False Dmitriy I - Background

Background

False Dmitriy I appeared in history circa 1600, when he made an impression on Patriarch Job of Moscow with his learning and assurance. Tsar Boris Godunov, however, ordered him to be seized and examined, whereupon he fled to Prince Constantine Ostrogski at Ostroh, then in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and subsequently entered the service of another polonized Ruthenian family, the Wisniowieckis. Princes Adam and Michał Wiśniowiecki found his story to be convincing, as to who he purported to be, and it gave them an opportunity to get involved in the political turmoil that was transpiring in Muscovy.

There were vague rumours that Dmitriy was an illegitimate son of the Polish king, Stefan Batory, who had reigned from 1575 to 1586. According to a later tale, Dmitriy blurted out his identity when his master had slapped him in anger. Dmitriy himself claimed that his mother, the widow of Tsar Ivan, had anticipated Boris Godunov's assassination attempt and had given him into the care of a doctor who hid with him in Russian monasteries. After the doctor died, he had fled to Poland where he worked as a teacher for a brief time before coming to the service of Wisniowiecki. A number of people who had known Tsar Ivan later claimed that Dmitriy did resemble the young tsarevitch. Dmitriy displayed aristocratic skills like riding and literacy and spoke both Russian and Polish.

Regardless of whether they believed the tale of Dmitriy, Adam Wiśniowiecki, Roman Różyński, Jan Sapieha and several other Polish noblemen decided to support him against Tsar Boris Godunov. In March 1604, Dmitriy visited the royal court of Sigismund III Vasa in Kraków. The king provisionally supported him, but did not promise any direct aid to help him on his way to the throne of Russia. To attract the support of powerful Jesuits, Dmitriy publicly converted to Roman Catholicism on 17 April 1604 and convinced the papal nuncio Claudio Rangoni to back up his claim. At that time he also met Marina Mniszech, a Polish noblewoman, who was a daughter of Jerzy Mniszech. He asked for her hand and was promised it in return for giving to the Mniszech family the Russian towns of Pskov, Novgorod, Smolensk and Novhorod-Siverskyi.