Did Catherine the Great really have sex with a horse?
It is well overdue that this particular rumour about Russian empress Catherine the Great is sent to the glue factory
More than 200 years after Catherine the Great’s death in 1796 – from a stroke, not bestiality – this ludicrous lie still tends to be the first thing people say about the long-serving Russian empress. In fact, Catherine simply received similar treatment to other powerful women throughout history who have dared to have a sex life.
To this pernicious yet enduring myth, we must say an unequivocal: no. Or should that be neigh?
Did Catherine the Great really have sex with a horse?
No, Catherine the Great did not meet an outrageously lurid death during an attempt at bestiality.
No, she had not rigged up a harness-and-pulley system to hold up a horse up so that she could lie down underneath and force the animal to have sex with her.
And no, the harness did not break, resulting in her being crushed by the falling stallion.
Why was Catherine the Great rumoured to have had sex with a horse?
Today, the Empress of Russia (r1762–96) is widely celebrated for modernising the country and establishing the empire as a global player. She patronised the arts, sciences and literature; encouraged educational reform based on Enlightenment principles; and expanded Russian territory with the annexation of the Crimea and partition of the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
But from the earliest days of her 34-year reign, Catherine fell victim to numerous rumours spread by her enemies, in the imperial court and beyond. Many of her nobles clung to their resentment over how she had come to the throne, and the fact that she was not Russian at all.
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She had been born a Prussian princess named Sophie (she adopted the name Catherine after converting to Russian Orthodox Christianity), who was married off as a teenager to the future tsar. To say the marriage was a failure would be an understatement: just six months into her husband Peter III’s reign, she overthrew him in a coup backed by the army.
Then, when Peter died while in captivity eight days later, the blame – rightly or wrongly, it remains unclear – fell squarely on Catherine.
During her reign, her enemies criticised the empress for being too influenced by the west in her outlook, particularly when it came to the ideals of the French Enlightenment, and for having favourites at court. In fact, the latter inspired the main subject for scurrilous attacks against Catherine: her sex life.
Was Catherine the Great a nymphomaniac?
Painted as a nymphomaniac with an insatiable desire for young men, it was said that Catherine the Great took dozens of lovers and showered them with gifts and privileges – even making one of them, Stanisław August Poniatowski, the king of Poland.
Another claim was that she had a room filled with erotic furniture, including tables with penises for legs and topped with breasts; something that has not been confirmed.
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History has shown that rumours about many powerful women have tended to focus on promiscuity or deviancy. Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Anne Boleyn, the list of notable women criticised for their sexual behaviour goes on.
Catherine did have an active sex life, but misogyny undoubtedly fuelled the attacks on her. These were not just quietly spoken rumours from Russian nobles either, but repeated and erroneous claims made in newspapers around Europe.
One British cartoon, titled An Imperial Stride!, depicted Catherine straddling Russian and Constantinople with a line of rulers underneath looking up her skirt and saying things like, “What a prodigious expansion!” and “The whole Turkish army wouldn’t satisfy her”.
How did Catherine the Great really die?
The horse-based story about Catherine’s demise was especially graphic, however, and especially untrue.
In reality, the history is devoid of salaciousness. Catherine suffered a stroke while in her washroom, fell into a coma and died the next day at the age of 67.
Authors
Jonny Wilkes is a former staff writer for BBC History Revealed, and he continues to write for both the magazine and HistoryExtra. He has BA in History from the University of York.