This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the Russian Wikipedia. (August 2009) Don't speak Russian? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the Russian article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|ru|Борис и Глеб}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Saints Boris and Gleb
Medieval Russian icon of SS. Boris and Gleb (14th century, State Russian Museum)
Passion-bearers
Died	1015–1019
Honored in	Eastern Orthodox Church Eastern Catholic Churches
Canonized	1071
Major shrine	Vyshhorod
Feast	July 24 (Martyrdom) May 3 (Translation of Relics)
Attributes	Two young princes, holding swords or spears, or the cross of martyrs

There are other people known as Saint David and Saint Roman.

Boris and Gleb (Russian: Борис и Глеб; Ukrainian: Борис і Гліб - Borys and Hlib), Christian names Roman and David, respectively, were the first saints canonized in Kievan Rus' after the Christianization of the country.

According to the two 11th century Lives of Boris and Gleb (ascribed to Nestor the Chronicler and Jacob the Monk), they were children of Vladimir the Great, who liked them more than his other children. Both were murdered during the internecine wars of 1015–1019 and glorified (canonized) by the Orthodox church in Rus' in 1071. They were interred at the Vyshhorod Cathedral, which was reconsecrated in their name; many other Ukrainian and Russian churches were later named after them. Their feast day is observed on July 24 (August 6).

Icon of Saints Boris and Gleb on horseback. Moscow, mid 14th century (Tretyakov Gallery).

The Primary Chronicle says that their mother was a Bulgarian woman. Most modern scholars, however, argue that Boris and Gleb had different mothers, and were of different age. Boris, who had been already married and ruled the town of Rostov, was probably regarded as heir apparent to the Kievan throne. Gleb, who was still a minor, ruled the easternmost town of Murom.

The Primary Chronicle blamed Sviatopolk the Accursed for plotting their assassination. Boris learned of his father's death when he returned with the Russian army to Alta. When informed of Sviatopolk's ascension to the throne and urged to replace him, Boris said, "Be it not for me to raise my hand against my elder brother. Now that my father has passed away, let him take the place of my father in my heart." Regardless of having stepped aside, Sviatopolk insisted on having Boris executed. He sent Putsha and the boyars of Vyshegorod to execute his brother. Boris and his manservant were stabbed to death when sleeping in a tent. The prince was discovered still breathing when his body was being transported in a bag to Kiev, but the Varangians put him out of his misery with the thrust of a lance.

Gleb, under the impression that his father was not yet dead, was sent for by Sviatopolk and rushed to his father's death bed. On the way, their brother Yaroslav learned of Sviatopolk's treachery and urged Gleb not to meet him. In the middle of praying to his deceased brother and God, Gleb was assassinated by his own cook, Torchin, who cut his throat with a kitchen knife and concealed his body in a brushwood. The Life contains many picturesque details of Boris and Gleb's last hours, such as their sister's warning about the murderous plans of Sviatopolk.

The Life's narrative is a masterpiece of hagiography, which unites numerous literary traditions. Actual circumstances of Boris and Gleb's life and death cannot be extrapolated from their hagiography. Perhaps the crucial evidence comes from several unbiased foreign sources which mention that Boris succeeded his father in Kiev, and was not lurking in Rostov as the Russian Primary Chronicle seems to imply.

Moreover, the Norse Eymund's saga tells a story of the Varangian warriors who were hired by Yaroslav I the Wise to kill his brother Burizleif. Some historians trusted the saga more than sources from Rus', claiming that it was Yaroslav (and not Sviatopolk) who was interested in removing his political rivals and was therefore guilty of his brothers' murder. Others consider "Burizleif" a misreading of Boleslaw, the Polish ruler allied to Sviatopolk.

Boris and Gleb's relics were housed in the Church of St. Basil in Vyshhorod, later destroyed.

External links[link]

Saints portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Boris and Gleb

• (Russian) Critical examination of Boris and Gleb's story
• (English) Princes Boris and Gleb: Proto-martyrs and Passion-Bearers of Old Russia
• Nestor: The Martyrdom of Boris and Gleb
• Martyrs and Passion-Bearers Boris and Gleb Orthodox icon and synaxarion for July 24
• Translation of the relics of the Holy Passionbearer Boris and Gleb May 2

Transfiguration of Jesus (1408).

Theophanes the Greek (sometimes "Feofan Grek" from the Russian: Феофан Грек, Greek: Θεοφάνης; c. 1340 – c. 1410) was a Byzantine Greek artist and one of the greatest icon painters, or iconographers, of Muscovite Russia, and was noted as the teacher and mentor of the great Andrei Rublev.

Life and work[link]

Theophanes was born in the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. In 1370 he moved to Novgorod, and in 1395 to Moscow. His style is considered unsurpassed in expression achieved by almost mono-colored painting. Some of his contemporaries observed that he appeared to be "painting with a broom", in reference to the bold, broad execution in some of his finest frescos (see St. Makarios of Egypt), which are unique in the larger Byzantine tradition. Theophanes was described by the Muscovites as "learned in philosophy", a reflection on his broad education and erudition. A hint of this might be gathered from his panel icon of the Transfiguration of Jesus, where the arresting geometry and brilliance of the figure of Christ is balanced against the ordered disarray of the earthbound Apostles, strewn about doll-like in the uncreated Light of Mount Tabor. The balance of mathematical harmony in line and shape, wed to a master's use of an earthtone palette and precious gold leaf, evokes a spirituality that is immensely powerful, and speaks to the genius of this relatively unknown painter.

Church works[link]

Theophanes decorated in fresco the walls and ceilings of many churches including:

• the Church of the Transfiguration on Ilin Street in Novgorod (1378)
• the church of Nativity of Mary (1395) of the Moscow Kremlin together with Semen Chernij)
• Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (1399)
• the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Moscow Kremlin, in company with Andrei Rublev and Prokhor of Gorodets (1405).

Icon works[link]

He created panel icons as well. However, based on historical evidence, works attributed to Theophanes have lately become a topic of intense academic debate. Until recently, he was traditionally considered the author of famous panel icons, notably:

• Our Lady of the Don (1380?)
• Dormition of the Virgin Mary (1392)
• The Virgin Mary and John the Baptist from the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Moscow Kremlin (1405?)
• The Transfiguration (1408)

Some Works[link]

Frescoes

• 

  Christ Pantocrator

• 

  Trinity

• 

  Abel

• 

  St. Daniel Stolpnik

• 

  St. Makarios of Egypt

Panel icons

these attributions are now controversial

• 

  Our Lady of the Don (Donskaya)

• 

  Dormition of the Theotokos (Uspenie Bogoroditsy)

• 

  The Virgin Mary, Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Moscow Kremlin

• 

  John the Baptist pair with the Virgin

See also[link]

• List of Russian artists

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Feofan Grek

• The school of Theophanos the Greek in medieval Crimea

The Greek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Bill Raymond. The Greek is the head of an international criminal organization involved in narcotics and human trafficking.^[1] The Greek is a mysterious figure involved in numerous criminal activities. His given name is never mentioned on the show, and though he is known only as "The Greek", he has stated (in the episode Port in a Storm) that he is not actually Greek. A quiet and unassuming man, the Greek prefers to keep a low profile, operating all of his business through his lieutenant Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos. His smuggling organization operated from a small diner in Baltimore for years, and while Vondas would conduct business the Greek would listen in quietly at the counter. Nick Sobotka, upon seeing the Greek identify himself, was amazed that the shadowy figure had been in plain sight the entire time.

Despite his calm appearance, the Greek is cunning and ruthless, and only interested in facts that make him more money. Series creator David Simon has said that The Greek is an embodiment of raw unencumbered capitalism.^[2] Anyone interfering in this process is eliminated immediately, and he prefers to leave victims headless and handless to hinder identification.

The Greek's smuggling operation includes importing sex trade workers, illicit drugs, stolen goods and chemicals for drug processing. He bribes union stevedores to move containers through the Baltimore port for him and uses his muscle, Sergei "Serge" Malatov, to run containers back and forth from the port to his warehouse, a front managed by "Double G" Glekas. The Greek supplies the major drug dealers in East Baltimore with pure cocaine and heroin, using Eton Ben-Eleazer to move his drugs. His chief client is Proposition Joe, but he is also affiliated with smaller drug dealing organizations like those run by "White Mike" McArdle. His sex trade interests in Baltimore include a brothel run by a madam named Ilona Petrovitch, bringing in girls from eastern Europe. He manages to avoid prosecution for his crimes because an FBI counter-terrorism agent named Kristos Koutris tips him off if a criminal investigation gets too close. It is suggested he and Vondas may serve as federal informants.

Biography[link]

Season 2[link]

The Greek began to draw police attention in Baltimore when his contact at the docks, Frank Sobotka, became the target of an investigation. At the same time a container of thirteen dead young women intended for the sex trade was discovered at the docks, triggering a high-profile homicide investigation. The container belonged to the Greek and the girls were killed by a crewman onboard the vessel that had delivered them. The ship's crew had been paying the girls for sex and when one of the girls refused, she was killed. The crewman responsible dumped her overboard and collapsed the air pipe to kill the remaining women. The Greek had Sergei track the crewman down, interrogated him personally, and had Vondas kill him.

As the investigation continued the police were able to link Eton and Sergei to the drug smuggling operation. When police began tracking containers as they left the port, The Greek and Vondas began to close down the operation temporarily by dumping their cell phones and stealing "clean" containers. Persuading Sobotka to keep the smuggling operation going he bought further protection from Agent Koutris by betraying a load of Colombian cocaine, giving him time to destroy incriminating evidence in the warehouse and Glekas' store.

The Greek recognized that the investigation was too extensive to stop and made plans to leave, sending Vondas to assure Proposition Joe that supply of drugs would continue albeit with new faces. He attempted to buy Sobotka's silence with promised legal aid for his son, but when he learned from Koutris that Frank was planning to turn informant he had the union man killed. Although Frank's nephew Nick Sobotka was able to identify The Greek in a photo and Sergei was pressured to give up the location of his hotel suite, Vondas and the Greek had already boarded a flight to Chicago. Aware that the Greek and Vondas were gone, the police left the investigation behind and moved on to the drug dealers he supplied.

Seasons 4 & 5[link]

The Greek continued to supply "Proposition Joe" Stewart, who formed an organization with other drug dealers called the New Day Co-Op to provide The Greek's product to them in exchange for reduced violence and sharing of territory. When Omar Little steals an entire shipment of heroin from the Greek's men as it is being delivered to Stewart's people, Marlo Stanfield demands a meeting with Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos in order to allay his fears that Stewart was responsible.^[3][4] Once Stanfield is satisfied, he waits for the Major Crimes Unit's investigation into his activities to cease and then moves to establish a direct relationship with Vondas and the Greek. After getting in communication with Vondas through former soldier Sergei,^[5][6] Marlo eventually sells himself as Joe's replacement by convincing the Greek that he requires an insurance policy in the form of a replacement for Proposition Joe, in the event that anything should happen to him. Realizing that Stanfield will move against Stewart regardless of his approval, the Greek accepts Marlo's proposal to act as an "insurance policy," knowing that it will mean Joe's death.^[7][8]

After Stewart's murder, Stanfield meets with Vondas to initiate their new business relationship.^[9][10] Stanfield's tenure proves short lived when he is forced into retirement by an investigation, and the other Co-Op members purchase the connection from Stanfield. In the closing scenes of the series finale, Slim Charles and Fat-Face Rick take over meeting with Vondas while the Greek listens quietly in the background.^[11][12]

References[link]

Andrei Rublev (Russian: Андре́й Рублёв; IPA: [ɐnˈdrʲej rʊˈblʲɵf], also transliterated Andrey Rublyov and other permutations^[1]; born in the 1360s, died 1427 or 29 January 1430) is considered to be the greatest medieval Russian painter of Orthodox icons and frescoes.

Biography[link]

There is little information about his life. It is not known where he was born. Andrei Rublev probably lived in the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra near Moscow under Nikon of Radonezh, who became hegumen after the death of Sergii Radonezhsky (1392).

The first mention of Rublev is in 1405 when he decorated icons and frescos for the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Moscow Kremlin in company with Theophanes the Greek and Prokhor of Gorodets. His name was the last of the list of masters as the junior both by rank and by age. Theophanes was an important Byzantine master who moved to Russia, and is considered to have trained Rublev.

Rublev's famous icon of the Trinity.

Chronicles tell us that in 1408 he painted (together with Daniil Cherni) the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir and in 1425–1427 the Cathedral of St. Trinity in the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. After Daniil's death Andrei came to Moscow's Andronikov Monastery where he painted his last work, the frescoes of the Savior Cathedral.

He is also believed to have painted at least one of the miniatures in the Khitrovo Gospels.

The only work authenticated as entirely his is the icon of the Trinity, ca. 1410 (shown at right), currently in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. It is based upon an earlier icon known as the "Hospitality of Abraham" (illustrating Genesis 18). Rublev removed the figures of Abraham and Sarah from the scene, and through a subtle use of composition and symbolism changed the subject to focus on the Mystery of the Trinity.

In Rublev's art two traditions are combined: the highest asceticism and the classic harmony of Byzantine mannerism. The characters of his paintings are always peaceful and calm. After some time his art came to be perceived as the ideal of Church painting and of Orthodox iconography.

Andrei died at Andronikov Monastery on 29 January 1430 (this date is still questionable). His work has influenced many different artists including Dionisy. At the Stoglavi Sobor (1551) Rublev's icon style was announced as a model for church painting. He was canonized a saint in 1988 by the Russian Orthodox Church. The church celebrates his feast day on 29 January^[2] and 4 July.^[2][3][4]

Legacy[link]

Andrei Rublev is honored with a feast day on the liturgical of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on 29 January.

Since 1959 the Andrei Rublev Museum has been open at the Andronikov Monastery, displaying the art of his works and his epoch.

In 1966, Andrei Tarkovsky made his celebrated film Andrei Rublev, loosely based on the artist's life and "the first (and perhaps only) film produced under the Soviets to treat the artist as a world-historic figure and the rival religion of Christianity as an axiom of Russia’s historical identity"^[5] during a turbulent period in the history of Russia.

Selected works[link]

See also[link]

• Western painting

Sources[link]

• Andrei Rublev, a 1966 film by Andrei Tarkovsky loosely based on the painter's life.
• Mikhail V. Alpatov, Andrey Rublev, Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1972.
• Gabriel Bunge, The Rublev Trinity, transl. Andrew Louth, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York, 2007.
• Sergius Golubtsov, Voplosh’enie bogoslovskih idey v tvorchestve prepodobnogo Andreya Rubleva [The realization of theological ideas in creative works of Andrey Rublev]. Bogoslovskie trudy 22, 20–40, 1981.
• Troitca Andreya Rubleva [The Trinity of Andrey Rublev], Gerold I. Vzdornov (ed.), Moscow: Iskusstvo 1989.
• Viktor N. Lazarev, The Russian Icon: From Its Origins to the Sixteenth Century, Gerold I. Vzdornov (ed.). Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1997.
• Priscilla Hunt, Andrei Rublev’s Old Testament Trinity Icon in Cultural Context, The Trinity-Sergius Lavr in Russian History and Culture: Readings in Russian Religious Culture, vol. 3, ed. Deacon Vladimir Tsurikov, (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Seminary Press, 2006), 99-122.(See on-line at phslavic.com)
• Priscilla Hunt, Andrei Rublev’s Old Testament Trinity Icon: Problems of Meaning, Intertextuality, and Transmission, Symposion: A Journal of Russian (Religious) Thought, ed. Roy Robson, 7-12 (2002–2007), 15-46 (See on-line at www.phslavic.com)
• Konrad Onasch, Das Problem des Lichtes in der Ikonomalerei Andrej Rublevs. Zur 600–Jahrfeier des grossen russischen Malers, vol. 28. Berlin: Berliner byzantinische Arbeiten, 1962.
• Konrad Onasch, Das Gedankenmodell des byzantisch–slawischen Kirchenbaus. In Tausend Jahre Christentum in Russland, Karl Christian Felmy et al. (eds.), 539–543. Go¨ ttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1988.
• Eugeny N. Trubetskoi, Russkaya ikonopis'. Umozrenie w kraskah. Wopros o smysle vizni w drewnerusskoj religioznoj viwopisi [Russian icon painting. Colourful contemplation. Question of the meaning of life in early Russian religious painting], Moscow: Beliy Gorod, 2003 [1916].
• Georgij Yu. Somov, Semiotic systemity of visual artworks: Case study of The Holy Trinity by Rublev, Semiotica 166 (1/4), 1-79, 2007.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Andrej Rublëv

• Andrey Rublev Official Web Site
• Rublev at the Russian Art Gallery
• Selected works by Andrei Rublev: icons, frescoes and miniatures
• "The Deesis painted by Andrey Rublev" from the Annunciation Church of the Moscow Kremlin - article by Dr. Oleg G. Uliyanov
• Historical documentation on Andrei Rublev, compiled by Robert Bird
• The Andrei Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Art – Guide to visiting the museum
• Venerable Andrew Rublev the Iconographer Orthodox icon and synaxarion
• Gallery of Rublev's works

Boris Godunov
Regent of Russia (de facto) Tsar of All Russia
Regent of Russia (de facto)
Reign	c. 1585–1598
Predecessor	none
Successor	himself as Tsar of All Russia
Tsar of All Russia
Reign	21 February 1598 – 23 April [O.S. 13 April] 1605
Coronation	1 September 1598
Predecessor	Feodor I
Successor	Feodor II
Consort	Maria Grigorievna Skuratova-Belskaya
Issue
Feodor II of Russia Xenia Godunova
Full name
Boris Feodorovich Godunov
Dynasty	Godunov
Father	Feodor Ivanovich Godunov
Mother	Stepanida Ivanovna
Born	c. 1551
Died	23 April [O.S. 13 April] 1605 (aged 54) Moscow
Burial	Godunov Mausoleum in front of the Cathedral of the Assumption at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius
Religion	Eastern Orthodox

Boris Fyodorovich Godunov (Russian: Бори́с Фёдорович Годуно́в, IPA: [bɐˈrʲis ɡədʊˈnof]; c. 1551 – 23 April [O.S. 13 April] 1605) was de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. The end of his reign saw Russia descend into the Time of Troubles.

Early years[link]

Boris Godunov was the most noted member of an ancient, now extinct, Russian family of Tatar origin, which came from the Horde to Kostroma in the early 14th century. He was descended from the Tatarian Prince Chet, who went from the Golden Horde to Russia and founded the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma. Boris was the son of Feodor Ivanovich Godunov "Krivoy" ("One-eyed") (died, c. 1568–1570) and his wife Stepanida Ivanovna. His older brother Vasily died young and without issue.

Godunov's career began at the court of Ivan the Terrible. He is mentioned in 1570 as taking part in the Serpeisk campaign as an archer of the guard. The following year, he became an oprichnik - a member of Ivan's personal guard and secret police. In 1570/1571, Godunov strengthened his position at court by his marriage to Maria Grigorievna Skuratova-Belskaya, the daughter of oprichniks' head Malyuta Skuratov-Belskiy. In 1580, the Tsar chose Irina Godunova, or Irina (later Alexandra) Feodorovna Godunova (1557 – 26 October/23 November 1603), the sister of Godunov, to be the wife of his second son and eventual heir, the fourteen year old Feodor Ivanovich (1557–1598). On this occasion, Godunov was promoted to the rank of Boyar. On 15 November 1581, he was present at the scene of the Tsar's murder of his own eldest son, the crown prince Ivan. Godunov tried to intervene, but received blows from the Tsar's sceptre. Ivan immediately repented and Godunov rushed to get help for the Tsarevich, who died four days later.^[1]

On his deathbed, Ivan appointed a council consisting of Godunov, Feodor Nikitich Romanov, Vasili Shuiski and others, to guide his son and successor, for Feodor was feeble both in mind and body; "he took refuge from the dangers of the palace in devotion to religion; and though his people called him a saint, they recognized that he lacked the iron to govern men."^[2]

Upon his death, Ivan also left the three year old Dmitry Ivanovich (1581–1591), from his seventh and last marriage. As the Orthodox Church recognized only his first three marriages, and any offspring thereof, as legitimate, Dmitri (and his mother's family) technically had no claim to the throne. Still, taking no chances, shortly after Ivan's death the Council had both Dmitri and his mother Maria Nagaya moved to Uglich, some 120 miles north of Moscow. It was there in 1591 that Dmitri died at the age of ten. An official commission headed by Vasili Shuiski was sent to determine the cause of death. The official verdict was that the boy had cut his throat during an epileptic seizure. Ivan's widow claimed that her son had been murdered by Godunov's agents. Godunov's guilt was never established and shortly thereafter Dmitri's mother was forced to take the veil.^[2] Dmitri Ivanovich was laid to rest and promptly, though temporarily, forgotten.

Regency[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

At the coronation of Feodor Ivanovich as Tsar Feodor I on 31 May 1584, Boris was given honors and riches as a member of the regency council, in which he held the second place during the life of the Tsar's uncle Nikita Romanovich. When Nikita died in 1586, Boris was left without any serious rival for the regency.

A conspiracy against him by other boyars and Dionysius II, Metropolitan of Moscow, sought to break Boris's power by divorcing the Tsar from Godunov's childless sister. It was unsuccessful, and the conspirators were banished or sent to monasteries. After that, Godunov was supreme in Russia and he corresponded with foreign princes as their equal.

His policy was generally pacific and always prudent. In 1595, he recovered from Sweden some towns lost during the former reign. Five years previously he had defeated a Tatar raid upon Moscow, for which he received the title of Konyushy, an obsolete dignity even higher than that of Boyar. He supported an anti-Turkish faction in the Crimea and gave the emperor subsidies in his war against the sultan.

Godunov encouraged English merchants to trade with Russia by exempting them from duties. He built towns and fortresses along the north-eastern and south-eastern borders of Russia to keep the Tatar and Finnic tribes in order. These included Samara, Saratov, Voronezh, and Tsaritsyn, as well as other lesser towns. He colonized Siberia with scores of new settlements, including Tobolsk.

During his rule, the Russian Orthodox Church received its patriarchate, placing it on an equal footing with the ancient Eastern churches and freeing it from the influence of the Patriarch of Constantinople. This pleased the Tsar, as Feodor took a great interest in church affairs.

Boris's most important domestic reform was the 1597 decree forbidding the peasantry to go from one landowner to another, thus binding them to the soil. The object of this ordinance was to secure revenue, but it led to the institution of serfdom in its most oppressive form.

Tsardom[link]

On the death of the childless Feodor on 7 January 1598, self-preservation as much as ambition led Boris to seize the throne. Had he not done so, the mildest treatment he could have hoped for would have been lifelong seclusion in a monastery. His election was proposed by Patriarch Job of Moscow, who believed that Boris was the one man capable of coping with the difficulties of the situation. Boris, however, would accept the throne only from the Zemsky Sobor, or national assembly, which met on 17 February and unanimously elected him on 21 February. On 1 September, he was solemnly crowned tsar.

During the first years of his reign, he was both popular and prosperous, and ruled well. He recognized the need for Russia to catch up with the intellectual progress of the West and did his best to bring about educational and social reforms. He was the first tsar to import foreign teachers on a large scale, the first to send young Russians abroad to be educated, and the first to allow Lutheran churches to be built in Russia. After the Russo–Swedish War (1590–1595), he felt the necessity of access to the Baltic Sea and attempted to obtain Livonia by diplomatic means. He cultivated friendly relations with the Scandinavians and hoped to take a bride from a foreign royal house, thereby increasing the dignity of his own dynasty. However he declined the personal union proposed to him in 1600 by the diplomatic mission led by Lew Sapieha from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Boris died after a lengthy illness and a stroke on 13/23 April 1605. He left one son, Feodor II, who succeeded him and ruled for only a few months, until he and Boris' widow were murdered by the enemies of the Godunovs in Moscow on 10/20 June 1605. Boris's first son, Ivan, was born in 1587 and died in 1588. His daughter, Xenia, was born in 1582. She was engaged to Johann of Schleswig-Holstein, but he died shortly before their planned wedding in October 1602. Xenia was given the name "Olga" upon being forced to take monastic vows at the Voskesesnskij Monastery in Beloozero and her name is inscibed as "the Nun Olga Borisovna" at the crypt of the Godunovs at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius where she lived from 1606, when she sojourned there to attend the reburial of her father, until her death in 1622.^[3] Boris, his wife, and their children are buried together in a mausoleum near the entrance of the Assumption Cathedral at Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra.

Arts and popular media[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Boris' life was dramatised by the founder of Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin, in his play Boris Godunov (1831), which was inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth. Modest Mussorgsky based his opera Boris Godunov on Pushkin's play. Sergei Prokofiev later wrote incidental music for Pushkin's drama. In 1997, the score of a 1710 baroque opera based on the reign of Boris by German composer Johann Mattheson was rediscovered in Armenia and returned to Hamburg, Germany. This opera, never performed during the composer's lifetime, had its world premiere in 2005 at the Boston Early Music Festival & Exhibition.

The character Boris Badenov in the cartoon The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show takes his name from a play on Godunov's.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Godunov's armor (detail), Kremlin Armoury

• 

  Boris Godunov Overseeing the Studies of his Son, painting by N. Nekrasov (19th century)

• 

  Godunov's estate near Moscow

• 

  Godunov Mausoleum in front of the Cathedral of the Assumption at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius

See also[link]

• Tsars of Russia family tree

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

• Boris Godunov: a drama in verse at Project Gutenberg
• Godunov to Nicholas II by Saul Zaklad
• The throne of Tsar Boris Godunov
• Ancestors of Boris Feodorovich Godunov, tsar of Russia (in Russian)
• Boris Godunov in English

v t e Sovereigns of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality, Grand Principality of Moscow, Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire Grand Princes Yuri Dolgorukiy Andrei I Bogolyubsky Mikhail of Vladimir Vsevolod the Big Nest Yuri II of Vladimir Konstantin of Rostov Yuri II of Vladimir Yaroslav II of Vladimir Sviatoslav III of Vladimir Andrey II of Vladimir Alexander Nevsky Yaroslav of Tver Vasily of Kostroma Dmitry of Pereslavl Andrey of Gorodets Mikhail of Tver Yuri of Moscow Dmitry the Terrible Eyes Alexander of Tver Ivan I Simeon the Proud Ivan II Dmitry Donskoy Vasily I Vasily II Ivan III the Great Vasily III Tsars Ivan IV the Terrible Simeon Bekbulatovich Ivan IV the Terrible Feodor I Boris Godunov Feodor II Dmitry II (False Dmitry I) Vasili IV Vladislaus (formally) Michael I Alexis Feodor III Ivan V and Peter I the Great (co-rulers) Peter I the Great Emperors and Empresses Peter I the Great Catherine I Peter II Anna Ivan VI Elizabeth Peter III Catherine II the Great Paul Alexander I Nicholas I Alexander II Alexander III Nicholas II Michael II