Legends of Catherine II of Russia

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The flamboyant and central character of Russian Empress Catherine II of Russia, as well as the dramatic changes the country underwent during her long rule, gave rise to many urban legends, most putting Her Imperial Majesty in an unfavorable light. Some stories were loosely based on true events, others were clearly false. The palace intrigue of her son Paul I of Russia was a fertile ground for such rumors.

Several stories about the circumstances of her death at the age of 67 probably originated soon after. A common story states that Catherine died as a result of her voracious sexual appetite while attempting sexual intercourse with a stallion - supposedly the harness broke and she was crushed. This is a completely untrue story, most likely invented by the French, who were known for hating her.^[1]. The narrative is common even in modern times and most propagators of it fail to realize (or consciously ignore) her rather advanced age at the time of her death.

This story coexists with another, less physically impossible but also totally unsubstantiated, tale: that Catherine did engage in a sexual relationship with a stallion, but at a younger age.

Another story, that she died on a toilet when the seat broke under her, is true only in small part: She did collapse in a bathroom from a stroke, but after that she died being cared for in her bed. This tale was widely circulated and even jokingly referred to by Pushkin in one of his untitled poems. ("Наказ писала, флоты жгла, / И умерла, садясь на судно." — literal translation: "Decreed the orders, burned the fleets / And died boarding a vessel", the last line can also be translated as "And died sitting down on the toilet".)

Rumors of her private life had a large basis in the fact that she took many young lovers, even while in old age. This was not unusual by the court standards of the day, nor was it unusual to use rumor and innuendo of sexual excess politically. One unfavorable rumor was that Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov and her later lovers were chosen by prince Potemkin himself, after the end of the long relationship Catherine had with Potemkin, where he, perhaps, was her morganatic husband. After Mamonov eloped from the 60-year-old Empress with a 16-year-old maid of honour and married her, the embittered Catherine reputedly revenged herself of her rival "by secretly sending policemen disguised as women to whip her in her husband's presence".^[2]

According to some contemporaries close to Catherine, Countess Bruce was prized by her as an "eprouveuse", or "tester of male capacity".^[3] Every potential lover was to spend a night with Bruce before he was admitted into Catherine's personal apartments. Their friendship was cut short when Bruce was found "in an assignment" with Catherine's youthful lover, Rimsky-Korsakov, ancestor of the composer Rimsky-Korsakov; they both later withdrew from the imperial court to Moscow.

A long-surviving story about the Potemkin villages was false, even though it became eponymous. It states that Potemkin built fake settlements with hollow facades to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea and New Russia, the territories Russia conquered under her reign. Modern historians, however, consider this scenario at best an exaggeration, and quite possibly simply malicious rumors spread by Potemkin's opponents.^[4]

[edit] Some other narratives

• Not being a native speaker of Russian, Catherine once mistook the word eщё (/yeshchyo/ - 'more'), consisting of 3 letters, as истчо (/istcho/), consisting of 5 letters, and that allegedly gave rise to a popular Russian joke: how can 5 mistakes occur in eщё? (The letter ё was not widely accepted until the 1940s).
• There are rumors that she was killed on the toilet seat by her servant Eugene Demchuk after she confronted him about his lies and theft.
• After Catherine granted to Kazan's Muslims the right to build mosques, the city's Christian leadership decided that mosques were being built too high – higher than churches. They sent a petition to Catherine asking her to prohibit the construction of high minarets. As the legend goes, Catherine replied that she was the tsarina of the Russian land and that the sky was beyond her jurisdiction.

[edit] References

General

• М. Евгеньева, "Любовники Екатерины." - Москва: Внешторгиздат, 1989 (in Russian, M. Yevgen'yeva, "Lovers of Catherine", Moscow, Vneshtorgizdat, 1989)

Inline

1. ^ Wilde, Robert. Historical Myths: The Death of Catherine the Great. about.com. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.
2. ^ John T. Alexander. Catherine the Great: Life and Legend. Oxford University Press, 1989. Page 222.
3. ^ Arthur Asa Berger. The Art of the Seductress. iUniverse, 2001. Page 70.
4. ^ Adams, Cecil (2003). Did "Potemkin villages" really exist?. The Straight Dope. Retrieved on March 11, 2007.