The Rumyantsev family (') were Russian
counts prominent in Russian imperial politics in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The family claimed descent from the
boyar
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Russian nobility, Russia, Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, Wallachia and ...
Rumyanets who broke his oath of allegiance and surrendered
Nizhny Novgorod to
Vasily I of Moscow
Vasily I Dmitriyevich ( rus, Василий I Дмитриевич, Vasiliy I Dmitriyevich; 30 December 137127 February 1425) was the Grand Prince of Moscow ( r. 1389–1425), heir of Dmitry Donskoy (r. 1359–1389). He ruled as a Golden Horde ...
in 1391.
The first Rumyantsev to gain prominence,
Alexander Ivanovich (1680–1749), served as ordinary of
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
in the
Preobrazhensky regiment. In 1720 he married Countess
Maria Matveyeva, daughter and heiress of Count
Andrey Matveyev
Count Andrey Artamonovich Matveev (russian: Андрей Артамонович Матвеев) (1666–1728) was a Russian statesman of the Petrine epoch best remembered as one of the first Russian ambassadors and Peter the Great's agent in Lon ...
. Peter's daughter
Elizabeth recalled Rumyantsev to active service and made him a hereditary count as well as Governor of
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
.
Their son
Pyotr Alexandrovich (1725–96) took his name from that of the ruling Emperor and was rumored to have been his natural son. In 1761 he besieged and took the Prussian fortress of
Kolberg, thus clearing for Russian armies the path to
Berlin. During
Catherine II's reign he served as Governor General of
Little Russia, or
Ukraine. After crossing the
Danube River into
Bulgaria and signing the advantageous
Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca with the Turks in 1774, Rumyantsev was promoted
Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...
and was given the
victory title of Zadunaisky (literally, "Transdanubian").
His sister,
Praskovja Bruce
Countess Praskovya Aleksandrovna Bruce (Прасковья Александровна Брюс; née Rumyantseva; 1729–1785) was a Russian
lady-in-waiting and noble, confidant of Catherine the Great.
Life
{{unsourced, section, date=October 20 ...
(1729–85), was the confidant and lady-in-waiting of
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
, who entrusted her with her private affairs and was known in history as the so-called "''l'éprouveuse''" (= "''the (lovers) tester''").
During the
Napoleonic wars, Zadunaisky's son
Nikolay Petrovich (1754–1826) held the highest offices of state, including those of Minister of Commerce (1802–11), President of the
State Council State Council may refer to:
Government
* State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President
* State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...
(1810–12), Foreign Minister (1808–12), and Chancellor of the Russian Empire. On receiving the news of
Napoleon's invasion of Russia (1812), he suffered a stroke and lost his hearing. He died childless, and the family became extinct soon thereafter.
{{Authority control
Russian noble families