Jacob Bruce: the last prophecy (+3 photos)

There is a legend that a mechanical girl of unusual beauty, but “devoid of a soul”, served the “sorcerer Bruce”. There is no difficulty at all in explaining this, since such mechanical toys in the gallant age were very common in high society. But in the collection of legends about Count Bruce it is said that this wonderful miracle had one peculiarity: as soon as a mechanical maid pulled out a comb from a scythe, it immediately “crumbled into flowers”. What trick was used here – one can only guess. As if yesterday the Shchelkovsky artist Ivan Zotov told me all this. Meanwhile, thirty years have passed.

Books about the sorcerer Bruce were sold until the October Revolution of 17 at almost every rural fair. Therefore, it is not surprising that serious historians of the 19th century were wary of writing about him. As a result, only experts know about Jacob Bruce these days.

Meanwhile, you can learn about Yakov Bruce in a small museum dedicated to him, which is located on the territory of the Monino sanatorium. Everything has been preserved here, despite the past centuries, very well. So, next to the former Glinka’s estate there is still a small pond. Last winter, a group of enthusiasts, using a modern echo sounder, looked in this pond for another “object of Bryusov’s magic”, a “mermaid”, which, according to local peasants, he turned into stone. The villagers of the 19th century hardly knew about the art of sculpture. However, is it worth blaming the Russian peasants for this kind of ignorance, because even the Italian tillers, finding monuments of ancient culture in the earth in the Middle Ages, considered them the product of the devil …

Nothing, unfortunately, was found, although it is possible that the sculpture simply went deep into the silt in two and a half centuries. Another legend about Jacob Bruce is connected with this pond, as if he was able to freeze this pond on a hot summer day so that guests who came to him could go skating. The solution to this “magic” is very simple, since winter the ice was covered with straw. And at the command of the master, they removed it and so it turned out to be a thick layer of ice.

Guests were invited as long as the daughters of Yakov Vilimovich were alive. But, unfortunately, this outstanding man was condemned to meet his old age all alone.

There is a legend that Bruce predicted that his grave would be desecrated and his house burned down. And so it happened, at the very end of the 19th century, a fire broke out in the field marshal’s palace, which had long passed to new owners. The house was restored, but has not been inhabited since.

Buried in the church of the German settlement, the field marshal lay there until the twenties of the twentieth century, until the construction of the Bauman Institute began here. The ancient crypt was opened and found that the marshal’s uniform and boots were well preserved. They were sent to the Historical Museum, and the bones were simply thrown away.

Yakov Bruce was born on May 11 according to the new style of 1670 in Pskov. There are some discrepancies about his year of birth (i.e., some sources indicate 1669, however, at that time it was common practice to add a year of birth to oneself in order to get into the state service early. This is very similar to Bruce, since he was a person of outstanding state abilities and service for him was a matter of honor.The year 1669 appears in the funeral speech, which was read during the funeral of Bruce by the pastor.He says that Yakov Vilimovich lived so many years, months and days before his death.If you count this, then it turns out 1669.