The Presidential Library marks the 340th anniversary of Empress Catherine I

Catherine I, the Russian Empress, wife of Peter I, was born in 1684, on April 15 (April 5, old style). Rare publications, letters and documents, which are available on the Presidential Library's portal, spotlight the role of the reformer tsar in the life of His wife played, supporting her husband in everything.

Catherine had “an enormous influence on the soul of her husband”. Count Genning Friedrich Bassevich wrote about this in “Notes about Russia under Peter the Great” (1866).

How Peter treated his wife is illustrated in the letters he sent to Catherine during his travels. They missed each other, and Catherine was ready to rush to him at her husband’s first call.

In 1712, Peter I officially married Ekaterina Alekseevna. After the wedding of their parents, their daughters Anna and Elizabeth received the official status of princesses.

In 1714, Peter, highly appreciating the merits of his wife, who accompanied him in the Prut campaign against the Turks, established the Order of St. Catherine, which she was awarded with.

With a manifesto dated November 15, 1723, Peter announced the future coronation of Catherine as a sign of her special merits. In May 1724, the solemn coronation of Catherine took place in the Assumption Cathedral. Description of the coronation of Her Majesty Empress Catherine Alekseevna (1724) is available on the Presidential Library's portal. The first crown in the history of the Russian Empire was made especially for this occasion. It was “composed” - from diamonds, among which was “a great number of amazing size”. There was only one colored stone in the crown - a ruby or yakhont, the size of “more than a chicken egg and therefore notably the most valuable of the rubies that are known to this day”. 

The relationship between Peter and Catherine is illustrated in Russian folklore. In 1870, the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature published Songs collected by P. V. Kireevsky. 

After the death of Emperor Peter the Great in 1725, Catherine became the sovereign empress.

Other materials about Catherine I are available on the Presidential Librarys portal.