By R.W. Julian
CATHERINE THE GREAT, who reigned from 1762 to 1796, issued some of the most interesting silver coins of Imperial Russia. The minting of these coins was played out against an historical background that still fascinates those interested in Russian and European history.
The opening years of the reign of Catherine II were ones of great change for the Russian people. For the first few months after she seized power in June 1762, however, little was done except to consolidate the regime and make plans for the changes she and her advisors wished to implement for the nation.
In 1764 the government seized lands belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church and put the institution under close supervision. Peter I, in the 1720s, had done much to control the policies of the religious orders and now Catherine made certain that they had no land which would provide backing in a struggle with the government. The land so taken was either kept by the government (property of the crown), sold to the highest bidder, or given to royal favorites.
At the same time that the church land was seized, Catherine made it more difficult for peasants on estates to gain their freedom; serfdom under this ruler became much more onerous and widespread. Such rules
