The sacralization of power was reliably provided by the thesis about the tsar as God's anointed one. Therefore, the theoretical prerequisite for the emergence of imposture should have been a massive doubt that reigning monarch takes his throne by right. So, the “imposture” of the king became the reason for the appearance of a real impostor as a contender for the crown. Probably, it was the hesitations regarding the legitimacy of Boris Godunov's stay in power that gave rise to the figure of the first Russian impostor - False Dmitry I. Despite the fact that the new tsar was elected to the kingdom by the Zemsky Sobor and even twice refused such a high rank, however, the Godunov family was far from influential and noble (even despite the relationship with the previous tsar Fedor Ivanovich).

Probably, False Dmitry II was of Jewish origin and False Dmitry I

Therefore, the old Moscow family of the Romanovs had significant advantages in the hierarchy of succession to the throne. Not to mention the strange death of Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich, when suspicions of murder inevitably fell on the closest boyar and brother-in-law of the tsar. The defrocked monk Grigory Otrepiev, the future False Dmitry I, by his identification with the tragically deceased prince, actually opened the "Pandora's box" - after him the line of impostors is steadily growing.

Portrait of False Dmitry I

Those whom False Dmitry I trusted and brought closer to him most of all began to scold him after his death. Some of them even tried to gain confidence in the newly elected Tsar Vasily Shuisky. So, Prince Grigory Petrovich Shakhovskoy, an entourage of the first impostor, received the position of governor in Putivl - precisely in the city whose inhabitants were especially friendly to the appearance of False Dmitry, where his supporters still remained. Knowing all the circumstances of Shuisky's accession to the throne, Shakhovskoy convened a people's gathering in Putivl, at which he announced that instead of Dmitry (False Dmitry), another person had been killed in Moscow (“German”, that is, a certain foreigner, dumb - in the sense that he did not speak in Russian). The real king is alive and hiding in safe place waiting for an opportune moment to regain legitimate power. This legend was believed first by the inhabitants of Putivl, and then by the whole south of the country, which, it seemed, was just waiting for this: the townspeople (townspeople), archers, Cossacks, and peasants willingly joined the “army” of Shakhovsky and his comrade-in-arms, the Chernigov governor Prince Andrey Telyatevsky .

False Dmitry II declared himself tsar on pain of torture

The rapidly spreading rumor about the miraculous "resurrection" of Dmitry did not fail to take advantage of Poland, which was able to quickly materialize a new impostor - False Dmitry II. In this story, it is striking how soon the Muscovites who were present at the massacre of the corpse of the late tsar were able to forget these events and unconditionally believe in a fantastic salvation. According to N. M. Karamzin, the Russian people “had a love for the miraculous and a love for rebellions,” and the professional French mercenary of the Russian army, J. Margeret, wittily remarked that “the mob of Moscow was ready to change tsars weekly, in the hope of finding the best” .

Gavriil Nikitich Gorelov. "Bolotnikov's Rebellion"

Most of the questions and mysteries in the history of False Dmitry II are connected with the mystery of his real name. The first news of the appearance of the surviving king dates back to the winter of 1607, when an impostor was discovered in Lithuania, one of many others who pretended to be a royal person. Among the Terek Cossacks, Tsarevich Pyotr Fedorovich appeared (allegedly the son of Tsar Fedor, that is, the grandson of Ivan the Terrible), and Tsarevich Ivan-August (allegedly the son of Ivan the Terrible from his marriage to Anna Koltovskaya). The first of the above impostors looted in the south of Russia, and then joined the ranks of the army of Ivan Bolotnikov, and the second pretender to the throne successfully acted in the Lower Volga region, where he managed to capture Astrakhan. Following them, another "grandson" of Ivan IV, the "son" of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich, Lavrenty, appeared. In May 1607, False Dmitry II crossed the Russian-Polish border, approached Starodub with his army, where he was recognized by the locals. His army was gradually replenished with volunteers and mercenaries, and therefore in September he was able to move to the aid of False Peter and Bolotnikov.

The voivode of False Dmitry II, Prince Dmitry Mosalsky Humpbacked, “said with torture” that the impostor “from Moscow, from the Arbat from Zakonyushev, is the son of Mitka.” Another of his former associates, Afanasy Tsyplyatev, said during interrogation that "Tsarevich Dmitry is called Litvin, Ondrey Kurbsky is the son." The "Moscow chronicler" and the cellar of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Avraamy considered him to be from the family of the Starodub boyars, the Verevkins (they were among the first to recognize the legitimacy of the impostor). Polish chroniclers, contemporaries of those events, believed that the name of the tsar killed in 1606 was taken by the baptized Jew Bogdanko (or Bogdan Sutupov). He was a teacher in Shklov, and then moved to Mogilev, where he was in the service of a priest. For some misconduct, the Shklovsky teacher was threatened with prison - and just at that moment he was spotted by a participant in the campaign of False Dmitry I to Moscow, Pole M. Mekhovsky. It seemed to him that he outwardly resembled the deceased impostor. The well-known Russian historian of the Time of Troubles, R. G. Skrynnikov, relying on foreign sources, believed that False Dmitry II “understood the Hebrew language, read the Talmud, the books of the Rabbis, it was Sigismund who sent him, calling him Demetrius Tsarevich.”

Letter from False Dmitry II to the governor of Sandomierz Yuri Mnishek from Orel about his imminent ascension to Russian throne with the help of the Polish king Sigismund III. Signature - autograph of False Dmitry II, January 1608

Having reached Moscow with his motley army, False Dmitry II sets up camp in the village of Tushino, where his “headquarters” will be located in the future (hence the fixed nickname of the impostor - “Tushinsky thief”). Interesting in this regard is the fact that in the formation of the legitimacy of the new pretender to the throne, Patriarch Filaret, Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, played a significant role, whose support was invaluable for the impostor: Bogdan Shklovsky posed as the son of Ivan the Terrible, and Filaret was the nephew of this king - "relatives" were supposed to help each other. Judging by the descriptions of contemporaries of the events, the "thieves'" capital had a very unsightly appearance. The top of the hill was dotted with the tents of the Polish hussars. Among them stood a spacious log hut, which served as a "palace" for the impostor. Behind the "palace" were the dwellings of the Russian nobility. Simple people occupied vast suburbs, located at the foot of the hill. Hastily knocked together, thatched "sheds" stood here very closely, adjoining one to one, and the dwellings were packed to capacity with Cossacks, archers, serfs and other "mean" people.

The impostor was on a walk when Prince Urusov killed him

This is how the situation of political dual power was formed, which inevitably appears in the years civil war. In the words of Karamzin, "the people have already played kings, having learned that they can be elected and overthrown by his power or impudent self-will." Many of those who fled from Vasily Shuisky to the camp of his enemy, False Dmitry II, returned back again, to the point that relatives agreed among themselves who should go to Tushino and who should stay in Moscow in order to benefit both in one camp and in another. . Having received a salary in Moscow, they went to receive money in Tushino.

Sergei Miloradovich. Defense of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra from the troops of False Dmitry II in 1608-1610.

A very important aspect in the history of False Dmitry II is his relationship with the Polish king Sigismund III, who at first saw him as a means to weaken Shuisky and distract his own citizens and nobility from the internal affairs of the Commonwealth. However, in 1609 the position of the “Tushino thief” changed significantly: in his camp, they fearfully expected the arrival of the Russian-Swedish detachments of J.P. Delagardi and M.V. Skopin-Shuisky, who defeated the Tushino colonel Alexander Zborovsky in the summer. In fact, being trapped most of Polish mercenaries prefers to negotiate with his king Sigismund, which certainly undermined the authority of False Dmitry. In the summer of 1610, the army of the Polish hetman Stanislav Zolkiewski occupied Moscow, and he himself, at the suggestion of the Duma boyars, agreed to swear on the terms of the election of the son of Sigismund, Prince Vladislav, to the Russian throne. The Moscow boyars, tired of the devastating civil war, were interested in eliminating the impostor. They are the first to offer the generally indecisive Sigismund III a way out of the current ambiguous situation: the murder of False Dmitry II, to which the king, although not immediately, agrees.

FALSE DMITRY II(? -610, Kaluga) - an impostor, an adventurer, nicknamed the "Tushinsky thief", pretended to be the Russian Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich, allegedly survived in Uglich and then escaped during the uprising on May 17, 1606 in Moscow.

He first appeared in Starodub-Seversky in 1607, hoping that the troops of I.I. Bolotnikov would take Moscow, but he himself did not help him. In 1608, near Orel, he gathered an army from the Polish detachments of the princes A. Vishnevetsky and R. Ruzhinsky, the Cossacks of I.M. Zarutsky and the surviving peasants of Bolotnikov.

In 1607–1608, leaving Starodub, he defeated the troops of Vasily Shuisky near Bolkhov (Oryol land), approached Moscow. The cities of Kozelsk, Kaluga, Mozhaisk and Zvenigorod surrendered to him almost without a fight. The tsar's voevodas, guarding him on the Tver road, lost the battle to him on June 4, 1607, after which the impostor along the Volokolamsk road reached the village of Tushina and became a camp (which is why he was called the "Tushinsky thief"). He formed a government from the “Tushino peremyoty” who came over to his side - the princes Trubetskoy, A.Yu. Sitsky, Filaret Romanov, M.G. Saltykov. Hetman R. Ruzhinsky commanded the military forces, 10 elected from Polish mercenaries obeyed him. The main clashes with regular Russian troops (M.V. Skopin-Shuisky, Ivan Romanov) took place to the south-west of the capital.

In August 1608, the Poles arrived at False Dmitry II, led by E. Mnishk, whose daughter Marina (c. 1588–1614) not only “recognized” in him her “miraculously saved husband” (False Dmitry I), which strengthened the position of the new impostor, but and secretly married him. According to some data, she gave birth to his son Ivan, nicknamed "Vorenok" (1611-1614); according to others, the boy was the son of the Cossack ataman Zarutsky.

By the autumn of 1608, False Dmitry II controlled the territories to the east, north and northwest of Moscow. Everyone who was attracted by robbery and profit, unwillingness to obey anyone, was drawn to the impostor. This caused an increase in popular discontent, Galich, Kostroma, Vologda, Beloozero, Gorodets, Kashin departed from the impostor. The Polish invasion in the summer of 1609 completed the collapse of the "Tushino camp". Former adherents of the impostor went to King Sigismund III. False Dmitry II sent ambassadors to Poland asking for help, but received no support; Metropolitan Filaret, who was captured in Rostov (father of the future Russian Tsar Mikhail Romanov), who was named patriarch in Tushino, did not justify his hopes.

At the end of 1609 he fled to Kaluga, after the defeat of Shuisky's troops near Klushino in the summer of 1610 he tried to return to Moscow again, but unsuccessfully. Under pressure from the troops of M.V. Skopin-Shuisky, he retreated to Kaluga along the Old Kaluga Road, on December 11, 1610 he was killed by one of his accomplices.

Lev Pushkarev, Natalya Pushkareva

Probably many more school years I remember the phrase "Tushinsky thief." The fact that this nickname meant False Dmitry 2, most learned from the lessons of national history.

Biography of the impostor

Until now, neither the real name nor the origin of this mysterious person is known. There are only extremely cautious and practically unfounded assumptions about who False Dmitry 2 was in reality. The biography of the impostor is " White spot". According to one version, he was the son of a priest. Another source tells us that False Dmitry 2 had Jewish roots that go back to a rundown province, but there is no reliable information. Speaking briefly about such a person as False Dmitry 2, we can say with confidence: the adventurism that is inherent in any Russian person, as well as susceptibility to foreign influence, played a detrimental role in his fate.

An impostor appeared in the summer of 1607 in Starodub. His entire short life was spent in local skirmishes and wars. The strategy of False Dmitry 2 was based on the version that his predecessor had survived the uprising in Moscow. Despite his cunning, he was less fortunate. The reign of False Dmitry 2 did not take place, since he did not manage to get to the capital to be crowned. His main hope was on the troops of Ivan Bolotnikov. The impostor believed that they would help capture Moscow, but Bolotnikov could not provide significant assistance.

Politics

In the piggy bank of victories of False Dmitry 2, there were only local short-term triumphs. It is surprising that he was generally able to place even insignificant forces under his banners. He began his journey up the stairs to the goal with a trip to the Belarusian cities of Propoisk and Starodub. Having shown courage, the impostor introduced himself as Dimitri Ioannovich. In a short period of time, he managed to gain trust a large number people and gather soldiers from the treasury, as well as the rebels of Ivan Bolotnikov, into their entourage. Under the leadership of this dubious subject, the resulting group advanced towards Bryansk, and then to Tula. The first triumphs inspired the army. During the siege of the capital, half of the local nobility went over to False Dmitry 2, who claimed the Russian throne. Having defeated Vasily Shuisky, the impostor was defeated near Khimki on Presnya. Nevertheless, he managed to organize a camp in Tushino near Moscow. Here, a local community began to operate its own routines and orders. False Dmitry 2 controlled the territories north of Moscow, such large cities as Vladimir, Suzdal, and Rostov submitted to him. After capture last detachments They brought the captive Metropolitan Filaret Romanov to Tushino, where they proclaimed him patriarch. Significant support was provided by popular unrest, reinforced by dissatisfaction with the power of the boyars and Vasily Shuisky.

Strengthening the position

Meanwhile, in pursuit of power and easy money, in July 1608, Marina Mnishek arrived in Tushino, who was the official widow of False Dmitry 1. Under the terms of the armistice agreement with the Poles, she was released into the wild.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the woman recognized her husband in the “Tushinsky thief”, who allegedly escaped by a miracle. Of course, this fact once again confirmed the false status of the impostor in the eyes of others. Subsequently, the couple secretly married, and they had a son.

The power of the Polish interventionists

Anarchy was finally established in the country. The Poles divided and ruled in the Tushino court. It was in their hands that control was, they corrected the actions of their puppet: the policy of False Dmitry 2 was completely controlled by the Poles. Taking advantage of this, the Poles willingly robbed and ruined ordinary peasants. Endless robbery raids began to run into armed responses from the townspeople and peasants.

In the period from September 1608 to January 1610, detachments of Poland and Lithuania kept the Trinity-Sergius Monastery under siege. Despite the difficult situation, the defenders of the monastery managed to repel all enemy attacks and defend the shrine.

Polish invaders in 1609 made an attempt to capture Smolensk, but it was unsuccessful. It also failed to put its prince, Vladislav, on the Russian throne.

inglorious end

Thanks to the efforts of a remarkable military leader and an excellent strategist - Skopin-Shuisky M.V. plans of False Dmitry 2 were upset. In 1609, the Tushino camp finally disintegrated. The assembled rabble did not want to obey anyone, everyone just wanted easy money. False Dmitry 2 did not find another way out, how to flee to Kaluga. But even there he did not find salvation: death found the impostor in Kaluga region, where he was shot dead by his own serviceman - Urusov P.

Meanwhile, the fate of Ivan Bolotnikov, who supported False Dmitry 2, was no less sad. He was first blinded and then killed by a blow to the head with a club. The lifeless body of Bolotnikov was thrown into the hole.

Chronology

Thus, if we analyze the path that False Dmitry 2 went through, briefly, we can distinguish several main stages:

1607 - the appearance of an impostor who introduced himself as the surviving False Dmitry 1;

1608 - the formation of its own army from the remnants of troops of various stripes;

May 11, 1608 - the defeat of government troops under the leadership of Shuisky, the formation of the Tushino camp, the seizure of new lands;

1609 - the appearance in the camp of discord, the weakening of the position of False Dmitry 2;

1610 - the dissolution of the Tushino camp, the flight of False Dmitry 2 to Kaluga;

The location of the remains of False Dmitry 2 is not known, but there is an opinion that they are located in one of the Kaluga churches.

False Dmitry II, also Tushinsky or Kaluga thief(date and place of birth unknown - died on December 11 (21) of the year, Kaluga) - an impostor posing as the son of Ivan IV the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry and, accordingly, Tsar False Dmitry I, who allegedly survived by a miracle on May 17 (27) of the year. The real name and origin has not been established, although there are many versions. Before the announcement of his royal name in the Russian city of Starodub, a short time the impostor pretended to be Andrei Nagogoi, a never-existing relative of Tsar Dmitry. At the height of his influence, the impostor controlled a large part of the Russian kingdom, although he failed to take Moscow, which remained under the control of the administration of the official Tsar Vasily IV Shuisky. In Russian historiography (unlike False Dmitry I), False Dmitry II is usually not considered a tsar, since he did not control the Kremlin, although a significant part of Russia swore allegiance to him.

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Subtitles

Hopes and Rumors

Rumors about a “miraculous rescue” and the imminent return of the tsar began to circulate immediately after the death of False Dmitry I. The reason for this was the fact that the body of the impostor was brutally mutilated, and soon after being put to shame, it was covered with dirt and sewage. Muscovites, in fact, were divided into two camps - those who rejoiced at the fall of the impostor, recalled, among other things, his marriage to a "nasty Pole", and behavior that did not correspond much to the status of the Russian Tsar. In the depths of this group, rumors were born that a cross was found in the boot of the murdered man, on which the “defrocked” blasphemously stepped at every step, that animals and birds abhor the body, the earth does not accept it and rejects the fire. Such views were in the interests of the boyar elite, who overthrew the impostor, and therefore, among other things, to please the adherents of ancient splendor, the corpse of False Dmitry was taken to the village of Kotly and burned there; the ashes of the former king, mixed with gunpowder, were shot towards Poland, from where he came. On the same day, "hell" was burned to the ground - a funny fortress built by an impostor.

But there were more than enough adherents of the deposed tsar in Moscow, and among them stories immediately began to circulate that he managed to escape from the "dashing boyars." A certain nobleman, looking at the body, shouted that it was not Dmitry in front of him, and, whipping his horse, immediately rushed away. They recalled that the mask did not allow to see the face, and the hair and nails of the corpse turned out to be too long, despite the fact that the king cut his hair short shortly before the wedding. They assured that instead of the king his double was killed, later even the name was called - Peter Borkovsky. Konrad Bussow believed that these rumors were partly spread by the Poles, in particular, the former tsar's secretary Buchinsky openly stated that there was no noticeable sign on the body under the left breast, which he supposedly saw well when he washed with the tsar in the bath.

A week after the death of the “defrocked” in Moscow, “anonymous letters” appeared at night, allegedly written by the surviving tsar. A lot of leaflets were even nailed to the gates of the boyar houses, in them "Tsar Dmitry" announced that he " escaped murder and God himself saved him from traitors».

Circumstances of appearance

“The Jews were part of the retinue of the impostor and suffered during his deposition. According to some reports ... False Dmitry II was a cross from the Jews and served in the retinue of False Dmitry I "

Starodub camp

However, on initial period the number of Polish mercenaries in the army of False Dmitry II was not numerous and barely exceeded 1 thousand people. The Commonwealth was on the eve of a decisive battle between the supporters of Sigismund III and the rebellious gentry, and at that moment the Poles had no time for an impostor. Trying to attract as many service people as possible to his side, False Dmitry II confirmed all the previous awards and benefits of False Dmitry I to the Seversk destinies.

Tula campaign, siege of Bryansk

In 1607-1608, False Dmitry II issued a decree on serfs, giving them the lands of "traitors" boyars and even allowing them to forcefully marry boyar daughters. Thus, many serfs, having sworn allegiance to the impostor, received not only freedom, but also became nobles, while their masters in Moscow had to starve. Due to non-payment of salaries to Polish mercenaries, a coup took place in the military leadership of the rebel army, which was led by the Lithuanian prince Roman Rozhinsky. Hetman Mekhovetsky was removed and expelled from the camp, about 4 thousand Polish mercenaries left with him. Prince Roman Rozhinsky was proclaimed the new hetman of the impostor.

The number of the army of False Dmitry II in the Oryol camp was about 27 thousand people, of which there were about 5.6 thousand Polish mercenaries, 3 thousand Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, 5 thousand Don Cossacks, the rest were apparently archers, nobles, boyar children, fighting serfs and Tatars.

First Moscow campaign

In the spring, the rebel army moved from Orel to Moscow. In the Battle of Zaraisk, the detachment of Pan Alexander Lisovsky defeated the tsarist army. After that, Lisovsky's army occupied Mikhailov and Kolomna. In a two-day battle near Bolkhov on April 30 (May 10) - May 1 (11), Hetman Rozhinsky defeated Shuisky's army (led by the tsar's brothers, Dmitry and Ivan). The warriors who fled from the battlefield spread terrible rumors that "Tsar Dmitry" had an innumerable army. There were rumors in Moscow that Shuisky allegedly intended to surrender the capital because of numerous failures. The cities of Kozelsk, Kaluga and Zvenigorod solemnly opened their gates to False Dmitry II. Tula also swore allegiance to the impostor, who until recently kissed the cross to Tsar Vasily. Local nobles, fearing the decree on the lackeys of False Dmitry II, left the cities with their families and went to Moscow or Smolensk.

An eyewitness and writer of the Time of Troubles, Konrad Bussov, noted that if False Dmitry II, after the Bolkhov battle, had not hesitated to approach the capital, then the terrified Muscovites would have surrendered to him without a fight. However, the impostor hesitated, and this gave Vasily Shuisky a chance to strengthen his position in Moscow, as well as to prepare a new army, which was led by his nephew Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky. Prince Skopin hoped to defeat False Dmitry II on the nearest approaches to Moscow, but treason was discovered in his army - princes Ivan Katyrev, Yuri Trubetskoy and Ivan Troyekurov plotted in favor of the impostor. Mikhail was forced to return to the capital and arrest the conspirators there.

Meanwhile, the impostor's army captured Borisov and Mozhaisk. The tsar's voivodes, guarding False Dmitry II on the Tverskaya road, lost the battle to him, and in early June the impostor appeared near Moscow. On June 25 (July 5), a skirmish between the detachments of False Dmitry and the royal armies took place on Khodynka, the rebels won the battle, but they failed to take Moscow.

Tushino camp

In the summer of 1608, Tushino became the residence of False Dmitry. Hetman Rozhinsky and his captains hoped to starve the capital out. Their detachments tried to block all roads to Moscow and completely isolate the capital. But still, they failed to intercept all the roads, and on June 28 (July 8), in a fierce battle with Pan Lisovsky, government troops were able to recapture Kolomna.

False Dmitry II actually ruled Russia - he distributed land to the nobles, considered complaints, met foreign ambassadors. The official tsar, Vasily Shuisky, was locked up in Moscow and lost control of the country. To fight the Tushino “king”, Shuisky concluded an agreement with the ambassadors of King Sigismund III, according to which Poland was to recall all the Poles supporting False Dmitry, and oblige Marina Mnishek not to recognize False Dmitry II as her husband, and not to call herself the Russian sovereign. The Mnisheks gave their word that they would immediately leave the borders of Russia and promised to take all measures to end the civil war. Vasily IV equipped a detachment to escort them to the border. However, Hetman Rozhinsky and others refused to leave the work they had begun, moreover, the army of False Dmitry continued to be replenished with Poles, and in the fall Jan Sapieha came with his people, who rebelled against Sigismund III due to non-payment of salaries. In addition, the Tushinos tried twice to besiege Kolomna in order to completely block Moscow, but the tsarist detachment under the command of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky inflicted a severe defeat on the impostor's detachments.

Having learned that the Mnisheks were released from Yaroslavl to Poland in pursuance of the agreement, False Dmitry decided to recapture them from the accompanying tsarist army. This was done, but Marina did not want to join the camp of False Dmitry for a long time, remaining with Sapieha, and Yuri Mnishek agreed to recognize him as his son-in-law, only after receiving a record that the impostor, having received power, would give Yuri 30 thousand rubles. and Seversky Principality with 14 cities. Finally, the Mnisheks recognized the Tushino "thief". On September 1 (11), Hetman Sapieha brought them to Tushino, where Marina Mnishek "recognized" her late husband False Dmitry I in the new impostor and secretly married him. For them, a palace staff was created, modeled on Moscow. Jan Sapieha was recognized as the second hetman of False Dmitry II along with Rozhinsky. A division of spheres of influence was made between them. Hetman Rozhinsky remained in the Tushino camp and controlled the southern and western lands, and Hetman Sapieha, together with Pan Lisovsky, became a camp near the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and began to spread the power of "Tsar Dmitry" in Zamoskovie, Pomorie and Novgorod land.

Thus, a vast territory was under the rule of the Tushino king. In the north-west, Pskov and its suburbs, Velikie Luki, Ivangorod, Koporye, Gdov, Oreshek swore allegiance to the impostor. Severshchina and the south with Astrakhan still remained under the rule of False Dmitry II. In the east, the authority of the Tushino "thief" was recognized by Murom, Kasimov, Temnikov, Arzamas, Alatyr, Sviyazhsk, as well as many northeastern cities. In the central part, the impostor was supported by Suzdal, Uglich, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vladimir and many others. Of the major centers, only Smolensk, Veliky Novgorod, Pereslavl-Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan remained loyal to Vasily Shuisky. In Kostroma, the Polish detachments, which forced them to swear allegiance to False Dmitry, first destroyed the Epiphany-Anastasiin Monastery, and then occupied the Ipatiev Monastery that supported them, however, they were captured as a result of a successful assault on this monastery (it required undermining the walls, which was carried out by two suicide bombers). From Rostov, Metropolitan Filaret  (Romanov) was brought to the impostor, whom False Dmitry II elevated to patriarch.

There were two kings, two Boyar Dumas, as well as two patriarchs and two administrations in the state, in addition, the government of False Dmitry II minted its own coin, which differed from the Moscow one in increased weight. The catastrophe was not only political, but also moral: the words “flights”, “shifters” appeared, denoting those who easily and without remorse moved from one camp to another and back. New impostors also came here - the false princes August and Lavrenty, who voluntarily came to join the troops of False Dmitry II, and even at first they were hospitably received in Tushino. But soon the "king" ordered to hang these "relatives" for the reprisals against the boyars. At this time, one after another, new Cossack "princes" appeared, posing as the grandchildren of Ivan the Terrible, who robbed the south of Russia. In his manifestos, False Dmitry II was extremely dumbfounded by so many "relatives" and ordered them all to be executed. Thus, the Tushino "thief" executed seven more "nephews". Trying to attach free Cossacks to the royal service, the government of False Dmitry II created a Cossack order, which was headed by ataman and "Tushino boyar" Ivan Zarutsky. Ataman completely subordinated the Cossack freemen to "Tsar Dmitry" and Hetman Rozhinsky.

In September 1608, the siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery began. Moscow, however, did not give up, and in Tushino they had to build a whole city with a "royal" tower. At the same time, the impostor was losing real power more and more, in December 1608, a "commission of decemvirs", consisting of 10 Polish gentry, stood at the head of the camp. They established strict control over the income and expenses of the Tushino "thief", and also sharply limited the rights of the "thieves'" Duma, orders and district Tushino governors. On the territory subject to False Dmitry II, requisitioning in kind and money was carried out in favor of his troops, the distribution of land and serfs to his adherents, which contributed to the fall of the prestige of the impostor.

In Severshchina, the position of the impostor became much more difficult. In the decaying Tushino camp on February 4 (14), near Smolensk, the Tushino Patriarch Filaret and the boyars concluded an agreement with Sigismund III, according to which the son of the king, Vladislav Zhigimontovich, was to become the Russian Tsar; prerequisite was the adoption of Orthodoxy by the prince. Acting on behalf of Vladislav, Sigismund III generously granted the Tushians lands that did not belong to him. In April 1610, Polish detachments captured Starodub, Pochep, Chernihiv and Novgorod-Seversky, swearing the population of these cities to Vladislav. In early May, the inhabitants of Roslavl swore allegiance to the prince.

Meanwhile, the situation in Tushin itself was becoming critical. In the south, in Kaluga, troops loyal to False Dmitry II concentrated; in the north, near Dmitrov, Skopin-Shuisky and the Swedes were pressing, hardly restrained by the Tushins. In such circumstances, hetman Rozhinsky decided to retreat to Volokolamsk. On March 6 (16)  the army set fire to the Tushino camp and set out on a campaign. The siege of Moscow finally ended. Two days later, the hetman's army was in Voloka, where Rozhinsky died from "exhaustion." His detachment, left without a leader, finally dispersed. The troops of Hetman Sapieha, having visited the king near Smolensk and having achieved nothing from him, returned to the service of the impostor.

Second Moscow campaign

In the summer, a strong Polish-Lithuanian detachment of the crown hetman Zholkiewski moved towards Moscow, and the tsarist army under the command of Dmitry Shuisky, who came forward to meet them, was defeated in the battle near the village of Klushino. The military situation in Russia worsened from day to day. The power of Vasily IV became illusory. The inhabitants of the capital, gathered in large crowds under the windows of the palace, shouted to Shuisky: “You are not our sovereign!” The frightened king did not dare to appear in public.

Zolkievsky's army entered Vyazma and approached the Russian capital from the west. False Dmitry II hastened to Moscow from the south. His troops captured Serpukhov, Borovsk, Pafnutiev Monastery and reached Moscow itself. Supporters of the impostor offered the capital's population to depose Tsar Vasily Shuisky and promised to act the same way with his "king". After that, they declared, everyone will be able to jointly, with all the earth, choose a new sovereign and thereby put an end to the fratricidal war.

Part three

Moscow ruin

Chapter first

The death of the Kaluga "thief"

Among the supporters of the "thief" [False Dmitry II] was the Kasimov tsar. He stuck to him even during his parking near Tushin. When the "thief" was supposed to flee from near Moscow, the Kasimov tsar drove away from him, came to Zholkevsky and, together with the hetman, went to Smolensk. His son with his mother and grandmother stayed with the "thief" and went with him to Kaluga. Having lived for several weeks near Smolensk, the tsar yearned for his family and went to Kaluga, with the intention of distracting his son from the "thief". He himself liked the reception from the Poles. Arriving in Kaluga, the father pretended to be in front of the "thief" and showed the appearance that he was still devoted to him; but the son made friends with the "thief" sincerely and told him that his father was deceiving him and that in fact he had come solely to take his family, and then again go to the Poles. The "thief" invited the old man to go hunting with him, appointed a day. The "thief" rode forward across the Oka River and sent to ask the Kasimov tsar to go to him. The tsar left with two Tatars. The "thief" treated him kindly, then left his hounds away, took with him two friends, Mikhail Buturlin and Ignatius Mikhnev, and rode along the banks of the Oka. The king of Kasimov rode beside him; suddenly all three attack him, and the "thief" kills him with his own hand. The body was thrown into the Oka. Then the “thief” jumps in alarm to his other people and shouts: “Kasimov's king Urmamet wanted to kill me; I left him a little. He has now fled to Moscow. Run after him and catch him." People set off in pursuit, and, of course, they could not catch up with anyone. Since then, the “thief” has given the case the appearance that Urmamet had disappeared somewhere and it is not known where he is: but did those who together with him send the old man to the Oka let slip, or did people begin to guess by themselves - only Urmamet’s friend, baptized Tatar Pyotr Urusov reproached the "thief" in the face with the murder of the Kasimov tsar. The "thief" put him in jail and kept him there for six weeks. In early December, it happened that his Tatars had a skirmish with a detachment under the command of Chaplitsky, overcame and brought prisoners to Kaluga. This delighted the "thief". The Tatars were very fond of Urusov. It was necessary to do something for them in gratitude. Marina and the boyars begged to release Urusov. This man had been useful to him before. The "thief" made peace with him and caressed him.

On December 10, the "thief" went for a walk across the Oka River with a small squad of Russians and Tatars. Urusov was with him. The "thief" often took such walks: they were noisy and cheerful. Once sober, he now changed his way of life: he loved feasts and parties, he drank wine in large rasruhany. Noise, songs, cries of drunkards were often heard. The "thief" rode on a sleigh, stopped more than once, shouted for wine to be served to him, drank to the health of the Tatars. His escorts rode on horseback. Suddenly, Urusov, who was also riding behind the "thief", presses on his sleigh with his horse, and then hits him with a saber: on the other side of the sleigh, Urusov's younger brother immediately cut off the head of the "thief". The boyars raised the alarm; the Tatars drew their sabers on them. There were fewer boyars; they were frightened and shouted: have mercy, have mercy! According to some reports, the Tatars beat some of the Russians who were seeing off their tsar; according to others, on the contrary, Urusov did not order them to be touched. The Tatars undressed the body of the "thief" and left him in the snow, while they themselves fled with Urusov. Returning to Kaluga, the boyars informed the townspeople about the incident. Then it was already evening.

The whole city was outraged. “Beat all the Tatars,” the Kaluga residents shouted. Marina, who walked last days pregnancy, jumped out of the city, sat down with the boyars on a sleigh, raised the decapitated body of her husband in the field, and brought it to the city. At night, grabbing a torch, Marina ran bare-chested in the middle of the crowd, screaming, tearing her clothes and hair, and, noticing that the people of Kaluga did not take her grief too sensitively, she turned to the Don Cossacks, begging them for revenge. They were led by Zarutsky, who was not indifferent to Marina. He inspired his Cossacks; they attacked the Tatars whom they met in Kaluga, and killed up to two hundred people.

A few days later, Marina gave birth to a son, who was named Ivan. She demanded an oath to him as the rightful heir. Then Yan Sapieha, having learned that the one who bore the name of Dmitry was killed, approached Kaluga on the first day of Christmas and demanded surrender in the name of the king. Negotiations went on for three days, and on the fourth day, when Sapega once again sent his people for negotiations, the Kaluga residents made a sortie. The battle with Sapieha lasted until the evening. Sapega stood near Kaluga until December 31st. The Kaluga residents did not want to give up for anything.

Marina had a bad time. Only the Don people with Zarutsky were for her. Kaluga residents hated her, “she began to feel in captivity. She wrote a letter to Sapieha with the following content:

“For God's sake, deliver me; I won't be able to live in the world for two weeks. You are strong; deliver me, deliver me, deliver me: God will pay you!"

The answer of the people of Kaluga to Sapega was such that he already had nothing left to do near Kaluga: the people of Kaluga promised to kiss the cross to the one who would be king in Moscow, and Vladislav was recognized in Moscow. And Sapega retired from Kaluga to Przemysl. Re-thinking surrendered to him. After him, Odoev surrendered, and the elected representatives sent from there kissed Vladislav's cross in front of Sapieha.

The death of the "thief" made a turning point in a troubled era and was an event unfavorable for Sigismund, instead of being useful to him. The growing discontent against the king up to that time was twofold: some held on to his ready opponent, whoever he was; others, not wanting to obey the deceiver, thought to find or create another point of support against Polish claims. If the one whom many still called Dmitry was alive, then two camps would have stood against the Poles for a long time, hostile at the same time to one another. Now this rival was gone from Sigismund, and all those dissatisfied with Sigismund could unite together in harmony and amicably, inspired by one thought - to liberate the Russian land from foreigners.

The news of death named Dmitry not so soon dispersed to the distant countries of Russia: in Kazan, as early as January 1611, they armed themselves in his name against the Poles. Vyatka followed Kazan. And they did not want to obey the Poles. And there the name of Dmitry still served as a pretext, while other cities were already rising under a different banner. But as soon as they learned in Kazan and Vyatka that Dmitry was not in the world, then they became one with other cities there. In Moscow, the news of the death of the "thief" produced joy. The opponents of the Poles ceased to be afraid of Kaluga, from which they expected obstacles to the success of the efforts against the Poles; Dmitry's supporters lost hope in Kaluga and saw the need to look for it in Moscow. The people suddenly began to grow, felt their strength; neither the Poles, who rode victoriously through the streets of Moscow, nor the traitorous boyars, who peeped and eavesdropped on where the enmity towards the king lay, seemed fearless. They began to gather in houses, it was said that the king was deceiving the Muscovites - it remained for the whole Moscow land to stand together against the Polish and Lithuanian people and strengthen themselves so that the Polish and Lithuanian people would all leave the Moscow land.

The boyars, devoted to Sigismund, knowing the patriarch's dislike for the Polish cause, although they released him from guards, they advised Gonsevsky to look after him and warned that it was not calm in Moscow. Winter Christmas time has come, a noisy time in Moscow. Then people flocked to Moscow, as once to Jerusalem from Palestine, from the Russian lands for the holiday. Many residents of the cities had relatives in the capital, and they went to visit her in holidays ; others came to the end of the holidays to look at the rite of the Epiphany water blessing. It was a day when Russian residents of other towns had the opportunity to look at the tsar, at the patriarch, to see the whole court in its festive splendor. So it became a custom to come to the capital these days from everywhere, but this time there was neither the king nor the royal court, and, out of habit, a lot of people began to flock. The Poles began to be afraid of such crowds: they imagined that they would suddenly sound the alarm, as it was during the death of the “defrocked”, and Moscow people, both old and young, both big and small, would rush to beat them. On the walls and on the towers, guards constantly stood; in the cold of winter it was not fun to perform these duties, especially on such days when from childhood they were used to walking and feasting. But the matter is no longer about the belt, the Poles said, but about the whole skin. As soon as some kind of gathering gathers, or fresh people begin to pour into the city, the Poles will immediately get alarmed, sound the alarm, crowds run first in one direction or the other. Russian people came to the patriarch from different parts of the world. The patriarch blessed everyone to stand for the faith and for the Russian land, he told everyone: “You swore allegiance to the prince only to be baptized into the Russian faith, and if he is not baptized and the Lithuanian people do not leave the Muscovite state, then the prince is not our sovereign.” He wrote the same speeches in his letters and sent them out. One such letter, says a contemporary, was intercepted by some Pole Vashchinsky, sent with seven hundred horsemen to see what was happening in Russia. After that, the Poles gave the order that none of the inhabitants of Moscow should keep weapons, and those who had them were to take them to the tsar's treasury. Cab drivers were caught carrying grain bread, but long guns were found under the grain; probably, some of the inhabitants of Moscow, instead of delivering the weapons that they had preserved to the Poles, decided it was better to take them to another place where they could serve for the Russians against the Poles. Gonsevsky ordered to put these cab drivers under the ice. Then the patriarch was again hampered, the clerks and clerks were taken away from him, the paper was taken away to prevent him from writing letters, they also took the courtyard people so that there was no one to send with letters, but they did not look after him; he could not write, but he could still speak with Russian people. The inhabitants of Nizhny Novgorod came to him under the blessing, the son of the boyar Roman Pakhomov and the townsman Rodion Mokeev. He told them in words: “I can’t write: the Poles took everything, and they robbed my yard; and you, remembering God and the Most Pure Mother of God and the miracle workers of Moscow, stand together against our enemies.” When this news was brought by messengers to Nizhny Novgorod, a council was formed there; they invited the robes, and with them the Nizhny Novgorod people swore on the cross to stand for Moscow and go as a militia against the Poles and Lithuanian people. This decision was sent to Lyapunov.