History of Russia
Heads of the stateTsar False Dmitry I(? - 1606)
Reign 1605 - 1606
Important
events:During his brief reign as tsar of Moscow (1605-06), False Dmitry I attempted to bring the rulers of France, Germany, Venice and Poland together in an anti-Turkish alliance. The Pope, the Jesuits and King Sigismund of Poland all planned to manipulate the pretender, but they misjudged him. The former monk refused to introduce Roman Catholicism or the Jesuits into Russia. When Maryna arrived in Russia, he made her attend the Orthodox Church. Although personally indifferent to religion, the False Dmitry I wanted to avoid angering the people. He also refused to make any territorial concessions or financial payments to Poland. Upholders of traditional values did not like some of the concessions introduced by False Dmitry I following the arrival of Marina Mniszech in Moscow. Others disliked his clear preference for foreigners. The common people took to him, however, and attacked anyone claiming that he had usurped the throne. He was only overthrown by a plot hatched by boyars led by Basil Shuisky.
When the government of Boris Godunov learnt that someone claiming to be the Tsarevich Dmitry had surfaced in Poland, they immediately launched an investigation and published the findings. The pretender's real name was Yury (Grishka) Otrepiev, the son of a Streltsy centurion who had worked as a menial servant in Moscow, first with the Romanov family and then with Prince Boris Cherkassky. He later became a monk under the name of Grigory or "Grishka" for short. Grishka served at the Monastery of the Miracle in Moscow, where Patriarch Job promoted him to the post of deacon. After making lewd statements, the brotherhood wanted to exile him to the Solovki Monastery in northern Russia, but he escaped to Poland, where he claimed to be the son of Ivan the Terrible. He was received by King Sigismund III, who granted him an annual allowance of five thousand rubles. The former monk assembled an army with intention of marching on Moscow and seizing the throne. Grishka Otrepiev's plan succeeded brilliantly. He entered the Russian capital on 20 June 1605 and was crowned by the new patriarch, Ignatius, in the Dormition Cathedral on 21 July. His wife Marina was crowned empress on 8 May and spent the following week in celebrations.
On 16 May, Grishka and Marina were awoken by a ringing of bells, shouts and gunfire. Men hired by Basil Shuisky broke into their bedroom, murdered the False Dmitry and raped his wife. The mob was eventually dispersed by boyars, who confiscated all the money, jewels and other property appropriated by Marina and her father. The deposed empress and her relatives were marched to the Polish border. Before they reached there, however, they were intercepted by the envoys of a second pretender, False Dmitry II, who had set up camp at Tushino hear Moscow (earning him the popular title of the "thief of Tushino"). He offered to restore Marina to the throne of she would identify him as False Dmitry I, who had survived the events of 16 May. She agreed to his plan and, when his army arrived, flung her arms around his neck and passionately kissed her "husband". The attempt of the False Dmitry II to usurp the Russian throne was equally ill-fated.
Before he could march on Moscow, his nerves gave way and he fled to Kaluga, abandoning Marina and his army. His wife's letters complaining of physical abuse by his soldiers went unanswered. Dressed in a Hussars uniform, Marina went to Kaluga herself in search of her husband. Sensing that nothing good would come of their attempt to seize the throne, his associates tired of the pretender and decided to get rid of him. On 10 December 1610, when they were out hunting, Peter Urusov beheaded False Dmitry II and hacked his body into little pieces. Marina learnt of her second husband's murder when she was in her final month of pregnancy.
Gathering up what was left of his body, she brought the remains back to Kaluga in a sledge. His murder was avenged by one of her own commanders, Ivan Zarutsky from Ternopole. Several days later, Marina gave birth to a son, whom she called Ivan. She married Zarutsky and they proceeded to ride across the country, robbing Russian towns. After the succession of Michael Romanov, the couple fled to Astrachan. They planned to raise a fresh army to march on Moscow, but were betrayed to the Streltsy guards. Marina's second entry into the Russian capital, eight years after the first, was less triumphant. Her son was hung and her husband was impaled. Marina's own fate is not clear; she was either drowned or died in prison in 1614.
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