Portrait of Catherine the 1st Empress. Biography of Empress Catherine I
(1684-1727) Russian empress
The story of the life of a young woman, whose maiden name was Marta Skavronskaya, is both unusual and at the same time natural for her era.
Historians argue about the origin of Martha to this day. According to one version, she was born from a Swedish soldier Johann Rabe, according to another, she was the daughter of a Latvian peasant. It is only known for certain that her childhood and youth were spent in the house of the Lutheran pastor Gluck in the small Latvian town of Aluksne, which was called Marienburg in the 18th century.
Martha had not received any education, and although the girl was officially considered the pupil of the owner, her position was rather miserable: she helped the cook and washed the clothes.
The fate of Martha changed dramatically on August 25, 1702. On this summer day, Russian troops entered Marienburg, and all the inhabitants were captured. At the time, Martha was no more than nineteen years old. Her beauty and freshness attracted the attention of the aged Field Marshal B. Sheremetev. He took the girl to Moscow, where she was his mistress for some time, and then again turned out to be a laundress, but now in Sheremetev's house.
Perhaps this is where the story of Martha's adventures would have ended if she had not caught the eye of the all-powerful Prince A. Menshikov. An influential favorite of Peter I, made Marta his mistress, and a little later, the mistress of his house, where Tsar Peter I saw her.
Their meeting had such stunning consequences that there was even a legend about some kind of supernatural abilities of Martha. In fact, Peter's interest was explained by purely worldly reasons. Before meeting with Martha, he never experienced true female love. Marriage with Evdokia Lopukhina could not be called successful. Brought up in the old Moscow spirit, it was difficult for Evdokia to understand the European-minded Peter. His relationship with Anna Mons, who saw only her own benefit in their romance, was no better. Just at that moment the king met Martha.
At first, he was distrustful of her, but soon he moved her into his house and began to recognize her as a hostess. This went on for a little over a year. Gradually, Marta entered the family of Peter and was even able to make friends with his beloved sister Natalia. In 1705, Marta was baptized according to the Orthodox rite and became known as Catherine.
From that time on, she actually became the wife of Peter I. In 1708, their daughter Anna was born, and in 1709, Elizabeth, who later became Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. But Peter did not dare to legalize their marriage for a long time.
Only in 1711, having decided to go on a campaign against the Turks, did the tsar finally decide to announce his engagement, and in February 1712, Catherine was married to Admiral Peter Mikhailov (as Peter decided to call himself). However, the king was not joking, and Catherine became a real queen.
True, the change in position did not affect her character. She continued to be as unpretentious and modest as before. Although there was no outward grace in her, Peter was crazy about her. This is evidenced by their correspondence, in which they share all the news with each other. He is constantly interested in the health of his wife and children. More than a hundred of Catherine's letters have been preserved in his archive. She specially learned to read and write in order to write to her husband during his departures. A strong feeling connected Peter and Catherine for almost twenty years.
Catherine was not stupid, had a natural mind. In 1711, the tsarina accompanied Peter on the Prut campaign and, as best she could, supported him during the difficult negotiations that led to the conclusion of a peace treaty important for Russia.
In 1715, their long-awaited son was finally born, named Peter after his father. Apparently, in order to make him the sole heir, the tsar first disinherited and then executed his eldest son Alexei (from Evdokia Lopukhina), accusing him of treason.
However, in 1719 little Peter died. To prevent possible civil strife, Peter decides to bequeath the throne to his wife, and in the spring of 1724 he even declares her empress and crowns her with the imperial crown during a solemn prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral.
And yet, just at this time, Catherine made friends with the young valet Vilim Mons. A few months later, Peter found out about their relationship and acted with his characteristic ruthlessness: Mons was executed, Catherine's close associates were exiled, the will was destroyed.
Peter didn't know then that he didn't have long to live. In January 1725, he died of an unexpected cold (which still causes controversy and doubts whether it was a "cold"?), without leaving a new will.
The situation was taken advantage of by Peter's closest associates - Alexander Menshikov, Pyotr Tolstoy and Fyodor Apraksin. Relying on the guards devoted to them, they elevated Catherine to the throne. Thus began her short reign. It lasted only three years. In fact, Catherine I was little involved in the affairs of the state. Power was in the hands of Menshikov, as well as the Supreme Privy Council, hastily organized by him.
To strengthen the political position of Russia, the daughter of Catherine I, Anna, was married to Duke Friedrich Karl of Holstein-Gottorp.
The Empress spent her days in entertainment. She began a fiery romance with the young Peter Sapega. Obviously succumbing to Menshikov's insistent persuasion, she signed a will in which Grand Duke Peter, the heir to Tsarevich Alexei, was declared the heir to the throne. His bride was the daughter of Menshikov.
The daughters of Catherine I, Anna and Elizabeth, begged their mother not to do this. But Catherine I trusted Menshikov all her life and made him the almost unlimited ruler of Russia. Perhaps she did not suspect that her will would take effect so quickly. In the summer of 1727, she unexpectedly died, and a period in Russian history began, known as the era of palace coups.
Empress Catherine the First was one of the most famous personalities of the eighteenth century in Russia. This girl did not have any political motivation and knowledge of the political system, but she had strong personal qualities and thanks to this she left a huge mark on history. Catherine the first was first a lady of love, and then the wife of Peter I, and later became the heir to the throne.The early years of the empress are shrouded in many secrets, at present there is absolutely no reliable information about this period. The origin and exact country are also not known, historians still cannot give a truthful and accurate answer. One version says that she was born on April 5, 1684 in the Baltic region in the vicinity of the mountains, at that time these territories were under the command of the Swedes.
Another version says that her homeland was Estonia, then she was born in a local small town at the end of the seventeenth century, it also says that she was from peasants. There is another version that her father was a certain Skavronsky, who served a local warrior and subsequently fled, settled there in the areas of Marienburg and started a family. It is worth noting that Katka was not called Russian, her roots were different. Therefore, when she received the throne, her name Marta Skavronskaya was changed to the one already known in world literature.
adolescence
Martachka was settled in a strange family, and she was there as a servant, she was not taught to read and write. However, another version also says that the mother never died of the plague, but simply gave her daughter to the family of the same Gluck. It is already said here that she was not a servant, but was trained in spelling and other innovations that are supposed to be secular. It is also said according to other sources that at the age of seventeen she was married to a Swede on the eve of the capture of the fortress, a few days later her husband went missing. From these data, we can say that the future princess does not have one hundred percent of her biography data.
History of Peter and Catherine
Peter, on one of his trips to Menshikov, met Martochka, then she became his loving woman. Then Menshikov himself lived in St. Petersburg, the emperor at that time was traveling to Livonia, but he decided to visit and stayed there. On the day of arrival, he met his lady of the heart, then she served the guests' table. Then the king asked everything about her, watched her and told her to bring and light a candle before going to bed. Then they spent the night together, then the king left and finally left one ducat to his nightly mistress.So the first meeting of the king with the princess took place, if it were not for her, she would never have become the heir to the throne. After the victory in the Battle of Poltava in 1710, a triumphal procession was arranged, where the captured Swedes were led. Then Martha's husband, nicknamed Kruse, was also led along this procession, after his words that the girl was his, he was sent into exile, where he died in 1721.
A year after the first meeting with the king, Catherine gave birth to a son, and a year later, the second, and they all died after some time. Peter called his wife Vasilevskaya, after which he ordered her to live with her sister Natashka, where she learned to read and write and became very friendly with the Menshikov family. Two years later, the future princess converted to Orthodoxy and after that she was baptized, then became Alekseevna Mikhailova. The surname was given on purpose so that Marta remained secret, and received a patronymic from the red.
Mistress and wife
Peter loved her very much, he considered her the only one in his life. Although the prince had many other mistresses, various fleeting meetings, he loved only her. The latter knew about it. The king himself often suffered from severe headaches, the empress was his only remedy. When the king had an attack, his love sat next to him and hugged him, then the king fell asleep within a minute.
With the onset of the spring of 1711, the tsar was supposed to go on a Prussian campaign, then he brought out all his friends and relatives and indicated that Catherine was considered his wife and queen. He also pointed out that in the event of death, consider her the rightful queen. A year later, the wedding took place and from that moment Catherine became a legal wife. Then she followed her husband everywhere, even during the construction of the shipyard. In total, the princess gave birth to ten children, but many died at a young age.
Ascension to the throne
The king was a great builder of new reforms, also regarding thrones he also changed the whole system. In 1722, a very significant reform was launched, according to which, not the first son of the king becomes the heir to the throne, but the person appointed by the ruler himself, so any subject could head the throne. A year later, namely on November 15, 1723, a coronation manifesto was issued. It happened a year later on May 7th.
During his last year, Peter was very ill, and in the end he fell completely ill. Then Catherine understood that something had to be done, the king was very ill, so his death was near. She summoned Prince Menshikov and Tolstoy, gave them a decree, and she herself asked that it was necessary to lure those in power to her side, because the tsar did not have time to draw up a will. Already on January 28, 1725, Catherine was proclaimed empress and heiress, most of the nobles and the guards helped her in this.
Board results
During the reign of the empress, there was no autocracy, almost everything was decided by a secret council. However, much also depended on the Senate, which bowed more to the Empress, who subsequently renamed him the Great. The count also had a lot of power, he had a good relationship with the princess, especially since he once took it to his house. The future heiress herself was a simple ruling lady and practically did not conduct state affairs, she was not even interested in them. Everything was run by the council, as well as the great figures Tolstoy and Menshikov. However, she kept showing interest in some industry. Namely, to the fleet, because she inherited it from her husband. Further, the council was disbanded, the documents were determined and created by the secret council, she only needed to sign them.
During the years of the reformer's reign, there were many wars, all this burden and cost fell on the common people, who were rather tired of pulling all this. Also, the time of bad harvests has come, the prices for products began to grow restlessly. With all this, unrest began to grow in the country. Catherine ordered to reduce taxes from seventy-four kopecks to seventy. Martha herself was not a reformer, therefore she did not appoint anything and did not make innovations, she dealt only with small details beyond politics and state issues.
During this time, embezzlement of public funds and other arbitrariness at the state level began to develop very much. Although she did not understand anything in public affairs, she was poorly educated, but the people simply adored her, because she was a native of him. She helped ordinary people a lot, gave alms. She was invited to the holidays dreamed that she was a godfather. She practically did not refuse and gave money to each godson. In total, she ruled for two years from 1725 to 1724. During this time, she opened an academy, organized a trip to the Bering Strait and introduced the Order of Nevsky, which was made a Saint.
Sudden death
After the death of the tsar, Catherine's life went into full swing. She began to run around hot places, arranged all kinds of balls, went to festivities and celebrated a lot. Because of the endless parties, the ruler undermined her health and fell ill. Immediately she developed a cough, then it began to intensify. And then it turned out that she had problems with one lung and it was damaged, then the doctors concluded that she had no more than a month to live.
On the evening of May 6, 1727, she died when she was 43 years old. However, before her death, she managed to draw up a will, she did not have time to sign, so her daughter vouched for her and put her signature. According to the will, the throne passed to the son-in-law, who was the grandson of Peter the Great. During their lives, these people were a very successful and good couple, Marta always supported him and reassured her husband.
After the death of the princess, there were many rumors that she was a very walking woman. She spent all her time drinking and celebrating, while others said that she simply wanted to forget the death of her beloved. However, the people loved her, and she won over many men, while remaining the empress. We can say one thing with certainty that this girl began the era of women's rule in the Russian Empire.
The Russian Empress Catherine I Alekseevna (nee Marta Skavronskaya) was born on April 15 (5 according to the old style) in Livonia (now the territory of northern Latvia and southern Estonia). According to some sources, she was the daughter of a Latvian peasant Samuil Skavronsky, according to others, a Swedish quartermaster named Rabe.
Martha did not receive an education. Her youth was spent in the house of pastor Gluck in Marienburg (now the city of Aluksne in Latvia), where she was both a washerwoman and a cook. According to some sources, for a short time Marta was married to a Swedish dragoon.
In 1702, after the capture of Marienburg by Russian troops, she became a war trophy and ended up first in the convoy of Field Marshal Boris Sheremetev, and then with the favorite and associate of Peter I Alexander Menshikov.
Around 1703, a young woman was noticed by Peter I and became one of his mistresses. Soon Martha was baptized according to the Orthodox rite under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. Over the years, Catherine acquired a very great influence on the Russian monarch, which, according to contemporaries, partly depended on her ability to calm him down in moments of anger. She did not try to take direct part in solving political issues. Since 1709, Catherine no longer left the tsar, accompanying Peter on all campaigns and trips. According to legend, she saved Peter I during the Prut campaign (1711), when Russian troops were surrounded. Catherine handed over all her jewels to the Turkish vizier, persuading him to sign a truce.
Upon his return to St. Petersburg on February 19, 1712, Peter married Catherine, and their daughters Anna (1708) and Elizabeth (1709) received the official status of princesses. In 1714, in memory of the Prut campaign, the tsar established the Order of St. Catherine, which he awarded his wife on her name day.
In May 1724, Peter I crowned Catherine as Empress for the first time in Russian history.
After the death of Peter I in 1725, through the efforts of Menshikov and with the support of the guards and the St. Petersburg garrison, Catherine I was enthroned.
In February 1726, the Supreme Privy Council (1726-1730) was created under the Empress, which included Princes Alexander Menshikov and Dmitry Golitsyn, Counts Fyodor Apraksin, Gavriil Golovkin, Pyotr Tolstoy, and Baron Andrei (Heinrich Johann Friedrich) Osterman. The Council was created as an advisory body, but in fact it ruled the country and resolved the most important state issues.
During the reign of Catherine I, on November 19, 1725, the Academy of Sciences was opened, an expedition of the Russian fleet officer Vitus Bering was equipped and sent to Kamchatka, the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky.
There were almost no deviations from Peter's traditions in foreign policy. Russia improved diplomatic relations with Austria, obtained confirmation from Persia and Turkey of the concessions made under Peter in the Caucasus, and acquired the Shirvan region. Friendly relations were established with China through Count Raguzinsky. Russia also acquired exceptional influence in Courland.
Having become an autocratic empress, Catherine discovered a craving for entertainment and spent a lot of time at feasts, balls, and various holidays, which adversely affected her health. In March 1727, a tumor appeared on the Empress's legs, which grew rapidly, and in April she fell ill.
Before her death, at the insistence of Menshikov, Catherine signed a will, according to which the throne was to go to Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich, the grandson of Peter, the son of Alexei Petrovich, and in the event of his death, to her daughters or their descendants.
On May 17 (6 old style) May 1727, Empress Catherine I died at the age of 43 and was buried in the tomb of Russian emperors in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
The Empress Catherine and
Portrait of Catherine I. Artist J.-M. Natya. 1717
In her honor, Peter I established the Order of St. Catherine (in 1713) and named the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals (in 1723). The name of Catherine I is also the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (built under her daughter Elizabeth).
early years
Information about the youth of Catherine I is contained mainly in historical anecdotes and is not sufficiently reliable. Until now, her place of birth and nationality have not been precisely determined.
According to one version, she was born on the territory of modern Latvia, in the historical region of Vidzeme, which was part of Swedish Livonia at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, in the family of a Latvian or Lithuanian peasant from the vicinity of Kegums. According to another version, the future empress was born in Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia) in a family of Estonian peasants.
Martha's parents died of the plague in 1684, and her uncle gave the girl to the house of the Lutheran pastor Ernst Gluck, famous for his translation of the Bible into Latvian (after the capture of Marienburg by Russian troops, Gluck, as a learned man, was taken to the Russian service, founded the first gymnasium in Moscow, taught languages and wrote poetry in Russian). Marta was used in the house as a servant, she was not taught to read and write.
According to the version set out in the dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, Marta's mother, having become a widow, gave her daughter to serve in the family of pastor Gluck, where she was allegedly taught to read and write and needlework.
According to another version, until the age of 12, the girl lived with her aunt, Anna-Maria Veselovskaya, before she ended up in the Gluck family.
At the age of 17, Martha was married to a Swedish dragoon named Johann Kruse, just before the Russian advance on Marienburg. A day or two after the wedding, the trumpeter Johann left for the war with his regiment and, according to the widespread version, went missing.
Origin question
The search for Catherine's roots in the Baltics, carried out after the death of Peter I, showed that the Empress had two sisters - Anna and Christina, and two brothers - Karl and Friedrich. Catherine moved their families to St. Petersburg in 1726. According to A. I. Repnin, who led the search, Khristina Skavronskaya and her husband “lie”, they are both “stupid and drunk people”, Repnin suggested sending them “somewhere else, so that there would be no big lies from them.” Catherine awarded Charles and Friedrich in January 1727 the dignity of a count, without calling them her brothers. In the will of Catherine I, the Skavronskys are vaguely named "close relatives of her own surname." Under Elizabeth Petrovna, Catherine's daughter, immediately after her accession to the throne in 1741, the children of Christina (Gendrikova) and the children of Anna (Efimovskaya) were also elevated to count dignity. Later, the official version was that Anna, Christina, Karl and Friedrich were Catherine's siblings, children of Samuil Skavronsky.
However, since the end of the 19th century, a number of historians have questioned this relationship. The fact is pointed out that Peter I called Catherine not Skavronskaya, but Veselevskaya or Vasilevskaya, and in 1710, after the capture of Riga, in a letter to the same Repnin, he called completely different names to “my Katerina’s relatives” - “Yagan-Ionus Vasilevsky, Anna Dorothea, also their children. Therefore, other versions of the origin of Catherine were proposed, according to which she is a cousin, and not a sister of the Skavronskys who appeared in 1726.
In connection with Catherine I, another surname is called - Rabe. According to some sources, Rabe (and not Kruse) is the surname of her first dragoon husband (this version ended up in fiction, for example, A. N. Tolstoy's novel "Peter the Great"), according to others, this is her maiden name, and someone Johann Rabe was her father.
1702 - 1725 years
Mistress of Peter I
On August 25, 1702, during the Great Northern War, the army of Russian Field Marshal Sheremetev, fighting against the Swedes in Livonia, took the Swedish fortress of Marienburg (now Aluksne, Latvia). Sheremetev, taking advantage of the departure of the main Swedish army to Poland, subjected the region to merciless ruin. As he himself reported to Tsar Peter I at the end of 1702:
“I sent in all directions to captivate and burn, there was nothing left, everything was ruined and burned, and your military sovereign people took in full male and female and rob several thousand, also working horses, and cattle from 20,000 or more ... and what they could not lift they stabbed and chopped”
In Marienburg, Sheremetev captured 400 inhabitants. When pastor Gluck, accompanied by his servants, came to intercede about the fate of the inhabitants, Sheremetev noticed the maid Marta Kruse and took her by force as his mistress. After a short time, around August 1703, Prince Menshikov, a friend and ally of Peter I, became its owner. This is how the Frenchman Franz Villebois, who has been in the Russian service in the navy since 1698 and married to the daughter of pastor Gluck, tells. The story of Villebois is confirmed by another source, notes of 1724 from the archive of the Duke of Oldenburg. According to these notes, Sheremetev sent pastor Gluck and all the inhabitants of the Marienburg fortress to Moscow, while Marta left himself. Menshikov, having taken Martha from the elderly field marshal a few months later, had a strong quarrel with Sheremetev.
Portrait of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov in 1698, painted in Holland during the Great Embassy of Peter the Great
The Scot Peter Henry Bruce in his "Memoirs" sets out the story (according to others) in a more favorable light for Catherine I. Marta was taken by the colonel of the dragoon regiment Baur (later became a general):
“[Baur] immediately ordered her to be placed in his house, which entrusted her to the cares, giving her the right to dispose of all the servants, and she soon fell in love with the new steward for her manner of household. The General later often said that his house was never as well maintained as in the days of her stay there. Prince Menshikov, who was his patron, once saw her at the general, also noting something extraordinary in her appearance and manners. Asking who she was and whether she knew how to cook, he heard in response the story just told, to which the general added a few words about her worthy position in his house. The prince said that it was in such a woman that he really needed now, for he himself was now served very poorly. To this, the general replied that he owed too much to the prince so as not to immediately fulfill what he only thought of - and immediately calling Catherine, he said that in front of her was Prince Menshikov, who needed just such a servant as she, and that the prince will do everything possible to become, like himself, her friend, adding that he respects her too much to prevent her from receiving her share of honor and a good fate.
In the autumn of 1703, on one of his regular visits to Menshikov in St. Petersburg, Peter I met Marta and soon made her his mistress, calling her in letters Katerina Vasilevskaya (perhaps by the name of her aunt).
Peter I with the sign of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called on a blue St. Andrew's ribbon and a star on his chest. Artist J.-M. Nattier, 1717
Franz Villebois relates their first meeting as follows:
“This is how things were when the tsar, traveling by post from St. Petersburg, which was then called Nienschanz, or Noteburg, to Livonia, in order to travel further, stopped at his favorite Menshikov, where he noticed Catherine among the servants who served at the table. He asked where it came from and how he acquired it. And, speaking softly in his ear with this favorite, who answered him only with a nod of his head, he looked at Catherine for a long time and, teasing her, said that she was smart, and ended his joking speech by telling her, when she went to bed, to take light a candle in his room. It was an order, spoken in a playful tone, but not subject to any objections. Menshikov took it for granted, and the beauty, devoted to her master, spent the night in the king's room ... The next day the king left in the morning to continue his journey. He returned to his favorite what he lent him. The satisfaction of the king, which he received from his nightly conversation with Catherine, cannot be judged by the generosity that he showed. She limited herself to only one ducat, which is equal in value to half of one louis d'or (10 francs), which he thrust into her hand in a military way at parting.
Catherine I. Portrait of an unknown artist.
In 1704, Katerina will give birth to her first child, named Peter, the next year, Paul (both died soon after).
In 1705, Peter sent Katerina to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow, to the house of his sister Tsarevna Natalya Alekseevna, where Katerina Vasilevskaya learned Russian literacy, and, in addition, became friends with the Menshikov family.
When Katerina was baptized into Orthodoxy (1707 or 1708), she changed her name to Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova, since Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich was her godfather, and Peter I himself used the surname Mikhailov if he wanted to remain incognito.
In January 1710, Peter staged a triumphal procession to Moscow on the occasion of the Poltava victory, thousands of Swedish prisoners were held at the parade, among whom, according to the story of Franz Villebois, was Johann Kruse. Johann confessed about his wife, who gave birth one after another to the Russian Tsar, and was immediately exiled to a remote corner of Siberia, where he died in 1721. According to Franz Villebois, the existence of a living legal husband of Catherine during the years of the birth of Anna (1708) and Elizabeth (1709) was later used by opposing factions in disputes over the right to the throne after the death of Catherine I. According to notes from the Duchy of Oldenburg, the Swedish dragoon Kruse died in 1705, however one must keep in mind the interest of the German dukes in the legitimacy of the birth of the daughters of Peter, Anna and Elizabeth, who were looking for suitors among the German specific rulers.
Wife of Peter I
The wedding of Peter I and Katerina Alekseevna in 1712. Engraving by A.F. Zubov.
Even before her legal marriage to Peter, Katerina gave birth to daughters Anna and Elizabeth. Katerina alone could cope with the tsar in his fits of anger, knew how to calm Peter's attacks of convulsive headache with kindness and patient attention. According to Bassevich's memoirs:
“The sound of Katerina's voice calmed Peter; then she sat him down and took him, caressing him, by the head, which she scratched lightly. This had a magical effect on him, he fell asleep in a few minutes. In order not to disturb his sleep, she held his head on her breast, sitting motionless for two or three hours. After that, he woke up completely fresh and vigorous.
In the spring of 1711, Peter, having become attached to a charming and light-tempered former maid, ordered Catherine to be considered his wife and took her on the Prut campaign, which was unfortunate for the Russian army. The Danish envoy Just Yul, according to the words of the princesses (nieces of Peter I), wrote down this story in this way:
“In the evening, shortly before his departure, the tsar called them, his sister Natalya Alekseevna, to one house in Preobrazhenskaya Sloboda. There he took his hand and placed before them his mistress Ekaterina Alekseevna. For the future, the tsar said, they should consider her his lawful wife and Russian tsarina. Since now, due to the urgent need to go to the army, he cannot marry her, he takes her with him in order to do this on occasion in more free time. At the same time, the king made it clear that if he died before he had time to marry, then after his death they would have to look at her as his lawful wife. After that, they all congratulated (Ekaterina Alekseevna) and kissed her hand.
In Moldova in July 1711, 190,000 Turks and Crimean Tatars pressed the 38,000th Russian army to the river, completely surrounding it with numerous cavalry. Ekaterina went on a long trip, being 7 months pregnant. According to a well-known legend, she took off all her jewelry in order to bribe the Turkish commander. Peter I was able to conclude the Prut Peace and, having sacrificed the Russian conquests in the south, to withdraw the army from the encirclement. The Danish envoy Just Yul, who was with the Russian army after she left the encirclement, does not report such an act of Catherine, but says that the queen (as everyone now called Catherine) handed out her jewelry to the officers for safekeeping and then collected them. Brigadier Moro de Brazet's notes also do not mention the bribery of the vizier with Catherine's jewels, although the author (the Brigadier Moro de Brazet) knew from the words of Turkish pashas about the exact amount of state sums aimed at bribes to the Turks.
Unknown artist. Portrait of Catherine I.
The official wedding of Peter I with Ekaterina Alekseevna took place on February 19, 1712 in the church of St. Isaac of Dalmatsky in St. Petersburg. In 1713, in honor of the worthy behavior of his wife during the unsuccessful Prut campaign, Peter I established the Order of St. Catherine and personally laid the signs of the order on his wife on November 24, 1714. Initially, it was called the Order of Liberation and was intended only for Catherine. Peter I recalled the merits of Catherine during the Prut campaign in his manifesto on the coronation of his wife dated November 15, 1723:
“Our dearest wife, Empress Catherine, was a great helper, and not only in this, but also in many military actions, postponing the infirmity of a woman, she was present with us by her will and helped us as much as possible, and especially in the Prut campaign with the Turks, read the desperate time, as acted masculinely, and not feminine, our entire army is aware of this ... "
Peter I and Catherine I ride along the Neva
In personal letters, the tsar showed unusual tenderness for his wife: “Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I hear that you are bored, but I am not bored either ... ”. Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to her husband 11 children, but almost all of them died in childhood, except for Anna and Elizabeth. Elizabeth later became empress (ruled in 1741-1762), and Anna's direct descendants ruled Russia after the death of Elizabeth, from 1762 to 1917. One of the sons who died in childhood, Peter Petrovich, after the abdication of Alexei Petrovich (Peter's eldest son from Evdokia Lopukhina) was considered from February 1718 until his death in 1719, he was the official heir to the Russian throne.
Foreigners, who followed the Russian court with attention, note the tsar's affection for his wife. Bassevich writes about their relationship in 1721:
“He loved to see her everywhere. There was no military review, descent of the ship, ceremony or holiday at which she would not be ... Catherine, confident in the heart of her husband, laughed at his frequent love affairs, like Livia at the intrigues of Augustus; but on the other hand, when he told her about them, he always ended with the words: nothing can compare with you.
Artist Stanislav Khlebovsky. Assembly under Peter I.
In the autumn of 1724, Peter I suspected the empress of adultery with her chamberlain Mons, who was executed for another reason. He stopped talking to her, she was denied access to him. Only once, at the request of his daughter Elizabeth, Peter agreed to dine with Catherine, who had been his inseparable friend for 20 years. Only at death did Peter reconcile with his wife. In January 1725, Catherine spent all her time at the bedside of the dying sovereign, he died in her arms.
Opinions about the appearance of Catherine are contradictory. If we focus on male eyewitnesses, then, in general, they are more than positive, and, on the contrary, women were sometimes biased towards her: “She was short, fat and black; her whole appearance did not make a favorable impression. One had only to look at her to immediately notice that she was of low birth. The dress she was wearing was in all probability bought from a shop in the market; it was of an old-fashioned style, and all trimmed with silver and sequins. From her outfit, one could mistake her for a German itinerant artist. She wore a sash adorned on the front with an embroidery of precious stones, a very original design in the form of a two-headed eagle, the wings of which were studded with small precious stones in a bad setting. The queen was hung with about a dozen orders and the same number of icons and amulets, and when she walked, everything rang, as if a dressed up mule had passed.
The family of Peter I in 1717: Peter I, Catherine, the eldest son Alexei Petrovich from his first wife, the youngest two-year-old son Peter and daughters Anna and Elizabeth. Enamel on copper plate.
Descendants of Peter I from Catherine I
Anna Petrovna (1708-1728) In 1725 she married the German Duke Karl-Friedrich; left for Kiel, where she gave birth to a son, Karl Peter Ulrich (later Russian Emperor Peter III).
Elizaveta Petrovna (1709-1762). Russian empress since 1741.
Natalia Petrovna (1713-1715).
Margarita Petrovna (1714-1715).
Petr Petrovich (1715-1719). He was considered the official heir to the crown from 1718 until his death.
Pavel Petrovich (1717-1717).
Natalia Petrovna (1718-1725).
Portrait of Catherine I by Karel de Moor, 1717.
Rise to power
By a manifesto of November 15, 1723, Peter announced the future coronation of Catherine as a token of her special merits.
May 7, 1724 Peter crowned Catherine as empress in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. This was the second coronation in Rus' of a female sovereign's wife (after the coronation of Marina Mnishek by False Dmitry I in 1605).
By his law of February 5, 1722, Peter canceled the previous order of succession to the throne by a direct descendant in the male line, replacing it with the personal appointment of the reigning sovereign. Any person worthy, in the opinion of the sovereign, to head the state could become a successor according to the Decree of 1722. Peter died in the early morning of January 28, 1725, without having time to name a successor and leaving no sons. In the absence of a strictly defined order of succession to the throne, the throne of Russia was left to chance, and the subsequent time went down in history as the era of palace coups.
The popular majority was in favor of the only male representative of the dynasty - Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich, the grandson of Peter I from his eldest son Alexei, who died during interrogations. For Pyotr Alekseevich there was a well-born nobility (Dolgoruky, Golitsyn), who considered him the only legitimate heir, born from a marriage worthy of royal blood. Count Tolstoy, Prosecutor General Yaguzhinsky, Chancellor Count Golovkin and Menshikov, at the head of the service nobility, could not hope to retain the power received from Peter I under Peter Alekseevich; on the other hand, the coronation of the empress could be interpreted as Peter's indirect reference to the heiress. When Catherine saw that there was no longer any hope for her husband's recovery, she instructed Menshikov and Tolstoy to act in favor of their rights. The guard was devoted to adoration to the dying emperor; she transferred this attachment to Catherine.
Officers of the Guards from the Preobrazhensky Regiment came to the meeting of the Senate, knocking down the door to the room. They frankly declared that they would smash the heads of the old boyars if they went against their mother Catherine. Suddenly a drum beat sounded from the square: it turned out that both guards regiments were lined up in front of the palace under arms. Prince Field Marshal Repnin, President of the Military Collegium, angrily asked: “Who dared to bring regiments here without my knowledge? Am I not a field marshal?" Buturlin, the commander of the Semyonovsky regiment, replied to Repnin that he had called up the regiments at the behest of the empress, to whom all subjects were obliged to obey, "not excluding you," he added impressively.
Thanks to the support of the guards regiments, it was possible to convince all the opponents of Catherine to give her their vote. The Senate "unanimously" elevated her to the throne, calling her "the most glorious, most powerful great empress, Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, autocrat of all Russia" and in justification announcing the will of the late sovereign interpreted by the Senate. The people were very surprised by the accession for the first time in Russian history to the throne of a woman, but there was no unrest.
On January 28, 1725, Catherine I ascended the throne of the Russian Empire thanks to the support of the guards and nobles who rose under Peter. In Russia, the era of the reign of empresses began, when, until the end of the 18th century, only women ruled, with the exception of a few years.
Unknown artist. Portrait of Catherine I with a black child.
Governing body. 1725-1727 years.
The actual power in the reign of Catherine was concentrated by Prince and Field Marshal Menshikov, as well as the Supreme Privy Council. Catherine was completely satisfied with the role of the first mistress of Tsarskoye Selo, relying on her advisers in matters of state administration. She was only interested in the affairs of the fleet - Peter's love for the sea touched her too.
The nobles wanted to rule with a woman, and now they really achieved their goal.
From the "History of Russia" S.M. Solovyov:
Under Peter, she did not shine with her own light, but with a light borrowed from the great man of whom she was a companion; she had the ability to keep herself at a certain height, to show attention and sympathy for the movement that took place around her; she was initiated into all the secrets, the secrets of the personal relationships of the people around her. Her position, her fear for the future, kept her mental and moral powers in constant and intense tension. But the climbing plant reached its height only thanks to that giant of the forests around which it twisted; the giant is slain, and the weak plant is spread over the earth. Catherine retained a knowledge of faces and relationships between them, retained the habit of wading between these relationships; but she had neither due attention to matters, especially internal ones, and their details, nor the ability to initiate and direct.
On the initiative of Count P. A. Tolstoy, in February 1726, a new body of state power, the Supreme Privy Council, was created, where a narrow circle of chief dignitaries could govern the Russian Empire under the formal chairmanship of a semi-literate empress. The Council included Field Marshal Prince Menshikov, Admiral General Count Apraksin, Chancellor Count Golovkin, Count Tolstoy, Prince Golitsyn, and Vice Chancellor Baron Osterman. Of the six members of the new institution, only Prince D. M. Golitsyn was a descendant of noble nobles. A month later, the son-in-law of the Empress, the Duke of Holstein Karl-Friedrich (1700-1739), was included in the number of members of the Supreme Privy Council, on whose zeal, as the Empress officially announced, "we can fully rely on."
As a result, the role of the Senate declined sharply, although it was renamed the "High Senate". The leaders jointly decided all important matters, and Catherine only signed the papers they sent. The Supreme Council liquidated the local authorities created by Peter and restored the power of the governor.
Silver ruble of 1727
The long wars waged by Russia affected the country's finances. Due to crop failures, the price of bread rose, and discontent grew in the country. To prevent uprisings, the poll tax was reduced (from 74 to 70 kopecks).
The activity of the Catherine's government was limited mainly to petty issues, while embezzlement, arbitrariness and abuse flourished. There was no talk of any reforms and transformations; there was a struggle for power within the Council.
Despite this, the common people loved the empress because she sympathized with the unfortunate and willingly helped them. Soldiers, sailors and artisans were constantly crowding in her front rooms: some were looking for help, others asked the queen to be their godfather. She refused no one and usually gave each of her godsons a few chervonets.
During the reign of Catherine I, the Academy of Sciences was opened, the expedition of V. Bering was organized, the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky was established.
Foreign policy
During the 2 years of the reign of Catherine I, Russia did not wage major wars, only in the Caucasus a separate corps operated under the command of Prince Dolgorukov, trying to recapture the Persian territories, while Persia was in a state of unrest, and Turkey unsuccessfully fought against the Persian rebels. In Europe, Russia was diplomatically active in defending the interests of the Duke of Holstein (husband of Anna Petrovna, daughter of Catherine I) against Denmark. The preparation of an expedition by Russia to return Schleswig, taken by the Danes, to the Duke of Holstein led to a military demonstration in the Baltic by Denmark and England.
Another direction of Russian policy under Catherine was to ensure the guarantees of the Nishtad peace and the creation of an anti-Turkish bloc. In 1726, the government of Catherine I concluded the Treaty of Vienna with the government of Charles VI, which became the basis of the Russian-Austrian military-political alliance in the second quarter of the 18th century.
Unknown artist Portrait of Empress Catherine I.
End of reign
Catherine I ruled for a short time. Balls, festivities, feasts and revels, which followed a continuous series, undermined her health, and on April 10, 1727, the empress fell ill. The cough, previously weak, began to intensify, a fever was discovered, the patient began to weaken day by day, signs of damage to the lung appeared. The queen died from complications of a lung abscess. According to another unlikely version, death came from a severe attack of rheumatism.
The government had to urgently resolve the issue of succession to the throne.
Question of succession
Catherine was easily enthroned due to the infancy of Peter Alekseevich, however, in Russian society there were strong sentiments in favor of the grown-up Peter, the direct heir to the Romanov dynasty in the male line. The empress, alarmed by anonymous letters sent against the decree of Peter I of 1722 (by which the reigning sovereign had the right to appoint any successor for himself), turned to her advisers for help.
Vice-Chancellor Osterman proposed, in order to reconcile the interests of the noble and new serving nobility, to marry Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich to Princess Elizabeth Petrovna, Catherine's daughter. Their close relationship served as an obstacle, Elizabeth was Peter's own aunt. In order to avoid a possible divorce in the future, Osterman proposed to determine the order of succession to the throne more strictly when entering into a marriage.
Catherine, wanting to appoint her daughter Elizabeth (according to other sources - Anna) as her heir, did not dare to accept Osterman's project and continued to insist on her right to appoint her successor, hoping that the issue would be resolved over time. Meanwhile, the main supporter of Ekaterina Menshikov, having assessed the prospect of Peter becoming the Russian emperor, went over to the camp of his adherents. Moreover, Menshikov managed to get Catherine's consent to the marriage of Maria, Menshikov's daughter, with Peter Alekseevich.
The party led by Tolstoy, which most of all contributed to the enthronement of Catherine, could hope that Catherine would live for a long time and circumstances might change in their favor. Osterman threatened people with uprisings for Peter as the only legitimate heir; they could answer him that the army was on the side of Catherine, that it would also be on the side of her daughters. Catherine, for her part, tried to win the affection of the troops with her attention.
Menshikov managed to take advantage of the illness of Catherine, who signed on May 6, 1727, a few hours before her death, an accusatory decree against Menshikov's enemies, and on the same day Count Tolstoy and other high-ranking enemies of Menshikov were sent into exile.
Artist Heinrich Buchholz. Portrait of Catherine I. 1725
Will
At 9 pm on May 6, 1727, the 43-year-old Empress died.
When the empress fell dangerously ill, members of the highest government institutions gathered in the palace to decide on a successor: the Supreme Privy Council, the Senate and the Synod. Guards officers were also invited. The Supreme Council resolutely insisted on the appointment of the infant grandson of Peter I, Peter Alekseevich, as the heir. Before his death, Bassevich hastily compiled a will, signed by Elizabeth instead of the infirm mother empress. According to the will, the throne was inherited by the grandson of Peter I, Peter Alekseevich.
Subsequent articles dealt with the guardianship of a minor emperor; determined the power of the Supreme Council, the order of succession to the throne in the event of the death of Peter Alekseevich. According to the will, in the event of Peter's childless death, Anna Petrovna and her descendants ("descendents") became his successor, then her younger sister Elizaveta Petrovna and her descendants, and only then Peter II's sister Natalya Alekseevna. At the same time, those applicants for the throne who were not Orthodox or already reigned abroad were excluded from the order of succession. It was to the will of Catherine I that 14 years later Elizaveta Petrovna referred in the manifesto, setting out her rights to the throne after the palace coup of 1741.
The 11th article of the will amazed those present. It ordered all the nobles to contribute to the betrothal of Peter Alekseevich with one of the daughters of Prince Menshikov, and then, upon reaching adulthood, to promote their marriage. Literally: “our princesses and the government of the administration also have to try to arrange a marriage between his love [Grand Duke Peter] and one princess of Prince Menshikov.”
Such an article clearly testified to the person who participated in the preparation of the will, however, for Russian society, the right of Peter Alekseevich to the throne - the main article of the will - was indisputable, and there were no unrest.
Later, Empress Anna Ioannovna ordered Chancellor Golovkin to burn the spiritual Catherine I. He did, nevertheless keeping a copy of the will.
the site continues the cycle of materials about the great women of our country. We have already discussed the first ladies and outstanding actresses, this time we decided to analyze even more ambitious personalities - the Russian empresses. The ascent of each of them to the throne was accompanied by a palace coup. They loved and hated, tried to improve the life of the country and "drank the blood" of the common people, enjoyed omnipotence and carried out severe reforms - such different, but equally interesting destinies! Let's start with the beloved woman of Peter I - Catherine I.
"Baby Age" - this is how some sources call the eighteenth century. We think you have already guessed why. It was in the 18th century (and only in it!) that women ruled our country. The question of why this happened is answered by a variety of hypotheses. The most popular of them: the century was lean for boys. Sounds strange, doesn't it?
We will not even try to get to the bottom of the truth - we will leave it to historians.
Instead, we will tell you how they lived, who they loved and what goals the empresses of Russia pursued. In the centuries-old history of our country, there were only four of them: Catherine I, Anna Ioannovna, Elizaveta Petrovna and Catherine II.
Each of them came to power through a palace coup. Their reign was accompanied by intrigues, love passions and significant events in the history of the Russian state. We will start with Empress Catherine I Alekseevna (1684-1727).
Her life was short but eventful. The wife of Peter I at different times was called Cinderella, "camping wife", "Chukhon simpleton", but she will forever remain in the history of the Russian state as the first woman ruler of our country.
From hand to hand
Ekaterina Alekseevna was born on April 15, 1684, but in what family is not known for certain. The future wife of Peter I is credited with a whole bunch of nationalities, but the version about her birth in the family of a Latvian peasant Samuil Skavronsky under the name Marta remains the most popular.
Marta's youth was spent in the house of pastor Gluck in Marienburg (today it is the city of Aluksne in Latvia), where she worked as a laundress and a cook. The girl did not receive an education, and during her turbulent and difficult life she only learned to sign documents. Soon the pastor gave Skavronskaya in marriage to the Swedish dragoon Johann Kruse. But two days later, Martha's husband went to war, where he went missing.
In 1702, the Russian army captured Marienburg and captured hundreds of citizens. Marta Skavronskaya also became a military trophy.
The Russian Field Marshal Boris Sheremetyev liked the girl, and he took her by force as his mistress. Sheremetyev was already old, so without much resistance, like a thing, he gave Martha to Prince Menshikov, who also drew attention to a young and full of life girl. By the way, there is a version that Menshikov took Skavronskaya for himself exclusively as a servant.
Marta liked Peter I at first sight
Marta was not a beauty, she did not know how to dress up, but her burning temperament, magnificent breasts and flirtatious manner of communication drove men crazy. The future emperor could not resist either: once Peter I was visiting the house of Prince Menshikov, where he saw Martha. The king unceremoniously demanded that the girl be handed over to him. So Skavronskaya became one of the mistresses of the young ruler of Russia.
Cinderella story
From "one of" Marta soon became the main concubine, and then - in fact, his wife. In 1704, Skavronskaya converted to Orthodoxy, receiving the name Ekaterina Alekseevna at baptism.
Her godfather was the tsar's son from his first marriage, Alexei (hence Catherine's patronymic). In the same year, Catherine gave birth to a son, Peter, who was named after his father, and a year later, a son, Pavel. Interestingly, the king recognized these children - for mistresses, this was a great rarity and good luck. Unfortunately, both boys died before they were three years old.
Peter became more and more attached to his mistress.
Catherine was the only one who knew how to cope with the royal whims, extinguished his outbursts of anger, helped during epileptic attacks, and relieved him of the headaches that tormented him.
“The sound of Katerina's voice calmed Peter; then she sat him down and took him, caressing him, by the head, which she scratched lightly. This had a magical effect on him, he fell asleep in a few minutes. In order not to disturb his sleep, she held his head on her breast, sitting motionless for two or three hours. After that, he woke up completely fresh and vigorous, ”contemporaries of the tsar wrote in his memoirs.
Catherine easily got along with Peter, whose difficult character was legendary
Shot from the series "The Romanovs"
Catherine, although she had influence on Peter, did not get involved in state affairs. Only occasionally stood up for Prince Menshikov. The main thing for her was to protect the king from drunkenness and wild life. In 1708, the daughter of Catherine and Peter, Anna, was born, a year later, the daughter of Elizabeth. Only these two children of the spouses survived.
In total, Catherine gave birth to eleven children. Most died in infancy, and none (except Anne and Elizabeth) survived to adolescence.
It’s not for nothing that Catherine is called a marching wife: she accompanied the tsar on all military campaigns and trips, slept on a hard bed, lived in a tent, ate what they gave and sat on horseback like a man. She did not complain, did not act up and did not ask for anything. Once she even shaved her head to wear a grenadier cap. Together with her husband, Catherine made a review of the troops, encouraged the soldiers: where with a kind word, and where with a glass of vodka. By the way, she herself could drink with the military. For simplicity, masculine strength and at the same time femininity, the soldiers idolized her.
Catherine always accompanied Peter I, and even pregnancy did not stop her.
In 1711, being in her seventh month, she and her husband participated in the Prut campaign. Then the Russian troops were surrounded, and only Catherine was able to save her husband and the entire army from inevitable death. She gave away her jewels, persuading the Turkish vizier to sign a peace treaty. Alas, due to the stress experienced, Catherine's child was born dead.
Upon returning to St. Petersburg, on February 20, 1712, Peter finally legalized relations with Catherine. The marriage was secret and took place in a chapel belonging to Prince Menshikov.
Catherine was with Peter for almost ten years before they got married
A frame from the series “Peter the Great. Will"
Also, in memory of the Prut campaign, the tsar established the Order of St. Catherine, which he awarded her on her name day.
The love of his life... betrayed
Peter I adored his wife, she was his closest friend, a real life partner. “Katerinushka, my friend, hello! I hear that you are bored, but I am not bored either, ”the emperor wrote tender letters to his wife. At the same time, the ruler of Russia did not change his habits, and even with his wife he had far more than one concubine. Catherine learned about her husband's adventures from him, but each confession ended with the words: "There is no one better than you, Katenka."
In 1721, Peter I called himself emperor, and three years later, in the spring of 1724, he crowned Catherine the Empress, ordering her a crown many times richer and more beautiful than his own.
A few months later, the formidable ruler found out about her infidelity. The wife he adored was carried away by the German Willim Mons, who, by the way, was immediately executed with the light hand of the emperor.
The betrayal of his wife finally knocked down the already poor health of Peter
Shot from the series "Secrets of palace coups"
Peter I was killed by the betrayal of his wife and forever forbade her to approach him and talk about anything. Only once did daughter Elizabeth convince her father to talk to her mother. Dying, in 1725, Peter still found the strength to forgive his wife, she was always there, and he died in her arms.
Palace coup
It was Peter I who abolished the tradition of succession to the throne. Before him, for many centuries in a row, the Russian throne went to direct male descendants, most often to sons. Now, by decree of Peter I, the reigning monarch could single-handedly choose his successor (in fact, anyone) by writing an appropriate will.
There is an opinion that the new law was issued specifically for Catherine: Peter loved his wife so much that he wanted to leave the whole empire to her.
The sovereign planned to publicly announce Catherine as his successor, but, having learned about his wife's infidelity, he changed his mind, which doomed the country to palace coups.
After the death of Peter I, troubled times began at the court: there was no strict procedure for choosing a new ruler, as well as a will. The people, accustomed to seeing a man on the throne, supported Prince Peter Alekseevich, the grandson of Peter I. However, the guards were so faithful to the departed emperor that they transferred all their love to Catherine.
Officers without an invitation came to a meeting of the Senate, lined up in front of the palace thousands of soldiers with weapons. To the question "Who dared?" the answer was that the regiments arrived at the behest of the empress, whom everyone is now obliged to obey. So, the Senate, to the sounds of clattering weapons, “unanimously” elevated Catherine to the throne.
Enlisting the support of the guards, Catherine I became the new ruler of Russia
Shot from the series "The Romanovs"
Many are wondering how it happened that hundreds of far from stupid officers entrusted the management of a vast country to a woman, moreover, an illiterate one? There are two versions: either the guards loved Catherine so much that they forgave her all the shortcomings, or they were sure that a woman was easy to manipulate, and her hands to lead the state ...
And the king is naked!
The actual power belonged to Prince Menshikov and the Secret Supreme Council, while Catherine was quite pleased with her role as mistress of Tsarskoye Selo. There were no significant changes in the life of the country during the reign of Catherine I: new coins appeared (of course, with the image of the empress), the First Kamchatka Expedition took place, and the Academy of Sciences opened. The country did not get involved in wars.
Meanwhile, state affairs fell into a deplorable state, the treasury was empty. Theft and arbitrariness flourished in the country, the people rebelled. What kind of reforms are there?
Having become the ruler of all Rus', Catherine fell in love with entertainment. Balls and other celebrations became regular (if not daily) events at the palace. If earlier the empress was restrained by her husband, now no one could reproach her for the wrong way of life. The courtiers sought friendship with Catherine so as not to anger her, although, as contemporaries assure, the empress was neither cruel nor vindictive.
Even after becoming Empress, Catherine I was not interested in state affairs, continuing to lead an idle lifestyle.
Catherine I, alas, justified the jealous fears of her late husband. An unbridled passion and love of love woke up in the Empress. She succumbed to vices, addicted to wine. Every day in the palace ended with a noisy festivity, and the empress spent the night with one of her lovers.
Such a way of life could not pass without a trace, and after two years of rampant life, Catherine's health was undermined.
In March 1727, the ruler developed a tumor on her leg, which soon spread to her thigh. To this were added rheumatism, fever, severe cough and abscess (accumulation of pus) of the lung. In April of the same year, Catherine fell ill, and on May 6 she died. She was 43 years old.
Before her death, Catherine wanted to transfer the rights to the throne to her daughter Elizabeth, but under the onslaught of Prince Menshikov, she wrote a will, where she named Peter II Alekseevich as her successor. The boy at that time was 12 years old, and power automatically again fell into the hands of Menshikov. However, not all women were ready to put up with it ... (Continued in the next part.)
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