Marta of Muscovy

The life of Catherine I , Empress of Russia, was said by Voltaire to be nearly as extraordinary as that of Peter the Great himself. Although there are no documents to confirm the date or place of her birth, it is thought that Marta of Muscovy came from Lithuanian stock and was one of four children of a Catholic peasant, Samuel Skavronski. When her parents died of the plague while she was still a young child, the family scattered and Marta was raised by a Lutheran pastor and educator, Johann...