The Russian Imperial Court of the early 20th century was a swamp of intrigue. There were numerous factions -- royalists,
democrats,
reformers
-- but one of the most powerful people in Russia was someone with no official
position: Grigori Rasputin, an Orthodox
priest sometimes known "the Mad Monk."
Rasputin came into contact with the Romanov Family in 1905. Tsarevich Aleksei had been suffering from internal bleeding (thanks to the hemophilia that ran through Europe’s royals, due to decades of inbreeding), which the medical technology of the time was unable to
cure. Tsaritsa Alexandra, desperate for help, contacted Rasputin, who was reputed
all of his life to have mystical powers, and succeeded
where the doctors had failed (whether through prayer or hypnosis depends on
which account one believes).
From that time, Rasputin had the ear of the Romanovs, advising them on matters
spiritual and political. Many feared that Rasputin was a wild card who had
too much power, and were troubled by his bribe-taking and sexual promiscuity (which included sessions of self-flagellation).
In 1914, a group attempted to assassinate
him. Rasputin was stabbed to the point where his entrails were hanging out of
his abdomen, but he survived, which only added to his mystical aura.
Finally in 1916, his enemies had had enough. On December 29, he was lured to
the palace of Prince Feliks Yusupov. Yusupov had prepared a fatal last meal for Rasputin, comprised
of cookies and wine laced with enough cyanide to kill five men. Rasputin ate the meal with no apparent
ill effects, so Yusupov shot him in the back. Rasputin fell, but when the
prince came to examine the body, Rasputin grabbed him, whispered "you
bad boy," and attempted to strangle him. Yusupov's confederates came to
his rescue, shooting Rasputin three more times. He fell again, only to
attempt to rise. The conspirators then beat him with clubs, wrapped him in a
sheet, and threw him into an icy river.
Three days later, the body was found on the river’s banks, its arms raised, as though Rasputin had attempted to break through the
ice. The coroner’s official verdict was that, after every other murder
attempt had failed, Rasputin had drowned. The grief-stricken Alexandra had
the body buried at one of the Imperial Palaces.
That would seem to end the story, but after the February Revolution of 1917, workers unearthed the body and cremated it
-- and in a final eerie stroke, as it burned, Rasputin’s corpse sat up.
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Directory categories: Grigori Rasputin, Romanov Dynasty, Russian History, Mysticism, St. Petersburg, Russia |
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