Mikhail Shein

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Mikhail Borisovich Shein was a national hero of Muscovite Russia who was paradoxically executed for treason. The first Russian generalissimo, Aleksey Shein, was his great grandson.

[edit] First Siege of Smolensk

Shein's prominence dates from 1607, when he was made a boyar and sent to govern the key western stronghold of Smolensk. It was he who commanded the Russian contingent for 20 months of its siege by the Poles. On midnight June 3, 1611 the enemies, led by a traitor, stormed the fortress. Shein put up a fierce resistance but finally capitulated to the Polish general Potocki. He was put to the torture in order to discover where the people of Smolensk concealed their fabulous treasures. For the following 9 years he was imprisoned in Warsaw together with his family.

Shein was allowed to return to Moscow in 1619, accompanying another illustrious captive, Patriarch Philaret. Subsequently, he became one of the latter's most trusted advisors. During the 1620s, Shein led the Cannon Prikaz and took part in various secret negotiations. The fame of his former exploits at Smolensk made his standing second to none.

[edit] Second Siege of Smolensk

The new hostilities against Poland broke out in 1632, and Shein at once led the Russian army to wrestle Smolensk from the Polish control. The new siege lasted for 10 months, and the victory seemed not a long way off, when king Wladyslaw IV with a small force fought off the Russians from the walls of Smolensk and captured their provisions in Dorogobuzh. Shein's foreign subordinates fueded with each other, their troops being decimated by epidemics, while a large portion of Russian soldiers defected to their home villages. The position of Shein became very perilous, as the long-awaited reinforcement dallied in Mozhaysk. On February 15, 1634 he was constrained to surrender his army to the enemy, amid consternation from the tsar and boyars, who couldn't believe that the much-anticipated war was being lost.

Back in Moscow, Shein was accused - quite unjustly - of high treason and tried by the Boyar Duma. The matter ended with his being made a scapegoat for the failed campaign and executed on April 28, 1634. His estates were confiscated and his family exiled.