Moldavian princess Cantemir Maria and Peter 1: biography, history and interesting facts

Love moves the world even more than money or the thirst for power. The stories of love are lyrical and dramatic, sometimes tragic. They always excite and attract historians, writers, especially if these are the relations of the great and famous, those who glorified their name in the ages. Princess Cantemir and Peter I - what led them to embrace each other? Twenty-year-old Mary was the last, therefore the most passionate love of the great sovereign, who by the time of her acquaintance was almost 50. Who is she, this mysterious Moldovan princess?

The glorious race of Kantemir

Princess Kantemir is a representative of an ancient and noble family whose history is unique in that all his generations have left their mark on the development of Moldova and Russia.

Kantemir - the descendants of the Ottoman ancestor, who as early as 1540 settled on Moldovan soil, took Christianity and got a family. "Khan Temir" - this is how some historians treat the origin of this name. So it is or not, but the Ottoman genes turned out to be strong, and he can be proud of descendants. The son, grandsons and great-grandsons of the first Cantemir took pride of place in the hierarchical ladder of the Moldovan administration. And Mary was destined to fulfill the Ottomans dream and "take Moscow", only in their own way, like a woman ...

Dmitry Cantemir

Among the personalities known in world history there are outstanding scientists or politicians. The son of the ruler of Constantine Cantemir the Old, Dmitry, is the rare case when nature managed to unite two opposite tendencies in one person. Dedicated to Constantinople as a hostage, 14-year-old Dmitry used his position to quench his thirst for knowledge. Cantemir has a number of scientific works on the history of the Ottoman Empire, descriptions of her mores, way of life and customs.

Here, in Constantinople, fate brought him with the namesake of the Russian emperor and the envoy of Russia Peter Alekseevich Tolstoy, who later played an important role in his fate. Peter and Princess Cantemir also experienced his ability to weave intrigues and please everyone.

Dmitri returned to his homeland as the appointed governor of Moldova. In this capacity, he began the struggle for the liberation of the homeland from the Ottoman yoke. Unsuccessful campaign, friendship with Peter became the reason that the Kantemirov family found themselves in Russia. Here he continued his scientific works and became an adviser to the king.

Cassandra Cantacuzen

In his wives Cantemir chose for himself the Greek beauty Cassandra, who managed to become the very wife that is invisible in society. They influence the course of history, gradually entering into the course of affairs of the husband, supporting him in everything and directing in the right direction. Cassandra gave birth to her husband seven children: five sons and two daughters. Princess Maria Cantemir, whose biography is closely connected with the life activity of the mighty Russian Tsar, was the eldest daughter in this family.

All the difficulties that fell to the share of the devoted wife of Cassandra: the care of the family, the need to leave home, the experiences for the life of her husband and children were not in vain. She fell seriously ill and died a year after arriving in Russia. She was only 32 at the time.

The second wife of Dmitry Cantemir was a secular lioness, a brilliant beauty Anastasia Trubetskaya, by age - the same age as Maria.

The mysterious princess

Practically from the first days of her life Maria lived in Turkey, the Greek Asdi Kandaidi was appointed her tutor and teacher. A black monk, an adherent of arcane magic, a researcher of mystical secrets, Tamerlane instilled his passion for the pupil. The fate of Princess Kantemir is covered with a cover of mystery and legends.

One of them says that the soul of her distant ancestor moved to Mary, which constantly struggled with the female essence of the princess. The stories of the enthusiastic monk so amazed the girl's receptive nature that she spent 24 hours in the library of Temir's khan for magic books, studied secret signs, spells. Her favorite subjects were astronomy and history.

Once in the palm of Mary appeared burnt Sign of Tamerlane - three rings, connected together. They say that since then, the girl spoke fluent Turkic and Persian languages, sometimes dreamed of conquering Moscow in her dreams. This was manifested by Tamerlane. But the female essence won, the fate of Princess Maria Cantemir prepared for her another purpose - to strike the heart of the king and give it her.

Kantemir in Russia

So, after an unsuccessfully conducted operation to join Moldova to the Russian Empire, the family of the sovereign was threatened with destruction. Peter the Great showed nobility and gave his ally every support. Cantemir received land for use in Kharkov, the Moscow estate "Black Mud" near Moscow and the title of prince. It was then that the first time the Moldavian princess Maria Cantemir saw Tsar Peter Alekseevich. Acquaintance it was fleeting: Mary was 11 years old, and Peter had an affair with Marta Skavronska, the future Empress Catherine I. The princess Kantemir and Peter 1 met again after a few years, when the clever, enlightened, brilliant Maria captivated the elderly monarch in earnest .

The Lovely Peter

Biographers of Peter the Great characterize his temper as quick-tempered, firm and determined. This should be the tsar-reformer, who challenged the foundations of the then society, which became the author of many innovations, the founder of the city on the Neva. His violent temper and hot blood could not but affect relations with women. The Tsar's love was hot, passion quickly ignited, and also quickly died down. With annoying favorites, he parted differently: some were tonsured to a monastery, others married to courtiers, others waited for death - the king did not forgive adultery. Anna Mons, Varvara Arsenyeva, Maria Hamilton, Maria Rumyantseva, Avdotya Chernyshova - these ladies went down in history as the most famous mistresses of Peter. This list was completed by Maria, the young princess of Cantemir.

Peter and Catherine

The daughter of a Baltic peasant, Menshikov's servant Martha Skavronska, liked the temperamental king so much that after the first date he did not part with her. After the unsuccessful for him and Cantemir of the Prussian campaign, sending his first wife Evdokia Lopukhin to the monastery, Peter marries Martha, who was baptized and took the name of Catherine. The new queen Catherine, with all her virtues, had one drawback: her love was not only extended to her husband. In addition, Catherine could not give birth to a healthy heir to the throne. Peter, though he stopped all the gossip about the absence of a successor, visibly cooled to his wife, and then there was constant communication with the educated and charming Mary. Obsessed with a thirst for knowledge and a craving for everything new, Peter admired her deep knowledge and education. Princess Cantemir and Peter the Great became so close that rumors spread about Moscow about a possible replacement of the tsarina.

Unfulfilled hopes

Numerous short-lived and more protracted ties of the king did not really worry his lawful spouse, who herself was not unwilling to relax on the side, but she was seriously concerned about her relationship with Maria. Princess Kantemir was waiting for the child. Catherine was frightened in earnest by the reports of the trusted Count Tolstoy (who, incidentally, was considered a confidant of Peter and Mary, but in fact he was plotting intrigues only in his favor). The born prince's son will be declared heir, and Maria herself - the new Russian queen. Recalling the fate of her predecessor, Catherine began to take action. The head of the secret service of the Tsar, Peter Andreevich Tolstoy, did not want to quarrel with the queen because of the regular, as it was thought, whim of the sovereign. Everything turned out to be the best for the intriguers, and worse for Maria. Because of poor health, she could not accompany Peter in his Persian campaign, and this, of course, was done by a legitimate spouse. Princess in the meantime courted palace doctors, who were in subjection to Tolstoy. The result of such "treatments" was that the birth began prematurely, and the child was born dead. According to other sources, the boy was alive, but did not live long. Maria Dmitrievna herself fell seriously ill and went to her father's estate. Soon Dmitry Konstantinovich died.

The last impulse

Catherine celebrated the victory: after a heavy Persian campaign, where she shared with the Tsar all the hardships and adversities, she became the crowned empress. But there was a nuisance: the king learned of her relationship with chamberlain Mons, who was soon executed. Peter the First and Princess Maria Cantemir meet again. And the stormy romance flares up with a new passion, but ... death overtook the sovereign. A tragic death brought an impressionable lady. Maria again fell seriously ill and went so seriously that she even made a will in favor of her younger brother Antiochus, with whom she was especially friendly. The disease was gone, life continued, but without love, lost interest. About how strong was the feeling of Mary to Peter, can be judged from the fact that she did not marry, although she was still young and repeatedly received proposals of the hand and heart from the venerable gentlemen.

Life without it

It is clear that her husband's husbandry did not arouse delight from the Empress Catherine, during the reign of her princess was in disfavor and was rejected from the court. Friendship with the royal person of the Romanov family, Anna Ioanovna, restored the former disposition and status of the maid of honor. Maria Dmitrievna led a social life in Moscow, attended receptions and arranged them in her home. At one time the princess was even close to the decision to get a haircut for a monastery, which she wanted to build with her own money. Searched brother Sergey. Nevertheless, Maria did not refuse to build God-friendly institutions. With her help, the Church of St. Magdalene was built in a farm in Ulitino (Marino), where she was buried after her death.

Truth and fiction

The history of Princess Cantemir and her entire family is so eventful that it could not become the basis of literary works. All members of the family are bright personalities, about whom it is possible to write individual stories, especially since through their destinies the line of historical events of Russia passes. Unfortunately, the more time separates our era from those times, the more the exact facts are distorted under the influence of the personal opinion of each researcher, 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. The grand portraits created by the court artists often embellished the heroes.

Be that as it may, the love story was, and let everyone draw it by virtue of its imagination.