Tsarevna Catherine Ivanovna of Russia (20 October 1691 – 14 June 1733) was a daughter of
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
Ivan V
Ivan V Alekseyevich (russian: Иван V Алексеевич; – ) was Tsar of Russia between 1682 and 1696, jointly ruling with his younger half-brother Peter I. Ivan was the youngest son of Alexis I of Russia by his first wife, Maria M ...
and
Praskovia Saltykova
Praskovia Fyodorovna Saltykova (russian: Прасковья Фёдоровна Салтыкова; 12 October 1664 – 13 October 1723) was the tsaritsa of Russia as the only wife of joint-Tsar Ivan V of Russia. She was the mother of Empress Anna ...
, eldest sister of Empress
Anna of Russia
Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...
and niece of
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
. By her marriage, she was a Duchess of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting Hous ...
.
Early life
Catherine was born in Moscow and baptized at Chudov Monastery; her godparents were her uncle
Tsar Peter I and her great-aunt Princess Tatiana (daughter of Tsar
Michael I Michael I may refer to:
* Pope Michael I of Alexandria, Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark in 743–767
* Michael I Rhangabes, Byzantine Emperor (died in 844)
* Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch Michael I of Constantin ...
). She was the third of five daughters, but the early deaths of her older sisters Maria (on 23 February 1692, aged three) and Feodosia (on 22 May 1691, aged one) left her as the eldest child of her parents. Two more sisters were born later:
Anna
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...
, the future Russian Empress, and
Praskovia (born 14 October 1694 - died 19 October 1731).
Catherine (reportedly the favorite child of her mother), spent her childhood in her mother's estate of
Izmaylovo, also the birthplace of her paternal grandfather,
Tsar Alexis
Aleksey Mikhaylovich ( rus, Алексе́й Миха́йлович, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ; – ) was the Tsar of Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. While finding success in foreign affairs, his reign saw several wars ...
. Like her younger sisters, she received an occidental education: the study of German and French languages, dancing and etiquette. Her teachers were Johann-Dietrich Christopher Osterman (brother of the future Vice-Chancellor) and Frenchman Etienne Rambur. Of Ivan V's daughters, she seems to have been the most capable. In 1708 the family moved to the new capital,
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.
Marriage
According to contemporaries, Catherine was a short, dark-haired, and pale beauty and was a popular socialite with her charm and sociability.
At the request of her uncle Peter I, she was married on 19 April 1716 in
Danzig to
Karl Leopold, Duke of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting Hous ...
. He had initially proposed to Catherine's sister Anna (then Dowager Duchess of Courland) but Peter I instead chose Catherine to be his bride. The marriage created a political alliance between Russia and
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...
against
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, and was advantageous to Peter, as he wanted to use the port of Mecklenburg to harbour his
fleet
Fleet may refer to:
Vehicles
*Fishing fleet
*Naval fleet
*Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles
*Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company
Places
Canada
* Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet
England
* The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach ...
. According to the marriage contract, the Duke agreed to his future wife keeping her Orthodox faith, and to pay her 6,000 thalers per year. Peter I would, in return, contribute to the Duke's attempts to conquer the town of
Wismar
Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...
. They had two daughters:
Elisabeth Catherine Christine (born in
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
on 18 December 1718), and one unnamed (who was either stillborn or died immediately after birth on 18 January 1722).
The marriage was unhappy, as Karl Leopold
abused
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...
Catherine. She returned to Russia in 1722 with her surviving daughter. The couple never
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
d, but they never saw each other again.
Later life in Russia
On the death of
Peter II in 1730, the
Supreme Privy Council
The Supreme Privy Council (russian: Верховный тайный совет) of Imperial Russia, founded on 19 February 1726 and operative until 1730, originated as a body of advisors to Empress Catherine I.
History
Originally, the council com ...
considered Catherine as a candidate for the
tsardom
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
as the eldest daughter of Ivan V, but the fear that her spouse would gain influence in Russia and her own independent and capricious nature led to her widowed younger sister Anna,
Duchess of Courland Duchess of Courland House of Kettler, 1561–1737
House of Biron, 1737–1740
* Council of the Duke, 1740–58
House of Wettin, 1758–1763
*None, although Charles of Saxony was morganatically married with the Polish countess Francisz ...
, being chosen instead, because she was considered more docile.
Catherine was involved in the events of 7 March 1730, when a group of nobles (between 150 and 800, according to sources), among whom were many officers of the Guards, arrived at the palace and gave a petition to the Empress. In this petition they requested the re-examination of the form of government that would be pleasing to all the people. Anna hesitated, but Catherine reportedly forced the Empress to sign the petition.
Catherine kept at her court one of the first Russian theaters, with serfs as actors. She secretly cohabited with the naval officer Prince Michail Andreevič Belosel'skij-Belozerskij who was exiled to the Urals three years after her death for engaging in "immodest talk" about the princess.
[И. В Курукин. Бирон (ЖЗЛ). Молодая гвардия, 2006, p. 215.]
On 12 May 1733, Catherine was present at her daughter's conversion to the
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
religion, where she received the name ''
Anna Leopoldovna
Anna Leopoldovna (russian: А́нна Леопо́льдовна; 18 December 1718 – 19 March 1746), born Elisabeth Katharina Christine von Mecklenburg-Schwerin and also known as Anna Carlovna (А́нна Ка́рловна), was regent of R ...
'', in order to make her acceptable as an heiress to the throne. Catherine died one month later and was buried next to her mother in the
Annunciation Church of the
Alexander Nevsky Lavra
Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Ale ...
monastery.
Notes
Ancestry
Sources
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catherine Ivanovna
1691 births
1733 deaths
House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
House of Romanov
Duchesses of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
17th-century Russian people
18th-century people from the Russian Empire
17th-century Russian women
18th-century women from the Russian Empire
Burials at the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra