April 15, 2011 <Back to Index>
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Catherine I (Russian: Екатерина I Алексеевна, born Marta Helena Skowrońska, later Marfa Samuilovna Skavronskaya) (15 April [O.S. 5 April] 1684 – 17 May [O.S. 6 May] 1727), the second wife of Peter the Great, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death. The life of Catherine I was said by Voltaire to be nearly as extraordinary as Peter the Great himself. There are no documents that confirm the origins of Catherine. The commonly accepted version is that Catherine was born in Ringen (Rõngu), in present-day Estonia. At the time this area was the Swedish province of Livonia. Originally named 'Marta Skowrońska', she was the daughter of Samuel Skowroński, later Samuil Skavronsky, a Latvian peasant of Polish origin, most likely a Catholic, and who was already a widower of one Dorothea Hann. Her mother has been listed on at least one site as Elisabeth Moritz, whom Samuel married at Jakobstadt in 1680. There is some speculation that her parents were runaway serfs. Some sources state her father was a gravedigger. Samuil and her mother died of plague around 1684 or 1685, leaving five children. She was taken by an aunt who sent her to be raised by Ernst Glück, the Lutheran pastor and educator who first translated the Bible into Latvian, in Marienburg. She was essentially a house servant. No effort was made to teach her to read and she remained illiterate throughout her life. She was considered a very beautiful young girl, and there are accounts that Frau Glück became fearful that Marta would become involved with her son. At the age of seventeen, she was married off to a Swedish dragoon, Johan Cruse or Johann Rabbe, with whom she remained for eight days in 1702, at which point the Swedish troops were withdrawn from Marienburg. When Russian forces captured Marienburg the Pastor Glück offered and was taken to Moscow to work as a translator for Field Marshal Boris Sheremetev. There are unsubstantiated stories that Marta worked briefly in the laundry of the victorious regiment, and also that she was presented in her undergarments to the Brigadier General Adolf Rudolf Bauer to be his mistress. She definitely worked in the household of his superior, the Field Marshal Sheremetev. It is not known whether she was his mistress, or domestic servant. She then became part of the household of Prince Aleksandr Menshikov, the best friend of Peter the Great. Anecdotal sources suggest that she was purchased by him. Whether the two of them were lovers is highly disputed, for Menshikov was already engaged to Darya Arsenyeva, his future wife. It is clear that Menshikov and Marta formed a lifetime alliance, and it is possible that Menshikov who was quite jealous of Peter's attentions and knew his tastes, wanted to procure a mistress on whom he could rely. In any case, in 1703, while visiting Menshikov at his home, Peter met Marta, and shortly after, he took her as his own mistress. In 1705, she converted to Orthodoxy and changed her name to Yekaterina Alexeyevna. She and Darya accompanied Peter and Menshikov on their military excursions.
Catherine
and
Peter married secretly in 1707. They had nine children, two of whom
survived into adulthood, Yelizaveta (born 1709) and Anna (born 1708). Peter had
moved the capital to St Petersburg in 1703. While the city was being
built he lived in a three-room log
cabin with
Catherine, where she did the cooking and caring for the children, and
he tended a garden as though they were an ordinary couple. The
relationship was the most successful of Peter's life and a great number
of letters exist demonstrating the strong affection between Catherine
and Peter. As a person she was very energetic, compassionate, charming
and always cheerful. She was able to calm Peter in his frequent rages
and was called in to attend him during his epileptic seizures. Catherine
continued to accompany Peter on his Pruth
Campaign in 1711.
There Catherine was said to have saved Peter and his Empire. Surrounded
by
overwhelming numbers of Turkish troops, Catherine suggested before
surrendering, her jewels and those of the other women be used in an
effort to bribe the Grand Vizier Baltaji into allowing a retreat.
Baltaji allowed the retreat, whether motivated by a bribe or
considerations of trade and diplomacy. In any case Peter credited
Catherine and proceeded to marry her again (this time officially) at Saint
Isaac's
Cathedral in St.
Petersburg on 9
February 1712. Catherine was Peter's second wife; he had previously
married and divorced Eudoxia
Lopukhina, who had borne him the Tsarevich Alexis
Petrovich. Upon their wedding, she (Catherine) took the style of her
husband and became Tsarina. When Peter elevated the Russian Tsardom to
Empire, Catherine became Empress (Imperatrica). The Order
of
Saint Catherine was
instituted by her husband on the occasion of their wedding. Upon
Peter's death, Catherine found her four siblings, Christine, Anna, Karl
and Friederich/Theodor, gave them the newly created titles of Count and
Countess, and brought them to Russia. In 1724
Catherine was officially named co-ruler. The year
before his death, Peter and Catherine had an estrangement over her
support of William
Mons (brother of
Peter's former mistress and secretary to Catherine) and his sister
Matrena, one of Catherine's ladies-in-waiting. Peter had fought his
entire life a somewhat hopeless battle to clear up corruption in
Russia. Catherine had a great deal of influence on who could gain
access to her husband. William Mons and his sister had begun selling
their influence to those who wanted access to Catherine and, through
her, to Peter. Apparently this had been overlooked by Catherine, who
was fond of both. Peter found out and had Mons executed and his sister
exiled. He and Catherine did not speak for several months. Rumors flew
that she and Mons had had an affair, but there is no evidence for this. Peter
died (28 January 1725 Old
Style) without naming a successor. Catherine represented the
interests of the "new men", commoners who had been brought to positions
of great power by Peter based on competence. A change in government was
likely to favor the entrenched aristocrats. For that reason during a
meeting of a council to decide on a successor a coup was arranged by Menshikov and others in which the guards
regiments with
whom
Catherine was very popular proclaimed her the ruler of Russia, giving
her the title of Empress. Supporting evidence was "produced" from
Peter's secretary Makarov and the Bishop
of
Pskov, both "new men" with motivation to see Catherine take
over. The real power, however, lay with Menshikov, Peter
Tolstoy and with
other members of the Supreme
Privy
Council. Catherine
was the first woman to rule Imperial Russia, opening the legal path for
a century almost entirely dominated by women, including her daughter
Elizabeth and Catherine
the
Great, all of whom continued Peter the Great's policies in
modernizing Russia. At the time of Peter's death, Russia had an Army
composed of 130,000 men which was supplemented by another 100,000
Cossacks. Thus,
Russia's
army was easily the largest army in Europe. However, the
expense of the military was proving ruinous to the Russian
economy -- consuming some 65% of the government's annual revenue. Since the nation was at
peace, Catherine was determined to reduce military expenditures. For most of her reign,
Catherine I was controlled by her advisers. However, on this single
issue, the reduction of military expenses, Catherine was able to have
her way. The resulting tax relief on
the peasantry led to the reputation of Catherine I as a just and fair
ruler. The Supreme
Privy
Council concentrated
power
in the hands of one party, and thus was an executive innovation.
In foreign affairs, Russia joined the Austro-Spanish league to
reluctantly defend the interests of Catherine's son-in-law, the Duke
of
Holstein, against England. Catherine
gave her name to Catherinehof near St. Petersburg, and
built the first bridges in the new capital. She was also the first
royal owner of the Tsarskoye
Selo estate, where
the Catherine
Palace still bears
her name. In
general, Catherine's policies were reasonable and cautious. The story
of her humble origins was considered by later generations of tsars to be a state secret.
She
died
just two years after Peter, at age 43, in St.
Petersburg, where she was buried at St.
Peter
and St. Paul Fortress. It is not known what caused her early
demise. |