Praskovya Ivanovna (24 September 1694 – 8 October 1731) was a Russian

tsarevna Tsarevna (russian: Царевна) was the daughter of a Tsar of Russia before the 18th century. The name is meant as a daughter of a Tsar, or as a wife of a Tsarevich. All of them were unmarried, and grew old in convents or in the Terem Palace ...

, being the daughter of Tsar

Ivan V of Russia 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 ...

and his wife Praskovia Saltykova. She was the niece of Tsar

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 ...

and the sister of Empress Anna Ivanovna.

Biography

Praskovya Ivanovna’s father died in 1696, and she was raised with her sisters

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

and Anna at the estate awarded to her mother by Tsar Peter, the

Izmaylovo Estate Izmaylovo Estate (russian: Усадьба Измайлово) was a country residence of the House of Romanov built in the reign of Alexis I of Russia. Originally located 7 kilometres east of Moscow's city limits, it became part of the expanding ci ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Praskovya was tutored in literature and science by German teachers. Praskovya was described by the Spanish ambassador in comparison to her sisters as lacking in intelligence, in addition to being very sickly. The court official, Bergholtz, described her in his journal as a “pretty brunette”, and the noblewoman Rondo noted that despite her bad health, she was quite beautiful. In contrast to that of her sisters,

did not arrange a dynastic marriage for Praskovya. By the consent of her mother, she was married to a Rurikid noble, general prince Ivan Dmitriev-Mamonov (1680-1730). They had one son in 1724, who died in approximately 1730. The marriage was an informal, private marriage and was not public, nor was the birth of their child. According to Polovtsev, Praskovya was so accustomed to adjusting to the will of her mother and living in her household that she had difficulty adjusting to an independent life after the death of her mother. When her mother died in 1723, the shyness and indecision of Praskovya was demonstrated in her difficulty in handling the estate of her dead mother, and she started to hand out bribes to influential people of the court. She now became a part of the household of

Catherine I Catherine I ( rus, Екатери́на I Алексе́евна Миха́йлова, Yekaterína I Alekséyevna Mikháylova; born , ; – ) was the second wife and empress consort of Peter the Great, and Empress Regnant of Russia from 1725 u ...

. During the reign of Peter II, Praskovya Ivanovna established her own court and reportedly lived extravagantly on the generous allowance awarded to her from the Imperial treasury, which in 1728 amounted about 12,000

rubles The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

. In 1728, she was also granted her own residence in Moscow. In 1730 her sister Anna Ivanovna succeeded to the throne as sovereign empress, after their older sister's claims was refused: the claim of Praskovya, being the younger sister, came after that of her sister Anna. Her sister's succession resulted in an increased allowance for Praskovya Ivanovna.

Notes

References

Ancestry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Praskovya Ivanovna 1694 births 1731 deaths House of Romanov Russian tsarevnas 17th-century Russian people 18th-century people from the Russian Empire 17th-century Russian women 18th-century women from the Russian Empire