Grigory Rasputin (1872-1916), Siberian peasant and self-proclaimed holy man, whose friendship with Russia’s last emperor and empress wrecked the Romanov dynasty’s prestige and contributed to the coming of the Russian Revolutions of 1917.

Born in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye, Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin attended school but remained only semiliterate. He married, probably in 1889, and had four children. He left home in 1901 to become a pilgrim and soon became known both for his alleged healing powers and for his scandalous sexual exploits. In 1903 Rasputin arrived in Saint Petersburg, where he owed his entry into high society to the fad for spiritualism, exoticism, and popular religion fashionable in some circles at that time. Although he was unordained, Rasputin enjoyed the favor of some prominent leaders in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Rasputin first met Russian emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra in the autumn of 1905, when Russia was in the midst of an uprising against the monarchy (see Russian Revolution of 1905). The imperial family was also shaken by the discovery that Alexis, the heir to the throne, had hemophilia. Rasputin seemed to embody the simple peasant faith in the monarchy that Nicholas saw as the chief support for his dynasty and the main justification of his role as autocrat and protector of his people. Above all, Rasputin seemed uniquely able to alleviate the incurable illness of Alexis, on occasion intervening successfully to end dangerous attacks of bleeding. This won him the passionate support of the worried empress.

Between 1906 and 1914, Rasputin’s association with the imperial family was used against the regime by politicians and journalists who wished to undermine the dynasty’s credibility, force the emperor to give up absolute political power, and assert the independence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the state. Rasputin helped the propaganda by boasting about his influence on the imperial couple, by his debauched lifestyle, and by a number of public disputes with church figures. Even within the church, however, his role was a limited one. In government it was minimal.

Rasputin’s influence grew significantly during 1915 and 1916, with Nicholas II away at the front during World War I and the Empress Alexandra playing a more active role in government. Rasputin persuaded the empress to fill a few offices with his nominees. What mattered, however, was not Rasputin’s still very limited influence on policies and appointments but the fact that he was widely credited with being the dominant figure in the emperor’s counsels. Amidst the growing mood of hysteria brought on by wartime defeats and privations, this false perception about the power of a semiliterate peasant fatally damaged the monarchy. In December 1916 Rasputin was murdered by a group of conspirators, including the emperor’s first cousin, Grand Duke Dmitry, and his nephew by marriage, Felix Yusupov. These politically conservative aristocrats hoped naively to rescue the dynasty’s prestige and alter the emperor’s policies. In fact, Rasputin’s death changed nothing, and the emperor was overthrown two months later.