Terrible Tsarinas

ment, the officers of the Guard took a step forward, as if on pa-

rade, and exclaimed in unison: “We will not allow laws to be dic-

tated to our sovereign! We are your slaves, but we cannot tolerate

rebels taking it upon themselves to control you. Say the word and

we will throw their heads at your feet!”

Anna Ivanovna struggled to contain her joy. In a blink of an

eye, her triumph repaid all the affronts she had suffered. They

thought they could outsmart her, but it was she who had outwit-

ted her sworn enemies, the verkhovniki. Glaring at these disloyal

dignitaries, she declared: “I do not feel secure here any longer!”

And, turning toward the officers, she added: “Obey only Simon

Andreyevich Saltykov!”

That was the man whom she had just promoted, a few days

before. The windowpanes shook with the officers’ cheers. With

just one sentence, this able woman had swept away the Supreme

Privy Council, thus proving herself worthy of leading Russia to

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glory, justice and prosperity.

The moment of truth had come. The Empress had the text of

the charter read aloud, and after each article, she posed the same

question: “Is that what the nation wants?” And, each time, the

officers shouted their response: “Long live the sovereign autocrat!

Death to the traitors! Death to anyone who refuses her this title!”

Approved by plebiscite even before she was crowned, Anna

Ivanovna then concluded, in a sweet tone that contrasted with her

imposing matronly stature: “Why, then this paper is useless!”

And, to the hurrahs of the crowd, she tore the document to bits

and scattered them at her feet.2

At the conclusion of this tumultuous event, which she re-

garded as her real coronation, the Empress and her entourage

(still swelled by the officers of the Guard) went to see the mem-

bers of the Supreme Privy Council — who had preferred to with-

draw to another area, rather than watching her moment of tri-

umph. They had thought they were trimming her claws, and here

she was slashing them to the quick. Whereas the majority of the

councilors were dumb-struck, Dmitri Golitsyn and Vasily Dol-

goruky turned to face the mass of their opponents and publicly

admitted their defeat. “Let everything be done in accordance with

the divine will of Providence!” Dolgoruky said, philosophically.

Again, the crowd burst into cheers. “The Day of Dupes” was

over. When it was no longer risky to take sides, Ostermann sud-

denly emerged. He had pretended to be seriously ill, confined to

his room by his doctors; now, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, he

congratulated Anna Ivanovna, swore his unfailing devotion to her

and announced, privately, that he was preparing to bring a law-

suit in the name of Her Majesty against the Dolgorukys and the

Golitsyns. Anna Ivanovna smiled with a scornful joy. Who thus

dared to claim that she was not of the same blood as Peter the

Great? She had just proven the opposite. And this idea alone

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The Surprise Accession of Anna Ivanovna

filled her with ride.

The hardest part was over; she could prepare for the corona-

tion without any unnecessary emotion. Striking while the iron

was hot, she set the coronation ceremony to take place just two

weeks later, on March 15, 1730, with all the usual pomp, in the As-

sumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. Catherine I, Peter II, Anna

Ivanovna: the sovereigns of Russia followed one another at such

short intervals that the waltz of “Their Majesties” made everyone

dizzy. This empress was the third one in six years to proceed

through the streets of Moscow. The novelty was wearing thin,

but the crowds still came out to cheer enthusiastically and to pro-

claim their veneration of their “little mother.”

Meanwhile, Anna Ivanovna was not sitting idly by. She

started by naming Simon Andreyevich Saltykov, who had served

her cause so well, to the post of General-in-Chief and Grand Mas-

ter of the court; and she relegated to his own domains the far too

busy Dmitri Mikhailovich Golitsyn, to do penance there. But

most important of all, she hurried to send an emissary to Mitau,

where Bühren was impatiently awaiting the good word. He im-

mediately set out for Russia.

In the old capital, meanwhile, the celebrations surrounding

the coronation went on, accompanied by gigantic light shows.

The scintillating fireworks were soon rivaled by an unusually bril-

liant aurora borealis. Suddenly, the horizon blazed up. The sky

turned radiant, as though it had been injected with blood. Among

the people, some dared to call it an ill omen.

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Terrible Tsarinas

Footnotes

1. Mémoires du prince Dolgoruky, cited by K. Waliszewski, L’Héritage de Pierre le

Grand.

2. Details and comments reported in L’Avènement d’Anna Ire, by Korsakov;

citations quoted in Waliszewski , op. cit.

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V

THE EXTRAVAGANT ANNA

Married at the age of 17 to Duke Frederick William (who

had developed a reputation as a quarrelsome and drunken prince),