Could Tsarevich Dimitri Uglichsky claim the royal throne

Russian history is full of mysteries. The richest period on them is the Time of Troubles. The reason for the death of Tsarevich Demetrius, the son of Ivan the Terrible, has not been disclosed so far. What happened on May 15, 1591 in Uglich? Was it an accident, a political murder, or did Demetrius really escape? The version that False Dmitry was the real son of Ivan the Terrible, still has its serious supporters. Was it necessary to kill the lad in the struggle for power?

The fact is that Maria Nagaya, the last seventh wife of Tsar Ivan, was not married to him. The church did not bless marriage. In those days no more than three weddings were allowed. Accordingly, from the church point of view, Demetrius was considered illegitimate and could be excluded from the list of candidates for the throne for quite objective reasons.

The Cesarevich was born on October 19, 1582 and was named the same as his elder brother, the king’s firstborn, who died long before his birth. Here mysterious coincidences, interweaving of fates begin.

At that time, in the XIV-XVI centuries, the royal babies were given two names. One of them was a direct name, the other princely. The youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, the princely name was Dimitry in honor of Donskoy, and direct - Ouar, in honor of that saint on whose day he was born. So, the same heavenly patrons were with his older brother. In addition, both were born in October. It is believed that this played a fatal role in the fate of Demetrius.

As soon as Ivan the Terrible dies, Fedor Ioannovich takes over, the younger brother with his mother Maria Nagoy goes to Uglich. The city was given to him as an inheritance.

Contemporaries in memoirs noted the similarity of character with Ivan the Terrible. The traveler Giles Fletcher wrote about him like this: "The life of the king’s younger brother is in danger from the assassination attempts of those who extend their views on the possession of the throne in the event of the child’s death without a king."

Further, the memoirist recalls how one of the nurse died immediately, as soon as she tasted the food prepared for the prince.

In addition, Giles found a similarity between Grozny and Demetrius in that the boy liked to look at the blood, cut the throat of pigs and beat the geese with a stick to death. However, why believe the Englishman ...

Others recalled that once a boy painted and portrayed a boyar. Then he signed "Godunov" and put an end to it with the words that it would be like that when he grew up. Perhaps this played a key role. Despite the fact that Dimitri was not considered seriously as a contender, Godunov may have decided to get rid of him early. But no definite conclusions can be drawn.

The most common version, expressed as a result of the investigation of the commission of Vasily Shuisky, suggests that the boy died as a result of a "game of knives." He had an attack of epilepsy, he came across a knife. The game was that the boys threw knives and the one who threw further won.

Investigators interviewed a nurse, a bedcloth, and a mother. An indignant crowd tore the alleged killers. During the investigation, evidence was taken from 150 people. All Naked, uncles, clergy, close to the family. Vasily Shuisky himself, and after him the government of the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty Mikhail, was considered guilty of Boris Godunov. Whether the murder was carried out by his direct order or by the will of those close to him is not known.

Many modern criminologists, having studied the materials of the case, which has been preserved in the archive, assure that the testimonies taken by the Shuisky investigators are similar to each other and it is difficult for a child-epileptic to inflict fatal injuries on himself, since the palms are wide open at that moment.

Be that as it may, the death of Demetrius Uglichsky plunged the state into chaos and led to the emergence of a series of False Dmitriyevs. Maria Nagaya identified False Dmitry I as her surviving son.