Sheremetev

in Russia from the 15th to early 20th centuries, a family of boyars (after 1706, counts) descended from the younger line of the family of Andrei Kobyla, who is mentioned in historical sources in 1347. The founder of the family was Andrei Konstantinovich Sheremet, a great-grandson of Fedor Andreevich Koshka. In the mid-16th century five of Sheremet’s grandsons received the rank of boyar. The Sheremetevs were the wealthiest landowners in Russia. The most famous members of the family were the following:

Ivan Bol’shoi Vasil’evich Sheremetev. Date of birth unknown; died 1577. Boyar from 1550; voevoda (military commander).

In 1555, I. V. Sheremetev led the Russian Army in a campaign against the Crimean Khanate and in the battle of Sudbishchi. He was a member of the Selected Council (Izbrannaia Rada), but during the 1560’s he fell out of favor with the tsar several times.

Fedor Ivanovich Sheremetev. Date of birth unknown; died Feb. 17, 1650.

F. I. Sheremetev belonged to anti-Godunov circles in the early 17th century. In 1601 he was exiled to a Siberian voevodstvo (territory under a military governor), but under the First False Dmitrii he received the rank of boyar. From 1606 to 1609 he led the Russian Army in its suppression of a popular uprising in the Volga Region (Povolzh’e). From 1633 to 1645, under Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, Sheremetev was a member of the government, and from April 1642 he was the de facto head of the government.

Boris Petrovich Sheremetev. Date of birth unknown; died 1650. State figure in the 1630’s and 1640’s; boyar from 1646.

Matvei Vasil’evich Sheremetev. Date of birth unknown; died 1657. Russian voevoda in the mid-17th century; participant in the Russo-Polish War of 1654–67 and the Russo-Swedish War of 1656–58.

Vasilii Borisovich Sheremetev. Date of birth unknown; died 1682. Russian state and military figure in the mid-17th century.

V. B. Sheremetev headed several prikazy (offices). He also directed the operations of Russian troops and Ukrainian detachments in the Ukraine from 1654 to 1656 and again from 1658 to 1660. After surrendering near Chudnov in 1660, he was turned over to the Crimean khan by the Poles; he spent 21 years in captivity.

Boris Petrovich Sheremetev. Born 1652; died 1719.

Petr Borisovich Sheremetev. Born 1713; died 1788. High chamberlain, general of the infantry, adjutant general, senator, and prominent state figure during the reigns of Elizaveta Petrovna and Catherine the Great.

P. B. Sheremetev directed the construction of various palaces and architectural ensembles (usad’by), such as Kuskovo and Ostankino. He supported peasant theaters, choruses, and orchestras, and he amassed an extremely valuable art collection.

Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev. Born 1751; died 1809. High marshal of the court, active privy councillor, and senator.

N. P. Sheremetev established the Home for Vagrants in Moscow. (The building now houses the N. V. Sklifosovskii Moscow City Scientific Research Institute of Emergency Medical Care.)

Dmitrii Nikolaevich Sheremetev. Born 1803; died 1871. Master of the court; philanthropist, director of the Home for Vagrants in Moscow, art collector, and patron of the arts.

Sergei Dmitrievich Sheremetev. Born 1844; died 1918. Member of the Council of State, chairman of the Archeographic Commission, editor of the journal Starina i novizna, and author of a series of works in the history of Russia in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Aleksandr Dmitrievich Sheremetev. Born 1859; died 1919. Musician, composer, founder of the Society of Music History, and director of a court choir.