How the False Dmitry II tried to take Moscow
Even during the struggle of the troops of Vasily Shuisky with the Bolotnikovites, False Dmitry II appeared. A new stage of the Troubles began, which was now accompanied by an open Polish intervention. At first, the Poles actively supported their protege, the new impostor, then, in 1609, the invasion of the Polish army began. Who was hiding this time under the name of the prince, again nominated by Polish magnates, remains unknown. In the royal letters of the new contender for the Moscow throne was called "Starodub thief". The impostor knew Russian letters and church affairs well, spoke and wrote in Polish. Some sources also claim that the impostor spoke Hebrew. Contemporaries built many guesses about who he could be. According to some sources, it was the priest’s son Matvey Verevkin from the Seversk side, according to others it was the son of the Starodub archer. Others recognized him boyar son. They also talked about the Lithuanian clerk Bogdan Sutupov, the czar's clerk under the first impostor, school teachers from the city of Sokol, about the priest-in-law Dmitry from Moscow or the baptized Jew Bogdanko from the city of Shklov.
The most detailed description of the initial appearance of this impostor is stated in the Barkulab Chronicle. According to the Belarusian chronicler, this man taught children first from Shklovsky priest, then from Mogilevsky, he was an insignificant man, trying to please everyone, very poor. From Mogilev he moved to Propoisk, where he was imprisoned as a Russian spy. By order of the headman, Pan Zenovich was released and taken to the Moscow border. A new impostor came to the attention of the Polish gentry, who decided to nominate a new contender for the Russian throne. Finding himself in the area of Starodub, he began to write letters all over White Russia, so that “knightly people, willing people” and even “pennies took him.” With a detachment of mercenaries, he moved to Starodub.
Rumors about the "miraculous salvation" and the imminent return of the king began to go immediately after the death of Gregory Otrepyev. Those who saw how the king was killed were few, the body of the impostor was severely mutilated and covered with mud, it was impossible to identify him. Muscovites, in fact, divided into two camps - those who rejoiced at the fall of the impostor, recalling his alien behavior and rumors of "witchcraft." Such rumors were in the interests of the boyars, who organized the coup. On the other hand, in Moscow there were many adherents of a False Dmitry, and among them immediately stories began to circulate about the fact that he had managed to escape from the "wicked boyars." They assured that instead of the king his twin was killed. It is believed that some of these rumors were spread by the Poles, as the ground was already set for the appearance of the second impostor. Already a week after the death of the impostor in Moscow at night, there appeared “certificates of approval” written by the alleged king who had escaped. Many leaflets were even nailed to the gates of the boyar houses, in which "Tsar Dmitry" declared that he "had left the murder and God himself had saved him from the traitors."
Immediately after the death of False Dmitry I, a Moscow nobleman Mikhail Molchanov (one of the murderers of Fyodor Godunov), who fled from Moscow towards the western border, began to spread rumors that another man had been killed instead of Dmitry, and the tsar had escaped himself. Molchanov, posing as "Dmitry", settled in the castle of Mnishek Sambor, after which the letters of the "miraculously saved king" poured into Russia in a stream. However, Molchanov could not continue to play his role as a “tsar” outside the Commonwealth. They knew him too well in Moscow. Therefore, a new impostor “appeared”.
The whole population of the rebellious Seversk Ukraine waited for a whole year waiting for the arrival of the “good king” from Poland, which was largely facilitated by rumors about the “false rescue” of the False Dmitry. Putivl, Starodub, other cities more than once sent messengers abroad in search of the prince. He wrote letters and Bolotnikov, who sent Dmitry from besieged Tula to Starodub with a quick Cossack ataman Ivan Zarutsky to meet Dmitry. The ataman knew the first “king” well, but chose to publicly “find out” the second one in order to become his confidant. In June, Starodub 1607 swore allegiance to False Dmitry. The power of the impostor was also recognized by Novgorod-Seversky, Pochep, Chernihiv, Putivl, Sevsk and other Seversk cities. Also recognized Starodubsky "thief" residents of several suburbs of Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga and Astrakhan. The Boyar Duma began to form in Starodub, and a new rebel army was being formed. Pan Nikolay Mekhovetsky took the post of hetman - the commander-in-chief of the impostor army.
From the outset, the new impostor received support and material assistance from the Polish magnates. He was in their hands an obedient puppet. The Poles disparagingly called him "the queen." In the summer of 1607, another gentry rosh (insurgency) against King Sigismund III ended in Rzecz Pospolita. Having suffered a serious defeat in early July and fearing royal revenge, the rebels rushed to the impostor, hoping to find fame and prey on Russian soil. The king was quite happy. Part of the troublemakers could lay down their heads in the Russian land. The king himself dismissed mercenaries recruited for the civil war. This led to an increase in crime, mercenaries outraged, hunted by looting. Now they could be floated to Russia. At the same time from the participants of the campaign of the first impostor legends spread about the wealth of Russian cities, about the ease of victories over the “Muscovites”. Everyone knew that the forces of the Russian state were undermined by a series of uprisings that actually led to a civil war.
At the same time, the main task was solved - the enslavement of Rus. The Polish elite had long been preparing a new invasion of the Russian state, planning to take advantage of the Troubles. In addition, during the winter, the army of False Dmitry II was considerably enlarged by former Bolotnikov. “The Don and Volga Cossacks and all those people who were sitting in Tula,” the chronicler says, “joined the thief, not even though Tsar Vasily Ivanovich obeyed to be ...” The peasant war broke out again in the southern border areas, Forcing the local nobility to partly go to the side of the new impostor, partly to flee to Moscow. Trying to attract as many service people as possible to his side, the False Dmitry II confirmed all the previous awards and privileges of the False Dmitry I to the Seversky ones. But initially the army was small - only a few thousand fighters.
Tula campaign
First, the army of the second impostor moved to Tula, to help out Bolotnikov. Pochep met detachments of the impostor with bread and salt. September 20 rebel army entered Bryansk. October 8 hetman Mekhovetsky defeated the royal troops of the commander Litvinov-Mosalsky at Kozelsky, and Belev took October the 16 of October. In the meantime, the vanguard detachments of the impostor occupied Epifan, Dedilov, and Krapivna, going out to the nearest approaches to Tula. However, the fall of Tula 10 in October confused the cards of the False Dmitry. The army of False Dmitry II could not yet confront a large royal army. October 17 impostor retreated to Karachev to connect with the Cossacks.
It should be noted that Vasily Shuisky underestimated the danger of the “thief”, dismissed the army to their homes, believing that the remaining centers of the uprising would easily pacify the troops of his governor. Therefore, the king did not have a large army, so that with one blow he would sweep away the still weak detachments of the impostor until the uprising again spread over a vast territory. In addition, part of the Bolotnikov, whom the king forgave and sent to fight the remaining rebels, again revolted and fled to the new impostor.
The impostor wanted to flee further, but on the way the fugitive “king” was met by the pans Valyavsky and Tyshkevich with the 1800 fighters, intercepted and returned. Detachments of other pans appeared - Khmelevsky, Khrusliinsky, and one of the patrons of the first False Dmitry Vishnevetsky arrived. Polish core troops significantly increased. On November 9, the army of False Dmitry II again laid siege to Bryansk, which was occupied by the tsarist troops, who had restored the previously burned fortress. Don Cossacks arrived here with another impostor - “Tsarevich” Fyodor, “son” of Tsar Fyodor I Ivanovich. False Dmitry II granted the Cossacks, and ordered his rival to hang.
For more than a month the rebel troops could not break down the defense of the city, which was led by the royal voivods Kashin and Rzhevsky. However, in Bryansk there was not enough water and famine began. Tsarist regiments led by Vasily Litvinov-Mosalsky and Ivan Kurakin set off to the rescue of the garrison of Bryansk from Meshchovsk and Moscow. Litvinov-Mosalsky went up to Bryansk on December 15, but the thin ice on the Desna did not allow him to cross the river. The winter was warm and the gums did not freeze. Behind the river, the rebels felt safe. Then the warriors began to ford the river, not being afraid of the icy water and the shelling of the rebels. Frightened by such a determination of the tsarist troops, the rebels quivered. At the same time, the voivods Kashin and Rzhevsky led the garrison of Bryansk to a sortie. The impostor’s army failed and ran. Soon voivode Kurakin came to Bryansk, who brought all the necessary supplies. The rebels still tried to smash the royal governors, but were discarded.
Source: Razin E. A. History military art
Oryol camp
Troops impostors retreated to the Eagle. Suppress the rebellion Vasily Shuisky failed. Take Kaluga his governor could not. The king sent 4 to aid them. Thousands of previously amnestied Cossacks Ataman Bezzubtsev, but they laid out the siege army, revolted there. The troops that remained loyal to the government fled to Moscow, and the remaining Bezzubtsev led them to False Dmitry. During the winter, the impostor’s army increased significantly. Crashed Bolotnikov continued to flock. New squads came from Poland. Led troops Tyshkevich, Tupalsky. Ataman Zarutsky, having traveled to the Don, scored 5 thousand more fighters. Ukrainian Cossacks led Colonel Lisovsky. Prince Roman Rozhinsky (Ruzhinsky), a very popular nobleman, appeared - he squandered his fortune, got into debt, and engaged in open robbery in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Even his wife at the head of a detachment of bandits made predatory raids on neighbors. Now he laid his estates and recruited 4 thousand hussars. A Polish gentleman Alexander Lisovsky, who was sentenced to death in his homeland for participating in a revolt against the king, appeared in an impostor with a detachment.
Rozhinsky came into conflict with Mekhovetsky and carried out a coup, collecting a "knight's colo" (circle), where he was elected hetman. The Cossack troops led by Lisovsky and Zarutsky, who got on well with the Poles. With the second "Tsar Dmitry" no one was considered. When he tried to protest against replacing Mekhovetsky with Rozhinsky, he was almost beaten and threatened to be killed. Lyahi forced him to sign a "secret contract" on the assignment of all the treasures to them, which will be seized in the Moscow Kremlin. And when the newcomers from Rzecz Pospolita doubted whether he was the “Dmitry” who was before, they were told: “It is necessary that he be, that's all”. The Jesuits again surfaced, who advanced the project for the introduction of Catholicism in Russia.
The number of Falsdmitry II army in the Oryol camp was about 27 thousand people. Moreover, unlike the first impostor and the Bolotniki, the second impostor's army consisted mainly of professional soldiers - Polish mercenaries, Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks, the rest of the mass were noblemen, boyars' children, archers, battle slaves, etc. did not disdain. Inflating the flames of the uprising, issued a decree on which the estates of the nobles who served Shuisky were subject to confiscation, and slaves and peasants could seize them. A new wave of pogroms has rolled.
Moscow trip
In preparation for the fight against the new impostor, Tsar Vasily Shuisky, during the winter and spring of 1608, gathered his army near Bolkhov. Here gathered 30-40 thousand warriors. But the composition was heterogeneous - and the local cavalry, and groups of service Tatars, and the regiment of mercenaries. But most importantly, the stupid commander-in-chief, another king's brother, Dmitry Shuisky, was again appointed. He did not conduct intelligence, and did not find that the enemy’s army launched a new offensive. The blow of the enemy was unexpected.
In spring, the rebel army moved from Moscow to Moscow. The decisive battle lasted two days - April 30 -1 May (10-11 May) 1608 on the river Kamenka in the vicinity of the city of Bolkhov. The battle began with a sudden strike by the avant-garde army of the False Dmitry II army, consisting of noble hussar companies and Cossack hundreds. However, the Russian cavalry with the support of German mercenaries withstood the attack. Then the Russian troops attacked the troops led by the thoroughbred commander-in-chief Adam Rozhinsky. The Poles overthrew the advanced Russian regiment of Prince Golitsyn, He mixed up and rolled back, crushing and a large regiment. Only the bold attack of the sentry regiment of the skillful commander Prince Kurakin stopped the enemy. On this first day of the battle ended.
The parties began to turn around to a decisive battle. The tsarist army took a comfortable position behind the marsh, sowing in fortifications from the wagon train. The morning frontal attacks of the Polish-Cossack troops did not lead to success. Then the Poles used a trick. Found a ford on the flank. And the servants in the distance began to drive back and forth the carts, raising banners and badges over them to distract the enemy. The commander-in-chief of the tsarist army of voivod Dmitry Shuisky was frightened, thinking that a huge army of the enemy was approaching. He ordered the artillery to be taken away in order to keep the defense in Bolkhov. The troops, seeing that the guns were being taken away, also panicked and began to retreat. At this time, the Poles forced the marsh and hit the flank of the Russian army. Retreat turned into an escape. The guns were abandoned, some troops hid in Bolkhov, others ran farther. Many running Poles and Cossacks chopped up. The defeat was complete. After an artillery bombardment, Bolkhov capitulated. His garrison went over to the side of the impostor. Part of the fled troops deserted. Kaluga surrendered to an impostor without a fight. Thus, the road to Moscow was open.
Tsar Vasily hastily assembled new regiments, appointing the best generals. Army Skopin-Shuisky ordered to block the Kaluga road, and Kurakin sent to Kolomna. However, the hetman Rozhinsky with the "tsarik" walked over the regiments of Skopin-Shuisky to the west, through Kozelsk, Mozhaisk and Zvenigorod. And suddenly in June an army of an impostor appeared under the walls of Moscow. There was almost no one to protect her. Troops in the capital was not enough. But the available warriors, mostly Moscow archers, were determined to stand up to the end. One decisive attack, and Moscow could fall. But the headquarters of the impostor did not know about it and lost time. They expected the approach of Lisovskiy's troops with artillery to begin a regular siege of the big city from several sides.
Rozhinsky chose a place for the camp for a long time and settled in Tushino in 17 versts from Moscow and decided to take her out of business. The impostor created his orders here, the Boyar Duma. Driven from the surrounding villages peasants built fortifications. Ranks were distributed, estates and patrimonies complained, receptions were arranged. This is how the second "capital" appeared. In the future, the impostor was called not the “Starodub Thief”, but “Tushino Tsar”, “Tushino Thief”, and his supporters - Tushins.
Skopin-Shuisky did not dare to attack the enemy, since betrayal was revealed in his army. He took the troops to Moscow. There the conspirators were captured - the princes Katyrev, Yury Trubetskoy, Ivan Troyekurov were exiled, the ordinary traitors were executed. However, relatives and relatives of the conspirators began to run over to the impostor - Dmitry Trubetskoy, Dmitry Cherkassky, followed by the princes Sitsky who hated Shuisky, the Zasekins.
Lisovsky led a separate detachment, in order to intercept the southern roads to Moscow. Zaraysk was occupied without a fight by Lisovsky's troops, as the city Cossacks surrendered the city and swore an impostor. To intercept the enemy detachment, the militia came out of the Ryazan land, headed by Z. Lyapunov and I. Khovansky. March 30 held the battle of Zarai. The tsar voivods showed carelessness in organizing the guard, and the sudden attack of Lisovsky's people from the Zarai Kremlin was broken by their army.
After the victory at Zaraysk, Lisovsky took Mikhailov and Kolomna with a rapid onslaught, where he captured a large artillery park. His army was strengthened by the remnants of the former Bolotnikov and increased significantly. Lisovsky went to Moscow, planning to unite with the main forces of the impostor, who became near Moscow in the Tushino camp. However, Lisovsky's detachment was defeated by the royal army under the leadership of Ivan Kurakin at the Battle of Bear ford. In June, 1608, on a carriage across the Moscow River at the Medvezhiy Ford (between Kolomna and Moscow), Lisovsky’s detachment unexpectedly attacked the tsarist army. The first enemy attacked the guard regiment led by Vasily Buturlin. Burdened with a heavy "outfit" and a wagon train, the warriors of Lisovsky, accustomed to maneuvering battles, suffered a serious defeat and lost all of their Kolomna trophies, as well as prisoners captured in Kolomna. Lisovsky fled and was forced to travel to Moscow by another route, bypassing Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir and the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Thus, the army of False Dmitri II, besieging Moscow, did not receive siege weapons, and also could no longer count on the blockade of the capital from the southeast.
To be continued ...
- Alexander Samsonov
- Troubles
Folk hero Kuzma Minin and Smoot
How the False Dmitry I was killed
How suppressed the uprising Bolotnikov
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