Konstantin Pavlovich Romanov

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Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia.JPG
Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich

Konstantin Pavlovich Romanov (born 27 April jul. / 8. May  1779 greg. In Tsarskoye Selo , † June 15 . Jul / 27 June  1831 . Greg in Vitebsk ) from the House of Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp was Grand Duke and Tsarevich of Russia .

Life

Constantine was the second son of Russian Tsar Paul I and Tsarina Maria Feodorovna . Already in 1799 he distinguished himself in the campaign against France as a soldier under Alexander Wassiljewitsch Suvorov . He also displayed great courage in the battle of Austerlitz . In 1808 he attended the Erfurt Congress , then accompanied his brother Alexander I on his army campaigns from 1812 to 1814 , fought at the head of the guards with great bravery on several occasions, especially near Leipzig , and was present at the Congress of Vienna . Thereupon he successively became military governor and general of the Polish troops, governor-general and de facto viceroy in Congress Poland .

After separating from his first wife, Princess Juliane von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld , he married the Polish Countess Joanna Grudzińska on May 24, 1820 , who was later made Princess of Łowicz by the Tsar . Because of this inappropriate marriage , he declared in a file dated January 14, 1822 that he was renouncing the succession during Alexander I's lifetime. Since no one, not even Grand Duke Nicholas , who had been appointed heir to the throne, knew of Constantine's renunciation of the throne, Constantine was proclaimed emperor in St. Petersburg on December 9, 1825 in his absence after Alexander's death and the first Constantine rubles were minted. But he declared in Warsaw that he would insist on his renunciation, and so the throne went to his younger brother Nicholas.

Constantine's rawness and military severity were unsuitable for taking the Poles for himself and Russian rule. When the November uprising broke out in Poland in the wake of the French July Revolution of 1830 , an armed crowd broke into Constantine's apartment on November 29, 1830, but he escaped by fleeing to the center of his guards. After the hasty evacuation of Warsaw by the Russian troops on November 30th, he left Poland. He then lived in Białystok and was just about to withdraw deeper into Russia with the approach of a Polish corps when he died of cholera in Vitebsk on June 27, 1831 . His wife followed him on November 29, 1831.

Honor

The Fort Grand Duke Constantine in Koblenz

Friedrich Wilhelm III. made Constantine knight of the Order of the Black Eagle on April 7, 1805 and appointed him chief of the 3rd Cuirassier Regiment on November 17, 1813 . In honor of Constantine, the Grand Duke Fort Konstantin , part of the Koblenz Fortress , bears his name.

Contemporary voices

“When one speaks publicly about the imperial family, one voluntarily and joyfully praises the character of beautiful humanity and general goodness. Only the Grand Duke Constantine is spoken of here and there with loud disapproval; and there are even people who think it's bad. From all that I have been able to learn from him, I cannot believe this from him; but it cannot be denied either that an unprecedented passionate vehemence, which is said to border on imperturbability, sometimes gives him the appearance of great corruption. He was his grandmother's favorite because of the liveliness of his mind; and it is easy to understand how maternal tenderness also sees some youthful upsurges far less than the stricter judge in public relations. His family loves him without exception, proof that he must be natural. Otherwise his willfulness is almost limitless and has led him to take steps, half of which I would like to write on the distortion of displeasure. It is sad that the young, really amiable, very educated man runs the risk of sacrificing his better character to the carelessness of youth. The effect is already visible. One flees his proximity because one fears the game of his willfulness. Men burden themselves and the nation with a heavy responsibility, which they make companions and performers of his youthful ideas. You must lose his respect as soon as he comes to serious consciousness; and that certainly happens when his better soul gains a calm overview of things and he himself feels the need to have the love and pure respect of the reasonable instead of the roaring applause of the enthusiasts. Only once have I seen him very close, giving his orders to an officer in such an impetuous manner, so unseemly for the public, that I would certainly have asked for my farewell the next morning in place of the officer. Public respect is the most sacred pledge between men of honor. "

- Johann Gottfried Seume : My Summer 1805

literature

Web links

Commons : Konstantin Pawlowitsch Romanow  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johann Gottfried Seume: My Summer 1805 . Rütten & Loenig, Berlin 1968, p. 134 f. Seume, who himself had served as an officer in the Russian army, had traveled through Russia and Sweden in the summer of 1805 and was received by Tsarina Maria Feodorovna , the mother of Constantine. Seume may have heard more “experience” from Friedrich Maximilian Klinger , who as a reader of the Tsarist couple, d. H. of Constantine's parents, was employed at the court and met Seume on his journey in St. Petersburg.
personal data
SURNAME Romanov, Konstantin Pavlovich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grand Duke and Tsarevich of Russia
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH Tsarskoye Selo
DATE OF DEATH June 27, 1831
Place of death Vitebsk