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* CATHARINE II. 334 CATHARINE OF ARAGON. about the three partitions of Poland (1772, 179.S, and 1705). This was only one of the steps whieli enabled Catharine to aecomplish one of her chief ambitions — to bring Russia into direct contact with the Western world. She was in- deed the truest heir to the policy of Peter the Great, in its j;(K)d and its evil. The war with Turkey (1708-1774) impressed Europe with the power of Russia, and brought increase of terri- tory, the Crimea, etc., and the free navigation of the Black and ilediterrauean seas. With all her defects of character, Catharine was one of the most remarkable rulers of modern times. Her boundless ambition and tireless ener- gy served chiefly one aim — that of developing all the resources of Russia and transforming it into the most powerful and most splendid State of Europe. During the first twelve years of her reign, while under the influence of Orloff, her activity wa.s almost wholly beneficent. She con- voked representatives of all the provinces at ^Moscow, to discuss plans for reforming the ad- ministration of justice, and as a result completely reorganized the laws of the Empire. She en- couraged immigration, introduced inoculation for smallpox, and other sanitary measures, estab- lished elementary schools in all the cities and many small towns, founded institutions of learn- ing, military and naval schools and hospitals, built canals and fortresses, and sent Russian scholars and artists abroad, to profit bj' foreign example. The principal defect of her methods lay in her seeking to adapt to the government of a half-eivili/.ed country like Russia the prin- ciples derived from her study of French models. She invariably turned to French thinkers as her source of ins]iiration and was flattered by their applause. She corresponded with Voltaire and invited him to her Court; patronized Diderot, who lived some time in Saint Petersburg: asked D'Alembert to complete the Enci/clopcdie there; made Grimm licr literary agent in Paris; trans- lated Marmontel's IWIisiiire into Russian, and in reorganizing the laws of the Empire took ^lontes- quieu as her model. Her foreign policy, fantas- tic as to her dream of expelling the Turks from Europe and founding a new Byzantine empire imder a i)rince of her house, bore substantial fruit in securing for Russia the lion's share in the pai'titions of Poland, in humbling the Turks, annexing the Crimea and Courland, and extend- ing the boundaries of Russia to the Dniester. During the early part of her reign she was called upon to frustrate the plots to jilace on the throne Ivan, son of Anna Carlovna, and, later, to suppress the formidable revolt, in the Volga region, of the Cossaek PugatchefT, a pseudo-Peter (1771-74) who had enlisted the support of the jieasantr.v and the extreme orthodox party. To- ward the end of her reign her extravagance and the corruption of her Court brought her into discredit in Russia, as well as anujug the sov- ereigns of Europe. The progress of the French Revolution elieeked her ardor for reform accord- ing to Frencli models, and she linally prohibited the publication of French works in Russia. She died of an attack of apoplexy in Xovember, 1706. Consult t Memoirs of the Emprois Catharine II., translated from the French (New York, 1850) ; Bury. Catharine II. (New York, 1000) : Castera. Histoire de Catherine II., in two English trans- lations, by Tooke (London, 1708). and by Hun- ter (London, 1800) ; DashkolV, Memoirs of the I'rinecss Daschkaw (London, 1840) ; K. Walis- zewski, The Itomanee of an Kinpress: Catharine II. of Russia (London, 1894) ; Bilbasotl', Oeschichte Katharina II., translated from the Russian (Berlin, 1803) ; Briickner. Katharine die Ziceile, Oncken series (Berlin, 1883). A good bibliography is contained in Lavisse and Ram- baud, Histoire i/rneriilr, Vol. Vll. (Paris, 180(>). CATHARINE DE' MEDICI, da ma'di-che (1510-80). Queen of Henry 11. of France. She ■was the daught<>r of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and was born in Florence in 1510. In 1533 she married Henry, second son ol Francis I. of France. The death of her uncle, Pope Clement VII., who had arranged the mar- riage, left her without a powerful friend, but her submissive conduct won the favor of Francis, and in some measure that of her husband, who became King in 15-17. She was the mother of four sons, of whom three became kings of France; and with the accession of the eldest, Francis II., in 1559, the Queen-mother asserted herself in the Government. On the death of Francis II., in 1500, and the accession of Charles IX., the Government fell entirely into her hands. Her political principles were the selfish ones which obtained at the petty courts of Italy in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries. She made a league with the Huguenots to overthrow the Guises (q.v.), and wlien this attempt failed, and the civil war which ensued ended in the Peace of Amboise, highly favorable to the Prot- estants, she became alarmed at the increase of their power, and entered into a secret treaty with Spain for the extirpation of heretics. Sub- sequently she entered into a plot with the Guises, in which at first only the murder of the Prot- estant leaders was contemplated, but which re- sulted in the fearful uiassacie of Saint Bartholo- mew. (See B.RTIluLO.l^;w■s..lA.s^sACRE ofS.ixt.) The Queen-mother boasted of tliis deed to the Roman Catholic governments, and palliated it to Protestants, for she now managed all the correspondence of the Court. About this time she succeeded, by gold and intrigues, in having her third son, afterwards Henry III., elected to the Polish throne (1573). Her arbitrary ad- ministration roused the opposition of a party among the Catholics, headed by her fotirth son, the Duke of Alcn<;on, who allied themselves with the Protestants. It was very generally Iielieved that she contributed to Alen(on's death. After the accession of Henry 111., Catharine continued to be the power behind the throne, the mainspring of all intrigues. The treachery of Catharine and her sons toward all who trusted them alien- ated all parties, and she died, .Januan' 5. 1580, friendless and unmounied, at the Castle of Blois. Her control had done much toward the demorali- zation of Franci'. Consult: l.illrc.s dr Catherine de Medieis (Paris, 1880-01) : lialzac. tabella,