Enemy in the capital
After the death of the Russian army in the Klushinsky battle (the Klushinsky catastrophe of the Russian army), indignant Muscovites overthrew Tsar Vasily Shuisky in July 1610. The boyars, led by Fyodor Mstislavsky, formed a provisional government, the Seven Boyars. A Polish detachment headed by Hetman Zolkiewski approached Moscow. Taking into account the threat from False Dmitry II, whose army again went to Moscow and stood at Kolomenskoye, the boyars decided to come to an agreement with the Poles. In August, the boyars signed an agreement with the Poles, according to which the prince Vladislav Vaza, the son of King Sigismund III, became the Russian sovereign. Fearing the supporters of the impostor, the boyar government in September sent Polish troops into the capital city (How Russia almost became a colony of Poland).
Following Moscow, many provincial cities swore allegiance to the Polish prince. Voivode Pozharsky sworn in Zaraysk, Lyapunov - Ryazan. For a short time, the illusion arose that peace had come.
The Moscow boyars expected Vladislav to arrive in Moscow without delay, and were preparing for his meeting. However, Muscovites waited in vain for the Tsarevich. Surrounded by Sigismund, they decided that the Russian kingdom had fallen, so the most daring plans could be realized. Sigismund was not going to send his son to Moscow.
The king himself, by right of power, was now going to take the Moscow throne. He distributed his fiefdoms to his Russian supporters, planted his people in the orders and took money from the Russian treasury. Sigismund granted Mstislavsky the highest rank of servant and equestrian, which before him was worn only by the ruler Boris Godunov under Tsar Fyodor. The appanage prince received new income. Mikhail Saltykov, one of the developers of the project for the election to the Moscow table of the Polish prince and the head of the Russian embassy of the Russian nobility to Sigismund III near Smolensk, took possession of the Vazha land. His sons were granted to the boyars. Fyodor Andronov became the confidant of the Polish monarch in Moscow. Under Shuisky, this thieving merchant fled to the Tushino camp. Sigismund made the thief the head of the Treasury order and the guardian of the royal treasury.
Sigismund did not want to hear about the cleansing of the captured Russian lands and about the withdrawal of detachments to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which were still ravaging the Russian years and villages. He demanded the surrender of Smolensk. Saltykov advised the Polish king to announce a campaign against the impostor and, under this pretext, occupy Moscow with large forces. Also, the Poles did not want to hear about the baptism of Vladislav into the Orthodox faith.
The Seven Boyars took over the maintenance of the Polish garrison in Moscow. Russian nobles served from estates, so the treasury spent relatively little money on them. Western mercenaries received large salaries. According to Zholkevsky, in just a few months the boyars gave him 100 thousand rubles to the soldiers. Such spending quickly devastated the treasury, which was already gutted by False Dmitry I. Then the boyars gave the Poles to feed the city. Each company received its own city and sent its foragers to them.
The mercenaries, feeling themselves victors in a conquered country, did not hesitate. They took not only money, various goods, provisions and fodder, but also wives and daughters of townspeople, even noble ones. This provoked resistance. Boyar's government, in order to avoid the uprising and the deposition of cities, withdrew the Poles. They began to withdraw precious objects from the treasury, silver, sending them for smelting. Coins with a portrait of Vladislav were struck from silver.
Polish occupation
Zolkiewski was a reasonable man and tried to prevent a clash between the royal soldiers and the local population. His charter threatened with harsh punishments for looting and violence. At first, the commanders tried to fulfill the requirements of the hetman. However, he soon left for Smolensk to the king. Before his departure, the head of the boyar government, Mstislavsky, promised new concessions to Poland: he called on Sigismund, along with his son, to Moscow to rule the Russian state until Vladislav matured. Instead of Zholkiewski, the Polish garrison was headed by Alexander Gonsevsky.
The position of Mstislavsky and the politician of the Polish king, who generously distributed Duma ranks to “thin people” in order to create a support for himself in the Russian capital, caused a split in the Semboyarshchyna. Patriarch Germogen, princes Andrei Golitsyn and Ivan Vorotynsky were dissatisfied with Mstislavsky. Golitsyn openly demanded that Sigismund stop interfering in Moscow affairs and rather send his son to Moscow. Otherwise, Moscow will consider itself free from the oath. Vorotynsky supported these demands.
Gonsevsky, in order to suppress the Moscow opposition, organized an intrigue. With the help of Saltykov and other accomplices, he concocted a case against Hermogenes and his supporters on the basis of false denunciations. Allegedly, the conspirators planned to let the impostor Cossacks into Moscow and seize the capital. They planned to kill the Poles, except for the most noble ones, to bring Mstislavsky to the Tushino thief. Mstislavsky was convinced that the conspiracy was directed against him personally and against the best people of the capital. The rebels, according to them, were going to kill all the nobility of Moscow, and give their wives, sisters and daughters to the Cossacks and slaves. There was a lot of evidence of the preparation of the uprising in Moscow. Supporters of the impostor agitated the people against the Polish prince almost openly. Golitsyn easily proved his innocence in court. However, Gonsevsky feared Golitsyn most of all, he ordered his arrest. The prince was killed in custody.
Vorotynsky was also taken into custody. He was an agreeable person, quickly reached an agreement with opponents and he was returned to the Boyar Duma. Hermogenes was the most decisive opponent of the impostor and the Kaluga camp. Therefore, no one believed in his connection with the Tushino thief. However, the court convicted him. The Patriarch was imprisoned.
Having broken the boyar opposition, Gonsevsky strengthened the occupation regime. He brought the soldiers into the Kremlin. At the gates were now not only archers, but also German mercenaries. The keys to the Kremlin gates were handed over to a mixed commission of representatives of the Duma and the Polish garrison. The Russian streltsy garrison of the capital (about 7 thousand soldiers) was gradually disbanded. The rifle squads were sent to the cities. As winter approached, the Russian nobles, as usual, dispersed to their estates. As a result, the royal soldiers in the capital became the leading military force. However, they could only control the central part of the capital.
The strengthening of the Polish position in Moscow allowed the royal diplomats to increase pressure on the Moscow embassy near Smolensk. On November 18, 1610, they demanded the immediate surrender of Smolensk. Vasily Golitsyn and Filaret Romanov, after a meeting with zemstvo representatives, defended the terms of an honorary peace. After that, the ambassadors actually became hostages in the Polish camp.
Popular resistance
The troops of the Semboyarshchyna, with the support of Polish detachments, launched an offensive on the Kaluga camp of the impostor. They drove the Cossacks out of Serpukhov and Tula and prepared for an offensive on Kaluga. The impostor began to prepare a rear base in Voronezh and at the same time in Astrakhan. At the same time, the troops of the impostor retained their combat effectiveness.
Ataman Zarutsky in late November - early December 1610 defeated the troops of Jan Sapega (former hetman of the Tushino thief, then went over to the side of the king). Cossacks seized nobles and soldiers, took them to Kaluga and drowned them. The Kaluga camp was more and more involved in the war with the Polish invaders and acquired a patriotic color. However, in December, the pretender was killed by his chief of security, Prince Urusov (How False Dmitry II almost became a Russian tsar).
Sapega approached the city, but did not dare to storm and left. In Kaluga, no one knew what to do next. The Kaluga rebels began to seek agreements with Moscow. The Boyar Duma sent Yuri Trubetskoy to Kaluga to swear in local residents. The insurgent world (community) did not listen to the boyar. Kaluga residents chose zemstvo representatives and sent them to Moscow to study the situation. The elected officials visited Moscow and returned with disappointing news. Cossacks and townspeople saw foreigners who felt themselves masters in the capital, and an angry people, ready at any moment for an uprising.
The world has sentenced not to recognize Vladislav's power - until he arrives in Moscow and all Polish troops are withdrawn from the Russian state. Trubetskoy barely escaped. Kaluga rebelled against Moscow again. Meanwhile, Marina Mnishek gave birth to a "vorenka". Otrepieva's widow lived with a new impostor unmarried, and she “stole with many” (the child's real father was unknown), so Marina was despised. Kaluga residents solemnly buried False Dmitry II and "honestly" baptized the heir. He was named Tsarevich Ivan. The movement seemed to have acquired a new banner. However, the people remained indifferent to the "tsarevich".
The capital is boiling
The death of the impostor delighted the Moscow nobility, but the discontent of the common people did not diminish from this. A social explosion has been brewing in Moscow for a long time. Hatred of the dashing boyars was now combined with the actions of the interventionists. In addition, the situation of the townspeople has worsened. The capital has long forgotten about the cheap Seversky bread. The riots in the Ryazan region also cut off this food source. Prices went up sharply. Muscovites had to tighten their belts. But the royal soldiers considered themselves the masters of the city and did not want to put up with the high cost. They imposed their prices on traders or took goods by force. Quarrels and fights took place in the markets every now and then. They could turn into a general revolt at any moment. More than once in the city the call-out alarm of bells sounded, and crowds of excited people poured out onto the square.
Boyars and Poles began to take new security measures. From the previous sieges, large numbers of cannons were installed on the walls of the Wooden (Zemlyanoy) and White Towns. There were many of them under the canopy of the Zemsky Court. The authorities ordered to drag all the guns to Kitay-Gorod and the Kremlin. All supplies of gunpowder, which were withdrawn from the shops and saltpeter yards, were brought there. Now the cannons installed in the Kremlin and Kitay-gorod held the entire posad at gunpoint. Gonsevsky's soldiers patrolled the streets and squares of the city. A curfew was imposed. All Russians were forbidden to go outside after dark until dawn. Violators were killed on the spot.
Muscovites did not remain in debt. They tried to lure enemies into remote places of the settlement and there they exterminated foreigners. Cab drivers took the drunken "Lithuania" to the Moscow River and drowned them there. An undeclared war broke out in the capital.
In Moscow, the patriotic movement among the nobility was headed by Vasily Buturlin, Fyodor Pogozhiy, and others. They established contact with Procopius Lyapunov in Ryazan. This Ryazan nobleman consistently fought for False Dmitry I, Bolotnikov, Vasily Shuisky. Under his command were numerous noble detachments of the Ryazan region. Then he campaigned in favor of Skopin-Shuisky, and after his death supported the opposition to Shuisky and the decision of the Duma to elect Vladislav as the Russian tsar. Procopius learned about the failure of negotiations with the Polish side near Smolensk from his brother Zakhari, who was a member of the embassy. Then he met with Buturlin and agreed on a joint action against the Poles.
Learning about the storming of Smolensk, Lyapunov openly opposed the boyar government. The leader of the Ryazan militia accused the Polish king of violating the treaty and called on all patriots to resist. Procopius promised that he would immediately go to Moscow with the aim of liberating the Orthodox capital from the infidels. He sent his man to Moscow to agree with Buturlin on a joint performance. However, the boyars uncovered the conspiracy. Buturlin and the messenger from Ryazan were seized. Under torture, Buturlin confessed everything. Lyapunov's servant was executed, Buturlin was thrown into prison.
Role of Hermogenes
New executions and repressions did not frighten Muscovites. The ranks of resistance grew. Many hoped that Patriarch Hermogenes would lead the popular movement. The open speech of the church hierarch against the betrayal of the boyars earned him popularity. His fervent calls for struggle played an important role in popular resistance and the formation of militias. But his official position tied him closely to the Seven Boyars. Mstislavsky swore allegiance to Orthodoxy, and the patriarch did not dare to completely break with him. Therefore, he did not support either the Kaluga camp, which had long fought against the interventionists, or the rebellious Ryazan people. So, at the height of winter, a large Cossack detachment appeared in Moscow, led by atamans Prosovetsky and Cherkashenin, a Tushinsky thief. They were recalled from near Pskov to Kaluga, but on the way they learned about the death of the impostor. Not knowing who to swear to, they turned to the patriarch for advice. Hermogenes ordered the Cossacks to swear allegiance to Vladislav. The patriarch forgave the Tushino boyars, but did not want to enter into an alliance with the former thieves' Cossacks.
Hermogenes believed that the mission of the struggle for faith and kingdom should best be entrusted to cities that are not tarnished in the "thieves" speeches. The main of these cities was Nizhniy. In deep secrecy, the patriarch compiled an extensive message to the people of Nizhny Novgorod. Hermogenes announced that he was releasing all Russian people from the oath to Vladislav. He begged the people of Nizhny Novgorod not to spare their lives or property to drive out the Latins and defend the Russian faith.
“The Latin king,” wrote the head of the church, “is imposed on us by force, he brings death to the country, you need to choose a tsar for yourself, free from the kind of Russian ».
