Terrible Tsarinas

charges of counterfeit, decided not to push their luck any further.

That was the end of it for Catherine; there was no more talk of

giving her a throne. Just as she was poised to take her seat, it was

whisked out from under her. Pressing his advantage, Dmitri

Golitsyn declared that in the absence of a male successor directly

descended from Peter the Great, the Supreme Privy Council

should turn to the offspring of the elder branch and offer the

crown to one of the children of Peter I’s brother Ivan V (known as

“the Simple”; although sickly and indolent, he had been “co-tsar”

with Peter the Great during the five years when their sister

Sophia had served as regent).

But, as luck would have it, Ivan V had produced only female

progeny. So that even in that case, they would have to accept a

woman ruler for Russia. Wasn’t that dangerous? Another harsh

debate broke out over the advantages and disadvantages of a

“gynocracy.” Admittedly, Catherine I had recently proven that a

woman can be courageous, determined and clear-minded when

circumstances require. However, as everyone knows, “that sex” is

slave to the senses. Thus a female sovereign would be likely to

sacrifice the grandeur of the fatherland for the pleasures dis-

pensed by her lover. Those who supported this thesis bolstered it

by citing Menshikov who, they pointed out, had led Catherine by

the nose. But wouldn’t a tsar be as weak as the tsarina had been

in the hands of the Most Serene, if he had a lover who was as

adept and skilful at both loving and intrigues? Didn’t Peter II

himself demonstrate complete abdication of authority under the

wiles of female seduction? So that what mattered, when it came

to choosing whom to place on the throne, was not the gender per

< 64 >

The Surprise Accession of Anna Ivanovna

se so much as the character of the individual in whom the country

was placing its confidence. Under these conditions, asserted

Dmitri Golitsyn, a matriarchy would be entirely acceptable, pro-

vided that the individual being offered such an honor was worthy

to assume it.

This principle having been accepted by everyone present, he

went on to consider the remaining candidates. From the very be-

ginning, he brushed aside the absurd idea of installing Elizabeth

Petrovna, Peter II’s aunt, since in his opinion she would have

given up the succession implicitly by leaving the capital to live as

a recluse in the countryside, bad-mouthing all her relatives and

complaining about everything. All three daughters of Ivan V

seemed more promising, to him, than this daughter of Peter the

Great. However, the eldest, Catherine Ivanovna, was known for

her strange moods and crotchety temperament. Moreover her

husband, Prince Charles Leopold of Mecklenburg, was a nervous

and unstable man, an eternal rebel, always ready to fight — be it

against his neighbors or his subjects. The fact that Catherine

Ivanovna had lived apart from him for ten years was not a suffi-

cient guarantee for, if she were proclaimed empress, he would re-

turn to her at a gallop and would never stop dragging the country

into costly and useless wars. The youngest, Praskovya Ivanovna,

rickety and scrofulous, had neither the health, the clear thinking,

nor the moral balance required to manage public affairs. That left

the second, Anna Ivanovna. She admitted to being 37 years old,

and seemed to have plenty of energy. Widowed since 1711 by Fre-

derick William, Duke of Courland, she was still living in Annen-

hof, near Mitau, in dignity and destitution. She had failed to

marry Maurice of Saxony, but had recently become enamored of a

small landed proprietor in Courland, Johann-Ernest Bühren. Dur-

ing his presentation, Dmitri Golitsyn glossed over this detail and

promised that, in any event, if the Supreme Council required it,

< 65 >

Terrible Tsarinas

she would drop her lover without regret and come running back

to Russia.

This suggestion seemed to be convincing. Golitsyn then

pressed his point, saying, “We agree on Anna Ivanovna. But we

should trim her wings a bit!” Golitsyn had in mind subtly reduc-

ing the ruler’s powers and extending those of the Supreme Privy

Council; everyone agreed. The representatives of Russia’s oldest

families, brought together in a conclave, saw this initiative as a

God-sent occasion to reinforce the political influence of the old-

stock nobility vis-à-vis the hereditary monarchy and its temporary

servants. By this juggling act, they could relieve Her Majesty of a

share of the crown, even while pretending to help her adjust it on

her head. After a succession of Byzantine discussions, the initia-

tors of this idea agreed that Anna Ivanovna should be recognized

as tsarina, but that her prerogative should be limited by a series of

conditions to which she must subscribe beforehand.

Upstairs, the members of the Supreme Privy Council re-

moved to the grand salon in the palace, where a multitude of civil,

military and ecclesiastical dignitaries awaited the results of their