Diaries of the heir and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (1899-1903): possibilities of the computer analysis

Ekhlakova Alina Rinatovna ORCID: 0000-0002-4192-0474 Senior Lecturer; Faculty of History and Political Science; Perm State National Research University 614068, Russia, Perm Krai, Perm, Bukireva str., 15, room 437 alina.perm@mail.ru

Personal diaries serve as a reflection of thoughts and emotions recorded to make sense of what is happening. The style of writing changes under the influence of the era, fashion and professional characteristics of people of different ages. Keeping a personal diary allows authors to record changes in the world around them in a convenient and simple format. An important feature of such records is a selective approach to reflecting what is happening: the author himself decided which moments deserve to be recorded on the pages of his diary (for more information, see ^[1]).

Like many of his relatives, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, the younger brother of Emperor Nicholas II, recorded the events of his life in diaries from a young age. He retained this training during the period when he became heir to the throne after the death of Tsarevich George Alexandrovich.

Mikhail Alexandrovich's notes provide important information containing descriptions of the heir's daily activities and interests, details of his participation in state and public affairs, and events in the life of the Imperial Family. The diaries contain information about Mikhail Alexandrovich's relationship with his elder brother, Emperor Nicholas II, and other relatives, statesmen, as well as reactions to significant events in the life of the state ^{[2, 3]}. Events in the diaries are displayed as they originate, and many of them do not yet have a public assessment, and we see exclusively the author's position.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the information potential of the presented source and assess the significance of certain events and personalities for the author based on the frequency of occurrence of word forms.

Diaries as a historical source

The diary entries of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich for the period when he was heir to the throne are contained in ten notebooks (GARF, f. 668, op. 1, d. 15-24). The structure of the record was as follows: the Grand Duke indicated the date (date and month), the place of stay and, accordingly, the writing of the text, the day of the week. This information makes it possible to trace the time frequency of the appearance of entries in the diaries.

Mikhail Alexandrovich's diary entries are quite brief, contain descriptions of the schedule and events, mostly without reflexive parts. Nevertheless, the Grand Duke shares his feelings in his diaries: "Then I went to the house where I found Siocha upstairs, he came from the city, spends the night here and will spend the day with me tomorrow. Hooray, a great joy for me" (July 14, 1899); "When we came to the dear old house, we went to look at everything and all the rooms. It was so sad and, at the same time, so nice to see this dear place again, where there are so many good memories, namely, it reminded me of dear angelic Dad" (September 7, 1899). In general, the texts include information about the author's mental states, but mostly about brief impressions of the day.

Mikhail Alexandrovich, in a letter to his brother, Emperor Nicholas II, admitted that he did not have much writing talent: "Unfortunately, I am not a writer, but I would very much like to be able to write well and intelligently" ^[4].

Nevertheless, despite a certain dryness of language, Mikhail Alexandrovich also uses colloquial expressions, expressive phrases, which gives the recordings emotionality and vivacity: "I was hanging out in the morning" (September 10, 1901); "There were so many foreign princes" (January 20, 1901).

Diary entries, as a rule, contain the following information: the Grand Duke's daily routine, including both daily life and leisure practices, and the fulfillment of the duties of the heir to the throne, service as an adjutant to His Majesty, an officer of the Guards Horse Artillery Brigade, commander of His Majesty's Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment, a member of the State Council, the Finance Committee and the Committee of Ministers. Due to their status and extensive responsibilities, the texts are filled with references to members of the Russian Imperial House, relatives from European royal families, political and public figures. As mentioned, there are many links to place names in the records.

Research methods

The relevance of using quantitative content analysis in the study of various types of sources is also confirmed by the state of development of the topic. There is a large array of scientific publications of an interdisciplinary nature within the framework of individual sciences and fields of knowledge devoted to the application of the method, including classic studies ^{[5; 6; 7, pp. 292-308]}. Quantitative content analysis has shown the prospects of its application in the framework of the analysis of sources of personal origin ^{[8, 9]}. However, within the framework of a special study, the analysis of diary entries is practically not found. N.A. Subbotina analyzed the diaries of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, highlighting topics and calculating the frequency of words ^[10]. Mikhail Alexandrovich's diaries were not the focus of attention of researchers using information technology methods.

As part of this study, a computer content analysis of the texts of the diaries was carried out with the help of the AntConc corps manager and, based on information about the visited places indicated in the diaries, a spatial analysis of Mikhail Alexandrovich's travel routes was carried out.

To carry out a quantitative analysis of the text, first of all, the necessary preparation of the text was carried out – cleaning (fonts were averaged, indents and paragraphs were removed). Then the text was lemmatized, and an online resource was used as a tool (https://arsenkin.ru/tools/lemma /). As a result, certain difficulties appeared that affect the analysis of the lemmatized text – some words were automatically changed. For example, "Niki" (the family name of Emperor Nicholas II) was replaced by "Nika".

After that, the selection and manual exclusion of stop words, which included articles, interjections, conjunctions, etc., was carried out.

Based on the preliminary analysis of texts, the development of categories of analysis and research topics began, combining words into groups on selected topics. So, at the moment, the following thematic categories can be distinguished: everyday life and daily life, family and personalities, geographical locations, time bindings, obligations. All these categories reflect both the life and interests of the Grand Duke.

Further work on the development of categories will continue. Also, based on the frequency of occurrence of words of certain categories, it is possible to distinguish periods of the Grand Duke's life for various reasons.

In addition to words and word forms, n-grams can be distinguished, showing the most frequently used expressions and descriptions of situations by Mikhail Alexandrovich. The analysis of n-grams made it possible to identify the semantic sequence of specific words and their forms, which form stable word combinations (collocations), as well as to identify key word forms and linguistic constructions related to the activities of the Grand Duke.

Spatial analysis has become another interdisciplinary analysis tool used in this study. In recent years, researchers have been interested in the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in historical research. Mathematical and cartographic models are used to analyze many historical events ^{[11, 12]}, including in the analysis of source texts ^[13], to visualize the course of military operations ^[14], etc. Nevertheless, spatial visualization of diary entries is not found, although all the events that take place are tied not only to time, but also to a geographical landmark. The status of the Grand Duke implies the possibility of the author's participation in the studied source not only in Russian, but also in international events. In this connection, the task was to identify the key areas of the described events, search for spatial patterns.

With the help of the freely distributed geographic information system QGIS 3, maps were created reflecting Mikhail Alexandrovich's routes during the period covered by the diaries.

To draw the borders of the European states of the late XIX – early XX centuries, a map was used by the American publisher and map printer Rand McNally & Company, the time of creation of which belongs to the period under study. To reflect Mikhail Alexandrovich's movements, a point layer of objects "Settlements" and a linear layer "Paths" were created. In the attribute table of the Settlements layer, the fields "Name" (name of settlements), "Dates" (time of stay of the heir in this settlement), "Number" (total number of days of stay), "Year" (information about the year of stay) were filled in. After that, based on the information contained in the "Dates" field, a new "Path" layer was applied, in the attribute table of which information about the starting and ending points of the route, as well as the year in which this movement was recorded, was entered.

The information entered into the geodata database was visualized using four maps with a chronological division from 1899 to 1902. The number of visits to the locality was shown by changing its size. All the settlements mentioned during the year were divided into five classes using natural intervals (the Jenks algorithm), which allowed values to be divided into classes in such a way that similar values were in the same class, and the boundaries were set so as to separate large differences in values. Since the intermediate points of the routes are most often not indicated in the diaries, the paths of movement were reflected using the method of the sign of movement from the start to the end point. If intermediate points of movement were mentioned in the diaries, they were also reflected on the map.

Content analysis of the diaries of the heir and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, 1899-1903.

The frequency of occurrence of words and word forms by thematic distribution in diary entries showed that expressions related to the sphere of everyday life and everyday life were most often encountered – this is justified by the nature of the source of personal origin. This category includes words related to the daily routine (for example, to return home – 642, to go later – 196, etc.), daily activities (letter – 692, letter to receive – 322, write a letter – 237, Siocha letter – 186; go for a ride – 270, play– 1152, ride – 179, playing billiards – 173, etc.), description of the weather (wonderful weather – 194, cloudy weather – 157, etc.) and other events. The category contains 13,004 statistically significant, i.e. not uniquely occurring, units of analysis. Many words and word forms are not semantically meaningful, which is due to the type of source and the topic of everyday life within this category.

The diaries contain a large amount of information about the most diverse aspects of the life of the Grand Duke and his entourage during the period under study, including the broader cultural context. For example, Mikhail Alexandrovich mentions the performances and events he attended: "After breakfast, Mom and I went to an exhibition of Krachkovsky's paintings. I bought 3 paintings. <...> then we went with Baby and Petya to the Page Building, where there was a performance: "The Death of Ivan the Terrible"..." (January 19, 1902); "Mom, Ksenia and I went to the salt town, where there is an Italian exhibition. Nicky, Alix, and others were there. <...> After lunch, we went to the Alexander Theater, where they gave "The Inspector" (today is the 50th anniversary of Gogol's death)" (February 21, 1902).

It is also possible to trace what kind of transport, including motor transport, the author and his entourage use: car – 13, yacht – 88, imperial yacht – 12, gasoline – 214, bicycle – 160, horse – 211, carriage – 3, wagon – 6.

In second place in terms of frequency of occurrence are words related to the category of family and other personalities. The category contains 5,207 statistically significant units of analysis. The pages of the Grand Duke's diary are filled with references to his entourage, both those who were alive at that time and those who had already died. The closest and most mentioned people on the pages of the diaries for Mikhail Alexandrovich were Olga Alexandrovna (Baby), sister of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (1270 times), Empress Maria Feodorovna (Mother), mother of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (1035 times). Quite often there are descriptions of the time spent with key figures of that period – Nicholas II (Niki), Emperor of All Russia and brother of Mikhail Alexandrovich (730), and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix, Alix, 437 times). It is possible to trace which joint activities united the members of the imperial family, for example: Niki to leave – 38, Niki cordially – 38, Niki to say goodbye – 28, Alix to accompany – 10, Alix to dine – 32, Alix to play – 32, etc.

Beatrice (Baby B. – 1 time, Baby B. – 3 times, Bea – 40 times, Sima – 142 times) (1884-1966), Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and since 1902 beloved of Mikhail Alexandrovich, is also mentioned in diaries.

One can see the interactions of Mikhail Alexandrovich and the imperial family with socio-political figures of the time under study: Prince Shervashidze (115 times), Dashkov (243), Prince Baryatinsky (51) and many others shared with the Grand Duke both work trips and leisure – hunting, dinners.

In addition, the Grand Duke maintained contacts with representatives of Western royal dynasties. The most frequent mentions in the diaries were Victoria (Toria), Princess of Wales and cousin of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (422 times), Charles, cousin and Prince of Denmark (later Norwegian King Haakon VII, 90 times), Aunt Alix – Alexandra, Princess of Wales, aunt of the Grand Duke (56 times),Valdemar –Valdemar, Prince of Denmark, uncle of the Grand Duke (33) and uncle of Willy – George I, King of the Hellenes, uncle of the Grand Duke (26).

In his diary entries, Mikhail Alexandrovich also describes joint activities, for example: "we all went to Copenhagen in carriages to open the monument to the last Danish war against the Germans" (August 31, 1899). He also writes in the texts about friendly and family relations: "Mom and d [yadya] Valdemar drank tea with me, Apapa was also there" (October 10, 1902); Toria go – 53, Toria lunch – 53, Toria go – 45.

In third place in terms of frequency of occurrence are word forms describing the category of work duties and exits of the Grand Duke. The category contains 1,895 statistically significant units of analysis. Due to the fact that Mikhail Alexandrovich, being the heir, was on active military service, many events of this kind were described in diaries. Among the mentions are: military field – 77 times, artillery mounted – 47, artillery brigade – 47, regiment Preobrazhensky – 46, duty wing – 40, Guard Preobrazhensky – 40, guards crew – 27, anchor – 19, duty room – 19, company exercise – 15, anchor – 11 and others . Mikhail Alexandrovich treated his service and his duties positively, which can be seen in the texts of his diaries: "Yesterday Niki enlisted me in the Guards Sappers, I am very happy about it" (May 29, 1900); "At 7 o'clock there was a rehearsal of the company review. ... but the review was canceled due to wet weather and * bad soil. (I was especially very sad because I completely miss the company review)" (June 4, 1902).

In addition, Mikhail Alexandrovich was appointed a member of the State Council (n-gram occurs 21 times), and his notes on participation in the activities of the highest state institution of the Russian Empire can be seen in the records: "I went straight to the State Council. Witte made a speech (about the State Painting)" (December 29, 1901), "Returned home, had breakfast, then went to the State Council, from there went straight to the regiment" (March 11, 1902).

Separately, we can highlight the description in the records of church services: the mention of the church occurs 216 times, including the church later – 25, the church after – 27, the church day – 6, Lent – 2, etc.

In fourth place in terms of frequency of occurrence are the time and geographical references indicated in the diaries. The category contains 1610 statistically significant units of analysis. As noted above, in the title of the diary entry, the Grand Duke indicated the place and date of writing, but in addition, references to movements and time landmarks are found in the texts.

For example, as a result of the analysis with the help of resources, it is possible to trace which months Mikhail Alexandrovich mentioned more often (Table 1):

Table 1.

The following geographical places are mentioned in diary entries: Gatchina – 645 times, including Gatchina Palace – 11, (village) Krasnoe – 304, Alexandria – 226, Bernstorf – 162, Copenhagen – 82, Peterhof – 97, St. Petersburg – 85, 37 times the Grand Duke speaks about fortresses, including Kronstadt – 8, Petropavlovsk – 8.

At the same time, the thematic categories regularly intersected with each other: most of Mikhail Alexandrovich's diary entries were devoted to the daily schedule, family members were also regular participants in the events. Work duties were an obligatory part of the Grand Duke's life, so references to them are also found throughout the texts, and especially often in 1902.

When conducting a sentimental analysis of diaries based on the method of using tonal dictionaries ^[15], it can be noted that the positive mood of the Grand Duke prevails. The dictionary containing positive reactions (happiness*, joy*, pleasure*, delight, fun*, pleasure*, kind*, sympath*, admiration*, love*, love*, interest) is frequently reflected in 147 statements of the author. An interesting fact is that about happiness as a feeling (and not when using the introductory construction "to happiness") Mikhail Alexandrovich writes only talking about spending time with Princess Victoria of Wales.

A dictionary containing negative emotions and feelings (unhappiness*, sadness*, sadness*, grief, boredom*, annoyance*, anxiety, anxiety*, fright) is frequently reflected in 87 sentences. At the same time, the analysis of the set of words required more research control in connection with the peculiarities of Mikhail Alexandrovich's literary language: despite the fact that word forms with the morpheme "fear / fear" occur 76 times, the author does not talk about fear as an emotion in his diaries, but uses as a turn of speech: "the heat is terrible", "terribly glad". The situation was similar with the word form "horror", as well as with the morpheme "happiness" mentioned above.

Thus, quantitative content analysis has shown that in the diaries of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, four main topics can be distinguished, to which the entries are devoted. The culture of keeping diaries prescribed the date and place of writing of the text, which is important for further analysis. And, despite the official style of keeping a diary, the Grand Duke constantly wrote emotional reactions: his joy and sadness as a reaction to family events, work events and leisure activities.

Spatial analysis of the diaries of the heir and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, 1899-1903.

The maps created on the basis of diary entries make it possible to trace the path of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and identify some features of his progress during the period under study. Despite the fact that the study examines diary entries only for the second half of 1899, Mikhail Alexandrovich's route was quite diverse (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The ways of movement of the heir and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich in July-December 1899.

In early July, the Grand Duke visited the southern territories of Russia, visiting Novorossiysk, Novocherkassk, Batumi and Ryazan. In the second half of July and early August, the heir spent time in Krasnoye Selo, Ropsha and Alexandria, and then went on the imperial yacht Polar Star to Denmark, where he spent a month and a half at the royal residence Bernstorff. At the end of September, Mikhail Alexandrovich went to the UK, where he first visited London, and after that he lived in Mar Lodge, a highland estate in west Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In mid-October, the heir returned to Bernstorff, on the way to which he visited Edinburgh, London, Cologne, Korser and other settlements. The Grand Duke stayed in Bernstorff until November 20, after returning from which he was in Gatchina.

In 1900, the Grand Duke remained mainly near St. Petersburg (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. The ways of movement of the heir and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich in July-December 1900.

He spent the first four months in Gatchina and St. Petersburg. In May and June, Mikhail Alexandrovich was in Krasnoye Selo, periodically visiting Gatchina, and in July – in Alexandria and Krasnoye Selo. On July 28, the heir set out with a battery of the Guards Horse Artillery Brigade for maneuvers in Rozhdestveno, Novaya Dolgovka, to Lake Malye Toloni, Lyamtsevo and Pogost-Khmer. After a short stay in Alexandria and on the Polar Star, he also visited maneuvers in Ludoni and Pluss. From August 9 to 16, the Grand Duke was in Alexandria, and then went to Belovezh, where he stayed for 19 days. At the end of August, the heir arrived by train to Spala. After staying there until September 14, he stopped at his estate Ostrovy, where he stayed for three days. After this trip, Mikhail Alexandrovich returned by train to St. Petersburg and went on his personal yacht "Zarnitsa" to Denmark, where, living in Fredensborg, he stayed from September 26 to November 5. After returning to Russia, the Grand Duke lived in Gatchina until the end of the year.

Mikhail Alexandrovich visited the largest number of settlements in the studied period in 1901 (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The ways of movement of the heir and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich in July-December 1901.

Already on January 4, he moved from St. Petersburg to his estate Brasovo (Oryol province), where he spent a week. After spending several days in St. Petersburg, the heir went to England on January 16 for the funeral of Queen Victoria. There he visited Queenborough, London and Windsor Castle, spending a total of 11 days in England. Throughout February, the Grand Duke lived in the Anichkov Palace, March in Tsarskoye Selo, in April he was in St. Petersburg, Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo, in May and July in Gatchina, Krasnoye Selo, Tsarskoye Selo and Alexandria. Then, on July 2, Mikhail Alexandrovich went to sea on the yacht "Zarnitsa", on which he arrived in Reval, where he stayed for three days, and then returned to Alexandria. Until July 18, the heir was in Alexandria and Krasnoye Selo, and then went with the battery to regimental maneuvers in Taitsy. From July 21 to 27, the Grand Duke stayed in Krasnoye Selo, Alexandria and Gatchina, and then joined the battery, with which he was on maneuvers from July 28 to August 12 in Narva, Vokka, Purce, Merrecule, Sale and Malli, Loshkovitsy and Ropsha. After spending two days in Gatchina and Alexandria, Mikhail Alexandrovich went to Brasovo, where he stayed until August 20. After his return, the Grand Duke stayed in Gatchina for three days, and then went on a "Zarnice" to Fredensborg, where he lived until September 21. Then he stayed in Bernstorff until October 1, after which he moved to Libava, and from there to Spala, where he spent 18 days until October 21. From Spala, Mikhail Alexandrovich went to Skernevitsy, where his stay lasted 14 days. He spent the last two months of 1901 mainly in Gatchina, traveling to Tsarskoye Selo and St. Petersburg.

The smallest number of settlements is recorded in the diary entries of 1902 (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. The ways of movement of the heir and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich in July-December 1902.

From January to March, Mikhail Alexandrovich lived in the Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg, in April - in St. Petersburg and Gatchina, in May – in Gatchina, Krasnoye Selo and Alexandria. On June 5, the Grand Duke departs on the yacht "Zarnitsa" to London, where he spends one week, and returns to Gatchina on June 21. At the end of June and July, Mikhail Alexandrovich is in Gatchina, Krasnoye Selo and Alexandria. Then, on July 31, he advanced in the ranks of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment for large mobile training camps, which lasted until August 10, and visited Kuzmino, Ladoga, Chernaya Rechka, Fedorovsky Posad and Pokrovskoye, after which he was in Alexandria. After that, on August 28, the heir moved by train to Kursk, where maneuvers took place from August 30 to December 5, after which he headed to Brasovo for four days. After returning from Kursk, the Grand Duke went to Bernstorff, where he stayed from September 11 to October 8, and then stayed at the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen until October 22. After returning to Russia, Mikhail Alexandrovich lived in Gatchina until the end of the year. From January 1 to February 6, 1903, Mikhail Alexandrovich lived in St. Petersburg, without making long trips.

Information about the spatial objects mentioned in the diaries allows not only to build unique routes of movement in the years under consideration, but also to find some patterns of Mikhail Alexandrovich's stay, observed annually. So, in the period from November to March, the Grand Duke was in St. Petersburg and Gatchina, Mikhail Alexandrovich spent the autumn months in three of the four studied years at the Danish royal residence Bernstorf, and in May-July he stayed in Krasnoye Selo, Alexandria and Gatchina.

Conclusion

On the pages of his diaries, Mikhail Alexandrovich writes about his relationships with others, life, affairs and about himself. Thanks to keeping diaries, the Grand Duke can also share his feelings, which are expressed through various states – from sadness to fun. This process becomes a way for the author to record events.

In the diary materials, the author addressed himself, the language of the notes was not distinguished by a high literary style and was not replete with vivid emotional expressions. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify a number of recurring themes and stable phrases denoting actions.

The main directions, themes and content of the diary entries concerned topics of daily life, family and other personalities, official duties, geographical locations, time stamps. Quantitative content analysis made it possible to identify these thematic categories and their corresponding content. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that word forms related to the topic of everyday life significantly exceed the frequency of occurrence of other categories – it was in this area that the Grand Duke's main interest lay when writing diaries. However, the information potential of this source is greater - in the array of information you can find a description and reaction to important historical events: the work of the State Council, political events in Russia and Europe. In addition, the diaries allow you to immerse yourself in the context of time: the author describes cultural life, technological progress, and the interests of the elite of the studied period.

Spatial analysis allowed not only to identify the "hot spots", the main toponyms with which the life of Mikhail Alexandrovich and his entourage was connected, but also to identify a pattern in the seasonal change of the Grand Duke's place of residence.

These examples show that the diaries contain observations of the outside world, descriptions of historical events "from the inside", the life of the Russian Imperial Family and the royal families of Europe. Meaningfully and thematically, the categories highlighted in the diaries are related to the formation of Mikhail Alexandrovich's lifestyle and social circle.

Gratitude: the author expresses gratitude to D.A. Renev for his help in the implementation of spatial analysis.