The Ancestors of Leo Tolstoy on His Father's Side
The history of the Counts Tolstoy presents a picture of an
ancient and noble family descending, according to the accounts of
genealogists, from the good and true man Indris, who came from
Germany to Chernigov in 1353 with his two sons and a retinue of
3,000 men; he was baptized and received the name of Leonty; he
became the founder of several noble families. His great-grandchild, Andrey Kharitonovich, who moved from Chernigov to Moscow and received from the Grand Duke Vasiliy Tyomniy the surname of Tolstoy, was the founder of the branch known to us as the Tolstoys (in which branch Count Lev Tolstoy was born in the twentieth generation from the founder Indris).
One of his descendants, Peter Andreyevich Tolstoy, became a
dignitary at the Russian court in 1683, and was afterward one of
the chief actors in the rebellion of the Streltsi. The fall of the
Tsarevna Sofya caused this Tolstoy abruptly to change his attitude
and pass over to the Tsar Peter; but the latter behaved to him for
a long time with coldness, and a considerable period passed before
Peter Andreyevich enjoyed the full confidence of the Tsar. It is
said that at their merry banquets Tsar Peter delighted to pull the
big wig off Peter Tolstoy's head, and tapping him on the bald crown
to repeat: "Little head, little head, if you were not so clever, you would have parted from your body long ago."
The Tsar's suspicions were not allayed even by the military
achievements of Peter Tolstoy during the second Azov campaign (1696).
In 1697 the Tsar sent "volunteers" to study in foreign
countries, and Peter Tolstoy, already a middle-aged man, offered
himself to go abroad to study naval matters. Two years which he
spent in Italy gave him an opportunity of seeing something of the
culture of Western Europe. At the end of 1701 Peter Tolstoy was
appointed ambassador in Constantinople, an important but very
difficult post. During the complications of 1710-1713 Peter
Tolstoy was twice confined in the Castle of the Seven Towers, a
fact which accounts for this castle being represented in the
Tolstoy coat-of-arms.
In 1717 Tolstoy rendered an important service to the Tsar, and
so strengthened his position for all subsequent time. Having been
sent to Naples, where the Tsarevich Alexis was hiding with his
mistress Euphrosyne in the Castle of St. Elmo, Peter Tolstoy, with
the help of the lady, adroitly outwitted the Tsarevich, and by
means of threats and false promises induced him to return to
Russia. For his active participation in the subsequent trial and
secret execution of the Tsarevich carried out by Peter Tolstoy, with the aid of Rumyantsev, Oshakov, and Buturlin, his accomplices, at the direction of Peter I, Peter Tolstoy received a present of land, and was appointed Chief of the Secret Chamber, where there was soon a great deal to be done in consequence of the rumors and agitations provoked among the people by the fate of Alexis. From that time Peter Tolstoy is conspicuous as one of the most intimate and trusted persons about the Emperor. The affair of the Tsarevich brought Peter into favor with the Empress Catherine, and on the day of her coronation, May 7, 1724, he was made a Count. After the death of Peter I, Tolstoy, together with Menshikov, greatly aided Catherine's accession to the throne, and consequently enjoyed much favor during her reign. But on Peter II's accession his fall ensued. In spite of his advanced age--he was eighty-two years old--he was exiled to the Solovetsky Convent, where, however, he did not live long. He died in 1729.
We still possess the diary of Peter Tolstoy's journey abroad in
1697-1699, a characteristic exhibition of the impression made on
men of his period by their acquaintance with Western Europe. Besides this, in 1706, Peter Tolstoy wrote a detailed description of the Black Sea. There also exist two translations he made: Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Administration of the Turkish Empire.
Peter Tolstoy had a son, Ivan Petrovich, who was himself
deprived of his office, that of President of the Court, at the same
time as his father, and was exiled to the same convent, where he
died soon after him.