HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 107

C

calendar
For many centuries Russians used a calendar that
began the year on September 1 and counted time
from 5509 B . C . E ., the year that Orthodox theolo-
gians considered marked the beginning of the
world. In 1700 PETER I decreed the adoption of
the Western system of year numbering, with the
New Year beginning on January 1, 1700. How-
ever, the Western calendar Russians adopted was
not the Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope
Gregory XIII in 1582, but the Julian calendar,
first introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 B . C . E ., and
since abandoned in the West. It seems that the
main reason Russia adopted the Julian and not
the improved Gregorian calendar was deep-
seated animosity toward the papacy. Russia's use
of the Julian calendar caused great confusion in
comparing Russian and Western dates. During
the 17th century, the Russian calendar lagged 10
days behind the Gregorian calendar. In each suc-
cessive century, the Russian calendar fell yet
another day behind, so that Russian dates lagged
11 days behind the Gregorian system in the 18th
century, 12 days in the 19th century, and 13 days
in the 20th century. On January 26, 1918, the
Soviet government announced that Russia
would adopt the Gregorian calendar on February
1, 1918, which then became February 14 in the
Gregorian style. In dating the events of the Rus-
sian past, historians often indicate dates in the
Gregorian style as “New Style” (N.S.) and in the
Julian as “Old Style” (O.S.). A revolutionary cal-
endar, reminiscent of the French revolutionary
calendar, that replaced weeks with periods of five
numbered days and reckoned years from 1917
was devised in 1929 but never used.

Catherine I (1684-1727)
empress
The second wife of PETER I the Great and empress
of Russia from 1725 to 1727, Catherine was
born Marfa Skovronskaia, the daughter of a
Lithuanian peasant. A few details are known
about her youth: she worked as a servant, mar-
ried a Swedish soldier, and eventually became
part of the household of Prince Alexander MEN -
SHIKOV , Peter's close collaborator. In 1703 she
joined the Orthodox Church and was rechris-
tened Ekaterina (Catherine) Alekseevna. She
met Peter in Menshikov's household and the
two became lovers, with Catherine often accom-
panying Peter in his military campaigns. The two
were officially married in 1712, although some
historians refer to a private marriage in 1707.
Peter and Catherine had several children, but
only two daughters, Anna and ELIZABETH , sur-
vived beyond an early age. In 1722, Peter
changed the succession law to allow the ruler to
name his or her successor, but he never named
a successor. In 1724, however, Catherine was
crowned empress consort but not named heir
to the throne. The following year, however,
after Peter's death, she was named empress
with the support of the new power brokers
such as Menshikov and the Imperial Guard's
regiments created by Peter. Her reign, domi-
nated by Menshikov, was brief and relatively
uneventful, except for the creation of the
Supreme Privy Council in February 1726. The
council, composed of Menshikov and five other
prominent nobles, was designed to deal with
“matters of exceptional importance,” in effect
creating a group of associates to the monarch.