In the last article (The High Tragedy of "Princess Tarakanova"), we left our heroes in Italy.
Alexei Orlov, whom Catherine II sent into honorable exile - to command the Russian squadron of the Mediterranean Sea, was in the Tuscan city of Livorno, located on the shores of the Ligurian Sea.
Abandoned by the Confederates and in desperate need of the False Elizabeth was in Rome.
Fatal meeting
Back in September 1774, Alexei Orlov himself proposed to Catherine II a plan to kidnap the impostor. He said that, in his opinion, the French Court was behind her, and offered two options for action:
"I would have thrust a stone around her neck and into the water," or "luring her onto ships, send her straight to Kronstadt."
In a letter dated November 12, 1774, Catherine II ordered him to act according to the second option:
"Lure her in a place where you would be clever enough to put her on our ship and send her here on guard."
She wanted to subject the "rival" to the most biased interrogation.
Now Orlov was looking for a meeting with the False Elizabeth. But she, apparently, knew what kind of person he was, and therefore, in a letter sent to him in August 1774, she said that she was in Turkey and with reliable protection. However, she then failed to deceive anyone, the Russians knew about her being in Ragusa, and, in the same letter, Catherine allowed Orlov not to pay attention to the sovereignty of this small republic:
"To use threats, and if only punishment is needed, you can throw several bombs into the city."
How sweet, isn't it? To commit aggression against a small, but universally recognized state. One can imagine what kind of anti-Russian hysteria would rise in the newspapers of Europe, and what an outburst of Russophobia would be provoked by such actions. But Catherine, perfectly aware of the risk, nevertheless gives this order. And what is all this for? To arrest some adventurer? This serves as further evidence of the empress's strongest concern.
But the letter was too late, the impostor had already left Ragusa, and was now in Rome. She was already sick, but now the signs of consumption (tuberculosis) were becoming more and more evident. She was tormented by fever and cough, sometimes it was even difficult for her to get out of bed.
There was no money, and False Elizabeth inadvertently wrote to the British ambassador in Naples, Hamilton, asking for a "loan."
Hamilton did not give the money, but forwarded the letter to his colleague in Livorno - John Dick, who handed it over to Alexei Orlov. From that moment on, the impostor, who had recklessly sat down to "play politics" at the same table with the Powerful of this World, was doomed. Alexei Orlov always achieved his goal, and even Catherine herself was afraid of him, politely putting her former "benefactor" out of Russia.
In January 1775, Adjutant General I. Khristinek found the impostor in Rome, giving her a message that Count Orlov had a "lively interest" in the fate of "the daughter of Empress Elizabeth." Through the British ambassador in Rome Jenkins, her debts were paid (even the debt to the Polish confederate Radziwill had to be paid off). Despite the desperate situation, the impostor, who herself had recently turned to Orlov for help, apparently anticipating something unkind, very reluctantly agreed to meet with him. Under the name of Countess Silinskaya (Zelinskaya), she went to Pisa, where she met with the alleged supporter - in February 1775.
The date did not disappoint her: Orlov, who had rented a house for her in Pisa in advance (very large - after all, there were 60 people in the impostor's retinue, whose salaries were now paid from the Russian treasury), “showed every kind of favor, offering his services, wherever she I didn’t demanded them”. He swore allegiance, promised to elevate him to the Russian throne, and even offered to marry him. The adventurer felt dizzy and, perhaps for the first time in her life, could not resist a man, and maybe even fell in love with him.
The English consul in Livorno, John Dick, who took part in the "intrigue", sent a letter to Orlov with false news of the clashes between the Russians and the British, and a demand to urgently return to his squadron to "restore order." On February 21, 1775 Orlov, having shown this letter to False Elizabeth, invited her to Livorno in order to get acquainted with his squadron.
He persuaded her to take only 8 people with her - Domansky, Charnomsky, a maid and five valets.
Abduction
In Livorno, False Elizabeth stopped on February 24 at the house of the English consul, who, during lunch, helped Orlov persuade her to inspect the Russian squadron.
Let's digress for a while. More recently, Russia took part in the Seven Years War, fighting against Prussia and her allied England on the side of France and Austria. Several years pass, and France and Austria support the Polish confederates, and Prussia finds itself on the side of Russia. France is actively involved in the intrigues of the "emigrant government" of Poland, the kingdom's officials are hosting a "pretender" to the Russian throne, trying to help her and the "volunteers" get to the front of the Russian-Turkish war. And three English envoys in Italy at this time are helping Alexei Orlov with all their might - just like a native. And then the ship with the captured adventurer calmly enters the Plymouth harbor, and the British authorities, perfectly aware of everything, politely ask no one any questions. And again the "accursed" question hangs in the air: why and why did Russia fight against Prussia and England, who wanted peace with our country, and even on the side of such treacherous and hypocritical "allies"?
Alexei Orlov's squadron greeted the girl with fireworks and music, the sailors greeted the "Grand Duchess" with joy, it seemed that nothing was impossible, and the most cherished dreams come true. Forgetting caution, she boarded the flagship Holy Great Martyr Isidore and drank wine in Admiral Greig's cabin.
In Europe, by the way, a version appeared in which Aleksey Orlov and Jose (Osip) de Ribas are represented by some incredibly cynical scoundrels and blasphemers: before the arrest, on the ship, allegedly, a buffoonery wedding ceremony was carried out, the role of the priest on which was performed by the Spaniard. Of course, there was nothing like this in real life. Orlov and de Ribas, of course, were far from being angels, but such a "trash" could only be thought of by some completely degraded clickfighter, and for very little money, which was enough to "get drunk". Unfortunately, this blatant fake was happily picked up and replicated by our writers, so we see this scene in Zorin's play and the film based on it in 1990:
In fact, Orlov and Greig suddenly disappeared somewhere, but Captain Litvinov appeared with the guards, who announced the arrest of the impostor. Together with her, members of her small retinue were also detained. The shock was too great, the forces left the adventurer: she lost consciousness and regained consciousness in the cabin, which became the first prison cell in her life. Of her people, a maid was left with her, the rest were transferred to other ships.
It is often necessary to read that the Russian squadron immediately departed from the coast, but they remained in Livorno for 2 more days - until the papers of the False Elizabeth were delivered from Pisa. All this time, the ships were surrounded by boats of local residents, which could be kept at a distance only by the threat of the use of weapons. Adjutant General Khristinek was immediately sent by land to St. Petersburg with a report, followed by Alexei Orlov. In Venice, he met with Pane Kohancu - Karol Radziwil, who was described in the previous article. The tycoon tearfully asked to convey to Catherine "an apology" for the connection with the Confederates and participation in the adventure with the "princess", and begged him to intercede with the empress.
Conscience, apparently, worried Orlov: before leaving, he still did not find the strength to once again meet with the woman who confided in him, who, as it soon turns out, became pregnant from him. He managed to receive a letter from her with a plea for help, to which he replied that he himself was under arrest, but people loyal to him would release both of them. It is believed that, by giving hope, he wanted to turn her away from a suicide attempt. And, indeed in the hope of a speedy release, the captive remained calm until she arrived in Plymouth. Here the girl fainted (or staged it). When she was taken out into the fresh air, she tried to jump into a boat passing by - this desperate attempt to escape failed.
Orlov's actions undoubtedly violated international law, and caused great indignation among politicians in some countries - from among those that are now commonly called "partners". It was especially strong in Italy and Austria. In a letter to Catherine II, Orlov wrote that "in these places (in Italy), he should be afraid, so as not to be shot or nurtured by the accomplices of this villain, I am most afraid of the Jesuits, and with her some were and remained in different places." …
Of course, it can be assumed that Orlov points out to the Empress the "special complexity" of her assignment and hints at the need to "be grateful." But it seems that during his travels, he really felt uncomfortable, constantly feeling the hostility of both local authorities and individuals.
However, no one wanted to seriously quarrel with the powerful Russian Empire because of the impostor, Orlov made it safely to St. Petersburg, the noise soon subsided.
And the sad voyage of the False Elizabeth lasted until May 11, 1775, when the ship with the captive arrived in Kronstadt. On May 26, she ended up in the western (Alekseevsky) ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
The last days of an adventurer's life
A special commission headed by Prince A. M. Golitsyn, began an investigation. Catherine II did not believe that her rival acted independently: she demanded at any cost and by any means to get from her recognition, "who is the boss of this comedy."
The commission found out that the impostor considers the name Elizabeth to be real, that she is 23 years old, and she does not know either her place of birth or her parents. Until the age of nine, she allegedly lived in Kiel, and then, for some reason, she was transported to Persia, where she lived for 15 months - through Livonia and St. Petersburg. The people accompanying her (three men and a woman) said that all this was done at the behest of Emperor Peter III. She fled from Persia with some Tatar, who brought her to Baghdad - to the house of the rich Persian Gametes. Then she was taken to Isfahan by the "Persian prince Gali", who told the girl that she was "the daughter of Elizaveta Petrovna, and her father was called differently, who was Razumovsky and who was different." In 1769, the "Persian prince" for some reason was forced to flee the country. Dressed in a man's outfit, he took with him. Through Petersburg, Riga, Koenigsberg and Berlin, they reached London, where the patron left her, giving her goodbye "precious stones, gold bullion and cash a great number." From London she moved to Paris, then to Kiel, where the local duke invited her to marry him. But she decided first to go to Russia to learn "about her breed", but instead ended up in Venice, where she met Prince Radziwill.
Sometimes she changed her testimony, claiming that she was a Circassian, born in the Caucasus, but raised in Persia. She allegedly intended to acquire a strip of land along the Terek in order to settle French and German colonists on it (her fiancé, Philip de Limburg, was supposed to help her in this) and even found a small border state in the Caucasus.
A young woman, until recently, who played as if with puppets, with far from stupid men, and who for some time became a serious factor in European politics, was carrying some kind of frank delirium, and, it seems, piously believing in her words. It was hard to believe that this, apparently mentally not quite healthy girl, so scared Catherine, who carefully cared about her reputation abroad, that she forced her to commit a scandalous violation of the sovereignty of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which was ruled by relatives of the Austrian Habsburgs. They did not believe her, torturing her with long interrogations and constantly tightening the conditions of detention. Catherine demanded an answer to the main question: which of the European, or even Russian, politicians stood behind the impostor's back?
It was not possible to find the "owner" of the adventurer, it seems that he really was not there.
Meanwhile, the symptoms of tuberculosis in the prisoner progressed rapidly, the most alarming of them was coughing up blood. In addition, according to some reports, communication with Orlov was not in vain, and it was revealed that the impostor was in her fifth month of pregnancy. Based on the doctor's report, it was decided to transfer her to the basement under the house of the commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress, as a drier room.
From her cell, she wrote to Catherine, begging for a meeting, these letters remained unanswered.
In 1860, an essay by P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, where the testimony of a certain Vinsky was cited. It was a sergeant of the Izmailovsky Guards Regiment, who was imprisoned in the Alekseevsky Ravelin for some "political" affairs, and ended up in the cell of "Princess Tarakanova". Here he saw the words “O mio Dio!” Scrawled on the window pane. A very old veteran watchman, allegedly having once opened up to him, told him that Count Alexei Grigorievich Orlov himself once visited the young lady who had been here before, at whom she "swore very much" in a foreign language and even "stamped her feet." the same watchman Vinsky learned that the "lady" "was brought in a pregnant woman, she gave birth here."
It should be said that not all researchers are inclined to trust this story. However, this situation is the rule, not the exception: history does not belong to the category of "exact" sciences, and many questions are answered with much more than one answer.
The prisoner's health deteriorated sharply in October 1775, on the 26th of this month Golitsyn told the empress that "the doctor despairs of her cure and says that, of course, she will not live long." However, it is believed that she gave birth to a live child in November. It was a boy whom some researchers identify with Alexander Alekseevich Chesmensky. He later served in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment and died at a young age. Other historians, of course, strongly disagree with this - everything is as usual.
In early December, the prisoner asked to send an Orthodox priest for confession, which was held in German. After that, the agony began, which lasted two days. On December 4, this mysterious woman died, her body was buried in the courtyard of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Members of the retinue of the impostor, brought from Livorno along with the "princess" (Domansky, Charnomsky, the maid Melschede, valets Markezini and Anciolli, Richter, Labensky, Kaltfinger), who could not say anything about the origin of the impostor, after her death were exiled abroad. They were even given money "for the road" (Domansky and Charnomsky - 100 rubles, Melschede - 150, the rest - 50), forbidden to return to Russia and strongly advised to "forget" about everything.
It is interesting that after the death of Alexander I, in his private office in the Winter Palace, the "Book of the Senate's Secret Expedition" (which contained materials on the Pugachev case) and the investigation file of "Princess Tarakanova" were discovered. It would seem: figures of a completely incomparable scale, but, even to the grandson of Catherine II, the impostor, apparently, seemed no less dangerous than the famous leader of the Peasant War. Moreover, Nicholas I, who discovered the Tarakanova case, ordered DN Bludov, in parallel with the Decembrist case, to prepare for him a full report on the impostor. And when, in 1838, in the papers of the deceased Chairman of the State Council N. N. Novosiltsev discovered some new documents related to the False Elizabeth, followed by the order of the emperor: all the papers, without getting acquainted with the content, immediately transfer … Bludov! And then the new emperor, Alexander II, wished to familiarize himself with the Tarakanova case. Something too much attention was paid to this impostor and Catherine II, and her heirs. Maybe we still don't know everything about her?
The case of "Princess Tarakanova" was kept secret, nevertheless, some fragmentary information became known to the general public, as a result, over time, this already sad story was dramatically amplified by the rumor about the death of the impostor during the floods in St. Petersburg - 10 September 1777. In 1864, Konstantin Flavitsky painted the famous picture "Princess Tarakanova", which contributed to the final consolidation of this legend in the popular mind.
The success of Flavitsky's painting prompted Alexander II to declassify some of the documents of the "case of Princess Tarakanova" - because "the picture is false" and it is necessary "to put an end to empty talk."
Another factor annoying for the authorities, prompting them to be more open, was the appeal to the readers of the editorial board of the Russian conversation magazine in 1859:
"Is Russian history condemned to lies and gaps for all the time, starting with Peter I?"
As a result, V. N. Panin published two works in 1867: "A Brief History of Elizaveta Alekseevna Tarakanova" and "On the Impostor Who Pretended to Be the Daughter of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna."
Later, "Princess Tarakanova" became the heroine of the books by P. Melnikov, G. Danilevsky, E. Radzinsky, the play by L. Zorin, based on which the film "The Tsar's Hunt" was filmed, and even musicals.
Princess Augusta
A less well-known contender for the role of the daughter of Elizabeth Petrovna and Alexei Razumovsky is the real-life nun Dosithea, who in 1785 was placed in the Moscow John the Baptist Convent by the order of Empress Catherine II.
This monastery was founded by Elizaveta Petrovna in 1761, who intended it "for the charity of widows and orphans" of noble and distinguished people of the empire. However, life made its own adjustments, and the monastery became not only a "nursing home", but also a prison for "inconvenient" persons of noble birth. It is curious that, simultaneously with Dosithea, the famous sadist "Daria Nikolaeva" (Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova, better known as "Saltychikha") was kept in the underground cell of the St. John the Baptist Monastery.
Here she spent more than 30 years, from 1768 to 1801. The investigation proved the murder of 38 serfs by her. But why was the meek Dosithea buried alive in this monastery, who was ordered to be kept in the strictest isolation indefinitely? The only indulgence was the permission to purchase, with the money allocated from the treasury, food for this nun's table without restrictions (taking into account the "fast" and "fast" days, of course).
Dosithea was housed in two small cells with a hallway not far from the abbess's chambers. The windows of these cells were always closed with curtains; only the abbess herself and Dosithea's personal confessor could enter them. These cells have not survived - they were demolished in 1860.
As often happens, the veil of secrecy aroused an unprecedented interest in the mysterious recluse: curious people gathered all the time, hoping to see her through a crack in the curtains at least out of the corner of their eyes. Rumors spread about the youth and unprecedented beauty of the nun, her high birth. Only after the death of the empress did the regime of Dosithea's detention somewhat improve: she was not allowed to leave her cells, but they began to allow visitors more freely. It is known that Metropolitan Platon was among those. The clerk of the monastery claimed that some of the guests behaved like nobles, and conducted conversations with Dosithea in some foreign language. They also recalled that a portrait of Empress Elizabeth hung on the wall of her cell.
Dosithea died after 25 years of imprisonment at the age of 64 - in 1810. Her funeral surprised very many, as the Moscow vicar, Bishop Augustine of Dmitrov, served the funeral service for this nun. And at the burial, many nobles of Catherine's time were present, who appeared in ceremonial uniforms and with orders. The body of Dosithea was buried in the Moscow Novospassky monastery - at the eastern fence, on the left side of the bell tower. The gravestone read:
"Under this stone is laid the body of the deceased in the Lord nun Dosithea of the monastery of the Ivanovo monastery, who asceticised in Christ Jesus in monasticism for 25 years and died in February 4 days in 1810".
In this monastery for a long time they showed the still not preserved portrait of the nun Dosithea, on the back of which one could read:
"Princess Augusta Tarakanova, in the foreign shop of Dositheus, tonsured in the Moscow Ivanovsky monastery, where, after many years of her righteous life, she died, was buried in the Novospassky monastery."
In 1996, during the reconstruction of the Novospassky Monastery, the remains of Dosifei were examined by employees of the Republican Center for Forensic Medical Examination and professor-forensic scientist, Doctor of Medical Sciences V. N. Zvyagin. It turned out that she had a hump, which was the result of some kind of trauma suffered in childhood.
The Mystery of Nun Dosithea
But who was this captive of Catherine?
Some argue that from the marriage of Elizabeth Petrovna and Alexei Razumovsky around 1746, in fact, a daughter was born, named August. Allegedly, she was given to be raised by the favorite's own sister - Vera Grigorievna, who was married to Colonel of the Little Russian army E. F. Daragan. After the death of Elizabeth, it was as if she was sent abroad - what if the new monarch does not like the "unnecessary" relative? But, by order of Catherine II, in 1785 the girl was brought to Russia and assigned to the familiar John the Baptist monastery.
Dosithea herself, when they began to more freely admit visitors to her, telling the story from a third person, told G. I. Golovina:
"It was a long time ago. There was one girl, the daughter of very, very noble parents. She was brought up far over the sea, in a warm side, she received an excellent education, lived in luxury and honor, surrounded by a large staff of servants. Once she had guests, and among them was one Russian general, very famous at that time. This general offered to take a boat ride on the seashore. We went with music, with songs, and when we went out to sea, there was a Russian ship at the ready. The general says to her: would you like to see the ship's structure? She agreed, entered the ship, and as soon as she entered, she was already forcibly taken to the cabin, locked up and sent in sentries. It was in 1785."
In St. Petersburg, she was taken to Catherine II, who, having told about the Pugachev rebellion and the impostor Tarakanova, said: for the peace of the state, she, “in order not to become an instrument in the hands of ambitious people,” should have her hair cut as a nun.
You probably noticed that this story is very much reminiscent of the real story of the abduction of the False Elizabeth by Alexei Orlov. And therefore, most historians are sure that Dosithea was a weak-minded or mentally unhealthy girl who, having heard from someone about a real impostor, came up with a similar story for herself. Apparently, she really was a special noble birth, since the empress herself took part in her business. The daughter of one of her confidants did not exile to Siberia, but, out of harm's way, was forever locked in a privileged monastery, assigning life-long maintenance. The placement of the insane in a monastery was a very common practice in those years. Acquaintances were told about the pious desire of one of the relatives to get away from the temptations of sinful secular life, devoting themselves to serving the Lord. This was all the more convenient because in the monastery they received new names, and, as it were, dissolved in the general mass of the monastery “brothers” and “sisters”. The former names and surnames were subject to oblivion, and their madness did not cast a shadow on the family.
But not everyone had the means to make the necessary “contribution” to the monastery or to appoint a “pension”. And that is why the "holy fools" at the church porters also did not surprise anyone.
Other "children" of Elizabeth and Razumovsky
One should be no less skeptical about the information that Elizabeth also had a son from Razumovsky, who either died in one of the monasteries of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky at the beginning of the 19th century, or under the name of Zakrevsky rose to the rank of privy councilor.
As if this were not enough, some argue that another daughter of the Empress, Varvara Mironovna Nazareva, lived in a monastery near Nizhny Novgorod until 1839. Another alleged daughter of Elizabeth and Razumovsky allegedly lived in the Moscow Nikitsky monastery. Legends about the "daughters of Elizabeth and Razumovsky" were also told in the convents of Arzamas, Yekaterinburg, Kostroma and Ufa. As you probably guessed, these were considered nameless noble women, whom relatives sent there because of their madness.
