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Demetrius (Czar of Russia commonly called)

Czar of Russia, commonly called the false Demetrius, was a native of Jaroslav, and a novice in a monastery, where he was tutored by a monk to personate Demetrius, son of the Czar John Vasilowitz, who had been murdered by Boris Gudenow. Having learned his tale, he went into Lithuania, embraced the Roman Catholic religion, and married the daughter of the palatine Sandomir. In 1604 Demetrius entered Russia at the head of a small army, was joined by a number of Russians and Cossacks, and defeated an army sent against him. On the death of Boris, the people strangled his son, and placed Demetrius on the throne, but his partiality to the Poles, and contempt of the Greek religion, occasioned an insurrection, and he was assassinated in 1606, after reigning about 11 months.