Biography before accession
Governing body
Marriages and children
In art
Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky(upon accession to the throne) (1552 - September 12, 1612) - Russian Tsar from 1606 to 1610. Son of Prince Ivan Andreevich Shuisky.
Biography before accession
Boyar and head of the Moscow Court Chamber since 1584. Rynda with a large saadak in the campaigns of 1574, 1576, 1577 and 1579. Voivode of the Great Regiment on a campaign to Serpukhov in the summer of 1581. Voivode of the Great Regiment on the campaign to Novgorod in July 1582 under his brother Andrei. Voivode of the regiment right hand on a campaign to Serpukhov in April 1583. Voivode of Smolensk in 1585-87. By unknown reasons was in short exile in 1586.
During the persecution of the Shuiskys by Godunov, he was in exile in Galich from 1587. In 1591, Godunov, no longer seeing danger in the Shuiskys, returned them to Moscow. Since then, the Shuiskys have generally behaved loyally.
In 1591 he led the investigation into the case of Tsarevich Dmitry. Being under the strict supervision of Godunov, Shuisky recognized the cause of the prince’s death as suicide, an accident. From the same year he was reintroduced to the Boyar Duma. After that he was the governor of Novgorod. The first governor of the regiment of the right hand in the army of Mstislavsky in the Crimean campaign to Serpukhov 1598
In January 1605 he was appointed commander of the right-hand regiment in the campaign against False Dmitry and won a victory in the battle of Dobrynichi. However, not really wanting Godunov to win, he allowed the impostor to gain strength through inaction.
After the fall of Godunov, he tried to carry out a coup, but was arrested and exiled along with his brothers. But False Dmitry needed boyar support, and at the end of 1605 the Shuiskys returned to Moscow.
During the popular uprising on May 17, 1606, False Dmitry I was killed, and on May 19, a group of Vasily Ivanovich’s adherents “called” Shuisky king. He was crowned on June 1 by Metropolitan Isidore of Novgorod.
Vasily Ivanovich gave a sign of the cross, which limited his power. In early June, the Shuisky government declared Boris Godunov the murderer of Tsarevich Dmitry.
Governing body
Shuisky's coming to power intensified the struggle among the boyars and between the southern and capital nobility, which led to an uprising under the leadership of I. Bolotnikov. In the fight against him, Shuisky put forward a program for the consolidation of all layers of the feudal class, taking into account their interests in politics on peasant (Code of March 9, 1607), serf (decrees 1607-1608), land and financial issues.
Individual concessions in the legislation on slaves were aimed at splitting the rebel camp. The unity of the feudal class by the spring of 1607 and the support of the largest cities of the Volga region and the north allowed Shuisky to crush the uprising in October 1607. But already in August 1607 it began new stage Polish intervention in Russia (False Dmitry II). After the defeat at Volkhov (May 1, 1608), Shuisky's government was besieged in Moscow. By the end of 1608, many regions of the country came under the rule of False Dmitry II. In February 1609, the Shuisky government concluded an agreement with Sweden, according to which it ceded part of Russian territory in exchange for hiring Swedish troops.
By the end of 1608, Shuisky did not control many regions of the country. The Vyborg Treaty of early 1609 promised territorial concessions to the Swedish crown in exchange for armed assistance to the tsarist government (see Delagardie's campaign). Prince M.V. Skopin-Shuisky took over command of the Russian-Swedish army. Many saw the young and energetic commander as the successor to the elderly and childless sovereign.
The defeat of Dmitry Shuisky's troops near Klushino from the army of Sigismund III on June 24, 1610 and the uprising in Moscow led to the fall of Shuisky. On July 17 (27), 1610, part of the boyars, the capital and provincial nobility, Vasily IV Ioannovich was overthrown from the throne and forcibly tonsured a monk, and he himself refused to pronounce monastic vows. In September 1610 he was handed over (not as a monk, but in lay clothes) to the Polish hetman Zolkiewski, who took him and his brothers Dmitry and Ivan in October to Smolensk, and later to Poland. In Warsaw, the Tsar and his brothers were presented as prisoners to King Sigismund.
Former king died in custody in Gostyninsky Castle, 130 versts from Warsaw, a few days later his brother Dmitry died there. The third brother, Ivan Ivanovich Shuisky, subsequently returned to Russia.
Marriages and children
- Princess Elena Mikhailovna Repnina (+1592); She is usually considered the daughter of the boyar Prince Mikhail Petrovich Repnin, but according to genealogical records he only had a son, Alexander.
- (from 1608) Princess Maria Petrovna Buinosova-Rostov (+1626), daughter of Prince Peter Ivanovich Buinosov-Rostov
- Princess Anna Vasilievna (1609 - died in infancy)
- Tsarevna Anastasia Vasilievna (1610 - died in infancy)
In art
Vasily Shuisky is one of the main characters Alexander Pushkin's tragedy "Boris Godunov". In the film of the same name based on it (directed by Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk), the role of Shuisky was played by Anatoly Romashin.
Vasily IV Ioannovich Shuisky
Years of life: 1552–1612
Years of reign: 1606-1610 (7th Tsar of Russia)
From the Shuisky dynasty , branches of the Grand Dukes of Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod, descendants of the prince. Prince, boyar and governor.
Son of Prince Ivan Andreevich Shuisky.
He spent his youth near Grozny: in 1580 he was the tsar's groomsman at his last wedding, and in 1581 - 1582. stood as a governor with regiments on the Oka, guarding the border.
Brief biography of Vasily Shuisky
Since 1584, he headed the Court of Justice, being a boyar.
He is also known to historians as a great commander. Voivode of the Great Regiment on the campaign to Serpukhov in the summer of 1581, on the campaign to Novgorod in July 1582, on the campaign to Serpukhov in April 1583. Voivode of Smolensk in 1585-1587.
For unknown reasons Vasily Shuisky in 1586 he was in exile. During the persecution of the Shuiskys by Godunov in 1587, he was exiled to Galich. And in 1591, Godunov, deciding that they would not harm him, returned them to the capital.
In 1591, Shuisky led the investigation into the case of Tsarevich Dmitry. Under pressure from Godunov, he recognized the cause of the Tsarevich’s death as an accident, suicide. From the same year, Vasily again entered the Boyar Duma and soon became the Novgorod governor. In 1598, he was the first commander of the regiment in Mstislavsky’s army in the Crimean campaign to Serpukhov.
From January 1605, he was appointed commander of the regiment of the right hand in the campaign against False Dmitry. However, not really wanting Godunov to win, he went over to the side of the impostor.
After he took the throne, Vasily Ivanovich announced that the conclusions of his commission regarding the death of Tsarevich Dmitry were incorrect, and the new tsar was the true son of Ivan the Terrible. But in June 1605, Vasily tried to carry out a coup against the impostor, was captured and condemned to death by False Dmitry I, but was soon pardoned and sent into exile with his brothers.
Needing boyar support, False Dmitry at the end of 1605 returned the Shuiskys to Moscow.
In 1606, Vasily organized a conspiracy against False Dmitry I, which ended with the Moscow popular uprising on May 17, 1606 and the death of the impostor.
Board of Vasily Shuisky
On May 19, 1606, a group of adherents “called out” Vasily Shuisky as king. He was crowned on June 1 by Metropolitan Isidore of Novgorod.
At the very beginning of his reign, confrontations between the capital's nobility and the boyars intensified (an uprising led by Bolotnikov). In 1607, with the support of large cities, he managed to stop the uprising, but in the summer of that year, Polish intervention in the Russian state began.
Bolotnikov's uprising The defeat of the troops of Dmitry Shuisky near Klushino on June 24, 1610 from the army of Sigismund III and the uprising in Moscow led to the fall Tsar Vasily Shuisky. On July 17 (27), 1610, part of the boyars Vasily IV Ioannovich Shuisky was overthrown from the throne and forcibly tonsured a monk.
In September 1610, he was handed over to the Polish hetman Zolkiewski, who took him and his brothers Dmitry and Ivan as prisoners to Poland to King Sigismund.
Vasily Ivanovich died in custody in Gostyninsky Castle in 
Poland. In 1635, his remains were reburied in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin.
He was married twice:
on Princess Elena Mikhailovna Repnina, daughter of the boyar Prince Mikhail Petrovich Repnin;
since 1608
on Princess Maria Petrovna Buinosova-Rostovskaya, daughter of Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Buinosov-Rostovsky, tonsured a nun in 1610;
- Princess Anna Vasilievna (1609 - died in infancy)
- Princess Anastasia Vasilievna (1610 - died in infancy)
Contemporaries and descendants accused Shuisky of many sins and offenses. He was stingy, stubborn, and resorted to magic. But meanwhile, one cannot help but admit that in the life of Vasily Ivanovich there were many moments when he showed true wisdom, courage and greatness of soul.
Boyar, 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
He belonged to an ancient princely family, which was a Suzdal branch, going back, according to most historians, to Andrei Yaroslavich, Grand Duke of Vladimir and younger brother. Vasily Shuisky himself considered Alexander Nevsky and his third son, Prince Andrei Alexandrovich Gorodetsky, who also occupied the Vladimir grand-ducal table, to be his direct ancestors.
Father - boyar Prince Ivan Andreevich Shuisky, prominent statesman and voivode during the reign. Mother - Anna Fedorovna (exact origin unknown). The brothers - Andrei, Dmitry, Ivan Pugovka - were boyars and held responsible administrative and military positions. He was married twice; the choice of brides Elena Mikhailovna, Princess Repnina-Obolenskaya and Maria Petrovna, Princess Buinosova-Rostovskaya, was most likely determined by dynastic considerations. He left no offspring; two daughters from his second marriage died in infancy.
Court service
The young prince's service at court, which began in the 1570s, was successful, despite the wary attitude of the formidable and suspicious tsar towards the nobility. In 1582/83, Prince Vasily was even arrested for a reason that remained unknown, but was soon released on bail to his brothers. However, in 1584 he already had the rank of boyar and conducted important court cases. Vasily Shuisky’s career was facilitated by the marriage of his younger brother Dmitry with Ekaterina, the daughter of the Duma nobleman Grigory Lukyanovich Malyuta Skuratov from the Belsky family. Another daughter of this most influential guardsman was married to. Family ties did not at all weaken the constant struggle between the two influential boyars and future kings. Their opposition, perhaps, remained the most remarkable feature of Vasily Shuisky in Russian historical consciousness and was enshrined by A.S. Pushkin in the beginning of the tragedy “Boris Godunov”, which begins with the prince’s impartial words about Boris shamelessly and criminally striving for royal power. The struggle for influence on the young and incapable of governing Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1584-1598) was completely lost by the Shuiskys to Godunov, and Prince Vasily, then the governor in Smolensk, ended up, like his relatives, in 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, fateful events for the country and for him 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 a nobleman who had recently been in disgrace, and also an experienced judicial official, would be accepted as fair and unbiased. Already on May 30, the commission finished its work in Uglich, and on June 2, it reported to the Boyar Duma its findings about the accident with the sick royal child and the insidious relatives of Tsarevich Nagikh, who rebelled against the royal servants. Official results The “Uglich case” allowed Shuisky to return to the judicial and administrative elite, for example, to the position of head of the Ryazan Court Order or governor in Veliky Novgorod, but they were unlikely to regain Godunov’s full trust. He even forbade the childless prince to marry a second time, so as not to create competitors for the throne.
Troubles
Distrust of Shuisky did not disappear even after the victory won over the impostor False Dmiriy I at Dobrynichi on January 21, 1605 by the royal army, where Prince Vasily was the second governor after Prince F.I. Mstislavsky. Godunov was right in his suspicions, although he himself no longer found out about it due to his death, which occurred on April 13, 1605. Recalled to Moscow to help the heir Fyodor Borisovich, Shuisky not only went over to the side of the impostor in June 1605, but “recognized” him as the true prince. He stated that the conclusions of the investigation in 1591 were a forgery to please Godunov, but in fact he remained alive and now rightfully returned his father’s throne. However, as a very informed and authoritative witness, he was dangerous and was sentenced to death penalty, which was canceled at the last minute and replaced with a prison sentence. A few months later, Prince Vasily was returned to the court and even brought closer to the impostor, on whom he took revenge even more cruelly than on Godunov, disseminating information about the death of the real prince among the Muscovites and the noble militia that was gathering for the war with the Crimea, inciting them to revolt and together with others representatives of the nobility are preparing a conspiracy. The rebellion 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 in front of the rebellious people at Lobnoye Mesto on Red Square. On June 1, he was crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. In his new capacity, Shuisky tried, if possible, to atone for his sins, intrigues, and perjuries, first of all, before the church. Often this was done publicly. To finally close the question of the Uglich tragedy, Shuisky radically changes the version of those events for the third time. The prince actually died, according to him, in 1591, but not as a result of an accident, but was stabbed to death. Finally convince everyone of the violent and martyrdom Dmitry Ivanovich was to have his canonization and the discovery of holy relics, which were solemnly transferred in a religious procession from Uglich to Moscow in Cathedral of the Archangel to the grand ducal and royal tomb. Ceremonies and rituals within the framework of these celebrations were performed by Filaret, Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl, who was the boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov before his tonsure, and Metropolitan of Kazan, later glorified as a hieromartyr. It was Hermogen, with the support of the new tsar, who became the high priest of the Russian church on July 3, 1606, instead of Ignatius, a protege, 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 forgiveness for violating the cross-kissing oath to Tsar Feodor Borisovich Godunov. As a sign of reconciliation with his unfortunate family, Shuisky, although he held his former rival responsible for the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry, ordered the ashes of the former tsar, his son and wife to be reburied with honors in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
In an effort to weaken the accusations of illegitimately coming to power without election, Shuisky gave a “kissing record.” In it, he promised not to execute anyone without a court decision made by the tsar and the boyars; not to confiscate property from relatives of convicted persons if they were not accomplices in crimes; do not accept false denunciations and punish such informers; do not subject anyone to royal disgrace without guilt. This gave rise to a number of historians talking about one of the first attempts to legislatively limit royal power. He also tried to streamline the treasury, landowners and service people in the interests of their legal relations with dependent people and slaves. Among passed laws There was a Code on March 9, 1607, which recognized the peasants as serfs of those owners for whom they were recorded in the scribe books of the early 1590s, and established the period for searching for fugitive peasants at 15 years.
Shuisky's attempts to change the political, moral and psychological situation in society in his favor were unsuccessful. In 1605-1606, two bloody coups followed one after another, which were accompanied by the murders of the holders of supreme power and thereby encouraged violent methods of achieving goals, freed the hands of supporters of the most radical actions, freed them from previous oaths and oaths, and undermined the state apparatus and the armed forces of the state. Russia was increasingly drawn into the Troubles - civil war. Shuisky's opponents again and again used the rumor about another miraculous salvation, under the slogans of whose return to power all those dissatisfied or simply seeking to make a 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 loyal troops into battle. After a successful battle on December 2, 1606, he managed to push the rebels away from the capital and force them to leave first to Kaluga and then to Tula. On May 21, 1607, the tsar again personally set out on a campaign, which ended on October 10 with the surrender of Tula, the main stronghold of the rebellion. Shuisky made a promise to save the lives of the leaders of the uprising - Bolotnikov and Ileika Muromets, but, as happened before, he did not consider it necessary to restrain him. The reprisal of the leaders of one uprising did not lead to the pacification of the country; another impostor stood at the head of a new uprising . Military detachments from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth joined the runaway serfs and peasants, the rebellious Cossacks and service people in 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. Numerous cities and vast territories went from under Shuisky’s rule to the “Tushino thief”; a considerable number of boyars and service people fled. Moscow was again under siege. The Tsar sent his nephew, the boyar prince, to Novgorod to ask for help from the Swedish king Charles IX in exchange for the cession of the city of Korela and its district to Sweden. In 1609, the violence and robberies of the Polish-Lithuanian and Cossack detachments serving the impostor caused the residents of Zamoskovnye cities and the Russian North to rebel against him. At the same time, the army of Prince Skopin-Shuisky began a march to Moscow, which defeated the impostor’s troops in a series of battles and entered Moscow on March 12, 1610, lifting the siege from the capital. A significant part of the country's cities and districts recognized the authority 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 husband, who feared the famous commander's claims to the throne, whose heir was officially considered her husband Dmitry Shuisky, as the brother of the childless Vasily. This event caused swipe by the prestige of the tsar and the combat effectiveness of the army at the moment when the Polish-Lithuanian intervention began.
Back in September 1609, the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Sigismund III crossed the Russian border and besieged Smolensk, calling upon the Polish-Lithuanian gentry, who had until that time 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. Polish-Lithuanian troops approached Moscow, but were not yet in a hurry to occupy the city, where another coup d'etat took place. In the capital on July 17, 1610, a kind of meeting was held under open air , reminiscent of either an ancient meeting or an improvised cathedral. It took place with the participation of the clergy, the Boyar Duma, commanders of noble detachments and military people who were in the city, residents of the Moscow suburb. At it, a decision was made to depose the tsar, who was taken from the royal residence to his old boyar courtyard and taken into custody. On July 19, Vasily Shuisky was forcibly tonsured a monk and imprisoned in the Moscow Chudov Monastery. His wife was also tonsured and sent to Suzdal to the Intercession Monastery. Shuisky's opponents, united against him, could not divide power among themselves and decided to give it to foreigners. The new government, formed from representatives of the boyars and nicknamed the “Seven Boyars,” concluded an agreement in August 1610 on the election of the Polish prince Vladislav (the future king Vladislav IV Vasa) to the Russian throne. In September 1610, the boyars handed over Vasily Shuisky, along with his brothers Dmitry and Ivan, to the commander of the Polish-Lithuanian army, Hetman Stanislav Zholkiewsky, for their removal from Moscow and placement in one of the monasteries. He, in violation of the preliminary agreement with the Duma, took the prisoners 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 stroked the pride of its Western neighbors. He, along with his brothers and voivode Mikhail Borisovich Shein, the leader of the heroic defense of Smolensk in 1609-1611, which only ceased when the defenders ceased to receive any help from the rest of the country, were forced to participate as living trophies in the ceremony of Zholkiewski'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 Shuiskys were placed in custody in a castle in the town of Gostynin in Mazovia, where Vasily died on September 12 (22), 1612, followed by Prince Dmitry five days later on September 17 (27). Only their brother Ivan was able to return to their homeland in 1620. The death of Vasily Shuisky itself was also used by the Polish authorities for propaganda purposes. The remains of him and his brother Dmitry were buried in Warsaw in a specially built tomb, called the “Moscow Chapel” (“Russian Chapel”), with inscriptions reporting on the Polish victories that led to the capture of the Moscow Tsar. The tsar's government perceived 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.
Shuisky entered the Kremlin as a winner. A fat man, bald, with a sparse beard, small furtive eyes, without pleasant courtesy and flattering, which fully corresponded to...
Klyuchevsky
Klyuchevsky is generally strange historical figure, and he often described things that didn't actually happen. For example, there is not a single portrait of Shuisky. Where Klyuchevsky got the idea about “thievish eyes” is unclear...
The people really did not like Shuisky. He really was an onion courtier, but any ruler should be like that, otherwise he would not retain power for a day. Especially in the midst of the Time of Troubles.
The beginning of Shuisky's reign
The circumstances of Shuisky's accession to the throne are unusual. The fact is that upon ascending the throne, Shuisky swore allegiance to his subjects for the first time in the history of Russia. He gave a “record” and sealed it with a kiss on the cross. It’s true that kissing the cross is a piece of cake for Shuisky, as he will prove more than once in the future. However, this was a new thing - the king gives a sign of the cross to the people in the person of the boyars, agreeing to limit his own power. Therefore, you need to clearly understand that Shuisky was a boyar king and the kissing of the cross is an attempt to turn personal autocracy into an oligarchic version of government. What is contained in the kissing cross record: promises to the boyars, nobles, merchants and all black people against extrajudicial disgraces and executions.
After the victory over Bolotnikov, it would seem that Vasily Shuisky could celebrate the victory, however, as they say, trouble came out of nowhere. A man appeared in Russia who called himself the saved Tsarevich Dmitry. This is how False Dmitry 2 appeared, who went to war against Moscow.
Tsar Vasily Shuisky against the Tushentsev
In fact, the country split into two parts. About 100 thousand people gathered in the Tushino camp. In fact, it was a bandit settlement. They brutally robbed the population, and they robbed not only around Moscow, but also went, for example, to Vologda, Yaroslavl and other cities. That is, there were gangs all over the country. And not only gangs of Poles and interventionists, as it is written in many textbooks, but also Cossacks and Russian people robbed and killed their own.
Shuisky could not do anything about it. He had no power or troops. The reign of Vasily Shuisky was very conditional. And then the cities began to take care of themselves. They began to create their own Zemstvo militias (something reminiscent of modern militias). These militias were especially strong in the north and northeast of the country. I have already told you more than once that parts of the North and North-East of Rus', which were very important in terms of trade and fishing, once went to Oprichnina. And even earlier, lip reform was successfully carried out there. What is lip reform? People began to organize themselves at their own expense. But only the rich could do this. These people have been accustomed to self-government for 50 years, for 2 generations. And naturally they began to organize to resist the bandits.
The rise of the Zemstvo movement began. But Shuisky was not happy about this. He didn’t like it, because in addition to the Tushinsky thief, the Zemstvo movement appeared, with which it was necessary to share power. And then Shuisky found nothing better than to turn to the Swedish King Charles 9.
Call for help from the Swedes
In February 1609, an agreement was signed in the city of Vyborg, according to which Sweden sent a detachment of 5,000 soldiers to the Russian Tsar, but these were not Swedes. They were mainly French, Germans and Scots. They were the main striking force of all mercenaries in Europe in the 17th century. When they talk about the Swedish intervention, it should be understood that only the commander was a Swede, and the army was mercenaries. There were 2 quite strong commanders in the army: Jacob Delagardie and Ecob Horn. For this help, Shuisky, in addition to paying army salaries, agreed to cede part of the territory to the Swedes, and, most importantly, allowed Swedish coins to circulate in Russia. These were very serious concessions. You need to understand that Vasily Shuisky’s reign as a tsar was very limited. And so much so that he actually became a traitor to Russia.
In the spring of 1609, a united European-Russian army moved from Novgorod against Tushintsy. The Russian army was commanded by a talented commander, 24-year-old Mikhail Vasilyevich Skopin-Shuisky. This was the nephew of the Tsar, who showed himself very well in battles with Bolotnikov’s army. They defeated the Tushins near Tver in 1609, after which the Swedes demanded immediate payment of money. Although, according to the terms of the agreement, they were supposed to receive the money only after the end of the war. Since there was no money, Shuisky tried to increase taxes, but did not collect the required amount. Then the Swedes abandoned Skopin-Shuisky and the army dispersed throughout Russia, starting to rob the population. Skopin-Shuisky continued on his way alone. Under these conditions, many began to wonder whether Skopin-Shuisky had been heralded to the Russian throne? But he rejected this idea. He did not want to sit on the throne, but at least, in that situation.
Polish interventions in events
Since the Swedes interfered with Russian events, and at that time Poland was fighting with them, Sigismund 3 took advantage of this to introduce Polish troops into Russian territory. On September 16, 1609, Sigismund besieged Smolensk. He planted the city for 21 months. The Smolensk people stubbornly resisted and held the siege. The enemy was able to occupy the city only after 21 months. The city fell only when the Smolensk residents blew up the powder tower out of despair, in order to harm the enemy as much as possible before surrendering.
Filaret and the clergy, Saltykov and the Tushino Duma at first did not know what to do, and then they decided to make a very clever move (at least it seemed so to them). They sent ambassadors to Sigismund 3 and asked to give Sigismund's son, Prince Vladislav, as king to Moscow. Please note that Filaret and the Moscow boyars are asking for a Polish prince to take the Russian throne. Meanwhile, Skopin-Shuisky continues his fighting, beats the enemy and in March 1610 solemnly enters Moscow. Once again, Muscovites are starting to say that this is exactly what a Russian Tsar should be like. Naturally, Vasily Shuisky did not like his nephew, but his brother, Dmitry, did not like him even more. In April 1610, at the baptismal feast of Prince Vorotynsky, Skopin-Shuisky was poisoned. Apparently, he was poisoned on Dmitry’s order, and the pharmacologist at that time was the son of John Dee, who acted in Rus' under the name Diev.
Skopin-Shuisky died. He was dying for 2 weeks. Dmitry Shuisky, the king's brother, was appointed the new commander. In a row, Dmitry Shuisky went to fight with the Poles. And at this time, the Polish army under the command of Hetman Zholtkevsky was moving towards Moscow. And although Dmitry Shuisky had twice as many troops, he was shamefully defeated, because the governor was weak. And Zholkiewski, inspired by success, began a march on Moscow. Having learned about this, False Dmitry 2, who was sitting in Kaluga, and who also began to move towards Moscow, was very happy.
End of reign
By the summer of 1610, Moscow finds itself in pincers. False Dmitry is moving from the south with the Russian lower classes and ragamuffins, and Hetman Zholkiewski is moving from the west with the Poles. And then a conspiracy was drawn up against Shuisky.
On July 17, 1610, the nobles, led by one of the Lipunov brothers Zakhar, with the active support of the townspeople, overthrew Vasily Shuisky and tonsured him as a monk, and then handed him over to the Poles with his brothers Dmitry and Ivan. The reign of Vasily Shuisky ended here. In captivity among the Poles, the Shuiskys experienced the most severe humiliation. At a meeting of the Sejm they were forced to their knees and forced to publicly ask for mercy from the Polish king. Physical and moral hardships undermined the Shuiskys’ health. In October 1612, Brothers Vasily and Dmitry die.
Boyar origin
Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky is the leader of the great princely family. His father, Ivan Andreevich Shuisky, died in the battle against the Swedes near Lode Castle during the Livonian War. Ivan Andreevich himself took part in many military campaigns, and at the age of 32 he became the head of the Moscow Court Chamber. By the end of Ivan the Terrible's reign, Shuisky occupied a high position and was one of the most influential boyars. However, at the insistence of Boris Godunov, in 1586, for reasons unclear to historians, the boyar went into exile in Galich.
By 1991, 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, or perhaps by conspiracy, Vasily Shuisky makes a conclusion that the cause of death is an accident. Having shown such loyalty, he again takes a place in the boyar Duma.
Already during the reign of Godunov, monk Grigory Otrepiev spread rumors that Tsarevich Dmitry survived, escaped and fled to Poland. The Polish ruler supported False Dmitry I and allocated funds for the army in his favor. Shuisky went from Moscow to meet the false heir. In the battle on January 21, 5 of the seventeenth century, near Dobrynichi, the Russian army under the command of V. Shuisky and F. Mstislavsky defeated the enemy army, putting False Dmitry to flight. The boyar did not pursue the enemy on Polish territory.
In the same year, Boris Godunov suddenly dies. The throne is occupied by his son, Fedor. Claiming the throne, Shuisky attempts state change, which ends in failure and the expulsion of the boyar and his family from Moscow. At the same time, False Dmitry gathers a new army and marches on Russia. The people rebel against Godunov's power, as a result of which Fyodor dies. The period of reign of the impostor begins. He needs the support of the boyars and at the end of 1605 he returns Shuisky to the city.
The reign of False Dmitry was short. Although he enjoyed the support of the common people, the ruler allowed the Poles to come to power and 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, 2006, False Dmitry was killed. The question of a new sovereign arose sharply. On May 19, the boyars bribed by Shuisky staged a Zemsky Sobor, at which the boyar’s supporters gathered on Red Square “shouted” him against the kingdom. One of the conditions that was put forward to the new ruler by dissatisfied 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 Russian Tsar.
Reign period
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 submit to the authority of Moscow;
The treasury was empty;
A few years before this, a famine had been experienced;
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, which came to Moscow along with False Dmitry, did not want to swear allegiance to the new king. They went to Ryazan. The impostor's father-in-law, Yuri Mnishek, began spreading rumors that as a result of the coup, it was not the real Tsarevich Dmitry who died, but his double. 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 capture Moscow, this time 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 towards Moscow. Already 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, after which a retreat followed to Kaluga.
Shuisky's army failed to take Kaluga. However, the assault on the city caused irreparable physical, material and moral damage to the enemy. Bolotnikov's rebels had to retreat to Tula to join reinforcements from False Dmitry II. During this period, another impostor appears - the son of Tsarevich Dmitry, Peter. His role was played by an ordinary slave Ileika Muromets.
After the defeat near Kaluga, Shuisky convened a new army and advanced to Tula. A rebel army was sent to meet them, but it was defeated. The siege of Tula lasted for several months. The fortress was reliably guarded by the rebels, so a decision was made 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.
Dual power period
At the same time, False Dmitry II gathered a new army and set off for Moscow. Dissatisfied peasants joined the impostor's army; there was no proper resistance to the invaders. 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.
Dissatisfaction with Shuisky's rule grew. The impostor's army did not allow food convoys into the city. Famine began in the capital. Several attempts were made to overthrow the king, but Shuisokm managed to avoid death.
Diplomatic negotiations on the withdrawal of the impostor's army from the walls of Moscow did not lead to a clear result. Therefore, in 1609, Shuisky had to turn to the Swedish king Charles IX for help to provide additional troops that would be supported 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, knocked out the Polish invaders from 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 blamed for this.
The Polish king Sigismund the Third saw secret intent in the treaty with Sweden, with which Poland was at war at that time. On Russian territory A huge Polish army advanced. The siege of Smolensk lasted about a year, as a result of which national liberation movements began to arise among the population.
Lead Russian army was entrusted to the tsar'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.
Results of the board
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 his vows on his own. Already in September 1610, Shuisky and his brothers were handed over to the Polish ruler, to whom he was forced to swear allegiance.
The former ruler died in 1612 in 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, and 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. Zemsky Sobor. Mikhail Romanov was elected as the new tsar, who saved the state from the interventionists.
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