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Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power, by Virginia Rounding
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Dutiful daughter, frustrated wife, passionate lover, domineering mother, doting grandmother, devoted friend, tireless legislator, generous patron of artists and philosophers--the Empress Catherine II, the Great, was all these things, and more. Her reign, the longest in Russian Imperial history, lasted from 1762 until her death in 1796; during those years she built on the work begun by her most famous predecessor, Peter the Great, to establish Russia as a major European power and to transform its new capital, St Petersburg, into a city to rival Paris and London in the beauty of its architecture, the glittering splendor of its Court and the magnificence of its art collections. Yet the great Catherine was not even Russian by birth and had no legitimate claim to the Russian throne; she seized it and held on to it, through wars, rebellions and plagues, by the force of her personality, by her charm and determination, and by an unshakable belief in her own destiny.
This is the story of Catherine the woman, whom power alone could never satisfy, for she also wanted love, affection, friendship and humor. She found these in letter-writing, in grandchildren, in gardens, architecture and greyhounds--as well as in a succession of lovers which gave rise to salacious rumors throughout Europe. The real Catherine, however, was more interesting than any rumor.
Using many of Catherine's own words from her voluminous correspondence and other documents, as well as contemporary accounts by courtiers, ambassadors and foreign visitors, Virginia Rounding penetrates the character of this most powerful, fascinating and surprisingly sympathetic of eighteenth-century women.
- Sales Rank: #1898624 in Books
- Brand: St Martins Press
- Published on: 2007-02-06
- Released on: 2007-02-06
- Ingredients: Example Ingredients
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.58" h x 1.80" w x 6.45" l, 1.98 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 592 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This lengthy biography of Russia's greatest female ruler is by no means as salacious as the subtitle suggests, but this sympathetic portrayal certainly focuses on Catherine's private life. British scholar Rounding (Les Grandes Horizontales) relies on memoirs, private letters and previous monographs as she details how, after dissolution of the unhappy marriage that brought Catherine (1729–1798) to Russia from Germany, the empress juggled her relationships with men as she attempted to thrust Russia into the modern era and make it a European power. Indeed, Rounding offers an intriguing (and partially convincing) thesis that Catherine was most effective as a ruler when she was satisfied in her private life. That life was never dull: Catherine's final lover was 40 years her junior, helping to give rise to wild but untrue rumors about her sexual appetite. Rounding's prose matches the excitement of its subject, with vivid portrayals of the late 18th-century Russian court and the machinations of Catherine and those around her. Readers looking for more scholarly and analytical treatments of Catherine's policies and Russia during this time might want to look at biographies by Isabel de Madariaga and John T. Alexander, but Rounding's work will appeal to Catherine-philes and those interested in women's history. 16 pages of color photos. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“An engrossing bio . . . Is it possible Sofia Coppola picked the wrong historical heroine?” ---Entertainment Weekly (Grade: A)
“The book is so readable because it brings Catherine alive, and not least in her relations with the men she drew to her side.” ---Foreign Affairs
“An attractive account of the reign of a most remarkable woman . . . Strongly recommended.” ---Library Journal
“A great thumping triumph of a book.” ---London Telegraph (UK)
About the Author
Virginia Rounding is a translator and writer who lives in London. She studied Russian ar the University of London and visits St. Petersburg regularly.
Most helpful customer reviews
29 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
One of Russia's most powerful rulers -- who wasn't even Russian.
By Rebecca Huston
It's one of those surprises of history that one of Russia's most effective rulers was a woman, and not Russian at all. The Russian Empire after the death of Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century became a 'winner-take-all, free-for-all' between various descendants of his. By the time that the daughter of Peter, Elizabeth Petrovna, seized power and imprisoned the infant Ivan VI in a remote fortress, there were only two claimants to the Romanov crown left -- herself, and her nephew, a teenager named Peter. Clearly, the best solution to further palace coups and possible uprisings was to establish a clear line of succession.
A bride must be found and as quickly as possible. A Roman Catholic would not be acceptable, but a German Protestant princess who would not mind converting to Russian Orthodoxy just might work. And for one princess in particular, Empress Elizabeth had a soft-spot in her heart. Once, Elizabeth had been engaged to a German prince, but when he had died, the marriage did not happen. This princeling, however, had a sister -- Johanna, who in turn married the prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, and she had a daughter who was just a year younger than Grand Duke Peter.
Sophie Fredericka Auguste was a lively, intelligent teenager when she arrived in Russia with her mother for a closer look by the Empress. She wasn't exactly pretty, but she had a pair of beautiful dark blue eyes, a quick mind, and a willingness to please. Both the Empress and the Grand Duke liked what they saw, and after some careful negotiations, Sophie converted to Orthodoxy, and became Catherine Alexeyevna, and married Peter. The one problem was Johanna, who kept trying to steal the show from her daughter, dabbled in political machinations, and quite nearly ruined it all for her daughter before being returned to Germany.
But married life wasn't that easy for young Catherine. Not only did she have to deal with Empress Elizabeth's whims and capricious nature, her husband Peter was less than ideal as a spouse. For one, he wasn't that eager to consummate the marriage, prefering to scrape away at his violin, and indulging his whims for playing with soldiers, both toy and real ones. Indeed, as years passed, Catherine found herself in a very unenviable state -- no heir, and an ever irritated Empress, along with a husband who cared nothing for her.
There was really only one solution -- Catherine focused her mind on educating herself in politics and Russia, determined to become entirely Russian, and cutting off her homeland. She also used every scrap of charm and intelligence that she had, slowly gathering a coterie of supporters and finally managing to get her husband to make the marriage a reality. But that didn't mean the battle was over -- both of her infant children, Paul and Anna, were taken away from her and raised by Empress Elizabeth, and Grand Duke Peter started to consider divorcing Catherine. Finally, when Peter became Tsar, Catherine knew she had to act to save herself.
How she took power for herself, and then managed to keep it despite attempted revolts, various pretenders, war with the Ottoman empire, and still managed to be an object of admiration for the time, well, that's what makes this biography so interesting to read. Rounding takes not a political, nor exactly a chronological, look at Catherine the Great's life, but a personal one. Using Catherine's own memoirs and letters, along with the contemporary accounts of those in her life, she gives a very personal look at a powerful woman, who wasn't afraid of taking very big bites of life.
Her passions ranged from her lovers -- Gregory Orlov and Potemkin among them, to the arts -- the Hermitage, one of the most fabulous collections of art in the world, to the palaces of St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo are mostly her creation and inspiration. But as well as her enjoyment of the arts, there was also a very ruthless side to the Empress. She may or may not have had a hand in the murder of her husband after his abdication -- how much Catherine was involved is still a question today, and she would discard a lover with a 'customary' present of land, serfs, and fine gifts, with the unspoken understanding that the affair was over.
But throughout the story I also got to see some of the personality and vibrancy of Catherine II through her letters and descriptions of her life. One surprise was the relationship that she had with her son, who would become Tsar Paul -- while there isn't much of a maternal love there, she was genuinely interested in what he was doing, and never did seem to wish him hard. On the other hand, she took physical and emotional charge of his two eldest children, Alexander and Constantine, in much the same way that Empress Elizabeth had taken Paul away from her.
Rounding's narrative is full of life and insight, and compared to most dusty and dry biographies, this one satisfies on several levels. I can happily recommend it for anyone interested in either Russian history, or how a woman in what was very much a man's world, managed to become one of its most powerful leaders. And yes, the horse myth is finally put to rest, and I hope, for good.
As well as two inserts of colour photos, there are extensive notes, bibliographies, sources and index to help in further research. A genealogical chart helps to sort out the complicated relationships of the Russian rulers in the eighteenth century. The images are particularly fine in this one, and have several paintings that I have not seen reproduced elsewhere.
Recommended.
37 of 43 people found the following review helpful.
A colorful and in-depth look at Catherine the Great
By Bookreporter
The confluence of sex and power politics goes back at least to ancient Egypt. It is doubtful, however, that it was ever practiced more openly or with more decisive results than during the reign of Catherine II (Catherine the Great) over the Russian empire.
In this book Virginia Rounding has tried gamely to balance the two forces by concentrating on Catherine herself and the small army of friends and foes who surrounded her during her reign from 1762 until her death in 1796. It is a long and complex story, told here in exhaustive detail. Rounding freely admits that history has yet to reach a final consensus on Catherine. She lays out the evidence for 500-plus pages, concluding rather tentatively in her very last sentence that her subject does indeed deserve the honorific "Great." But it is, as Britisher Rounding might say, a near thing.
On the plus side, Catherine was a shrewd and resourceful ruler who introduced badly needed reforms into her empire's governmental structure and educational system. She fostered the arts as one of history's great collectors of paintings. She introduced the practice of inoculation against disease into Russian medical practice, corresponded with Voltaire and had the French encyclopediste philosopher Denis Diderot as one of her conversational partners. She had an enlightened attitude on the need to keep religion and politics separate. She was a wit, a fine writer and a canny judge of character. Her subjects in general loved her, and those who did not had the good sense to watch their backs.
But behind all this there lay a compulsive sexual adventurer, unfaithful wife and shameless player of boudoir politics. Rounding lists a round dozen of men who served successively (and openly) as her "favorites." She was at least aware of, if not directly complicit in, the murder of her first husband, and she took great pleasure in ruling arbitrarily the lives of her own family and those in her inner circle of advisors.
Rounding's book gets off to a ponderous start. Up to the time when Catherine becomes empress --- about one-third of the way through the book --- it is a hard slog for the reader, choked with exhaustive and unnecessary detail about court ceremonials, royal pilgrimages and amusements. We learn how many footmen were involved in every trip, what everyone wore and where they stood when in the royal presence. Perhaps Rounding is influenced by her own country's longstanding fascination with such details --- but here the narrative is slowed down unnecessarily.
When the German-born princess finally does ascend the throne, the pace quickens as affairs of state crowd onstage and the parade of royal lovers begins to defile past. Of the dozen "favorites," two seem to have had lasting influence on Catherine's policies as well as on her sexual life. Count Grigory Orlov remained a valued advisor and operative for many years after he left her bed; and the best known of them all was the famous Grigory Potemkin, on whom she depended for political advice until the day he died. And each "favorite," upon dismissal, was handsomely rewarded with gifts of estates, jewels and serfs by the thousands.
For the general reader, the most surprising revelation is this: The story of Potemkin erecting false villages along the Dnieper River to trick Catherine into believing that all was well with the peasantry --- the exploit that gave us the still-current phrase "Potemkin village" --- is a myth. Rounding dismisses it with a contemptuous wave of her literary hand.
The process of choosing these "favorites" was very public. Foreign diplomats commented on it at length in their dispatches, speculating on what the ascendancy of one or the other might mean for Russian policy. Rounding makes gleeful use of the comments on such matters by a succession of British, French and other diplomats.
The author threads her way through the vast complex corridors of Russian Tsarist power with practiced ease and often points out parallels to later ages --- she reports that Catherine was, among other things, a master of "spin."
You will learn more than you need to know about a lot of trivial aspects of Catherine the Great's world in this book. But the story itself and its wildly colorful cast of characters are worth following to the end.
--- Reviewed by Robert Finn (Robertfinn@aol.com)
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
A Most Amazing Woman
By John Matlock
One of the more interesting characters in history, Catherine engineered a coup in 1762 that put her on the throne of Russia as she replaced her husband. From here she would rule Russia until her death, 34 years later. Her political accomplishments during those years are spactacular: wars fought and won, reorienting Russia from Asia to Europe, extending Russia's borders, expanding education and the arts.
At the same time her bedroom exploits became legendary around Europe. She had a succession of lovers that also seemed to serve as political advisors. It seems that these lovers were selected by Catherine based on the recommendations of members of the court. It is important to remember that this was a time when in most of the world women were basically considered chattels.
This is a well researched book on a subject that provides a balanced look at Catherine, chronicling her strengths as well as her weaknesses. Her conclusion is that the soubriquet 'the Great' is justified.
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