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False Dmitriy

Dmitry was the name of the first son of Ivan IV, who was born from a marriage with Anastasia Romanova immediately after the capture of Kazan. The family of the king went on a pilgrimage. The nurse with the baby in her arms, accompanied by two boyars of the Romanovs, fell into the water as she walked along the gangways to the boat. The baby choked and died. In honor of his firstborn, Ivan IV, also called Dmitry the son who was born from marriage to Maria Naga. On May 15, 1591 Dmitri Jr. died in Uglich under circumstances that had not been fully clarified. In the public opinion, especially after A. Pushkin’s “Boris Godunov”, the version of Boris Godunov’s interest and direct involvement in the death of a ten-year-old boy was approved. Somehow it is forgotten that the boy was an epileptic who loved playing with knives. As life became harder and more reckless (enslavement, famine 1600-1603), the legend of a rescued prince appeared.

After the death of Tsar Fedor, Boris Godunov succeeded in becoming his successor on the throne. Already during the life of the king, he eliminated his main opponents. In addition to Prince Dmitry, he ordered to secretly kill, imprison in a monastery, etc. all the representatives of the most noble families, whom he feared in the performance of their ambitious plans. Those of noble births that he did not consider to be true enough to himself, he weakened and oppressed in all possible ways: among others, his disfavor was forced to demolish the Romanov family, which intermarried with the previously reigning house. Boris Godunov began to crack down on the Romanovs, since he believed that they were at the head of the boyar conspiracy.

Boris did not long enjoy the fruits of the well-being, which he achieved with his crimes. The runaway monk Gregory, or Grishka Otrepyev, who, during his stay in Moscow, thoroughly familiarized himself with the life circumstances of the murdered prince Dmitry, came to a bold idea to impersonate this heir to the Russian throne. In 1602, he went to Poland and hired himself in Bragin to serve Prince Adam Vishnevetsky, making it clear on his way through Russia that he was Tsarevich Dmitry. With the help of a malicious invention, he misled the aforementioned prince, made him believe in his imposture; therefore, the prince began to treat him according to his imaginary position. He (Otrepiev) succeeded in knightly exercises, learned Latin, gained knowledge in history; got engaged to Marina, daughter of the governor from Sandomir George Mniszek, and during the Sejm in Krakow in 1603 was presented to King Sigismund III, who, although he did not want to openly break with Boris, nevertheless made it clear that he would not be displeased if Polish magnates will support Dmitri at their own expense.

The deceiver composed the story of how he was saved from the wiles of Boris and another was killed instead. He accepted Catholicism and thus secured the support of the Jesuits and the Pope. Rumors about Tsarevich Dmitry’s stay in Poland could not soon reach Russia. It was not so difficult for Boris to find out who he was, and the king sent messengers to Poland several times in order to inform King Sigismund and the Poles about this, but they did not believe him.

In 1604 Otrepyev from Kiev joined Russia with 5,000 people whom Mnishek recruited and led himself. A lot of people joined the cheater. Boris sent an army against him, but it was defeated on December 21 at Novgorod-Seversky. His commanders nevertheless defeated Otrepiev on January 20, 1605, but the latter’s imposture gained more and more trust in Russia, and many eminent gentlemen took his side; rebellious spirit prevailed. Then Boris fell into such despair that he took poison, which is why he died on April 23 (present time) in 1605. but the imposture of the latter won greater confidence in Russia, and many eminent gentlemen took his side; rebellious spirit prevailed.

Supporters of Godunov proclaimed king of his son, Fyodor Borisovich, a young man of 16 years, but soon all his army betrayed him and recognized Otrepiev as the legal heir to the throne; soon the whole country followed his example. In Moscow, he (Otrepiev) was also honored as a king, and Fyodor was taken from the palace to his father's private house, where after some time, namely on June 12 (according to Art. Art.), He and his mother were secretly killed by Otrepyev's order. The patriarch was deposed and exiled to a monastery. After this, the False Dmitry entered Moscow and was crowned. Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky (later he became king), who dared to voice his right to doubt, was sentenced to death, but he was pardoned at the frontal place and, together with his brothers, was exiled to Galich.

Aksinya (Ksenia), daughter of Boris, was first dishonored by an impostor, and then exiled to a monastery. The widowed queen Marfa Fedorovna, the mother of Tsarevich Dmitry, was called to Moscow from the monastery, where she had not been willingly staying all this time, and was received with great pomp; she recognized her son in Grishka either out of fear, or out of vanity and desire for revenge. But his apparent favor with the Jesuits and the Poles, the alien personal guards hired by him, his poor management, a penchant for luxury and voluptuousness, a display of indifference to religion soon brought on him the hatred of his fellow countrymen. He sent the unfortunate Swedish prince Gustav a captive from Uglich to Yaroslavl, because (he) was leaning more toward Charles IX than toward Sigismund; after the death of Otrepyev, Gustav was transported to Kashin, where he was kept until his death.

It was rumored that Otrepyev intended to attend the celebration, which was to be held on May 18, kill with the help of the Poles and Cossacks of all the noble Russians and a significant part of the population of Moscow, in order then to transfer to the Poles a number of Russian provinces. To prevent this, at dawn on May 17, the alarm was sounded and the whole city rebelled, noble nobles with their guards and a large part of the burghers led by Prince Vasily Shuisky surrounded the palace and the house where the Poles lived. Grishka tried to persuade the rebels to persuade them, but they became even more hardened by this, so he had to return to the palace (the Kremlin); the rebels burst inside; then, in desperation, with his bodyguards, he attacked them with a sword in his hand and killed several; unable to break through, he turned back and jumped out through the window into the courtyard of a private house, but broke his leg and hit his head, so I could not run. He was found in this condition and brought back to the palace, where Prince Vasily perpetrated the investigation, and he allegedly had to reveal his deception to the assembled boyars. The widowed queen, who was asked if he was her son, answered in the negative. Then he was given to the power of the people who killed him in the inner palace courtyard. Then his body was displayed for several days, and then burned, the ashes scattered in the wind.

In order to avenge the murder of their compatriots and create disorder in Russia, the Poles put up a new Dmitry. In fact, his name was Ivan and he was a school teacher in Sokol, a city in White Russia. He was taught how to play his role, he received great support from Poland, and soon many people joined him in Russia. Kiev voivod Adam Vishnevetsky, a relative of Mniszek, together with many Polish tycoons equipped an impressive army for him. The royal army was twice defeated, and the enemy came close to the capital. Then the king freed Mnishek and his daughter, taking the floor that they would go to Poland and convince King Sigismund to withdraw the Poles from Russia. But they broke the promise and went to the False Dmitry, who, with tears of joy, accepted Marina as his spouse. She and her father recognized him, which greatly strengthened their side, so that soon then all of Russia turned away from Tsar Vasily.

The Poles were repeatedly defeated. Dmitri's hopes were completely destroyed by the fact that King Sigismund eventually attacked Russia; in this also unlucky king. Sigismund laid siege to Smolensk (he took this city only in 1611 - almost two years later) and withdrew his Poles (from False Dmitry), so the majority, heeding the persuasion of his military commander Roman Rozhinsky, abandoned Dmitry, who was forced to flee with his Marina in Kaluga (in fact - in Kolomenskoye). Although thus the king received a respite, but soon everything changed. The Polish army was advancing on Moscow: the Swedes under the command of Delagardi and the Russians, led by Prince Vasily Shuisky, who met them halfway, were defeated on July 8, 1610, near Klushin, by the Polish commander Stanislav Zolkiewski. This misfortune was caused by that Colonel Konrad Link with part of the foreign troops in the Swedish service, ran over to the Poles during the battle; dissatisfaction of foreigners due to lack of salary. Since the Russians transferred distrust to all the Swedish army and refused its services, Delagardi had to retreat to Finland.

While the Poles besieged Moscow on the one hand, the False Dmitry came from Kaluga with an army of Russian and Polish adventurers and laid siege to the city on the other. But Zolkiewski soon forced him to flee back. Then he gathered in Astrakhan to at least establish his own state there, but already in the same 1610 he was killed while hunting by a Tatar murza for revenge for the ill-treatment suffered. Later, in 1611, Marina married the Pole Jan Zarutsky, one of the most notable supporters of Dmitry; some time after the death of her so-called spouse, she gave birth to a son, Dmitriy (in fact, the son of False Dmitry II and Marina Mnishek was named Ivan), who was honored in Kaluga; later, on his behalf, she and Zarutsky ruled in Kaluga, Ryazan, Astrakhan, etc. However, others questioned whether this Dmitry was his son from a Sokol teacher at all. But it is known that after Mikhail was elected Tsar in 1613, she was captured along with this Dmitry and Zarutsky when they intended to flee from Astrakhan to Persia, and they were executed by order of the king in Moscow.

The origin of False Dmitry III is unclear. Some documents call him "the thief Sidorka", according to others, in reality he was the Moscow deacon Matyushka "from the church beyond the Yauza". False Dmitry III first appeared in Novgorod in 1611. In the marketplace, he declared himself "tsar Dimitry Ioannovich miraculously escaped ", but was identified and expelled from the city in disgrace. He fled to Ivangorod and there on March 23, 1611 he again declared himself "king". The impostor told the townspeople that he was not killed in Kaluga , but "miraculously escaped" from death.

False Dmitry III entered into negotiations with the Swedish commandant of Narva F. Scheding. The Swedish king Charles IX sent Ambassador P. Petreus to the impostor, who knew False Dmitry I wellon negotiations in Moscow . P. Petreus reported to the monarch that he was an impostor, after which the king ordered to stop all contacts with him. July 8, 1611, having gathered a small army, False Dmitry III from Ivangorod approached Pskov . According to the Pskov Chronicle, on July 8, 1611, his detachment settled in the vicinity of the city, and he himself began negotiations with the inhabitants about the conditions for recognizing him as sovereign. Upon learning that Swedish troops under the command of General E. Gorn were coming here, False Dmitry III fled to Gdov .

In the autumn of 1611, active hostilities were going on between the Swedes and False Dmitry III, about which very little information has been preserved. It seems that, unlike False Dmitry IHe was a weak military leader. The impostor's main base was Gdov . On December 4, 1611, False Dmitry III entered Pskov , where he was "announced" as king. Since that time, the city has become its main base. In the winter of 1612, the impostor's Cossacks raided Dorpat (now Tartu in Estonia) and Swedish Livonia from Pskov and Gdov .

The Moscow Cossacks sent their representatives to Pskov , who, with a large confluence of Pskov residents, declared that before them was "our true sovereign." On March 2, 1612, the Cossacks swore allegiance to False Dmitry III, then the southern and northern cities, Alatyr and Arzamas, took the oath . Having seized power, False Dmitry III began to lead a dissolute life and imposed heavy requisitions on the townspeople, which negatively affected his popularity. The Moscow Cossacks, disappointed in the "tsar", left Pskov , the Pskovites themselves were also ready to overthrow him.

On the night of May 18, 1612, False Dmitry III fled from Pskov , but a detachment of Pskovians caught up and captured him. The impostor was put in a cage and put on public display. On July 1, 1612 he was taken to Moscow . On the way, a detachment of Poles attacked the convoy. Information about the further fate of the impostor varies. According to some reports, the Pskovites killed the "thief" during a fight with the Polish detachment. According to other testimonies, False Dmitry III was nevertheless taken to Moscow.and there he was executed.