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See also:CATHERINE I . (1683-1727), empress of See also:Russia. The true See also:character and origin of this enigmatical woman were, until quite recently, among the most obscure problems of See also:Russian See also:history. It now appears that she came of a Lithuanian stock, and was one of the four See also:children of a small See also:Catholic See also:yeoman, See also:Samuel Skovronsky; but her See also:father died of the See also:plague while she was still a babe, the See also:family scattered, and little Martha was adopted by Pastor See also:Gluck, the See also:Protestant See also:superintendent of the See also:Marienburg See also:district. Fran Gluck finally rid herself of the girl by marrying her to a See also:Swedish See also:dragoon called Johan. A few months later, the Swedes were compelled by the Russians to evacuate Marienburg, and Martha became one of the prisoners of See also:war of See also:Marshal Sheremetev, who sold her to See also:Prince See also:Menshikov, at whose See also:house, in the See also:German suburb of See also:Moscow, See also:- PETER
- PETER (Lat. Petrus from Gr. irfpos, a rock, Ital. Pietro, Piero, Pier, Fr. Pierre, Span. Pedro, Ger. Peter, Russ. Petr)
- PETER (PEDRO)
- PETER, EPISTLES OF
- PETER, ST
Peter the See also:Great first beheld and made love to her in his own See also:peculiar See also:fashion. After the See also:birth of their first daughter Catherine, Peter made no See also:secret of their relations. He had found, at last, the woman he wanted, and she soon became so indispensable to him that it was a torment to be without her. The situation was regulated by the reception of Martha into the Orthodox See also:- CHURCH
- CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
- CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
- CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
- CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
- CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)
Church, when she was rechristened under the name of Catherine Alekseyevna, the tsarevich Alexius being her godfather, by the bestowal upon her of the See also:title Gosudaruinya or See also:sovereign (1710),
526
and, finally (1711), by her public See also:marriage to the See also:tsar, who divorced the tsaritsa Eudoxia to make See also:room for her. Henceforth the new tsaritsa was her See also:husband's inseparable See also:companion. She was with him during the See also:campaign of the Pruth, and Peter always attributed the successful issue of that disastrous war to the courage and sang-froid of his See also:consort. She was with him, too, during his earlier See also:Caspian See also:campaigns, and was obliged on this occasion to shear off her beautiful See also:hair and See also:wear a See also:close-fitting See also:fur cap to protect her from the rays of the See also:sun.
By the See also:ukaz of 1722 Catherine was proclaimed Peter's successor, to the exclusion of the See also:grand-See also:duke Peter, the only son of the tsarevich Alexius, and on the 7th of May 1724 was solemnly crowned empress-consort in the Uspensky See also:cathedral at Moscow, on which occasion she wore a See also:crown studded with no fewer than 2564 See also:precious stones, surmounted by a See also:ruby, as large as a See also:pigeon's See also:egg, supporting a See also:cross of brilliants. Within a few months of this culminating See also:triumph, she was threatened with utter ruin by the See also:discovery of a supposed liaison with her See also:gentleman of the bedchamber, See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
William See also:Mons, a handsome and unscrupulous upstart, and the See also:brother of a former See also:mistress of Peter. A dangerously See also:familiar but perfectly See also:innocent flirtation is, however, the worst that can fairly be alleged against Catherine on this occasion. So Peter also seemed to have thought, for though Mons was decapitated and his severed See also:head, preserved in See also:spirits, was placed in the apartments of the empress, she did not lose Peter's favour, attended him during his last illness, and closed his eyes when he expired ( See also:January 28, 1725). She was at once raised to the See also:throne by the party of progress, as represented by Prince Menshikov and See also:Count See also:Tolstoy, whose interests and perils were identical with those of the empress, before the reactionary party had See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time to organize opposition, her great popularity with the See also:army powerfully contributing to her success. The See also:arch-prelates of the Russian church, See also:Theodosius, See also:archbishop of See also:Novgorod, and See also:Theophanes, archbishop of See also:Pskov, were also on her See also:side for very much the same See also:reason, both of them being unpopular innovators who See also:felt that, at this crisis, they must stand or fall with Tolstoy and Menshikov.
The great administrative innovation of Catherine's reign was the See also:establishment of the Verkhovny Taint' Sovyet, or supreme privy See also:council, by way of strengthening the executive, by concentrating affairs in the hands of a few persons, mainly of the party of Reform (Ukaz of See also:February 26, 1726). As to the See also:foreign policy of Catherine I. (principally directed by the astute Andrei See also:Osterman), if purely pacific and extremely cautious, it was, nevertheless, dignified, consistent and See also:independent. Russia, by the See also:mere force of circumstances, now found herself opposed to See also:England, chiefly because Catherine protected See also:Charles See also:Frederick, duke of See also:Holstein, and See also:George I. found that the See also:Schleswig-Holstein question might be reopened to the detriment of his Hanoverian possessions. Things came to such a pass that, in the See also:spring of 1726, an See also:English See also:squadron was sent to the Baltic and See also:cast See also:anchor before See also:Reval. The empress vigorously protested, and the See also:fleet was withdrawn, but on the 6th of See also:August Catherine acceded to the See also:anti-English Austro-See also:Spanish See also:league. Catherine died on the 16th of May 1727. Though quite illiterate, she was an uncommonly shrewd and sensible woman, and her imperturbable See also:good nature under exceptionally difficult circumstances, testifies equally to the soundness of her head and the goodness of her See also:heart.
See See also:Robert Nisbet See also:Bain, The Pupils of Peter the Great, chs. ii.-iii. (See also:London, 1897) ; The First Romanovs, ch. xiv. (London, 19o5).
(R. N.
End of Article: CATHERINE I
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