Alexander I Pavlovich (born December 12 (23), 1777 - died November 19 (December 1) 1825) - Emperor of All Russia.
Phenomena often occur in history that leave behind mysteries that take years or even centuries to unravel. And it also happens that the mystery remains unsolved, even if many meticulous researchers are looking for the key to it. Among such mysteries are the last days of the life and the death of the Russian Emperor Alexander 1, which gave rise to many rumors and speculations refuting the official version of the death of the emperor.
Alexander I was one of the most popular European monarchs in the first third of the 19th century. At the same time, according to the definition of the emperor's biographers, he was a “sphinx, unsolved to the grave,” and the most tragic face of Russian history. His drama is the drama of a human personality forced to combine such incompatible qualities as power and humanity.
Briefly, the historical chronicle of the last months of the reign of Alexander 1 is as follows: in the summer of 1825, the monarch unexpectedly decided to make a trip to Taganrog, a provincial town, dried up by the sun and winds. The reason for the trip was the illness of Empress Elizabeth, whom doctors advised to temporarily change the damp St. Petersburg climate to the dry southern one.
The emperor left Petersburg on September 11, 1825 alone, in order to prepare everything himself for the arrival of his wife. After 13 days, he was already in Taganrog and immediately took up the arrangement of the house assigned to the august couple. The empress arrived in Taganrog on September 23, and from that day, according to those close to her, a benevolent, even tender relationship was established between the spouses, as if they were reliving their distant honeymoon again. They walked together, responding affably to the bows of passers-by, drove around the neighborhood in a carriage. They also had breakfast and dinner together, without an entourage.
Only once did Alexander make an almost forced inspection trip to the Crimea, where he was invited by Count Vorontsov. In Sevastopol, the monarch felt bad - hypothermia affected during the transition through the mountains. He returned to Taganrog quite sick. Doctor's diagnosis - gall-stomach fever; a laxative was prescribed as treatment. However, the fever did not subside, the skin of the face turned yellow, and the deafness from which Alexander had suffered in recent years increased markedly.
1825, November 10 - getting out of bed, the emperor lost consciousness for the first time, and when he came to himself, he could hardly utter a few words. The court doctor Tarasov no longer believed in recovery and suggested that Elizabeth send for a priest. The monarch agreed, and on November 18 the priest confessed him in the presence of his wife, relatives, doctors and valets. Having received communion, Alexander 1 kissed the Empress's hand and said: "I have never experienced such consolation and I thank you for it." It became clear to everyone that death was near.
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The next day, November 19, at 10 hours 50 minutes in the morning, Tsar Alexander the Blessed, without regaining consciousness, died. He was 47 years and 11 months old. Elizabeth knelt down, prayerfully made the sign of the cross over Alexander 1, kissed his cold forehead, closed his eyes, and folded her handkerchief, tied his chin.
There are several strange points in this entire brief chronicle that historians have not been able to clarify to this day. To begin with, Alexander 1 died at the age of 48, full of strength and energy, before that he had never been seriously ill and was in excellent health. Although, some oddities in his behavior were clearly evident to those around him. The confusion of minds was caused by the fact that in recent years the emperor became more and more secluded, kept himself apart, although in his position and with his duties it was very difficult to do this.
People close to him began to hear gloomy statements from him more and more often. Carried away by mysticism, he practically ceased to delve into state affairs with the same pedantry, in many respects entrusted to the all-powerful temporary worker Arakcheev.
Another, more intimate moment. The emperor, who loved the society of ladies so much in his youth, in adulthood completely lost interest in them. During the years of the war with Napoleon Bonaparte, he moved away from his mistress, the beautiful Maria Naryshkina, preferring to live in severity and piety, especially in relation to Elizabeth. At 47, the emperor began to lead the life of an unsociable recluse. Left alone, he knelt down for a long time and prayed in front of the icons, from which, according to Dr. Tarasov, blisters even appeared on his knees. In vain did the diplomats seek an audience: the autocrat gave them less and less. And in the words with which he addressed them, bitterness and disappointment more and more often broke through his usual courtesy.
It was not entirely clear to others and the behavior of the emperor in relation to the conspiracy of the Decembrists, of which he, of course, was aware. This is clear from his diary entry, which contains the following words: “There are rumors that a pernicious spirit of free thought or liberalism is spreading, or at least has begun to spread in the army; everywhere there are secret societies and clubs, secret agents who spread their ideas everywhere."
And yet it should be noted that, while demanding increased supervision over the intellectual and military circles, the monarch, nevertheless, did not give any orders to initiate any kind of investigation or resort to arrests.
And finally, about the causes of the death of Alexander 1. His illness was surprisingly fleeting and merciless. According to the autopsy protocol, the death of Alexander I was caused by a bilious disease, accompanied by a complication in the brain. But at the same time, the doctors stated that most of the organs were in excellent condition. An eyewitness to the autopsy, Quartermaster Schoenig, noted: “I have not yet met such a well-created person. Hands, legs, all parts of the body could serve as a model for a sculptor: the tenderness of the skin is extraordinary."
And yet the strangest thing happened after the death of Alexander 1. The coffin with his body was still in Taganrog, and rumors, some more alarming and more fantastic than others, spread from village to village. This was facilitated primarily by the fact that the body of the emperor was not shown to the people, which, in general, was explained by his poor condition. But few people knew about this, and therefore already in Tula, where the funeral cortege approached, rumors spread that "the emperor was killed by his subjects, monsters and masters."
In fact, the commoners had a lot to be confused about. The death of Alexander 1 far from the capital after a short and strange illness, the long delayed transportation of the body to Petersburg, and the burial without permission to see the monarch's face in an open coffin - all this could not but give rise to all kinds of rumors. Some argued that the emperor did not die at all in Taganrog, but sailed on an English sloop to Palestine to the Holy Places; others said that he had been kidnapped by the Cossacks and had secretly left for America.
The distributors of such versions, one way or another, agreed on one thing: instead of the sovereign, a soldier was placed in the coffin, similar to Alexander in face and build. They even called the name of the double - courier Maskov, who brought the emperor to Taganrog and died literally in front of him in a road accident.
And now 10 years later, when it seemed that the legend had long vanished, on the outskirts of the city of Krasnoufimsk, Perm Region, a majestic-looking man, about 60 years old, named Fyodor Kuzmich appeared. He was undocumented, and he told the authorities that "he is a vagabond who does not remember kinship." He was sentenced to 20 lashes and deportation to a settlement in Western Siberia. The elder found shelter with the peasants, whom he impressed with the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, the gentle manner and wisdom of advice.
He lived quietly, sometimes working in a local factory. The rumor about him as a holy man attracted the attention of the merchant Khromov, who took him under his protection and built him a small hut in the vicinity of Tomsk. Freed from all worries, Fyodor Kuzmich devoted himself entirely to serving God.
Many of the eminent citizens of Tomsk visited the old man's refuge. Everyone was amazed at the spiritualized appearance of Fyodor Kuzmich, his education, awareness of the most important political events and major government figures. He spoke respectfully of Metropolitan Philaret and Archimandrite Photius, excitedly recounted Kutuzov's victories, recalled military settlements and talked about the triumphant entry of the Russian armies into Paris.
Visitors left him convinced that one of the most dignitaries of the empire was hiding under the guise of a peasant. Some, not daring to say it aloud, found in him a resemblance to the deceased sovereign. Fyodor Kuzmich was tall, broad-shouldered, with regular features, blue eyes, a bald forehead and a long gray beard. He did not limp like the emperor, but, like Alexander, he was hard of hearing. In addition, he had the same stately posture, the same stately figure.
However, until his last breath, Fyodor Kuzmich claimed that he knew nothing about his origin. To those who begged to reveal their real name, he answered: "This is God knows!"
He died on January 20, 1864 at the age of 87, surrounded by universal veneration. Khromov obtained permission from the church authorities to bury his former ward in the fence of the Theotokos-Alekseevsky monastery in Tomsk and installed a cross on his grave with the inscription: "The body of the Great Blessed Elder Fyodor Kuzmich, who died in Tomsk on January 20, 1864, is buried here." It is worth recalling that the Great Blessed One was officially called Alexander 1 after the victory over Napoleon.
The locals did not doubt that it was the emperor who took refuge here in order to humbly end his days in communion with God. Along with this, in the family of the descendants of the courier Maskov, there was a legend that in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg - the burial vault of Russian emperors from the 18th century - it was Maskov who was buried instead of Alexander I.
The first biography of Fyodor Kuzmich, published in 1891, did not contain any information about his life until 1836, the year of his appearance in Siberia. The third edition, which appeared in 1894, contains two portraits of the elder, a view of his dwelling and a facsimile of his handwriting. Some graphologists found in it a distant resemblance to the tsar's handwriting.
Over time, the legend of the false death of the emperor gained more and more supporters. Those who supported this version relied on a number of noteworthy observations. In short, they are:
The sovereign has repeatedly declared his desire to abdicate the throne and retire to a peaceful life. He even set the age at which he intended to leave the throne: about 50 years.
On the other hand, eyewitness accounts of his illness are often contradictory. So, Dr. Tarasov wrote about one day of illness, that the emperor spent a "good night", and Dr. Willie spoke about the same day, that the night was "restless" and the emperor was becoming "worse and worse." The autopsy report was signed by nine doctors, but Dr. Tarasov, who drew up this conclusion and whose name appears at the bottom of the last page, wrote in his memoirs that he did not sign this document. It turns out that someone else forged his signature?
Moreover, an examination of the deceased's brain revealed the disorders left by syphilis, a disease that the king did not suffer. Finally, in 1824, the sovereign suffered an erysipelas on his left leg, and the doctors who performed the autopsy found traces of an old wound on his right leg.
What else is in doubt? Despite the embalming, the deceased's face quickly changed beyond recognition; the people were not allowed to pass before the open coffin; Elizabeth did not accompany her husband's remains to Petersburg; the empress's diary was interrupted 8 days before the death of her husband; Nicholas I ordered to burn most of the documents related to the last years of his brother's reign, as well as the evidence relied on by those who did not believe in the death of Alexander I.
These latter, in support of their positions, cite evidence according to which the opening of the sarcophagus of Alexander I, authorized by Alexander III and carried out by Count Vorontsov-Dashkov, turned out to be empty. 1921 - a rumor spread that the Soviet government began to study the remains of the sovereigns buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and those present also stated the absence of a body in the coffin of Alexander 1. True, not a single official report confirmed this rumor. But most members of the Romanov dynasty who emigrated abroad after the revolution believed in the identity of Fyodor Kuzmich and Emperor Alexander.
Among those who held the opposite opinion, Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, grand-nephew of Alexander 1. Having access to the secret archives of the imperial family, after some hesitation, he firmly declared that the emperor had died in Taganrog.
“If you think about the character and inclinations of Alexander Pavlovich,” he wrote, “you cannot find in them the slightest inclination towards this kind of transformation, and even more so to the voluntary determination to go to this kind of deprivation in adulthood, in a very exceptional situation … finally came to the conclusion that not only is the possibility of the plausibility of a legend contrary to any logic, but there is not the slightest document or evidence in favor of this assumption."
In fact, it seems absolutely incredible that a sovereign, affectionately attached to his wife, would suddenly leave her, knowing that she was dying of consumption and her days were numbered. It is also incredible that, having long been nurturing a project to leave the throne, he did not settle the issue of succession to the throne. In the end, it is incredible that he ordered a corpse “like him” to be brought without arousing the suspicions of his entourage.
How was it possible to make a body change in Taganrog if at least three dozen people were present at the death of the tsar: officers, doctors, secretaries, maids of honor of the empress, she herself, finally. Wasn't the empress at her husband's headboard until his last breath? Didn't she close his eyes? After her death, did she not write heartbreaking letters to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and other relatives? Is it all just a cynical parody of mourning?
And the autopsy report signed by the doctors? And the countless examinations of the body, supported by protocols, all the way from Taganrog to St. Petersburg? And what about the written and oral testimonies of eyewitnesses of the sovereign's agony? And is it conceivable that so many devout people, knowing that the king is alive, hide the truth after having attended his funeral service? Such complicity would border on sacrilege.
However, even Empress Elizabeth (she died on May 3, 1826 and was buried next to her husband's grave) did not escape after the burial a life-prolonging legend that largely coincides with the legend of Alexander. Popular rumor claimed that she did not die, and in 1840 she took refuge under the name of Vera the Silent in the Novgorod monastery.
Taking a vow of silence, she passed away in 1861 without revealing her real name. The nuns, struck by the grace of her features and the sophistication of her manners, seemed to immediately recognize in her the deceased empress. She chose a fate similar to that of her husband because, the nuns said, both of them were in the throes of repentance over the murder of Paul 1.
And yet, if Alexander 1 actually died in Taganrog, then who was the “elder” buried in the Alekseevsky monastery in Tomsk? It should be noted here that at all times in Siberia various kinds of prophets, defrocked priests, rebellious monks who lived as hermits were hiding. Fyodor Kuzmich could well have been one of those ascetics who broke with society.
Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, who specially studied this issue, is inclined to consider him the illegitimate son of Paul I, Lieutenant of the Navy Semyon the Great. Others call the cavalry guard F. A. Uvarov, who disappeared in 1827; some, without pointing to a specific person, suggest that we are talking about one of the Russian aristocrats who wished to break with their environment.
In a word, not only life, but also the death of Alexander 1 is a mystery for future generations. He could not fulfill his dream: to lay down the crown and withdraw from the world, but the people created a legend with which he, quite possibly, would agree, even if he was not an accomplice in its origin.
M. Pankova