Zubov
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Zubov (Зу́бов) was 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 favourite of Catherine II of Russia.
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[edit] Origin
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 Nikolayevich Zubov (1727-1795) was reputed to have enriched himself serving as a vice-governor of Vladimir. He had three daughters and four sons, of whom three--Nicholas, Platon, and Valerian--were made counts by Catherine the Great.
[edit] Prince Platon Zubov
Platon Alexandrovich Zubov (November 15, 1767 – April 7, 1822), or von Zuboff, -as he preferred to call himself was the third son of his parents. It was through his distant relative, the Field Marshal Nicholas Saltykov, that he met the Empress. Saltykov presented the young and handsome officer to the court on the understanding that he would help Saltykov in his feud with Catherine's long-standing favourite, Prince Potemkin.
In August of 1789, Catherine wrote to Potemkin that she returned to life after a long winter slumber "as a fly does". "Now I am well and gay again," she added, telling about her new friend, "a dark, little one". "Our baby," as she called him, "weeps when denied the entry into my room," Catherine informed Potemkin in the next letter. As young minions succeeded each other monthly in Catherine's heart, Potemkin didn't attach much importance to her new liaison. Catherine was over 60, Zubov was just 22. The old courtier couldn't believe that their connection would last for an extended period of time.
Zubov, however, contrived to establish a strong hold of Catherine's affections and character. In 7 years, he was made a Count and then a Reichsfurst, or Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the fourth (and last) Russian to receive the title. Upon Potemkin's death, he succeeded him as the Governor-General of New Russia. As Fyodor Rostopchin reported to Semyon Vorontsov on August 20, 1795, "Count Zubov is everything here. There is no other will but his. His power is greater than that of Potemkin. He is as reckless and incapable as before, although the Empress keeps repeating that he is the greatest genius the history of Russia has known".
During his years in power, Zubov amassed an enormous fortune. The Empress conferred on him tens of thousands of serfs, while simultaneously the courtiers rivalled each other in lavishing the most extravagant presents on him. In the last year of Catherine's reign even most trivial matters came to be decided on Zubov's advice. Crowds of petitioners thronged in his bedroom every morning, trying desperately to attract the attention of his pet monkey if not himself. The old generals prepared coffee for him. Zubov's secretaries enriched themselves on bribes from petitioners. They were all singularly incompetent in affairs of state, but at least one of them, the Spaniard Jose de Ribas, is still remembered - as the founder of Odessa.
Zubov's character was capricious and unstable. He patronized Suvorov and Fonvizin, and yet he is thought to have instigated the persecution of Radischev and Novikov. To the heir apparent, Tsesarevich Paul, he paid no respect whatsoever. Unsurprisingly, Catherine's death all but brought him to the verge of madness. For ten days, he concealed himself in the house of his sister Olga. On the 11th day, he was visited by Emperor Paul who drank to his health and wished him "as many years of prosperity as there are drops in this beaker". Nevertheless, he was stripped of his estates, relieved of all his posts and was strongly advised to go abroad.
During Paul's reign, Zubov travelled in Europe, where he was shown as a curiosity. In Teplitz he fell in love with the Countess de la Roche-Aimont, then proposed to the Princess of Courland but was refused. Following one obscure duel, in which he ignominiously refused to take part and which resulted in his aide's killing Louis XVI's cousin, Chevalier de Saxe, Zubov withdrew to his Rastrelliesque Rundale Palace in Courland, formerly the seat of the Biron ducal dynasty. He ended his days living in total seclusion and exploiting his serfs mercilessly. His young widow, Thekla Walentinowicz, a local landowner's daughter, remarried Count Shuvalov, thus bringing the vast Zubov estates into the Shuvalov family.
[edit] Count Valerian Zubov
Platon's younger brother Valerian Zubov (1771-1804) was reputed by contemporaries as "the handsomest man in Russia". The legend has it that Catherine flirted with him, secretly from his brother. During her reign he was much lionized as a military hero of incredible valor. He was appointed General-Major and sent against the rebels in Poland, where he was said to treat both the Polish noblemen and their wives brazenly and "in the most lowly manner". During this stay in Poland, he married Countess Potocka and lost his leg in a toy battle.
Several months before Catherine's death, 24-year-old Valerian was invited to take charge of the army heading for Persia. Of this chimerical venture, engineered by both Zubov brothers and aiming at the conquest of all Asia up to Tibet, there came nothing good. Valerian managed little beyond taking Derbent and was recalled to Russia in disgrace. His return, however, occasioned a superb ode by Derzhavin, meditating on the fleeting nature of fortune and success.
[edit] Zubovs under Paul and Alexander I
Platon's elder brothers, Nicholas (1763-1805) and Dmitry (1764-1836), were made generals when their family was still in power. Nicholas served in Suvorov's army, supported the Field Marshal in his intrigues against Potemkin and married his only daughter, the illustrious Suvorochka (1775-1844). Their line continues up to the present.
Nicholas Zubov was involved in the conspiracy leading to the assassination of Emperor Paul, of which his sister Olga Zherebtsova (1766-1849) was said to be a guiding spirit. Count Pahlen and other conspirators met and discussed their plans in her house. Some maintain that she appropriated the funds the British government passed through her to the conspirators. She fled from Alexander I's ire to England where she became a mistress of Prince Regent and gave birth to a natural son, named George Nord, after his purported royal father.
In the declining years of her life, Platon's sister returned to the Russian capital, where she attempted to influence contemporary politics through her son-in-law, Prince Aleksey Orlov. In the 1840s, she got acquainted with Alexander Herzen, who would recall her character and opinions with admiration in his memoirs "My Past and Thoughts":
"Like a tree in winter, she maintained the linear outline of her boughs after the leaves had fallen off and the scraggy bare branches had been pinched with cold, all the more clearly demonstrating her magnificent stature, her daring bulk, and the trunk, though white with frost, still stalking lordly and sulkily and braving every tempest and gust".
[edit] Modern Zubovs
There are direct descendants of Zubov still alive, including Count Johann von Zubov, (b.1915-), and his children Countess Tatjana Zubov-Rainey (b.1951-) and Countess Irina Zubov-Mendes de Leon (b.1956-) Their respective children are Anatole Rainey, Alexander Rainey and Xenia Rainey, and Feodora Mendes de Leon, Kyra Mendes de Leon and Carmen Mendes de Leon. There are other relatives also living. The title was able to be passed through the female line and therefore Count Johann von Zubov was able to pass the title on to his daughters[citation needed].
