Grigori Rasputin - The Mad Monk - Extra History - #1

winter palace st petersburg may 6 1917 the hammers of the typewriter crashed down on the page extraordinary commission of inquiry for the investigation of illegal acts by ministers and other responsible persons of the tsarist regime anna once a maid of honor to the empress of russia nervously rings her hands she sits in the throne room but there's no longer a throne in it the wallpaper has been torn down just like the tsar anna you see has been brought here from prison across from her the interrogator smokes and when the typist is ready he begins to ask questions he wants to know about the tsar and zarina their contacts with occultists and mesmerists but especially about one man how he wants to know did the imperial family meet rasputin [Music] thanks so much to world anvil for helping us forge today's historical tale if there's one character from russian history everybody knows it's gregory rasputin arguably more famous than the tsar and zarina he served his reputation for occult powers and debauchery has transcended the historical reality of his life transforming him into everything from a horror movie villain to a comic book character to a beer mascot to the subject matter of that amazing bony m song we riffed with as our april fools episode last year i mean let's not kid ourselves that song slaps after all who can resist the story of a mad monk who brought down a dynasty but did he see rasputin became involved with the tsar at a pivotal moment in russian history just as nicholas ii lost his aristocratic powers and the monarchy entered a tailspin into war and revolution and rasputin became seen in political circles and the press as either the cause of the royals detachment and decline or a symptom death 2 only enhanced his legend because once the tsar abdicated and the country barreled towards revolution the dead rasputin served as a convenient way for monarchists and royal advisors to shift blame for the tsar's poor decisions away from themselves even our understanding of rasputin's assassination comes from the let's just say dubious accounts of his killers in other words rasputin is surrounded by a cloud of myth but like many tales from history the true story is far more incredible the man who would walk in imperial palaces and serve an emperor was born in january 1869 in the siberian village of pakrovska and we know about as much of rasputin's childhood as we do about most siberian peasants from the time which is to say go almost nothing his family was illiterate and grigory would remain so until his 20s and though political enemies would later claim that he was a horse thief local records from the time indicate his wild youth never rose above public drunkenness petty theft and insubordination toward local officials at 18 he married a peasant woman and a decade later things hadn't really changed much he was 28 illiterate living with his father only now he had three children but all in all a completely ordinary background then one day he just kind of left now later he would claim to have seen a religious vision an icon of the virgin mary weeping but it also may have been a more mundane cause like a crisis of faith or simply an urge to travel whatever the reason in 1897 he set off to walk to a monastery of saint nicholas where he claimed to have studied under the local students a term for a spiritual elder who detained holiness through spare living and deep meditation presumably this was where rasmutin learned to read though he declined to stay in the monastery monastic life would have meant giving others authority over him and rasmutin was always wary of that so instead he took to the road as a wandering pilgrim which was a surprisingly popular life choice for men in 19th century russia those seeking spiritual enlightenment or even just travel and excitement would simply walk across country to whatever place a pilgrimage they set as a goal people of all classes did it traveling in groups and occasionally practicing self-mortification by wearing shackles or engaging in other forms of discomfort now personally rasputin found shackles distracting instead he tried wearing the same shirt for a year at a time without removing it walking to shrines and monasteries through heat and cold dodging briggins and meeting fellow pilgrims stinky but far more comfy he did this on and off for years even claiming to have walked to mount athos in greece which if he started at home would be roughly like walking from new york to los angeles my dogs are barking just thinking about that and it was on one of these journeys that he began to feel a bit of his own power back on the home front however his family felt that the gregory who had left for the monastery of saint nicholas was not the one who came back now he prayed with an ecstatic fervor it was entrancing to watch and moved with a new confidence even among the upper class he stared directly at people with an intensity that they never forgot and seemed to have an ability to read someone at first meeting understanding what they wanted how best to talk to them or their secret sins within a few years he was leading a prayer group in bogrovska which met in a friend's root cellar there rasputin's followers mostly his family and a few locals sang hymns of his own creation and spoke about god but not everyone was happy with rasputin a local priest tried to warn others away from the pilgrim who after all was not a priest by the way and some said that female followers were washing his body before worship plus there were rumors that he had become linked with the claisty a much older sect known for flagellation and accused of sexual rights that the orthodox church deemed heretical but nonetheless his fame grew and people started coming to see him by 1904 he was taking trips to a nearby city where he was welcomed as a students himself known for acting as a spiritual advisor for any who came to him and he was rumored to be able to heal people with prayer part of a long-standing tradition in russia of holy men able to perform miracles while there he began meeting figures in the orthodox church who were so impressed with his saintliness that they sent him to saint petersburg with a letter of introduction now what exactly rasputin was supposed to do in the capital is still up for debate he claimed to be raising money for a church though he dropped that idea pretty quickly once he arrived and instead he went to parties see when he arrived in saint petersburg he quickly fell in with an archbishop named theophan who had a tendency to collect firebrand right-wing preachers around him he liked to bring these men into aristocratic salons to nudge the political and religious conversation there was the ultra-nationalist bishop herrera mcginnis for example who'd reportedly castrated himself in his thirties and kicked a young joseph stalin out of seminary also there was the monk eliador who advocated for deporting all foreigners and wrote deranged pamphlets about how international cabals of jews and freemasons were trying to topple the czar it was this incredibly normal and rational circle that rasputin ended up joining and they became some of his earliest supporters though in truth he would quickly outshine them all because the bored aristocrats of saint petersburg saw something in rasputin his sincerity and religious ecstasy was raw vital and exciting his gray green eyes bore into you when you met him and he seemed to just know what you were thinking you know and despite his peasant upbringing he never appeared intimidated by titles or wealth in fact his appearance and rough manners added to his mystique at a time when few aristocrats had seen a siberian peasant much less spoken to one rasputin appeared exotic and a little threatening part of the real russia the europeanized upper class had lost touch with when he spoke about faith it felt grounded and alive and the way he talked to these aristocrats touched and stroked their hands particularly ladies hands well people found it simultaneously provoking repellent and magnetic but just to be clear rasputin was certainly not the only mystic running in high circles at the time in fact the russian aristocracy was awash in occultists mesmerists spirit mediums and supposed prophets these figures increasingly appealed to russia's upper class who had become disengaged from orthodox christianity and began experimenting with new religious ideas this ran the gamut from a young prince yusuf who we'll return to later in this story believing he'd acquired clairvoyant powers to the composer alexander skriyaban using occult themes in his music believing if they were played correctly it could end the world so yeah rasputin slid nicely into this environment and as his reputation as a profit and healer increased some of his aristocratic contacts decided to introduce him to a new couple who had a great interest in miracle workers nicholas and alexandra the emperor and empress of russia they had been without a mystical advisor for some years now ever since government ministers had forced them to send their last favorite a french miracle worker into exile and theophan as well as the occult circles of saint petersburg thought they'd found the perfect replacement so rasputin the siberian peasant entered the royal circle oh dang now gregory's gonna have to keep track of all those nobles bureaucrats ministers and hangers on how's a holy man supposed to keep all that straight well if world anfield had been around back then it would have been a breeze you know a lot of us here at extra credits have been creating our own imaginary worlds for years now be they video games rpgs or novels and as i'm sure you know it can be a ton of work keeping all of the disparate elements organized which is why we were so excited to check out world anvil it's an award-winning tool set used by millions of world builders writers and gamers that helps you create store and organize your world setting and let me tell you this tool set is robust as heck you can use it to craft entire rpg campaigns tracking timelines family trees and diplomatic relationships create interactive maps to help bring your world to life and once you're ready you can easily share what you've built with your players readers patrons or whoever not to mention with over 25 stunning visual themes at your disposal it's perfect for all genres from sci-fi to fantasy historical fiction to space opera would you know come to think of it means my riff's earth meets enter the gungeon 17th century romcom rpg campaign is now officially a possibility and it's gonna get spicy right now you can check out world anvil yourself absolutely free or for a limited time you can receive 40 off any annual membership using the code extra credits then not only will the fantastical worlds you dream up be built better but you'll be helping out our channel in the process once again that's code extra credits for forty percent off any annual membership and thanks so much again we can't wait to see what you build [Music] that's right zoe ahmed zion turk alicia bramble casey musta dominic valenciana joseph blame kyle murgatroyd and oriel's one are fantastic legendary patrons [Music] you

Channel: Extra History

Views: 767,852

Keywords: extra credits, extra history, history lesson, learn history, study history, world history, Gregori Rasputin, extra credits Gregori Rasputin, history of the world, history channel, Gregori Rasputin part 1, home learning, documentry, russia, russian history documentary, siberia, tsarist regime, starets, prince yusupov, history of russia, nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, czar of russia, russia ukraine, russia ukraine news, russian revolution, ww1, world war 1, explained

Id: vHQUAb4v94I

Length: 11min 12sec (672 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021