The generic name False Dmitry (also Pseudo-Demetrius, , ''Lžedmitrij'') refers to various

impostor An impostor (also spelled imposter) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise, deceiving others by knowingly falsifying one or more aspects of their identity. This is in contrast to someone that honestly belie ...

s who passed themselves off as the deceased Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich of Russia, the youngest son of

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

, and claimed the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n throne during the

Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (), also known as Smuta (), was a period of political crisis in Tsardom of Russia, Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I, the last of the Rurikids, House of Rurik, and ended in 1613 wit ...

(1598–1613), after the real Dmitry's death at the age of eight in 1591. Each of these impostors claimed to have miraculously escaped the assassination attempt that appeared to have claimed Dmitry's life, and, in the case of II and III, also to have escaped the assassinations that subsequently targeted I and II. Several people impersonated Dmitry Ivanovich, most prominently: *

False Dmitry I False Dmitry I or Pseudo-Demetrius I () reigned as the Tsar of all Russia from 10 June 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of Dmitriy Ivanovich (). According to historian Chester S.L. Dunning, Dmitry was "the only Tsar ever raise ...

(1582–1606), who actually became Tsar of all Russia and reigned 1605–1606 * False Dmitry II, active 1607–1610 * False Dmitry III, active 1611–1612 * , active 1611–1612Усенко О. Г. «Новые данные О лжемонархах в России XVII Века»Соловьёв С. М. «История России с древнейших времён», кн. 4 стр. 645 (some argue that False Dmitry IV is just False Dmitry III due to bad record keeping)

Notes and references

External links

* {{Set index article Ivan the Terrible Impostor pretenders