Dimitri V
Tsarévich of Russia (?, 1583-?, 1591).Younger son of Ivan IV the Terrible, he should have been the successor of his brother Teodoro I; but Dimitri V died when he was still a child, supposedly assassinated at the instigation of the regent Boris Godunov, who preferred to rule with the insane Theodore and seize the Crown when he died (as he did in 1598).
Detail of an imaginary portrait of Tsarévich Dimitri V (oil by Nesterov)
Dimitri's mysterious disappearance gave rise to the legend of that he was still alive, united in the hope that he would return to restore the Ruríkid dynasty against the usurper Boris Godunov.During the period of disorder that followed the election of Boris as Tsar (1601-13), several false Dimitri, impostors appeared who posed as the murdered prince.
The most important was Grichka Otrepeiev (1580-1606), a former Polish monk who organized a rebellion against the Tsar in Russia in 1604.He got support from the pope and the King of Poland, who hoped to put him in the throne to extend his influence over Russia.Indeed, he defeated Boris Godunov and was crowned tsar in 1605; but in turn he was dethroned-and assassinated-by a revolt that provoked his policy dictated from Poland.
There was a second fake Dimitri, called the Tuchino Bandit (?-1610).He was hailed as a Tsar for a rebellion of Cossacks and Peasants in 1607, also supported by the King of Poland.When he was near Moscow, he had to withdraw before the threat of a Swedish army that came to the aid of the tsar and the boyars.He died in a hunting accident.
The third false Dimitri was the deacon Sidorka (?-1612), who led another Cossack rebellion in Narva in 1611.A betrayal left him in the hands of the Tsar, who had him executed.
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