The Empire of Russia: From the Remotest Periods to the Present TimeAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
The Empire of Russia: From the Remotest Periods to the Present Time
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Russia -- History
But Dmitri was thoroughly a bad man, and every day became more
unpopular. He debauched the young sister of Feodor, and then shut her
up in a convent. He banished seventy noble families who were accused
of being the friends of Boris, and gave their estates and dignities to
his Polish partisans. A party was soon organized against him, who
busily circulated reports that he was an impostor, and a conspiracy
was formed to take his life. Perplexities and perils now gathered
rapidly around his throne. He surrounded himself with Polish guards,
and thus increased the exasperation of his subjects.
To add to his perplexities, another claimant of the crown appeared,
who declared himself to be the son of the late tzar, Feodor, son of
Ivan IV. This young man, named Peter, was seventeen years of age. He
had raised his standard on the other side of the Volga, and had
rallied four thousand partisans around him. In the meantime, Dmitri
had made arrangements for his marriage with Mariana Meneiski, a Polish
princess, of the Roman church. This princess was married to the tzar
by proxy, in Cracow, and in January, 1606, with a numerous retinue set
out on her journey to Moscow. She did not reach the capital of Moscow
until the 1st of May. Her father's whole family, and several thousand
armed Polanders, by way of guard, accompanied her. Many of the Polish
nobles also took this opportunity of visiting Russia, and a multitude
of merchants put themselves in her train for purposes of traffic.
The tzarina was met, at some distance from Moscow, by the royal guard,
and escorted to the city, where she was received with ringing of
bells, shoutings, discharge of cannons and all the ordinary and
extraordinary demonstrations of popular joy. On the 8th of May, the
ceremony of blessing the marriage was performed by the patriarch, and
immediately after she was crowned tzarina with greater pomp than
Russia had ever witnessed before. But the appearance of this immense
train of armed Poles incensed the Russians; and the clergy, who were
jealous of the encroachments of the church of Rome, were alarmed in
behalf of their religion. An intrepid noble, Zuski, now resolved, by
the energies of a popular insurrection, to rid the throne of Dmitri.
With great sagacity and energy the conspiracy was formed. The tzarina
was to give a grand entertainment on the evening of the 17th of May,
and the conspirators fixed upon that occasion for the consummation of
their plan. Twenty thousand troops were under the orders of Zuski, and
he had led them all into the city, under the pretense of having them
assist in the festival.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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