Editing False Dmitry I

{{Short description|Tsar of Russia from 1605 to 1606}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = False Dmitry I
| image        = False Dmitry I portrait.png
| caption      = A portrait of False Dmitry I made in Poland–Lithuania in the early 17th century
| succession   = [[Tsar of all Russia]]
| reign        = {{OldStyleDate|20 June|1605|10 June}} &ndash; {{OldStyleDate|27 May|1606|17 May}}
| coronation   = 21 July 1605
| predecessor  = [[Feodor II of Russia|Feodor II]]
| successor    = [[Vasili IV of Russia|Vasili IV]]
| birth_date   = 19 October 1582 (claimed)
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1606|05|17|1582|10|19|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Moscow]], [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]]
| spouse       = [[Marina Mniszech]]
| issue        = 
| full name    = Dmitry Ivanovich (claimed)
| house        = [[Rurik Dynasty|Rurik]] (claimed)
| house-type   = Dynasty
| date of burial = 
| place of burial = 
| signature    = Подпись Лжедмитрия I.svg
}}

'''False Dmitry I''' or '''Pseudo-Demetrius I''' ({{langx|ru|Лжедмитрий I|Lzhedmitriy I}}){{efn|Other [[Romanization of Russian|romanizations]] include the common '''Dmitri''' and '''Dmitry''', as well as Dmitrii, Dimitri, Dimitrii, Dimitriy, and Dimitry.}} reigned as the [[Tsar of all Russia]] from 10 June 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of '''Dmitriy Ivanovich''' ({{langx|ru|link=no|Дмитрий Иванович}}). According to historian Chester S.{{nbsp}}L. Dunning, Dmitry was "the only Tsar ever raised to the throne by means of a military campaign and popular uprisings".<ref name=romanov>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9NUYtSJaO8cC|title= Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty|publisher= [[Pennsylvania State University Press]] |year= 2001 |page = preface, p. xi |isbn= 0-271-02074-1|access-date= October 16, 2010}}</ref>

He was the first, and most successful, of three [[List of impostors|impostors]] who claimed during the [[Time of Troubles]] to be the youngest son of [[Ivan the Terrible]], [[tsarevich]] [[Dmitry of Uglich|Dmitry Ivanovich]], who supposedly escaped a 1591 assassination attempt when he was eight years old. It is generally believed that the real Dmitry of Uglich died in [[Uglich]] in 1591. False Dmitry claimed that his mother, [[Maria Nagaya]], anticipated the assassination attempt ordered by [[Boris Godunov]] and helped him escape to a monastery in the [[Tsardom of Russia]], and the assassins killed somebody else instead. He said he fled to the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] after he came to the attention of Boris Godunov, who ordered him seized. Many Polish nobles did not believe his story, but nonetheless supported him.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

With the support of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, False Dmitry invaded Russia in 1605, but the war ended with the sudden death of Boris Godunov. Disaffected Russian [[boyars]] staged a coup against the new tsar, [[Feodor II]]. False Dmitry entered Moscow on 21 July 1605, and was crowned tsar. Maria Nagaya accepted him as her son and "confirmed" his story. False Dmitry's reign was marked by his openness to [[Catholicism]] and allowing foreigners into Russia. This made him unpopular with the boyars, who staged a successful coup and killed him eleven months after he took the throne. His wife of 10 days, Marina, would later "accept" [[False Dmitry II]] as her fallen husband.

==Background==
Dmitry entered history circa 1600, after making a positive impression on [[Patriarch Job of Moscow]] with his learning and assurance. Tsar Boris Godunov ordered the young man seized and questioned. Dmitry fled to Prince [[Wasyl Konstanty Ostrogski|Constantine Ostrogski]] at [[Ostroh]], in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and subsequently entered the service of the [[Wiśniowiecki]]s, a [[Poland|polonized]] [[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]] family.{{sfn|Bain|1911}} The princes [[Adam Wiśniowiecki|Adam]] and [[Michał Wiśniowiecki]] in particular showed interest in the stories Dmitry told, and who he purported to be, as they gave the Poles an opportunity to capitalize on the [[Times of Trouble|political rancor]] in [[Moscow]].

Rumors said that Dmitry was an [[illegitimate]] son of the Polish king, [[Stefan Batory]], who reigned from 1575 to 1586. According to a later tale, Dmitry blurted out that identity once, when a violent master slapped him. Dmitry's own story was that his mother, Tsar Ivan's widow, anticipated Boris Godunov's assassination attempt, and put him into the care of a doctor, who hid him in various monasteries through the years. After the doctor died, Dmitry fled to Poland, and worked briefly there as a teacher before he entered the service of the Wiśniowieckis. Some who had known Ivan IV later claimed that Dmitry did indeed resemble the young tsarevich. The young man also possessed such aristocratic skills  as [[horsemanship]] and [[literacy]], and was fluent in Russian, Polish, and French.

Whether or not Dmitry's tale was accurate, the Wiśniowiecki brothers, [[Samuel Tyszkiewicz (noble)|Samuel Tyszkiewicz]], [[Jan Piotr Sapieha|Jan Sapieha]], [[Roman Różyński]], and several other Polish noblemen agreed to back him, and his claim, against Boris Godunov.

In March 1604, Dmitry visited the court of [[Sigismund III Vasa]] in [[Kraków]]. The king provisionally supported him, but did not promise any military help. To attract the powerful [[Jesuits]] to his cause, Dmitry publicly converted to [[Roman Catholicism]] on 17 April 1604, and convinced papal [[nuncio]] [[Claudio Rangoni (bishop of Reggio Emilia)|Claudio Rangoni]] to also back his claim.

While at court, Dmitry met [[Marina Mniszech]], daughter of Polish nobleman [[Jerzy Mniszech]]. Dmitry and Marina fell in love. When he asked her father for her hand, he was promised it in return for granting the Mniszechs full rights to the Russian towns of [[Pskov]], [[Novgorod]], [[Smolensk]], and [[Novhorod-Siverskyi]] upon his ascension.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

==Russian throne==
Boris Godunov received word of Dmitry's Polish support, and spread claims than the younger man was simply a runaway monk called '''Grigory Otrepyev''' ({{langx | ru | Григорий Отрепьев}}, born Yuri Otrepyev; "Grigory" was the name given to him at the monastery). The basis for this claim remains unknown. But Tsar Boris's public support began to wane, especially as Dmitry's loyalists spread counter-rumors. Several Russian boyars also pledged themselves to Dmitry, thereby giving themselves a "legitimate" reason to not pay taxes to Tsar Boris.

Dmitry, having gained the full support of the Polish Commonwealth, formed a small army of approximately 3,500 soldiers from various private Polish and Lithuanian forces.{{sfn|Bain|1911}} With his men he advanced on Russia in March 1605. Boris's many enemies, including the southern [[Cossacks]], joined Dmitry's army on the long march to Moscow. These combined forces fought two engagements with reluctant Russian soldiers. Winning the first, they captured [[Chernigov]] (modern Chernihiv), [[Putivl]] (Putyvl), [[Sevsk, Bryansk Oblast|Sevsk]], and [[Kursk]], but they badly lost the second battle. Their cause was only saved by the news of the sudden death of Boris Godunov on 13 April 1605.

The death of the unpopular tsar swept away the last impediment to Dmitry; the victorious Russian troops defected to his side, and others swelled the Polish ranks as they marched on. On 1 June, the disaffected boyars of Moscow staged a palace coup and imprisoned the newly crowned tsar [[Feodor II of Russia|Feodor II]] (son of Boris Godunov) and his mother [[Maria Skuratova-Belskaya]], the widow of Boris Godunov.

On 20 June, Dmitry made his triumphal entry into Moscow with 8,000 Cossacks and Poles (according to [[Isaac Massa]]), and on 21 July a new Muscovite [[Patriarch]] of his own choosing, the Greek [[Ignatius of Moscow]], crowned him as tsar.

==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>

==Death==
On the morning of 17 May 1606, ten days after Dmitry's marriage to Marina, huge numbers of boyars and commoners stormed the [[Kremlin]]. Dmitry tried to flee by jumping out a window, but fractured his leg in the fall. He fled to a [[public baths|bathhouse]] and tried to disappear within. But he was recognized and dragged out by the boyars, who killed him lest he successfully appeal to the crowd.<ref>"Massa's Account of Events Surrounding the Death of the False Dmitrii in 1606." ''Medieval Russia: A Source Book, 850-1700''. Ed. Basil Dmytryshyn. 3rd ed. Harcourt College, 9. 550. Print. Page 361-362</ref> His body was hacked to pieces, burned, and then the ashes fired from a cannon towards Poland.<ref name="pa">{{cite book |last1=Avrich |first1=Paul |title=Russian Rebels; 1600-1800 |date=1972 |publisher=Schocken Books |location=New York |pages=16–17}}</ref>  According to Palitsyn, Dmitry's death set off a massacre of his supporters. He boasted in his chronicle that "a great amount of heretical blood was spilled on the streets of Moscow."<ref>Zenkovsky (1974), page 386.</ref>

Dmitry's reign had lasted only eleven months before Prince Shuisky took his place. Two further impostors later appeared, [[False Dmitry II]] and [[False Dmitry III]], the first of whom was publicly "accepted" by Tsarina Marina as her fallen husband.

==Portrayals in literature==
*False Dmitry is one of the primary characters in [[Alexander Pushkin]]'s [[blank verse]] drama ''[[Boris Godunov (play)|Boris Godunov]]''. Pushkin's character is a young [[novice]] monk who impersonates the Tsarevich after he learns he is the age the child would have been had he lived. Pushkin's decision to humanise the False Dmitry earned him the disapproval of Emperor [[Nicholas I of Russia]], who prevented the play from being published or staged. In an unpublished foreword, Pushkin wrote, "There is much of [[Henri IV]] in Dmitri. Like him he is brave, generous and boastful, like him indifferent to religion -- both abjure their faith for a political cause, both love pleasures and war, both devote themselves to chimerical projects, both are victims of conspiracies... But Henri IV didn't have a Ksenya [Xenia] on his conscience -- it is true that this horrible accusation hasn't been proved and, as for me, I make a point of not believing it."<ref>''The Critical Prose of Alexander Pushkin'', edited and translated by Carl R. Proffer. University of Indiana Press, 1969. Pages 97-98.</ref> Pushkin intended to write further plays about the reigns of Dmitry and Vasili, as well as the subsequent [[Time of Troubles]]. Pushkin was prevented from fulfilling these plans by his death in a [[duel]] at the age of 37.
*Although based on Pushkin's play, [[Modest Mussorgsky]]'s [[Boris Godunov (opera)|opera of the same name]] demonizes False Dmitry, the [[Polish people]], and the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. False Dmitry's engagement to [[Marina Mniszech]] is portrayed as instigated by a [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]]. Marina balks at seducing the [[pretender]], and the Jesuit threatens her with hellfire until she grovels at his feet. In contrast, Pushkin believed that Marina was motivated by pathological ambition. At the opera's [[:wikt:denouement|denouement]], the pretender's ascent to the throne is lamented by the [[holy fool]] Nikolai, who appears in Pushkin's play only to rebuke Tsar Boris for murdering the real Dmitry. In Mussorgsky's opera, the holy fool proclaims, "Weep, weep Orthodox soul", and predicts that "the enemy will come" leading to "darkness blacker than night." 
*False Dmitry's story was also told by [[Schiller]] (in ''[[Demetrius (play)|Demetrius]]''), [[Alexander Sumarokov|Sumarokov]], [[Aleksey Khomyakov|Khomyakov]], by [[Victorin Joncières]] in his opera ''[[Dimitri (Joncières)|Dimitri]]'', and by [[Antonín Dvořák]] in his opera ''[[Dimitrij (opera)|Dimitrij]]''. 
*[[Rainer Maria Rilke]] recounts the overthrow of False Dimitry in ''[[The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge]]'', Rilke's only longer prose work.
*[[Harold Lamb]] fictionalizes the demise of False Dimitry in "The Wolf Master", in which the claimant survives his assassination through trickery, and flees east, pursued by a Cossack he had betrayed.
*A false Dmitry features in the second story of The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Back to Earth (Volume 2.1), a boxset of Doctor Who audio dramas from Big Finish Productions. In that story the False Dmitry is under the control of aliens who wish to conquer Russia and then the world with a robot army.

==See also==
* [[Bibliography of Russian history (1223–1613)]]
*[[Ivan Bolotnikov]]
*[[Isaac Massa]]
*[[Polish–Muscovite War (1605–18)]]
**[[Battle of Novhorod-Siverskyi]]
**[[Battle of Dobrynichi]]
**[[Siege of Kromy]]
*[[Tsars of Russia family tree]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
<references />

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Demetrius, Pseudo- | volume= 7 |last= Bain |first= Robert Nisbet |author-link= Robert Nisbet Bain| pages = 983&ndash;984 |short= 1}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100528071504/http://www.aquinas.edu/history/research.html The Reporte of a bloudie and terrible Massacre in the Citty of Mosco, with the fearefull and tragicall end of Demetrius the last Duke, before him raigning at this present.] (1607) London.

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{{Succession box|title=[[Tsar of Russia]]|before=[[Feodor II of Russia|Feodor II]]|after=[[Vasili IV of Russia|Vasili IV]]|years=1605&ndash;1606}}
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{{Sovereign Rulers of Russia}}

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[[Category:1580s births]]
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[[Category:17th-century Russian monarchs]]
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