Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, having lost his father at…
April 1609 CE
Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, having lost his father at an early age, had been educated by his mother.
During the reign of Boris Godunov, he had been appointed stolnik (tsar's assistant).
False Dmitriy I had made Mikhail his mechnik, or sword carrier, and had asked him personally to bring Marfa Ivanovna—mother of Michhael Romanov, who will one day become tsar—to Moscow from exile.
During the reign of Vasili IV, Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky has become a close associate of the tsar, being his cousin.
He had begun his military career in 1606 with the appearance of Ivan Bolotnikov, whom he has defeated twice, first near the Pakhra River with a small unit at his disposal (after Bolotnikov had crushed the Muscovite army led by Mstislavsky and other boyars) and then at Kotly.
After the second defeat, Bolotnikov and his men had fled to Tula.
Skopin-Shuisky had taken an active part in a successful siege of Tula alongside the Muscovite army.
When False Dmitriy II appears on the political horizon, Vasili IV decides to seek help from the Swedes and sends his cousin Mikhail to Novgorod to negotiate with them.
Despite some obstacles, Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky has managed to persuade the Swedes to help the Russian tsar.
Mikhail leaves Novgorod on April 14, 1609, with twelve thousand Swedish soldiers under the command of Jacob De la Gardie to save the Russian throne.
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