Grave without a cross
“I lay motionless with lead in my chest”, “the wound was still smoking bloody, my blood was pouring out drop by drop” - these poems Lermontov wrote about a month before the fatal duel.
It was forbidden to write about the duel between Lermontov and Martynov for 30 years. Then many volumes of research were written, but to this day, in fact, nothing is known for sure about her! For example, the exact place of the duel is not known, although a conventional memorial sign has been installed. The place of the first burial of the poet in the necropolis of the old Pyatigorsk cemetery is not clear either - when the coffin was removed for transportation to Tarkhany, the grave was filled up with the tombstone, only its drawing, which was made by a friend of the poet Arnoldi, was preserved. Another prophecy of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov came true - about his future "bloody grave, without prayer, without a cross" …
1841, July 27 (15) - a duel between Lermontov and Martynov took place, near Mount Mashuk in the Caucasus, at seven o'clock in the evening.
Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov was killed in a duel (from 10 steps, almost point-blank, the poet died instantly), which occurred because of a trifling reason, according to today's concepts. Lermontov was killed in a duel by his former comrade from the cadet school Nikolai Martynov. Eyewitnesses said different things about the quarrel between the poet and Martynov, which ended in a duel, but everyone agrees that Martynov was outraged by the poet's poignancy directed at him. Alas, the concept of honor in the 19th century had its negative aspects. An innocent joke could cost life.
How the duel went, and the death of Lermontov was described more fully and accurately by the second of the poet, Prince Alexander Vasilchikov.
Eyewitness account
Promotional video:
The reason for the duel
“Once on one of the evenings at General's wife Verzilina's, Lermontov, in the presence of the ladies, made some new joke, more or less sharp, over Martynov. What was said we could not hear; I only know that, leaving the house on the street, Martynov went up to Lermontov and spoke to him in a very quiet and even voice in French; “You know, Lermontov, that I very often endured your jokes, but I don’t like to be repeated in front of the ladies,” to which Mikhail replied in the same calm tone: “If you don’t love, then demand satisfaction from me.”
That evening and in the following days, before the duel, there was nothing more between them, at least we, Stolypin, Glebov (other seconds) and me, do not know, and we considered this quarrel so insignificant and petty that we were sure until the last that it will end in reconciliation.
Attempts at reconciliation
Nevertheless, all of us, and especially M. P. Glebov, who combined with courageous courage the most amiable and heartfelt good nature and enjoyed the same respect and friendship of both opponents, all of us, I say, exhausted our peace-loving efforts in three days without any success. And although a formal challenge to a duel followed from Martynov, anyone would agree that the above words of Mikhail “demand satisfaction from me” already contained an indirect invitation to the challenge, and then it remained to decide which of the two was the instigator and who should have done the first step towards reconciliation.
This ruined all our efforts; the three-day delay did not lead to anything, and on July 15 at 6-7 pm we went to the fatal meeting; but even here at the last minute we, and, I think, Lermontov himself, were sure that the duel would end with empty shots and that, having exchanged two bullets for honor, the opponents would shake hands and go … to supper.
When we drove to Mount Mashuk (near Pyatigorsk) and chose a place along the path that led to the colony (I do not remember the name), a dark, thundercloud rose from behind the neighboring mountain Beshtau.
Duel. How it all happened
Glebov and I measured out 30 steps; the last barrier was set at 10 and, having separated the opponents to extreme distances, they were set to converge each 10 steps at the command "march". They loaded the pistols. Glebov gave one to Martynov, I gave another to Lermontov, and ordered: "Get together!"
Fatal shot
Lermontov remained standing motionless and, having cocked the hammer, raised the pistol with the muzzle up, shielding himself with his hand and elbow in accordance with all the rules of an experienced duelist. At that moment, and for the last time, I looked at him and I will never forget that calm, almost cheerful expression that played on the poet's face in front of the barrel of the gun, already pointed at him. Martynov walked quickly to the barrier and fired. Lermontov fell, as if he was mowed on the spot, making no movements either backward or forward, without even having time to seize the sore spot, as wounded or bruised people usually do.
We ran up. A wound was smoking in the right side, blood oozing in the left side, a bullet pierced the heart and lungs.
Although the signs of life have apparently disappeared, we decided to call a doctor. By our preliminary invitation to attend the duel, the doctors to whom we turned, all flatly refused. I rode on horseback to Pyatigorsk, stopped by two doctors, but got the same answer that they could not go to the place of the duel because of the bad weather (it was pouring rain), but would come to the apartment when the wounded were brought there.
Death of Lermontov
When I returned, Lermontov was already lying dead in the same place where he fell; near him are Stolypin, Glebov and Trubetskoy. Martynov went straight to the commandant to announce the duel. A black cloud, slowly rising on the horizon, burst into a terrible thunderstorm, and rolling thunder sang the eternal memory of the newly reposed servant Michael.
Stolypin and Glebov went to Pyatigorsk to arrange the transportation of the body, while Trubetskoy and I were left with the dead man. As now, I remember a strange episode of that fateful evening; our seat in the share with the corpse of Mikhail lasted a very long time, because the cabbies, following the example of the bravery of the doctors, also refused to go one by one to transport the body of the murdered. Night fell, the downpour did not stop …
Suddenly we heard the distant stomping of horses along the same path where the dead man lay, and in order to drag him aside, we wanted to raise him, as usual, the stale air came out of our chest, but with such a sound that it seemed to us that it was alive and a sick sigh, and for several minutes we were sure that Lermontov was still alive."
Who killed Lermontov in a duel?
Questions remain
While giving readings, the seconds deliberately increased the distance between the shooters to 15 steps. In addition, they concealed from the investigation the fact that even before the start of the duel, Mikhail Yuryevich's intention not to shoot at the enemy was obvious. He said so himself.
And, as he said, he shot in the air first. He still stood with his hand raised up when he was hit by a bullet. And the most important thing is that they did not say that Martynov shot after count three. That spoke of the end of the duel. They also concealed the special conditions of the duel, which were very cruel for an insignificant quarrel. Shoot from three attempts, and in case of misses the opportunity to call to the barrier again. All this will become known much later. As well as the fact that there were not 2 seconds, but 4.
Jealousy of the emperor?
At the court, the wayward poet was tolerated with difficulty. Especially after the verse "On the death of Pushkin." He, of course, was not published, but he went on the lists and was known in the whole high society. And Emperor Nicholas 1 also had a personal reason for dislike. This was due to jealousy of his wife, who was in love with Lermontov. And there was a reason. The light syllable of his poems and the sad look were simply mesmerizing. However, could the sovereign's jealousy become the cause of the death of the freedom-loving poet? Why not? In this case, Nikolai Martynov could carry out an order for a political assassination. In this case, one can easily explain why all participants in the duel received a rather symbolic punishment.
A government conspiracy?
In general, Martynov was a bad shooter, and he himself repeatedly spoke about this. However, with the very first shot, he was able to mortally wound the enemy. Perhaps it was not he who was shooting, but someone else from the secret hiding place? There was a theory that the poet was the victim of a government conspiracy, planned and disguised as a murder duel. A hired hired Cossack assassin was shooting at the poet with a gun. Why from a gun? Because the wound was very terrible. The wound was not like those usually received during fights.
The fate of Martynov
The poet's killer tried to write memoirs about Lermontov (after all, he knew him for many years) and, probably, wanted to justify himself to some extent in front of his contemporaries and descendants. He began his notes twice and dropped both times, writing several pages; further memories of his studies at the cadet school, he did not go.
Martynov lived to be 60 and died 34 years after the duel. He wanted to be buried in a village that belonged to his father near Moscow, in a distant grave, without any inscriptions, so that no one could understand that this was the grave of Lermontov's killer, and the memory of him would disappear forever. However, this was not done. The family crypt, its last refuge was until the children from the children's colony found out who was buried there. The crypt was broken and, according to various sources, Martynov's remains were either scattered around the estate, or thrown into a pond.