Catherine the Great & Potemkin

by Simon Sebag Montefiore

  36 SIRIO 6: 74–6, 22 July 1774.

  37 RGADA 5.85.1.3/3.

  38 XVIII Century book 1 (1868) p 112.

  39 SIRIO 6: 88–9, Count N. I. Panin to Count P. I. Panin ud.

  40 SIRIO 6: 74–6, N. I. Panin to P. I. Panin 22 June 1774. SIRIO 6: 86–9, N. I. Panin to P. I. Panin. RGADA 1274 Paniny-Bludovy op 1.3.3383, GAP to P. I. Panin.

  41 SIRIO 13: 421, 29 July 1774. SIRIO 13: 427–8. SIRIO 6: 81, 29 July 1774.

  42 Dubrovin, Pugachev vol 3 p 254.

  43 RS (1870) October p 410.

  44 Pugachevshchina (iz arkhiva P. I. Panina) p 39, GAP to P. I. Panin 4 October 1774.

  45 Alexander, Autocratic Politics p 195.

  46 V. V. Mavrodin, Krestyanskaya voyna v Rossiya vol 3 p 403. Madariaga, Russia pp 265–6. Alexander, Autocratic Politics.

  47 SIRIO 13: 446–7.

  48 Alexander, Autocratic Politics pp 184–6.

  49 SIRIO 6: 117, P. I. Panin to CII.

  50 Mavrodin vol 3 p 434.

  51 Madariaga, Russia p 266.

  52 RGADA 5.85.3.80, CII to GAP 13 October 1774.

  53 Madariaga, Russia p 268. Philip Longworth, The Cossacks p 222.

  54 CII to P. S. Potemkin 27 September 1774, quoted in Alexander, Autocratic Politics p 197.

  55 RGADA 5.85.1.164, L 50. RGADA 5.85.1.189, L 50. RGADA 5.85.1.228, L 50. GARF 728.416.41, L 52. Alexander, Autocratic Politics p 203. Lettres d’amour de Catherine II à Potemkine, ed Georges Ourrard pp 123, 128.

  56 Mavrodin vol 3 p 42. SIRIO 23: 11, CII to Grimm 21 December 1774.

  57 Dimsdale September 1781. Bolotov vol 3 p 192, quoted in Alexander, Autocratic Politics p 211.

  58 RGADA 5.85.1.254, L 34.

  CHAPTER 9: MARRIAGE: MADAME POTEMKIN

  1 RGADA 1.1/1.54.114, L 31, CII to GAP ud, Tsarskoe Selo.

  2 KFZ p 281, 8 June 1774.

  3 This account of the marriage is based on the KFZ of 8 June 1774; on the research of V. S. Lopatin, Ekaterina II i G. A. Potemkin, lichnaya perepiska pp 31–3 and 513–15, and O. I. Yeliseeva, Perepiska Ekateriny II i G. A. Potemkina p 28; and on P. B. Bartenev, ‘On Catherine and Potemkin’s Marriage: A Book of Notes of the Russkiy Arkhiv’, RA (1906) 2 p 613, which uses the accounts of Count D. N. Bludov on Countess A. V. Branicka, Prince and Princess M. S. and E. K. Vorontsov (see Epilogue); Count A. G. Stroganov on Princess E. K. Vorontsova; the Notes of Prince F. N. Golitsyn; Count A. A. Bobrinsky on Count A. N. Samoilov; and Count V. P. Orlov-Davydov on Count A. N. Samoilov.

  4 Author’s visit to St Petersburg 1998.

  5 Coxe vol 2 p 88.

  6 RA (1906) 2 p 613. Bartenev’s account: this story was told by Count A. A. Bobrinsky, Samoilov’s grandson.

  7 Castera vol 3 p 90.

  8 RP 2.1 p 8.

  9 See note 3 above.

  10 RGADA 5.85.1.362, L 72. RGADA 1.1/1.54.30, L 74.

  11 RGADA 5.85.1.271, L 32, CII to GAP.

  12 RGADA 5.85.1.238, L 49.

  13 RGADA 1.1/1.54.42, L 18, CII to GAP ud.

  14 M. Kukiel, Czartoryski and European Unity 1770–1861 pp 17–18.

  15 RGADA 5.85.1.267, L 94.

  16 Castera vol 3 p 90.

  17 Comte de Ségur 21 December 1787, quoted in Waliszewski, Autour d’un trône vol 1 p 89. In vol 2 of his Mémoires (1826), Ségur wrote that it was generally accepted that there had been a secret marriage, ‘a secret of another kind and more indissoluble bound them to each other’. When he passed through Vienna on his way home, he discussed this mystery with Joseph II.

  18 Louis XVI and the Comte de Vergennes: correspondence ed J. Hardman and M. Price p 162. Louis XVI to comte de Vergennes ud, received 5 October 1774.

  19 PRO FO vol 15 Robert Keith 19 October 1782, quoted in Harold Temperley Frederick the Great and Kaiser Joseph p 224.

  20 PRO FO Secretary of State: State Papers, Foreign, cyphers SP106/67 no 33, Sir Charles Whitworth to Lord Grenville 1 July 1791.

  21 Prince de Ligne, Mélanges militaires, littéraires et sentimentaires vol 24 p 181, Prince de Ligne to Prince Kaunitz 15 December 1788, Jassy.

  22 RGADA 1.1/1.54.42, L 18.

  23 RGADA 5.85.1.359, L 37, CII to GAP ud.

  24 BM Egerton MSS 2706 Sir Robert Gunning to Earl of Suffolk 19 August 1774. Also SIRIO 19 (1876).

  25 Bartenev, ‘On Catherine’, p 616.

  26 RGADA 1.1/1.54.103, L 67. RGADA 5.85.1.41, L 68. RGADA 5.85.1.166, L 68. GARF 728.1.416.22, L 69, CII to GAP.

  27 SIRIO 23: 13, CII to Baron F. M. Grimm.

  28 RGADA 1.1/1.54.119, L 80, CII to GAP. GARF 728.1.416.27, L 80.

  29 The best accounts of Princess Tarakanova are the despatches of Sir William Hamilton to the Earl of Rochford on 4 January NS 1775 and 30 May NS 1775 BM Egerton MSS 2636 ff 104, 108, 110 and 124, quoted in Brian Fothergill, Sir William Hamilton, Envoy Extraordinary pp 157–62. See also Gunning–Suffolk correspondence on Tarakanova in SIRIO 19: 460–2, June 1775, Moscow.

  30 SIRIO 1: 105. RP 4: 1 p 109.

  31 Russkaya beseda 1858 vol 6 p 73. SIRIO 19: 461, Suffolk to Gunning 26 May 1775.

  32 SIRIO 19: 461, Suffolk to Gunning 26 May 1775. RGADA 1.1/1.54.66, L 67, CII to GAP. RGADA 1.1/1.54.97, L 70, CII to GAP. Waliszewski, Autour d’un trône vol 2 pp 104–14; Count Alexei Orlov to GAP, RA (1875) 2 no 5 p 6. SIRIO 1: 105 and 169–96. Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth p 201. SIRIO 19: 466–7, Gunning to Suffolk 19/30 June 1775, Moscow.

  33 RP 4: 1 p 109. SIRIO 1: 170–93.

  34 RGADA 5.85.1.259.

  35 AKV 8: 1–38, S. R. Vorontsov to F. Rostopchin 18/29 November 1796.

  36 Bolotov vol 3 pp 208–13.

  37 RGADA 1.1/1.54.137, L 76.

  38 SIRIO 19 (1876): 470, Gunning to Suffolk 13/24 July 1775, Moscow. SIRIO 23: 4, CII to Grimm 3 August 1774, St Petersburg.

  39 RGADA 5.85.1.362, L 72.

  40 Bolotov vol 3 pp 207–24; A. Travin, Zapiski, Pskov 1894 pp 25–129; G. Vinsky, Moe Vremya, p 147, all quoted in Dimitri Shvidkovsky, Empress and Architect pp 192–3. SIRIO 27 (1880): 47, CII to Madame Bielke 24 July 1775.

  41 Louis XVI – Comte de Vergennes correspondance p 162, Louis XVI to Comte de Vergennes ud, received 5 October 1774.

  42 On the theory that Temkina was Catherine’s daughter: see T. V. Alexeeva, Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky i russkaya kultura na rubezhe 18–19 vekov and also V. S. Lopatin, Perepiska 638–9. The portrait of Elisaveta Grigorevna Temkina by V. L. Borovikovsky (1798) hangs in the Tretyakov Museum in Moscow. Plain and ungainly, she does bear some resemblance to GAP’s old mother Daria. But she was not an heir of GAP’s, and this author has not found one reference to her in any of GAP’s correspondence. No one mentions her at all until much later. Since GAP as far as we know had no other reputed children, it is possible he was infertile. Another theory is that Temkina was the daughter of another Potemkin, such as Pavel or Mikhail but then why her patronymic? Temkina later married I. X. Kalageorgi, a Greek in Russian service, who served as governor of GAP’s first city, Kherson. On attitudes to illegitimate children: Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth p 201. Also GAP’s nephew Vasily Engelhardt, who never married, fathered five bastards with various mistresses and all were legitimized as noblemen and Engelhardts.

  43 SIRIO 19 (1876): 463–4, Suffolk to Gunning 30 June 1775, St James’s. SIRIO 19: 476–9, Suffolk to Gunning 1 September 1775; George III to CII 1 September 1775.

  44 SIRIO 19 (1876): 476, Suffolk to Gunning 1 September 1775, St James’s. SIRIO 19: 476–501, Suffolk to Gunning 8 September 1775. SIRIO 19: 489, Gunning to Suffolk 20 September/1 October 1775, Moscow. SIRIO 19: 500–2, CII to George III 23 September 1775, Moscow.

  45 RGADA 5.85.1.343, L 11, CII to GAP ud.

  46 RGADA 1.1/1.54.3, L 85. RGADA 5.84.1.149, L 86. RGADA 5.85.1.172, L 87, CII to
GAP.

  47 SIRIO 19 (1876): 506, Gunning to Suffolk 5/16 October 1775, Moscow.

  48 RGADA 1.1/1.54.30, L 74. GARF 728.1.417.1, L 66. RGADA 5.85.1.166, L 68.

  49 RGADA 5.85.1.265, L 95, GAP to CII ud.

  50 Castera vol 2 pp 314–15; Waliszewski, Autour d’un trône vol 2 p 148.

  51 GARF 728.1.416.49, L 69, CII to GAP ud. RGADA 5.85.1.159, L 75, CII to GAP ud.

  52 RGADA 5.85.1.161, L 76, CII to GAP ud.

  53 RGADA 5.85.1.161, L 76, CII to GAP. RGADA 11.1.946.595, V. A. Engelhardt to GAP 5 July 1775.

  CHAPTER 10: HEARTBREAK AND UNDERSTANDING

  1 RGADA 5.85.1.369, L 94.

  2 SIRIO 19 (1876): 509, Sir Robert Gunning to Earl of Suffolk 1/12 January 1776, St Petersburg.

  3 SIRIO 19 (1876): 511, Richard Oakes to William Eden 16/27 February 1776, St Petersburg.

  4 SIRIO 19 (1876): 511, Oakes to Eden (16/27 February and 26 February/8 March 1776, St Petersburg. Corberon p 164, 27 January 1776; p 190, 11 February 1776; p 194, 30 March 1776.

  5 RGADA 85.1.267, L 94, CII to GAP ud.

  6 RGADA 5.85.1.412, L 91, CII to GAP ud.

  7 RGADA 5.85.2.305, L 95.

  8 RGADA 5.85.1.413, L 91. RGADA 5.85.1.419, L 91. RGADA 5.85.1.412, L 91. RGADA 5.85.1.412, L 92. RGADA 5.85.1.363, L 93. RGADA 5.85.1.366, L 93. RGADA 5.85.1.369, L 94. RGADA 5.85.1.267, L 95.

  9 RGADA 5.85.1.412, L 91, CII to GAP. RGADA 5.85.1.384, L 91, CII to GAP.

  10 RGADA 5.85.1.364, L 92, CII to GAP.

  11 RGADA 5.85.1.413, L 91. RGADA 5.85.1.419, L 91. RGADA 5.85.1.412, L 91. RGADA 5.85.1.412, L 92. RGADA 5.85.1.363, L 93. RGADA 5.85.1.366, L 93. RGADA 5.85.1.369, L 94. RGADA 5.85.1.267, L 95.

  12 RGADA 5.85.3.87, L 96, CII to GAP. RA (1878) 1 p 18, CII to Prince D. M. Golitsyn 13 January 1776. Corberon p 188, 22 March 1776.

  13 Corberon p 190 24 March 1776.

  14 B&F vol 1 p 18, Count Louis Cobenzl to JII 5 May 1780.

  15 RS (1895) 83 p 31, CII to Count O. M. Stackelberg 2/13 May 1776, 12/23 May. V. A. Bilbasov, ‘Prisoedineniye Kurlyandii k Rossii’, RS (1895) 83 pp 30–4. Also Prussian envoys informed FII about Courland issue in despatches of 23 April and 8 September 1776 and 4 May 1781. RGIA 1640.1.32, FII to GAP 29 May NS 1776, Potsdam, unpublished.

  16 RGVIA 271.1.28.6, 2 September 1775, and 271.1.28.7, 6 October 1775, Prince Henry of Prussia to GAP unpublished. Also RGIA 1640.1.32, FII to GAP 29 May NS 1776, Potsdam, unpublished. Corberon p 210, 9 April 1776.

  17 RGADA 1.1/1.54.67, L 98, CII to GAP.

  18 This account of the death of Grand Duchess Natalia is based on KFZ April–May 1776, Corberon pp 229–50, Madariaga, Russia pp 344–6, and Alexander, CtG pp 228–31, as well as the stated letters between CII and GAP and others.

  19 RGADA 5.85.1.307, L 98.

  20 KFZ 9 to 15 April 1776. SIRIO 42: 346, CII to Kozmin.

  21 Corberon p 229, 26 April 1776.

  22 Corberon pp 230–1. SIRIO 27: 78–9. SIRIO 19: 519, Oakes to Eden 15/26 April 1776.

  23 Dimsdale p 46, 22 August 1781. Alexander, CtG p 229.

  24 Corberon p 244, 5 May 1776.

  25 SIRIO 19 (1876): 520, Oakes to Eden 15/26 April, 3/14 May, 10/21 May and 14/25 June. Corberon p 244, 5 May 1776.

  26 A. A. Vassilchikov, Semeystvo Razumovskikh vol 1 p 363, Count Kirill Razumovsky to M. V. Kovalinsky.

  27 Corberon p 248, 7 May 1776; p 246, 6 May 1776; p 259, 21 May 1776.

  28 RGADA 5.85.1.235, L 100. GARF 728.1.416.1, L 102. CII to GAP.

  29 RGADA 5.85.1.345–6, L 103.

  30 RGADA 5.85.1.235–6. GARF 728.1.416.1, L 102. RGADA 5.85.1.345–6, L 103. RGADA 1.1/1.43.119, L 104. Moskovskiye Vedomosti 16 August 1776, quoted in Alexander, CtG p 207.

  31 RGADA 1.1/1.43.119, L 104. RGADA 5.85.1.14, L 106. The Empress Elisabeth gave A. G. Razumovsky the Anichkov Palace in 1756: Anisimov, Empress Elisabeth p 202. It was named Anichkov after the Colonel Anichkov who built the bridge that stands beside it.

  32 SIRIO 19 (1876): 519, Oakes to Eden 1/12 July 1776, St Petersburg. Rumiantseva p 204, Rumiantseva to P. A. Rumiantsev.

  33 RGADA 5.85.1.385, L 106, CII to GAP ud. RGADA 5.85.3.91, L 106, CII to GAP. Karnovich p 266. Samoilov col 1205. Harris p 528 may be the origin of the figure of nine million roubles: it certainly sounds very high and is probably inaccurate, but given the variety of gifts and the haphazard generosity with which they were offered it is impossible to verify. It is possible that the figure could originate in Potemkin’s boasting about his wealth to Harris. The figures for the souls and the Krichev estate are however verifiable, using the Samuel Bentham papers, Samoilov’s papers, and others sources: see Chapter 20. Samoilov, as one of GAP’s circle and an heir of the estate, is trustworthy.

  34 SIRIO 19 (1876): 521, Oakes to Eden 26 July/6 August 1776, St Petersburg.

  35 Brockliss pp 279–303.

  36 Castera vol 2 p 308.

  CHAPTER 11: HER FAVOURITES

  1 Russkiy istoricheskiy zhurnal 5 (1918): 244–57, quoted in Alexander, CtG pp 342–52. Pisma imp. Ekateriny II k gr. P. V. Zavadovskomu 1775–1777 ed I. A. Barskov, letters 7, 22, 30, 33, 35, 39, CII to P. V. Zavadovsky.

  2 AKV 12: 9–10, Zavadovsky to S. R. Vorontsov.

  3 Russkiy istoricheskiy zhurnal 5 (1918): 244–57, quoted in Alexander, CtG pp 342–52. Pisma CII – Zavadovsky (Barskov) letters 7, 22, 30, 33, 35, 39, CII to Zavadovsky.

  4 Parkinson p 76.

  5 Russkiy istoricheskiy zhurnal. Pisma CII – Zavadovsky (Barskov) and Alexander CtG, pp 342–52 letters 27, 62, CII to Zavadovsky. RGADA 5.85.1.296, L 114. RGADA 1.1/1.54.96, L 114, CII to GAP.

  6 Masson p 105.

  7 AKV 24: 156, Zavadovsky to S. R. Vorontsov.

  8 CtG, Memoirs 1955 p 355 Frank Confession to GAP.

  9 GARF 728.1.416.51, L 115.

  10 AKV 12: 16–19, Zavadovsky to S. R. Vorontsov.

  11 Alexander, CtG p 213.

  12 RGADA 1.1/1.54.69, L 116.

  13 GARF 728.1.416.51, L 115.

  14 RGADA 1.1/1.54.69, L 116.

  15 Harris p 149, Sir James Harris (H) to William Eden February 2/13 1778; H to Earl of Suffolk 2/13 February 1778. Where page number for ‘Harris’ is not given, date refers to ‘Diaries and Correspondence of Sir James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury.’

  16 Harris p 170, H to William Fraser 16/27 May 1778.

  17 Harris p 172, H to Suffolk 22 May/2 June 1778; p 173, H to Suffolk 29 May/9 June 1778.

  18 KFZ 8 May 1778. RGADA 5.85.1.141, L 124.

  19 SIRIO 23: 89, CII to Baron F. M. Grimm 16 May 1778.

  20 GIM OPI 197.1.152, L 124.

  21 Madariaga, Russia p 354.

  22 Harris, H to Suffolk 20/31 December 1778.

  23 RGADA 5.85.1.59, L 125, CII to GAP ud.

  24 Starina i Novizna (1901) 4 ed P. M. Maykov pp 23–4, Zavadovsky to Count P. A. Rumiantsev.

  25 RA (1881) 3 pp 402–3, CII to Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov.

  26 RGADA 5.85.1.59, L 125, CII to GAP. KFZ 1 June, 28 June 1778. RA (1881) 3 pp 402–3, CII to Korsakov. RP 5.1 p 119. Harris p 174, H to Suffolk 8/19 June 1778.

  27 Harris pp 179, 180, H to Suffolk 28 August/8 September, 14/25 September, 10/21 August, 20/31 December 1778. Harris p 195, 29 January/9 February 1779.

  28 Harris p 179, H to Suffolk 14/25 September 1778.

  29 Harris p 224, H to Viscount Weymouth 9/20 September 1779.

  30 RA (1911) 6 pp 190–4, Corberon. RGADA 10.3.467.3, CII to Korsakov 10 October 1779; Harris to Weymouth 11/22 October 1779.

  31 RGADA 5.85.1.370, L 8, and RGADA 1.1/1.54.63, L 8, CII to GAP ud, but dated by Lopartin as before 14 and 18 February 1774 respectively. François Ribadeau Dumas, Cagliostro pp 13–83, and W. R. H. Trowbridge, Cagliostro: The Splendour and Misery
of a Master of Magic pp 1–154.

  32 Pole Carew CO/R/3/195, unpublished. Harris pp 434–40, H to Weymouth 11/22 October 1779, H to Charles James Fox 9/20 May 1782. Also Dimsdale p 57, 27 August 1781. AKV 13: 163/4, A. A. Bezborodko to S. R. Vorontsov 5 July 1789.

  33 Harris, H to Weymouth 11/22 October 1779.

  34 Harris p 366, H to Viscount Stormont 14/25 May 1781.

  35 Shcherbatov pp 245, 241, 119. Alexander, CtG pp 201–26, and Madariaga, Russia pp 343–58.

  36 Parkinson p 49. George Macartney’s ‘Commentary on Russia in 1786’, Macartney Papers, Osborne Collection, Beinecke Library, Yale University, quoted in Alexander, CtG p 215.

  37 Ligne, Fragments 1, 275.

  38 Corberon vol 2 pp 137–8. Ségur, Mémoires vol 3 18. RGADA 1.85.1.209, L 10, CII to GAP 1774. Khrapovitsky p 13. It was said that Semyon Fyodorovich Uvarov, another Guards officer, enjoyed a short affair with Catherine just before her relationship with Yermolov after Lanskoy’s death and that he became a favourite of Prince Potemkin, who enjoyed his playing of the bandore, an ancient stringed instrument, and his skill at dancing the prisiadka. He received no reward other than a respectable career in the Guards. His son S. S. Uvarov became minister of education under Nicholas I and an enemy of A. S. Pushkin. See Serena Vitale, Pushkin’s Button p 143.

  39 SIRIO 27 (1880): 130–1, GAP ukase about the post of aide-de-camp to the Empress 16 June 1776.

  40 Saint-Jean ch 6 pp 40–8.

  41 AVPRI 2.2/8a.20.94, L 124 GAP to CII and CII to GAP 27 May 1777.

  42 GIM OPI 197.1.1.152, L 124, CII to GAP ud.

  43 RGADA 5.85.1.334, L 124, CII to GAP ud.

  44 Saint-Jean ch 2 pp 12–21.

  45 Corberon vol 2 p 154, 19 June 1776.

  46 Harris pp 430, 528, H to Stormont 25 March/5 April 1782.

  47 Engelhardt 1868 p 49.

  48 Khrapovitsky p 254 – A. D.-Mamonov ‘prison’ 1789 RS (1876) 15 p 16, Garnovsky V. S. to Popov December 1786.

  49 Engelhardt 1868 p 46.

  50 RS (1876) 16 p 406, CII to N. I. Saltykov July 1789, quoted in Garnovsky to V. S. Popov.

  51 AGAD 172: 79, GAP to SA 25 September 1779, St Petersburg, unpublished. RGADA 11.914. A. D. Lanskoy to GAP 3 April 1784. RGADA 11.914, Lanskoy to GAP 29 September 1783. RGADA 11.914 Lanskoy to GAP ud.