Elizabeth of Russia - The Court of The Empress

The Court of The Empress

Under the reign of Elizabeth, the Russian court was one of the most splendid in all Europe. Foreigners were amazed at the sheer luxury of the sumptuous balls and masquerades. Russian court had steadily increased in importance throughout the 18th century and came to hold more cultural significance than many of its Western counterparts due its inclusive nature: any “well to do inhabitants” were welcome at Court. The Court, like most Imperial Courts, was considered a reflection of the ruler at its center and Elizabeth was said to be “the laziest, most extravagant and most amorous of sovereigns.” Elizabeth was intelligent but lacked the discipline and early education necessary to flourish as an intellectual; she found the reading of secular literature to be “injurious to health.” She kind and warm-hearted for the emotions sake alone, once going so far as to offer to finance the reconstruction of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake destroyed the Portuguese city despite having and wanting no diplomatic relationship with the nation. She hated bloodshed and conflict and went to great lengths to alter the Russian system of punishment, even outlawing capital punishment. In court, this peacemaker spirit also made itself evident. According to historian Robert Nisbet Bain, it was one of Elizabeth’s “chief glories that, so far as she was able, she put a stop to that mischievous contention of rival ambitions at Court, which had disgraced the reigns of Peter II, Anne and Ivan VI, and enabled foreign powers to freely interfere in the domestic affairs of Russia.” She was also deeply religious, passing several pieces of legislation that undid much of the work her father had done to limit the power of the church. Yet of all her various characteristics manifested in the structure of Court life, the most evident were her extravagance; her vanity, and her gaiety and playful nature.

The notorious extravagance of Elizabeth came to define the Court in many respects. Elizabeth created a world in which aesthetics reigned supreme, producing a Court in which an understood competition existed amongst courtiers to see who could look best, second only to Her Majesty. As historian Mikhail Shcherbatov stated, her court was “arrayed in cloth of gold, her nobles satisfied with only the most luxurious garments, the most expensive foods, the rarest drinks, that largest number of servants and they applied this standard of lavishness to their dress as well.” Clothing soon became the chosen means in Court by which to display wealth and social standing. Elizabeth is reported to have owned 15,000 dresses, several thousand pairs of shoes, and a seemingly unlimited number of stockings. She was known to never wear a dress twice and to change outfits anywhere from two to six times a day. Since the Empress did this, her courtiers did as well. It is reported that to ensure no one wore a dress more than once to any ball or notably formal occasion, the Empress had her guards stamp each gown with special ink. Men at court were known to wear diamond buttons, own jeweled snuff boxes, and adorn their servants in uniforms made of gold. It was also during her reign that a great number of silver and gold objects were produced, the most the country had seen thus far in its history. Elizabeth’s extravagance was also clearly displayed in the foods eaten at Court. It was not unheard of for Elizabeth to order over a thousand bottles of French champagnes and wines at any given time to be served at one event and present pineapple at all of her receptions, despite the difficulty of procuring the fruit in such quantities. However, it was thanks to Elizabeth’s incredible extravagance and adoration of exotic goods that ended up greatly benefiting the country’s infrastructure. Needing goods shipped from all over, the postal system and roads were modernized in order to fulfill the Empress’s many desires.

Elizabeth’s vanity and the attention paid to her personal appearance also had indelible ramifications on Court life. Elizabeth was an incredibly attractive woman and in turn, she desired to be the most attractive amongst any company at all times. In order to insure this was the case, Elizabeth passed various decrees outlining what was acceptable of her courtiers in regards to appearance in relation to the Empress. These edicts included a law against wearing the same hairstyle, dress, or accessory as the Empress. One woman, Natalya Lopukhina, accidentally wore the same item as the Empress and was lashed across the face for her offense. Another law created by Elizabeth was that any French fabric salesman had to first sell to her before attempting to sell anyone else, those who disregarded this law were arrested. One famous story exemplifying the Empress’s vanity is that once the Elizabeth got a bit of powder in her hair and was unable to remove it. She was therefore obligated to cut her hair to rid herself of the splotch and in turn she made all of the ladies at Court do the same, which they did “with tears in their eyes.” This aggressive vanity became a tenet of Elizabeth’s Court throughout the entirety of her reign, particularly as she grew older. As said by historian Tamara Talbot Rice, “Later in life her outbursts of anger were directed either against people who were thought to have endangered Russia’s security or against women whose beauty rivaled her own.”