Matyushkin, Dmitry Mikhailovich

The eldest son of General-General Mikhail Afanasevich Matyushkin , related by kinship to the imperial family, and his wife Sofya Dmitrievna. It is obviously named after the mother’s father - the first Baron Solovyov . After sharing the inheritance with his younger brother Mikhail, he acquired a large patrimony in the Dobrovsky district (1,051 souls).

He entered the service on September 24, 1742, a private soldier in the Preobrazhensky regiment . In 1745, being already a warrant officer, Matyushkin transferred to civil service and was assigned to the diplomatic mission in Stockholm , but did not show himself and was on vacation for the next three years ^[1] .

He resumed military service in 1748, in 1751 he was appointed adjutant, and on September 20, 1755 he was captain-lieutenant ^[1] . He participated in the Seven Years War . During the reign of Peter III, he was ranked as a junker chamber (December 22, 1761). Catherine II sent him to Vienna in July 1762 with the news of a change of power in St. Petersburg and her accession to the throne.

At this time, the galloman Matyushkin, forever in need of money to cover card debts, found himself in the center of a tangle of diplomatic intrigues. Overestimating his influence at court, the Royal Secret diplomats expected to use him as an agent of influence. So, Baron de Breteuil wrote in October 1762 from Moscow to the French Minister, Duke de Pralen ^[2] :

Your Excellency! Mr. Matyushkin, about whom I had the honor to write to you during the life of Peter III, since he was very useful to me to find out some details of court life and have access to the queen, whom he is completely devoted to, suggests going from Vienna to Paris and asks me to recommend You as a person full of zeal and reverence for the king. He is a very limited person and a nasty behavior, but I must give him justice - he is strongly disposed towards France. His wife is the stats lady of the empress, her note favorite and confidante in pleasures and it would be very useful to favorably relate to this Russian, who arouses in her good feelings towards us.

During his stay in Vienna (which lasted until November 8), Matyushkin was erected by Emperor Franz I on November 7 (18), 1762, with descending descendants, into the count of the Holy Roman Empire dignity. He returned from Paris with a perfect petimeter and became known in St. Petersburg as one of the most fashionable dandies. The portrait of Matyushkin, painted in the 1760s, has been preserved. unknown artist ^[3] . Even the very young Pavel Petrovich laughed at his slavish imitation of French fashion, as Poroshin writes about this in his diary ^[4] :

Earl Matyushkin this morning drove past the palace in a very strange outfit. A small stroller called the Diable is set up on a winter run; laid by six horses, with which he himself rules in a stroller; a hat under his bosom and in one hand a scourge with which he dodging the past salutes. In front of him rode his mastermaster, the Frenchman Pierre with the scourge, and, clearing the road, shouted: beware, beware! His Excellency Nikita Ivanovich , standing at that time at the window, said laughing: "So Cupid himself could not have gracefully appeared to the light."

From June 28, 1763, he was a full chamberlain, and from April 21, 1773, he was Privy Councilor ^[1] . Matyushkin was very lucky in the cards and, having beaten all the Russians, he set out to conquer Europe, as he told Casanova without hesitation, who suspected cheating here ^[5] :

Young men from the best families have learned to cheat and boast about it; someone Matyushkin assures that no foreign fraudster can beat him. He has now received permission to travel for three years and expects to return as a rich man.

In his career, Matyushkin dreamed about the position of the heir to the successor and maintained a cordial relationship with the latter, but on January 7, 1774 he received a resignation with a ban on showing up at court. Matyushkin’s fall occurred due to the fact that he began to sow discord between Pavel and his new teacher N. I. Saltykov , inspiring the heir as if he had been put to him by his mother for espionage. Upon learning of this, Catherine became furious and instructed Chief Marshal N. M. Golitsyn to make Matyushkina, who was marking Saltykov in place, the most severe reprimand ^[6] :

I leave it to his thought that the sovereigns who had reigned before me in Russia would have been punished with him; that he puts his hand between the bark and the tree and is looking for a quarrel between his mother and his son and his empress with the heir; that I would not leave to punish him for this impudence, if I were not sure that all this came from his stupidity and envy, asking myself for a place for which there is not one ability. To Countess Anna Alekseevna, tell me that I am absolutely sure that her husband did not consult with her in this matter, for she is smart, and this is a matter of stupidity.

After his resignation, Matyushkin was engaged in the organization of his estates and was elected the nobility of Nikitsky district as his leader. At the accession of Paul was granted (February 16, 1797) to the Knights of the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Anne .

At the Maslenitsa of 1754, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna grasped for Matyushkin, contrary to the wishes of his mother, her beloved maid of honor Princess Anna Alekseevna Gagarin (1716-1804):

I saw that the empress had a long conversation with General Matyushkina. This last one did not want her son to marry Princess Gagarina, my maid of honor, but the Empress convinced her mother, and Princess Gagarin, who was then 38 years old, received permission to marry Dmitry Matyushkin. She was very happy about it, and I too; it was a marriage of addiction; Matyushkin was very handsome then.

- Notes of Catherine II ^[7]

The wedding took place on November 6 of that year. Due to the childlessness of Matvey’s only brother, Countess Matyushkina turned out to be the heiress of the large possessions of her grandfather M.P. Gagarin , including the estates of Sennitsa and the Gagarin Ponds near Moscow. A son and a daughter were born in the marriage:

• Nicholas (1756-1775), the adjutant wing, was brought up with the Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and accompanied him in masquerade amusements. He was buried in the Donskoy monastery , the grave was not preserved.
• Sophia (2.11.1755-28.3.1796), maid of honor of Catherine II, from a young age was known for her beauty and amorousness, but for a long time she could not find a suitable party. In 1788, the empress finally betrayed the empress for the Polish count Yuri Vielgorsky (his first wife). She often talked with her about the tender feelings of Chevalier de Corberon , who wrote to his homeland ^[8] :

I had fun talking with Mr. Matyushkina, the famous beauty. You, my friend, so modest, so restrained, would be surprised to hear how smartly Russian girls talk about love, coquetry, lovers, etc., like fashionable Parisian ladies. Our conversation lasted about two hours and very interested me. Matyushkina is cheerful, amiable, beautiful and she is only 20 years old! She claims to be sensitive, and I argued to her that she is just a coquette, devoid of feeling, and that it will be so for another ten years.

In 1853, Nicholas I allowed the grandson of Sophia Dmitrievna, Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Vielgorsky (1822-1855), to accept the great name of his great-grandfather and henceforth be called Count Vielgorsky-Matyushkin.