Alexander Pavlovich Tsar. Alexander I - biography, information, personal life. Love affair with Maria Naryshkina

ALEXANDER I PAVLOVICH THE BLESSED (b. 1777 - d. 1825) Russian Emperor (1801–1825). The eldest son of Paul I. The upbringing of Alexander I was led by his grandmother Catherine II. He ascended the throne after the assassination of Paul I as a result of a conspiracy. Was married (1793) to the daughter of the Margrave of Baden

Immediately after his accession to the throne, the new Emperor Alexander I, the son of Paul I and the beloved grandson of Catherine II, took upon himself the obligation to rule the people “according to the law and according to the heart of his wise grandmother.” He wanted to restore order in everything and observe the rule of law, declared an amnesty for fugitives, and restored noble elections. Under him, the defeat of Napoleon’s “Great Army”, which invaded Russia in 1812, began. And at the end of his life he abandoned liberal ideas and turned to mysticism.

By the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, the Russian Empire, stretching from Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, it was a strictly regulated absolute autocracy. It consisted, in fact, of two layers of the population - the nobility obedient to the will of the monarch and the uneducated serf peasantry subordinate to the landowners. The privileges of the nobles, exempted from compulsory service, and the cruel dependence of the serfs attached to the land, caused many uprisings.

Alexander, who before his accession was not very eager to engage in the affairs of the state, became inspired from the first days of his reign. He expressed various ideas for transforming the country and thought about the liberation of the peasants. His teacher, the Swiss Jacobin Frederic Laharpe, introduced him to the principles of humanity from childhood, and the Russian military teacher Nikolai Saltykov instilled in him an interest in the history of the Fatherland. His own father Pavel passed on to him a love of military parades and beautiful uniforms. From his grandmother Catherine II, he inherited the name Alexander in honor of St. Alexander Nevsky and imperial ambitions; she wanted to see her grandson as the creator and ruler of the Greek empire with its capital in Constantinople.

Around him in 1801, a Secret Committee was formed, which included Count P. A. Stroganov, Count V. P. Kochubey, and Prince A. Czartoryski, who were seized by the ideas of transforming the country. Later, in 1810, on the basis of a committee based on the project of M. M. Speransky, the State Council and the State Chancellery were created under it. But he had to become closely acquainted with European affairs in 1805, when France was ruled by Napoleon - “an emperor without a family, without a tribe, an upstart,” who pursued an aggressive policy, which caused indignation in a number of countries.

Alexander proposed to act together against the upstart and punish him. The main military operations took place in December 1805 near the village of Austerlitz. Alexander I and the Austrian Emperor Franz 11 commanded the troops. But Napoleon proved on the battlefield that he was not an upstart, but a real military tactician, his mobile army accurately carried out all orders. The French defeated the coalition forces. The Russians and Austrians fled, both emperors fled. Francis II was forced to renounce the title of Holy Roman Emperor, and Alexander I in 1807 signed the Peace of Tilsit, shameful for Russia.

But in 1812, the brilliant Napoleon and his army for some reason invaded Russia. And although at first the Russians retreated and even surrendered Moscow without a fight, in the end, the troops led by M.I. Kutuzov managed to fight the French out of Russia. Kutuzov believed that the Russians should not continue military operations outside the country - Moscow was burned, cities and villages were begging, but Alexander wanted to appear as a winner in Europe. And he led the Foreign Campaign of the Russian Army.

After returning home, not a trace remained of Alexander’s liberalism. He has a favorite - a member State Council Count A. A. Arakcheev, a cruel, limited pedant. Instead of liberating the peasants, Arakcheev proposed military settlements, in which the peasants combined the work of agricultural workers with military service.

Alexander I died unexpectedly. During a trip to Crimea, he caught a cold and, while in Taganrog, died suddenly. The body was taken to St. Petersburg in a closed coffin and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Russian Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich was born on December 25 (12 according to the old style) December 1777. He was the first-born son of Emperor Paul I (1754-1801) and Empress Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828).

Immediately after his birth, Alexander was taken from his parents by his grandmother, Empress Catherine II, who intended to raise the baby to be an ideal sovereign. On the recommendation of the philosopher Denis Diderot, the Swiss Frederic Laharpe, a republican by conviction, was invited to become a teacher.

Grand Duke Alexander grew up with faith in the ideals of the Enlightenment, sympathized with the Great French Revolution and was critical of the system of Russian autocracy.

Alexander's critical attitude towards the policies of Paul I contributed to his involvement in the conspiracy against his father, but on the conditions that the conspirators would save the life of the king and would only seek his abdication. The violent death of Paul on March 23 (11 old style) March 1801 seriously affected Alexander - he felt a sense of guilt for the death of his father until the end of his days.

In the first days after ascending the throne in March 1801, Alexander I created the Permanent Council - a legislative advisory body under the sovereign, which had the right to protest the actions and decrees of the tsar. But due to inconsistencies among members, none of his projects were made public.

Alexander I carried out a number of reforms: merchants, townspeople and state-owned (related to the state) villagers were given the right to buy uninhabited lands (1801), ministries and a cabinet of ministers were established (1802), a decree was issued on free cultivators (1803), which created the category personally free peasants.

In 1822, Alexander founded Masonic lodges and other secret societies.

Emperor Alexander I died on December 2 (November 19, old style) 1825 from typhoid fever in Taganrog, where he accompanied his wife, Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna, for treatment.

The emperor often told his loved ones about his intention to abdicate the throne and “remove the world,” which gave rise to the legend about the elder Fyodor Kuzmich, according to which Alexander’s double died and was buried in Taganrog, while the king lived as an old hermit in Siberia and died in 1864

Alexander I was married to the German princess Louise-Maria-August of Baden-Baden (1779-1826), who adopted the name Elizabeth Alekseevna upon converting to Orthodoxy. From this marriage two daughters were born who died in infancy.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Emperor Alexander I was the grandson of Catherine the Great from her only son Pavel Petrovich and the German princess Sophia of Württemberg, in Orthodoxy Maria Feodorovna. He was born in St. Petersburg on December 25, 1777. Named in honor of Alexander Nevsky, the newborn Tsarevich was immediately taken from his parents and raised under the control of the royal grandmother, which greatly influenced the political views of the future autocrat.

Childhood and adolescence

Alexander’s entire childhood was spent under the control of the reigning grandmother; he had almost no contact with his parents, however, despite this, he, like his father Pavel, loved and was well versed in military affairs. The Tsarevich served in active service in Gatchina, and at the age of 19 he was promoted to colonel.

The Tsarevich had insight, quickly grasped new knowledge and studied with pleasure. It was in him, and not in her son Paul, that Catherine the Great saw the future Russian emperor, but she could not place him on the throne, bypassing his father.

At the age of 20, he became the Governor-General of St. Petersburg and the chief of the Semenovsky Guards Regiment. A year later, he begins to sit in the Senate.

Alexander was critical of the policies pursued by his father, Emperor Paul, so he became involved in a conspiracy, the purpose of which was to remove the emperor from the throne and the accession of Alexander. However, the Tsarevich’s condition was to preserve the life of his father, so the latter’s violent death brought the Tsarevich a sense of guilt for the rest of his life.

Married life

The personal life of Alexander I was very eventful. The crown prince's marriage relationship began early - at the age of 16 he was married to the fourteen-year-old Baden princess Louise Maria Augusta, who changed her name in Orthodoxy, becoming Elizaveta Alekseevna. The newlyweds were very suitable for each other, for which they received the nicknames Cupid and Psyche among the courtiers. In the first years of marriage, the relationship between the spouses was very tender and touching; the Grand Duchess was very loved and respected at court by everyone except her mother-in-law, Maria Fedorovna. However, warm relationships in the family soon gave way to cool ones - the newlyweds had too different characters, and Alexander Pavlovich often cheated on his wife.

The wife of Alexander I was modest, did not like luxury, was involved in charity work, and preferred walking and reading books to balls and social events.

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna

For almost six years, the Grand Duke’s marriage did not bear fruit, and only in 1799 did Alexander I have children. The Grand Duchess gave birth to a daughter, Maria Alexandrovna. The birth of the baby led to an intra-family scandal in the imperial family. Alexander's mother hinted that the child was born not from the Tsarevich, but from Prince Czartoryski, with whom she suspected her daughter-in-law of having an affair. In addition, the girl was born a brunette, and both parents were blondes. Emperor Paul also hinted at his daughter-in-law’s betrayal. Tsarevich Alexander himself recognized his daughter and never spoke out about the possible betrayal of his wife. The happiness of fatherhood was short-lived; Grand Duchess Maria lived for little more than a year and died in 1800. The death of their daughter briefly reconciled and brought the spouses closer.

Grand Duchess Elizaveta Alexandrovna

Numerous novels increasingly alienated the crowned spouses; Alexander, without hiding, cohabited with Maria Naryshkina, and Empress Elizabeth began an affair with Alexy Okhotnikov in 1803. In 1806, the wife of Alexander I gave birth to a daughter, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, despite the fact that the couple had not lived together for several years, the emperor recognized his daughter as his own, which made the girl first in line to the Russian throne. The children of Alexander I did not please him for long. The second daughter died at the age of 18 months. After the death of Princess Elizabeth, the couple's relationship became even cooler.

Love affair with Maria Naryshkina

Married life did not work out in many ways due to Alexander’s fifteen-year relationship with the daughter of a Polish aristocrat M. Naryshkina, before Chetvertinskaya’s marriage. Alexander did not hide this connection, his family and all the courtiers knew about it, moreover, Maria Naryshkina herself tried to prick the emperor’s wife at every opportunity, hinting at an affair with Alexander. Over the years of the love affair, Alexander was credited with the paternity of five of Naryshkina’s six children:

• Elizaveta Dmitrievna, born in 1803,
• Elizaveta Dmitrievna, born in 1804,
• Sofya Dmitrievna, born in 1808,
• Zinaida Dmitrievna, born in 1810,
• Emmanuil Dmitrievich, born in 1813.

In 1813, the emperor broke up with Naryshkina because he suspected her of having an affair with another man. The emperor suspected that Emmanuel Naryshkin was not his son. After the breakup, friendly relations remained between the former lovers. Of all the children of Maria and Alexander I, Sofia Naryshkina lived the longest. She died at 16, on the eve of her wedding.

Illegitimate children of Alexander I

In addition to children from Maria Naryshkina, Emperor Alexander also had children from other favorites.

• Nikolai Lukash, born in 1796 from Sofia Meshcherskaya;
• Maria, born in 1819 from Maria Turkestanova;
• Maria Alexandrovna Paris (1814), mother Margarita Josephine Weimer;
• Alexandrova Wilhelmina Alexandrina Paulina, born in 1816, mother unknown;
• (1818), mother Helena Rautenstrauch;
• Nikolai Isakov (1821), mother - Karacharova Maria.

The paternity of the last four children remains controversial among researchers of the emperor's biography. Some historians even doubt whether Alexander I had children.

Domestic policy 1801 -1815

Having ascended the throne in March 1801, Alexander I Pavlovich proclaimed that he would continue the policies of his grandmother Catherine the Great. In addition to the title of Russian Emperor, Alexander was titled Tsar of Poland from 1815, Grand Duke of Finland from 1801, and Protector of the Order of Malta from 1801.

Alexander I began his reign (from 1801 to 1825) with the development of radical reforms. The Emperor abolished the Secret Expedition, prohibited the use of torture against prisoners, allowed the import of books from abroad and the opening of private printing houses in the country.

Alexander took the first step towards the abolition of serfdom by issuing a decree “On Free Plowmen” and introducing a ban on the sale of peasants without land, but these measures did not make any significant changes.

Reforms in the education system

Alexander's reforms in the education system were more fruitful. A clear gradation of educational institutions was introduced according to the level of educational programs, and thus district and parish schools, provincial gymnasiums and colleges, and universities appeared. During 1804-1810. Kazan and Kharkov universities were opened, a pedagogical institute and a privileged Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum were opened in St. Petersburg, and the Academy of Sciences was restored in the capital.

From the first days of his reign, the emperor surrounded himself with young, educated people with progressive views. One of these was the jurist Speransky, it was under his leadership that the Petrine Collegiums in the Ministry were reformed. Speransky also began developing a project to restructure the empire, which provided for the separation of powers and the creation of an elected representative body. Thus, the monarchy would have been transformed into a constitutional one, but the reform met with opposition from the political and aristocratic elite, so it was not carried out.

Reforms 1815-1825

Under the reign of Alexander I, the history of Russia changed dramatically. The Emperor was active in domestic politics at the beginning of his reign, but after 1815 they began to decline. In addition, each of his reforms met fierce resistance from the Russian nobility. Since that time, no significant changes have occurred in the Russian Empire. In 1821-1822, a secret police was established in the army, secret organizations and Masonic lodges were banned.

The exceptions were the western provinces of the empire. In 1815, Alexander 1 granted the Kingdom of Poland a constitution, according to which Poland became a hereditary monarchy within Russia. In Poland, the bicameral Sejm was retained, which, together with the king, was the legislative body. The Constitution was liberal in nature and in many ways resembled the French Charter and the English Constitution. Also in Finland, the implementation of the constitutional law of 1772 was guaranteed, and the Baltic peasants were freed from serfdom.

Military reform

After the victory over Napoleon, Alexander saw that the country needed to carry out military reform, therefore, from 1815, Minister of War Arakcheev was entrusted with developing its project. It implied the creation of military settlements as a new military-agricultural class that would staff the army on a permanent basis. The first such settlements were introduced in the Kherson and Novgorod provinces.

Foreign policy

The reign of Alexander I left its mark on foreign policy. In the first year of his reign, he concluded peace treaties with England and France, and in 1805-1807 he joined forces against the Emperor of France Napoleon. The defeat at Austerlitz worsened Russia's position, which led to the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon in June 1807, which implied the creation of a defensive alliance between France and Russia.

More successful was the Russian-Turkish confrontation of 1806-1812, which ended with the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, according to which Bessarabia went to Russia.

The war with Sweden of 1808-1809 ended in victory for Russia; according to the peace treaty, the empire received Finland and the Åland Islands.

Also during the reign of Alexander, during the Russian-Persian War, Azerbaijan, Imereti, Guria, Mengrelia and Abkhazia were annexed to the empire. The Empire received the right to have its own Caspian fleet. Earlier, in 1801, Georgia became part of Russia, and in 1815 - the Duchy of Warsaw.

However, Alexander's greatest victory was the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, so it was he who led the years 1813-1814. In March 1814, the Emperor of Russia entered Paris at the head of the coalition armies, and he also became one of the leaders of the Congress of Vienna to establish a new order in Europe. The popularity of the Russian emperor was colossal; in 1819 he became godfather of the future Queen of England Victoria.

Death of the Emperor

According to the official version, Emperor Alexander I Romanov died on November 19, 1825 in Taganrog from complications of brain inflammation. Such a quick death of the emperor gave rise to a lot of rumors and legends.

In 1825, the health of the emperor’s wife deteriorated sharply, doctors advised the southern climate, it was decided to go to Taganrog, the emperor decided to accompany his wife, whose relationship with recent years became very warm.

While in the south, the emperor visited Novocherkassk and Crimea; on the way he caught a severe cold and died. Alexander was in good health and was never sick, so the death of the 48-year-old emperor became suspicious for many, and many considered his unexpected desire to accompany the empress on the trip suspicious too. In addition, the king’s body was not shown to the people before burial; farewell took place with a closed coffin. The imminent death of the emperor's wife gave rise to even more rumors - Elizabeth died six months later.

The Emperor is an Elder

In 1830-1840 the deceased tsar began to be identified with a certain old man Fyodor Kuzmich, whose features resembled the emperor, and also had excellent manners, not characteristic of a simple tramp. There were rumors among the population that the emperor's double was buried, and the tsar himself lived under the name of the elder until 1864, while Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna herself was also identified with the hermit Vera the Silent.

The question of whether Elder Fyodor Kuzmich and Alexander are the same person has still not been clarified; only genetic examination can dot the i’s.