Unique research by scientists has revealed the true cause of the mysterious death of the 53-year-old Russian monarch
For almost three centuries, the true cause of the death of Peter the Great remained a mystery.
The emperor died at the age of 53 in the prime of life and on the verge of new achievements. An immense love for women led him to a sad end.
“Peter I died of uremia caused by gonorrhea,” Boris Sapunov, the deputy director of the Hermitage, Doctor of Historical Sciences, told Life.
“In the process of studying the personality of Peter the Great, I consulted with specialists from the Military Medical Academy,” says Professor Boris Sapunov. - They studied all the symptoms that were recorded by eyewitnesses of Peter's death in the last hours of his life. And we analyzed them at the modern level of knowledge. The doctors told me that he most likely had gonorrhea. Before his death, the king's genitals were severely inflamed, and uremia developed. Shortly before this, Peter caught a cold during a storm in Lakhta, and this aggravated his chronic venereal disease. There was a blockage of the urinary canal - he could not go, sorry, "in a small way." The urologist told me: “I would put such a patient on his feet in half a day. Nowadays, gonorrhea is treated instantly!"
Peter's modern medical diagnosis would be “gonorrhea, inflammation of the urinary tract, uremia, aggravated by a cold”.
Giant
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The Ast-press publishing house published a study by the historian Yuri Ovsyannikov, which gives us a chance to see the great tsar with a different look - not the usual pompous, but more humane.
Peter drew his main sexual stereotypes from among soldiers and artisans. Women in the royal bed from their youth changed like gloves. Delighted contemporaries testified that Peter, due to his unbridled sexual temperament, could not sleep alone at all.
Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna
Later, even his beloved wife Ekaterina Alekseevna, who knew about the peculiarities of her husband, personally chose his mistresses and sent them to him when he was away, so that Petrusha would not suffer in bed alone.
Harem
According to the research of Yuri Ovsyannikov, at the court of Peter the Great in Moscow there was a harem arranged for the tsar by his friend and colleague Alexander Menshikov.
Here is how the tsar's adjutant, vice-admiral of the Russian fleet Franz Vilboa, described the customs that reigned in the harem of Peter the Great:
“One of the concubines, Varvara Arsenyeva, was ugly, but at the same time smart and evil,” said Vilboa. - Once at dinner the tsar turned to her: "Poor Varya, you are too bad, but I will not let you die without experiencing love." Immediately, in front of everyone, he threw her onto the sofa … and fulfilled his promise."
The empress
Even Marta Skavronskaya, who later became Ekaterina Alekseevna, Empress of All Russia, came from Peter's harem. She ended up in Russia as a prisoner. Peter the First saw her for the first time at his pet Menshikov - washing windows.
After a stormy night, the cheerful and relaxed blonde received a silver ducat from the king.
The matter did not manage with one ducat - the meetings continued. Peter fell in love. One thing worried the king.
During his frequent absences, he sent her … back to the Izmailovsky Palace to Menshikov, to the harem - under the supervision of the Arsenyev sisters. But at the same time, Peter was madly jealous of her and often asked Menshikov in letters: “I ask you one more thing: for nothing, only for God and my soul, keep your password (word of honor, oath)”.
In 1712, Peter officially married Catherine.
The wife knew about the tsar's thousands of mistresses, but, as an intelligent woman, she pretended that this did not bother her at all. He loved only her!
Therefore, the Empress's betrayal was a terrible blow for Peter. Peter the Great learned about the long-standing love affair of Anna Mons Wilim's younger brother with Catherine only from a secret denunciation.
It was decided to execute Mons for bribes. And the empress officially remained above suspicion.
The king soon died. For forty days his coffin stood in the Winter Palace. Catherine came there twice a day and cried. The courtiers wondered: where did the empress get so many tears?
Loneliness
In the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, a wax figure of the great Russian emperor Peter the Great by the famous Rastrelli of 1725 sits on a throne. There is none of those whom he loved next to him.
“His actions were voluntary,” says Boris Sapunov. - Peter destroyed everything. I broke everything. Do you remember when Pushkin wrote: "He turned Russia on its hind legs"? Peter was infinitely cruel, completely unbalanced and at the same time deeply unhappy inwardly.
Emperor's women
Evdokia
Peter's first wife - the young beauty Evdokia Lopukhina - was not chosen by him at all, but by his mother Natalya Kirillovna.
Prince Boris Kurakin described the bride: "The princess has a fair face, only with an average mind and a disposition dissimilar to her husband." Peter by the time of his wedding was only 16 years old.
Maria
After nine years of a happy marriage with Ekaterina Alekseevna, Peter became bored. And he began to look at the eldest daughter of the Moldavian prince Dmitry Cantemir - Maria. She conquered the king with her erudition, conversations about astronomy and physics, the ability to dance and unspeakable beauty.
But the affair with Maria stopped very suddenly: in Astrakhan she suddenly became covered with ulcers, after which she lost her unborn child. Peter took it … as a betrayal: she could not give birth to his long-awaited son.
Anna
At the age of 19, in the midst of drunken spree in Lefort's merry house, Peter overtook his first love.
A stormy romance with the cheerful beauty Anna Mons lasted for ten years intermittently. The king seriously thought to make the girl Mons his official wife, but Anna's betrayal put an end to the relationship.
Peter came across Anna Mons' love letters to the Saxon envoy Königsek. He immediately gave the order: to put Anna and her sisters under house arrest. Only ten years after that, he forgave Anna, allowing her to get married and live her life.
Avdotya
One of the long-term ties was the relationship with Avdotya Rzhevskaya. She gave birth to four daughters and three sons to Peter, and her husband was promoted to major general. The sovereign nicknamed her Boy-Baba for her noisy and free nature. The novel ended when Peter believed that Avdotya had infected him with a venereal disease.
Maria
Contemporaries said that Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna herself pointed to the court Mary Hamilton to Peter. Their romance did not last long. In 1719, Maria was executed for theft. Peter came to the execution, kissed her and gave a sign to the executioner. After the execution, he raised his severed head and gave a short lecture on anatomy …
Elena Yarovikova