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Thesis-1993D-R195w.Pdf (3.647Mb) A WORTHY FRIEND OF TOMIRIS: OTHE LIFE OF PRINCESS EKATERINA ROMANOVNA DASHKOVA By SHERRI THOMPSON RANEY Bachelor of Arts Oklahoma State university Stillwater, Oklahoma ') 1978 .-· Master of Arts Oklahoma State tJniversity Stillwater, Oklahoma 1981 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY July, 1993 COPYRIGHT by Sherri Thompson Raney July 1993 OKLA.HOM.A. STATE UNIVERSITY A WORTHY FRIEND OF TOMIRIS: THE LIFE OF PRINCESS EKATERINA ROMANOVNA DASHKOVA Thesis Approved: ii PREFACE March 17, 1993 marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of the most famous and least understood women of the eighteenth century, Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (1743-1810). Toward the end of Dashkova's life, a young Irishwoman named Catherine Wilmot who enjoyed an extended visit with her issued the following warning, I have since I came here often thought what a task it would be to attempt to draw the Character of the Princess Daschkaw! I for my part think it would be absolutely impossible. Such are her peculiarities & inextricable varietys that the result would only appear like a Wisp of Human Contradictions .•• But she has as many Climates to her mind, as many Splinters of insulation, as many Oceans of agitated uncertainty, as many Etnas of destructive fire and as many Wild wastes of blighted Cultivation as exists in any quarter of the Globe! For my part I think she would be most in her element at the Helm of the State, or Generalissimo of the Army, or Farmer General of the Empire. In fact she was born for business on a large scale which is not irreconcilable with the Life of a Woman who at 18 headed a Revolution & who for 12 years afterwards govern'd an Academy of Arts & Sciences ... 1 Although Dashkova may have been born for life on a grand scale, in fact, most of her life was spent out of the public eye occupied in more traditional pursuits as a 1The Marchioness of Londonderry and Harford Montgomery Hyde, eds., The Russian Journals of Martha and Catherine Wilmot {London: MacMillan and Co., Limited, 1934), 211. iii daughter, wife, and mother. Too often Dashkova's brief but brilliant appearances in public life have blinded observers to the larger reality of her life viewed in its entirety. Dashkova's whole life cannot be understood simply in terms of her public accomplishments. It must be viewed in the context of the family she grew up in as a girl and the one she created as a woman during a culturally and politically turbulent era of Russian history. Dashkova was born into the powerful vorontsov family and married into an old Muscovite family. In her youth she both witnessed and participated in court politics during the reign of her godmother, Empress Elizabeth (1740-1762}, and Peter III (1762}. Dashkova married Prince Mikhail Dashkov in 1759 and they had three children. Their brief marriage ended with the Prince's death in 1764. In 1759 Dashkova also befriended Catherine the Great (1762-1796} when she was still Grand Duchess and in 1762 participated in the coup which brought her to the throne. After Catherine's coronation this outspoken woman quickly fell out of favor because she became a focal point for criticism against the new Empress and the rising influence of the Orlov family. For almost two decades following the coup, Dashkova did not play an active public role. After her husband's death Dashkova chose not to remarry and focussed all of her energies on rearing her children and managing her family's estates. In the 1770s she was allowed to leave the country iv and traveled extensively in part for her children's education. While traveling through Europe Dashkova formed lasting connections with the European intellectual community. For example, she sufficiently impressed Voltaire - and Diderot that they wrote laudatory letters about her to Catherine helping to repair that relationship. Upon her return to Russia Dashkova regained the favor of the Empress and was made Director of the Academy of Sciences and President of the Russian Academy. Dashkova's relationship with the Empress and the major European intellectual figures of the eighteenth century enabled her to play a formative role as both patron and participant during critical times in the political and intellectual life of Russia. The years Dashkova spent out of the public sphere functioning primarily as a wife and mother in a period of rapid cultural change are equally important for an understanding of eighteenth century Russian women's lives. Because of the overwhelming stature of Catherine, however, relatively little study has been given to the life of this dynamic woman whose activities were known from Moscow to Edinburgh. There is a need to begin to reexamine Dashkova's life in light of the recent scholarship and changing attitudes toward women in the decades since H. M. Hyde's work, The V Empress Catherine and the Princess Dashkova, was published in 1935. 2 The Russian medievalist Charles Halperin has stated that the hallmark of the best research in women's history is that it sheds light on broader questions. 3 Dashkova's life provides valuable insight into Russian social, intellectual and political development in the last half of the eighteenth century. Dashkova's public life is unique and sets her apart from other Russian women and in some ways from the Russian nobility i~ general. However, in some sig­ nificant respects Dashkova represents important elements of the Russian nobility's life and thought in this period. Although French was her first language growing up in St. Petersburg, Dashkova was no francophile. And, although she traveled widely in Western Europe, she was no westernizer. Throughout her life Dashkova combined a great admiration for English political and economic traditions with a deep love and pride for her Russian heritage. This blend of Anglomania and nascent slavophilism underpinned her private choices in matters such as the education of her son and in her public activities as the director of the Academy of Science and the Russian Academy. Dashkova is representative of the educated eighteenth-century Russian 2H. M. Hyde, The Empress Catherine and the Princess Dashkov (London: Chapman & Hall Ltd, 1935). 3Charles Halperin, "Women in Medieval Russia, 11 Russian History 10 (1983): 139. vi noble who felt little or no conflict between learning from the strengths of other countries and taking pride in Russia's own traditions, customs, and language. 'l'his mirrors the cosmpolitan nature of eighteenth century European aristocracy as a whole. Dashkova did not simply assume foreign customs and ideas were superior and slavishly copy them as Russians were often accused of doing by contemporaries and historians. Throughout her travels, the management of her family and estates, and the directorates of the academies, Dashkova sought to understand and use the knowledge and methods found in other countries, particularly Bngland, for the strengthening and glorification of Russia and her Bmpr~ss.' Although her family and the family she married into were wealthy and powerful, Dashkova's life was not without genuine hardship. A second aspect of Russian life that can be studied in Dashkova's life is the vulnerability of the nobility to the whims of the Russian autocrats. From her mother's narrow escape to Dashkova's own exile by Paul I, the extreme insecurity of th4! nobles' position in Russia is 'A.G. Cross, "Russian Perceptions of England, and Russian National Awareness at the Bnd of the Bighteenth and the Beginning of the Nineteenth Centuries" Slavic and Eastern European Review 61 (January 1983): 89 - 106. Dashkova is the only woman Cross mentions among many Russian nobles who "manifested that blend of Slavophilism and admiration for England which was a characteri.stic of a certain type of Russian at this period. 11 However, he does not explain the origins of her admiration for England or its impact on her family life. vii obvious. Dashkova experienced the greatest possible extremes of notoriety and obscurity usually as a result of her relationship with a Russian ruler. Throughout her Memoirs, Dashkova returns time and again to financial problems. Although her references to poverty may seem exaggerated, the impact of the indebtedness endemic among the Russian nobility who were required to maintain lavish homes in both capitals and country estates is clearly seen in Dashkova's life. Daily, nagging financial worries were not the only forms of insecurity the Russian nobility faced. Even under a benevolent despot the lack of a constitution or guarantees of basic rights despite Catherine the Great's Charter of the Nobility meant the ever present possibility falling out of favor and subsequent social ostracism, con­ fiscation of property or even exile. Dashkova and other close members of her family experienced all of these fates and often described them in very clear and moving terms. Finally although Dashkova achieved a degree of public prominence unique for a woman, she spent most of her time and energy struggling to fulfill her obligations to the Vorontsovs and the Dashkovs. A final theme that runs through Dashkova's life is the toll taken by the demands of court life and the nobility's insecurity on Russian women and children. As a child Dashkova was left in the care of her maternal grandmother so that her parents could meet the demands of court life in St. Petersburg. Much of Dashkova's viii adult life was spen~ simply caring for her children which included managing the estates that formed their inheritance and their major source of security. Dashkova's public and private lives were often at odds.
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