Item: i81890


 Authentic Coin of:

Russia
Peter II  – Emperor ‘Tzar’ of All Russia: 18 May 1727 – 30 January 1730
1728 Silver Rouble 39mm (27.52 grams) 0.729 Silver (0.6666 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 182.2
Certification: NGC  VF 30  2838674-008
ПЕТРЬ II ИМПЕРАТОРЬ И САМОДЕРЖЕЦЬ ВСЕРОСIИСКИ (Translation: Peter II Emperor and Autocrat of the whole Russia), Bust of Peter II right.
МОНЕТА НОВАЯ ЦЕНА РУБЛЬ 17 28 П ii П ii П ii П ii, Cross, made of four letters П. “II” at the corners. Crowns at the sides of the cross.

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Peter II Alexeyevich (Russian: Пётр II Алексеевич, Pyotr II Alekseyevich) (23 October [O.S. 12 October] 1715 – 30 January [O.S. 19 January] 1730) reigned as Emperor of Russia from 1727 until his untimely death. He was the only son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich (son of Peter the Great by his first wife, Eudoxia Lopukhina) and of Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Peter was born in Saint Petersburg on 23 (O.S. 12) October 1715. His mother died when he was only ten days old. His father, Prince Alexis, accused of treason by his own father, Peter the Great, died in prison in 1718. So three-year-old Peter and his four-year-old sister, Natalia, were orphaned. Their grandfather showed no interest in their upbringing and education: the Tsar had disliked their father and even their grandmother, his own first wife, and young Peter in particular reminded him of his only son Alexis, whom the Tsar suspected of treachery. Therefore, from his childhood, the orphaned Peter was kept in the strictest seclusion. His earliest governesses were the wives of a tailor and a vintner from the Dutch settlement, while a sailor named Norman taught him the rudiments of navigation. When he grew older, however, Peter was placed under the care of a Hungarian noble, Janos (Ivan) Zeikin (Zékány), who seems to have been a conscientious teacher.^[1]

Peter the Great died in 1725 and was succeeded by his second wife, Catherine I, a woman of low birth. The powerful minister Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov, who had aided in Catherine’s accession, replaced the boy’s teachers with the vice-chancellor, Count Ostermann. The program of education that Ostermann compiled included history, geography, mathematics, and foreign languages, but the overall education of the future emperor remained shallow and left much to be desired. Peter himself did not display much interest in science; his favorite occupations were hunting and feasting.

During the reign of Catherine I, young Peter was ignored; but by the time she died in 1727, it had become clear to those in power that the only male-line grandson of Peter the Great could not be kept from his inheritance much longer. The majority of the nation and three-quarters of the nobility were on his side, while his uncle, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI (Peter’s uncle on his mother’s side), persistently urged Peter’s claims through the imperial ambassador at Saint Petersburg. Through the efforts of Menshikov, Peter was named Catherine’s heir apparent, even though Catherine had two daughters of her own. The Empress also gave her consent to the betrothal of Peter to Menshikov’s daughter Maria.

The coronation of Peter II took place in Moscow on 9 January 1728, with the Emperor and a huge entourage. Still, he was disengaged from the affairs of state. Foreign witnesses proclaimed that “All of Russia is in terrible disorder … money is not paid to anyone. God knows what will happen with finances. Everyone steals, as much as he can.” Moving the court and several other institutions from St. Petersburg back to Moscow was painful for the new capital, as well as the nobility forced to move with it, as Peter the Great had put much effort into developing St. Petersburg into a large and lively city at the time.

Peter II returned to St. Petersburg from time to time, but continued an aimless life full of entertainment and distraction. He gradually fell under the ultimate influence of the Dolgorukovs – Peter II became smitten with the 18-year-old beauty Ekaterina Alekseyevna Dolgorukova. The family schemed to tie themselves to the imperial bloodline, and persuaded Peter to marry Ekaterina. However, it soon became clear that the young monarch had no interest in his bride, perhaps influenced by his aunt Elizabeth Petrovna, who did not like Ekaterina. The wedding went forward regardless, set to take place on 19/30 January 1730.

“Peter II has not reached the age when a person’s personality has already shaped,” Russian historian Nikolay Kostomarov wrote. “While contemporaries praised his natural intelligence and good heart, they only hoped for that good to happen in the future. However, his behavior did not give chances to hope that he would be a good ruler. He hated learning and thinking about national affairs. He was totally engrossed in amusements, and was kept under someone else’s influence.”

In late December 1729, Peter II fell dangerously ill. His condition deteriorated sharply after the frosty Epiphany Day in January 1730, when he participated in a feast. He was then rushed into the palace, standing at the back of his sleigh. The next day, doctors diagnosed him with smallpox. The Dolgorukovs attempted to get the emperor to sign a testament naming Ekaterina as his heir, but they were not allowed into the dying emperor’s quarters: Peter II was already unconscious. In his delirium, he ordered horses so that he could go see his recently deceased sister Natalya. A few minutes later, he died.

Emperor Peter II died as dawn broke on 30 January 1730 – the day he had planned to marry Ekaterina Dolgorukova. He is buried in the Cathedral of the Archangel located at the Moscow Kremlin and was the only post-Petrine Russian monarch given that honor; along with Ivan VI (who was murdered and buried in the fortress of Shlisselburg), he is the only post-Petrine monarch not buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg.

With Peter’s death, the direct male line of the Romanov Dynasty ended. He was succeeded by Anna Ivanovna, daughter of Peter the Great’s half-brother and co-ruler, Ivan V.