- Alexander Rumyantsev
Count Alexander Ivanovich Rumyantsev ( _ru. Александр Иванович Румянцев; 1677-1749) was an assistant of
Peter the Great and father of Field Marshal Peter Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. He came from theRumyantsev family which, though little known and documented in the 17th century, later claimed descent from a prominent 14th-centuryboyar .Alexander enrolled in the
Preobrazhensky regiment of guards in 1704. While he guarded the headquarters of Peter the Great, the monarch noticed him "for his great height and smart face". Peter made Alexander Ivanovich his servant and later recommended him toPeter Shafirov andPeter Tolstoy . In the service of these two courtiers, Rumyantsev led a mission to capturehetman Pavlo Polubotok and carried out various diplomatic errands inConstantinople and in Persia.In 1720 he married the daughter and heiress of Count
Andrey Matveyev , Countess Maria Matveyeva, who was rumored to have been intimate with the Tsar. His wife survived him by 40 years, and entertainedSaint Petersburg society with the stories of her acquaintance with Louis XIV,Madame de Maintenon , and the Duke of Marlborough. When she died at the age of 90,Gavrila Derzhavin wrote a remarkableode glorifying her virtues.After Peter I's daughter Elizabeth Petrovna came to the throne in 1741, Rumyantsev regained favor, became a count and went to govern
Malorossia , orleft-bank Ukraine . It was he who negotiated and signed theTreaty of Åbo withSweden . His diplomatic experience seemed to open the prospect of Rumyantsev succeedingAleksey Bestuzhev as the Chancellor, but this appointment never eventuated. He died in Ukraine on March 4, 1749, leaving a son, Peter "of theDanube ", and a daughter, Daria, married to theAustria n countWallenstein .----
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