Catherine the Great & Potemkin

by Simon Sebag Montefiore

  CHAPTER 1: THE PROVINCIAL BOY

  1 RS (1872) 5 p 463: Istoricheskiye rasskazy i anekdoty zapisannyye so slov imenityh lyudey, P. F. Karabanovym (Karabanov).

  2 Sergei Alexandrovich Medvedev, a descendant of Mikhail Potemkin who lives in Petersburg, is the source for this information – the issues 1998–2000 ‘About the Potemkin Family’, Nobleman’s Assembly.

  3 RGADA 286.413.638–48. Istochnik (1995) no 1 pp 16–25.

  4 Prince Emmanuel Golitsyn, Récit du voyage du Pierre Potemkin: la Russie du xvii siècle dans ses rapports avec l’Europe Occidentale pp xxviii, xxix, xxx, xxxi, 255, 305, 370, 262–3, 253. Ironically Prince Emmanuel Golitsyn was the son of Prince Mikhail and Princess Praskovia Andreevna (née Shuvalova), who was allegedly Prince G. A. Potemkin’s last mistress. See Chapter 33.

  5 RA 1867 Samoilov col 558; RGADA 286.1.253.691, Spisok voennym chinam 1-oy poloviny 18go stoletiya in Senatski Arkhiv (1895) vol 7.

  6 Henri Troyat, Pushkin pp 16–17.

  7 RP 5.22 p 221. Local legend: Victor M. Zheludov, ‘Zhivoie dyhanie istorii’

  8 Local legend: Zheludov. Author’s visit to Chizhova 1998.

  9 RP 5.22 p 221 Karabanov RS 1872 5. p 463 RGADA 286.413.638–48. Istochnik (1995) no 1 pp 16–25. E. Golitsyn pp xxviii, xxix, xxxi, pp. 255, 305, 270, 262, 263, 253.

  10 William Coxe, Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark p 343.

  11 Masson pp 303.

  12 Engelhardt 1863 p 3.

  13 F. F. Wiegel, Zapiski Filipa Filipovich Vigela 1864–6 vol 1 pp 21–2.

  14 Martha Elena married Colonel Vasily A. Engelhardt; Pelageya married Peter E. Vysotsky; Daria married Alexander A. Likachev; Nadezhda died without marrying aged nineteen in 1757; and Maria married Nikolai B. Samoilov.

  15 Isabel de Madariaga, Catherine the Great: A Short History pp 14–15.

  16 I. I. Orlovsky, In the Motherland of His Highness pp 1–20. Local research in Chizhova by author 1998.

  17 Masson pp 303.

  18 L. Zayev, ‘Motherland of Prince Potemkin’, IV (1899) no 2 pp 169–200. Orlovsky p 4. S. N. Shubinsky, Historical Essays and Stories p 144.

  19 Margravine of Anspach (Lady Craven), Journey through the Crimea to Constantinople p 142, 21 February 1786, St Petersburg. Madariaga, CtG: A Short History pp 13–20. E. V. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 43–4 and 75–83. Shcherbatov quoted in Anisimov pp 77–8.

  20 Isabel de Madariaga, Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great pp 79–80.

  21 Anspach, Journey p 142, 21 February 1786 St Petersburg. Madariaga, CtG: A Short History pp 13–20. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 43–4 and 75–83. Shcherbatov quoted in Anisimov pp 77–8.

  22 Waliszewski, Autour d’un trône vol 1 p 43.

  23 Ségur, Mémoires 1859 pp 192–3. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 43–4 and 75–83.

  24 Reginald Pole Carew, ‘Manners and Customs’, Cornwall County Archive, Antony, CO/R/2/3. Ligne, Letters (Staël) p 65, Ligne to Coigny.

  25 Masson p 318. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 43–4 and 75–83. Catherine quoted in Anisimov p 76. Shcherbatov quoted in Anisimov p 77.

  26 John LeDonne, Ruling Russia p 189. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 75–9.

  27 Local research in Chizhova by the author 1998.

  28 Anspach, Journey p 154, 9 March 1786. Ligne, Letters (Staël) p 69, Ligne to Coigny letter IX, 1787.

  29 RS (1875) vols 12–14. M. I. Semevsky, Prince G. A. Potemkin-Tavrichesky p 487. Karabanov p 46.

  30 Semevsky, GAPT pp 486–8. Karabanov p 463. RA (1882) no 2 pp 91–5, papers of Count A. N. Samoilov. Metropolitan Platon to Count A. N. Samoilov 26 February 1792; p 93, GAP to Metropolitan Platon; Priest Antip Matveev to P. V. Lopukhin.

  31 RGADA 286.413.638–48. Istochnik (1995) no 1 pp 16–25.

  32 V. I. Ustinov, ‘Moguchiy velikoross’, VIZ (1991) no 12 p 701.

  33 D. I. von Vizin, Sobraniye sochineniya vol 2 pp 87–93.

  34 N. F. Shahmagonov, Hrani Gospod’ Potemkina pp 8–9.

  35 Semevsky, GAPT pp 486–8. Shahmagonov pp 8–9. B. I. Krasnobaev, Russian Culture in the Second Part of the Eighteenth Century and at the Start of the Nineteenth p 143.

  36 Anspach, Journey p 133, 18 February 1786.

  37 Ségur, Mémoires 1859 p 192.

  38 Memoirs of CtG 1955 p 60. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 216–17.

  39 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 186. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 168–9 and 176–7.

  40 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 124, 150. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 168–9.

  41 Pushkin, Polnoye Sobraniye Sochineniya 8: part one, 1948, s 2 p 42. Gosti s’ekhalis na Dachu.

  42 Marquis de Custine quoted in Weidle p 39. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 26–7 and 144.

  43 L. W. B. Brockliss, ‘Concluding Remarks: The Anatomy of the Minister-Favourite’, in J. H. Elliott and L. W. B. Brockliss (eds), The World of the Favourite pp 278–303.

  44 Shahmagonov pp 8–9.

  45 Adam Czartoryski, Memoirs p 87. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth p 24.

  46 Princess Dashkova, Memoirs vol 1 p 318.

  47 J. Cook, Voyages and Travels through the Russian Empire vol 1 p 42.

  48 Masson p 206. A. S. Pushkin, The Captain’s Daughter p 190.

  49 D. Thiébault, Mes souvenirs de vingt ans séjour à Berlin vol 2 p 78. Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Athens Penguin Classics edn, pp 245–87. Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Penguin Classics edn, pp 375–8, 382–4, 400–87, 544–78, 583–604. Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlon and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, Ancient Greece: A Political, Social and Cultural History p 303.

  50 Semevsky, GAPT pp 488–9. Krasnobaev, p 223.

  51 AAE (Quai d’Orsay) 20: 60, Comte de Langeron.

  52 SIRIO 72: 209–10, Count Solms to FtG 27 July 1772.

  53 Czartoryski p 87. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth p 24.

  54 Mémoires du roi Stanislas-Auguste (SA) vol 1 pp 136–7. CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 240–50.

  CHAPTER 2: THE GUARDSMAN AND THE GRAND DUCHESS: CATHERINE’S COUP

  1 This account of Catherine’s life up to the coup is based on Catherine’s own Memoirs, Anisimov’s Empress Elisabeth, pp 230–45, Madariaga’s Russia pp 1–30 and J. T. Alexander Catherine the Great: Life and Legend pp 17–60.

  2 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 87.

  3 Alexander, CtG pp 32–3.

  4 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 182, 101.

  5 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 114–15, 141. See Chancellor A. Bestuzhev’s instructions to Grand Duke Peter on his rudeness and silliness quoted in Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 234–5. Alexander, CtG pp 42–3.

  6 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 118.

  7 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 196, 200, 161.

  8 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 225.

  9 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 211.

  10 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 301. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 242–3.

  11 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 240. Madariaga, Russia pp 15–37. Alexander, CtG pp 1–4, 55–60.

  12 SA, Mémoires vol 1 p 42.

  13 Derek McKay and H. M. Scott, The Rise of the Great Powers 1648–1815 pp 181–92. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 109–16 and 244–5. Adam Zamoyski, The Last King of Poland pp 54–66.

  14 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 288.

  15 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 307–9.

  16 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 310.

  17 PRO SPF 91/82, Charles, Lord Cathcart 29 December 1769, St Petersburg.

  18 Anspach, Journey p 145, 29 February 1786.

  19 Sabatier, French diplomat, in 1772, quoted in Waliszewski, Autour d’un trône vol 1 p 124.

  20 Baroness Elisabeth Dimsdale, English Lady at the Court of Catherine the Great, ed Anthony Cross p 54, 27 August 1781.

  21 Sir Horace Walpole, 14 November 1775, quote
d in Anthony Cross, By the Banks of the Thames.

  22 Durand de Distroff, French chargé d’affaires, quoted in Waliszewski, Autour d’un trône vol 1 p 129.

  23 Semevsky, GAPT pp 488–9. Krasnobaev, p 223. Madariaga, Russia pp 15–17.

  24 CtG, Memoirs 1955 ‘Last Thoughts of HIM Elisabeth Petrovna’ pp 329–38 is the major source for this account of the death of the Empress Elisabeth. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 245–8. Also Philip Longworth, The Three Empresses pp 228–9, Robert Coughlan, Elisabeth and Catherine pp 172–4.

  25 Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 241, 242–3, 245–8. Catherine II’s letter to Sir Charles Hanbury Williams quoting from Count Stanislas Poniatowski’s letter to herself is cited in Anisimov, pp 240–1. General Lieven is quoted in CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 267.

  26 CtG, ‘Last Thoughts of HIM Elisabeth Petrovna’ pp 329–38. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 26–7.

  27 M. Semevsky, ‘Shest mesyatsev iz russkoy istorii XVIII veka. Ocherk tsarstvovaniya Imperatora Petra III 1761–2’, OZ vol 173 p 161. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth pp 242–3, 245–8. FtG quoted in David Fraser, Frederick the Great p 457/8.

  28 Dashkova p 45.

  29 CtG, ‘Last Thoughts of HIM Elisabeth Petrovna’ p 331.

  30 CtG, ‘Last Thoughts of HIM Elisabeth Petrovna’ pp 329–38.

  31 PSZ xv no 11, 445, 21 February 1762; PSZ xv no 11, 444, 18 February 1762; PSZ xv no 11, 481, 21 March 1762; PSZ xv no 11, 538, 18 May 1762.

  32 RA (1907) 11, pp 130–2.

  33 Krasnobaev, pp 488–9.

  34 PSZ xv no 11, 445, 21 February 1762; PSZ xv no 11, 444, 18 February 1762; PSZ xv no 11, 481, 21 March 1762; PSZ xv, no 11, 538, 18 May 1762.

  35 Soloviev vol 13 p 73, quoted in Madariaga, Russia p 25.

  36 Dashkova pp 78–9.

  37 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 341–9; CtG to Stanislas Poniatowski 2 August 1762.

  38 General Baron von Ungern-Sternberg in Masson p 137.

  39 The main sources for this account of the coup are Catherine’s own Memoirs particularly her letter to Stanislas Poniatowski dated 2 August 1762 and also published in SA, Mémoires, vol 1 p 377. CtG, Memoirs, also in CtG, Sochineniya imperatritsy Ekaterina II ed A. N. Pypin, vol 12 p 547. See also Dashkova pp 74–80. SIRIO 12 (1873): 2–4, Robert Keith to Mr Grenville, 1 July/12 July 1762, St Petersburg. Madariaga, Russia pp 21–37. Alexander, CtG pp 5–16.

  40 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 341–2.

  41 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 343, CtG to SA.

  42 RA (1867) 4 pp 482–6. CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 343, CtG to SA 2 August 1762.

  43 Prince M. M. Shcherbatov, On the Corruption of Morals in Russia p 229.

  44 Dashkova p 74.

  45 Dashkova pp 45–6.

  46 A. F. von der Asseburg, Denkwürdigkeiten pp 316–17.

  47 David L. Ransel, The Politics of Catherinian Russia: The Panin Party pp 11–20, 65.

  48 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 341–9, CtG to Poniatowski 2 August 1762.

  49 Dashkova p 74.

  50 Dashkova pp 78–80.

  51 Reginald Pole Carew, Russian anecdotes in the Antony Archive CO/R/3/92, unpublished. These anecdotes are clearly based on the Englishman’s conversations with the eminent Russians he met during his long stay in 1781: he spent the most time with GAP, riding round in his carriage visiting his estates and factories. He probably heard these stories of the coup from GAP himself. The story of GAP riding on Catherine’s carriages with Vasily Bibikov places GAP during these hours for the first time.

  52 Pole Carew, Russian anecdotes, Antony Archive CO/R/3/62.

  53 RA (1867) 4 pp 482–6, Horse-Guards in June 1762.

  54 CtG to S. Poniatowski 2 August 1762, CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 343.

  55 Dashkova p 80.

  56 Dashkova pp 80–1.

  57 Alexander, CtG pp 10–11. Madariaga, Russia p 31.

  CHAPTER 3: THE EMPRESS’S RECKLESS SUITOR

  1 Ségur, Mémoires 1859 pp 348–9.

  2 Jean-Henri Castera, The Life of Catherine II vol 2 p 269. One of the first biographies of CtG published in 1798, there is much debate on how much was added by its translator Tooke and its sources. Samoilov cols 597–8. Engelhardt 1868 p 42.

  3 Ségur, Mémoires 1859 pp 348–9.

  4 Anonymous, Memoirs of the Life of Prince Potemkin pp 16–17. This translation of Cerenville, and adaption of Helbig tells the legends current about GAP during his lifetime. (It is not a fake autobiography of GAP.)

  5 Ustinov pp 70–8.

  6 R. Nisbet Bain, Peter III p 160, quoted in Alexander, CtG p 11.

  7 Asseburg p 315. Ustinov pp 70–8.

  8 V. A. Bilbasov, Istoriya Ekateriny II vol 2 p 74.

  9 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 341–9, letter to S. Poniatowski 2 August 1762.

  10 Dashkova pp 80–107.

  11 SIRIO 7: 108–20. SIRIO 42: 475, 480.

  12 RA (1867) 4 pp 482–6.

  13 Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth p 245.

  14 O. A. Ivanov, ‘Tayna Pisma Alexyey Orlova iz Ropshi’, Moskovskiy zhurnal (1995) no 9 p 15. Ivanov has cast serious doubts on the famous ‘third letter’ from A. G. Orlov to CtG confessing to the killing of Peter III in a drunken brawl and implicating Prince Fyodor Bariatinsky. Also CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 350.

  15 Moskovskiy zhurnal (1995) no 9 p 18. AKV 21: 89. CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 351.

  16 Dashkova p 107. Countess V. N. Golovina, Souvenirs p 37.

  17 Alexander, CtG p 15.

  18 S. M. Soloviev, Istoriy rossii s drevneyshikh vremyon vol 13 pp 114–15.

  19 P. Morane, Paul I pp 57–8. Also Arthur M. Wilson, Diderot, quoted in Alexander, CtG p 14. GAP later himself told the Comte de Ségur that Dsahkova overreached herself with her haughtiness and irritated CtG (Ségur 1825–7 vol 2 p 228).

  20 RGADA 268.890.291–4 Geroldmeysterskaya contora (Heraldic Office).

  21 RA (1867) 4 pp 482–6. Information about Horse-Guards in June 1762. See also I. Annenkov, History of the Cavalry Guards Regiment. Alexander, CtG p 64.

  22 Thiébault vol 2 p 78. RA (1907) 11 pp 130–1, legend about Prince Potemkin-Tavrichevsky. Krasnobaev, p 489. For Potemkin’s talent for mimicry, see SIRIO 26 (1879): 315. Marchese de Parelo, Despatches. Derzhavin, The Waterfall, in Segal vol 2 p 302. Samoilov cols 597–8. Engelhardt 1868 p 42.

  23 Sochineniya vol 12 pp 546–63, CtG to S. Poniatowski 9 August, 12 September, 27 December 1762. (See also Memoirs 1955).

  24 SIRIO 7: 162. Alexander, CtG pp 67–8. Madariaga, CtG: A Short History, pp 137–8. Madariaga, Russia pp 559–60.

  25 Ransel, Politics p 79.

  26 SIRIO 7: 206.

  27 CtG, Sochineniya vol 12 p 559, CtG to S. Poniatowski.

  28 Ransel, Politics pp 111–15.

  29 AKV 31: 260–72, Mikhail L. Vorontsov to Alexander R. Vorontsov 8 December 1763 and 9 March 1764.

  30 Masson pp. 331–2.

  31 Zamoyski, Last King of Poland p 86.

  32 AXC 798 f527, S. Poniatowski to CtG 2 November 1763. SA, Mémoires p 33.

  33 Madariaga, Russia pp 33–7, 187–204. Alexander, CtG pp 61–76. Ransel, Politics pp 104–11. Zamoyski, Last King of Poland pp 61–100.

  34 Baron de Breteuil quoted in Waliszewski, Autour d’un trône vol 1 pp 96–7. Bilbasov, Istoriya vol 2 p 281.

  35 Ransel, Politics pp 116–27. Waliszewski, Autour d’un trône vol 1 pp 96–7.

  36 Legend, for example, recounted in Great Moscow Guide p 318.

  37 Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth p 200. Anisimov quotes the story of S. S. Uvarov that A. G. Razumovsky responded to Catherine’s desire to avoid marriage to G. G. Orlov.

  38 Henry Troyat, Catherine the Great p 175.

  39 BM Add MS 15,875, Sir George (later Earl) Macartney to Lady Holland February 1766.

  40
Philip Mansel, Le Charmeur d’Europe p 141.

  41 G. Casanova, History of my Life vol 10, ch 7 p 141.

  42 Mansel, Charmeur p 96.

  43 Casanova, vol 10 ch 7 p 14.

  44 Chevalier de Corberon, Un Diplomat français à la cour de Catherine II vol 2 p 95, 13 January 1777.

  45 Macartney to Lady Holland (see note 39).

  46 Prince de Ligne, Fragments vol 1 pp 101–2.

  47 O. I. Yeliseeva, Perepiska Ekateriny II i G. A. Potemkina perioda vtoroy russko-turetskoy voyny 1787–91 p 23, CtG to P. V. Zavadovsky.

  48 RA (1877), vol 1 p 468 Count A. I. Ribeaupierre, Zapiski grafa Ribopera.

  49 V. O. Kliuchevsky, Empress Catherine p 307.

  50 Ligne, Letters (Staël) vol 2 p 45, Ligne to CtG

  51 CtG’s remarks to V. Popov in N. Shilder, Imperator Aleksandr I vol 1 pp 279–80.

  52 Comte Roger de Damas, Mémoires p 99.

  53 Shcherbatov p 237.

  CHAPTER 4: CYCLOPS

  1 Pushkin Polnoye Sobraniye Sochineniya vol 12 p 177, GAP to S. Sheshkovsky. See also Georg von Helbig, ‘Russkiye izbranniye i sluchainye liudi’, RS 56 (10) 1887 p 24.

  2 CtG, Memoirs 1955 pp 355–7, CtG Frank Confession to GAP 1774. GARF 728.1.425.1–5. Also CtG, Sochineniya vol 12 pp 697–9.

  3 CtG’s correspondence with F. M. Grimm and others is to be found in SIRIO 23.

  4 SIRIO 23. See above.

  5 Casanova vol 10 ch 7 p 139.

  6 Castera vol 2 pp 370–5.

  7 Castera vol 2 p 401. Philip Mansel, Pillars of Monarchy p 31.

  8 Casanova vol 10 ch 7 pp 101–5.

  9 CtG, Memoirs 1955 Autobiographical Fragments pp 358–9, The Masked Ball.

  10 Joseph II und Graf Ludwig Cobenzl, ed A. Beer and J. Fiedler (B&F), vol 1 p 16, Cobenzl to Joseph II 5 May 1780. Coxe vol 2 p 97.

  11 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 194.

  12 John Parkinson, A Tour of Russia, Siberia and the Crimea p 211.

  13 Quoted from T. Livanova, Russkaya muzkal’naya kultura XVIII veka vol 2 p 406, in Madariaga, Russia p 329.

  14 Shcherbatov p 237.

  15 SIRIO 19 (1876): 297, Sir Robert Gunning to Earl of Suffolk 28 July/8 August 1772.

  16 Ransel, Politics p 76. SIRIO 12: 202–3, Sir George Macartney to Earl of Sandwich 18 March 1765.