Time of Troubles Tsarevich Dmitry. Holy Blessed Tsarevich Dimitry of Uglich († 1591). Killed by order of Godunov

In October 1582, Ivan the Terrible's son Dmitry was born, who was destined to become the last offspring (in the male line) of the royal Rurik dynasty. According to accepted historiography, Dmitry lived for eight years, but his name hung like a curse over the Russian state for another 22 years.

Russian people often have the feeling that the Motherland is under some kind of spell. “Everything is wrong with us – not like normal people.” At the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries in Russia they were sure that they knew the root of all troubles - the curse of the innocently murdered Tsarevich Dmitry was to blame.

Nabat in Uglich

For Tsarevich Dmitry, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible (from his last marriage to Maria Naga, who, by the way, was never recognized by the church), everything ended on May 25, 1591, in the city of Uglich, where he, in the status of a specific prince of Uglich, was in an honorable exile . At noon, Dmitry Ioannovich threw knives with other children who were part of his retinue. In the materials of the investigation into the death of Dmitry, there is evidence of one youth who played with the tsarevich: “... the tsarevich played de poking with a knife with them in the backyard, and an illness came upon him - an epileptic ailment - and attacked the knife." In fact, these testimonies became the main argument for the investigators to qualify the death of Dmitry Ioannovich as an accident. However, the arguments of the investigation would hardly have convinced the residents of Uglich. Russian people have always trusted signs more than the logical conclusions of "people." And there was a sign ... And what another! Almost immediately after the heart of the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible stopped, the alarm rang over Uglich. The bell of the local Spassky Cathedral rang. And everything would be fine, only the bell would ring on its own - without a bell ringer. This is according to a legend, which the Uglichans for several generations considered a true story and a fatal sign. When the inhabitants learned of the death of the heir, a riot began. The Uglichites smashed the Prikaznaya hut, killed the sovereign's clerk with his family, and several other suspects. Boris Godunov, who actually ruled the state under the nominal Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, hastily sent archers to Uglich to suppress the rebellion. Not only the rebels got it, but also the bell: they tore it off the bell tower, tore out the “tongue”, cut off the “ear” and publicly punished on the main square with 12 lashes. And then he, along with other rebels, was sent into exile, to Tobolsk. The then Tobolsk voivode, Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky, ordered that the bell-eared bell be locked in the command hut, with the inscription “first exiled inanimate from Uglich” written on it. However, the massacre of the bell did not save the authorities from the curse - everything was just beginning.

End of the Rurik dynasty

After the news of the death of the prince spread throughout the Russian Land, rumors spread among the people that the boyar Boris Godunov had a hand in the "accident". But there were daredevils who suspected of a "conspiracy", and the then tsar - Fyodor Ioannovich, the elder half-brother of the deceased prince. And there were reasons for this.

40 days after the death of Ivan the Terrible, Fedor, heir to the Moscow throne, began to actively prepare for his coronation. By his order, a week before the wedding to the kingdom, the widow-tsarina Maria and her son Dmitry Ioannovich were sent to Uglich - "to reign." The fact that the last wife of Tsar John IV and the prince were not invited to the coronation was a terrible humiliation for the latter. However, Fedor did not stop there: for example, the content of the prince's court was sometimes reduced several times a year. Just a few months after the beginning of his reign, he orders the clergy to remove the traditional mention of the name of Tsarevich Dmitry during divine services. The formal basis was that Dmitry Ioannovich was born in his sixth marriage and, according to church rules, was considered illegitimate. However, everyone understood that this was just an excuse. The ban on mentioning the prince during divine services was perceived by his court as a wish for death. There were rumors among the people about failed assassination attempts on Dmitry. So, the Briton Fletcher, while in Moscow in 1588-1589, wrote that his nurse died from the poison intended for Dmitry.

Six months after the death of Dmitry, the wife of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, Irina Godunova, became pregnant. Everyone was waiting for the heir to the throne. Moreover, according to legend, the birth of a boy was predicted by numerous court magicians, healers and healers. But in May 1592, the queen gave birth to a girl. Rumors circulated among the people that Princess Theodosia, as the parents named their daughter, was born exactly a year after the death of Dmitry - on May 25, and the royal family delayed the official announcement for almost a month. But this was not the worst sign: the girl lived only a few months, and died in the same year. And here they already began to talk about the curse of Dmitry. After the death of his daughter, the king changed; he finally lost interest in his royal duties, and spent months in monasteries. People said that Fedor was apologizing for his guilt before the murdered prince. In the winter of 1598, Fedor Ioannovich died without leaving an heir. The Rurik dynasty also died with him.

Great Famine

The death of the last sovereign from the Rurik dynasty opened the way to the kingdom of Boris Godunov, who was actually the ruler of the country while Fyodor Ivanovich was still alive. By that time, Godunov had gained a reputation among the people as the “murderer of the prince”, but this did not bother him much. Through cunning manipulation, he was nevertheless elected king, and almost immediately began with reforms. In two short years, he carried out more transformations in the country than previous kings in the entire 16th century. And when Godunov already seemed to have won people's love, a catastrophe struck - from unprecedented climatic cataclysms, the Great Famine came to Russia, which lasted for three whole years. The historian Karamzin wrote that people “like cattle plucked grass and ate it; the dead had hay in their mouths. Horse meat seemed like a delicacy: they ate dogs, cats, bitches, all kinds of uncleanness. People became worse than beasts: they left families and wives so as not to share the last piece with them. They not only robbed and killed for a loaf of bread, but also devoured each other… Human meat was sold in pies in the markets! Mothers gnawed at the corpses of their babies!..” In Moscow alone, more than 120,000 people died of starvation; numerous gangs of robbers were operating throughout the country. Not a trace of the people's love for the elected tsar was born - the people again talked about the curse of Tsarevich Dmitry and the "cursed Boris".

End of the Godunov dynasty

1604 finally brought a good harvest. It seemed the troubles were over. It was the calm before the storm - in the fall of 1604, Godunov was informed that the army of Tsarevich Dmitry was moving from Poland to Moscow, miraculously escaping from the hands of Godunov's killers in Uglich back in 1591. The “worker”, as Boris Godunov was popularly called, probably realized that Dmitry’s curse was now embodied in an impostor. However, Tsar Boris was not destined to meet face to face with False Dmitry: he died suddenly in April 1605, a couple of months before the triumphant entry into Moscow of the “surviving Dmitry”. There were rumors that the desperate "cursed king" committed suicide - poisoned himself. But Dmitry's curse also extended to Godunov's son, Fyodor, who became king, who was strangled along with his own mother shortly before False Dmitry entered the Kremlin. It was said that this was one of the main conditions of the "prince" for a triumphant return to the capital.

The end of the people's trust

Until now, historians argue whether the "king was not real." However, we will probably never know. Now we can only talk about the fact that Dmitry did not manage to revive the Rurikoviches. And again, the end of spring became fatal: on May 27, a cunning conspiracy was staged in the boyars under the leadership of Vasily Shuisky, during which False Dmitry was killed. The people were told that the tsar, whom they had recently idolized, was an impostor, and they staged a public posthumous reproach. This absurd moment finally undermined the people's trust in the authorities. Ordinary people did not believe the boyars and bitterly mourned Dmitry. Shortly after the assassination of the impostor, at the beginning of summer, terrible frosts hit, which destroyed all the crops. A rumor spread around Moscow about the curse that the boyars had brought to the Russian Land by killing the legitimate sovereign. The cemetery at the Serpukhov Gates of the capital, where the impostor was buried, became a place of pilgrimage for many Muscovites. There were many testimonies about the "appearances" of the resurrected tsar in different parts of Moscow, and some even claimed to have received a blessing from him. Frightened by popular unrest and a new cult of the martyr, the authorities dug up the corpse of the “thief”, loaded his ashes into a cannon and fired towards Poland. The wife of False Dmitry Marina Mnishek recalled that when the body of her husband was being dragged through the Kremlin gates, the wind tore off the shields from the gates, and unharmed, in the same order, installed them in the middle of the roads.

Shuisky's end

Vasily Shuisky became the new tsar, a man who in 1598 introduced an investigation into the death of Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich. The man who concluded that the death of Dmitry Ioannovich was an accident, having finished with False Dmitry and received royal power, suddenly admitted that the investigation in Uglich had evidence of the violent death of the prince and direct involvement in the murder of Boris Godunov. By saying this, Shuisky killed two birds with one stone: he discredited - even if already dead - his personal enemy Godunov, and at the same time proved that False Dmitry, who was killed during the conspiracy, was an impostor. Vasily Shuisky even decided to reinforce the latter with the help of the canonization of Tsarevich Dmitry. A special commission was sent to Uglich on the head of Metropolitan Filaret of Rostov, which opened the grave of the prince and allegedly found in the coffin the incorruptible body of a child that exuded fragrance. The relics were solemnly brought to the Kremlin's Archangel Cathedral: a rumor spread throughout Moscow that the boy's remains were miraculous, and the people went to St. Dmitry for healing. However, the cult did not last long: there were several cases of death from touching the relics. Rumors spread around the capital about false relics and about Dmitry's curse. The crayfish with the remains had to be removed from sight in the reliquary. And very soon several more Dmitriev Ioannovichs appeared in Russia, and the Shuisky dynasty, the Suzdal branch of the Rurikovichs, who for two centuries were the main rivals of the Danilovich branch for the Moscow throne, was interrupted by the first king. Vasily ended his life in Polish captivity: in the country towards which, on his orders, the ashes of False Dmitry I were once shot.

Last Curse

Trouble in Russia ended only in 1613 - with the establishment of a new Romanov dynasty. But did Dmitri's curse dry up along with this? The 300-year history of the dynasty suggests otherwise. Patriarch Filaret (in the world Fyodor Nikitich Romanov), the father of the first "Romanov" Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, was in the thick of "passions for Dmitry". In 1605, he, imprisoned by Boris Godunov in a monastery, was freed as a “relative” by False Dmitry I. After Shuisky’s accession, it was Filaret who brought the “miraculous relics” of the prince from Uglich to Moscow and planted the cult of St. Dmitry Uglitsky - in order to persuade Shuisky that False Dmitry, who once saved him, was an impostor. And then, standing up in opposition to Tsar Vasily, he became the “named patriarch” in the Tushino camp of False Dmitry II.

Filaret can be considered the first of the Romanov dynasty: under Tsar Mikhail, he bore the title of "Great Sovereign" and was actually the head of state. The reign of the Romanovs began with the Troubles and the Troubles ended. Moreover, for the second time in Russian history, the royal dynasty was interrupted by the murder of the prince. There is a legend that Paul I closed the prediction of the elder Abel concerning the fate of the dynasty in a casket for a hundred years. It is possible that the name of Dmitry Ioannovich appeared there ....

In the photo: "Icon portrait" of Tsarevich Dimitri, made in 1899 by the famous painter of Holy Russia M. V. Nesterov.

Among the people who left their mark on the history of Uglich, a figure stands out Tsarevich Dmitry, who, due to his age, did not have time to do anything either for the city or for its inhabitants. He only died in it - under mysterious circumstances.

Death Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich - one of the greatest mysteries of Russian history, the past of which, according to one apt expression, is unpredictable. Historians are still arguing whether this was a murder or just an accident due to the illness of the youth. Only one thing is known for certain: shortly after a walk in the yard, the boy was found with a cut wound to his neck, which turned out to be fatal in the end.

After the death of Ivan IV, his last wife Maria Nagaya and her son were sent to Uglich. Strictly speaking, the views of the young prince on the throne were unenviable: born at least from the sixth marriage of the formidable father, only the first three of which the Church recognized as official, Dmitry was destined for the role of an illegitimate offspring of the royal family.

This happened over four hundred years ago. On May 15/28, 1591, the land of the princely court in Uglich was stained with the blood of an eight-year-old boy, the son of his seventh (fifth married) wife, Maria Nagoi, Tsarevich Dmitry. This event can be called the starting point of the era of timelessness. However, such statements concerning history are always ambiguous. There are many causes in history, they get entangled in a tangle that is very difficult to unravel. “He reared Russia on its hind legs,” it was said about Peter. The same can be said about Ivan the Terrible. The cruel violence committed by him over the country, sooner or later, was bound to respond with tragedy. It did, sooner rather than later. And the reason is already the tenth thing.

Dmitry's father and brothers

Even ten years before the events in Uglich, it seemed that there was nothing to worry about the succession to the throne. Ivan the Terrible had two sons, a third was about to be born. The most suitable for the throne, according to many historians, was just the eldest - Ivan. But during one of the quarrels, Grozny beat him so much that he after that (see the famous painting by Ilya Repin).

Thus, in 1584, the middle son, Fedor, sat on the throne. In the character of Fedor, the qualities necessary for the royal service were completely absent. From childhood he was quiet, devout, and turned his eyes more to grief than to the sinful earth. In historical literature, it is customary to call him a semi-idiot, but this, of course, is not so. He was simply born for a monastery, but was forced to rule a huge and restless, unsettled power.

Sometimes, however, attacks of rabies were found on him (his father's blood still affected) - they say that he used to beat his brother-in-law Boris Godunov with a stick, but these were the rarest cases. In general, under Fedor, it was Boris Godunov who ruled the country - this fact is beyond doubt. But whether Boris wanted to sit on the throne after Fedor is another question.

Who killed Tsarevich Dmitry?

Godunov in this story plays almost a central role. Through the efforts of numerous researchers about Godunov, a certain stereotype has developed. Say, he was ambitious and power-hungry (this is not without crafty references to his low birth), so he killed Tsarevich Dmitry, sending an assassin to him. Moreover, at one time there were rumors that Fedor died not of his own death, but of Godunov's poison. And every schoolchild knows about the "bloody boys in the eyes" who tormented.

The city of Uglich was given to Tsarevich Dimitri as an inheritance as the youngest son of the Tsar. The appanages were always a headache for the Moscow sovereigns, confusion often grew in them (in this sense, the fears of the statesman Boris Godunov, who sent his like-minded tsarevich Mikhail Bityagovsky to observe the young prince, are understandable).

But there were not so many reasons for Godunov to destroy the prince. Tsar Fedor at that time could still have an heir. After all, his wife Irina (Godunov's sister) gave birth to a daughter!

It seems that Boris then did not even think about the throne. The country, exhausted by the experiments of Ivan the Terrible, was on the verge of rebellion, a small spark would have been enough - would Godunov, in such a position, have decided to kill Dmitry? And even then, in a situation of “anarchy”, Godunov would have been in last place among the contenders for the throne, there were Shuiskys, Romanovs, Mstislavskys who were more suitable in terms of generosity.

The death of Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich - an epilepsy or an attack?

The stretcher on which the remains of Tsarevich Dimitry were transferred to the Moscow Archangel Cathedral from the Uglich Preobrazhensky. Now they are in the church of St. Demetrius in Uglich.

So what happened on May 15th? At noon, with four peers, Dmitry went out to play in the courtyard. Volokhov's "mother" (the mother of one of the alleged killers) and two more nannies looked after him.

Not much time passed, and a terrible cry was heard from the yard. Maria Nagaya, who had run down, found her son Tsarevich Dmitry dead - with a wound on his neck.

Two versions of the death of Tsarevich Dmitry

The story of the death of the eight-year-old "Prince Uglitsky" is described in detail in many sources of varying degrees of reliability. All of them adhere to one of two versions: official Moscow and local Uglich.

The first version of the death of Tsarevich Dmitry is Uglich:

According to the Uglich version, based on the words of the prince's mother and a number of witnesses from among the townspeople, Dmitry was killed in the yard by assassins sent by the insidious Boris Godunov. The main killer was, in particular, the son of the deacon Bityagovsky, who, by an evil irony of fate, was just guarding the royal family in Uglich.

They approached Dmitry:

“Oh, you have a new necklace, show me,” one of them said.
“No, old,” Dmitry replied, trustingly exposing his throat to the intruders.

And in the same second, the throat was cut with a knife.

When the terrible story was announced, they sounded the alarm. The angry people stoned the murderers of Tsarevich Dmitry - a dozen Moscow clerks, servants and several townspeople. Their bodies were thrown into the ditch.

The famous historian and writer Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin adhered to the Uglich version, and the plot of Pushkin's play "Boris Godunov" is also based on it.

The second version of the death of Tsarevich Dmitry is the official one:

The second, official, version of the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry interprets the events in a completely different way. This version was circulated in the materials of the investigation, which was swiftly carried out by the future (by the way, Boris Godunov's constant adversary). According to her, Tsarevich Dmitry, who played with his peers with a knife, had an attack of epilepsy, to which he was prone. The attack turned out to be so strong that the mother and nannies did not immediately dare to approach him. He was hit on the ground, and inadvertently the child ran into a knife with his throat. (Here, however, the question arises: how did the epileptic boy end up with a knife in his hands? Did his mother really “bless” the games that are so dangerous in his position?)

This is where Maria Nagaya appeared, unconscious from grief. She shouted that Bityagovsky had exterminated her son on the orders of Godunov. Bityagovsky, meanwhile, rushed about the yard, trying to stop the turmoil. He tried to break through to the bell tower, from where the tocsin was already ringing, but the doors were tightly locked. Mikhail Nagoi also appeared, joining his sister's cry. The Uglich mob was not slow to gather. Self-inflicted massacres began.

The death of Tsarevich Dmitry and the beginning of the Time of Troubles in Russia

1997 In Uglich, the so-called "Prince's Day" is being revived. It is celebrated annually on May 28 according to the new style, on the day of the death of Tsarevich Dimitri.

The case of the death of Tsarevich Dmitry began to get confused a few years later. Vasily Shuisky twice refuted the results of his own investigation. Swearing an oath to False Dmitry-Otrepyev, he said that Dmitry was saved. The second time, having become king himself, he hastily ordered the remains of the prince to be brought to Moscow and placed them in (it is noteworthy that the documents record many healings from them - and precisely because of this, and not at all on the orders of Tsar Vasily, the Church glorified Demetrius like a passion-bearer).

Moreover, Dmitry's mother, by that time the nun Marfa, also gave "false testimony". When Otrepyev captured Moscow, she “recognized” her son in him, kissed and hugged him in front of everyone. And when the relics of the murdered Tsarevich Dmitry were brought to Moscow, she repented and returned to her original version of the murder.

Meanwhile, the False Dmitrys came one after another. at it's peak. And the direct source of this tragic carnival can be found precisely in the day of May 15, 1591. In discussing the events of that day, historians have not yet come to an agreement and are unlikely to ever come to an agreement. Moreover, we do not dare to say anything for sure either. There will be no absolute statements, but this is not so important.

Something else is important. This story is extraordinarily instructive, but one must experience it as if in personal experience, the experience of living participation. How instructive is the whole Russian turmoil of that time. A terrible, bloody, cruel turmoil, so picturesquely depicted by Avraamy Palitsyn in his Tale. Even today this "Tale" is difficult and painful to read - the bygone era screams in it in an inhuman voice. The country nevertheless came to its senses, was able to gather strength, began to slowly recover. The echo of all this attentive people will clearly hear today. But that is another story.

A little life was cut short before it really began, and a reminder of that is the church of Tsarevich Dimitri “on blood” of the color of blood.

Truly, our past is unpredictable, and often very innocent souls pay for it.

Sasha Mitrahovich 25.02.2017 18:39

The investigation into the death of Tsarevich Dimitri ended in 1591, as was customary in that era, with torture and executions. The naked (with the exception of Mary, who was forcibly tonsured a nun) ended up in prison.

The Uglichans did not fare well either. About two hundred people were executed, many people were sent into exile - to the distant Siberian city of Pelym. Siberia was then just being mastered, it was almost impossible to live there normally. In principle, the people were sent to suffering and premature death.

The authorities punished even the big Uglich bell, who summoned the townspeople to reprisal that day. They cut off his “ear” (which is why they called him “corn-eared”) and sent him to the same Siberian exile - though not to Pelym, but to.

In Tobolsk, the Governor Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky ordered to lock up Exiled Uglich bell in the command hut and make an inscription on it:

"The first exiled inanimate from Uglich".

The “conclusion”, however, did not last long: soon the “horn-eared” bell was assigned to the belfry. And in 1677, during the great Tobolsk fire, when the wooden St. Sophia Cathedral also burned down, the bell allegedly melted - “it rang out without a trace.” Or almost melted.

Again, the versions split in two, just as the interpretations of the circumstances of the death of Tsarevich Dimitri bifurcated in their time.

According to one version, in the 18th century a “new Uglitsky bell” was cast in Tobolsk, using iconographic terminology, as if a “list” of the old one. To “distinguish it from other bells,” Metropolitan Pavel (Konyuskevich) of Tobolsk ordered that an inscription be made on it with the following content:

“This bell, which sounded the alarm during the murder of the faithful Tsarevich Dimitry in 1591, was sent from the city of Uglich to Siberia in exile to the city of Tobolsk to the Church of the All-Merciful Savior, which was at the auction, and then on the St. . 20 f.

In 1890, the Tobolsk Museum bought the bell from the diocese. By that time, it was placed on a small belfry specially built for it and served as a local landmark.

But the Uglichans did not forget their "inanimate primal exile". In 1849, they filed a petition with the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the return of the alarm bell, and Nicholas I decided:

"to satisfy this request" - "having first made sure of the fairness of the existence of the aforementioned bell in Tobolsk."

But a specially created commission made sure that the bell was “wrong”. The petition of the Uglichians remained without the consequences they expected. They were convinced that the "primal exile" no longer exists.

The acquisition took place in connection with the intention to canonize Tsarevich Dmitry and transfer his remains to Moscow. The then took this step in order to stop the "epidemic of impostorism."

In May 1606, a special commission headed by Metropolitan Philaret of Rostov arrived in Uglich. The relics of Tsarevich Dmitry were removed from the grave, placed on a prepared stretcher and, to the great grief of the Uglichians, solemnly carried out of the city - to the Moscow road.

According to local legend, on the outskirts of Uglich, a stretcher placed on the ground, rooted to it. And only after many prayers did the Muscovites manage to “tear off” the stretcher from the ground and continue on their way. The Uglichians built a chapel on that spot, and then a temple in the name of St. Demetrius. It was he who was subsequently called the Church of Demetrius "on the field" - in order to distinguish it from.

Among the relics associated with Tsarevich Dimitri, only the cover from his coffin remained in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Uglich (it was left to the Uglichians at their tearful request). And in 1631, he deigned to send a stretcher to Uglich, on which the body of the prince traveled from Uglich to Moscow. These valuables lay in a silver reliquary that stood on the salt, and now they have their location in the Uglich Historical and Art Museum.

Sasha Mitrahovich 26.02.2017 12:48

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, only two representatives of the main branch of the Rurikovich remained - Fedor, who was in poor health, and the baby Dmitry, moreover, born in marriage, which, according to church canons, was considered illegal.

On the mother of Tsarevich Dmitry - Maria Feodorovna Nagoy - Ivan IV married four years before his death. Dmitry was born in 1582, and at the time of his father's death he was only one and a half years old. The young prince was brought up by his mother, numerous relatives and an extensive court staff.

Dmitry could be considered illegitimate and excluded from the number of contenders for the throne. However, out of fear that Dmitry could become a center around which all those dissatisfied with the rule of Fyodor Ioannovich would gather, he was sent to Uglich with his mother. Formally, Dmitry received this city as an inheritance, but in reality he could only dispose of the income received from it and, in fact, ended up in exile. The real power in the city was in the hands of the Moscow "service people", and, first of all, the clerk Mikhail Bityagovsky.

According to the official version, on May 15, 1591, the tsarevich with the children of the yard played "poke" with a "pile" - a penknife or a pointed tetrahedral nail. During the game, he had an epileptic attack, he accidentally hit himself with a "pile" in the throat and died in the arms of a wet nurse. However, the tsarevich's mother and her brother Mikhail Nagoi began to spread rumors that Dmitry was killed by "servicemen" on direct orders from Moscow. An uprising immediately broke out in Uglich. "Service people" Osip Volokhov, Nikita Kachalov and Danila Bityagovsky, accused of murder, were torn to pieces by the crowd.

Four days later, an investigative commission was sent from Moscow, consisting of Metropolitan Gelasy of Sarsky and Podonsk, boyar Prince Vasily Shuisky, okolnichi Andrei Kleshnin and clerk Elizary Vyluzgin.

From the investigation file, the following picture emerges of what happened in Uglich in the May days of 1591. Tsarevich Dmitry suffered from epilepsy for a long time. On May 12, shortly before the tragic event, the seizure recurred. On May 14, Dmitry felt better and his mother took him to church with her, and when she returned, she told him to take a walk in the yard. On Saturday, May 15, the queen again went with her son to mass, and then let him go for a walk in the courtyard of the palace. With the prince were mother Vasilisa Volokhova, nurse Arina Tuchkova, bed keeper Marya Kolobova and four of Dmitry's peers, the sons of the nurse and bed keeper Petrusha Kolobov, Ivan Krasensky and Grisha Kozlovsky. The children were playing with sticks. During the game, the prince began another seizure of epilepsy.

Many Uglichans testified about the tragedy that followed. Judging by the protocols of interrogations, the entire investigation was conducted in public.

After questioning the witnesses, the commission came to an unequivocal conclusion - death came from an accident. But rumors about the violent death of Dmitry did not subside. The direct heir of Ivan the Terrible, albeit illegitimate, was a competitor to the usurper Boris Godunov. Indeed, after the death of Fyodor Ioannovich, he de jure took power into his own hands. The Time of Troubles began in Russia, during which the name of Tsarevich Dmitry became a cover for many impostors.

In 1606, Vasily Shuisky, who was investigating the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry, took the throne after the murder of the first impostor, False Dmitry I. He changed his mind about the Uglitskaya tragedy, bluntly stating that Dmitry was killed on the orders of Boris Godunov. This version remained official during the Romanov dynasty. The coffin with the body of the prince was removed from the crypt in Uglich. His relics were found incorrupt and placed in the Archangel Cathedral in a special shrine near the grave of Ivan the Terrible. At the crayfish, numerous miraculous healings of the sick immediately began to occur, and in the same year Dmitry was canonized as a saint. The veneration of Dmitry as a saint is preserved to this day.

Sergei Sheremetev, a prominent specialist in genealogy and history of writing, Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin, a professor at St. Petersburg University, and a prominent historian Ivan Belyaev, believed in the salvation of Dmitry (or at least allowed this possibility). A well-known journalist Alexei Suvorin published a book specifically dedicated to substantiating this version.

The authors, who believed that in 1605-1606 the real Dmitry sat on the Russian throne, drew attention to the fact that the young tsar behaved amazingly confidently for an impostor adventurer. He seemed to believe in his royal lineage.

Supporters of the imposture of False Dmitry emphasize that, according to the investigation file, Tsarevich Dmitry suffered from epilepsy. In False Dmitry, for a long time (from his appearance in Poland in 1601 to his death in 1606), no symptoms of this disease were observed. Epilepsy cannot be cured by modern medicine either. However, even without any treatment, patients with epilepsy may experience temporary improvements, sometimes lasting for years and not accompanied by seizures. Thus, the absence of epileptic seizures does not contradict the possibility of the identity of False Dmitry and Dmitry.

Supporters of the version that it was not the prince, but an outsider, who was killed in Uglich, pay attention to the ease with which the mother of the prince, nun Marfa, recognized her son in False Dmitry. By the way, even before the arrival of the impostor in Moscow, summoned by Godunov, she is rumored to have stated that faithful people had informed her about the salvation of her son. It is also known that False Dmitry, announcing his royal origin to Prince Adam Vishnevetsky, presented a precious cross studded with diamonds as evidence. According to the same cross, the mother allegedly recognized her son in him.

Those letters of the impostor have come down to us, in which he announced to the Russian people about his salvation. In the clearest form, these explanations are preserved in the diary of the impostor's wife, Marina Mnishek. “There was a doctor under the prince,” writes Marina, “an Italian by birth. Knowing about the evil intent, he ... found a boy who looked like Dmitry, and ordered him to be inseparably with the prince, even to sleep on the same bed. When the boy fell asleep, the cautious doctor carried Dmitry to another bed. As a result, another boy was killed, not Dmitry, but the doctor took Dmitry out of Uglich and fled with him to the Arctic Ocean. However, Russian sources do not know of any foreign doctor who lived in Uglich.

Important considerations in favor of the imposture of False Dmitry are given by the German landsknecht Konrad Bussov. Not far from Uglich, Bussov and the German merchant Bernd Khoper got into a conversation with the former watchman of the Uglich palace. The watchman said about False Dmitry: “He was a reasonable sovereign, but he was not the son of Ivan the Terrible, for he was really killed 17 years ago and decayed long ago. I saw him lying dead in the play area."

All these circumstances completely destroy the legend about the identity of False Dmitry and Tsarevich Dmitry. Two versions remain: he stabbed himself and was killed at the instigation of Boris Godunov. Both versions now have supporters in historical science.

Material prepared on the basis of open sources

The murder of the heir of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry, is shrouded in many rumors, conjectures and legends.

A confusing story has led to the emergence of a large number of impostors posing as the deceased heir.

The most famous of them were False Dmitry I and False Dmitry II. Until now, there are supporters of the point of view that the first impostor was indeed the son of the king miraculously saved.

Dmitry Uglitsky biography

Tsarevich Dmitry was born in October 1582. He was the son of Ivan the Terrible by his last wife Maria Nagoya. When the heir was only a year and a half, his father died. Most of the boyars decided to enthrone Dmitry's feeble-minded brother, Fyodor. Maria Naguya and her baby were sent to Uglich.

The chroniclers report that the young Dmitry strongly resembled Ivan the Terrible in character. From an early age, he showed a tendency to cruelty. Dmitry, just like his father in childhood, hated the most influential boyars. It was they who deprived him of the throne, preferring the stupid Fedor.

One day the boy ordered to make figures out of snow. He gave each one the name of an influential boyar (including Godunov) and began to cut off their heads, exclaiming: "This is what will happen when I begin to reign." If this story is reliable, then the revenge of Boris Godunov is a completely possible cause of the death of the prince.

Cause of death

The mysterious death of the prince on May 15, 1591 was investigated by a special high commission headed by Prince Vasily Shuisky. Tsarevich Dmitry suffered from "epilepsy", that is, epilepsy. The conclusion of the commission read: during the game of "poking" the boy suffered another attack of the disease. During a seizure, he fell and accidentally cut his carotid artery or jugular vein with a knife.

The commission interrogated 140 witnesses. Direct eyewitnesses were three nannies and four children who constantly played with the prince. The main culprit called herself the nurse Arina Tuchkova. She claimed that she should have predicted the attack and took the knife from the boy. The conclusions of the commission look rather dubious, and the testimonies of witnesses are surprisingly monotonous. The materials of the investigation do not even contain the testimony of Dmitry's mother, Maria Nagoya.

More plausible is the version of a contract killing. Tsarevich Dmitry was a real threat to Boris Godunov. Many contemporaries were sure that it was he who organized the death of the heir. In Uglich, Maria and the prince were under the vigilant supervision of Godunov's representative, clerk M. Bityagovsky.

When Nagaya saw her dead son, she, pointing to Bityagovsky, began to shout: "He, he is a murderer!" The clerk tried to hide, but Maria's brothers Mikhail and Gregory, at the head of an angry mob, broke into his house. Bityagovsky, along with his son Danila and his closest supporters, were killed.

The investigation into the death of Tsarevich Dmitry turned ... into a process against the Nagikh family. They were accused of killing a government official and inciting a riot. Maria was exiled to the St. Nicholas Monastery, and her brothers were thrown into prison. The English diplomat J. Horsey, who was living in Russia at that time, writes about this event as follows: "the young prince ... was cruelly and treacherously killed; his throat was cut."

Consequences

The death of Dmitry was of great importance. The feeble-minded Fyodor was a nominal ruler. In addition, he had no heirs. All the affairs of the state had long been managed by Boris Godunov. The death of Dmitry actually meant the suppression of the Rurik dynasty. In 1598, Godunov's cherished dream came true: he was elected Russian Tsar.

Results

The death of Dmitry Uglitsky is still a mystery. Nevertheless, one cannot but admit that it was beneficial to Boris Godunov. The version of an accidental injury looks implausible. Most likely, the prince was really killed on the orders of the future Russian tsar.

Dmitry Ivanovich was canonized in 1606, the relics of the prince were transferred to Moscow to the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin from Uglich.

Tsarevich Dimitri Ivanovich (October 19 (29), 1582 - death May 15 (25), 1591) - the youngest son from the last wife of Maria Nagoya. After the death of Ivan the Terrible, he was sent to Uglich with his mother. 1591, May 15 - died at the age of 9 under mysterious circumstances.

According to the version of the Nagikhs - relatives of Dimitri's mother - Tsarevich Dmitry was killed by one of his servants - who cut his throat. Nagy assured that the killer was sent to eliminate the possible heir to the throne. After all, the ruling child did not have, as a result, Demetrius could become king. Godunov himself dreamed of the throne.

A completely different, official version of the death of Tsarevich Dmitry was at the disposal of a special commission of inquiry sent to Uglich from Moscow, even during the reign of Boris Godunov. According to the decision of this commission, Tsarevich Dimitri, while playing “knives”, accidentally ran into a knife himself. To this day, there is no complete clarity on this issue.

1606 - canonized as the right-believing prince Dimitry of Uglich.

Death of Tsarevich Dmitry in Uglich

The mysterious death of Tsarevich Dimitri turned out to be relevant in. The murder of an innocent baby was regarded as a crime before God, which became the first cause of God's wrath, which brought down many punishments on the Russian state for this crime.

Official version

An investigative commission was sent to Uglich, headed by Metropolitan Gelasy of Sark and Podoino, and in fact it was led by the insidious and intelligent opponent of Boris Godunov.

1591, May 15, the prince was found dead - with a throat pierced with a knife. According to witnesses (first of all, the children who walked with him), it became known that Dmitry was playing “pillow” with the guys, and during the game he had an epileptic seizure. The version looks plausible: the meaning of this game is to throw a special knife at a distance, while before throwing the “pile” they take the tip towards themselves, while the heir actually suffered from the “falling” disease.

The commission, having considered the testimonies, came to the conclusion that there had been an accident during an epileptic attack. 1591, June 2 - after studying all the documents, the "Consecrated Cathedral" and the boyar duma announced to the people: "Tsarevich Dmitry was killed by God's judgment."

However, a version of the murder immediately appeared - it was expressed by the queen and one of her brothers, Michael.

Who benefited from the death of the prince (versions)

There were persistent rumors among the people about the murder of the prince by the people of B. Godunov.

Dmitry, Fyodor's brother, was in his 8th year, and he was a danger to both Fyodor and Boris, because in 4 years he could be proclaimed king. But according to N.M. Karamzin, the murderers of the prince, Danila Bityagovsky and Nikita Kachalov, could act both on orders and without the knowledge of Godunov. They simply could figure out that the death of the prince is beneficial to Boris and act independently to please him.

The murder took place without witnesses. Nurse Orina, who was walking with Dmitry, was stunned, the throat of the heir was cut, and then they began to shout that Dmitry had stumbled upon the knife himself. When mother Maria Nagaya raised her dead son and went with him to the church, the bell was struck, and the assembled crowd stoned the killers to death.

Many eminent scientists claim that the names of the real perpetrators of the murder, apparently, will never be known. Perhaps they were mercenaries, whom no one knew in Uglich, they could easily get into the territory of the Kremlin, since it was practically not guarded. After the murder, the criminals on horseback left the city. The versions of these scientists are based on the alignment of political forces of those times. They believe that the death of Tsarevich Dmitry was beneficial primarily to Vasily Shuisky.

False Dmitry I

However, in addition to the religious and mystical meaning, the mystery associated with the death of the prince had a direct impact on the political situation in the state. Already in 1601–1602, an impostor appeared who took the name Demetrius and entered Russian history under the name. Very many who were dissatisfied with the reign of Boris Godunov believed that Tsarevich Dimitri miraculously managed to escape and now he is the legitimate heir to the Russian throne. Subsequently, the name of the surviving prince, under whose banner the troops rose, became a real catalyst for the Troubles. And the accession of False Dmitry I in Moscow in 1605, as it were, confirmed the general belief that this was the true prince.

Saint Demetrius of Uglich

1606, May - as a result of the uprising, False Dmitry I was overthrown from the throne and he was torn to pieces by an angry mob. Vasily Shuisky becomes king, who had much less rights to the royal throne than the son of Ivan the Terrible, which many continued to consider False Dmitry. Therefore, the Shuisky government immediately took vigorous measures in order, firstly, to prove the truth of the death of the prince in 1591, and, secondly, to confirm the image of the deceased prince as an innocently murdered martyr. In this case, it became possible to stop the further development of the very fact of imposture.

For this, in the summer of 1606, the remains of the prince were transferred from Uglich to Moscow and illuminated. And the prince himself was recognized as a saint, and began to be called Saint Demetrius, the Uglich Passion-Bearer.

At the same time, work began on compiling the life of Dimitry of Uglich. To date, 4 editions of this life of the 17th - early 18th centuries are known, preserved in many lists.

Despite the official canonization of Demetrius of Uglich, this saint did not immediately receive popular recognition. At least for several more years, many continued to believe that the real Tsarevich Dimitri was alive. So, the new impostor was recognized as the real king, under whose banner numerous troops stood up. In addition, other impostors began to appear, literally multiplying all over Russia at that time.

ed. storm77.ru