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’état, 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 par-
ties. 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. How-
ever, 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. Af-
ter long discussions, the idea was put aside. Moreover, Menshi-
kov had a better suggestion. With self-serving audacity, he now
< 25 >
suggested having tsarevich Peter marry not Elizabeth, but his own
daughter, Maria Alexandrovna, who — according to him — com-
bined 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 Sa-
pieha, palatine of Smolensk, and she was said to be madly in love
with her fiancé. But that detail did not stop Catherine. If every-
one’s feelings were taken into account before asking for the bless-
ing 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 Maj-
esty’s great-nieces, Sophia Skavronska. Meanwhile, moreover,
Sapieha had been admitted to the very accessible bed of Cath-
erine, on several occasions, and she was thus able to verify the vir-
ile qualities of the man she intended for her young relative. Sa-
pieha, who knew how to get along in life, did not protest against
the switch in fiancées; 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 distance 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 scan-
dalous engagement that, all things considered, was satisfactory
< 26 >
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 in-
stitutionalizing 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 al-
ready talking, openly, about the impending marriage of the tsare-
vich 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, re-
membered 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. Eliza-
beth was upset by her mother’s apparent repudiation but, being of
a reserved nature, she forbore to counterattack. Her brother-in-
law 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
