Brief biography of Vasily IV Shuisky. Vasily Shuisky. Biography. Governing body. Time of Troubles

It was short in time. He reigned for only four years (1606 - 1610). His reign can be assessed ambiguously in the history of Russia. Some historians say that Vasily was capable of ruling the country, but did not have the charisma so necessary for a sovereign. In contrast to the same, he did not make open contact with the people and those close to him; he was a somewhat closed person.

If we talk about its origin, it is very noble. The Shuisky family was one of the “top 5” most famous families of the then Moscow Rus'. In addition, they were descendants of Alexander Nevsky, thus they were not the last heirs in the struggle for the throne. Vasily was not liked in Moscow. Klyuchevsky wrote about him as “a plump short man with furtive eyes.” The circumstances of Vasily's accession to the throne were new to Rus'. When ascending the throne, he gave a “kissing record”, that is, he swore allegiance to his subjects and promised to rule only according to the law.

Briefly the beginning of the reign of Vasily Shuisky

Period 1608-1610 called “Tushensky flights”. The boyars constantly moved from Vasily to False Dmitry II, and vice versa. They received estates and a salary. Some received land and money from both Vasily and False Dmitry II.

Briefly the reign of Vasily Shuisky

In fact, we can say that the state has split into two parts. False Dmitry gathered about 100 thousand people, I must say a decent number of people. In fact, Tushino became a “Bandit Settlement”; they plundered many lands. could not protect the cities from the invasion of gangs. Then the city authorities began to form security regiments in their localities - zemstvo militias. This was especially developed in the northern lands.

The second half of the reign of Vasily Shuisky became a turning point for him. Gradually, power flowed out of his hands. Many cities were either subordinate to False Dmitry II or tried to take care of themselves. In the North, a lip reform was previously carried out. Local kupas and other wealthy strata began to appoint the governing apparatus themselves. It was precisely the developed self-government that later led to the formation of the first militias.

Vasily Shuisky negatively accepted the rise of the local zemstvo movement; he did not like it at all. On the one hand, he had to confront the troops of False Dmitry, and then there were some local militias. Vasily turned to the Swedish King Charles IX. They signed an agreement. In short, according to this agreement:

1. A detachment of mercenaries numbering about 5,000 people (mostly Germans and Scots), under the command of a Swedish commander, was sent to the territory of Rus';
2. Shuisky promised the Vedas to cede part of the territories;
3. Allowed the “circulation” of Swedish coins across Russian territory.

The Russian troops were commanded by Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, the nephew of Emperor Vasily. Mikhail advanced greatly in his career during the reign of Vasily Shuisky. He performed well in battles against Bolotnikov. Many even thought that Mikhail could subsequently lay claim to the Russian throne. But he was a very responsible man, of a military type. He served primarily the state, for the benefit of his country. It is unlikely that he would have taken part in intrigues against Vasily.

Results of the reign of Vasily Shuisky

In the spring of 1609, a united army of Russians and mercenaries launched an offensive against False Dmitry II. Near Tver, they managed to defeat the army of False Dmitry. After the victory, the mercenaries began to demand payment of the promised salary. There was no money, the Swedes did not wait, they left Skopin-Shuisky and scattered across Russian lands. In addition, seeing how the Swedes interfered in the affairs of the Russians, the Poles, led by Sigismund III, also decided to participate. The Poles besieged Smolensk, and after 21 months it fell. The camp of False Dmitry II, having learned about the approach of Sigismund III, simply disintegrated.

From the biography

• Vasily Shuisky was the second tsar after Boris Godunov, who was elected at the Zemsky Sobor (loyal people shouted his name). He did not belong to the Rurik dynasty.
• He stood out under Ivan the Terrible. And under Boris Godunov, heading investigative committee in the case of the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry.
• A two-faced man, he expressed official version about the accidental death of Tsarevich Dmitry, as Godunov demanded. He officially recognized Grigory Otrepyev as Dmitry, although he himself spread rumors that it was Grigory Otrepyev. He almost paid with his life for this. But he was forgiven by False Dmitry 1.
• The king was no different moral qualities. He was cruel, stingy, and encouraged all kinds of informers. He was not loved in the country. He failed to inspire at least some trust on the part of all segments of the country's population.
• Before ascending the throne, he fought with False Dmitry, participated in the battle of Dobrynichi, in which False Dmitry I was forced to retreat.

Historical portrait of Vasily IV Shuisky

Activities

1.Domestic policy

2. Foreign policy

RESULTS OF ACTIVITY

• Vasily Shuisky came to power at a difficult time for Russia - during the Time of Troubles. He was unable to calm the people, restore order in the country, or free Russia from Swedish and Polish intervention. This is the main negative result of his reign.
• Shuisky also failed to strengthen his power and attract supporters from the top of society to his side. That is why his reign turned out to be so short and inglorious.
• His attempts to strengthen the army had only just begun; Shuisky did not have time to complete the matter.
• During the reign of Shuisky, the situation of the peasants worsened, and further enslavement continued.
• There was an unsuccessful foreign policy. The Tsar was unable to stop the intervention, to end the Troubles in the country.

Thus, the reign of Vasily Shuisky is an inglorious page in the history of Russia.

The beginning of the reign of Vasily Shuisky

Domestic and foreign policyVasily Shuisky

Almost immediately after Shuisky’s accession, rumors spread that Tsarevich Dmitry was alive. One of his supporters, Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov, raised a popular uprising in the fall of 1606, which swept more than seventy cities in the south and southwest of Russia.

Sverje tion king

Vasily IV Ioannovich Shuisky
Years of life: 1552–1612
Years of reign: 1606-1610 (7th Tsar of Russia)

From the Shuisky dynasty , branches of the Grand Dukes of Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod, descendants of the prince. Prince, boyar and governor.

Son of Prince Ivan Andreevich Shuisky.

He spent his youth near Grozny: in 1580 he was the tsar's groomsman at his last wedding, and in 1581 - 1582. stood as a commander with regiments on the Oka, guarding the border.

Brief biography of Vasily Shuisky

Since 1584, he headed the Court of Justice, being a boyar.

He is also known to historians as a great commander. Voivode of the Great Regiment on the campaign to Serpukhov in the summer of 1581, on the campaign to Novgorod in July 1582, on the campaign to Serpukhov in April 1583. Voivode of Smolensk in 1585-1587.

For unknown reasons Vasily Shuisky in 1586 he was in exile. During the persecution of the Shuiskys by Godunov in 1587, he was exiled to Galich. And in 1591, Godunov, deciding that they would not harm him, returned them to the capital.

In 1591, Shuisky led the investigation into the case of Tsarevich Dmitry. Under pressure from Godunov, he recognized the cause of the Tsarevich’s death as an accident, suicide. From the same year, Vasily again entered the Boyar Duma and soon became the Novgorod governor. In 1598, he was the first commander of the regiment in Mstislavsky’s army in the Crimean campaign to Serpukhov.

From January 1605 he was appointed commander of the regiment right hand in the campaign against False Dmitry. However, not really wanting Godunov to win, he went over to the side of the impostor.

After he took the throne, Vasily Ivanovich announced that the conclusions of his commission regarding the death of Tsarevich Dmitry were incorrect, and the new tsar was the true son of Ivan the Terrible. But in June 1605, Vasily tried to carry out a coup against the impostor, was captured and condemned to death by False Dmitry I, but was soon pardoned and sent into exile with his brothers.

Needing boyar support, False Dmitry at the end of 1605 returned the Shuiskys to Moscow.

In 1606, Vasily organized a conspiracy against False Dmitry I, which ended with the Moscow popular uprising on May 17, 1606 and the death of the impostor.

Board of Vasily Shuisky

On May 19, 1606, a group of adherents “called out” Vasily Shuisky as king. He was crowned on June 1 by Metropolitan Isidore of Novgorod.

At the very beginning of his reign, confrontations between the capital's nobility and the boyars intensified (an uprising led by Bolotnikov). In 1607, with the support of large cities, he managed to stop the uprising, but in the summer of that year, Polish intervention in the Russian state began.

The defeat of the troops of Dmitry Shuisky near Klushino on June 24, 1610 from the army of Sigismund III and the uprising in Moscow led to the fall Tsar Vasily Shuisky. On July 17 (27), 1610, part of the boyars Vasily IV Ioannovich Shuisky was overthrown from the throne and forcibly tonsured a monk.

In September 1610, he was handed over to the Polish hetman Zolkiewski, who took him and his brothers Dmitry and Ivan as prisoners to Poland to King Sigismund.

Vasily Ivanovich died in custody in Gostyninsky Castle in Poland. In 1635, his remains were reburied in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin.

He was married twice:

on Princess Elena Mikhailovna Repnina, daughter of the boyar Prince Mikhail Petrovich Repnin;
since 1608

on Princess Maria Petrovna Buinosova-Rostovskaya, daughter of Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Buinosov-Rostovsky, tonsured a nun in 1610;

• Princess Anna Vasilievna (1609 - died in infancy)
• Princess Anastasia Vasilievna (1610 - died in infancy)

Contemporaries and descendants accused Shuisky of many sins and offenses. He was stingy, stubborn, and resorted to magic. But meanwhile, one cannot help but admit that in the life of Vasily Ivanovich there were many moments when he showed true wisdom, courage and greatness of soul.

The average Russian, as a rule, gets the impression in his head from taking a history course that our country was ruled by two dynasties - the Rurikovichs and the Romanovs. Well, Boris Godunov also “wedged in” somewhere between them. However, there was another king, although he belonged to one of the branches of Rurik’s descendants, but who bore a separate and famous family surname, about whom few people remember. Why did it happen that Vasily Shuisky was forgotten by the people?

Vasily IV Shuisky

Origin

In the official genealogy of the Shuiskys, their ancestor is named the third son of Alexander Nevsky, Andrei Alexandrovich, but later historians believed that the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal princes (this powerful clan also included them) descended not from the son, but from the brother of the winner in Battle on the Ice, Andrey Yaroslavich. In the chronicles, the two Andreevs were often confused, and perhaps the confusion was deliberately created precisely in the 30s of the 16th century, when the Shuiskys actually ruled the state under the young Ivan the Terrible. Be that as it may, these aristocrats considered themselves older than the Moscow dynasty, since it went back to Alexander’s youngest son, Daniel.

However, for decades the Danilovichs successfully collected lands around their capital, while the Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod residents split up their possessions, so that by the middle of the 15th century, the Principality of Suzdal generally lost its independence, and its former owners were forced to enter the service of their younger relatives. This is how the princes Hunchback, Glazaty, and Nogotkov ended up at the Moscow court. The eldest in the family, the Skopins and Shuiskys, were still invited to reign in Novgorod and Pskov until the end of the century, but after these cities also lost their sovereignty, they also found themselves in a hopeless situation. From the vast family estates, the Shuiskys retained only a few dozen villages in the district of the same name and the city of Shuyu itself (60 kilometers from Suzdal), from which their surname came.

The powerful grandfather of the future Tsar Vasily, Andrei Mikhailovich, was executed in December 1543 by order of the young Grand Duke Ivan IV, known as the Terrible, and the competitors of the Shuisky clan standing behind him ordered their hounds to kill Andrei Mikhailovich. Not long ago, the all-powerful minister “lay naked in the gate for two hours.”

However, oddly enough, this disgrace did not affect the position of the entire family: in the subsequent years of Ivan’s reign, he, unlike many noble families, did not suffer particularly. Vasily’s father, Prince Ivan Andreevich, regularly served as a governor in Velikiye Luki and Smolensk during the oprichnina years. In 1571, Ivan became a boyar and governor, at the same time the wedding of his son Dmitry with the daughter of the tsar’s closest henchman Malyuta Skuratov took place... Probably, his career would have continued to go uphill, but in January 1573, during the next campaign in Livonia, he died, and 20-year-old Vasily remained the eldest in the family.

From that time on, his long, changeable, risky, but marked by a persistent striving to the top, court service began. In 1574, the young prince was invited to the wedding of the Sovereign of All Rus' with Anna Vasilchikova, and on the campaign he henceforth performed the position of “rynda with a large saadak” - that is, he carried the royal bow and quiver. In 1575, he and his brother Andrei received rich Novgorod estates, taken from the relatives of the former queen Anna Koltovskaya, who was tonsured a nun. In addition, in their privileged service in the royal court, the Shuiskys must now “become the sovereign’s bed and be the night watchman in their heads.” At the Tsar's wedding to Maria Naga in September 1580, Vasily was the groom's main groomsman (Boris Godunov acted as the bride's groomsman). His wife Elena Mikhailovna, née Repnina, and other relatives also sat in places of honor at the banquet table.

True, on a short time the influential prince nevertheless fell into disgrace, but quickly received forgiveness and in 1583 officially headed the permanent regiment of the right hand, that is, he became the second person in the army after the commander-in-chief. However, unlike the legendary warrior Shuisky, Prince Ivan Petrovich, who became famous for the unprecedented defense of Pskov from the troops of Stefan Batory, Vasily Ivanovich did not particularly show himself on the battlefield. But he was so firmly entrenched at court that in local terms he was already superior to the famous commander. This stable career growth was not prevented by the death of Ivan the Terrible in March 1584. Quite the contrary: in the same year Vasily became the head of the Moscow Court Order; his brothers - Andrei, Alexander and Dmitry - received boyars. The elders, Vasily and Andrey, expelled the oprichnina promoters of the late Ivan - Bogdan Belsky and his comrades - from the government. And then the inevitable squabble began for power and influence over Tsar Fedor Ivanovich, who almost demonstratively did not want to deal with the affairs of the state and divided his time between prayers, trips to monasteries and bear baiting. The Shuiskys were not going to cede primacy to Fedorov’s brother-in-law Boris Godunov and decided to take advantage of the fact that the queen Irina, his sister, could not bring her husband an heir. Vasily participated in this intrigue, but not openly (he was then in the voivodeship in Smolensk), but lost first place to Andrei Ivanovich and Ivan Petrovich. And, as practice has shown, he acted very far-sightedly.

In May 1591, Dmitry, the last son of Ivan the Terrible, died in Uglich. The incomprehensible death of a 7-year-old child gave rise to an uprising of the townspeople, led by the relatives of the Dowager Queen Maria Naga, who claimed that assassins had been sent to the prince. Fyodor Ioannovich (or rather, the official “ruler of the state” Boris Godunov - he received such a title while the sovereign was still alive!) ordered the creation of a commission to investigate the death of his brother - headed by Krutitsy Metropolitan Gelasius, as well as Vasily Shuisky, who had just returned to Moscow . Godunov's people were appointed to help them - okolnichy Andrei Kleshnin and clerk Elizar Vyluzgin.

Shuisky, four days after Dmitry’s death, arrived in Uglich and began interrogations to establish “how the prince died and what kind of illness he had.” In a few days, 150 people passed “through his hands,” and he came to the conclusion: Nagikh’s version of the murder of the prince by the people of the city clerk Mikhail Bityagovsky is false. The witnesses - the “mother”-boyar Volokhova, the nurse, and the boys with whom the prince played in the yard - showed the same thing (even though they had previously shouted the opposite to the people): the boy himself stabbed himself with a knife in a fit of epilepsy. Having collected all the questioning speeches and buried Dmitry in the local cathedral as a suicide, without honors, the commission left for Moscow, where the Duma, in the presence of the autocrat and Patriarch Job, heard the results of its work.

In 1598, Tsar Fedor dies, and then, through intrigue, Boris Godunov becomes king.

But the new dynasty was not destined to rule for long. Natural disasters and social hardships were experienced by the people of that time as punishment for serving the “untrue” king. And in such an atmosphere the “true”, the “natural” simply had to appear. The “promotion from the ranks” of impostors begins - long before Otrepyev. Well, in the fall of 1604 this last one, former nobleman In the service of the Romanov boyars, under the name of Tsarevich Dmitry, he crossed the Polish-Russian border.

To the credit of Vasily Shuisky, he did not betray his former rival, Boris Godunov, and even rendered him one last favor: first, he publicly declared on Red Square that the son of Grozny who had appeared was an impostor, and that he allegedly buried the real one with his own hands in Uglich; and then went to the army to help the wounded commander, Prince Mstislavsky. In January 1605, a large Moscow army defeated Otrepyev near Dobrynichi. But it was not possible to end the war victoriously - one after another, “Ukrainian” cities began to go over to the side of False Dmitry. The army got bogged down in the sieges of Rylsk and Krom, and in the meantime Boris suddenly died suddenly.

Meanwhile, the commanders Vasily Golitsyn and Pyotr Basmanov, sent to the troops to replace him, without thinking twice, went over to the side of the “prince”; part of the army followed them, the rest fled.

In May, news of these events arrived in the capital.

On June 1, ambassadors from “Dimitri” Naum Pleshcheev and Gavrila Pushkin arrived and from Lobnoye Mesto read a letter about his miraculous salvation from the murderers sent by Godunov, about his rights to the throne and the need to overthrow the usurpers.

Here, as they say, boyar Vasily Shuisky finally “broke” - he declared that the prince had escaped, and that some priest was buried in his place. Of course, it was not these words that decided the fate of the unfortunate orphaned Godunovs: everything was already stacked against them. And yet - after all, the prince knew better than anyone that the applicant approaching Moscow had nothing in common with the Rurikovichs. However, he did not find the strength not only to tell the truth, but at least to remain silent... The reputation of the future king was formed from such steps - lies and betrayal later turned against him.

Murder of Tsar Fyodor Godunov and his mother

Under False Dmitry

The Godunovs did not retain power: a crowd of Muscovites rushed to destroy their property. That’s why it turned out to be a holiday: “Many people got drunk in the courtyards and wine cellars and died...” The heir, his mother and sister were captured, and a few days later they were strangled by supporters of the impostor under the command of Prince Vasily Golitsyn. Meanwhile, the Duma sent an embassy to “Dmitry Ivanovich”, but did not include any of the three Shuisky brothers in it - they only came with the second “boyar commission”. In Tula, False Dmitry graciously received them; but again he did not invite him to be one of his closest advisers - the same places under his person were taken by the same Basmanov and Golitsyn, Prince Vladimir Koltsov-Mosalsky, “relatives” Nagy and the Poles, the Buchinsky brothers.

If the Shuiskys had been treated kindly, perhaps they would have served the impostor faithfully and a year later the uprising that cost him his throne and his life would not have happened. But remaining in second or third roles with the false tsar and his noble favorites was still unthinkable for the aristocrat Vasily Shuisky; he could not even hide his attitude towards such a situation. Already on June 23, three days after False Dmitry entered the Kremlin, the prince was captured. As if he announced to the trading people that the sovereign was “not a prince, but a rossriga and a traitor.”

The whole family was judged by a cathedral court - representatives of all classes, including the clergy. False Dmitry himself, in an accusatory speech, recalled the past betrayals of the Shuiskys, including the sins of their grandfather Andrei Mikhailovich, executed by the Terrible. The boyar was right about imposture; one can assume that other members of the cathedral also suspected the “prince”, but, according to the “New Chronicler” (compiled already under the Romanovs), “at the same cathedral there was no authority, neither from the boyars, nor from ordinary people There’s nothing to do with them (the defendants - Ed.), I keep screaming at them.” The outbreak of the Troubles was already turning the heads of contemporaries. The brothers were found guilty of conspiracy. The eldest, our hero, was sentenced to death - they took him out to the square, laid his head on the block, and the executioner already raised the ax. But only the accomplices' heads rolled. The Tsar pardoned the Shuiskys. To begin the reign with the execution of the “good and strong” would be short-sighted.

All three were sent into exile, but were quickly forgiven again: less than a few months later, they found themselves at court. The position of the new sovereign had become greatly shaken. Having promised everyone a “prosperous life,” he could not fulfill his promise. For example, abolish serfdom. Or hand over Novgorod and Pskov to the future father-in-law, Polish senator Yuri Mniszek - the people would not forgive such a thing. As a result, relations with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth became complicated, and only the peasants of the Komaritsa volost and the Putivl townspeople, who were the first to recognize “Dmitry,” received benefits. Landowners were again allowed to return runaways starting in 1600.

False Dmitry was brave, young, energetic. But he did not fit into the image of the “natural” Moscow Tsar. He hurt the national and religious feelings of his subjects: he surrounded himself with foreigners, did not sleep after lunch, did not go to the bathhouse, and was planning to marry a Catholic on the eve of Lenten Friday. In such conditions, the boyars, led by Shuisky, organized a new conspiracy, and this time successful. Back on May 7, 1606, the crafty boyar at the royal wedding led the new Empress Marina Yuryevna by the arm and made a welcoming speech on behalf of the Moscow nobility - and a few days later Otrepyev was killed. Eyewitnesses said that while the townspeople were beating the Poles who had “come in large numbers” for the wedding (the conspirators raised the people with shouts: “The gentlemen are slaughtering the Duma boyars!”), Prince Shuisky led the detachment faithful people burst into the Kremlin and ordered the nobles to storm the monarch’s chambers. In a lengthy speech, he convinced them to quickly finish what they started, otherwise, if they did not kill this “thief Grishka,” he would order their heads to be taken off.

This time the old fox took the initiative, acted boldly and prudently - having destroyed the impostor, he took care of saving the lives of noble guests from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

And - I emerged victorious from the intrigue. On May 19, 1606, the boyar Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky was “shouted out” by the Tsar on Cathedral Square by a crowd of Muscovites.

Governing body

Upon ascending the throne, Shuisky gave a “kissing record” - the first in Russian history the legal obligation of a sovereign to his subjects. But the country remained split - dozens of cities and counties did not recognize the “boyar tsar”: for them, “Dmitry” remained the “true” sovereign. They pinned so many hopes on the name of the young sovereign, Ivan’s son. To turn the situation around, the new ruler had to prove himself, captivate the crowd or amaze them with truly royal greatness. The late Ivan the Terrible carried out large-scale demonstration executions - but he knew how to have mercy and elevate his faithful servants. Boris attracted service people by promising to give away his last shirt during the coronation. Vasily, alas, was devoid of charisma. And what is it like for a member of an ancient family who personified “old times” to act as a public agitator or to renounce the right to “lay opals”?

In more quiet times Shuisky, perhaps, would have sat on the throne and even - who knows? - would have received praise from historians, but in an era of severe crisis, not only resourcefulness and perseverance were required. In the struggle for power that immediately began, he could not even fulfill his own promises - he had to immediately, without any church court, remove Patriarch Ignatius, appointed by False Dmitry, from the pulpit...

A new stage of the Troubles has begun - Civil War. The elderly owner of Monomakh's hat did everything he could: he replaced unreliable governors, sent out letters exposing the “slave thief and rostroga.” It seems that the old boyar really did not understand what was happening: how can people continue to believe in an impostor if there is irrefutable evidence of his origin and collusion with the Poles? If he is torn to pieces in Moscow in front of everyone? And the relics of the prince who died in Uglich were declared a miraculous shrine...

Shuisky managed to gather troops and find money - the church authorities, interested in maintaining order, gave him considerable monastic funds. On the advice of Patriarch Hermogenes, general repentance and mass prayer services were organized, which were supposed to rally the nation around the church and the sovereign of All Rus', Vasily Ivanovich. The latter approved new law about peasants from March 9, 1607: the period for searching for fugitives was increased by 10 years. In this way he wanted to split the fragile alliance of men and nobles. Shuisky’s people even lured the detachments of Lyapunov and Pashkov to his side...

But the successes turned out to be ephemeral. Already in the summer of 1607, the second False Dmitry appeared - a mysterious person to this day. A completely motley company gathered in his camp: the local rebels expelled from Poland, hetmans Ruzhinsky and Sapega, who recognized the “resurrected” husband Marin Mnishek, the Bolotnikovsky atamans Bezzubtsev and Zarutsky, the boyars Saltykov, Cherkasy, Rostov Metropolitan Filaret Romanov (father of the future Tsar Michael), Zaporozhye Cossacks and Tatars. Pskov and Rostov, Yaroslavl and Kostroma, Vologda and Galich, Vladimir went over to their side, the siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery began...

It was at this time that Vasily decided to get married in order to quickly continue the family line and leave an heir. In January 1608, his wedding took place with the young princess Maria Buinosova-Rostovskaya - the Pskov chronicler claims that the old tsar was passionately in love with his young wife and for her sake began to neglect his affairs at such an inopportune moment. Already in May, government troops suffered a heavy defeat near Bolkhov, and Moscow was again under siege. Two full-fledged capitals were formed in the country - Moscow and the headquarters of False Dmitry II, the village of Tushino - two governments and two patriarchs - Moscow's Hermogenes and Tushino's Filaret.

It is worth noting that in addition to the two False Dmitrys mentioned in textbooks in those years, they appeared in different ends country there are at least 15 more impostors: False Dmitry III and IV, other “children” and “grandsons” of Grozny - “princes” Osinovik, Ivan-August, Lavrenty... Such an abundance of “relatives” gave rise to competition: the “Tushino thief” alone hanged seven of his “nephews”, “sons” of Tsar Fedor - Clementy, Savely, Simeon, Vasily, Eroshka, Gavrilka and Martynka.

Famine began in Moscow. People gathered in a crowd and “noisily” approached the Kremlin palace. The king patiently and humbly persuaded: be patient, do not surrender the city yet. But patience was running out. The next defectors who appeared in Tushino in September 1608 reported: “Shuisky has been given a deadline until the Intercession to come to an agreement with “Lithuania” or leave the state to them.” By the way, as can be seen from these testimonies, the Moscow boyars did not see Vasily as an autocrat, but as “the first among equals” and did not hesitate to set conditions for him. He sincerely tried to fulfill them - to come to an agreement with Poland as soon as possible and remove foreigners from the camp of False Dmitry II. He released the Polish ambassadors captured in Moscow home and begged them to sign a peace treaty, according to which Sigismund III was to recall his subjects from Russian territory. But, of course, no one was going to fulfill the agreement - neither the king nor the supporters of the impostor. Direct negotiations with the Tushins also ended fruitlessly.

Subjects had betrayed Tsar Vasily before; now they began to organize open riots. On February 17, 1609, rebels led by Grigory Sunbulov, Prince Roman Gagarin and Timofey Gryazny demanded that the boyars overthrow Shuisky and forcibly dragged Patriarch Hermogenes to the square. Accusations were poured against Vasily: that he was elected illegally by his “indulgents” without the consent of the “land”, that Christian blood was being shed for an unworthy and worthless person, a stupid, wicked, drunkard and fornicator. The nobles, as usual, fled to their homes, but the patriarch, contrary to expectations, did not lose his presence of mind and stood up for the king. Then the monarch himself came out to the crowd to ask menacingly: “Why did you, oathbreakers, burst into me with such impudence? If you want to kill me, then I’m ready, but you cannot remove me from the throne without the boyars and the whole land.” The faltering conspirators did a simple thing - they went to Tushino.

To retain power, Shuisky made new concessions and tricks. He allowed service people, as a reward for the “seat of siege,” to transfer a fifth of their estates to votchina, that is, to hereditary property. He skillfully waged a propaganda war - his letters accused the impostor and his “Lithuanian” army of fighting against Orthodoxy: “... they will deceive everyone and deceive our peasant faith to ruin, and beat all the people of our state and capture them completely, and the people they deserve in their Latin faith convert." He pledged to forgive those who “hurriedly,” “unwillingly,” or out of ignorance kissed the cross to someone who called himself by the name of Dmitry. He promised everyone who would support his fight “for the entire Orthodox peasant faith” and “will help the thieves” with a “great salary.”

Other cities, having experienced the atrocities of the false Dmitry’s fellows, followed the call, but this only exacerbated the split in the local noble communities and pitted the townspeople against each other. Even well-meaning people in these “submitted” points did not forget to remember the unfortunate sovereign: he took the throne with the help of his supporters and for this he suffered disaster. “Without the consent of the whole earth, he made himself king, and all the people were embarrassed by his quick anointing...” - clerk Ivan Timofeev later wrote in his reflections on the Troubles...

But, in desperate attempts to save itself, the government in February 1609 concluded the Treaty of Vyborg with Sweden: for the cession of the city of Korela and its suburbs, the Swedish king provided Moscow with a 10,000-strong detachment under the command of Colonel Delagardie. With the help of these troops and the last loyal Russian forces, the tsar’s nephew, the young governor Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, successfully began to liberate the northern districts from the “Tushins”. This, however, served as a reason for direct intervention on the part of the Polish Sigismund: in the fall of the same year, his army invaded Russian borders and besieged the most important fortress on the western border - Smolensk.

Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky -last hope Tsar Vasily and his best commander

But still, on March 12, 1610, Skopin-Shuisky’s army solemnly entered Moscow. The impostor had to retreat from Tushin to the south. Residents joyfully greeted their liberator. The Shuisky family had a historic chance... But in April, at a feast at Prince Vorotynsky, the hero, 23-year-old Mikhail, felt unwell and died a few days later. According to the suspicion of contemporaries and historians, he was poisoned by the wife of his other uncle Dmitry Ivanovich, who saw him as an obstacle to the throne in the event of the death of the childless sovereign.

Of course, Skopin's death was a real blow for Vasily. On the eve of the decisive battles, he was left without a brave and successful commander. And it was not difficult to understand that it was impossible to put the mediocre and cowardly Dmitry at the head of the army, but... in essence, who else could the tsar rely on? After all, only the closest relatives were vitally interested in preserving the dynasty. So Shuisky made a fatal decision: the army under the command of his brother Dmitry moved to Smolensk.

On June 24, Hetman Stanislav Zholkiewski defeated it near the village of Klushina.

The commander fled, foreign mercenaries easily went into the service of the king. The winners received the entire convoy, artillery and the treasury collected to pay salaries. A few months later, Vasily’s last allies left the camp - the Crimean Tatars of Khan Bogadyr-Girey, whom he sent against the impostor to the south.

There was no strength left for resistance at all. Popular support has also dried up. In Moscow, at the Arbat Gate, a meeting of boyars, servicemen and townspeople took place, which finally decided “to the former sovereign... Vasily Ivanovich of All Rus', not to be in the sovereign’s court and not to sit in the state in the future.” A crowd of nobles and Duma officials headed to the Kremlin. Prince Vorotynsky announced a decision to Shuisky: “The whole earth beats you with its brow; leave your state for the sake of internecine warfare, because they don’t love you and don’t want to serve you.”

After the overthrow

Boris Godunov died a king. False Dmitry I, oddly enough, too. Vasily Shuisky was not even overthrown, but was “displaced” from the throne and first sent under house arrest for own yard, and then - on July 19 - he was forcibly tonsured a monk in the Chudov Monastery. A letter from the Boyar Duma sent to the cities announced that he voluntarily agreed to leave the throne - as a resigning official who had been at fault and received guarantees of immunity: “... and against him, the sovereign, and over the empress, and over his brothers, no murder will be committed and no harm will be done.” "

And then - the scale of the Troubles and the threat of the collapse of the state forced the nobility to look for a way out. In February and August 1610, treaties were concluded with Sigismund III, according to which Prince Vladislav was invited to the Russian throne, subject to the following conditions: not to build Catholic churches, do not appoint Poles to positions, maintain existing orders (including serfdom) and change laws only with the approval of the Zemsky Sobor. In order to prevent False Dmitry from entering the capital, the boyars allowed the Polish garrison there in September. The prince himself was in no hurry to go to Russia (they never agreed on his conversion to Orthodoxy), but his father finally took Smolensk and, on behalf of “Tsar Vladislav Zhigimontovich,” began to distribute estates and provinces.

In the new political combination, alive, although former king Vasily turned out to be an extra figure. The involuntary monk was first sent to a more distant monastery, Joseph-Volokolamskaya, and in October, when the Moscow embassy left to negotiate with the king, Hetman Zholkiewski took him with him to the royal camp near Smolensk. From there he was transported “like a trophy” to Warsaw...

Well, after a humiliating performance at the Diet, the prisoner and his brothers were imprisoned in Gostyn Castle above the Vistula. There, on September 12, 1612, the former Tsar and Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich died. Two months later, Dmitry died. The surviving youngest of the Shuiskys, Ivan, began to serve Vladislav until he was released to Moscow. A few years later, he said that “instead of death, the most eminent king gave him life,” which can be understood as an acknowledgment of the violent death of his older brothers.

The former tsar was buried first in his prison, but then Sigismund ordered the remains of the Shuiskys to be transferred to a mausoleum specially built in the Krakow suburb, and on a marble slab at the entrance they carved the name... of the Polish king and a list of his victories over Russia: “how the Moscow army was defeated at Klushin, how the Moscow capital was taken and Smolensk returned... how Vasily Shuisky, the Grand Duke of Moscow, and his brother, the chief governor Dimitri, were taken prisoner by force of military law.” But the Romanovs remembered their predecessor and wanted to rebury him in his homeland. This was possible after the Smolensk War of 1632-1634. Vladislav finally officially renounced the title of Tsar of Moscow and allowed the ashes of the one who once held this title to be transferred to his homeland. In 1635, in all cities along the route of the funeral procession, honors were given to the remains of the former sovereign, and then they found rest - finally eternal - in the royal tomb of the Kremlin Archangel Cathedral.