Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov (about 1552 – 1605) was the Russian tsar since 1598; came to power in the time of “oprichnina”; was the tsar Fedor Ivanovich’s wife’s brother and actually rulled the state instead of him. He strengthered the central authoritybaning on the nobility and supported peasants enslavement Boris Feodorovich Godunov (about 1549 or 1552 – April 13/23, 1605, Moscow), the Russian tsar.

Origin

According to the legend the Godunovs came from the tatar prince Chet. Who came to Russia in the time of Ivan Kalita. This legend is written down in the annals dating back to the beginning of the 17th century. According to the tsar chronicle of 1555 the Godunovs (as well as Saburovs, the Velyaminous) come from Dmitriy Zern, who was evidently, a feudal lord from Kostroma. Inspite of the validity of this point of view, there is still a chance that there is some truth in the legend about Chet too. And it is not accidental that some ancestors of separate branches of Chet’s descendants had the names of the tatar origin (Sabur, Godun).
Boris Feodorovich Godunov’s father died at the end of the Gos. The son became an “oprichnik”. He was married to the tsar’s favorit Malyuta Skuratov’s daughtes. Since the beginning of 1570s the rise of the Godunovs begins. Boris Feodorovich himself, wasn’t close to the tsar Ivan the Terrible, though he became a boyar in September, 1580. At least on the wedding of the tsar and Maria the Nude (November, 1580). He was only tsaritsa’s (“bridesmade”) “drugka”. But the increasing role of the family in significant, as the whole clan of the Godunovs were present on the wedding. They slowly but steadily went up the rank stairs, at the end of the 1570s – the beginning of the 1580s they won several cases and so security their position among the Moscow nobility. Godunov was clever and cautious, trying to keep in the backgroung for the time being. The tsar’s son Feodor was married the Godunov’s sister Irine. Godunov’s rise is the result of...