On July 7, 1718, Tsarevich Alexei died - the son of Peter the Great, a conspirator, a fugitive and a man whose life was by no means a fairy tale about a handsome prince. We recall the details of his life and tell the story of a relationship with a domineering parent.
Unloved son
The life of the heir to the throne, Alexei, could not be called happy from an early age. As the son of the first wife of Peter I, Evdokia Lopukhina, he did not even really have time to feel maternal affection, since at the age of eight he actually lost her: Peter forcibly sent Evdokia to a monastery, where she was tonsured under the name of Elena. The son was given to be raised by his aunt, and then to foreign educators who taught the sciences and did not care too much about what the child felt. The Tsarevich suffered, longed to see his mother and even secretly traveled to Suzdal to see her. Peter, in turn, not only did not want to understand the boy, did not try to warm him up with affection and sympathy, but, on the contrary, did not trust him, made sure that Alexei could not see his mother. As a result, the son became afraid of surveillance to the point of insanity.
When Peter married Ekaterina Alekseevna, the warmth in the family did not increase. Catherine was indifferent to her stepson, and dissatisfaction with her son grew more and more in Peter: he scolded him for his lack of education and laziness, unwillingness to be enlightened, and for the fact that he did not in any way support the sharp reforms of his father, which Peter hardly introduced into Russian life, finding everywhere opponents of their will.
Peter tried to prepare a worthy successor to his affairs, and Alexei did not understand geography, fortification and was strikingly indifferent to power. For his mistakes, he often received blows from Peter with a stick and was afraid to death of his harsh disposition, which is clearly seen from the uncomplaining consent to marry Princess Charlotte of Wolfenbüttel, whom he was married for political reasons.
Peter tried to prepare a worthy successor of his affairs, and Alexei did not understand geography, fortification and was strikingly indifferent to power.
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Failed monasticism
When Peter realized that his son would not make a worthy heir, he stopped working on him. When Catherine announced that she was pregnant, Peter's thoughts went in a different direction: he was waiting for a son, the new ruler of Russia. The fact that Charlotte was also pregnant was not taken into account. However, soon a conversation took place between Alexei and Peter, in which the Tsarevich renounced the throne in favor of his brother, who was born and even asked for a "monastic rank." Peter did not believe him, thinking that he had invented some cunning trick and was plotting something wrong.
However, when Peter soon fell ill, he changed his mind and wrote to his son that either he was tonsured or changed his temper and assumed the throne. When Alexei replied that he was ready to renounce the world, the emperor invited him to think. True, after a while, Peter demanded that his son either immediately come to him, or notify his father in which monastery he wants to be.
Shlyakhtich Kokhansky
After reading the letter and taking advantage of Peter's absence, Alexei borrowed money from those close to him and, covering his flight with a desire to meet with his father abroad, fled. The actions of the crown prince were not dictated by logical considerations. It was pure panic with no thought or plans. Not wanting to take a place on the throne, and even less so, to take monastic tonsure, he saw the only solution to his troubles in escape and seeking support from the rulers of other states.
In Libau, Alexei met with Kikin, who advised him to go to Vienna and seek the protection of Emperor Charles VI. Taking the fictitious name of the nobleman Kokhansky, the Tsarevich entered Vienna, thereby putting the Viennese government in a contradictory position. On the one hand, to give asylum means to offend and challenge Peter, to refuse means not taking advantage of the opportunity that made Alexei a pawn in a cunning political party. So the idea was born to inform the disgraced son that as long as the Viennese emperor would try to reconcile him with his parent, Alexei's stay must be kept secret. So the prince spent several days in a place near Vienna - Weierburg, and then went to Tyrol under the guise of a state criminal. The "criminal" was placed in the Ehrenberg fortress, standing on a picturesque rock. The commandant was ordered to keep the prisoner decently. In order to maintain complete incognito, the soldiers were forbidden to leave the gates of the fortress, and the sentries were prohibited from entering into conversations with anyone.
Ruins of the Ehrenberg castle, where Alexei was hiding.
Found
However, the precautions were in vain. Peter quickly discovered the location of his son with the help of his associates. Alexei had to hastily flee to Naples, where captain Alexander Rumyantsev and an experienced diplomat Count Pyotr Tolstoy also quickly found him. In this chapter about the misadventures of the Tsarevich, a new action begins: Peter enters into negotiations for the extradition of his son, but the foreign authorities refuse to grant his request. Peter decides to act by cunning: he obtained permission to meet the Tsarevich with Tolstoy and Rumyantsev.
Having received permission, the great diplomat Tolstoy first pulled the first trump card out of his sleeve - a letter from Peter, in which he promised that he would not punish his son, but, on the contrary, would show him how wide his father's heart is and how generously he knows how to forgive. When Alexei did not succumb to the persuasion and letter, Tolstoy resorted to intimidation, saying that foreign supporters would betray Alexei, and his father would punish him if he didn’t change his mind right away.
Seeing the Tsarevich's doubts, the count used the most effective weapon: he bribed an Austrian official. He "confidentially" told Alexei that sending him to Russia was a matter of time, and that this day was not far off.
Frightened Alexei, who was surrounded by people bribed by Peter, exhausted by negotiations and advice, tried to turn to the Swedish government for help. However, the positive answer they sent him was belated. Alexei, panicking and afraid of his father's anger, succumbed to Tolstoy's persuasion and left for Russia.
Lies at the cost of life
On the way to Petersburg, Alexei wrote to his father: “Most merciful sir, father! Hoping for your merciful promise, I put myself in your will, and with those sent from you, sir, I will go from Naples these days to you, sovereign, to St. Petersburg. The most humble and indecent slave and unworthy to be called a son, Alexey.
The "unworthy slave" met Peter on February 3, 1718. The emperor began with reproaches, blaming him for teaching him and preparing him as heirs, and Alexei not only insulted him with negligence, but also fled from his fatherland, turning to a foreign sovereign. As a result of many hours of conversation, where Peter denounced, and Alexei, without seeking excuses for himself, asked to grant him life and deny the inheritance, they came to the conclusion that Peter “will give him mercy, but only so that he will announce his conciliators who advised me to run to Caesar. " On the same day, a manifesto was published, in which the son of Peter from Catherine was appointed heir, and Alexei was removed from the succession to the throne, threatening that those who would recognize Alexei as the heir would be declared traitors.
Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof. N. N. Ge, 1871.
And it seems that the story should have ended well - Alexey shifted part of the blame to his associates, no one knew about the Swedes, they also refused the succession to the throne quite well, but then events began to develop for the failed emperor in the most unpredictable way. Alexei's mistress, Euphrosyne, testified during interrogation that Alexei not only wanted to become emperor, but was also preparing to use the Austrian army to seize power and wanted to lead the revolt of the Russian troops at an opportunity.
Prison and torture
Alexei was immediately brought to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where they began to interrogate, torture with lashes, and in the end they achieved exactly the words that were expected: Alexei surrendered his comrades-in-arms and incriminated himself.
On July 5, he was sentenced to death. If the clergy also obstructed the will of Peter, which everyone clearly felt, then the secular court, headed by Menshikov, the personal enemy of the tsarevich, made no attempt to look dignified in this situation. Everyone was afraid of the will of the emperor and almost unanimously signed the verdict.
Leaving life
On July 7, 1718, at six o'clock in the afternoon, the Tsarevich died. The subjects were told that Alexei died of an illness, something like apoplexy, which developed in him after he learned about the death sentence. Allegedly, before his death, he received Holy Communion, begged forgiveness from his father and died quietly, thereby whitewashing his name. However, few believed in the natural death of the condemned even then. This version is called into question by the fact that the books of the Peter and Paul Fortress record the visit of Peter with nine dignitaries to the Trubetskoy bastion, where, among other prisoners, Alexei was sitting … However, no one has yet been able to reliably trace what exactly happened there.
The secret of the departure of Tsarevich Alexei, who by birth was supposed to be a happy and gifted person with all the best, remains undisclosed, and only an image remained from Alexei himself, which extinguishes before the will and deeds of his father, Peter the Great.
