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Catherine I of Russia

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Monarch

The Resume

    (April 15, 1684-May 17, 1727)
    Born in Ringen, Estonia
    Birth name was Marta Elena Skavronska
    Secretly married Tzar Peter the Great (1707)
    Remarried Peter in a public ceremony (February 9, 1712)
    Empress Consort of Russia (1721-25)
    Crowned as co-ruler with Peter (May 7, 1724)
    Reigned as Empress and Autocrat of All Russians (1725-27)

Why she might be annoying:

    She never learned to read or write.
    Her background was deliberately kept obscure by Peter and later rulers.
    One probable reason for the secrecy: According to some traditions, after her town was captured by Russian forces, she became the mistress of the regimental commander, then slept her way up the chain of command until she reached the Tzar.
    During her reign, she was essentially a figurehead for the Supreme Privy Council.

Why she might not be annoying:

    During the building of St. Petersburg, she and Peter lived in a three-room log cabin.
    When Peter and the Russian army were surrounded by the Turkish army at the Battle of Stanilesti, she donated her jewels to bribe the Ottoman commander into allowing a retreat (July, 1711).
    She was the only person who could calm Peter's outbursts of rage or soothe his epileptic seizures.
    Only two of her and Peter's twelve children lived to adulthood.
    She convinced the Privy Council to cut military expenditures and reduce taxes on the peasants.
    As Russia's first female ruler, she set a precedent for Catherine the Great.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 50 Votes: 32.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5022 Votes: 59.34% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 80 Votes: 53.75% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 105 Votes: 41.90% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 82 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 42 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 59 Votes: 54.24% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 61 Votes: 60.66% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 144 Votes: 59.72% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 153 Votes: 50.33% Annoying