# Filipp Vigel > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Filipp_Vigel > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Filipp_Vigel.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipp_Vigel > Source revision: 1320298885 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Russian memoirist (1786–1856)}} {{more citations needed|date=July 2012}} thumb|right|Portrait, 1836 '''Filipp Filippovich Vigel''' (''Philip Philipovich Weigel''; {{langx|ru|Филипп Филиппович Вигель}}; {{OldStyleDate|23 November|1786|12 November}} – {{OldStyleDate|1 April|1856|20 March}}){{cite book |last1=Вигель |first1=Филипп Филиппович |title=Записки Филипа Филиповича Вигеля: Замѣчания на нынѣшнее состояние Бессарабии. Часть седьмая |date=1892 |publisher=Universitetskaja tipografija |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9n_QeYq_uloC |language=ru}} was a Russian [memoirist](/source/memoirist). In the course of his official career, he served in the foreign ministry, accompanied [Count Golovkin](/source/Yury_Golovkin) on his 1805 mission to [China](/source/China), presided over the department of foreign religions and governed the town of [Kerch](/source/Kerch).{{cite Efron|Вигель, Филипп Филиппович}} Weigel witnessed every major event of [Alexander I](/source/Alexander_I_of_Russia)'s reign and conversed with other Russian cultural figures. His colleagues at the [Arzamas Society](/source/Arzamas_Society) included [Alexander Pushkin](/source/Alexander_Pushkin), who gently mocked Weigel's [homosexual](/source/homosexual) proclivities in a verse epistle. == Life == Weigel's father, an aristocrat from [Estland](/source/Governorate_of_Estonia), of Swedish extraction, was the first [governor of Penza](/source/Penza_Governorate) (from 1801 to 1809). Filipp was brought up in Moscow and at [Zubrilovka](/source/Zubrilovka), the [Middle Volga](/source/Middle_Volga) estate of [Prince Potemkin](/source/Prince_Potemkin)’s niece, where [Ivan Krylov](/source/Ivan_Krylov) tutored the hostess’s sons. He served in the Moscow Archive of the College of Foreign Affairs, where he met his future patron, [Dmitry Bludov](/source/Dmitry_Bludov). In 1805, he joined Golovkin’s diplomatic mission to China. During his time in Paris in the 1810s, Weigel found himself entangled in a curious incident: a barber’s apprentice who stayed over at his place stole his gold watch. The famed detective [Vidocq](/source/Eug%C3%A8ne-Fran%C3%A7ois_Vidocq) helped recover the item. At gatherings of the [Arzamas literary circle](/source/Arzamas_literary_circle), Weigel was nicknamed "[Ibycus](/source/Ibycus)'s crane". He had a passion for collecting engravings and lithographs. His remarkable collection of 3,139 lithographic and engraved portraits was donated to [Moscow University](/source/Moscow_University). Known affectionately as “Filippushka” by those close to him, Weigel maintained a friendly correspondence with [Vasily Zhukovsky](/source/Vasily_Zhukovsky) and was acquainted with [Alexander Pushkin](/source/Alexander_Pushkin), while they both lived in [Kishinev](/source/Kishinev) in 1823. In a letter, he complained to Pushkin: “''Though my sins—or rather, my sin—are great, they’re not so grave that fate would consign me to this wretched cesspool.''”https://web.archive.org/web/20160304150054/http://feb-web.ru/feb/litnas/texts/l16/lit-607-.htm In his reply, Pushkin recommended “three charming youngsters” to Weigel to lighten his mood, noting that “''the youngest one, I think, is fit for your particular use: NB, he sleeps in the same room as his brother, and they’re mercilessly shaking there—you can draw significant conclusions from this, which I leave to your experience and discretion.''”https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131753/http://rvb.ru/pushkin/01text/10letters/1815_30/01text/1823/1238_55.htm While governing [Kerch](/source/Kerch) from 1826 to 1829, Weigel documented the [Royal Kurgan](/source/Royal_Kurgan) and sought to compile a catalog of all the ancient burial mounds in the surrounding area. He spent the remainder of his life in Moscow, where he was also laid to rest. == Memoirs == thumb|300px|A gallery of family portraits at the Zubrilovka manor (where Weigel was brought up) Weigel is remembered primarily for his copious [memoirs](/source/memoirs) covering the history of Russia from the reign of [Emperor Paul](/source/Emperor_Paul) to the [November Uprising](/source/November_Uprising) (1831). They were published by [Mikhail Katkov](/source/Mikhail_Katkov) in 1864; the expanded edition (1892) appeared in seven books. Weigel's reminiscences are engaging, pithy and readily quotable. A parade of historical figures crossed paths with Weigel. He witnessed the ascension of Paul to the throne, knew [Nicholas Pavlovich](/source/Nicholas_I_of_Russia) when he was still a grand duke, encountered the family of [Emelyan Pugachev](/source/Emelyan_Pugachev), mingled with [Freemasons](/source/Freemasons) and [Martinists](/source/Martinists), and attended [Quaker](/source/Quakers) gatherings at the [Mikhailovsky Castle](/source/Mikhailovsky_Castle). His memoirs vividly portray a swarm of historical figures: e.g., Paul’s Turkish servant, [Count Kutaisov](/source/Ivan_Kutaisov); the famed [soprano](/source/soprano)s of the day (such as [Elisabeth Mara](/source/Elisabeth_Mara)); the [poet-minister Dmitriev](/source/Ivan_Dmitriev); the rabid duellist [Tolstoy](/source/Fyodor_Tolstoy_(adventurer)) (nicknamed "the American"); the military commander [Bagration](/source/Pyotr_Bagration); and [Kapodistrias](/source/Ioannis_Kapodistrias), the founder of modern Greece. In Penza, where his father served as governor, Weigel met [Mikhail Speransky](/source/Mikhail_Speransky), then a disgraced figure likened to “Napoleon on Elba,” already toppled and resigned. He saw the aging [Pyotr Rumyantsev](/source/Pyotr_Rumyantsev), "the scourge of the Turks", living out his days in quiet retirement. The appointment of [Kutuzov](/source/Mikhail_Kutuzov) to the army, the twists and turns of war and peace, the swirl of rumors and gossip about court intrigues and battles, Speransky’s fall and exile, the first vague reports of [Alexander I](/source/Alexander_I_of_Russia)’s death, and the [Decembrist conspiracy](/source/Decembrists) — all these are chronicled in Weigel’s ''Notes''. The old-world lifestyle, aristocratic hauteur, leisurely travel along rough roads filled with adventures and chance encounters, and the machinations of officialdom are all depicted with vibrant color in Weigel’s calm, unhurried style. Yet when it comes to certain individuals, such as [Gogol](/source/Nikolai_Gogol), Weigel’s perspective can be narrow and biased, veering into prejudice that borders on reactionary zeal. It was Weigel who denounced [Chaadayev](/source/Pyotr_Chaadayev) to the authorities. == References == {{reflist}} == External links == * {{in lang|ru}} [http://imwerden.de/cat/modules.php?name=books&pa=showbook&pid=239 The Memoirs of Filipp Vigel] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Vigel, Filipp}} Category:1786 births Category:1856 deaths Category:19th-century diplomats of the Russian Empire Category:19th-century memoirists from the Russian Empire Category:Art collectors from the Russian Empire Category:Gay diplomats Category:Gay memoirists Category:Mayors of places in the Russian Empire Category:Russian gay politicians Category:Russian gay writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Filipp Vigel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipp_Vigel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipp_Vigel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.