Franz Lefort died in Moscow in 1699... Learning the sad news Czar Peter the Great, according to eyewitness reports, cried as if it were his own father who had just departed this world. With tears running down his face, the would-be Emperor of Russia said: "Never again will I have such a dedicated friend. I have no one left to lean on now..."

So, who was Franz Lefort and how did the brave Swiss find his way to the faraway Russian land? 

Franz Lefort was born on January 2, 1656 in Geneva. A fun-loving daredevil, a smart communicator, a tactful man endlessly dedicated to his work and Czar Peter, Lefort came from an old merchant family living at the very crossroads of European trade routes. Instead of following in his father's footsteps, however, Franz opted for a military career. A friendship with the younger son of the Duke of Kurland, Karl-Jacob, determined his future. The two young men saw military service as their vocation. Franz Lefort received his baptism of fire when his regiment commanded by his good friend, the would-be Duke of Kurland, was storming a heavily fortified enemy strongpoint on the Maas river. After a brief rest Franz Lefort headed to the Dutch city of Niemwegen where representatives of the warring European powers had gathered to negotiate a peace treaty. It was there that Lefort met the Dutch Colonel van Frosten who was recruiting officers for employment in the Russian army.

Arriving in Russia as a 20-year-old man Franz Lefort made a good military career in his new homeland. His courage and active duty gained him the rank of a General at the still early age of 34. Lefort settled in the so-called Nemetskaya Sloboda (or German Quarter) in Moscow where he quickly gained respect among other distinguished foreigners. The Germans, Swedes and Danes, good artisans all, who inhabited the Sloboda had come to Russia in the hope to find a well-paying job and make a fortune. These foreigners were a pretty wealthy lot sticking to the traditions of the countries they had come from which inevitably reflected on their architecture and lifestyles. Small wonder that the Sloboda looked more like a Western European town with tile-roofed houses and flowered palisades. Czar Peter was a frequent guest there regularly brushing shoulders with Franz Lefort who soon became a good friend, adviser and helper in the deep-cutting reforms the young Czar was about to launch... Because the house Lefort lived in was too small for Czar Peter and his retinue, the Czar ordered a large and lavishly furnished hall for 15 hundred guests to be added to the main structure. 

Franz Lefort is much credited with helping establish close diplomatic ties with the Swiss Republic. Foursquare behind the young Czar's desire to make Russia a military superpower, Lefort introduced a European method of training his soldiers and established cast iron discipline in his regiment. Lefort asked Czar Peter to give him a large drill square and money to accommodate his soldiers. The Czar readily obliged building more than 500 houses for soldiers and their families. That was the beginning of what is now known as the Lefortovo district in Moscow.

One of Peter the Great's closest associates, Franz Lefort died at his prime. He was only 43... There were at least two reasons for his early demise. Officially, he died of a complication of his old wounds while, the real cause might be a severe injury he suffered by accidentally falling on a sharp-edged stone. The injury eventually degenerated into a cancerous tumor. For a whole five years, until his very death, Franz Lefort superset from recurrent bouts of stomachache some of which were so painful that he could not even sit straight... Even during the increasingly rare occasions when the excruciation pain subsided he could only write kneeling down... In one of his letters he wrote there were four doctors and about 30 surgeons looking after him. The real cause of Lefort's death, however, was his longtime intemperance in what he ate and drank. Lefort's house in Moscow had for many years been used by Czar Peter as an extension of his own where he received foreign ambassadors and threw lavish parties where wine and stronger drink flew freely. Many of those feasts ran for several straight weeks. A week before his end, Franz Lefort was no longer able to get up but even then parties continued unabated... His condition deteriorating fast, Lefort was blacking out all the time and delirious in between... To keep their patient entertained, the doctors invited musicians over to his bedside to play virtually round the clock. An hour before it was all over, a pastor was invited to the dying man's bed and started telling him about the need to appeal to God. "Do not talk so much," Lefort whispered dismissing the cleric. The funeral Czar Peter ordered held for his good friend was the most extravagant the inconsolable monarch could ever think of... 
 
 

01/11/2006