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 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: town on a towering horse of the purest white. Outside 9 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 1: the cross Neufemsk police station, a cold wind blew inside. 10 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: The Russian police questioned the stranger relentlessly, where was he from, 11 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: who was his family? What did he do for a living. 12 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: But the man only said that his name was Fyodor Kuzmitch, 13 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: he was a believer in the Orthodox Church. And then 14 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: he offered nothing more. No family members, names, no hometown, 15 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: no home, no suggestion at all about what his past 16 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: might have been. He carried no identification. Even on penalty 17 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:29,400 Speaker 1: of twenty lashings, he refused to provide any further information 18 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: about himself. He held himself high and calm throughout the 19 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:41,559 Speaker 1: entire interrogation. And so the man calling himself Fyodor Kuzmich 20 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: was lashed. Then he was exiled to Siberia as a 21 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: convict in the forty third Exile settlement at Bogotolsk. He 22 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: was sentenced to labor at a vodka distillery, but within 23 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 1: a few months the director meekly said that Fyodor Kousmitch 24 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: didn't need to work anymore. No one quite knew why. 25 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: Rumors flew on the streets of Crossnufemsk, quickly spreading along 26 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: the winding roads of Russia as winter settled in. There 27 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: was no way this mysterious stranger was just some peasant 28 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: or monk. He was too well spoken, too high minded 29 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: in his bearing. He had to have noble blood. Perhaps 30 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: he was an imperial criminal in disguise, running from a 31 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: wicked past. At last, a Siberian girl who had had 32 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: one audience with the Tsar Nicholas the First returned home, 33 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,920 Speaker 1: my dear father, Fyodor Kusmisch. She said, you look exactly 34 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: like Nicholas's brother, the former Czar Alexander the First. But 35 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: that was impossible, saw Alexander the First had died eleven 36 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: years earlier. The holy man went white. Then the normally 37 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:15,959 Speaker 1: good natured Cousmich raised his voice in shocking anger. Why 38 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: would you say that to me, he said threateningly to 39 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: the Siberian girl. He stormed out of the room and 40 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: spoke no more, And so began the Imperial Russian legend 41 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: that never dies was the orthodox Saint Fyodor Kusmitch actually 42 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: Alexander the First, former Emperor of Russia. Did the Tsar 43 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: Alexander fake his own death and live out the rest 44 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: of his days as a holy peasant. Alexander the First 45 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: had been the cherished grandson of Catherine the Great. He 46 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: was a handsome heir to the powerful Romanov dynasty. He 47 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: was the Emperor of Russia for a quarter of a century, 48 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: the victor against Napoleon Bonaparte's doomed invasion of Russia, and 49 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: the complicated emperor later described by Leo Tolstoy in War 50 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: and Peace. And he had been a hardy, healthy man 51 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: all his life until he died suddenly in eighteen twenty 52 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: five at the age of forty seven. His death could 53 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: not have been under stranger circumstances. The place of his 54 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: death was a remote outpost far from the Imperial court. 55 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: The supposed illness had no reliable witnesses and led to 56 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: endless contradictory medical reports. The autopsy was delayed, the embalming 57 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 1: was rushed. The coffin at the funeral remained strangely closed. 58 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: The CSAR had been becoming more religious four years he 59 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: was wrecked with guilt over the assassinate of his father, 60 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: which had brought him to the throne. He spoke of 61 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,600 Speaker 1: wanting to abdicate by the time he hit fifty, and 62 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: then at forty seven death by mysterious illness, and later 63 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty six, eleven years after his suspicious death, 64 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: a man with no past showed up bearing a striking 65 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: resemblance to the supposedly dead emperor. It would be almost 66 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 1: impossible to fake one's own death and abandon the throne 67 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: and its forty four million subjects. To pull off a 68 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: scheme like that, it would take someone with absolute power, 69 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: immense motivating guilt, and an iron will. In other words, 70 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: someone exactly like the forty seven year old Alexander the First. 71 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:10,280 Speaker 1: I'm Danish war and this is noble blood. The futures 72 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: are Alexander Pavlovitch was born on December twenty third, seventeen 73 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: seventy seven in Saint Petersburg, during the reign of his 74 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 1: famous grandmother, Katherine the Great. Catherine was so enamored of 75 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: her young grandson that she wanted him to inherit the 76 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: throne when she died instead of Alex's father, Katherine's son Paul, 77 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: but it was not to be. Catherine died in seventeen 78 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: ninety six. When Alexander was eighteen, and his father, Paul 79 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:48,280 Speaker 1: took over as emperor. He was as unpopular as everyone 80 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:53,720 Speaker 1: had expected. Sir Paul the First was despotic and censorous, 81 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: punishing people for every minor infraction against whatever random rule 82 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: he had decided, like inviting too many people to dinner. 83 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: He was paranoid about a conspiracy against him, like the 84 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: conspiracy his mother Catherine the Great had orchestrated to take 85 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: the throne that had once belonged to his father. Paul 86 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: would lock his bedroom door at night so his wife 87 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: couldn't come in and kill him. Alexander hated his father's 88 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: behavior as emperor, so when a plot to assassinate Paul 89 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: took shape, it's almost certain that Alexander knew about it. 90 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: He almost certainly approved it, at least tacitly, but how 91 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: involved was he in it, that's a different story. Almost certainly, 92 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: Alexander hadn't fully imagined the horror of his own father, 93 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: dressed in a night shirt, cowering as assassins strangled him 94 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: to death in his own bedroom. It was a horrifying 95 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:06,559 Speaker 1: image that would haunt Alexander for the rest of his life, 96 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: regardless of whether that life ended at forty seven or not. 97 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: Alexander rose to the Russian throne in eighteen oh one, 98 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: a handsome twenty three year old seemingly blessed by God 99 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 1: to rule Russia. Napoleon, then consul of France, found Alexander 100 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: equivocal and insincere, noting quote, something is missing in his character, 101 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: but I find it impossible to discover what Napoleon was 102 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: sort of right, there would always be something a little 103 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: uncertain about who alex was inside. Like plenty of people, 104 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: he was liberal when he was young and powerless, and 105 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 1: became more conservative once he gained power. Alexander became emperor 106 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 1: in hopes of implementing a con institutional government. Twenty years 107 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: into his reign, that was out the window. He originally 108 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: wanted to give the serfs of Russia a little power. 109 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 1: Later he undid any early reforms. We're talking, Can you 110 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 1: banish a Serf to Siberia forever just for claiming they 111 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: were insolent? Yes? Or no? And in the end alex 112 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 1: said sure. Once allied with Napoleon and the French, he 113 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: later claimed a heroic victory against the French invasion. Eventually 114 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 1: his father's despotic rules came back. Alex even instituted a 115 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 1: military colony that determined marriages by lot, a system that 116 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 1: feels straight out of a dystopian young adult novel. As 117 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: his reign continued, he became more and more religious in 118 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: his own way. He kept company with self styled prophets 119 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: and prophetesses, but most interesting, he spoke of an internal 120 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 1: church full of mysticism, different from the external church of 121 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: his Orthodox faith. Maybe that was his insincerity, again, evidence 122 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: that his external self was different from his internal spiritual truths. 123 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:24,319 Speaker 1: Or maybe it was some desire growing inside of him 124 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:29,439 Speaker 1: for a simple spiritual life detached from the only life 125 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,320 Speaker 1: he could ever have as the ruler of Russia and 126 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:41,240 Speaker 1: territories of Finland and Poland. As Alexander's reign stretched into 127 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: the eighteen twenties, he became paranoid reclusive and obsessively clean, 128 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: and like his father before him, he became less and 129 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: less popular. He feared a coup against him. In eighteen 130 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:03,079 Speaker 1: twenty four, his illegitimate daughter Sophie died of tuberculosis at 131 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 1: only eighteen years old, and Alexander fell into a deep depression. 132 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:12,079 Speaker 1: I receive punishment for all the errors of my ways, 133 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:17,319 Speaker 1: he said, and those around him exchanged glances. He must 134 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,680 Speaker 1: have been thinking of his murderous rise to the throne, 135 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 1: the assassination of his father. He began talking more and 136 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: more openly about wanting to resign the throne. In front 137 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,400 Speaker 1: of his younger brother Constantine and their youngest brother, Nicholas, 138 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: alex said, I should tell you, my brother, that I 139 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: want to abdicate. When the time has come, I will 140 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: let you know. By eighteen twenty five, Alexander was forty 141 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:52,839 Speaker 1: seven and his wife Elizabeth was forty six. Elizabeth became ill, 142 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: and alex became single mindedly obsessed with her health. She 143 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 1: could not stay in the cold capital of Saint Petersburg. 144 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 1: He decided she was coughing too terribly. His dear wife 145 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 1: had to leave the capital, and he had to go 146 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: with her. And here we find one more curious piece 147 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: of instability in Czar Alexander's sphinx like character, the forty 148 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: something man suddenly became so devoted to a wife that 149 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: he had spent the past thirty years basically indifferent too. 150 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 1: They'd gotten married when he was fifteen and she was fourteen, 151 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: but they had always been distant with each other. They 152 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: both had other lovers. Alexander had illegitimate children with at 153 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: least four different women, and here he was forty seven 154 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:51,479 Speaker 1: years old, increasingly religious, openly wanting to abdicate, and committed 155 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: to leaving the capital due to a brand new, deep 156 00:12:55,800 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: and abiding love for his ailing wife. But whatever his reasons, 157 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 1: the royal physicians agreed with his plan for Elizabeth. Winter 158 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: in Saint Petersburg would be unacceptable for a woman in 159 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: her condition. Perhaps the Emperor and Empress would enjoy the 160 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: Crimean coast, or southern Italy or France. No, Alexander said 161 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:23,839 Speaker 1: they would go to Taganrouc, a small, unimpressive port city 162 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: right on the shore of the Black Sea. The place 163 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:32,560 Speaker 1: made no sense to anyone but Alexander, but Alexander was 164 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 1: the Emperor. What he said went so. In late summer 165 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 1: eighteen twenty five. He kissed his mother goodbye and set 166 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: off for to Gunroc, far from the prying eyes of 167 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: the royal court. Perhaps he spared a glance back at 168 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 1: the capital city as it receded in the distance. Maybe 169 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 1: he was sorrowful or regretful, or maybe he only felt 170 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: the steely grip of commitment to a decision that had 171 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:05,199 Speaker 1: already been made. Maybe he already knew when he departed 172 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: that it was to be his final journey as Emperor 173 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 1: of Russia. Here is where the story gets sticky. Interpret 174 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: the following facts however you will. Are they evidence of 175 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: an elaborate, planned fake death or simply of a tragic, 176 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: sudden real one. Alexander and Elizabeth set off on the 177 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 1: fourteen hundred mile journey south in separate coaches. On the way, 178 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: Alexander stopped at a monastery where he visited a monk 179 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 1: who slept no joke in an actual coffin. It's hard 180 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 1: to imagine the Emperor of Russia could have seen that 181 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: and thought it looked great, But who knows. Maybe he 182 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: really was that sick of the throne. He reached to 183 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,280 Speaker 1: Ganrag when his wife met him there, they walked hand 184 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: in hand like lovers on a honeymoon. Elizabeth wrote daily 185 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 1: in her diary, and here are some facts about what 186 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: Alexander was doing. Make of them what you will. One day, 187 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: Alexander paid a strange visit to a hospital, where he 188 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: asked a whole lot of questions about specifically the nature 189 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: of malaria. Another day, he opened an oyster to find 190 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 1: some kind of worm inside. Against all possible modern intuition 191 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: and what feels like universal common sense, a doctor told 192 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: him that it was fine, and Alexander ate the whole thing. 193 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: It wasn't until November that the Czar went out riding 194 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: and came back unable to stop shivering. Soon he was feverish, 195 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: yellow skinned, tired, weak, and unquenchably thirsty. Elizabeth started writing 196 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: fearful letters to her How could Alexander be the sick 197 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,640 Speaker 1: one now when he'd been so extremely healthy all his life. 198 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:11,000 Speaker 1: From here, listener, no one can get the story straight. 199 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: The czar, who would later succeed Alexander, his younger brother Nicholas, 200 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: destroyed many of the records of Alex's reign. So we 201 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: have the testimony of a few doctors and attendants, plus 202 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's diary and letters to her mother. And here's what's 203 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: really odd. They all give contradictory reports. Was Alexander refusing 204 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: medication or was he obeying the doctors and improving. Did 205 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: he pass a calm night or a scarily turbulent one. 206 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,080 Speaker 1: Did he collapse while shaving in the morning, or did 207 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: he collapse while getting up from the couch in the evening. 208 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine an actual illness so elusive and 209 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: difficult to document. But does that mean that every doctor, 210 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,919 Speaker 1: attendant and empress there had been asked to become a 211 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:09,000 Speaker 1: fiction writer instead, each making up their own version of 212 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: the progression of an illness that didn't exist. As the 213 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: illness progressed, According to our sources, Alexander would wake from 214 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:22,160 Speaker 1: a near stupor whenever his wife was near. He would 215 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 1: hold her hand, and one day he called Elizabeth to 216 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 1: his room. They closed the door and spent six hours together, 217 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: something that had never happened before. We don't know what 218 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: they said to each other. Maybe he instructed her as 219 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 1: to how to fake his death, or maybe they exchanged 220 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:47,159 Speaker 1: tearful goodbyes because he was dying or because he was 221 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: leaving her by choice. Either way, her husband was going 222 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:56,639 Speaker 1: away forever. It's hard to imagine which would be worse, 223 00:17:57,119 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: whether he was dying or simply disappearing his own free will. 224 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 1: Either way, Elizabeth came out of the six hour meeting 225 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 1: and wrote nothing in her diary. Again. She had been 226 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:15,240 Speaker 1: keeping a daily log since arriving in Taganuk, and after 227 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:19,239 Speaker 1: that she stopped. So all we know is that on 228 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: December one, eighteen twenty five, Czar Alexander the First of 229 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:29,199 Speaker 1: Russia died. Whether the man himself died or merely his 230 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:38,280 Speaker 1: identity as czar is a different question. The autopsy, as 231 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:41,959 Speaker 1: reported to us by History, did not commence for thirty 232 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:47,159 Speaker 1: six hours, an unusually long time. Alexander had been kicked 233 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 1: by a horse earlier in his life and had discoloration 234 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: on his left leg. The body allegedly had discoloration on 235 00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: the right. Alexander's body was so putrified by the time 236 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 1: it got to the embalmers that they had to smoke 237 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:09,360 Speaker 1: cigars to bear the stench. The Imperial family was invited 238 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: to view the body only at midnight, and priests were 239 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: barred from the room. Alexander's mother loudly proclaimed, yes, this 240 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: is my son, but others seemed disturbed by the extreme 241 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: state of degradation of the body's face, which was discolored 242 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:31,880 Speaker 1: and looked very little like the Alexander they had known, 243 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:38,240 Speaker 1: and throughout the funerary procession and the funeral, despite Orthodox tradition, 244 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: despite the calls of the public, and despite the whispers 245 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,400 Speaker 1: about a faked death that were already passing through the crowd, 246 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: the casket remained closed. Eleven years later, Fyodor Kuzmitch turned 247 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: up on a white horse in a remote Russian village, 248 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: bearing a striking resemblance to the Emperor, bearing a regal comportment. 249 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 1: Despite his lowly status, and refusing at all costs to 250 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 1: share any information at all about his true identity. He 251 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,960 Speaker 1: was a Startz, a Russian holy man, a word that 252 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: sounds to English ears pardon my pronunciation, but when correctly pronounced, 253 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:33,080 Speaker 1: sounds incredibly close to Tsar. Fyodor Kuzmitch gained a following 254 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:37,199 Speaker 1: as a good religious man, and even in his lifetime 255 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,760 Speaker 1: people suspected that he was secretly Tsar Alexander, the First 256 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:45,960 Speaker 1: disguised by the passage of time and by the peasant 257 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 1: garb he wore. Not only did this man speak French, 258 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: not only did the peasant girl under his care enjoy 259 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 1: a visitation with Tsar Nicholas himself. Not only did he 260 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 1: know intricate details of the war between Russia and France, 261 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: not only did he hang an icon of the patron 262 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:11,160 Speaker 1: saint of Tsar Alexander the First, but more strange rumors 263 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,680 Speaker 1: abounded him once he was visited by a young man 264 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 1: whom observers took to be Nicholas the First's son, Alexander 265 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: the Second, who would have been the Tsar's nephew. Once 266 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 1: the holy man was in another room as a family 267 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: read aloud historical words that Alexander the First spoke to Napoleon. 268 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: According to the family's daughter's diary, a voice rang out 269 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: from Fyodor Kuzmitch's quarters. I never said that the voice said, 270 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 1: whoever he really was? Fyodor Kuzmich died in eighteen sixty four. 271 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: If he was Alexander in disguise, he would have been 272 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: eighty seven years old. On his deathbed, Theodor was asked 273 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:05,600 Speaker 1: one final time, who are you really, And, just as 274 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 1: he had done when he was first questioned by police 275 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 1: nearly thirty years earlier, he gave no answer. Instead, he 276 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: pointed to a small bag. Here lies my secret, he said, 277 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 1: and then he died. Inside the bag were six pieces 278 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:29,760 Speaker 1: of paper written in what seemed to be a secret code. 279 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:34,440 Speaker 1: Whatever the truth of the man's identity, Fyodor Kuzmich left 280 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,919 Speaker 1: it a cipher. He was as sphinx like as the 281 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,320 Speaker 1: Tsar before him. Fyodor Kusmitch was buried in a tomb 282 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:48,359 Speaker 1: inscribed with the words Blessed by God, the very same 283 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: words that the Senate had used to decorate Tsar Alexander 284 00:22:53,600 --> 00:23:05,160 Speaker 1: the first. This podcast has done several episodes about pretenders 285 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 1: to the throne, but Fyodor Kusmitch was different. He wasn't 286 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:12,919 Speaker 1: claiming to be the Czar. If there was any pretending 287 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 1: going on, it wasn't pretending to be the emperor. It 288 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:21,200 Speaker 1: was pretending not to be with How could Czar Alexander 289 00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:25,720 Speaker 1: have pulled off the switcheroo if he didn't really die 290 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: in Taganrog at the age of forty seven, How could 291 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:32,120 Speaker 1: he have faked his own death, kept it a secret, 292 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: disappeared for eleven years, and then reappeared to live out 293 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 1: the rest of his long life as a reclusive monk. 294 00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:45,920 Speaker 1: Believers in the legend have proposed some answers. The doctors 295 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,880 Speaker 1: and Empress at Taganrog would have been sworn to secrecy. Naturally, 296 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: that would explain their inconsistent testimony about the Tsar's final days. 297 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: Their testimony was all made up. The body in the 298 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: coffee would have been someone else's, perhaps a servant who 299 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: had died before Alexander's supposed death date. That would explain 300 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: why the body was so discolored and decomposed, and why 301 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:17,160 Speaker 1: it smelled so bad for the embalmers, and perhaps why 302 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,240 Speaker 1: it had taken so long to arrange an autopsy in 303 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:25,560 Speaker 1: the first place. Where Alexander went for the eleven years 304 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: before reappearing as Fyodor Cosmich is a harder question. One 305 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: theory is that he boarded a British yacht. There was 306 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: indeed one such ship in Taganrog, which set sail on 307 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 1: the day of Alexander's supposed death. That would explain Alexander's 308 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,400 Speaker 1: choice of a port city, but one that was rarely 309 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: used and thus less scrutinized. From there, the best that 310 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:58,200 Speaker 1: the historical rumor grapevine can speculate is that he may 311 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:02,760 Speaker 1: have gone to Jerusalem. After all, what more logical place 312 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,720 Speaker 1: would there be to spend eleven years in the kind 313 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:10,400 Speaker 1: of mystical, pious, and unbothered seclusion that he had wanted 314 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:15,879 Speaker 1: so desperately as Czar. Some rumors even say Elizabeth faked 315 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:20,120 Speaker 1: her death too, and became a nun called Vera the Silent. 316 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: If you're hearing some skepticism from me, that's correct. As 317 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 1: I was researching this episode, I was open to believing 318 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,640 Speaker 1: the legend, and I still am. But in the end, 319 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,439 Speaker 1: the whole thing seems to me like a lot of 320 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 1: wanting to believe. The simplest explanation is that a depressed 321 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: middle aged man in the early eighteen hundreds became ill, 322 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: possibly after eating a bad oyster. But there's something kind 323 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: of beautiful and sad about how people so deeply want 324 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,200 Speaker 1: the story of the deathless Monarch to be true. It's 325 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 1: like cheating death yourself to believe that there's actually some 326 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 1: divine power out there somewhere that isn't subject to the 327 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,679 Speaker 1: capriciousness of illness or injury. To believe that some people, 328 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,520 Speaker 1: even if they aren't you, even if they're only the 329 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:23,159 Speaker 1: rulers allegedly ordained by God, really are outside the grip 330 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:30,400 Speaker 1: of death. One person who believes in the Imperial legend 331 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,840 Speaker 1: was Alexis Tribetskoy, a minor Russian prince who wrote a 332 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: book about the story. At the end of the book, 333 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,639 Speaker 1: he boldly states that he wrote it partially to drum 334 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:45,399 Speaker 1: up interest in a DNA analysis of the bodies in 335 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: the tombs. It is the author's great hope. He wrote 336 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 1: that an adventurous sponsor with an historical bent will come 337 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: forward to finance the exploration. Tribetskoy died in twenty seventeen, 338 00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:05,919 Speaker 1: never knowing the answer. Unfortunately, DNA analysis has been promised 339 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:11,600 Speaker 1: but never yet performed. But the pure strain of his belief, 340 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,920 Speaker 1: the boylike faith in the miraculous fairy tale, is almost 341 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,560 Speaker 1: painfully sweet, and it makes me want to believe too. 342 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 1: It's a much better story. But when I look at 343 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 1: the totality of the evidence, I can't quite believe it. 344 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: I can't shake the fact that the whole legend rests 345 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,359 Speaker 1: on how odd it is that a healthy forty seven 346 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: year old suddenly died during a historical period when no 347 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,679 Speaker 1: one questioned the death of his daughter at eighteen or 348 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,440 Speaker 1: the extreme illness of his wife the same age as him. 349 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:53,360 Speaker 1: Fyodor Kusmitch was almost certainly not low born. He was 350 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:58,680 Speaker 1: probably covering up someone that he had been, possibly a nobleman, 351 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: but that doesn't necessarily mean he was Alexander. If Alexander 352 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: didn't fake his own death, then his final weeks in 353 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: retrospect are heartbreaking. There's something very sad about a man 354 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,200 Speaker 1: deeply in love with his wife at long last dying 355 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 1: just as their love was kindling. He was open to 356 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:26,480 Speaker 1: abdicating the throne, ready to live the life he wanted. 357 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 1: I think stories and fairy tales and hopes often come 358 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,919 Speaker 1: out of what is just too sad to be allowed 359 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,360 Speaker 1: to be real. But hey, what do I know. Tzar 360 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: Alexander the Third, our Alexander's great nephew, supposedly hung a 361 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: portrait of Fyodor Kusmich alongside a portrait of Alexander the First. 362 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: Alexis Trebetskoy swears that the sister of Tsar Nicholas the 363 00:28:55,720 --> 00:29:00,040 Speaker 1: Second personally told him that her family had no doubt 364 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 1: that Alexander and Theodor were the same man. Leo Tolstoy 365 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 1: wrote an unfinished story from the perspective of Fyodor Kusmich, 366 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 1: confessing his true identity was Alexander and it's Russia. Don't 367 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 1: forget Russian leaders are no strangers to censoring inconvenient truths. 368 00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: The Tsars that followed Alexander had every reason to suppress 369 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 1: evidence that Theodor Kusmich was the czar. If Alexander was 370 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 1: still living for another forty years, it would have thrown 371 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: the entire reign of Nicholas the First into question, and 372 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,239 Speaker 1: then the reign of his son Alexander the Second, who 373 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:47,080 Speaker 1: became Tsar while Fyodor Kusmich was still alive. In twenty fifteen, 374 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:53,360 Speaker 1: the president of the Russian Graphicological Society, a handwriting expert, 375 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 1: compared the writing of the tsar and the monk, and 376 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: she came to a stunn conclusion. The Emperor, Alexander the 377 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: First and Fyodor Kusmitch, she said, were one and the 378 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:11,920 Speaker 1: same man. So who knows? I think maybe I just 379 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: convinced myself that's the story of Alexander the First and 380 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 1: the legend of his reappearance as a monk. But stick 381 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 1: around after a brief sponsor break to hear a little 382 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 1: bit more about other possibilities for who Fyodor Cousmich might 383 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 1: have been. Whoever Fyodor Cousmich was, he was almost certainly 384 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: not low born. Whether or not he was the Czar 385 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 1: Alexander the First in disguise, He was probably covering up 386 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 1: someone that he had been in a past life, probably 387 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 1: a nobleman, but who. One option is a a nobleman 388 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 1: named Fyodor Uvov, a cavalry officer in the Russian Wars 389 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 1: against a Napoleon, which would explain the monks knowledge of 390 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:13,920 Speaker 1: the war. Fyodor Uvarov disappeared without a trace in eighteen 391 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: twenty seven, along with all known portraits of him. Police 392 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,880 Speaker 1: always suspected that his wife knew something she wasn't telling, 393 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 1: and she never fully committed to calling herself a widow. 394 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: But the more tantalizing possibility is that Fyodor Kusmich was 395 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:39,240 Speaker 1: Alexander's own half brother, Simeon, the illegitimate son of Paul 396 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:43,280 Speaker 1: the First. Fyodor Kusmitch had been known to correspond with 397 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:47,680 Speaker 1: a count who had married into Simeon's family. There was 398 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:51,120 Speaker 1: even a member of that family who had been named 399 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: Fyodor Cousmitch. Simeon the half brother supposedly died at sea, 400 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: but there are no naval records of his life death. 401 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,760 Speaker 1: If he reappeared as the Monk, then Theodor Cousmitt would 402 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:09,120 Speaker 1: have been Alexander's half brother, which would explain his noble 403 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 1: bearing and his undeniable resemblance to the enigmatic lost Czar. 404 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of iHeart Radio and Grimm 405 00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:29,560 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is created and 406 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:34,520 Speaker 1: hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and researching 407 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 1: by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and 408 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:44,040 Speaker 1: Lori Goodman. The show is edited and produced by Noemi 409 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 1: Griffin and rima Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh Thain 410 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. 411 00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 412 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.