Ernst Johann von Biron

Ernst Johann von Biron
Duke of Courland and Semigallia, Regent of Russia
Reign	1737–1740
Predecessor	Ferdinand Kettler
Successor	Peter von Biron
Born	23 November 1690 Kalnciems, Semigallia, Courland and Semigallia
Died	29 December 1772 (aged 82) Mitau, Courland and Semigallia
Burial	Ducal crypt in the Jelgava Palace
Spouse	Benigna Gottlieb von Trotha gt Treyden
Issue	Peter von Biron Hedvig Elizabeth von Biron
House	Biron
Religion	Lutheranism

Coat of arms as Duke of Courland

Ernst Johann von Biron (German: Ernst Johann von Biron; Russian: Эрнст Иоганн Бирон; 23 November [O.S. 13 November] 1690 – 29 December [O.S. 18 December] 1772^[1]) was a Duke of Courland and Semigallia (1737) and regent of the Russian Empire (1740).^[2]

Biography

Born as Ernst Johann Biren (German: Bühren) in Kalnciems, Semigallia, he was the grandson of a groom in the service of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland, who bestowed upon him a small estate, which Biron's father inherited and where Biron himself was born.^[2] He received some education at the academy of Königsberg, from which he was expelled for riotous conduct. In 1714 he set out to seek his fortune in Russia, and unsuccessfully solicited a place at the court of the Princess Charlotte of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the consort of the Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich. Returning to Mitau, he succeeded in gaining a footing at court there through one of his sisters, who was the fancy of the ruling minister, Peter Bestuzhev. Biron's sister's mistress was the young duchess Anna Ivanovna. During his patron’s absence, Biron, a handsome, insinuating fellow, succeeded in supplanting him in the favour of Anna, and procuring the disgrace and banishment of Bestuzhev and his family.

From this time to the end of the duchess's life, Biron’s influence over her was paramount. On the elevation of Anna to the Russian throne, Biron, who had married Benigna Gottlieb von Trotha gt Treyden (1703–1782) in 1723, came to Moscow and received many honours and riches. At Anna's coronation (19 May 1730), he became grand chamberlain, a count of the Empire, on which occasion he is said to have adopted the arms of the French ducal house of Biron, and was presented with an estate at Wenden with 50,000 crowns a year.^[2]

The Council of the Empire attempted to secure from Anna an aristocratic constitution, but she crushed the powerful nobility, notably the Dolgorukis and the Galitsins, and made Biron the practical ruler of the Empire. Biron's enemies and rivals were swept out of the way, while poor people were ground down by taxation. Russians have described this reign as the Bironovshchina and the “German yoke.” Biron is said to have caused over 1000 executions, while the number of persons exiled by him to Siberia is estimated at from 20,000–40,000. As an administrator, however, he showed considerable ability, and maintained order in the Empire.

During the latter years of Anna's reign, Biron increased enormously in power and riches. Outwardly humble during his first years in power, he became more haughty and overbearing towards the end of Anna's reign. This behavior and the gruesome execution on somewhat dubious charges of his erstwhile protege, the cabinet minister Artemy Volynsky (insisted upon by Biron) soon made the favourite unpopular with Russians of all classes.

His apartments in the palace adjoined those of the empress, and his liveries, furnitures and equipages were scarcely less costly than hers. Half the bribes intended for the Russian court passed through his coffers. He had landed estates everywhere. A special department of state looked after his brood mares and stallions. The magnificence of his plate astonished the French ambassador, and the diamonds of his duchess were the envy of princes.

Biron's residence in Rundale, Latvia.

The climax of his elevation occurred when, on the extinction of the line of Kettler, the estates of Courland, in June 1737, elected Biron their reigning duke. He was almost as unpopular in Courland as in Russia, but the will of the empress was the law of the land, and large sums of money, smuggled into Courland in the shape of bills payable in Amsterdam to bearer, speedily convinced the electors.^[2] The duchy was then in dispute between Poland and Russia. Russian armies were employed to place Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, on the Polish throne. The Elector had promised the investiture of Courland for Biron. The Emperor Charles VI, subordinating everything to his Pragmatic Sanction, readily countenanced these violent acts, and the king of Prussia was bought by certain territorial concessions. The investiture took place in 1739 at Warsaw by authority of the Polish king and senate.

On her deathbed Anna, very unwillingly and only at his urgent entreaty, appointed him regent during the minority of the baby emperor, Ivan VI of Russia. Her common sense told her that the only way she could save the man she loved from the vengeance of his enemies after her death was to facilitate in time his descent from his untenable position. Finally, on 26 October 1740, a so-called “positive declaration” signed by 194 dignitaries, in the name of the Russian nation, conferred the regency on Biron.

Biron's regency lasted exactly three weeks. At midnight on 19 November 1740 he was seized in his bedroom by his ancient rival, Field Marshal Münnich. The commission appointed to try his case condemned him (11 April 1741) to death by quartering, but this sentence was commuted by the clemency of the new regent, Anna Leopoldovna, the mother of Ivan VI, to banishment for life at Pelym in Siberia. All Biron's vast property was confiscated, including his diamonds, worth £600,000.^[2] A second palace revolution occurred soon after, and the new empress, Elizabeth Petrovna, banished Münnich and permitted Biron to take up his residence at Yaroslavl.

For 22 years, the ex-regent disappeared from the high places of history. He re-emerged for a brief moment in 1762, when the Germanophile Peter III of Russia summoned him to court. In 1763 Catherine II of Russia re-established him in his duchy, which he bequeathed to his son Peter. The last years of his rule were just and even benevolent, if somewhat autocratic. He died at Rastrelli's palace in Mitava, his capital, on 29 December 1772.

See also

• Robert Nisbet Bain, The Pupils of Peter the Great (London, 1897)
• Christoph Hermann von Manstein, Memoirs (English edition, London, 1856)
• Claudius Rondeau, Diplomatic Dispatches from Russia (St Petersburg, 1889–1892).
• Edgardo Franzosini, Il mangiatore di carta (Milano:SugarCo) 1989
• Игорь Курукин, Бирон. Moscow, Molodaia Gvardiia, 2006. ISBN 978-5235027404.

Notes

1. Encyclopædia Britannica
2. "Ernst Johann Biren". Encyclopedia Britannica 1911. Retrieved 2012-03-11.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Biren, Ernst Johann". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Biron, Ernest John". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

External links

•  "Anna Ivanovna". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.