Catherine the Great – Footnotes and Bibliography

Posted onApril 8, 2023June 3, 2023

Here are the footnotes and bibliography that should accompany the Catherine the Great biographical comic I created. Feel free to email me if there are corrections required. Some of the books also have multiple editions, so if you have a different edition, the page numbers may not be correct.

FOOTNOTES

[1] (Rounding, 2006) p7-11. (Streeter, 2007) p10-11. She was the first child of 39 year-old Prince Christian August of Anhalf-Zerbst, and 17 year-old mother Princess Johanna Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. These were two of around 300 small German principalities who all fought among and intermarried with each other constantly, and for a girl of Catherine’s standing, a good marriage was important since competition was fierce. As a child, her relationship with her narcissistic mother was troubled, but she was also brought to other neighbouring courts by her mother as a child, and this familiarity with court life was invaluable training for her later life. Johanna would later go on to promote Sophia as a possible marriage candidate to the Russian court in 1743 A.D., but it was also Johanna who would later become a mild obstacle to Sophia’s marriage ambitions–possibly because she saw her daughter as a rival.

[2] (Rounding, 2006) p14. (Streeter, 2007) p8. Sophie’s connection to Empress Elizabeth came through her mother Johanna, whose principality of Holstein-Gottorp has had marriage relations with. Elizabeth’s sister Anna Petrovna was married to Duke Karl Frederick (and Prince of Sweden), and Elizabeth was previously engaged to Johanna’s older brother Prince Karl August, though that marriage did not eventuate since Karl died prematurely of smallpox. Johanna took great care to preserve and cultivate that relationship, and even named her second daughter Elizabeth after the Empress (which Elizabeth agreed to be godmother to).

[3] (Rounding, 2006) p26. (Streeter, 2007) p12. (Michael, 1986) p13. Empress Elizabeth was 34 when she met Sophie, and Sophie recalls being quite impressed by her grace, beauty and bejeweled gown. Years after Elizabeth’s death, she could still recall in detail what dress and jewellery Elizabeth had worn on a particular occasion.

[4] (Streeter, 2007) p13. (Michael, 1986) p6,14. (Rounding, 2006) p44. An illness in March 1744 A.D. rendered Sophie dangerously thin, but in her youth she was always slight of figure. It should also be said that Sophie never considered herself beautiful (her face was considered too long), but in her own words, she “knew how to please”, and was charming and vivacious.

[5] (Streeter, 2007) p12-13. (Rounding, 2006) p29,32. Sophie immediately took to learning Russian, and worked so hard at it that rumour was she would get up in the middle of the night to practice her vocabulary. This may have led to her developing pleurisy in the Russian winter chill, which she barely survived (and in which her narcissistic mother was no help. Her mother had gotten involved with Russian court intrigue to favour stronger links with Prussia and France, which did not go unnoticed). Since Sophie had converted to Orthodox Christianity and had asked for an Orthodox priest at her bedside during the height of her feverish illness, and the Russian people had found favour in her for trying so hard to learn Russian, rumour was that the Empress Elizabeth personally nursed Catherine back to health. At the time, this silenced a number of court critics who would have preferred to see Peter marry a Russian rather than the foreign Catherine.

[6] (Rounding, 2006) p32-33. (Streeter, 2007) p14. Sophie formally converted to Orthodox Christianity on the 28th June, and preparations took a long time. Finally, the ceremony happened in the chapel of the Golovin Palace (Annenhof Summer Palace), and Sophie was renamed Catherine (Ekaterina in Russian)–something that pleased the Empress Elizabeth greatly as it was rumoured that Elizabeth was very devout. The betrothal ceremony to Peter happened the day after, and both were fabulously lavish and elaborate affairs. Despite Catherine’s lack of political background and her mother’s meddling on behalf of King Frederik of Prussia (this was seen through by Elizabeth and resulted in the reinforcement of the Austro-Russia alliance, the opposite of what Prussia was hoping for), she had now firmly entrenched her own position in the Russian court with her superlative behavior.

[7] Wikipedia.com, (Streeter, 2007) p14,20-22,26,29. (Michael, 1986) p21. (Rounding, 2006) p28-29. Peter was immature for his age, and seemed to have difficulty making friends. After Catherine’s arrival, he contracted a bout of smallpox in 1744 A.D., which left him scarred and somewhat hideous-looking to Catherine, which probably did him no favours in their relationship. Catherine observed that he liked to play soldier with his valet, was often thoughtless about how his speech and actions offended others, and would lionise Prussia (a rival power to Russia) in front of his Russian aides, which bred no shortage of resentment whether among the general population, the clergy, the government, or the army. He had an interest in music, but otherwise his interests overlapped very little with Catherine’s (particularly his drinking), and when Empress Elizabeth fell ill, he made little effort to learn about statecraft, instead deferring to Catherine’s advice for many decisions.

[8] (Streeter, 2007) p18-24,29. (Michael, 1986) p17. It was possible that Peter and Catherine’s marriage was never consummated at all, and also likely that Peter was not yet physically developed enough for sexual relations. What was certain was that he was emotionally immature, but even after expressing interest in women who weren’t Catherine and getting “lessons” from a pretty young widow (of a painter) named Madame Grooth, his interest is uncertain. Although a son named Paul would result from this union, Catherine would later claim that they never consummated their marriage at all, even though Paul would grow to resemble Peter in appearance and personality. Peter had no trouble performing with other women though, as he had a number of other lovers during his marriage to Catherine, the most threatening of which to Catherine’s position was Elizabeth Vorontsova, the niece of the Vice-Chancellor. Catherine was able to subvert this by having the sister of Elizabeth on her side though, acting as a spy.

[9] (Michael, 1986) p16-17. (Streeter, 2007) p19, 21. It was the Swedish Count Gyllenborg who encouraged Catherine to read the works of political thinkers such as Tacitus, Plutarch, Voltaire, Baronius, Brantome, the life of Henry IV, Montesquieu’s “Spirit of Laws”, and the letters of Madame de Sevigne which described the court of Louis XIV. In particular, Catherine would cultivate a friendship and intellectual rapport with Voltaire in later life.

[10] (Streeter, 2007) p11,26. (Michael, 1986) p16,18-19. (Rounding, 2006) p70. It was quite common for European diplomats and visitors to travel to the courts of other states and cultivate alliances or get involved in court intrigue there. Catherine’s mother Johanna was briefly involved in trying to further the Prussian cause in Russia on instructions from King Frederik the Great of Prussia, until she was discovered and rebuffed by Empress Elizabeth, who signed a treaty with Austria instead. After that, it was known that the British envoy Sir Charles Hanbury-Williams would become something of a mentor to Catherine’s political life, in the hope that she would be cultivated into an ally of Great Britain in the future. Likewise, the Swedish Count Gyllenborg encouraged Catherine to read the works of political thinkers, while some such as the Polish Count Stanislas August Poniatowski, who possibly came to Catherine in the hope of establishing a Polish king in Poland, was even rumoured to be one of her lovers and the father of Catherine’s daughter Anne. Apart from these, there were little else to entertain Catherine at Elizabeth’s court, because while Elizabeth’s court had little interest in science or political thinking, it did flourish in the arts, particularly in music, which Catherine had no interest in.

[11] (Rounding, 2006) p66-69. In truth, Elizabeth had been hounding Catherine since the first year of her marriage for an heir. Due to the immature antics of Peter, Elizabeth had sent her own cousin Maria Choglokova to supervise Catherine, and was even suspicious for a while that Catherine was failing to become pregnant because she was in love with another man.

[12] (Streeter, 2007) p24,28-29. (Michael, 1986) p17,19. This was not the first time Catherine has flirted in court, but the first time that an affair was physically allowed to happen. Serge Saltykov was a rakish, spoiled young libertine from a distinguished family, and his affair was subtly encouraged by Catherine’s caretaker, with the tacit approval of Empress Elizabeth. Catherine was 23 years old at the time, but the affair would not last long, and Saltykov left Russia on an overseas mission soon after. Catherine would later take another lover, the Polish Count Stanislas August Poniatowski, who was smitten with Catherine and came to her in the hope of becoming the envoy of Poland. Catherine granted him his wish (by conspiring with her ally the chancellor Bestuzhev), but Bestuzhev would later be removed by political enemies in 1758 A.D. over the Seven Years War (1756 A.D.-1763 A.D.), causing this affair to be nearly exposed and almost costing Catherine her position by way of accusations of possible treason to supplant Elizabeth. Stanislas returned to Poland in 1758 A.D., though it is still believed that he was the father of Catherine’s daughter Anne (b. 1757-d.1759), who sadly passed away of a fever at a young age.

[13] (Streeter, 2007) p25, (Michael, 1986) p17. Catherine’s birthing of Paul was largely about producing a male heir, and both Paul and her daughter Anne were removed from her immediately after their birth by the Empress Elizabeth, depriving her of any kind of motherly bond with them. So excited was the court by Paul that Catherine was left alone and highly uncomfortable for a few hours without a change of linen, and after a difficult birth. Elizabeth was thrilled by the birth, but Catherine herself was not a natural mother, and both these incidents may have contributed to her poor relationship with her son Paul as he became older.

[14] (Streeter, 2007) p31-35, (Michael, 1986) p20-21. Grigory, one of five Orlov brothers, was already distinguished for this bravery in battle when he met Catherine. Later, she would secretly bear his child, Count Alexei Grigoryvich in 1762 A.D., which was such a secretive birth and so well-hidden by Catherine that hardly anyone knew she was pregnant. At the time, which saw Russia in the battling Prussia in the Seven Years War, Peter was in the midst of alienating the entire Russian court by his pro-Prussian sympathies. By publicly releasing an important Prussian prisoner of war called Count Schwerin, who was also King Frederik of Prussia’s favourite adjutant, he turned many members of military and aristocracy against him.

[15] (Rounding, 2006) p64. Peter III’s grandfather Peter the Great had sent his first wife to a convent, so it’s not inconceivable that Peter III could do the same to his wife Catherine once he became Emperor of Russia.

[16] (Rounding, 2006) p133-134. It seems that the Empress died of a violent nosebleed, but she had been suffering on-and-off bouts of illness since 1749 A.D. It should also be said that while the official date of her death is the 5th January, 1762 A.D., in the orthodox calendar it is 25th December 1761 A.D. It should be noted that by then, Peter and Catherine’s relationship was already deteriorated to the point of no return, and that the two pretty much mourned Elizabeth separately. Peter only did the bare minimum, and even offended many by making a practical joke at Elizabeth’s funeral, while Catherine carried herself with great decorum, which earned her respect amongst the orthodox faithful.

[17] (Rounding, 2006) p135-156. (Streeter, 2007) p35-36. Peter made a number of reforms which were well-intended, but poorly thought-out and executed. He began with free aristocrats from compulsory military service, which was met with happiness but also disquiet due to the fears of aristocrats of losing their status and role in society. The next was offending the powerful Orthodox church by forcibly secularising monastic property without even due compensation to their churches, and no longer exempting the sons of the priesthood from conscription. Next, he abolished the Secret Chancery, which was the Imperial secret police and a precursor to the KGB, which along with banning more violent forms of punishment such as whipping made many ordinary people happy, but which also left Peter open to coup attempts and plots in his own court. Last of all, Peter then irritated the powerful Russian army, firstly by suing for peace with Prussia despite Russia striking a decisive military blow against Prussia in early 1762 A.D., then by forcing the Russian army to adopt Prussian drills and uniforms. The sudden peace treaty between Russia, and a decision to attack Denmark instead to free Peter’s old territory of Holstein, meant that the deaths of Russian soldiers in the past 5 years were all for nothing. Lastly, Peter also didn’t bother with a proper coronation, which meant that the Orthodox faithful had trouble seeing him as their divinely-appointed sovereign.

[18] (Rounding, 2006) p133-134, 140-141. Peter had heard of the rumours of a coup happening, but did nothing, possibly because his disbandment of the Secret Chancery meant that the graveness of the situation wasn’t apparent to him. However, the coup originally had to be delayed due to a secret pregnancy of Catherine’s (with Orlov’s son Alexei) around the time of Elizabeth’s death which made it impossible for her to dethrone her husband while still looking respectable. It then had to be brought forward, due to the arrest of one of Catherine’s co-conspirators, Lieutenant Passek, who had a soldier under his command make an unguarded remark. Due to Passek’s arrest, the coup had to happen immediately lest the details be tortured out of Passek.

[19] (Streeter, 2007) p38-41. Apart from the Izmailovkiii Guards, another guard regiment called the Preobrazhenskii Guards also joined in, having arrested their superior officers who remained loyal to Peter. Troops from the Old Imperial Guard, which had been disbanded by Peter, also joined in, along with crowds and other soldiers who tore off their Prussian-style uniforms to don their old ones.

[20] (Streeter, 2007) p32. (Rounding, 2006) p147-148, p157. Aside from cultivating contacts in the army and among the Orthodox church, Catherine also had some powerful allies in court. From the disgraced former Chancellor Bestuzhev, she had now cultivated a protege of his called Nikita Panin who she thought would make a good future Vice-Chancellor. Panin, however, preferred Catherine to be a regent to Paul and for Russia to move to a constitutional monarchy, though the hastiness by which Catherine proclaimed herself Empress meant that his plans were thrown aside. There was also the Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, who was the sister of Peter’s mistress, but was against their camp and thus spied on Peter for Catherine. Dashkova’s role was overstated at the time though. As Catherine would later write in a letter, Dashkova was fond of pretending to be more important than she was, and despite being intelligent, was an intriguer disliked by the army.

[21] (Streeter, 2007) p40-42. (Rounding, 2006) p144-145. Peter was at Petershof at the time of Catherine’s coup, where he was expecting to celebrate his birthday with Catherine and his mistress. Even though he had heard what was going on, he didn’t seem to grasp the gravity of the situation. His officials either deserted him or tried to negotiate with Catherine unsuccessfully, and he eventually got on a yacht to the island fortress of Kronstadt, but was turned around by troops who threatened to attack him. Dejected, he had to return to Oranienbaum, where he was surrounded by an advance party of troops led by Alexei Orlov, Grigory’s brother.

[22] (Streeter, 2007) p41. (Rounding, 2006) p145. Catherine never faced Peter directly, and the two never spoke again. Peter sent her two letters before his abdication letter asking for a reconciliation, followed by a request to be allowed to return to Holstein. He was denied both, since he could raise an army should he return to Holstein.

[23] (Streeter, 2007) p41-42. (Rounding, 2006) p153-154, p501. While many at the time believed that Catherine ordered Peter’s death enroute to the fortress of Schlusselburg, it’s questionable that she did. It was officially reported that Peter died of a severe attack of haemorrhoidal colic, but it was more likely that he was murdered by Alexei Orlov, who was sent to guard him, and who probably thought (along with his fellow soldiers) that Peter was better off dead. This was confirmed years later in a letter from Alexei to Catherine, taking full responsibility and begging for forgiveness from her, that revealed that Peter was killed in a drunken brawl enroute to his prison. This letter was allegedly found by Catherine’s son Paul as he was going through her papers upon her death, and who locked away and released it only after Catherine’s death. In the years since, the mystery has never been settled. Frederik the Great thought that Catherine was innocent, but it’s possible Catherine gave tacit approval to this act. When Peter’s body was brought back to the capital, although an autopsy ordered by Catherine suggested a natural death, those that viewed his body believed it may have been poison or strangulation.

[24] (Streeter, 2007) p32, 37, 39, 108. (Rounding, 2006) p165,p 170. Nikita Panin is a Russian diplomat Catherine has cultivated for years, and was a protege of her supporter the ousted Chancellor Bestuzhev. Catherine had made him the tutor of her son Paul, and had considered him a possible future vice-chancellor, but while he supported Catherine over Peter, he believed in constitutional monarchy and wanted Catherine as a regent for Paul rather than becoming an autocrat in her own right. Unfortunately for him, the coup was moved forward due to the arrest of a conspirator, and Panin was blindsided by the speed of everything and thus did not get his wish. After Catherine became Empress, he even worked on a plan for her to have a council of ministers working alongside her (as a way to check her power), which she ignored. He soon realised that she had no intention of being regent, and grew somewhat disillusioned. His influence on Paul, however, was long-lasting, and Paul would grow up to love the same things as his father, while becoming a source of worry and/or threat for Catherine and her precarious position.

[25] (Rounding, 2006) p156-158. Paul has been afflicted with poor health throughout his life, much like his father, who was likely Peter due to a resemblance in appearance and temperament. He had a high fever during Catherine’s change of government, which alarmed her greatly because even though they did not have a close relationship and she intended to rule alone, he was crucial to her image due to his connection with Peter the Great. Catherine, who lacked the lineage and therefore blood-related legitimacy to rule Russia, knew that she needed Paul to remain in power.

[26] (Rounding, 2006) p162, 165. (Streeter, 2007) p53-56. Catherine continued some of Peter’s policies, albeit executed better, including bringing church lands and serfs under state control, and also setting up a medical college and hospital to improve the nation’s health. She also stopped Peter’s war on Denmark, and broke off the alliance with Prussia that Peter forged while also reassuring Prussia that she will not attack them. She then reestablished the Imperial secret police, which Peter had abolished, since she understood the danger of coups. The secret police returned under a different name and system, and now had to refer all potential rebellions or cases of treason to the Senate, from which there emerged a secret branch. This new branch became the secret police, and stayed in place for her entire reign.

[27] (Streeter, 2007) p54-55. (Rounding, 2006) p191-192. This was an important piece of work, since the codification of Russia’s laws last took place in 1649 A.D., and a number of new laws had appeared which made scant reference to what came before, which caused lengthy lawsuits (the lack of legal training in Russia didn’t help). The work took Catherine 2 years, and seemed to be entirely of her own pen, though it also drew heavily upon Montesquieu’s ‘Spirit of the Laws’ and also the writing of Italian jurist Cesare Beccaria, the German Jacob Bielfeld, the French Diderot, and a number of others. It consisted of 655 articles arranged in 22 chapters, and was published in Moscow in July 1767 A.D. to great aplomb, and placed Russia within a European context. It played a role in changing Europe’s perception of Russia as an Asiatic despot regime, though one key area where Catherine differed from Europe was in the idea of absolute rule. The trend in European enlightened thinking was that monarchies should be constitutional and of a reduced political role, but Catherine believed that Russia was too big and multi-ethnic for that to be ever truly effective. A practical rather than ideological approach to politics.

[28] (Streeter, 2007) p56-57. (Michael, 1986) p24. This commission was attended by nobility, townsfolk, free peasants, and Cossacks, but it wasn’t parliament and wasn’t intended by Catherine to ever share power. It was intended largely as a public relations exercise in Europe (though it was banned immediately in France) and to show that Catherine has an interest in the opinions and the well-being of her subjects, and while it was a success on that front, few people in Russia understood the enlightened principles of governance that Catherine was trying to push at the time. Progress was slow in terms of actual change since most Russian aristocrats preferred to focus on parochial issues rather than lofty ideas. In terms of her 2-month trip to tour Eastern Russia, it happened just before the Legislative Commission and was done via the galley Tver on the Volga river. She was accompanied by a 2000-people entourage (though Paul, because of his illness, couldn’t go) that included some European diplomats, so it raised her profile in Europe too.

[29] (Streeter, 2007) p54. No less than Voltaire and Frederick the Great praised it, and while Voltaire corresponded with Catherine and may well be biased, Frederick the Great of Prussia was a political rival, so at least his assessment was honest if not a little begrudging.

[30] (Streeter, 2007) p58-59. (Michael, 1986) p26-29, 33. Catherine bought 200 paintings off a Berlin dealer which is now on display at the Hermitage at St Petersburg, and would acquire several hundreds more including Rembrandts, Van Dycks and Laude Lorrain. She sent Russian artists to study in France, invited Italian composer and performer Baldassare Guluppi to court, and commissioned the sculptor Etienne Maurice Falconer to create a statue of Peter the Great. She also bought Diderot’s entire library, and amassed around 40% of Russia’s state jewels. Lastly, she would encourage a number of architects to innovate, namely the German Velten, Italian Rinaldi and Rusian Bazhenov in her baroque phase, which later turned into classicism which employed Italian achitect Quarenghi, Scottish Cameron and Russian Starov.

[31] (Rounding, 2006) p206-207. Smallpox was a deadly disease that have ravaged the Austrian Hapsburg Court a while or so ago, and had debilitated Empress Maria Theresa while killing her daughter within a week, so the disease was widely feared at the time by peasants and nobility alike. A folk method existed throughout Europe and Asia where a small amount of material was extracted from a pox pustule and scratched into the hairline or the nostril (which inferred a mild form of the disease and lifelong immunity), although attempts to make it appear more professional by adding purges and bleeding and using a larger incision in the arm for inoculation was a failure.

[32] (Rounding, 2006) p207. The English was the most advanced when it came to inoculation, and Thomas Dimsdale was a properly trained physician which gave his combined method a veneer of professionalism. He had some successes with his method (a mix of the folk tradition with his physician training) and wrote a treatise on it in 1767 A.D. which gained circulation, which was how the president of the Russian Medical College came to hear of his work.

[33] (Rounding, 2006) p216. After his success with inoculating Catherine and Paul (he tested it out on some 50 paid peasants before), Dimsdale was made a baron and given a yearly pension of 500 pounds. He would stay in Russia for a while, setting up a vaccination post in St. Petersburg and inoculating the locals for free.

[34] (Streeter, 2007) 60-62. Russia was originally a landlocked empire that nautical-enthusiast Peter the Great tried to change, and successfully did so when he defeated the Swedes and gained access to the Baltic Sea. His subsequent attempt to move south and gain access to the Black Sea through Crimea had failed due to the Ottoman Empire, and his failure was a sore point for him. As such, Catherine had her eye on the Black Sea, and her meddling in Polish politics and increased militarism (the Russian army was at 300,000, which would grow to 400,000 at the end of her reign) began to alarm the European powers in the area who grew fearful of Russian influence and expansion. Her blatant attempts to make a king in Poland which would be under her thumb due to his former relationship with her was especially poorly received, especially by her ally France whose lands bordered Poland as well. Things finally came to a head in 1768 A.D., when a group of Ukrainian Cossacks who were pursuing Polish troops crossed the Polish border and ended up sacking the town of Balta, who was under the control of the Khanate of Crimea and the protection of the Ottomans. The Turks then demanded the removal of all troops from Poland, and when the Russian envoy refused, they imprisoned him in the fortress of the Seven Towers, a traditional Turkish way of declaring war.

[35] (Streeter, 2007) p66-67. The war against the Turkish fleet in the Aegean sea from 24th-26th June was a remarkable victory, seeing as the Turkish fleet knew the area and the Russian commander Alexei Orlov was a good soldier but a novice at naval battles (he also was convalescing in Italy at the time). The Russian fleet may have had English Admirals Samuel Greig and Rear Admiral John Elphinestone, but it was inexperienced and also had to sail around Western Europe (Britain allowed it to put in at Hul and Portsmouth) before reaching the battlefield. Soon after, there were two major land victories in July against the Turks and Tartars at Larga and Kagul, led by General Rumiantsev. Soon Russian troops would overrun Crimea, causing the Turk to sue for peace, and for Catherine to look towards partitioning Poland.

[36] (Rounding, 2006) p240. Early in 1772 A.D., Russia renewed its alliance with Prussia, and the two countries agreed to a convention which was the first partition of Poland, and carved parts of the country up to add to their own territories. The treaty was signed on the 17th February, and was joined by Austria in March.

[37] (Streeter, 2007) p74-78. There were sporadic outbreaks of bubonic plague throughout Europe at the time, but by 1770 A.D., the plague was seriously spreading throughout Russia and outbreaks were happening in many cities including St Petersburg, Kiev, and Moscow. The situation became especially bad in Moscow, and hundreds of people were dying daily as nobility fled the city. With the much of its administration gone, the mood in Moscow was especially volatile, and violence began to break out. One shocking incident involved the Archbishop Amvrosy, a cleric Catherine herself had appointed, who became involved in a riot that occurred when a religious icon was hung in a particular place and which the locals believed worked miracles. Some unscrupulous people tried to collect money for the icon, and when the Archbishop tried to stop the money collection and disperse the crowd, the crowd came to believe that he was removing the icon and slaughtered him. This caused Catherine, who always disliked Moscow due to its Asiatic influences, to send Grigory to Moscow with troops and doctors to successfully pacify the riots. In total, an estimated 100,000 people in Moscow died of the plague.

[38] (Rounding, 2006) p161-162. (Streeter, 2007) p52-53, p78-79. Apart from these rebellions, Catherine also had two minor “rebellions” near the beginning of her reign. One was a small group of disgruntled soldiers from the Izmailovsky Guards, led by one Peter Khruschev, which turned out to be little more than a series of drunken blusters. The ringleaders were sentenced to death, but ultimately exiled. The second happened when Catherine was visiting the Baltic states in 1764 A.D., when a Ukrainian officer named Vasilii Mirovich tried to free the captive ex-Emperor Ivan VI (a distant relative of Empress Anna and granddaughter of Tsar Ivan V) from fortress Schlusselburg, who was deposed by Empress Elizabeth in a coup. Unknown to Vasilii, Catherine had already instructed Ivan’s guards to kill him if someone tried to free him, and when that happened, Vasilii had no choice but to give himself up. The death of Ivan was another stain on Catherine’s image, after Peter’s death. For these two small rebellions, the first was in 1771 A.D., where there was a minor and inconsequential rebellion by exiled soldiers and nobles in Russia’s far eastern coastline, and a second in 1772 A.D. that involved some young officers and soldiers from the Preobrazhenskii regions. The latter’s goal was to capture the Empress and take Paul and name him – though Paul had no inkling of their plans.

[39] (Streeter, 2007) p80. Catherine had at first chosen a new lover with young Horse Guards officer Alexander Vassilcikov, but he failed to hold her interest and he was soon let go. Immediately, people noticed the change, which caused Grigory to leave the stalled peace talks with the Turks (over Crimea), and he was then barred from entering St. Petersburg, and left for his own estates to negotiate his “demotion” with Catherine. She ended up being very generous to him, but part of her justification of her behavior was that Orlov has been serially unfaithful to her, and his indiscretions have been dutifully reported by the Panin faction who deeply resented the influence of the Orlovs.

[40] (Streeter, 2007) p85-86, p101. Potemkin and Catherine have known each other for a long time. He was one of the soldiers in the Imperial Guard at the time who had helped Catherine seize the throne, and they had established a connection of sorts from back then. When they officially became a couple, they had a brief and passionate physical relationship, but he remained the love of her life and the two had the kind of close, intense relationships based on mutual emotional and intellectual ties that were better off as a friendship. Potemkin was a brilliant military commander and political strategist with a lot of wide-ranging interests, and while he was able to keep Catherine engaged, he was also quite volatile and jealous. He was to exert a great influence over her in the next two decades, and the two of them found in each other a kindred spirit that was missing in her previous relationship with Orlov. While Potemkin did not stay lovers with Catherine, he would introduce nearly all of her future lovers (as they were all men loyal to him).

[41] (Streeter, 2007) p96-97. The treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardzi (a village in modern-day Bulgaria) was signed in July 1774 A.D., and under the agreement, the former khanate of Crimea was to become independent and free from Ottoman control (but not Russian influence). Russia gained the fortress ports of Kerch, Enikalke and Kinburn and the right for their merchant ships of pass through the Turkish strait in the Black Sea. Russia also gained the right to influence Orthodox people living under Turkish rule, and most importantly, access to the Black Sea was given to Russia. Potemkin, for his efforts, was made governor of Russia’s new territories in the south that bordered Crimea, became vice-president of the College of War, and was put in charge of Russia’s irregular forces the Cossacks. This made him even more powerful than Orlov.

[42] (Streeter, 2007) p90-94. The Pugachev rebellion started in sputters in 1772 A.D., when an illiterate army deserter and Cossack named Emelyan Pugachev started impersonating Peter III. A charismatic leader, he was able to persuade large numbers of peasants in rebellion, since the name of Peter III had a certain romanticism to Russia’s poor and serfs, as many had mistakenly believed that Peter’s proclamation to freeing nobles from state service would be followed by another proclamation freeing the serfs. Slowly, peasants started joining his rebellion, which challenged the “German usurper” Catherine and supposedly his former wife. By 1773 A.D., the rebellion was in full steam, and while imperial troops were sent to successfully crush the rebels several times, the rebellion sprang back to life, and had the unfortunate side effect of causing widespread rebellions across Russia of serfs slaying their landowners. In short, it turned into a full-scale peasant revolt, with suspicions that foreign powers were involved. Pugachev was eventually captured and beheaded, but this event shook Catherine and the royal court deeply. Unfortunately, Pugachev only spawned imitators from then onwards, due to his initial success.

[43] (Streeter, 2007) p82-83, p100-101. Paul turned 18 in September 1772 A.D., and Catherine has been searching for a bride for him. First, he married the German Protestant Princess Wilhelmina (Natalya upon conversion to Orthodox) of the Landgravin of Hesse Darmstadt, but she would later die in childbirth along with the child. Paul remarried the German Princess Sophia Dorothea or Wurttemberg (Maria Fyodorovna upon conversion to Orthodox), but as Catherine demanded, both Grand Duchesses were given strict instructions by her to stay out of debt, politics, and to avoid foreign diplomats. This is obviously to prevent Paul and his wife from setting up an alternate political power base, and Catherine never allowed Paul a court of his own. She only permitted Paul to read some government reports, and to administer over his hereditary lands of Holstein though she would later cede them to Denmark. Lastly, his tutor Panin had to quit his rooms and move out since Paul was now officially an adult.

[44] (Streeter, 2007) p108-109. In 1780 A.D., Catherine met future Emperor Joseph II of Austria-Hungary (and Prussia rival), and the two formed a rapport. Catherine wanted to avoid any big foreign policy moves due to a fear of getting into another costly war involving the Ottomans, and so after the death of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria-Hungary (no friend of Catherine’s), she was able to secure a secret treaty with Austria where Austria promised support to Russia in the event of hostilities between Russia and the Turks due to the 1774 A.D. Unfortunately, this was done at the expense of Prussia, and this irritated Paul since Paul had inherited from his father and his tutor Panin a love of all things Prussian. Catherine sent Paul and his wife to discuss this with Emperor Joseph II in Vienna, but Paul himself was wary of his mother’s intentions towards himself and his grandson, and their relationship was strained. Eventually, in 1782 A.D., a letter was intercepted that involved Paul – a young man called Pavel Bibikov (son of General Bibikov) was found with a letter to one Prince Alexander Kurakin, a nephew of Panin who was travelling with Paul. In the letter, Bibikov deplored Catherine’s Russia and Potemkin’s influence, and said that their only hope was Paul. Bibikov was arrested and interrogated, but no real plot was found – and he was exiled to Astrakhan. Paul, yet again seemingly innocent, got a pretty good scare.

[45] (Streeter, 2007) p116. Catherine’s convoy was enormous, consisting of 14 carriages, 124 sledges (and 40 more in reserve), with more than 550 fresh horses to meet the travelling group at each post. The Empress’ entourage included the ambassadors of Britain, Austria, France and other envoys, and hundreds of servants joined them including apothecaries, doctors, cooks, footmen and washerwomen. The convoy travelled mostly by day, but due to short daylight hours in the harsh Russian winter, huge bonfires were set to light their way across the countryside.

[46] (Streeter, 2007) p119. The massive fireworks display was staged at the new fortress port of Kherson, on the Dnieper and Black Sea. The Austrian Emperor Joseph II was there, and Catherine was determined to impress him. Apart from the fireworks, there were also a regiment of Green women soldiers or ‘Amazons’, and even a massive reconstruction of Peter the Great’s history victory over the Swedish King Charles XII and Poltava, staged using 50,000 troops.

[47] (Streeter, 2007) p120-123. In 1787 A.D. after Catherine’s return in June, there was Ottoman anger over Russia’s expanding presence in the Black Sea. By end of 1787 A.D., the Ottoman Empire declared war with Russia, and while Potemkin was still leading the army successfully, he suffered some early setbacks that hit his confidence hard. Catherine was eventually able to cajol him back, and he won a victory in 1788 A.D. in Ochakov which turned things around a bit. In 1788 A.D. Gustavus II of Sweden (a cousin of Catherine) started a war with Russia over Sweden’s invasion of Finland, which was troubling for Russia since they now war on two fronts, with St Petersburg close to war on the frontlines. Despite some Russian setbacks in Rochensalm, this second war would be settled with a peace agreement in 1790 A.D., with both sides keeping the territory they had before the conflict. The conflict with the Ottomans lasted longer, as Britain and Prussia were also concerned with Russia’s Black Sea presence, and was threatening to join the war. Catherine wanted to resist them, but Potemkin pushed back as this could mean war against multiple powers, marking their first disagreement over foreign policy. Ultimately nothing came of it, as though Potemkin would pass away, a peace deal with the Turks was already underway.

[48] (Streeter, 2007) p125. Potemkin was already ill before he left St Petersburg again for peace talks with the Turks, so his death was not a great surprise but still devastating for Catherine. He died of the illness on a desolate hillside in the Bessarabian steppe near Jassy (now Iasi in Romania) on 5th October, 1791 A.D.

[49] (Streeter, 2007) p131, 134, (Rounding, 2006) p497. Despite Catherine’s attempts to convince Alexander to succeed her, Paul remained her official heir. Alexander’s liberal education meant that he disliked Catherine’s lavish court life, and felt alienated from Catherine – despite her gift of reading people, she had a blindspot in her own grandsons’ feelings towards her. Alexander was also not interested in becoming Emperor – he seemed to fear both his father and his grandmother, but he was closer to his father than to Catherine, and had respect for his father despite Catherine’s (and her court’s) disdain for Paul.

[50] (Rounding, 2006) p501, (Streeter, 2007) p134. Paul did indeed lock Catherine’s study and papers up, and it is widely believed that he destroyed the succession document that struck him out of the line of succession.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Streeter, Michael (2007). “Catherine the Great”. London: Haus Publishing Limited.
Rounding, Virginia (2006). “Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power”. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin
HRH Princess Michael of Kent (1986). “Crowned in a Far Country: Portraits of Eight Royal Brides”. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Websites

Royal Carriages (n.d.). In Moscow Kremlin Museums. Retrieved February 1, 2021, from https://www.kreml.ru/en-Us/about-museums/museum-collection/kollektsiya-starinnykh-ekipazhey/
Scarisbrick, (2016, October 26) Imperial Splendour: Catherine II & Her Jewellery. Retrieved from https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/imperial-splendour-catherine-ii-her-jewelleryRussia Under the Tsars 1462-1796 (2017, September 12) Retrieved from http://worldhistoryvolume.com/great-kings-1469-1762/russia-tsars/
Bloks, Moniek (2016, October 10) Empresses of All Russia – Elizabeth. Retrieved from https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/the-royal-women/empresses-russia-elizabeth/
Dishdishyan, R. (Executive Producer). (2015). Екатерина Bеликая [TV series]. Mars Media.
Map Of Russia During Peter The Great (2020, November 26) Retrieved from https://citysubwaymap.blogspot.com/2020/11/map-of-russia-during-peter-great.html
Peter III of Russia. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Russia
Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 1, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanna_Elisabeth_of_Holstein-Gottorp

Catherine the Great – VISUAL SOURCES

Posted onApril 8, 2023April 8, 2023

The unfortunate thing about Catherine the Great, at least when it comes to TV and or movie adaptations, is that the most famous ones tend to be from Hollywood. Since the most accurate depictions of historical figures are always going to be by state-owned TV stations from their country of origin, expect any English-language adaptations of Catherine’s story to be historically inaccurate.

I can’t be bothered to list any non-Russian productions, but luckily, there are two Russian-language TV series that is worth watching (not least because some of these will be filmed at actual historical locations such as the Winter Palace and Oranienbaum). The first is Ekaterina (2014), made by state-owned Russia-1, which as of this article has 3 season that cover most of Catherine’s reign. The other is Catherine the Great (2015), broadcast on Channel One Russia, also a state-owned TV channel, with 2 seasons.

It’s not easy finding English subtitled versions for these two series, but clips on Youtube abound. Here are some samples from both series.

This is a trailer for Season 2 of Ekaterina (2014), you can find short clips from the show on Youtube.

This is a trailer for “Catherine the Great” (2015), also known as “Великая” (2015) in Russian. This is the series I watched and used for historical references, and I rather like this series though English subtitled options are impossible to find.

Apart from TV series, there are many portraits of Catherine the Great and various courtiers that was painted in her time. There are also a number of paintings from her era that depict her doing certain things, and a number of her gowns have also been preserved by the Russian State Heritage Museum. Countless photos of these can be found online.

There are multiple portraits of Catherine’s coronation, some which are copies of each other. This one is by Vigilius Eriksen (1745).

Early portrait of Catherine when she was still Grand Duchess, by Georg Christoph Grooth (1745)

A Portrait of Catherine II, by Dmitry Levitzky (1782).

Here are some portraits of Catherine’s courtiers, including her former husband Peter III, his tutor Nikita Panin, and her later lover and advisor, Grigory Potemkin.

Elizabeth 1 – Footnotes and Bibliography

Posted onApril 19, 2020June 1, 2022

Here are the accompanying footnotes and bibliography for the Elizabeth 1 biographical comic. Feel free to email me if there are corrections required. Some of the books also have multiple editions, so if you have a different edition, the page numbers may not be correct.

FOOTNOTES

[1] (Castor, 2018, pp. 3-4) (Weir, 1998, pp. 11-12) King Henry VIII was of royal Plantagenet blood, but Queen Anne Boleyn was a commoner whose ancestry consisted of upwardly mobile Norfolk merchants and farmers. Their accumulated wealth allowed them to strategically marry daughters of the nobility, and her mother Elizabeth Howard was related to the Howards, earls of Surrey and dukes of Norfolk. Anne was the first woman to be granted peerage as the Marquis of Pembroke, but also the first English queen to die by execution. On a personal level, Anne was overly flirtatious and vengeful to enemies, which made her highly-unpopular with the public, though it was likely her failure to bear Henry any sons that made him want to remove her. She was arrested along with five men (including her brother), and charged with plotting to murder the king and 22 accounts to adultery, 11 of which has been proven false since, which suggested that motives for her death were largely political.

[2] (Weir, 1998, p. 41) Elizabeth’s bastard status was set in law in 1536, after the disgrace and death of Queen Anne, which saw Anne’s marriage to Henry declared null and void by the Bishop of Canterbury. This law was never repealed throughout Elizabeth’s reign, which made her legitimacy to the throne a delicate issue. This was despite the fact that in 1544, Henry enacted an Act of Succession in parliament that named Elizabeth as third in line for the throne after his heirs Edward and Mary.

[3] Henry VIII’s six wives were: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. Catherine is Spanish royalty, and the daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, who was originally married to Henry VIII’s older brother Arthur until he died 5 months into their marriage. Being only able to bear him one daughter, Henry VIII also allegedly resented that she was once married to Arthur (although the marriage was not consummated), and Henry would eventually defy the Catholic church to become Protestant so he could divorce her. This was done in order to marry Anne Boleyn, England’s first commoner queen, whom Henry VIII was smitten with. However, his ardour would cool when she failed to bear him any healthy children apart from Elizabeth, and eventually, she was beheaded after she was accused of adultery with several other courtiers, including her own brother. Henry would then marry Jane Seymour, who died two weeks after giving birth to Henry’s only son, and as such, was the only one of Henry’s wives to be given a queen’s funeral and be buried next to him. After that, Henry would marry Anne of Cleves, a German noblewoman whose family was deemed suitable to be England’s allies against a dispute with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The marriage was not consummated though, and was quickly annulled, and Anne was the only one of Henry’s wives to be given a generous settlement and die a natural death. Next was Catherine Howard, who was a mere teenager when she married Henry, only to be executed within 16 months for adultery and therefore treason. This time, however, the allegations that Catherine was not a virgin when she married Henry due to her involvement with a nobleman called Thomas Culpeper appeared to have some truth in it. Lastly, Henry would marry the twice-widowed Catherine Parr, who had a good relationship with all three of his children and would outlive him by a year before dying in childbirth after her fourth marriage to Thomas Seymour, uncle of Jane Seymour.

[4] (Weir, 1998, pp. 13-14) (Castor, 2018, pp. 13-17) Elizabeth was sent to live with Henry’s sixth wife and widow Catherine Parr at her palace at Chelsea manor. At the time, Catherine had married Admiral Thomas Seymour in secret, without the approval of the Privy Council, which particularly angered his brother Edward Seymour (later Duke of Somerset), who was Lord Protector of England at the time. This marriage happened too soon after Henry VIII’s death, which did not make either party look good, especially since Catherine was originally in love with Thomas Seymour before Henry VIII met her and professed his love. There was also the possibility that this was done to spite Edward Seymour, since it was rumoured that Thomas was jealous of his older brother’s success as Lord Protector, while Catherine possibly resented the fact that Edward’s Privy Council power grab had deprived her the role of regent, which as the Queen Dowager should have been rightfully hers.

[5] (Williams, 1998, p. 24) (Castor, 2018, p. 14) Thomas was arrested for possessing a loaded pistol outside young King Edward’s bedroom, and accused of a series of bizarre ploys including attempting to kidnap Edward and to force him to marry his ward Jane Grey, which will remove Edward from the Lord Protector’s custody. He also carried out a series of other incoherent moves aimed at shoring up his political and financial capital, with his amorous pursuit of Elizabeth as his bride as possibly one of them.

[6] (Castor, 2018, pp. 14-17) When Seymour’s ploy was discovered, both Elizabeth’s governess Kate Ashley and cofferer Thomas Parry were the first arrested and taken to the Tower of London for interrogation. Luckily for Elizabeth, both of them denied any serious wrongdoing on Seymour’s part, and Elizabeth was also able to fend off the questions of her new guardian/interrogator Thomas Thorwit. This was a very serious matter, since Elizabeth was third in line to the throne, and by law, unable to marry without the king’s permission. Her marital status was a very sensitive political issue, even when she was a child.

[7] (Castor, 2018, pp. 18-19) (Weir, 1998, p. 15) After the death of Thomas Seymour, his brother the Lord Protector Edward Seymour would find himself struggling to fend off the political manoeuvres of his fellow Privy Council members. In 1549, there would be a series of peasant revolts caused by King Edward’s reforms and other economic problems, and soon after, Edward Seymour would be ousted from his position and taken to the Tower of London. He was pardoned a year later and returned as a normal Privy Council member, but after a lot of political in-fighting, he would be executed in 1552, with a new Lord Protector called John Dudley coming to power. John’s reign would also be very short, since it was soon followed by the death of King Edward, and his own poor political moves.

[8] (Weir, 1998, p. 13) It was believed that Elizabeth made the statement ‘I will never marry’ to her young friend, Robert Dudley and son of the Earl of Leicester, when she was 9. This was allegedly the result of the death of Katherine Howard, a cousin of Anne Boleyn and the fifth wife of King Henry VIII who was beheaded.

[9] (Castor, 2018, pp. 18-19) Edward had contracted but quickly recovered from measles and small pox in 1552 A.D., although his constitution was always rather weak.

[10] (Castor, 2018, pp. 20-21) (Weir, 1998, pp. 15-16) John Dudley hid the news of Edward’s death, not even telling Jane Grey until 3 days after the event. He chose Jane Grey not only because she was the grand-niece of King Henry VIII, but also because she was married to Dudley’s son Guilford. This close relationship made it clear that she would be a pawn of the Dudley family, much to the chagrin of other powerful families. For Jane herself, she was unwilling and tearful when told that she was to become the next queen, but was quickly overruled and forced to accept, eventually moving into the Tower of London to prepare for her coronation. This was not to be, as when Mary became Queen, Jane, Guilford and John Dudley were executed, though Dudley’s son Robert was spared. Robert would later go onto become the rumoured love of Elizabeth’s life.

[11] (Castor, 2018, pp. 23, 27) These green and white livery colours were first adopted by Elizabeth’s grandfather, King Henry VII. Elizabeth wore them for obvious reasons—now that Mary has been accepted as England’s first queen regnant, Elizabeth was once more heir to the throne. At the young age of twenty, she was probably a more desirable candidate than Mary due to Mary’s comparatively advanced age and questionable ability to produce an heir. Elizabeth was also believed to physically resemble her father by the general populace, which probably helped her public image.

[12] (McIlvenna, 2018) Queen Mary burned over 300 religious dissidents at the stake, and as ‘Bloody Queen Mary’, her name would henceforth be associated with religious intolerance and persecution. However, it should be noted that King Henry VIII and Elizabeth also executed not a few people for religious reasons, and being burned at the stake (to prevent a martyr’s body parts to be used as holy relics afterwards) was the normal punishment for heretics at the time. Mary’s unpopular reign made it easier for people to label her as cruel, while Elizabeth was shrewd enough to have heretics drawn and quartered rather than burned during her reign, which subtly positioned these crimes as ‘treason’ rather than ‘hereticism’. Thus, Elizabeth managed to dodge a similar label, something that was also helped by her long and successful reign.

[13] (Williams, 1998, p. 27) There was considerable animosity between Mary and Elizabeth, mostly from Mary’s side since Mary’s mother Catherine of Aragon was abandoned by King Henry VIII for Elizabeth’s mother, the commoner Anne Boleyn. Since Mary’s resentment of Elizabeth—both for personal and religious reasons—was no secret, Elizabeth had to be extra careful in her rejection of Catholicism, since leaning to heavily protestant could set her up as a rival to Mary. However, moving away from Protestantism could also cause Elizabeth’s popularity to drop among protestant nobles whose support she needed, so Elizabeth had to tread a careful line.

[14] (Williams, 1998, p. 28) Mary’s marriage to Philip of Spain made a lot of sense to Mary, since she was half-Spanish herself, with her mother being Catherine of Aragon. Catholic Spain was also a powerful country at the time, and Philip was also not only the ruler of Spain, but also of the Netherlands, Milan and the New World. Unfortunately, Mary underestimated the xenophobia of the English against a Spaniard, so while the fear of England being exploited by the economic might of Spain was a concern, most of the rebel leaders were largely motivated by resentment of Spaniards.

[15] (Williams, 1998, p. 28) (Castor, 2018, p. 25) The Kent rebellion began in January 1554 A.D., and was led by Thomas Wyatt, the son of a Tudor poet. He was only one of many conspirators, who used Elizabeth’s name freely due to its popularity, and while they met with her, she never gave them anything more than verbal support. After being caught, Wyatt would deny Elizabeth’s involvement, retract that statement upon torture, but would again deny Elizabeth’s involvement upon his execution. Elizabeth was imprisoned, but other people were not so lucky—Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley was executed within a week, and the Earl of Devon, a distant relative to the 15th Century Plantagenet kings and thus a possible candidate for the throne, was also imprisoned.

[16] (Weir, 1998, p. 16) (Castor, 2018, p. 26) (Williams, 1998, p. 29) Elizabeth was ill when brought from Ashridge and imprisoned in the Tower of London for 2-3 months. After that, she was moved to the Palace of Woodstock in Oxfordshire, where she remained for around 10 months. All this time, all of Mary’s attempts to build a case of treason against her failed due to lack of evidence.

[17] (Castor, 2018, p. 26) (Williams, 1998, p. 29) In April 1555, Elizabeth was finally summoned to see Mary, mostly on the advice of her husband Philip of Spain who was certainly happy to see Elizabeth alive and available as a ‘backup heir’ to Mary. Part of this was because even though Elizabeth was an illegitimate child and a protestant, the next Catholic heir to the English throne was actually Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary was born the sole heir to the Scottish throne, and at the time, she was in the French court waiting to marry the dauphin. Thus, if Scottish Mary was to inherit the throne due to Elizabeth’s death, it would push England and France together, which was something the Spanish wanted to avoid.

[18] (Castor, 2018, p. 56) Mary’s reign was only for five years, and was quite unpopular. Apart from her persecution of protestants, she also committed English soldiers to fight in Spanish wars. The resulting defeat led to the loss of Calais, England’s last remaining foothold in Europe.

[19] (Castor, 2018, pp. 34-35) (Weir, 1998, pp. 19-23) (Williams, 1998, pp. 40-41)Elizabeth wasted no time in appointing those close to her, particularly her relatives, onto the Privy Council. Out of Mary’s councillors, 10-11 were retained (all of them also served under her brother and father), while the remaining were dismissed, particularly those who had strong Catholic views. Elizabeth’s decisions were helped by the death of Cardinal Pole, Mary’s Archbishop of Canterbury, who passed a few hours after Mary and thus gave the impression of a clean break with the past. Of the 9 new councillors appointed, most were protestants who fell out of favour under Mary, but the key was the 38 year-old William Cecil, who already knew Elizabeth since her teens and would serve as ‘her spirit’ for the next 38 years of her reign. Loyal long-time servants such as her steward Thomas Parry, tutor Roger Ascham and nurse Kate Ashley would all be part of her royal household, and her court favourite Robert Dudley would become her Master of the Horse. Sir Francis Walsingham, a key figure in Elizabeth’s later administration due to his role as her principal secretary and spymaster, would join this retinue as another protestant supporter. However, since he was in exile at the time of her coronation, he wouldn’t join forces with William Cecil to foil plots on Elizabeth’s throne until about a decade later.

[20] (Castor, 2018, pp. 35-40) To be clear, the matter of religion was only temporarily settled in parliament, with Elizabeth’s advisors attempting to hammer out a broader church that had Protestant beliefs with Roman Catholic trappings. Her many protestant advisors meant that reform was always on the agenda, but there were also enough influential Catholics around that that the push and pull between these two forces remained a constant danger throughout her reign. It is also interesting that Elizabeth resisted Protestant reform every step of the way, and appointed no clerics to her Privy Council.

[21] (Weir, 1998, pp. 54-55) According to Spanish ambassador Count De Feria, sent by King Philip of Spain to broker a marriage union between Spain and England, Elizabeth had a habit of ‘laughing meaningfully’ as if she knew what he was thinking.

[22] (Castor, 2018, p. 43) (Weir, 1998, pp. 116-133) (Williams, 1998, p. 26) Catholic King Philip II of Spain was the first to court Elizabeth, though it was clear to his envoy that she wasn’t interested and Philip would court a French princess instead. After that, Philip’s cousin Austrian Archduke Charles, son of Holy Roman Emperor I, was also considered, but also gently rebuked. Then came the German Dukes of Hostein and Saxony, then King Eric XIV of Sweden (undergoing Protestant Reformation at the time, later to become Lutheran), who vied with the Austrians, but to no avail despite pursuing Elizabeth for two years. Elizabeth toyed with the idea of marrying an Englishman after that, but would return to diplomatic matrimonial discussions in the 1570s (due to the problem of Mary, Queen of Scots) with a possible French husband. At the time, the key suitor was Duke Henry of Anjou, son of French King Henry II, but he proved unsuitable, so his younger brother Duke Francis of Alencon was offered. While there was a strong attraction between the two (despite a 10-year age gap), the marriage was ultimately scuttled by xenophobic Englishmen and the complications of religious warfare across Europe. After this, Elizbeth would pursue no diplomatic marriage alliances, since her age was also a problem by then.

[23] (Castor, 2018, pp. 44-45) For Elizabeth, marrying a foreigner means committing England to an irrevocable international alliance, which could be problematic for England’s interests if something should happen. Likewise, marrying an Englishman also upsets the balance of domestic power, since it allows the elevation of one of Elizabeth’s subjects over the others.

[24] (Williams, 1998, pp. 55, 110-111, 165-168) Elizbeth’s childhood friend Robert Dudley was the love of Elizabeth’s life, though she had a number of suitors from her own court as well. There was the diplomat Sir William Pickering, who she quickly lost interest in after only 6 months. The most steadfastly faithful to her was Christopher Hatton, who remained a bachelor his whole life—she called him her ‘Lids’, just as she called Dudley her ‘Eyes’. For 10 years, there was Walter Raleigh, who lost Elizabeth’s favour when he met and married another woman. Late in her life, Robert Devereux the Earl of Essex would earn her favour as Dudley’s stepson, though he would lose it in a failed rebellion.

[25] (Meares, 2018) Mary had a radically different childhood compared to Elizabeth. Pampered and sheltered, that was perhaps the reason for her lack of judgement and political acumen in her later life. Since Mary was the only heir to the Scottish throne due to her father’s death in battle 6 days after her birth, she was raised to believe that she was the rightful heir to the English crown. Being the daughter of King Henry VIII’s older sister and thus Elizabeth’s senior also bolstered her belief in this. Originally, she was meant to marry Elizabeth’s younger brother Edward VI, but the Scots decided to ally with France instead, and so at age 5, she was sent to France to become the fiancé of Francis, the future French dauphin. Francis was sickly, but the French royal family was grateful for the alliance with Scotland, so Mary was revered as a queen at the French court. So lofty was her position that she walked in front of the French king’s daughters, since she was a queen even before she married the dauphin.

[26] (Williams, 1998, pp. 60, 81) (Castor, 2018, pp. 48-49) In Mary’s absence from Scotland, Robert Cecil had managed to aid Scottish Protestants to power and dethrone Mary’s mother, the French regent Marie de Guise. This has the advantage of preventing Scotland of being used as a springboard for a Catholic invasion of England. The leader of these Protestants, John Knox, managed to persuade Elizabeth to send troops to Scotland to expel the French, in turn for recognising Elizabeth’s claim to the English throne and asking Mary to relinquish her own claim. This ‘Treaty of Edinburgh’ was signed in July 1560, but Mary refused to ratify it unless Elizabeth recognised her as heir, which never happened either. This expulsion of the French from Scotland made England isolated and friendless in Europe, though religious war also broke out in France shortly after.

[27] (Weir, 1998, pp. 124, 155-156. ) (Williams, 1998, pp. 49, 58-67) Elizabeth had originally planned to bring Scotland and England together by marrying Mary to Robert Dudley, and she even raised him to the Earl of Leicester to sweeten the deal. She had even agreed to name Mary as her successor if Mary would marry Dudley and live together at the English court. While this was considered surprising since Dudley is the love of Elizabeth’s life, it’s possible that Elizabeth knew that she could never marry Dudley due to his unpopularity in court, the fact that he was already married, and the strange death of his wife Amy Robsart in mysterious circumstances. Dudley, even though he didn’t believe Elizabeth was ever interested in marriage, declined the offer to marry Mary in the hopes that he can still win Elizabeth’s hand, and encouraged Henry Stuart (Lord Darnley, the next in line to claim the English throne after Mary) to go to Scotland in his stead. This was done without Elizabeth’s permission and she was enraged, but this would also set off a chain of political events that led to Mary’s dethronement. As for Mary’s attitude towards Elizabeth’s earliest proposal, she was possibly offended by Elizabeth offering her own cast-off as Mary’s consort, though she was very taken by Lord Darnley due to his good looks. Ultimately, Mary was happy to marry Darnley when he arrived (though she would soon regret her decision), but it’s possible that Mary’s relationship with Elizabeth was always doomed to be icy. This is because before the marriage alliance was even on the horizon, Mary had already quartered England’s coat-of-arms in her own, and when she traveled back to Scotland, Elizabeth had refused her passage through England for that very reason. That Mary continually claimed that she was the rightful queen of England didn’t help, nor the fact that she was younger and more reportedly more beautiful than Elizabeth.

[28] (Castor, 2018, p. 50) (Weir, 1998, pp. 163, 172) (Williams, 1998, pp. 66-67) Lord Darnley and Mary’s marriage was tumultuous, since Darnley turned out to be hard-drinking, erratic and arrogant. He alienated a lot of the Scottish court, and kept demanding that Mary make him the next in line to the Scottish throne. Mary refused, and later, when she showed favour to her private secretary David Rizzio, Lord Darnley stabbed Rizzio to death in a fit of jealously. This happened in front of Mary when she was six-months pregnant, possibly a plot by Darnley’s co-conspirators to shock her into miscarriage. The plan was to pin the blame for the murder on Darnley, so they can get rid of Darnley and Rizzio at the same time.

[29] (Castor, 2018, pp. 50-51) (Weir, 1998, pp. 172, 187-189) (Williams, 1998, pp. 81-86) Mary and a number of Scottish lords were suspected of Darnley’s death, and suspicions would fall chiefly on James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell, due to his closeness with Mary. Mary also hesitated to investigate Darnley’s death, and the subsequent sham trial and acquittal of Bothwell would only hurt Mary’s reputation and fuel salacious gossip, and the claim that Mary had married Bothwell in a Protestant ceremony because he raped her didn’t help. Rumours at the time, bolstered by the discovery of the “Casket Letters” which were believed to be by Mary’s hand, said that Mary conspired with Bothwell to kill Darnley, and that she had willingly allowed Bothwell kidnap her. The fact that she miscarried twins sometime after also suggested that she was pregnant before Bothwell’s kidnapping, possibly due to an affair with Bothwell. However, it is also possible that Mary’s exiled Protestant half-brother the Earl of Moray had a role to play in Darnley’s murder, though Bothwell’s actions suggest he was involved too. It is also likely that the “Casket Letters” were forged to discredit Mary.

[30] (Castor, 2018, pp. 50-51) (Weir, 1998, pp. 163-168) (Williams, 1998, p. 86) Mary was forced to appoint her half-brother, James Stuart and the Earl of Moray, as regent to her 13 month-old son, who was crowned king in Stirling Castle. Previously, Moray was outlawed in Scotland due to his Protestantism and opposition to Darnley, and had to flee to England as an exile until his return after Rizzio’s death. Elizabeth, meanwhile, was horrified by this turn of events since Mary was an ordained queen like herself, but she had no choice but to accept this political reality since Mary has severely damaged her own reputation due to her ‘dalliance’ with Bothwell and her alleged involvement with Darnley’s murder. By the time Mary was rescued from Bothwell, her reputation was so poor that even Scottish commoners openly called her a whore.

[31] (Weir, 1998, pp. 210-211) This was the first serious rebellion against Elizabeth, and was known as the ‘Northern Rising’. It was a rebellion that began in the north of England, where a group of disgruntled Catholics, along with support from King Philip II of Spain and the Duke of Norfolk, decided to save Mary from captivity and make her the English queen. The rebellion fell apart within 2 months, since Elizabeth moved Mary to Coventry in the Protestant Midlands and shut all ports, effectively making it impossible for the Catholic rebels to reach Mary. Disheartened, they fled to escape the 28,000-strong royal army, and the rebel leaders fled to Scotland. The remaining rebels were brutally suppressed and executed, strengthening Elizabeth’s position. Soon after, another rebellion broke out, led by the influential Lord Dacre, but this was also brutally suppressed.

[32] (Weir, 1998, pp. 270-278) The assassination plot against Elizabeth took place in 1571 A.D., after the papal bull against her was published by the Pope. They were masterminded by an Italian banker called Roberto Ridolfi (a papal agent who was also involved in the first rebellion), and was known as the ‘Ridolfi plot’, which had the support of the Spanish King, the Pope, and Mary herself. This time, the Duke of Norfolk became besotted with the idea of marrying Mary, and although Elizabeth castigated him for this, he continued on his dangerous path. Ultimately, the plot was exposed by the network of spies created by William Cecil, aided by Francis Walsingham, the latter of whom became Elizabeth’s principal secretary and Spymaster. After the discovery of the plot, Norfolk was executed for high treason, and while public opinion in England and Scotland was deeply against Mary, she was again spared by Elizabeth.

[33] (Weir, 1998, pp. 213-214) In February 1570 A.D., Pope Pius V issued a papal bull and excommunicated Elizabeth for being a protestant. Based on outdated letters regarding the ‘Northern Rising’ rebellion, he incited Catholics all over Europe and England to depose her. Contrary to the Pope’s belief, this angered the Catholic kings of France and Spain since he didn’t consult with them first, and also irritated a lot of Englishmen regardless of religious belief, since the English thought of it as political meddling from Rome. This made Elizabeth stronger, since a lot of English Catholics actually supported Elizabeth.

[34] (Weir, 1998) (Williams, 1998, pp. 169-170) Mary never stopped plotting against Elizabeth, but luckily Elizabeth had her spymaster Francis Walsingham to help her. As a fervent Protestant, he created a complex system of counter-espionage, and in this instance, enlisted a Catholic man named Robert Gifford to help him uncover Mary’s plots. Walsingham had Gifford tell Mary that he had devised a foolproof scheme of communication by concealing letters within watertight barrels, and Mary soon began communicating with the French embassy. Mary eventually committed a lot of her plans to assassinate and replace Elizabeth in these letters, and thus it doomed her to execution for treason. This ploy eventually became known as the ‘Babington plot’, from the name of Anthony Babington, whose letter to Mary revealed the full plan to her.

[35] (Williams, 1998, pp. 175-177) England was already fighting Spain in the Netherlands during that time, while English ‘privateers’ such as Sir Francis Drake has long been robbing Spanish merchant ships to line their own (and Elizabeth’s) pockets in the New World. Before Mary’s death, Mary had written to King Philip II of Spain to assign her right to the English throne, and so he had taken restoring England to Catholicism as his holy crusade. Thus, the clash of these two countries was long in motion, even when considering the traditional animosity between the Spanish and English. England was to remain at war with Spain for the rest of Elizabeth’s reign, and while Elizabeth considered wars wasteful, it helped England develop a sense of unified national consciousness and bolstered Elizabeth’s popularity.

[36] (Williams, 1998, p. 182) (Castor, 2018, pp. 77-78) Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Drake to raid the port of Cadiz off the Iberian coast, which Drake did, destroying ships and plundering Portuguese warehouses. After he left, however, she changed her mind and sent orders to cancel the action, but it reached Drake too late—perhaps a deliberate choice, since it then gave Elizabeth a chance to use diplomacy by telling King Philip II of Spain that she had asked Drake not to. This accomplished little but delayed the inevitable war, which was enough to help the English prepare better since they were outnumbered by the Spanish.

[37] (Williams, 1998, p. 180) England was fighting the Spanish in the Netherlands, led by the Earl of Leicester, to mixed success since English troops were amateurs compared to the Spanish. However, England’s navy fared much better, largely thanks to Sir John Hawkins who reformed the dockyards, built good ships, and even saved Elizabeth some money. The royal fleet was only 25 vessels, but all were first-class with long-range guns, while the smaller galleons Hawkins made were easy to handle and could stay at sea for a long time. The rest of the boats were hastily fitted merchant vessels whose owners had participated in ‘privateering’ (ie. piracy) like Sir Francis Drake, and could be counted on to defend the English coast in an attack. All this industriousness caused the English economy to soar, helped by the naval expansion in the previous decade which discovered new trade routes and now rewarded innovation in a time of war.

[38] (Castor, 2018, p. 81) The ideas behind these words came from Protestant scholar John Aylmer in 1559 A.D., who said them to defend his queen’s fledgling rule at the time. The concept of a weak and fragile woman able to overcome impossible odds through divine intervention was something Elizabeth channelled in this instance.

[39] (Castor, 2018, pp. 80-81) (Williams, 1998, p. 182) The invasion plans that the Spanish prepared was fatally flawed—the original planner Marquis of Santa Cruz had died, so the Duke of Medina Sidonia had to take command, despite a lack of experience commanding navies. The arrangements were rushed and the number of soldiers reduced, and Duke had also set off without properly arranging the rendezvous with the Spanish army in the Netherlands. The original plan was for these two groups to rendezvous and invade England by land, but the barges the Spanish soldiers in the Netherlands were not ready to be used and was ill-suited for the open sea. The scattered Armada was forced to sail north past the rendezvous point, around the coast of Scotland and Ireland, while being harried by the English all the way. By the time what was left of the Spanish Armada made it back to Spain, around 15,000 Spanish men had died.

[40] (Castor, 2018, p. 82) Also as Old Testament heroines such as Deborah and Judith.

[41] (Weir, 1998, pp. 470-471, 487) When the end of Elizabeth’s reign drew near, there were a number of social problems. Elizabeth had to cut back on expenditures to save money (she died 400,000 pounds in debt), and the rising cost of living made life for people at all levels hard. Her execution of the Earl of Essex for treason made her unpopular, and the country suffered economically due to the on-going war with Spain, though the war ended in 1602 A.D. when the Spanish surrendered and left Ireland. England’s prolonged peace has also doubled the population, and famine and beggars became a serious problem until a law was drafted that required local parishes to care for their own poor. One of the main complaints of the common people was the abuse of monopolies that were granted by the crown, which gave owners the sole right to make or sell consumer goods like salt or starch—a system that was eventually removed by Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth’s lack of vigour also meant that bribery and corruption was rampant at court, which her lack of interest in governing and loneliness at having outlived many of her contemporaries only made worse. It can also be argued that by shelving some of the biggest problems she faced such as debt, the resurgence of Puritanism, or Parliament’s attempts to limit royal power, she passed them onto her successor. This contributed to the English civil war of 1642–1651 A.D., which with the Parliamentarian victory saw the execution of King Charles I and the end of the Britain’s absolute monarchic system—a mere two generations after Elizabeth’s reign.

[42] (Weir, 1998, p. 478) It was clear to everyone that only James VI of Scotland, Mary’s son, could succeed Elizabeth. While Elizabeth was dearly loved, the nobility and gentry still resented a woman’s rule, and thought it shameful. James VI had two sons, so he was preferred—as well as Elizabeth ran England, it seemed that few wanted another woman sovereign in England.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Castor, Helen (2018). Elizabeth I: A Study in Insecurity. London: Allen Lane.
Weir, Alice (1998). The Life of Elizabeth I. New York: Randomhouse.
Levin, Carole (2013). The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Websites

Meares, Hadley (2018, December 10) The Wildly Different Childhoods of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/elizabeth-mary-queen-of-scots-imprisonment-death
McIlvenna, Una (2018, October 25) What Inspired Queen ‘Bloody’ Mary’s Gruesome Nickname? Retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/queen-mary-i-bloody-mary-reformation
Rising of the North. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 14, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_of_the_North
Church and state in medieval Europe (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 2, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_and_state_in_medieval_Europe
The Mary Rose. (n.d.) Retrieved March 22, 2020, from https://maryrose.org/
Page, William (1912) “Parishes: Hatfield,” in A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 3. Retrieved January 4, 2020, from British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol3/pp91-111.
Croot, Patricia E.C. (2004) A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12, Chelsea. London: Victoria County History. Retrieved January 5, 2020, from British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol12/pp108-115.

Elizabeth 1– People – SOURCES

Posted onApril 19, 2020April 19, 2020

When it comes to the people in Elizabeth’s life, portraits of them are fairly easy to find. I sourced all of the above paintings Wikipedia, though it should be noted that not all of the characters are drawn according to their portrait, and some are reproductions of missing originals or symbolic representations rather than depictions of actual people.

Elizabeth in her coronation gown. There are several variations of this image, some of which reproductions of lost originals.

From a painting of Elizabeth 1 as Pax, holding an olive branch in her hand, and with the sword of justice below her. The original painting was not from Elizabeth’s time, and as such, only appears on the first page of the comic.

Elizabeth’s Makeup: As Elizabeth ages in the comic, you may have noticed that her makeup gets noticeably heavier. With caked-on white make up (white lead and vinegar) and rouge which made her look clownish, this concoction actually poisoned her over time. The truth is, Elizabeth started wearing heavy makeup earlier than depicted in the comic, starting at age 29 due to a near-lethal bout of smallpox in 1562 A.D. that left her skin scarred. Self-conscious, she covered all these flaws with makeup, and when her hair grew extremely thin, constantly wore a wig.

King Henry VIII with his six wives. From the top left hand corner and in an anti-clockwise direction, they are: Catherine of Aragon (1st, Mary’s mother), Anne Boleyn (2nd, Elizabeth’s mother), Jane Seymour (3rd, Edward’s mother), Anne of Cleves (4th), Catherine Howard (5th), Catherine Parr (6th).

Elizabeth’s half-siblings, from left to right: King Edward VI, Queen Mary I, and finally Elizabeth herself as a teenager.

Some key figures in Elizabeth’s life, from left-to-right: Mary, Queen of the Scots, who was Elizabeth’s main rival for the English throne until her execution. William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, who was Elizabeth’s chief advisor and who worked tirelessly under her and whom she called her ‘Spirit’ for his dedication. King Phillip II of Spain, who courted Elizabeth (and had married Mary) early on, but who would ultimately be her biggest enemy.

Some characters who were very important, but whom didn’t get much time in the comic due to the need to tell a compressed story, from left to right:

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and the rumoured love of Elizabeth’s life. He doesn’t look like his portrait since I wanted to distinguish him from all the other characters, though he was allegedly dark-complected like a gypsy.
Sir Francis Walsingham, who was Elizabeth’s Spymaster and who ran a network of spies that uncovered several assassination plots. His role in her government was secondary only to William Cecil’s, even though it was rumoured that Elizabeth didn’t like him much on a personal level. When he died, his spy network died along with him.
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, who launched the failed ‘Essex rebellion’ later on in Elizabeth’s life. I glossed over his story since it lasted barely one afternoon, but he was indeed very dear to Elizabeth, and was also Robert Dudley’s stepson. It is not without some irony that he launched his rebellion partly out of dissatisfaction with the influence of Robert Cecil, son of William Cecil, who had replaced his father in Elizabeth’s group of advisors. This rendition of him is not based off his portrait, but off an artist’s depiction of a melancholy youth representing Robert, since Essex was actually quite well-liked.

Queenie Chan

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Catherine the Great – Footnotes and Bibliography

FOOTNOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Websites

Catherine the Great – VISUAL SOURCES

Elizabeth 1 – Footnotes and Bibliography

FOOTNOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Websites

Elizabeth 1– People – SOURCES

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