Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov (1551?-1605), tsar of Russia (1598-1605), who increased the power of the Russian monarchy and church and imposed serfdom on the peasants.

A descendant of an old Tatar family, Boris Fyodorovich Gudonov became a favorite of Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible), and his influence on the imperial court was further strengthened by his sister's marriage to Fyodor Ivanovich, the mentally weak son of Ivan. In 1584, on his deathbed, Ivan appointed Boris and Nikita Romanovich Yuriev joint guardians and regents for Fyodor, who became nominal tsar as Fyodor I Ivanovich. Soon sole regent on the death of Nikita, Boris became the most powerful man in Russia, recognized as head of the state. He recolonized Siberia and gave the Church of Russia a status equal to that of other Eastern churches by making Moscow a patriarchate. Extremely autocratic, he was the first Russian ruler to use Siberia as a place of banishment for political exiles; moreover, he legalized serfdom in the grimmest form by an edict of 1587, which forbade the transfer of serfs from one landowner to another and thus bound them to the land. He may also have brought about the death of Dmitry, Ivan's youngest son, in whose name many nobles had unsuccessfully revolted in 1584.

On Tsar Fyodor's death in 1598, the Assembly of the Land (zemsky sobor) elected Boris as his successor. The new tsar banished the Romanovs, his chief rivals, and proceeded to further policies he had already begun, such as strengthening Russian commerce, introducing various aspects of Western civilization, and struggling against the privileged nobility. Despite his power, Boris was exceedingly suspicious and felt himself insecure; informers kept him constantly advised of all political activities, and increasing numbers of Russians became the victims of his persecutions. In 1604 a pretender to the throne, who claimed to be the murdered Dmitry, appeared in Poland; the pretender gained thousands of supporters and led a revolt against Boris. The tsar, however, died suddenly in the midst of the civil war on April 23, 1605.

The story of Boris Godunov became the basis of the tragedy Boris Godunov by the Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin. It was later made into an opera of the same title by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky.