Author Topic: Empress Anna Ioannovna  (Read 45366 times)

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Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #60 on: October 26, 2006, 10:42:30 AM »
I think that that Maria was engaged to marry him before his death. They never married because he died so young, but it was a plot on the part of her father, Alexander Menshikov to gain some more power. They most likely would have married had he lived, but one never knows.

Yseult

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #61 on: October 26, 2006, 11:24:33 AM »
One moment...I need a little help of you ;) I know that prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov had at least two daughter with his wife Daria Arseievna. One of the girls was bethroted to Peter II, but the downfall of the father broke up this engagedment. I believe, but I´m not sure, that this girl was dead in exile, as well as her parents. Another girl survived and she became the wife of Biron´s brother Gustav.

Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #62 on: October 26, 2006, 11:31:42 AM »
So maybe I had the wong girl.. your connection might be right. All I remembered knowing is that the name of the Menshikov daughter engaged to Peter II was  named Maria, and so was this one, so I thought they were the same. They may not have been, my mistake. But it would have been an interesting ending if they were one and the same. ;)

Yseult

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #63 on: October 26, 2006, 11:40:16 AM »
I´m searching for my notes...I remember Menshikov having two daughters, but I´m not sure about the names...Maria, of course, and probably Alexandra...but I´m not sure! The brother of Ernst married the girl who was not bethroted to Peter III...the poor bride was dead at Siberia with the parents.

Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #64 on: October 26, 2006, 11:50:37 AM »
Yes, that seems right. I jumped to conclusions over the name Maria, because I thought that was the name of the one who almost married Peter II. She would obviously have not been allowed to marry anyone in a powerful position after her almost marriage to Peter II anyway. That would make no sense. As for Biron and Anna, it was said they were lovers. Undoubtedly, Anna had many lovers. I think the thing said about Princess Kurland might have been true...

Yseult

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #65 on: October 26, 2006, 12:06:12 PM »
Imperial Angel, it´s true that I have a mistake about the wife of Gustav Biron. The wife must have been Alexandra Menshikova. About Maria Menshikova, I have found this portrait painted by Johann Tannauer:



She was just twelve years old when she was painted...can you believe it? She had the pose, hairstyle and gown dress of an adult lady, but she was a little girl. At the first, Menshikov wished to marry her to the polish prince Piotr Sapieha, but, later, he bethroted Maria to zar Peter II. Saddely, the girl was dead from smallpox in Berezovo. Her sister Alexandra survived and married Gustav Biron. It´s said that Tannauer painted not only Maria but also Alexandra, but I haven´t found the portrait of Alexandra, sister-in-law of Biron.

By the way, I can´t find a portrait of Benigna Gottlieb Trotta und Treyden, wife of Ernst Johann. It´s strange, I think, because there are portraits of Ernst Johann and their son Peter, later duke of Courland.

Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #66 on: October 26, 2006, 12:51:24 PM »
Thank you for that portrait!!!! It's strange, but I was just going to ask if someone could post a portrait of her for me, but then I figured there might not be one. She does indeed resemble an adult lady of the 18th century. I was surprised she was only twelve, but then children did assume adult roles and dress early then, there being no adolescence as we know it today in a cultural sense at least, if not in actual fact. Did not both she and Peter II die of smallpox? How old was she at death?

Yseult

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #67 on: October 26, 2006, 01:23:51 PM »
Imperial Angel...Maria was born in 1711, she was bethroted to Peter III in 1727 and she was died exiled in 1729. So, she had a sadly briefly life...just eighteen years of life!

I always wondered about how felt all these people who suffered the very hard exile in Siberia only for being wives or daughters of the powerful men who fell from grace. I mean...Daria Mikhailovna Arseyevna, the wife of Menshikov, a lady noted for contemporaries for her beauty and kindness and their daughters Maria and Alexandra...but also Benigna, the wife of Biron, and their children, Peter, Hedwig Elisabeth and Carl.

Yseult

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #68 on: October 27, 2006, 05:43:39 AM »
There´s a painting of Vasily Surikov around 1883. The tittle is "Menshikov in Berezovo":



I add the detail of María:



And the detail of Alexandra:



I´m still waiting for portraits of the Birons but I´m not lucky ;)

« Last Edit: October 27, 2006, 05:55:07 AM by Yseult »

Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #69 on: October 27, 2006, 08:59:12 AM »
So Maria was only eighteen when she died, although she looks perhaps older than that in that portrait. Both she and her sometime fiance died young, both of the same illness. That's rather interesting. Maria might have been Empress of Russia had things gone differently. Her father was a very much a favourite of Peter the Great, was he not? I am sure it was difficult in Siberia for these exiles's wives and daughters, and perhaps their attitude depended on how much they stood besides the man who had gotten them exiled ( their husband or father) to begin with. I wonder what Maria thought in Siberia, only two years before she had  had the chance to maybe be Empress of Russia.. and now.

Yseult

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #70 on: October 28, 2006, 08:33:38 AM »
About the Birons of Courland ;)

It´s interesting that the first von Bühren, Carl, son of a man named Mathias, went to Curland from his country, Westphalia, when a wesphalian man, Gotthard von Kettler, became the first duke of Courland. I suppose that a lot of westphalians, specially all the westphalians from the zone of Melrich, where the father and mother of Gotthard had their castle, were determined to improve their fortunes in the new dukedom of Courland-Semigalle.

Carl von Bühren, married with Odilia Krey, became a servant of duke Gotthard, and the duke granted him with a good portion of land in Kalnzeems. A grandson, also named Carl, was a groom in the service of duke Jakob, himself a grandson of duke Gotthard. So the von Bühren or Biren where well connected to the Kettler dinasty, but they were not more and not less that landowners. Carl, grandson of the Carl who served Jakob, who was grandson of the Carl who served Gotthard, married Hedwig Catherine von Rabb, a woman of similar origins. They had, I think, nine children. One of the children was Ernst Johann.

We know that Ernst Johann tried to conquer a place in the court of poor Charlotte, wife of tsarevich Alexis, but he did not succeeded in his plans. But, at this time, a russian princess, Anna Ivanovna, became duchess of Courland by her marriage with Friedrich Wilhelm Kettler. In the trip from San Petersburgo to Mitau, the husband of Anna was suddenly dead, and she went to Mitau as sovereign duchess. I suppose that Ernst Johann knew so well that the russian representative and advisor of Anna, Bestuzhev, was linked to one of the sisters of Biron...One sister of Ernst Johann, I don´t know who, was the mistress of Bestuzhev, so Ernst Johann had open doors in the little Courland´s court. Later, he managed so well and replaced Bestuzhev as favourite advisor of Anna Ivanovna...


Offline Marc

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #71 on: October 30, 2006, 12:23:43 PM »
In genalogy sites I found that Gustav von Biron married Princess "Maria" Menchikova,who lived from 1708-1736...this confuses me!

Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #72 on: October 30, 2006, 01:09:54 PM »
It does me as well, but I think that the Menshikov princess who married that man, wasn't the one who was engaged to Peter II. It would not make much sense if it was. It seems there is much confusion out there on this subject.

bell_the_cat

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #73 on: November 01, 2006, 06:18:50 PM »
Just wanted to add three reasons why Biron wasn't so bad...

1) He managed to secure the succession to Anna's heir - when Anna Leopoldovna dumped him, things went pear shaped straight away!

2) Catherine the Great thought he was good enough to bring back - after twenty years in exile!

3)  He was badly portrayed in a popular book of the nineteenth century - "The Ice Palace" This is responsible for the popular belief that Anna was a psychopath and Biron her stooge. The real reason for portraying her badly was that she was from the "wrong" side of the family.

Hope this makes sense!

Offline ivanushka

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Re: Empress Anna Ioannovna
« Reply #74 on: April 16, 2007, 10:22:38 AM »
In his book "Five Empresses", Evgenii Ansimov suggests that Empress Anna Ivanovna may possibly have been the mother of Biron's youngest son, Karl Ernst.

Do any forum members have any thoughts on this?

Also, does anyone know what happened to Karl Ernst after the downfall of his father?  I assume that he went with his family into exile and then, eventually returned with them to Courland where his father and elder brother would both reign as Dukes.