1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,600
Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim

2
00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:11,440
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie listener Discretion advised. For most,

3
00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:16,280
Speaker 1: it was just another very early morning in Imperial Russia.

4
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,840
Speaker 1: The large estate was beginning to come to life as

5
00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:25,480
Speaker 1: servants woke up and started their morning work, but the

6
00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: true hustle and bustle of the day was still a

7
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,440
Speaker 1: ways off. Still in the silence, there was a man

8
00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,920
Speaker 1: creeping towards one of the mansion's many bedrooms. There was

9
00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:41,320
Speaker 1: a woman asleep inside the bedroom, completely unaware as to

10
00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:46,040
Speaker 1: what was about to happen to her. Perhaps she should

11
00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,840
Speaker 1: have had an inkling. The woman still asleep in bed

12
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,960
Speaker 1: was the de facto lady of the house, the mistress

13
00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:58,960
Speaker 1: of the estate owner, and she, Natasia Mincoln, was so

14
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,360
Speaker 1: cruel that she had pushed the staff to the breaking point.

15
00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:10,000
Speaker 1: She was abusive, petty, vindictive and violent. And now there

16
00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,680
Speaker 1: was a man standing over her bed brandishing a large

17
00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:20,800
Speaker 1: kitchen knife. What happened next was intimate, visceral, and brutal.

18
00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,760
Speaker 1: The murder was so brutal it would traumatize even the

19
00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:30,320
Speaker 1: man who carried it out, and it would devastate Natasia's lover,

20
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,600
Speaker 1: a man many people considered to be the cruelest man

21
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,000
Speaker 1: in Tsarist Russia. Back when he and Natasia had both

22
00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,840
Speaker 1: been alive, it must have seemed like a perfect match.

23
00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:52,400
Speaker 1: I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. Very little

24
00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:57,360
Speaker 1: information has survived about the woman known as Madame Mincoln.

25
00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,840
Speaker 1: I first encountered her name as a party goer at

26
00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:07,120
Speaker 1: Satan's ball in Mikhail Bolgokov's novel The Master and Margarita.

27
00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,280
Speaker 1: Even if you haven't read the novel, you can probably

28
00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,600
Speaker 1: guess that no one portrayed as a guest of the

29
00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:18,840
Speaker 1: Devil is considered one of history's good guys. Like so

30
00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:23,239
Speaker 1: many women from history, the most famous thing about Madame

31
00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:28,680
Speaker 1: Mincoln was her association with a powerful man. In her case,

32
00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:34,160
Speaker 1: that man was Alexei arek Chayev, the infamously cruel military

33
00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:39,640
Speaker 1: adviser to Sar Alexander the First. Though she's referred to

34
00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:44,360
Speaker 1: frequently as Madam Mincoln, she wasn't technically a madam in

35
00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:48,040
Speaker 1: the formal sense, but rather the mistress of the man

36
00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:53,959
Speaker 1: whose cruelty became legendary. While his reign of terror operated

37
00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:59,200
Speaker 1: on a national scale, hers was contained to the domestic sphere,

38
00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:04,080
Speaker 1: but it was no less brutal within those confines. Arak

39
00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,320
Speaker 1: Chayev's rise to power began under Czar Paul the First

40
00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,760
Speaker 1: in the seventeen nineties, under whom he quickly gained favor

41
00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:18,360
Speaker 1: thanks to his artillery expertise and rigid discipline. He was

42
00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,760
Speaker 1: given the title of count. When Paul was murdered in

43
00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:28,320
Speaker 1: eighteen oh one, the new young Czar Alexander inherited not

44
00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,640
Speaker 1: just a throne but also his father's most capable and

45
00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:38,400
Speaker 1: most ruthless military adviser. Czar Alexander the First was a

46
00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:43,680
Speaker 1: complicated ruler, a man who spoke eloquently about liberal reforms

47
00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:49,120
Speaker 1: and Enlightenment ideals. In his early years, he created new universities,

48
00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:54,720
Speaker 1: made improvements to the country's legal system, and appointed progressive advisers.

49
00:03:55,160 --> 00:04:00,160
Speaker 1: He dreamed, at least publicly, of modernizing Russia into a

50
00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:05,760
Speaker 1: European style state where even peasants might enjoy citizenship rights,

51
00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,560
Speaker 1: but he never followed through on the most meaningful reforms,

52
00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:15,520
Speaker 1: and eventually he lost interest in affecting positive change. That

53
00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:20,559
Speaker 1: impulse grew exponentially after the war with Napoleon, which left

54
00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:27,400
Speaker 1: Alexander increasingly conservative and religiously fervent. He created the Holy

55
00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:34,120
Speaker 1: Alliance to squash potential revolutionary uprisings across Europe and reversed

56
00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:39,839
Speaker 1: many of his earlier progressive policies into that moral swamp

57
00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:45,640
Speaker 1: stepped Irakchaiev, whose power grew in direct correlation with his

58
00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:52,600
Speaker 1: csar's descent into reactionary conservatism. For over a decade, Arakcheyev

59
00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:56,920
Speaker 1: was arguably the most influential figure in the Russian government,

60
00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:02,400
Speaker 1: with authority that at times seemed to exceed the Tsar's own.

61
00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:08,159
Speaker 1: Those who once dreamed of bringing European enlightenment back to

62
00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:13,960
Speaker 1: Russia found their country unchanged, with peasants still treated as

63
00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:21,480
Speaker 1: slaves and Arakcheyev's military colonies imposing forced labor under violent discipline.

64
00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:26,320
Speaker 1: One officer wrote that returning to Russia after Paris and

65
00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:31,120
Speaker 1: London quote felt like going back to a prehistoric past.

66
00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:36,720
Speaker 1: One contemporary described the era as quote an iron age

67
00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:41,520
Speaker 1: of gloom and cruelty, beneath which almost the whole of

68
00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:47,760
Speaker 1: Russia groaned. The gratuitous and arbitrary violence was perhaps the

69
00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:52,520
Speaker 1: worst feature of the country. Beatings everywhere from army camps

70
00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:58,200
Speaker 1: to schools, from market squares to family homes. Stories of

71
00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:03,120
Speaker 1: Count arek Chayev's own own personal cruelty were widespread and

72
00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:09,719
Speaker 1: frankly stomach turning. He allegedly executed two junior officers by

73
00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:13,960
Speaker 1: bearing them up to their necks and leaving them to die.

74
00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:19,720
Speaker 1: Another officer lost his head entirely. At Grizino, the expansive

75
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:24,880
Speaker 1: estate given to Arakchev by Zar Paul, the count imposed

76
00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:31,120
Speaker 1: bizarre and tyrannical rules. Local peasant women were required to

77
00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:35,600
Speaker 1: produce a child each year, and because he enjoyed hearing

78
00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:40,599
Speaker 1: nightingales sing, he ordered all cats on his property to

79
00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:46,880
Speaker 1: be exterminated. In this world of systemic brutality, we meet

80
00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:53,680
Speaker 1: Natasia Lincoln. Details about her background are scarce and contradictory.

81
00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,159
Speaker 1: What we know is that she was physically striking, with

82
00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:02,640
Speaker 1: dark features and and what one observer called quote the

83
00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,960
Speaker 1: figure of a grenadier. No one at Grizzino seemed to

84
00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,040
Speaker 1: know where she came from, but one thing was certain.

85
00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:15,600
Speaker 1: She wasn't one of them. According to one account, Irakcheyev

86
00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:20,560
Speaker 1: had purchased her from an advertisement in a Saint Petersburg newspaper.

87
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:26,440
Speaker 1: It's not explicitly stated what her advertised services were, but

88
00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,240
Speaker 1: based on the quick progression of their relationship, we can

89
00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,840
Speaker 1: make some assumptions about their general nature, although it's possible

90
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,800
Speaker 1: the original arrangement with her started with her merely working

91
00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:44,960
Speaker 1: as a servant. Immediately smitten with Natasia, Irakcheyev granted her

92
00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:50,320
Speaker 1: freedom and provided her with an endowment of several thousand roubles.

93
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,520
Speaker 1: The peasants at Grizino, unable to explain the influence she

94
00:07:55,560 --> 00:08:00,000
Speaker 1: wielded over their master, became convinced she was a romani,

95
00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:04,680
Speaker 1: which with magical abilities. It's possible that she was a

96
00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:09,320
Speaker 1: master manipulator, but it's also possible that the Count saw

97
00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:14,080
Speaker 1: something in Natasia Mancan that he recognized in himself a

98
00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:19,680
Speaker 1: boundless capacity for cruelty. Either way, he needed her in

99
00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:24,240
Speaker 1: his life. He installed her at Grazino as his housekeeper

100
00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:29,800
Speaker 1: and gave her ultimate authority. When Irakchev was called back

101
00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:34,760
Speaker 1: to public service, he left the estate entirely in Natasia's hands,

102
00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:40,800
Speaker 1: with complete confidence in her managerial ability. It's unclear how

103
00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,840
Speaker 1: much experience she had at managing an estate of that size,

104
00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,200
Speaker 1: but she took to it like a natural. She ran

105
00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:53,080
Speaker 1: the place straight out of an Irakchev playbook. She was strict,

106
00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:58,200
Speaker 1: exacting and punishingly cruel. In this way, she was a

107
00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:02,719
Speaker 1: perfect mirror of Iraqi Chayev himself, but she was also

108
00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:08,240
Speaker 1: sowing the seeds of her own destruction. In the spring

109
00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:12,760
Speaker 1: of eighteen o three, Arakcheyev left for Saint Petersburg. No

110
00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:15,800
Speaker 1: sooner was he back in the capitol than he received

111
00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:21,040
Speaker 1: word from home Natasia was pregnant with his child. The

112
00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:26,640
Speaker 1: news created immediate suspicion among the local population. Natasia had

113
00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:31,839
Speaker 1: already made herself deeply unpopular at Gerzino, ruling the household

114
00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:37,440
Speaker 1: with the same iron discipline Arakchev himself employed. The serfs

115
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:42,760
Speaker 1: didn't trust her horrendous behavior aside, her exotic looks and

116
00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:47,200
Speaker 1: murky origins certainly didn't help endear her to the local

117
00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:53,040
Speaker 1: peasant population. Rumors spread that she had faked the pregnancy,

118
00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:59,200
Speaker 1: orchestrating an elaborate deception involving a widowed peasant woman and

119
00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:03,640
Speaker 1: a stolen infant, though such a scheme would have required

120
00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:09,680
Speaker 1: near impossible coordination and secrecy, But when the child finally came,

121
00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:15,560
Speaker 1: the gossip only intensified. The baby was a boy named Shumsky,

122
00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:20,080
Speaker 1: with bright red hair and blue eyes, neither of which

123
00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:26,040
Speaker 1: were seen in his parents. Despite the physical irregularities, Arakcheyev

124
00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:31,280
Speaker 1: never questioned the child's parentage and raised Shumsky as his son.

125
00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,960
Speaker 1: A couple of years later, still in Saint Petersburg, Arakcheyev

126
00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:41,240
Speaker 1: made the unexpected decision to take a wife. His bride

127
00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:47,160
Speaker 1: was Anastasia Vassilievna Kumatova, eighteen years old, the shy and

128
00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:51,960
Speaker 1: beautiful daughter of wealthy landowners. His plan was to bring

129
00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:55,920
Speaker 1: his new wife to Gruzino and arrange a marriage for

130
00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,439
Speaker 1: his former mistress, Natasia. He saw no reason why everyone

131
00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:05,000
Speaker 1: couldn't coexist on the large estate. For Natasia, we can

132
00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:10,960
Speaker 1: imagine the situation would have been panic inducing. Whatever security

133
00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,240
Speaker 1: she thought she'd built through her position and her son

134
00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:19,720
Speaker 1: now seemed threatened by a legitimate wife with good social

135
00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:24,840
Speaker 1: standing and imperial connections. But Natasia didn't need to worry

136
00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:31,720
Speaker 1: for long. The marriage collapsed quickly. Arakcheyev's controlling nature proved

137
00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:35,520
Speaker 1: too much for the young woman, and his wife soon

138
00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,719
Speaker 1: withdrew to the countryside. One has to wonder if the

139
00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:44,120
Speaker 1: presence of Madame Mincoln at the estate had anything to

140
00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:48,720
Speaker 1: do with the bride's eagerness to get away. With the

141
00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:54,920
Speaker 1: marriage dissolved, the bond between Arakcheyev and Natasia only intensified.

142
00:11:55,360 --> 00:12:00,760
Speaker 1: He managed government business in Saint Petersburg while she ran Grizzino,

143
00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:07,000
Speaker 1: sending him regular correspondents about estate operations. Her letters also

144
00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:13,040
Speaker 1: revealed deep emotion mixed with constant anxiety about his fidelity.

145
00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:17,840
Speaker 1: She wrote of her complete devotion while acknowledging her fear

146
00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:22,360
Speaker 1: that younger women might replace her in his affections. But

147
00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:28,439
Speaker 1: while Natasia's emotional position remained vulnerable and dependent on favor,

148
00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:33,559
Speaker 1: she held complete authority over the household staff, and she

149
00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:39,440
Speaker 1: exercised that authority with increasing cruelty. By the summer of

150
00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:44,640
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty five, conditions at Grizino had deteriorated to a

151
00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:51,280
Speaker 1: crisis point. Natasia became more erratic and more vicious, dishing

152
00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:56,440
Speaker 1: out harsh punishments for trivial offenses. The staff understood a

153
00:12:56,559 --> 00:13:01,800
Speaker 1: grim reality. Arakcheyev was either un away aware of Mincoln's behavior,

154
00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:06,040
Speaker 1: or he was aware and simply didn't care, and, given

155
00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:11,160
Speaker 1: his history, possibly even encouraged her behavior. The staff knew

156
00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,200
Speaker 1: that any complaint to him would surely result in far

157
00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:19,840
Speaker 1: worse treatment. They were trapped with no avenue for appeal.

158
00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:25,960
Speaker 1: Three young maids in particular, suffered under Natasha's rule. She

159
00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,720
Speaker 1: tormented them constantly, no doubt fueled by jealousy of their

160
00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,760
Speaker 1: youth and beauty, as well as the rage she couldn't

161
00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:40,079
Speaker 1: direct at her benefactor. She ordered the young women beaten

162
00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:44,640
Speaker 1: and imprisoned in the house jail for the slightest of infractions.

163
00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,560
Speaker 1: One account describes her attacking a maid's face with a

164
00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:55,600
Speaker 1: heated curling tongue. At least one maid unsuccessfully attempted to

165
00:13:55,800 --> 00:14:01,600
Speaker 1: poison Natasia. The situation reached critical breaking point in August

166
00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:06,000
Speaker 1: when the butler took his own life after Natasia threatened

167
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:11,120
Speaker 1: to report him to Arakcheyev over a disorganized cellar. A

168
00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:17,360
Speaker 1: member of the staff approached Vasili Antonov, whose sister Praskovia

169
00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:22,120
Speaker 1: was one of the three tormented maids. Vasili was offered

170
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:25,720
Speaker 1: money to kill the lady of the house, but he

171
00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:31,880
Speaker 1: couldn't bring himself to do it, not yet anyway. Shortly

172
00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:38,040
Speaker 1: after Irakcheyev departed for the Novgorod colonies one Sunday, Natasia

173
00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:44,080
Speaker 1: unleashed her rage on her maids again. Prascovia was beaten twice,

174
00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:49,800
Speaker 1: the others locked up. Days later, early Thursday, morning, Prascovia

175
00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:54,280
Speaker 1: found Natasia asleep. Her own body was still riddled with

176
00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,640
Speaker 1: aches and pains from her recent beating, and as she

177
00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:02,360
Speaker 1: looked down on her sleeping mistress, something snapped inside her.

178
00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:06,720
Speaker 1: She ran to find her brother, Vasily and begged him

179
00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,320
Speaker 1: to act, now, insisting that she would accept all of

180
00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,360
Speaker 1: the blame. Her brother Vasily took a kitchen knife and

181
00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,520
Speaker 1: followed his sister to Madam Minkin's quarters. He tried to

182
00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:22,600
Speaker 1: move quietly, but a small dog started barking and had

183
00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:26,680
Speaker 1: to be carried out by Prascovia. Alone with his target,

184
00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:32,160
Speaker 1: Vasily summoned the courage and attacked. His first attempt missed

185
00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:34,920
Speaker 1: the mark, and he slashed and Tassia on the cheek.

186
00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,080
Speaker 1: She woke immediately and threw herself from the bed, screaming.

187
00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:44,200
Speaker 1: The struggle was violent and ugly, but ultimately Madame Minkin

188
00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:48,680
Speaker 1: lost the fight to keep her life. Vasily threw down

189
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,840
Speaker 1: the knife and ran from her chambers in a panic.

190
00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,560
Speaker 1: No one at Grissino would later admit to hearing their

191
00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:01,720
Speaker 1: mistress's screams, despite people being away wake and the windows

192
00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:07,560
Speaker 1: not yet fitted with winter insulation. Eventually, Prascovia's sobbing was

193
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:12,440
Speaker 1: impossible to ignore. The gruesome scene was discovered, and the

194
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:18,560
Speaker 1: household was thrown into panic. Arakcheyev was expected back that evening.

195
00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:23,360
Speaker 1: How could they tell Russia's most fearsome man that his

196
00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:29,000
Speaker 1: beloved companion of two decades had been murdered by servants.

197
00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,440
Speaker 1: They sent a messenger to find him and bring him

198
00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:36,400
Speaker 1: the news that Natasia had fallen gravely ill. When his

199
00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:40,920
Speaker 1: carriage neared Grazino, Arakcheyev stopped a man from the estate

200
00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:45,560
Speaker 1: to ask about Natasia's condition. The man, unaware that the

201
00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:50,320
Speaker 1: truth had been withheld, answered directly. Her head had barely

202
00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:56,120
Speaker 1: remained attached to her body. Arakchev's response was immediate and total.

203
00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,960
Speaker 1: He threw himself onto the ground, tearing at his head

204
00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:04,040
Speaker 1: and the earth, shouting, you have killed her, Kill me too,

205
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,879
Speaker 1: Kill me, and kill me quickly. The people traveling with

206
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:12,320
Speaker 1: him stood frozen, watching something no one had thought possible,

207
00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:17,480
Speaker 1: The cruelest man in Russia reduced to a sobbing, broken

208
00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:22,800
Speaker 1: figure at their feet. When Arakcheyev reached Grizino, he went

209
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:26,560
Speaker 1: straight to Natasia's room and threw himself onto her body.

210
00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:30,600
Speaker 1: He stopped eating and refused to shave. He took a

211
00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:35,320
Speaker 1: handkerchief stained with his slain mistress's blood, tied it around

212
00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:39,760
Speaker 1: his neck, and refused to remove it. The household staff

213
00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:43,680
Speaker 1: were placed under arrest while officials worked to identify who

214
00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:49,399
Speaker 1: was responsible. In a bizarre decision, vasili Antonov chose not

215
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:53,639
Speaker 1: to flee. Instead, he remained at the estate, even helping

216
00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:58,639
Speaker 1: prepare Natasia's body for burial, apparently betting that his sister's

217
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:03,960
Speaker 1: confession would be treated as the complete story. Questions arose

218
00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:09,040
Speaker 1: about the burial itself. Given the nature of Natasia's relationship

219
00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,800
Speaker 1: with Arakcheyev was never formalized by marriage, The local priest

220
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,119
Speaker 1: sought guidance from church authorities about whether she could be

221
00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:23,639
Speaker 1: buried on consecrated ground. When Arakcheyev found out, he erupted,

222
00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,040
Speaker 1: declaring that a priest who would ask such a question

223
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,560
Speaker 1: had no place anywhere on earth. Even through his grief,

224
00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,400
Speaker 1: the Tsar's Grand Vizier always had a death threat at

225
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:39,399
Speaker 1: the ready. At the funeral, Natasia was lowered into a

226
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:44,240
Speaker 1: grave next to the one Arakcheyev had long ago earmarked

227
00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:49,200
Speaker 1: for himself. He rushed forward as the coffin descended, bending

228
00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,600
Speaker 1: over it and crying out, kill me. You villains. You

229
00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,639
Speaker 1: have taken my only friend for me. Now I have

230
00:18:55,800 --> 00:19:00,600
Speaker 1: lost everything. The next day, Arakcheyev composed a message to

231
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:05,680
Speaker 1: Tsar Alexander the First. In it, he described himself as destroyed,

232
00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,960
Speaker 1: his health and reason shattered by loss. He wrote that

233
00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,240
Speaker 1: he only wanted to die and could no longer handle

234
00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:20,040
Speaker 1: any official responsibilities without authorization. He immediately transferred his military

235
00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:25,679
Speaker 1: and administrative duties to subordinates, a legally questionable action that

236
00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:30,800
Speaker 1: would have brought severe consequences for anyone else. When Alexander

237
00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:35,320
Speaker 1: received word of the tragedy at Grazino, the Tsar's first

238
00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:40,240
Speaker 1: assumption was political. He guessed that Natasia had been killed

239
00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:44,600
Speaker 1: as part of a scheme to force Arakcheyev from power,

240
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,520
Speaker 1: not that she was murdered in response to her own actions.

241
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:55,000
Speaker 1: The Tsar was initially displeased by Irakcheyev's unauthorized transfer of power,

242
00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:59,159
Speaker 1: but he ultimately forgave him, chalking it up to his

243
00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:05,639
Speaker 1: griefust tree brick. State justice came quickly for the murderous siblings,

244
00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:11,320
Speaker 1: and as to be expected, it was extreme. Though Prascovia confessed,

245
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:16,679
Speaker 1: Vasily was unable to avoid blame, and he received a

246
00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:21,760
Speaker 1: sentence of one hundred and seventy five lashes. Prascovia received

247
00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:27,400
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty five. Both punishments proved fatal, as

248
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:31,480
Speaker 1: they were surely designed to be. The system had completed

249
00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:36,720
Speaker 1: its cycle cruelty leading to desperation, which led to cruelty

250
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,399
Speaker 1: of a deadlier nature, which in turn was met with

251
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:46,880
Speaker 1: deadly cruelty again. Zar Alexander I died in November eighteen

252
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:51,760
Speaker 1: twenty five, just months after Natasia's murder, and the new Czar,

253
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:57,879
Speaker 1: Nicholas the first had different advisors and different priorities. Arekcheyev

254
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:02,119
Speaker 1: returned to Gruzino permanently living at the scene of the

255
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,960
Speaker 1: crime until his own death in eighteen thirty four. He

256
00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:09,920
Speaker 1: built a monument to Natasia on the grounds and visited

257
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:15,480
Speaker 1: it often. What happened at Grizino wasn't just a domestic tragedy.

258
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:21,640
Speaker 1: It reflected the larger system Rakchayev had spent decades constructing

259
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,840
Speaker 1: and maintaining. For more than twenty years, he had been

260
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:31,240
Speaker 1: among Russia's most powerful figures, creating an environment where violence

261
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:35,399
Speaker 1: functioned as the default method of control. The culture of

262
00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:39,800
Speaker 1: systemic brutality that Arakchev helped establish at the national level

263
00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:44,200
Speaker 1: had filtered into his own household. When looking at what

264
00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:48,280
Speaker 1: you might call complicated women in history, there is often

265
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:52,560
Speaker 1: the urge to rationalize behavior by looking at the bigger picture.

266
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:58,240
Speaker 1: Systemic injustices and historical circumstances can often go a long

267
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,600
Speaker 1: way towards viewing, at some point life through a more

268
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:07,480
Speaker 1: generous lens. But Natasia Mincoln had a well documented history

269
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:12,400
Speaker 1: of cruelty and abuse, and no amount of context can

270
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,960
Speaker 1: justify the pain that she caused for others. She certainly

271
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,719
Speaker 1: did not deserve to be violently murdered for it, of course,

272
00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,640
Speaker 1: But for the serfs at Grazino, there was nowhere else

273
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,760
Speaker 1: to turn, and the chronic abuse had pushed them far

274
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:33,520
Speaker 1: beyond what people can be expected to endure. The Russian

275
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:38,680
Speaker 1: Revolution wouldn't derive for nearly another century, but common themes

276
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:44,120
Speaker 1: were already visible. Sustained oppression with no possibility of relief

277
00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: eventually produces violent resistance. Natasia Mincoln's death was a small

278
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:56,159
Speaker 1: scale demonstration of what occurs when systemic cruelty becomes intolerable

279
00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 1: and people don't see any other ways out. That's the

280
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:06,479
Speaker 1: tragic story of Madame Mincoln. But keep listening after a

281
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:10,200
Speaker 1: brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about

282
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 1: her legacy in literature. Natasia Mincoln and Count Arek Chayev

283
00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:25,679
Speaker 1: had more in common than a shared son and a

284
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:30,400
Speaker 1: taste for cruelty. They were both immortalized in fiction. As

285
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, Madame Mincoln

286
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,639
Speaker 1: is mentioned in the infamous Satan's Ball seen in the

287
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,920
Speaker 1: novel The Master and Margarita rubbing elbows with the rest

288
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:48,320
Speaker 1: of history's most damned sinners. Koroviyev, the Devil's assistant, presents

289
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:54,040
Speaker 1: her to the gathering, quote, her Majesty is delighted. Madame Mincoln, Ah,

290
00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 1: how pretty she is? A trifle nervous, though, why did

291
00:23:57,840 --> 00:23:59,879
Speaker 1: she have to burn her maid with a pair of

292
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: curling tongs? Of course, in the way she used them,

293
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,680
Speaker 1: it was bound to be fatal. The author was, no

294
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:13,320
Speaker 1: doubt echoing in satire what many of Madame Mincoln's contemporaries

295
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: must have thought. Yes, it was said that she was murdered,

296
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,520
Speaker 1: but she must have known she had it coming. Compared

297
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:25,000
Speaker 1: to that, Erek Chaiyev's literary legacy actually treats him relatively

298
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:30,080
Speaker 1: gently In Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. He appears as

299
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: an unpleasant minor character, rude and harsh, with quote scowling brows,

300
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:43,440
Speaker 1: dull eyes, and an overhanging red nose. Tolstoy criticizes him

301
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:48,119
Speaker 1: in the novel's epilogue as a symbol of governmental dysfunction,

302
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,879
Speaker 1: but he still afforded a measure of civility. At the

303
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,359
Speaker 1: very least, he isn't literally portrayed as kicking his heels

304
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,879
Speaker 1: up in hell. It's a final lasting reminder that for

305
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:06,640
Speaker 1: Madame minkn, proximity to power wasn't always the same as

306
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:21,480
Speaker 1: actually halving it. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio

307
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,159
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is

308
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:29,480
Speaker 1: hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research

309
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:33,560
Speaker 1: by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and

310
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: Julia Milaney. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk,

311
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:44,440
Speaker 1: with supervising producer rima il KLi and executive producers Aaron Manke,

312
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:49,280
Speaker 1: Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

313
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:53,879
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

314
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,879
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows,