Grigori Rasputin, the “Mad Monk,” has had his name or his story make pop
culture appearances everywhere from an animated movie called Anastasia
to a popular song called “Rasputin” by Boney M.
Surprisingly little
is known about him, considering he became such a famous (or infamous) figure in
Russia during Tsar Nicholas II’s reign. Conflicting accounts and memoirs are
accounted to everything from his childhood to his death. He was born a peasant,
and following the deaths of two of his siblings and penance for theft, turned
him to a religious life, specifically one of Eastern Orthodoxy.
As a travelling
mystic and due to his introduction by Montenegrin princesses Milica and
Anastasia (not to be confused with Anastasia of the Russian Romanov family), the tsarina Alexandra took an interest in
Rasputin and his supposed ability to heal her hemophiliac son, Alexei.
Mystics such as
Rasputin were expected to heal through prayer, and in a hotly contested issue,
Alexei indeed felt better and recovered from a painful physical injury the day
after Rasputin’s visit. Some suggest the man used hypnosis, which has been
known to distract patients from pain, while others suggest leeches. In fact,
letters of Rasputin’s do demonstrate a basic knowledge of bedside manner such
as when to simply let Alexei rest.
Tsarina Alexandra
was heavily influenced by Rasputin, who she thought of as a holy man of God,
and he thus became quite close to the political dealings of the tsar. His
personal image was low amongst money for his alcoholism and sexual promiscuity.
Tsar Nicholas II, fearing scandal, had Rasputin investigated, but Nicholas II ended
up not eradicating the man and instead firing his minister of interior for
insufficient press censorship.
At Rasputin’s
suggestion, Nicholas II became more involved in World War I and took charge. He
moved to the front lines and left his wife in charge at the capital, and by
extension Rasputin saw a certain amount of power over Russia. He convinced
Tsarina Alexandra to help put some of his friends in high positions, and
appeared to support Russia’s withdrawal from World War I (with what might have
merely been concern over the number of casualties.) But the people, outraged at
Rasputin’s influence and supposedly immoral ways as well as suspecting the
German born Alexandra of being a spy wished to get rid of Rasputin.
But perhaps the most
contested part of Rasputin’s life was his death. In 1914, he survived a
stabbing assassination attempt. In 1916, his real death came at the hands of
Prince Felix Yusupov and a group of other nobles. The legend that survives to this day first
claims that the nobles called him out and served him cake and wine laced with
cyanide, enough to kill 5 men, but Rasputin appeared unaffected. Rasputin’s
daughter and some modern historians deny this, the former claiming Rasputin
avoided sugar and that she doubted he had ever been poisoned, and the latter
claiming no poison was found in his system. However, the assassins’ accounts, a
theory of Rasputin building immunity to poison, and the initial autopsy suggest
that Rasputin did ingest cyanide. Attempting to finish the job, Yusupov shot
Rasputin with a revolver and the group left. However, Yusupov supposedly
returned to retrieve a jacket and was lunged at by the bleeding Rasputin.
Rasputin was shot thrice more, and still breathing, was thrown into the
half-frozen Neva River. The autopsy suggests he died by drowning and the water
in his lungs suggests he was still alive when thrown in the water.
The man’s life is
something of an enigma, but he found many enemies in those who thought him
immoral and he enjoyed a lofty position in the Romanov’s rule during the time
of his employment by Tsarina Alexandra. However this man lived and died, he
will be remembered for a long time yet.
Sources: Wikipedia, History 1900s, Alexander Palace.org,
First World War.com
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