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Tag Archives: Catherine II the Great

Enlightened Despotism in Russia

01 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in Enlightened Despotism, Russia

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Catherine II the Great, Catherine's Instruction, Enlightened Despotism, Expansionism, Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, Peter I the Great, Peter III, Russia, Serfdom, the Northern War, the Swedish Empire, Westernization

Catherine the Great Empress and Autocrat of All the Russias  by unknown (Wiki2.org.)

Enlightened Despotism

We are returning to our Enlightened despots. In the Encyclopedia Britannica,

Enlightened despotism, also called benevolent despotism, [is] a form of government in the 18th century in which absolute monarchs pursued legal, social, and educational reforms inspired by the Enlightenment. Among the most prominent  enlightened despots were Frederick II (the Great), Peter I (the Great), Catherine II (the Great), Maria Theresa,  Joseph II, and Leopold II. They typically instituted administrative reform, religious toleration, and economic development but did not propose reforms that would undermine their sovereignty or disrupt the social order.

(See Enlightened Despotism, Britannica)

Among the despots named above, Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia, is our most prominent figure. He belonged to the Hohenzollern dynasty. But we must step back to Peter I (the Great) (9 June 1662, Moscow – 8 February 1725, Saint Petersburg) who defeated the Swedish Empire, and Catherine II (the Great) (21 April 1729, Prussia – 6 November 1796, Russia) who did not allow a disastrous marriage to rob her of her “profession” as an aristocrat. Both Peter I and Catherine II were despots, but they expanded and developed Russia in every way.  They are as Britannica defines enlightened despots. In this regard, both looked to Europe as a model and, in the case of Catherine II, mainly France. In the 18th century, French became the language of the Russian court and courtiers dressed as did Europeans. But soon Catherine dazzled Europe.

Posthumous Portrait of Peter the Great by Paul Delaroche, 1838 (Photo credit: Wiki2.org.)

Peter I (the Great) 1689 – 1725

Given Peter I the Great‘s passion for conquest, we need to see maps. For instance, Peter I, of the Romanov dynasty, who reigned jointly with his sick half-brother Ivan V, from 1689 to 1725, wanted a port to the north, but west of Arkhangelsk, a port that abutted on the Arctic Ocean. In 1703, he founded Saint Petersburg, located north of Moscow, on the Neva River.

The Neva flows into the Gulf of Finland, thereby providing access to European countries and facilitating the westernization of Russia which, to a large extent, characterizes Russian enlightenment. Peter I (the Great) was ordained Emperor of “all the Russias” after defeating the Swedish Empire, in 1721, three years after King Carl XII of Sweden was killed at the Siege of Fredriksten, in 1718.

Map of the Baltic Sea  (Wikimedia.org.)

3850-004-87B10401

Russian Expansion Britannica

Peter I, the son of tsar Alexis of Russia, had been exiled from the Kremlin during the regency of his half-sister Sophia (1782 – 1789), by his half-brother Fyodor III (1676 – 1782). Contrary to his siblings, Peter was very healthy and played at war, organizing battles, with boys of lesser birth. (See Peter the Great, Britannica.) He also mingled with Moscow’s intellectually freer European citizens who “kindled” his interest in navigation and the mechanical arts. He shared his mother Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina‘s progressive ideas. Peter founded the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1724.

Peter is associated with the Northern War, the Russo-Turkish Wars, the Persian War and numerous conflicts. (See Peter the Great), Britannica.)

The Russian Empire, in 1796

See Digital Collection

Britannica Video on Catherine the Great

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catherine-the-Great/media/99597/193539

Catherine II (the Great ) 1762 – 1796

Empress Catherine II (the Great) was born Sophie Friederike Auguste, Prinzessin (princess) von Anhalt-Zerbst (Britannica). In 1745, she married Peter III of Russia, or Karl Peter Ulrich zu Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, born in Kiel. Peter III is described as follows:

He was extremely neurotic, rebellious, obstinate, perhaps impotent, nearly alcoholic, and, most seriously, a fanatical worshipper of Frederick II of Prussia, the foe of the empress Elizabeth [Peter I’s successor].

(See Catherine II (the Great), Britannica.)

Catherine therefore resolved to become Empress of Russia. She relinquished her name, Sophie, and learned Russian. By marriage, she belonged to the House of Romanov, the ruling house of Russia, but her mother was Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. Although Catherine had lovers before she became Empress, it seems that she bore Peter III at least one child, a Romanov, who would reign as Paul I of Russia (1796 – 1801).

Catherine II was charming.

It was easy for Catherine, with the help of the senators, high officials, and officers of the guard regiments (led by her lover Grigory Orlov and his brothers), to overthrow Peter on June 28 (July 9, New Style), 1762. Thus began the long and important reign of Catherine II, whom her admiring contemporaries named ‘the Great.’

(See Catherine II (the Great), Britannica.)

This was a coup d’état. Peter III had to abdicate and was assassinated eight days later. We cannot ascertain that Catherine played a role in Peter III’s assassination. At any rate, Peter III had blemished his image by disengaging a victorious Russia from the Seven Years War against Prussia. However, before Peter III‘s death on 17 July 1762, he and Catherine II issued a Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, which “freed Russian nobles from compulsory military or state service.” (See Catherine II the Great, Wiki2.org.) As noted in an earlier post, in 1774, twelve years after Peter III’s assassination, Catherine may have married Grigory Potemkin, who also played a public role during the reign of Catherine II. (See Catherine II (the Great), Britannica.)

Would that Catherine II had abolished serfdom. She planned to do so, but didn’t. Catherine owned serfs and gave serfs to former lovers. But it should be noted that during most, nearly all, of Catherine the Great’s reign (1729 – 1796), slavery had not been abolished. Nor had serfdom been repressed in France and other European countries. (See History of Serfdom, Wiki2.org.) Scandinavian countries were an exception. They had no serfs, but several European monarchs profited from the slave-trade. In Russia, serfdom was abolished in 1861, under Tsar Alexander II (29 April 1818 – 13 March 1881).

Catherine did not frame a constitution, but Catherine’s Instruction could be considered a draft of this constitution, or its white paper.

1794 portrait of Catherine, age approximately 65, with the Chesme Column in the background, by V. Borovikovsky (Tretyakov Gallery) (Photo credit: Wiki2.org.)

The French Enlightenment & the French Revolution

Catherine admired Montesquieu and Rousseau. As we have seen, she bought Denis Diderot‘s library, making him its custodian for the rest of his life. Moreover, she and Voltaire shared letters. Despots, however, fear the people they control, and their fear leads them to control even more. After the terror Yemelyan Pugachov‘s Cossack troops inspired in 1774, Catherine was afraid.

Catherine now realized that for her the people were more to be feared than pitied, and that, rather than freeing them, she must tighten their bonds.

(See Catherine II (the Great), Britannica.)

Therefore,

Catherine, like all the crowned heads of Europe, felt seriously threatened by the French Revolution. The divine right of royalty and the aristocracy was being questioned, and Catherine, although a ‘friend of the Enlightenment,’ had no intention of relinquishing her own privileges: ‘I am an aristocrat, it is my profession.’

But Catherine was born, rather than elected, to privilege.

Conclusion

Despots they were. But Peter the Great and Catherine II (the Great), Peter in particular, enlarged Russia considerably, as the third map above indicates (See Digital Collection). They also organized Russia. Catherine II created several towns and promoted intellectual and cultural growth. As noted above, Peter’s model had been Europe, but France was Catherine’s chief model. However, the execution, by guillotine, of French King Louis XVI dampened Catherine’s admiration for France. Louis XVI was a fellow aristocrat by profession, as Catherine saw aristocrats. She was then approaching her own sudden death.

France and Europe may have been Peter I and Catherine II’s models. But our two enlightened despots’ leadership may also be considered a model.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Mostly Diderot & Catherine ‘the Great’ (25 October 2018)
  • The House of Bernadotte (27 September 2018)

Sources & Resources

  • Catherine the Great (wiki2.org.)
  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Enlightened Despotism,”
    Encyclopædia Britannica
    https://www.britannica.com/topic/enlightened-despotism
  • Zoé Oldenbourg-Idalie, “Catherine the Great,” Encyclopædia Britannica
    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catherine-the-Great
  • Leonid Alekseyevich Nikiforov,  “Peter the Great,” Encyclopædia Britannica
    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-the-Great

 

Love to everyone 💕

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade (1/5)

150377-004-E6886D77

Peter the Great, disguised as carpenter (Britannica)

© Micheline Walker
1st November 2018
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Mostly Diderot & Catherine II ‘the Great’

25 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in Despotism, Enlightenment, Sharing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Catherine II the Great, Denis Diderot, Diderot's Regrets..., Handel, Karina Gauvin, Louis-Joseph Vernet, Madame Geoffrin's salon, the Shipwreck

Claude-Joseph Vernet, The Shipwreck, 1772, oil on canvas, Patrons’ Permanent Fund and Chester Dale Fund, 2000.22.1 (National Gallery of Art, UK)

vernet_horace

Horace Vernet Joseph Vernet Tied to a Mast in a Storm, c. 1822, Musée Calvet, Avignon, photograph by André Guerrand

This post isn’t about Claude-Joseph Vernet, Horace Vernet‘s grandfather, nor is it about Händel. It is about me, briefly, but my main characters are philosophe Denis Diderot  (1713 – 1784) and Catherine II the Great (1729 – 1796) of Russia, an enlightened despot. Denis Diderot was a co-editor, with Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, of the very ambitious Encyclopédie (1751 – 1766). He admired artist Claude-Joseph Vernet, whom he praised in his delightful Regrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre (Regrets on my Old Dressing Gown), a short text. I believe Regrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre (text) has been translated into English, but I could not find a translation. Catherine II the Great was a German princess, the daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, who became Empress of “all the Russias.”

Russian despots, Peter I the Great and Catherine II, the Great, enlarged Russia. Peter wanted access to various seas, the Baltic Sea, to begin with. He defeated the Swedish Empire shortly after Charles XII, a despot, was killed at the Siege of Fredriksten, in 1718. In 1703, Peter I the Great founded Saint Petersburg and, in 1721, Russia became an empire as Sweden entered its Age of Liberty.

Enlightened despotism is quite the topic. For instance, Russian despots, Peter I the Great  and Empress Catherine II the Great westernized Russia, which is not insignificant. Catherine befriended Denis Diderot. When Diderot tried to provide his daughter with a dowry, his only recourse was the sale of his library, a considerable collection. Catherine bought it and made him custodian of his collection. He did not have to part with his books. He travelled to Russia and spent several months at Catherine’s court. When he was dying, she rented a comfortable room for him.

In 1745, Catherine married Russian Tsar Peter III, who was assassinated. Catherine gave serfs to her lovers and a castle to at least one of her favourites, Grigory Potemkin, whom she may have married, but the ‘affair’ was over in 1776. Although I am certain Voltaire did not approve of serfdom, he entertained a long friendship, letters mainly, with Empress Catherine II the Great.

Madame Geoffrin’s salon in 1755, by Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier. Oil on canvas, Château de Malmaison, Rueil – Malmaison, France

Diderot did not enter a profession. He wanted to write. At one point, Madame Geoffrin, the famous salonnière, gave him furniture and a new dressing gown. He may have spent money. In Regrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre, Diderot writes that he should not have parted with his old dressing gown.

Mes amis, gardez vos vieux amis. Mes amis, craignez l’atteinte de la richesse. Que mon exemple vous instruise. La pauvreté a ses franchises ; l’opulence a sa gêne.

[My friends, keep your old friends. My friends, fear the infringement of riches. Let my example be a lesson to you. Poverty has its freedoms; opulence, its constraints.]

Diderot would gladly have discarded everything, so there would again be coherence and, therefore, beauty to his lodgings. But he would not let go of a painting by Claude-Joseph Vernet. Everything matched: a lovely ensemble.

Si vous voyiez le bel ensemble de ce morceau ; comme tout y est harmonieux ; comme les effets s’y enchaînent ; …

[If you saw…]

—ooo—

My little story is barely worth telling. I tried to make a doctor’s appointment for my friend who suffers from Ménière’s Disease. He’s nearly deaf. So, I wanted to talk to my doctor to see if he could help. My friend’s doctor is an intern and my doctor supervises interns. It’s the same office, but he can do things interns cannot do. This doctor always returns my calls, but this time, he didn’t. Last evening, I wrote to my friend to inform him that I doubted my doctor would phone. But, as I was about to press “send,” tears welled up in my eyes…

This morning, I turned to music, my refuge. I love this aria by Händel. The singer is Canada’s Karina Gauvin FR / Karina Gauvin EN.

Sources and Resources

Regrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre is a Wikisource publication FR

Love to everyone  💕

“V’adoro, pupille” from Händel’s Giulio Cesare

Händel by Balthasar Denner

© Micheline Walker
24 October 2018
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