Charlotte Vallis

Research

Whilst a significant amount of historiography exploring the reign of Catherine the Great exists, the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, her predecessor and ruler of Russia for 20 years, is sorely neglected. This project intends to rectify this omission by comparing the reigns of the two women, considering how they navigated the issues of being women in power. Using a range of sources from letters, laws and diplomatic accounts to portraiture, this project examines how the two women incorporated traditionally masculine characteristics and imagery into their reigns in order to justify their rules. The key questions that this project will investigate include: what Catherine the Great owed to Elizabeth Petrovna; what it meant to be a woman in power in Russia and what, if any, impact this had on the women of Russia more broadly.

Publications and presentations

Blog Post 

2023. “‘He was a man, and you are not’: Court and the identity of Empress Elizabeth of Russia, 1741-1762”. The Court Observer (blog) September 6, 2023. https://courtstudies.hypotheses.org/1053.

Presentations

• June 2023. “"Power in Portraiture: The visual narrative of Elizabeth Petrovna, 1741-1761, and Catherine the Great, 1762-1796". MEMS Festival, University of Kent, Canterbury.
• Forthcoming Jan 2024. “"Power in Portraiture: The visual narrative of Elizabeth Petrovna, 1741-1761, and Catherine the Great, 1762-1796". (extended). Study Group on Eighteenth Century Russia. Forthcoming May 2024. “"She received my heartfelt effusion very well…” Gift-giving and the relationship between Catherine II and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna". Kings and Queens 13, Paris.
• Forthcoming May 2024. “"She received my heartfelt effusion very well…” Gift-giving and the relationship between Catherine II and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna". Kings and Queens 13, Paris.