He was an itinerant, a pious figure of faith who swayed in prayer, a lusty man who liked being washed by girls in the bath houses of czarist Russia. He considered himself a holy man but was very likely no more than a wild-eyed, semi-literate weirdo with a penchant for visions.

He was, of course, Gregory Rasputin, and history holds few characters as manipulative and mendacious as he was during the time of the czar Nicholas II and Alexandra at the beginning of the last century.