Romanov. A brief biography, terrible and tragic details of his existence have not yet been disclosed. The throne in Russia was passed from parents to children, but this procedure was not without intrigue, scandals and bloodshed.
Background of the fight
In 1730, Anna Ioannovna was declared the new empress. This woman is the daughter of Ivan V, who was the elder brother of Peter the Great. It so happened that both boys were crowned as children, but the lesser king became the actual ruler. Ivan was in poor health and did not interfere in state affairs. He devoted all his time to his family. In 1693 his fourth daughter was born. Shortly thereafter, at the age of 29, the senior sovereign died. Many years later, his great-grandson, Ioann Antonovich Romanov, came to power for a short time.
Even at a fairly young age, in 1710, Anna Ioannovna, at the request of Peter the Great, was married to a foreign duke. However, less than three months later, the newly-made husband died. Now scientists believe that the cause of the tragic ending is excessive alcohol consumption. Consequently, the 17-year-old widow lived in St. Petersburg with her mother for a long time. The woman never remarried and never had children.
Path to power
After the death of Peter the Great, the question arose of who should rule the state next. On the eve of the emperor repealed the law, according to which the throne was transferred only through the male line. Among the contenders for the throne were two daughters: Anna, who renounced all rights, and Elizabeth, she was 15 years old at the time of her father's death. Peter's eldest son from his first marriage, Alexei, was denied the throne. Other options for the development of events were not considered at that time. They did not take into account the descendants among whom Ivan Antonovich Romanov subsequently appeared.
Accordingly, according to the new laws, the wife was declared the ruler - However, the woman did not reign for long. Constant balls undermined her health. She died in 1727. They decided to put the young son of Tsarevich Alexei in power - However, the boy was unwell and died in 1730. The Council decided to enthrone the above-mentioned Anna Ioannovna.
The birth of a successor
The woman did not have children, so the question of a successor became an edge. In order for the descendants of her father, Ivan V, to remain in power, the ruler decided to summon her sister and daughter Anna Leopoldovna to Russia. When the girl's mother died, the empress raised the child as her own. Subsequently, she issued a decree according to which the children of her niece are considered direct heirs to the throne. In 1739, she married the girl to Duke Anton-Ulrich. The young people did not like each other, but both understood the essence of the marriage-deal. A year later, namely on August 12, the young couple had a son, Ioann Antonovich Romanov. Accordingly, the autocrat named the crumb as her successor. Anna Ioannovna forced her subjects to swear allegiance to the little heir.
Continuation of the dynasty
However, she was not destined to take part in the education of the future ruler. In October, the queen became ill. A few days later, the woman died, having previously appointed Duke Biron as regent for the young Ivan.
The day after the death of the Empress, namely October 18, 1740, the little heir was transferred with honors to the Winter Palace. After 10 days, the boy officially ascended the throne. Accordingly, the Brunswick branch began to rule, in which there were many representatives of the European nobility. But thanks to the blood of the Empress' niece, it was the Romanov dynasty. John Antonovich was considered the rightful heir.
Even during her lifetime, Anna Ioannovna said that it would be extremely difficult to cope with the position of regent. The man was interested in power, which in this way was concentrated in the hands. However, very soon the high position spoiled him.
Important positions
Biron behaved confidently, disdainfully treated his subjects, including the parents of the little king. Consequently, very soon his impudent behavior bothered the nobility. Therefore, the dissatisfied guards, led by Field Marshal Munnich, started a coup d'état and sent Biron away.
John Antonovich Romanov needed a new regent. They became the mother of the autocrat - Sly Minich understood: a young woman would not be able to cope with all state affairs, therefore she would entrust the management of the country to him. However, his hopes were not realized.
At first, the man hoped for the rank of generalissimo. This position was given to the father of the heir. Minich became a minister. This power would be enough for him. But in the course of court intrigues, he was pushed aside. Osterman took the coveted role at court.
The intrigues of the rulers
Despite the fact that the boy was very small, he performed the duties of a king. Many foreign guests refused to read documents without the presence of the emperor. While the adults were doing important things, the little autocrat played on the throne. Ioann Antonovich Romanov was a very respected person. The parents were having fun at the time. Anna Leopoldovna for some time tried to participate in solving state issues, but very quickly realized that she could not do it. Documents show that she was a soft and dreamy woman. She spent her free time reading novels and did not really like festivities. Anna did not pay much attention to fashion and walked around the palace in simple clothes.
At that time, tribute was paid to the little monarch: poems and poems were dedicated, coins were issued with his profile.
fatal night
Despite the status, young parents tried not to spoil their son. However, he did not have to enjoy fame. During the short time of Anna Leopoldovna's reign, her rating dropped significantly. Taking advantage of the situation, December 6, 1741 (daughter of Peter I) made a coup. Then Ioann Antonovich Romanov lost all rights. The years of the reign of the monarch ended before it began.
The self-proclaimed empress took the baby from the cradle, saying that he was not to blame for the sin of his parents. On the way from the palace, the boy played cheerfully on his hands, completely unaware of what was happening.
The royal family and their associates were punished. Some were sent to Siberia, the rest were executed. Elizabeth intended to take the young spouses abroad. However, she was afraid that over time they would be returned to their homeland by the enemies of the crown.
Life behind bars
The family was transferred to a prison near Riga, and in 1744 to Kholmogory. The baby was isolated from the parents. There are documents showing that the mother was sitting in one part of the fortress, and behind the wall was John Antonovich Romanov. Whose son, what is the title of the prisoner and what kind of blood flows in his veins - the guards knew. However, they did not have the right to tell the child about his origin.
Ivan VI lived in solitary confinement from infancy. They did not play with the child, did not teach literacy. The guards weren't even allowed to talk to him. However, the boy knew that he was the heir to the throne. The guy spoke little and stuttered.
There was a bed, a table and a toilet in the damp cell. When the room was cleaned, the boy went behind the screen. It was said that he wore an iron mask.
Several times it was visited by Russian monarchs. However, each of them saw the young man as a threat. Even under Elizabeth, portraits and documents with the name and image of the little king were destroyed and hidden. Coins with Ivan's profile were melted down. Even foreigners were severely punished for keeping such money.
tragic ending
For some time it was said that Catherine II planned to marry a prisoner and thus end the dispute in the state. However, this theory has not been confirmed. But one thing is certain: the queen ordered the guards to kill the prisoner if someone rescued him.
The young man wanted to be tonsured a monk. Then he would not be able to claim the throne. But the heir refused. It was probably then that he was taught to read and write, and the only book he read was the Bible.
It was rumored that the guy grew up crazy. However, other sources say he was intelligent, albeit introverted.
The intrigues of the Romanovs did not stop. The dynasty in the novels (Ioann Antonovich is one of the main figures) has never been distinguished by cordiality. Several times the name of the young man was used in invented riots.
In 1764, the prisoner was in the Shlisselburg fortress. Lieutenant Mirovich persuaded part of the guard to release the legitimate emperor. The guards acted according to the instructions: they killed an innocent young man. By that time he was 23 years old. There is a version that the rebellion was the idea of the empress, who thus decided to remove the competitor.
For a long time after that, they didn’t even remember about it. And only after the fall of the empire did information begin to appear about the tragic fate of this representative of the Romanovs.
Emperor John Antonovich - one of the representatives of the Brunswick family from the Romanov family, who became king in infancy, was overthrown after 13 months, and then spent his whole life as a prisoner and was killed in the Shlisselburg fortress. His life was sad and hard, separated from his family and all people only because he was destined to become the emperor of Russia.
Start
The future Tsar John Antonovich was born into the family of Anna Leopoldovna and Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick on August 12 (23), 1740. The Empress of Russia Anna Ioannovna, his grandmother, appointed him his heir. The empress was afraid that the illegitimate daughter of Peter the Great, Elizabeth, would come to power, and therefore decided to pass the inheritance to the descendants of her father, Tsar John Alekseevich.
Officially, he ascended the Russian throne at the age of 2 months according to the will of Anna Ioannovna. By her order, Duke Biron of Courland, who was then the favorite of the Empress, was approved as regent for the infant tsar.
A year-long reign
According to the numbering, which was carried out from Ivan the Terrible, a two-month-old baby was declared as Tsar John 6 Antonovich and solemnly transported with his parents to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. E. Biron did not stay as regent for long, after 2 weeks he was overthrown by the guards on charges of conspiracy. The next regent was Anna Leopoldovna, the mother of little John. However, she was not at all interested in state affairs, she spent whole days in idleness, lying in bed. She gradually transferred all power to the energetic Field Marshal Munnich and Minister Osterman.
Rumors began to spread about the impossibility of her control of the Russian Empire. By nature, Anna Leopoldovna was lazy and narrow-minded, managing state affairs did not interest her at all. With the appearance in St. Petersburg of the Italian Count Linar, who previously held the post of Saxon envoy, her love interest began, because of which the situation in the family became even more complicated. Another revolution is coming...
Elizabeth's intrigues
All this year, Elizabeth, the granddaughter of Peter the Great, remained in the shadow of state and political life. She lived in the village, periodically visiting St. Petersburg. From early childhood, Elizabeth was the favorite of the people and especially the guards. As you know, the guardsmen of the Preobrazhensky Regiment in those days actively participated in all coups d'état. The change of power was preceded by multiple political intrigues on the part of the Swedish envoy Nolken and the French ambassador Chétardie, who set the goal of elevating Elizabeth Petrovna to the throne, promising her military assistance in exchange for concessions on the transfer of the Baltic lands to Sweden.
However, Elizabeth relied more on the support of the guards, rather than foreigners. Its slogan was "Don't give power to the Germans." And on the night of November 25, 1741, Elizabeth, with the military support of just one company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, made the most bloodless coup in history.
coup
According to historical chronicles, during the coup, when the future empress with the guards burst into the room where Anna Leopoldovna's family was sleeping, the baby John Antonovich woke up and burst into tears under Elizabeth, then she said: "Poor little one, your parents are to blame for everything."
John, along with his parents and courtiers, were arrested. The people and the military swore allegiance to Elizabeth, many foreign embassies also approved her accession to the Russian throne. A few months later, Elizaveta Petrovna declared herself the legitimate heir to the throne with a manifesto. For the Russian people and even for the Orthodox Church, she became the long-awaited empress, who saved them from the dominance of the Germans and other foreigners who came to power under the reign of Anna Leopoldovna. Thus ended the reign of Ivan Antonovich, which lasted a little over a year.
Destroy all traces
Having become empress, Elizaveta Petrovna decided to destroy all traces of the reign of John the 6th. At the end of 1741, she issued a decree on the collection of coins from the population with the name and image of the deposed little emperor. The ruble of Ivan Antonovich with his profile was withdrawn from circulation, and all the collected coins were melted down.
Also, by her decree, portraits with his image were destroyed, and business documents were replaced with new ones, without using his name. The deposed tsar-baby Elizabeth first intended to send her family out of Russia, to distant relatives, but after an attempted counter-coup in support of John the 6th and palace intrigues, she changed her mind.
Link
On the accusation of Elizabeth, all German temporary workers (Minnich, Osterman, Levengvold and others) were put on trial, they were sentenced to death, which was already replaced on the scaffold with exile in Siberia. The deposed emperor John Antonovich and Anna Leopoldovna with her husband were redirected to Riga and imprisoned. Already during the family's stay in Riga, another conspiracy of supporters of the deposed tsar, dissatisfied with Elizabeth, was uncovered. Then the ruler, fearing another conspiracy, imprisoned the entire Beinschweig family in the Dunamünde fortress near Riga, where they spent 1.5 years, and then they were transferred to the city of Oranienburg (Ryazan province, now the Lipetsk region).
In July 1744, Baron Korf brought an order from the Empress to move the Braunschweig family to Arkhangelsk, and then to Solovki for imprisonment in the Solovetsky Monastery. However, due to a storm, they could not get to the island, they were settled in the village of Kholmogory in the bishop's house, which had to be surrounded by a high fence. Already here, the parents and the four-year-old boy John were separated.
Kholmogory
The former Emperor John Antonovich was placed in a small house in complete solitude. The only person assigned to supervise him was Major Miller, who received instructions from Elizabeth to completely isolate the child from the outside world.
Anna Leopoldovna, living with her husband in Kholmogory, was absorbed in maternal and family concerns, since she had three more children in turn. But after all the wanderings, her health was undermined, and after another birth at the age of 28, she died of a fever. When the reigning Elizabeth Petrovna found out about her death, she ordered her body to be transported to St. Petersburg in order to be buried with honors in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra next to her family.
At that time, Ioann Antonovich was 6 years old, but no one even told him about his mother's death. He continued to live in complete isolation, only a few people who were ordered to keep the story of his birth a secret could communicate with him. However, not everyone strictly obeyed the orders of Elizabeth, because one of the spies taught the child to read and write and told about his origin. In addition, rumors began to spread in Russia about the unfortunate prisoner. Upon learning of this, the empress ordered the boy to be taken even further, and in 1956, under Elizabeth, Ioann Antonovich was transported and imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress.
The fate of the Brunswick family
The devotion to his family of Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick is already evidenced by the fact that when John Antonovich was overthrown, the German Empress Maria Theresa and Friedrich, being his relatives, asked Elizabeth to release Anton and his family to move to their homeland. Elizabeth even agreed to let him go, but only without his wife and children. Anton-Ulrich courageously refused to leave his family.
Together with his wife and children, they went on long-term wanderings in the north of Russia, first to Riga, then near Arkhangelsk to the settlement. They were isolated in an area of 400 square meters. m with a small pond and garden. Communication with the outside world was completely excluded, they could not even move more than 200 meters away. The Braunschweig family lived here for several years, more children were born here.
After the death and burial of Anna Leopoldovna, her husband Anton-Ulrich and four children remained to live in Kholmogory under heavy guard for another 29 years. And only 5 years after the death of their father, the children - the Brunswick princes and princesses - were released by Empress Catherine abroad to Norway.
Shlisselburg
At the age of 16, Ivan Antonovich Romanov was secretly transported and placed in solitary confinement in the Shlisselburg fortress, which is located on a small island near St. Petersburg. At that time, the fortress still had the status of a defensive structure. The cell was small, the only window in it was covered up on purpose so that no one would accidentally see the prisoner. The guards were given the strictest instructions: to maintain complete secrecy and not to communicate with the prisoner. The young man's only amusement was playing with his mother's jewels, kept in a box he had brought with him.
In the solitary cell there was an iron bed, a table and a stool, in the corner there was an icon of Christ the Savior. Instead of daylight, there was a burning oil lamp, dimly highlighting the gloomy dungeon. In the corner there is a restroom, in the side wall there is a stove.
According to some reports, he also had a Bible in his cell, translated and published in Russia in 1751 by decree of Empress Elizabeth. Reading it, the unfortunate prisoner maintained his morale. Ironically, it was thanks to reading the Elizabethan Bible that John Antonovich was able to live the remaining years in prison and preserve his human appearance in such terrible conditions:
- without fresh air - the first time John was released for a walk in the courtyard of the fortress only at the age of 20, 4 years after imprisonment;
- without communication with people - it was strictly forbidden for all guards to talk and go to the prisoner, for years he did not even see a human face.
It is not surprising that the documents of that time found evidence that the prisoner was well aware of his origin, knew how to read and wanted to become a monk.
Last years
While John Antonovich Romanov was imprisoned, Peter III came to power in Russia, replacing Elizabeth. After another coup and the assassination of Tsar Peter the 3rd, Catherine the 2nd ascended the throne. For all of them, the deposed emperor remained an enduring threat. During the years of his imprisonment, various conspiracies happened, there were people who tried to elevate John 6 to the throne. For thoughts and actions to save him, several people were hanged and executed.
According to archival documents, both Elizabeth and Peter the 3rd visited a secret prisoner in the Shlisselburg prison. On Peter 3, who visited the prisoner under the guise of an officer, young John gave the impression of being insane, speaking completely incoherently. But when Peter asked, “Do you know who you are?”, John answered quite clearly, “I am Emperor Ivan.” After that, Tsar Peter ordered that for any signs of disobedience, the prisoner be beaten and chained.
When Catherine 2 came to power, her first desire was to marry John to herself (in order to legitimize her reign) or send him to a monastery. But later, having visited the fortress and seeing him with her own eyes, she ordered an even stricter maintenance of the prisoner. The guards were ordered to kill John in any attempt to free him.
Conspiracy and death
Empress Catherine decided to get rid of the dangerous prisoner as soon as possible, and for this, the adjutant wing V. Mirovich was involved, who was supposed to stage the escape. Historians still do not know for sure whether Mirovich really sympathized with the unfortunate prisoner, or was hired by the queen to kill him.
But one night, Mirovich gave his soldiers a command to release the prisoner. John's guards acted on Catherine's instructions. When Mirovich ran into the cell, he found the already dead body of the prisoner, still a young man of 26 years old, but already with gray long hair, bloodied and lying on the floor of the cell. This was the former emperor John 6 Antonovich.
The deceased was secretly buried near the wall of the fortress in an unmarked grave. And Lieutenant Mirovich was arrested along with his accomplices and taken to St. Petersburg. After an investigation and a secret trial, he was sentenced to death, and the soldier was sentenced to exile in Siberia.
Ioann Antonovich: biography (briefly)
- 12.08.1740 - was born.
- October 1740 - declared Emperor of Russia John 6th.
- November 1741 - Elizaveta Petrovna was dethroned and became Empress of Russia.
- 1742 - sent with his family into exile in the city of Dunamünde, then to Kholmogory.
- 1746 - death of Anna Leopoldovna's mother.
- 1756 - transported and imprisoned in Shlisselburg.
- 1764 - killed by guards while trying to free.
Afterword
The 18th century in Russia became famous for its numerous coups d'état and assassinations of emperors. But the biggest injustice was the life of Tsar Ivan Antonovich, who stayed on the throne (without knowing it himself) for just over a year, and then was doomed to long years of imprisonment and oblivion.
"Palace coups in Russia" - Praskovya Saltykova. What political forces were the main ones in organizing the coups and why? 1725 - 1727. According to the will of Catherine I, Peter II became emperor. share power with the Supreme Privy Council. 2. Peter II. In May 1727 Catherine I died. Catherine II came to the throne, soon received the title - "The Great".
"History of palace coups" - Born on January 28, 1693. Privilege. Creation of the guard. Plan for studying a new topic. The heirs of Peter I. Established the land gentry cadet corps. Elizabeth is a daughter. The heirs of Peter 1. Causes of palace coups. Reforms. Frequent change of rulers on the Russian throne in the middle of the 18th century. On October 17, 1740, at the age of 47, Anna Ioannovna died.
"Peter III" - At the age of 11 in the care of an uncle - Indifference Rudeness Ignorance. Childhood. Events of Peter III. A worthless monarch who had a negative attitude towards everything Russian - Catherine II, S.M. Soloviev, V.O. Klyuchevsky. The reign of Peter III. participants in the conspiracy. Yakov Yakovlevich Shtelin revealed a complete lack of knowledge.
"Lesson Palace coups" - Catherine I (January 29, 1725 - May 6, 1727). Russian history lesson in 10th grade. Monarchs of Russia in the era of palace coups. Catherine II (1762-1796). Peter III (December 25, 1761 - June 23, 1762). Peter II (May 7, 1727 - January 18, 1730). Anna Ioannovna (January 19, 1730 - October 17, 1740). Elizaveta Petrovna (November 25, 1741 - December 25, 1761).
"Coups in Russia" - Before her death, Catherine the First appointed Peter Alekseevich as her successor. grandson of Peter the Great. Ekaterina Alekseevna. The era of palace coups. After the death of Peter II, the question of succession to the throne arose again. Portrait of Catherine the First. Nikitin. Having ascended the throne by way of a coup, Elizaveta Petrovna did not feel firmly enough on it.
"Palace coups 1725-1762" - Causes of palace coups. Catherine I (1725-1727). Peter II (1727-1730). There were a large number of direct and indirect heirs of the Romanov dynasty. For 37 years from 1725 to 1762. 6 rulers changed on the Russian throne. Catherine II (1762-1796). Elizaveta Petrovna (1741-1761). Peter III (1761-1762).
On July 17 (July 4, old style), 1764, the innocent martyr Tsar-Martyr John VI Antonovich was killed.
Brief historical background:
Ivan VI (Ioann Antonovich) (August 12 (23), 1740, St. Petersburg - July 5 (16), 1764, Shlisselburg) - Russian emperor from the Brunswick branch of the Romanov dynasty from October 1740 to November 1741, great-grandson of Ivan V. Formally reigned the first year of his life under the regency, first of Biron, and then of his own mother, Anna Leopoldovna. A year later, there was a revolution. The daughter of Peter the Great, Elizabeth, with the Preobrazhenians, arrested the emperor, his parents, and all their entourage. In 1742, the whole family was secretly transferred to the suburbs of Riga - Dunamünde, in 1744 to Oranienburg, then to Kholmogory, where little Ivan was completely isolated from his parents. In 1756 he was transferred to solitary confinement in the Shlisselburg Fortress. Ivan (who was called "a well-known prisoner") was not allowed to see even the serfs. The baby emperor was overthrown, spent almost his entire life imprisoned in prisons, in solitary confinement, and already in the reign of Catherine II was killed by guards at the age of 23 while trying to release him. For all the time of his imprisonment, he never saw a single human face. But the documents testify that the prisoner knew about his royal origin, was taught to read and write and dreamed of life in a monastery. The guards were given a secret instruction to kill the prisoner if they try to free him (even after presenting the decree of the empress about this). In official lifetime sources, he is referred to as John III, that is, the account is kept from the first Russian Tsar John the Terrible; in later historiography, a tradition was established to call him Ivan (John) VI, counting from Ivan I Kalita.
In Russian history, there are many white spots and dark places, intricate plots and forgotten heroes. One of its most mysterious and tragic characters is Emperor John Antonovich (born August 2, 1740, killed July 4, 1764).
Little is known about him.
John VI with his mother Anna Leopoldovna
Monogram of John VI
His entire official biography could be summarized in a few lines. He was the son of Prince Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Anna Leopoldovna, the granddaughter of Tsar John Alekseevich. He became Emperor of Russia by the will of Anna Ioannovna in 1740. But his reign did not last long. On the night of November 24-25, 1741, the young Emperor was overthrown from the throne, which passed to Elizaveta Petrovna, daughter of Emperor Peter I. He spent his entire life in prison, where he died after a failed attempt at the Mirovich conspiracy.
Being in inhuman conditions, Ivan Antonovich read the Gospel and prayed to God, although he did not have any conditions for a normal church life.
The baby emperor who became the martyr emperor...
It seems that no ruler of Russia had such a sad fate. Of the incomplete twenty-four years of his life, he spent more than twenty in the most sinister prisons of the Russian Empire, guilty without guilt.
The theme of the Royal Family and more broadly - the Romanov Dynasty attracts the attention of many historians, publicists, figures of the Church and culture. However, among the huge number of publications on this topic, not all works are trustworthy. One gets the impression that some authors see their task in creating a new mythology. The history of the Braunschweig family in Russia is especially indicative in this respect.
Before the revolution of 1917, this topic was taboo for obvious reasons.
Although even then there were researchers who dealt with this topic. In this regard, we note the activity of S.M. Solovyova, M.I. Semevsky, N.N. Firsova, V.O. Klyuchevsky, A.G. Brikner, M.A. Korfa.
After the revolution, the entire history of Russia in the pre-Soviet period was banned. It was as if she didn't exist at all.
With the collapse of Soviet power, the situation began to change little by little. However, the bibliography devoted to the Brunswick family in Russia is still very modest.
Among the works of modern Russian authors, it is worth highlighting the publications of E.V. Anisimova, L.I. Levina, I.V. Kurukina, N.I. Pavlenko, K.A. Pisarenko, A.V. Demkin, who introduce little-known documents from Russian and foreign archives into scientific circulation.
These documents make it possible to better navigate the intricacies of Russian politics in the post-Petrine era. The heroes of that time also appear in a new way: the ruler Anna Leopoldovna, Generalissimo Anton-Ulrich, their children, including Emperor John Antonovich.
Even the burial place of Emperor Ivan Antonovich is still not exactly known. Whether this is the Shlisselburg fortress, or the Tikhvin Monastery of the Theotokos...
But this is our Russian Emperor, who had the same rights to the throne as the "daughter of Petrov" Elizabeth and his grandson Karl-Peter-Ulrich (Peter III).
The royal baby was separated from his parents, had no proper care and upbringing. However, he independently mastered the Holy Scriptures. He prayed much and earnestly. Followed the posts. He expressed a desire to take monastic vows.
Did not work out.
But he went down in history as a righteous Emperor.
The bullying of the jailers did not break the Emperor John VI. He did not die spiritually. And if so, then according to the logic of the struggle for power, he should have been eliminated! His living, sane, legitimate Emperor of Russia!..
Therefore, those who guarded John received unspoken instructions to mock him in every possible way, to bully him. In written instructions, they were advised to use physical violence against John, and in case of alarm, to kill him.
Even the prisoner lost his true name.
He was called either the "Nameless" convict or "Gregory" (a mocking analogy with the impostor Grigory Otrepyev).
On December 31, 1741, the decree of the empress was announced on the surrender by the population of all coins with the name of John Antonovich (see in the picture) for subsequent melting.
Any images of Ivan Antonovich were withdrawn from circulation, as well as all documents where, at least by chance, his name was mentioned. The later falsifiers of national history had much to learn from the figures of the post-Petrine era.
The future regicides received a "safety certificate" for any atrocities. They knew perfectly well that nothing threatened them personally. They weren't afraid to "go too far" because their superiors urged them to use it more often.
The executioners went about their favorite business: bringing to madness a person who is completely and completely dependent on them. Along the way, they ate well, drank sweetly, dressed well and profited at his expense.
And since the guards were also rare self-seekers who consciously chose the career of prison guards for themselves, they most naturally sought not only to conscientiously fulfill the order, but also to protect themselves. And so that their disgusting deeds, unworthy of the honor of Russian officers, did not cause censure from the authorities, they also wept about their miserable fate and unfortunate fate.
Well, what a "monster" they have to protect! After all, they are so kind and gentle. But what kind of meanness can not be done “for the sake of the Fatherland”, if the authorities order!
And so they did. With feeling, with sense, with arrangement.
And the authorities helped them in this with their detailed “instructions”.
That's where these endless inventions about the inadequate behavior of the "insane prisoner" come from!
The guards first provoked the Emperor to extraordinary acts, and then, having mocked the defenseless man, described them with relish in their illiterate and false denunciations.
They especially made fun of the devout faith of the Orthodox Emperor. They were amused precisely by the fact that the Tsar, who was in inhuman conditions, humbled himself, apparently, having accepted the feat of foolishness.
It is this, in our opinion, that explains the “inadequate” behavior of John VI, which combined the outrageous actions of the holy fool with the depth and wisdom of the ascetic. However, the jailers could not give a correct assessment of such behavior due to their dense ignorance.
If Ivan Antonovich was insane, then why was it so vigilant to protect him? If he was insane, why was he killed?
The historical facts that have come down to us indicate that he was not crazy.
Apparently, Peter III, and then Catherine II, were very surprised when, instead of the “vegetable” man they expected, broken by many years of imprisonment, they saw, though sick (and where does health come from in such conditions?), But a very reasonable person who understood well who he was. . It was this, and nothing else, that seemed to hasten the death of the Emperor.
The bottom line of history is this. In June 1764, Saint Blessed Xenia of Petersburg began to weep bitterly for days on end. All the people who met her, seeing her in tears, pitied the blessed one, thinking that someone had offended her. Passers-by asked: “Why are you crying, Andrey Fyodorovich? Has anyone offended you?"
The blessed one replied: "There's blood, blood, blood! There the rivers are filled with blood, there are bloody canals, there is blood, blood.. And she cried even harder.
But then no one understood these strange words.
And three weeks later, the prediction of blessed Xenia came true: while trying to free John Antonovich, he was brutally murdered in the casemate of the Shlisselburg fortress.
In 1764, when Catherine II was already reigning, second lieutenant V.Ya. Mirovich, who was on guard duty in the Shlisselburg fortress, won over part of the garrison to his side in order to free the prisoner. In response to Mirovich's demand for surrender, the guards stabbed Ivan Antonovich to death and only then surrendered. Lieutenant Mirovich, who tried to free Emperor Ivan Antonovich, was arrested and on September 15, 1764, beheaded in St. Petersburg as a state criminal.
There is an unconfirmed version that Mirovich was provoked to attempt a coup in order to get rid of Emperor John Antonovich. Mirovich's "Rebellion" served as the theme for the novel by G.P. Danilevsky "Mirovich".
Mirovich in front of the body of Ivan VI. Painting by Ivan Tvorozhnikov (1884)
The kingslayers received a generous reward.
From the depths of centuries, the words of Ivan Antonovich reach us: “I am the prince and your Sovereign of the local empire!”
The past, of course, cannot be changed. But historical justice must still prevail. We must remember this name!
Anatoly Trunov, Elena Chernikova, Belgorod
Dedicated to the innocently murdered Russian Emperor John VI Antonovich
The flower grew among the stones,
He dreamed of the sun
About love and kindness
Quietly crying out to God!
Was hidden from the world
The cold prevailed
That beautiful flower
He grew up on the rocks.
He wanted to surprise
The world with its beauty
Shine at dawn
Cold dew.
He wanted, shuddering,
Stand in the wind
Petals substituting
Rain in the morning.
He grew painfully
Was quite alone.
And a villainous hand
The Flower has been destroyed!
Was ruthlessly torn down
Leaving no trace.
Only remained on the stone
Like tears - dew ...
An angel descended from heaven
And picked up the petals.
Birds were screaming in the sky
From insane longing.
But the flower did not disappear, -
He went to the Garden of Eden
To ever again
Return back.
To remind
That beauty will save our world,
teach us patience
In the name of Christ.
I, leaning on a stone,
Quietly shed tears
Where that flower grew
In that harsh land...
Elena Chernikova
Russian emperor from the Brunswick branch of the Romanov dynasty
short biography
Ivan VI (John Antonovich)(August 23, 1740, St. Petersburg - July 16, 1764, Shlisselburg) - Russian emperor from the Brunswick branch of the Romanov dynasty. Ruled from October 1740 to November 1741. Great-grandson of Ivan V.
Formally, he reigned for the first year of his life under the regency first of Biron, and then of his own mother Anna Leopoldovna. The baby emperor was overthrown by Elizaveta Petrovna, spent almost his entire life in solitary confinement, and already in the reign of Catherine II was killed by guards at the age of 23 while trying to release him.
In official lifetime sources it is mentioned as John III, that is, the account is kept from the first Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible; in later historiography, a tradition was established to call him Ivan (John) VI, counting from Ivan I Kalita.
Reign
John Antonovich was born on August 12, his namesake fell on August 29 - the day of the beheading of John the Baptist.
After the death of Empress Anna Ioannovna, the son of Anna Leopoldovna (Anna Ioannovna's niece) and Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Bevern-Luneburg, two-month-old Ivan Antonovich was proclaimed emperor under the regency of the Duke of Courland Biron.
He was born at the very end of the reign of Anna Ioannovna, so the question of who to appoint regent tormented the empress, who was dying, for a long time. Anna Ioannovna wanted to leave the throne to the descendants of her father Ivan V and was very worried that he would not pass in the future to the descendants of Peter I. Therefore, in her will, she stipulated that Ivan Antonovich was the heir, and in the event of his death, Anna Leopoldovna's other children in order of precedence if they are born.
Two weeks after the baby's accession, a coup took place in the country, as a result of which the guards, led by Field Marshal Munnich, arrested Biron and removed him from power. Anna Leopoldovna, the emperor's mother, was declared the new regent. Unable to govern the country and living in illusions, Anna gradually transferred all her power to Munnich, and after that Osterman took possession of it, who dismissed the field marshal. But a year later there was a new coup. The daughter of Peter the Great, Elizabeth, with the Preobrazhenians, arrested Osterman, the emperor, his parents, and all their entourage.
Insulation
At first, Elizabeth intended to expel the "Brunswick family" from Russia (as was officially stated in the manifesto justifying her rights to the throne), but changed her mind, fearing that she would be dangerous abroad, and ordered the former regent and her husband to be imprisoned.
In 1742, secretly from everyone, the whole family was transferred to the suburbs of Riga - Dunamünde. After the discovery of the so-called "Lopukhina's conspiracy" in 1744, the entire family was moved to Oranienburg, and then away from the border, to the north of the country - to Kholmogory, where little Ivan was completely isolated from his parents. He was in the same bishop's house as his parents, behind a blank wall, which none of them knew about. The room-cell of the ex-emperor, who now, at the direction of Elizabeth Petrovna, began to be called Grigory, was arranged in such a way that no one except Miller and his servant could go to him. They kept Ivan strictly in prison. The long northern ordeals greatly affected Anna Leopoldovna's health: in 1746 she died.
name ban
The personality of the former sovereign and his short reign were soon subjected to a law condemning the name: on December 31, 1741, the empress's decree was announced on the surrender by the population of all coins with the name of John Antonovich for subsequent remelting. After some time, coins were no longer accepted at face value, and since 1745, the possession of coins became illegal. Persons who were found to have coins of Ivan Antonovich or who tried to pay with them were subjected to torture and exile as state criminals. At present, coins of this reign are extremely rare.
An order was given to destroy portraits depicting Ivan Antonovich, as well as to replace business papers, passports, church books and other documents with the name of the emperor (“cases with a famous title”) with new ones. Some of these documents were burned, and some were kept sealed in the archives. Propaganda materials were also confiscated, for example, published sermons mentioning the name of John, Lomonosov's ode in his honor, and so on. This process continued throughout the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and was stopped only after the accession to the throne of Catherine II. Even more than a century and a half later, during the commemorative events of 1913-1914, the baby emperor was allowed to pass on the Romanov obelisk in the Alexander Garden and on the Faberge egg “The Tercentenary of the House of Romanov”.
Shlisselburg
After Elizabeth was presented with the testimony of the captured conspirator I. V. Zubarev, the empress's fear of a possible new coup led to Ivan's new journey. In 1756 he was transferred from Kholmogory to solitary confinement in the Shlisselburg Fortress. In the fortress, Ivan (officially called the "famous prisoner") was in complete isolation, he was not allowed to see anyone, even serf servants. There is a historical myth that Ivan's isolation was so dense that he never saw a single human face during the entire time of his imprisonment, but modern historians claim that this is not confirmed by documents. On the contrary, the documents testify that the prisoner knew about his royal origin, was taught to read and write and dreamed of life in a monastery.
Since 1759, Ivan began to observe signs of inadequate behavior. Empress Catherine II, who saw Ivan VI in 1762, asserted this with complete confidence; but the jailers thought it was only a pathetic simulation.
Murder
While Ivan was imprisoned, many attempts were made to free the deposed emperor and restore him to the throne. The last attempt turned out to be death for the young prisoner. In 1764, when Catherine II was already reigning, Lieutenant V. Ya. Mirovich, who was on guard duty in the Shlisselburg fortress, won part of the garrison to his side in order to free Ivan.
However, Ivan's guards, Captain Vlasyev and Lieutenant Chekin, were given a secret instruction to kill the prisoner if they tried to release him (even after presenting the Empress's decree about it), so in response to Mirovich's demand for surrender, they stabbed Ivan and only then surrendered.
Mirovich was arrested and beheaded in St. Petersburg as a state criminal. There is an unconfirmed version, according to which Catherine provoked him to get rid of the former emperor.
The fate of the remains
The burial place of Ivan VI is not exactly known. As is commonly believed, the "famous prisoner" was buried in the Shlisselburg fortress.
In September 2010, a number of archaeologists announced the identification of the remains found in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin (Kholmogory) as imperial. However, the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences expressed doubts about the authenticity of the remains of John VI. Moreover, it was noted that search activities under the leadership of businessman Anatoly Karanin, who is not an archaeologist, were carried out unofficially, without scientific methods and permission for archaeological excavations (“Open List”). However, the request to the prosecutor's office, initiated as a result of excavations by the St. Petersburg deputy and archaeologist Alexei Kovalev, remained inconclusive, since the prosecutor's office did not find any criminal acts in this case. “The Arkhangelsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church has taken measures to prevent the destruction of a previously unknown burial site in connection with the upcoming demolition of a water tower,” the prosecutor’s office said in a response to a request.
Memory
In fiction
In Voltaire's famous novel Candide, or Optimism (1759), the protagonist meets a masked man during the Venetian carnival, who is recommended to him as follows: “My name is Ivan, I was the emperor of all Russia; even in the cradle I was deprived of the throne, and my father and my mother were imprisoned; I was brought up in prison, but sometimes I am allowed to travel under the supervision of the guards.
In cinema
There is an episode in the first series of the television series "Catherine" in which Empress Elizabeth, in order to rein in the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Peter III, who, raising his voice to the empress, exclaimed his desire, having ascended the throne, to ban "wrong" Russian traditions and establish "correct ”, took him to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where she showed the boy who lived there in complete isolation and oblivion, calling the boy John Antonovich. At the same time, the real John Antonovich was not kept in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Later in this series, John Antonovich was shown in Shlisselburg, where Catherine the Second visited him before his death. This point is also untrue: the film shows that John was killed at about the same time as Peter III, that is, in 1762, but in fact John Antonovich was killed in 1764. There is another inaccuracy in the film regarding John Antonovich: Elizabeth says that he ruled for 2 weeks, in reality, John ruled from October 1740 to November 1741.
Possible canonization
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin noted that Emperor John VI is an example of a spiritual feat, Hieromonk Nikon (Belavenets) believes that it is necessary to study in detail the biography of the murdered emperor and, possibly, begin the process of his canonization.
