Love drives the world even more than money or lust for power. Love stories are lyrical and dramatic, sometimes tragic. They always excite and attract historians, writers, especially if these are the relations of the great and famous, those who have glorified their name through the ages. Princess Cantemir and Peter I - what brought them into each other's arms? Twenty-year-old Maria became the last, therefore, the most passionate love of the great sovereign, who was almost 50 at the time of their acquaintance. Who is she, this mysterious Moldavian princess?
The glorious family of Kantemirov
Princess Cantemir is a representative of an ancient and noble family, whose history is unique in that all generations have left their mark on the development of Moldova and Russia.
The Cantemirs are the descendants of an Ottoman ancestor who, back in 1540, settled down on Moldovan soil, converted to Christianity and started a family. "Khan Temir" - this is how some historians interpret the origin of this surname. Like it or not, the Ottoman genes turned out to be strong, and he can be proud of his descendants. The son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the first Cantemir occupied places of honor in the hierarchical ladder of the Moldovan administration. BUTMary was destined to fulfill the dream of the Ottomans and “take Moscow”, only in her own way, in a feminine way…
Dmitry Kantemir
Among the well-known personalities in world history, there are outstanding scientists or politicians. The son of the ruler Konstantin Cantemir the Old, Dmitry, that rare case when nature managed to combine two opposite inclinations in one person. Sent to Constantinople as a hostage, fourteen-year-old Dmitry used his position to quench his thirst for knowledge. Kantemir owns a number of scientific works on the history of the Ottoman Empire, descriptions of its customs, life and customs.
Here, in Constantinople, fate brought him together with the namesake of the Russian emperor and Russian envoy Peter Alekseevich Tolstoy, who later played an important role in his fate. Peter and Princess Cantemir also experienced his ability to weave intrigues and please everyone.
Dmitry returned to his homeland as the appointed ruler of Moldova. In this capacity, he began the struggle for the liberation of the homeland from the Ottoman yoke. An unsuccessful campaign, friendship with Peter became the reason that the Kantemirov family ended up in Russia. Here he continued his scientific work and became an adviser to the king.
Cassandra Cantacuzene
Kantemir chose the Greek beauty Kassandra as his wife, who managed to become exactly the wife who is invisible in society. They influence the course of history, gradually entering the course of the husband's affairs, supporting him in everything and guiding him in the right direction. Cassandra bore her husband seven children: five sons and two daughters. Princess Maria Kantemir, whose biography is closely connected with the life of the mighty Russian Tsar, was the eldest daughter in this family.
All the difficulties that fell to the lot of the devoted wife of Cassandra: the guardianship of the family, the need to leave their homeland, worries about the life of her husband and children were not in vain. She became seriously ill and died a year after arriving in Russia. She was only 32 at the time.
The second wife of Dmitry Kantemir was a socialite, a brilliant beauty Anastasia Trubetskaya, the same age as Maria.
Mysterious Princess
Almost from the first days of her life, Maria lived in Turkey, the Greek Asdi Kandaidi was appointed her tutor and teacher. A black monk, an adherent of arcane magic, a researcher of the mystical secrets of Tamerlane, instilled his passion in his pupil. The fate of Princess Cantemir is shrouded in mystery and legends.
One of them says that the soul of her distant ancestor moved into Mary, who constantly struggled with the feminine essence of the princess. The stories of the enthusiastic monk so impressed the receptive nature of the girl that she spent days in the ancient library of Khan Temir for magic books, studied secret signs and spells. Her favorite subjects were astronomy and history.
One day, a scorched Sign of Tamerlane appeared on Mary's palm - three rings connected together. They say that since then the girl was fluent in Turkic and Persian, sometimes in her dreams she raved about the conquest of Moscow. This was manifested by Tamerlane. But the feminine essencewon, the fate of Princess Maria Cantemir prepared for her another appointment - to strike the heart of the king and give him her own.
Cantemirs in Russia
So, after the unsuccessful operation to annex Moldavia to the Russian Empire, the ruler's family was under threat of destruction. Peter the Great showed nobility and gave his ally every support. Kantemir received land in Kharkov, the Black Dirt estate near Moscow, and the title of prince. It was then that for the first time the Moldavian princess Maria Cantemir saw Tsar Peter Alekseevich. This acquaintance was fleeting: Mary was 11 years old, and Peter was just having an affair with Marta Skavronskaya, the future Empress Catherine I. Princess Kantemir and Peter 1 met a second time after several years, when the smart, enlightened, brilliant Mary captivated the already elderly sovereign in earnest.
Loving Peter
Biographers of Peter the Great characterize his temper as quick-tempered, firm and resolute. This is how a reformer tsar should be, who challenged the foundations of the then society, who became the author of so many innovations, the founder of the city on the Neva. His violent temper and hot blood could not but affect relations with women. The king's love was hot, passion ignited quickly, and also quickly subsided. He parted with the favorites that had bothered him in different ways: some were tonsured to the monastery, others were married to courtiers, and others were waiting for death - the king did not forgive betrayals. Anna Mons, Varvara Arsenyeva, Maria Hamilton, Maria Rumyantseva, AvdotyaChernyshova - these ladies went down in history as the most famous mistresses of Peter. Maria, the young princess Cantemir, completed this list.
Peter and Catherine
The daughter of a B altic peasant, Count Menshikov's servant Marta Skavronskaya liked the temperamental tsar so much that after the first meeting he no longer parted with her. After an unsuccessful Prussian campaign for him and Kantemir, sending his first wife Evdokia Lopukhina to a monastery, Peter marries Marta, who was baptized and took the name Catherine. The new Tsarina Catherine, with all her virtues, had one drawback - her love of love extended not only to her husband. In addition, Catherine was never able to give birth to a he althy heir to the throne. Although Peter stopped all gossip about the absence of a successor, he noticeably cooled off towards his wife, and then there was constant communication with the educated and charming Mary. Obsessed with a thirst for knowledge and a craving for everything new, Peter admired her deep knowledge and education. Princess Cantemir and Peter 1 became so close that rumors spread around Moscow about a possible replacement of the queen.
Unfulfilled hopes
The tsar's multiple short-lived and more protracted relationships did not really worry his lawful wife, who herself was not averse to relaxing on the side, but her relationship with Mary seriously worried her. Princess Cantemir was expecting a child. Catherine was frightened in earnest by the reports of the trusted Count Tolstoy (who, however, was considered a confidant of Peter and Mary, but in factbuilt intrigues only in their favor). The born son of the princess will be declared the heir, and Maria herself will be the new Russian queen. Remembering the fate of her predecessor, Catherine began to take action. The head of the tsar's secret service, Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, did not want to quarrel with the tsarina because of another, as it was believed, whim of the sovereign. Everything turned out as well as possible for the intriguers, and worse for Maria. Due to poor he alth, she could not accompany Peter on his Persian campaign, and this was done, of course, by her legal wife. Meanwhile, the princess was courted by palace doctors who were subordinate to Tolstoy. The result of such "treatments" was that the birth began prematurely, and the child was born dead. According to other sources, the boy was alive, but did not live long. Maria Dmitrievna herself became seriously ill and left for her father's estate. Soon Dmitry Konstantinovich died.
Last rush
Catherine celebrated the victory: after a difficult Persian campaign, where she shared all the hardships and hardships with the sovereign, she became the crowned empress. But trouble happened: the king found out about her connection with the chamberlain Mons, who was soon executed. Peter the Great and Princess Maria Cantemir meet again. And a stormy romance flares up with new passion, but … death overtook the sovereign. The tragic death infuriated the impressionable lady. Maria fell seriously ill again and fell ill so seriously that she even made a will in favor of her younger brother Antiochus, with whom she was especially friendly. The disease is gone, lifecontinued, but without love lost interest. How strong Mary's feeling for Peter was can be judged by the fact that she never got married, although she was still young and repeatedly received marriage proposals from respectable gentlemen.
Life without him
It is clear that Empress Catherine did not delight in her husband's passion, during her reign the princess was in disfavor and was rejected from the court. Friendship with the royal special of the Romanov family, Anna Ioannovna, returned the former location and status of the maid of honor. Maria Dmitrievna led a secular life in Moscow, attended receptions and arranged them in her house. At one time, the princess was even close to the decision to take a haircut in the monastery, which she wanted to build with her own money. Brother Sergei answered. Nevertheless, Maria did not refuse the idea of building charitable institutions. With her help, the Church of St. Magdalene was erected in the estate in Ulitino (Maryino), where she was buried after her death.
Truth and fiction
The story of Princess Cantemir and her entire family is so full of events that it could not become the basis of literary works. All members of the family are bright personalities about whom separate stories can be written, especially since a line of historical events in Russia runs through their destinies. Unfortunately, the more time separates our era from those times, the more the exact facts are distorted under the influence of the personal opinion of each researcher, not to mention the imagination of writers and filmmakers. Archival documents, letters are not alwaysinterpreted reliably, the absence of a photo does not give a true conclusion about the appearance. Majestic portraits created by court painters often embellished the heroes.
Be that as it may, there was a love story, and let everyone draw it by virtue of their imagination.
