No one obeys me; but I will soon find the means to break my chains!”12 These remarks were reported to the Dolgorukys, who put their heads together to work out a response that would be effective while preserving the appearance of respecting the tsar. Moreover, they had another family problem on their hands that required urgent intervention: Ivan had fallen out with his sister Katya, who had lost all sense of restraint since her engagement and was laying claim to the late Grand Duchess Natalya’s diamonds, saying that the tsar had promised them to her. This sordid quarrel over a box of jewels was liable to irritate Peter just at the moment when they needed more than ever to dampen his mistrust. But how could they make a woman listen to reason, when she was less sensitive to male logic than to the glitter of precious stones?
On January 6, 1730, at the time of the traditional blessing of the waters of the Neva, Peter arrived late at the ceremony and positioned himself behind the open sledge in which Catherine was seated. In the frozen air, the chanting of the priest and the singing of the choir resonated weirdly; vapor rose from the mouths of the singers. Peter shivered throughout the interminable service. Returning home, he could not stop shaking; he was put to bed. They thought he’d gotten a chill. And anyway, by January 12, he had recovered. But, five days later, the doctors detected symptoms of small pox, which was often fatal at the time. Receiving this news, all the Dolgorukys gathered together at the Golovin palace in ter«58»
Machinations around the Throne ror. They already foresaw the worst and started looking for ways to avert the catastrophe. Amid the general panic, Alexis Dolgoruky stated that only one solution existed, should the tsar die suddenly: to crown his chosen bride Catherine, little Katya, without delay. But this claim struck Prince Vasily Vladimirovich as exorbitant, and he protested in the name of all the family.
“Neither I nor any of mine will wish to be her subjects! She is not married!”
“She is promised in marriage!” retorted Alexis.
“That’s not the same at all!”
A heated debate erupted. Prince Sergei Dolgoruky suggested raising the Guard to support the cause of the tsar’s fiancee. Turning toward General Vasily Vladimirovich Dolgoruky, he exclaimed: “You and Ivan control the Preobrazhensky regiment. Together, the two of you can make your men do whatever you want!”
“We would be massacred!” retorted the General; and he walked out of the meeting.
After he left, another Dolgoruky, Prince Vasily Lukich, a member of the Supreme Privy Council, sat down by the fireplace where an enormous wood fire as burning and, on his own authority, drafted a will for the tsar to sign - while he still had the strength to read and sign an official document. The other members of the family flocked around him and suggested a sentence here, a word there to refine the text. When he was done, someone in the group spoke up, voicing the fear that their adversaries would dispute the authenticity of the document. A third Dolgoruky, Ivan, Peter’s little friend and the fiance of Natalya Sheremetiev, came to the rescue. Did they need the tsar’s signature?
Aha! He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to his relatives.
“Here is the tsar’s handwriting,” he said, cheerfully. “And
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Terrible Tsarinas here is mine. You yourselves would not be able to tell them apart.
And I know how to sign his name as well; I often did so as a joke!”
The onlookers were flabbergasted - but not indignant.
Dipping a quill into the inkwell, Ivan signed Peter’s name at the bottom of the page. They all leaned over his shoulder and murmured with wonder.
“That is exactly the hand of the tsar!”13 they exclaimed.
Then the conspirators exchanged half-reassured glances and prayed God that they would be spared the necessity of actually using this forgery.
From time to time, they sent emissaries to the palace for an update on the tsar’s condition. The news was grimmer and grimmer. Peter died at one o’clock in the morning, Monday, January 19, 1730, at the age of 14 years and three months. His reign had lasted just over two and a half years. January 19, 1730, the day of his death, is the date he had set a few weeks before for his marriage with Catherine Dolgoruky.
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Machinations around the Throne
Footnotes 1. Cf. Brian-Chaninov: Histoire de Russie.
2. A traditional term designating the daughter of the tsar.
3. Cf. Daria Olivier, op. cit.
4.
Cf. Waliszewski, L’Heritage de Pierre le Grand.
5. Cf. Daria Olivier, op. cit.
6. Details provided by Essipov: “L’Exil du prince Menshikov,” Annales de la Patrie, 1861, and cited by Waliszewski, op. cit.
8. Waliszewski, op. cit.
9. Menshikov’s two other children, his son Alexander and his daughter Alexandra, were recalled from exile only under the following reign. 10. The future Peter III, who would marry Catherine the Great. 11. Cited by Soloviov: Histoire de Russie, quoted by K Waliszewski, op. cit.
13.
Details found in the State Archives (Moscow) file on the Dolgoruky scan dal, and quoted by Kostomarov in his Monograph and by K. Wal iszewski, op. cit.
The same uncertainty that had embarrassed the members of the Supreme Privy Council upon the death of Peter the Great gripped them again in the hours following the demise of Peter II.
In the absence of a male heir and an authentic will, who could replace the late ruler without sparking a revolution among the aristocracy?
The usual notables were gathered at Lefortovo Palace in Moscow, with the Golitsyns, Golovkins and Dolgorukys at the center. But nobody had the nerve, at first, to voice an opinion - as if all the titled “decision-makers” felt guilty for the tragic decline of the monarchy. Taking advantage of the general confusion, Vasily Dolgoruky chose his moment and, hoisting his sword, gave a rallying cry: “Long live Her Majesty, Catherine!” And he cited the recently fabricated will, to justify this proclamation of victory.
Thanks to this intrigue, the Dolgorukys had a chance of attaining the highest position in the empire. The goal was worth a little cheating. But the clan of those who opposed that choice struck back at once: Dmitri Golitsyn stared down Vasily Dolgoruky and
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IV
Terrible Tsarinas sharply asserted that the will was false.
And he looked as though he could somehow prove it. The Dolgorukys, fearing that the document would not stand up to serious examination and that they would then be liable to serious charges of counterfeit, decided not to push their luck any further.
That was the end of it for Catherine; there was no more talk of giving her a throne. Just as she was poised to take her seat, it was whisked out from under her. Pressing his advantage, Dmitri Golitsyn declared that in the absence of a male successor directly descended from Peter the Great, the Supreme Privy Council should turn to the offspring of the elder branch and offer the crown to one of the children of Peter I’s brother Ivan V (known as “the Simple”; although sickly and indolent, he had been “co-tsar” with Peter the Great during the five years when their sister Sophia had served as regent).