Dmitrii Ivanovich

Born Oct. 19, 1582, in Moscow; died May 15, 1591, in Uglich. Son of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible and Mariia Nagaia. Received Uglich as an appanage.

After the death of his father in 1584, Dmitrii Ivanovich was sent to Uglich with his mother by Boris Godunov, who feared the rivalry of the Nagoi family in the struggle for power. He perished there. One version of Dmitrii’s death claims that Boris Godunov, wanting to eliminate a candidate for the throne, had him murdered. Another version holds that he cut himself fatally with a knife in an epileptic fit. A third version, which says that it was not Dmitrii Ivanovich who died but another person, is completely implausible. During the period of the Peasant War and foreign military intervention in Russia in the early 17th century, Polish feudal lords popularized this last version to advance their pretenders.