Grigorii Shakhovskoi

Date of birth unknown; died after 1612. Prince, boyar. Political and military figure in Russia of the early 17th century.

The first mention of Shakhovskoi dates from 1596. During the late 16th and early 17th centuries he was appointed to minor posts in a number of southern fortresses. His career was aided when his father, Petr Mikhailovich, went over to the side of the First False Dmitrii. During the reign of Vasilii IV Shuiskii, Shakhovskoi was sent to Putivl’ as voevoda (military governor). He joined in the peasant uprising led by I. I. Bolotnikov, and he apparently became a boyar during the rebellion. In early 1607, Shakhovskoi moved with the army of Ileika Muromets from Putivl’ to Tula. After Tula was captured by the tsarist forces, he was exiled to the Spaso-Kamennyi Monastery. He became a leading member of the Boyar Duma of the Second False Dmitrii in late 1608, and he later fled with the pretender to Kaluga. Shakhovskoi took part in the First Volunteer Corps of 1611.