Empress Anna Ivanovna
Nicknamed “Ivanna the Terrible” for her bad manners and crude sense of humor, Anna Ivanovna tortured and imprisoned anyone who opposed her for the 10 grueling years of her reign.
Even though she was born a princess, Anna Ivanovna did not have a fairytale life.
Anna, not known for her looks, was once mocked for resembling a “Westphalian ham!!”
Anna was the daughter of Tsar Ivan V, who is often referred to as “Ivan the Ignorant.”
Anna had something of an odd childhood.
Her father Ivan, was apparently mentally deficient to such an extent, that he would remain in a nearly vegetative state for hours on end.
He could walk only with the support of courtiers.
Ivan was capable of performing simple ceremonial functions as tsar, while Anna’s uncle Peter the Great performed most of the real duties at court, as co-tsar.
Anna’s mother wasn’t a happy woman, and sternly believed in maintaining the old Russian ways.
That meant little education for girls, so Anna was barely literate.
According to accounts, she wasn’t that pretty either.
She is said to have had terrible manners and a grim demeanor.
Anna’s father died when she was three years old, cementing Peter the Great’s grip on power.
Perhaps this early blow also impacted Anna’s personality, as growing up she was considered to be mean, obstinate, and grim.
Surprisingly, Anna’s lack of pleasing attributes did not keep her from being married off.
In 1710 she married Frederick William, the Duke of Courland (part of today’s Latvia)
The wedding was beautiful.
Anna wore a cape embroidered with gold and a bejewelled tiara.
The ceremony ended with a spectacular display of fireworks.
Anna’s new husband Frederick William, drank a lot,
even engaging in drinking contests with Peter the Great.
Trying to keep up, Frederick drank so much that he fell ill immediately after the marriage, and died two months later.
At 17, Anna Ivanovna found herself a widow, and desperate to remarry.
Anna wrote her family more than 300 letters, most of them expressing her fervent desire for a husband.
Peter the Great rejected every suitor, until Anna soured off the idea of marriage altogether.
Anna was largely forgotten at court, and anger, vindictiveness and bitterness overtook her.
When Peter the Great died, and the Russian Supreme Privy Council viewed Anna as an ideal candidate for the throne.
They believed that as a woman, and a widow, she would be easy to manipulate.
The nobles imposed a list of conditions on Anna’s power, and made her sign on the dotted line.
She signed, but Anna was far smarter than they gave her credit for.
Within a couple of months, Anna solidified support from a group of nobles and the local guards’ regiments.
She then, very dramatically tore the conditions in half and declared she will rule in the way she wants to rule!
Anna never remarried, as empress of Russia, she enjoyed the power she held over all men.
Anna was still mean and bitter, and wanted to punish people who were happy, and in love.
When Prince Mikhail, from one of the most noble houses in Russia, married a Catholic Italian woman, Anna felt they were flaunting their happiness right in front of her.
Anna may have hated love and marriage in general, but she despised Catholics even more.
To Anna’s delight, their happiness was short lived, Prince Mikhail’s wife died shortly after their marriage.
Anna didn’t seem to believe that this was sufficient punishment, for falling in love in the first place.
She turned Mikhail into a court jester.
He had to pretend to be a chicken, sit on a nest of eggs in Anna’s reception room, and pretend to lay them when visitors came to see her.
Anna wanted to punish Mikhail further.
She intended to show him – and everyone – the folly of love and marriage.
So in 1739 she ordered the construction of a massive ice palace 80 feet long and 33 feet high, where all the blocks were “glued” together with water.
Inside was a furnished bridal suite, made of ice.
Absolutely everything, including the bed, the pillows, even the clocks was ice!
Outside there were ice trees in which ice birds nested.
There was even an ice statue of an elephant that spouted water from its trunk.
Still embittered, Anna decided to marry Prince Mikhail to one of her maids, Avdotya Ivanovna.
The maid was apparently very old and ugly, so this union was clearly not intended as a reward for the prince.
On the day of their wedding, the couple were dressed as clowns, and made to ride an elephant and presented to a laughing crowd.
Immediately after the wedding the couple were forced to spend their wedding night inside the ice palace.
Naked.
During one of the coldest winters in Russian history.
Anna’s expectation was that they would freeze to death.
Supposedly they survived because the bride traded her pearls for a coat from one of the guards.
The popular legend is that the couple went on to enjoy a happy marriage and have twins, conceived that terrible night on the ice mattress.
As for Anna, she died slowly and painfully of kidney stones on 17th October 1740 at the age of 47.
Initially, her physicians made the patronizing decision to tell her she was suffering from menopause.
She left no heirs, and to this day, people often describe her as the worst ruler in Russian history…..
Soon after Anna’s death, Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter the Great’s daughter, would rise to power, later followed by Catherine the Great in 1762.
🌹 Portrait of Empress Anna of Russia.
