Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky: biography, activities and interesting facts

He died at the age of 23, being poisoned by envious persons and intriguers. If it were possible to characterize his life in a very short time, then for this there would probably be only one word - "service." Skopin-Shuisky Mikhail Vasilyevich (08.11.1586 - 23.04.1610), an outstanding commander, at the breaking point of Russia's destinies in the Time of Troubles proved to be a man capable not only of bringing her military victories, but also of diplomacy victories. His presence inspired the people. People knelt before him and, feeling out, kissed the stirrup.

Skopin-Shuisky had no defeats in battles, in effect pursuing foreign policy in place of his ungrateful and ignoble reigning uncle Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky. Distraught from atrocities, fear-fed king boyar deprived not only his nephew's life, but also the hope of the whole of Russia.

The biography of Skopin-Shuisky is the subject of this article.

Prologue. Troubled Times

After in 1584 Ivan the Terrible was strangled and in 1598 his 42-year-old son Fyodor was poisoned, the royal branch of the Rurikovichs stopped. For the crown - a trump card in the conspiratorial party - began the struggle of the boyar clans: the Godunovs, Mstislavs, Romanovs, Shuyskys. The first royal throne was taken in 1598 by the former oprichnik Boris Godunov.

However, upon reaching adulthood, the tsar was supposed to become the son of the seventh wife of Ivan the Terrible - Dmitry. The unfortunate teenager was threatened with death by the hands of pretenders to the throne. So it happened, as Vasily Shuisky, who was officially conducting the investigation, later established. Dmitry "playfully, fatally cut himself into a knife".

The intrigue of the boyar struggle for power continued. The fate of Boris Godunov, who "took a wrong place", was also decided by the monarchy. On April 13, 1605, the 53-year-old Tsar Boris, staying healthy, having eaten with an appetite, rose to the tower in order to enjoy the view of Moscow. He soon became ill, his nose and throat bleed, and he died. It was the handwriting of poisoners from the Shuisky clan. Everything was done so clumsily and clearly that the boyars had to let out a rumor, supposedly "tormented by the conscience of the tsar", he himself took poison.

The intriguing king

In the same year 1605, the impostor False Dmitry came to power over Muscovy for six months. This whole story with the liar was initially directed by the Shuiskys and the Romanovs. It is no accident that Grigory Otrepiev was formerly a servant of the Romanovs, and he was accompanied to Lithuania by the trusted monks of the Shuiskys. However, to spite the boyars ascended on their will to the throne, False Dmitry proved to be an active monarch who does not want to give up power.

Boyars-conspirators killed him, and then crowned on his secret council of Basil Shuisky. He vowed to rule them nominally, submitting to the boyar Duma. At this time the hero of our article, Prince Skopin-Shuisky, served under his influential cousin Vasily. He protected him personally and ensures the safety of traveling important people.

The rebellion of Bolotnikov

Soon something happened that neither the boyars of Shuisky nor the Mstislavskys had expected. Cossack Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov, having played on the discontent with the Cossacks "boyar king", raised an uprising.

Initially, the impostor collected 12,000 Cossacks, enlisted the support of the voivode of the Putivl prince Shakhovsky. The rebels, relying on the masses of dissatisfied peasants, set as their goal the capture of Moscow and the overthrow of the boyar Tsar Vasily Shuisky. Smutyanov secretly supported the Rzeczpospolita.

The tsarist army commanded by the monarch's brother, Fyodor, was completely overwhelmed. The Cossack rebel attacked Moscow.

"Half-King", as Vasily was called among the people, took the only wise decision for his rule: he abruptly changed the court career of his protege, and the nineteen-year-old Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, like his father and grandfather, became the Moscow governor.

Protection of Moscow

Mikhail was not wise by the years, he was a tall, strong young man with a direct piercing look. From childhood, he prepared himself as a warrior, mastering perfectly the streltsy weapons, horse-drawn horse dressage, artillery.

However, he was not deprived of reason either. Skopin-Shuisky immediately showed himself to be a sensitive politician, an organizer, by appointment. He seemed to be more than able to feel the spirit of the rat and to influence her. By that time, the Moscow army was in a sad state, it did not want to shed blood for the "boyar king". Skopin identified and arrested the main troublemakers: Ivan Troyekurov, Yuri Trubetskoi, Ivan Katyrev.

At the siege of Ivan Bolotnikov, stretched across the square of the capital, Skopin-Shuisky chose a win-win tactic. The swift attacks of the heavy cavalry created an overwhelming advantage in the attacking sectors.

Cossacks and other infamous infantry of Ivan Bolotnikov did not have time to prepare their artillery for battle and suffered losses.

Mission to the North

In the meantime, Novgorod faced a real danger of the loss of territories and the fall of the tsarist power. Tsar Vasily sent his nephew Mikhail there. The voevoda, who had galloped to the northern city, found that the situation was extremely ambiguous. Agents Bolotnikova managed to convince part of the local boyars and nobles in the insolvency of the "half-king." The situation was aggravated by the fact that neighboring cities Ivangorod and Pskov had already changed Moscow citizenship.

Fortunately, the Novgorod governor Tatishchev remained faithful to the tsar, together with Skopin-Shuisky they developed an action plan. The embassy from Novgorod, led by the king's missionary, met at the talks with the head of the Swedish army, Jakob Delagardi, concluding an allied treaty against him with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Skopin-Shuisky strengthened the spirit of the Novgorod army, so when the shelves of Polish Kozinetsky approached the walls of the city in the hope of an easy victory, they were greeted not by open gates, but by cannon volleys from Novgorod walls. Pan had to return, unsparingly slurping.

The Battle of the Cauldrons

Returning to Moscow, the nephew of the tsar, skillfully maneuvering, forced the army of Ivan Bolotnikov to the decisive battle near the village of Kotly near Moscow on December 2, 1806. In a fierce battle against the Cossack light cavalry, hoping for reserves and expecting from Skopin, as under the walls of Moscow, a counter attack horse, the young commander used an unexpected tactic for the rebels.

Instead of sabot felling, horse-drawn lava was met with volleyballs. Its power was shown by the maneuverable artillery built during the battle in the battle formation (the archers called it the "walk-field"). Then the demoralized Bolotinians were divided on the flank by a directed blow from the heavy cavalry.

The Cossack ataman, who lost the army, escaped the encirclement and retreated through Serpukhov to Kaluga. However, MV Skopin-Shuisky continued to embody his offensive strategy of continuous raids. In June 1607 on the river Voronya three of his regiment broke through the line of defense of troublemakers, who retreated to Tula and settled there.

Taking Tula

The city with solid walls, food and weapons stores was a tough nut to the royal army. And Ivan Bolotnikov, the man of action, was not like a whipping boy. Skopin-Shuisky tried to take him by storm, but was repulsed.

The king's nephew understood the advantages of the position of the defenders, their artillery. He imitated the siege, really implementing another, more ingenious plan. Commander Skopin Shuisky ordered secretly upstream of the river on which Tula stood, to erect a dam. When the water level rose, it was destroyed. The artillery warehouses and supplies flooded defensively. The subsequent assault on Tula was crowned with success. With the horde of Bolotnikov was over.

However, an even greater threat loomed over the royal throne in Moscow.

False Dmitry II. War with Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish magnates, seeing the weakness of Muscovy, did not leave any hope of depriving them of their sovereignty. The idea of a new campaign was not long to be found. Thus appeared False Dmitry II, protege of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a man of insignificance and control, a cover for a campaign against Moscow. The basis of the army, acting under an imaginary mission, were the regiments of Sapieha and Ruzhinsky of 14,000 soldiers. They joined the Cossack detachments of Trubetskoi and Zarutsky (who were in the army of the first False Dmitry). This army first moved in the direction of Tula, in order to connect with Bolotnikov, but did not have time.

Tsar Vasily sent Skopin-Shuisky for help to the Novgorod and Swedish allies.

In May 1609, the Russian-Swedish army Skopina and Delagardi, moving to Moscow, began to press the gentry. He joined the regiments of the governor of Smolensk Shein.

The interventionists were thrown back from Staraya Rusa, Toropets. In the battle of Tver, the tactical talent of the monarch's nephew was fully manifested. Voevode Zborovsky, who believed his fraudulent maneuver, lost about 5,000 troops.

However, after such striking victories, the union of Jakob DeLagardi and Skopin-Shuisky disintegrated. Swedes were indifferent to the political goals of Muscovy, they were interested in trophies. Together with the Russian army there was a regiment of Christer Somme, the fifth part of the Allied army. Thus, the Russian army was inferior to the interventionists in numbers, but the preservation of a unified strategy for Prince Mikhail was important.

Commander

Skopin-Shuisky by that time was very popular among the people, therefore after he stopped at Kalyazin and sent out messengers, reinforcements and money began coming to him from communities and monasteries from everywhere. Meanwhile, the commander successfully trained the raznosherstoy arriving army to fight on the Swedish model, achieving discipline and skill. With a lack of cavalry, the accent was made on the bristled guns of the city. The infantry learned to deprive the cavalry of the maneuver and suppress it with fire.

Under the leadership of Skopin-Shuisky, a battle took place near Kalyazin near the Trinity Monastery (Makaryev), with an equal army of noblemen Jan Sapieha and Zborovsky. The interventionists attacking the battle order of the Muscovites during the seven-hour battle suffered considerable losses and retreated.

The Russians moved forward, having won Pereyaslav-Zalessky and Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. They intensified: the Moscow governor spent the money granted by the monasteries to the mercenaries of Delagardi.

In the meantime, the Poles regrouped. 20 thousand selected troops Sapieha opposed Skopin-Shuisky. However, the battle in the Karinsky field ended with the victory of the Russians and the Swedes. Those stoically withstood the crazy frontal attack of the Polish hussars, detaining them with wooden and land fortifications, then flanking them to overthrow them.

Defeat of Sapieha's army

The victories of Skopin-Shuisky forced the Polish King Sigismund III to show his true face and declare war on Muscovy, to the throne of which he decided to plant Prince Vladislav. He sent his troops to the main bridgehead of Muscovy - Smolensk.

However, the most dangerous was not the royal army, but the host of Sapieha, which was in dangerous proximity to Moscow, near Tushino (hence the historical nickname of False Dmitry II - "Tushinsky thief"). However, Prince Michael did not leave the enemy alone. The outcry of the Skopinsky governor even before the arrival of the main army forced the Poles to retreat from Tushin to Dmitrov.

In February 1610 Skopin-Shuisky Mikhail Vasilievich began the decisive battle to unblock Moscow. His swift commandership actions are suited to the later military commander of Russia, Suvorov. He in the shortest time forms a ski regiment of archers, who, thanks to an unexpected high-speed maneuver, destroy the front post of the Poles and deploy the guns in the opposite direction. Immediately (it was on February 20), the Russian army arrived in time without losses, overturning Sapieha's army, destroying most of it. The surviving noblemen flee to Smolensk, in order to unite with the royal army.

Instead of concluding

Having triumphantly finished the winter campaign of 1610, the boyar and voevoda-prince MV. Skopin-Shuisky returns to Moscow in glory. He was cheerful and cheerful, anticipating a decisive march to Smolensk.

Boyars are shocked: this young fair-haired and powerful Russian war god enjoys such a people's love that they never dreamed of. In it they see a more obvious competitor of their power than the gentry. The villainy lurked in the plans of the family of the royal brother Dmitri, claiming the throne. He intentionally generates rumors that Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky wants to become a monarch. "Half-King", being himself a villain by nature, authorizes the murder of his nephew.

Skopina-Shuisky warns of the danger of his friend, Swede Jakob Delagardi, persuading the early spring to start an anti-Polish company. However, the young hero is in no hurry.

Undoubtedly, his murder was planned in advance. He was appointed during the baptism of the newborn son of Prince Vorotynsky. Skopina-Shuisky was invited by the godfather, and his poisoner (the wife of Tsarevich Dmitry Ekaterina, the daughter of Malyuta Skuratov) - godmother. Everything was decided by a glass of wine brought by her. Symptoms of poisoning were similar to those manifested in Boris Godunov. However, the mighty body of Prince Michael for two more weeks tried to resist the deadly poison.

Thus the brothers of Shuiski, who became frantic with brutality, destroyed by their own hands a man who could save their dynasty, which was Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky. Brief, but bright was his life. At his death, all of Moscow was dressed in mourning, mourning truly the people's hero. The Swedish knight Delagardi complained that nowhere, neither in Russia, nor at home, does he meet a best friend.

The hero's uncle, his murderers, who did not have the talent either to rule Muscovy, or to direct her army, soon found themselves captivated by the Poles, and the capital city was taken shamefully, without a fight.