Dmitry Ivanovich (the eldest son of Ivan the Terrible)

Born in 1552, during the victorious return of the tsar from the Kazan campaign - with news of this to Vladimir, where tsar Ivan was then, Vasily Yurievich Trakhaniotov rode from the tsarina ^[2] .

Prince Dmitry was born to the great tsarits of Anastasia. With that moment, I drove a meeting with the tsar and Grand Duke Vasily Yurievich Malaya Trakhiniot (" Brief Chronicler ")

He was baptized in the same year at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra by the Archbishop of Rostov Nikander .

Name and Birthday

His heavenly patron saint was chosen. Dmitry Solunsky (celebration on October 26) - as well as later for his more famous younger brother Dmitry Uglitsky in 1582.

“With all obviousness, the prince, the firstborn of Grozny, was named“ in his great-grandfather’s name, Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, ” as one of the lists of the Sofia Chronicle directly states. The boy turned out to be the complete namesake of his great ancestor, both of them are called Dmitry Ioannovich . Undoubtedly, the triumphal completion of the Kazan campaign played a significant role in choosing this name - the victory over the Tatars won by Dmitry Donskoy and the victory of Ivan the Terrible were symbolically identified ” ^[3] .

The exact birthday of the prince is unknown. The “Brief Chronicler” and the “Novgorod Second (Archival)” chronicle are called precisely October 26 (St. Dmitry’s Day) as the date of birth of the child, however, firstly, in these texts the proven errors in dates are known, and secondly, the probability of birth in such a good from an ideological point of view, the day is very small.

The Nikon Chronicle does not name either the date of birth or the day Trakhaniotov brought the news, however, it indicates that before that, on October 13, the Tsar sailed to Nizhny Novgorod, stayed there for two days and went to Vladimir, where the messenger rode after some time. Thus, October 26 is too long.

Researchers of the princely anthroponymy A. F. Litvin and F. B. Uspensky put forward the version that his direct name was Ouar (October 19) - this assumption is based on the painting above his burial (see below), as well as on the fact that in the middle of the XVI centuries at the north apse of the Archangel Cathedral built the chapel of this saint, which in the time of Ivan the Terrible should have had a clear family relationship. However, in written sources, the elder prince is never called by this name ^[3] .

Saint Ouar Day (a rare saint who was not part of the family circle) falls exactly 8 days earlier than Saint Dmitry, and the second princely name could well have been given “according to the eight-day circumcision” for the baptism of a child. However, one cannot completely exclude the version that the prince was born on October 11 or 12, received the name Ouar on the 8th day, and Dmitry - as the closest princely name in the month of the word ^[3] .

However, this raises the question of why the younger Dmitry Uglitsky also bore the direct name Ouar, and his date of birth is considered October 19. The reason the younger prince received the same name as the late elder brother is not clear; the coincidence in which they were both born on October 19 is unlikely. “As for Dmitry Uglichsky, he seemed to be thought of as a direct likeness of his early deceased first-born brother. (...) Based on the foregoing, it seems very likely that St. Ouar became the patron of the child, as he was the patron of his deceased first-born brother. Thus, both names - Dmitry and Uar - Dmitry Uglitsky could receive "by inheritance", without strict connection with the church calendar. If you follow this version, it turns out that the date of birth (October 19) of Dmitry Uglichsky in those annals where it is indicated is calculated retroactively, based on the knowledge of his names. " However, they do not exclude that only the youngest was Wharom, and the fact that both were born in this way in October is a coincidence ^[3] .

The Duma Crisis

During a serious illness in 1552, "a serious fiery malady," Tsar Ivan demanded that the boyars take the oath to his infant son. The general oath of members of the Duma was appointed on March 12, 1553. However, many boyars, not wanting the “king in swaddling clothes”, wanted to see the next czar of Ivan's cousin - Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky . This caused a growing suspicious attitude of Ivan to the boyars and personally to Vladimir. The courtiers were divided into two parties, and the victory nevertheless went to the supporters of the king. ^[four]

According to Florea , “The oath of allegiance to the tsar’s closest advisers - members of the“ near duma ”- the boyars and the duma’s nobles - Alexei Adashev and Ignatius Veshnyakov, passed without any difficulties. (...) Among the “close boyars” who were the first to swear allegiance to the heir, Zakharyins and their relatives predominated (boyar Ivan Vasilyevich Sheremetev belonged to the same family as Zakharyins, and boyar Mikhail Yakovlevich Morozov and Vasily Mikhailovich Yuryev were married to sisters) , therefore, at this first stage, the oath passed without difficulty. Thus, the prospect of concentration of power in the hands of the Zakharyins in the event of the death of the king seemed quite real. (...) But when the next day they tried to swear in the remaining members of the Boyar Duma, this attempt met resistance. The father of the tsar’s favorite, the okolnichnik Fedor Grigoryevich Adashev , declared: “God knows you, sovereign, you, sovereign, and kiss your son Tsarevich Dmitry, but we don’t serve the Zakharyins to us, brother; “your son is our sovereign, still in swaddling clothes, and to possess us Zakharyin, Danil s brothers, and we have seen many troubles from the boyars to your age”. When after that, the neighboring boyars, who had already sworn an oath to the heir, insisted on an oath, the other boyars “seemed to be cruel to them, and telling them that they want to own them, and they do not want to serve them and possess them. And the swear between the boyars and the scream and noise is great, and many words are swearing. " Obviously, this led to a hidden rivalry between the groups of the nobility, and in particular, dissatisfaction with the excessive elevation of the Zakharyins, relatives of Queen Anastasia ” ^[5] . Dmitry Ivanovich Telepnev-Obolensky , Semyon Vasilyevich Rostovsky , Ivan Mikhailovich Shuisky refused to swear; and he swore allegiance to Dmitry Fedorovich Shchereda Paletsky , Vladimir Ivanovich Vorotynsky , Lev Andreevich Saltykov and others.

That is, the demands, expressed not by any of the “first boyars”, but by the relatively obscure Fedor Adashev, came down to the creation of a regency council with a uniform representation of different groups. "In the end, after sharp debates in the presence of the sick emperor, the boyars took the oath to his heir." ^[5]

The Staritsky prince “initially refused to do this (although he was then forced by the“ close ”boyars), and his mother refused to attach his seal to the“ kissing certificate ”of her son. Representatives of the king had to be sent to her three times. At the same time, the princess did not hide that she did not consider the obligations given under pressure (“ something, de, for kissing, if involuntarily ”), and “ she spoke a lot of swear words ” ^[6] . All this made it possible to suspect that Vladimir Andreevich did not want to make the oath difficult for himself to take the throne under favorable circumstances ” ^{[5] [7]} .

When the king recovered and figured out the situation, he became upset, but there was no repression, except for deepened prejudice against the old princes. Florea notes: “there is no doubt that the events that took place had a strong influence on the young monarch, as soon as he found it necessary to include a detailed description of them in the official history of his reign. (...) The first reaction of Ivan IV to the incident was the desire to temporarily get away from his intriguing environment. That is why the king so stubbornly insisted on his intention to go immediately after recovery on a pilgrimage to the Cyril Monastery ” ^[5] .

Death

It was on the way in this pilgrimage the following year that the infant Dmitry died. The source in which this death is described in detail is the Moscow Chronicler ^[8] .

The exact composition of the royal convoy that went on a pilgrimage is not known. Only the route is clear. “The Tsar left with his family - Anastasia and Dmitry, who was no more than seven months old (...), who had not yet recovered after giving birth. The pilgrims set off from Moscow in May 1553. The sovereign was also accompanied by his retarded brother Yuri Vasilievich . Traditionally, the first goal was the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, then the royal “train” arrived in Dmitrov , where he drove through local monasteries, then - Nikolo-Peshnoshsky monastery . On the rivers Yakhroma and Dubna , calling on the way to new cloisters, the king went to the Volga on ships, visited the Makaryev Kalyazinsky monastery , then Uglich (this city, as it turns out, always played a fatal role in the fate of the Russian princes named Dmitry) and along the Sheksna River climbed to the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery. At this stage, Queen Anastasia’s strength ran out: the recent woman in labor could not go further. She was left to lie down in Kirillov, and the restless king rushed to the Ferapontov monastery . The tsarina’s rest was short-lived: upon her return from Ferapontov, the imperial retinue again loaded onto the ships and sailed back along the Sheksna to the Volga. A tragedy occurred at one of the sites ” ^[10] .

Once the grand duke went to inspect the Muscovite camp, which was laid out around the lake, the princess followed the child in another boat, and when the boats were level, he asked Demetrius to play with him, and when the child was transferred, he suddenly slipped out of her hands, fell into the water between both boats and immediately went down to the bottom like a stone, and they could not even find it. So their first son died, of which there was great sadness in the whole state. ^[eleven]

Prince Andrei Kurbsky in his “History of the Grand Duke of Moscow” ^[12] writes that when the Tsar stopped at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery on his way to Belozersk, Maxim Grek , who lived there alone, advised him not to “ go on such a long journey with his wife and newborn youth, ”and it’s better to take care of the families of soldiers who died during the capture of Kazan, but the king insisted on his own.

According to Kurbsky (the source is rather biased and, in addition, mistaken in some details of this trip - for example, he writes that the prince drowned on the way there and not back ^[10] ), the future saint Maxim the Greek allegedly cursed / predicted the death of the baby:

 

Maxim Grek

“If you don’t listen to me, advising you on God, and forget the blood of martyrs who died from the filthy for faith, and despise the tears of their orphans and widows, and you go, guided by obstinacy, then know: your son will die and will not come back alive if you listen and you will return, you will be healthy both yourself and your son ” ^[12]

According to one version, which is also called legendary, when leaving (or landing) from the ship — a plow , the prince was carried by a nanny (or nurse) and two boyars, the tsarina’s relatives - Danila Romanovich and Vasily Mikhailovich Zakharyiny-Yuryev ^[5] . When they entered the shaky gangways, they immediately collapsed into the water. Adults got wet, and the child choked. Another version says that Dmitry fell ill and died on the road.

Kurbsky describes the infant’s death in this way: “And before reaching the Kirillov Monastery, when they still sailed along the Sheksna River, the son of John, according to the prophecy of St. Maximus, died. Here is the first “joy” in the prayers of Bishop Vassian Toporkov ! Here is the receipt of bribes for vows, data that are not reasonable, and are not charitable! John came to Kirillov Monastery in sorrow and longing, and then returned empty-handed in great sorrow to Moscow ” ^[12] . However, the tsar’s meetings with religious figures described by Kurbsky are not mentioned in other sources, and modern scholars are considered his personal invention for propaganda purposes ^[10] .

A similar story is described by Isaac Massa - according to his version, even the body of the drowned prince was not found. His “Brief News on Muscovy at the Beginning of the 17th Century” tells a very epic story ^[13] :

“At that time, the Crimean Tatars with great power suddenly invaded the country, repairing great ruin everywhere, so that even the inhabitants of Moscow fled along with the Grand Duke, who fled with all his treasures and the court to Bielaozera - a place protected by itself nature, in the middle of a large lake and very well fortified. Once the grand duke went to inspect the Muscovite camp, which was laid out around the lake, the princess followed the child in another boat, and when the boats were level, he asked her to play with him, and when the child was transferred, he suddenly slipped out of her hands, fell into the water between both boats and immediately went down to the bottom like a stone, and they could not even find it. So their first son died, of which there was great sadness in the whole state. ”

Burial

The first Russian prince was buried in the Moscow Arkhangelsk Cathedral , in the same grave with his grandfather Vasily III - “and they put him in the Archangel, at the feet of the Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich” ^{[9] [14] [15]} , buried in the soleil of the church near the deacon , and inside the deacon near the wall, Ivan IV, during his illness, ordered to prepare a tomb for himself ^[16] . On his tombstone, in contrast to the annals, there is a different date of death - June 6, 1554 ^[17] ( TD Panova writes that he was buried in the grave of Ivan III).

“In the same tomb, the Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Russia was laid, the son of Tsarevich Dmitry died on the 6th day in the summer of June 7062” (Inscription on the tombstones of Ivan III) ^[17] .

“If we take into account the subordination of the cathedral burials (from the point of view of the sacredness of the church space) - the burial of a baby in the tomb of his grandfather was honorable. After all, the infant’s grandfather Vasily III lay separately from the great princes of Moscow - on a salt floor, in front of the doors of the future tomb of the tsar, like the father of the first tsar, next to Ivan III - the grandfather of the first tsar and clerk of the cathedral ” ^{[18] [19]} .

Later, when the walls of the Archangel Cathedral were painted, a fresco appeared on the site of its burial depicting scenes from the history of St. Huara, Cleopatra and John. V.N. Krylova, proceeding from the fact that the “Uarom” was the name of Dmitry the Younger, suggested that these paintings were added only at the beginning of the 17th century, when his relics were transferred to the Archangel Cathedral. However, according to the chemical analysis of the paint, made in 1965, it is generally accepted that all the paintings on the western and northern walls of the deacon were completed at the same time, much earlier ^{[3] [20] [21]} .