Though it was clearly his favorite pastime, drinking wasn’t the tsar’s only diversion. There were dwarfs as well. While many royal courts of the era had their complement of little people to amuse them, Peter found them especially hilarious and kept scores of them near him. He loved to surprise his guests by having a naked dwarf pop out of a gigantic pie, or have them participate in the mock ceremonials he so frequently staged. On one memorable occasion, as part of the wedding celebration of his niece Anna (future empress and daughter of Peter’s late co-tsar, Ivan V), a contingent of dwarfs was brought in to replicate the royal nuptials. Friedrich Christian Weber, the Hanoverian envoy, recorded the scene:
”A very little dwarf marched to the head of the procession, as being the marshal… conductor and master of the ceremony. He was followed by the bride and bridegroom neatly dressed. Then came the Tsar attended by his ministers, princes, boyars, officers and others; next marched all the dwarfs of both sexes in couples. They were in all seventy-two… The Tsar, in token of his favor, was pleased to hold the garland over the bridge’s head according to the Russian custom. The ceremony being over, the company went… to the Prince Menshikov’s palace… Several small tables were placed in the middle of the hall for the new-married couple and the rest of the dwarfs, who were all splendidly dressed after the German fashion… After dinner the dwarfs began to dance after the Russian way, which lasted till eleven at night. It is very easy to imagine how much the Tsar and the rest of the company were delighted at the comical capers, strange grimaces, and odd postures of that medley of pygmies, most of whom were of a size the mere sight of which was enough to produce laughter. One had a high hunch on his back, and very short legs, another was remarkable by a monstrous big belly; a third came waddling along on a little pair of crooked legs like a badger; a fourth had a head of prodigious size; some had wry mouths and long ears, little big eyes, and chubby cheeks and many such comical figures more. When these diversions were ended, the newly married couple were carried to the Tsar’s house and bedded in his own bed-chamber.”
Source:
Farquhar, Michael. “Chapter 2 – Peter I (1696-1725): The Eccentricities of an Emperor.” Secret Lives of the Tsars: Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness from Romanov Russia. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2014. 40-1. Print.
Further Reading:
Peter the Great (Russian: Пётр Вели́кий); Peter the Great
Anna Ioannovna (Russian: Анна Иоанновна)
Ivan V Alekseyevich (Russian: Иван V Алексеевич)
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