From the pedigree of Arina Rodionovna. Arina Rodionovna's bad habits and other facts about Pushkin's nanny that were not included in the textbooks Nanny Arina Rodionovna's surname

Around the image of the legendary Arina Rodionovna - the nanny of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin - many different rumors and legends arose. Despite the fact that the famous pupil himself always spoke of this respected woman with sincere love and gratitude, some Pushkin scholars and contemporaries of the poet noted amazing and even contradictory moments in the biography and character of the nanny, whose name became a household name.

Izhorka or Chukhonka?

Arina Rodionovna (1758-1828) was a peasant serf. She was born in the village of Lampovo, Petersburg province, not far from the village of Suida. Her parents Lukerya Kirillova and Rodion Yakovlev raised seven children. The girl's real name was Irina (or Irinya), but in the family she was always called Arina, and so it happened.

Despite the fact that officially in the 18th century almost all serfs of the St. Petersburg province were considered Russian, the majority of the inhabitants of those places, in fact, were representatives of assimilated Finno-Ugric nationalities. The suburbs of Suida were inhabited mainly by the Izhorians - the descendants of one of the tribes of the people, which bore the name "Chud". In addition to them, Chukhonts also lived on these lands.

Historians and Pushkin scholars do not have accurate information to which of these Finno-Ugric nationalities, completely mixed with the Russians and not preserved, Arina Rodionovna belonged to. But some of the tales she told the famous pupil have a distinct northern flavor. Even the image of an oak near the Lukomorye clearly echoes the Scandinavian legends about the Yggdrasil tree connecting different levels of the universe.

From a family of Old Believers?

Some historians note that families of Old Believers have long lived in the vicinity of the village of Suida in the Petersburg province. Many of these people hid their religious views so as not to be persecuted by the official church.

In addition to the fact that Arina Rodionovna was born in the places of the traditional settlement of the Old Believers, the information contained in the letter to A.S. Pushkin to his friend P.A. Vyazemsky dated November 9, 1826. Thus, the great poet writes: “My nanny is hilarious. Imagine that at the age of 70, she learned by heart a new prayer "For the tenderness of the heart of the ruler and the taming of the spirit of his ferocity", probably composed under Tsar Ivan. Now her priests are tearing up a prayer service ... "

The simple fact that Arina Rodionovna knew by heart or learned from somewhere a rare ancient prayer that existed even before the split orthodox Church, may indicate her close communication or kinship with the Old Believers. After all, only they so anxiously preserved religious texts, many of which were lost by the official church.

Serf without a surname

Arina Rodionovna did not have a surname, like many serfs. Although her parent is recorded in the church registers as Yakovlev, and her husband as Matveyev, these were not names, but patronymics. In those days, Peter, the son of Ivan, was called Peter Ivanov, and the grandson of the same Ivan did not inherit the name of his grandfather, but was named after his father - Petrov.

However, Irina is indicated in the birth register - the daughter of the peasant Rodion Yakovlev. The church book of the village of Suida also contains information about the wedding of Irinya Rodionova and Fedor Matveyev. These facts confused many researchers, who mistakenly called Pushkin's nanny nee Yakovleva, and Matveyeva in marriage.

Mother of four children

Some people believe that Arina Rodionovna did not have her own family, and therefore she was strongly attached to her pupil. However, this was not the case. In 1781, a 22-year-old peasant woman married and moved to the village of Kobrino, Sofia district, where her husband Fyodor Matveyev (1756-1801) lived, who was two years older than his young wife.

In this marriage, four children were born. The eldest son of the legendary nanny was named Yegor Fedorov. In the revision tale for 1816, he is listed as the head of the family, since he was the eldest man in the dowager's mother's house.

And the husband of Arina Rodionovna died at the age of 44. Some sources claim that from drunkenness.

Drink lover

All records of A.S. Pushkin about his nanny is imbued with special warmth and gratitude. But some people familiar with this woman pointed out that Arina Rodionovna liked to knock over a glass or two from time to time.

Thus, the poet Nikolai Mikhailovich Yazykov wrote in his memoirs: "... she was an affectionate, caring hustler, an inexhaustible storyteller, and at times a cheerful drinking lady." This man, who knew his friend's nanny well, noted that, despite her plumpness, she was always a mobile and energetic woman.

A neighbor of the great poet on the estate in the village of Mikhailovskoye spoke quite frankly about Arina Rodionovna. The noblewoman Maria Ivanovna Osipova left such a note in her memoirs: "... the old woman is extremely respectable, all gray-haired, but with one sin - she loved to drink."

Perhaps in the poem "Winter Evening" by A.S. Pushkin, it is no accident that the following lines appeared:

Let's have a drink, good friend

My poor youth

Let's drink from grief; where is the mug?

The heart will be more cheerful.

Although there is no other information that this respected woman ever drank or (God forbid!) Introduced her famous pupil to alcohol.

Folk storyteller

It is unlikely that any of the Pushkin scholars will deny that Arina Rodionovna had a noticeable influence on the work of the great poet. Some historians call her a real folk storyteller - an inexhaustible storehouse of ancient traditions, legends and myths.

Having become an adult, A.S. Pushkin realized what an invaluable national and cultural heritage fairy tales are, which his dear nanny knew by heart. In 1824-1826, while in exile, the great poet took the opportunity to once again listen to and write down the magical stories about Tsar Saltan, the golden cockerel, the Lukomorye, the dead princess and the seven heroes, as well as many others. The author breathed new life into these tales, bringing into them his literary gift and poetic outlook.

In early November 1824 A.S. Pushkin wrote to his younger brother Lev Sergeevich from the village of Mikhailovskoye that he was writing until lunchtime, then riding a horse, and in the evening listening to fairy tales, thereby making up for the shortcomings of his education. Probably, the poet meant that in early XIX centuries the nobles did not study folklore at all.

“What a charm these fairy tales are! Each is a poem! " The poet exclaimed in a letter to his brother.

As the Pushkinists established, according to their nanny A.S. Pushkin also recorded ten folk songs and several expressions that seemed very interesting to him.

Around the image of the legendary Arina Rodionovna - the nanny of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin - many different rumors and legends arose. Despite the fact that the famous pupil himself always spoke of this respected woman with sincere love and gratitude, some Pushkin scholars and contemporaries of the poet noted amazing and even contradictory moments in the biography and character of the nanny, whose name became a household name.

Izhorka or Chukhonka?

Arina Rodionovna (1758-1828) was a peasant serf. She was born in the village of Lampovo, Petersburg province, not far from the village of Suida. Her parents Lukerya Kirillova and Rodion Yakovlev raised seven children. The girl's real name was Irina (or Irinya), but in the family she was always called Arina, and so it happened.

Despite the fact that officially in the 18th century almost all serfs of the St. Petersburg province were considered Russian, the majority of the inhabitants of those places, in fact, were representatives of assimilated Finno-Ugric nationalities. The suburbs of Suida were inhabited mainly by the Izhorians - the descendants of one of the tribes of the people, which bore the name "Chud". In addition to them, Chukhonts also lived on these lands.

Historians and Pushkin scholars do not have accurate information to which of these Finno-Ugric nationalities, completely mixed with the Russians and not preserved, Arina Rodionovna belonged to. But some of the tales she told the famous pupil have a distinct northern flavor. Even the image of an oak near the Lukomorye clearly echoes the Scandinavian legends about the Yggdrasil tree connecting different levels of the universe.

From a family of Old Believers?

Some historians note that families of Old Believers have long lived in the vicinity of the village of Suida in the Petersburg province. Many of these people hid their religious views so as not to be persecuted by the official church.

In addition to the fact that Arina Rodionovna was born in the places of the traditional settlement of the Old Believers, the information contained in the letter of A.S. Pushkin to his friend P.A.Vyazemsky dated November 9, 1826, also indicates her origin from this environment. Thus, the great poet writes: “My nanny is hilarious. Imagine that at the age of 70 she learned by heart a new prayer “For tenderness of the heart of the ruler and taming of the spirit of his ferocity”, probably composed under Tsar Ivan. Now her priests are tearing up a prayer service ... "

The simple fact that Arina Rodionovna knew by heart or learned from somewhere a rare ancient prayer that existed even before the split of the Orthodox Church may testify to her close communication or kinship with the Old Believers. After all, only they so anxiously preserved religious texts, many of which were lost by the official church.

Serf without a surname

Arina Rodionovna did not have a surname, like many serfs. Although her parent is recorded in the church registers as Yakovlev, and her husband as Matveyev, these were not names, but patronymics. In those days, Peter, the son of Ivan, was called Peter Ivanov, and the grandson of the same Ivan did not inherit the surname of his grandfather, but was named after his father - Petrov.

However, Irina is indicated in the birth register - the daughter of the peasant Rodion Yakovlev. The church book of the village of Suida also contains information about the wedding of Irinya Rodionova and Fedor Matveyev. These facts confused many researchers, who mistakenly called Pushkin's nanny nee Yakovleva, and Matveyeva in marriage.

Mother of four children

Some people believe that Arina Rodionovna did not have her own family, and therefore she was strongly attached to her pupil. However, this was not the case. In 1781, a 22-year-old peasant woman married and moved to the village of Kobrino, Sofia district, where her husband Fyodor Matveyev (1756-1801) lived, who was two years older than his young wife.

In this marriage, four children were born. The eldest son of the legendary nanny was named Yegor Fedorov. In the revision tale for 1816, he is listed as the head of the family, since he was the eldest man in the dowager's mother's house.

And the husband of Arina Rodionovna died at the age of 44. Some sources claim that from drunkenness.

Drink lover

All records of A.S. Pushkin about his nanny are imbued with special warmth and gratitude. But some people familiar with this woman pointed out that Arina Rodionovna liked to knock over a glass or two from time to time.

So, the poet Nikolai Mikhailovich Yazykov wrote in his memoirs: "... she was an affectionate, caring hustler, an inexhaustible storyteller, and sometimes a cheerful drinking lady." This man, who knew his friend's nanny well, noted that despite her fullness, she was always a lively and energetic woman.

A neighbor of the great poet on the estate in the village of Mikhailovskoye spoke quite frankly about Arina Rodionovna. The noblewoman Maria Ivanovna Osipova left such a note in her memoirs: "... the old woman is extremely respectable, all gray-haired, but with one sin - she loved to drink."

Perhaps, the following lines appeared in the poem "Winter Evening" by A. Pushkin:

Let's have a drink, good friend

My poor youth

Let's drink from grief; where is the mug?

The heart will be more cheerful.

Although there is no other information that this respected woman ever drank or (God forbid!) Introduced her famous pupil to alcohol.

Folk storyteller

It is unlikely that any of the Pushkin scholars will deny that Arina Rodionovna had a noticeable influence on the work of the great poet. Some historians call her a real folk storyteller - an inexhaustible storehouse of ancient traditions, legends and myths.

Having become an adult, A.S. Pushkin realized what a priceless national and cultural heritage are fairy tales that his dear nanny knew by heart. In 1824-1826, while in exile, the great poet took the opportunity to once again listen to and record magical stories about Tsar Saltan, the golden cockerel, the Lukomorye, the dead princess and the seven heroes, as well as many others. The author breathed new life into these tales, bringing into them his literary gift and poetic outlook.

At the beginning of November 1824, A.S. Pushkin wrote to his younger brother Lev Sergeevich from the village of Mikhailovskoye that he was writing until lunchtime, then riding horseback, and in the evening listening to fairy tales, thereby making up for the shortcomings of his education. The poet probably meant that at the beginning of the 19th century, the nobles did not study oral folk art at all.

“What a charm these fairy tales are! Each is a poem! " the poet exclaimed in a letter to his brother.

As established by the Pushkinists, according to his nanny A.S. Pushkin also recorded ten folk songs and several expressions that seemed to him very interesting.

Pushkin's nanny, Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva, was born on April 10 (21), 1758 in the village of Suida (now the village of Voskresenskoye), or rather, half a verst from Suida, in the village of Lampovo, Koporsky district, St. Petersburg province. Her mother, Lukerya Kirillova, and her father, Rodion Yakovlev, were serfs, had seven children. Arina was her home name, and her real name was Irina or Irinya. As a peasant serf, the nanny had no surname. In the documents (revision tales, church metric books, etc.), she is named after her father - Rodionova, and in everyday life - Rodionovna. She was called Rodionovna when she was old, as is sometimes done in the villages. Pushkin himself never once called her by her name, but wrote "nanny" in his letters. In literature, she is often referred to as Arina Rodionovna, without a surname, or, less often, under the surname Yakovlev. One of the later publications says: "The appearance in modern literature about the nanny of AS Pushkin the surname Yakovlev, as if she belonged to her, is not substantiated. None of the poet's contemporaries named Yakovleva." However, this is a moot point, because the children are named after their father, and the surname of her father is Yakovlev. Sometimes, by the way, she was also called Arina Matveeva - by her husband.

As a child, she was listed as a serf second lieutenant of the Life Guards of the Semenovsky Regiment, Count Fedor Alekseevich Apraksin. In 1759, the great-grandfather of A.S. bought Suida and adjacent villages with people from Apraksin. Pushkin - A.P. Hannibal. In 1781, Arina married the peasant Fyodor Matveyev (1756-1801), and she was allowed to move to her husband in the village of Kobrino, which is not far from Gatchina. They lived poorly, there was not even cattle on the farm, it is understandable why Arina asked for a nanny. In 1792, she was taken by Pushkin's grandmother Maria Alekseevna Hannibal as a nanny for Aleksey's nephew, the son of his brother Mikhail, and already in 1795 Maria Alekseevna gave Arina Rodionovna a separate hut in Kobrin for her impeccable service. December 20, 1797 at M.A. Hannibal was born granddaughter Olga (the poet's elder sister). After her birth, Arina Rodionovna was taken into the Pushkin family, replacing her relative or namesake Ulyana Yakovleva in this position. Arina was the nurse of the poet's sister, the nanny of Pushkin and his brother, she nursed Olga, and Alexander, and Lev.

Soon after the birth of his daughter, Sergei Lvovich retired and moved with his family to Moscow, where his mother, brother and other relatives lived. Arina, as Olga Sergeevna's nurse and nurse, left with them. From the church record it is known: "in Moscow in 1799, May 26th, on the day of the Ascension," the son of Alexander was born to the Pushkins. Soon Maria Alekseevna also decided to move to Moscow. In 1800 she sold Kobrino with people, and in 1804 she bought Zakharovo near Moscow. Arina with her family and the house in which they lived were excluded from the sale by her grandmother. Obviously, Maria Alekseevna agreed with the new owners that the husband and children of Arina Rodionovna would stay in this hut for an indefinite time. Thus, the nanny and her children could find shelter in their native village at any time, which has always been the dream of every peasant.

The situation is not entirely clear. At one time it was believed that Arina with her family - her husband, who died in 1801 from drunkenness, and four children Maria Hannibal either gave, or wanted to give a free gift, but Arina refused to be free. Pushkin's sister Olga Sergeevna Pavlishcheva asserts this in her memoirs. The nanny remained a courtyard, that is, "a serf, taken to the master's courtyard to serve the landowner, his house." Arina Rodionovna's daughter Marya married a serf and thus also remained a serf. The biographer of the nanny A.I. Ulyansky claims that the children did not receive their freedom. All her life Arina considered herself a slave to her masters; Pushkin himself calls the nanny in Dubrovsky a "faithful slave", although this is, of course, a literary image. Maria Alekseevna apparently intended to release the nanny's family, but did not let her go. Later, in Mikhailovskoye, judging by the lists, Arina and her children are again serfs. From birth to death, she remained a serf: first Apraksin, then Hannibal, and finally the Pushkins. And Pushkin, we note, the situation was fine. He never, with a single word, touched on this topic in relation to the nanny, although slavery in general outraged his civil feelings more than once. It is important that Arina Rodionovna herself and her children found themselves in a certain special position. She was something like a housekeeper: she guarded the estate, fulfilled the orders of the gentlemen, they trusted her, making sure of her honesty, some financial matters. She is a "housekeeper", according to V.V. Nabokov, who tried to explain its role to the Western reader.

After Olga, Arina nursed Alexander and Lev, but was the nurse only for Olga. Nabokov generally calls Arina Rodionovna "his sister's former nanny." Of course, she was not the only nanny. There were many servants in the Pushkins' house, the wet-nurses were easily found in the village and sent back, but this nanny was trusted more than others. Pushkin's mother sometimes allowed her to sleep in the master's house. Some benefits were provided to her family members. They were released for a certain time, they could have side earnings or help their relatives in their village with housework. Later, the nanny's daughter Nadezhda was taken to serve the masters. Later, in the Pushkin family, Sophia, Pavel, Mikhail and Platon were born and died as babies. It is unknown if Arina nursed any of these children. After the death of her husband, four children of Arina Rodionovna remained in Kobrino, and she herself was with Maria Alekseevna, first in Moscow among the numerous courtyards, and after the sale of Kobrino - in Zakharovo. Then Arina, among the household members, moves to Mikhailovskoye.

“She was a real representative of Russian nannies,” Olga Sergeevna recalled about Arina Rodionovna. Nurses and nannies were taken to the children in the families of the master. The boys were also assigned "uncles" (it is known that Pushkin had Nikita Kozlov, a faithful and devoted "uncle" who accompanied the poet to the grave). These simple people they loved other people's children as their own, gave them everything that the Russian soul is capable of. But in Pushkin's biographies, the nanny overshadows Kozlov. Veresaev was the first to draw attention to this: “How strange! The man, apparently, was ardently devoted to Pushkin, loved him, cared, perhaps no less than his nanny Arina Rodionovna, accompanied him throughout his independent life, and is not remembered anywhere: not in Pushkin's letters, not in the letters of his relatives. Not a word about him - neither good nor bad. " But it was Kozlov who brought the wounded poet into the house in his arms, he, together with Alexander Turgenev, lowered the coffin with Pushkin's body into the grave.

After the death of Maria Alekseevna (June 27, 1818), the nanny lives with the Pushkins in St. Petersburg, moving with them to Mikhailovskoye for the summer. Pushkin called her "mummy", treated her with warmth and care.

In 1824-1826, Arina Rodionovna lived with Pushkin in Mikhailovskoye, sharing his exile with the poet. At that time, Pushkin became especially close to the nanny, listened with pleasure to her fairy tales, wrote down folk songs from her words. He used plots and motives of what he heard in his work. According to the poet, Arina Rodionovna was "the original of Tatiana's nanny" from "Eugene Onegin", Dubrovsky's nanny. It is generally accepted that Arina is also the prototype of Xenia's mother in Boris Godunov, the princess's mother (The Mermaid), and the female characters of the novel The Arap of Peter the Great. In November 1824, Pushkin wrote to his brother: "Do you know my classes? I write notes before lunch, I have dinner late; after lunch I ride horseback, in the evening I listen to fairy tales - and I reward the shortcomings of my accursed upbringing. What a charm these fairy tales are! Each is a poem!" ... It is known that from the words of his nanny, Pushkin wrote down seven fairy tales, ten songs and several folk expressions, although he heard more from her, of course. Sayings, proverbs, sayings did not leave her tongue. The nanny knew a lot of fairy tales and conveyed them in a special way. It was from her that Pushkin heard for the first time both about the hut on chicken legs and the tale of the dead princess and the seven heroes.

In January 1828, against the will of her parents, Pushkin's sister married Nikolai Ivanovich Pavlishchev. The young people settled in Petersburg, Olga Sergeevna now, as a mistress, was to lead the house. Relations with family remained cold. Only in March did they agree to provide her with several courtyards. At this time, Olga Sergeevna decided to take Arina Rodionovna to her. She could do this only with the permission of her parents, since she did not have her own serfs. So, Arina Rodionovna was forced to go to Petersburg to live out her life in the house of Olga Sergeevna. The nanny arrived at the Pavlishchevs, apparently at the beginning of March 1828, while still on the winter road. The last time she saw her son Yegor, granddaughter Katerina and other relatives in Kobrin.

Pushkin last saw his nanny at Mikhailovsky on September 14, 1827, nine months before her death. Arina Rodionovna - "the good friend of my poor youth" - died 70 years old, after a short illness on July 29, 1828 in St. Petersburg, in the house of Olga Pavlishcheva (Pushkina). For a long time, the exact date of the death of the nanny and the place of her burial were unknown. It is surprising that the son of Olga Sergeevna, Lev Nikolaevich Pavlishchev, knew nothing about the burial place of Arina Rodionovna.
Arina Rodionovna was born and died a serf. Pushkin did not go to the funeral, as did his sister. The nanny was buried by Olga's husband Nikolai Pavlishchev, leaving the grave unmarked. In cemeteries, the graves of ordinary people, especially serfs, were not given due attention. The nanny's grave, left unattended, was soon lost. Judging by the poem by N.M. Yazykov "On the death of nanny AS Pushkin", in 1830 they tried to find the grave of Arina Rodionovna, but even then they did not find it. In St. Petersburg, the nanny did not have close relatives, Olga Sergeevna did not take care of the nanny's grave. There were versions that the nanny's grave is in the Svyatogorsk monastery, near the poet's grave, that Arina was buried in her homeland in Suida, as well as at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery in St. Petersburg, where at one time even a plate was installed with the inscription instead of the name "Pushkin's nanny". Only in 1940, as a result of painstaking searches in the archives, did they find out that they were serving a funeral service for a nanny in the Vladimir Church. In the metric book of this church, they found an entry No. 73 dated July 31, 1828: "5th grade serf Sergei Pushkin, serf Irina Rodionova, 76 old age, priest Aleksey Narbekov." It also turned out that she was buried at the Smolensk cemetery. The long-existing version that the nanny was buried at the Bolsheokhtinskoye cemetery was rejected.

Information about the life and death of Arina Rodionovna is incredibly scarce. We do not know at all what the real woman who served the poet looked like. Pushkin himself created a romantic, poetic myth about the nanny, the poet's plan was continued by his friends. But we hardly know what she really was. Contemporaries wrote that she was talkative, talkative. The poet N. Yazykov, in his memoirs, noted her unexpected mobility, despite her completeness, - "... she was an affectionate, caring hustler, an inexhaustible storyteller, and sometimes a cheerful drinking lady." There are almost no descriptions of her appearance, except for quotes from the memoirs of Maria Osipova "the old woman is extremely respectable - her face is plump, all gray-haired, passionately in love with her pet ..." The next part of the phrase in a number of publications is cut out: "... but with one sin - loved to drink. "

Confidante of magic antiquity,
Friend of fictions, playful and sad,
I knew you in the days of my spring,
In the days of joys and initial dreams;
I was waiting you. In the evening silence
You were a funny old lady
And she sat above me in shushun
In big glasses and with a playful rattle.
You, baby rocking the cradle,
I captivated my young ears with tunes
And left a pipe between the shroud,
Which she herself bewitched.

A.S. Pushkin

Soon after the death of Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva, her idealization and exaggeration of her role in Pushkin's work began. The first Pushkin scholars began to exalt the nanny, expressing thoughts that were consonant with the official national ideology. The biographer of Pushkin P.V. Annenkov reported: "Rodionovna belonged to the most typical and noblest persons of the Russian world. The combination of good nature and grumpiness, a tender disposition towards youth with feigned severity left an indelible impression in Pushkin's heart. ... The entire fabulous Russian world was known to her as briefly as possible, and she conveyed its extremely original. " The same Annenkov introduced into the tradition exaggerations like: "The famous Arina Rodionovna." He went even further: it turns out that Pushkin "dedicated the venerable old woman to all the secrets of his genius." And one more thing: "Alexander Sergeevich spoke of the nanny as his last mentor, and said that he was obliged to this teacher to correct the shortcomings of his initial French upbringing." But Pushkin himself, unlike his biographer, nowhere calls the nanny either a mediator, or a leader, or the last mentor or teacher. By the way, Pushkin does not have the words "accursed French upbringing" either, he has "the shortcomings of his accursed upbringing." It follows from this statement of the poet that Arina Rodionovna, being his nanny, like her parents, did not bring him up very well in childhood. Pushkin contradicts the Pushkin scholars, who assert the enormous positive role of Arina Rodionovna in the formation of the child poet.

After 1917, the nanny myth was used to politically correct the image of Pushkin as a folk poet. In Soviet Pushkin studies, the role of the nanny increases even more. Arina Rodionovna settles in all the biographies of Pushkin, gets a residence permit in all textbooks on Russian literature. In the editorial of Pravda in 1937, the nanny from the people is contrasted with the aristocratic parents and, thus, brings the poet closer to the people. It turns out that thanks to the nanny, Pushkin becomes close and understandable to ordinary Soviet people. A year after the centenary of Pushkin's death, two more anniversaries were solemnly celebrated: 180 years from the birth of Arina Rodionovna and 110 years from the date of her death. In 1974, on the 175th anniversary of the birth of Pushkin, "images" of the nanny, made by artists, appeared. The voice of the storyteller sounded in the tape recording, which "could resemble" the voice of a nanny. There were proposals to erect a monument to the nanny, and it was erected in Kobrin and even in Pskov, where Arina Rodionovna, it seems, was not at all. In the noble estate of Suida, the patrimony of the Hannibals, on a memorial plaque, at the behest of the ideological authorities, the nanny was ranked among Pushkin's relatives - father, mother and sister. Now it is very difficult to say what role the illiterate Arina Rodionovna played in the life of the great poet. Obviously, the poet's biographers and friends exaggerated the role of the peasant woman Arina in shaping Pushkin's childhood impressions. It turns out that the nanny told Pushkin fairy tales, and his biographers began to compose fairy tales about the nanny. Now it is no longer possible to find out what the real contribution of the nanny to the upbringing of the poet.

In the June Pushkin Days of 1977, a memorial plaque was unveiled at the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery. At the entrance to the cemetery, in a special niche on the marble, an inscription is carved:

On this
cemetery
buried

nanny
A.S. Pushkin
1758-1828
"A friend of my harsh days,
My decrepit dove! "

It is still unknown how the most famous nanny of Russia looked and what was, whose name has already become a household name

Arina Rodionovna, who nurtured the "sun of Russian poetry", was born on April 21 (10th according to the old style), 1758, exactly 260 years ago. Historians and Pushkin scholars even today speculate, trying to find out how close she was to Arina Rodionovna and influenced his work. And at the same time - how she looked, with whom she competed for the upbringing of the poet, what destructive addiction she suffered and was she happy as a woman.

Origin mystery

Let's start with the fact that a serf peasant was born in the village of Lampovo, St. Petersburg province, into a family Lukerya Kirillova and Rodion Yakovleva, where there were seven children. The girl in the church book was written as Irina (or Irinho), but at home they called the common people Arina, and so it happened. Her surname is indicated as Yakovleva, later Matveeva - by her husband. But serfs were not supposed to have surnames.

In those days, the places where the future legendary nanny lived were inhabited by representatives of assimilated Finno-Ugric nationalities - Izhorians or Chukhonts. What nationalities Arina belonged to, now it is already difficult to say. Perhaps she was from a family of Old Believers.

In 1826, Alexander Pushkin in a letter to his friend Peter Vyazemsky mentions a 68-year-old nanny who knows by heart the prayer "For the tenderness of the heart of the ruler and the taming of the spirit of his ferocity", probably composed under Tsar Ivan. " And the Old Believers were very careful about religious texts and passed them on from mouth to mouth in order to preserve them.

Mustachioed nanny

Some even from school believe that Arina Rodionovna gave all of herself without a trace to the genius poet, but this is not so. She was married. I went down the aisle quite late - at 23 for a 25-year-old Fyodor Matveev. And she immediately moved to him in the village of Kobrino, Sofiysk district. The family had four children.

Apparently, the woman's share of the woman was unhappy. The husband died of drunkenness at the age of 44. In 1792, Arina Rodionovna was taken as a nanny to the house of Alexander Pushkin's grandmother. Mary Hannibal for nephew Alexey... The teacher showed remarkable talent, and she was presented with a separate hut.

Excellent recommendations brought her to the Pushkin family in 1797. It is curious, but Arina Rodionovna, one might say, had a rival. Alexander was engaged in "mustachioed nannies" Nikita Kozlov. Until the death of the ward, he devotedly served him. However, the name of this man remained unknown, the poet did not mention him anywhere.

Mommy storyteller

Some historians and Pushkin scholars believe that the influence of Arina Rodionovna and her closeness to Pushkin are somewhat exaggerated. She was with the poet before he entered the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum in 1811. And then only in 1825 the nanny and her pupil, who in letters called her "mother", were reunited in the village of Mikhailovskoye, where Pushkin was serving his exile. It was here that Alexander Sergeevich heard, as the school teachers assured, the stories of Arina Rodionovna. So the tales of the king appeared Saltane, goldfish, about Lukomorye.

Soviet propaganda, even with Stalin, tied Pushkin and his nanny in a tight knot. Arina Rodionovna became a symbol of the "common people", who had a huge impact on the "aristocracy" in the person of Alexander Sergeevich. For many decades this was hammered into the school curriculum. As a result, many were convinced that the poet loved his nanny in childhood more than his parents and adored her with ardent filial love in adulthood. The only truth is that "mummy" creatively motivated Pushkin. But the poet himself did not extol his inspiration in his notes. Well, he "listened to" fairy tales in many respects out of boredom and idleness - there was little entertainment in Mikhailovsky.

Where is the mug?

Everyone remembers the immortal lines from the poem "Winter Evening" dedicated to the nanny: "Let's drink, good friend / To my poor youth, / Let's drink from grief; where is the mug? / The heart will be more cheerful. " Fiction or homespun truth? Poet Nikolay Yazykov called Arina "an affectionate and caring troublemaker", who was sometimes "a cheerful drinking companion." Acquaintance of Pushkin by reference Maria Osipova mentioned in her memoirs that there was a sinner behind the nanny - "she loved to drink."

It is already difficult to judge how true this is, but clearly her weakness, if she was, did not in any way reflect the health of Arina Rodionovna. Nanny Pushkin died at the age of 70 in 1828, nine years before the death of her ward, who, by the way, was not at her funeral.

Yakov Seryakov. Bas-relief portrait of Arina Rodionovna, 1840s Image from the site hohmodrom.ru

A person who does good, good deeds himself can perceive his activity in different ways. One is so simply bursting with pride, he wants to inflate his chest more abruptly, so that more medals for charity fit there. The other is calm, laughing at his mustache. The third does not even laugh - he tries so that no one knows about it at all.

But this is not extreme either. You can actually perform a civil feat throughout your life and not even understand it. This was exactly what Arina Rodionovna was, the nanny of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.

Rodionova, but not Yakovleva

Many write that Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva was born in 1758 on the Suida manor in the St. Petersburg province. It is not true. Arina Rodionovna has never been any Yakovleva. Serfs were not supposed to have surnames. It's just Arina Rodionova's daughter. According to other sources - Irina, Irinya.

The surname Yakovlev appeared after the death of the old woman. It was invented by Pushkin scholars, who are inclined to exalt everything connected with their idol, and at the same time with an unshakable source of income. Well, not quite, of course, they came up with it - the nanny's father, a serf man, bore the proud name of Rodion Yakovlev's son. In fact, Yakov was the nanny's grandfather, and you need to have a rich imagination to turn the grandfather's name into a surname.

However, some researchers follow further and assign the nanny one more surname, allegedly received at the wedding. Nee Yakovlev, and married Matveev. In fact, her spouse - also a serf - was called Fyodor Matveyev's son.

The word "son" was sometimes omitted for brevity, which is why the scanty patronymics devoid of suffixes really looked like surnames, but they were not at all.

In any case, Fyodor Matveev died two years after the birth of Pushkin (if anyone does not remember, it was in 1799), presumably from overzealous drinking. Before that, he managed to accustom his wife to a glass - the respectful attitude of the legendary nanny to alcohol was noted by many contemporaries.

Here, for example, are the recollections of a neighbor in Mikhailovsky, Maria Ivanovna Osipova: "The old woman is extremely respectable, all gray-haired, but with one sin - she loved to drink."

And Alexander Sergeevich himself not in vain said: “Let's drink from grief; where is the mug? " In principle, there are no random words in his poems.

Nanny with experience

Drawing by A.S. Pushkin, presumably depicting Arina Rodionovna in her youth and old age (1828).

Our heroine's career as a nanny began almost immediately after the wedding: she raised Pushkin's mother, Nadezhda Osipovna Hannibal, and then her children. In 1792, Arina Rodionovna was called to take care of little Alexei, the uncle of the unborn poet.

The nanny came out glorious and, as a recognition of her services, three years later she was presented with her own hut, and two years later she was taken into the Pushkin family as not just a relative, but a very close person. In any case, when the Hannibals sold their St. Petersburg lands in 1807, this did not affect the nanny - she had long been assigned not to the land, but to the owners.

In a word, by the time the future great poet was born, Arina Rodionovna had experience as a nanny. But for some reason, it was for Sasha that she felt the most ardent, one might say, selfless love.

Pushkin was for her, as they say, the light in the window. And he, of course, reciprocated her, called the nanny "mother." Subsequently, he wrote: "In the evening I listen to the tales of my nanny, the original nanny Tatiana ... She is my only friend - and with her only I am not bored."

Anna Kern complained that Pushkin "truly did not love anyone except his nanny." And the publicist Yevgeny Poselyanin wrote about the death of his nanny: “He became an orphan without her, because no one loved him as much as she did, with this - the most necessary and most rare in life - love, giving everything and requiring nothing, love for which you can snuggle and rest. "

Outwardly, for all that, the nanny was not very cute. From the newfangled "godasiks" and "puzozhiteli" as well as other "taste" it, perhaps, would be turned out. Arina Rodionovna looked stern, she was inclined to grumble. Yes, only it all came from the heart and from great love.

Pavel Annenkov, Pushkin's biographer, wrote: "The combination of good nature and grumpiness, a tender disposition for youth with feigned severity left an indelible impression in Pushkin's heart."

The poet himself wrote in the poem "... Again I visited ...":

Her simple speeches and advice
And reproachful, full of love,
My tired heart was encouraged
A quiet joy.

Apparently, those "reproaches full of love" were worth a lot.

And there was also a painstaking patrol:

Where I lived with my poor nanny.
The old woman is gone - already behind the wall
I do not hear her heavy steps,
No painstaking patrol.

The poem "... I visited again ..." was written in 1835, a little more than a year before his death. It seems that at that moment Alexander Sergeevich believed that Arina Rodionovna was alive - she would have been able to protect him from all the high-profile misfortunes that led the poet to the Black River as a result.

An unexpected return to childhood

Painting by Nikolai Ge “A. S. Pushkin in the village of Mikhailovskoye. Image from wikipedia.org

It was thanks to Arina Rodionovna that Pushkin managed not to become either an extreme Westerner or an extreme Russophile. And similar trends were in vogue in his era. As a result, Alexander Sergeevich could admire Chaadaev - but at the same time pay tribute to Russian folklore, be a member of the English Club - but at the same time, according to his own words, sell him for two hundred rubles.

Pushkin was brought up in the European spirit by his secular uncle and the very environment in which the Pushkin-Hannibal family lived. Arina Rodionovna alone was at the other pole. And nothing, coped.

Alexander Sergeevich's sister wrote that the nanny "skillfully spoke fairy tales, knew popular beliefs and sprinkled with proverbs and sayings."

The poet himself wrote in the poem "Confidante of fairy antiquity ...":

You, baby rocking the cradle,
I captivated my young ears with tunes
And left a pipe between the shroud,
Which she herself bewitched.

Education continued in 1824 - 1826, during the Mikhailovsky exile. The old nanny happily accompanied him. And Alexander Sergeevich again plunges into the world of Russian legends.

Pavel Annenkov wrote: "The entire fabulous Russian world was known to her as briefly as possible, and she conveyed it in an extremely original way."

Pushkin himself wrote to his brother in 1824: “Do you know my classes? I write notes before lunch, I have dinner late; in the afternoon I ride on horseback, in the evening I listen to fairy tales - and I reward the shortcomings of my accursed upbringing. What a delight these fairy tales are! Each is a poem! "

By the side of the sea a green oak
Golden chain on tom oak:
And day and night the cat is a scientist
Everything goes around in a chain ...

And the prologue becomes much more famous than the poem itself. In all honesty, how many people remember the plot of Ruslan and Lyudmila itself? And everyone knows about the learned cat with his golden chain.

Favorite nanny

Big Boldino. Museum-reserve. Monument to A.S. Pushkin and Arina Rodionovna. Image from wikipedia.org

Little is known about the personality of Arina Rodionovna. And this constantly spurred researchers to all kinds of speculations. Of course, they did not limit themselves to screwing all sorts of names to it. Someone attributed to the uneducated nanny participation in secret societies - either Old Believers or pagan. The annual rings of the oak, around which the cat was walking, were in all seriousness compared with the Scandinavian philosophy of the universe.

All this, of course, is nonsense. By and large, Pushkin's nanny was not much different from the wanderer Feklusha from "The Groza" by Alexander Ostrovsky. One has people with dog heads, the other has a talking cat. The difference is small.

Pushkin wrote to Peter Vyazemsky in 1826: “My nanny is hilarious. Imagine that at the age of 70, she learned by heart a new prayer "For the tenderness of the heart of the ruler and the taming of the spirit of his ferocity", probably composed under Tsar Ivan. Now her priests are tearing up a prayer service. "

Alexander Sergeevich really loved his nanny to madness. It was she who went down in history as the main companion of the poet. And not, for example, Nikita Kozlov, the "uncle" who also raised the poet from childhood, who was with him throughout his life and in 1837, together with Sergei Turgenev, lowered the coffin with his body into the grave.

It is generally accepted that it was Arina Rodionovna who became the prototype of many Pushkin's characters - nanny Tatyana from Eugene Onegin, nanny Dubrovsky, mother Ksenia from Boris Godunov and a number of ordinary Russian women.

The nanny died in 1828 in St. Petersburg at the age of 70. In 1974 a museum was opened in the house of Arina Rodionovna in the village of Kobrino.