by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin; Credit – Wikipedia

Favorite: a person treated with special or undue favor by a king, queen, or another royal person

Patronymics

• In Russian, a patronymic is the second name derived from the father’s first name: the suffix -vich means “son of” and the suffixes -eva, -evna, -ova, and -ovna mean “daughter of”.

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was born on January 21, 1869, in the village of Pokrovskoye in the Tobolsk province of Siberia, Russia. His father Yefim Yakovlevich Rasputin (1841 – 1916), a peasant farmer and a coachman, and his mother Anna Vasilievna Parshukova (1839 – 1906) were married in 1863. The couple had seven other children but all of them died in infancy and early childhood.

Like most Siberian peasants, Rasputin was not formally educated and remained illiterate until his early adulthood. Local records suggest Rasputin exhibited unruly behavior while growing up, possibly drinking, small thefts, and disrespect for local authorities. In February 1887, Rasputin married Praskovya Feodorovna Dubrovina, a peasant girl. Praskovya remained in Pokrovskoye, Rasputin’s hometown, throughout Rasputin’s later travels and his rise to prominence. She remained devoted to him until his death.

Rasputin and his children; Credit – Wikipedia

Rasputin and Praskovya had seven children but only three survived to adulthood:

• Dmitry Grigoriovich Rasputin (1895 – ?)
• Matryona (Maria) Grigorievna Rasputina (1898 – 1977), married (1) Boris Soloviev, had two children, divorced (2) Gregory Bernadsky, no children, divorced
• ​Varvara Grigorievna Rasputina (1900 – ?)

After the 1917 Russian Revolution, Rasputin’s daughter Matryona emigrated to France and later moved to the United States where she died in Los Angeles, California in 1977. In 1920, the property of Rasputin’s son Dmitry was confiscated and nationalized by the Soviet Union government. Rasputin’s widow Praskovya Feodorovna, his son Dmitry, and his daughter Varvara were deprived of their voting rights in 1922 because they were considered “malicious elements.” In the 1930s, all three were arrested by the NKVD, which committed mass executions without trial and administered the Gulag system of forced labor camps in Siberia during the regime of Joseph Stalin. The trace of all three was lost in the labor camps.

In 1897, Rasputin developed a renewed interest in religion and left his hometown Pokrovskoye to go on a pilgrimage. At that time, Rasputin was twenty-eight years old, married for ten years, and had a young son with another child on the way, so it would seem like an odd time for him to leave his family. Various sources suggest he left to escape punishment for his role in a horse theft, or perhaps he had a vision of the Virgin Mary or St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, or he was inspired by a young theological student he had met. Earlier, Rasputin had undertaken shorter pilgrimages but this pilgrimage to the St. Nicholas Monastery in Verkhoturye transformed him. After spending several months at the monastery, Rasputin returned to his village as a changed man. He looked disheveled, became a vegetarian, stopped drinking alcohol, and fervently prayed and sang hymns.

Rasputin spent the next several years as a strannik, a holy wanderer or pilgrim. He left Pokrovskoye for months or even years to wander the country and visit holy sites. By the early 1900s, Rasputin had developed a circle of followers in Siberia. After visiting Kazan, local church officials gave him a letter of recommendation to Ivan Nikolayevich Stragorodsky, known as Bishop Sergei, the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, and arranged for him to travel to St. Petersburg. Once in St. Petersburg, Rasputin met Russian Orthodox church officials including Archimandrite Theofan, who was so impressed with Rasputin that he invited him to stay in his home. It was through Theofan that Rasputin attracted some of his early and influential followers in St. Petersburg.

Rasputin surrounded by his admirers in St. Petersburg; Credit – Wikipedia

According to Rasputin’s daughter Matryona, he was never a monk, but a starets. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a starets as a spiritual adviser who is not necessarily a priest, who is recognized for his piety, and who is turned to by monks or laymen for spiritual guidance. Rasputin, who was more of a mystical faith healer, was styled starets by his followers, although he was not officially recognized as one by the Russian Orthodox Church.

By 1905, Rasputin had formed friendships with several members of the aristocracy, including the sisters Princess Militsa and Princess Anastasia (Stana) of Montenegro, who had both married into the Russian Imperial Family and were instrumental in introducing Rasputin to Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his family. On November 1, 1905, Rasputin’s first personal meeting with Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, took place and was noted in Nicholas’ diary: “At 4 o’clock we went to Sergievka. We drank tea with Militsa and Stana. We made the acquaintance of a man of God – Grigori, from Tobolsk province.”

After giving birth to four daughters during the first seven years of her marriage, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna felt great pressure to provide an heir. Finally, in 1904, she gave birth to a son, Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich. However, it would soon become apparent that she was a carrier of hemophilia, and her young son was a sufferer. This would cause immense emotional pain to Alexandra, and great measures were taken to protect Alexei from harm and to hide the illness from the Russian people. When Alexei’s illness eventually became public knowledge, it led to more dislike for Alexandra, with many of the Russian people blaming her for the heir’s illness.

• Unofficial Royalty: Hemophilia in Queen Victoria’s Descendants

Alexandra Feodorovna with her children, Rasputin & nurse Maria Ivanova Vishnyakova in 1908; Credit – Wikipedia

After working with many physicians to help Alexei who suffered greatly, Alexandra turned to mystics and faith healers. This led to her close, disastrous relationship with Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. Several times Rasputin appeared to have brought Alexei back from the brink of death, further cementing Alexandra’s reliance on him. To many historians and experts, this relationship would contribute greatly to the fall of the Russian monarchy. It is unclear when Rasputin first learned of Alexei’s hemophilia or when he first acted as a healer. There is documentation that Alexandra summoned him to pray for Alexei when he had an internal hemorrhage in the spring of 1907. Alexei recovered the next morning.

Alexandra and Alexei, circa 1911; Credit – Wikipedia from the Beinecke Library

The most mysterious episode of Rasputin’s legend occurred during the summer of 1912. Alexei developed a hemorrhage in his thigh and groin after a bumpy carriage ride near the Imperial Family hunting lodge at Spala, then in the Russian Empire, now in Poland. After the hemorrhage developed into a large hematoma, Alexei was in severe pain, delirious with fever, and close to death. Rasputin was in Siberia and Empress Alexandra asked Anna Vyrubova, her lady-in-waiting and close friend, to send him a telegram asking him to pray for Alexei. Rasputin quickly sent back a return telegram, telling Alexandra, “God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The Little One will not die. Do not allow the doctors to bother him too much.” Although Alexei’s condition did not change during the next day, Alexandra was encouraged by Rasputin’s words and regained some hope that Alexei would survive. The following day, Alexei’s bleeding stopped. One of the physicians who attended Alexei in Spala admitted that “the recovery was wholly inexplicable from a medical point of view.” He later admitted that he could understand how Alexandra could see Rasputin as a miracle worker: “Rasputin would come in, walk up to the patient, look at him, and spit. The bleeding would stop in no time. How could the empress not trust Rasputin after that?”

Rasputin, Nicholas, and Alexandra, anonymous caricature in 1916; Credit – Wikipedia

The belief of Nicholas II’s family in Rasputin’s healing powers brought him considerable status and power at court. He was suspected of exerting political influence over Nicholas II and was even rumored to be having an affair with Alexandra. Opposition to Rasputin’s influence grew within the Russian Orthodox Church. Even Imperial Family members became concerned with Rasputin’s influence when Nicholas II left St. Petersburg to take supreme command of the Russian armies fighting in World War I, leaving Alexandra in charge as Regent.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia and Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov; Credit Wikipedia

Eventually, a group of conspirators plotted to murder Rasputin hoping to his influence over Nicholas II’s family. The conspirators were led by two men, one a member of the Imperial Family and one who married into the Imperial Family. Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia was the second child and only son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich (a son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia) and Princess Alexandra of Greece (a daughter of King George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia). Therefore, Dmitri was the first cousin of Nicholas II as their fathers were brothers. (A side note, Dmitri was also the first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh as Dmitri’s mother and Philip’s father were siblings.) Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov was a Russian aristocrat who was wealthier than any Romanovs. Felix married Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, Nicholas II’s only niece, the daughter of his sister Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia.

Along with Dmitri and Felix, Vladimir Purishkevich, a deputy of the Duma, the Russian legislature, was one of the main conspirators. Other participants were Dr. Stanislaus de Lazovert, a physician, and Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin, a lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. On the night of December 29-30, 1916, Felix invited Rasputin to Moika Palace, his home in St. Petersburg, promising Rasputin that his wife Irina would be there, although she was not there. According to his memoir, Felix brought Rasputin to a soundproof room in a part of the wine cellar and offered Rasputin tea and petit fours laced with a large amount of cyanide, but the poison had no effect.

The room in the Moika Palace where Rasputin was brought; Credit – Wikipedia

Felix then offered Rasputin wine, and after an hour Rasputin was fairly drunk. The other conspirators were waiting in a room on another floor of the palace and Felix then went upstairs and returned with Dmitri’s revolver. He shot Rasputin in the chest and the wounds appeared to be serious enough to cause death. However, Rasputin escaped, struggling up the stairs and opening an unlocked door to the courtyard. Purishkevich heard the noise, went out to the courtyard, and shot Rasputin four times, missing three times. Rasputin fell in the snow. Again, Rasputin should have been dead, but he was still moving. One of the conspirators shot him in the forehead. Rasputin’s body was thrown off the Bolshoy Petrovsky Bridge into an ice hole in the Malaya Neva River and was found on January 1, 1917.

Police photograph of Rasputin’s corpse, found floating in the Malaya Nevka River, 1917; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was buried on January 3, 1917, at a small church on the grounds of the imperial residences at Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg. Nicholas II, Alexandra, their four daughters, and Alexandra’s ladies-in-waiting Anna Vyrubova and Lili Dehn were present. The imperial chaplain read the service, Nicholas and Alexandra threw earth on the coffin, and Alexandra and her four daughters threw white flowers in the grave. After dark, on March 22, 1917, the day Nicholas returned to his family at Tsarskoye Selo after his abdication on March 15, soldiers removed Rasputin’s coffin from its burial place and took it to a clearing in the forest. There Rasputin’s remains were burned to prevent his burial site from becoming a place of pilgrimage.

Site of the alleged burial of Rasputin; Credit – By User:Monoklon, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67511259

After Rasputin’s murder, the St. Petersburg authorities refused to arrest the conspirators because the murder they committed was considered politically acceptable. Instead, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was exiled to Persia (now Iran), a move that most likely saved his life during the Russian Revolution, and Prince Felix Yusupov was exiled to his estate in Rakitnoje, near Belgorod, Russia and the Ukraine border.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Grigori Rasputin. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin> [Accessed 14 January 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2018. Murder Of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/murder-of-grigori-yefimovich-rasputin/> [Accessed 14 January 2021].
• Ja.wikipedia.org. 2021. グリゴリー・ラスプーチン. [online] Available at: <https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B0%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B4%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B9%E3%83%97%E3%83%BC%E3%83%81%E3%83%B3> [Accessed 14 January 2021].
• Massie, Robert, 1967. Nicholas And Alexandra. New York: Random House.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. 2021. Распутин, Григорий Ефимович. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD,_%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%95%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87> [Accessed 14 January 2021]

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova; Credit – Wikipedia

Favorite: a person treated with special or undue favor by a king, queen, or another royal person

Patronymics

• In Russian, a patronymic is the second name derived from the father’s first name: the suffix -vich means “son of” and the suffixes -eva, -evna, -ova, and -ovna mean “daughter of”.

Anna Alexandrovna Taneyeva was born on July 16, 1884, in Oranienbaum, Russia, near St. Petersburg, the second of the four children and the second of the three daughters of Alexander Sergeevich Taneyev (1850 – 1918) and Nadezhda Illarionovna Tolstoyeva (1860 – 1937). Her father was a composer who had success in Russia and a high-ranking state official, serving for 22 years as the director of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery, the personal office of the Emperor of All Russia. Her mother was the daughter of Lieutenant-General Illarion Nikolaevich Tolstoy and a descendant of military leaders Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov and General of the Infantry Nikolai Matveevich Tolstoy.

Anna and her sister Alexandra in front of the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo in 1908; Credit – Wikipedia

Anna Alexandrovna had two younger siblings:

• Sergei Alexandrovich Taneyev (1887 – 1975)
• Alexandra Alexandrovna Taneyeva (1888 – 1963), married Alexander Erikovich von Pistohlkors, stepson of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, had three children

Because of her father’s court connections, Anna grew up around the imperial court and was a playmate of Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov, part of the conspiracy to murder Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. She spent her childhood years in Moscow and at the family estate of Rozhdestveno near Moscow, nearby Illinskoe, the estate of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodrovna, born Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, an elder sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. Anna first met Empress Alexandra, born Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, at a tea party at Illinskoe.

Anna became a maid of honor at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in 1903, serving various female members of the Romanov family. In 1905, Anna was summoned to Tsarskoye Selo, the town containing residences of the Imperial Family located 15 miles south of St. Petersburg, to fill in for a lady-in-waiting to Empress Alexandra who became ill. Thus began her longtime relationship with Empress Alexandra. The position of lady-in-waiting was rotating – one month on duty, one month at home. Anna became a close friend of Empress Alexandra, was close to the Imperial Family for many years, accompanied them on many trips, and attended private family events.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Anna Vyrubova (sitting) with Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (standing), circa 1908; Credit – Wikipedia

Shortly after Anna became a lady-in-waiting to Empress Alexandra, Alexandra and her husband Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia became acquainted with Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man, and naturally, Anna also became acquainted with him. Rasputin had been introduced to the Imperial Family by Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaievna, born Princess Anastasia of Montenegro, the wife of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia. In late 1906, Rasputin began acting as a healer for Nicholas and Alexandra’s only son Alexei who suffered from hemophilia.

At Alexandra’s urging, Anna married Alexander Vasilievich Vyrubov, a naval officer who had survived the Russo-Japanese War with what probably was post-traumatic stress disorder. A few days before her marriage, Rasputin warned Anna that the marriage would be unhappy. Vyrubov drank and then became violent and was unable and unwilling to consummate the marriage. The couple divorced within a year and a half of their marriage. After her divorce, Rasputin consoled her and this strengthened her religious passion. Anna became convinced that Rasputin had miraculous powers and became one of Rasputin’s most influential advocates and served as a go-between for Rasputin and Empress Alexandra.

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin; Credit – Wikipedia

Several times Rasputin appeared to have brought the hemophiliac Alexei back from the brink of death, which further cemented Empress Alexandra’s reliance on him. There were many rumors about the relationship of Rasputin with Alexandra and her children. Rasputin’s friendship with the imperial children was evident in some of the messages he sent to them. While Rasputin’s visits to the children were, by all accounts, completely innocent, the family was scandalized. Because of Anna’s connection to both Empress Alexandra and Rasputin, she also became the focus of growing public hostility.

During World War I, Anna was a nurse with the Russian Red Cross together with Empress Alexandra and her eldest daughters Olga and Tatiana. In January 1915, while traveling from Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg, Anna Vyrubova was in a train accident. Her legs were crushed and her skull and spine were seriously injured. The doctors expected her to die and she received the last rites. When Rasputin heard about the accident, he immediately went to the hospital. He found Nicholas and Alexandra at Anna’s bedside. Rasputin took Anna’s hand and called out, “Annushka! Annushka! Annushka! Now wake up and rise!” Anna made an effort to get up. “Speak to me!” Rasputin then ordered. Anna spoke in a weak voice. Rasputin then proclaimed, “She will recover but she will remain a cripple.” For both Anna and Empress Alexandra, this was more proof of Rasputin’s miraculous powers. Anna remained physically disabled for the rest of her life, using a wheelchair or crutches.

Anna in a wheelchair with Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna in 1916; Credit – Wikipedia

After Rasputin was murdered on December 30, 1916, Anna received anonymous threats by mail. Fearing for Anna’s safety, Empress Alexandra moved Anna from her cottage near Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, into the palace itself. When the imperial children became sick with measles in March 1917, Anna also became ill. After the February 1917 Revolution, Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia abdicated on March 15, 1917. Nicholas and his family were held under house arrest first at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, and later at the Governor’s Mansion in Tobolsk, Siberia between August 1917 – April 1918. In April 1918, they were moved to the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Siberia. It was here on the morning of July 17, 1918, that the family and their servants were brought to a room in the basement and assassinated.

Still recovering from the measles, Anna was arrested on March 21, 1917, because of her closeness with the Imperial Family. Of her farewell with Empress Alexandra, Anna wrote in her memoirs, “The last thing I remember was the white hand of the Empress pointing upward and her voice saying, ‘There we will always be together.’” Anna was imprisoned for five months in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg on suspicion of espionage and treason and underwent numerous interrogations. Anna feigned a childish innocence during her interrogations. The investigators concluded that she was too naïve and unintelligent to have had any influence over Empress Alexandra and she was released.

Anna lived in obscurity in St. Petersburg, then called Petrograd and later Leningrad (1924–1991), reverting back to St. Petersburg after the fall of the Soviet Union. However, she was re-imprisoned several times. She became friendly with the writer Maxim Gorky who encouraged her to write her memoirs. Several times Anna received letters from Empress Alexandra during the Imperial Family’s house arrest at the Governor’s Mansion in Tobolsk, Siberia.

Anna in 1957; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1920, Anna and her mother escaped to Finland, where she spent the rest of her life, first in Viipuri (now Vyborg, Russia) and later in Helsinki. In Finland, Anna did write her memoirs as Maxim Gorky had suggested, Memoirs of the Russian Court, published in 1923 and still available. When World War II broke out, Anna was forced to flee Viipuri which was near the Soviet Union border because she feared for her life at the hands of the Soviets. After World War II, Anna once again tried to live in obscurity. She took vows as a Russian Orthodox nun but was permitted to live in her home because of her physical disabilities. In memory of her beloved friend Empress Alexandra, Anna wore the ribbon of a maid of honor until her death. Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova died in Helsinki, Finland on July 20, 1964, four days after her 80th birthday. She was buried in the Russian Orthodox section of the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki, Finland.

Grave of Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova; Credit – By Paasikivi – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62148938

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Atchinson, Bob, 2021. Anna Vyrubova – Blog & Alexander Palace Time Machine. [online] Alexanderpalace.org. Available at: <https://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/Anya.php> [Accessed 10 January 2021].
• De.wikipedia.org. 2021. Anna Alexandrowna Wyrubowa. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Alexandrowna_Wyrubowa> [Accessed 10 January 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Anna Vyrubova. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Vyrubova> [Accessed 10 January 2021].
• Massie, Robert, 1967. Nicholas And Alexandra. New York: Random House.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. 2021. Вырубова, Анна Александровна. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D1%8B%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0,_%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0> [Accessed 10 January 2021].

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov; Credit – Wikipedia

Favorite: a person treated with special or undue favor by a king, queen, or another royal person

Patronymics

• In Russian, a patronymic is the second name derived from the father’s first name: the suffix -vich means “son of” and the suffixes -eva, -evna, -ova, and -ovna mean “daughter of”.

Alexander Danilovich Menshikov was a Russian statesman and military leader and a boyhood friend and favorite of Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia. He was born on November 16, 1673, in Moscow, Russia and his father Danil Menshikov died in 1695. There is no definite information on Menshikov’s origin. One colorful story says his Lithuanian peasant father apprenticed him to a pastry cook in Moscow where he attracted the attention of François Jacques Le Fort, a Swiss-born Russian admiral and close associate of Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia, who took him on as a servant.

However, it is almost certain that Danil Menshikov, Menshikov’s father, was a soldier who served under Alexei I, Tsar of All Russia, Peter I’s father, as a corporal-clerk stationed at Preobrazhenskoye, near Moscow, and was probably of Lithuanian origin. Alexis I partly resided at the imperial estate in Preobrazhenskoye and his son Peter I spent a good part of his childhood there. Alexander was seventeen months younger than Peter I and spent his childhood as a stable boy at the Preobrazhenskoye imperial estate. From a young age, Alexander understood that it was advantageous to be close to Peter I. He was one of the first boys to volunteer for Peter I’s poteshnye voiska, the Toy Army made up of Peter’s playmates, noblemen’s sons, and attendants at his father’s court.  Alexander’s friendship with Peter I lasted until Peter I’s death in 1725.

Ten-year-old Peter I became co-tsar with his elder half-brother Ivan V in 1682. From childhood, Ivan had serious physical and mental disabilities and was never really able to participate in reigning. By the age of 27, Ivan was senile, paralyzed, and almost blind. He died February 8, 1696, at the age of 29, and his half-brother and co-ruler Peter I was left to be the sole Tsar of All Russia and after 1721, Emperor of All Russia.

Alexander painted in the Netherlands during the Grand Embassy of Peter the Great, by Michiel van Musscher,1698; Credit – Wikipedia

Alexander Menshikov joined the Preobrazhensky Regiment, formed by Peter I in 1687 from his poteshnye voiska (Toy Army), and participated in the Azov campaigns (1695 – 1696) against the Ottoman Empire. In 1697, Peter I traveled incognito to Western Europe on an 18-month tour called the Grand Embassy and Alexander accompanied him. In the Netherlands, Peter I and Alexander studied shipbuilding, skills later used to build the Russian navy. In England, Peter I and Alexander met with King William III, visited Greenwich and Oxford, and saw a Royal Navy Fleet Review. They traveled to Manchester, England to learn the techniques of city-building which would later be used to found the city of St. Petersburg.

Alexander married Princess Daria Mikhailovna Arsenyeva (1682 – 1728) and they had three children:

• Princess Maria Alexandrovna Menshikova (1711 – 1729), died from smallpox
• Princess Alexandra Alexandrovna Menshikova (1712 – 1736) married Gustav von Biron, died in childbirth
• Prince Alexander Alexandrovich Menshikov (1714 – 1764), married Princess Yelizaveta Petrovna Galitzina, had two sons and two daughters

In 1702, Alexander Menshikov was created Count and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. After an impressive defeat against the Swedish army in 1706, Peter I created Alexander a Prince of the Russian Empire. As Peter I’s close friend, Alexander had several influential positions:

• 1st Governor-General of St. Petersburg (1702–1724)
• Field Marshal of the Russian Imperial Army (1709–1728)
• Member of Governing Senate (1711–1728)
• 1st President of College of War (1717–1724)
• Member of Supreme Privy Council (1726–1728)
• Admiral of the Russian Imperial Navy (1726–1728)
• Generalissimo of the Russian Imperial Army (1727–1728)

Alexander Menshikov is responsible for introducing Peter I to his second wife. Marta Skowrońska and her five siblings were orphaned when their Polish parents died of the plague. She was sent to live with an uncle. At the age of 17, Marta was married to a Swedish dragoon named Johann Raabe during the Great Northern War (1700 – 1712). A few days after the wedding, Marta’s husband left with his regiment which departed for the war and was never heard of again. After her town was invaded by the Russian army, a maid or mistress of a Russian general, traveled back to the Russian court with the army. She became a member of Alexander Menshikov’s household, and Peter I met Marta while visiting Alexander. By 1704, Marta was well established in Peter’s household as his mistress. In 1705, she converted to Russian Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism and took the name of Catherine (Ekaterina) Alexeievna. Peter I and Catherine married publically in 1712. Their daughters Anna Petrovna and Elizabeth Petrovna, the only ones of their twelve children who survived, were the bridal attendants. Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna (1708 – 1728), married Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, had one son Carl Peter Ulrich, the future Peter III, Emperor of All Russia, and died of childbirth complications. Her younger sister Grand Duchess Elizabeth Petrovna (1709 – 1762), who never married, reigned in Russia as Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia.

A number of times, in his various positions and situations, Alexander Menshikov abused his power even though he was well aware of the principles on which Peter I’s reforms were conducted and was Peter I’s right hand in all his endeavors. Alexander’s corrupt practices frequently brought him to the verge of ruin.

Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1718, Peter I’s son from his first marriage and his heir Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich was suspected of plotting to overthrow his father. Alexei was tried, confessed under torture, convicted, and sentenced to be executed. The sentence could be carried out only with Peters’s signed authorization, but Alexei died in prison because his father hesitated in making the decision. Alexei’s death most likely resulted from injuries suffered during his torture. Alexander Menshikov was likely complicit in all the decisions regarding Alexei.

Tsarevich Alexei’s only son Peter Alexeievich, born in 1715, had been ignored by his grandfather Peter I. However, when all the sons of Peter I and his second wife Catherine died there was a succession issue and little Peter received more attention. Besides his grandfather, Peter Alexeievich was the only living male Romanov. Peter I ordered Alexander Menshikov to find tutors for Peter Alexeievich. The tutors Alexander picked were of low quality for a reason – Alexander supported Peter I’s second wife Catherine as his successor.

During the last two years of his life, Peter I suffered from urinary tract problems. During his grandfather’s illness, Peter Alexeievich met Ivan Alexeievich Dolgorukov (1708 – 1739), his future favorite. Peter Alexeievich often visited the home of Alexei Grigoryevich Dolgorukov, Ivan Alexeievich’s father, where his rights to the Russian throne were explained to him. Peter Alexeievich vowed to crush the favorite of his grandfather, Alexander Menshikov, who led the opposition to the old noble families who had not been in favor of the Westernizing reforms of Peter I. However, there was strong opposition to Peter Alexeievich succeeding his grandfather.

Catherine I, Empress of All Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

On February 8, 1725, Peter I died at the age of 52 from a bladder infection without naming a successor. A coup arranged by Alexander Menshikov proclaimed Catherine, Peter’s second wife, the ruler of Russia. During the two-year reign of Catherine I, Empress of All Russia, the real power was held by Alexander and members of the Supreme Privy Council. Catherine I’s reign was only two years and even before her death, it was clear that the inheritance of Peter I’s grandson could not be denied. Alexander began to see this during the end of Catherine I’s reign. Through his efforts, Peter Alexeievich was named Catherine’s heir apparent, even though Catherine had two daughters. Catherine also gave her consent to the betrothal of Peter Alexeievich to Menshikov’s daughter Maria Alexandrovna.

On May 17, 1727, 43-year-old Catherine I, Empress of All Russia died of tuberculosis and 11-year-old Peter Alexeievich became Peter II, Emperor of All Russia. Alexander Menshikov took the young emperor into his home and had complete control over him. The old nobility, represented by the Dolgorukovs and the Galitzines, united to overthrow Alexander. He was deprived of all his dignities, offices, and wealth, expelled from St. Petersburg, and banished to Siberia with his wife and children. The Senate, the Supreme Privy Council, and the emperor’s guards took an oath of allegiance to Peter II, who reigned for only three years due to his death from smallpox.

Alexander and his three children in exile by Vasily Surikov, 1888; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1728, on the way to exile in Siberia, Alexander Menshnikov’s wife Daria Mikhailovna Arsenyeva died. Alexander, his three children, and their eight faithful servants settled into exile in Beryozovo, Siberia, Russia. Alexander built himself a house and a small church, and lived out his life with the philosophy, “I began with a simple life and will finish with a simple life.” During a smallpox epidemic in Siberia, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov died on November 23, 1729, aged 56. His elder daughter Maria also died during the smallpox epidemic. Alexander and his daughter Maria were buried at the altar of the church he had built.

In 1731, during the reign of Anna, Empress of All Russia, who succeeded Peter II, Alexander’s two remaining children were called back from exile. His daughter Alexandra married but died in childbirth delivering her first child who did not survive. His son Alexander Alexandrovich Menshikov married Princess Yelizaveta Petrovna Galitzina, had two sons and two daughters. Alexander Alexandrovich joined the Preobrazhensky Regiment, received some of his father’s goods back, distinguished himself in the Turkish and Swedish Wars, and died with the rank of General-in-Chief. Alexander Danilovich’s great-grandson Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov was the Russian Commander-in-Chief in the Crimean War.

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Works Cited

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