Empresses [1/10] ↳ Catherine I (1684 –1727), Consort (1712-1725), Empress regnant (1725-1727)
Catherine was born Marta Skowronska, daughter of Samuel Skowronski, a Roman Catholic peasant from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Marta’s parents died of the plague around 1689 and she was sent to Marienburg, where she was raised by Lutheran pastor. In his household she served as a lowly servant, likely either a scullery maid or washerwoman. At 17 she married a Swedish dragoon serving in the city of Marienburg, but shortly thereafter in 1702 Russian troops led by Field Marshal Sheremetev besieged the town during the Northern War between Sweden and Russia, and Marta was taken into Sheremetev’s home. At first, she lived there, and thereafter in the home of Prince Alexander Menshikov, who was the best friend of Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia. It’s here that Peter met her for the first time and soon she became his mistress. Marta accepted the Russian Orthodox faith and received the name Catherine upon baptism. The couple married in 1707, but the marriage was kept secret for a number of years even after she had given birth to a number of children. Catherine was Peter’s second wife; he had previously married and divorced Eudoxia Lopukhina, who had borne him the heir Tsarevich Alexis Petrovich. Catherine was a good companion, charming and cheerful, she was able to calm Peter in his frequent rages and was called in to attend him during his epileptic seizures. She accompanied Peter on his many trips and excursions. In 1712 Peter and Catherine married officially in St. Petersburg. Upon their wedding, Catherine became Tsaritsa. When Peter elevated the Russian Tsardom to Empire in 1721, Catherine became Empress. Catherine and Peter had 12 children, all of whom died in childhood except Anna and Elizabeth. The year before his death, Peter and Catherine had an estrangement over her support of William Mons, but before Peter died they reached reconciliation. Peter died in 1725 without naming an heir and Catherine’s candidacy for the throne was supported by the guards regiments and several powerful and important individuals at the court. As a ruler Catherine established the Supreme Privy Council of Imperial Russia in 1726. She named six of Peter’s former advisors as its members and effectively transferred control of government affairs to the new body. She opened Academy of Sciences and Arts, took interest in fleet, reduced military expenditures, imposed smaller taxes for peasants, which led to her reputation as a just and fair ruler among the nation. Yet true power and governance in fact resided in the hands of Count Menshikov, who had been instrumental in Catherine’s ascension to the throne. Soon Catherine’s health declined, and in 1727 she died, having earlier declared Peter’s grandson, the future Peter II, as her heir. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral next to her husband.
