Iurii Aleksandrovich Neledinsky-Meletsky
Iurii Aleksandrovich Neledinsky-Meletsky was a Russian noble born on October 6, 1752, into a family with a prestigious lineage. Following the early death of his mother, he was raised by his grandmother in an environment of cultural and intellectual influence. His father had limited involvement in his upbringing, spending much of his time in Paris. Neledinsky's education was marked by both traditional tutoring and a brief study abroad, though he was sent back for being a troublemaker. He served as an army officer during the Russo-Turkish wars and began writing poetry, expressing themes of beauty and unrequited love. His marriage in 1786 to Princess Ekaterine Khovanskaya and subsequent friendships, particularly with poet Dar'ia Ivanovna Golovina, fueled his literary pursuits. The political turmoil following the death of Catherine the Great impacted his career, leading to fluctuating fortunes at court under Emperor Paul I. Eventually, he returned to Moscow, where he worked as a school inspector until retiring in 1823. Neledinsky died on February 14, 1828, in Kaluga, surrounded by family.
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Iurii Aleksandrovich Neledinsky-Meletsky
Writer
- Born: October 6, 1752
- Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
- Died: February 14, 1828
- Place of death: Kaluga, Russia
Biography
Iurii Aleksandrovich Neledinsky-Meletsky was born on October 6, 1752, into a noble family of great antiquity. His mother was born Princess Kurakina, and was the niece of Counts Nikolai and Peter Panin, who had held high government offices under Catherine the Great. However, she died while young Neledinsky was a mere three years old, and as a result his upbringing fell to his paternal grandmother, Anna Ivanovna Neledinskaya-Melitskaya. She herself was of illustrious ancestry, being of the old Moscovite Talyzin family. Her nephew Aleksei Bestuzhev-Riumin had attained considerable power as chancellor under Empress Elizabeth. His father played almost no role in his upbringing, having moved to Paris to move in the rarefied intellectual circles there. Only in 1767 did he finally return to Russia to become a member of the court of Catherine the Great.
The younger Neledinsky was raised by serfs and tutored by a Frenchman, until the death of his grandmother led to his being passed to the other side of the family. Aleksandra Kurakina lived in St. Petersburg, and this move placed young Neledinsky right in the heart of Russia’s intellectual and cultural ferment. He studied abroad briefly, but was sent home as a troublemaker, whereupon he served in the army in the Crimea in the wars against Turkey. While he was an officer, he began to write verse in praise of the beauty of an anonymous woman.
In 1785 he retired from the army with the rank of colonel as a result of disputes with Catherine’s favorite, Grigory Potemkin, who was governor in the Crimea and who had insulted his battalion. In 1786, he married Princess Ekaterine Khovanskaya, a graduate of St. Petersburg’s Smol’nyi Institute for Noblewomen (the facilities of which would later gain notoriety as the headquarters of the Leningrad Communist Party apparatus in the Soviet era). He began to publish various heroic poems, and developed a close friendship with Dar’ia Ivanovna, Golovina, whom he came to regard as his muse. His letters to her refer to a number of poems about unrequited love, and there has been much speculation as to the identity of the woman involved.
The death of Catherine the Great and succession of Paul I disrupted the comfortable life Neledinsky had built for himself. The new emperor called him to St. Petersburg to give him a position at court. However, his life at court proved rocky at best, first being stripped of honors and then given fresh honors by the mentally unstable emperor. After Paul’s death in 1801, Neledinsky was able to return to Moscow, where he was able to find a place as a school inspector. He moved several other times in the course of his civil service work before retiring in 1823 and settling permanently in Kaluga, where he died on February 14, 1828, surrounded by family.