Henry La Vie, Spion, Konsul und Verehrer Peters des Grossen

Authors

  • Francine-Dominique Liechtenhan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2015.1.079

Abstract

Henry La Vie, marine commissioner and consul of France in Saint Petersburg in the 1710s–1720s, left an exceptional correspondence in Russia at the time of Peter the Great. He was involved in the establishment of diplomatic and economic relations between France and Russia, but, for no apparent reason, Versailles did not trust him. Many of his clever suggestions were not accepted by the Regent. Responsible for a small French community in Saint Petersburg, he studied the relationship between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and condemned the harmful role of Jesuits.
After the suspicious death of Alexei Petrovich, La Vie made a lot of speculations about the future of Russia and the change of international relations, particularly in the North. Versailles was not able to duly appreciate the letters of La Vie at their real value; his debts were an easy pretext to remove him from his important position. He disappeared in Russia and died probably in the late 1730s. His best letters from Russia should be selected and prepared for a publication.

References

Bély, L. (2007). L’Art de la paix en Europe, naissance de la diplomatie moderne, XVIe–XVIIIe siècles. Paris: PUF.
Demeulenaere-Douyère, C. (2010). L’Académie des Sciences de Paris ; un lieu privilégié des échanges scientifiques entre la France et la Russie (XVIIIe–XIXe siècles). In Les Français dans la vie intellectuelle et scientifique en Russie (XVIIIe–XXe siècles) (pp. 87–105). Moskou: Olma Media Group.
Liechtenhan, F.-D. (2010). L’abbé Bignon, précurseur des relations scientifiques et culturelles avec la Russie. In Les Français dans la vie intellectuelle et scientifique en Russie (XVIIIe–XXe siècles) (pp. 127–140). Moskou: Olma Media Group.
Lishtenan, F.-D. (Guzevich, I. D. & Guzevich, D. Yu., transl.). (2011). «Esli Papa schitaet sebya nepogreshimy′m, to on, dolzhno by′t′, glupecz, a esli ne schitaet, to moshennik» (Petr Velikij) [If the Pope considers himself infallible, he must be a dolt, and if he does not, he must be a swindler]. In Kul′turny′e iniciativy′ Petra Velikogo : materialy′ II Mezhdunarodnogo kongressa petrovskih gorodov (pp. 58–62). Saint Petersburg: Evropejskij dom.
Mémoires intéressantes envoyés [sic] par des missionnaires catholiques de Moscou au Pape sur les espérances de la prochaine réunion de l’Église russe à l’Église catholique.(1859). In Monuments historiques de Russie. Monuments relatifs aux règnes d’Alexis
Michaélowitch, Fedor III et Pierre le Grand czars de Russie, extraits des archives du Vatican et de Naples, par Augustin Theiner. Rome: Imprimerie du Vatican.
Mézin, А. (2009). Correspondance des consuls de France à Saint-Pétersbourg, 1713–1792. Paris: Archives nationales.
Mézin, А. & Rjéoutski, V. (2011). Les Français en Russie au siècle des Lumières (Vol. 2, pp. 483–486). Ferney-Voltaire, Centre international d’Etude du XVIIIe siècle. Ozhero, K. (Tyan′shina, N. P., transl.). (2008). Uchrezhdenie pervogo konsul′stva
Francii v Sankt-Peterburge v 1717 godu [Establishment of the first consulate of France in Saint Petersburg in 1717]. In P. P. Cherkasov (Ed.). Rossiya i Franciya. XVIII–XX veka. (Iss. 8, pp. 9–30). Moskow: Nauka.
Pleyer, O. (1872). Allerunterthänigste relation von dem jetzigen moscowitischen Regierungswesen, 1710. In E. Herrmann (Hrsg.) Russland unter Peter dem Grossen (pp. 133–135). Leipzig.
Rambaud, А. (1890). Recueil des Instructions données aux ambassadeurs et ministres de France. In Mémoire pour servir à l’Instruction de… allant à Pétersbourg, 2 février 1714 (Vol. 1, pp. 132–134). Paris: Alcan.
Wittram, R. (1964). Peter I. Czar und Kaiser (Bd. 2, pp. 226–227). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht.

How to Cite

Liechtenhan, F.-D. (2015). Henry La Vie, Spion, Konsul und Verehrer Peters des Grossen. Quaestio Rossica, (1), 59–70. https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2015.1.079

Issue

Section

Vox redactoris