Everyone knows that Tsar Peter the Great had a “Arap” at court. This is written in textbooks of literature, which says that the great Pushkin is the successor of the family precisely along his line. In addition, the poet immortalized the name of his amazing ancestor by writing a story of the same name called "Arap of Peter the Great." His name was Ibrahim Hannibal.
Biography
When the nineteenth son appeared in the family of the Abyssinian prince in 1697, no one even imagined what an amazing fate life had in store for him. As a child, the boy was sent to Constantinople, to the court of the Turkish Sultan, as a hostage to the loy alty of his tribe. There, the future Russian military engineer Hannibal Abram Petrovich was an acolyte in the seraglio. Historians consider this version the most plausible. Although historians and ethnographers are still arguing about the more accurate origin of Peter's "Arap", known as Ibrahim Gannibal. Even the writer V. Nabokov was looking for the true homeland of the great grandfather of the great Pushkin. It is hesuggested that Hannibal Abram Petrovich, whose brief biography is just a legend invented by him, by chance achieved ranks and positions in society in Russia. Having reached a certain place at the court, the “Arap” came up with a more noble genealogical tree for himself. Although, in fact, Ibrahim Hannibal was the most ordinary and rootless boy, who, having been stolen in Cameroon, the slave traders brought to Turkey, where they sold him to the Sultan in a seraglio.
Russia is a second homeland
According to another version, it was at this time that Tsar Peter, who was a great lover of all sorts of curiosities, decided to replenish his collection in a very original way. At that time, the fashion for "Arapchonki" was in full swing in Europe. Black handsome boys, dressed in richly embroidered suits, served the nobility at almost every ball or feast of nobles and even kings. That is why Peter, too, began to demand that they find a "black girl" for him. This task in the court was entrusted to the Russian envoy in Constantinople. He set in motion all the connections that he had at the Turkish court. And so Ibrahim Hannibal was redeemed, whose biography has changed dramatically since that moment.
Moving to the Russian Court
Thus began another journey of a little black boy to St. Petersburg, far and cold for a resident of a hot country. Peter liked the wanderer first of all with his lively mind, the king appreciated both his quickness and "a penchant for different sciences." Having matured a little, Ibrahim Hannibal began to play not only the role of a servant andvalet of the Russian emperor, but even his secretary. Until 1716, the black man, being inseparable from the tsar, gradually became his favorite, and this despite the fact that there were many other black servants at the Russian court.
New life
It was not for nothing that Peter I was considered the Great. He was wise in almost everything, even in his manifestations of eccentricity. Noticing intelligence and great diligence in the “Arapchonka”, the emperor decides to send his matured secretary to Paris to study military affairs. At that time, on the orders of Peter, quite a lot of boyar or noble children were sent to Europe - "undersized" who, not wanting to learn anything, often did not do anything other than "polites" or gluttony in overseas countries. Ibrahim Hannibal was sent to Europe by Peter as if in mockery of these noble loafers. The king wanted to prove to them that zeal and diligence in the sciences, even from such an African savage, could make an educated person - a statesman.
And Peter was not mistaken: the young "black boy" justified the hopes of his godfather. From now on, his name was Hannibal Abram Petrovich. The date of birth of the new-found godson of the emperor in all documents is noted conditionally - 1697. He received the patronymic "Petrovich" after Peter I, who personally baptized him. At the Russian court, the “Arapchonok”, having adopted the Christian faith, received the biblical name - Abram, and Hannibal left the surname in honor of the winner of the Romans and the famous Carthaginian commander. In all this, historians saw another Peter's wisdom: the sovereign wanted his young favorite to do great things.
Training
From Russia, Hannibal Abram Petrovich, whose biography has changed dramatically since that time, left with a letter of recommendation from Peter I personally to Duke De Men. The latter was a relative of Louis XV and commanded all of the royal artillery. The emperor was not mistaken in his godson. The young man stubbornly studied mathematics and engineering, studied ballistics and fortification. He completed his military education with the rank of artillery captain. His "practice" took place in the Spanish war, where he showed remarkable courage and was even wounded.
Career start
This approach to learning was exactly what the Russian Tsar wanted in pets. Peter demanded his pet back to Russia, but Ibrahim Gannibal, unexpectedly for everyone, was “stuck” in Paris. The city of love and comfort has deeply lured him into the net. Moreover, a married middle-aged countess "laid her eye" on the stately black handsome man. She seduced Ibrahim, a stormy romance began between them, which greatly surprised many in Parisian society. Moreover, the story almost ended in scandal. The Countess, having become pregnant, gave birth. And, as expected, a black child was born. The scandal was hushed up, albeit with difficulty. The real husband, the count, who did not suspect anything about his wife's betrayal, was sent away for the time of childbirth, and instead of a black one, they put a white one bought from some poor family in the cradle. The real baby was transferred “in safe hands” for education.
Black man mystery"Arapchonka"
Where did he come from, the mysterious Ibrahim Hannibal? What was the life of a man who appeared so unexpectedly in the history of Russia really like? It must be said that it is not at all the way director Mitta described it in his film. What did Hannibal Abram Petrovich really look like? For obvious reasons, his photo does not exist, but in the Paris National Museum there is a portrait, which is often attributed to the young godson of Great Peter. In general, the personality is shrouded in numerous mysteries. Let's start with the fact that the artist who created the portrait was born seventeen years after the death of Ibrahim, so he could not see the original.
Besides, no one knows what happened to the first-born of the royal godson, whom the countess gave birth to. Although Pushkin collected information about his amazing ancestor with great care, he recorded everything from the words of his relatives. Therefore, it is impossible to say for certain whether it was a child or whether it was an invention of Alexander Sergeevich. One thing is for sure, Ibragim Petrovich was not red tape and did not chase skirts. He was more concerned about his career and serving the royal throne.
Ups and downs
Returning to Russia, treated kindly by Peter, the young man devoted himself entirely to his service. He continued it after the death of the godfather. In total, Ibrahim Hannibal survived as many as seven Russian emperors and empresses. He no longer had to fight. Throughout his life, Peter's godson built docks, fortresses and arsenals, carried out fortification work in many famous buildings of both the Peter the Great and the post-Petrine era, including in Kronstadt and the Peter and Paulfortresses.
During his life, Hannibal Abram Petrovich, whose descendants are still collecting materials about him, saw disgrace and even a short exile to Siberia. But he continued to build at a distance from the court. And when he returned from exile, he again managed to gain rank and we alth. Peter's godson reached the peak of his career under Empress Elizabeth. In 1759 he was awarded the highest military rank of General-in-Chief and the Alexander Ribbon on his chest. Since that time, he began to head the engineering corps under the emperor. Hannibal Abram Petrovich received such a high assessment of his merits from the Empress.
Family
His personal life was far from smooth and even. Alien to frivolous connections, he approached marriage as a practical necessity - with the aim of procreation. When Ibrahim Hannibal was married for the first time in 1731, Peter was no longer with him. The first choice of the arap was the Greek woman Dioper, the daughter of the captain of the galley fleet. The father himself betrothed Evdokia for him: although the groom was black, he was rich in ranks. But Hannibal Abram Petrovich did not rejoice at family happiness for long. His wife loved someone else. She went down the aisle against her will, on the orders of her father. The chosen one of her heart was Lieutenant Kaisarovich, whom she loved madly. In marriage, she was unhappy and, as best she could, took revenge on her black husband. Soon Hannibal, having received the "highest" appointment, moved with his family to the city of Pernov. The meetings of Evdokia and Kaisarovich involuntarily stopped, but she quickly found a new lover - a young conductorYakov Shishkov. And soon his wife became pregnant. Hannibal was looking forward to his son, but a white girl was born. And although this also happens in mixed marriages, the husband nevertheless became furious. He severely beat his wife. Moreover, the offended Ibrahim did not limit himself to this: he achieved the imprisonment of the traitor in the dungeons. Evdokia ended her life in a monastery.
Ibrahim was not alone for long. Soon he was married to a new bride. This time it was the German Christina von Schaberg. Being the daughter of an officer of the Pernovsky regiment, she is considered the great-grandmother of Pushkin, a poet in whom African, Russian and German blood was mixed. In 1736, Ibrahim Hannibal officially married for the second time. However, he still could not get a divorce from Evdokia, so for several years Ibragim Petrovich was a bigamist. And only his high position made it possible to avoid scandal and, of course, the troubles associated with it. He finally managed to get a divorce from Evdokia only seventeen years later - in 1753.
Descendants
The marriage of Ibrahim with Christina turned out to be extremely strong and fruitful. They had four daughters and five sons. Hannibal Abram Petrovich, whose children were either black or very swarthy, was happy in his second marriage. But already the second generation - grandchildren - slowly acquired European skin color and German facial features. In general, a mixture of burning African and cold German blood gave amazing results. Among the descendants of Hannibal were blue-eyed or blond, and black-eyed orblacks. One of his sons - Osip - served in the Navy. He married the daughter of the Tambov governor. From this marriage, a charming daughter was born - Nadezhda, who was nicknamed "the beautiful Creole" in the world. She had dark hair and eyes and yellow palms, a sign of African genes. In 1796, the "beautiful Creole" married a modest lieutenant of the Izmailovsky regiment, Sergei Lvovich Pushkin, and in 1799 they had a son, Alexander Sergeyevich, the future great poet, whose grandfather was Hannibal Abram Petrovich.
Interesting facts
The great contribution of Peter's godson to the development of potato growing in our country is known. The first beds with potatoes, as you know, appeared in Russia under the first Emperor. Peter the Great grew this crop in Strelna, hoping to use it as a medicinal plant. Catherine II, having decided that the “earth apple” could be used in the famine years, instructed Hannibal, who was well acquainted with this plant, to try to cultivate potatoes on his estate. The estate "Suyda", which belonged to Ibragim, became the first place on Russian soil, where for the first time small, and then vast fields sown with this culture appeared for the first time. Ibrahim Hannibal wrote memoirs, and in French, but at the end of his life he destroyed them.
Unusual was his attitude towards the serfs. In 1743, when he leased part of his village called Ragola to von Tieren, he included in the contract several clauses that were surprising for that time, for example, prohibiting corporal punishment against peasants, increasingpreviously established norms of corvée, etc. And when the professor violated them, Hannibal terminated the agreement in court. The process caused bewilderment among the local landowners, who, according to their concepts, should have recognized von Tieren as guilty, who, according to local laws, was not considered as such. Abram Hannibal managed to win this process, although in fact it was the Estonian peasants who did it. For the first time in the history of serfdom in Russia, a landowner was brought to trial for punishing and flogging peasants, not observing the established norms of corvée.
Until now in the biography of Hannibal there is a lot of unexplained. The traditional version of his origin and place of birth connected the homeland of the Arap Peter with Abyssinia - the north of Ethiopia. But recent studies conducted by a graduate of the Sorbonne Slavist Dieudonne Gnammank, author of the book "Abram Hannibal", identify his homeland as the border of modern Chad and Cameroon. It was once home to the Logon Sultanate of the Kotoko people. And it was the descendant of this civilization, according to the author, that Hannibal was.
End of life
Most of the descendants of Peter's godson of the first and second generations are centenarians. The founder of this high-profile family died at the age of eighty-five, two months after the death of his faithful wife Christina. He, having retired in 1761, spent the rest of his life in one of the many estates in complete seclusion.
