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The Russian nobility (Russian: Дворянство Dvoryanstvo) arose in the 14th century and essentially governed Russia until the October Revolution of 1917. The Russian word for nobility, Dvoryanstvo (дворянство), derives from the Russian word dvor (двор), meaning the Court of a prince or duke (kniaz) and later, of the tsar. A noble was called dvoryanin (pl. dvoryane). As in other countries, nobility was a status, a social category, but not a title.

DISCLAIMER: This list was created purely for use in a game, with some of the history of each family altered for use in the game. Any research done on my part for each family is purely amateur in nature and in no way should the information in this list be viewed as completely authentic or "complete"

Noble Families of Russia[]

Anrep[]

The House of Anrep
Ethnicity
Place of Origin Germany
Noble Title and Rank Count/ Countess
Current Residence Saint Petersburg
Founder Frederick Wilhelm I von Anrep
Founding 1710
Family Notoriety Strong Naval Tradition

Anrep is a family, belonging to Swedish and Russian nobility. The family originates from Anreppen, a village on Lippe river in Westfalia, Germany. In 15th century Anreps, belonging to the Teutonic Knights, settled in Livonia. In 1626, during the Thirty Years' War, this country became a dominion of Sweden. Anrep family was soon naturalized in Sweden and introduced to the Riddarhuset, or House of Knights, in 1635. According to Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, German von Anrep was a Field Marshal in Sweden in 16th century, and some Anreps were later also on French and Prussian military service .

By 1710, in the Great Northern War between Peter I of Russia and Charles XII of Sweden, Frederick Wilhelm I von Anrep, a captain in the Swedish army, had been taken to Moscow as a prisoner. From that time his branch of the family remained in Russia, serving the Tsars, generally in military or naval posts. Russian Anreps retained the Lutheran religion of their ancestors. Adolf Heinrich von Anrep (1717 - 1765) was the Landsmarshal of Livland, i.e. the chairman of the assembly of Livonian nobility. Heinrich Reinhold von Anrep (1760 – January 25, 1807) was a Russian general of cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars. Killed in the battle of Mohrungen. Roman von Anrep (died 1830), a son of the previous, was a colonel and later a major-general. He commanded a Uhlan regiment in Caucasus during Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 and was a confident of High Commander, Ivan Paskevich. Describing this campaign in his memoirs The voyage to Arzrum, Aleksandr Pushkin mentions R.R. Anrep. Later, in a letter to his wife, Pushkin referred to the death of R.R. Anrep, who had drowned in a swamp. The reason of the poet’s attention to the officer is probably the fact that both of them courted the same young girl, Annette Woolf, in 1826.

Joseph Carl von Anrep (1796 – 1860), a brother of the previous, was a colonel in Russian army, promoted to general shortly before his death. In 1853, by edict of Tzar, he was styled Count von Anrep-Elmpt in order to preserve the title of his wife’s father, Count von Elmpt. Reinhold von Anrep-Elmpt (1834 – 1888), a son of the previous, was a Russian explorer, who traveled intensively from 1870 in all five continents and published many volumes of his travel notes. Vassily Konstantinovich von Anrep (1852 – 1927) was a professor of forensic medicine and a Russian statesman. He had two sons, named after the first Russian saints, princes Boris and Gleb. Gleb Anrep (September 10, 1889 – January 9, 1955) was a physiologist, the follower of Ivan Pavlov, a member of the Royal Society from 1928, professor in University of Cambridge and in Cairo University. Boris Anrep (1883) was a Russian artist, active mostly in Britain, who devoted himself to the art of mosaics and achieved work of monumental character in many private and public places. Boris married Anna Akhmatova and the two had five children together while living abroad in England. Boris would die in 1969 and Anna would follow two years later. However, their children survived and with them the Anrep family was preserved into the 1990s.


Belosselsky-Belozersky[]

The House of Belosselsky-Belozersky
Ethnicity
Place of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Current Residence Moscow
Founder Yuri Dolgoruky (Founder of Moscow)
Founding Mid 1500s
Family Notoriety Promoters of Equestrian and Sailing Sports

The Belosselsky-Belozersky family is an aristocratic Russian family. The family of Belosselsky-Belozersky descends directly from the first Russian Princes, from the "Kiev Rus" period and the founder of this dynasty, Rurik (of Swedish Viking roots) which created its seat in Kiev around the years 870–890. The family traces its roots throughout the ruling houses of Russia until the mid 1500s, to Yuri Dolgoruky (founder of Moscow) and his grandsons who were grand princes of Kiev as well as in Vladimir-Suzdal principality. After the ascendancy of Ivan Kalita ("Moneybags") and the Romanov dynasty, the family were rulers of the Belozersk (White Lake) principality, north of Moscow. Gleb Vassilkovich was the first Belozersky prince to rule there. He had married Feodora Sartakovna a grand-daughter of the Mongol ruler of the Golden Horde Batu Khan; the latter Genghis Khan's grandson (making the current Belosselsky-Belozersky descendants of Genghis Khan as well as the founder of Russia, Prince Rurik. Finally, the family, after having lost the majority of its men in the historically important battle for Russia's independence, the battle of Kulikovo, against the tatar-mongol dominance, the few remaining princes slowly lost the control of the lands in the Belo Ozero area (White Lake). The family was relegated thereafter to a more minor ruling role over the lands of Belo Selo (Thus the name "Belosselsky" - of White Village) when the Moscow principality lead by Moscow Romanovs were slowly taking control over all the former semi-independent principalities of Russia. After a period of lesser prominence, but still providing military and political leaders, it became a major factor in support to Peter the Great's reforms, in building the Russian navy and providing diplomats and military leaders. In early 1800 Alexander Mikhailovich Belosselsky-Belozersky, due to his significant contributions to Russia in diplomacy, science and culture, was granted the right to bear the double princely name of Belosselsky-Belozersky from Emperor Paul I, in recognition of the Belosselsky branch being the single remaining such branch of the princes having ruled Belo Ozero and being of the Belozersky dynasty.

The Belosselsky-Belozersky princes owned the island of Krestovsky, in St. Petersburg, after it was purchased by Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Belosselsky-Belozersky around 1800, then used mainly as a summer residence. Around 1890, they moved there from their Nevsky Prospect No. 41 palace, by the Fontanka canal and Anichkov bridge, having sold their palace to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov. They had a beautiful large home built on the island (architecht, Rastrelli). Two of the last Belosselsky-Belozersky Princes to reside on Krestovsky Island were the sons of Konstantin Esperovich, Sergei Konstantinovich and Esper Konstantinovich Belosselsky-Belozersky. The "Krestovsky" was their estate in St. Petersburg until the Russian Revolution in 1917 forced them to leave Russia and all their possessions behind, including the Krestovsky Island and their estate on it. The two young Belosselsky-Belozersky Princes were successful sportsmen and promoters of equestrian and sailing sports. Sergei Konstantinovich was the second representative of Russia on the International Olympic Committee and worked closely with Baron de Coubertin (who launched the modern Olympic movement). Sergei was invited to be a member of the Organizing committee of the Paris Olympics of 1900 and took part in the equestrian competitions. His younger brother, Esper Konstantinovich was an avid sailor who won a bronze medal for Russia in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics

The Belosselsky-Belozersky family was forced to flee St. Petersburg and their Krestovsky Island estate during the 1917 revolution, leaving to the West and leaving no one in Russia. Prince Konstantin and his wife Nadezhda Dimitrievna (sister of General Mikhail Dimitrievich Skobelev, the Russian "White General" and hero of Shipka and Pleven battles of the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish war) had three daughters and two sons. The Russian Revolution split the family and their lives apart. Prince Konstantin Esperovich and Princess Nadezhda Dimitrievna fled to Vyborg in Finland during the late summer of 1917. They had acquired a private multi storey building by the Vyborg railway station. Eventually, as it became obvious that the events in St. Petersburg were not "temporary" and as the Finnish Civil War had commenced as well, between the Reds and the Whites, they gave up hope in returning and moved to London and then to Paris. Their daughter Olga Konstantinovna Orlova, her son Nicholas Vladimirovich with his wife Nadezhda Petrovna (a Romanov Princess) and daughter Irina Nicholayevna fled via Crimea (from Yalta) to France in the company of Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna on the British ship HMS Marlborough (Olga Konstantinovna had married Prince, Lieutenant General, General Adjutant of His Majesty and Chief of Chancellery, Vladimir N. Orlov). Her sister Elena Konstantinovna left with her husband Prince Kotchoubey, their estate "Dikanka" in Ukraine for France and Paris. The youngest daughter Princess Maria Konstantinovna ended up living in Brussels married to Major General Boris E.Hartman, commander of the Russian Imperial Chevalier Gardes/Horse Guards Regiment.

Of the two sons of Konstantin Esperovich and Nadezhda Dimitrievna, the older son Sergei Konstantinovich, after an illustrious military career, including as a commanding officer of the Novorossiisk Uhlans, fled with his family also to Vyborg at first and participated after this in the "White Movement" among other, as an adviser to General Yudenich, the commander of the Northwestern White Army (supported and financed by the British) and head of the Russian counterrevolutionary Northwestern "government", created with the help of Britain based at that time in Finland. In this capacity, he spent time in early 1918 in Finland as an envoy and liaison to General, later Marshal, Carl Gustav Mannerheim, a fellow-General and friend from the Russian Imperial Army who was the head of the White Army of Finland. Sergei Konstantinovich's attempts to persuade Mannerheim and the White Army of Finland to join the Yudenich army's attempt to take back St. Petersburg failed. Later he performed for the White Russians special duties as an envoy in London. He moved permanently to England late 1918. He lived in Tonbridge in Sussex where he died in 1954 and where he and his wife Susan Carlovna, née Whittier are buried in the Tonbridge cemetery. Prince Sergei Konstantinovich's older son Prince Sergei Sergeievich Belosselsky-Belozersky (1898–1978), fought with the Horse Guard in the WW I battles, returned to then Petrograd in 1918 and after having been arrested in Petrograd in mid-1918 by roaming red guards and imprisoned in both the Peter and Paul Fortress and in Kronstadt island naval base, but released on the orders of the infamous red commissar Moisei Uritsky fled via Finland to London and Paris before finally moving to the USA prior to WW II. A second son Andrew Sergeievich moved also with Sergei Konstantinovich to London and Tonbridge. He died childless. Surviving family of this Sergei Konstantinovich branch are daughters of Sergei Sergeievich and their families; Princess Marina Sergeievna Kazarda, (22.01.1945-) and Princess Tatiana Sergeievna Besamat (23.10.1947-). No direct male Belosselsky-Belozersky descendants remain in this "Sergeievich" branch of the family.

The younger son of Konstantin Esperovich Belosselsky-Belozersky, Prince Esper Konstantinovich, was an officer of the Baltic Fleet and had served as an officer on the imperial yachts "Alexandria" and the "Polar Star." During the first mutinies by the sailors based in Kronstadt, Esper Konstantinovich barely avoided capture -and likely murder- by the sailors. Together with his two young sons Georges Esperovich, Paul Esperovich their mother Madeleine Jakovlena (ne'e Moulin) fled to Finland at first and then to France. Meanwhile, Esper Konstantinovich' oldest son Konstantin Esperovich was with the horse guards in Kiev and was murdered there in January 1918 by a red guardist. Of this Rurikid princely family (meaning that the family has existing direct line of male, father to son, descendants from the Viking/Varangian Prince Rurik, who started Russia during the Kievan Rus period in 870-890s) there are still today direct male descendants. Esper Konstantinovich Belosselsky (1870–1921) moved to France, Paris, via Finland. Of his three sons, two had male descendants. His son Georges Esperovich (1913-2005), who remained in France had three sons, Patrick , Stephane and Michel Georgevich. Patrick and Stephane have sons Vincent Patrickevich and Antoine Stephanovich. Paul Esperovich (1917-2005) moved to and stayed in Finland after leaving France in 1922. He had a son, Paul Pavlovich who in turn has a son, Christian (Constantin) Pavlovich. There thus remain seven direct male descendants of the Rurikid Belosselsky-Belozerskys; now in the 32nd generation starting from Rurik as the first. The "Esperovich" branch (children of Esper Konstantinovich Belosselsky-Belozersky and their offspring) are the only surviving male branch of the Belosselsky-Belozerskys today and all hail their roots from Kievan Russia and most recently, up to the Russian Revolution in 1917, from St. Petersburg and their beautiful and sporty former estate there, the Krestovsky "Ostrov." Current living Belosselsky-Belozersky Princes are, by order of age, Paul Pavlovich (10.11.1948-), Patrick Georgevich (26.05.1955-), Stephane Georgevich (23.09.1957-) Michel Georgevich (23.09.1957-), Christian "Constantin" Pavlovich (19.06.1977-), Vincent Patrickevich (23.02.1989-) and Antoine Stephanovich (18.05.1989-). Belosselsky-Belozersky Princesses, living today, (in addition to Princes Marina Sergeievna and Tatiana Sergeievna,) from the Esperovich branch of Belosselsky-Belozersky are, in order of age: Veronique Georgevna (15.02.1954-), Diane Georgevna (27.05.1967-), Alison Pavlovna (13.12.1979-), Melissa Michailovna (24.04.1980-), Severine Patrickovna (17.04.1983-), Melody Michailovna (26.10.1985-), Chloe Stephanovna (30.10.1987-), Margaux Patrickovna (07.06.2010-), Thérése Patrickovna (21.07.2011-).

Bobrinsky[]

The House of Bobrinsky
Ethnicity
Place of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Count/Countess
Current Residence Saint Petersburg
Founder Aleksey Grigorevich Bobrinsky
Founding 1762
Family Notoriety Owners of the Bobrinsky Mining Company

The Counts Bobrinsky are a Russian noble family descending from Catherine the Great's natural son by Count Grigory Orlov, Aleksey Grigorievich Bobrinsky (1762-1813). The Russian Empress gave birth to her only illegitimate son on April 11, 1762, several months before her ascension to the throne. The child was named Aleksey after his uncle and godfather, Count Aleksey Orlov. He was brought up in Bobriki, a village in the Tula guberniya. On April 2, 1781 Catherine sent him a letter, in which she openly avowed her maternity. She long hesitated in choosing his surname, styling him Romanov one day and Sitsky the other, but finally settled on Bobrinsky, a surname derived from the estate he lived in. On the 5th day of his reign, Emperor Paul made his half-brother a Count of the Russian Empire and promoted him General-Major. He married Baroness Anna Dorothea von Ungern-Sternberg (1769-1846) and had issue which continues to this day. The first count Bobrinsky died on June 20, 1813 in his estate of Bogoroditsk, to the east of Tula. The Bobrinsky family nest in Bogoroditsk was designed by Ivan Starov and constructed in the 1770s and 1780s, starting in 1773. The nearby Kazanskaya church was completed by 1778. The park was laid out by the palace's administrator, Andrey Bolotov (1738-1833), who is better known as one of the first Russian economists. It was Bolotov who established the Children's Theatre in Bogoroditsk. The palace and estate were renovated in the 1870s. In the 20th century, the premises suffered enormous damage from the Bolsheviks, who demolished the wings of the palace in 1929, and from the Wehrmacht, who blew up the chateau in December 1941. The palace was restored in the 1960s and once again functions as the main estate for the surviving family. Aleksey's son Count Aleksey Alekseyevich Bobrinsky (1800-1868) is remembered as the founder of the sugar-processing industry in Imperial Russia. After brief and uneventful career at the royal court, he retired from service and settled in Bogoroditsk, establishing one of the first Russian sugar refineries there. Later, he moved his operations to the Ukraine, making various agricultural activities the chief source of his family income. It was thanks to him that Russia stopped importing sugar from abroad. He also published a treatise on economic theory and set up a society for development of railways, which financed the construction of the first railway in Russia. Bobrinsky's contributions to the national economics were commemorated by a bronze statue in Kiev.Unlike many other Russian nobles, the Bobrinskys continued as prosperous businessmen after the 1861 emancipation of serfs, starting coal-mining in their estates near Tula and helping to build railways all over Russia. Unsurprisingly, Aleksey Alekseyevich's second son Count Vladimir Alekseyevich Bobrinsky (1824-98) served as Minister of Transportation in 1868-71, succeeded in this post by his cousin, Count Aleksey Pavlovich Bobrinsky (1826-1894). The eldest great-grandson of Count Aleksey Alekseyevich was Count Aleksey Aleksandrovich Bobrinskoy (1852-1927), who led the Council of United Nobility starting in 1906 and represented the nobility of the St Petersburg guberniya in the Senate and the 3rd State Duma. He was appointed into the State Council of Imperial Russia in 1912. During World War I, Bobrinskoy was elected Chairman of the Russian-English Bank. In 1916, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Interior and Minister of Agriculture. The October Revolution forced him to emigrate to France, where he actively campaigned for the monarchist cause. Count Vladimir Alekseyevich Bobrinsky (1868-1927) was the third son of Count Aleksey Pavlovich. He represented Russian nationalists in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th State Dumas, advocating speedy Russification of border regions and supporting Pyotr Stolypin's reforms. Like most of the Bobrinskys, he emigrated to France following the revolutionary nationalization of their family enterprises. Apart from politics, Count Aleksey Alexandrovich was a noted historian and archaeologist, Chairman of the Imperial Archaeological Commission (1886), Vice-President of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1889), and Chairman of the Free Economic Society (1894). He led the excavations of Scythian mounds near Kerch and Kiev, describing some of his findings in the monograph on Tauric Chersonesos (1905). He was in charge of the extraction and publication of the Pereshchepina hoard. Vladimir's nephew, Count Nikolay Alekseyevich Bobrinsky (1890-1964) specialized in biology. Unlike his relatives, he chose to remain in Moscow after the revolution and came to be recognized as one of the most prominent Soviet zoologists. A species of jerboa is named after him. His son Nikolay Nikolayevich, a geographer, who wrote a novel on the life of the first Bobrinsky, and continued to lived in Moscow through the period of the Soviet Union. He was alive following the Collapse of the Soviet Union and survive the Second Russian Civil War. When the Neo-Roman Empire emerged as the new government, Nikolay decided to petition the new government for his family's old business that had been nationalized by the Soviets. He was granted his families old mining business which he gracious took over. Through his leadership the company prospered and was a wealthy business by the time he gave it to his son Andrey. Nikolay died just before the Russian Renaissance and thus was not alive by the time Tsar Paul Romanov II came to power along with the second Russian Empire. Considered the strongest candidate for the title, Tsar Paul II granted Andrey the noble title and rank that his family had taken away from them. Today much of the surviving family that live abroad have returned to Russia and are thriving off the Bobrinsky Mining Company. Much like their historical counterparts, many of today's Bobrinsky are given government jobs in transportation and agriculture given their rich family history in Russia economics.


Aleksey's son Count Aleksey Alekseyevich Bobrinsky (1800-1868) is remembered as the founder of the sugar-processing industry in Imperial Russia. After brief and uneventful career at the royal court, he retired from service and settled in Bogoroditsk, establishing one of the first Russian sugar refineries there. Later, he moved his operations to the Ukraine, making various agricultural activities the chief source of his family income. It was thanks to him that Russia stopped importing sugar from abroad. He also published a treatise on economic theory and set up a society for development of railways, which financed the construction of the first railway in Russia. Bobrinsky's contributions to the national economics were commemorated by a bronze statue in Kiev.Unlike many other Russian nobles, the Bobrinskys continued as prosperous businessmen after the 1861 emancipation of serfs, starting coal-mining in their estates near Tula and helping to build railways all over Russia. Unsurprisingly, Aleksey Alekseyevich's second son Count Vladimir Alekseyevich Bobrinsky (1824-98) served as Minister of Transportation in 1868-71, succeeded in this post by his cousin, Count Aleksey Pavlovich Bobrinsky (1826-1894). The eldest great-grandson of Count Aleksey Alekseyevich was Count Aleksey Aleksandrovich Bobrinskoy (1852-1927), who led the Council of United Nobility starting in 1906 and represented the nobility of the St Petersburg guberniya in the Senate and the 3rd State Duma. He was appointed into the State Council of Imperial Russia in 1912. During World War I, Bobrinskoy was elected Chairman of the Russian-English Bank. In 1916, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Interior and Minister of Agriculture. The October Revolution forced him to emigrate to France, where he actively campaigned for the monarchist cause.

Count Vladimir Alekseyevich Bobrinsky (1868-1927) was the third son of Count Aleksey Pavlovich. He represented Russian nationalists in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th State Dumas, advocating speedy Russification of border regions and supporting Pyotr Stolypin's reforms. Like most of the Bobrinskys, he emigrated to France following the revolutionary nationalization of their family enterprises. Apart from politics, Count Aleksey Alexandrovich was a noted historian and archaeologist, Chairman of the Imperial Archaeological Commission (1886), Vice-President of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1889), and Chairman of the Free Economic Society (1894). He led the excavations of Scythian mounds near Kerch and Kiev, describing some of his findings in the monograph on Tauric Chersonesos (1905). He was in charge of the extraction and publication of the Pereshchepina hoard. Vladimir's nephew, Count Nikolay Alekseyevich Bobrinsky (1890-1964) specialized in biology. Unlike his relatives, he chose to remain in Moscow after the revolution and came to be recognized as one of the most prominent Soviet zoologists. A species of jerboa is named after him. His son Nikolay Nikolayevich, a geographer, who wrote a novel on the life of the first Bobrinsky, and continued to lived in Moscow through the period of the Soviet Union. He was alive following the Collapse of the Soviet Union and survive the Second Russian Civil War. When the Neo-Roman Empire emerged as the new government, Nikolay decided to petition the new government for his family's old business that had been nationalized by the Soviets. He was granted his families old mining business which he gracious took over. Through his leadership the company prospered and was a wealthy business by the time he gave it to his son Andrey. Nikolay died just before the Russian Renaissance and thus was not alive by the time Tsar Paul Romanov II came to power along with the second Russian Empire. Considered the strongest candidate for the title, Tsar Paul II granted Andrey the noble title and rank that his family had taken away from them. Today much of the surviving family that live abroad have returned to Russia and are thriving off the Bobrinsky Mining Company. Much like their historical counterparts, many of today's Bobrinsky are given government jobs in transportation and agriculture given their rich family history in Russia economics.

Demidov[]

The House of Demidov
Ethnicity
Place of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Current Residence Saint Petersburg
Founder Nikita Demidov
Founding 1720
Family Notoriety Known for Iron and Steal Production

The Demidov family, also Demidoff, were an influential Russian family, and possibly second only to the Tsar himself in wealth during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Their progenitor, Demid Antufiev, was a free blacksmith from Tula, where their family necropolis is preserved as a museum. His son Nikita Demidov (1656 -1725) made his fortune by his skill in the manufacture of weapons, and established an iron foundry for the government. Peter the Great, with whom he was a favorite, ennobled him to princely status in 1720. For two centuries, the Demidov plants produced a large portion of Russia's iron and steel. The Palace of Westminster was one of many notable buildings constructed of Demidov metal products. Nikita's son, Akinfiy Demidov (1678-1745), increased his inherited wealth by the discovery and working of gold, silver and copper mines. He also founded the Siberian town of Barnaul, whose central square still bears his name. He also commissioned the Leaning Tower of Nevyansk. His fortune was inherited by his eldest son Prokofi Demidov, whilst his younger son Nikita Akinfievitch Demidov (1724-1789) became an arts patron. Akinfiy's nephew, Pavel Grigoryevich Demidov (1738-1821), was a great traveller and benefactor of Russian scientific education who befriended Carolus Linnaeus and Pallas. He established the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl, the Demidov chair in Natural history at Moscow University, and founded an annual prize for Russian literature, awarded by the Academy of Sciences. A bronze monument to him was installed in Yaroslavl in 1828.

Pavel's nephew, Nikolay Nikitich Demidov (1774-1828), fought in the Napoleonic War with distinction, raised and commanded a regiment to oppose Napoleon's invasion of Russia, and carried on the accumulation of the family wealth from mining; he contributed liberally to the erection of four bridges in St Petersburg, and to the propagation of scientific culture in Moscow. He was created Count by the monarch of Tuscany. Nikolay's son count Pavel Nikolayevich Demidov (1798-1840) fought as an officer in his father's regiment and received his baptism of fire at the battle of Borodino in 1812. After the war he entered the Chevalier Guards regiment. He received his discharge in 1831 with the rank of captain when he entered civil service as governor of the province of Kursk. In 1834 he entered service in the Ministry of the Exterior as court Huntsmaster, later State Councillor. Count Pavel Demidov is best known for his philanthropy, primarily for having founded the Demidov Prize. He married the well-known society beauty and maid-of-honour to her majesty the Empress Alexandra Feodorovnya Aurore Stjernvall (1808-1903) in 1836. Their son, Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, Prince of San Donato, was the grandfather of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia.

Nikolay's second son, Anatole Nikolayevich Demidov (1813-1870), was a well-known traveller and patron of art. In 1837, he acquired the Italian title of Prince de San Donato and married Princess Mathilde, daughter of Jerome Bonaparte. His Villa Demidoff is a minor landmark of Florence. Anatole's great grand nephew, Crown Prince Pavel, was regent of Yugoslavia between 1934 and 1941. The second and last Prince Lopukhin, Paul, was granted the right to pass his title and name to his great-nephew, Nicolas Demidoff, a representative of another branch of this industrialist clan. The revolution impoverished the princes Lopukhin-Demidoff, who settled to Finland where they (for a while) owned the manor of Anttolanhovi near Mikkeli. The dowager princess Natalie deceased in 1957. Their descendants (surname usually rendered as Demidoff) lived in Finland for many generations during the Cold War era. It wasn't until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent end to the second Russian Civil War that followed, that the descendants of the family decided to move back to Russia. Now the Neo-Roman Empire, the family found marginal success in helping to re-establish the steel industry in the new nation. The family had grown wealthy by the time of the Russian Renaissance and restoration of the Russian Empire. They were granted their noble rank and title restored by Tsar Paul Romanov II.

Gagarin[]

The House of Gagarin
Ethnicity
Place of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Current Residence Saint Petersburg
Founder Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich
Founding 980
Family Notoriety Owners of Gagarin Energy Company

Gagarin is a Rurikid princely family descending from sovereign rulers of Starodub-on-the-Klyazma. The descendant of the Great Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the Christianizer of Russia, Prince Ivan Vsevolodovich, received from his brother, the Great Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, the appanage of Starodub, and this originated the Princes of Starodub. The great-great-grandson of this Prince Ivan, Prince Ivan Fedorovich, called Lapa-Golibesovskoy, had a son, Prince Mikhail, and he had three sons: Princes Vasilii, Yuri, and Ivan Gagara whose descendants, the Princes Gagarin, served the Russian Throne as Boyars and in other distinguished positions. The history of the Russian Empire shows that many of the Princes Gagarin, both in ancient times as well as in more recent times, were granted fiefdoms for their service to the fatherland, and were rewarded with several Orders and other tokens of the Monarch's favor. Some of the notable figures of the family include: Prince Nikolai Sergeevich Gagarin (1784— 1842) who was born in London and appointed to the Highest command of the 1st infantry during a drawing up of the Moscow military force (July 1812). He took part in the Battle of Borodino, the largest and bloodiest single-day battle of the Napoleonic Wars, involving more than a quarter of a million soldiers. Prince Gagarin also owned several businesses throughout Russia and Europe. In 1819, Prince Gagarin married Maria Alexeeva Bobrinsky, daughter of Count Bobrinsky, granddaughter of Catherine II of Russia and Prince Gregory Orlov.

On October 16, 1833, Prince Gagarin was appointed a post of vice-president of the His Majesty's Cabinet under Emperor Nicholas I and Chairman Viktor Kochubey; in December 1837, he was appointed member of the commission for the restoration of the Winter Palace after a fire. During service as vice-president, he was the recipient of several distinctions: the Order of Saint Stanislaus 1st class (1834), the Order of St. Anna 1st class (1835), the Order of St. Vladimir 2nd class (1839) and the Order of the White Eagle (1841). Prince Gagarin died a violent death by the hand of one of his former subordinates, a forest warden of the Rejnmana estate. Prince Gagarin met the forest warden at Rejnmana, and, after a brief conversation, was fatally shot in the neck. Despite medical aid, the prince died in minutes. Rejnman explained that he killed Gagarin because he had been exposed to oppression and had lost his rank. However, according to his contemporaries' testimonies, Prince Gagarin had been a humane employer.

Nikolai Sergeevich Gagarin's descendants were forced into exile during the Russian Revolution and lived in France until recently. Then there was Prince Grigory Grigorevich Gagarin who was born on April 29, 1810. He was the vice-president of the Imperial Academy of Arts, a renowned artist, Major General and a diplomat. He was the son of Prince Grigory Ivanovich Gagarin. Grigory Grigorevich spent much of his time traveling, and always carried a sketchbook, drawing or watercoloring impressions from most of his stops. A variety of the figures which have remained include studies, sketches, and other types - testifying to breadth of his artistic talent. The most recent Gagarin of note is Vladimir Gregorievitch Gagarin who, born in France, returned to the Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent second Russian Civil War in 1992. A wealthy man, Vladimir return and quickly bought the formerly state-owned energy company that the Neo-Roman government sold to him. Under his leadership the company quickly began to prosper as a private energy company meeting the needs of the Neo-Roman Empire. Following the Russian Renaissance, Tsar Paul Romanov II offer the restoration of the Gagarin noble rank and title to Vladimir who graciously accepted the offer.

Golitsyns[]

The House of Golitsyns
Ethnicity Russian
Place of Origin Lithuania
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Current Residence Saint Petersburg
Founder Prince Yury Patrikeyewich
Founding 17th Century
Family Notoriety Owners of a Russian Winery

The Golitsyns, also commonly known as Galitzines, are one of the largest and noblest princely houses of Russia. Since the extinction of the Korecki family in the 17th century, the Golitsyns have claimed dynastic seniority in the House of Gediminas. The family descends from a Lithuanian prince Yury Patrikeyevich, grandson of Narimantas. He emigrated to the court of Vasily I and married his sister. His children and grandchildren, such as Vassian Patrikeyev, were considered premier Russian boyars. One of them, Prince Mikhail Bulgakov, was nicknamed Galitsa for an iron glove he wore in the Battle of Orsha (1514). His great grandson Prince Vasily Golitsyn (+1619) was active during the Time of Troubles and went as an ambassador to Poland to offer the Russian crown to Prince Wladislaw.

Prince Vasily Vasilyevich (1643–1714) was probably the greatest Russian statesman of the 17th century. He spent his early days at the court of Tsar Alexius where he gradually rose to the rank of boyar. In 1676 he was sent to Ukraine to keep in order the Crimean Tatars and took part in the Chigirin campaign. Personal experience of the inconveniences and dangers of the prevailing system of preferment; the so-called mestnichestvo, or rank priority, which had paralysed the Russian armies for centuries, induced him to propose its abolition, which was accomplished by Tsar Feodor III in 1678. The May revolution of 1682 placed Galitzine at the head of the Posolsky Prikaz, or ministry of foreign affairs, and during the regency of Sophia, sister of Peter the Great, whose intimate friend he became, he was the principal minister of state (1682–1689) and keeper of the great seal, a title bestowed upon only two Russians before him, Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin and Artamon Matveev. In home affairs his influence was insignificant, but his foreign policy was distinguished by the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), which set the Russo-Chinese border north of the Amur River, and by the peace with Poland (1683), whereby Russia at last recovered Kiev. By the terms of the same treaty, he acceded to the grand league against the Porte, but his two expeditions against the Crimea (Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689) were unsuccessful and made him extremely unpopular. Only with the utmost difficulty could Sophia get the young tsar Peter to decorate the defeated commander-in-chief as if he had returned a victor. In the civil war between Sophia and Peter (August-September 1689), Galitzine half-heartedly supported his mistress and shared her ruin. His life was spared owing to the supplications of his cousin Boris, but he was deprived of his boyardom, his estates were confiscated and he was banished successively to Kargopol, Mezen and Kholmogory, where he died on 21 April, 1714. Galitzine was unusually well educated. He was a great friend of foreigners, who generally alluded to him as the great Galitzine. He expounded to them some drastic reform measures, such as the abolition of serfdom, the promotion of religious toleration, and the development of industrial enterprises. As Galitzine was eager to avoid all forms of violence and repression, his program was more cautious and realistic than that of Peter the Great. Political upheavals prevented him from executing any of these plans.

Vasily's political adversary was his cousin Prince Boris Alexeevich (1654–1714), a court Chamberlain since 1676. He was the young tsar Peter's chief supporter when, in 1689, Peter resisted the usurpations of his elder sister Sophia, and the head of the loyal council which assembled at the Trinity monastery during the crisis of the struggle. It was Galitzine who suggested taking refuge in that strong fortress and won over the boyars of the opposite party. In 1690 he was created a boyar and shared with Lev Naryshkin, Peter's uncle, the conduct of home affairs. After the death of the tsaritsa Natalia, Peter's mother, in 1694, his influence increased still further. He accompanied Peter to the White Sea (1694–1695); took part in the Azov campaign (1695); and was one of the triumvirat who ruled Russia during Peters first foreign tour (1697–1698). The Astrakhan rebellion (1706), which affected all the districts under his government, shook Peter's confidence in him, and seriously impaired his position. In 1707 he was superseded in the Volgan provinces by Andrei Matveev. A year before his death he entered a monastery. Galitzine was a typical representative of Russian society of the end of the 17th century leaning towards Westernism. In many respects he was far in advance of his age. He was highly educated, spoke Latin with graceful fluency, frequented the society of scholars and had his children carefully educated according to the best European models. Yet this eminent, this superior personage was an habitual drunkard, an uncouth savage who intruded upon the hospitality of wealthy foreigners, and was not ashamed to seize upon any dish he took a fancy to, and send it home to his wife. It was his reckless drunkenness which ultimately ruined him in the estimation of Peter the Great, despite his previous inestimable services.

The Great Galitzine had another cousin, Prince Dmitry Mikhaylovich (1665–1737), noted for his noble attempt to turn Russia into a constitutional monarchy. He was sent by Peter the Great in 1697 to Italy to learn military affairs; in 1704 he was appointed to the command of an auxiliary corps in Poland against Charles XII; from 1711 to 1718 he was governor of Belgorod. In 1718 he was appointed president of the newly erected Commerce Collegium and a senator. In May 1723 he was implicated in the disgrace of the vice-chancellor Shafirov and was deprived of all his offices and dignities, which he only recovered through the mediation of the empress. After the death of Peter the Great, Galitzine became the recognized head of the old Conservative party which had never forgiven Peter for putting away Eudoxia and marrying the plebeian Martha Skavronskaya. But the reformers, as represented by Alexander Menshikov and Peter Tolstoi, prevailed; and Galitzine remained in the background till the fall of Menshikov, 1727. During the last years of Peter II (1728–1730), Galitzine was the most prominent statesman in Russia and his high aristocratic theories had full play. On the death of Peter II he conceived the idea of limiting the autocracy by subordinating it to the authority of the Supreme privy council, of which he was president. He drew up a form of constitution which Anna of Courland, the newly elected Russian empress, was forced to sign at Mittau before being permitted to proceed to St Petersburg. Anna lost no time in repudiating this constitution, and never forgave its authors. Galitzine was left in peace, however, and lived for the most part in retirement, till 1736, when he was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the conspiracy of his son-in-law Prince Constantine Cantimir. This, however, was a mere pretext, it was for his anti-monarchical sentiments that he was really prosecuted. A court, largely composed of his antagonists, condemned him to death, but the empress reduced the sentence to lifelong imprisonment in Schlisselburg and confiscation of all his estates. He died in his prison on the 14th of April 1737, after three months of confinement.

Other notable Golitsyns include: Prince Lev Sergeyevich (1845-1916) was one of the founders of wine-making in Crimea. In his Crimean estate of Novyi Svet he built the first Russian factory of champagne wines. In 1889 the production of this winery won the Gold Medal at the Paris exhibition in the nomination for sparkling wines. He became the surveyor of imperial vineyards at Abrau-Dyurso in 1891. The there was Prince Georgy Sergeyevich Golitsyn (born 1935) is a Russian physicist noted for his research on the concept of nuclear winter. Finally there is Prince George Blagoïevitch Golitsyn (1970), adviser in several political circles and survived pasted the collapse of the Soviet Union and the second Russian Civil War. He became a professor of political science during the Neo-Roman years until the Russian Renaissance when Tsar Paul Romanov II restored his family's noble rank and title. He returned to politics and has since made the family a powerful voice in the new Russian Empire's royal court.

Khilkoff[]

The House Khikoff
A Coat of Arms Exists
Country of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Founding 16th Century
Founder Prince Ivan Fyodorovich Khilok
Family Notoriety None so Far

Khilkoff or Khilkov (Russian: Хилков) is a Rurikid princely family descending from sovereign rulers of Starodub-on-the-Klyazma. The descendant of the Great Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the Christianizer of Russia, Prince Ivan Vsevolodovich,(c. 958 – 15 July 1015) received from his brother, the Great Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, the appanage of Starodub, and this originated the Princes of Starodub; those who later had the Ryapolovskaya volost took the name Prince Ryapolovsky In the sixteenth century, for an unknown reason, the Ryapolovskys changed their name: the older branch to Khilkoff, and the younger to Tatev. The founder of the Khilkoffs was the great-grandson of Prince Ivan Andreyevich Ryapolovsky (Nagavitsa), Prince Ivan Fyodorovich Khilok. The Khilkoffs have played a notable part in Russian history. Under Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich there were 16 noble families whose members rose straight to the rank of boyar, missing out that of okolnichiy; the Princes Khilkoff were among that number. At the time of the 1917 revolution the Khilkoff family were the 14th wealthiest family in Russia, fleeing Russia to stay with the King of Denmark, then dispersing over Europe. Khilkoff descendants today live in France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, and Moscow - the city they founded in 1147.

A very powerful family, the Klikoff have has several notable figures that include: Prince Andrey Yakovlevich Khilkoff (?-1718) Russian ambassador to Sweden. In 1697 Prince K, in the capacity of a stolnik was sent with a number of others to Italy to study navigation and shipbuilding. Soon after his return to Russia he was sent as ambassador to Sweden (June 1700), and instructed to inform Charles XII of the imminent arrival of great envoys (boyar Prince Ya. Dolgrukiy and okolnichiy Prince F Shakhovsky) for the solemn confirmation of the peace agreements with Sweden. Peter the Great sent an ambassador to Stockholm exclusively in order to lull the Swedish Government into a false sense of security, and to conceal from it his preparations for war with Sweden, which he decided to begin as soon as peace was concluded with Turkey. Not finding the King in Stockholm, Prince K followed him to the shores of Denmark, and here, on 19 August 1700, on the royal yacht, he gave Charles XII a scroll and according to orders, made a speech in Italian. At the audience which followed on 30 August, the King announced that the message was "very agreeable", and that he recognised Prince Khilkov as an ambassador to his Court. At the very same time, on 19 August, war was declared on Sweden "for their many wrongs" in Moscow, and the army was ordered to attack Swedish towns. As soon as the news reached Sweden, a month later the Russian ambassador was arrested and his house put under guard; Prince K did not protest, telling the Swedish Master of Ceremonies that "in their own country they might do as they pleased". The Swedish Government told Prince Khilkov that it was prepared to exchange him for the Swedish ambassador in Moscow, Knipper, but later refused to do this and Prince Khilkov remained in captivity for 15 years and died there.

The Swedes treated Prince Khilkov extremely badly, as they did the Russian generals and officers who fell into their hands later as prisoners of war. Prince K informed Emperor Peter in 1703 "Better to be a prisoner of the Turks than the Swedes: here a Russian is of no account, they insult and dishonour him; I and the generals are under constant guard; if anyone needs to go somewhere, a guard with a loaded musket is always with him; they torture our merchants with heavy labours, despite all my representations". In 1711 most of the prisoners of war were exchanged, but Prince K remained in Sweden. In 1713 he was moved from Stockholm to Vesteros; "at this time," he wrote to the Tsar', I a prisoner am not able to serve your Highness in any way". However, even in this small provincial town he tried to ascertain and inform Peter of the Swedish political news. In one of his unpublished messages, now in the State archives, we find a report of the Swedish administrative reforms of 1714. "The king recently sent a lieutenant-colonel to Stockholm with a number of certificates of rank for his subjects, among which were certificates for a new rank, which has never before existed in Sweden: ombudsrod - a rank nearest to a boyar. Six of these Ombudsrods have been created. Justitiae, Military Affairs, Exchequer, Trade Affairs, First Foreign Affairs, German Affairs". Prince K died in Vesteros in 1718; his body was brought to Petersburg and buried in the Alexander Nevsky monastery, 18 October 1719.

There then was Prince Stepan Aleksandrovich Khilkoff (1786-1854). Prince Stepan was the eldest son of Prince Alexander Jacobovich Khilkoff. He had a distinguished military career, with his portrait in the hall of heroes in the Hermitage museum. As a Lieutenant-general, he fought in the bloody battle of Austerlitz, and at Gutstadt, Heilsberg and Friedland; in the latter battle he was badly wounded in his right side. His detachment was attacked by the enemy at the village of Burtsova on 15 September, Prince K turned the rear of the French infantry battalion, attacked and crushed it. He, in turn, was then attacked in the flank by two French squadrons of dragoon guards, but repulsed them with an equally powerful charge. General Dorokhov thanked Prince Khilkov for his success and sent him to demand the enemy's surrender. He was met by rifle fire. Dorokhov ordered another attack, sending Prince Khilkov to cut off the French retreat. K threw half of his squadrons into the attack, but was hit by a bullet in the right of his groin and was carried off the battlefield unconscious. He took part in the battles of Lutzen and Bautzen, the offensive from Silesia to Dresden, the battle of Dresden and in the famous two-day long battle of Kulm on 17 and 18 August; on the 17th he was again hit by a bullet, in his right arm, but he did not leave the field. On 8 March, Prince K exchanged shots with Napoleon's guard, but avoided an unequal battle and withdrew. On the 10th he followed the enemy army along the Vitry road; having reached the village of Sompuy, he harassed the French rearguard with rifle fire for two days before returning to his regiment. Prince Khilkov's participation in the 1814 war had a glorious conclusion at the battle of La Fere Champenois, at which the Tsarevich chose the Household Dragoons to take the enemy guns. Prince K's two squadrons were the first to attack, but were attacked themselves in the centre of the French line of battle by three squadrons of French cuirassiers. K turned his men to face the enemy, fell to hard hand-to-hand fighting and overran the cuirassiers. In this battle he was wounded by a pistol bullet in his right hand, fell from his horse and nearly paid for success with his life. On 22 August 1826, the day of Emperor Nikolay Pavlovich's coronation, he was promoted to Lieutenant-General; on 5 July 1827 he was awarded the order of St Vladimir 2nd Class, and on 6 December 1830 the order of St Anna 1st Class with an Imperial crown, having received over the previous ten years, 22 signs of the monarch's favour. On 15 September 1834 Prince K was awarded the diamond insignia of the order of St Alexander Nevsky having distinguishing himself in the main events of all the Emperor Alexander's wars with Napoleon and the Polish rebellion.

There was also Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Khilkoff (1837-1909) Minister of Communications - "The Railway Prince." Minister of Communications and Ways, responsible for the building of the Trans Siberian railway. On graduating from the Corps of Pages in 1853, he served in the Regiment of Chasseurs until 1857. In 1860 K undertook a 2-year long voyage to Europe and America; on his return to Russia he served as a judicial arbitrator, and 2 years later he again went to America, taking a job as a simple workman with the Anglo-American Transatlantic Railroad Company (in North America). Thanks to his unflagging industry and outstanding abilities, K had risen within 4 years to the position of manager of rolling stock and traction; he then worked for about a year as a metalworker at a locomotive factory in Liverpool; while working there he was offered the position of traction manager on the Kursk-Kiev railway, and from here he went to the Moscow-Ryazan railway. In 1880 General Annenkov appointed K head of the construction of the Kyzyl-Arvat branch railway, but in early 1882 at the invitation of the Bulgarian Government, he became their Minister of social Works, Trade and Agriculture, and contributed significantly to the country's economic progress. In 1885 K returned to Russia and again worked on the Transcaspian railway, in 1892 he was appointed by the Government as Director of the Privislyanskaya railway in Russian Poland, and was later in charge of the Samara-Zlatoust (ru), Orenburg, Oryol-Gryazi and Livenskaya Railways; in 1894 he was Chief Railway Inspector. Councillor of State Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Khilkov was appointed Director of the Ministry of Communications by imperial decree on 4 January 1895, and on 2 April of the same year was confirmed as Minister of Communications. He was in this Ministerial post during the decisive years of the "Great Siberian Way" construction and also during the Russian-Japanese War. Retired in October 1905, being unable to stop the railway workers' strike during the Revolution of 1905.

Finally there was Prince Dmitry Aleksandrovich Khilkoff (1858-1914). Prince Dmitry Aleksandrovich Khilkoff (most often spelled Khilkov, sometimes also Hilkov or Hilkoff) (1858–1915) went from being an officer in the Czar's Army to a Tolstoyan preaching Pacifism to a Socialist Revolutionary. Prince Dmitry Khilkov was an aristocratic disciple of Tolstoy who was exiled by the government and had his children taken away from him for following Tolstoy's teachings. In July 1899 Khilkov returned to Europe, and to Switzerland where his family were then living. Initially working closely with Biriukov and the Tolstoyans, Dmitrii was soon to renounce his former pacifism and by 1902 was advocating mass terrorism in Russia to overthrow the Tsarist regime. He became acquainted with leaders of the revolutionary movement, finally joining the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1903. His chief activity at this time was the publication and distribution of revolutionary literature particularly aimed at persecuted sectarians in Russia. He urged also the formation of armed fighting squads to lead the revolutionary struggle. The Revolution of 1905 appeared to signal the imminent end of Tsarism, but Khilkov's hopes of a general uprising were not to be. At the end of the year he returned to Russia under the general amnesty and finally left the Socialist Revolutionary Party, repelled by the hypocrisy of its leaders and the infiltration of provocateurs. His deep concern for the peasants remained and during 1905-1906 he participated in the active peasant movement in Sumy. Before long, however, this movement was suppressed and the revolutionary momentum in Russia stalled by government reaction. It became clear to Khilkov that the path of revolution offered no hope and the direction of his life once more began to change. From 1907 he began to abandon his radical views and was drawn increasingly towards the Orthodox Church. The military threat to Russia stirred Dmitrii to volunteer to rejoin his old Cossack regiment with his former rank of lieutenant colonel. Early in the war, in October 1914, while leading a patrol on the Eastern front in Galicia, Dmitrii Khilkov was killed by a single shot. His body was returned and buried at Pavlovki.

Though greatly spread over many European countries Tsar Paul Romanov II, who came to power in the new Russian Empire following the Russian Renaissance in the late 1990s, tracked down the senior most member of the family and invited them back to Russia as he intended to restore the noble rank and title afford to the Khilkov name. The family accepted and returned to the Russian Empire where they have become a powerful force in the Imperial Court.

Lvov[]

The House Lvov
A Coat of Arms Exists
Country of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Founding 1228
Founder Prince Lev Danylovich Zubatny
Family Notoriety Created the Earliest Form of the Russian Postal Service

Lvov is the name of a princely Russian family of Rurikid stock. The family is descended from the princes of Yaroslavl where early members of the family are buried. The family takes its name from Knyaz Lev Danylovich Zubatny (c. 1228-1301), otherwise known as Leo of Halych, the 'first' Lvov and an 18th generation descendant of Rurik. Perhaps on the more famous individuals of the Lvov family was Prince Nikita Yakovlevich (?-1670), who became the head of the Yamskoy Prikaz which was the earliest version of the Russian Post Office. Then there was Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov (1861–1925). Prince Lvov was born in Dresden into a Rurikid family, descended from sovereign princes of Yaroslavl. His family moved home to Popovka in the Aleksin region near Tula from Germany soon after his birth. He graduated from the University of Moscow with a degree in law, then worked in the civil service until 1893. During the Russo-Japanese War he organized relief work in the East and in 1905, he joined the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party. A year later he won election to the First Duma and was nominated for a ministerial position. He became chairman of the All-Russian Union of Zemstvos in 1914 and in 1915 he became a leader of the Union of Zemstvos as well as a member of Zemgor, a joint committee of the Union of Zemstvos and the Union of Towns that helped supply the military and tend to the wounded from the Great War.

During the first Russian Revolution and the abdication of Nicholas II, emperor of Russia, Lvov was made head of the provisional government, formally appointed by Nicholas II as his last act as a sovereign. Unable to rally sufficient support, he resigned in July 1917 in favor of his Minister of Justice, Alexander Kerensky. Lvov was arrested when the Bolsheviks seized power later that year. He escaped and settled in Paris, where he spent the rest of his life. The family continued to survive outside of Russia from Prince Georgy's line throughout the time of the Soviet Union. After the collapse and the second Russian Civil War the family continued but stay outside of Russia until after the Russian Renaissance when Tsar Paul Romanov II offer the eldest member of the family, Ivan Petrovich Lvov, a restoration of the family noble title and rank. Ivan accepted a returned to Moscow where he entered into the service of the Imperial Court.

Meshchersky[]

The House Meshchersky
A Coat of Arms Exists
Country of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Founding ???
Founder ???
Family Notoriety None so Far

Meshchersky is a princely family whose title was recognized by the Russian Empire. Its origin is from the medieval independent rulers of the Meshchera tribe. This family was somewhat arbitrarily grouped in documentation together with Tatar princely families of the Russian Empire. The neighboring Tatar kingdom subjugated lords of the Meshchera tribe under its suzerainty, and some of them converted to Islam and bore Muslim-like first names; but soon, under Russian subjugation, subsequent generations converted to the Eastern Orthodox faith and used Slavic Christian names. The family was listed in the first part of the Registers of the Nobility of Russia, which became formalized in the 19th century or earlier. The book Notice sur les principales familles de la Russie does not mention the Meshchersky family at all, which may be attributable to the well-established animosity towards the Meshcherskys of its author, Prince Pyotr Dolgorukov.

The Meshcherskys had estates particularly in Ukraine, examples of their lands being at: Pokrovskoe, Petrovskoe, Lotoshino, and the Vesholi-Podol Palace in Poltava. The estate of Petrovskoye-Alabino, near Moscow, is currently claimed by Yevgeniy Meshchersky. The second marriage of the elderly Prince Alexander Vasilievich Meshchersky (died 1903) produced a male child, Prince Vyacheslav Alexandrovich (born 1898-1992). His daughter from the first marriage, Natalia Meshcherskaya, became Duchess of Sasso-Ruffo. Prince Vyacheslav had two sons, Ivan remained alive to see the collapse of the Soviet Union along with his father in 1991 as well as the outcome of the second Russian Civil War. Ivan's son Konstantine continue the family well into the time of the Russian Renaissance and as the only surviving line of the family, was the one who accepted Tsar Paul Romanov II's offer of restoring the family rank and title of behalf of the family. Today the Meshchersky serve within the Imperial Court of Russia.

Mikhalkov[]

The House Mikhalkov
Find a Coat of Arms
Country of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Founding 15th Century
Founder ???
Family Notoriety Sergey Mikhalkov wrote the current Imperial Anthem of Russia

Mikhalkov is a noble family known from the end of the 15th century. Many of their scions worked for the Soviet Union and the modern Russian Empire. Perhaps among the most famous was Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (1913−2009) who was a Soviet and Russian author of children's books and satirical fables who had the opportunity to write the lyrics of his country's national anthem on three different occasions, spanning almost 60 years.

Mikhalkov was born to Vladimir Alexandrovich Mikhalkov and Olga Mikhailovna. Mikhalkov stemmed from the noble family of Mikhalkovs and had tsarist admirals, governors, and princes among his grandparents. Since the 1930s, he has rivalled Korney Chukovsky and Agniya Barto as the most popular poet writing for Russophone children. His poems about enormously tall "Uncle Styopa" enjoyed particular popularity. As a 29-year-old in 1942, Mikhalkov's work drew the attention of the Soviet Union's leader Joseph Stalin, who commissioned him to write lyrics for a new national anthem. At the time, the country was deeply embroiled in World War II and Stalin wanted a Russian theme for the national anthem, to replace the Internationale. Mikhalkov penned words to accompany a musical score by the composer Alexander Alexandrov (1883–1946) that became known as National Anthem of the Soviet Union. The new anthem was presented to Stalin in the summer of 1943 and was introduced as the country's new anthem on January 1, 1944. On the death of Stalin in 1953, the lyrics, which mentioned him by name, were discarded during the process of destalinization and the anthem continued to be used without words. Mikhalkov wrote new lyrics in 1970, but they were not submitted to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet until May 27, 1977. The new lyrics, which removed any reference to Stalin, were approved on September 1 and were made official with the printing of the new Soviet Constitution in October 1977.

During the Soviet era, Mikhalkov and his wife, Natalia Konchalovskaya sometimes worked for the KGB, for example by presenting undercover KGB staff officers to foreign diplomats, as in the case of French ambassador Dezhan who was compromised by the KGB in 1950s. His younger brother Mikhail Mikhalkov was also a notable writer as well as a KGB agent. Use of the Soviet anthem, with Mikhalkov's lyrics, continued until 1991, when it was retired after the USSR disintegrated. However, when Tsar Paul Romanov II took power following the Russian Renaissance, he began to clamor for a restoration of Alexandrov's music in place of the music created during the Neo-Roman Empire. Mikhalkov was 87 years old by this time and long since retired; in fact, he is better known in modern Russia (or rather - by the new generation of Russians) as the father of popular film makers Nikita Mikhalkov and Andrey Konchalovsky – who had dropped part of his name "Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky" when he left Russia. But when Tsar Paul Romanov's push to restore the old anthem began to pick up momentum, he picked up his pen once again, and wrote new lyrics to go with Alexandrov's score. The result was the National Anthem of Russia, which was officially adopted in 2001. Apart from the national anthem, Mikhalkov produced a great number of satirical plays and provided scripts for several Soviet comedies. He also successfully revived a long derelict genre of satirical fable. He was awarded three Stalin Prizes (1941, 1942, 1950) and numerous other awards.

He resided in Moscow. On his 90th birthday in 2003, Tsar Paul II personally visited him at his home to present him with the 2nd class Order For Service to Fatherland, citing him for his contributions to culture of Russia. It was also during this visit that Tsar Paul II officially had the family's noble rank and title restored to them. In 1936 Mikhalkov married Natalia Petrovna Konchalovskaya (1903–1988), granddaughter of Vasily Surikov. They remained married for 53 years until her death. In 1997 Mikhalkov married physics professor Yulia Valeryevna Subbotina. Mikhalkov died in his sleep at the age of 96 in a Moscow hospital. His funeral, held at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, was attended by family, friends, and government officials. He was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow with full military honors.

Milyukov[]

The House Milyukov
Find a Coat of Arms
Country of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Founding 14th Century
Founder Semyon Melik
Family Notoriety None so Far

Milyukov, also spelled Milukoff is an old Russian noble family (first recorded in the mid-14th century). Milyukovs were recorded in the ancient nobility books of Moscow, Orlov, Simbirsk, St. Petersburg, Tver, Yaroslavl, and Tula Governorates. In the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous Milyukovs were voivodes, falconers, stolniks (cup bearers), and gentleman of the bedchamber.

The House of Milyukov stems from a "foreigner" Semyon Melik, who was a voivode, that fought alongside Prince Dmitry Donskoy and died in the Battle of Kulikovo. From him on, his children became Melikoff ("from Melik"), later on the name underwent "Russification" to become Milyukov. Since some early Milyukovs had Turkic names, such as Murza and Sabur, and the fact that Malik translates as (King), allows to deduct that Semyon Melik was from Armenian nobility. Given the time span of his appearance in Muscovy, most likely from recently fallen kingdom of Cilicia. The Milyukovs had several estates around the lake Moldino near Tver . The main manor was Poddubie, with two other manors, Vsekhsvyatskoye and Ostrovki to the north and south, respectively, belonging to various Milyukovs. According to the early 1800s records, Poddubie Manor had eight houses and 651 male field serfs attached to it, where Vsekhsvyatskoye had 34 house serfs and 254 field male serfs. Ostrovki Manor had 19 house serfs with an unknown number of field serfs. An interesting fact is that the famous House of Smirnoff of Smirnoff Vodka had a family manor right across the lake from Poddubie, and just like Melyukov branch had to start business shortly after the abolition of serfdom.

Starovo-Milyukov is a cadet line founded by Semyon Ioanovich, one of Semyon Melik's grandchildren, nicknamed "Stary.". Yelizary Tashlykov Starovo-Milyukov was a voivode of Oreshek (1595). Ivan Ionavich was a voivode of Rzhev-Volodimirove (1618). In the 17th century, numerous Starovo-Milyukovs were stolniks and gentlemen of the bedchamber. It seems that the branch became extinct in a male line after the death of Vasily Yakovlevich — lieutenant-governor of Orenburg province. However, the female line still exists in modern day descendants of the third cadet branch of princes Volkonsky and ancient aristocrats Bibikoffs. Melyukov is the second cadet branch that broke off during the early-1860s (shortly after the abolition of serfdom in the Russian Empire). Many other northern noblemen Milyukovs were seriously affected by the abolition, due to the fact that serfs, who could take winter jobs in the cities, were much more valuable possessions then often frozen land. Milyukovs were forced to go in business for themselves or go broke. They started a trading company and made their name as merchants of fine furs, supplying, among others, the Russian Imperial Family and several German ducal houses. As a matter of fact, Milyukovs were so successful that they owned one of the first commercial steamships in Russia. Later, during the Revolution of 1918, many members participated as members of White Army, this branch altered the spelling to Melyukovs, to escape the prosecution by the Cheka.

The most notorious Milyukov in the 20th century was Pavel Milyukov. Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov (Cyrillic: Павел Николаевич Милюков; 15 January 1859 – 31 March 1943), a Russian politician, was the founder, leader, and the most prominent member of the Constitutional Democratic party (known as the Kadets). His name is sometimes rendered in English as Paul Miliukov or Paul Milukoff. Milyukov was born in the middle class family of an architect who claimed to be a nobleman from the House of Milukoff, according to Milyoukov's own autobiography. Milyukov studied at the Moscow University, where he was influenced by the liberal ideas of Konstantin Kavelin and Boris Chicherin. He made a successful career as a historian, publishing the three-volume Outlines of Russian Culture over the years from 1896 to 1903. The last volume was actually finished in jail, where he spent six months for his political speech at a private event (1901). Having lost his position at the University due to political issues, Milyukov traveled widely and visited the United States several times. He also contributed to the clandestine journal Liberation in 1902. When the First Russian Revolution started three years later, he founded the Constitutional Democratic party, represented it in the State Duma, and drafted the Vyborg Manifesto, calling for political freedom, reforms and passive resistance to the governmental policy.

With the outbreak of World War I, Milyukov swung to the right, promoting patriotic policies of national defense, insisting his younger son (who subsequently died in battle) volunteer for the army, and campaigning for the formation of the Progressive Bloc of moderate leaders. Milyukov was regarded as a staunch supporter of the conquest of Istanbul. His opponents mockingly called him "Milyukov of Dardanelles". In 1916, however, he again moved to the left, sharply criticising the government for its inefficiency. During the February Revolution Milyukov hoped to retain the constitutional monarchy in Russia, but events developed too quickly for him to follow. In the first provisional government, led by his fellow Kadet Prince Lvov, Milyukov became Minister of Foreign Affairs. He staunchly opposed popular demands for peace at any cost and firmly clung to Russia's wartime alliances. As the Britannica 2004 put it, "he was too inflexible to succeed in practical politics". On 20 April 1917 the government sent a note to Britain and France (which became known as Milyukov's Note) proclaiming that Russia would fulfill its obligation towards the Allies and wage the war as long as it was necessary. Soldiers and citizens of Petrograd demanded Milyukov's resignation, which followed on 2 May. After the Bolshevik revolution Milyukov left Petrograd and advised various leaders of the White Movement. After the Russian Civil War he emigrated to France, where he remained active in politics and edited the Russian-language newspaper Latest News (1920 - 1940). While living abroad, Milyukov was the object of several assassination attempts. In one attempt, his friend Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, the father of famous novelist Vladimir Nabokov, was killed while shielding Milyukov from his attackers. In 1934 Milyukov was a witness at the Berne Trial. Milyukov died in Aix-les-Bains in France.

The family survived in Franc well after the Second World War and during the Cold War. The family saw the collapse of the Soviet Union and the second Russian Civil War but would not return to Russia until after the Russian Renaissance. It was Tsar Paul Romanov II who invited descendants of the Milyukov family back to Russia to have their family's noble rank and title restored to them. A male line of the family has since returned to Russia and now serves in the Imperial Court.

Obolensky[]

The House Obolensky
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Country of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Founding ???
Founder ???
Family Notoriety None so Far

Obolensky is the name of a princely Russian family of the Rurik Dynasty. The family of aristocrats mostly fled Russia in 1917 during the Russian Revolution. Their name is said to derive from the town of Obolensk in the Upper Oka Principalities near Moscow. Out of the many notable members of the family, perhaps the most important to the current line of the family now in Russia is Prince Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky (1916—1990). Alexander was a Russian Rurikid prince and an international rugby union footballer who played for England. He was popularly known as just "The Prince" by many sports fans. A member of the Rurik Dynasty, he was born in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) on 17 February 1916 and was the son of Prince Serge Obolensky, an officer in the Tsar's Imperial Horse Guards, and his wife Princess Lubov' (née Naryshkina). Their name derived from the Russian town of Obolensk. They fled Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1917, settling in Muswell Hill, London.

Smolensk was educated at The Ashe boys' preparatory school, Etwall, and Trent College, Long Eaton, both in Derbyshire, before going to Brasenose College, Oxford in Michaelmas 1934, where he held a College Exhibition and studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He gained a Fourth Class degree in 1938. At Oxford he earned two rugby blues representing Oxford University RFC as a wing/three-quarter. He played for Leicester Football Club between 1934 and 1939, as well as Rosslyn Park F.C.. His selection for England caused a stir because he was not a British citizen, but he gained British Citizenship in 1936. On 4 January 1936 he scored two tries on his England debut in a 13-0 victory over the All Blacks, the first time England had beaten New Zealand. Aided by Pathé News footage of the game, his name has entered into legend, since the first try, beating several All Blacks in a run of three-quarters of the length of the field, was widely regarded as the greatest try of the time, and one of the greatest tries ever scored by England. The team retired that night to the Metropole Hotel in Northumberland Avenue, where they found that the opposing New Zealand team also happened to be staying. Prince Obolensky only won a further three caps for England later that year (against Wales on 18 January, Ireland on 8 February and Scotland on 21 March), and scored no further tries.

By August 1939, Obolensky was already serving as an A/P/O with 615 Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force, stationed at Kenley; and, on the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he joined the Royal Air Force's 504 Squadron. He had a successful career in the Royal Air Force, being highly decorated by the end of the war. He returned to rugby after the war and played several more season until finally retired at 35. He and his family continued to live in England during the height of the Cold War years and even after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Orlov[]

The House Orlov
A Coat of Arms Exists
Country of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Founding ???
Founder ???
Family Notoriety Many Great Diplomats, Statsmen, and Soldiers exist from this house.

Orlov is the name of a Russian noble family which has produced several distinguished statesmen, diplomatists and soldiers. The family first gained distinction in the person of four Orlov brothers, of whom the senior was Catherine the Great's paramour, and the two junior were notable military commanders. Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov (1734-1783), who created for his family such an illustrious Russian history, was the son of Gregory Orlov, governor of Great Novgorod. He was educated in the corps of cadets at St Petersburg, began his military career in the Seven Years' War, and was wounded at Zorndorf. While serving in the capital as an artillery officer he caught the fancy of Grand Duchess Catherine Alekseyevna, and was the leader of the conspiracy which resulted in the dethronement and death of her husband Peter III (1762).

After the event, Catherine raised him to the rank of count and made him adjutant-general, director-general of engineers and general-in-chief. Their illegitimate son, Aleksey, was born in 1762 and named after the village of Bobriki where he lived; from him descends the line of Counts Bobrinskoy. Orlov's influence became paramount after the discovery of the Khitrovo plot to murder the whole Orlov family. At one time the empress thought of marrying her favorite, but the plan was frustrated by her influential advisor Nikita Panin. Gregory Orlov was no statesman, but he had a quick wit, a fairly accurate appreciation of current events, and was a useful and sympathetic counsellor during the earlier portion of Catherine's reign. He entered with enthusiasm, both from patriotic and from economical motives, into the question of the improvement of the condition of the serfs and their partial emancipation. As the President of the Free Economic Society, he was also their most prominent advocate in the great commission of 1767, though he aimed primarily at pleasing the empress, who affected great liberality in her earlier years. He was one of the earliest propagandists of the Slavophile idea of the emancipation of the Christians from the Ottoman yoke. In the year of 1771 he was sent as first Russian plenipotentiary to the peace congress of Focşani; but he failed in his mission, owing partly to the obstinacy of the Ottomans, and partly (according to Panin) to his own outrageous insolence. On returning without permission to his Marble Palace at St Petersburg, he found himself superseded in the empress's favor by the younger Potemkin. In order to rekindle Catherine's affection, Grigory presented to her one of the greater diamonds of the world, known ever since as the Orlov Diamond. When Grigory Potemkin, in 1771, superseded Vasil'chikov, Orlov became of no account at court and went abroad for some years. He returned to Russia a few months previously to his death, which took place at Moscow in 1780. For some time before his death he was out of his mind. Late in life he married his niece, Madame Zinovyeva, but left no children by that marriage.

Count Alexey Grigoryevich Orlov (1737–1808), brother of Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlovwas by far the ablest member of the Orlov countly family, and was also remarkable for his athletic strength and dexterity. In the palace revolution of 1762 he played an even more important part than his brother Gregory. It was he who conveyed Peter III to the chateau of Ropsha and murdered him there with his own hands. In 1770 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the fleet sent against the Turks, whose far superior navy he annihilated at Chesme, a victory which led to the so-called Orlov Revolt and conquest of the Greek archipelago. For this exploit he received, in 1774, the honorific epithet Chesmensky, and the privilege of quartering the imperial arms in his shield. The same year, on Catherine's request, he went to Livorno to seduce and bring to Russia the so-called Princess Tarakanova, who proclaimed herself daughter of Empress Elizabeth. Having succeeded in this unusual commission, he went into retirement and settled at Moscow. There he devoted himself to breeding livestock, and produced the "finest race of horses" then known, the Orlov Trotter, by crossing Arabian Horses with the heavier but lively Friesian and with tall, swift English racing stallions. He also refined and popularized a breed of chicken, now called the Orloff in his honor. In the war with Napoleon during 1806-07, Orlov commanded the militia of the fifth district, which was placed on a war footing almost entirely at his own expense. He left an estate worth five million roubles and 30,000 serfs.

Prince Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov (1787-1862), the natural son of Count Fyodor Grigoryevich, was born October 8 (October 19, 1786 New Style) in Moscow and took part in all the Napoleonic wars from 1805 to the capture of Paris. For his services as commander of the cavalry regiment of the Life Guards on the occasion of the rebellion of 1825 he was created a count, and in the Turkish War of 1828–1829 rose to the rank of lieutenant-general. It is from this time that the brilliant diplomatic career of Orlov begins. He was the Russian plenipotentiary at the Peace of Adrianople, and in 1833 was appointed Russian ambassador at Constantinople, holding at the same time the post of commander-in-chief of the Black Sea fleet. He was, indeed, one of the most trusty agents of Nicholas I, whom in 1837 he accompanied on his foreign tour. From 1844 to 1856 he was in charge of the infamous Third Section, or secret police. In 1854 he was sent to Vienna to bring Austria over to the side of Russia, but without success. In 1856 he was one of the plenipotentiaries who concluded the peace of Paris. The same year he was raised to the dignity of prince, and was appointed president of the imperial council of state and of the council of ministers. In 1857, during the absence of the emperor, he presided over the commission formed to consider the question of the emancipation of the serfs, to which he was altogether hostile. He died May 9 (May 21) 1862 in St. Petersburg.

His only son, Prince Nikolay Alexeyevich Orlov (1827-1885), was a distinguished Russian diplomatist and author. He first adopted a military career, and was seriously wounded in the Crimean War. Subsequently he entered the diplomatic service, and represented Russia successively at Brussels (1860-1870), Paris (1870-1882) and Berlin (1882-1885). As a publicist he stood in the forefront of reform. His articles on corporal punishment, which appeared in Russkaya Starina in 1881, brought about its abolition. He also advocated tolerance towards the dissenters. Prince Alexey Fyodorovich also had a brother, Mikhail Fyodorovich Orlov (1788-1842), who took a most active part in the Napoleonic wars and received the rank of General-major upon returning to Russia in 1814. A friend of Alexander Pushkin and convinced liberal himself, he now concentrated his attention on the projects for emancipation of the serfs and introduction of republican government in Russia. Since 1818, he was in charge of the Kishinev section of the Decembrist society. After the revolt failed, he was arrested but presently released on bail, through his brother's mediation. Thereupon he settled in Moscow and published a pioneering study of the state credit.

Today the Orlov name continues in the Russian Empire. They had been exiled like so many noble families following the 1917 Revolution, the Orlov's survived in Paris.

Panin[]

The House Panin
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Country of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Count/Countess
Founding 16th Century
Founder ???
Family Notoriety Notable Statesmen and Advisers

The Panin are a noble family, counts since 1767, known since the 16th century. Ivan Vasilievich Panin (1673-1736) and his cousin, Alexey Ivanovich Panin (1675-1762), Captain of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, settled on Kotlin Island by order of Tsar Peter the Great in 1712. Alexey Ivanovich Panin was the last to be ordered to move to St. Petersburg and build a house there (1714); in 1717-20, he was an inspector of works in Kronstadt and Oranienbaum; in 1734-40, he was President of the Revision Collegium. Several members of the family were associated with St. Petersburg in the late 18th - 19th centuries. Nikita Ivanovich Panin (1718-83, St. Petersburg), was a Count (1767) and a First Rank Actual Privy Counsellor (1773). He was the tutor and Chief Staff Master of Tsesarevitch Pavel Petrovich (1760-73), a Senator (1762), Senior Member (Head) of the Foreign Affairs Office (1763-81), and an initiator of Senate reforms (1763). He owned the building at 20 Bolshaya Morskaya Street. He was buried in the Holy Annunciation Burial Vault at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (on the tomb is an architecturally decorated vestibule with a bust of Panin made by sculptor I.P. Matros and the inscription, "Friend of Humanity"). His nephew was Nikita Petrovich Panin (1770-1837), Vice Chancellor (1800), whose son, Viktor Nikitich Panin (1801-74), was the Minister of Justice (1841-62), Member of the State Assembly (1839), and Director of the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery (1864-67).

Perhaps one of the most famous of the noble house, Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin (1718–1783) was an influential Russian statesman and political mentor to Catherine the Great for the first eighteen years of her reign. He advocated the Northern Alliance and closer ties with Frederick the Great of Prussia. His staunch opposition to the partitions of Poland led to his being replaced by the more compliant Prince Bezborodko. He was born at Gdańsk, Poland, to the Russian commandant of Pärnu, the Estonian city where he would spend most of his childhood. In 1740 he entered the Russian army, and was rumored to be one of the favorites of the empress Elizabeth. In 1747 he was accredited to Copenhagen as Russian minister, but a few months later was transferred to Stockholm, where for the next twelve years he played a conspicuous part as the chief opponent of the French party. It is said that during his residence in Sweden, Panin, who certainly had a strong speculative bent, conceived a fondness for constitutional forms of government. Politically he was a pupil of Aleksei Bestuzhev; consequently, when in the middle fifties Russia suddenly turned Francophile instead of Francophobe, Panin's position became extremely difficult. However, he found a friend in Bestuzhev's supplanter, Mikhail Vorontsov, and when in 1760 he was unexpectedly appointed the governor of the little grand duke Paul, his influence was assured. Panin supported Catherine when she overthrew her husband, Tsar Peter III, and declared herself empress in 1762, but his jealousy of Catherine's lovers caused him to constantly try to sleep with her. Also, his jealousy of the influence which Grigori Orlov and his brothers seemed likely to obtain over the new empress predisposed him to favor the proclamation of his ward the grand duke Paul as emperor, with Catherine as regent only. To circumscribe the influence of the ruling favorites he next suggested the formation of a cabinet council of six or eight ministers, through whom all the business of the state was to be transacted; but Catherine, suspecting in the skillfully presented novelty a subtle attempt to limit her power, rejected it after some hesitation. Nevertheless Panin continued to be indispensable. He owed his influence partly to the fact that he was the governor of Paul, who was greatly attached to him, partly to the peculiar circumstances in which Catherine had mounted the throne, and partly to his knowledge of foreign affairs. Although acting as minister of foreign affairs he was never made chancellor.

Panin was the inventor of the famous Northern Accord, which aimed at opposing a combination of Russia, Prussia, Poland, Sweden, and perhaps Great Britain, against the Bourbon-Habsburg League. Such an attempt to bind together nations with such different aims and characters was doomed to failure. Great Britain, for instance, could never be persuaded that it was as much in her interests as in the interests of Russia to subsidize the anti-French party in Sweden. Yet the idea of the Northern Accord, though never quite realized, had important political consequences and influenced the policy of Russia for many years. It explains, too, Panin's strange tenderness towards Poland. For a long time he could not endure the thought of destroying her, because he regarded her as an indispensable member of his Accord, wherein she was to supply the place of Austria, which circumstances had temporarily detached from the Russian alliance. All of the diplomatic questions concerning Russia from 1762 to 1783 are intimately associated with the name of Panin. It was only when the impossibility of realizing the Northern Accord and the fact that Russia had sacrificed millions of rubles fruitlessly in the endeavor to carry out his pet scheme became patent that his influence began to wane. After 1772, when Gustav III upset Panin's plans in Sweden, Panin, whose policy hitherto had been at least original and independent, became more and more subservient to Frederick II of Prussia. As to Poland, his views differed widely from the views of both Frederick and Catherine. He seriously guaranteed the integrity of Polish territory, after placing Stanislaus II on the throne, in order that Poland, undivided and as strong as circumstances would permit, might be drawn wholly within the orbit of Russia. But he did not foresee the complications which were likely to arise from Russia's interference in the domestic affairs of Poland. Thus the Confederation of Bar, and the ensuing Russo-Turkish War, took him completely by surprise and considerably weakened his position. He was forced to acquiesce in the first partition of Poland, and when Russia came off third best, Grigori Orlov declared in the council that the minister who had signed such a partition treaty was worthy of death.

Panin further incensed Catherine by meddling with the marriage arrangements of the grand duke Paul and by advocating a closer alliance with Prussia, whereas the empress was beginning to incline more and more towards Austria. Nevertheless, even after Paul's second marriage, Panin maintained all his old influence over his pupil, who, like himself, was now a warm admirer of the king of Prussia. There are even traditions from this period of an actual conspiracy of Panin and Paul against the empress. As the Austrian influence increased, Panin found a fresh enemy in Joseph II, and the efforts of the old statesman to prevent a matrimonial alliance between the Russian and Austrian courts determined Catherine to get rid of a counsellor of whom, for some mysterious reason, she was secretly afraid. The circumstances of his disgrace are complicated and obscure. The final rupture seems to have arisen on the question of the declaration of the armed neutrality of the North, but it is known that Grigori Potemkin and the English ambassador, James Harris (afterwards 1st earl of Malmesbury), were both working against him some time before that. In May 1781 Panin was dismissed and two years later he died.

Several Panin came after and the family survived in Russia until the 1917 Revolution when the family like many nobles of the Russian court were forced to flee Russia. The family moved to England where they continued on through the years of the Soviet Union up to its collapse in 1991.

Razumovsky[]

The House Razumovsky
A Coat of Arms Exists
Country of Origin Austria
Noble Title and Rank Count/Countess
Founding 1745
Founder Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky
Family Notoriety ?????

Razumovsky or Rozumovsky is a Ukrainian-Russian noble family of which the only surviving remained in Austria. The root of the family begin with the Register-cossack Yakov (Romanovich) Rozum, who died about 1700. Upon his grandson's Alexei Grigorievich Rozum having been raised to the rank of Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Charles VII, the family name was changed to Razumovsky for all Yakovlevichi, including the lesser Ukrainian lines by Ivan Jakovlevich Rozum that were granted hereditary nobility but not entitled. Notable representatives of the family include:

Aleksey Grigorievich Razumovsky (1709-1771) - the favorite and morganatic husband of Empress Elizabeth. He was created Count of the Holy Roman Empire in Frankfurt in 1742 and Count in Russia in 1745. Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky (1728-1803) - officially his younger brother, rumored to be a son from an earlier marriage, the last hetman of Left (1750-1764) and Right (1754-1764) Bank Ukraine, last Duke of the Zaporozhian Host (1754-1769), created Count of the Russian Empire in 1745. Aleksey Kirilovich Razumovsky (1748-1822) - the latter's first son, minister of education of the Russian Empire from 1806-1816, highly criticized by Pushkin for his reactionary stance; Andrey Kirilovich Razumovsky (1752-1836) - Kirill's second son, who was the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Empire at the Congress of Vienna. Andrey was created the HSH Prince in 1815 and settled there in the end, converting to Catholicism. It was alleged that he had a role in the murders of Gustav III of Sweden and Paul I of Russia, he was architect of the Second Partition of Poland. He is remembered for his patronage of the arts, especially the composer Ludwig van Beethoven: Beethoven both wrote the Razumovsky Quartets (Op. 59 Nos. 1, 2, and 3) for Andrey and dedicated the 5th and 6th Symphony to him. Grigory Kirillovich Razumovsky (1759-1837) - the fifth son of Kirill, known from his writings in the West as Gregor or Grégoire, a geologist, botanist and zoologist, as well as prominent political dissenter with Czarist Russia, who lost his Russian allegiance in 1811 and was subsequently incorporated into the Bohemian nobility and accorded the rank of Count in the Austrian Empire. Gregor was the first to describe and classify the Triturus Helveticus Razoumovsky. His branch of the family survives to this day. Leon (Lvov) Grigorievich Razumovsky (1816-1868), grandson of Kirill, envoy of Saxe-Coburg to the court of Napoleon III. Father of Camillo Lvovich Razumovsky. Camillo (Lvovich) Razumovsky (1853-1917), philanthropist in Czech Silesia, built numerous churches, schools and hospitals around Opava (today Czech Republic) and in Western Ukraine, caused a commotion by flaunting the social conventions of the XIX century Vienna when he married a woman of the Jewish faith. Andreas (Andreievich) Razumovsky (1929-2002), grandson of the latter, well-known political analyst and media figure in Germany and Austria, was expelled from Czechoslovakia where he was posted as correspondent of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in 1967 for warning of an imminent invasion by Warsaw Pact troops, analysed and published a book in 1981 on the centrifugal forces leading to the dismembering of Yugoslavia. George Razumovsky (*1965), son of the aforementioned, President of the Razumovsky Society for Art and Culture which supports artistic exchange and co-operation between East and West. The Razumovsky Society for Art and Culture, in German Razumovsky-Gesellschaft für Kunst und Kultur patrons the Vienna Razumovsky Quartet. George Razumovsky remained in Austria until the Russian Renaissance when Tsar Paul Romanov II offered to restore the family title and rank. George accepted and returned to Moscow where the Razumovsky family has become an active member of the Russian Imperial Court.

Ter Hachatrjan[]

The House Ter Hachatrjan
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Country of Origin  Armenia
Noble Title and Rank  Duke/Dutchess
Founding  1870
Founder Aleksandr Ter Hachatrjan 
Family Notoriety ?????

Ter Hachatrjan (Russian Тер Хачатрян) is the name of a Russian noble family, from 18 century. Duke Aleksandr Ter Hachatrjan (Alexandroupoli, around 1870, - Saint Petersburg, 1917). was an Armenian aristocrat, who it is believed began the Ter Hachatrjan line within the Russian nobility. He was married to Greek duchess Sofia. From this matrimony he had two sons: Duke Anton Aleksandrovich (1891-1950) and Duke Bagrat Aleksandrovich (1892-1981). During the revolution in St. Petersburg in the year 1917, duke Aleksandr and his wife duchess Sofia were killed by the Bolsheviks. Children of the family Ter Hachatrjan escaped from St. Petersburg to the far Caucasus. Youngest son of duke Aleksandr duke Bagrat Aleksandrovich lost his older brother duke Anton Alekjsandrovich. As known, Duke Anton Aleksandrovich appeared in the city Rostov on the Don. He was married to Barinova Elena Aleksandrovna. They had no children.

In the year 1932, Duke Bagrat Aleksandrovich got married to Petrachuk Olga Alekseevna, Ukraine – Pols panna, daughter of merchant. Children born from this matrimony were the Duchess Amalia Bagratovna (1933), Duchess Inessa Bagratovna (1936), and the Duke Christian Bagratovich (1940). Family Ter Hachatrjan fell under the repression of NKVD in 1937. Ter Hachatrjan were arrested and sent to jail. Under the pressure of local government, Duke Bagrat Aleksandrovich had to take a distance from his hereditary title and all his possessions that were brought from St. Petersburg. Family Ter Hachatrjan were finally released from incarceration and the family quickly fled Russia for England.. It was once in England that the Duke and his wife had their final child, Christian. The family took what they could during their flee from Russia, but much of their family wealthy was lost. Once in England, they relied on the charity of other exiled Russian nobles to survive until the family was once again able to support itself. It was after World War II that Amalia Bagratovna Ter Hachatrjangot was married to N.S Saidoff , a very wealthy man from Baku who had also fled his homeland due to communist pressure. The couple lived happily first in England and then later in Paris. Together the couple had two children while in Paris: Ivan Saidoff (1961) and Victoria Saidoff (1963). Duke Christian would later also marry a young and wealthy English woman by the name of Lady Bridget Russell. Of noble birth herself, the match was perfect and helped to uplift the Ter Hachatrjan family while in exile.

Saltykov (Look for Family Crest)[]

Saltykov was a notable Princely noble family within the Russian Empire. Many great and notable members made their mark on Russian history including Praskovia Saltykova who became the Tsarina and wife of Ivan V. Another famous member of the family was Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin. Mikhail (1826-1889), better known by his publication name Shchedrin, was a major Russian satirist of the 19th century. At one time, after the death of the poet Nikolai Nekrasov, he acted as editor of the well-known Russian magazine, the Otechestvenniye Zapiski, until it was banned by the government in 1884.

A scion of the ancient Saltykov family, Mikhail Saltykov was born on his father’s estate in the province of Tula. His early education was neglected, and his youth, owing to the severity and the domestic quarrels of his parents, had many melancholy experiences. Largely neglected, he developed a love for reading, though the only book in his father’s house was the Bible, which he studied attentively. At ten years of age he entered the Moscow Institute for sons of the nobility, and subsequently the Lyceum at Saint Petersburg, where Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky, afterwards minister for foreign affairs, was one of his schoolfellows. While there he published poetry, and translations of some of the works of Lord Byron and Heinrich Heine, and on graduating the Lyceum he obtained employment as a clerk for the Ministry of War. During 1854 he published A Complicated Affair, which, because of the revolutionary activity at that time in France and Germany, was the cause of his banishment to Vyatka, where he spent eight years as a minor government official. This experience enabled him to study the life and habits of civil servants in the interior, and to give a clever description of Russian provincial officials in his Provincial Sketches. On his return to Saint Petersburg he was soon promoted to administrative posts of considerable importance. After making a report on the condition of the Russian police, he was appointed deputy governor, first of Ryazan and then of Tver. His predilection for literary work induced him to end his government service, but pecuniary difficulties soon compelled him to re-enter it, and during 1864 he was appointed president of the local boards of taxation successively at Penza, Tula and Ryazan. During 1868 he finally quit the civil service. Subsequently he wrote his principal works, namely, The Old Times of Poshekhonye, which possesses a certain autobiographical interest, The History of a Town, a satirical allegory of Russian history, Messieurs et Mesdames Pompadours; and his only novel, The Golovlyov Family (also translated as House of Greed). The latter book, often considered his masterpiece, is a study of overpowering greed.

Saltykov's last publication was a collection of satirical fables and tales. He died in Saint Petersburg and was interred in the Literary Cemetery. "The sole object of my literary work," wrote Saltykov-Shchedrin, "was unfailingly to protest against greed, hypocrisy, falsehood, theft, treachery, stupidity of modern Russians". The greater part of Saltykov's work is a rather nondescript kind of satirical journalism, generally with little or no narrative structure, and intermediate in form between the classical "character" and the contemporary feuilleton. Greatly popular though it was in its own time, it has since lost much of its appeal simply because it satirizes social conditions that have long ceased to exist and much of it has become unintelligible without commentary. During 1869-70 he published The History of a Town, which sums up the achievement of Saltykov's first period. It is a sort of parody of Russian history, concentrated in the microcosm of a provincial town, whose successive governors are transparent caricatures of Russian sovereigns and ministers, and whose very name is representative of its qualities — Glupov. Most works of Saltykov's later period are written in a language that the satirist himself called Aesopic. It is one continuous circumlocution because of censorship and requires a constant reading commentary. The style, moreover, is based on the bad journalistic style of the period, which originated largely with Osip Senkovsky, and which today invariably produces an impression of painfully elaborate vulgarity. The Golovlyov Family was decried by D. S. Mirsky as the gloomiest book in all Russian literature — all the more gloomy because the effect is attained by the simplest means without any theatrical, melodramatic, or atmospheric effects. The most remarkable character of this novel is Porfiry Golovlev, nicknamed 'Little Judas', the empty and mechanical hypocrite who cannot stop talking unctuous and meaningless humbug, not for any inner need or outer profit, but because his tongue is in need of constant exercise.

The family survived to 1917 revolution and Bolshevik persecution and survived on during the years of the Soviet Union.

Sheremetev (Look for Surviving Members)[]

Shuvalov[]

The House of Shuvalov
Ethnicity Russian
Place of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Count/Countess
Current Residence Saint Petersburg
'Founder Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov
Founding 1746
Family Notoriety Owners of a Russian Winery

Shuvalov (Russian: Шува́лов) is a Russian noble family which, although documented since the 16th century, rose to distinction during the reign of Empress Elizabeth and was elevated to counts on 5 September 1746. The notable Shuvalovs include: Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov (1727-1797), lover of Empress Elizabeth and Maecenas of the Russian Enlightenment, who declined a comital title offered to him by the sovereign; Count Alexander Ivanovich Shuvalov (1710-1771), his first cousin, Field Marshal and head of the secret police; Count Peter Ivanovich Shuvalov (1711-1762), the latter's brother, Field Marshal and Minister of War, one of the most influential policy-makers during Elizabeth's reign; Count Andrey Petrovich Shuvalov (1743-1789), the latter's son, spent most of his life abroad, conversing with Voltaire and writing libertarian verses in French; the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica names him as the true author of Catherine II's celebrated letters to the French Encyclopedists; Count Peter Andreyevich Shuvalov (1827-1889), the latter's grandson, who wielded great influence at the court of Alexander II of Russia; Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov (1776-1823), Russian general during Patriotic War 1812; Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov (1830-1908), the latter's brother, who represented Russia at the Congress of Berlin and at the German court; Count Pavel Pavlovich Shuvalov (1859-1905), the latter's son, who headed the Moscow police before his assassination by revolutionaries in 1905; Count Mikhail Andreyevich Shuvalov (1850-1903), inherited the title of Prince Vorontsov from his maternal grandfather but died without issue.

In a modern history of Russia the last name Shuvalov is brightly presented. The descendants that continue on today are the family of Count Mikail Shuvalov. It was from his two sons that several grandchildren continued to survive well into the modern era. Though exiled by the revolution in 1917, the family continued on outside the Russian Empire in both Great Britain and France. Surviving World War II as well as the Cold War era, the family was well established and secured when the Soviet Union collapse in 1991. However, the family did not return to Russia until after the Russian Renaissance in the late 1990s. Tsar Paul Romanov II would restore the family's noble rank and title in Russia and welcome the family to return to Moscow. The family graciously accepted these offers and returned to Moscow where they now serve within the Russian Imperial Court.

Stroganovs[]

The House of Stroganovs
Ethnicity Russian
Place of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Count/Countess
Current Residence Saint Petersburg
'Founder Feodor Lukich Stroganov
Founding 15th Century
Family Notoriety Patrons to art, literature, history, and archaeology

The Stroganovs or Strogonovs (Russian: Строгановы, Строгоновы), also spelled in French manner as Stroganoffs, were a family of highly successful Russian merchants, industrialists, landowners, and statesmen of the 16th - 20th centuries who eventually earned nobility. The Stroganov family were originally rich Pomor peasants from Russia's subarctic north, in the region of the White Sea. Feodor Lukich Stroganov, the progenitor of the family, settled in Solvychegodsk (also in the Russian north) in the late 15th century. Here, his son Anikey Fyodorovich Stroganov (1488-1570) opened the salterns in 1515, which would later become a huge industry. In 1558, Ivan the Terrible granted to Anikey Stroganov and his successors large estates in what was at the time the eastern edge of Russian settlement, along the Kama and Chusovaya Rivers

In 1566, at their own request their lands were included in the "oprichnina", the territory within Russia under the direct authority of Ivan the Terrible. Seizing lands from the local population by conquest and colonizing them with incoming Russian peasants, the Stroganovs developed farming, hunting, saltworks, fishing, and ore mining in these areas. They built towns and fortresses and, at the same time, suppressed local unrest with the help of a small private army (such private units were known as "druzhinas"), and annexed new lands in the Urals and Siberia in favor of Russia. Semyon Anikeyevich Stroganov (? - 1609) and Anikey's grandsons Maksim Yakovlevich (? - 1620s) and Nikita Grigoriyevich (? - 1620) financed Yermak's Siberian campaign in 1581. During the period of Polish intervention in the early 17th century, the Stroganovs offered humanitarian and military support to the Russian government (some 842,000 rubles just in terms of money), for which they received the title of distinguished people in 1610. In the 17th century, the Stroganovs invested heavily in the salt industry in Solikamsk. In the 1680s, Grigory Dmitriyevich Stroganov (1656 - 1715) united all the scattered lands of the heirs of the children of Anikey Stroganov. He also annexed the salt works, which belonged to the Shustov and Filatiyev families. In the 18th century, the Stroganovs established a number of ironworks and copper-smelting factories in the Urals. A number of remarkable Baroque churches throughout Russia have been built by the Stroganov family in the late 1600s-early 1700s. They include the Cathedral of the Presentation of Mary in Solvychegodsk (1688-1696), Church of Our Lady of Kazan in Ustyuzhna (1694), Church of Our Lady of Smolensk in Gordeyevka, part of today's Kanavino district of Nizhny Novgorod (1697), and the Nativity Church in Nizhny Novgorod (started in 1697, consecrated in 1719).

During the Great Northern War of 1700–1721, the Stroganovs rendered sizable financial support to the government of Peter the Great, for which Alexander Grigoriyevich, Nikolay Grigoriyevich, and Sergei Grigoriyevich would be raised to the rank of baron in 1722 and later to that of count. From then on, the Stroganovs were members of the Russian aristocracy and held important government posts. Sergei Grigoriyevich (1707-1756) played a significant role during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. His son Alexander Sergeyevich (1733-1811) was a member of the commission on elaborating the new code of laws during the reign of Catherine the Great. In the late 18th – early 19th century, he held different posts, such as president of the Russian Academy of Arts, art director of the Public Library, and member of the State Council. Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov (1772-1817) was a member of the Private Committee (Негласный комитет) of Alexander I and assistant to the minister of the interior. Sergei Grigoriyevich Stroganov (1794-1882) was the governor general of Moscow in 1859–1860. He founded Stroganov Moscow Arts and Industrial Institute in 1825. Alexander Grigoriyevich Stroganov was the minister of the interior in 1839–1841 and then a member of the State Council (since 1849).Most of the Stroganovs are known to have shown interest for art, literature, history, and archaeology. They used to own rich libraries, collections of paintings, coins, medals etc. Stroganov Palace (now one of the buildings of the State Russian Museum) is among the chief sights of Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Stroganov family emigrated with the White movement and all family property in Russia was nationalized. Living abroad the Stroganov family survived as best they could with what property they could take with them in their exodus of Russia. Living it places such as Paris, London, and even in the Americas, the Stroganov family continued forward. They followed the events of World War II and the Cold War, always weary of the course of Russian history and always determined to return. When the Soviet Union collapse in 1991, the Stroganovs were one of a few individual groups that funded the various factions that fought in the second Russian Civil War. Sadly their faction lost and the Neo-Roman Empire emerged. The family refused to return to their homeland while it was under Neo-Roman rule. It wasn't until after the Russian Renaissance and the ascension of Paul Romanov II as Tsar that the Stroganov family returned to Russia. Their noble rank and title was restored by Tsar Paul II and the Stroganov's took an aggression stand to recovery much of the property that the Communists had nationalized. Today, the family is a powerful voice in the Imperial Court and a very wealthy noble house.

Tolstoy[]

The House of Tolstoy
Ethnicity Russian
Place of Origin Tula, Russia
Noble Title and Rank Count/Countess
Current Residence Saint Petersburg
'Founder Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy
Founding Late 1400s
Family Notoriety Patrons to Russian art and literature

Tolstoy, or Tolstoi is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy ("the Fat") who served under Vasily II of Moscow. The "wild Tolstoys", as they were known in the high society of Imperial Russia, have left a lasting legacy in Russian politics, military history, literature, and fine arts. Andrey Kharitonovich Robden Tolstoy was in turn a great-grandson of some Indris who was "a man of distinguished ancestry" who came from "the Germans, the Caesar's lands" (the Holy Roman Empire) to Chernigov, accompanied by his sons Litvinos and Zimonten and a force of 3000 men. This family legend is unverifiable.

The family first reached prominence in the late 17th century, on account of its connections with the Miloslavsky clan to which Tsar Alexis' first wife belonged. It was okolnichi Peter Andreevich Tolstoy who decided the family fortune by casting his lot with the party of Peter the Great. He gradually gained in Peter's confidence serving first as the Russian ambassador to Constantinople, then as the head of the secret police. Although detested by contemporaries, Tolstoy was made a count for his part in securing the throne for Catherine I. He later clashed with the mighty Prince Menshikov, was stripped him of his titles and exiled him to the Solovki. The titles and estates were restored to his grandchildren 30 years later. The most famous of 19th-century Tolstoy politicians was Count Dmitri Andreevich (1823–89), successively the Minister of Education, Minister of Interior and President of the Academy of Science. During his term in office, he put into effect a vigorous Russification program in Poland and Ukraine, for which he is chiefly remembered.

Two members of the family were active during the Napoleonic wars. Count Peter Alexandrovich (1761–1844) served under Suvorov in wars against Poland and Turkey, was made a general-adjutant in 1797, went as an ambassador to Paris in 1807 and tried to persuade Alexander I to prepare for the war against France, without much success though. He served as the governor of St Petersburg and Kronstadt from 1828 until his death. Alexander Ivanovich Tolstoy (1770–1857), stemming from a collateral branch of the family, inherited the committal title and estates of his childless uncle, the last of the Ostermanns. He first distinguished himself in the battle of Charnova (1807) where his regiment held out for 15 hours against the whole army commanded by Napoleon. One of the most admired generals of the anti-Napoleonic coalition, he was rewarded for his courage in the battles at Pultusk and Eylau. At Guttstadt he was wounded so seriously that they feared for his life. In the great battle of Borodino he brilliantly commanded the key positions until he was shell-shocked and taken away from the battlefield. Ostermann-Tolstoy was once again wounded in the battle of Bautzen (1813) but didn't give up command of his force. His crowning achievement was the victory at Kulm (August 30, 1813), which cost him amputation of the left arm. When the war was over, he quarreled with the Emperor, resigned and spent the rest of his life in Europe.

Count Feodor Petrovich Tolstoy (1783–1873), sympathetically mentioned by Pushkin in Eugene Onegin, was one of the most fashionable Russian drawers and painters of the 1820s. Although he prepared fine illustrations for Bogdanovich's Dushenka, his genuine vocation was wax modeling and design of medals. As he gradually went blind he had to give up drawing and started writing ballets and librettos for operas. He was appointed Vice-President of the Academy of Arts in 1828. Many of his works may be seen in the Russian Museum, St Petersburg. Count Feodor Ivanovich Tolstoy (1782–1846) was a notorious drunkard, gastronome, and duellist. It is said that he killed 11 people in duels. In 1803 he participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth. After he had his body tattooed at the Marquesas and debauched all the crew, captain Krusenstern had to maroon him on the Aleutian Islands near Kamchatka. When He returned to St Petersburg, Count Fedor was nicknamed Amerikanets ("the American"). He fought bravely in the Patriotic War of 1812 but scandalized his family again by marrying a Gypsy singer in 1821. Alexander Griboyedov satirized him in Woe from Wit, and his cousin Leo Tolstoy — who called him an "extraordinary, criminal, and attractive man" — fictionalized him in War and Peace. Many of the Tolstoys devoted their spare time to literary pursuits. For instance, Count Alexei Konstantinovich (1817–75) was a courtier but also one of the most popular Russian poets of his time. He wrote admirable ballads, a historical novel, some licentious verse, and satires published under the penname of Kozma Prutkov. His lasting contribution to the Russian literature was a trilogy of historical dramas, modelled after Pushkin's Boris Godunov. Count Lev Nikolaevich (1828–1910), more widely known abroad as Leo Tolstoy is acclaimed as one of the greatest novelists of all time. After he started his career in the military, he was first drawn to writing books when he served in Chechenya, and already his first story, Detstvo ("Childhood"), was something quite unlike anything written before him. It was in his family estate Yasnaya Polyana near Tula that he created two novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, that are widely acclaimed as among the best novels ever written. Later he developed a kind of non-traditional Christian philosophy, described in his work The Kingdom of God is Within You which inspired Rainer Maria Rilke and a young Indian lawyer named Mohandas Gandhi whose influence extended out to Martin Luther King. Of Lev's thirteen children, most spent their life either promoting his teachings or denouncing them. His youngest daughter and secretary, Alexandra Lvovna (1884–1979), had a particularly troubled life. Although she shared with her father the doctrine of non-violence, she felt it was her duty to take part in the events of World War I.

Count Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1883–1945) belonged to a different branch of the family. His early short stories, published in 1910s, were panned by critics for excessive naturalism and wanton eroticism. After the Revolution he briefly emigrated to Germany, but then changed his political views and returned to the Soviet Union. His science fiction novels Aelita (1923), about a journey to the Mars, and The Garin Death Ray (1927) are still popular with readers. In his later years he published two lengthy novels on historical subjects, Peter the First (1929–45) and The Road to Calvary (192241). As a staunch supporter of Stalin, he became known as "Red Count" or "Comrade Count" and his work was acknowledged to be classics of the Soviet literature. Most of his reputation declined with that of Socialist Realism, but his children's tale character Buratino retains his strong legacy with the younger audience of Russia and across the former Soviet space, appearing as popular reading, a movie, and a variety of derivative forms. His granddaughter Tatiana Tolstaya (born in 1951) is one of the foremost Russian short story writers. Another living member of the family is Nikolai Tolstoy-Miloslavsky (born in 1935), a controversial British historian. The Tolstoy continued outside of Russia throughout the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Their return to Russia would not take place until the Russian Renaissance in the late 1990s when Tsar Paul Romanov II requested their return as well as restored their noble rank and title. Today the Tolstoy represent a very powerful noble family within the Russian Empire.

Trubetskoy[]

The House of Trubetskoy
Ethnicity Russian
Place of Origin Lithuania
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Current Residence Moscow
'Founder Demetrius I Starshiy
Founding Late 1300
Family Notoriety ????

Trubetskoy is a Ruthenian Gediminid gentry family of Black Ruthenian stock, like many other princely houses of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, later prominent in Russian history, science, and arts. They are descended from Algirdas's son Demetrius I Starshiy (1327 –1399, Battle of the Vorskla River). Princes Troubetzkoy descend from Demetrius I Starshiy, one of Algirdas's sons, who ruled the towns of Bryansk and Starodub. He was killed together with his elder sons in the unfortunate Battle of the Vorskla River (1399). Demetrius' descendants continued to rule the town of Trubetsk until the 1530s, when they had to convert to Roman Catholicism or leave their patrimony and settle in Moscow. They chose the latter, and were accepted with great ceremony at the court of Vasili III of Russia.

Undoubtedly the most prominent of early Troubetzkoys was Prince Dmitry Timofeievich, who helped Prince Dmitry Pozharsky to raise a volunteer army and deliver Moscow from the Poles in 1612. The Time of Troubles over, Dmitry was addressed by people as "Liberator of the Motherland" and asked to accept the Tsar's throne. He contented himself, however, with the governorship of Siberia and the title of the Duke of Shenkursk. Prince Dmitry died on May 24, 1625 and was interred in the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra. Quite different was a stance of his first cousin, Prince Wigund-Jeronym Trubetsky. He supported the Poles and followed them to Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Time of Troubles. Here his descendants were given enviable positions at the court and married into other princely families of Poland. By 1660s, however, the only Troubetzkoy left, Prince Yuriy Trubetskoy, returned to Moscow and was given a boyar title by Tsar Alexis I of Russia. All the branches of the family descend from his marriage to Princess Irina Galitzine.

In 1756 the first Russian lodge to actually be consecrated with a name was formed in St. Petersburg under the patronage of the Anglophile Count R. L. Vorontsov, Worshipful Master of The Lodge of Silence. The members of Vorontsov's Lodge included many men who later became famous, viz: Sumarokov (author), Prince Scherbatov (Historian), Mamonov (Literary fame), Prince Dashkov, Prince Golitzin, Prince Troubetzkoy and Prince Meschersky. King Gustav III of Sweden gave Swedish Masonry a special stamp of respectability by freely flaunting his masonic ties in 1776 during a state visit to St. Petersburg and won the patronage of Grand Duke Paul -- a famous Russian patriot, historian and political rival to and personal enemy of Catherine. This led to a linking of Russian and Swedish Freemasonry into one system when, in 1778, the Moscow Lodge of Prince Troubetzkoy joined the Swedish System. It is true, however, that other Freemasons who were "punished" (N. Troubetzkoy, I. Lopukhin and I. Turgenev, for example, were merely rusticated on their country estates) had not been directly involved in the efforts to enlist Paul into the M^Asited Paul on behalf of Nikolai Novikov, escaped scott free. Madariaga has suggested that this may be due to the fact that Troubetzkoy were members of the highest aristocracy and Bazhenov was too lowly."

The family remained a noble house within the Russian court until 1917, when the Revolution forced the family to give up their property, title and rank to flee Russia from Bolshevik execution. Like so many Russian nobles, the family took to Paris where they bough a modest estate and slowly began recovering from their grand losses. A few of the family's youngest men took to fighting in the French underground during World War II and were activists against the Communists during the Cold War. When the Soviet Union collapse in 1991 the family began investigating what remained of their property. They would not return to Russia until after the Russian Renaissance when Tsar Paul Romanov II invited the family back in hopes of restoring their noble rank and title. Today the family is in service to the Tsar through the Imperial Court.

Vorontsov-Dashkov[]

The House of Vorontsov-Dashkov
Ethnicity Russian
Place of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Count/Countess
Current Residence Moscow
'Founder Feodor Vorontsov
Founding 1852
Family Notoriety ????

Vorontsov is a celebrated Russian family, which attained the dignity of Counts of the Holy Roman Empire in 1744 and Serene Princes of the Russian Empire in 1852. Most likely, the Vorontsovs represent a collateral branch of the great Velyaminov family of Muscovite boyars, which claimed male-line descent from a nephew of Haakon the Old, who had settled in Novgorod in 1027. The Velyaminovs were hereditary mayors of Moscow, until the office was abolished by Dmitry Donskoy, whose own mother came from this family. The Vorontsov branch of the Velyaminovs reached a zenith of its power in the person of the boyar Feodor Vorontsov, who was de-facto ruler of Russia during the minority of Ivan IV (1543). Three years later, he was accused of treason and beheaded. For the next two centuries the family history is obscure. Under Empress Elizabeth, its fortunes soared once again, when Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov became Vice-Chancellor of the Russian Empire. His palace in St Petersburg, designed by Rastrelli, remains a monument to his power.

During the reign of Peter III of Russia, Vorontsov was the most powerful man in Russia, as his niece Elisabeth became the Emperor's mistress. Empress Catherine, alarmed by Peter's plans to divorce her and marry Vorontsova, deposed her husband, with a great help from her bosom friend, Ekaterina Vorontsova, the wife of Prince Dashkov. Ekaterina's brothers Alexander and Semyon Romanovich were both notable diplomats, and the latter's son Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov was a prominent general who led the Russian invasion of Caucasus and colonization of New Russia. The Vorontsovs from this branch were inveterate Anglophiles and entertained many English servants, painters, and architects. Having no children, the last Prince Dashkov, son of Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova, bequeathed his vast possessions and the Vorontsov-Dashkov surname to his maternal cousin, who formed a junior branch of the Vorontsov family with the distinct surname. Its most notable representative was Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov (1837–1916), who served as Minister of Imperial Properties in 1881–1897 and the General Governor of Caucasus in 1905–15. He was officially in charge of the victorious Russian forces in the Battle of Sarikamis during the early months of World War I.

Count Illarion's children remained in Russia until 1917, when the Bolsheviks and their revolution forced the family to flee Russia. They choose to go to London where the family was welcomed by many of the same artisans that the family had been patrons to for many years. Having taken what property they could in their flee from Russia, the family survived as best they could. Their history during exile is not entirely intact. A grandson of Illarion died in the service to the British crown during World War II. The family remained in London during the entire Cold War era, serving in the British Military during these years. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent second Russian Civil War the family remained in London but showed interest in the development of a new Russia. The Vorontsov-Dashkov were among a select few who financially backed the Russian Renaissance that helped gain the respect of Tsar Paul Romanov II. The family's noble rank and title were presented to Illarion's great-grandson Dmitry Vorontsov-Dashkov. Today the Vorontsov-Dashkov are once again a powerful voice within the Imperial Russian court.

Yusupov[]

The House of Yusupov
Ethnicity Russian
Place of Origin Russia
Noble Title and Rank Prince/Princess
Current Residence Saint Petersburg
'Founder Abdul Mirza
Founding 1852
Family Notoriety ????

The Yusupovs are a Russian noble family descended from the Khans of the 10th century who, in the 18th and 19th centuries, were renowned for their immense wealth, philanthropy and art collections. Most notably, Prince Felix Yusupov II was famous for his involvement in the murder of Rasputin. In the 14th century Edigu, a Tatar from the Manghit tribe and one of Tamerlane's greatest strategists, settled on the north shores of the Black Sea, establishing the Nogai Horde and laying the foundations for the Crimean Khanate. Edigu's death was followed by infighting between his descendants, until, in the 15th century, Khan Yusuf became the head of the Nogai Horde.

Khan Yusuf allied himself with Tsar Ivan the Terrible, but the former allies eventually became enemies. Khan Yusuf's daughter Sumbecca was Queen of Kazan, and when Kazan was razed by Ivan, Khan Yusuf's daughter was taken as prisoner to Moscow. After Khan Yusuf died, another period of infighting between his descendants followed until the 17th century, when Abdul Mirza, another descendant, converted from Islam to Orthodox Christianity under the name of Dmitry. After the conversion, Tsar Feodor I bestowed upon him the title of Prince Yusupov. The second son of the Steward Prince Dmitri Seyushevich Yusupov-Knyazhevo (died 1694) (twice married to Ekaterina Yakovlevna Sumarokova and to Princess Tatiana Fyodorovna Korkodinova (died 1719)) (the first one, Prince Matvei Dmitrievich Yusupov, Steward, died young), Prince Grigori Dmitrievich Yusupov (1676-1730), General in Chief and Minister of Defense, was a friend of Peter the Great and helped him with the construction of the Russian Navy. Married to Anna Nikitichna Akinfova (died 1735), daughter of Okolnichi Nikita Ivanovich Akinfov, the couple had, besides Prince Boris, three more children: Prince Grigori Grigorievich Yusupov (died 1737), Colonel, married firstly to Princess Maria Petrovna Korkodinova, and married secondly to Princess Yevdokia Nikolaievna Shahovskaya, without any issue from both marriages; Prince Sergei Grigorievich Yusupov (died 1734), Subcolonel, unmarried and without any issue; Princess Maria Grigorievna Yusupova (died 1738), Lady-in-Waiting at the Court of Empress Catherine I, forced to take monastic vows by her elder brothers in order to inherit her part of family estates, unmarried and without any issue

Prince Boris Grigorievich Yusupov, Chamberlain in 1730, General Governor of Moscow in 1738, Senator (1695-1759), son of Prince Grigori, was sent to study with the French Navy at the age of 20 and soon became the Tsar's adviser, and eventually served three sovereigns. During the reign of Empress Elizabeth he was appointed head of the Imperial Schools and, in 1756, encouraged the Empress to form the first Public Theater in St. Petersburg. He married Irina Mikhailovna Zinovyeva (1718-1788), daughter of Steward Mikhail Petrovich Zinoviev, in 1734 and, beside their only male child, bore four preceding daughters: Princess Evdokia Borisovna Yusupova May 5 (NS: May 16) 1743, Moscow - July 19 (NS: July 8) 1780, Saint Petersburg), married on March 6, 1774, Mitava (Mittau) (divorced in 1777 or 1778), as his second wife, to Peter von Biron, the last Duke von Kurland (1769–1795) and the first Duke von Sagan (1786–1795) (February 15, 1724, Mitava (Mittau) - January 13, 1800, Schloss Gellenau), without issue; Princess Alexandra Borisovna Yusupova (1744–1791), married to Senator Ivan Mikhailovich Izmailov (January 30, 1724 - November 10, 1787); Princess Elisaveta Borisovna Yusupova April 27, 1745 - August 29, 1770), married on February 13, 1764 to General-Major Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Galitzine (August 15, 1729 - February 23, 1770), with large issue; Princess Anna Borisovna Yusupova (1749–1772), married in 1771 to Alexander Yakovlevich Protasov (1742 - April 27, 1799), Chamberlain, Senator, Tutor of Alexander I.

The eldest son of Prince Boris, Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (1751-1831), Senator, Minister of State Properties and Director of Imperial Theatres, was a keen traveller who spoke five languages and also was a patron of arts. Nicholas served under a series of sovereigns, including Catherine the Great, Paul I and Alexander I as a private councillor and diplomat. As a diplomat, Prince Nikolai travelled throughout Europe, to France and Versailles, where he met Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, to Germany and Prussia, where he met Frederick the Great, to Austria, where he met Emperor Joseph II, and to Italy. During his journey he purchased a large collection of art for the tsar and was later appointed director of the Hermitage and the Kremlin Armoury. In 1804, Nicholas went to Paris and frequently met Napoleon I, who presented him with a gift of three large tapestries. In 1793 Nikolai married Tatiana Vasilievna von Engelhardt (January 1, 1769-May 23, 1841), one of Prince Potemkin's nieces. The couple lived together in Arkhangelskoye Estate, their luxurious summer residence in Moscow. Prince Nicholas built his own porcelain factory there, with much of the artisans from France. In 1831 Nicholas died at the age of 80 and was succeeded by his second and only remaining son, Prince Boris, since their elder son, Prince Nikolai, died in infancy. At the age of 42, Prince Boris Nikolaievich Yusupov (June 9, 1794, Moscow - October 25, 1849, Arkhangelskoye Estate), Marshal of the Imperial Court, inherited his immense family wealth, including more than 675,000 acres (2730 km²) of land and more than 40,000 servants inhabiting it, but unlike his father, Prince Boris was not a patron of the arts but, instead, was primarily occupied with business concerns. Prince Boris moved to the Moika palace in St. Petersburg (Also known as Yusupov Palace) with his second wife, Zenaida Ivanovna Narishkina, (who later became Comtesse de Chauveau, Marquise de Serre through her second marriage) (May 18, 1810 - February 26, 1893) (daughter of Ivan Dimitrievitch Narishkin April 17, 1776 - April 15, 1840, Marshal of the Sytchev Nobility in 1829 and later a Chamberlain, and a relative of Peter the Great's mother, and Varvara Ivanovna Narishkina, née Ladomirsky May 17, 1785 - November 26, 1840), and their only son Nikolai. He was previously married without any issue to Princess Praskovia Pavlovna Shcherbatova (July 6, 1795-October 17, 1820). The Arkhangelskoye palace was soon derelict; the animals in the palace zoo were sold and much of the collection moved. Boris focused on the family granaries and developed good relationships with the peasants who worked in them. Prince Boris died in 1849. Prince Boris's only son, Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (October 12, 1827, Moscow - July 31, 1891, Baden Baden), Marshal of the Imperial Court, was much like his uncle Nicholas I, a patron of arts. He first served in the chancery of Nicholas I. He bought a large collection of jewellery, including a 36 carat (7.2 g) diamond known as Morocco Sultan. The Prince later spent much of his time in southern Europe because of poor health, while also serving the tsar as a diplomat. While in Europe he bought much to adorn his palace on the Moika, including collections of violins and paintings. He married Countess Tatiana Alexandrovna de Ribeaupierre (June 29, 1828 - January 14, 1879), a lady-in-waiting to the Empress, daughter of Comte Alexandre de Ribeaupierre and wife Ekaterina Mikhailovna Potemkina, another niece of Prince Potemkin. The prince was also a talented musician and composer and was a member of several musical societies. In 1866, he published a book about the Yusupov history On the Family of the Yusupov Princes. A Collection of Their Life Stories, Charters and Letters of the Russian Sovereigns to Them.


When Prince Nicholas Yusupov II died in 1891, he was succeeded by his daughter, Zenaida, who was considered a legendary beauty at the time, as well as one of the richest; her suitors included the crown prince of Bulgaria. Princess Zenaida Nikolaievna Yusupova (September 2, 1861, Saint Petersburg, Russia - November 24, 1939, Paris, France) married Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston (October 5, 1856, Saint Petersburg, Russia - June 10, 1928, Rome, Italy), General Governor of Moscow (1914–1915), son of Count Felix Nikolaievich Sumarokov-Elston. They married on April 4, 1882 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. After his father in law died, Felix was granted a special permission from Tsar Alexander III of Russia to carry the title Prince Yusupov and Count Sumarokov-Elston and to pass it to his and Zinaida's heir. Prince Felix was appointed adjutant to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in 1904 and commanded the Guards Cavalry of the Imperial Guards, and in 1914 he was appointed Governor General of Moscow. At the beginning of World War I the Yusupovs owned more than 100,000 acres of land and their industries included sugar beet factories, brick plants, saw-mills, textile and cardboard factories, mines and distilleries, in addition to more than 16 palaces and estates. The older son of Zinaida and Felix Sumarokov-Elston, Nikolay Felixovich Yusupov (1883–1908) was killed on duel at the age of 26. The last Yusupov Prince was Prince Felix Yusupov II, Count Sumarokov-Elston, the younger son of Zinaida and Felix Sumarokov-Elston , who is famous for his involvement in the murder of Gregory Rasputin. Felix Yusupov II married Princess Irina, niece of last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II. After the murder of Rasputin he was exiled to Crimea, but returned to St. Petersburg in 1917 to find the city in massive disorder after the February Revolution. He took with him some of his most precious paintings by Rembrandt and jewelery, and in April 1919, he left Russia for good to Paris. His only daughter, Irina, married Count Sheremetev's descendant and their children moved to Greece. His son, Prince Konstantine Yusupov remained in Paris where he too was married. The couple had three children, including Konstantine's only heir, Prince Felix Yusupov III. It would be Prince Felix II who would return to Russia in the late 1990s, following the Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Russian Renaissance which established the second Russian Empire. A close friend of Tsar Paul Romanov II, Prince Felix III had his family's noble rank and title restored quickly. He rose through the ranks of the Russian nobility to become one of the most powerful nobles in the court. However, the friendship between Tsar Paul II and Prince Felix III soon soured following Russia's humiliating defeat in the Georgian War. Uniting other disgruntled nobles within the Court, Felix III led a successful Coup d'état against the Tsar, forcing him into exile. Using Tsr Paul's heir, Alexei, as the Tsar-to-be, Prince Felix III became regent and ruled Russia briefly for five years until Tsar Paul II (with help from Quaon and Draxis) lead a successful liberation army against Felix and deposed him.

Prince Felix III was charged with treason and it is said, though not confirmed, that Tsar Paul II had him severely beaten and tortured until finally branding him with a mark and exiling him from the Russian Empire, her territories, and that of the territories of her allies. What is certain however, is that the entire fortune of the Yusupov family was taken by the Russian Empire and used during a reconstruction effort, repairing damage done due to Tsar Paul II's war against Felix III. What remained of their entire wealthy following the reconstruction was returned to the family. Their princely title stripped from the family, Felix III's ten year-old nephew Grigori II became the new patriarch of the family and was bestowed with the title of Viscount. Today the family Yusupov continue to work to restore their image and repair the great damages done to their name by Felix III.

Zubov[]

Zubov is a Russian noble family which rose to the highest offices of state in the 1790s, when Platon Zubov succeeded Count Orlov and Prince Potemkin as the favorite of Catherine II of Russia. The Zubovs were an ancient family of good standing, first noticed in the service of Muscovite dukes in the 15th century. Nikolay Vasilievich Zubov (1699–1786) served in the Collegium of Economics, and his son Alexander Zubov (1727–1795) was reputed to have enriched himself serving as Vice-Governor of Vladimir. He had three daughters and four sons, of whom three—Nicholas, Platon, and Valerian—were made counts by Emperor Francis II: Platon Zubov was introduced by his distant relative, Nicholas Saltykov, to the ageing Empress and soon became her lover and the most powerful man in Russia. He was the fourth (and last) Russian to bear the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire; Valerian Zubov, while serving under Suvorov in Poland, married a Princess Lubomirska and lost his leg in a toy battle. At the time of Catherine's death, he was leading the Russian army in Persia to avenge the Krtsanisi massacre; Nicholas Zubov was made general when his family was still in power. Known as a strongman, he served in Suvorov's army, supported the Field Marshal in his intrigues against Prince Potemkin and married his only daughter. It was he who dealt a violent blow to Tsar Paul's left temple with a solid gold snuffbox on the night of his assassination; and Their sister, Olga Zherebtsova, was involved with Nicholas Zubov in the assassination plot and fled Russia soon afterwards.

The lines of Count Nicholas and his brother Dmitry continue up to the present. Nicholas's great grandson Valentin (1884–1969) was a leading authority on the reign of Emperor Paul and authored several books on the subject. He founded the Gatchina Palace museum and the Art History Institute in St. Petersburg before emigrating to Paris in 1925. It would be his grandson, Sergei Zubov who would eventually return to Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He would live a successful life in the Neo-Roman Empire as a banker and would help fund the Russian Renaissance. Tsar Paul Romanov II would return his family's noble title and rank as well as what property remained which include: The Zubovs two family vaults, one in Moscow, in the Donskoy Monastery, built in 1796-98, and another in Strelna near St. Petersburg, in the Maritime Monastery of St. Sergius, completed in 1809. Today the Zubov are an active family within the Imperial Court of Russia.

Noble Families of Baltic Germany[]

The Baltic Germans (Deutsch-Balten, or Baltendeutsche) are mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the regions of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population has never made up more than 10% of the total. They form a social, commercial, political and cultural élite in that region and have done so for several centuries. The following is a list of some Baltic German families that have taken high positions in the military and civilian life of the Russian Empire. Though most of their families were pushed out of their ancestral region during World War II and the Soviet Union era, they have since returned. Most now reside in the city of Tallinn but also hold homes in St. Petersburg and Moscow. All families listed below serve in the Imperial Court of the Russian Empire.

Essen(There is a Family Crest, Baltic German Family)[]

The House von Essen
A Coat of Arms Exists
Country of Origin Sweden
Noble Title and Rank Count/Countess
Founding 1700s
Founder Nikolai Ottovich von Essen (Russian Line)
Family Notoriety Naval Tradition

von Essen are a Baltic German noble family, known since 1584. One famous member was Count Hans Henrik von Essen (1755–1824) who was a Swedish officer and statesman. Hans Henrik von Essen was born at Kavlås Castle in Tidaholm Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. He was educated at Uppsala University. He entered the army becoming a cornet at age 18. He accompanied Gustav III in his travels and campaigns. He accompanied Gustav III at the 1792 maskerade ball at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm on March 16, 1792 where the king was shot and mortally injured. Hans Henrik von Essen was credited with immediately ordered the doors to the ball room to be locked, in order not to let the assassin get away. Hans Henrik von Essen was appointed Colonel in 1787, Major General in 1795 and Field Marshal in 1811. He served as the Over-Governor of Stockholm from 1795 to 1797 and as the Governor-General of Pomerania from 1800 to 1809. Upon the revolution of 1809 he received the title of count and a place in the Council of State. In 1810 he was sent as Ambassador to Paris by Charles XIII, and his negotiations with Napoleon's ministers restored Pomerania to Sweden.

In 1814, Hans Henrik von Essen served as the commander of the Swedish military forces at the border with Norway. By the Treaty of Kiel, the King of Denmark had to cede Norway to the King of Sweden, due to the alliance of Denmark-Norway with France during the later phases of the Napoleonic Wars. This treaty was however not accepted by the Norwegians. The Norwegian-Swedish War of 1814 was fought in the summer of 1814. Subsequently the Convention of Moss was signed resulting in the Union between Sweden and Norway. Hans Henrik von Essen served as the Governor-general of Norway until he was succeeded by Count Carl Carlsson Mörner during 1816. Another important member of the family and the main reason why the family survives today within the Russian Empire is Nikolai Ottovich von Essen (1860-1915) who was a Russian naval commander and admiral from the Baltic German Essen family. Essen entered the Imperial Russian Navy after graduating from the Naval Cadet Corps in 1880. Graduating from the Nikolayev Naval Academy, technical branch, in 1886. In the early part of his career he commanded the Minesweeper no 120 (1897-98), the gunboat Grozyachiy (1898-1900), the steamship Slavianka (1901-1902) and the cruiser Novik (1902-1904).

Essen commanded the Russian battleship Sevastopol in Port Arthur, during the Russo-Japanese War. He fought in the battle of the Yellow Sea. Despite general indiscipline in the Russian squadron, caught in harbor, during last weeks of the Japanese siege, he managed to keep his battleship in serviceable condition until last days, then scuttled her in a deep water, so that the Japanese could not raise her. He was awarded the Order of St. George. After the end of the war he became the first captain of the British-built armored cruiser Rurik II. He was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1908 and appointed Commander in Chief of the Russian Baltic Fleet in 1909 when this position was created. He was promoted to Admiral in 1913. Widely regarded as the most able of Russian admirals in World War I, he led the Baltic Fleet energetically during the first year of the war before dying unexpectedly after a short bout with pneumonia in May 1915. Von Essen is also known for his intention to violate Swedish neutrality at the outbreak of war 1914, he was however stopped before his plan was executed. He was succeeded after death by three sons and two daughters of which, two of his sons continued in their father's naval footsteps while the other became a nautical engineer. His two sons who had become naval officer, Alexei and Sergei, were killed during the Revolution of 1917 but his two daughters and third son, Alexander, survived. Alexander remained in Russia well into the Soviet era. He had his surname changed so as to escape punishment from the communist and passed himself off as a simply naval engineer. Alexander died in 1960 but was survived by two sons, Mikhail and Ivan. Both sons followed in the footsteps of their father and became engineers in the Soviet Union during the Cold War Era. Both sons also had children that survived in the Soviet Union up to the collapse in 1991 and second Russian Civil War. In the Neo-Roman Empire the family continued to pursue their humble lifestyle. It wasn't until after the Russian Renaissance and the emergence of the restored Russian Empire that it was discovered that they were descendants of the von Essen family. Mikhail's oldest son, Nikolai who was the oldest of the entire family line surviving, was granted the title and rank of nobility owed to the surviving family. He excepted the offer from Tsar Paul Romanov II and had the family named restored.

Hauke-Bosak (There is a Family Crest, A Baltic German Noble Family)[]

The Hauke-Bosak (more commonly called Hauke) are originally a German middle class family of allegedly Dutch origin, who after having settled in Poland at the end of the 18th century achieved great importance and titles of nobility in Congress Poland and the Russian Empire.

First known ancestor of the Haukes was Johann Gaspar Hauck, a registrar at the Imperial Chamber Court of the Holy Roman Empire in Wetzlar,who died in 1722 and was buried in his home town. By his wife Johanna Barbara of an unknown maiden name he had ten children, of whom two sons, Johannn Valentin (1698-1722) and Ignatz Marianus (1706-1784) came to important positions: Johann continued the family tradition of employment at the Court of Justice in Wetzlar, while Ignatz became a secretary to the Government of the Electorate of Mainz. He again had many children, nine, with his wife Maria Franziska Riedesel, who was an illegitimate (later acknowledged) daughter of Baron George Riedesel zu Eisenbach, a member of one of the oldest Hessian noble families. One of their sons, Johann Friedrich Michael Hauck (born 1737 in Mainz, died 1810 in Warsaw) moved to Saxony and later to Poland as a secretary of the powerful Count Alois von Brühl, Starost of Warsaw and General of the Royal Polish Artillery, son of the famous Saxon-Polish minister Heinrich von Brühl. In 1782 Count Alois sold his Polish dignities and estates and returned to Saxony, but Johann Friedrich with his family of seven children by an Alsatian Protestant preacher's daughter Salomea b. Schweppenhäuser (1755-1833), stayed in Warsaw. Having changed his Christian names to more Polish sounding Fryderyk Karol Emanuel and his surname to Hauke, he had considerable success as owner of a private school and later as teacher of the German language and mathematics at an exclusive Prussian school for boys, called Warsaw Lycaeum.

Three of Hauke's sons, John Maurice, Ludwik August (1779-1851) and Joseph (1790-1837) entered after 1815 the service of the Czar, who was at the same time King of Congress Poland, achieved very high positions and received titles and rights od Polish nobility in 1826. The coat of arms awarded to them received in accordance to the Polish custom of naming arms the name "Bosak" (Grappling hook), which some, but not all, members of the family attached to their surname. John Maurice (in 1829) and Joseph (in 1830), both of them Generals, were elevated to the rank of counts of the Russian Empire. In 1861 the branch of Ludwik August followed, having obtained an Austrian confirmation of the title of Count awarded to General Alexander Hauke (1814-1868), who married his cousin Sophie (1816-1861), a daughter of John Maurice and sister to Julia von Battenberg. The branches of Maurice and Joseph became extinct in male line in 1852 respectively in 1949, the branch of Ludwik and Alexander still flourishes. They left Poland and settled down in Sweden about 1960, aided by their relative, Queen Louise of Sweden.

The family has survived to this day and, upon a request by Tsar Paul Romanov II, a descendant of the Alexander branch graciously accepted the offer and returned with his immediate family to Moscow where the family now serves in the Russian Imperial Court, their noble rank and title restored in the Russian Empire.

Klodt von Jürgensburg(Look for Surviving Members)[]

Lieven (There is a Family Crest, Baltic German Family)[]

The Lievens are one of the oldest and noblest families of Baltic Germans. They claim descent from Caupo of Turaida, the Livonian quasi rex who converted to Christianity in 1186, when Bishop Meinhard attempted to Christianize the region. Henrici Chronicon Lyvoniae tells that Caupo in winter 1203-1204 went to Rome with Theodoric, a Cistercian Monk who was to become the founder of the Swordbrothers , then the first bishop of Estonia. They were received by the Pope Innocent III who backed up their plans to Christianize Livonia. According to feudal records, the Lieven ancestor Gerardus Līvo (1269) and his son Johannes (1296) entered service as vassals to the archbishop of Rīga. One of Caupo's daughters married an ancestor of the barons, then earls Ungern-Sternberg.

Caupo's grandson, Nicholas, was the first to spell his name Lieven. Reinhold Liewen, the Swedish governor of Oesel (Saaremaa), in 1653 was made a baron together with his brother, whose son - Baron Hans-Heinrich von Liewen - accompanied Charles XII in all his campaigns and expeditions. Among Reinhold's descendants, one branch settled in Courland and was recognized in 1801 as in the Holy Roman Empire. Johann-Christoph von Lieven was the first member of the family to gain distinction in the Russian service: he served as Governor of Arkhangelsk under Catherine the Great and as General of Infantry under Emperor Paul. Baron Otto Heinrich von Lieven (1726-1781) married in 1766 Baroness Charlotte von Gaugreben (1742-1828), who was entrusted by Emperor Paul with the task of educating his daughters and younger sons - Nicholas and Mikhail Pavlovich. In recognition of her services Paul made her a countess in 1799. When her pupil Nicholas became the Emperor of Russia in 1826, the 84-year-old governess was made a Princess with the title of Her Serene Highness. The title was hereditary and passed to her descendants, of which the following were notable. Her son, Prince Christoph Heinrich von Lieven (1774-1838), accompanied Alexander I of Russia during the Battle of Austerlitz and at the signing of the Peace of Tilsit. In 1809 he was sent to represent Russia at the Prussian court and, at the crisis of the Napoleonic Wars in 1812, was transferred as the Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of St. James's, a post which he kept for 22 years. Somewhat overshadowed by his more illustrious wife, Dorothea von Lieven, Prince Lieven took part in the Congress of Vienna and died in Rome when he accompanied the future Alexander II of Russia on his Grand Tour. His elder brother, Prince Carl Christoph von Lieven (1767-1844), started his career as an aide-de-camp to Prince Potemkin, administered the garrison of Arkhangelsk under Paul and ended his career as Imperial Minister of Education (1828-33). Prince Alexander Karlovich Lieven (1801-1880), son of the preceding, Mayor-General, served as Governor of Taganrog in 1844-1853, and senator 1853-1880. Prince Andrey Alexandrovich Lieven (1839-1913), his son, was the Senator and Minister of State Properties in 1877-81. Prince Alexandr Alexandrovich Lieven (1860-...), was an admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy: in 1878 entered in service; in 1911 was appointed chief of the naval general staff.

Prince Anatoly Pavlovich Lieven (1872-1937) commanded a Russo-German army in Latvia until the supreme command was taken over by Prince Pavel Bermondt-Avalov; Lieven refused to collaborate with the German puppet government of Andrievs Niedra and forbade his men to fight the Latvian and Estonian forces in Livonia -- these līvenieši were loyal to the Republic of Latvia, and after the Latvian War of Independence he became a Latvian citizen and a manufacturer of bricks. Today the family is lead by Peter Paulovich Leiven. Peter was a Professor of Russian Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science during the late 1980s until after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He moved back to Russia following the second Civil War and took a professorship at Moscow University during the years of the Neo-Roman Empire. He became a powerful voice in the Russian Renaissance and following the coronation of Tsar Paul Romanov II, Peter was given the chance to have his family's noble rank and title restored. Peter agreed and left his professorship at Moscow University to take a seat in the Imperial Court.

Pahlen (There is a Family Crest, Baltic German Family)[]

von der Pahlen is a noble Russian, Lithuanian and Swedish family of Baltic German origin. The family probably originated from Pomerania but in the beginning of 15th century moved to Livonia. First historical account of this family dates to 1120 when Johannes de Pala was governor or Riga.

On 18 September 1679 Charles XI of Sweden gave the baronial rank to five brothers of the family and all their descendants. In 1799 Paul I of Russia gave Petr Alekseevich Pahlen and all his descendants the count rank. By the decision of Russian Government of 1755 and 1865 most of the other members of Pahlen got the baronial rank of the Russian empire. Baron Emanuel A. von der Pahlen (1882–1952) was a German astronomer and is perhaps the most famous of recent family members. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, but left for Germany following the revolution of 1917. He was educated at University of Göttingen, where he was awarded a Doctorate of Mathematical Sciences. Prior to World War I he joined solar eclipse expeditions in 1905, 1912 and 1914. Between the world wars, he was employed at the Astrophysikalishen Observatorium Potsdam. He taught at the University of Basel. In 1947 he published Einführung in die Dynamik von Sternsystemen, a 241-page work on Galaxies.

Emanuel died in 1952, survived by three sons, a crater Von der Pahlen on the Moon is named after him. The sons remained in Germany throughout the course of the Cold War and well after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It wasn't until after the Russian Revolution that Fyodor II, grandson of Emanuel and eldest man heir of the family was offer to return to Russia with his family's rank and title completely restored by Tsar Paul Romanov II. Fyodor II accepted and moved his family to Moscow where he and his family now serves in the Imperial Court.

Ungern-Sternberg (There is a Family Crest, Baltic German Family)[]

Ungern-Sternberg is a Baltic-German noble family, with branches belonging to the Finnish, Swedish and Russian nobilities. Perhaps one of the most famous members of the family is Baron Roman Nickolai Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg. Baron Roman Ungern-Sternberg(1886–1921), also known as the Bloody Baron and the "Mad Baron," was a Baltic German-Russian Captain, Russian hero of World War I and self-proclaimed lieutenant-general who was dictator of Mongolia from March to August 1921. Although born with the name von Ungern-Sternberg, in later life he often used the incorrect formulation Ungern von Sternberg. An independent and brutal warlord in pursuit of pan-monarchist goals in Mongolia and territories east of Lake Baikal during the Russian Civil War that followed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Ungern von-Sternberg's goals included restoring the Russian monarchy under Michael Alexandrovich Romanov and the Mongolian Khanate under Bogd Khan, and his opponents were mainly Communists. Ungern von-Sternberg was known for persecution of anyone who was helping his foes, the Bolsheviks, especially the Communist and Bolshevik oriented Jews. He organized the only pogrom of Jews in Mongolian history. Following his Asian Cavalry Army collapse in Mongolia, Ungern von-Sternberg was betrayed by his two Russian officers and handed over to Bolshevik's Red Army and Cheka, he was tried and executed for his counter-revolutionary involvement in Bolshevik Russia.

Ungern von Sternberg was born in Graz, Austria to a noble Baltic German family, and was brought up on Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, then part of the Russian Empire. His mother was Sophie Charlotte von Wimpffen later Sophie Charlotte von Ungern-Sternberg and his father was Theodor Leonhard Rudolph von Ungern-Sternberg (1857–1918). His mother would remarry, his stepfather being Oskar von Hoyningen-Huene. After graduating from Pavel Military School in Saint Petersburg, he served in Siberia where he was enthralled with the life-style of nomadic peoples such as the Mongols and Buryats. During World War I, Ungern von Sternberg fought on the Galician front, today's territories of southern Poland and western Ukraine. During the war, he was considered a very brave, but somewhat reckless and mentally unstable officer, decorated with several military awards but discharged from one of his commanding positions for failing to obey orders. General Wrangel mentioned in his memoirs that he was afraid to promote Ungern-Sternberg. After the February Revolution in 1917 he was sent by the Provisional Government to the Russian Far East under command of Grigori Semenov to establish a loyal military presence there. After the Bolshevik-led October Revolution of 1917, Semenov and his right-hand man, Ungern von Sternberg raised their banners against them. Semenov, who was backed by the Japanese, appointed Ungern von Sternberg as governor of the large area to the east southeast beyond Lake Baikal called Dauria. In the following months Ungern von Sternberg distinguished himself by extreme cruelty to the local population and to his own subordinates, which earned him the nickname Bloody Baron. Ungern von Sternberg was also known as the "Mad Baron" because of his exceedingly eccentric behavior. Semenov and Ungern von Sternberg, though anti-Bolshevik, were not part of the White movement, and declined to recognize the authority of Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, the nominal leader of the Whites. Instead, they were supported by the Japanese with arms and money. The Japanese intention was to found a puppet state in the Russian Far East headed by Semenov. For the White leaders, who believed in "Russia strong and indivisible", this was high treason. The "Asian Division of Cavalry" or "Asian Cavalry Army" was the official name used by Ungern, according to his 1921 officer and writer Kamil Giżycki. Ungern von Sternberg’s army comprised a mixture of Cossacks, Chinese, Japanese, Russian troops, Mongols, the Transbaikal Cossack Host, Polish exiles and Buryat tribesmen. Several authors, such as Robert de Goulaine and Hugo Pratt, refer to Ungern von Sternberg's unit as "The Savage Division," as this name was used at the time by both Ungern and his contemporaries. The Savage Division properly refers to the military unit of mountain people from the Caucasus or Mongolic Kalmyks in the Russian Imperial Army, which fought in World War I and later, after the Russian Revolution, against Bolsheviks. Ungern von Sternberg's unit plundered the Whites' supply trains as often as those of the Reds. Since Admiral Kolchak had his base of operations in central Siberia, and Semenov and Ungern von Sternberg operated to the east of Kolchak in the Transbaikal area, their attacks on supply trains traveling west from Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian Railroad did much to hinder Kolchak's operations in the Urals. In 1920, Ungern von Sternberg split from Semenov and became an independent warlord. He believed that monarchy was the only social system which could save Western civilization from corruption and self-destruction. He began to pursue an idea of restoring the Qing Dynasty to the Chinese throne, then uniting Far-Eastern nations under it. Since 1919, Mongolia had been occupied by Chinese republican forces. In late 1920 to early 1921 Ungern von Sternberg's troops entered Mongolia at the invitation of the displaced Bogd Khan, Mongolia's civil and religious ruler. In January 1921, Ungern von Sternberg's army assaulted the capital town, Urga, several times, but were repelled with heavy losses. Ungern von Sternberg ordered his troops to burn a large number of camp fires in the hills around Urga, making an appearance that the town was surrounded by an overwhelming force. In February 1921, after fighting a huge battle, he drove the Chinese out of town.

On March 13, 1921, Mongolia was proclaimed an independent monarchy, under Ungern von Sternberg as a dictator and Bogd Khan as religious and spiritual ruler. A mystic who was fascinated by beliefs and religions of the Far East such as Buddhism and who believed himself to be a reincarnation of Genghis Khan, Ungern von Sternberg's philosophy was an exceptionally muddled mixture of Russian nationalism with Chinese and Mongol beliefs. According to the Communist propaganda his brief rule of Mongolia was characterized by looting and a reign of terror by his army. According to Kamil Gizycki, his engineer and officer, amongst many attempted reforms Ungern was first to institute order in Urga, impose street cleaning and sanitation, promote religious life and tolerance in the capital. He deeply respected Mongolian Buddhism, Mongolian traditions and beliefs. His Asian Cavalry Army consisted of Chinese regiments, Japanese units, various Cossacks regiments, Mongol, Buryat, Tatar and other peoples' units. It was primarily a cavalry army , but with a strong artillery arm composed of Italian machine guns purchased by the Mongolian government and various field guns.The artillery was crewed mostly by Russians and Japanese and commanded by a Lieutenant Hiro. The cavalry had no standardized uniforms or weapons but mostly used rifles, carbines , pistols and sabers, mostly of Russian or Japanese issue . Some of the poorer Mongolian recruits had only bows or lances During his reign, he was supported by the Dalai Lama, who sent him his bodyguard as an aide as well as several hundred Tibetan soldiers, armed and trained by the British. They were essential in maintaining discipline as well as securing the Bogd Khan during the battle for Urga. The Bolsheviks started infiltrating Mongolia as soon as they occupied Russian Transbaikalia. Various Red Army units invaded newly-independent Mongolia and Bolshevik divisions were sent to defeat Ungern von Sternberg, led by Mongolian leader Damdin Sükhbaatar, and occupy Mongolia, while spies and various smaller diversionary units were sent ahead to spread terror and betrayal leading to the collapse of Ungern von Sternberg's forces in Mongolia. In May, Ungern's attempted capture of the Russian town of Troitskosavsk collapsed when Bolshevik troops arrived in the middle of the battle by ships from Irkutsk with overwhelming numbers, artillery and airplanes. Bolsheviks held a tremendous advantage in equipment yet the beginning stages of summer 1921 the last Mongolian invasion of Russia looked very promising. Ungern von Sternberg attempted to invade Bolshevik-controlled territory of Transbaikalia across the Russo-Mongolian border in agreement with Cossack ataman Grigory Semyonov, and marched his Asian Cavalry Army. After initial successes in June–July, Ungern von Sternberg was forced to start a difficult retreat to Mongolia in late July 1920, hard pressed by the overwhelming Bolshevik counter-offensive. Upon crossing into Mongol territory on August 17–18, his thus-far undefeated army imploded and collapsed, he himself being betrayed by his two Russian officers (Bolsheviks later shot them also, for betraying their commander) who took him prisoner and handed him over to the Red Army on August 21, 1921. After a five hour and twenty minute trial on September 15, 1921, prosecuted by Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, the Baron was sentenced to execution by firing squad. The sentence was carried out that very evening in Novonikolayevsk.

The current family owes its lineage to Erich von Ungern-Sternberg, a Finnish architect who had ties through marriages to the Russian nobles of the Ungern-Sternberg lines. His father had been Russian but moved to Finland upon the request of his mother. Erich lived a very comfortable life in Finland though not initial given World War II. However, in his adult years Erich became a very successful architect, designing many beautiful and impressive buildings. He would marry and have three sons and a daughter. Sadly Erich would die in 1989, just two years before the fall of the Soviet Union. It wasn't until the Russian Renaissance in the late 1990s that his surviving family was sought out by Tsar Paul Romanov II. His eldest son, Yuri was presented the Ungern-Sternberg noble rank and title as well as what remained of their property in Russia. Yuri agreed to this and moved his father and that of his two other brother's families to Moscow. Today the Ungern-Sternbergs are a strong voice in the Russian Imperial Court.

Wrangel (There is a family crest, Baltic German Family)[]

Wrangel is a Baltic German noble family, included in both Swedish and Russian nobility. In Russian History two of the most prominent Wrangels have been Baron Ferdinand von Wrangel and Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel. Baron Ferdinand von Wrangel was a Russian explorer and seaman of Baltic German descent, Honorable Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg (1855), one of the founders of the Russian Geographic Society. In English texts, Wrangel is sometimes spelled Vrangel, a transliteration from Russian, which more closely represents its pronunciation in German, or Wrangell.

Ferdinand von Wrangel was born into a Baltic German noble family of Wrangel. He graduated from the Naval Cadets College in 1815. He took part in Vasily Golovnin's world cruise on the ship "Kamchatka" in 1817-1819. Wrangel led the Kolymskaya expedition in search of northern lands. He established that north of the Kolyma River and Cape Shelagsky there was an open sea, not dry land, as people thought. Together with Fyodor Matyushkin and P. Kuzmin, Wrangel described the Siberian coastline from the Indigirka River to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay in the Chukchi Sea. (See Northeast Passage) His expedition made a valuable research in glaciology, geomagnetics, and climatology and also collected data about natural resources and native population of that remote area. After noticing swarms of birds flying north and questioning the native population, he determined that there must be an undiscovered island in the Arctic Ocean and started in 1820 a four year long expedition to search for it. Even though it was unsuccessful the island was later named Wrangel Island to honor him and his endeavor. Wrangel led the Russian world voyage on the ship "Krotky" in 1825-1827. He held the post of the Chief Manager of the Russian American Company and was effectively Governor of its settlements in North America in 1829-1835. Wrangel was the president of the Russian-American Company in 1840-1849. He was the Minister of the Navy 1855-1857. Wrangel retired in 1864. He opposed the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867. Wrangel wrote "Journey along the northern coastline of Siberia and the Arctic Ocean" and other books about the peoples of northwestern America. He lived in his last years at Roela in the eastern part of Estonia. He had bought the manor in 1840.

Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (1878–1928) was an officer in the Imperial Russian army and later commanding general of the anti-Bolshevik White Army in Southern Russia in the later stages of the Russian Civil War. Wrangel was born in Mukuliai (near Zarasai), Lithuania (then part of Imperial Russia), a descendant of the Baltic German Wrangel family. After graduating from the Institute of Mining Engineering in 1901, Wrangel volunteered for the Cavalry and was commissioned an officer in 1902, taking part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. In 1906, he became a member of the punitive expedition forces under General A.N. Orlov in the Baltic region. Wrangel graduated from the General Staff Academy in 1910 and commanded a cavalry unit during World War I. After the October Revolution, Wrangel went to the Crimea and in August 1918, joined the White Volunteer Army. He first commanded a Cavalry division and after spring 1919, the entire Caucasus Army. In the summer of 1919, he led the White Army's capture of Tsaritsyn (later Stalingrad, now Volgograd) and gained a reputation as a skilled and just administrator[citation needed]. In contrast to some other White Army generals, he did not tolerate lawlessness or looting by his troops. He became commanding general of the entire Volunteer Army in December 1919. A political conflict with fellow White general Anton Denikin would soon force him to go abroad. However, he would return and on April 4, 1920, was elected Commander-in-Chief of the White forces in Crimea, which he then renamed the Russian Army. Together with a coalition government he instituted sweeping reforms . He also recognized and established relations with the new anti-Bolshevik independent republics of Ukraine and Georgia, among others. At a prayer vigil upon accepting command. After defeats in which he lost half his standing army, and facing defeat in Northern Tavria and the Crimea, Wrangel organized a mass evacuation on the shores of the Black Sea. Wrangel gave every officer, soldier, and civilian a free choice: evacuate and go with him into the unknown, or remain in Russia and face the wrath of the Red Army[citation needed]. The last military and civilian personnel left Russia with Wrangel on November 14, 1920. Wrangel journeyed via Turkey and Tunisia to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes as the head of all Russian refugees, and arguably became the most prominent of all exiled White emigres. In 1924, he established the Russian All-Military Union, an organization established to fight for the preservation and unity of all White forces living abroad. Wrangel's memoirs were published in the magazine White Cause and also in Berlin in 1928.

Some, including Wrangel's family, believe that the general was poisoned by his butler's brother, who lived in the Wrangel household in Brussels briefly and was allegedly a Soviet agent. Soon after the butler's brother's departure, Wrangel took ill and died. Wrangel's funeral and burial took place in Serbia according to his wishes. He is buried inside the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox church in Belgrade. The town of Sremski Karlovci, which served as his headquarters and was at the time of his death the location of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, together with the Russian Ministry of Culture had erected a monument in his honor. The Wrangel descendants of Pyotr continued on into World War II as well as the Cold War era. A grandson of Pyotr's, Maxillion Wrangel returned to the homeland of his ancestors in 1992, after the collapse of Soviet Union and subsequent second Russian Civil War. He joined the Russian Heritage party and actively sought to bring back the Russian Empire. His own son, Ivan Wrangel would help to form the White Guard following the Russian Renaissance and the creation of the second Russian Empire. The White Guard is a political party that greatly supports the monarchy in Russia.

Noble families of Georgia[]

Abashidze (there is a Coat of Arms)[]

Abashidze is a Georgian family and a princely house. Appearing in the 15th century, they achieved prominence in the Kingdom of Imereti in western Georgia in the late 17th century and branched out in eastern Georgian kingdoms of Kakheti and Kartli as well as the then-Ottoman-held southwestern region of Adjara. After the Russian annexation of Georgian polities, the family was confirmed as Princely Abashidze by the Tsar’s decree of 1825.

The Abashidze family possibly derived from the medieval Georgian noble house of Liparitid-Orbeliani, but the family legend holds that it descended from an Abyssinian[1] officer named Abash who had allegedly accompanied Marwan ibn Muhammad’s Arab army to Georgia in the 8th century; Abash is said to have remained in Georgia and ennobled when he saved the life of a Georgian crown prince from a wolf.

The first recorded account about the Abashidze dates back to the latter part of the 15th century. By the 1540s, they had already been in possession of a sizeable fiefdom within the Kingdom of Imereti located in its eastern part and called Saabashidzeo. The family reached a climax of its might at the turn of the 18th century, when it possessed 78 villages, several castles, fortresses, churches and monasteries as well as 1,500 serf households. Prince Giorgi-Malakia Abashidze was not only the most powerful vassal of the crown of Imereti, but himself acted as a kingmaker and even de facto king from 1702 to 1707. The family branched out in eastern Georgia when Erekle II, King of Kartli and Kakheti, granted, in 1774, to his father-in-law Prince Zaal Abashidze and his male descendants estates in Kakheti. A minor branch was also established in Kartli. Earlier in the 18th century, one representative of the Imeretian line went over to the Ottoman government and settled at Batumi where his descendants attained to the office of sanjak-bey.

The Russian annexation of Imereti in 1810 brought the princedom of Saabashidzeo to an end. Henceforth, the family was equated to other noble families of the Russian Empire and confirmed as princes on September 20, 1825. On July 29, 1876, Prince Simon Abashidze (1837-1891) was granted the right to assume the surname and coat of arms of his father-in-law, the late Ukrainian nobleman Semyon Davidovich Gorlenko, for himself and his male-line descendants, but he died without a male heir. The family has survived into the 21st century and has produced several notable writers, public figures and politicians. The most recent and prominent figure being Aslan Abashidze. His great-uncle Memed Abashidze was a famous writer and member of the Parliament of the Democratic Republic of Georgia between 1918-1921, but was shot on Stalin's orders in 1937. His father was sent to the Gulag for ten years but survived. Despite a difficult childhood, during the 1950s Abashidze was able to obtain degrees in history and philosophy at Batumi University and in economics at Tbilisi State University. He worked as a teacher and economist for a period before joining Georgia's regional public service. He was the director of several technical service institutes before being named a regional minister in Batumi, the capital of Ajaria, where he served as Minister of Community Service. In spite of his descent from a renowned Muslim family that played a pivotal role in strengthening Georgian and Islamic identities among the Muslims of Ajaria, Aslan Abashidze converted to Christianity. This moved helped strengthen his case to having his family's Princely title being restored, which it was by Paul Georgovich Romanov II.

Abkhazi (Look for Coat of Arms, Georgian Family)[]

Abkhazi is a princely family in Georgia, a branch of the Shervashidze family from Abkhazia.

According to the genealogical treatise by Prince Ioann of Georgia (1768-1830), the ancestors of the family fled the Islamicization of Abkhazia to the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kakheti where they were elevated, in 1636, to the princely dignity and enfeoffed by the king Teimuraz I with the estate at Kardenakhi, which had hitherto been in possession of the extinct line of the Vachnadze family. After the Russian annexation of the Kingdom of Georgia, the family was integrated into Russian princely nobility in 1826. In the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Prince Konstantine Abkhazi, the head of the house, presided over the decision of the Assembly of Georgian Nobility to declare their property national. He then led an anti-Soviet opposition group, and was executed by the Bolsheviks in 1923.

Prince Nicholas Abkhazi (died 1987) and his Shanghai-born wife Peggy Pemberton Carter (died 1994) moved to Canada and, beginning from 1946, built a well-known "Abkhazi Garden" at Vancouver Island, Victoria, British Columbia. The couple remained in Canada well during the Cold War and made a prosperous life for themselves in Canada. The couple bore two children, a son named Konstantine and a daughter named Katherine. After their mother's death in 1994, the two decided to leave Canada for the Neo-Roman Empire. The two eventually married other surviving members of the old Russian aristocracy and live very humble lives. After the Russian Renaissance, Konstantine Abkhazi was offer the restoration of his families princely nobility by Tsar Paul Romanov II, Tsar of the New Russian Empire. Konstantine accepted this offer and the families noble rank and title was quickly restored. Though the family had plans to move to Georgia when it fell under the New Russian Empire's rule, the Georgian War broke out and the family decided to remain in Russia. It wouldn't be until after the Russian Empire again reclaimed parts of Northern Georgia that the family would finally return to their ancestral home and hold their seat within Georgia's noble court.

Amilakhvari (Georgian Nobility)[]

Amilkhvari is a noble house of Georgia which rose to prominence in the fifteenth century and held a large fiefdom in central Georgia until the Imperial Russian annexation of the country in 1801. They were hereditary marshals of Georgia from 1433, from which the family takes its name. Subsequently, the family was received among the princes of the Empire under the name of Amilakhvarov (1825) and Amilakhvari (1850). The House of Zevdginidze or Zedginidze, which subsequently assumed the name of its principal office-fief, of Amilakhvari, is traceable in the province of Upper Kartli to the middle of the fourteenth century. A family legend holds it, though, that they descend from a Roman officer who accompanied Pompey on his Caucasian campaign in 65 BC. His descendants are said to have attained to Georgian nobility in the 11th century. The family rose to an especial prominence with Joatham Zedginidze, who at the risk of his life saved King George VIII of Georgia (1446-1465) from the plot formed by the renegade nobles. George VIII must have elevated Joatham’s eldest son, T'aqa II (or Joatham himself before he died of the wounds he had received) to the new title and offices. The family was enfeoffed of the offices of commander of the Banner of Upper Kartli, and Palatine of Gori, as well as of numerous fiefs, including the sepulchral abbey and cathedral of Samtavisi, the town of Kaspi and several villages on the left bank of the Mtkvari River. Their fiefdom was called Saamilakhvro, literally meaning "of Amilakhvari." The family briefly held also the duchies of Ksani (1741-1747) and of Argavi (1743-1747).

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Zedginidze house ranked as fourth among the "undivided" princely houses of the Kingdom of Kartli. It was then that the name Amilakhvari became a surname of the heads of the house; the cadets being called Amilakhvarishvili. Beyond this principal line, the dynasty branched out as the Princes Khidirbekishvili in the provinces of Samtskhe and Inner Kartli, and as the Princes Guramishvili and the Princes Tusishvili in Kakheti. The Emukhvari family of Abkhazia is also supposed to be another line of this dynasty. The Amilakhvari were related through marriage with several other noble houses of Georgia and the royal Bagrationi dynasty. After the Russian annexation of Georgia (1801) the family was received among the princes (knyaz) of the Empire under the name of Amilakhvarov (1825) and Amilakhvari (1850). Prince Dimitri Zedguinidze-Amilakhvari, more commonly known as Dimitri Amilakhvari was a French military officer and Lieutenant Colonel of the French Foreign Legion, who is perhaps one of the most important figures of the family in recent years not only for his influential role in the French Resistance against Nazi occupation in World War II, but also because it was through his line that the family would return to Russia and then Georgia.

Dimitri was born in Bazorkino, where his family had moved from their ancestral estate at Gori, Georgia during the Russian Revolution of 1905. The house of Zedguinidze-Amilakhvari had formerly served as hereditary Master of the Horse to the Georgian Crown and retained their princely dignity during the Imperial Russian rule of Georgia. Dimitri's grandfather, Ivane Amilakhvari (1829-1905), was an eminent general in the Russian army. His father, Colonel Giorgi Zedguinidze-Amilakhvari, also served in the Russian military and transferred his loyalty to the short-lived Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918-21. After the Russian SFSR occupied Georgia early in 1921, the family fled to Istanbul, Turkey, where Dimitri attended a local British School, and later, in 1922, emigrated to France. In 1924, Dimitri entered the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr and was commissioned as a second lieutenant after his graduation in 1926. At the same time, he was posted to the French Foreign Legion and promoted to lieutenant in 1926. He later served in French North Africa and took part in all important operations in the south of Morocco from 1932 to 1933. From 1934 to 1939, he was Head of the French military school in Agadir, being promoted to captain in 1937. Following his naturalization as a French citizen, he married another member of the exiled Georgian nobility, Princess Irina, née Dadiani in August 1927. During the "Phoney War" before the German occupation of France, Dimitri was serving in Algiers in North Africa, but in the spring of 1940 he joined the French expeditionary force earmarked for the Norwegian campaign. He fought at Narvik and was then evacuated to the United Kingdom, where he joined the Free French Forces. He then took part in the unhappy campaigns against the Vichy French forces in West Africa, at Dakar (in Senegal), and Equatorial Africa, in Cameroun. In a remarkable record of service, his war service in 1940 had thus taken him from Africa to the Arctic Circle and back again, as far as the Equator, all in the space of a few months.

Dimitri's next move took him half way round the continent to Eritrea, in East Africa, to join the East African Campaign against Italy) in early 1941, but by the summer he was on the move again, to take part in another campaign against Vichy France (with units of the French Foreign Legion serving on both sides of the conflict), in Syria. This would be the closest he would come to the land of his birth. In 1942, Dimitri was back in North Africa, facing the German and Italian forces in Libya as part of the North African Campaign. During the hard fighting at the Bir-Hakeim (January) he wrote: "We, foreigners, have only one way to prove to France our gratitude: to be killed ...". Nevertheless he survived, and in June he was made a Companion of the Liberation, a decoration second only to the Légion d'honneur. In 1942 he was also awarded the Krigskorset med Sverd or Norwegian War Cross with Sword for his earlier service in Norway. This is Norway's highest military decoration for gallantry and he was one of only 66 Frenchmen awarded this decoration during the Second World War. In October 1942,the Allies began the final offensive in North Africa with the Second Battle of El Alamein. This battle took the Allied forces right across Libya and into French North Africa, where Amilakhvari had begun his operational service. It was here that Dimitri completed his great African odyssey, living through the liberation of North Africa. After World War II Dimitri was awarded France's highest decoration, the Legion of Honour. General Charles De Gaulle named him and his legionaries the "honour of France" for their heroic defense of the Allies' positions.

After the war, Dimitri finally settled down and started a family with his wife Irina. The couple had three children, two boys and one daughter. The family lived comfortable in France throughout the entire Cold War. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and establishment of the Neo-Roman Empire, Dimitri who was 86 at the time decided to move back to the old country and his wife and children followed. There the family made a prosperous life for themselves and reconnected with many of the other former noble lines of the Georgian aristocracy. Dimitri would die in 1995, but his eldest son Sergei would carry on the family and help it survive well pass the Russian Renaissance and the restoration of the family's title and rank by Tsar Paul Romanov II and the New Russian Empire.

Anchabadze (Georgia Noble Family)[]

Anchabadze is an Abkhaz family, and the oldest surviving noble house originating in Abkhazia.

The Anchabadze family is supposed to have its roots in the early medieval ruling dynasty of Abasgia. After the break-up of the Kingdom of Georgia in the late 15th century, Abkhazia came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire and Islam, forcing several members of the family into flight to the eastern Georgian lands – Kartli and Kakheti. Thus, they formed the three principal branches: the Abkhazian line of the princes Anchabadze, the Kartlian Machabeli, and the Kakhetian Abkhazi. All these three families were later integrated into the Imperial Russian princely nobility: Machabeli and Abkhazi in 1826/1850, and Anchabadze in 1903.

The descendants of this family have survived in Abkhazia and Tbilisi.

Andronikashvili (Georgian Noble Family)[]

The Andronikashvili (sometimes known as Endronikashvili) are a princely family from Georgia that claim their descent from the Byzantine Comnenid dynasty and played a prominent role in political, military and religious life of Georgia. After the Russian annexation of Georgia (1801), the Andronikashvili were confirmed in the dignity of knyaz Andronikov (Russian: Андрониковы) in 1826. The surname Andronikashvili, literally meaning "children [descendants] of Andronikos", is certainly attested in the sixteenth-century documents, but the oral tradition has it that the family descends from Alexios Komnenos, the illegitimate son of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos (ruled 1183-1185) by his mistress and relative Theodora Komnene, Queen Dowager of Jerusalem. After the deposition and brutal murder of his father, Alexios is said to have taken refuge at the court of his relative Tamar of Georgia who granted him a large estate in the eastern Georgian province of Kakheti. The Andronikashvili family estates were located in the southeastern portion of Kakheti, one of the three kingdoms that emerged after the demise of a unified Kingdom of Georgia later in the fifteenth century. Their aboriginal appanage was known as "Saandroniko" or "Saendroniko" and comprised several villages including Melaani, Chalaubani, and Pkhoveli. In the sixteenth century, the family acquired the office of High Constable (mouravi) of K’iziqi which became hereditary in the main line (sometimes known as Abelashvili). A century later, a branch (also known as Zurabashvili) attained to a similar position in Martqopi.

Along with the Cholokashvili and Abashidze families, the Andronikashvili were regarded as grandees of the first class of the Kingdom of Kakheti. They held key political, diplomatic and military posts at the court and were distinguished for their particular loyalty to the royal Bagrationi dynasty with which they had ties of marriage. In the 1780s, they functioned as military governors of Ganja Khanate which was briefly subjugated by King Erekle II to Georgian control. Several representatives of the family served also as bishops of Bodbe, Ninotsminda, Alaverdi and Nekresi. After the Russian annexation of Georgia (1801), the Andronikashvili were confirmed in the dignity of knyaz in 1826 and mostly served in the Russian army. Following the Bolshevik takeover in the 1917 October Revolution, the head of the family, Jesse Andronikashvili (Andronikov), managed to send his family to France, while himself spent several years in Soviet prisons before being shot in 1937. His son, Constantin Andronikof became the Dean of St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris, and translator of Sergei Bulgakov's theological writings into French. Though Constantin would die before the re-establishment of the Russian Empire, his sons would would be requested by Tsar Paul Romanov II to return to Russia and resume their noble hereditary rights. They family accepted the offer and returned to the court of Russia as a Princely noble family.

Apakidze (Look for Family Crest, Georgia Nobility)[]

Apakidze is a Georgian family with noble ancestry. According to a family legend, the Apakidze descend from Arp’a-Khan, "a Tatar of Genghis Khan’s times", who embraced Christianity and settled down in Abkhazia whence his descendants moved to Mingrelia where their princely title was confirmed. The Apakidze had been vassals to the Dadiani princes of Mingrelia, and then were confirmed as princes of the Russian Empire in 1867 and 1903. Josef Avtandilovich Apakidze (1954- 2000) is perhaps one of the best known Apakidze of the recent times. Josef Apakidze was born in Tbilisi, but at a very young age moved to Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) with his family. In 1971 he finished at Leningrad's Nakhimov Naval Academy before finishing flight training in 1975 at Yeyskoye Military Flight Academy. Between 1975 and 1983 Apakidze served in the Soviet Naval Aviation element of the Soviet Baltic Fleet gaining reputation as one of its best test pilots. After 1983 Apakidze headed a battle group centered around the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and flew Sukhoi Su-33 aircraft on numerous missions with the Black Sea Fleet. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union his naval aviation unit based in Crimea refused to join the newly created Ukrainian Air Force and in addition Apekidze also refused an offer to head the Air force of his native Georgia. Instead he and his men remained loyal to Russia which had now become the new Neo-Roman Empire. Under the Imperial Military Service of the Neo-Roman Empire Josef served with the Northern Fleet placed in charge of Neo-Rome Naval Aviation's only Fleet Defense Interceptor squadron in the 1990s.

Josef switched allegiance during the Russian Renaissance as he supported the reemergence of the Russian culture. He swore his allegiance to Tsar Paul Romanov II when he was crowned and the Second Russian Empire was established. Wishing to reward Josef for his long-standing career in naval aviation and for his ancestral history, Tsar Paul Romanov II restored to Josef Apakidze and his family the noble title and rank that the family held years ago. Prince Josef continued to serve his country, staying on as one of the best pilots in the new Russian Empire. Sadly however, Joself would be killed in action during the Georgian war by enemy fighters. Luckily, he was survived by both his wife and their 3 children including his eldest son who he named in honor of the Tsar, Paul.

Bagrationi[]

Chavchavadze (Look For Family Crest, Georgian Noble Family)[]

Chavchavadze is a Georgian noble family, formerly a princely one. The family is first attested in the 15th century, during the reign of Alexander I of Georgia. By the time of Leon of Kakheti they appear in the province of Kakheti (1529, according to Prince Ioann of Georgia), where they produced two lines: one in Telavi and Tsinandali; another in Qvareli and Shildi. Both these lines were elevated to a princely dignity under the kings Erekle I (1680s) and Constantine II (1726), respectively.

The Chavchavadze family, with its head Prince Garsevan, came to much prominence under the king Erekle II later in the 18th century, and continued to play an important role in Georgia during the Imperial Russian rule. They were confirmed in their rank by the Tsar’s decrees of 1825, 1828, 1829, and 1850. Perhaps two of the more famous members of the family are Prince Ilia Chavchavadze and David Chavchavadze. Prince Ilia Chavchavadze (1837–1907) was a Georgian writer, poet, journalist and lawyer who spearheaded the revival of the Georgian national movement in the second half of the 19th century, during the Russian rule of Georgia. He was canonized as Saint Ilia the Righteous by the Georgian Orthodox Church. Today, Georgians revere Chavchavadze as Pater Patriae (Father of the Fatherland) of Georgia. Inspired by the contemporary liberal movements in Europe, as a writer and a public figure, Ilia Chavchavadze directed much of his efforts toward awakening national ideals in Georgians and to the creation of a stable society in his homeland. Most of his work dealt with Georgia and Georgians. He was a devoted protector of the Georgian language and culture from Russification. Chavchavadze was fatally wounded by a gang of assassins, led by Gigla Berbichashvili, in Tsitsamuri, outside Mtskheta. His legacy earned him the broad admiration of the Georgian people.

David Chavchavadze (1924) is an author and the former CIA officer of Georgian-Russian origin. He was born in London to Prince Paul Chavchavadze (1899–1971) and Princess Nina Georgievna of Russia (1901–1974), thus being a descendant of the prominent Georgian noble family and the Imperial Russian dynasty. His father, Prince Paul, was a fiction writer and translator of writings from Georgian into English, and an émigré in the United Kingdom, and then the United States. Chavchavadze entered the United States Army in 1943 and served during World War II in liaison for U.S. Army Air Force Lend-lease supply operations to the Soviet Union. After the war, he spent more than two decades of his career as a CIA officer in the Soviet Union Division. After his retirement, Chavchavadze specialized in tracing the nobility of Imperial Russia. His work as well as being a grandchild of a Russian Grand Duke, he was requested by Tsar Paul to return to Moscow following the Russian Renaissance and establishment of the second Russian Empire. This request was made not only to have his family's noble rank and title returned to him but also to help authenticate the lineage of many of the people coming to Moscow claiming to be the descendants of old noble families.

Chichua (Look for Family Crest, Georgian Nobility)[]

Chichua is a Georgian noble family claiming their descent from the princes Chikovani, the second house of the Dadiani of Mingrelia. Many officials believe this surname a local Mingrelian variation of the Chijavadze. The Kakhaberidze, archaically Kakhaberisdze (literally "the sons of Kakhaber") was a noble family in medieval Georgia which held sway over the highland northwestern Georgian province of Racha from the 11th or 12th century to the 13th. The Kakhaberidze were a branch of the Liparitid-Baguashi, their dynastic name being derived from its early member Kakhaber known from a few inscriptions from Racha.

By 1184, when Queen Tamar of Georgia ascended the throne, the Kakhaberidze had been in possession of both Racha and the neighboring district of Takveri, bearing the title of "Duke of Dukes" (eristavt-eristavi). Kakhaber (II) Kakhaberidze was the one who, together with Archbishop Anton of Kutaisi, placed the crown upon Tamar's brow at a ceremony held at the Gelati Monastery. His descendant and probably a grandson, Kakhaber (III), was powerful enough to defy the royal authority and play King David VI and his Mongol overlords against one another. By c. 1278, Kakhaber had been defeated, blinded and exiled at the king's order. His possessions were turned over to the crown. The Kakhaberidze seem to have retained themselves in Racha into the early 15th century, but then went in obscurity.[1][2] Their descendants, the house of Chichua continued to play an important role in the western Georgian kingdom of Imereti and were confirmed as the princes under the Russian rule in the 19th century. Like many noble families in the Russian Empire, the Chichua were forced into exile following the Russian Revolution of 1917. The family fled to France where their descendants lived for many years both during World War II as well as during the long duration of the Cold War.

The family only returned to Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the aftermath of the Second Russian Civil War. Under Neo-Roman the family thrive and became a wealthy family within the upper society of Neo-Roman. It was until after the Russian Renaissance and the restoration of the Russian Empire and the Romanov Dynasty that the descendants of the Chichua were granted their noble rank and titles back. Like many other former Georgian noble families, the Chichua had planned to return to their ancestral home of Georgia when the country once again came under the control of the Russian Empire. However, the Georgian War prevent this move and the Family remained in Moscow instead. However, when Russian regained the northern half of Georgia, the family along with the rest of the former Georgian nobility migrated to their ancestral home to return to the Georgian court.

Garsevanishvili (Look for Family Crest, Georgian noble Family)[]

Garsevanishvili, also known as Gersevanov is a Georgian noble Baronial family active in both Georgia and Russia. The family came to prominence in the early 18th century at the court of the Georgian king Vakhtang VI of Kartli. A family legend traces their origin to Greek choristers who accompanied the Byzantine princess Helene into Georgia upon her marriage to King Bagrat IV in the 11th century. Members of the family were privileged to serve as archpriests at the Georgian court and as hereditary keepers of the Okona Icon of the Mother of God. Garsevanishvili family was included in the list of nobles of Georgia in 1860 in the so called "Barkhatnaia Kniga" published in Saint Petersburg.

They followed Vakhtang VI in his Russian exile in 1724 and entered the Russian service, adopting the surname of Gersevanov (Garsevanov). They were granted estates in the governates of Poltava, Kharkov and Yekaterinoslav. Those who remained in Georgia were reconfirmed among the nobility by a charter of King Erekle II in 1788. The notable members of the family were also Mikhail Nikolayevich Gersevanov (1830-1907), an engineer who supervised numerous road-building projects in the Caucasus; and his son Nikolay (1879-1950)who was a soviet scientist in the field of soil mechanics and a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1901, Gersevanov graduated from St. Petersburg’s Institute of Transportation and Communications Engineers. Beginning in 1923 he was a professor at the Moscow Institute of Transportation and Communications Engineering. In 1931 he became the scientific director of the All-Union Institute of Building Foundations and head of the subdepartment of hydrotechnical structures at the Military Transport Academy. He was the founder of the Soviet school of soil mechanics and the author of numerous works on soil mechanics and applied mathematics. He received the State Prize of the USSR in 1948. He was awarded two orders. It would be through Nikolay that the family continued to survive to the present day. Nikolay's descendants would continued to live in Russia for the entirety of the Soviet Unions, following in their forefather's footsteps as becoming promising engineers in Soviet industry. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent Russian Civil War II, the family continued to thrive and had a major impact in stabilizing the Neo-Roman industry.

The Gersevanov continued to contribute to industry up to the Russian Renaissance when the family was offered by Tsar Paul Romanov II the restoration of their noble title and rank. The offer was accepted by Mikhail II who had the families name changed back to Garsevanishvili. Mikhail had plans on returning the family back to their Georgian homeland when the territory became apart of the Russian Empire once again. However, following the Georgian War the family remained in Russia along with the rest of the Georgian nobility that had be restored. However, once the Russian Empire reclaimed the northern region of Georgia the family moved back to Georgia and entered into service in the Georgian noble Court.

Gruzinsky (There is a Family Crest, Georgian Noble Family)[]

Gruzinsky is a title and later the surname of two different princely lines of the Bagrationi dynasty of Georgia, both of which received it as the subjects of the Russian Empire. The name "Gruzinsky" (also spelled Gruzinski, or Gruzinskii) derives from Russian, originally and literally meaning "of Georgia". Princes Gruzinsky ("the Elder House"), an offshoot of the House of Mukhrani dispossessed of the throne of Kartli in 1726. They descended from Prince Bakar of Georgia (1699/1700-1750) who had removed to Russia in 1724, and went extinct with the death of Pyotr Gruzinsky (1837–1892). The family had estates in the governorates of Moscow and Nizhegorod, and was confirmed among the princely nobility of Russia in 1833.

Princes Gruzinsky (Bagration-Gruzinsky; "the Younger House"), an offshoot of the House of Kakheti (after 1462) and (after 1744) of Kartli. The title of Prince(ss) Gruzinsky (Serene Prince[ss] after 1865) were conferred upon the grandchildren of the penultimate Georgian king Erekle II (1720/1-1798) after the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801. Descendants of Prince Bagrat (1776–1841), grandson of Erekle II and son of the last king of Georgia George XII (1746–1800), still survive in Georgia. The current head of this family, Alexander Bagration-Gruzinsky (born 1950), claimed the legitimate headship of the Royal House of Georgia (also claimed by Demetre of the Bagrations of Mukhrani) based on male primogeniture descent from the last king of Georgia. As he has no male issue, Peter Gruzinsky (born 1916), the great grandson of Bagrat's younger brother Ilia (1791–1854) who lives in the Russian, is considered to be a heir of the Gruzinsky House. Prince Alexander Bagration-Gruzinsky has lived with his wife and two daughters in Russia since his family line was moved there in 1801. They served in minor roles during the time of the Soviet Union and the Neo-Roman Empire. However, after the Russian Renaissance, the families princely noble rank and title were restored. When Georgia came under the administration of the Russian Empire once again, Prince Alexander was going to petition Tsar Paul Romanov II for rights to the Georgian throne.

However, the Georgian War halted such plans as Georgia was lost by the Russian Empire. It was until after Northern Georgia elected Demetre III Mukhran-Batoni as the new Bagrationi heir and King, that Alexander took his case to the Russian Tsar. With Georgia no longer a territory of the Russian Empire, there was nothing Tsar Paul II could do. However, Demetre II would soon be ousted from power by one of his own Generals and Northern Georgia would be made into a Military Republic. This would lead Russia to invade Northern Georgia in an effort to ousted the Military Dictatorship. However, with Northern Georgia now a territory of the Russian Empire once again, Tsar Alexei II now had the power to install a new Bagrationi ruler. Both Demetre and Alexander had powerful claims to the Georgian throne and to pick one over the other would only lead Northern Georgia to internal conflict. In the hope of bringing a peaceful solution, Tsar Alexei proposed a arrange marriage. Prince Demetre II would be wed to Prince Alexander's eldest daughter, Maria. Together the two would be crowned King and Queen Mukhran-Batoni of Georgia. However, once an heir was sired from the union, that son would be declared by the Romanov's to have an unquestionable claim to the Georgian throne and once of age, would be crowned King of Georgia and first of the restored Bagrationi Dynasty. Both Prince Alexander and Demetre agreed to this arrangement and the couple was soon married. Alexander's son, George is set to be the next head of the House Gruzinsky.

Javakhishvili (Has a Family Crest, Georgian Noble Family)[]

Javakhishvili is a Georgian noble family, a branch of the Toreli, known from the 10th century.

The surname Javakhishvili, literally "son of Javakh", derives from the 14th-century nobleman Javakh (known as Svimon in priesthood), a participant of Georgia’s resistance to Timur’s attacks. Javakh and his household resettled from Javakheti to Inner Kartli, and received from the Crown a series of villages in hereditary possession. After the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, the Javakhishvili estates fell under the suzerainty of the Kings of Kartli, but the family was able to transform their possessions into a semi-autonomous seigniory (satavado) known as Sajavakho. They held various political and religious posts within the Kingdom of Kartli, but declined in their influence after Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801. A branch of this family, in the person of Shiosh (Simon) Javakhishvili, had emigrated in Russia in the 1720s, and was eventually received among the princely families of Russia as knyaz Zhevakhov. The senior Georgian line of the Javakhishvili were confirmed as a princely house of Dzhavakhov by the Russian Senate in 1850.

The most notable figures of the family of the last century was Ivane Javakhishvili. Ivane Javakhishvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia (then part of Imperial Russia) to the aristocratic family of Alexander Javakhishvili, who served as an educator at the Tbilisi Gymnasium. Having graduated from the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the St. Petersburg University in 1899, he became a privat-docent of the Chair of Armenian and Georgian Philology at his alma mater. From 1901 to 1902, he was a visiting scholar at the University of Berlin. In 1902, he accompanied his mentor, Academician Niko Marr, to Mount Sinai where they studied medieval Georgian manuscripts. After the first volumes of Javakhishvili's monumental, but yet unfinished, kartveli eris istoria (A History of the Georgian Nation) appeared between 1908 and 1914, the young scholar quickly established himself as a preeminent authority on Georgian and Caucasian history, Georgian law, paleography, diplomacy, music, drama and other subjects, producing landmark studies in these fields.

Early in 1918, he was instrumental in founding Georgia's first regular university in Tbilisi, thus realizing a long-time dream cherished by generations of Georgian intellectuals but consistently frustrated by the Imperial Russian authorities. The Tbilisi University (present-day I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, TSU, which now bears his name), of which Javakhishvili became a professor and the head of the Department of the History of Georgia, rapidly assumed a dominant position in Georgia's educational life. In 1919, Javakhishvili succeeded the noted chemist Petre Melikishvili as the second rector of the university: he served until June 1926, when, in the aftermath of anti-Soviet August Uprising of 1924, tolerance of non-Marxist intellectuals began to contract. Although he was permitted to publish and teach, this eclipse probably saved his life, since his successor at the university, was among the victims of the Stalinist Great Purge of 1936-7. He was forced to step down at TSU in 1938, but was soon appointed director of the Department of History at the State Museum of Georgia which he headed until his death in Tbilisi in 1940.

Ivane was survived by two sons who carried on the family name and eventually moved to the Moscow before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The family survived to the Russian Renaissance and had their noble title and rank restored by Tsar Paul Romanov II. Like the rest of the Georgian nobility restored, the family had plans of returning to Georgia until the Georgian War forced them to cancel their plans. However, with the Russian Empire's acquisition of the Northern Region of Georgia, the family has returned and become an active part in the Georgian Court.

Maghalashvili (Look for Family Crest, Georgian Noble Family)[]

Maghalashvili or Maghaladze is a Georgian noble family; according to Cyril Toumanoff, an offshoot of the medieval house of Mkhargrdzeli. According to Georgian genealogic tradition of Prince Ioann (1768–1830), the Maghalashvili came from Imereti (western Georgia) to Kartli (central Georgia) in 1415,[2] in the reign of Alexander I of Georgia who granted them an estate at the village of Tsinarekhi in Shida Kartli. By the end of the 17th century, the family had been bestowed with the hereditary office of Mayors of the Palace (Georgian: სახლთუხუცესი, saxlt'-uxuc'esi) of the Church of Georgia. In 1701, the Georgian king Erekle I (Nazar Alī Khān) elevated the Maghalashvili to a princely rank or tavadi. After Russian annexation of Georgia, the family was incorporated among the princely nobility (knyaz Magalov; Russian: Маѓаловы) of the empire in 1825.

One of the more recent notable members of the family was Nikita Magalashvili. Nikita Magalashvili (1912-1992) was a Georgian-Russian pianist. He was born to a Georgian noble family in St. Petersburg. Nikita and his family left Russia in 1918 for Finland and then Paris, where he studied with Isidor Philipp, chair of the piano department at the Paris Conservatory. He also numbered Ravel and Prokofiev among his friends there. He was best known for his espousal of the music of Chopin, recording the complete piano works - the first time anyone had done so. While these recordings have been criticized for their failure to plumb the depths of Chopin's works, they were innovative for their textual fidelity and unsentimentality. Nikita, for example, preferred and recorded Chopin's own manuscript versions of the valses rather than the familiar versions published posthumously by Julian Fontana.

His interpretations of Mendelssohn are also striking, finding a vein of melancholy that is often missed. Nikita's playing carried the hallmarks of Philipp's elegant, refined style, though he himself rejected the sentimental interpretations of Philipp's generation (he was especially critical of Paderewski whom he believed had "falsified Chopin"). He once described himself to the critic and writer Piero Rattalino as 'a vieux style pianist'. His playing, however, underwent a change in his later years, becoming more passionate, daring and challenging. He remarked, in an interview with Eugenio Scalfari "at the age of seventy, I have come to the conclusion that only the sentiment and fear of death can induce an immoderate passion for life." His last recordings bear eloquent tribute to this 'immoderate passion for life'. In 1949 he took over his friend and colleague Dinu Lipatti’s master class at the Geneva Conservatory after Lipatti’s early death, and continued teaching until 1960. Among his many pupils are the Argentine pianist Martha Argerich, the Italian pianist Maria Tipo, the Polish-Austrian pianist Ingrid Haebler, the Russian pianist Valery Sigalevitch and the organist Lionel Rogg.

Nikita was married to Irene, the daughter of the violinist Joseph Szigeti. Together the couple had four children, three sons and one daughter. He died in Vevey on 26 December 1992 shortly after the second Russian Civil War had finished. His family continued to live in Paris until after the Russian Renaissance when the family was offered their noble rank and title back within the Russian court by Tsar Paul Romanov II. The Patriarch of the family accepted and the family returned to Moscow. Like the rest of the Georgian nobility, the family had plans on returning to Georgia when it came back under the Russian Empire but with the outbreak of the Georgian War, the family remained in Russia. It wasn't until the Russian Empire took back Northern Georgia that the family was among the rest of the Georgian nobles to return to their ancestral homeland.

Mikeladze (Look for Family Crest, Georgian noble Family)[]

Mikeladze (Mik'eladze) is a Georgian noble family, known from at least the 14th century, and claiming descent from the Bagratids of Taron. The senior, and the princely, line of the Mikeladze flourished in Imereti (western Georgia), while a collateral branch was later established as the petite nobles Mikelashvili in Kartli (central Georgia).

One of the earliest mentions of the Mikeladze family can be found in the 1325/6 synodal records from the Tbeti Cathedral (now in Turkey) whereby King Michael of Imereti sanctions a reparational payment (sasiskhlo, a Georgian equivalent of weregild) by a certain Gogitashvili to Mikeladze. The Mikeladze’s princely domain in Imereti, known as Samikeladzeo, was centered on the village of Kulashi on the right bank of the Rioni River, where their familial castle and church were located. They were incessantly involved in the civil wars that plagued Imereti from the 15th century into the 19th. After the Russian conquest of Imereti in 1810, the family was integrated into the Russian nobility and confirmed as a princely house (knyaz) in 1850. The family has produced several military officers and intellectuals. Many of them made career in the Imperial Russian service. A notable example was the seasoned prince Kaikhosro Mikeladze who organized a volunteer company of his kinsmen to fight the invading Ottoman army during the Eastern War (1853-56).[4] Later in the 19th century and early in the 20th, seven of the Mikeladze attained to the rank of general in the imperial army. These were: Almaskhan Otiyevich Mikeladze (1834-1915), Dmitri Otiyevich Mikeladze (1838-1910), Nikolay Romanovich Mikeladze (1841-1898), Alexander Konstantinovich Mikeladze (1863-1919), Konstantin Almaskhanovich Mikeladze (1866-1914), Alexander Platonovich Mikeladze (1867-1928), and Vyacheslav Artemiyevich Mikeladze (1874-1951), the latter also being an artillery specialist in the Red Army.[5] Shalva Yefemovich Mikeladze (1895-1976) was a great mathematician.

There is also the conductor Yevgeniy Semenovich Mikeladze (1903-1993), who was nearly killed during the great terror but escaped to Paris where he continued the family line. Yevgeniy would live through the Soviet era and see the collapse of the Union and end of the second Russian Civil War in 1992. Yevgeniy had several son during his time in Paris but only one survived their father to accept Tsar Paul Romanov II's offer to have the family noble rank and title restored. Sergei Yevgenivich Mikeladze returned to Russia where he became apart of the Russian Imperial Court. The family was the follow the rest of the Georgian nobility back to Georgia but the outbreak of the Georgian War prevented their move. It wasn't until the Russian Empire took back Northern Georgia that the family finally returned to their ancestral lands and joined the Georgian Court.

Mukhrani (There is a Family Crest, Georgian Noble Family)[]

The house of Mukhrani is a Georgian princely family, a collateral branch of the former royal dynasty of Bagrationi of which it sprung early in the 16th century, and received in appanage the domain of Mukhrani located in Kartli, central Georgia. The family has since been known as Mukhran-Batoni, that is "lords (batoni) of Mukhrani".

An elder branch of the house of Mukhrani, now extinct, furnished five royal sovereigns of Kartli between 1658 and 1724. Its descendants bore the Imperial Russian noble titles of Princes of Georgia and Princes Bagration. A younger branch, received among the princely nobility of Russia under the name of Bagration of Mukhrani, still flourishes and has, since 1957, claimed to be the Royal House of Georgia by virtue of being the genealogically eldest surviving line of the Bagrationi dynasty.

Origins of the house of Mukhrani date back to 1512, when King David X of Kartli was oblidged to create his younger brother Bagrat a hereditary lord of Mukhrani in order to secure his support against encroachments from another Georgian ruler, King George II of Kakheti. Over time, the princes of Mukhrani exploited the weakness of royal authority and converted their fiefdom into an autonomous seigneury, satavado, that is "a holding of tavadi (prince)". On the death without heirs of King Rostom of Kartli, his adopted son Vakhtang, Prince of Mukhrani, succeeded on the throne as King Vakhtang V in 1659 and ceded the ownership of Mukhrani to his younger brother, Constantine I, ancestor of all the subsequent Princes of Mukhrani. The descendants of Vakhtang V, the elder branch of the house of Mukhrani, retained the crown of Kartli until 1724, when the Ottoman invasion forced King Vakhtang VI of Kartli and his household into exile in Russia, without, however, renouncing their rights to the throne. They formed two lines in exile, both accepted among the ranks of Russian princely nobility, knyaz. One of these, Princes Gruzinsky ("of Georgia"), descended from Vakhang VI’s son Bakar and died out in 1892. The other, Princes Bagration, descending from Vakhang VI’s nephew Alexander, was made famous by Pyotr Bagration, a Russian general of the Napoleonic Wars, and became extinct in 1919. The throne of Kartli eventually passed to their distant cousins from the Bagrationi dynasty of Kakheti. This new royal house defeated all subsequent attempts by the exiled Mukhranian pretenders to reclaim the crown and, by 1762, united both Kartli and Kakheti into a single monarchy.

Constantine’s scions, the younger branch of the house of Mukhrani, chose to stay in Kartli rather than follow Vakhtang VI to Russia. They remained in possession of Mukhrani under the Kakhetian Bagrationi and continued to exercise within the united kingdom of Georgia the hereditary positions of Mayor of the Palace of Georgia and High Constable of Upper Kartli. After Russia’s annexation of Georgia in 1801, Mukhrani ceased to exist as an autonomous princedom and its former rulers were confirmed as Russian princes in 1825 and 1850. This line became the genealogically senior representatives of the Bagrationi dynasty as the elder branch of the house of Mukhrani had gone extinct in its male line by 1919. After the Bolshevik takeover of Georgia, the family relocated to Europe in 1930. In 1957, Prince Irakli Bagration of Mukhrani, having established himself in Spain, declared himself a head of the Royal House of Georgia, a title that has passed to his descendants and is currently held by his grandson, Demetre III. Demetre Mukhrani returned to Georgia shortly after it became a territory of the Russian Empire. He made several petitions to Tsar Paul Romanov II to have his claim legitimized and allow him to take the throne of Georgia. However, soon the Georgian War broke out and the country was soon conquered by the union of Nagian and Scythirian armies. With the Russian Empire out of Georgia, the country was divided into a Christian North and an unChristian south. In the establishment of a new government, Demetre gathered the support he need to have his claims legitimized by the people and the Bagrationi Dynasty restored under his leadership. However, Demetre's reign over Northern Georgia was relatively short and he was forced out of government by one of his own Generals.

He would be restored to power by the Russian Empire, when the Russians retook Northern Georgia. However, while the people supported Demetre's claims to the Georgian throne, A rival claim, based on male primogeniture descent from the last kings of Georgia, came from Prince Alexander, head of the Bagration-Gruzinsky family, an offshoot of the Bagrationi of Kakheti. While the Russsian Tsar did not wish to side with one claimant over the other, it could easily see that both houses had strong enough ties to the old monarchy that both would fight for the throne. Instead, the Tsar arranged a marriage in hopes that it would produce an heir with an unquestionable claim to the Georgian throne. Thus Demetre III was married to Prince Alexander's eldest daughter, Maria and the two were proclaimed King and Queen of Georgia. Currently the couple rules under the surname Mukhran-Batoni. However, once an heir to the throne is sired, he will be pronounce the first son of the restored Bagrationi Dynasty. Currently, Demetre's borther Nikolai is head of the Mukhrani House in Georgia.

Shalikashvili (Look for Family Crest, Georgian Noble Family)[]

Shalikashvili is a Georgian noble family, originally from Samtskhe in southwest Georgia. With several notable members from the 16th century to the 20th, their descendants have survived in the United States and Georgia. The family, earlier known as Roch’ikashvili, originated in the province of Samtskhe and had a fiefdom centered at the castle of T’mogvi.

Remotely related to the local princely dynasty of Jaqeli, the Shalikashvili were both their most faithful allies and most dangerous rivals at different times. In the 16th century, the family, in the person of Ot'ar Shalikashvili, was instrumental in restoring the Jaqeli dynasty to the principate of Samtskhe of which they had been dispossessed by the western Georgian kings of Imereti from 1535 to 1547. Subsequently, the Jaqeli went on to curb the influence of the Shalikashvili, who responded with a revolt. By 1578, the family had been coerced to flee Samtskhe to Kartli in central Georgia, where they were recognized as princes and maintained themselves into the 20th century. The 1921 Sovietization of Georgia and the ensuing crackdown on nobility forced the principal members of the family to relocate to Poland where the family stayed until the outbreak of World War II, when the family again relocated to the United States. It was in the United States that the Shalikashvili family continued and survived through out World War II, the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Russian Renaissance. The family remained in the United States until about 1998, when Tsar Paul Romanov II made a off to restore the family's noble rank and title. This offer was accepted a portion of the family relocated back to Russia. When Georgia became a territory of the Russian Empire once again it was hoped the family would be able to return. The outbreak of the Georgian War prevent this from happening for several years until Russia once again assumed control of Northern Georgia. Today, the family serves as a proud member of the Georgian Royal Court.

Another branch of the Shalikashvili, now extinct in a male line, removed to Russia, following the Georgian king Vakhtang VI of Kartli into his exile in 1724. They came to be known as Princes Shalikov (Russian: Шаликов) and had estates in the Moscow Governorate. A notable member of this family was the writer Pyotr Shalikov (1768-1852) whose daughter Sofia carried the Shalikov titles into the family of her husband, an influential journalist Mikhail Katkov (1818-1887)

Tumanishvili (There is a family Crest, Georgian Noble Family)[]

Toumanishvili or Tumanian is an ancient Georgian princely family of Armeno-Georgian origin. According to written records, the family has its roots in the ancient noble dynasty of the Mamikonids, which existed as far back as the third century AD. In the twelfth - thirteenth centuries C.E. the family ruled over a territory centering on Dsegh, the descendants of this branch of the family resettled to Georgia in the fifteenth century and adopted the last name Toumanishvili. They were acknowledged by the Kings of Georgia as of princely rank, and received the hereditary profession of being the King's viziers or advisers.

Of the family, one of the most notable members in recent years is Cyril Leo Toumanishvili. Prince Toumanishvili was born 13 October 1913 and was a historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history of medieval Georgia, Armenia and Iran. Toumanishvili was born in Saint Petersburg of a Georgian father, who later served in the Russian White Army during the Russian Civil War, of the Armeno-Georgian Tumanishvili noble family, which had been removed from Armenia to Georgia in the 15th century. He had a Russian mother, fleeing the Russian Revolution with his mother in 1918 and first residing in Paris though His mother was killed by the Bolsheviks during their escape. He emigrated to the United States in 1928. He attended the Lennox School and graduated in 1931. His professors helped him secure the money to travel to Belgium to study under the prominent Armenian professor, Nicholas Adontz. He earned a doctorate from Georgetown University in 1943 and accepted a position there, holding it until his retirement, as a professor emeritus of history, in 1970 and moved to Rome.

A recognized authority on nobiliy and dynastic questions, Prince Toumanishvili was also High Historical Consultant, and a professed knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He witnessed first hand the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and was still alive in the late 1990s during the Russian Renaissance. Tsar Paul Romanov II personally visited the Prince on his death bed and restored his rank and title to him. He would die two days after the visit. He was survived by two sons, his eldest Leo, took his father's princely title as well as becoming the new patriarch of the family. The family moved back to St. Petersburg and were among the other Georgian nobility set to return to Tbilisi before the Georgian War. The family would not get to return to Georgia until Northern Georgia was once again taken by the Russian Empire. Today the family serves within the Georgian court.

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