Translated material
Short hand of Dolgoruky
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So, by the end of the 17th century, the Dolgorukovs occupied hardly a leading position among those who in Russia were considered to be first-class nobility. This, in addition to the vastness of the family, was facilitated by the presence among them of several truly bright people whose government activities turned out to be significant and noticeable. Let us mention in this capacity, first of all, the boyar Yuri Alekseevich Dolgorukov, the pacifier of the Razin region and the educator of Tsarevich Fyodor Alekseevich (who became king in 1676). This man was torn to pieces by archers in May 1672 during the Khovanshchina - which, of course, later elevated both his memory and his family in the eyes of Peter. Peter the Great had even greater respect for Yakov Fedorovich Dolgorukov (1639-1720). It was he who brought the famous astrolabe to the Tsar from the Paris embassy, with which, according to legend, Peter's passion for maritime affairs began. Yakov Fedorovich was truly an extraordinary person with an extraordinary destiny. Having been captured near Narva in 1700, he fled from Sweden in 1711 under the following anecdotal almost circumstances: the Swedes, for some reason of their own, decided to transport 44 Narva prisoners from Jakobstadt to the remote town of Umeå. On the merchant ship hired for this purpose, they were guarded by about 20 soldiers. On the way, the prisoners lived with their convoy “soul to soul”: they organized joint drinking parties, competitions, even hunting on one of the passing islands! But then, one day, after morning prayer, these insidious Russians suddenly overpowered their guards and forced the skipper, changing course, to go to Revel, which had already been captured by Peter. Yakov Fedorovich allegedly promised Lieutenant-Commander Jan Ellers, the head of the security, to “introduce him to the Tsar.” And he kept his word: the officer was introduced to Peter, however, he was not released back from Revel - only a year later he was allowed to go away anywhere, but not to Sweden! The unfortunate convoy commander apparently went to Pomerania and from there he returned to his homeland - where, of course, he was put on trial for excessive laziness while performing an important task. The piquant point was that even without the escape, Yakov Fedorovich would not have stayed in captivity - preparations were being made to exchange him for Field Marshal Rönschild, who was captured near Poltava. In anticipation of this event, Dolgorukov even borrowed 3,000 dalers from the wife of a Swedish military leader, somehow conditioning the repayment of the debt on this very exchange. In other words, after the escape, Yakov Fedorovich refused to give the money - citing the fact that there was no exchange. The scandal was quite serious at that time - however, for the Russian nobility of that time this was a completely typical attitude towards their own debt-ridden reputation. At home, Yakov Fedorovich was received more than cordially and was immediately appointed to very responsible posts (with the strange title of “General-Plenipotentiary-Kriegs-Commissar”). Of all Peter’s entourage, he was the person who most freely expressed his opinion in the presence of the Tsar. It was to him that Peter once publicly addressed the famous request - to compare himself in business terms with his father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. And Dolgorukov then answered Peter, not too concerned about complementarity. In general, during the reign of Peter the Dolgorukovs (often teaming up with the Golitsyns) represented one of the independent centers of power - sufficient to resist, say, the Menshikov group, creating for the latter an environment of lasting discomfort: suffice it to say that through their efforts, His Serene Highness was actually under investigation for at least 10 the last years of the life of Tsar Peter!
Yakov Fedorovich did not leave any male children, but in the last years of Peter the Great and the first years after Peter the Great, the Dolgorukov clan was represented on the political scene of the country by his brothers - Luka and Grigory - and, to a greater extent, by their sons: Vasily Lukich, Ivan, Sergei and Alexei Grigorievich. Vasily Vladimirovich Dolgorukov (1667-1746) was considered the elder of the family at the accession of Peter the Second in 1727.
Now about the throne-matrimonial ambitions. Such Dolgorukovs again appeared during the accession of the grandson of Peter the Great, Peter II Alekseevich, to the throne in 1727. However, they were not the only ones who wanted to become related to this twelve-year-old boy. Menshikov, to whom Peter II, in general, owed his accession to the throne, planned to marry him to his daughter Maria and had much more favorable chances for such an enterprise than the Dolgorukys. Everything was going well for him, the young king had already moved to the Menshikov Palace, and on May 25 (old style) the betrothal of the young people took place... However, the Dolgorukovs did not give up - carefully monitoring the situation in anticipation of a mistake that their successful opponent would make. And such an hour came - Alexander Danilovich, who had fallen ill, released the Tsar from his close custody for only half a month - and this turned out to be sufficient to turn the situation sixteen points around. However, Menshikov made a fatal mistake much earlier - when, having sent Tolstoy to Solovki, Divier, Skornyakov-Pisarev and others to Siberia, he remained, in fact, the only serious player in his group. As soon as he fell ill, the party found itself completely paralyzed. In general, already on September 11, 1727, Menshikov, married and named the tsar’s bride, went into exile, from which all of them would not have to return, and the empty place of the tsar’s confidant was taken by Ivan Alekseevich Dolgorukov (1708-1739), the grandnephew of Yakov Fedorovich. The tutelage of the king continued with the same intensity, but in a slightly different style - now it was a pastime among whores and bottles exclusively. The purpose of the wife's guardianship was the same as the old guardianship: to marry Peter II to the right person. What did Ivan Alekseevich’s sister Ekaterina become? On November 30, 1729, the newlyweds exchanged rings - and the solemn betrothal ceremony was not without an annoying nuisance, which in retrospect grew into an ominous symbol. When entering the palace, the bride's carriage caught on the arch of the gate, as a result of which the gilded imperial crown fell to the ground!
And on the evening of January 6, 1730, the young tsar unexpectedly fell ill - and within a few days, a mild cold turned into a very serious illness - smallpox. On the 18th, on the eve of the scheduled wedding, the patient’s condition became obviously hopeless. On this day, the Dolgorukovs gathered for a clan council at the house of Alexei Grigorievich. It was there that Ivan Alekseevich proposed to draw up a will on behalf of the dying emperor, in which the throne would be transferred to his betrothed bride. It must be said that this project did not cause unity in the ranks of the Dolgorukovs - Field Marshal Vasily Vladimirovich simply laughed at it as absolutely fantastic and, having quarreled with his relatives, left the council. Nevertheless, a will was prepared: one copy was signed for the emperor by Ivan Alekseevich, taking advantage of the similarity of handwriting. The other one was left clean - the same Ivan Dolgorukov sat with him all night near the dying man’s bed, in the hope that he would regain consciousness. But this did not happen, and on January 19, 1730, Peter the Second, Emperor of Russia, died.
Immediately after the death of the emperor, here in the Lefortovo Palace (the court then moved to Moscow, where it remained until 1732), an extended meeting of the Supreme Privy Council, the highest collective body of government of the then Russia, took place. Of the seven participants in this historic meeting, four represented the Dolgorukov clan. And, nevertheless, the idea of making a forged will did not work out there either - in full accordance with Vasily Vladimirovich’s prediction. But the chairman, D. M. Golitsyn, put forward a different project, more mundane, but no less exciting. Anna Ioannovna, the dowager of Courland, the daughter of Tsar Ivan Alekseevich, half-brother and co-ruler of the first years of the reign of Peter the Great, was called to the throne. At the same time, however, the power of the new empress was seriously limited by regulations that transferred a number of primary powers to the Supreme Privy Council and some other collective governance bodies. Thus, the monarchy in Russia became, in essence, constitutional. On this day, a deputation headed by Vasily Lukich Dolgoruky left for Courland Mitau (now the Latvian Jelgava) - it was from his hands that Anna Ioannovna accepted the conditions and handed them to him after signing.
The further course of events takes place, in fact, according to the category of lessons of their own history that the Russian people have not learned. We barely remember this “month of freedom” - when until February 1730 there was no autocracy in Russia, and a political discussion unprecedented since 1612 unfolded at the top of society. We remember just as vaguely about those dozen constitutional projects, each more complete and better than the other, and about how the struggle between the good and the best due to personal ambitions and the inability to reach a compromise turned out to be a complete failure. Taking advantage of the disunity of the reformers, conservative forces, mixed with rabid clericalism and the usual Russian servility, seized control of the situation. On February 25, Empress Anna deigned to publicly destroy the condition of the supreme leaders - and to the drunken jubilation of the guards, unlimited autocracy returned to Russia.
The trouble with the Dolgorukovs was that political life in Russia until 1964 was built on the principle of “the loser is eliminated.” In the sense of being dropped from the lists of the living. During the first years of her reign, Anna Ioannov behaved relatively restrained in terms of political repression: this is understandable - she had to establish herself in power, gain reliable support, and fulfill the promises given to the guards who led her to autocracy. However, over time, everything returned to its usual place, and the Dolgorukovs, who once dared to engage in high politics, were remembered. Group disgrace against representatives of the princely family was imposed by a decree of April 14, 1730. At the same time, Alexei Grigorievich and his son Ivan were accused of “not taking care of the health” of Peter II and “excommunicating His Majesty from kind and honest treatment.” (Which, in fact, was true). Also included in the charge was the ordinary theft of “our belongings... worth several hundred rubles.” (What is Khodorkovsky’s case? The real reason and formal reason for condemning a political opponent are just as far apart from each other.) Vasily Lukich was completely condemned for undeclared publicly “many of his unscrupulous, disgusting actions for us and our state.” Apparently, no matter how hard they wanted, they couldn’t get hold of anything... Vasily Lukich went to Solovki, and Alexey Grigorievich and his children - first to distant villages, but almost immediately upon arrival there - under escort to Siberian Berezov (where Menshikov died in 1729). This manner was characteristic of the Russian authorities in the 18th century - to tighten the punishment of already convicted persons in several stages. A year later, Vasily Vladimirovich Dolgorukov went into exile, but the matter did not end there. At the end of the 30s, the Dolgoruky trial was resumed (again similar to the fate of Khodorkovsky, isn’t it?) - the initial food for the new investigation was the abundant denunciations that had been regularly coming from Berezov all these years. Fortunately, the princes, who lived in an atmosphere of constant quarrels and intemperate tongues, created a more than nutritious environment for them. In 1738, new arrests and repressions began: the Dolgorukovs were taken to Tobolsk and began to be interrogated using torture. And already there, to the amazement of the investigators, Ivan Alekseevich suddenly extended his testimony much further than what was asked. In particular, there was a story about a fake will - and after such serious revelations, it was not difficult to predict the outcome. The Dolgorukovs were taken at the beginning of 1739 to Shlisselburg, where a new investigation was carried out, then the prisoners were sentenced to death and on November 8, 1739 they were executed in Novgorod. Ivan Alekseevich - they drove him on the wheel. Ivan and Sergei Grigorievich and Vasily Lukich were beheaded. Alexander Alekseevich, by cutting his tongue and beating with a whip, was exiled to Kamchatka - it is characteristic that the execution took place after the death of Anna Ioannovna and the signing of the decree canceling her by the regent Biron: information then reached Tobolsk with a certain delay. Nikolai and Aleksey Alekseevich were exiled to Okhotsk, and their sisters, including the “royal bride” Catherine, were tonsured into Siberian monasteries.
However, everything in Russia is fragile - even the tsar’s anger. Already in 1742, under the new empress, the forgiven Dolgorukovs began to gradually return to St. Petersburg.