How Russia almost became a colony of Poland, Sweden and England
Seven Boyars
After the defeat of the royal troops under Klushino (Klushinskaya catastrophe of the Russian army) Tsar Vasily Shuisky found himself in a critical situation: popular indignation reached such strength that even the boyars realized that the king could not remain on the throne. The Polish army of hetman Stanislav Zolkiewski was moving from the west to Moscow, reinforced by mercenaries and Russian troops that had gone over to the side of the Poles. From the south, the capital was again threatened by Lzhedmitry II, its troops captured Serpukhov, Borovsk, Paphnutiev monastery and reached Moscow itself, located near the village of Kolomenskoye.
In despair, Tsar Vasily again turned to the Crimean Khanate for help. Cantemir-Murza came to Oka with the 10 ths. Detachment. Shuisky sent to him to unite everyone he could gather, led by Vorotinsky and Lykov and rich gifts. Cantemir received the gifts and suddenly attacked the detachment of Lykov. I broke up, scored full and returned to the Crimea. In the Russian state has already come a complete collapse. Shuisky did not want to serve, the warriors deserted to their homes. Zolkiewski, moving to Moscow, sent agents with anonymous letters, agitating to recognize the Smolensk agreement, and lured the nobles to his side. The servicemen of the cities did not respond to the call for help from Tsar Vasiliy, and Prokopy Lyapunov, the leader of the Ryazan militia, boldly refused. As a result, Vasily Shuisky no longer had support. Boyars to avoid a national explosion and save power, 17 July 1610 was overthrown by Basil from the throne. Everything happened allegedly by the "will" of the people.
Supporters of the impostor offered people to depose Tsar Vasily Shuisky and promised to do likewise with their “tsar”. After that, they said, everyone will be able to work together, with all the land, to choose a new sovereign and thereby put an end to the fratricidal war. Part of the boyars found this proposal a convenient excuse for the overthrow of Basil. Ivan Saltykov, Zakhar Lyapunov, although acting in favor of different applicants, raised the people, led the crowds to the military camp outside the Serpukhov gates and opened the improvised Zemsky Sobor. The boyars also supported the deposition: Filaret Romanov, Golitsyn, Mstislavsky, Vorotynsky, Sheremetev. Patriarch Hermogenes tried to object, but could not insist on his. A delegation was sent to the tsar, “removed” from the palace and taken into custody.
When the impostor’s camp was informed about it, they only laughed: the “Dmitry” supporters did not intend to depose him. They declared, they say, now open the gate in front of the true sovereign "Dmitry". Moscow, having understood that it was spent, began to seethe. Appeared willing to return to the throne of Basil. However, the conspirators did not allow this. Despite the promises of immunity, given to Shuisky, Lyapunov and Saltykov led to him hieromonk of the Chudovsky monastery and were tonsured as monks. Vasily himself refused to speak the words of a vow, they were spoken for him. Patriarch Hermogenes did not recognize the tonsure - he said that Prince Tatev had become a monk, who gave positive answers to Shuisky during the ceremony. But they did not listen to the patriarch, they threw Basil into the monastery and sent letters of conviction to the cities to convene the Zemsky Sobor for the election of the king.
In September, Vasily 1610 was extradited (not as a monk, but in secular clothes) to the Polish hetman Zolkiewski, who took him and his brothers Dmitry and Ivan away in October to Smolensk, and later to Poland. In Warsaw, the king and his brothers were presented as prisoners to King Sigismund and took a solemn oath. The former king died in custody in Gostyninsky castle, 130 versts from Warsaw, his brother Dmitry died a few days later. The third brother, Ivan Ivanovich Shuisky, subsequently returned to Russia.
Forced vowing Vasily Shuisky. Engraving P. Ivanova
The power in Moscow passed into the hands of the boyar oligarchy - the “Seventh Boyars” or the “Seven Boyars”, led by Prince Fyodor Mstislavsky. Besides him, Boyar Duma included Ivan Vorotinsky, Vasily Golitsyn, Ivan Romanov, Fyodor Sheremetev, Andrei Trubetskoy and Boris Lykov. Three nominations for the Russian throne were advanced. Vasily Golitsyn, who was supported by the Golitsyn clan and Ryazan voivod Prokopy Lyapunov. Mikhail Romanov, to the side of which, apart from the party of Filaret, Hermogenes and the Polish prince Vladislav began to incline. Unexpectedly, Vladislav supported and Mstislavsky. He himself refused to claim the kingdom, as before, he was cautious, but he didn’t want to give primacy to any of those whom he considered equal or more “artistic”. However, Zemsky Sobor did not have time to get together. July 23 25-thousandth army of Hetman Zolkiewski approached Moscow. The capital was between two fires. It turned out, it is necessary to negotiate with either the "Dmitry" or the hetman. Zolkiewski looked preferable to the "thief", and the boyars began bargaining with him.
Send persistent negotiations. Again, the question was raised about the obligatory transition of Vladislav to Orthodoxy, but in addition to the Smolensk agreements the boyars put forth additional requirements. They demanded to lift the siege from Smolensk, help against the impostor, prohibit the Jesuits from coming, not to assign Poles to military and administrative posts in Russia, to allow no more than 300 people in the king's suite. Thus, Vladislav was to become an independent Russian tsar, not a Polish governor on the Russian throne. Zolkiewski was well aware that Sigismund wanted to join Smolensk land to Poland, and would not agree to the re-baptism of his son. The king wrote to him: “From all it is clear that this people wants to fool us; he behaves not in the same way as in his position, but as if he were a completely free people, offering us conditions that he considers most advantageous to himself. The permission to build churches in their state is important for us ... Be careful, do not let yourself go, and if you don’t do anything with convictions, you will have to act with force and speed. ” But the hetman also had no opportunity to bargain endlessly. The deadline for paying salaries to the army approached, and the soldiers warned that they would not serve without money. And there was no money. And Zolkiewski pursued a flexible policy, made concessions in order to achieve the main goal - to swear Moscow to Vladislav, after which it would be possible to dump the maintenance of the army on the Russians and “forget” about the previous promises. As a result, the hetman’s wording softened and blurred, leaving loopholes for later deception. Finally, a mutually acceptable treaty prepared.
Although Sigismund almost ruined the whole thing. He sent a new instruction and demanded that the Russians take an oath not to Vladislav, but to Sigismund himself. To Russia joined the Commonwealth by the right of conquest. The getman understood that Moscow would never agree to such a thing, and he hid the instructions. As a result, fearing their own people and seeking protection from it, as well as the troops of the impostor, the boyar clique proclaimed king Sigismund III of King Vladislav the king, “It’s better to serve the sovereign,” said the boyars, “than from their slaves to be beaten.” Patriarch Hermogenes agreed on the candidacy of Vladislav on the condition that the prince accepted Orthodoxy. Thus, national interests were sacrificed to narrow group interests.
August 17 1610 of the year issued a corresponding agreement with Hetman Zolkiewski. The delegates to the Zemsky Sobor never met, but it was impossible to do without the Council in such a matter. Therefore, they elected representatives of the nobles and children of the boyars of different cities who were in the service in Moscow, from different classes — the clergy, merchants, archers, Cossacks, clerks, posad. And on the Maiden's Field, the Cathedral was on behalf of "the whole earth," and Muscovites took the oath to Vladislav. According to the treaty, the Russian tsar became the prince Vladislav Vaz - the son of the Polish king Sigismund III. The Russian state was not part of the Rzecz Pospolita, the Moscow government maintained autonomy, and the official status of Orthodoxy within the borders of Russia was guaranteed.
This agreement allowed the Semi-Boyars to remove the “Tushino threat” for Moscow, since the hetman Sapega agreed to swear allegiance to Tsar Vladislav. Sapieha just bribed. Seeing that the "Tsar" case was lost, the nobles who joined the impostor began to leave him for Moscow and swear allegiance to Vladislav. Having lost the Polish contingent of Sapieha, the impostor’s army retreated to Kaluga.
A “Great Embassy” began to take shape towards Sigismund and Vladislav, directed from the limited Zemsky Sobor, including the nobles of 40 cities, 293 from different classes. The embassy also included those who were most opposed to the Polish policy of full absorption of Russia, Vasily Golitsyn, Zakhar Lyapunov and Filaret Romanov. The "Great Embassy" near Smolensk was bitterly disappointed. The Polish Senators did not recognize the signed contract, and the hetman Zolkiewski, who had arrived, began to refuse his word. They did not want to hear about the conversion of Prince Vladislav to Orthodoxy. King Sigismund began to demand an oath to himself, not to his son. He was supported by the Jesuits, demanding special rights in Russia. In addition, the ambassadors were demanded that on behalf of the government they give the order to Shein to surrender Smolensk. However, Golitsyn and Filaret were firmly told that they had no right to depart from the instructions given to them by the Zemsky Sobor. Negotiations are deadlocked. As a result, Prince Vasily Golitsyn was detained as a prisoner (died in captivity) along with Metropolitan Philaret.
In the capital, fearing a popular uprising and going over to the side of the citizens of the garrison of Moscow, the boyars went further into their betrayal and on the night of September 21 secretly let in the 8-thousand. Polish corps (it included many German landsknecht mercenaries) to the Kremlin. The Poles also captured key centers such as China Town, the White City and the Novodevichy Convent. In order to completely exclude the possibility of urban battles that threatened relatively few Poles with defeat or heavy losses, before entering Moscow, Zolkiewski persuaded the Boyar Duma to send 18 thousands of troops (mostly archers) to fight the Swedes, who at that time had passed to open intervention. After the departure of Hetman Zolkiewski in October, the post of garrison commander was transferred to Alexander Gonsevsky. The "right hand" of the Kremlin commandant was the boyar Mikhail Saltykov.
In the Kremlin, German soldiers were deployed to the enemy side in the battle of Klushino (each company of landsknechts numbered 600 soldiers), a guard was placed at the gates, and the artillery was on full alert. In order to ensure the promotion of the Polish troops on the streets in the event of a popular uprising, all the bars that locked the streets of Moscow were broken. Muscovites were forbidden to walk with weapons. It was impossible even to sell firewood in the city, because of them it was possible to prepare clubs and stakes. In the evenings in the capital, life died down, the invaders acted in the most cruel manner. Polish patrols rode through the streets and killed everyone who came along the path. With the occupation in Moscow began massive looting, murder in violence. “... Our people,” wrote Polish captain Maskevich, “were not satisfied with the measure of anything, were not satisfied with the peacefulness of the Muscovites, and arbitrarily took from them everything that they liked, forcibly taking wives and daughters”. The occupants treated with contempt the “heretics”: not only laymen, but also priests were not allowed to go to matins. They robbed the merchants, took away their goods. It is clear that among the Moscow population grew indignation and hatred for the invaders.
After the interventionists appeared in the Kremlin, representatives of the Seven Boyars actually lost the status of the Russian government and became hostages. Getman Gonsevsky rejected the more flexible tactics of his predecessor, combining military pressure with negotiations, promises, searching for compromises, and in fact became a military dictator, introducing an occupation regime. Management of Moscow completely passed into his hands. Pan Gonsevsky personally distributed the ranks, estates and patrimonies. Seven Boyars obediently authorized all his orders, putting signatures under the letters written by him, sent to the cities. Still remaining in Moscow, Russian archers under various pretexts were sent to distant cities. The people finally turned away from the Moscow government. In most areas of the Russian kingdom anarchy reigned. Some cities kissed the cross to Vladislav, others - to False Dmitry II, and other places lived on their own.
The government of Mstislavsky finally capitulated and sent the ambassadors to the royal camp a new order - to accept the swearing allegiance of the Polish king Sigismund. And demanding that Smolensk capitulate. In October, having caught the priest’s “thief” priest Khariton and under torture by obtaining the necessary confessions from him (which Khariton later denied), the accusation of “conspiracy” and the “patriotic opposition” in the Moscow elite — Patriarch Hermogen, Vorotynsky and Andrei Golitsyn — were trumped up , was removed from management and taken under house arrest.
The position of the Russian state at this time was described in a report to London by a representative of the English trading company, John Merrick: “It’s pretty well known how miserable and distressful the people of Muscovy are for the last eight to nine years ... Most of the country, adjacent to Poland, has been devastated burned and occupied by the Poles. Another part of the borders of Sweden was captured and held by the Swedes under the pretext of rendering assistance. ” Merrick even offered the British government to seize the northern part of the Russian kingdom: “This part of Russia, which is even more distant from the danger of both Poles and Swedes, is the most profitable for us and the most convenient for trade ... Russia ... should become a warehouse of eastern goods for England. " Thus, the Russian civilization experienced one of the most difficult periods of its long stories: there was a question about turning Russia into a colony for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, perhaps, and England.
The vocation of the kingdom of the Polish kingdom untied the hands of the Swedes. Their contingent, led by Delagardi and Gorny, retreated to the north after the Klushinsky battle. The Swedish king Charles IX sent reinforcements to begin the seizure of "orphan" Russian lands. Swedish detachments dispersed to capture Ivangorod, Nuts, Ladoga and Karela. A detachment of Swedish and French mercenaries under the command of Pierre Delaville captured the Russian fortress Old Ladoga. Polish troops still robbed and burned everywhere. They burned Kozelsk, Kalyazin, approached Pskov and Novgorod, their garrisons committed atrocities in Tver, Torzhok, Staraya Russa, Volokolamsk. Sapieha devastated Severshchina. Poles killed adults and sold children into slavery.
Stanislav Zolkiewski shows a captive king and his brothers in the Warsaw Warsaw 29 in October 1611. Painting by Jan Matejko
The death of the pretender
At this time, False Dmitry II, who now relied mainly on national cadres — on the Don and Volga (from Astrakhan) Cossack groups, again began to approach Moscow. Those Polish detachments that did not wish to serve King Sigismund and (the largest of them was the equestrian detachment of Pan Lisowski) scattered over Russian soil, preferring to rob at their own risk and risk, without submitting to anyone. Of the Tushino boyars, only three remained: the princes D. Trubetskoy and D. Cherkassky in Kaluga and the ataman I. Zarutsky in Tula. Zarutsky, after the collapse of the Tushinsky camp, first took a pro-Polish position and chose to go to the camp of the Polish king near Smolensk. From there Zarutsky with the army of hetman Stanislav Zolkeevsky set off on a march to Moscow. However, the relationship between the well-born Polish pan and Tushino "boyar" did not work out. As a result, Zarutsky returned to the False Dmitry in Kaluga and served him faithfully until the day of his death.
To strengthen his position, the impostor hurried to declare himself a defender of the Orthodox faith. In the capital, many began to draw closer to the Kaluga "thief" and secretly refer to his people. The myth of the good son of Grozny again began to seize the imagination of the people betrayed by the boyars. False Dmitry II was sworn to the population of many cities and villages, including those who had previously fought it stubbornly: Kolomna, Kashira, Suzdal, Galich and Vladimir. More and more supporters of the impostor among the urban poor, serfs and Cossacks, while many nobles who were in the Kaluga camp, left the impostor and went to the service of Vladislav in Moscow. Thus, the existing forces of the impostor was enough to challenge the new Moscow government.
By early September, the impostor detachments had recaptured from the Poles Kozelsk, Meshchovsk, Pochep and Starodub. The Russian population began to see in Kaluga a “thief” the only force capable of resisting foreign invaders. False Dmitry swore Kazan and Vyatka. The ambassadors of the impostor openly agitated the people against Vladislav. Ataman Zarutsky launched an energetic war with the invaders. Then King Sigismund and Seven Boyars threw his former Hetman Sapega against False Dmitry. But the troops of Ataman Ivan Zarutsky in November and December 1610 twice defeated the Poles. Daily, on the orders of the Kaluga tsar, Cossacks cruelly executed captured Poles. It was a response to the atrocities of the interventionists. The Cossacks seized the Polish gentry and soldiers, carried them to Kaluga and drowned them there. Such a policy supported the popularity of the False Dmitry, it saw the defender of the people.
However, the False Dmitry forces could not withstand a more professional opponent for a long time and the impostor planned to move the headquarters to Voronezh, closer to the Cossack outskirts, from where the most experienced fighters came. According to the plan of the Kaluga "kings" Voronezh was to become the new royal capital. In addition, there were plans to win over the Crimean horde.
False Dmitry II killed his entourage. An atmosphere of cruelty and suspicion reigned in the Kaluga camp. The impostor feared conspiracy among his entourage. More and more courtiers were executed on suspicion of treason. People were seized at the slightest suspicion, betrayed to cruel torture and killed.
Back in the fall of 1610, the Kasimov king Uraz-Mohammed and Lzhedmitry had a conflict (the Tatar king was slandered by his son). His relative, the head of the guard of False Dmitry, Prince Peter Urusov, stood up for the Kasimov ruler. The servant Tatar king was killed, and Urusov was imprisoned, but after resigning from it was reinstated. Urusov was holding a grudge and decided to take revenge. False Dmitry II died 11 December 1610 of the year. When the pretender, out of habit, after lunch, with abundant drinking, went on a sledge for a walk, he was accompanied only by personal horse guards from Kasimov Tatars. Prince Peter Urusov falsified Dmitri II at close range from a pistol, and then cut off his head with his saber. The decapitated impostor was taken to Kaluga. Thus ended the story of the "Tsar".
However, after the death of the impostor, the Kaluga camp decided not to recognize the authority of Vladislav until he arrived in Moscow, and all Polish troops would not be withdrawn from the Russian kingdom. Marina Mnishek, who lived in Kaluga, soon had a son. The Cossacks solemnly called him Tsarevich Ivan Dmitrievich, and the people called him "vorenko". True, contemporaries questioned the fatherhood of the impostor. The most probable father of Ivan “Pug” was the favorite of Marina Mnishek - ataman Zarutsky. “Tsarevich” was not destined to play any serious role in subsequent events.
To be continued ...
After the defeat of the royal troops under Klushino (Klushinskaya catastrophe of the Russian army) Tsar Vasily Shuisky found himself in a critical situation: popular indignation reached such strength that even the boyars realized that the king could not remain on the throne. The Polish army of hetman Stanislav Zolkiewski was moving from the west to Moscow, reinforced by mercenaries and Russian troops that had gone over to the side of the Poles. From the south, the capital was again threatened by Lzhedmitry II, its troops captured Serpukhov, Borovsk, Paphnutiev monastery and reached Moscow itself, located near the village of Kolomenskoye.
In despair, Tsar Vasily again turned to the Crimean Khanate for help. Cantemir-Murza came to Oka with the 10 ths. Detachment. Shuisky sent to him to unite everyone he could gather, led by Vorotinsky and Lykov and rich gifts. Cantemir received the gifts and suddenly attacked the detachment of Lykov. I broke up, scored full and returned to the Crimea. In the Russian state has already come a complete collapse. Shuisky did not want to serve, the warriors deserted to their homes. Zolkiewski, moving to Moscow, sent agents with anonymous letters, agitating to recognize the Smolensk agreement, and lured the nobles to his side. The servicemen of the cities did not respond to the call for help from Tsar Vasiliy, and Prokopy Lyapunov, the leader of the Ryazan militia, boldly refused. As a result, Vasily Shuisky no longer had support. Boyars to avoid a national explosion and save power, 17 July 1610 was overthrown by Basil from the throne. Everything happened allegedly by the "will" of the people.
Supporters of the impostor offered people to depose Tsar Vasily Shuisky and promised to do likewise with their “tsar”. After that, they said, everyone will be able to work together, with all the land, to choose a new sovereign and thereby put an end to the fratricidal war. Part of the boyars found this proposal a convenient excuse for the overthrow of Basil. Ivan Saltykov, Zakhar Lyapunov, although acting in favor of different applicants, raised the people, led the crowds to the military camp outside the Serpukhov gates and opened the improvised Zemsky Sobor. The boyars also supported the deposition: Filaret Romanov, Golitsyn, Mstislavsky, Vorotynsky, Sheremetev. Patriarch Hermogenes tried to object, but could not insist on his. A delegation was sent to the tsar, “removed” from the palace and taken into custody.
When the impostor’s camp was informed about it, they only laughed: the “Dmitry” supporters did not intend to depose him. They declared, they say, now open the gate in front of the true sovereign "Dmitry". Moscow, having understood that it was spent, began to seethe. Appeared willing to return to the throne of Basil. However, the conspirators did not allow this. Despite the promises of immunity, given to Shuisky, Lyapunov and Saltykov led to him hieromonk of the Chudovsky monastery and were tonsured as monks. Vasily himself refused to speak the words of a vow, they were spoken for him. Patriarch Hermogenes did not recognize the tonsure - he said that Prince Tatev had become a monk, who gave positive answers to Shuisky during the ceremony. But they did not listen to the patriarch, they threw Basil into the monastery and sent letters of conviction to the cities to convene the Zemsky Sobor for the election of the king.
In September, Vasily 1610 was extradited (not as a monk, but in secular clothes) to the Polish hetman Zolkiewski, who took him and his brothers Dmitry and Ivan away in October to Smolensk, and later to Poland. In Warsaw, the king and his brothers were presented as prisoners to King Sigismund and took a solemn oath. The former king died in custody in Gostyninsky castle, 130 versts from Warsaw, his brother Dmitry died a few days later. The third brother, Ivan Ivanovich Shuisky, subsequently returned to Russia.
Forced vowing Vasily Shuisky. Engraving P. Ivanova
The power in Moscow passed into the hands of the boyar oligarchy - the “Seventh Boyars” or the “Seven Boyars”, led by Prince Fyodor Mstislavsky. Besides him, Boyar Duma included Ivan Vorotinsky, Vasily Golitsyn, Ivan Romanov, Fyodor Sheremetev, Andrei Trubetskoy and Boris Lykov. Three nominations for the Russian throne were advanced. Vasily Golitsyn, who was supported by the Golitsyn clan and Ryazan voivod Prokopy Lyapunov. Mikhail Romanov, to the side of which, apart from the party of Filaret, Hermogenes and the Polish prince Vladislav began to incline. Unexpectedly, Vladislav supported and Mstislavsky. He himself refused to claim the kingdom, as before, he was cautious, but he didn’t want to give primacy to any of those whom he considered equal or more “artistic”. However, Zemsky Sobor did not have time to get together. July 23 25-thousandth army of Hetman Zolkiewski approached Moscow. The capital was between two fires. It turned out, it is necessary to negotiate with either the "Dmitry" or the hetman. Zolkiewski looked preferable to the "thief", and the boyars began bargaining with him.
Send persistent negotiations. Again, the question was raised about the obligatory transition of Vladislav to Orthodoxy, but in addition to the Smolensk agreements the boyars put forth additional requirements. They demanded to lift the siege from Smolensk, help against the impostor, prohibit the Jesuits from coming, not to assign Poles to military and administrative posts in Russia, to allow no more than 300 people in the king's suite. Thus, Vladislav was to become an independent Russian tsar, not a Polish governor on the Russian throne. Zolkiewski was well aware that Sigismund wanted to join Smolensk land to Poland, and would not agree to the re-baptism of his son. The king wrote to him: “From all it is clear that this people wants to fool us; he behaves not in the same way as in his position, but as if he were a completely free people, offering us conditions that he considers most advantageous to himself. The permission to build churches in their state is important for us ... Be careful, do not let yourself go, and if you don’t do anything with convictions, you will have to act with force and speed. ” But the hetman also had no opportunity to bargain endlessly. The deadline for paying salaries to the army approached, and the soldiers warned that they would not serve without money. And there was no money. And Zolkiewski pursued a flexible policy, made concessions in order to achieve the main goal - to swear Moscow to Vladislav, after which it would be possible to dump the maintenance of the army on the Russians and “forget” about the previous promises. As a result, the hetman’s wording softened and blurred, leaving loopholes for later deception. Finally, a mutually acceptable treaty prepared.
Although Sigismund almost ruined the whole thing. He sent a new instruction and demanded that the Russians take an oath not to Vladislav, but to Sigismund himself. To Russia joined the Commonwealth by the right of conquest. The getman understood that Moscow would never agree to such a thing, and he hid the instructions. As a result, fearing their own people and seeking protection from it, as well as the troops of the impostor, the boyar clique proclaimed king Sigismund III of King Vladislav the king, “It’s better to serve the sovereign,” said the boyars, “than from their slaves to be beaten.” Patriarch Hermogenes agreed on the candidacy of Vladislav on the condition that the prince accepted Orthodoxy. Thus, national interests were sacrificed to narrow group interests.
August 17 1610 of the year issued a corresponding agreement with Hetman Zolkiewski. The delegates to the Zemsky Sobor never met, but it was impossible to do without the Council in such a matter. Therefore, they elected representatives of the nobles and children of the boyars of different cities who were in the service in Moscow, from different classes — the clergy, merchants, archers, Cossacks, clerks, posad. And on the Maiden's Field, the Cathedral was on behalf of "the whole earth," and Muscovites took the oath to Vladislav. According to the treaty, the Russian tsar became the prince Vladislav Vaz - the son of the Polish king Sigismund III. The Russian state was not part of the Rzecz Pospolita, the Moscow government maintained autonomy, and the official status of Orthodoxy within the borders of Russia was guaranteed.
This agreement allowed the Semi-Boyars to remove the “Tushino threat” for Moscow, since the hetman Sapega agreed to swear allegiance to Tsar Vladislav. Sapieha just bribed. Seeing that the "Tsar" case was lost, the nobles who joined the impostor began to leave him for Moscow and swear allegiance to Vladislav. Having lost the Polish contingent of Sapieha, the impostor’s army retreated to Kaluga.
A “Great Embassy” began to take shape towards Sigismund and Vladislav, directed from the limited Zemsky Sobor, including the nobles of 40 cities, 293 from different classes. The embassy also included those who were most opposed to the Polish policy of full absorption of Russia, Vasily Golitsyn, Zakhar Lyapunov and Filaret Romanov. The "Great Embassy" near Smolensk was bitterly disappointed. The Polish Senators did not recognize the signed contract, and the hetman Zolkiewski, who had arrived, began to refuse his word. They did not want to hear about the conversion of Prince Vladislav to Orthodoxy. King Sigismund began to demand an oath to himself, not to his son. He was supported by the Jesuits, demanding special rights in Russia. In addition, the ambassadors were demanded that on behalf of the government they give the order to Shein to surrender Smolensk. However, Golitsyn and Filaret were firmly told that they had no right to depart from the instructions given to them by the Zemsky Sobor. Negotiations are deadlocked. As a result, Prince Vasily Golitsyn was detained as a prisoner (died in captivity) along with Metropolitan Philaret.
In the capital, fearing a popular uprising and going over to the side of the citizens of the garrison of Moscow, the boyars went further into their betrayal and on the night of September 21 secretly let in the 8-thousand. Polish corps (it included many German landsknecht mercenaries) to the Kremlin. The Poles also captured key centers such as China Town, the White City and the Novodevichy Convent. In order to completely exclude the possibility of urban battles that threatened relatively few Poles with defeat or heavy losses, before entering Moscow, Zolkiewski persuaded the Boyar Duma to send 18 thousands of troops (mostly archers) to fight the Swedes, who at that time had passed to open intervention. After the departure of Hetman Zolkiewski in October, the post of garrison commander was transferred to Alexander Gonsevsky. The "right hand" of the Kremlin commandant was the boyar Mikhail Saltykov.
In the Kremlin, German soldiers were deployed to the enemy side in the battle of Klushino (each company of landsknechts numbered 600 soldiers), a guard was placed at the gates, and the artillery was on full alert. In order to ensure the promotion of the Polish troops on the streets in the event of a popular uprising, all the bars that locked the streets of Moscow were broken. Muscovites were forbidden to walk with weapons. It was impossible even to sell firewood in the city, because of them it was possible to prepare clubs and stakes. In the evenings in the capital, life died down, the invaders acted in the most cruel manner. Polish patrols rode through the streets and killed everyone who came along the path. With the occupation in Moscow began massive looting, murder in violence. “... Our people,” wrote Polish captain Maskevich, “were not satisfied with the measure of anything, were not satisfied with the peacefulness of the Muscovites, and arbitrarily took from them everything that they liked, forcibly taking wives and daughters”. The occupants treated with contempt the “heretics”: not only laymen, but also priests were not allowed to go to matins. They robbed the merchants, took away their goods. It is clear that among the Moscow population grew indignation and hatred for the invaders.
After the interventionists appeared in the Kremlin, representatives of the Seven Boyars actually lost the status of the Russian government and became hostages. Getman Gonsevsky rejected the more flexible tactics of his predecessor, combining military pressure with negotiations, promises, searching for compromises, and in fact became a military dictator, introducing an occupation regime. Management of Moscow completely passed into his hands. Pan Gonsevsky personally distributed the ranks, estates and patrimonies. Seven Boyars obediently authorized all his orders, putting signatures under the letters written by him, sent to the cities. Still remaining in Moscow, Russian archers under various pretexts were sent to distant cities. The people finally turned away from the Moscow government. In most areas of the Russian kingdom anarchy reigned. Some cities kissed the cross to Vladislav, others - to False Dmitry II, and other places lived on their own.
The government of Mstislavsky finally capitulated and sent the ambassadors to the royal camp a new order - to accept the swearing allegiance of the Polish king Sigismund. And demanding that Smolensk capitulate. In October, having caught the priest’s “thief” priest Khariton and under torture by obtaining the necessary confessions from him (which Khariton later denied), the accusation of “conspiracy” and the “patriotic opposition” in the Moscow elite — Patriarch Hermogen, Vorotynsky and Andrei Golitsyn — were trumped up , was removed from management and taken under house arrest.
The position of the Russian state at this time was described in a report to London by a representative of the English trading company, John Merrick: “It’s pretty well known how miserable and distressful the people of Muscovy are for the last eight to nine years ... Most of the country, adjacent to Poland, has been devastated burned and occupied by the Poles. Another part of the borders of Sweden was captured and held by the Swedes under the pretext of rendering assistance. ” Merrick even offered the British government to seize the northern part of the Russian kingdom: “This part of Russia, which is even more distant from the danger of both Poles and Swedes, is the most profitable for us and the most convenient for trade ... Russia ... should become a warehouse of eastern goods for England. " Thus, the Russian civilization experienced one of the most difficult periods of its long stories: there was a question about turning Russia into a colony for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, perhaps, and England.
The vocation of the kingdom of the Polish kingdom untied the hands of the Swedes. Their contingent, led by Delagardi and Gorny, retreated to the north after the Klushinsky battle. The Swedish king Charles IX sent reinforcements to begin the seizure of "orphan" Russian lands. Swedish detachments dispersed to capture Ivangorod, Nuts, Ladoga and Karela. A detachment of Swedish and French mercenaries under the command of Pierre Delaville captured the Russian fortress Old Ladoga. Polish troops still robbed and burned everywhere. They burned Kozelsk, Kalyazin, approached Pskov and Novgorod, their garrisons committed atrocities in Tver, Torzhok, Staraya Russa, Volokolamsk. Sapieha devastated Severshchina. Poles killed adults and sold children into slavery.
Stanislav Zolkiewski shows a captive king and his brothers in the Warsaw Warsaw 29 in October 1611. Painting by Jan Matejko
The death of the pretender
At this time, False Dmitry II, who now relied mainly on national cadres — on the Don and Volga (from Astrakhan) Cossack groups, again began to approach Moscow. Those Polish detachments that did not wish to serve King Sigismund and (the largest of them was the equestrian detachment of Pan Lisowski) scattered over Russian soil, preferring to rob at their own risk and risk, without submitting to anyone. Of the Tushino boyars, only three remained: the princes D. Trubetskoy and D. Cherkassky in Kaluga and the ataman I. Zarutsky in Tula. Zarutsky, after the collapse of the Tushinsky camp, first took a pro-Polish position and chose to go to the camp of the Polish king near Smolensk. From there Zarutsky with the army of hetman Stanislav Zolkeevsky set off on a march to Moscow. However, the relationship between the well-born Polish pan and Tushino "boyar" did not work out. As a result, Zarutsky returned to the False Dmitry in Kaluga and served him faithfully until the day of his death.
To strengthen his position, the impostor hurried to declare himself a defender of the Orthodox faith. In the capital, many began to draw closer to the Kaluga "thief" and secretly refer to his people. The myth of the good son of Grozny again began to seize the imagination of the people betrayed by the boyars. False Dmitry II was sworn to the population of many cities and villages, including those who had previously fought it stubbornly: Kolomna, Kashira, Suzdal, Galich and Vladimir. More and more supporters of the impostor among the urban poor, serfs and Cossacks, while many nobles who were in the Kaluga camp, left the impostor and went to the service of Vladislav in Moscow. Thus, the existing forces of the impostor was enough to challenge the new Moscow government.
By early September, the impostor detachments had recaptured from the Poles Kozelsk, Meshchovsk, Pochep and Starodub. The Russian population began to see in Kaluga a “thief” the only force capable of resisting foreign invaders. False Dmitry swore Kazan and Vyatka. The ambassadors of the impostor openly agitated the people against Vladislav. Ataman Zarutsky launched an energetic war with the invaders. Then King Sigismund and Seven Boyars threw his former Hetman Sapega against False Dmitry. But the troops of Ataman Ivan Zarutsky in November and December 1610 twice defeated the Poles. Daily, on the orders of the Kaluga tsar, Cossacks cruelly executed captured Poles. It was a response to the atrocities of the interventionists. The Cossacks seized the Polish gentry and soldiers, carried them to Kaluga and drowned them there. Such a policy supported the popularity of the False Dmitry, it saw the defender of the people.
However, the False Dmitry forces could not withstand a more professional opponent for a long time and the impostor planned to move the headquarters to Voronezh, closer to the Cossack outskirts, from where the most experienced fighters came. According to the plan of the Kaluga "kings" Voronezh was to become the new royal capital. In addition, there were plans to win over the Crimean horde.
False Dmitry II killed his entourage. An atmosphere of cruelty and suspicion reigned in the Kaluga camp. The impostor feared conspiracy among his entourage. More and more courtiers were executed on suspicion of treason. People were seized at the slightest suspicion, betrayed to cruel torture and killed.
Back in the fall of 1610, the Kasimov king Uraz-Mohammed and Lzhedmitry had a conflict (the Tatar king was slandered by his son). His relative, the head of the guard of False Dmitry, Prince Peter Urusov, stood up for the Kasimov ruler. The servant Tatar king was killed, and Urusov was imprisoned, but after resigning from it was reinstated. Urusov was holding a grudge and decided to take revenge. False Dmitry II died 11 December 1610 of the year. When the pretender, out of habit, after lunch, with abundant drinking, went on a sledge for a walk, he was accompanied only by personal horse guards from Kasimov Tatars. Prince Peter Urusov falsified Dmitri II at close range from a pistol, and then cut off his head with his saber. The decapitated impostor was taken to Kaluga. Thus ended the story of the "Tsar".
However, after the death of the impostor, the Kaluga camp decided not to recognize the authority of Vladislav until he arrived in Moscow, and all Polish troops would not be withdrawn from the Russian kingdom. Marina Mnishek, who lived in Kaluga, soon had a son. The Cossacks solemnly called him Tsarevich Ivan Dmitrievich, and the people called him "vorenko". True, contemporaries questioned the fatherhood of the impostor. The most probable father of Ivan “Pug” was the favorite of Marina Mnishek - ataman Zarutsky. “Tsarevich” was not destined to play any serious role in subsequent events.
To be continued ...
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