The court lady. The Empress's suite. The maid of honor of Catherine I

At the end of January 1722, Peter I adopted a document known as the "Table of Ranks." He was a list of court ranks for women, modeled after the French and German imperial courts.

Suite of Empress Catherine I

In the service of the Empress there were four junker chambers and the same number of ladies-in-waiting. The duty of the first was to monitor the state of affairs in the villages and villages that were granted to the Emperor by her husband, Peter I. In addition, the junker chambers followed the condition of the monasteries, which were under the aegis of the empress herself. In fact, these trusted persons were stewards, with the right to purchase and sell land. They also recruited people and assigned them salaries, decided disputes between their subordinates, appropriated rewards to them, or assigned material assistance, and so on.

The duties of the maid of honor Catherine Alekseevna were not prescribed anywhere, but the burden of everyday service fell on their shoulders. Their main concern was everywhere to follow their mistress and carry out all her orders. The empress's maid of honor accompanied her on a walk, entertained the guests who came to her, watched her wardrobe and had many other duties.

Enviable positions

In most cases, the court lady was a representative noble family of nobility. Knowledge and impeccable observance of etiquette, as well as the ability to draw, needlework and singing - these are the main requirements that were presented to the applicants for the office of the maid of honor. They could leave their place at their own volition, so they could marry. However, there were exceptions to the rules. Two maid of honor of Catherine I were punished: one was exiled to Siberia, and the other was executed.

Initially, the court hierarchy of women consisted of four main ranks, which included maid of honor, ladies-of-ladies, goya-maid of honor and ober-gofemistrins. Over time, the list of positions expanded until it gained its final appearance under the emperor Paul I. It should be noted that the competition for the replacement of vacant posts with good salaries was quite tough. Therefore, there was a certain unofficial turn.

The main cracker of the imperial couple

Princess Nastasya Petrovna Prozorovskaya from childhood was approached to the court. In 1684, she married Ivan Alekseevich, younger brother of Boris Golitsyn, who was engaged in the education of a young Peter. The best friend of the future Empress was none other than Nastasya Golitsyna. Catherine during her wedding even allowed her to sit at the same table with the bride. Since 1714, Nastasya Petrovna participated in all the games of Peter and was a member of the so-called All-Eating Cathedral, where she held the title of Prince Superior. She drank a lot and joked incessantly, as she had a good sense of humor and was extremely incontinent in language.

In 1718, suddenly fell into disgrace and was hurriedly sent to Moscow for questioning in the case of Tsarevich Alexei. She was found guilty of not submitting to seditious words, spoken by Demid's ripping. For this Nastasya Golitsyn should be sent to the Spinning yard, but the punishment was replaced by a spanking. She was beaten with batons privately, and then sent home to her husband. However, four years later her wine was forgotten, and Golitsyn's sharp tongue returned to the court. Ekaterina almost immediately made her into a new position, making her the first state-lady in Russia. And as a sign of his high position Golitsyn on his left shoulder wore a portrait of Peter on a blue ribbon decorated with diamonds. In 1725, she married her eldest son to the cousin of the emperor himself, thus becoming related to the monarchs. A few days after Catherine's death, she was dismissed for rest.

The fate of Anna Golovkina (Bestuzhevoy-Ryumin)

At her birth, this court lady was as close to the royal environment as her father held the post of state chancellor. In October 1723, with the participation of Empress Catherine Alexeevna and Peter I Anna Gavrilovna Golovkina was married to Count Pavel Yaguzhinsky, the Prosecutor General of the Senate. Two years later she was appointed a state-lady. All this time she was a faithful wife and a good helper to her husband, but after 11 years she was widowed.

In 1742, Mikhail Gavrilovich, brother of Anna Gavrilovna, was accused of high treason, tried and sentenced to death. Soon the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna by her decree changed the measure of his punishment to exile to Siberia for an eternal settlement. In May of the following year, the wedding of Anna Gavrilovna with Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the famous diplomat and brother of the then vice-chancellor Alexei Bestuzhev was held. It took only a few months, as she was dragged into a "salon plot" against the ruling empress.

Death of disgraced gof maid of honor

It all began with the conversation of Lieutenant Berger with Lieutenant-Colonel Ivan Lopukhin. It was about discontent with the methods of government, which was carried out by Elizaveta Petrovna. These seditious conversations served as an excuse for writing a denunciation and submitting it to the Secret Chancery. Lopukhin was arrested, and during the interrogation with passion he talked about several innocent people, including his mother and Anna Bestuzheva. The latter did not admit her guilt, so in mid-August the princess was subjected to public punishment by raising her to the rack, but she gave new testimony.

The Lopukhins and Anna Bestuzheva were sentenced to wheel and carve a tongue. However, the empress mitigated the punishment and instead of the death penalty sent everyone to a settlement in Yakutsk. Anna Bestuzheva died at the age of about fifty years and was buried in the local church cemetery near the Bogoroditskaya church.

Tragedy of Mary Hamilton

Perhaps, the most important maid of honor of Catherine I was the camera-frau, who was in charge of the wardrobe of the empress and served her in dressing. To this post Peter ordered to find a girl of German blood, because he wanted her to understand European women's clothes. However, she became Maria Danilovna Hamilton - a court lady with Scottish roots. The founder of this family was Thomas Hamilton, who settled in Russia under Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

Appearing at court in 1713, Maria, thanks to her beauty, immediately attracted the attention of Peter I. However, their connection was short-lived, and the monarch quickly cooled to her. Then she seduced Ivan Orlov, who served in the court as an orderly, who soon fell in love without memory. She gave him expensive gifts, including those things that she could steal from the Empress herself. And he beat her and cheated on her with some Avdotya Chernysheva, who also served at the court.

Severe punishment

Several times Mary got pregnant from Orlov and to get rid of the child, drank some medications, which were supplied by her court physicians. And in 1717, according to her maid, she secretly gave birth to a child and drowned him in the basin. Soon about this learned Tsar Peter. The court lady was seized, interrogated, and since she admitted her guilt, she was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. By the way, she was one of the first prisoners of the newly built prison.

In mid-March 1718 on the Trinity Square, Maria Hamilton was beheaded. According to legend, the emperor raised his severed head and kissed her on the lips.

Maid of honor-favorite of Peter I

Varvara Arsenyeva was the younger sister of Darya Mikhailovna, the wife of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, a companion and favorite of the emperor. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, she did not differ in beauty, but she was extraordinarily intelligent and educated. The last she was obliged to her husband's sister, since Alexander Danilovich hoped to make her a queen. In the Menshikov Palace, she even had her own rooms, called Barbarian Chambers. For a while, Peter I had a love affair with the younger Arsenyev, he even gave her some villages.

After the death of the monarch Menshikov, being in the retinue of Catherine I, almost two years almost alone ruled the country. Upon the accession to the throne of the new Emperor Peter II, he received the rank of admiral and the title of generalissimo. In addition, his daughter Maria became engaged to a young monarch. But he had many detractors, therefore, despite everything, he quickly lost his influence and fell into disgrace. Soon Menshikov went into exile with his wife, and Varvara Arsenyev was sent to the Assumption Monastery. She was eager to free herself from imprisonment and wrote letters to the most influential court ladies asking him to say a word for her.

In the spring of 1728 the position of the Menshikovs deteriorated even more, which could not but be reflected in Varvara. She was transferred to the Goritsky maiden monastery, where she was tonsured into nuns. Unable to withstand such a misfortune, she died one year later.

Over the course of two centuries, most families sought to attach their daughters to the court, the girls themselves dreamed about it. In fact, it turned out that such a way of life is rather dull and monotonous. Imperial weekdays were replaced by luxurious balls and solemn receptions, and such a whirlwind could last the rest of her life, as some of the ladies never married. Most often these elderly ladies became educators of the imperial offspring.