The life and work of Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev. Kondraty Ryleev (Decembrist) - biography, information, personal life

Kondraty FedorovichRyleev- Decembrist and poet. Born into a seedy noble family on September 28, 1795. His father, who managed the affairs of Prince Golitsyn, was a tough man and treated both his wife and son despotically. Mother, Anastasia Matveevna (née Essen), wanting to save the child from his cruel father, sent him to the first cadet corps when Kondraty was only six years old. In 1814, Ryleev became an officer of horse artillery and took part in a campaign in Switzerland, and in France in 1815. In 1818 he retired.

In 1820, Kondraty Ryleev married Natalya Mikhailovna Tevyashova and moved to St. Petersburg. First heSettledto the position of judge, and became known for his incorruptible honesty, and soon discovered two talents in himself: poetic and commercial. He joined a Russian-American trading company and fell passionately in love with the United States, seeing it as a model of a free state. He was the first to publish a literary magazine ("Polar Star"), which gave writers and poets decent fees. At the same time, Ryleev wrote his “Dumas”, in which, inspired by Karamzin, he tried to sketch poetic images of the most prominent personalities of Russian history. Then he published the poem "Voinarovsky", highly appreciated by Pushkin. This poem is remarkable because in it he described exactly those places where, several years later, his Decembrist friends had to serve exile.

In St. Petersburg, Ryleev meets many conspirators, recognizes in them the same poetic, blind and naive thirst for freedom and becomes, in his own words, “the spring of the conspiracy.”He truly became the soul, inspirer and singer of the uprising. He dispelled any sober doubts of his comrades with sometimes illogical, but firm arguments. He calmly and at the same time persistently convinced one, another, the third that Russia was all infected with evil, that there was nothing alive left in it, that debauchery, bribery, and injustice were everywhere. The temporary worker Arakcheev rules everywhere, whose image was for Ryleev a mythical fusion of all the most vile features of the “despotism” he hated. Russia is groveling in darkness, and the only way out of this darkness is a revolution. We need to start, Ryleev believed, and then people will see the rightness of the work started and will pick up the baton. Russia will be turned upside down, and from this chaos the goddess of freedom will be born, who will illuminate her beloved fatherland with a new light.

Nikolai Pavlovich could not decide to ascend the throne, and Konstantin Pavlovich refused the kingdom, the conspirators realized that the one and onlymoment. It was decided to spread rumors among the soldiers that they were being deceived, that Constantine did not abdicate the throne at all, that the deceased tsar left a will in which the soldiers’ service life was reduced and freedom was given to the peasants. Ryleev gave himself entirely to revolutionary exaltation. He knew that most likely their cause was doomed to failure, but a certain fate drew him to the square, he saw himself as a sacrifice made for the liberation of humanity. “Yes, there are few prospects for success,” he said, “but still we have to, we still have to start.” And a few months earlier, in “Nalivaiko’s Confession,” Ryleev wrote: “I know: destruction awaits / The one who first rises / Against the oppressors of the people; / Fate has already doomed me. / But where, tell me, when was / Freedom redeemed without sacrifice ?"

That same night, Ryleev said goodbye to his wife. With all the strength of a suffering woman's heart, she held him back. “Leave me my husband, don’t take him away, I know that he is going to his death,” she repeated, turning to Ryleev’s friends. But everything had already been decided. Even the sobs of a five-year-old daughter, who hugged her father’s knees, peering into his concentrated face with her clear, piercing eyes full of tears, could not change anything. Ryleev broke free from his daughter’s embrace, laid his almost unconscious wife on the sofa and ran out after Nikolai Bestuzhev, who many years later captured this scene in his memoirs.

And by the evening of the same day it was all over. Groups of raging commoners were still walking around, the last traces of the insane jealousy of the noble revolutionaries were still being removed from the square, Karamzin and his three sons were still wandering through the twilight streets of St. Petersburg, peering into the terrible face of that force that in a hundred years would swallow up Russia so beloved by him and the autocratic state so precious to him. power. And Ryleev returned home. Something collapsed forever in his soul, some new voice began to sound muffled in it. Conscience spoke. “They did something wrong, all of Russia was destroyed,” he said after returning from the square.

And soon he and most of the other Decembrists were in the Peter and Paul Fortress. It is known how cowardly they betrayed each other, how zealous they were in their revelations, how easily the foundations of all their theoretical constructions crumbled before the horror of prison and power. From the first days of his imprisonment, Ryleev began to feel the increasingly growing voice of the higher forces of the soul, a voice calling a person to the eternal, the heavenly, not subject to the laws of earthly life. If before that he had always thought about the kingdom of justice here on earth, and not outside the tomb, now he looked more and more seriously at the appearance of Christ, who suffered for people and called them to the incomprehensible Heavenly Kingdom. It is impossible for us to trace with accuracy how and at what speed this revolution took place in the soul of the prisoner. But the rebirth that has taken place is obvious. A pre-revolutionary researcher of Ryleev’s life and work, Nestor Kotlyarevsky, writes that “by the end of his imprisonment, he did not have a shadow of a revolutionary spirit left.”

This is best evidenced by the wonderful letters of Kondraty Fedorovich to his wife. All of them are imbued with one thing: confidence in the goodness and mercy of Providence. For him, the Tsar is now not an autocratic despot, but an exponent of this will. “Rely on the Almighty and the mercy of the sovereign,” writes Ryleev many times from the fortress. Anticipating the impending execution, he in no way considers it cruel or unfair and calls out to his wife: “Whatever befalls me, accept everything with firmness and submission to His (God - T.V.) holy will.” Shocked by the royal mercy (Nicholas sent his wife 2 thousand rubles, and then the empress sent a thousand rubles for her daughter’s name day), Ryleyev, with all the strength of his Russian soul, surrenders to a feeling of love and gratitude to the royal family. “Whatever happens to me,” he says, “I will live and die for them.” (It should be noted that the tsar continued his care for Ryleev’s family, and his wife received a pension until her second marriage, and his daughter until she came of age.) Ryleev also says that “to this day he is treated not as a criminal, but as a with the unfortunate one." And seeing the tsar’s merit in this, he writes to his wife: “Pray, my friend, may he (the tsar - T.V.) have close friends of our dear fatherland and may he make Russia happy with his reign.”

Ryleev thanks fate for what happened to him. “Having spent three months alone with myself,” he writes to his wife, “I got to know myself better, I looked at my whole life and clearly saw that I was mistaken in many ways. I repent and thank the Almighty for opening my eyes. No matter what happens to me it was, I will not lose as much as I gained from my misfortune, I only regret that I can no longer be useful to my fatherland and to such a merciful sovereign.” With bitterness, Ryleev feels terrible guilt towards his family. He has only one consolation: to pray fervently for his wife and daughter. “My dear friend,” he writes, “I am cruelly guilty before you and her (daughter - T.V.): forgive me for the sake of the Savior, to whom I entrust you every day: I confess to you frankly, only during prayer am I "I am calm for you. God is just and merciful, he will not leave you, punishing me."

Shortly before the execution, Ryleev writes a note addressed to Nikolai. In it, he renounces “his errors and political rules” and motivates this renunciation by the fact that his spirit discovered the world of the Christian faith and now everything appeared to him in a new light, and he “was reconciled with his Creator by the holy gift of the Savior of the world.” In this note, he does not ask for mercy, recognizes his execution as deserved and “blesses the punishing right hand,” but prays for only one thing: “Be merciful to the comrades of my crime.” Ryleev places the main blame on himself, claiming that it was he who “with his criminal jealousy was a disastrous example for them” and because of him “innocent blood was shed.”

The night before his execution, Kondraty Fedorovich was meek and quiet. The priest Father Peter Smyslovsky came, who for more than six months was, according to the prisoner himself, “his friend and benefactor.” The priest gave communion to the condemned man. In the pre-dawn hours, Ryleev wrote his last letter to his wife: “God and the sovereign have decided my fate: I must die and die a shameful death. May His holy will be done! My dear friend, surrender yourself to the will of the Almighty, and He will comfort you. For your soul pray to God. He will hear your prayers. Do not grumble either at Him or at the sovereign: it will be both foolish and sinful. Shall we comprehend the inscrutable ways of the Incomprehensible? I never grumbled even once during my imprisonment, and for that the Holy Spirit marvelously comforted me. Marvel, my friend, and at this very moment, when I am busy only with you and our little one, I am in such a comforting calm that I cannot express to you. Oh, dear friend, how saving it is to be a Christian..." It was already dawn, Footsteps and voices were heard behind the doors, Ryleev was finishing the last words of his last letter: “Farewell! They are told to get dressed. May His holy will be done.”

Early in the morning of July 13 (25), 1826, a small crowd of people gathered on one of the St. Petersburg embankments. The faces were concentrated and gloomy, the rising sun illuminated the bodies of the executed. This was an unprecedented thing for Russia. Since the time of Pugachev, there have been no executions here. The gallows were made awkwardly, too high, and school benches had to be carried from the nearby Merchant Shipping School. They spent a long time selecting ropes, but they could not find any suitable ones. Three of those executed failed. The executioners themselves pitied the criminals who, raising their hands to the sky, prayed before death, kissed the priest’s cross and ascended to the scaffold, which for them became a step to an incomprehensible eternity.

This execution of Pavel Pestel, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Kondraty Ryleev, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Pyotr Kakhovsky and the tragic events preceding it gave rise to one of the most terrible cracks in our history. The tsar, who ascended the throne against his will, met the enemies of his state in the person of the most talented, noble and educated youth, and throughout his reign he could not get rid of deep doubts about the good intentions of the noble society, and society, in turn, was still muted and secretly, but increasingly stood in opposition to the Russian historical system.

Understanding all the actual criminality of our first revolutionaries, recognizing the deeply negative consequences of their actions, one cannot, however, help but become interested in their contradictory and strange destinies. Peering into the depths of these souls, ardent and poetic, but agitated to the extreme by the spirit of the time, one can sometimes discover amazing pearls. And the words spoken about the Decembrists by the priest Peter Smyslovsky, who confessed them in the fortress, seem deeply true. “They are terribly guilty,” he said, “but they were mistaken, and were not villains! Their guilt came from delusions of the mind, and not from the depravity of the heart. Lord, let them go! They didn’t know what they were doing. That’s our mind! How long will it last?” get lost? And delusion leads to the brink of destruction."

Russian poet-Decembrist.

Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev was born on September 18 (29), 1795 in the estate of the Sofia district of the St. Petersburg province (now in) in the family of Lieutenant Colonel Fyodor Andreevich Ryleev (d. 1814), the chief administrator of the prince's estates, which passed after his death in 1810 to his wife V V. Golitsyna.

In 1801-1814, K. F. Ryleev was brought up in the 1st Cadet Corps in, in 1814 he was released from the corps as an ensign into the 1st cavalry company of the 1st reserve artillery brigade. In 1814-1815 he took part in the foreign campaigns of the Russian army.

At the end of the war, K.F. Ryleev, together with his company, lodged in the town of Retovo, Rossiensky district, Vilna province (now in Lithuania), and then in the villages of Ostrogozhsky district, Voronezh province (now in). In 1818 he retired with the rank of second lieutenant.

Since 1819, K. F. Ryleev lived in. Since 1821, he served as an assessor for the nobility in the St. Petersburg Chamber of the Criminal Court, and from the spring of 1824 he served as the head of the affairs of the office of the Russian-American Company.

In 1823, K. F. Ryleev became a member of the Northern Society of Decembrists, then heading the most radical part. In his political views, under the influence, he evolved from moderate constitutional-monarchist to republican.

Since 1819, K. F. Ryleev collaborated in magazines (Nevsky Spectator, Well-Intentioned, Son of the Fatherland, Competitor of Education and Charity, etc.). His literary fame was brought to him by the satire “To the Temporary Worker” (1820), directed against. In 1821, K. F. Ryleev joined the Free Society of Lovers of Russian Literature (another name is the Society of Competitors of Education and Charity). In 1823-1825, together with A. A. Bestuzhev, he published the almanac “Polar Star”.

In 1821-1823, K. F. Ryleev created a cycle of historical songs “Dumas” (1825): “Oleg the Prophet”, “Mstislav the Udaly”, “Death”, “Ivan Susanin”, “in Ostrogozhsk”, “”, etc. Turning to the heroic past, the poet rethought it in the spirit of his own civic ideals.

The central work of K. F. Ryleev is the poem “Voinarovsky” (1825). The author put thoughts about high civil service to the homeland into the confession of the protagonist of the poem, exiled to Siberia for participating in the rebellion against, raised by Hetman Mazepa. The inconsistency of K. F. Ryleev's historicism was reflected in the romantic idealization of Mazepa and Voinarovsky, in the deviation from historical truth in the name of propaganda of Decembrist ideas. In the unfinished poem “Nalivaiko” (excerpts published in 1825), K. F. Ryleev addressed the theme of the national liberation struggle of the Ukrainian Cossacks of the 16th century against the dominance of the gentry. The most complete expression of civic pathos in the poet’s lyrics was the poem “Will I be in a fateful time...” (“Citizen”). In propaganda and satirical songs (“Oh, where are those islands...”, “Our Tsar, the Russian German...”, “How the blacksmith walked...”, “Ah, I feel sick even in my native land... ", etc.), written jointly with A. A. Bestuzhev, expressed hatred of the autocracy and direct calls for its overthrow.

K. F. Ryleev became one of the leaders of the preparations for the uprising on Senate Square on December 14 (26), 1825. On the evening of the same day he was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. While under investigation in the fortress, he completely repented and was imbued with the Christian spirit.

K. F. Ryleev was convicted beyond the ranks and on July 11 (23), 1826, he was sentenced to hang. On July 13 (25), 1826, he was executed on the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress, among the five leaders of the uprising, along with

Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev was born on September 18 (29), 1795 in the village of Batovo, Sofia district, St. Petersburg province.

Early childhood

Father - Fyodor Andreevich Ryleev.

Mother - Anastasia Matveevna, née Essen.

Life was not easy for the family, because... Fyodor Andreevich loved to live “in grand style” and squandered two estates. If Batovo had not been given over to Anastasia Matveevna’s relatives at a low price, things could have reached complete poverty.

Before Kondraty, four children died in the family and the parents, in order to preserve their son’s poor health, on the advice of the priest, named him after the first person they met on the day they went to baptize the boy. He turned out to be a poor retired soldier, Kondraty, whom his parents took with them to church as their godfather.

The father was a very harsh man both towards the serfs and towards his wife. The boy was afraid of his father and cried often.

To spare Kondrasha from domestic scenes, Anastasia Matveevna’s relatives helped place him in the cadet corps in St. Petersburg.

In the cadet corps

When the boy was not yet six years old, he was brought to St. Petersburg. In January 1801, he was enrolled in the “preparatory class” of the 1st Cadet Corps.

Life at the educational institution was very difficult. The older pupils often offended the younger ones, and in the evenings Kondraty often cried, burying his head in the pillow. In addition, it was always cold in the large, poorly heated bedrooms, and the students slept under thin blankets and in winter even the smallest were dressed in thin overcoats. The boy missed home and his mother, but held on.

Years passed, and Ryleev gradually got used to military life and drill. He did not study brilliantly, but he tried to study all the subjects important for the future officer thoroughly. And of course he had no equal in literature. Ryleev acquired many friends who respected him for his exceptional honesty and justice. He endured all punishments stoically and never cried under the rods. It happened that he accepted someone else’s guilt.

During his studies, Kondraty became addicted to reading. He read everything he could get in the library or from friends, and more than once asked his father for money for books. But he considered this stupidity and very rarely and hostilely responded to his son’s letters.

The War of 1812 raised a storm of patriotism in the corps. The younger students were very jealous of the graduates who went to the front. They, too, were eager to defend the fatherland, followed all the news from the active army, heatedly discussed the defeats and victories of the Russian army and were afraid that they would not have time to join the ranks of those who defend Russia with their breasts.

In 1813, Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov, who was able to deploy Napoleon’s “invincible” army away from Russia, died. Ryleev, like all cadets, was struck by the death of the great military leader and wrote his ode “Love for the Fatherland” on this occasion. By this time, his “literary notebook” already contained several works about the war.

In February 1814, Ryleev also waited for his graduation. He was assigned to the 1st cavalry company of the 1st reserve artillery brigade.

The young warrant officer-poet entered life with the dream of becoming a loyal citizen of his homeland and, if necessary, without hesitation, giving his life for it!

Foreign trips

Since the spring of 1814, Ryleev participated in the foreign campaigns of the Russian army. He visited Poland, Saxony, Bavaria, France and other countries, met many new people, saw a different life and different morals. Knowing the common people only from stories and books, Ryleev for the first time saw ordinary soldiers next to him. He knew that these were great heroes who expelled the enemy from their native land. Now the poet saw how hard these heroes live. Ryleev was horrified by the 25-year service life of ordinary soldiers and the ruthless attitude of many officers towards them. A strong feeling of pity for ordinary people and a desire to help arose in his soul. Ryleev began to dream of a case that he could organize to protect ordinary people. But I still had no idea how I could do it.

During the campaign, Ryleev learned about the death of his father, who in recent years worked as a manager on the rich estate of the Golitsyn princes. After the death of Ryleev Sr., they stated that he left them a lot of money and took the case to court. As a result of the court decision, Batovo was arrested, and Kondraty Fedorovich’s mother was left with virtually no means of support for the rest of her life.

Ryleev felt sorry for his mother, and no matter how hard it was, he never asked her for money.

In Voronezh province

After returning to Russia (in 1815), the company in which Ryleev served was sent to the Ostrogozhsky district of the Voronezh province. Here the poet remained for several years. In Ostrogozhsk he met many famous names of the district. Some of them were from Ukraine and, surrounded by the Russian people, preserved their original customs and habits.

In Ostrogozhsk, the poet read and thought a lot, and often saw the negative sides of the life of ordinary people. It was here that he fully formed his views and aspirations and developed the best sides of his poetic talent.

During his visits to Podgornoye, Ryleev met the family of the local landowner M.A. Tevyashov. Soon he began to teach his daughters the Russian language and the eldest of them, Natasha, really liked the poet. At this time, he wrote numerous madrigals and dedications in her honor: “Natasha, Cupid and Me”, “Dream” and others.

After 2 years, he asks his mother for blessings for marriage. Anastasia Matveevna agrees, but on the condition that the son honestly tells the bride’s parents about his poverty. The Tevyashovs are not afraid of the groom’s poverty; they give their consent. In 1818, Ryleev retired, and in 1820, Kondraty and Natalya got married.

After the wedding, relatives and friends persuaded the poet to stay with his family in Ukraine and live happily and calmly. But he did not want to “kill” his youth in mediocre ways. His soul yearned for the capital.

Moving to St. Petersburg. Service in court

In the second half of 1820, Ryleev moved to St. Petersburg. It turns out to be very difficult to settle “from scratch,” but gradually the Ryleevs get used to their new life.

In October of the same year, there was an uprising of the Semenovsky regiment, when the soldiers, driven to despair, openly opposed the bullying of the new commander. As a result, the entire regiment was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, then ordinary soldiers were sent to hard labor or to Siberian garrisons, and officers were sent to the active army with a ban on resigning or receiving any awards.

Ryleev was struck by the cruelty of the suppression of the uprising and openly opposed the all-powerful Arakcheev - his ode “To the Temporary Worker” was published in the Nevsky Spectator magazine. This was the poet's first work under which he put his full name. Petersburg was numb, amazed at the insane courage of this “baby” who stood up against the all-powerful “giant”. Thanks to the ambition of Arakcheev, who did not want to openly admit that he was a tyrant, Ryleev remained free. But the magazine was closed and the all-powerful nobleman harbored a grudge. The success of the ode forced Ryleev to take a more serious look at his work and his ultimate goals. The poet understands for the first time that with his works he can also fight against autocracy.

Since January 1821, Ryleev was offered a seat as an assessor in the St. Petersburg Chamber of the Criminal Court. He doesn't refuse, because... understands that this work will help him protect ordinary people. During his service, Ryleev created for himself a well-deserved reputation as an honest and incorruptible judge.

In April of the same year, Kondraty Fedorovich became a member of the Free Society of Lovers of Russian Literature. Its chairman was the hero of the war of 1812, Fyodor Nikolaevich Glinka, who openly advocated for the equal rights of all people. Accordingly, Ryleev found in him a complete like-minded person. Members of the society were also the future Decembrist A. Odoevsky, Pushkin’s friends V. Kuchelbecker and A. Delvig, the writer A. Griboedov and other outstanding personalities of that time. Ryleev developed excellent friendly relations with everyone who was part of the society.

The poet is increasingly thinking about how to raise and inspire young people to fight the autocracy? And it seems best to remind him of the heroic deeds of heroes of past centuries. This is how the idea of ​​Ryleev’s “Dumas” was born - poetic stories from Russian history, oriented towards the present.

In May 1821, Kondraty Fedorovich traveled to Podgornoye for some time, visiting Ostrogozhsk and Voronezh. Here he was visited by creative inspiration, and he wrote new original works: “Desert”, “On the Death of Young Polina”, “When from the Russian Sword”, etc. During the same period, he began the “Doom” cycle, for which he took material not only from historical works, but also from local folk art. Through chanting the heroic past of his native country, Ryleev hopes to “awaken” progressive youth in order to raise them to fight for a better future for the common people.

Most of the “Dumas” are still known, some have practically become folk songs (for example, “The Death of Ermak”).

Getting closer to tragedy

In the fall of 1823, Ryleev became a member of the Northern Society (Decembrists). He is happy to give all his strength and talent for the benefit of the cause that is most important to him. Often returning from meetings with Bestuzhev, they think a lot about what else can be done to renew Russia. This is how the idea of ​​publishing the almanac collection “Polar Star” was born, which would enjoy undoubted success until 1825. A.S. Pushkin, A. Delvig, P. Vyazemsky, V. Zhukovsky and many other outstanding writers and poets of that time would publish their best works here. The best works of Ryleev himself - “Dumas” and the poem “Voinarovsky” - will appear on the pages of “Polar Star”.

In the spring of 1824, Ryleev joined the Russian-American Company as the head of the chancellery and settled in a large apartment on the Moika embankment, where a kind of “headquarters” of the Northern Society was organized. At the end of the year, Kondraty Fedorovich headed the organization. He began to strengthen it with new reliable and useful people, inspiring them with his example. Now Ryleev no longer spoke about the possibilities of a constitutional monarchy, he preached the election of a new form of government - republican.

This year was marked by many difficult events for the poet: in February he fought a duel and was slightly wounded, in June his mother died, and in September his son, who had just turned one, died.

Fatal uprising

In September 1825, Ryleev participated in another duel, but as a second. Instead of trying to reconcile the participants, he intensified their conflict in every possible way. Perhaps it was because of this that the duel ended in the death of both participants.

The beginning of December brought an unexpected event for the participants of the Northern Society - Alexander I died. The Decembrists planned to time their performance to coincide with the death of the Tsar, but did not think that this would happen so soon.

Ryleev and the leaders of other Decembrist organizations urgently began to prepare a speech. It was scheduled for December 14, 1825. Trubetskoy, whom Ryleev completely trusted, was elected leader. And it was Trubetskoy who became the main traitor.

Kondraty Fedorovich himself, as a civilian, could only come to Senate Square and support the rebels. And he was there, and then spent most of the day rushing around the city, hoping to find help.

By evening, government troops were drawn to the square, which was four times more numerous than the rebels. Nicholas I gave the order to shoot “at the rebels.” The Decembrists fought to the last, not believing in the promised pardon. There was a huge crowd of people around the square who sympathized with the rebels and could join their ranks at the first call, but the Decembrists did not understand this and died alone. The uprising was suppressed. Those who survived were arrested and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

That same night they came for Ryleev. He was interrogated in the palace, then sent to the same place as all the conspirators.

Interrogations took place for several months. Ryleev took upon himself all possible “sins”, named only those Decembrists whose arrest he already knew for sure, tried in every possible way to shield his comrades, spoke of his irreconcilable hatred of the reigning family.

Thanks to this “truthfulness”, Kondraty Fedorovich was among the five main instigators of the uprising, whom it was decided to hang.

The sentence was carried out on July 13 (25), 1826 in the Peter and Paul Fortress. It is assumed that the state Decembrists were buried on Goloday Island, but their exact resting place is unknown.

Interesting facts about Ryleev:

When Ryleev was ill as a child, his mother fervently prayed to God for her son’s recovery. An angel appeared to her and said that it would be easier for the boy to die than to receive such a fate. When she did not agree, the angel let Kondratiy live, but showed his mother how her son would end his life.

The poet was among those 3 unfortunates under whom the rope broke during the hanging. They fell deep into the gallows, were pulled out and hanged a second time.

Nowadays, Goloday Island is called “Decembrist Island”.

Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev (1795-1826) is known primarily as one of the participants, the leader of the Northern Society, formed in St. Petersburg in 1822. Ryleev was also engaged in literary activities, but his work did not find much response from the public. Nevertheless, it is Ryleev who is assigned the status of the founder of the so-called “civil poetry”, which includes his lyric poems.

early years

Ryleev was born on September 18, 1795 in the family of an officer. Kondraty Fedorovich's father was addicted to playing cards and, according to rumors, even managed to lose two of his estates at the card table. The future Decembrist received his education in the cadet corps in St. Petersburg, where he spent about 13 years (from 1801 to 1814). Next, Kondraty Fedorovich was waiting for service in the troops of the empire. Young Ryleev managed to take part in foreign campaigns, liberating Europe from Napoleonic rule. Ryleev left the Russian army in 1818, rising to the rank of second lieutenant.

Ryleev the revolutionary

After the army, Ryleev devoted himself entirely to civil service. So, from 1821 to 1824 he sat in the criminal chamber of St. Petersburg, and since 1824 he has participated in the Russian-American trading company. Ryleev's house became a haven for many young writers. Numerous meetings and meetings held in the poet’s house helped people with the same views on creativity and life to get closer. However, one of the most pressing topics at Ryleev’s evenings remained the current political situation in the Russian Empire. In 1823, together with Alexander Bestuzhev, Ryleev began publishing the almanac “Polar Star”. In the same year, the poet joined the Northern Society of Decembrists. Meetings of the Society took place in the house of Kondraty Fedorovich, from which it can be assumed that he could easily “set the tone” for meetings of like-minded people, as well as determine the main directions of the secret organization’s activities.

Uprising of December 14

The news of the death of Emperor Alexander 1, which immediately spread throughout St. Petersburg, forced members of the Northern Society to postpone the date of the supposed uprising. On December 14, 1825, participants in the conspiracy went to Senate Square. One of the leaders of the uprising was Ryleev, who then suddenly fell ill with a sore throat. Due to his illness, the poet was forced to spend most of his time at home, but this did not stop him from preparing the uprising: Ryleev invited members of society to visit him under the pretext of “visiting the sick.” For organizing and participating in a rebellion against the tsarist government, Ryleev was arrested. He had to serve his sentence in the Peter and Paul Fortress. A year later, namely on July 13 (25), 1826, Ryleev, along with other participants in revolutionary circles, was executed. The poet, who behaved confidently during the interrogation, never received a pardon from the king.

It is widely believed that on the day of the uprising, Kondraty Fedorovich asked the Decembrist Kakhovsky to secretly sneak into the Winter Palace to deal with the newly-minted emperor.

Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev, whose brief biography will be discussed below, left an amazing mark on Russian history and literature. He was closely acquainted with A.S. Pushkin and A.S. Griboyedov, but their relationship was based on common literary interests. Much stronger comradely ties connected Ryleev with the republicans M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and others. From school we know that these people are Decembrists, and five of them gave their lives in the fight against the autocracy. But what exactly shaped Kondraty Ryleev as a person, what paths led him to the dungeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress, and then to the scaffold?

Childhood and youth

A short biography of Ryleev says that he was born in September 1795, and was executed in July 1826. From this we can conclude that he died very young - he was only thirty years old. But in such a short period of time, the writer managed to write a lot and do even more. Kondraty spent his childhood on the estate of his father, a small landowner, in the village of Batovo near St. Petersburg. He chose a military career for his son, and already six years old the boy was sent to study in the capital, in the First Cadet Corps.

A short biography of Ryleev will be incomplete without describing the next stage in the life of the revolutionary, since it is very important, although at first glance it does not seem so. In 1814, the newly minted artillery officer departed for France following the Russian army that was defeating Napoleon Bonaparte. Life in the “defeated” country left an indelible impression on Ryleev. If he lived in the 21st century, one could say that he became a fan of the idea of ​​“European integration,” but since the 19th century had just begun, Raleev had no choice but to become a republican. At first, he took a moderate position and defended it, but the Restoration forced him to change his views to more radical ones.

Return to Russia

Returning to his homeland, Ryleev served in the army for a short time. He retired in 1818, and two years later married, out of ardent and passionate love, the daughter of the Voronezh landowner Tevyashev, Natalya Mikhailovna. A short biography of Ryleev says that the couple had two children: a son, who died in infancy, and a daughter. To support his family, Kondraty Fedorovich gets a job as assessor of the St. Petersburg Criminal Chamber. In 1820, the first work of Ryleev the writer was published - a satirical ode “To a Temporary Worker,” where the author attacked the morals of “Arakcheevism.”

Literary and social activities

In 1823, Ryleev joined the Northern Society, and together with Bestuzhev began publishing the almanac Polar Star. Together with Griboyedov, he was a member of a literary circle with an emphasis on freethinking, called the “Scientific Republic”. He also tried himself as a translator from Polish, thanks to which Glinsky’s “Dumas” were published in Russia. A short biography of Ryleev lists the main works of the writer as “Ivan Susanin”, “The Death of Ermak”, as well as the poems “Nalivaiko” and “Voinarovsky”. But what made him famous most of all was his social activities. The brain and engine of the Northern Society of Decembrists was K.F. Ryleev. A short biography indicates that since he was a civilian, he did not stand in the revolutionary square on Sennaya Square. Ryleev had just arrived there, but this fact alone was enough to deserve a death sentence. He was one of those three hanged men under whom the rope broke, but contrary to custom, the sentence was still carried out.