“Memoirs of Catherine ‘the Great’ II of Russia” As Written in Her Own Hand – Ch. 16
Commonplace Book – Page: 157
“Memoirs of the Catherine the Great” – Chapter 16: The Storm (1759)
- Carnival: A Russian play is performed at Court theater. The Grand Duke then forbids her to go. She sends a letter to the Empress, who grants her an audience.
- Meanwhile, Mme Vladislavov is removed of her duties to Catherine. Catherine Ivanovna, in concern for Catherine, arranges to have her uncle, the Empress’ own confessor, to repeat to the Empress the entire truth of Catherine’s misery.
- 12:00 am-1:30 am: Count Alexander Shuvalov accompanies Catherine to the Empress’ rooms. The Empress takes her side over the passionate fury of the Grand Duke.
- To pass the time until her second interview with the Empress, she read “Histoire de Voyages” and the first volumes of the “Encyclopaedia.”
- April 17: Prince Charles of Saxony comes for a second visit to St. Petersburg.
- Finally at 3:00 pm, Catherine is allowed to see her children. She then goes to her second interview. There was no talk of Catherine’s departure, the Grand Duke was subdued, and Catherine is allowed to see her children once a week. (Princess Anne died suddenly a couple of years later and Catherine then becomes pregnant by Gregory Orlov, Bobrinski is born in April, 1762.)
“Memoirs of Catherine ‘the Great’ II of Russia” As Written in Her Own Hand – Ch. 15
Commonplace Book – Pages: 155-156
“Memoirs of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 15: The Clouds Gather (1758-1759)
- End of April: Court goes to Oranienbaum. Prince Charles of Saxony joins the Russian Army as a volunteer. He leaves July 4.
- Catherine arranges a feast for the Grand Duke. She has a chariot built by Antonio Rinaldi which can hold an orchestra of 60 men. The Court poet arranges the verses and Araja, the music. The feast is held on July 17, and the chariot pulled by 20 oxen. Everyone dances until 6:00 am.
- August 14, 1758: The Battle of Zorndorf. “One of the bloodiest routs of the century, as each side lost more than 20,000 men, killed or missing.” (The Russians are thrown back to the Polish frontier.) More than 1,200 officers are lost. General Fermor is replaced by Count Peter Saltikov to command the Army in Prussia.
- September, 1758: The Empress is walking to the parish church from the Palace of Tsarkoe Selo, when she falls unconscious. She is given a blood-letting by the surgeon on the spot but doesn’t wake up. The doctor, a Greek named Condoidis, is late to arrive. The surgeon’s name was Fousadier, a French emigre. Two hours later she awakens, but recognizes no one and is unintelligible.
- September: Catherine is heavily pregnant, therefore the Grand Duke must lead all balls and ceremonies. The father of the child is Poniatovski.
- October: She receives news from the Great Chancellor, Count Bestujev, that the King of Poland is recalling Poniatovski. “Count Bestujev had serious altercations on that subject…he discovered that Vice Chancellor, Count Worontsov and Ivan Shuvalov conspired in this manner.”
- December 8, 9: Catherine begins her labor pains. Shuvalov brings the Empress and Mme Vladislavov convinces the Grand Duke to leave. This is around 2:00 am, she sleeps till morning and then at supper she goes into confinement. 10pm-11pm she gives birth to a girl and the Empress names her Anna Petrovna, after the Grand Duke’s mother.
- On the sixth day the child is baptized, Catherine and the Grand Duke receive 60,000 rubles each.
- January 1, 1759: Peter Shuvalov, as Grand Master of the Artillery, asks for Catherine’s approval for the firework display.
- Towards the end of carnival, Count Alexander Stroganov marries Countess Anna Worontsov; Leon Naryshkine marries Mlle Zakrevski; Count Burturline marries Countess Marie Worontsov.
- Count Bestujev is arrested because of the Shuvalovs and Michel Worontsov, “who are egged on by Count Esterhazy and the Marquis de l’Hopital. They think he is more inclined for an alliance with England. He’s relieved of “all his decorations and rank…and sent back to his house a prisoner.” A Bernadi, Jelagine and Adadurov are also arrested.
- Bernadi: A jeweller; Italian; high intelligencer; carries and secures many messages
- Jelagine: Former A.D.C. to the Great Master of the Hunt, Count Rasumovski; loyal; honest; a friend to Poniatovski
- Adadurov: loyal; once taught Catherine Russian; two or three years before had been in the service of Nikita Trubetskoi, the Public Prosecutor.
- The judges at his trial are Marshal Buturline, the Attorney-General; Prince Trubetskoi, General Count Alexander Shuvalov and Wokov as secretary. Bestujev is charged only with “lese majeste”, that he tried to cause discord between the Empress and Their Imperial Highnesses. Meanwhile Count Poniatovski is asked to be recalled.
“Memoirs of Catherine ‘the Great’ II of Russia” As Written in Her Own Hand – Ch. 14
Commonplace Book – Pages: 154-155
“Memoirs of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 14: Intrigues Renewed (1756-1758)
- After leaving Oraneinbaum, they are visited by Prince and Princess Galitzine and M. Betsky.
- Autumn: Sir Hanbury-Williams goes back to England. He had gotten Count Bestujev to sign a treaty of alliance between Russia and England. However, Bestujev loses the authority and Russia adheres to the convention in Versailles between France and Austria.
- The Shuvalovs gain power. Worontsov, a great supporter, had received old furniture previously used by Madame de Pompadour as a bribe from Louis XV.
- Towards the end of 1756, Count Poniatovski comes back to Petersburg as Minister of the King of Poland.
- Under the influence of Brockdorff, the Grand Duke has a certain Elensheim in Holstein arrested, with no accusation or evidence.
- Brockdorff: tall; long neck; thick, flat head; red hair; “wore a wig of brass wire”; small eyes; “the corners of his mouth came down to his chin”; “almost no lids or eyebrows”; “encouraged the Grand Duke more towards drink”
- “Egyptians”: At this time, a name sometimes applied to “Bohemians” or gypsies.
- Towards Spring, 1757: M. Pechlin, the Grand Duke’s Holstein Minister dies. M. von Stambke, a confidante of Count Bestujev replaces him.
- Spring, 1757: Court goes to Oranienbaum. The Holstein troops made to camp in the village. (“never exceeded 1,300″)
- July, 1757: “Memel had surrendered to the Russian troops by the Agreement of June 24″
- August: News comes of the Battle of Gross – Jaegerndorf. (August 19, the Prussians were defeated by the Russian Army under the command of Marshal Apraxine)
- Later, Marshal Apraxine is found to be in flight, throwing away or burning his ammunition and dismantling his guns. Catherine believes it is because the Empress’ failing health. He believed the war would come to an immediate end if the Empress died.
- Director-General of Works, General Fermor leaves for Petersburg. He was appointed to the Army, having previously been Quartermaster to General Munich. Brigadiers Rosanov and Mordvinov become his assistants.
- Marshal Apraxine has a stroke and dies shortly after being recalled.
- General Fermor continues and occupies Koenigsburg.
- The Shuvalovs convince Leon Naryshkine to join their side, bribing him with the Order of St. Anne.
- April 5, 1758: Prince Charles of Saxony, son of Augustus III of Poland, candidate for the Duchy of Kurland, arrives in St. Petersburg. Count Ivan Chernishev is appointed to attend him.
-For the next 3 or 4 days, Catherine stays in bed with a high fever, and shows symptoms of pregnancy.
“Memoirs of Catherine ‘the Great’ II of Russia” As Written in Her Own Hand – Ch. 13
Commonplace Book – Pages: 153-154
“Memoirs of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 13: The Handsome Pole (1755-1756)
- Sir Hanbury-Williams, the British ambassador, comes to Russia, along with a Count Poniatovski, a Polish man. (Stanislas-August Poniatovski was born 1732 and was 25 when he arrived)
- Autumn: Leon Naryshkine falls ill with brain fever.
- Winter: Catherine suffers from wisdom teeth.
- December 17: Leon Naryshkine and Catherine sneak out to visit his sister-in-law. They find her visiting with Count Poniatovski.
- December 18: The Empress’ birthday.
- 1756: “Preparing for war with the King of Prussia” (The beginning of the Seven Years’ War. The Empress Marie Theresa of Austria, allied to Russia, France, Sweden, Poland, Saxony, attempted to recapture Silesia, lost in the previous war)
- Spring: Marshal Apraxine leaves to command an army to enter Prussia.
- The Grand Duke falls in love with Mme Teplov, niece of the Rasumovskis.
- Mme Schmidt: Wife of one of the Court’s trumpeters; “incredibly large and massive”; ruled over the old ladies-in-waiting “with a rod of iron”; Princess of Kurland was in charge of them in public
- Mme Shuvalov: “the pillar of salt”; thin; small; constrained; “her skirts were always too narrow and an inch shorter than they should have been”
- Countess Golovkine: daughter of Mme Shuvalov; dressed in the same fashion as her mother; “adornments were skimpy”; “always gave an impression of stinginess.”
- Diet of 1756: “almost all the leaders of the Russian party were beheaded”; persecutions from the French party, “Hats”
- Winter: Count Poniatovski is appointed as Polish envoy, the Mission of Saxony, but remains in Count Bestujev’s control.
“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.”
“Memoirs of Catherine ‘the Great’ II of Russia” As Written in Her Own Hand – Ch. 6
Commonplace Book – Pages: 145-146
“Memoirs of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 6: The Wedding (1745)
- The date chosen for the wedding is August 21
- August 15: The Empress takes communion with the Grand Duke and Catherine at the Church of the Virgin of Kazan. They then go to St. Alexander Nevsky monastery.
- August 21: Catherine rises at 6 am. At 8:00, she goes to the Empress’ apartments to get dressed. After her hair is done, the Empress places the Grand Ducal crown on her head. Her dress is of “silver moire,” embroidered in silver on all hems. A ball is held at the Winter Palace.
- Mme Krause is appointed chief of maid to Catherine by the Empress. She convinces the other maids not to speak to Catherine.
- September 5: The Empress goes to Gostilitsa, ‘Count Razumovski’s country place’ and sends the Grand Duke and Catherine, and her mother to Tsarkoe Selo.
- Catherine’s mother, on her departure, is given 60,000 rubles, but owes 70,000 rubles more. The Empress, upon her death, will owe 657,000 rubles. Catherine has an income of 30,000 rubles.
- Her mother, finally leaving, had gotten pregnant by Count Betsky, and leaves without saying goodbye.
- The Empress then dismisses Mlle Jukova. Catherine’s mother had feared that she had grown “too attached to a girl who wasn’t worthy.” Count Zakar Chernishev is then removed because her mother fears “that he may fall in love with the Grand Duchess.” Catherine then finds a suitable husband for Jukova, a sergeant in the Guards named Travine, but the two are exiled to Astrakhan.
- December 17: Catherine develops a toothache. M. Korsakov, a naval captain, gives her a nail and says to make the “gum bleed where it hurts.” She does, he leaves and takes the nail with him, “and this tooth has never since given me any trouble.”
- January, 1746: A carnival ball is given by Chief of Police, Commissioner Tatishchev, “in a house that belonged to the Empress, called Smolni Dvoretz. After the ball, the Grand Duke gets a fever and is bled several times.
- During Lent, 1746, the Grand Duke confesses his love for Mlle Karr, one of the Empress’ ladies-in-waiting, who later married the Empress’ Equerry, Prince Galitzine.
- The Grand Duke is caught spying on the Empress and she scolds him harshly. Catherine refuses to spy so she is not scolded. Mme Krause tells Catherine that the Empress “behaved today like a real mother.” She also says that next time, she and the Duke should say “Vinovaty Matushka” (We beg your pardon, Maman).
“Memoirs of Catherine ‘the Great’ II of Russia” As Written in Her Own Hand – Ch. 3
Commonplace Book – Pages: 143-144
“Memoirs of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 3: Invitation au Voyage (1744)
- Jan 1, 1744: Her mother is invited by the Marshal of the Duke of Holstein’s Court, Brummer, on behalf of the Empress Elizabeth to come to Russia.
- At Court, the Count Bestujev wanted the Grand Duke to marry a Princess of Saxony, daughter of August III, King of Poland. Count Brummer, Count Lestocq, Marshall Rumiantsev, and several others, wanted the Grand Duke to marry one of the daughters of the King of France.
- They then go to Court, and Catherine spends much time, a surprise to everyone, talking to His Majesty at dinner.
- In Mitau, she and her mother meet M. Voejkou, a colonel commanding the Russian troops in Kurland. In Riga, they meet M. Naryshkine, Marshal Lascy and General Saltikov and his wife, Princess Anne of Mecklenburg. Then they go from Dorpat to Narva to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
- Vice Chancellor, Count Bestujev: “more feared than loved”; great intriguer; suspicious; firm; “intrepid in principles”; “occasionally tyrannical”; “an implacable enemy”; petty; loyal to his friends; Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs
- At Court, the Marquis de la Chetardie stood for France, Sweden and Prussia.
- Count Lestocq: “one of the principle actors in the revolution that brought Empress Elizabeth”; crafty; full of malice; “his heart is dark and evil”
- 7-8pm, Feb 9, 1744: They arrive at Annenhof Palace (burnt down in 1753, rebuilt in 6 weeks, burnt down again in 1771 during a plague.) She meets the Prince of Hesse-Homburg (A.D.C., Field-Marshal, Chief of Court)
- Empress Elizabeth: beautiful; majestic; large; stout; smooth and “not embarrassed” in her movements
- February 10: The Grand Duke’s birthday
- Count Rasumouski: Master of the Hunt; “handsome”; Elizabeth’s lover; nicknamed the “Night Emperor”
-Grand Duke: Lutheran; childish; was in love with one of the Empress’ ladies-in-waiting, Mme Lopukhin (she had been involved in a plot to dispose Elizabeth, therefore had her tongue cut out and banished to Siberia); imprudent
-13th day after arrival in Moscow: Catherine catches pleurisy. She shivers violently and goes unconscious with a high fever. Her mother refuses the doctors to bleed her. The Empress finally orders the bleeding. For 27 days she goes in and out and meanwhile is bled 16 times. The “abscess that had formed in my right side” had burst.
-April 21, 1744: Catherine’s birthday. Finally strong enough to appear in public.
