False Dmitry II

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False Dmitry II (Russian: Лжедимитрий II, other transliterations: Dmitriy, Dmitri, Dmitrii), also called the rebel of Tushino, was the second of three pretenders to the Russian throne who claimed to be tsarevich Dmitry, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible. The real Dmitry had died under uncertain circumstances, most likely an assassination attempt, in 1591 at the age of nine at his widowed mother's appanage in Uglich.

The second False Dmitry first appeared on the scene circa 1607 at Starodub. He is believed to have been either a priest's son or a converted Jew, and was highly educated relative to the times he lived in. He spoke both the Russian and Polish languages and was something of an expert in liturgical matters. He pretended at first to be the Muscovite boyar Nagoy; but confessed, under torture, that he was tsarevich Dmitry, whereupon he was taken at his word and joined by thousands of Cossacks, Poles, and Muscovites.

In the course of the year Jerzy Mniszech, father of Marina Mniszech, widow of the first Dimitry, 'reunited' him with Marina, who miraculously recognized her late husband in this second Dimitry (subsequently quieting her conscience by privately marrying this impostor, who in no way resembled her first husband, False Dmitry I). This brought him the support of the magnates of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who had supported False Dmitry I. Adam Wiśniowiecki, Roman Różyński, Jan Sapieha decided to support the second pretender as well, supplying him with some early funds and 7500 soldiers, among them Aleksander Józef Lisowski, leader of the infamous mercenary band later know as Lisowczycy.

He speedily captured Karachev, Bryansk and other towns; was reinforced by the Poles; and in the spring of 1608 advanced upon Moscow, routing the army of Tsar Vasily Shuisky at Bolkhov. Promises of the wholesale confiscation of the estates of the boyars drew many common people to his side. The village of Tushino, twelve versts from the capital, was converted into an armed camp, where Dmitry gathered his army. His force initially included 7000 Polish soldiers, 10,000 Cossacks and 10,000 other rag-tag soldiers, including former members of the failed rokosz of Zebrzydowski. His forces soon exceeded 100,000 men. He raised to the rank of patriarch another illustrious captive, Philaret Romanov, and won the allegiance of the cities of Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vologda, Kashin and several others.

The arrival of King Sigismund III Vasa at Smolensk caused a majority of his Polish supporters to desert him and join with the armies of the Polish king. At the same time, a strong Russo-Swedish army under Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky and Jacob De la Gardie approached Tushino, forcing him to flee his camp disguised as a peasant and go to Kostroma, where Marina joined him and he lived once more in regal state. He also made another unsuccessful attack on Moscow, and, supported by the Don Cossacks, recovered a hold over all south-eastern Russia. However, he was killed, while half drunk, on the 11th of December 1610 by a Tatar princeling, Peter Urusov, whom he had flogged. Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski¹ described this event in his memoirs:

Having drunk deep at dinner...he ordered a sleigh to be harnessed, taking flasks of mead to the sleigh. Coming out into the open country, he drank with some boyars. Prince Peter Urusov, together with those several score horsemen with whom he was in league, was riding after him, apparently escorting him. And when the imposter had drunk very well with the boyars, Urusov drew from his holster a pistol which he had ready, and galloping up to the sleigh first shot him with the pistol, then cutting off his head and hand with his saber, took to the road.

[edit] Notes

Żółkiewski had never met Dmitri, but relied on the information from his many sources. In his memoirs he also wrote that if False Dmitriy II had anything in common with False Dmitry I, it was that they were both human beings.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.