Friday, March 23, 2007

Imperial Legend by Alexis S. Troubetzkoy

A Russian tsar defeats Napoleon, triumphs in Paris, begins reforms in his own country, and then fakes his death and lives out the rest of his life as a monk in Siberia.

Sounds stranger than fiction, right? Sometimes the truth is.

In Imperial Legend, Troubetzkoy examines that records and the circumstances of the death of Russian Tsar Alexander I in 1826. Alexander had lived a robust life until moving with his ailing wife to Taganrog for her health. Then he mysteriously became ill with a sickness scholars have not been able to identify and died. His body languished in Taganrog for several months while the court in St. Petersburg sorted out who was to be the new tsar. When his body was finally delivered to St. Petersburg, only the immediate family viewed it at midnight in the darkened church.

Several years later a monk named Feodor Kuzmich appeared in Siberia who was much loved by the people, but seemed to have some amazing talents for a monk. He carried himself well in any situation and spoke several languages. His correspondence was found in the personal effects of several Russian dignitaries including that of the future tsars, Nicholas I and Alexander II.

Speculation has been rampant that Feodor and Alexander are one in the same, that Alexander gave up the throne to live his life away from the burdens of ruling a large country.

Troubetzkoy's book details the history of the Romanov family and the coup that placed Alexander on the throne as well as the speculation about Alexander's death and the investigations into it.

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