Tsar Vasily Shuisky
On the southern outskirts of Russia, the coup carried out in Moscow by Vasily Shuisky caused strong discontent. Democratic principles in these places were more developed than in the center of the country. The population on the southern borders consisted of half of the Cossacks. Continuing to believe that False Dmitry was a "people's tsar", the Cossacks, townspeople and the petty nobility saw in Shuisky a protege of the hostile class of boyars. Exiled by Shuisky to Putivl for loyalty to the impostor, Prince Grigory Shakhovskoy began to spread rumors there that False Dmitry I was not killed in Moscow, but miraculously escaped again. Putivl rebelled against Shuisky. The voivode of neighboring Chernigov Telyatevsky also joined the rebellion that had begun. Fermentation against Shuisky began in Moscow as well. They were gradually fanned by some boyars who dreamed of seizing the throne from Vasily.
In the south, the rebels gathered an entire army. With the consent of Telyatevsky and Shakhovsky, Ivan Bolotnikov became its head. A daring man who has seen a lot, Bolotnikov spent many years in Tatar-Turkish captivity, visited Western Europe and now he assured that he had seen the escaped Dmitry abroad. With 1300 Cossacks, Bolotnikov defeated Shuisky's 5,000-strong army near Kromy, and the entire southern half of Russia quickly joined the uprising: the cities of Venev, Tula, Kashira, Kaluga, Oryol, Astrakhan. The Lyapunov nobles raised the entire Ryazan region against Vasily Shuisky.
In the fall of 1606, Bolotnikov's army went to Moscow "to return the throne to Tsarevich Dmitry." The Ryazan detachments of the Lyapunovs also moved to the capital. On December 2, Bolotnikov entered the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, but here the forces of the rebels split. In the army of Bolotnikov, the poor, the robbery class and other social dregs came to the fore. These people rampaged terribly, robbed everyone in a row, planting bloody anarchy everywhere. The noble militias of the Lyapunovs, horrified by the deeds of their original allies, decided to break with them and in the name of restoring order to unite with Vasily Shuisky. The noble detachments left Bolotnikov and went to Moscow to Shuisky, although their leaders continued to dislike the boyar tsar. Bolotnikov, driven away from the capital by Shuisky's young nephew, Mikhail Skopin, retreated to Kaluga, where he was besieged by Prince Mstislavsky.
Battle of Bolotnikov's troops with the tsarist army. Painting by E. Lissner
An ordinary Russian from the course of history, as a rule, has the impression in his head that our country was ruled by two dynasties - the Rurikovichs and the Romanovs. Well, Boris Godunov also "wedged in" somewhere between them. However, there was another king, although he belonged to one of the branches of Rurik's descendants, but who bore a separate and famous family name, which few people remember. Why did it happen that Vasily Shuisky was forgotten by the people?
Vasily IV Shuisky
Origin
In the official genealogy of the Shuiskys, the third son of Alexander Nevsky, Andrei Alexandrovich, is named their ancestor, but later historians believed that the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal princes (this powerful clan belonged to them) did not come from the son, but from the brother of the winner in the Battle of the Ice, Andrei Yaroslavich. In the annals of the two Andreevs, they were often confused, and perhaps the confusion was deliberately admitted just in the 30s of the 16th century, when the Shuiskys actually ruled the state under the minor Ivan the Terrible. Be that as it may, these aristocrats considered themselves older than the Moscow dynasty, since it somehow went back to the youngest Alexander's son, Daniel.
However, the Danilovichs have been successfully collecting land around their capital for decades, while the Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod residents split the holdings, so that by the middle of the 15th century the Suzdal principality had lost its independence altogether, and its former owners were forced to enter the service of their younger relatives. So at the Moscow court were the princes Humpbacked, Glazaty, Nogotkov. The elders of the clan, the Skopins and the Shuisky, were still invited to reign in Novgorod and Pskov until the end of the century, but after the loss of these cities of sovereignty, they also found themselves in a hopeless situation. From the vast family estates, the Shuiskys preserved only a few dozen villages in the eponymous district and the city of Shuya itself (60 kilometers from Suzdal), from which their surname originated.
The imperious grandfather of the future Tsar Vasily, Andrei Mikhailovich, was executed in December 1543 by order of the young Grand Duke Ivan IV, known as the Terrible, and the rivals of the Shuisky clan, who stood behind him, ordered their kennels to kill Andrei Mikhailovich. Not long ago, the all-powerful minister "lay naked at the gate for two hours."
However, oddly enough, this disgrace did not affect the position of the entire family: in the subsequent years of Grozny's reign, he, unlike many noble families, did not particularly suffer. Vasily's father, Prince Ivan Andreevich, during the years of the oprichnina regularly served as a voivode in Velikiye Luki and Smolensk. In 1571, Ivan became a boyar and a voivode, at the same time the wedding of his son Dmitry with the daughter of the closest tsar's henchman Malyuta Skuratov took place ... Probably, his career would have continued uphill, but in January 1573, during another campaign in Livonia, he died, and the eldest in the family was 20-year-old Vasily.
From that time on, his long, changeable, risky, but marked by a persistent aspiration to the top of the court service begins. In 1574, the young prince was invited to the wedding of the sovereign of All Russia with Anna Vasilchikova, and on the campaign from now on he was fulfilling the post of "bell with a large saadak" - that is, carrying the royal bow and quiver. In 1575, he and his brother Andrey received rich Novgorod estates, taken from the relatives of the former Tsarina Anna Koltovskaya, tonsured a nun. In addition, at the privileged service in the royal court, the Shuiskys should now "be in the camp of the sovereign and the night watchman in their heads." At the wedding of the tsar with Maria Naga in September 1580, Vasily was the main boyfriend of the groom (Boris Godunov acted as the boyfriend of the bride). In places of honor at the banquet table were also his wife Elena Mikhailovna, nee Repnina, and other relatives.
True, on a short time the influential prince nevertheless fell into disgrace, but was quickly forgiven and in 1583 he officially headed the permanent regiment right hand, that is, he became the second person in the army after the commander-in-chief. However, unlike the legendary warrior Shuisky, Prince Ivan Petrovich, famous for the unparalleled defense of Pskov from the troops of Stephen Batory, Vasily Ivanovich did not particularly show himself on the battlefield. But at the court he was so firmly entrenched that he already surpassed the famous commander in local terms. The death of Grozny in March 1584 did not interfere with this stable career growth. On the contrary: in the same year Vasily became the head of the Moscow Judicial Order; his brothers - Andrey, Alexander and Dmitry - received boyars. The elders, Vasily and Andrei, expelled the late Ivan's oprichnina nominees - Bogdan Belsky's comrades - from the government. And then the inevitable bickering began for power and influence on Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, who almost defiantly did not want to deal with the affairs of the state and divided the time between prayers, trips to monasteries and bear-baiting. Irina, his sister, could not bring an heir to her husband. In this intrigue, Vasily participated, but not openly (he was then in the voivodeship in Smolensk), but lost first place to Andrei Ivanovich and Ivan Petrovich. And, as practice has shown, he acted very far-sighted.
In May 1591, Dmitry, the last son of Ivan the Terrible, died in Uglich. The incomprehensible death of a 7-year-old child served as a pretext for an uprising of the townspeople, led by relatives of the Dowager Queen Maria Nagoya, who claimed that assassins had been sent to the prince. Fyodor Ioannovich (or rather, the official "ruler of the state" Boris Godunov - he received such a title with a living tsar not long before that!) Ordered the creation of a commission to investigate the death of his brother - headed by the Krutitsa Metropolitan Gelasiy, as well as Vasily Shuisky, who had just returned to Moscow ... To help them, Godunov's people were appointed - the okolnichy Andrei Kleshnin and the clerk Elizar Vyluzgin.
Shuisky, four days after Dmitry's death, arrived in Uglich and began interrogations in order to establish "which image of the tsarevich had died and what kind of illness he had." For several days "through his hands" about 150 people passed, and he came to the conclusion: the version of the Nagikhs about the murder of the prince by people of the city clerk Mikhail Bityagovsky is false. The witnesses - the "mother" - the noblewoman Volokhova, the nurse, and the boys with whom the tsarevich played in the courtyard - showed the same thing (although they had previously shouted the opposite to the people): the boy himself stabbed himself with a knife in a fit of "epilepsy" - epilepsy. After collecting all the questioning speeches and burying Dmitry in the local cathedral as a suicide, without honors, the commission departed for Moscow, where the Duma, in the presence of the autocrat and Patriarch Job, heard the results of its work.
Dies in 1598 Tsar Fedor, and then, through intrigue, Boris Godunov becomes tsar.
But the new dynasty was not destined to rule for long. Natural disasters and social hardships were experienced by the people of that time as punishment for serving the "untrue" king. And in such an atmosphere the "true", "natural" simply had to appear. The "advancement from the bottom" of impostors began - long before Otrepiev. Well, in the fall of 1604, this last, former nobleman in the service of the Romanov boyars, under the name of Tsarevich Dmitry, crossed the Polish-Russian border.
To the credit of Vasily Shuisky - he did not betray his former rival, Boris Godunov, and even did him the last service: at first he publicly declared on Red Square that the son of Grozny who had appeared was an impostor, but he buried the real one with his own hands in Uglich; and then went to the army to help the wounded commander, Prince Mstislavsky. In January 1605, a large Moscow army defeated Otrepiev near Dobrynichy. But it was not possible to end the war victoriously - “Ukrainian” cities began to go over to the side of False Dmitry. The army got bogged down in the sieges of Rylsk and Krom, and in the meantime Boris suddenly died.
Meanwhile, the commanders Vasily Golitsyn and Pyotr Basmanov, sent to the troops to replace him, without thinking twice, went over to the side of the "tsarevich"; part of the army followed them, the rest fled.
In May, the capital received news of these events.
On June 1, ambassadors from "Demetrius" Naum Pleshcheev and Gavrila Pushkin arrived and from Execution Ground read a letter of miraculous salvation him from the assassins sent by Godunov, about his rights to the throne and the need to overthrow the usurpers.
Here, as they say, the boyar Vasily Shuisky finally "broke down" - he said that the prince had escaped, and some priest was buried in his place. Of course, it was not these words that decided the fate of the unfortunate orphaned Godunovs: everything was going against them anyway. And yet - after all, the prince knew better than anyone that the applicant approaching Moscow had nothing to do with the Rurikovichs. However, he did not find the strength not only to tell the truth, but at least to be silent ... From such steps the reputation of the future tsar was formed - the lie and betrayal later turned against him.
The assassination of Tsar Fyodor Godunov and his mother
Under False Dmitry
The Godunovs did not retain power: a crowd of Muscovites rushed to smash their property. That was how a holiday turned out: "Many people sawed off in the courtyards and wine cellars and died ..." Meanwhile, the Duma sent an embassy to "Dmitry Ivanovich", but did not include any of the three Shuisky brothers in it - they came only with the second "boyar commission." In Tula, False Dmitry graciously accepted them; but he again did not invite one of his closest advisers - the places under his person were taken by the same Basmanov and Golitsyn, Prince Vladimir Koltsov-Mosalsky, the “relatives” of the Nagy and the Poles, the Buchinsky brothers.
Had the Shuiskys been properly treated, perhaps they would have served the impostor faithfully and there would not have been an uprising in a year, which cost him his throne and his life. But it was still unthinkable for the aristocrat Vasily Shuisky to remain in second or third roles with the liar and his artistic favorites, he did not even manage to hide his attitude to such a situation. Already on June 23, three days after False Dmitry entered the Kremlin, the prince was seized. It was as if he had announced to the merchants that the sovereign was "not a prince, but a Rosstriga and a traitor."
The whole family was judged by a cathedral court - representatives of all estates, including the clergy. In his accusatory speech, False Dmitry himself recalled the Shuiskys' past treason, including the sins of their grandfather, Andrei Mikhailovich, who was executed by the Terrible. The boyar was right about the imposture; it can be assumed that other members of the cathedral also suspected the “tsarevich”, but, according to the “New Chronicler” (compiled already under the Romanovs), “at the same cathedral, neither the authorities, nor the boyars, nor ordinary people, they (the accused. - Ed.) Helping, everyone shouts on them. " The outbreak of Troubles was already spinning the heads of contemporaries. The brothers were found guilty of conspiracy. The eldest, our hero, was sentenced to death - they took him to the square, put his head on the block, and the executioner had already raised the ax. But only the accomplices' heads flew. The tsar pardoned the Shuiskys. It would be shortsighted to begin the reign with the execution of the "good and strong".
All three were sent into exile, but again quickly forgiven: less than a few months later, they ended up at court. The position of the new sovereign was greatly shaken. Having promised everyone a "prosperous life", he could not fulfill the promise. For example, cancel serfdom... Or to transfer Novgorod and Pskov to the future father-in-law, Polish Senator Yuri Mnishek - the people would not forgive such a thing. As a result, relations with the Commonwealth became complicated, and only the peasants of the Komaritsa volost and the Putivl townspeople who were the first to recognize "Dmitry" received benefits. Landowners again received permission to return the fugitives starting in 1600.
False Dmitry was brave, young, energetic. But he did not fit into the image of the "natural" Moscow tsar. He hurt the national and religious feelings of his subjects: he surrounded himself with foreigners, did not sleep after dinner, did not go to the bathhouse, was going to marry a Catholic woman on the eve of fast Friday. In such conditions, the boyars led by Shuisky organized new conspiracy, and this time a good one. As early as May 7, 1606, the crafty boyar at the royal wedding led the new Empress Marina Yurievna by the arm and delivered a welcoming speech on behalf of the Moscow nobility - and a few days later Otrepiev was killed. Eyewitnesses said that while the townspeople beat the Poles who had come in large numbers for the wedding (the conspirators raised the people with shouts: “the masters are slaughtering the Duma boyars!”), Prince Shuisky, at the head of a detachment of loyal people, burst into the Kremlin and ordered the nobles to seize the monarch's chambers by storm. In a lengthy speech, he urged them to finish what they started as soon as possible, otherwise, if they do not kill this "thief Grishka", he will order them to take their heads off.
This time, the old fox took the initiative, acted boldly and prudently - having destroyed the impostor, he took care of saving the lives of noble guests from the Commonwealth.
And - came out of the intrigue as a winner. On May 19, 1606, the boyar of Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky "shouted" the king at Cathedral Square crowd of Muscovites.
Governing body
Ascending the throne, Shuisky gave a "kissing record" - the first in Russian history legal obligation of the sovereign to his subjects. But the country remained split - dozens of cities and districts did not recognize the "boyar tsar": for them, "Dmitry" remained the "true" sovereign. They pinned so many hopes on the name of the young sovereign, Ivanov's son. To turn the tide, the new ruler had to prove himself, to captivate the crowd or to amaze it with truly royal grandeur. The late Grozny staged large-scale demonstrative executions - but he knew how to pardon and elevate loyal servants. Boris attracted servicemen by promising to give back his last shirt during the coronation. Vasily, alas, was devoid of charisma. And what is it like for a member of the ancient clan who personified the "old days" to act as a marketplace agitator or to give up the right to "lay disgraces"?
In quieter times, Shuisky, perhaps, would have sat on the throne and even - who knows? - would have won praise from historians, but in an era of severe crisis, it was not only resourcefulness and resilience that were required. In the struggle for power that began immediately, he could not even fulfill his own promises - he had to immediately, without any church court, remove from the pulpit Patriarch Ignatius, installed by False Dmitry ...
A new stage of the Troubles has begun - the civil war. The elderly owner of the Monomakh hat did everything he could: he replaced the unreliable governors, sent out letters exposing the "led thief and the Rosstriga." It seems that the old boyar really did not understand what was happening: how can people continue to believe in an impostor if there is irrefutable evidence of his origin and collusion with the Poles? If he is torn to pieces in Moscow in front of everyone? And the relics of the prince who died in Uglich were declared a miraculous shrine ...
Shuisky managed to gather troops and find money - the church authorities interested in maintaining order gave him considerable monastic funds. On the advice of Patriarch Hermogenes, general repentance and mass prayers were arranged, which were supposed to rally the nation around the church and the sovereign of All Russia Vasily Ivanovich. Last approved new law on the peasants on March 9, 1607: the period for detecting fugitives was increased by 10 years. Thus, he wanted to split the fragile alliance of men and nobles. Shuisky's people even lured the detachments of Lyapunov and Pashkov to his side ...
But the successes were ephemeral. Already in the summer of 1607, the second False Dmitry appeared - a mysterious person to this day. A very motley company gathered in his camp: local rebels expelled from Poland, hetmans Ruzhinsky and Sapega, who recognized the "resurrected" husband Marina Mnishek, Bolotnikov atamans Bezzubtsev and Zarutsky, boyars Saltykovs, Cherkasskys, Rostov Metropolitan Philaret Tsar Romanov (father of the future) Zaporozhye Cossacks and Tatars. Pskov and Rostov, Yaroslavl and Kostroma, Vologda and Galich, Vladimir went over to their side, the siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery began ...
Vasily just at this time decided to marry in order to continue the family line as soon as possible and leave an heir. In January 1608, his wedding took place with the young princess Maria Buinosova-Rostovskaya - the Pskov chronicler claims that the old tsar was passionately in love with his young wife and for her sake began to neglect business at such an inopportune moment. Already in May, government forces suffered a heavy defeat at Bolkhov, and Moscow was again under siege. Two full-fledged capitals were formed in the country - Moscow and the headquarters of False Dmitry II, the village of Tushino, - two governments and two patriarchs - Moscow Germogen and Tushinsky Filaret.
It is worth noting that in addition to the two False Dmitrys mentioned in the textbooks, at least 15 more impostors appeared in different parts of the country in those years: False Dmitry III and IV, other "children" and "grandchildren" of Grozny - "princes" Osinovik, Ivan-August, Lavrenty ... Such an abundance of "relatives" gave rise to competition: the "Tushino thief" alone hanged seven of his "nephews", "sons" of Tsar Fyodor - Clementius, Savely, Simeon, Vasily, Eroshka, Gavrilka and Martynka.
Famine began in Moscow. The people gathered in a crowd and “noisily” approached the Kremlin palace. The tsar patiently and humbly persuaded: be patient, do not surrender the city yet. But patience was running out. The next deserters who appeared in Tushino in September 1608 reported: "Shuisky has a deadline set before the Intercession, so that he can come to an agreement with" Lithuania "or leave the state for them." By the way, as can be seen from these testimonies, the Moscow boyars were not at all ripe for an autocrat in Vasily, but "the first among equals" and did not hesitate to set conditions for him. The same man sincerely tried to fulfill them - to come to an agreement with Poland as soon as possible and remove foreigners from the camp of False Dmitry II. He let the Polish ambassadors captured in Moscow go home and begged them to sign a peace treaty, according to which Sigismund III was to withdraw his subjects from the territory of Russia. But, of course, no one was going to carry out the agreement - neither the king, nor the supporters of the impostor. Direct negotiations with the "Tushins" ended fruitlessly as well.
The subjects had betrayed Tsar Vasily before; now they began to organize open riots. On February 17, 1609, the rebels led by Grigory Sunbulov, Prince Roman Gagarin and Timofey Gryazny demanded that the boyars overthrow Shuisky and dragged Patriarch Hermogenes to the square by force. Accusations poured into Vasily: that he was elected illegally by his "indulgers" without the consent of the "land", that Christian blood is shed for an unworthy and useless person, stupid, wicked, drunkard and fornicator. Nobles, as usual, fled to their homes, but the patriarch, against expectations, did not lose his presence of mind and stood up for the king. Then the monarch himself went out to the crowd to ask menacingly: “Why did you perjurers rush to me with such impudence? If you want to kill me, then I am ready, but you cannot bring me down from the throne without the boyars and the whole land. " The conspirators, who shuddered, acted simply - they went to Tushino.
To retain power, Shuisky made new concessions and tricks. As a reward for the "siege seat", he allowed the servicemen to transfer one-fifth of their estates to the patrimony, that is, to hereditary property. He skillfully waged a propaganda war - his letters accused the impostor and his "Lithuanian" army in the struggle against Orthodoxy: transform. " He pledged to forgive those who "hastily", "involuntarily" or out of ignorance kissed the cross to the one who called himself the name of Dmitry. He promised everyone who would support his struggle "for the entire Orthodox peasant faith" and "give help to thieves" a "great salary."
Other cities, having experienced the atrocities of the false Dmitry's fellows, followed the call, but this only exacerbated the split of the local noble communities and pitted the townspeople against each other. Even well-meaning people in these "submissive" points did not forget to remember the unlucky sovereign: he took over the throne with the help of his supporters and for this he suffers disaster. “Without the consent of the whole earth, he made himself king, and all people were embarrassed by this quick anointing of him ...” - the clerk Ivan Timofeev wrote later in his reflections on the Troubles ...
But now, in desperate attempts to save itself, the government in February 1609 concluded the Vyborg Treaty with Sweden: for the concession of the city of Korela with the suburbs, the Swedish king provided Moscow with a 10-thousandth detachment under the command of Colonel De la Gardie. With the help of these troops and the last loyal Russian forces, the tsar's nephew, the young voivode Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, successfully began to liberate the northern districts from the "Tushins". This, however, served as a pretext for direct intervention by the Polish Sigismund: in the fall of the same year, his army invaded Russian borders and laid siege to the most important fortress on the western border - Smolensk.
Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky - the last hope of Tsar Vasily and his best commander
But still, on March 12, 1610, Skopin-Shuisky's army solemnly entered Moscow. The impostor had to retreat from Tushin to the south. Residents greeted their liberator with joy. The Shuisky family had a historical chance ... But in April, at the feast of Prince Vorotynsky, the hero, 23-year-old Mikhail, felt unwell and died a few days later. On the suspicion of contemporaries and historians, he was poisoned by the wife of his other uncle Dmitry Ivanovich, who saw in him an obstacle on the way to the throne in the event of the death of the childless sovereign.
Of course, Skopin's death was a real blow to Vasily. On the eve of the decisive battles, he was left without a brave and successful commander. And it was not difficult to understand that it was impossible to put the incompetent and cowardly Dmitry at the head of the army, but ... in fact, on whom else could the tsar rely? After all, only the closest relatives were vitally interested in preserving the dynasty. So Shuisky made a fatal decision: the army under the command of his brother Dmitry moved to Smolensk.
On June 24, Hetman Stanislav Zholkevsky defeated her near the village of Klushina.
The commander fled, the foreign mercenaries easily went into the service of the king. The winners got the whole wagon train, artillery and the treasury collected for the payment of salaries. A few months later, the last allies left the camp of Vasily - the Crimean Tatars of Khan Bogadyr-Girey, whom he sent against the impostor to the south.
There were no forces left for resistance at all. Popular support has also dried up. In Moscow, at the Arbat Gate, a meeting of boyars, servicemen and townspeople took place, which finally decided "to the former sovereign ... Vasily Ivanovich of all Russia, and not to be in the sovereign's court and not to sit on the state." A crowd of noblemen and duma officials headed for the Kremlin. Prince Vorotynsky announced to Shuisky the decision: “The whole earth hits you with its forehead; leave your state for the sake of internecine strife, because they do not like you and do not want to serve you. "
After the overthrow
Boris Godunov died king. False Dmitry I, oddly enough, too. Vasily Shuisky was not even overthrown, but "put down" from the throne and sent first under house arrest in his own courtyard, and then - on July 19 - forcibly tonsured into a monk in the Chudov Monastery. A letter from the Boyar Duma sent out to the cities announced that he voluntarily agreed to leave the throne - like a retiring, fined official who received guarantees of immunity: ".
And then - the scope of the Troubles and the threat of the collapse of the state made people know to look for a way out. In February and August 1610, treaties were concluded with Sigismund III, according to which the prince Vladislav was invited to the Russian throne, subject to the following conditions: do not build catholic churches, not to appoint Poles to positions, to maintain the existing order (including serfdom) and change laws only with the approval of the Zemsky Sobor. In order to prevent False Dmitry from entering the capital, the boyars let the Polish garrison in there in September. The prince himself was in no hurry to go to Russia (no agreement was reached on his conversion to Orthodoxy), but his father finally took Smolensk and, on behalf of "Tsar Vladislav Zhigimontovich", began to distribute estates and provinces.
In the new political combination, a living, albeit former king Vasily turned out to be an extra figure. The involuntary monk was first sent to a more remote monastery, Joseph-Volokolamsk, and in October, when the Moscow embassy left to negotiate with the king, hetman Zholkevsky took him with him to the royal camp near Smolensk. From there he was transported "like a trophy" to Warsaw ...
Well, after the humiliating performance at the Diet, the prisoner and his brothers were imprisoned in the Gostyn castle above the Vistula. There, on September 12, 1612, the former Tsar and Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich died. Dmitry died two months later. The surviving youngest of the Shuisky, Ivan, began to serve Vladislav until he was released to Moscow. Several years later, he said that “instead of death, the most brilliant king gave him life,” which can be understood as an acknowledgment of the violent death of his elder brothers.
The former king was buried first in his prison, but then Sigismund ordered to transfer the remains of the Shuiskys to a specially built mausoleum in the Krakow suburb, and on a marble slab at the entrance they carved the name of ... the Polish king and a list of his victories over Russia: “how the Moscow army was defeated at Klushin, how the capital of Moscow was taken and Smolensk was returned ... how Vasily Shuisky, the Grand Duke of Moscow, and his brother, the chief voivode Demetrius, were taken prisoner by virtue of military law. But the Romanovs remembered their predecessor and wanted to reburial him at home. It succeeded after the Smolensk war of 1632-1634. Vladislav finally officially renounced the title of Moscow Tsar and allowed to transfer the ashes of the one who once bore this title to his homeland. In 1635, in all cities on the route of the funeral procession, honors were paid to the remains of the former sovereign, and then they found rest - finally eternal - in the royal tomb of the Kremlin's Archangel Cathedral.
Boyarin, prince. Russian Tsar. He was on the throne from May 19 (29), 1606 to July 17 (27), 1610. The only Russian tsar died in captivity in a foreign land.
Pedigree
Belonged to the ancient princely family, which was a Suzdal branch, which, in the opinion of most historians, ascended to Andrei Yaroslavich, the Grand Duke of Vladimir and his younger brother. Vasily Shuisky himself considered Alexander Nevsky and his third son, Prince Andrei Alexandrovich Gorodetsky, who also occupied the Vladimir grand-ducal table, to be his direct ancestors.
Father - boyar prince Ivan Andreevich Shuisky, prominent statesman and the voivode into the reign. Mother - Anna Fedorovna (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 the brides of Elena Mikhailovna, Princess Repnina-Obolenskaya and Maria Petrovna, Princess Buinosova-Rostovskaya, most likely, was determined by dynastic considerations. He did not leave offspring, two daughters from their second marriage died in infancy.
Court service
The service of the young prince at the court, which began in the 1570s, went on successfully, 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 the brothers. Nevertheless, in 1584 he already had the rank of boyar and was leading important court cases. Vasily Shuisky's career was promoted by the marriage of his younger brother Dmitry with Catherine, the daughter of the Duma nobleman Grigory Lukyanovich Malyuta Skuratov from the Belsky clan. Another daughter of this most influential guardsman was married to. Family ties did not weaken the constant struggle between the two influential boyars and the future tsars. Their confrontation, perhaps, remained the most remarkable feature of Vasily Shuisky in the Russian historical consciousness and was consolidated by A.S. Pushkin in the beginning of the tragedy "Boris Godunov", which begins with the prince's hard-hitting words about Boris shamelessly and criminally striving for tsarist power. The struggle for influence on the young and incapable of ruling Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1584-1598) was completely lost to Godunov by the Shuisky and Prince Vasily, being then a governor in Smolensk, fell, like his relatives, into exile. In 1587 he was accused of treason, of 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, events that were fateful for the country and for himself took place. On May 15, 1591, he died in Uglich, 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, by 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 the Tsarevich Nagikh, who had revolted against the royal servants. The official results of the "Uglich case" allowed Shuisky to return to the judicial and administrative elite, for example, as head of the Ryazan Judicial Order or as a voivode in Veliky Novgorod, but they hardly returned Godunov's full confidence. He even forbade the childless prince to marry a second time, so as not to produce competitors for the throne.
Troubles
Mistrust in Shuisky did not disappear even after the victory won over the impostor False World I at Dobrynichy 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 did not find out about this because of his death, which occurred on April 13, 1605. Recalled to Moscow to help the heir to Fyodor Borisovich, Shuisky not only went over to the side of the impostor in June 1605, but "recognized" him as the true tsarevich. He stated that the conclusions of the 1591 investigation were a forgery to please Godunov, but in fact he survived and now rightfully returned his father's throne. However, as a very informed and authoritative witness, he was dangerous and was sentenced to death penalty, which was canceled at the last moment and replaced with imprisonment. A few months later, Prince Vasily was returned to the court and even approached the impostor, whom he avenged even more cruelly than the Godunovs, spreading information about the death of the real tsarevich among Muscovites and the noble militia who were gathering for the war with Crimea, inciting them to revolt and together with others representatives of the nobility preparing a conspiracy. The mutiny and 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 before the rebellious 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, whenever possible, to forgive his sins, intrigues, perjury, first of all, before the church. This was often done publicly. To finally close the question of the Uglich tragedy, Shuisky for the third time radically changes the version of those events. The prince really died, according to him, in 1591, but not as a result of an accident, but was stabbed to death. Finally assure everyone of the violent and martyrdom Dmitry Ivanovich should have had his canonization and the acquisition of holy relics, which were solemnly transferred religious procession from Uglich to Moscow to the Archangel Cathedral to the Grand Duke and Tsar's tomb. Ceremonies and rituals within the framework of these celebrations were conducted by Filaret, Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl, who was boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov before his tonsure, and Metropolitan of Kazan, who was later glorified as a holy martyr. It was Hermogenes, with the support of the new tsar, who became the chief priest of the Russian Church on July 3, 1606, instead of the henchman Ignatius, who had been deposed from the patriarchal throne. In addition, Shuisky returned to Moscow the deposed under the impostor former first Russian patriarch to ask for forgiveness for breaking the oath of the kisses of the cross to Tsar Feodor Borisovich Godunov. As a sign of reconciliation with his unfortunate family, Shuisky, although he blamed his former rival for the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry, ordered the reburial with honors of the ashes of the former Tsar, his son and wife in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
In an effort to weaken the accusations of illegitimate coming to power without election, Shuisky gave a "kissing record". In it, he promised not to execute anyone without a court decision adopted by the tsar and the boyars; not to confiscate property from the relatives of the convicted, if they were not accomplices in the crimes; do not accept false denunciations and punish such informers; do not expose anyone to the royal disgrace without fault. This gave a basis for a number of historians to talk about one of the first attempts to legislatively limit the royal power. He also tried to streamline in the interests of the treasury, landowners and servicemen of their legal relationship with dependent people and slaves. Among the laws adopted was the Code of March 9, 1607, which recognized the peasants as serfs of those owners for whom they were recorded in the scribes of the early 1590s, and established the period for detecting fugitive peasants at 15 years.
Shuisky's attempts to reverse the political, moral and 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 assassinations of the holders of the supreme power and thereby encouraged violent methods of achieving goals, untied the hands of supporters of the most radical actions, freed from previous oaths and oaths, shattered the state apparatus and the armed forces of the state. Russia was more and more drawn into the Troubles - civil war... Shuisky's opponents again and again used the rumor about another miraculous salvation, under the slogan of returning to power all those who were dissatisfied or simply striving for quick profit gathered. In 1606, the largest anti-government uprising was the uprising led by Ivan Bolotnikov, during which the rebels laid siege to Moscow. Tsar Vasily had to personally lead his 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 king again personally set out on a campaign, which ended on October 10 with the surrender of Tula, the main stronghold of the rebellion. Shuisky promised to save the lives of the leaders of the uprising - Bolotnikov and Ileika Muromets, but, as had happened before, he 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 the new rebellion . Military detachments from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth joined the fugitive slaves and peasants, the mutinous Cossacks and servicemen of the south of Russia. 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 parallel authorities were created. From the power of Shuisky to the "Tushino thief" numerous cities, vast territories left, a considerable number of boyars and servicemen 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 concession of the city of Korela to Sweden with the district. In 1609, violence and robberies of the Polish-Lithuanian and Cossack detachments serving the impostor caused the inhabitants of the Zamoskovye cities and the Russian North to oppose him. At the same time, the army of Prince Skopin-Shuisky began a campaign to Moscow, which defeated the troops of the impostor in a number of battles 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 power of Tsar Vasily. 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 Grigorievna, at the instigation of her son-in-law and spouse, who feared the claims of the famous commander to the throne, whose heir was officially considered her husband Dmitry Shuisky as the brother of childless Vasily. This event dealt a strong blow to the prestige of the tsar and the fighting efficiency 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, summoning 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 the next coup d'état took place. In the capital, on July 17, 1610, a kind of open-air meeting was assembled, reminiscent of either an ancient veche, or an impromptu cathedral. It was held with the participation of the clergy, the Boyar Duma, the commanders of the noble detachments and military people who were in the city, the residents of the Moscow settlement. On it, a decision was made to depose the king, who was taken from the royal residence to his old boyar court and taken into custody. On July 19, Vasily Shuisky was forcibly tonsured into a monk and imprisoned in the Moscow Chudov Monastery. His wife was also tonsured and sent to Suzdal in 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 "Seven Boyars", in August 1610 signed an agreement on the election to the Russian throne of the Polish prince Vladislav (future king Vladislav IV Vaza). In September 1610, the boyars handed over Vasily Shuisky, along with 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. For his political and military mistakes, Vasily Shuisky had to pay with shame, which humiliated all of Russia and flattered the pride of its western neighbors. Together with his brothers and voivode Mikhail Borisovich Shein, the head of the heroic defense of Smolensk in 1609-1611, which ended only when the defenders stopped receiving any help from the rest of the country, he was forced to participate as living trophies in the ceremony of Zholkevsky's triumphal entry on October 29, 1611. to Warsaw. Then, in the royal palace, in the presence of all the Polish nobility, during a meeting of the Diet and in the presence of foreign ambassadors, he was forced to bow to Sigismund III and kiss his hand. Then the Shuisky were placed in custody in the 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. Only their brother Ivan was able to return to his homeland in 1620. 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 announcing 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 Polish-Lithuanian 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.
Boyar origin
Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky - the leader of the great princely family. His father, Ivan Andreevich Shuisky, died in the battle against the Swedes near the castle of Lode during the Livonian War. Ivan Andreevich himself took part in many military campaigns, at the age of 32 he became the head of the Moscow Court of Justice. By the end of the reign of Grozny, Shuisky held a high position and was one of the most influential boyars. However, at the insistence of Boris Godunov, in 1586, for reasons unclear by historians, the boyar was sent into exile in Galich.
By the 91st year, Shuisky returned to the capital. In the same year, he heads the investigation into the death of Tsarevich Dmitry, which occurred under very strange circumstances. Perhaps under pressure from Godunov, and perhaps by conspiracy, Vasily Shuisky makes a conclusion that the cause of death is an accident. Having shown such loyalty, he again took a place in the boyar duma.
Already during the reign of Godunov, the monk Grigory Otrepiev spread rumors that Tsarevich Dmitry survived, escaped and fled to Poland. The Polish ruler supported False Dmitry I, allocated funds in his favor for the army. Shuisky set off from Moscow to meet the false heir. In the battle of January 21 of the 5th year of the seventeenth century near Dobrynich, the Russian army under the command of V. Shuisky and F. Mstislavsky defeated the enemy army, turning False Dmitry to flight. The boyar did not pursue the enemy on the territory of Poland.
In the same year, Boris Godunov suddenly dies. The throne is occupied by his son, Fedor. Claiming the throne, Shuisky makes an attempt at state change, which ends in failure and the expulsion of the boyar and his family from Moscow. At the same time, False Dmitry is gathering a new army and attacking Russia. The people revolt against the power of Godunov, as a result of which Fyodor dies. The period of the impostor's rule is coming. He needs the support of the boyars and at the end of 1605 returns Shuisky to the city.
The reign of False Dmitry was short. Although he enjoyed the support of the common people, the ruler admitted the Poles to power, was going to convert to Catholicism, which caused popular unrest. Shuisky took advantage of the turmoil and announced that the existing Tsarevich Dmitry was nevertheless killed in Uglich on the orders of Boris Godunov, which means that an impostor is in power.
As a result of an armed coup carried out by the boyars on May 17, 06, False Dmitry was killed. The question of a new sovereign arose sharply. On May 19, the boyars bribed by Shuisky stage the Zemsky Sobor, where the boyar's supporters gathered in Red Square “shout out” him to the kingdom. One of the conditions that was put forward to the new ruler by the disgruntled boyars and those who considered their family more worthy was the adoption of a “kissing record” - a promise not to make important government decisions without the consent of the Boyar Duma. On June 1 of the same year, Vasily Shuisky became the Russian Tsar.
Period of reign
The state of the Russian kingdom in those years was extremely unfavorable:
The population of the western lands after the appearance of False Dmitry did not obey the authorities of Moscow;
The treasury was empty;
There had been a famine several years earlier;
Against the background of general devastation and the strengthening of serfdom, peasant uprisings broke out more and more often.
At the same time, the armies of the southern lands, who came to Moscow together with False Dmitry, did not want to swear allegiance to the new tsar. They went to Ryazan. The impostor's father-in-law, Yuri Mnishek, began to spread rumors that as a result of the coup, not the real Tsarevich Dmitry, but his double, died. Thus, it turned out that the true ruler was alive. This time, his role went to Mikhail Molchanov, whom historians call False Dmitry II.
Bolotnikov's uprising
The Poles made another attempt to take Moscow, already under the leadership of False Dmitry II. Ivan Bolotnikov, ataman of the Volga Cossacks, joined him. The general army of Poles and disgruntled Cossacks moved to Moscow. In the fall of 1606, the army approached the city. However, weakened by numerous losses and divided in half, Bolotnikov's army could not withstand the siege of Moscow, followed by a retreat to Kaluga.
Shuisky's army failed to take Kaluga. However, the storming of the city caused irreparable physical, material and moral damage to the enemy. Bolotnikov's rebels had to retreat to Tula to connect with reinforcements from False Dmitry II. During this period, another impostor appears - the son of Tsarevich Dmitry, Peter. His role was played by an ordinary servant Ileyka Muromets.
After the defeat at Kaluga, Shuisky summoned a new army and advanced to Tula. An army of rebels was sent to meet them, but he was defeated. The siege of Tula lasted for several months. The fortress reliably guarded the rebels, so it was decided to dam the Upa River and flood the city. The rebels, weakened by hunger and disease, had to surrender. On October 10, 1607, the fortress fell. The instigators of the uprising were captured and executed. Bolotnikov's uprising was suppressed.
Period of dual rule
At the same time, False Dmitry II, having gathered a new army, went to Moscow. Disgruntled peasants joined the army of the impostor, and the invaders did not face proper resistance. Thus, by August 07, False Dmitry II had conquered many cities in central Russia and set up camp in the village of Tushino, not far from Moscow.
Discontent with Shuisky's rule grew. The army of the impostor did not let the food convoys into the city. Hunger began in the capital. Several attempts were made to overthrow the king, but Shuysokmu managed to avoid death.
Diplomatic negotiations on the withdrawal of the impostor's army from the walls of Moscow did not lead to an unambiguous result. Therefore, in 1609, Shuisky had to turn for help to the Swedish king Charles IX for the provision of additional troops that would be kept by the Russian tsar. In return, Sweden demanded control over the territories of Pskov and Novgorod.
The united Russian-Swedish army, under the command of Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, who was the tsar's nephew, drove the Polish invaders out from under Kalyazin on August 28, 1609, liberating Moscow. The people fully supported and praised Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky. Therefore, when he died as a result of poisoning at a feast, according to rumors, the king was accused of this.
The Polish king Sigismund III saw a secret intent in the treaty with Sweden, with which Poland was at that time at war. On the Russian territory a huge polish army... The siege of Smolensk lasted for about a year, as a result of which national liberation movements began to emerge among the population.
To lead Russian army was entrusted to the king's brother, Dmitry Shuisky. However, cowardice and lack of military skills played against the young commander. Not far from the village of Klushino, located between Vyazma and Mozhaisk, Shuisky's army was completely defeated. The defeat at Klushino and the general unstable situation in the state led to the overthrow of the tsar.
Board results
On July 17, 1610, as a result of a coup, Vasily Shuisky was overthrown and tonsured a monk. At the same time, the former ruler refused to pronounce the words of the vows on his own. Already in September 1610, Shuisky and his brothers were extradited to the Polish ruler, to whom he was forced to swear allegiance.
The former ruler died in 1612 at the Gostyn Castle. His brother Dmitry survived him by only a few days. The third brother, Ivan, was subsequently given the opportunity to return to Russia.
The results of the reign of Vasily IV Ioannovich were destroyed cities and fortresses, complete economic and political devastation, the loss of significant territories. After the overthrow of the tsar, the Boyar Duma began to rule the country until the election of a new ruler at the Zemsky Sobor. Mikhail Romanov was elected the new tsar, who saved the state from the invaders.
A struggle for the vacated throne began between the boyars. The winner was the head of the conspiracy - 54-year-old Vasily Ivanovich Shuysky from a clan of Nizhny Novgorod princes who considered themselves descendants of Alexander Nevsky. These days he acted quickly, decisively and precisely. Not hoping to get the support of the Boyar Duma and not wanting to wait for the convocation of the Zemsky Sobor, the conspirators led by the prince on May 19, 1606 staged Zemsky Cathedral: gathered a crowd of their supporters on Red Square. It was they who proclaimed him king. Not daring to openly oppose Shuisky, who enjoyed the support of the Moscow townspeople, the boyars limited themselves to taking from him a "kissing cross" - an oath promise not to resolve important issues and not subject noble persons to harsh punishments without the consent of the Boyar Duma. The new king took an oath that he would rule in justice. The authoritative mi-tololite Hermogenes was elected patriarch. But this did not bring comfort to the country.
Thus, Prince Vasiliy Shuisky, from an old boyar family, was elected tsar "by Moscow alone," without advice from representatives of other lands of Russia.
Some boyars considered their family more deserving of pre-table; some of the nobles were dissatisfied with the rule of the "boyar tsar". Rumors about the "miraculous salvation" of Tsar Dmitry, who allegedly managed to escape, began to spread among the people. All those dissatisfied with Shuisky's rule supported these rumors.
The reign of Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610) became a difficult time in the history of Russia. But it was not the king himself who was to blame for this, but the circumstances in which he had to act. Shuisky is often portrayed as a complete insignificance, a demonic intriguer and power-hungry. Indeed, during his long life he had to lie a lot, cheat and twist. However, it is easy to see that in his moral qualities he was no worse than the previous tsars - the bloody Ivan the Terrible, the merciless Boris Godunov, the adventurer Grigory Ot-repyev. It is difficult to reproach him for cowardice: for the fight against Godunov, and then with Otrepiev, he twice fell into grave disgrace, and the second time he was forgiven only a minute before the execution. But even after that, he took a desperate risk, leading a new conspiracy against the impostor.
Domestic policy of Shuisky
The new Tsar, Vasily Shuisky, was an experienced man in state affairs. He sincerely wanted to calm Russia down, restore peace and order. Here his personal interests coincided with public ones. However, Shuisky, like Godunov, lacked the talent of a commander. And most importantly, he received a very heavy inheritance from his predecessors on the throne: an empty treasury, a turbulent society and a daring aristocracy. Finally, Vasily Shuisky was bound hand and foot by his obligations to the Moscow battle.
Paying tribute to the boyars, Shuisky did not forget about the lower layer of the ruling class - the nobility. It formed the backbone of the army. The fate of the ruler largely depended on the support of the nobles. A good gift for the nobles was the law on a 15-year period for the search for fugitive peasants, adopted in May 1607. At the same time, the so-called "fighting slaves" - armed servants who accompanied the nobles on campaigns, received a privilege. (Life has shown that it was they who were the first to go over to the side of the rebels.) From now on, the nobles were forbidden to turn free people who were hired to them as armed servants into disenfranchised slaves.
False Dmitry II
The first problem that Shuisky had to face was the disobedience of a significant part of the noble militia. These were mainly detachments from the southern and southwestern cities, summoned to Moscow by False Dmitry I shortly before the coup. Fondled by the impostor, the southerners did not want to swear allegiance to the boyar tsar. They left the capital and headed towards Ryazan. They were encouraged by rumors that on May 17, Tsar Dmitry's double was killed in Moscow, and he himself hid in Poland for a while. One of the main disseminators of these rumors was the father-in-law of False Dmitry I, Yuri Mnishek. The new authorities sent him together with his daughter Marina into exile in Yaroslavl. From there, however, he was able to send letters and messengers.
Yuri Mnishek helped a certain nobleman Mikhail Molchanov find a job in Sambir, who decided to take on the burden of the escaped Tsar Dmitry. This is how False Dmitry II appeared in the history of the Russian kingdom.
Bolotnikov's uprising
Soon Ivan Bolotnikov, the ataman of the Volga Cossacks, who had escaped from captivity, joined False Dmitry II. Molchanov appointed him the leader of the uprising against Tsar Vasily Shuisky, which in history received the name "Bolotnikov's uprising".
Bolotnikov's army with huge losses, divided into two parts, in the fall of 1606 reached the capital of the Russian kingdom - Moscow. However, after a long unsuccessful siege, the rebels were forced to retreat to Kaluga. Shuisky's troops, besieging Kaluga, failed, but inflicted considerable moral and physical damage on the rebels. Later, Bolotnikov's troops had to move to Tula, where they joined up with reinforcements from False Dmitry II. At the head of this reinforcement was another adventurer, who introduced himself as the son of Tsar Dmitry - Tsarevich Peter, who was nicknamed the False Peter in history. In fact, the imposter was the slave Ileyka Muromets.
Despite the failure at Kaluga, Vasily Shuisky quickly gathered a new army and personally led him to Tula. The rebels went out to meet the enemy, but were defeated near Kashira. The powerful stone Tula fortress became their last hope. The tsarist troops besieged it unsuccessfully for several months. In the end, one of Shuisky's warriors suggested damming up the Upu River, which flowed through Tula, and flooding the city. The rising water worsened the calamities of the besieged, who were already suffering from hunger and disease. They began negotiations with the tsarist governors.
On October 10, 1607, the rebels surrendered at the mercy of the victors. Vasily Shuisky promised to save their lives. However, the leaders of the rebels had to pay for everything they did with their lives. Iley-ka Muromets was soon hanged on the outskirts of Moscow. Bolotnikov was exiled far north, to Kargopol. There he was blinded, and then drowned in the Onega River.
Tushino camp
After the victory over the Bolotnikov uprising, False Dmitry II arrived in the country. It was no longer Mikhail Molchanov, but another impostor, who was found in Belarus forcibly forced to take part in the adventure, more similar in appearance to False Dmitry I. He, having collected huge army, settled near Moscow in the village of Tushino. It was from the moment of the formation of the Tushino camp in the Russian kingdom that the real dual power of Tsar Vasily Shuisky and False Dmitry II began. It lasted until 1610. Material from the site
Vasily Shuisky managed to retain power with great difficulty. False Dmitry II did not let the food carts into the capital. Muscovites suffered from hunger and wedged their helpless ruler. Several times the conspirators tried to prepare a coup, and only chance saved the king from death. The only support of Vasily Shuisky was his relative - the young boyar Mikhail Vasilievich Skopin-Shuisky.
In April 1610 Skopin-Shuisky died. It was rumored that the young voivode was poisoned at a feast by his envious relatives. Instead, the tsar's brother, a mediocre and cowardly prince, took command of all the Moscow forces. Dmitry Shuisky. In June 1610 he went out to meet the army of Sigismund and suffered a crushing defeat in the battle near the village of Klushina.
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