Everyone knows that Tsar Peter I had āarapā at court. This is written in literature textbooks, which states that the great Pushkin is the continuer of the clan precisely along his line. In addition, the poet immortalized the name of his amazing ancestor by writing the eponymous story entitled "The Arap of Peter the Great." His name was Ibrahim Hannibal.
Biography
When the nineteenth son appeared in the family of the Abyssinian prince in 1697, no one even imagined what an amazing fate life had prepared for him. As a child, the boy was sent to Constantinople, in the courtyard of the Turkish Sultan as a hostage to the loyalty of his tribe. There, the future Russian military engineer Hannibal Abram Petrovich was a servant in the seraglio. Historians consider this version to be the most believable. Although the more precise origin of the Petrine āArapā, known as Ibrahim Hannibal, is still debated by both historians and ethnographers. Even the writer V. Nabokov was looking for the true homeland of the great great-grandfather of Pushkin. It was he who suggested that Hannibal Abram Petrovich, whose brief biography is just a legend he had invented, by chance got the ranks and position in society in Russia. Having reached a certain place at the court, āArapā invented for himself a more noble family tree. Although in fact Ibrahim Hannibal was the most ordinary and rootless boy, who, having stolen in Cameroon, was brought to Turkey by the slave traders, where he was sold to the sultan in seral.
Russia is the second homeland
According to another version, it was at this time that Tsar Peter, who was a great lover of all sorts of wonders, decided to replenish his collection in a very original way. At that time in Europe, the fashion for "arapchonkov" was spread with might and main. Beautiful black boys, dressed in richly embroidered costumes, were served by nobles at almost every ball or feast of nobles and even kings. That is why Peter, too, began to demand that he be found a ālittle girlā. This task in the courtyard was assigned to the Russian envoy in Constantinople. He floated all the connections he had at the Turkish court. So Ibragim Hannibal was bought, whose biography has changed dramatically from that moment.
Moving to the Russian courtyard
Thus began another journey of a little black boy in distant and cold for a resident of a hot country St. Petersburg. First of all, Peter liked the wanderer with his lively mind; the tsar appreciated his quickness and āinclination towards different sciencesā. Having grown up a little, Ibrahim Hannibal began to play not only the role of servant and valet of the Russian emperor, but even his secretary. Until 1716, the arap, being inseparably with the tsar, gradually became his favorite, and this despite the fact that there were many other black servants at the Russian court.
New life
No wonder Peter I was considered Great. He was wise in almost everything, even in his manifestations of eccentricity. Noting the mind and great diligence in the ālittle girlā, the emperor decides to send his mature secretary to Paris to study military affairs. At that time, on the orders of Peter, quite a lot of noble or noble children were sent to Europe - āundergrowthsā who, not wanting to learn anything, often besides āpolitesā or gluttony, were not engaged in anything else in overseas countries. Ibrahim Hannibal was sent to Europe by Peter as if in a mockery of these noble squabblers. The king wanted to prove to them that zeal and diligence in the sciences, even from such an African savage, could make an educated man - a state husband.
And Peter was not mistaken: the young "little girl" lived up to the hopes of the godfather. From now on, his name was Hannibal Abram Petrovich. The date of birth of the newly appeared godson of the emperor in all documents is marked conditionally - 1697. Patronymic "Petrovich" he received according to Peter I, who personally baptized him. At the Russian court, the ālittle Arabā, having adopted the Christian faith, received the biblical name Abram, and Hannibal left his surname in honor of the victor of the Romans and the famous Carthaginian commander. In all this, historians saw another Peter's wisdom: the sovereign wanted his young favorite to do great things.
Training
Hannibal Abram Petrovich, whose biography has changed dramatically since that time, left Russia with a letter of recommendation from Peter I personally to the Duke De Menu. The latter was a relative of Louis XV and commanded the entire royal artillery. The emperor was not mistaken in his godson. The young man persistently studied mathematics and engineering, studied ballistics and fortification. He graduated from a military education with the rank of artillery captain. His āpracticeā took place in the Spanish War, where he showed remarkable courage and was even wounded.
Carier start
Such an approach to study was precisely what the Russian Tsar wanted to see in pets. Peter requested his pet back to Russia, but Ibrahim Hannibal unexpectedly "stuck" in Paris. The city of love and joy deeply lured him on the net. Moreover, a married middle-aged countess ālaid eyes onā a handsome black man. She seduced Ibrahim, a stormy romance ensued between them, which greatly surprised many in the Parisian world. Moreover, the story almost ended in scandal. The countess, having become pregnant, gave birth. And, as expected, a black child was born. The scandal was hushed up, though with difficulty. The real husband - the count, who did not suspect anything of his wife's betrayal, was sent away for the time of delivery, and instead of black in the cradle they put a white one, bought from some poor family. The real baby was handed over "in good hands" for education.
The mystery of the black "arachnochka"
Where did he come from, the mysterious Ibrahim Hannibal? What really was the life of the person who so suddenly appeared in the history of Russia? I must say that it is not at all the same as the director Mitt described in his film. What did Hannibal Abram Petrovich really look like? For obvious reasons, his photo does not exist, but in the Paris National Museum there is a portrait that is often attributed to the young godson of Great Peter. In general, the personality is shrouded in numerous riddles. To begin with, the artist who created the portrait was born seventeen years after the death of Ibrahim, so he could not see the original.
In addition, no one knows what happened to the firstborn of the royal godson, whom the countess gave birth. Although Pushkin carefully collected information about his amazing ancestor, he wrote down everything from the words of his relatives. Therefore, it is impossible to say for sure whether the child was or it was an invention of Alexander Sergeyevich. One thing is certain, Ibrahim Petrovich was not red tape and did not chase skirts. He was more concerned about his career and service to the royal throne.
Ups and downs
Returning to Russia, kindly petted by Peter, the young man completely surrendered to his service. He continued it after the death of the godfather. In total, Ibrahim Hannibal survived as many as seven Russian emperors and empresses. He did not have to fight anymore. Throughout his life, Peterās godson built docks, fortresses and arsenals, conducted fortifications in many famous structures of both the Peter and the Post-Peter era, including in Kronstadt and the Peter and Paul Fortress.
During his life, Hannibal Abram Petrovich, whose descendants still collect materials about him, saw both disgrace and even a short exile to Siberia. But he continued to build in the distance from the yard. And when he returned from exile, he again managed to gain rank and wealth. The peak of his career, the godson of Peter reached under Empress Elizabeth. In 1759, he was awarded the highest military rank of General Anshef and the Alexander Ribbon on his chest. Since that time, he began to head the engineering corps under the emperor. Hannibal Abram Petrovich received such a high appreciation of his merits from the empress.
A family
His personal life was far from smooth and even. Alien to frivolous ties, he approached marriage as a practical necessity - with the goal of procreation. When Ibrahim Hannibal was married for the first time in 1731, Peter was no longer with him. The first darling of the arap was the Greek woman Dioper - the daughter of the captain of the galley fleet. Father himself married Evdokia for him: although the groom was black, he was rich in ranks. But Hannibal Abram Petrovich did not enjoy family happiness for long. His wife loved another. She went down the aisle against her will, on the orders of her father. The chosen one of her heart was Lieutenant Kaysarovich, whom she madly loved. In marriage, she was unhappy and, as she could, took revenge on her black husband. Soon Hannibal, having received the "highest" appointment, moved with his family to the city of Pernov. Meetings of Evdokia and Kaisarovich involuntarily stopped, but she quickly found a new lover - a young conductor Jacob Shishkov. And soon his wife became pregnant. Hannibal was looking forward to his son, but a white girl appeared. And although this also happens with mixed marriages, the husband nevertheless became furious. He brutally beat his wife. Moreover, the offended Ibrahim did not stop there: he achieved the confinement of the traitor to the dungeon. Evdokia finished her life in a monastery.
Ibrahim was not long left alone. Soon a new bride was married to him. This time it turned out to be German Christina von Schaberg. Being the daughter of an officer of the Pernovsky regiment, she is considered the great-grandmother of Pushkin - a poet in whom African, Russian and German blood were mixed. In 1736, Ibrahim Hannibal officially married for the second time. However, he still could not get a divorce from Evdokia, so for several years Ibrahim Petrovich was a bigamist. And only his high position allowed to avoid scandal and, of course, the troubles associated with this. Finally, he managed to issue a divorce from Evdokia only after seventeen years - in 1753.
Descendants
The marriage of Ibrahim with Christina was extremely strong and prolific. They had four daughters and five sons. Hannibal Abram Petrovich, whose children were either black or very dark, was happy in his second marriage. But already the second generation - grandchildren - slowly acquired a European skin color and German facial features. In general, a mixture of burning African and cold German blood yielded amazing results. Among the descendants of Hannibal were blue-eyed or blond, and black-skinned or dark-skinned. One of his sons - Osip - served in the Navy. He married the daughter of the Tambov governor. From this marriage, a charming daughter was born - Hope, who in the world was nicknamed the "beautiful creole." She had dark hair and eyes and yellow palms - a sign of African genes. In 1796, the ābeautiful creoleā married the modest lieutenant of the Izmailovsky regiment, Sergei Lvovich Pushkin, and in 1799 they had a son, Alexander Sergeyevich, the future great poet, whose grandfather was Hannibal Abram Petrovich.
Interesting Facts
The great contribution of Peter the Godson to the development of potato growing in our country is known. The first beds with potatoes, as you know, appeared in Russia during the first Emperor. Peter the Great grew this culture in Strelna, hoping to use it as a medicinal plant. Catherine II, having decided that the āearthen appleā could be used in her hungry years, instructed Hannibal, who was well acquainted with this plant, to try to cultivate potatoes in his estate. Manor "Suida", which belonged to Ibrahim, became the first place on Russian soil, where first small and then extensive fields were first planted, sown with this culture. Ibrahim Hannibal wrote memoirs, moreover in French, but at the end of his life he destroyed them.
Unusual was his attitude towards serfs. In 1743, when he rented out part of his village called Ragola for rent to von Tieren, he included in the contract some items that were surprising at that time, for example, prohibiting corporal punishment of peasants, increasing the norms of corvee established before that, etc. when the professor violated them, Hannibal terminated the agreement in court. The process aroused bewilderment of the local landowners, who, according to their concepts, should have found guilty of von Tyren, who was not considered such by local laws. Abram Hannibal managed to win this process, although in reality it was done by Estonian peasants. For the first time in the history of serfdom in Russia, the landowner was brought to trial for punishing and flogging peasants, not observing the established norms of corvee.
There is still much unexplained in the biography of Hannibal. The traditional version of its origin and place of birth connected the homeland of Arap Peter with Abyssinia - the north of Ethiopia. But recent studies by the Sorbonne graduate, Benin Slavicist Diedonn Gnammank, author of Abram Hannibal, identify his homeland as the border of modern Chad and Cameroon. There once was the sultanate of Logon of the Kotoko ethnic group. And it was the descendant of this civilization, according to the author, that Hannibal was.
End of life
Most of the descendants of Peterās godson of the first and second generations are centenarians. The ancestor of this famous family died at the age of eighty-five years, two months after his faithful wife Christina passed away. He, having retired in 1761, spent the rest of his life in one of the many estates in complete solitude.