The Great Pretender

I promised more on the Kremlin when I was free, and as I always believe in keeping my promises, more you shall have.

After the Cathedral of the Assumption, our guide led us into the Cathedral of the Archangel. This cathedral was the burial site of all Russian czars until Peter the Great moved Russia's capital to St. Petersburg in the early eighteenth century. But by the far the most interesting person buried here is not a czar but a person I think of at the Great Pretender--or, as he is more generally known to Russian history, the False Dmitri.

Apparently, Ivan the Terrible's son and heir, Dmitiri, was found dead one morning in the confines of the palace playground, a sword stuck through his heart. An investigation, led by Boris Gudenov, concluded the death to be an accident; the official findings claimed that, while playing, Dmitri had somehow fallen on his own sword. As you can imagine, Muscovites found this as probable as most Americans find the conclusions of the Warren Report and assumed that Dmitri had been assassinated.

With Dmitri dead, Ivan had no heir. Upon his death, Boris Gudenov was elected--yes, elected--czar of Russia. The public was naturally skeptical, having been indoctrinated to believe that czars ruled by divine right and not by election. But just at this time, a man claiming to be the real Dmitri appeared in Moscow. He was eventually proven to be a fraud and dethroned. But for about a year, this pretender ruled over all Russia.