Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès: Difference between revisions

Baron '''Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès''' (born '''Georges-Charles d'Anthès'''; 5 February 1812 – 2 November 1895) was a French military officer and politician. Despite his later career as a [[French Senate|senator]] under the [[Second French Empire]], D'Anthès is mostly known for fatally wounding the eminent Russian poet [[Alexander Pushkin]] in a [[Alexander Pushkin#Death|duel]] in 1837.

FromAccording to a booklet written by Prince A. [[Trubetskoy]]: ''"...d'Anthès was known for his antics, quite inoffensive and appropriate to youths except the one, of which we learnt much later. I don't know what to say: whether he took Heeckeren or Heeckeren took him [...] All in all, [...] in the intercourse with Heeckeren he was ever a passive partner."''.

D'Anthès met Pushkin and his wife{{when|date=July 2021}}, [[Natalia Pushkina|Natalia]], a beautiful and flirtatious young woman who had many admirers. DIn the beginning, Pushkin took to d'Anthès courtedamicably,<ref>{{Cite herbook|last=Раевский|first=Николай Алексеевич|title=Избранное—Художественная литература|year=1978|location=Москва|pages=287}}</ref> yet the latter chose to court Natalia, and in a compromising way. Soon after he was refused by Natalia Pushkina, a number of Pushkin's closest friends, as well as Pushkin himself, received copies of an anonymous lampoon on Pushkin. The lampoon was a mock letter awarding Pushkin the title of ''Deputy Grand Master and Historiographer of the Order of Cuckolds''. Pushkin accused Heeckeren toof bebeing the lampoon's author, though the true author has never been established. Expert research ruled out Heeckeren authorship as the lampoon (written in French) contained errors extremely unlikely for a native speaker, and such authorship would have been too risky for a diplomat. In the complicated affair that ensued, D'Anthès married Natalia's sister, Yekaterina Goncharova, on 10 January 1837. It has been suggested that d'Anthès's engagement and marriage to Natalia's sister was devised to contradict society gossip that he was in pursuit of Natalia. In any event, this was not enough to settle the conflict between the two new brothers-in-law. After marrying Yekaterina, D'Anthès continued to behave provocatively with Natalia, instigating a new duel challenge.