Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich died on the night from the 6th to 7th of January 1598. His death marked the end of the Moscow branch of the Rurikids, who had ruled the Old Rus for more than 700 years. Fyodor Ioannovich had no children and left after himself only his wife Tsarina Irina Fyodorovna. But Irina Fyodorovna admitted to monastic vows and blessed her blood brother Boris Fyodorovich Godunov to become the tsar of all Russia.
The coronation of Boris Fyodorovich Godunov was held on 3 September 1598 in the Assumption Cathedral upon the established tradition. The ceremony was alike the previous ones and was carried out by Patriarch Job. Nevertheless, the contemporaries stated that it was more sumptuous and solemn, comparing to the coronation of Fyodor Ioannovich. For the first time in the Order of the Coronation, there appeared a note with the names of active participants from among the nobility. Some of them were entrusted to carry tsar regalia to the cathedral, the others held them during the liturgy. A new regalia was added to the coronation ceremony of Boris Fyodorovich. It was an orb, called in the document “the apple”, and was given to the tsar to the left hand. Patriarch Job handed the orb with the following words: “Same as you hold this apple in your hand, hold all the tsardoms given to you by God secure from foreign enemies”. The orb had become the last, the sixth, tsar regalia that symbolized the demesnes that he had to guard and protect.
That day, the grand feast took place in the Faceted Chamber. Not only noblemen were the guests of the banquet, but the common people, merchants, city headmen, and usual Muscovites were also invited. Such celebrations continued for ten days, during which the tables with various meals were placed on Cathedral Square and the barrels with wine and beer were rolled out.
On the day of his coronation, Godunov had awarded his loyalists with honours, in the first turn his relatives – representatives of the Godunov family. Some of them were given the title of boyars, servants received double pay, merchants were allowed a duty-free trade for two years, peasants became free of imposts for one year, the prisoners were released, etc. At the same time, Tsar Boris took an oath not to execute anyone for the crimes for five years.
Engraving “Tsar Boris Godunov”
From the book "Conterfiet Koppfierstich..." Leipzig, 1721.
Orb
Western Europe, late 16th – early 17th с. Gold, silver, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, rubies, pearls; casting, chasing, enamel, carving.
The orb was created in the late 16th – early 17th centuries by a first-class European jeweller, who had obviously worked at court. The gold orb is decorated with relief scenes, covered with multicoloured enamel, from the history of King David: “Anointing of David by Prophet Samuel”, “The Victory of David over Goliath”, “David Returning with Victory”, “The Persecution of David by Saul”. The themes, chosen for reliefs, are hardly occidental. The image of David, anointed by the Prophet Samuel, had a special meaning for Christian rulers, who, through the anointing, had become “the Lord’s Anointed”.
In 1604, the embassy of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Rudolph II, led by Friedrich von Logau, brought from Prague the regalia, among which there was an orb. There are all grounds to think that this very orb was used during the coronation of the first representative of the Romanov dynasty.
Altar Cross
Moscow, Kremlin workshops, 1598/1599. Gold, sapphires, emeralds, tourmalines, pearls; casting, chasing, filigree, enamel, carving.
On the back side of the cross, there is a carved inscription, stating that it was donated to the Kremlin Chudov Monastery in 7107[1598/1599] upon the order of Tsar Boris Fyodorovich Godunov and his family members. The present date allows connecting the cross creation with the rise to power of Boris Godunov, who was elected tsar at Zemsky Sobor (Assembly of the Land) on 17 February 1598, and, half a year later, on 3 September 1599 according to the September reckoning of that time, he was crowned in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Throne of Tsar Boris Godunov
Iran, late 16th – early 17thс.; fabric – Iran, 16th с., France, 18th с. Gold, rubies, tourmalines, turquoise, pearls, wood, brocaded velvet; stamping, filigree, flat chasing, weaving.
The throne was brought as a present to Tsar Boris Godunov in 1604 by the embassy of Persian Shah Abbas I, who had maintained a neighbourly relationship with the Muscovy. The exterior of the throne, which was called “the Persian place” in the 17th-century Orders of Coronation, has an apparent oriental character. The images of similar ceremonial thrones with low back and small armrests are regularly seen in oriental miniatures: both Iranian and Turkish ones. Starting from the coronation of Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich, the throne had been used for the enthronement ceremonies of the Russian sovereigns for several centuries. It was renovated multiple times. For example, due to the dilapidation, the Iranian velvet is known to have been substituted by the French one in 1742, when the ceremonial items were prepared for the coronation of Elizaveta Petrovna. However, it had survived partially on the inner side of the throne.