Terrible tsarinas

by Henri Troyat

  However, on October 16, 1740, the tsarina took a turn for the better. She called in her old favorite and, with a trembling hand, gave him the signed document. Finally, Buhren could breathe again - and with him, all those in the close band who had contributed to this victory in extremis. The new regent’s partisans hoped that their efforts, more or less spontaneous, would be repaid before long, While Her Majesty was on her death bed, they counted the days and calculated the coming rewards. The priest was called in, and the prayer for the dying was said. Lulled by the chanting, she cast her eye about and, in her distress, recognized through her fog the tall silhouette of Munnich among those in attendance. She smiled to him as if beseeching his protection for the one who would one day be taking her place on the throne of Russia, and murmured, “Good-bye, Field Marshal!” Later, she added, “Good-bye, everyone!” These were her last words. She slipped into a coma on October 28, 1740.

  At the announcement of her death, Russia shook off a nightmare. But around the palace, the expectation was that the nation might be falling into an even blacker horror. The imperial court was unanimous in its opinion that, with a nine-month-old tsar still in his crib and a regent of German origin (who could express himself in Russian only reluctantly and whose principal concern *Vasily Lukich Dolgoruky, for one, was executed in the wake of that event.

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  The Extravagant Anna was to destroy the country’s noblest families), the empire was heading straight for a catastrophe.

  The day after Anna Ivanovna’s death, Buhren became regent by the grace of the recently departed, with a baby as his mascot and as the living guarantee of his rights. He immediately set himself to clearing the ground around him. In his view, the first essential move would be to get rid of Anna Leopoldovna and Anthony Ulrich, little Ivan’s parents. If he could send them far enough from the capital - and why not abroad? - he would have his free hands until the imperial brat attained his majority. Studying the new political aspect of Russia, Baron Axel of Mardefeld, Prussian Minister to St. Petersburg, summarized his opinion on the future of the country in a dispatch to his sovereign Frederick II, saying: “Seventeen years of despotism [the legal duration of the minority of the tsar] and a nine-month-old child who, by the way, could die, yielding the throne to the regent.”8 Mardefeld’s letter is dated October 29, 1740, the day following the death of the tsarina. Less than a week later, events suddenly took a turn in a direction that the diplomat had not foreseen. Despite the future tsar Ivan VI’s being transferred to the Winter Palace amid great pomp and celebration, in an extravagant ceremony followed by all the courtiers swearing their oath and kissing the hand of the regent, his enemies had not given up.

  The new English minister in St. Petersburg, Edward Finch, declared that the change of reign “has made less noise in Russia than the changing of the Guard in Hyde Park”; but Field Marshal Munnich warned Anna Leopoldovna and Anthony Ulrich against the tortuous machinations of Buhren, who he suggested was intending to throw them both out in order to keep himself in power.

  Even though he had been allied with the regent in the very recent past, he said that he felt morally obliged to prevent him from going any further to the detriment of the legitimate rights of the

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  Terrible Tsarinas family. According to him, for his next coup d’etat, the ex-favorite of the late empress Anna Ivanovna was counting on the Ismailovsky Regiment and the horse guard, one of which was under the command of his brother Gustav, the other under his son. But the Preobrazhensky Regiment was entirely at the behest of the field marshal and this elite unit would be disposed to act, at the proper time, against the ambitious Buhren. “If Your Highness wishes,” Munnich told the princess, “I would relieve you of this treacherous man in one hour.”9 However, Anna Leopoldovna had no stomach for such adventures. Frightened at the thought of attacking a man as powerful and cunning as Buhren, she balked. However, having consulted her husband, she changed her mind and decided, while some trembling, to play all or nothing. During the night of November 8, 1740, a hundred grenadiers and three officers of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, sent by Munnich, burst into the room where Buhren was sleeping; they yanked him out of bed and, despite his cries for help, they beat him with their rifle butts and carried him out, semi-conscious, to an enclosed carriage. In the wee hours of the day, he was transported to the Schlusselburg Fortress on Lake Ladoga, where he was methodically whipped.

  They needed a charge that could be substantiated before they could have him imprisoned, so he was accused of precipitating the death of the empress by having her ride on horseback at the wrong time. Other crimes, added to this one at the appropriate time, were enough to have him condemned to death on April 8, 1741. First, he was to be drawn and quartered, but his sentence was commuted immediately to exile in perpetuity to a remote village in Siberia; and in one fell swoop, Anna Leopoldovna was proclaimed regent.

  To celebrate the happy end of this period of intrigues, usurpations and treason, she rescinded the preceding government’s

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  The Extravagant Anna ban on soldiers’ and warrant officers’ visiting cabarets. This first liberal measure was greeted by an outburst of joy in the barracks - and in the bars. Everyone hoped this was a sign of broader leniency in general. The name of the new regent was blessed everywhere and, with hers, that of the man who had just brought her to power. Only the mean-spirited happened to notice that Buhren was being replaced by Munnich. One German was taking the place of another, without any concern for Muscovite tradition. How long would the empire have to endure a foreign master? And why was it always a member of the weaker sex that came to occupy the throne? Was there no other choice for Russia but to be ruled by an empress, with Germans at her back, whispering in her ear? Sad as it may be for a country to smother under a woman’s skirts, how much worse it is when that woman herself is under the influence of a foreigner. The most pessimistic observers reckoned that Russia would be threatened with a double calamity as a long as real men and real Russians did not stand up against the reign of besotted sovereigns and German lovers. These prophets of gloom saw the matriarchy and the Prussian takeover as two facets of a curse that had befallen the fatherland since the demise of Peter the Great.

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  Terrible Tsarinas

  Footnotes 1. The “Frenchified” version of his name, plus a pejorative ending, was used to indicate the excesses committed by Buhren and his clique.

  2. Ancestor of Bismarck, the “Iron Chancellor.” 3. His great-grandson Dmitri Miliutin, War Minister under Alexander II, would retain these evocative emblems on his blazon.

  4. Cf. Brian-Chaninov, op. cit.

  5. Cf. Kraft: Description de la maison de glace, and K. Waliszewski, op. cit.

  6. Cf. Daria Oliver, op. cit.

  7. Letter dated 10 December 1740, cited by K. Waliszewski, op. cit.

  8. Cf. Brian-Chaninov, op. cit.

  9. Comments reported in K. Waliszewski, op. cit.

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  ONE ANNA AFTER ANOTHER

  Still dazed by her sudden accession to power, Anna Leopoldovna was not so much interested in her political triumph as in the return to St. Petersburg of her last lover, whom the tsarina thought she had skillfully removed from the picture by marrying Anna to the insipid Anthony Ulrich. As soon as the coast was clear, the count of Lynar returned, ready for the most exciting adventures. Casting her eyes upon him once again, she fell under his spell instantly. He hadn’t changed a bit in the months of separation. At the age of 40, he looked barely 30. Tall and slender, with a fine complexion and sparkling eyes, he always wore clothes in soft colors - sky blue, apricot or lilac - and used plenty of French perfumes and a pomade to keep his hands soft. They said he was an Adonis in his prime, or a Narcissus who never aged.

  There is no doubt that Anna Leopoldovna made her bed available to him again immediately; and there is no doubt either that Anthony Ulrich accepted this sharing arrangement without blinking an eye. No one at the court w
as surprised by this eternal triangle, which they had immediately suspected would be reconstituted.

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  VI

  Terrible Tsarinas Besides, Russian and foreign observers alike noted that the regent’s renewed passion for Lynar by no means diminished the ardor that she continued to feel for her close friend Julie Mengden.

  That she was able to appreciate the traditional pleasure of the relationship between an woman and a man as much as the ambiguous savor of a relationship with a partner of her own sex was all to her honor, in the opinion of the libertines, for such eclecticism is evidence of both broadmindedness and a generous temperament.

  An indolent daydreamer, she would spend long hours lying in bed. She would get up late, trail around in her private chambers, scantily dressed and hair barely done, reading novels that she would drop halfway through, and making the sign of the cross twenty times over before the many icons that she had placed on her walls - the zeal of a convert. She insisted that love and recreation were the only raisons d’etre of a woman of her age.

  This casual behavior did not bother her entourage, neither her husband nor his ministers. A regent who was more concerned about the goings on in her bedroom than in her State suited them very well. Admittedly, from time to time, in his wounded pride Anthony Ulrich would make a show of being the indignant husband, but his tantrums were so artificial and so brief that Anna Leopoldovna only laughed at him. These fake marital scenes even encouraged her to intensify her dissipation, as a way of teasing him.

  However, while continuing his ass iduous attentions to her, Lynar was not indifferent to the remonstrances of the Marquis of Botta, Austrian ambassador to St. Petersburg. According to that diplomat, a fine specialist in public and private affairs, the regent’s lover was making a mistake to persevere in an adulterous liaison that was likely to turn against him several of the high-ranking persons in Russia and in his own government in Saxony. He suggested a cynical and adroit solution that would satisfy everyone.

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  One Anna after Another Being widowed, unencumbered and pleasant-looking, why shouldn’t Lynar ask for the hand of Julie Mengden, Anna Leopoldovna’s beloved? Satisfying the two of them (one legitimately, the second clandestinely), he would make them both happy and nobody could reproach him for leading the regent to sin. Lynar found the idea appealing; he promised to consider it. What encouraged him to go ahead was that, contrary to what he might have feared, Anna Leopoldovna - duly consulted - did not see any harm in this charming combination. She even thought that, by becoming Lynar’s wife, Julie Mengden would strengthen the loving union between three beings that God, in his subtle clairvoyance, had chosen to make inseparable.

  However, the practical application of the arrangement was delayed to enable Lynar to go to Germany, where he intended to settle some urgent family matters. Actually, he took out a large quantity of precious stones in his baggage, the sale of which would be used to build up a “war chest” in case the regent should think of having herself proclaimed empress. During his absence, Anna Leopoldovna exchanged an encrypted correspondence with him, using the pretext to swear their reciprocal love and to determine what role the future countess of Lynar would play in the trio. Above each line, the regent’s letters contain various annotations indicating the true meaning of the message, duly transcribed by a secretary. “As regards Juliette [Julie Mengden], how can you doubt her [my] love and her [my] fondness, after all the signs that I have given you. If you like her [me], do not go on with such reproaches, if her [my] health is of any concern to you… Let me know when you are coming back, and enjoy the certainty that you have all of my affection, [I kiss you and I am very much yours] Anna.”1 Separated from Lynar, Anna Leopoldovna found it more and more difficult to put up with her husband’s reproaches. Never«101»

  Terrible Tsarinas theless, needing comfort in the desert of her solitude, she allowed him to visit her in bed from time to time. But he would have to be satisfied with that - just an interim, before the return of the regent’s authentic bed-partner. The Prussian minister, Axel of Mardefeld, observer of the morals of the court of Rus sia, wrote to his sovereign on October 17, 1741, “She [the regent] has entrusted all matters to [her husband, Anthony Ulrich] so that she can devote her time more freely to leisure and entertainment, which renders him necessary, in a way. It remains to be seen whether she will rely on him the same way when she has a declared favorite.

  Basically, she does not love him; thus he has had permission to sleep with her only since the departure of Narcissus [Lynar].”2 While she was struggling in this sentimental imbroglio, the men around her were only thinking about politics. After Buhren’s downfall, Munnich was given the title of Prime Minister, a reward of 170,000 rubles for services rendered, and the rank of second man in the empire after Anthony Ulrich, father of the child tsar.

  However, this avalanche of benefices began to irritate Anthony Ulrich. He found that his wife had exaggerated in the display of gratitude towards a servant of the State who was very effective, certainly, but lowly of birth. He was joined in his criticism by other figures whose sensibilities had been wounded by this distribution of emoluments. Among those who felt they had been overlooked by those in power were Loewenwolde, Ostermann, and Mikhail Golovkin. They complained that they were being treated like subalterns, when in fact the regent and her husband were deeply indebted to them.

  Obviously, the all-powerful Munnich was at the head of this gang. However, the field marshal suddenly took ill, and had to be confined to bed. Taking advantage of this timely indisposition, Ostermann was quick to move in, seeking to take over various portfolios and shunt aside his principal rival, giving orders in his

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  One Anna after Another stead. Barely out of sickbed, Munnich tried to take control again - but it was too late. Ostermann was well-entrenched. He was not about to let go of anything, and Anna Leopoldovna, advised by Julie Mengden, decided that the moment had come for her to assert all her rights, with Ostermann standing behind her like a guardian angel. He proposed looking for international backing and even subsidies to support a “cleansing of the monarchy.” Confused negotiations were initiated in St. Petersburg with England, Austria, and Saxony for alliances that would go nowhere. But let’s admit it: nobody among the European diplomats had faith in Russia any more, caught as it was in cross currents.

  The ship had no captain. Even in Constantinople, an unforeseen collusion between France and Turkey hinted at the possible recrudescence of bellicose inclinations.

  Although they had been kept ignorant of developments in the sphere of foreign relations, the army officers suffered nonetheless from their fatherland’s obliteration and even humiliation, in international confrontations. The insolence and the whims of the Count of Lynar, who allowed himself every license since his marriage with Julie Mengden was concocted in the back rooms of the palace, finished off any little sympathy the regent might have preserved among the people and the middle nobility. The gvardeitsy (the men of the imperial guard) reproached her for scorning the military, and her humblest subjects were astonished that she was never seen walking freely about the city as all the other tsarinas had done. She was said to dislike the barracks as much as the street, and that she only had time for the salons. She was also said to have such an appetite for pleasure that she never bothered to fasten her clothes unless she was attending a reception; that way, she could get out of them more quickly when her lover came to visit her.

  On the other hand, her aunt Elizabeth Petrovna, although

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  Terrible Tsarinas most of the time confined in a kind of semi-voluntary, semiimposed exile far from the capital, had more taste for human interactions, simple and direct relations, and even reached out to the masses. Taking full advantage of her rare visits to St. Petersburg, this true daughter of Peter the Great was quick to show herself in public, traveling about on horseback or in an open carriage in the city; and she would respond to the public’s greetin
gs with a gracious wave of the hand and an angelic smile. Her approach was so natural that, when she was passing by, everyone felt authorized to shout out his joy or his sorrow to her, as if she were a sister of charity. It was said that soldiers on leave would go up to the sides of her sleigh to murmur a compliment in her ear. Among themselves, they called her Matushka, “little mother”; she knew that, and was proud to consider it an additional title of nobility.

  One of the first to have detected the tsarevna’s discreetly rising star among the ordinary people and the middle aristocracy was the French ambassador, the marquis de La Chetardie. He very quickly understood the advantages he could derive for his country and himself by winning Elizabeth Petrovna’s confidence, and even friendship.

  He was assisted in this campaign of diplomatic seduction by the princess’s designated doctor, a Hanoverian of French origin, Armand Lestocq, whose ancestors had settled in Germany after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This man, about 50 years old, skilled in his art and absolutely amoral in his private conduct, had been introduced to Elizabeth Petrovna when she was only an obscure young girl, flirtatious and sensual. The marquis de La Chetardie often called upon him to try to penetrate the tsarevna’s varying moods and the shifting public opinion in Russia. What stood out, in Lestocq’s comments, was that unlike the women who had preceded her at the head of the country, this one found France very attractive. She had learned French and even “danced