RuHistory

Parents:  Lithuanian peasant called Samuel Skowronski (from the polish word for lark - skowronek).

Husband:
Emperor Peter I Alexeyevich.


Children of Peter I and Catherine I:
Peter (1704-1707).
Pavel (1705-1707).
Ekaterina (1706-1708).
Anna (1708-1728). She was an intelligent girl who read widely and learnt four foreign languages - French, German, Italian and Swedish.  Contemporaries described her as a "brunette as pretty as an angel". In 1720, Duke Carl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp came to St Petersburg to marry a Russian princess.  On 23 November 1724, Carl Friedrich signed a marriage contract, agreeing to give up any claims to the Russian throne on behalf of himself, Anna and their children. A secret clause, however, stated that Peter could take any son of  their  marriage to Russia and make him the heir to the throne. The couple were married at the Trinity Cathedral in St Petersburg on 21 May 1725. Carl Friedrich and Anna spent the next two years in St Petersburg. Catherine I made her son-in-law a member of the privy council. He began to pay an important role in the life of the Russian Empire and foreign diplomats predicted that the empress would make Anna her successor. When Catherine died in 1772, Alexander Menshikov forced them to leave Russia. Anna gave birth to son - Carl Peter Friedrich (the future Peter III) - on 10 February 1728. She died three months later. Her body was brought back to St Petersburg and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Elizaveta (see Elizabeth Petrovna).
Natalia (1713-1715).
Margarita (1714-1715).
Peter (1715-1719). Favorite child of Peter and Catherine. Declared the heir to the Russian throne in 1718. Died of an incurable in St Petersburg.
Pavel was born in Wesel in Westphalia on 2 January 1717. Died the following day.
Natalia (1718-1725). Died of measles in St Petersburg and buried on the same day as her father.
Peter (1719-1723). Peter the Grate was extremely upset at his death, which removed the last chance to see a son on the Russian throne.

Important events:

• In spring 1711,  Peter launched a campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. Following victory over the Swedes at the Battle of Poltava in 1709, the tsar was in a state of euphoria. The Turks were expected to be a walkover.  The Russian generals set off accompanied by their wives, children and lovers and the whole campaign had the atmosphere of a holiday outing. On 6 March, on the eve of their departure from St Petersburg. Peter announced that he was marrying Catherine. After wandered up and down the River Pruth in search of the enemy, the Russian army of 38,000 men  suddenly found itself surrounded by a Turkish army of 188,000 men. The Russians were forced to negotiate peace terms with the commander of the Turkish army, Grand Vizier Baltaji Mahommed Pasha. On 11 July, they signed a humiliating peace treaty, forfeiting many fortresses and land, yet keeping the army and tsar intact. The Russian side was headed by Baron Peter Shafirov, who was forced to bribe the vizier with large sums of money. When funds ran dry, Catherine, offered her jewelery, swinging the negotiations in Russia's favour. In honour of her sacrifice, Peter founded the Order of St. Catherine or the Order of Liberation. On 24 November 1714, she became the first woman in history to be awarded this new decoration. Catherine's jewels were the vizier's undoing. When he returned to the turkish capital, he was beheaded for agreeing to the peace terms. The whole story, however, may be nothing more than legend.

......1710 Peter became increasingly dependent on Catherine. She understood his character and often saved the victims of his rages from punishment and even death. Always calm and unruffled, she shared all the hardships of Peter's life. She was made a lady-in-waiting in 1710, accompanied the tsar wherever he went and bore him eleven children, most of whom died in infancy.

......1798-1727 Anna and her sister Elizabeth were awarded the titles of "princess" (tsarevna) in March 1711 and "heiress" (tsarevna) in December 1721. Peter planned to marry them to European princes in the interests of Russian foreign policy and they were educated with this aim in mind. They learnt reading, writing, embroidery, dancing and etiquette and were provided.

Catherine I was the daughter of a Lithuanian peasant called Samuel Skowronski (from the Polish word for lark - skowronek). She was born in Livonia on 5 April 1684 and baptised into the Roman Catholic Church under the name of Martha. Orphaned at the age of twelve, she was taken into the service of a pastor from Roop and converted to Lutheranism. She then went to work for a minister called Gluck in Marienburg, where she studied housekeeping, handicrafts and the Protestant religion. In 1702, when Martha was eighteen, she received an offer of marriage from a Swedish dragoon called Johann. This was in the middle of the Great Northern War between Russia and Sweden for an outlet to the Baltic Sea. After spending their wedding night together, Johann left Martha to join his regiment. On 25 August 1702, Boris Sheremetev captured Marienburg from Sweden. The Russian forces imprisoned the inhabitants and spent thee days looting and plundering the town. A Russian soldier sold Martha to a captain, who passed her on to Boris Sheremetev.  The general ordered her to wash his laundry, when she was spotted by the tsar's confidant, prince Alexander Menshikov. Sheremetev was forced to present Martha to Menshikov and she entered his service. Menshikov  kept her a secret from Peter the grate, allowing her to occasionally meet up with her Swedish husband, who was now a warrant officer. During a heavy drinking session, Menshikov blurted out his secret to Peter. The tsar asked to see Martha and she immediately took his fancy. Although neither tall nor thin, she was a strapping, healthy woman and Peter had recently broken up with Anna Mons. Much to Menshikov's chagrin, Peter took Martha as his lover in 1703. The prince worked the situation in his own favour, however, and  his former servant often interceded on his behalf at the court. Peter sent Martha to live in Preobrazhenskoe, where his sister Natalia taught her Russian and court etiquette. Peter's sisters took an immediate liking to his new acquisition.

In 1704 , Martha converted to Orthodoxy, taking the name of Catherine Alexeyevna. Her godparents were Peter's half-sister Ekaterina and his son Alexei.

During the reign of Catherine I, Russia was governed by a privy council headed by prince Alexander Menshikov. The empress spent her days amusing herself with a new lover - the handsome and empty-headed Carl Gustaf Lowenwolde. Thanks to her passion for crackers dipped in strong Hungarian wine, she contracted dropsy and her legs swelled up. She spent the last week of her life confined to her bed. On 6 May 1727, after two years on the throne, Catherine died of pneumonia. She was buried alongside Peter the Great in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Династия Романовых  1613-1917