Issue 1 (78)
| TSARIST SERVICE OF THE PETRINE PHYSICIAN G. POLIKALA IN RUSSIA AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2023 | Number | 1(78) |
| Pages | 151-157 | Type | scientific article |
| UDC | 94(47)“17” | BBK | 63.3(2)51 |
| Authors | Morohin Alexey V. Bazarova Tatiana A. |
Topic | HISTORICAL MOSAIC |
| Summary | The article explores the activities of the Russian agent in Istanbul, doctor Georgy Polikalà. It analyzes the medic’s contacts with the Russian diplomatic representative P. A. Tolstoy, who gave secret instructions to Policala. Since 1711, he has been officially registered for service in Russia as a life physician of Tsarina Ekaterina Alekseevna. The doctor enjoyed special favor of both Peter I and his second wife. The facts of the participation of Polycalà in the treatment of other members of the royal family, such as Princess Charlotte Christina Sofia, the wife of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, are also noted. The surviving sources make it possible to partly reconstruct Polycalà’s mission in Istanbul in 1721, when, in addition to the official instructions of Peter I, related to the presentation of the tsar’s letter to the sultan, he was also engaged in preparing the escape of A. Cantemir, who was in Turkish captivity. The authors also consider Polikala’s connections with the family of the Moldavian ruler, in particular, examining a plot common in historiography about the participation of the medic in the termination of Maria Cantemir’s pregnancy by order of Ekaterina Alekseevna. The documents available to historians do not allow confirming this fact. There was also an attempt to engage Polycalà in January 1725 to the treatment of Peter I. The last fact of the physician’s biography confirmed by archival sources is filing a request for resignation in May of the same year. | ||
| Keywords | G. Polikala, P. A. Tolstoy, Peter I, secret diplomacy, court medicine, Cantemirs, royal family, Russian-Turkish relations | ||
| References |
Bazarova T. A. [Stateinye Spiski of the Russian Ambassador P. A. Tolstoy in Istanbul: History of Creation and Archival Fate]. Novoe proshloe [The New Past], 2020, no. 2, pp. 28–43. DOI: 10.18522/2500-3224-2020-2-28-43 (in Russ.). Tsvirkun V. I. [Abduction from Constantinople: From the History of the Relationship Between Antiochus and Demetrius Cantemirov]. Revista de Istorie a Moldovei, 2008, no. 2 (74), pp. 38–146. (in Russ.). Tsvirkun V. I. Dimitriy Kantemir: Stranitsy zhizni v pis’makh i dokumentakh [Dimitri Cantemir: Pages of Life in Letters and Documents]. Saint Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriya Publ., 2010. (in Russ.). Valishevsky K. F. Petr Velikiy: Istoricheskiye ocherki [Peter the Great: Historical essays]. Moscow: Kvadrat Publ., 1993. (in Russ.). Yastrebov A. O. Russko-venetsianskiye diplomaticheskiye i tserkovnyye svyazi v epokhu Petra Velikogo. Rossiya i grecheskaya obshchina Venetsii [Russian-Venetian Diplomatic and Church Relations in the Era of Peter the Great. Russia and the Greek Community of Venice]. Moscow: Poznaniye Publ., 2018. (in Russ.). Yastrebov A. O. Venetsianskiye greki na russkoy sluzhbe v kontse XVII — nachale XVIII vekov: kand. diss. [Venetian Greeks in Russian Service in the Late 17th — Early 18th Centuries: Diss. Cand.]. Moscow, 2019. (in Russ.). |
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