CATHARINE I. 333 CATHARINE II. and 1685, the daugltler of a Lithuanian peasant, !?aniufl Skavronski, or perhaps of a Baltic noble- man. Colonel Rosen. Her mother was undoubt- edly a serf. She was brought uj) as a foundling by the pastor Gliiek, at Kin<,'en and Marienburg, in Livonia. an<l was married to a dragoon, who was immediately ordered into aetive service. At the taking of .Marienburg by the Russians, in 1702, Gliiek threw himself and his family on the mercy of the Russian commander. SherenieticH', who was attracted by the beautiful face of the young peasant girl, and kei)t her with him when the other captives were forwarded to Moscow. A few months later MensliikolV. the favorite of Peter, saw her, and took advantage of his rank and power to deprive SlieremetielV of his prize, only to be in turn despoiled by Peter himself.
ith a figure and bearing that bore testimony
to her ignoble birth, she seems nevertheless to have had in her face a peculiar charm, and un- lettered though she was, she possessed an active and practical mind that appealed to Peter. She became his most influential adviser and con- fidant, exercising over this man of iron will and violent passions an intluence such as no other person had. Peter profited by her resourceful intellect in the camjjaign 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 ^lenshikoff and others that he had at the last moment forgiven the Em- press 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 Em- press. Of her brief reign ilenshikofF 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 aiterwards became Empress. There are studies ?nd memoirs in Russian and French bearing upon the life of Catharine I. A good list niav be found in Lavisse and Rambaud, Hisioire n^nernle. Vol. VIT. (Paris, 1800). Consult, also Schuvler. Filer the Great (New York, 1884). CATHARINE II., the Great (1729-9G). Empress Of RisHia from 1T62 to 170G. She was horn at Stettin. May 2. 1729, the daughter of the Prmcc of Anhalt-Zerbst, and was baptized a Lutheran under the name Sophia Augusta. She was chosen by the Empress Elizabeth (q.v.) of Russia for the wife of her nephew. Peter of Holstein-Gottorp. heir to the Russian throne, and was rebaptized into the Ctreck Church by the name of Catliarine. She was married in 1745. Thrown at the age of sixteen into the intrigues of the coarse and immoral Russian Court, Catharine adapted herself with singular readiness to her surroundings. IndifTerenee to her husband soon became contempt and hatred. While Peter alien- ated the Russians by his obstinate admiration of all things German, Catharine became a Rus- sian of the Russians, and, anticijiating the great part she was later to play, attached to herself a strong party, through her tact and matchless inlluence over men. Peter openly maintained a mistress, subjecting his wife to constant indig- nities, and Catharine's relations were equallj' notorious, at first with Count SoltikotV, and afterwards with Coimt Stanislas Poniatowski. The Empress Elizabeth died in 1702 and Peter became Em|)eror. He now threatened to divorce Catharine, to declare her son Paul illegitimate, and to marry his mistress, the Princess Voron- tsoif. Catharine, assisted by the Orloffs. the Princess Dashkoff (q.v.), and others who had long formed about her a coterie of conspirators, headed a rising of the troops in Saint Peters- burg, and, aided by the dilatoriness and weak- ness of Peter, and his tmpopularity. secured all the instruments of power, and was declared Em- press of Russia. Peter was seized and impris- oned, and was probably strangled by Gregory OrlolT, Catharine's favorite at the time (.July, 1702). As Empress, Catharine gave close per- sonal attention to the work of government, and by liberal expenditure and the patronage of let- ters and art made her Court one of the most brilliant in Europe. It has been said that she found Saint Petersburg a village of hovels and left it a city of brick and marble. Regarded at first as a usurper by the European governments, she compelled their recognition by the vigor of her policy. In 1780 she announced the principle of armed neutrality as an ofi'set to the Brit- ish treatment of neutrals, and, by securing the adhesion of other States, fixed in inteniational law the principle of 'free ships, free goods.' See IXTEBX.TIOX.L L.W. The gross immorality of her private life was as notable as her administrative energy. Russi.a borrowed what culture it had from France, but at the same time the immoral life of the French Court was reduced to a system in Russia. The rule of all the Empresses after Peter the Great was notorious for the influence possessed by favorites, but Catharine's wholesale methods are almost imique in history. She had a succession of recognized lovers, beginning with the brutal and domineering Gregory Orloll', who main- tained his place imtil he dared to aspire to marriage with his royal mistress. After him came 'ysocki. Vassilshikofl'. Alexis OrlofT. and then the most powerful of them all, (;regory Potemkin (q.v.). Potemkin was banished from the Court for the same jiresumption that led to Gregory OrlolT's fall; but he was made practically Vice-Emperor for southern Russia, and contin- ued to play an important part in the govern- ment, retaining Catharine's affection to the day of his death. These men had all possessed some force and power, and had supported Catharine in the administration; but Potemkin was fol- lowed by a scries of favorites who were little more than the temporary lovers of the Empress. Soon after her seizure of the throne Catharine secured the election of her early lover, Ponia- towski, to the Polish throne, and later, in al- liance with Prussia and Austria, took advantage of the dissensions among the Poles to bring
