Razumovsky
Encyclopedia
Razumovsky originally Rozumovsky , formerly transliterated as Rasumowski, Rasumofsky and Rasoumofsky) is a Ukrainian
noble family from Russian Empire
. Surviving branch remains in Austria
.
Yakov (Romanovich) Rozum, who died about 1700. Upon his grandson's Alexei Grigorievich Rozum having been raised to the rank of Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Charles VII, the family name was changed to Razumovsky for all Yakovlevichi, including the lesser Ukrainian lines by Ivan Jakovlevich Rozum that were granted hereditary nobility but not entitled. Notable representatives of the family include:
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
noble family from Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. Surviving branch remains in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
History
The root of the family begin with the Register-cossackCossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
Yakov (Romanovich) Rozum, who died about 1700. Upon his grandson's Alexei Grigorievich Rozum having been raised to the rank of Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Charles VII, the family name was changed to Razumovsky for all Yakovlevichi, including the lesser Ukrainian lines by Ivan Jakovlevich Rozum that were granted hereditary nobility but not entitled. Notable representatives of the family include:
- Aleksey Grigorievich Razumovsky (1709–1771) - the favorite and morganatic husband of Empress Elizabeth. He was created Count of the Holy Roman Empire in Frankfurt in 1742 and Count in Russia in 1745.
- Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky (1728–1803) - officially his younger brother, rumored to be a son from an earlier marriage, the last hetmanHetmanHetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
of Left (1750–1764) and Right (1754–1764) Bank UkraineUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, last Duke of the Zaporozhian HostZaporozhian HostThe Zaporozhian Cossacks or simply Zaporozhians were Ukrainian Cossacks who lived beyond the rapids of the Dnieper river, the land also known as the Great Meadow in Central Ukraine...
(1754–1769), created Count of the Russian Empire in 1745. - Aleksey Kirilovich Razumovsky (1748–1822) - the latter's first son, minister of education of the Russian Empire from 1806–1816, highly criticised by Pushkin for his reactionary stance;
- Andrey Kirilovich Razumovsky (1752–1836) - Kirill's second son, who was the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Empire at the Congress of ViennaCongress of ViennaThe Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
. Andrey was created the HSH Prince in 1815 and settled there in the end, converting to Catholicism. It was alleged that he had a role in the murders of Gustav III of SwedenGustav III of SwedenGustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....
and Paul I of RussiaPaul I of RussiaPaul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
, he was architect of the Second Partition of PolandSecond Partition of PolandThe 1793 Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the second of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the War in Defense of the Constitution and the Targowica Confederation of 1792...
. He is remembered for his patronage of the arts, especially the composer Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: Beethoven both wrote the Razumovsky QuartetsString Quartets Nos. 7 - 9, Opus 59 - Rasumovsky (Beethoven)The three "Rasoumovsky" string quartets, opus 59, are the quartets Ludwig van Beethoven wrote in 1806, as a result of a commission by the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andreas Razumovsky:*String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59, No. 1...
(Op. 59 Nos. 1, 2, and 3) for Andrey and dedicated the 5th and 6th Symphony to him.
- Grigory Kirillovich Razumovsky (1759–1837) - the fifth son of Kirill, known from his writings in the West as Gregor or Grégoire, a geologist, botanist and zoologist, as well as prominent political dissenter with Czarist Russia, who lost his Russian allegiance in 1811 and was subsequently incorporated into the Bohemian nobility and accorded the rank of Count in the Austrian EmpireAustrian EmpireThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
. Gregor was the first to describe and classify the Triturus Helveticus Razoumovsky. His branch of the family survives to this day. - Leon (Lvov) Grigorievich Razumovsky (1816–1868), grandson of Kirill, envoy of Saxe-CoburgSaxe-CoburgSaxe-Coburg was a duchy held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany.After the Division of Erfurt in 1572, Coburg was part of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach, ruled by the Ernestine duke John Casimir jointly with his brother John Ernest. In 1596...
to the court of Napoleon III. Father of Camillo Lvovich Razumovsky. - Camillo (Lvovich) Razumovsky (1853–1917), philanthropist in Czech SilesiaCzech SilesiaCzech Silesia is an unofficial name of one of the three Czech lands and a section of the Silesian historical region. It is located in the north-east of the Czech Republic, predominantly in the Moravian-Silesian Region, with a section in the northern Olomouc Region...
, built numerous churches, schools and hospitals around OpavaOpavaOpava is a city in the northern Czech Republic on the river Opava, located to the north-west of Ostrava. The historical capital of Czech Silesia, Opava is now in the Moravian-Silesian Region and has a population of 59,843 as of January 1, 2005....
(today Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
) and in Western Ukraine, caused a commotion by flaunting the social conventions of the 19th century Vienna when he married a woman of the Jewish faith. - Andreas (Andreievich) Razumovsky (1929–2002), grandson of the latter, well-known political analyst and media figure in Germany and Austria, was expelled from CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
where he was posted as correspondent of the Frankfurter Allgemeine ZeitungFrankfurter Allgemeine ZeitungThe Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
in 1967 for warning of an imminent invasion by Warsaw PactWarsaw PactThe Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
troops, analysed and published a book in 1981 on the centrifugal forces leading to the dismembering of YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. - Dorothea Razumovsky (*1935), née Prinzessin zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, well-known media-figure and political analyst, widely criticised for adopting a stance during conflicts arising from the dismemberment of Yugoslavia that was interpreted as being too pro-Serb.
- Katharina (Katerina) Razumovsky (*1961), daughter of the aforementioned, artist living in Vienna, Austria.
- Gregor (Grigoriy) Razumovsky (*1965), son of the aforementioned, President of the Razumovsky Society for Art and Culture which supports artistic exchange and co-operation between East and West. The Razumovsky Society for Art and Culture, in German Razumovsky-Gesellschaft für Kunst und Kultur patrons the Vienna Razumovsky Quartet. Gregor Razumovsky is Honorary President of the European Institute for the furtherance of Democracy, an Austrian-based Think-tank serving to study and further European Union.