We all know from childhood that the poet Lermontov was killed in a duel by Martynov. It's actually not that simple. The circumstances of the duel raise big questions.
Bad joke
So, let's figure it out. On July 15, 1841, at the foot of Mashuk, four versts from Pyatigorsk, between six and seven o'clock in the afternoon, retired Major Nikolai Martynov killed Lieutenant Mikhail Lermontov in a duel.
This incident could be considered quite ordinary, since the duels of the proud representatives of the nobility, despite the formidable prohibition of the king, were common. But here is a special case: a 27-year-old young man who promised to become the greatest poet in the history of Russian literature was shot dead. Moreover, the reason for the fight was the most trifling, and the duelists themselves were considered old friends.
There are too many dark spots in the history of this duel, and scientists still argue what it was: a tragic interweaving of random circumstances, a disguised method of suicide or political murder …
According to the most widespread version, the reason for the duel was Lermontov's malice. During his stay in Pyatigorsk, he constantly bothered Martynov with far from harmless jokes that hurt the vanity of a rather mediocre personality. Martynov asserted: “Since his arrival in Pyatigorsk, Lermontov did not miss a single occasion where he could tell me something unpleasant. Sharpness, taunts, mockery at my expense - in a word, everything that can only annoy a person without touching his honor. I showed him how I could, that I did not intend to serve as a target for his mind, but he pretended not to notice how I took his jokes.
On July 13, 1841, the poet was in the house of General Verzilin. The flower of the Pyatigorsk society gathered there. Lermontov was sitting on the sofa with the daughter of the hostess Emilia, behind whom he pounded against his old friend Martynov, who was in love with a young lady. And the retired major himself, dressed in a Circassian coat with a large dagger on his belt, was nearby and communicated with the mistress of the house.
Promotional video:
At the other end of the hall, Prince Trubetskoy was playing the piano. Lermontov told Emilia, nodding at Martynov, that she should be more careful with this terrible mountaineer with such a huge dagger. Unfortunately, at that moment Trubetskoy stopped playing, and the poet's joke sounded distinctly in the hall. The guests burst out laughing.
Martynov was beside himself with anger. After all, the mockery sounded in the presence of the object of his passion. He sharply stated that he no longer intends to endure the mockery of Mr. Lermontov.
When the former friends left the Verzilins' house, a conversation took place between them in a raised voice. It would be just right for the poet to apologize to Martynov for admitted tactlessness, to extinguish the conflict in the bud, but he did not. As a result, he received a challenge to a duel.
Russian Byron
Lermontov's bad character was well known. In Pyatigorsk society he was generally called a "poisonous reptile". The character traits of Mikhail Yurievich were clearly manifested in Grigory Pechorin from "A Hero of Our Time". Many critics generally see in this character a copy of the author of the work.
Note that the idol of Mikhail Yuryevich, like many young people of his generation, was the English poet George Gordon Byron. However, Lermontov himself said: "No, I am not Byron, I am different." And indeed, he was not Byron, but a Russian boy who played with Byron, but ended his life as tragically as his idol.
However, back to the duel. It raises many questions. The conditions of the fight, given the insignificance of the insult, were incredibly harsh. They had to shoot - in the case of mutual misses - up to three times, with a barrier of 15 steps. Moreover, they fired not with Lepage's smooth-bore dueling pistols, but with Kuchenreuter's rifled systems, which are not inferior in destructive power to a rifle, piercing the chest through and through. That is, at least one of the duelists was, in essence, doomed.
Fatal duel
The generally accepted version describes this fight as follows. By 18 o'clock, the duelists themselves and two seconds of Martynov - Glebov and Vasilchikov - arrived at the duel site. The poet's seconds - Stolypin and Trubetskoy - were late. Suddenly a strong wind rose and it began to rain. A thunderstorm was approaching. Martynov proposed to shoot without waiting for the officers who were late. Lermontov agreed. So Glebov and Vasilchikov became the seconds of both duelists. At their signal, Martynov approached the barrier, while Lermontov remained in place. He allegedly said that he would not shoot this fool, raised his hand with a pistol up and fired into the air. This infuriated Martynov even more, he carefully aimed and fired. The bullet hit the poet in the chest and pierced it through.
There was no doctor or wagon at the site of the duel. A downpour gushed with thunder and lightning, the duel participants rushed away, leaving Glebov next to the body of the dead man. We returned back at dusk, but without a doctor. Lermontov was buried the next day with a huge crowd of people at the Pyatigorsk cemetery, and the next year Nicholas I, thanks to the efforts of the poet's grandmother, allowed the coffin to be transported to the village of Tarkhany, where the family crypt was located.
Third shot
In 1952, Konstantin Paustovsky wrote a story about Lermontov "River Floods". There is an interesting hint at the end of the story: "Simultaneously with Martynov's shot, he (Lermontov. - Ed.) Fancied a second shot, from the bushes under the cliff over which he was standing." So the shot was fictitious or was it really?
In the act of examining Lermontov's body, it is written that the bullet hit the right side under the lower, 12th rib, and came out between the 5th and 6th ribs from the opposite, left side of the chest, almost at the left shoulder right through at an angle of about 35 ° to the horizon.
But how could this be if the opponents stood on a level ground opposite each other? Only one explanation is possible: someone unknown shot at Lermontov from below and from the side.
The famous actor and director Nikolai Burlyaev, who shot the film "Lermontov" in 1986, is convinced that it was not a duel, but a murder. There were three shots! Who shot the third?
Konstantin Paustovsky said: “A soldier served in Pyatigorsk who proved himself to be an excellent shooter. And once he was summoned by a colonel. He told the guy that tomorrow on Mount Mashuk a state criminal would shoot himself in a duel, who must certainly die.
The colonel explained where he should hide in order to shoot the criminal during the fight. The soldier, not accustomed to considering the orders of the commanders, agreed and did everything as he was ordered. The very next day he was transferred to another garrison, and some time later he was demobilized ahead of schedule and sent home to the Kuban.
Having executed the order, the shooter did not feel remorse, moreover, he was illiterate all his life and had no idea of Russian poetry. And only when he was in his eighth decade, he unexpectedly learned from his granddaughter the story of Lermontov's death. The old man thought hard and a few days later made an unexpected confession: "But it turns out, granddaughter, that I shot your Lermontov!" - and told her about his secret mission. As you probably already guessed, I heard this story from the descendants of that same soldier."
But who ordered the murder of the poet? Nicholas I? Hardly. He, of course, was angry with Lermontov because of the poem "Death of a Poet", for which he exiled him to the Caucasus. But an army lieutenant, even a poet, is too insignificant for an emperor.
Then who? Who would benefit from ruining a man claiming to be the first poet in a country where a poet is always more than a poet? Enemies of Russia? But how exactly? We are unlikely to ever get an answer to this question.
Victor MEDNIKOV