Theodor Mundt (1808–1861) - German writer, critic, author of studies on aesthetics and literary theory; husband of the writer Louise Mühlbach. He was educated at the University of Berlin. Later he was a professor of literary history in Breslau and Berlin. Member of the literary movement "Young Germany". Book “Madonna. Conversations with a Saint,” which he wrote in 1835 under the influence of Saint-Simonist ideas about the “emancipation of the flesh,” was subject to censorship persecution. In the late 1830s - early 1840s. Mundt capitulates in his views and reconciles with the government. The main place in his work is occupied by historical novels: “Thomas Münzer” (1841); "Count Mirabeau" (1858); “Tsar Paul” (1861) and many others. This volume includes several historical novels by Mundt. All of them are dedicated to the life of the Russian royal court at the end of the 18th century: everyday, social and love conflicts are closely intertwined with political intrigues, as well as with the state reforms of Paul I, which were ambiguously received by officials and Russian society as a whole, which tragically affected the fate of the “unsolved monarch” .