The heat of last love: Ivan Betskoy. Pedagogical views and activities of I.I.

In 1763 I.I. Betskoy presented Catherine II with a program of educational and pedagogical reform - a document entitled “General Institution for the Education of Both Sexes of Youth.” In it, he outlined progressive, although not entirely original, pedagogical views that developed under the influence of J. Locke, J.J. Russo, K.A. Helvetius, F. Fenelon and J.A. Comenius, revised for Russian conditions. Thus, like Locke, Betskoy recognized the importance of physical education and the need to take into account the child’s temperament, and like Rousseau “believed the need to follow in the footsteps of nature, without overcoming or breaking it, but promoting it.”

Betskoy hoped, through education, to create a “new breed of people” - humane and fair nobles, as well as merchants, industrialists, artists, artisans, doctors, who would then, through the family, spread the principles of the new education to the entire society. He saw how the moral, political and economic importance of this class grew in the West, and regretted that in Russia only “two ranks were established: nobles and peasants,” and merchants, townspeople, artisans and branches of state life associated with these ranks had no importance . “In foreign states,” Betskoy reasoned, “the third rank of the people, established over several centuries, continues from generation to generation: but since this rank is not yet found here (in Russia), it seems that this is what is needed...” In order to create this “third rank”, useful to the state, in the traditions of the European Enlightenment, he proposed organizing closed educational institutions, where 5-6-year-old children, freed from the “corrupting” influence of the surrounding life, would be under vigilant supervision until the age of 18. under the care of teachers who set an example by their behavior. Betskoy considered the condition for the formation of the first generation of “new people” to be the strict isolation of pupils from the harmful influence of society, prejudices and vices of the old generation. Between the old generation and the new, according to Betsky, it is necessary to create an artificial barrier so that the first, “animal-like and frantic in words and deeds,” would be deprived of the opportunity to influence the second. At the same time, Betskoy saw the task of true education as inspiring self-respect in a person: “A person, considering himself a human being, should not allow himself to be treated like an animal.” On March 1 (12), 1764, the plan was approved by Catherine, and Betsky was instructed to organize new and transform existing educational institutions.

In addition to the Academy of Arts, the name of I.I. Betsky is inextricably linked with the establishment of the first women's educational institution in Russia and with the founding of an “educational home for the unfortunate.” Before Betsky, Russia cared little about the fate of abandoned children. True, Peter I issued several decrees on the construction of houses “for shameful infants” at churches and on their maintenance at women’s monasteries, but his successors did not pay special attention to this subject. Only Betskoy again raised the forgotten issue, and according to his project, Catherine II established an Orphanage in Moscow (with a manifesto dated September 1, 1763). The organization of the new business was developed to the smallest detail by I.I. Betsky. The main principles of this institution were as follows. Anyone could bring a baby into the house at any time, without explaining anything, but only by stating whether the baby was baptized or not. The child was handed over to a wet nurse or nanny, and after two years he was transferred to a special category where children of both sexes lived together. From the age of seven they were separated and began to be taught reading, writing, the basics of faith, as well as light manual work. From the age of 14-15, pupils were taught crafts, depending on each person’s inclinations. After 4-5 years they could get married and, using the premises in the house for three or four years, work for themselves; upon leaving home, they received full uniforms and the rights of free people. These pupils were supposed, according to Betsky, to gradually increase the “middle class of people”, i.e. the class of urban inhabitants to which they were all classified. During education, according to Betsky’s instructions, it was necessary to deal with it kindly and meekly: corporal punishment was strictly prohibited, “so as not to accustom youth to severity.” Literacy and crafts were also to be taught to females.

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Betskoy, Ivan Ivanovich - bastard son of the prince. Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy (later field marshal), adopted by him during his time in captivity in Stockholm after the unsuccessful battle of Narva in 1700, born, according to unanimous testimony, on February 3, but some take the year of birth as 1703, and others as 1704. y, mind. August 31, 1795 Some call Baroness Wrede the mother of Betsky, others call Baroness Skarre, others call her a lady of high society, and, finally, others simply call her a Swede, all equally unfounded. Persons closer to Betsky and his time generally pass over this issue in silence. There is no indication of the influence of his mother on Betsky’s further upbringing. His father returned from captivity in 1718. Whether Betskoy also arrived in Russia at that time cannot be said with certainty. Berchholz, who visited the house of Prince Trubetskoy, speaking about the prince’s daughters, does not mention at all the presence in his house of any young man who would be close to the princely family. On the other hand, there is evidence, although also unfounded, that Betskoy studied at the university in Abo or Leipzig and then traveled around Europe. It is very likely that, wanting to please Peter the Great, Prince Trubetskoy sent his son overseas. Betsky himself, presenting a discussion on education to Empress Catherine II in 1764, says how he, as a cadet in the Copenhagen cadet corps, went on guard, stood on guard, etc. In addition, when Betsky entered military service in 1726 he testified that he was in Paris for science in 1722. In the same testimony, Betskoy pretends to be a Polish nobleman, whose relatives serve the Polish crown. These confessions by Betsky allow us to accept that he really studied abroad. Then he entered the service of Prince Vasily Lukich Dolgorukov, who was sent to Paris, as secretary of foreign affairs. In 1726, Betskoy was transferred to the service of his father, Trubetskoy (at that time a general in the field army of the Ukrainian corps and the Kyiv governor), for foreign correspondence “in German and French dialects, as he is more skilled in that.” And in 1728, when Prince Trubetskoy was promoted to field marshal and was already living in Moscow, Betskoy served as his aide-de-camp. During these years, he often visited, as he himself states, Antioch Cantemir, who then lived on his estate, Black Mud, near Moscow. Conversations with him, without a doubt, had a significant influence on the development and mindset of Betsky. During the accession of Anna Ioannovna, Prince Trubetskoy, together with Antioch Cantemir, Yaguzhinsky and others. , was one of the main supporters of the autocracy and himself presented the famous petition to the Empress. Betskoy was among those who signed this petition. At the same time, Betskoy was appointed by Trubetskoy from April 8, 1730 to the rank of adjutant general, but was approved in this rank by the military board only on September 5, 1733 and, moreover, with the rank of major, and after a year he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Continuing to serve under his father, Betskoy traveled at the beginning of 1739 with his daughter Anastasia Ivanovna (who in 1738 entered into a second marriage with Prince Ludwig of Hesse-Homburg) abroad and visited various places in Germany, as well as Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin, and in the winter of 1740 he returned to Russia again. In the coup of 1741, Betskoy did not personally take an active part, but only appeared to Shetardy with various instructions from Empress Elizabeth immediately after her entry into the palace. Thus, Betsky was already close to the Court even then, thanks, of course, to his half-sister, Anastasia Ivanovna, Princess of Hesse of Homburg, who enjoyed the great favor of Elizabeth Petrovna. On February 18, 1742, Betskoy, being in the rank of lieutenant colonel, was granted chamberlain to the heir to the throne, Pyotr Feodorovich. In this position, Betskoy often appeared at the Court and repeatedly saw Princess Joanna Elizabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst, who arrived in Moscow in 1744 with her daughter, who soon married Pyotr Fedorovich. During this time, according to Catherine II herself, “her mother became very closely attached to the Hesse-Homburg spouses and even more so to Chamberlain Betsky. Countess Rumyantseva, Marshal Brumaire and everyone in general did not like this.” In addition, being a chamberlain of the small court together with Peter Sumarokov, Lilienfeld, Dicker, Peter Devier, Betskoy, who was fluent in French and German and had already seen a lot in his life abroad, he had the opportunity, as an interesting interlocutor, to attract the attention of the heir to the throne and his spouses, preferably in front of other persons of the Grand Duke's court, which consisted mainly of Germans. In 1747, Betskoy shared the fate of the latter and, at the insistence of Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, was removed along with other associates of the Grand Duke, since they influenced His Highness in a spirit that did not correspond to the political views of the Chancellor. Betskoy, however, remained a chamberlain, but very rarely appeared at the Court and even made a trip abroad again in 1756, together with Prince Dimitri Mikhailovich Golitsyn, married to his niece, Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kantemir (daughter of Anastasia Ivanovna of Hesse-Homburg from the first her marriage). During this long stay abroad, Betskoy visited Germany, Holland, France and Italy, inspecting various institutions and charitable institutions. In Paris, he met many artists, scientists and writers (such as Grimm, Diderot, etc.), as well as Madame Geoffrin, and visited her salon, where the luminaries of French literature and art gathered. Probably at the same time in Paris, Betskoy became acquainted with the teachings and views of both the encyclopedists and Rousseau and his followers. This acquaintance was largely reflected in Betsky’s various projects, which he subsequently presented to Catherine II. The accession to the throne of Peter III found Betsky already in Vienna, as can be seen from his congratulatory letter to the Emperor dated January 11-22, and the next one dated March 27, 1762. Notifying in the latter of the receipt of the Highest Decree on his immediate arrival in Russia, Betsky writes, that his painful condition may slightly impede his speedy return and, to justify himself, he encloses the testimony of doctors. Arriving in St. Petersburg, Major General Betskov (as they wrote at that time) by decree on May 24, 1762, was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed chief director of the office of buildings. During the coup on June 28, 1762, Betskoy was on the side of Peter III and was riding on one of the galleys sailing to Kronstadt. However, Catherine II not only left Betsky to continue managing the office of buildings, but also appointed him as a member of the special commission established on December 11, 1762 for the organization of the cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow. The establishment of this commission, responsible for managing buildings in the capitals, significantly changed the scope of activities of the office of buildings, which in 1765 was renamed the office of Her Majesty's buildings and gardens and began to manage exclusively the palaces and gardens of Her Majesty. In 1769 this office was renamed into an office. The Empress's penchant for various buildings made the position of director of the chancellery (and then office) of buildings very troublesome and even unpleasant. Betsky himself had to supervise the making of bricks, the burning of lime, etc.; Moreover, there was a constant shortage of money to cover the costs of constructing new buildings and maintaining previously erected ones; it was impossible not to fight against various kinds of abuses, which were commonplace at that time. But, in addition to managing the palaces and gardens, Betsky was also entrusted with other assignments. So, after a larger fire in the mountains. Tver May 12, 1763 he was instructed to draw up a more correct planning of buildings in this city, and he presented a large note on this matter, approved by the Empress on June 14. Then, during the construction of the monument to Peter the Great, Betskoy had chief supervision over all the work carried out by Falconet. In March 1762, the Academy of Arts separated from Moscow University, and the main management of the Academy was entrusted to Betsky. First of all, he took care of the construction of a special building for the Academy and petitioned the Empress for a decree on the release of the Academy of the so-called Vratislavsky court on Vasilyevsky Island (at the corner of the 3rd and 4th lines), and then repeatedly asked for money for the construction of an extensive building on this site , which, however, was not finally rebuilt during Betsky’s lifetime due to lack of funds. At the same time, Betskoy presented a draft of a new charter for the Academy, in many ways similar to that drawn up by his predecessor, Shuvalov. After preliminary consideration of this project by Prince Shakhovsky, Minikh, Olsufiev, Teplov and N. Panin, who fully approved of it, it was approved by the Empress on November 4, 1764. According to this charter, the main management of the Academy was entrusted to the council (or meeting), consisting of the director and professors, and the chairman was the president of the Academy (Betskoy held this title), who reported everything necessary at the Academy to the Empress. The entire educational and educational part was headed by the director, the second person after the president. The entire economic part, as well as the financial part, was entrusted to the council. The academy consisted of several separate classes, the training lasted six years, after which the students were examined, depending on their success, they were awarded various medals, received liberties, and the twelve most successful people were sent abroad for three years of improvement. From the affairs of the Academy it is clear that Betskoy cared a lot and was interested in these students who were in different places abroad. At the Academy there was also a special educational school for boys admitted at the age of 5-6 years, who after ten years of training could enter the Academy. Those who did not have a vocation for art were assigned to different skills, according to their inclinations and abilities. On June 27, 1769, Betskoy asked permission from the Empress to support ten boys at his own expense, starting in 1770, taking them in every three years. By 1785 there were already 60 people educated at the expense of Betsky at the Academy of Arts. With the subsequent change in the amount of interest paid by the bank in 1786, Betskoy no longer found it possible to continue this matter and notified the council of the previously scheduled new admission of pupils in 1788. On this occasion, Betsky had a correspondence with the Academy about the money owed to it for the students raised at his expense, and the necessary amount was received after the death of Betsky, who also bequeathed to the Academy two cabinets with engraved antiques, very ancient, and with rare casts of images of various historical faces made primarily by French artists. This collection was collected by him during his travels abroad. In addition to the Academy, Betsky's name is inextricably linked with the establishment of the first women's educational institution in Russia and with the founding of an educational home for the unfortunate, with the publication of a new charter of the cadet corps, as well as with the establishment of the first public credit institution (safety and loan treasury). Before Betsky, we cared little about the fate of abandoned children. True, Peter the Great issued several decrees on the construction of houses “for shameful infants” at churches and on their maintenance at women’s monasteries, but his successors, apparently, did not pay much attention to this subject. Only Betskoy again raised the forgotten question, and according to his project, Empress Catherine II established an educational home in Moscow (manifesto of September 1, 1763). The organization of the new business was developed to the smallest detail by Betsky. The main principles of this institution, set out in the first and second parts of the master plan, were as follows. Anyone could bring a baby into the house at any time, without explaining anything, but only by declaring whether the baby was baptized or not. The child was handed over to a wet nurse or nanny, and after two years he was transferred to a special category where children of both sexes lived together. From the seventh year they were separated and began to be taught reading, writing, the first foundations of faith, as well as light manual work. From the age of 14-15, pets were taught various skills, depending on each person’s inclination. After 4-5 years, they could get married and, using the premises in the house for three or four years, work for themselves; upon leaving home, they received full uniforms and the rights of free people. These pets were, according to Betsky, gradually increasing the “middle class of people,” that is, the class of urban inhabitants to which they were all classified. During education, according to Betsky’s instructions, it was necessary to treat them kindly and meekly: all corporal punishment was strictly prohibited, not only on pets, but also on the lower servants of the house, so as not to teach the youth to severity. It was prescribed to try to correct children with admonitions. Of course, females were also to be taught literacy and skills. The main direct control of the house was entrusted to the chief overseer. The house had a special council of six guardians, who were obliged to assist in matters relating to the house. In addition, there was also a chief trustee (he was Betskoy), who, together with the council, was supposed to try to ensure the exact implementation of the general plan, and report to the Empress on matters requiring the Highest permission. Although all management and disposal of the house was provided exclusively to the chief overseer and the council of guardians, from the very beginning the true engine of the new business was Betskoy, as can be seen from his extensive correspondence with the guardians and many journals of the guardianship council, caused by the proposals of the chief trustee, to whom the council , and the general overseer constantly sought guidance. To strengthen the funds of the house, which was maintained exclusively by voluntary donations, Betskoy set up three treasuries with it on November 20, 1772 - safe, loan and widow's. The first was established, according to Betsky, to protect all persons’ capital, on which, when deposited in the safe treasury, interest was paid to investors in the established amount. The treasury also issued loans secured by real estate. For loans secured by hand collateral, a loan treasury was established, charging half a percent per month. By this, Betskoy sought to protect those in need from “self-serving moneylenders who oppress poor fellow citizens under the false cover of virtues.” These two treasuries did great business and existed until the transformation of state credit institutions in 1859. Betskoy intended the widow’s treasury “to alleviate the sad state of those widows who, after their husbands, are often left without food and without help.” According to Betsky's plan, the widow's treasury consisted of 4 classes or categories, for which husbands during their lives paid annual certain contributions, and upon their death, widows, in proportion to the contributions made, were paid either an annual pension or a lump sum, depending on a preliminary agreement. These payments to widows were not delayed under any circumstances and were always given in full to them or their heirs and attorneys. This institution existed back in 1858. Following the example of the Moscow educational home, according to Betsky’s proposal, on September 6, 1772, the same house was established in St. Petersburg, which initially formed a branch of the Moscow orphanage. Betskoy expressed the hope that in other cities, due to the master plan, shelters for abandoned children would appear. In connection with these plans, there are those lines in the institution on the management of provinces (1775), which instruct the orders of public charity to take care of the establishment, maintenance and management of orphanages.

Soon after the Empress approved the first part of the master plan for the educational home (September 1, 1763), Betskoy presented the so-called general institution for the education of both sexes of youth, confirmed by the Empress on March 12, 1764. Betskoy steadily and persistently carried out this “institution” in all educational institutions he organized. establishments; Here his main views on the tasks and means of education are expressed. Having pointed out how difficult it is to overcome the superstition of centuries and give the people a new education, so to speak, a new generation, Betskoy, sharing the views of Rousseau, says that the root of all good and evil in a person is education, which must be vigilantly taken care of until the age of 18-20. Children should be in schools without any escape, since communicating with people indiscriminately is very harmful. It is necessary to arouse in youth a desire for hard work and a fear of idleness, as the source of all evil, to teach decency, sympathy for the poor, the unfortunate, in a word - all the virtues and qualities that belong to a good education. At the same time, educational institutions should pay great attention to physical education. In a special “short instruction, selected from the best authors, with some physical notes on the education of children from birth to adolescence” (attached to the general institution and compiled mainly according to Locke, Fenelon and Rousseau), Betskoy first speaks in detail about the treatment of infants and children up to six years. He suggests not instilling empty fears in children, removing them from dealing with ignorant and evil people, not allowing them to see unreasonable actions, and if they have to reprimand children, then act “without the ferocity of malice, so as not to damage their natural sharpness with great fear.” At this first age, children should be taught everything “playfully” and, as much as possible, without coercion. At the next age, from 5 to 10 years, it is necessary to develop children physically with different games, not to interfere with their amusements, “to lead them to learning, just like in a pleasant field decorated with flowers, to try in every possible way to instill in children a love of learning, so that it is rewarded they respected themselves." It is especially necessary to try to ensure that children have only a sound mind and a kind heart. Children should almost never be beaten and cruel punishments should never be followed by reckless and ferocious school teachers. All beatings, according to all physical rules, are undoubtedly harmful to health. At the third age of children, from 12 to 15 and 16 years old, people who are cruel, evil and with physical defects should be removed from them in every possible way. We must teach them to endure various hardships and hardships, not allow any one passion to intensify in young men, especially for card and other games, remove them from bad conversations, from reading harmful books, etc., without losing sight of There is a saying that chance makes the thief. It is necessary to accustom youth to cleanliness in everything, to courtesy, decency, etc. This first systematic presentation of the views of the Russian government under Catherine II on education was published as if for general guidance to all parents in raising children and at the same time was used by Betsky in school regulations institutions compiled by him on behalf of the Empress. First of all, these new principles found application in the decree of May 5, 1764 on the education of noble maidens at the Resurrection Monastery. Before Catherine, we had no women’s educational institutions at all. Soon after ascending the throne, the Empress instructed Betsky, as he had personally seen the famous Saint-Cyr in Paris, to present a report on the establishment in Russia of a closed institution for the education of girls of noble birth. Betsky's project was approved on May 5, 1764. According to this project, an educational society for noble maidens was established in St. Petersburg; it accepted females of noble origin from 5-6 years old, and the parents signed a signature that they would completely give up the child until the age of 18 and would not demand this back before. The main order for the entire society and supervision over the exact execution of the charter was given to the boss, under whom the ruler was. In addition, there were four more trustees from noble persons who constituted a meeting (or council) to consider and resolve various issues related to economy and improvement of the house. Betskoy was appointed one of the trustees, who remained in this rank until his death. He himself presented reports to the Empress on the affairs of the educational society, which required the Highest permission, and in general had a great influence on the internal life and routine of the new educational institution. Thanks to his humane influence, the attitude of the institution’s management towards the girls that existed there at first was established, and is clearly expressed in many letters and memoirs of Smolyans during this time. Initially, the pupils were housed in the buildings of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent on the banks of the Neva River, but, according to Betsky’s ideas, the Empress allowed the construction of a special building for the society, especially since the circle of the society’s activities soon expanded significantly. Having established the first closed female educational institution for girls of noble birth, Betskoy already in 1765 reported to the Empress that for the benefit of society it is no less required that “the female sex of every rank be educated in good morals and knowledge and handicrafts appropriate to their condition.” As a result, according to Betsky’s report, on January 31, 1765, a decree was issued on the establishment at the same Resurrection Monastery of a special school for young girls of any rank, except for serfs, under the control of the same headmistress and ruler, but with a different training program: attention was mainly paid to for various handicrafts and other household chores. In 1772, Betskoy expressed a desire to support, at his own expense, five pupils from the poor nobles who entered the school at each admission, and in 1773 he introduced general rules on the admission of children to educational schools at their own expense, i.e. for whom the fee will be paid by the parents or anyone else.

The construction of an educational home in Moscow, undertaken by Prokofiy Demidov, gave rise in 1772 to a large correspondence with him from Betsky, who, expressing his views on commerce in our fatherland, informed Demidov that he was busy with the idea of ​​​​establishing a decent education for the children of the merchants, for them, that, having completed the plan, he would send it to Demidov for approval, that at present he does not have the funds necessary to set up an institution, etc. The result of this correspondence was, on the one hand, the plan (charter) of a commercial school, approved by the Empress on December 6 1772, and on the other hand, the donation made by Demidov (205 thousand rubles) for the maintenance of this school, which for the first years was located in Moscow, in the very building of the educational home. The charter of the school followed the same principles as in the charters of the above-mentioned educational institutions, i.e., children not younger than five years old were accepted, the same pedagogical techniques were prescribed, almost the same things were taught, with the addition of some subjects necessary for merchants - accounting (double, or Italian), historical geography, economics, information on state law, etc.; the best students were awarded medals and sent to foreign countries with recommendations to Russian ministers, so that they could be assigned to foreign offices for practical training. Those who completed the course enjoyed the patronage of the guardianship council in Moscow. The school was directly in charge of the chief warden of the Moscow educational home, and Betskoy only monitored, as far as possible from St. Petersburg, the implementation of the charter and gave the necessary instructions. This school contributed a lot to the disruption of the good relations established between Betsky and Demidov, who persistently sought to remove the school based on his funds from the jurisdiction of the chief overseer and move it to a completely special premises. Betskoy did not agree to this, perhaps because the commercial school itself did not meet with sympathy from the merchants, who were reluctant to send their children to the school and did not donate anything for its maintenance. Betskoy, in view of this, was afraid to expand the school and build a special building for it. Demidov, meanwhile, soon died, and in Moscow there was no one to supervise the school, in which unrest gradually began to arise. After the death of Betsky, and then of Empress Catherine II, a special commission was formed to revise the charter of the commercial school, which, like other educational institutions, came under the august patronage of Empress Maria Feodorovna, under whom this school, by decree of May 5, 1799. , was transferred to St. Petersburg.

It is also necessary to mention Betsky’s activities in the gentry cadet land corps. Catherine II, having taken the corps under her own authority, appointed Betsky as its chief director, and the immediate head of the corps was Major General Filosofov. According to the “points for change” of the cadet corps approved in 1765 (among which it was positively prescribed that “all corporal punishment should now be abolished for cadets”), Betsky drew up a new charter, approved by the Empress on September 11, 1766. The principles found in other charters drawn up by Betsky: only children of nobles, no older than six years old, were accepted into the corps, and the parents signed a signature that they would give up their children voluntarily, for at least fifteen years, during which they would not take their children even on vacation. The building was a closed institution, had five ages (or classes), each age stayed for three years. Entering the 4th age, the cadet had the right to choose civil service and, accordingly, studied some other sciences that other cadets did not study. It was prescribed to take care of the physical and moral development of the cadets, treat them kindly, never hit them with a sword or fuchtel, try to prevent and avert mistakes and misdeeds, etc. Those who completed the full course entered military service, the best were awarded medals, and the most worthy had the right , with the consent of the parents, travel abroad for three years at the expense of the corps. All the regulations drawn up by Betsky required especially good mentors and teachers, of whom there was a great shortage at that time; Therefore, it was necessary to resort to the assistance of foreigners. The desire to remove foreign influence prompted Betsky in 1772 to present a special report to the Empress, in which it was proposed to establish a special department within the land corps for the education of bourgeois children, from whom worthy teachers and educators for the corps could eventually form. The Empress approved this project on October 27. In 1773, Lieutenant General Purpur was appointed director of the corps, and Betskoy remained only a member of the council until its abolition in 1785.

In addition to his regular duties, Betskoy also performed many special tasks entrusted to him by the Empress. Thus, at one time he was in charge of the upbringing of young Bobrinsky and, sending him abroad, he wrote excellent instructions for the guidance of persons wishing to travel profitably. On behalf of the Empress, he acquired all sorts of paintings and statues from abroad, corresponded on these matters, etc. Betsky’s works were repeatedly awarded by the Empress: in 1766 he was promoted to actual privy councilor, and on April 21, 1768 he was awarded a knight of the order St. Andrew the First-Called, and on November 20, 1772 he received a very special honorary award. He was invited to the ceremonial meeting of the Governing Senate, at the entrance of which there was a guard of honor for him, and upon entering the hall, the Prosecutor General, as a sign of gratitude, presented him with a large gold medal on behalf of the Senate, in accordance with the Highest will. Later, with the establishment of the Order of St. Vladimir (September 22, 1782), Betskoy was among the first to be awarded knights of the first degree of this order. However, Betskoy never received any special monetary awards or grants of estates, generously distributed by the Empress to all those close to him, with the exception of the small Neuhaus manor in Livonia, with villages and fishing grounds, granted to him at the beginning of 1764. He lived mainly on the funds received to him from his father, had a spacious house in St. Petersburg on the river embankment (where the Prince of Oldenburg’s house is now), but led a modest life, did not give feasts, loved to read and follow the latest discoveries of all kinds, he himself carried out experiments on silkworms, raised artificial chickens and etc. Beginning in 1783, Betsky’s health became very poor; Apparently, he suffered from paralysis, he had poor control of his arms and legs; this was accompanied by a significant weakening of vision; Over the course of twelve years, Betskoy slowly died, but outlived all his peers. His death went unnoticed; it is not mentioned even in modern newspapers. Only Derzhavin honored his death with the poem “On the Death of a Benefactor,” and at his burial the famous spiritual leader Anastasy Bratanovsky uttered a funeral oration, which is still considered exemplary. Betskoy was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, in the so-called “tent”, which is located between the Churches of the Annunciation and the Holy Spirit. On the wall near the grave there is a copper plaque with the inscription: Quod aevo promuerit, aeterno obinuit (what he deserved in his age, he acquired for eternity). There is no special monument at the grave.

During his lifetime, Betskoy collected and published all his pedagogical and philanthropic thoughts, as well as the charters of various educational and charitable institutions he compiled, and published them in two collections; the first is entitled “A Collection of Institutions and Precepts Concerning the Education of Noble and Bourgeois Youth in Russia of Both Sexes” (1789), the second is “A Collection of Instructions on the Education of Children from Birth to Adolescence, Extracted from the Works of Locke, Montaigne and Others” (1766). ). In addition, according to his thoughts and instructions, the “Collection of Various News of the Imperial Orphanage” was published; here there is interesting information about the first years of the existence of this house.

The two collections mentioned and the "Collected News". - Complete collection of laws (First), volumes XVI-XXI. - Archives: Senate, Academy of Arts, Imp. Russian Historical Society, Council of Trustees, Imp. educational community noble maidens. - “History of Russia” by Solovyov, vol. XXI-XXV, XXVII, XXIX. - Korganov, “The History of the Accession of Anna Ioannovna.” - Bilbasov, “The History of Catherine II”. - "Readings of the Society of History and Antiquities at Moscow University" for 1861 and 1863. - Collection of the Imperial Russian Historical Society, vol. 17, 23, 27, 79, 81 and 98. - "Russian Archive", 1871, 1872, 1873, 1876, 1888, 1890 and 1899. - "Russian Antiquity", 1872, 1874, 1877, 1889, 1890 and 1896. - "Russian Bulletin", 1824, 1842, 1861, 1896. - "Domestic Notes", 1823, 1842, 1859. - Petrov, “Collection of materials for the history of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.” - Drashusov, “Materials for the history of the Moscow orphanage.” - Collection of materials for the history of the Commercial School. - Histoire des enfants trouvés, par Leon Lallemand. - Lalaev, “Essay on military educational institutions.” - Lyadov, “Historical sketch of the hundred-year life of the Imperial Educational Society for Noble Maidens.” - Bantysh-Kamensky, “Dictionary of Memorable People.” - Johann Bernonilli, "Reisen durch Russland". - Les princes Troubetzkoy, par la princesse Elise Troubetzkoy. - Mémoires de l "Imperatrice Catherine. Londres, 1859. - Dictionaries: Vengerov, Andreevsky, etc.

Betsky Ivan Ivanovich

- son of the “last boyar”, Field Marshal General Prince Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy and Baroness Wrede, b. in Stockholm on February 3, 1704. Upon the return of Prince Trubetskoy from Stockholm, where he lived in captivity, to Russia, B. was sent to Copenhagen, where he received an education and then entered the Danish cavalry regiment. But during one exercise he was thrown by a horse and severely dented as the squadron passed by; this circumstance forced him to refuse military service. After retiring, he traveled around Europe and, by the way, in Paris he was introduced to the Duchess of Anhalt-Zerbst - Johanna Elisabeth (mother of the Empress), who both at that time and subsequently treated him very graciously. In 1729, B. came to Russia and decided to serve in the College of Foreign Affairs, from which he was often sent as an office courier to Berlin, Vienna and Paris. At the same time, he served as an adjutant to his father, as a field marshal general. On the night of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna’s accession to the throne (November 24-25, 1741), he was constantly with the empress, who then awarded him the Order of St. Catherine, taken off by her. Soon after, the Duchess of Anhalt-Zerbst brought her daughter to St. Petersburg, chosen as the wife of the heir to the throne, Vel. book Pyotr Fedorovich. B. was appointed to serve under the duchess-mother, and after her departure from Russia in 1747, he retired (with the rank of major general) and went to Paris. Here he lived for about 15 years and, by the way, made close acquaintance with encyclopedists, whose educational theories made a deep impression on him and subsequently became the basis for the pedagogical reform he undertook in Russia. At the beginning of 1762, Emperor Peter III summoned him to St. Petersburg, entrusted him with the main command over the office of the construction of His Majesty's houses and gardens and granted him the title of lieutenant general. Upon her accession to the throne, the Empress placed B. in an exceptional position: he was directly dependent only on her person. In general, she treated Betsky with great respect and surrounded him with honor; but he did not interfere in state affairs and had no influence on them; he carved out a special area for himself - educational, and did not leave it. By decree of March 3, 1763, he was entrusted with the management of the Academy of Arts, and on September 1 of the same year, a manifesto was published on the establishment of the Moscow Orphanage according to a plan drawn up on the instructions of B., a professor at Moscow University. Then the “Educational Society of Noble Maidens” (Smolny Monastery), also organized according to the ideas of B., was opened in St. Petersburg. and entrusted to his chief care and direction. In 1765 he was made chief of the Land. Entrusting him with all these institutions, she promoted him to actual privy councilor and rewarded him with enormous wealth, a significant portion of which he used for charity and especially for the development of educational institutions. In 1778, for his extensive charity, he was solemnly awarded by the Senate with a large gold medal “for love of the fatherland.” After living for some time in Moscow, he returned to St. Petersburg and here he opened, following the model of the Moscow one, an educational home, and with it - a widow's treasury, a treasury and a loan treasury, in favor of which he made huge donations. Being engaged, in addition to educational work, in supervising government buildings, he took care of the decoration of St. Petersburg; monuments to this activity of his remained: the monument to Peter the Great (Falconeta), the lattice of the Summer Garden, the Neva Bridge and the granite embankments of the Neva and canals. “Filled with the length of days” (as Anastasius put it), B. died in St. Petersburg. August 31, 1795 and buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Derzhavin honored his memory with an ode in which, listing his merits, he says: “There was a ray of mercy, Betsky, you.” These words are also carved on Betsky’s tombstone, and indeed, they best characterize its meaning.
As the originator and main figure of the pedagogical reform in Russia, B. was inspired by the idea (suggested to him by the encyclopedists and Rousseau) about the possibility of creating a new breed of people more capable of perceiving the principles of European civilization, which had only just been transferred to Russian soil, but was far from assimilated by Russian society . , who, like B., was a student of “enlightenment philosophy”, imbued with the same intellectual interests as him, could not help but sympathize with this bold and grandiose idea and gave B. extensive means for its implementation. This idea of ​​​​creating a new breed of people through the power of education had a close connection with another thought: the need to prefer general education to special education and at the same time pay special attention to the moral development of youth. These ideas formed the basis of the “master plan of education,” conceived with the close participation of B. Recognizing the power of education, which “bestows a new existence and produces a new kind of subjects,” B. assigned the state the responsibility to educate the people and expected the eradication from the new pedagogical system two main shortcomings of the previous one: the one-sidedness of special education and the neglect of the moral principle in the development of human abilities. Teaching alone is powerless to produce truly useful citizens: in addition to enlightening the mind with science, it is necessary to ennoble the heart. This moral element should occupy the first place in education: the good behavior of students should be preferred to their success. But education does not achieve its goal unless two adjacent generations are separated from each other, of which one, the older, is mired in ignorance and routine, and the other, the younger, would be threatened with a similar fate, if an artificial barrier is not placed between them, if not to close all the ways in which the old routinists, “brutish and violent in words and deeds,” spread their influence over the young and immature minds of the younger generation. Such an artificial barrier was supposed to be closed schools (boarding schools), where it was supposed to keep children until their minds matured and their habits for a different, enlightened environment became stronger. The pedagogical thought was joined by an equally important political thought: to create an educated third estate in Russia, the absence of which was strongly felt in our political system. B. saw how the moral and economic importance of this class grew in the West, and recalled his fatherland, where “two ranks were only established: nobles and peasants,” and merchants, townspeople, and artisans had no importance. In order to provide education for the “third rank of people,” philistine educational schools were established under the gentry corps at the Academy of Arts. Their pupils, as well as those from the educational home and commercial school, who distinguished themselves by good behavior and success, received hereditary freedom and various civil rights. All these pedagogical plans, together with various regulations on schools, are collected in a separate publication: “Collection of institutions and regulations regarding the education of noble and bourgeois youth in Russia of both sexes” (3 parts, St. Petersburg, 1789-91). The idea of ​​educating a “new breed of people” could not be realized, because there is no way to separate the students from the society from which they come and to which they must return again; but still, B. still has the important merit that he was the first to be a champion of general education, with his energetic activities in establishing city schools, he helped a lot in the spread of literacy and, in addition, laid the foundation for women's education in Russia.

Biography

Illegitimate son of Field Marshal General Prince Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy, whose shortened surname he later received, and probably of Baroness Wrede. He was born in Stockholm, where his father was captured, and lived his childhood years there. Having first received “excellent teaching” under the guidance of his father, Betskoy was sent for further education to Copenhagen, to the local cadet corps; then he served briefly in the Danish cavalry regiment; during a training exercise he was thrown by a horse and severely mauled, which, apparently, forced him to abandon military service. He traveled for a long time in Europe, and spent -1726 years “for science” in Paris, where, at the same time, he served as secretary to the Russians and was introduced to Duchess Joanna Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst (mother of Catherine II), who at that time, and subsequently treated him very graciously (due to which the hypothesis arose that Catherine II was his daughter).

In Russia, Betskoy first served as an aide-de-camp to his father in Kyiv and Moscow, and in 1729 he decided to serve in the College of Foreign Affairs, from which he was often sent as an office courier to Berlin, Vienna and Paris. Thanks to his father and half-sister Anastasia Ivanovna, wife of Prince Ludwig of Hesse-Homburg, Betskoy became close to the court of Elizabeth Petrovna. Research by P. M. Maikov has established that he did not take part at all in the coup of November 25 (December 6), 1741, which placed Elizabeth on the throne.

As a result of the machinations of Chancellor Bestuzhev, Betskoy was forced () to resign. He went abroad and on the way there tried, in his own words, “not to miss anything from the vast living book of nature and everything seen, which more expressively than any book teaches you to glean all the important information for the great education of the heart and mind”. Betskoy lived abroad for 15 years, mainly in Paris, where he visited secular salons, made acquaintance with encyclopedists and, through conversations and reading, acquired the then fashionable ideas.

Peter III at the beginning of 1762 summoned Betsky to St. Petersburg, promoted him to lieutenant general and appointed him chief director of the office of His Majesty's buildings and houses. In the coup of June 28 (July 9), 1762, Betskoy did not take part and, apparently, knew nothing about the preparations for it; perhaps because he was always indifferent to politics in the proper sense. Catherine, who had known Betsky since her arrival in Russia, brought him closer to her, appreciated his education, elegant taste, his attraction to rationalism, on which she herself was raised. Betskoy did not interfere in state affairs and had no influence on them; he carved out a special area for himself - education.

By decree of March 3, 1763, he was entrusted with management, and he was appointed president of the Academy of Arts, at which he established an educational school. On September 1, 1763, a manifesto was published on the establishment of a Moscow educational home according to a plan drawn up, according to some data, by Betsky himself, according to others - by Moscow University professor A. A. Barsov, on Betsky’s instructions. According to Betsky, an “educational society for noble maidens” was opened in St. Petersburg (later), entrusted to his main care and leadership. In 1765, he was appointed chief of the Land Noble Corps, for which he drew up a charter on a new basis. In 1768, Catherine II promoted Betsky to the rank of actual Privy Councilor. In 1773, according to Betsky's plan and with funds from Prokopiy Demidov, an educational commercial school for merchant children was established.

Having entrusted Betsky with the management of all educational and educational institutions, Catherine presented him with great wealth, a significant share of which he gave to charity and especially to the development of educational institutions. Following the model of the Moscow one, Betskoy opened an orphanage in St. Petersburg, and with it he established a widow's and treasury, which were based on the generous donations he made.

<…>
There was a ray of mercy, Betskoy, you!

Who shed streams of blood in battles;
Who transformed cities into dust -
You are full of mercy, love,
Saved, preserved, taught, wrote;
Whoever sparkled metal - you were eliminated;
Whoever got rich, you were rewarded;
Who wasted - you took care of life;
Who for yourself - you lived for everyone.
<…>

In 1773, the Senate, at a solemn meeting, presented Betsky with a large gold medal knocked out in his honor, in accordance with the Highest Will, for the establishment of scholarships at his own expense in 1772, with the inscription: “For love of the fatherland. From the Senate November 20, 1772." As director of the office of buildings, Betskoy contributed greatly to the decoration of St. Petersburg with government buildings and structures; the largest monuments of this aspect of his activity remained the monument to Peter the Great, the granite embankment of the Neva and canals and the lattice of the Summer Garden. Towards the end of Betsky’s life, Catherine lost interest in him and deprived him of the title of her reader. From her expression: “Betskoy arrogates to himself the glory of the state,” one can think that the reason for the cooling was rooted in the empress’s confidence that Betskoy alone takes credit for the educational reform, while Catherine herself claimed a significant role in this matter.

Betskoy was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. On his tombstone there are medallions depicting the medal “For Love of the Fatherland” and the inscription
“WHAT DO YOU DESERVE IN YOUR USEFUL DAYS”
LET THERE BE A MONUMENT IN THE LATER CENTURIES
QUOD AEVO PROMERUIT, AETERNE OBTINUIT.”

Pedagogical views

The main principles of the educational reform undertaken by Betsky are outlined in his report: “General Institution on the Education of Youth of Both Sexes,” approved by the Empress on March 1 (12), 1764. In the “General Establishment” - in general aphoristic expressions, and in the charters - point by point, in annex to practical needs, the pedagogical views of Western European rationalism are set out. Betsky's views on educational methods were progressive for his time: educators should be “conscientious and worthy example people”, teach without coercion, taking into account the child’s inclinations, and do not use corporal punishment.

Betskoy, from the far from coinciding views of Locke, Rousseau and Helvetius, accepting one and rejecting the other, compiled an integral system. It was based on the task of creating a new breed of people. Betsky’s image of a new man is definitely not depicted anywhere, but judging by the scattered remarks, his main feature was the absence of those negative properties that were characteristic of his contemporaries. Some positive points are: “A person, feeling like a human, ... should not allow himself to be treated like an animal”; “so that the most graceful heart may still be united with the graceful mind”; “a person must learn the rules of civil life”.

Catherine, who, like Betskaya, was a follower of educational philosophy, sympathized with this grandiose idea, and the “General Plan” was undoubtedly drawn up by Betsky after a preliminary discussion of its main provisions together with the empress. The means to achieve a “new breed” is education. Without denying the importance of general education, the education of the mind, Betskoy shifts the center of gravity to the education of the heart, to upbringing. “The root of all good and evil is education”, he says. “A mind adorned or enlightened by science does not yet make a good and upright citizen, but in many cases it is even more detrimental if someone has not been brought up in virtues from his tenderest youth.”.

According to Rousseau, Betskoy recognizes that man is not evil by nature, but good, and the soul of a child is like wax on which you can write anything. Betskoy invites educational institutions to write kind things on it: “To strengthen the hearts of young men in laudable inclinations, to arouse in them a desire for hard work, and to fear idleness; teach them decent behavior, courtesy, condolences for the poor and unhappy; teach them housekeeping..., especially instill in them... a tendency towards neatness and cleanliness".

It is important to educate the first generation in this direction first, “new fathers and mothers who could instill in their children the same direct and thorough upbringing rules in their hearts that they themselves received, and so following from generation to generation, into future centuries”.

But education cannot achieve its goal if the first generations being educated are not completely isolated from the older generations adjacent to them, mired in ignorance, routine and vices. This idea, only slightly outlined by Rousseau ( “there are no congenital vices and villainies, but bad examples inspire them”), Betskoy developed to the extreme limits. Between the old generation and the new, according to Betsky, it is necessary to create an artificial barrier so that the first, “bestial and violent in words and actions” lost the opportunity to exert any influence on the second. Closed educational institutions (boarding schools) were supposed to serve as such an artificial barrier, where, under the guidance of enlightened mentors, children and youth would be kept until their hearts became stronger and their minds matured, that is, until they were 18-20 years old.

Like Locke, Betskoy recognized the importance of physical education and the need to take into account the child’s temperament, and like Rousseau “believed the need to follow in the footsteps of nature, not overcoming or breaking it, but facilitating it”. Betskaya also merged with the pedagogical idea a political and social desire: to create an educated third estate in Russia, “a third rank of people.” He saw how the moral, political and especially economic importance of this class grew in the West, and regretted that in Russia only “two ranks are established: nobles and peasants”, and merchants, townspeople, artisans and branches of state life associated with these titles were of no importance.

« In foreign countries, - Betskoy reasoned, - the third rank of the people, established over several centuries, continues from generation to generation: but as here(in Russia) this rank is not yet found, it seems that this is what is needed... The direct intention of the new institution(Orphanage) - to produce people capable of serving the fatherland through the works of their hands in various arts and crafts". The establishment of a number of institutions (orphanages, petty-bourgeois schools at the gentry corps and at the Academy of Arts), in addition to their direct and immediate tasks - to educate homeless children, to educate children of the lower classes - was aimed precisely at the creation of this “third rank of people.” All Betsky’s pedagogical plans and the statutes of the institutions he created are collected in a separate publication: “Institutions and Statutes concerning the education of youth of both sexes in Russia” (St. Petersburg, 1774). With the strengthening of the noble reaction after the Peasant War (1773-75), these views seemed too liberal, and Betskoy was removed from the leadership of educational institutions.

Awards

Knight of the Orders

• Order of St. Alexander Nevsky February 9 (20), 1762
• Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called April 21 (May 2), 1768
• Order of St. Vladimir, 1st class, October 23 (November 3), 1782. On the day of the establishment of the order.

Personal life

Betskoy was single, but had a number of “pupils”, including Anastasia Sokolova, to whom he bequeathed 80,000 rubles in silver and 40,000 in banknotes, as well as two stone houses on Palace Embankment. He was the curator of the Smolny Institute, and, being already an elderly man, he took 17-year-old graduate Glafira Alymova into his house, whom he was very jealous of. When the girl got married and, unable to withstand Betsky’s constant control, fled with her husband to Moscow, Betsky was struck down by a blow, he almost died and retired from most of his affairs.

Memory

• In 1868, a bust of Betsky was installed in the courtyard of the St. Petersburg Orphanage (1868, an enlarged copy of the sculptor A.P. Lavretsky from the original by Ya.I. Zemelgak, 1803; Moika embankment, 52).
• The bronze figure of Betsky is placed on the monuments to Empress Catherine II in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo, on the frieze of the monument “Millennium of Russia”.
• The Betsky House, located in St. Petersburg at Dvortsovaya emb. , 2

In fiction

• Yuri Limanov “Lovely Child of Sin”, historical novel, 2005
• Mikhail Kazovsky “Catherine: wisdom and love”, historical story, 2010
• Mikhail Kazovsky “Lomonosov’s Heir”, historical story, 2011

Notes

Links

• Maikov P. M. Iv. Iv. Betskoy. Biography experience. - St. Petersburg. , 1904.
• Lappo-Danilevsky A. S. I. I. Betskoy and his education system. Review of the essay by P. M. Maykov “Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy. Biographical experience." - St. Petersburg. , 1904.
• Betskaya I.I. Letters from I.I. Betsky to Empress Catherine II / Comment. P.M. Maykova // Russian antiquity, 1896. – T. 88. – No. 11. – P. 381-420.
• Betskaya I.I. Letter to Grigory Grigorievich Gogel, St. Petersburg, April 1784 / Communication. A.F. Bychkov // Russian antiquity, 1873. - T. 8. - No. 11. - P. 715-717.
• Betskaya I.I. Petition I.I. Betsky about his dismissal on leave abroad / Communication. A.F. Bychkov // Russian Archive, 1866. - Issue. 11. - Stb. 1567-1569.
• Betskoy, Ivan Ivanovich Establishment of the Imperial Educational Home for newborn children and a hospital for poor mothers in labor in the capital city of Moscow. Master plan Imp. Moscow Orphanage and Hospital [Text]: [in 3 hours]: Parts 1-3 / I. I. Betskoy. - 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg. : Academician Sciences, 1767. - p. : ill. - B. c. Braided: 1.Betskoy, Ivan Ivanovich. Addition to the publication of three parts of the General Plan Imp. Moscow educational home for those wishing to be in charge of the most noble institutions... / I. I. Betskoy. - St. Petersburg. : Academician Sciences, 1768. - 112, 5 p. : 1 l. ill. 2.Betskoy, Ivan Ivanovich. A brief instruction, selected from the best authors with some physical notes on the upbringing of children from birth to adolescence / I. I. Betskaya. - St. Petersburg. : Noble land. building, 1766. - 5, 49 p.
• Rzhevskaya G.I. Memoirs of Glafira Ivanovna Rzhevskaya // Russian Archive, 1871. - Book. 1. - Issue. 1. - Stb. 1-52.

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• Died in 1795
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See what “Betskoy, Ivan Ivanovich” is in other dictionaries:

The bastard son of the prince. Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy (later field marshal), adopted by him during his time in captivity in Stockholm after the unsuccessful battle of Narva in 1700, born, according to unanimous testimony, on February 3, but the same year of birth... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Betskoy, Ivan Ivanovich, Russian statesman, natural son of General Field Marshal Prince Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy, whose shortened surname he later received, and probably of Baroness Wrede. Born on February 3, 1704 in Stockholm,... ... Biographical Dictionary

Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy is a prominent figure in the Russian Enlightenment. On his initiative, the first women's educational institution in Russia was created - the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, as well as an educational home for orphans and foundlings. He was Catherine II's personal secretary from 1762 to 1779 and president of the Imperial Academy of Arts.

Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy was born on February 3, 1704 in Stockholm. His father is Prince Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy, who was captured by the Swedes during the Northern War. There is no exact information about the mother. According to one version, this is Baroness Wrede, according to another, Countess Sparr, other versions claim that his mother was generally of simple rank. Here is what Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Shcherbatov wrote about this:

Prince Ivan Yuryevich Trubetskoy, having been captured by the Swedes, had a mistress, they say, a single noble woman in Stockholm, whom he assured that he was a widow, and from her he had a son, who was called Betsky, and this even under Peter the Great was respected noble and was already in officer ranks.

In 1718, Ivan Trubetskoy and Avtonom Golovin were exchanged for the Swedish field marshal Renschild, who was in Russian captivity. Upon Ivan Yuryevich’s return from captivity, his family accepted little Vanya as their own. After several decades, Ivan Yuryevich, who had no legal heirs in the male line, will invite his son to change his last name and become Trubetskoy. However, he will be refused. Ivan Ivanovich will answer that “he became known under the name of Betsky and will remain and die with this name.”

Betskoy was sent to get an education in Copenhagen, to the local cadet corps; then he served briefly in the Danish cavalry regiment; during a training exercise he was thrown by a horse and severely mauled, which, apparently, forced him to abandon military service. He traveled for a long time in Europe, and spent 1722-1728 “for science” in Paris, where, at the same time, he served as secretary to the Russians and was introduced to Duchess Joanna Elizabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst (mother of Catherine II). There is a version that Betskoy is the real father of Catherine II.

In 1729 he came to Russia, served in the College of Foreign Affairs, being at the same time an adjutant to his father.

During the accession of Anna Ioannovna, Prince Trubetskoy, together with A. Kantemir, Yaguzhinsky and others, was among the main supporters of the autocracy and himself presented the empress with a well-known petition, which was signed by the young Betskoy. On April 8, 1730, Betskoy was appointed by Trubetskoy to the rank of adjutant general, but was confirmed in this rank by the Military Collegium only on September 5, 1733, and, moreover, with the rank of major, and a year later he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Continuing to serve under his father, Betskoy traveled at the beginning of 1739 with his daughter Anastasia Ivanovna (who in 1738 entered into a second marriage with Prince Ludwig of Hesse-Homburg) abroad and visited various places in Germany, as well as Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin, and in the winter of 1740 he returned to Russia again.

In the coup of 1741, Betskoy did not personally take an active part, but only appeared to Shetardy with various instructions from Empress Elizabeth immediately after her entry into the palace. His sister Anastasia Ivanovna managed to win the special favor of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, being with her during the palace coup in 1741, for which she was granted the title of lady of state on November 25, 1741. Thanks to her, he became close to the court of Elizabeth Petrovna.

On February 18, 1742, Betskoy, being in the rank of lieutenant colonel, was granted chamberlain to the heir to the throne, Pyotr Feodorovich. In this position, Betskoy often appeared at the Court and repeatedly saw Princess Joanna Elizabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst, who arrived in Moscow in 1744 with her daughter, who soon married Pyotr Fedorovich. During this time, according to Catherine II herself, “her mother became very closely attached to the Hesse-Homburg spouses and even more so to Chamberlain Betsky. Countess Rumyantseva, Marshal Brumaire and everyone in general did not like this.”

In addition, being a chamberlain of the small court together with Peter Sumarokov, Lilienfeld, Dicker, Peter Devier, Betskoy, who was fluent in French and German and had already seen a lot in his life abroad, he had the opportunity, as an interesting interlocutor, to attract the attention of the heir to the throne and his spouses, preferably in front of other persons of the Grand Duke's court, which consisted mainly of Germans. In 1747, Betskoy shared the fate of the latter and, at the insistence of Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, was removed along with other associates of the Grand Duke, since they influenced His Highness in a spirit that did not correspond to the political views of the Chancellor.

Betskoy, however, remained a chamberlain, but very rarely appeared at the Court and even made a trip abroad again in 1756, together with Prince Dimitri Mikhailovich Golitsyn, married to his niece, Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kantemir (daughter of Anastasia Ivanovna of Hesse-Homburg from the first her marriage). During this long stay abroad, Betskoy visited Germany, Holland, France and Italy, inspecting various institutions and charitable institutions. In Paris, he met many artists, scientists and writers (such as Grimm, Diderot, etc.), as well as Madame Geoffrin, and visited her salon, where the luminaries of French literature and art gathered. Probably at the same time in Paris, Betskoy became acquainted with the teachings and views of both the encyclopedists and Rousseau and his followers. This acquaintance was largely reflected in Betsky’s various projects, which he subsequently presented to Catherine II.

The government activities that made him famous began with the rise of Catherine II to power. By decree of March 3, 1763, he was entrusted with management, and in 1764 he was appointed president of the Academy of Arts, at which he established an educational school. On September 1, 1763, a manifesto was published on the establishment of a Moscow educational home according to a plan drawn up, according to some data, by Betsky himself, according to others - by Moscow University professor A. A. Barsov, according to Betsky’s instructions. According to Betsky, an “educational society for noble maidens” (later the Smolny Institute) was opened in St. Petersburg, entrusted to its main care and leadership.

Betskoy dreamed of a new nobility - enlightened and hardworking. He thought not only about the nobility. He proposed to educate a “third rank of people” in Russia, necessary for trade, industry and crafts. In other words, the Russian enlightened bourgeoisie, which would be as hardworking as the Western one, but at the same time would be brought up not on the love of money, but on the love of people. If you fantasize, this was a good foundation for building a capitalist society “with a human face.” Moreover, Betskoy believed that not only businessmen and manufacturers, but also people who live by intellectual labor, that is, the intelligentsia, should emerge from the “third rank”. Betsky’s ideas were ahead of their time by almost a hundred years: both the bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia were just emerging in Russia in the 18th century.

Betskoy advocated “easy and natural” learning. He wrote that “it is necessary to lead children to learning, as if into a pleasant field decorated with flowers, and the thorns located in it only irritate nature, especially at first, and this occurs solely because of the teacher’s lack of understanding.” Betskoy was confident that teachers should take into account the age psychology of students and not force them to learn too much by heart, overloading their memory. In his opinion, teachers should try to interest children, “using their natural childish curiosity.” Here Betskoy had high hopes for a visual method: children need to be shown various objects as much as possible so that they learn “things, not words.” Therefore, he recommended keeping globes, stuffed animals, models and collections of stones in classrooms, and also organizing educational walks with children more often. Those who are older should watch the work of artisans. Having chosen a craft they like, they will first play it, but it is in the process of playing that they will learn the basics of work. Of course, Betskoy was against corporal punishment, believing that it develops vindictiveness and pretense. Instead, he put “condemnation,” which for a moral person is stronger than a rod.

According to Ivan Ivanovich, the education of new people should take place away from society, its laws and morals. It was on these principles that the Smolny Institute and the Orphanage in Moscow were organized.

From the very foundation of the Orphanage, great importance was attached to the medical aspects of the institution's activities. According to the General Plan “On the heads and servants of the Orphanage,” the Orphanage provided for a staff of medical workers consisting of doctors, healers and midwives. Thus, the Imperial Moscow Orphanage can rightfully be considered the cradle of Russian pediatrics.

The orphanage was governed by the Board of Guardians and financed by private donations (including on behalf of monarchs and grand dukes) and taxes - a quarter of the tax on public spectacles and a special tax on branding cards. All playing cards sold in Russia were subject to a tax of five kopecks from Russian-made decks and ten from foreign ones, bringing 21 thousand rubles in 1796 and 140 thousand in 1803. From 1819 to 1917, the Orphanage had a monopoly on the production of cards, which were produced only by the Alexander Manufactory in St. Petersburg that belonged to him.

Since 1772, the Guardian Council also managed banking institutions - the Loan, Saving and Widow's treasuries, which became the main source of income in the 19th century. In the same year, at the expense of P.A. Demidov, the Demidov Commercial School and the theater studio of the entrepreneur Medox were opened. Children under 11 years of age were taught writing and the basics of crafts within the walls of the institution, and from 1774 they were sent to study in third-party factories and workshops. Gifted students were sent to continue their education at Moscow State University, the Academy of Arts, and 180 people were sent to study in Europe. The majority of graduates did not have such privileges - they were given clothes, one ruble of money, and a passport of a free person, allowing them to join the merchant class and open their own enterprises.

In 1770, again on the initiative of Ivan Ivanovich Betsky, the St. Petersburg Orphanage was created on the model of the Moscow educational home.

According to Catherine II, the Smolny Institute was supposed to become an exemplary educational institution, which had no equal in Europe at that time. According to the charter, children had to enter the institution no older than six years of age and remain there for twelve years, and a receipt was taken from the parents that they would not demand them back under any pretext until the expiration of this period. The Empress hoped, by removing the children from the ignorant environment for a long time and returning there an already developed and ennobled girl, to help soften morals and create a “new breed of people.” The Senate was ordered to print and distribute the charter of this institution to all provinces, provinces and cities, “so that each of the nobles could, if he wishes, entrust his daughters in their infancy to this established education.” The decree provided for the education of two hundred noble maidens in the newly built Novodevichy Convent.

In 1765, at the institute, originally established as a closed privileged educational institution for the daughters of the noble nobility, a department was opened “for bourgeois girls” (non-noble classes, except for serfs). The building for the Bourgeois School was erected by the architect J. Felten.

In the first grade, pupils were taught Russian and foreign languages, as well as arithmetic and, of course, various handicrafts. The second introduced geography and. In the third - literature, architecture, heraldry, music, dance. The latter classes were supposed to make the students of the institute pleasant members of society. From that time on, Smolensk women had to sew their own dresses. The fourth grade was devoted entirely to practical classes. The older pupils took turns studying with the younger ones in order to learn how to raise children. They also learned to maintain order and economy at home. They were taught to negotiate with suppliers, calculate expenses, pay bills and determine the price of products.

Portrait of I.I. Betsky by Alexander Roslin (1776-77)

For 31 years, from 1763 to 1794, Betskoy was president of the Academy of Arts. The Academy was supported by treasury funds and combined the academy itself and the art school. Management was carried out by the director, who kept the large academic seal. The director was elected from among the rectors every four months, but no more than three times in a row; his duties included supervision of the general order in the Academy of Arts, education and training. The school accepted boys of all classes at the age of five or six (from this age Betskoy considered it possible to begin educating worthy citizens of the fatherland), and for nine years they were taught general educational disciplines, as well as copying engravings and drawings. The most capable were transferred to special classes and for six years they were trained as sculptors, painters, engravers and architects.

On June 27, 1769, Betskoy asked permission from the Empress to support ten boys at his own expense, starting in 1770, taking them in every three years. By 1785 there were already 60 people educated at the expense of Betsky at the Academy of Arts. With the subsequent change in the amount of interest paid by the bank in 1786, Betskoy no longer found it possible to continue this matter and notified the council of the previously scheduled new admission of pupils in 1788.

Art subjects were taught by academicians. Corporal punishment was prohibited at the Academy of Arts. In his letter to the academy’s board of trustees (1784), Betskoy wrote: “... a person, considering himself a human, should not allow himself to be treated like an animal.” Betskoy himself loved the theater and tried to convey this love to his students. A theater was opened at the Academy of Arts, in which students performed (they also made scenery for performances). Balls, illuminations, and live paintings were often held. The musical education of the pupils included training in playing the harpsichord, violin, cello, music theoretical disciplines and singing. A student orchestra and a choir of school students were formed.
Betskoy bequeathed to the Academy two cabinets with engraved antiques, very ancient, and with rare casts of images of various historical figures, made mainly by French artists. This collection was collected by him during his travels abroad.

In 1765, he was appointed chief of the Land Noble Corps, for which he drew up a charter on a new basis. According to the “points for change” of the cadet corps approved in the same 1765 (among which it was positively prescribed that “all corporal punishment should now be abolished for cadets”), Betsky drew up a new charter, approved by the Empress on September 11, 1766. The principles found here were also repeated and in other regulations drawn up by Betsky: only children of nobles, no older than six years old, were accepted into the corps, and the parents signed a signature that they would give up their children voluntarily, for at least fifteen years, during which they would not take their children even on vacation. The building was a closed institution, had five ages (or classes), each age stayed for three years. Entering the 4th age, the cadet had the right to choose civil service and, accordingly, studied some other sciences that other cadets did not study. It was prescribed to take care of the physical and moral development of the cadets, treat them kindly, never hit them with a sword or fuchtel, try to prevent and avert mistakes and misdeeds, etc. Those who completed the full course entered military service, the best were awarded medals, and the most worthy had the right , with the consent of the parents, travel abroad for three years at the expense of the corps. All the regulations drawn up by Betsky required especially good mentors and teachers, of whom there was a great shortage at that time; Therefore, it was necessary to resort to the assistance of foreigners. The desire to remove foreign influence prompted Betsky in 1772 to present a special report to the Empress, in which it was proposed to establish a special department within the land corps for the education of bourgeois children, from whom worthy teachers and educators for the corps could eventually form. The Empress approved this project on October 27. In 1773, Lieutenant General Purpur was appointed director of the corps, and Betskoy remained only a member of the council until its abolition in 1785.

In 1768, Catherine II promoted Betsky to the rank of actual Privy Councilor. In 1773, according to Betsky’s plan and with funds from Prokopiy Demidov, an educational commercial school for merchant children was established.

Having entrusted Betsky with the management of all educational and educational institutions, Catherine presented him with great wealth, a significant share of which he gave to charity and especially to the development of educational institutions. Following the model of the Moscow one, Betskoy opened an orphanage in St. Petersburg, and with it he established a widow's and treasury, which were based on the generous donations he made.

Portrait of I. I. Betsky by Alexander Roslin (1777)

In 1773, the Senate, at a solemn meeting, presented Betsky with a large gold medal knocked out in his honor, in accordance with the Highest Will, for the establishment of scholarships at his own expense in 1772, with the inscription: “For love of the fatherland. From the Senate November 20, 1772." As director of the office of buildings, Betskoy contributed greatly to the decoration of St. Petersburg with government buildings and structures; the largest monuments of this aspect of his activity remained the monument to Peter the Great, the granite embankment of the Neva and canals and the lattice of the Summer Garden.

Towards the end of Betsky’s life, Catherine lost interest in him and deprived him of the title of her reader. From her expression: “Betskoy arrogates to himself the glory of the state,” one can think that the reason for the cooling was rooted in the empress’s confidence that Betskoy alone takes credit for the educational reform, while Catherine herself claimed a significant role in this matter.

Betskoy was single, but had a number of “pupils”, including Anastasia Sokolova, to whom he bequeathed 80,000 rubles in silver and 40,000 in banknotes, as well as two stone houses on Palace Embankment. He was the curator of the Smolny Institute, and, being already an elderly man, he took 17-year-old graduate Glafira Alymova into his house to live, whom he was very jealous of. When the girl got married and, unable to withstand Betsky’s constant control, fled with her husband to Moscow, Betsky was struck down by a blow, he almost died and retired from most of his affairs.

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