Georges Dantes: biography. "Dictionary of Murderers" Dantes years of life

Every year, on Alexander Pushkin’s birthday, Russians remember the last, very mysterious, duel of the great poet. Official Pushkin scholars, and not only them, are still studying its circumstances. Gradually, not only humanists, but also representatives of the exact sciences are getting involved...

First, we will talk about the very first researcher who got to the bottom of the truth - about one of the three daughters of Georges Dantes himself and his wife, Ekaterina Nikolaevna Goncharova (nee). About Leonia-Charlotte. All that is known about her is that many considered her abnormal. Why not! I became interested in the exact sciences, in particular mathematics. She independently mastered the entire course of the Polytechnic Institute, mastered the Russian language perfectly, spoke it well and, reading A.S. Pushkin in the original, understood its significance for civilization in general and for the Russian people in particular. But this is not enough - she threw an angry accusation straight into her own father, who also occupied a high social position: “You are a murderer!” The whole point is that, apparently, no one, either before or now, paid attention to her analytical, non-standard mind for women of that era and corresponding abilities. She not only read all of Pushkin, but also, I dare say, all the publications available to her regarding the duel, its causes, the situation, subsequent investigations and conclusions. After all, all this concerned primarily her beloved father, who, as it seemed to her, was undeservedly accused of the fact that in a fair fight, luck favored him, and not the enemy, who, by the way, himself challenged her father to a duel...

Moreover, my father behaved more than worthy in the duel. After Dantes shot, Pushkin fell, but the return shot was behind him. During the fall, snow got into the barrel of his pistol, and Pushkin asked his second - Danzas's lyceum friend - to replace the pistol, which Dantes's second d'Archirac vehemently opposed. Dantes calmly (witnesses of the duel wrote about this) allowed the pistol to be replaced and stood sideways to the shooter, who, lying and bleeding, fired his last shot in his life, screamed, satisfied that he had accurately hit his wife’s offender, and temporarily lost consciousness .

When he woke up, he saw that Dantes, clutching his shot and bleeding right hand with his left hand, as they say, was walking under his own power to the cart waiting for him. Marvelous! A bullet with a caliber of 12 mm and a weight of 17.6 grams, flying at a speed of 800 m/s with an accurate hit in the body at the level of Dantes’s lungs, did not kill Dantes! Pushkin’s exactly the same bullet crushed his pelvic bone (the pain was hellish!) and was fatal. And here there is practically nothing! This somehow had to be explained to everyone.

An official report on the duel was published. Here it is: “The police learned that yesterday at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, outside the city behind the commandant’s dacha, a duel took place between the chamber cadet Alexander Pushkin and the lieutenant of Her Majesty’s Cavalry Guard regiment Heckern, the first of them was wounded by a bullet in the lower part of the abdomen, and the last in his right arm was blown out and received a concussion in the abdomen. Mr. Pushkin, with all the benefits provided to him by his Excellency Mr. Physician Arendt, is in danger of his life. Which I have the honor to inform your Excellency on January 28 (February 9), 1837. Senior police doctor Iodelic."

The phrase about concussion in the abdomen is noteworthy. How could this happen? Dantes stood sideways to the shooter Pushkin. The right arm was bent at the elbow joint. Dantes held the pistol with the muzzle up, covering his chest with it. The bullet hit the torso just above the elbow joint and pierced the soft tissue of the arm right through. She inevitably had to pierce the right side of the chest or at least break a rib. But in this place, not even the slightest trace of it was found on Dantes’ body! All this required an explanation, so a copper button appeared, allegedly belonging to Dantes’ clothing. The bullet, they say, hit this button, deformed it and, in an incomprehensible way, ricocheted and hit the belly.

Leonia-Charlotte understood everything! A deformed button presented to society should have inevitably left a bruise (hematoma) on the body, but it did not! But the hematoma turned out to be in the abdominal area! The conclusion for a person familiar with technology and who knows what pressure is, and let us remind you that she completed the entire (!) course at the Polytechnic Institute, was extremely obvious. Dantes was wearing armored protection - most likely a cuirass, since cuirassiers were then a special branch of the cavalry army, and metal cuirasses that fitted the figure, a kind of body armor, were produced en masse.

As far as I know, no notes on this topic remained after Leonia-Charlotte. Most likely, they were destroyed by her father, Pushkin’s killer Dantes, who made every effort to send his own daughter, the whistleblower, to an insane asylum. The father considered his daughter’s love for everything Russian, and especially her adoration of the great poet, to be a sign of insanity. He compared the large portrait of Pushkin in her room with an icon and claimed that she was praying to him. Under inhuman conditions, this strong and, according to many testimonies, completely healthy woman spent 20 years in a mournful house and died there at the age of 48.

Thus, Dantes also turned out to be the murderer of his own daughter, who also had an extraordinary mind!

(02/05/1812) France

Dictionary of Assassins

Georges-Charles Dantes was born in Comoros-Alsace into a poor noble family in 1812. Having received his initial education in Alsace, Dantes then studied at the Bourbon Lyceum in Paris. He was a mediocre student, studied science poorly, and was not at all interested in literature. The next stage of Dantes' education is the Royal Military School of Saint-Cyr. However, he did not finish school, studying for only 9 months. After the July Revolution of 1830, Dantes, not wanting to serve the new king Louis-Philippe, joined the legitimists (supporters of the legitimate king, overthrown Charles X), grouped in the Vendée around the Duchess of Berry. But the Legitimists lost, and Dantes returned to his father’s estate in Alsace, and then went to seek his fortune in a foreign country. At first, he intended to enter military service in Prussia, but there he would have to start with an insignificant position as a non-commissioned officer, which did not suit the ambitious young man. Then Dantes took a letter of recommendation from Prince William of Prussia, whom he knew personally, and went to Russia.

Dantes arrived in St. Petersburg on September 8, 1833. A handsome, tall young man, he was not stupid and had the innate ability to please people at first sight.

Through Countess Fiquelmont, Dantes met Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and through the battle painter Ladurner, with Emperor Nicholas I. This meeting took place in the painter’s studio (many Pushkin scholars, however, doubt this historical meeting). Taking this opportunity, Dantes asked permission to join the Russian army. Then it was in the order of things. Many nobles sought their fortune in military service in foreign countries. The Emperor graciously agreed, and since the Empress favored the young Frenchman, he was accepted into her Cavalry Regiment - directly as an officer (cornet). Taking into account Dantes' poverty, the sovereign (probably again under the patronage of the empress) assigned him an annual secret allowance.

On January 26, 1934, Alexander Pushkin wrote in his diary: “Baron d’Anthes and the Marquis de Pina, two Chouans (participants in the counter-revolutionary uprising in the Vendée in 1793; later, supporters of the Bourbon monarchy in France were so commonly called), will be accepted into the guard directly as officers . The guard is grumbling."

The guard grumbled and stopped. Dantes, whose habits and style of behavior differed little from most Russian officers, easily entered both the guards environment and St. Petersburg high society society. Ignorance of the Russian language did not hinder him - the native language of the Russian aristocracy was then French.

Having met the Dutch envoy in St. Petersburg, the childless Baron Louis Heckern, Dantes charmed him so much that the envoy adopted the cornet. The only official condition of adoption was that Dantes take the envoy's surname. Evil tongues said that the love of the rich old baron for the young officer was by no means platonic.

Dantes’s formal (service) list indicates that he is a Catholic, knows geography and mathematics from the sciences, speaks German and French, received several Highest favors for participation in reviews and exercises, was certified worthy for promotion to rank and was awarded the insignia of blameless service, in weak performance of duties at work was not noticed, good mental abilities, he was certified good in morality, he was also good in housekeeping.

From the second half of 1835, Dantes openly began to court Pushkin’s wife Natalya Nikolaevna. He danced with her at balls, sent her books, theater tickets with ticklish notes. There was gossip in society. In November 1836, seven or eight people received anonymous libelous letters insulting the honor of Pushkin and his wife. Pushkin challenged Dantes to a duel. Louis Heckern came to the poet and accepted the challenge on behalf of his son, but asked for a two-week delay.

During these two weeks, tension grew enormously when it suddenly became known that Dantes had proposed to Pushkin’s sister-in-law, Natalya Nikolaevna’s sister, Ekaterina Goncharova. In this regard, Pushkin withdrew his challenge to a duel, but did not resume social relations with Dantes and generally treated the baron’s intentions with skepticism. Nevertheless, on January 10, 1938, the wedding of Dantes and Ekaterina Goncharova took place.

Almost immediately after his marriage, Dantes resumed his persistent courtship of Natalya Nikolaevna. At the same time, they were distinguished by their arrogance and vulgarity, completely in the army spirit, which Pushkin later noted in his letter of challenge to a duel. Dantes' behavior was demonstrative, probably also because he wanted to ward off suspicions of cowardice: they say, he married Ekaterina Goncharova because he was afraid of a duel with Pushkin.

Secular society was actually on Dantes's side: firstly, he constantly supplied abundant food for gossip and gossip, which is extremely important in the absence of radio and television, and, secondly, his marriage was considered as a knightly act of a lover in relation to Natalya Nikolaevna . However, Dantes was not at all a romantic; many who knew him note that the young baron was distinguished by pragmatism. Most likely, he knew that Emperor Nicholas I himself, in connection with the situation that arose, made Pushkin promise not to fight a duel under any pretext. This gave Dantes a feeling of impunity and pushed him to even greater bravado.

Daria Fikelmon wrote in her diary: “...at one ball he so compromised Mrs. Pushkin with his views and hints that everyone was horrified, and Pushkin’s decision has since been made finally.”

The ball in question took place on January 23, and on the 25th, an infuriated Pushkin sent a letter to Dantes’ adoptive father. The harsh and insulting nature of the letter made a potential duel inevitable. Pushkin, in particular, wrote:

"Mr. Baron.

Let me briefly outline everything that happened: I have known your son’s behavior for a long time, and I could not remain indifferent.

I was content with the role of observer, ready to get down to business when the mail was needed. An incident that at any other moment would have been very unpleasant for me, seemed very fortunate for me to get rid of: I received nameless letters; I saw that the moment had come, and I took advantage of it, you know the rest: I forced your son to play such a pitiful role that my wife, surprised by such baseness and flatness of him, could not refrain from laughing, and the sensations that she could have to this strong and lofty passion, were extinguished in the coldest contempt and well-deserved disgust. I must admit, Mr. Baron, that your behavior was not entirely decent. You, representative of the Crowned Head, you parentally pimped your son, it seems that all his behavior (rather awkward, however) was guided by you. It is you<...>guarded my wife in all corners to tell her about the love of your illegitimate or so-called son, and when he remained at home sick with venereal disease, you said that he was dying of love for her; You muttered to her to return my son to me.

You will agree, Mr. Baron, that after all this I cannot bear for my family to have the slightest contact with yours.<...>I cannot allow your son, after his disgusting behavior, to dare to address my wife and, even less, to tell her barracks puns and play the role of devotion and unhappy passion, while he is a scoundrel and a scoundrel.

I am forced to ask you to end all these tricks if you want to avoid new publicity, which I certainly will not give up on.

I have the honor to be, Mister Baron, your humble and obedient servant

A. Pushkin."

(The letter is given in a translation made for the commission of inquiry into the duel case; the original was written in French)

During the duel, the circumstances of which are widely known, Pushkin was seriously wounded in the abdominal cavity and died a few days later. Dantes was slightly wounded in the right arm below the elbow and quickly recovered.

According to the laws of the Russian Empire, he was tried and demoted to soldier. Nicholas I, however, decided that Dantes should simply be expelled from Russia as a foreign subject. That was the end of the matter. Following his adopted son, Louis Heckern also left.

Pushkin's death changed little in Dantes's reputation. He had the elite on his side, but many officers felt that the “Frenchman” had disgraced the guard as a whole and the regiment to which he was assigned.

Guards officer Afanasy Sinitsyn recalled: “...I saw enough of this Dantesishka during the military trial. A terrible French boulevard bastard with only a pretty face and a lively speech. At the first time, he did not know what result the trial against him would have, he thought, that he would be shot without ceremony or spotted in a secret dungeon with Cossack whips. Rubbish! He was confused, turned pale, trembled. And when he found out through his friends what the whole point was - oh! - then he reared up, began to scurry around, the devil was not his brother, and he even dared to say that there are dozens of versifiers like Pushkin in his Paris.”

In 1887, the Parisian Pushkin collector A.F. visited the baron. Onegin could not resist and asked Dantes about the duel with the genius:

But how did you decide? Didn't you know?

Not at all embarrassed, Dantes answered defiantly:

What about me? He could have killed me. After all, I was later a senator!

Apparently, Dantes really did not fully understand who he had killed. Moreover, he was even satisfied with the consequences of the fight.

Dantes’s grandson Leon Metman recalls: “Grandfather was quite satisfied with his fate and subsequently said more than once that he owed his brilliant political career to his brilliant political career only to the forced departure from Russia because of the duel, and that, had it not been for this unfortunate duel, an unenviable future as a commander would have awaited him a regiment somewhere in the Russian province with a large family and insufficient funds."

And Dantes-Gekkern really made a good career. At first, in 1845, he became a member of the General Council of the Upper Rhine department, and three years later - a deputy of the Constituent Assembly of France for the Upper Rhine-Colmar district. The deputy demanded to move to Paris, where the baron purchased a mansion on Rue Saint-Georges.

In the capital, Dantes quickly “develops” connections among influential politicians. In particular, he was a second of the monarchist leader Thiers in his duel with the deputy Bixio. Dantes's mansion turned into a political and even partly literary salon. The baron's political views gradually began to be adjusted in a pragmatic direction. With hopes of restoring the Bourbon monarchy fading, Dantes-Heckern joined the supporters of Louis Bonaparte, the great-nephew of Napoleon I, who was elected President of France on December 10, 1848.

On December 2, 1851, another coup d'état took place in the country. Prince President Louis Bonaparte (the future Napoleon III), having dissolved the Legislative Assembly, practically abolished the republic. In May 1852, while preparing the proclamation of the empire, the president remembered Baron Dantes-Heckern and gave him a delicate assignment - to acquaint the Prussian king, the Austrian emperor and... the Russian Emperor Nicholas I (!) with his intentions in order to probe their reaction. Apparently, the future Emperor of France took into account Dantes’ personal acquaintance with the Russian autocrat.

Nicholas I agreed to accept Dantes, but only as a private citizen, and not as an official representative of Louis Bonaparte (since the baron was expelled from Russia as person non grata). This meeting took place in Potsdam on May 10, 1852.

The Russian monarch favorably supported Louis Bonaparte's intentions to also become a monarch. It is unlikely that this support was a consequence of Dantes' eloquence, but since the result was achieved, the Prince-President, as a reward, appointed the baron a senator. The title of senator was for life and gave the right to a very decent salary from the treasury - 30 thousand francs per year (the amount was later increased to 60 thousand). The newly minted senator turned only 40 that year.

On this, Dantes-Geckern generally calmed down. He no longer got involved in big politics and did not receive prominent positions. But he still participated in public life and loved to give speeches in the Senate on foreign policy issues. Prosper Merimee's testimony about one of these speeches has been preserved:

“Mr. Heckern, the same one who killed Pushkin, came up to the podium. He is an athletic man with a German accent, with a stern but subtle appearance, and in general, an extremely cunning person. I don’t know if he prepared his speech, but he it was pronounced superbly with that restrained indignation that makes an impression.”

In the 1860-1880s, the baron, tired of politics, took up entrepreneurship and achieved good financial success.

Dantes-Gekkern's wife, Ekaterina Goncharova, died in 1848, leaving three daughters and a son, and the baron sued the Goncharovs for many years over her small inheritance (which speaks of the pettiness of the “Frenchie”).

Dantes himself died on November 2, 1895, surrounded by numerous children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Among them, only one of the baron’s daughters, Leonia-Charlotte, was not present. She died before her father - in 1888. Her fate was left a tragic imprint by her father's duel with Pushkin. Having studied the Russian language perfectly, Leonia-Charlotte fell in love with Pushkin’s work, after which she hated her father and, tormented by this hatred, went crazy.

And one more detail.

It is known that after Pushkin’s death, Natalya Nikolaevna traveled abroad twice, as was customary then, “to go to the waters.” On the first of these trips she happened to see her husband's killer. According to the recollections of Dantes’ son, Natalya Nikolaevna’s nephew, it happened like this: “Once, here in Paris, I was 12 years old, I was walking with my father along Mira Street. Suddenly I noticed that he turned very pale, stepped back and his eyes stopped . A slender blonde was walking towards us, with bouffants a la vierge (like Madonna - French). Noticing us, she also stopped for a moment, took a step in our direction, but then walked around us and passed by without looking. My father still stood there rooted to the spot. Without realizing who he was talking to, he turned to me:

Do you know who this is? This is Natasha.

Who is Natasha? - I asked.

But he had already come to his senses and moved forward.

Your aunt, Pushkina, your mother's sister..."

Before and after the duel

THEY met at a ball at the very beginning of 1835. It was one of those court balls in the Anichkov Palace that Pushkin could not stand. But he had nowhere to go: Natalya Nikolaevna, the Madonna-poet, was rightfully considered the first beauty, and in order to ensure her constant presence at court, Pushkin was hastily promoted to chamber cadet - the lowest court rank, which at his 35 years old was very humiliating. He felt very bad at these balls: a magnificent court uniform and an absurd round hat, and next to him was his beautiful wife, a head taller than him...

It was much worse for him when Natalya Nikolaevna got into the habit of being repeatedly engaged to dance by a tall, handsome cavalry guard in a magnificent uniform, with a dashingly curled mustache and light, slightly bulging eyes. If only he could dance! He hovered around Natalya Nikolaevna like an annoying mosquito, every now and then he leaned towards her and whispered something, tickling her tender cheek with his curled mustache, and forced his lady to lower her eyes and blush. The venerable matrons, eager for gossip, whispered behind their fans and cast offensively sympathetic glances at Pushkin... Pushkin knew Dantes as one of the French careerists who, thanks to the support of the court, or, more precisely, the personal sympathy of the empress, ended up in the guard. Although, however, Pushkin knew something else...

Georges Charles Dantes, or d'Antes, was only six months older than Natalya Nikolaevna. He was born in Alsace into a poor noble family. He was always a poor student, but thanks to family connections he managed to enter the Royal Military School of Saint-Cyr. However, he failed to finish his studies. His father was a royalist, a supporter of Charles Bourbon, and after the coup of 1830, when Bourbon was overthrown, he found himself out of work. Dantes Jr. went to seek his fortune in Russia.

By this time, his assets included: ambitious plans, attractive appearance, the ability to please people at first sight, and a letter of recommendation from Prince William of Prussia. In Germany, he caught a bad cold and fell ill in a small hotel in a provincial German town. And then he was terribly lucky: in this very town, due to a breakdown of the crew, the convoy of Baron Heckern, appointed envoy of the Netherlands to Russia, stopped. Having heard about the young officer lying unconscious, Heckern looked in on him out of curiosity and was literally struck by the beauty of the unfortunate young man. He began to care for the patient, and when Dantes recovered, he invited him to continue his journey to Russia together.

On October 11, 1833, Georges Charles Dantes arrived in St. Petersburg as part of the retinue of the royal Dutch envoy, Baron Louis Heckern de Beverwaard. Heckern immediately hired the best teachers for his protégé, introduced him to high society and began to work for Dantes’ appointment to the guard. Soon he went to Alsace specifically in order to obtain permission from Dantes' father for him, Hecker, to adopt young Georges. He received this permission, and from now on Dantes officially became the adopted son of the baron, receiving the right to the title and a huge inheritance. This was necessary in order to maintain decorum in the world, where, however, many knew that Dantes was Heckern’s lover and, so to speak, kept man.

Prince Trubetskoy wrote: There were pranks behind Dantes, but completely innocent and typical of youth, except for one, which we, however, learned about much later. I don’t know how to say: whether he lived with Heckern or Heckern lived with him... Apparently... in relations with Heckern he played only a passive role. But how did these very relations, carefully hidden by Heckern, become known to society? It seems that the answer is in Pushkin’s diaries: I was the first to know that Dantes was indulging in the sin of Sodomy, and I happily made this news public knowledge. I learned about this from the girls from the brothel he frequented...

PUSHKIN was the first to start a rumor that the brilliant Frenchman, who had just enlisted in the guard, and who had already become very popular in high society, was gay, living on the support of an aging diplomat. Did Dantes himself know about this? Undoubtedly, he could not help but know. Is this not the reason for the persistence with which he tried, month after month, to discredit Pushkin’s wife? Perhaps Dantes wanted to take revenge in this way. And, I must admit, he did it superbly. According to contemporaries, Dantes really was in love with Natalya Nikolaevna. In addition, it was fashionable to look after her: the first beauty, whom Emperor Nicholas I himself was even slightly attracted to. However, Natalya Nikolaevna accepted his signs of attention, but that’s all. The world was intrigued, all the capital's gossips watched with bated breath the development of the scandalous novel and even made bets: when will Madame Pushkina finally give in to Dantes? Well, Pushkin himself became an object of ridicule.

Dantes tried in every possible way to discredit Natalya Nikolaevna. He pretended that everything had already happened. At his request, Louis Heckern, pushing away his jealousy, tried to push Natalya Nikolaevna into the arms of his son. Meeting her at social gatherings, he told her that the unfortunate Dantes was completely inconsolable, and added an ironclad, from his point of view, argument: rumors about the affair had already spread anyway, there was nothing to lose, that she should make the young man happy?

Persuasion did not bring results. And Dantes went a different way. On November 4, 1836, the city post office delivered an anonymous libel to Pushkin and several of his friends, which awarded Pushkin a “cuckold diploma.” Alexander Sergeevich immediately sent Dantes a challenge to a duel. Dantes was very frightened and rushed to his daddy for help. Louis Heckern accepted the challenge in his son's place, but asked for a delay, first for a day, then for two weeks. A week after the call, Georges Dantes proposed to Ekaterina Goncharova, Natalya Nikolaevna’s sister and, accordingly, Pushkin’s sister-in-law. Catherine had long been in love with Dantes - so much so that she stopped at nothing to be with him. Andrei Karamzin will carefully and delicately say this about her in a letter: She turned from a pimp into a lover, and then into a wife. Be that as it may, as soon as Dantes became Catherine’s fiancé, Pushkin was forced to withdraw his challenge. But, of course, he categorically refused to host his “relative.”

DANTES considered that this marriage completely protected him, and resumed his persistent courtship of Natalya Nikolaevna. He courted openly for show, with barracks compliments and some kind of deliberate impudence. He probably knew that Nicholas I himself categorically forbade Pushkin to fight a duel under any pretext. So the emperor did not at all push the poet into a mortal duel, as is commonly believed - quite the opposite. Apparently, he himself was extremely irritated by the ugly situation that had arisen. But Dantes, self-confident as always, continued to run into trouble.

Countess Fikelmon wrote in her diary: ...at one ball he so compromised Mrs. Pushkin with his views and hints that everyone was horrified, and Pushkin’s decision was made finally from then on... Let’s add one more thing to this: the day before, Idalia Poletika, Natalya Nikolaevna’s friend, invited her to visit. However, instead of Idalia, she found Dantes in the living room, very determined. Natalya Nikolaevna ran home in tears and, in hysterics, told everything to her husband. Well, at the notorious ball on January 23, 1837, Pushkin received an official reason to challenge the offender to a duel. So that Heckern could not intervene this time, Pushkin sent him an insulting letter: You, representative of the Crowned Head, you parentally pimped your son. It was you who guarded my wife in all corners to tell her about the love of your illegitimate or so-called son, and when, sick with venereal disease, he stayed at home, you said that he was dying of love for her... I cannot allow your the son would dare to address my wife and, even less, tell her barracks puns and play the role of devotion and unhappy passion, while he is a scoundrel and a scoundrel.

AFTER the duel, Dantes was immediately dismissed from the guard, demoted to the ranks and expelled from Russia. He was terribly scared - he didn’t expect to get off so easily, and he went abroad so hastily that in 4 days he managed to cover 800 miles. For several years he sat quietly on his estate in Alsace. Faithful Catherine went into exile with her husband. She bore him four children and died after giving birth in 1843, in the seventh year of her marriage. And Baron Heckern-Dantes, a very wealthy man, sued the Goncharovs for a long time because of her meager inheritance... Having made sure that he was not in danger, Dantes slowly got involved in politics, using his adoptive father’s connections. Having become a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, he bet on the party of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, the great-nephew of Emperor Napoleon I, and won.

In 1848, Louis Bonaparte became president of France, and three years later he carried out a coup - he dissolved the Legislative Assembly, abolished the republic and became Emperor Napoleon III. The emperor rewarded his loyal supporters - 40-year-old Dantes, for example, received the title of senator, which gave, among other things, a lifelong allowance of 30 thousand francs per year.

At one time, Dantes was engaged in business, and very successfully. One day a famous Parisian Pushkin collector visited him and couldn’t resist asking: But a duel with a genius... How did you decide? Didn't you know? Dantes was sincerely indignant: What about me? He could have killed me! After all, I later became a senator! Georges Charles Dantes died on November 2, 1895, at the age of 83, surrounded by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. One of Dantes’s grandsons, Leon Metman, recalled: Grandfather was quite satisfied with his fate and subsequently said more than once that he owed his brilliant political career only to the forced departure from Russia because of the duel, and that, had it not been for this unfortunate duel, what would have awaited him an unenviable future for a regiment commander somewhere in a Russian province with a large family and insufficient funds.

Born in 1812 in Comoros-Alsace, into a poor noble family. Having received his initial education in Alsace, Dantes then studied at the Bourbon Lyceum in Paris, then entered the Royal Military School of Saint-Cyr. However, he did not finish school, studying for only 9 months.

After the July Revolution of 1830, Dantes, not wanting to serve the new king Louis-Philippe, joined the legitimists (supporters of the legitimate king, overthrown Charles X), grouped in the Vendée around the Duchess of Berry. But the legitimists lost, and Dantes went to seek his fortune in a foreign country. At first, he intended to enter military service in Prussia, but there he would have to start his career with an insignificant position as a non-commissioned officer, which did not suit the ambitious young man. Then Dantes took a letter of recommendation from Prince William of Prussia, whom he knew personally, and went to Russia.

Dantes arrived in St. Petersburg on September 8, 1833. Through Countess Fikelmont, Dantes met Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and through the battle painter Ladurner, Emperor Nicholas I. Taking this opportunity, Dantes asked permission to join the Russian army. The Emperor graciously agreed, and since the Empress favored the young Frenchman, he was accepted into her Cavalry Regiment.

From the second half of 1835, Dantes openly began to court his wife Pushkin Natalya Nikolaevna. He danced with her at balls, sent her books, theater tickets with ticklish notes. There was gossip in society. In November 1836, seven or eight people received anonymous libelous letters insulting the honor of Pushkin and his wife. Pushkin challenged Dantes to a duel. Louis Heckern accepted the challenge on behalf of his son, but asked for a two-week delay.

During these two weeks, it became known that Dantes proposed to Pushkin’s sister-in-law, Natalya Nikolaevna’s sister, Ekaterina Goncharova. In this regard, Pushkin withdrew his challenge to a duel, but did not resume secular relations with Dantes. On January 10, 1837, the wedding of Dantes and Ekaterina Goncharova took place.

Almost immediately after his marriage, Dantes resumed his persistent courtship of Natalya Nikolaevna. Dantes' behavior was demonstrative, probably also because he wanted to ward off suspicions of cowardice: they say, he married Ekaterina Goncharova because he was afraid of a duel with Pushkin.

On January 25, 1837, Pushkin, completely infuriated, sent a letter to Dantes’ adoptive father. The harsh and insulting nature of the letter made a potential duel inevitable.

After leaving Russia, Dantes made a brilliant career: in 1845, he became a member of the General Council of the Upper Rhine department, and three years later - a deputy of the Constituent Assembly of France for the Upper Rhine-Colmar district. The deputy demanded to move to Paris, where the baron purchased a mansion on Rue Saint-Georges.

In the capital, Dantes quickly made connections among influential politicians. Dantes's mansion turned into a political and even partly literary salon. The baron's political views gradually began to be adjusted in a pragmatic direction. With the fading hope of restoring the Bourbon monarchy, Dantes-Heckern joined the supporters of Louis Bonaparte, great-nephew Napoleon I, who was elected President of France on December 10, 1848.

On December 2, 1851, another coup d'état took place in the country. Prince President Louis Bonaparte (future Napoleon III), dissolving the Legislative Assembly, practically abolished the republic. In May 1852, while preparing the proclamation of the empire, the president remembered Baron Dantes-Heckern and gave him a delicate assignment - to acquaint the Prussian king, the Austrian emperor and the Russian emperor Nicholas I with his intentions in order to find out their reaction. Apparently, the future Emperor of France took into account Dantes’ personal acquaintance with the Russian autocrat.

The Russian monarch favorably supported the intentions of Louis Bonaparte. It is unlikely that this support was a consequence of Dantes' eloquence, but since the result was achieved, the Prince-President, as a reward, appointed the baron a senator. The title of senator was for life and gave the right to a very decent salary from the treasury - 30 thousand francs per year (the amount was later increased to 60 thousand). The newly minted senator turned only 40 that year.

Georges-Charles Dantes lived a long and probably happy life. He died a very old man in November 1895. Contemporaries say that several decades after the duel, Dantes smugly introduced himself to Russians in France: “Baron Heckern (Dantes), who killed your poet Pushkin.”

Dantes arrived in St. Petersburg on September 8, 1833. A handsome, tall young man, he was not stupid and had the innate ability to please people at first sight.

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Daria Fikelmon wrote in her diary: “...at one ball he so compromised Mrs. Pushkin with his views and hints that everyone was horrified, and Pushkin’s decision has since been made finally.”

"Mr. Baron.

Let me briefly outline everything that happened: I have known your son’s behavior for a long time, and I could not remain indifferent.

I am forced to ask you to end all these tricks if you want to avoid new publicity, which I certainly will not give up on.

I have the honor to be, Mister Baron, your humble and obedient servant

A. Pushkin."

(The letter is given in a translation made for the commission of inquiry into the duel case; the original was written in French)

In 1887, the Parisian Pushkin collector A.F. visited the baron. Onegin could not resist and asked Dantes about the duel with the genius:

But how did you decide? Didn't you know?

Not at all embarrassed, Dantes answered defiantly:

What about me? He could have killed me. After all, I was later a senator!

Apparently, Dantes really did not fully understand who he had killed. Moreover, he was even satisfied with the consequences of the fight.

In the 1860-1880s, the baron, tired of politics, took up entrepreneurship and achieved good financial success.

And one more detail.

Do you know who this is? This is Natasha.

Who is Natasha? - I asked.

But he had already come to his senses and moved forward.

Your aunt, Pushkina, your mother's sister..."

Georges Charles Dantes is a Frenchman of noble birth and spectacular appearance, who did a lot for his small homeland and lived an unimaginably long life by the standards of the 19th century. But for the Russians, Georges’ merits are negated by one fact - this man’s shot was fatal.

Childhood and youth

The distant ancestors of Georges Charles, born on February 5, 1812 in the town of Colmar, are Vikings from the island of Gotland. The first baron among the Dantes was Georges' great-grandfather, a successful businessman, who was granted the title of nobility in 1731. The handsome blond boy was the third son of Joseph Conrad d'Anthes. Oddly enough, the future killer of Pushkin was related to the “sun of Russian poetry”: Georges’ maternal grandmother was the wife of Count Musin-Pushkin.

Georges Charles Dantes

Georges Charles was not good at science; he did not like to read. His connections did not help him enter the forge of personnel for the Parisian beau monde - the Corps of Pages of Charles X. He had to be content with the second most prestigious military school, Saint-Cyr. In June 1830, the young man won in shooting at a live target - pigeons, for which he was included in the number of personal pages of Marie of Berry, the mother of the heir to the French crown.

This sporting achievement of the young Dantes refutes the version that the great poet’s opponent allegedly shot poorly and pistols were imposed as a duel weapon by the excellent shooter Pushkin. However, the career of Georges Charles, which had started so successfully, ended just a month later - in July 1830, the Bourbons ceased to reign.

The next chapter of Dantes' biography is questioned by historians. According to Georges' stories, he remained loyal to the Bourbons, corresponded with the disgraced mother of the heir and was not only a participant, but also an organizer of the Vendée uprising. Be that as it may, the uprising was suppressed, and Georges Charles headed to Prussia, where he entered military service, but received the rank of non-commissioned officer, which did not correspond to his ambitions.

Having secured letters of recommendation from Wilhelm of Prussia, the young man rushed to Russia “to pursue happiness and rank.” On the way to a distant snowy country, a young relative of Pushkin caught a cold and fell ill in Lübeck. There, Georges was first seen by Louis Heckern, the envoy of the Dutch court in Russia, who made an emergency stop due to a crew breakdown.

Military service

Dantes arrived in St. Petersburg on September 8, 1833. In Russia, a young man who wanted to rise to the rank of field marshal became a cornet of the Cavalry Guard Regiment and one of the empress’s personal bodyguards. Dantes harmoniously fit into both the guards environment and St. Petersburg secular society. Ignorance of Russian was not an obstacle for the cavalry guard - Russian nobles then communicated in the language.

The portraits confirm the description of the Frenchman given by Prince A.V. Trubetskoy: the cornet is handsome and stately. Dantes' service record indicates that Georges Charles

“from the sciences he knows geography and mathematics, speaks German and French, for participation in shows and exercises he received ... the highest favors for promotion to rank and awarding a badge of distinction, was not noticed in the weak performance of his duties, good mental abilities.”

This characteristic was given to a young officer who in his youth was not distinguished by his diligence and thirst for knowledge and who “received” four dozen punishments for 3 years in the regiment. Perhaps the reason for this was the patronage of Baron Heckern.

Personal life

Thanks to his pleasant appearance, wit, ability to conduct a casual conversation and deftly dance the mazurka, as well as his tall stature, Georges Charles Dantes enjoyed the attention of society ladies. By the way, about growth - there is no documented information about how tall he was. According to contemporaries, he was the same height as, and the great poet, whose height was 166 cm, was a head shorter than his wife. Thus, Dantes’ height was close to 190 cm.

The personal life of Georges Charles was very eventful. The lovers of the cavalry guard, according to rumors, were both the empress’s confidante, Princess Bobrinskaya, and the daughter of Count Stroganov, Idalia Poletika.

However, the adoption of Georges Charles by Baron Heckern, carried out in violation of the laws (“the son” was over 18 years old; the adoptee did not live with the adoptive parent under the same roof for the required 6 years; the envoy of the Dutch court had not reached 50 years old), gave rise to gossip about the bisexuality of the brilliant officer. The correspondence between the adoptive father and the named son was conducted in the most gentle tones; the men addressed their friend only as “my angel.” However, this was a fairly common occurrence for Pushkin’s time.

In January 1835, at a ball, Georges Charles Dantes saw the first beauty of St. Petersburg, Natalya Pushkina. From that moment on, the cavalry guard began to pursue the wife of the great writer, deceitfully achieve private meetings, send obscene notes, and threaten suicide because of unrequited love.

Historians differ on the reasons for Dantes' obsessive courtship. Among the main versions are the following: the young man really fell passionately in love with Natalya Pushkina and could not cope with the feelings that gripped him. According to another version, the Russian Tsar was in love with the poet’s wife, and Dantes’s harassment served as a cover for the royal infatuation. It is also assumed that the Pushkin family became a victim of international political intrigue.

Another version says: the writer knew about the shameful relationship between Georges and Heckern, disseminated compromising information, so the couple took revenge by persecuting Natalya Nikolaevna. According to another assumption, Dantes demonstratively courted Pushkina in order to disguise his affair with Idalia Poletika.

In 1836, Alexander Sergeevich and his acquaintances received letters informing him that the poet had been awarded a “cuckold diploma.” The “slave of honor,” in order to protect the family’s reputation, demanded satisfaction.

Duel with Alexander Pushkin

The call had to be sent twice. After the first “invitation” to the duel, the Frenchman’s adoptive father begged the poet to postpone the duel for 14 days. In 2 weeks, the cavalry guard managed to offer his hand to Ekaterina Goncharova, the sister of Natalya Pushkina, who had been sitting too long in the girls. The girl, who had long been in love with the Frenchman, agreed. The writer was forced to withdraw the call.

However, the wedding, which took place on January 10, 1837, did not put an end to the conflict between the men who became brothers-in-law. Georges Charles continued to flirt with Natalya, now as a “relative,” and “barracks puns” were spread in the world about Pushkin’s family.

On January 26, Alexander Sergeevich sent the elder Gekkern an insulting letter in which he refused to allow his family to visit his home, and also accused his rival of having syphilis. In fact, this was the second challenge.

The next day, a duel took place near St. Petersburg, during which the great poet was wounded in the stomach. The duel with Alexander Pushkin was Dantes's first. The Frenchman's opponent had previously initiated one and a half dozen fights, and in another 6 cases the writer was challenged to a duel by his opponents.

Three days later, Pushkin died from peritonitis that developed as a result of the wound.

Dantes, slightly wounded in the arm, was demoted (“deprived of his officer’s patents”) and deported from Russia.

Political activity and recent years

Georges Charles Dantes, who was forced to return to his homeland, was soon joined by his wife. Katya gave her adored husband four children - three daughters and one son, Louis-Joseph. A few days after the boy was born, Goncharova-Dantes died.

The widower never remarried, but directed his energy towards building a political career and succeeded in this, first becoming the mayor of his hometown, and in 1852 - a senator. Georges Charles was also one of the founders of the Paris Gas Society, thanks to which he increased his fortune.

In 1875, Heckern settled again in the Dantes family. He lived to be 92 years old.

Death

Georges Charles also became a long-liver, outliving his wife by more than half a century. The cause of Dantes' death in 1895 was aging.

The well-fed and calm life of the former womanizer, grateful to fate and not tormented by remorse, was overshadowed only by the youngest daughter’s unexpected craving for Pushkin’s poetry. Leonia-Charlotte quoted the poems of Alexander Sergeevich and reproached her parent for the murder of the poet. The father placed the girl in a Paris clinic for the mentally ill.