In 1591, Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, died under mysterious circumstances in Uglich, officially from a self-inflicted throat wound during an epileptic seizure. Over a decade later, during the chaotic period known as the Time of Troubles, a man appeared in Poland claiming to be Dmitry, asserting he had escaped his assassins. Modern historians largely identify this man as Grigory Otrepyev, a runaway Russian monk.
Capitalizing on widespread discontent under Tsar Boris Godunov, the impostor converted to Catholicism, gained the support of Polish nobles and King Sigismund III, and gathered a mercenary army to invade Russia. As his forces marched toward Moscow, Boris Godunov suddenly died, and Godunov's young son was overthrown. The populace, desperate for stability and eager to believe in a legitimate Romanov-adjacent heir, welcomed the claimant into Moscow.
In June 1605, he was officially crowned Tsar Dmitry I. Despite being surprisingly competent and forward-thinking, his foreign manners, Polish advisors, and marriage to a Catholic Polish noblewoman, Marina Mniszech, infuriated the xenophobic Russian boyars. Just ten months into his reign, a faction led by Prince Vasily Shuysky stormed the Kremlin.
False Dmitry was murdered, his corpse was publicly displayed, and then cremated. In an ultimate act of post-mortem retribution, his ashes were mixed with gunpowder and fired from a cannon facing southwest toward Poland.