![]() ![]() These reflected her reading of Montesquieu, Beccaria, Blackstone, and Voltaire. In preparation for their coming she personally prepared a Nakaz, or Instructions, describing the principles uponwhich the new code should be formed. Hoping to play Justinian to Russia, and to consolidate her power, Catherine, on December 14, 1766, summoned to Moscow administrative agents and legal experts from every part of the empire, to undertake a thorough revision and codification of Russian law. The task of governing her vast area was made almost impossible by the number (ten thousand), diversity, contradictions, and chaos of existing laws. She entrusted her ministers with only the details of business, and still kept her eye on the execution. She assisted at all the deliberations of the Council, read the dispatches of her ambassadors, and dictated, or indicated … the answers to be returned. But she knew how to renounce pleasure, and to make the transition to employments the most serious, and application the most indefatigable to the affairs of government. Said one of her earliest and least friendly biographers:Īmbition extinguished not in Catherine’s soul an ardent relish for pleasure. She informed herself assiduously on every relevant subject, and wrote detailed instructions on a thousand topics from army training and industrial operations to the toilette of her court and the production of operas and plays. ![]() I swear by Providence to stamp these words into my heart. Do not allow the world to contaminate you to the point of making you lose the ancient principles of honor and virtue. See that this kindness, however, does not weaken your authority nor diminish their respect. Do not let your grandeur prevent you from condescending with kindness toward the small, and putting yourself in their place. Have confidence in those who have the courage to contradict you, … and who place more value on your reputation than on your favor.īe polite, humane, accessible, compassionate, and liberal-minded. Search for true merit, be it at the other end of the world, for usually it is modest and retiring.ĭo not allow yourself to become the prey of flatterers make them understand that you care neither for praise nor for obsequiousness. Study mankind, learn to use men without surrendering to them unreservedly. In her copy of Fénelon’s Télémaque were found these resolutions: ( Here's how the Romanovs met their end.)Ĭatherine’s long reign and her astute use of political power earned her the title “the Great,” and she was known for her support of the arts and culture.We can hardly doubt the good intentions of Catherine in the early years of her reign. The laws never went into effect, and under her reign, the nobility increased its power over their indentured servants. She also attempted to modernize Russian government and laws, but her Enlightenment-influenced ideals were not shared by the Russian nobility, which objected to the proposed laws’ relative lenience toward serfs. She expanded Russia’s borders considerably during her reign, annexing Crimea, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, and other territory Russia’s population nearly doubled during her rule. The new empress set to work consolidating her rule and her legacy. ( This "pretender princess" tried to steal Catherine the Great's throne.") Peter died soon afterward historians still debate whether that was his wife’s doing or the work of his many political enemies. Catherine took advantage of his absence to declare herself sole ruler of Russia in 1762. Just six months after taking power, he went on a trip to Germany. Seventeen years later, Peter III finally became tsar of Russia.īut Peter had few Russian allies-and his wife was not among them. She worked to endear herself to the Russian empress Elizabeth and studied hard for her future role, learning the language, converting to Eastern Orthodoxy, and changing her name to Ykaterina, or Catherine, when she was betrothed. Sophie disliked her future husband, but knew what was expected of her. The presumptive Russian tsar’s marriage to the Prussian princess was intended to strengthen the Russian monarchy’s friendship with Prussia and quash Austrian influence over the Russian crown. Elizabeth was unmarried, had no children, and needed an heir, so she selected Peter for the throne, and Sophie as his wife. Later known as Peter III, he had been designated the future tsar of Russia by his aunt Elizabeth, the Empress of Russia. ![]() When she was ten years old, the future empress was introduced to the husband chosen for her by her family, her second cousin Charles Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Ĭompared to the rest of her life, it was. ![]()
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