WEBVTT - Sentencing His Son to Death

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm

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<v Speaker 1>and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener Discretion advised. The year

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<v Speaker 1>is seventeen eighteen, and the Russian jurists are about to

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<v Speaker 1>hand down their verdict. The charge is incredibly serious, treason

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<v Speaker 1>against the Tsar Peter the Great, punishable by death. Some

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<v Speaker 1>of the members of the jury are sweating, but they're

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<v Speaker 1>all pretending not to. They've been instructed that they should

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<v Speaker 1>treat the accused in exactly the same way that they

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<v Speaker 1>would treat any man who comes before them. They should

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<v Speaker 1>not play nice or go gentle on him. They've been

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<v Speaker 1>promised that they won't be punished even if they find

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<v Speaker 1>him guilty. But the jury has reason to be a

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<v Speaker 1>little anxious about the situation because the accused, the man

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<v Speaker 1>standing trial for treason against the Tsar of Russia, is

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<v Speaker 1>the Tsarevich, the son of the Tsar. And so the

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<v Speaker 1>jury handed in their verdict. Tsarevich Alexei, twenty eight years old,

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<v Speaker 1>the heir to the Russian throne, the only one of

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<v Speaker 1>Peter's many children who had survived to adulthood, was guilty.

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<v Speaker 1>Everyone in the courtroom knew what that meant. A sentence

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<v Speaker 1>of death.

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<v Speaker 2>The jurors all prayed that the Emperor would not rescind

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<v Speaker 2>his promise and decide to kill them after all, but

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<v Speaker 2>they also knew that the ultimate fate of Alexei did

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<v Speaker 2>not rest with them. Peter the Great would have to

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<v Speaker 2>sign off on any punishment himself. If he wanted his

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<v Speaker 2>own son and heir killed, then he would have to

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<v Speaker 2>approve it with his own hand. Surely, some in the

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<v Speaker 2>room believed he would never approve it. Yes, Peter and

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<v Speaker 2>Alexey had had their struggles. The boy was weak, the

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<v Speaker 2>son of Peter's unloved first wife. Alexei was an endless

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<v Speaker 2>chooser of flight over fight, too eager to voluntarily abdegate

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<v Speaker 2>his place in the succession. But Peter had also given

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<v Speaker 2>him chance after chance before. Alexey was his own flesh

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<v Speaker 2>and blood. After all. Surely Peter would not allow that

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<v Speaker 2>flesh and blood torn tortuously apart on his watch. But

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<v Speaker 2>then again, Peter the Great didn't get that nickname for nothing.

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<v Speaker 2>Great and terrible are terribly close words when we speak

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<v Speaker 2>of Russian monarchs, and if we've learned one thing over

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<v Speaker 2>the course of this podcast, it's that when it comes

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<v Speaker 2>to royal families. The royal wins out over the family

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<v Speaker 2>with chilling frequently, I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood.

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<v Speaker 2>The Emperor, who would later be known as Peter the Great,

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<v Speaker 2>came to the throne as Czar Peter the First in

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<v Speaker 2>sixteen eighty two, when he was only ten years old.

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<v Speaker 2>He was co ruler with his older half brother Ivan

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<v Speaker 2>the Fifth, but Ivan was at least partially paralyzed, blind,

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<v Speaker 2>and likely cognitively impaired. They were both basically dominated by

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<v Speaker 2>Peter's older half sister, Sophia, who was regent. All this

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<v Speaker 2>meant that even though Peter was officially Tzar, he didn't

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<v Speaker 2>grow up in the palace. He hung out with his mother,

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<v Speaker 2>who was more open to Western influence than the Russian monarchs.

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<v Speaker 2>In sixteen eighty nine, when Peter was seventeen, his mother

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<v Speaker 2>arranged his marriage to a woman named Eudoxia Lopukina. Peter

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<v Speaker 2>never seemed to love his wife, but one year later,

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<v Speaker 2>on February twenty eighth, sixteen ninety their son and heir,

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<v Speaker 2>Alexei Petrovitch was born. Peter set off fireworks in celebration. Then,

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<v Speaker 2>in sixteen ninety six, Peter's half brother Ivan died, leaving

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<v Speaker 2>Peter as sol Tsar of Russia. Naturally, he had Sophia,

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<v Speaker 2>the former regent, banished to a convent, which was the

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<v Speaker 2>Russian ruler's common solution for unwanted sisters, wives, and generally

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<v Speaker 2>pesky women. Peter was known for a ton of innovations

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<v Speaker 2>in Russia that we don't have the time to list

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<v Speaker 2>in full. But he established the Empire of Russia, so

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<v Speaker 2>he was the first Russian ruler to be not only

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<v Speaker 2>czar but also emperor. He developed Russia's military might, and

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<v Speaker 2>he was considered a modernizing and westernizing force. He modernized

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<v Speaker 2>and even designed the Russian written alphabet, and in seventeen

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<v Speaker 2>oh two established the first Russian newspaper. He also founded

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<v Speaker 2>the city of Saint Petersburg and moved the capital there

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<v Speaker 2>from Moscow. He was a strange man. I can only

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<v Speaker 2>give you some of the strangest highlights. Though standing at

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<v Speaker 2>an almost unheard of six foot seven, he preferred to

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<v Speaker 2>live in little houses with small ceilings called dumiki. His

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<v Speaker 2>cabinet of Curiosities was famous for its bizarre and grotesque

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<v Speaker 2>collection of human and animal fetuses with birth defects. He

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<v Speaker 2>once held a grand event known as the Most Drunken

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<v Speaker 2>Snynod of Fools and Jesters. In an effort to force

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<v Speaker 2>Russian men to accord with the shaven faced fashion of Europe,

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<v Speaker 2>he instituted a beard tax on any Russian who wore

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<v Speaker 2>a beard. If you paid it, you received a coin

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<v Speaker 2>engraved with an actual image of a beard and mustache

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<v Speaker 2>to prove that your style was allowed. A hipster mustache

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<v Speaker 2>loving dream. Not only are mustache special, they're also exclusive.

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<v Speaker 2>He had two wives. First was Eudoxia, whom he was

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<v Speaker 2>never wild about. In sixteen ninety eight, after nearly ten

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<v Speaker 2>years of marriage, he had her banished to surprise a convent.

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<v Speaker 2>Then Peter officially married his second wife, Catherine the First,

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<v Speaker 2>in seventeen o seven. Of course, Peter also had many mistresses,

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<v Speaker 2>including the famous British actress of drury Lane, Letitia Cross.

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<v Speaker 2>Between his two wives, Peter had fifteen legitimate children, although

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<v Speaker 2>only three of them survived to a But even when

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<v Speaker 2>you look at that claim with modern eyes, its heartbreakingly

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<v Speaker 2>short term. Only one child by Catherine the First, Elizabetta Petrovna,

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<v Speaker 2>lived past her twenties. It is hard to imagine the

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<v Speaker 2>grief of Catherine, who had twelve babies and watched ten

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<v Speaker 2>of them die as infants or as very young children.

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<v Speaker 2>And it is hard to imagine what Peter the Great

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<v Speaker 2>must have been thinking in autumn of seventeen fifteen, when

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<v Speaker 2>he was contemplating his heirs for the Russian throne. He

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<v Speaker 2>had only one living son at this point, Tsarevich Alexey,

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<v Speaker 2>the daughter of Eudoxia. Four other sons had died as infants.

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<v Speaker 2>Alexey and his father had always had a strained relationship.

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<v Speaker 2>After setting off fireworks and celebrations for little Alexey's birth,

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<v Speaker 2>Peter largely lost interest in the boy. After all, he

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<v Speaker 2>was the son of Peter's unloved first wife, Eudoxia. When

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<v Speaker 2>Alexey was eight, his father sent his mother off to

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<v Speaker 2>a convent, wrenching him away from her. Alexey was a

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<v Speaker 2>somewhat sickly boy, cowardly and uninterested in military action, not

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<v Speaker 2>qualities that particularly excited Peter about an heir. Alexey was

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<v Speaker 2>so afraid of his father that he once shot himself

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<v Speaker 2>in the hand to avoid having to see him classic Alexey,

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<v Speaker 2>though he missed, burning himself badly, and then he lied

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<v Speaker 2>to his father that it was an accident. He wrote

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<v Speaker 2>that he quote would rather be a galley slave or

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<v Speaker 2>have a burning fever than have to go to see

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<v Speaker 2>a Russian ship launched. His mother in law said that

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<v Speaker 2>quote it is quite useless for his father to force

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<v Speaker 2>him to tend to military matters, as he would rather

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<v Speaker 2>have a rosary than a pistol in his hand. In

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<v Speaker 2>other words, in his father's eyes, he was just kind

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<v Speaker 2>of a bummer. But Peter nonetheless wanted his son to

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<v Speaker 2>become a man he could trust as his successor. Starting

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<v Speaker 2>when Alexey was twelve, Peter took the boy along with

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<v Speaker 2>him on various military sieges as preparation for his future

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<v Speaker 2>as a military leader. When Alexey was seventeen, Peter put

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<v Speaker 2>him in charge of the defense of Moscow. But Alexey

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<v Speaker 2>never took an interest in his father's warring. He was meek.

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<v Speaker 2>He accepted Peter's idea that he marry a German princess

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<v Speaker 2>Charlotte in seventeen eleven, when he was twenty one and

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<v Speaker 2>she seventeen. Alexey doated on their daughter, Natalia, but he

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<v Speaker 2>drank so often and so much that he'd largely ignored

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<v Speaker 2>his wife Charlotte, leaving her to a bedroom where the

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<v Speaker 2>rain came through the roof. In a storm, Peter had

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<v Speaker 2>to reprimand his son to take some care of his wife.

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<v Speaker 2>So by seventeen fifteen it was clear to Peter that

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<v Speaker 2>his son Alexey was a weak candidate to be his

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<v Speaker 2>heir to the empire. But in the autumn of seventeen

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<v Speaker 2>fifteen there was reason to think that Peter's outlook might change.

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<v Speaker 2>Two reasons, in fact, because there were not one, but

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<v Speaker 2>two heavily pregnant women in Russian court. On October twenty third,

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<v Speaker 2>seventeen fifteen, Alexey's wife Charlotte gave birth to their second child,

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<v Speaker 2>a boy. He was named Peter Alexevitch, and one week

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<v Speaker 2>after that, on November ninth, seventeen fifteen, Peter the Great

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<v Speaker 2>wife Catherine, also gave birth to a son, Peter Petrovitch.

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<v Speaker 2>The baby survived his first days, and then weeks and

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<v Speaker 2>then months of life. Peter wrote, God has sent me

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<v Speaker 2>a new recruit. So by the time at seventeen sixteen dawned,

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<v Speaker 2>Peter the Great found himself in a very different position

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<v Speaker 2>than he had been at the beginning of seventeen fifteen,

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<v Speaker 2>there were now two little Peters in Russia, both legitimate

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<v Speaker 2>heirs to his throne, which meant that suddenly, when it

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<v Speaker 2>came to the Russian line of succession, Peter the Great

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<v Speaker 2>had other options. The story of what happened next between

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<v Speaker 2>Peter the Great and his oldest surviving son, Alexei can

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<v Speaker 2>be told in a set of fantastic letters that we

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<v Speaker 2>still have. Between father and son, the whole story is there.

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<v Speaker 2>Alexei's wife, Charlotte, died ten days after giving birth to

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<v Speaker 2>Alexei's son. On her funeral day, Peter the Great gave

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<v Speaker 2>his son a letter, a declaration to my son. It read, you,

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<v Speaker 2>my son, reject all means of making yourself capable of

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<v Speaker 2>governing well after me. I say your incapacity is voluntary,

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<v Speaker 2>because you cannot excuse yourself with want of natural parts

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<v Speaker 2>and strength of body, as if God had not given

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<v Speaker 2>you sufficient share of either. And though your constitution is

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<v Speaker 2>none the strongest, yet it cannot be said that it

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<v Speaker 2>is altogether weak. Peter articulated a philosophy of governing and

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<v Speaker 2>his personal disappointment in his son. He articulated his sadness

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<v Speaker 2>that his son didn't care about war, and described his

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<v Speaker 2>belief that the Russian people would follow a leader like

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<v Speaker 2>Alexi say into forgetting about the importance of war. Peter

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<v Speaker 2>said that physical sickness has nothing to do with a

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<v Speaker 2>sovereign's inclination toward or interest in war, and gave the

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<v Speaker 2>example of his even sicker brother Ivan the Fifth, who

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<v Speaker 2>was nonetheless interested in war, unlike Alexey. The letter ends quote,

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<v Speaker 2>I am a man, and consequently I must die. Peter

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<v Speaker 2>wonders if Alexey is up to the succession and expresses

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<v Speaker 2>that he is not, and offers him a bit more

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<v Speaker 2>time to see if he can rise to the occasion.

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<v Speaker 2>If he doesn't, Peter says, then quote, I will deprive

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<v Speaker 2>you of the succession, as one may cut off a

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<v Speaker 2>useless member. Harsh words, especially to get on the day

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<v Speaker 2>of your wife's funeral. But to me, the most important

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<v Speaker 2>and interesting part in the letter comes after, also the

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<v Speaker 2>most faithful and tragic. Do not fancy that I only

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<v Speaker 2>write this, Peter said, to terrify you. To me, it's

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<v Speaker 2>clear that Peter's great disappointment with his son is all

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<v Speaker 2>about desire. He just wants his son to want the throne.

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<v Speaker 2>Don't want to be disinherited. Peter is saying, if you

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<v Speaker 2>want to rule, if you want to be interested in war,

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<v Speaker 2>that is enough. And the tragedy is that Peter the

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<v Speaker 2>Great and his son Alexey really were in this ships

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<v Speaker 2>passing in the night. It's like they simply could not

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<v Speaker 2>hear each other. If what Peter cared about most was

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<v Speaker 2>Alexey wanting the throne, then the last thing Alexey should

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<v Speaker 2>have done was except the threat of his removal from

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<v Speaker 2>the line of succession. Alexey went running to his advisors,

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<v Speaker 2>and on their count he wrote back to his father

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<v Speaker 2>saying that if you quote will deprive me of the

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<v Speaker 2>succession to the crown of Russia by reason of my incapacity,

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<v Speaker 2>your will be done. I even most urgently beg it

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<v Speaker 2>of you. It's like these two men just cannot see

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<v Speaker 2>each other. It's not an incapacity that Peter hates, and

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<v Speaker 2>his son he gives the positive example of his actually

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<v Speaker 2>much weaker and more incapacitated brother. It's that very proclivity

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<v Speaker 2>to accept meekness and powerlessness, and that was exactly what

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<v Speaker 2>the ever disappointing Alexey did. In the meantime, Peter was

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<v Speaker 2>getting sick, and Alexey was basically just hoping to outlive

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<v Speaker 2>his father and have this whole affair be over. But

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<v Speaker 2>de escalation is not a thing in the Russian court,

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<v Speaker 2>Peter writes back to Alexey, escalating accept the emperorship, says Peter,

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<v Speaker 2>or else become a monk. Peter hopes that threats will

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<v Speaker 2>make Alexey finally snap and want power, but he doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>see his son, just as his son does not see him.

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<v Speaker 2>All threats do is make the boy even meeker. I

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<v Speaker 2>will embrace the monastical state and desire your gracious consent

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<v Speaker 2>to it, Alexey writes back to Peter. It really is

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<v Speaker 2>kind of hard to avoid the conclusion that Alexey really

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<v Speaker 2>would have been a kind of weak ruler who didn't

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<v Speaker 2>really want to rule. But at this point Peter is

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<v Speaker 2>getting really angry at his weak son, and Alexey is

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<v Speaker 2>getting pretty afraid of his father. He really doesn't seem

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<v Speaker 2>to want the throne. The one thing he actually seems

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<v Speaker 2>to want is to be with his mistress, a woman

0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:04.600
<v Speaker 2>named Afrosina. So, in consultation with his advisors, Alexey decides

0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:10.560
<v Speaker 2>to do something really foolish. He runs away. He dresses

0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:15.040
<v Speaker 2>his mistress as a boy page, and they get out

0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:20.119
<v Speaker 2>of Dodge. The pair land in Vienna, and Alexey asks

0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.520
<v Speaker 2>his brother in law and bor Charles the sixth to

0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:29.120
<v Speaker 2>conceal him there. It really wasn't the most intelligent move.

0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.600
<v Speaker 2>He kept on doing exactly the things that would most

0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:39.200
<v Speaker 2>disappoint his father, and a disappointed Peter was soon an

0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:44.800
<v Speaker 2>enraged one. Of course, the situation couldn't last long, though

0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:49.000
<v Speaker 2>Charles the sixth did agree to let Alexey hide at court.

0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:55.040
<v Speaker 2>The disguise started failing pretty shortly thereafter. Efrisina was pregnant,

0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:59.720
<v Speaker 2>so her disguise as a boy page fell apart. Peter

0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.880
<v Speaker 2>found out that Vienna was hiding his son, and now

0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.959
<v Speaker 2>the Russian and the Viennese emperors are both realizing that

0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:13.000
<v Speaker 2>this could escalate to an international crisis, so everyone had

0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:18.200
<v Speaker 2>to proceed with delicacy. Peter sent an emissary named Tolstoy,

0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:22.920
<v Speaker 2>not the famous writer, to get Alexey back by any means,

0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:29.320
<v Speaker 2>including outright duplicity if necessary. Naturally, Peter continued to threaten

0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:34.440
<v Speaker 2>Alexey via letter, not that his strategy of threats ever worked.

0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.440
<v Speaker 2>He wrote quote, if you return, I will love you

0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:42.359
<v Speaker 2>better than ever. But if you refuse, then I declare

0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:45.560
<v Speaker 2>you traitor, and I assure you I will find the

0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:50.600
<v Speaker 2>means to use you as such. Again, threats never worked

0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:55.159
<v Speaker 2>with Alexey. But the key was the girl, the Mistress,

0:18:55.280 --> 0:19:00.119
<v Speaker 2>that he loved. Because Alexey did truly love her, all

0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:04.199
<v Speaker 2>he wants. Alexey told tolstoy Is to get to marry

0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:08.160
<v Speaker 2>Efrisina and go live in a country cottage together with her.

0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.560
<v Speaker 2>Would his father agree to that? It's a nice dream,

0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:18.280
<v Speaker 2>But Alexey had noble blood running through his veins. As

0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:23.159
<v Speaker 2>any listener of this podcast might already know, retiring to

0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.800
<v Speaker 2>acute cabin with a wife that you love is not

0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.840
<v Speaker 2>really a likely option for an heir to a throne.

0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:35.880
<v Speaker 2>Peter the Great promised that Alexey could marry the Mistress.

0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:40.760
<v Speaker 2>Alexey was not smart enough not to believe him. In

0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:45.200
<v Speaker 2>an earlier letter to his son, Peter had quoted the Bible,

0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:50.400
<v Speaker 2>King David said, all men are liars. This kid did

0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.679
<v Speaker 2>not have the strategic mind he would have needed to

0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.320
<v Speaker 2>find a way out of his predicament. He could not

0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:02.680
<v Speaker 2>outstrategize his father, and so Alexey agreed to go back

0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.840
<v Speaker 2>to Russia. The historian Robert K. Massey, one of the

0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:10.919
<v Speaker 2>most helpful sources for this episode, quotes the response to

0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:16.240
<v Speaker 2>Alexey's choice quote, he will have a coffin instead of

0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:22.080
<v Speaker 2>a wedding. In February seventeen eighteen, the Kremlin was full

0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:26.840
<v Speaker 2>as Alexey publicly confessed to running away to Europe and

0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:31.680
<v Speaker 2>he renounced his claim to the throne. Peter accepted pardoning

0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:36.360
<v Speaker 2>his son on condition that Alexeys share all of his co conspirators.

0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:41.360
<v Speaker 2>It was the beginning of a brutal, bloody retribution that

0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:48.639
<v Speaker 2>Peter enacted on seemingly everyone except Alexey. At first, Peter

0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.720
<v Speaker 2>found his ex wife, Eudoxia, who was living in a

0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:56.359
<v Speaker 2>monastery but not as a nun. Her lover was tortured,

0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:01.240
<v Speaker 2>her brother was killed, along with four others condemned to

0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:06.399
<v Speaker 2>death for having helped Alexey flee to Europe, and Alexey

0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:12.600
<v Speaker 2>seemingly didn't care as the people who helped him were investigated, tortured,

0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:16.159
<v Speaker 2>or killed. All he seemed to want to do was

0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:20.960
<v Speaker 2>Mary Afrisina, who, by the way, he wasn't physically with

0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.840
<v Speaker 2>due to her pregnancy. He did not bring her back

0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:29.080
<v Speaker 2>to Russia. With him upon his return from Europe. But

0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:33.480
<v Speaker 2>he wrote her loving, longing letters, desperate for her in

0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:38.720
<v Speaker 2>their separation, while she kind of isn't writing that sort

0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:42.920
<v Speaker 2>of letter back. Secretaries write her letters back to him

0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:47.479
<v Speaker 2>once she adds and asks for caviar. But the worst

0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:51.359
<v Speaker 2>for Alexey is yet to come. Peter the Great did,

0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:57.280
<v Speaker 2>for once unlock the keys to his son. He found Efrisina,

0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:01.600
<v Speaker 2>and without subjecting her to any torture at all, she

0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:06.680
<v Speaker 2>betrayed her lover. Yes, she said Alexey wanted Peter dead.

0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:11.159
<v Speaker 2>He spoke of it often. She repeated the claims to

0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:16.280
<v Speaker 2>Alexei's face. It's hard to imagine how much this must

0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:20.360
<v Speaker 2>have pained him. The one thing he seemed to genuinely

0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:24.040
<v Speaker 2>love in this life, the one thing he seemed to

0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:28.320
<v Speaker 2>actually fight for. Who knows what he felt when he

0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:32.360
<v Speaker 2>saw his beloved Africina again and had to watch her

0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.600
<v Speaker 2>sell him out. His dreams of a country cottage shimmered

0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:41.639
<v Speaker 2>before him, and then they were wiped out in an instant.

0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:46.240
<v Speaker 2>Maybe whatever will he had left to live left him

0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:52.960
<v Speaker 2>at that moment. After Aforsina's confessions, there was nothing else

0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:57.399
<v Speaker 2>for it. Alexey went on trial Peter called both an

0:22:57.400 --> 0:23:02.400
<v Speaker 2>ecclesiastical court and a secual court. Do not be moved,

0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:04.719
<v Speaker 2>he told them by the fact that you are to

0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:08.359
<v Speaker 2>judge the son of your sovereign, for we swear to

0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:12.760
<v Speaker 2>you that you have absolutely nothing to fear. Of course,

0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:16.359
<v Speaker 2>Peter had also promised Alexey that he could marry Africina

0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:19.199
<v Speaker 2>and go live a cottage core life with her. But

0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:24.720
<v Speaker 2>nonetheless Peter's orders to the jury were clear. Anyone else

0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:28.760
<v Speaker 2>on trial would have been tortured to extract a confession,

0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:33.840
<v Speaker 2>and so was Alexey. He was struck twenty five times

0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:38.880
<v Speaker 2>with a not a kind of whipping torture on June nineteenth.

0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:44.320
<v Speaker 2>Five days later he received fifteen more blows. His back

0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:49.520
<v Speaker 2>was bleeding. The whipping torture had killed stronger men than alexe.

0:23:49.560 --> 0:23:53.680
<v Speaker 2>He confessed to having wished for his father's death, and

0:23:53.840 --> 0:23:57.240
<v Speaker 2>on June twenty fourth, the jury did what it had

0:23:57.240 --> 0:24:02.159
<v Speaker 2>to do after such a confession, found Alexey guilty of

0:24:02.240 --> 0:24:07.119
<v Speaker 2>rebellion against the emperor. So Tsarevich Alexey, heir to the

0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:11.720
<v Speaker 2>Russian throne, was condemned to death, but it was up

0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:14.639
<v Speaker 2>to Peter the Great to decide whether to allow the

0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:19.280
<v Speaker 2>sentence to be carried out. In a tragic or perhaps

0:24:19.359 --> 0:24:24.000
<v Speaker 2>gracious twist of fate, Peter never had to make a decision.

0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:29.600
<v Speaker 2>Alexey fell ill, he requested his father see him, and

0:24:29.760 --> 0:24:35.960
<v Speaker 2>Peter did, reportedly crying alongside his dying son. Alexei died

0:24:36.080 --> 0:24:40.639
<v Speaker 2>on June twenty sixth, seventeen eighteen, at the age of

0:24:40.720 --> 0:24:46.840
<v Speaker 2>twenty eight. No one official acknowledged it explicitly, but it's

0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:50.920
<v Speaker 2>likely he simply did not survive the blows with the

0:24:51.160 --> 0:24:56.600
<v Speaker 2>no Alexey was stronger than he'd always thought, but weaker

0:24:56.640 --> 0:25:01.920
<v Speaker 2>than his father had always wished. Had not signed off

0:25:01.960 --> 0:25:05.280
<v Speaker 2>on condemning his own son to the death penalty, but

0:25:05.400 --> 0:25:13.359
<v Speaker 2>he did allow the torture that almost certainly killed him.

0:25:13.680 --> 0:25:17.720
<v Speaker 2>After Alexey's death, he was mourned like a tsarvich rather

0:25:17.800 --> 0:25:22.639
<v Speaker 2>than a criminal, interred in state. Peter the Great died

0:25:22.800 --> 0:25:27.240
<v Speaker 2>on February eighth, seventeen twenty five, at the age of

0:25:27.320 --> 0:25:31.639
<v Speaker 2>fifty two. He did not name a successor, and after

0:25:31.680 --> 0:25:36.199
<v Speaker 2>he died, the succession was confusing. Of the two baby

0:25:36.320 --> 0:25:40.000
<v Speaker 2>Peters who had given him such hope, his own little

0:25:40.040 --> 0:25:44.920
<v Speaker 2>son had died in seventeen nineteen at age three. His wife,

0:25:45.040 --> 0:25:48.880
<v Speaker 2>Catherine ruled as empress for two years until her own

0:25:48.960 --> 0:25:53.719
<v Speaker 2>death in seventeen twenty seven, and then, maybe in small

0:25:53.800 --> 0:25:58.560
<v Speaker 2>revenge for Alexey, it was his own son Peter, who

0:25:58.600 --> 0:26:03.400
<v Speaker 2>took the throne for not quite three years before he

0:26:03.480 --> 0:26:08.480
<v Speaker 2>died at age fourteen. Peter the Great is not the

0:26:08.520 --> 0:26:12.920
<v Speaker 2>only Russian monarch to have killed his son. Nearly one

0:26:13.000 --> 0:26:17.080
<v Speaker 2>hundred and fifty years earlier, in fifteen eighty one, the

0:26:17.200 --> 0:26:21.480
<v Speaker 2>first Czar of Russia, Ivan the Terrible, had flown into

0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:25.440
<v Speaker 2>a rage and killed his own son and only competent heir,

0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:29.679
<v Speaker 2>when the boy was twenty seven, almost exactly the same

0:26:29.760 --> 0:26:34.719
<v Speaker 2>age as Alexei was when he died. But Peter was

0:26:34.760 --> 0:26:39.080
<v Speaker 2>not raging like Ivan was when he coolly instructed the

0:26:39.160 --> 0:26:43.520
<v Speaker 2>court to treat Alexey as they would any other accused criminal.

0:26:44.080 --> 0:26:47.800
<v Speaker 2>So far as I know, said the historian Jonathan Day,

0:26:48.280 --> 0:26:52.240
<v Speaker 2>there were no other European monarchs who oversaw the torture

0:26:52.359 --> 0:26:56.520
<v Speaker 2>of their own children. What would Peter have done if

0:26:56.520 --> 0:27:00.359
<v Speaker 2>his son had not died. Would he have sent Tint

0:27:00.400 --> 0:27:04.080
<v Speaker 2>his own son to the death penalty? We can't know.

0:27:04.840 --> 0:27:09.440
<v Speaker 2>History can only be left to wonder. But at Alexei's funeral,

0:27:09.840 --> 0:27:15.200
<v Speaker 2>the preacher quoted from the Old Testament, Oh absalom, my son,

0:27:15.760 --> 0:27:23.959
<v Speaker 2>my son. That's the story of Russian Emperor Peter the

0:27:23.960 --> 0:27:28.800
<v Speaker 2>Great killing his son, albeit indirectly. But stick around after

0:27:28.880 --> 0:27:32.159
<v Speaker 2>a brief sponsor break to hear about the women in

0:27:32.240 --> 0:27:41.080
<v Speaker 2>the story. You may be wondering a little bit about

0:27:41.119 --> 0:27:46.119
<v Speaker 2>the women in the story. As for Afrisina, Alexey's beloved mistress,

0:27:46.280 --> 0:27:52.040
<v Speaker 2>intended wife, and ultimate betrayer, her child disappeared from history.

0:27:52.640 --> 0:27:57.600
<v Speaker 2>No one knows whether Alexey and Afrisina's child lived or died,

0:27:58.160 --> 0:28:02.280
<v Speaker 2>or where the child was born. Afrosina got married herself

0:28:02.320 --> 0:28:07.520
<v Speaker 2>and lived another thirty years in Saint Petersburg. As for Eudoxia,

0:28:07.840 --> 0:28:12.200
<v Speaker 2>Peter the Great, unloved first wife and Alexey's mother, who

0:28:12.200 --> 0:28:15.680
<v Speaker 2>had been banished to a convent. Her lover had been

0:28:15.760 --> 0:28:20.080
<v Speaker 2>brutally tortured and her brother was killed over the Alexey affair,

0:28:20.800 --> 0:28:25.040
<v Speaker 2>but she wound up with the last laugh. It was

0:28:25.080 --> 0:28:29.119
<v Speaker 2>her grandson, Peter Alexevitch, who wound up on the throne

0:28:29.320 --> 0:28:34.200
<v Speaker 2>after Catherine the second Wife's death, and when he got there,

0:28:34.560 --> 0:28:39.840
<v Speaker 2>Eudoxia left the convent at last, despite her husband having

0:28:39.960 --> 0:28:53.000
<v Speaker 2>banished her Eudoxia, Wound Up Dying at Court. Noble Blood

0:28:53.120 --> 0:28:56.800
<v Speaker 2>is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from

0:28:56.880 --> 0:29:00.920
<v Speaker 2>Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danash Schwartz,

0:29:01.320 --> 0:29:06.280
<v Speaker 2>with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender,

0:29:06.520 --> 0:29:10.280
<v Speaker 2>Amy Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and

0:29:10.440 --> 0:29:16.200
<v Speaker 2>produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima il Kaali and

0:29:16.360 --> 0:29:20.800
<v Speaker 2>executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For

0:29:20.920 --> 0:29:26.360
<v Speaker 2>more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:29:26.600 --> 0:29:30.520
<v Speaker 2>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.