ground, given that most buildings were made from wood. The city's fire-engines were disassembled. Fuses were left throughout the city to ignite the fires. He left Moscow on 14 September 1812 and gave up his position as governor. Rostopchin owned two mansions in Moscow and an estate near Tarutino, Russia. Robert Wilson was with him, when Rostopchin set fire to his estate. In 1814 the Rostopchine family left Russia, going first to the Duchy of Warsaw, then to the German Confederation, Vienna, the Italian peninsula and finally in 1817 to France under the Bourbon Restoration. In Paris, he established a salon; his wife and daughter converted to Roman Catholicism. He claimed innocence against the charge of arson, and had a pamphlet printed and distributed in Paris proclaiming so in 1823, but subsequently admitted to his role in ordering the city's destruction. He returned to Imperial Russia in 1825 and died in Moscow suffering from asthma and hemorrhoid complications. He was buried at the Pyatnitskoye Cemetery. Family He married Ekaterina Petrovna Protassova (1775–1869), and had eight children. Among them: Count Sergei Fyodorovich Rostopchin; Countess Natalya Fyodorovna Rostopchine; Countess Sofiya Fyodorovna Rostopchine, who married in 1819 and became a noted French novelist under the title of comtesse de Ségur; Countess Lise Fyodorovna Rostopchine; Count Andrei Fyodorovich Rostopchine, married Yevdokiya Petrovna Sushkova. References Citations Bibliography Caulaincourt, Armand-Augustin-Louis With Napoleon in Russia translated by Jean Hanoteau New York, Morrow 1935. 1763 births 1826 deaths 18th-century writers from the Russian Empire 18th-century male writers 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire Burials at Pyatnitskoye Cemetery Conservatism in Russia Foreign ministers of the Russian Empire French invasion of Russia Counts of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Moscow Members of the State Council (Russian Empire) Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Russian male essayists Russian male novelists Russian memoirists Russian nationalists Russian satirists