In the summer of 1607, a new impostor is announced in the Bryansk lands, claiming that he is Tsarevich Dmitry, who miraculously survived. Relying on the Polish gentry, who still believed in the possibility of a Polish king coming to power in Rus', together with the opposition ataman Zarutsky, he advances troops to Moscow. Contemporaries claim that in appearance he was similar to the first impostor False Dmitry, but reliable information about his person has not yet been found.
At the same time, False Dmitry II supported the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov, after which he moved to Tula to unite with the rebels. However, this did not happen. In the spring of 1608, the impostor’s army approached Moscow, defeated the Russian army commanded by Shuisky, and then fortified itself in the village of Tushino. As a result of this operation, Tushino became a center for people who were dissatisfied with the rule of Vasily Shuisky. Already in the fall, the Tushino residents began robberies and robberies, and the siege of Moscow lasted about two years.
Shuisky could not independently repel the powerful army of False Dmitry II and therefore he was forced to turn to Sweden for military support. So in 1609, an agreement was concluded according to which Sweden received Karelians from Russia in exchange for military assistance to Vasily Shuisky. At the beginning of spring, Swedish troops approached the Russian borders, whose commander-in-chief was Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, who was the Tsar’s nephew.
However, the Russian-Swedish agreement also becomes a reason for the Polish side to intervene in this “feud.” At the same time, Sweden and Poland were already at war with each other at that time. The Poles began an active intervention and by September 1609 besieged the city of Smolensk, heroically defending itself for twenty months.
At that time, Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, together with Swedish troops, approached Moscow, breaking up the Tushino camp and forcing False Dmitry II to flee to Poland. His associates conclude an agreement with Sigismund (the Polish king) and accept his son Vladislav to the throne.
By the spring of 1610, the Tushin camp was completely empty, and Muscovites welcomed the victorious Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, on whom all the people's hopes were directed in the fight against the enemies. However, in April 1610 he died under mysterious circumstances.
After another unsuccessful campaign against Moscow, False Dmitry was killed by being cut with a saber.
Video lecture: reign and brief biography of False Dmitry 2
FALSE DMITRY II - “Tushinsky thief”, an impostor who sought to take the Russian throne under the name of the deceased Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich in the crisis conditions of the Time of Troubles.
The real name is not known. According to the most ar-gu-men-ti-ro-van version, False Dmitry II was a baptized Jew, came from the Ok-re-st -no-stey of the city of Shklov (now not the Mo-gilev region, Belarus). He taught the children of the priests gra-mo-te, one-on-a-long before the sa-mo-zvonskaya avan-tu-ry li-shil I got to work and became a bro. The side of the False Dmitry I M. Me-kho-vets-kim and the old che-cher-sky N. Ze-no-vi-chem was kindly scolded at the end of 1606. At the end of 1606-1607, they, together with the Pos-po-li-tu from the Russian state, Iley-koi Mu-rom, who arrived in Rech, were subjected to torture. give False Dmitry II for the deceased Tsar Dmitry Ivan-no-vi-cha (False Dmitry I), however, False Dmitry II, fearing for his life, fled from them to the city of Pro-poisk (now Slav-gorod, Mogilev region, Belarus), where he was captured on the orders of Zenovich and sent to prison. Due to the expansion of the situation in Re-chi Po-spo-li-that and the desire of Sei-ma to ensure peace in the east (on- ru-shi-te-lyam gro-zi-la kon-fis-ka-tsiya imu-sche-st-va) way-ti-chi you-need-to-become more horny when preparing new self-proclaimed intrigues. Nevertheless, Me-kho-vets-kiy and Ze-no-vich for the captivity of False Dmitry II gave themselves away as a clan-st-ven-ni-ka tsa- re-vi-cha of Dmitry Iva-no-vi-cha - so-no-ka A.A. Na-go-go (from the Na-gikh family). 23.5 (2.6). 1607, by order of Ze-no-vi-cha, the Che-cher-sky sergeant Ra-go-za (Ra-go-zinsky) transferred False Dmitry II to border of Re-chi Po-spo-li-toy and the Russian state side-ni-kam I.M. For-ruts-ko-go and before-the-leader of the old-oak servants, son-of the bo-yar-go G. Verev-ki-na, to -then 12 (22).7.1607, or-ga-ni-zo-vali in the city of Staro-oak, the recognition of the self-invitation is now already as “chu-des-no” saved-she-go-xya” of Tsar Dmitry Iva-no-vi-cha. An important part of this action was the arrival in Staro-oak of a large Polish-Lithuanian military detachment. yes Me-kho-vets-ko-go (on the same day the caller himself called him “get-man-nom”, entrusting the formation of his his vo-ys-ka). By the end of the summer of 1607, in Staro-du-be, Me-ho-vets-ko-mu and Za-ruts-ko-mu managed to collect about 3 thousand bad-ho-woo-ru-wives. new warriors (os-no-woo with the old oak servants and ka-za-ki-“bo-lot-ni-kov-tsy” For-ruts-ko-go; about 1 thousand na-em-ni-kov Me-ho-vets-ko-go and Polish nobles I. Bu-di-ly and P. Khar-lin-sko- go).
In September - October 1607, False Dmitry II led his army to help (ve-ro-yat-but, according to the pre-go-vo-ren-no-sti) osa-zh-den -nym in Tu-le I.I. Bo-lot-ni-ko-wu and Iley-ke Mu-rom-tsu. M. Me-ho-vets-co-managed to seize Po-chep, Bryansk, Kar-achev, defeat the government detachment of Prince V.F. Lit-vi-no-va-Mo-sal-sko-go at Ko-zel-ska and go out to the nearest approaches to Tu-la. Ka-pi-tu-la-tsia Bo-lot-ni-ko-va and Iley-ki Mu-rom-tsa you caused a rebellion among the soldiers and the collapse of the army sa- mo-zvan-tsa. False Dmitry II fled to Oryol. From there he planned to go to Pu-tivl, along the road to the Ko-ma-ritsa volost in the vicinity of st-no-tyh Se-vs-ka was detained in October/November 1607 by V. Va-lev-skogo and S. Tysh- ke-vi-cha, which came to the Russian state from Re-chi Pos-po-li-toy after the window of my-the-zha N. Zeb-zhi-dov-sko th. Under the pressure of la-kov, False Dmitry II so-gla-sil-sya continue to live avant-tyu-ru. After an unsuccessful march to Bryansk in November - December 1607, the invitee set off for Oryol. Here False Dmitry II strengthened his army from a number of “Kazats-kih tsa-re-vi-whose”. Participation in the movement of False Dmitry II once caused terror against the nobles who had changed “Tsar Dmitry” (False Dmitry -Riya I), and began to form a new “vo-rov” nobility from the former nobles, and from the self-called kings re-vi-whose (False-fe-dor, etc.), dinner-of-the-never-nobles and auto-ri-tet-nyh ka-zach-their ata-man-nov (I.M. Za -ruts-kiy, etc.) - “serving princes and bo-yars,” copying the Moscow government structures. Servant people of the southern districts, who taught back in the avant-tyur of False Dmitry I and in Bo-lot-ni-ko-va re-sta- research of 1606-1607, the actions of False Dmitry II were perceived as their direct continuation, providing support for the new self-mo- zvan-tsu. The White-Russian, Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian nobles are active, but you-stood on the side of False Dmitry II, because they -va-la participation in his campaigns as an opportunity to receive money.
In the spring of 1608, Prince R. Ruzhinsky, who arrived in the Russian state from Re-chi Pos-ly at the head of a large detachment -ni-kov for the service of False Dmitry II, removed M. Me-kho-vets-ko-go from the “get-man-st-va” and at the-ka-hall of the kaz-thread “Kazats-kih tsa- re-vi-whose.” With the con-fi-ska-tion of the place and the execution of the nobles, it was all over. In 1608, a detachment of the same-mo-zvan-tsa carried on the ra-zhe-niya of Tsar Va-si-lia Iva-no-vi-cha Shui-sko-go in Bol-khov-sky, Kho-dyn-sky, Rakh-man-tsev-sky and Ros-tov-sky districts and osa-di-li Mo-sk-vu, Novgorod , Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Smolensk, Ko-lom-nu, Io-si-fo-Vo-lo-ko-lam-sky and Troi-tse-Ser-gi-ev mo -na-sta-ri. Practically the entire European part of the country found itself under the control of the inviter himself. The failures of the government troops and their inability to defend the estates and the number of city nobles, according to -dy and the Christian-Yan-worlds from the raz-re-re-niy you-called a massive transition of the nobles, the Sad-people and the Cres -st-yan on the side of False Dmitry II. The large army of the self-called now consisted of the na-nyh regiments of R. Ruzhinsky, Ya.P. Sa-pe-gi, A. Zbo-rov-sko-go, V. Va-lev-sko-go, M. Ve-leg-lov-sko-go and others, Don Cossacks Za -ruts-ko-go, Li-sov-sko-go and for-rozh-skih ka-za-kov Gr-tsa, Po-vid-zi-ev-sko-go, Li-sa, Ros-tets -whom.
The invitee took his “hundred-face” from the Tu-shin camp. In the summer - autumn of 1608, several members of the Go-su-da-re-va court and Bo-yar-skaya duma moved from Moscow to False Dmitry II , including representatives of ancient and noble families (Prince D.T. Trubetskoy, Prince V.M. Mo-salsky Ru -bets, M.G. Sal-ty-kov, princes R.F. Tro-e-ku-rov, A.Yu. In Tu-shi-no at the beginning of September 1608, together with the detachments of A. Zborovsky and Sa-pe-gi, the “tsar” arrived -tsa" M. Mni-shek. On September 6(16), she “recognized” her husband in False Dmitry II, and on September 10(20), she publicly entered the camp of False Dmitry II and - to live with him as his legal wife (before this they allegedly secretly got married). In the case of captivity in Tu-shi-no, the Ros-Tov Metropolitan Fi-la-ret was appointed, soon declared a stalemate -ri-ar-hom. About-of-my pre-sta-vi-te-la-mi Tu-shin-sko-go la-ge-rya im-measurable bo-ry in the count-ta-ta didn't they ra-zo-ri-li-zhi-te-ley of the districts they captured. On-sea and overseas districts of the or-ga-ni-zo-va-lo zem-skoe movement against False Dmitry II, which then the caller himself tried to show strength. The movement was used by Prince M.V. Sko-pi-nym-Shui-sky for the re-creation of the government army. In addition, on the basis of Vyborg in 1609, he attracted the Swedish expeditionary corps to the royal service under command of Ya.P. De la garde. The Russian-Swedish army attacked the Tu-shin-tsam near Torzh-ka, Tve-ri, near the Pod-mo-na-Styr-skaya village of Tro-its -ko-go Ma-kar-e-va Ka-lya-zi-on the monastery, near the village of Karin-sko-go near Alek-san-d-rovskaya village (end of approx. tyab-rya).
In December 1609, the forces of the sa-mo-zvan-tsa con-tro-li-ro-va-li the southern districts of the Russian state from Nov-go-ro-da-Sever-skogo to Astra-kha- neither, but also Pskov-shchi-well. One-on-the-military failures, Re-chi-spo-po-t-inter-ven-tion of the 17th century in the Russian state (re-established) Xia in September 1609) brought to the race of Tu-shin-skogo la-ge-rya. On December 27, 1609 (January 6, 1610), in fear for his life, False Dmitry II fled to Ka-lu-gu, abandoning his wife and the courtyard to fate. Most of the “thieves’ boyars” and the most combat-capable part of the na-yom-ni-kovs (including M.G. Sal-ty-kov, prince V.M. Mo-sal-sky Rubets, etc.) from-sal-st-vom to Si-giz-mun-du III, under-pi-sa-li to-go -thief about the election of the ko-ro-le-vi-cha Vla-di-sla-va (the future Polish ko-ro-l Vla-di-slav IV) to the Russian throne and on- I went to the Ko-ro-lion service. Some “battle-res” and “nobles” of Tu-shin-sko-la-ge-rya came with guilt to Tsar Va-siliy Shui-sko-mu. In February 1610, the “thieves’ battles, servants and kazaks led by Prince D.T. Tru-bets-kim, and in the early summer of 1610 - part of the hirelings under the leadership of Ya.P. Sa-pe-gi arrived at the sa-mo-invitation in Ka-lu-gu, which became the new “capital” of False Dmitry II for a year. Political in-sti-tu-tu-you, layers-living-sya here, from the or-ga-novs of Tu-shin-skogo la-ge-rya: in Ka -lu-ge, False Dmitry II did not have a pat-ri-ar-ha and an Os-vya-shchen-no-go so-bo-ra, in the Bo-Yar-skaya Duma and Go-su-da- re-ve dvor-re the key role of the game is not the side of Ro-ma-new, but the pre-sta-vi-te-of the birth, you-moved -shih-sya in op-rich-no-well. The army of False Dmitry II, led by Sa-pe-ga, began to play an auxiliary role in Ka-lu-ge and did not control-ro-va- lo ad-mi-ni-st-ra-tion sa-mo-zvan-tsa.
After the destruction of the troops of Tsar Vasiliy Shui-sky in the Battle of Klushin in 1610 and the attack of the troops of Re-chi Po -spo-li-toy on Mo-sk-vu in the position of False Dmitry II is again ok-re-p-li. At the same time, by the summer of 1610, under the control of False Dmitry II, only “Polish” remained (i.e., those residing in the territory). to-rii of the former Di-ko-go-la), part of the Ukrainian, overseas and lower cities, as well as Astra-khan. Relying mainly on the serving people of the territories under his control, as well as for what reason, False Dmitry II formed the world-share of a new army, strengthened by the Sa-pe-gi, returned to the service of False Dmitry II in after the bez-re-zul-tat-noy on-e-d-ki to la-ger Si-giz-mun-da III near Smo-lensk. In June - July 1610, False Dmitry II made a new campaign against Moscow. One day, torturing the side of False Dmitry II - “Bo-Yar” Prince D.T. Tru-bets-ko-go, Prince G.P. Shakhov-skogo, Prince S.G. Zve-ni-go-rod-sko-go, M.M. Bu-tur-li-na and others about-man or forcefully to tie up False Dmitry II in Moscow turned out to be unsuccessful. At the meeting in Moscow for the Bo-Yar-skaya Duma with the presence of a hundred words (to -that-swar-men-ni-ki ras-smat-ri-va-li as the Zem-sky Council) the co-ro-le-vich Vla-di was elected to the kingdom -glory, and against the ranks of False Dmitry II were the Polish-Lithuanian troops on the right. At the end of August - in September 1610, the self-invitee fled from the Niko-lo-Ug-resh-go monastery to Ka- lu-gu, abandoning his army. Soon, separate battles, ka-za-ki and about 1 thousand na-yom-niks, led by V. Va-lev, arrived at him in Ka-lu-gu. skim. Torturing the “Bo-Yar” of False Dmitry II ter-ro-rum to re-or-ga-nize and increase the army brought to the side-against-le -in the village near Moscow, as well as in the northern and Ukrainian districts, which appeared not long ago The main base of False Dmitry II. He was killed while hunting by Prince P.A. Uru-so-vym (from the family of Uru-so-vym), who previously inflicted a public-personal os-ko-rb-le-nie.
Soon after the death of False Dmitry II M. Mni-shek gave birth to a son, who was named by Ivan Dmit-rie-vi-ch and announced -len next to the side of False Dmitry II on the next Russian throne; in the country he received the nickname Vo-ryo-nok.
The sacralization of power was reliably ensured by the thesis of the king as God's anointed. Therefore, the theoretical prerequisite for the emergence of imposture should have been mass doubt that the ruling monarch occupies his throne by right. Thus, the “imposture” of the king became the reason for the emergence of a real impostor as a contender for the crown. It was probably hesitations regarding the legitimacy of Boris Godunov's stay in power that gave birth to the figure of the first Russian impostor - False Dmitry I. Despite the fact that the new tsar was elected to the kingdom by the Zemsky Sobor and even twice refused such a high rank, however, the Godunov family was far from being so influential and noble (even despite his relationship with the previous Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich).
Probably False Dmitry II was of Jewish origin and False Dmitry I
Therefore, the Old Moscow Romanov family had significant advantages in the hierarchy of succession to the throne. Not to mention the strange death of Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich, when suspicions of murder inevitably fell on the closest boyar and the Tsar’s brother-in-law. The defrocked monk Grigory Otrepiev, the future False Dmitry I, with his identification with the tragically deceased prince, actually opened a “Pandora’s box” - after him a series of impostors is steadily growing.
Portrait of False Dmitry I
Those whom False Dmitry I trusted and brought closer to himself began to scold him more than anyone else after his death. Some of them even tried to gain the confidence of the newly elected Tsar Vasily Shuisky. Thus, the close associate of the first impostor, Prince Grigory Petrovich Shakhovskoy, received the post of governor in Putivl - precisely in the city whose residents were especially friendly towards the appearance of False Dmitry, where his supporters still remained. Knowing all the circumstances of Shuisky’s accession to the throne, Shakhovskoy convened a people’s meeting in Putivl, at which he announced that instead of Dmitry (False Dmitry), another person was killed in Moscow (“German”, that is, a certain foreigner, mute - in the sense that he did not speak in Russian). The real king is alive and hiding in a safe place, waiting for a favorable moment to regain his rightful power. This legend was believed first by the residents of Putivl, and then by the entire south of the country, which, it seemed, was just waiting for this: townspeople (townspeople), archers, Cossacks, peasants willingly joined the “army” of Shakhovsky and his comrade-in-arms, the Chernigov governor Prince Andrei Telyatevsky .
False Dmitry II declared himself king under pain of torture
Poland did not fail to take advantage of the rapidly spreading rumor about the miraculous “resurrection” of Dmitry, which was able to quickly materialize a new impostor - False Dmitry II. What is striking about this story is how quickly the Muscovites, who were present at the massacre of the corpse of the late Tsar, were able to forget these events and unconditionally believe in a fantastic rescue. According to N.M. Karamzin, the Russian people “had a love for the miraculous and a love for rebellion,” and the professional French mercenary of the Russian army, J. Margeret, wittily noted that “the Moscow mob was ready to change tsars weekly, in the hope of finding a better one.” .
Gabriel Nikitich Gorelov. "Bolotnikov's Rebellion"
Most of the questions and mysteries in the history of False Dmitry II are connected with the secret of his real name. The first news of the appearance of the surviving king dates back to the winter of 1607, when an impostor was discovered in Lithuania, one of many others who posed as a royal person. Among the Terek Cossacks, Tsarevich Peter Fedorovich (allegedly the son of Tsar Fyodor, that is, the grandson of Ivan the Terrible) and Tsarevich Ivan August (allegedly the son of Ivan the Terrible from his marriage to Anna Koltovskaya) appeared. The first of the above impostors marauded in the south of Russia, and then joined the ranks of the army of Ivan Bolotnikov, and the second contender for the throne successfully acted in the Lower Volga region, where he managed to capture Astrakhan. Following them, another “grandson” of Ivan IV appeared, the “son” of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich - Lavrenty. In May 1607, False Dmitry II crossed the Russian-Polish border and approached Starodub with his army, where he was recognized by the local residents. His army was gradually replenished with volunteers and mercenaries, and therefore in September he was able to move to the aid of False Peter and Bolotnikov.
The governor of False Dmitry II, Prince Dmitry Mosalsky Gorbaty, “said from torture” that the impostor “is from Moscow from the Arbatu from Zakonyushev priests’ son Mitka.” Another of his former comrades Afanasy Tsyplatev said during interrogation that “Tsarevich Dmitry is called Litvin, Ondrei Kurbsky’s son.” The “Moscow chronicler” and cellarer of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Abraham considered him to come from the family of Starodub boyars, the Verevkins (they were one of the first to recognize the legitimacy of the impostor). Polish chroniclers and contemporaries of those events believed that the name of the tsar killed in 1606 was adopted by the baptized Jew Bogdanko (or Bogdan Sutupov). He was a teacher in Shklov, and then moved to Mogilev, where he was in the service of a priest. For certain offenses, the Shklov teacher was threatened with prison - and just at that moment he was noticed by a participant in the campaign of False Dmitry I against Moscow, the Pole M. Mekhovsky. It seemed to him that he looked like the deceased impostor. The famous Russian historian of the Troubles, R. G. Skrynnikov, relying on foreign sources, believed that False Dmitry II “understood the Hebrew language, read the Talmud, the books of the Rabbis, it was Sigismund who sent him, calling him Dmitry Tsarevich.”
Letter from False Dmitry II to the Sandomierz governor Yuri Mnishek from Orel about his imminent accession to the Russian throne with the help of the Polish king Sigismund III. Signature - autograph of False Dmitry II, January 1608
Having reached Moscow with his motley army, False Dmitry II sets up camp in the village of Tushino, where his “headquarters” will be located in the future (hence the entrenched nickname of the impostor - “Tushino thief”). An interesting fact in this regard is that in the formation of the legitimacy of the new contender for the throne, Patriarch Filaret, Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, played a significant role, whose support was invaluable for the impostor: Bogdan Shklovsky pretended to be the son of Ivan the Terrible, and Filaret was the nephew of this king - "relatives" had to help each other. Judging by the descriptions of contemporaries of the events, the “thieves’” capital had a very unsightly appearance. The top of the hill was dotted with tents of Polish hussars. Among them stood a spacious log hut, which served as a “palace” for the impostor. Behind the “palace” were the dwellings of the Russian nobility. Ordinary people occupied vast suburbs located at the foot of the hill. Hastily knocked together, thatched “sheds” stood here very closely, adjoining one to another, and the dwellings were chock-full of Cossacks, archers, serfs and other “vile” people.
The impostor was on a walk when Prince Urusov killed him
This is how a situation of political dual power was formed, which inevitably appeared during the civil war. As Karamzin put it, “the people have already played with kings, having learned that they can be elected and overthrown by his power or daring willfulness.” Many of those who fled from Vasily Shuisky to the camp of his enemy, False Dmitry II, returned again, to the point that relatives agreed among themselves who should go to Tushino and who would stay in Moscow in order to benefit from both in one camp and in the other. . Having received a salary in Moscow, they went to Tushino to receive money.
Sergei Miloradovich. Defense of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra from the troops of False Dmitry II in 1608-1610.
A very important aspect in the history of False Dmitry II is his relationship with the Polish king Sigismund III, who at first saw in him a means to weaken Shuisky and distract his own citizens and nobility from the internal affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, in 1609, the position of the “Tushino thief” changed significantly: in his camp they feared the arrival of the Russian-Swedish detachments of J. P. Delagardi and M. V. Skopin-Shuisky, who defeated the Tushino colonel Alexander Zborovsky in the summer. Finding themselves virtually trapped, most of the Polish mercenaries prefer to come to an agreement with their king Sigismund, which certainly undermined the authority of False Dmitry. In the summer of 1610, the army of the Polish hetman Stanislav Zholkiewski occupied Moscow, and he himself, at the proposal of the Duma boyars, agreed to swear allegiance under the conditions of electing Sigismund’s son, Prince Vladislav, to the Russian throne. The Moscow boyars, tired of the ruinous civil war, were interested in eliminating the impostor. They are the first to offer the generally indecisive Sigismund III a way out of the current ambiguous situation: the murder of False Dmitry II, to which the king, although not immediately, agrees.
False Dmitry 2 - (unknown when born - death December 11 (21), 1610) impostor of unknown origin. He was called the Kaluga or Tushinsky thief. Since 1607, he pretended to be the son of Ivan IV the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry, who allegedly escaped (False Dmitry I). In 1608-1609 he created the Tushino camp near the capital, from where he unsuccessfully tried to capture Moscow. With the beginning of open Polish intervention, he fled to Kaluga, where he was killed.
The appearance of False Dmitry 2
Having appeared in Starodub in the middle of 1607, False Dmitry 2 was a person not at all suitable for the throne. “A rude man, with disgusting customs, and foul language in conversation,” is how the Polish captain Samuel Maskevich described him. The origin of this husband is truly “dark and modest” - either a school teacher from the Belarusian town of Shklov, or a Russian immigrant, or a priest, or a baptized Jew, or even an unbaptized Jew (which is completely incredible). Some historians explain his appearance by the desire of the Polish lords to sow confusion in the Moscow state.
They said that the impostor, who left the Lithuanian possessions for the Moscow state, at the instigation of the agent of Mnishek’s wife, Mechovitsky, did not dare to immediately declare himself tsar. At first he was called the Moscow boyar Nagim and spread rumors in Starodub that Dmitry managed to escape. When he and his accomplice, clerk Alexei Rukin, were tortured by the elders, the latter reported that the one calling himself Nagim was the real Dmitry. He assumed a commanding air, waved his stick menacingly and shouted: “Oh, you such children, I am the sovereign.”
First victories
The Starodubians and Putivlivtsy rushed to his feet, wailing: “It’s our fault, sir, we didn’t recognize you; have mercy on us. We are glad to serve you and lay down our bellies for you.” He was released and surrounded with honors. He was joined by Zarutsky, Mekhovitsky, with a Polish-Russian detachment, and several thousand Severtsy. With this army, False Dmitry 2 was able to take Karachev, Bryansk and Kozelsk. In Orel he received reinforcements from Poland, Lithuania and Zaporozhye.
1608, May - the troops of False Dmitry defeated Shuisky near Volkhov. In this battle, the impostor’s army was commanded by the Ukrainian prince Roman Ruzhinsky, who brought under the banner of the new “tsar” thousands of volunteers he recruited in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Soon the impostor approached the capital and settled in Tushino, 12 versts from Moscow (the angle formed by the Moscow River and its tributary Skhodnya), which is why he received the nickname “Tushino thief.”
The Tushino period of Russian unrest lasted almost a year and a half. In the camp of the Tushinsky thief were not only Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian adventurers, but also representatives of the nobility - opponents of Shuisky. Among them, we should mention the Rostov Metropolitan Filaret Nikitich Romanov, who was named patriarch (it seems even against his will). The impostor called the people to his side, giving them the lands of the “traitors” boyars and even allowing them to forcibly marry the boyars’ daughters. The camp soon turned into a fortified city, in which there were 7,000 Polish soldiers, 10,000 Cossacks and several tens of thousands of armed rabble.
The main strength of the “Tushinsky Thief” was the Cossacks, who sought to establish Cossack freedom. “Our king,” wrote one of the Poles who served him, “everything is done according to the Gospel, everyone is equal in his service.” But when high-born people showed up in Tushino, disputes about seniority immediately began to arise, envy and rivalry with each other appeared.
1608, August - part of the Poles released at the request of Sigismund fell into the hands of the Tushino people. Marina Mnishek, who was there, after persuasion from Rozhinsky and Sapega, recognized False Dmitry 2 as her husband and was secretly married to him. Sapega and Lisovsky joined the impostor. The Cossacks continued to flock to him, so that he had up to 100,000 troops.
In Moscow and surrounding cities, the influence of False Dmitry 2 grew steadily. Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vologda, Murom, Kashin and many other cities submitted to him.
The Poles and Russian thieves, who were sent around the cities, soon turned the Russian people against themselves. At first, the impostor promised tarhan letters that freed the Russians from all taxes, but the residents soon saw that they would have to give as much as they wanted to take from them. Tax collectors were sent from Tushino, and after some time Sapega sent his tax collectors there from near Trinity.
Poles and Russian thieves gathered in gangs that attacked villages, robbed them, and abused people. This embittered the Russian people, and they no longer believed that the real Dmitry was in Tushino.
After Sapieha’s failure in front of the Trinity Lavra, the position of the “king” of the impostor was shaken; distant cities began to renounce him. Another attempt to capture Moscow was unsuccessful; Skopin and the Swedes were advancing from the north; in Pskov and Tver the Tushins were defeated and fled. Moscow was liberated from the siege.
Kaluga camp
The campaign of Sigismund III near Smolensk further worsened the position of the “king” - the Poles began to come under the banner of their king. False Dmitry, disguised as a peasant, escaped from the camp. In fortified Kaluga he was received with honors. Marina Mnishek also arrived in Kaluga, under the protection provided by Sapega, the impostor lived in honor. Without the supervision of the Polish lords I felt freer. Kolomna and Kashira swore allegiance to him again.
And at that time, the army of Sigismund III continued to unsuccessfully besiege Smolensk, and the young commander Skopin-Shuisky was able to lift the siege from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. And suddenly Skopin-Shuisky died, according to rumors, poisoned by the wife of one of the royal brothers, Prince Dmitry. The latter was appointed commander of the army sent to help Smolensk.
March on Moscow
Near Klushino, 150 km from the capital, on June 24, 1610, Shuisky’s army was defeated by the Poles under the command of crown hetman Stanislav Zhulkevsky. The path to Moscow was open. Zhulkevsky approached it from the west, Tushinsky the thief - from the south. The impostor took Serpukhov, Borovsk, Pafnutiev Monastery and reached Moscow itself. Marina stayed in the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery, and False Dmitry in the palace village of Kolomenskoye. Again, as in Tushino’s times, the Kremlin was just a stone’s throw away and the royal throne was empty (Vasily Shuisky was “reduced” from the throne on July 17, and was then forcibly tonsured a monk).
But this time too, history assigned only an unenviable role to the Kaluga “king”. His appearance forced the Moscow boyars to choose the lesser of two evils. On August 17, Zhulkevsky concluded an agreement with them, according to which the son of Sigismund III, Prince Vladislav, was to ascend the Moscow throne. The capital, and after many other Russian cities, swore allegiance to Tsar Vladislav Zhigmontovich. From now on, the Polish garrison introduced into Moscow became an insurmountable obstacle for False Dmitry.
Zhulkevsky, however, tried to settle the matter peacefully. On behalf of the king, he promised the impostor, if he supported the royal cause, to give the city of Sambir or Grodno. But, the hetman wrote indignantly in his memoirs, “he did not think to be content with that, and even more so his wife, who, being an ambitious woman, muttered rather rudely: “Let His Majesty the king yield to His Majesty the king of Krakow, and let His Majesty the king yield to His Majesty Warsaw."
Then Zhulkevsky decided to simply arrest them, but Marina and the impostor fled to Kaluga on August 27, accompanied by 500 Cossacks of Ataman Ivan Martynovich Zarutsky, who first came out on their side.
Death of False Dmitry 2
He died as a result of the revenge of the baptized Tatar Urusov, whom he subjected to corporal punishment. 1610, December 11 - when the impostor, half drunk, went hunting under the escort of a crowd of Tatars, Urusov cut his shoulder with a saber, and Urusov’s younger brother cut off his head. His death caused terrible unrest in Kaluga; All the Tatars remaining in the city were killed. The son of False Dmitry was proclaimed king by the people of Kaluga.
I. Muromov
Even during the struggle between Vasily Shuisky’s troops and the Bolotnikovites, False Dmitry II appeared. A new stage of the Troubles began, which was now accompanied by open Polish intervention. At first, the Poles actively supported their protege - the new impostor, then, in 1609, the invasion of the Polish army began.
Who was hiding this time under the name of the prince, again nominated by the Polish magnates, remained unknown. In the royal letters the new contender for the Moscow throne was called the “Starodub thief.” The impostor knew Russian literacy and church affairs well, spoke and wrote in Polish. Some sources also claim that the impostor also spoke Hebrew. Contemporaries made many guesses about who he could be. According to some sources, this was the priest’s son Matvey Verevkin, originally from the Severskaya Side, according to others, the son of the Starodub archer. Others recognized him as a boyar's son. They also talked about the Lithuanian clerk Bogdan Sutupov, the royal clerk under the first impostor, a school teacher from the city of Sokol, about the priest Dmitry from Moscow or the baptized Jew Bogdanko from the city of Shklov.
The initial appearance of this impostor is described in most detail in the Barkulabov Chronicle. According to the Belarusian chronicler, this man taught children first from the Shklov priest, then from the Mogilev priest, was an insignificant person who tried to please everyone, and was very poor. From Mogilev he moved to Propoisk, where he was imprisoned as a Russian spy. By order of the headman, Pan Zenovich, he was released and escorted beyond the Moscow border. The new impostor came to the attention of the Polish lords, who decided to nominate a new contender for the Russian throne. Finding himself in the Starodub area, he began to write letters throughout White Rus', so that “knightly people, willing people” would gather to him and even “they would take him a pittance.” With a detachment of mercenaries, he moved to Starodub.
Rumors about a “miraculous rescue” and the imminent return of the tsar began to circulate immediately after the death of Grigory Otrepyev. Those who saw how the king was killed were few; the body of the impostor was brutally mutilated and covered with dirt, it was impossible to identify him. Muscovites, in fact, were divided into two camps - those who rejoiced at the fall of the impostor, recalling his foreign behavior and rumors of “witchcraft.” Such rumors were in the interests of the boyar elite who organized the coup. On the other hand, there were many adherents of False Dmitry in Moscow, and stories immediately began to circulate among them that he had managed to escape from the “dashing boyars.” They assured that instead of the king, his double was killed. It is believed that some of these rumors were spread by the Poles, since the ground was already being prepared for the appearance of a second impostor. A week after the death of the impostor, “letters of honor” appeared in Moscow at night, written allegedly by the tsar who had escaped. Many leaflets were even nailed to the gates of boyar houses, in which “Tsar Dmitry” announced that he “escaped murder and God himself saved him from traitors.”
Immediately after the death of False Dmitry I, Moscow nobleman Mikhail Molchanov (one of the murderers of Fyodor Godunov), who fled from Moscow towards the western border, began to spread rumors that instead of “Dmitry” another person was killed, and the tsar himself escaped. Molchanov, posing as “Dmitry,” settled in the Mniszek castle of Sambir, after which letters from the “miraculously escaped tsar” poured into Russia in a flood. However, Molchanov could not continue to play his role as “tsar” outside the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. They knew him too well in Moscow. That’s why a new impostor “showed up.”
The population of the rebellious Seversk Ukraine waited a whole year for the arrival of the “good king” from Poland, which was largely facilitated by rumors of the “miraculous salvation” of False Dmitry. Putivl, Starodub, and other cities more than once sent messengers abroad in search of the prince. Bolotnikov also wrote letters, who sent Dmitry from besieged Tula to Starodub with a detachment of the efficient Cossack ataman Ivan Zarutsky to meet him. The chieftain knew the first “king” well, but preferred to publicly “get to know” the second in order to become his close confidant. In June 1607, Starodub swore allegiance to False Dmitry. The power of the impostor was also recognized by Novgorod-Seversky, Pochep, Chernigov, Putivl, Sevsk and other Seversky cities. The Starodub “thief” was also recognized by residents of several Ryazan suburbs, Tula, Kaluga and Astrakhan. The Boyar Duma began to form in Starodub, and a new rebel army was also formed. Pan Nikolai Mekhovetsky took the position of hetman - commander-in-chief of the impostor's army.
From the very beginning, the new impostor received support and financial assistance from Polish magnates. He was an obedient puppet in their hands. The Poles derogatorily called him “the king.” In the summer of 1607, another gentry rokosh (rebellion) against King Sigismund III ended in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Having suffered a serious defeat in early July and fearing royal revenge, the rebels ran to the impostor, hoping to find glory and booty on Russian soil. This suited the king quite well. Some of the troublemakers could lay down their heads in Russian soil. The king himself dismissed the mercenaries recruited for the civil war. This led to an increase in crime; the mercenaries behaved outrageously and engaged in robberies. Now they could be sent to Rus'. At the same time, legends about the wealth of Russian cities and the ease of victories over the “Muscovites” were spread from the participants in the campaign of the first impostor. Everyone knew that the forces of the Russian state were undermined by a series of uprisings, which actually led to civil war.
At the same time, the main task was being solved - the enslavement of Rus'. The Polish elite had long been preparing a new invasion of the Russian state, planning to take advantage of the Troubles. In addition, over the winter the army of False Dmitry II was significantly replenished with former Bolotnikovites. “The Don and Volga Cossacks and all those people who were in Tula,” the chronicler reports, “joined him, the thief, not even though Tsar Vasily Ivanovich was in submission...” A peasant war broke out again in the southern border regions, forcing the local nobles partly to go over to the side of the new impostor, partly to flee to Moscow. Trying to attract as many service people as possible to his side, False Dmitry II confirmed all the previous grants and benefits of False Dmitry I to the Seversky destinies. But initially the army was small - only a few thousand fighters.
Tula campaign
First, the army of the second impostor moved to Tula to rescue Bolotnikov. Pochep greeted the impostor's troops with bread and salt. On September 20, the rebel army entered Bryansk. On October 8, Hetman Mekhovetsky defeated the tsarist troops of the governor Litvinov-Mosalsky near Kozelsk, and on October 16 he took Belev. The advance detachments of the impostor, meanwhile, occupied Epifan, Dedilov and Krapivna, reaching the closest approaches to Tula. However, the fall of Tula on October 10 confused the cards of False Dmitry. The army of False Dmitry II could not yet withstand the large royal army. On October 17, the impostor retreated to Karachev to unite with the Cossacks.
It should be noted that Vasily Shuisky underestimated the danger of the new “thief” and disbanded the army to their homes, believing that the remaining centers of the uprising would easily pacify the detachments of his governor. Therefore, the king did not have a large army to sweep away the still weak troops of the impostor with one blow, until the uprising again grew over a vast territory. In addition, part of the Bolotnikovites, whom the tsar had forgiven and sent to fight the remaining rebels, again rebelled and fled to the new impostor.
The impostor wanted to run further, but on the way the fugitive “tsar” was met by gentlemen Valyavsky and Tyshkevich with 1800 soldiers, intercepted and returned. Detachments of other lords appeared - Khmelevsky, Khruslinsky, and one of the patrons of the first False Dmitry Vishnevetsky also arrived. The Polish core of the army strengthened significantly. On November 9, the army of False Dmitry II again besieged Bryansk, which was occupied by the tsarist troops, who had restored the previously burned fortress. The Don Cossacks also arrived here with another impostor - “Tsarevich” Fyodor, the “son” of Tsar Fyodor I Ioannovich. False Dmitry II granted the Cossacks, and ordered his competitor to be hanged.
For more than a month, the rebel troops could not break the city’s defenses, which were led by the tsarist governors Kashin and Rzhevsky. However, in Bryansk there was not enough water and famine began. The tsar's regiments led by Vasily Litvinov-Mosalsky and Ivan Kurakin went to the rescue of the Bryansk garrison from Meshchovsk and Moscow. Litvinov-Mosalsky approached Bryansk on December 15, but thin ice on the Desna did not allow him to cross the river. The winter was warm and the Desna did not freeze. Across the river the rebels felt safe. Then the warriors began to cross the river, not afraid of the icy water and the shelling of the rebels. Frightened by such determination of the royal troops, the rebels wavered. At the same time, governors Kashin and Rzhevsky led the Bryansk garrison on a sortie. The impostor's army could not stand it and ran. Soon, governor Kurakin came to Bryansk and brought all the necessary supplies. The rebels still tried to defeat the royal commanders, but were repulsed.
Source: Razin E. A. History of military art
Oryol camp
The impostor troops retreated to Orel. Vasily Shuisky was unable to suppress the rebellion. His governors were never able to take Kaluga. The tsar sent 4 thousand previously amnestied Cossacks, Ataman Bezzubtsev, to help them, but they destroyed the siege army and started a rebellion there. The troops that remained loyal to the government fled to Moscow, and Bezzubtsev took the remaining ones to False Dmitry. Over the winter, the impostor's army strengthened significantly. The defeated Bolotnikovites continued to flock. New troops arrived from Poland. The Tyshkevich and Tupalsky detachments were brought in. Ataman Zarutsky, having traveled to the Don, recruited another 5 thousand soldiers. The Ukrainian Cossacks were led by Colonel Lisovsky. Prince Roman Rozhinsky (Ruzhinsky), very popular among the gentry, appeared - he squandered his entire fortune, got into debt and was engaged in open robbery in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Even his wife, at the head of a detachment of bandits, carried out predatory raids on neighbors. Now he mortgaged his estates and recruited 4 thousand hussars. The Polish nobleman Alexander Lisovsky, sentenced to death in his homeland for participating in a rebellion against the king, also appeared with the impostor and his detachment.
Rozhinsky came into conflict with Mekhovetsky and carried out a coup, gathering a “knight’s stake” (circle), where he was elected hetman. The Cossack part of the army was led by Lisovsky and Zarutsky, who got along well with the Poles. No one took the second “Tsar Dmitry” into account. When he tried to protest against replacing Mekhovetsky with Rozhinsky, he was almost beaten and threatened with death. The Poles forced him to sign a “secret agreement” on the concession to them of all the treasures that would be captured in the Moscow Kremlin. And when new arrivals from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth doubted whether this was the same “Dmitry” who was before, they were answered: “It needs to be that one, that’s all.” The Jesuits surfaced again, promoting the project of introducing Catholicism in Rus'.
The number of the army of False Dmitry II in the Oryol camp was about 27 thousand people. Moreover, unlike the first impostor and the Bolotnikovites, the army of the second impostor mainly consisted of professional military men - Polish mercenaries, Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks, the rest were nobles, boyar children, archers, military serfs, etc. However, the impostor was also “men” did not disdain. Fanning the flames of the uprising, he issued a decree according to which the estates of the nobles who served Shuisky were subject to confiscation, and they could be seized by slaves and peasants. A new wave of pogroms broke out.
Moscow campaign
In preparation for the fight against the new impostor, Tsar Vasily Shuisky gathered his army near Bolkhov during the winter and spring of 1608. 30-40 thousand warriors gathered here. But the composition was heterogeneous - both local cavalry, and detachments of serving Tatars, and a regiment of mercenaries. But most importantly, a stupid commander-in-chief was appointed again, another brother of the tsar, Dmitry Shuisky. He did not conduct reconnaissance, and did not discover that the enemy army had launched a new offensive. The enemy's blow was unexpected.
In the spring, the rebel army moved from Orel to Moscow. The decisive battle lasted two days - April 30 - May 1 (May 10-11), 1608 on the Kamenka River in the vicinity of the city of Bolkhov. The battle began with a sudden attack by the vanguard of the army of False Dmitry II, consisting of gentry hussar companies and Cossack hundreds. However, the Russian noble cavalry, with the support of German mercenaries, withstood the attack. Then Russian troops attacked detachments led by the commander-in-chief's nephew, Adam Rozhinsky. The Poles overthrew the advanced Russian regiment of Prince Golitsyn. It became confused and rolled back, crushing the large regiment as well. Only a bold attack by the guard regiment of the skilled commander Prince Kurakin stopped the enemy. This concluded the first day of the battle.
The sides began to turn towards a decisive battle. The tsar's army took up a convenient position behind the swamp, entrenched in a fortification of convoys. The morning frontal attacks of the Polish-Cossack army did not lead to success. Then the Poles used a trick. We found a ford on the flank. And the servants in the distance began to drive the baggage carts back and forth, raising banners and badges above them to distract the enemy. The commander-in-chief of the tsarist army, Voivode Dmitry Shuisky, was frightened, thinking that a huge enemy army was approaching. He ordered the artillery to be taken away in order to hold the defense in Bolkhov. The troops, seeing that the guns were being taken away, also panicked and began to retreat. At this time, the Poles crossed the swamp and struck the flank of the Russian army. The retreat turned into flight. The guns were abandoned, some of the troops hid in Bolkhov, others ran further. The Poles and Cossacks cut down many of the fleeing people. The defeat was complete. After artillery shelling, Bolkhov capitulated. His garrison went over to the side of the impostor. Some of the scattered troops deserted. Kaluga surrendered to the impostor without a fight. Thus, the road to Moscow was open.
Tsar Vasily hastily assembled new regiments, appointing the best commanders. Skopin-Shuisky ordered the army to block the Kaluga road, and sent Kurakin to Kolomenskaya. However, Hetman Rozhinsky and the “tsarik” bypassed Skopin-Shuisky’s regiments to the west, through Kozelsk, Mozhaisk and Zvenigorod. And suddenly in June the army of the impostor appeared under the walls of Moscow. There was almost no one to protect her. There were few troops in the capital. But the available warriors, mainly Moscow archers, were determined to stand to the end. One decisive attack, and Moscow could fall. But the impostor's headquarters did not know about this and lost time. They were waiting for the approach of Lisovsky's troops with artillery to begin a proper siege of the big city from several sides.
Rozhinsky spent a long time choosing a place for the camp and settled in Tushino, 17 versts from Moscow and decided to starve it out. The impostor created his orders here, the Boyar Duma. Peasants driven from the surrounding villages built fortifications. Ranks were handed out, estates and estates were complained about, receptions were held. This is how the second “capital” appeared. Subsequently, the impostor began to be called not the “Starodub thief”, but the “Tushino king”, “Tushino thief”, and his supporters - Tushino people.
Skopin-Shuisky did not dare to attack the enemy, since treason was discovered in his army. He withdrew his troops to Moscow. There the conspirators were captured - princes Katyrev, Yuri Trubetskoy, Ivan Troekurov were exiled, and ordinary traitors were executed. However, relatives and friends of the conspirators began to run over to the impostor - Dmitry Trubetskoy, Dmitry Cherkassky, followed by the princes Sitsky and Zasekins, who hated Shuisky.
Lisovsky led a separate detachment with the goal of intercepting the southern roads to Moscow. Zaraysk was occupied without a fight by Lisovsky’s troops, since the city Cossacks surrendered the city and swore allegiance to the impostor. To intercept the enemy detachment, a militia from the Ryazan land led by Z. Lyapunov and I. Khovansky set out. On March 30, the Battle of Zaraisk took place. The tsarist commanders showed carelessness in organizing the outpost, and by a sudden attack by Lisovsky’s men from the Zaraisk Kremlin, their army was defeated.
After the victory at Zaraisk, Lisovsky quickly took Mikhailov and Kolomna, where he captured a large artillery park. His army was strengthened by the remnants of the former Bolotnikovites and grew significantly. Lisovsky headed towards Moscow, planning to unite with the main troops of the impostor, stationed near Moscow in the Tushino camp. However, Lisovsky's detachment was defeated by the tsar's army led by Ivan Kurakin in the battle of Bear Ford. In June 1608, while transporting across the Moscow River at Bear Ford (between Kolomna and Moscow), Lisovsky’s detachment was unexpectedly attacked by the tsar’s army. The first to attack the enemy was the guard regiment led by Vasily Buturlin. Burdened with a heavy “outfit” and convoy, Lisovsky’s warriors, accustomed to maneuverable battles, suffered a serious defeat and lost all their Kolomna trophies, as well as the prisoners captured in Kolomna. Lisovsky fled and was forced to get to Moscow by a different route, bypassing Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir and the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Thus, the army of False Dmitry II, which besieged Moscow, did not receive siege weapons, and could no longer count on a blockade of the capital from the southeast.
To be continued…
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