Letters from Queen Evdokia to Glebov. Peter the Great did not forgive betrayal (9 photos). Family life after wedding

Brief biography

The last Russian Tsarina, first wife Peter I. Nee Avdotya Illarionovna Lopukhina, daughter of the Streltsy head Illarion (Fedor) Avraamovich Lopukhin. She was a queen for seven years, and the last one - after her there were only empresses in Russia - but no one remembered her sitting on a throne in silks and brocade. Excommunicated from the throne, she could have led a rebellion, but she chose monastic exile. She lived a long time, outliving her husband, children and even grandchildren. At the end of her life, she was offered the crown, but she voluntarily refused it, preferring to remain in the memory of the people as a humble prisoner and a ghost on the pages of history.

The Lopukhins were close to the Naryshkins, and Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, on the advice of brother Lev Kirillovich, chose Evdokia Lopukhina(the name and patronymic of the royal bride were changed before the wedding, which was supposed to ward off damage from her) as a bride for her son, trying to rely on an influential family, popular in the Streltsy troops. Evdokia Lopukhina was raised in the strict traditions of Orthodoxy and Domostroy. She was pretty and was chosen as a bride by Peter's mother without any coordination of this issue with the groom - and at that time the consent of the young people was not required - everything was decided by the parents of the newlyweds.

In February 1690, Lopukhina’s first son was born - Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich, in October 1691 - second son, Tsarevich Alexander Petrovich, who died soon after. Desiring a measured, old-testament Moscow life, she did not want to change the usual way of life, and this led to increasing hostility between the spouses. Evdokia, brought up in the old days, could not attract her young and energetic husband and understand the reason for his passion for “Mars affairs” and “Neptune fun.” She did not share Peter’s views and therefore could not forgive her husband for his constant absences from home. Even the birth of sons could no longer bring them closer. The cooling between the spouses began in 1692, when Peter I met the daughter of a merchant in the Moscow German settlement Anna Mons. Peter I finally left his wife in 1694 after the death of his mother. Lopukhina was still called the queen, she lived with her son in the Kremlin, but her relatives, the Lopukhins, who held prominent government positions, had already fallen into disgrace. After Peter I returned from abroad in 1698, Tsarina Evdokia was exiled by Peter I to Suzdal Intercession Monastery and was forcibly tonsured as a nun under the name Elena.

In the Manifesto of 1718, published in connection with the “case of Tsarevich Alexei,” Peter I formulated accusations against the former queen: “... for some of her objections and suspicions.” Lopukhina was not assigned maintenance from the treasury; She received everything she needed from her relatives. In 1709 Stepan Glebov, with the rank of major, found himself in Suzdal on business and at the same time visited his peer and longtime acquaintance Evdokia Lopukhina. Glebov asked about her life and talked about his unsuccessful marriage, which lasted sixteen years and did not bring him any joy. After the first date, he gave Evdokia two skins of arctic foxes, sables and thick brocade. Then Glebov began regularly sending food to the unfortunate beauty. Year after year passed, but their love grew stronger and blossomed. They dreamed that she would be released and they could become a happy couple.

During the investigation into the case of Kikin and Tsarevich Alexei, Evdokia Lopukhina’s participation in the 1718 conspiracy was also discovered. Lopukhina was accused of involvement in this and was interrogated “with bias,” forcing her to give testimony and confession of a secret relationship with Major S. Glebov. In a letter to Peter, she confessed everything and asked for forgiveness so that she “would not die a rootless death.” Having brutally executed everyone involved in the case, including S. Glebov, Peter limited himself to transferring his ex-wife to Ladoga Assumption Monastery, where she spent seven years. Under the Empress Catherine I Evdokia Lopukhina was imprisoned in Shlisselburg and was kept in strictly secret custody as a state criminal under the name of a “famous person.”

With accession Peter II, grandson of Evdokia, she was transferred to Moscow to Novodevichy Convent- she was given a large annual allowance of 60 thousand rubles and assigned special services. Lopukhina did not play any role at the court of Peter II. Emperor Peter II, with his beloved sister Natalya Alekseevna and aunt, the young beauty Elizaveta Petrovna, with whom young Peter was in love, settled in the Kremlin Palace. There his grandmother Evdokia visited him, but the royal grandchildren soon became bored with her instructions. Emperor Peter II, having surrounded the former recluse with honors and provided her with money, which she had been deprived of for so long, considered his duty fulfilled. After the death of the young Emperor Peter II and in connection with the suppression of the direct line of Peter I, the candidacy of Evdokia Lopukhina was even considered by the Supreme Privy Council as a possible contender for the throne, but Lopukhina refused the crown. In recent years, at the Novodevichy Convent, she lived in chambers that later became known as “Lopukhin’s.”

Caressed by the new Empress Anna Ioannovna, Tsarina Evdokia Fedorovna reposed peacefully on August 27 (September 9), 1731 in the Moscow Novodevichy Convent, having outlived the close descendants of her husband-Emperor Peter I: his second sovereign wife Catherine I, children from his second marriage, except for Princess Elizabeth. And also all his children, including the innocently murdered Tsarevich Alexei and, finally, the unexpected death of his only grandson - Emperor Peter II (1730). Tsarina Evdokia Fedorovna was buried in the Moscow Novodevichy Convent near the southern wall of the Cathedral of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God.

Emperor Peter I Alekseevich was the father of 11 children from two marriages. Three children were born from Lopukhina’s first wife, Evdokia Fedorovna:

Alexei(1690-1718) Was considered the official heir to the throne until his arrest. He was married in 1711 to Princess Sophia Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbittel, sister of Elizabeth, wife of Emperor Charles VI. Children: Natalya (1714-1728) and Peter (1715-1730), later Emperor Peter II.

Alexander(1691-1692) Alexander Petrovich died in 1692.

Paul(1693-1693) Born and died in 1693, which is why the existence of a third son from Evdokia Lopukhina is sometimes questioned.

Evdokia Lopukhina was born on June 30, 1669 in the village of Serebreno, Meshchovsky district. Her father was initially a solicitor at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and already under Fyodor Alekseevich he became first a colonel and head of the Streltsy, and later - the sovereign's steward and okolnichy. The children in the Lopukhin family - adherents of antiquity - were brought up in the strict traditions of Orthodoxy and Domostroy, including Praskovya, who, according to contemporaries, was beautiful.

Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina went down in history as the first wife of the reformer Tsar, the first Russian Emperor Peter I, and as the mother of Tsarevich Alexei. In addition, she became the last Russian queen, since after her the reigning female persons bore the title of empress and the last reigning equal non-foreign wife of the Russian monarch. The future queen at birth received the name Praskovya Illarionovna Lopukhina. She was chosen as a bride for young Pyotr Alekseevich by his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, without any agreement with the groom, although at that time the consent of the young people was not specifically asked. The queen’s choice was influenced by the fact that the Lopukhins’ family was numerous and was one of the Naryshkins’ allies. And she hoped that they would help in strengthening Peter's position as an autocratic sovereign, being popular among the Streltsy troops.

In connection with the wedding, the name of the bride Praskovya was changed to a more harmonious and befitting queen - Evdokia, and possibly for the reason that it did not coincide with the name of the wife of co-ruler Peter I - the wife of Ivan V, Praskovya Saltykova. And the middle name was also changed - to Fedorovna. Traditionally, in honor of the shrine of the Romanov family - the Feodorovskaya icon. Her father received the rank of boyar. The wedding of Peter I and Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina took place on January 27, 1689 in the church of the Transfiguration Palace near Moscow.

A year later, their first child was born - Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, and then two more sons, but the youngest, Alexander and Pavel, died in infancy. Although the first years of marriage were calm, Evdokia, brought up according to ancient prison customs, did not share the interests of her energetic and pro-Western husband and had no influence on him. She was mainly involved in the improvement of churches and monasteries. Therefore, it is not surprising that the young king quickly began to leave his wife more and more often for the sake of his favorite pastimes.

All this led to discord between the spouses. In addition, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna treated her daughter-in-law with great hostility. Evdokia’s situation was also aggravated by Peter’s relationship with Anna Mons, whom he met in 1692 in the German settlement. But the appearance of marriage remained as long as the Tsar’s mother was alive, and after the death of Natalya Kirillovna in 1694, when Peter left for Arkhangelsk, he stopped maintaining correspondence with his wife. And although Evdokia was called the queen, and she lived with her son in the Kremlin, other Lopukhins who held prominent government positions fell into disgrace.

Abandoned by her husband, the young queen closed herself in the circle of those dissatisfied with Peter's policies. He, busy with reforms, went abroad in 1696 and soon, while in London, instructed his uncle Lev Naryshkin and boyar Tikhon Streshnev in writing to persuade Evdokia to become a nun, according to the custom accepted in Rus' instead of divorce. Evdokia did not agree, citing her son’s early age, but upon returning from abroad in the summer of 1698, Peter, despite his wife’s protests, sent her under escort to the Suzdal-Pokrovsky Monastery, the traditional place of exile for queens, where she was forcibly tonsured under the name of Elena . Moreover, she was not assigned any support from the treasury - she was “fed” by her relatives, and Tsarevich Alexei was transferred to be raised by his aunt, Princess Natalya Alekseevna.

For only six months she wore a monastic dress and observed the vows of the monastery community, and then, remaining in the monastery, she resumed her secular lifestyle. And in 1709 she entered into contact with Major Stepan Glebov, who came to Suzdal for recruitment. In addition, she became a kind of “center” of the party hostile to Peter, since in the highest circles of Russian society there was still sympathy for the exiled queen. Someone believed that Peter would reconcile with his wife, leave Petersburg and his reforms, and Evdokia would again become queen. However, all this was revealed during the so-called Kikinsky search in the case of Tsarevich Alexei in 1718, when Peter learned about Evdokia’s life in the monastery. She was arrested and taken with her entire entourage to Moscow.

While still on the road, in a letter to her husband, Evdokia confessed everything and asked for forgiveness so that she “would not die a rootless death.” After the investigation and as a result of the royal trial, many of Evdokia’s close associates were executed, including nuns of Suzdal monasteries and Major Glebov, others were exiled, imprisoned, and lost their ranks and positions. In July 1718, her only son, Tsarevich Alexei, died, and six months later her brother Abram Lopukhin was executed. But in relation to Evdokia, Peter limited himself to a new “exile” - to the Ladoga Assumption Monastery, where she lived under strict supervision until the death of the emperor.

With the coming to power of the new wife of Peter I, Catherine, she was sent to Shlisselburg, where she was also kept in strictly secret custody as a state criminal under the name of a “famous person.” Only a few months after the accession of Peter II - the grandson of Evdokia - in 1727, she was honorably transported to Moscow and settled in the Novodevichy Convent, where she lived until the end of her life. The Supreme Privy Council issued a Decree on restoring the honor and dignity of the former queen with the removal of all documents discrediting her and canceled its decision of 1722 on the appointment of an heir by the Emperor at his own discretion, without taking into account the rights to the throne. Evdokia was given a large allowance and a special courtyard. Peter II and Anna Ioannovna treated her with respect, like a queen, but she did not play any role at Lopukhin’s court.

Having achieved the restoration of her position at the end of her life, having outlived her husband, son and even grandson, Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina lived the rest of her life in contentment and died on September 7, 1731 in Moscow, in the Novodevichy Convent, where she was buried in the cathedral church.

Everyone knows that Peter I was married to the commoner Martha Skavronskaya, who became empress under the name of Catherine I. About his first wife, Evdokia Lopukhina, most sources only sparingly report that Peter imprisoned her in a monastery, “shedding tears,” as Alexei Tolstoy writes in his novel... Meanwhile, the story of the disgraced queen is not so simple...

Unloved...

The bride for her son was chosen by his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna. Evdokia, from a seedy boyar family, was several years older than the 16-year-old Tsar, modest and very pretty...

At first, young Dunyasha sincerely respects her husband. However, in comparison with his former lovers - liberated beauties from the German Settlement - the shy, not experienced in carnal love, the tower hawthorn Evdokia seemed boring, insipid, uninteresting... Peter spent more and more time in the German Settlement with his favorite Anna Mons, thereby causing his wife's furious jealousy ... True, this did not prevent him from having children from Evdokia: Alexei and Natalya.

Natalya Kirillovna died in 1696. In August 1698, Evdokia, by order of the tsar, was forcibly sent to the Suzdal Women's Intercession Monastery.

Mad Evdokia and two Glebovs

In May 1699, Evdokia took secret tonsure under the name of Elder Elena. In exchange for agreeing to become, she was allowed to maintain relations with her Moscow relatives - Lopukhin, Shcherbatov, Troekurov... From them she received money, parcels, and from Princess Marya Alekseevna, who was close to her, the tsar’s half-sister, daughter of Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage, news of son... But this was not enough for the disgraced Evdokia. The queen-nun, perked up, dreamed of returning to court!

At this time, the rejected queen received news that very nearby, in the Snovitsky monastery of the Vladimir diocese, abbot Dosifei, who had a prophetic gift, lived. By the way, his parents belonged to the Lopukhins’ courtyard people. But this did not prevent Demid Glebov (this was Dosifei’s secular name) from taking holy orders, and subsequently becoming Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl.

So, Evdokia visited her family’s former serf, now a clergyman, to find out about her own future. Her expectations did not deceive her - the seer predicted to her: “You will return to the court, you will end your life in glory and wealth, decent for you!” In addition, Dositheus announced that the death of Tsar Peter was near, and Alexey, the son of Peter and Evdokia, would soon ascend the throne.

Upon returning to her sister, Elena no longer put on monastic robes, she wore luxurious outfits sent from Moscow by her relatives... From now on, she led a secular life, gathering around her a court of former Moscow subjects. More than once, as a legitimate empress, she received local governors, burgomasters and clergy.

In 1710, Evdokia had a lover - Major Stepan Glebov (by a strange coincidence, Dosifei's namesake), who arrived in Suzdal for recruitment. However, having had enough of the queen’s love, Glebov abandoned her... Evdokia turned to the same Dosifei for help, and he advised her to go on a pilgrimage... Traveling to churches and monasteries, she willingly accepted honors from the clergy...

Pay

Meanwhile, rumors reached the king that Evdokia was not living as befits a monastic rank, and had even taken a low-ranking lover! Peter’s relationship with his son from his first wife, Alexei, also did not go well. In 1718, the prince was thrown into prison on charges of “high treason.” The investigation began. During the course of it, it turned out that Alexey was constantly in touch with his disgraced mother... In a word, soon Evdokia, her associates and the ill-fated Glebov were brought to Moscow and a full investigation was conducted: confrontations, torture...

Glebov, however, completely denied a love affair with the queen, but this did not save him from punishment: he was impaled. The remaining “culprits” were punished by execution or exile. Even the “prophet” Dositheus did not escape this cup. The bodies of the executed conspirators were thrown into the fire, after cutting off their heads, which were impaled on poles and displayed on a high stone wall for everyone to see.

The unenviable fate also befell the other participants in the “conspiracy.” Princess Marya Alekseevna was imprisoned for aiding the “rebel” Evdokia... Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich died in the Shlisselburg fortress under mysterious circumstances...

Evdokia was sent to the Ladoga Monastery, where she lived on bread and water... It seemed that the prediction of the unfortunate Dositheus would never come true... Moreover, the latter could not even foresee his own terrible death!

Prophecy Fulfilled

However, it is too early to draw conclusions. In 1725, after the death of Peter I, Empress Catherine I ascended the throne.
First of all, the newly-made ruler of Russia ordered to imprison her predecessor in the same Shlisselburg fortress where her son died...

However, two years later, Catherine ordered to live long - according to rumors, her... The only surviving male heir, Peter II, the son of the murdered Alexei, became the Tsar...

The grandson, of course, immediately remembered his own grandmother. He wrote letters to her, sent her a portrait and ten thousand rubles as a gift... But during a personal meeting, the grandmother did not please Peter for some reason: he allocated money for her maintenance, but did not want to see her often... From now on, she began to live in the Novodevichy Convent, with a large staff of servants, surrounded by honor. Sometimes she appeared at court... Evdokia died on August 27, 1731 in the Novodevichy Convent, and was buried there.

Was Dosifei really so wrong? After all, Peter I still died before his first wife, and her descendant - albeit not a son, but a grandson, Peter II - still ascended the throne! And finally, Evdokia Lopukhina-Romanova ended her life, as befits a reigning person. She survived despite fate, which sought to relegate her to the margins of history...