GODUNOV, Boris FEDOROVIČ. — Tsar of all the Russias, descendant of a Tatar chieftain, born probably in 1551 and died on 13 April 1605. He reigned from 10 September 1598. In 1591, in an atmosphere of intrigue and faction, the hereditary prince Dimitrij had died while in exile with his mother at Uglíč. The rumor that the boy had been killed on GODUNOV’s orders (thus removing obstacles to his full assumption of power) is not historically confirmed.
GODUNOV established the patriarchate (1589) and reorganized the administrative apparatus. His foreign policy was comparatively peaceful; nonetheless, in war with the Swedes he recovered lands lost under Ivan the Terrible. A great famine ravaged Russia during his reign. From the disorders that ensued there arose the so-called False Dimitrij (v.).
The complex figure of GODUNOV has engaged various Russian institutions and, in the first place, the poet Puškin. Several aspects of his personality remain controversial.