“Memoirs of Catherine ‘the Great’ II of Russia” As Written in Her Own Hand – Ch. 9
Commonplace Book – Pages 149-150
“Memoirs of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 9: Intrigues (1749)
- Middle of December: They go to Moscow. Turns out, Count Lestocq had been accused of accepting 10,000 rubles as a bribe from the King of Prussia and of poisoning a man named Oetinger. He was tortured and exiled to Siberia.
- December 25: They are allowed to miss Mass, the temperature was 28-29 degrees. Spots appear on her face, but Dr. Boerhave gives her oil of talcum to mix with water and wash her face with. “10 days later, I was cured.”
- : “The Empress is overtaken by an attack of constipation.” 10 days later, one of the Empress’ ladies-in-waiting is married.
- General Apraxine’s third daughter dies of smallpox.
- She reads “L’Histoire de l’Allemagne by Father Barre, the Canon of St. Genevieve, and the works of Plato.
- During their time in Moscow, Andre Chernishev is released with the rank of lieutenant.
- In Perovo, in spring, Catherine is overcome with a violent sickness. The Empress has a fit of colic. Both recover and the Empress walks 30 miles on a pilgrimage to the Troitza monastery.
- When the Empress reaches Taininskoe, Count Rasumovski, a younger brother of the favorite, confesses his love for Catherine, but he is happily married.
- Towards St. Peter’s Day, they join the Empress in Bratovchina. For Catherine’s sunburn, the Empress recommends a bottle of lemon, egg whites and French brandy. Catherine then recommends it for “lishai,” “flechten,” or “herpes.”
- The Empress makes a journey to Sophien. Her jester’s name is Aksakou and she’s mortally afraid of mice.
- They remain at Rayova till August. There, Catherine is overcome with toothache and remained in bed for 10 days.
- September: Catherine goes with the Empress to Voskressensky monastery. Shuvalov, Gentleman of the Bedchamber is the new favorite.
- Upon returning, she gets a sore throat and high fever. After recovering, she attends the wedding of Countess Rumiantsev’s niece, “who was marrying Alexander Naryshkine, the chief cup-bearer.”
- The Shuvalovs rise in power. The Empress has a new attachment to Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov. (Son of Marshal Shuvalov, who himself had been the favorite.) They didn’t like Count Bestujev and considered Count Rasumovski a rival.
- Baturine: in debt; a gambler; becomes acquainted with the Grand Duke; contemplates killing the Empress, setting fire to the Palace and bringing the Grand Duke to the throne; the Grand Duke had nothing to do with this; he is sentenced to imprisonment in the fortress of Schlusselburg; in 1770, Catherine would deport him to Kamchatka, he flees and is “killed while pillaging the island of Formosa.”
- December 13: The Court leaves for St. Petersburg. Catherine develops a violent toothache. Boerhave, the son of the former Boerhave, extracts the tooth but a piece of the jawbone, “the size of a shilling” goes with it. She suffers for 4 weeks.
“Memoirs of Catherine ‘the Great’ II of Russia” As Written in Her Own Hand – Ch. 8
Commonplace Book – Page 148
“Memoirs of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 8: A Disunited Couple (1748-1749)
- 5th week of Lent: Mme Choglokov gives birth to her 7th child. Meanwhile, M. Choglokov is having an affair with a Mlle Koshelev.
- Wednesday, a week later: Catherine shivers violently; her head and limbs ache, and she gets a fever. She is then diagnosed with smallpox; 24 hours later it is just measles
- April 21, 1748: Catherine’s birthday; now 20 years old. She’s recovered but with a bad cough.
- Beginning of May: At 8:00, the Palace of Tsarskoe Selo begins to collapse, “the foundation of the house crumbling to pieces.” She and the Grand Duke make it out safely. An officer of the Guards called Levashov had carried her out. Princess Gagarine was badly cut by falling bricks. Three servants on the ground floor were killed by the falling ceiling. Sixteen workmen in the basement were crushed.
- Sacrosomo, a Maltese Knight comes to Russia and passes notes to Catherine from her mother, she then responds to them by passing notes to the “cellist, d’Ologlio.”
- During the Summer, they go to Peterhof and it is discovered that Mlle Koshelev is pregnant by M. Choglokov. Mme Choglokov eventually forgives him, “for the sake of the children” and he is not dismissed.
- After 8 days in Oranienbaum, Catherine feels overheated and her head “grew heavy.” With much sleep, she recovers. She reads the “Memoirs of Brantome” and the “Life of Henry IV” by Perefixe.
- Mme Krause is dismissed and retired to live with her son-in-law, Sievers, the Marshal of the Court. She is replaced by Mme Vladislavov, mother-in-law of Chancellor Pugovisikov, head clerk to Count Bestujev.
- Count Lestocq is arrested and taken tot he Fortress. Count Bestujev, his enemy, General Stephen Apraxine and Count Alexander Shuvalov are appointed to examine. No evidence is found. Nevertheless, he is exiled, his house given to Count Apraxine and all his property confiscated.
- Winter: A Finn, called Caterina Petrovna, brings a letter to Catherine from Andre Chernishev. She sends him money and gifts.
“Memoirs of Catherine ‘the Great’ II of Russia” As Written in Her Own Hand – Ch. 7
Commonplace Book – Pages: 146-147
“Memoirs of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 7: A Sterile Couple (1745-1748)
- Count Brummer and Chamberlain Bergholz are removed from the Grand Duke’s entourage, and General Prince Basile Repnine is appointed his escort.
- The Empress rages severely at Catherine. Her and the Grand Duke have been married about a year and still no pregnancy. Catherine has been upset for quite sometime and attempts suicide. A maid catches her and talks her out of it.
- The Grand Duke, after Catherine arrives in Moscow, obtains three valets-de-chambre, all three sons of grenadiers in the Empress’ bodyguard. One of them is named Andre Chernishev. Both the Grand Duke and Catherine become fond of him. The others think Andre and Catherine are in love.
- As Catherine is confronting Andre about this, Count Devier, (then Chamberlain to the Empress) summons her to the Grand Duke. The next day the three Chernishevs are sent to Orenburg and Mme Choglokov is appointed as Catherine’s lady-in-waiting.
- Court: “there was no coversation…and everybody cordially hated everybody else…science and art were never touched on…half the Court could hardly read…surprising if more than a third could write.”
- The Grand Duke takes a fancy to Mme Cedersparre.
- The Empress wants to go to Riga, but at the last minute changes her mind and returns to St. Petersburg. Two years, after Catherine’s accession, she finds an old chest and in it a long German paper, “written by a fanatic, a mad Lutheran, who begged the Empress in the name of God…to not go to Riga, where some people were waiting to kill her.”
- August: Simon Theodorski, Bishop of Pskov, questions her and the Duke about Andre Chernishev and tells the Empress it was all innocent.
- A ball is held in Oranienbaum and the Empress is in Tsarskoe-Selo.
- She reads the Letters of Mme de Sevigne and also becomes fond of Voltaire.
- She then suffers from continuous headaches and insomnia. Dr. Boerhave examines her skull and says that “though I was 17, my head was that of a child of six and that I should…not expose it to the cold…the [bones] would grow together when I was 25 or 26.”
- In winter, the Empress orders everyone to follow her on a pilgrimage to Tikhvin. Count Rasumovski has an attack of gout. Andre Chernishev and his brothers, at this time, are also under arrest at Ribachala Sloboda.
- Mme Choglokov’s husband: “thoroughly evil-minded”; arrogant; brutal; stupid; conceited; malicious; pompous; secretive; silent; “object of terror”; “with never a smile on his lips”
- The Prince Bishop of Lubeck is appointed bailiff, to administer the Grand Duke’s estates in Germany
- Lent, 1747: They go with the Empress to Gostilitsa. A few days later, Catherine learns that her father is dead. Count Santi tells the Empress that she had asked him “why Ambassadors had not offered me their condolences,” when she did not and the Master of Ceremonies is reprimanded accordingly.
- Court Chamberlain, Count Devier is made brigadier in the Army and dismissed. Vilbois, a gentleman-in-waiting is made colonel and is also dismissed.
- Winter: Prince Alexander Galitzine, Catherine’s Chamberlain, and Princess Daria Gagarine, her lady-in-waiting, are married.
- January 6: Catherine wakes with a sore throat and a fever. By the end of the day, it’s determined she has the measles.
- Lent: “another four men were removed from [the Grand Duke's] entourage, among them the three pages whom he liked best.”
