disproportionate hopes. Wounded to the quick, she sent a representative to Vienna with the charge to negotiate the alliance that
«23»
Terrible Tsarinas she had so often refused. From now on, Europe would be divided into two camps: Russia, Austria and Spain on one side; France, England, Holland and Prussia on the other… Certainly, the lines might shift and influences might be felt across the borders, but, overall, in Catherine’s eyes, the map was now drawn for the years to come.
Amidst all this diplomatic intrigue, her advisers clashed, making proposals and counter-proposals, haggling, arguing and reconciling. Since joining the Supreme Privy Council, Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein had distinguished himself by the boldness of his demands. His need to regain possession of the territories that once belonged to his family had turned into an obsession. He viewed all the history of the globe through that of the tiny duchy that he claimed was still his prerogative. Aggravated by his continual claims, Catherine finally made an official request to the King of Denmark to return Schleswig to her son-in-law, the Grand Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Encountering a categorical refusal on behalf of the Danish sovereign, Frederick IV, she called upon the friendship of Austria and obtained its support for the gadfly Charles Frederick’s claims to that parcel of land that, so recently, had been part of his heritage and that he so shamefully had been deprived of by the treaties of Stockholm and Frederiksborg. England then weighed in, making this imbroglio all the more delicate.
The more vexing these knotty foreign affairs issues became, the more the tsarina resorted to her favorite solace, drink. But, far from relieving her torment, the excesses at the table began to undermine her health. She stayed up partying until nine o’clock in the morning and collapsed, drunk dead, on her bed, in the arms of a partner whom she hardly recognized. The reverberations of this disorderly existence dismayed her entourage. The courtiers began to murmur among themselves, predicting the destruction of the
«24»
Catherine’s Reign: A Flash of Flamboyance monarchy.
As if the sempiternal gossip were not enough to poison the atmosphere at the palace, now people began talking again about that imp of a grandson of Peter the Great, whom they insisted had been wrongfully shunted aside. Issue of the unfortunate Alexis, who had paid with his life for having the audacity to oppose the policies of “The Reformer,” he was staggered to learn that his name had cropped up in the debates over the succession. The innocent’s adversaries maintained that he must share the paternal forfeiture and that he was permanently excluded from the prerogatives of the dynasty. But others claimed that his rights to the crown were inalienable and that he was very much in a position to mount the throne… under the tutelage of his close relations. His partisans were recruited primarily among the old stock nobility and the members of the provincial clergy.
Here and there, spontaneous uprisings were beginning to be seen in the countryside. Nothing serious, yet: timid gatherings in front of churches, secret meetings at the end of mass, the name of young Peter proclaimed by the crowds during festivals on his name day. Chancellor Ostermann, seeking to defuse the threat of a coup d’etat, suggested marrying the tsarevich (who was not yet 12 years old) to his aunt Elizabeth, aged 17. No one bothered to consider whether that arrangement would suit the interested parties. Even Catherine, usually so sensitive to the inclinations of the heart, did not stop to ask herself what kind of future might await the couple that, at her initiative, would be formed by a scarcely pubescent boy and a young woman already going to seed. However, while the age difference hardly struck the unrepentant matchmakers as an insurmountable obstacle, they recognized that the Church was likely to oppose this consanguineous union. After long discussions, the idea was put aside. Moreover, Menshikov had a better suggestion. With self-serving audacity, he now
«25»
Terrible Tsarinas suggested having tsarevich Peter marry not Elizabeth, but his own daughter, Maria Alexandrovna, who - according to him - combined beauty of the soul and that of the body. If he married her, Peter would be the happiest of men.
Admittedly, since 1721 she had been promised to Peter Sapieha, palatine of Smolensk, and she was said to be madly in love with her fiance. But that detail did not stop Catherine. If everyone’s feelings were taken into account before asking for the blessing of a priest, no one would ever marry anybody! The tsarina abruptly decided to break the engagement of these turtle doves, since it stood in the way of her wishes, and to marry the tsarevich Peter Alexeyevich and the young Maria Alexandrovna Menshikov.
In compensation, Peter Sapieha would be offered one of Her Majesty’s great-nieces, Sophia Skavronska. Meanwhile, moreover, Sapieha had been admitted to the very accessible bed of Catherine, on several occasions, and she was thus able to verify the virile qualities of the man she intended for her young relative. Sapieha, who knew how to get along in life, did not protest against the switch in fiancees; Catherine and Menshikov were pleased to think they had settled the matter so handily. Only the unfortunate Maria Alexandrovna was left to cry over her lost love and to curse her rival, Sophia Skavronska.
At the other end of the business, Anna and her husband, Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein, were equally dismayed by the possibility of a marriage that, under the pretext of promoting the interests of Peter Alexeyevich, would in fact serve to reinforce the hegemony of his future father-in-law, Menshikov, and would put even more dis tance between the throne and Peter the Great’s two daughters. Considering themselves to have been sacrificed, but for different reasons, Anna and Elizabeth threw themselves at their mother’s feet and begged her to give up the idea of this scandalous engagement that, all things considered, was satisfactory
«26»
Catherine’s Reign: A Flash of Flamboyance only to the instigator, the devious Menshikov. His sworn enemy, Count Tolstoy, supported them in their recriminations; he was enraged at the notion that he would see his direct competitor institutionalizing his authority by marrying his daughter to the heir to the Russian crown. Catherine appeared to be disturbed by this chorus of lamentations, and promised to think things over; she dismissed everyone without having made the least decision nor having made the least promise.
Time went by and Anna’s and Elizabeth’s consternation grew greater by the day, while Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein found less and less tolerable the arrogance shown by Menshikov, who felt sure of his imminent victory. People in the city were already talking, openly, about the impending marriage of the tsarevich with the noble and beautiful young lady, Maria Menshikov.
And quietly, they were saying that the father of the intended had received fabulous sums from various people who were anxious to secure his protection in the years to come. Some, however, remembered that just a few months before, following a temporary illness, the worried tsarina had implied that after her death it was her younger daughter, Elizabeth, who should inherit the crown.
This wish now seemed to have been forgotten completely. Elizabeth was upset by her mother’s apparent repudiation but, being of a reserved nature, she forbore to counterattack. Her brother-inlaw Duke Charles Frederick was less accommodating. Although the cause appeared desperate, he intended to fight to the end for Anna and himself. Come what may, he wanted to extract from his mother-in-law a will in favor of his wife.
However, by now Catherine was too weak to entertain such an unsettling discussion. Secluded in her apartments in the Winter Palace, she had difficulty speaking and even putting together her thoughts. Behind her
