Wives of the Decembrists, interesting facts. An amazing example of female devotion and love
On December 14, 1825, on Senate Square in St. Petersburg, the first organized demonstration of revolutionary nobles in the history of Russia against the tsarist autocracy and arbitrariness took place. The uprising was put down. Five of its organizers were hanged, the rest were exiled to hard labor in Siberia, demoted to soldiers ... The wives of eleven convicted Decembrists shared their Siberian exile. The civil feat of these women is one of the glorious pages of our history.
In 1825, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya turned 20 years old. The daughter of the illustrious hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, General Raevsky, the beauty sung by Pushkin, the wife of Prince Major General Volkonsky, she belonged to a select society of people outstanding in mind and education. And suddenly - a sharp turn of fate.
In early January 1826, Sergei Volkonsky stopped by for a day in the village to his wife, who was expecting her first child. At night, he kindled a fireplace and began to throw sheets of paper covered with writing into the fire. To the question of a frightened woman: "What's the matter?" - Sergey Grigoryevich threw: - "Pestel is arrested." "For what?" - there was no answer ...
The next meeting of the spouses took place only a few months later in St. Petersburg, in the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the arrested Decembrist revolutionaries (among them were Prince Sergei Volkonsky and Maria Nikolaevna's uncle Vasily Lvovich Davydov) were waiting for the decision of their fate ...
There were eleven of them - women who shared the Siberian exile of their Decembrist husbands. Among them are the humble, like Alexandra Vasilievna Yontaltseva and Alexandra Ivanovna Davydova, or Polina Gebl, the bride of the Decembrist Annenkov, who was severely impoverished in her childhood. But most of them are Princesses Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya and Ekaterina Ivanovna Trubetskaya. Alexandra Grigoryevna Muravieva is the daughter of Count Chernyshev. Elizaveta Petrovna Naryshkina, nee Countess Konovnitsyna. Baroness Anna Vasilievna Rosen, the general's wives Natalya Dmitrievna Fonvizina and Maria Kazimirovna Yushnevskaya belonged to the nobility.
Nicholas I granted everyone the right to divorce her husband - a "state criminal". However, women went against the will and opinion of the majority, openly supporting the disgraced. They renounced luxury, left children, relatives and friends and went after the husbands they loved. Voluntary exile to Siberia received a loud public response.
Today it is difficult to imagine what Siberia was in those days: the “bottom of the bag”, the end of the world, far away. For the fastest courier - more than a month of travel. Off-road, river floods, snowstorms and chilling horror of Siberian convicts - murderers and thieves.
The first - the very next day after the convict husband - Ekaterina Ivanovna Trubetskaya set off. In Krasnoyarsk, the carriage broke down, the escort fell ill. The princess continues on her way alone, in a tarantass. In Irkutsk, the governor intimidates her for a long time, demands - once again after the capital! - a written renunciation of all rights, Trubetskaya signs it. A few days later, the governor announces to the former princess that she will continue her journey "on the tightrope" along with the criminals. She agrees...
The second was Maria Volkonskaya. Day and night she rushes in a wagon, not stopping for the night, not having lunch, being content with a piece of bread and a glass of tea. And so for almost two months - in severe frosts and snowstorms. She spent the last evening before leaving home with her son, whom she had no right to take with her. The kid played with a large beautiful seal of the royal letter, in which the highest command allowed the mother to leave her son forever ...
In Irkutsk, Volkonskaya, like Trubetskaya, faced new obstacles. Without reading, she signed the terrible conditions set by the authorities; deprivation of noble privileges and transition to the position of the wife of a convict, limited in the rights of movement, correspondence, disposal of her property. Her children, born in Siberia, will be considered state peasants.
Six thousand miles of the way behind - and the women in the Blagodatsky mine, where their husbands mine lead. Ten hours of hard labor underground. Then a prison, a dirty, cramped wooden house with two rooms. In one - runaway criminal convicts, in the other - eight Decembrists. The room is divided into closets - two arshins long and two wide, where several prisoners huddle. A low ceiling, you can't straighten your back, the pale light of a candle, the ringing of shackles, insects, poor food, scurvy, tuberculosis and no news from outside ... And suddenly - beloved women!
When Trubetskaya, through a crack in the prison fence, saw her husband in shackles, in a short, tattered and dirty sheepskin coat, thin, pale, she fainted. Volkonskaya, who arrived after her, was shocked, knelt down in front of her husband and kissed his shackles.
Nicholas I took away all property and inheritance rights from women, allowing only beggarly living expenses, in which women had to report to the head of the mines.
Negligible sums kept Volkonskaya and Trubetskaya on the verge of poverty. They limited their food to soup and porridge, they refused dinners. Dinner was prepared and sent to the prison to support the prisoners. Accustomed to gourmet cuisine, Trubetskaya at one time ate only black bread, washed down with kvass. This spoiled aristocrat walked in frayed shoes and froze her feet, as she sewed a hat from her warm shoes to one of her husband's comrades to protect his head from debris falling in the mine.
Hard labor no one could calculate in advance. Once Volkonskaya and Trubetskaya saw the head of the mines, Burnashev, with his retinue. They ran out into the street: their husbands were being led under escort. The village resounded: “The secret ones will be judged!” It turned out that the prisoners went on a hunger strike when the prison overseer forbade them to communicate with each other and took away the candles. But the authorities had to give in. The conflict this time was resolved peacefully. Or suddenly, in the middle of the night, shots raised the whole village to their feet: criminal convicts tried to escape. Those caught were beaten with whips to find out where they got the money to escape. And Volkonskaya gave the money. But no one betrayed her under torture.
In the autumn of 1827, the Decembrists from Blagodatsk were transferred to Chita. There were more than 70 revolutionaries in the Chita prison. The tightness, the shackle ringing irritated the already exhausted people. But it was here that a friendly Decembrist family began to take shape. The spirit of collectivism, comradeship, mutual respect, high morality, equality, regardless of the difference in social and material status, dominated this family. Its connecting rod was the holy day of December 14, and the sacrifices made for it. Eight women were equal members of this unique community.
They settled near the prison in village huts, cooked their own food, fetched water, stoked stoves. Polina Annenkova recalled: “Our ladies often came to see me how I was preparing dinner, and asked them to teach me how to cook soup. then concoct a pie. When I had to peel a chicken, they admitted with tears in their eyes that they were jealous of my ability to do everything, and bitterly complained about themselves for not knowing how to take on anything.
Visits with husbands were allowed only twice a week in the presence of an officer. Therefore, the favorite pastime and the only entertainment for women was to sit on a large stone in front of the prison, sometimes to exchange a word with the prisoners.
The soldiers rudely chased them away, and once hit Trubetskaya. The women immediately sent a complaint to Petersburg. And since then, Trubetskaya defiantly arranged whole “receptions” in front of the prison: she sat down on a chair and talked in turn with the prisoners who had gathered inside the prison yard. The conversation had one inconvenience: it was necessary to shout rather loudly in order to hear each other. But how much joy this brought to the prisoners!
Women quickly became friends, although they were very different. Annenkov's bride arrived in Siberia under the name of Mademoiselle Pauline Goble: "by royal grace" she was allowed to join her life with the exiled Decembrist. When Annenkov was taken to the church to get married, the shackles were removed from him, and upon his return they put them on again and took him to prison. Polina, beautiful and graceful, was seething with life and fun, but all this was like an outer shell of deep feelings that forced the young woman to abandon her homeland and independent life.
The common favorite was the wife of Nikita Muravyov - Alexandra Grigorievna. None of the Decembrists, perhaps, received such enthusiastic praise in the memoirs of the Siberian exiles. Even women who are very strict towards the representatives of their sex and as different as Maria Volkonskaya and Polina Annenkova are unanimous here: - “Holy woman. She died in her post."
Alexandra Muravyova was the personification of the eternal female ideal, rarely achieved in life: a tender and passionate lover, a selfless and devoted wife, a caring, loving mother. “She was love incarnate,” according to the Decembrist Yakushkin. “In matters of love and friendship, she did not know the impossible,” I.I. Pushchin echoes him.
Muravyova became the first victim of the Petrovsky Plant, the next place of hard labor for revolutionaries after Chita. She died in 1832 at the age of twenty-eight. Nikita Muraviev became gray-haired at thirty-six - on the day of his wife's death.
Even during the transition of convicts from Chita to the Petrovsky plant, the women's colony was replenished with two voluntary exiles - the wives of Rosen and Yushnevsky arrived. And a year later - in September 1831, another wedding took place: the bride Camille Le Dantu came to Vasily Ivashev.
The Decembrist women did a lot in Siberia. First of all, they destroyed the isolation to which the authorities condemned the revolutionaries. Nicholas I wanted to force everyone to forget the names of the convicts, to get rid of them from memory. But then Alexandra Grigorievna Muravyova arrives and passes through the prison bars to I. I. Pushchin the poems of his lyceum friend Alexander Pushkin.
Relatives and friends write to prisoners. They are also forbidden to answer (they received the right to correspond only with access to the settlement). This was reflected in the same calculation of the government to isolate the Decembrists. This plan was destroyed by women who connected the prisoners with the outside world. They wrote in their own name, sometimes copying the letters of the Decembrists themselves, received correspondence and parcels for them, subscribed to newspapers and magazines.
Every woman had to write ten or even twenty letters a week. The load was so weighty that there was no time left sometimes to write to my own parents and children. “Do not complain about me, my kind, priceless Katya, Liza, for the brevity of my letter,” Alexandra Ivanovna Davydova writes to her daughters left with relatives. time for these few lines."
While in Siberia, women waged an unceasing struggle with the St. Petersburg and Siberian administrations for easing the conditions of imprisonment. They called the commandant Leparsky a jailer to his face, adding that not a single decent person would agree to accept this position without striving to alleviate the plight of the prisoners. When the general objected that he would be demoted to the soldiers for this, they, without delay, answered: - "Well, become a soldier, general, but be an honest person."
The old contacts of the Decembrists in the capital, the personal acquaintance of some of them with the tsar, sometimes kept the jailers from arbitrariness. The charm of young educated women happened to tame both the administration and the criminals.
Women knew how to support the downhearted, to calm the excited and upset, to console the distressed. Naturally, the unifying role of women increased with the advent of family hearths (since the wives were allowed to live in prison), and then the first "convict" children - pupils of the entire colony.
Sharing the fate of the revolutionaries, celebrating “the holy day of December 14” with them every year, women approached the interests and deeds of their husbands (which they were not aware of in a past life), becoming, as it were, their accomplices. “Imagine how close they are to me,” wrote M. K. Yushnevskaya from the Petrovsky Plant, “we live in the same prison, endure the same fate and amuse each other with memories of our dear, kind relatives.”
The years in exile dragged on slowly. Volkonskaya recalled: - “At first time of our exile, I thought that it would probably end in five years, then I told myself that it would be in ten, then in fifteen years, but after 25 years I stopped waiting, I asked God only one thing: to bring my children out of Siberia.”
Moscow and Petersburg became more and more distant memories. Even those whose husbands died were not given the right to return. In 1844, this was denied to the widow of Yushnevsky, in 1845 - to Yentaltseva.
More and more parties of exiles came from beyond the Urals. 25 years after the Decembrists, the Petrashevites were taken to hard labor, including F.M. Dostoevsky. The Decembrists managed to get a meeting with them, to help with food and money. “They blessed us on a new path,” Dostoevsky recalled.
Few Decembrists lived to see the amnesty that came in 1856 after thirty years of exile. Of the eleven women who followed their husbands to Siberia, three remained here forever. Alexandra Muravieva, Kamilla Ivasheva, Ekaterina Trubetskaya. The last to die in 1895 was ninety-three-year-old Alexandra Ivanovna Davydova. She died, surrounded by numerous offspring, respect and reverence of all who knew her.
“Thanks to the women: they will give a few beautiful lines of our history,” said a contemporary of the Decembrists, the poet P.A. Vyazemsky, having learned about their decision.
Many years have passed, but we do not cease to admire the greatness of their love, selfless spiritual generosity and beauty.
The Decembrist's wife is an expression that has become a household word. Everyone has heard about the feat of women who followed their husbands into exile, but few remember their names. "Decembrists" symbolize true love, but at what cost did they get this loyalty! About the story of the most touching love and devotion will tell todayAmateur.
media.
Against the family and the world
These women swore to be near their husbands in sorrow and joy, and they kept their word. After the famous Decembrist uprising on December 14, 1825, when a group of nobles went to Senate Square, five of the rebels were sentenced to death, and all the rest to exile. 23 Decembrists were married, but Ryleev was soon executed, and Polivanov died some time later. Emperor Nicholas I granted all the wives of the convicted the right to divorce their husbands, but 11 of them refused this privilege. Praskovya Annenkova, Maria Volkonskaya, Alexandra Davydova, Alexandra Entaltseva, Camilla Ivasheva, Alexandra Muravyova, Elizaveta Naryshkina, Anna Rosen, Ekaterina Trubetskaya, Natalya Fonvizina, Marina Yushnevskaya. These women not only went against their family, which did not want to let their daughters go to hard labor, but also understood that they would be limited in their freedom of movement and correspondence. In addition, children born in exile automatically became state peasants, despite the noble origin of their parents.
Nicholas I allowed all wives of convicts to divorce their husbands
Monument “Wives of the Decembrists. Gates of Fate" by Zurab Tsereteli.
"Decembrist" at the age of 17
The youngest of the "Decembrists" was Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya. She married Sergei Volkonsky a year before the uprising at the age of only 17! When her husband was arrested, Maria had just given birth to a child, and for a long time did not know about the arrest. Having recovered from childbirth, she immediately went to Petersburg to see her husband, and then did not hesitate for a minute, declaring that she would go into exile with him. Her father cursed her, but before he died, he called her "the most amazing woman he knew." There were legends about her first date with her husband - they said that Maria threw herself on her knees in front of her husband and began to kiss his shackles.
The youngest of the "Decembrists" was Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya
Maria Volkonskaya
I am writing to you
Volkonskaya, like many other wives of the Decembrists, lived in a peasant house. The life of the wives was not easy - they prepared food for the convicts, mended their clothes and were in correspondence for them. One of the most severe punishments for the Decembrists was the ban on writing letters, they could only receive news. Therefore, the wives subscribed for their husbands, educated nobles, all new magazines, besides, they wrote letters instead, sometimes 10-20 a week, so that they often did not have time to write a couple of lines to their loved ones.
One of the most severe punishments for the Decembrists was the ban on writing letters
In the late 1920s, the Volkonskys' son died, and then their newborn daughter. After some time, the convicts were transferred to the Petrovsky Plant, where the wives were allowed to settle in prison with their husbands. Soon they were completely transferred to a settlement outside the prison. In 1835 Volkonsky was released from hard labor, and only in 1856 the Decembrists were amnestied. By that time, only 15 Decembrists out of 120 had survived. But for many years, the exile had a detrimental effect on Mary's health: in 1863 she died. She was a woman beloved by many, who amazed people with her mind and inspired Pushkin himself.
From the palace to the mines
Another famous "Decembrist", Ekaterina Ivanovna Trubetskaya, was the first of the wives who obtained from the tsar the right to accompany her husband. She was born into the most secular family, but calmly renounced all secular blessings in order to be able to see her husband. She knew that an uprising was being prepared, talk of preparation was often carried on in the Trubetskoy house, but she tried with all her might to dissuade her husband from the undertaking. After her arrest, Trubetskaya could not reach her husband for a long time, having missed him in Irkutsk. In the Blagodatsky mine, having met with Sergei Trubetskoy, she fainted: it was not easy to recognize the emaciated and shabby prince.
After her arrest, Trubetskaya could not reach her husband for a long time.
Ekaterina Trubetskaya
Together with Volkonskaya, she rented a tiny rickety house with a thatched roof. Trubetskaya wrote that in the morning the hair of women often froze to the logs, because in winter the wind blew literally from all cracks. At first, Catherine, accustomed to a luxurious life in the palace, was hard: she had to carry water herself, heat the stove and wash clothes. She gave all her warm clothes to the convicts, while she herself walked around in disheveled shoes and frostbite on her feet. Only later, in Chita, a number of wooden houses were built for the wives of the Decembrists and called them Ladies Street.
Between husband and son
Another famous "Decembrist" is Anna Vasilievna Rosen. Her husband, an officer, did not participate in the conspiracy, but on the eve of the uprising, the Decembrists invited him and asked him to bring as many troops as possible to Senate Square. The next day, he did not comply with the order to pacify the rebels, for which he was sentenced to 10 years. Anna did not immediately manage to follow her husband - she had to linger because of a six-month-old child. Only later, in 1830, she went to the Petrovsky factory, and then to Kurgan.
Anna Rosen
Between motherland and love
For Praskovya Yegorovna Annenkova, nee Polina Goble, the decision to follow Ivan Annenkov to Siberia was three times difficult. France was her homeland, and the mysterious and harsh land of eternal winter frightened her. In order to get permission to go to hard labor, she, already pregnant, personally goes to the maneuvers where the emperor was supposed to be, and throws herself at his feet. In addition, during the uprising, Polina was not yet married to Annenkov, so the only reason was love, but not duty. They got married only at hard labor in Chita, where the shackles were removed from the groom for the duration of the wedding.
Praskovya Annenkova
Each "Decembrist" has its own unique story, which can be told for a long time. But these women were united by endless love and devotion, which served as an example for many.
Ekaterina Astafieva
December 12, 2011, 21:35On December 15, 1825, Colonel Trubetskoy, the failed dictator of the Decembrists, was arrested in St. Petersburg. His wife, according to rumors, embroidered a banner for the rebels, but Prince Sergei did not need it ... Ekaterina Laval, a well-educated girl, lived with her family in Europe for a long time. In Paris in 1819, she met Prince Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy, who in May 1821 became her husband. According to general opinions, she was not too beautiful and plump, but she had a pleasant voice, and most importantly, she charmed with her facial expression and address. “Ekaterina Ivanovna Trubetskaya,” recalled the Decembrist Andrei Rozen, “was not beautiful in face, not slender, of medium height, but when she speaks ... she simply enchants with a calm, pleasant voice and a smooth, intelligent and kind speech, so everyone would listen to her. Voice and speech were the imprint of a good heart and a very educated mind from legible reading, from travel and stay in foreign lands, from approaching diplomacy celebrities. The mother of Ekaterina Ivanovna, nee Kozitskaya, was the owner of a huge fortune. She married a poor emigrant, Jean Francois Laval, who received high ranks in Russia and taught at the Naval Cadet Corps; the Frenchman was famous for his delicate taste and kindness. This married couple had four daughters and one son. One of the daughters, called in a close circle Katashi, the brilliant Princess Trubetskoy, was destined to share his bitter fate with her beloved husband, and later become the main character of N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Russian Women”. According to contemporaries, Ekaterina Laval was not a beauty - short, plump, but charming, cheerful frisky with a beautiful voice. In Paris in 1819, Catherine Laval met Prince Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy, and in May 1821 she married him. Trubetskoy was ten years older than her and was considered an enviable groom: noble, rich, intelligent, educated, went through the war with Napoleon and rose to the rank of colonel. His career was not over yet, and Catherine had a chance to become a general. A brilliant marriage was overshadowed by the absence of children. Ekaterina was very worried about this and went abroad to be treated for infertility. S.P. Trubetskoy A member of the Union of Salvation, the Union of Welfare (chairman and guardian of the Root Council), one of the leaders of the Northern Society, one of the authors of the Manifesto to the Russian People, Sergey Petrovich Trubetskoy, during the preparation of the uprising on 12/14/1825, was scheduled to become dictators, but did not appear on the square and took no part in the uprising. At a meeting of conspirators on December 13 in the evening, when Prince. Obolensky and Alexander Bestuzhev spoke in favor of the need for an attempt on the life of Nikolai Pavlovich, Trubetskoy, according to Steingel, agreed to this and expressed a desire to proclaim the juvenile led emperor. book. Alexander Nikolaevich (the latter was also suggested by Batenkov in a conversation with Trubetskoy on December 8), but, according to others, Trubetskoy kept aloof and spoke in an undertone to Prince Obolensky. Trubetskoy himself showed that he could not give himself a clear account of his actions and words that evening. According to Ryleev, Trubetskoy was thinking about taking over the palace. During the investigation, Trubetskoy declared his hope that Nikolai Pavlovich would not use force to pacify the rebels and would enter into negotiations with them. Trubetskoy in his "Notes" describes the plans of the conspirators in this way. The regiments were supposed to gather on Petrovsky Square and force the Senate: 1) to issue a manifesto, which would spell out the extraordinary circumstances in which Russia was, and for the solution of which selected people from all estates were invited at the appointed time to approve who would remain on the throne and on what grounds; 2) establish a temporary government, until a new emperor is approved, by a general council of selected people. However, on the decisive day, Trubetskoy was completely at a loss and not only did not appear on Senate Square, but even took the oath to Emperor Nicholas. Trubetskoy undoubtedly proved his courage during the Napoleonic wars, but, according to Pushchin, he was extremely indecisive, and it was not in his nature to take responsibility for the blood that was to be shed, and all the riots that were to follow in the capital. “This failure to appear played a significant role in the defeat of the uprising,” writes Academician M.V. Nechkina. The Decembrists themselves rightly regarded such behavior of Trubetskoy as "treason." On the night of December 14-15, Trubetskoy was arrested and taken to the Winter Palace. The emperor went out to him and said, pointing to Trubetskoy's forehead: “What was in this head when you, with your name, with your surname, entered into such a business? Colonel of the Guard! Prince Trubetskoy! How are you not ashamed to be with such rubbish? Your fate will be terrible! It was very unpleasant for the emperor to participate in the conspiracy of a member of such a noble family, who was also in property with the Austrian envoy. When a little later the testimony written by Trubetskoy was taken to the sovereign and he himself was called, Emperor Nikolai exclaimed: “You know that I can shoot you now!”, But then ordered Trubetskoy to write to his wife: “I will be alive and well.” On March 28, 1826, Adjutant General Benkendorf entered Trubetskoy's casemate and demanded on behalf of the sovereign that he reveal what kind of relationship he had with Speransky; at the same time, Benckendorff promised that everything said would remain a secret, that Speransky would not suffer in any case, and that the sovereign only wanted to know to what extent he could trust him. Trubetskoy replied that he had met Speransky in secular society, but had no special relationship with him. Then Benckendorff told Trubetskoy that he was talking about his conversation with Speransky and that he even consulted with him about the future constitution in Russia. Trubetskoy emphatically denied this. At the request of Benckendorff, Trubetskoy recorded some conversation about Speransky and Magnitsky, which he had with G. Batenkov and K. Ryleev, and sent the package to Benckendorff's own hands. Obviously, one place is related to this case in the annex to the report of the commission of inquiry, which was not made public at the time, which says that the leaders of the Northern Society intended to make Admiral Mordvinov and Privy Councilor Speransky members of the interim government: “the first ... expressed opinions contrary to the assumptions of the ministries, and they (according to Prince Trubetskoy) considered the second not an enemy of the news. The Supreme Court sentenced Trubetskoy to death by decapitation Letter to S.P. Trubetskoy to his wife E.I. Trubetskoy [Tuesday], December 15 I am alive and well, my unfortunate friend, I have ruined you, but not with evil intent. Do not grumble at me, my angel, you alone are still tying me to life, but I am afraid that you will have to drag out an unhappy life, and perhaps it would be easier for you if I were not there at all. My fate is in the hands of the sovereign, but I have no means to convince him of any sincerity, the sovereign has now come up and ordered me to write to you only that I will be alive and well **. God save you my friend. I'm sorry. Your eternal friend Trubetskoy“I really feel that I can’t live without you,” Ekaterina Ivanovna wrote to her husband in the Peter and Paul Fortress. “The future doesn't scare me. I will calmly say goodbye to all the blessings of the world. One thing can make me happy: to see you, to share your grief ... and to devote all the minutes of my life to you ... ”By the sovereign’s resolution, the death penalty was replaced for Trubetskoy with eternal hard labor. When his wife, Ekaterina Ivanovna, wished to accompany her husband into exile, Emperor Nicholas and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna tried to dissuade her from this intention. When she remained adamant, the sovereign said: “Well, go, I will remember you!”, And the empress added: “You are doing well that you want to follow your husband, in your place, and I would not hesitate to do that same!” 
Trubetskaya was the first of the wives of the Decembrists to make a decision to leave for Siberia. Ekaterina Ivanovna arrived in Irkutsk on September 16, 1826. On October 8, 1826, a party of exiles, in which S.P. Trubetskoy was also, was sent to the Nerchinsk mines. For some time, Trubetskaya did not know where her husband was sent. According to the memoirs of Obolensky, Ekaterina Ivanovna turned to her superiors so that she could be allowed to follow Sergei Petrovich and "for a long time they tormented her with various evasive answers." Trubetskaya spent 5 months in Irkutsk - Governor Zeidler received an order from St. Petersburg to persuade her to return back. However, Ekaterina Ivanovna was firm in her decision. At the same time, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya arrived in Irkutsk. Finally, they were provided with a regulation on the wives of convicts and on the rules on which they are allowed to enter the factories. First, they must renounce the use of those rights that belonged to them by rank and status. Secondly, they can neither receive nor send letters and money except through the factory authorities. Further, they are allowed to meet with their husbands only at the will of the same authorities and in the place that they themselves will determine. Trubetskaya fainted when she saw through the prison fence her husband - the former prince, shackled, dressed in a short tattered sheepskin coat, girded with a rope. An aristocrat accustomed to gourmet cuisine, Ekaterina Ivanovna was sometimes forced to sit on black bread with kvass. In the Blagodatsky mine, Trubetskaya froze her feet because she walked in worn-out shoes: she sewed a hat for her husband's friend from warm shoes. 
Visits with husbands were allowed for an hour twice a week in the presence of an officer. Therefore, women sat for hours on a large stone opposite the prison, in order to sometimes exchange a word with the prisoners. The soldiers rudely chased them away, and once hit Trubetskaya. The women immediately sent a complaint to Petersburg. And since then, Trubetskaya defiantly arranged a real reception in front of the prison - she sat down on a chair and talked in turn with the prisoners who had gathered inside the prison yard. In order to see her husband every day, Ekaterina Ivanovna went out onto the road along which the exiles were taken to work, and exchanged glances or even exchanged a word with the passing Trubetskoy. And along the way he picked flowers, folded a bouquet for his wife and left it on the side of the road. Like other Decembrists, Ekaterina Ivanovna knew how to support the downhearted, calm the upset, console the distressed. Sergei Trubetskoy at the Petrovsky Plant often said: “What do we need windows for when we have four suns!”, Meaning, in addition to his wife, Naryshkina, Fonvizina and Rosen, who lived in the same prison department with him. At the end of 1839, the term of hard labor for Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy expired. The family received an order to leave for a settlement in the village of Oek, 30 miles from Irkutsk. Moving to a new place was overshadowed by the death of the youngest son Vladimir, who lived only a year. The Trubetskoys experienced this first loss especially hard. Farming, helping local peasants helped to distract from sorrowful thoughts, and there were many of them. In September 1840, the second son of the Trubetskoys, Nikita, died. The princess had less and less strength and health, more and more often she suffered from attacks of rheumatism. At the end of January 1842, fearing an imminent death, Ekaterina Ivanovna made a will in which she asked her sisters to take care of her children and husband. For health reasons and for the study of children, Trubetskaya turned to the authorities with a request to allow her to move to Irkutsk. In 1845 such permission was obtained. Ironically, the house in which the Trubetskoys settled in the Znamensky suburb of Irkutsk used to be the country cottage of the same governor Zeidler, who eighteen years ago tried to prevent the princess from visiting her husband in the Nerchinsk mines. The house turned out to be spacious and comfortable, but what pleased the princess most of all was the large, beautiful garden. Wanderers, the homeless, the beggars always found shelter and attention at the Trubetskoys. 
Unknown artist. Trubetskoy's daughters In addition to caring for the children, Ekaterina Ivanovna had to take care of the pupils who appeared in her house: the daughters of M.K. Kuchelbeker Anna and Justina, the son of the exiled settler A.L. Kuchevsky Fyodor, the daughter of a poor official Neustroev Maria and the daughters' friend Anna ( her last name is not preserved). All of them, without exception, were surrounded by kind care and attention. In January 1846, news of the death of J. S. Laval, Ekaterina Ivanovna's father, reached Irkutsk. For the past six months, the old count was very ill, and his wife tried to get the emperor's permission to see her daughter with her dying father, but all her efforts were in vain. Nicholas I was true to his oath and did not allow any of "his friends on December 14" and their relatives to set foot on the land of European Russia. Four years later, the mother of the Decembrist also died, never having seen her eldest daughter or her grandchildren born in Siberia. But it was in them that the continuation of the life of a famous and unfortunate family turned out ... In the last years of her life, Ekaterina Ivanovna left the house less and less often, and in the end, due to rheumatic pains, she had to move around the rooms in a wooden chair on wheels. The tender care of her husband and children, of course, prolonged her earthly days, but, unfortunately, not for long. Throughout the spring and summer of 1854, the princess fell ill. She no longer got out of bed, she was tormented by a dry cough, and the doctors who tried to alleviate her plight were powerless. At 7 am on October 14, 1854, Ekaterina Ivanovna died in the arms of her husband and children. It was said that the whole of Irkutsk saw off the wife of the "state criminal" on her last journey. Contemporaries wrote that this city saw such a crowded funeral for the first time. The coffin with the body of the deceased was carried by the nuns of the Znamensky Convent, within the walls of which E. I. Trubetskaya found her last refuge. She was buried next to the children who died earlier, Nikita and Sophia ... Under the amnesty of Emperor Alexander II of August 22, 1856, Trubetskoy was restored to the rights of the nobility. His children, by decree of August 30, 1856, could use the princely title. Trubetskoy had no right to live permanently in Moscow. Arriving there with the permission of the police, he refused to make new acquaintances and limited himself to the circle of his relatives and old acquaintances, saying that he did not want to "be the subject of anyone's curiosity." According to one contemporary, he was at that time "good-natured and meek, silent and deeply humble." 
S.P. Trubetskoy. 1860
The names of the wives of the Decembrists in the distant 1826 knew the entire Moscow world. Their fates became the subject of discussion and sympathy. Eleven women sacrificed everything, giving up their usual blessings, in order to share the sad fate of their beloved.
In 1871, the poet Nikolai Nekrasov wrote the poem "Russian Women" - the wives of the Decembrists Trubetskoy and Volkonsky became the main characters of the work. In those years, the institution of the family was of great importance in society. Even without sharing political views and, perhaps, somewhere condemning the act of their chosen ones, women followed their husbands, leaving the most precious thing - their children. So strong was the faith in marriage, family and God.
These stories are worthy of attention, we have a lot to learn from these fearless women! Nekrasov and the wives of the Decembrists lived at about the same time. This made it possible for the poet to describe the stories of unfortunate women so poignantly. What awaited them on the road? How hard did they part with loved ones? What fate awaited them ahead? Nekrasov will tell about the feat of the wives of the Decembrists, revealing in two stories - Ekaterina Trubetskoy and Maria Volkonskaya - the whole horror of getting to know the harsh north and the endless pain of parting with loved ones.
History of December
After the reign of Alexander I, which lasted 24 years, in 1825 his younger brother Nicholas came to power. The oath was scheduled for December 14, 1925. On this day in the capital of the Russian Empire - St. Petersburg - there was an attempted coup d'état. After the long reign of Alexander the Blessed, Russia, tired of endless wars, wanted peace and tranquility.
The uprising was organized by a group of like-minded nobles, most of whom were guards officers. The main goal of the rebels was the liberalization of the Russian socio-political system: the establishment of a provisional government, the abolition of serfdom, the equality of all before the law, democratic freedoms (press, confession, labor), the introduction of a jury, the introduction of compulsory military service for all classes, the election of officials, changing the form of government to a constitutional monarchy or a republic. Despite a rather long preparation, the uprising was immediately suppressed.
In July 1826, five conspirators and leaders of the Decembrist uprising were hanged on the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress: K.F. Ryleev, P. I. Pestel, SI. Muraviev-Apostol, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and P.G. Kakhovsky. The remaining eleven like-minded people were exiled to Siberia. It was for them that their wives went into exile.
Ekaterina Trubetskaya
Princess Ekaterina Ivanovna Trubetskaya, born Countess Laval, was born in St. Petersburg in 1800. Father Ivan Stepanovich was an educated and wealthy French emigrant who came to Russia during the French Revolution. In the capital, he met his wife, Countess Alexandra Grigorievna, heiress of millions from a very wealthy St. Petersburg family. In marriage, they had two daughters, Ekaterina and Sophia. The Laval couple gave their children an excellent education, surrounding the little ones with luxury and the most qualified teachers.
Naturally, Catherine never needed anything, was far from cooking and household chores, surrounded from childhood by servants, she could not always even dress herself.
Wealth, shine! A high house On the banks of the Neva, The stairs are upholstered with carpets, There are lions in front of the entrance, The magnificent hall is gracefully decorated, The whole is on fire.
The Laval family spent a lot of time in Europe, where in 1819 Catherine met Prince Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy, who at that time was 29 years old. Educated, wealthy, a veteran of the war with Napoleon, Colonel Trubetskoy was a very enviable groom. The young people fell in love and got married in 1820.
The young wife had no idea that her husband had been preparing an uprising with his associates for several years now. Catherine was more concerned about the absence of children in their family, whom she really wanted.
It is the first part of this poem by Nekrasov that is dedicated to the wife of the Decembrist Trubetskoy. After the events of December 14, Catherine was the first to put forward a desire to follow her husband to hard labor. For a long 6 months, Tsar Nicholas I himself, by his decree, tried to restrain the impulses of a woman distraught with grief.
Oh! Do you want to live in a country like this, Where people's air Doesn't come out of their nostrils with ice-cold dust? Where it's dark and cold all year round, And in brief heatwaves Never-drying swamps Harmful fumes? Yes... a terrible land! the night hangs over the country...
But Catherine was adamant. Nekrasov's lines very realistically depict the experiences of the girl, although the poem about the wives of the Decembrists was written after all the events in 1871.
Ah! .. Save these speeches for you better for others. All your tortures cannot extract Tears from my eyes! Leaving my homeland, friends, Beloved father, Taking a vow in my soul Fulfill to the end I will save him, I will give him strength! Contempt for our executioners, Consciousness of rightness Will be our faithful support.
Ekaterina Ivanovna saw her husband only in 1927, having accepted all the conditions regarding the wives of exiled convicts. The woman had to give up all noble privileges and her millionth fortune.
Sign this paper! What are you?... My God! After all, this means becoming a beggar And a simple woman! You will say "forgive me" to everything, What was given to you by your father, What should be inherited Should come to you later! Lose the rights of property, the rights of the Nobility!
So, after all the trials, in 1830, the first daughter of Alexander was born to the Trubetskoys. At the end of 1839, Trubetskoy served hard labor, and the whole family settled in the village of Oek. By that time, the family already had five children. Six years later, the family was given permission to settle in Irkutsk, where they had two more children.
Trubetskaya performed a truly heroic deed for her time. The torment she experienced when she parted with her father, the severity of the road to her destination, which took more than three months, the loss of all titles and material wealth, all this will be very accurately described by Nekrasov in his poem "Russian Women" and will talk about how the wives of the Decembrists survived in Siberia.
Ekaterina Ivanovna died in Irkutsk at the age of 54 from cancer. Her husband will outlive her by 4 years. By this time, they will have four children out of seven born.
Maria Volkonskaya
Princess Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya was the second of the Decembrists who followed her husband into exile. Like the previous heroine, Maria was from a noble Raevsky family. The granddaughter of Lomonosov himself, she was familiar with Pushkin, was the daughter of the hero of the war of 1812, Nikolai Raevsky. The girl grew up in wealth and luxury.
We lived in a large suburban house. Having entrusted the children to an Englishwoman, the old man rested. I learned everything that a rich noblewoman needs. .
Masha was very educated, fluent in several languages, played the piano beautifully, had a wonderful voice.
In August 1824, Maria met Prince Sergei Volkonsky. This marriage was concluded, rather, by calculation than by love: the father decided that it was time for his daughter to get married. In any case, family life did not last long: after 3 months, Volkonsky was arrested. Maria was already pregnant.
While the lawsuits lasted, Mary was kept in the dark. After the birth of her son and the sentencing of her husband, the desperate woman decided to follow her husband to Siberia, but met with a strong protest from the authoritarian father. However, this did not stop the girl, and, leaving her son with her family, she went to Irkutsk. The most difficult parting with the baby will be described by Nekrasov in a poem dedicated to the wives of the Decembrists.
I spent the last night with the child. Bending over my son, I tried to remember the smile of my dear little one; I played with him With the seal of a fatal letter. I played and thought: “My poor son! You don’t know what you are playing with! Here is your fate: you will wake up alone, Unhappy! You will lose your mother! ”And in grief, falling on his hands with my face, I whispered, sobbing:“ Forgive me, for your father, My poor, I must leave ... "
Your heart breaks when you read Nekrasov's lines...
But, having signed the same conditions as Trubetskaya, for the wives of convicts, the wife of the Decembrist Volkonskaya suddenly lost everything. Heavy lonely everyday life began, which overshadowed the news of the death of his son, and then his father. What this woman experienced is impossible to imagine, because she saw her husband only in 1829. The description of this touching meeting will end Nekrasov's poem dedicated to the wives of the Decembrists.
And then he saw, saw me! And he stretched out his hands to me: “Masha!” And he stood, exhausted, as if, far away ... Two exiles supported him. Tears flowed down his pale cheeks, His outstretched hands trembled ...
In 1830, a girl, Sophia, was born to the family, but she died immediately. Only the birth of her second son in 1832 brought Mary back to life. Three years later, the husband was released from factory work, at the same time the second daughter, Elena, was born to the Volkonskys.
Sergei Grigorievich was engaged in agriculture, Maria - in the education of children and creativity. The wives of the Decembrists in Siberia did not sit idle.
In 1856, the Volkonskys returned to Moscow, where they tried to establish a secular life, traveled a lot with their children and grandchildren. But the health undermined by the north did not allow to fully enjoy life. At the age of 59, Maria died from a long illness. Two years later, Sergei Grigorievich also died.
Alexandra Muravieva
During her short life, Alexandra managed to share the fate of her husband in Siberia and give birth to six children!
Alexandra was a recognized Petersburg beauty. Acquaintance with the captain of the Guards General Staff Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov led to the wedding in 1823. At the time of her husband's arrest, Alexandra was already expecting her third child. In 1826, Alexandra Grigorievna followed her husband, leaving three small children in the care of her mother-in-law.
What crazy love and dedication motivated a woman to rush into this difficult journey, leaving behind three children? Nekrasov and the wives of the Decembrists lived in Tsarist Russia - this allowed the poet to accurately describe the nature of women, the harsh Siberian reality and the kindness of the Russian people.
The moon floated among the skies Without shine, without rays, To the left was a gloomy forest, To the right - the Yenisei. It's dark! To meet not a soul, The coachman on the goats was sleeping, The hungry wolf in the wilderness Moaned piercingly, Yes, the wind beat and roared, Playing on the river, Yes, the foreigner sang somewhere In a strange language. .
The girl was destined to survive the painful journey to the place of her husband's hard labor, all the hardships of life in Siberia, and at the same time give birth to three more children there! In exile, she receives terrible news: in St. Petersburg, her son dies, followed by her beloved mother, and then her father. But the troubles do not end there: soon two daughters, born already in Siberia, die. Such unthinkable suffering could not but leave a mark on a woman who was once bursting with health and youth.
In 1932, at the age of 28, she died of a cold. Her husband Nikita Mikhailovich will outlive his wife by 11 years.
Polina Goble
Jeanette-Polina Goble lived a long life, of which she left 30 years in Siberia. Arriving in 1823 to work in Moscow from France, she accidentally meets the future Decembrist Ivan Annenkov. The love that flared up between young people gives impetus to the young milliner to follow her husband after an unsuccessful uprising. In marriage, the couple has 18 children, of which only seven will survive.
Polina and Ivan had a truly amazing love. Until her last days, she looked after her husband like a child, and until her death she did not take off the bracelet cast by Nikolai Bestuzhev from her husband's shackles. After Paul's death, Ivan Alexandrovich fell into a deep depression and died a year later.
Anna Rosen
Anna Vasilievna Malinovskaya had noble roots, an excellent education and a cheerful disposition. She was the last of the Decembrist wives who followed her husband to Siberia. It was hard to part with her five-year-old son Eugene, whom she would be destined to see only after 8 years.
With her husband, Baron Andrei Evgenievich (von) Rosen, Anna had really tender and deep feelings. Despite all the trials, the Rosen family has maintained tenderness and love for each other for almost 60 years! In marriage, they had seven children, two of whom died in childhood. The Baron survived his wife by only 4 months.
Alexandra Entaltseva
Alexandra Vasilievna Entaltseva was distinguished from her friends in misfortune by the absence of noble origin, titles and wealthy relatives. She grew up an orphan and married early enough. But the marriage did not work out: the young woman left her gambling husband, leaving her little daughter in his care.
Acquaintance with Andrey Vasilyevich Entaltsev, commander of a horse artillery company, turned the fate of an elderly woman upside down. Andrei Vasilyevich was not distinguished by his beauty and cheerful disposition, but he was kind, attentive and caring. Tired of loneliness and dreaming of finding quiet family happiness, Alexandra agrees to marriage, and later goes to Siberia for her husband.
The life of Alexandra Vasilievna did not differ from other women, despite the difference in origin. The feat of the wives of the Decembrists united them in a common misfortune, rallied them and helped them survive in the unusual conditions of the north. Unfortunately, in 1845, her husband died of frequent illnesses. By law, she could not return home to Moscow and had to remain in the north for life. Only in 1856 was she allowed to leave. She returned to her homeland, where she died 2 years later.
Elizabeth Naryshkina
Elizaveta Petrovna Konovnitsyna was the only daughter in the family of a war veteran, General Pyotr Petrovich Konovnitsyn. Elizabeth met her future husband Mikhail Mikhailovich Naryshkin at one of the balls in 1823, being the maid of honor of the Empress. A year later, the couple got married. In marriage, the Naryshkins had a daughter, Natalya, unfortunately, the girl lived only three months and she was destined to become the first and only daughter in the family.
Further events developed rapidly. After the uprising, Mikhail was sentenced to exile in Chita, where Elizabeth went after her husband. The family spent 10 years in exile, then Naryshkin was appointed as a private in the Caucasian Corps, and the family moved to the Tula region.
The Naryshkins, who were amnestied in 1856, lived in Paris for a long time. All this time, the wife was engaged in charity work, compatriots remember her as kind and sympathetic, always ready to help. Elizabeth died and was buried in Moscow, along with her only daughter and husband.
Camilla Ivasheva
Camille Le Dantu was a governess in the family of Major General P. N. Ivashev. The beauty immediately fell in love with the son of the owner Ivan, a cavalry guard officer, 11 years older than her. The girl had to hide her feelings, since an unequal marriage was impossible at that time.
After the arrest of Ivashev, the girl decided to open her feelings to her lover, which shocked not only her chosen one, but also his family. Under the circumstances, the now former governess was allowed to go to Siberia for her love already in the role of a bride, since Vasily Petrovich, although he was surprised, did not object to the marriage. In 1830, the young people met and a week later formalized their relationship in the Volkonsky house. During the nine years of marriage, four children were born in the family, but during the last birth, Camilla died with the baby. Ivan also died a year later.
Alexandra Davydova
Alexandra Ivanovna was the most "unpopular" of all the wives of the Decembrists, since she had neither clan, nor status, nor a decent education. She was distinguished by a humble disposition and modesty. The girl was 17 years old when the young 26-year-old Davydov turned the head of the naive Alexandra. For six years of marriage, the couple had 6 children, whom she would have to leave, following her husband to Siberia. The parting was very difficult for the woman, the mother's heart ached, and this pain never subsided.
Later, in exile, the Davydovs will have seven more children, which will make them the largest couple in the settlement. Husband Vasily Lvovich will die in 1855, not having lived a year before the amnesty. Soon after his death, a large family will return to their native lands, where the head of the family, the venerable Alexandra Ivanovna, will live the rest of her life surrounded by loved ones, loving and respecting her children and grandchildren. She will die at the age of 93 and will be buried at the Smolensk cemetery.
Natalia Fonvizina
Apukhtina Natalya Dmitrievna was of noble origin and grew up as a very pious child. At 19, she married her cousin, Mikhail Alexandrovich Fonvizin, who was 16 years older than her.
There was no crazy love between the spouses, it was rather a profitable marriage than a romantic one. High religiosity pushed the woman to follow her husband and leave two little sons in the care of relatives. Two sons, born already in exile, will die before they have lived even a year. An unfortunate fate will befall Dmitry and Mikhail, who remained in Moscow - they will die at the age of 25 and 26. Faith and disinterested help to those in need will help Natalya survive this loss. In 1853, the Fonvizins returned home, but after exile they lived only a year.
Maria Yushnevskaya
Maria Kazimirovna Krulikovskaya was a Polish woman by origin, she was brought up in the Catholic faith. From her first marriage she left a daughter, who in the future will not be allowed to follow her mother to Siberia. With her husband, Decembrist Alexei Petrovich Yushnevsky, there were no joint children.
In exile, both spouses were engaged in teaching, which remained the main income of Maria Kazimirovna after the sudden death of her husband in 1844. After an amnesty in 1855, the woman returned to the estate in the Kyiv province. She died in Kyiv at the age of 73.
A quiet life in Russia was turned upside down in an instant in 1825. On December 14, there was a great uprising of the Decembrists, in which 579 people participated. This movement was severely stopped by the authorities, some were sentenced to death, and most were sent to Siberia, later many of them were declared dead. But what was the poor Russian woman to do? There were several options, it was to file for divorce, wait for your loved one, or rush off with him, serve the strictest punishment. Of such a huge number of women, only two filed for official divorce.
Among the wives of the Decembrists, there were courageous ones who went to Siberia for their husbands. Of course, they did not participate in any uprisings, but they are truly heroines. This is how strong love and loyalty must be in order to follow into an unknown, but definitely tough life.
No problems and suffering frightened them, the main thing was for them to remain faithful to their husband until the end of their days, because they swore to be always together, both in joy and in sorrow. To date, only eleven names of these brave women are known, but in fact there were more. Such actions tell us what a serious attitude towards marriage was in the 19th century, what high moral values accompanied these women.
Volkonskaya was the great-granddaughter of the writer Lomonosov, her father was a war hero and his roots came from a Polish family. At the request of her parents, in 1825, Maria was married to Sergei Volkonsky, who was fabulously rich. After the uprising, her husband turned out to be a state criminal. Only at the request of public opinion was his death penalty replaced by a long exile in Siberia. Princess Marina also went for her beloved husband, their first meeting after a long separation happened at the mine in February. This meeting startled her, as she did not know that her husband was in chains. She threw before him, kissed his iron shackles, and later himself.
In July 1830, her daughter was born, but she did not live a day, the girl was named Sophia. The wives of the Decembrists, despite their position, collected material resources for poor local residents, Maria Nikolaevna raised girls and taught them needlework. In her letters, she wrote that the most dear thing that she has here is the grass on the grave of her daughter. She wrote that she never regretted her choice. A good memory of this woman remained in the history of Russia.
The Decembrist uprising found the Muravyov family on the estate of Alexandra's parents, Count Chernyshov. Alexandra's husband Nikita Muravyov was the head of the northern tan society. When, seven days after the uprising, Nikita came to be arrested, he fell on his knees to his wife and begged her to forgive him for this. Muravyova asked her husband to stand up and said that she would share his fate. But she could not imagine what awaited her and the children.
Husband sentenced to 20 years in Siberia instead of cutting off the head. She was told that she would meet with her husband only twice a week, and then in the presence of a gendarme. In 1832, Alexandra fell ill, the Decembrists were on duty at the bedside for three months, but she died. Before her death, she asked to be buried in St. Petersburg, but this request was also rejected by the authorities.
A brave woman who left her home and followed her husband to hard labor. Her husband wanted to be a participant in the uprising, but did not appear on the last day. This did not help him and he was also sentenced to a life-long settlement in Siberia. Ekaterina Ivanovna could not get pregnant for a long time, but in 1830 she gave birth to her first child, in all her youth she gave birth to 7 children, the last was a girl. In 1854 Catherine died of cancer and was buried in Irkutsk.
Her husband was in a secret society, but left it in 1823. It did nothing to mitigate the punishment. At the time of her arrest, Natalya was pregnant with her second child. In exile, my husband was very ill, and he was transferred to Suzdal. The faithful wife settled not far from her husband and looked after him, but he died in 1829.
The husband was sentenced to 6 years of work. His wife followed him, leaving her tiny child to her sister to raise. Compared to the rest of the wives of the Decembrists, her fate was spared, their family fell under an amnesty, they lived together until old age.
She was secretly in love with Vasily Ivashev, but he was from a wealthy family. When he was sentenced to 15 years, the girl said that she wanted to marry the convict. The young people made a wedding, and then the husband was again put in shackles.
Her husband Ivan Fonvizin was a maternal cousin, but this did not stop them from being together. Natalya left her two sons to be raised by her mother, after which she left for hard labor with her husband. In 1857, she decided to marry another Decembrist.
After the trial of those people who were in a secret society and committed an uprising, the emperor allowed the wives to divorce them and motivated this by the fact that they could not know about the participation of their husbands in the secret society. Some wives refused all the blessings that surrounded them, from children, relatives and relatives, and shared the hard fate of their husbands. All who had previously been nobles were deprived of all dust. Absolutely everyone, both the poor and the rich, had no right to manage their own property. Children who were born during the time of the condemnation of prisoners in Siberia were not recognized by the authorities, they were considered the dregs of society.
