Catherine I of Russia wife. It is clear that Menshikov and Marta formed a lifetime alliance. It is possible that Menshikov, who was quite jealous of Peter's attentions and knew his tastes, wanted to procure a mistress on whom he could rely. In any case, in 1703, while visiting Menshikov at his home, Peter met Marta. In 1704, she was well established in the Tsar's household as his mistress, and gave birth to a son, Peter. In 1705, she converted to Orthodoxy and took the new name of Catherine Alexeyevna ("Yekaterina Alexeyevna"). She and Darya Menshikova accompanied Peter and Menshikov on their military excursions.
Great Russia Great Russia Great Russia, sometimes Great Rus' (, , , , , ), is an obsolete name formerly applied to the territories of "Russia proper", the land that formed the core of Muscovy and later Russia. This was the land to which the ethnic Russians were native and where the ethnogenesis of (Great) Russians took place. The name is said to have come from the Greek , used by Byzantines for the northern part of the lands of Rus'. From 1654–1721, Russian Tsars adopted the word - their official title included the wording (literal translation): "The Sovereign of all Rus':