Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries saw a development of many strong and powerful monarchs. Most of these monarchs were dynamic rulers whose success was due to their attention to all aspects of rule, in particular, economics, society, and foreign policy. Two monarchs who show their strengths and weaknesses in these categories are Elizabeth I of England and Catherine the Great of Russia. Though similar in some methods of their rule, Catherine and Elizabeth held very different foreign policies. These differences are what shaped their unique legacies.
<Tab/>Catherine the Great and Elizabeth I had economic policies which were comparable in some aspects but different in others. Czarina Catherine's entire economic structure was a command economy based on the institution of serfdom. In 1785 Czarina Catherine had issued a document called the Charter of Nobility, which not only released the nobles from the service required of them by one of her predecessors, Peter I, but granted them full control over their serfs as well. …
