Did Fyodor and Irina have children? Irina Feodorovna Godunova, brief biography and history of reign

Irina Fedorovna Godunova, brief biography and history of reign

Reign 1575-1603
Years of life 1557-1603

From childhood, Irina and her brother Boris were raised in the royal palace. In 1575, she became the king’s wife; it’s interesting that there was no traditional bride viewing. Her brother received boyarhood, which became a new stage in his rise, which was largely due to the king’s love for his wife Irina. She was not an active assistant to her brother, but she did not interfere with him in anything.

The opponents of Boris Godunov, the Shuisky princes, somehow tried to eliminate Irina, and thereby undermine the power of her brother. They persuaded the current metropolitan to participate in the dissolution of the marriage due to the queen’s infertility, but Godunov managed to upset their plans. The culprits went into exile.

In 1598, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich died. The boyar families of that time feared the disasters that the interregnum could bring and decided to take an oath of allegiance to Tsarina Irina Godunova. Nine days after her husband’s death, she decided to go to the Novodevichy Convent and became a nun in the name of Alexandra. Before the election of her brother Boris Godunov as tsar, all state decrees were issued in the name of Tsarina Alexandra. She lived in the monastery until her death in 1603.

If you are interested in this topic of articles, then on my website there is an article where they are described in chronological order

sister of Boris Godunov and wife of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich

Biography

There is no information about the date and place of her birth. She was taken into the royal chambers at the age of seven, and was raised there until her marriage. Irina probably came to the palace in 1571, when her uncle Dmitry Ivanovich was granted the rank of bed guard to the Duma. Until she came of age, Irina was brought up in the royal chambers together with her brother Boris, who was “always in his royal bright eyes, not at the age of perfection, and from his wise royal mind, the royal rank and property of the skill.”

In 1575, Irina became the wife of Tsarevich Fyodor Ioannovich without the traditional royal viewing of brides, and her brother received the boyars. The marriage with Fedor took place at the will of Tsar Ivan IV and served as a new step for the rise of Godunov, whose further influence on Fedor was largely based on the latter’s love for Irina. The wedding was facilitated by Uncle Dmitry Ivanovich, the Tsar’s bed servant.

Irina looked after the ailing Ivan IV before his death and made sure that Godunov, despite cruel attacks from the boyars, did not fall out of favor in the eyes of the dying man. Karamzin writes that three days before the death of Tsar Ivan IV, she came to console the sick man, but “fled in disgust from his lustful shamelessness.”

It is curious, however, that Irina Mstislavskaya, according to the will of Ivan the Terrible, was appointed as the wife of Tsar Fedor in the event of Godunova’s childlessness; but as a result of Godunov’s intrigues, she was kidnapped from her father’s house and forcibly tonsured as a nun.

Queen

With the death of Ivan in 1584 and the accession of her husband, Fedora became queen. However, she was unable to bear him an heir - their only daughter Theodosia was born on May 29, 1592 and died in infancy.

Nevertheless, the queen remained a very significant figure in social and political life. “Irina Godunova, unlike the previous queens, played a social and political role, which was already at odds with the image of a woman who spent most of her time in the tower.” She not only received foreign ambassadors, but also participated in meetings of the Boyar Duma.

A number of documents have been preserved where the name of Tsarina Irina unexpectedly appears next to the signature of Tsar Fyodor. She corresponded with Queen Elizabeth of England (who called her “my dearest blood sister”) and the Patriarch of Alexandria, and made efforts to recognize the Russian Orthodox Church, which was not yet a patriarchate. She sent the patriarch expensive gifts - and in response, in July 1591, he sent her part of the relics of St. Mary Magdalene (“from the hand of the finger”) and “a crown of royal gold, with stone and pearls.”

In January 1589, Irina, in the Golden Tsarina Chamber, received the Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah, who arrived in Moscow to establish a patriarchal see in Russia and install Job, the first Russian patriarch, on it. A description of this event was left by Bishop Arseny Elassonsky, who accompanied the church hierarch to Russia:

Then the Patriarch of Moscow, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, etc. They blessed the queen and made similar welcoming speeches to her. Irina made a response speech. After this “beautiful and coherent” speech, according to Bishop Arseny, the queen, retreating a little, stood between her husband, Tsar Feodor, and brother Boris. (This is the first case of a public speech by Russian empresses, known from written sources).

The guests were shocked by the queen's rich outfit. Arseny notes that even if he had ten languages, even then he would not be able to tell about all the riches of the queen he saw: “And we saw all this with our own eyes. The slightest part of this splendor would be enough to adorn ten sovereigns.” After an exchange of speeches, boyar Dmitry Ivanovich Godunov gave both patriarchs gifts from the queen - each a silver cup and black velvet, two damasks, two obyars and two atlases, forty sables and 100 rubles of money. Presenting the gifts, he said to the patriarch: “Great lord, most holy Jeremiah of Constantinople and the Ecumenical! This is your merciful royal salary, may you earnestly pray to the Lord for the Great Empress Tsarina and Grand Duchess Irina and for the many years of the Great Sovereign and for their childbearing.” The Patriarch blessed the queen and prayed for the granting of a “royal inheritance of fruit” to her. When the ceremony of presenting gifts to other participants in the reception (including Bishop Arseny) was completed, the queen, “sad about her infertility,” again turned to the patriarch and the clergy accompanying him with a request to pray more diligently for the granting of an heir to her and the kingdom. Sovereign Fyodor Ivanovich and Tsarina Irina escorted the patriarchs to the doors of the Golden Chamber and received another blessing from them.

Mother: Stepanida Ivanovna Spouse: Feodor I Ioannovich Children: Feodosia Fedorovna

Queen Irina Fedorovna, born Godunova, in monasticism Alexandra((?) - October 29) - sister of Boris Godunov and wife of Tsar Fyodor I Ioannovich, nominal ruler on the Russian throne after the death of Fyodor I Ioannovich and until the election of Boris Godunov as Tsar from January 16 to February 21, 1598.

Biography

There is no information about the date and place of her birth. She was taken into the royal chambers at the age of seven and raised there until her marriage. Irina probably came to the palace in 1571, when her uncle Dmitry Ivanovich Godunov was granted to the Duma with the rank of bed guard. Until she came of age, Irina was brought up in the royal chambers together with her brother Boris, who was “always in his royal bright eyes, not at the age of perfection, and from his wise royal mind with his royal rank and property.”

“The queen quietly rose from her throne at the sight of the patriarchs and met them in the middle of the chamber, humbly asking for blessings. The Ecumenical Saint, having overshadowed her with a large cross in prayer, called out: Rejoice, blessed and dear queen Irina, of the east and west and all Rus', adornment of the northern countries and confirmation of the Orthodox faith!

The guests were shocked by the queen's rich outfit. Arseny notes that even if he had ten languages, even then he would not be able to tell about all the riches of the queen he saw: “And we saw all this with our own eyes. The slightest part of this splendor would be enough to adorn ten sovereigns.” After an exchange of speeches, boyar Dmitry Ivanovich Godunov gave both patriarchs gifts from the queen - each a silver cup and black velvet, two damasks, two obyars and two atlases, forty sables and 100 rubles of money. Presenting the gifts, he said to the patriarch: “Great lord, most holy Jeremiah of Constantinople and the Ecumenical! This is your merciful royal salary, may you earnestly pray to the Lord for the Great Empress Tsarina and Grand Duchess Irina and for the many years of the Great Sovereign and for their childbearing.” The Patriarch blessed the queen and prayed for the granting of a “royal inheritance of fruit” to her. When the ceremony of presenting gifts to other participants in the reception (including Bishop Arseny) was completed, the queen, “sad about her infertility,” again turned to the patriarch and the clergy accompanying him with a request to pray more diligently for the granting of an heir to her and the kingdom. Sovereign Fedor I Ivanovich and Tsarina Irina escorted the patriarchs to the doors of the Golden Chamber and received another blessing from them.

Mistakes of Boris Godunov

At the beginning of 1585, Godunov sent several trusted representatives to Vienna. Negotiations with the Viennese court were surrounded by the strictest secrecy. “Not counting on the fact that Irina Godunova would retain the throne after the death of her husband, Boris secretly invited Vienna to discuss the issue of concluding a marriage between her and the Austrian prince and the subsequent elevation of the prince to the Moscow throne. The ruler saw no other way to retain power. But the matchmaking he started ended in an unheard of scandal. Tsar Fedor I recovered, and the negotiations became public.” This greatly undermined Boris's position, but he managed to get out of this situation.

CONSPIRACY

Although Irina's position at court was extremely strong, Boris's failures provided his ill-wishers with the opportunity to remove his best assistant. In 1587, a boyar conspiracy arose against Irina.

In 1590, Irina, while her husband was fighting with the Swedes, was in Novgorod.

Finally, on May 29, 1592, their only daughter Feodosia Feodorovna was born, but she soon died. At the time of her birth, there were rumors among the people that in fact Fyodor had a son, but he was replaced by a girl of humble parents Boris Godunov. Thanks to this, during the Time of Troubles, many impostors arose, posing as the son of Tsar Fedor.

Widow

After the death of Fedor I, the boyars, fearing the disasters of the interregnum, decided to swear allegiance to Irina. In this way they were going to prevent Boris Godunov from ascending the throne. “Job, devoted to Boris, sent out an order to all dioceses to kiss the cross for the queen. The lengthy text of the oath published in churches caused general bewilderment. Subjects were forced to take an oath of allegiance to Patriarch Job and the Orthodox faith, Queen Irina, ruler Boris and his children. Under the guise of an oath to the church and the queen, the ruler actually demanded an oath to himself and his heir (...) From time immemorial, in Orthodox churches they sang “many years to the kings and metropolitans.” Patriarch Job did not hesitate to break tradition and introduced a service in honor of Fedor’s widow. Chroniclers considered such an innovation unheard of. “The first pilgrimage (was) for her, the empress,” wrote one of them, “and before that, no queens or grand duchesses prayed to God for them, either in ecstasy or in many years.” Job tried to establish his view of Irina as the legitimate bearer of autocratic power. But zealots of piety, and among them clerk Ivan Timofeev, branded his efforts as “shamelessness” and “an attack on the holy church.”

However, the queen’s independent reign did not work out from the first days. A week after her husband’s death, she announced her decision to cut her hair. On the day of her abdication, people gathered in the Kremlin. Official sources later wrote that the crowd, overwhelmed with loyal feelings, tearfully asked the widow to remain in the kingdom. In reality, the mood of the people alarmed the authorities. The Dutchman Isaac Massa emphasized that Godunova’s abdication was forced: “The common people, always ready for excitement in this country, crowded in large numbers near the Kremlin, made noise and called the queen.” “In order to avoid great misfortune and outrage,” Irina went out onto the Red Porch and announced her intention to cut her hair. The Austrian Mikhail Schil writes that taking the floor after his sister, Boris declared that he was taking over the management of the state, and the princes and boyars would be his assistants.

Nun

On the 9th day after the death of her husband, January 15, Irina retired to the Novodevichy Convent and took her hair there, taking the name of nun Alexandra - and thus clearing the way for her brother: “...Irina Fedorovna of All Rus', after her sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Fedor Ivanovich of All Rus', left the Russian kingdom of Moscow, and went from Moscow to the Novodevichy monastery”. (Until the election of Boris as tsar, the boyar duma issued decrees on behalf of "Queen Alexandra")

“Since the burial, without going to your royal mansions, you behaved<…>take him, according to simple custom, to the most honorable monastery<…>“It’s called the New Maiden Monastery,” where she was tonsured and given the name “Alexandra to the monastery, and she remained in her cell from her tonsure until her repose, going nowhere except the Church of God.”

Before the election of a new tsar, a procession of petitioners from the population went to the Novodevichy Convent, where Boris was located, accompanying Irina; where the “properly agitated” crowd convinced him to accept the crown, he was capricious. Before the elections, “Irina campaigned for her brother among the clergy, boyars, merchants, and ordinary people. There is evidence that the Godunovs often resorted to bribery. Thus, according to P. Petrey, Irina “remembered well that where the majority goes, the rest will be drawn in... With large gifts, she secretly persuaded the colonels and captains to persuade the soldiers subordinate to them to vote in favor of their brother.”

Irina blessed her brother for the kingdom on February 21, 1598. The Zemsky Sobor on February 17 (27), 1598 elected Boris.

The remains of burial goods from the sarcophagus belong to monastic vestments, as do fragments of a black woolen schema. The queen's headdress had a wide equal-armed cross made of braid sewn onto it, which was well preserved. In the sarcophagus, fragments of a glass vessel were found, the main part of which was removed from the coffin back in 1929.

The re-opening of the burial of Irina Godunova was carried out in 2001. A large group of researchers took part in it. “The condition of the queen’s skeleton, one of the most important objects of research, turned out to be satisfactory. Its study by anthropologist D. Pezhemsky (Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Moscow State University) and histologist V. Sychev (Moscow Bureau of Forensic Medicine) showed that some disease that Irina suffered from, possibly hereditary, led to significant pathology of bone tissue, which affected on the musculoskeletal system of this not yet old woman. In the last years of her life she probably had difficulty walking. The aggravation of the disease may have been facilitated by the difficult living conditions in the monastery - cold stone chambers, the asceticism of monastic life. Pathology in the pelvic area affected the ability to bear children."

The reconstruction of her external appearance from the skull was carried out by Moscow forensic expert S. A. Nikitin. (The monastic headdress is reproduced from the miniatures of the Front Chronicle of the 16th century).

“It was possible to conduct an X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) of a piece of her brain found in the skull in preparation for the reconstruction of the portrait (researcher - Candidate of Chemical Sciences E. I. Aleksandrovskaya). The analysis established an increased content in the queen’s brain (compared to the average background observed in our time) of certain metals - iron, copper, lead and minerals - mercury, arsenic (...) Of the most harmful substances, the content of lead was especially increased (80 times) , mercury (10 times) and arsenic (4 times). This can most likely be explained by the fact that Irina Godunova had to undergo long-term treatment with ointments - mercury, lead and others. This conclusion is confirmed by x-ray fluorescence analysis of bone tissue from the burial of Queen Irina.”

Relations with the Church

Possessions

Legend

There is a legend that Fyodor Ioannovich named the city of Tsaritsyn, founded in 1589, in honor of his beloved wife, the queen.

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Literature

Mayasova N. A. Kremlin “svetlitsy” under Irina Godunova // Materials and research / State. museums Moscow Kremlin. - M., 1976. - 2. - P. 39-61. ()
Solodkin Ya. G. Tsarina Irina (Alexandra) Feodorovna // Questions of history. - 2013. - No. 12. - P. 133-139.

Comments

Notes



Rurikovich

Time of Troubles

Romanovs

An excerpt characterizing Godunov, Irina Fedorovna

sang Morel, winking his eye.
Se diable a quatre…
- Vivarika! Vif seruvaru! sit-down... - the soldier repeated, waving his hand and really catching the tune.
- Look, clever! Go go go go!.. - rough, joyful laughter rose from different sides. Morel, wincing, laughed too.
- Well, go ahead, go ahead!
Qui eut le triple talent,
De boire, de batre,
Et d'etre un vert galant...
[Having triple talent,
drink, fight
and be kind...]
– But it’s also complicated. Well, well, Zaletaev!..
“Kyu...” Zaletaev said with effort. “Kyu yu yu...” he drawled, carefully protruding his lips, “letriptala, de bu de ba and detravagala,” he sang.
- Hey, it’s important! That's it, guardian! oh... go go go! - Well, do you want to eat more?
- Give him some porridge; After all, it won’t be long before he gets enough of hunger.
Again they gave him porridge; and Morel, chuckling, began to work on the third pot. Joyful smiles were on all the faces of the young soldiers looking at Morel. The old soldiers, who considered it indecent to engage in such trifles, lay on the other side of the fire, but occasionally, raising themselves on their elbows, they looked at Morel with a smile.
“People too,” said one of them, dodging into his overcoat. - And wormwood grows on its root.
- Ooh! Lord, Lord! How stellar, passion! Towards the frost... - And everything fell silent.
The stars, as if knowing that now no one would see them, played out in the black sky. Now flaring up, now extinguishing, now shuddering, they busily whispered among themselves about something joyful, but mysterious.

X
The French troops gradually melted away in a mathematically correct progression. And that crossing of the Berezina, about which so much has been written, was only one of the intermediate stages in the destruction of the French army, and not at all a decisive episode of the campaign. If so much has been and is being written about the Berezina, then on the part of the French this happened only because on the broken Berezina Bridge, the disasters that the French army had previously suffered evenly here suddenly grouped together at one moment and into one tragic spectacle that remained in everyone’s memory. On the Russian side, they talked and wrote so much about the Berezina only because, far from the theater of war, in St. Petersburg, a plan was drawn up (by Pfuel) to capture Napoleon in a strategic trap on the Berezina River. Everyone was convinced that everything would actually happen exactly as planned, and therefore insisted that it was the Berezina crossing that destroyed the French. In essence, the results of the Berezinsky crossing were much less disastrous for the French in terms of the loss of guns and prisoners than Krasnoye, as the numbers show.
The only significance of the Berezina crossing is that this crossing obviously and undoubtedly proved the falsity of all plans for cutting off and the justice of the only possible course of action demanded by both Kutuzov and all the troops (mass) - only following the enemy. The crowd of Frenchmen fled with an ever-increasing force of speed, with all their energy directed towards achieving their goal. She ran like a wounded animal, and she could not get in the way. This was proven not so much by the construction of the crossing as by the traffic on the bridges. When the bridges were broken, unarmed soldiers, Moscow residents, women and children who were in the French convoy - all, under the influence of the force of inertia, did not give up, but ran forward into the boats, into the frozen water.
This aspiration was reasonable. The situation of both those fleeing and those pursuing was equally bad. Remaining with his own, each in distress hoped for the help of a comrade, for a certain place he occupied among his own. Having given himself over to the Russians, he was in the same position of distress, but he was on a lower level in terms of satisfying the needs of life. The French did not need to have correct information that half of the prisoners, with whom they did not know what to do, despite all the Russians’ desire to save them, died from cold and hunger; they felt that it could not be otherwise. The most compassionate Russian commanders and hunters of the French, the French in Russian service could not do anything for the prisoners. The French were destroyed by the disaster in which the Russian army was located. It was impossible to take away bread and clothing from hungry, necessary soldiers in order to give it to the French who were not harmful, not hated, not guilty, but simply unnecessary. Some did; but this was only an exception.
Behind was certain death; there was hope ahead. The ships were burned; there was no other salvation but a collective flight, and all the forces of the French were directed towards this collective flight.
The further the French fled, the more pitiful their remnants were, especially after the Berezina, on which, as a result of the St. Petersburg plan, special hopes were pinned, the more the passions of the Russian commanders flared up, blaming each other and especially Kutuzov. Believing that the failure of the Berezinsky Petersburg plan would be attributed to him, dissatisfaction with him, contempt for him and ridicule of him were expressed more and more strongly. Teasing and contempt, of course, were expressed in a respectful form, in a form in which Kutuzov could not even ask what and for what he was accused. They didn't talk to him seriously; reporting to him and asking his permission, they pretended to perform a sad ritual, and behind his back they winked and tried to deceive him at every step.
All these people, precisely because they could not understand him, recognized that there was no point in talking to the old man; that he would never understand the full depth of their plans; that he would answer with his phrases (it seemed to them that these were just phrases) about the golden bridge, that you cannot come abroad with a crowd of vagabonds, etc. They had already heard all this from him. And everything he said: for example, that we had to wait for food, that people were without boots, it was all so simple, and everything they offered was so complex and clever that it was obvious to them that he was stupid and old, but they were not powerful, brilliant commanders.
Especially after the joining of the armies of the brilliant admiral and the hero of St. Petersburg, Wittgenstein, this mood and staff gossip reached its highest limits. Kutuzov saw this and, sighing, just shrugged his shoulders. Only once, after the Berezina, he became angry and wrote the following letter to Bennigsen, who reported separately to the sovereign:
“Due to your painful seizures, please, Your Excellency, upon receipt of this, go to Kaluga, where you await further orders and assignments from His Imperial Majesty.”
But after Bennigsen was sent away, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich came to the army, making the beginning of the campaign and being removed from the army by Kutuzov. Now the Grand Duke, having arrived at the army, informed Kutuzov about the displeasure of the sovereign emperor for the weak successes of our troops and for the slowness of movement. The Emperor himself intended to arrive at the army the other day.
An old man, as experienced in court affairs as in military affairs, that Kutuzov, who in August of the same year was chosen commander-in-chief against the will of the sovereign, the one who removed the heir and the Grand Duke from the army, the one who, with his power, in opposition the will of the sovereign, ordered the abandonment of Moscow, this Kutuzov now immediately realized that his time was over, that his role had been played and that he no longer had this imaginary power. And he understood this not just from court relationships. On the one hand, he saw that military affairs, the one in which he played his role, was over, and he felt that his calling had been fulfilled. On the other hand, at the same time he began to feel physical fatigue in his old body and the need for physical rest.
On November 29, Kutuzov entered Vilna - his good Vilna, as he said. Kutuzov was governor of Vilna twice during his service. In the rich, surviving Vilna, in addition to the comforts of life that he had been deprived of for so long, Kutuzov found old friends and memories. And he, suddenly turning away from all military and state concerns, plunged into a smooth, familiar life as much as he was given peace by the passions seething around him, as if everything that was happening now and was about to happen in the historical world did not concern him at all.
Chichagov, one of the most passionate cutters and overturners, Chichagov, who first wanted to make a diversion to Greece, and then to Warsaw, but did not want to go where he was ordered, Chichagov, known for his courage in speaking to the sovereign, Chichagov, who considered Kutuzov benefited himself, because when he was sent in the 11th year to conclude peace with Turkey in addition to Kutuzov, he, making sure that peace had already been concluded, admitted to the sovereign that the merit of concluding peace belonged to Kutuzov; This Chichagov was the first to meet Kutuzov in Vilna at the castle where Kutuzov was supposed to stay. Chichagov in a naval uniform, with a dirk, holding his cap under his arm, gave Kutuzov his drill report and the keys to the city. That contemptuously respectful attitude of the youth towards the old man who had lost his mind was expressed to the highest degree in the entire address of Chichagov, who already knew the charges brought against Kutuzov.
While talking with Chichagov, Kutuzov, among other things, told him that the carriages with dishes captured from him in Borisov were intact and would be returned to him.
- C"est pour me dire que je n"ai pas sur quoi manger... Je puis au contraire vous fournir de tout dans le cas meme ou vous voudriez donner des diners, [You want to tell me that I have nothing to eat. On the contrary, I can serve you all, even if you wanted to give dinners.] - Chichagov said, flushing, with every word he wanted to prove that he was right and therefore assumed that Kutuzov was preoccupied with this very thing. Kutuzov smiled his thin, penetrating smile and, shrugging his shoulders, answered: “Ce n"est que pour vous dire ce que je vous dis. [I want to say only what I say.]
In Vilna, Kutuzov, contrary to the will of the sovereign, stopped most of the troops. Kutuzov, as his close associates said, had become unusually depressed and physically weakened during his stay in Vilna. He was reluctant to deal with the affairs of the army, leaving everything to his generals and, while waiting for the sovereign, indulged in an absent-minded life.
Having left St. Petersburg with his retinue - Count Tolstoy, Prince Volkonsky, Arakcheev and others, on December 7, the sovereign arrived in Vilna on December 11 and drove straight up to the castle in a road sleigh. At the castle, despite the severe frost, stood about a hundred generals and staff officers in full dress uniform and an honor guard from the Semenovsky regiment.
The courier, who galloped up to the castle in a sweaty troika, ahead of the sovereign, shouted: “He’s coming!” Konovnitsyn rushed into the hallway to report to Kutuzov, who was waiting in a small Swiss room.
A minute later, the thick, large figure of an old man, in full dress uniform, with all the regalia covering his chest, and his belly pulled up by a scarf, pumping, came out onto the porch. Kutuzov put his hat on the front, picked up his gloves and sideways, stepping with difficulty down the steps, stepped down and took in his hand the report prepared for submission to the sovereign.
Running, whispering, the troika still desperately flying by, and all eyes turned to the jumping sleigh, in which the figures of the sovereign and Volkonsky were already visible.
All this, out of a fifty-year habit, had a physically disturbing effect on the old general; He hurriedly felt himself with concern, straightened his hat, and at that moment the sovereign, emerging from the sleigh, raised his eyes to him, cheered up and stretched out, submitted a report and began to speak in his measured, ingratiating voice.
The Emperor glanced quickly at Kutuzov from head to toe, frowned for a moment, but immediately, overcoming himself, walked up and, spreading his arms, hugged the old general. Again, according to the old, familiar impression and in relation to his sincere thoughts, this hug, as usual, had an effect on Kutuzov: he sobbed.
The Emperor greeted the officers and the Semenovsky guard and, shaking the old man’s hand again, went with him to the castle.
Left alone with the field marshal, the sovereign expressed his displeasure to him for the slowness of the pursuit, for the mistakes in Krasnoye and on the Berezina, and conveyed his thoughts about the future campaign abroad. Kutuzov made no objections or comments. The same submissive and meaningless expression with which, seven years ago, he listened to the orders of the sovereign on the Field of Austerlitz, was now established on his face.
When Kutuzov left the office and walked down the hall with his heavy, diving gait, head down, someone’s voice stopped him.
“Your Grace,” someone said.
Kutuzov raised his head and looked for a long time into the eyes of Count Tolstoy, who stood in front of him with some small thing on a silver platter. Kutuzov did not seem to understand what they wanted from him.
Suddenly he seemed to remember: a barely noticeable smile flashed on his plump face, and he, bending low, respectfully, took the object lying on the platter. This was George 1st degree.

The next day the field marshal had dinner and a ball, which the sovereign honored with his presence. Kutuzov was awarded George 1st degree; the sovereign showed him the highest honors; but the sovereign’s displeasure against the field marshal was known to everyone. Decency was observed, and the sovereign showed the first example of this; but everyone knew that the old man was guilty and no good. When, at the ball, Kutuzov, according to Catherine’s old habit, upon the Emperor’s entrance into the ballroom, ordered the taken banners to be laid down at his feet, the Emperor frowned unpleasantly and uttered words in which some heard: “old comedian.”
The sovereign's displeasure against Kutuzov intensified in Vilna, especially because Kutuzov obviously did not want or could not understand the significance of the upcoming campaign.
When the next morning the sovereign said to the officers gathered at his place: “You saved more than just Russia; you saved Europe,” everyone already understood that the war was not over.
Only Kutuzov did not want to understand this and openly expressed his opinion that a new war could not improve the situation and increase the glory of Russia, but could only worsen its position and reduce the highest degree of glory on which, in his opinion, Russia now stood. He tried to prove to the sovereign the impossibility of recruiting new troops; spoke about the difficult situation of the population, the possibility of failure, etc.
In such a mood, the field marshal, naturally, seemed to be only a hindrance and a brake on the upcoming war.
To avoid clashes with the old man, a way out was found by itself, which consisted in, as at Austerlitz and as at the beginning of the campaign under Barclay, to remove from under the commander-in-chief, without disturbing him, without announcing to him that the ground of power on which he stood , and transfer it to the sovereign himself.
For this purpose, the headquarters was gradually reorganized, and all the significant strength of Kutuzov’s headquarters was destroyed and transferred to the sovereign. Tol, Konovnitsyn, Ermolov - received other appointments. Everyone said loudly that the field marshal had become very weak and was upset about his health.
He had to be in poor health in order to transfer his place to the one who took his place. And indeed, his health was poor.
Just as naturally, and simply, and gradually, Kutuzov came from Turkey to the treasury chamber of St. Petersburg to collect the militia and then into the army, precisely when he was needed, just as naturally, gradually and simply now, when Kutuzov’s role was played, to take his place a new, needed figure appeared.
The war of 1812, in addition to its national significance dear to the Russian heart, should have had another – European one.
The movement of peoples from West to East was to be followed by the movement of peoples from East to West, and for this new war a new figure was needed, with different properties and views than Kutuzov, driven by different motives.
Alexander the First was as necessary for the movement of peoples from east to west and for the restoration of the borders of peoples as Kutuzov was necessary for the salvation and glory of Russia.
Kutuzov did not understand what Europe, balance, Napoleon meant. He couldn't understand it. The representative of the Russian people, after the enemy was destroyed, Russia was liberated and placed at the highest level of its glory, the Russian person, as a Russian, had nothing more to do. The representative of the people's war had no choice but death. And he died.

Pierre, as most often happens, felt the full weight of the physical deprivations and stresses experienced in captivity only when these stresses and deprivations ended. After his release from captivity, he came to Orel and on the third day of his arrival, while he was going to Kyiv, he fell ill and lay sick in Orel for three months; As the doctors said, he suffered from bilious fever. Despite the fact that the doctors treated him, bled him and gave him medicine to drink, he still recovered.
Everything that happened to Pierre from the time of his liberation until his illness left almost no impression on him. He remembered only grey, gloomy, sometimes rainy, sometimes snowy weather, internal physical melancholy, pain in his legs, in his side; remembered the general impression of misfortune and suffering of people; he remembered the curiosity that disturbed him from the officers and generals who questioned him, his efforts to find a carriage and horses, and, most importantly, he remembered his inability to think and feel at that time. On the day of his release, he saw the corpse of Petya Rostov. On the same day, he learned that Prince Andrei had been alive for more than a month after the Battle of Borodino and had only recently died in Yaroslavl, in the Rostov house. And on the same day, Denisov, who reported this news to Pierre, between conversations mentioned Helen’s death, suggesting that Pierre had known this for a long time. All this seemed strange to Pierre at the time. He felt that he could not understand the meaning of all this news. He was only in a hurry then, as quickly as possible, to leave these places where people were killing each other, to some quiet refuge and there to come to his senses, rest and think about all the strange and new things that he had learned during this time. But as soon as he arrived in Orel, he fell ill. Waking up from his illness, Pierre saw around him his two people who had arrived from Moscow - Terenty and Vaska, and the eldest princess, who, living in Yelets, on Pierre's estate, and having learned about his release and illness, came to him to visit behind him.
During his recovery, Pierre only gradually unaccustomed himself to the impressions of the last months that had become familiar to him and got used to the fact that no one would drive him anywhere tomorrow, that no one would take his warm bed away, and that he would probably have lunch, tea, and dinner. But in his dreams, for a long time he saw himself in the same conditions of captivity. Pierre also gradually understood the news that he learned after his release from captivity: the death of Prince Andrei, the death of his wife, the destruction of the French.
A joyful feeling of freedom - that complete, inalienable, inherent freedom of man, the consciousness of which he first experienced at his first rest stop, when leaving Moscow, filled Pierre's soul during his recovery. He was surprised that this internal freedom, independent of external circumstances, now seemed to be abundantly, luxuriously furnished with external freedom. He was alone in a strange city, without acquaintances. Nobody demanded anything from him; they didn’t send him anywhere. He had everything he wanted; The thought of his wife that had always tormented him before was no longer there, since she no longer existed.
- Oh, how good! How nice! - he said to himself when they brought him a cleanly set table with fragrant broth, or when he lay down on a soft, clean bed at night, or when he remembered that his wife and the French were no more. - Oh, how good, how nice! - And out of old habit, he asked himself: well, then what? What will i do? And immediately he answered himself: nothing. I will live. Oh, how nice!
The very thing that tormented him before, what he was constantly looking for, the purpose of life, now did not exist for him. It was no coincidence that this sought-after goal of life did not exist for him at the present moment, but he felt that it did not and could not exist. And it was this lack of purpose that gave him that complete, joyful consciousness of freedom, which at that time constituted his happiness.
He could not have a goal, because he now had faith - not faith in some rules, or words, or thoughts, but faith in a living, always felt God. Previously, he sought it for the purposes that he set for himself. This search for a goal was only a search for God; and suddenly he learned in his captivity, not in words, not by reasoning, but by direct feeling, what his nanny had told him long ago: that God is here, here, everywhere. In captivity, he learned that God in Karataev is greater, infinite and incomprehensible than in the Architect of the universe recognized by the Freemasons. He experienced the feeling of a man who had found what he was looking for under his feet, while he strained his eyesight, looking far away from himself. All his life he had been looking somewhere, over the heads of the people around him, but he should have not strained his eyes, but only looked in front of him.
He had not been able to see before the great, incomprehensible and infinite in anything. He just felt that it must be somewhere and looked for it. In everything close and understandable, he saw something limited, petty, everyday, meaningless. He armed himself with a mental telescope and looked into the distance, to where this small, everyday thing, hiding in the fog of the distance, seemed great and endless to him only because it was not clearly visible. This is how he imagined European life, politics, Freemasonry, philosophy, philanthropy. But even then, in those moments that he considered his weakness, his mind penetrated into this distance, and there he saw the same petty, everyday, meaningless things. Now he had learned to see the great, the eternal and the infinite in everything, and therefore naturally, in order to see it, to enjoy its contemplation, he threw down the pipe into which he had been looking until now through the heads of people, and joyfully contemplated the ever-changing, ever-great world around him. , incomprehensible and endless life. And the closer he looked, the more calm and happy he was. Previously, the terrible question that destroyed all his mental structures was: why? did not exist for him now. Now to this question - why? a simple answer was always ready in his soul: because there is a God, that God, without whose will a hair will not fall from a man’s head.

Pierre has hardly changed in his external techniques. He looked exactly the same as he had been before. Just as before, he was distracted and seemed preoccupied not with what was in front of his eyes, but with something special of his own. The difference between his previous and present state was that before, when he forgot what was in front of him, what was said to him, he, wrinkling his forehead in pain, seemed to be trying and could not see something far away from him . Now he also forgot what was said to him and what was in front of him; but now, with a barely noticeable, seemingly mocking, smile, he peered at what was in front of him, listened to what was being said to him, although obviously he saw and heard something completely different. Before, although he seemed to be a kind person, he was unhappy; and therefore people involuntarily moved away from him. Now a smile of the joy of life constantly played around his mouth, and his eyes shone with concern for people - the question: are they as happy as he is? And people were pleased in his presence.
Before, he talked a lot, got excited when he spoke, and listened little; Now he rarely got carried away in conversation and knew how to listen so that people willingly told him their most intimate secrets.
The princess, who had never loved Pierre and had a particularly hostile feeling towards him since, after the death of the old count, she felt obliged to Pierre, to her chagrin and surprise, after a short stay in Orel, where she came with the intention of proving to Pierre that, Despite his ingratitude, she considers it her duty to follow him; the princess soon felt that she loved him. Pierre did nothing to ingratiate himself with the princess. He just looked at her with curiosity. Previously, the princess felt that in his gaze at her there was indifference and mockery, and she, as before other people, shrank before him and showed only her fighting side of life; now, on the contrary, she felt that he seemed to be digging into the most intimate aspects of her life; and she, at first with distrust, and then with gratitude, showed him the hidden good sides of her character.
The most cunning person could not have more skillfully insinuated himself into the princess’s confidence, evoking her memories of the best time of her youth and showing sympathy for them. Meanwhile, Pierre’s whole cunning consisted only in the fact that he sought his own pleasure, evoking human feelings in the embittered, dry and proud princess.
“Yes, he is a very, very kind person when he is under the influence not of bad people, but of people like me,” the princess said to herself.

Queen

At the beginning of 1585, Godunov sent several trusted representatives to Vienna. Negotiations with the Viennese court were surrounded by the strictest secrecy. “Not counting on the fact that Irina Godunova would retain the throne after the death of her husband, Boris secretly invited Vienna to discuss the issue of concluding a marriage between her and the Austrian prince and the subsequent elevation of the prince to the Moscow throne. The ruler saw no other way to retain power. But the matchmaking he started ended in an unheard of scandal. Tsar Feodor recovered, and the negotiations became public.” This greatly undermined Boris’s position, but he managed to extricate himself from this situation.

In the same year, the Englishman Jerome Horsey, on behalf of Boris, sent a midwife from England to Rus' to help Irina. “Back on August 15, 1585, Boris sent his equerry to Horsey with a note in which he urgently requested that the doctor arrive “stocked with everything necessary.” Through Horsey, Boris turned to the best English doctors for recommendations regarding Tsarina Irina, pointing out that during her marriage the queen was often pregnant (in his notes, Horsey wrote these words in Russian letters to preserve the secret), but each time she was unsuccessful in delivering the pregnancy. Horsey consulted with the best doctors in Oxford, Cambridge and London. Godunov's agent announced to Queen Elizabeth that Tsarina Irina was pregnant for five months and asked her to hurry up and fulfill her request.

At the end of March 1586, Horsey received letters from Elizabeth to Tsar Fedor and, with the beginning of navigation, sailed to Russia. With him were the royal physician Robert Jacobi and the midwife.” The midwife was detained in Vologda. “But the case received premature publicity and brought a lot of trouble to Boris. He had to resort to cunning to prevent the discussion of a sensitive issue in the Boyar Duma. (...) The appeal to “non-believers” and “heretics” infuriated Boris’s opponents, who zealously cared for piety and did not allow the thought that a “heretic dokhtoritsa” (midwife) could facilitate the birth of an Orthodox prince.”

Although Irina's position at court was extremely strong, Boris's failures provided his ill-wishers with the opportunity to remove his best assistant. In 1587, a boyar conspiracy arose against Irina.

Led by Dionysius, Metropolitan of Moscow and Prince Shuisky, the conspirators wanted to demand from Tsar Fedor that he divorce his wife, as she had not yet produced an heir. The Zemstvo people came to the palace and submitted a petition to Fyodor, “so that he, the sovereign, for the sake of childbearing, would accept a second marriage, and release his first queen to the monastic rank.” “The petition was tantamount to a conciliar verdict: it was signed by the regent Prince Ivan Shuisky and other members of the Boyar Duma, Metropolitan Dionysius, bishops and leaders of the posad - guests and merchants. The officials demanded the tonsure of Irina Godunova, and therefore the removal of Boris. The zemshchina’s performance was impressive.” But Fedor resolutely opposed. On October 13, 1586, Metropolitan Dionysius was defrocked, tonsured a monk and exiled to the Khutyn Monastery in Novgorod. His “interlocutor”, Krutitsa Archbishop Varlaam Pushkin, was imprisoned in the Novgorod Anthony Monastery, Vasily Shuisky was exiled to Buygorod.

“Russian writers of the 17th century. they tried to spare the name of the pious Irina Godunova. Nevertheless, in their writings one can also find hints of an impending divorce. The well-informed Moscow clerk Ivan Timofeev, in his usual vague expressions, tells that Boris forcibly tonsured the maidens - the daughters of the first (!) after the Tsar boyars - into the monastery, fearing the possibility of Fyodor’s remarriage: “lest the Tsar be forced by some to accept a second marriage from them.” to a wife of barrenness for the sake of his sister.” The cautious clerk did not name the names of “certain” persons who “forced” Fyodor to “second marriage.” Moreover, he kept silent about whether there was a threat to “force” the Tsar to divorce or whether “certain” persons carried it out.”

In 1590, Irina, while her husband was fighting with the Swedes, was in Novgorod.

Widow

Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich died on January 7, 1598, without leaving a will. During the election struggle at the Zemsky Sobor, various versions arose about his last will. The official version coming from the Godunovs was as follows: “As stated in the approved charter of the early edition, Fyodor “placed” his wife Irina on the throne after himself, and “ordered” the kingdom and his soul to Boris. The final version of the same letter stated that the tsar left his wife “in the states” and appointed Patriarch Job and Boris Godunov as his executors. The most reliable sources say that the patriarch vainly reminded Fedor of the need to name the successor. The king, as usual, remained silent and referred to the will of God. The future of his wife worried him more than the future of the throne. According to eyewitnesses, Fyodor ordered Irina to “adopt a monastic image” and end her life in a monastery.”

After the death of Fedor, the boyars, fearing the disasters of the interregnum, decided to swear allegiance to Irina. In this way they were going to prevent Boris Godunov from ascending the throne. “Job, devoted to Boris, sent out an order to all dioceses to kiss the cross for the queen. The lengthy text of the oath published in churches caused general bewilderment. Subjects were forced to take an oath of allegiance to Patriarch Job and the Orthodox faith, Queen Irina, ruler Boris and his children. Under the guise of an oath to the church and the queen, the ruler actually demanded an oath to himself and his heir (...) From time immemorial, in Orthodox churches they sang “many years to the kings and metropolitans.” Patriarch Job did not hesitate to break tradition and introduced a service in honor of Fyodor’s widow. Chroniclers considered such an innovation unheard of. “The first pilgrimage (was) for her, the empress,” wrote one of them, “and before that, no queens and grand duchesses prayed to God for either in ecstasy or in many years.” Job tried to establish his view of Irina as the legitimate bearer of autocratic power. But zealots of piety, and among them clerk Ivan Timofeev, branded his efforts as “shamelessness” and “an attack on the holy church.”

On the 9th day after the death of her husband, January 15, Irina retired to the Novodevichy Convent and took her hair there, taking the name of the nun Alexandra - and thus clearing the way for her brother: “...Irina Fedorovna of All Rus' after her sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Fedor Ivanovich of All Rus' , leaving the Russian kingdom of Moscow, and went from Moscow to the Novodevichy monastery.” (Until the election of Boris as Tsar, the Boyar Duma issued decrees on behalf of “Queen Alexandra.”)

Irina blessed her brother for the kingdom on February 21, 1598. The Zemsky Sobor on February 17 (27), 1598 elected Boris.

She died 5 years later in 1603 in a monastery, 2 years before the death of her brother.

Like all queens, she was buried in the Ascension Monastery of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1929-1931 The burials were ravaged during its destruction, and by the forces of the employees were transferred to the Archangel Cathedral, and then to the underground chamber next to it. “On the old plans of the Ascension Cathedral and its necropolis, published at the end of the 19th century by A. Pshenichnikov, the burial of Queen Irina is marked with number 16 in the southwestern corner of the temple. Over her grave there was a monument similar to those that can still be seen today in the men's temple-tomb, in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin - the necropolis of Russian great princes and tsars. Irina Fedorovna was buried in a white stone sarcophagus made from a monolith, which had an anthropomorphic shape - a semicircular headband and hangers. There was no inscription-epitaph on the lid of the coffin (...) in which, perhaps, an act of humility and humiliation characteristic of monasticism was manifested.”

Relations with the Church

There are known rich contributions made to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery by the Tsar's daughter Theodosia, and by Tsarina Irina (Alexandra) herself. So, in 1593, “on the 26th day of September, the Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich of All Rus' granted 500 rubles to his princess and Grand Duchess Feodosya.” In 1603, “on the 31st day of October, the blessed memory of the Empress Tsarina and Grand Duchess Irina, in the monastery Alexandra, granted the Tsar and Grand Duke Boris Fedorovich of All Rus' 1000 rubles to the deposit.” Documents and the contribution of Queen Irina herself dated 1598 were recorded: “Repose<…>Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Fedor Ivanovich of all Rus' and along it<…>the blessed queen and the Grand Duchess monk Alexandra granted it to him and sent 3,000 rubles for the magpie and for the church building.”
During this period, the double icon “Theodore Stratilates and the Great Martyr Irina” became widespread in Rus'. The distribution of these icons is due to the fact that these martyrs were the namesake saints of the king and queen. Throughout Russia, numerous churches were built in honor of Saints Theodore and Irene, and chapels were also opened in churches (for details, see Iconography of Theodore Stratelates#Theodore Stratelates and the Great Martyr Irene).
The Trinity-Sergius Monastery, which was a place of royal pilgrimage (the so-called “Trinity Way”), was generously endowed. After the Assumption Cathedral was built in 1585, by order of the Tsar in 1585-1586, active work was launched on the decoration of the temple. A chapel of Saints Theodore and Irene was established in the monastery Church of the Assumption, and icons were painted for it. In the period 1580-1590s, at the behest of the royal couple, a large number of Christian monuments associated with the name of Theodore Stratilates were created. Noteworthy is the selection of works embroidered in Tsarina’s “svetlitsa” by Irina Godunova. In 1592, an embroidered iconostasis was created, in which a significant-sized paired image of saints was made, which is kept in the State Hermitage. In addition, the Hermitage contains a shroud depicting the Great Martyr Irina, dating back to the end of the 16th century. This shroud was intended for the gate church built in honor of the patronal saint in the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, within the walls of which Fyodor’s father Ivan the Terrible was born. When their daughter Theodosius was born at the end of May 1592, the royal couple sent out even more generous gifts. The recipients of these “alms” were not only Russian monasteries and churches, but also Orthodox monasteries in Palestine. These rewards were sent out in June 1592 in honor of the “resolution of the queen’s infertility.” Icons painted during this period included, in addition to the saints mentioned, the image of the Venerable Martyr Theodosius of Constantinople, which was usually written in the margins.

Possessions

Kremlin, Golden Tsarina's Chamber. In the 1580s, the chamber was rebuilt as the ceremonial reception hall of Queen Irina, and it received rich decoration.
Novodevichy Convent: Irina's Chambers (Chambers of Queen Irina Godunova with St. Ambrose Church)
Tsaritsyno is the patrimony of Tsarina Irina Godunova.

Baba’s place was in the mansion. To the Tsar's wife - in the Tsar's mansion. The Tsar's daughter is in the monastery. These were the customs of Rus' before the rise of the Romanovs. This does not mean that every queen or princess agreed with them. Irina Godunova, a woman from a not very influential family, was ready to aim for more. She corresponded with the Queen of Kakheti, with the Queen of England and understood that she could - and wanted! - Also. Edit.

The first royal wife to speak

Irina ended up in the royal chambers almost by accident. To become the king's wife, the girl then had to participate in the bridal parade. Irina did not pass it. Her uncle, Dmitry Godunov, having become the royal bed-keeper (a title that gave the right to a meeting in the boyar duma!), took his nephew Boris and niece Irinka into the royal chambers. So the Godunovs grew up there, near Tsarevich Fyodor, whose wife Irinka later became: he took a closer look before all sorts of viewings.

The husband, if he had not been a prince, would hardly have been good. Fyodor had an asymmetrical face, his character was very quiet and shy, his gait was uneven and, perhaps, he was a little mentally retarded: he almost always smiled meekly at almost everyone, and answered questions ingenuously. However, perhaps natural timidity and lack of upbringing played a role. After all, they were preparing another son of Grozny, Ivan, for the throne. Yes, Ivan died of poisoning after being ill for more than a week.

But Fyodor loved his young wife selflessly, obeyed her in everything and transferred his attitude to her brother and uncle. He was unusually affectionate with Irina, but the trouble was, they didn’t work out with the children. One daughter, Theodosia, was born after almost twenty years of marriage and she died early. The rest of the pregnancies ended in miscarriages or stillbirths. As it turned out long after her death, Godunova’s pelvis was improperly developed. Irina’s influence on her husband and public life was not diminished by her barrenness.

Even when Fyodor assumed the kingdom, she decided to become his co-ruler. And so she did.

The young queen, without listening to the boyars' murmurs, received foreign ambassadors, attended Duma meetings, and put her signature next to her husband's signature on documents. She actively corresponded with the Patriarch of Alexandria and the sovereign ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth - addressing her as a sister.

To gain the support of the church, Irina spent a lot of effort seeking recognition of the Russian Orthodox Church as a separate patriarchate, and her efforts were crowned with success. In the Golden Tsarina's Chamber she received the Patriarch of Constantinople, who had arrived to establish a separate patriarchal see. An exchange of amiable speeches took place, and this was the first (!) case of a public appearance by a Russian tsarina in history.

The tree is barren

Irina's inability to give birth caused murmurs. Even in his will, Grozny indicated that in this case Fedor would have to take another wife, Irina Mstislavskaya. The Godunovs made sure that it was impossible to fulfill the will: they forcibly tonsured Mstislavskaya a nun. But to strengthen Godunova’s position, and therefore her loved ones, an heir from the tsar was needed.

Boris, in despair, secretly ordered a skilled midwife from England to take care of Irina’s pregnancy and attend her birth. He also consulted in writing with the best English doctors. This connection with the Gentiles was revealed and outraged the boyars to the depths of their souls.

How can an Orthodox prince be given into the hands of heretics? It's scary to think how they will spoil it...

Another time, Boris literally set Irina up when Tsar Fedor fell ill. Not believing that Irina would be able to retain the throne, he secretly began negotiations about his sister’s wedding with the Austrian prince - so that the prince would receive the Moscow crown. And this correspondence was revealed. The Tsar recovered, but the scandal and mistrust of the boyars remained.

Although the Russian patriarch and part of the nobility were on Irina’s side, there were still those among the boyars who decided to plot. Having taken the Metropolitan of Moscow as an accomplice, the conspirators came to the Tsar demanding a divorce. And this was the only case when blessed Fyodor Ioannovich showed a strong will. He flatly refused to get a divorce, although the situation was on the verge of rebellion. He defrocked the Metropolitan for his insolence and exiled him to a distant monastery. Prince Vasily Shuisky and Princess Marfa Tateva were also exiled out of sight as the most active conspirators. Irina remained the royal wife for another twelve years.

Ruler of all Rus'... or not

When Tsar Fedor died, he left neither a son nor a will. Dying, he, in fact, did not think about Rus' - only that his wife now remained in danger. After his death, he begged her to go to a monastery, apparently fearing murder by the boyars. But the Godunovs presented the boyars with a letter with a completely different royal will: they say, Fedor leaves Irina on the throne. The boyars pretended to believe it and swore allegiance to the queen.

Being intelligent people, they were afraid of an internecine war or that the “wicked” Boris would seize the throne. The queen is better.

Patriarch Job, who, undoubtedly, was immensely grateful to the empress for his rank, performed an unheard-of innovation - he ordered prayer services for the empress to be held in churches. For the woman! This has never happened, excited and even indignant chroniclers wrote. Zealots of piety openly called Job's actions as shamelessness and an attack on the holy church.

Boris was right in his fears. The woman could not yet hold the throne. For a week Moscow was noisy, and every day a rebellion was brewing more and more. Irina’s passionate desire to rule ran into the threat of a bloody massacre, and the complete rejection of even the most beggarly and filthy ragamuffin to see a woman on the throne above him. They were ready to put up with Irina’s activity in politics as long as she remained an annex to the Tsar, his, in a way, continuation - just as the scepter continues his hand. Then every word she said belonged, as it were, to her husband, since she all belonged to him. But a woman in the kingdom...

Irina remained queen for barely a week. A week later, she went out onto the Red Porch and announced to a huge, bristling, angry crowd that she was becoming a nun. After the queen, Boris Godunov spoke and announced that he was taking over the reign.

What the boyars feared and what they tried to avoid by swearing allegiance to the queen happened because the common people in the whole situation saw only a woman who dared to sit on the throne intended for a man.

Two days later, Irina cut her hair. A month later, her brother became king. Five years later, Irina died. A year after her death, False Dmitry I moved to Moscow with Polish troops. Everything happened that would have passed if the crowd had been able to come to terms with a woman in the kingdom.