Dmitry Cantemir, Moldovan and Russian statesman and scientist. Biography, family, children

This amazing man, an ally of Peter I and an outstanding statesman, made a tangible contribution to world culture as a writer, historian, philosopher and orientalist. Member of the Berlin Academy since 1714, he in his works designated the transition from scholastic medieval thinking to modern rational forms. His name is Dmitry Cantemir.

Childhood and primary education

The future politician was born on October 26, 1673 in the Moldovan village of Silistheni. Subsequently, it moved to Romania, and today it is called Vaslui. At the end of the XVII century it housed the residence of Constantine Cantemir - Moldovan ruler and father of the newborn Dmitry. About his mother, Anna Bantysh, it is known that she was a representative of one of the oldest boyar families.

From early childhood, the formation of the personality of Dmitry Konstantinovich was greatly influenced by his teacher - the most educated person, the monk I. Kakavel. At one time he was known for numerous publications, polemicizing with preachers of Catholicism, and also as the author of a textbook of logic, in which many generations of future philosophers and theologians comprehended this science.

Years spent in the Turkish capital

At the age of fifteen, Dmitry was in Istanbul. There he arrived not on his own, but as a hostage to the state, subject to Turkey, which in those years was the Moldavian principality. Being in such an unenviable position, he, nevertheless, does not waste time and continues to improve his education. In this, many scholars of the patriarchal Greek-Latin Academy, who was at the time, like him, in the capital of the Radiant Porta, render invaluable assistance.

For three years, spent on the shores of the Bosphorus, a greedy young man learned Greek, Turkish, Arabic and Latin languages, and also attended a course of lectures on history, philosophy and theology. His worldview was formed in those years under the influence of the philosophical works of Antony and Spandoni, and also as a result of acquaintance with the natural philosophical ideas of Meletius Art.

Military campaign and political intrigues

When in 1691 Dmitry Cantemir returned to his homeland, he was in the thick of the war, which the Moldavian principality led with Poland. As the son of a sovereign, Dmitri was among the commanders, who headed the army of many thousands. In 1692, he distinguished himself at the siege of Fortress Soroca, captured by the Poles. This was his first experience of fighting and making decisions, on which the life of a large number of people depended.

The next, in 1693, brought him numerous problems related to the internal political struggle in the country. The fact is that the father of Cantemir, who until the last days of his life was the ruler of Moldavia, died, and after his death the boyars chose Dmitry as their successor. But one boyar will was not enough.

Since the principality was under the Turkish protectorate, the result of the election was to be approved in Istanbul. This was taken advantage of by the political opponent of Kantemir - the ruler of Wallachia Konstantin Brynkovyan. He managed to influence the sultan, and as a result, Dmitry's candidacy was rejected.

In the diplomatic work

After the failure, which cost him the highest public office, Cantemir again returns to Istanbul, but this time not as a hostage, but with a diplomatic mission. He was appointed to the post of the official representative of the Moldovan ruler at the court of the Sultan. This time, his stay on the banks of the Bosphorus was longer. With minor interruptions, he lived in the Turkish capital until 1710.

This period in the life of Dmitry Cantemir was filled with events. He had to fight, but this time in the ranks of the Turkish army. And although the battle with the Austrians on the river Tisza, in which he took part, ended in a crushing defeat of the Sultan's troops, nevertheless, it gave him a rich military experience. While in diplomatic work, Cantemir started a vast circle of acquaintances.

Among his new friends were representatives of science, the most famous of which was the famous Turkish scientist Saadi Effendi, and the ambassadors of many European countries. He approached the Russian envoy, Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, whose acquaintance had far-reaching consequences.

Secret agreement with the Russian Tsar

In 1710, when the war between Russia and Turkey broke out, Cantemir, having received the Moldovan principality from the Turkish government, was obliged to take part in hostilities. However, secretly hating the enslavers of his homeland and pinning his hopes on the Russian bayonets, he made advance contact with the Russian government, using for this his new acquaintance - Count Tolstoy.

The Turkish authorities, placing great hopes on Kantemir, without doubting his loyalty, instruct him to prepare the Moldovan army for war with Russia. Dmitry's duties include the construction of bridges and crossings across the Danube, as well as the provision of winter apartments for the Swedes who survived after the disastrous Poltava battle for them, full of readiness to take revenge for the defeat. To complete the mission, he was obliged to secretly monitor his former political adversary Brynkovyan, whom the sultan suspected of treason.

Being in 1711 in Slutsk, one of the largest cities of Western Ukraine, Prince Dmitry Cantemir, with the assistance of Count PA Tolstoy, sent to St. Petersburg his envoy Stefan Luka, who was entrusted with conducting secret talks with Peter I and making a secret alliance with him About joint actions against the Turks.

A treaty that was not destined to materialize

Since that time, Cantemir began working closely with the Russian monarch. In the same year, 1711, he took an active part in the drafting of a treaty providing for the voluntary entry of Moldova under the jurisdiction of Russia on the rights of autonomy. One of the seventeen paragraphs of this document was announced personally by the monarch, Dmitry Cantemir, with the right to transfer power to his direct heirs. At the same time, all the privileges of the boyars remained inviolable.

The most important point of this treaty was the return of Moldova to all the territories seized by the Port and the abolition of the Turkish tribute. The implementation of the agreement meant the end of the Ottoman yoke. This met enthusiastic support in all layers of the Moldovan society and provided Kantemir with popular support.

Prut Treaty

However, such bright plans were not to be realized. For the liberation of Moldovan lands in 1711, the thirty-eight thousand Russian army marched under the leadership of Count Sheremetyev. During all the fighting, Peter I personally attended the headquarters of the commander-in-chief.

This campaign, which went down in history as Prutsky after the name of the river, where a general battle took place with the enemy's one thousand and fifteen thousand troops, was unsuccessful for the Russians. To avoid defeat from the superior forces of the Turkish army, Peter I signed a peace treaty, according to which Russia lost the Azov conquered earlier and a significant part of the coast of the Azov Sea. Thus, Moldova still remained under Turkish rule.

Moving to Moscow and the king's graces

Of course, after all that happened to return to their homeland for all the Moldovans who served under the Russian banners, there could be no question. A thousand boyars arrived in Moscow, where they were given a very cordial meeting. Cantemir came with them. Dmitry Konstantinovich was awarded for the loyalty of Russia to the title of the Count, with the right to be called "lordship".

In addition, he was given a solid pension, granted extensive land in the present Orel province. The settlements of Dimitrovka and Kantemirovka located on their territory have survived to the present day. The first of them acquired the status of a city with a population of five and a half thousand people, and the second became a city-type settlement. To top it off, Cantemir, as the ruler of all Moldovan immigrants who arrived with him, was given the right to dispose of their lives at his own discretion.

European recognition of scientific papers

In 1713 the wife of Dmitry Kantemir Kassandra Kontakuzin died. After her death, he continued to live in Moscow, supporting communication with the most advanced people of that time. Among them, the most famous were the founder of the Latin-Greek Academy Theophan Prokopovich, VN Tatishchev, the princes AM Cherkassky, I. Yu. Trubetskoi, the outstanding statesman BP Sheremetyev. As a personal secretary and educator of children, he invited the famous writer and playwright II Il'inskogo.

By that time, many of the scientific works that Dmitry Cantemir had created over the years of his wanderings gained European fame. Description of Moldova and Turkey, work on linguistics and philosophy brought him universal fame. The Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1714 accepted him into its ranks as an honorary member. Of course, Russian scientists also gave credit to the merits of their colleague.

Second marriage, moving to the banks of the Neva

In 1719, in his life there is a momentous event - he is entering into a new marriage. This time, Princess A. I. Trubetskaya became his elect. During the wedding ceremony the crown over the head of the groom was held personally by Emperor Peter I. It is difficult to imagine a great honor for the subject of the Russian monarch. At the end of the festivities Dmitry Cantemir and his family moved to St. Petersburg, where he holds the prominent state post of Peter I's advisor on affairs of the East. Here he is among the persons closest to the king.

When in 1722 the tsar undertook his famous Persian campaign, Dmitry Konstantinovich was beside him as the head of the state chancellery. On his initiative there was a printing house, where materials were printed in Arabic. This made it possible to compile and disseminate the appeal of the emperor to the peoples inhabiting Persia and the Caucasus.

Scientific works and the evolution of philosophical views

Even in times of war, Kantemir, like many Russian scientists who fell into similar circumstances, did not stop scientific work. During these years a lot of historical, geographical and philosophical works came out from under his pen. As a tireless archaeologist, he conducted a study of ancient monuments of Dagestan and Derbent. His views on the main issues of the universe have undergone significant evolution by that time. In the past he was an adherent of theological idealism, over the years he became a rationalist, and in many cases even an elemental materialist.

So, for example, in his writings he claimed that the entire world, visible and invisible, develops on the basis of objective laws predetermined by the Creator. However, the power of scientific thought is capable of studying them and directing world progress in the right direction for people. Among historical works of Cantemir the leading place is occupied by works on the history of Porta and his native Moldova.

The End of a Bright Life

Dmitry Cantemir, whose biography is inextricably linked with the era of Peter's reforms and reforms, passed away on September 1, 1723. The last period of his life he spent in the estate granted to him by the emperor Dimitrovka. The ashes of the faithful companion of Peter I were buried in Moscow within the walls of the Novogrechesky monastery, and in the thirties of the XX century it was transported to Romania, to the city of Iasi.

The daughter of the Moldovan ruler

In one of the subsequent epochs, during the reign of Empress Elizabeth, Kantemir's daughter from the second marriage Katerina Golitsyna, born in 1720, gained wide popularity. She received this name when, in 1751, she married an officer of the Izmailovsky Regiment, Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn. After the wedding, she was made by the empress favored by her in the real state of ladies.

Possessing a significant fortune and traveling a lot, Katerina Golitsyna spent several years in Paris, where she enjoyed extraordinary success in high society and at the court. Her salon was one of the most fashionable in the French capital. When the husband was appointed Russian Ambassador to Paris, she became a real star.

Her life ended in 1761 due to illness. Dmitry Mikhailovich had a hard time surviving the death of his beloved wife. After experiencing it for almost thirty years, he decided to build a hospital for the poor in his wife's memory on the slope of his days. This desire was fulfilled, and the Golitsyn hospital, which was included in the First Grad Hospital in the beginning of the 20th century, became a kind of monument to a beloved woman.

The Palace on the Neva Embankment

About Dmitri Kantemir reminds descendants of the majestic building that adorns the Palace Embankment of St. Petersburg. This is the former palace of Dmitry Cantemir. Built in the twenties of the eighteenth century, it is the first building built in the northern capital by the outstanding Italian architect BF Rastrelli. His photo you can see above. However, the Moldovan ruler himself was not able to live in it. He died when the decoration was still in the palace, but his name is forever associated with this masterpiece of architecture.