Before Peter, there was no officially pleasant law on succession to the throne in Russia. Over several centuries, a tradition developed according to which the throne passed through a direct descending male line, i.e. from father to son, from son to grandson. By 1725, Peter had no sons: his eldest son Alexei, born in marriage to Evdokia Lopukhina, was accused of conspiracy against his father, convicted and died in 1718 in prison under unclear circumstances. From Peter’s marriage to Ekaterina Alekseevna (nee Marta Skavronskaya), a son, Peter, was born in 1715, but he also died at the age of four. At the time of Peter’s death, there was no official written will, nor did he give any oral instructions about who he saw as the heir to the Russian throne.

There is a legend that the dying Peter, with a weakening hand, wrote on the slate he carried the words: “Give everything...”, but could not finish this phrase. No one knows whether this actually happened, but, one way or another, there was no official heir to the Russian throne after the death of Peter I.

In this situation, several candidates could lay claim to the throne: Ekaterina Alekseevna, whom Peter I crowned on his own initiative in 1724 (many viewed this as the Tsar’s intention to transfer the Russian throne to Ekaterina), his eldest daughter Anna and the son of the deceased Tsarevich Alexei 9- summer Peter. Behind each of the candidates were the interests of many other people fighting for power and wealth.

The group of Catherine's supporters turned out to be stronger. These were mainly those who sought to continue Peter's policies: former associates of the tsar who received enormous power during his reign. One of the most interested in the transfer of power to the widow of Peter I was A.D. Menshikov. In fact, it was he who managed to organize Catherine’s victory in the struggle for the Russian throne. The guard regiments that surrounded the palace when the issue of power was being decided there also played a significant role in this victory.

Catherine I became the successor to the Russian throne. She assured everyone that, like her late husband, she would tirelessly take care of the good of Russia. The new Russian empress was magnificently crowned in May 1725 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Who would argue that Peter I was not only a great monarch, but also one of the most extraordinary personalities in Russian history? It would be surprising if next to him was the most ordinary woman who did not stand out from the crowd. Maybe that’s why the tsar rejected the noblewoman Evdokia Lopukhina, and the love of his life became a rootless Baltic peasant woman, Marta Skavronskaya...

There is not much reliable information about Martha’s life before marriage. It is known that she was born on April 5 (15), 1684 on the territory of modern Estonia, which was then part of Swedish Livonia. Having lost her parents early, the girl was raised by her aunt, and then, at the age of 12, was given into the service of the Lutheran pastor Ernst Gluck.

At the age of 17, the girl was married to the Swedish dragoon Johann Kruse, but their marriage lasted only a couple of days: Johann and his regiment were forced to go to defend the Marienburg fortress, which was being attacked by the Russians. Martha never saw her first husband again - he disappeared without a trace.

After Marienburg was taken by the army of Field Marshal Boris Petrovich Sheremetev on August 25, 1702, he accidentally saw the pastor’s maid, and he liked her so much that he took her as his mistress.

According to another version, Marta Skavronskaya became the housekeeper of General Baur. A few months later she ended up with Peter I’s closest associate, Prince Alexander Menshikov, who also could not resist her charms.

In the fall of 1703, Peter first met a young woman in Menshikov’s house. Before going to bed, he told Martha to take the candle to his room, and they spent the night together. In the morning the king put a golden ducat in her hand...

Peter did not forget Menshikov’s affectionate, cheerful and beautiful “field wife”. Soon he took her to his place. A few years later, Martha was baptized into Orthodoxy and began to be called Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova: her godfather was Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, and Peter himself sometimes introduced himself as Mikhailov if he wanted to remain incognito

Peter was very attached to his partner. “Katerinushka, my friend, hello!” he wrote to her when they were apart. “I hear that you are bored, and I am not bored either...” Katerina was the only one who was not afraid to approach the king during his famous fits of anger and knew how to cope with the headaches that often occurred to him. She took his head in her hands and stroked it tenderly until the king fell asleep. He woke up fresh and invigorated...

According to legend, in the summer of 1711, while on the Prut campaign with Peter, Katerina took off all the jewelry donated by Peter and gave it to the Turks who surrounded the Russian army as a ransom. This touched Peter so much that he decided to make his beloved his legal wife. This monarch never cared about conventions. He quickly got rid of his unloved first wife, the noblewoman Evdokia Lopukhina, imposed on him by his mother in his youth, sending her to a monastery... And Katerina was his beloved.

Their official wedding took place on February 19, 1712 in the Church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia in St. Petersburg. In 1713, Peter I, in memory of the Prut campaign, established the Order of St. Catherine, which he personally awarded to his wife on November 24, 1714. And on May 7 (18), 1724, Catherine was crowned empress. Even before this, in 1723, the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals was named after her...

Despite the obvious love and affection of Peter and Catherine for each other, not everything was rosy between them. Peter allowed himself other women, and Catherine knew about it. In the end, she too, according to rumors, started an affair with the chamberlain Willim Mons. Having learned about this, Peter ordered Mons to be impaled on the wheel, allegedly for embezzlement, and his severed head, preserved in alcohol, according to legend, was placed in the queen’s bedroom for several days so that she could look at it.

Communication between the spouses stopped. And only when Peter was already on his deathbed did they reconcile. The Tsar died in the early morning of January 28 (February 8), 1725, in the arms of Catherine.

The reign of Catherine I lasted a little over two years. On May 6 (17), 1727, she died of pneumonia. She was only 43 years old.

Over the years of her life with Peter, Catherine gave birth to 11 children, but only two of them - Anna and Elizaveta - lived to adulthood.

Elizaveta Petrovna subsequently went down in history as one of the most famous rulers of Russia, and Anna's direct descendants ruled the country until the revolution. It turns out that the last representatives of the Romanov dynasty descended from a courtesan, whom the great love of the great king made empress.

http://www.opeterburge.ru/history_143_163.html http://oneoflady.blogspot.com/2012/02/i.html#more

Catherine I (short biography)

Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova (aka Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya), who is the future Russian Empress Catherine the First, was born on Livonian land near the city of Kegmus (present-day territory of Latvia) in 1684. Her biography is ambiguous and contradictory. Very little is known about her youth. What is known is that Martha was orphaned early, after which her aunt took custody of her (according to another version, she was raised by a pastor). At seventeen, she marries Johann Kruse (a Swedish dragoon), but a few days later he goes off to war and disappears.

Together with four hundred people, she falls into Russian captivity (approximately 1702).

There are two versions about her further fate. According to some historians, Martha becomes Colonel Bauer's manager. Others claim that she was Sheremetyev’s mistress, but later he loses her to Prince Menshikov. It is impossible today to refute (as well as prove) each of them. But it is reliably known that Peter the Great met Marta on Menshikov’s estate.

Soon Martha receives the name Catherine and gives birth to the Tsar eleven children (most of them die in infancy), of which only Elizabeth and Anna remain. In 1705, Catherine studied writing and reading in the house of the Tsar's sister and began a relationship with Menshikov.

On February 19, 1714, Catherine and Peter the Great were married in the Dalmitsky Church. In honor of his wife, Peter established the Order of St. Catherine, which he awarded her on November 24, 1724.

Ten years later, on the seventh of May, Catherine was crowned in Moscow in the Assumption Cathedral. However, in the same year, the king removes her from himself, suspecting her of having a connection with the chamberlain (he was later executed). In the winter of 1724, Catherine did not leave the bedside of Peter, who was seriously ill and later died in her arms.

The Russian Tsar died, abolishing the previous order of succession to the throne by decree, but without appointing his heir. As a result, the following years saw many palace coups, during one of which Catherine the First ascended to the Russian throne on January twenty-eighth, 1725, thus becoming the first ruler of Russia.

At the same time, she was not involved in governing the country itself, entrusting all important affairs of the state to Menshikov and the so-called Supreme Privy Council.

Jean-Marc Nattier Portrait of Catherine I. 1717

When Peter I went to Moscow, he instructed one guards captain to take Marta there in the most secret way. Catherine, having arrived in the capital, lived there very modestly, if not secluded, with a poor woman. Having settled Catherine in this house, the tsar pursued a single goal: to keep his romance in deep secrecy. However, he was probably “embarrassed” that his mistress was a “servant,” since Peter was nominally already single; his wife Evdokia Lopukhina had already lived in a monastery near Suzdal for several years. At first, the king saw Martha only furtively, although he did not let a single day or, more precisely, night pass without seeing her. He chose nighttime for his secret visits and acted with caution, taking with him only one grenadier, who carried him on a sleigh. When Peter left on business, he wrote to his “traveling wife,” calling her in letters (perhaps for conspiracy) Katerina Vasilevskaya, after her aunt’s last name. Although the story with the aunt (based on the principle - was there an aunt?) historians have not studied in detail.

As an unofficial wife

In 1705, Peter sent Martha to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow, to the house of his sister, Princess Natalya Alekseevna, where “Katerina Vasilevskaya” learned Russian literacy. In 1707 (or 1708) Martha was baptized into Orthodoxy and changed her name to Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova, since her godfather was Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, and the surname Mikhailov was used by Peter I himself if he wanted to remain incognito.
On February 7, 1708, Catherine gave birth to the Tsar’s daughter Anna, and on December 29, 1709, Elizabeth. The first went down in history as the Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp and the mother of Emperor Peter III, husband of Catherine the Great, the second herself was the Empress of All Russia (1741-1762). There is information that Peter's first children from Catherine were sons Peter (1704-1707) and Paul (1705-1707), who died in infancy, but historians claim that this is a legend. But then the question may arise - why didn’t Catherine become pregnant for five long years and didn’t give the Tsar children before 1708? The only answer can be the fact that Peter was constantly on the move - he fought, built, studied.
Concluding the topic, I note that Catherine gave Peter the Great seven children. In addition to Anna and Elizabeth, these were Natalya (03/03/1713-05/27/1715), Margarita (09/03/1714-07/27/1715), Peter (10/29/1715-04/25/1719), Pavel (01/02/1717-01/03/1717) and Natalya (08/31/1718-03/15/1725). As you can see, almost all of them died in infancy. However, Pyotr Petrovich (1715-1719) was considered the official heir to the crown from 1718 until his death.

Unknown artist Catherine I Alekseevna, Russian Empress. Based on a painting from 1717

I will continue, quoting Villebois (he writes very well!): “Feeling the power that she had over the mind and heart of her master, Catherine decided to become his wife. To fulfill her intention, she managed to take advantage of the discord that existed in the royal family. Under the guise of a person who seeks to extinguish the fire of contradictions between husband and wife, between father and son, she contributed significantly to fanning this fire. Everyone knew the tsar’s unworthy treatment of his first wife Evdokia, whom he divorced and forced her to become a nun. No less terrible was his attitude towards his son Alexei Petrovich, whom he put on trial and who died in prison.

Count Gerning-Friedrich Bassevich (November 6, 1680 - December 21, 1748) - President of the Privy Council of the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein Karl-Friedrich, husband of Tsarevna Anna Petrovna, who served for a long time as ambassador to Russia, left behind memoirs, published after his death under the title: "Notes of Count Bassevich, serving to explain some events from the reign of Peter the Great." However, historians write that their significance as a historical source cannot be trusted, because they were not published in the original, but in a later revision, and because the author often exaggerates his personal influence on the course of the events described, suffering from strong conceit.
So, this Bassevich writes: “Katerina alone could cope with the tsar in his fits of anger, she knew how to calm Peter’s attacks of convulsive headaches with affection and patient attention. The sound of Katerina's voice calmed Peter; then she sat him down and took him, caressing him, by the head, which she lightly scratched. This had a magical effect on him; he fell asleep within a few minutes. So as not to disturb his sleep, she held his head on her chest, sitting motionless for two or three hours. After that, he woke up completely fresh and cheerful.”

Karel de Moor Catherine I of Russia (engraving by J. Houbraken) 1724

Risen from the dead

On January 1, 1710, Peter organized a triumphal procession in Moscow on the occasion of his victory in the Battle of Poltava. And here I would like to tell you another “tale” from Villebois. Thousands of Swedish prisoners were held at the parade in honor of the Victory, among whom was Martha Catherine’s husband, Johan Kruse, alive and almost healthy, although according to the notes of the Duke of Oldenburg, “the Swedish dragoon Kruse died in 1705.”
Be that as it may, Villebois writes that after the Battle of Marienburg, Kruse continued to fight in the army of the Swedish king Charles XII, participated in the Battle of Poltava and had the misfortune of being captured there. After which, among 14 thousand of his compatriots, he was brought to Moscow to serve as decoration for the triumphal entry of Peter I into the main city of his empire. The captive Kruse, having learned about his wife’s relationship with the Russian Tsar (I don’t know how), decided that this connection “could bring him relief in his difficulties.” Johan reported everything to the Russian military commissar, who was in charge of the affairs of the prisoners. But the poor man's frankness did not ease his fate, as he expected. It is unlikely that the commissioner reported to the tsar about such a “piquant” circumstance. He simply sent Kruse to Siberia after the “parade”. He lived there for several years and died at the end of 1721. The history of the existence of the living legal husband of Martha Skavronskaya, who made him a cuckold, giving birth to children Petra, without being married to him, was later used by opposing factions in disputes about the right to the throne after the death of Martha herself, that is, Empress Catherine I.

Legend of Prut

Soon after his triumphant entry into Moscow, Peter planned a campaign against the Turks, considering them not very dangerous enemies. It was then that he decided to crown his love with Catherine in a secret marriage. They say that Peter’s sister, Tsarevna Maria, contributed a lot to this marriage. She was afraid of the return to the court of the king’s first wife, Evdokia, and tried to find an insurmountable obstacle to this and thereby take revenge for all the troubles that she had caused her.
Before leaving for the Prut campaign in the spring of 1711, Peter ordered everyone to consider Catherine his wife. The Danish ambassador Yust Yul wrote about it in his “Notes”: “In the evening, shortly before his departure, the tsar called his sister Natalya Alekseevna to a house in Preobrazhenskaya Sloboda. There he took his hand and placed his mistress Ekaterina Alekseevna in front of them.

Hermitage

For the future, the tsar said, they should consider her his legitimate wife and Russian queen. Since now, due to the urgent need to go to the army, he cannot marry her, he takes her with him to do this on occasion in more free time. At the same time, the king made it clear that if he died before he could get married, then after his death everyone would have to look at her as his legal wife. After that, everyone congratulated Ekaterina Alekseevna and kissed her hand.” The official wedding of Peter I with Ekaterina Alekseevna took place after returning from the campaign against the Turks on February 19, 1712 in the Church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia in St. Petersburg.

A. F. Zubov Wedding of Peter I and Katerina Alekseevna in 1712 (engraving) 1712

Catherine, by the way, went on a long hike while she was seven months pregnant. In Moldavia in July 1711, 190 thousand Turks and Crimean Tatars pressed the 38 thousand-strong Russian army to the river, completely surrounding them with numerous cavalry. There is a legend according to which, when the army was surrounded, Catherine collected all her jewelry taken on the campaign in order to bribe it to the Turkish commander. And only thanks to this, Peter I, having sacrificed Russian conquests in the south, was able to withdraw the army from encirclement by concluding the Prut Peace. Villebois writes floridly and in detail about this story, but at great length, so I decided not to quote him. Moreover, there is a small nuance - the Danish ambassador Just Yul, already known to you, who was with the Russian army after it left the encirclement, writes on the contrary that “the queen distributed her jewelry to the officers for safekeeping, and then collected them.”

Unknown artist Portrait of Catherine I.

However, in 1713, Peter I, in honor of the worthy behavior of his wife during the Prut campaign, established the Order of St. Catherine and personally conferred the insignia 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 remembered Catherine’s merits during the Prut campaign in his manifesto on the coronation of his wife dated November 15, 1723: “Our dear wife, Empress Catherine, was a great helper, not just in this, but also in many military actions, putting aside women’s infirmities , willingly was present with us and helped as much as possible, and especially in the Prut campaign with the Turks, almost in desperate times, how manly and not feminine she acted, our entire army knows about this...” At the same time, the city in the Urals was named Yekaterinburg in her honor. I just want to ask: guys, which one of you is lying??

Coronation

However, it is generally accepted that the Tsar-Emperor showed unusual tenderness towards his wife. Let's turn to Bassevich's notes: “He loved to see her everywhere. There was no military review, ship launching, ceremony or holiday at which she did not appear...

Ivan Nikitin Portrait of Catherine the First. 1717

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.”

With a manifesto dated November 15, 1723, Peter announced the future coronation of Catherine as a sign of her special merits. On May 7 (18), 1724, Peter crowned Catherine empress in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. This was the second coronation of a female sovereign's wife in Rus' (after the coronation of Marina Mnishek by False Dmitry I in 1605). The Emperor and the new Empress went to St. Petersburg, where they held huge festivities in honor of the coronation.

Unknown artist Peter I and Catherine riding in a shnyava along the Neva. 18th century engraving.

Greetings, brother...

Three months after the coronation, Catherine’s life had a “meeting with the past” - her brother Karl was accidentally found. Villebois describes this story in detail, but in a nutshell, the situation was like this:
The Polish envoy, who was traveling from Moscow to Dresden, met at one of the inns in Courland the groom Karl Skavronsky, who was very similar in features to the empress. The envoy wrote about this in a letter to one of his friends at the Russian court. The letter inexplicably got to Peter, who, also for unknown reasons, ordered the governor of Riga, Prince Repnin, to find this man. Repnin conducted a secret investigation in Courland and reported to the emperor that this man was indeed the brother of Empress Catherine. Peter, who loved all sorts of extravagances, arranged for his wife to have an “unexpected” meeting with Karl during lunch with one of his butlers named Shepelev.
Villebois writes: “The Tsar, as poor Skavronsky answered his questions, tried to attract the attention of the Empress, telling her with an air of feigned kindness: “Catherine, listen to this!” Well, doesn’t this mean anything to you?” She answered, changing her face and stuttering: “But...”. The king interrupted her: “But if you don’t understand this, then I understood well that this man is your brother.” “Well,” he said to Karl, “kiss the hem of her dress and her hand right now like an empress, and then hug her like a sister.” At these words, Catherine, deeply amazed, completely white as a sheet, fainted.” Further, the writer adds on his own: “Catherine’s royal greatness was wounded and insulted by this identification; of course, she would have chosen a different origin for herself, if only it had been her will.”

Unknown artist Catherine I. 1725

However, in 1726, the families of Karl and another brother, Friedrich, as well as the found families of her sisters Kristina Gendrikova and Anna Efimovskaya, were transported to St. Petersburg. In January 1727, Catherine awarded Charles and Frederick the dignity of counts. However, Catherine was still ashamed of this relationship, since in her will the Skavronskys are vaguely called “close relatives of her own surname.” Already under Elizaveta Petrovna, the children of Anna and Christina were also elevated to the dignity of counts.
However, since the end of the 19th century, historians have argued that Catherine is not her own, as was previously believed, but a cousin of the Skavronskys who appeared in 1726.

Treason

The autumn of 1724 was also marked by a “blunder” in the empress’s personal life. The same Villebois wrote beautifully about this: “As soon as she was on the throne, her heart, no longer having any other ambitious desires, submitted to love. And contrary to the sacred laws of marriage, and even with such a formidable sovereign, carried away by her to the point that he married her, she cheated on him.”

Unknown artist Portrait of Catherine I.

Peter I suspected the empress of adultery with her chamberlain Mons. True, the emperor’s anger touched his wife “tangentially”, thanks to the intercession of the court ministers Count Tolstoy and Count Osterman. The lover was publicly beheaded, condemned for a fictitious crime, and not for the one for which he was actually executed. As for the “mistress,” the king received satisfaction from the fact that 10 days after the execution just mentioned, she was shown the body of her lover and his head, impaled in the middle of the square.

Death of Peter

After this, Peter stopped talking to Catherine and forbade her to enter his chambers. Only once, at the request of his daughter Elizabeth, Peter agreed to have dinner with his wife. On his deathbed, the emperor nevertheless reconciled with Catherine. In January 1725, she spent all her time at the bedside of her dying husband, and he died in her arms. Peter died in the early morning of January 28 (February 8), 1725, without having time to name a successor and leaving no sons.

Unknown artist Portrait of Empress Catherine I. Hermitage

For 40 days, while the body of Peter the Great was on display for public viewing, Catherine regularly came morning and evening to spend half an hour near him. She hugged him, kissed his hands, sighed, wailed and shed a stream of tears every time.
Villebois clarifies: “There is no exaggeration in the expression “flow of tears.” She shed tears in such quantities that everyone was surprised and could not understand how such a reservoir of water could fit in one woman’s head. She was one of the most zealous mourners you can see, and many people went specially to the imperial palace during those hours when she was there, at the body of her husband, to watch her cry and lament.”

Accession to the throne

By the Law of February 5, 1722, Peter abolished 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. The main document by virtue of which Catherine took possession of the throne was the will left by her husband even before their quarrel in the Senate archives. However, at the time of his death, the will was not found in the Senate, because shortly before his death, Peter took it away and tore it up in a fit of rage. When the question arose about proclaiming Catherine empress, they were content with only mentioning this act.

Unknown artist Portrait of Catherine I with a little black.

Only Field Marshal Menshikov, who commanded all the troops of the empire, stopped the efforts of those who tried to defend the rights of the grandson of Peter I in the direct male line - the future Emperor Peter II. If we recall further events, the entire 18th and early 19th centuries went down in history as the era of palace coups.
Villebois points out that Catherine, like her daughters later, was helped to ascend the throne by the guards:
“Guard officers from the Preobrazhensky Regiment appeared at the Senate meeting, knocking down the door to the room. They openly declared that they would break the heads of the old boyars if they went against “their mother Catherine.” Thanks to the support of the guards regiments, it was possible to convince all of Catherine’s opponents to give her their vote.

Ivan Adolsky Catherine I (possibly Adolsky is the author of the previous painting, and this is its version, since in both paintings the empress is depicted with a little arapet).

The Senate “unanimously” elevated her to the throne on January 28 (February 8), 1725, calling her “the Most Serene, Most Sovereign Great Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, Autocrat of All Russia.”
The people were very surprised by the accession of a woman to the throne for the first time in Russian history, but there was no unrest.

Heinrich Buchholz Portrait of Catherine I. 1725

However, actual power during the reign of Catherine was concentrated in the hands of the prince and field marshal Menshikov and the Supreme Privy Council. Catherine was satisfied with her role as the mistress of Tsarskoye Selo.
Having an extraordinary penchant for navigation and the fleet, she organized a sea battle performance almost every Sunday and on holidays in the summer, and often visited the arsenals and shipyards of the Admiralty. In 1726, Catherine even intended to go at the head of her fleet to fight the English and Danish fleets, which impudently approached the Revel raid under the pretext of pacifying northern affairs, but the Council dissuaded her.
Under Catherine, as historians write, the Russian Empire did not lose any of its greatness. During the reign of Catherine I, the Academy of Sciences was opened, the expedition of V. Bering was organized, and the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky was established. Opponents write that the Supreme Council liquidated local authorities, there was a struggle for power within the Council itself, embezzlement and arbitrariness flourished, grain prices rose due to crop failures, etc.

End of the Empress

The short two-year period of Catherine’s reign was also marked by a galaxy of her favorites, starting with the return to her arms of the “friend of her youth” Menshikov and ending with the count, statesman, diplomat Karl Gustav von Loewenwolde (? - April 30, 1735) and the great hetman of Lithuania, Count Jan Kazimierz Sapieha (Jan Kazimierz Sapieha, ? - February 22, 1730), whom Catherine elevated to the rank of Field Marshal on March 10, 1726 and awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.

Unknown artist. Portrait of Catherine I.

Balls, celebrations, feasts and revelries, which followed in a continuous series, soon undermined her health. On April 10, 1727, the empress fell ill. The cough, previously weak, began to intensify, a fever developed, the patient began to weaken day by day, and signs of lung damage appeared.
The 43-year-old empress died in her bed at 9 pm on May 6 (17), 1727 from complications of a lung abscess. According to another version, she died “calmly from weakness, the causes of which were not known or sought,” and they also wrote that death was due to a severe attack of rheumatism.

Even before Catherine's death, the government began to fuss over the issue of succession to the throne, but that is a separate story. Just before the death of the Empress, the minister of the Duke of Holstein, Bassevich, hastily drew up a will, signed by Elizabeth in place of the infirm mother Empress, according to which the throne was inherited by the grandson of Peter I, Peter Alekseevich. The reins of government on behalf of Tsarevich Peter II were seized by Menshikov, who soon paid for it.

No matter how they call Catherine I - the “camp wife” of Peter I, the Chukhon empress, Cinderella - she is not the first woman on the Moscow throne (for example, Elena Glinskaya), but the first on the throne in the history of the Russian state. Historians joke that Catherine I ushered in the “woman’s century,” because after her, the country was ruled for a century by the weaker sex, who, with the reign of Catherine II, refuted the myth of weakness and second roles.

Catherine I - nee Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya, was born on April 5, 1684. Martha's path to the throne of a vast empire was more fabulous than Cinderella.

Childhood and youth

The origin and place of birth of Martha has not been clearly established. The biography of the empress is woven from white spots and speculation.

According to one version, the parents of Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya are Latvian peasants from Vindzeme, the central region of Latvia (at that time the Livonia province of the Russian Empire). The future queen and successor of Peter the Great was born in the vicinity of Kegums.

The question immediately arises: is she Lithuanian or Latvian? However, Estonians also consider her theirs, since Peter I laid out a park in Tallinn in her honor, called Kadriorg (Catherine’s Garden).

And just according to another version, Catherine I appeared in a family of Estonian peasants in Dorpat (now Tartu). Researchers pay attention to the surname Skavronskaya and its Polish origin.

There is also information that the Skavronskys came from near Minsk, which was then part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They were originally called Skavroschuk. Samuel Skavroshchuk was a serf peasant of a Polish landowner and, from the latter’s oppression, fled to the possessions of the Swedes. Although the Swedes did not abolish serfdom in Livonia, they considered the fugitives free people and did not extradite them back.

Martha's parents died of the plague in 1684. It is reliably known that she later worked as a servant for the German Pastor Gluck in the city of Marienburg (Livonia), which was owned by the Swedes. According to one version, the girl was given to the service of the Lutheran pastor Gluck at the age of 12 from the family of her aunt Anna-Maria Veselovskaya. According to another version, she came to Gluck immediately after the death of her parents.

Martha, together with the pastor's children, received an education that boiled down to the ability to manage a household and do handicrafts, but the pastor did not teach Martha to read or write. He didn't care much about her education. Subsequently, it took a lot of work to teach her to sign at least the most important imperial decrees.

First marriage

Shortly before the siege of the Marienburg fortress, Pastor Gluck decided to marry Martha. The “good” pastor gave the orphan a dowry and found her a groom - the royal dragoon Johann Kruse. The wedding took place on Midsummer's Day, July 6, 1702. She was 18 years old at that time - quite a mature woman at that time. Martha remained in the house of Pastor Gluck, and Johann served in the Marienburg garrison. The young couple never managed to start their own household - a week after the wedding, Marienburg was besieged by Russian troops. The Northern War began for the return of the Baltic states to Russia.

The Marienburg fortress was built in knightly times in the middle of Lake Aluksne, on the territory of modern Latvia. The fortress was connected to the shore of the lake by a bridge on stone piles. On August 25, when the Russians were already entering the fortress and the garrison was preparing to capitulate, Johann Kruse came to say goodbye to his wife. She herself suggested that he run away - they say, look, there are no Russians on the other side of the lake! Johann and two other Swedish soldiers sailed across the lake, and Martha never saw him again from then on.

Johann Kruse did not die and served in the Swedish army for many more years, in his old age in garrisons on the Åland Islands. Having served his pension, he did not go anywhere, since he had no relatives. Johann did not start a new family either, and explained to the pastor that he already had a wife, and he did not want to be a bigamist and take sin on his soul. Johann briefly survived his legal wife Martha, dying in 1733.

Cook on the throne

On April 15, 1684, Marta Skavronskaya, the future second wife of Peter I and the Russian Empress, was born in Livonia. Her rise was amazing for that time. Martha's origins are not exactly known. According to one version, she was born into the family of a Livonian peasant Skavronsky (Skovarotsky). According to another version, Martha was the daughter of the quartermaster of one of the regiments of the Swedish army, Johann Rabe. The parents died of the plague and the girl was given to the Lutheran pastor Ernst Gluck. According to another version, Martha’s mother, having become a widow, gave her daughter to serve in the pastor’s family.

At the age of 17, Martha was married to a Swedish dragoon named Johann Kruse. During the Northern War, the Russian army under the command of Field Marshal Sheremetev took the Swedish fortress of Marienburg. Sheremetev took the young girl he liked as his maid. A few months later, Prince Alexander Menshikov became her owner, who took her away from Sheremetev. On one of his regular visits to Menshikov in St. Petersburg, Tsar Peter I noticed Martha and made her his mistress. Gradually he became attached to her and began to single her out among the women who always surrounded the loving king.

When Katerina-Marta was baptized into Orthodoxy (in 1707 or 1708), she changed her name to Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova. Even before her legal marriage to Peter, Martha gave birth to two boys, but both died. Daughters Anna and Elizabeth survived. Catherine will give birth to 11 children for Peter, but almost all will die in childhood. The cheerful, affectionate and patient woman tied Peter to her, could pacify his attacks of anger, and the Tsar in 1711 ordered that Catherine be considered his wife. In addition, Peter was attracted by such a character trait of Catherine as lack of ambition - a trait characteristic of many people from the lower classes. Until her accession to the throne, Catherine remained a housewife, far from politics.

On February 19, 1712, the official wedding of Peter I and Ekaterina Alekseevna took place. In 1713, the Tsar, in honor of the worthy behavior of his wife during the Prut campaign, which was unsuccessful for Russia, established the Order of St. Catherine. Pyotr Alekseevich personally placed the insignia of the order on his wife. On May 7 (18), 1724, Peter crowned Catherine empress in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral (this was the second case in the history of Russia; the first to be crowned was the wife of False Dmitry, Marina Mnishek).

By the law of February 5, 1722, Emperor Pyotr Alekseevich abolished the previous order of succession to the throne by a direct descendant in the male line (the first official heir, Alexei Petrovich, was killed, the second, Pyotr Petrovich, died in infancy), replacing it with the personal appointment of the sovereign. According to the Decree of 1722, any person who, in the emperor’s opinion, was worthy to lead the state, could become Pyotr Alekseevich’s successor. Peter died in the early morning of January 28 (February 8), 1725, without having time to appoint a successor and leaving no sons.

Empress

When it became obvious that Pyotr Alekseevich was dying, the question arose of who would take the throne. A fierce struggle for power ensued. Members of the Senate, Synod, senior dignitaries and generals, even before the death of the sovereign, gathered on the night of January 27-28, 1725 to resolve the issue of power. The first “palace coup” took place in the country. The struggle for power was fleeting, did not break out of the palace, and did not develop into an armed confrontation. However, it is no coincidence that the beginning of the “era of palace coups” is celebrated in 1725.

The emperor did not leave a written will, nor did he have time to give oral orders regarding the throne. All this created a crisis situation. After all, besides the widow, a woman who did not have a great mind that would allow her to play an independent role, there were still several possible successors left - children and grandchildren from the king’s two marriages. The children of the murdered heir, Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, Natalya and Peter, were alive and well. From Peter's second marriage to Martha-Catherine, three daughters remained alive by January 1725 - Anna, Elizaveta and Natalya. Thus, six people could claim the throne.

In pre-Petrine Russia there was no law on succession to the throne, but there was a tradition that was stronger than any law - the throne passed in a direct descending male line: from father to son and from son to grandson. In 1722, Peter issued the “Charter on the Succession to the Throne.” The document legitimized the unlimited right of the autocrat to appoint an heir from among his subjects and, if necessary, change his choice. The “Charter” was not a whim of the tsar, but a vital necessity. Peter lost two heirs - Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and Pyotr Petrovich. The only man left in the Romanov house was Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich, the grandson of the emperor. However, Emperor Peter could not allow this. He feared that opponents of his policies would unite around his grandson. And the coming to power of his grandson will lead to the collapse of the business to which Peter I devoted his whole life.

The coronation of Ekaterina Alekseevna was perceived by many as a sign that Peter wanted to transfer the throne to his wife. The manifesto on Catherine’s coronation emphasized her special role “as a great assistant” in the difficult state affairs of the emperor and her courage in difficult moments of her reign. However, in 1724, Peter lost interest in his wife. The case of Catherine's valet Willim Mons arose, who was suspected of having an affair with the empress. As fate would have it, V. Mons was the brother of Anna Mons, the daughter of a German artisan in the German settlement near Moscow, who had long been the favorite of Peter I, and for some time he thought about marrying her. Mons was executed on charges of bribery. Peter lost interest in his wife and did not take further steps to strengthen her rights to the throne. Having caught his wife in treason, Peter lost confidence in her, rightly believing that after his death and Catherine’s accession, any intriguer who could get into the Empress’s bed could gain supreme power. The Tsar became suspicious and stern towards Catherine, the previous warm and trusting relationships were a thing of the past.

It should also be noted that in the last years of the emperor’s life there were persistent rumors that he would transfer the throne to his daughter, Anna. Foreign envoys also reported this. Emperor Peter had great love for Anna and paid great attention to her upbringing. Anna was a smart and beautiful girl, this was noted by many contemporaries. However, Anna did not particularly strive to become the ruler of Russia, since she sympathized with Grand Duke Peter and did not want to cross the path of her mother, who saw her as a rival. As a result, the issue of succession to the throne remained unresolved.

In addition, the sovereign did not consider himself terminally ill, believing that he still had time to resolve this issue. According to a secret clause in Anna’s marriage contract with the Duke of Holstein, the path to the Russian throne was opened for their possible sons. Apparently, 52-year-old Peter planned to live a few more years and wait for the birth of his grandson from Anna, which would give him the opportunity to transfer the throne to him, and not to his unfaithful wife and the dangerous Peter II, behind whom stood the “boyar party.” However, the unexpected death of the emperor, in which some researchers see murder, was judged differently. An interesting fact is that the first palace coup was carried out in the interests of the top officials of the empire, who at the end of Peter the Great's life found themselves in disgrace - Catherine, Menshikov and the Tsar's secretary Makarov. The emperor received an anonymous denunciation of Makarov about his enormous abuses. They all feared for their future if Peter I continued to rule.

In the future, the scenario of Peter the Great will still be realized. Peter's grandson, the son of Anna Petrovna and Karl Friedrich, born in 1728, will be called from Holstein in 1742 by his childless aunt Elizabeth. Karl Peter Ulrich will become the heir to the throne, Peter Fedorovich, and then Emperor Peter III. True, another palace coup will put an end to his short reign.

During the agony of the tsar, the court split into two “parties” - supporters of the emperor’s grandson, Peter Alekseevich, and supporters of Catherine. The ancient families of the Golitsyns and Dolgorukys rallied around the son of the executed prince. They were led by V.V. Dolgoruky, who had been pardoned by Peter shortly before, and Senator D.M. Golitsyn. The President of the Military Collegium, Prince A.I. Repnin, Count P.M. Apraksin, and Count I.A. Musin-Pushkin also spoke on the side of Pyotr Alekseevich Jr. This party had many supporters who were dissatisfied with the course of Emperor Peter and did not want the future omnipotence of Menshikov, who under Catherine would become the true ruler of Russia.

In general, the party of the Grand Duke succeeded in its work. Only at the very last moment was Menshikov able to turn the situation in his favor. Prosecutor General Pavel Yaguzhinsky (who began his career as a bootblack) somehow found out about the preparation of the Grand Duke's party and let Menshikov know about it. His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Menshikov was the head of Catherine’s party. Alexander Danilovich, who rose from the very bottom to the top of the Russian Olympus, understood better than others that the accession of Peter II would put an end to his prosperity, power, and possibly freedom and life. Menshikov and Ekaterina, like some other dignitaries who came “from rags to riches” and made a dizzying rise to the heights of power and wealth, were not protected from numerous, but still hidden, enemies. They had neither high birth nor numerous high-ranking relatives. They did not enjoy the sympathy of the majority of the nobles. Only mutual support, energetic pressure and subtle calculation could save them.

And Menshikov was able to carry out the first palace coup. He developed frantic activity, did everything possible and impossible to change the situation in his favor. Even on the eve of the emperor's death, he took some preventive measures: he sent the state treasury to the Peter and Paul Fortress, under the protection of the commandant, who was his supporter; the guard was put on alert and at the first signal could leave the barracks and surround the palace; The Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments received their salaries for two-thirds of the past year (in normal times, salaries were delayed). Menshikov personally met with many dignitaries, and, sparing no promises, promises and threats, convinced them to support Catherine. Menshikov’s subordinates were also very active.

The natural allies of Menshikov and Catherine were those who, thanks to the emperor and fate, found themselves in a similar position to them. Among them, Alexey Vasilyevich Makarov stood out - the son of a clerk in the Vologda voivodeship office (official hut). Thanks to his closeness to the sovereign, Makarov rose to the rank of secret cabinet secretary of Peter, who was in charge of secret papers. Makarov became a real “gray eminence” who accompanied the tsar everywhere and knew all the secret affairs. Without the approval of the secret cabinet secretary, not a single important paper was placed on the emperor’s desk. And Makarov could retain this power, and even his head, only if the throne remained with Catherine. In addition, he thoroughly knew the management system and was an indispensable assistant to the future empress, who did not understand state affairs.

Another active and powerful supporter of Catherine was Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy. An experienced diplomat, Menshikov's comrade-in-arms and head of the Secret Chancellery, Tolstoy led the case of Tsarevich Alexei, becoming one of the main culprits in his death. It was Tolstoy, through threats and false promises, who persuaded the prince to return to Russia. The affair of Tsarevich Alexei made Tolstoy a close friend of Catherine. If the grandson of Emperor Peter came to power, the saddest fate awaited him.

The two highest hierarchs of the church, Archbishops Theodosius and Theophan, also had something to lose. They turned the church into an obedient instrument of imperial power. Many enemies and ill-wishers were waiting for the hour when they could be reckoned with for the destruction of the institution of the patriarchate, the creation of the Synod and the Spiritual Regulations, which made the church part of the bureaucracy and emasculated most of the spiritual principle.

In addition, an active role in Catherine’s elevation to the throne was played by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein, and his minister Bassevich, without whose advice the groom of Peter’s eldest daughter, Anna Petrovna, did not take a single step. The Holsteins' interest was simple. The coming to power of Peter II would have dispelled the duke's hopes of becoming the son-in-law of the Russian empress and, with her help, implementing certain foreign policy plans.

Many prominent figures from “Petrov’s nest” waited, taking a neutral position. They wanted to wait for the outcome of the power struggle and join the winners. Thus, the Prosecutor General of the Senate Yaguzhinsky was generally in favor of Catherine, but for many years he was at enmity with Menshikov. Only at the very last moment did he warn his Serene Highness about the conspiracy of the party of Peter II. But he himself did not openly take the side of Catherine. Chancellor G.I. Golovkin took a similar position. Count Y. V. Bruce, Baron A. I. Osterman and others were also cautious.

The Tsar’s agony had not yet ended when Menshikov convened a secret meeting in the Tsarina’s apartment. It was attended by Cabinet Secretary Makarov, Bassevich, the head of the Synod, Theodosius, and senior officers of the guards regiments. Catherine came out to them and declared her rights to the throne, promising the rights of the Grand Duke, which she would return to him after her death. In addition, words about promotions and awards were not forgotten. Bills of exchange, precious things and money were immediately prepared and offered to those present. Archbishop Feodosius of Novgorod was the first to take advantage, and he was the first to take the oath of allegiance to Catherine. The rest followed his example. The program of action was immediately discussed. The most radical plan, with the preventive arrest of Catherine's opponents, was rejected, since it could lead to an aggravation of the situation in St. Petersburg.

Until the death of the emperor, not a single party dared to act. The magic power of the mighty ruler was unusually strong until the very last moment of his life. Immediately, members of the Senate, Synod, senior officials and generals gathered in one of the halls of the palace. Many nobles were constantly in the palace and spent the night here; others were notified by secretaries and adjutants who were on duty here.

However, everything was decided by “bayonets”. Guards regiments surrounded the palace building. The President of the Military Collegium, Anikita Repnin, tried to find out who took the guards out of the barracks without his orders. The commander of the Semenovsky regiment, Buturlin, sharply responded that the guard was acting by order of the empress, to whom he, as her subject, obeyed. It is clear that the spectacular appearance of the guard made a huge impression on Catherine’s opponents and those who were wavering. To this we can add the presence in the hall, along with senators and generals, of guards officers supporting Catherine; patrolling the streets by guards; doubling the guards; prohibition of leaving the capital and delay of mail. As a result, the military coup went off like clockwork.

Catherine came to the top officials of the empire and promised to take care of the good of Russia and prepare a worthy heir in the person of the Grand Duke. Then Menshikov proposed to discuss the matter. Makarov, Feofan and Tolstoy expressed their arguments in favor of Catherine. Attempts by the Grand Duke's party to carry out the idea of ​​elections or Catherine's regency under Peter II failed. All objections and proposals of the opposition were simply drowned in the cries of the guards officers, who promised to “split the heads of the boyars” if they did not choose “mother” to the throne. Guard Major A. I. Ushakov bluntly stated that the guard sees only Catherine on the throne, and whoever disagrees may suffer. The final speech was made by Menshikov, who declared Catherine the empress. The entire meeting was forced to repeat his words. Control of the guard determined the future of the empire.

Governing body

In general, St. Petersburg officially continued the course of Peter the Great. A decree was even issued ordering to “keep everything the same.” Many generals and officers were promoted for their loyalty. The officials and commanders who had done wrong under Peter breathed a sigh of relief. The king's iron grip disappeared. Life has become much calmer and more free. The iron and restless emperor himself did not rest, and did not allow others to enjoy life. Catherine showed “mercy” and held amnesties; many thieves, debtors and swindlers were released. The empress also freed political exiles and prisoners. Thus, the lady of state of Catherine, M. Balk, who was involved in the Mons case, was released, and the former vice-chancellor Shafirov was returned from Novgorod exile. The Little Russian foreman was also released.

The work begun by Peter continued. So, the First Kamchatka Expedition was sent under the leadership of Vitus Bering; the order was established. St. Alexander Nevsky; The Academy of Sciences was opened. There were no fundamental changes in foreign policy. Ekaterinople was still being built in Transcaspia. There were no major wars, only a separate detachment operated in the Caucasus under the command of Prince Vasily Dolgorukov. True, in Europe, St. Petersburg began to actively defend the interests of the Holstein Duke Karl Friedrich, who fought against Denmark. This caused some cooling in relations with Denmark and England. The Holstein course clearly did not meet the interests of the great empire. In addition, St. Petersburg concluded a strategic alliance with Vienna (Vienna Union Treaty of 1726). Austria and Russia created an anti-Turkish bloc. Austria guaranteed the Peace of Nystadt.

In fact, the ruler of the empire during this period was Prince and Field Marshal Menshikov. His Serene Highness, who in the last years of Peter's reign had largely lost the trust of the emperor and was constantly under investigation, perked up. Repnin was sent as governor to Riga and returned to control of the Military Collegium. Menshikov's case was closed, he was released from all fines and commissions imposed. Menshikov also got to his old enemy - Fiscal General Myakinin, who allowed himself to expose the powerful nobleman. A denunciation came against Myakinin, he was given the move and the general was sentenced to death, which was replaced by exile to Siberia. Menshikov reached the highest point in his abuses and theft; now no one limited him.

The Supreme Privy Council, a new body of state power, also received enormous power. It included: Menshikov, Apraksin, Golovkin, Golitsyn, Osterman, Tolstoy and Duke Karl-Friedrich. The activities of Catherine’s government, in which there was a constant struggle for power (for example, Menshikov tried to push the “Holstein party” away from the empress), was limited to preserving what had already been achieved. There were no large-scale reforms or transformations.

The empress herself was completely satisfied with the role of the first mistress of the capital. She and her court were living life - balls, feasts, walks through the night capital, continuous celebration, dancing and fireworks. The entertainment continued almost all night (Ekaterina went to bed at 4-5 in the morning) and a significant part of the day. It is clear that with such a lifestyle, the empress, who was already in poor health, could not last long. Foreign observers, reporting on the festivities, interspersed them with news of Catherine’s constant illnesses. The building of the empire, which was created by the hands of Peter the Great, gradually began to decline.