Alexander Matwejewitsch Dmitrijew-Mamonow

Portrait of Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (before 1786)

Count Alexander Matwejewitsch Dmitrijew-Mamonow (Russian: Александр Матвеевич Дмитриев-Мамонов, born September 30, 1758 , † October 11, 1803 , buried in the Donskoy Monastery ) was a lover of Catherine II of Russia from 1786 to 1789 .

Life

Scion of the Rurikids and descended from the princes of Smolensk , he came from the family Dmitriev-Mamonov. His father MW Mamonov and General AA Sagrjaschskij were married to sisters from the Boborykin house, and Sagrjaschskij was a cousin of the mother GA Potemkins [1]. Thanks to these connections, Alexander was enrolled in the Izmailov regiment as a child and appointed Adjutant Potemkin's in 1784. In order to ensure that in the times of his long absence from the court there was a loyal devotee around the ruler, the latter introduced him to Katharina in 1786, who took a liking to him because of his pleasant appearance and humble demeanor. In a letter to Friedrich Melchior Grimm , she praised his knowledge of French and thus encouraged his literary attempts. Out of gratitude Alexander gave his patron a teapot with the inscription "Plus unis par le coeur que par le sang" ("Closer through the heart than through the blood").

In 1786 Dmitrijew-Mamonov was promoted straight to colonel and appointed adjutant to the Tsarina; in the same year he was promoted to major general, appointed real chamberlain and received an apartment in the Winter Palace . At first he played no public role, but in 1787 Katharina took her red coat with her on her trip to Crimea, and he managed to take part in the tsarina's conversations with various dignitaries and finally in her meetings with Emperor Joseph II . and the Polish King Stanislav II August to be present. Also in 1787 he met the Venezuelan statesman Francisco Miranda in Kiev . From this time on, Dmitrijew-Mamonow began to participate in state affairs, albeit to a completely insignificant extent, since he had neither the necessary intellectual gifts nor any other qualifications. In 1788, however, the tsarina appointed him adjutant general , promoted him to lieutenant general, procured him the title of imperial count of the Holy Roman Empire and finally ordered his presence on the State Council.

Thanks to donations from the Tsarina, he came into possession of one of the greatest fortunes in Russia (among other gifts, he received the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky with diamonds worth 30,000 rubles and diamond- studded armpit cords worth 50,000 rubles). The income from his estates amounted to 63,000 rubles a year, but his earnings from his offices were more than 200,000 rubles a year.

After two years with the tsarina, Dmitriev-Mamonov began to lose interest in her. At the time of her sixtieth birthday, his condition was described as hypochondriac. One of his friends reported that Mamonov "regards his life as a prison, is utterly bored, and apparently the Tsarina attaches herself to him and shows herself jealous at every public gathering attended by women." His position seemed unshakable; However, he himself completely unexpectedly shook her when, at the time of Katharina's sixtieth birthday, he fell in love with the sixteen-year-old lady-in-waiting, Princess Darya Scherbatova, and took her for a few weeks to the seclusion of Dubrovitsi, a luxurious estate near Moscow that Catherine von Potemkin had acquired and had given Mamonov. His opponents - Mamonov no longer spoke to Besborodko and was in open opposition to Katharina's closest confidante, Anna Protasova - immediately informed the Tsarina of this relationship. Katharina was shocked and bitter. Unable to understand that a lover might leave her for a girl who might be her granddaughter, she allegedly deigned to spread the rumor that he had gone mad. In a letter to Potemkin, Katharina commented: "There are indications that he wanted to stay at court with his wife as before, ultimately contradicting and unreasonable behavior, so that even his closest friends no longer protect him".

The following entry can be found in State Secretary Krapowitzkij's diary on June 20, 1789: “... before the evening exit, Her Majesty deigned to receive Count AM Mamonow and Princess Scherbatow; both begged for forgiveness on their knees ”. The groom received a present of 2,250 serfs and 100,000 rubles, but was ordered to leave St. Petersburg on the day of the wedding. At the same time, the lady-in-waiting Maria Schkurina, who had helped the lovers, was dismissed.

Dmitryev-Mamonov settled in Moscow and was initially satisfied with his fate, but after a year he decided to bring himself back to Katharina's memory and wrote her begging letters asking for her favor and permission to go to St. Petersburg to return. The Tsarina's answer soon taught him that his hopes were in vain. The legend that Catherine, out of jealousy, sent policemen in women's clothes to the Scherbatova, who cruelly beat her in the presence of her husband, however, does not correspond to the facts. However, she prevented Maria Shkurina, a lady-in-waiting whom she suspected of having supported the Sherbatova in her love affairs, from joining the Mamonovs in Moscow. When she finally allowed Shkurina to leave the court and join the Mamonows in a ménage à trois, Katharina joked in a letter that "these two tormentors will kill him."

Tsar Paul , whom Dmitrijew-Mamonov had treated with respect at the time when he was enjoying the favor of the Tsarina, awarded him the title of Russian Count after his accession to the throne in 1797, but did not recall him to court.

With the death of his only son Matwej in 1863, the title of Count Dmitrijew-Mamonow expired, but the noble family still exists today. The family Dmitrijew-Mamonow is in the V. and VI. Part of the nobility register of the Moscow governorate (Register of Arms I, 30 and II, 21).

Web links

Commons : Alexander Matwejewitsch Dmitrijew-Mamonow  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

1. ↑ Екатерина Вторая и Г. А. Потемкин. Личная переписка (1769–1791). ISBN 978-5-4241-3564-4 . Стр. 452 (Katharina II. And GA Potemkin. Personal correspondence, p. 452)
2. ↑ Francisco de Miranda. Diario de Moscú y San Petersburgo. - ISBN 980-276-225-3 , с. 190 (F. de Miranda: Diary from Moscow and St. Petersburg, p. 190)
3. ↑ John T. Alexander. Catherine the Great: Life and Legend. Oxford University Press, 1989. Page 222 (John T. Alexander: Catherine the Great: Life and Legend, Oxford 1989, p. 222)

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• С. Ш. Дмитриев-Мамонов, Александр Матвеевич // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и ЕфронаВа. (82. То 86 томах.) (82. - СПб., 1890-1907 (C.Sch. Dmitrijew-Mamonow, Alexander Matwejewitsch, in: Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Ephron, in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 supplementary volumes), St. Petersburg 1890-1907)
• Дмитриев-Мамонов А.М. Письма графа А.М. Дмитриева-Мамонова к Екатерине II. 1790-1795 // Русский архив, 1865. - Изд. 2-е. - М., 1866. - Стб. 633-641. (Dmitriev-Mamonov, AM: Letters from Count AM Dmitrijew-Mamonow to Catherine II, 1790-1995, in: Russian Archives, 1865, 2nd edition Moscow 1866, columns 633–641)