Hannibal Maria Alekseevna

Maria Alekseevna Hannibal is Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin's grandmother, a key figure in his early upbringing.

Years of life: January 20 (31), 1745 — June 27, 1818.

Origin and marriage

She was born in the family of Alexei Fedorovich Pushkin (from an old noble family) and Sarah Yurievna (nee Rzhevskaya). In 1772, she married Osip Abramovich Hannibal, the son of Abram Petrovich Hannibal ("arap Peter the Great"). The marriage turned out to be difficult: Osip secretly remarried in 1776, falsely declaring Maria Alekseevna dead; at her request, the Empress intervened, and the second marriage was declared illegal. After that, Maria Alekseevna focused on her family.

The role in Pushkin's fate

Maria Alekseevna played a huge role in the poet's childhood:

She instilled a love for the Russian language. Russian Russian was often used in everyday life by the Pushkin family, but grandma insisted on Russian — in particular, at the Zakharova estate, which she acquired in 1804 for her daughter's family, it was customary to speak Russian in the house.

She passed on family traditions. She told her grandson stories about Abram Hannibal, about the old days and relatives; these stories were later reflected in Pushkin's works (for example, in "The Blackamoor of Peter the Great").

Created a warm, homely atmosphere. Little Sasha often hid in her needlework basket, listened to her evening stories. In Pushkin's poems, there are images of "mammy" in which researchers see the features of a grandmother (for example, lines from the poem "Dream", 1816).

From 1805 to 1810, the Pushkin family lived in Zakharova in the summer, and in 1808-1809 and in winter, under the supervision of Maria Alekseevna. It was there that the future poet became more familiar with nature, peasant life and folk tales.

Economic and everyday acumen

Maria Alekseevna proved herself to be a strong-willed and practical woman: she managed to set up a household, provide her daughter Nadezhda Osipovna (Pushkin's mother) with a decent position, summon Arina Rodionovna (who became Alexander's nanny) from the village of Kobrino and arrange a family for Arina Rodionovna (who became Alexander's nanny).

Recent years

Maria Alekseevna died in 1818 and was buried in the Svyatogorsky Monastery (Pskov province) at the altar wall, in the ancestral cemetery of the Hannibals.‑The Pushkin Family — Alexander Sergeyevich himself was subsequently buried there.