Illegitimate children of Anton Ulrich of Brunswick. Emperor Ivan Antonovich of Brunswick and their family. Overthrow of Biron and coup
Ivan VI Antonovich (1740-1764) - Russian emperor, who ruled in 1740-1741. He ascended the throne at the age of 2 months after the death of Empress Anna Ioannovna. The late empress had no children, but she really did not want state power to be in the hands of the descendants of Peter I.
Of the closest relatives, the mother empress had only her niece Anna Leopoldovna (1718-1746) - the daughter of Catherine Ioannovna (1691-1733), the elder sister of Anna Ioannovna. So all the hopes of the Romanov family were placed on her, who did not have a single direct heir in the male line.
In 1731, the empress ordered her subjects to swear allegiance to the unborn child who would be born to Anna Leopoldovna. And in 1733, a groom was found for a grown girl. Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick (1714-1776) became them.
He arrived in St. Petersburg, but neither the Empress, nor her court, nor the bride liked it. For several years he served in the Russian army, and in 1739 he was nevertheless married to a noticeably matured bride. In the first half of August 1740, a boy was born to a young couple. They named him Ivan. Thus was the beginning of the Braunschweig family.
Anna Leopoldovna, mother of Ivan VI Antonovich
(Unknown artist)
Accession to the throne of Ivan VI Antonovich
He was in complete isolation and did not even see the faces of his guards. In 1764, Lieutenant Vasily Yakovlevich Mirovich, who was on the staff of the guard of the Shlisselburg fortress, gathered like-minded people around him and tried to free the legitimate emperor.
But the guards first stabbed Ivan with sabers, and only then surrendered to the rebels. As for Mirovich, he was then arrested, tried as a state criminal and beheaded. The body of the murdered emperor was secretly buried on the territory of the Shlisselburg fortress.
Anton Ulrich of Brunswick (artist A. Roslin)
Brunswick family
Even before the exile, Anna Leopoldovna gave birth in 1741 to the girl Ekaterina (1741-1807). Already living in Kholmogory, the woman gave birth to Elizabeth (1743-1782), Peter (1745-1798) and Alexei (1746-1787). After the last childbirth, she died of childbed fever.
Her husband Anton Ulrich of Brunswick shared all the hardships of exile with his wife and children. When Catherine II came to the Russian throne in 1762, she suggested that the prince leave Russia, but without children. He refused to leave them alone in prison. This man died in 1776 in Kholmogory at the age of 61.
The children lived in captivity for almost 40 years. When during the reign of Catherine II an official came to them and asked about their desires, the captives said: "We heard that flowers grow in the fields outside the walls of the prison. We would like to see them at least once."
In 1780, the children of Anton Ulrich and Anna Leopoldovna were sent abroad to Denmark. There they subsequently died. The Brunswick family ceased to exist after their death.
As for those who committed atrocities against absolutely innocent people, God's punishment passed them. Retribution took place only after more than 100 years, when Emperor Nicholas II and his family were brutally murdered. The punishment came, but it was not the villains themselves who went to the block, but their descendants. God's judgment is always late, because Heaven has its own concept of time.
Alexey Starikov
Anton Ulrich - the second son of Duke Ferdinand-Albrecht of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (until 1735 Brunswick-Bevernsky), brother of the famous Prussian commander Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick; genus. August 28, 1714. When Empress Anna Ioannovna was looking for a groom for her niece, Princess Anna (see Anna Leopoldovna) of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, under the influence of the Austrian court, she chose Anton. The latter arrived in Russia at the beginning of June 1733, still a boy. Here he was brought up with Anna in the hope that a strong attachment would be established between young people, which over time would turn into a more necessary feeling. These hopes were not justified. Anna, at first sight, disliked her betrothed, a young man of short stature, effeminate, stammering, but modest, with a soft and supple character.
For four years, the prince was only formally in the army, but in March 1737 he went on his first military campaign. Anton Ulrich was seconded to Field Marshal Munnich, who regularly reported to the Empress about his ward. Minich wrote that the prince diligently studied the art of war, courageously endured the hardships of a camp life, “regardless of any cold and great heat, dust, ashes and long marches, always being on horseback, as an old soldier should be, but he was never in a carriage. And his courage is evidenced by the assault that took place under Ochakov, and he acted as an old and honored general should. During the Ochakov assault, the prince was always next to the field marshal, the horses under both were killed, the adjutant and the prince's page were wounded, the other page was killed. The prince's caftan was shot through. Munnich introduced the prince to the rank of major general. In general, effeminate is visible. :)
In the next 1738, Anton Ulrich takes part in the new campaign of Munnich - beyond the Dniester. This time, the prince commanded a combined detachment of three regiments. He is entrusted with separate tactical tasks. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Anton Ulrich was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and became commander of the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment.
During the campaigns, the prince matured, got stronger. He took his military career very seriously, he read a lot of ancient and modern authors on the art of war. Anton-Ulrich, unlike his future wife, tried to become worthy of his new homeland. Of course, Anna Leopoldovna, who had only a patronymic from a non-Russian, who grew up in her mother's towers among dwarfs, jesters and holy fools, the groom seemed boring and somehow ... not a peasant, or something. And that's true: he sits, reads, but where is the celebration of life?
Meanwhile, the health of the Empress began to fail, and the decision to marry the prince and Anna Leopoldovna was made. In July 1739, the wedding and marriage took place. The wife of the British ambassador, who was present at the ceremony, wrote to a friend: “... the prince was wearing a white satin suit embroidered with gold, his own very long blond hair was curled and loose over his shoulders, and I involuntarily thought that he looked like a victim”. In the evening, a ball was given in the palace, illumination flashed on the streets, colored with
“Three great fountains were filled with fire, and from them white and red wine for the people.”
Sadly, as a result, everyone was the victim: the prince, the princess, the little emperor Ivan VI, their son and all their other children.
After the death of the empress, the baby Ivan was proclaimed emperor, and the real power was in the hands of Biron, who, in general, was not a fool at all, but was in no way suitable for the ruler of Russia. Anton-Ulrich was granted the title of Generalissimo as a consolation, and Biron considered that this was more than enough for the emperor's parents. Iron Minich quickly and effectively resolved this dilemma. As V.A. Klyuchevsky, “having had lunch and kindly spent the evening of November 8, 1740, with the regent, Minikh, at night, with courtyard guard officers and soldiers of the Preobrazhensky regiment, of which he was commander, arrested Biron in bed, and the soldiers, after beating him in order and putting a handkerchief in his mouth, wrapped him in a blanket and taken to the guardhouse, and from there, in a soldier's overcoat thrown over night clothes, they were taken to the Winter Palace, from where they were then sent with the family to Shlisselburg.
Ruler Anna Leopoldovna
While Anna, unkempt, in a negligee, sat in her boudoir, husked seeds, eating cakes, and chatted with her favorite Julia Mengden about how stupid and terrible the prince was, Anton Ulrich took his duties quite seriously. From the first days, he delved into the affairs of the Military Collegium, attended the reports of ministers to the ruler, and often attended meetings of the Senate. According to him, the Senate and the ruler issued a number of decrees, for example, on the regulation of navigation in the border zone in the Baltic.
The situation became more complicated when Sweden, pushed by France, declared war on Russia. In the Swedish manifesto, among other reasons for the war, it was indicated (oh, the eternal touching concern of Europeans for something like Russian!) The desire of the Swedes to liberate Russia from foreign rule. This implied the transfer of power to the “truly Russian” daughter of Peter Elizabeth, who had previously been in the political shadow. I wonder why it was the Swedes who so confidently sought to put Elizabeth on the throne? One can hear the sound of the wheels of a sealed wagon.
Anton Ulrich was not at that time weak-willed and passive, as some historians write about him. He saw the danger from Elizabeth and made attempts to save the situation. He discussed the situation with the British envoy, organized surveillance of Munnich, who was looking for contacts with Elizabeth. The prince demanded from Anna Leopoldovna the arrest of Elizabeth, whose negotiations with French and Swedish diplomats were obvious. But the ruler, who received such warnings from all sides, remained indifferent to them, not imagining the consequences of the catastrophe for the whole family. The catastrophe broke out on the night of November 25, 1741.
Elizaveta Petrovna arrests Anna Leopoldovna, the Empress...
I will not describe the tearful lies of Elizabeth and beautiful picture"a royal maiden with a protected baby in her arms", politics is politics, nothing personal. The baby was sent to prison, where he spent his entire short life alone and abandoned, until he was killed by the jailers.
Tvorozhnikov "Lieutenant Vasily Mirovich at the corpse of John Antonovich on July 5, 1764 in the Shlisselburg fortress"
The rest of the family, deprived of titles and property, lived out their lives in a small house turned into a prison in Kholmogory (they simply did not reach Solovki).
Here Anna Leopoldovna gave birth to two more sons and died of puerperal fever on March 8, 1746. Anton Ulrich turned out to be a caring and loving father who managed to raise his children in prison as kind and honest people. Despite the strict ban on teaching children to read and write, the father taught them to read and write. Children showed intelligence and dignity in communication with the guards, and with the governor, and with the empress (with the latter - in letters).
The imprisonment of the A. family in Kholmogory was full of hardships; often she needed the bare necessities. A staff officer with a team was assigned to supervise them; several men and women from a simple rank served them. Any communication with outsiders was strictly forbidden to them; only the Arkhangelsk governor had an order to visit them from time to time to inquire about their condition.
When Empress Catherine II ascended the throne, Prince Anton wrote her a letter asking for her release. This empress offered him freedom, but only to him. Anton Ulrich, as she expected, refused to leave the children in prison, and did not make such requests again.
The prince's health gradually weakened, he began to go blind. He died on May 4, 1776. The prince was buried secretly near the wall of the church adjoining the bishop's house. The exact place of his burial is unknown. Archival documents testify that on the night of the 5th to the 6th, his body was carried out in a coffin upholstered in black cloth with a silver braid, and quietly buried in the nearest cemetery inside the fence of the house, where he was kept in the presence of only guard soldiers, who it was strictly forbidden to talk about the place of burial.
A commemorative cross erected at the site of the alleged burial of Anton-Ulrich
Four years later, Catherine II allowed the four children of Anton Ulrich to be sent to Denmark to his sister, Dowager Queen Juliana Maria.
10 Sept. 1780, after a stormy voyage, they arrived at Bergen, from there on a Danish warship on 6 October. - to Flanstrand and by land 15 Oct. — in Gorsen's. Here, over time, the Russian ministers were fired and returned to Russia, leaving only the priest and churchmen and a small staff of Danish courtiers. From the greed of the latter, the princes and princesses suffered a lot. Princess Elizabeth passed away on 20 Oct. 1782, 39 y. from birth. Five years later (October 22, 1787), the younger Prince Alexei died, and on Jan. 30. 1798 - Peter. With the death of her brothers and sister, orphaned by a 55-year-old old woman, Princess Catherine dragged out her life extremely sadly and even yearned for her imprisonment in Kholmogory. She died in 1807, leaving by will all her property to the heir to the Danish throne, Frederick.
"Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick".
ANTON ULRICH(08/28/1714-05/04/1774) - father of Emperor Ivan VI Antonovich, husband of Anna Leopoldovna.
The youngest son of the Duke of Brunswick, Ferdinand Albrecht, came to Russia in 1733 at the insistence of Empress Anna Ivanovna. Participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739. In 1739 he married Anna Leopoldovna, Anna Ivanovna's niece. Their infant son Ivan Antonovich became emperor in the fall of 1740, and his wife became the ruler of Russia. Anton Ulrich received the title of Imperial Highness and the rank of Generalissimo, but did not play a role in governing the country. According to contemporaries, the prince was "although of a low mind, but a light-hearted and merciful person."
After the coup on November 25, 1741, Elizaveta Petrovna came to power. Anton Ulrich was stripped of his ranks and titles and sent into exile with his family. From 1744 he lived in Kholmogory, in 1746 he became a widow. In 1762 he was offered to go abroad, but he refused to leave his four children.
School Encyclopedia. Moscow, "OLMA-PRESS Education". 2003
"Portrait of Anton von Ulrich".
It seems that the death of Ivan Antonovich delighted Catherine II and her entourage. Nikita Panin wrote to the Empress: "The deed was carried out with a desperate grasp, which was stopped by the inexpressibly laudable resolution of Captain Vlasyev and Lieutenant Chekin." Catherine answered: “I read your reports with great surprise and all the divas that happened in Shlisselburg: God’s guidance is wonderful and untested!” In a word, according to the well-known proverb: there is no person - there is no problem. Vlasyev and Chekin received an award - seven thousand rubles each - and a complete resignation.
Of course, the “problem” was solved, but not all of it: “the well-known commission in Kholmogory,” as the prisoners of the Bishop’s house were called in official documents, continued to “work”. The family of Prince Anton Ulrich (himself, two daughters and two sons) still lived there. The house stood on the banks of the Dvina, which was barely visible from one window, was surrounded by a high fence that closed a large yard with a pond, a vegetable garden, a bathhouse and a carriage house. Men lived in one room, and women - in another, and "from rest to rest - one door, old chambers, small and cramped." Other rooms were filled with soldiers, numerous servants of the prince and his children.
Living together for years, decades, under the same roof (the last guard did not change for twelve years), these people quarreled, reconciled, fell in love, denounced each other. Scandals followed one after another: either Anton Ulrich quarreled with Bina (Yakobina Mengden, Yulia's sister, who, unlike her sister, was allowed to go to Kholmogory), then the soldiers were caught stealing, then the officers were caught on cupids with nurses. Stories with Bina dragged on for several years: it turned out that she had a lover - a doctor who came from Kholmogory, and in September 1749 she gave birth to a "male" child, for which she was locked in a separate room, and she was rowdy, beat those who came to her with checking officers. Many complaints from the Kholmogory prisoners related to the quality of the provisions delivered by the local inhabitants.
The prince, as always, was quiet and meek. Over the years, he grew fat, flabby. After the death of his wife, he began to live with servants, and in Kholmogory there were many of his illegitimate children, who, growing up, became servants of members of the Braunschweig family. Occasionally, the prince wrote letters to the empress: he thanked for the sent bottles of Hungarian or for some other alms transfer. He was especially poor without coffee, which he needed daily.
In 1766, Catherine II sent General A. I. Bibikov to Kholmogory, who, on behalf of the Empress, suggested that the prince leave Russia. But he refused. A Danish diplomat wrote that the prince, "accustomed to his confinement, sick and discouraged, refused the freedom offered to him." This is inaccurate - the prince did not want freedom for himself alone, he wanted to leave with the children. But these conditions did not suit Catherine. She was alarmed both by the Mirovich case and by conversations in society that she could marry one of the "Ivashka brothers" - after all, royal blood, not like the low-bred Grigory Orlov, who dreamed of a formal marriage with the empress. The prince was told that it was impossible to let him go with his children, "until our affairs are strengthened in the order in which they have now accepted their new position for the well-being of our empire."
So Anton Ulrich did not wait for the affairs of the Empress to take a favorable position for him. By the age of sixty, he became decrepit, blind, and after spending thirty-four years in prison, he died on May 4, 1776. At night, the coffin with his body was secretly taken out into the courtyard. There he was buried - without a priest, without a ceremony, like a suicide or a vagabond. Did the children accompany him on his last journey? We don't even know that.
Anisimov Evgeny. "Women on the Russian Throne".
A list of which you will see below, more often received this rank as recognition of military merit. Finding a position was often an episode of a political career and was associated with military victories.
Generalissimo of Russian history
The word generalissimo can be translated from Latin as "the most important" or "the most important." In many countries of Europe and later Asia, this title was used as the highest military rank. The generalissimo was far from always a great commander, and the best of them won their greatest victories before gaining a high-profile position.
In the history of Russia, five commanders were awarded this highest military rank:
- Alexey Semenovich Shein (1696).
- Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (1727).
- Anton Ulrich of Brunswick (1740).
- Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (1799).
- Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (1945).
Who was first?
Aleksey Semenovich Shein in the historical literature is most often called the first generalissimo in the history of our country. This man lived a short life and was one of the associates of Peter I at the beginning of his accomplishments.
Alexey Shein came from a well-born boyar family. His great-grandfather, Mikhail Shein, was a hero of the defense of Smolensk during the Time of Troubles, and his father died during the war with Poland in 1657. Alexei Semenovich began his service in the Kremlin. He was a steward under Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich, then - a sleeping bag of the king himself.
In 1679-1681 A.S. Shein was a governor in Tobolsk. Under his leadership, the city, which burned down in a fire, was restored anew. In 1682, Alexei Semenovich received the boyar rank. In 1687, the boyar took part in the Crimean campaign, and in 1695 - the first campaign against Azov.
In 1696, he led the Russian troops during the second campaign against the fortress of Azov. It was then that A.S. Shein received the title of "generalissimo", unusual for Russia. However, the researchers of his biography N.N. Sakhnovsky and V.N. Tomenko questioned this fact. In their opinion, the tsar ordered Shein to be called generalissimo only during the campaign, and the name indicated only the powers of Alexei Semenovich as commander-in-chief of the ground forces. After the end of the campaign against Azov, A.S. Shein did not retain the title of generalissimo given to him for the duration of the hostilities. If we accept this point of view, A.D. Menshikov.
Alexander Menshikov went down in history as the closest associate of the first emperor of Russia and one of the greatest generals of his time. He was directly involved in the military reforms of Peter I, starting with the amusing troops. And in 1706 he defeated the Swedes in the battle of Kalisz, participated as one commander in the victorious battles of Lesnaya and Poltava. For his military merits, Alexander Menshikov rose to the rank of President of the Military Collegium and Field Marshal.
For the first time, the commander tried to claim the highest military rank in the reign of Catherine I, when he had exclusive power. He was able to receive the rank of generalissimo under her successor Peter II, when he still had influence on the tsar.
The Saxon ambassador Lefort recalled the staging of this action. The young emperor entered the chambers of the Most Serene Prince and with the words "I destroyed the field marshal" handed him a decree on the appointment of a generalissimo. At that time Russian empire did not wage wars, and the prince did not have a chance to command armies in a new capacity.
The bestowal of a military rank was one of a whole series of awards that rained down on the Most Serene Prince and his family that year. The most important was the betrothal of his daughter to the emperor. But already in September 1727, Menshikov lost the fight for the location of the monarch and lost all awards and ranks, including the title of generalissimo. The following year, an associate of Peter I was exiled to Berezovo, where he died in November 1729.
Anton Ulrich was the second son of the Duke of Brunswick and nephew of the famous King Frederick II. In 1733 he was summoned to Russia, and a few years later became the husband of Anna Leopoldovna, the niece of the Empress of Russia.
In 1740, after the death of Empress Anna Ioannovna, the young son of Anton Ulrich became emperor. The temporary worker of the last reign, Biron, became regent under the baby ruler, and Anton Ulrich was actually removed from making serious state decisions.
Biron feared for his position and, fearing a conspiracy, subjected the emperor's father to an interrogation in public. Anton Ulrich was forced to admit that he wanted to remove the temporary worker from power. Then Biron defiantly offered the highest dignitaries a choice between the prince and himself, and they preferred the acting regent. Head of the Secret Chancellery A.I. Ushakov threatened the emperor's father that, if necessary, he would treat him like any other subject. After that, Anton Ulrich lost all military positions.
On November 7, 1740, Field Marshal Munnich organized a coup and arrested Biron. Contemporaries wrote that Minich, who had previously supported the regent, hoped to receive the rank of generalissimo. But under the new regime, the best Russian commander of his time again did not receive the highest military rank.
Two days later, on November 9, a new manifesto was issued on behalf of Ivan Antonovich. It reported that Biron was suspended, including for insults and threats that he made to the father of the emperor. The powers of the regent were received by the wife of Anton Ulrich, Anna Leopoldovna, and the German prince himself was declared co-ruler and generalissimo.
Anton Ulrich remained Generalissimo until the next palace coup, which brought Empress Elisabeth to power. During the year of being at the highest rank, the prince did nothing. He only quarreled with Minich, who counted on this rank himself and later retired from business.
After the coup on November 25, 1741, Anton Ulrich lost all his ranks and found himself in the position of a hostage. He lived with his wife and children in the northern provinces of the country. In 1744 he was separated from his son-emperor and transferred to live in Kholmogory. In 1746 his wife died, and he and his remaining children continued to live as an exile. In 1774, the aged and blind former generalissimo died. A few years later, Empress Catherine allowed his children to leave Russia and gave them a financial allowance.
Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov became famous as the greatest Russian commander of his time and one of the greatest in Russian history. During his long military career, he successfully fought against the rebellious Poles, Ottoman Empire, revolutionary France. He received the highest military rank less than a year before his death, after his last military campaign.
In November 1799, after the completion of the difficult Swiss campaign, Alexander Suvorov was awarded the highest military rank by the Emperor of Russia as a reward for his service and military leadership. From now on, the military board was supposed to send the commander not decrees, but messages.
The Generalissimo withdrew troops from Switzerland by order of the emperor and returned with them to Russia. When the army was in Poland, Suvorov went ahead to the capital. On the way, the generalissimo fell ill and went to his estate. His condition changed for the better, then worsened. And in May 1800, Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov died.
Decree on the introduction of higher education in the USSR military rank Generalissimo appeared on June 24, 1945. A day later, at the suggestion of the Politburo, this rank was given to I.V. Stalin. The title of generalissimo was a sign of recognition of the merits of the general secretary during the war years. In addition to the highest military rank, Joseph Vissarionovich received the title of "Hero Soviet Union and the Order of Victory. According to the memoirs of contemporaries of the events, the leader of the USSR several times refused to introduce this rank.
The rear service of the Soviet army developed the uniforms and insignia of the new position. They were not approved during the lifetime of the Secretary General, who, if necessary, wore the uniform of a general of the USSR with marshal's shoulder straps. One of the options for the dress uniform of the Generalissimo was rejected by Stalin, who considered it too luxurious.
The military charter of the USSR after the death of Joseph Vissarionovich allowed for the possibility of anyone accepting the title of generalissimo, but no one else was honored with this rank. The Charter of 1975 allowed the awarding of the title of Generalissimo for special services to the country associated with the leadership of all armed forces in wartime. The title of generalissimo was not introduced into the military charter.
The military and ordinary citizens of the USSR have repeatedly made proposals to give the title of generalissimo to the current general secretaries - N.S. Khrushchev and L.I. Brezhnev. But they did not receive an official move.
Not all the generalissimos of Russia and the USSR, the list of which was higher, became famous as major commanders. But for all of them (except Shein), the title of generalissimo was nothing more than an additional award or recognition of military merit.