Tolstoy family

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
House of Tolstoy
Род Толстых
Noble family
Arms of the untitled branch of the family
CountryRussia
Founded14th century (1300s) (14th century (1300s))
FounderAndrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy
Titles

The House of Tolstoy, or Tolstoi (

Vasily II of Moscow in the 15th century. The "wild Tolstoys", as they were known in the high society of Imperial Russia,[1]
have left a lasting legacy in Russian politics, military history, literature, and fine arts.

Origins

The Tolstoys were a family of provincial

Lithuania Proper (in the narrow sense) for much of history.[2][3] Indris was then supposedly converted to Eastern Orthodoxy as Leonty and his sons — as Konstantin and Feodor, respectively; adopting religion of the locals was typical of Lithuanian nobility at the time and characteristic of the Lithuanian style of governing. Konstantin's grandson, Andrei Kharitonovich, was nicknamed Tolstiy (translated as fat) by Vasily II of Moscow after he moved from Chernigov to Moscow.[2][3]

Because of the

Chernigov Chronicles used by Pyotr Tolstoy as a reference were lost.[2] The first documented members of the Tolstoy family also lived in the 17th century. Pyotr Tolstoy is the founder of the titled branch of the family; he was granted the title of count by Peter the Great.[6][7] The untitled branch of the same stem is descended from Ivan Andreevich Tolstoy. Their common ancestor was Andrey Vasilievich Tolstoy, who married Stepanida Andreevna Miloslavskaya, a cousin of the tsarina
. This marriage had allowed the average gentry family to enter the Moscow court. The Tolstoy family is also found amongst untitled provincial gentry of the same origins.

In the Napoleonic wars

Count Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoy (1770–1857)

Two members of the family were active during the

St Petersburg and Kronstadt
from 1828 until his death.

Alexander Ivanovich Tolstoy (1770–1857), stemming from a collateral branch of the family, inherited the comital title and estates of his childless uncle, the last of the Ostermanns.

He first distinguished himself in the

Pultusk and Eylau. At Guttstadt he was wounded so seriously that they feared for his life. In the great battle of Borodino he brilliantly commanded the key positions until he was shell-shocked and taken away from the battlefield. Ostermann-Tolstoy was once again wounded in the battle of Bautzen (1813) but did not give up command of his force. His crowning achievement was the victory at Kulm
(August 30, 1813), which cost him amputation of the left arm. When the war was over, he quarreled with the Emperor, resigned and spent the rest of his life in Europe.

In high society

Count

St Petersburg
.

Feodor Tolstoy's watercolour of his house in Moscow

Count

Patriotic War of 1812 but scandalized his family again by marrying a Gypsy singer in 1821. Alexander Griboyedov satirized him in Woe from Wit, and his cousin Leo Tolstoy
— who called him an "extraordinary, criminal, and attractive man" — fictionalized him as Dolokhov in War and Peace.

In Russian literature

Many of the Tolstoys devoted their spare time to literary pursuits. For instance, Count Alexei Konstantinovich (1817–75) was a courtier but also one of the most popular Russian poets of his time. He wrote admirable ballads, a historical novel, some licentious verse, and satires published under the penname of Kozma Prutkov. His lasting contribution to the Russian literature was a trilogy of historical dramas, modelled after Pushkin's Boris Godunov.

Kramskoy's portrait of Leo Tolstoy (1873)

Count Lev Nikolaevich (1828–1910), more widely known abroad as

Mohandas Gandhi, then a young lawyer, whose influence extended to Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel
.

Of Lev's thirteen children, most spent their life either promoting his teachings or denouncing them. His youngest daughter and secretary,

Alexandra Lvovna (1884–1979), had a particularly troubled life. Although she shared with her father the doctrine of nonviolence, she felt it was her duty to take part in the events of World War I
.

Count

Socialist Realism, but his children's tale character Buratino
retains his strong legacy with the younger audience of Russia and across the former Soviet space, appearing as popular reading, a movie, and a variety of derivative forms.

His granddaughter Tatyana Tolstaya (born May 3, 1951) is one of the foremost Russian short story writers. Another member of the family is Count Nikolai Tolstoy-Miloslavsky (born in 1935), a British historian and monarchist, and nominal head of the House of Tolstoy today.

After the Russian revolution

Some of the members of the Tolstoy family left Russia in the aftermath of the

Pyotr Tolstoy, a Russian TV presenter and State Duma deputy since 2016 and Vladimir Tolstoy, journalist and adviser to the President of Russia on culture.[10]

Notable people

Coat of arms of the comital branch of the family

Places

Several places in Russia are named to commemorate Leo Tolstoy, e.g., Tolstoy-Yurt, village in Chechnya.

Quotes

References

  1. S2CID 164689220
    .
  2. ^ a b c d Vitold Rummel, Vladimir Golubtsov (1886). Genealogical Collection of Russian Noble Families in 2 Volumes. Volume 2 // The Tolstoys, Counts and Noblemen. — Saint Petersburg: A. S. Suvorin Publishing House, p. 487
  3. ^ a b Ivan Bunin, The Liberation of Tolstoy: A Tale of Two Writers, p. 100
  4. .
  5. ^ "Six Centuries of Tolstoys". The New York Times. 6 November 1983.
  6. ^ Tolstoy coat of arms by All-Russian Armorials of Noble Houses of the Russian Empire. Part 2, June 30, 1798 (in Russian)
  7. ^ The Tolstoys article from Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1890–1907 (in Russian)
  8. ^ Nikolai Puzin, The Lev Tolstoy House-Museum In Yasnaya Polyana (with a list of Leo Tolstoy's descendants), 1998
  9. ^ "Tanja Paus och Sonja Ceder till minne," Svenska Dagbladet, 11 March 2007
  10. ^ "Владимир Путин назначил новых советников".
  11. ^ Vladimir Ilyich Tolstoy at the official Yasnaya Polyana website
  12. ^ The Tolstoy family documentary project by Fyokla Tolstaya at Russia-K
  13. ^ The Daily Telegraph - BBC's 'sickening' horse documentary sparks viewer complaints, 8 April 2009
  14. ^ Francoise Michel, Tolstoys stage family reunion, Baltic Times, August 8, 2002

External links