Paul I in memoirs of contemporaries: analysis of the Russian memoir complex

The article is devoted to the Russian memoirs of Russian Emperor Paul I. Special attention is paid to identifying specific groups of memoirs in the Russian memorial complex dedicated to Paul I. The classification is based on the analysis of published and unpublished memoirs, which allows to learn more about the personality and state activities of Emperor Paul I. The circle of memoirs on this issue is quite large. Interest in the personality of the monarch and a large number of memoirs are due to the fact that Emperor Paul I is a rather contradictory and ambiguous person because of his unpredictability and tough character primarily for his contemporaries, which determined the memoir authors' attitude to him. The number of memoirists is also quite diverse, although all the authors belonged to the aristocracy of his time. Each of them portrayed the Emperor in his memoirs based on their personal subjective views about the ideals of government, personal attitude to the monarch's domestic and foreign policy, as well as the attitudes of Paul I. In this regard, the most interesting sources for study are memoirs of Russian authors that describe not only the reign of Paul I, but also the period of his childhood and his first steps in the political sphere. Russian memoirists contributed to the formation of the image of the Emperor in the historical literature, despite the specificity of this type of sources. Sometimes superficially examining many aspects of political activities, authors made affirmative conclusions that formed the stereotypes of the historical portrait of Paul I. The memoirists told about the most relevant events in their lives; however, in addition to the description of political activities and the personality of the Emperor, they mentioned some of the general observations about the court situation, gave fragments of their personal conversations with members of the Imperial family. Thus, the authors of memoirs often went beyond the object of description, which made their works even more valuable. A conclusion in the study is that the memoirs of Paul I in the memoir complex are extensive, diverse by the occupation of their authors, have a strong chronological framework. Information in the memoirs, assessment of the personality and work of the Emperor depended on subjective opinions of their authors in relation to Paul I, on their views about the ideal state and the degree of closeness to the Emperor, and allow to learn more about the personality and work of the Emperor. This subjectivity of memoirs allows to create a complete image of the ruler by expanding the characteristics of his personality and the character of the bygone era.

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