About Empress Anna Ioannovna - in the Presidential Library e-collection

February 7, 2018 marks the 325th anniversary of the birth of Empress Anna Ioannovna. The Presidential Library portal features an extensive collection "The Romanov dynasty. Zemsky Sobor of 1613", one part of which is devoted to the Russian autocrat, who took the throne from 1730 to 1740 years.

The well-known historian V. O. Klyuchevsky in the work "Russian History" explains why after the death of Peter I, Catherine I and Peter II, it was Anna Ioannovna, the daughter of the elder brother of the first Russian emperor, who ascended to the throne. And this despite the fact that he left behind two daughters, Anna and Elizabeth.

The fact is that even earlier "in ancient Russia there was no law on succession to the throne, but either a custom of will or a catholic election acted. Peter destroyed both custom and election itself; by the February 1721 law, he established that the reigning sovereign appoints himself a successor whom he wants", - Klyuchevsky writes. And he adds: "This law, which was the consequence of family troubles, gave the Russian throne to chance and made it only a toy of the latter. Since then, no change to the throne has been without confusion; each accession was preceded by distemper, intrigue". As a result of court intrigues, where the main role was played by representatives of the most eminent families, Anna Ioannovna, the Duchess of Courland, the niece of the tsar-reformer, ascended to the throne.

To resolve the question of succession to the throne after the death of Peter II, grandson of the first Russian emperor, the Supreme Privy Council was assembled. Kliuchevsky describes this fateful event for the country: "The Supreme Privy Council in 1730 consisted of eight members; of which six belonged to two generic families, the princes Golitsyn and Dolgoruky. The rest were Count Golovkin and Osterman. At a meeting of the Council, Golitsyn made a speech in which he argued that the daughters of Peter, Anna Holstein and Elizabeth, did not have the right to the throne, like the illegitimate born before their father's marriage to their mother, and that the will of Empress Catherine, by which Peter's successor II, in the event of his childless death, there must be one of her daughters-and in itself has no force, because this empress, being of low birth, had no right to the throne and could not dispose of it. Count Golitsyn proposed to elect to the throne the daughter of Tsar Ivan, Dowager Duchess of Courland Anna. But having made this offer, Golitsyn added even more unexpectedly: "Your will, who you please; just need to ease yourself". "How can I ease myself?" Chancellor Golovkin asked. - "And so easy to let yourself to add,a will", - explained Golitsyn". Thus, Anna was offered to take the throne, but with a significant restriction of her powers as autocrats. V. O. Klyuchevsky notes: "The case of 1730 is important because it was the first time that the most clearly defined political forms in which the clan knew wanted to clothe their political aspirations and their political ideas".

The full list of "conditions" sent to the future empress is given in the edition of 1911 "The Reign of Emperor Peter II and the Empress Anna Ioannovna: from the notes of Prince P. V. Dolgorukov". Among them, in particular, there is the obligation to rule only in close cooperation with the Supreme Privy Council, not to impose new taxes, not to declare war and not to conclude peace without the consent of the Supreme Council, a lifetime ban to marry and appoint a successor and many other conditions, the transfer of which was completed with the words "but if I do not fulfill this promise, I will be deprived of the crown of Russia". 

Despite the significant limitations of her power, Anna Ioannovna accepted the proposal. In the historical sketch "The Accession of Empress Anna Ioannovna", published in 1880, an excerpt from the letter of ensign Maksheyev, one of the members of the Russian delegation sent to the Duchess of Courland, is quoted: "We arrived in Mittawa ...<…> we told Her Highness the Empress at the beginning of the reprieve of His Imperial Majesty, and then elected Her Majesty to the Russian throne and asked to be pleased to sign the conditions sent with us. Her Majesty deigned to mourn for the repose of His Majesty, and then, in accordance with our petition, ordered those conditions to be read before her, and, having listened, she was pleased to sign them with her own hand: "By this I promise to keep Anna without any exemptions".

The Presidential Library collection contains a digital copy of the illustrated edition of 1730 "Description of the coronation of her Majesty the Empress, and the autocrats of the All-Russia, Anna Ioannovna, solemnly sent to the reigning city of Moscow, April 28, 1730", where we can see with what scope this event was celebrated: "Two bulls of fried, stuffed with different kinds of birds are put on the square in front of the Granovitaya Chamber, on the prepared two lockers for the people, red and white wine is fired from the two fountains on the sides of those bulls. <...> And Her Imperial Majesty at the same time deigned from the window to throw gold and silver tokens into the people".

Anna Ioannovna reigned exactly ten years. She died on October 28, 1740 due to a serious illness. More information about the Empress and the period of her reign, which will later be called "bironovshchina", can be found through historical research and documentary evidence from the collection of the Presidential Library.