page_title: Nikita Zotov
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: Nikita Zotov / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: English: Marriage of Nikita Zotov (1714) Lubok
context_page_description: Count Nikita Moiseevich Zotov was a childhood tutor and lifelong friend of Russian Tsar Peter the Great. Historians disagree on the quality of Zotov's tutoring. Robert K. Massie, for example, praises his efforts, but Lindsey Hughes criticizes the education that he gave to the future tsar.
  Not much is known about Zotov's life aside from his connection to Peter. Zotov left Moscow for a diplomatic mission to Crimea in 1680 and returned to Moscow before 1683. He became part of the "Jolly Company", a group of several dozen of Peter's friends that eventually became The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters. Zotov was mockingly appointed "Prince-Pope" of the Synod, and regularly led them in games and celebrations. He accompanied Peter on many important occasions, such as the Azov campaigns and the torture of the Streltsy after their uprising. Zotov held a number of state posts, including from 1701 a leading position in the Tsar's personal secretariat. Three years before his death, Zotov married a woman 50 years his junior. He died in December 1717 of unknown causes.
context_section_description: Nikita Zotov was twice married, and had three sons from his first marriage. One was Vasily Zotov (d. 1729), who was educated outside of Russia and became the Revisor-General of Ukazes (Inspector General of Decrees) in November 1715. As Inspector General, it was Vasily's job to preside over the Senate, enforce its decrees, and report absent senators to Peter. Vasily had little political power however, and so was unable to fulfill his role in opposition to the wishes of some of the most powerful men in the Russian empire. The second son was Ivan Zotov (1687–1723), who lived and studied in France, where he worked as a translator. The third son, Konon Zotov (1690–30 December 1742), studied in England, and served in various positions in the Russian Navy and in the Russian judicial system.
  According to Robert K. Massie and Lindsey Hughes, Peter told Zotov in October 1713 that he intended to have him marry a second time, to Anna Pashkova, a widow 50 years Zotov's junior, despite Zotov's wish to spend his final years in a monastery. However, the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary and Sergey Solovyov say that Zotov came up with the idea to marry Pashkova in 1714, and that his plan to become a monk was merely a joke.
  The wedding was described by Friedrich Christian Weber, the ambassador of Hanover, as "solemnized by the court in masks". Guests were instructed to pre-register in groups of three with their costumes so as not to look too similar to other guests. Witnesses described the event, which took place on 27 and 28 January 1715, and which had been prepared for three months, as a "world turned upside-down". The Jolly Company dressed in ridiculous regalia, and many people behaved exactly opposite to the norm; "invitations to the guests were delivered by stammerers, the bridesmen were cripples, the runners were fat men with gout, the priest was allegedly one hundred years old" (and blind). Hughes notes that the event may have been a "variation on the Western charivari or shaming ceremonies", through which the Tsar could demonstrate how much power he had over his subjects' lives. During the wedding, the Drunken Synod routinely sang carols in the streets of Moscow and demanded money, which became a New Year tax for the wealthy.
caption: Marriage of Zotov in 1714 Lubok, 18th century
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