This amazing man, an associate of Peter I and an outstanding statesman, made a significant contribution to world culture as a writer, historian, philosopher and orientalist. A member of the Berlin Academy since 1714, in his writings he marked the transition from scholastic medieval thinking to modern rational forms. His name is Dmitry Kantemir.
Childhood and primary education
The future politician was born on October 26, 1673 in the Moldavian village of Silishteni. Subsequently, it went to Romania, and today it is called Vaslui. At the end of the 17th century, it housed the residence of Constantine Cantemir, the Moldavian ruler and father of the newborn Dmitry. It is known about his mother Anna Bantysh that she was a representative of one of the oldest boyar families.
From early childhood, the formation of the personality of Dmitry Konstantinovich was greatly influenced by his teacher - the most educated person, monk I. Kakavela. At one time he was knownnumerous publications arguing with the preachers of Catholicism, and also as the author of a textbook on logic, according to which this science was comprehended by many generations of future philosophers and theologians.
Years spent in the Turkish capital
At the age of fifteen, Dmitry ended up in Istanbul. He arrived there not of his own free will, but as a hostage of a state subject to Turkey, which in those years was the Moldavian principality. Being in such an unenviable position, he nevertheless does not waste time and continues to improve his education. In this he is given invaluable help by many scientists of the Patriarchal Greco-Latin Academy, which at that time, like him, was in the capital of the Splendid Porte.
During the three years spent on the shores of the Bosphorus, the young man, greedy for knowledge, learned Greek, Turkish, Arabic and Latin, and also listened to a course of lectures on history, philosophy and theology. His worldview was formed in those years under the influence of the philosophical works of Antony and Spandoni, as well as as a result of his acquaintance with the natural philosophical ideas of Meletius of Art.
Military campaign and political intrigues
When Dmitry Cantemir returned to his homeland in 1691, he found himself in the thick of the war that the Moldavian principality waged with Poland. As the son of the ruler, Dmitry was among the commanders who led the army of many thousands. In 1692, he distinguished himself during the siege of the fortress of Soroka, captured by the Poles. This was his first experience of fighting and making decisions on which the lives of a large number of people depended.
The next year, 1693, brought himnumerous problems associated with the internal political struggle in the country. The fact is that the father of Cantemir, who was the ruler of Moldova until the last days of his life, died, and after his death, the boyars chose Dmitry as his successor. But boyar will alone was not enough.
Since the principality was under the Turkish protectorate, the result of the elections had to be approved in Istanbul. The political opponent of Cantemir, the ruler of Wallachia, Constantine Brynkoveanu, took advantage of this. He managed to influence the Sultan, and as a result, Dmitry's candidacy was rejected.
At diplomatic work
After the failure that cost him the highest government position, Cantemir returns to Istanbul again, but this time not as a hostage, but with a diplomatic mission. He was appointed to the post of official representative of the Moldavian ruler at the Sultan's court. This time his stay on the banks of the Bosphorus turned out to be longer. With minor interruptions, he lived in the Turkish capital until 1710.
This period in the life of Dmitry Kantemir was filled with events. He had to fight, but this time in the ranks of the Turkish army. And although the battle with the Austrians on the Tisza River, in which he took part, ended in a crushing defeat for the troops of the Sultan, nevertheless, it gave him rich military experience. While in diplomatic work, Cantemir made an extensive circle of acquaintances.
Among his new friends were representatives of science, the most famous of which was the famous Turkishscientist Saadi Effendi, and ambassadors of many European states. He became close to the Russian envoy Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, acquaintance with whom had far-reaching consequences.
Secret treaty with the Russian Tsar
In 1710, when the war between Russia and Turkey broke out, Cantemir, having received the Moldavian principality from the Turkish government, was obliged to participate in hostilities. However, secretly hating the enslavers of his homeland and relying on Russian bayonets, he made contact with the Russian government in advance, using his new acquaintance, Count Tolstoy, for this.
The Turkish authorities, pinning great hopes on Cantemir, without doubting his loy alty, instruct him to prepare the Moldovan army for war with Russia. Dmitry's duties include the construction of bridges and crossings across the Danube, as well as providing winter quarters for the Swedes who survived the disastrous Battle of Poltava for them, ready to take revenge for their past defeat. To complete the mission, he was obliged to secretly spy on his former political opponent Brynkoveanu, whom the Sultan suspected of treason.
While in 1711 in Slutsk, one of the largest cities in Western Ukraine, Prince Dmitry Kantemir, with the assistance of Count P. A. Tolstoy, sent his envoy Stefan Luka to St. Petersburg, who was instructed to conduct secret negotiations with Peter I and conclude an unspoken alliance with him on joint actions against the Turks.
A treaty that was not destined to come true
From thistime, close cooperation between Cantemir and the Russian monarch begins. In the same year, 1711, he takes an active part in the drafting of an agreement that provided for the voluntary entry of Moldova under the jurisdiction of Russia on the basis of autonomy. One of the seventeen points of this document, he personally, Dmitry Cantemir, was declared the monarch, with the right to transfer power to his direct heirs. At the same time, all the privileges of the boyars remained inviolable.
The most important point of this agreement was the return to Moldova of all the territories occupied by the Port, and the abolition of the Turkish tribute. The implementation of the agreement meant the end of the Ottoman yoke. This met with enthusiastic support in all sectors of Moldovan society and provided Cantemir with nationwide support.
Prut Treaty
However, such rosy plans were not destined to come true. To liberate the Moldavian lands in 1711, the thirty-eight thousandth Russian army set out on a campaign led by Count Sheremetyev. Throughout all the hostilities, Peter I was personally present at the headquarters of the commander in chief.
This campaign, which went down in history as Prut by the name of the river, where there was a general battle with a hundred and twenty thousandth enemy army, was unsuccessful for the Russians. To avoid defeat from the superior forces of the Turkish army, Peter I signed a peace treaty, according to which Russia lost the previously conquered Azov and a significant part of the coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. Thus, Moldova still remained under Turkish rule.
Moving to Moscow and royal favors
Of course, after all that had happened, the return to their homeland for all Moldovans who served under Russian banners was out of the question. A thousand boyars arrived in Moscow, where they were given a very cordial welcome. Cantemir also came with them. Dmitry Konstantinovich was awarded the title of count with the right to be called "lordship" for his loy alty to Russia.
Besides this, he was granted a solid pension, and was granted extensive land in the current Oryol province. The settlements of Dimitrovka and Kantemirovka located on their territory have survived to this day. The first of them acquired the status of a city with a population of five and a half thousand people, and the second became an urban-type settlement. To top it off, Cantemir, as the ruler of all the Moldavian immigrants who arrived with him, received the right to dispose of their lives as he saw fit.
European recognition of scientific works
In 1713, the wife of Dmitry Kantemir, Cassandra Kontakuzin, died. After her death, he continued to live in Moscow, maintaining contact with the most advanced people of that time. Among them, the most famous were the founder of the Latin-Greek Academy Feofan Prokopovich, V. N. Tatishchev, princes A. M. Cherkassky, I. Yu. Trubetskoy, the outstanding statesman B. P. Sheremetiev. As a personal secretary and educator of children, he invited the famous writer and playwright I. I. Ilyinsky.
By that time, many scientific works created by Dmitry Kantemir over the years of his wanderings had gained European fame. Description of Moldova and Turkey,works on linguistics and philosophy brought him universal fame. The Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1714 accepted him into its ranks as an honorary member. Of course, Russian scientists also paid tribute to the merits of their colleague.
Second marriage, moving to the banks of the Neva
In 1719, a significant event takes place in his life - he enters into a new marriage. This time, Princess A. I. Trubetskaya becomes his chosen one. During the wedding ceremony, Tsar Peter I personally held the crown over the groom's head. It is hard to imagine a great honor for a subject of the Russian monarch. At the end of the celebrations, Dmitry Kantemir and his family moved to St. Petersburg, where he occupied a prominent state post of adviser to Peter I on the affairs of the East. Here he is among those closest to the king.
When in 1722 the sovereign undertook his famous Persian campaign, Dmitry Konstantinovich was next to him as head of the state chancellery. On his initiative, a printing house appeared, where materials were printed in Arabic. This made it possible to compose and distribute the emperor's appeal to the peoples inhabiting Persia and the Caucasus.
Scientific works and the evolution of philosophical views
Even in wartime conditions, Cantemir, like many Russian scientists who found themselves in similar circumstances, did not stop his scientific work. During these years, a number of historical, geographical and philosophical works came out from under his pen. As a tireless archaeologist, he studied the ancient monuments of Dagestan and Derbent. By that time, his views on the main questions of the universe had undergone a significant evolution. A former theological idealist, over the years he became a rationalist, and in many cases even a spontaneous materialist.
So, for example, in his writings he argued that the whole world, visible and invisible, leads its development on the basis of objective laws predetermined by the Creator. However, the power of scientific thought is able to study them and direct world progress in the right direction for people. Among the historical works of Cantemir, the leading place is occupied by works on the history of Porta and his native Moldova.
The end of a colorful life
Dmitry Kantemir, whose biography is inextricably linked with the era of Peter the Great's transformations and reforms, passed away on September 1, 1723. He spent the last period of his life in the Dimitrovka estate granted to him by the sovereign. The ashes of the faithful companion of Peter I were buried in Moscow within the walls of the New Greek Monastery, and in the thirties of the XX century they were transported to Romania, to the city of Iasi.
Daughter of the Moldavian ruler
In one of the subsequent eras, during the reign of Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Cantemir from her second marriage, Katerina Golitsyna, who was born in 1720, became widely known. She received this surname when in 1751 she married an officer of the Izmailovsky regiment Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn. After the wedding, she was promoted by the empress, who favored her, to the real state ladies.
Possessing a significant fortune and traveling a lot, Katerina Golitsyna spentseveral years in Paris, where she enjoyed extraordinary success in high society and at court. Her salon was one of the most fashionable in the French capital. When her husband was appointed Russian ambassador to Paris, she became a real star.
Her life ended in 1761 due to illness. Dmitry Mikhailovich was very upset by the death of his beloved wife. Having outlived her for almost thirty years, in the decline of his days he bequeathed to build a hospital for the poor in memory of his wife. This desire was fulfilled, and the Golitsyn Hospital, which became part of the First City Hospital at the beginning of the 20th century, became a kind of monument to the beloved woman.
Palace on the Neva embankment
The majestic building that adorns the Palace Embankment in St. Petersburg reminds posterity of Dmitry Kantemir himself. This is the former palace of Dmitry Kantemir. Erected in the twenties of the 18th century, it is the first building built in the northern capital by the outstanding Italian architect B. F. Rastrelli. You can see his photo above. However, the Moldavian ruler himself did not have a chance to live in it. He passed away while the palace was still being finished, but his name is forever associated with this masterpiece of architecture.
