The year 1612, the time of unrest... The Poles who were claiming the Russian
throne had seized the Kremlin in Moscow. Russian volunteers surrounded
the fortress and laid siege to it. Plagued by famine, the Poles began to
release the captives – wives and children of Russian noblemen. Among them
was a nun, Martha Romanova, with her 15-year-old son Mikhail. Freed she
and her son departed for Kostroma, where their family estate was. Martha
feared for her son’s life, and not without reason. The people of Russia
did not want to see Prince Ladislaw of Poland on the throne in Moscow and
called for enthroning the young Mikhail Romanov. According to historians,
no other noble family in Russia enjoyed such love among the people as the
Romanovs did. Realizing this, the Poles decided to get rid of the rival
and dispatched a detachment of troops to Kostroma.
At first Martha and her son took shelter at the local St. Ipathius monastery.
But the Poles emerged in the nearby forest, and she deemed it unsafe to
stay there. And then Ivan Susanin, Martha’s steward, who looked after her
estate in the village of Domnino outside Kostroma, persuaded her to let
Mikhail go away with him. He promised to hide the boy in a safe place.
Martha hesitated, wept and prayed, but finally she let her son go with
Susanin. Some time later the Poles somehow learned about it and came to
the village. Warned about the approaching enemies, Susanin managed to hide
Mikhail in a neighbouring village. The Poles came to his house, searched
it, and began to question the old man about the whereabouts of the young
nobleman. Having learned nothing, they beat him up and set the house on
fire. 
In the meantime, the news that the Poles had emerged in Domnino reached
the neighboring village, and the peasants rushed to Susanin’s resque. Fearing
the reprisals, the Poles left Domnino and forced Ivan Susanin to go with
them. They wanted him to show the road to Moscow, but the old man decided
to lead them to impassible swamps. He thought he would be able to slip
away… Alas, the dogs attacked him, and the Poles, alerted by their barking,
slashed Ivan.
The next day, the peasants who were in search for Ivan Susanin, found the
bodies of the Polish invaders who had frozen to death in the swamps. The
body of Ivan Susanin was there too. He died struggling to save the future
Czar Mikhail Romanov. A legend has it that Mikhail Romanov was present
at the funeral of the man who had not spared his life for him, and his
grief was sincere…
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