Princess Maria Volkonskaya: biography, photo, years of life

The history of Russia knows a lot of amazing women, whose names are not only in the pages of boring textbooks, but also in the memory of the people. One of them is Maria Volkonskaya. She is the great-granddaughter of MV Lomonosov, the daughter of the hero of the war of 1812 and the wife of the Decembrist.

Princess Maria Volkonskaya: a short biography

On January 6, 1807, the daughter of Masha was born to General Nikolai Rayevsky and his wife Sophia. The family was large (six children) and friendly, despite the temperament of the mother and the severity of her father. Sisters liked to play music, and Maria sang beautifully, and guests often visited the house. Including AS Pushkin, who even for a while was in love with the sixteen-year-old Mashenka.

In the winter of 1825 Maria was married to the 37-year-old prince Sergei Volkonsky. Not for love, but not forcibly.

With an eternally busy husband, she was seen rarely, even her first-born gave birth away from her husband. And about the participation of the prince in the conspiracy learned after the failed uprising. After the trial of her husband, Maria Volkonskaya obtained permission to follow him to Siberia. This act was not accepted by her family, but over time even the stern father reacted to him with understanding.

Accompanied by her husband in various jails, Maria Nikolayevna lived in the Blagodatnoye mine, in Chita, at the Petrovsky factory and in Irkutsk, having lost several children in these wanderings.

Raised in a prosperous and well-off family, Princess Maria Volkonskaya, the wife of the Decembrist, courageously endured the hardships of the life of convicts, never complained, supported her husband and brought up children. Those who survived.

She spent 30 long years with her husband in Siberia and returned home only in 1855. In 1863 Maria Nikolaevna died from a heart disease in the estate of her daughter in the village of Voronki, and a year later her husband was buried next to her.

Character similar to steel

Princess Maria Volkonskaya is one of those strong and inflexible personalities who, even centuries later, never cease to admire and inspire respect. The nature of it is distinguished by a strong will and desire to follow its ideals, not bowing to anything.

Growing up in hothouse conditions, under the wing of a stern but caring and loving father, Maria Nikolaevna, being in extreme circumstances, did not resign herself, did not submit to the opinion of the world and the will of her relatives.

Upon learning of the arrest of her husband, who had just recovered from the difficult births, Maria categorically rejected the offer of her father to terminate the marriage with the prince and went to Petersburg, expecting to see her husband. This was impeded by all her relatives, and letters to her husband were intercepted and opened. Several times Brother Alexander tried to take her away from Petersburg, but Volkonskaya left only when her son fell ill.

And after the trial, in which Prince Volkonsky was sentenced to exile and hard labor, Maria appealed to the Tsar with a request to allow her to accompany her husband. And when the permission was received, she was not deterred either by the threat of her father or by the curse of her mother. Leaving her first-born mother-in-law, Volkonskaya leaves for Siberia.

It was a real struggle, led by an 18-year-old girl for the right to be with her husband, not only in joy, but in sorrow. And Maria Nikolaevna won this fight, despite the fact that even her mother turned away from her, who did not write to her in Siberia a single line. And if Nikolai Rayevsky at the end of his life was able to appreciate the act of his daughter, then her mother never forgave.

"In the depths of Siberian ore ..."

Now it is difficult to imagine how you can travel hundreds of miles in the winter in a tent. But Volkonskaya was not afraid of frosts, poor innards, poor nutrition, or threats of the governor of Irkutsk, Zeidler. But the look of her husband in a torn sheepskin coat and shackles shook, and Maria Nikolaevna in a spiritual impulse descends before him on her knees and kisses shackles on her legs.

Previously, Volkonskaya to Siberia, Ekaterina Trubetskaya came to her husband, who became Maria and the eldest girlfriend and companion. And then 9 more wives of the Decembrists joined these two women.

Not all of them were of noble origin, but they lived very amicably, and noblewomen were eager to learn from ordinary people the wisdom of everyday life, because often they did not know how to cook bread or cook soup. And then the Decembrists, who were warmed and supported by the heat of the soul of these women, rejoiced at the cooking of their wives.

In the recent past, the pampered aristocrat Maria Volkonskaya managed to win love even from local peasants and ordinary convicts, who helped, often spending the last money.

And when the exiles were allowed to move to Irkutsk, the houses of Volkonsk and Trubetskoe became real cultural centers of the city.

At the call of the heart or at the behest of duty?

There are many articles and books devoted to this amazing woman, who was not only the youngest among the wives of the Decembrists, but also one of the first to decide on such an extraordinary for those times act. However, not only is this interesting, Maria Volkonskaya, whose biography still attracts the attention of researchers.

There is a widespread opinion that Maria Nikolayevna did not like her husband. Yes, and could not love, since before the wedding he was hardly acquainted with him, and afterwards during the year she lived with the prince on the strength of three months, and even then rarely saw him.

What, then, prompted Volkonskaya to sacrifice her own well-being and the lives of future children? Only a sense of duty to the spouse?

There is another point of view. Maria Volkonskaya, if she did not like her husband at first, then respect and even worship before him grew into love. In Shakespeare's words: "She fell in love with him ..."

And perhaps, the well-known culturologist Yu. Lotman, who believed that the Decembrist wives - refined ladies who grew up on romance novels and dreamed of exploits in the name of love - just so embodied their romantic ideals.

"Notes of Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya"

On her return home Princess Volkonskaya told about her life in Siberia in "Notes". They were written in French and were meant exclusively for the son of Mikhail.

After the death of his mother, he did not immediately decided to publish them, but nevertheless translated into Russian and even read excerpts to NA Nekrasov. Records made a very strong impression on the poet, he even cried, listening to the life of convicts and their wives.

"Notes" were published in 1904 in the best printing house in St. Petersburg - on expensive paper with engravings and phototypes.

Evaluation of contemporaries and descendants

The actions of the Decembrists, who decided to oppose the consecrated royal power, can be treated differently. But the act 11 of their wives, who went after the condemned husbands to a remote and terrible Siberia, is certainly worthy of respect.

Already in the XIX century, progressive members of society gave these women almost halos of saints. NA Nekrasov dedicated to them his poem "Russian Women", in which the real events described by Maria Volkonskaya were reflected.

In the XX century, the wives of the Decembrists wrote scientific and artistic books, shot films, they put monuments, for example, in Chita and in Irkutsk.

Maria Volkonskaya, whose biography is reflected in the "Notes", and to this day remains the most vivid figure among the wives of the Decembrists due to her youth and surprisingly strong integral character.