At the end of January 1722, Peter I adopted a document known as the “Table of Ranks”. It was a list of court ranks for women, modeled after the French and German imperial courts.
Retinue of Empress Catherine I
In the service of the Empress there were four chamber junkers and the same number of ladies-in-waiting. The duty of the first included monitoring the state of affairs in villages and villages, which were granted to the empress by her husband Peter I. In addition, the chamber junkers also monitored the state of the monasteries, which were under the patronage of the empress herself. In fact, these trusted persons were the rulers, with the right to buy and sell land. They also recruited people for the service and assigned them a salary, resolved disputes between their subordinates, awarded them awards or assigned material assistance, etc.
The duties of Ekaterina Alekseevna's ladies-in-waiting were not prescribed anywhere, but all the burden of daily service fell on their shoulders. Their main concern was to follow their mistress everywhere and carry out all her orders. The ladies-in-waiting of the Empress accompanied her during her walk, entertained those who came toher guests, looked after her wardrobe and had many other duties.
Eligible positions
In most cases, the lady of the court was a representative of a noble noble family. Knowledge and impeccable observance of etiquette, as well as the ability to draw, needlework and singing - these are the main requirements that were placed on applicants for the position of maid of honor. They could leave their place either of their own free will or by getting married. However, there were exceptions to the rule. Two maids of honor of Catherine I were punished: one was exiled to Siberia, and the other was executed.
Initially, the female court hierarchy consisted of four main ranks, which included maids of honor, ladies of state, maid of honor and chief lords. Over time, the list of positions expanded until it acquired its final form under Emperor Paul I. It is worth noting that the competition for filling vacant positions with a good salary was quite tough. Therefore, there was a kind of unspoken queue.
The main cracker of the imperial couple
Princess Nastasya Petrovna Prozorovskaya has been close to the court since childhood. In 1684, she married Ivan Alekseevich, the younger brother of Boris Golitsyn, who was engaged in raising the young Peter. The best friend of the future empress was none other than Nastasya Golitsyna. Catherine during her wedding even allowed her to sit at the same table with the bride. Since 1714, Nastasya Petrovna participated in all the amusements of Peter and was a member of the so-calledThe All-Intoxicating Cathedral, where she bore the title of Prince-Abbess. She drank a lot and constantly joked, as she had a good sense of humor and was extremely intemperate with her tongue.
In 1718, she suddenly fell into disgrace and was hastily sent to Moscow for interrogation in the case of Tsarevich Alexei. She was found guilty of failing to convey the seditious words spoken by the defiant Demid. For this, Nastasya Golitsyna was to be exiled to the Spinning Yard, but the punishment was changed to a flogging. She was beaten with batogs in public, and then sent home to her husband. However, four years later, her guilt was forgotten, and the sharp-tongued Golitsyna returned to the court again. Catherine almost immediately promoted her to a new position, making her the first state lady in Russia. And as a sign of her high position, Golitsyna wore a portrait of Peter on a blue ribbon adorned with diamonds on her left shoulder. In 1725, she married her eldest son to a cousin of the emperor himself, thus becoming related to the monarchs. A few days after Catherine's death, she was retired.
The fate of Anna Golovkina (Bestuzheva-Ryumina)
By birth, this court lady was as close as possible to the royal environment, since her father held the position of State Chancellor. In October 1723, with the participation of Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna and Peter I, Anna Gavrilovna Golovkina was married to Count Pavel Yaguzhinsky, Prosecutor General of the Senate. Two years later she was appointed a lady of state. All this time she was a faithful wife and a good helper to her husband, but afterShe was widowed for 11 years.
In 1742, Mikhail Gavrilovich, brother of Anna Gavrilovna, was accused of high treason, tried and sentenced to death. Soon, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, by her decree, changed the measure of his punishment to exile in Siberia for an eternal settlement. In May of the following year, Anna Gavrilovna's wedding took place with Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin, a well-known diplomat and brother of the then Vice-Chancellor Alexei Bestuzhev. It has only been a few months since she became embroiled in a "parlor conspiracy" against the reigning empress.
Death of the disgraced Hoff-maid of honor
It all started with a conversation between Lieutenant Berger and Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lopukhin. It was about dissatisfaction with the methods of government, which was carried out by Elizaveta Petrovna. These seditious conversations served as a pretext for writing a denunciation and submitting it to the Secret Chancellery. Lopukhin was arrested, and during the interrogation with passion, he slandered several innocent people, including his mother and Anna Bestuzheva. The latter did not admit her guilt, so in mid-August the princess was publicly punished by being raised on the rack, but she did not give new evidence.
The Lopukhins and Anna Bestuzheva were sentenced to be wheeled and their tongues cut out. However, the empress commuted the punishment and instead of the death pen alty sent everyone to a settlement in Yakutsk. Anna Bestuzheva died at the age of about fifty and was buried at the local church cemetery near the Mother of God Church.
The Tragedy of Mary Hamilton
Probably the mostA significant lady-in-waiting of Catherine I was a chamber frau, who was in charge of the Empress's wardrobe and served her when dressing. For this position, Peter ordered to find a girl of German blood, as he wanted her to be well versed in European women's outfits. However, it was Maria Danilovna Hamilton, a court lady with Scottish roots. The founder of this clan was Thomas Hamilton, who settled in Russia under Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
Appearing at court in 1713, Maria, due to her beauty, immediately attracted the attention of Peter I. However, their relationship was short-lived, and the monarch quickly lost interest in her. Then she seduced Ivan Orlov, who served at the court as a batman, with whom she soon fell in love with no memory. She gave him expensive gifts, including those things that she could steal from the Empress herself. And he beat her and cheated on her with a certain Avdotya Chernysheva, who also served at court.
Severe punishment
Several times Maria became pregnant from Orlov and, in order to get rid of the child, she drank some medicines that were supplied by her court doctors. And in 1717, according to her maid, she secretly gave birth to a child and drowned him in a basin. Tsar Peter soon found out about this. The court lady was captured, interrogated, and since she admitted her guilt, she was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. By the way, she was one of the first prisoners of the newly rebuilt prison.
In mid-March 1718, Maria Hamilton was beheaded on Trinity Square. According to legend, the emperor raised the severed head and kissed it on the forehead.lips.
The maid of honor-favorite of Peter I
Varvara Arsenyeva was the younger sister of Darya Mikhailovna, the wife of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, an associate and favorite of the emperor. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, she was not distinguished by beauty, but she was unusually smart and educated. She owed the last to her sister's husband, since Alexander Danilovich hoped to make her queen. In the Menshikov Palace, she even had her own rooms, which were called Barbarian Chambers. For a while, Peter I had a love affair with the younger Arsenyeva, he even gave her several villages.
After the death of the monarch, Menshikov, being in the retinue of Catherine I, almost single-handedly ruled the country for about two years. Upon the accession to the throne of the new Emperor Peter II, he received the rank of admiral and the title of generalissimo. In addition, his daughter Mary became engaged to the young monarch. But he had many ill-wishers, so, in spite of everything, he quickly lost his influence and fell out of favor. Soon Menshikov went into exile with his wife, and Varvara Arsenyeva was sent to the Dormition Monastery. She longed to be freed from her imprisonment and wrote letters to the most powerful court ladies asking them to put in a good word for her.
In the spring of 1728, the situation of the Menshikovs worsened even more, which could not but affect Varvara. She was transferred to the Goritsky nunnery, where she was tonsured a nun. Unable to bear such misfortune, she died a year later.
For two centuries, most families have sought to buildtheir daughters to the court, the girls themselves dreamed about it. In fact, it turned out that such a way of life is rather boring and monotonous. Imperial everyday life was replaced by luxurious balls and solemn receptions, and such a whirlwind could continue for the rest of his life, since some of the ladies-in-waiting never married. Most often, these elderly ladies became the tutors of the imperial offspring.
