page_title: Zemsky Sobor of 1613
section_title: Cossack intervention
hierarchical_section_title: Zemsky Sobor of 1613 / Course of the meetings / Cossack intervention
caption_attribution_description: 20 февраля 1613 года. На паперти Благовещенского собора Московского Кремля келарь Троице-Сергиевой лавры Авраамий Палицын зачитывает решение Земского собора " Об избрании на царский престол боярина Михаила Федоровича Романова"
context_page_description: The Zemsky Sobor of 1613 was a meeting of representatives of various lands and estates of the Russian State, held for the election of a new king to the throne. It was opened on January 16, 1613 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. On March 3, 1613, the Sobor elected Mikhail Romanov to the kingdom, laying the foundation for a new dynasty.
context_section_description: Some evidence points to a possible reason for this change. On February 10, 1613, two merchants arrived in Novgorod, reporting the following:
  "The Russian Cossacks, who are in Moscow, wished to be the Grand Dukes of a boyar named Prince Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. But the boyars were completely against it and rejected it at the Council, which was recently convened in Moscow". (Leo Cherepnin)
  And here is the testimony of the peasant Fyodor Bobyrkin, who also arrived in Novgorod, dated July 26, 1613 – five days after the coronation:
  "Moscow ordinary people and Cossacks, of their own free will and without the general consent of other zemstvo officials, chose Grand Duke Fedorov's son, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, who is now in Moscow. Zemsky ranks and boyars do not respect him". (Leo Cherepnin)
  The Lithuanian commander Lev Sapega reported the results of the election to the prisoner Filaret, the father of the newly elected monarch:
  "Only your Cossacks donors sent your son to the Moscow state". (Sergey Platonov)
  Here's a story written by another eyewitness to the events.
  "The boyars pulled time at the Sobor, trying to solve the question of the king secretly from the Cossacks and waiting for their departure from Moscow. But they not only did not leave, but behaved more actively. Once, having consulted "with all the Cossack army", they sent up to five hundred people to the Krutitsy Metropolitan. Having forcibly broken the gates, burst into his courtyard and, using rude words, demanded: "Give us, Metropolitan, the Tsar to Russia, whom we worship and serve, and ask for their salaries, die to death with a smooth death!" (Romanovs, Historical Porters, edited by Elena Leonova)
  The terrified metropolitan fled to the boyars. Hastily convened everyone at the Sobor. Cossack chieftains repeated their demand. The boyars presented them with a list of eight boyars – the most worthy candidates, in their opinion. The list included Prince Fyodor Mstislavsky, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy, Prince Peter Pronsky, Prince Ivan Vorotynsky, Prince Ivan Cherkassky, Fedor Sheremetev, Ivan Romanov, and Mikhail Romanov was not. Then one of the Cossack chieftains spoke:
  "Princes and boyars and all Moscow nobles! Not by God's will, but by sovereignty and of your own free will, you choose the autocratic. But according to God's will and with the blessing of... Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich of all Russia, with his blessed memory, to whom he, sovereign, bless your tsar's staff and rule Prince Fedor Nikitich Romanov in Russia. And he is now captivated in Lithuania. And from the gracious root and the industry is kind and honor – his son Prince Mikhailo Fedorovich. May it be according to God's will on the reigning city of Moscow and all Russia, that there will be a Tsar sovereign and Grand Duke Mikhailo Fedorovich of all Russia..." (ibid.)
caption: February 20, 1613. On the porch of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, Kelar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Abraham Palitsyn, reads out the decision of the Zemsky Sobor "On the election of the boyar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the royal throne". ("The Book of the Election of the Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich", 1672–1673)
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