The emergence of his surname has always interested people. The history of the origin of the Volkov family is fascinating and curious. This type of surname is also called "animal". Familiarize yourself with several versions of its occurrence, with what the name Volkov means, which of the famous people wore it. After all, a person acquires special features thanks not only to the name, but also to the surname. In the 20th century, the surname Volkov was among the 20 most popular in Russia. Its history deserves your attention.

Origin from the male personal name Wolf

Since ancient pre-Christian times, a thread has been stretching to unravel the mystery of this surname. To protect newborn children from the evil eye, accidents, they came up with various nicknames or worldly names. One of them was the name Wolf. The names of animals or plants as names corresponded to pagan views of the world. The man of Ancient Russia imagined himself a part of nature and lived according to its laws. It was believed that nature would better perceive such a baby and all useful qualities would pass to him. And the animal wolf was revered by many Slavic peoples.

It should be noted that similar names with the meaning "wolf" were found among other peoples. The Germans know the name Wolf, the Serbs - Vuk, the Balkans - Gurd, in the Turkic language there was the name Buryu. The affectionate pronunciation of this original name was Volchko.

The worldly name Wolf was attributed to daring strength, courage, cunning. To whom could they give such a name? There is an opinion that they were endowed with an unfriendly, unsociable person who does not trust others. So, in some dictionaries since 1483, there were 48 people with this name.

Toponymic origin

How else can you explain the origin of the name Volkov? A feature of some villages and villages for a long time was to give their inhabitants one surname. Those residents who lived in the village of Volkov bore the surname of the same name. In some sources, such villages are recorded in certain regions of Ukraine. Until now, there is a place called Volkovysk in Belarus. Not far from it flows the river Volkovya. In some Russian villages, people who stole livestock, especially sheep, were called wolves.

The etymological dictionary of the Russian language by M. Fasmer interprets the word "wolf" as derived from "drag" (a predator drags its prey). There is another (Nakh) interpretation of the etymology of the word "wolf" - onomatopoeic "vo" (howl) and "lakh" (up). If you combine these two words, you get "volakh" - howling upwards.

What is connected with the wolf in legends and beliefs?

The Slavs gave the animal wolf the function of a link between the real and the afterlife. He connected people with evil spirits. The origin of the surname Volkov is connected with the fact that this animal was endowed with strength, daring courage, and endurance. Some associated the wolf with rage, gluttony, greed and cruelty. There was a legend that a wolf was molded from clay or a devil was carved from a tree. Only he could not revive him, he had to turn to God. The revived wolf attacked the devil and bit him on the leg. Since then, this predator has been endowed with magical powers.

For a long time, ancestors believed that the wolf attacks livestock by the will of God. The cattle stolen by the wolf foreshadowed the owner of good luck and was perceived as a victim. As amulets and remedies, the Slavs kept the eyes, heart, teeth, claws, skin of a wolf. His tooth was given to gnaw on children who were teething. The very mention of the wolf was already a talisman. The ancestors believed that if a wolf crossed the road, ran past the village, met on the way, then there would be good luck, prosperity and happiness.

related surnames

The origin of the surname Volkov is quite fascinating and indicates that she has related surnames. Some merchants of wolf skins were given the names of Volkoboev, Volkogonov, Volkomorov, Volkokhishny. Courage, cunning and strength associated with the wolf served as the emergence of surnames: Volkovysk, Volkopyalov, Volchikhin, Volchkov. There are also shorter versions of such surnames - Volchok, Volchek. In some places where there were many wolves, there were the names Volchaninov, Volocheninov, Volochaninov.

Noble families of the Volkovs

Among the Russian noble families there were many Volkovs. The noble Lithuanian Grigory Volk became the founder of 72 such noble families. He arrived in Russia in the 16th century. Since then, the Volkovs have appeared among the governors, stewards, clerks, ambassadors, and solicitors.

Another kind of Volkovs from Pravotarch Kudeyarovich, who lived in the Suzdal district. In the 17th century, Ivan Grigoryevich Volkov, a stolnik and governor, lived in Saransk. His family was included in the genealogical book of the Saransk province. In the Moscow province, the ancestor of the family, Avvakum Volkov, was listed.

The surname Volk was especially common in Lithuanian-Russian villages. Minsk, Vilna, Mogilev and Kovno provinces were proud of the ancient gentry family of the Wolves of the Trumpet emblem. The noble families of the Volkovs are included in the genealogical books of 22 provinces.

Notable surname holders

Many well-known figures of culture, art and politics bore the wonderful surname Volkov. The nationality of these people is mostly Russian. Of the numerous representatives of the family, it is worth mentioning the actor and theatrical figure Fyodor Grigorievich Volkov (1729-1763). It was he who organized an amateur troupe in Yaroslavl, which later turned into the first permanent Russian public theater.

Many have heard about the Russian organic chemist Alexei Alekseevich Volkov (1863-1903). In the family of Nicholas I, Boris Ivanovich Volkov served as a valet and was a memoirist. Vladislav Nikolaevich Volkov became a Soviet cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

in the Genealogical Books of the Noble Assembly of Deputies:

• Vilna province.
• Vitebsk province: in 1896 in the 3rd part ("bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or the award of the order").
• Vladimir province: in 1803 to the 2nd part ("Military nobility, acquired by the rank of military service"), in 1839 to the 3rd part ("The bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or the award of the order"), 1862 to the 6th th part ("Ancient noble noble families, proof of noble dignity, which date back 100 years, that is, until the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Vologda province.
• Volyn province: in 1890 to the 2nd part ("Military nobility, acquired by the rank of military service"), in 1846 to the 3rd part ("Bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or award of the order").
• Voronezh province: in the 3rd part ("The bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or the award of the order").
• Grodno province: in the 2nd part ("Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service"), in the 3rd part ("Bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or award of the order").
• Yekaterinoslav province.
• Kazan province: in the 3rd part ("bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or the award of the order").
• Kaluga province: in 1837, 1854 in the 2nd part ("Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service").
• Kiev province: in 1844 to the 2nd part ("Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service"), in 1844 to the 3rd part ("Bureaucratic nobility acquired by the rank of civil service or award of the order").
• Kovno province: in the 1st part ("The nobility granted and the nobility up to a hundred years").
• Kostroma province: in the 3rd part ("The bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or the award of the order"), in the 6th part ("Ancient noble noble families, proof of noble dignity, which go back 100 years, that is, before the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Kursk province.
• Moscow province: in the 2nd part ("Military nobility, acquired by the rank of military service"), in the 3rd part ("The bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or the award of the order"), in the 6th part ("Ancient noble noblemen childbirth, proof of noble dignity, which go back 100 years, that is, until the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Nizhny Novgorod province: in 1855 in the 3rd part ("bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or the award of the order").
• Novgorod province: in 1860, 1868, 1871 in the 6th part ("Ancient noble noble families, proof of noble dignity, which date back 100 years, that is, until the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Olonets province: in 1824 to the 2nd part ("Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service") in 1793 to the 6th part ("Ancient noble noble families, proof of noble dignity, which date back 100 years, that is, up to during the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Orenburg province.
• Oryol province: in the 2nd part ("Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service").
• Penza province: in 1860, 1863 in the 2nd part ("Military nobility, acquired by the rank of military service"), in 1839, 1844 in the 3rd part ("Bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or award of the Order"), in 1883 in the 6th part ("Ancient noble noble families, proof of noble dignity, which date back 100 years, that is, until the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Poltava province: in the 2nd part ("Military nobility, acquired by the rank of military service"), in the 3rd part ("Bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or award of the order"), in the 6th part ("Ancient noble noblemen childbirth, proof of noble dignity, which go back 100 years, that is, until the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Pskov province: in 1844 to the 3rd part ("The bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or the award of the order"), in 1835, 1862 to the 6th part ("Ancient noble noble families, proof of noble dignity, which ascend for 100 years, that is, until the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Ryazan province: in 1792, 1832, 1839, 1840, 1852, 1889 in the 2nd part ("Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service").
• Samara province.
• Petersburg province: in the 2nd part ("Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service"), in the 6th part ("Ancient noble noble families, proof of noble dignity, which date back 100 years, that is, until the reign of the emperor Peter I").
• Saratov province.
• Simbirsk province: in 1789 in the 6th part ("Ancient noble noble families, proof of noble dignity, which date back 100 years, that is, until the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Smolensk province: in the 2nd part ("Military nobility, acquired by the rank of military service"), in the 3rd part ("Bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or award of the order").
• Stavropol province: in 1848 in the 2nd part ("Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service").
• Tambov province.
• Tver province: in 1863 in the 3rd part ("bureaucratic nobility, acquired by the rank of civil service or the award of the order").
• Tula province: in 1792 in the 1st part (“The nobility granted and the nobility up to a hundred years old”), in 1792. 1793, 1852, 1900 in the 2nd part (“Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service”), in 1852 in the 6th part ("Ancient noble noble families, proof of noble dignity, which date back 100 years, that is, until the reign of Emperor Peter I").
• Kharkov province.
• Kherson province: in the 2nd part ("Military nobility acquired by the rank of military service")
• Yaroslavl province.

I miss Moscow so much! .. I would have flown abroad ... A Frenchman lives with Tsaritsa Praskovya Feodorovna - he teaches politeness, he teaches me too. He tells! (She took a short breath.) Every night I see in a dream that I’m dancing in a crimson bostroga, I dance better than anyone, my head is spinning, the gentlemen part, and King Louis comes up to me and gives me a rose ... So it became boring in Moscow. Thank God, at least the archers were removed, otherwise I'm still scared to death of the dead ...

Boyar Volkova left. Roman Borisovich, after sitting at the table, ordered to lay the wagon - to go to the service, on the orders of the Grand Palace. Now everyone is told to serve. As if there are not enough ordered people in Moscow. The nobles were seated to creak their feathers. And he himself is covered in tar, in tobacco, baling with an ax, drinking fusel oil with the peasants ...

Oh, it’s not good, oh, it’s boring, - Prince Roman Borisovich groaned, climbing into the cart ...

At the Spassky Gates, in a deep ditch, where rotten piles stuck out here and there above the ice, Roman Borisovich saw a dozen or two sledges covered with matting. The thin horses stood dejectedly. A peasant on a slope was lazily poking out the frozen corpse of an archer with an ice pick. The day was grey. Snow is grey. On Red Square, along the dunghills, homespun people wandered, hanging their heads. The clock on the tower creaked and wheezed (and sometimes it chimed loudly). Roman Borisovich became bored.

The wagon drove over the dilapidated bridge to the Spassky Gates. In the Kremlin, as in a bazaar, people wear hats. A simple sleigh stands by the hitching post, gnawed by horses ... Roman Borisovich's heart sank. This place is empty, there are no brighter eyes that were glimmering in that royal little window like lamps to the glory of the Third Rome. Boring!

Roman Borisovich stopped at the command porch. There was no wild man to take the prince out of the wagon. Get out by myself. He went, puffing, up the outer covered staircase. The steps are covered with snow, I don't give a damn. From above, almost pushing the prince, some little men in unsheathed sheepskin coats fled. The rear one, with a tan-beard, brazenly scratched with a wandering eye ... Roman Borisovich, stop halfway up the stairs, indignantly tapped his cane:

Cap! You have to break your hat!

But he shouted to the wind. Such and such orders were wound up in the Kremlin.

In the order, in the low chambers, there is waste from stoves, stench, unswept floors. At long tables, elbow to elbow, scribes scratch with feathers. Straightening his back, one scratches his unkempt head, the other scratches under his armpits. At small tables - wise clerk-hooks, - from each a mile away it pulls a lean pie, - they leaf through notebooks, crawl their fingers along the petitions. In dirty windows - muddy light. Along the line, past the tables, pacing the clerk, a clerk in glasses on a pockmarked nose.

Roman Borisovich walked importantly through the wards, from rank to rank. There were many things in the order of the Grand Palace, and things were confusing: they were in charge of the royal treasury, pantries, gold and silver dishes, collected customs and Cossack money and archery tax, yam money and dues from palace villages and cities. Only the orderly clerk and the old clerks understood this. The newly appointed boyars sat all day in a small, hotly heated chamber, suffered in tight German clothes, looked through the muddy windows at the deserted royal palace, where, on the bed porch, on the boyar playground, they walked around in sable coats, waved silk handkerchiefs, judged - rowed about high deeds.

Many terrible deeds roared in this square. From that dilapidated, now boarded up porch, according to legend, Tsar Ivan the Terrible left the Kremlin with guardsmen to Alexander's settlement in order to turn fury and ferocity on the great boyar families. He chopped off heads, burned them in frying pans and planted them on stakes. Selected fiefdoms. But God did not let the boyars ruin completely. Great families have risen.

Out of that wooden tower with copper roosters on an onion roof, the damned Grishka Otrepiev, another destroyer of the glorious Russian boyars, jumped out. The desert remained from the Moscow land, conflagration, human bones on the roads, but God did not allow it - great families rose.

Now, again, prose has piled up - for our sins ... "E-he-he," the boyars groaned boringly in a hot ward by the windows. Apparently, they don’t want to take it by washing - by rolling ... They shaved all their beards, ordered everyone to serve, painted their sons on shelves, in foreign lands ... “E-he-he, the gods will not allow this time ...”

Entering the ward, Roman Borisovich saw that again today something was brought from above. Old Prince Martyn Lykov shook his womanly cheeks. Duma nobleman Ivan Endogurov and steward. Lavrenty Svinin, stammering, read the letter. Raising their heads, they could only say that: “Ah, ah!”

Prince Roman, sit down and listen, - almost crying, said Prince Martyn. - What will you do? Now everyone will bark and dishonor ... There was one council, and that one is taken away.

Endogurov and Svinin again began to read the royal decree on salaries. It said that he, the tsar and the grand duke, etc., etc., was much bothered by princes and boyars, and duma, and Moscow nobles with petitions about dishonor. On such and such a day, a petition from Prince Martyn, princes Grigoriev, son of Lykov, was given to him, the king, etc., that they barked and dishonored him on the bed porch, and lieutenant Oleshka Brovkin barked and dishonored his Preobrazhensky regiment ... Walking along porch, shouted to him, Prince Martin: “Why are you looking at me bestially, I’m not your serf now, you used to be a prince, and now you are - fiction …»

He is a boy, a peasant's son, a sufferer, - Prince Martin shook his cheeks, - then in a rush I forgot, he shouted worse to me ...

And what did he shout to you then, Prince Martin? asked Roman Borisovich.

Well, what, what ... He shouted, many heard: “Martynushka-monkey, bald ...”

Ah, ah, ah, it's a shame, - Roman Borisovich shook his head. - And what, - isn't this the son of Ivan Artemich, Oleshka?

And the devil knows - whose son he is ...

- “The tsar and the Grand Duke, etc.,” Endogurov and Svinin read further, “so that he would not be bothered at such a difficult time for the state, he ordered the petitioner, Prince Martyn, to straighten out ten Rublev and distribute that money to the poor and now petitions about dishonor to forbid.

When they finished reading, they turned their noses. Prince Martin got excited again:

Fiction! Touch me - what kind of fiction am I? Our family is from Prince Lychko! In the thirteenth century, Prince Lychko left the Ugric land with three thousand spearmen. And from Lychka - the Lykovs went the princes Belly, and the Taratukhins, and the Suponevs, and from the youngest son - the Buynosovs ...

You're lying! You are talking true fiction, Prince Martyn! - Roman Borisovich turned with his whole body on the bench, hanging his eyebrows, flashed his eyes (oh, if there were no bare cheeks, a crooked bare mouth, Prince Roman would have been absolutely terrible) ... - The Buynosovs have been sitting above the Lykovs for centuries. We consider our family from the capital Chernigov princes by name. And you, the Lykovs, under Ivan the Terrible, you yourself entered into the genealogy ... Damn him, Prince Lychko, saw how he left the Ugric land ...

Prince Martyn's eyes began to roll, bags under his eyes jumped, his face with a large upper lip trembled, as if weeping.

Buynosovs? Was it not in Tushino, in the camp, that the Tushino thief granted you estates?

Both princes got up from the bench, began to look at each other from head to toe. And there would be barking and great noise - do not intercede Endogurov and Svinin. Reassured, reassured. Wiping their foreheads and necks with handkerchiefs, the princes sat down in different shops.

For the sake of boredom, the duma nobleman Endogurov told what the boyars in the sovereign Duma were talking about - they shrug their shoulders, the poor: the tsar and his advisers in Voronezh only know one thing - money and money. He picked up advisers - ours and foreign merchants, and people without a clan, tribe, but carpenters, blacksmiths, sailors, such young people - only that their nostrils were not torn out by an executioner. The king listens to their thieves' advice. In Voronezh, there is the true Duma of the Sovereign. Complaints from all cities from townspeople and merchants pour in there: they found their lord ... And with this rabble they want to defeat the Turkish Sultan. A man wrote to Moscow from the embassy of Prokopy Voznitsyn, from Karlovitsy: the Turks are laughing at the Voronezh fleet, it will not go beyond the Don mouth, it will all sit aground.

Lord, let us sit still, why should we tease the Turks, - said the meek Lavrenty Svinin. (Three of his sons were taken to the regiments, the fourth - to the sailors. The old man was bored.)

Is that how peaceful? said Roman Borisovich, opening his eyes menacingly. - Shouldn't you, Lavrenty, out of thinness, intervene ahead of others in a conversation, - the first ... (He hit himself on the thigh.) How, in front of the Turks, in front of the Tatars - quietly? And why did we send Prince Vasily Golitsyn to the Crimea twice?

Prince Martyn, looking at the stove:

Not everyone has patrimonies beyond Voronezh and beyond Ryazan.

Roman Borisovich twitched his nostrils at him, but ignored him.

In Amsterdam, for Polish wheat, they give a guilder per pood. And in France - even more expensive. In Poland, the pans were filled with gold. Talk to Ivan with Artemich Brovkin, he will tell you where the money is ... And for Christ's sake, I sold last year's bread in distilleries for three kopecks with money for a pudik ... It's annoying, I'm nearby: here is the Crow River, here is the Don, and - my wheat went by sea ... It’s a great thing: God would vouchsafe us to defeat the Sultan ... And you - quietly! .. We would have a town alone in the sea, Kerch, or something ... And again: we, like the Third Rome, - we must rejoice over the tomb of the Lord? Have we completely lost our conscience?

We will not defeat the Sultan, no. We are bullying in vain, ”Prince Martyn said with relief. - And that we have enough bread - and glory to you, Lord. We will not die of hunger. Just don’t chase your daughters to hang spankings and start a gallant at home ...

After a pause, looking past the parted knees at the knot in the floor. Roman Borisovich asked:

Good. Who hangs these slaps on daughters?

Of course, such fools, who even in the German settlement buy coffee at two and three quarters a pound, no peasant will feed such. - Prince Martyn, looking askance at the stove, trembled with his flabby chin, obviously again ran into barking ...

The door was pushed hard. A round-faced, ruddy-faced officer with a raised nose, in a disheveled wig and a small triangular hat pulled down over his ears, jumped into the stuffiness from the frost. Heavy boots - over the knee boots - and a green caftan with wide red cuffs are pelted with snow. Rode, apparently, at full speed in Moscow.

Prince Martyn, seeing the officer, began to gape - his mouth gaped: this is his offender, Preobrazhensky lieutenant Alexei Brovkin - one of the royal favorites.

Boyars, drop your business... (Alyosha, in a hurry, held on to the open door.) Franz Yakovlevich is dying...

He shook his wig, brazenly (like all of them - the rootless bastards of Petrova) flashed his eyes and rushed - with heels, spurs - along the rotten floors of the command hut. After him, bald-headed povytchiki looked askance: “It would be necessary to be quiet, fearless, there is no stable here.”

A week ago, Franz Yakovlevich Lefort was feasting in his palace with envoys - Danish and Brandenburg. The thaw came on, dripping from the roofs. It was hot in the hall. Franz Yakovlevich sat with his back to the firewood blazing in the fireplace and enthusiastically talked about the great projects. Getting more and more excited, he raised a goblet of coconut and drank to the brotherly alliance of Tsar Peter with the King of Denmark and the Elector of Brandenburg. In front of the windows, twelve cannons on bright green carriages at once (when the major-domo at the window waved his handkerchief) struck with a thunderous salute. Clouds of white powder smoke veiled the sunny sky.

Lefort leaned back in a gilded chair, opened his eyes wide, the curls of his wig stuck to his pale cheeks:

Our mast forests rustle along our great rivers... With fish alone we can feed all Christian countries. We will sow with flax and hemp at least thousands of miles. And the wild field - the southern steppes, where the rider is hiding in the grass! Let's drive the Tatars out of there - we'll have cattle like stars in the sky. Do we need iron? - ore underfoot. In the Urals - mountains of iron. How will European countries surprise us? Do you have manufactories? Let's call the British, the Dutch. Let's make ours. Do not look back - we will have all sorts of manufactories. We will teach the townspeople the sciences and arts. We will lift up the merchant, the industrialist, as we did not look forward to.

So the intoxicated Lefort spoke to the intoxicated envoys. From wine and his speeches they were astonished. It was stuffy in the hall. Lefort ordered the major-domo to open both windows and with pleasure drew in the melted, cold air through his nostrils. Until the evening dawn, he drained the bowls for the great searchlights. In the evening I went to the Polish ambassador and there I danced and drank until the morning.

The next day, Franz Yakovlevich, contrary to his usual habit, felt tired. Putting on a hare sheepskin coat and tying a foulard around his head, he ordered not to let anyone in. He started a letter to Peter, but he couldn’t even do that - he got cold, wrapping himself in a sheepskin coat by the fireplace. They brought the Italian doctor Policolo. He sniffed urine and phlegm, clicked his tongue, scratched his nose. The admiral was given a cleanser and bled. Nothing helped. At night, due to the intense heat, Franz Yakovlevich fell into unconsciousness.

Pastor Strumpf (following the servant ringing the bell), holding gifts over his head, squeezed his way into the great hall with difficulty. The Lefortov Palace was buzzing with voices - all of Moscow was gathering. Doors slammed, drafts blew. Lost servants fussed, some already drunk. Lefort's wife, Elizaveta Frantsevna, met the pastor at the door to her husband's bedroom, - withered face - in red spots, dull nose - wept. The crimson dress was somehow laced up, thin strands of hair hung from under the wig. The admiral was scared to death, seeing so many noble people driving up. She hardly spoke Russian, she spent her whole life in the back rooms. She thrust her folded hands into the pastor's chest and whispered in German:

What will i do? So many guests... Mr. Pastor Strumpf, advise me - maybe serve a light snack? All the servants are crazy, no one listens to me. The keys to the storerooms are under poor Franz's pillow. (Tears poured from the admiral's pale yellow eyes, she began to fumble behind her bodice, pulled out a wet handkerchief, buried herself in it.) Mr. Pastor Strumpf, I am afraid to go out into the hall, I am always so lost ... What will happen, what will happen, Pastor Strumpf?

The pastor said comforting words to the admiral in a basque tone appropriate for the occasion. He ran his hand over his bluish-shaven face, drove earthly vanity off him, and entered the bedchamber.

Lefort lay on a wide crumpled bed. His torso was raised on pillows. The stubble has grown back on sunken cheeks and on the high skull. He breathed rapidly, with a whistle, sticking out his yellow collarbones, as if he was still trying to climb into life like a collar. The open mouth was parched from the heat. Lived only eyes - black, motionless.

The physician Policolo took pastor Strumpf aside, screwed up his eyes considerably, and gathered his cheeks into wrinkles.

Dry Jews, - he said, - with which, as our science knows, the soul connects with the body, in this case, Mr. Admiral is filled with such strong phlegm that the soul flows to the body through ever narrower channels every minute, and one must wait for complete closure these sputum.

Pastor Strumpf quietly sat at the head of the dying man. Lefort recently woke up from delirium and unconsciousness and was visibly worried about something. Hearing his name, he with an effort shifted his eyes to the pastor and again began to look where the gray log smoked in the fireplace. There, above the chimney scrolls, lay Neptune - the god of the seas - with a trident, under his elbow golden water poured from a gilded vase, scattering in golden curls. In the middle, in a black hole, a log smoked.

Strumpf, trying to avert the admiral's gaze to the crucifixion, spoke of the hope of eternal salvation, which is not denied to anyone living ... Lefort muttered something indistinctly. Strumpf bent down to his purple lips. Lefort - through frequent breathing:

Don't talk too much...

Nevertheless, the pastor fulfilled his duty: he gave a deaf confession and communed the dying. When he left, Lefort raised himself on his elbows. We understood that he was calling the majordomo. They ran and found a weeping old man in the kitchen. Swollen from tears, in a hat with ostrich feathers, with a mace, the majordomo stood at the foot of the bed. Franz Yakovlevich told him:

Call the musicians... Friends... Bowls...

The musicians entered on tiptoe, undressed, in what they wore. Cups of wine were brought in. The musicians, surrounding the bed, put their horns to their lips, and on sixty horns - silver, copper and wood - they played a minuet, a magnificent dance.

The deathly pale Lefort sank into the pillows with his shoulders. His temples sunk like a horse's. His eyes burned indefatigably. They brought the cup, but he could no longer raise his hands - the wine spilled on his chest. To the music, he again forgot. The eyes stopped seeing.

Lefort died. For joy in Moscow, they did not know what to do. The end is now foreign power - Kukuy-Sloboda. The damned adviser is dead. Everyone knew, everyone saw: he drugged Tsar Peter with a love potion, but it was impossible to say anything. Riflemen's tears echoed back to him. Forever the nest of Antichrist will die out - Lefortov Palace ...

They said: dying, Lefort ordered the musicians to play, the jesters to jump, the dancers to dance, and he himself - green, cadaverous - fell out of bed, let him jump ... And in the palace in the attic, how howl, evil spirits whistle! ..

For seven days, the boyars and all sorts of service people went to the coffin of the admiral. Hidden joy and fear entered the two-light hall. In the middle of it, on a platform, stood a coffin half covered with a black silk robe. Four officers with drawn swords stood at the coffin, four below, at the platform. A widow in a mournful dress sat below in front of the platform on a folding chair.

The boyars climbed the platform, turning their noses and lips to the side, so as not to slander themselves, - they touched the cheek of the blue hand of the damned admiral. Then, going up to the widow, - bowing from the waist: fingers to the floor, and - away from the yard ...

On the eighth day, Pyotr arrived from Voronezh, sacking the messengers. His leather wagon - gear - Flew through Moscow right into the courtyard of the Lefortovo Palace. The variegated horses moved their wet ribs with difficulty. A hand stuck out from behind the cavity, - fumbled around the belt - to unfasten it.

Alexandra Ivanovna Volkova was just coming out of the palace; there was no one on the porch except her. Sanka thought that someone so thin had arrived, looking at the horses. She was angry that they blocked the way for her carriage.

Drive away with nags, well, why did you stand on the road, ”she said to the royal coachman.

The outstretched hand, not finding the clasp, angrily tore off the belt of the cavity, and a man in a velvet eared cap, in a gray-cloth mutton sheepskin coat, in felt boots climbed out of the wagon. He got out, tall: Sanka, looking at him, lifted her head ... Roundish face - haggard, eyes - swollen, dark mustache - upright. Fathers, - the king! ..

Peter stretched out his stiff legs one by one, his eyebrows knitted together. He recognized the planted daughter, slightly smiled with a wrinkle of a small mouth. He said dully:

Woe, woe ... - And he went to the palace, waving the sleeves of his sheepskin coat. Sanka is behind him.

The widow on the chair, seeing the king, was stunned. Broke down. I wanted to fall at my feet. Peter embraced her, pressed her over her head, looked at the coffin. The servants ran up. They took off his coat. Pyotr clubfoot, in felt boots, went to say goodbye. He stood for a long time, putting his hand on the edge of the coffin. He bent down and kissed the whisk, and the forehead, and the hands of his dear friend. The shoulders began to move under the green caftan, the back of the head was pulled.

Sanka, who was looking at his back, had her eyes watered from tears, leaning back like a woman, howling softly, thinly. So sorry, so sorry for something ... He went off the platform, sniffing like a little one. Stopped in front of Sanka. She nodded bitterly at him.

There will be no other friend like him,” he said. (Clutching his eyes, shaking his dark curly hair, which was packed behind the road.) - Joy - together and worries - together. They thought with one mind ... - He suddenly took his hands away, looked around, the tears dried up, he became like a cat. The boyars entered the hall, hurriedly making the sign of the cross - about ten people.

In place - the elders first - they earnestly approached Pyotr Alekseevich, knelt down and, resting their palms on the floor, tightly beat their foreheads on oak bricks.

Pyotr did not raise a single one of them, did not hug them, did not even nod, - he stood a stranger, arrogant. The wings of a short nose were inflated.

Glad, glad, I see! - He said incomprehensibly and went out of the palace again into the wagon.

This autumn, in the German Quarter, next to the Lutheran church, a brick house was built according to the Dutch model, with eight windows to the street. He built the order of the Grand Palace, hastily - in two months. Anna Ivanovna Mons moved into the house with her mother and younger brother Willim.

Here, without hiding, the king went and often stayed overnight. In Kukui (and even in Moscow), this house was called that - the Tsaritsyn Palace ... Anna Ivanovna started an important custom: a majordomo and servants in liveries, in the stable - two six expensive Polish horses, carriages for all occasions.

To Mons, as it used to be, you can’t turn to the light of austeria - to drink a mug of beer. “Hehe,” the Germans recalled, “how long has the blue-eyed Ankhen in a clean apron carried mugs across the tables, blushed like a wild rose when one of the kind people, patting her on the girl’s backside, said: “Come on, fish, have a bite foam, flowers for you, beer for me…”

Now only respectable people of trade and manufacturing affairs came to the Mons from the Kukui Slobozhans, and then by invitation - on holidays, for dinner. They joked, of course, but decently. Pastor Strumpf always sat on Ankhen's right hand. He liked to tell something funny or instructive from Roman history. Full-blooded guests thoughtfully nodded mugs of beer, pleasantly sighed about frailty. Anna Ivanovna in particular sought decency in the house.

Over the years, she has filled with beauty: in her gait - importance, in her eyes - peace, good manners and sadness. Whatever you say, no matter how you bow low after her glass carriage, the king came to sleep with her, only. Well, what's next? Villages were granted to Anna Ivanovna from the Local Order. At balls she could decorate herself with jewels no worse than others, and on her chest hung a portrait of Pyotr Alekseevich, the size of a small saucer, in diamonds. There was no need, no denial. And then the matter was delayed.

As time went. Peter lived more and more in Voronezh or rode on relays from the southern sea to the northern. Anna Ivanovna sent him a letter, and - on each occasion - citrons, half a dozen oranges (delivered from Riga), sausages with cardamom, herbal tinctures. But can you keep a lover for a long time with letters and parcels? Well, how will some woman become attached to him, eat into his heart? The sleepless night tossed and turned on the feather bed. Everything is fragile, vague, ambiguous. Enemies, enemies all around - just waiting for Monsikha to stumble.

Even the closest friend - Lefort - as soon as Anna Ivanovna started a conversation around the outskirts - how long will Peter live in slovenliness, like a bachelor, - he grinned: indefinitely, - Ankhen gently pinched his cheek: “They have been waiting for the promised three years ...” Ah, no one understood : Anna Ivanovna would not even want the royal throne, not power, - power is restless, unreliable ... No, only strength, neatness, decency ...

There was only one remedy - a love spell, divination. On the advice of her mother, Anna Ivanovna once, getting out of bed from Peter, who was sleeping soundly, sewed a small rag with her blood into the edge of his camisole ... He went to Voronezh, left the camisole in Preobrazhensky, since then he has never worn it. Old Monsikha used to invite fortune tellers into the back rooms. But both mother and daughter were afraid to open up to them - on whom to tell fortunes. For witchcraft, Prince-Caesar Romodanovsky pulled up on the rack.

It seems that if a simple person (with prosperity) had fallen in love with Anna Ivanovna now, - oh, I would have exchanged everything for a serene life. A clean house, even without a majordomo, the sun lies on the wax floor, the jasmine smells pleasantly on the windowsills, the smell of roasted coffee from the kitchen, bringing calm, the bell on the pickaxe rings, and respectable people, walking past, respectfully bow to Anna Ivanovna, who is sitting at windows for needlework ...

With the death of Lefort, it was as if a black cloud fell on Anna Ivanovna's head. She cried so much during these seven days (before Peter's arrival), that the old Monsikha ordered to bring the doctor Policolo. He ordered a washing and cleansing to remove excess sputum that appeared in the blood due to grief. Anna Ivanovna - herself not quite understanding why - was waiting with horror for Peter's arrival. I recalled his sallow face with a cheek swollen with toothache, when, after the worst of the archery executions, he was sitting at Lefort. Anger flashed in his wide eyes. Frost-red hands lay in front of an empty plate. Didn't eat, didn't listen to table jokes. (They joked, chattering their teeth.) Without looking at anyone, he spoke incomprehensibly:

Not four regiments, they are a legion ... They lay down on the chopping blocks - everyone was baptized with two fingers ... For antiquity, for begging ... To prepare and foolishly ... Posad people! It was not necessary to start from Azov, - from Moscow!

To this day, Anna Ivanovna shuddered when she remembered Peter at that time. She felt that this tormenting man was pushing her from the quiet window into cruel anxiety ... Why? Is he really the Antichrist, as the Russians whisper? In the evenings in bed, by the gentle light of a wax candle, Anna Ivanovna, wringing her hands, wept desperately:

Mom, mom, what will I do with myself? I do not love him. He will come - impatient ... I am dead ... Maybe it's better for me to lie in a coffin, like poor Franz.

Untidy, with swollen eyelids, unexpectedly in the morning she saw through the window how the royal cart stopped behind the fence on the bumpy street. She didn’t fuss this time: let her - what she is - in a cap, in a woolen shawl. Walking through the garden, Peter also saw her in the window, nodded without a smile. In the hallway he wiped his feet on the mat. Sober, meek.

Hello, Annushka, - he said softly. Kissed him on the forehead. - We are orphaned. - He sat down by the wall, near the wall clock, slowly swinging a laughing brass face on a pendulum. He spoke in an undertone, as if wondering that death had made such an unreasonable blunder. - Franz, Franz ... He was a bad admiral, but he was worth a whole fleet. This is grief, this is grief, Annushka ... Do you remember how you first brought me to you, you were still a girl - you were afraid that I would break the music box ... Death took the wrong one ... No Franz! - unclear…

Anna Ivanovna listened, - she covered herself up to her eyes with a downy shawl. Not prepared - did not know what to answer. Tears crawled under the shawl. Dishes tinkled cautiously outside the door. With a sob through her nose full of tears, she muttered that Franz must be well now with God. Peter looked at her strangely...

Peter, you haven't eaten anything since the road, please stay and eat. Just today, your favorite fried sausages ...

With anguish I saw that the sausages did not seduce him either. She sat down next to him, took his hand, smelling of sheepskin, and began to kiss. He stroked her hair under her cap with the other hand.

In the evening I’ll stop by for an hour ... Well, it will be for you, it will be, - I soaked my whole hand ... Go and bring a sausage, a glass of vodka ... Go, go ... Otherwise, I have a lot to do today ...

Lefort was buried with great pomp. There were three regiments with half-mast banners, with guns. Behind the chariot, a train (of sixteen black horses) carried the admiral's hat, sword and spurs on pillows. A rider in black armor and feathers rode, holding an overturned torch. There were ambassadors and envoys in mournful clothes. Behind them - the boyars, devious, Duma and Moscow nobles - up to a thousand people. Military trumpeters blew, drums beat slowly. Peter marched ahead with the first company of the Preobrazhenians.

Not seeing the tsar nearby, some of the boyars gradually trotted ahead of foreign ambassadors in order to be the first in the procession. The ambassadors shrugged their shoulders and whispered. At the cemetery they were completely wiped off. Roman Borisovich Buynosov and the rather stupid Prince Stepan Beloselsky wandered along at the very wheels, holding on to the chariot. Many Russians were tipsy: they gathered to take out at dawn, their stomachs turned, without waiting for the wake, they made their way around the tables laden with dishes of cold food, ate and drank.

When the coffin was placed on the frozen clay thrown out of the pit, Peter hastily approached. He glanced at the shaven, immediately shy faces of the boyars, bared his teeth so angrily that some stepped back behind their backs. With a nod he beckoned the corpulent Lev Kirillovich:

Why did they get ahead of the ambassadors? Who ordered?

I already shamed, barked, they don’t listen, ”Lev Kirillovich answered quietly.

Dogs! (And - louder.) Dogs, not people! - He jerked his neck, turned his head, kicked with a jackboot. Ambassadors and envoys squeezed through the scattered crowd of boyars to the grave, where the tsar stood alone, near the open coffin, a stranger to everyone, chilled, in a cloth coat. Everyone looked with fear at what he would throw out. Sticking his sword into the ground, he knelt down and pressed his face against what was left of a smart friend, an adventurer, a brawler, a drinker and a faithful comrade. He got up, rubbing his eyes.

Close... Drop...

Drums crackled, banners bent, cannons fired, throwing up white clubs. One of the gunners, gaping, did not have time to jump away - his head was torn off by fire. In Moscow that day they said:

“The devil was buried, but the other one remained, apparently, he translated few people yet.”

Trade and fishing affairs, good people, leaving the sleigh outside the gate and taking off their hats, climbed the long - almost from the middle of the yard - covered stairs to the Transfiguration Palace. Hundreds of guests and merchants of the living room arrived in troikas, in carpeted sleighs, they entered, without being shy, in fox fur coats, in navel coats of Hamburg cloth. The dilapidated chamber was poorly heated. Glancing briskly at the sagging cracked ceiling, at the scarlet cloth worn by moths on the benches and doors, they said:

The structure is not so hot ... It is visible boyar concern. Pity, pity...

Merchants were hastily gathered here, according to their name lists. Some did not come, fearing that they would force them to eat from Nikonian dishes and smoke tobacco. They guessed why the king called to the palace. Recently, on Red Square, a great decree was read by a duma clerk at a drumbeat from a place of execution: different ranks of people, in their auctions and in all sorts of trades great losses and ruin... Merciful, he, sovereign, pointed out about them: in all their reprisal, court and petition, and merchant cases, and in collecting state revenues - to be in charge of their stewards and to choose stewards among themselves, good and truthful people are suitable for them, whom they desire among themselves. And of these, one person to be in the first place, to sit for a month as president ... In cities, in towns and settlements, it is indicated to choose zemstvo burmisters from the best and truthful people for trial and reprisal and collect salaries, and to collect customs duties and drinking incomes to choose customs and tavern stewards - whoever they want. Burmistram think and trade and salaried affairs know in a special Burmister chamber, and with disputes and petitions to enter - past orders - to one sovereign.

Among the seventy-two noble families of the Volkovs, approved on personal merit, there are several ancient families. The oldest of them originate from the "noble" Lithuanian Grigory Volk, who arrived in Russia at the beginning of the 16th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries, many Volkovs served as governors, stolniks, solicitors, ambassadors, and clerks.

The descendants of Grigory Volk - Grigory and Vasily Mikhailovich Volkov for the Moscow siege seat in 1618 were granted estates in the Yaroslavl district. This oldest branch of the Volkovs, descendants of Grigory Volk, descended from Vasily Ivanovich Volkov, is recorded in the VI part of the genealogical books of the Vologda, Kostroma, Novgorod, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl provinces (Gerbovnik, I, 70).
Abram (Avram) Vasilyevich Volkov, Yaroslavl landowner, who participated in the siege of Smolensk in 1634. His son Alexei and grandson Andrei were killed near Lesnoy (1707 or 1708). Of the grandchildren of the latter, Alexei Andreevich, who died in 1796, was the governor-general of Tobolsk and Perm (1788). Apollon Andreevich (1739-1806) - senator. Sergei Apollonovich, who died in 1854, was a trustee of Moscow University. Yuri Alexandrovich Volkov, a writer, belongs to the same branch. This genus is included in the VI part of the genealogical book of the Vologda, Kostroma, Moscow, Poltava and Yaroslavl provinces.
Descendants of Grigory Volk, descended from Andrei Fedorovich Volkov, who was placed in 1680, who was granted estates in Mosalsky and Meshchovsky districts (1685) for his service in the war with Turkey. His great-grandson, Volkov, Ivan Fedorovich, major general, distinguished himself during the assault on Izmail. This genus is included in the VI part of the genealogical book of the Simbirsk, Moscow, Novgorod, Kherson and Tambov provinces (Armorial, VII, 136).
Another descendant of Grigory Volk originates from Semyon Afanasyevich, who owned estates in the Ruza district since 1628, and was placed in 1626. Recorded in the VI part of the genealogical books of the St. Petersburg and Moscow provinces (Gerbovnik, VII, 64).
The Volkov family, descended from Pravotarch Kudeyarovich, who owned an estate in the Suzdal district (1628-1631), and his grandchildren Peter, Andrei and Ivan Sergeevich, is recorded in the VI part of the genealogical books of the Vladimir and Kostroma provinces.
The ancestor of the family was Avvakum Volkov, a landowner of the Shatsk district (1719). His offspring is included in the VI part of the genealogical book of the Moscow province.

The noble families of the Volkovs, belonging to the new, well-served nobility, are included in the II and III parts of the genealogical book of 22 provinces. The highest permission was approved in the hereditary nobility and the offspring of the brother of the famous founder of the Russian theater, Fyodor Grigoryevich Volkov.

The Volkov clan, descended from Ivan Grigorievich Volkov, stolnik and governor in Saransk (1686 or 1689) and his offspring are included in the I part of the genealogical book of the Saratov province.

Volkov Prokofy Ivanovich- the son of Ivan Grigorievich, clerk of the Ingermanland office, then clerk. Wife Akulina Kirilovna, son Luke.

Volkov Luka Prokofievich(? -1745) - the son of Prokofy Ivanovich, a life company kopeist. Wife Anna Ivanovna Smolieva. Children Nicholas and Yefim.

Volkov Efim Lukich(1757-?) - son of Luka Prokofievich. Wife of Fyokla Ilyinishna Shilnikova. Children: Stepan, Evgraf and Alexey.

Volkov Nikolai Lukich(1768-?) - the son of Luka Prokofievich. He owned the village of Arkhangelsk, Goltsovka, in the Kuznetsk district of the Saratov province. In 1806, together with his brother Yefim, they were included in the first part of the genealogy book of the Saratov province. Wife of Alexandra Ivanovna Pilyugina. Son - Evdokim(1803-?).

In 1865, this kind of Volkov was excluded from the Saratov Noble Genealogy Book as not living.

Volkov Pavel Grigorievich- noble assessor of the Balashovsky district court (1860)

Volkov Pavel Pavlovich- reserve lieutenant; in 1900 - Zemsky Head of the 3rd section of the Volsky district of the Saratov province; place of residence - Volsk

Volkov Nikolai Petrovich- Advisor to the Saratov provincial government, holder of the Order of St. Anna 3rd degree (1860)

Volkov Dmitry Vasilievich- Councilor of the State, head of the Saratov Treasury Chamber (1880).

Volkov Ivan Ivanovich- provincial secretary, senior topographer at the forest department of the Saratov State Property Administration (1880)

The Brovkin family in the novel
"Peter the First"
Ivan Brovkin, Alexey Brovkin
And the rest of the Brockwins

Father - Ivan Artemyevich Brovkin. Children: Alexey, Gavrila, Artamon, Yakov, Alexandra
The Brovkin family in the novel "Peter the Great" is an illustration of how the principle of Peter "from now on to consider nobility according to suitability" allowed smart and hardworking people to free themselves from servile dependence and climb high on the social ladder.

The court of Ivan Artemyevich Brovkin was considered prosperous. He had a horse, a cow, four hens. But poverty followed. On a horse - a rotten harness. Because of hunger and arrears, the eldest son Alyosha had to be given to the boyar Vasily Volkov into eternal bondage.

Alyosha runs away from the owner, because "they promised to drive him into the ground on the shoulders", he becomes a friend of Alexander Menshikoia. Menshikov, who entered: into the confidence of the tsar, continues to take care of Alyosha, one day he brings him to Peter. Alyosha looked like a sedate young man, dressed in a clean shirt, new bast shoes, canvas footcloths, Alyosha showed the king "drum dexterity" and was enrolled in the first company as a drummer. “So Aleksashka had his own hand in the battalion.” And the second time Menshikov rescues Alyosha, frees him from his servile dependence on Volkov, when the latter inadvertently says: “The tsar is not my pointer!”
Atesha first gave his father three rubles. Ivan Brovkin he bought a heifer (one and a half rubles), a sheep (thirty-five kopecks), four piglets (three altyns each), straightened the harness, put up new gates, and took eight acres of land from the peasants for spring crops, giving a ruble in money, a bucket of vodka and promising a fifth sheaf of harvest. "A man stood up." Volkonsky steward freed him from corvée. Then Alyosha also gave money to his father to build a mill.

Alyosha became his man under Peter. Soon he becomes a senior scorer, then - a batman with Peter. Fulfills the order of Peter to recruit soldiers, participates in military battles, rises to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

All members of the Brovkin family are characterized by diligence, perseverance, a lively mind, and a desire to achieve more in life.

Alyosha "... ripped a white officer's scarf from fate with his teeth." Own company farm Alexey Brovkin he led strictly, his soldiers were full, he ate from a soldier's cauldron, he did not offend the soldier in vain, but he did not let slips.

The father made good use of both Alyosha's money and his position. At first he began to rent meadows and arable land from Volkov. Brovkin's cattle walked in a separate herd, he took livestock to Preobrazhenskoye to the royal table. The whole village bowed to the waist, everyone owed him, ten men worked for him according to bonded records. Alyosha introduces his father to Menshikov, and for two hundred rubles he sets him up with Lefort, from whom he receives a letter to supply the troops with oats and hay.

On a campaign against Azov, he delivered oats and hay without theft, and Peter gave him all the contracts. Ivan Brovkin now he is the main proviant for thirty regiments, "the rich." Many eminent merchants were in his business and as clerks. On Ilyinka he built a new brick house. The reputation of Ivan Brovkin is also strengthened after he warns Romodanovsky about the march of four regiments of archers to Moscow. Own capital Ivan Brovkin uses for the construction of factories: cloth, sawmills and others. Through Menshikov, he won the right to take convicts from the prisons of Romodanovsky to his factories.

All the sons of Ivan Brovkin work tirelessly. Yakov serves in Voronezh, he became a navigator; Gavrila studied in Holland. Peter entrusted Yakov and Gavrila with the construction of Piterburh on the site above the mouth of the Fontanka (barns, moorings, strengthening the coast with piles). When Peter himself prepared the drawings of the Kronshlot bastion, Yakov convinced Peter to make the height of the bastion higher. Love arises between Gavrila and Princess Natalya. Artamon speaks French, German, Dutch, helps his father in household affairs, becomes a translator in the Embassy Department. It is no coincidence that at the beginning of the construction of St. Petersburg, only three people grew cabbage near their houses: Menshikov, Alexey Brovkin and Bruce.

A large place in the novel is given to Alexandra. Menshikov suggested to Peter that Alyosha had a sister - a bride. Peter married Alexandra to the nobleman Vasily Volkov. At secular receptions (at Lefort's) she immediately attracted the attention of foreigners. She learned three foreign languages, played the harp, could "read a book at night." She studied the history of Puffendorf, which was translated by Artamon. Alexandra's adventurism manifested itself when leaving Vyazma, although everyone warned her about robbers. During the attack, Alexandra grabbed a pistol from her husband's sheepskin coat and fired at the robber. This saved the Volkovs. She had a beneficial effect on her husband, who followed her began to study history. Vasily Volkov took his service abroad very seriously. In The Hague, Alexandra is under the Russian after Matveev. She writes poetry. Cavaliers fight with swords because of her, and there are those killed. She is going to the court of Louis XIV.

The father takes good care of the children. He pays for the maintenance of Alexandra's yacht, redeems Alyosha from captivity.