Boris Godunov. A Tragedy about a Good Tsar

"...And the boys with bloody eyes..." To most of us, Tsar Boris Fyodorovich Godunov (1552-1605) still appears as depicted in the immortal tragedy by A. S. Pushkin. For the first time in Russian history, he achieved the highest power not by virtue of his lineage, nor by right of belonging to a ruling dynasty, but thanks to his intelligence, abilities, and skill in governing the country. Godunov did much for the good of the Fatherland - but in the memory of generations, he remained a cruel murderer of the unfortunate Tsarevich Dmitry, the last scion of the Rurik dynasty. The shadow of the innocently murdered Tsarevich haunted him throughout his life and ultimately became the reason for the collapse of all his endeavors and the downfall of his own family. But was he involved in the crimes of which he is accused? What was more prevalent during his reign - genius or villainy? And how do these qualities coexist in one person? All of this, as well as the history of Russia at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, on the eve of the Great Troubles that nearly destroyed the Russian state, is pondered in his new book by the renowned historian and regular contributor to the "Lives of Remarkable People" series, Vyacheslav Nikolayevich Kozlyakov.