Basilio IV de Rusia

Vasili IV Ivanovich Shuisky ( en ruso : Василий IV Иванович Шуйский , romanizado :  Vasiliy IV Ivanovich Shuyskiy , c. 1552 – 12 de septiembre de 1612) fue zar de toda Rusia desde 1606 hasta 1610, tras el asesinato del falso Dmitri I. Su reinado coincidió con el Período Tumultuoso . Fue el único miembro de la Casa de Shuisky en convertirse en zar y el último miembro de la dinastía Rúrikida ( rama Yurievich ) en gobernar como zar.  

Era hijo de Iván Andreyevich Shuisky . Nacido como príncipe Vasili Ivanovich Shuisky, descendía de los príncipes soberanos Yurievichi de Nizhni Nóvgorod y, supuestamente, era descendiente varón de la vigésima generación del príncipe varego Rurik , del siglo IX . Vasili Ivanovich fue uno de los boyardos más importantes del Zarato de Rusia durante los reinados de Teodoro I ( 1584-1598 ) y Boris Godunov ( 1598-1605 ). En las intrigas cortesanas del Período Tumultuoso ( 1598-1613 ), Vasili y su hermano menor, Dmitri Shuisky, solían actuar juntos y luchar como uno solo. ^{[ 1 ]}

Fue Shuisky quien, obedeciendo las órdenes secretas del futuro zar Boris, fue a Uglich para investigar la causa de la muerte del zarévich Dmitri Ivánovich (el hijo menor de Iván el Terrible ( r. 1533–1584 )), quien había perecido allí en circunstancias misteriosas en mayo de 1591. ^{[ 2 ]} Shuisky informó que se trató de un suicidio , aunque abundaban los rumores de que el zarévich había sido asesinado por orden del regente Boris Godunov . Algunos sospechaban que Dmitri había escapado del asesinato y que otro niño había sido asesinado en su lugar; esta historia impulsó la aparición reiterada de impostores como el Falso Dmitri I , el Falso Dmitri II y el Falso Dmitri III . Tras la muerte de Boris , quien se había convertido en zar, y la ascensión al trono de su hijo Feodor II en 1605, Shuisky se retractó de sus palabras para congraciarse con el pretendiente Falso Dmitri I, quien intentaba hacerse con el trono suplantando al difunto zarévich Dmitry Ivanovich. Shuisky reconoció al pretendiente como el verdadero Dmitry, a pesar de haber determinado previamente que el joven se había suicidado. Poco después, el joven zar Feodor fue víctima de un asesinato. ^{[ 1 ]}

Shuisky se volvió entonces contra el falso Dmitry y provocó su muerte (en mayo de 1606) al afirmar que el verdadero Dmitry había sido asesinado y que el zar reinante Dmitriy (el falso Dmitriy I) era un impostor . ^{[ 3 ]} Tras la muerte de Dmitriy, los seguidores de Shuisky lo proclamaron zar el 19 de mayo de 1606. Reinó hasta el 19 de julio de 1610, pero nunca fue reconocido por la opinión pública. Incluso en la propia Moscú tenía poca o ninguna autoridad, y solo evitó ser depuesto por los boyardos dominantes porque no tenían a nadie que lo sustituyera. ^{[ 1 ]}

The popularity of Vasili Shuisky's cousin, Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, who commanded an army aided by an allied Swedish force led by Jacob de la Gardie, allowed Shuisky, for a time, to remain on his unstable throne. In 1610 the Seven Boyars, notably his former adherents Princes Ivan Mikhailovich Vorotynsky and Fedor Ivanovich Mstislavsky, deposed him. He was forcibly made a monk and eventually transported together with his two brothers to Warsaw by the Polish hetmanStanisław Żółkiewski. He died a prisoner in the castle of Gostynin, near Warsaw, in 1612,^[1] followed soon after by his brother Dmitry. The Romanovs, elected as rulers of Russia in 1613, recognized Vasili posthumously as a legal tsar, and during their negotiations with the Polish authorities constantly demanded the right to rebury his body in Russia. Following the Treaty of Polyanovka in 1635, Vasili's remains were finally returned to Moscow and laid to rest in the Archangel Cathedral.

Vasili Shuisky was married twice. His first wife, Elena Mikhailovna Repnina, died prior his election to tsardom, and he had no children from that marriage. After his coronation, Vasili married Princess Ekaterina Buynosova-Rostovskaya, whose name was changed to Maria, deemed more suitable for a tsarina consort. They had two daughters together, princesses Anna and Anastasia, but both died in infancy during their father's reign, and were buried in the Old Maiden's Convent in Kremlin. As both brothers of Vasili, princes Dmitri Shuisky and Ivan Shuisky the Button, died also childless, the Shuiskys' princely house became extinct after the death of the latter in 1638.

The future Tsar Vasili IV serves as a character in Alexander Pushkin's blank verse drama Boris Godunov and Modest Mussorgsky's opera of the same name. In both depictions, the character is an adviser to Boris Godunov and a master of palace intrigue. Despite being fully aware that Tsar Boris ordered the assassination of the child Tsarevich Dmitriy, Vasili Shuisky remains outwardly loyal, only switching his support to the Pretender when the latter appears likely to win. Pushkin later described his intention to write further plays about the Time of Troubles.

About Vasili Shuisky, Pushkin wrote,

I intend to return to Shuisky also. In the historical account he shows a singular mixture of audacity, flexibility, and strength of character. Lackey of Godunov, he is one of the first boyars to go over to Dmitri's side. He is the first one who conspires, and note this, he is the one who risks himself; he is the one who vociferates, who accuses, who after being chief becomes a soldier in the front ranks. He is about to lose his head, Dmitri pardons him when he's already on the scaffold, he exiles him, and with the thoughtless generousity of this amiable adventurer, he recalls him to court, and covers him with gifts and honors. What does Shuisky do—he who has come so close to the hatchet and the block? He has nothing more important to do than conspire anew, to succeed, to have himself elected Tsar, to fall and during his fall to preserve more dignity and strength of spirit than he had ever had in his entire life.^[4]

• Bibliography of Russian history (1223–1613)
• Tsars of Russia family tree
• Shuysky Tribute

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Basil s.v. Basil IV.". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 469. This work in turn cites:
  • Dmitry Ilovaisky, The Troubled Period of the Muscovite Realm (Moscow, 1894) (in Russian)
  • Sergey Platonov, Sketches of the Great Anarchy in the Realm of Moscow, (Petersburg, 1899)
  • D. V. Tsvyeltev, Tsar Vasily Shuisky (Warsaw, 1901–1903) (in Russian)
  • R. Nisbet Bain, Slavonic Europe, ch. viii. (Cambridge, 1907)

• The ancestors tsar Vasili IV of Russia(in Russian)
• Godunov to Nicholas II by Saul Zaklad