The Pskov Chronicle speaks positively about the poisoning: “It was not after a long time that his uncle created a feast, not as love for the sake of his desire, but for murder, and called for him, eating and eating. Then the evil branch of the golden root came to him, like an ancient flattering snake, the princess of Dmitreev of Shuisky came up Christina, Malyutin's daughter Skuratov, who was the confidant and evil adviser and murderer under the great Tsar Ivan and the persecutor of the Christian family, also strangled Metropolitan Philip, interceding from the king who did not bless Novgrad to captivate this evil fruit and the fierce barbarian of the evil branch, the new Herodias, likewise the sister of Boris's wife Godunov, likewise. Feed the righteous Tsar Theodore with poison, this evil devil’s adviser is like honey on the tongue, and a sword is pierced into the hearts of a righteous man, coming to him with flattery, carrying a cup of honey with poison, not wanting evil advice in it, he will take the cup and drink it; At one hour they began to torment his heart, taking him with him and bringing him into the house, and calling his spiritual father... and take communion, and give up his spirit... And from there the evil bitterness of the first in Rus' was inflamed, and they uttered in detail their infirmities that the theme of evil murderers had been created, or how the Muscovite state was quickly ruined by the Polish king." And after the Battle of Klushino, according to the same legoist, the Muscovites openly accused his brothers before the tsar of poisoning their nephew (58 - 59). True, the author of this story does not expand on the details of Skopin’s illness and does not mention the feast at the Vorotynskys. But Palitsyn, who was better than others in calling out Moscow affairs, does not report these details, but limits them.
KOPIN-SHUISKY.
can only be expressed in the most general terms. Therefore, another question is much more important: where could the author of the Pskov Chronicle get information about Moscow events that (meaning here and those given by us in Chapter 2) are not found in other chronicles? It is known that at that time there were constant relations between Moscow and Pskov; in Pskov they were interested in Moscow affairs, and in Moscow the Pskov archers were in service, who had previously managed to free their citizens from prison. From a similar source, without a doubt, comes information from the Pskov Chronicle about Moscow affairs; since only people who were close to the events could report them, with obvious features of a local story. But the name of D. Shuisky’s wife, daughter of Malyuta Skuratov, reminded the chronicler of her father’s influence under Ivan. Grozny; the latter's connections to Novgorod and Pskov; the fate of Metropolitan Philippa; Boris Godunov, married to another daughter of Malyuta and considered the culprit of the troubles, - and he attributed all the atrocities to the oprichnik’s family... Taking into account the chronicler’s close acquaintance with the events in Moscow, it can hardly be argued (Mukhanov in the first ed. Zolkiewski’s Record) that, not being a Muscovite himself, he trusted only rumors. We repeat, he gives more specific details about some events than other contemporaries, and this forces us to look differently at the sources of the author of the news. S. M. Solovyov rejects his testimony on the basis of the hostility of the Pskovites towards the church. Shuisky; but we have already raised an objection related to this in our analysis of Buturlin’s opinion.
In the Legend of the Birth of Prince M.V. Skopin (Izbornik Popov, 379 - 388), the circumstances of his death are told in accordance with the Manuscript of Philaret (feast at Vorotynsky, etc.), with the only difference that D. Shuisky’s wife is called here Maria (perhaps the author mixed her name with the name of her sister, who was behind Godunov, or with the name of the Tsar’s wife Vasily Shuisky, Maria) and the very fact of violent death is recognized unconditionally (there is no expression: “no man speaks,” etc.). But this legend represents a combination of a historical narrative (precise indication of numbers and events, the form of a story) with a poetic presentation (especially pp. 383 - 87), which even has a size (as in an excerpt from a thought, published in Pamyat. ancient Russian literature, ed. Kushelev-Bezbor., ed. No.
V. S. IKONNIKOV,
Stomarova, vol. II, 410 - 411) 1), although the historical features of the story in the Legend are preserved 2).
Let's move on to foreign news: