Apraksin, Petr Matveevich

Apraksin, Petr Matveevich 

Born 1659; died May 29 (June 9), 1728. Russian statesman, associate of Peter I, and count (1710).

Apraksin was the brother of F. M. Apraksin and Tsaritsa Marfa, the wife of Fedor Alekseevich. (The latter relationship played a decisive role in Apraksin’s career.) From 1702 to 1704 he inflicted a series of defeats on the Swedish army on the Izhora River, at the mouth of the Narva River. In 1705 he became governor of Astrakhan, and from 1708 to 1713 he was governor of Kazan. Apraksin concluded a treaty with Aiuka (the prince of the Volga Kalmucks) under which the Kalmucks became Russian subjects (1708). He became a senator in 1717. In 1718 he was arrested in connection with the Tsarevich Aleksei affair, but was acquitted and took part in the Supreme Court judgment on the tsarevich. In 1722, Apraksin became president of the Justice Kollegiia (admin-istrative department).

REFERENCES

Pis’ma i bumagi imp. Petra Velikogo, vols. 1–11. St. Petersburg, Moscow-Leningrad, 1887–1964.
Sobranie sobstvennoruchnykh pisem imp. Petra Velikogo k Apraksinym, parts 1–2. Moscow, 1811.