Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova

Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova was born on March 11, 1730, into a wealthy and important Russian noble family. She was one of five daughters of Nikolai Avtonomovich Ivanov and Anna Ivanovna Davydova. Darya had four sisters: Feodora, Marfa, Agrafiona, and Tatiana. Growing up in a noble household, Darya lived a life filled with privilege and opportunity.

In her early adulthood, Darya married Gleb Alexeyevich Saltykov, who was a nobleman and also the uncle of Nikolai Saltykov, another member of the prominent Saltykov family. Together, Darya and Gleb had two sons named Theodore, born in 1750, and Nicholas, born in 1751. In 1755, Darya became a widow at the age of just 25, inheriting a vast estate near Moscow, along with ownership of numerous serfs. With no husband and an immense fortune, she became the head of the household and the sole authority over the lives of the peasants who worked her land. She continued to live there with her two young sons and a considerable number of serfs.

Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova was involved in numerous killings at her estate. For years, many people reported suspicious deaths of serfs on her property, but their complaints were often ignored. Saltykova had connections with powerful figures in Russian society, which helped her avoid consequences for her actions.

In 1762, a petition from relatives of the deceased women reached Empress Catherine II. Saltykova was arrested and held for six years while the Collegium of Justice conducted an exhaustive inquiry. Witness testimonies and estate records pointed to a horrific pattern of abuse. Ultimately, Saltykova was found guilty in 1768 of killing 38 female serfs through extreme beating and torture.

Despite her conviction, the Empress faced a dilemma regarding her punishment. Capital punishment had been abolished in Russia, and she needed to consider the nobility's support. Some accomplices of Saltykova were punished with public flogging and hard labor. Saltykova herself was publicly shamed in 1768, being chained on a platform in Moscow with a sign stating her crimes. She was then imprisoned for life in the cellar of the Ivanovsky Convent, a monastery known for housing disgraced noblewomen. There, she spent 33 years in solitary confinement until her death on December 9, 1801, aged 71. She was buried at Donskoy Monastery, next to her relatives in the Donskoy Monastery necropolis.