Historical calendar – an anniversary of paying tribute to the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa by the captured Tsar Vasil IV Shujski.
Today in our calendar we will look at events that led to the alleged Russian tribute of 1611.
In 1591, the heir to the Tarski throne, Dmitri, was murdered. The execution was most likely carried out on order. Boris Godunov. The same, utilizing his position and the infirmity of Tsar Fyodor, was preparing to personally ascend to the throne and establish a fresh dynasty.
As it turned out, Dmitri's death caused chaos in Russia. Godunov did not foresee this, energetically implementing his plan. He focused primarily on combating the militant opposition, which tied itself against him. yet his influence and money took over – he weakened the competition adequate that erstwhile Fyodor died in 1598, the Earth Council chose him as a fresh Tsar. This meant the end of the regulation of the Rurykovich dynasty's main line.
Contrary to all predictions, after his accession to the throne, Boris Godunov pursued a comparatively mild policy. Knowing that his legitimacy for power was weak, he tried to bring together different social groups. He did not lead wars, focusing on rebuilding the economy and continuing colonization of vast areas in the East. He was unlucky due to the fact that for respective years there was a drought in Russia that destroyed crops and led to famine.
A wave of peasant migrants scattered across the country, fleeing to areas where food could be found. Many crossed the border with the Republic of Poland, seeking happiness among Cossack robbers and in the properties of Polish nobles and magnatery.
Escapers repeated terrible news about the famine and legends saying that the legal successor to the Rurykovich throne – Dmitri, is alive. The moral of these legends was simple – the throne of the Tsar was taken over by an unworthy person, a usurper, and this was the reason for the misfortunes that troubled the country. Thus, in supposition, the divine order could be restored only if the legitimate Tsar Dmitri, who was to hide from Godunov's hatchets, took power. No wonder that soon, in various places of the country and abroad, self-proclaimed “Dmitry” began to appear.
One of them, Orthodox monk Grigory Otrepiev, came to the court of the Polish magnate Adam Wiśniowiecki, and then Jerzy Mnisch. No 1 in the Republic believed in the veracity of the claims of the disguiser, and Sigismund III Vasa explicitly regarded him as a fraud and refused to support him. However, the chance to take power and at least plunder respective Russian cities was very tempting. The monks, in exchange for Dmitri's marrying his daughter Maryna, agreed to give him armed assistance to “recover” the Tsar's crown.
Other magnates besides joined the expedition, hoping for easy profit and earthen broadcasting in Russia. The first "Dmitry" began in the summertime of 1604, but after crossing the border the magnate army was broken by the Tsar forces. The thought of the expedition would most likely have ended with a disaster and no 1 would have remembered it if Boris Godunov had not died on April 23, 1605. In addition, unfortunately for Russia, the boy of Godunov, Fyodor II, was not very popular with the Boyars.
So, apparently, a crazy self-sustaining brawl picked up a fresh momentum. His troops crossed the border again, heading for the capital. On the way, the Russian population and army began to decision to its side. The boy of Godunov was strangled by the capital sympathizers of the self-sustaining. The Boyar pride besides supported the disguise and its coronation as the Tsar, which besides occurred on July 31, 1605.
Meanwhile, in Rzeczpospolita, the Sejm argued against the authoritative engagement of the country in the Moscow expedition, and the fact that Mary Mnichówna was cast in the function of a caryca was called comedy. Sigismund III, after a thorough thought, however, saw the political possible of the lie-Dimitra expedition, especially its destructive, destabilising influence on the Russian state. Therefore, he secretly allowed the support of the self-sustainers to participate in the Cossacks' fight. Unfortunately, the credit to the Moscow elite for the fresh ruler was exhausted very quickly.
Surrounding the Tsar with Polish advisors, giving Earth to the magnates of the Republic, and especially the arrogant and indecent behaviour of Polish mercenaries in Moscow, who had no Orthodox or even common with Catholics of holiness, led to an increase in discontent of the inhabitants of the capital. The biggest mistake, however, seems to be the pardon of Wasyl Szuski.
The same came to Moscow from exile and immediately began to construct a fresh anti-tsar plot, in which his men were selling rumors about the Tsar and his associates. In spite of appearances, however, the bitter spell did not convey the announcement of Dmitri's matrimony to the Monk and her coronation to the caryca. The wedding and coronation took place, in addition to being attended by the Moscow Patriarch himself, Ignacy.
Only the announcements of extremist reforms in a country that had not yet crossed the line de facto may have moved Turkish Moscow into the midst of Latin civilization. They could not give consent to this above all, fearing for their position, Orthodox clergymen.
The outraged were supported by the simple people of the capital, and then by fighting. On May 27, 1606, a rebellion broke out, during which the Kremlin was captured, the mercenaries of the Tsar and Polish magnates were cut out, and the self-caller killed. His body was burned, and the ashes obtained from him were fired from a cannon. Maryna and her father were captured and imprisoned.
The fresh Tsar became the leader of the peasant-nobility rebellion, Vasily IV Shujski, who came from the Rurykovich side line. The ruler set up a peculiar commission to prove the death of the actual Dmitri in 1591 and to remove the compromised patriarch Ignacy from his position. As it shortly turned out, however, he made the same mistake as his predecessor against him.
Instead of killing the Monk, he released her under agreements with Sigismund III. Soon, a female who tasted power and wanted it back joined another Dmitriada, who besieged Moscow under the leadership of a second self-righteous man. An interesting fact is that he recognized the first time in his life as his husband who had been killed a year earlier.
Another interesting fact is that the plans of the impostor and Polish magnates were favored by the Russian peasantry, who seemingly liked the plans for the improvement of the first usurper. The peasants refused to believe in Dmitri's death, in which they had much hope of improving their fate. In any case, revolts against the militants and Moscow feudal oppression began in the province.
In August 1606, a mass peasant uprising under Ivan Bołotnikov was launched, which nevertheless was broken by the Tsar forces. besides the military expedition of Polish magnates did not have the effect of overthrowing Wasyl. For this she led to something else – to bring into the war Sweden and then the Republic of Poland. Sweden wanted to receive fresh territorial losses for Moscow and to thwart Polish east plans, as the chaos in the Russian state primarily served to increase the imperial position of Warsaw.
For this purpose, Charles IX made a deal with Vasyl IV in Wyborg, under which he gained territorial acquisitions, but in return promised military aid against Poles. Warsaw considered it casus belliBecause she was at war with Sweden all the time about Inflanty. shortly an army was sent east. In this way the magnates yet managed to get the Republic into their private games.
In the fall of 1609 the Lithuanian hetman, Lew Sapieha began the Smolensk siege, and the Swedish-Russian army, with a force of 35,000 soldiers, freed Moscow from the oppression of the self-sustaining supporters. shortly thereafter, the allies moved towards the Smolensk fortress. Counting 7,000 soldiers, the Polish group under the command of Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski defeated this powerful army on 4 July 1610 at the conflict of Kłuszyn.
On the news of the full defeat, the Swedish king broke off his alliance with the Tsar and began peace talks with Poland, ending with a temporary truce. He had another problems – Denmark attacked him from the west. After the success of the Polish-Lithuanian army, the Polish-Lithuanian troops moved to Moscow, where a fresh revolt broke out and the Tsar was imprisoned by its own subjects. After Żółkiewski entered the city, Vasily Szujski recognized the title to the crown of the Tsarist Polish prince Władysław, and was later interned.
The militants and Orthodox clergy besides recognized the power of Władysław, but they demanded his transition to Orthodoxy. On 29 October 1611 it was held in Warsaw, modelled on the Roman triumph of Stanisław Żółkiewski. On the same day, the erstwhile Tsar and his brothers paid tribute to the faithful Sigismund III at the royal castle, called wrongly the Russian tribute, since Vasily was no longer a formal Russian Tsar, nor did he always regulation all of Russia.
Shujski remained in Polish captivity until his death. Meanwhile, Russia was boiling again. The Smolensk fall, the worsening of existential conditions tired of the war on the part of the population, the threats of Russia's “Catholicisation” and Sigismund III's indecisiveness linked to the confirmation of the Tsaric power for his son, led to another already revolt.
An insurgent army was formed under the command of Boyar Dmitri Pozharski and merchant Kuzma Min. Pożarski besieged occupied by Poles Jarosław, and then Moscow. Knowing that there is no greater chance in a direct confrontation with the well-organized and commanded Polish-Lithuanian army, and especially the Hussaria, he put up a struggle.
The long-term conflict to exhaust the guerrilla was never the domain of the Polish army, especially since at the time his condition and morale depended on the consent of the democratic parliament for fresh taxes on hauls and salaries. The parliament consistently disagreed with fresh tributes, as if not knowing the strategical interests of the state. Russian insurgents had no specified problems. Over time, they grew stronger and yet besieged the cremel palace, occupied by the Polish crew.
An effort to deliver food to the defenders by the humble forces of the captain Jan Karol Chodkiewicz burned down. The Polish crew capitulated on November 7, 1612. The Russians did not keep the terms of surrender and murdered any of the prisoners. erstwhile again, they sealed their membership of the Turkish planet with this act, which they so fiercely defended against the “Catholicism”.
Many years later, in 2004, a state vacation called “National Unity Day” was introduced in Russia to commemorate the surrender of the Polish Kremlin crew. The betrayals and murders of prisoners of war, which accompanied this historical event, are said on the occasion of the holidays little, if at all.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
