11-12. At the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, Prince Yakov Petrovich Shakhovskoy, a one-sided, proud, but honest man, was appointed chief prosecutor to the synod. He demanded regulations, instructions to the chief prosecutor and a register of unresolved cases; only the regulations were delivered to him; the instructions were lost and only then delivered to him by the Prosecutor General, Prince Trubetskoy. For conversations in the church it was ordered to take fines. The fine was collected by officers who lived at the monasteries; the synod began to argue that collecting a fine should be a parable. Such bickering pointed most clearly to the need for education. But, with a general almost hatred for enlightenment, powerful energy was required to defend its necessity. Therefore, the memory of Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov and Lomonosov, who associated their names with the most useful thing reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. According to their project, in 1755, the Moscow University was founded, gymnasiums arose in Moscow and Kazan, and then the Academy of Arts was founded in St. Petersburg.
By personal nature, Elizabeth was alien to political ambition; it is very likely that if she had not been persecuted under Anna Ioannovna, she would not have thought about a political role. In her youth, she was only interested in dancing, and in her old age - the pleasures of the table. The love of far niente [doing nothing] intensified in her every year. So, for two years she could not get together to answer the letter of the French king.
Sources: P.S.Z.; memoirs; especially important are the notes of Prince Shakhovsky, Bolotov, Dashkov, and others. The history of Elizabeth is described in detail by S. M. Solovyov. The sketch of the reign of Empress Elizabeth also deserves attention. Eshevsky.
Elizaveta Petrovna is the Russian Empress, who became the last representative of the royal Romanov dynasty in the female line. She entered the history of Russia as a cheerful ruler, as she had a pronounced passion for chic balls and various high-society entertainments. The years of her reign were not marked by special pronounced achievements, but she skillfully led her court and maneuvered among political groups, which allowed her to firmly hold on to the throne for two decades. However, Elizabeth I played important role in the development of the culture and economy of the country, and also managed to lead the Russian army to several confident victories in serious wars.
Elizaveta Petrovna was born on December 29, 1709 in the village of Kolomeskoye near Moscow. She became illegitimate daughter Tsar Peter I and Martha Skavronskaya (Catherine I), therefore, she received the title of princess only two years after birth, when her parents entered into an official church marriage. In 1721, after the ascension of Peter I to the imperial throne, Elizabeth and her sister Anna received the titles of crown princes, which made them legitimate heirs to the royal throne.
Young Elizabeth was the most beloved daughter of Emperor Peter, but she rarely saw her father. Her upbringing was mainly carried out by Princess Natalya Alekseevna (paternal aunt) and the family of Alexander Menshikov, who was an associate of Peter Alekseevich. But they did not particularly burden the future empress with studies - she was thoroughly engaged only in studying French and developing beautiful handwriting. She also gained superficial knowledge about others. foreign languages, geography and history, but they did not interest the princess, so she devoted all her time to caring for her beauty and choosing outfits.
Elizaveta Petrovna was reputed to be the first beauty at court, was fluent in dancing, and was distinguished by her extraordinary resourcefulness and ingenuity. Such qualities made her the "main center" of diplomatic projects - Peter the Great made plans to marry his daughter to Louis XV and the Duke of Orleans, but the French Bourbons politely refused. After that, the portraits of the princesses were sent to minor German princes, but Karl-August Holstein, who showed interest in Elizabeth, died upon arrival in St. Petersburg, never reaching the altar.
After the death of Peter the Great and Ekaterina Alekseevna, the troubles regarding the marriage of Elizabeth completely ceased. Then the princess completely devoted herself to entertainment, hobbies and amusements at court, but when her cousin Anna Ioannovna ascended the throne, she was deprived of her brilliant position and exiled to Alexander's settlement. But the society saw in Elizabeth Petrovna the true heir of Peter the Great, so she began to show power ambitions, and she began to prepare for the fulfillment of her “right” to reign, which, according to the law, was illegitimate, since she was the premarital child of Peter I.
Ascension to the throne
The title of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna received as a result of the most "bloodless" coup d'état of 1741. It happened without a preliminary conspiracy, since the empress did not particularly strive for power and did not show herself to be a strong political figure. At the moment of the coup itself, she had no program, but was seized by the idea of her own accession, which was supported by ordinary citizens and guardsmen, who expressed dissatisfaction with the dominance of foreigners at court, the disgrace of the Russian nobility, the tightening of serfdom and tax legislation.
On the night of November 24-25, 1741, Elizaveta Petrovna, with the support of her confidant and secret adviser Johann Lestok, arrived at the Preobrazhensky barracks and raised a grenadier company. The soldiers unquestioningly agreed to help her overthrow the current government and, consisting of 308 people, went to the Winter Palace, where the princess proclaimed herself empress, usurping the current power: the baby emperor John Antonovich and all his relatives from the Braunschweig family were arrested and imprisoned in the Solovetsky Monastery.
Given the circumstances of the ascension to the throne of Elizabeth I, the first manifesto she signed was a document according to which she is the only legitimate heir to the throne after the death of Peter II. After that, she announced her political course aimed at returning the legacy of Peter the Great. In the same period, she hurried to reward all her associates who helped her ascend the throne: the company of grenadiers of the Preobrazhensky Regiment was renamed the life company, and all the soldiers who did not have noble roots were elevated to nobles and promoted in ranks. Also, all of them were awarded lands that were confiscated from foreign landowners.
The coronation of Elizabeth Petrovna took place in April 1742. She passed with special pomp and chic. It was then that the 32-year-old Empress revealed all her love for spectacular spectacles and masquerades. During the celebrations, a mass amnesty was announced, and people on the streets sang salutatory odes to the new ruler, who managed to expel the German rulers and became in their eyes the winner of "foreign elements."
Governing body
Putting on the crown and making sure that society supported and approved the changes that had taken place, Elizabeth I immediately signed her second manifesto after the coronation. In it, the empress, in a rather rude form, outlined the evidence of the illegality of the rights to the throne of Ivan VI and charged the German temporary workers and their Russian friends. As a result, the favorites of the former Empress Levenvold, Minich, Osterman, Golovkin and Mengden were sentenced to death, but after that the ruler decided to commute their punishment and exiled them to Siberia, which she decided to prove to Europe her own tolerance.
From the first days on the throne, Elizabeth I began to praise "Peter's deeds" - she restored the Senate, the Chief Magistrate, the Provisional College, Manufactory and Berg Colleges. At the head of these departments, she put those members of the public who were in disgrace with the previous government or were ordinary guards officers before the coup d'état. Thus, Pyotr Shuvalov, Mikhail Vorontsov, Alexei Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Alexei Cherkassky, Nikita Trubetskoy, with whom at first Elizaveta Petrovna conducted state affairs hand in hand, became at the helm of the new government of the country.
Elizaveta Petrovna carried out a serious humanization of public life, softened a number of her father's decrees providing for harsh punishment for bribery and embezzlement, and abolished the death penalty for the first time in 100 years. In addition, the empress paid special attention to cultural development - it is her coming to power that historians associate with the beginning of the Enlightenment, since a reorganization was carried out in Russia educational institutions, expanded network primary schools, the first gymnasiums were opened, Moscow University and the Academy of Arts were founded.
Having taken the first steps in ruling the country, the empress devoted herself completely to court life, intrigues and amusements. The management of the empire passed into the hands of its favorites, Alexei Razumovsky and Peter Shuvalov. There is a version that Razumovsky was the secret spouse of Elizabeth Petrovna, but at the same time he was a very modest person who tried to stay away from big politics. Therefore, in the 1750s, Shuvalov practically independently ruled the country.
Nevertheless, the achievements of Elizabeth I and the results of her reign cannot be called zero for the country. Thanks to her reforms, carried out at the initiative of the favorites, the internal customs was abolished in the Russian Empire, which accelerated the development of foreign trade and entrepreneurship. She also strengthened the privileges of the nobles, whose children were enrolled in state regiments from birth, and by the time they served in the army they were already officers. At the same time, the Empress granted the rights to the landlords to decide the "fate" of the peasants - they were allowed to sell people at retail, exile them to Siberia. It caused more than 60 peasant uprisings throughout the country, which the empress suppressed very cruelly.
Elizaveta Petrovna, during the years of her reign, created new banks in the country, actively developed manufacturing production, which slowly but surely increased economic growth in Russia. She also pursued a powerful foreign policy - the Empress had two victories in large-scale wars (Russian-Swedish and Seven Years), which restored the undermined authority of the country in Europe.
Personal life
The personal life of Elizabeth Petrovna did not work out from her very youth. After the failed attempts of Peter the Great to “successfully” marry off his daughter, the princess refused official marriage, preferring to him a wild life and amusements. There is a historical version that the Empress was nevertheless in a secret church marriage with her favorite Alexei Razumovsky, but no documents confirming this union have been preserved.
In the 1750s, the ruler got herself a new favorite. They became a friend of Mikhail Lomonosov, Ivan Shuvalov, who was a very well-read and educated person. It is possible that it was under his influence that Elizaveta Petrovna was engaged in the cultural development of the country. After the death of the ruler, he fell into disgrace to the new government, so during the years of government he was forced to hide abroad.
After the death of the Empress, there were a lot of rumors at court about the secret children of Elizabeth. Society believed that the Empress had an illegitimate son from Razumovsky and a daughter from Shuvalov. This "revived" a lot of impostors who considered themselves the royal children, the most famous of which was Princess Tarakanova, who calls herself Elizabeth of Vladimir.
Death
The death of Elizabeth Petrovna came on January 5, 1762. At the age of 53, the Empress died of throat bleeding. Historians note that since 1757, the health of the ruler began to deteriorate before our eyes: she was diagnosed with epilepsy, shortness of breath, frequent nosebleeds, swelling of the lower extremities. In this regard, she had to almost completely reduce her active court life, pushing magnificent balls and receptions into the background.
In early 1761, Elizabeth I suffered a severe bronchopneumonia that confined her to her bed. Last year In her life, the Empress was very ill, she constantly had bouts of cold fever. Before her death, Elizaveta Petrovna had a persistent cough, which led to severe bleeding from her throat. Unable to cope with the disease, the Empress died in her chambers.
On February 5, 1762, the body of Empress Elizabeth was buried with full honors in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Elizabeth I's heir was her nephew Karl-Peter Ulrich Holstein, who, after his proclamation as emperor, was renamed Peter III Fedorovich. Historians call this transition of power the most painless for all the reigns in the XVIII century.