Rumours of a pretender

The first mention of a False Dimitry occurred within a month of the death of Tsar Fedor Ivanovich. On 5/15 February 1598, at the height of the election campaign, Andrzej Sapieha, the commandant of the Lithuanian frontier town of Orsha, sent a curious report to Krzysztof Radziwiłł, the governor of Vilnius, about events across the Russian border. Sapieha reported rumours that a letter had been sent to the city of Smolensk in the name of Dimitry, stating that he had succeeded to the throne; it seemed that he had been in hiding until the time was right for him to appear. The boyars in Moscow had investigated the story, and had been assured by a member of the Nagoi clan that Dimitry of Uglich was dead, murdered on the orders of Boris Godunov. But Boris had a friend who greatly resembled the dead tsarevich, and he hoped to have this man made tsar if he himself were not elected. In the course of the boyars' investigation, Boris was accused not only of having murdered Dimitry, but also of having poisoned Tsar Fedor in order to obtain the throne for himself. During the quarrel, Fedor Nikitich Romanov had attempted to stab Boris Godunov to death.

Sapieha's sensational report was based on information supplied by a spy whom he had sent across the frontier into Russia, and confirmed by a Russian merchant who had come to Orsha from Smolensk.