Ernst Johann von Biron

Ernest John von Biron, Duke of Courland (Russian: Эрнст Иоганн Бирон) (3 December 1690 - 28 December 1772), duke of Courland, was the grandson of a groom in the service of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland, who bestowed upon him a small estate, which Biren's father inherited and where Biren himself was born. He received what little education he had 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 shabby 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, whose established mistress was no less a person than the young duchess Anna Ivanovna. During his patron’s absence, Biren, a handsome, insinuating fellow, succeeded in supplanting him in the favour of Anna, and procuring the disgrace and banishment of Bestuzhev and his family. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 337th day of the year (338th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Giovanni Domenico Cassini observes differential rotation within Jupiters atmosphere. ... is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1772 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Coat of arms of Courland Courland (Latvian: ; German: ; Latin: Curonia / Couronia; Lithuanian: ; Estonian: ; Polish: ; Russian: ) is an historical Baltic province now part of Latvia. ... Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland. ... Former German name of the city of Kaliningrad. ... Charlotte Christine (29 August 1694 – 2 November 1715, Saint Petersburg), daughter of Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was the wife of Grand Duke Alexei Petrovich of Russia. ... Tsar, (Bulgarian цар�, Russian царь; often spelled Czar or Tzar in English), was the title used for the autocratic rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires since 913, in Serbia in the middle of the 14th century, and in Russia from 1547 to 1917. ... Portrait of Alexei by Johann Gottfried Tannauer, c. ... Jelgava (German: Mitau; Russian: Елгава / Митава; Polish: Mitawa) is a town in central Latvia about 41 km southwest of Riga with approximately 66,000 inhabitants. ... Count Pyotr Mikhailovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (1664 — 1742) was a Russian statesman who effectively governed the Duchy of Courland in the name of Anna Ivanovna between 1712 and 1728. ... H.I.M. Anna Ioannovna, Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias, Duchess of Courland Anna Ioannovna (In Russian: Анна Иоанновна) (February 7, 1693 - October 28, 1740) reigned as Duchess of Courland from 1711 to 1730 and as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. ...

From henceforth to the end of her life Biren’s influence over the duchess was paramount. On the elevation of Anna to the Russian throne in 1730, Biren, who had in the meantime married a Fräulein von Treiden, 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. Moscow (Moskva) (Russian: , romanised: Moskva, IPA: see also other names) is the capital of Russia and the countrys economic, financial, educational, and transportation centre. ... is the 139th day of the year (140th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Pope Clement XII elected September 17 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed III (1703-1730) to Mahmud I (1730-1754) Anna Ivanova (Anna I of Russia) became czarina Births April 16 - Henry Clinton, British general (d. ... Biron is the name of several communes in France: Biron, in the Charente-Maritime département Biron, in the Dordogne département Biron, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... CÄ“sis (German: Wenden) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Vidzeme Central upland. ...

He soon made himself cordially detested by Russians of every class. He was not indeed the monster of iniquity he is popularly supposed to have been. His vices were rather of the sordid than of the satanic order. He had insinuating manners and could make himself very agreeable if he chose; but he was mean, treacherous, rapacious, suspicious and horribly vindictive. During the latter years of Anna's reign, Biren increased enormously in power and riches. 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 this wondrous elevation occurred when, on the extinction of the line of Kettler, the estates of Courland, in June 1737, elected Biren their reigning duke. He was almost as much loathed 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. On her death-bed Anna, very unwillingly and only at his urgent entreaty, appointed him regent during the minority of the baby emperor, Ivan VI of Russia. Her commonsense 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 Biren. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Details of the baroque decor of the palace. ... Nickname: Motto: Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig (Valiant, Determined, Compassionate) Location of Amsterdam Coordinates: , Country Province Government  - Mayor Job Cohen (PvdA)  - Aldermen Lodewijk Asscher Hennah Buyne Carolien Gehrels Tjeerd Herrema Maarten van Poelgeest Marijke Vos  - Secretary Erik Gerritsen Area [1][2]  - City 219 km²  (84. ... H.I.M. Ivan, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, with his mother Anna Leopoldovna Ivan VI of Russia (Иоанн Антонович), (August 23, 1740 - July 16, 1764), reigned as Emperor of Russia 1740 - 1741, was the son of Prince Antony Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg and of the princess Anna Leopoldovna... is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ...

Biren'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 Biren's vast property was confiscated, including his diamonds, worth £600,000. is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... Count Burkhard Christoph von Munnich (1683 - 1767) was a Russian field marshal and political figure. ... is the 101st day of the year (102nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events April 10 - Austrian army attack troops of Frederick the Great at Mollwitz August 10 - Raja of Travancore defeats Dutch East India Company naval expedition at Battle of Colachel December 19 - Vitus Bering dies in his expedition east of Siberia December 25 - Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale Celsius... Anna Leopoldovna (А́нна Леопо́льдовна) (1718 - 18 March 1746), also known as Anna Karlovna (А́нна Ка́рловна), regent of Russia for a few months... “Siberian” redirects here. ...

For twenty-two years the ex-regent disappeared from the high places of history. He re-emerged for a brief moment in 1762, when the philo-German Peter III of Russia summoned him to court. He was now too old to be in any one’s way, and that, no doubt, was the reason why Catherine II of Russia re-established him (1763) in his duchy, which he bequeathed to his son Peter. Misfortune had chastened him, and the last years of his rule were just and even benevolent, if somewhat autocratic. He died at Rastrelli's palace in Mitau, his capital, on 28 December 1772. Grand Duke Peter, 1753, by Alexei Antropov Peter III (February 21, 1728 - July 17, 1762) (Russian: Пётр III Федорович or Pyotr III Fyodorovitch) was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. ... “Catherine the Great” redirects here. ... Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-71) was the most important baroque architect working in Russia. ... is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1772 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

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).

Reference

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.