Emperor Peter the Great and Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna
170 letters of Peter to Catherine have been preserved. They make it possible to trace how Ekaterina Alekseevna gradually won the heart of the tsar, how communication with her became an urgent need for Peter, how the tone of letters changed and how the familiar and rude: “Mother, hello” was replaced by an affectionate one: “Katerinushka, my friend, hello "And even more tender:" Katerinushka, my dear friend, hello.
Relations with Peter are the most interesting manifestations of the personality of Ekaterina Alekseevna, and we believe that by reminding her of several letters from the tsar and emperor, her wife, her moral character will best revive before us.
Mrs. aunt and uterus 1)! I received your letter in which you write about Katerina from the New Ages, thank God that it was great in the birth of your mother, and that you write to the world (according to the old proverb), and if you become like this, then you can be more glad to be a daughter than two sons. I already told you about your arrival, and I also confirm with this letter: come to Kyiv without delay; unsubscribe from Kyiv, and do not go without unsubscribing, for the fact that the road from Kyiv is not very clean. At the same time, I send a gift to mother and daughter. Peter.
If something happens to me by the will of God, then three thousand rubles, which now, in the courtyard of Mr. Prince Menshikov, should be given to Ekaterina Vasilefskaya and the girl. Peter.
Aunt and mother are friends! (and soon there will be a third one!) Hello, and we, thank God, are great. I accepted your letter and with a present, and I thank you for it, and what you write, so that you always write good news, and then I am glad from the heart! Yes, what God will give. I hope that this letter of mine will reach you at the very time of Ganskin's departure from the Caldera, about which I wish to hear, God forbid, in joy, not only to hear, but also to see. I still can’t write about your trip to Peterburg, since the enemy is approaching, and we still don’t know where his turns will be, what I will immediately write about when I see the time where you should be, because I miss you much. I also announce my need here: there is no one to sew and wash, and now you will soon be here, you yourself know that it is impossible. And I’m afraid of cooking here, I’m afraid of Ekimova (sic), for the sake of it, if you please, correct what the informer of this letter will inform you about. For this, I commit you to the preservation of God and I wish you to see in joy, what give, God give! Please pay tribute to your sister.
Do not look at frequent letters for God, truly there is no time. Peter.
*) Anisya Kirilovna Tolstaya, assistant to Ekaterina Alekseevna. The sovereign calls Anisya Tolstaya an aunt, and Ekaterina, a uterus.
Mother and aunt! hello and with new-age Anna *); God bless everyone. And what did you write to get you to Molensk: 2) and about that I already wrote with Semyon the orderly that you were going after emptying; only I didn’t write where, because even now I still don’t know where I see you, because we don’t know where our turns will be; However, go to Molensk, as soon as you can come closer to us. Hello for sim packs; give my regards to my sister. As for going to Pietersburg earlier than the end of this month, I can't really write it off; however, I hope in God that there will be tea for this. Peter.
*) Tsesarevna Anna Petrovna, later Duchess of Holstein, f 1728, mother of Emperor Peter III.
From St. Petersburg. on the 20th day of March 1708,
When you arrive here.
Aunt and mother, hello! I haven't heard from you since three weeks; meanwhile I hear that you are not very healthy. For God's sake, come quickly; and if it’s impossible to be behind something soon, write back, not without sadness to me that I don’t hear or see you. And with this letter, your shoemaker was sent to meet you, so tea that you are already on the road. May God grant you to see you in joy sooner. Peter.
Mother and aunt, hello to the little ones too! I received your letter, from which I did not see much good; God forbid health It is enough for the uterus to have one aunt, and why did the devil bring another? And what do you write that there is no one to scratch smoothly, come quickly to find the old comb. And if this letter finds you between Vyazma and Mozhaisk, then turn towards Moscow and go straight to Piterburh; and if I’m on this side of Vyazma and Smolensk, then better to Smolensk, and then through Luki to Narva, because next week I’ll certainly go, God willing, to Narva, and then, without delaying to Piterburh. Peter.
From the lagoru (i.e. camp) from the Black Mappa River,
Mother and aunt, hello! I received a letter from you, to which, do not be surprised, I did not answer for a long time; before our very eyes, incessantly unpleasant guests, whom we were already bored of looking at: for this reason, yesterday morning we made reservations and attacked the right wing of the King of Sweden with eight battalions, and after two hours of fire with the help of God they shot down from the field, banners and other things. It is true that as soon as I began to serve, I did not see such a toy; however, this dance in the teacups (in the eyes?) of the hot Karlus was fairly moaned; however, our regiment sweated the most. Pay your respects to the princes (Princess Menshikova?) and the priests, and announce this. Peter.
Mother, hello! I declare to you that the all-merciful Lord has deigned to grant us this day an indescribable victory over the enemy, in a single word to say that all the enemy’s strength has been beaten to the head, about which you yourself will hear from us; and for congratulations, come here yourself. Peter.
Bow from me knein and protchim.
1) Since that memorable and glorious day, Tsar Peter has been writing letters directly to Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, without combining her name with the name of her assistant Anisya Tolstaya.
Mother, hello! We arrived here on the fourth day, thank God, great, and here we saw King Augustus; and from here next week we will go to the King of Prussia. Meshkot is vexing us here; however, for the sake of interest, they are forced not to be bored. Give, God, soon to complete and be to you. Bow to your aunt for me. However, thank God, everything is seen as good here. There's a pestilence in Kenegsberg, and we won't be there. Peter.
Mother, hello! I announce to you that we, after a meeting with King Augustus, came here to the King of Prussia yesterday; and I won’t stay here for more than five days or a week, and having managed things, we’ll go to the post office to you. God forbid, to be quick and great to catch. Give my aunt a bow from me; but that she fell in love with a black man, and I announced to the groom about what it is very sad, and the harlot himself wants from that sadness. Peter.
On the package is the inscription: "Katerina Alekseevna."
Mother, hello! I announce to you that yesterday the city of Vyborg surrendered, and with good news (that the already strong pillow of St. Petersburg has been arranged through the help of God) I congratulate you. Also, give my bow and with this, first congratulate the prince abbess, also aunts - like a quadruple sweetheart, also daughter, sister, daughter-in-law and nieces, and protchim, and kiss the little ones for me 1). Peter.
On the package is the inscription: "Katerina Alekseevna."
1) At this time, Tsar Peter had children from Ekaterina Alekseevna: Anna, b. in St. Petersburg on February 27, 1708 and Elisaveta—genus. in Moscow on December 18, 1709;
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! We got here, thank God, it's great, and tomorrow we'll conceive a healer. This place is so cheerful that it is possible to call it an honest prison, because it sits between such mountains that it almost does not see the sun; The worst thing is that there is no good beer. However, tea, that God will give good from the water. I am sending you a present with this: a watch of a new fashion, for dust inside the glass, and a signet, and a quadruple darling (sic); I couldn’t get more for speed, because I was in Dresden for only one day. We don’t have anything new from Pomerania yet, but we expect it in the [c]kor; God bless you good! Peter.
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! And we, the Head of God, are healthy, only our belly is swollen from the water, for this they give water like horses; and there is nothing else for us to do here, just .........
I received your letter through Safonov, which I read much thoughtfully. You write, ostensibly for medicine, so that I would not come to you soon, but on business notably found someone better 1) me; perhaps write back: from ours or from Tarunchany? I prefer tea: from Tarunchany; that you want to take revenge (revenge) that I took before two years. So you Eva's daughters are doing over old people! The prince-dad and the quadruple lapushka, and the protchim bowed. Peter.
1704, Peter-born. in September 1705, which Ustryalov mentions in the history of the reign of Peter I (Volume IV, Part I, p. 142) died before 1707 and daughter Ekaterina Petrovna, who was born on January 27, 1707, died on 27- on July 1, 1708, and was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg—See. published by us at "Russian Antiquity". 1878 vol XXI (April). "Genealogy of the House of Romanov" p. XV.-Until 1711, the letters were addressed by Tsar Peter to his wife like this: "Katerina Alekseevna", or: "Give Katerina Alekseevna." From September 1711, on the packages, the sovereign inscribed: “Bring to Tsarina Ekaterina Alekseevna” or: “To the Empress Tsarina Ekaterina Alekseevna”.
1) Vytny - tall, healthy.
Day of our good.
Katerinushka, hello! And we, thank God, are healthy, only our belly is swollen from the water; However, I’ll leave for tea from the third day of this month to Torgau, where my son’s wedding will take place, and from then on, having seen the kings, I will hasten to Toruna, otherwise I don’t have to write from this pit. Peter.
Katerishka. hello! I announce about myself that I came here yesterday evening; and if the night was not anchored, then the same day I could sleep, as I left you. For this, hello, and bow, give to whom it is due. We have not yet heard of the enemy at sea, but our provisions have all reached and the ships have been sent away. Peter.
Katerinushka, hello! We arrived here late yesterday and today we will go by land. The local escort will stop until Friday, which day early a well-known person who wanted to go this way will leave. If he doesn’t go with small people, or if he doesn’t diligently ask and the cook becomes, then don’t (a) mark them, for I’m afraid if they begin to demand the same luxuries in the regiments. Peter.
The inscription on the package: "To the Empress Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna."
1) From here follows the list reported to the editors of Russkaya Starina by the late Field Marshal Prince A.I. Ed.
From Gripswalda (Greysfalde), on the 2nd day of August 1712
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! We, thank Horn, are healthy, but it’s hard to live very hard, because I don’t know how to use the left-hander, and in one right hand I am forced to hold a sword and a pen: and how many assistants, you know. Peter.
P.S. Our ship of St. Peter has come here today, and we are expecting two soon; I’ll have tea—I’ll soon go to the Danish Navy, but I won’t have tea there for a long time.
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I hear that you are bored, but I am not bored either; however, we can reason that there is no need to change things for boredom. I’m still going to leave soon, ce6e you won’t have tea, and if your horses have come, then go (with) those three battalions that were ordered to go to Anklam; only for God’s sake, drive carefully and don’t leave the battalions a hundred fathoms, for there are a lot of enemy ships in Gafa and constantly go out into the forests in great numbers, and you cannot bypass those forests. Peter.
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I announce to you that today I have come here from the fleet and I hope, with the help of God, to be your favorite path. Although I want to see you, and you have much more tea, for the fact that I was at 27, and you were not at 42; however, it will be a little bit of a wait, so that it will be more fun to come. Peter.
P.S. Write to me: by what time will Matryona give birth, so that I can keep up 1).
1) Matryona Ivanovna Balk, born Mons, mother of her ill-fated lady of state Natalya Feodorovna Lopukhina. Ed.
From Wolgast, on the 17th day of August 1712
Katerinushka, hello! Upon receipt of this letter, go completely here, also take the prince-pope and others with you, and Danilovich will send you. Peter.
Thank you for sending beer and protchago.
From Berlin, on the 2nd day of October 1712
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I announce to you that I arrived here on the third day and was with the king, and yesterday morning he was with me, and in the evening I was with the queen. I am sending you, as many as I could find, usters; but he couldn’t find more, for the reason that in Hamburg they say a pestle (pestilence) appeared, and for that they immediately ordered all sorts of things to be brought here from there. I am now leaving for Leipzig. Peter.
From Leipzig, on the 6th day of October 1712
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! From now on I'm leaving for Carlsbad and have tea there tomorrow. The dress and the rest was bought for you, but I couldn't get the Usters. For this I entrust you to the preservation of God. Peter.
From Carlsbad, on the 11th day of October 1712
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! Yesterday we began to drink water in this pit; and when I get off, I will write. Do not ask about other news from this wilderness. Bow to father Kozma; and his comrade here is himself a friend with a keel in the old joke. Peter.
P.S. Congratulations on this day - the beginning of our adventure.
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I received your letter to which I reply that I finished the course yesterday; water, thank God, acted very well; how will it be after? And from here on next Friday I will go to Teplitsy, where we will not linger for more than four days. After your letters that the enemies intended to attack, there is nothing new to this day; to know they have a strong Dutch proverb: tyuschen dut en zege fyl gogo berge lege. (i.e., between death and victory lies many mountains 1). However, I commit you to the preservation of God. Peter.
I wrote to my barrel-daughter at this time.
From Carlsbad, on the 31st day of October 1712
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I thank you very much for the present of half a beer, since we don’t have one. A letter to Ilyinichnin for a bear; for every word got to everyone. I'm leaving this hour for Teplitz, and I won't linger there for long. Peter.
On the package there is an inscription: "To the Empress Tsaritsa Ekaterina, Alekseevna."
From Berlin, on the 17th day of November 1712
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I arrived here yesterday, and I will go from here in three days. For this I commit you to the preservation of God. Peter.
From Wartow, on the 27th day of November 1712.
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I announce to you that I arrived here yesterday, thank God, in good health. Yes, the singers came to us with the archpriest, and leave two people with the father at your place. Peter.
1) This proverb has the same meaning as the Russian one: glorious are the tambourines beyond the mountains.
(Note to the lists of Prince A. I. Baryatinsky).
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! Thank you for the dress, which I renewed on St. Andrew. What did you order to take you here, and now we need to put aside that, because the time has come for you to pray, and for us to work: for the Swedes collapsed against the Danes yesterday in order to prevent them from conjunct with us; and at this moment we will rise from here to the Danish seacourse. And tacos this week will be a tea fight, where everything will turn out, where the conjuncture will turn. Peter.
From Gistrow, on the 12th day of December, 1712.
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I ordered to you with Shepelev, to be; and with Manukov to wait there. And as soon as you receive this letter, go here lightly, and leave the carts there. Beat with your forehead knes-dad, so that two servants will come with you. Peter.
P.S. Thank you for sending with Yushkov. Bow from me to Kneina Danilovicheva.
From Ryabov, in the 21st house, 1712
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! when God willing, you come with a regiment to Poland, then choose a hundred and two horsemen or more and go to Elbing, and then by post with small people to Meml (about which we wrote to the King of Prussia). And in advance, let's go to Riga, so that those regiments that in Courland collected carts for you. Peter.
From Pampou, 20th d. December 1712
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I received your letter yesterday; thanks for the beer. As for your trip with the whole regiment, even that has already been canceled, but three battalions have been taken here: and you, with that battalion in Gistrow, go with God on the proper path through Schwedt-Poland, not far from Brandenburg Pomerania, to Elbing; and there, taking about thirty people or less with you, take the post office to Pieterburgh (where, God forbid, we will be soon). About your ride it is written for deliveries to Berlin through their Prussians, but you yourself will find Polish ones. Release the battalion from Elbing by Poland. What do you write about your daughter's son (?), That she gave birth to the destroyer of the world, and she (sic) ordered to send to Prince Ivan Aleksevich. Thank God, everything is still fine with us. Danes and Sassy (Saxons) happened to us. Our glorification is not like at home, but more here from the heart of it we glorify, but tea that others will see Christ herself, the good one. After all, there is a proverb: two bears cannot live in the same lair, take with you the prince-pope and the archdeacon, to whom give due respect from me and proclaim our praise. Also, if you are in Piterburh first, bow to those there. Peter.
P.S. I congratulate you on a solemn holiday, on which you congratulate Kneina Danilavicheva from me; so take with you the officers of the zapolochny (zapolochny) to Elbing, and then let them go with the battalion to Riga.
From Lackendorf, on the 27th day of December 1712
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I already wrote to you and Yushkov about your trip to Peterburgh, so that you would go with a seconded battalion, and from the Harz you would take with you officers of the regiments, which I confirm to this day. Ride immediately; The rest is ordered by the words of Shepelev. Thanks for the dress. God forbid, so as not to get rich, I would soon see you again. Peter.
From Friedrichstadt, on the 4th day of February 1713.
Katerinushka, my friend, hello and with the children whom you have already taken away for tea. How are our affairs going here, you will know from Mr. Admiral, to whom I wrote at length; and if the earth was not so strong with pastures, then they already received full victory with the help of God. In addition, we commit you to the preservation of God and wish to see you soon. Bow to your sister for me. Peter.
P.S. Yesterday they dined at my place and drank health about the birthday.
From Poltava, May 2, 1713
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I am sending you a bottle of Hungarian (and I ask, for God's sake, do not be sad: you will give me an opinion). God bless you to drink, and we drank about your health. Peter.
Whoever does not drink today will be fined heavily.
On the package: "To the Empress Tsaritsa Ekaterina Alekseevna."
From Borgou, on the 16th day of May 1713
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I declare to you that the Swedes are terribly ashamed of us, for nowhere they deign to show us their faces. However, thank God, we went inside Finland and took a foot 1), how closer we can look for them. And what was done with us, about that I attach knowledge to this. Peter.
From Poltava, on the 4th day of July 1713
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I can’t truly say about myself whether I’ll be visiting you soon or going; however, even though I go, then soon again, God willing, I will come to you, about which tomorrow or after tomorrow I will write to you, or I will come myself. Peter.
On the back: "To Empress Tsaritsa Ekaterina Alekseevna".
From Lutker, before reaching the New Fortress, on the 2nd day of August 1713 Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I don’t have to write otherwise, but we, thank God, with all the ships have reached near the New Fortress; and if today's nasty wind did not interfere, then of course today we were in Elzenfors. I ordered Kikin to buy several barrels of wine from the new ships that arrived, as well as cheese, and send them here to me for a present to others; and cie try to fix it as soon as possible. Peter.
1) Voet - in Dutch leg; they took a foot, i.e., with a solid foot of steel. (Note in 1861 ed., p. 32).
From Elzenfors, on the 12th day of August 1713
Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I announce to you that, thank God, we arrived here on the 5th day of this month with transport; only from the former storm, which was on the 3rd day, several ships were damaged, namely: Welkomhelt, Dragars and one gallot. However, not only people, but also stocks are intact and they can be repaired. On the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, we have tea to go further by land to Abou, but there will be no tea in battle; Late yesterday Lieutenant-General Mr. Golitsyn, who followed the enemy, returned, saying that he could not overtake, Everyone is running; and when they flee from a unit like that, then how will they stand against the whole army. At the same time, I announce that on the 6th (day) of this month, the admiral announced to me the mercy of our sovereign - the rank of general is full, than I congratulate you, like a lady general. As the rank of shautbenan (x) that, so this one was told to me very strangely, for on the steppe he was granted the flagships, and on the sea to the generals. And tea, with the help of God, to be with you without much hesitation. Peter.
I ask you to pay my regards to the Right Reverend and the Holy Mother and the rest of the saints and the unholy.
People have not always mastered the art of writing. The emergence of writing was one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind. This art has been developing for a long time, over many millennia. In order to imagine the emergence of Russian literature, it is necessary to turn to history.
The oldest and simplest way of writing is pictography appeared in the Paleolithic. A person began to express his thoughts, depict some event in the form of a picture. Units of such a letter - pictograms - were first scratched out, and then drawn on the walls of caves, rocks, stones, on the horns and bones of animals, on birch bark.
In IV-III millennia BC. e. in ancient Sumer, in ancient Egypt, a different way of writing arose - ideography. The drawing began to depict not an event, but individual objects. The Greeks called such Egyptian drawings hieroglyphs (conventional signs). The text, composed in hieroglyphs, looks like a series of drawings.
The extraordinary achievement of human civilization was the so-called syllabary, the invention of which took place in the III-II millennium BC. e. In it, unlike ideography, each sign denotes not a word, but a separate syllable.
The Old Church Slavonic language became widespread as a common language for many Slavic peoples. It was used by the southern Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats), Western Slavs (Czechs, Slovaks), Eastern Slavs (Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians).
In Russia, after the adoption of Christianity in 988, church books began to be translated and copied using the Cyrillic alphabet. This alphabet is the basis of the modern Russian alphabet.
It is easy to see that the word ABC consists of the names of the first two letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, and the names of the letters a B C can make a whole statement "I know the letters." The names of the letters were full-valued words, word forms, prepositions. Ancient people attached important, sacred meaning to the names of letters. Associated with this understanding is the centuries-old tradition of the explanatory alphabet, or alphabetic prayer, which included quotations from the Bible.
For a long time, the spread of writing in Russia could only be judged by individual remarks by ancient authors. It is known, for example, that the Bulgarian author of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century, the Chernorizet Khrabr, wrote that Cyril, even before the creation of the Slavic alphabet, was familiar with the manuscript written in Russian letters.
The high linguistic culture of the masters of the 11th century can be judged by the preserved monuments of ancient Russian writing. The number of handwritten books in Russia was so great that, in spite of everything, dozens of evidence of the widespread distribution of the so-called "educational literature", philosophical collections, teachings, and psalms have come down to us.
Currently, scientists have valuable information about the spread of literacy in Ancient Russia. There are chronicles that at the beginning of the 10th century the Russians entered into written bilateral agreements with the Greeks. In the 50s of the 20th century, during intensive excavations of Novgorod the Great, hundreds of birch-bark writings of the 11th-17th centuries were discovered, analyzed and described. The letters and documents found indicate that the ability to write and read has become the prerogative of not only the privileged class and the adult population. On a piece of birch bark, 750 years ago, a seven-year-old boy wrote out the alphabet and scratched the drawing. Near the rider, striking his enemy with a spear, he wrote his name "Onfim", thereby glorifying himself forever.
In the very first ancient Russian manuscripts of the X-XI centuries. a letter was used as a decoration. It is a large capital letter, intricately painted and expertly adorned with powder paints of emeralds and rubies, which is a work of art and has never been repeated. It was placed, as a rule, at the beginning of a paragraph. Initial letters were often made with red paint. This is where the term "red line" comes from.
In ancient times, the creation of a book was a very time-consuming and long process. Before the invention of printing, books were copied by hand by specially trained scribes who spent several months on this work. All books were handwritten. Until the fourteenth century in Russia they used the font charter, a from the fourteenth century, its simplified form appeared semi-charter . In an informal letter, he soon gave way cursive, simplified, more comfortable writing style.
Charter Semi-charter cursive
At the beginning of the 18th century, in connection with the strengthening of the Russian national state, in conditions when the church was subordinate to secular power, science and education acquired especially great importance. And the development of these areas is simply unthinkable without the development of book printing.
Since books of mainly ecclesiastical content were published in the 17th century, the publication of secular books had to start almost from scratch. The creation of new books in their content required a new approach to their publication. One of the most important events was the reform in 1708 of the Cyrillic printed semi-charter and the introduction of new editions of civil type. Of the 650 titles of books published under Peter I, about 400 were printed in the newly introduced civil type.
Civic font
Peter I
Under Peter I, a reform of the Cyrillic alphabet was carried out in Russia, eliminating a number of letters unnecessary for the Russian language and simplifying the outlines of the rest. This is how the Russian “citizen” arose (“civil alphabet” as opposed to “church”). In the "citizen" some letters were legalized that were not part of the original composition of the Cyrillic alphabet - "e", "ya", later "y", then "ё", and after the revolution of 1917 the alphabet was further simplified, eliminating several obsolete letters. All this facilitated the assimilation of writing and contributed to the widespread spread of literacy in Russian society, which was interested in the fastest spread of education among all social strata, opened a wide road for the Russian literary language.
The NIRO library has books that deal with the development of writing and the formation of the Russian literary language, the spread of bookishness in Russia. You can get acquainted with the history of the life and work of the creators of the Slavic alphabet, the characteristics and fate of two Slavic alphabets.
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Vinogradov, V.V. Essays on Russian history literary language of the 17th - 19th centuries. / V.V. Vinogradov. – Ed. 2nd, revised and additional - M. : State educational and pedagogical publishing house, |
(Series "Myths of Ukraine: "Baturyn massacre"")
When it comes to sources on the defeat of Baturin, a special place in them is occupied by the business correspondence of the Russian tsar with his entourage, the leaders of the Russian army, commanders, Cossack colonels, including operational correspondence with the only participant in the assault on Baturin, who left information about him that does not carry propaganda or memoirs character, Prince A. D. Menshikov. And it can shed light on the question: did Menshikov really drown Ukraine in blood, leaving only smoking ashes behind him, as the "Mazepins" assure? Were all residents of the hetman's capital, Baturin, really brutally executed, paying with death for the betrayal of their master? Did Peter I give the order not only to burn the fortress, but also to destroy all the inhabitants of Baturin “on the butt” in order to paralyze the will of Ukraine, stunning it with his cruelty that knew no bounds?
However, there are documents that belong to the ONLY direct participant in the "Baturin tragedy" of the mentioned witnesses and could certainly once and for all confirm the fact of the "massacre" by his elementary confession. However, their author, A. D. Menshikov, contrary to the common tradition, was in no hurry to show off to the tsar and eternity in what he had done, reporting in his reports only about the capture of the fortress and its destruction. And he did not mention the "massacre" at all. And his “insidious” behavior is all the more surprising because, according to the opinion of the Mazepins, he was proud of his punitive action and staged a “massacre” specifically to intimidate the Ukrainians, not only conscientiously fulfilling the order of his sovereign, but also putting his whole soul into it. But logic suggests that if he was as cruel and vicious as the “Mazepins” believe, then he should have “trumpeted” about the “massacre” at all corners. And for some reason he was silent. But why? It doesn't seem logical somehow. And not convincing.
In general, there are two options explaining his incomprehensible in his blatant modesty "shame". According to the first - there was simply no "massacre" and, therefore, there was no point in mentioning it. According to the second, there was a “massacre”, but, anticipating how future generations of patriotic Ukrainians would react to it, A. D. Menshikov at the last moment chose not to mess with them. And he tried to hide the "massacre" by informing the tsar about it in a private conversation without witnesses. This, perhaps, also explains Menshikov's vigorous actions to conceal the fact of the "massacre" on the spot immediately after it was committed. Moreover, according to the opinion of some “Mazepins”, he did the “cleansing of evidence” in Baturyn so quickly and thoroughly that, despite great zeal and patriotic zeal, Ukrainian historians have not been able to find “material” evidence of the “massacre” that has taken place so far.
Perhaps that is why they have to compensate for the lack of convincing argument with the noise produced on this occasion due to the description brought to the highest limits of tragedy and the total amount of writing. But such an approach does not add credibility to the available "evidence". And the one who adheres to scientific methods of research historian can only cause annoyance and regret.
However, there are still instructions from Peter I. And since Menshikov fulfilled it, perhaps the Russian tsar let it slip? Indeed, in the instructions of Pyotr Menshikov, which he gave when the order to take Baturin had already been received, there is one phrase that the “Mazepins” are very fond of quoting: “Baturin, as a sign of traitors [because they fought] others to burn the whole butt.” However, this text needs commentary. In particular, it should be recalled that there were three such letters to Menshikov when he was solving the problem of Baturin. And in them, Peter reports about the same thing, not knowing whether other letters reached the addressee or not.
So, in a letter to Menshikov dated November 2, 1708, Peter I writes: “This moment I received your very joyful writing, for which I am very grateful to you, moreover, God will be your rewarder; what belongs to the city, and then I trust it to your will: if it is possible to sit in it from the Swedes, then if you please, correct it and put it in the garrison, although the dragoons in addition to the archers, while the infantry will be (however, take a few of the best cannons to Glukhov). But if (as I heard from the sender) it is not strong, then it’s really better to take such great artillery to Glukhov (which is really needed there now), and burn the building, because when such artillery is left in such a weak city, the Swedes can just as easily take it as we took it, and don’t waste your time for that, because today the Swedes have crossed the river and tomorrow they will certainly go to Baturin or much deeper for tea: and for that it’s dangerous, so as not to interfere with your removal of artillery; if you don’t have time to take it out, it’s better to kindle or tear it up and take it out in pieces, distributing it. P.S. If you have a mace and banners, please send them for the new hetman; badly needed, so take the office with you all of them. From the text of the letter it is clear that it is necessary to burn not people, but buildings (“burn the building”). And only in that case and because Menshikov had no opportunity to defend the fortress. Thus, we are talking about military expediency. Why leave a fortress to the Swedes in which they could spend the winter, and possibly defend themselves, if there was no longer a military need for it?
In a letter dated November 4, Peter writes: “if it is possible to sit from the Swedes in Baturin, then you can correct it and put it in guards [although the dragoons are in addition to the archers, while the infantry is], however, several cannons of the best should be taken out to Glukhov. But if [as I heard from Kryukov] this fortress is weak, then it’s better to bring such great artillery to Glukhov, and burn the buildings [which are very much needed there now], because, when such artillery is left in such a weak city, the Swedes can also easily take as we have taken." And it is also clearly seen from the text that Peter is not interested in reprisals against people, about which there is not a word in the letter, but in the fate of Baturin for the possibility of using him for defense. But if Menshikov is not sure that the fortress will be able to hold out and repulse the inevitable assault, it should be left, but first “burn the buildings”.
In the letter of Peter I dated November 5, which the “Mazepinians” especially like to quote for the phrase “to others on the butt”, which is extremely important for them, it again only talks about what needs to be done with Baturin: “... and Baturin as a sign to traitors [ they fought more softly] to burn the whole butt on the butt of others. Is there anything written about people here? Although, of course, it mentions traitors and the fact that Baturin should be burned as an edifying example (“on the butt”). But taking into account the similar content of other letters, it is obvious that in this case it was proposed to destroy the fortress, and not people. And we pay attention to this: among other detailed instructions, Peter did not offer to teach freedom-loving Ukrainians a lesson. And the letter does not say a word about the reprisals against local residents, although “traitors” are mentioned. Nevertheless, historians often refer to this text in order to confirm the “massacre”, allegedly planned and organized by Peter.
However, in the Decree to all the Little Russian people of November 6, 1708, Peter I sets out the Russian version of what happened in Baturin: “... So he, the traitor Mazepa, went to the Swede, left in the city of Baturin Serdyutsky Colonel Chechel and the German Friedrich Koniksek and with them several regiments of the Serdyutskys, and from the city regiments a considerable number of Cossacks in guards and, having bribed them with money, ordered them not to let our royal majesty’s military people in, with the intention that that city and the troops of Zaporizhia in it acquire a great cannon shell to the king of Sweden with a large number of gunpowder and lead and other supplies, so that he would be against we could fight and the Little Russian region could enslave. That we, having learned, sent to that city our general from the cavalry of Prince Menshikov with part of the army, which, having come to it, he repeatedly sent from himself with our great sovereign, a decree to the aforementioned Colonel Chechel and Friedrich and to the entire garrison to say that they Our troops were allowed into that city voluntarily, without any resistance, declaring treason against Mazepin. But they, at the instigation of the aforementioned traitor Mazepa, did not want to listen to him and fired at our Tsarist Majesty's troops. For the sake of the above, our general Prince Menshikov, by our decree, launched an attack on that city and, by the grace of God, took it by attack. And those like-minded Mazepins, for the opposition and treason inflicted on us, the great sovereign, will accept a worthy execution. And this information is quite consistent with the mentioned correspondence between the tsar and Menshikov.
Moreover, according to the “Mazepa” logic, it was in this Decree that Peter could and should have informed the Little Russian people what he would do with everyone who would oppose him, drawing up each posted his Decree with “cut-off heads of the Mazepins” [See: 5], in order to embrace Ukraine is numb. But for some reason he doesn't. But he should have. Or do the “Mazepins” believe that rafts with crucified Serdyuks and Cossacks could “notify” Little Russia of the royal wrath faster and better? It is highly doubtful. So, without trying to intimidate the population in the Decree with a punitive action that has already taken place, Peter does not fit into the logic that the “Mazepins” built to fit their idea of him. nbsp;
However, in two letters to the Cossack foreman, he writes about this. Recall that in letters dated November 9, 1708 to the foreman of the Prilutsky regiment and the commandant of the Belotserkovskaya fortress, Peter I Baturin mentions. But where Baturin is mentioned in them, it is not about the massacres of people, but only about the destruction of the fortress, which Peter mentions as a warning. “If anyone dares to this our, great sovereign, disobey the decree, and evo, our general major, let him in with the army, and it will be done the same with those who live in Baturin, who, disobeying our great sovereign , by decree, our troops were not let in and taken from our troops by attack, and those who resisted were beaten, and the breeders from them were executed.
As you can see, in his messages to the Cossacks, Peter I is more detailed. But again, the tsar emphasizes in them: those who resisted (“who resisted”) were killed, and from the captives, the instigators (“breeders”) of the rebellion were betrayed to death. It is obvious that it did not occur to the sovereign to threaten a general massacre. But he was simply obliged to prevent possible betrayal among the top of the Cossacks. Indeed, in the eyes of the king, the Cossacks were not very reliable. Another thing: the local population. And even from Peter's correspondence with Sheremetev and Menshikov, it is clear that his attitude towards the "Cherkasy" was caring and friendly. Indeed, why should it have been different if the Little Russians remained loyal to Russia, immediately going over to the side of Peter, and fought the invaders by all means?
Therefore, for any conscientious historian, it is obvious that, contrary to the statements of the "Mazepins", Peter I was not going to "genocide" the Baturyns and did not give such an order, because he saw an ally in the people of Ukraine. This is also evidenced by his specific actions: by order of the tsar, the inhabitants of Ukraine were exempted from illegal taxes and extortions of the hetman, and upon entering Ukraine, the sovereign threatened his officers and soldiers with death for the insults inflicted on the “Cherkasy”. In addition, it is known that many of the "traitors" who left with Mazepa to the Swedes, and then returned back, not only were not executed, but retained both their positions and estates. Including such well-known colonels as D. Apostol, P. Polubotok and I. Galagan. Naturally, the Russian Tsar was not merciful to everyone. But his repeated amnesties to "traitors" indicate that in military conditions he did what he could for them. nbsp;
However, judging by subsequent events, the warning turned out to be unnecessary. And in the future, in relation to other cities and fortresses to which Russian troops were sent to organize their defense against the Swedes, Peter no longer mentioned Baturin, repeatedly stating that the people of Little Russia did not follow the hetman. So, in letters to F. M. Apraksin dated October 30, he, in particular, wrote: “True, although this is very bad, however, he [Mazepa - A. S.] is not only on the advice of everyone, but not from five people this evil committed. That having heard, the local people with tears complain to God about onago and indescribably rage. In another letter to him dated November 7, the tsar emphasized: “So, cursed Mazepa, except for himself, did not bring harm to anyone [because the people do not want to hear his name]” .
By the way, in addition to such operational information, on behalf of Tsar Peter, a Decree was prepared and published for the entire Little Russian people, in which the tsar also touched on Baturin and rumors of a “massacre”: the houses and belongings of the people are burnt and ruined, and then all the forgeries of the enemy, to the indignation of the people of Little Russia, are fictitious from him, for we have forbidden our troops of Great Russia under the death penalty to the Little Russian people no ruin and offenses by no means repair, for which already some unauthorized criminals under Pochep and executed by death. And if they were forced to burn something small from their dwellings or bread, in extreme need, so that the enemy would not get food and so that he was forced to die without housing and food, which had already been committed under Starodub, if that traitor Mazepa further he did not pull, as stated above at greater length. And then all of us, great sovereign, to those who have suffered such a loss, we promise, after the expulsion of the enemy from our lands, to reward with our mercy; and so that they would write to those who suffered their losses and give murals ... ".
However, the "History of the Rus" describes the mass terror that Mazepa's supporters were subjected to. And the "Swan" became its symbol. “The Cossacks, suspected of their zeal for Mazepa,” says the author of the History of the Rus, “because they did not appear at the general meeting to elect a new Hetman, they were searched out of their houses and put to various executions in the town of Lebedin, near the city of Akhtyrka . This execution was an ordinary Menshchikov's craft: to wheel, quarter and put on a stake, and the easiest, revered as a toy, to hang and chop heads. Their guilt was sought from the recognition of themselves, and the then laudable sacrament served as a reliable means - torture, ... - with a batozh, a whip and a tire, that is, a kindled iron, driven with quietness or slowness through human bodies, which from that boiled, squashed and uplifted. The one who passed one test, entered the second, and whoever did not stand them all, such one was considered guilty and led to execution. Suffered in this way, who did not overcome such lessons of torture, up to 900 people.
In turn, continuing the tradition laid down in the "History of the Rus", the modern "Mazepin" S. O. Pavlenko writes: participants in the competition for the will of Ukraine, nor Charles XII. The stunning tactics of Peter I preserved his power, the dominance of the empire. The latter turned out to be more mobile, more aggressive than those who encroached on its existence. This is the reality that has to be reckoned with, and most importantly, to draw the appropriate lessons from it.
Literature and notes
1. For example, N. I. Kostomarov wrote about this as follows: “Menshikov himself did not write about this to the tsar, leaving him to tell him everything orally.” However, why A. D. Menshikov decided to hide his most successful deed from everyone, while simultaneously pursuing the goal of paralyzing the people of Little Russia with fear caused through mass terror in Baturin, Mr. Kostomarov for some reason does not explain. nbsp;
2. Letters and papers of Emperor Peter the Great. T.VIII. (July-December 1708). - Issue. 1. - Moscow-Leningrad, 1948. -S. 270.
3. Ibid. - S. 274.
4. Ibid. - S. 277-278.
5. Pavlenko S. “They burned that city with everything ...” The Baturin tragedy of 1708: facts and conjectures [Electronic resource] / Sergey Pavlenko. - Access mode: http://www.day.kiev.ua/192545/
6. Decree to the colonel, commandant, regimental foreman and Cossacks of the Prilutsky regiment / Letters and papers of Emperor Peter the Great. - S. 290-291.
7. Decree of the Belotserkovsky castle to the commandant / Letters and papers of Emperor Peter the Great. - S. 291-292.
8. Letters and papers of Emperor Peter the Great. - S. 291.
9. Ibid. - S. 292.
10. According to the text: “And if anyone dares to this our (great) g (sovereign) decree to commit disobedience and will not let those of our Great Russian people into the castle, and it will be done to those in the same way as in Baturin with those sitting who had disobeyed our tsarist (arch) in (majesty's) decree, they did not let our Great Russian troops into the Baturin castle, but were taken from our troops by attack; and those who resisted were beaten, (and the breeder of them was given the death penalty "
11. Letters and papers of Emperor Peter the Great. - S. 253.
12. Ibid.- S. 285
13. Decree to all the Little Russian people (dated November 6, 1708) // Letters and papers of Emperor Peter the Great. - S. 283.
14. Letters and papers of Emperor Peter the Great. - S. 212.
15. Pavlenko S. Uk. op.
FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF PETER I WITH V. I. GENNIN
The letter of Peter I with the appeal “Mr. Colonel” was received by the Department of Manuscripts in 1962 as a gift for the centenary of the State Library of the USSR named after V. I. Lenin from V. V. Lukyanov, an employee of the local history museum of Yaroslavl.The main part of the handwritten heritage of Peter I, collected in the "Cabinet of Peter I", is currently stored in the State Archive of Ancient Acts (TsGADA, f. 9). Keeping the materials of Peter the Great in private hands is a rarity. Therefore, each new, previously unknown letter from Peter, received in the state repository, deserves close attention.
Peter's address to the addressee not by name, but only by rank (“Mr. Colonel”) was usual for him in business correspondence. This only indicates that the addressee of this letter was well known to Peter. It was possible to establish his name from the “Note Books of 1718” stored in the “Cabinet of Peter I”. The letter was sent to the well-known figure of the time of Peter the Great, the head of the Olonets metallurgical (mining) plants and the commandant of the Olonets district, Vilim Ivanovich Gennin. The two response letters from Gennin, kept in the fund of the "Cabinet of Peter I", informing us about the execution of the tsar's decree, finally convince us that it was V. I. Gennin who was "Mr. Colonel".
Below are published: a letter from Peter I, stored in the department of manuscripts (f. 409, 1.33), and two response letters from Gennin (TsGADA, f. 9, Cabinet of Peter I, sec. II, book 35, pp. 654, 655-655 about.).
From the end of the XVIII century. and throughout the nineteenth century. separate letters of Peter I were published in various periodicals and in supplements to research. But the systematic collection and publication of his handwritten heritage began to be carried out by A.F. Bychkov from 1887 in the well-known multi-volume publication “Letters and Papers of Emperor Peter the Great” 1 .
One of the first engineers in Russia, artilleryman, metallurgist, founder of mining plants, who wrote a study on mining production based on his practical work 3 , Willim Ivanovich (Georg Wilhelm) Gennin (after receiving the Order of Alexander Nevsky signed de Gennin) was born on October 1676 in Nassau-Siegen. [Dutch by origin, he became known to Peter when he was in Amsterdam with the "great embassy". The burgomaster of Amsterdam Witzen recommended him to the king as a capable person who knew chemistry, metallurgy and foundry. Peter brought him to Russia in 1698 and enrolled him in the Russian service as a fireworker with a salary of 67 rubles. in year.
Perfectly versed in people, Peter understood how this new “subject” could be useful. Therefore, upon arrival in Moscow, Peter instructed him, first of all, to train the Russian nobles in artillery. During the Northern War, Gennin took part in the siege of Vyborg and the capture of Kexholm, and in 1712 he built fortifications in Novaya Ladoga, Novgorod, Finland, and near Gangut. In St. Petersburg, he completed the Foundry Yard and gunpowder factories.
In 1713, Peter appointed V. I. Gennin the head of the Olonets factories (they included the Petrovsky, Povenetsky, Konchezersky and Alekseevsky factories). While still preparing to go to the factories, Gennin carefully studies the state of the artillery economy in Russia and by the end of 1712 draws up a "Table" of the number of cannons and other weapons, as well as the gunpowder necessary for it in the cities and ports supplying the army 4
. Restoring the factories that had been neglected by his predecessor, Gennin vigorously fought to increase the production of weapons. His particular concern was to improve the quality of the cannons, since before he came to the factories, almost a third of the manufactured cannons were torn. P. G. Lyubomirov, a researcher of the history of the Russian metallurgical industry, admits that the appointment of Gennin, a major specialist in artillery and mining, to the Olonets factories led to an improvement in their work and a significant increase in the quality of weapons produced. 5
. Gennin sought to rationalize work processes, reduce the number of workers employed in factories, and increase production efficiency. He himself designed a new water machine for drilling
guns 6
.
Thus, in two or three years, he significantly increased the production of weapons at the Olonets factories. They worked at full capacity, constantly supplying military and ship supplies to the army and warships of the Baltic Fleet. 7 .
The published correspondence of 1718 is connected with the problem of arming the Russian army and navy, the solution of which was given a lot of effort by Peter 1 himself and the head of the Olonets factories V. I. Gennin 8 .
In 1718 the military-political situation was very difficult. Although by this time the Russian army had won several brilliant victories (the battle of Lesnaya, near Poltava, the Gangut naval battle), the Swedes still did not agree to make peace. Only at the end of 1717 did preliminary Russian-Swedish negotiations begin on the development of peace conditions. In January 1718, the Russian representatives J. V. Bruce and A. I. Osterman went to the Aland Islands to negotiate, which, however, really began only in the summer, in June. Negotiations with Sweden were complicated to a large extent by the case of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich. European countries that fought against the strengthening of Russia in the Baltic Sea benefited from the conflict between the Russian tsar and his heir. 9 .
Considering the complexity of the situation and not too much hoping for a successful conclusion to the peace negotiations, Peter continued to prepare for the last, decisive blow to end the war and increase the production of weapons.
It is known that the defeat near Narva in 1700 and the loss of almost all artillery forced Peter to pay special attention to the construction of metallurgical plants and the production of weapons. He studied mathematics and military sciences, graduated from a special artillery school in Amsterdam, read many works on military, naval and natural sciences, forcing him to translate the best foreign works on this topic. He himself compiled a "theoretical guide for the practical use of artillery" 10 . He made plans for fortresses being built in Russia (the drawing of the fortifications of the new fortress of Kronstadt was also made by his hand) 11 .
The great merit of Peter in the field of re-equipping artillery is the creation of uniform calibers of guns with a high rate of fire, and lighter ones, since before the start of the Northern War, the Russian army left a legacy from the 17th century. many different-caliber and heavy guns 12 .
Under him, three types of artillery pieces began to be produced: guns, howitzers and mortars. The introduction of the artillery scale, developed by the famous scientist, artilleryman and diplomat J. V. Bruce, helped a lot to create uniformity in the production of guns. 13 .
The falconets (a kind of light guns) ordered by Peter at the Olonets factories had a conical charging chamber. In the West, falconets were known as early as the end of the 16th century. In the XVIII century. falconets began to be used on ships and galleys.
It is interesting to note that in the list of guns taken from the Swedes during the surrender of Kexholms in 1710, in the "Journal or Day Note" of Peter I, 9 falconets are also mentioned. 14 .
It is possible that after this, Peter decided to organize the production of these small guns for arming galleys and ships in preparation for a decisive naval battle.
In his letter, Peter, as always, laconically orders Gennin to make fifty falconets according to the attached drawing. It can therefore be assumed that the drawing sent by Peter was made by him. The author of the history of artillery, I. S. Prochko, confidently says: “The casting of the guns was carried out according to the drawings drawn up by Peter himself. He demanded that the masters strictly adhere to these drawings and cast "not a line more, not a line less" ” 15 .
In the "History of Russian Artillery" there is a mention of a manuscript from the beginning of the 18th century. "Description of artillery" 16 , which has a drawing of a falconet. Perhaps this is the same drawing that was sent to the Olonets factories. But since neither the description of the drawing nor its dimensions are given in the letter, it is impossible to finally resolve this issue. In all likelihood, the drawing sent to the factory has not been preserved.
From Gennin's response letters, we see what an energetic and executive person he was. Peter's letter is dated April 3, and a month later, on May 7, Gennin replies that, having received the drawing, he has already started work (“we pour guns incessantly”), and on May 20, in the second letter, he reported that the manufactured falconets were sent to St. Petersburg . At the same time, this letter shows that Gennin carried out other orders of Peter I.
The published correspondence is additional evidence of the enormous work of arming the Russian army that Peter the Great had to carry out.
Peter I's clerk's letter, with an autographed signature. The place of departure and the date are written in a different handwriting. Numbers on the top of the first sheet: 92 on the left, 10 on the right.
Gennin's clerk's letters, with autographed signatures. In a letter dated May 7 on l. 1 in a different handwriting and ink is written: "On the 26th day of May." On l. 1 v.: "Answered on the 26th day of May."
The text of the letters is transmitted in accordance with the accepted rules for publishing documents of the 18th century: extended letters are inserted into the text, titles are revealed.
Letter from Peter I
Mr Colonel.
Upon receipt of this decree, they were ordered to make fifty falcanets against the drawing attached with this, and send them here by water.
From St. Petersburg
April 3rd 1718
Letters of V. I. Gennin to Peter I
I convey to your far-off bright majesty. I, the lowest, received a drawing for small three-pound "cannons" at the Olonets factories, "against which we constantly pour cast-iron lushki with a caliber, and will be ready in an immediate time.
By your tsarist majesty's most merciful decree, and through a letter from Mr. Cabinet Secretary Makarov 17 , ordered to send turukhtan birds to Your Majesty's Palace in St. Petersburg 18 , which now, at the request of Your Majesty, under Olonets, having caught a herd and sent by courier to St. Petersburg to Your Royal Majesty, and henceforth, that in the catch of these there will be - I will send without delay.
Your Majesty the Most Gracious Sovereign, our humble servant
Willim Gunnin
From Olonets factories
May 7th day 1718
Our most merciful and all-merciful Tsar, our sovereign.
According to Your Tsarist Majesty's most merciful decree and against the drawing sent, it was ordered to pour out three-pound cannons at the Olonets Petrovsky factories and send them to St. Petersburg, against which the drawing is poured and now in St. Petersburg by water on a sheet 19 with an officer and other iron supplies sent 3 falcunettes 3 pounds, weighing 6 pounds each, which I, the lowest, ordered to announce to Your Royal Majesty; and the rest, against Your Majesty, the most merciful decree, having prepared, I will send immediately.
Your royal majesty "the most merciful sovereign of our humble servant
Willim Gennin
From Olonets Petrovsky Plants
May 20th day 1718
Peter the Great was very interested in the idea of compiling the history of Russia. He repeatedly ordered the collection of sources for this history: chronicles, letters and other monuments, and at the same time ordered the literary processing of history. It is necessary to note in this case a feature that completely coincides with the general practical direction of Peter's thought. In national history, he is interested in what can be learned from it that is practical, vitally useful; he is not occupied with idle hypotheses about ancient times covered in a fog of obscurity, not the "beginning of the world", as he puts it, but the next two centuries of the 16th and 17th centuries, starting with the reign of Vasily III, which constituted for him "new and recent history", as we would now say. Such an essay on Russian history was supposed to acquaint Peter with recent antiquity, tell him about the events with the close consequences of which he came face to face, explain to him the origin of those phenomena of Russian life that surrounded him, on which he himself sought to influence his will. Peter also cared a lot about compiling the history of his own reign. And this concern was caused by the most practical interest. In the history of his reign, Peter, looking back at his activities and summing up her results, wanted to give her an explanation, point out its reasonableness and usefulness, and in this case, history should have served him with the same journalistic tool as were the political treatises ordered by Feofan Prokopovich, or his own prefaces to various kinds of decrees, where the usefulness and necessity of their publication and the good goals to which these laws were directed were clarified. The thought that occupied him about compiling the history of the reign found expression in a few handwritten notes left after him. “Write about the war,” he writes once, “how it was conceived, and about customs and cases, how and by whom it was done.” The war, of course, seemed then the main event of the reign. But Peter did not at all think of limiting himself in the proposed history to the depiction of the war alone. His program was wider. “In order to write into history,” reads another of his notes, “what was done in this war, what and when zemstvo routines and military both ways of regulations (i.e. land and sea) and spiritual; so are the buildings of forts, harbors, ship and galley fleets and all kinds of manufactories, and buildings in Petersburg and Kotlin, and in other places.
To compile the history of the reign, the necessary materials were constantly collected. It was ordered to deliver to the sovereign's office from various departments and institutions and individual documents, and even entire historical notes, the compilation of which was entrusted to eyewitnesses and participants in the events to be described. So, the head of the Preobrazhensky order, Prince. Romodanovsky had to submit a note about the Streltsy rebellion of 1698, about which he could well know because the rebels went through his hands when searching for a rebellion. Book. V.V. Dolgoruky, who commanded the troops sent to tame the Bulavinsky rebellion, wrote a note about this rebellion. Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev, generals Prince. MM. Golitsyn, Prince. Repnin, c. P.M. Apraksin wrote about their activities during the Great Northern War. Feldzeugmeister General Bruce gave an outline of the development of Russian artillery; Chief of Police General Devier outlined the history of the emergence of St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. A note on diplomatic relations was requested from the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, and from the military about recruitment kits. Even captured Swedish officers were involved in this work. So, General Schlippenbach delivered information about the actions of Charles XII after the Battle of Narva*.
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* Ustryalov N.G. History of the reign of Peter the Great. SPb., 1858. T. I. C. XXXIII.
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While collecting documents, one of their kind did not attract the attention of Peter - these are his own letters. More precisely, however, it will be necessary to say that Peter did not attach importance to that side of these letters, for which we now especially appreciate this kind of sources, namely their private side, which did not concern state affairs. It should be noted that in Peter's correspondence there is no sharp line separating their private side from the official one. Turning to a loved one with the most playful letter, full of details of an intimate nature, he immediately dictates his will as a sovereign. And vice versa, to a letter of an official nature he often adds some postscript of a completely private nature. In the sovereign's office, before sending his letters to their destination, their content, in a more or less abbreviated form, was entered into a special book of "outgoing" ones, into the so-called "Notebooks by decree, leaving behind the sovereign's hand." It also happened that Peter sketched a draft letter with his own hand; then a final copy signed by the sovereign was sent to the addressee, and the draft was left in the affairs of the cabinet. But to keep the contents of the letter in the office of the sovereign in one way or another: whether by entering it in the outgoing notebooks or by leaving the draft in the papers, it was by no means a historical, but a purely practical, business interest. After all, Peter's letters are for the most part at the same time decrees binding on those persons to whom they were addressed; and if this is so, then the order of office work required the registration of these decrees where they were sent from. It can be noted that in the office they showed more interest in the business, official side of letters as documents of the expression of the highest will, than in the private, intimate side. Letters-decrees of the sovereign in Notebooks are transmitted in detail, sometimes almost completely, with an exact reproduction of the text relating to those cases about which orders are given in the letters. But the content of such a completely private letter as a letter dated August 17, 1707 to the well-known participant in the most joking council, Prince Abbess Daria Gavrilovna Rzhevskaya in the Notebooks, where it was also nevertheless registered, is conveyed only by the word "complement" *. Similarly, the content of the letter dated May 28, 1707 to my sister Natalya Alekseevna is expressed in notebooks in two words: "On health" **. Both for Peter himself and for his office, it was important to keep the contents of the decree letters for memory and consideration at the moment when they begin to report on the execution of the orders transmitted by letter, as well as for order in further orders. If value was attached to these letters as historical documents, it was precisely from their business side, since they were decrees and because they testified to various deeds ordered by the monarch. The same sides of the letter, where the deeds were not discussed, but where, perhaps, the personality traits of the writer were most clearly expressed, did not attract attention and were not considered as a historical document.
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* Letters and papers of Emperor Peter the Great. SPb., 1912. T. VI. No. 1912.
** Ibid. SPb., 1900. T. IV. No. 1295; There. St. Petersburg, 1907. T. V. No. 1771.
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And we cannot blame Peter as a historiographer for such a gap in the evaluation of sources. It must be remembered that in general, in his time, letters were not yet included in the circle of source studies and were not valued as historical material. True, even earlier letters were collected and published, but not as historical documents, but as works of a special type of literature, epistolary literature, and only by the new scientific historiography was private correspondence assessed as a historical source. However, for us historians, this underestimation by Peter the Great of his letters is of particular benefit. It can even be said that Peter's letters have for us the greater value of a historical document, the less he himself looked at them as a historical document. In our days, before any more or less outstanding person, when he writes a diary or memoirs, or when he conducts correspondence, the idea of the red cover of "Russian Antiquity" or the pale yellow cover of the "Russian Archive" probably flashes more than once, and not in vain : sooner or later his papers will get into one or another magazine. The action of the letter is not limited to one addressee; it will eventually become the property of a wide range of readers. And now the letter ceases to be a reliable mirror; it gives a not entirely correct image of the writer, it reflects not what is, but what the writer wants to be or, at least, to appear.
When Peter the Great writes a letter, he, of course, does not imagine it at all in printed form on the pages of this or that historical publication. His letters are not intended for publication, therefore they are always sincere, always faithfully and accurately reflect him as he is, and have the value of a pure and transparent historical source, which is difficult to replace when studying the personality of Peter. We can get acquainted with the affairs of the converter from many other, perhaps much more complete and detailed documents. But the views, thoughts, moods, feelings, in a word, everything that makes up the inner side of the personality of Peter the Great, all this is not displayed in any other source with such fullness and distinctness as in letters. According to other sources, according to the reviews of his contemporaries who came into contact with him, we get acquainted with the impression that Peter made on these contemporaries. No matter how true and close to the truth these transmitted impressions are, they are still approximate images, either exaggerated or understated, this is not Peter the Great, but only the legend of Peter. In the letters before us is Peter himself in his original. When we read letters, we come face to face with him directly. We see not only his outward appearance, but also his inner spiritual movements are revealed to us.
Peter writes a lot and willingly. According to the last volumes of that careful chronological collection of his letters, which we have in the edition of Letters and Papers *, it can be seen, reviewing his correspondence day by day, that in each month the number of days when Peter is in correspondence is usually greater than the number of days in which he does not take up with a pen. Moreover, for every day when he was engaged in correspondence, there are several letters. There are days in which he sent 7 and 10 letters. The largest number of letters for 1707 falls on July 6, the day when 12 letters were written. The pen is always in Peter's hand; he writes with his own hand, or, as we have already seen above, he sketches a draft with his own hand, from which a copy signed by the sovereign is then sent to the addressee. Sometimes he dictates letters. It can be seen that Peter usually writes to close people with his own hand. Such, for example, are his letters to Catherine, to Menshikov, to Apraksin. On the contrary, to those, even outstanding and valued employees, with whom, however, the sovereign is distant and cold, letters are more often sent, only signed by him. Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn, an outstanding statesman who occupied all the time the most important and responsible posts, Peter greatly respected, but did not like, because he knew that Golitsyn did not approve of many of his actions and enterprises. Of the 35 letters sent to Golitsyn while he was the governor of Kyiv and published in the 11th volume of the Collection of the Imperial Russian Historical Society, only 7 were handwritten; the rest are only signed by the sovereign. Peter's letters are usually very brief; most often in the size of 7 - 8 lines of printing in the publication of Letters and Papers. He saves time; in a few lines he can quite clearly express his thought. But he does not hesitate to write to Fyodor Matveevich Apraksin, his brother-in-law, a handwritten letter in 35 lines of the same typed text, and, moreover, having already signed the letter and marking the date, add another postscriptum to it in 8 lines. A handwritten letter to Lieutenant V.D. Korchmin, who was sent to renew and strengthen the fortifications in Moscow, even more, occupies 50 lines of text **. Often, in the draft of a letter, made by the hand of a scribe, Peter makes new inserts and additions with his own hand, and sometimes supplies it with a handwritten postscript. In letters, Peter carefully marks the time and place of writing, and these dates testify to how tireless and accurate Peter was in correspondence. He responds to the received letter immediately, and he himself emphasizes this accuracy. So, one of the answers to Menshikov, Peter noted: "Is Tikotin on the 13th day (at the same hour as the letter was submitted) of September 1707" ***. The fever he suffered from in August 1707 in Warsaw does not keep him from writing. In a handwritten letter to F.M. Apraksin, putting down the date of August 3, 1707, Peter made a special postscript in brackets when designating the place: "I from Warsaw (in which almost everyone treats fever like me)". Even in the midst of a feast, he breaks away from it and settles down to answer a letter right there at the dinner table. On July 28, 1706, near Kyiv, having received a letter from Menshikov, the sovereign answered his questions in detail, gave him several guidelines, and ended the letter with a good-natured bow and designation of the moment when it was written: I also ask you to pay your due respect to the lieutenant generals and major generals Ren, Rosen, Bour, Fluke and all the officers and privates, since we are now in the house of Mr. General Bruce pouring about your health "****. In another letter to Menshikov, marked "From the parade, or St. Petersburg, on September 11, 1706," Peter made the following addition: and through Lake Ladoga in a slotted plow 80 living sterlets, of which today we took out three and from the most holy hand of the slain we eat now and about your health with a glass of Renskov "*****. One of the following letters to Menshikov, also from St. Petersburg, dated November 17, 1706, Peter marked as follows: "Written in your house, offering a sacrifice to Bacchus, satisfied with wine, and glorifying God with the soul" ******.
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* A special commission established in 1872 under the Imperial Academy of Sciences has published so far six volumes of letters, placed in chronological order and provided with detailed notes. From a scientific point of view, this edition leaves nothing to be desired. The publication has now been brought up to 1708, and this number of letters, it seems to us, is sufficient for the correctness of judgment, both about the letters themselves and about the character traits of their author reflected in them. In addition to the letters printed in various other editions, we also used Notebooks stored in the State Archives with the kind assistance rendered to us Ya.L. Barskov. It goes without saying that we were far from the thought of undertaking any exhaustive work on the letters of Peter; before the completion of the academic edition of Letters and Papers, such a task is premature. An excellent description of Peter's letters is given in Mr. Sivkov's article "Peter the Great as a Writer" in Sytin's publication "Three centuries of the reign of the Romanov dynasty" edited by V.V. Kallash.
** P. and B. T. VI. No. 1904.
*** There. No. 1967; There. No. 1975: "From Tekotin, on the 14th day of September 1707 at the very departure for Minsk."
**** Ibid. T. IV. No. 1296.
***** There. No. 1349.
****** There. No. 1417.
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By addressing the addressee, a greater or lesser degree of his closeness to the king is noticeable. From the letters mentioned above to the book. D.M. Golitsyn, only in the first we find the familiar Dutch address "Min Her"; Peter begins the rest with a dry official appeal: "Mr. Golitsyn," "Mr. Governor." The name of the addressee by last name, position or rank is the usual form of address in Peter's official letters. In letters to Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev, whose talents Peter appreciated, but for whom, like Golitsyn, he did not have warm feelings *, the tsar calls him Her, Her Kavalir, but for the most part: "Mr. Field Marshal." On the other hand, in letters to employees, to whom Peter feels good, the address is often in Dutch, sometimes playful and gentle. F.M. Apraksin is called Min Her Admiralteic, Min Her Admiral. A.B. Kikin is called: Mein Grotvader. Manager of the Monastic order I.A. Musin-Pushkin Peter calls Bruder. To the old and devoted servant T.N. Streshnev, in whose hands all the management of internal affairs was concentrated during Peter's youth, in one of the letters he warmly addresses, calling him by his first name and patronymic: "Tikhon Nikitich", which is generally done very rarely. In correspondence with the famous Prince F.Yu. Romodanovsky, despite the most businesslike content of the letters sent to him, Peter constantly plays the game of "Caesar" and "subject", calls him Min Gnadigste Kenich, Min Hnadihste Her or Siir, titles "Your Majesty" and signs "Your Majesty the lowest subject Piter Michaylof", "Your Majesty's lowest servant Piter". But the appeal in letters to Menshikov is especially cordial, for which affectionate Dutch names are written for some reason mostly in Russian letters: “Mein libste kamarat”, “Mein lipste frint”, “Mein bezste θrint”, “Mein bruder”, “Mein Herc ". Accordingly, with this appeal, letters to Menshikov sometimes end with the signature: "Your camorat." Usually in business letters, Peter signs in Dutch - Piter; in letters to Catherine - invariably in Russian. The pronoun "you" prevails in the correspondence. But this "you" is not maintained and alternates with the second person singular "you", which is so characteristic of the spoken language of the early 18th century. "Grotvader," writes Peter A.V. Kikin on May 23, 1709, "I announce to you that Colonel Yakovlev stormed the Cossacks, and although he lost from 300 people, however, their cursed nest was cut, he took them and chopped them all. And tacos of the last root Mazepin, with the help of God, is uprooted, and announce this to Mr. Vice Admiral, also Major General Bruce and others, and congratulate everyone on my behalf. Peter"*.
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* There. T. VI. No. 2015, Menshikov dated October 2, 1707. “This very hour I received a letter from you in which you write that Mr. Sheremetev wrote to you, as if I ordered him to go to Borisov; which he perpetrated for the sake of his old ordinary lie, and I wrote to Minsk, and not to Borisov. .."
** Collection of the Russian Historical Society. SPb., 1873. T. XI. S. 17.
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The syllable of letters is distinguished by conciseness, precision and power of expression. In general, as a writer, Peter is imbued with the rule that brevity is the soul of wisdom. So, in 1724, while considering the organization of the celebration of the third anniversary of the Peace of Nystadt, the tsar sketched out a summary or program of a solemn ode. “It is necessary,” we read in this synopsis, “in the first verse to remember the victories, and then the power to write the following about the whole holiday: 1) our lack of skill in all matters, 2) and most of all in starting a war, which, not knowing the opposite forces and 3) Former enemies always wrote not only in words, but also in stories, so as not to prolong the war, so as not to teach us about it. 5) All other peoples have a policy in order to keep a balance of strength among neighbors, and especially so that we are not allowed to reach the light of reason in all matters, and especially in military affairs; this was closed before their eyes. This is truly a miracle of God; here it is possible to see that all human minds are nothing against the will of God. "Breeding" will be entrusted to some idle rhetorician or poet; the tsar is only interested in the "sensation" itself. Peter's letters are not literary works, like Catherine's correspondence with her famous correspondents; they are not intended to deliver entertaining reading to the addressees, to impress with wit, to evoke certain emotions. For the most part, they are at the same time decrees in which Peter not only shares his thoughts with the correspondent, but also prescribes his will to the correspondent, and his will is always expressed so clearly that the expressions of his letter hardly ever puzzled the reader. to which it was intended. When he writes a letter, his goal is to be clearly understood and exactly what he orders in the letter to be carried out; that is why he tries to express himself concisely, clearly and vigorously. He does not care at all about syntax, piling up subordinate clauses one after another, beginning with the words "which", "because", "because" - if only the meaning was clear and if only the thought was expressed sufficiently fully. Just as, when Peter came to someone for dinner, he took the first place that came across, when he writes, he takes the first word that comes across to him, equally Russian or foreign, to express his thoughts; every word is suitable for him: victory or victory, glory or fame, fever or fiber, etc. The same unintelligibility is distinguished by his spelling, the spelling is purely auditory. Peter writes by ear, uses the first letter he comes across for the sound that he wants to portray. All letters are equally suitable for him e and ѣ, i and i, c, f and θ, and only for the solid sign b he has some special love, putting it in its place and out of place. He writes: "enemy", "nasty", "θѣѣх", "regiment of Semenoy", etc.
So, Peter's letters are always businesslike. But le style c "est l" homme [Style is a person (fr.)], and for all its efficiency, for all their practical significance, the style of the letters constantly reflects the features of the author's versatile gifted nature. Peter's letter is neither monotonous nor colorless. He knows how to show off his erudition in it, to quote this or that quote. The text of St. Scriptures. A handwritten letter to Lieutenant V.D. Korchmin, who was sent to “fortify” the Moscow Kremlin* and sent a project for strengthening the Kremlin, is full of detailed comments on this project, technical instructions and orders. "About the Kremlin. There is a good location from the Svirlova Tower to the Vodovzvodnaya (Kromt forks near Svirlova, but if necessary, this can be). What is the θas (face) of the Water Tower F. G. weight without any defense, for the sake of it, it was corrected by the lines of A. V. S. And in front of the Borovitsky Gates i from them to the Stone Bridge i to the tower of Okhotnovo Row, nothing should be done for the sake of the mountain, just such forms are redaned, as at the Spassky i Nikolsky Gates; except by the very need at the Borovitsky Gates to make a bolt (although i θas there will be a passage)". And further in this long letter we are talking about boltworks, fronts, palisades, counterscarps, hornworks, etc. But among all these technical details we read: "What belongs to the Theodosian church, i in my opinion: it is better to break it than to spoil the theory, because there is not much need for churches in Moscow: there are empty teas; and this church is especially special for no tea, so that it should be pleasing to God, more than the silver on which it is built, it is so pleasing to God, as Simonov was to St. Peter "**. Church of St. Theodosius in the Streltsy Sloboda in front of the Nikolsky Gates was built by archers hated by Peter; their silver is here understood by Peter, mentioning the episode of Simon the sorcerer from the Acts of the Apostles. In a letter dated July 28, 1706 *** to Poland to Menshikov, Peter orders him to really inquire about everything, and even more so about the Polish king. “Although I know,” the tsar continues, “that you have equal concern for this, it’s often no worse to remember, about which St. Peter was not ashamed to write to the believers” - words showing Peter V.’s acquaintance with the epistles of the Apostle Peter. To the texts of St. Peter resorts to the Scriptures in letters in which he wants to express the grief that has taken possession of him. “Your letter,” he writes to Catherine on January 11, 1716, in response to a message about the death of Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich, “half a mile (which I had already heard about) about an unexpected incident, which changed joy into sadness. But what can I give an answer to that? only with the long-suffering Iev: the Lord gave, the Lord i take; like a year for him, so i was. Be blessed by the name of the Lord from now on i until the century "****. There are lines in the letters of Peter V. that testify to his acquaintance with classical mythology, and he flaunts its details. So, in letters to Admiral Golovin from Courland, the sovereign, regretting that that the Swedish general Levengaupt retreats and evades battle, compares his retreat with the evasion of the indifferent handsome Narcissus from the love of the mountain nymph Echo, who from this hopeless love has dried up so much that only one voice remains of her. "We have a great misfortune here, - writes tsar, - after all, Mr. Leingopt, like Nartsits from Eha, from us removes "*****. In official letters with the news of the Poltava victory, Peter likens the fate of the Swedish armies to the fate of Phaethon, the son of Helios the sun, who planned to commit on his father's fiery chariot path through the vault of heaven, but could not cope with the chariot, almost caused a worldwide fire and fell headlong from the sky, struck by lightning Zeus, who saw a danger to the sun Helen from the daring idea of an inexperienced young man. “And to say in one word,” Peter V. concludes his story about the death of the Swedes, “the entire enemy army of Phaetons accepted the end” ******. In a letter to Menshikov dated July 4, 1704 from Dorpat, we come across a metaphor taken from astronomy and showing knowledge of the Copernican system. Arriving near Dorpat, Peter was dissatisfied with the siege work undertaken. “Everything is useless,” the sovereign informs Menshikov with bitterness, “and people were tortured. When I asked them: why so? The siege structures were erected too far from the city: "For the local gentlemen take care of themselves, they already seem to be above measure ... But I," the sovereign continues, "forced to move this Saturnian distance into the Mercury circle" *******. In time and by the way, Peter will bring in the text of the letter a suitable Russian proverb, which well emphasizes the thought he expressed. “To answer the Prussian (envoy),” he orders in a letter to F.A. Golovin from Mitava, “because he wants, when we take it, to give it away; but I have an old word for this: that if you don’t kill a bear, you don’t promise skin not be appropriate" ***********. The proposal of the Prussian envoy Keyserling was that Courland, after the expulsion of the Swedes from it, should be given under the control of the Prussian king. Peter's letters to Catherine are especially full of proverbs. “Because there is a proverb,” we read in a letter dated December 25, 1712 from abroad, “two bears cannot live in one berlug—take the prince-dad with you.” Apparently, Catherine must take the prince-papa with her on the trip referred to in the letter in order to prevent him from quarreling with someone with whom he does not get along *********. Informing Catherine of 29 Jan. 1716 from Narva about poor health on the way, because of which he was already ready to abandon the trip, he reassures her, however, with the news of the subsequent improvement; "but yesterday, as I went, then hour by hour, thank God, it became better. What I heard in the diragmen of the place ****, then it became less on the way, which is why I dared to go at night, but it was harmless as So now the proverb has been forgotten that custom is a different nature. Peter wants to say that he is so accustomed to traveling that illnesses do not harm him during the trip. "God grant your mercy ... so that the returner is good, according to the old proverb: although not soon, but healthy," the tsar writes warningly written in Russian letters. "After your letters that the enemies intended to fight back, for the time being there is nothing new (new); they have a firm Golan proverb to know: tyuschen blow en zege - θyul gogo berge lege" ************.
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* Journal, or Day Note .., ed. Shcherbatov. SPb., 1772. T. II. S. 158.
** P. and B. T. VI. No. 1904.
*** There. T. IV. No. 1296.
**** Letters from Russian sovereigns and other members of the royal family. Published by the Commission for the Printing of Letters and Treaties, which is attached to the Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. M., 1861. T. I. Correspondence of Emperor Peter I with Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. No. 61.
***** P. and B. St. Petersburg, 1893. Vol. III. No. 879, 10 Aug. 1705.
****** Sat. RIO. T. XI. S. 17, 88-89.
******* P. and B. T. III. No. 678.
******** There. No. 887.
********* Letters of Russian sovereigns. Correspondence with Catherine. No. 44.
*********** Ibid. No. 62. Diaphragm- a transverse membrane that separates the heart and lung from other viscera. Peter uses his knowledge of anatomy.
************ Ibid. No. 37. "Between death and victory lie many high mountains."
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If it happens, Peter resorts to figurative expression, without caring about the beauty of the image and not showing any special taste in the choice of comparisons. “I announce to you,” he joyfully writes to Catherine on June 14, 1710, “that yesterday the city of Vyborkh gave itself up to this good news (that the strong fall of St. Petersburg has already been built through the help of God) I congratulate you” *. The comparison of Vyborg with a pillow for St. Petersburg can hardly be found particularly successful: it still requires an explanation. About the Battle of Dobry 29 Aug. In 1708, Peter informed Catherine in the following figurative expressions: “It’s true that I didn’t see such a toy as I began to serve; however, this dance in the eyes of the hot Carlus was pretty well danced; however, our regiment sweated more and more” **. The discord between the members of the Northern Alliance, which was the cause of their sluggish actions against the Swedes, the tsar in one of his letters indicated by comparing this union with a carriage harnessed by unridden horses of different ages: united, but ours are Karen: you want a bastard, but you don’t think Karen” ***. Quite often, sharpness asks for a pen; Moreover, if Peter writes in a good mood, the sparkles of his wit are warmed by the warmth of good-natured humor, which is especially abundant in his correspondence with Catherine. Notifying her in September 1711 of his arrival in Karlsbad for water treatment, the tsar writes: “We have arrived here, thank God, we are healthy, and tomorrow we will conceive a healer. honor not to see the sun; most of all, that there is no good beer "****. About the return visit of the seven-year-old French king Louis XV, whom Peter, when meeting with him, raised in his arms, he informed Catherine in a letter dated May 2, 1717 from Paris: Luke Nashev (a dwarf), a child of a fair size, i become; i, by his age, is quite reasonable, who is seven years old "*****. In a letter to the Empress dated October 11, 1718, Peter congratulates her on the anniversary of the capture of the city of Shlisselburg, jokes about the Swedish origin of Catherine (from Livonia) and, playing with words (Schltissel - key), wittily hints at the significance of the capture of Shlisselburg during the war. "I congratulate you on this happy day, in which the Russian foot took it in your lands, and with this key many locks were unlocked" ******. In the already mentioned letter dated June 27, 1709, with a message about the Poltava victory, Peter wittily expressed himself about the Swedish king, whose fate after the battle was still unknown in the Russian camp: *******. In a letter to Menshikov dated 26 April. 1703, Peter enclosed a letter to P.M. Apraksin, whom he jokingly calls the governor. "The letter is enclosed," writes the tsar to Menshikov, "if you please, send governors to his mercy, and his courage is visible on the run" ********.
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* There. No. 20.
** Ibid. No. 9.
*** There. No. 72. July 13, 1716, Bornholm.
**** Ibid. No. 23. Compare: No. 36.
***** There. No. 95.
****** There. No. 119.
******* Sat. RIO. T. XI. S. 18.
******** P. and B. St. Petersburg, 1899. T. II. No. 513. Compare: No. 514.
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If Peter's letter comes out from under his pen in those moments when he is dissatisfied and upset with something, his wit bursts into bitterness of malicious irony and a cruel joke. It is not difficult to imagine what displeasure must have aroused in the sovereign due to the malfunction and delay in the delivery of artillery to the banks of the Neva at the beginning of 1703, when he was going to continue the military operations there so successfully begun by the capture of Shlisselburg. “Siir,” the tsar complains in a letter from Shlisselburg to Moscow to F.Yu. Romodanovsky, “I know that there is a great shortage of artillery here ... 3033 3-pood bombs, 7978 pipes, fractions and eitilyu cannot be harvested there the hostilities so successfully begun by the capture of Shlisselburg. "Siir," the tsar complains in a letter from Shlisselburg to Moscow to F.Yu. Romodanovsky, - I know that there is a great shortage of artillery here ... the most necessary ones were not delivered 3033 3-pound bombs, pipes 7978, fractions i eitilu not a pound, shovels i iron picks the smallest number, and most of all, the master who shreds (sic ) the fuses of the cannons, to this day have not been sent, from which the past Goth cannons, not one of them will be useless in the pakhod, why is there a great stop for our cause here, without which it is impossible to start. About which I myself spoke many times to Vinius, with which he regaled me with Moscow immediately. What do you want to ask about: why is such a main thing being done with such negligence, which is more expensive than thousands of heads. "Peter came to his senses to point out yet another omission, about which he speaks in the postscript: “Not a spool of medicine has been sent from the store.” This is followed by a tough play on words: “For this we will be forced to treat those who are despised” *. the same kind of witticism in a letter dated August 3. 1707 to A.V. Kikin from Warsaw: "Tell Shcherbak i Astrovskiy that they don't write to me about my yard, but even more about the garden, for that I myself will bring a good steganam by kaytan "**. This letter is generally full of reproaches and reproaches for various malfunctions. Peter's irritability, so noticeable in this letter, can be explained not only by unpleasant news and lack of news, but also by a painful condition, cruel dashing Radka, from which the sovereign suffered in 1707 in Warsaw. “You wrote to Makarov,” we read later in the same letter, “that Θedosey (Sklyaev) was a few minutes before the death; i almost without saying a word we did this, because i was just i didn’t know people anymore, i don’t know how God still ordered to live: such a cruel θibra was, from which now I still can’t completely hide myself! "The words about Shcherbak and Ostrovsky" I will bring in a good quilted caftan, "as the publisher of the letters quite correctly notes," must be understood allegorically: they will be subjected to corporal punishment. this nut was very cruel, however, thank God, happily gnawed, "- so Peter Vinius informed about the capture of the city of Noteburg, the ancient Novgorod suburb of Oreshok. Noteburg was renamed by Peter into Shlisselburg, and this name, as we saw, also gave rise to witticisms , to the comparison of the city with a key that unlocks many locks.Finishing the treatment with waters in Pyrmont, Peter writes to Catherine on June 11, 1716: “I hope, God will please, to see you for ten days; for in three days chickens (cur = treatment) or our rooster ends "***. On August 14, 1704, Peter informs A.V. Kikin about the capture of Narva in the following letter: "Her Hrotvader. I can’t write again, just Narva, who is 4 years old abscessed, now thank God broke through about which I will tell myself at greater length. Peter****.
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* There. No. 500.
**Ibid. T. VI. No. 1886.
*** Letters to Catherine. No. 69.
**** P. and B. T. III. No. 700.
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The content of Peter's business correspondence is extremely diverse, and there is no way to review it in a short article on any system. All the ebullient, tireless, versatile activity of the sovereign left traces in the letters. Military orders, the movement of troops in the theater of operations, the organization of military forces, the recruitment and arming of troops, the construction of ships, diplomatic relations, all aspects of internal administration, in a word, everything that occupied the mind of Peter at one time or another of his life - was certainly reflected in his endless correspondence. Reading his letters, you begin to understand to what extent all management under him was personal, what a guiding principle his thought was, what an enormous and inexhaustible driving force his will was, what an arousing agent his energy was. His letters, flying from him in different directions, as if from the center along the radii, were the conductors of his thought and will. I take as an example one day in the life of Peter - July 6, 1707 - the day on which the maximum number of letters sent by him from all the days of 1707 falls. We examine the correspondence for this day; this study will show us the diversity of the content of the letters and the breadth of the circle of persons to whom they concern. Planning to leave Lublin*, where he was at that time, and going to Warsaw that day, Peter answered the last correspondence received in Lublin. They received letters from Kurbatov, K.A. Naryshkin, Prince. F.Yu. Romodanovsky and B.P. Sheremetev. A.A. Kurbatov, chief inspector of the Moscow City Hall, petitioned the sovereign for an order that the money due to her from the orders of the Admiralty, Local and Siberian orders be brought to the City Hall, and in addition, he asked for instructions on re-minting the coin. Kurbatov's letter caused four letters from Peter to Moscow: to the steward Gr. A. Plemyannikov, one of the members of the Admiralty Order, to the Duma clerk Avtony Ivanov, who was in charge of the Local Order, and to Prince. M.P. Gagarin, head of the Siberian order, to all three about the contribution to the Town Hall of the money following her and about the account with her, and, finally, to Kurbatov himself with notification of these orders made at his request and with an indication of the re-minting of copper coins and efimki.
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* Journal, or Day Note .., ed. Shcherbatov. SPb., 1770. T. I. C. 160. Compare: P. and B. T. VI. Nos. 1860, 1861 and 1867.
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A letter from Pskov from Kirill Alekseevich Naryshkin, the Derpt commandant, contained several items. Naryshkin reported on a reconnaissance undertaken from Dorpat "to search over enemy people", and that a Russian reconnaissance detachment met with an enemy reconnaissance detachment and defeated it. Further, he reported on the departure of a Swedish captain and a dragoon officer to Derpt and notified the sovereign of the execution of his command to expel the Swedes from Derpt to Moscow. Peter did not touch on these news of Naryshkin in his answer. But then things went on, apparently very disturbing to the Derpt commandant and provoked a response from the sovereign. The commandant complained about the lack of contingent in one of the regiments subordinate to him - Murzenkov: he applied for recruits according to the previous order of the sovereign to T.N. Streshnev, but he did not send a recruit. Peter replies that he sent T.N. Streshnev new decree. Naryshkin writes further that Prince. M.P. Gagarin, who was ordered to send guns without money for the Pskov dragoons and for the Murzenkov regiment, does not send guns without money, he asks for money for them, but there is nowhere to get money from. Peter reassures the commandant with the message that to the book. Gagarin is also sent a new decree. Naryshkin's letter follows with a complaint against the Pskov proviantmaster, who did not issue a salary salary for three Derpt soldier regiments for 1707. Peter instructs in his answer to postpone the issuance of a grain salary. The next paragraph of Naryshkin's letter is a report on the state of the notch line under construction, which has not yet been completed. Naryshkin asks who is to oversee this case. Peter responds with an order to repair the line where it is damaged, sparing, however, the forces of the local peasant population, "seeing that there are no difficulties for people, since now people are not without difficulty, the first thing is business time, another and that is not a small matter, that they are making a fortress on Luki." The sovereign, however, did not appoint a special observer for these works. Naryshkin was hampered by the confusion that had occurred in the appointment of the commander of the soldier Mitchel's regiment, who was in his district. Book. HELL. Menshikov appointed Vidim von Fenichbir as commander in this regiment; but he did not arrive, and instead B.P. Sheremetev sent another foreigner, Colonel Bokan, as commander. "And about this, Your Majesty," Naryshkin asks, "what do you indicate?" Peter said that instead of the Mitchel regiment, another regiment would be sent to the Dorpat commandant. Finally, Naryshkin reported the betrayal of Sergeant Smolyaninov, who tried to drive off to the enemy, but was caught and tortured confessed that he really wanted to leave for Revel. Peter replies: "Sergeant Smolyaninov ... do what he deserves."
The content of the letter by K.A. is exhausted by the listed items. Naryshkin, but the content of Peter's answer is not exhausted. The sovereign touches on another matter, which was probably discussed in Naryshkin's previous letter: the making of tunnels under the Derpt fortress. “At the same time, I’m declaring to the reserve,” he writes, “that under all the bolts in Derpt, and especially under those where these words of A.V. under the two above, make it so strong that it ruins the foundation, and under the new one, tea, you don’t need a dig, rather than a wooden one: it’s possible to burn it, but make it in reserve; for which the digger sends the business to you. from the inhabitants there. Also, do not put gunpowder in them before the decree." Concerning the letter of K.A. Naryshkina Peter, in addition to an extensive answer to him, sent more letters: T.N. Streshnev with energetic confirmation of the immediate dispatch of recruits to the Murzenkov Regiment *, then to St. Petersburg to F.M. Apraksin about the deportation of one lieutenant from Narva to Derpt to control the Derpt artillery and to Minsk to the book. A.I. Repnin about the expulsion of a digger to Derpt. In addition, in the previously mentioned letter of the same July 6 to Prince. M.P. Gagarin, along with the order on the contribution of money from the Siberian order to the City Hall, was also included an order on the non-monetary expulsion of guns to the Dorpat commandant Naryshkin **.
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* P. and B. T. VI. No. 1859.
** Ibid. No. 1855, 1859, 1860, 1857, 1851. Letter to K.A. Naryshkin see: P. and B. T. V. S. 511-513.
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In sent on the same day, July 6, in response to the letter of Prince. F.Yu. Romodanovsky dated June 20, Peter confirms his previous order in the case of the participants in the Astrakhan rebellion, whom Romodanovsky was looking for, and orders to transfer another political case: about the accomplices of Anna Ivanovna Mons, who was accused at that time of witchcraft and bewitching Peter to her, to decision of the general council of the boyars. In addition to these two instructions, Peter also ordered the prince in the same letter to send a regimental clerk to him in the Preobrazhensky regiment, who was with him in Poland, choosing for him a kind and extraordinary person from the clerks.
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* Magazine, or Day Note... T. 1. S. 161.
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B.P. Sheremetev, who was then stationed in the city of Ostrog, Peter on the day in question, July 6, sent two letters. In them, he answered the questions raised in Sheremetev's letter to him dated June 27. Sheremetev reported on the collection of indemnities from the estates of the Vishnevetsky princes. Peter remarked on this subject in his reply: "For God's sake, in intribution, do not delay according to the decree." The field marshal further requested permission to take the young people of the "undersized Preobrazhenskaya and Semyonovskaya Life Guards" to appoint them to the places of second lieutenants in the regiments subordinate to him. Peter allows him to choose the required officers from the sergeants and undergrowths of the Semenovsky regiment, adding at the same time: "And I will choose from Preobrazhenskov myself." Sheremetev's letter contained another request: he petitioned for the appointment of an interpreter for him to translate from German documents arriving at his main apartment. Peter suggests that he apply for an interpreter to Moscow at the Military Order; with him, in the royal main apartment there is none. In addition to these answers to the report and requests of Sheremetev, the sovereign, in one of his letters dated July 6, warning the field marshal about the upcoming campaign in Lithuania, gives him an order to take measures to arrange for the supply of supplies to the Russian troops in a new direction, not through Kyiv, as they drove before, and through Smolensk, Slutsk or Minsk. Postal communications must continue in the same direction until Sheremetev himself starts moving*.
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* P. and B. T. VI. No. 1860 and 1861. Letter from Sheremetev (Ibid., pp. 233-234).
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The last letter, written by Peter on July 6, 1707, takes us to another region, to the land of the Don Cossacks; this is a letter to Prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky, who was in the Trinity Fortress (on Taganrog). Dolgoruky, Peter wrote about the expulsion from the Don, who had found shelter there and took refuge, runaway townspeople and peasants. The king orders these fugitives to be rewritten and sent with escorts, as before, to those cities and places from which someone fled; if there are criminals, thieves and slayers among them, send them under guard to Moscow or Azov. Dolgoruky was instructed to further investigate the harassment inflicted on the colonel and residents of the Izyumsky regiment by the Bakhmut stanitsa ataman Bulavin, who ruined the salt-working criminals, thieves and slaughterers from the Izyum people - to send such under guard to Moscow or Azov. Dolgoruky was further instructed to investigate the harassment inflicted on the colonel and the inhabitants of the Izyumsky regiment by the Bakhmut stanitsa ataman Bulavin, who ruined the salt factories of the Izium people, because of which the Bakhmut people had disputes with the Izyum people, as well as about the resistance offered by the Bakhmut people to the deacon Gorchakov, who was sent from Voronezh to inspect and describe these disputed places. Having carried out this investigation, Dolgoruky had to take care of the demarcation of the disputed lands between the warring Don people and the inhabitants of Izyum*.
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* There. No. 1852.
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So, on July 6, 1707, in his correspondence, Peter, as it were, took a look at a vast space. He wrote to Moscow, Derpt, Polish Ukraine, the Don region. He touched on at least 20 cases in the letters sent. Let's list them again. These cases included: payment to the Moscow City Hall of the amounts due to it "from the orders of the Admiralty, Siberian and Local, re-minting coins, recruiting the Murzenkov regiment stationed in Derpt, supplying this regiment and the Pskov dragoon weapons, issuing grain salaries to three Derpt soldier regiments, building defensive line in the Derpt chief commandant's office, the transfer of the Mitchel regiment to another district, the trial of a traitor and officers who committed misconduct, the appointment of a commander of the Derpt artillery, digging under the Derpt fortifications, political searches in the case of the Astrakhan rebels and in the case of Mons, sending a regimental commander to the Preobrazhensky regiment clerk, replenishment of officers of regiments in Sheremetev’s army, sending a translator to Sheremetev, indemnity collected by Sheremetev from estates in the areas where his armies are located, a new direction for the supply of supplies to the Russians in Poland, the expulsion of fugitive townsmen and peasants from the Don region, an investigation of the conflict between Don Cossacks - Bakhmuts and residents of the Izyum regiment and the delimitation of disputed lands between them. Here is a list, which, undoubtedly, has already tired the reader, who is tiredly gliding over it with his eyes. But the whole mass of things listed in it hardly tired Peter! And meanwhile, what stubborn diligence one had to have in order to solve all these questions without delay, what a huge memory one had to have in order to clearly understand them, in order to recall each of the objects that fell into the strip of his attention with all its concrete and petty details, what presence of mind, not only not to get lost in this seething whirlpool of reports, complaints and requests, but also to give everyone a firm guideline! How well one had to know the multitude of persons with whom one had to have daily intercourse, moreover, to know them not only from the outside, but also to study the internal properties and characteristics of each, so that, turning to one, to reinforce the instruction given to him with an affectionate request, addressing to another - to resort to a threat, and to the third - to write a business letter in a playful tone. And such work had to be carried out day after day, sometimes repeatedly and persistently returning to the same task in order to achieve its fulfillment the more faithfully and reliably. On July 6, 1707, before leaving Lublin for Warsaw, Peter, as we have seen, wrote to Sheremetev about the new organization of communication between the Russian army in the Polish lands and Moscow. On the 14th from Warsaw, the tsar again wrote to Sheremetev about the same subject, demanding an answer on how the work had been done. In the same way, he returns to the question of the collection of indemnities. In a letter dated July 6, he writes: "For God's sake in indemnity, do not delay on the decree." He concludes his letter of July 14 with the words: "And most of all, if you please, the laborer in choosing the indemnity" *. The king knows well that such a repetition will not be superfluous.
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* There. No. 1867.
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In the year 1707 in question, Peter leads the entire administration personally, because he acts alone. There are no institutions that would unload this burden of personal management and free the sovereign from trifles and details, leaving behind him only guiding ideas and directions. In Moscow, there remains a ministerial council - a formless and uninfluential shadow of the former Boyar Duma - and orders tending to destruction in order to give way to the provinces, orders. Peter is in correspondence with individuals, not with institutions. But the lack of institutions makes itself felt, and in 1711, "for our constant absences," a governing Senate was created, which should work independently, acting on behalf of the sovereign, should even completely replace the absent sovereign. However, management does not cease to be personal even then. With the emergence of the Senate in the correspondence of Peter the Great, there was one more correspondent. Since 1711, a new and extensive section of this correspondence has been opened: numerous, as usual, short and concise letters-decrees, beginning with the appeal "Lord Senate" and concerning a variety of various large and small subjects. With the establishment of the Senate, Peter's direct correspondence with those persons who were subordinate to the Senate and received decrees from it did not stop.
The mind of Peter the Great was distinguished not only by the ability to master many different objects at once and not get lost among this multitude; his distinguishing feature was also the ability to simultaneously and with the same interest to cover objects of completely different calibers. His mind could work on the most important issues of foreign relations, on the plan of military operations, on major issues of administration, and so on. and at the same time, with equal clarity, touch on some of the most recent trifles. In his memory, large and small things were combined at the same time, and the first did not in the least suppress and did not push the second aside. It is well known that Peter was not at all an abstract thinker. General concepts and abstract ideas were not given to him. His thinking did not perform those abstract operations of generalization, of ascent from particulars to the general, of schematization, which help us to master a multitude of objects through a few categories. His thinking was concrete; it worked on concrete representations without generalizing them, without elevating them to general concepts, and without placing them into coherent schemes. The combination of large items with small things in Peter's correspondence is one of the most striking features of this correspondence. It is already quite noticeable in the letters of July 6, 1707 analyzed above. But let's take a few more examples. In a letter dated 8 Feb. 1706 to A.V. Kikin, who was sent to Mitava to monitor the actions of Levengaupt, who was stationed in Riga, Peter gives detailed orders about digging under the Mitava castle, which must be blown up if Mitava is left, reports on possible movements of the main Swedish army, warns against the danger of being cut off by this army, orders to transport copper artillery to Polotsk or Pskov. "In the meantime," he concludes this letter full of anxious expectation, "repair according to the previous decree i see i do diligently, what is possible, in which the Lord God help you." But having already signed the letter, despite the anxiety inspired by the thought of the serious consequences of the upcoming movement of the main Swedish army, Peter makes another addition: "Hire the gardener who was in Peterburgh for a year" *. On April 30, 1710, Peter writes to Kikin about the suspension of the movement of infantry regiments near Vyborg and about the supply of bread to Kotlin Island. And between these orders we read: "Also, from the court of Larion Dumashev, they were ordered to let go several wagons of hay to my daughter-in-law, the queen" **. On July 26, 1707, the tsar, while in Warsaw, sends a letter to the crown great hetman Adam Senyavsky in response to his letters with news of the oppression inflicted by the Russian troops in Poland on local residents and proposes to establish a mixed Russian-Polish commission to monitor the behavior of the troops. On the same day he writes to the Dutch merchant Yves. Lups about delivering good anchovies, olives and herring to St. Petersburg in a barrel, and also to send a fountain master *** there. The tsar himself makes the order to hire a baker and teach him how to bake pretzels, discussing, moreover, how to do it better and cheaper. “I told Gotovtsov,” he writes to General Veida on September 21, 1717, “to hire a Kalashnik who makes pretzels, but now I’m thinking better, so that from the soldiers or from the non-employees, or even from the people of the officers, a child of Dobrov from Khlebnikov or leave from taverns to learn. This will be better and cheaper "****. In a decree from Sumy to the Moscow commandant, Prince. M.P. Gagarin dated 28 Dec. 1708, Peter orders the dispatch of Swedish prisoners from Mozhaisk to the monasteries and then adds: “The French book, which Boris Volkov translates, about gentlemen *****, take the figure and give it to Blacklant to cut. If Volkov doesn’t have it, then ask Mikhail Shafirov". In the bends of his memory, information is stored on how to find a thing, who to ask for it, if it does not turn out to be where he indicates it: if Volkov does not have it, you need to ask Shafirov. Having signed the letter, Peter makes another postscriptum: "The original book that Oznobishin gave you, came here"******. On January 25, 1709, from the same place from Sum, Peter sends an order to the same Gagarin to print some book that Golovkin translates, to print in the Amsterdam font and at the same time indicate which one: "Amstradam middle seal, which printed the complementary book." Consequently, it was necessary to recall the complementary book and the font in which it was printed*******. In a letter to him dated January 4, 1709, the tsar writes: “Take a preporcinial compass from Mr. Filatyev and come here. Also buy two or three dozen simple compasses and come here, together with copper feathers with which they draw”****** **. The care of sending compasses and copper feathers could be entrusted to someone else, but Peter does not rely on people and, like a good, diligent owner, he wants to do everything himself, or at least look after all the little things of his household with his own eyes - " more, - as he put it in one of the decrees, - there are many curiosities behind the eyes, "i.e. a lot of the most unpleasant surprises, if you do not look after everything yourself. In a letter dated 9 Aug. In 1709, to the same Moscow commandant from Kyiv, he orders him to "make a warm fox blanket and cover it with some light brocade, only without gold"***********. In 1710, he ordered him to buy in Moscow and immediately send good gold material on white or scarlet ground for a skirt to his niece Anna Ivanovna on the occasion of her upcoming marriage to the Duke of Courland **********, and when planning to spend Christmas time 1709 - 10 years in Moscow, he writes to the Moscow commandant: "For our life in Kolomenskoye, they ordered to prepare two or three huts, in which there would be no cockroaches" ***********.
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* There. T. IV. No. 1072.
** Sat. RIO. T. XI. S. 19.
*** P. and B. T. VI. No. 1876 and 1874.
**** Sat. RIO. T. XI. S. 55.
***** "Ictopia about the orders or ranks of the military, more so than the cavaliers".
****** Sat. RIO. T. XI. pp. 119-120.
******* Ibid. S. 122.
******** There. S. 121].
********* Ibid. S. 124.
********** There. S. 141.
*********** There. S. 130.
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The letters of Peter not only reflect the external formal property of his mind: his ability to master large phenomena simultaneously with a thousand smallest details and imagine each of these details to the last degree clearly and clearly, but the inner features of his spiritual nature become visible: the ideas that prevailed in him and inspiring feelings. We comprehend the essence of his worldview. We begin to see how his business, which occupies him, dominates the feelings that excite him, as he general business prevails over personal and private interests. It cannot be said that Peter did not know how to feel deeply; but he drowns out his feeling, giving himself entirely to the work that occupies him. The news of the death of his beloved mother, who died on January 25, 1694, which he reports to Arkhangelsk F.M. Apraksin, full of deep sorrow: "Fyodor Matveyevich. I deafly announce my misfortune and last sadness, about which my hand cannot write in detail, but my heart is also rich." There is a lot of sadness in these words; they sound like clods of earth thrown onto the lid of a coffin that has just been lowered into the grave. Peter is ready to endure the misfortune that befell him, submitting to the will of God. “Otherwise,” he continues the letter to Apraksin, “remembering the Apostle Paul: do not mourn for such and Ezra: even if the day does not return, even past the idea - this is all, as much as possible, even higher than my mind and stomach (which I myself truly knew), still as far as possible, I argue, as if to the almighty God and I create everything according to my will. Amen. But then immediately in the same letter, Peter turns to the matter, which at that time most occupied him, to the construction and equipment of ships in Arkhangelsk for an expedition across the White Sea. He himself cannot yet go there from Moscow, but he writes to Apraksin about the smallest details of this case. “For now, like Noah, having rested little from trouble and leaving about the irretrievable, about the living, I write. Because of my promise, more so from immeasurable sadness, I suddenly want to visit here and that for the imam of some need, which I write below this: 1) I send Niklas da Jan to build a small ship and so that they would have timber and iron, and everything would soon be ready for it, we have to arrive early; God bless the health of your company. Only four days after the death of his mother - the letter is marked January 29 - still under the weight of the loss he has suffered, he can already write about dog hats and shoes!
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* P. and B. SPb., 1887. T. I. No. 21.
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Peter is no stranger to the ability to respond to someone else's grief and turn to a grieving person with a word of consolation; but he will say this word of consolation among many other indifferent words, among orders about the affairs that he thinks about and that the one to whom he addresses should deal with. In 1702 F.M. Apraksin's wife died. Peter writes to him on October 21, 1702, giving instructions in a letter about ships, carpenters and other items. And only at the conclusion of the letter are the following lines breathing with sincere sympathy: “Perhaps, sovereign Fyodor Matveyevich, do not crush yourself in such your sadness; trust in God. What to do? "*. On September 10, 1705, Peter notifies F.A. Golovina about his consent to the measures he had taken, and then adds: "I hear that you are very sad about the death of your mother. For God's sake, if you please judge, because the old man has been very sick for a long time **."
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* There. T. P. No. 468.
** Ibid. III. No. 920. Compare: T. IV. No. 1362 to G.I. Golovkin on September 22] 1706: “And if you don’t want a mourner about your mother (for my aunt also decided); but if my mother died at such an age, I would truly be not only sad, but also grateful that God allowed such years ".
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The common state cause should be for everyone in the foreground; all private calculations must recede before him, and all personal feelings must be silenced. In the instructions to the prince you. Vlad. Dolgoruky about an early campaign against Bulavin, he is ordered to constantly communicate with Tolstoy, who is in Azov. Peter makes a handwritten postscript to the instructions: “I also remind you that although you and the above-mentioned Tolstoy have some disagreement, nevertheless, for this reason, it must be set aside so that there is no hindrance in deed”*. Peter looks at himself as the first employee of this common state cause, and more than once in his letters he speaks directly about his service. So, describing the battle of Good to Catherine, he uses the expression: " how steel to serve, I have never seen such a toy "**. Informing F.M. Apraksin on May 10, 1703 about the victory over the Swedish courts at the mouth of the Neva, Peter writes: St. Andrew "****. On March 19, 1707, in a letter to Kikin from Lemberg, Peter makes a postscript: "So I ask you to send Moi money from Narva; so with Mr. Admiral to intercede deserved salary i send "*****. From February 13, 1704, an appropriation for the issuance of salaries to naval ranks has been preserved, and in it, under the words: "To the shipmaster Peter Mikhailov, three hundred and sixty-six rubles" is a handwritten receipt: "Prinel i signed" ** ****.
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* Sat. RIO. T. XI. S. 31.
** Letters to Catherine. No. 9.
***HELL. Menshikov.
**** P. and B. T. P. No. 524.
***** There. T. V. No. 1638.
****** There. T. III. No. 625.
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Lively and genuine joy is aroused in Peter by the sincere intention he noticed in someone to serve the cause of the state. Having learned about the desire of Konon Nikitich Zotov, the son of his teacher Nikita Moiseevich, to voluntarily enlist in the Navy in order to learn maritime affairs, Peter cannot help but write a few lines to the young man that well reflect his mood at the moment when this letter was written : "Yesterday, I saw a letter from your father, written from you to him, in which there is a sentz, so that you will be a teacher of the service that belongs to the sea. Which your desire is very kindly accepted, and we can say that we are not from a single person from the Russians such is the necessary petition they did not hear, in which you were the first to appear, since it happens quite a lot, so that one of the young, leaving fun in the company, wants to listen to the noise of the sea by his own will. almost the first in the world revered) deed blessed and happily returned to the fatherland in due time. Piter "*. But, perhaps, much more often Peter had to deal with the opposite mood of his employees, and a heavy sigh escapes him sometimes at the sight of avoiding work at the thought of his loneliness. “Thank God, we are healthy,” he writes to Catherine, “it’s really hard to live, because I don’t know how to wield a left-hander, and in my hellish right hand I’m forced to hold a sword and a pen; and how many assistants, you know yourself” **. In September 1703, F.M. Apraksin turned to the king with a petition for his brother: the brother writes that he was entrusted with a heavy assignment to go to the city of Yamam with two dragoon regiments, in both regiments there are less than one and a half thousand people, not a single person was given him infantry, and with such insignificant forces he was ordered protect the cities of Yama and Koporye with their districts from the enemy. Fyodor Matveyevich asks to release his brother from this difficult task. "If you, sovereign, are not angry, have mercy on him, order him to be released ... Do your mercy. With whom will he protect such a great Ukraine? Nothing will happen except for his very final death."
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* There. T. VI. No. 1955.
** Letters to Catherine. No. 80.
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Peter saw in this request the desire of Peter Matveyevich Apraksin to shirk a difficult task, and, moreover, a lie; in addition to the dragoons, he was also given infantry regiments: the Vilimov regiment of von Deldin and the Petrovsky regiment of Devson. Except for those 1200 people who are garrisoned in the Pits. “It’s very annoying,” the tsar ends his letter to Fyodor Matveyevich, “that they are all writing lies and disaster, which has never happened. What I ask, perhaps, write to him so that he answers against this letter, is that all, or have I lied "Then you will see the truth: no one wants a straight worker"*.
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* P. and B. T. II. No. 589. Compare: Ibid. S. 651.
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Peter does not consider it superfluous to add to the letter, sometimes with his own hand, a line or two with a threat for non-fulfillment of the task assigned. Such lines were supposed to reinforce the given order. From book. D.M. Golitsyn Peter usually keeps a cold and dry, but quite correct tone. However, informing him of the complaints received from the Polish ministers about the seizure of the Polish territories in the Kiev region by one of the Russians and instructing him to conduct a strict investigation of who did it, to send the guilty person under guard, whoever he was, and to return the illegally taken villages to their owners , Peter, despite all the correctness of the tone of the letter, inserts into it rather expressive words sent to the prince’s own address: “And if you beckon, then you will seal with yourself,” and once again repeats the instruction to return the charms to their owners *. Confirming for the second time addressed to the Moscow commandant, Prince. M.P. Gagarin's demand that a fifth part of the provisions be deported to Petersburg without fail, Peter adds to this short letter written by someone else's hand a postscript made in his own hand: "Under fear of a severe fine" **.
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* Sat. RIO. T. XI. S. 92.
** Ibid. S. 148.
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In anger, Peter directly addresses the correspondent who provoked his anger and does not hesitate to call a spade a spade to his face. “Your letter was handed to us,” he writes to the Chief Inspector of the Moscow City Hall A.A. Kurbatov, “which we saw with surprise, because you ask for a decree about yuft, you rule yourself, writing that you have already sent a decree about the sale. Which your audacity will lead you that you will have to pay all the bills and the overseas payment from yourself. And henceforth do not write to me about such tricks of yours "*. “Mr. Mayor,” we read in a letter to Prince V.V. Dolgoruky, appointed to command the troops sent against the rebel Bulavin, “I received your letter, which is very sad that the fool Bils lost such a fair regiment with his stupidity; how will the appearance of the soldiers (because not all of them will succeed), again, little by little, they will arrange this regiment "**. - "The soldiers were ordered to give the right," writes Peter to Prince A.I. Repnin, "two quarters for a month. And what Rzhevsky announced to you by our decree to give one and a half quarters, and then he, a fool, lied" *** . - In a letter to the book. Gr. We read such harsh lines to F. Dolgoruky: "I am very surprised that in your old age you lost your mind and let yourself be led by the usual deceivers and because of that the troops in Poland stopped" ****.
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* P. and B. T. VI. No. 1893.
** Sat. RIO. T. XI. S. 39.
*** P. and B. VI, No. 1871.
**** RGADA. Tetr. app. 1715 L. 61.
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But Peter is ready to forgive the guilty in the case of a sincere confession. In 1704, Pyotr Matveyevich Apraksin, commanding a detachment of troops near Narva, overlooked the landing of 700 Swedes who landed on the shore on small ships (galiots). The landers made their way to Narva and reinforced its garrison, while the Russians were about to besiege this city. “I have never heard from you,” Peter writes a month later to Fyodor Matveevich Apraksin, “about your brother’s bad deed (passing galliots); but today I heard ... that you asked with green tears. he does not bring humility in it, and not only this, but also creates rights for himself, imputing us in infancy. However, as a friend, I declare: if he brings public negligence and his malfunction, then I will not forgive the penalty; then can you judge for yourself how there can be mercy when, having sinned, you do not want to bring guilt? Having signed the letter, the tsar added another postscript: “I truly ask that you, of course, not know this guilty letter” *; he apparently wanted Apraksin to repent sincerely and of good will, and not according to his letter. In 1706, an old campaigner and orderly businessman, the duma clerk A.A. Vinius left without the permission of the sovereign from Grodno, abroad, to Prussia. In his defense, he cited that he was forced to head to the Prussian border, not being able to get horses during the movement of the Swedes in order to get to the Moscow border. Another earlier episode, dating back to 1703, was also opened. It turned out that Vinius, who complained to the tsar about the scarcity of his funds, offered 10,000 rubles in 1703. Menshikov, so that he left him in his place at the head of the Siberian order. On June 18, 1707, Peter answered requests for forgiveness: “Mr. Vinius. I have received your three letters, to which I answer that no matter how you reason about your trip, however, it is not without guilt; why do you remember here that you are estranged from mercy, i you can judge for yourself: while you were constantly walking, then i was warmer to you, and when they began to say that there was nothing to eat, and they gave ten thousand in one night, then this your inconstancy alienated me from you. But now, if you want a returnee, then you will receive forgiveness in everything; so everything that is yours will be given to you; in that you can be very reliable "**.
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* P. and B. T. III. No. 670.
** Ibid. Vol. V. No. 1805.
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More importantly, Peter is so self-controlled and so master of his self-esteem that he is ready to admit his mistake himself - a trait that he shows in the memories of his past actions and even in legislation. Recalling the beginning of the Swedish war, he frankly declares that they started the war "like blind men." In legislation, he is not averse to admitting one or another of his orders as a mistake, saying: "This was then done without examining it," as he put it about the decree, by virtue of which the Senate, which controls the collegium, was to be composed of the presidents of the collegium, and thus it came out, that these presidents were under their own control. But the mistake made by the king sometimes painfully made itself felt by other people, and Peter, realizing this, is ready to immediately ask for forgiveness from the person he has wrongly offended. Appearing on August 23, 1710 on the admiral's ship, Peter lost his temper, finding many omissions in its equipment. “Grot θadar,” he writes to the guilty, in his opinion, of these omissions, Admiralty A.V. Kikin, “at this moment I went to the admiral’s ship, on which I didn’t get a lot of what was needed, namely: a large katla, a horseman not a single joiner and carpenter, not even a single one ... also not a table, not a chair, in which I will not be without shame so my ship will present to the admiral, in which you will answer at seven, he will look over to give "*. But, having investigated the matter in more detail, Peter realized that he had got excited and accused Kikin in vain. “Dadushka!” he addresses him this time in Russian, which sounds much warmer, “perhaps, forgive me; now I’ve realized that it was artless, except for you, that happened and showed up” **.
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* Sat. RIO. T. XI. P. 20. No. XXX.
** Ibid. S. 28.
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* See, for example: Sat. RIO. T. XI. pp. 20, 27, 37, 38.
** P. and B. T. II. No. 864.
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* RGADA. Notebooks 1720 No. 54.
** Letters to Catherine. No. 123.
*** Favorite dog of Peter V.
**** Book. M.F. Zhirovoi-Zasekin.
***** Book. Yu.F. Shakhovskaya.
****** Dwarf Yakim Volkov.
******* P. and B. T. IV. No. 1179.
******** There. T. II. No. 489.
********* Ibid. T. VI. No. 2081.
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Among Peter's letters there are those that throw light into the intimate corner of his closest relationship and draw us that side of his spiritual appearance, which without them would have remained completely unknown to us. This is Peter's family correspondence, correspondence with his second family. Relations with the first wife and son from her were always wrong. Peter's letters to his first wife have not been preserved, and they probably did not exist. A letter to him from Queen Evdokia in Arkhangelsk contains reproaches that he does not write anything to her *. Letters to the son are callous and cold. The letter begins either without any appeal, or Peter puts the German title "Zoon" at the beginning of the letter, which also does not add much warmth. Father's letters did not bring any pleasant news to the prince; on the contrary, he repeatedly found in them the most unpleasant surprises. They did not say at least one word of affection, and the extensive letters of 1715 after the death of the prince's wife, in which Peter decided to openly and finally explain himself to him, are full of bitterness and sarcasm.
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* Ustryalov N.G. History of the reign of Peter the Great. SPb., 1858. T. II. P. 406: "How did you, my light, deign to go, and did not come to me, did not write a single line about health" (1694).
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But in his relations with the second family, Peter brought a lot of tenderness, sometimes, of course, in his characteristic jokingly rude form. “Kiss Lisetka for me,” he writes to his daughter Tsarevna Anna Petrovna on March 22, 1721, “and the big noisy maiden Natalitsa” * (daughter? born 1718 + 1725). In an earlier letter to Anna Petrovna dated 4 Jan. In 1717, the tsar informs her of the birth of Tsarevich Pavel: “We announce to you that the mother has given birth and brought another recruit Pavel. In a letter to his sister Princess Natalya dated March 31, 1716, the tsar expresses gratitude to her for her concern for his "children" and himself shows touching concern for his youngest son, a nursing infant, who was then weaned. “I deigned to write that they gave Petrushenka something to eat, and I spoke with my mother (i.e., with Ekaterina), she says that it’s time; if you please, feed with God” ***. But his letters to Catherine are especially warm. The very appeal to Catherine testifies to a warm feeling. In the first letters, he jokingly calls Catherine: Matka, Muder, Mistress, and then in later letters he addresses her with the invariably gentle name: "Katerinushka, my dear friend, hello." Separating, the spouses sigh one after another and complain of boredom: "Come, my friend with a heart, hurry to me so that it is not so boring" ****. "And what do you write, so that I hasten to tell you that you are very bored, I believe that, only - what is it like without you, I can say that, except for the three days that I was in Versailles and Marly, how great is the plasir im ѣl "*****. The couple often exchanged gifts. Catherine sent her husband abroad beer, freshly pickled cucumbers, or a bottle or two of some kind of domestic "strong man", which, however, he had to abstain from when using mineral waters, and he gave her Brabant lace. Sometimes the gifts themselves reflected the feelings of those who sent them. So, with one of the letters, Peter sent a bunch of his cut hair to his wife, and with another in 1719 from Revel, mint flowers planted by Catherine when she was in Reval, and in response received a message in which she wrote that "it is not dear to me that she planted herself, I am pleased that from your pens ****** - a letter completely in the style of love-sentimental songs that began to appear with us in the 18th century. The rough manners of the century were reflected in those jokes that were exchanged in letters to Peter and his wife, Peter, at the age of 40, called himself an old man in front of Catherine, who was 27 at that time. “It is in vain that the old man is conceived,” she answers him, “because I can put witnesses to the old postsestries, and I hope that they will be found again to such a dear old man.” - “Because during the time of drinking water,” we read in a letter from Peter from Spa, where he was treated with mineral waters, “dokhtors are forbidden to use home entertainment, for that I let my mother go to you, because I could not have restrained, if I was with me” *******. Having received the letter and looking at the meter, Catherine answered: “Why write, that you let your matryoshka go here for your abstinence, that it’s impossible to have fun with her by the waters, and I believe that; however, I think more that you deigned to let her go because of her illness , in which she still resides, and I would not want, from what God save, so that the galan of that matryoshka would arrive as healthy as she arrived. **, and I tea that, if this old man was here, then another bump would ripen next year "***********.
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* RGADA. Notebooks 1721 L. 21v.
** Ibid. 1717 L. 4.
*** There. 1716 L. 60v.
**** Letters to Catherine. No. 63.
***** [Ibid. No. 99.]
****** [Ibid. No. 126.]
******* [Ibid. No. 98.]
******** "Shishechka" was called Tsarevich Peter Petrovich.
********* [Letters to Catherine. No. 221.]
Mikhail Mikhailovich Bogoslovsky (1867-1929) - Russian historian. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1921; corresponding member since 1920).