Varvara Michajlovna Arsen'eva


Varvara Michajlovna Arsen'eva, was a Russian courtier and mistress of Peter the Great.
She was the daughter of the governor Bulgakov Arsenyev and sister-in-law of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. She was appointed lady in waiting to the Empress Catherine, and was for a time the lover of Peter the Great. In 1727, she was appointed Ober-Hofmeisterin. The same year, however, she was exiled to a convent after the fall of Menshikov.