If by the summer of 1606 Vasily Shuisky managed to consolidate power in Moscow, then on the outskirts the people continued to seethe. The political conflict associated with the struggle for the throne grew into a social one. Having lost all hope of improving their lives, the people again opposed the authorities. This time the performance took on the character of a Peasant War. He was the leader of the peasant uprising (1606-1607).

Fate Ivan Bolotnikov was very dramatic. At first he was a military servant of Prince Telyatevsky, from whom he fled to the Don Cossacks, where he was captured by the Crimean Tatars and then sold into slavery by a rower on a Turkish galley. When the German ships defeated the Turkish fleet, he ended up in Venice and from there, through Germany and Poland, he gets to Putivl. But he gets here not just as a former serf, but as governor of Tsar Dmitry! In Sambor I met Mikhail Molchanov, who looked like False Dmitry I, who allegedly escaped from Moscow by a miracle. From him Ivan Bolotnikov received a letter with the state seal, from which it followed that he was appointed governor of the king. The seal was stolen from Moscow by Molchanov. Together with the diploma he receives a fur coat, 60 ducats and a saber. With this parting word, he arrived in the Komaritskaya volost, which became his support. Here, in the area of ​​the city of Kromy, there were many Cossacks who once supported False Dmitry I because he freed this region from taxes for 10 years.

From there, with his detachment in the summer of 1606, he moved to Moscow. Along the way, peasants, townspeople, and even dissatisfied with the policy of the government, nobles and Cossacks, led by P. Lyapunov, G. Sumbulov and I. Pashkov, joined him. Associated with False Dmitry I, the governors of Putivl (Prince Shakhovsky) and Chernigov (Prince A. Telyatevsky) obeyed the “royal governor”. small squad Ivan a Bolotnikov but turned into a huge army, which defeated the government troops near Yelets, captured Kaluga, Serpukhov, Tula.

In October 1606, the siege of Moscow began, which lasted two months. For this moment Ivan a Bolotnikov and supported 70 cities. At the most decisive moment, the noble detachments went over to the side of the government troops of Vasily Shuisky, and the army of Ivan Bolotnikov was defeated. entrenched in Kaluga, which was besieged by the troops of Vasily Shuisky. Here, from the Terek along the Volga, detachments of “Tsarevich Peter” came to his aid - the serf Ilya Gorchakov or Ileyka Muromets. This helped Bolotnikov break out of the siege and retreat to Tula. For three months the siege of Tula was led by Vasily Shuisky himself. The Upa River was blocked by a dam, and the city was flooded. Vasily Shuisky promised the rebels to save their lives, and they opened the gates of Tula.

But Vasily Shuisky brutally cracked down on the rebels. I.I. Bolotnikov was blinded and then drowned in an ice hole in the city of Kargopol. Ileyka Muromets, an associate of Bolotnikov, was executed in Moscow.

Together with the Russians in the uprising Ivan Bolotnikov the peoples of the Volga region, which became part of Russia, took part.

The demands of the rebels are told by “charming letters” (sheets) that were distributed from the camp Ivan Bolotnikov. These are proclamations that called on the population to go over to the side of the rebels and “beat their boyars and their wives; seize their estates and estates. Also, the sheets promised the rebels boyar noble titles and other ranks.

The demands of the rebels were categorical, but, nevertheless, they were of a tsarist character. Naive monarchism, faith in a "good" king were the hallmarks of the ideal state system that the rebels saw. Such participants in the uprising as the Cossacks and the peasantry were for a return to the old, communal order.

Experts assess the popular uprisings at the beginning of the 17th century in different ways: some believe that they delayed the legal registration of serfdom for 50 years, while others believe that, on the contrary, they only accelerated it. Legally, serfdom was formalized by the Sudebnik of 1649.

The reasons for Bolotnikov's movement lie in the flaws with which Russia was overwhelmed. Ordinary people were dissatisfied with Tsar Vasily Shuisky and the boyars, whose power was great in the country. Undoubtedly, the main reasons for the movement of Ivan Bolotnikov lie in the gravity of the position of the peasants, who were ready at the first call to rise up to fight the tsar and the boyars. In addition, the reasons for Bolotnikov's movement lie in the system of succession to the throne, as well as in the absence of a legitimate ruler. In 1598, with the death of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, the Rurik dynasty ended. Boris Godunov, who illegally occupied the throne, was killed. His place was taken by False Dmitry and after Shuisky. But all this time there were popular unrest in the country. The reasons for Bolotnikov's movement are that the people were waiting for changes for the better and hopefully clutched at the illusion that Tsarevich Dmitry had survived. But you need to clearly understand that Bolotnikov was a man of the Pretender, therefore the routes of movement of False Dmitry 1 and Bolotnikov coincided almost completely.

Map of the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov

The future rebel was a serf of Prince Telyatevsky. Unlike other involuntary, Ivan was a military man. He accompanied the prince in all his campaigns. During one of these campaigns, Ivan was captured by the Tatars, who subsequently sold him to Turkey. There he became a slave rower. In one of the naval battles, he managed to escape to Venice. From there he went to the Commonwealth, where he met the closest associates of False Dmitry 1. The movement of Ivan Bolotnikov began in the autumn of 1606. It was the first major peasant revolution in Russia. The army of the leader of the rebels gathered in Putivl. This is a small town, which was located on the border of Poland and Russia. The course of the movement of Ivan Bolotnikov began precisely from Putivl. From there, his troops moved to Moscow. Initially, the movement of Ivan Bolotnik developed successfully. He managed to inflict a number of minor defeats on the army of the Russian Tsar, thereby clearing the way for himself to Moscow. In the course of the advance of the troops of the rebels deep into Russia, more and more new members joined him. There were peasants, involuntary, military, Cossacks, merchants - all those who were dissatisfied with Vasily Shuisky.

At the end of the autumn of 1606, the army approached Moscow and camped near Kolomenskoye. The siege of Moscow began. The movement of Ivan Bolotnikov was gaining momentum. More and more representatives of the revolution were drawn to his camp. The siege of Moscow lasted exactly 5 weeks. After which, in December 1606, a battle took place near Kolomensk. The tsarist troops inflicted a defeat on the rebels, forcing the troops to retreat to Kaluga. The course of Ivan Bolotnikov's movement acquired a new character. Now the rebels needed to defend themselves. Bolotnikov began to fortify the city, preparing for a new battle with the royal army. The uprising also developed actively in Tula. Vasily Shuisky, having borrowed money to pay the salary of the army, enlisted the support of the nobles, having made great concessions to them, he managed to put up a large army. The general battle took place in May 1607 near the village of Kashira. The movement of Ivan Bolotnikov was destroyed. The leader of the movement suffered a severe defeat, but resisted until October 10, 1607. The reason for the capitulation was the fact that famine began in Tula, where the troops were hiding. As a result, Ivan was sent to a monastery. Very soon the country learned that in the monastery Bolotnikov was first blinded and then killed. They say that he was drowned.

Reasons for the defeat of Bolotnikov

The reasons for Bolotnikov's defeat lie in Russia's unpreparedness for cardinal changes.. The Russians harbored hatred for the Poles, they did not harbor love for Tsar Shuisky, but there was no unity. The boyars, who had a great influence on the peasants, pursued their own benefits. The main reasons for the defeat of Bolotnikov lie in the episodic nature and small number of uprisings. The districts of Tula and Kaluga, of course, actively participated in the uprising. Neighboring cities also helped Bolotnikov in every possible way, but there was no mass character. The main part of the country did not participate in the uprising. In addition, most of the rebels were peasants. And they were opposed by the trained tsarist army. This is also the reason for the defeat of Bolotnikov in the uprising of 1606-1607.

Significance of the rebellion

We know Bolotnikov's program very little, but we are told that it was an anti-feudal uprising. But this is a controversial claim. Here is a quote from Patriarch Hermogenes about the rebels:

They tell boyar serfs to kill their boyars. And they and their families are promised estates, patrimonies and deaneries.

Patriarch Hermogenes

That is, we are not talking about an anti-feudal uprising, but about the fact that the rebels simply want to knock out the old boyars and sit in their place. They are not going to change the system. They want to take the place of the top, to get ownership of their property and their positions of power. That is why there were so many nobles in Bolotnikov's army.

To understand the above, answer for yourself a simple question - Why did the Russian people put together a lot of songs and legends about Razin and Pugachev, but absolutely does not mention or praise Ivan Bolotnik? After all, if Bolotnikov's movement is good and its reasons lie in the desire of the peasants to gain freedom, then they should have idolized their "leader". But the truth is that Bolotnikov never truly belonged to the peasants. He represented completely different interests.

Who was Ivan Bolotnikov?

What was the Bolotnikov uprising? Soviet historians considered this uprising the first peasant war in Russia. Indeed, there were a lot of peasants in Bolotnikov's army. But there were also many townspeople there. And most importantly - there were a lot of nobles. That is, this movement does not pull on a peasant war. This was typical of the era of civil wars and the Time of Troubles, when representatives of different social groups are fighting for a "place in the sun." Until they come to power, they are ready to support each other, and then, after the seizure of power, a split occurs. So it has always been and always will be. Therefore, the causes of Bolotnik's movement should be sought not in peasant discontent, but in the events of the Time of Troubles.

Who was Ivan Bolotnikov anyway? In fact, we know very little about him. In Soviet textbooks, they emphasize that he was a military servant of Prince Telyatevsky and paint his adventurous biography, which has no confirmation in any historical documents. The biography is as follows: he was captured by the Turkish, worked on the galleys. Then he fled and worked as a gondolier in Venice. Then he went through all of central Europe to the city of Sambre, where he met with the Pretender and became his agent in Russia. The latter is true, but about the gondolier, about the galleys and so on - it may be just a legend, but it may also be true. I emphasize once again - historians have no evidence. Bolotnikov was a fighting serf among the ruined nobles. Otherwise, Prince Andrei Telyatevsky would not have become his governor. Look what a thing, Prince Telyatevsky's fighting serf becomes the leader of the uprising, and his former master becomes his governor. That is, this means that, of course, Bolotnikov was a nobleman. With a commoner, Prince Telyatevsky would never have become a governor.

Despite the fact that the uprising was raised in the name of the Orthodox faith and the Russian land, the opinion remained in the popular mind that an unclean deed had been committed. Many in Moscow were for Demetrius, many took up arms at the news that the Poles were beating the tsar. Seeing now his mutilated corpse, they could not help but feel disappointed. Meanwhile, the conspirators began to think how, with the consent of the whole earth, to elect a new sovereign. It was also necessary to elect a patriarch, since the former patriarch Ignatius, a supporter of Demetrius, was removed from the throne on the same day.

On May 19, at 6 o'clock in the morning, merchants, peddlers, artisans gathered on Red Square. The boyars, court officials and clergy came out to the people and offered to elect a patriarch who was to head the provisional government and send out letters for a meeting of people from the cities. But at the suggestion of the boyars, the crowd shouted that the tsar was more needed than the patriarch, and the tsar should be Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky. No one dared to object to the crowd, which had just shown its strength by the murder of Dmitry, and Shuisky was not even elected, but, in the apt expression of a contemporary, shouted out to the kingdom.

Fulfilling the promise given to his comrades in the conspiracy, Shuisky kissed the cross in the Assumption Cathedral, that without a boyar court from now on he would not sentence anyone to death, that he would not take away estates and property from the relatives of the criminal, that he would not listen to denunciations, but would rule the country from the general council of the boyars. Letters were sent everywhere listing the crimes of the murdered Demetrius, however, for the most part expected rather than committed. They wrote about his secret promises to the king regarding the transfer of disputed lands, about the intention to introduce Catholicism, about the desire to kill all the boyars. On behalf of Tsaritsa Martha and Mikhail Nagogoi, a special letter was sent out, in which they directly renounced Dmitry and declared him an impostor.

On June 1, 1606, Shuisky was married to the kingdom without the slightest pomp, like a man entering into a secret marriage or ashamed of his insignificance. The new tsar was a little old man, 53 years old, very ugly, with half-sighted eyes, well-read, very intelligent and very stingy. Immediately after that, a new patriarch was enthroned - the former Kazan Metropolitan Hermogenes, known for his resistance to the non-Orthodox deeds of Dimitri.

Shuisky's first public action after accepting the tsar's dignity was to transport the body of Tsarevich Dimitri to Moscow. Metropolitan Filaret of Rostov and two Nagikhs, Grigory and Andrei, went with him to collect this body. On June 3, the relics of Demetrius were brought and exhibited in the Archangel Cathedral. Thus, the tsar, as it were, publicly made it clear that both the first Demetrius and all those who would come after him (the fact that Demetrius managed to escape was said in Moscow the very next day after the uprising) were nothing more than impostors. But this measure could no longer stop the beginning of unrest. Shuisky himself unwittingly contributed to its birth. He exiled Prince Grigory Petrovich Shakhovsky to Putivl for devotion to Demetrius. Shakhovskoy, having arrived in Putivl, gathered the inhabitants and announced to them that Tsar Dimitry was alive and hiding from his enemies. The Putivlians immediately rebelled against Shuisky, and other Seversk cities followed their example. Governor of Chernigov Andrei Telyatevsky also stuck to them. Unrest began in Moscow itself. One day, going to mass, Vasily saw a lot of people at the palace; the crowd was excited by the news that the king would speak to the people. Shuisky stopped and, weeping with annoyance, told the boyars around him that it was unnecessary for them to invent insidious means if they wanted to get rid of him, that, having elected him king, they could depose him if he was objectionable to them, and that he would leave the throne without resistance. Then, giving them the royal staff and hat, he continued: "If so, choose who you want." The boyars began to assure that they were faithful in their kissing of the cross. "So punish the guilty," said Shuisky. They persuaded the people to disperse. Five screamers were seized, whipped and exiled.

The capital calmed down for a while, but in Ukraine events were spinning in earnest. There has never been a shortage of daring and courageous people. Now there are even more of them. The troops gathered near Yelets elected Istoma Pashkov as their leader and swore every single one to stand for the legitimate Tsar Demetrius. At the same time, Ivan Bolotnikov appeared from Poland and announced that he had seen the escaped Demetrius abroad, and that he had instructed him to lead the uprising. Shakhovskoy gave him command over the army. Bolotnikov soon proved that he was not mistaken.

Bolotnikov Ivan Isaevich - a rebel from the time of Shuisky. He was the serf of Prince Telyatevsky, as a child he was captured by the Tatars, was sold to the Turks, worked in chains on Turkish galleys and was released among other captives, according to some reports, by the Venetians, according to others by the Germans, and after his release he was brought to Venice. Here he stayed for some time and decided to return to his fatherland through Poland. Passing through it, he heard about the stay of Tsarevich Dimitri in Sambor, appeared to him and, as a quick-witted and enterprising person, was the last to be sent with a letter to the Putivl governor, Prince Shakhovsky.

With a detachment of 1,300 Cossacks, Bolotnikov came to Kromy and utterly defeated the 5,000th tsarist detachment. Since that time, his name has become widely known and many military people began to flock to his banner. Bolotnikov's letters produced a mutiny that engulfed the Moscow land like a fire. In Venev, Tula, Kashira, Aleksin, Kaluga, Ruza, Mozhaisk, Orel, Dorogobuzh, Zubtsovo, Rzhev, Staritsa, they kissed the cross of Dimitri. The nobles of the Lyapunovs raised the whole Ryazan land in the name of Dimitri. Vladimir was indignant with the whole earth. In many Volga cities and distant Astrakhan, Demetrius was proclaimed king. Of the major cities, only Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Veliky Novgorod and Pskov remained loyal to the Muscovite tsar. And from the outlying cities, Smolensk showed a strong zeal for Shuisky. Its inhabitants did not like the Poles and did not expect anything good from the king, planted by them.

In the autumn of 1606, Bolotnikov set off on a campaign against Moscow. Cities surrendered to him one by one. On December 2, he was already in the village of Kolomenskoye. Fortunately for Shuisky, there was a split in Bolotnikov's army. The nobles and children of the boyars, dissatisfied with the fact that serfs and peasants want to be equal to them, while not seeing Dimitri, who could resolve disputes between them, began to be convinced that Bolotnikov was deceiving them, and began to retreat from him. The Lyapunov brothers were the first to set an example of this, they arrived in Moscow and bowed to Shuisky, although they could not stand him. Bolotnikov was defeated by the young prince Mikhail Vasilyevich Skopin-Shuisky, went to Kaluga.

Having got rid of the siege, Shuisky, on the advice of Patriarch Hermogenes, invited the former Patriarch Job to Moscow. He arrived in February 1607, forgave and released all Orthodox Christians from the oath he had taken for violating the kiss on the cross to Boris. Even earlier, the coffins with the bodies of the Godunovs were transported to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and buried there. By these actions, the king wanted to come to terms with the past and thereby give his power more legitimacy. But with the onset of summer, Bolotnikov's forces again began to increase with the arrival of the Cossacks. A new impostor appeared, a native of Murom, the illegitimate son of the "townsman's wife" Ileyka, who had previously walked along the Volga with barge haulers. He called himself Tsarevich Peter, the unprecedented son of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. Upon learning that Peter's army was marching towards Kaluga, Prince Mstislavsky, who was besieging Bolotnikov here, retreated. Bolotnikov went to Tula and connected with Peter. Then Shuisky took drastic measures: strict orders were sent to the service people to gather from everywhere, the monastic and church estates were also supposed to put up warriors, and thus up to 100,000 people gathered, whom the tsar decided to lead himself.

On June 5, 1607, on the Vosma River, he met a united rebel army. A stubborn battle went on all day, and Shuisky won. According to some reports, the matter was decided by the fact that Prince Telyatevsky, with 4,000 associates, went over to the side of the tsar. Shakhovskoy, Bolotnikov and Tsarevich Peter retreated to Tula, and Shuisky began a siege. The besieged twice sent a messenger to Poland, to friends of Mnishek, so that they would try to immediately send some False Dmitry. But the impostor found himself.

Time of Troubles in Russia

By the end of the 16th century, the Muscovite state was going through a difficult time. Constant raids of the Crimean Tatars and the defeat of Moscow in 1571. ; the protracted Livonian War, which lasted 25 years: from 1558 to 1583, exhausted the country's forces and ended in defeat; the so-called oprichnina “busts” and robberies under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, which shook and shook the old way of life and habitual relationships, intensifying the general discord and demoralization; constant crop failures and epidemics. All this eventually led the state to a serious crisis.

Ivan IV the Terrible

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE TIME OF TROUBLES IN RUSSIA

CRISIS OF POWER AND PRINCE-BOYAR OPPOSITION

In the last days of his life, Ivan the Terrible created a regency council, which included the boyars. The council was created in order to govern the state on behalf of his son, Tsar Fedor, who was unable to do it on his own.

Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich

Thus, a powerful group was formed at the court, headed by the influential Boris Godunov, who gradually eliminated his rivals.

Boris Fyodorovich Godunov

Godunov's government continued the political line of Ivan the Terrible, aimed at further strengthening the royal power and strengthening the position of the nobility. Measures were taken to restore the landlord economy. The arable lands of service feudal lords were exempted from state taxes and duties. The official duties of the noble landowners were facilitated. These actions contributed to the strengthening of the government base, which was necessary in connection with the continued resistance of the feudal estates.

A great danger to the power of Boris Godunov was represented by the boyars Nagiye, relatives of the infant Tsarevich Dmitry, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible. Dmitry was expelled from Moscow to Uglich, which was declared his lot. Uglich soon turned into an opposition center. The boyars were waiting for the death of Tsar Fedor in order to push Godunov out of power and rule on behalf of the young prince. However, in 1591, Tsarevich Dmitry died under mysterious circumstances.

Tsarevich Dmitry Ioanovich

The commission of inquiry, led by the boyar Vasily Shuisky, concluded that it was an accident. But the opposition began to vigorously spread rumors about a deliberate murder on the orders of the ruler. Later, a version appeared that another boy was killed, and the prince escaped and is waiting for adulthood in order to return and punish the “villain”. The “Uglitsky case” has long remained a mystery to Russian historians, but recent research suggests that an accident really happened.

In 1598, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich died without leaving an heir. Moscow swore allegiance to his wife, Tsarina Irina, but Irina renounced the throne and became a monk.

While the sovereigns of the old familiar dynasty (direct descendants of Rurik and Vladimir the Holy) were on the Moscow throne, the vast majority of the population unquestioningly obeyed their “natural sovereigns”. But when the dynasties ceased, the state turned out to be “no one's”. The upper layer of the Moscow population, the boyars, began a struggle for power in a country that had become “stateless”.

However, the attempts of the aristocracy to nominate the king from their midst failed. Positions of Boris Godunov were strong enough. He was supported by the Orthodox Church, the Moscow archers, the bureaucracy, part of the boyars, nominated by him to important positions. In addition, Godunov's rivals were weakened by internal struggles.

In 1598, at the Zemsky Sobor, Boris Godunov, after a double public refusal, was elected tsar.

election of Boris Godunov to the kingdom

His first steps were very cautious and aimed mainly at softening the internal situation in the country. According to contemporaries, the new tsar was a major statesman, strong-willed and far-sighted, and a skilled diplomat. However, latent processes were going on in the country, which led to a political crisis.

PUBLIC DISORT

A difficult situation during this period developed in the central districts of the state and to such an extent that the population fled to the outskirts, abandoning their lands. (For example, in 1584, only 16% of the land was plowed up in the Moscow district, and about 8% in the neighboring Pskov district).

The more people left, the harder the government of Boris Godunov put pressure on those who remained. By 1592, the compilation of scribe books was completed, where the names of peasants and townspeople, owners of yards were entered. The authorities, having conducted a census, could organize the search and return of the fugitives. In 1592 - 1593, a royal decree was issued to abolish the peasant exit even on St. George's Day (reserved years). This measure extended not only to the owner's peasants, but also to the state, as well as to the townspeople. In 1597, two more decrees appeared, according to the first, any free person (free servant, worker), who worked for six months for the landowner, turned into a bonded serf and had no right to redeem himself for freedom. According to the second, a five-year period was set for the search and return of the runaway peasant to the owner. And in 1607, a fifteen-year investigation of the fugitives was approved.

Yuriev day

The nobles were given "obedient letters", according to which the peasants had to pay dues not as before (according to the established rules and sizes), but as the owner wants.

The new “township structure” provided for the return of fugitive “taxers” to the cities, the assignment to the townships of the owner’s peasants who were engaged in crafts and trade in the cities, but did not pay taxes, the elimination of courtyards and settlements inside the cities, which also did not pay taxes.

Thus, it can be argued that at the end of the 16th century, a state system of serfdom, the most complete dependence under feudalism, actually took shape in Russia.

Such a policy caused great dissatisfaction among the peasantry, which at that time formed the overwhelming majority in Russia. Periodically, unrest broke out in the villages. An impetus was needed in order for discontent to turn into “distemper”. The lean years of 1601-1603 and the famine and epidemics that followed them became such an impetus. The measures taken were not enough. Many feudal lords let their people go free so as not to feed them, and this increases the crowds of the homeless and hungry. Bands of robbers were formed from those released or fugitives. The main center of unrest and unrest was the western outskirts of the state - Severskaya Ukraine, where the government exiled criminal or unreliable elements from the center, who were full of discontent and anger and were just waiting for an opportunity to rise up against the Moscow government. Unrest swept the whole country. In 1603 detachments of rebellious peasants and serfs approached Moscow itself. With great difficulty, the rebels were repulsed.

INTERVENTION OF THE SPEECH OF THE COMMON

At the same time, Polish and Lithuanian feudal lords tried to use internal contradictions in Russia to weaken the Russian state and maintained ties with the opposition to Boris Godunov. They sought to seize the Smolensk and Seversk lands, which a century earlier were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Catholic Church wanted to replenish the sources of income by conducting Catholicism in Russia. The Commonwealth did not have a direct reason for open intervention.

RUSSIA IN THE YEARS OF “TROUBLES”

FALSE DMITRY I

False Dmitry I

It was in Poland that the first impostor appeared, posing as Tsarevich Dmitry. According to the version put forward by the government, he was a Galician nobleman Yu.

In 1602, he fled to Lithuania, where he received the support of some Lithuanian magnates, and then King Sigismund III.

Grigory Otrepiev and Hetman Vyshnevetsky

oath of False Dmitry I to King Sigismund III

In the autumn of 1604, an impostor, whom historians call False Dmitry I, with a 40,000-strong detachment of the Polish-Lithuanian gentry, Russian emigrant nobles, Zaporozhye and Don Cossacks, unexpectedly appeared on the southwestern outskirts of Russia, in Seversk land.

"Ukrainian people", among whom there were many fugitive peasants and serfs, crowds joined the impostor: they saw in "Tsarevich Dmitry" their "protector", especially since the impostor did not skimp on promises. The belief in a “good tsar” inherent in the medieval peasantry helped False Dmitry I to increase his army. However, in the very first big battle with the tsarist army led by Prince F.I. Mstislavsky near Dobrynichy, the impostor was defeated and, with the few remaining supporters, took refuge in Putivl. Most of the Polish-Lithuanian gentry left him.

However, a broad popular movement against Boris Godunov was already unfolding on the southern outskirts. One by one, the southern cities went over to the side of “Tsarevich Dmitry”. Detachments of Cossacks approached from the Don, And the actions of the tsarist army were extremely slow and indecisive - the boyars-voivodes were preparing a betrayal of Boris Godunov, hoping to use an impostor to topple the "noble tsar". All this allowed False Dmitry 1 to recover from defeat.

At this moment, in April 1605, Tsar Boris Godunov died unexpectedly. There were rumors that he was poisoned. The sixteen-year-old son of Godunov, Tsar Fyodor Borisovich, did not long remain on the throne. He had neither experience nor authority. On May 7, the tsarist army went over to the side of False Dmitry. On June 1, 1605, the boyars-conspirators organized a coup d'état and provoked popular indignation in the capital. Tsar Fedor was dethroned and strangled along with his mother.

assassination of Tsar Fedor

The impostor entered Moscow without a fight and was proclaimed tsar under the name of Dmitry Ivanovich.

entry of False Dmitry I to Moscow

But False Dmitry did not last long on the throne. His very first events destroyed the hopes for a “good and just king”. The feudal aristocracy that initiated the appearance of the impostor no longer needed him. Wide layers of Russian feudal lords were dissatisfied with the privileged position of the Polish and Lithuanian gentry, who surrounded the throne, received huge rewards (money for this was seized by the impostor even from the monastery treasury). The Orthodox Church followed with concern the attempts to spread Catholicism in Russia. False Dmitry wanted to start a war against the Tatars and Turks. Service people met with disapproval the preparations for the war with Turkey, which Russia did not need.

They were also dissatisfied with “Tsar Dmitry” in the Commonwealth. He did not dare, as he had promised earlier, to transfer Western Russian cities to Poland and Lithuania. The persistent requests of Sigismund III to speed up the entry into the war with Turkey had no result.

The new conspiracy was preceded by the wedding of False Dmitry with Marina Minshek, the daughter of a Lithuanian magnate.

Marina Mnishek

The Catholic was crowned with the royal crown of the Orthodox state. In addition to this, the violence and robberies of the roaming gentry who had come to the wedding. Moscow boomed. A popular uprising began.

VASILY SHUISKY

Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky

On May 17, 1606, the conspirators took advantage of the uprising. Boyar Vasily Shuisky, at the head of a large detachment of military servants, broke into the Kremlin and killed the impostor.

attempt to escape False Dmitry I

execution of False Dmitry I

It was decided to subject the bodies to the so-called. "trade penalty". During the first day they lay in the mud in the middle of the market, where the chopping block for Shuisky had once been placed. On the second day, a table or counter was brought from the market, Dmitry's body was placed on it. A mask was thrown on his chest (or, according to other sources, on his open stomach), one of those that the tsar himself prepared for the court carnival, a pipe was stuck in his mouth; Basmanov's corpse was thrown under the table. Muscovites abused the body for three days - they sprinkled it with sand, smeared with tar and "all sorts of abominations"

From the Execution Ground on Red Square, he was “called out” as the new tsar.

The accession of Vasily Shuisky did not stop the “troubles”. The new king relied on a narrow circle of people close to him. Even within the Boyar Duma, he had ill-wishers who themselves claimed the throne (Romanovs, Golitsyns, Mstislavskys). Shuisky was not popular with the nobility either, which immediately recognized him as the “boyar tsar”. The populace received no relief. Vasily Shuisky even canceled the tax benefits given by the impostor to the population of the southern counties. The persecution of the former supporters of "Tsar Dmitry" began, which further inflamed the situation.

The people continued to stubbornly hold on to the rumor about the miraculous salvation of Dmitry, that, once again reigning in Moscow, he would alleviate his situation.

THE REBELLION OF IVAN BOLOTNIKOV

Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov

In the movement against the “boyar tsar” Vasily Shuisky, various sections of the population were involved: the lower classes, the nobility, part of the boyars. It was they who took part in the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov in 1606-1607.

Bolotnikov was a “combat serf” of Prince Telyatevsky, fled to the Cossacks, was one of the chieftains of the Volga Cossack freemen, was captured by the Tatars and was sold into slavery in Turkey, was a galley rower, a participant in naval battles, was released by the Italians. Then Venice, Germany, Poland, where he meets with an impostor. And here is Putivl, where an unknown wanderer suddenly becomes, together with the boyar son Istoma Pashkov and the nobleman Prokopy Lyapunov, at the head of a large army.

Prokopy Petrovich Lyapunov

The core of the insurgent army consisted of noble detachments from the southern counties, the remnants of the army of the first impostor, the Cossacks called from the Don, and the archers of the border garrisons. And, as during the campaign to Moscow of the first impostor, runaway peasants and serfs, townspeople, all dissatisfied with Vasily Shuisky, join the army. Ivan Bolotnikov himself calls himself "the governor of Tsar Dmitry". One gets the impression that the leaders of the provincial nobility took into account the experience of the campaign against Moscow of the first impostor and tried to use popular discontent to achieve their estate goals.

In the summer of 1606, the rebels moved on Moscow. Near Kromy and Kaluga they defeated the tsarist troops. In autumn they laid siege to Moscow.

As the masses were drawn into the movement (the uprising engulfed more than 70 cities!) it acquired an increasingly anti-feudal character. In the "lists" that were sent out by the headquarters of the uprising, it was called not only to replace Vasily Shuisky with a "good king", but also to deal with the boyars. The noble detachments left the camp of Ivan Bolotnikov.

army I.I. Bolotnikova

battle near Moscow (v. Kotly)

On December 2, 1606, in a battle near the village of Kotly, Bolotnikov was defeated and retreated to Kaluga, then moved to Tula, where he held out until October 1607, repulsing the attacks of the tsarist army. Finally, exhausted by a long siege and hunger, the defenders of Tula surrendered, Ivan Bolotnikov was exiled to Kargopol, where he died.

Objectively, the movement of Ivan Bolotnikov weakened the Russian state and prepared the conditions for the introduction of a second impostor into Russia, who used the direct help of the Polish-Lithuanian gentry.

FALSE DMITRY II

False Dmitry II

In the summer of 1607, when the army of Ivan Shuisky was besieging Tula, a second impostor appeared in Starodub, posing as Tsarevich Dmitry (False Dmitry II). Its origin is not clear, according to some sources, it was a baptized Jew Bogdanka, who served as a scribe for False Dmitry I. False Dmitry II achieved some success. In January 1608, he reached the city of Orel, where he camped. Gentry detachments, the remnants of Bolotnikov's army, the Cossacks of Ataman Ivan Zarutsky, servicemen from the southern districts and even boyars who were dissatisfied with the government of Vasily Shuisky came to Orel. A number of cities went over to his side.

In June 1608, False Dmitry II approached Moscow, could not take it and stopped in a fortified camp in Tushino (hence his nickname - "Tushinsky Thief"). Many nobles and government officials who were dissatisfied with Shuisky's rule moved to Tushino.

camp in Tushino

Soon a large army of the Lithuanian hetman Jan Sapieha also came there. The participation of the Commonwealth in the events of "distemper" became more and more obvious. But the Polish-Lithuanian and Cossack detachments of the "Tushino thief" after the failure dispersed throughout Central Russia. By the end of 1608, 22 cities had sworn allegiance to the impostor. A significant part of the country fell under the rule of the impostor and his Polish-Lithuanian allies.

PALACE COUP

A dual power was established in the country. In fact, there were two tsars in Russia, two Boyar Dumas, two systems of orders. The boyars Romanovs, Saltykovs, and Trubetskoys ruled in the Tushino "thieves' council". Was in Tushino and his own patriarch - Filaret.

Patriarch Filaret

The boyars, for selfish purposes, repeatedly switched from Vasily Shuisky to the impostor and back; such boyars were called "flights".

Lacking sufficient support within the country, Vasily Shuisky turned to the Swedish king for military assistance. The tsar's nephew, Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, went to Novgorod to negotiate with the Swedes. In the spring, the 15,000th Swedish army came under the command of Skopin-Shuisky; at the same time, the Russian army also gathered in the Russian North.

Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky

In the summer of 1609, Russian regiments and Swedish mercenaries began offensive operations.

However, the Swedes only reached Tver and refused to advance further. It became clear that it was impossible to rely on foreigners. Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, with some Russian regiments, went to Kalyazin, where he camped, and began to gather a new army. Hetman Yan Sapieha tried to storm the fortified camp of Skopin-Shuisky, but suffered a crushing defeat and retreated. The Russian commander won time to gather troops. In the autumn of the same year, Skopin-Shuisky began a systematic offensive against the Tushins, he recaptured city after city. Near Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, he once again defeated Hetman Sapieha.

The army of Skopin-Shuisky reached a strength of 30 thousand people; the 2,000-strong Swedish detachment that remained with the Russians was completely lost in it.

In March 1610, the regiments of Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky approached Moscow. "Tushino camp" fled. On March 12, 1610, the regiments of Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky solemnly entered the capital.

The decision of Tsar Vasily Shuisky to call on foreigners for help cost Russia dearly. The Swedish king had to promise the city of Korela with the county. The real military assistance of the Swedes was insignificant: Moscow was liberated by the Russian regiments. But most importantly, the alliance with Sweden turned into major foreign policy complications. Sweden was at war with the Commonwealth, and the Polish king Sigismund III used the Russian-Swedish agreement as an excuse to break the truce signed in 1601. The Polish-Lithuanian army besieged Smolensk.

The heroic defense of Smolensk, which was led by another outstanding Russian commander of the early 17th century. - Governor Mikhail Shein - for a long time (almost two years!) Detained the main forces of the royal army.

defense of Smolensk

Mikhail Borisovich Shein

However, in the summer of 1610, a strong Polish-Lithuanian detachment of Hetman Zholkovsky moved towards Moscow. The incompetent voivode Dmitry Shuisky, the tsar's brother, commanded the Russian army that met them. Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky died unexpectedly. There were rumors that he was poisoned as a possible pretender to the throne. The royal army was defeated in the battle near the village of Klushino.

scheme of the battle of Klushino

The Russian army was led by the tsar's brother Dmitry Shuisky. In May, a 22,000-strong Russian army set out on a campaign to lift the Polish siege of Smolensk, to which 8,000 Swedish mercenaries under the command of Jacob Delagardie were attached. The Polish garrisons were driven out of Volok Lamsky and Mozhaisk. Sigismund III sent the crown hetman Stanislav Zholkevsky from Smolensk towards Dmitry Shuisky with 1,000 infantry, 2,000 Polish cavalry and 3,000 Zaporozhye Cossacks. A 5,000-strong Polish-Lithuanian detachment under the command of Alexander Zborovsky, who left the Tushino camp, joined him near Tsarevo-Zaimishch. On June 14, the detachment of Zholkevsky suddenly attacked and threw back the 6,000th advanced Russian army under the command of governor Grigory Valuev and Dmitry Yeletsky.

The main forces of the Russian troops left Mozhaisk and on June 23 concentrated on the edge of the forest near the village of Klushino. Dmitry Shuisky and Delagardie did not take care of either reconnaissance or the strengthening of the camp, which played a fatal role in the fate of the battle. Zholkiewski decided at dawn on June 24 to attack the enemy. The hetman had 9,000 men; Delagardie and Shuisky had about 24,000 men, almost three times as many as the enemy.

Zholkiewski managed to quietly approach the location of the Russians and make passes in the wattle fence surrounding the camp. The hetman did not wait for the approach of the German landsknechts with falconets, and gave the command for a general attack. Previously, he ordered the village to be set on fire so that the enemy could not use it as a stronghold. Delagardie's infantry managed to delay the Polish cavalry with fire and thereby gained time to build the Russian-Swedish troops into battle order. Mercenary infantry and archers held back the onslaught of the Polish cavalry, but the Cossacks and horsemen of Zborovsky overturned the Moscow cavalry. Departing, she upset the ranks of her own infantry and retreated in disorder into the convoy, where there were 18 guns.

attack of the Polish hussars

At this time, Zolkiewski's cavalry attacked Delagardie's troops several times, but could not break through their front. Only with the appearance on the battlefield of the German landsknechts did the final turning point occur. Falconet fire destroyed a significant section of the wattle fence, and a fresh detachment of infantry overturned the Swedes. Delagardie's cavalry could not stand the Polish attacks either. On her shoulders, Zholkiewski's detachments broke into the Swedish camp. The hetman offered the mercenaries an honorable surrender, and 3,000 Germans accepted it, later joining the Polish army.

Seeing the defeat of Delagardi's detachment, the Russian governors began to flee to the forest. The Poles and Cossacks did not pursue them, but robbed the camp.

There was a palace coup in Moscow. The military defeat led to the fall of Vasily Shuisky. On July 17, 1610, the boyars and nobles, led by Zakhar Lyapunov, overthrew V. Shuisky from the throne. Tsar Vasily Shuisky was forcibly tonsured a monk and taken to Poland.

Vasily Shuisky in front of the Polish Sejm

Power passed to the government of the seven boyars - "seven boyars". Having learned about the coup, "Tushinsky Thief" again moved with his supporters to Moscow.

Under these conditions, the “seven boyars”, which had no support in the country, went on direct national treason: in August 1610, the boyars let the Polish garrison into Moscow. The actual power was in the hands of the Polish commandant Pan Gonsevsky.

Alexander Gonsevsky

King Sigismund III openly announced his claims to the Russian throne. An open Polish-Lithuanian intervention began. The gentry detachments left the "Tushinsky thief". The impostor fled to Kaluga, where he was soon killed (he was no longer tender to the Poles).

False Dmitry II in Kaluga

Russia was threatened with the loss of national independence.

The events that took place caused deep dissatisfaction among all classes of the Russian state.

FIRST Zemstvo Militia

A national liberation movement against the interventionists was rising in the country.

The Duma nobleman Prokopy Lyapunov, who had long fought against the supporters of the Tushinsky Thief, became the head of the first militia. The core of the militia was the Ryazan nobles, who were joined by service people from other districts of the country, as well as detachments of the Cossacks of Ataman Ivan Zarutsky and Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy.

Dmitry Timofeevich Trubetskoy

In the spring of 1611, the militia approached Moscow. A popular uprising broke out in the city against the interventionists. All the settlements were in the hands of the rebels. The Polish garrison took refuge behind the walls of Kitay-Gorod and the Kremlin. The siege began.

However, soon disagreements and a struggle for superiority began between the leaders of the militia (Prokopiy Lyapunov, Ivan Zarutsky, Dmitry Trubetskoy). Ivan Zarutsky and Dmitry Trubetskoy, taking advantage of the fact that power in the militia was increasingly passing into the hands of “good nobles”, who arrived from all districts of the country, which caused discontent among the Cossack chieftains, organized the murder of Prokopiy Lyapunov: he was summoned for explanations to the Cossack “circle” and hacked. After that, the nobles began to leave the camp. The first militia actually disintegrated.

Meanwhile, the situation became even more complicated. After the fall of Smolensk (June 3, 1611), the Polish-Lithuanian army was released for a big campaign against Russia.

King Sigismund III now hoped to seize the Russian throne by force. However, a new upsurge in the national liberation struggle of the Russian people prevented him from doing this: in Nizhny Novgorod, the formation of a second militia began.

THE SECOND ZEMSKOY MILITARY OF K. MININ AND D. POZHARSKY

See details on the website: For advanced - Commanders - K. Minin, D. Pozharsky

ELECTION OF A NEW KING

However, the priority was still the question of restoring the central government, which in the specific historical conditions of the beginning of the 17th century. meant the election of a new king. There was already a precedent: the election of Boris Godunov “to the kingdom”. The Zemsky Sobor met in Moscow, very broad in its composition. In addition to the Boyar Duma, the higher clergy and the nobility of the capital, numerous provincial nobility, townspeople, Cossacks and even black-haired (state) peasants were represented at the cathedral. 50 Russian cities sent their representatives.

The main issue was the election of the king. A sharp struggle flared up around the candidacy of the future tsar at the cathedral. Some boyar groups offered to call on a "prince" from Poland or Sweden, others put forward applicants from the old Russian princely families - the Golitsyns, the Mstislavskys. Trubetskoy, Romanovs. The Cossacks even offered the son of False Dmitry II and Marina Mniszek (“Vorenka”). But they were not in the majority at the Council. At the insistence of representatives of the nobility, townspeople and peasants, it was decided: “Neither the Polish prince, nor the Swedish, nor other German faiths, and from any non-Orthodox states, should not be elected to the Moscow State and Marinkin’s son should not be wanted.”

Zemsky Sobor of 1613

After long disputes, the members of the council agreed on the candidacy of 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov, the cousin-nephew of the last tsar from the Moscow Rurik dynasty, Fyodor Ivanovich, which gave grounds to associate him with the “legitimate” dynasty.

The nobles saw in the Romanovs consistent opponents of the “boyar tsar” Vasily Shuisky, the Cossacks saw supporters of “tsar Dmitry” (which gave reason to believe that the new tsar would not persecute the former “Tushins”). The boyars, who hoped to retain power and influence under the young tsar, did not object either. Fedor Sheremetev very clearly reflected the attitude of the titled nobility towards Mikhail Romanov in his letter to one of the Golitsyn princes: “Misha Romanov is young, he has not yet reached his mind and he will be familiar with us.” V. O. Klyuchevsky remarked on this occasion: “We wanted to choose not the most capable, but the most convenient.”

Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov

An embassy was sent to the Kostroma Ipatiev Monastery, where Mikhail and his mother “nun Martha” were hiding at that time, with a proposal to take the Russian throne. Thus, the Romanov dynasty, which ruled the country for more than 300 years, was established in Russia.

One of the heroic episodes of Russian history belongs to this time. The Polish detachment tried to capture the newly elected tsar, looking for him in the Kostroma estates of the Romanovs. But the headman of the village of Domnina, Ivan Susanin, not only warned the tsar of the danger, but also led the Poles into impenetrable forests. The hero died from Polish sabers, but also killed the gentry who got lost in the forests.

Erase in detail on the site: For advanced - I.O. Susanin

In the first years of the reign of Mikhail Romanov, the country was actually ruled by the boyars Saltykovs, relatives of the “nun Martha”, and since 1619, after the return of the father of the tsar, Patriarch Philaret Romanov, from captivity, the patriarch and “great sovereign” Filaret. The restoration of the economy and state order began. In 1617, in the village of Stolbovo (near Tikhvin), an "eternal peace" was signed with Sweden. The Swedes returned Novgorod and other northwestern cities to Russia, but the Swedes retained the Izhora land and Korela. Russia lost access to the Baltic Sea, but she managed to get out of the state of war with Sweden. In 1618, the Deulino truce was concluded with Poland for fourteen and a half years. Russia lost Smolensk and about three dozen more Smolensk, Chernigov and Seversk cities. The contradictions with Poland were not resolved, but only postponed: both sides were not in a position to continue the war any longer. The terms of the armistice were very difficult for the country, but Poland refused to claim the throne.

The Time of Troubles in Russia is over.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE GREAT TROUBLE

The Time of Troubles was not so much a revolution as a severe shock to the life of the Muscovite state. The first, immediate and most difficult consequence of it was the terrible ruin and desolation of the country; in the descriptions of rural areas under Tsar Michael, many empty villages are mentioned, from which the peasants “ran away” or “descended to no one knows where”, or were beaten by “Lithuanian people” and “thieves' people”. In the social composition of society, the Time of Troubles further weakened the strength and influence of the old well-born boyars, which in the storms of the Time of Troubles partly died or were ruined, and partly morally degraded and discredited themselves by their intrigues and their alliance with the enemies of the state.

As for the political, the time of troubles - when the Earth, having gathered its strength, itself restored the destroyed state - showed with its own eyes that the Moscow state was not the creation and “patrimony” of its sovereign, but was a common cause and common creation of “all cities and all sorts of ranks of the people of all the great Russian Tsardom".