person
Ernst Johann von Biron
Biron
also: Бирон, Ernst Johann Biron, Biron of Courland
Favorite and de facto co-ruler of Empress Anna Ioannovna (r. 1730-1740); his decade of influence, remembered in Russian historical memory as the "Bironovshchina," became a byword for foreign favoritism, secret-police terror, and mass exile or execution of the regime's real and suspected opponents. Invoked here by the gardener Mikhail Karlovich, alongside the Inquisition and Arakcheyev, as an example of a devout believer whose faith in God coexisted with systematic cruelty.
Reading notes
- The Head Gardener's Story §7 Biron
Ernst Johann von Biron (Bühren), favorite and de facto co-ruler under Empress Anna Ioannovna (r. 1730-1740), whose decade in power -- remembered in Russian historical memory as the 'Bironovshchina' -- became a byword for foreign favoritism, informer networks, and political terror, including mass exile and execution of the regime's real and suspected opponents. Chekhov, through the gardener, reaches for Biron as one of Russian history's clearest examples of a devout believer whose faith in God coexisted with, and did nothing to check, systematic cruelty.