One of Russia's greatest emperors, beloved of his subjects for his many liberalizing works domestically and for his victory over the great Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander I presumably died in 1825, at the age of 48. Ever since then, rumors have swirled that the young and vigorous Czar, who carried within him a terrible secret, really staged his death to expiate that sin, and spent the next forty years as a starets, one of those holy men who in the nineteenth century wandered through Russia doing good works. The starets, brilliant and uncommonly erudite, was one Feodor Kuzmich. The author, who has spent over 20 years researching the legend, makes a compelling case that the great Alexander and the humble starets were one and the same.
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
One hundred years of Russian history should be taught using three recent books. Henri Troyat's Terrible Tsarinas (LJ 11/1/01) fills in nearly 50 years of court intrigue from the death of Peter the Great in 1725 to Catherine the Great; S. Sebag Montefiore's Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin (LJ 10/1/01) covers Catherine's reign until 1796; and now Troubetzkoy's book does a credible job of taking the story up to 1825, when Tsar Alexander I, grandson of Catherine the Great, either died or mysteriously disappeared. Troubetzkoy, born in Paris to a noble Russian family and now living in Toronto, presents the 1801 murder of Alexander's father, Paul I, in a plot to put Alexander on the throne as the catalyst for Alexander's ongoing sense of religious guilt. The imperial cover-up surrounding Alexander began with his reputed death and continued through the Russian Revolution. As with most recent legends, such as Billy the Kid and Nicholas, Alexandra, and family, the solution seems to be in DNA sampling. Was the starets (a Russian Orthodox religious teacher) known as Feodor Kuzmich, who first surfaced in 1836 in Siberia, really Alexander I? Strange machinations were used to hinder research after his death in 1864 strange enough to fuel the legend for more than 100 years. This intriguing and well-researched story is recommended for public libraries. Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib. Syst., Iola
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Alexis Troubetzkoy was born in Paris in 1934 into a Russian princely family and immigrated to the United States at an early age. He and his family currently live in Toronto, Canada.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tsar Alexander I: Sinner, Saint or both?,
By T. Patrick Killough "All about Patrick" (Black Mountain, NC United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Imperial Legend: The Disappearance of Czar Alexander I (Hardcover)
Why should an American reader care about Tsar Alexander I (1777-1825)? If you are of Polish descent, you might want to learn more about why in 1818 Alexander gave a constitution and some autonomy to Poland. If history is your thing, you cannot but notice the man whose generals and whose frozen land drove Napoleon Bonaparte out of Moscow and back across the Niemen river, ultimately to Waterloo. Members of the Russian Orthodox religion will want to know about a man who (in another identity) became a canonized saint.A Romanov tsar a saint? It is a stretch, but there is a long tradition ("the Legend") that the Tsar was driven by guilt to run away from his responsibilities. According to the Legend, Alexander I felt guilt for complicity in his father's 1801 assassination which had made him the Autocrat of all the Russias, He did not die in 1825. Nor did he abdicate. He just "disappeared." Perhaps he fled to Palestine on the yacht of a British aristocrat. Perhaps he reappeared in Siberia eleven years later as one Feodor Kuzmich. Perhaps the Tsar lived on in the new identity until 1864 when he died in the odor of sanctity. But not precisely "orthodox "sanctity. For he was not known to attend liturgies or to make regular confessions of sin. Alexis Troubetzkoy's IMPERIAL LEGEND:THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF TSAR ALEXANDER I is a good read. As soothing and smooth as a lullaby, the book introduces important aspects of 19th century Russian history and tells the story of two men: Alexander Romanov and Feodor Kuzmich. It is clear that generations of Russians and some international scholars believe that there is probable evidence that the two men were one. But what of those eleven blank years between the official death of the Tsar near the Caucasus and the appearance of the mysterious Kuzmich in Siberia? Troubetzkoy might want to make those missing years the subject of a follow-on book. The book has arresting photographs or portraits of the principals and a compact bibliography. Future editions might usefully include a map of the areas discussed. IMPERIAL LEGEND amply rewards a leisurely read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Disappearing Tsar,
By
This review is from: Imperial Legend: The Disappearance of Czar Alexander I (Hardcover)
Author Alexis Troubetzkoy's "Imperial Legened" explores the possibility that Russian Tsar Alexander I faked his own death in 1825 in order to shed the burden of the crown after twenty-five years of rule. There is plenty of evidence suggesting that this is more than historical speculation, even though all of it is circumstantial. The first half of the book is dedicated to a retelling of Alexander's reign, which featured spectacular successes (the defeat of Napolean) and personal torment (guilt over his own complicity in his father's murder). The picture that emerges is of a (relatively) enlightened Russian monarch who would very much have preferred not to be the king.The book goes on to recount the life of the mysterious Siberian vagabond that many Russians, including descendents of the Romanov dynasty, have come to believe WAS Alexander. If so, he shed the Imperial life about as completely as anyone ever could. Once again, the evidence is far from conclusive, but still compelling. Troubetzkoy is a good storyteller, and his narrative is highly readable. Overall, "Imperial Legend" is a good historical mystery that should be enjoyed by history buffs with an interest in Imperial Russia.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The conqueror of Napoleon was conquered by his conscience,
By
This review is from: Imperial Legend: The Disappearance of Czar Alexander I (Hardcover)
In "Imperial Legend", the reader is introduced to the mystery surrounding the death of Alexander I in a tiny backwater town of southern Russia in 1825. Troubetzkoy argues that Alexander I, who was continually wracked by guilt for his involvement in the death of his father, staged his own death so that he could renounce the crown and retire to a place where he could come to terms with his conscience. The author presents evidence that a starets (wandering holy man) by the name of Feodor Kuzmich, who mysteriously appeared in Siberia in 1836, was none other than Alexander himself. As Troubetzkoy tells us, this alleged connection between Alexander and Kuzmich has come to be known as the Imperial Legend.The first part of the book is devoted to a brief biography of Alexander I and touches upon his relationship with his father Paul I and his grandmother Catherine the Great, both of whom exerted a profound influence on the young man's personality. Equally important, Troubetzkoy provides a detailed account of the night when his father was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Alexander and was murdered in the process. Although Alexander apparently did not have any direct involvement in this coup, he was forever traumatized by what he considered to be a patricide. The second part of the book considers the scant information that is known about the starets Feodor Kuzmich as well as all of the mysterious circumstances and coincidences that add fuel to the Imperial Legend. The book is written in a clear and engaging style that gave me an enjoyable reading experience from start to finish. Although a number of editing errors were found in the text, these did not detract from the continuity of the story. Since Alexander's guilt over his father's death is the major assumption underlying the Imperial Legend, I felt that Troubetzkoy could have done a better job in emphasizing the relationship between father and son. As Troubetzkoy describes it, Alexander's father was a boorish neurotic who did not spend much time with his son and who harbored feelings of resentment against him. Now what kind of son would feel guilt over the loss of a father like that? I felt that most of the evidence linking Alexander and Feodor Kuzmich cited in this book was circumstantial and of a speculatory nature. The reader is presented with a variety of first- and second-hand accounts that can no longer be substantiated today. According to the book, only scant material evidence still exists that can show the two men were one in the same, with the rest of the evidence having mysteriously disappeared over the course of time (if in fact they existed at all). Nevertheless, popular belief and all of the mysterious circumstances that were reported to have happened serve to make the Imperial Legend an intriguing bit of history. Troubetzkoy stated that one of his major motivations in writing this book was to generate interest in the Imperial Legend in the hopes of raising funds needed to open the crypt of Alexander I in St. Petersburg. I truly hope that Mr. Troubetzkoy succeeds in his task, because regardless of what is found in the crypt, his findings will be a significant addition to Russian history.
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