Cruelty and Murder, War and Peace

creeping towards one of the mansion's many bedrooms. There was a woman asleep inside the bedroom, completely unaware as to what was about to happen to her. Perhaps she should have had an inkling. The woman still asleep in bed was the de facto lady of the house, the mistress of the estate owner, and she, Natasia Mincoln, was so cruel that she had pushed the staff to the breaking point.

She was abusive, petty, vindictive and violent. And now there was a man standing over her bed brandishing a large kitchen knife. What happened next was intimate, visceral, and brutal. The murder was so brutal it would traumatize even the man who carried it out, and it would devastate Natasia's lover, a man many people considered to be the cruelest man in Tsarist Russia. Back when he and Natasia had both been alive, it must have seemed like a perfect match.

I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. Very little information has survived about the woman known as Madame Mincoln. I first encountered her name as a party goer at Satan's ball in Mikhail Bolgokov's novel The Master and Margarita. Even if you haven't read the novel, you can probably guess that no one portrayed as a guest of the Devil is considered one of history's good guys. Like so many women from history, the most famous thing about Madame

Mincoln was her association with a powerful man. In her case, that man was Alexei arek Chayev, the infamously cruel military adviser to Sar Alexander the First. Though she's referred to frequently as Madam Mincoln, she wasn't technically a madam in the formal sense, but rather the mistress of the man whose cruelty became legendary. While his reign of terror operated on a national scale, hers was contained to the domestic sphere,

but it was no less brutal within those confines. Arak Chayev's rise to power began under Czar Paul the First in the seventeen nineties, under whom he quickly gained favor thanks to his artillery expertise and rigid discipline. He was given the title of count. When Paul was murdered in eighteen oh one, the new young Czar Alexander inherited not just a throne but also his father's most capable and

most ruthless military adviser. Czar Alexander the First was a complicated ruler, a man who spoke eloquently about liberal reforms and Enlightenment ideals. In his early years, he created new universities, made improvements to the country's legal system, and appointed progressive advisers. He dreamed, at least publicly, of modernizing Russia into a European style state where even peasants might enjoy citizenship rights, but he never followed through on the most meaningful reforms,

and eventually he lost interest in affecting positive change. That impulse grew exponentially after the war with Napoleon, which left Alexander increasingly conservative and religiously fervent. He created the Holy Alliance to squash potential revolutionary uprisings across Europe and reversed many of his earlier progressive policies into that moral swamp stepped Irakchaiev, whose power grew in direct correlation with his

csar's descent into reactionary conservatism. For over a decade, Arakcheyev was arguably the most influential figure in the Russian government, with authority that at times seemed to exceed the Tsar's own. Those who once dreamed of bringing European enlightenment back to Russia found their country unchanged, with peasants still treated as slaves and Arakcheyev's military colonies imposing forced labor under violent discipline.

One officer wrote that returning to Russia after Paris and London quote felt like going back to a prehistoric past. One contemporary described the era as quote an iron age of gloom and cruelty, beneath which almost the whole of Russia groaned. The gratuitous and arbitrary violence was perhaps the worst feature of the country. Beatings everywhere from army camps to schools, from market squares to family homes. Stories of Count arek Chayev's own own personal cruelty were widespread and

frankly stomach turning. He allegedly executed two junior officers by bearing them up to their necks and leaving them to die. Another officer lost his head entirely. At Grizino, the expansive estate given to Arakchev by Zar Paul, the count imposed bizarre and tyrannical rules. Local peasant women were required to produce a child each year, and because he enjoyed hearing nightingales sing, he ordered all cats on his property to be exterminated. In this world of systemic brutality, we meet

Natasia Lincoln. Details about her background are scarce and contradictory. What we know is that she was physically striking, with dark features and and what one observer called quote the figure of a grenadier. No one at Grizzino seemed to know where she came from, but one thing was certain. She wasn't one of them. According to one account, Irakcheyev had purchased her from an advertisement in a Saint Petersburg newspaper.

It's not explicitly stated what her advertised services were, but based on the quick progression of their relationship, we can make some assumptions about their general nature, although it's possible the original arrangement with her started with her merely working as a servant. Immediately smitten with Natasia, Irakcheyev granted her freedom and provided her with an endowment of several thousand roubles.

The peasants at Grizino, unable to explain the influence she wielded over their master, became convinced she was a romani, which with magical abilities. It's possible that she was a master manipulator, but it's also possible that the Count saw something in Natasia Mancan that he recognized in himself a boundless capacity for cruelty. Either way, he needed her in his life. He installed her at Grazino as his housekeeper

and gave her ultimate authority. When Irakchev was called back to public service, he left the estate entirely in Natasia's hands, with complete confidence in her managerial ability. It's unclear how much experience she had at managing an estate of that size, but she took to it like a natural. She ran the place straight out of an Irakchev playbook. She was strict, exacting and punishingly cruel. In this way, she was a perfect mirror of Iraqi Chayev himself, but she was also

sowing the seeds of her own destruction. In the spring of eighteen o three, Arakcheyev left for Saint Petersburg. No sooner was he back in the capitol than he received word from home Natasia was pregnant with his child. The news created immediate suspicion among the local population. Natasia had already made herself deeply unpopular at Gerzino, ruling the household

with the same iron discipline Arakchev himself employed. The serfs didn't trust her horrendous behavior aside, her exotic looks and murky origins certainly didn't help endear her to the local peasant population. Rumors spread that she had faked the pregnancy, orchestrating an elaborate deception involving a widowed peasant woman and a stolen infant, though such a scheme would have required near impossible coordination and secrecy, But when the child finally came,

the gossip only intensified. The baby was a boy named Shumsky, with bright red hair and blue eyes, neither of which were seen in his parents. Despite the physical irregularities, Arakcheyev never questioned the child's parentage and raised Shumsky as his son. A couple of years later, still in Saint Petersburg, Arakcheyev made the unexpected decision to take a wife. His bride was Anastasia Vassilievna Kumatova, eighteen years old, the shy and

beautiful daughter of wealthy landowners. His plan was to bring his new wife to Gruzino and arrange a marriage for his former mistress, Natasia. He saw no reason why everyone couldn't coexist on the large estate. For Natasia, we can imagine the situation would have been panic inducing. Whatever security she thought she'd built through her position and her son now seemed threatened by a legitimate wife with good social standing and imperial connections. But Natasia didn't need to worry

for long. The marriage collapsed quickly. Arakcheyev's controlling nature proved too much for the young woman, and his wife soon withdrew to the countryside. One has to wonder if the presence of Madame Mincoln at the estate had anything to do with the bride's eagerness to get away. With the marriage dissolved, the bond between Arakcheyev and Natasia only intensified. He managed government business in Saint Petersburg while she ran Grizzino,

sending him regular correspondents about estate operations. Her letters also revealed deep emotion mixed with constant anxiety about his fidelity. She wrote of her complete devotion while acknowledging her fear that younger women might replace her in his affections. But while Natasia's emotional position remained vulnerable and dependent on favor, she held complete authority over the household staff, and she

exercised that authority with increasing cruelty. By the summer of eighteen twenty five, conditions at Grizino had deteriorated to a crisis point. Natasia became more erratic and more vicious, dishing out harsh punishments for trivial offenses. The staff understood a grim reality. Arakcheyev was either un away aware of Mincoln's behavior, or he was aware and simply didn't care, and, given

his history, possibly even encouraged her behavior. The staff knew that any complaint to him would surely result in far worse treatment. They were trapped with no avenue for appeal. Three young maids in particular, suffered under Natasha's rule. She tormented them constantly, no doubt fueled by jealousy of their youth and beauty, as well as the rage she couldn't direct at her benefactor. She ordered the young women beaten and imprisoned in the house jail for the slightest of infractions.

One account describes her attacking a maid's face with a heated curling tongue. At least one maid unsuccessfully attempted to poison Natasia. The situation reached critical breaking point in August when the butler took his own life after Natasia threatened to report him to Arakcheyev over a disorganized cellar. A member of the staff approached Vasili Antonov, whose sister Praskovia was one of the three tormented maids. Vasili was offered money to kill the lady of the house, but he

couldn't bring himself to do it, not yet anyway. Shortly after Irakcheyev departed for the Novgorod colonies one Sunday, Natasia unleashed her rage on her maids again. Prascovia was beaten twice, the others locked up. Days later, early Thursday, morning, Prascovia found Natasia asleep. Her own body was still riddled with aches and pains from her recent beating, and as she looked down on her sleeping mistress, something snapped inside her.

She ran to find her brother, Vasily and begged him to act, now, insisting that she would accept all of the blame. Her brother Vasily took a kitchen knife and followed his sister to Madam Minkin's quarters. He tried to move quietly, but a small dog started barking and had to be carried out by Prascovia. Alone with his target, Vasily summoned the courage and attacked. His first attempt missed the mark, and he slashed and Tassia on the cheek.

She woke immediately and threw herself from the bed, screaming. The struggle was violent and ugly, but ultimately Madame Minkin lost the fight to keep her life. Vasily threw down the knife and ran from her chambers in a panic. No one at Grissino would later admit to hearing their mistress's screams, despite people being away wake and the windows not yet fitted with winter insulation. Eventually, Prascovia's sobbing was impossible to ignore. The gruesome scene was discovered, and the

household was thrown into panic. Arakcheyev was expected back that evening. How could they tell Russia's most fearsome man that his beloved companion of two decades had been murdered by servants. They sent a messenger to find him and bring him the news that Natasia had fallen gravely ill. When his carriage neared Grazino, Arakcheyev stopped a man from the estate to ask about Natasia's condition. The man, unaware that the truth had been withheld, answered directly. Her head had barely

remained attached to her body. Arakchev's response was immediate and total. He threw himself onto the ground, tearing at his head and the earth, shouting, you have killed her, Kill me too, Kill me, and kill me quickly. The people traveling with him stood frozen, watching something no one had thought possible, The cruelest man in Russia reduced to a sobbing, broken figure at their feet. When Arakcheyev reached Grizino, he went straight to Natasia's room and threw himself onto her body.

He stopped eating and refused to shave. He took a handkerchief stained with his slain mistress's blood, tied it around his neck, and refused to remove it. The household staff were placed under arrest while officials worked to identify who was responsible. In a bizarre decision, vasili Antonov chose not to flee. Instead, he remained at the estate, even helping prepare Natasia's body for burial, apparently betting that his sister's confession would be treated as the complete story. Questions arose

about the burial itself. Given the nature of Natasia's relationship with Arakcheyev was never formalized by marriage, The local priest sought guidance from church authorities about whether she could be buried on consecrated ground. When Arakcheyev found out, he erupted, declaring that a priest who would ask such a question had no place anywhere on earth. Even through his grief, the Tsar's Grand Vizier always had a death threat at

the ready. At the funeral, Natasia was lowered into a grave next to the one Arakcheyev had long ago earmarked for himself. He rushed forward as the coffin descended, bending over it and crying out, kill me. You villains. You have taken my only friend for me. Now I have lost everything. The next day, Arakcheyev composed a message to Tsar Alexander the First. In it, he described himself as destroyed,

his health and reason shattered by loss. He wrote that he only wanted to die and could no longer handle any official responsibilities without authorization. He immediately transferred his military and administrative duties to subordinates, a legally questionable action that would have brought severe consequences for anyone else. When Alexander received word of the tragedy at Grazino, the Tsar's first

assumption was political. He guessed that Natasia had been killed as part of a scheme to force Arakcheyev from power, not that she was murdered in response to her own actions. The Tsar was initially displeased by Irakcheyev's unauthorized transfer of power, but he ultimately forgave him, chalking it up to his griefust tree brick. State justice came quickly for the murderous siblings,

and as to be expected, it was extreme. Though Prascovia confessed, Vasily was unable to avoid blame, and he received a sentence of one hundred and seventy five lashes. Prascovia received one hundred and twenty five. Both punishments proved fatal, as they were surely designed to be. The system had completed its cycle cruelty leading to desperation, which led to cruelty of a deadlier nature, which in turn was met with

deadly cruelty again. Zar Alexander I died in November eighteen twenty five, just months after Natasia's murder, and the new Czar, Nicholas the first had different advisors and different priorities. Arekcheyev returned to Gruzino permanently living at the scene of the crime until his own death in eighteen thirty four. He built a monument to Natasia on the grounds and visited it often. What happened at Grizino wasn't just a domestic tragedy.

It reflected the larger system Rakchayev had spent decades constructing and maintaining. For more than twenty years, he had been among Russia's most powerful figures, creating an environment where violence functioned as the default method of control. The culture of systemic brutality that Arakchev helped establish at the national level

had filtered into his own household. When looking at what you might call complicated women in history, there is often the urge to rationalize behavior by looking at the bigger picture. Systemic injustices and historical circumstances can often go a long way towards viewing, at some point life through a more generous lens. But Natasia Mincoln had a well documented history of cruelty and abuse, and no amount of context can

justify the pain that she caused for others. She certainly did not deserve to be violently murdered for it, of course, But for the serfs at Grazino, there was nowhere else to turn, and the chronic abuse had pushed them far beyond what people can be expected to endure. The Russian Revolution wouldn't derive for nearly another century, but common themes were already visible. Sustained oppression with no possibility of relief

eventually produces violent resistance. Natasia Mincoln's death was a small scale demonstration of what occurs when systemic cruelty becomes intolerable and people don't see any other ways out. That's the tragic story of Madame Mincoln. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about her legacy in literature. Natasia Mincoln and Count Arek Chayev had more in common than a shared son and a

taste for cruelty. They were both immortalized in fiction. As I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, Madame Mincoln is mentioned in the infamous Satan's Ball seen in the novel The Master and Margarita rubbing elbows with the rest of history's most damned sinners. Koroviyev, the Devil's assistant, presents her to the gathering, quote, her Majesty is delighted. Madame Mincoln, Ah, how pretty she is? A trifle nervous, though, why did she have to burn her maid with a pair of

curling tongs? Of course, in the way she used them, it was bound to be fatal. The author was, no doubt echoing in satire what many of Madame Mincoln's contemporaries must have thought. Yes, it was said that she was murdered, but she must have known she had it coming. Compared to that, Erek Chaiyev's literary legacy actually treats him relatively gently In Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. He appears as an unpleasant minor character, rude and harsh, with quote scowling brows,

dull eyes, and an overhanging red nose. Tolstoy criticizes him in the novel's epilogue as a symbol of governmental dysfunction, but he still afforded a measure of civility. At the very least, he isn't literally portrayed as kicking his heels up in hell. It's a final lasting reminder that for Madame minkn, proximity to power wasn't always the same as actually halving it. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio

and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Milaney. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il KLi and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,