Disappointed with Shuysky, the Muscovites deposed him; and the conservative boyars, fearing the rule of “Dmitry,” whose supporters desired radical social changes, agreed (August 1610) to accept the compact already made between Sigismund and the boyars who had been at Tushino, named Władysław (son of the Polish king) tsar-elect, and welcomed Polish troops into Moscow. “Dmitry,” however, was killed by his own allies (December 1610), and Sigismund, changing his mind, demanded direct personal control of Russia and continued the Polish invasion (autumn 1610). This finally stimulated the Russians to rally and unite against the invader. The first resistance, an alliance—instigated by the patriarch Hermogen—between small landholders led by Prokopy Petrovich Lyapunov and some Cossacks, quickly disintegrated. But it was followed in October 1611 by a new movement, composed of landowners, Cossacks, and merchants. Prince Dmitry Mikhaylovich Pozharsky led the army, and the merchant Kuzma Minin handled the finances. The army advanced toward Moscow and, threatened by the approach of Polish reinforcements, attacked and captured the garrison (October 1612). The following year a widely representative zemsky sobor (“assembly of the land”) elected a new tsar, Michael Romanov, establishing the dynasty that ruled Russia for the next three centuries
Godunov, Boris
▪ tsar of Russia
born c. 1551
died April 13 [April 23, New Style], 1605, Moscow, Russia
Russian statesman who was chief adviser to Tsar Fyodor I (reigned 1584–98) and was himself elected tsar of Muscovy (reigning 1598–1605) after the extinction of the Rurik dynasty. His reign inaugurated the devastating Time of Troubles (Troubles, Time of) (1598–1613) in the Russian lands.
A member of the noble Tatar family Saburov-Godunov that had migrated to Muscovy in the 14th century, Boris Godunov began his career of service in the court of Ivan IV the Terrible (reigned 1533–84). After gaining Ivan's favour by marrying the daughter of a close associate of the tsar (1571), Godunov gave his sister Irina to be the bride of the tsarevich Fyodor (1580), was promoted to the rank of boyar (1580), and in 1584 was named by Ivan to be one of the guardians for the dim-witted Fyodor, who shortly afterward ascended the throne. A group of boyars who regarded Godunov as a usurper conspired to undermine his authority, but Godunov banished his opponents and became the virtual ruler of Russia.
Having complete control over Muscovy's foreign affairs, Godunov conducted successful military actions, promoted foreign trade, built numerous defensive towns and fortresses, recolonized Western Siberia, which had been slipping from Moscow's control, and arranged for the head of the Muscovite Church to be raised from the level of metropolitan to patriarch (1589). Domestically, Godunov promoted the interests of the service gentry.
When Fyodor died leaving no heirs (1598), a zemsky sobor (assembly of the land), dominated by the clergy and the service gentry, elected Boris Godunov successor to the throne (Feb. 17, 1598). Tsar Boris, proving himself to be an intelligent and capable ruler, undertook a series of benevolent policies, reforming the judicial system, sending students to be educated in western Europe, allowing Lutheran churches to be built in Russia, and, in order to gain power on the Baltic Sea, entering into negotiations for the acquisition of Livonia.
In an effort to reduce the power of the boyar families that opposed him, however, Boris banished the members of the Romanov family; he also instituted an extensive spy system and ruthlessly persecuted those whom he suspected of treason. These measures, however, only increased the boyars' animosity toward him, and, when his efforts to alleviate the suffering caused by famine (1601–03) and accompanying epidemics proved ineffective, popular dissatisfaction also mounted. Thus, when a pretender claiming to be Prince Dmitry (i.e., Tsar Fyodor's younger half brother who had actually died in 1591) led an army of Cossacks and Polish adventurers into southern Russia (October 1604), he gained substantial support. The Tsar's army impeded the false Dmitry's advance toward Moscow; but with Boris' sudden death, resistance broke down, and the country lapsed into a period of chaos characterized by swift and violent changes of regime, civil wars, foreign intervention, and social disorder (the Time of Troubles) that did not end until after Michael Romanov, son of Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, was elected tsar in 1613.
Vasily (IV) Shuysky
▪ tsar of Russia
original name Vasily Ivanovich, Knyaz (Prince) Shuysky, or Shuisky
born 1552
died Sept. 12, 1612, Gostynin, near Warsaw
boyar who became tsar (1606–10) during Russia's Time of Troubles.
A member of an aristocratic family descended from Rurik, the legendary founder of the dynasty that ruled Russia until 1598, Vasily Shuysky achieved prominence in 1591 when he conducted the investigation of the death of Dmitry Ivanovich, the brother and heir of Tsar Fyodor I (ruled Russia 1584–98) and determined that the nine-year-old child had killed himself with a knife while suffering an epileptic fit. In 1605, however, after Boris Godunov, Fyodor's chief adviser and his brother-in-law, had become tsar and a pretender claiming to be Prince Dmitry had appeared, Shuysky reversed himself and, declaring that Dmitry had escaped death in 1591, supported the pretender's claim to the throne. When Boris died in April 1605, Shuysky instigated a movement to murder Boris' son Fyodor II and swore allegiance to the first False Dmitry.
Shortly after Dmitry had been crowned, Shuysky reversed his position again and, accusing the new tsar of being an impostor, engaged in a plot to overthrow him. After a brief period of banishment, he organized a group of boyars opposed to the pretender, provoked a popular riot, and assassinated Dmitry. On May 29 (May 19, old style), 1606, Shuysky was named tsar of Russia.
Hoping to avoid challenges from future pretenders, Vasily ordered that the remains of Prince Dmitry be brought to Moscow and had the late tsarevich canonized (June 1606). He also proclaimed his intentions to rule justly and in accord with the boyar Duma (an advisory council). Nevertheless, opposition to his regime mounted. Although he succeeded in suppressing a rebellion of Cossacks, peasants, and gentry (October 1607), he was unable to prevent the second False Dmitry, who had gained support from Poles, anti-Shuysky boyars, and many of the defeated rebels, from establishing a court and government at Tushino that rivalled Vasily's (spring 1608). Only with aid obtained from Sweden was Vasily able to restore his control over northern Russia and force the pretender to withdraw from Tushino (January 1610). But Sweden's intervention provoked a Polish declaration of war against Vasily. When Moscow was threatened by a Polish advance, as well as by a renewed offensive of the second False Dmitry, the Muscovites rioted, and an assembly, consisting of both aristocratic and common elements, deposed Vasily (July 1610), who was forced to take monastic vows.