Polish king called up to the Russian throne

One of the breaking points in the history of Russia during the age of disturbance was the summoning of the Polish dynasty representative, future Polish king Vladislav IV Vazy, to the Russian throne.

On July 17 (27), 1610 boyars and nobles led by voivode Zahariy Lyapunov burst into the tsar’s palace, forced Vasiliy Shuyskiy to abdicate and to take the monastic vows. Boyars decided to elect a new tsar in conference and therefore stopped an intestine war and formed the coalition governing authorities. New government consisted of seven members of Boyars’ Council: princes F.I. Mstislavskiy, I.M. Vorotynskiy, A.V. Trubetskoy, B.M. Lykov and boyars I.N. Romanov and F.I. Sheremetev.

On August 17 (27), 1610 the rule of seven boyars made an agreement with the Polish hetman S. Zholkevskiy who stood with his troops near Moscow. According to this agreement the son of the Polish king Sigizmund III – prince Vladislav – was admitted the Russian tsar. Boyars expected to get rid of the Polish invaders and to keep their own rule over the country by forcing Vladislav to delegate some of the powers to Boyars’ Council and Zemsky Council. Besides the prince had to recognize personal and property inviolability of the service class, adopt orthodoxy, limit number of retinue from Poland. The Poles formally accepted all the conditions but did not cease the invasion. In addition Sigizmund III demanded that Boyars’ government acknowledges not his son but himself as the Russian tsar. Such king’s treatment of the agreement along with changing situation in Moscow state where started the straggle against the Polish and Sweden intervention which ended by the election of Mikhail Romanov for the throne prevented the Polish prince from ascending Moscow throne.

Vladislav’s attempts to become the Russian tsar continued up to 1634 when according to Polyanovsky peace treaty he was obliged to completely renounce its claims. In exchange Poland restored its territories taken by Russia during the Smolensk war of 1632-1634.

Lit.: Божерянов И. Н. Великая разруха Московского государства (1598–1612) со времени прекращения Царей рода Рюрика до избрания Царя из рода Романовых. М., 1912.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Overcoming the Time of Troubles in Russia: [digital collection]