Alain Blondy
Paul Ier, La folie d’un tsar (Paul I, Madness of a tsar)
Perrin, 2020
Illegitimate son of Catherine the Great, tsar of Russia between 1796 and 1801, Paul I is often relegated after his distressed short reign. He certainly was obsessed with Malta, becoming the first Grand Master of the Order after Ferdinand von Hompesch following the expulsion of the Knights by General Napoleon Bonaparte from the island in 1798.
Paul Ier, La folie d’un tsar (Paul I, Madness of a tsar) by Professor Alain Blondy, a Mediterranean specialist researcher, is a 333-page volume in French that deeply delves into the miserable life of this eccentric persona, who failed to grasp any power before the sudden demise of his resilient mother, this happening when he had already reached the age of 42.
Assassinated on March 11, 1801, by a group of conspirators from his close entourage in the winter palace of St Michael, which he had built out of his neurotic fear for security, Paul was publicly recorded as having expired after an attack of apoplexy. In later years though, Russians believed he was the victim of the intelligentsia, made up of elite complotters, influenced by western liberal ideas and writings and funded by England, eager to dominate Europe and inhibit Russian expansion.
This was a time of great upheavals, not least for the tiny island of Malta where, in the short space of two years, several powers – the Order, Naples, Russia, Austria, France and England – had been jostling to attain or retain a strategic base commanding the Mediterranean routes of commerce.
More than a naval base
For Russia and its new tsar in the late 1790s, Malta meant more than just a naval base. Paul believed positioning himself as lord and grand master of this central flagship would establish him in the eyes of other European powers not only as a strong leader but also as a Christian, albeit Orthodox, bastion against the follies of liberal ideals. His insistent manoeuvres to obtain recognition – from several sovereigns but also from the Pope – as grand master of the respected Catholic Order adversely rendered him easy prey for those who were deceitfully excluding him from Europe’s schemes of expansion.
Paul’s childhood nightmares catch up with the tsar on the throne
Coming to the throne in 1796, his irrational ambitions and insecurity almost fitted the complex European landscape of monarchs who were at times as bizarre as himself. The author reminds readers that Charles VII (1766-1808) of Denmark, and George III (1760-1820) of Great Britain, both had regents installed to assist the throne after they suffered dementia or bilious attacks.
Life-threatening plots
This Perrin bibliography presents Tsar Paul’s intriguing life cycle in three main episodes, starting with his disturbed and insulated childhood. The second chapter dissects his tsarevich (1762-1796) years, perceived by his mother as a danger to her rule, favouring instead his eldest son, Alexander, to succeed her. His two marriages to continental noblesse and his long voyage to Europe with valuable stops in several major cities that eventually would be embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars, map out what Paul was imagining would be his future role on the Russian throne. Blondy then scrutinises his grim years from 1783, uncovering Paul’s boredom while the latter was waiting in the shadows for his mother to perish before she tricks him out of succession.
Chapel of the Order of Malta at Vorontsov Palace in St Petersburg, built in 1798.The third and final chapter is a poisoned chalice. Paul’s childhood nightmares catch up with the tsar on the throne: he sets out to avenge his father’s death, he succeeds in becoming protector and grand master of the Order of Malta but risks diplomatic credibility in desperately trying to forge alliances across the continent with friends and fiends of Russia. His reign becomes a series of daily changes, including deliberate castigations and graces affecting the army, the diplomatic corps, the city of St Petersburg and his court.
During the last weeks before his death, while suspecting constant life-threatening plots and fear of being marginalised, even his few friends and family feel nervous to cross his path. The last violent twist that marks his termination favours Alexander’s guilt-ridden reign.
Blondy crowns this biographical volume by a short epilogue on Malta, outlining steps that Tsar Alexander took to divest himself from the role of grand master of the Order and diplomatically disown his father’s Mediterranean ambitions. In this volume, the author frequently throws light on Maltese episodes connected with this turbulent period and highlights the island’s significance to European powers.
One such event comes from the Archivo Borbone in Naples, wherein in December 1802, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, Marie-Antoinette’s sister, short of cash, proposes that Britain pays £2 million for Naples to cede its legal suzerainty over Malta.
Tsar Paul’s fleeting reign remains shrouded in hues of madness but readers of this research would, I believe, feel sorry for this misunderstood man who experienced delusions greater than his benign desires and absent skill. Constant footnotes accompany the reader page after page with information on many intricate personages – ranging from Leo Tolstoy to Prince Xuerebski (relative of Nicolò Isouard, among the Maltese émigrés ennobled by the tsar in Russia) – that enrich this research.
A list of references, bibliography and index brings to a close this worthwhile read.