Editing Catherine I of Russia (section)

==Life as a servant==
Only uncertain and contradictory information is available about her early life. Said to have been born on 15 April 1684 ([[Old Style|o.s.]] 5 April),<ref name="Britannica"/> she was originally named Marta Helena Skowrońska. Marta was the daughter of Samuel Skowroński (also spelled ''Samuil Skavronsky''), a [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] farmer from the eastern parts of the former [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], his parents were born in the area of [[Minsk]] (now [[Belarus]]). In 1680, he married Dorothea Hahn at Jakobstadt (now [[Jēkabpils]], [[Latvia]]). Her mother is named in at least one source as Elizabeth Moritz, a daughter of a [[Baltic Germans|Baltic German]] woman, and there is debate as to whether Moritz's father was a Swedish officer. It is likely that two stories were conflated, and Swedish sources suggest that the Elizabeth Moritz story is probably incorrect. Some biographies state that Marta's father was a gravedigger and handyman, while others speculate that he was a runaway landless serf.

Marta's parents died during a [[Great Plague of Vienna|plague epidemic]] around 1689, leaving five children. According to one popular version of the story, at the age of three Marta was taken by an aunt and sent to Marienburg, [[Swedish Livonia]] (now [[Alūksne]], Latvia) where she was raised by [[Johann Ernst Glück]], a [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] [[pastor]] and [[Bible translations|Bible translator]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=National treasure: The first Bible in Latvian|url=https://eng.lsm.lv/article/culture/culture/national-treasure-the-first-bible-in-latvian.a197713/|access-date=2020-09-15|website=eng.lsm.lv|language=en}}</ref> According to some sources, she served in the Glück household as a lowly servant, scullery maid and washerwoman.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=131}} No effort was made to teach her to read and write and she remained [[functional illiteracy|functionally illiterate]] throughout her life.

Marta was considered a very beautiful young girl, and there are accounts that Glück's wife became fearful that she would become involved with their son. After the outbreak of the [[Great Northern War]] (1700–1721), at the age of 17, she was married off to a [[Sweden|Swedish]] [[dragoon]], Johan Cruse or Johann Rabbe, with whom she remained for eight days in 1702, at which point the Swedish troops were withdrawn from Marienburg. When Russian forces captured the town, Pastor Glück offered to work as a translator, and [[Field Marshal]] [[Boris Sheremetev]] agreed to his proposal and took him to Moscow.

There are unsubstantiated stories that Marta worked briefly in the laundry of the victorious regiment, and also that she was presented in her undergarments to Brigadier General [[Rudolph Felix Bauer]] to be his mistress. She may have worked in the household of his superior, Sheremetev. She travelled back to the Russian court with Sheremetev's army.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=131}}

Afterwards she became part of the household of [[Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov|Alexander Menshikov]], who was the best friend of the then [[Tsar of all Russia|Tsar]] [[Peter the Great|Peter I]]. Anecdotal sources suggest that she was purchased by Menshikov. Whether the two of them were lovers is disputed, as at the time Count Menshikov was already engaged to his future wife. It is evident however that Menshikov and Marta formed a lifetime political alliance. 

It is possible that Menshikov, who was quite jealous of the tsar's attentions and knew his tastes, wanted to procure a mistress on whom he could rely. In 1703, while visiting Count Menshikov at his home, Tsar Peter I met Marta.{{Citation needed|date=March 2015}} By 1704, she was already well established in the tsar's household as his mistress, and gave birth to a son, Peter.{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=135}} In 1703,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catherine-I |title=Catherine I empress of Russia |website=Britannica |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=28 January 2022}}</ref> she converted to [[Russian Orthodox Church|Orthodoxy]] and took the new name Catherine Alexeyevna (''Yekaterina Alexeyevna'').{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=131}} She and Darya Menshikova accompanied Tsar Peter I and Prince Menshikov on their military excursions.