TCV Roundtable Blog

100 Greatest Women On Coins Series: Empress Catherine I of Russia

Not all stories of princesses, queens, and empresses are the same. The “how they came to be” tales are not always as glamorous as it may seem. That is certainly the case with this next woman in our blog series covering Whitman Publishing’s 100 Greatest Women on Coins series. Despite the end of her story appearing to have worked out, the beginning was rough and tumultuous. Author Ron Guth will help us understand this a little more.

#92 – Empress Catherine I of Russia

Born Marta Elena Skavronska in the early 1680s, she was the daughter of a gravedigger from the province of Livonia in Sweden. Her mother’s name is unknown. Her father died of the plague when she was just two years old, and her mother died the same way the following year. She was left to be raised by her aunt and uncle. By 1702, she was engaged to be married to a young...read more