Invasion
On October 13, 1604, the detachments of False Dmitry began an invasion of the Russian state through the Severskaya Ukraine. This direction of the invasion made it possible to avoid strong border battles, since the region at that time was covered by unrest and uprisings caused by the "excesses" of the Godunov government. It also helped the impostor to replenish the army with Cossacks and fugitive peasants, since the local population believed in the "good king" and expected him to get rid of unbearable oppression. In addition, this direction of movement of the impostor's army towards Moscow made it possible to avoid a meeting with such a powerful fortress as Smolensk. The impostor's troops had practically no artillery, and without it it was impossible to storm strong fortresses.
"Lovely letters" and appeals to the Seversk cities did their job. The "real tsar" called on the people to revolt against the usurper Boris and to restore justice. The Seversky Territory was full of refugees who fled from hunger and persecution. Therefore, the appearance of the "real king" was perceived positively. The signal for a widespread uprising was the surrender of Putivl, the only stone fortress in the region. The peasants of the vast and rich Komaritsa volost, which belonged to the royal family, revolted. Then many southern cities refused to obey Moscow - among them Rylsk, Kursk, Sevsk, Kromy. Thus, the external invasion coincided with the internal civil confrontation caused by the serf policy of the government.
Actually, the main calculation was based on popular discontent and the conspiracy of the boyars. From a military point of view, the impostor's army had no chance of success. The best time for hostilities - summer, was lost, the rainy season began, turning the roads into a swamp, winter was approaching. There was no artillery to take the fortresses. There was little money to pay for the mercenaries. There was no discipline and order in the army, the Polish gentry did not respect the impostor. The Crimean horde, which was supposed to attack from the south and tie up the Moscow army, did not go on a campaign. In such conditions, the army of False Dmitry could only count on a raid and the capture of several cities, and not on success in a large campaign.
Government troops under the command of Prince Dmitry Shuisky concentrated near Bryansk and waited for reinforcements. Tsar Boris announced the gathering of the zemstvo militia in Moscow. The Moscow government was waiting for the main blow of the Polish army from Smolensk, and only realizing that it would not be, moved the troops to the south.
On January 21, 1605, a decisive battle took place in the area of the Dobrynichi village of the Komaritsa volost. The defeat was complete: the impostor's army lost more than 6 thousand people in killed only, many prisoners were captured, 15 banners, all artillery and baggage. The impostor himself barely escaped. The remaining Poles left him (Mniszek left even earlier). Thus, this battle showed that it was not in vain that the Poles were afraid of an invasion of the Russian state. In direct battle, the tsarist troops were a formidable force that easily scattered the forces of the impostor.
However, the indecision of the tsarist governors, who suspended the pursuit, did not allow the elimination of the impostor's forces to be completed. This helped the impostor to leave and gain a foothold in Putivl, under the protection of the Zaporozhye and Don Cossacks. Some of the Cossacks were sent to defend Kromy and distract the tsarist troops. They coped with this task - a small Cossack detachment pinned down the troops sent against False Dmitry until spring. The tsar's troops, instead of laying siege to False Dmitry in his temporary capital, wasted time storming Kroma and Rylsk. Unable to take Rylsk, Mstislavsky decided to disband the troops to "winter quarters", reporting to Moscow that siege artillery was needed to take the fortress. The tsar canceled the dissolution of the army, causing discontent among the soldiers. A "wall-breaking squad" was sent to the army. Godunov also recalled Mstislavsky and Shuisky from the army, which further offended them. And he appointed the distinguished Basmanov, to whom the tsar promised his daughter Xenia as his wife. In addition, the tsarist governors unleashed a cruel terror, destroying everyone indiscriminately, as sympathizing with the impostor. This led to general bitterness and caused a split among the nobility, which had previously been largely devoted to the Godunov dynasty. The inhabitants of the rebellious cities, being witnesses of the terror, stood to the last. In Moscow, according to denunciations, they were enough to torture and reprimand sympathizers "thieves", this embittered Muscovites.
The tsar's army was firmly stuck near Kromy. Ataman Karela with the Cossacks stood to death. Nothing remained of the town; walls and houses were burned down from the bombing. But the Cossacks held out, dug passages and holes under the ramparts, where they waited for the shelling and slept and met the attacks with fire. The tsar's troops were not particularly eager to fight, they did not want to die. The enemy of the Godunov family, Vasily Golitsyn, who remained in command between the departure of the former command and the arrival of the new one, did not show zeal. The tsarist army rotted from idleness, suffered from dysentery and read anonymous letters of the impostor. And all the same, the troops of the impostor were doomed, sooner or later they would have been crushed.
At this critical moment, when the invasion plan could finally collapse, Tsar Boris unexpectedly died on April 13. The heir to the throne was his 16-year-old son Fedor. The death of the king was completely unexpected and occurred under strange circumstances. Boris was healthy and apparently they helped him die. The actual rulers under the young tsar were his mother Maria Skuratova and Semyon Godunov, whom everyone hated. They also offended the ambitious Basmanov, making him only the second governor.
The boyars immediately conspired against the young king. Many nobles began to leave the camp near Kromy, allegedly for the royal funeral, but many left for the impostor. And in the tsarist camp itself, the leaders of the Ryazan noble militia Procopius and Zakhar Lyapunov conspired. He was joined by the offended Basmanov and Golitsyns. As a result, on May 7, the tsarist army, led by the governors Peter Basmanov and the princes Golitsyn, went over to the side of the impostor. Upon learning of the change in the situation, the Poles again poured into the army to the impostor. The pretender marched on to Moscow in triumphant march. He stopped in Tula, sending a detachment of Karelian Cossacks to the capital.
On June 1, the messengers of False Dmitry announced his message. The uprising began. Tsar Fyodor, his mother and sister were arrested, their relatives were killed or exiled. Patriarch Job was deposed, and the compromiser, the Greek Ignatius, was installed in his place. Shortly before the impostor entered Moscow, the tsar and his mother were strangled. Before entering Moscow, False Dmitry expressed a wish: "It is necessary that Fyodor and his mother were not there either." It was officially announced that the king and his mother were poisoned.
K. F. Lebedev Entry of the troops of False Dmitry I into Moscow
Impostor politics
On June 20, the "real tsar", surrounded by traitorous boyars, with a strong escort of Polish mercenaries and Cossacks, arrived in Moscow. Initially, the new king was noted for favors. Many of the "faithful" were given a reward, the boyars and the devious were paid a double salary. Boyars who were in disgrace under the Godunovs returned from exile. The estates were returned to them. They even returned Vasily Shuisky and his brothers, who were exiled because of a conspiracy directed against False Dmitry. All relatives of Filaret Romanov (Fedor Romanov), who also fell into disgrace under the Godunovs, were forgiven. Filaret himself received an important post - Metropolitan of Rostov. A touching meeting of "Dmitry" with his mother Maria Naga was played out - she was held in a monastery confinement and preferred to "recognize" him in order to get out of the dungeon and return to secular life. Servants were doubled their salaries, landlords increased their land plots, due to land and monetary confiscations from monasteries. In the south of the Russian state, which supported the impostor in the fight against Moscow, the collection of taxes was canceled for 10 years. True, this holiday of life (they squandered 7.5 million rubles in six months, with an annual income of 1.5 million rubles) had to be paid for by others. Therefore, in other areas, taxes have increased significantly, which caused new unrest.
The new king, who gave out many promises, was forced to somewhat soften the pressure on the people. The peasants were allowed to leave the landlords if they did not feed them during the famine. Banned hereditary registration in slaves; the slave was supposed to serve only those to whom he was “sold out,” which translated them into the position of hired servants. We set the exact search term for fugitives - 5 years. Those who fled during the famine were assigned to the new landowners, that is, those who fed them in difficult times. Bribery was prohibited by law. To reduce the abuse of the collection of taxes, the new tsar obliged the "lands" themselves to send the corresponding sums with elected people to the capital. The bribe takers were ordered to be punished, the nobles could not be beaten, but heavy fines were imposed on them. The king tried to win over ordinary people to his side, accepted petitions, often walked the streets, talking with merchants, artisans and other common people. He stopped the persecution of buffoons (remnants of paganism), stopped prohibiting songs and dances, cards, chess.
At the same time, False Dmitry began active Westernization. The new tsar removed obstacles to leaving the Russian state and moving within it. Not a single European state has ever known such freedom in this matter. He ordered the Duma to be called "Senate". Introduced the Polish ranks of the swordsman, subjugation, podskarbia, he himself took the title of emperor (Caesar). The "secret office" of the king consisted exclusively of foreigners. Under the king, a personal guard of foreigners was created, which ensured his safety. The fact that the tsar surrounded himself with foreigners and Poles, removed the Russian guards from himself, insulted and outraged many. In addition, the new king challenged the church. False Dmitry did not like monks, he called them "parasites" and "hypocrites." He was going to make an inventory of the monastery property and take away all the "unnecessary". Provided freedom of conscience to his subjects.
In foreign policy, he anticipated the actions of Princess Sophia with Prince Golitsyn and Tsar Peter - he was preparing for a war with Turkey and the capture of Azov from the mouth of the Don. He planned to recapture Narva from the Swedes. I was looking for allies in the West. He especially hoped for the support of the Pope and Poland, as well as the German emperor and Venice. But he did not receive serious support from Rome and Poland because of the refusal to fulfill earlier promises on the cession of land and the spread of the Catholic faith. False Dmitry understood that serious concessions to Poland would undermine his position in Moscow. To the Polish ambassador, Korwin-Gonsevsky, he said that he could not make territorial concessions to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as he had previously promised, and offered to pay for the aid in money. Catholics were granted freedom of religion, just like other Christians (Protestants). But the Jesuits were banned from entering Russia.
However, very soon Muscovites felt deceived. The strangers behaved in Moscow as in a captured city. The Englishman D. Horsey wrote: "The Poles, an arrogant nation, arrogant in happiness, began to exercise their power over the Russian boyars, intervened in the Orthodox religion, violated laws, tortured, oppressed, plundered, and devastated treasuries." In addition, people were unhappy with the fact that the tsar violated Russian customs in everyday life and clothing (dressed in a foreign dress), was disposed to foreigners, and was going to marry a Polish woman.
In winter, the position of False Dmitry worsened. Rumors spread among the people that “the king is not real,” but a fugitive monk. The Russian boyars, who wanted to see their toy in False Dmitry, miscalculated. Gregory showed an independent mind and will. In addition, the boyars did not want to share power with the Poles and the "artistic". Vasily Shuisky almost directly stated that False Dmitry was imprisoned in the kingdom for the sole purpose of overthrowing the Godunov family, now the time has come to change it. The nobles have formed a new conspiracy. It was headed by the princes Shuisky, Mstislavsky, Golitsyns, boyars Romanov, Sheremetev, Tatishchev. They were supported by the church, offended by large extortions.
In January 1606, a detachment of conspirators broke into the palace and tried to kill the king. However, the killers acted clumsily, made a sensation, betrayed themselves. The assassination attempt failed. Seven conspirators were captured and torn to pieces by the crowd.
Insurrection
False Dmitry was digging his own grave. On the one hand, he flirted with the Boyar Duma, tried to attract service people to his side, and handed out court ranks and positions. On the other hand, it gave new reasons for dissatisfaction. On April 24, 1606, many Poles arrived in Moscow with Yuri Mnishek and his daughter Marina - about 2 thousand people. The impostor allocated huge sums for gifts to the bride and her father, noble gentlemen and gentry. The jewelry box alone, presented to Marina, cost about 500 thousand gold rubles, and another 100 thousand were sent to Poland to pay debts. Balls, dinners and festivities followed one after the other.
On May 8, False Dmitry celebrated his wedding with Marina. The Catholic woman was crowned with the royal crown, which angered the people. The violation of customs during the ceremony also caused outrage. The capital seethed. False Dmitry continued to feast, although he was informed of a conspiracy and preparation for an uprising. He lightly dismissed the warning, threatening to punish the informers themselves. False Dmitry celebrated and retired from public affairs. And the Poles who went on a spree insulted Muscovites. Pan Stadnitsky recalled: "The Muscovites were very tired of the debauchery of the Poles, who began to treat them like their subjects, attacked them, quarreled with them, insulted, beaten, drunk, and raped married women and girls." The ground for the uprising was laid.
The uprising broke out on the night of May 17 (27). Shuisky, in the name of the king, reduced his personal security in the palace from 100 to 30 people, ordered the opening of prisons and handing out weapons to the crowd. Even earlier, the Cossacks loyal to the king were sent to Yelets (a war with the Ottoman Empire was being prepared). At two o'clock, when the king and his associates were sleeping off from the next feast, they sounded the alarm. The boyar servants, as well as the townspeople, armed with melee weapons, squeaks and even cannons, from different parts of Moscow attacked detachments of Polish nobles who had taken refuge in the stone palaces of the capital. Moreover, the people were deceived again, Shuisky started a rumor that "Lithuania" wanted to kill the tsar, and demanded that Muscovites rise to his defense. While the townspeople smashed the Poles and other foreigners, a crowd of conspirators led by Vasily Shuisky and the Golitsyn rushed into the Kremlin. Quickly breaking the resistance of the halberd mercenaries from the impostor's personal guard, they burst into the palace. Voivode Pyotr Basmanov, who became the closest associate of False Dmitry, tried to stop the crowd, but was killed.
The impostor tried to escape through the window, but fell and was wounded. He was picked up by archers from the Kremlin security. He asked for protection from the conspirators, promised a large reward, estates and property of the rebels. Therefore, the archers first tried to defend the king. In response, the henchmen of Tatishchev and Shuisky promised the archers to execute their wives and children, if they did not hand over the thief. The Sagittarius hesitated, but still demanded that Queen Martha confirm that Dmitry was her son, otherwise “God is free in him”. The conspirators had no advantage in strength and were forced to agree. While the messenger went to Martha for an answer, they tried to force False Dmitry to admit his guilt. However, he stood to the end and insisted that he was the son of the Terrible. The returning messenger, Prince Ivan Golitsyn, shouted that Martha allegedly said that her son had been killed in Uglich. The rebels immediately killed False Dmitry.
Several hundred Poles were killed. The rest were saved by Shuisky. He sent troops to calm the raging people and take under the protection of the Poles who were fighting back in their yards. The captured Poles were exiled to various Russian cities. Pan Mnishek and Marina were sent to Yaroslavl.
The bodies of the murdered Tsar and Basmanov were subjected to the so-called. "Commercial execution". They first lay in the mud, and then were thrown on the block (or table). Anyone could desecrate their bodies. I must say that the death of the impostor caused an ambiguous reaction. Many ordinary people felt sorry for the king. Therefore, it was announced that the impostor was an idolater and a "warlock" (sorcerer). First, False Dmitry and Basmanov were buried. But immediately after the funeral, severe frosts struck, destroying the grass in the meadows and the already sown grain. There were rumors that the dead sorcerer was to blame, they said that he was "walking dead." As a result, the body of False Dmitry was dug up and burned, and the ashes, mixed with gunpowder, were fired from a cannon towards Poland.
S. A. Kirillov. Sketch for the painting “Time of Troubles. False Dmitry"
Three days after the death of False Dmitry, the noble boyar Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky (the Shuiskys are descendants of the Suzdal branch of the Rurikovichs), the organizer of the conspiracy against the impostor, was "elected" as tsar. According to Russian laws and traditions, the tsar was supposed to elect a Zemsky Sobor. But in the provinces there was still a belief in the “good tsar” Dmitry. He managed to promise a lot, but did not have time to harm. Therefore, the conspirators decided to "elect" the king themselves, in order to present everyone with a fact.
There were four applicants. Filaret's son, 9-year-old Mikhail, was rejected by a majority of votes in the Boyar Duma for his early childhood. The indecisive and weak-willed Mstislavsky refused himself. And Vasily Golitsyn, both in the nobility of the family and in his role in the conspiracy, was inferior to Vasily Shuisky. This candidate won. In terms of personal qualities, he was a cunning and unprincipled politician. To avoid friction with other boyars, Shuisky made a compromise with the boyars and pledged to resolve the most important issues only together with the Duma and not repress anyone without its permission. The boyars, knowing that Shuisky was not popular among the people, did not dare to convene the Zemsky Sobor for the election of the tsar. They took Shuisky to the Execution Ground and “shouted out” him as the king in front of the assembled townspeople. In Moscow he was respected and supported. Pretending that the townspeople present, merchants and servicemen from other cities were their delegates, the Boyar Duma informed the power of the election of Shuisky by the Council.
Thus, the Troubles continued. The West's henchman was killed, but power was seized by a handful of noble boyars, unprincipled and greedy. The common people, who overthrew the impostor, found themselves in even more bondage than under Godunov. Began a mass search and fugitive peasants who fled from the oppression of the boyars and landowners, prisons were filled with "seditious". Therefore, the widespread popular movement continued.
