False Dmitry I

Tsarevich Dmitry died under circumstances not yet clarified - from a knife wound to the throat ^[3] . His mother accused Danil Bityagovsky and Nikita Kachalov , who were in Uglich, of the “Boris people” who were in Uglich, who were immediately torn to pieces by a crowd rising by the alarm.

Soon after the death of the prince, a government commission headed by Prince Vasily Shuisky appeared in Uglich, and after questioning many dozens of witnesses (the investigation file was preserved), she came to the conclusion about the accident: the prince allegedly stabbed his throat with a knife, playing a “stick” (throwing a knife earth) when an epileptic seizure happened to him. Despite this, stubborn rumors continued to circulate among the people about the involvement in the murder of Boris Godunov and his envoys, and that the prince had miraculously escaped, which served as the basis for the appearance of the first False Dmitry soon.

According to historians, the success or failure of any impostor claiming the highest role in a monarchical state is based on several factors. This is the readiness of the upper class to accept it (for example, opposing the ruler who compromised himself), the faith of the oppressed in the “good king”, the “deliverer”, for some reason connected with the applicant, and the ability to collect and subjugate armed forces ready to support the stated claims. False Dmitry I - at least in the first stage of his activity - all these factors were undoubtedly present ^[4] .

The struggle for power in the Kremlin tops began with the accession in 1584 to the throne of the weak by the body and spirit of Tsar Fedor . Neither the boyars nor the people felt respect for him - this is confirmed, among other things, by the testimony of the Swedish king : according to him, “the Russians call him“ durak “in their own language” ^[3] . It is known that the winner in this struggle was Boris Godunov , who became the de facto ruler of the state. This entailed the derogation of the power of the Boyar Duma and, accordingly, a hidden hostility towards the “upstart”.

The death of Dmitry in Uglich and the subsequent death of the childless Tsar Fedor led to a dynastic crisis . Undoubtedly, Boris Godunov, chosen in 1598 as the new Tsar, enjoyed the support of the serving nobility and was perhaps the best candidate for the highest role in the state as an intelligent and far-sighted ruler. From the point of view of legitimacy , they recalled that through his sister Irina Fedorovna , who was married to Tsar Fedor, he was related to the Rurik dynasty .

At the same time, the elected king from the point of view of the people of that time was not equal to the hereditary, who became the ruler of "God's will, and not human permission." He was also stubbornly blamed for the death of Tsarevich Dmitry, and Boris was doubly guilty - as a "destroyer of the tsar’s root" and "an autocratic thief delight". The real state of affairs did not correspond to what was desired, and the boyar elite did not fail to take advantage of this ^[4] .

The deaf opposition that accompanied Boris’s rule from beginning to end was no secret to him. There is evidence that the king directly accused the close boyars of the fact that the appearance of the impostor could not have done without their assistance ^[5] .

In the last years of his reign, Boris ceased to leave the palace, did not accept petitions and behaved “like a thief, afraid to be caught” ^[6] .

Trying to reign not only over property and life, but also over the minds of his subjects, he sent out a special prayer throughout the country, which was to be read in every house at the time when the cup of health rose for the king and his family. It is clear that hatred of the Godunovs at the time of his death was universal ^[6] .

The severe economic crisis that erupted in Russia in the 1560-1570s gave way to a temporary recovery in the early 1590s. The gradual loss of personal freedom by the peasant, the introduction of “ reserve years ”, when the serf was forbidden to change the owner, led to a huge increase in the number of fugitives stretching to the southern parts of the country, joining the ranks of the Cossacks . The decrease in the number of taxpayers and the comparatively low power of peasant farms led to an increase in the tax burden, in particular, the “royal tax”. The urban population was also in opposition to the authorities, dissatisfied with heavy requisitions, the arbitrariness of local officials and the inconsistency of the government in urban politics. The clash of interests of the feudal state and the nobility, on the one hand, enslaved peasants, burly posad people, serfs and other groups of dependent people, on the other hand, was the source of the social crisis that created the Time of Troubles ^[7] .

The terrible famine of 1601-1603, which hit the whole country except for its southern regions, caused by three lean years in a row, led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people; grain prices rose tenfold. In the popular mind, even this was perceived as “God's punishment” for the sins of the king. Under such conditions, rumors about a “good prince” who was killed or maybe hiding from the executioners sent by Boris could not help but revive. The ground for the appearance of the impostor was ready ^[4] .

Italian or Wallachian monk

The version was put forward by the court historian of the King of Sweden, Charles IX, Johan Videkind , who studied the events of the Time of Troubles a little later. According to him, the unknown, who claimed the throne of Moscow, was a protege of the Poles , who initially tried with his help to either capture or subjugate the Russian kingdom. Videkind wrote: “He was a cunning and crafty man; by origin, they think, shafts , but others believe that he was Italian [and some considered him a Jew - approx. Royal historiographer ]; by age and facial features, he looked like a true Demetrius, according to many who saw both of them ” ^[8] .

At the same time, Videkind confirms that this unknown was a monk, then, having escaped from the monastery, ended up in Russia, and having changed several more monasteries in Kiev and Volyn , introduced himself to Konstantin Vishnevetsky .

Videkind does not confirm its version; but his book contains a lot of erroneous information and retold rumors, in particular, that Grozny intended the throne to his youngest son, and Fyodor seized him with Godunov’s help, removing his legal heir, and Dmitry was subsequently imprisoned in the Uglich monastery, where he was killed by people specially sent for this ^[8] . Also, speaking of Jewry, Videkind apparently confuses False Dmitry I with the second impostor , who was really often referred to in documents of that time as “the baptized Jew Bogdanka” ^[9] . Currently the followers version does not have .

The illegitimate son of Stephen Batory

The version was put forward by Konrad Bussov , a German mercenary in Russian service, another eyewitness to the Time of Troubles. According to him, the intrigue began in Moscow, amid the discontented rule of Boris nobility. At her instigation, a certain Grigory Otrepiev , a monk of the Chudov Monastery , fled to the Dnieper with the task of finding and presenting to the Polish court a suitable impostor who could play the role of the deceased prince.

The same Otrepyev, according to Bussov, handed over to him an impostor a pectoral cross with the name of Demetrius and later recruited people for him in the Wild Field .

Modern followers of the theory of the Polish origin of the impostor pay attention to his “too easy” entry into the country, where even one of the most clever tsarist diplomats, clerk Afanasy Vlasyev seemed to be an awkward and uneducated “Muscovite” ^[11] , his skill in dancing, riding and shooting and own a saber, as well as his allegedly “non-Moscow” dialect, despite the fact that, according to the available information, he spoke fluent Polish completely ^[12] . Opponents, in turn, point out that False Dmitry I, whoever he was, wrote with terrifying mistakes in Polish and Latin , which at that time was a compulsory subject for any educated Pole (in particular, the word "emperor" in his letter it turned into “inparatur” ^[3] , and he had to translate the Latin speech of Rangoni ) ^[13] , as well as to his apparent commitment to Orthodoxy . They also point out the distrust of the Poles and the Pope himself, who directly compared the “saved Tsarevich” with the false Sebastian of Portugal ^[14] .

Grigory Otrepiev

The identification of False Dmitry I with the fugitive monk of the Chudov Monastery Grigory Otrepiev was first put forward as the official version by the government of Boris Godunov in his correspondence with King Sigismund . Currently, this version has the most supporters.

Despite the fact that the “letters” sent to Poland bear traces of tendentious falsification (in particular, they said that he was in the world, and because of his evil deeds, he did not hear his father, fell into heresy , and stole, stole, played in the grain, and mumbled, and ran many times from his father, and having stolen, strigse at the blueberry ... and further, as if Otrepyev departed from God, fell into heresy and the Black Book, and invoked unclean spirits and renounced God from him ) - The reason for these fraud is completely clear. The Polish government tried to convince that there was no and could not be any real power behind the impostor, and therefore it was not worth supporting the plan, which was doomed to failure in advance ^[15] .

The original Yuri (in monastic terms - Grigory) Otrepyev belonged to the noble but impoverished family of Nelidovs , immigrants from Lithuania , one of whose representatives, David Fariseyev, received from Ivan III the unflattering nickname "Otrepyev" ^[16] . It is believed that Yuri was a year or two older than the prince ^[17] . Born in Galich (Kostroma volost). Yuri’s father, Bogdan, was forced to rent land from Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin (the grandfather of the future Tsar Mikhail), whose estate was immediately next door. He died in a drunken brawl when both sons - Yuri and his younger brother Vasily, were still small, so his widow was engaged in raising sons ^[16] . The child turned out to be very capable, easily learned to read and write, and his success was such that it was decided to send him to Moscow, where he subsequently entered the service of Mikhail Nikitich Romanov . Fleeing the "death penalty" during the reprisal with the Romanov circle, got a haircut in the Zheleznoborkovsky monastery , located not far from the parent's estate. However, the simple and unpretentious life of a provincial monk did not appeal to him: after wandering around the monasteries, he eventually returned to the capital, where, under the patronage of his grandfather, Elizar Zamyatni, he entered the aristocratic Miracle Monastery . There, a literate monk is quickly noticed, and he becomes a "cross clerk": he is engaged in the correspondence of books and is present as a scribe in the " sovereign Duma " ^{[18] [19]} .

It is there, according to the official version put forward by the Godunov government, that the future applicant begins preparations for his role; preserved evidence of miracle monks that he asked them about the details of the Tsarevich’s murder, as well as about the rules and etiquette of court life ^[20] . Later, according to the official version, the “little Grishka” begins to very inadvertently boast that he will someday take the royal throne. Metropolitan Jonah brings this praise to the Tsar’s ears, and Boris orders the monk to be exiled to the remote Kirillov Monastery , but the clerk Smirnoy-Vasiliev, who was entrusted with this, at the request of another clerk Semyon Efimiev, postponed the execution of the order, then completely forgot about him, yet by whom the warned Gregory flees to Galich, then to Murom , to the Borisoglebsky monastery and then - on a horse received from the abbot, through Moscow to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he declares himself “a miraculously saved prince” ^{[13] [16]} .

It is noted that this flight suspiciously coincides with the time of the rout of the "Romanov circle", it was also noted that someone strong enough to protect Otrepiev was able to save him from arrest and give him time to run away. False Dmitry himself, while in Poland, once made a reservation that he was helped by clerk Vasily Shchelkalov , who was also subsequently persecuted by Tsar Boris ^[6] .

A serious argument in favor of the identity of False Dmitry I with Otrepyev is considered to be a watercolor portrait of an impostor, discovered in 1966 in Darmstadt by an American researcher F. Babur. The Latin inscription “Demetrius Iwanowice Magnus Dux Moschoviae 1604. Aetatis swem 23”, that is, “Dmitry Ivanovich Grand Prince of Muscovy 1604. At the age of 23”, is on the portrait. The inscription was made with characteristic errors - the same ones that S. L. Ptashitsky ^[21] paid attention to - a confusion between the letters "z" and "e" when writing Polish words. The portrait is important if only because the real prince, if he had survived, would have turned 22 in 1604, while Otrepiev was one or two years older.

Pay attention also to the letter of False Dmitry to the Patriarch Job , abundantly equipped with Church Slavs (which indicates the church education of its author) and observations that are believed to be made only by a person personally acquainted with the patriarch ^[17] .

For their part, opponents of this identification draw attention to the “European education” of the first impostor, which would be difficult to expect from a simple monk, his ability to ride a horse, and easily own a horse and saber ^{[12] [22]} .

It is also known that the future Tsar of Moscow carried with him a certain monk whom he gave out as Grigory Otrepyev, thus proving that the letters of Tsar Boris were lying. The objection that this monk was a completely different person - “Elder Leonid” - is dismissed on the grounds that the “named Otrepyev” proved himself to be a drunkard and a thief in the end, for which he was exiled to Yaroslavl - that is, in the neighborhood of the city, where genuine Otrepyev began his monastic career - a place more than unsuitable for his "double".

They also note that Otrepiev was quite well-known in Moscow, personally acquainted with the patriarch and many of the duma’s boyars. In addition, during the reign of the impostor, Archimandrite Chudov of the monastery of Paphnutius came to the Kremlin Palace , who would have nothing to expose Otrepyev. In addition, the specific appearance of the first impostor (large warts on the face, different lengths of hands) also complicated the deception ^[11] .

Original Dmitry

The version that a man called in historical works “False Dmitriy” was actually a prince, hidden and secretly transported to Poland, also exists, although he is not popular. Among contemporaries, the version of the authenticity of Tsarevich Dmitry is voiced by Isaac Massa , a Dutch merchant, in his book "Brief News on the Beginning and Origin of Modern Wars and Troubles in Muscovy, which happened before 1610." Proponents of salvation were, among others, historians of the 19th and early 20th centuries A. S. Suvorin ^[23] , K. N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin ^[24], and others. The idea that “it was easier to save than to fake Dimitri” was expressed such a major historian as N. Kostomarov ^[25] . Currently, there are also researchers who share a similar point of view. Apparently, the basis of this hypothesis should be considered the rumors that began to circulate shortly after the death of the tsarevich that a certain boy Istomin was killed ^[26] , and the true Demetrius was saved and was hiding. Her supporters also consider the message of the English merchant Jerome Horsey , who was then sent to Yaroslavl for a quarrel with the influential clerk Andrei Shchelkalov, about the arrival of his brother, the tsarina, Athanasius Nagoy, who told him the following:

“Tsarevich Dmitry is dead, the son of a clerk, one of his servants, cut his throat for about six hours; [he] admitted on torture that he was sent by Boris; the queen is poisoned and at death, her hair comes out, her nails, her skin comes off. In the name of Christ I conjure you: help me, give me some means! ” ^[27]

Original text

"The Charowich Demetries is dead; his throate was cutt aboute the sixth hower by the deackes [diacks] ; some one of his pagis confessed upon the racke by Boris his settinge one; and the Emporis poysoned and upon pointe of death: her hear and naills and skin falls of; hælp and geave some good thinge for the passion of Christ 'his' sake. ”

Particularly important supporters of this point of view consider the contemporaries' allegations that Dmitry, apparently, never "played" a role, but sincerely considered himself a prince. In particular, he was not afraid of revelations from Poland and, after his accession, boldly went to aggravate relations with Sigismund, he also very boldly and inappropriately pardoned Vasily Shuisky , convicted of a conspiracy against him, although he had a great opportunity to get rid of an undesirable witness who had information about that what happened in Uglich first hand. A serious argument is also considered that the former tsarina publicly recognized her son in the impostor ^[23] , and finally, that the mother apparently didn’t make funeral contributions about the soul of the murdered son (that is, she knew that he was alive - to serve the funeral service about a living person was considered a grave sin) ^[3] .

From the point of view of the supporters of the “salvation” hypothesis, the events could look like this - Dmitry was replaced and taken away by Athanasius Nagim to Yaroslavl (perhaps the already mentioned Jerome Horsey took part in this). In the future, he got a haircut under the name of Leonid in the monastery of Iron Bork or was taken to Poland, where he was raised by the Jesuits . In his place was brought a certain boy who was hastily taught to portray an epileptic seizure, and Volokhov's “mother”, lifting him up in his arms, completed the rest ^[28] .

In order to dispute the fact that the genuine Dmitry suffered from a “lap-sick disease,” which was not at all observed by his deputy, various versions are put forward. one of them consists in the fact that the whole story about epilepsy was written in advance by the queen and her brothers in order to cover up the tracks in this way ^[28] - as the basis it is indicated that information about this disease is contained only in the materials of the investigation file.

For their part, opponents of the hypothesis stated that it is built on pure speculation. The courage of the first impostor can be explained by the fact that he sincerely believed in his “royal origin”, being between that simple tool in the hands of the boyars, who, having overthrown Godunov, ultimately got rid of him. At the beginning of the 20th century , contributions were made about the soul of the “killed Tsarevich Dimitri” made by his mother ^[29] . The nun Martha, the former Tsarina Mary, having recognized False Dmitry as a son, later just as easily denied him - explaining her actions by the fact that the impostor threatened her with death. It is assumed that she was also led by hatred of the Godunovs and the desire to return from the impoverished monastery to the royal palace. As for the “epileptic nature”, characterized by “stickiness of thoughts, stuck, slowness, adherence, sweetness in relations with other people, viciousness, special petty accuracy - pedantry, callousness, reduced adaptability to changing conditions, cruelty, tendency to sharp affects, explosiveness and etc. ” ^[30] , then modern researchers find nothing of the kind in the descriptions relating to the first impostor. As for the investigation, it was conducted openly, and witnesses were interrogated at a large gathering of people. It is hardly possible to assume that under such conditions a fabrication would go unnoticed ^[3] . It is also noted that in the event of salvation, the direct reason was to immediately send the child to Poland, and not to leave in the monasteries, where the murderers could find him at any time ^[12] .

It is also difficult to accuse the Jesuits of allegedly “saving Demetrius” with the far-reaching goal of converting Muscovy to Catholicism, as it is known from the letter of Pope Paul V that Franciscan monks converted to Catholicism of Dmitry, and he got to the Jesuits much later ^[13] .

The testimonies of K. Bussov, who, talking with the former watchman of the Uglich Palace, heard from him the following words: “He was a reasonable sovereign, but he was not the son of Grozny, because he was really killed 17 years ago and had long been decayed. I saw him lying dead in his place for games ” ^[10] .

Allegedly, the same was confirmed by Peter Basmanov , one of the most loyal to the impostor people, who was killed with him during the uprising: “Although he is not the son of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, he is now our sovereign. We accepted him and swore allegiance to him, and we will never find the best sovereign in Russia ” ^[10] .

Mention by Dionysius Petavius

Some Western sources of that time contain a reference to False Dmitry as a truly legitimate king. In particular, a contemporary of False Dmitry Dionysius Petavius in his “World History” writes about him as follows ^[31] :

And in Muscovy, in the same 1606, Prince Dmitry, because of his greater favor with the Germans and Poles and his non-resistance to the Bishop of Rome, was brutally murdered by his servants.

Original text

But in Moscovy the same year 1606, Demetrius the Prince, because he was of a more inclinable mind toward the Germans and Polonians, neither disagreed from the Bishop of Rome, by his own Subjects is most cruelly slain.

It is noteworthy that this is the first mention of events in Russia in the specified "World History".

Other versions

N. Kostomarov suggested that the impostor could come from Western Russia, being the son of some petty Moscow nobleman or the son of a boyar, a fugitive from Moscow, but no facts confirming such a theory were found. He believed that the story of Dmitry’s salvation was transmitted to this person in a very distorted form, in fact, it was difficult to believe that the impostor, whoever he was, would not remember himself at the age of nine. Moreover, the successful fulfillment of the “role” does not mean faith in it at all - so False Dmitry easily pretended to regret Godunov, while he kept their killer Mikhail Molchanov and equipped him for women for pleasure ^[12] .

An even more original idea was put forward by N. M. Pavlov , who wrote under the pseudonym “Bitsyn”. According to his assumption, there were two impostors, one - Grigory Otrepiev, sent from Moscow, the other - an unknown Pole, prepared for his role by the Jesuits . It was the second that played the role of False Dmitry. This version was considered too artificial and did not receive further circulation ^[5] .

Sometimes it is suggested that "Grishka" was in fact one of the illegitimate sons of Grozny, who was brought up to the Otrepiev family. Again, no documentary evidence exists for this version ^[32] . Lyudmila Taymasova in her book “Tragedy in Uglich” ( 2006 ), dedicated to the death of Tsarevich Dmitry and the appearance of the Pretender, sets out the following theory: according to her, the Pretender was the allegedly illegitimate son of the Livonian queen and niece of Ivan the Terrible Maria Staritskaya and the Polish king Stephen Batory , in the year 1576 .

We can say that there is no final answer to the question about the identity of the first impostor.

Judging by the surviving portraits and descriptions of his contemporaries, the applicant was short in stature, rather clumsy, his face was round and ugly (his two large warts on his forehead and cheek were especially disfigured), reddish hair; but he had a beautiful forehead and intelligent expressive dark blue eyes.

With small growth, he was disproportionately wide in the shoulders, had a short "bull" neck, arms of different lengths. Contrary to Russian custom, wearing a beard and mustache, had neither one nor the other. ^[33]

By nature he was gloomy and thoughtful, rather awkward, although he was distinguished by remarkable physical strength, for example, he could easily bend a horseshoe. ^[34]

If you believe the so-called “Izvestia Barlaam”, the future applicant persuaded two more monks to leave with him - Varlaam and Misail Povadin himself, offering them to go for a pilgrimage to Kiev , to the Pechersky Monastery and further to Jerusalem to worship holy places. According to Varlaam, future fellow travelers met in the Moscow Icon Row "on Tuesday in the second week of Lent " (1602).

Crossing the Moscow River , the monks hired carts to Bolkhov , from there they reached Karachev , then they got to Novgorod-Seversky . They lived in the Novgorod-Seversky Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery for some time, then they took a guide, “ Ivashka Semenov, a retired old man, ” to Starodub . Then three monks and their escort crossed the Polish border, and through Loev and Lubech they finally came to Kiev ^[35] .

Whether it is true or not, it is not known, since the people of Shuisky forged the final version of the story of Barlaam, and historians have long regarded it as a fraud ^[36] .

To some extent, the version of Varlaam received unexpected confirmation when, in 1851, the priest Ambrose Dobrotvorsky discovered in Zagorovsky Monastery in Volyn the so-called Postanism Book of Basil the Great , published in Ostrog in 1594. On the book there was a dedication inscription of Prince K. K. Ostrozhsky that on August 14, 1602 he presented it to “us, Gregory, the Tsarevich of Moscow, with his brother and Varlam da Misail”, and the words “to the Tsarevich of Moscow” are believed to have been attributed later ^[17] .

In any case, it has been documented that for the first time traces of the future impostor were discovered in 1601 in Kiev , where he appeared in the form of a young monk who came to worship shrines. It is believed that it was here that the future applicant made the first attempt to declare himself “the Tsar’s Prince of Moscow” - according to Karamzin , leaving a note for the abbot , whom he hastened to destroy as too dangerous, according to Skrynnikov - playing the same performance that would be repeated at Adam’s court Vishnevetsky . The pretender pretended to be terminally ill and “discovered” his royal origin in confession. Whether it is true or not, there is no reliable information, but according to Varlaam, the hegumen of Kiev quite clearly showed the guests at the door - “four of you have come, four of you and go down” ^[35] .

Then he supposedly lived long enough in the Dermansky Monastery , in Ostrog, which was then the property of Prince Ostrog, where a motley society of haters of the “Latin heresy” gathered — Orthodox, Calvinists, Trinitarians and Arians. Later, in a letter to the Polish king of March 3, 1604, Konstantin Ostrozhsky denied his acquaintance with the future applicant, from which we can draw mutually exclusive conclusions that he either tried to "open up" to the prince and was simply thrown out, or vice versa - tried to behave as inconspicuously as possible and not catch the eye. The second seems more likely, since the next stopping point for the applicant was the city of Goshcha , which belonged to the gaevskiy castellan Gabriel Goisky, who was at the same time a marshal at the court of the Prince of Ostrog. There is an assumption that the future Dimitri labored as a kitchen servant, however, or rather, having thrown off his monastic robe, he studied Latin and Polish at a local Arian school for two years ^[11] . According to Izvet, his companion Varlaam complained that Gregory behaved inappropriately as a monk and asked to be called to order, but received the answer that “here the land is free, whoever wants what, he believes” ^[35] .

Subsequently, the traces of the candidate for the throne are lost until 1603. It is believed that during this period he could visit the Zaporizhzhya Sich , establish relations with the chieftain Gerasim Evangelik, and under his supervision take a military training course ^[34] . The impostor could not achieve active military support in Sich, but there are suggestions that having established contact with the Don Cossacks, he received the first firm promises of support and help ^[15] .

Recognition

In 1603, the young man appeared in the city of Bragin and entered the service of Prince Adam Vishnevetsky , where he showed himself to be a courteous, secretive and reserved person. There are several versions that contradict each other about how he managed to convey to the prince the version that he was saved by faithful boyars Tsarevich Dmitry .

According to one of them, the servant of Vishnevetsky dangerously fell ill ("got sick before death") or simply pretended to be sick - and demanded a confessor . During the confession, he allegedly revealed to the visiting priest his “royal name” and bequeathed after his death to give to Prince Vishnevetsky papers under the pillow that were supposed to confirm his words. But the priest, not waiting for this, hastened to Vishnevetsky and handed him what he heard, and he immediately demanded paper. Having studied them and allegedly making sure of their authenticity, Adam Vishnevetsky hastened to the dying servant and directly asked about his real name and origin. This time the young man did not begin to unlock and showed Vishnevetsky a golden pectoral cross allegedly handed over to him by his mother. In addition, he claimed that “special signs” served as a guarantee - a large wart on the cheek, a birthmark above the hand and different lengths of the hands.

Interestingly, regarding this cross, there is an entry in the so-called Piskaryov chronicler , indicating that Otrepiev managed to enter the monastery, where the disgraced queen lived, before

Vishnevetsky, still not knowing what to think about this story, paid the best doctors, and Dmitry was eventually able to get on his feet. To check the applicant, he was taken to Bragin, where under the leadership of Leo Sapega a Moscow deserter, a certain Petrushka, who in Poland was named Piotrovsky, served. Petrushka assured that he had once served in Uglich with the person of the Tsarevich. Legend claims that the applicant immediately recognized Petrushka in the crowd of Chelyadins and turned to him - after which, casting aside any doubts, Adam Vishnevetsky surrounded the tsarevich with luxury appropriate to his position ^[34] .

The second version says that Vishnevetsky did not distinguish Muscovite from the crowd of servants , and more than once he had to feel the heavy and fiery princely character. So, once, being in a bathhouse, Vishnevetsky was angry at the servant who was too slow in his opinion, hit him in the face and scolded him with arena words. He could not stand such an appeal and bitterly rebuked the prince that he did not know who he had raised his hand to. In the future, the legend unfolds like the first.

The last, third, version was put forward by the Italian Bizachoni: according to his story, False Dmitry was not revealed to Adam, but to Konstantin Vishnevetsky , when during his visit to Sambir , being in his retinue, he saw the beautiful and proud pannah Marina Mnishek . Having inflamed love for her and not seeing any other way to achieve the goal, he allegedly put a confession on his windowsill into his "royal origin." Marina immediately informed her father about this, he informed Konstantin Vishnevetsky, and ultimately the news that the saved prince appeared in Poland became the public domain ^[12] .

Noteworthy is the message of K. Bussov ^[38] in his “Moscow Chronicle”: “The commander at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Ivan-Pyotr-Pavel-Sapega, sitting once with his officers at the table, extolled the courage of the Poles, quod Romanis non essent minores, imo majores (that they are not lower, but even higher than the Romans) and among many other things, he also said the following: “We Poles, three years ago, put the sovereign on the Moscow throne, who was to be called Dimitri, the son of a tyrant, despite that he was not him. Now for the second time we have brought the sovereign here and conquered almost half of the country, and he should and will be called Dimitri, even if the Russians lose their minds: Nostris viribus, nostraque armata manu id facimus (We will do it with our armed hands) “ . I heard that with my own ears ... "

Apparently, the real background of the intrigue should be considered that in 1600 a truce was concluded between Poland and Muscovy for 20 years, which directly contradicted the king’s desire and the military plans of Adam Wisniewiecki, who saw the appearance of False Dmitry as an opportunity to break the Senate’s resistance (first of all, crown hetman Zamoysky ) and begin expansion to the East. Also, one should not forget that Adam and his brother were active defenders of Orthodoxy and represented the oldest branch of the house of Rurik ^[15] .

Which of these versions is correct is not thoroughly known. It has only been documented that at the end of 1603 Konstantin Vishnevetsky - and with him the applicant - did indeed visit Sambir at the father-in-law of Vishnevetsky - Yuri Mnishek . At the same time, Dmitry allowed the Franciscan monks to convert to Catholicism - perhaps under the influence of love for Yuri’s daughter Marina, a zealous Catholic, or, as is sometimes believed, in attempts to achieve an alliance with the Latin clergy and especially with the powerful Jesuit order ^[34] .

On the part of Yuri Mnishek and his daughter, participation in the intrigue was determined more by mercantile and ambitious calculations - Yuri Mnishek was mired in debt, which he hoped to pay off due to the Moscow and royal Polish treasury (in many ways his calculation was justified, since the king secretly sided with the impostor , forgave him to the future test of arrears) ^[20] . As for Marina, all the documents of that time, including her own diaries, testify to extreme arrogance and love of power, so the hope of the Moscow throne seemed very tempting to her ^[39] . Dmitry probably loved Marina - since marrying her did not promise either mercantile or political dividends, the Mnishkov clan was not enough noble, mired in debt, and Moscow’s reaction to the attempt to marry the tsar to a “Catholic girl” was quite predictable ^[40] .

One way or another, the news of "miraculous salvation" finally reached Moscow and, apparently, greatly alarmed Tsar Boris. It is known that he tried to persuade Vishnevetsky to extradite the applicant, promising in exchange to make territorial concessions. But the deal did not take place ^[34] . In 1604, Uncle Gregory, Smirnaya-Otrepyev, was sent to Krakow with a secret mission to achieve a confrontation and convict his nephew ^[11] . The meeting, of course, did not take place, but, becoming king of Moscow, Dmitry hastened to send Smirny to Siberian exile ^[40] .

Applicant’s own version of “miraculous salvation”

Naturally, the question arose of how Tsarevich Dmitry could survive, and who exactly took part in his salvation and flight to Poland. Surviving sources say this very sparingly, which made I. S. Belyaev assume that the documents containing information on this subject were destroyed under Vasily Shuisky ^[41] . A similar point of view was held by Kazimir Valishevsky .

However, it is worth noting that their own letters and letters of False Dmitry were preserved, in particular, in the archives of the Vatican . In a letter addressed to Pope Clement VIII dated April 24, 1604, he writes rather vaguely that "... running away from a tyrant and avoiding death, from which the Lord God delivered me as a child by his wondrous providence, I first lived in the Moscow state itself until a known time between the Chernets ” ^[21] . He repeats the same, without giving any details, in letters addressed to Russian people and written already in Moscow ^[42] .

A more detailed version is given in her diary by Marina Mnishek. It is believed that this version is closest to how the impostor described his “miraculous salvation” at the Polish royal court and at Yuri Mnishek in Sambir. Marina writes:

Yuri Mnishek retold the same story after his arrest, adding only that the “doctor” gave the saved Tsarevich to be raised by an unnamed son of the boyars, and he, having discovered his true origin to the young man, advised him to hide in the monastery ^[44] .

Zhmudsky nobleman Tovyanovsky already names the name of the doctor - Simon, and adds to the story that it was him who ordered Boris to finish off the prince, but he replaced the boy in bed with a servant ^[45] .

In the story of the German merchant Georg Paerle, the healer turns into a teacher with the same name Simon, and also saves the prince from the hands of killers and hides him in the monastery ^[45]

In an anonymous document, “A Brief Tale of the Unfortunate and Happiness of Demetrius, the Current Prince of Moscow,” written in Latin by an unknown but apparently close person to False Dmitry, the foreign doctor already receives the name of Augustinus and refers to the name of the “servant” put to bed instead of the prince - “Istomin boy”. In this version of the story, the murderers, leaving a knife at the scene of the crime, assure the Uglich that “the prince killed himself in a fit of epileptic illness”. The healer, along with the rescued boy, hides in the monastery "by the Arctic Ocean", where he takes tonsure, and matured Dimitri hides there until his escape to Poland ^[26] .

The version of the secret substitution made with the consent of the tsarina and her brothers was held by the Frenchman Margeret , captain of the bodyguard company at the person of Tsar Demetrius ^[46] .

It is worth noting that neither a doctor nor a foreign teacher named Augustine or Simon never existed; moreover, the description of the death of a child who "replaced" the prince sharply diverges from what really happened in Uglich. This is considered additional evidence that whoever the first impostor was, he had nothing to do with the son of Grozny. At the time of his death, the prince was nine years old, and he could hardly have forgotten what really happened ^[3] .

Also, no one from the Mstislavskys has ever lived in Ukraine, and also fugitives from Russian lands usually did not go to Catholic Poland, but to Orthodox Lithuania ^[13] .

It is curious that in some ways the story of salvation told by False Dmitry is close to the life story of a real prince, his contemporary, who lived at the Polish court for some time - Prince Gustav of Sweden . The adventurous fate of Gustav, whose true origin is undeniable, could serve as one of the components of both adding up the history of False Dmitry and its success in the Polish court. (By the way, then Gustav will be invited to Moscow to marry Ksenia Godunova , but the wedding will not take place and, as a result, Ksenia will become the concubine of the same False Dmitry).

False Dmitry at the Polish court

In early March 1604, the Wisniewiecki brothers, who continued to patronize the applicant, took him to the court of Sigismund in Krakow . On March 15, the king gave him a private audience in the presence of the papal nuncio Claudius Rangoni ^[5] , during which he “privately” recognized him as heir to Ivan IV , appointed an annual detention of 40 thousand zlotys and allowed to recruit volunteers on Polish territory. In response to False Dmitriy, promises were received after entering the throne to return to the Polish crown half of the Smolensk land together with the city of Smolensk and Chernigov-Seversky land ^[15] , support the Catholic faith in Russia - in particular, open churches and allow Jesuits to go to Muscovy, support Sigismund in his claims to the Swedish crown and to promote rapprochement - and ultimately, the merger of Russia with the Commonwealth .

Influential magnates , in particular, the crown hetman Zamoysky , who directly called Dmitry the impostor, opposed the applicant.

On April 17, the applicant accepts Catholicism. On April 24, he addressed the pope with a letter promising location and help, but her style was so ambiguous that it was possible to interpret the promise in the direction of a direct decision to convert Russia to Catholicism, and simply give him (Catholicism) freedom along with other Christian meanings ^[12] . On the same day, after a reception at the Nuncio Rangoni, Krakow leaves.

Subsequently, Konstantin Vishnevetsky and Yuri Mnishek, accompanied by the applicant, triumphantly returned to Sambir, where the latter made an official proposal to Marina. It was accepted, but it was decided to postpone the wedding until the accession of Dmitry to the Moscow throne.

On May 25, Dmitry entered into an agreement with Yuri Mnishek, under which he pledged to pay the last 1 million zlotys, not to restrain Marina in matters of faith and to give her the “vein” - Pskov and Novgorod , and these cities should remain behind her even in the event of her “infertility” , with the right to distribute these lands to his servants and build churches there ^{[5] [18]} . Mnishek was also promised Chernigov-Seversky land without 6 cities that were transferred to Sigismund III, and Smolensk land was divided between the king and Mnishek ^[15] .

Yuri Mnishek managed to gather 1,600 people in Polish possessions for the future son-in-law, in addition, 2,000 volunteers from the Zaporizhzhya Sich joined him and a small detachment of donors ^[15] , with these forces a campaign was launched against Moscow ^[34] .

The campaign of False Dmitry I to Moscow began under the most adverse circumstances. Firstly, the best time for military operations was missed - summer: after procrastination with the gathering of troops, we managed to speak only on August 15, 1604 and only in October crossed the border of the Russian Empire , when autumn rains had begun and impassable dirt was on the roads. Secondly, it was known from the Polish ambassadors at the royal court that the Crimean khan was preparing to attack Moscow’s borders. In this case, the Russian troops would be completely constrained by a reflection of the threat from the South. But the alarm turned out to be false, or the khan of Kazy-Giray , who realized that he would not be able to take advantage of the surprise of the attack, preferred to abandon his plan. Thirdly, the impostor’s troops had virtually no artillery, without which there was nothing to think about storming such powerful fortresses as Smolensk or the capital itself. Also, the ambassadors of False Dmitry failed to get help from either the Crimeans or the Nogais ^[20] .

Perhaps, taking into account the last circumstance, False Dmitry I chose to attack Moscow in a roundabout way - through Chernigov and Seversky land. For his part, Tsar Boris, who did not take seriously the claims of False Dmitry to the crown, was essentially taken aback by the invasion. Anticipating the offensive, the applicant, not without prompting the future father-in-law, launched agitation in his favor, the center of which was Oster Castle. From here to the first city on his way - Moravsk (Monastyrevsky Ostrog), the “Litvin” T. Dementiev brought a personalized letter for the local Streletsky centurion, then the “Dimitri scouts” I. Lyakh and I. Bilin sailed on the boat, scattered letters of admonition along the shore go over to the side of the “legitimate prince” ^[47] . Among other things, the letters read:

To start the offensive, the forces of the impostor were divided into two parts, one under the command of the Cossack ataman Beleshko, attacked openly, the second, under the command of Yuri Mnishk and the false prince himself, went through forests and swamps, and the Poles remembered the beginning of the attack because it turned out to be on the way "Lots of delicious berries."

Perhaps the inhabitants of Moravsk renounced resistance more out of fear than belief that the Polish army was being led by an authentic prince ^[34] ; One way or another, B. Lodygin and M. Tolochanov, who tried to organize the resistance of the voivode, were connected and issued to the applicant. On October 21, False Dmitry triumphantly entered the city ^[47] .

The Chernigovites , who first met the Cossack-Polish army with shots, heard that Moravsk had surrendered and also swore allegiance to the applicant; the governor, Prince I. A. Tatev, tried to organize resistance, locked himself in the castle with the faithful archers who remained to him, but made a gross mistake, leaving the posad in the hands of the rebels, as a result, the Chernigovites, together with the Beleshko detachment, stormed the castle, and the governor Tatev together with him the princes P. M. Shakhovskaya and N. S. Vorontsov-Veliaminov were taken prisoner ^[47] . The prey that the Cossacks managed to capture, having plundered the settlement, Dmitry forced them to partially return - but with great difficulty and far from completely ^[34] .

A serious obstacle was Novgorod Seversky , where the favorite of Godunov, boyar Pyotr Basmanov , was locked up with the army, receiving serious reinforcements from Bryansk, Krom and other neighboring cities - only about 1,500 people. Basmanov prudently burned the landing, so that the besiegers had nowhere to hide from the November cold. The siege of the city began on November 11, 1604, three days later the first assault was launched, but the Poles retreated, losing 50 people. A general assault followed on the night of November 18, but Basmanov, who had received a warning in advance from his scouts in the enemy camp, managed to get ready and did not let the wooden walls be lit. ^[49] and Dmitry for the first time seriously quarreled with his army, reproaching the Poles for that they cannot boast of superior military skills to Muscovites. The Polish army was indignant, putting the whole enterprise on the brink of failure, but the applicant was saved by the fact that at that time Putivl surrendered, the only stone fortress in these parts, the key to Seversky land. Sources contradict each other, which of the Moscow governors surrendered the city to an impostor, exposing for this role Prince Vasily Rubets-Mosalsky or clerk Sutupov . One way or another, the city swore allegiance to the applicant as “the true prince of Moscow”, not only the “black people”, but almost all the local nobility, which was especially important at this stage of the war, passed to the applicant’s treasury.

On December 21, 1604 near Novgorod-Seversky, the first major battle took place between Dmitry and the army of Prince F.I. Mstislavsky , in which, despite the superiority in numbers (15 thousand people from Dmitry and 40 thousand from the prince), the impostor won. Perhaps the defeat of the Russian troops was caused not so much by the military as by the psychological factor - ordinary warriors were reluctant to fight against who could, in their opinion, be the “true” prince, some governors aloud said that it was “not right” to fight against the true sovereign ^{[5 ]} . According to eyewitnesses, Dmitry shed a tear when he saw killed compatriots on the battlefield.

But even after this victory, the position of the applicant was far from being determined. The treasury seized in Putivl was almost completely spent. The hired army grumbled, dissatisfied with the fact that the promised salary was paid to them only for the first three months ^[49] , as well as the ban on looting and extortion from the population ^[12] . On January 1, 1605, an open revolt broke out, the hired army rushed to rob the convoy. Dmitry personally traveled around the knights, fell on their knees in front of them and persuaded them to stay with him, but received insults in response, and among others, the desire to be put on the stake ^[47] . According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, the applicant, unable to stand it, hit the offending Pole in the face, but the others stole a sable coat from him, which he later had to buy. On January 2, most of the mercenaries left towards the border. On the same day, the impostor burned down the camp near Novgorod-Seversky and retreated to Putivl. On January 4, Yuri Mnishek, worsening the already difficult situation of his “son-in-law”, announced his departure to Poland for the Sejm. It is believed that Mnishek hoped for a noble rebellion against Boris and felt uncomfortable in the camp, where the Cossacks and the “Moscow black people” were gaining more power, in addition, the Moscow “initial boyars” sent him a letter full of undisguised threats. According to the annals, "the governor of Sendomir departed from that thief after he had been fighting from the boyars, and departed to help that thief, and not at the royal command, and the elder Ostrinsky Mikhail Ratomskaya, and Tyszkiewicz, and captains remained." Mnishek, however, assured the impostor that he would defend his case at the Royal Diet and would send new reinforcements from Poland. Together with him, about 800 more Poles left, Colonel Adam Zhulitsky, captains Stanislav Mnishek and Fredra. In the end, 1,500 Polish knights remained with him, choosing Dvorzhetsky instead of Mniszk as their leader, the Jesuit helped the impostor in many ways, at this critical moment taking his side ^[47] .

At the same time, other cities and settlements followed Putivl's example - among them Rylsk , Kursk , Sevsk , Kromy ^[12] . Then Dmitry ordered the miraculous icon of the Virgin to be delivered to him from Kursk, arranged a solemn meeting for her, placed him in his tent, where he later prayed to her every evening. The governors of the surrendered cities either swore allegiance to Dmitry themselves, or were delivered tied to his camp, but were immediately freed and sworn. Dmitry’s army was constantly growing ^[12] . A decrease in manpower was immediately made up for by 12 thousand Don Cossacks, under the protection of whom Dmitry strengthened in Sevsk.

The Moscow army, sent against the impostor, overtook him at the end of January near the village of Dobrynichi. On the night of January 21, 1605, scouts sent by False Dmitry intended to set the village on fire from different directions; this maneuver, however, failed, and early in the morning of the next day, leaving the city, he fought the tsarist army at the Dobrynichy , but was defeated due to the numerous artillery of the enemy. As a result of the battle, the impostor lost almost all of his infantry and most of the cavalry, the victors captured all of his artillery - 30 cannons and 15 banners and standards. A horse was wounded under an impostor; he himself miraculously escaped captivity ^[47] . For their part, the government forces unleashed fierce terror, destroying indiscriminately - men, women, the elderly and even children as sympathizing with the impostor. The result was a general bitterness and schism among the Moscow nobility, formerly for the most part its loyal Godunov dynasty. Time was also lost - the impostor was allowed to leave and gain a foothold for the whole winter and spring of 1605 in Putivl under the protection of the Don and Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. It is believed that at that time the applicant lost heart and tried to flee to Poland, but the army managed to keep him, and indeed - soon his ranks were replenished with another 4 thousand Cossacks. The applicant sent this replenishment to defend Kroma , hoping in this way to divert the tsarist army - and until spring this small detachment fettered the troops sent against Dmitry, who instead of besieging the impostor in his temporary “capital”, lost time storming Kromy and Rylsk, whose inhabitants , witnessing the bloody terror that the tsarist forces unleashed, they stood to the last ^{[5] [50]} .

During the “Putivl sitting” Dmitry was actually preparing for the future reign - he received Polish and Russian priests, addressed the people with promises to build a university in Moscow, invite educated people from Europe to Russia, etc. They noted that he was equally present at his dinners and Orthodox, and Catholic clergy, and Dmitry did everything in his power to bring them closer together. By order of Boris, several monks with poison for the impostor were sent to Putivl, but they managed to expose and arrest them. Later, the impostor with his power forgave them ^[12] .

Here, in Putivl, in order to weaken the propaganda of his opponents, who declared him to be "a thief and a thief Grishka Otrepiev," he showed the monk he had brought with him, posing as the desired "Grishka" ^[12] . He also benefited from the fact that Tsar Boris died in April, the miracle monks sent to Putivl to expose the impostor sent a letter in which they called him “the true son of Ivan Vasilyevich”. The completely bewildered Tsarina Marya Grigoryevna and her advisers considered it best to stop mentioning the name of Grigory Otrepyev and to make a promise to the tsar Fedor not to support the one who calls himself the prince. This fermentation of minds in the capital only intensified - it is also worth remembering that the widow of Godunov and the daughter of Malyuta Skuratova, Maria Grigoryevna, were extremely unpopular among the people ^[51] , rumors circulated around the capital about the cruelty of the tsarina, for example, they said that when Godunov summoned Maria Naguya to Moscow and tried to get the truth from her, what happened to Dmitry, outraged by the silence of the former Tsarina, Maria Grigoryevna tried to burn her eyes with a candle ^[52] .

In May, after the death of Boris Godunov , the army standing near Kromy swore allegiance to Dmitry; Governor Peter Fedorovich Basmanov went over to his side and later became one of his closest associates. The impostor sent an army to Moscow, headed by Prince Vasily Golitsin , and he went to Orel, where he was expected to be elected "from all Ryazan land", and then to Tula .

Gavril Pushkin and Naum Pleshcheyev ^[12] , probably under the protection of the Cossack detachment Ivan Korela, were sent to Moscow with a letter from the “Tsarevich Demetrius”. On June 1, 1605, Gavrila Pushkin, standing on the Forefront, read an impostor letter addressed to both the boyars and the Moscow people. The aged patriarch Job tried to resist the messengers of False Dmitry, but "I will not have time." The rebellious Muscovites plundered the palace and, according to some sources, didn’t find the tsar and queen who managed to escape (only Maria Grigoryevna was taken off a pearl necklace during her flight), according to another, they sent Godunovs to their former home; the wine cellars were empty, a drunken crowd looted and routed the courtyards of many boyars, bound by ties of kinship with the Godunov dynasty ^[53] .

Two days later, under pressure from Bohdan Belsky and his supporters, the Boyarsky Duma decided to send their representatives to the impostor. On June 3, old Prince I.M. Vorotynsky and several minor boyars and okolnichniks went to Tula - Prince Trubetskoy, Prince A. A. Telatyevsky , F. I. Sheremetev, Duma clerk A. Vlasyev , several noblemen, clerks and guests. The impostor, angry that those who were sent in fact had no power, admitted them to his hand later than the Cossacks who came on the same day, and then “punish you too, like a direct royal son” ^[53] .

In Tula, Dmitry was engaged in public affairs as a king: he sent letters of acknowledgment of his arrival, drew up an oath formula in which the first place was given to the name of Maria Nagoy, his named “mother,” invited the English ambassador Smith, who was returning from Moscow with letters, talked to with him graciously and even promised the same liberties that his “father” once granted ^[12] , received “elected from all over the earth” and, finally, the second boyar embassy led by three brothers Shuisky and Fedor Ivanovich Mstislavsky. At first, the applicant reacted rather coldly to them, reproaching that ordinary people were ahead of the courtiers, but ultimately changed their anger to mercy and took them to the oath, which was taken by the Archbishop of Ryazan and Murom, Ignatius , whom he read in place of Patriarch Job.

In late spring, he slowly moved towards the capital. Meanwhile, in Moscow on June 5, 1605, the body of the former tsar Boris Godunov was "taken out of desecration" from the Archangel Cathedral. Vasily Vasilievich Golitsyn and Prince Rubets-Masalsky were sent from Moscow to the thieves camp to order that the enemies of the Tsarevich be eliminated from Moscow. Perhaps it was this letter that provoked Moscow people to assassinate Fyodor Godunov and his mother, Tsaritsa Maria Grigorievna (June 10). The property of Godunovs and their relatives - the Saburovs and Veliaminovs - was taken to the treasury, Stepan Vasilyevich Godunov was killed in prison, the rest of the Godunovs were sent to exile in the Lower Volga and Siberia, S.M. Godunov - to Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, where, according to rumors, was starved to death ^[53] . Dmitry was informed that the Godunovs committed suicide by taking poison. In public, Dmitry regretted their death and promised to have mercy on all the survivors of their relatives ^[12] .

Convinced of the support of the nobles and the people, he moved to the capital and June 20, 1605 solemnly entered the Kremlin .

It is believed that Dmitry often stopped along the way to talk with local residents and promise them benefits. In Serpukhov, the future king was already waiting for a magnificent tent, which could accommodate several hundred people, imperial cuisine and servants. In this tent, Dmitry gave his first feast to the boyars, the deceased and the Duma clerks.

Then he moved to the capital already in a rich carriage, accompanied by a magnificent retinue. In the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, on a wide meadow, a new tent was erected and a feast was again given to the aristocrats who accompanied him. They assure that Dmitry also affectionately received delegations of local peasants and townspeople who greeted him with bread and salt, and promised "be their father" ^[34] .

Entry into Moscow

Waiting for a convenient moment and coordinating all the details with the Boyar Duma , the impostor spent three days at the gates of the capital ^[53] . Finally, on June 20, 1605, to the festive ringing of bells and the cheers of crowds crowding on both sides of the road, the applicant drove into Moscow. According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, he appeared on horseback, dressed in golden clothes, in a rich necklace, on a magnificently cleaned horse, accompanied by a retinue of boyars and derelicts. In the Kremlin, he was expected by the clergy with images and banners. However, strict zealots of Orthodoxy did not immediately like that the new Tsar was accompanied by Poles, who played trumpets and beat timpani during church singing. Praying at the beginning in the Kremlin Assumption and Archangel Cathedral, he shed tears at the tomb of his alleged father - Ivan the Terrible. But again, it did not go unnoticed that foreigners entered the cathedral with him, and the tsar himself did not apply to the images in Moscow. However, these minor discrepancies were attributed to the fact that Dmitry lived too long in a foreign land and could forget Russian customs ^[12] .

Bohdan Belsky accompanying him, having risen to the Lobnoye place, took off the cross and the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and gave a short speech:

His associates urged him to marry the kingdom, but the applicant insisted on first meeting with his “mother,” Queen Mary Nagoy, who was a monk who was named after Martha. Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky was sent for her, to whom the new king granted the Polish title of swordsman .

On July 18, Martha arrived from exile, and her meeting with her “son” took place in the village of Tayninsky near Moscow in front of a huge number of people. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Dmitry jumped off his horse and rushed to the carriage, and Martha, throwing back the side curtain, took him into her arms. Both were sobbing, and Dmitry went all the way to Moscow on foot, walking next to the carriage.

The queen was placed in the Kremlin Ascension Monastery , the king visited her there every day and asked for blessings after each serious decision ^[12] .

Shortly afterwards, Dmitry was crowned the “crown” of Godunov , having taken him from the hands of the new patriarch Ignatius , the boyars brought the scepter and power. The royal palace was decorated according to the event, the path from the Assumption Cathedral was covered with gold-woven velvet, when the king appeared on the doorstep, the boyars showered him with rain of gold coins ^[54] .

There are deaf allusions in the documents that shortly after entering Moscow, the tsar ordered to seize and kill several monks of the Chudov Monastery, as they might recognize him. However, the documents informing about this were drawn up after the overthrow of the “razstrigi” was overthrown and therefore do not inspire full confidence. Also, allegedly, Otrepiev was recognized by the nobleman I. R. Bezobrazov , who was once the neighbor of the Otrepievs. But Bezobrazov was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, and he made a brilliant career during the short reign of False Dmitry ^[53] .

A few days later, a conspiracy aimed at the overthrow and murder of Dmitry was discovered in Moscow. According to a merchant’s denunciation by the name of Fyodor Konev “with comrades”, it was revealed that Prince Vasily Shuisky had been abusive against the new tsar, spreading rumors throughout Moscow that the applicant was in fact Otrepyev’s harassment and intended to destroy the churches and eradicate the Orthodox faith. Shuisky was captured, but Tsar Dmitry handed over the decision of his fate to the hands of the Zemsky Cathedral. According to the surviving documents, the tsar was so eloquent, and so skillfully accused Shuisky of "stealing him", that the cathedral unanimously sentenced the traitor to death. July 25, Shuisky was erected on the block, but by the order of "Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich" was pardoned and sent to the Vyatka exile. But the nobleman Pyotr Turgenev and the merchant Fedor Kalachnik were executed - the latter, allegedly, even on the block, called the tsar an impostor and a harassment ^[54] .

The day before, on July 24, the Ryazan Archbishop Ignatius was elevated to the rank of Moscow Patriarch.

Domestic Policy

July 30, 1605, the newly appointed patriarch Ignatius crowned Dmitry to the kingdom. The king’s first actions were numerous favors. From the exiles they returned the boyars and princes who were in disgrace under Boris and Fyodor Godunov, and returned the confiscated estates to them. They also returned Vasily Shuisky and his brothers, who did not have time to get to Vyatka, and returned the relatives of the former tsar. All relatives of Filaret Romanov were forgiven, and he himself was elevated to the Rostov metropolitans . Service people were doubled upkeep, landowners - allotments - all due to land and money confiscations from monasteries. ^[18] . In the south of the country for 10 years tax collection was canceled, and the practice of processing “tithe arable land” was stopped. However, the new tsar needed money, in particular for wedding payments and gifts, to reward the "faithful" - so, after the coup, many boyars and parishioners were paid a double salary ^[54] , as well as for the upcoming campaign against the Turks. Therefore, in other areas of the country, the amount of tax revenue has grown significantly, which led to the beginning of unrest. The new tsar, unable or unwilling to act by force, made concessions to the rebels - peasants were allowed to leave the landowner if he did not feed them during the famine ^[18] , hereditary serfdom was forbidden , moreover, the serf was to serve only the one who voluntarily “sold out”, the more likely moving to the position of a mercenary ^[12] . The country's economic situation improved, but it was still unstable - realizing this, False Dmitry tried to correct the situation by yassing Siberian Ostyaks and Tatars ^[54] .

Bribery was prohibited by law; the term for the prosecution of runaways was set at five years. All peasants who fled the year before the start of the “hungry years” or after them, or those who fled during the famine and seized their property — that is, not with the purpose of saving their lives — were to return. Those who fled during the famine were assigned to a new landowner, who fed them in difficult times. Those who managed to retire more than 200 miles away from their previous place of residence were not included in the law. Putivl, which rendered enormous services to the future king, was exempted from all taxes for 10 years ^[54] , but the Consolidated Judge, who was to include new laws, however, was not completed ^[18] .

Dmitry, allegedly, once remarked that “there are two ways to reign, with mercy and generosity or severity and executions; I chose the first method; I made a vow to God not to shed the blood of my subjects and I will fulfill it ” ^[12] . It was also noted that he cut off anyone who wanted to seduce him, speaking badly of Boris’s rule. In this case, Dmitry noticed the flatterer that he, like everyone else, “put Boris in the kingdom”, now blasphemes.

In order to reduce abuses in the collection of taxes, Dmitry ordered the “lands” themselves to send the corresponding amounts to the capital with elected people. The bribe takers were ordered to drive around the city, hanging money bombs, furs, pearls - or even salted fish - around their bribes, and beat them with sticks. The nobles were freed from corporal punishment, but they were forced to pay heavy fines for the same crimes ^[54] .

The new tsar changed the composition of the Duma , introducing representatives of the higher clergy into it as permanent members, and henceforth ordered the Duma to be called the "Senate." During his short reign, the king attended meetings almost daily and participated in disputes and decisions of state affairs. On Wednesdays and Saturdays he gave audiences, received petitions and often walked around the city, talking with artisans, traders, and ordinary people.

He introduced the Polish ranks of the swordsman, subordinate , podskarbiya in the kingdom of Moscow, and he himself accepted the title of emperor or Caesar ^[5] . Dmitry’s “Secret Office” consisted entirely of Poles — these were captains Maciej Domaracki, Mikhail Sklinsky, Stanislav Borsha and the personal secretaries of the Tsar Jan Buchinsky , Stanislav Slonsky and Lipnitsky. The department of the "secret chancellery" included questions of the personal expenses of the king and his whims, as well as religious issues. According to the remark of the mercenary Margeret , False Dmitry tried to introduce absolute autocracy in Russia. The introduction of foreigners and Gentiles into the tsar’s palace, as well as the fact that the tsar established a foreign guard with his person, which was supposed to ensure his personal security by removing the Russian tsar’s guard, outraged many.

He also sponsored the printer Andronov, the son of Nevezhin, who on July 5, 1605, began printing the Apostle in His Majesty Tsar Drukarn. The work was successfully completed on March 18, 1606 ^[54] .

Foreign Policy

Dmitry removed obstacles to leaving the state and moving inside it ^{[ specify ]} . The British, who were in Moscow at that time, noticed that not a single European state knew such freedom yet ^[12] . In most of his actions, False Dmitry is recognized as part of modern historians as an innovator who sought to Europeanize the state. This was reflected even in his title (he himself signed as emperor, though with errors - “in perator”, although his official title was different: “ We, the most blessed and invincible Monarch Dmitry Ivanovich, God's mercy, Cesar and Grand Prince of all Russia, and all the Tatar kingdoms and many other Moscow monarchies of the conquered regions Sovereign and Tsar ”).

At the same time, Dmitry began planning a war with the Turks , planning to strike at Azov and annex the mouth of the Don to the Russian kingdom, and ordered new mortars , guns , and guns to be cast at the Cannon Courtyard. He himself trained archers in cannon business and the storming of earthen fortresses, and, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, he climbed the ramparts, despite the fact that he was unceremoniously pushed, knocked down and crushed.

In the same winter, enlisting the help of the Don Army, he sent a nobleman G. Akinfov to Yelets with an order to strengthen the Yelets Kremlin . Siege and field artillery was sent there, and warehouses for equipment and food were created. On the river Voron , a tributary of the Don, it was ordered to build ships. An embassy was sent to the Crimea with a declaration of war. Dmitry himself was planning to go to Yelets in the spring and spend the whole summer with the army ^[40] .

Voivods were sent to counties for noble shows. Part of the Novgorod militia, which was composed of nobles and boyar children, were called to Moscow to march on Azov . They were ordered to take with them the petition of the landowners of their volost.

In the same winter, a snow fortress was built in the village of Vyazemy near Moscow, to protect which "their" princes and boyars were set up, foreigners had to storm under the leadership of the tsar himself. The weapon for both sides was snowballs. The game, however, didn’t unfold somewhat in the way that Dmitry wished - the boyars were indignant that the tsar took foreigners under his command, the same allegedly hid small stones inside the snowballs and thus “put bruises under the eyes of the Russians”. Despite the fact that the fortress was safely taken and the governor was captured by the tsar personally, one of the boyars warned Dmitry that he should not continue - the Russians were angry, and many had long knives hidden under the dress. Fun could end in bloodshed ^[54] .

At the same time, he began to look for allies in the West, especially among the pope of the Roman and Polish king, and it was planned to include the German emperor, the French king and the Venetians in the alleged union. The diplomatic activity of the impostor was directed to this and to his recognition as “the emperor of Moscow” ^[5] . But he did not receive serious support because of the refusal to fulfill the earlier promises regarding the cession of lands and support of the Catholic faith.

He declared to the Polish ambassador Korvin-Gonsevsky that he could not, as promised earlier, make territorial concessions to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - instead, he offered to repay money for help ^[55] . Entrance to the Jesuits was also denied, and if Catholics were indeed given freedom of religion, this was also done against Christians of other faiths, in particular Protestants. Plans for a war against Sweden also did not materialize, possibly due to the resistance of the Duma boyars ^[5] .

In December 1605, according to the recollections of the Polish hetman Zholkevsky, the Swede Peter Petreus was sent to Poland with a secret mission to inform Sigismund of Dmitry’s imposture, and thus completely leave him without the help of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. There is an opinion that Petraeus handed over to the king in words the confession of the nun Martha, who had cooled to the impostor after he ordered secretly to ruin the grave of Dmitry in Uglich. But this is just an assumption, it is thoroughly known that Petraeus fulfilled his assignment, but the king, retaining his composure, on pain of death forbade him to disclose such information. Soon after Petraeus, the boyar son Ivan Bezobrazov arrived in Warsaw with the same assignment. His mission was also facilitated by the fact that the impostor once maintained relations with tycoons who were dissatisfied with Sigismund III himself, among others, with the Krakow governor Nikolai Zebrzydowski, Stadnicki , brought by their relatives Mniszek and others who offered the Polish crown to False Dmitry himself. Undoubtedly, this factor also played a role ^[54] .

However, in fact, the Swedish support of the False Dmitriyev (equally the first and second) was unconditional. But she was strictly tied to their confirmation of the 1595 trade agreement that was unfavorable for Russia.

Grand sovereign title of Tsar Dmitry Ioannovich

By the grace of God, the Great Sovereign Tsar and the Grand Duke of All Russia Somoderzhe, Vladimirovsky, Moscow, Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Siberia, Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Tver, Ugra, Perm, Vyatka, Bolgorsky and others, Tsar Novgorod Nizov lands, Chernihiv, Rezan, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belaozersky, Udora, Obdorsky, Kondi, and all the Northern countries Lord, and Sovereign Iversky lands, Georgian and Mountain princes, and many other states of the State ry and the Owner ^[56] .

According to the preserved documents and memoirs, Dmitry did not like monks, directly calling them “parasites” and “hypocrites”. Moreover, he ordered an inventory of the monastic possessions and threatened to take everything “unnecessary” and use it to defend the Orthodox faith not in words but in deeds ^[12] . He also did not show fanaticism in religious matters, giving freedom of conscience to his subjects, he explained this by the fact that both Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox believe in one God - the difference is only in rites. The latter, in his opinion, the work of human hands and what one cathedral decided to, another can just as easily cancel, moreover, Dmitry’s own secretary, Buchinsky, professed Protestantism.

He reproached those who tried to argue that the essence of faith and its external manifestations are two different things. However, taking into account the habits of his subjects, he, in particular, insisted that Marina Mnishek, who arrived in Moscow, externally perform Orthodox rites ^[5] .

Peter Petray recorded:

They remembered that the new tsar liked to talk, he was astonished by his well-read and knowledge, and in disputes he often cited facts from the life of other peoples or stories from his own past as evidence.

He liked to eat, but after dinner did not sleep, which was not the custom of the former kings, did not go to the bathhouse, did not allow himself to constantly be sprinkled with holy water ^[33] , shocked Muscovites, who were used to the fact that the king had to look sedate and walk, led under the arm of nearby boyars, that he walked freely around the rooms, so that bodyguards at times could not find him ^[3] . He liked to walk around the city, look into workshops and start conversations with the first person he met.

He knew how to handle horses very well, went on a bear hunt, loved a fun life and fun. He did not like the gloomy Kremlin Palace, and Dmitry ordered two wooden palaces to be built for himself and for his future wife. His personal palace was tall but small in size and consisted of huge canopies lined with cabinets with silver utensils and four rooms, the floors of which were covered with Persian rugs, the ceilings were carved, and the stoves were decorated with tiles and silver grates. Another innovation was the music sounded during dinners. He loved to arrange parties and feasts for courtiers.

Unlike the former kings, he left the pursuit of buffoons , no more cards, no chess, no dancing, no songs were banned.

Near the palace, it was ordered to install a copper statue of Cerberus with a movable jaw, which with clapping could open and close ^[12] .

One of Dmitry's weaknesses was women, including the wives and daughters of the boyars, who actually became free or involuntary concubines of the king. Among them was even the daughter of Boris Godunov, Ksenia , who, because of her beauty, the Pretender spared during the extermination of the Godunov family, and then kept it with him for several months. Later, on the eve of Marina Mnishek’s arrival in Moscow, Dmitry sent Ksenia to the Vladimir Monastery , where she was tonsured under the name Olga. In the monastery, she, according to unreliable rumors, gave birth to a son.

In the diary of the Polish mercenary S. Nemoyevsky, funny jokes about situations in which the tsar was caught on petty lies or boasting were preserved, and the boyars were not shy about saying "Sovereign, you lied." While awaiting the arrival of the Mnisheks, False Dmitry allegedly forbade them to do this, and the Duma asked what to do if he lied again. After a short deliberation, the tsar, according to Nemoevsky, promised not to do this again ^[54] .

The tsar was extremely partial to jewelry, which was known outside of Russia: along with Marina, many Italian, Swedish, German merchants with expensive goods arrived in Moscow, including Stanislav Nemoevsky, the special envoy of Queen Anne, who brought the sale of false jewelry to Demetrius (diamonds, rubies, etc. for 69 thousand zlotys), which two years later were returned by Vasily Shuisky with ambassadors back to Poland.

The attitude of the people to the king and the second boyar plot

At the same time, a dual situation developed: on the one hand, the people loved him, and on the other, he suspected imposture. In the winter of 1605, a miraculous monk was seized, publicly declaring that Grishka Otrepyev was sitting on the throne, whom he taught literacy. The monk was tortured, but having achieved nothing, drowned in the Moscow River, along with several of his associates. Perhaps the same story is presented differently by Polish sources - if you believe them, one of the priests or ministers of the family royal church was bribed. This man had to poison the cup of church wine before serving it to the king ^[40] .

In the spring of 1606 it became known that an army of rebellious Cossacks led by Ileika Muromets was coming to Moscow from the Don, posing as Tsarevich Pyotr Fedorovich, the “grandson” of Tsar Ivan, who had never existed. From Moscow, the nobleman Tretyak Yurlov was sent to the rebels with a letter. Sources differ in what this letter contained - according to the Poles, Dmitry invited the false prince to his place, promising possession (maybe he considered the Don people as a force that would help him keep the throne), according to the "interrogation speeches" of Ileika himself - the letter was written in very evasive terms, and suggested that the impostor “if he is a true prince” appear in Moscow and provide evidence to that, if not, no longer disturb anyone with his harassment. One way or another, the false Peter was late - he appeared in Moscow the day after the death of Tsar Dmitry.

Almost from the first day, a wave of discontent swept through the capital due to the tsar’s non-observance of church posts and violation of Russian customs in clothing and everyday life, his disposition to foreigners, the promise to marry a Polish girl and a war with Turkey and Sweden . The dissatisfied were headed by Vasily Shuisky , Vasily Golitsyn, Prince Kurakin and the most conservative representatives of the clergy - Kazan Metropolitan Germogen and Kolomna Bishop Joseph.

The people were annoyed that the tsar the farther, the more clearly mocked the Moscow prejudices, dressed in a foreign dress and seemed to deliberately tease the boyars, ordering to serve the veal, which the Russians did not eat.

In this regard, he made another enemy for himself - Mikhail Tatishchev (the ancestor of the famous historian ) told him some impudence about this, the tsar got furious and ordered him to be exiled to Vyatka and “kept in decks, having concealed his name” - true, immediately coming to his senses, and (possibly, under pressure from close boyars) ^[54] canceled his order. But this could not change anything - from that day Tatishchev joined Shuisky and his people ^[12] .

The big boyars were infringed upon by the number of “aristocratic” exalted by the new tsar, including the relatives of the tsarina - Nagy, and several clerks who received the rank of deceased. It is believed that Vasily Shuisky did not hide his true thoughts, expressing himself directly in the circle of conspirators that Dmitry was “imprisoned for the kingdom” with the sole purpose of overthrowing Godunovs, but now it is time to overthrow him himself ^[6] .

Sagittarius and the killer of Fedor Godunov - Sherefedinov were hired to kill the tsar. On January 8, 1606, breaking into the palace, an unorganized detachment of conspirators prematurely betrayed himself, making a fuss and a commotion. The attempt failed, and if Sherefedinov managed to escape, seven of his assistants were captured.

Dmitry from the Red Porch reproached the Moscow people for the fact that he was “reproached” with “innocence” for imposture - while the bailing on him was the recognition of his mother and the supreme boyars. He said that during his short life, he “did not spare his stomach” for the happiness of his subjects. Those present, falling to their knees, swore with tears their innocence. The seven conspirators, brought to the porch by Peter Basmanov, were immediately torn to pieces by the crowd immediately after the king went into the inner chambers.

Wedding

Fulfilling his promise to marry Marina Mniszek , Dmitry sent clerk Afanasy Vlasyev to Poland on November 12, in the presence of King Sigismund, who was engaged to her engagement ceremony, in which he represented the royal bridegroom. Together with him, the personal secretary of Tsar Buchinsky went to Poland with a secret mission to obtain a special permission from the papal nuncio for Marina, “ so that her mercy, Panna Marina, would be partaken at the patriarch’s mass, because there would be no marriage ”, and there’s also a permit Wednesday and meat on Saturday - as follows from Orthodox customs. Marina herself was ordered not to “dress her hair” and allow herself to serve as a Kravchik at the table ^[40] .

It is sometimes believed that an additional factor determining the impatience of the royal groom was the Polish army, on whose loyalty he was in a hurry to rely on, feeling the fragility of his position. Dmitry persistently invited Marina and his father to Moscow, but Yuri Mnishek chose to wait, probably not being absolutely sure that the future son-in-law was sitting firmly on the throne.

He finally decided on a trip in the spring of 1606, alarmed by rumors that the windy Dmitry had not let go of Ksenia Godunova for several months. “ According to Yuri Mnishek, I’ve known that the famous princess, Borisova’s daughter, is close to you, please, heeding the advice of prudent people, to keep her from you .” The condition was met, in addition, as wedding gifts, about 200 thousand zlotys and 6 thousand gold doubloons were sent to Sambir ^[40] .

On April 24, 1606, together with Yuri Mnishek and his daughter, Poles arrived in Moscow - about two thousand people - noble noblemen , pans , princes and their retinues, to whom Dmitry allocated extra huge sums of gifts, in particular, only a jewelry box received As a wedding present, a marina cost about 500 thousand gold rubles, and another 100 thousand were sent to Poland to pay debts. The ambassadors were presented with purebred horses, gold washstands, a forged gold chain, 13 glasses, 40 sable skins and 100 gold ^[43] . For marina and her retinue near Moscow, two tents were laid out, for entry the king gave his bride a carriage decorated with silver and images of the royal emblems. Twelve gray horses in apples were harnessed to the carriage, and each of them was led by prisoners by the royal assistants. We met the future queen of the governors, princes and crowds of Moscow people, as well as an orchestra of tambourines and trumpets. Before the wedding, Marina was supposed to stay in the Resurrection Monastery with Queen Empress Martha. Having complained that she was unbearable about “Moscow food,” Marina obtained from the tsar sending him Polish cooks and a kitchen utensil. Lunches, balls and festivities followed one after another.

The wedding was originally scheduled for May 4, 1606, but was later postponed, as it was necessary to develop a ritual of at least the external adoption of Orthodoxy by Marina. Obedient to the Tsar, Patriarch Ignatius rejected the demand of Metropolitan Hermogenes for the baptism of a Catholic, moreover, Hermogenes was punished. False Dmitry asked the pope for special permission to receive communion and anointing the bride according to the Greek rite, but received a categorical refusal. Anointing - as a rite that replaces Marina’s conversion to Orthodoxy - it was decided to still carry out ^[40] .

On May 8, 1606, Marina Mnishek was crowned queen and the confessor of False Dmitry Terenty performed the ceremony of marriage ^[57] . According to her own recollections, Marina went to the coronation in a sleigh donated by her fiancé with a silver harness, upholstered in velvet decorated with pearls, lined with sables half. A red brocade carpet, a king and a queen dressed “in Moscow” in cherry velvet decorated with pearls, kissed the crown and cross three times, after which Marina accepted the anointing “according to the Greek rite” and was crowned. She was also given the symbols of power - a scepter and a cross. When leaving the church, as was customary, money was thrown into the crowd, which ended in an inevitable stampede and a fight ^[43] . False Dmitry’s words spoken to his secretary Buchinsky have been preserved: “At that time I had a big fear, because according to Orthodox law, you must first baptize the bride, and then lead her to the church, and not to enter the church without baptized inverka, and most of all I was afraid that the bishops would become stubborn, would not bless, and would not anoint with the world ” ^[54] .

On May 9, on Nikolin’s day, against all traditions, a wedding feast was appointed, which continued the next day, and the tsar treated the boyars with Polish dishes and again veal, which was considered “foul food” in Moscow. This caused a dull murmur, to which the impostor did not pay attention. On the same day, to the indignation of Muscovites, the pastor of the Lutheran Church of St. Michael Martin Baer ^[58] , which was previously allowed only in the German settlement ^[40], preached to the foreign guard.

During the many-day celebration, when up to 68 musicians were playing in the chambers, Dmitry left the government, and at that time the Poles who arrived drunkenly burst into Moscow houses, rushed at women, robbed passers-by, especially the guides in the drunken fire, shooting at air and screaming that the king is not a pointer to them, since they themselves put him on the throne. The conspirators decided to take advantage of this.

Murder

On May 14, 1606, Vasily Shuisky gathered loyal merchants and service people, together with whom he drew up a response plan to the Poles - they noted the houses in which they live and decided on Saturday to strike the alarm and call on the people under the pretext of protecting the tsar to revolt.

On May 15, Dmitry was informed of this, but he frivolously dismissed the warning, threatening to punish the scammers themselves ^[43] . It was decided to continue the wedding celebrations, despite the fact that from all sides there were alarming rumors about the deafness that had begun. Dmitry was filed a complaint against one of the Poles who allegedly raped the boyar’s daughter. An investigation yielded nothing ^[43] .

The next day, a ball was given in the new royal palace, during which an orchestra of forty musicians played, and the king danced and had fun with the courtiers. After the end of the holiday, Dmitry went to his wife in her unfinished palace, and several Chelyadins and musicians settled in the hallway. The Germans again tried to warn the king about the plot being prepared, but he again dismissed it, saying: “This is nonsense, I don’t want to hear that” ^[12] .

On the same night, Shuisky in the name of the king reduced the German guard in the palace from 100 to 30 people, ordered the opening of prisons and gave weapons to the crowd.

On May 17, 1606, at dawn, by order of Shuisky, they struck the alarm on Ilyinka, other Ponomari also began to call, not yet knowing what was the matter. Shuysky, Golitsyn, Tatishchev drove into Red Square , accompanied by about 200 people, armed with sabers, berdysh and hornbills. Shuisky shouted that “Lithuania” was trying to kill the king, and demanded that the townspeople rise in his defense. The trick did its job, excited Muscovites rushed to beat and rob the Poles. At this time in Moscow was Stanislav Nemoevsky, who in his notes cited a list of those who fell under the hammer of the Moscow riot; 524 Poles were buried ^[59] .

Shuisky entered the Kremlin through the Spassky Gate, with a sword in one hand and a cross in the other. Having dismounted near the Assumption Cathedral, he venerated the image of the Mother of God of Vladimir, and then ordered the crowd to "go on the evil heretic."

Awakened by the bell ringing, Dmitry rushed to his palace, where Dmitry Shuisky told him that Moscow was on fire. Dmitry tried to return to his wife to calm her and then go to the fire, but the crowd was already breaking in the door, sweeping away the German halberdiers. Basmanov, the last remaining with the tsar, having opened the window, demanded an answer and heard: "Give us your thief, then talk to us."

The episode with the clerk Timofei Osipov dates back to this time, and was charged with the obligation to swear the Moscow people to the oath of the new tsarina. The clerk, preparing for the inevitable, laid down the fast and communed with holy secrets twice, after which, having penetrated the royal bedchamber, he allegedly declared to the tsar: “You order yourself to write in titles and letters Caesar is invincible, and the word according to our Christian law to our Lord Jesus Christ rude and disgusting: but you are a true thief and heretic, cutting Grishka Otrepiev, not Tsarevich Dimitri. ” However, there is an opinion that this whole story is nothing more than a patriotic legend, and Osipov entered the palace to kill Dmitry in a dream, he did not have time to deliver speeches. One way or another, it is known for certain that Timothy was killed by Peter Basmanov, his body was thrown out of the window ^{[40] [60]} .

Further, as eyewitnesses told, in the turmoil of not finding his sword, Dmitry tore the halberd from one of the guards and stepped up to the door with a cry: “Get away! I’m not Boris! ”Basmanov went down to the porch and tried to persuade the crowd to disperse, but Tatishchev stabbed him in the heart.

Dmitry locked the door, and when the conspirators began to break it, he rushed to run along the corridor and climbed out the window, trying to go down the woods to hide in the crowd, but stumbled and fell from a height of 15 fathoms into the courtyard, where he was picked up by guardsmen. The king was unconscious, with a sprained leg and a broken chest. Sagittarius poured water on him, and when he came to, he asked for protection from the conspirators, promising them estates and property of the rebellious boyars, as well as the rebel families - to slavery ^[12] . Sagittarius carried him in their arms to the devastated and robbed palace, where they tried to protect him from the conspirators, eager to complete what had been begun. In response, the minions of Tatishchev and Shuisky began to threaten the archers to kill their wives and children if they did not give up the "thief".

Some German tried to give alcohol to the king in order to maintain consciousness in him, but was killed for it ^[12] . Sagittarius, hesitating, demanded that Queen Martha once again confirmed that Dmitry was her son, otherwise - "God is free in him." The conspirators were forced to agree, but while the messenger went to Martha for an answer, they insulted and threatened Dmitry to tell him his real name, title and the name of his father - but Dmitry insisted until the last moment that he was the son of Grozny and bail the word of his mother. The tsar’s dress was torn off him and dressed up in some rags, poked fingers in the eyes and pulled his ears ^[12] .

The returning messenger, Prince Ivan Vasilievich Golitsyn, shouted that Martha replied that her son was killed in Uglich, after which cries and threats rang out from the crowd, the boyar's son Grigory Valuev jumped forward and shot at point blank, saying: “What to interpret with the heretic: here’s I bless the Polish whistler! ” Dmitry finished off with swords and halberds.

Posthumous Abomination

The bodies of the murdered tsar and Basmanov were dragged through the Frolovsky (Spassky) gates to Red Square and removed their clothes. On a par with the Ascension Monastery, the crowd again demanded an answer from the nun Martha — whether this was her son. According to contemporaries, she gave such an answer: “It was necessary to ask about this when he was alive, and now he is no longer mine” ^[3] .

It was decided to subject the bodies to the so-called "commercial execution". During the first day they lay in the mud in the middle of the market, where the block had once been put for Shuisky. On the second day, a table or counter was brought from the market; Dmitry’s body was laid on it. A mask was thrown on his chest (or, according to other sources, on his stomach), one of those that the king himself was preparing for the court carnival put a pipe in his mouth; Basmanov’s corpse was thrown under the table. Muscovites abused the body for three days - they sprinkled sand on it, smeared it with tar and “all kinds of abominations” ^{[40] [43]} . Jacques Margeret , a mercenary in the Russian service, recalled these events as follows:

Among Muscovites, regicide caused an ambiguous reaction, many cried looking at the scolding. In order to suppress any pity for the "razstrig", it was announced that the mask on his chest is an idol, "kharya", which he worshiped during his lifetime. Here they read aloud a "letter" about the life of Grigory Otrepiev in the monastery and his flight; According to rumors, the younger brother of Otrepiev, very similar to the former tsar, was also brought to the square ^[40] . Then Basmanov was buried near the church of St. Nicholas the Wet, and Dmitry - in the so-called "wretched house", a cemetery for the drunk or frozen, outside the Serpukhov Gate.

Immediately after the funeral, unusually severe frosts hit, destroying the grass in the fields and already sown grain. Rumors circulated around the city that the former monk’s magic ^{[61] was to} blame, they also said that the “dead man walks” ^[12] and lights flare and move above the grave, and singing and the sounds of tambourines are heard. Rumors began to circulate around Moscow that it could not have done without evil spirits and that “demons praise the fright”. They also whispered that the next day after the burial, the body itself appeared at the almshouse, and next to it were two doves, who did not want to fly away. According to legend, they tried to bury the “tear-off” corpse deeper, but a week later he again found himself in another cemetery, that is, “the earth didn’t accept it”, however, as it didn’t accept fire, it was rumored that it was impossible to burn the corpse ^{[32 ]} . Nevertheless, Dmitry’s body was dug up, burned, and, having mixed the ashes with gunpowder, they were fired from the cannon ^[62] in the direction from which he came - towards Poland. According to the memoirs of Marina Mnishek, the “last miracle” happened at that time - when the “razrigi” body was dragged through the Kremlin gate, the wind tore off the shields from the gate, and unharmed, installed them in the same order in the middle of the road ^[43] .

In folklore

In the folk memory, the image of "Grishka-Razstrizhka" has been preserved in several ballads and tales , where he invariably appears as a sorcerer, a warlock , who, with the help of evil spirits, seized power over Moscow. In particular, in the folk tale about “Grishka” in S. N. Azbeliev’s recording , the impostor “teaches” Marina not to accept Orthodoxy and despise Moscow boyars, during the service she goes with her to the “soap room” (that is, the bathhouse), for which punished ^[63] .

The song about Grishka the blasphemer is also known:

And the local icons are made for themselves,
And crosses are laid under the heels.

And the option where he is trying to make “demonic wings” for himself in order to fly away from the inevitable and deserved punishment.

And I will do the porch devilishly
I will fly away Nun with the devil!

^[64]

Popular rumor also makes Grishka a killer of the young prince - of course, with the goal of freeing the throne for himself.

Not a fierce snake howled
Great guile was rising.
Cunning Tsar Dmitry fell on a white chest.
They killed Tsar Dmitry in festivities, in games,
Grishka Razstrizhny killed him,
Having killed him, he himself sat in the kingdom.

^[32]

In another folk tale, Grishka the monk, disappointed in life, sets off drowning on the Moscow River, where he is stopped by Satan and promises any earthly blessings for the soul of the future impostor. He agrees and chooses for himself the "kingdom of Moscow" ^[64] .

A more complete version of the same story is given by E. Arsenyev in the novel “Lady Queen”. According to this version, unclean, having received a document signed in blood from an impostor, on which the execution date was not accidentally or deliberately set, by sorcerers makes the Polish king believe the applicant, and by the same sorcery he “averts his eyes” to Muscovites, forcing him to see the Tsarevich long dead in the impostor. However, False Dmitry makes a mistake, trying to introduce “Lithuanian heresy” in Moscow instead of Orthodoxy. In response to the prayers of the frightened Muscovites, the demonic fog dissipates, and everyone sees who is actually in front of them ^[65] .

The song "Grishka Raststrigin" recorded by P.N. Rybakov explains that for the sake of visible resemblance to the nee tsar’s son, who had a “mark” on his chest:

And this is Grishka - the dressing Otrepiev son,
He was in prison for exactly thirty years,
Grew a cross in white breasts
That was the name of the dog, the direct king,
By the direct king, King Mithra,
Tsarevich Mitri of Moscow.

Grishka is standing
Against a crystal mirror,
Holding a magic book in his hands,
Magical Grishka cutting off Otrepiev son ...

^[66]

In one of the later epics recorded in the Russian North “Grishka-clipping, unclean spirit”, which gained strength as a result of a “demonic wedding with Marinka”, takes the place of Koshchei, Ivan Godinovich fights with him ^[67] .

In author's work

• In books devoted to the reign of Boris Godunov or the beginning of the Time of Troubles , the image of the first impostor necessarily appears.
• The image of False Dmitry I appears in Lope de Vega 's play “The Grand Duke of Moscow, or the Persecuted Emperor” (1617), however, the Spanish playwright quite freely treated Russian history ^[68] - supported by the Jesuits and Roman Catholics, False Dmitry is portrayed as a true prince who suffered from intrigue, the reason for which is the Orthodox Catholic position of the writer ^[69] .

• False Dmitry I acts as the protagonist in the poetic tragedies of A. P. Sumarokov (1771) and A. S. Khomyakov (1832), bearing the same name ("Dimitri the Pretender"), one of the latter, considered unsuccessful, is also dedicated to him ^{[by whom? ]} in the work of A. N. Ostrovsky , the play "Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky " (1886).
• In the play by A. Pushkin, “Boris Godunov,” False Dmitry appears as an adventurer, who knows the value of his “royal name”, but at the same time risks for the sake of the Russian throne for love of Marina Mnishek.
• Faddey Bulgarin's novel Dmitry the Pretender is dedicated to False Dmitry, whose idea he probably stole from Pushkin ^[70]
• The plot of Pushkin’s play was reflected in the opera Boris P. Godunov by M. P. Mussorgsky , written on the basis of Pushkin’s drama, and in three films of the same name, directed by Vera Stroeva (1954), Sergey Bondarchuk (1986) and Vladimir Mirzoyev (2011). In the film of Sergei Bondarchuk, the role of False Dmitry I was played by Alexander Solovyov , in the film of Vladimir Mirzoev - Andrei Merzlikin .
• He is the main character in Antonin Dvorak ’s opera Dimitri (1881–1882) and Schiller ’s unfinished drama Dimitri the Pretender, which was included in the complete collection of his works in Russian translated by L. May ^[71] .

• The American historian and novelist Harold Lamb dedicated False Dmitry one of his Cossack cycle novels entitled The Master of the Wolves (1933). In this novel, written in the genre of "alternative history", the demonic False Dmitry succeeds in avoiding death on Red Square and disappearing into the Ukrainian steppes, which he once pursued by a deceived Cossack (this cycle was not translated into Russian).
• The death of the impostor is described by Rainer Maria Rilke in his only novel, Notes by Malta Laurids Brigge (1910).
• In the work of Marina Tsvetaeva (series “Marina”), the theme of the impostor’s love for Marina Mnishek sounds ^[72] .

• Boris Akunin ’s work “ Children's Book ”, which is based on time travel, describes fantastic events where the active and pragmatic False Dmitry I is a pioneer of the 1960s who fell into the past through a mysterious chronodyro.
• False Dmitriy I is one of the central characters in the plays The Tsar’s Games ^[73] and Vanka-Cain ^{[74] by} playwright Konstantin Skvortsov .
• In the story of Andrei Burovsky "Russia, which was not-2. Russian Atlantis ”Chapter 23“ Last Chance ”is dedicated to False Dmitry.
• 1612: Chronicles of the Time of Troubles - 2007 film, directed by Vladimir Khotinenko. In the role of False Dmitry I - Dmitry Ulyanov .
• Godunov is a television series 2018-2019, directed by Alexei Andrianov . In the role of False Dmitry I - Eugene Tkachuk .

• The book "Wonderful people of the Earth of Galich" - Grigory Otrepiev
• Kobrin V. B. "Who are you dangerous, historian?"
• Acts of the time of False Dmitry I (1603-1606) / Ed. N.V. Rozhdestvensky. - M. , 1918. - 328 p.