Background
Prince Yakov Shakhovskoy was born in the family of Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Shakhovskoy, who died when Yakov was several months old. His mother remarried twice, but the names of her husbands are unknown.
Prince Yakov Shakhovskoy was born in the family of Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Shakhovskoy, who died when Yakov was several months old. His mother remarried twice, but the names of her husbands are unknown.
He started his military service in 1720 as a soldier of Leib-Guard Semyonovsky Regiment. In 1725 he became a first lieutenant and in the reign of Peter II was promoted to captain. In 1730 he was transferred to the Сavalry guards.
He fought in the Ochakov, Dnieper and Khotin operations under command of Burkhard Christoph von Munnich.
During the regency of Biron and the short reign of Empress Anna Leopoldovna, the position of Shakhovskoy was precarious, although he was the Head of Police and senator for a short time. When Empress Elizabeth of Russia usurped the throne, all the protectors of Shakhovsky were arrested and he was forced to retire, yet the patronage of Prince Nikita Trubetskoy helped him secure the position of the General-Prosecutor of the Holy Synod.
Shakhovsky gained reputation as the most exacting prosecutor in decades and earned the animosity of many powerful clerics, who entreated Elizabeth to remove Shakhovskoy from his post. However, he presided over the Holy Synod for 12 years.
Foreign his integrity he was rewarded with the rank of Privy Counsellor and orders of Alexander Nevsky and of Saint Anna.
On 29 May 1753 he became General-krigskomissar and at this post strictly controlled state expenditures during the Seven Years" War. On 15 August 1760, Shakhovskoy become the General-Prosecutor and simultaneously the Conference-minister. On 25 December 1761 Emperor Peter III, who just assumed the throne, fired Shakhovskoy from his post.
The short reign of Peter III ended with a coup d"etat, and Catherine II returned Shakhovsky for the service, appointing him a senator
On 1 April 1766 Yakov Shakhovsky laid down his offices and settled in Moscow. His stormy life, rich with events, is the subject of his interesting "Notes", which were for the first time published in 1810.