its routine mockery of their proceedings. In 1691 Le Fort was put in charge of a regiment and assigned a training ground on the left bank of the Yauza River. Peter ordered the construction of a sloboda for this purpose, which would later be called Lefortovskaya sloboda (the Lefort quarter, present-day Lefortovo in Moscow's South-Eastern Administrative Okrug). In 1693–1694 Lefort accompanied Peter on his trip to Arkhangelsk. In 1694 he participated in Peter's "play" (a military game in the village of Kozhukhovo, between Moscow and Kolomenskoye). During the Azov campaigns of 1695–1696 Le Fort was in charge of the Imperial Russian Navy. His return from the war was marked with a solemn parade through Moscow to his "native" Nemetskaya sloboda and subsequent festivities. Lefort was awarded a title of governor (наместник, or namestnik) of Novgorod and estates in two uyezds. In 1696 Le Fort together with Fedor Golovin and took official charge of Peter's Grand Embassy, a Russian diplomatic mission to Western Europe. Upon his return to Moscow in 1698 he took part in the trial of the Streltsy rebels. That same year he moved to a custom-built palace, later known as the , on the Yauza River. The palace would soon become a center of Russian political and royal life in 1698–1699. Peter the Great used to hold all his important meetings and numerous celebrations in Le Fort's palace. François Le Fort died in Moscow in early March 1699. Upon hearing the news of his death, Tsar Peter lamented "Now I am alone without one trusty man. He alone was faithful to me. Whom can I confide in now?" On March 21 Peter held Lefort's state funeral, a ceremony second only to the funerals of Tsars or Patriarchs. Le Fort lies buried in the Vvedenskoye Cemetery in Lefortovo. The Russian 84-gun ship-of-the-line Lefort (launched 1835, shipwrecked 1857) was named in honor of Lefort. References External links About Franz Jacob Lefort in Russische Günstlinge by Gustav Adolf Wilhelm von Helbig, 1809 (German) About Franz Lefort in War, Religion and Service: Huguenot Soldiering, 1685-1713 edited by Mathew Glozier and David Onnekink, 2007 17th-century people from the Republic of Geneva Military personnel from the Republic of Geneva Imperial Russian Navy admirals Military personnel of the Russian Empire Russian nobility 1656 births 1699 deaths 17th-century military personnel