Lopukhin, Stepan Vasilyevich

Stepan Vasilyevich came from the Lopukhin family . His father, Gough-Junker, and Guards Captain-Lieutenant Vasily Avraamovich was the uncle of Queen Evdokia Fedorovna, the first wife of Peter the Great . Thus, Stepan Vasilyevich was her cousin.

In 1708, Lopukhin graduated from the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences , after which he was sent to the UK to continue his education, where he served on ships of the British fleet. After returning to Russia in 1717, he became one of the first Russian officers to be the appointed captain of a warship. Lopukhin commanded the string "Natalia". He took part in the Northern War , distinguished himself in the Battle of Ezel ^[1] , was awarded the Order of St.. Alexander Nevsky .

First Opal

Stepan Lopukhin, although he was related to the family of Peter the Great, but from childhood he had a feeling of hostility and even enmity towards him. The persecutions that befell the Lopukhins during his time only inflated and reinforced this feeling, directed, however, only against the tsar personally, but not against his case. That is why Lopukhins are also found among the persons who fulfilled Peter's plans. Stepan Vasilievich, at the request of his uncle Abram, received the position of the Pskov Landrats , but in 1718 he was out of work. The case of Tsarevich Alexei and the defeat of his party were a terrible blow for the whole family of the disgraced queen. The survivors, considering it their right to stay by the courtyard, approached the descendants of Tsar Ivan . Among them was Stepan Vasilyevich, who sealed his party affection by marriage with the maid of honor to the maid-of-honor maiden of the Mecklenburg, Ekaterina Ivanovna , the maiden Natalia Balk . The young family (their marriage took place in 1716-1717) soon suffered a great misfortune. On April 28, 1719, Peter Andreevich Tolstoy was informed that on April 26, S. Lopukhin came to the Trinity Church in the evening, on the Petersburg side, where people of various rank met to meet the body of the dead Tsarevich Peter Petrovich . As he stood by the choir , he exchanged glances with Evfimy Gorodetsky and Timofey Kudryashov and laughed to himself. Kudryashov said to Gorodetsky: “Why did you quarrel with Lopukhin; yet de Lewu, the candle was not extinguished, it will be for him, Lopukhin, and in the future time. ” During the interrogation, it turned out that “the candle that did not fade away is the prince, Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich, ” and while he is alive, the hope of the possibility of exaltation for Lopukhin will not disappear. In addition to Tolstoy, the judges in this case attracted I. I. Buturlina , A. I. Ushakov and G. G. Skornyakov-Pisarev . Lopukhin said that in his thoughts he did not have to rejoice in the royal grief, and in the church he laughed because Afrosimov and Gorodetsky were his rivals in land litigation, and their joint appearance in a drunken state on vespers in the church made him laugh. The judges did not believe him, but decided that he “laughed, ostensibly rejoicing at such common national sorrow,” for which he was sentenced “to punish him, instead of whip to beat batogi mercilessly and exile him with his wife and children to the Kolsky ostrog for eternal life, and his estate must be with him inalienable, and for that premise to return to the Commissioner with a receipt for the evo of the Arkhangelsk province . ” On December 23, 1719, Stepan Lopukhin was read in the Secret Chancellery a decree about his exile, after which he was executed. December 31, due to the request of the commissioner, how to contain Lopukhin, an additional decree was given: "to contain him as other exiled people do." Apparently, during or after the trial, Lopukhin was temporarily free and, meeting with the scammer who had brought him to court, Commissioner Ivan Afrosimov, beat him as best he could. The trial began again, and on February 17, 1720, a resolution was followed to beat Lopukhin bathoi mercilessly, and for a mutilation to impose a fine - 200 rubles.

Lopukhin didn’t even quit in exile: during 1720-1722 several complaints were filed to the Secret Chancellery against him both from civil and military authorities: “One Lopukhin smashes all of them with cheekiness and resentment”. For example, on December 24, 1721, he came to the Kola Chancellery at one o'clock in the morning and beat the guard soldiers on the cheeks. At the commandant's yard, “the sergeant hit his head with a club and broke a cudgel about his sergeant's head.” He threatened the guard lieutenant Race to cut his head. The disintegrated lieutenant wrote a long complaint about the indecency of Lopukhin, who inclined the command to disobedience, asked for permission to keep the exile behind the guard and finished his letter with the words: “in the truth of such a vicious person, tea, in this world there is no other and about his origin on paper is not long to write” . In the Secret Chancellery, information was received that Lopukhin "beat and killed so much that many almost died ... and he conceived anonymous letters to trade." “Although there would be an Angel of God, and he would not get along with him,” complained in another letter, “and if you live with him according to his will, there will not be a single person in the Kola prison for half a year.” On August 13, 1722, the Secret Chancellery determined to interrogate Lopukhina, send the interrogation to the office, and to him, Stepan, to inflict punishment for such his indecencies near the city residents: instead of the whip, beat the bathoi mercilessly and, after committing that punishment, tell him the decree with his hand, and collect for it a guarantee that from now on it would be dishonorable for him not to do so. If he continues his disgraces, he is threatened with a whip and a link to hard labor for eternal work. In case of non-emergence of guarantors, it was prescribed to keep Lopukhin behind guard. On December 20, 1722, the commandant informed that Lopukhin had been taken to the Kola Chancellery and locked himself up in everything. He was beaten with batogs, but nobody called for the call of the guarantors “about him, Lopukhin, in that Kola prison of the townsfolk, and to vouch for him are dangerous”.

Return to court

But Lopukhin had stronger patrons than Kola residents; Perhaps these were relatives of his wife - Beams and Mons . In December of the next 1723, Lopukhin was already in Moscow and wrote a letter to Vilim Mons with a request to apply for his relatives. He came to life even more from the time when Catherine I assumed the throne, when better times came for the Balki and their relatives. The accession to the throne of Peter II was the heyday of their well-being: by decree of the Supreme Privy Council of July 21, 1727, Lopukhin was returned from exile, taken to the court and already mentioned in November by the Chamberlain . On November 10, 1727, he was granted a house in Moscow, a former doctor Bidlo, on May 19, 1728, he was presented with the Guslitz parish of the Menshikov district in Moscow district . Prince IA Dolgoruky , who out of respect for him even restrained his unbridled temper, was especially merciful towards him: Dolgoruky used to mock his beloved prince N. Yu. Trubetsky ’s husband and beat him. Once at his home, “due to the execution of many curses on him, he finally wanted to throw him out the window and if Stepan Vasilyevich had not prevented this, he would have done it”. The property with the emperor and many nobles in the court persona, belonging to the ruling government party and the favor of the leader made S. Lopukhin a very influential person, but it was unlikely that many were blessed with it. They talked, at least, about him and his relatives badly. Princess Agrafena Petrovna Volkonskaya , nee Bestuzhev , was warned to “take care of Stepanova's Lopukhin sisters, who are old people (in the Devichi monastery ), whatever you do, because of their conscience, they (Lopukhins) are well-off and very well known to themselves because of their conscience. Old P. Bestuzhev wrote to his daughter: “Stepan Lopukhin, how unpleasant you were, so he did me offense and plotted on me” ... These are reviews of people who sought their mercies and attention, although they did not belong to their party. There was nothing good heard about them: happiness did not make them better, and their changes made them angry. The death of Emperor Peter II was a heavy blow for all the Lopukhins: the struggle of parties began, and among them the influence of the relatives of the late tsar had some significance. Later about this time Lopukhin recalled:

When the emperor Peter II died, then I was summoned by Field Marshal Prince Golitsyn , Prince Dimitri Golitsyn and Field Marshal Prince Dolgoruky asked if His Majesty did not sign what kind of spiritual . And I said: “I did not see it,” and moreover, they had a reason, whom to choose on the throne. And at first they spoke about the queen Evdokia Fyodorovna , that she was already old; then about the princesses Catherine and Praskovya , that they can not, saying some words obscene. Then, about Her Majesty (spoken in the reign of Elizaveta Petrovna ), the aforementioned Field Marshal Prince Dolgorukov said of them that Her Majesty was born at such a time (before marriage), and after another, saying some more obscene words, you cannot choose. And then put the intention to choose the Empress Anna Ioannovna .

Lopukhin kept silent about what was advised and said by him, but, one should think, his opinion did not go against what the “ leaders ” decided. Subsequently, his behavior proceeded in the same direction as that followed by Yaguzhinsky , Leuvenvolde, and so forth, that is, direct and indirect assistance to the autocratic aspirations of Anna Ioannovna. The indecision of Lopukhina at that time deprived him of the opportunity to occupy at least an approximate position under the new empress as at Peter II, but his wife acted more vigorously. Evil tongues assured that with the knowledge and even approval of her husband she became Beloved Leuvenvolde and, as a loyal person, she jealously intrigued in favor of Anna's autocracy. That is why Lopukhina was awarded more than her husband - he remained at the court as a real chamberlain. In 1733, in the form of mercy, the empress allowed him not to pay elderly money for runaway people in the Guslytsky volost. Most successes awaited him ahead in connection with the growing influence of Osterman and Leuvenvolde. On September 11, 1740, the Senate proposed, and the empress approved the definition of S. Lopukhina as a marine department in the Crimsk Commissioner. On October 3, he was appointed, in the rank of Vice-Admiral, to be present at the Admiralty Board . When celebrating the world with the Turks, he was awarded a “notable sum of money”. Later he was among those who were intriguing against Biron . Especially "it was established in such arrangements" during the government of Emperor John. This time was especially favorable for the whole family of S. Lopukhin. By the way, at that time he was promoted to lieutenant general , received the order of St.. Alexander Nevsky and as a faithful servant participated in the general committee of eight members, which judged Biron with Bestuzhev and sentenced them to quartering (April 8, 1741). The presence of Lopukhina in this commission is somewhat in contradiction with his past affection for Biron and his constant proximity to Leuvenvolde, but one must think that in this case he acted following the example of many figures of that century, that is, fleeing himself, unreservedly switched to the side of enemies and judged former benefactor and friend. His insincerity was obvious to contemporaries and was soon enshrined in the judicial process. November 25, 1741 the government of Anna Leopoldovna fell. The ministers and grandees of her court were arrested on the night of the coup. S. Lopukhin was among them. On December 24, 1741, under the threat of the death penalty, he was interrogated at the same time as Streshnev and Khrushchev. Lopukhin was trying to find out why he had such extreme confidentiality with Levenvolde and the other Germans of this party, as they had reasoned with the goal of asserting the throne for the descendants of Anna Leopoldovna and herself to be made empress. What was done by him and his accomplices in order to excommunicate Elizabeth from the throne and exile who Lopukhin had at Elizabeth's court for reconnaissance. Lopukhin denied any involvement in Elizabeth Petrovna’s any opposing interests in his intentions and arguments, and spoke of confidentiality with Levenvolde as friendship and friendship. To the last question: “through whom you and for what did the great villages come to your wife’s name, knowing that she did not render the state any merit, and what did you give for that?” Lopukhin answered: “I didn’t give anything to Princess Anna said that as a wife his wife served her mother in Mecklenburg, then her sovereign mother ordered her wife to reward him, and therefore his wife, in that hope, filed a petition about the villages to her, the princess, whom she heard Count Golovkin , and so those villages are granted. " Lopukhin stayed for several months under guard, and then was sent to Moscow. On January 16, 1742, the Highest maxim followed the trial of Osterman, Golovkin and others, and on the same day a decree was announced, which liquidated many of the leaders of the previous reign. The first in it is the appointment of the fleet of the general-krigcommissar of the general-lieutenant S. Lopukhin - the governor to Arkhangelsk . He was well aware of how he should treat this appointment, and on January 29 he filed a request for resignation due to illness. She was given to him without the usual rank increase in such cases.

“Lopukha case”

Lopukhin settled in Moscow, spending, however, most of the year in his villages. He shunned capitals and court life, where everything seemed unpleasant and shameful to him: he was in opposition to the existing government and did not hide this, especially in the presence of friends. Lopukhin and his family soon found out about such an attitude and used it for their own purposes, raising the case of the Bott and Lopukhins' malicious acts. After the slander of his son Ivan , by decree of the empress, A.I. Shuvalov arrested S. Lopukhin in his village and on August 6, 1743, sent him under a military escort to Petersburg . When asked by the investigators in the commission, Lopukhin showed that after Elizabeth came to the throne, he did not talk to anyone in St. Petersburg or Moscow about the benefits and well-being of Princess Anna and her son. Only he heard his wife's conversations with Anna Bestuzhev and Sophia Lilienfeld that the princess was merciful to them, and it would be better if she were in power. This was confirmed by Stepan Vasilyevich. As for the Marquis Bott , he often visited Lopukhin and used to say about the princess with regret; it would be better if the princess was and would have been calmer. Now, what kind of riots are happening - all the ministers were dispersed. After Her Majesty, she will be bothering about them, but there will be nowhere to take. Lopukhin generally agreed with Bott, but only pointed out to him that the Germans had taken possession of the princess, because she did not care for anything, and everyone sat in the same place as the maid of honor Julia Mengden . Ober Hofmeister Munnich was told to encourage the ruler to act, but he could not achieve anything. When Botta was about to leave for Berlin , Lopukhin and his wife began to ask him about the reason and purpose of his trip: of course, he was going for a reason? Botta grinned and replied that he was going because they were sending. Someone present (Bestuzhev or Lopukhina) remarked, "as if Bott did not make porridge and would not cause anxiety in Russia." While talking about this with his wife, Lopukhin expressed concern that Bott would not really find him. Asked by the investigators about the reason for displeasure on Elizabeth, Lopukhin confessed that he considered himself offended: he was innocently arrested and left without awarding the rank, “and in order for the princess to be still, I had a desire for what would be better for me and that my oath I have broken my own, in that I bring my guilt before Her Majesty. ” Investigators brutally reproached Lopukhina: “You showed what services you showed to Her Majesty and what kind of mercy you wanted, because you were not offended by Her Majesty, but not only offended, but also granted. You have been dismissed from all services and given to you peace of mind, which you yourself wished, the wife at the court stands a lady and is granted a portrait, the daughter (Anna) is left a maid of honor. Your suryas are not only in the former dignity at court, but the lesser (I. A. Golitsyn) and the cavalry is granted; and henceforth from the Highest mercy was not denied. " Regarding the intercession of Frederick II for the Braunschweig family , Lopukhin spoke with his wife, expressing confidence "that it cannot be that the King of Prussia should go to war, he cared for Her Majesty, besides, he looks at every interest." When the empress accepted the Prussian cavalry of the Black Eagle , Lopukhin reasoned that the relations between the courts were very good and "spoke about the prince and princess: it is notable for them to disappear." Before, I thought that the Prussian king from the empress would “beg them into their fatherland”.

Lopukhin flatly denied his involvement in any malicious enterprise and advice against Elizabeth, and as regards the reproach of her Supreme Person, he spoke about his presence at the meeting of the supreme, regarding the succession after the death of Peter II. Сознался в том, что осуждал и высмеивал милости к Сиверсу, Возжинскому, Лялину и лейб-кампании , говорил про сенаторов , что «ныне их путных мало, а протчие все дураки. Притом же говорил, что дела не делаются и тем приводят Её Величество народ в озлобление». Министров злодеями не называл. Следователи остались очень недовольны показаниями Лопухина, заявили ему, что он «сущей правды не открыл, но многое за собою удержал» и отправили из комиссии в крепость. Согласно их докладу, Елизавета предписала указом 17 августа, если Лопухин «чистой повинной не принесет, то без всякого милосердия поступлено будет с ним наижесточайшим розыском». В тот же день, после вторичного опроса, Лопухин поднят был на дыбу , продержан с вывернутыми руками 10 минут и спущен. Он утвердился на своем, а очная ставка с женой ни к чему не привела. Оказалось, что Лопухин не мог понимать того, что говорила с Боттой его жена, так как не знал немецкого языка, на котором они изъяснялись.

19 августа следователи передали генеральному суду свой экстракт о винах, где говорилось и о С. Лопухине. В сентенции суда он приговаривался к урезанью языка и колесованию . По словам указа, читанного перед казнью С. Лопухину, «всему тому злу, которое к повреждению Её Величества дражайшего здравия и благополучия и государственному беспокойству касалось, ты начало был». Согласно приговору, смягченному императрицей, Лопухина били кнутом, урезали ему язык и сослали на вечное житье в Селенгинск , где он и умер от «ножной болезни», должно быть подагры , 6 июля 1748 года.

В браке с Натальей Фёдоровной Балк (1699—1763) родились многочисленные дети, приходившиеся троюродными братьями и сёстрами императору Петру II :

• Иван (ум. ок. 1747) — камер-юнкер , умер в ссылке, в Охотске.
• Степан (1722—1784) — действительный камергер, женат на Анне Васильевне Паниной.
• Сергей — гардемарин.
• Авраам (1732—1799) — генерал-поручик, женат на княжне Анне Алексеевне Юсуповой ; у них сын Степан .
• Василий (ум. после 1779) — секунд-майор , женат на Агафье Игнатьевне Григоровой.
• Анастасия (1725—1799), фрейлина, в 1743 году была арестована по делу Лопухиных, по подозрению в причастности к заговору австрийского посланника Ботты. Жена графа Николая Александровича Головина ; у них сын Николай .
• Анна (1730-66), не замужем.
• Praskovya (1734–1810), wife of Prince Ivan Alekseevich Golitsyn (1729–1767); they have sons Alex and Sergey .
• Catherine (1737-1780), wife of Count Ivan Nikitich Zotov ; they have a son, Alexander.

• Lopukhin, Stepan Vasilievich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.