Terrible Tsarinas

partisans were recruited primarily among the old stock nobility

and the members of the provincial clergy.

Here and there, spontaneous uprisings were beginning to be

seen in the countryside. Nothing serious, yet: timid gatherings in

front of churches, secret meetings at the end of mass, the name of

young Peter proclaimed by the crowds during festivals on his

name day. Chancellor Ostermann, seeking to defuse the threat of

a coup d’état, suggested marrying the tsarevich (who was not yet

12 years old) to his aunt Elizabeth, aged 17. No one bothered to

consider whether that arrangement would suit the interested par-

ties. Even Catherine, usually so sensitive to the inclinations of the

heart, did not stop to ask herself what kind of future might await

the couple that, at her initiative, would be formed by a scarcely

pubescent boy and a young woman already going to seed. How-

ever, while the age difference hardly struck the unrepentant

matchmakers as an insurmountable obstacle, they recognized that

the Church was likely to oppose this consanguineous union. Af-

ter long discussions, the idea was put aside. Moreover, Menshi-

kov had a better suggestion. With self-serving audacity, he now

< 25 >

Terrible Tsarinas

suggested having tsarevich Peter marry not Elizabeth, but his own

daughter, Maria Alexandrovna, who — according to him — com-

bined beauty of the soul and that of the body. If he married her,

Peter would be the happiest of men.

Admittedly, since 1721 she had been promised to Peter Sa-

pieha, palatine of Smolensk, and she was said to be madly in love

with her fiancé. But that detail did not stop Catherine. If every-

one’s feelings were taken into account before asking for the bless-

ing of a priest, no one would ever marry anybody! The tsarina

abruptly decided to break the engagement of these turtle doves,

since it stood in the way of her wishes, and to marry the tsarevich

Peter Alexeyevich and the young Maria Alexandrovna Menshikov.

In compensation, Peter Sapieha would be offered one of Her Maj-

esty’s great-nieces, Sophia Skavronska. Meanwhile, moreover,

Sapieha had been admitted to the very accessible bed of Cath-

erine, on several occasions, and she was thus able to verify the vir-

ile qualities of the man she intended for her young relative. Sa-

pieha, who knew how to get along in life, did not protest against

the switch in fiancées; Catherine and Menshikov were pleased to

think they had settled the matter so handily. Only the unfortunate

Maria Alexandrovna was left to cry over her lost love and to curse

her rival, Sophia Skavronska.

At the other end of the business, Anna and her husband,

Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein, were equally dismayed by the

possibility of a marriage that, under the pretext of promoting the

interests of Peter Alexeyevich, would in fact serve to reinforce the

hegemony of his future father-in-law, Menshikov, and would put

even more distance between the throne and Peter the Great’s two

daughters. Considering themselves to have been sacrificed, but

for different reasons, Anna and Elizabeth threw themselves at

their mother’s feet and begged her to give up the idea of this scan-

dalous engagement that, all things considered, was satisfactory

< 26 >

Catherine’s Reign: A Flash of Flamboyance

only to the instigator, the devious Menshikov. His sworn enemy,

Count Tolstoy, supported them in their recriminations; he was

enraged at the notion that he would see his direct competitor in-

stitutionalizing his authority by marrying his daughter to the heir

to the Russian crown. Catherine appeared to be disturbed by this

chorus of lamentations, and promised to think things over; she

dismissed everyone without having made the least decision nor

having made the least promise.

Time went by and Anna’s and Elizabeth’s consternation

grew greater by the day, while Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein

found less and less tolerable the arrogance shown by Menshikov,

who felt sure of his imminent victory. People in the city were al-

ready talking, openly, about the impending marriage of the tsare-

vich with the noble and beautiful young lady, Maria Menshikov.

And quietly, they were saying that the father of the intended had

received fabulous sums from various people who were anxious to

secure his protection in the years to come. Some, however, re-

membered that just a few months before, following a temporary

illness, the worried tsarina had implied that after her death it was

her younger daughter, Elizabeth, who should inherit the crown.

This wish now seemed to have been forgotten completely. Eliza-

beth was upset by her mother’s apparent repudiation but, being of

a reserved nature, she forbore to counterattack. Her brother-in-

law Duke Charles Frederick was less accommodating. Although

the cause appeared desperate, he intended to fight to the end for

Anna and himself. Come what may, he wanted to extract from his

mother-in-law a will in favor of his wife.

However, by now Catherine was too weak to entertain such