The New International Encyclopædia/Catharine I.

CATHARINE I. ( ? -1727). Mistress and wife of Peter the Great, and Empress of Russia from 1725 to 1727. She was born between 1682 and 1685, the daughter of a Lithuanian peasant, Samuel Skavronski, or perhaps of a Baltic nobleman, Colonel Rosen. Her mother was undoubtedly a serf. She was brought up as a foundling by the pastor Glück, at Ringen and Marienburg, in Livonia, and was married to a dragoon, who was immediately ordered into active service. At the taking of Marienburg by the Russians, in 1702, Glück threw himself and his family on the mercy of the Russian commander, Sheremetieff, who was attracted by the beautiful face of the young peasant girl, and kept her with him when the other captives were forwarded to Moscow. A few months later Menshikoff, the favorite of Peter, saw her, and took advantage of his rank and power to deprive Sheremetieff of his prize, only to be in turn despoiled by Peter himself. With a figure and bearing that bore testimony to her ignoble birth, she seems nevertheless to have had in her face a peculiar charm, and unlettered though she was, she possessed an active and practical mind that appealed to Peter. She became his most influential adviser and confidant, exercising over this man of iron will and violent passions an influence such as no other person had. Peter profited by her resourceful intellect in the campaign against the Turks in 1711, and the colored accounts that have come down to us represent her as having saved the Czar and his army when they were hemmed in at the river Pruth by bribing the Grand Vizier with jewels and money. In recognition of her services, Peter founded the Order of Love and Fidelity, or of Saint Catharine, for women, and in 1712 made Catharine his wife. By a ukase of 1721 the Czar proclaimed his right to designate his successor, and in 1724 Catharine was crowned Empress. An intrigue which she carried on with one of the chamberlains of the royal household aroused Peter's jealousy, but he spared her life, and after his death, February 8, 1725, it was alleged by Menshikoff and others that he had at the last moment forgiven the Empress and carried out his earlier intention of designating her as his successor. The claims of the grandson of Peter by the son of his first wife were set aside, although maintained by the Old Russian party, and Catharine became Empress. Of her brief reign Menshikoff was the controlling spirit. As Empress, Catharine lived a life of dissipation. Her death, which occurred on May 17, 1727, came suddenly. She had eight children by Peter, all of whom died in infancy except two daughters, Anna and Elizabeth. The latter afterwards became Empress. There are studies and memoirs in Russian and French bearing upon the life of Catharine I. A good list may be found in Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire générale, Vol. VII. (Paris, 1896). Consult, also Schuyler, Peter the Great (New York, 1884).