Boris Godunov: Way to the top

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The number one man in the Moscow state (after Tsar Fedor mournful by the mind and body) Boris Godunov became about 1587 - 1588. Three to four years after the death of Ivan the Terrible, it was required for him in order to make a primary position his unconditional and indisputable.

How did he act for this purpose? Here is the chronology of events.

One of the first measures, however, with the general consent of the "four," was the removal of the Nagikh clan from Moscow - relatives of the last, seventh wife of Ivan the Terrible Maria Nagoy and the son of Dmitry born in 1582.

It was another strong clan, however, the weakest of the strong ones: the artificial naked kept only reached with a formidable position and did not have serious, first of all, matrimonial ties with other strong people of the country. As a result, the decision on the honorary link of the three sons of the head of the clan A. M. Nagogo and a few more relatives to the voivodship in remote fortresses, such as Arsk, Kazan, Kokshaysk, Novosili, etc. It was possible to lead through the Duma, and the Maria itself, her father, uncle and two brothers, together with the baby Dmitry, was sent to Uglich to the inheritance - according to the will of Grozny.

Now, only serious players remained at the preference table, and Godunov did not look like a unambiguous leader among them-Mstislavsky was older and venerable, Shuisky was more deserted (the head of the heroic defense of Pskov from the troops of Stefan Batoria), and Yuryev-Zakaryin is no less close to the tsar in a related way. All this, again, reminded something of the situation of 1953, when Khrushchev’s positions did not look preferable to those, say, Malenkov (however, if you deepen into parallels, then Malenkov will be just Muffin, because his efforts were largely focused on gaining control over the apparatus of the palace control, while the then Khrushchev was the head of the party, the ideological wing of the authorities, ideological wing of power, ideological wing of power - This is rather Shuisky, who had close ties with the most influential people of the Church - Metropolitan Dionysius and Krutitsky Bishop Varlaam (Pushkin)).

One of Godunov was the receipt of the position of a stable of the stable - abolished the formidable by the coronation of the new king in 1568. A kind of stalmaster was understood as a very important position at the court - close to the current leader of the apparatus of the head of state. Almost simultaneously with this, mass co -optation began as part of the Duma (how not to recall this bureaucratic method of struggle for power in the twenties of the twentieth century!).

According to the estimates of A. A. Zimin, by 1585 the Duma doubled: the list was replenished with 13 boyars and 5 ringleys, and 8 boyars and 1 okolnichy belonged to the group of supporters of Boris. At the same time, since the summer of 1585, Nikita Romanovich Yuryev became seriously ill - apparently, he suffered a heavy stroke - and in fact, he left the game personally - in the spring of next year he died. According to another version, both a blow and death should be transferred a year earlier (in general, the biography of the grandfather of the first king from the Romanov dynasty contains surprisingly many white spots; it is not clear even with the uniqueness of which of his two wives the future Patriarch Filaret came and, therefore, the future king Mikhail Fedorovich).

In any case, it is logical to consider the direct consequence of the departure of Nikita Yuryev, the blow inflicted on Godunov’s family - relatives of the first wife of Nikita Romanovich, traditionally, from the 15th century, who inherited the post of sovereign treasurer.

It is clear that to blame someone else's finance minister is an archive task, and Godunov first (unsuccessfully) tried to encourage Belsky to do this. When the elder Yuryev ceased to counteract the attacks on the Golovins, the denouement began: Peter Golovin was accused of treason, exiled to Arzamas and there was quietly killed (the characteristic Godunov style of political reprisal), his brother Mikhail fled to Lithuania, and Kuzen V.V. Golovin lost his treasury position.

Yuryev, however, was the least antagonistic of the three opponent of Godunov - more inclined to block Boris. In any case, dying, he seemed to entrust the last, so to speak, custody of his children.

The confrontation with Mstislavsky and the Shuisky clan was much tougher. According to various sources, Ivan Fedorovich was either sent a monastery to Kirillov and forcibly tonsured monks, or (most likely) simply made an offer that he could not refuse. In the summer of 1585, the old man went to Solovki "Pray", in August came from there to Kirillov and accepted tonsure there. There he will die in less than a year.

A number of Mstislavsky’s supporters fell into disgrace - they were mainly sent to distant cities as if to service. However, for contemporaries who observed all these repressions, it was obvious that their intensity and bloodiness could not compare with what was happening under Ivan the Terrible - the liberalization of the regime and the humanization of politics were there: even the son of the old Mstislavsky - Fedor Ivanovich remained in the Duma at the head of the boyar list, as before the father. However, this man did not seem to Godunov as a significant political player - besides, he was single (there were rumors that it was Godunov who forbade him to marry).

Now the confrontation of Godunov and Shuisky took a direct form - in April 1586, the Duma included three Shuisky and five Godunovs. Given the rest of the boyars and the ringleys, we can talk about the approximate equality of forces. In any case, the blow was inflicted precisely from the Shuisky, in early May 1586 provoking the folk excitement of Anti -Godonovsky in Moscow.

The essence of the claims was as follows: I.P. Shuisky, Metropolitan Dionysius, as well as their supporters not only from the composition of the Duma and the consecrated cathedral, but also from the representatives of the Moscow merchants, made up the petition to the king, offering it no more - as to send their wife to the monastery, taking a new wife instead. It is clear that this - Godunovs would have expected a collapse. The formal reason was the infertility of Irina Godunova, supposedly unable to give birth to the successor of the dynasty. There was no infertility - in 1592 she will give birth to a daughter who died in infancy. So, the problems of continuing the family were not on her part ... However, the idea put forward had a certain historical context-firstly, it relied on the precedent: a link to the monastery of Solomonia Saburova and the subsequent second marriage of the grandfather of Tsar Fedor, Vasily Third (again, the relationship of the Saburov and Godunovs is characteristic). And secondly, there is evidence that Grozny himself in the last years of his life seemed to have heeded a similar project.

In general, the matter was extremely serious-it is clear that Shuisky went to V-Bank:

Such a petition simply could not be rejected without fatal consequences for petitioners.

It follows that all forces and means were mobilized, of which the most effective, as we know from the later events of the Poles of Khovanschina, is the threat of the release of the masses of the Posadsky Luda from the control of their leaders. In the face of such a development of events, the Moscow government often accepted the demands of these leaders as a radically less evil.

However, Godunov resisted. We do not know how it was in the details, what means and mechanisms were involved, however, the intervention in the intimate life of the king was clearly rejected, and I.P. Shuisky gave, as they would say now, a joint press conference with Godunov, at which he declared the armed Moscow public, which has nothing against the royal cable, no betrayal (the key word for the then consciousness!) And in general, everything is OK.

The uprising stopped and Godunov went on a counterattack. At first, the instigators of unrest from among the Posad people were executed - some "guests" by F. Nagai and Golub with comrades. A certain number of Posadsky was sent to prison or sent from the capital. And on October 13, 1586, Metropolitan Dionysius and Bishop of Varlaam - Godunov were reduced from their thrones, remembering that the time of the then Metropolitan Daniel became a key figure in Vasily of the Third's divorce, decided to put his man on this post. The hegumen Job - the future first Russian Patriarch became such.

A little later they got to the Shuisky: I.P. Shuisky was accused of an unrighteous court at the beginning of 1587 (he had judged a local dispute between the printer Alferiev and Lordov-Kolychev, to whom he favored). After rather large -scale investigative actions, Shuisky was convicted and sent to exile, where on November 16, 1588 he was strangled by smoke by Prince I. S. Turenin - the Godunov method familiar to us.

Then he was exiled to Galich V.I. Shuisky - the future king. And later, in May 1589, Andrei Shuisky was killed. Opala covered the supporters of the Shuisky: F.V. Sheremetev lost his possessions and tonsured the monastery in Antoniyev. They were exiled to Livna I. M. Buturlin, depriving the title of Okolnichy, and so on.

And yet, we repeat, it looked only with a weak shadow of Opal and the executions of the times of the Terrible: it is enough to say that Vasily Shuisky, and even Bogdan Belsky, by 1591, were already able to return to Moscow, occupying their formal formal situation. It was unthinkable to compete with Godunov after 1588.

Perhaps the only pebble in his shoe was a young Dmitry - the last of Tsar Ivan, who grew carefree in his Uglich.

On Polit.ru, notes of Leo Usyskin on Boris Godunov , Vasily Shuisky , Malyuta Skuratov , False Dmitry of the first and second were published .