19. The Noblewoman Who Exploited Russia’s System of Slavery to Cope With a Broken a Heart
When she discovered the betrayal by her boy toy, something inside Darya Saltykova snapped, and she nearly killed her unfaithful lover. Nikolay Tyutchev and his wife left the region to escape the wealthy widow’s wrath, and fled to his relatives’ estate near Moscow. That was when Saltykova took full advantage of the ability of landowners to exploit Russia’s system of de facto slavery to indulge in wanton cruelty. Deprived of the opportunity to violently vent her frustrations on her betrayer, Saltykova turned around and vented her rage on her hapless serfs.
Saltykova never got over the humiliation and hurt of her lover having chosen a younger woman over her. Unable to punish him, she took out her anger on her serfs, and punished them instead. Over a period of years, her serfs were forced to live through a horrific nightmare of torture and murder. As seen below, the angry widow’s fits of fury were inexplicable and unpredictable, and at any moment, she was liable to fly into a murderous rage for no apparent reason.