Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York ...

Gavrila (Gavriil) Ivanovich Golovkin (russian: Гаври́ла (Гаврии́л) Ива́нович Голо́вкин) (1660 – 20 January 1734) was a Russian

statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a ...

who formally presided over foreign affairs of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

from 1706 until his death. The real control over Russian diplomacy during his lengthy term in office was exercised by

Boris Kurakin Prince Boris Ivanovich Kurakin (russian: Князь Борис Иванович Куракин; 30 July 1676, Moscow – 28 October 1727, Paris) was the third permanent Russian ambassador abroad, succeeding Andrey Matveyev in The Hague and one ...

until 1727 and by

Andrey Osterman Count Andrey Ivanovich Osterman (''Heinrich Johann Friedrich Ostermann''; russian: Андрей Иванович Остерман) (9 June 1686 31 May 1747) was a German-born Russian statesman who came to prominence under Tsar Peter I of Russia ...

after his death. In 1677, while still a young man, Gavrila Golovkin was attached to the court of the

tsarevich Tsarevich (russian: Царевич, ) is a Slavic title given to tsars' sons. Under the 1797 Pauline house law, the title was discontinued and replaced with ''Tsesarevich'' for the heir apparent alone. His younger brothers were called '' Veli ...

Peter, with whose mother Nataliya he was connected, and vigilantly guarded him during the disquieting period of the regency of Sophia. He accompanied the young

tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

abroad on his first foreign tour, and worked by his side in the

dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

s of

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan, just north of Amsterdam. The statistical district Zaand ...

. In 1706, he succeeded Golovin in the direction of

foreign policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...

, and was created the first Russian grand-chancellor on the field of Poltava (1709). Golovkin held this office for twenty-five years. In the reign of

Catherine I Catherine I ( rus, Екатери́на I Алексе́евна Миха́йлова, Yekaterína I Alekséyevna Mikháylova; born , ; – ) was the second wife and empress consort of Peter the Great, and Empress Regnant of Russia from 1725 un ...

, he became a member of the

Supreme Privy Council The Supreme Privy Council (russian: Верховный тайный совет) of Imperial Russia, founded on 19 February 1726 and operative until 1730, originated as a body of advisors to Empress Catherine I. History Originally, the council com ...

, which had the chief conduct of affairs during this and the succeeding reigns. The

empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

also entrusted him with her last will whereby she appointed the young Peter II her successor and Golovkin one of his guardians. On the death of Peter II in 1730, he declared openly in favour of

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia ...

, in opposition to the

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...

Dolgorukovs and

Galitzine The House of Golitsyn or Galitzine was one of the largest princely of the noble houses in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire. Among them were boyars, warlords, diplomats, generals (the Mikhailovichs), stewards, chamberlains, the richest ...

s, and his determined attitude on behalf of

autocracy Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except per ...

was the chief cause of the failure of the proposed

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

, which would have converted Russia into a limited monarchy. Under Anna, he was a member of the first

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

formed in Russia, but had less influence in affairs than

Osterman Osterman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Russian * Andrei Osterman (1686–1747), Russian statesman * Ivan Osterman (1725-1811), Russian statesman American * Cat Osterman (b. 1983), American softball player * Harry Osterm ...

and Munnich. In 1707, Golovkin was created a count of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

, and in 1710 a count of the

. He was one of the wealthiest, and at the same time one of the stingiest, magnates of his day. His ignorance of any language but his own made his intercourse with foreign ministers very inconvenient. For the ultimate disgrace of his relatives, see the

Lopukhina Affair Natalia Fyodorovna Lopukhina (November 11 1699– March 11 1763) was a Russian noble, court official and alleged political conspirator. She was a daughter of Matryona Balk, who was sister of Anna Mons and Willem Mons. She is famous for the Lopu ...

Yury Golovkin Count Yurii Alexandrovich Golovkin (russian: Юрий Александрович Головкин, links=no) (1762–1846) was a Russian diplomat who served as Russian Minister (ambassador) in Stuttgart (1813–18) and in Vienna (1818–1822), but ...

, Russia's first ambassador to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, was his great-grandson.

External links

List of Descendants at European Dynastics.com

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Golovkin, Gavrila Foreign ministers of the Russian Empire Chancellors of the Russian Empire Counts of the Russian Empire 1660 births 1734 deaths 17th-century Russian people 18th-century politicians from the Russian Empire Counts of the Holy Roman Empire Peter the Great Members of the Supreme Privy Council Cabinet ministers of the Russian Empire