Mystery or the unexplained · 1702
The duke who lay unburied in St Nicholas'
Charles Eugène de Croÿ was born in 1651 in Le Rœulx, in the County of Hainaut. He was a field marshal from a French noble family. He fought the Turks at Vienna and Belgrade and later served Tsar Peter the Great. At the Battle of Narva on 20 November 1700 he commanded the Russian army, surrendered and was taken prisoner by the Swedes. He died in Tallinn as a prisoner of war in 1702. His creditors demanded that his body should not be buried, so it rested in St Nicholas' Church for more than 190 years. The body mummified. It was put on show as a curiosity, and a 19th-century drawing of the mummy in St Nicholas' Church survives.
Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today
Eesti keeles
Charles Eugène de Croÿ sündis 1651. aastal Hainaut' krahvkonnas Le Rœulx's. Ta oli Prantsuse aadlisoost väejuht. Ta sõdis türklastega Viini ja Belgradi all ning teenis hiljem tsaar Peeter I-t. Narva lahingus 20. novembril 1700 juhtis ta Vene vägesid, alistus ja langes rootslaste vangi. Ta suri sõjavangina Tallinnas 1702. aastal. Võlausaldajate nõudel jäeti tema surnukeha matmata ning see seisis Niguliste kirikus üle 190 aasta. Keha muumiastus. Seda näidati kurioosumina ning säilinud on 19. sajandi joonistus muumiast Niguliste kirikus.