Causes and period of turmoil. Time of Troubles

Time of Troubles - designation of the period of Russian history from 1598 to 1613, marked natural disasters, Polish-Swedish intervention, the most severe political, economic, state and social crisis.

Start

After the death of Ivan the Terrible (1584), his heir Fyodor Ioannovich was incapable of governing, and younger son, Tsarevich Dmitry, was in infancy. With the death of Dmitry (1591) and Fedor (1598), the ruling dynasty came to an end, secondary boyar families - the Yurievs and Godunovs - came to the fore.

Three years, from 1601 to 1603, were lean, even in summer months frosts did not stop, and in September snow fell. According to some assumptions, the reason for this was the eruption of the Huaynaputina volcano in Peru on February 19, 1600 and the volcanic winter that followed. A terrible famine broke out, the victims of which were up to half a million people. Masses of people flocked to Moscow, where the government distributed money and bread to the needy. However, these measures only increased the economic disorganization. The landowners could not feed their serfs and servants and drove them out of the estates. Left without a livelihood, people turned to robbery and robbery, intensifying the general chaos. Individual gangs grew to several hundred people. Ataman Khlopko's detachment numbered up to 500 people.

The beginning of the Time of Troubles refers to the intensification of rumors that the legitimate Tsarevich Dmitry is alive, from which it followed that the reign of Boris Godunov was illegal. The impostor False Dmitry, who announced to the Polish prince A. A. Vishnevetsky about his royal origin, entered into close relations with the Polish magnate, governor of Sandomierz Jerzy Mnishek and papal nuncio Rangoni. At the beginning of 1604, the impostor received an audience with the Polish king, and on April 17 he converted to Catholicism. King Sigismund recognized the rights of False Dmitry to the Russian throne and allowed everyone to help the "tsarevich". For this, False Dmitry promised to transfer Smolensk and Seversky lands to Poland. For the consent of the governor Mnishek to the marriage of his daughter with False Dmitry, he also promised to transfer Novgorod and Pskov to his bride. Mnishek equipped the impostor with an army consisting of Zaporozhye Cossacks and Polish mercenaries (“adventurers”). In 1604, the army of the impostor crossed the border of Russia, many cities (Moravsk, Chernigov, Putivl) surrendered to False Dmitry, the army of the Moscow governor F. I. Mstislavsky was defeated near Novgorod-Seversky. At the height of the war, Boris Godunov died (April 13, 1605); Godunov's army almost immediately betrayed his successor, 16-year-old Fyodor Borisovich, who was overthrown on June 1 and killed along with his mother on June 10.

Accession of False Dmitry I

On June 20, 1605, under general rejoicing, the impostor solemnly entered Moscow. The Moscow boyars, headed by Bogdan Belsky, publicly recognized him as the rightful heir. On June 24, Archbishop Ignatius of Ryazan, who back in Tula confirmed Dmitry's rights to the kingdom, was elevated to patriarch. Thus, the impostor received the official support of the clergy. On July 18, Queen Martha, who recognized her son as an impostor, was brought to the capital, and soon, on July 30, Dmitry was crowned king.

The reign of False Dmitry was marked by an orientation towards Poland and some attempts at reform.

Shuisky's conspiracy

Not all of the Moscow boyars recognized False Dmitry as the legitimate ruler. Immediately upon his arrival in Moscow, Prince Vasily Shuisky, through intermediaries, began to spread rumors of imposture. Governor Pyotr Basmanov uncovered the plot, and on June 23, 1605, Shuisky was captured and condemned to death, pardoned only directly at the block.

Shuisky attracted princes V.V. Golitsyn and I.S. Kurakin to his side. Enlisting the support of the Novgorod-Pskov detachment standing near Moscow, which was preparing for a campaign in the Crimea, Shuisky organized a coup.

On the night of May 16-17, 1606, the boyar opposition, taking advantage of the anger of the Muscovites against the Polish adventurers who came to Moscow for the wedding of False Dmitry, raised an uprising, during which the impostor was killed.

Military actions

The coming to power of the representative of the Suzdal branch of the Rurikovich boyar Vasily Shuisky did not bring peace. In the south, the uprising of Ivan Bolotnikov (1606-1607) broke out, which gave rise to the beginning of the movement of "thieves". Rumors about the miraculous deliverance of Tsarevich Dmitry did not subside. A new impostor appeared, who went down in history as the Tushinsky Thief (1607-1610). By the end of 1608, the power of the Tushinsky Thief extended to Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Uglich, Kostroma, Galich, Vologda. Kolomna, Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, Smolensk, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, the Ural and Siberian cities remained loyal to Moscow. As a result of the degradation of the border service, the 100,000-strong Nogai horde devastates the "ukraine" and Seversky lands in 1607-1608.

In 1608 the Crimean Tatars for the first time for a long time crossed the Oka and ravaged the central Russian regions. Shuya and Kineshma were defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian troops, Tver was taken, the troops of the Lithuanian hetman Jan Sapega besieged the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, the troops of Pan Lisovsky captured Suzdal. Even cities that voluntarily recognized the power of the impostor were mercilessly plundered by detachments of interventionists. The Poles levied taxes on land and trade, received "feeding" in Russian cities. All this caused by the end of 1608 a broad national liberation movement. In December 1608, Kineshma, Kostroma, Galich, Totma, Vologda, Beloozero, Ustyuzhna Zheleznopolskaya "departed" from the impostor, Veliky Ustyug, Vyatka, Perm came out in support of the rebels. In January 1609, Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, who commanded Russian warriors from Tikhvin and the Onega churchyards, repelled the 4,000-strong Polish detachment of Kernozitsky advancing on Novgorod. At the beginning of 1609, the militia of the city of Ustyuzhna drove out the Poles and "Cherkasy" (Cossacks) from the surrounding villages, and in February repulsed all the attacks of the Polish cavalry and hired German infantry. On February 17, the Russian militias lost the battle of Suzdal to the Poles. At the end of February, "Vologda and Pomeranian peasants" liberated Kostroma from the interventionists. On March 3, the militia of the northern and north Russian cities took Romanov, from there moved to Yaroslavl and took it in early April. Nizhny Novgorod governor Alyabyev took Murom on March 15, and Vladimir was released on March 27.

The government of Vasily Shuisky concludes the Vyborg Treaty with Sweden, according to which, in exchange for military aid Korelsky county was transferred to the Swedish crown. The Russian government also had to pay for the mercenaries, who make up the bulk of the Swedish army. Fulfilling his obligations, Charles IX provided a 5,000-strong detachment of mercenaries, as well as a 10,000-strong detachment of "all sorts of mixed rabble" under the command of J. Delagardie. In the spring, Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky gathered a 5,000-strong Russian army in Novgorod. On May 10, Russian-Swedish forces occupied Staraya Rusa, and on May 11 they defeated the Polish-Lithuanian detachments approaching the city. On May 15, Russian-Swedish forces under the command of Chulkov and Gorn defeated the Polish cavalry under the command of Kernozitsky near Toropets.

By the end of spring, most of the northwestern Russian cities had abandoned the impostor. By the summer, the number of Russian troops reached 20 thousand people. On June 17, in a heavy battle near Torzhok, the Russian-Swedish forces forced the Polish-Lithuanian army of Zborovsky to retreat. On July 11-13, Russian-Swedish forces, under the command of Skopin-Shuisky and Delagardie, defeated the Poles near Tver. In the further actions of Skopin-Shuisky Swedish troops(with the exception of the detachment of Christier Somme, numbering 1 thousand people) did not take part. On July 24, Russian detachments crossed to the right bank of the Volga and entered the Makariev Kalyazin Monastery. On August 19, the Poles under the command of Jan Sapieha were defeated by Skopin-Shuisky at Kalyazin. On September 10, the Russians, together with the Zomme detachment, occupied Pereyaslavl, and on October 9, voivode Golovin occupied Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. On October 16, a Russian detachment broke through into the Trinity-Sergius Monastery besieged by the Poles. On October 28, Skopin-Shuisky defeated Hetman Sapega near Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda.

On January 12, 1610, the Poles retreated from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, and on February 27, they left Dmitrov under the blows of the Russian troops. On March 12, 1610, the regiments of Skopin-Shuisky entered the capital, and on April 29 he died after a short illness. The Russian army at that time was preparing to go to the aid of Smolensk, which since September 1609 was besieged by the troops of the Polish king Sigismund III. The Poles and Cossacks also took possession of the cities of the Seversk land; the population of Starodub and Pochep completely perished during the enemy assault, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky surrendered.

On July 4, 1610, the Battle of Klushino took place, as a result of which the Polish army (Zholkevsky) defeated the Russian-Swedish army under the command of Dmitry Shuisky and Jacob Delagardi; during the battle, German mercenaries who served with the Russians went over to the side of the Poles. The Poles opened the way to Moscow.

Seven Boyars

The defeat of the troops of Vasily Shuisky from the Poles near Klushin (June 24/July 4, 1610) finally undermined the shaky authority of the "boyar tsar", and a coup took place in Moscow upon news of this event. As a result of the boyar conspiracy, Vasily Shuisky was removed, Moscow swore allegiance to the Polish prince Vladislav, and on September 20-21, Polish troops entered the capital. However, the robberies and violence committed by the Polish-Lithuanian detachments in Russian cities, as well as interreligious contradictions between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, caused rejection of Polish domination - in the northwest and east, a number of Russian cities "besieged" and refused to swear allegiance to Vladislav.

1610-1613 - Seven Boyars (Mstislavsky, Trubetskoy, Golitsyn, Obolensky, Romanov, Lykov, Sheremetev).

On March 17, 1611, the Poles, who took a dispute in the market for the beginning of an uprising, massacre in Moscow, 7 thousand Muscovites die in Kitai-Gorod alone.

In 1611, the 1st Lyapunov Militia approached the walls of Moscow. However, as a result of a feud at the military council of the rebels, Lyapunov was killed, and the militia dispersed. In the same year, the Crimean Tatars, without meeting resistance, ravaged the Ryazan Territory. Smolensk, after a long siege, was captured by the Poles, and the Swedes, leaving the role of "allies", ravaged the northern Russian cities.

The Second Militia of 1612 was headed by the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo elder Kuzma Minin, who invited Prince Pozharsky to lead the military operations. In February 1612, the militia moved to Yaroslavl to take this important point, where many roads crossed. Yaroslavl was busy; the militia stood here for four months, because it was necessary to "build" not only the army, but also the "land". Pozharsky wanted to convene a “general zemstvo council” to discuss plans to combat the Polish-Lithuanian intervention and “how we should not be stateless in these evil times and choose a sovereign for us with all the earth.” The candidacy of the Swedish prince Karl-Philip was also proposed for discussion, who "wants to be baptized into our Orthodox faith of the Greek law." However, the Zemstvo Council did not take place.

On September 22, 1612, one of the bloodiest events of the Time of Troubles takes place - the city of Vologda was taken by the Poles and Cherkasy (Cossacks), who destroyed almost all of its population, including the monks of the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery.

The overthrow of the government of Prince Vladislav

Around August 20 (30), 1612, the militia moved from Yaroslavl to Moscow. In September, the second militia defeated the troops of Hetman Khodkevich, who was trying to connect with the Polish garrison that controlled the Moscow Kremlin.

On October 22 (November 1), 1612, the militia led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky stormed Kitay-gorod; The garrison of the Commonwealth retreated to the Kremlin. Prince Pozharsky entered Kitai-Gorod with Kazan icon Mother of God and vowed to build a temple in memory of this victory. On October 26, the command of the Polish garrison signed a surrender, releasing the Moscow boyars and other nobles from the Kremlin at the same time; the next day the garrison surrendered.

S. M. Solovyov, "History of Russia since ancient times":

The election of the king

Consequences of the Time of Troubles

The Time of Troubles ended with great territorial losses for Russia. Smolensk was lost for many decades; western and a significant part of eastern Karelia captured by the Swedes. Not reconciled to national and religious oppression, almost the entire Orthodox population, both Russians and Karelians, will leave these territories. Russia lost access to the Gulf of Finland. The Swedes left Novgorod only in 1617, only a few hundred inhabitants remained in the completely devastated city.

The time of troubles led to a deep economic decline. In many districts of the historical center of the state, the size of arable land has decreased by 20 times, and the number of peasants by 4 times. In the western counties (Rzhevsky, Mozhaysky, etc.), cultivated land ranged from 0.05 to 4.8%. The lands in the possessions of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery were “everything ruined to the ground and the peasant woman with their wives and children was cut down, and the worthy ones were brought to full capacity ... and five or six dozen peasant women after the Lithuanian devastation were shed, and they still do not know how to make bread from ruin and bread.” In a number of areas, and by the 20-40s of the 17th century, the population was still below the level of the 16th century. And in the middle of the 17th century, the "living arable land" in the Zamoskovskiy Territory accounted for no more than half of all lands recorded in cadastral books.

Time of Troubles - Chronology of events

The chronology of events helps to better imagine how events developed in a historical period. The Time of Troubles chronology presented in the article will help students to better write an essay or prepare for a report, and teachers to choose key events that should be told in class.

The Time of Troubles is a designation of the period of Russian history from 1598 to 1613. This period was marked by natural disasters, the Polish-Swedish intervention, the most severe political, economic, state and social crisis.

Chronology of events of troubled times

The prelude to troubled times

1565-1572 - oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible. The beginning of a systemic political and economic crisis in Russia.

1569 - Lublin Union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Formation of the Commonwealth.

1581 - murder by Ivan the Terrible in a fit of anger, the eldest son of Ivan Ivanovich.

1584, March 18 - the death of Ivan the Terrible while playing chess, the accession to the throne of Fedor Ivanovich.

1596. October - Schism in the church. Cathedral in Brest, split into two cathedrals: Uniate and Orthodox. The Kyiv Metropolitanate was divided into two - faithful to Orthodoxy and Uniates.

December 15, 1596 - Royal Universal to the Orthodox with support for the decisions of the Uniate Council, with a ban on obeying Orthodox clergy, an order to accept the union (in violation of the law on freedom of religion in Poland). The beginning of an open persecution of Orthodoxy in Lithuania and Poland.

The beginning of troubled times

1598 - the death of Fedor Ivanovich, the termination of the Rurik dynasty, the election of boyar Boris Fedorovich Godunov, brother-in-law of the late tsar, as tsar at the Zemsky Sobor.

January 01, 1598. The death of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, the end of the Rurik dynasty. The rumor that Tsarevich Dimitri is alive is spreading in Moscow for the first time

February 22, 1598. Consent of Boris Godunov to accept the royal crown after much persuasion and threats to excommunicate Patriarch Job from the Church for disobedience to the decision of the Zemsky Sobor.

1600 Bishop Ignatius Grek becomes the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Moscow.

1601 Great famine in Russia.

Two contradictory rumors are spreading: the first is that Tsarevich Dimitri was killed on the orders of Godunov, the second is about his “miraculous salvation”. Both rumors were taken seriously, despite the contradiction, spread and provided anti-Godunov forces with help among the "masses".

Impostor

1602 Hierodeacon Grigory Otrepyev of the Chudov Monastery escapes to Lithuania. the appearance in Lithuania of the first impostor, posing as the miraculously saved Tsarevich Dmitry.

1603 - Ignatius Grek becomes Archbishop of Ryazan.

1604 - False Dmitry I in a letter to Pope Clement VIII promises to spread the Catholic faith in Russia.

April 13, 1605 - Death of Tsar Boris Feodorovich Godunov. Muscovites' oath to Tsarina Maria Grigorievna, Tsar Feodor Borisovich and Princess Xenia Borisovna.

June 3, 1605 - Public murder on the fiftieth day of the reign of the sixteen-year-old Tsar Feodor Borisovich Godunov by princes Vasily Vas. Golitsyn and Vasily Mosalsky, Mikhail Molchanov, Sherefedinov and three archers.

June 20, 1605 - False Dmitry I in Moscow; a few days later he appoints Ignatius the Greek as patriarch.

Tushino camp

May 17, 1606 - Conspiracy led by Prince. Vasily Shuisky, the uprising in Moscow against False Dmitry I, the deposition and death of False Dmitry I.

1606-1610 - the reign of the "boyar tsar" Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky.

June 03, 1606 - Transfer of relics and canonization of St. Right-Believing Tsarevich Dimitry of Uglich.

1606-1607 - an uprising led by the "voivode of Tsar Dmitry" Ivan Bolotnikov.

February 14, 1607 - Arrival in Moscow at the royal command and at the request of Patriarch Hermogenes "byvago" Patriarch Job.

February 16, 1607 - "Letter of Permit" - a conciliar ruling on the innocence of Boris Godunov in the death of Tsarevich Dimitry of Uglich, on the legal rights of the Godunov dynasty and on the guilt of Moscow people in the murder of Tsar Fyodor and Tsarina Maria Godunov.

February 20, 1607 - Reading of the petition of the people and the "letter of permission" in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin in the presence of Sts. Patriarchs Job and Hermogenes.

1608 - False Dmitry II's campaign against Moscow: the impostor besieged the capital for 21 months.

The beginning of the Russian-Polish war, the Seven Boyars

1609 - Vasily Shuisky's agreement with Sweden on military assistance, the open intervention of the Polish king Sigismund III in Russian affairs, the siege of Smolensk.

1610 - the murder of False Dmitry II, mysterious death the talented commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, the defeat from the Polish-Lithuanian troops near Klushino, the overthrow of Vasily Shuisky from the throne and his full tonsure as a monk.

1610, August - Hetman Zholkevsky's troops entered Moscow, Prince Vladislav was called to the Russian throne.

militias

1611 - the creation of the First Militia by the Ryazan nobleman Prokopy Lyapunov, an unsuccessful attempt to liberate Moscow, the capture of Novgorod by the Swedes and the Poles of Smolensk.

1611, autumn - the creation of the Second Militia, led by the Nizhny Novgorod townsman headman Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky.

1612, spring - The second militia moved to Yaroslavl, the creation of the "Council of All the Earth".

1612, summer - connection of the Second and the remnants of the First militia near Moscow.

1612, August - Hetman Khodkevich's attempt to break through to the Polish-Lithuanian garrison besieged in the Kremlin was repulsed.

1612, the end of October - the liberation of Moscow from the invaders.

The election of the king

1613 - Zemsky Sobor elects Mikhail Romanov as Tsar (February 21). Mikhail's arrival from Kostroma to Moscow (May 2) and his coronation to the kingdom (May 11).

The defeat of Zarutsky and Marina Mnishek near Voronezh.

Or "Trouble" in historical literature is usually used to designate the period of the late 16th - early 17th centuries. When a crisis of state power took place in Russian society, there was “general disobedience, discord between the people and the authorities”, inter-class, intra-class contradictions aggravated, a real threat of the loss of sovereignty by the Moscow state appeared. This term was first introduced by Russian writers in the early 17th century and was widely used in pre-revolutionary literature. In Soviet historiography given period began to be defined as the period of the peasant war led by I. I. Bolotnikov. Now the term "Time of Troubles" ("Troubles") has been returned to Russian historiography, since it adequately reflects the essence of events Russian history turn of the XVI - XVII centuries.

There are various approaches to explaining the causes of the events of the Time of Troubles. Within the framework of the theological approach, Christian historians (A.V. Kartashov and others), focusing on the spiritual factor, saw the root cause of the events of the Time of Troubles in the “sin of pride, which was the temptation of autocracy” and considered these events as a punishment “for a godless life, as a gift, a martyr's crown, to enable the people to show their strength.

Famous Russian historians of the XIX century. and N.I. Kostomarov, in explaining the causes of the Time of Troubles, considered the foreign policy factor to be the main one and connected the origin of the events of the Time of Troubles with the political intervention of foreign enemies of Russia, and, above all, Poland, which represented the interests of the Catholic Church in relation to Russia.

However, most historians have explained and explain the causes of the Time of Troubles by the action, first of all, of internal factors. At the same time, S. M. Solovyov associated the causes of the Troubles with the “dynastic crisis”, that is, the suppression of the Moscow Rurik dynasty, as well as “with the bad state of morality in society”. IN. Klyuchevsky, on the other hand, considered the suppression of the dynasty only a pretext for the Troubles, which was, in fact, a manifestation of a complex social crisis caused by a system of "state duties" that gave rise to social discord and the refusal of classes, both service and draft, to fulfill their duties to the state.

According to the concept of V.O. Klyuchevsky, the Time of Troubles began from above, and in the events of the Time of Troubles, the boyars, the nobles, and the lower classes showed successive activity. In historiography Soviet period(N. I. Pavlenko, V. A. Fedorov and others) the approach prevailed, according to which the events of the turn of the 16th - 17th centuries. were considered mainly through the prism of the concept of "class struggle" and were interpreted as a peasant revolution (war, uprising), which was caused by the enslavement of the peasants at the end of the 16th century. In modern domestic historiography, an approach has been established, whose representatives (historians Skrynnikov R. G., Kobrin V. B. and others) believe that the concept of "peasant war" cannot reflect the whole essence, complexity and scale of the events of the Time of Troubles, and use it in relation to By this period, the broader concept of "civil war", the main reason for which was, according to the historian V. G. Kobrin, "the most complex interweaving of various contradictions - class and national, intra-class and inter-class". Modern researchers are unanimous that the Time of Troubles has its roots in the era of Ivan the Terrible, that is, due to the negative consequences, first of all, of the tsar's oprichnina policy.

In the literature, one can find various versions of the chronology and periodization of the Time of Troubles. Some researchers associate the beginning of the Time of Troubles with the death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584, others with the death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584, others with the famine that began in 1601, and others with the appearance in 1604 of the impostor False Dmitry I.

Most researchers start counting the Time of Troubles from 1598, when with the death of the childless Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, the son of Ivan the Terrible, the Rurik dynasty ended, and a dynastic crisis began. It was decided to get out of this crisis by electing a tsar at the Zemsky Sobor: he became the first elected tsar.

The end of the Troubles is associated with the election of the city as king.

Historians, as a rule, distinguish three stages of the Troubles.

The first stage covers the period from 1598 to 1606 and is conditionally referred to as dynastic: at this time, in the conditions of a dynastic crisis that arose as a result of the suppression of the Rurik dynasty, an acute struggle for the Moscow throne unfolds.

The second stage, covering 1606 - 1610, is defined as social, since the main content of it was the struggle of the main social classes, social strata of Russian society.

The third stage - 1610 - 1613 - called national liberation, because at that time the struggle of the Russian people was unfolding against foreign intervention, and a national government is being created, headed by a representative of the new royal dynasty - Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov.

Consider how the main events of the Time of Troubles developed.

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, he inherited the throne and formally ruled the Muscovite state from 1584 to 1598, he was a sickly and weak-minded person. According to the historian N. I. Karamzin, Tsar Fyodor was meek, pious, had a timid mind, weakness in his legs and was more suitable “for a cell and a cave than for sovereign power.” Objectively assessing the abilities of his son as a future ruler, Ivan the Terrible in advance creates under Fyodor a board of trustees of five people, among whom was Boris Fyodorovich Godunov (brother of Fyodor's wife, Irina Godunova).

After the accession to the throne of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, a sharp struggle for power flared up among the palace groups surrounding the throne, in which the tsar's brother-in-law, the boyar Boris Godunov, soon won. Pushing aside the princes Shuisky, Mstislavsky and other guardians of Tsar Fedor, he became, as they say, the de facto ruler of the Muscovite state.

So, in 1598, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich died without leaving heirs: his only daughter died in infancy, the younger brother, as noted earlier, the young Tsarevich Dmitry, last son Terrible and the last of the direct heirs to the throne, died in 1591 in the city of Uglich under unclear circumstances (according to the official version, he mortally wounded himself with a knife during an epileptic seizure, and, according to rumors, was killed by Godunov's supporters).

Under these conditions, a way out of the emerging dynastic crisis was found in the fact that they decided to elect a new king at the Zemsky Sobor. Due to the circumstances, the only candidate turned out to be Boris Godunov, who was elected tsar at the Zemsky Sobor in 1598 and ruled until 1605.

Godunov's domestic policy, in general, was aimed at overcoming the crisis in which the Muscovite state found itself as a result of the oprichnina policy. Since the beginning of the 90s. 16th century an economic upsurge was outlined in the country, although the consequences of the oprichnina and the Livonian war had not yet been fully overcome.

The construction of cities on the Volga (Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, etc.) was intensively going on, the development of Siberia continued, where fortresses and prisons were built (Surgut, Tomsk, etc.), crafts and trade developed. The cities of Voronezh, Belgorod, etc. were founded to strengthen the southern and western borders. Church and civil stone construction acquired a large scope: stone fortresses were built in Smolensk, Astrakhan, Kazan, and in Moscow a water supply system and architectural complexes were built in the Kremlin.

Godunov took care of the spread of book printing, opened printing houses in the cities, hatched plans for the establishment of schools and universities in Russia. Foreign specialists (watchmakers, doctors, pharmacists, etc.) were invited to work in Russia, and the children of Russian nobles were sent to study sciences abroad. On the initiative of Boris Godunov, a patriarchate was established in 1589, as a result of which the Russian Church acquired complete independence from the Byzantine Church, and Moscow began to be perceived as an independent center of Orthodoxy.

Also stabilized international position Russia. As a result of the Russo-Swedish war of 1590-1593, which ended with the Treaty of Tyavzin in 1595, Russia was able to return part of the lands lost during the Livonian War, including the cities of Yam, Koporye, Ivangorod. In 1601, the truce with the Commonwealth was extended for 20 years. Trade with England, Holland, Persia intensified. Some modern researchers, characterizing Boris Godunov as a fairly Europeanized politician, believe that if he managed to gain a foothold on the throne, then the prospect of a European path of development would open up before Russia.

However, it is important to note that at the end of the XVI century. in the Moscow state, measures were taken aimed, in general, at strengthening the autocratic power, as well as at increasing the role of the prikaz bureaucracy, at increasing tax oppression, and at strengthening the serfdom of the peasants.

It was under Boris Godunov that serfdom was established in Russia. This process began under Ivan the Terrible, when, starting from 1581, the so-called “reserved summers” began to be introduced episodically. the ban on the transition of peasants on St. George's Day from one landowner to another. In 1592 - 1593. A decree was issued to prohibit the transition of peasants on St. George's Day everywhere and forever.

And in 1597, a decree was issued on "lesson years", that is, on the introduction of a term for detecting fugitive peasants (initially - 5 years). The outlined economic upsurge was interrupted by the explosion that broke out in 1601-1603. terrible famine, which, despite the large-scale charitable activities carried out by the government of B. Godunov, had disastrous consequences for economic development country and led to a sharp aggravation of social contradictions.

As a result of two lean years, the price of bread rose hundreds of times. In conditions of famine, mass epidemics began and, according to contemporaries, a third of the population of the Moscow state died out in these years. In 1603, a powerful uprising of peasants and serfs under the leadership of Khlopok unfolded in the central districts of the country.

Although the uprising was quickly suppressed, the domestic political situation in the country did not stabilize. In the context of a massive national disaster, mass dissatisfaction with the ruler also grew: the disaster that befell the country was perceived by medieval public consciousness as God's punishment for the wrong king, who "was not born on the throne", i.e. did not have royal origin.

Popular rumor accused Godunov of the death of Tsarevich Dmitry, and of the death of even Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. At the same time, the most terrible rumor for Boris Godunov began to spread that Tsarevich Dmitry was alive and was preparing to win the Moscow throne from him. Indeed, a man appeared in the Commonwealth (according to the official version of the Godunov government, a runaway monk from the Moscow Chudov Monastery, Grigory Otrepiev), posing as Prince Dmitry, who died in Uglich.

Having received the support of the Polish king Sigismund III, this impostor - False Dmitry I - in the fall. In 1604, he invaded the Moscow state and moved along the northwestern outskirts, where there were many opponents of Godunov, to the capital. The power of False Dmitry I was soon recognized by a number of southwestern Russian cities, and by March 1605 many representatives of the boyars and nobility, as well as a significant part of the masses, swore allegiance to him.

Shocked by the success of the impostor, Boris Godunov died suddenly in mid-April 1605, and his 16-year-old son Fyodor ascended the throne. However, in early May 1605, the tsarist troops went over to the side of the impostor. And in Moscow on June 1, 1605, there was a coup in favor of the impostor, as a result of which Fyodor Godunov and his mother were killed.

On June 20, 1605, False Dmitry I solemnly entered the capital and soon got married in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. The reign of the impostor lasted only 11 months: from June 1605 to May 1606. The fact is that, having ascended the throne, False Dmitry I, contrary to the promises previously given to the peasantry, confirmed the feudal legislative acts adopted before him: the people lost their faith into a "good king".

The leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, fearing that False Dmitry I would fulfill the promise given to the Polish king to introduce Catholicism in Russia, deprived him of their support. Certain concessions of the impostor in relation to the nobles in order to enlist their support, caused discontent among the boyar nobility. Moreover, according to those representatives of the boyar aristocracy who used False Dmitry I as a weapon in the fight against the Godunovs, there was no longer any need to support the impostor.

In May 1606, during the celebrations on the occasion of the wedding of False Dmitry I and the daughter of a Polish magnate, a Catholic, a conspiracy took place against the impostor, which was led by the noble boyar Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky. During the implementation of the conspiracy, the mass dissatisfaction of Muscovites with the behavior of the Polish guests who arrived at the wedding, who did not take into account Russian customs, etc., was used.

At an improvised Zemsky Sobor in May 1606, Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky was elected tsar, who remained on the throne until 1610. During his accession, the new tsar made the so-called “cross-kissing record”, pledging not to judge his subjects without the participation of the Boyar Duma, not to persecute the innocent relatives of the disgraced and, finally, carefully check all denunciations.

Nominated by a narrow circle of the boyar nobility, the new tsar was not popular among the people. The spread of rumors about the "salvation" of False Dmitry I led to a mass movement against Shuisky under the slogan of returning the "true Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich" to the throne. A vast territory was engulfed by the uprising directed primarily against the Shuya, headed by (1606 - 1607). An army of thousands of rebels, which included detachments of Cossacks, serfs, townspeople, peasants, small estate nobles, and others, besieged Moscow in the fall of 1606.

After several battles with the tsarist army, Bolotnikov's detachments retreated to Tula, and, unable to withstand the siege, in September 1607 were forced to surrender. The Commonwealth, as before, sought to use the unstable internal situation of Russia to seize its lands. At the beginning of 1608, a protege of the Polish king, a new impostor, appeared within the Moscow state, posing as Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich, who allegedly escaped after the uprising in Moscow in 1606.

Under the banner of False Dmitry II, all Russian people dissatisfied with the government of Vasily Shuisky, as well as detachments of Polish gentry and Zaporozhye Cossacks, gathered. In June 1608, the army of False Dmitry II approached Moscow, but could not take the capital. The impostor camped in the village of Tushino near Moscow, where his own governing bodies were soon formed (Boyar Duma, orders, etc.), his own appeared (Fyodor Nikitich Romanov).

Marina Mniszek was also forcibly taken to Tushino, who was forced to recognize in the face of the new impostor her allegedly miraculously saved husband: there is evidence that later, as a true Catholic, she secretly married False Dmitry II. False Dmitry II (" Tushinsky thief”) controlled a significant part of the Russian territory and actively fought against the “boyar tsar” V. I. Shuisky, who was in Moscow.

In order to achieve victory over the impostor, Vasily Shuisky in 1609 concluded an agreement with Sweden, which in exchange for military assistance received part of the Russian territory (Korela and Ladoga). In September 1609, the Polish king Sigismund III, who at that time was at war with Sweden, invaded Russia and besieged Smolensk. In May 1610, the Polish army, led by Hetman Zolkiewski, moved to Moscow and defeated the army of Vasily Shuisky.

In Moscow, on July 17, 1610, the boyars and nobles, supported by part of the townspeople of the capital, carried out a conspiracy, as a result of which Vasily Shuisky was deposed from the throne and forcibly tonsured a monk. In 1610, the Tushino camp also collapsed, and the "Tushino thief" False Dmitry II fled from Tushino and soon died in Kaluga under unclear circumstances. The power passed to the interim boyar government (headed by Prince F.I. Mstislavsky), which received the name "".

On August 17, 1610, this government concluded an agreement with the Polish hetman Zholkiewski on the election of the Polish prince Vladislav to the Russian throne and allowed the Polish garrison into the capital. On behalf of Vladislav, the Polish governor began to rule the Muscovite state. Soon the Swedes, using the presence of their troops on Russian territory, captured Pskov and Novgorod. The actions of the "Seven Boyars" were regarded by the people as a betrayal and served as the reason for the unification of the country's patriotic forces under the slogan of expelling foreign invaders and electing a sovereign "by the will of the whole earth."

At the head of the started patriotic movement the service nobility and the top tenants of a number of cities stood up. In 1611, the first civil uprising, who tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to liberate Moscow from the Poles. At the end of 1611 in Nizhny Novgorod, under the leadership of the merchant K. M. Minin and the prince, a second people's militia was created, which, being supported by the patriotic population of the country, in October 1612 liberated Moscow from the Polish interventionists.

Unlike many other civil wars in world history, the Time of Troubles ended not with the establishment of a new social order, but with the restoration of monarchical statehood. The Zemsky Sobor in 1613 elected as tsar the nephew (on the mother's side) of the last tsar from the Rurik dynasty, Fyodor Ivanovich Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov (1613 - 1645), who became the founder of the new royal dynasty. A government was formed that ended the fight against foreign invaders, internal strife and the beginning of the restoration of the country's economy, destroyed as a result of the socio-political and economic crisis of the late XVI - early XVII centuries.

So, during the Time of Troubles, Russia was on the verge of losing statehood and independence. AT civil war all strata of Russian society were involved. When the country was subjected to foreign intervention, representatives of various classes rallied, showed national unity in the fight against an external enemy: the country's sovereignty was defended. But it took a few more years to overcome the negative consequences of the Time of Troubles.

As a result of the events of this period, the territory of Russia was somewhat reduced, but public order in the country was restored in the form of a hereditary monarchy. At the same time, in Russian society, the idea of ​​the state as a common “land”, and not the royal fiefdom, is being affirmed.

Time of Troubles (briefly)

A Brief Description of the Time of Troubles

Historians call the Time of Troubles one of the most difficult periods in the development of the state. It lasted from 1598 to 1613. The state at the turn of the sixteenth - seventeenth centuries suffered the most severe political and economic crisis. The Livonian War, the Tatar invasion and the oprichnina (the domestic policy pursued by Ivan the Terrible) were able to lead to the maximum intensification of various negative trends and the growth of public discontent. This was the main reasons for the period of Troubles in Russia. Historians and researchers highlight some particularly significant dates of the Time of Troubles.

The first period of the Troubles was characterized by a tough struggle for the ruling throne among many applicants. The son of Ivan the Terrible, who inherited power, was a weak ruler and Boris Godunov, who was the brother of the tsar's wife, led the country. Historians believe that it was with his policy that popular discontent began.

However, the actual beginning of the turmoil was laid by the appearance in Poland of Grigory Otrepyev, who declared himself the surviving Tsarevich Dmitry. But even without the support of the Poles, False Dmitry recognized most of states. He was also supported in 1605 by the governors of Russia and Moscow itself. In June of the same year, False Dmitry was recognized as king, but his ardent support of serfdom was the reason for the uprising during which he was killed on May 17, 1606. After that, Shuisky occupies the throne, but his power was short-lived.

The second period of the Time of Troubles was marked by the uprising of Bolotnikov. So the militia included all strata of society. Both the townspeople and serfs, landowners, Cossacks, peasants, etc. participated in the uprising. The rebels were defeated near Moscow, and Bolotnikov himself was executed. The resentment of the people grew.

Later, Ldmitry II flees, and Shuisky is tonsured a monk. So the Seven Boyars begins in the state. As a result of the collusion of the boyars with the Poles, Moscow swears allegiance to the Polish king. Later, False Dmitry is killed, the war for power continues.

The third and final stage of the Time of Troubles is the fight against the interventionists. The Russian people unite to fight the Poles. The militia of Pozharsky and Minin reaches Moscow by 1612, having liberated the city and driven the Poles away.

Historians associate the end of the Time of Troubles with the appearance of the Romanov dynasty on the Russian throne. On February 21, 1613, Mikhail Romanov was elected at the Zemsky Sobor.

The end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries were marked in Russian history by turmoil. Starting at the top, it quickly went down, captured all layers of Moscow society and put the state on the brink of death. The Troubles lasted more than a quarter of a century - from the death of Ivan the Terrible to the election of Mikhail Fedorovich (1584-1613) to the kingdom. The duration and intensity of the turmoil clearly indicate that it did not come from outside and it was not accidental that its roots were hidden deep in the state organism. But at the same time, the Time of Troubles strikes with its obscurity and uncertainty. This is not a political revolution, since it did not begin in the name of a new political ideal and did not lead to it, although the existence of political motives in turmoil cannot be denied; this is not a social upheaval, since, again, the turmoil did not arise from a social movement, although in further development intertwined with it are the aspirations of certain sections of society for social change. "Our turmoil is the fermentation of a diseased state organism, striving to get out of those contradictions to which the previous course of history had led it and which could not be resolved in a peaceful, ordinary way." All previous hypotheses about the origin of the turmoil, despite the fact that each of them contains a grain of truth, must be left as not fully solving the problem. There were two main contradictions that caused the Time of Troubles. The first of these was political, which can be defined in the words of Professor Klyuchevsky: "The sovereign of Moscow, whom the course of history led to democratic sovereignty, had to act through a very aristocratic administration"; both of these forces, which grew up together thanks to the state unification of Russia and worked together on it, were imbued with mutual distrust and enmity. The second contradiction can be called social: the Moscow government was forced to strain all its forces for the better organization of the highest defense of the state and "under the pressure of these higher needs to sacrifice the interests of the industrial and agricultural classes, whose labor served as the basis of the national economy, to the interests of service landowners," as a result of which there was a mass exodus of the hard-working population from the centers to the outskirts, which intensified with the expansion of the state territory suitable for agriculture. The first contradiction was the result of the collection of appanages by Moscow. The annexation of appanages did not have the character of a violent, extermination war. The Moscow government left a lot in the management of its former prince and was content with the fact that the latter recognized the authority of the Moscow sovereign, became his servant. The power of the Moscow sovereign, in the words of Klyuchevsky, did not take the place of the specific princes, but above them; "The new state order was a new layer of relations and institutions, which lay on top of the previous one, without destroying it, but only imposing new duties on it, pointing out new tasks to it." The new princely boyars, pushing aside the old Moscow boyars, occupied the first places in terms of their genealogical seniority, accepting only a very few of the Moscow boyars into their midst on an equal footing with themselves. Thus, a vicious circle of boyar princes formed around the Moscow sovereign, who became the pinnacle of his administration, his main council in governing the country. The authorities formerly ruled the state one by one and in parts, but now they began to rule the whole earth, occupying a position according to the seniority of their breed. The Moscow government recognized this right for them, even supported it, contributed to its development in the form of parochialism, and thereby fell into the above-mentioned contradiction. The power of the Moscow sovereigns arose on the basis of patrimonial law. The great Moscow prince was the patrimony of his inheritance; all the inhabitants of his territory were his "serfs". The whole preceding course of history has led to the development of this view of territory and population. By recognizing the rights of the boyars, the Grand Duke betrayed his ancient traditions which in reality could not be replaced by others. The first to understand this contradiction was Ivan the Terrible. The Moscow boyars were strong mainly because of their land patrimonial possessions. Ivan the Terrible planned to carry out a complete mobilization of boyar land ownership, taking away from the boyars their habitable ancestral nests, giving them other lands in return in order to break their connection with the land, to deprive them of their former significance. The boyars were defeated; it was replaced by the lower court layer. Simple boyar families, like the Godunovs and Zakharyins, seized the primacy at court. The surviving remnants of the boyars became embittered and prepared for turmoil. On the other hand, the 16th century was an era foreign wars ending in the acquisition of vast spaces in the east, southeast and west. To conquer them and to consolidate new acquisitions, an enormous amount of military forces was required, which the government recruited from everywhere, in difficult cases without disdaining the services of serfs. The service class in the Muscovite state received, in the form of a salary, land on the estate - and land without workers had no value. A land far from the borders military defense, also did not matter, since the service man could not serve with her. Therefore, the government was forced to transfer into service hands a vast expanse of land in the central and southern parts states. Palace and black peasant volosts lost their independence and passed under the control of service people. The former division into volosts inevitably had to be destroyed in case of small use. The process of "reclaiming" the lands is exacerbated by the above mobilization of lands, which was the result of persecution against the boyars. Mass evictions ruined the economy of the service people, but even more ruined the taxpayers. The mass resettlement of the peasantry to the outskirts begins. At the same time, a huge area of ​​the Zaoksky black soil is opened up for resettlement to the peasantry. The government itself, concerned about strengthening the newly acquired borders, supports resettlement to the outskirts. As a result, by the end of the reign of Grozny, the eviction takes on the character of a general flight, intensified by crop shortages, epidemics, and Tatar raids. Most of the service lands remain "in the void"; there is a severe economic crisis. The peasants lost the right to independent land ownership, with the use of service people on their lands; the townspeople turned out to be ousted from the southern towns and cities occupied military force: former trading places take on the character of military-administrative settlements. The townspeople are running. In that economic crisis there is a struggle for workers. The stronger ones win - the boyars and the church. The service class remains the passive element, and even more so the peasant element, which not only lost the right to free land use, but, with the help of enslaving records, loans and the newly emerged institution of old-time residence (see), begins to lose personal freedom, to approach the serf. In this struggle, enmity grows between separate classes - between the big landlords, the boyars, and the church, on the one hand, and the service class, on the other. The hard-working population harbors hatred for the classes that oppress it, and, being irritated against state institutions, is ready for an open uprising; it runs to the Cossacks, who have long since separated their interests from the interests of the state. Only the north, where the land was preserved in the hands of the black volosts, remains calm during the advancing state "devastation".

In the development of unrest in the Moscow state, researchers usually distinguish three periods: dynastic, during which there is a struggle for the Moscow throne between various applicants (until May 19, 1606); social - the time of the class struggle in the Muscovite state, complicated by interference in Russian affairs of foreign states (until July 1610); national - the fight against foreign elements and the choice of a national sovereign (until February 21, 1613).

First period of Troubles

The last minutes of the life of False Dmitry. Painting by K. Wenig, 1879

Now the old boyar party found itself at the head of the board, which elected V. Shuisky as king. "The boyar-princely reaction in Moscow" (the expression of S. F. Platonov), having mastered the political position, elevated his most noble leader to the kingdom. The election of V. Shuisky to the throne took place without the advice of the whole earth. The Shuisky brothers, V.V. Golitsyn with his brothers, Iv. S. Kurakin and I. M. Vorotynsky, having agreed among themselves, brought Prince Vasily Shuisky to the place of execution and from there proclaimed him king. It was natural to expect that the people would be against the "shouted out" tsar and that the minor boyars (Romanovs, Nagye, Belsky, M. G. Saltykov, and others) would also be against him, which gradually began to recover from the disgrace of Boris.

Second Period of Troubles

After his election to the throne, he considered it necessary to explain to the people why he was elected, and not someone else. He motivates the reason for his election by descent from Rurik; in other words, it exposes the principle that the seniority of the "breed" gives the right to the seniority of power. This is the principle of the old boyars (see localism). Restoring the old boyar traditions, Shuisky had to formally confirm the rights of the boyars and, if possible, ensure them. He did this in his cross-kissing note, which undoubtedly has the character of limiting royal power. The tsar admitted that he was not free to execute his serfs, that is, he abandoned the principle that Grozny so sharply put forward and then accepted by Godunov. The record satisfied the boyar princes, and even then not all of them, but it could not satisfy the minor boyars, the small service people and the masses of the population. The confusion continued. Vasily Shuisky immediately sent out followers of False Dmitry - Belsky, Saltykov and others - to different cities; with the Romanovs, the Nagis, and other representatives of the minor boyars, he wanted to get along, but then several dark events occurred that indicate that he did not succeed. Filaret, who was elevated to the rank of metropolitan by an impostor, V. Shuisky thought to raise to the patriarchal table, but circumstances showed him that it was impossible to rely on Filaret and the Romanovs. He failed to rally the oligarchic circle of princes-boyars: it partly disintegrated, partly became hostile to the tsar. Shuisky hurried to get married to the kingdom, not even waiting for the patriarch: he was crowned by the Metropolitan of Novgorod Isidore, without the usual pomp. In order to dispel the rumors that Tsarevich Dmitry was alive, Shuisky came up with the solemn transfer to Moscow of the relics of the Tsarevich, canonized by the church as a saint; he resorted to official journalism. But everything was against him: anonymous letters were scattered around Moscow stating that Dmitry was alive and would return soon, and Moscow was worried. On May 25, Shuisky had to calm down the mob that was raised against him, as they said then, by P. N. Sheremetev.

Tsar Vasily Shuisky

A fire broke out in the southern outskirts of the state. As soon as the events of May 17 became known there, the Seversk land rose, and behind it the Zaoksky, Ukrainian and Ryazan places; the movement moved to Vyatka, Perm, and captured Astrakhan. Unrest also broke out in Novgorod, Pskov and Tver places. This movement, embracing such a vast space, wore different places different character, pursued different goals, but there is no doubt that it was dangerous for V. Shuisky. In the Seversk land, the movement was of a social nature and was directed against the boyars. Putivl became the center of the movement here, and at the head of the movement were Prince. Grieg. Peter. Shakhovskaya and his "big governor" Bolotnikov. The movement raised by Shakhovsky and Bolotnikov was completely different from the previous one: before they fought for the trampled rights of Dmitry, in which they believed, now - for a new social ideal; Dmitri's name was only a pretext. Bolotnikov called the people to him, giving hope for social change. The original text of his appeals has not been preserved, but their content is indicated in the charter of Patriarch Hermogenes. Bolotnikov's appeals, says Hermogenes, inspire the mob "all sorts of evil deeds for murder and robbery", "they order the boyar serfs to beat their boyars and their wives, and their patrimonies, and estates, and they promise them; and thieves and nameless thieves are ordered to beat guests and all merchants and plunder their stomachs; and they call their thieves to themselves, and they want to give them boyars and voivodeship, and roundabouts, and deaconship. In the northern zone of the Ukrainian and Ryazan cities, the service nobility arose, which did not want to put up with the boyar government of Shuisky. Grigory Sunbulov and the Lyapunov brothers, Procopius and Zakhar became the head of the Ryazan militia, and the Tula militia moved under the command of the boyar son Istoma Pashkov.

Meanwhile, Bolotnikov defeated the tsarist commanders and moved towards Moscow. On the way, he joined up with the noble militias, together with them approached Moscow and stopped in the village of Kolomenskoye. Shuisky's position became extremely dangerous. Almost half of the state rose up against him, the rebellious forces besieged Moscow, and he did not have troops not only to pacify the rebellion, but even to defend Moscow. In addition, the rebels cut off the access to bread, and famine was discovered in Moscow. Among the besiegers, however, discord was revealed: the nobility, on the one hand, serfs, fugitive peasants, on the other, could live peacefully only until they knew each other's intentions. As soon as the nobility got acquainted with the goals of Bolotnikov and his army, they immediately recoiled from them. Sunbulov and the Lyapunovs, although they hated the established order in Moscow, preferred Shuisky and came to him with confession. Other nobles began to follow them. At the same time, militia from some cities arrived in time to help, and Shuisky was saved. Bolotnikov fled first to Serpukhov, then to Kaluga, from which he moved to Tula, where he sat down with the Cossack impostor Lzhepetr. This new impostor appeared among Terek Cossacks and pretended to be the son of Tsar Fedor, who in reality never existed. Its appearance dates back to the time of the first False Dmitry. Shakhovskoy came to Bolotnikov; they decided to lock themselves up here and sit out from Shuisky. The number of their troops exceeded 30,000 people. In the spring of 1607, Tsar Vasily decided to act energetically against the rebels; but the spring campaign was unsuccessful. Finally, in the summer, with a huge army, he personally went to Tula and laid siege to it, pacifying the rebellious cities along the way and destroying the rebels: by the thousands they put "prisoners in the water", that is, they simply drowned. A third of the state territory was given to the troops for robbery and ruin. The siege of Tula dragged on; it was possible to take it only when they came up with the idea of ​​arranging it on the river. Upe the dam and flood the city. Shakhovsky was exiled to Lake Kubenskoye, Bolotnikov to Kargopol, where they drowned him, False Peter was hanged. Shuisky triumphed, but not for long. Instead of going to pacify the Seversk cities, where the rebellion did not stop, he disbanded the troops and returned to Moscow to celebrate the victory. The social lining of Bolotnikov's movement did not escape Shuisky's attention. This is proved by the fact that, by a number of decrees, he planned to strengthen in place and subject to supervision that social stratum that showed dissatisfaction with its position and sought to change it. By issuing such decrees, Shuisky recognized the existence of unrest, but, trying to defeat it with one repression, he discovered a misunderstanding of the actual state of affairs.

Battle of Bolotnikov's troops tsarist army. Painting by E. Lissner

By August 1607, when V. Shuisky was sitting near Tula, the second False Dmitry appeared in Starodub Seversky, whom the people very aptly dubbed the Thief. The Starodubs believed in him and began to help him. Soon a combined team was formed around him, from Poles, Cossacks and all sorts of crooks. It was not a zemstvo squad that gathered around False Dmitry I: it was just a gang of "thieves" who did not believe in the royal origin of the new impostor and followed him in the hope of prey. The thief defeated the royal army and stopped near Moscow in the village of Tushino, where he founded his fortified camp. From everywhere people flocked to him, thirsting for easy money. The arrival of Lisovsky and Jan Sapieha especially strengthened the Thief.

S. Ivanov. Camp of False Dmitry II in Tushino

Shuisky's position was difficult. The South could not help him; he had no powers of his own. There was still hope for the north, which was comparatively calmer and little affected by the turmoil. On the other hand, Vor could not take Moscow either. Both opponents were weak and could not defeat each other. The people became corrupted and forgot about duty and honor, serving alternately one or the other. In 1608, V. Shuisky sent his nephew Mikhail Vasilievich Skopin-Shuisky (see) for help to the Swedes. The Russians ceded the city of Karel with the province to Sweden, abandoned their views on Livonia and pledged an eternal alliance against Poland, for which they received an auxiliary detachment of 6 thousand people. Skopin moved from Novgorod to Moscow, clearing the northwest of the Tushinos along the way. Sheremetev was coming from Astrakhan, suppressing the rebellion along the Volga. In Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda they united and went to Moscow. By this time, Tushino ceased to exist. It happened this way: when Sigismund found out about Russia's alliance with Sweden, he declared war on her and laid siege to Smolensk. Ambassadors were sent to Tushino to the local Polish detachments with a demand to join the king. A split began among the Poles: some obeyed the order of the king, others did not. The position of the Thief was difficult before: no one stood on ceremony with him, he was insulted, almost beaten; now it has become unbearable. The thief decided to leave Tushino and fled to Kaluga. Around the Thief during his stay in Tushino, a court of Moscow people gathered who did not want to serve Shuisky. Among them were representatives of very high strata of the Moscow nobility, but the nobility of the palace - Metropolitan Filaret (Romanov), Prince. Trubetskoy, Saltykov, Godunov and others; there were also humble people who sought to curry favor, gain weight and importance in the state - Molchanov, Iv. Gramotin, Fedka Andronov and others. Sigismund suggested that they surrender to the power of the king. Filaret and the Tushino boyars answered that the election of a tsar was not their business alone, that they could do nothing without the advice of the land. At the same time, they entered into an agreement between themselves and the Poles not to pester V. Shuisky and not want a tsar from "any other boyars of Moscow" and started negotiations with Sigismund so that he would send his son Vladislav to the Moscow kingdom. An embassy was sent from the Russian Tushians, headed by the Saltykovs, Prince. Rubets-Masalsky, Pleshcheevs, Khvorostin, Velyaminov - all great nobles - and a few people of low birth. On February 4, 1610, they concluded an agreement with Sigismund, clarifying the aspirations of "rather mediocre nobility and veteran businessmen." Its main points are as follows: 1) Vladislav is crowned as an Orthodox patriarch; 2) Orthodoxy must be revered as before: 3) the property and rights of all ranks remain inviolable; 4) the judgment is made according to the old days; Vladislav shares legislative power with the boyars and the Zemsky Sobor; 5) execution can be carried out only by court order and with the knowledge of the boyars; the property of relatives of the perpetrator should not be subject to confiscation; 6) taxes are collected in the old way; the appointment of new ones is done with the consent of the boyars; 7) peasant crossing is prohibited; 8) Vladislav is obliged not to demote people of high ranks innocently, but to promote the smaller ones according to their merits; travel to other countries for science is allowed; 9) the serfs remain in the same position. Analyzing this treaty, we find: 1) that it is national and strictly conservative, 2) that it protects most of all the interests of the service class, and 3) that it undoubtedly introduces some innovations; points 5, 6 and 8 are especially characteristic in this regard. Meanwhile, Skopin-Shuisky triumphantly entered liberated Moscow on March 12, 1610.

Vereshchagin. Defenders of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra

Moscow rejoiced, welcoming the 24-year-old hero with great joy. Shuisky also rejoiced, hoping that the days of testing were over. But during these jubilations Skopin suddenly died. There was a rumor that he had been poisoned. There is news that Lyapunov suggested to Skopin that Vasily Shuisky be "deposed" and take the throne himself, but he gives the right to seniority in power. This is the principle of the old boyars (see / p Skopin rejected this proposal. After the tsar found out about this, he cooled off towards his nephew. In any case, Skopin’s death destroyed Shuisky’s connection with the people. The tsar’s brother Dimitry became governor over the army, completely he moved to liberate Smolensk, but near the village of Klushina he was shamefully defeated by the Polish hetman Zolkiewski.

Mikhail Vasilievich Skopin-Shuisky. Parsuna (portrait) of the 17th century

Zholkevsky deftly took advantage of the victory: he quickly went to Moscow, taking possession of the Russian cities along the way and swearing them to Vladislav. Vor hastened to Moscow from Kaluga. When in Moscow they learned about the outcome of the battle at Klushino, a "rebellion is great in all people - fighting against the tsar." The approach of Zholkiewski and Vor hastened the catastrophe. In the overthrow of Shuisky, the main role fell to the lot of the service class, headed by Zakhar Lyapunov. The palace nobility, including Filaret Nikitich, also took a considerable part in this. After several unsuccessful attempts, Shuisky's opponents gathered at the Serpukhov Gate, declared themselves to be the council of the whole land and "put down" the tsar.

Third Period of Troubles

Moscow found itself without a government, and meanwhile, it needed it now more than ever: it was pressed by enemies from two sides. Everyone was aware of this, but did not know where to stop. Lyapunov and the Ryazan service people wanted to appoint Prince. V. Golitsyn; Filaret, the Saltykovs and other Tushinos had other intentions; the highest nobility, headed by F. I. Mstislavsky and I. S. Kurakin, decided to wait. The board was handed over to the boyar duma, which consisted of 7 members. The "seven-numbered boyars" failed to take power into their own hands. They made an attempt to assemble the Zemsky Sobor, but it failed. The fear of the Thief, on whose side the mob took their side, forced them to let Zholkevsky into Moscow, but he entered only when Moscow agreed to the election of Vladislav. On August 27, Moscow swore allegiance to Vladislav. If the election of Vladislav was not carried out in the usual way, at a real zemstvo sobor, then nevertheless the boyars did not decide to take this step alone, but gathered representatives from different strata of the state and formed something like a zemstvo sobor, which was recognized as the council of the whole earth. After lengthy negotiations, the former agreement was accepted by both parties, with some changes: 1) Vladislav had to convert to Orthodoxy; 2) the clause on the freedom to travel abroad for the sciences was deleted; and 3) the clause on the promotion of lesser people was destroyed. These changes show the influence of the clergy and boyars. The agreement on the election of Vladislav was sent to Sigismund with a great embassy, ​​consisting of almost 1000 people: representatives of almost all classes were included here. It is very likely that most of the members of the "council of the whole earth" that elected Vladislav entered the embassy. Metropolitan Philaret and Prince V.P. Golitsyn were at the head of the embassy. The embassy was not successful: Sigismund himself wanted to sit on the throne of Moscow. When Zolkiewski realized that Sigismund's intention was unshakable, he left Moscow, realizing that the Russians would not accept this. Sigismund hesitated, tried to intimidate the ambassadors, but they did not deviate from the agreement. Then he resorted to bribing some members, which he succeeded in: they left Smolensk to prepare the ground for the election of Sigismund, but the rest were unshakable.

Hetman Stanislav Zolkiewski

At the same time, in Moscow, the "seven boyars" lost all meaning; power passed into the hands of the Poles and the newly formed government circle, which betrayed the Russian cause and surrendered to Sigismund. This circle consisted of Iv. Mich. Saltykov, Prince. Yu. D. Khvorostinina, N. D. Velyaminova, M. A. Molchanova, Gramotina, Fedka Andronov and many others. etc. Thus, the first attempt of the Moscow people to restore power ended in complete failure: instead of an equal union with Poland, Russia risked falling into complete subordination from it. A failed attempt ended forever political significance boyars and boyar duma. As soon as the Russians realized that they had made a mistake in choosing Vladislav, as soon as they saw that Sigismund did not lift the siege of Smolensk and deceived them, national and religious feeling began to awaken. At the end of October 1610, ambassadors from near Smolensk sent a letter about a threatening turn of affairs; in Moscow itself, patriots, in anonymous letters, revealed the truth to the people. All eyes turned to Patriarch Hermogenes: he understood his task, but could not immediately take up its execution. After the assault on Smolensk on November 21, the first serious clash between Hermogenes and Saltykov took place, who tried to persuade the patriarch to the side of Sigismund; but Hermogenes did not yet dare to call the people to open struggle with the Poles. The death of the Thief and the collapse of the embassy forced him to "command the blood to dare" - and in the second half of December he began to send letters to the cities. It was open, and Hermogenes paid with imprisonment.

His call, however, was heard. Prokopy Lyapunov was the first to rise from the Ryazan land. He began to gather an army against the Poles and in January 1611 moved to Moscow. The zemstvo squads were coming towards Lyapunov from all sides; even the Tushino Cossacks went to the rescue of Moscow, under the command of Prince. D. T. Trubetskoy and Zarutskoy. The Poles, after a battle with the inhabitants of Moscow and the approaching zemstvo squads, locked themselves in the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod. The position of the Polish detachment (about 3000 people) was dangerous, especially since it had few supplies. Sigismund could not help him, he himself was unable to put an end to Smolensk. Zemstvo and Cossack militias united and besieged the Kremlin, but dissension immediately broke out between them. Nevertheless, the army declared itself the council of the land and began to rule the state, since there was no other government. As a result of the intensified discord between the Zemstvo and the Cossacks, it was decided in June 1611 to draw up a general decree. The verdict of the representatives of the Cossacks and service people, who constituted the main core of the zemstvo army, is very extensive: he had to arrange not only the army, but also the state. The supreme power must belong to the whole army, which calls itself "the whole earth"; the governors are only the executive organs of this council, which retains the right to remove them if they misbehave. The court belongs to the governors, but they can execute only with the approval of the "council of the whole earth", otherwise they face death. Then local affairs were regulated very accurately and in detail. All awards of Vor and Sigismund are declared to be of no importance. Cossacks "old" can receive estates and thus become in the ranks of service people. Further, there are decrees on the return of runaway serfs, who called themselves Cossacks (new Cossacks), to their former masters; the self-will of the Cossacks was largely embarrassed. Finally, a prikaz administration was established along the lines of the Moscow model. From this verdict it is clear that the army gathered near Moscow considered itself a representative of the whole earth and that the main role in the council belonged to the Zemstvo service people, and not to the Cossacks. This verdict is also characteristic in that it testifies to the importance that the service class gradually acquired. But the predominance of service people was short-lived; the Cossacks could not be in solidarity with them. The case ended with the murder of Lyapunov and the flight of the Zemstvo. The hopes of the Russians for the militia did not come true: Moscow remained in the hands of the Poles, Smolensk by this time was taken by Sigismund, Novgorod - by the Swedes; Cossacks settled around Moscow, who robbed the people, committed atrocities and prepared a new turmoil, proclaiming the son of Marina, who lived in connection with Zarutsky, the Russian Tsar.

The state, apparently, perished; but a popular movement arose throughout the north and northeast of Russia. This time it separated from the Cossacks and began to act independently. Hermogenes, with his letters, poured inspiration into the hearts of Russians. The center of the movement was the Lower. Kuzma Minin was placed at the head of the economic organization, and power over the army was handed over to Prince Pozharsky.

K. Makovsky. Minin's Appeal on Nizhny Novgorod Square