The reign of Paul 1 is brief. Mother Mary

Emperor Paul I stands somewhat apart in our history.

During his lifetime, few people aroused sincere sympathy for him - rather, on the contrary, he repelled him with his categorical and intolerant judgments, and was quick-tempered and vindictive.

And after his death, so much blasphemy and slander was heard against him that it would have been more than enough for more than one ruler. And only the most insightful contemporaries and descendants were able to discern in Paul I a man, albeit clumsy, but sincere and straightforward in his own way.

Even Pushkin, who in his youth dedicated lines from the ode “Liberty” to the assassination of the emperor, in a later diary already sympathetically called him “our most romantic emperor.”

Biography of Paul I (09/20/1754-03/12/1801)

The heir to the Russian throne was born during the reign of . She surrounded him with a whole staff of servants, but, in essence, no one was involved in his upbringing and training. Only later, through the efforts of N.I. Panin, did the Tsarevich become a truly European educated person.

When Paul's mother, Catherine II, actually usurped the Russian throne, the relationship between her and her son gradually began to deteriorate. She seriously feared her son as the legal heir. He openly, including during foreign tours, expressed direct dissatisfaction with his mother’s policies.

Ultimately, they saw each other less and less, and soon Pavel completely retired to Gatchina, where he acquired regular units, paying a lot of attention to their training and drill. Pavel was married twice and both times to German women. The second wife, in Orthodoxy - Maria Fedorovna, bore him ten children. Some died in infancy, but two later became emperors - Nicholas I.

With the birth of Alexander, Catherine began to seriously consider the possibility of transferring the throne to her grandson, bypassing her unloved son. However, these projects were not destined to come true. Pavel took the Russian throne when he was already over forty. His entire foreign and domestic policy was carried out under the motto “in spite”, “contrary” to what had been achieved during the years of Catherine’s reign.

Domestic policy of Paul I

One of Paul's first acts was the return of the law on succession to the throne, as a result of which women's path to the Russian throne was virtually prohibited from now on. As much as Catherine strengthened the position of the nobility in her time, Paul tried to weaken them. The emperor reintroduced corporal punishment for nobles, abolished provincial assemblies, and ordered those nobles who did not want to serve the state to be put on trial.

On the contrary, the situation of the peasantry underwent some improvements: corvée was reduced, grain duty was abolished, and a ban was introduced on the sale of serfs separately and without land. The process of centralization of royal power continued. The State Treasury appeared.

The persecution of the Old Believers stopped. The restructuring of the army according to the Prussian model began. In the field of architecture, palaces were replaced by castles. The residence of Paul himself became the Mikhailovsky Castle - one of the darkest buildings of that era.

Foreign policy of Paul I

She seriously frightened both Catherine and Pavel. Having become emperor, Paul sought to prevent the penetration of the revolutionary “infection” into Russia. In retaliation for the occupation of Malta, the center of the world Masonic movement, by French troops, Paul assumed the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta.

The disgraced Field Marshal Suvorov occupied Northern Italy, thereby freeing it from French domination. However, soon there was a rapprochement between Russia and France, with the intention of undermining British naval dominance. Plans were hatched for a joint campaign against India.

• The murder of Pavel remained a crime for which no one was personally punished. Moreover, the murderers, as if nothing had happened, appeared in social salons and publicly boasted, some with a scarf, some with a snuff box, allegedly ending the life of a tyrant. To the official cause of death of the emperor - “from apoplexy”, the wits added the ending - “snuffbox to the temple.”
• The role of the emperor was brilliantly played by actor Viktor Sukhorukov in the 2003 feature film “Poor, Poor Pavel.”

The 18th century in Russian history is also called “women’s”. During this period, women ascended to the Russian throne four times. There has never been such a “matriarchy” in Russian history either before or since.

Maria Fedorovna Romanova, wife emperor Paul I, was the direct opposite of its predecessors. Instead of political intrigues and amorous adventures, she devoted all her time to her husband and children.

However, the woman whom her contemporaries considered an ideal wife and mother had a very difficult life.

Sophia Maria Dorothea Augusta Louise of Württemberg born on October 14 (25), 1759 in Stettin Castle, in the same place as her future mother-in-law Catherine the Great. Sophia-Dorothea's father, Prince Friedrich Eugene of Württemberg, like Catherine’s father, was in the service of the Prussian king and was the commandant of Stettin.

This is where the similarities between the two Russian empresses end. If the future Catherine played with boys as a child and showed extraordinary intelligence and ambition, then Sophia-Dorothea was much more in line with the classical ideas of the time about the role of a woman.

Sophia Maria Dorothea Augusta Louise of Württemberg. Painting by an unknown artist. Photo: Public Domain

Spare bride

From a young age, Sophia-Dorothea learned that a good woman should devote her life to giving birth and raising children, caring for her husband and thrifty and wise housekeeping.

Brought up in such views, Sophia-Dorothea was destined to be her husband Prince Ludwig of Hesse, and an engagement had already been concluded between them. But then unforeseen circumstances intervened.

On April 15, 1776 in St. Petersburg she died during childbirth first wife of the heir to the throne Pavel Petrovich Natalya Alekseevna, maiden name Wilhemina of Hesse. By the way, the sister of the groom Sophia-Dorothea.

Paul was shocked by the death of his wife, but his mother, Empress Catherine the Great, was more worried that her son did not have an heir. She intended to solve this problem at all costs and again began searching for a bride.

Sofia-Dorothea had previously been on the list of candidates, but at the time when the first choice was made, she was only 13 years old and she could not give birth to an heir in the near future, so her candidacy was abandoned.

After the death of Natalya Alekseevna, Catherine again remembered Sophia-Dorothea, who by this time was already 17 years old, and felt that this time the girl was ripe to become Pavel’s wife.

Maria Feodorovna. Painting by Fyodor Rokotov, 1770s. Photo: Public Domain

Pavel was amazed

But the engagement to Ludwig of Hesse interfered with the marriage to the heir to the Russian throne.

And then I got involved King of Prussia Frederick II, to whom this marriage seemed beneficial from a political point of view.

Ludwig was politely given his resignation, and the meeting between Paul and his new bride in Berlin was personally organized by Frederick II.

Pavel was completely smitten and wrote to his mother: “I found my bride to be the kind of person I could only wish for in my mind: not bad-looking, tall, slender, shy, answers intelligently and efficiently. As for her heart, she has it very sensitive and tender. Very easy to use, loves to be at home and practice reading or music.”

Perhaps, Pavel, who fell in love at first sight, sinned against the truth only once, calling the bride “slender.” Contemporaries noted that the stately blonde was prone to being overweight from a young age. And one more interesting point - Sophia-Dorothea was taller than the heir to the Russian throne.

However, the girl knew how to be in the shadow of her man, which Pavel, who was tired of the dictates of his overbearing mother, liked extremely.

Sophia-Dorothea, who had learned from childhood that submission is a virtue for a woman, endured the change of groom very easily. Just a few days after her engagement to Pavel, she told her friends that she loved him madly.

Maria Fedorovna and Pavel I. Painting by Gavrila Skorodumov, 1782. Photo: Public Domain

4 sons, 6 daughters

Following her guidelines, she knew how to maintain a conversation on topics that were interesting to her husband, for which she diligently acquired new knowledge. In order to write Pavel’s first letter in Russian, the bride only had to study a new language for a week.

Soon Sofia-Dorothea moved to Russia, was baptized into Orthodoxy under the name of Maria Feodorovna and was legally married to Pavel Petrovich.

The mother-in-law was extremely pleased with her daughter-in-law - submissive, respectful, obedient. And most importantly, in December 1777, Maria Feodorovna, to the great joy of the Empress, gave birth to a son Alexandra.

In Russian royal families, a large number of children was not uncommon, but none of the Russian empresses was as prolific as Maria Feodorovna.

In April 1779 she gave birth to her second son Constantine, in July 1783 daughter Alexandru, in December 1784 Elena, in February 1786 - Maria, in May 1788 - Ekaterina, in July 1792 - Olga, in January 1795 - Anna, in June 1796 - Nicholas, and in January 1798 - Mikhail.

Mortality in childhood was the most acute problem of that era, but out of 10 children of Maria Feodorovna, nine survived to adulthood - only daughter Olga died in infancy.

At the same time, frequent pregnancies did not prevent Maria Feodorovna from running the household and attending social events.

Maria Fedorovna did not play a significant role at court; the reason for this was Paul’s discord with his mother Catherine. And just as Catherine’s mother-in-law once took away her son to raise, so Catherine also took away her daughter-in-law’s two older children, Alexander and Konstantin, for whom her grandmother had big political plans.

Maria Fedorovna did not disagree, strictly following the postulates learned in her youth.

Chief curator of Russian orphans

However, neither the qualities of an ideal wife nor humility saved Maria Fedorovna from problems in her relationship with her husband.

Intimacy became the bone of contention. The fact is that after the birth of his youngest son Mikhail obstetrician of the empress Joseph Morenheim categorically stated that a new birth could cost Maria Feodorovna her life. Over twenty years of marriage, Pavel had not lost his passion for his wife and was fairly disappointed by such a ban.

And since the impulsive Pavel was extremely irritable, this disappointment turned into actual disgrace for the empress. The emperor himself found solace in his relationship with his favorite Anna Lopukhina.

Maria Fedorovna had to focus on charitable activities. With her husband's accession to the throne, she was appointed chief supervisor of educational homes. A mother of many children, the empress approached her new responsibilities with the utmost seriousness. Thanks to her, the work of institutions for foundlings and homeless children was streamlined. For example, while studying the work of these institutions, Maria Fedorovna discovered that infant mortality was at a monstrously high level. The reason turned out to be that there are simply no maximum standards for the number of children who can be in an orphanage at the same time. By order of Maria Feodorovna, such restrictions were introduced. It was decided to send the remaining children to state-owned sovereign villages to trustworthy and good-behaving peasants for education in order to accustom the pets to the rules of rural housekeeping; boys should be left with peasants until they are 18 years old, girls until they are 15 years old. At the same time, the empress ordered those children who were weaker than others and required constant care to be left in educational homes.

In addition to caring about the education and upbringing of orphans, which she oversaw until her death, Maria Feodorovna was involved in issues of women's education in Russia.

Thanks to her patronage and partly assistance during the reign of her eldest son Alexander I, several women's educational institutions were founded both in St. Petersburg and in Moscow, Kharkov, Simbirsk and other cities.

The most terrible night

The most terrible event in the life of the Empress was the murder of her husband, Emperor Paul I, on the night of March 11-12, 1801. Despite the deterioration of personal relationships and her husband’s attacks on her eldest sons, Maria Feodorovna in no way wanted her husband to die.

However, on that same night, political ambitions unexpectedly awoke in this submissive and meek woman. To the surprise of the conspirators, Maria Feodorovna demanded that after the death of her husband she be proclaimed the reigning monarch. For at least four hours, she refused to obey her son, putting the already embarrassed Alexander in an extremely awkward position.

The conspirators were ruder - the empress was not allowed to see the body of her murdered husband, and one of the brothers Zubov and completely said: “Get this woman out of here!” In response to Maria Feodorovna’s claims to power, one of the conspirators, Bennigsen, said: “Madam, don’t play a comedy.”

Ultimately, Maria Feodorovna, now the Dowager Empress, submitted to her fate, as she had always submitted to it.

She survived the quarter-century reign of her eldest son Alexander, who left no heirs, survived the Decembrist uprising and the accession to the throne of her third son Nicholas.

Maria Fedorovna is in mourning. Painting by George Dow. Photo: Public Domain

"Office of the Empress Maria"

She tried to influence both of her sons, the emperors, by defending the interests of her German relatives in foreign policy and giving advice on important issues of government. The sons listened respectfully, but acted in their own way - after all, the mother herself proved to them throughout her life that a woman’s place is in the kitchen and in the nursery, and not at meetings where political issues are decided.

Maria Fedorovna lived for many years in the Pavlovsk Palace - this summer palace, founded in 1782, was a gift from Paul I to his beloved wife. The Empress herself took an active part in the creation of both the palace itself and the famous Pavlovsk Park. We can say that the Pavlovsk Palace was in many ways the brainchild of Maria Feodorovna.

Maria Fedorovna died on October 24, 1828, at the age of 69. Her son, Emperor Nicholas I, ordered the formation of the IV Department of the Imperial Chancellery to run charitable and orphan institutions, in order to continue the activities to which Maria Feodorovna devoted three decades. The new department eventually received the name “Department of Empress Maria.”

In addition, in memory of his mother, Nicholas I established the Mariinsky Insignia of Immaculate Service, which was awarded to female persons for long-term diligent service in the institutions of the Empress Maria, as well as in other charitable and educational institutions under the direct authority of the Sovereign Emperor and members of the Supreme House.

He could not have children due to chronic alcoholism and, interested in the birth of an heir, turned a blind eye to the closeness of her daughter-in-law, first with Choglokov, and then with the chamberlain of the Grand Duke’s court, Saltykov. A number of historians consider Saltykov’s paternity to be an undoubted fact. Later they even claimed that Paul was not Catherine’s son. In "Materials for the biography of Emperor Paul I" (Leipzig, 1874) it is reported that Saltykov allegedly gave birth to a dead child, who was replaced by a Chukhon boy, that is, Paul I is not only not the son of his parents, but not even Russian.

In 1773, not even 20 years old, he married Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt (in Orthodoxy - Natalya Alekseevna), but three years later she died in childbirth, and in the same 1776 Pavel married a second time, to Princess Sophia of Württemberg. Dorothea (in Orthodoxy - Maria Feodorovna). Catherine II tried to prevent the Grand Duke from participating in discussions of state affairs, and he, in turn, began to evaluate his mother’s policies more and more critically. Pavel believed that this policy was based on love of fame and pretense; he dreamed of introducing strictly legal governance in Russia under the auspices of the autocracy, limiting the rights of the nobility, and introducing the strictest, Prussian-style, discipline in the army.

In 1794, the Empress decided to remove her son from the throne and hand him over to her eldest grandson Alexander Pavlovich, but did not meet with sympathy from the highest state dignitaries. The death of Catherine II on November 6, 1796 opened the way for Paul to the throne.

The new emperor immediately tried to undo what had been done during the thirty-four years of Catherine II’s reign, and this became one of the most important motives of his policy.

The emperor sought to replace the collegial principle of organizing management with an individual one. An important legislative act of Paul was the law on the order of succession to the throne, published in 1797, which was in force in Russia until 1917.

In the army, Paul sought to introduce Prussian military order. He believed that the army is a machine and the main thing in it is the mechanical coherence of the troops and efficiency. In the field of class politics, the main goal was to transform the Russian nobility into a disciplined, fully serving class. Paul's policy towards the peasantry was contradictory. During the four years of his reign, he gave away gifts to about 600 thousand serfs, sincerely believing that they would live better under the landowner.

In everyday life, certain styles of clothing, hairstyles, and dances, in which the emperor saw manifestations of freethinking, were banned. Strict censorship was introduced and the import of books from abroad was prohibited.

The foreign policy of Paul I was unsystematic. Russia constantly changed allies in Europe. In 1798, Paul joined the second coalition against France; At the insistence of the allies, he placed Alexander Suvorov at the head of the Russian army, under whose command the heroic Italian and Swiss campaigns were carried out.

The capture by the British of Malta, which Paul took under his protection, accepting the title of Grand Master of the Order of St. in 1798. John of Jerusalem (Order of Malta), quarreled him with England. Russian troops were withdrawn, and in 1800 the coalition finally collapsed. Not content with this, Paul began to draw closer to France and conceived a joint struggle against England.

On January 12, 1801, Pavel sent the ataman of the Don Army, General Orlov, an order to march with his entire army on a campaign against India. A little over a month later, the Cossacks began their campaign, numbering 22,507 people. This event, accompanied by terrible hardships, was, however, not completed.

Paul's policies, combined with his despotic character, unpredictability and eccentricity, caused discontent in various social strata. Soon after his accession, a conspiracy began to mature against him. On the night of March 11 (23), 1801, Paul I was strangled in his own bedroom in the Mikhailovsky Castle. The conspirators burst into the emperor's chambers demanding that he abdicate the throne. As a result of the skirmish, Paul I was killed. It was announced to the people that the emperor had died of apoplexy.

The body of Paul I was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Pavel I Petrovich (1754-1801)

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

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

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

It is officially believed that Pavel’s father is Catherine’s legal husband, Peter III, but in her memoirs there are indications (indirect, however) that Pavel’s father was her lover Sergei Saltykov. This assumption is supported by the well-known fact of the extreme hostility that Catherine always felt towards her husband, and against it is Paul’s significant portrait resemblance to Peter III, as well as Catherine’s persistent hostility towards Paul. A DNA examination of the emperor’s remains, which has not yet been carried out, could finally discard this hypothesis.

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

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

Paul's baptism took place in magnificent surroundings on September 25th. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna expressed her favor towards the mother of the newborn by the fact that after the christening she herself brought her a decree to the cabinet on a golden platter to give her 100 thousand rubles. After the christening, ceremonial celebrations began at court - balls, masquerades, fireworks on the occasion of Paul's birth lasted about a year. Lomonosov, in an ode written in honor of Pavel Petrovich, wished him to compare with his great great-grandfather.

Catherine had to see her son for the first time after giving birth only 6 weeks later, and then only in the spring of 1755. Catherine recalled: “He lay in an extremely hot room, in flannel diapers, in a crib upholstered in black fox fur, they covered him with a satin blanket quilted on cotton wool, and on top of that, with a pink velvet blanket... sweat appeared on his face and all over his body "When Pavel grew up a little, the slightest breath of wind gave him a cold and made him sick. In addition, many stupid old women and mothers were assigned to him, who, with their excessive and inappropriate zeal, caused him incomparably more physical and moral harm than good." Improper care led to the fact that the child was characterized by increased nervousness and impressionability. Even in early childhood, Pavel’s nerves were so upset that he would hide under the table when doors slammed any loudly. There was no system in caring for him. He went to bed either very early, around 8 pm, or at one o'clock in the morning. It happened that he was given food when he “asked”; there were also cases of simple negligence: “Once he fell out of the cradle, so no one heard it. We woke up in the morning - Pavel was not in the cradle, looked - he was lying on the floor and very rests soundly."

Pavel received an excellent education in the spirit of the French enlightenment. He knew foreign languages, had knowledge of mathematics, history, and applied sciences. In 1758, Fyodor Dmitrievich Bekhteev was appointed his teacher, who immediately began teaching the boy to read and write. In June 1760, Nikita Ivanovich Panin was appointed chief chamberlain under Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, Pavel’s tutor and mathematics teacher was Semyon Andreevich Poroshin, a former aide-de-camp of Peter III, and the teacher of the law (since 1763) was Archimandrite Platon, hieromonk of the Trinity. Sergius Lavra, later Moscow Metropolitan.

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

Having seen the princess for the first time on July 11, 1776 in the palace of Frederick the Great, Paul writes to his mother: “I found my bride as she could only wish for in her mind: not ugly, large, slender, answers intelligently and efficiently. As for her heart, then She has it very sensitive and tender... She loves to be at home and practice reading and music, she is greedy to study in Russian..." Having met the princess, the Grand Duke passionately fell in love with her, and after parting, he wrote her tender letters declaring his love and devotion.

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

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

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

All the older children of Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna were raised by Catherine II personally, having actually taken them away from their parents and without even consulting them. It was the empress who came up with names for Paul’s children, naming Alexander in honor of the patron saint of St. Petersburg, Prince Alexander Nevsky, and gave this name to Constantine because she intended her second grandson for the throne of the future Constantinople Empire, which was to be formed after the expulsion of the Turks from Europe. Catherine personally searched for a bride for Pavel’s sons, Alexander and Konstantin. And both of these marriages did not bring family happiness to anyone. Emperor Alexander only at the end of his life would find a devoted and understanding friend in his wife. And Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich will violate generally accepted norms and divorce his wife, who will leave Russia. Being the governor of the Duchy of Warsaw, he will fall in love with a beautiful Pole - Joanna Grudzinskaya, Countess Łowicz, in the name of preserving family happiness, he will renounce the Russian throne and will never become Constantine I, Emperor of All Rus'. In total, Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna had four sons - Alexander, Konstantin, Nikolai and Mikhail, and six daughters - Alexandra, Elena, Maria, Ekaterina, Olga and Anna, of whom only 3-year-old Olga died in infancy.

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

By the time he ascended the throne, Pavel Petrovich was a man with established views and habits, with a ready-made, as it seemed to him, program of action. Back in 1783, he broke off all relations with his mother; there were rumors among the courtiers that Paul would be deprived of the right to succession to the throne. Pavel dives into theoretical discussions about the urgent need to change the governance of Russia. Far from the court, in Pavlovsk and Gatchina, he creates a unique model of the new Russia, which seemed to him a model for governing the entire country. At the age of 30, he received from his mother a large list of literary works for in-depth study. There were books by Voltaire, Montesquieu, Corneille, Hume and other famous French and English authors. Paul considered the goal of the state to be “the happiness of each and all.” He recognized only monarchy as a form of government, although he agreed that this form was “associated with the inconveniences of mankind.” However, Paul argued that autocratic power is better than others, since it “combines in itself the force of the laws of the power of one.”

Of all the activities, the new king had the greatest passion for military affairs. Advice from military general P.I. Panin and the example of Frederick the Great attracted him to the military path. During his mother's reign, Pavel, removed from business, filled his long leisure hours with training military battalions. It was then that Pavel formed, grew and strengthened that “corporal spirit” that he sought to instill in the entire army. In his opinion, the Russian army of Catherine’s time was more of a disorderly crowd than a properly organized army. Embezzlement, the use of soldiers' labor on the estates of commanders, and much more flourished. Each commander dressed the soldiers according to his own taste, sometimes trying to save money allocated for uniforms in his favor. Pavel considered himself a successor to the work of Peter I in transforming Russia. His ideal was the Prussian army, by the way, the strongest in Europe at that time. Paul introduced a new uniform uniform, regulations, and weapons. Soldiers were allowed to complain about abuses by their commanders. Everything was strictly controlled and, in general, the situation, for example, of the lower ranks became better.

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

In 1787, going into the active army for the first and last time, Paul left his “Order”, in which he outlined his thoughts on governing the state. Listing all the classes, he stops at the peasantry, which “contains with itself and with its labors all other parts, and therefore is worthy of respect.” Paul tried to implement a decree that serfs should work no more than three days a week for the landowner, and on Sunday they should not work at all. This, however, led to their even greater enslavement. After all, before Paul, for example, the peasant population of Ukraine did not know corvée at all. Now, to the joy of the Little Russian landowners, a three-day corvee was introduced here. In Russian estates it was very difficult to monitor the implementation of the decree.

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

Attention was also paid to public education. A decree was issued to restore the university in the Baltic states (it was opened in Dorpat already under Alexander I), the Medical-Surgical Academy, many schools and colleges were opened in St. Petersburg. At the same time, in order to prevent the idea of ​​“depraved and criminal” France from entering Russia, the study of Russians abroad was completely prohibited, censorship was established on imported literature and music, and it was even forbidden to play cards. It is curious that, for various reasons, the new tsar paid attention to improving the Russian language. Soon after ascending the throne, Paul ordered in all official papers “to speak in the purest and simplest style, using all possible precision, and to always avoid pompous expressions that have lost their meaning.” At the same time, strange decrees that aroused distrust in Paul’s mental abilities were those prohibiting the use of certain types of clothing. Thus, it was forbidden to wear tailcoats, round hats, vests, or silk stockings; instead, a German dress with a precise definition of the color and size of the collar was allowed. According to A.T. Bolotov, Pavel demanded that everyone honestly perform their duties. So, driving through the city, writes Bolotov, the emperor saw an officer walking without a sword, and behind him an orderly carrying a sword and a fur coat. Pavel approached the soldier and asked whose sword he was carrying. He replied: “The officer who is in front.” “Officer! So, is it difficult for him to carry his sword? So put it on yourself, and give him your bayonet!” So Paul promoted the soldier to officer, and demoted the officer to private. Bolotov notes that this made a huge impression on the soldiers and officers. In particular, the latter, fearing a repetition of this, began to take a more responsible attitude towards the service.

In order to control the life of the country, Pavel hung a yellow box at the gates of his palace in St. Petersburg for submitting petitions in his name. Similar reports were accepted at the post office. This was new to Russia. True, they immediately began to use this for false denunciations, libels and caricatures of the Tsar himself.

One of the important political acts of Emperor Paul after ascending the throne was the reburial on December 18, 1796 of his father Peter III, who was killed 34 years earlier. It all started on November 19, when “by order of Emperor Pavel Petrovich, the body of the buried late Emperor Peter Fedorovich was removed from the Nevsky Monastery, and the body was placed in a new magnificent coffin, upholstered in gold, with imperial coats of arms, with the old coffin.” On the same day in the evening, “His Majesty, Her Majesty and their Highnesses deigned to arrive at the Nevsky Monastery, to the Lower Annunciation Church, where the body stood, and upon arrival, the coffin was opened; they deigned to venerate the body of the late sovereign... and then it was closed.” . Today it is difficult to imagine what the tsar was doing and forcing his wife and children to do. According to eyewitnesses, the coffin contained only bone dust and pieces of clothing.

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

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

There is information that the idea of ​​a secondary funeral for Peter III was suggested to Pavel by the freemason S.I. Pleshcheev, who by this wanted to take revenge on Catherine II for the persecution of “free masons”. One way or another, the ceremony of reburial of the remains of Peter III was performed even before the coronation of Paul, which followed on April 5, 1797 in Moscow - the new tsar attached such importance to the memory of his father, emphasizing once again that his filial feelings for his father were stronger than his feelings for the imperious mother. And on the very day of his coronation, Paul I issued a law on succession to the throne, which established a strict order of succession to the throne in a direct male descendant line, and not according to the arbitrary desire of the autocrat, as before. This decree was in effect throughout the 19th century.

Russian society had an ambivalent attitude towards the government measures of Pavlov's time and towards Pavel personally. Sometimes historians said that under Paul, the Gatchina people - ignorant and rude people - became the head of the state. Among them they call A.A. Arakcheev and others like him. The words of F.V. are cited as a characteristic of the “Gatchina residents”. Rostopchin that “the best of them deserves to be wheeled.” But we should not forget that among them were N.V. Repnin, A.A. Bekleshov and other honest and decent people. Among Paul's associates we see S.M. Vorontsova, N.I. Saltykova, A.V. Suvorova, G.R. Derzhavin, under him the brilliant statesman M.M. Speransky.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Madam dearest mother!

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

Pavel I (1754-1801), Russian Emperor (since 1796).

Born on October 1, 1754 in St. Petersburg. Son of Peter III and Catherine II. He was brought up at the court of his grandmother, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

There were rumors that Elizabeth hoped to transfer the crown to her grandson, bypassing the unloved heir Peter. She entrusted the care of raising the boy to the dignitary N.I. Panin, who managed to give Pavel a good education for that time. The future emperor learned several languages ​​and was versed in music, mathematics, fortification, military and naval affairs.

After Catherine II's accession to the throne, he received the official title of heir. However, the coup and the death of his father left a fatal imprint on his character. Pavel became secretive, suspicious, and constantly feared attempts on his life. In everything he tried to imitate the late Peter III, just like him, he saw an example to follow in the Prussian king Frederick II the Great. Paul's ideal was the Prussian military system and the Prussian police state.

Living in Gatchina since 1783, Pavel organized his court and small army according to the Prussian model. He was married twice: from 1773 to Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt (in Orthodoxy Natalya Alekseevna), and after her death to Princess Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg (in Orthodoxy Maria Fedorovna). From the latter, Paul had four sons and six daughters; but family life did not soften his character.

After the death of Catherine II, Paul ascended the throne.

From the very beginning, he contrasted his policy with everything done during his mother’s long 34-year reign. It is not surprising that the new emperor’s attempts to reform the army and state apparatus resulted in opposition from the highest administration. His desire to stop abuses in the army resulted in a series of repressions against the generals and middle officers. The introduction of uncomfortable army uniforms based on the Prussian model caused grumbling among the military personnel. The offended officers resigned en masse.

The idea of ​​limiting serfdom was reflected in the Decree of 1797 on the introduction of a three-day corvee. However, this law did not really apply.

An important feature of Paul's foreign policy was the fight against the French Revolution. Censorship was rampant in Russia, the import of foreign books was not allowed, private printing houses were closed, and there was even a ban on wearing round “French” hats. In a coalition with Prussia and Austria, Russia waged wars against France, winning victories in Italy and Switzerland thanks to A.V. Suvorov, and in the Mediterranean thanks to F.F. Ushakov. However, at the height of the anti-French campaign, Paul broke off relations with the allies and relied on an alliance with Napoleon I.

After Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of France, Paul saw in him the only force capable of curbing the revolution. Paul acted recklessly by joining the economic blockade of England carried out by France. England was the largest buyer of Russian grain, cast iron, canvas, linen and wood on the European market. The blockade hit both the landowners' economy and peasant industries hard. Paul's campaign to India, which he was preparing, undermined relations with England to no less a degree.

On the night of March 24-25, 1801, the emperor was killed by conspirators in his new residence - Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg.