History of Russia, Volume 15: The Time of Troubles: Tsar Vasily Shuisky and the Interregnum, 1606-1613

401 Pages·1989·11.034 MB·English

by  Sergei Mikhailovich Soloviev

HISTORY
OF RUSSIA
Sergei Mikhailovich Soloviev
The Academic International Press Edition oj Sergä M. Soloviev’s History
of Russia From Earliest Times. Peter von Wabide, General Editor.
Contributing Editors:
HUGH F. GRAHAM
JOHN D. WINDHAUSEN
ALEXANDER V. MULLER
K. A. PAPMEHL
RICHARD HANTULA
WALTER J. GLEASON, JR.
WILLIAM H. HILL
G. EDWARD ORCHARD
LINDSEY A.J. HUGHES
SERGEI M. SOLOVIEV
History o f Russia
Volume ij
The Time of Troubles
Tsar Vasily Shuisky and the Interregnum
1606-1613
Edited, Translated and With an
Introduction by
G. Edward Orchard
Academic International Press
1989
77U
Tditor and Translator
'Dt&catis this Votums
to the Memory of
MiCos MUidenovic
1903-1984
The Academic International Press Edition of S.M. Soloviev's
History of Russia from Earliest Times in fifty volumes.
Volume 15. The Time of Troubles. Tsar Vasily Shuisky and the
Interregnum. Unabridged translation of the text of Volume 8, Chap-
ten 4-8, of S.M. Soloviev's Istoriia Rossii s drevneishikh vremen
as found in Volume IV of this work published in Moscow in 1963,
with added annotation by G. Edward Orchard.
Copyright ® 1989 by Academic International Press
All rights reserved. The reproduction or utilization of this work in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying,
and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system,
by any individual, institution or library, is forbidden under law
without the written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Card Number: 75-11085
ISBN: 0-87569-111-0
Composition by Barbara Knoelke
Printed in the United Sûtes of America
A list of Academic International Press publications is found at the
end of this volume.
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Box 1111 Gulf Breeze FL 32562
CONTENTS
Weights and Measures viii
Preface ix
Introduction xii
TSAR VASILY SHUISKY, 1606-1608 1
The New Tsar Proclaims His Election—Limitation of the Tsar’s
Authority—Charters to the Provinces—Coronation and Patri­
arch—The Second Pretender—Molchanov—Stirrings in the Bor­
derlands—Unrest in Moscow—Bolotnikov—Defeat of the Tsar’s
Forces—The Liapunovs—Bolotnikov Before Moscow—The
Gentiy Desert Bolotnikov—Shuisky’s Offensive—Dispensation
by Patriarchs Job and Hermogen—Bolotnikov and Pretender
Peter in Tula—Victory of the Tsar’s Forces—Shuisky Besieges
Tula—Appearance of the Second Pretender—The Tsar Captures
Tula—False Dmitry II’s Forces—Rozynski and Zarutsky—New
Pretenders—Unrest in Moscow—False Dmitry Hastens Towards
Moscow—Peace With Poland—False Dmitry at Tushino—War
Against Shuisky—Marina and Her Father at Tushino—Polish
Conditions
THE TUSHINO BRIGAND, 1607-1610 55
Swedish Help for Shuisky—Civil Strife in Pskov—Pskov Sup­
ports the Pretender—Shuisky Besieged in Moscow—The Tush­
ino Court—Siege of the Trinity Monastery—Tushino Seizes the
Northern Towns—Polish Rapacity—Communications Among
the Northern Towns—Uprising Against the Tushinites—Upris­
ing Against Shuisky in Moscow—War Between Moscow and
Tushino—Treaty with Sweden—Skopin’s Advance
m THE FALL OF SHUISKY, 1609-1610 107
Sigismund Besieges Smolensk—Dissension in Tushino—Pre­
tender Flees to Kaluga—King Sigismund—The Throne Offered
to Wladyslaw—Conditions of Wladyslaw’s Election—Marina’s
Predicament in Tushino—The Pretender in Kaluga—Marina
Flees Tushino—Poles Abandon Tushino—Prince Skopin’s Popu­
larity—Skopin’s Triumphal Entry into Moscow—Sigismund’s
Difficult Situation—Skopin’s Death—Liapunov Rises Against
Tsar Vasily—Zolkiewski’s Victory at Klushino—Zolkiewski’s
Moscow Campaign—The Pretender Before Moscow—The Fall
of Shuisky—Government During Shuisky’s Reign.
IV THE INTERREGNUM, 1610 151
Oath to the Boyars—Letters to the Provinces—The Boyars and
Hetman Zolkiewski—Activities of the Pretender—Agreement
with Zolkiewski—Oath of Allegiance to Wladyslaw and Sigis­
mund’s Claim—The Pretender Repelled—Embassy to the King
Besieging Smolensk—The Pretender in Kaluga—Polish Army
Admitted into Moscow—Zolkiewski Leaves Moscow—Negotia­
tions at Smolensk—Saltykov and Andronov Aid the King in
Moscow—Kazan and Viatka Swear Allegiance to the Pre­
tender—Death of the Pretender.
V END OF THE INTERREGNUM, 1610-1613 202
Movement Against the Poles—Liapunov’s Uprising—Corre­
spondence Between Towns—Failure of the First Militia—Parleys
Outside Smolensk—Burning of Moscow—The Poles Besieged in
Moscow’s Ruins—Internment of the Ambassadors—Capture of
Smolensk—Vasily Shuisky and His Brothers in Warsaw—The
Militia Troika—Death of Liapunov—Novgorod Captured by
Swedes—Further Civil Strife in Pskov—Scarcity among Poles
and Russians—Appeals from Trinity Monastery—Archimandrite
Dionysius—Signs of a Popular Liberation Movement—Minin in
Nizhny Novgorod—Prince Pozharsky—Second Militia Force—
Defense Force Halts in Yaroslavl—The Militia Force and Nov­
gorod—The Militia Marches on Moscow—The Militia and the
Cossacks—Battle with the Poles—Liberation of Moscow—King
Sigismund Marches on Moscow—King Sigismund Retreats—
Election of Michael Fedorovich Romanov.
Maps
Bolotnikov and False Dmitry II 372
Marches of Muscovy and Zolkiewski 373
Military Movements in 1612 and Swedish Invasion 374
Minin and Pozharsky, Annexations 375
Moscow 376
Illustrations
Tsar Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky 5
Marina Mniszech 45
Karl IX 57
Sigismund III 114
Fortifications of Smolensk 136
Red Square in Moscow 164
Dmitry Pozharsky 253
Tsar Michael Fedorovich Romanov 287
Notes 290
Index 344
The Editor and Translator 377
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Linear Measure
Verst: 500 sazhen, 1166 yards and 2 feet, .663 miles, 1.0668 km.
Sazhen: 3 arshins, 7 feet, 2.133 m
Arshin: 16 vershoks, 28in. (diuims) 72.12 cm
Chetvert: 1/4 arshin
Fut: 12 diuims, 1 foot, 30.48 cm
Vershok: 1.75 in., 4.445 cm, 1/16 arshin
Diuim: 1 inch, 2.54 cm
Desiatina: 2400 square sazhens, 2.7 acres, 1.0925 hectare
Chetvert (quarter): 1/2 desiatine, 1.35 acre (sometimes 1.5 desiatinas or ca. 4.1 acres)
Liquid Measure
Stofi Kruzhka (cup), 1/10 vedro, ca. 1.3 quarts, 1.23 liters
Kufa: 30 stofy
Vedro (paid): 3.25 gallons, 12.3 liters, 10 stofy
Bochka (barrel): 40 vedros, 121 gallons, 492 liters
Chetvert (quarter): 1.4 bochka, 323 gallons
Weights
Berkovets: 361 olbs., 10 puds
Pud: 40 funts, 36,113 lbs. (US), 40 lbs. (Russian), 16.38 kg
Funt: 96 zolotniks, .903 lb., 14.4 ozs., 408.24 grams
Grivenka: 205 grams
Korob (basket): 7 puds, 252 lbs.
Rad: 14 puds, 505.58 lbs
Chetvert (grain measure): 1/4 rad, 3.5 puds, 126.39 lbs., ca. 8 bushels
Chetverik (grain measure dating from 16th century): 1/8 chetvert, 15.8 lbs.
Zolotnik: 1/96 lb., 4.26 grams
Money
Chervonets (chervonny): A gold coin minted in the first half of the 18th century worth
about 3 rubles
Muscovite Denga: 200 equals 1 ruble
Novgorod Denga: 100 equals 1 ruble
Ruble: 100 copecks, 200 dengas
Altyn: 6 Muscovite dengas, 3 copecks
Grivna: 20 Muscovite dengas, 100 grivnas equals 1 ruble, 10 copecks
Poltina (Poltinnik): 50 copecks, 100 dengas
Polupoltina (-nik): 25 copecks, 50 dengas
Poltora: 1 1/2 rubles
Peniaz: 10 equals one grosh (Lithuania)
Kopa grosh: 60 groshas, (me Muscovite poltina
Chetvertak. silver coin equal to 25 copecks or 1/4 rubles (18-19th centuries)
Copeck, two Muscovite dengas
Foreign Denominations: 1 efimok or 1 thaler (Joachimsthaler)-about 1 ruble, 1 chervonets
or chervonnyi—a ducat, about 3 rubles
Levok—Dutch silver lion dollar
Note: Weights and measures often changed values overtime and sometimes held more than
one value at the same time. For deuils consult Sergei G. Pushkarev, Dictionary cf
Russian Historical Terms from the Eleventh Century to 1917 (Yale, 1970).
PREFACE
This book is an unabridged translation of Volume 8, Chapters 4-8, which
arc pp. 459-690 in Volume IV of the multi-volume edition of Soloviev’s
Istoriia Rossii s drevneishikh vremen (History of Russia From Earliest
Times, 29 vols., St Petersburg, 1851-1879) published from 1959 through
1966 in Moscow.
The present translation endeavors to render the text and Soloviev's
thought as accurately as possible. No attempt has been made to reproduce
his style and text word for word for this would have yielded a bizarre
Russianized text The main consideration has been to make his history as
readable as possible consistent with accuracy, while retaining at least
something of the flavor of the language of the era. An effort has been made
to find English-language equivalents for all technical terms Soloviev
employs (ranks, offices, titles, legal, administrative and so forth) in the
belief that English is no less rich in such terms than other languages. This
is intended to smooth the flow of the narrative for the reader and to avoid
marring the pages with annoying untranslated words. The exception in­
volves Russian words which have become common in English—boyar,
tsar, cossack, and others. In all of this the translator remains painfully
aware of the inevitable shortcomings that may remain.
Soloviev’s pages arc featureless and interminable, one long and com­
plex sentence marching after the last To make the text easier to follow
for today’s readers, long paragraphs and sentences have been broken into
shorter ones. Most of the subtitles are based on the descriptive topic
headings clustered at the beginnings of the chapters in the Russian edition.
These headings have been moved into the body of the text as subtitles to
mark and ease for the reader the transition from one subject to another.
In some cases, to even the frequency of breaks in the text or to show topics
not listed by Soloviev at the beginning of chapters, new subtitles have
been added. Soloviev's arrangement of the material has been followed
strictly.
Brief explanatory or interpretive materials have been inserted into the
text enclosed in brackets, or added as footnotes to each chapter at the end
of the book. All material enclosed in brackets has been added by the
X PREFACE
present editor and all materials in parenthesis is the author’s. Empha­
sized words or phrases in italics are the author’s.
The general policy followed in annotating has been to identify promi­
nent personalities at first mention, and to give explanation and elucida­
tions of less common or obscure terms and passages, assuming the typical
reader to have relatively little familiarity with Russian history. If brief,
these have been included in the text in brackets; otherwise they appear
as numbered footnotes at the back of the book by chapters. Most of the
author’s own notes are not included because of their highly specialized
archival, documentary and bibliographic nature is of value solely to spe­
cialists who, in any case, will prefer to consult the original Russian text
In addition, most of the notes added by the editors of the edition published
in the Soviet Union which also are technical in nature—fuller biblio­
graphic citations than those in Soloviev’s notes—have not been included.
When the author’s notes and those of the Soviet editors are included, they
are so designated. All other notes are those of the present editor.
Russian personal names are preserved in their Russian form except for
Alexander, Alexis, Michael, Nicholas, Catherine and Peter, which English
usage has made familiar with respect to Russian historical figures, and
important ecclesiastics whose names have been recast into Latin or Greek
equivalents, especially for the earlier period of Russian history. This ap­
plies to prominent individuals; Russian forms usually are used for the less
prominent Certain other names and terms have been anglicized for the
sake of clarity and because they are used widely—Casimir, Sophia,
Danzig, boyar, rubles, versts, Dnieper river, and others.
The editors of the edition published in the USSR frequently have add­
ed patronymics and other names, and these have been retained without
brackets; patronymics appearing in the original edition have also been in­
cluded. Plural forms for names and terms which might be confusing have
been anglicized—Vologdians rather than Vologzhane, Voguls and not
Vogulichi, the Dolgorukys not Dolgorukie, and so forth. Even so, in a few
cases the Russian plural form is used when this form is common. Most
Slavic surnames show gender, and this has been preserved. Since an “a”
at the word end usually signifies a female, Golovkin would have a wife
or daughter Golovkina. The final “iia” in feminine personal names has
been shortened to “ia”—’’Maria” and “Evdokia” instead of “Mariia” and
“Evdokiia”.
Non-Russian names, locations, terms, ranks and so on are spelled ac­
cording to the language native to the person or particular to the city, region