Love drives the world even more than money or a thirst for power. Love stories are lyrical and dramatic, sometimes tragic. They always excite and attract historians, writers, especially if this is the relationship of the great and famous, those who have glorified their name for centuries. Princess Kantemir and Peter I - what brought them to each other's arms? Twenty-year-old Maria was the last, therefore, the most passionate love of the great sovereign, who by the time he met was almost 50. Who is she, this mysterious Moldavian princess?
Glorious Kantemirov clan
Princess Cantemir is a representative of an ancient and noble family, whose history is unique in that all his generations left their mark on the development of Moldova and Russia.
Cantemirs are the descendants of the Ottoman ancestor, who as early as 1540 settled on Moldavian soil, converted to Christianity and started a family. "Khan Temir" - as some historians interpret the origin of this family name. Like it or not, the Ottoman genes turned out to be strong, and he can be proud of his descendants. The son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the first Cantemir occupied honorable places in the hierarchical ladder of Moldavian administration. And Mary was destined to fulfill the Ottomans dream and “take Moscow”, only in her own way, in a feminine way ...
Dmitry Cantemir
Among the personalities known in world history there are prominent scientists or political figures. The son of the ruler Konstantin Kantemir the Old, Dmitry, is that rare case when nature managed to combine two opposite tendencies in one person. Given as a hostage to Constantinople, the fourteen-year-old Dmitry used his position to quench his thirst for knowledge. Kantemir owns a number of scientific works on the history of the Ottoman Empire, a description of its mores, everyday life and customs.
Here, in Constantinople, fate brought him to the namesake of the Russian emperor and Russian envoy Pyotr Alekseevich Tolstoy, who later played an important role in his fate. Peter and Princess Cantemir also experienced his ability to weave intrigues and cater to everyone.
Dmitry returned to his homeland as the appointed sovereign of Moldova. In this capacity, he began the struggle for the liberation of the homeland from the Ottoman yoke. The unsuccessful campaign, friendship with Peter became the reason that the Kantemirov family ended up in Russia. Here he continued his scientific work and became an adviser to the king.
Kassandra Cantacuzen
As a wife, Cantemir chose the Greek beauty Kassandra, who managed to become exactly the wife who are invisible in society. They influence the course of history, gradually entering the course of affairs of the husband, supporting him in everything and directing him in the right direction. Cassandra gave birth to her husband seven children: five sons and two daughters. Princess Maria Kantemir, whose biography is closely related to the life of the mighty Russian Tsar, was the eldest daughter in this family.
All the difficulties that befell the devoted wife of Cassandra: custody of the family, the need to leave the homeland, worries about the life of her husband and children were not in vain. She became seriously ill and died a year after arriving in Russia. She was only 32 years old at that time.
The second wife of Dmitry Kantemir was a socialite, a brilliant beauty Anastasia Trubetskaya, by age - the same age as Mary.
Mysterious Princess
Almost from the first days of her life, Mary lived in Turkey, and Greek Asdi Kandaidi was appointed her teacher and teacher. A black monk, an adherent of arcane magic, a researcher of the mystical secrets of Tamerlane instilled his passion and pupil. The fate of Princess Cantemir is covered in a veil of mystery and legends.
One of them says that the soul of her distant ancestor, who constantly struggled with the female essence of the princess, moved to Mary. The stories of the enthusiastic monk so impressed the girl’s receptive nature that she spent days in the ancient library of Khan Temir reading magic books, studying secret signs and spells. Her favorite subjects were astronomy and history.
Once on the palm of Mary appeared the scorched Sign of Tamerlane - three rings connected together. They say that since then the girl spoke fluently in the Turkic and Persian languages, sometimes in her dreams raved about the conquest of Moscow. This was manifested by Tamerlan. But the feminine essence won, the fate of Princess Maria Kantemir prepared for her a different purpose - to hit the king’s heart and give him his own.
Cantemirs in Russia
So, after an unsuccessful operation to annex Moldova to the Russian Empire, the family of the ruler was in danger of destruction. Peter the Great showed nobility and rendered all support to his ally. Kantemir received land for use in Kharkov, the Black Mud estate near Moscow, and the title of prince. It was then that, for the first time, the Moldavian Princess Maria Cantemir saw Tsar Peter Alekseevich. This acquaintance was fleeting: Mary was about 11 years old, and Peter had just had an affair with Martha Skavronskaya, future Empress Catherine I. Princess Kantemir and Peter 1 met for the second time after several years, when a smart, enlightened, brilliant Mary had taken the elderly sovereign seriously .
Loving Peter
The biographers of Peter the Great characterize his temper as quick-tempered, firm and decisive. This should be the tsar-reformer, who defied the foundations of the then society, became the author of so many innovations, the founder of the city on the Neva. His wild temper and hot blood could not but affect the relationship with women. The king’s love was hot, passion inflamed quickly, and also quickly subsided. He parted with his favorites, who were bored, in different ways: some were tonsured to the monastery, others were married to the courtiers, others were waiting for death - the king did not forgive betrayal. Anna Mons, Varvara Arsenyeva, Maria Hamilton, Maria Rumyantseva, Avdotya Chernyshova - these ladies went down in history as the most famous lovers of Peter. This list was completed by Maria, the young Princess Cantemir.
Peter and Catherine
The daughter of the Baltic peasant, the servant of Count Menshikov, Marta Skavronska, so liked the temperamental king that after the first meeting he no longer parted with her. After the unfortunate Prussian campaign for him and Kantemir, sending the first wife Evdokia Lopukhin to the monastery, Peter marries Martha, who was baptized and took the name Catherine. The new Queen Catherine, for all her merits, had one drawback - her love of love extended not only to her husband. In addition, Catherine was not able to give birth to a healthy heir to the throne. Although Peter stopped all the gossip about the absence of a successor, he noticeably lost interest in his wife, and then there was constant communication with an educated and charming Mary. Obsessed with a thirst for knowledge and a craving for everything new, Peter admired her deep knowledge and education. Princess Kantemir and Peter 1 became so close that rumors spread around Moscow about a possible replacement of the queen.
Unfulfilled hopes
The tsar’s multiple short and more protracted ties didn’t really worry his legitimate wife, who herself was not averse to relaxing on the side, but her connection with Mary seriously bothered her. Princess Cantemir was expecting a baby. Catherine was frightened in earnest by the reports of the trusted Count Tolstoy (who, however, was considered the confidant of Peter and Mary, but in fact he built intrigues only in his favor). The born princess son will be declared the heir, and Mary herself - the new Russian queen. Remembering the fate of her predecessor, Catherine began to take action. The head of the Tsar’s secret service, Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, did not want to quarrel with the tsarina because of the tsar’s so-called whim. Everything turned out perfectly for intriguers, and worse for Mary. Due to her poor health, she could not accompany Peter on his trip to the Persian campaign, and this, of course, was done by her lawful wife. The princess, meanwhile, was courted by the palace doctors, who were subordinate to Tolstoy. The result of such “treatments” was that the birth began prematurely and the baby was born dead. According to other sources, the boy was alive, but did not live long. Maria Dmitrievna herself fell seriously ill and left for her father’s estate. Soon Dmitry Konstantinovich died.
Last rush
Catherine celebrated the victory: after a difficult Persian campaign, where she shared all the hardships and tribulations with the sovereign, she became the crowned empress. But trouble happened: the king found out about her connection with chamberlain Mons, who was soon executed. Peter the Great and Princess Maria Cantemir meet again. And a stormy romance flared up with a new passion, but ... death overtook the sovereign. The tragic death infuriated an impressionable lady. Maria again fell seriously ill and fell so seriously that she even made a will in favor of her younger brother Antiochus, with whom she was especially friendly. The illness passed, life went on, but without love it lost interest. How strong Maria’s feeling for Peter was can be judged by the fact that she never got married, although she was still young and repeatedly received offers of her hand and heart from venerable gentlemen.
Life without him
It is clear that the passion of her husband did not cause enthusiasm among the Empress Catherine, during her reign the princess was in disfavor and was rejected from the court. Friendship with the tsarist from the Romanov clan, Anna Ioannovna, returned the former disposition and status of the maid of honor. Maria Dmitrievna led a secular life in Moscow, attended receptions and arranged them in her house. At one time, the princess was even close to the decision to get a haircut in the monastery, which she wanted to build with her own money. Dissuaded brother Sergey. Nevertheless, Maria did not refuse from the idea of ​​building charitable institutions. With its help, the church of St. Magdalene was erected in the estate in Ulitino (Maryino), where she was buried after her death.
Truth and fiction
The story of Princess Cantemir and her entire family is so eventful that it could not become the basis of literary works. All family members are vivid personalities about whom you can write individual stories, especially since the line of historical events in Russia passes through their fates. Unfortunately, the more time our era moves away from those times, the more accurate facts are distorted under the influence of each researcher’s personal opinion, not to mention the fantasies of writers and filmmakers. Archival documents, letters are not always interpreted reliably, the absence of a photo does not give a true conclusion about the appearance. Majestic portraits created by court artists often embellished heroes.
Be that as it may, there was a love story, and let everyone draw it by virtue of their imagination.