Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina (born July 30 (August 9) 1669 - death August 27 (September 7) 1731) - the queen, the first wife of Peter 1 (from 1689), mother of Tsarevich Alexei. From the conservative boyar family of the Lopukhins, adherents of antiquity. Evdokia's conservatism, inability and unwillingness to assist Peter 1 in his activities led to discord between the spouses. 1698 - was exiled to Suzdal and tonsured into a nun. 1727 - after her release, she lived in the Ascension Monastery of the Moscow Kremlin, enjoying royal honors.
Origin. early years
1669 - Praskovya Illarionovna Lopukhina (later Tsarina Evdokia Fedorovna) was born in the small village of Serebreno, Meshchovsky district. I had a chance to change my name in the status of a royal bride. At the Russian court there was only one Praskovya - the wife of Ivan V, co-ruler of Peter I, Praskovya Saltykov. At the insistence of the future mother-in-law Natalya Kirilovna Naryshkina, the name was chosen more euphonious for the Russian queen - Evdokia. The patronymic was also changed in honor of the shrine of the Romanovs' house - the Feodorovskaya icon.
The wife of Peter 1 Evdokia Lopukhina
1689 - relatives of 17-year-old Tsar Peter 1, without asking his consent, “married” to 20-year-old girl Evdokia Lopukhina. This marriage was part of the intrigue of the Naryshkins against the Miloslavskys, who married Tsar Ivan to Praskovya Saltykova.
The bride went to inspect, personally the mother of the young sovereign - Natalya Kirillovna. After she was convinced of the beauty and absence of physical defects in the girl, she agreed to the marriage. Peter did not contradict his mother in those years, especially since a married man in Russia was considered an adult and capable of managing, and he was very tired of sharing power with the stubborn princess Sophia and his sickly brother Ivan.
Promotional video:
Evdokia Lopukhina moved to Preobrazhenskoye with her relatives and was strictly guarded by her brothers. Like dogs, they guarded the girl, being careful of damage and evil eye. Peter saw his future wife only once before the wedding.
At the wedding feast, the young were not supposed to eat. After sitting for a while with the guests, they were solemnly conducted by the women into the bedchamber. Menshikov, according to legend, gave the sovereign bread and chicken wrapped in a tablecloth.
The wedding bed was so high that it was only possible to climb onto it with the help of special benches. This is not surprising, because according to the grand-ducal rite, the bed was made with unusual decoration: 27 rye sheaves, on them carpets with feather beds, a silk sheet on top, a fur blanket and a bedspread. A fur coat with a carpet at the feet, pillows and hats at the head.
Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina-1
In the morning, the newlyweds, according to custom, washed in the bathhouse and had breakfast alone without guests. Afterwards, they accepted congratulations and invited those present to the wedding feast. The celebrations lasted for three days. By royal standards, this is not long.
Peter and Evdokia Lopukhina lived together for almost ten years, the queen had three sons, of whom only Alexei survived. However, their married life was not happy. Evdokia was clearly not a match for Peter. They lived as if at different times, in different centuries: Peter lived and felt himself in the European XVIII century with his freedom, openness, pragmatism, and the tsarina, brought up according to traditions, remained in the Russian XVII century, requiring a woman to follow the customs of the mansion, the prescriptions of Domostroi …
And they did not agree with the characters. The impetuosity, impudence, selfishness of Peter ran into the stubbornness and discontent of the queen - a self-loving and obstinate person who did not accept the lifestyle of her restless husband. The gap between them deepened over time, especially after the appearance of Anna Mons in the life of Peter.
Opal
After the death of her mother-in-law, Evdokia Lopukhina hoped to gain full power, because she remained the only Russian queen. However, it didn't work out that way. Respect for the mother held back the king from an open display of coldness towards his wife. Now, after 1694, he completely avoided meeting in it.
Evdokia lived for several years in the Kremlin with her son. She was kept as a queen, but she did not see her husband. The numerous relatives of the Lopukhins, who held most of the positions at court, were in disgrace. The denouement came in 1698.
Evdokia Lopukhina-3
Return of Peter I from Europe
Spring 1698 - Peter returned to Holland and together with the Grand Embassy traveled to Vienna across Europe. However, the travel plans had to be curtailed: news came from Russia of the mutiny of the rifle regiments …
Arriving home, Peter I did not even want to see his wife, Tsarina Evdokia. He decided her fate a long time ago - a divorce. The tsar was looking forward to meeting his mistress - the daughter of a German wine merchant from the German settlement Anna Mons, whom Lefort introduced him to. For several years, Anna was the sovereign's mistress. While still in London, Peter ordered that Evdokia, disgusted by him, be persuaded to voluntary tonsure - this was the only opportunity to divorce her.
Returning to Moscow, the Tsar learned that his order had not yet been fulfilled, and the Tsarina was still in the Kremlin Palace. 1698, August 31 - Peter for 4 hours persuaded his wife to go to the monastery, but all in vain. A month later, the son of Peter, Tsarevich Alexei, was taken from his mother and taken to Preobrazhenskoye to Peter's sister, Princess Natalya Alekseevna, and Evdokia was transported to the Suzdal Pokrovsky Monastery (the traditional place of exile for tsaritsa).
It should be noted that in the same 1698 the tsar tonsured his two half-sisters Martha and Theodosia for sympathy for the deposed princess Sophia.
Anna Mons
By locking Evdokia in a monastery, Peter received the long-awaited freedom from marriage. His romance with Anna Mons continued. It is known that he was going to marry Anna officially, if in 1702 he had not unexpectedly found out that Anna was unfaithful to him. In the documents of the Saxon diplomat Konigsek who drowned near Shlisselburg, they found a love correspondence with Anna Mons. After that, Anna was put under house arrest for many years. After she married a Prussian envoy. Anna died in 1714.
Suzdal Pokrovsky Monastery
A 29-year-old woman full of strength resisted desperately: she did not want to be “walled up alive” in a cell. After accepting the tonsure and becoming Eldress Helen, she did not accept her fate. Soon she threw off the monk's cockle and began to live as a secular woman, like a pilgrim. This was not hindered - the monks did not forget that the mother of the heir to the throne, the future Tsar Alexei, lives with them.
Evdokia Lopukhina and Stepan Glebov
1710 - she began a short and stormy romance with Major Stepan Glebov. Evdokia was then 41 years old, Glebov 38. The surviving letters of Evdokia Lopukhina to him speak of her as a temperamental, lively and sensual woman (however, the historian V. Kozlyakov, in his book "Tsarina Evdokia, or lamentation for the Muscovite kingdom", disputes this fact, claiming that only Peter could write such a letter to Evdokia):
Interrogations. Torture
1718 - the case of Tsarevich Alexei was opened, Glebov was also involved in it, Dunya's letters were also found. At the confrontation in the dungeon, the former tsarina was forced to sign a receipt of repentance - one of the unique documents of Russian history:
She took all the blame and signed the documents. Why did the king need this receipt? Probably to hit harder and more terrible to offend the ex-wife and his own heir son.
Glebov behaved differently. What is the evidence of Peter's adjutant, an eyewitness to the events, Velboa:
The maids did not hide anything:
Suzdal Pokrovsky Monastery
Execution of Glebov
They even wrote about the fornication of Evdokia and Glebov in a manifesto that was read all over Russia … Glebov was impaled alive in the middle of Red Square. For almost a day, Glebov toiled on a stake. so that he did not die prematurely from the cold, the caring executioners put a short fur coat on him …
The sovereign tried to get Glebov to confess for the last time, approached the dying man and offered to confess, because soon the judgment of God, to which he coldly answered:
During all this time, a priest was near the place of execution and waited for repentance. But he did not wait - Glebov died in silence … For the tsar, such a proud obstinacy of the subject - in spite of the voice of reason, horror of pain - was unexpected. None of the criminals had the right to go free or die with their heads held high - such an eternal principle of tyrannical power. And Peter did not forget this. In 1721 he ordered to annually proclaim anathema to Stepka Glebov in all churches, as it had been proclaimed earlier to False Dmitry 1, Vanka Mazepa, Stepka Razin … What a number, what terrible state criminals! And among them - just a roommate of the former queen.
The monastery-prison
The former queen herself was publicly whipped and exiled. The connection of Evdokia Lopukhina with the conspirators and perpetrators of the rifle revolt in 1698 could not be proved, otherwise she would not have been able to avoid the death penalty.
As a result of the investigation of the alleged family conspiracy, the manifesto "On single inheritance" became, which deprived Tsarevich Alexei, his mother and descendants of hopes for the throne.
Old woman Elena was sent to a prison-monastery in Novaya Ladoga, he was so severe that even the guards could not stand the cold, they begged their superiors to "bring them" from there - to recall them.
After the death of Peter 1
1725, January - Emperor Peter 1 died and Catherine 1 ascended the throne. Empress Catherine did not remove the stigma of a criminal from Evdokia, but preferred to take better care of such a "famous captive". The nun queen was transferred to the Shlisselburg fortress. There she was provided with good maintenance and food. It was prescribed:
And only in the spring of 1727, after Peter II came to power, her own grandson, son of Tsarevich Alexei, Evdokia Lopukhina was released and taken to Moscow. Peter II rehabilitated his father posthumously and returned his grandmother to the court. She again became a queen for those around her, and for her grandson, a "sovereign grandmother." She devoted all her unspent love to her adult grandchildren. I spoiled them with presents and gifts. She had her own court and many of her former enemies were looking for opportunities to kiss the hand of the queen.
Death
Evdokia Lopukhina did not live long in happiness. Her granddaughter Natalya died, and soon Tsar Peter 2 followed her. In 1730, the question arose of who would head the Russian state, and Evdokia was among the candidates. However, she renounced her rights to the throne in favor of Anna Ioannovna, Peter's cousin.
Tsarina Evdokia Lopukhina died in 1731. Empress Anna Ioannovna did not forget the good, remembering that Evdokia Fyodorovna refused to reign in her favor, came to her funeral. They buried Evdokia in the cathedral church of the Novodevichy Convent near the southern wall of the Cathedral of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God next to the tombs of princesses Sophia and her sister Ekaterina Alekseevna.