An autographed decree to Major General Kropotov. Peter the Great

An autographed decree to Major General Kropotov.

Decree of Peter I dated November 10, 1724 on the settlement of Armenians at the fortress of the Holy Cross with the signature of the Emperor.

The text of the document:

Decree to Major General Kropotov

Moreover, the Armenian people asked us to accept them into our protection and in our newly acquired Persian provinces they ordered us to set aside convenient places for settlement, for the sake of this we command you that when any of the Armenian people arrive at the fortress of the Holy Cross, then immediately take them to the fortress of the Holy Cross along the Sulaku, Agrakhani and A grater where they wish and it is more convenient, necessary and contented places where they could settle, and otherwise do them every favor, and keep them in strong guard and deal with them in such an order that no complaints could occur from them, because We are the Armenian people in our special Imperial Mercy and protection were accepted. Given in St. Petersburg on November 10, 1724.

Peter

The decree to Major General Kropotov is the most important document on the history of Russian-Armenian relations and the Armenian struggle for independence. The document was sent with the Armenian delegation to the Caspian Fortress of the Holy Cross, founded personally by Peter the Great, which was supposed to become a key outpost of Russia in the eastern expansion. In those years, the fortress housed a huge garrison of ten thousand, and the joint actions of the Russian emperor, the Armenian and Georgian elite allowed us to hope for the independence of Armenia and Georgia. As evidence of that glorious stage of the Armenian struggle, the document was carefully preserved and at the end of the XIX century was in the collection of documents of the first researcher of Russian-Armenian relations, historian and educator Karapet Yezyan.

The document is an absolute unique, worthy of any museum or private collection.

A detailed description of the document and historical information are available on request.