Catherine the Great
The Enlightened Despot

Empress Catherine the II of Russia, also known as Catherine "the great" was born Princess Sophia August Frederika in 1729 in Settin, a small kingdom in Prussia. She was the daughter of Prince Karl Augustus and Joanna Elizabeth.

A smart and energetic girl, Sophia concentrated on interests other than what regular girls her age were interested in at the time - attracting suitors. Elizabeth 1 of Russia, looking for a suitable mate for her nephew Peter, chose Sophia when she was only 14. Sophia and Peter married a year later from the time of their introduction. She converted to Russian Orthodox and took the name Catherine. Possessed with ambition and self-discipline, she threw herself enthusiastically into preparing herself for the role of tzarina, studying Russian.

Catherine had become a tall, slender and beautiful young woman. Upset with her husband as she was, she arranged clandestine love affairs. Around this time, her mother-in-law Elizabeth had died. Peter began a disastrous reign of six months. A brother of one of Catherine’s lovers later killed him, after his intentions to have Catherine arrested so he could marry his mistress were discovered.

Catherine and her lover Gregory Orlov, a war hero several years younger than her and an imperial guard, had a child. Shortly after, she assembled a team of leaders and scholars, and charged them with helping to reform the government. She later disbanded the team and took things into her own hands to increase her power. Under her rule, Russia became a great power. However, Russia's image as a barbaric state subsided as she encouraged the arts, bringing Renaissance to Russia and later on, establishing arts academies. She became the protector of the philosopher Diderot, chief editor of the Encyclopedie, the most important publishing enterprise of the century. She had a visit from Voltaire, who had advised her to take up arms and drive the Turks from Europe. Catherine was very adventurous; she liked outdoor sports and riding horses.

Sometimes she would gallop her horse for 13 hours a day. She also liked duck hunting and became a very good shot. She studied history, philosophy, French fluently and was considered very intelligent by the Russian members of the court. She died in 1796 at the age of 67. Upon her death, her credo was found on a paper among her documents: "Behave so that the kind will love you, the evil will fear you, and all will respect you.

Maria MistWraith