GODUNOV, on GODOONOFF, BORIS, tzar of Moscow, was born in 1552, of a noble family of Tartar descent. Having married the daughter of Maloota SkooratofZ a favourite of the tzar of Moscow, Ivan Vassilevich the Terrible, he was attached to the court of the tzar at the age of twenty-two, where he soon distinguished himself by such prudent conduct that, although in favour with the tyrant, he avoided taking the least part iu the cruelties which disgraced that reign, and of which bis own father-in-law was the principal agent. The marriage of his sister Irene with the heir of the throne, Prince Fedor, in ]5S0, increased his influence, and, in 15S2, he was nominated by Ivan Vassilevich one of the five members of the supreme council of state, and became the first favourite of Ivan's successor, Fedor, who threw all tho burthen of the government upon him. lie received the highest titles that a subject could attain, and such enormous estates that his fortune amounted to 150,0001. a year.
Fedor had no children, and his wretched state of health gave no prospects of his having any; but he bad a brother called Demetrius, sprung from Ivan Yassilevich, by a seventh marriage, who was, at the time of his father's death, two years old. This infant prince was sent with his mother to the town of Uglich, where they lived in a kind of honourable exile.
Godunov ruled the empire in the name of Fedor with an absolute sway. The country was satisfied with the wisdom of his administra tion, and he conciliated the friendship of foreign powers. The court as well as the first officers of the empire were filled with his creatures, and all attempts to overthrow him were repressed and severely punished. Yet this grandeur was held by a very precarious tenure, the life of a monarch weak in mind and body. In 1591 the young prince died however under the circumstances described in the article DEMETRIUS, VOL ii. col. 550. Under the supposition that the young prince had been murdered, the inhabitants of Uglich, where the prince resided, rose against certain members of the prince's household, who it was reported had been suborned by Godunov, and massacred them. Godunov sent a commission to investigate this affair, who declared that the young prince committed suicide in a fit of madness, and that tha individuals who were massacred by the inhabitants of Uglich as the murderers of the prince were innocent. Fedor was satisfied with this
report, and the public voice, which imputed this crime to Godunov, was silenced by the terror which he inspired, and which was increased by the punishment inflicted on those inhabitants of Uglich who had massacred the assassins of Demetrius. About two hundred of them were put to death, many had their tongues cut out, many were imprisoned, and the greater number transported to Siberia, where the new town of Peleen was peopled with them. The ancient city of Uglich, which ha 1 contained 30,000 inhabitants, became a deserted ruin. All those who had incurred any suspicion of having accused Godunov were punished in the most barbarous manner.
Godonov however was no less anxious to reward his adherents and to gain new ones than to overawe his enemies. Whoever applied to him was sure of protection. Many who had deserved punishment were pardoned, and the documents which certified these acts of grace always declared that they were duo to the intercession of Godunov; but his name never appeared in the decrees of condemnation, where it was always declared that "the punishment was ordered by the boyarda —," naming particular persons. His ambitious viewa how ever seemed on the point of being frustrated by the pregnancy of the tzarina, who bore a daughter in 1592; but the infant princess died the following year.
Fedor died in the beginning of 1598, and with him ended the dynasty of Ruric in the direct line, although there were collateral branches which had become private families. The tzar, by his last will, bequeathed the throne to his widow Irene, who was immediately proclaimed sovereign ; but after a few days she retired to a convent, and declared her firm resolntion to take tho veil. When all entreaties that she would retract this resolution were fruitless, a universal acclamation proclaimed her brother Codunov as the only man capable of filling the vacant throne of Moscow. A deputation, beaded by the patriarch, proceeded to Godunov to announce his elevation to the throne, but he decidedly refused ,it, and remained uumoved by all their entreaties.