Read Online Terrible Tsarinas: Five Russian Women in Power by Henri Troyat - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Henri Troyat
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, womens studies, Royalty, Politics & Government, Russia & the Former Soviet Union, 18th Century
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smitten by his Katya that he had hardly returned to St. Petersburg when he decided to leave again. If he bothered to stop in the capital at all, it was only to round out his hunting gear. Having bought 200 hunting hounds and 400 greyhounds, he headed back to Gorenky. But, back where he’d enjoyed such great exploits in the field, he no longer seemed very sure how much fun he was having. He was bored, counting the hares, foxes and wolves that he had killed in the course of the day. One evening, citing the three bears listed in his hunting record, somebody complimented him for this latest prowess. With a sarcastic smile, he replied: “I did better than take three bears; I’m taking with me four two-footed animals.” His interlocutor recognized that as an unkind allusion to prince Alexis Dolgoruky and his three daughters. Such mockery, in public, made people suppose that, after the initial combustion, perhaps the tsar no longer burned so intensely for Katya and that he might be on the verge of abandoning her.
Ostermann, an astute strategist, followed the ups and downs of this unpredictable couple from afar, through the gossip and rumor mills of the court. Now he set about preparing a counteroffensive. Her grief at the death of her sister Anna having run its course, Elizabeth was again available. Admittedly, her thoughts often turned toward that baby, her nephew, deprived of tenderness and growing up at a distance, practically becoming a stranger. She wondered, from time to time, whether she should not draw him back in, nearer to her. And then the events of the day would distract her from these thoughts, so worthy of a guardian. It was even said that after a mystical crisis, she was experiencing such a new zest for life that she had fallen under the spell of the charming heir of a great family, the very seductive Count Simon Naryshkin. This magnificent and refined gentleman was of the same age as she, and his assiduous pursuit, over hill and dale, like an indefatigable barbet spaniel, showed how much they both enjoyed their tete-a-tetes. When she withdrew to her estate at Ismailovo, she invited him over. There, they enjoyed the healthy and simple joys of the countryside. What could be pleasanter than playing in the country with palaces and flocks of servants in the background? Every day they went to collect nuts, pick flowers, and hunt for mushrooms, speaking with a paternal kindness to the serfs on the estate, taking an interest in the health of the animals grazing in the meadows or ruminating in the cattle sheds.
While Ostermann quizzed the spies whom he had sent to Ismailovo, keeping tabs on the progress of Simon Naryshkin and Elizabeth’s bucolic love affair, the Dolgorukys in Gorenky continued to cherish, in spite of some alarms, the idea of a marriage between Katya and the tsar.
To cover all the bases, they thought it would be appropriate not only to wed Tsar Peter II to Catherine Dolgoruky, but for good measure to marry his aunt Elizabeth to Ivan Dolgoruky, as well. However, now the latest tidings held that the idiotic Elizabeth was infatuated with Naryshkin. Such an unexpected crush was liable to upset the entire plan. This would have to be stamped out at once! Going for broke, the Dolgorukys threatened to have Elizabeth locked up in a convent for misconduct if she insisted on preferring Naryshkin over Dolgoruky. But the young woman had the blood of Peter the Great in her veins, and in a flash of pride, she refused to obey. The Dolgorukys, however, had all the connections. The principal apparatuses of the State did their bidding, and Naryshkin received an order from the Supreme Privy Council to set out immediately on a foreign mission. He would be kept abroad for as long as necessary for Elizabeth to forget about him.
Frustrated once more in love, she wept, raged and pondered how to take her revenge. However, she quickly recognized that she was impotent to fight agains t the machinations of the High Council. And
Ostermann, an astute strategist, followed the ups and downs of this unpredictable couple from afar, through the gossip and rumor mills of the court. Now he set about preparing a counteroffensive. Her grief at the death of her sister Anna having run its course, Elizabeth was again available. Admittedly, her thoughts often turned toward that baby, her nephew, deprived of tenderness and growing up at a distance, practically becoming a stranger. She wondered, from time to time, whether she should not draw him back in, nearer to her. And then the events of the day would distract her from these thoughts, so worthy of a guardian. It was even said that after a mystical crisis, she was experiencing such a new zest for life that she had fallen under the spell of the charming heir of a great family, the very seductive Count Simon Naryshkin. This magnificent and refined gentleman was of the same age as she, and his assiduous pursuit, over hill and dale, like an indefatigable barbet spaniel, showed how much they both enjoyed their tete-a-tetes. When she withdrew to her estate at Ismailovo, she invited him over. There, they enjoyed the healthy and simple joys of the countryside. What could be pleasanter than playing in the country with palaces and flocks of servants in the background? Every day they went to collect nuts, pick flowers, and hunt for mushrooms, speaking with a paternal kindness to the serfs on the estate, taking an interest in the health of the animals grazing in the meadows or ruminating in the cattle sheds.
While Ostermann quizzed the spies whom he had sent to Ismailovo, keeping tabs on the progress of Simon Naryshkin and Elizabeth’s bucolic love affair, the Dolgorukys in Gorenky continued to cherish, in spite of some alarms, the idea of a marriage between Katya and the tsar.
To cover all the bases, they thought it would be appropriate not only to wed Tsar Peter II to Catherine Dolgoruky, but for good measure to marry his aunt Elizabeth to Ivan Dolgoruky, as well. However, now the latest tidings held that the idiotic Elizabeth was infatuated with Naryshkin. Such an unexpected crush was liable to upset the entire plan. This would have to be stamped out at once! Going for broke, the Dolgorukys threatened to have Elizabeth locked up in a convent for misconduct if she insisted on preferring Naryshkin over Dolgoruky. But the young woman had the blood of Peter the Great in her veins, and in a flash of pride, she refused to obey. The Dolgorukys, however, had all the connections. The principal apparatuses of the State did their bidding, and Naryshkin received an order from the Supreme Privy Council to set out immediately on a foreign mission. He would be kept abroad for as long as necessary for Elizabeth to forget about him.
Frustrated once more in love, she wept, raged and pondered how to take her revenge. However, she quickly recognized that she was impotent to fight agains t the machinations of the High Council. And
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