Despite the fact that many serious scholars dispute the role of chance in history, one cannot but admit that Catherine I ascended the Russian throne in many ways by accident. She did not rule for long - a little over two years. Nevertheless, even in spite of such a short reign, she remained in history as the first empress.
From the laundress to the empress
Marta Skavronska, who will soon become known to the world as Empress Catherine 1, was born on the territory of today's Lithuania, on the lands of Livonia, in 1684. There is no exact information about her childhood. In general, the future Catherine 1, whose biography is very ambiguous, and sometimes contradictory, according to one version, was born in a peasant family. Her parents soon died of the plague, and the girl was sent to the pastor's house as a servant. According to another version, Marta lived with her aunt from the age of twelve, after which she ended up in the family of a local priest, where she was in attendance and studied literacy and needlework. Scientists are still arguing about where the future Catherine 1 was born.
Biography
And the origin of the first Russian empress, and the date and place of her birth are still not established by domestic historians. More or less unambiguously, historiography has established a version proving that she was the daughter of the Baltic peasant Samuel Skavronsky. In the Catholic faith, the girl was baptized by her parents, giving her the name Marta. According to some reports, she was brought up in the Marienburg guesthouse, under the supervision of Pastor Gluck.
The future Catherine I was never a diligent student. But they say that she changed cavaliers with amazing frequency. There is even evidence that Marta, having become pregnant from a certain nobleman, gave birth to a daughter from him. The pastor managed to marry her, but her husband, who was a Swedish dragoon, soon disappeared without a trace during the years of the Northern War.
After the capture of Marienburg by the Russians, Marta, becoming a “military trophy”, was for some time the mistress of a non-commissioned officer, later, in August 1702, she was in the train of Field Marshal B. Sheremetev. Having noticed it, he took it to himself with a portoya laundress, later transferring it to A. Menshikov. It was here that she caught the eye of Peter I.
Biographers of the Russian royal family are still wondering how she could capture the tsar. After all, Marta was not beautiful. However, she soon became one of his mistresses.
Peter 1 and Catherine 1
In 1704, Martha, according to Orthodox custom, was baptized under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. She was already pregnant by then. The future empress was baptized by Tsarevich Alexei. Being able to easily adapt to all circumstances, Catherine never lost her presence of mind. She perfectly studied the character and habits of Peter, becoming necessary for him both in joy and in grief. In March 1705, they already had two sons. However, the future Catherine I still continued to live in Menshikov’s house in St. Petersburg. In 1705, the future empress was brought to the house of the Tsar’s sister Natalia Alekseevna. Here the illiterate laundress began to learn to write and read. According to some reports, it was during this period that the future Catherine I began a fairly close relationship with the Menshikovs.
Gradually, relations with the king became very close. This is evidenced by their correspondence in 1708. Peter had many lovers. He even discussed them with Catherine, but she did not reproach him for anything, trying to adapt to the tsar's whims and put up with his frequent outbursts of anger. She was invariably close during his seizures of epilepsy, sharing with him all the difficulties of a camp life and quietly turning into the sovereign's actual wife. And although the future Catherine I did not directly participate in resolving many political issues, she had a great influence on the tsar.
Since 1709, she accompanied Peter everywhere, including on all trips. During the Prut campaign of 1711, when the Russian troops were encircled, she saved not only her future husband, but also the army, giving the Turkish vizier all her jewelry in order to persuade him to sign a truce.
Marriage
Upon returning to the capital, on February 20th, 1712, Peter 1 and Catherine 1 got married. Already born at that time, their daughter Anna, who later became the wife of the Duke of Holstein, as well as Elizabeth, the future Empress, being three and five years old, performed the duties of accompanying maids of honor to the altar at the wedding. The wedding took place almost secretly in a small chapel belonging to Prince Menshikov.
Since that time, Catherine I acquired a yard. She began to receive foreign ambassadors and meet with many European monarchs. Being the wife of the Tsar Reformer, Catherine the Great - the 1st Russian Empress - was not inferior to her husband in terms of her will and endurance. In the period from 1704 to 1723, she gave birth to Petra eleven children, however, most of them died in infancy. Such frequent pregnancies did not prevent her from accompanying her husband in his many campaigns: she could live in a tent and rest on a hard bed, not a drop of grumbling.
Merits
In 1713, Peter I, praising the worthy behavior of his wife during the unsuccessful Prut campaign for the Russians, established the Order of St. Catherine. He personally placed signs on his wife in November 1714. It was originally named the Order of Liberation and was intended only to Catherine. Peter I also remembered the merits of his wife during the unfortunate Prut campaign, in his manifesto on the coronation of his wife in November 1723. Foreigners, with great attention watching everything that happens in the Russian court, unanimously noted the king’s affection for the empress. And during the Persian campaign of 1722, Catherine even shaved her head and began to wear a grenadier cap. She and her husband watched the troops leaving straight to the scene of the battle.
On December 23, 1721, the boards of the Senate and the Synod recognized Catherine as the Russian Empress. Especially for her coronation in May 1724, the crown was ordered, which excelled the crown of the king with its splendor. On the head of his wife, this imperial symbol was laid by Peter himself.
Portrait
Opinions on what kind of appearance Catherine had were contradictory. If you focus on her male environment, then the opinions are generally positive, but the women, being biased towards her, considered her short, thick and black. And indeed, the appearance of the empress did not make much impression. One had only to look at her to notice her low origin. The dresses she wore were of an old-fashioned style, fully lined with silver and sparkles. She always wore a belt, which was decorated in front with embroidery of precious stones with an original design in the form of a two-headed eagle. The queen was constantly hung orders, a dozen figurines and amulets. When she walked, all this wealth rang.
Quarrel
One of their sons is Petr Petrovich, who after the abdication of the emperor’s senior heir from Evdokia Lopukhina was considered the official successor to the throne in 1718, he died in 1719. Therefore, the king-reformer began only in his wife to see his future successor. But in the autumn of 1724, Peter suspected the empress of treason with the camera-cunker Mons. He executed the latter, but ceased to communicate with his wife: he did not speak at all, and access was denied. Passion for others dealt a terrible blow to the king: in anger, he broke the will, through which the throne passed to his wife.
And only once, at the insistent request of his daughter Elizabeth, Peter agreed to dinner with Catherine - a woman who was his inseparable girlfriend and assistant for the whole twenty years. It happened a month before the death of the emperor. In January 1725, he became ill. Catherine was always at the bedside of the dying monarch. On the night of the 28th to the 29th, Peter died in the arms of his wife.
Ascension to the throne
Upon the death of her husband, who had not yet had time to declare his last will, the “supreme gentlemen”, members of the Senate, the Synod and the generals, who had already been in the palace since January twenty-seventh, began to deal with the issue of succession. Among them were two parties. One, which consisted of the remnants of a clan aristocracy that remained at the very top of government, was led by European-educated Prince D. Golitsyn. In an effort to limit autocracy, the latter demanded the enthronement of Pyotr Alekseevich, the young grandson of Peter the Great. I must say that the candidacy of this baby was very popular among the entire aristocratic estate of Russia, which wanted to find in the offspring of the unfortunate prince who could restore their past privileges.
Victory
The second batch was on the side of Catherine. A split was inevitable. With the help of her longtime friend Menshikov, as well as Buturlin and Yaguzhinsky, relying on the guard, she ascended the throne as Catherine 1, whose reign years were not marked by anything special for Russia. They were short-lived. By agreement with Menshikov, Catherine did not intervene in state affairs; moreover, on February 8, 1726, she transferred control of Russia to the hands of the Supreme Privy Council.
Domestic politics
The state activity of Catherine I was limited, for the most part, only to the signing of papers. Although it must be said that the empress was interested in the affairs of the Russian fleet. On her behalf, the country was in fact ruled by the Privy Council, an organ created shortly before her accession to the throne. It included A. Menshikov, G. Golovkin, F. Apraksin, D. Golitsyn, P. Tolstoy and A. Osterman.
The reign of Catherine 1 began with the fact that taxes were reduced and many prisoners and exiles were pardoned. The first was associated with price increases and fear of causing discontent among the people. Some reforms of Catherine 1 were canceled by the old ones adopted by Peter 1. For example, the role of the Senate was significantly reduced and local bodies were abolished, which replaced the governor, the Commission was formed, which included the generals and flagships. According to the content of this reform of Catherine 1, it was they who were supposed to take care of the improvement of the Russian troops.
International relationships
And if the domestic policy of Catherine 1 deviated from the course of the times of Peter the Great, then in international matters everything went the same way, since Russia supported the claims of the Duke Karl Friedrich, son-in-law of the Empress and Father Peter 3, to Schleswig. Denmark and Austria worsened relations with her. In 1726, the country adjoins the Vienna Union. In addition, Russia gained exceptional influence in Courland and tried to send Menshikov there as ruler of the duchy, but the locals opposed it. At the same time, the foreign policy of Catherine 1 has borne fruit. Russia, having achieved concessions from Persia and Turkey in the Caucasus, was able to seize the Shirvan region.
Political image
From the first steps of her reign, the domestic policy of Catherine 1 was aimed at showing everyone that the throne was in good hands and that the country was not going astray from the path chosen by the Great Reformer. In the Supreme Privy Council , an intense struggle for power was constantly waged. But the empress loved the people. And this despite the fact that the domestic policy of Catherine 1 was not marked by any special benefits for ordinary people.
People with various requests constantly crowded in its front. She received them, distributed alms, and for many even became a godfather. During the reign of the second wife of Peter the Great, the organization of the Academy of Sciences was completed. In addition, the empress equipped the Bering expedition to Kamchatka.
The first Russian empress died in May 1727. She appointed the youngest Peter 2, grandson, and Menshikov as regent, as her heir. However, the intense struggle for power continued. Indeed, the reign of Catherine 1, according to historians, gave rise to a long period of Russian palace coups.