Author Topic: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great  (Read 43803 times)

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Yseult

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #15 on: November 06, 2006, 05:04:53 PM »
Catherine II was more in the way of Sophia Alexeyevna, I think. Remember she was born princess of Zerbst, daughter of one of the minor princelings of her time, but also daughter of a woman who was a social climber, who liked so much the court intrigues and who always wished to touch the power with her fingers...Johanna of Holstein-Gottorp. And Johanna had a good pedigree, no one can deny it. Overshadowed by his ambitious mother, a cold and abussive mother to little Figchen, Sophia became a strong-willed and energetic girl. She was educated and she worked hard enough to improve her upbringing when she went to Russia as bride of a tsarevich. She knew well that her groom has to be tsar and she herself has to be tsarina. And she played her role of an truly orthodox russian princess...she, a german princess, baptised in the lutheranism! I´m really amazing with this woman.

But if the second Catherine could catch the power when she was not a russian and not a romanov, when were alive three men of romanov lineage -her husband, her son and young tsar Ivan VI...-, she followed the line traced by the first Ekaterina. In fact, Martha Skavronska, daughter of lithuanian peasants probably catholics, became empress authocrat when was alive the grandson of her husband, later Peter II. Ekaterina broke up the rules.

By the way, I´m interesting in all the Skavronski. I know that after the death of Peter, when Ekaterina was proclaimed tsarina authocrat, she ordered to search for her brothers and sisters. The elder brother, Karl, was working in a stable at Courland, but she never felt ashamed of this, and she was proud to offer her brother a good position in Russia. She gave a chance also to her brother Theodor, and to her sisters, Anna and Christine.

ilyala

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #16 on: November 07, 2006, 01:39:42 AM »
it's admirable that she didn't forget about her family. i think she was in her own way an admirable person.

i also think peter 2nd's exclusion to the throne before catherine has something to do with the fact that alexei had an appalling relationship with his father. peter 1st probably was not very pleased with the idea of being succeeded by alexei's son. i wonder why he chose catherine and not one of his daughters, say... future tsarina elizabeth?

Yseult

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #17 on: November 07, 2006, 02:49:16 AM »
The bio on Peter by Massie states that Peter was writting "Give it all to..." when he felt unable to end the paragraph, so he ordered his daughter Anna Petrovna to came to his bedroom, but in a few seconds he was dead. Anna Petrovna found her father dead, he never could dictate her his last will.

I always supposed that Peter was to choice his daughter Anna Petrovna. She was the elder daughter and she was married, so she could give birth to the next generation of the imperial lineage. Elisabeth Petrovna was too young, a beautiful and mischievous girl. Natalia Petrovna was alive, but she was a child. Peter didn´t show tenderness to his grandson and grandaughter, Peter Alexeyevich and Natalia Alexeyevna.

Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #18 on: November 07, 2006, 11:29:40 AM »
Yes, indeed, Catherine the Great and Catherine I are not really a very fair comparison. They had very different abilities and backgrounds, and they each did the job of Empress in their own way, and I suppose if you factor in different personalities and all that, then it is far from a fair comparison. I believe that Catherine I most likely did the best with things as she could, granted her background and abilities. I do think she was a great consort, just that she wasn't really suited to be Empress.

Yseult

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #19 on: November 07, 2006, 04:33:33 PM »
I agreed with you, Imperial_Angel. I usually agreed with you, by the way ;)

I think that the death of Peter was a shock for Ekaterina, but the worse came when her little daughter Natalia, aged seven, was dead a month after the father. I always believed that Ekaterina really was a motherly woman. She had lost seven children before this daughter, but she had been supported by Peter. Of course, she felt pain and grieve for every lost children, but when she loose Natalia, she was alone to carry on her anguish.

She really was fond of her daughters Anna and Elisabeth...

bell_the_cat

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #20 on: November 07, 2006, 04:49:51 PM »
It's a romantic story, the story of Catherine I and her humble origins. Unfortunately she spent most of her reign in an alcoholic haze! It's difficult to judge with such a short reign, whether she would have been a good  Empress or not, but on balance, I think not. She was lucky to survive the Mons affair (think - Henry VIII!!), mostly due to Peter's bad health. Both were heavy drinkers, by the way.

Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #21 on: November 07, 2006, 04:50:13 PM »
Yes, she had many children, but many did die. I think all this was traumatic for you are right, although she was a strong woman, and may have accepted it as people did, as part of living in that time. She was also strong in the fact that she was Peter the Great's wife, and obviously had a very strong role there, if nothing else. But, she had son after son who didn't live, and that must have been hard. She bore Peter many heirs, but none came to the throne. She may just have gotten lost after Peter's death, and not have known what she should do-just my thoughts, although she was wise to leave the then current goverment in place.

Yseult

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #22 on: November 07, 2006, 05:19:57 PM »
It's a romantic story, the story of Catherine I and her humble origins. Unfortunately she spent most of her reign in an alcoholic haze! It's difficult to judge with such a short reign, whether she would have been a good  Empress or not, but on balance, I think not. She was lucky to survive the Mons affair (think - Henry VIII!!), mostly due to Peter's bad health. Both were heavy drinkers, by the way.

Well, I think you´re true when you say that she was lucky to survive the Mons affair. I agreed with Massie, who states in his bio on Peter that there was not a sexual relationship between the handsome Willen and Ekaterina. She could have been felt atractted by her gentleman of the bedchamber...but she had forty years, she was not a romantic or a foolish girl, she was a woman with a good deal of common sense. But, of course, Ekaterina was fond of both Willen and his sister Matryona, so she overlooked they were selling their influence to those who wanted to access the emperor or the empress. She played with fire...and she was burned at the end. Willen suffered a very cruel death while Matryona, with ten or eleven beats of knut, was banished from court, exiled in Siberia. Ekaterina loose at the same time Matryona and Willen.


Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #23 on: November 08, 2006, 08:55:54 AM »
It is hard to know about this relationship, etc. I think it is possible they weren't lovers, as Catherine might have known how Peter the great would react to that, I would think. He would not have anything to do with his once mistress Anna Mons after finding out about her infidelity. Surely Catherine knew that would be a dumb thing to do, I would think. But, she was a very brave woman, and not very inhibited as her short reign proved, so maybe she thought she could get away with something or thought she would could be lovers with him, and it would not hurt. Both she and Peter did drink, but that didn't prevent Peter from accomplishing much.

Offline Yelena Aleksandrovna

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #24 on: June 01, 2009, 07:38:50 PM »
The tsarina



gogm

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #25 on: June 01, 2009, 11:28:55 PM »
Please see the following for a collection of images of the 1700s Tsaritsa:

http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/560093558VjgqEN .

Offline Yelena Aleksandrovna

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #26 on: June 02, 2009, 06:06:32 PM »
Please see the following for a collection of images of the 1700s Tsaritsa:

http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/560093558VjgqEN .

Nice images :-)

Offline violetta

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #27 on: June 04, 2009, 03:53:07 AM »
Peter loved his wife so much that he founded a residence in Tallin and called it EKATERINENTAL in her honour(Estonian name KADRIORG). it was founded in july  1718. in the main hall there are letters E and P symbolizing Peter and Ekaterina. When Peter I died the palace wsn`t ready yet. here we go with the min hall






RomanovsFan4Ever

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #28 on: June 04, 2009, 04:53:01 AM »
Absolutely wonderful!...

A photo of the exterior of Kadriorg: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kadriorg1a.jpeg

Offline violetta

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Re: Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great
« Reply #29 on: June 04, 2009, 06:22:19 AM »
kadriog palace







a picture of ekaterina I in a special room containing portraits of the imperial family.sorry,the picture is dim because it was dim in the room and using flash wasn`t allowed