Sheremeteva, Nadezhda Nikolaevna

The daughter of Nikolai Andreevich Tyutchev (1720-1797) and Pelagei Denisovna Panyutina (1739-1812). She married a retired guard captain-lieutenant Vasily Petrovich Sheremetev (1765-1808). She settled with him in his estate Pokrovskoe-Sheremetevo . The marriage was happy, but not long. July 19, 1808 ^[2] on a hill at the very estate of a horse, they suffered a span in which Vasily Petrovich was returning home, and broke it. V.P. Sheremetev died right on the crash site. A young widow of incomplete 33 years remained with three children in her arms: Alexey , Pelageya (1802-1871) (later married to M. N. Muravyov ) and the younger Anastasia (later married to I. D. Yakushkin ). Vasily Petrovich was buried under the Trinity Church in the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in Zvenigorod District ^[2] , where later Nadezhda Nikolayevna made annual pilgrimages. It is believed that the early and tragic death of her husband significantly strengthened the religious moods of Nadezhda Nikolaevna ^[3] .

Soon after Nadezhda Nikolaevna recovered from her grief, the concern of people, sometimes completely unknown to her, became her life’s work. “All her life, perhaps somewhat bustling,” writes one of her descendants, but without any showy effect, she bothered about a variety of people ” ^[3] , then placing the child or an elderly woman in the hospital, then visiting the mother who lost her son. She was trusted with considerable funds for the most varied charitable assistance.

From the beginning of 1816, Sheremetev and his children settled in the house of his brother Ivan, the father of the future poet F. I. Tyutchev, in Armenian Lane. Moving to Moscow was associated with the arrival of his son Alexei in the school of column leaders ^[4] . The son of her brother, the future poet F. I. Tyutchev, grew up in close contact with members of the family of N. N. Sheremeteva. Consisted in correspondence with V. A. Zhukovsky . I also counted P. Ya. Chaadaeva among my friends. She did much to raise her grandchildren — children of the Decembrist I. D. Yakushkin. I was in constant correspondence with Ivan Dmitrievchiy, until the very death I wrote without fail once a week. According to contemporaries, she was quick-tempered, but always ready to help her neighbor.

In 1840, Nadezhda Nikolaevna met N. V. Gogol . She helped him arrange one of his sisters, E. V. Gogol, in the house of P. I. Raevskaya after graduation from the institute. Closely acquainted with N. N. Sheremeteva Gogol in 1842 in Moscow, where they met at the Aksakovs. From that time, the meetings and correspondence of Gogol with Sheremeteva began, which lasted for 8 years until her death. 43 Gogol’s letters to Sheremeteva and 47 response letters from Sheremeteva reached us. Being deeply religious, Nadezhda Nikolaevna strongly influenced Gogol’s religious moods. He called her his "spiritual mother." And Sheremetev, according to S. T. Aksakov , “loved Gogol like a son” ^[5] . Nadezhda Nikolaevna supported Gogol's intention to go to Jerusalem and his religious-mystical moods that had increased since 1842 ^[6] . In this regard, she was honored to be mentioned in the essay by V. Nabokov "Nikolai Gogol". Nabokov wrote:

Good old lady Nadezhda Sheremeteva, one of the most loyal and boring correspondents of Gogol (they constantly prayed for the salvation of each other’s souls), escorted him to the Moscow outpost. The papers of Gogol were probably in perfect order, but for some reason he did not want to be checked, and the holy pilgrimage began with one of those gloomy hoaxes that he often played out to the police. Unfortunately, the old lady was also drawn into her. At the outpost, she kissed the pilgrim, burst into tears, and dawned on him with a cross, which made him extremely uneasy. At that moment, he was asked for the documents, the official wanted to find out exactly who was driving off. “This is the old woman!” Gogol shouted and drove off in his carriage, leaving Mrs. Sheremeteva in great difficulty ^[7] .

However, as far as is known, this incident in January 1848 did not darken the relationship between Nadezhda Nikolaevna and the writer. It is believed that Sheremeteva even had some influence on the work of Gogol. His phrase from "Selected places from correspondence with friends": "There is no separation between those living in God <...>, and the brother who departed from us becomes even closer to us from the power of love" - ​​an almost literal repetition of one of Nadezhda Nikolaevna’s letters ^{[8 ]} . The death of Sheremeteva shook Gogol, and perhaps brought him to death two years later ^[9] .

V.A. Zhukovsky:

Your letter is exactly you: the same simple, pure kindness breathes in it, which I found in you ^[10] .

N.V. Gogol:

In my painful moments, when my spirit falls, I always find <N N. Sh. Letters> consolation in them and I thank every minute the hand of providence for my meeting with you ^[11] .

E. F. Von Bradke

One wealthy and distinguished lady, Mrs. Sheremeteva, lost all respect for herself because she went to the bushes, cut off her hair and dressed simply ^[12] .

• Brother - Dmitry (1765 - up to 1829) ^[13]
• Brother Nikolai (1767–1832) ^[13]
• Brother - Ivan (1768–1846) ^[14] , the father of the poet Fyodor Tyutchev.
• Sister - Anastasia (1769–1830) ^{[13] is} married to Alexei Filippovich Nadarzhinsky (1747–1789) ^[15] .
• Sister - Varvara (1771–1828) ^{[13] is} married to Alexander Sergeevich Bezobrazov ^[16] .
• Sister - Evdokia ( 1774 - 1837 ), married in 1795 to Prince Boris Ivanovich Meschersky (died in 1796) ^[17] , Mother Superior Yevgenia is the founder of the Boriso-Glebsky Anosina convent .

• Shenrok V.I. Nadezhda Sheremeteva // Russian antiquity. 1892. Book. ten.
• "Archive of the village of Mikhailovsky." T. 1. St. Petersburg., 1898;
• “Letters of V.A. Zhukovsky and N. M. Yazykov to N. N. Sheremeteva” // Bibliographical notes. 1858. № 20, 22
• Letters of N. V. Gogol to N. N. Sheremeteva
• Kaydash Svetlana . The strength of the weak - Women in the history of Russia (XI-XIX centuries.)