Maria Nagaya

Maria "Marfa" Feodorovna Nagaya (Russian: Мария Фёдоровна Нагая; February 8, 1553 - June 28 1608, Moscow) was a Russian tsaritsa and last and sixth (possibly eighth) wife of Ivan the Terrible. She was mother of Tsarevich Dmitry of Uglich.

Maria Nagaya
"Tsaritsa Maria exposes the False Dmitry". Coloured lithograph in a sketch by V. Babushkin, middle of the 19th century.
Tsaritsa of all Russia
Tenure	1581–1584
Born	February 8, 1553
Died	June 28 1608 (55 years) Moscow
Spouse	Ivan IV of Russia
Issue	Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich
Dynasty	Rurik
Father	Feodor Nagoy
Religion	Eastern Orthodox

Daughter of the okolnichy Fyodor Fyodorovich Nagoy-Fedets. According to historians and genealogists N.V. Myatlev (1872-1929) and Anat. G. Gryaznoy, the daughter or sister of Prince Vasily Semenovich Funikov- Kemsky was the wife of F.F. Nagoy, and therefore the mother of his children, for which Fyodor Fyodorovich received part of the Zvenigorod patrimony of the princes Funikov- Kemsky as a dowry.

Her uncle was the Russian ambassador to the Crimean Khanate, a diplomat and close confidant of the tsar, Afanasy Nagoy, which apparently contributed to the marriage.

Under Ivan

She married in 1580, becoming the tsar's seventh wife, meaning she was illegal according to church law (for more details, see Legality of Ivan the Terrible's Marriages). Later, the new tsar, Feodor Ivanovich, forbade the clergy from mentioning the name of his half-brother, Tsarevich Dmitry, during church services on the grounds that he was born in his seventh marriage and was therefore illegitimate.

The wedding rank of her marriage has been preserved. The famous historian A. A. Zimin writes: “The wedding took place soon after Batory left Velikiye Luki. According to Horsey, Ivan the Terrible got married to calm his son Ivan and the boyars, who were worried by rumors about the Tsar’s supposed flight to England. Obviously, this reasoning is nothing more than idle speculation. The Tsar’s wedding took place in an intimate setting. Those closest to him were present, mainly the Tsar’s Court. Tsarevich Fyodor spoke at the wedding “in place of his father” (in place of his father, in the father’s place), and the heir to the throne Ivan was the “thousander”)”.

Her only son, Dmitry Uglichsky, the third of Tsar Ivan's surviving children, was born on October 19, 1582.

Under Fyodor

After the death of the Tsar in 1584 and the accession to the throne of his only surviving son from his first marriage, Fyodor Ivanovich (even before the coronation ceremony on May 24), she was removed by the regency council along with her son and brothers to live in Uglich (1584). Dmitry received Uglich as his principality (as had previously been the younger brother of Ivan the Terrible, Yuri Vasilyevich, and the younger brother of Vasily III, Dmitry Ivanovich Zhilka).

Jerome Horsey writes that “the queen was accompanied by a varied retinue, she was sent off with a dress, jewelry, food, horses, etc. - all this on a grand scale, as befits an empress”.

A fragment of the later "New Chronicler", apparently based on earlier sources, tells about the reason for the expulsion of the Nagikh family: on the night after the death of Ivan IV, Boris Godunov "with his advisers laid treason on the Nagikhs and they were captured and given to bailiffs"; the same fate befell many "whom Tsar Ivan favored": they were sent to distant cities and prisons, their houses were destroyed, their estates and patrimonies were given away. Zimin writes that "the story, of course, bears the features of an anti-Godunov edition and an obvious Romanov "rehabilitation" of the Nagikhs. The decision to expel the Nagikhs from Moscow was probably made by the entire Duma, which feared their actions in favor of Feodor's younger brother, Tsarevich Dmitry. But in general it corresponds to reality. Three sons of A. M. Nagoy were exiled: Andrei, according to later data, was sent to Arsk; Mikhail, who was a voivode in Kazan in 1583/84, ended up in Kokshaisk in 1585/86, and in Ufa in 1586/87 - 1593/94; Afanasy - in Novosil (1584). Their second cousin Ivan Grigorievich was in the Kuzmodemyansk prison in 1585/86, and from 1588/89 to 1593/94 - in the newly built city on the Lozva. The eldest uncle of Tsarina Maria, Semyon Fyodorovich Nagoy, with his son Ivan in 1585/86-1589/90. served in Vasilsursk, and another uncle, Afanasy, was in Yaroslavl in 1591. Father Fyodor (died after 1591), uncle Andrei, and brothers Mikhail and Grigory Fyodorovich served under Tsarina Maria (who was soon exiled to Uglich).

The new tsar, as was said above, according to some sources, eventually forbade the clergy to commemorate Tsarevich Dmitry due to his illegitimacy.

On May 15, 1591, under mysterious circumstances, the boy who was the heir of Tsar Feodor died. Riots broke out in the city, for which the Tsarina was partly to blame - when the child died, she ran out of the yard, saw what had happened, began to beat the nurse with a log and declared several people who were killed by the crowd guilty (see Uglich affair).

"For neglect of her son and for the murder of the innocent Bityagovskys and their comrades" Nagaya was tonsured a nun under the name of Marfa. Information about the monastery varies - the unlocalized Sudin Monastery on Vyksa near Cherepovets or the Nikolovyksinskaya Hermitage are mentioned. Her brothers were imprisoned for neglecting their child.

Under Boris

In 1598, Fyodor died, which did not improve Nagaya's situation. She was summoned from the monastery to Moscow by Boris Godunov in 1604, due to rumors about False Dmitry I, but she did not reveal anything and was sent back.

This scene, colorfully described by Kostomarov (following Isaac Massa), formed the basis of Nikolai Ge’s sketch.

"They say he ordered that Dmitry's mother be brought to the Novodevichy Convent; from there they brought her secretly to the palace at night and brought her into Boris's bedroom. The Tsar was there with his wife. "Tell the truth, is your son alive or not?" Boris asked menacingly. "I don't know," answered the old woman. Then Tsarina Marya (Boris's wife) became so furious that she grabbed a lighted candle, shouted: "Oh, you b...! You dare to say: I don't know - if you know for sure!" - and threw the candle in her eyes. Tsar Boris protected Marfa, otherwise the Tsarina would have burned out her eyes. Then the old woman Marfa said: "I was told that my son was secretly taken from the Russian land without my knowledge, and those who told me so are already dead." The angry Boris ordered that the old woman be taken into custody and kept with greater severity and deprivation."

Under False Dmitry I

On July 18, 1605, she made a ceremonial entry into Moscow, where she recognized False Dmitry I as her son. In the capital, she settled in the Kremlin's Ascension Monastery, where, according to custom, she received Marina Mnishek when she was her bride. Members of the Nagikh family, as "relatives" of the tsar, were given back their freedom, ranks, and property.

Later, a Swede came from Moscow to Poland with a secret message, who said: “The Moscow queen, nun Martha Feodorovna, mother of the late Dmitry, through her German ward Roznovna informed me, for transmission to His Majesty the King, that it is not her son who now reigns on the Moscow throne, but an impostor; although she recognized him as her son for her own reasons, she now reports that this impostor, a defrocked monk, wanted to throw out of the Uglich church the coffin of her real son, as the false Dmitry; she, as a mother, felt very sorry for him; somehow, by cunning, she prevented this, and her son’s bones remained untouched.” Kostomarov assumes that this Swede spoke at the instigation of the boyars, who were already secretly weaving a conspiracy against the life of their Dmitry. It is unknown whether nun Martha knew what was said in her name. This was also reported to old Mnishek, False Dmitry's father-in-law.

Members of the Nagikh family took part in the wedding of their “nephew” – the groom Mikhail Nagoy, the queen’s brother, brought the signs of royal dignity (cross, crown and diadem).

During the murder of False Dmitry in 1606, she refused to acknowledge him as her son. Kostomarov describes the scene of the murder: One hit him on the cheek and said: “Speak, f… son, who are you? Who is your father? What is your name? Where are you from?” Dmitry said: “You know, I am your Tsar and Grand Duke Dmitry, son of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich. You recognized me and crowned me as Tsar. If you still do not believe me, ask my mother, she is in a monastery, ask her if I am telling the truth, or take me to Lobnoye Mesto and let me speak.” Then Prince Ivan Golitsyn shouted for all to hear: “I have just been to Tsarina Marfa; she says that this is not her son: she recognized him against her will, fearing murder, and now she renounces him!” These words were immediately transmitted from the window to the crowd standing there. Shuisky, meanwhile, rode horseback in the courtyard and immediately confirmed that the only son of Tsarina Marfa was killed in Uglich, and she had no other son. Then the Pretender was killed. Then the crowd stopped at the Ascension Monastery and called out to Tsarina Marfa. "Speak, Tsarina Marfa, is this your son?" they asked her. According to the "Notes of Nemoevsky ", Marfa answered: "Not mine!" According to another version, she said mysteriously:

"You should have asked me when he was alive, but now, since you killed him, he is no longer mine!"

According to the third piece of information, reported in the Jesuit notes, the mother, when asked by those dragging the corpse, first answered: "You know better." And when they began to pester her with a threatening look, she said in a decisive tone: "This is not my son at all." On June 3, 1606, she solemnly met the relics of the holy Tsarevich Dmitry in Moscow, brought from Uglich.

Under Vasily Shuisky

In 1607, the Tsarina's brother Mikhail, on behalf of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, traveled to Yelets with a letter from Tsarina Martha (Maria) and an image of Tsarevich Dmitry to admonish the rebellious population of the Seversk cities and to bear witness to Dmitry's death; in 1609, along with other commanders, he defended Moscow from the attacks of the Poles and supporters of False Dmitry II.

Death

Various sources give different dates for Maria Feodorovna's death: 1608, 1610, 1612. However, the tombstone preserved in the Kremlin reads:

"“In the year 7116 (1608), on the 28th of June, the servant of God, the nun Tsarina Marya Feodorovna of all Russia, Tsar Ivan, passed away"

In literature

• Kireevsky ("Songs")
• In the epic "Grishka Otrepyev" is called "Marfa Matveyevna"

(…) And immediately the archers guessed,

For this very reason they remembered the word,

They rushed to the Bogolyubov Monastery

To the queen Marfa Matveyevna:

“You are the queen Marfa Matveyevna!

Is it your child who sits on the throne,

Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich?”

And immediately the queen Marfa Matveyevna began to cry

And such speeches she spoke in tears:

“And you archers are stupid, slow-witted!

What child of mine sits on the throne?

The defrocked Grisha Otrepyev’s son sits on your throne

;

My son, Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich, is lost (…)”

Maria Nagaya became a character in Friedrich Schiller's drama " Demetrius ".

At the cinema

• The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1909) - Elizaveta Uvarova
• Ivan the Terrible (2009) - Maria Eshpai-Simonova
• Boris Godunov (2011) - Anna Churina
• Godunov (2018) - Irina Pegova

Bibliography

• Зимин А. А. В канун грозных потрясений: Предпосылки первой Крестьянской войны в России. М., 1986