Empress from 1725

Catherine I

Ekaterina Alexeevna

1684-1727

Empress from 1725

Catherine I (original name Marta Skowronska), the second wife of Peter the Great, was a daughter of a Lithuanian peasant. When the Russians seized Marienburg (1702) during the Great Northern War, Marta was taken prisoner. She alter was handed over to Alexander Menshikov, a close adviser of Peter 1. A short time later she and the tsar became lovers.

In 1703, after the birth of their first child, she was received into the Russian Orthodox church and rechristened Catherine Alekseevna. A great number of letters exist demonstrating the strong affection between Catherine and Peter. As a person she was very strong, 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 accompanied Peter on his Prut campaign in 1711. There Catherine 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 Mehmed Pasha into allowing a retreat. Baltaji allowed the retreat, whether motivated by the bribe or considerations of trade and diplomacy

In Fevruary 1712 Catherine became Peter’s wife. On May, 7, 1724, she was crowned empress-consort of Russia. She and Peter had 11 children, all of whom died in childhood except for Anna and Elizabeth.

When peter died without naming a heir, Catherine’s candidacy for the throne was supported by the guards and by several powerful and important individuals. As a result, the Holy Synod, the Senate and the high officials of the land almost immediately proclaimed Catherine empress of Russia. In February 1726, however, she created the Supreme Privy Council, named six of Peter’s former advisors as its members (Menshikov, Peter Tolstoy and others), and effectively transferred control of government affairs to it, thereby undermining the authority of the Senate and the Synod, which had been Peter’s main administrative instruments.

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 the policies of Peter the Great in modernizing Russia. She was said to be a just and even-handed ruler. She continued the work of Peter in establishing the Russian Academy of Science, gave the 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 her policies were reasonable and cautious. She died just two years after Peter at the age of 43. Shortly before her death, Catherine appointed Peter’s grandson Peter Alexeevich as her heir.

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