Willem Mons /ref> (1688 – 26 November 1724) was private secretary to
Catherine I of Russia
Catherine I Alekseyevna Mikhailova (born Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya; – ) was the second wife and Empress consort of Peter the Great, whom she succeeded as Empress of Russia, ruling from 1725 until her death in 1727.
Life as a servant
Onl ...
.
Early life
Born in 1688 into the Dutch Mons family, Willem was the brother of
Peter the Great
Peter I (, ;
– ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...
After his sister's fall from favour, Willem joined the Russian army and took part in the Battle of Poltava. In 1711, he was appointed personal adjutant to the tsar. His other sister Matryona Balk had in the meantime become the closest friend of Catherine, whom Peter married in 1712.
In 1716, at Catherine's behest, Peter entrusted Willem with administering her estates. After Catherine's coronation as consort in 1724, he was promoted to the rank of imperial chamberlain. A few months later, however, Willem Mons was arrested on charges of peculation (
embezzlement
Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...
) and breach of trust and, after a brief and brutal inquiry by Pyotr Tolstoy, he was publicly beheaded on November 27. His head was preserved in alcohol and was supposedly kept temporarily in the Kunstkamera. There is a legend that Peter forced his wife to contemplate this gruesome exhibit for hours.
The true causes of Willem's downfall are obscure. It was rumoured that Peter was enraged by his intimacy with the Empress. Many courtiers regarded Mons as Catherine's lover and his sister Matryona as their matchmaker. The affair did not affect Catherine's position as empress, however.
Just months after his execution, Catherine succeeded to the throne and lavished honours on Matryona (who had been publicly flogged during her brother's trial) and her
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
daughter, Natalia Lopukhina, who would later give her name to the ''Lopukhina Conspiracy'' (1742–43).