of Mikhail Molchanov with False Dmitry for Ivan Bolotnikov’s army was, in fact, true, but the search for a real person for this role was too long. Yes, for a while, in Poland and Ukraine (actually, the protectorate of Poland), the role of the prince was played by Molchanov himself. But, in Moscow he was well known. Only at the beginning of 1607, in Byelorussia, also then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the name of the Polish-Lithuanian state, the calka from Latin res publica – «Republic»), was found suitable for the figure, age, other basic parameters, man. In a halo of mystery, first as a relative of the tsar, Andrei Nagoy, False Dmitry II appeared before the Russian people only at the end of the spring of 1607.
False Dmitry did not have time for either the first or the second campaign of Bolotnikov to Moscow. He also goes to Tula, where, on October 10, Shuisky’s troops, having changed the direction of the river to the city, forced the rest of the peasant army to surrender. But, in any case, now under his name is collected 27 thousand people – Poles, Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks, archers, nobles and fighting serfs. False Dmitriy wins several battles, but Moscow, surrounded by stone white walls (by the current Boulevard Ring) can not be taken. Having settled in Tushino, False Dmitry II tries to completely block the capital. He manages to intercept Marina Mniszek, and, after some persuasion, marry her. At the same time, the «deputy king» succeeds in attracting Metropolitan Philaret to his side – becoming from now on the understudy of the Moscow patriarch. There comes a dual power – Shuisky and False Dmitriy II (more precisely, his Polish bodyguards who believe that they control the owner) rule the country in parallel. Vasily the Fourth achieves some successes, with the help of the governor Skopina-Shuisky (whom he later, according to most historians, will poison) and some participation, dissatisfied with the strengthening of Catholic Poland, Protestant Sweden. Polish mercenaries openly show disdain for their Russian «tsarik,» and, after all, climbing into the cart under the matting, False Dmitry runs away from them to Kaluga.
In this city the spirit of the Bolotnikov uprising is still very strong. Only here the impostor begins to play an independent role, enjoys the respect of the people, finds a second wind. The Tushino camp, which remained without the tsar’s name, loses the original meaning of the second capital, is set on fire by former masters; The arrogant Polish army is dispersed.
False Dmitry is besieging Moscow already with a new army. In the milieu of boyars, the «overturners» are ripening the idea: simultaneously remove from the political field both Vasily Shuisky and the impostor, and then by the whole world choose a new king. In Moscow, the nobles of the Zemsky Sobor, indeed, overthrow Basil the Fourth, forcibly shear the king into monks and await response from the near False Dmitry II. But, they do not hurry to fulfill this promise, because now their positions are remarkably strengthened. To fill the vacuum of power, the interim government, Semiboyarschina, chooses the king of the Polish prince Vladislav Vaz, the eldest son of the Polish king Sigismund the Third. Gradually Russian society is polarized: to the False Dmitrii, pushed back to Kaluga, the poor and humiliated poor people, Cossacks and Cossacks, flock to Vladislav, or rather, his representatives in Russia – the nobles.
Without a sufficient number of representatives of the nobility, outside the hierarchy, too homogeneous masses of people enter the power of their dark instincts. The notion of justice, as such, ceases to exist. The wheel of senseless terror is developing to all the more suspicious and «wrong» people. Moreover, False Dmitry II expects to call for Crimean and Nogai (Astrakhan) Tatars, who are already moving to Central Russia, as well as Turks, in order to Moscow, so that they can quickly correct all their affairs. But, his plans are not destined to come true; in retaliation for one of the victims of terror, an impostor kills his own bodyguard.
So, Vasily Shuisky tonsured monks, along with two brothers he is kept in a castle, 100 kilometers from Warsaw. His own children do not have a former king. The three-year-old son of Mary Mniszek, Ivan, can claim the throne, but, nevertheless, he is still too small. Tsar Vladislav is unpopular among the people, in addition, he does not risk personally leaving Poland for Moscow, and himself, it seems, is cooling to the idea of becoming the ruler of Russia. The soil for the appearance of the third False Dmitri is still fertile.
And it is announced, (January 1611) – in the besieged Swedes of Ivangorod (150 kilometers west of present-day Petersburg). False Dmitry III manages to gather the militia in Pskov, and even drive away the conquerors. However, having come to power, the impostor is slow to move to Moscow, embarks on a dissolute life, commits violence against the townspeople and, imperceptibly, loses popularity. The conspirators who were betrayed to him by the Cossacks were removed from Pskov, allegedly to fight the Swedes that besieged the suburbs. False Dmitriy feels something is wrong, tries to escape; they catch him, put him in a cage and take him to Moscow. According to some information, the impostor is killed on the way, on others – executed in the capital.
Moscow, meanwhile, is occupied by the Poles, as the 15-year-old Vladislav Vaz, the son of the Polish king, nominally becomes king. He is elected, but not crowned. Here, a relatively independent Orthodox church shows itself with the best of luck; Patriarch Hermogen (number one), initially loyal to the foreign ruler, realizing the intentions of the occupiers, frees the people from the oath, sends letters from Moscow with appeals for resistance. The diplomas find a response, first of all, in Ryazan, where the first national militia is being formed. The Poles are sent to suppress the insurrection and the ruin of the Ryazan towns, the Little Cossacks of the Little Russians, dependent on them. Some of them die, a part – goes to the side of the people’s militia. Meanwhile, Nizhny Novgorod is rising to fight; two main resistance centers are formed. In mid-March 1611, their forces are connected near Moscow, increasing to one hundred thousand people. The occupying forces – five thousand Poles, two thousand Germans, carry out large-scale repressions in the city, set fire to houses to cope with the outraged people even before the storming – about seven thousand people died from fire and steel. In alliance with the Poles, there are some Russian boyars, and the courtyard serfs dependent on them.
To storm high white-stone walls the militia does not dare, creates its Zemsky Sobor and the system of state power. However, between the two forces – the nobility, seeking to restore statehood and serfdom, and the Cossacks, who want to preserve their liberties, there is some kind of discord. This is used by the Poles: their forgery testifies that the Ryazan leader of the Lyapunov militia is determined to destroy the Cossacks. The Cossacks call him «on a circle,» where without trial and trial, on pure emotions they kill the leader of the insurgents. As a consequence, most noblemen leave the camp. Dying of hunger in the capital (the dungeon of Chudova monastery), Patriarch Hermogen urges the people now not to obey the orders of the governor of the Moscow region, D. Trubetskoi and I. Zarutsky. However, the archimandrite of the influential Trinity-Sergius monastery, Dionysius, stands for solidarity precisely under their command. The large Cossack detachment remains on the siege of Moscow until the middle of the summer of 1612, but, with the approach of the detachments of the second militia, flees to the Ryazan lands, Astrakhan, and does not participate in further combat operations with the interventionists. Zarutskiy has a trump card – Marina Mnishek with the son of False Dmitry II, the ataman wishes to use it later for his own purposes. At the walls of the capital are the forces of Trubetskoi, directly in the murder of Lyapunov not involved.
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