House Obolyaninov

The Obolyaninov family is one of the ancient Ratshid families – descendants of a Slavonian princeling named Ratislav Stephan (nicknamed “Ratsha”), who came to Russia in XII century to serve Grand Prince Igor II of Kiev. Ratislav Stephan was an extremely high ranking and trusted vassal of the Grand Prince, who entrusted him with ruling in the capital city of Kiev in his name in Igor’s absence (1146).

One of Ratislav’s descendants, and our ancestor, was a knight named Gabriel, son of Alexis (rus. Gavrila Alexich), who gained fame during the Battle of the Neva by boldly riding his horse up the stairs of a Swedish ship, fighting and slaying the Swedish warlord, after which he was thrown down from the ship board but survived and dueled Bishop Thomas of Finland (some sources report he slew the Bishop too but that’s incorrect).

The Obolyaninov coat of arms has both typical features of Ratshid coats of arms: an arm with a sword emerging from a cloud and a one-headed eagle (compare, for example, with the coat of arms of our distant relative Count Buturlin – another Ratshid). The original hard copy of House Obolyaninov family crest from Emperor Paul I’s Book of Heraldry (1799) is in Leonrod Adria family possession – a priceless family artifact.

The Obolyaninov family includes many prominent historical figures; the most famous of them is Peter Obolyaninov (1753—1841) – General of the Infantry, Prosecutor General and unarguably the second most powerful man in the Russian Empire after the Emperor himself; chevalier of: Order of St. Andrew, Order of St. Vladimir, Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, Order of St. Anna (Russian Empire) and Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem (France). Interesting that his descendant Cyril Leonov entered the ranks of the same Order in XXI century!

Glazov and Obolyaninov dynasties were close friends for generations; they married each other, were godfathers to each other’s children, fought together, bought and sold land and estates to each other and sometimes even addressed each other in private correspondence as “my beloved brother”. Both dynasties held positions of power in Kursk Governorate, e.g. Michael Glazov was a member of Catherine the Great’s Legislative Commission (a consultative parliament), while Ignaty Obolyaninov and his son Stepan held highest judicial and fiscal offices in the region. Unlike House Glazov which was well to do but never particularly prosperous, the Obolyaninov were rich. They owned multiple palaces, estates and revenue houses, mostly in St. Petersburg and in/around Moscow. Famous Russian writers Kuprin and Bulgakov mentioned the family in their books. Like all prominent families of the Russian Empire, the Obolyaninovs were dispossessed and either eliminated or forced to flee the country after the Revolution of 1917.

Connection to us: Kirill’s great-great-great-grandmother Alexandra Obolyaninova (direct patrilineal descendant of Bartholomew through Ivan -> Pimen -> Ignaty -> Stepan -> Ivan -> Alexander -> Ivan -> Alexandra), who did a fabulous job managing our family estate after the untimely death of her husband Captain Timothy Glazov in 1850.
Her cousin, Colonel Michael was the hero of Napoleonic wars

Information about some of the most prominent family members can be found below.