Manuil Seferov

Manuil Seferov was born in Astrakhan into an Armenian family. His father was a merchant named Sefer. There is no information about the mother of Manuel. At some point, he and his father moved to Persia in Kizyl-bashekh, where Manuel began to study literacy for 3 years. During the training, his father died and trading people transported Seferov to Istanbul in 1621 or 1622 , where he lived for about 5 years ^{[3] [4]} .

Perhaps in the Ottoman capital Manuel had the idea of ​​posing as a Moscow prince. In order to prove his "high origin", Seferov poked "royal signs" on his chest and on his hands. For whom specifically Seferov impersonated no information. It is possible that for Tsarevich Ivan Dmitrievich - the son of False Dmitry II and Marina Mnishek . So, in 1613 - 1614, Ivan and Marina lived in Astrakhan. Local residents remembered well and spoke of the prince when the Seferov family lived in Astrakhan ^[5] .

In 1626 or 1627, Manuel, together with a merchant, came to the Commonwealth and remained there for 12 years. There he met the crown hetman Stanislav Konetspolsky , to whom Manuel may have discovered his “royal name”. One way or another, after this, Seferov lived and served under the hetman. At the same time, Konetspolsky called him Manuil Derbinsky. At one of the hetman's feasts, there was a king, to whom Stanislav Konetspolsky passed the impostor ^[6] .

Around 1638-1639, Seferov served King Vladislav IV in the diplomatic field. So, for example, during this period, Manuel, together with the Polish ambassador Schemberg, was present at the court of the Persian Shah Safi I. In the spring of 1640, when Manuel arrived in Sambir for a royal salary, he met another impostor, posing as Tsarevich Simeon Shuisky - the never-existing son of the Russian Tsar Vasily IV . False Simeon was recognized as a true prince and was kept in Sambir at the court of the crown podcarbium of Jan Danilovich . The impostors became friends and talked for six months ^{[7] [8]} .

At the same time, the Polish king Wladyslaw IV became aware of the deaths of Buinac people ^{[approx. 1]} Ambassador Schemberg on his return trip from Persia. Then the king sent Manuel with a diplomatic mission to the Persian Shah Sefi I, whose goal was to enlist the support of the Shah, in particular, to enter the war with the Ottoman Empire if the Turkish Sultan attacks the territory of the Commonwealth ^{[9] [10]} .

In the beginning, the king planned to send Seferov to the shah through the territory of the Russian kingdom . However, in the autumn of 1640 it became known about the seizure of the Turkish fortress of Azov by the Don Cossacks . Cossacks successfully held the fortress since 1637, reflecting all the attacks of the Ottoman Turks. The Persian ambassador arrived there, and Vladislav IV sent Manuel to Azov ^[9] .

Arriving at the fortress, Manuel did not find the Persian ambassador. He managed to find out that the ambassador was on the Terek , and Seferov sent him a letter there. Manuel himself remained in Azov, introducing himself to the Don Cossacks as an Armenian who came out of Turkish captivity ^[2] . Seferov spent in the fortress all winter, leading a wild life with the Cossacks. The impostor quickly squandered his savings and went into debt. In the spring of 1641, due to the inability to repay the debt, the Cossacks arranged frequent beatings of Manuil Seferov, and soon, unable to bear the torment, he announced his diplomatic mission. As proof of his words, Manuil showed the Don Cossacks the letters of the Polish king and the crown hetman addressed to the Persian Shah Safi I. Nevertheless, the Cossacks did not believe Seferov, suspecting him of espionage. The atamans sent Manuel under guard on duty to Moscow, giving guarantees to the Cossack creditors about the reimbursement of the amount owed by the impostor ^[9] .

On June 12, 1641, Manu Seferov arrived in Moscow under escort. At first, the Russian government also suspected Seferov of espionage. But then the authorities suspected him of imposture. On June 16, Manuil was transferred to the bailiff Semyon Volynsky, where on June 17, a secret letter was discovered near Seferov, written in Armenian and in which there was a hint of his high status. Soon, and at Volyn, the impostor verbally began to hint at his "royal origin". Moreover, the impostor tried to attract Volynsky to his side, promising him "the good to teach" ^[11] . The bailiffs examined the body of Manuel and found on his chest prominent words, on his arms a prominent cross. These signs of power ranked as "royal". After that, Volynsky mistook him for the lie of Simeon of Shuisky ^{[approx. 2]} , which disappeared without a trace from the courtyard of Podskarbiya Jan Danilovich in Sambir in the 1640s and with whom Seferov was personally acquainted ^[12] .

During interrogation and torture on August 9, Manuel reported several versions of the origin of the signs on his chest and arms. In the beginning, he said that his mother had inflicted them on him because of great love and meant his name, and the cross on his hands was a commitment to the Christian faith. According to another version, they were stabbed by a certain girl in Istanbul who loved him. Finally, he reported information according to which Manuel himself inflicted these signs ^{[7] [13]} .

At the last interrogation on September 2, he confirmed all his testimonies about his biography, in particular about his acquaintance with the lies Simeon Shuisky and the circumstances of his appearance in Azov. After that, Volynsky concluded that “royal signs” Manuel made for “great theft”, and also did not abandon his version that Seferov and the fake Simeon Shuisky, who had disappeared from the court of the under-tributary of Jan Danilovich, were one and the same person ^[14] . Nothing is known about the fate of Manuel. Perhaps he was executed at the end of 1641 - the beginning of 1642 or sent to eternal hard labor in Siberia ^[7] .

• False Simeon Shuisky

Comments

Footnotes

Source

• RGADA. F. 210. Op. 13 (Columns of the Order Table). D. 152. L. 1–113

Literature

• Usenko, Oleg Grigorievich. New data On false monarchs in Russia of the 17th Century . - St. Petersburg: Bulletin of Moscow University, 2006. - 137 p.
• Usenko, Oleg Grigorievich. Moscow prince and "descendant of Macedon." Gallery of Russian false monarchs . - SPb. : Homeland, 2006.