The life story of Peter the Great's wife Evdokia Lopukhina is of great interest to history buffs due to its mystery, ambiguity and tragedy. She was the first and not too beloved wife of Peter l and the last Russian tsarina, while all subsequent spouses of Russian emperors were foreigners.
Origins and family
Despite the fact that you can often find information that the wife of Peter the Great Evdokia Lopukhin was a noble boyar family, it is not entirely reliable. The fact is that the father of the future tsarina really was the son of a duma nobleman, but the family received the boyar title only after the wedding of Evdokia with Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich.
Illarion Lopukhin, the father of the future queen, made a prominent career at the royal court. He served as a solicitor, and as a head of the archers, and as a steward, and even as a roundabout. However, after his daughter fell out of favor with the sovereign, his career ended abruptly, like his sons.
In general, the history of this familysaw not only a colossal rise at the end of the seventeenth century from a seedy noble family to the pinnacle of power, but also a tragic fall, which not all family members of Evdokia Feodorovna Lopukhina managed to survive.
Choosing as a bride
The political situation in Russia at the end of the 15th century was extremely unstable. Numerous boyar clans were dissatisfied with Princess Sophia and were preparing for the coming to power of a new tsar, who was about to grow up and reach adulthood.
In such a situation, the mother of Pyotr Alekseevich, nee Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, in a hurry began to look for a convenient bride for her beloved son. The choice fell on a representative of the fading and poor family of the Lopukhins, who, nevertheless, was distinguished by its large number and was able, if necessary, to protect her Peter from enemies. The bride for the prince was Praskovya Illarionovna Lopukhina, who changed her name after the wedding to Evdokia Fedorovna.
Following her daughter's wedding, her father received a boyar title, and the brothers received high positions at court, which later cost them dearly.
First years of marriage
Marriage allowed Pyotr Alekseevich to change his status and remove Princess Sophia, since traditionally in Russia it was believed that after marriage a young man became a man and an adult.
The young queen was immediately entrusted with the responsibility of giving birth to heirs. It is believed that in the first three years EvdokiaLopukhina gave birth to three children, two of whom died in infancy. Some researchers, however, doubt the existence of one child and believe that there were two of them. Only one of them was destined to grow up, but his fate was sad. Tsarevich Alexei died at the hands of his own father, who accused him of plotting and attempting to organize a Polish-Swedish intervention in Russia.
The first years of the life of the royal couple are known from the memoirs of Boris Ivanovich Kurakin, who was the husband of the sister of Empress Evdokia Lopukhina. He came from a noble family of Gedeminoviches and went down in history as the closest associate of Peter I and the first permanent Russian ambassador abroad. This brilliant official served as an example for his followers in the diplomatic field for a century.
Sources about the Queen's family life
In his book "History of Tsar Peter Alekseevich" Kurakin writes that the queen was good-looking, stately, but self-willed, stubborn and conservative. The latter, most likely, played a fatal role in keeping the future emperor away from her.
Kurakin also reports why they did not like Evdokia Lopukhina, speaking about her quarrelsome character. However, it is worth noting here that, despite her willfulness, she was nevertheless brought up in the traditions of Domostroy, therefore, until a certain point, she recognized her husband's right to make fundamentally important decisions.
The first year, as the same Kurakin recalls, Evdokia Lopukhina and the tsar lived in perfect harmony andThey loved each other very much, but soon the situation changed dramatically. Perhaps the reason for this was the acquaintance of Peter the Great with his first favorite - Anna Mons, who went down in history as the Kukui queen. Peter met her through the mediation of Lefort.
The clouds are gathering
While the mother of the young king was alive, he did not show excessive aggression towards his wife, who continued to live in the palace, was called the queen, despite the presence of the king's mistress. However, Natalia Kirillovna herself lost interest in her daughter-in-law for her stubbornness and complacency.
In 1694, the tsar went to Arkhangelsk, but did not maintain correspondence with his wife, although she still lived in the Kremlin. At the same time, her brothers and father fell into disgrace, and the queen herself began to communicate with people who were dissatisfied with the policy of an ambitious ruler. Thus began an irreversible tragic fall, which overshadowed the biography of Evdokia Lopukhina and her immediate family.
Irreversible changes in the relationship of the spouses came in 1697, when Peter was going to the Great Embassy, on the eve of which Lopukhina's father and two brothers were exiled away from Moscow under the pretext of being appointed governor. Already from the embassy, the tsar wrote a letter to his uncle, in which he asked him to persuade his wife to take voluntary vows in a monastery. As expected of the stubborn queen, she refused the offer.
Cut and link
On his return from Europe, Peter was the firstbusiness went to his mistress without visiting his wife. This event, of course, caused Evdokia Lopukhina anxiety, but it was already impossible to change the situation. Soon Peter met his wife in the house of one of the officials and urged her to go to the monastery. She again refused. However, this time Evdokia Lopukhina was escorted to the monastery (Suzdal-Pokrovsky) under escort.
It is believed that initially Peter the Great wanted to execute his wife, but the same Lefort persuaded him to confine himself to exile and monasticism. The monastery, where the queen arrived, traditionally served as a place of exile for disgraced royal wives and mistresses.
Life in a monastery
The queen sent to the monastery did not receive state support and had to ask her relatives to send her funds, buy food and clothes. In this mode, the disgraced queen lived for a year, after which she began to live a worldly life in the monastery.
Soon, through the mediation of the monastery abbot, she had a lover, Major Glebov, who was in charge of recruiting in Suzdal. His fate also turned out to be very tragic, in 1718 he was accused by the emperor of preparing a conspiracy and executed.
After the conspiracy was exposed, Evdokia Lopukhina was transferred first to the Alexander Assumption Monastery, and later to the more severe Ladoga Assumption Monastery. In the latter, she spent seven years under strict surveillance until her ex-husband passed away.
After the death of Peter the Great
Heiress of Peter lbecame Catherine l, who, sensing the danger posed by the former queen, moved her to the Shlisselburg fortress. Soon, however, the grandson of Empress Evdokia Lopukhina, Peter ll, ascended the throne.
After the coronation of her grandson, Evdokia solemnly returned to Moscow, where she first settled in the Ascension Monastery of the Kremlin, and later moved to the Lopukhinsky Chambers of the Novodevichy Convent. All accusatory documents were confiscated and destroyed, and a significant amount of money and a special courtyard were allocated for the maintenance of Lopukhina. At the same time, it had no influence on domestic politics.
According to some reports, Evdokia Lopukhina figured among the potential heirs of Peter ll, but history decreed otherwise. The Empress lived a long, dangerous and tragic life, but she was buried with honor and due respect in 1731 in the Novodevichy Convent. Anna Ioannovna, in favor of whom she gave up power, treated her relative with due respect. Having lost her father, brothers, son and lover due to the Tsar's suspiciousness, Evdokia showed humility and stoicism, and her last words were: "God gave me to know the true price of greatness and earthly happiness."
