A new impostor appeared in Starodub in the summer of 1607. Contemporaries speculated a lot about his origin. Barnulabovskaya Chronicles seems to be the most authentic in this respect. It states that the name of the new impostor was Bogdanka and he was a tutor of a priest in Schklov. This man became a new protege of Poland.
In May, 1608 the Tsar's armies were crushed near Volkhov. Lzhedmitry II in the head of a big army mustered by Polish and Lithuanian magnates set off for Moscow. On the way his army was enlarged by Cossacks of ataman Ivan Zarutsky and the remains of Bolotnikov's troops. In the beginning of June, 1608 the army of Lzhedmitry II reached Moscow. It was defeated at Khimki and Presnya and had to camp at Tushino. Due to this Lzhedmitry II was named 'the Tushino Thief".
The siege of the capital was laid. A part of Moscow nobility came over to the impostor's side. A new Duma and Departments started functioning in Tushino. In 1608 the Polish troops captured Rostov and took Metropolitan Filaret Romanov prisoner. He was brought to Tushino and proclaimed the patriarch.
Marina Mnishek released from Moscow in July, 1608 by the terms of the armistice with Poland went with her father to Tushino. There she recognized the impostor as her husband. It was a beginning of anarchy.
The Tushino party controlled a significant part of the territory of the state. They plundered and ravage the land. The impostor himself was totally controlled by Polish military leaders. Predatory actions of the Poles caused repulse of peasants and townspeople. 16 months (since September, 1608 till January, 1610) the Polish-Lithuanian troops of Yan Salega besieged the Troitse-Sergiyev Monastery, but its defenders managed to repulse all attacks of the enemy. |
History 