page_title: Uglich
section_title: Death of Tsarevich Dmitry
hierarchical_section_title: Uglich / History / Death of Tsarevich Dmitry
caption_attribution_description: English: exiled bells of Uglish in Tobolsk 1885
context_page_description: Uglich is a historic town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River. Population: 34,507; 38,260; 39,975.
context_section_description: After Ivan's death, his youngest son Dmitry Ivanovich was banished to Uglich in 1584. The most well-known event in the town's history took place on May 15, 1591 when the 10-year-old boy was found dead with his throat cut in the palace courtyard. Suspicion immediately fell on the tsar's chief advisor, Boris Godunov. Official investigators concluded, however, that Dimitriy's death was an accident. They cut a "tongue" from the cathedral bell that rang the news of Dimitriy's death and "exiled" it to Siberia.
  As Dimitry was the last scion of the ancient Rurik Dynasty, his death precipitated the dynastic and political crisis known as the Time of Troubles. People readily believed that Dmitry was alive and supported several False Dmitrys (see False Dmitry I, False Dmitry II, False Dmitry III), who each tried to grab the Muscovite throne. During the Time of Troubles, Poles besieged the Alexeievsky and Uleima monasteries and burned them down, killing all the populace who had sought refuge inside.
  The Romanov Tsars quickly arranged to canonize the martyred Tsesarevich and to designate Uglich as a place of pilgrimage. On the spot where Dimitry was thought to have been murdered, the city in 1690 built a small Church of St. Demetrios on the Blood. Its red walls and blue domes are visible as travelers go north on the Volga. The palace where the prince lived was turned into a museum. The image of Tsesarevich with a knife in his hand was adopted as the town's coat of arms.
caption: Exiled bells of Uglich in Tobolsk, 1885[12]
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