Once upon a time in Russia, there was a period known as Time of Trouble, in English. In Russian it’s called “Murky Time,” a better name, as it explains the very muddy and shadowy state of the state between 1598 and 1613.
In 1591, Tsar Ivan The Terrible’s youngest son, Dmitry Ivanovich, the Crown Prince of Russia, only 9 years of age, was ruthlessly assassinated by the greedy envious power usurpers.
His successor, Fyodor I, the oldest son of Ivan The Terrible, the last of the Rurik Dynasty, the founding dynasty of Russia, died without an heir in 1598. (1557-1598). His wife was the sister of Boris Godunov, the man who already acted like a Tsar for years of Feodor on the throne…Boris reigned 1598-1605. His son, Feodor II, reigned after, until June 10, 1605…
At that same time, three Pretender Tsars claimed the Throne of Russia.
Did they not teach you any of Russia’s Murky History in USA history classes? Well, perhaps, not in the last 40 years, when classic education was thrown out to accommodate “progressive change.”
The Three Pretender Tsars of Russia were:
Dmitry I, historically known as Pseudo-Demetrius I and False Dmitry I, proclaimed himself a Tsar and reigned from June 10, 1605 to May 17, 1606, his death, under the name of Dmitry Ivanovich.
He was the first, and most successful, of three Pretender Tsars of Russia. (самозванцы; самозванец, singular). All three claimed to be the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, and each claimed to have successfully escaped the assassination…in 1591…
False Dmitry I was survived by his wife, the beautiful Polish woman of many talents, Marina Mniszech, whose very last name will become a new word in the Russian lexicon – mnit’, to imagine oneself to be….
False Dmitry II, d. 12/11/1610, aka Pseudo-Demetrius II and also called the rebel/criminal of Tushino, a then village near Moscow, now part of Moscow, was the second of three pretenders. He is believed to have been either a priest’s son or a converted Jew and was relatively highly educated for the time. He spoke both the Russian and Polish languages and was an expert in liturgical matters. And – here’s my favorite tidbit – the widow Marina recognized Dmitry II in 1607 to be the real Dmitry I, who was “raised from the dead,” but actually not. Wars were fought and lives were lost in pursuits of the Polish Kingdom after the Russian Throne…as Don Cossacks became more powerful against The Swiss and The Poles… DII was killed by a tatar prince he previously flogged…
False Dmitry III, aka Pseudo-Demetrius III, died July 1612. He was the most enigmatic of the three, from Novgorod, but aka the rebel/criminal of Pskov, proclaimed himself Tsarevich (Prince) Dmitry on March 28, 1611. The Cossacks, who were leading a long campaign against Moscow, proclaimed him Tsar and kissed the cross (swore allegiance), but a year later, May 18, 1612 he was seized and delivered to Moscow, where he was secretly executed. Murky Times lasted until in 1613 Michael Romanoff ascended.
All students of government destabilization study The Murky Times aka Smuta in Russian.