Shuisky boyars short biography. Vasily Shuisky - a short biography. The beginning of Shuisky's reign

24.12.2020

Time of Troubles in Russian state reached its zenith during the reign Vasily Shuisky. Great king and Prince of All Russia Vasily Shuisky came to power in 1606 after the death of False Dmitry I. It is believed that it was he who became the organizer of the overthrow of the latter from the royal throne. Vasily Shuisky belonged to Rurik dynasty- Suzdal branch Rurikovich, which originated from Vsevolod the Big Nest famous for its fertility.

It would seem that the arrival of Rurikovich on the throne was supposed to calm the popular seething and restore order to Russia. But the revolutionary engine had already been started, and people had already ceased to remember the successive kings.

In 1606, an uprising broke out in the south of the Russian kingdom. Ivan Bolotnikov, under the banner of which the lower boyars, ordinary people, peasants, some Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks, as well as Polish mercenaries (King Commonwealth Sigismund III did everything to destabilize the situation in Russia).

In 1606, the clashes began with the fact that the army of governor Trubetskoy was defeated in the battle of Kromy, at the same time, governor Vorotynsky lost the battle of Yelets, and the main army of Vasily Shuisky was defeated by the rebels of Ivan Bolotnikov near Kaluga.

In early October, the rebels also took Kolomna and laid siege to Moscow. In part, this success of the uprising was facilitated by the joining of the detachment of Ileyka Muromets to the army of Bolotnikov.

After that, luck turned away from the rebels, and they retreated from Moscow. In late 1606 - early 1607, the rebels were besieged in Kaluga, and a little later they retreated and locked themselves in Tula.

The Tula Kremlin was taken only on October 10, 1607. Bolotnikov was drowned, and Ileiko Muromets was hanged.

Even before the suppression of the Bolotnikov uprising, in August 1607, Vasily Shuisky developed a new headache. Rumors began to circulate among the people that False Dmitry (for many - still the son Ivan the Terrible) was not killed, but in fact, the ashes of someone else were shot from the Tsar Cannon. On this basis, a new pseudo-heir appeared False Dmitry II.

False Dmitry II, also known as Tushinsky thief, planned to connect near Tula with Ivan Bolotnikov, but did not have time. In 1608, the second impostor defeated the army of Tsar Shuisky near Moscow, in Tushino, weakened by a long confrontation with the rebel Bolotnikov. He failed to take Moscow, but Shuisky also failed to defeat and drive away the army of the next Tsarevich Dmitry, located in the same Tushino, almost at the walls of Moscow.

Tsar Vasily in such a situation, he concluded an agreement with the Swedish king - help in the fight against False Dmitry in exchange for the Karelian lands.

From 1608 to 1610, the combined troops of Shuisky with the Swedes threw back the army of False Dmitry II to Kaluga, but it was not possible to completely suppress the resistance. I must say that such a pseudo-rule of False Dmitry lasted almost two years. All this time, the impostor continued to manage a significant part of the Russian lands as the supreme ruler.

By the end of 1609 - the beginning of 1610, after False Dmitry was driven away from Moscow, Vasily Shuisky finally began to control most of Russia. However, fate was merciless to him.

In September 1609, Sigismund III, King of the Commonwealth, dissatisfied with the protracted uprising of False Dmitry II, whom he continued to patronize, invaded the Russian kingdom.

On June 24, 1610, Shuisky's army was defeated by the Poles in the Smolensk principality near Klushin, despite their numerical superiority. This defeat was the last straw in the barrel of dissatisfaction with the king, and on July 17, 1610, another uprising against Vasily Shuisky began. This time - in Moscow itself - the boyars rebelled. Vasily IV was deposed from the throne and forcibly tonsured a monk, and later (as a prisoner) handed over to the Poles. In Polish captivity, on the territory of the Commonwealth, he died - September 12, 1612.

If after death Fedor Ioannovich the Rurik dynasty was interrupted, then on Vasily Shuisky it finally ended. Except for a short reign Boris Godunov, his son, as well as False Dmitry I, the Rurikovich ruled Russia for almost 750 years, which is two-thirds of the entire existence of Russia (as the Old Russian state, the Russian kingdom, the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation combined).

Of course, the Ruriks were not completely exterminated. Their dynasty gave rise to many famous surnames (kinds): Zamyatins, Zamyatnins, Tatishchevs, Pozharskys, Vatutins, Galician, Mozhaisky, Bulgakovs, Mussorgskys, Odoevskys, Obolenskys, Dolgorukovs, Zlobins, Shchetinins, Vnukovs, Mamonovs, Chernigovs, Beznosovs, etc. . - only about two hundred.

Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky came from Rurikovich. He was born around 1553, when Ivan IV the Terrible ruled, lived under Boris Godunov. Vasily Shuisky, whose reign as king brought a lot of worries and anxieties, rose during the Time of Troubles. But everything ended tragically.

Rise to the throne

In 1604, when Godunov was still alive, an impostor appeared in the south, who called himself Tsarevich Dmitry (False Dmitry I), who had survived in Uglich. Unexpectedly, Tsar Boris died, and at the Tula headquarters Dmitry received guests, including the boyars from Moscow, who invited him to the kingdom. As a result, feeling the support of the political elite and the people, on June 20, 1605, he solemnly entered the Kremlin.

At first he sentenced Shuisky to death, then he sent him into exile, and then he forgave him and returned him. But the reign of False Dmitry was not long - he lasted less than a year.

The intrigues of Shuisky and his supporters

The fickle people, seeing that the new tsar welcomed foreigners and married a Pole, at the signal of Shuisky and his accomplices began to beat the Poles throughout the capital, and Vasily Shuisky himself, claiming the throne, entered the Kremlin with the people. Dmitry tried to escape through the window, but fell out and crashed to death.

In the morning, Vasily Shuisky was shouted at the kingdom. His reign began with an unprecedented act. In the Assumption Cathedral, he swore on the cross that he would only exercise power together with the boyars. Obviously, in order to get a bit of power, he was ready to give up everything. Vasily Shuisky, whose rule became contractual, gave access to power to the boyar elite.

Reign

Vasily Shuisky began his reign by sending letters of letters throughout the country. They announced what crimes Dmitry had committed. The free south took them incredulously. Fermentation began in the minds, and the rebels gathered an army. It was headed by Ivan Bolotnikov and went to Moscow. He assured everyone that he met with the escaped Dmitry. Near Kolomensk, and this is already almost at the walls of Moscow, Bolotnikov's forces split.

The poor - the dregs of society - began to rob everything. The nobles who took part in the campaign wisely went over to the side of the king.

The position of the nobility during the reign of Vasily Shuisky is briefly characterized by one word - "discontent". No wonder they joined Bolotnikov's detachments. Firstly, they did not like the "boyar tsar". Secondly, they began to defend their rights: the government began to pay daily "feed money" to all the ruined nobles and paid the salaries of the warriors. Tsar Vasily Shuisky, whose reign is characterized by the expansion of unrest, as it turned out, did not sit firmly on the throne.

New impostor

In 1606, a certain Ileyka Muromets appeared on the Don. He began to call himself the son of Tsar Fedor Ioannovich and led an army to Moscow. His detachments moved to Tula, where Bolotnikov fortified. There they ended. Shuisky's army blocked the Upa River and flooded the Tula Kremlin. The surrendered Bolotnikov and all his accomplices were drowned.

Tushinsky thief

The reign of Vasily Shuisky is very difficult, as he turned out to be a hostage to the turmoil that he himself sowed when going to power. A new impostor appeared - False Dmitry II, who, having gathered an army of gentry, marauders and all sorts of scum, moved towards Moscow and camped in Tushino. By the way, thanks to this, he received the nickname - Tushinsky thief. The Romanovs, Trubetskoys, and Saltykovs, who were hungry for power, joined him.

Polish intervention

Shuisky, being locked up in Moscow, asked for help from the Swedes. Very distinguished in the fight against Bolotnikov and the new contender for the throne, the young smart commander Skopin-Shuisky. With a small detachment, which included several hundred Swedes, he successfully crushed the bands of marauders.

But the king of Poland, Sigismund, declared war on Russia under the pretext of its alliance with the Swedes. His army stood near Smolensk. Tushino camp quickly ran to him. The siege was lifted from Moscow. Skopin-Shuisky was greeted everywhere as a hero, moreover, he freed the Trinity-Sergius Monastery from the siege.

The boyars of Moscow decided to open the city to Sigismund. Skopin-Shuisky returned to fight him, but did not manage to do anything: he was poisoned.

The fall of Shuisky

The Moscow boyars organized a conspiracy against the tsar and forcibly tonsured him a monk.

Vasily Shuisky, whose years of rule fall on 1606-1610, was transferred to the Commonwealth. Humiliated and broken, he died in captivity in 1612.

Events of the reign of Vasily Shuisky

The main events under Tsar Vasily Shuisky can be briefly listed as follows:

Shuisky's promise on the cross (the “cross-kissing record”) will only work with the consent of the boyar Duma. That is, the boyars ruled the country, not the king.
Rebellion of Ivan Bolotnikov.
concessions to the nobility. Thus, the period of search for runaway peasants increased to 15 years.
Continuous struggle with impostors, groups of bandits and other scum.

The reign of Shuisky was difficult due to the constant invasion of interventionists.

Boyar, prince. Russian tsar. He was on the throne from May 19 (29), 1606 to July 17 (27), 1610. The only one of the Russian tsars died in captivity in a foreign land.

Pedigree

He belonged to an ancient princely family, which was a Suzdal branch, ascending, according to most historians, to Andrei Yaroslavich, Grand Duke of Vladimir and younger brother. Vasily Shuisky himself considered Alexander Nevsky and his third son, Prince Andrei Alexandrovich Gorodetsky, who also occupied the Vladimir Grand Duke's table, to be his direct ancestors.

Father - boyar Prince Ivan Andreevich Shuisky, a prominent statesman and governor in the reign. Mother - Anna Fedorovna (the exact origin is unknown). The brothers - Andrei, Dmitry, Ivan Pugovka - were boyars, held responsible administrative and military positions. He was married twice, the choice of brides Elena Mikhailovna, Princess Repnina-Obolenskaya and Maria Petrovna, Princess Buynosova-Rostovskaya, most likely, was determined by dynastic considerations. He left no offspring, two daughters from his second marriage died in infancy.

court service

The service of the young prince at court, which began in the 1570s, was successful, despite the wary attitude of the formidable and suspicious tsar towards the nobility. In 1582/83, Prince Vasily was even arrested for a reason that remained unknown, but was soon released on bail to his brothers. However, in 1584 he already had the rank of boyar and conducted important court cases. The career of Vasily Shuisky was facilitated by the marriage of his younger brother Dmitry to Catherine, the daughter of the Duma nobleman Grigory Lukyanovich Malyuta Skuratov from the Belsky family. Another daughter of this most influential guardsman was married to. Family ties by no means weakened the constant struggle between the two influential boyars and future tsars. Their confrontation, perhaps, remained the most remarkable feature of Vasily Shuisky in the Russian historical consciousness and was fixed by A.S. Pushkin in the beginning of the tragedy "Boris Godunov", which begins with the unflattering words of the prince about Boris shamelessly and criminally striving for royal power. The struggle for influence on the young and incapable of governing Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1584-1598) was lost by the Shuiskys to Godunov outright and Prince Vasily, then governor in Smolensk, fell, like his relatives, into exile. In 1587 he was accused of treason, in secret trips under the guise of hunting abroad. Gradually, Godunov's anger subsided, and in April 1591, Prince Vasily was returned to Moscow. Almost immediately, fateful events for the country and for him took place. On May 15, 1591, he died in Uglich, and Shuisky was appointed head of the commission to investigate the case. Apparently, Godunov believed that the conclusions presented by the nobleman, who had recently been in disgrace, and, moreover, an experienced judicial official, would be accepted as fair and unbiased. Already on May 30, the commission completed its work in Uglich, and on June 2 it reported to the Boyar Duma its conclusions about the accident with the sick royal child and the insidious relatives of Tsarevich Nagikh, who revolted against the royal servants. The official results of the "Uglich case" allowed Shuisky to return to the judicial and administrative elite, for example, to the positions of head of the Ryazan Court Order or governor in Veliky Novgorod, but they are unlikely to return Godunov's full confidence. He even forbade the childless prince to marry a second time, so as not to produce competitors for the throne.

turmoil

Distrust of Shuisky did not disappear even after the victory won over the impostor False Dmitry I at Dobrynich on January 21, 1605 by the tsarist army, where Prince Vasily was the second governor after Prince F.I. Mstislavsky. In his suspicions, Godunov turned out to be right, although he himself no longer found out about this because of the death that occurred on April 13, 1605. Recalled to Moscow to help the heir Fyodor Borisovich, Shuisky not only went over to the side of the impostor in June 1605, but “recognized” him as a true prince. He stated that the conclusions of the investigation of 1591 were a forgery to please Godunov, but in fact he remained alive and now rightfully returned his father's throne. However, as a very informed and authoritative witness, he was dangerous and was sentenced to death, which was canceled at the last moment and commuted to imprisonment. A few months later, Prince Vasily was returned to court and even approached the impostor, whom he avenged even more cruelly than Godunov, spreading information about the death of the real prince among Muscovites and the noble militia, who were going to war with the Crimea, inciting them to rebellion and, together with others representatives of the nobility preparing a conspiracy. The rebellion and the palace conspiracy ended with the murder of the impostor on May 17, 1606.

Governing body

On May 19, 1606, Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky was proclaimed tsar in front of the insurgent people at the Execution Ground on Red Square. On June 1, he was crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. In his new capacity, Shuisky tried, as far as possible, to atone for his sins, intrigues, and perjury, first of all, before the church. Often this was done publicly. In order to finally close the issue of the Uglich tragedy, Shuisky radically changes the version of those events for the third time. The prince really died, according to him, in 1591, but not as a result of an accident, but was stabbed to death. Finally, everyone was assured of the violent and martyrdom of Dmitry Ivanovich by his canonization and the acquisition of holy relics, which were solemnly transferred by a procession from Uglich to Moscow to the Archangel Cathedral to the grand ducal and royal tomb. Ceremonies and rituals within the framework of these celebrations were held by Filaret, Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl, who was a boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov before his tonsure, and Metropolitan of Kazan, later glorified as a holy martyr. It was Hermogenes, with the support of the new tsar, who on July 3, 1606, became the first hierarch of the Russian Church instead of Ignatius, a protege, who had been deposed from the patriarchal throne. In addition, Shuisky returned to Moscow the former first Russian patriarch, deposed under an impostor, in order to ask for forgiveness for violating the cross-kissing oath to Tsar Theodore Borisovich Godunov. As a sign of reconciliation with his unfortunate family, Shuisky, although he placed responsibility for the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry on his former rival, ordered the ashes of the former tsar, his son and wife to be reburied with honors in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.

In an effort to weaken accusations of illegitimate coming to power without election, Shuisky gave a "cross-kissing record." In it, he promised not to execute anyone without a court decision made by the tsar with the boyars; not to confiscate property from relatives of convicts, if they were not accomplices in crimes; do not accept false denunciations and punish such scammers; without guilt, do not subject anyone to royal disgrace. This gave grounds to a number of historians to talk about one of the first attempts to legally limit royal power. He also tried to streamline in the interests of the treasury, landowners and service people their legal relations with dependent people and serfs. Among the adopted laws was the Code of March 9, 1607, which recognized the peasants as serfs of those owners for whom they were recorded in the cadastre books of the early 1590s, and set the term for detecting fugitive peasants at 15 years.

Shuisky's attempts to reverse the political and moral-psychological situation in society in his favor were unsuccessful. In 1605-1606, two bloody coups followed one after the other, which were accompanied by the murders of the bearers of supreme power and thus encouraged violent methods to achieve goals, unleashed the hands of supporters of the most radical actions, freed them from previous oaths and oaths, shook the state apparatus and the armed forces of the state. Russia was increasingly drawn into the Time of Troubles - a civil war. Shuisky's opponents again and again used the rumor about another miraculous salvation, under the slogans of returning to power all those who were dissatisfied or simply striving for quick profit gathered. In 1606, the largest anti-government demonstration was the uprising led by Ivan Bolotnikov, during which the rebels laid siege to Moscow. Tsar Vasily had to personally lead loyal troops into battle. After a successful battle on December 2, 1606, he managed to push the rebels away from the capital and force them to leave first to Kaluga, and then to Tula. On May 21, 1607, the tsar again personally went on a campaign, which ended on October 10 with the surrender of Tula, the main stronghold of the rebellion. Shuisky made a promise to save the lives of the leaders of the uprising - Bolotnikov and Ileika Muromets, but, as happened before, did not consider it necessary to restrain him. The massacre of the leaders of one uprising did not lead to the pacification of the country, another impostor stood at the head of a new rebellion . The runaway serfs and peasants, the rebellious Cossacks and service people of southern Russia were joined by military detachments from the Commonwealth. In the battle of Bolkhov on April 30 and May 1, 1608, the army under the command of the tsar's brother, Prince Dmitry Shuisky, was defeated, the troops approached Moscow and camped in the village of Tushino, where they created parallel authorities. From under the power of Shuisky to the "Tushinsky thief" numerous cities, vast territories left, a considerable number of boyars and service people fled. Moscow was again under siege. The tsar sent his nephew, the boyar prince, to Novgorod to ask for help from the Swedish king Charles IX in exchange for the cession of the city of Korela with the district to Sweden. In 1609, the violence and robberies of the Polish-Lithuanian and Cossack detachments that served the impostor caused the inhabitants of the Zamoskovye cities and the Russian North to act against him. At the same time, the army of Prince Skopin-Shuisky began to march towards Moscow, which in a series of battles defeated the troops of the impostor and entered Moscow on March 12, 1610, lifting the siege from the capital. A significant part of the cities and counties of the country recognized the authority of Tsar Basil. However, Prince Skopin-Shuisky died unexpectedly after a feast on April 23, 1610. There were rumors that he was poisoned by the tsar's sister-in-law Ekaterina Grigoryevna at the instigation of her son-in-law and husband, who feared the claims of the famous commander to the throne, whose heir was officially considered her husband Dmitry Shuisky as the brother of the childless Vasily. This event dealt a severe blow to the prestige of the king and the combat effectiveness of the army at the moment when the Polish-Lithuanian intervention began.

Back in September 1609, the King of the Commonwealth, Sigismund III, crossed the Russian border and laid siege to Smolensk, calling to himself the Polish-Lithuanian gentry, who until that time had served False Dmitry II. In the battle of Klushino on June 24, 1610, the Russian army under the command of Prince Dmitry Shuisky was defeated. The Polish-Lithuanian troops approached Moscow, but so far they were in no hurry to occupy the city, where another coup d'etat took place. On July 17, 1610, a kind of open-air meeting was held in the capital, resembling either an ancient veche or an impromptu cathedral. It took place with the participation of the clergy, the Boyar Duma, the commanders of the noble detachments and military people who were in the city, the inhabitants of the Moscow suburb. It was decided to depose the tsar, who was taken from the royal residence to his old boyar court and taken into custody. On July 19, Vasily Shuisky was forcibly tonsured a monk and imprisoned in the Moscow Miracle Monastery. His wife was also tonsured and sent to Suzdal to the Intercession Monastery. Shuisky's opponents, united against him, could not share power among themselves and decided to give it to foreigners. The new government, formed from representatives of the boyars and nicknamed the Seven Boyars, in August 1610 concluded an agreement on the election of the Polish prince Vladislav (the future king Vladislav IV Vasa) to the Russian throne. In September 1610, the boyars handed over Vasily Shuisky, along with his brothers Dmitry and Ivan, to the commander of the Polish-Lithuanian army, hetman Stanislav Zholkevsky, to take them out of Moscow and place them in one of the monasteries. He, in violation of a preliminary agreement with the Duma, took the captives with him to King Sigismund III near Smolensk. Vasily Shuisky had to pay for his political and military mistakes with shame, which humiliated the whole of Russia and flattered the pride of its Western neighbors. He, along with his brothers and governor Mikhail Borisovich Shein, leader of the heroic defense of Smolensk in 1609-1611, which stopped only when the defenders stopped receiving any help from the rest of the country, were forced to participate as living trophies in the ceremony of triumphal entry of Zholkievsky on October 29, 1611 to Warsaw. Then, in the royal palace, in the presence of all the Polish nobility during a meeting of the Sejm and in the presence of foreign ambassadors, he was forced to bow to Sigismund III and kiss his hand. Then the Shuiskys were placed under guard in a castle in the town of Gostynin in Mazovia, where Vasily died on September 12 (22), 1612, after him five days later, on September 17 (27), Prince Dmitry died. In 1620, only their brother Ivan was able to return to his homeland. The very death of Vasily Shuisky was also used by the Polish authorities for propaganda purposes. The remains of him and his brother Dmitry were buried in Warsaw in a specially built tomb, called the "Moscow chapel" ("Russian chapel"), with inscriptions reporting on the Polish victories that led to the capture of the Moscow Tsar. The tsar's government took such a funeral as a humiliation for Russia. After the conclusion of a peace treaty between Russia and the Commonwealth (1634), the remains of Vasily Shuisky were transferred to the Russian side and solemnly reburied in 1635 in the grand ducal and royal tomb - the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky (born 1552 - death September 12 (22), 1612) - Russian Tsar from 1606 to 1610 (Vasily IV Ioannovich). From the princely family of the Shuiskys. The last of the Rurik dynasty on the Russian throne.

In his spirit and character, Vasily Shuisky personified the properties of the old Russian way of life to the highest degree. It shows the lack of enterprise, the fear of any new step, but at the same time patience and perseverance. His youth passed at. Under his son Fyodor Ivanovich, Shuisky was sent to Uglich in 1591 to conduct an investigation about the strange. As a result of the investigation, it was confirmed that the prince cut himself with a knife in a fit of epilepsy. But both contemporaries and descendants, not without reason, suspected Shuisky of hiding the real cause of death.

1598 - after the death of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, Shuisky, both in terms of his nobility and proximity to the vanished dynasty, seemed to be a more faithful contender for the royal throne. However, Boris Godunov became tsar. 1604 - after a pretender appeared in the Russian borders, calling himself Tsarevich Dimitri, Shuisky repeated several times on Red Square in front of a large crowd of people that this was undoubtedly an impostor, because he himself buried the real prince in Uglich with his own hands.

Reassured by such assurances, in January 1605 Godunov sent Shuisky with an army against "Dmitry". Shuisky fought the pretender and defeated him at Dobrynich. However, after the war took on a protracted character. Meanwhile, Boris Godunov died. 1605, May - the whole army swore allegiance to the "prince".

Shuisky, along with other boyars, also recognized Dmitry as king. However, he had no doubt that he was dealing with an impostor. On June 20, Dmitry entered Moscow, and already on the 23rd Shuisky was captured for sedition. They reported that he had announced to the merchant Fyodor Konev and some doctor Kostya that the new tsar was not the son of Ivan the Terrible, and instructed them to divulge this secretly among the people. But the case quickly came out, and Dmitry ordered Shuisky to be judged by the Zemsky Sobor.

According to our chronicles, in these difficult circumstances, Prince Vasily behaved with firm dignity. Not only did he not retract his words, but even under torture he continued to repeat that under the guise of Dmitry, an impostor was hiding. He did not name any of his accomplices, and he alone was sentenced to death: his brothers were deprived only of their freedom.

The 25th was appointed for the execution of the sentence. Shuisky was taken to the chopping block, a fairy tale was already read to him, or a declaration of guilt, he had already said goodbye to the people, announcing that he was dying for the truth, for the faith and the Christian people, as a messenger galloped up with an announcement of pardon. The execution was replaced with a link. But this punishment was not carried out either.

coup. The murder of False Dmitry

On July 30, when he was married to the kingdom, Dmitry announced forgiveness to all those who were disgraced. Among others, the Shuiskys also returned, who, it seems, did not even have time to reach the place of exile. The boyars and their estates were returned to them. Having established himself in the former power, Prince Vasily Ivanovich immediately resumed his intrigues. But now he acted more carefully and prepared the coup more carefully.

Soon the princes Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn and Ivan Semenovich Kurakin joined the conspiracy. The boyars decided among themselves to first of all kill the king, and then decide which of them would rule. At the same time, they swore that the new tsar should not take revenge on anyone for previous annoyances, but, on the general advice, govern the Russian kingdom.

Entry of Shuisky and Delagardie to Moscow

Having agreed with the noble conspirators, Shuisky began to select others from the people, attracted to his side an 18,000-strong detachment of the Novgorod and Pskov troops, who stood near Moscow and was assigned to march on the Crimea. At about four in the morning on May 17, 1606, the bell was struck on Ilyinka, near Elijah the Prophet, in the Novgorod courtyard, and all the bells in Moscow began to sound at once. Crowds of people poured into Red Square; boyars and noblemen, up to two hundred in number, in full armor, were already sitting there on horseback.

Without waiting for a lot of people to gather, Vasily Shuisky, accompanied by some close associates, entered the Kremlin through the Spassky Gates, holding a cross in one hand and a sword in the other. Near the Assumption Cathedral, he got off his horse, venerated the image of the Vladimir Mother of God and said to those around him: "In the name of God, go to the evil heretic." The crowds moved towards the palace. Dmitry, having learned what was the matter, ran along the gallery to the stone palace, wanted to go down to the ground along the stage, but fell from a height of 15 sazhens into the courtyard and badly crashed.

The archers, who did not take part in the conspiracy, picked it up, at first they did not want to give it away, but then they went to negotiations. While passions were heating up more and more, a certain Grigory Valuev jumped up to the wounded False Dmitry and shot him. After the goal of the conspiracy was achieved, Shuisky needed a lot of strength to stop his dispersed supporters. For seven hours in a row there was a massacre in the city. According to some sources, 1,200 or 1,300 Poles were killed, and Russians - 400, according to others - 2,135 Poles alone, others believe - 1,500 Poles and 2,000 Russians.

Vasily Shuisky - Tsar

On May 19 at 6 o'clock in the morning, merchants, peddlers, artisans gathered on Red Square. The boyars, court officials and clergy came out to the people and proposed to elect a new patriarch, who was to be at the head of the temporary government and send letters to convene council people from the cities. However, at the proposal of the boyars, the crowd began to shout that the tsar was needed more than the patriarch, and the tsar should be Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky.

No one dared to oppose this proclamation of the crowd, which had just marked its strength with the murder of Dmitry, and Shuisky was not even elected, but shouted out by the tsar. 1606, June 1 - he was married to the kingdom without any pomp, like a man entering into a secret marriage or ashamed of his insignificance. The new tsar was a little old man, 53 years old, very ugly, with half-sighted eyes, well-read, very intelligent and very stingy. Immediately after that, a new patriarch was enthroned - the former Metropolitan of Kazan Hermogenes, known for his resistance to Dmitry's unorthodox deeds.

Time of Troubles

The coup that took place in Moscow gave rise to a new turmoil. The events in Ukraine took on a particularly stormy character. There has never been a shortage of daring and courageous people. Now there are even more of them. The troops gathered near Yelets elected Istoma Pashkov as their leader and swore every single one to stand for the legitimate Tsar Dmitry. At the same time, Ivan Bolotnikov appeared from Poland and announced that he had seen Dmitry who had escaped abroad and that he had instructed him to lead the uprising.

With 1300 Cossacks, Bolotnikov came to Kromy and utterly defeated the 5,000th tsarist detachment. From that moment on, his name became widely known, and many military people began to flock to his banner. Bolotnikov's letters produced a mutiny that engulfed the Moscow land like a fire. In Venev, Tula, Kashira, Aleksin, Kaluga, Ruza, Mozhaisk, Orel, Dorogobuzh, Zubtsov, Rzhev, Staritsa, Dmitry was proclaimed.

The Lyapunov nobles raised the entire Ryazan land in the name of Dmitry. Vladimir was indignant with the whole earth. In many Volga cities and distant Astrakhan, Dmitry was proclaimed. Of the major cities, only Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorod and Pskov remained loyal to the Muscovite tsar. And from the outlying cities, Smolensk showed a strong zeal for Shuisky. Its inhabitants did not like the Poles and did not expect anything good from the king, planted by them.

Trip to Moscow. Split

1606, autumn - Bolotnikov set off on a campaign against Moscow. Cities surrendered to him one by one. On December 2, he was already in the village of Kolomenskoye. Fortunately for Shuisky, there was a split in Bolotnikov's army. The nobles and children of the boyars, dissatisfied with the fact that serfs and peasants want to be equal to them, while not seeing Dmitry, who could resolve disputes between them, began to be convinced that Bolotnikov was deceiving them, and began to retreat from him.

The Lyapunov brothers were the first to set an example for this retreat, they arrived in Moscow and bowed to Shuisky, although they did not tolerate him. Bolotnikov was defeated by the young prince Mikhail Vasilievich Skopin-Shuisky and went to Kaluga. But with the onset of summer, his forces again began to increase by the coming Cossacks. A new impostor appeared, calling himself Tsarevich Peter, the unprecedented son of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich.

Bolotnikov went to Tula and joined Peter here. Then Shuisky took decisive measures: strict orders were sent to gather from everywhere to service people, monastic and church estates were also supposed to put up warriors, and thus up to 100,000 people gathered, whom the tsar himself decided to lead.

Suppression of the uprising

1607, June 5 - on the river Vosma, he met a united army of rebels. A stubborn battle went on for a whole day, and Shuisky was able to win. Bolotnikov and Tsarevich Peter retreated to Tula, while Shuisky began a siege. A certain Krovkov suggested that the tsar flood the city by damming the Upa River. At first, Shuisky and the boyars laughed at such a proposal, but after that they gave Krovkov full rein.

He ordered each of the soldiers to bring a bag of earth and began to pond the river: the water surrounded the city, poured into it, cut off all communications from the inhabitants with the surroundings. Famine set in, and Bolotnikov and Peter went to negotiate with the tsar, agreeing to surrender if Vasily promised them pardon. Shuisky promised mercy. 1607, October 10 - Tula surrendered, but the king did not keep his word. Peter was hanged immediately. Bolotnikov was exiled to Kargopol and drowned there. Shuisky triumphantly returned to Moscow, although he already knew about the appearance of a new impostor.

The appearance of another False Dmitry. New turmoil

Back in early June, a suspicious young man appeared in Starodub, who introduced himself as a relative of the Nagikhs and spread rumors everywhere that Dmitry was alive. When the Starodubtsy approached him with decisive questions, he declared himself Dmitry. Who this False Dmitry was is not known, but his idea was crowned with complete success at first. Around the impostor, a squad began to quickly gather, over which he appointed Pan Makhovetsky as the head.

1607, spring - he moved to the capital. The same thing was repeated that had happened before with the first Dmitry and Bolotnikov - city after city surrendered to the impostor without resistance, and the tsarist troops, who had a huge numerical superiority, suffered only defeat. On June 1, the army approached Moscow and camped in Tushino. It seemed that the final triumph of False Dmitry was not far off. But then the attitude of the people towards him changed.

When the Tushino people laid siege to the Trinity Monastery, they met fierce resistance under its walls. Other cities followed the example of the famous Sergius monastery, at first timidly, but then more and more confidently. This was largely facilitated by the atrocities of the Tushins. Countless gangs of Cossacks then roamed all over the Russian land and committed such monstrous crimes in the name of Dmitry, before which the memories of Grozny's oprichnina paled.

First of all, the northern cities returned under the authority of Shuisky: Galich, Kostroma, Vologda, Beloozero, Ustyuzhna, Gorodets, Bezhitsky Verkh, Kashin. They were followed by Vladimir and Yaroslavl. Shuisky sensitively caught the change in the public consciousness and in his letters began to address the lands directly with an exhortation to maintain unity, to gather together. “And if they don’t gather soon,” he wrote, “but they all begin to live apart and don’t start for themselves, then they will see final ruin above them from thieves, desolation of houses, reproach to wives and children; and they will be traitors to themselves, and to our Christian faith, and to their fatherland.

Soon, an external war was added to the internal turmoil. September 1609 - The Polish army under the command of King Sigismund laid siege to Smolensk. The townspeople stubbornly resisted the enemy. Trying to increase his strength, the king sent a strict order to Tushino to all the Polish chivalry to go to his aid. The leaders of the Tushino Poles were indecisive for a long time about what to do. They ceased to reckon with the impostor, they honored him in the eyes as a swindler and a deceiver.

In December, the impostor secretly left for Kaluga. After that, part of the Tushino went after him, others to Moscow with a confession. Shuisky's position was strengthened for a short time. However, on June 24, 1610, his brother Prince Dmitry Shuisky, who was marching with an army to help Smolensk, was utterly defeated by the hetman Zholkevsky near Klushin. False Dmitry again moved to Moscow, took Serpukhov, Kashira and on July 11 stood at the village of Kolomenskoye.

The turmoil, which had subsided, rose with renewed vigor. Procopius Lyapunov raised the entire Ryazan land against Vasily. He wrote to his brother Zakhar in Moscow that Shuisky could no longer be tolerated on the throne, he had to be deposed. Zakhar, together with Prince Vasily Golitsyn, began to communicate with the commanders of the impostor and agreed that the Muscovites would bring Shuisky together, and the Tushins would back down from their thief (although the Tushins did not fulfill their promise).

The overthrow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky

Lyapunov, at the head of the boyars, offers Shuisky to leave the throne

On July 17, Lyapunov, with his comrades and a large crowd, burst into the palace and began to say to the tsar: “How long will Christian blood be shed for you? The earth is empty, nothing good is being done in your reign, take pity on our death, put down the royal staff, and we will somehow think of ourselves. Shuisky replied: “You dare to say this to me when the boyars don’t tell me anything like that” and pulled out a knife.

Lyapunov then went to Red Square, where people were already gathering. After long speeches, the boyars and all sorts of people sentenced: to beat the sovereign Vasily Ivanovich with his forehead, so that he, sovereign, would leave the kingdom so that much blood was shed, and the people say that he, sovereign, was unhappy and proud, and the Ukrainian cities that retreated to the thief, they don’t want him, the sovereign, to the kingdom. The royal brother-in-law, Prince Vorotynsky, went to the palace and announced the verdict of the cathedral to him: “The whole earth beats you with its brow; leave your state for the sake of internecine strife, because they don’t love you and don’t want to serve you.

To this request, announced on behalf of the entire Moscow people, Vasily had to agree. He laid down the royal staff and immediately left the Kremlin with his wife to his former boyar house. On July 19, Lyapunov, with four comrades and monks from the Chudov Monastery, came to Shuisky's house and announced that in order to calm the people, he needed to get a haircut. Shuisky flatly refused. Then the tonsure was done by force. The old man was held by the hands during the ceremony, and Prince Tyufyakin pronounced monastic vows instead of him, while Shuisky himself did not stop repeating that he did not want to be tonsured. They also tonsured his wife, and put his brothers in custody.

Having overthrown Vasily Shuisky, the boyar duma entered into negotiations with the hetman Zholkevsky and had to agree to the election of Prince Vladislav as the Russian tsar. At the end of October, the hetman left Moscow, taking with him, at the request of the boyars, Vasily and his family. On October 30, he solemnly entered the royal camp near Smolensk. On the same day, he introduced the captive Vasily and his brothers to Sigismund. They say that they demanded from Shuisky that he bow to the king. The deposed tsar replied: “It is impossible for the sovereign of Moscow and all Russia to bow to the king: I was not taken prisoner by your hands, but extradited by Moscow traitors, my slaves.”

1611, October - after the capture of Smolensk, the king was given an honorary entry into Warsaw. The deposed tsar was also carried among the Russian captives. When all three Shuiskys were placed in front of the king, Vasily touched the ground with his hand and kissed this hand. Then Shuisky was admitted to the hand of the king. This spectacle was great, amazing and pitiful, say contemporaries. Although Yuri Mnishek demanded trial of Shuisky for the murder of Dmitry, the Sejm treated him with compassion.

Death of Vasily Shuisky

By order of Sigismund, all three brothers were imprisoned in Gostyn Castle near Warsaw. The contents were determined to be not scarce, as can be seen from the list of things and clothes left after the death of Vasily. He did not live long and died in September 1612. The former king was buried not far from the place of imprisonment. Contemporaries and descendants did not favor Shuisky, there are no number of accusations that were raised against him during his lifetime and after his death. Meanwhile, one cannot but admit that there were many moments in his life when he showed true wisdom, courage and even greatness of soul. His unfortunate fate is worthy not so much of censure as of pity and compassion.

The future Russian tsar was born into a princely family in 1552 in Nizhny Novgorod. Little Vasily was not the only child in the family. He had 3 brothers: Andrei, Dmitry and Ivan.

From his youth, which passed under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Vasily Ivanovich became interested in politics. In 1580, he became the groom's friend at the last wedding of Ivan IV. Shuisky himself had two marriages. The marriage with the daughter of the boyar Repin turned out to be childless. The second alliance with Buynosova-Rostovskaya gave Vasily Ivanovich two daughters, Anna and Anastasia. Unfortunately, both of them died in infancy.

In the period from 1581 to 1583, Shuisky, as governor, participated in campaigns against the cities of Serpukhov and Novgorod. In 1584 he became a boyar and head of the judicial chamber in Moscow.

After the death of Ivan IV in the struggle of the court nobility, Shuisky opposed. For this he fell into disgrace and from 1587 to 1591 he was in exile in Galich. Feeling no danger from Shuisky, in 1591 Tsar Boris Godunov returned him from disfavor and entrusted him with investigating the case of the mysterious death in Uglich of Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich. Fearing the sovereign, Shuisky recognized the cause of the death of the heir to the throne as an accident. In the same year, Vasily Shuisky returned to the Boyar Duma. With the appearance in Russia, Shuisky, on behalf of Godunov, convinced the people on Red Square that the real Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich rested in Uglich.

In the winter of 1605, Godunov appointed Shuisky as a regimental governor in a campaign against the impostor's troops. Due to the lack of desire for victory in this war to the current sovereign, Shuisky took the side of False Dmitry.

With the accession of False Dmitry, Shuisky recognized the conclusions of the commission on the reasons for the death of Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich as incorrect and recognized him as a real descendant of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich.

Already in the summer of 1605, Vasily Ivanovich tried to overthrow False Dmitry by a coup, but the plot was uncovered, and Vasily Ivanovich was captured and sentenced to death. However, the reigning ruler had mercy and sent Shuisky into exile along with his brothers, but returned him back six months later.

The following year, Shuisky prepared a conspiracy against False Dmitry. The crown of the conspiracy was a popular uprising, as a result of which the impostor died. Supporters of Shuisky in May 1606 named him tsar and on the first day of summer, Vasily Ivanovich, having received the blessing of the metropolitan, became the Russian tsar.

The first thing the new autocrat did was to transfer the relics of Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich to the capital. While Shuisky was in power in Russia, a new military charter was issued. With the coming to power, Shuisky had to suppress the Bolotnikov uprising, and in August 1607, the attack of False Dmitry II on the capital began. To fight the new impostor, Shuisky made an alliance with the Swedish king. The tsar's nephew Prince Skopin-Shuisky took command of the allied army. The troops under his command lifted the siege from the Trinity Lavra and solemnly entered Moscow. The commander-in-chief was glorified throughout the capital, calls were made to recognize him as king. However, Skopin-Shuisky soon died suddenly and the tsar was blamed for his death.

In order to prevent the intervention of the Swedes in the turmoil in Russia, in the fall of 1609, the Polish army besieged Smolensk. The intervention of the Commonwealth in Russia began. In June 1610, Russian troops were defeated by the army of the Polish king. Dissatisfaction with the sovereign grew, and in July Vasily Ivanovich was overthrown by the boyars and forcibly tonsured him a monk. Time has begun