Peter the Great

Overview

Peter I (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia and, from 1721, its first Emperor; founder of St Petersburg and victor over Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava on 27 June 1709 Old Style (8 July New Style) (Britannica, «Battle of Poltava»; en.wikipedia «Peter the Great»).

Relevance to Marie

Peter is a recurring figure in her Russian imagination, and the Poltava region of her father's family keeps his memory.

• Her hero. After reading Dumas, who «décrit Pierre le Grand comme un demi-dieu», she writes: «Voilà un homme dont j'ai été amoureuse ! Et s'il m'aimait, quel triomphe !!!!» (008.0224, 27 August 1873). In 1876 she recalls that three or four years earlier she adored him for three days after finding an engraving of him at the helm of a boat in danger (064.0560).
• The Hamilton legend. Her father's favourite story is that a «lady Hamilton» was «maîtresse de Pierre le Grand» and was beheaded under him (015.0051; 016.0310), told as the origin of the Russian Hamiltons: «comment leur glorieux nom est devenu Gamenton, puis Gamentoff, ensuite Khamoutoff». This is the real Mary Hamilton (Maria Gamontova), lady-in-waiting to the Empress Catherine and said to be Peter's mistress, executed on 14 March 1719 for infanticide (en.wikipedia «Mary Hamilton (lady-in-waiting)» and «Gamontov (Russian nobility)»). An earlier RSR note confused her with Emma Hamilton; that was wrong. The story matters because Marie's passion for the Duke of Hamilton (DUKE_OF_HAMILTON) rests partly on the name.
• St Petersburg, August 1876. She sees the equestrian statue «devant le Sénat», the Bronze Horseman (064.0431), and Peterhof, the palace «de souvenir de Pierre le Grand et de Catherine» with the Samson fountain (064.0475).
• Poltava, 1876. She sees «la colonne de Pierre le Grand» in the town garden (066.0171) and, on 14 October, the small wooden church of Peter and the bronze column on the spot where he rested after the battle, with the date given wrongly as 21 June 1709 (067.0046, 067.0047; see the footnote there).
• Elsewhere. At the Pantheon in Rome the bust of Poussin has «l'air de Pierre le Grand» (053.0356). In 1881 she claims that rich monasteries lent Peter or Nicholas ten million roubles (092.0307); in 1883 she answers a collector's Peter the Great samovar with a portrait of Catherine given to her ancestors (102.0263).

References in Diary

• 1873-08-27 (008.0224); 1874-01-05 (015.0051); 1874-02-16 (016.0310); 1876-02-03 (053.0356); 1876-08-06 (064.0431); 1876-08-09 (064.0475); 1876-08-13 (064.0559, 064.0560); 1876-09-12 (066.0171); 1876-10-14 (067.0046, 067.0047); 1881-07-21 (092.0307); 1883-11-18 (102.0263)

Sources

Britannica, «Battle of Poltava» (https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Poltava); en.wikipedia «Mary Hamilton (lady-in-waiting)», «Gamontov (Russian nobility)».