Alexander Dmitrievich Lanskoy, also called Sashin'kaAlexander, p. 216. or Sasha,Rounding, p. 351. ( – ) was a Russian general, favourite and lover of Catherine the Great between 1780 and 1784. It has been said that "[a] look at [her] correspondence with her favorites gives the impression she only had tender feelings for one, Alexander Lanskoi."
Biography
Family Lanskoy was born to "a Smolensk military officer"Jaques, p. 204. in "an impecunious family of the provincial nobility", where he received a modest education and later became a Horse Guards officer.Massie, p. 326. Sarah Jaques notes that "Lanskoy had grown up at court as a playmate and schoolmate of Catherine's children—Grand Duke Paul and Alexei Bobrinsky, her son with Gregory Orlov." Lanskoy's family, "for his position inevitably brought them great benefits too"Rounding, p. 349 and have been described as "greedy,"Sebag Montegiore, p. 175. were showered with gifts, all with Grigory Potemkin's approval.Sebag Montefiore, p. 182 Lanskoy's male relatives, which consisted of "his cousins Stepan and Paul, were [promoted] to ensign rank in the Preobrazhensky Guards" with Potemkin's approval, while his sisters, Elizaveta, Advot'ia and Varvara, the first of which was given a house at Saint Petersburg, were appointed maids of honor, married high-ranking husbands at ceremonies in court and later "became ladies-of-the-bedchamber." Though, Jaques notes that, "[Catherine's] largesse failed to win over his disapproving family who considered the couple's age disparity scandalous."Jaques, p. 254. Vasily Lanskoy, a contemporary statesman four years older than Lanskoy, has been erroneously identified as his brother, however he was his cousin, as his only male sibling was Yakov Dmitrievich, who was older than him. Sergey Stepanovich Lanskoy, who served as Russia's Minister of the Interior between 1855 and 1861, was an extended relative. It has been speculated that Petr Lavinskii (1776–1844), a governor general of Eastern Sibera, may have been his nephew through one of his five sisters. Additionally, Lanskoy's cousin, Vasily Lanskoy, was appointed president of the Provisional Highest Council, a temporary government, of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1813, while Vasily's brother, Dmitrii, served as governor of Vilno between 1802 and 1804. Another nephew, Alexander Chernyshyov, born in 1785 to his sister, Evdokiia Dmitrievna Lanskaia, served as Minister of War and in other high ranking positions. For her part, his niece, Varvara Yakovlevna Lanskaya, married Paisi Kaysarov.
Introduction to Catherine At age 22, Lanskoy had requested his transfer to a provincial garrison since he "lacked sufficient funds to keep pace with his brother officers" and doing so would entail lower expenses. However, "[h]is application was rejected at the College of War by [Grigory] Potemkin himself, who then, surprisingly, appointed the young man his personal aide-de-camp." James Harris, the British ambassador, claims Potemkin had another candidate, yet Potemkin supported the choice of Lanskoy.Sebag Montefiore, pp. 174–75. It was Potemkin, who benefitted from Catherine's stable relationship with Lanskoy by having more time to annex Crimea and build the Black Sea Fleet, who introduced Lanskoy to Catherine on Easter 1780, six months after her latest favourite, Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov, had left with Princess Anna Trubetskaya. However, Massie states that Lanskoy was officially installed in the favourite apartments "[i]n November 1779".
After undergoing "a doctor's check and an evening with her new eprouveuse [tester of male capacity], Anna Protasova," and being thirty years her junior, he became Catherine's favorite. However, Simon Sebag Montefiore, places this in doubt, save for the medical inspection.Sebag Montefiore, pp. 178–79 His tenure as favourite caused "[t]he parade [of favorites to] slow slightly"Alexander, p. 214. until his death, becoming the only one to serve till death, and the longest tenure since Orlov.Massie, p. 327. Virginia Rounding calls him "one of the most successful [choices] Catherine ever made,"Rounding, p. 348 and mentions that "he seemed to love and respect the Empress as much as she loved him." Robert K. Massie considers him to be one of the five favourites, including the lovers she had as Grand Duchess, whom she loved.Massie, p. 323. Massie expands that "his devotion to Catherine was based on her role as his teacher as much as her position as empress." Catriona Kelly has described Catherine as "nudging her lover...into cultivated pursuits." As with most of her favorites, Lanskoy was beneficiary of her "strongly pedagogical streak in seeking to cultivate promising young noblemen of mediocre background," which Lanskoy responded wholeheartedly to." Sebag Montefiore called him "Catherine's ideal pupil and companion [even though he] was not highly educated but [was] keen to learn." However, Marie Daniel Bourrée, Baron de Corberon, the French chargé d'affaires in Russia, wrote in September 1780, "'[h]e has just been bought [by Catherine] a library for 10,000 roubles, which he certainly will not read.'"Dixon, p. 265
As Catherine's favourite Unlike other favourites, Lanskoy did not, or at least attempted to not, involve himself in politics, did not accept bribes or ask for favors or gifts and shared her cultural interests. To cultivate and educate him, Catherine read works by Francesco Algarotti with Lanskoy, and "encouraged him to correspond in French with Baron Grimm," which she aided him in doing so. However, she also persuaded Lanskoy to educate himself culturally. Massie posits that, just as his successor Mamonov, Lanskoy was "one of the favourites "who showed interest in her intellectual and artistic pursuits [which made them] likely to last longer."Massie, p. 324.
He was made a chamberlain and promoted to general, received petitions and accompanied her in travels. In May and June 1780, Lanskoy accompanied Catherine to Mogilev to meet Joseph II.Woronzoff-Dashkoff, p. 250.Massie, p. 348.Jaques, p. 206. He "began to wield great influence in court" and that same year, Jason Smogorzewski appealed fruitlessly to Lanskoy to intercede with Catherine to name a successor to the Ruthenian Catholic Archeparchy of Polotsk–Vitebsk.
In 1781, Andrei Shuvalov, Catherine Shuvalova's husband, told Lanskoy rumours that Shuvalov himself had been spreading that Catherine would replace him with Pavel Dashkov, Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova's son, who was her closest female friend, causing Lanskoy to turn against both Dashkova and her son.Woronzoff-Dashkoff, p. 181. For her part "Dashkova was jealous, did not approve, and universally detested all of [Catherine's] favorites, especially...Orlov...Lanskoi, and...Zubov." When Catherine wrote to her son Paul and his wife when they both were travelling Western Europe between 1781 and 1782, she made no mention of Lanskoy being with her and her grandsons, even though he was present constantly.Rounding, p. 380.
In 1782, he and Potemkin collaborated to remove Count Orlov from court. The same year, Lanskoy's brother, Yakov, eloped with a foreign mistress, from Dresden to Paris, however, Catherine had him apprehended in Bar-le-Duc, and worked with Grimm and Frédéric-César de La Harpe, the future tutor to Catherine's grandson, to return him to Russia.Rounding, p. 401. On August 31, 1782, Lanskoy accompanied Catherine, Potemkin and Anna Protasova en route to visit a sick Ivan Betskoy and stopped at the recently unveiled Bronze Horseman. Later that December, both Lanskoy and Catherine were sick themselves "[having] come down with nasty colds," however, they received the recently elected Marshal of the Nobility of Moscow, Pyotr Sheremetev, and with Potemkin "and a handful [of other] of the empress's intimates [sat] up till late in the evening playing cards, chatting, and reminiscing about the old days." During June 1783 Lanskoy was part of Catherine's retinue that left Tsarskoye Selo when she travelled to and held a three-day negotiation with Gustav III at Frederikshamn.Rounding, p. 395. In mid-1783 he intervened twice in Samuel Bentham's courting of Countess Sophia Matushkina, Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn's niece, which Golitsyn's forbidding of was a scandal, even though both Lanskoy and Catherine encouraged the relationship at first. On the initial occasion, which might have been at Catherine's prompting, Lanskoy tried unsuccessfully to persuade Golitsyn's wife and Sophia's mother on Bentham's behalf by explaining that "the Empress thought they did wrong to oppose the young Countess's inclinations." However, Catherine, who had been aided in taking the throne by Golitsyn and who was one of her closest confidants, eventually ordered Lanskoy to intervene a second time to terminate the relationship.Sebag Montefiore, pp. 297–98. In April 1783, upon hearing of the death of Grigory Orlov, whom she had taken care of after his descent into insanity following the death of his wife, she commented on Lanskoy's support that "'[he] is tearing himself apart to help me bear my grief, but that makes me melt even more.'"Dixon, p. 266.Rounding, p. 393.Jaques, p. 237. However, during "Catherine's care and concern for [Orlov], and the time she was prepared to devote to him, appear[ed] to have offended both Potemkin and Lanskoy, who took to their beds in high dudgeon."Rounding, p. 389.
Illnesses and death Between July and August 1783, he suffered a fall from a horse,Alexander, p. 252. "an English animal that had already kicked him once before,"Rounding, p. 396. which caused him to be ill for six weeks. Catherine described his convalescence to Grimm, informing him that it "put him in bed for several days, but from which he is completely recovered, although his chest was bruised and he was spitting blood, but thanks to his excellent constitution, he doesn't seem to feel it anymore." This coincided with the illness of another friend, Alexander Mihkhailovich Golitsyn, and the birth of her first granddaughter, Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia, the combination of which she considered a bad omen. Catherine always worried about his health and would take leave of governmental duties whenever this occurred. This also carried itself onto other's actions, as Potemkin, who was forced to "[delay] his final orders to Suvorov" to develop a Russian presence in Persia, nonetheless, it was cut back and a smaller expedition sent later on.Sebag Montefiore, p. 233. Between 1780 and 1781, James Harris, the British ambassador, wished to strengthen Anglo-Russian relations, with George III having written a personal letter to her to arrange an alliance between the two nations, however Potemkin had to explain to Harris ""[y]ou have chosen an unlucky moment. The favorite [Lanskoy] lies dangerously ill; the cause of his illness and the uncertainty of recovery have so entirely unhinged the empress that she is incapable of employing her thoughts on any subject, and all ideas of ambition, of glory, of dignity, are absorbed in this one passion. Exhausted, she avoids everything involving activity or exertion.""Sebag Montefiore, p. 210. By March 1782, Harris thought that Lanskoy would not last as favorite, and would be removed,Rounding, pp. 381–82 taking as evidence the purchase of a house for him and "the preparation of the usual magnificent leave-taking presents",Rounding, p. 383 however, this did not come to be, as it was Catherine's wish that the relationship continue until her death.
She did not tell the details of the event, "her souffre-douleur" as Rounding called it, to Grimm until 14 of September, three months after the event.Rounding, p. 402. On Wednesday, 19 June, Lanskoy came down with a sore throat and "[o]n that day he came to me the moment his throat began to hurt him, and he told me that he was about to have a severe illness from which he would not recover I tried to banish this idea from his head..."