Relations between Nicholas 1 and Pushkin are of interest to many modern historians. The way the head of state and the greatest poet of his time communicated with each other can tell a lot about the era, the personalities of the poet and the sovereign. It is well known that Alexander Sergeyevich had a difficult relationship with the authorities. Moreover, it is obvious that in the case of Nikolai 1, everything was not so clear. In this article we will talk about the meetings of the poet and the sovereign, communication and correspondence.
Attitude to power
It is well known that Pushkinâs attitude towards Nikolai 1 was more likely positive than vice versa. In a letter to his wife, he jokingly claimed that he had seen three kings in his life. "The first one scolded my nanny for me, commanding me to take off my cap." It was Paul I, according to legend, he met a young poet who was no more than two years old during a walk. The boy allegedly did not take off his headdress to the sovereign, for which he rebuked him. Apparently, this is a hoax invented by Pushkin himself. The second king, who was Alexander I, did not favor the poet, as he himself admitted in the same letter.
But the third one put him in prison in his old age, but Pushkin did not want to exchange him for the fourth. He ended his letter to his wife with folk wisdom that they did not seek good from good.
Pushkin had a fairly good relationship with Nikolai 1, which lasted until the death of the writer in 1837. On the one hand, this may indicate that the poetâs attitude to power has changed, since with the advent of the throne of Nicholas, he was already a more mature and mature person, and not a frivolous youth, as under Alexander. At the same time, one should pay tribute to the emperor, who had enough education to understand: before him is the genius of his time, the fame of which will remain for many years to come.
Indeed, good relations between Pushkin and Nikolai 1 were established literally from their very first meeting.
Much in common
It is worth noting that there was a lot in common between the great Russian poet and the outstanding king. Perhaps on this basis they became close. Nikolai 1 and Pushkin were almost the same age. If the poet was born in 1799, the emperor was only three years older than him.
They were brought up and grew at the same time. The years in which both formed as individuals fell on the reign of Alexander I, the Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon, the delight and pride in the victory of his own army, opposing the enemy.
Connected them and the Decembrist uprising. Many of Pushkinâs friends took part in the riot, and Nikolay took the throne precisely after these events.
In the link
In this case, the first meeting of Pushkin with Nikolai 1 occurred only in the autumn of 1826. By that time, the poet had been in exile for several years.
It all began in the spring of 1820, when Alexander Sergeyevich was called to the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Count Mikhail Andreevich Miloradovich. The poet had to explain about the content of his poetic works, among which were epigrams by Archimandrite Photius, Arakcheev, even Emperor Alexander I.
It is noteworthy that the poet answered Miloradovich that all the papers had been burned, but he was able to restore the verses from memory, which he did immediately. Of particular danger was the fact that, in addition to sharp epigrams, at that time he had already written freedom-loving poems, "The Village", an ode to "Liberty."
It is known that Arakcheev proposed to imprison Pushkin in the Peter and Paul Fortress or send him to the soldiers forever. Seriously discussed his deportation to Siberia or imprisonment in the Solovetsky monastery. It was possible to mitigate the punishment only thanks to the efforts and efforts of his many friends. Especially fought for Pushkin Karamzin. As a result, the young poet was transferred to Chisinau for official service.
On the way, the poet caught pneumonia after swimming in the Dnieper during one of the stops on his way. In order for his health to recover, the Raevskys organize Pushkinâs trip to the Crimea and the Caucasus. He reached Chisinau only by September.
The reason for his second link was a letter from 1824 in which he admitted to being carried away by atheistic teachings. He was fired from service, sending to the estate of his mother - the village of Mikhailovskoye.
First meeting
It was from Mikhailovsky that Pushkin went to his first meeting with Nikolai 1. On the night of September 4, 1826, an ambassador arrived in the village, sent by the Pskov governor. It was reported that the poet, accompanied by the courier, should appear in Moscow, where the emperor was at that moment.
Shortly before this, the poet sent a letter to Nicholas 1. He asked the emperor to allow him to return from exile and resume public service.
The first meeting of Pushkin with Nikolai 1 occurred on September 8, immediately after his arrival in the city. The poet went to a personal audience. It is known that the first meeting of Pushkin with Nikolai 1 took place face-to-face, without prying eyes. According to its results, Alexander Sergeyevich was returned from exile, he was guaranteed the highest protection, as well as exemption from ordinary censorship. The poet was allowed to live in both capitals.
In letters to friends, Alexander Sergeevich claimed that he was received by the monarch in the most amiable way. In addition, several details of this meeting between Pushkin and Nikolai 1 became known. In particular, the emperor asked the poet if he would go to Senate Square in December 1825 if he were in Petersburg at that time. Pushkin was frank, admitting that he would certainly go, since many of his friends and associates participated in the conspiracy. He would never stand aside. Only his absence in the capital led to the fact that Pushkin did not participate in the Decembrist uprising. Moreover, most modern scholars believe that the poet was really not aware of the impending coup, although he was friends with many Decembrists, expressed free-thinking thoughts.
Moreover, Pushkin explained that he could follow his comrades, since he was easily carried away by such ideas. But, according to him, deep down he was not a revolutionary, which the monarch himself immediately understood. As a result, the conversation ended successfully.
Following the results of this meeting between Pushkin and Nikolai 1, the poet promised not to participate in anti-government activities. The emperor announced that he himself would become his personal censor - a decision never seen before. Immediately after this conversation, Nikolai shared with one of his courtiers the thought that he had just talked with one of the smartest people in the country.
The creative result of this conversation between Pushkin and Nikolai 1 was the poem "Stansa", in which the poet compared the sovereign with Peter the Great.
Mutual sympathy
It is generally believed that after this, mutual emotion developed between the emperor and the writer. Nikolai patronized Pushkin, repeatedly providing him with material support so that he could engage in literature without caring about money.
It is known that when Pushkin planned to marry 16-year-old Natalya Goncharova, a Moscow beauty, in 1828, her mother was afraid of this union, as she believed that the poet was in a bad relationship with the authorities. The tsar instructed to convey to her that this was not so, and Alexander Sergeyevich was under his fatherly care.
Correspondence
The relationship of Pushkin and Nicholas 1 is evidenced by their many years of correspondence. It is known that the emperor was really personally acquainted with the works of the poet before their publication. For example, he gave a positive review of the poem Boris Godunov.
Often spoke positively about Emperor Nicholas 1 Pushkin in letters to his friends. For example, he supported his decision to appoint Nikolai Gnedich as the head of the main board of schools. In a letter to Peter Pletnev, Alexander Sergeevich emphasized that this honors the sovereign, whom he sincerely loves and rejoices every time he acts as a true king.
At the same time, Nikolai was still wary of the poet, remembering his freethinking. For example, when at the end of 1829, Alexander Sergeyevich wished to go abroad with his friends, he submitted a corresponding petition to Benckendorff. The sovereign refused.
Emperor in poetry
Talking even briefly about Nicholas 1 and Pushkin, their relationship, it is necessary to mention what place the emperor occupied in the work of the poet.
Pushkin has the so-called "Nikolaev cycle", which includes nine poetic works. All of them are dedicated to the sovereign. In them, the poet speaks positively of his person, since Nicholas, unlike his predecessor Alexander I, did not become a cruel and limited despot. He cared about maintaining the autocratic system, but at the same time patronized many enlightened people in the country. After all, Pushkin was not the only artist who found support from him.
Analyzing the relationship between Pushkin and the authorities, his attitude to emperors, one must also take into account the fact that Alexander ascended the throne as a result of a coup. Although he did not take a direct part in it, his father was nevertheless killed by the people who granted him the throne. Therefore, there was still a shadow on him as on a man who had taken advantage of the fruits of patricide, and Alexander himself had always been secretly afraid that he might also become a victim of such a reprisal.
In contrast, Nicholas received the throne without bloodshed, in full accordance with the law. For his contemporaries, including Pushkin, this was of great importance.
Finally, in the last years of his reign, Alexander openly compromised himself in the eyes of most subordinates. He was accused of non-interference in the conflict, which at that moment flared up in the Balkans. The emperor decided to confine himself to verbal statements, while the Turkish sultan exterminated the Orthodox Greeks who defended their independence. In Russia, most considered them brothers in faith.
Nicholas 1 acted radically different. First, by diplomatic, and then by military measures, he forced the Turks to retreat. He also energetically resolved many issues of domestic politics.
Disagreement
At the same time, it must be recognized that the relationship between Pushkin and Tsar Nicholas 1 was not cloudless.
At the end of 1833, Nikolai conferred on Pushkin the junior court rank of junk chamber, which, as they say, led the poet into indignation. After all, he was assigned exclusively to young people at the very beginning of their career.
Due to the heavy employment, the emperor often could not pay attention to the censorship of all the works of the poet, giving this to the head of the Third Division of the Royal Chancellery, Benckendorff. He served as an intermediary between them.
Benckendorf, as the head of the secret police, tried by all means to oppress Pushkin. After it became known that the emperor would be the personal censor of the poet, he demanded that Pushkin provide all his works without exception, even the most insignificant ones. And without appropriate approval, it was forbidden not only to publish, but even read to friends.
Many saw in this decision of Nicholas his insidiousness, but it is worth recognizing that this assumption has no foundation. The emperor did not need to start dubious games with Pushkin. Most likely, the reason for this was the excessive zeal of the gendarmes.
It is worth remembering that after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising, the authorities failed to completely eliminate the conspiracy. They condemned only those who were clearly in sight, while many leaders of the so-called "noble revolution" successfully escaped punishment. Moreover, not a single senior dignitary was put on trial, who counted on the success of the rebels to be among the members of the Provisional Government. As a result, the âsecond tierâ conspirators remained untouched, continuing to play a rather important role in political life. Obviously, Benckendorff included Pushkin among them. It was no secret to anyone that in his youth he had already sinned with free thought, was a member of a secret society. Now, praising the monarch, he became an object of hatred for many, especially from the thinking and progressive part of the population.
There was even a rumor that Pushkin was a government salary agent. It is believed that in this way they tried to pit him with Nikolai. The emperor was regularly sent denunciations, in which he refused to believe. The spiteful critics even went so far as to start spreading rumors in âanonymous lettersâ about the kingâs love affair with the poetâs wife. This time, the slanderers were as close as ever to the goal. Pushkin, being jealous by nature, was immediately ready to believe even the most incredible gossip. Only a frank conversation with Nikolai and his wife allowed to shed light on the truth.
Feeling that clouds were gathering over Alexander Sergeyevich, Nikolai even took his word from him not to fight a duel under any pretext. Pushkin promised, but could not keep his words. He did not suffer another attempt on the honor. The duel against the Frenchman Dantes became his fateful day. There were rumors that Nikolai, learning about the upcoming duel, instructed Dantes to prevent it, but he did not or did not want to.
Financial aid
It is well known that Nicholas more than once helped the poet with money. True, he did not always agree. For example, in 1835, Pushkin requested a vacation of three to four years, intending to go to the village for this time with his whole family. However, the emperor in return offered to go on vacation for only six months and financial assistance in the amount of ten thousand rubles.
The poet refused, asking in return for 30 thousand with the condition of withholding this money from his subsequent salary. As a result, he was connected with service in St. Petersburg for several years in advance. However, even this amount did not cover even half of his debts. After the cessation of the payment of salaries, he had to rely only on his literary income, which directly depended on readership demand.
An interesting fact about Nicholas 1 and Pushkin is that before his death, the poet asked the emperor for forgiveness for his unrestrained word, asked his friend Zhukovsky to tell the sovereign that he was sorry to die, and that he wanted the king to reign in happy and calm Russia for many more years. When an answer was received from the emperor, Pushkin was still alive. Nikolai forgave him and promised to take care of the poet's family.
After his death, the tsar ordered to pay off all of Pushkinâs debts, and also redeemed his fatherâs mortgage, granted a substantial pension to his children and wife. At the expense of the state, his writings were published, the income from which was also relied on by his relatives.
Dantes, who fought with Pushkin in a duel, was sentenced to death. However, the verdict was never carried out. Dantes was expelled from the country as a foreigner. He was forced to leave his post as the Dutch envoy and his adoptive father Gekkeren.
By order of the emperor, Benckendorf was looking for the authors of "anonymous letters", but he could not do this. Only many years later it became known that they were compiled and sent by Herzen's comrade, Prince Dolgorukov, who was considered one of the representatives of the galaxy of "noble revolutionaries." Because of his beliefs, he was sent to political exile, and then emigrated. When it became known that it was Dolgorukov who was the indirect culprit of Pushkin's death, he was already abroad.
Modern fan fiction
The relationship between the emperor and the most famous poet of Russia is still of great interest even to the authors of modern fan fiction, who deal with the facts as freely as possible. For example, they are described in the yaoi genre.
Nikolai 1 and Pushkin during their first meeting allegedly felt a strong attraction to each other. Modern authors fantasize, seeing precisely in this change that occurred in Alexander Sergeyevich, when he turned from a liberal and a freethinker into a monarchist and conservative.
When describing their meeting in 1830, when the Polish uprising began, special attention deserves a light kiss, which the emperor left on the forehead of the poet. After him, in the works of Pushkin, one feels the love that Nikolai himself always felt for his own country.
Of course, such free fantasies may seem wild to someone. But the fact itself is interesting that the relationship between these two people is of such interest in modern society.