Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov rose from the court of Ivan the Terrible to become regent for the feeble Fyodor I and, on the extinction of the Rurikid line in 1598, the first elected Tsar of Russia. An able administrator who strengthened the patriarchate and colonised Siberia, his reign was wrecked by the catastrophic famine of 1601-03 and by the appearance of the first False Dmitri. His sudden death in 1605 plunged Russia into the worst of the Time of Troubles.

• Lived: 1552 CE – 1605 CE
• Nationality: russian
• Roles: tsar, regent, statesman