The name of Count Benckendorff is well known to us from high school textbooks on history and literature. He was the chief of the gendarmes, on the orders of Emperor Nicholas I supervised Pushkin, and also conducted an investigation in the case of the Decembrists. The image of this insidious and cruel official of the Russian Empire was forever imprinted in the minds of the older generation. And what kind of person was he really?
General information
Count Benckendorf was a man who provoked controversial impressions among contemporaries. The majority were negative. He left behind his memoirs. Reading them, many of his actions and decisions that descendants accused him of become clear. Tough, disciplined, past a large life school, participating in the affairs of the country, from military operations to expeditions pursuing military, territorial and economic goals.
They say that they have a lot of life experience. Count Benckendorf approached the actions of other people only from the point of view from which he assessed his actions, being extremely honest with himself and others. He proceeded only from the benefit of the state.
According to the same criteria, he evaluated the actions of higher-ranking individuals and senior officials. But for the sake of the cause (in part, and his own benefit), he did not consider it necessary to express them aloud. His thoughts became known only after his death.
A family
Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf came from the hereditary noblemen of the Ostsee (Baltic) Germans. His great-grandfather (Johann Benckendorf) was the senior burgomaster of Riga. This post gave the title of hereditary nobles. Alexander was born on 06/04/1783 in the family of Christopher Ivanovich Benkendorf, a general from infantry, the Riga military governor. Mother was called Anna Benckendorf (Schilling von Kanstadt). She was a baroness. The family had four children: two brothers (Alexander and Constantine) and two sisters (Maria and Dorothea).
Childhood and youth
From a brief biography of Benkendorf Alexander Khristoforovich, you can find out that he received education and upbringing in the guesthouse of Abbot Nicolas in St. Petersburg. It was one of the most prestigious educational institutions of the Russian capital, which gave secondary education. The tuition fee was 2000 rubles, so the children of the Russian aristocracy studied here. Studying here was the key to a successful career, since it was here that ties were established with the offspring of the most influential people in Russia.
Young Alexander at the age of 15 enters the service in the Semenovsky regiment. After serving two years, he receives the rank of ensign, and at 19 years - the rank of the adjutant wing of Emperor Paul 1. Here a small retreat is needed that will explain the appearance of the future chief of the gendarmerie at the imperial court.
Pavel I and Christopher Ivanovich Benckendorf
As can be seen from the memoirs of Count Benckendorf, Grand Duke Paul, the future emperor of Russia, was friends with his father. After entering the throne, he did not forget his friend. In 1796, the sovereign granted the rank of lieutenant general to Alexander's father, and after a while appointed him to the post of military governor of Riga. He justified the trust with his conscientious service.
The mother of Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorf, Anna Juliana Schilling von Kanstadt, from childhood was familiar and friendly with the wife of Emperor Paul I Maria Fedorovna. They came to Russia together. Paul’s attitude was intolerant to such an extent that the Benckendorffs, despite the friendship of the head of the family with the emperor, were sent to the city of Dorpat (Tartu). This was due to the intervention of Anna Benckendorf in the relationship of Paul and his favorite Nelidova.
After their deportation, Empress Maria Fyodorovna took care of the two sons of her friend Alexandra Konstantin. It was she who arranged them in the guesthouse of Abbot Nicolas. After the death of Anna Beckendorf, her husband was appointed Governor General of Riga.
Caring for her friend’s children was the duty of Empress Maria Fyodorovna. It is precisely with this that Count Benckendorff received the rank of the adjutant wing, in which he served for about three years.
Service start
After the death of Paul I, his son Alexander I, who did not really pity his father’s close, ascended the throne. Therefore, by order of the emperor, Count Benckendorf goes on a secret expedition to Asian and European Russia. The future Governor-General of Finland, Sprengporten, led it.
In the Napoleonic Wars of 1805-1806 the future count took an active part, serving under duty general Tolstoy. Military operations of this period took place in alliance with Austria and Prussia on the territory of these states.
It was at this time that Napoleon's victorious movement in Europe began. Since 1807, Benckendorf has been with the Russian Embassy in France. But the routine diplomatic work did not seduce him. Dreaming of a speedy advancement in military service, he decides to volunteer and take part in hostilities against Turkey in the territory of Moldova, southern Ukraine and Bulgaria. In France, he becomes a member of the Masonic lodge.
In 1809, he wrote a petition asking him to send him to the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war. The request was granted. Benckendorf arrives at the site of the Russian-Turkish confrontation. For the battle near the Bulgarian city of Ruschuk, he receives the Order of "St. George" of the fourth degree.
Petersburg Masonic Lodge
Freemasonry in Russia has been banned since the time of Catherine II. But the young emperor Alexander I was tolerant of Freemasonry, which prompted the decision to establish a Masonic lodge in St. Petersburg. It was called "United Friends." The founder and “master of the chair” was Alexander Zherebtsov, a freemason from Catherine’s time, a distant relative of the Zubov brothers, who were involved in a conspiracy against Emperor Paul I.
They were close to Emperor Alexander I, but the latter eventually became weighed down by ties with regicide. The nobles, taken to the court, realizing this, quickly ceased to notice the Zubovs. To regain their former influence, they, being members of the Masonic lodge in France, decide to create such a secret society in St. Petersburg. The Count understood that it was in his ranks that the top of the capital's aristocracy was concentrated, subject to foreign influence. He writes about this in his note to the emperor.
He was too sensible and ambitious, so he could not ignore the “United Friends”, where you could get enough connections to make a worthy career. In 1810, he became a member of the United Friends Masonic Lodge. He was later accused of "tapping" on his comrades.
Patriotic War of 1812
At the very beginning of the French invasion of Russia, Count Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf again became the adjutant wing, but already of Emperor Alexander I. His duties included ensuring communication with the army of Bagration. But here he did not stay long, since he transferred to the army partisan detachment of General Wincingerode, where he was entrusted with command of the vanguard. After the Napoleonic escape from Moscow, Benckendorf became for a while the commandant of the city.
Military companies 1813-1814
A brief biography of Benkendorf Alexander Khristoforovich states that in 1813 he was appointed commander of a military flying detachment. During command, he showed himself a brave commander and distinguished himself at the Battle of Timpelberg, for which he received the Order of St. George of the third degree. He took the town of FĂĽrstenwald and, together with the troops of Prince Chernyshov and Baron Tettenborn, took part in the capture of Berlin. On the account of his detachment was also the capture of the Swiss commune in the canton of Worben. He participated in a number of battles and the liberation of his detachment of several settlements.
Under the command of Count Vorontsov, he participated in several operations, was awarded a gold saber with diamonds for his bravery. After that, a detachment under his command was sent to Holland, which was required to be cleared of the French. In 1814 he commanded the cavalry of Count Vorontsov, participating in the battles of Luttih, Kraon, Saint-Dizier.
Emperor Alexander I was very pleased with Count Benckendorff. His biography was replenished with military exploits, which were noticed by the sovereign. The count in the postwar years remained close to the imperial court. His courage was especially emphasized by the flood of 1824 in St. Petersburg when, together with General Miloradovich, in the eyes of Alexander I, he participated in saving the population.
Marriage of Count Benkendorf Alexander Khristoforovich
In 1817, a significant event took place in the life of the future chief of the gendarmes - he got married. His chosen one was the widow Elizabeth Alexandrovna Bibikova. Her father (Zakharzhevsky G.A.) was the commandant of St. Petersburg. After the death of her husband Bibikov, she lived in the Kharkov province in the estate of her aunt Dunina. It was here that she met with the count.
Alexander Benkendorf had five children in the family, all girls. In their marriage, they had three daughters, Anna, Maria and Sophia, who were brought up together with two half-sisters Ekaterina and Elena Bibikova. Their mother was engaged in their upbringing, since the father was constantly busy at work. They all received a good upbringing, married high-ranking and wealthy aristocrats.
Against the enemies of the emperor
Contemporaries of Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorff blamed him for denouncing his classmates, acquaintances, and friends. Yes, it really was. He was called a snitch by his eyes, wondering how the guard general, who had gone through military operations, could inform the sovereign of his comrades. In his memorandum "On Secret Societies in Russia" addressed to the emperor, he said that after the entry of Russian troops into France, many officers, obeying the existing fashion, entered Masonic lodges.
He was worried that such societies might appear in Russia. The ideas professed in them can become destructive for the state. Many, not understanding the essence, can tolerate them only because of their commitment to fashion. He wrote that small printing houses could be sent to Russia, in which libel and caricatures of members of the sovereign family would be printed, appeals against the existing government. The dissemination of such information among the people will cause him discontent against the existing state foundations.
He warned the emperor that this was rooted in the army. Before the Decembrists' speech, he tried to convince many officers of the sad consequences and prevent the impending disaster. But they did not hear him, accusing him of squealing and betrayal. This ended with an uprising on Senate Square, the death of many people who believed their commanders.
Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorf and the Decembrists
It should be noted that by this time Benckendorf had an interest in police matters. With regard to certain issues of law enforcement, he submitted notes to the emperor, in which he sensibly showed his abilities, showing himself to be an adherent of the ruling system. After the uprising on Senate Square, he was instructed to conduct an investigation. In a brief biography of Alexander Benckendorf, another fact appears that accused him. He approached the commission with all severity and in accordance with the law.
Here he was not hypocritical. Despite the fact that Count Benckendorf in the secret societies of the Decembrists had good friends and acquaintances, he did not show the slightest sympathy for them. Although, as he later wrote in his memoirs, at first he was disposed to many of them, even felt a kind of pity. As he recalled later, after the arrests, he gathered them all together and asked what they, considering themselves fighters with serfdom, did for their peasants.
He cited himself as an example, saying that he had long ago freed the peasants in his Baltic estate, having paid taxes for them three years in advance. Provided the opportunity to purchase equipment and everything necessary to start a business. They still worked for him, not experiencing hunger and want, became strong masters, bringing him considerable income in the form of joint profit.
He proposed to the one who does the same, raise his hand and even promised that this person would be immediately released. He did not see a single raised hand of members of secret societies. Count Benckendorff then called them hypocrites and criminals trying to undermine the political system. This conversation immediately put a barrier between him and his former friends, gave him the opportunity to stand above them and conduct an investigation.
The establishment of the third branch
It should be noted that the project of the third branch, as the highest police force under the leadership of the minister and the gendarme inspector, was personally developed by Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorf. In the photo we see his gendarmes. He sends Nicholas I a memorandum in which he describes everything in detail. The monarch, having become acquainted with her, appoints him the chief of the gendarmes. This happened on June 25, 1826. A few weeks later, the count becomes the chief head of the III department of the EIV Office. In addition, he is entrusted with the duty of commander of the main EIV apartment. The work of Alexander Benckendorf gave most of the time.
He received tremendous power. As A. Herzen wrote, he had the right to intervene in everything, since he was the head of the terrible police force, which stood above the law and was outside the law. Although Emperor Nicholas I had a low opinion of the mental abilities of his subordinate, he was afraid of all kinds of secret societies. Mindful of military merits (in the biography of Alexander Benkendorf there are many of them), as well as his participation in the Decembrists, the sovereign allowed him to create an organ that possessed tremendous power and the ability to intervene in all matters of the empire.
Benckendorf in the third branch performed mostly representative activities than the activities of the service. He was friends with the king, unquestioningly carried out his will, and thereby gained a high disposition. He hatched the idea of ​​creating a police structure for a long time. He was a pedant and therefore could not quit work halfway. In the photo, Alexander Benckendorf looks like a friendly and respectable Ostseey German, in whom the lock should be in everything.
There is evidence that Benckendorff dreamed of creating a secret organization of detectives and bloodhounds who would guard the state and its interests. He explained the creation of the detective department by the fact that it would help the "poor and the poor" to avoid the fate that befell the rank and file of regiments that appeared in December 1825.
Benckendorf and officials
The company of Count Benckendorf did not like, but was afraid. This is exactly what the chef of the gendarmes needed. He did not need anyone's love, as he knew the value of everyone who surrounded him. His diaries talk about it. In them we can read the description that the gendarmerie chief gives to the officials around him. He called this class morally corrupted, since decent people among them are a rare phenomenon.
Earl Benckendorf called their craft in society theft, forgery and interpretation of laws in the right aspects. They, Benkendorf wrote, rule the state, but not only the influential of them, but also those who know all the subtleties of the bureaucratic system. They are afraid of one thing - the introduction of justice, the right laws and the eradication of theft. They hate those who prevent bribery.
They belong to the group of dissatisfied, since they hate most of all innovations that are aimed at creating order, not forgetting to classify themselves as patriots. This definition is relevant in our time, because after centuries, the essence of the official remains the same. Perhaps the emperor was mistaken in relation to his loyal subject?
Benckendorf and Pushkin
There is another page in the biography of Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorff, which he is blamed for - this is a duel of Pushkin and Dantes. Nicholas I instructed the chief of the gendarmes Bekendorf to keep an eye on Pushkin in order to protect him from the unwanted influence of a part of society negatively inclined towards the government and from the consequences of his jealousy of his wife Natalya Nikolaevna. The sovereign carried out censorship of the poet’s works himself.
Benckendorf and Pushkin are completely different people, so the chef of the gendarmes did not quite understand what the poet needed. After each (from his point of view) Alexander Sergeyevich’s wrong move, he personally wrote moral letters to him, from which the poet did not want to live. Pushkin perceived their content as humiliation. Benckendorff wanted to know why he was reading Boris Godunov without his consent, why he went to Moscow, why he had come to the ball not in a noble suit, but in a tailcoat.
Pushkin was supposed to answer all these questions to the chief of the gendarmes or to ask for his consent in advance. We see a photo of Alexander Benckendorf and the disgraced poet during their conversation. Pushkin’s hand holds a white scarf. Looking at the picture, one gets the impression that he will now challenge the police chief to a duel.
But the heaviest charge was that he contributed to the duel of the poet and his murder. When false letters about the wife of Alexander Sergeyevich and Dantes began to spread around the city, then, knowing the explosive nature of Pushkin, Emperor Nicholas I asked Benckendorf to follow him and prevent a duel. Benckendorf knew about the appointed duel, but he sent his gendarmes not to the Black River, but in a different direction, since he personally disliked Pushkin and did not wish him well.
Participation in the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829.
In this Russo-Turkish conflict, Benckendorf participated in a different capacity. He accompanied the sovereign on his trip to the army, he was with him with his participation in the siege of Brailov, the conquest of Isakchi, the passage of Russians across the Danube River, at Varna. In April 1829, he was awarded the military rank of cavalry general. In November 1832 he was elevated to the count of the Russian Empire dignity. All his descendants should have worn this title. Since he did not have a male heir, the count title passed to his nephew Konstantin Konstantinovich Benkendorf.
Benckendorf's participation in financial transactions
The characteristic of Russian officials given to them could well have been suitable for Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorf. For his own benefit, he could lobby any project. True, we must pay tribute, he was not seen in obvious adventures. There is evidence that he was a lobbyist for a large insurance company in Russia in the 19th century. Occupying a high position, he was the founder of the society "for the establishment of double steamers", his share was 100,000 silver rubles at face value.
Last days
The last years of his life, Count Benckendorf was ill for a long time. In 1844, he went to Germany for treatment. After long-term treatment, he returned by sea home to the estate near Revel. His wife came to Falle to meet him. But he died on the road 09/23/1844 at the age of 62 years. The steamer brought the wife of a dead man.
Descendants of the Benckendorff clan
There are three branches of the Benckendorf clan, which have their pedigree from Johann-Michael Benckendorf, great-grandfather of Alexander Khristoforovich. The first is known as count. Since the chief of the gendarmes had three daughters, the direct heirs of this line come from Konstantin Konstantinovich, the nephew of Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf. Two branches "Moscow" and "Baltic" did not have a count title.
Many male representatives of this kind have dedicated their lives to the military service of Russia. An example is Lieutenant General Benckendorf Alexander Alexandrovich (1846-1914), a representative of the Baltic branch.
The revolutionary events of 1917 scattered the bearers of this family in different parts of the world. Some settled in England, others (mostly Ostseytsy) - in Germany. Some representatives of the Moscow Bekendorfs remained in the USSR. During World War II, they fought against each other. Alexander Konstantinovich Benkendorf, the grandson of the Russian ambassador to England, fought against the Nazis in the British Navy. Been in Murmansk.
The representative of the Baltic branch, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Benkendorf, was the fascist commandant of the city of Lyudinovo, located in the Kaluga region. He got into the German army after the emigration of his parents to Germany. His desire was to return the estates in the Baltic.
Another representative of this kind on the Moscow line is Alexander Alexandrovich Benkendorf. His father and grandfather were representatives of the oil business in Baku. After the revolution, the family remained in Azerbaijan, as his mother did not want to go to emigration. Alexander graduated from the Institute of Architecture, fought in the ranks of the Red Army against the Nazis. After the war, he worked as an architect for a long time.