Pedophilia, harems, torture and executions: wild entertainments of the Landlords of serf Russia

Among all the misfortunes that the Russian people have faced in their history, serfdom can be considered one of the most severe. An ordinary landowner from Tambov or Pskov province could easily put any planter of the New World under his belt for cruelty and promiscuity. The number of victims of monsters who killed and mutilated their own people is not subject to accounting, but history has preserved the most "big names" of torturers and perverts for posterity.

Serfdom in The Russian Empire was abolished in 1861 by Emperor Alexander II, who received the nickname "Liberator" for this. Many believe that it is not at all about the kindness of the monarch, who is tired of hurting his soul for the long-suffering common people. The continued existence of slavery in Russia could result in grandiose riots and even a revolution.

Alexander II The Liberator

In fact, the sovereign, like his predecessors, did not care too much about his most oppressed subjects. This is eloquently indicated by the fact that the most terrible monsters who bullied people and did not even shun murder, got off, with very rare exceptions, with symbolic punishments.

The landowner Daria Saltykova, or as she was "affectionately" called — "Saltychikha", is one of those who were punished for their crimes. In her youth, this person was pretty and very devout. A descendant of an ancient noble family, Saltykova donated a lot to temples and once a year she certainly went on a pilgrimage to one of the large monasteries.

But everything changed radically when her husband died in 1756. The widow seemed to break loose from the chain and began to torture and mutilate her serfs, demonstrating an unheard-of ingenuity for a woman. In total, from 1756 to 1762, serfs complained about their mistress 21 times. But the letters of the serfs were lost in the instances, because Saltykova did not skimp on bribes and offerings.

From beatings and torture, the landowner moved on to more radical things. She slaughtered her peasants with sticks, rolling pins, logs, whips, buried them alive, tore them apart with a hot iron. The lady had special steel tongs, which she heated in the oven, and then grabbed the peasants by the ears with them.

The maniac lady had 138 lives on her account, and in total she had about 600 serfs at her disposal. The scope of Saltychikha took such that the news of her atrocities still reached the ears of Empress Catherine II and the landowner was arrested. By the decision of the Senate and the Empress in 1768, Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova was deprived of the nobility and sentenced to death.

But then the sentence was changed and the murderer was sent to life imprisonment in one of the monasteries. There Saltykova spent 11 years in a stone bag without windows, where she saw light only at those moments when her meager food was brought to her. When the former landowner became quite decrepit, they had mercy on her and settled her in a small church annex. There she met her death, by the way, never repenting of her crimes.

But Mr. Nikolai Struysky, who has about two hundred human lives on his conscience, did not suffer any punishment at all. The landowner inherited a huge inheritance from relatives who died during the Pugachev uprising, and he could live at his own pleasure and let others live. Moreover, Nikolai Yeremeyevich considered himself a poet and wrote poems that, although very bad, were highly appreciated by the Empress.

But Struysky was not only a rich man and a poet, but also a sadist, and quite sophisticated. The landowner's favorite pastime was "the hour of judgment." He invented the crime himself, and then appointed defendants, plaintiffs and jurors from among the serfs. During the "investigation" and "trial" people were brutally tortured, and then Struysky himself read out the verdict. Serfs were sentenced to imprisonment, flogging and all sorts of medieval bullying. Often such a sentence became a death sentence for the poor man.

Another fun Struysky had was playing with a tiger. The predator discharged from India was the pride of a millionaire landowner and an unwitting accomplice to his atrocities. The peasants were driven into a special enclosure, where a hungry animal was waiting for them. The unfortunate man did not have the opportunity to escape from the tiger, and when trying to get out of the enclosure, the serf was shot with a shot by the master and his guests. Usually the game ended with the death of the poor guy.

Struysky, unlike the half-witted Saltychikha, was aware that he was doing evil. Over time, the landowner developed paranoia and he began to keep hundreds of guns, pistols and sabers in his house, with which he thought to defend himself if a popular revolt began. But the sadist never had a chance to answer for his crimes — he died a natural death at the age of 50.

The hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, Lieutenant General Lev Dmitrievich Izmailov, was a true patriot of Russia. But this did not prevent him from being a perverted and dissolute person. In 1814, the general retired and lived on his estate until 1831, until the disgusting facts became clear.

It turns out that the hero and knight of many orders, who once donated a million rubles for weapons for the militia, started a harem of 30 women, many of whom were minors. Concubines got into Izmailov's house against their will and were kept in a special part of the mansion, with bars on the windows and strong locks.

A. Krasnoselsky. Collection of arrears

In addition, the former military man arranged a brothel for debauchery at home, in which he offered women and even girls for the pleasures of his guests. Izmailov provided the most respected acquaintances with 12-year-olds, and sometimes even younger girls. Children in the harem were removed from serf families at the discretion of the master and brought to his house. The prisoners could only count on short walks in the garden and a trip to the bathhouse - the rest of the time they were isolated from everyone.

It turned out all thanks to the lawyer Lev Izmailov, who decided to make money on the weaknesses of the master and persuaded the peasants to write complaints against him. The small clerk himself planned to make money on mediation, when transferring bribes from a client to the authorities. It did not even occur to him that such an honored person as a lieutenant general could be judged.

The painting "Bargain. A scene from serf life" N.V.Nevrev, 1866

But Izmailov was tried. The process was very long and sluggish and ended for the old pervert... with house arrest. The most terrible thing that judges and jurors saw in the general's actions was the ban on serfs visiting the church. The general was afraid that at confession the peasants would tell the priests about his tricks and the case would get publicity.

The history of Russia knows other perverts and maniacs who have escaped responsibility. What is worth only one landowner Strashinsky, who molested girls 8-10 years old from three villages until the age of 75 and then switched to his own daughters and granddaughters. Alexander II, whom the peasants idolized as a defender and liberator, exonerated a pedophile, whose account had more than 500 victims, due to "lack of evidence" and poor health.