Count and Field Marshal Yakov Bruce, whom Tsar Peter I highly valued and called his brother, lived a stormy, strange life and earned the glory of a warlock.
PETER'S CHILD
Jacob Bruce was a descendant of the Scottish kings. In the middle of the 17th century, his grandfather left his homeland, engulfed in the fire of the Great English Revolution, and went to seek his fortune in distant Muscovy. He devotedly served the tsar, led the Pskov regiment and died with the rank of major general.
Jacob Bruce was only two years older than Tsarevich Peter. When the struggle for the crown between Sophia and the grown-up Pyotr Alekseevich reached its climax, Jacob Bruce stood next to the latter - shoulder to shoulder. And he stood like that all his life.
Bruce certainly enjoyed his influence. Intrigued. Sometimes he just snitched: once, during a booze in the house of Prince Romodanovsky, Yakov received a severe burn of his hand and presented the story to the tsar in such a light that Peter almost broke off relations with a very respected nobleman and his confidant.
The truth was revealed, Bruce was ashamed, but this anecdote did not destroy the friendship of Yakov Vilimovich with the tsar. This "sycophant" was very bright, very talented!
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He studied mathematics and artillery, astronomy and medicine. And when, together with Peter, as part of the great embassy, Bruce visited England, then even Isaac Newton had something to talk about.
Before the war with Sweden, Peter instructed him to update the Russian artillery, and in 1700 Bruce already bore the rank of major general and led the army, which was supposed to prevent the invasion of the Swedes into Izhora.
Here, however, it turned out that neither Bruce nor the entire Russian army was yet ready to resist the Swedish army. However, this did not affect the career of "Petrov Chick".
DIKOVIN AMATEUR
In 1711, the tsar sent him "to hire artisans of noble arts that we need." On behalf of Peter, Bruce was looking for smart and talented craftsmen throughout Europe. Architects, painters, even skilled gardeners were lured into the Russian service.
They said about Bruce: Jacob has no personal life. All his interest is a career, all his thoughts are serving Peter. But this was not entirely true. Harsh and withdrawn, Yakov Vilimovich had passionate interests and almost childish whims: he collected paintings, collections of ancient coins and rare minerals, herbariums and archaeological finds.
And another of his passion is a collection of various "curiosities". He was proud of his rarities, his home Kunst-camera. There were legends that the guests saw him in his chambers, and when after his death they made an inventory of property, officials could not even give a definition to some of the objects, they wrote: "some oblong fruit" or "some strange device."
All foreign guests, who knew how influential Bruce was at court, and who wanted to "grease" him a little, brought him various rarities.
With the support of Peter I, Bruce established in St. Petersburg the first anatomical theater in Russia, which he named, apparently due to the specificity of its functions, the Black House. Yakov Vilimovich even resurrected Colonel Ivan Khvatov, who had died from a gunshot wound, for a few minutes, warning the emperor and officers who were present at the "miracle" that he would only make them believe that which does not exist and cannot be.
Here is how a contemporary describes another "trick" of Jacob Bruce: “Bruce was not cunning, telling the emperor that he would resurrect without resurrecting. But what happened shocked the visitors to the Black House. Khvatov's naked body, rubbed with wine vinegar and poured with some kind of liquid of a pungent smell, at a wave of Bruce's hands rose from the couch, opened his sightless eyes, convulsions went through the limbs. After which the revived person, leaning back, returned to a lifeless state. Bruce, perhaps, managed to be raised from the coffin, for he was an expert in conspiracies from damage, other witchcraft troubles, he was unrivaled. The news of the miracle absorbed the attention of large and small settlements of the Petrov state for a long time."
CONFIDANT
Bruce also took part in the family affairs of the monarch. Jacob regularly had to visit Tsarevich Alexei: the tsar believed that "the conversations of an intelligent and well-educated person will affect the unlucky heir." Bruce's wife Maria Andreevna was at the court of the prince - she looked after the unlucky youth.
In the spring of 1723, Peter celebrated another anniversary of his marriage to Catherine. Jacob Bruce was the manager of the ball: he arranged a grandiose procession of ships in St. Petersburg, put on runners and drawn by horses.
The king rode on a 30-gun frigate, fully equipped and with sails down. “Ahead in a boat in the form of a brigantine with pipes and timpani on the bow of it rode the organizer of the holiday, the chief of artillery, Count Bruce,” an eyewitness described.
In 1724, during the coronation of Catherine, Yakov Vilimovich carried the imperial crown in front of her, and Bruce's wife supported Catherine's train - a great honor!
The following year, Bruce had to serve his sovereign friend for the last time - he was the chief steward at the funeral of Peter I, after which he retired with the rank of Field Marshal.
Soon, Yakov Bruce bought the Glinka estate near Moscow, laid out a luxurious park there, built a house with an observatory and lived in seclusion without ever leaving. Medicine became his favorite occupation: he treated his peasants, made medicines from his own collected herbs.
Bruce died in 1735, before he was 66 years old. He had no children, there was no one to leave an inheritance.
TOWER OF THE WILDER
Bruce remained in the memory of fellow citizens primarily as a sorcerer and warlock.
For example, barely glancing, he could accurately name the number of peas scattered on the floor, again with a cursory glance determine how many barley grains are in the clay pot, or feel how many were serving behind the stone walls of the barracks. Moreover, Bruce could name the soldiers and officers by name, if he was presented with a tight impenetrable bag with a sealed list in it.
They were afraid of him and did not love him. Why? The fact is that from his youth Yakov was fond of magic. At the end of the 17th century, the Sukharev Tower was built in Moscow, where the Navigation School was located - of course, managed by Bruce.
In addition, an astronomical observatory and a physicochemical laboratory were arranged for him personally in the tower. And rumors spread around Moscow: Bruce not only watches the stars through the pipe, but also engages in witchcraft and sorcery!
Muscovites with superstitious fear began to notice that at night a light flickered mysteriously in the upper windows of the tower - the "Neptune Society" was sitting there. It was headed by a friend of the king Lefort, an experienced astrologer and amateur magician. The close circle of the elect included eight more people, among them Peter himself, Menshikov and Yakov Bruce.
And everyone knew about the latter that his ancestor - the Scottish king Robert the Bruce - founded the Order of St. Andrew in the XIV century, which included all the sorcerers and scholars of that time. So it is clear who is in charge there, on this devil's tower!
After Lefort's death, it was Bruce who was assigned to lead the "Neptune Society". Muscovites were sure that Bruce had a book that would reveal all the secrets of the world to him! In his collection there was a certain mysterious tome, consisting of seven wooden boards with an incomprehensible text carved on them. Popular rumor claimed that this book once belonged to the most wise king Solomon.
According to legend, Bruce, not wanting this relic to fall into the wrong hands after his death, walled it up in the wall of the Sukharev Tower. And when the tower was destroyed, everyone decided that this happened because of the witchcraft that was contained in the Bruce Book.
MAGIC ELIXIR
And the very death of Yakov Vilimovich was attributed to his magical experiments.
He allegedly discovered the formula of "living water" and, having received the result, decided to conduct an experiment on himself: on whom else to try the miracle of revitalization and rejuvenation ?!
Bruce allegedly commanded his faithful servant to cut himself into pieces with a sword and then pour "living water". The servant, according to legend, fulfilled the will of the master, only in the middle of the experience, Anna Ioannovna, who was ruling at that moment, inappropriately called him to her.
The empress's messengers found Bruce's corpse, and well, torture the servant: "What kind of murder have you committed?" He explained to them the idea of his master, but the queen did not believe him: to execute the servant, and to bury the sorcerer in the ground - as the Orthodox faith commands! This legend appears in the writings of many Russian romantics.
They say that the first shoots of fear and anger against Bruce appeared in the common people when he announced a warning of an impending solar eclipse, and soon published his famous calendar with predictions for many years. It is clear who knows about the upcoming eclipse, he arranged it! Well, to predict the future, you have to sell your soul to the devil - this is also obvious!
Rumors multiplied, grew with some completely ridiculous inventions - like the fact that Bruce had dissolved his mistress in the air! And when the sorcerer died, of course, everyone believed in the experiments with the elixir of immortality.
Even with his ashes, strange things happened: at the beginning of the twentieth century, the church in the former German settlement, where Bruce was buried, was destroyed, and the remains of the count were transferred by decree to the laboratory of the famous anthropologist Gerasimov. But after a while, the bones of the warlock scientist disappeared without a trace.