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Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg

Saint Petersburg, 16 Oct 1841 – Saint Petersburg, 16 Feb 1914

8 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 16 Oct 1841

    Born in Saint Petersburg

  2. 10 Jul 1867

    A son is born

  3. 16 Feb 1914

    Dies in Saint Petersburg, aged 72

Family

See the tree

Parents

Partner

Children · 1

During her lifetime

She lived through 8 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Saint Petersburg.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1840s · Princess is born in Saint Petersburg

In the news1848

Cholera and Crop Failures in 1848

In 1848, a major cholera epidemic, coupled with a bad harvest and dry weather that caused widespread town fires, severely disrupted the lives of the agrarian population.

Getting around

Four-day coach journeys between capitals

Traveling between St. Petersburg and Moscow by stagecoach took four days of constant travel before the railway was completed.

In Europe1845–1852

The Great Famine in Ireland

Potato blight ruined harvests: a million Irish people died and a million more emigrated, many to America.

Daily life

Low rates of peasant literacy and education

Literacy among serfs was extremely low, with estimates not exceeding 1%. Education was largely confined to home training by local sextons or clerks, often limited to reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.

What people wore

A single lifetime festive outfit

Peasants often prepared one high-quality outfit in their youth that was kept for their entire lives to be worn only on the most important feast days.

Music

Village musicians and popular instruments

During festival gatherings, village musicians played instruments including the balalaika, violin, horn, and the dudka, a flute-like pipe used primarily by men.

At the table

Everyday Drinks of the Peasantry

Kvass, a drink made from rye flour and malt, was the most common everyday beverage for ordinary people. While tea culture was starting to spread, it remained a luxury for many rural families, who often only drank it during illness or on special occasions.