There is a legend that Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, on his deathbed, bequeathed to Fedor Alekseevich Golovin “to keep Tsarevich Peter, like the apple of his eye”. During the streltsy rebellion, it was Golovin who took him from Moscow to the Trinity Monastery. How honestly he later coped with this request and the will of the tsar can be judged by the whole story set out here.
Reference: Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin (1650 - July 30 (August 10) 1706, Count (from 1702), born Glukhov, Left-Bank Ukraine - one of the closest associates of Peter I, head of the Foreign Ministry (President of Ambassadorial Affairs), Admiral General (1699) and the first general-field marshal in Russia (1700). At various times he also managed the Naval Order, the Armory, the Golden and Silver Chambers, the Siberian governorship, the Yamsk order and the Mint. The first cavalier No. 1 of the highest state award - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (March 10, 1699).
Under Princess Sophia Golovin, he attracted the attention of the first minister, V. V. Golitsyn, and in the rank of falconer was sent to Amur (in Daura) "for treaties and calming the quarrels of the Chinese bogdykhan."
He carried out organizational work on the preparation of the second Azov campaign of Peter I, during which, commanding the vanguard of the galleys (1696), he went along the Don to Azov with Peter I.
In the Great Embassy (1697), he occupied the second place after F. Lefort. There is a version that it was Golovin who persuaded Tsar Peter to go on this trip abroad, and, despite the fact that he should have known all the dangers of such a trip, he did not discourage him. Of course, it was he who was responsible for the entire organizational part of the Grand Embassy. Driving through European capitals, he invited foreigners to the Russian service, prepared conditions for shipbuilding work, It is safe to say that it was he who, upon his return from the Grand Embassy, negotiated with the tsar's relatives and boyars' entourage to recognize the liar. After these successful negotiations, the rapid rise of Golovin began.
Upon his return from the embassy, Golovin was granted the position of Siberian governor. He became one of the closest assistants of the "new Tsar Peter I", that is, the liar, in the transformation of Russia. He was named the new rank of General Kriegskommissar. It is argued that Golovin was the first of the boyars to shave off his beard, which earned the approval of the liar.
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At the end of the embassy, Golovin headed the newly created naval order. It is believed that Golovin played an outstanding role in the creation (or destruction (?) Of the traditional foundations and rules for building ships) of the Russian fleet.
In 1699, after the death of F. Lefort, Golovin was made admiral-general, was also appointed to the head of foreign affairs (he was called the chancellor in a new manner, in fact, Shafirov ruled foreign affairs) and took a leading position among government officials ("first minister" reviews of foreigners, the prime minister in a modern way and also the minister of finance for rights and responsibilities). Until his death in 1706, he was in charge of Russian diplomacy - he conducted extensive diplomatic correspondence, including with I. R. Patkul, I. Mazepa, and directed the actions of the Russian ambassadors, of course, through Shafirov.
To all his posts, on August 19 (30), 1700, he received the rank of Field Marshal of the newly recruited army, which was mobilized with the opening of war with Sweden, but on the eve of the Battle of Narva, he left the army with the liar, leaving command to the Duke de Croix.
In the summer of 1702, he accompanied the tsar to Arkhangelsk, watched the transport of ships along the Tsar's road that took part in the siege of Noteborg.
In the absence of the liar, who spent a lot of time abroad, Count Golovin led the Russian Empire. It should be noted here that before the Grand Embassy, only F. Yu. Romodanovsky. It can be assumed that despite the fact that he headed the Preobrazhensky order, and then the Secret Chancellery, he did not enjoy the trust of the liar.
Golovin died in 1706 at the age of 56 on the way to Kiev, where the liar was at that time. Only 7 months later, his remains were taken to the family tomb - Simonov Monastery. Under Stalin, the monastery necropolis was destroyed along with Golovin's tombstone.
Golovin was in the property with the most prominent of Peter's associates: A. D. Menshikov was his brother-in-law, Sheremetev, Shafirov, B. Golitsyn were matchmakers, and Yaguzhinsky and Repnin were matchmakers to his sons.
It is noteworthy that in 2007 a number of commemorative events were held in Moscow, Kaliningrad, Rostov-on-Don and Azov. A bust of Golovin as the first knight of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called was installed in front of the Order St. Andrew's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Probably, this is the only monument to the representative of the first holders of this order, with the exception of Mazepa (order number 2), to whom the monument has also been erected in our time in independent Ukraine. Why would Golovin be so honored in our time ??? Possible answer at the end of the article.
Silver medal, which the liar awarded F. A. Golovin in 1698. After returning from the Great Postolate..
Commemorative coin of the Bank of Russia dedicated to F. A. Golovin.
Bust in front of St. Andrew's Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
The genealogy of the Golovins is of undoubted interest. Perhaps it hides the secret of the Golovins' true role in the history of the Russian State.
Help: Pedigree of the Golovins (https://www.wikiznanie.ru/ru-wz/index.php/Golovins):
The Golovins are old Russian county and noble families. They originate from the noble Byzantine family Komnenos (Komnenos, or, distortedly, Compins), the older branch of which repeatedly occupied the throne of the Roman (eastern, i.e. Byzantine) empire, in the XI-XII centuries, along with the Palaeologus, Angels, Dookas, Laskaris … The younger branch owned, in particular, the city of Sudaya (Sudak) in the Crimea with the surrounding villages of Mankub (Maykup) and Balaklava. One of the younger representatives of this Greek family, Prince Stepan Vasilievich Khovra (Khomra, Komra) moved to Moscow in 1393.
Accordingly, his descendants were called Khovrins, and one of his great-grandsons, Ivan Vladimirovich Khovrin, was nicknamed the Head for his intelligence.
Chetvertak - the youngest son of Vladimir, nicknamed the Sheep, he was the tsar's treasurer under Vasily III and died in 1510, and his sister Evdokia Vladimirovna, married to Prince Patrikeev, a cousin of Rurikovich Ivan III the Great, grandfather of Ivan the Terrible - the first Russian tsar, under whom Golovins will occupy important posts in the state. From him came the Golovins, who constituted the highest aristocracy in all the first three centuries of the Moscow state. Thus, the surname Golovin dates back to the end of the 15th century and to it - more than five centuries, which is considered a lot for the Russian nobility (in contrast to the Western European).
In the 15th and 16th centuries, almost hereditarily, the Golovins were the royal treasurers, in the 16th and 17th centuries. of them there were 6 boyars and 8 okolnichi. In 1565, under Ivan IV the Terrible, the family fell into disgrace, because three Golovins (of the seven children of Pyotr Ivanovich Golovin and Princess Maria Vasilievna Odoevskaya), Vasily Petrovich, Pyotr Petrovich and Mikhail Petrovich, were tried by boyars and executed on February 4, 1565 (most likely, near the Execution Ground on Red Square), becoming a victim of a failed conspiracy. Subsequently, however, the Golovins returned to the court, but until "Peter the Great" did not reach special heights in the service.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Fyodor Aleksandrovich Golovin (1867-1937), became one of the founders of the Kadet party and chairman of the II State Duma (which lasted only three months in 1907), was repressed in Soviet times, and posthumously rehabilitated.
In total, twenty-five (!) Genera / branches of the Golovins are known. Apparently, they are all connected with each other. Five main branches are included in the Velvet Book (1687): In particular, one should not forget that freed serfs were often named after their former owners.
From the above reference it can be seen that F. A. Golovin, perhaps the only one from the circle of the liar, possessed hereditary data for state administration. He, to some extent, is the founder of that state management system, which existed for almost 200 years, and which he, being familiar with the Western management system, borrowed and introduced into the Russian State. It is impossible not to pay attention to his, again hereditary closeness to the financial resources of the state. He understood very well that money rules the world and, of course, the state. He died at the beginning of reforms, which later led to economic, if not collapse, then impoverishment of the country and its people and slowed down the development of Russia for the same 200 years. These reforms put it, despite its huge territorial, material and human resources, in the tail and dependence on,so-called developed countries, small in territory and resources.
He became not only the godfather of the liar, but, in fact, the founding father of the state system that existed in Russia until February 1917, and whose vague outlines are beginning to appear in the series and sequence of modern state reforms. Not from this the revival of his memory and such honors?