KREMNITZ KRUDENER. 



331 



rounded by three thick walls and a deep fosse, with 

 batteries. In the Kremlin are two convents, and many 

 churches, particularly the cathedral, in which the cor- 

 onation of the Russian emperors is performed. In 

 the church of the archangel Michael is the sepulchre 

 of the emperors, and behind it the house of the former 

 patriarch, where the synod now assembles, and a 

 library is kept, which is rich in Greek and Russian 

 manuscripts. In the castle, the imperial colleges 

 have their sessions; the arsenal is also there. In 1812, 

 when Moscow was burnt by the Russian authorities, 

 part of the Kremlin was also destroyed. When Na- 

 poleon left Moscow, marshal Mortier received orders 

 to blow it up. Alexander restored it. 



KREMNITZ. See Cremnitz. 



KRONSTADT. See Cronstadt. 



KRUDENER, JULIANA, baroness of; born about 

 1766, in Riga. Her father, baron Vietinghoff, one 

 of the richest landed proprietors in Courland, gave 

 her a careful education. When a young girl, her 

 parents took her to Paris, where her father's house 

 was the resort of men of talents, and her wit, beauty, 

 and cheerfulness were admired. In her fourteenth 

 year, she was married to baron Krudener, a Livonian, 

 about thirty-six years old. She accompanied her 

 husband to Copenhagen and Venice, where he was 

 Russian minister. In these places, and in Petersburg, 

 Madame Krudener, placed by rank and wealth in the 

 first circles, was one of their most brilliant ornaments. 

 She was surrounded by admirers of her talents and 

 beauty; but she was not happy. She became the 

 mother of two children ; but, as she herself indicates 

 in a letter to her son-in-law, her natural liveliness of 

 temperament and the allurements of the world led 

 her into levities, which finally caused a divorce from 

 her husband. In 1791, she returned to her father's 

 house in Riga, where she was universally considered 

 one of the most amiable and accomplished ladies, with 

 a feeling heart and lively imagination. But Riga did 

 not satisfy her, and she lived alternately in Paris and 

 Petersburg in Russia. Her love of dissipation involved 

 her, in Paris as well as in Petersburg, in many difficul- 

 ties. In the former place, the fierce Garat is said to 

 have been master of her heart. In the midst of these 

 circumstances, she wrote a novel, of which she had 

 formed the plan at an earlier period, Valerie, ou Let- 

 ires de Gustave de Linar d Erneste de G., in which she 

 delineated certain scenes of ner own life. The disasters 

 of Prussia arrived, and madame Krudener, being then 

 about the person of the queen of Prussia, and partici- 

 pating in her affliction, turned her mind from the 

 pleasures of the world to the subject of religion, 

 though, perhaps, as is often the case, little change 

 may have been produced in the essentials of her 

 character. Ambition, a lively sensibility, and love 

 of excitement, seem to have remained the great 

 springs of her actions. She was now attracted by 

 the principles of the Moravians. She again went to 

 Paris, where she found many disciples a fact easily 

 explained, from the circumstance, that the highest 

 circles of Paris always contain a number of persons 

 who, having been accustomed to live on excitements 

 from early youth, and having become sickened with 

 those of fashionable .life, turn with pleasure to 

 those of devotion. On the commencement of the 

 war of the northern powers against Napoleon, 

 madame Krudener went to Geneva (1813). At 

 Carlsruhe, she became connected with the mystical 

 Jung. (q. v.) She began to believe herself called to 

 preach the gospel to the poor. She therefore went 

 into the prison at Heidelberg, and preached to the 

 criminals condemned to death. In 1814, shereturned 

 to Paris. Here she became acquainted with 

 Alexander, emperor of Russia, who had already for 

 some time shown a disposition to religious contem- 



plations. According to a late publication of a 

 companion of madame Krudener, M. Empeytas, her 

 conversations with the emperor had a great influence 

 on him. In Paris, she had prayer-meetings, attended 

 by distinguished personages, where she was seen in 

 the background of a suite of rooms, in the dress of 

 a priestess, kneeling in prayer. It is very generally 

 believed, that her conversations, in Paris, with 

 Alexander, were mainly instrumental in suggesting 

 the idea of the holy alliance (q. v.); it is certain, 

 that, in her later sermons, she held it up almost as a 

 new covenant. She gave a description of the feast 

 celebrated by the Russian army in the plains of 

 Chalons, under the title Le Camp de la Vertu 

 (Paris, by Normand), in which she gives her views 

 respecting the history of the time. In 1815, she 

 went to Bale, where a small community of devout 

 mystics was already collected. Here a young 

 clergyman of Geneva, the above-mentioned Empey- 

 tas, followed her, and preached in the prayer- 

 meetings which the baroness held every evening. 

 Women and girls went ardently to these prayer- 

 meetings, and gave liberally to the poor, often to a 

 degree much beyond what they could afford. These 

 meetings, as is too often the case under circum- 

 stances of similar excitement, had a bad moral effect. 

 Cases were reported which excited great scandal, 

 and a preacher named Fasch finally denounced the 

 priestess. The magistracy of Bale obliged her to 

 leave the city. She experienced the same treatment 

 in Lorrach, Aarau, &c. ; yet, according to the common 

 course of things, the number of her followers 

 increased, particularly among young females. At 

 the same time she carried on an extensive corres- 

 pondence ; money was sent her from great distances. 

 In 1816, with her daughter, she went to reside not 

 far from Bale, in Baden, on the Horn of Grenzach 

 Besides M. Empeytas, she was accompanied by 

 professor Lachenal, of Bale, and a Mr Kellner. 

 Here she assembled many poor people, great num- 

 bers of whom were vagabonds, whom she provided 

 with food and lodging, without labour. These were 

 very ready to profit by the kindness of the good, 

 benevolent lady, who preached against the cold- 

 heartedness of the rich, as the source of all evil. 

 The public peace was so much disturbed by these 

 proceedings, that the Horn was surrounded by 

 soldiers in 1817, and the disciples of madame 

 Krudener carried away to Lorrach. She wrote, in 

 consequence, a remarkable letter to the minister at 

 Carlsruhe, in which she spoke of the "desert of 

 civilization " through which she was obliged to 

 wander, and reminded him of the law of God, requir- 

 ing the authorities to take care of the poor. She 

 now travelled about, preaching in the open air, often 

 surrounded by 3000 people, and giving bountifully to 

 the poor. Wherever she arrived, she was under the 

 surveillance of the police. In Leipsic, police officers 

 were at length even placed at her door, so that 

 nobody could be admitted to see her. Mr Krug, 

 professor of philosophy in the university of that city, 

 published Gesprach renter vier Augen mit der Frau 

 von Krildener (Leipsic, 1818), according to which 

 she appeared as an estimable enthusiast, pouring- 

 out pious effusions, mingled with arrogant prophecies. 

 At length the police transported her to the Russian 

 frontier, where she received orders not to go to 

 Petersburg, nor to Moscow. In 1824, she went, 

 with her daughter and her son-in-law, to the Crimea, 

 and died there the same year, December 13, at Kara- 

 fubasar. Madame Krudener is one more instance 

 that ardent zeal and good intention (for it is probable 

 that she considered herself to be doing right) are by 

 no means sufficient to render one capable of effecting 

 a great reformation. 



