Seven Boyars is …
"Seven Boyars" - "seven-numbered boyars", the Russian government, formed after the overthrow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky in July 1610 and formally existed until Tsar Mikhail Romanov was elected to the throne. Boyar rule did not give the country either peace or stability. Moreover, it transferred power to the Polish interventionists and let them into Moscow. Liquidated by the militia of Minin and Pozharsky.
Interregnum
After Vasily Shuisky was overthrown and tonsured a monk, an interregnum began in Russia. False Dmitry 2 was not recognized in the capital, but people were afraid to elect a new tsar from among their midst. No one wanted to listen to Patriarch Hermogenes, who said that one should immediately choose either Prince Vasily Golitsyn or Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov as tsar (this is the first mention of Filaret's son about his election to the kingdom!). However, in Moscow it was decided to rule together - a council of seven boyars. At the Arbat Gate, a meeting of all "ranks" of the state was held - representatives of the nobility and nobility. They, after the approval of the overthrow of Shuisky, asked the members of the Boyar Duma, "to grant, accept the Moscow state, until God gives us a sovereign for the Muscovite kingdom."
The Semiboyarshchyna includes
- Prince Fyodor Ivanovich Mstislavsky
Promotional video:
- Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Vorotynsky
- Prince Andrey Vasilievich Trubetskoy
- Prince Andrey Vasilievich Golitsyn
- Prince Boris Mikhailovich Lykov-Obolensky
- Boyarin Ivan Nikitich Romanov
- Boyarin Fedor Ivanovich Sheremetev
Prince Mstislavsky became the head of "Seven Boyarshchyna".
Agreement with the Poles
But everything was clear that such a form of government in Russia was short-lived, and Tushino's idea of inviting the prince Vladislav began to win more and more adherents. Seven Boyars, meeting public opinion, and signed on August 17, 1610 with the commander of the Polish king Sigismund II, hetman Zolkiewski, an agreement on the call to the Russian throne of the king's son, 15-year-old prince Vladislav. The boyars wanted Vladislav to accept Orthodoxy, marry a Russian, and lift the siege of Smolensk.
Zolkiewski did not promise all this, but undertook to send a representative Russian embassy to the king for negotiations. For seven weeks in the Kremlin, Muscovites swore allegiance to Tsar Vladislav. The oath became a genuine expression of the will of the people: 8-12 thousand people of Muscovites a day entered the Assumption Cathedral, took the oath of allegiance to Tsar Vladislav, kissed the cross and the Gospel. And so 300 thousand people passed through the Kremlin! Meanwhile, the Kremlin itself and other important Moscow centers began to be occupied by regular Polish troops. Soon Moscow was essentially occupied by the Polish army. This happened on September 20-21, 1610.
Hetman Zolkiewski began to demand that the former Tsar Shuisky and his brothers be given to him, which the Semboyarshchina did without regret. Even the monk Shuisky, with his influence, money and connections, did not cease to be dangerous for the boyars who seized power. 1610, September - Crowds of Muscovites poured into the streets of the capital to see the last exit of Tsar Vasily. Few people then experienced a feeling of national humiliation, seeing how in a wretched chariot, following the Polish horsemen in shining armor, they carried the captive Russian tsar, dressed in a shabby monastic robe. On the contrary, the people even thanked the hetman Zholkevsky, who pranced among the Russian boyars, for “delivering” them from the malicious Shuisky.
A huge (more than 1 thousand people) embassy went to the king's camp near Smolensk, suggesting soon to return to the capital with a new sovereign. But nothing good came of this venture. Negotiations in Sigismund's camp are at an impasse. As it turned out, the king views the state of affairs in a completely different way than Zolkiewski, that Sigismund is against the fact that his son would convert to Orthodoxy and does not want to let him go to Moscow. Moreover, Sigismund himself decided to become the Russian Tsar (Zhigimont Ivanovich), to unite Poland, Lithuania and Russia under his rule.
Why were the boyars in such a hurry with the oath to Vladislav, why they bound hundreds of thousands of people with sacred oaths, obliging them to obey the unknown sovereign? They, as often happens in history, took care of themselves first of all. In the Time of Troubles, the boyars feared most of all the capricious Moscow mob and False Dmitry 2, who, inspired by the defeat of the Russian army at Klushino, made a rush to the capital. At any time he could break through to Moscow and "take the kingdom" - the impostor in the capital would have found many supporters. In a word, the Semboyarshchyna could not hesitate. The Polish forces seemed to the boyars to be a reliable shield against the robbers of the Tushino thief and the unfaithful Moscow mob. After the basic consent of the Poles to the election of Vladislav, all other problems seemed to the boyars not so important and easily solvable in a personal meeting with Sigismund II.
Now the Russian ambassadors found themselves in a terrible situation: they could not agree to the proclamation of Sigismund II as the Russian tsar, but they could not and shamefully leave with nothing. Negotiations went on in a raised voice, and then it turned out that the ambassadors, like the former Tsar Vasily, were prisoners of the Poles …
Expulsion of Poles from the Kremlin.
Civil uprising. Liberation of Moscow
The new government let the Polish army into Moscow, hoping that the False Dmitry would not stick it here. From that time on, the whole essence of the Seven Boyars was reduced to playing the role of puppets in the hands of the king of Poland, who began to pursue a policy that pleased him through his protege, the commandant of Moscow, Alexander Gonsevsky. The boyars were deprived of real power and became, in fact, hostages. It is in this miserable role of theirs that it is customary to see the answer to the question: "What is the Seven Boyars?"
After all the real power passed from the hands of the boyars to the Polish governor, he, having received the rank of boyar, began to dominate the state uncontrollably. At his own discretion, he began to take land and estates from those Russians who remained faithful to their patriotic duty, and handed them over to the Poles who were in his inner circle. This caused a wave of indignation in the state. It is believed that the Semboyarshchyna changed its attitude towards the Poles at this time.
Soon False Dmitry 2 was killed by traitors. The enemy was defeated, but this did not save the boyar government from the problem. The Polish troops who had settled in Moscow settled down tightly and did not intend to leave.
Power and people were against the Catholic king. The people's militia began to gather, but as a result everything ended in complete failure - the militias were defeated by the Poles. The Second Militia became more successful. Under the leadership of Prince Pozharsky and the zemstvo head Minin. They correctly decided that in addition to the will to win over the Polish army, the militia needed material support.
The people were ordered to give up a third of their property on pain of complete confiscation. So, the militias received good funding, more and more volunteers joined their ranks. Soon the number of the people's militia exceeded 10,000. They approached Moscow and began a siege of the Polish invaders.
The Polish garrison was doomed, but did not intend to surrender to the last. After several months of the siege, the militias were able to win - Kitay-Gorod and the Kremlin were captured by storm, the Poles were captured and killed. Moscow was liberated. 1613, February 21 - the boyars elected a new ruler - Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. This was the end of the period that went down in Russian history as the Seven Boyars. The years of the rule of the seven boyars are rightly considered one of the most difficult for the entire period of the Time of Troubles. Upon their completion, the country entered a new historical era.