1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 2 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener Discretion advised. It was 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 1: a cold September day in eighteen thirty six when the 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: police arrested an enigmatic newcomer to the remote Russian town 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: of Crossnufimsk. The man looked to be about fifty something. 6 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: He was tall and handsome, regal in comportment, and although 7 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 1: he was wearing a peasant's tunic, he had ridden into 8 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: town on a towering. 9 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 2: Horse of the purest white. Outside the cross Neufimsk police station, 10 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 2: a cold wind blew inside. The Russian police questioned the 11 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 2: stranger relentlessly, where was he from, who was his family? 12 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 2: What did he do for a living. But the man 13 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 2: only said that his name was Fyodor Kuzmitch, he was 14 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 2: a believer in the Orthodox Church. And then he offered 15 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 2: nothing more. No family members, names, no hometown, no home, 16 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 2: no suggestion at all about what his past might have been. 17 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:26,320 Speaker 2: He carried no identification. Even on penalty of twenty lashings, 18 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 2: he refused to provide any further information about himself. He 19 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 2: held himself high and calm throughout the entire interrogation. And 20 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 2: so the man calling himself Fyodor Kuzmich was lashed. Then 21 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 2: he was exiled to Siberia as a convict in the 22 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 2: forty third Exile settlement at Bogotolsk. He was sentenced to 23 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 2: labor at a vodka distillery, but within a few months 24 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 2: the director meekly said that Fyodor Kousmitch didn't need to 25 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 2: work anymore. No one quite knew why. Rumors flew on 26 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 2: the streets of Crossnufemsk, quickly spreading along the winding roads 27 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 2: of Russia as winter settled in. There was no way 28 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 2: this mysterious stranger was just some peasant or monk. He 29 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 2: was too well spoken, too high minded in his bearing. 30 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 2: He had to have noble blood. Perhaps he was an 31 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 2: imperial criminal in disguise, running from a wicked past. At last, 32 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 2: a Siberian girl who had had one audience with the 33 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 2: Tsar Nicholas the First returned home, my dear father, Fyodor Kusmisch. 34 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 2: She said, you look exactly like Nicholas's brother, the former 35 00:02:53,880 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 2: Czar Alexander the First. But that was impossible, saw Alexander 36 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 2: the First had died eleven years earlier. The holy man 37 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 2: went white. Then the normally good natured Cousmich raised his 38 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 2: voice in shocking anger. 39 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: Why would you say. 40 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 2: That to me, he said threateningly to the Siberian girl. 41 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 2: He stormed out of the room and spoke no more, 42 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 2: And so began the Imperial Russian legend that never dies 43 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 2: was the orthodox Saint Fyodor Kusmitch actually Alexander the First, 44 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 2: former Emperor of Russia. Did the Tsar Alexander fake his 45 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 2: own death and live out the rest of his days 46 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 2: as a holy peasant. Alexander the First had been the 47 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 2: cherished grandson of Catherine the Great. He was a handsome 48 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 2: heir to the powerful Romanov dynasty. He was the Emperor 49 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 2: of Russia for a quarter of a century, the victor 50 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 2: against Napoleon Bonaparte's doomed invasion of Russia, and the complicated 51 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 2: emperor later described by Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace. 52 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 2: And he had been a hardy, healthy man all his 53 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 2: life until he died suddenly in eighteen twenty five at 54 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 2: the age of forty seven. His death could not have 55 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 2: been under stranger circumstances. The place of his death was 56 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 2: a remote outpost far from the Imperial court. The supposed 57 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 2: illness had no reliable witnesses and led to endless contradictory 58 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:48,160 Speaker 2: medical reports. The autopsy was delayed, the embalming was rushed. 59 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 2: The coffin at the funeral remained strangely closed. The CSAR 60 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 2: had been becoming more religious four years he was wrecked 61 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 2: with guilt over the assassinate of his father, which had 62 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 2: brought him to the throne. He spoke of wanting to 63 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 2: abdicate by the time he hit fifty, and then at 64 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 2: forty seven death by mysterious illness, and later in eighteen 65 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 2: thirty six, eleven years after his suspicious death, a man 66 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 2: with no past showed up bearing a striking resemblance to 67 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 2: the supposedly dead emperor. It would be almost impossible to 68 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:36,479 Speaker 2: fake one's own death and abandon the throne and its 69 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 2: forty four million subjects. To pull off a scheme like that, 70 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 2: it would take someone with absolute power, immense motivating guilt, 71 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 2: and an iron will. In other words, someone exactly like 72 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 2: the forty seven year old Alexander the First. I'm Danish 73 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 2: war and this is noble blood. The futures are Alexander 74 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 2: Pavlovitch was born on December twenty third, seventeen seventy seven 75 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 2: in Saint Petersburg, during the reign of his famous grandmother, 76 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 2: Katherine the Great. Catherine was so enamored of her young 77 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 2: grandson that she wanted him to inherit the throne when 78 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 2: she died instead of Alex's father, Katherine's son Paul, but 79 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 2: it was not to be. Catherine died in seventeen ninety six. 80 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,720 Speaker 2: When Alexander was eighteen, and his father, Paul took over 81 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:49,360 Speaker 2: as emperor. He was as unpopular as everyone had expected. 82 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 2: Sir Paul the First was despotic and censorous, punishing people 83 00:06:55,360 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 2: for every minor infraction against whatever random rule he had decided, 84 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 2: like inviting too many people to dinner. He was paranoid 85 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:09,239 Speaker 2: about a conspiracy against him, like the conspiracy his mother 86 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 2: Catherine the Great had orchestrated to take the throne that 87 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 2: had once belonged to his father. Paul would lock his 88 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 2: bedroom door at night so his wife couldn't come in 89 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 2: and kill him. Alexander hated his father's behavior as emperor, 90 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 2: so when a plot to assassinate Paul took shape, it's 91 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 2: almost certain that Alexander knew about it. He almost certainly 92 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 2: approved it, at least tacitly, but how involved was he 93 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 2: in it, that's a different story. Almost certainly, Alexander hadn't 94 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 2: fully imagined the horror of his own father, dressed in 95 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 2: a night shirt, cowering as assassins strangled him to death 96 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 2: in his own bedroom. It was a horrifying image that 97 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 2: would haunt Alexander for the rest of his life, regardless 98 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 2: of whether that life ended at forty seven or not. 99 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 2: Alexander rose to the Russian throne in eighteen oh one, 100 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 2: a handsome twenty three year old seemingly blessed by God 101 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 2: to rule Russia. Napoleon, then consul of France, found Alexander 102 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 2: equivocal and insincere, noting quote, something is missing in his character, 103 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 2: but I find it impossible to discover what Napoleon was 104 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 2: sort of right, there would always be something a little 105 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 2: uncertain about who alex was inside. Like plenty of people, 106 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 2: he was liberal when he was young and powerless, and 107 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 2: became more conservative once he gained power. Alexander became emperor 108 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 2: in hopes of implementing a con institutional government. Twenty years 109 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 2: into his reign, that was out the window. He originally 110 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 2: wanted to give the serfs of Russia a little power. 111 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 2: Later he undid any early reforms. We're talking, Can you 112 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 2: banish a Serf to Siberia forever just for claiming they 113 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 2: were insolent? Yes? Or no? And in the end alex 114 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 2: said sure. Once allied with Napoleon and the French, he 115 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 2: later claimed a heroic victory against the French invasion. Eventually 116 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 2: his father's despotic rules came back. Alex even instituted a 117 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 2: military colony that determined marriages by lot, a system that 118 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 2: feels straight out of a dystopian young adult novel. As 119 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 2: his reign continued, he became more and more religious in 120 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 2: his own way. He kept company with self styled prophets 121 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 2: and prophetesses, but most interesting, he spoke of an internal 122 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 2: church full of mysticism, different from the external church of 123 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 2: his Orthodox faith. Maybe that was his insincerity, again, evidence 124 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 2: that his external self was different from his internal spiritual truths. 125 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:24,319 Speaker 2: Or maybe it was some desire growing inside of him 126 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:29,439 Speaker 2: for a simple spiritual life detached from the only life 127 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,320 Speaker 2: he could ever have as the ruler of Russia and 128 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:41,240 Speaker 2: territories of Finland and Poland. As Alexander's reign stretched into 129 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 2: the eighteen twenties, he became paranoid reclusive and obsessively clean, 130 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 2: and like his father before him, he became less and 131 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 2: less popular. He feared a coup against him. In eighteen 132 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:03,079 Speaker 2: twenty four, his illegitimate daughter Sophie died of tuberculosis at 133 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 2: only eighteen years old, and Alexander fell into a deep depression. 134 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:12,079 Speaker 2: I receive punishment for all the errors of my ways, 135 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:17,319 Speaker 2: he said, and those around him exchanged glances. He must 136 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,680 Speaker 2: have been thinking of his murderous rise to the throne, 137 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 2: the assassination of his father. He began talking more and 138 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 2: more openly about wanting to resign the throne. In front 139 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,400 Speaker 2: of his younger brother Constantine and their youngest brother, Nicholas, 140 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 2: alex said, I should tell you, my brother, that I 141 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,319 Speaker 2: want to abdicate. When the time has come, I will 142 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 2: let you know. By eighteen twenty five, Alexander was forty 143 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:52,839 Speaker 2: seven and his wife Elizabeth was forty six. Elizabeth became ill, 144 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 2: and alex became single mindedly obsessed with her health. She 145 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 2: could not stay in the cold capital of Saint Petersburg. 146 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 2: He decided she was coughing too terribly. His dear wife 147 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 2: had to leave the capital, and he had to go 148 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 2: with her. And here we find one more curious piece 149 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 2: of instability in Czar Alexander's sphinx like character, the forty 150 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 2: something man suddenly became so devoted to a wife that 151 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 2: he had spent the past thirty years basically indifferent too. 152 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 2: They'd gotten married when he was fifteen and she was fourteen, 153 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 2: but they had always been distant with each other. They 154 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 2: both had other lovers. Alexander had illegitimate children with at 155 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 2: least four different women, and here he was forty seven 156 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:51,479 Speaker 2: years old, increasingly religious, openly wanting to abdicate, and committed 157 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 2: to leaving the capital due to a brand new, deep 158 00:12:55,800 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 2: and abiding love for his ailing wife. But whatever his reasons, 159 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 2: the royal physicians agreed with his plan for Elizabeth. Winter 160 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 2: in Saint Petersburg would be unacceptable for a woman in 161 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 2: her condition. Perhaps the Emperor and Empress would enjoy the 162 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 2: Crimean coast, or southern Italy or France. No, Alexander said 163 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:23,839 Speaker 2: they would go to Taganrouc, a small, unimpressive port city 164 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 2: right on the shore of the Black Sea. The place 165 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:32,560 Speaker 2: made no sense to anyone but Alexander, but Alexander was 166 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 2: the Emperor. What he said went so. In late summer 167 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 2: eighteen twenty five. He kissed his mother goodbye and set 168 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 2: off for to Gunroc, far from the prying eyes of 169 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 2: the royal court. Perhaps he spared a glance back at 170 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 2: the capital city as it receded in the distance. Maybe 171 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 2: he was sorrowful or regretful, or maybe he only felt 172 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 2: the steely grip of commitment to a decision that had 173 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:05,199 Speaker 2: already been made. Maybe he already knew when he departed 174 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 2: that it was to be his final journey as Emperor 175 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 2: of Russia. Here is where the story gets sticky. Interpret 176 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 2: the following facts however you will. Are they evidence of 177 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 2: an elaborate, planned fake death or simply of a tragic, 178 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 2: sudden real one. Alexander and Elizabeth set off on the 179 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 2: fourteen hundred mile journey south in separate coaches. On the way, 180 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 2: Alexander stopped at a monastery where he visited a monk 181 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 2: who slept no joke in an actual coffin. It's hard 182 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 2: to imagine the Emperor of Russia could have seen that 183 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 2: and thought it looked great, But who knows. Maybe he 184 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 2: really was that sick of the throne. He reached to 185 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,280 Speaker 2: Ganrag when his wife met him there, they walked hand 186 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 2: in hand like lovers on a honeymoon. Elizabeth wrote daily 187 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 2: in her diary, and here are some facts about what 188 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 2: Alexander was doing. Make of them what you will. One day, 189 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 2: Alexander paid a strange visit to a hospital, where he 190 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 2: asked a whole lot of questions about specifically the nature 191 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 2: of malaria. Another day, he opened an oyster to find 192 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 2: some kind of worm inside. Against all possible modern intuition 193 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 2: and what feels like universal common sense, a doctor told 194 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 2: him that it was fine, and Alexander ate the whole thing. 195 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 2: It wasn't until November that the Czar went out riding 196 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 2: and came back unable to stop shivering. Soon he was feverish, 197 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 2: yellow skinned, tired, weak, and unquenchably thirsty. Elizabeth started writing 198 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 2: fearful letters to her How could Alexander be the sick 199 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,640 Speaker 2: one now when he'd been so extremely healthy all his life. 200 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:11,000 Speaker 2: From here, listener, no one can get the story straight. 201 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 2: The czar, who would later succeed Alexander, his younger brother Nicholas, 202 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 2: destroyed many of the records of Alex's reign. So we 203 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 2: have the testimony of a few doctors and attendants, plus 204 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 2: Elizabeth's diary and letters to her mother. And here's what's 205 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 2: really odd. They all give contradictory reports. Was Alexander refusing 206 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 2: medication or was he obeying the doctors and improving. Did 207 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 2: he pass a calm night or a scarily turbulent one. 208 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,080 Speaker 2: Did he collapse while shaving in the morning, or did 209 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 2: he collapse while getting up from the couch in the evening. 210 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 2: It's hard to imagine an actual illness so elusive and 211 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 2: difficult to document. But does that mean that every doctor, 212 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,919 Speaker 2: attendant and empress there had been asked to become a 213 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:09,000 Speaker 2: fiction writer instead, each making up their own version of 214 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 2: the progression of an illness that didn't exist. As the 215 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 2: illness progressed, According to our sources, Alexander would wake from 216 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:22,160 Speaker 2: a near stupor whenever his wife was near. He would 217 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 2: hold her hand, and one day he called Elizabeth to 218 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 2: his room. They closed the door and spent six hours together, 219 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 2: something that had never happened before. We don't know what 220 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 2: they said to each other. Maybe he instructed her as 221 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 2: to how to fake his death, or maybe they exchanged 222 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:47,159 Speaker 2: tearful goodbyes because he was dying or because he was 223 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 2: leaving her by choice. Either way, her husband was going 224 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:56,639 Speaker 2: away forever. It's hard to imagine which would be worse, 225 00:17:57,119 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 2: whether he was dying or simply disappearing his own free will. 226 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 2: Either way, Elizabeth came out of the six hour meeting 227 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 2: and wrote nothing in her diary. Again. She had been 228 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:15,240 Speaker 2: keeping a daily log since arriving in Taganuk, and after 229 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:19,239 Speaker 2: that she stopped. So all we know is that on 230 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 2: December one, eighteen twenty five, Czar Alexander the First of 231 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:29,199 Speaker 2: Russia died. Whether the man himself died or merely his 232 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:38,280 Speaker 2: identity as czar is a different question. The autopsy, as 233 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:41,959 Speaker 2: reported to us by History, did not commence for thirty 234 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:47,159 Speaker 2: six hours, an unusually long time. Alexander had been kicked 235 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 2: by a horse earlier in his life and had discoloration 236 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 2: on his left leg. The body allegedly had discoloration on 237 00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 2: the right. Alexander's body was so putrified by the time 238 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 2: it got to the embalmers that they had to smoke 239 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:09,360 Speaker 2: cigars to bear the stench. The Imperial family was invited 240 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 2: to view the body only at midnight, and priests were 241 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 2: barred from the room. Alexander's mother loudly proclaimed, yes, this 242 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 2: is my son, but others seemed disturbed by the extreme 243 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 2: state of degradation of the body's face, which was discolored 244 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:31,880 Speaker 2: and looked very little like the Alexander they had known, 245 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:38,240 Speaker 2: and throughout the funerary procession and the funeral, despite Orthodox tradition, 246 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 2: despite the calls of the public, and despite the whispers 247 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,400 Speaker 2: about a faked death that were already passing through the crowd, 248 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 2: the casket remained closed. Eleven years later, Fyodor Kuzmitch turned 249 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 2: up on a white horse in a remote Russian village, 250 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 2: bearing a striking resemblance to the Emperor, bearing a regal comportment. 251 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 2: Despite his lowly status, and refusing at all costs to 252 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 2: share any information at all about his true identity. He 253 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,960 Speaker 2: was a Startz, a Russian holy man, a word that 254 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 2: sounds to English ears pardon my pronunciation, but when correctly pronounced, 255 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:33,080 Speaker 2: sounds incredibly close to Tsar. Fyodor Kuzmitch gained a following 256 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:37,199 Speaker 2: as a good religious man, and even in his lifetime 257 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,760 Speaker 2: people suspected that he was secretly Tsar Alexander, the First 258 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:45,960 Speaker 2: disguised by the passage of time and by the peasant 259 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 2: garb he wore. Not only did this man speak French, 260 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 2: not only did the peasant girl under his care enjoy 261 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 2: a visitation with Tsar Nicholas himself. Not only did he 262 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 2: know intricate details of the war between Russia and France, 263 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 2: not only did he hang an icon of the patron 264 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:11,160 Speaker 2: saint of Tsar Alexander the First, but more strange rumors 265 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,680 Speaker 2: abounded him once he was visited by a young man 266 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 2: whom observers took to be Nicholas the First's son, Alexander 267 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 2: the Second, who would have been the Tsar's nephew. Once 268 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 2: the holy man was in another room as a family 269 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 2: read aloud historical words that Alexander the First spoke to Napoleon. 270 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 2: According to the family's daughter's diary, a voice rang out 271 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 2: from Fyodor Kuzmitch's quarters. I never said that the voice said, 272 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 2: whoever he really was? Fyodor Kuzmich died in eighteen sixty four. 273 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 2: If he was Alexander in disguise, he would have been 274 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 2: eighty seven years old. On his deathbed, Theodor was asked 275 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:05,600 Speaker 2: one final time, who are you really, And, just as 276 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 2: he had done when he was first questioned by police 277 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 2: nearly thirty years earlier, he gave no answer. Instead, he 278 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 2: pointed to a small bag. Here lies my secret, he said, 279 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 2: and then he died. Inside the bag were six pieces 280 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:29,760 Speaker 2: of paper written in what seemed to be a secret code. 281 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:34,440 Speaker 2: Whatever the truth of the man's identity, Fyodor Kuzmich left 282 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,919 Speaker 2: it a cipher. He was as sphinx like as the 283 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,320 Speaker 2: Tsar before him. Fyodor Kusmitch was buried in a tomb 284 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:48,359 Speaker 2: inscribed with the words Blessed by God, the very same 285 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 2: words that the Senate had used to decorate Tsar Alexander 286 00:22:53,600 --> 00:23:05,160 Speaker 2: the first. This podcast has done several episodes about pretenders 287 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 2: to the throne, but Fyodor Kusmitch was different. He wasn't 288 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:12,919 Speaker 2: claiming to be the Czar. If there was any pretending 289 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 2: going on, it wasn't pretending to be the emperor. It 290 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:21,200 Speaker 2: was pretending not to be. But how could Czar Alexander 291 00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:25,720 Speaker 2: have pulled off the switcheroo if he didn't really die 292 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 2: in Taganrog at the age of forty seven, How could 293 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:32,120 Speaker 2: he have faked his own death, kept it a secret, 294 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 2: disappeared for eleven years, and then reappeared to live out 295 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 2: the rest of his long life as a reclusive monk. 296 00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:45,920 Speaker 2: Believers in the legend have proposed some answers. The doctors 297 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,880 Speaker 2: and Empress at Taganrog would have been sworn to secrecy. Naturally, 298 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 2: that would explain their inconsistent testimony about the Tsar's final days. 299 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 2: Their testimony was all made up. The body in the 300 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 2: coffee would have been someone else's, perhaps a servant who 301 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 2: had died before Alexander's supposed death date. That would explain 302 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 2: why the body was so discolored and decomposed, and why 303 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:17,119 Speaker 2: it smelled so bad for the embalmers, and perhaps why 304 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,240 Speaker 2: it had taken so long to arrange an autopsy in 305 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:25,560 Speaker 2: the first place. Where Alexander went for the eleven years 306 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 2: before reappearing as Fyodor Cosmich is a harder question. One 307 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 2: theory is that he boarded a British yacht. There was 308 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 2: indeed one such ship in Taganrog, which set sail on 309 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 2: the day of Alexander's supposed death. That would explain Alexander's 310 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,400 Speaker 2: choice of a port city, but one that was rarely 311 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 2: used and thus less scrutinized. From there, the best that 312 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:58,200 Speaker 2: the historical rumor grapevine can speculate is that he may 313 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:02,760 Speaker 2: have gone to Jerusalem. After all, what more logical place 314 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,720 Speaker 2: would there be to spend eleven years in the kind 315 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:10,400 Speaker 2: of mystical, pious, and unbothered seclusion that he had wanted 316 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:15,879 Speaker 2: so desperately as Czar. Some rumors even say Elizabeth faked 317 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:20,120 Speaker 2: her death too, and became a nun called Vera the Silent. 318 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 2: If you're hearing some skepticism from me, that's correct. As 319 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 2: I was researching this episode, I was open to believing 320 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,640 Speaker 2: the legend, and I still am. But in the end, 321 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,439 Speaker 2: the whole thing seems to me like a lot of 322 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 2: wanting to believe. The simplest explanation is that a depressed 323 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 2: middle aged man in the early eighteen hundreds became ill, 324 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 2: possibly after eating a bad oyster. But there's something kind 325 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 2: of beautiful and sad about how people so deeply want 326 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,200 Speaker 2: the story of the deathless Monarch to be true. It's 327 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 2: like cheating death yourself to believe that there's actually some 328 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 2: divine power out there somewhere that isn't subject to the 329 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,679 Speaker 2: capriciousness of illness or injury. To believe that some people, 330 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,520 Speaker 2: even if they aren't you, even if they're only the 331 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:23,159 Speaker 2: rulers allegedly ordained by God, really are outside the grip 332 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:30,400 Speaker 2: of death. One person who believes in the Imperial legend 333 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,840 Speaker 2: was Alexis Tribetskoy, a minor Russian prince who wrote a 334 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 2: book about the story. At the end of the book, 335 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,639 Speaker 2: he boldly states that he wrote it partially to drum 336 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:45,399 Speaker 2: up interest in a DNA analysis of the bodies in 337 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 2: the tombs. It is the author's great hope. He wrote 338 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 2: that an adventurous sponsor with an historical bent will come 339 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 2: forward to finance the exploration. Tribetskoy died in twenty seventeen, 340 00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:05,919 Speaker 2: never knowing the answer. Unfortunately, DNA analysis has been promised 341 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:11,600 Speaker 2: but never yet performed. But the pure strain of his belief, 342 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,920 Speaker 2: the boylike faith in the miraculous fairy tale, is almost 343 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,560 Speaker 2: painfully sweet, and it makes me want to believe too. 344 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 2: It's a much better story. But when I look at 345 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 2: the totality of the evidence, I can't quite believe it. 346 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 2: I can't shake the fact that the whole legend rests 347 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,359 Speaker 2: on how odd it is that a healthy forty seven 348 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 2: year old suddenly died during a historical period when no 349 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,679 Speaker 2: one questioned the death of his daughter at eighteen or 350 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,440 Speaker 2: the extreme illness of his wife the same age as him. 351 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:53,360 Speaker 2: Fyodor Kusmitch was almost certainly not low born. He was 352 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:58,680 Speaker 2: probably covering up someone that he had been, possibly a nobleman, 353 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 2: but that doesn't necessarily mean he was Alexander. If Alexander 354 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 2: didn't fake his own death, then his final weeks in 355 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 2: retrospect are heartbreaking. There's something very sad about a man 356 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,200 Speaker 2: deeply in love with his wife at long last dying 357 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 2: just as their love was kindling. He was open to 358 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:26,480 Speaker 2: abdicating the throne, ready to live the life he wanted. 359 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 2: I think stories and fairy tales and hopes often come 360 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,919 Speaker 2: out of what is just too sad to be allowed 361 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,360 Speaker 2: to be real. But hey, what do I know. Tsar 362 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 2: Alexander the Third, our Alexander's great nephew, supposedly hung a 363 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 2: portrait of Fyodor Kusmich alongside a portrait of Alexander the First. 364 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 2: Alexis Trebetskoy swears that the sister of Tsar Nicholas the 365 00:28:55,720 --> 00:29:00,040 Speaker 2: Second personally told him that her family had no doubt 366 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 2: that Alexander and Theodor were the same man. Leo Tolstoy 367 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 2: wrote an unfinished story from the perspective of Fyodor Kusmich, 368 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 2: confessing his true identity was Alexander and it's Russia. Don't 369 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 2: forget Russian leaders are no strangers to censoring inconvenient truths. 370 00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 2: The Tsars that followed Alexander had every reason to suppress 371 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 2: evidence that Theodor Kusmich was the czar. If Alexander was 372 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 2: still living for another forty years, it would have thrown 373 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 2: the entire reign of Nicholas the First into question, and 374 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,239 Speaker 2: then the reign of his son Alexander the Second, who 375 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:47,080 Speaker 2: became Tsar while Fyodor Kusmich was still alive. In twenty fifteen, 376 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:53,360 Speaker 2: the president of the Russian Graphicological Society, a handwriting expert, 377 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 2: compared the writing of the tsar and the monk, and 378 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 2: she came to a stunn conclusion. The Emperor, Alexander the 379 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 2: First and Fyodor Kusmitch, she said, were one and the 380 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:11,920 Speaker 2: same man. So who knows? I think maybe I just 381 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 2: convinced myself that's the story of Alexander the First and 382 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 2: the legend of his reappearance as a monk. But stick 383 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 2: around after a brief sponsor break to hear a little 384 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 2: bit more about other possibilities for who Fyodor Cousmich might 385 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 2: have been. Whoever Fyodor Cousmich was, he was almost certainly 386 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 2: not low born. Whether or not he was the Czar 387 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 2: Alexander the First in disguise, He was probably covering up 388 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 2: someone that he had been in a past life, probably 389 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 2: a nobleman. 390 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: But who. 391 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 2: One option is a a nobleman named Fyodor Uvov, a 392 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:07,280 Speaker 2: cavalry officer in the Russian Wars against a Napoleon, which 393 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 2: would explain the monks knowledge of the war. Fyodor Uvarov 394 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:15,959 Speaker 2: disappeared without a trace in eighteen twenty seven, along with 395 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 2: all known portraits of him. Police always suspected that his 396 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:25,719 Speaker 2: wife knew something she wasn't telling, and she never fully 397 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 2: committed to calling herself a widow. But the more tantalizing 398 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 2: possibility is that Fyodor Kusmich was Alexander's own half brother, Simeon, 399 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 2: the illegitimate son of Paul the First. Fyodor Kusmitch had 400 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 2: been known to correspond with a count who had married 401 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:49,000 Speaker 2: into Simeon's family. There was even a member of that 402 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:54,520 Speaker 2: family who had been named Fyodor Cousmitch. Simeon the half 403 00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 2: brother supposedly died at sea, but there are no naval 404 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,880 Speaker 2: records of his life death. If he reappeared as the Monk, 405 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 2: then Theodor Cousmitt would have been Alexander's half brother, which 406 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 2: would explain his noble bearing and his undeniable resemblance to 407 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 2: the enigmatic lost Czar. 408 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of iHeart Radio and Grimm 409 00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:29,560 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is created and 410 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:34,520 Speaker 1: hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and researching 411 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 1: by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and 412 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:44,040 Speaker 1: Lori Goodman. The show is edited and produced by Noemi 413 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 1: Griffin and rima Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh Thain 414 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. 415 00:32:55,040 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 416 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.