Analysis

Kantemir, Maria Dmitrievna. Peter I and Maria Cantemir Peter the First and Princess Mary

There is a well-known story connected with Peter the Great’s supposed “last love interest” Maria Dmitrievna Cantemir (1700-1757) and her pregnancy with the emperor, which ended in a miscarriage provoked by Empress Catherine’s physician Georgiy Polikala (from 1704 to 1711, he served as Peter’s personal physician .A. Tolstoy in Constantinople) is based on very shaky documentary foundations and looks more like an adventure novel.

The only evidence that such a hobby of the sovereign and its consequences actually took place is based on a document dated June 8, 1722, a report from the French ambassador to Russia Jacques de Campredon (1672 - 1749) to Cardinal Dubois. Reporting on the beginning of the Persian campaign, the ambassador mentioned rumors spreading in St. Petersburg about Maria Cantemir’s pregnancy from Emperor Peter: “The Queen is afraid of the Monarch’s new inclination towards the daughter of the Wallachian ruler [Dmitry Konstantinovich Cantemir].

She, they say (on pretend), has been pregnant for several months, and her father is a very dexterous, smart and cunning man. The queen is afraid that the king, if this girl gives birth to a son, will not yield to the convictions of the Wallachian prince and divorce his wife in order to marry his mistress, who will give the throne a male heir. This fear is not without foundation and there have been similar examples.”

If you trust this rather cautious message from Campredon, who, by the way, was in St. Petersburg all this time and was in personal correspondence with D.K. Cantemir, it is difficult to explain the desire of the “nosy” Moldavian prince to find support in the execution of his will from Catherine, that is, the obvious enemy of his daughter and his “insidious plans.” Indeed, the exacerbation of D.K.’s disease Cantemir (tachycardia - diabetes) during the Persian campaign led to the fact that on September 28 he wrote a will in the name of Empress Catherine I.

Alleged portrait of Maria Cantemir. Artist: I.N. Nikitin, 1710s - 1720s. Collection of the Museum "New Jerusalem".

It is interesting that supporters of the adventure novel preferred not to pay attention to another letter from the same Jacques de Campredon, sent by him a year after the events described, on July 13, 1723, addressed to the French king: “They are already talking about a trip to Moscow next winter. They even say that the coronation of the Queen will take place there, that the Tsar will introduce her to the reign and establish the order of succession to the throne. It is certain that the influence of the Queen is growing stronger every day and that it is only for her pleasure that the Tsar is keeping in the distance, in the village, the ruler of Moldova, whose daughter, at one time, seemed to have attracted the attention of the Monarch.”

Just at the time of writing this letter, Prince Kantemir and his family, with long stops caused by his illness, were moving from Astrakhan in the direction of Moscow. De Campredon, without hiding it, based both of his messages on rumors and speculations spread at the court, which returned to St. Petersburg from Moscow immediately after the emperor’s departure for the Persian campaign. Therefore, the records of the family biographer, I. Ilyinsky, who was personally present with D.K., are much more credible. Kantemir in Derbent and was a direct witness to the reunion of the Kantemir family in Astrakhan on October 9, 1722.
Dmitry Konstantinovich Kantemir, Maria’s father.

In some publications, an additional source of information about these events is a note attributed to the “Tsar's diplomatic agent,” that is, the Austrian ambassador, apparently S.-V. Kinsky, which was first published in the historical and geographical magazine “Shop of New History and Geography” in 1777: “But among all the royal mistresses, no one was as dangerous for the queen as the young princess Cantemir, whom the king loved especially ardently compared to others , and Tolstoy in this love acted as an intermediary, who subsequently enjoyed the favor of the Tsar and Tsarina and, for the Tsar’s convenience, was going to marry this lady himself and give her his name, wanting to tactfully divert the Tsarina’s attention from this love.

But the tsar did not want to be content with this turn of affairs, wanting to marry this young princess himself, so great was his love after all, however, he could not decide to go against his queen, the Russian Katerina the first, with those she had brought into the world. children, because he was afraid of the Spiritual College, which could completely prevent this; but since the betrayal was mutual, permission for his wedding with Princess Cantemir as a wife of the second order (Gemahlin Secundi) could be obtained after the birth of her son (because she was pregnant at that time).

At the same time, the king undertook a campaign in Persia, as a result of which Princess Cantemir lost his attention, and it was after she had a miscarriage during her unsuccessful birth in Astrakhan that she fell into oblivion, and the queen, despite everything accompanying the king everywhere, again won." The numerous coincidences between this note and de Capredon’s reports are surprising, which may indirectly indicate that rumors about Mary’s pregnancy were transmitted to the French envoy from the Austrian ambassador.

But let’s briefly return to the legend, most fully reflected in the article by L.N. Maykova: “While this expedition was taking place, in Astrakhan, at the sovereign’s fish yard, where premises were allocated for the Kantemirov family, a dark deed prepared from afar took place. Princess Maria gave birth prematurely to a premature baby. There is news that this birth was artificially accelerated by measures taken by Polikala, the doctor of the Kantemirov family, who was also at the Tsaritsyn’s court, and Polikala’s actions were supervised by none other than Prince Dimitri’s friend P.A. Tolstoy.

It was not the first time for him to play a dual role: by bringing the princess closer to Peter, he at the same time wanted to please Catherine; the unfortunate princess turned out to be his victim, a fragile toy in his hard hands. Now Peter's wife could be dead; the danger she feared was eliminated, and Tolstoy could count on Catherine’s gratitude /...

In Astrakhan, among his family, the prince was greeted with sad news: he found his daughter seriously ill.

There is reason to think that the circumstances surrounding her illness remained unclear to him; at least the doctor Polikal continued to be with him. But the very outcome of the princess’s pregnancy destroyed all the prince’s secret plans and hopes, and this was absolutely enough to completely destroy his health.” In his reasoning, the researcher relied on the above-mentioned anonymous and published 70 years after the events, “anecdote” about Princess Maria Cantemir as a “wife of the second rank”, continuing with the words: “...she [M.D. Cantemir - approx. A.P.] was pregnant; if she gives birth to a son, he [Peter I – approx. A.P.] will have to declare him heir to the throne.

But Catherine escaped such disfavor as a result of two rather happy events. Suddenly the need for an expedition to Persia arises. The Tsar's ministers, wanting to show their vigorous activity, made hasty preparations for the campaign and hurried it [the Tsar - approx. A.P.] departure, which forced him to abandon all love adventures and all court intrigues. At the same time, Cantemir suffered a miscarriage in Astrakhan; this ended with her losing her place near the Emperor, and Catherine, who had accompanied her husband in Persia and bravely endured the hardships of the trip and the murderously hot climate, returned to Peter’s favor.”

The participation of P.A., emphasized by the anonymous author. Tolstoy in these events as a supporter of the interests of the Kantemirov family led to the emergence of the “conspiracy” theory of L.N. Maikov about his ambivalent participation in these events, despite the fact that the further biography of this undeniably outstanding personality testifies to Tolstoy’s personal commitment to the behests of Peter and his selfless loyalty to Catherine after the death of the emperor.

The hope expressed in his father’s will for what is still possible, according to D.K. Cantemir, the marriage of his daughter Maria with I.G. Dolgorukov, L.N. Maikov was inclined to interpret it as a cunning intrigue, invented by a deeply ill, exhausted man on the verge of death, designed to make the empress understand “... that for him Peter’s closeness to his daughter remained a secret.”

Finally, the final formulation of gossip about the closeness of the emperor and Maria Cantemir into the genre of an adventure novel belongs to the pen of the Polish historian, writer and publicist Kazimir Feliksovich Waliszewski (1849 - 1935), according to whom, “... when Peter in 1722 set out on a campaign against Persia, his The love affair with Maria Cantemir had been dragging on for several years and seemed close to an outcome that would be fatal for Catherine. Both women accompanied the king during the campaign. But Maria was forced to stay in Astrakhan because she was pregnant. This further strengthened her followers in victory.

After the death of little Peter Petrovich, Catherine no longer had a son whom Peter could make his heir. It was assumed that if, upon the king’s return from the campaign, Cantemir gave him a son, then Peter would not hesitate to get rid of his second wife in the same way as he got rid of his first. If you believe Scherer [the alleged author of the anonymous anecdotes of the 1792 edition - approx. A.P.], Catherine’s friends found a way to get rid of the danger: upon returning, Peter found his mistress seriously ill after a premature birth; they even feared for her life.”

It is curious that none of the authors who were of the opinion that the described adventurous circumstances actually took place, for some reason, does not directly indicate under what circumstances Maria lost her child: was it a miscarriage caused by a long journey, a sharp change in climate, or illness, whether the baby died as a result of an unsuccessful birth, or, nevertheless, lived for several days, having received holy baptism. Ignoring numerous natural factors that could lead to this sad event, with persistent allegations that the princess was poisoned by a doctor sent, also reduces confidence in the authenticity of this story.

Another reason for doubt is the fact that researchers of this dark history not only refrain from indicating the date of this event, but also avoided any time specifications, such as whether it happened during the campaign (July 18 - October 9, 1722) or already after the return of D.K. Cantemir to Astrakhan. In addition, some of the authors mistakenly connect this event even with the death of Princess Maria Cantemir, ignoring the published later correspondence between Maria and her brother Antiochus in 1734 - 1744.

According to Bayer, the empress’s physician Georgiy Polikala, who participated in the campaign, was assigned to Cantemir on the orders of Peter I back in Derbent and arrived in Astrakhan with the prince, which means he could not participate in the “insidious intrigue” with the poisoning of one of the princesses of Cantemir until D.K. returns Kantemir to Astrakhan.
Anastasia Cantemir, née Trubetskoy, is the stepmother of Maria Cantemir.

Particular attention should be paid to the fact that none of the supporters of the “adventurous version” paid attention either to the pregnancy of Mary’s stepmother, His Serene Highness Princess Anastasia Cantemir, which occurred precisely during the events described, or to the death of her child in Astrakhan at the end of November of the same 1722, information about which was published by Bayer back in 1783.

This rather strange “selectivity” in the interpretation of sources, coupled with the “doubling of events,” seems to be a reason to doubt that both the stepmother and the stepdaughter, who was her age and had the same surname, were at about the same time, being in the same place, at a fish yard in Astrakhan, they had the same fate associated with the loss of their infant sons. Meanwhile, a direct participant in the events, I.I. Ilyinsky, who during the campaign was in charge of receiving letters for D.K. Cantemir, who communicated with him daily and reflected in detail on the family history in his journal, does not mention a word about pregnancy, miscarriage, or illness of either Maria or Anastasia Cantemir, mentioning, however, the princess’s first unsuccessful birth Anastasia.

One way or another, the only thing that should be considered reliable is that vague rumors about the pregnancy of one of the princesses of Cantemir, nevertheless, circulated in the highest society of St. Petersburg, one way or another, reaching the ears of de Capredon and Kinsky, who could not or did not consider it necessary to find out and provide more accurate information. On the other hand, reliable information about the possible meetings of Princess Maria with the sovereign is limited to a few references to Peter I’s visits to the Kantemirov house in St. Petersburg and the family’s meetings with the emperor during the days of the protracted celebration of the Peace of Nystad, at which Maria could have been present.

It seems that the absence of any more definite data about this, given the high attention of contemporaries and researchers to the daily routine of the sovereign, makes this story even more doubtful. On the other hand, the jealousy of His Serene Highness Prince D.K., reflected in memoir sources. Cantemir to his wife Anastasia, which aggravated during the period of her frequent, almost regular meetings, which took place at the same time with her childhood friend, the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, was noted in Berchholtz’s diary, and of course, was not a secret for society along with “ strange behavior” of the Wallachian princess on April 14, 1722 (i.e., 7–8 months before giving birth) at a dinner party with the Austrian ambassador Count Kinsky, the alleged author of one of the two main sources concerning this complicated story.

http://trojza.blogspot.md/2015/01/i.html

Princess Maria Dmitrievna Cantemir

Princess Maria Dmitrievna Cantemir (Marya Cantemirova, 1700-1757) is the daughter of the Moldavian ruler, Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich and Cassandra Cantacuzene, who fled to Russia, the sister of the famous Russian poet Antiochus Cantemir, the mistress of Emperor Peter the Great.

Maria Cantemir

Ivan Nikitich Nikitin

As a child she was brought to Istanbul, where her father lived. Her teacher was the Greek monk Anastasius Kandoidi, a secret informant of the Russian ambassador in Istanbul P. A. Tolstoy.

I. Aivazovsky

Tannauer Johann Gonfried. Portrait of Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy. 1710s

Maria was taught ancient Greek, Latin, Italian, the basics of mathematics, astronomy, rhetoric, philosophy; she was interested in ancient and Western European literature and history, drawing, and music.

At the end of 1710 she returned with her family to Iasi. Dmitry Cantemir turned out to be Peter's ally in the unsuccessful Turkish campaign and lost his possessions under the Prut Treaty. From 1711 the family lived in Kharkov, from 1713 in Moscow and the Black Dirt residence near Moscow.

Dmitry Konstantinovich Kantemir

Anastasia Ivanovna of Hesse-Homburg is a Russian princess from the Trubetskoy family, in her first marriage Princess Cantemir, daughter of Field Marshal Prince I. Yu. Trubetskoy, beloved sister of I. I. Betsky, lady of state.

Alexander Roslin

Claudius Vasilievich Lebedev (1852-1916). Assembly at the court of Peter I

Maria tried to avoid tedious amusements, and this incurred the displeasure of the king, on whose orders an investigation began, led by Pavel Yaguzhinsky and Dr. Blumentrost. On November 1, Ilyinsky’s diary records: “Pavel Ivanovich Yaguzhinsky with Dr. Lavrentiy Lavrentievich (Blumentrost) and Tatishchev (the Tsar’s orderly) came to examine the princess and princess: are they really not able to (they are unwell), since they were not in the Senate on Sunday.”

Pavel Ivanovich Yaguzhinsky (Yagushinsky) (1683, Grand Duchy of Lithuania - April 6, 1736, St. Petersburg) - count, chief general, Russian statesman and diplomat, associate of Peter I.

Lavrentiy Lavrentievich Blumentrost

In her parents' house, Maria received Peter I, Menshikov, Fyodor Apraksin, and the French ambassador Campredon (11/6/1721). She maintained friendly relations with Tolstoy, Prussian, Austrian and other diplomats.

Alexander Danilovich Menshikov

Fedor Matveevich Apraksin

With Peter the Great

In the winter of 1721, the tsar began an affair with twenty-year-old Maria, which was encouraged by her father, and, according to some guesses, his old comrade, the intriguer Pyotr Tolstoy. In the first months of 1722, while in Moscow, Maria refused her hand to Prince Ivan Grigorievich Dolgorukov. In 1722, Peter departed for the Persian campaign: from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Astrakhan. The Tsar was accompanied by both Catherine and Maria (along with her father).

"Peter the Great's Fleet". Evgeniy Lansere

Maria was forced to stay in Astrakhan with her stepmother and younger brother Antiochus, as she was pregnant.

“In the event of the birth of a son to the princess, the queen fears a divorce from her and marriage to her mistress, at the instigation of the Wallachian prince.”

Walishevsky writes: “If you believe Scherer, Catherine’s friends managed to protect her from this danger: upon returning from the campaign, Peter found his mistress in bed, in a dangerous position after a miscarriage.”

Stills from the film “Peter the First. Testament" 2011.

According to other instructions, Mary was still able to give birth to a son. The Holy Roman Emperor granted her father the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1723, giving her a higher status. But Mary's son dies. The Tsar returned from his campaign to Moscow in December 1722.

Probably the correct version is that Mary gave birth, but it was unsuccessful, and the newborn boy died. Maykov writes:

While this expedition was taking place, in Astrakhan, at the sovereign’s fish yard, where a room had been allocated for the Kantemirov family, a dark deed prepared from afar took place. Princess Maria gave birth prematurely to a premature baby. There is news that this birth was artificially accelerated by measures taken by Polikala, the doctor of the Kantemirov family, who was also at the Tsaritsyn’s court, and Polikala’s actions were supervised by none other than Prince Dimitri’s friend P.A. Tolstoy. It was not the first time for him to play a dual role: by bringing the princess closer to Peter, he at the same time wanted to please Catherine; the unfortunate princess turned out to be his victim, a fragile toy in his hard hands. Now Peter's wife could be dead; the danger she feared was removed

Stills from the film “Peter the First. Testament" 2011.

Ekaterina I Alekseevna

In the spring of 1724, Catherine was crowned empress, and Tolstoy was elevated to the rank of count. When Catherine became infatuated with Willem Mons in the fall of 1724, the relationship between Peter, disappointed with his wife, and Maria resumed, but it did not lead to anything, since he died in January 1725.

N. Nevrev Episode from the life of Peter I

Stills from the film “Peter the First. Testament" 2011.

After Peter

After the death of the king, Mary became seriously ill and made a will in favor of her brothers, appointing Antiochus as her executor. “While the Senate was discussing the issue of the inheritance of the deceased ruler, Princess Maria again suffered from a serious illness. The moral reason for it was obviously the worries that she had to experience in recent years. Peter's attention, renewed after his break with Catherine because of Mons, revived ambitious dreams in the princess's heart; but the unexpected death of the sovereign dealt them a sudden decisive blow.”

Peter I on his deathbed

After recovery, she lived in St. Petersburg, but withdrew from the life of the court. Under Catherine I, she was in disgrace. Under Peter II, she moved to Moscow, where her brothers served; enjoyed the favor of the new Tsar's sister, Natalya. In 1727, Maria facilitated the wedding of her brother Konstantin with Princess M.D. Golitsyna

Peter II Alekseevich

I.N. Nikitin Portrait of Princess Natalya Alekseevna (1673-1716)

Thanks to the kindness of Anna Ioannovna, who invited her to the court as a maid of honor (1730), Maria built "in the parish of Trinity on Gryazekh" two houses at the Pokrovsky Gate, inviting Trezzini. When the court decided to return to St. Petersburg in 1731, Maria received permission to remain in Moscow. These favors were granted to her because her brother Antiochus contributed to Anna's accession to the throne. At the beginning of 1732, Maria worked in St. Petersburg to obtain new estates, visited Anna Ivanovna, Elizaveta Petrovna, Biron, Osterman, A.I. Ushakov. The troubles were related to the ongoing litigation with the stepmother.

Anna Ioannovna

Louis Caravaque

Unknown artist. Portrait of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Petrovna. Rostov Regional Museum of Fine Arts

Portrait of the Duke of Courland Ernst Johann Biron (1737-1740). Unknown artist of the 18th century. Rundāle Palace, Latvia

Behr, Johann Philipp (d. 1756). Portrait of A.I. Osterman, 1730s. Podstanitsky collection.

Maria does not marry; she rejects the hand of the Georgian prince Alexander Bakarovich, the son of the Kartalin king Bakar, who left for Russia in 1724. She moves away from the court and lives for a long time in her Moscow house, however, leading a social life and communicating with the Moscow nobility. She attended the coronation of Empress Elizabeth in Moscow and managed to win over Dr. Lestocq and Chancellor Vorontsov.

In the 1730s, there was a literary salon in her house. In 1737, Fyodor Vasilyevich Naumov wooed her, but she refused, as she understood from his words that he was more seduced by her supposed fortune.

Johann Hermann Lestocq (1692-1767), count, DTS, court physician.

Antropov Alexey Petrovich: Portrait of Prince M.I. Vorontsov

She maintains correspondence (in Italian and Modern Greek) with her brother Antiochus, who lived in Paris. The correspondence has been preserved and contains valuable historical information, some of which is presented in Aesopian language in order to deceive the reader.

At the beginning of January 1744, she wrote to him that she intended to sell her lands to her brother Sergei, and would leave only a small plot for herself to build a monastery here and take monastic vows in it. Annoyed by this news, the sick brother responded to his sister with a letter in Russian, in which he first made orders in the event of his arrival from Italy to Moscow, and then said: “I diligently ask you to never mention the monastery and your tonsure; I absolutely abhor the monks and will never tolerate you joining such a vile rank, or if you do it against my will, I will never see you again. I wish that upon my arrival in the fatherland, you will live your whole life with me and be the mistress of my house, so that you gather and entertain guests, in a word - so that you are my entertainment and helper.”

Antioch Cantemir

Antiochus, suffering from a chronic illness, died in March 1744 at the age of 35. At her own expense, Maria transported her brother's body from Paris to Moscow and buried him next to her father - in the lower church of the St. Nicholas Greek Monastery.

Since 1745, she owned the Ulitkino estate near Moscow (aka Black Mud, aka Maryino), where in 1747 she built the Church of Mary Magdalene. Apparently, the purchase was connected with the fact that the neighboring Grebnevo estate belonged to the father of her stepmother Nastasya Ivanovna, Prince I. Yu. Trubetskoy. In August 1757, Princess Maria decided to draw up a will.

His first point was the desire for a convent to be built in Maryino; With this order, the princess seemed to want to correct the fact that she had not fulfilled the vow she had made; The staff of the monastery was precisely determined and funds were assigned for its construction and maintenance. If there was no permission to found the monastery, then part of the amount determined for it was assigned to be distributed to the poor, and the rest of the money, as well as all movable and immovable property, was provided to brothers and other relatives. The princess bequeathed to bury her body in the same Maryino, and with the same simplicity as the body of Prince Antioch was buried. The princess was already ill at the time she wrote these lines, and a month later, on September 9, 1757, she died, and immediately then the violation of her dying orders began: her body was buried not in her beloved Maryino, but in the same St. Nicholas Greek Monastery, which already served as a tomb for her father and mother, brother and sister. The founding of a women's monastery in Maryino also did not take place; the heirs did not insist on the execution of this clause of the will, because the clause accompanying it gave them the opportunity to evade it.

According to local legend, Mary is buried in the church she built.

Church of St. Magdalene in Ulitkino (1748)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Maria Dmitrievna Cantemir

Kantemir Maria Dmitrievna (Kantemirova Marya) (29.4.1700, Iasi - 9.9.1757, Moscow), princess. Daughter of the Moldavian ruler D.K. Cantemira and Cassandra Cantacuzene. In infancy she was brought to Istanbul (Constantinople), where her father lived. Her teacher was the Greek A. Kandoidi, a secret informant of the Russian ambassador in Istanbul P.A. Tolstoy . She studied ancient Greek, Latin, Italian, the basics of mathematics, astronomy, rhetoric, philosophy, and was interested in ancient and Western European literature and history, drawing, and music. At the end of 1710 she returned with her family to Iasi, after Prut campaign 1711 lived in Ukraine, from 1713 in Moscow and the Black Dirt estate near Moscow. Studied Russian and Slavic literacy from a writer I.I. Ilyinsky . I met the king at my father's house Peter I . After moving to St. Petersburg (1720), she participated in assemblies and masquerades. Trying to avoid tedious amusements, she incurred the displeasure of the king and the related investigation that was carried out P.I. Yaguzhinsky and Dr. L.L. Blumentrost.

Received at my parents' house Peter I , HELL. Menshikova , F.M. Apraksina , French ambassador J. Campredon (11/6/1721). She maintained friendly relations with Tolstoy, Prussian, Austrian and other diplomats. In the winter of 1721/22 she became close to Peter I, which was not prevented by her father, who dreamed of becoming related to the emperor and with his help freeing Moldavia from the Ottoman yoke. Accompanied Peter I on the Persian campaign of 1722-1723, in Astrakhan there was an unsuccessful birth of Maria Cantemir; The death of a newborn boy destroyed the plans of the Kantemirovs; they left for the Oryol estate of Dmitrovka, where the ruler soon died. According to her father's will, Maria Cantemir inherited her mother's jewelry worth 10 thousand rubles. Mary's connection with Peter I was renewed when Catherine I became interested in the chamberlain .

V. Monsom After the death of the king, Cantemir became seriously ill and made a will in favor of her brothers, making her brother her executor. Antioch . After recovery, she lived in St. Petersburg, but withdrew from the life of the court. At Peter II moved to Moscow, where her brothers served. She enjoyed the favor of Peter I's sister Natalia. In 1727 she betrothed her brother Konstantin and Princess M.D. Golitsyn. In connection with the participation of Mary's brother Antiochus in the enthronement

Anna Ivanovna (1730) she was appointed maid of honor of the imperial court, lived in Moscow in her own house on Pokrovka. , At the beginning of 1732, she worked in St. Petersburg to obtain new estates, visited Anna Ivanovna, , Elizaveta Petrovna E.I. Birona

A.I. Osterman
, A.I. Ushakova.

She rejected the marital proposal of the Georgian prince A. Bakarovich. In Moscow she led a social life, communicating with the families of the Cherkasskys, Trubetskoys, Saltykovs, and Stroganovs. During the coronation in Moscow, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna attended the celebrations and managed to win over Dr. I. Lestok, M.I. Vorontsova. She was in correspondence with her brother Antiochus, which, in addition to family affairs, contained a number of historical information about the accession

I.N. Nikitin. “Portrait of Princess Smaragda(?) Maria(?) Cantemir” - an alleged portrait of Maria or her sister?

She began to learn Russian and Slavic literacy from the writer Ivan Ilyinsky. In her father's house, Maria met Tsar Peter I. In 1720, expecting the promised reward for support in the war, the Cantemirs moved to St. Petersburg and the widowed Dmitry married the young beauty Nastasya Trubetskoy and plunged into the whirlwind of social life. Maria tried to avoid tedious amusements, and this incurred the displeasure of the king, on whose orders an investigation began, led by Pavel Yaguzhinsky and Dr. Blumentrost. On November 1, Ilyinsky’s diary records: “Pavel Ivanovich Yaguzhinsky with Doctor Lavrenty Lavrentievich (Blumentrost) and Tatishchev (the Tsar’s orderly) came to examine the princess and princess: are they really not able to (they are unwell), since they were not in the Senate on Sunday.”

Dmitry Cantemir

With Peter

In the winter of 1721, the tsar began an affair with twenty-year-old Maria, which was encouraged by her father, and, according to some guesses, his old comrade, the intriguer Peter Tolstoy. In the first months of 1722, while in Moscow, Maria refused her hand to Prince Ivan Grigorievich Dolgorukov. In 1722, Peter departed for the Persian campaign: from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Astrakhan. The Tsar was accompanied by both Catherine and Maria (along with her father). Maria was forced to stay in Astrakhan with her stepmother and younger brother Antiochus, as she was pregnant.

Walishevsky writes: “according to Scherer, Catherine’s friends managed to protect her from this danger: upon returning from the campaign, Peter found his mistress in bed, in a dangerous position after a miscarriage.”

“In the event of the birth of a son to the princess, the queen fears a divorce from her and marriage to her mistress, at the instigation of the Wallachian prince.”

According to other instructions, Mary was still able to give birth to a son. The Holy Roman Emperor granted her father the title of Prince of the Roman Empire in 1723, which gave her a higher status. But Mary's son dies. The Tsar returned from his campaign to Moscow in December 1722.
Probably the correct version is that Mary gave birth, but it was unsuccessful, and the newborn boy died. Maykov writes:

“While this expedition was taking place, in Astrakhan, at the sovereign’s fish yard, where a room was set aside for the Kantemirov family, a dark deed prepared from afar took place. Princess Maria gave birth prematurely to a premature baby. There is news that this birth was artificially accelerated by the measures taken by Polikala, the doctor of the Kantemirov family, who was also at the Tsarina’s court, directed Polikala’s actions by none other than Prince Dimitri’s friend P. A. Tolstoy. This was not the first time that he played a dual role: while bringing the princess closer to Peter, he at the same time wanted to be pleasing. Catherine; the unfortunate princess turned out to be his victim, a fragile toy in his cruel hands. Now Peter’s wife could be at peace; the danger she feared was eliminated.”

The Kantemirs went to the Oryol estate Dmitrovka, where in 1723 her father died. According to his will, she received her mother’s jewelry worth 10 thousand rubles. The ruler bequeathed his estates to one of his sons who, upon reaching age, would be the most worthy; this led to a long-term legal dispute between the four sons and their stepmother, who demanded 1/4 (the widow's) part of the estate - the litigation would drag on for many years (until 1739) and the result will depend on who will be on the throne, a person favorable to the Cantemirs or not.
In the spring of 1724, Catherine was crowned empress, and Tolstoy was elevated to the rank of count. When Catherine became infatuated with Willem Mons in the fall of 1724, the relationship between Peter, disappointed with his wife, and Maria resumed, but it did not lead to anything, since he died in January 1725.

After Peter
After the death of the king, Mary became seriously ill and made a will in favor of her brothers, appointing Antiochus as her executor. “While the Senate was discussing the issue of the inheritance of the deceased ruler, Princess Maria again suffered from a serious illness. The moral reason for it was obviously the worries that she had to experience in recent years. Peter's attention, renewed after his break with Catherine because of Mons, revived ambitious dreams in the princess's heart; but the unexpected death of the sovereign dealt them a sudden decisive blow.”
After recovery, she lived in St. Petersburg, but withdrew from the life of the court. Under Catherine I, she was in disgrace. Under Peter II, she moved to Moscow, where her brothers served; enjoyed the favor of the new Tsar's sister, Natalya. In 1727, Maria facilitated the wedding of her brother Konstantin with Princess M.D. Golitsyna.

Portrait of Empress Anna Ioannovna

Thanks to the kindness of Anna Ioannovna, who invited her to the court as a maid of honor (1730), Maria built “in the parish of Trinity on Gryazekh” two houses at the Pokrovsky Gate, inviting Trezzini. When the court decided to return to St. Petersburg in 1731, Maria received permission to remain in Moscow. These favors were granted to her because her brother Antiochus contributed to Anna's accession to the throne. At the beginning of 1732, Maria worked in St. Petersburg to obtain new estates, visited Anna Ivanovna, Elizaveta Petrovna, Biron, Osterman, A.I. Ushakov. The troubles were related to the ongoing litigation with the stepmother.
Maria does not marry; she rejects the hand of the Georgian prince Alexander Bakarovich, the son of the Kartalin king Bakar, who left for Russia in 1724. She moves away from the court and lives for a long time in her Moscow house, however, leading a social life and communicating with the Moscow nobility. She attended the coronation of Empress Elizabeth in Moscow and managed to win over Dr. Lestocq and Chancellor Vorontsov. In the 1730s, there was a literary salon in her house. In 1737, Fyodor Vasilyevich Naumov wooed her, but she refused, as she understood from his words that he was more seduced by her supposed fortune.

Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir

Church of St. Magdalene in Ulitkino (1748)

According to local legend, Mary is buried in the church she built.

Prisoners of fate: Maria Cantemir (VIDEO)

Maria Cantemir - Moldavian princess, the first favorite of the royal court, the last love of Peter the Great, on whose palm was burned the magical sign of Tamerlane - three rings connected together.

She was born in Turkey. Her teacher was the Greek black monk Asdi Kandaidi. He instilled in Maria a love of books. He opened for her the secret library of Khan Temir and Tamerlane, full of mysticism.

She read a lot and for a long time. And one day in one of the books she finds an old faded note in a language she does not understand. A few words and a picture - an ink drawing of a little girl who looks like Mary in a pod. She told the teacher: “This is a message from Tamerlane to me.”

She was a little girl when she and her teacher were sitting by the window late in the evening, doing astronomy, looking through a telescope, studying the stars, when suddenly a star fell from the sky. “This is a secret sign,” said Kandaidi.

Maria secretly leaves at night to look for a fallen star. They were looking for her for three days. All the servants were brought to their feet. They began to despair.

Kandaidi locked himself in his cell and prayed continuously for three days and three nights.
On the morning of the third day, Maria was found sleeping over books in the library. Where have you been? – asked her father, Dmitry Cantemir.

She won't answer. He will simply extend his left hand to him, show him a terrible burn on his palm, the trace of which will remain for life in the form of three rings connected together. This is the sign of Tamerlane. Then the girl will tell her father that she was holding the star of Tamerlane in her hand.

It happened on April 9, exactly on the very day when Tamerlane, Aksak-Timur, the Iron Lame, Lame Timur, as they called him, was born.

Maria did not leave Tamerlane’s library for days. She talked to him in his sleep. She wrote letters to him.

The full moon was shining in the night sky.

One day, Kandaidi's teacher heard her talking to herself in a language unknown to him. What language is this? - asked the teacher. Maria came to her senses and replied: “This is Turkic.”

The teacher became curious about how Maria knew the Turkic language. Maria looked at Kandaidi so much that he got scared. Maria spoke Persian. She said that it was in vain that he then turned his troops to the south. “It was necessary to continue the conquest of Rus'. I was already one step away from Moscow.” Kandaidi realized that Mary had been possessed by the spirit of Tamerlane.

Tamerlane, having conquered Yelets, did not go to Moscow. This happened precisely on the day when Muscovites met the image of the Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

There were legends that in the conquered Yelets he fell in love with a captive princess, made her his beloved wife, she got him drunk, dissuaded him from going to Moscow, where her brothers served the prince. Tamerlane only came to his senses when he got into trouble with the Arabs, during which two fingers on his hand were cut off. After the battle, he realized that the princess from Yelets had fooled him. And he ordered her head to be cut off. He never went on the offensive against Moscow a second time. Although I dreamed of it all my life.

Maria also dreamed. She dreamed of seeing Peter the Great, whom her teacher told her about.

And on the full moon, her consciousness began to transform. The burn, in the form of three rings, began to hurt. Maria ceased to control the situation. The spirit of Tamerlane awoke in her and demanded to conquer Moscow.

After these transformations, after the transmigration of souls, Maria was ill for a long time. She hated the full moon with all her heart, which brought her so much pain.

Tamerlane pulled her to Moscow. He asked, demanded, begged, ordered.

In just a few years, Maria will end up near Moscow, in Tsaritsyno, which Peter the Great will generously give to the former ruler of Moldova, Maria’s father, Dmitry Cantemir.

Tamerlane has practically achieved his long-standing goal. He ended up a few kilometers from Moscow. But Maria was not enough. She wanted to conquer St. Petersburg. And she succeeded.

She coordinated all her actions with the stars. And she consulted with her teacher Kandaidi.

Only now she did not always listen to the advice of the black monk - Kandaidi. After all, she had another adviser - Tamerlane.

Having waited for the right day, choosing an hour, she came to her father. And at the very beginning of the conversation, the soul of Tamerlane, who had always been an excellent diplomat, awakened in her again.

The black magic of the iron lame did its job. Dmitry Cantemir betrayed the Turks, signed a secret treaty with Peter and went over to the side of Russia. They sign the contract. (feathers - ink - stamps)

Here Maria saw the Russian Tsar for the first time. Then the woman in her woke up. She fell in love with Peter tenderly, sincerely and selflessly...

This was the first internal conflict between the spirit of Tamerlane and Maria Cantemir, who, first of all, still remained a woman, and not a politician. Tamerlane demanded the capture of Moscow. And Maria was drawn to Peter, to St. Petersburg.

From that day on, Mary's internal conflict began to tear her apart. She didn't want what Tamerlane's spirit wanted. At first she didn't want power. She wanted love.

Peter simply fell in love with the Moldavian princess. All the delights of the royal court were at her disposal. She was allowed everything. Even criticize the king.

Peter talked with Mary for a long time. I listened to her stories about astronomy and the stars.

In secret, Maria told Peter the story that she was holding the star of Tamerlane in her hand. At first he didn't believe it. She showed him her burned hand. And suddenly the Iron Lame - Tamerlane - woke up in her.

She fought the urge to grab the knife and plunge it into the king's chest. But her feminine essence resisted this desire. Would this bring Maria closer to the conquest of Moscow? Of course not. But she felt within herself the crazy bandit spirit of Khan Timur. Peter stands opposite Mary. She touches the knife lying on the table.

The full moon lit up the sky. The soul of Tamerlane awakened in Mary once again. It was necessary to take one step, plunge the knife into the chest and the job would be done.

One step separated her from killing the emperor. But Peter is ahead, he kisses her palm, on which three rings of Tamerlane are burned.

And Tamerlane dissolves in her. On this day, Mary first experiences the sweetness of love. Peter, in the person of the Moldavian princess, will find a new favorite. And the spirit of Tamerlane lies in wait. What will be next?

In a week, Maria will be in St. Petersburg. She will shine at balls, charm men, but remain faithful only to her first lover - the emperor. (Here we introduce Fyodor Repnin for the first time)

Maria became a trendsetter. Everyone looked up to her. True, for two days a month she disappeared somewhere. She could not be found anywhere. This happened just on the days of the full moon, when Tamerlane woke up in Mary, went on a rampage, and demanded to conquer Moscow, from which he turned his troops several centuries ago.

Peter was worried about Mary. I didn’t know what to think, I was even jealous. He ordered secret intelligence to monitor Maria's actions. One of these intelligence officers was Fyodor Repnin, the illegitimate son of Field Marshal Repnin. Fyodor is watching Maria, who is talking to herself in Persian.

Full moon again. That night Fyodor did not take his eyes off her. He was amazed by Mary's beauty. She was beautiful. Her bright red hair glistened under the moon. Her black eyes excited the imagination. She glanced at Repnin for the only time.

Everything turned upside down in his soul. He forgot about everything in the world, threw himself at her feet and began to confess his love.

Maria, in a Persian language unfamiliar to Fyodor, said “no” and proudly raised her head and left.

Fyodor Repnin fell at Peter's feet. He asked to give him another task. Maybe even more serious. He asked to be sent to his death. He screamed that the devils had taken possession of his soul. Peter lit his pipe and said:

And he said: You are the only one I trust. Don't let her out of your sight.

The spirit of Tamerlane raged inside her, asking for the immediate capture of Moscow. She couldn't find a place for herself. And a month later it became clear that Maria was pregnant.

Unfortunately for her, she told many people a story about a fortune teller who predicted that she would have a boy and that there was supposedly a golden glow around his head.

The fortune teller approaches Mary, takes her hand and gets scared. Maria asks her - what is it? The mark of the devil is three rings.
Catherine was informed about the prediction.
One day, her old teacher Kandaidi came to Mary. He held a jug of water in his hand and said that she had stopped obeying the stars. That she only listens to her heart. That the child she is expecting is an Asian demon. And she was damaged. Who? – asked Maria. “Your rival,” the teacher answered. Maria felt that the Empress was planning something against her. Kandaidi “I didn’t leave my cell for a whole year in order to speak to you about this jug of water.” He said that the child would die if he didn’t leave, didn’t hide from the curses in Moldova. It was a full moon. “Tamerlane cannot die! He is immortal! – Maria shouted. Maria grabs a jug of water, breaks it and throws the old teacher out. The teacher leaves.

Maria actually dreamed of becoming an empress. She hinted about this to Peter. And he was waiting for the Moldavian princess to give birth.

Meanwhile, Fyodor Repnin continued to monitor Maria. He was torn between duty and passion. And I was already thinking about committing suicide. When suddenly Maria called him to her.

Fyodor comes to Maria. She lets him kiss the ring on her hand. She looks at him coquettishly. Fyodor confesses his love to her and proposes his hand and heart. He persuades her to escape from Peter, to go with him to England, where they can live comfortably and raise a child who is about to be born. Maria offers Fyodor a deal - she will go with him if he kills the empress. He agrees. At this moment thunder roars. Lightning strikes a huge oak tree outside the window, which bursts into flames. Maria goes into premature labor.

The doctor, bribed by Catherine the Second, slipped the Moldavian princess, instead of a drug, a decoction spelled for death. Therefore, Maria had a premature birth.

Legends circulated around the yard that Maria gave birth to a boy similar to Tamerlane, missing two fingers. According to legend, during one skirmish Timur lost two fingers on his right hand. The child died a few hours after birth. And she herself miraculously remains alive and her scar from a burn received in childhood disappears.

A black monk, teacher Kandaidi, came to the sick Maria, put a potion in her hand, and told her to take it. And he added that he would take care of her. Maria looked at the teacher with gratitude. The teacher said that Tamerlane had left her. And this is for the better. He also said that a serious curse had been sent to Mary. He'll try to deal with it. He knows how to do it.

Kandaidi reaches the body of the dead child, wraps him in a blanket, carries him to the garden, and buries him on the full moon. Thunder and thunderstorm rumbles. Maria opens her eyes wide and falls unconscious.

Kandaidi enters into a mystical war with Catherine. The old teacher knows black magic better. Plus, he reads the stars.

The Empress understands that she will not be able to cope with the black monk using magic. And she finds another way.

Kandaidi is locked up in prison. And they feed it to rats.

After the death of the child, Maria does not leave her bedroom for months. But when she learns about the death of her teacher, she runs into the garden, raises her palms to the sky and asks for strength. She asks to send her another star.

But the sky is silent. After the death of the teacher, fate finally ceased to favor Mary. A month later, the mother dies in terrible agony. A month later, her father, whom she loved very much, dies.

Maria withdraws into herself and loses the ability to sleep. She continues to demand from Fyodor Repnin the death of Catherine. But he is undecided.

The chain of misadventures ends with the fatal illness of Emperor Peter.

Fyodor Repnin remembers Maria’s promise to go abroad with him. And when Peter falls ill, he decides to kill Catherine.

Fyodor Repnin sneaks up and approaches Catherine’s chambers. Suddenly he hears a voice: “The Emperor has died!!!”

This doesn’t stop Fedor. And he breaks into Catherine’s chambers to accomplish his plan.

Vanity and chaos begins around. But Fyodor Repnin is not stopped even by the death of Peter. He enters the Empress' chambers with his blade drawn. And he sees two armed guards officers in front of him. Catherine was ready for the fact that they would come to kill her.

Fedor wounds one enemy. He manages to elude the other. He is running away from pursuit.

Fyodor bursts into Maria's chambers. He asks her to get ready now. Run - now or never. Maria decides to escape. They run. But they are overtaken on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. They beat us with sticks and drive us naked through the whole city back to the palace. Fyodor Repnin is quartered the next day. Maria Katemir, like a witch, will have her red hair cut short and sent to her father’s estate - to Tsaritsyno, near Moscow.

In the old days, Tsaritsino was called a cursed place. The Moldavian princess, the maid of honor of the court, the first socialite, the last love of Peter the Great, Maria Cantemir, was exiled here, whose spell collapsed with the birth of a dead child, who was called the dead Tamerlane.
Here in Tsaritsyno, Mary no longer stretched out her palm to the stars, but asked the sky for one thing - the death of her hated rival, who destroyed her, her beloved Emperor Peter and the spirit of Tamerlane, the Lame Timur.

And one day in the night sky Maria saw a sign - the three rings of Tamerlane. She laughed loudly and fell unconscious. Catherine died soon after. But Mary did not get rid of the curse, but only worsened it.
Insomnia completely tormented her. She wandered around the Tsaritsyn park all night long. She burned three rings into her palm. I tried to regain my charm.
Feeling the approach of death, Maria burned priceless documents, among which were her diaries, letters from her brother, the poet Antiochus Cantemir, notes from Peter and the most precious memory - a message from Tamerlane - a few words in Turkic and an ink-drawn portrait of a little girl.
Maria atoned for sins, built a church in the village of Ulitkino, which was later renamed Maryino, and donated icons and church utensils. Did this save her from Catherine's curse? Big question.

According to one version, Mary whispered on her deathbed: “I’m coming to you, Peter.” According to another version, she muttered something in Persian. And someone even heard the name of Tamerlane. Here, at a depth of five meters under the Church of Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, the ashes of Princess Cantemir rest. Until the end of her life, she remained faithful to her first and only love - Emperor Peter the Great.