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RUSSIA - CATHERINE I

(1725-05/17/1727)

Catherine was born around 1684 in Livonia. She comes from a modest background and in 1701 married a dragoon of Charles XII, King of Sweden. In 1702, during the capture of Marienbourg, she was taken prisoner by the Russians and became the mistress of Menshikov and then of Tsar Peter the Great. She was crowned Empress in 1724 and succeeded Peter the Great the following year. She died in Saint Petersburg on May 17, 1727.