mercenaries mutiny and desert. 1605 – Boris dies of unknown causes. He is succeeded by his son, Fyodor II. The death of Boris gives new life to the campaign of the False Dmitriy. Boyars who have gone over to the Pretender murder Fyodor II and his mother. The False Dmitriy enters Moscow and is soon crowned. Prince Shuysky begins plotting against him. 1606 – The Russian boyars oppose Dmitriy's Polish and Catholic alliances. He is murdered shortly after wedding Marina Mniszech, and is succeeded by Vasiliy Shuysky, now Vasiliy IV. 1610 – Battle of Klushino and Polish seizure and occupation of Moscow. Vasiliy IV is deposed, and dies two years later in a Polish prison. Another pretender claiming to be Dmitriy Ivanovich, False Dmitriy II, is murdered. 1611 – Yet a third pretender, False Dmitriy III, appears. He is captured and executed in 1612. 1613 – The Time of Troubles comes to a close with the accession of Mikhail Romanov, son of Fyodor Romanov, who had been persecuted under Boris Godunov's reign. Note: The culpability of Boris in the matter of Dmitriy's death can neither be proved nor disproved. Karamzin accepted his responsibility as fact, and Pushkin and Mussorgsky after him assumed his guilt to be true, at least for the purpose of creating a tragedy in the mold of Shakespeare. Modern historians, however, tend to acquit Boris. Synopsis Note: Shishkov and Bocharev designed the sets (samples below), some of which were used in the first complete performance in 1874. ( ) = Arias and numbers [ ] = Passages cut from or added to the 1872 Revised Version [see Versions in this article for details] Setting Time: The years 1598 to 1605 Place: Moscow; the Lithuanian frontier; a castle in Sandomierz; Kromï Part 1 / Prologue Scene 1: The Courtyard of the Novodevichiy Monastery near Moscow (1598) There is a brief introduction foreshadowing the 'Dmitriy Motif'. The curtain opens on a crowd in the courtyard of the monastery, where the weary regent Boris Godunov has temporarily retired. Nikitich the police officer orders the assembled people to kneel. He goads them to clamor for Boris to accept the throne. They sing a chorus of supplication ("To whom dost thou abandon us, our father?"). The people are bewildered about their purpose and soon fall to bickering with each other, resuming their entreaties only when the policeman threatens them with his club.