Crime Chronicles: Darya Nikolaevna Saltykova

A little while ago, we covered the story of Delphine LaLaurie (1787 - 1849), the New Orleans socialite who tortured and murdered her slaves. We also covered Erzsebet Bathory (1560 - 1614), who did the same thing in Hungary around 200 years before that; I didn't think I'd find another one, but I did - in Russia.

This is the story of Darya Nikolaevna Saltykova...and yes, you can probably expect puns.

Who Was Darya Saltykova?

Darya Saltykova was born Darya Nikolaevna Ivanova on March 17, 1730. She was one of five daughters of Avtonomovich and Anna Ivanova. Her family was well-connected to a few noble families, and, as you can imagine, that meant she'd marry into another noble family.

She married young to Gleb Alexeyevich Saltykov, but was widowed by 26 and became the wealthiest widow in Moscow.

Some time later, she met a Russian poet named Fyodor Tyutchev. The two began an affair. Sadly, that didn't last long. See, Fyodor had a secret romance with a younger woman and had married her. This obviously upset Darya quite a bit, and she nearly killed the guy, and he eventually took his new wife and fled the region.

Salty Saltykova

Darya Saltykova was obviously rather salty about missing her chance to kill her former lover. As a result, she took her anger out on her serfs - focusing her wrath specifically on the women. She hated all of them, and the younger the women were... well... you can probably see where this is going.

Her cruelty seemed to have absolutely no triggers; she'd fly off the handle for no apparent reason. She was sadistic about her punishments and would often beat and whip her servants to death.

Complaints regarding Darya's cruelty were largely overlooked. She was, after all, a noblewoman. In fact, the complainants were often punished for their complaints. It wasn't until several grieving families made enough of a noise that Empress Catherine the Great stepped in and ordered an investigation.

A Public Trial and a Civil Execution

Saltykova was arrested in 1762 and held in custody for six years while Catherine's Collegium of Justice conducted a detailed investigation. Investigators questioned witnesses and went through Darya's estate records. Eventually, the investigation counted 138 deaths and pinned most of them on Darya. Here's the important thing to note: most of those victims were female, some as young as 10 or 12.

Now, from what I understand, there was some question about her sanity, but it was ultimately found that she wasn't crazy...at least not in that sense. In fact, Darya was remorseless about her crimes; as far as I know, she was only convicted of 38 killings.

Even with the conviction, however, Catherine didn't know what to do with her. See, the death penalty had been abolished in Russia since 1754. The ultimate decision came down in 1768, a civil execution followed by life imprisonment in the Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow. Now, that might not make a lot of sense. How do you spend life in prison after being executed? Well, another name for 'civil execution' would be humiliation.

Darya was chained to a platform for an hour and subjected to a public beating with a sign around her neck that told everyone what she had done.

Imprisonment and Death

At the time of Saltykova's imprisonment, the Ivanovsky Convent was notorious for keeping aristocratic women against their will. The conditions were also known for being...less than pleasant. Darya was kept in a cell separate from the main building, where she could hear the church services without being allowed inside the church itself. She was basically stuck in solitary confinement.

She was in solitary confinement for 11 years before being transferred to one of the convent's main buildings.

In either 1800 or 1801, after 33 years of imprisonment, Darya Nikolaevna Saltykova died in her cell at the age of 71.

A Russian LaLaurie

I wrote a piece a while back on Delphine LaLaurie and her cruelty. Darya's cruelty is largely unknown - as far as I can tell. I wasn't able to find out what exactly she did to her victims, but given that she's marked as one of Russia's cruellest women, I think that's a good thing.

Comparing Darya to the New Orleans socialite seems appropriate.