Even during the struggle between the troops of Vasily Shuisky and the Bolotnikovites, False Dmitry II appeared. A new stage of the Troubles began, which was now accompanied by open Polish intervention. At first, the Poles actively supported their protégé - a new impostor, then, in 1609, the invasion of the Polish army began.
Who was hiding this time under the name of the prince, again nominated by the Polish magnates, remains unknown. In the tsar's charters, the new contender for the Moscow throne was called the "Starodub thief." The impostor knew Russian literacy and church affairs well, spoke and wrote in Polish. Some sources also claim that the impostor was fluent in the Hebrew language. Contemporaries speculated about who he could be. According to some sources, it was the priest's son Matvey Verevkin, a native of the Seversk side, according to others - the son of the Starodub archer. Others recognized him as a boyar son. They also talked about the Lithuanian clerk Bogdan Sutupov, the tsarist clerk under the first impostor, the schoolteacher from the city of Sokol, about the priest Dmitry from Moscow or the baptized Jew Bogdanko from the city of Shklov.
The most detailed information about the initial appearance of this impostor is given in the “Barkulabovskaya Chronicle”. According to the Belarusian chronicler, this man taught children first from the Shklov priest, then from the Mogilev priest, was an insignificant person, trying to please everyone, very poor. From Mogilev, he moved to Propoisk, where he was imprisoned as a Russian spy. By order of the headman Pan Zenovich, he was released and escorted across the Moscow border. The new impostor came to the attention of the Polish gentry, who decided to nominate a new contender for the Russian throne. Finding himself in the Starodub area, he began to write letters all over White Russia, so that "people of knighthood, willing people" would gather for him and even "take pennies". With a detachment of mercenaries, he moved to Starodub.
Rumors of a "miraculous salvation" and the imminent return of the tsar began to circulate immediately after the death of Grigory Otrepiev. Those who saw how the king was killed were few, the body of the impostor was severely mutilated and covered with mud, it was impossible to identify him. Muscovites, in fact, were divided into two camps - those who rejoiced at the fall of the impostor, recalling his foreign behavior and rumors of "witchcraft." Such rumors were in the interests of the boyar elite, who organized the coup. On the other hand, in Moscow there were many adherents of False Dmitry, and among them stories immediately began to circulate that he had managed to escape from the "dashing boyars". They assured that instead of the king, his double was killed. It is believed that some of these rumors were spread by the Poles, since the ground was already being prepared for the appearance of a second impostor. Already a week after the death of the impostor in Moscow at night there were "flying letters" written by the allegedly escaped tsar. Many sheets of paper were even nailed to the gates of the boyar houses, in them "Tsar Dmitry" announced that he "had left the murder and God himself saved him from the traitors."
Immediately after the death of False Dmitry I, the Moscow nobleman Mikhail Molchanov (one of the killers of Fyodor Godunov), who fled from Moscow towards the western border, began spreading rumors that another man had been killed instead of Dmitry, and the tsar himself had escaped. Molchanov, posing as "Dmitry", settled in the castle of Mnishek Sambore, after which the letters of the "miraculously saved tsar" poured into Russia in a stream. However, Molchanov could not continue to play his role of "tsar" outside the Commonwealth. They knew him too well in Moscow. Therefore, a new impostor "showed up".
The population of the rebellious Seversk Ukraine had been waiting for a whole year for the arrival of the "good tsar" from Poland, which was largely facilitated by rumors of the "miraculous salvation" of False Dmitry. Putivl, Starodub, other cities more than once sent messengers abroad in search of the tsarevich. Bolotnikov also wrote letters, who sent Dmitry from besieged Tula to Starodub with a detachment of the agile Cossack ataman Ivan Zarutsky to meet him. The ataman knew the first "tsar" well, but preferred to publicly "recognize" the second in order to become his confidant. In June 1607 Starodub swore allegiance to False Dmitry. The power of the impostor was also recognized by Novgorod-Seversky, Pochep, Chernigov, Putivl, Sevsk and other Seversky cities. The residents of several Ryazan suburbs, Tula, Kaluga and Astrakhan also recognized the Starodub "thief". In Starodub, the Boyar Duma began to form, and a new rebel army was also formed. Pan Nikolai Mekhovetsky took the post of hetman - the commander-in-chief of the impostor's army.
From the very beginning, the new impostor received support and material assistance from the Polish tycoons. He was an obedient puppet in their hands. The Poles pejoratively called him "tsarik". In the summer of 1607, another gentry rokosh (revolt) against King Sigismund III ended in the Commonwealth. Having suffered a serious defeat in early July and fearing royal revenge, the rebels ran to the impostor, hoping to find glory and booty in the Russian land. The king was fine with that. Some of the troublemakers could lay down their heads in the Russian land. The king himself dismissed the mercenaries recruited for the civil war. This led to an increase in crime, mercenaries misbehaved, hunted for robberies. Now they could be floated to Russia. At the same time, legends about the wealth of Russian cities, about the ease of victories over the "Muscovites" were spread from the participants in the campaign of the first impostor. Everyone knew that the forces of the Russian state were undermined by a series of uprisings, which actually led to a civil war.
At the same time, the main task was solved - the enslavement of Russia. The Polish elite has long been preparing a new invasion of the Russian state, planning to take advantage of the Troubles. In addition, during the winter, the army of False Dmitry II was significantly replenished with former Bolotnikovites. “Don and Volga Cossacks and all those people who were in Tula,” the chronicler says, “they joined him, the thief, not even though Tsar Vasily Ivanovich was in obedience …” In the southern border regions, a peasant war broke out again, forcing the local part of the nobles go over to the side of the new impostor, partly to flee to Moscow. Trying to attract as many service people as possible to his side, False Dmitry II confirmed all the previous awards and benefits of False Dmitry I to the seversky inheritance. But initially the army was small - only a few thousand soldiers.
Tula campaign
First, the army of the second impostor moved to Tula, to rescue Bolotnikov. Pochep met the troops of the impostor with bread and salt. On September 20, the insurgent army entered Bryansk. On October 8, Hetman Mekhovetsky defeated the tsarist troops of the governor Litvinov-Mosalsky near Kozelsk, and on October 16 he took Belev. Meanwhile, the advanced detachments of the impostor occupied Epifan, Dedilov and Krapivna, reaching the nearest approaches to Tula. However, the fall of Tula on October 10 confused False Dmitry's cards. The army of False Dmitry II could not yet resist the large tsarist army. On October 17, the impostor retreated to Karachev to join the Cossacks.
It should be noted that Vasily Shuisky underestimated the danger of the new "thief", dismissed the army to its homes, believing that the remaining centers of the uprising would easily pacify the detachments of his commander. Therefore, the king did not have a large army to sweep away the still weak detachments of the impostor with one blow, until the uprising again spread over a vast territory. In addition, part of the Bolotnikovites, whom the tsar forgave and sent to fight the remaining rebels, rebelled again and fled to the new impostor.
The impostor wanted to run further, but on the way the fugitive "tsar" was met by the gentlemen Valyavsky and Tyshkevich with 1800 soldiers, intercepted and returned. Detachments of other lords appeared - Khmelevsky, Khruslinsky, and one of the patrons of the first False Dmitry Vishnevetsky arrived. The Polish core of the army was significantly strengthened. On November 9, the army of False Dmitry II again laid siege to Bryansk, which was occupied by the tsarist troops, who restored the previously burned fortress. Don Cossacks arrived here with another impostor - "Tsarevich" Fyodor, "son" of Tsar Fyodor I Ioannovich. False Dmitry II granted the Cossacks, and ordered his rival to be hanged.
For more than a month, the insurgent troops could not break the city's defenses, which were led by the tsarist governors of Kashin and Rzhevsky. However, there was not enough water in Bryansk and famine began. The tsarist regiments under the leadership of Vasily Litvinov-Mosalsky and Ivan Kurakin went to the rescue of the garrison of Bryansk from Meshchovsk and Moscow. Litvinov-Mosalsky approached Bryansk on December 15, but thin ice on the Desna did not allow crossing the river. The winter was warm and the Desna was not frozen. Across the river, the rebels felt safe. Then the warriors began to cross the river ford, not afraid of the icy water and the shelling of the rebels. Frightened by such determination of the tsarist troops, the insurgents wavered. At the same time, the governors of Kashin and Rzhevsky led the garrison of Bryansk on a sortie. The impostor's army could not stand it and fled. Soon the governor Kurakin went to Bryansk and brought all the necessary supplies. The rebels still tried to defeat the tsarist governors, but were driven back.
Source: Razin E. A. History of military art
Oryol camp
The impostor troops retreated to the Eagle. Vasily Shuisky did not succeed in suppressing the rebellion. His governors could not take Kaluga. To help them, the tsar sent 4 thousand previously amnestied Cossacks ataman Bezzubtsev, but they disintegrated the siege army and rebelled there. The troops remaining loyal to the government fled to Moscow, and the remaining Bezzubtsev took away to False Dmitry. Over the winter, the impostor's army has grown considerably. The defeated Bolotnikovites continued to flock. New detachments came from Poland. The detachments of Tyshkevich and Tupalsky were brought in. Ataman Zarutsky, having traveled to the Don, recruited 5 thousand more soldiers. The Ukrainian Cossacks were brought in by Colonel Lisovsky. Prince Roman Rozhinsky (Ruzhinsky), very popular among the gentry, appeared - he squandered all his fortune, got into debt and was engaged in open robbery in the Commonwealth. Even his wife, at the head of a squad of bandits, carried out robbery raids on neighbors. Now he mortgaged his estates and recruited 4 thousand hussars. The Polish nobleman Aleksandr Lisovsky, who had been sentenced to death in his homeland for participating in a rebellion against the king, also appeared at the pretender's with a detachment.
Rozhinsky came into conflict with Mekhovetsky and made a coup, having gathered a "knight's colo" (circle), where he was elected hetman. The Cossack part of the army was led by Lisovsky and Zarutsky, who got along well with the Poles. Nobody considered the second "Tsar Dmitry". When he tried to protest against replacing Mekhovetsky with Rozhinsky, he was nearly beaten and threatened to be killed. Lyakhi forced him to sign a "secret agreement" on the cession to them of all the treasures that would be seized in the Moscow Kremlin. And when the newcomers from the Commonwealth doubted whether this was the "Dmitry" that was before, they were answered: "It is necessary that there was one, that's all." The Jesuits surfaced again, promoting the project of introducing Catholicism in Russia.
The size of the army of False Dmitry II in the Oryol camp was about 27 thousand people. Moreover, unlike the first impostor and the Bolotnikovites, the army of the second impostor mainly consisted of professional military men - Polish mercenaries, Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks, the rest of the mass were nobles, boyar children, archers, fighting slaves, etc. did not disdain. Fanning the flames of the uprising, he issued a decree according to which the estates of the nobles who served Shuisky were subject to confiscation, and they could be captured by slaves and peasants. A new wave of pogroms began.
Moscow campaign
Preparing to fight the new impostor, Tsar Vasily Shuisky gathered his army near Bolkhov during the winter and spring of 1608. 30-40 thousand warriors gathered here. But the composition was heterogeneous - and the local cavalry, and detachments of service Tatars, and a regiment of mercenaries. But most importantly, the stupid commander-in-chief, another brother of the tsar, Dmitry Shuisky, was again appointed. He did not conduct reconnaissance, and did not discover that the enemy army had launched a new offensive. The enemy's blow was unexpected.
In the spring, the insurgent army moved from Orel to Moscow. The decisive battle lasted for two days - April 30 - May 1 (May 10-11) 1608 on the Kamenka River in the vicinity of the town of Bolkhov. The battle began with a sudden blow from the vanguard of the army of False Dmitry II, which consisted of gentry hussar companies and hundreds of Cossacks. However, the Russian noble cavalry, supported by German mercenaries, withstood the attack. Then Russian troops attacked detachments led by the commander-in-chief's nephew Adam Rozhinsky. The Poles overthrew the advanced Russian regiment of Prince Golitsyn, He mixed up and rolled backward, crushing a large regiment. Only the bold attack of the guard regiment of the skillful commander, Prince Kurakin, stopped the enemy. On this, the first day of the battle ended.
The parties began to turn towards a decisive battle. The tsar's army took up a convenient position behind the swamp, seated in a fortification of carts. The morning frontal attacks of the Polish-Cossack troops were unsuccessful. Then the Poles used a trick. Found a ford on the flank. And the servants in the distance began to drive the wagons back and forth, raising banners and badges over them in order to distract the enemy. The commander-in-chief of the tsarist army, voivode Dmitry Shuisky, was frightened, thinking that a huge enemy army was approaching. He ordered the removal of artillery to keep the defenses in Bolkhov. The troops, seeing that the guns were being taken away, also panicked and began to withdraw. At this time, the Poles crossed the swamp and attacked the flank of the Russian army. The retreat turned into a flight. The guns were thrown, some of the troops hid in Bolkhov, others ran on. Many fleeing Poles and Cossacks hacked to death. The defeat was complete. After an artillery bombardment, Bolkhov capitulated. His garrison went over to the side of the impostor. Part of the scattered troops deserted. Kaluga surrendered to the impostor without a fight. Thus, the road to Moscow turned out to be open.
Tsar Vasily hastily assembled new regiments, appointing the best generals. He ordered the Skopin-Shuisky army to block the Kaluga road, and sent Kurakin to Kolomenskaya. However, Hetman Rozhinsky with the "tsarik" bypassed the Skopin-Shuisky regiments to the west, through Kozelsk, Mozhaisk and Zvenigorod. And suddenly in June the impostor's army appeared under the walls of Moscow. There was almost no one to protect her. There were few troops in the capital. But the available warriors, mainly Moscow archers, were determined to stand up to the end. One decisive attack, and Moscow could fall. But the imposter's headquarters did not know about this and lost time. They expected the approach of Lisovsky's troops with artillery to begin a correct siege of the big city from several sides.
Rozhinsky took a long time to choose a place for the camp and settled in Tushino, 17 versts from Moscow, and decided to starve it out. The impostor created his orders here, the Boyar Duma. The peasants driven from the surrounding villages built fortifications. Ranks were distributed, estates and estates complained, receptions were arranged. This is how the second "capital" appeared. In the future, the impostor began to be called not "Starodub thief", but "Tushino king", "Tushino thief", and his supporters - Tushinsky.
Skopin-Shuisky did not dare to attack the enemy, since treason was discovered in his army. He took his troops to Moscow. There the conspirators were seized - princes Katyrev, Yuri Trubetskoy, Ivan Troekurov were exiled, ordinary traitors were executed. However, the relatives and friends of the conspirators began to run across to the impostor - Dmitry Trubetskoy, Dmitry Cherkassky, followed by the Sitsky and Zasekins who hated Shuisky.
Lisovsky led a separate detachment with the aim of intercepting the southern roads to Moscow. Zaraysk was occupied without a fight by Lisovsky's detachments, since the city Cossacks surrendered the city and swore allegiance to the impostor. To intercept the enemy detachment, a militia from the Ryazan land, led by Z. Lyapunov and I. Khovansky, came out. On March 30, the Battle of Zaraisk took place. The tsarist governors showed carelessness in organizing the guard, and the sudden sortie of Lisovsky's men from the Zaraisk Kremlin, their army was defeated.
After the victory at Zaraisk, Lisovsky took Mikhailov and Kolomna with a swift onslaught, where he captured a large artillery park. His army was strengthened by the remnants of the former Bolotnikovites and grew significantly. Lisovsky headed for Moscow, planning to join up with the main troops of the impostor, who became near Moscow in the Tushino camp. However, Lisovsky's detachment was defeated by the tsar's army under the leadership of Ivan Kurakin in the battle at Bear Ford. In June 1608, on a ferry across the Moskva River near Medvezhy ford (between Kolomna and Moscow), Lisovsky's detachment unexpectedly attacked the tsarist army. The first to attack the enemy was a patrol regiment led by Vasily Buturlin. Burdened with a heavy "outfit" and a wagon train, Lisovsky's soldiers, accustomed to maneuvering battles, suffered a serious defeat and lost all their Kolomna trophies, as well as the captives captured in Kolomna. Lisovsky fled and was forced to get to Moscow in a different way, bypassing Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir and the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Thus, the army of False Dmitry II, besieging Moscow, did not receive siege weapons, and could no longer count on a blockade of the capital from the southeast.
