Fyodor II Borisovich Godunov of Russia (1589 - 10 June/20 June 1605) was a
tsarTsar or czar , occasionally spelled csar or Tzar in English, is a Slavic term with Bulgarian origins used to designate certain monarchs...
of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(1605) during the
Time of TroublesThe Time of Troubles was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar Feodor Ivanovich of the Rurik Dynasty in 1598 and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613...
. He was born in
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
, the son and successor to
Boris GodunovBoris Fyodorovich Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from 1584 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605...
. His mother was one of the daughters of
Malyuta SkuratovGrigory Lukyanovich Skuratov-Belskiy , better known as Malyuta Skuratov was one of the most odious leaders of the Oprichnina during the reign of Ivan the Terrible....
, the infamous favourite of Ivan the Terrible.
Physically robust and passionately beloved by his father, he received the best available education for those days, and from childhood was initiated into all the minutiae of government, besides sitting regularly in the
councilA Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed after the last Czar,...
and receiving the foreign
envoyA diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organisation. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
s.
Fyodor II Borisovich Godunov of Russia (1589 - 10 June/20 June 1605) was a
tsarTsar or czar , occasionally spelled csar or Tzar in English, is a Slavic term with Bulgarian origins used to designate certain monarchs...
of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(1605) during the
Time of TroublesThe Time of Troubles was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar Feodor Ivanovich of the Rurik Dynasty in 1598 and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613...
. He was born in
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
, the son and successor to
Boris GodunovBoris Fyodorovich Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from 1584 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605...
. His mother was one of the daughters of
Malyuta SkuratovGrigory Lukyanovich Skuratov-Belskiy , better known as Malyuta Skuratov was one of the most odious leaders of the Oprichnina during the reign of Ivan the Terrible....
, the infamous favourite of Ivan the Terrible.
Physically robust and passionately beloved by his father, he received the best available education for those days, and from childhood was initiated into all the minutiae of government, besides sitting regularly in the
councilA Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed after the last Czar,...
and receiving the foreign
envoyA diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organisation. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
s. He seems also to have been remarkably and precociously intelligent, creating a map of Russia. It is still preserved.. It was edited with some additions by
Hessel GerritszHessel Gerritsz was a Dutch engraver, cartographer and publisher. Despite strong competition, he is considered by some “unquestionably the chief Dutch cartographer of the 17th century”...
in
AmsterdamAmsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country...
, in 1613, and reedited until 1665.
On the sudden death of Boris the sixteen-year-old was proclaimed tsar (13 April 1605). Though his father had taken the precaution to surround him with powerful friends, he lived from the first moment of his reign in an atmosphere of treachery. On 11 June (N. S.) 1605 the envoys of
Pseudo-Demetrius IFalse Dmitriy I was the Tsar of Russia from 21 July 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of Dimitriy Ioannovich . He is sometimes referred to under the usurped title of Dmitriy II...
(or
False Dmitriy IFalse Dmitriy I was the Tsar of Russia from 21 July 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of Dimitriy Ioannovich . He is sometimes referred to under the usurped title of Dmitriy II...
) arrived at Moscow to demand his removal, and the letters which they read publicly in the
Red SquareRed Square is the most famous city square in Moscow, and arguably one of the most famous in the world. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
decided his fate. A group of
boyarA boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rusian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century.The rank has lived on as a surname in Russia and Finland, where it is...
s, unwilling to swear allegiance to the new tsar, seized control of the
KremlinThe Moscow Kremlin otherwise known as the Russian Parliament , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
and arrested him.
On 10/20 June Feodor was strangled in his apartment, together with his mother. Officially, he was declared to have been poisoned, but the Swedish diplomat
Peter PetreiusPeer Peersson of Erlesunda, also known as Per Erlesund and by his latinized pen name Peter Petreius was a Swedish diplomat, envoy to Muscovy and author of the History of the Grand Duchy of Muscovy that attempted to present a complete history of Russia from the foundation of Kievan Rus to the end...
stated that the bodies, which had been on public display, showed traces of a violent struggle. Although aged 16 at best, Feodor was known to be physically strong and agile and apparently it took four men to overpower him.