HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dmitri Ivanovich ( rus, Дмитрий Иванович, Dmitrii Ivanovich; 19 October 1582 – 15 May 1591), also known as Dmitry of Uglich (, ''Uglichskii'') or Dmitry of Moscow (, ''Moskovskii''), was the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia. He was Russian
Tsarevich Tsarevich (russian: Царевич, ) is a Slavic title given to tsars' sons. Under the 1797 Pauline house law, the title was discontinued and replaced with ''Tsesarevich'' for the heir apparent alone. His younger brothers were called '' Veliki ...
and was famously impersonated by a series of pretenders after his death.


Life

Dmitry was the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible with his last wife
Maria Nagaya Maria Feodorovna Nagaya () (died 1608) was a Russian tsaritsa and sixth (possibly eighth) uncanonical wife of Ivan the Terrible. Life Maria married Ivan in 1581 and a year later, she gave birth to their son Dmitry. In 1582, the tsar suggested to ...
(their only child). Ivan died in 1584, and was succeeded by Dmitry's older brother,
Feodor I Fyodor I Ivanovich (russian: Фёдор I Иванович) or Feodor I Ioannovich (russian: Феодор I Иоаннович; 31 May 1557 – 17 January (NS) 1598), also known as Feodor the Bellringer (russian: Феодор Звонарь), ...
. Feodor was sickly and weak, and the country was governed by a regency council. This was headed from 1586 by the
boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars were sec ...
Boris Godunov Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...
, Feodor's brother-in-law. In 1584, Godunov sent Dmitry, and his mother and her brothers, into internal exile in the Tsarevich's
appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...
city of Uglich. On 15 May 1591, Dmitry died there under mysterious circumstances. Thus when Tsar Feodor died childless in 1598, Dmitry, the only other possible Rurikid heir, was also dead, and Godunov claimed the throne. It was widely believed at the time that Godunov got rid of Dmitry to clear the way for his own eventual succession.


Death theories

Russian chroniclers and later historians offered two possible scenarios of what could have happened to Dmitry. The first theory is that Dmitry was killed by the order of
Boris Godunov Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...
, the
assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. Assassin may also refer to: Origin of term * Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins Animals and insects * Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviid ...
making it look like an accident (this version was supported by the prominent 19th-century historians Nikolai Karamzin, Sergei Soloviev,
Vasily Klyuchevsky Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky (russian: Василий Осипович Ключевский; in Voskresnskoye Village, Penza Governorate, Russia – , Moscow) was a leading Russian Imperial historian of the late imperial period. Also, he addr ...
and others). The critics of this version point out that Dmitry was Ivan's son from his ''fifth'' (or ''seventh'') marriage, and thus illegitimate by
Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most C ...
canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...
, which allows a maximum of three marriages. This would make any claim of Dmitry's for the throne dubious at best. The modern scholarship tends to exonerate Boris of any role in the prince's death. The second theory is that Dmitry stabbed himself in the throat during an epileptic seizure, while playing with a knife (this version was supported by historians
Mikhail Pogodin Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin (russian: Михаи́л Петро́вич Пого́дин; , Moscow, Moscow) was a Russian Imperial historian and journalist who, jointly with Nikolay Ustryalov, dominated the national historiography between the death ...
,
Sergei Platonov Sergey Fyodorovich Platonov (russian: Серге́й Фёдорович Плато́нов) (28 June O.S.">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="6 June Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 1860 – 10 January 1933) was a Russian histori ...
, V. K. Klein,
Ruslan Skrynnikov Ruslan Grigorievich Skrynnikov (Руслан Григорьевич Скрынников; 8 January 1931, Kutaisi, Georgian SSR, – 16 June 2009, St. Petersburg, Russia) was a Russian historian who studied the reign of Ivan the Terrible. He late ...
and others). The detractors of this scenario assert that, since during an epileptic seizure the palms are wide open, the self-infliction of a fatal wound becomes highly unlikely. However, the official investigation, done at that time, asserted that the Tsarevich's seizure came while he was playing a
svaika Svaika ( rus, Свайка, p=ˈsvajkə, t=marlinspike) is a throwing game that was a favorite of Russian lower-class men up to the 20th century. It is a game in which a marlinspike-like spear is thrown to land in the middle of a metal ring lying o ...
game or with a knife (''v tychku'') and thus holding the knife by the blade, turned toward himself. With the knife in that position, the version of self-inflicted wound on the neck while falling forward during seizure appears more likely. There is also a third version of Dmitry's fate, which found support with some earlier historians, such as
Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin Konstantin Nikolayevich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (russian: Константин Николаевич Бестужев-Рюмин; 1829 in Kudryoshki, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate – 1897) was one of the most popular Russian Imperial historians of the 1 ...
, Ivan Belyaev and others. They considered it possible that Godunov's people had tried to
assassinate Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
Dmitry, but killed somebody else instead and he managed to escape. This scenario explains the appearance of impostors, sponsored by the Polish nobility (see False Dmitry I, II,
III III or iii may refer to: Companies * Information International, Inc., a computer technology company * Innovative Interfaces, Inc., a library-software company * 3i, formerly Investors in Industry, a British investment company Other uses * ...
). Most modern Russian historians, however, consider the version of Dmitry's survival improbable, since it is hardly possible that the boy's appearance was unknown to his assassins. Also, it is well known that many Polish nobles who supported False Dmitry I did not believe his story themselves.


Aftermath

The death of the Tsarevich roused a violent riot in Uglich, instigated by the loud claims of Dmitry's mother
Maria Nagaya Maria Feodorovna Nagaya () (died 1608) was a Russian tsaritsa and sixth (possibly eighth) uncanonical wife of Ivan the Terrible. Life Maria married Ivan in 1581 and a year later, she gave birth to their son Dmitry. In 1582, the tsar suggested to ...
and her brother Mikhail that Dmitry was murdered. Hearing this, enraged citizens
lynch Lynch may refer to: Places Australia * Lynch Island, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica * Lynch Point, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica * Lynch's Crater, Queensland, Australia England * River Lynch, Hertfordshire * The Lynch, an island in the Rive ...
ed fifteen of Dmitry's supposed "assassins", including the local representative of the Moscow government (''dyak'') and one of Dmitry's playmates. The subsequent official investigation, led by
Vasily Shuisky Vasili IV Shuisky (russian: Василий IV Иванович Шуйский, ''Vasiliy IV Ivanovich Shuyskiy'', c. 155212 September 1612) was Tsar of Russia between 1606 and 1610 after the murder of False Dmitri I. His rule coincided ...
, after a thorough examination of witnesses, concluded the Tsarevich had died from a self-inflicted stab wound to the throat. Following the official investigation, Maria Nagaya was forcibly
tonsure Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice in ...
d as a nun and exiled to a remote
convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...
. However, when the political circumstances changed, Shuisky retracted his earlier claim of accidental death and asserted that Dmitry was murdered on Godunov's orders. On 3 June 1606, Dmitry's remains were transferred from Uglich to Moscow and his cult soon developed. In the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church, he is venerated as a "Saint Pious Tsarevitch", with feast days of 19 October, 15 May and 3 June. In the 20th century, some Russian and Soviet historians have given more credit to the conclusions of the first official investigation report under
Shuisky The Princes Shuisky (russian: Шуйские, Shuyskiye) was a Rurikid family of Boyars descending from Grand Duke Dimitri Konstantinovich of Vladimir-Suzdal and Prince Andrey Yaroslavich, brother to Alexander Nevsky. The surname is derived f ...
, which ruled Dmitry's death to be an
accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researcher ...
.


Cultural references

The story of murder is presumed in
Aleksandr Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
's play ''
Boris Godunov Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...
'', made into an opera by Modest Mussorgsky.


See also

*
False Dmitriy I False Dmitry I ( rus, Лжедмитрий I, Lzhedmitriy I) (or Pseudo-Demetrius I) reigned as the Tsar of Russia from 10 June 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of Dmitriy Ivanovich ( rus, Дмитрий Иванович). ...
*
False Dmitriy II False Dmitry II ( rus, Лжедмитрий II, Lzhedmitrii II; died ), historically known as Pseudo-Demetrius II and also called "тушинский вор" ("rebel/criminal of Tushino"), was the second of three pretenders to the Russian throne w ...
*
False Dmitriy III False Dmitry III ( rus, Лжедмитрий III, Lzhedmitrii III; died July 1612), historically known as Pseudo-Demetrius III, was the last and most enigmatic of three pretenders to the Russian throne who claimed to be the youngest son of Ivan th ...


References

*
Sergey Platonov Sergey Fyodorovich Platonov (russian: Серге́й Фёдорович Плато́нов) (28 June O.S.">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="6 June Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 1860 – 10 January 1933) was a Russian histori ...
. ''Очерки по истории смуты в Московском государстве XVI-XVII вв.'' Moscow, 1937. *
Ruslan Skrynnikov Ruslan Grigorievich Skrynnikov (Руслан Григорьевич Скрынников; 8 January 1931, Kutaisi, Georgian SSR, – 16 June 2009, St. Petersburg, Russia) was a Russian historian who studied the reign of Ivan the Terrible. He late ...
. ''Лихолетье. Москва в XVI-XVII веках''. Moscow, 1988. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dmitry Ivanovich, Tsarevich Of Russia 1582 births 1591 deaths Unsolved murders in the Russian Empire Passion bearers Russian tsareviches Russian Orthodox child saints Russian saints 16th-century Christian saints 16th-century Russian people Russian children Murdered royalty Murder in 1591