The first-ever "bath scandal" in Russian history occurred in 1727, and its protagonist was Anton Devier, the general-police master of Saint Petersburg, the first and highest-ranking official of law enforcement. The fact that he was also Jewish makes the situation even more intriguing.

But let's start from the beginning:

There are no exact data on the place and time of birth of Antonio Manuel de Vieira. According to some sources, he was born in Portugal in 1673 or 1674, according to others, in 1682 in Amsterdam, into a poor Jewish family that had moved to Holland from Portugal. The de Vieira family was baptized only for appearances and continued to secretly practice Judaism for two centuries. When the family sensed the threat of exposure, they emigrated to Holland. The head of the family, Manuel, was a gunsmith, but his son Antonio did not manage to learn his father's trade because his father died too early, and the teenager had to become a cabin boy in the Dutch navy.

In August 1697, the Russian "Great Embassy" arrived in Holland, which included a certain "sergeant Pyotr Mikhailov"—a pseudonym for Tsar Peter I. A training battle was arranged for him, during which the Russian tsar noticed a cabin boy who skillfully climbed the shrouds and secured the sails "like a monkey," and after the training battle ended, he called the boy to him. This was Antonio de Vieira. The cabin boy introduced himself and immediately informed the tsar that he was "of Jewish origin," but Peter was not burdened by national or religious prejudices and offered the 15-year-old cabin boy to enter his service as a page, giving him the name Anton Manuilovich Devier. Upon arriving in Russia, like all of Peter's close associates, he quickly advanced in service and received an officer rank in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment.

Thanks to his qualities as a capable, diligent, and honest person, Devier managed to win Peter I's favor, becoming the tsar's personal valet. He was considered one of the tsar's closest people—he had the right to enter Peter's presence at any time of day without prior announcement, and he was entrusted with the upbringing of the tsar's daughters.

Two years later, Anton Devier had his first clash with another royal favorite, the illustrious Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. In 1710, the 28-year-old Anton Devier decided to marry the younger sister of the illustrious prince, Anna Danilovna Menshikova, who had previously been Peter the Great's mistress.

When General-Adjutant Anton Devier came to Alexander Menshikov's house to ask for his sister's hand, the prince was so outraged by what he considered a vile proposal that he attacked Devier with his fists. After that, the prince ordered his servants to whip the groom and throw him out onto the street.

The whipped General-Adjutant Anton Devier complained to the tsar about Menshikov. Peter replied, "He refused you, but he will not dare refuse me," and went to the prince's house, where he asked Menshikov for Anna Danilovna's hand for his general-adjutant.

Menshikov did not dare refuse the tsar, and in July 1710, Devier married Anna Danilovna. This was the peak of his career; he had the right to enter Peter at any time without prior announcement and became the tutor of the tsar's daughters.

On May 27 (June 7), 1718, he was appointed the first general-police master of Saint Petersburg and oversaw all matters of urban management. Initially, the police staff consisted of the deputy general-police master, 4 officers, and 36 lower ranks. The new structure not only maintained order in the city but also performed various economic functions and was involved in city improvement.

At that time, the governor of Saint Petersburg was Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, and now he and Devier began to conflict professionally, but the tsar always sided with Devier in these disputes. Moreover, when Peter found faults in Devier's work, he himself punished him—not with a whip, but with a club. A well-known historical case recounts that Peter I and Anton Devier were riding together in a two-wheeled carriage inspecting the city, and when they passed over a small bridge near New Holland, it turned out that several boards had been torn off and stolen. Then Peter personally beat the general-police master with a club for insufficient efforts to combat the theft of state property, after which the tsar and the beaten police chief continued their journey.

On February 11, 1724, Devier submitted a list of persons to Emperor Peter I who were granted plots on the banks of the Fontanka River. Anton Devier received a plot where the Anichkov Palace was later located. One document described his estate as having "a wooden house on the shore, with servants' quarters and barns in the yard, a pond in the city built according to printed drawings, and a simple vegetable garden."

On January 6, 1725, Devier was promoted to major general. After Peter I's death, he actively supported Menshikov in the struggle to transfer power to Catherine I and was soon awarded the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky on May 21, 1725. On October 24, 1726, he was elevated to the rank of count, and two months later, on December 27, Devier was granted the rank of lieutenant general.

However, in April 1727, when the empress was gravely ill and near death, the infamous "bath scandal" occurred, which fatally affected Anton Devier's future. On April 24, 1727, the illustrious Prince Menshikov visited the seriously ill empress and reported that "when Her Imperial Majesty rises from sleep, Anton Devier takes the girls and asks about everything he should not have been asking, and once I caught him in the bath with a certain girl, and which one, he himself will say, and I asked him why he locks himself in the bath with a girl and what he does with that girl, and he asked me not to report to Her Imperial Majesty, and said that he asked everything that happens with Her Imperial Majesty without him."

The empress was so outraged that she ordered Devier's arrest. On the same day, Anton Devier was arrested in the imperial palace by the guard detachment. During the arrest, he tried to stab Menshikov with a rapier, who had directly given the captain of the guard the order to arrest Devier.

The girls with whom Devier was so closely associated were ladies-in-waiting to the empress, and questioning them about "what happens with Her Imperial Majesty without him" was perceived as an intrusion into the sovereign's private life. What else Devier was doing with the girl in the bath besides talking was of little interest to the empress and Menshikov. An investigation was launched, during which Devier was tortured three times. The very "certain girl" with whom Devier went to the bath was identified and interrogated; in the criminal case materials, she is referred to as "court maiden Katerina." Anton Devier admitted that he repeatedly "sat and talked" with the girls in the bath but denied questioning them about the empress.

The case involved General-Anschef Ivan Buturlin, member of the Governing Senate and Supreme Privy Council Peter Tolstoy, and Ober-Prosecutor of the Governing Senate Grigory Skornyakov-Pisarev.

The empress's health meanwhile deteriorated severely, and early on May 6, 1727, Alexander Menshikov came to her and presented two documents for signature. After signing them, Catherine I lost consciousness and died a few hours later.

One of the two decrees signed before death declared Peter Alekseevich as heir to the throne, and the other decree announced the verdict in the case of Anton Devier and his "accomplices"—Buturlin, Tolstoy, Skornyakov-Pisarev, as well as Prince Ivan Dolgorukov, who was also "exposed" in one of the conversations.

The verdict stated that they tried to "discuss and interpret, much less dare to determine the heir to the monarchy by their own will, who pleases whom, and not by the high will of Her Imperial Majesty," and it was decreed that Devier and Tolstoy, "as the main culprits in this crime, be executed" (with deprivation of ranks and orders). On the same day, Tsarevna Elizabeth, in the name of her mother—that is, having forged the signature of the already deceased empress—signed a second decree, according to which the death sentence for Tolstoy and Devier was commuted to exile: the former to the Solovetsky Monastery, the latter to Siberia. She could do no more for her tutor, as the power was with Menshikov, and she could have paid dearly for forging the signature of the late empress.

Devier was sent to serve his exile in Zhigansky zimovye, 800 versts from Yakutsk. For political reasons, Menshikov could not openly accuse Elizabeth of forging the imperial decree canceling the death sentence, and exile of the enemy to the permafrost region suited him.

Only in 1739 was he transferred from the category of ordinary exiles to the rank of chief, transferred to Okhotsk, where he was appointed head of the Okhotsk port. Among other things, Anton Devier was involved in outfitting Vitus Bering's expedition.

In 1741, Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth Petrovna ascended the Russian throne and soon lifted all charges against Anton Devier and recalled him from exile. Due to the long journey, Devier reached the capital only in 1743.

His orders and count title were restored, and in July 1744 he received the military rank of General-Anschef and was soon reappointed general-police master of the capital. However, his health was undermined by exile, and he died on June 24, 1745, at the age of 63.

On May 18, 2018, a bust of Anton Devier was installed in Saint Petersburg in Zvenigorodsky Square near house 79 on Marata Street.

Sources:

https://petrovka-38.com/item/pervyj-general-politsmejster

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devier,_Anton_Manuilovich

https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/nepodkupnyy-general-politsmeyster-stranitsy-zhizni-pervogo-general-politsmeystera-severnoy-stolitsy-a-m-deviera

https://jewish.ru/ru/people/society/4600/