Elizabeth of Russia

Lore & Background

The second-eldest daughter of Tsar Peter the Great, Elizabeth lived through the confused successions of her father's descendants following her half-brother Alexei's death in 1718. The throne first passed to her mother Catherine I of Russia, then to her nephew Peter II, who died in 1730 and was succeeded by Elizabeth's first cousin Anna. After the brief rule of Anna's infant great-nephew, Ivan VI, Elizabeth seized the throne with the military's support and declared her own nephew, the future Peter III, her heir. During her reign Elizabeth continued the policies of her father and brought about a remarkable Age of Enlightenment in Russia.

Her domestic policies allowed the nobles to gain dominance in local government while shortening their terms of service to the state. She encouraged Mikhail Lomonosov's foundation of the University of Moscow, the highest-ranking Russian educational institution. Her court became one of the most splendid in all Europe, especially regarding architecture: she modernised Russia's roads, encouraged Ivan Shuvalov's foundation of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and financed grandiose Baroque projects of her favourite architect, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, particularly in Peterhof Palace. The Winter Palace and the Smolny Cathedral in Saint Petersburg are among the chief monuments of her reign.

Elizabeth led the Russian Empire during the two major European conflicts of her time: the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748) and the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). She and diplomat Aleksey Bestuzhev-Ryumin solved the first event by forming an alliance with Austria and France, but indirectly caused the second. Russian troops enjoyed several victories against Prussia and briefly occupied Berlin, but when Frederick the Great was finally considering surrender in January 1762, the Russian Empress died. She was the last agnatic member of the House of Romanov to reign over the Russian Empire.

Reader's Guide

Elizabeth was born at Kolomenskoye Palace, near Moscow, Russia, on 18 December 1709 (O.S.). Her parents were Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia and Catherine (later Catherine I of Russia), a washerwoman and housemaid, the daughter of farmer Samuel Skowroński, a subject of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Although no documentary record exists, her parents were said to have married secretly at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Saint Petersburg at some point between 23 October and 1 December 1707. Their official marriage was at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on 9 February 1712.

On this day, the two children previously born to the couple (Anna and Elizabeth) were legitimised by their father and given the title of Tsarevna ('princess') on 6 March 1711. Of the twelve children born to Peter and Catherine (five sons and seven daughters), only the sisters survived to adulthood. They had one older surviving sibling, crown prince, Tsesarevich Alexei Petrovich, who was Peter's son by his first wife, noblewoman Eudoxia Lopukhina.

As a child, Elizabeth was the favourite of her father, whom she resembled both physically and temperamentally. Even though he adored his daughter, Peter did not devote time or attention to her education; having both a son and grandson from his first marriage to a noblewoman, he did not anticipate that a daughter born to his former maid might one day inherit the Russian throne, which had until that point never been occupied by a woman; as such, it was left to Catherine to raise the girls, a task met with considerable difficulty due to her own lack of education. She was illiterate until her early twenties and could not write.

Despite this, Elizabeth was still considered to be a clever girl, if not brilliant, and had a French governess who gave lessons in mathematics, arts, languages, and sports. Elizabeth did not receive a systematic education, and, according to Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Shcherbatov, a publicist of the second half of the 18th century, even in adulthood 'did not know that Great Britain was an island'. Under the guidance of the Jewish scholar Isaak Pavlovich Veselovsky, she thoroughly studied only French and simultaneously developed a beautiful handwriting. It is to Elizabeth's reign that Russian Gallomania is traditionally dated.