Romodanovsky, Ivan Fedorovich

The last representative of the princely family of Romodanovsky . His birth year is not exactly known, but in all likelihood he was born in the late 1670s. During the life of his father he had the rank of a close steward, but is rarely mentioned in this rank. It is known that in September 1698 he met with his father in the interrogation commission, which was looking for Streletsky riot .

Peter the Great , who was distinguished by the special trust of Prince Fyodor Yuryevich, accordingly belonged to his son. He saw in him the successor of his father in the fulfillment of the role played by the latter. In a letter dated July 21, 1706 from Kiev, Peter wrote to Prince Fyodor Yuryevich: “I congratulate Your Majesty on the namesday of your son, and our sovereign Tsarevich and Grand Duke John Fedorovich, about whom the health of your sovereign Uncle Bishop Mishura (prince) G. Romodanovsky) handed out to everyone. Piter. "

After the death of his father, Prince I.F. Romodanovsky took his position. He was then about 40 years old. Peter gave him the titles of Prince Caesar and Majesty and instructed to manage the Preobrazhensky order , which his father ruled for a long time. On February 24, 1718, Peter wrote to Prince Ivan Fedorovich: “as verbally they beat your Majesty with a brow, we also convey in writing, so that the affairs of Preobrazhensky would be favored by the order to be accepted as your father controlled his blessed memory.”

In the performance of his duties, Prince Ivan Fedorovich did not act as severely as his father; "With him there was little work in a dungeon, rarely resorted to wanted and torture." Relating to Ivan Fedorovich with great confidence, Peter the Great surrounded him with an external honor. In April 1718, having received the title of “Prince Caesar” and the appointment to manage the Preobrazhensky order , Prince Ivan Fedorovich solemnly entered Petersburg. Peter, accompanied by a large retinue, met him outside the city. “Congratulating him extremely courteously on the new title, the Tsar got into the carriage opposite the new“ Caesar Prince ”, and he set Lieutenant General Buturlin next to him. So they entered the city, greeting the “prince Caesar” with cannon fire. In the palace he was met by the Queen with the court ladies; she congratulated him and treated herself to vodka and wine. " The same solemnity noted the attitude of Peter the Great to Prince Ivan Fedorovich in other cases. So, in 1719, Peter invited the Caesar prince to his ship and there he received it with a rare honor, ordering the prince to salute with shots of 15 guns from each ship. Peter often visited his house, appearing to him sometimes to easily feast with his associates or with reports of any important events. So, during the triumph after the conclusion of the Nishtad peace , September 4, 1721, Peter the Great from the Church of St. Trinity, where a thanksgiving prayer took place, "immediately went to Prince Romodanovsky, as Prince Caesar, and announced to him the peace made." Peter expressed his reverence in letters to the prince, calling him Majesty and signing "the lowest servant." In a letter dated July 11, 1719, Peter wrote: “I hereby announce to Your Majesty that both the galley and the ship fleet came to this place on different days, only everyone gathered on the 8th of this month ... God grant a good ending, and the beginning is green safely set. Your Majesty Peter’s lowest servant. ” On July 30 of the same year, Peter notified the prince of successful actions against the Swedes; July 19, 1722 informed him of his performance with the fleet from Astrakhan to the sea to the Persian shores and his further assumptions and the like.

Prince Romodanovsky often had to participate in the amusements of Peter, in which usually attended by many close ones, as well as the Tsar himself. On a large masquerade on September 10, 1721, at which the wedding of Prince Pope Peter Ivanovich Buturlin was celebrated with the widow of his predecessor, Nikita Moiseevich Zotov , Anna Yeremeyevna (nee Pashkova, in the 1st marriage of Stremoukhova, the wife of captain-lieutenant Stremoukhov), “Prince Caesar I.F. Romodanovsky in a suit of ancient kings, that is, in a velvet mantle, lined with ermines and shining with precious stones, in a golden crown, with a scepter in his hand, depicted the ancient king. He was surrounded by a crowd of servants in old Russian clothes. He was preceded by 4 drummers, including the Sovereign himself. "The wife of Prince Ivan Fedorovich, princess Kesarsha, dressed in a long red velvet robe trimmed with gold, in a crown of precious stones and pearls, surrounded by a large retinue in ancient Russian clothing, was an ancient queen."

Prince Ivan Fedorovich played the same role during the Moscow Masquerade in 1722, arranged with extraordinary pomp in memory of the Nishtad peace: “Prince Caesar Romodanovsky rode in a mantle, knocked out by an ermine, having several funny confidants beside him, one of which was dressed in the Elector’s mantle . Prince Caesar was sitting in a white boat, decorated in front and behind by bear stuffed animals, unusually well made. " In several other masquerades, he took the same part. In revealing personal signs of honor to Prince R. and his wife, Peter carefully monitored that all others, not excluding foreigners, imitate him in this. Noting at a dinner on June 20, 1723 with Admiral General Count F.M. Apraksin , that Tsarina Ekaterina Alekseevna and Princess Mecklenburg were sitting, while Princess Kesarsha A.F. Romodanovskaya was standing, Peter immediately fined both the Empress and the Princess lack of respect for princess Kesarsha, forcing them to drink a glass of the strongest Hungarian.

About the activities of Prince I.F. Romodanovsky as an administrator, there are not many memories left. Shortly after taking office as head of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, he had to take part in the examination of the case and the trial of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich . On June 24, 1718, the death sentence to Tsarevich has among others the signature: "close captain Prince Ivan Romodanovsky."

On May 11, 1719, Prince Romodanovsky was appointed chief of the city of Moscow and corrected this post until July 1724.

With the accession to the throne of Empress Catherine I, his position remained still high, although he ceased to bear the title of “Prince Caesar”. The Empress repeatedly showed him signs of attention: for example, on May 21, 1725, when, on the occasion of the wedding of Princess Anna Petrovna with Karl-Friedrich Holstinsky , many mercies were declared, Prince I.F. Romodanovsky was promoted to be actual privy counselor. In 1726 he was granted the Knight of the Order of St. St. Andrew the First-Called. The decrees of this and the following year are called Prince Romodanovsky as the Moscow Governor-General. After the festivities on the occasion of the wedding of Tsarevna Anna, Prince Ivan Fedorovich went to Moscow to manage the Preobrazhensky order, the activity of which was soon expanded, since the affairs of the secret office were closed to him, which was closed by decree of Empress Catherine I.

The leading Transfiguration Order, Prince Romodanovsky sometimes came into conflict with other institutions. The Senate several times complained to the Empress of Prince Romodanovsky, who did not want to obey the orders given to him. So, on January 30, 1727, the Senate reported that “the real privy councilor Romodanovsky refused to issue money for provisions” and stated that “he would not send decree statements about the arrival and expenditure of money without the Imperial Majesty named her”. Prince Romodanovsky did not want to obey the order of the government institution, reckoning only with the will of the Empress. A similar complaint about the non-execution of the order was filed against Prince Romodanovsky even under Peter the Great from the Synod: “The case of Prince Dolgorukov and Saltykov was submitted to us, and we sent Prince Ivan Fedorovich Romodanovsky to the Synod to send Saltykov, courtyard people detained in the Preobrazhensky Office, to the Synod; Your Majesty’s decree has been sent at the hands of all the colleagues; but this Majesty’s decree was destroyed by Romodanovsky and not only deprived of the required execution, but, as unimportant, was sent back to us. ” After the establishment of the Supreme Privy Council, the Transfiguration Order was subject to its control. Prince Romodanovsky was to give the Supreme Privy Council "for reasoning and decision" brief extracts on the most important cases, the decisions of which at his own discretion did not dare to take upon himself.

In May 1727 the reign changed again: Peter II ascended the throne. The new government treated Prince Romodanovsky with the same confidence and attention. The very next day, after the accession of Peter II, Prince I.F. Romodanovsky received a notification from the Supreme Privy Council that he would remain in the rank of Moscow Governor-General in the place of Count Musin-Pushkin , who was called the chief chief of Moscow. Peter II instructed Prince Ivan Fedorovich to swear the inhabitants of Moscow. On May 8, 1727, he sent him a decree about this:

Our current privy adviser and Moscow province to the Governor General and Cavalier Prince Romodanovsky with goods .... You and all our subjects, who are found in Moscow and in the city of that province and districts, as spiritual, military, civil and all rank and dignity, must take the oath of allegiance to us. ... To report to our Supreme Privy Council.

Prince Ivan Fedorovich was the main administrative person of Moscow; his activity was subject only to the control of the Supreme Privy Council. The decree of May 22, 1727 defined the procedure for administering the Preobrazhensky Order of Political Affairs and its relationship to the Council, on three points: “that is, the first if someone knows for someone the evil intent on the health of His Imperial Majesty, the second about treason, the third about indignation or rebellion - about those from the closest to St. Petersburg Novgorod, Estland, Livonia provinces to report to the Senate, and from distant provinces and provinces write to Moscow to the real secret adviser and governor-general Prince Romodanovsky, and to the Supreme Privy Council amb them that for the knowledge immediately. " July 31, 1727, Prince Romodanovsky was given a decree on the placement of Tsarina Evdokia Feodorovna, in the monasticism of Helena, in the Novodevichy Convent; On October 2 of the same year, a decree of the Supreme Privy Council on subordination of the Moscow police took place, and on October 31 of that year, the Supreme Privy Council sent him a decree on the construction of three triumphal gates for the arrival of Peter II in Moscow to marry Princess Dolgoruka.

Prince Ivan Fedorovich arranged a solemn meeting for the young emperor in Moscow. "The prince with great diligence tried, so that His Majesty would most gloriously accept, and even after that the places there by nature and various arts were greenly decorated and very pleasing to all the fun," the Tsar succeeded in arranging a magnificent reception. Having in his charge a wide range of affairs during the reign of Peter II, Prince Ivan Fedorovich could not always be executive; he was already old and often became ill, suffering from gout and stone disease. It was difficult for him to conduct business in the Preobrazhensky Chancellery, and he was replaced by A.I. Ushakov , although Prince Ivan Fedorovich was officially considered the ruler of the Order. In 1729, he filed a petition to “free him from business,” because he was sick. By a decree of April 4, 1729, he received his resignation, and at the same time, the Transfiguration Chancellery, the former Preobrazhensky Prikaz, ceased to exist.

Prince Ivan Fedorovich, leaving his affairs, quietly lived out his life in Moscow, away from the political events of St. Petersburg. In 1730, the government changed under him for the fourth time: Empress Anna Ioannovna ascended the throne, and Prince Ivan Fedorovich, among other dignitaries (there were 21 of them), received from her a new appointment to the Senate, restored to its former meaning. But he was so sick that he could not even visit the Senate, and died on March 15, 1730. His body was buried "with the glorious procession in the monastery of St. George, with his ancestors "... I.F. Romodanovsky was the last representative of the princely family

In home life, Prince Ivan Fedorovich kept to the old ways. He usually lived in Moscow, where he had a house on Mokhovaya Street, not far from the Preobrazhensky order, inherited from his father, furnished with the luxury of ancient boyar houses. Under Peter the Great, he traveled to St. Petersburg several times and sometimes lived there for a long time. Peter gave him one of his favorite possessions - Ropsha, where Ivan Fedorovich sometimes stayed. The prince’s house often hosted noisy feasts, in which the Tsar himself took part, eminent nobles, as well as distinguished foreign guests, such as the Duke of Holstein and others. As the “ecumenical prince-cesar of the most absurd, all-wise and all-drunken cathedral”, prince Ivan Fedorovich took close part in the meetings of this cathedral and in the election of prince pope, and his name, “great sovereign, ecumenical prince-czar John Feodorovich”, is often found in lists and other documents left over from the "all-drunken council."

The favorite pastime of Prince Ivan Fedorovich was hunting; he especially passionately loved to hare hares. In the Preobrazhensky forests, hunting with falcons was often arranged; many noble people took part in it, and she was furnished with extraordinary luxury. Hunts were arranged in the Ropshinsky estate of Prince Romodanovsky, 40 miles from St. Petersburg, "where the places were very pleasing." Peter II, a great lover of this pleasure, took from the prince Romodanovsky trained gyrfalcons and hawks. With almost no education, Prince Ivan Fedorovich Romodanovsky was distinguished by his sound mind, honesty, and straightforwardness, for which he was loved by Peter, especially since, loving the old Russian customs and faithful to the covenants of antiquity, the prince was not an opponent of the innovations introduced by the tsar.

Prince Ivan Fedorovich was married to Anastasia Fedorovna Saltykova (d. September 2, 1736), the sister of Tsarina Praskovya Fedorovna , wife of Tsar John Alekseevich . He had the only daughter, Princess Ekaterina Ivanovna , who married Count Mikhail Gavrilovich Golovkin . With the death of Prince Ivan Fedorovich, the male line of the clan of the Romodanovsky princes ceased.

In compiling the article, materials from the Russian Biographical Dictionary by A. A. Polovtsov were used