# Cathrine the Great **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 7, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathrine-the-great/36099 "2000-10-07T21:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cry2cin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@cry2cin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cry2cin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathrine-the-great/36099/1 "2000-10-07T21:48:04Z")
Didn’t she also keep her brother incarcerated until his death? I’m not quite sure. I thought he was a prisoner at the age of six. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2000, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathrine-the-great/36099/2 "2000-10-08T01:22:09Z")
The only one of Cecil’s columns I know of that is about C the G is [Is it true about Catherine the Great and the horse?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_109.html) I fail to see how her brother enters into it, unless you mean to ask “Is it true about Catherine the Great’s brother and the horse?” After years in prison, even that might start to look better than nothing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cry2cin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@cry2cin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cry2cin)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2000, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathrine-the-great/36099/3 "2000-10-08T02:53:24Z")
I believe his name was prisoner 1. He died by knife. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathrine-the-great/36099/4 "2000-10-09T12:44:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cry2cin \* > **I believe his name was prisoner 1.** I can see how that might have affected his later life. “Your Highness! It’s a boy!” “That’s wonderful! Now, what should I name him? Alexander? Yuri? Vladimir? No, my son will be Prisoner 1!” Make up your own dialogue for the rest of his life… “Prisoner 1, you eat all of your asparagus right now or it’s bread and water for the rest of the week!” ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathrine-the-great/36099/5 "2000-10-09T16:36:08Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment. Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL). Cecil’s column can be found on-line at the link kindly provided by **bibliophage**. The column ( **including** Slug Signorino’s illustration) can also be found on pages 109-110 of Cecil Adams’ book «[_The Straight Dope_](http://www.straightdope.com/otheroutlets/books.html)». * * * moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)» ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2000, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathrine-the-great/36099/6 "2000-10-10T17:46:36Z")
No, I don’t believe so. She did keep the Tsar Ivan VI prisoner until he was killed by his guards-Ivan was only an infant when he was on the throne and his mother was Regent. A year later, Ivan’s mother was overthrown by Peter the Great’s daughter Elizaveta. Ivan’s claim was obscure at best. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathrine-the-great/36099/7 "2000-10-12T04:56:35Z")
I think **Guinastasia** basically got it right.Catherine the Great did _not_ imprison her brother. She imprisoned(or continued the imprisonment of) Ivan III(or VI, depending of how you look at it). Ivan III was the ruler of Russia from late 1740 until deposed at the ripe old age of 14 months by Elizabeth in 1741. Catherine comes in in 1762, and Ivan was killed in 1764, in jail. Definitely not her brother. That’s what I get from collecting Russian coins these last 35 years. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cathrine-the-great/36099/8 "2000-10-13T17:49:23Z")
I see from the column that it was the original Polish joke. You can imagine how that concept mutated over the years, to the Polish joke of today. Folks are just jealous of our sense of humor.