The Children of Adam and Eve

Catherine I, real name Marta Skavronskaya (1682?-1727), empress of Russia
(1725-27). Of peasant origin, she was born in Jakobstadt (now J?bpils,
Latvia) but was orphaned early in life and reared by a pastor in
Marienburg (now Malbork, Poland). When the Russians captured Marienburg in
1702, she was taken prisoner by the Russian commander, who sold her to
Prince Aleksandr Menshikov (1673-1729), a close adviser of Peter the
Great. She soon became Peter's mistress and most influential counselor.
Peter, who had divorced his first wife in 1699, married Catherine in 1712.
After his son Alexis (1690-1718) died, Peter issued an ukaz (imperial
order) declaring his right to name his own successor; he died in 1725
without doing so. Catherine, However, had been crowned empress-consort in
1724, and on Peter's Death she was proclaimed his successor; the claims of
Alexis's son (later Peter III) were bypassed. Shrewd and courageous,
Catherine defended Peter's advisers against his rages, and in her own
reign she established, and concentrated power in, the supreme privy
council. Two of her eight Children by Peter survived, Anna (mother of
Peter III) and Elizabeth Petrovna (empress 1741-62).