Mikhail Skopin-Shuysky

Prince Mikhail Vasiliyevich Skopin-Shuisky (Russian: Михаил Васильевич Скопин-Шуйский) (8 November OS (18 November NS) 1586 – 23 April OS (3 May NS) 1610) was a Russian statesman and military figure during the Time of Troubles. He was the last representative of a cadet branch of the Shuysky family.

Having lost his father, Vasili Feodorovich Skopin-Shuisky, at an early age, Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky was educated by his mother. During the reign of Boris Godunov, he was appointed stolnik (tsar's assistant). False Dmitriy I made Mikhail his mechnik (sword carrier), and asked him personally to bring Marfa Ivanovna - mother of Mikhail I - to Moscow from exile. During the reign of Vasili IV, Skopin-Shuisky became a close associate of his cousin, the Tsar.

He began his military career in 1606 with the appearance of Ivan Bolotnikov, whom he would defeat twice, first near the Pakhra River with a small unit at his disposal (after Bolotnikov had crushed the Muscovite army led by Mstislavsky and other boyars) and then at Kotly. After the second defeat, Bolotnikov and his men fled to Tula. Skopin-Shuisky took an active part in a successful siege of Tula alongside the Muscovite army.

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