False Dmitry 1: a short biography of the impostor

In world history, there are many examples where power in a country was captured by impostors who pretended to be real rulers. There were such cases in Russia. The first of them occurred in 1605, when the throne of Moscow was False Dmitry 1. The biography of this historical personality contains many contradictory facts. Some historians ascribe to him a royal origin, but most scholars tend to believe that a man who declared himself a miracle survivor of Ivan IV the Terrible's younger son Dmitri is an adventurer with cunning and enviable intelligence.

Origins and youth of the impostor

Who was False Dmitri? A brief biography of this man contains not so much information about his life before the accession on the throne. In official history, it is customary to assume that False Dmitry 1 was born approximately in 1581 in Galich (Kostroma volost). At the birth of the pretender named Yuri (Yushka), and his father was a nobleman from the impoverished Lithuanian kind Nelidov Bogdan Otrepiev. Arrived in his youth in Moscow, a young man joined the service in one of the orders. Having worked for a while, Yuri Otrepiev took a monastic vows under the name of Gregory. It happened in 1600. He went to the monastery Yushka not from great faith, but in order to avoid reprisals, because in worldly life he stole, drank and did not listen to his father.

A year after his tonsure, Gregory was able to settle in the Chudov Monastery in Moscow. Being literate and possessing a calligraphic handwriting, the young man received in it the position of a copyist of books. It is here that Otrepiev's idea of impersonating the prematurely deceased heir to the Moscow throne, Tsarevich Dmitri, arises. Gregory was about the same age as the younger son of John IV, and even had a resemblance to him.

Description of Otrepyev's appearance

Characteristics of False Dmitry 1, left by his contemporaries, indicates that he was below average height, unusually wide, with a short neck and arms of different lengths. This person can not be called a handsome man: his round face was decorated with large warts and a large nose resembling a shoe. He was gloomy and thoughtful, but he had extraordinary physical strength and could easily bend the horseshoe with his bare hands.

Life in Poland

How did the fate of a person who went down in history as False Dmitriy 1 developed? A brief biography of his testifies that in 1602 he was accused of theft and fled from the monastery. For some time the swindler stayed in Kiev, and then moved to Poland and secretly accepted the Catholic faith. There he proclaimed himself a legitimate heir to the Russian throne and enlisted the support of King Sigismund III. In gratitude for the fact that he will help him take possession of the Moscow throne, False Dmitriy 1 promised to give the Commonwealth part of the West-Russian lands. The impostor and the support of the voivod Jerzy Mnisheka enlisted, vowing to marry his daughter Marina, give the cities of Pskov and Novgorod and pay 1 million zlotys.

The attack on Russian cities and the seizure of power

False Dmitriy, along with a three thousand-strong Polish army, began his campaign against Russian lands in the autumn of 1604. Because of the dissatisfaction of the local population with the internal policies of Boris Godunov, who was the de facto ruler of the state in the frail son of Ivan the Terrible, Otrepiev quickly managed to subjugate a number of Russian cities and settle in Putivl. It was here that False Dmitrii established his government. 1. A brief biography of the impostor contains facts confirming that the people supported the new ruler, believing that before him is really the miraculously saved son of John IV, and he will restore order in their lands.

In April 1605, Boris Godunov died suddenly and his son Fedor was proclaimed the heir to the throne. However, he could not hold out for long in power: a few weeks later he was overthrown by supporters of False Dmitry. Officially reigning on the throne on June 20, 1605, the pretender ordered to kill Fedor and his mother, and he made his sister Xenia his concubine, and then sent her to a monastery.

To the people finally believed that before him a real heir to the throne, the adventurer met with Marya Naga, the mother of Dmitry. The woman recognized her son in front of her. Later, after Otrepyev's death, she renounced her words, confessing that her supporters were forced to tell her the lies.

Characteristics of domestic policy Falsdmitry 1

Once in power, the newly-made ruler officially banned bribery, ordered the return of people affected by Godunov from the exile, reorganized the army and increased the salaries of all who were in the service. The pretender eased the fate of the serfs, freed the south of Russia from taxes and took away allotments from the monasteries.

The domestic policy of False Dmitry 1 was aimed at strengthening Polish influence in all spheres of state life. He laid down the construction of churches, distributed foreign fun to ordinary people and organized the Secret Chancellery, which included the Poles. With the impostor Boyar Duma was renamed the Senate, and near the Kremlin the construction of a wooden palace with secret passages began. In foreign policy, False Dmitry 1 was preparing for a war with the Turks, in which Sigismund III was interested .

The wedding of Otrepyev with Marina Mniszek and his murder

Very soon lost the support of the people False Dmitriy 1. His biography indicates that he enjoyed himself a lot, loved hunting and beautiful women. Discontent of Orthodox people caused the marriage of the ruler with Marina Mnishek, conducted according to the Catholic rite. During the celebration, many Poles came to Moscow, who drank heavily, robbed passers-by and broke into the houses of the local population.

May 17, 1606, at the height of the celebration of the wedding, Prince Vasily Shuisky, seeking to seize the throne, raised an uprising in Moscow, as a result of which False Dmitry 1 and his supporters were killed. People, pissed off by the tyranny of an impostor, mocked his body for a long time, and then burned it and, charging the cannon with ashes, fired from it in the direction of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Thus falsely ended his days False Dmitry 1. A brief biography of this historical personality is an instructive story telling about what happens to impostors.