Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleyev was a Russian poet, public figure, Decembrist, one of the five executed leaders of the Decembrist Revolt, which attempted to overthrow the Russian monarchy in 1825.
Background
Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleyev was born on September 18, 1795 in Batovo village, Gatchinsky District, Russian Federation. His father, Fyodor Ryleyev, was an impoverished nobleman, a small landowner, who was later employed as the manager of one of Prince Golitsyn's estates.
Education
In spite of his family's pecuniary difficulties, Kondraty Fyodorovich was able to study at the Corps des Pages, an elite military academy attended only by members of the nobility, in Saint Petersburg.
Career
After his graduation, Kondraty Fyodorovich was awarded a commission in the First Cavalry Company of the First Reserve Artillery Brigade. He participated in the foreign campaigns of 1814 and 1815, seeing action in Poland, Germany and France, during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1818, he resigned his commission, and for a time was employed tutoring the children of a wealthy landowner named Tevyashev.
Kondraty Fyodorovich gained recognition in literary circles in 1820, for penning a satirical ode To the Favorite. That same year he joined a Masonic lodge in Saint Petersburg, where he became acquainted with several future members of the Decembrist uprising. In need of a regular income, from 1821 to 1824, he worked as an assessor of the Saint Petersburg criminal court. He did not completely abandon his literary pursuits, however. In 1821, he joined the Free Society of Russian Literature Lovers - an influential association of Russian writers and intellectuals. Kondraty Fyodorovich also edited and co-published a popular annual literary almanac, The Polar Star (Полярная звезда), with Alexander Alexandrovich Bestuzhev between 1823 and 1825. He also continued to write poetry during this period. His most well-known poems being Grazhdanskoe muzhestvo (Civic Courage), Grazhdanin (The Citizen), and Ispoved' Nalivaiki (Nalivaiko's Confession). He could not support his family with his literary work alone, and after leaving the criminal court, he found employment with the Russian-American Company as a manager in the Saint Petersburg office.
In 1823, Kondraty Fyodorovich was recruited by Ivan Pushchin to the revolutionary Northern Society, an organization of reform-minded individuals, mainly veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, dedicated to abolishing serfdom, and replacing the Tsar's government with either a democratic republic or a constitutional monarchy. In 1824, he was appointed to the directorate of the Northern Society, and was destined to play a key role in the ill-fated uprising. He proved to be an inspirational speaker and talented recruiter. During discussions among the Decembrists regarding what form of government should replace the monarchy, he favoring a government modeled after that of the United States.
On the night of December 27, 1825, Kondraty Fyodorovich was arrested for his role in the uprising, and charged with treason and attempted regicide. Along with four other Decembrists, judged to be the leaders of the rebellion, he was sentenced to be drawn and quartered. The method of execution was changed to hanging after the Tsar refused to confirm the verdict, returning it for further deliberation.
During the many interrogations that followed his arrest, he, unlike most of his fellow conspirators, never implicated anyone else in the rebellion. Kondraty Fyodorovich then went one step further, pleading with the Investigation Committee in April 1826, to execute him alone for the revolt, stating: If an execution is needed for the good of Russia, I am the only one who deserves it. I have long prayed that it will stop at me, and that the others will be returned by God's mercy to their families, their fatherland, and their noble Tsar.
The date of execution was set for July 25, 1826.
Membership
Free Society of Russian literature lovers
,
Russian Federation
1821
Connections
Kondraty Fyodorovich married the landowner's daughter, Natalya Tevyasheva, and went on to father two children.