THE EMPRESS CATHARINE.
1709-1715
Duration of the war with Sweden--Catharine--Her origin--Destitution--Her
kind teacher--Dr. Gluck--She goes to Marienburg--Her character--Mode of
life at Marienburg--Her lover--His person and character--Catharine is
married--The town captured--Catharine made prisoner--Her anxiety and
sorrow--The Russian general--Catharine saved--Catharine in the general's
service--Seen by Menzikoff--Transferred to his service--Transferred to
the Czar--Privately married--Affairs on the Pruth--The emperor's
danger--Catharine in camp--A bribe--Catharine saves her husband--The
vizier's excuses--A public marriage determined on--Arrangements--The
little bridesmaids--Wedding ceremonies--Festivities and rejoicings--Birth
of Catharine's son--Importance of the event--The baptism--Dwarfs in the
pies--Influence of Catharine over her husband--Use which she made of her
power--Peter's jealousy--Dreadful punishment--Catharine's usefulness to
the Czar--Her imperfect education--Her final exaltation to the throne
It was about the year 1690 that Peter the Great commenced his reign, and
he died in 1725, as will appear more fully in the sequel of this volume.
Thus the duration of the reign was thirty-five years. The wars between
Russia and Sweden occupied principally the early part of the reign
through a period of many years. The battle of Pultowa, by which the
Swedish invasion of the Russian territories was repelled, was fought in
1709, nearly twenty years after the Czar ascended the throne.
During the period while the Czar was thus occupied in his mortal struggle
with the King of Sweden, there appeared upon the stage, in connection
with him, a lady, who afterward became one of the most celebrated
personages of history. This lady was the Empress Catharine. The
character of this lady, the wonderful and romantic incidents of her life,
and the great fame of her exploits, have made her one of the most
celebrated personages of history. We can, however, here only give a
brief account of that portion of her life which was connected with the
history of Peter.
Catharine was born in a little village near the town of Marienburg, in
Livonia.[1] Her parents were in very humble circumstances, and they both
died when she was a little child, leaving her in a very destitute and
friendless condition. The parish clerk, who was the teacher of a little
school in which perhaps she had been a pupil--for she was then four or
five years old--felt compassion for her, and took her home with him to
his own house. He was the more disposed to do this as Catharine was a
bright child, full of life and activity, and, at the same time, amiable
and docile in disposition, so that she was easily governed.
After Catharine had been some time at the house of the clerk, a certain
Dr. Gluck, who was the minister of Marienburg, happening to be on a visit
to the clerk, saw her and heard her story. The minister was very much
pleased with the appearance and manners of the child, and he proposed
that the clerk should give her up to him. This the clerk was willing to
do, as his income was very small, and the addition even of such a child
to his family of course somewhat increased his expenses. Besides, he
knew that it would be much more advantageous for Catharine, for the time
being, and also much more conducive to her future success in life, to be
brought up in the minister's family at Marienburg than in his own humble
home in the little village. So Catharine went to live with the
minister.[2]
Here she soon made herself a great favorite. She was very intelligent
and active, and very ambitious to learn whatever the minister's wife was
willing to teach her. She also took great interest in making herself
useful in every possible way, and displayed in her household avocations,
and in all her other duties, a sort of womanly energy which was quite
remarkable in one of her years. She learned to knit, to spin, and to
sew, and she assisted the minister's wife very much in these and similar
occupations. She had learned to read in her native tongue at the clerk's
school, but now she conceived the idea of learning the German language.
She devoted herself to this task with great assiduity and success, and as
soon as she had made such progress as to be able to read in that
language, she spent all her leisure time in perusing the German books
which she found in the minister's library.
Years passed away, and Catharine grew up to be a young woman, and then a
certain young man, a subaltern officer in the Swedish army--for this was
at the time when Livonia was ill possession of the Swedes--fell in love
with her. The story was, that Catharine one day, in some way or other,
fell into the hands of two Swedish soldiers, by whom she would probably
have been greatly maltreated; but the officer, coming by at that time,
rescued her and sent her safe to Dr. Gluck. The officer had lost one of
his arms in some battle, and was covered with the scars of other wounds;
but he was a very generous and brave man, and was highly regarded by all
who knew him. When he offered Catharine his hand, she was strongly
induced by her gratitude to him to accept it, but she said she must ask
the minister's approval of his proposal, for he had been a father to her,
she said, and she would take no important step without his consent.
The minister, after suitable inquiry respecting the officer's character
and prospects, readily gave his consent, and so it was settled that
Catharine should be married.
Now it happened that these occurrences took place not very long after the
war broke out between Sweden and Russia, and almost immediately after
Catharine's marriage--some writers say on the very same day of the
wedding, and others on the day following--a Russian army came suddenly up
to Marienburg, took possession of the town, and made a great many of the
inhabitants prisoners. Catharine herself was among the prisoners thus
taken. The story was, that in the confusion and alarm she hid herself
with others in an oven, and was found by the Russian soldiers there, and
carried off as a valuable prize.
What became of the bridegroom is not certainly known. He was doubtless
called suddenly to his post when the alarm was given of the enemy's
approach, and a great many different stories were told in respect to what
afterward befell him. One thing is certain, and that is, that his young
bride never saw him again.[3]
Catharine, when she found herself separated from her husband and shut up
a helpless prisoner with a crowd of other wretched and despairing
captives, was overwhelmed with grief at the sad reverse of fortune that
had befallen her. She had good reason not only to mourn for the
happiness which she had lost, but also to experience very anxious and
gloomy forebodings in respect to what was before her, for the main object
of the Russians in making prisoners of the young and beautiful women
which they found in the towns that they conquered, was to send them to
Turkey, and to sell them there as slaves.
Catharine was, however, destined to escape this dreadful fate. One of
the Russian generals, in looking over the prisoners, was struck with her
appearance, and with the singular expression of grief and despair which
her countenance displayed. He called her to him and asked her some
questions; and he was more impressed by the intelligence and good sense
which her answers evinced than he had been by the beauty of her
countenance. He bid her quiet her fears, promising that he would himself
take care of her. He immediately ordered some trusty men to take her to
his tent, where there were some women who would take charge of and
protect her.
These women were employed in various domestic occupations in the service
of the general. Catharine began at once to interest herself in these
employments, and to do all in her power to assist in them; and at length,
as one of the writers who gives an account of these transactions goes on
to say, "the general, finding Catharine very proper to manage his
household affairs, gave her a sort of authority and inspection over these
women and over the rest of the domestics, by whom she soon came to be
very much beloved by her manner of using them when she instructed them in
their duty. The general said himself that he never had been so well
served as since Catharine had been with him.
"It happened one day that Prince Menzikoff, who was the general's
commanding officer and patron, saw Catharine, and, observing something
very extraordinary in her air and behavior, asked the general who she was
and in what condition she served him. The general related to him her
story, taking care, at the same time, to do justice to the merit of
Catharine. The prince said that he was himself very ill served, and had
occasion for just such a person about him. The general replied that he
was under too great obligations to his highness the prince to refuse him
any thing that he asked. He immediately called Catharine into his
presence, and told her that that was Prince Menzikoff, and that he had
occasion for a servant like herself, and that he was able to be a much
better friend to her than he himself could be, and that he had too much
kindness for her to prevent her receiving such a piece of honor and good
fortune.
"Catharine answered only with a profound courtesy, which showed, if not
her consent to the change proposed, at least her conviction that it was
not then in her power to refuse the offer that was made to her. In
short, Prince Menzikoff took her with him, or she went to him the same
day."
Catharine remained in the service of the prince for a year or two, and
was then transferred from the household of the prince to that of the Czar
almost precisely in the same way in which she had been resigned to the
prince by the general. The Czar saw her one day while he was at dinner
with the prince, and he was so much pleased with her appearance, and with
the account which the prince gave him of her character and history, that
he wished to have her himself; and, however reluctant the prince may have
been to lose her, he knew very well that there was no alternative for him
but to give his consent. So Catharine was transferred to the household
of the Czar.
She soon acquired a great ascendency over the Czar, and in process of
time she was privately married to him. This private marriage took place
in 1707. For several years afterward the marriage was not publicly
acknowledged; but still Catharine's position was well understood, and her
power at court, as well as her personal influence over her husband,
increased continually.
Catharine sometimes accompanied the emperor in his military campaigns,
and at one time was the means, it is thought, of saving him from very
imminent danger. It was in the year 1711. The Czar was at that time at
war with the Turks, and he had advanced into the Turkish territory with a
small, but very compact and well-organized army. The Turks sent out a
large force to meet him, and at length, after various marchings and
manoeuvrings, the Czar found himself surrounded by a Turkish force three
times as large as his own. The Russians fortified their camp, and the
Turks attacked them. The latter attempted for two or three successive
days to force the Russian lines, but without success, and at length the
grand vizier, who was in command of the Turkish troops, finding that he
could not force his enemy to quit their intrenchments, determined to
starve them out; so he invested the place closely on all sides. The Czar
now gave himself up for lost, for he had only a very small stock of
provisions, and there seemed no possible way of escape from the snare in
which he found himself involved. Catharine was with her husband in the
camp at this time, having had the courage to accompany him in the
expedition, notwithstanding its extremely dangerous character, and the
story is that she was the means of extricating him from his hazardous
position by dextrously bribing the vizier.
The way in which she managed the affair was this. She arranged it with
the emperor that he was to propose terms of peace to the vizier, by
which, on certain conditions, he was to be allowed to retire with his
army. Catharine then secretly made up a very valuable present for the
vizier, consisting of jewels, costly decorations, and other such
valuables belonging to herself, which, as was customary in those times,
she had brought with her on the expedition, and also a large sum of
money. This present she contrived to send to the vizier at the same time
with the proposals of peace made by the emperor. The vizier was
extremely pleased with the present, and he at once agreed to the
conditions of peace, and thus the Czar and all his army escaped the
destruction which threatened them.
The vizier was afterward called to account for having thus let off his
enemies so easily when he had them so completely in his power; but he
defended himself as well as he could by saying that the terms on which he
had made the treaty were as good as could be obtained in any way, adding,
hypocritically, that "God commands us to pardon our enemies when they ask
us to do so, and humble themselves before us."
In the mean time, years passed away, and the emperor and Catharine lived
very happily together, though the connection which subsisted between
them, while it was universally known, was not openly or publicly
recognized. In process of time they had two or three children, and this,
together with the unassuming but yet faithful and efficient manner in
which Catharine devoted herself to her duties as wife and mother,
strengthened the bond which bound her to the Czar, and at length, in the
year 1712, Peter determined to place her before the world in the position
to which he had already privately and unofficially raised her, by a new
and public marriage.
It was not pretended, however, that the Czar was to be married to
Catharine now for the first time, but the celebration was to be in honor
of the nuptials long before performed. Accordingly, in the invitations
that were sent out, the expression used to denote the occasion on which
the company was to be convened was "to celebrate his majesty's old
wedding." The place where the ceremony was to be performed was St.
Petersburg, for this was now many years after St. Petersburg had been
built.
[Illustration: The Empress Catharine.]
Very curious arrangements were made for the performance of this
extraordinary ceremony. The Czar appeared in the dress and character of
an admiral of the fleet, and the other officers of the fleet, instead of
the ministers of state and great nobility, were made most prominent on
the occasion, and were appointed to the most honorable posts. This
arrangement was made partly, no doubt, for the purpose of doing honor to
the navy, which the Czar was now forming, and increasing the
consideration of those who were connected with it in the eyes of the
country. As Catharine had no parents living, it was necessary to appoint
persons to act in their stead "to give away the bride." It was to the
vice admiral and the rear admiral of the fleet that the honor of acting
in this capacity was assigned. They represented the bride's father,
while Peter's mother, the empress dowager, and the lady of the vice
admiral of the fleet represented her mother.
Two of Catharine's own daughters were appointed bridesmaids. Their
appointment was, however, not much more than an honorary one, for the
children were very young, one of them being five and the other only three
years old. They appeared for a little time pending the ceremony, and
then, becoming tired, they were taken away, and their places supplied by
two young ladies of the court, nieces of the Czar.
The wedding ceremony itself was performed at seven o'clock in the
morning, in a little chapel belonging to Prince Menzikoff, and before a
small company, no person being present at that time except those who had
some official part to perform. The great wedding party had been invited
to meet at the Czar's palace later in the day. After the ceremony had
been performed in the chapel, the emperor and empress went from the
chapel into Menzikoff's palace, and remained there until the time arrived
to repair to the palace of the Czar. Then a grand procession was formed,
and the married pair were conducted through the streets to their own
palace with great parade. As it was winter, the bridal party were
conveyed in sleighs instead of carriages. These sleighs, or sledges as
they were called, were very elegantly decorated, and were drawn by six
horses each. The procession was accompanied by a band of music,
consisting of trumpets, kettle-drums, and other martial instruments. The
entertainment at the palace was very splendid, and the festivities were
concluded in the evening by a ball. The whole city, too, was lighted up
that night with bonfires and illuminations.
Three years after this public solemnization of the marriage the empress
gave birth to a son. Peter was perfectly overjoyed at this event. It is
true that he had one son already, who was born of his first wife, who was
called the Czarewitz, and whose character and melancholy history will be
the subject of the next chapter. But this was the first son among the
children of Catharine. She had had only daughters before. It was in the
very crisis of the difficulties which the Czar had with his eldest son,
and when he was on the point of finally abandoning all hope of ever
reclaiming him from his vices and making him a fit inheritor of the
crown, that this child of Catharine's was born. These circumstances,
which will be explained more fully in the next chapter, gave great
political importance to the birth of Catharine's son, and Peter caused
the event to be celebrated with great public rejoicings. The rejoicings
were continued for eight days, and at the baptism of the babe, two kings,
those of Denmark and of Prussia, acted as godfathers. The name given to
the child was Peter Petrowitz.
The baptism was celebrated with the greatest pomp, and it was attended
with banquetings and rejoicings of the most extraordinary character.
Among other curious contrivances were two enormous pies, one served in
the room of the gentlemen and the other in that of the ladies; for,
according to the ancient Russian custom on such occasions, the sexes were
separated at the entertainments, tables being spread for the ladies and
for the gentlemen in different halls. From the ladies' pie there stepped
out, when it was opened, a young dwarf, very small, and clothed in a very
slight and very fantastic manner. The dwarf brought out with him from
the pie some wine-glasses and a bottle of wine. Taking these in his
hand, he walked around the table drinking to the health of the ladies,
who received him wherever he came with screams of mingled surprise and
laughter. It was the same in the gentlemen's apartment, except that the
dwarf which appeared before the company there was a female.
The birth of this son formed a new and very strong bond of attachment
between Peter and Catharine, and it increased very much the influence
which she had previously exerted over him. The influence which she thus
exercised was very great, and it was also, in the main, very salutary.
She alone could approach the Czar in the fits of irritation and anger
into which he often fell when any thing displeased him, and sometimes,
when his rage and fury were such, that no one else would have dared to
come near, Catharine knew how to quiet and calm him, and gradually bring
him back again to reason. She had great power over him, too, in respect
to the nervous affection--the convulsive twitchings of the head and
face--to which he was subject. Indeed, it was said that the soothing and
mysterious influence of her gentle nursing in allaying these dreadful
spasms, and relieving the royal patient from the distress which they
occasioned, gave rise to the first feeling of attachment which he formed
for her, and which led him, in the end, to make her his wife.
Catharine often exerted the power which she acquired over her husband for
noble ends. A great many persons, who from time to time excited the
displeasure of the Czar, were rescued from undeserved death, and
sometimes from sufferings still more terrible than death, by her
interposition. In many ways she softened the asperities of Peter's
character, and lightened the heavy burden of his imperial despotism.
Every one was astonished at the ascendency which she acquired over the
violent and cruel temper of her husband, and equally pleased with the
good use which she made of her power.
There was not, however, always perfect peace between Catharine and her
lord. Catharine was compelled sometimes to endure great trials. On one
occasion the Czar took it into his head, with or without cause, to feel
jealous. The object of his jealousy was a certain officer of his court
whose name was De la Croix. Peter had no certain evidence, it would
seem, to justify his suspicions, for he said nothing openly on the
subject, but he at once caused the officer to be beheaded on some other
pretext, and ordered his head to be set up on a pole in a great public
square in Moscow. He then took Catharine out into the square, and
conveyed her to and fro in all directions across it, in order that she
might see the head in every point of view. Catharine understood
perfectly well what it all meant, but, though thunderstruck and
overwhelmed with grief and horror at the terrible spectacle, she
succeeded in maintaining a perfect self-control through the whole scene,
until, at length, she was released, and allowed to return to her
apartment, when she burst into tears, and for a long time could not be
comforted or calmed.
With the exception of an occasional outbreak like this, the Czar evinced
a very strong attachment to his consort, and she continued to live with
him a faithful and devoted wife for nearly twenty years; from the period
of her private marriage, in fact, to the death of her husband. During
all this time she was continually associated with him not only in his
personal and private, but also in his public avocations and cares. She
accompanied him on his journeys, she aided him with her counsels in all
affairs of state. He relied a great deal on her judgment in all
questions of policy, whether internal or external; and he took counsel
with her in all matters connected with his negotiations with foreign
states, with the sending and receiving of embassies, the making of
treaties with them, and even, when occasion occurred, in determining the
question of peace or war.
And yet, notwithstanding the lofty qualities of statesmanship that
Catharine thus displayed in the counsel and aid which she rendered her
husband, the education which she had received while at the minister's in
Marienburg was so imperfect that she never learned to write, and
whenever, either during her husband's life or after his death, she had
occasion to put her signature to letters or documents of any kind, she
did not attempt to write the name herself, but always employed one of her
daughters to do it for her.
At length, toward the close of his reign, Peter, having at that time no
son to whom he could intrust the government of his empire after he was
gone, caused Catharine to be solemnly crowned as empress, with a view of
making her his successor on the throne. But before describing this
coronation it is necessary first to give an account of the circumstances
which led to it, by relating the melancholy history of Alexis, Peter's
oldest son.
[1] The situation of the place is shown in the map on page 197.
[2] The accounts which different historians give of the circumstances of
Catharine's early history vary very materially. One authority states
that the occasion of Gluck's taking Catharine away was the death of the
curate and of all his family by the plague. Gluck came, it is said, to
the house to see the family, and found them all dead. The bodies were
lying on the floor, and little Catharine was running about among them,
calling upon one after another to give her some bread. After Gluck came
in, and while he was looking at the bodies in consternation, she came up
behind him and pulled his robe, and asked him if he would not give her
some bread. So he took her with him to his own home.
[3] There was a story that he was taken among the prisoners at the battle
of Pultowa, and that, on making himself known, he was immediately put in
irons and sent off in exile to Siberia.