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After the death of Ivan IV , Dmitry's older brother - Feodor I - ascended to power. However, the actual ruler of the Russian state was Feodor's Brother-in-law , a Boyar Boris Godunov , who had had a claim on the Russian Throne . According to a widespread version, Godunov wanted to get rid of Dmitry, who had been a legal successor to the throne in light of Feodor's childlessness. In 1584 , Godunov sent Dmitry, his mother and her brothers into exile to the Tsarevich's Appanage city of Uglich . On May 15, 1591, Dmitry died from a Stab wound, under mysterious circumstances. Russian chroniclers and later historians offered two possible scenarios of what have happened to Dmitry:
There is also a third version of Dmitry's fate, which found support with some earlier historians Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin , Ivan Belyaev and others. They considered it possible that Godunov's people had tried to Assassinate Dmitry, but killed somebody else instead and he managed to escape. This scenario explains the appearance of Impostor s, sponsored by the Polish Nobility (see False Dmitry I , False Dmitry II , False Dmitry III ). Most modern Russian historians, however, consider the version of Dmitry's survival improbable, since it is hardly possible that the boy's appearance was unknown to his assassins. Also, it is well-known that many Polish nobles who supported False Dmitry I did not believe his story themselves. The death of the Tsarevitch roused a violent riot in Uglich , instigated by the loud claims of Maria Nagaya and her brother Mikhail that Dmitry was murdered. Hearing this, enraged citizens Lynch ed fifteen Dmitry's would-be "assassins", including the local representative of the Moscow government (''dyak'') and one of Dmitry's playmates. The subsequent official Investigation , led by Vasily Shuisky , after a thorough examination of witnesses, concluded the Tsarevich had died from a self-inflicted stab wound to the throat. Following the official investigation, Dmitry's mother Maria Nagaya was forcibly tonsured as a Nun and exiled to a remote Convent . However, when the political circumstances changed, Shuisky retracted his earlier claim of accidental death and asserted that Dmitry was murdered on Godunov 's orders. On June 3 , 1606 , Dmitry's remains were transferred from Uglich to Moscow and his cult soon developed. In the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church , he is venerated as a "Saint Pious Tsarevitch", with feast days of October 19 , May 15 and June 3 . In the 20th century, the majority of Russian and Soviet historians have given more credit to the conclusions of the first official investigation report under [Shuisky, which ruled Dmitry's death to be an Accident . REFERENCES
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