Editing False Dmitry I (section)

==Reign==
[[Image:Newrew - False Dimitry I swearing Sigismund III introduction of catholicism in Russia.jpg|thumb|''False Dmitry takes an oath of allegiance to king [[Sigismund III Vasa]]'' by [[Nikolai Nevrev]] (1874)]]
[[Image:Last minutes of False Dmitry.jpg|thumb|''Last minutes of False Dmitry'' by [[Carl Wenig]] (1879).]]

The new tsar moved to consolidate his power by visiting the [[Cathedral of the Archangel|tomb of Tsar Ivan]], and the convent of his widow [[Maria Nagaya]], who accepted him as her son and "confirmed" his story. The [[Godunov]]s were killed, including Tsar Feodor and his mother, with the exception of Tsarevna [[Xenia Borisovna|Xenia]], whom Dmitry raped and kept as a concubine for five months.{{CN|date=May 2024}}  Many of the noble families Tsar Boris had exiled – such as the [[Shuisky]]s, [[Golitsin]]s and [[Romanov]]s – were pardoned and allowed to return to Moscow. [[Filaret (Feodor Romanov)|Feodor Romanov]], sire of the future imperial dynasty, was soon appointed as [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] of [[Rostov, Yaroslavl Oblast|Rostov]]; the old patriarch Job, who did not recognize the new tsar, was sent into exile.

Dmitry planned to introduce a series of political and economic reforms. He restored [[George's Day in Autumn|Yuri's Day]], the day when [[serf]]s were allowed to change their allegiance to another lord, easing the conditions of [[peasant]]ry. His favorite at the Russian court, 18-year-old Prince [[:wikidata:Ivan Khvorostinin|Ivan Khvorostinin]], is considered by historians to be one of Russia's first Westernizers.<ref>Treadgold, Donald W.''The West in Russia and China, Religious and Secular Thought in Modern Times, Vol1: Russia, 1472-1917'',Cambridge University Press, 1973, p49</ref>

In foreign policy, Dmitry sought an alliance with his sponsor, the Polish Commonwealth, and with the [[Papal States]]. He planned for war against the [[Ottoman Empire]], ordering mass production of [[firearm]]s to prepare for the conflict. In his correspondence, he referred to himself as "[[Emperor of Russia]]" a century before Tsar [[Peter I of Russia|Peter I]] used the title, although this was not recognized at the time. Dmitry's royal depictions featured him clean-shaven, with slicked-back dark hair, an unusual look for the era.

On [[May 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)|8 May]] 1606, Dmitry married Marina Mniszech in Moscow; she was Catholic. When a Russian Tsar married a woman of another faith, the usual practice was that she would convert to [[Eastern Orthodox Christianity]]. Rumors circulated that Dmitry had obtained the support of Polish King Sigismund and [[Pope Paul V]] by promising to reunite the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] and the [[Holy See]]; so, claimed the rumors, Tsarina Marina did not convert to the Orthodox faith. This angered the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], the boyars, and the population alike.

The resentful Prince [[Vasili IV of Russia|Vasily Shuisky]], head of the boyars, began to plot against the tsar, accusing him of spreading [[Roman Catholicism]], [[Lutheranism]], and [[sodomy]]. This gained traction and popular support, especially since Dmitry surrounded himself with foreigners who flouted Russian customs — something the conservative Russian society of the time could not accept. According to Russian chronicler [[Avraamy Palitsyn]], Dmitry further enraged many Muscovites by permitting his Catholic and Protestant soldiers, whom the Russian Church regarded as [[Heresy|heretic]]s, to pray in Orthodox churches.<ref>[[Serge Aleksandr Zenkovsky|Serge Zenkovsky]], ''Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales'', Revised and Enlarged Edition, Meridian Books, 1974. Pages 383-385.</ref>

Shuisky's adherents had spread word that Tsar Dmitry was about to order his Polish retainers to lock the city gates and massacre the people of Moscow. Whether such orders existed or not, Palitsyn's chronicle reported them as undeniable fact.<ref>Zenkovsky (1974), page 385.</ref>