Background
Gavrila Kramnev was born ca. 1730 in the village Gryazevka, Lebedyansky district, Lipetsk region, Russian Federation.
Gavrila Kramnev was born ca. 1730 in the village Gryazevka, Lebedyansky district, Lipetsk region, Russian Federation.
Gavrila Kramnev served for more than 12 years as a soldier in the landowners Orlovsky regiment but in 1765 run away. In Voronezh, Korotoyak, Kostensky, Usmansky regions declared himself emperor Peter III. He promised to free single homesteads from taxes and recruitment kits, to replace the poll tax with natural taxes and to allow distillation.
The appearance of Gavrila Kramnev caused excitement of single-palaces in the Voronezh province. On the way to Voronezh, he was arrested.
Governor A.P. Lachinov proposed to cut off the impostor’s tongue and then to quarter him. Catherine II freed Kremnev from the death penalty, believing that the crime occurred "solely from drunkenness, violence and ignorance." As a result, Gavrila Kramnev was punished with a whip in all the villages where he pretended to be Emperor, branded with the letters "B" and "C" (which means "fugitive and impostor" correspondingly) and exiled to penal servitude in Nerchinsk.
