GODUNOV, BORIS FEDOROVIČ. - Tsar of all the Russias, descendant of a Tatar chief, b. probably in 1551 and d. 13 April 1605. He reigned from 1 September 1598. In 1591, in an atmosphere of intrigues and factions, the heir prince Dimitrij had died, who, with his mother, was in exile at Uglich. The report that the boy had been killed by order of G. (who in this way would have found no obstacles to full power), is not historically established.

G. instituted the patriarchate (1589) and brought order to the administrative apparatus. He pursued a rather peaceful foreign policy; nevertheless, in war with the Swedes, he reconquered the lands lost by Ivan the Terrible. A great famine scourged Russia during his reign. As a result of the troubles that arose from it, the so-called False Demetrius (v.) appeared.

The complex figure of G. has interested various Russian artists and above all the poet Pushkin. Several aspects of his personality are still controversial.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: K. Waliszewski, Les origines de la Russie moderne. La crise révolutionnaire (1584-1614), Paris 1906; S. Platonov, B. G., Italian trans., Milan 1931; St. Graham, B. G., New Haven 1933; E. Lo Gatto, Storia della Russia, Florence 1946, pp. 171-94.

Wolf Giusti

@incollection{ec6_godunov_boris_fedorovic, author = {Giusti, Wolf}, title = {Godunòv, borís fedorović}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {891}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/godunov-boris-fedorovic} }

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Godunov, Boris Fedorovič

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