“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. 10-11
Commonplace Book – Pages: 150-151
“Memories of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 10: Coquetries and Gallantries (1750)
- New Year’s Day, 1750: Catherine’s Kalmuk hairdresser catches smallpox
- March 17: The Empress went to Gostilitza; the seat of Count Rasumovski, “to celebrate the Count’s birthday and we were ordered to Tsarkoe Selo.”
- Mlle Balk, lady-in-waiting to the Empress, married M. Serge Saltikov, the Grand Duke’s Chamberlain.
- Easter: After being made to eat a dozen oysters the night before, Catherine suffers from a “violent colic” and remains in bed.
- The Empress is caught between four favorites: Count Rasumovski, Shuvalov, a chorister named Kachenevski, and Beketov.
- The Count de Bernis, the Austrian Ambassador, Count Lynar, the Belgian envoy, and General Arnheim, the envoy from Saxony, all arrive in Russia. Count Hamilton, Knight of Malta, is in Bernis’ retinue.
- Count Lynar: erudite; foppish; tall; fair; “almost red-haired”; “very white skin”; had 18 children; “wore clothes of the lightest shades”
- M. Choglokov: “a disagreeable toad;” blond; fat; stout; “heavy in mind”
- The Grand Duke gives her a small, English poodle
“Memoirs of Catherine the Great” – Chapter 11: Awaiting the Heir (1751-1753)
- Her and the Grand Duke become friends with the Count de Bernis.
- Count Beketov takes a fancy to some choirboys, and is ordered to stay in Peterhof, but suffers from a brain fever. He is then transferred to the Army.
- September, 1751: The Empress appoints M. Leon Naryshkine as Gentleman of the Bedchamber (his father, Semyon, was the Marshal whom welcomed Catherine to Russia)
- M. Leon Naryshkine: “a born clown;” witty; “superficial but widespread knowledge and a unique way of interpreting everything;” “capable of giving dissertations on any subject”
- They move to the Winter Palace in September. Count Zakhar Chernishev came back to Petersburg. He corresponds flirtatiously with Catherine until the end of 1751.
- Lent: She has a violent altercation with Mme Choglokov. She had given to the Empress two pieces of rich material sent to Catherine by her mother.
- Serge Saltikov: 26; distinguished gentleman; vain; a Russian dandy; ignorant; “without taste or merit” (He was only driven by ambition, in vain did Catherine expect tenderness from him)
- At this time, the Grand Duke falls in love with Marthe Chafirov.
- December 14, 1752: The Court leaves Petersburg for Moscow. Catherine left with a few slight symptoms of pregnancy.
- Catherine arrives in Moscow, but having violent hemorrhages along the way. Meanwhile Mme Choglokov remains in Petersburg and has her eighth child, a girl.
- April 25: The Empress celebrates the anniversary of her coronation in Moscow.
- Zakhar Chernishev and Nikolai Leontiev challenges each other to a duel. Count Chernishev is badly wounded in the head, Leontiev is arrested.
- May, 1753: Catherine shows signs of pregnancy; she goes to Liberitsa. Towards St. Peter’s Day, it ends in a miscarriage in Moscow.
- During their time in Moscow, several lackeys and minor courtiers go insane. They are placed near Boerhave’s apartments.
“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.
