PUSHKIN In early June 1820, on one of the hottest days of the year, Elena Pavlovna attended a dinner at the home of General Inzov. (Andrei Mikhailovich, being under the weather, was unable to attend.) Here she met the new Governor of Ekaterinoslav, Vikenty Leonovich Shemiot, a good man, but weak-willed and slow-witted. Although he was quite decent in all respects, he was very concerned about his own interests. His wife, Domitsela Martynovna Shemiot (née Princess Gedroits,) was an... Read more
THE DOUKHOBORS In May 1818, during Andrei Mikhailovich’s last stay in St. Petersburg, Alexander Pavlovich visited Novorossiysk. While touring Odessa, the Tsar was convinced of the unforgettable merits and benefits of the region. Following the departure of Duke Richelieu from Russia, Count Louis de Langeron was appointed Governor General of the Novorossiysk Territory. He was the personification of the chevalier loyalist from the times of Henry IV; a brave general, a kind, honest person, but a dissatisfied joker, and an... Read more
THE MYSTERY OF GENERAL INZOV The summer of 1817 was spent, for the most part, traveling around the colonies of Kherson Province and getting acquainted with their general condition. Elena Pavlovna and her grandmother were insisting that Andrei Mikhailovich go to Kharkov, and sit for the university examination so that he might reach the next rank. This was so he could break away from the host of titular advisers. Andrei Mikhailovich was reluctant, having already acquired decades of experience,... Read more
THE ARABAT ARROW Travels in the colonies began for Andrei Mikhailovich in 1816. His first survey directed him to the Chernigov Province, to the Radichevo Colony, peopled by Tyrolean immigrants. The Hutterites, that is, the people of the Radichevo Colony, originated as a sectarian communistic society in Moravia. Named after their martyred leader, Jacob Huter, they were a part of the Anabaptist movement (which itself was a product of the Protestant Reformation.) Their practice of community of goods began... Read more
EKATERINOSLAV At the end of his assignment, Andrei Mikhailovich returned to Nizhny Novgorod for a few days, leaving Elena Pavlovna with her relatives. He intended on procuring a four-month vacation necessary for organizing his affairs. He planned on picking up his wife in Znamenskoye on the way back, then escorting her to Rzhyshchiv, and then head to St. Petersburg where he would once again look for a job near Kiev. Leave was not given without difficulty. Governor Bykhovts, knowing... Read more
MADAME KRÜDENER Klemens von Metternich, the Secretary of State of Austria, one of the architects responsible for restructuring of Europe, had come to fear Russia. With almost one million men in its standing army, Russia had nearly the same number of soldiers that Napoleon had under his command. Austria was a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic State (Italians, Germans, Magyars, Poles, Slovaks, Slovenes, etc.,) with conflicting loyalties, and with borders on all sides, Metternich feared the Austrian Empire could be easily... Read more
THE HOUSE DOLGORUKUY The Fadeevs were in St. Petersburg by the Spring of 1814, arriving at the capital with many letters of recommendation to nobles and powerful people. Many of these people were connected to Elena Pavlovna’s relations. Field Marshal Nikolai Ivanovich Saltykov, for example, the Chairman of the State Council, was a close relative of Prince Pavel Vasilyevich. Saltykov, recently promoted to Prince of the Russian Empire by Alexander Pavlovich, had a long history with the Tsar. He... Read more
This next series of articles, “Novorossiya,” is a continuation of “Tournament Of Shadows.” Following the Russian Civil Servant, Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeev, it is a look at the colonization process on the Russian Empire’s southern frontier after the Napoleonic Wars. — S. THE ARBITER OF EUROPE’S DESTINY In June 1814, Alexander Pavlovich and his sister, Ekaterina Pavlovna, visited England, where he was adoring crowds who hailed him as “the Christian conqueror who saved Europe.” Russia’s rapid march... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows: XXV. L’Homme Rouge When the enemy was expelled from the borders of Russia, Mikhail Ilyich and his command were ordered to return to the Oginsky Canal. Andrei Mikhailovich was briefly allowed to stay with Elena Pavlovna in Rzhyshchiv for “La Lune de Miel” (Honeymoon.) In May he, too, was ordered to Oginsky Canal, where he stayed for two months with his parents. His brother, Pavel, who was also there, told many stories about what he... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows: XXIV. Princess Dolgorukaya After two months’ stay in Kiev, Andrei Mikhailovich was sent to quarters down the Dnipro River in the village of Rzhyshchiv which belonged to Countess Dzyalinskaya. Part of the Russian Empire since 1796, for the past ten years, since 1802, it was home to a dynasty (branch) of a new sect of Judaism called “Hassidism,” founded in Western Ukraine in the eighteenth century by Israel Ben Eliezer, the “Baal Shem Tov.” The... Read more
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