Four dozen "Petrov III", seven "Tsarevich Alekseev Petrovich", five False Dmitrys, four False Dmitrys … The phenomenon of imposture, which flourished in the Time of Troubles, continued in the era of palace coups and echoed with a slight echo in our days.
Peasant princes
The most famous of the "discoverers" was Osinovik, who called himself the grandson of Ivan the Terrible. Nothing is known about the origin of the impostor, however, there is evidence that he belonged to the Cossacks or was a "show" peasant. "Tsarevich" first appeared in 1607 in Astrakhan. Osinovik's idea was supported by the "brothers" - the false princes Ivan-Augustin and Lavrenty. The Trinity managed to convince the Volga and Don Cossacks to “seek the truth” in Moscow (or did the Cossacks manage to convince the Trinity?). According to one of the versions, during the campaign between the "princes" a dispute arose from the category "do you respect me?" or "which of us is the most real-real?" During the showdown, Osinovik was killed. According to another version, the Cossacks could not forgive the "voivode" for the defeat in the battle of Saratov and hanged the "thief and impostor". All three impostors were given the chronicle nickname "peasant princes".
Otrepiev and other False Dmitry
The Time of Troubles in Russia came with the death of Tsarevich Dmitry, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible. Was he stabbed to death by Godunov's people or did he run into a knife while playing? - it is not known for certain. However, his death led to the fact that impostors began to appear in the country like mushrooms after rain. The fugitive monk Grigory Otrepiev, who, with the support of the Polish army, ascended to the Russian throne in 1605, became False Dmitry I, and even his "mother" - Maria Nagaya and "chairman of the investigative commission", another future Tsar Vasily Shuisky, recognized him.
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Grishka managed to "steer" the country for a year, after which he was killed by the boyars. Almost immediately a second "pretender to the throne" appeared, posing as False Dmitry I, who managed to escape the reprisals of the boyars.
False Dmitry II went down in history under the nickname "Tushinsky thief". After 6 years, Russian history also recognized False Dmitry III, or the "Pskov thief". True, neither one nor the other reached Moscow.
Fake
A huge number of “offspring” of False Dmitry and the Polish aristocrat Maria Mnishek, who was the wife of both the first and the second “Tsarevich Dmitry”, is called “false” in Russian history.
According to one version, the real son of Maria Mnishek Ivashka "Voronok" was hanged at the Serpukhov Gate in Moscow. The noose around the boy's neck really could not be tightened due to his low weight, however, most likely, the child died from the cold.
Later, the Polish nobleman Jan Luba announced his "miraculous salvation", who, after lengthy negotiations, was extradited to Moscow in 1645, where he confessed to imposture and was pardoned. Another Lzheivashka appeared in Istanbul in 1646 - this is how the Ukrainian Cossack Ivan Vergunenok decided to call himself.
"Son" of Tsar Vasily Shuisky
An official from Vologda, Timofey Ankudinov, became an impostor, rather, by coincidence. Confused in business and, according to one version, having managed to grab a decent amount of money, he burned down his house (together, by the way, with his wife, who wanted to betray him) and fled abroad. And there Timosha suffered … For 9 years he traveled around Europe under the name of "Prince of Great Perm" and pretended to be the never-existed son of Tsar Vasily IV of Shuisky.
Thanks to his ingenuity and artistry, he enlisted the support of very influential persons, including Bohdan Khmelnitsky, Queen Christina of Sweden, Pope Innocent X.
In the event of his “accession”, he promised to “share territories” and offered a number of other concessions, formulating them in decrees, on which he affixed his signature with his own seal. As a result, he was handed over to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, taken to Moscow and quartered.
False Pets
Many actions of Peter the Great caused, to put it mildly, misunderstanding among the people. Every now and then rumors spread throughout the country that a "substituted German" was ruling the country. Here and there "real kings" began to appear.
The first False Peter was Terenty Chumakov, who began his journey from Smolensk. Obviously, a half-crazy man was called Peter Alekseich and "secretly studied his lands, and also watched who and what said about the king."
He finished his "revision" in the same place, in Smolensk - he died, unable to bear the torture. Moscow merchant Timofey Kobylkin is another "Peter the First". On the way to Pskov, the merchant was robbed by robbers. I had to get home on foot, and, of course, to rest in roadside taverns. Without inventing anything smarter than introducing himself as the first captain of the Preobrazhensky regiment, Peter Alekseev, the merchant, of course, received honor and respect, and with them dinners with drinks "for appetite." The hot stuff so saturated the mind of the poor fellow that he began to send threatening dispatches to the local governors. One could laugh at the story, if not for the sad end. Upon returning home, Kobylkin was arrested and beheaded after torture.
"Heirs" of Peter
As you know, Peter the Great, suspecting his son Alexei of conspiracy and high treason, sentenced the firstborn to death. And it was quite natural that rumors "about the miraculous salvation of the prince" appeared, which led to the emergence of a sufficient number of "heirs" ready to claim the throne in the future. History mentions at least seven “descendants” of Peter. Despite the fact that they were all crazy, drunkards or vagabonds, one fate awaited them - the death penalty.
Peter III
Particularly "lucky" for the impostors was Peter III, who was removed from the rule by his own wife Catherine II, and then killed.
The people did not believe in the death of the "poor" tsar, perhaps that is why the first impostor - the fugitive soldier Gavrila Kremnev and his 1,500 army, marching to Moscow, the people saw off with icons and bells.
True, only seeing the regular army, the army of the "tsar" fled. Catherine graciously reacted to the "applicant": she ordered to burn "BS" (fugitive and impostor) on the forehead, to carry around the villages where the "tsar" "spoke" with speeches, and publicly flogged with a whip, and then sent to eternal hard labor. The queen, with her characteristic irony, advised her subjects to fast not only in food, but also in drink. A little later, she will not be up to jokes when the country is in a fever from the Pugachev region.