Russian Yekaterina Alekseyevna orig. Marta Skowronska
born April 15, 1684
died May 17, 1727, St. Petersburg, Russia
Second wife of Peter I and empress of Russia (1725–27).
A peasant woman of Baltic origin, she became Peter's mistress in 1702. In 1703, after the birth of their first child, she was received into the Russian Orthodox church and rechristened. She married Peter in 1712 and in 1724 was crowned empress-consort. After Peter's death (1725), she served two years as empress of Russia.