The front rank of

An incident showing how a company of British soldiers were cut down by an ambushed enemy. Germans had been firing from behind a small ridge. In apparent surrender they stood up in a long row and held up the white flag. The British advanced to receive their guns and take them prisoners, when suddenly the entire line fell down and a second line arose from behind the ridge and immediately killed all the British company. (Sphere copr.)

them fly back home, each with a burning firebrand tied to its tail; and thus destroyed the city. Igor begat Sviatoslav, who begat Vladimir, who begat Yaroslav, who begat Vsevolod, who begat Vladimir II, surnamed Monomachus, the first crowned ruler over all the Russian tribes and cities.

DOLGOROUKIS OLDER THAN ROMANOFFS

The youngest of the eight sons of Vladimir Monomachus was Uril of Souzdal, surnamed Dolgorouki, or the Long Armed; founder of the Dolgorouki family which has ever since been conspicuous in Russian affairs. The seventh of his eleven sons was Vsevolod II; the fourth of his eight sons was Yaroslav; and the fourth of his nine sons was that illustrious Alexander who won the surname of Nevski, "of the Neva," by his brilliant victory over the Swedes in 1240. The fourth son of Alexander Nevski was Daniel, the first of the line of Princes of Moscow. Daniel begat Ivan, who begat Ivan II, who begat Dimitry, or Demetrius, who won the surname of Donskoi, "of the Don," by his great victory over the Golden Horde of Tartars at Kulikovo, "the Field of the Woodcocks." A son of Dimitry was Vasili, or Basil, whose first son was another Vasili, called the Darkened, because during his reign he was taken prisoner by some of his hostile cousins and had his eyes burned out with a red hot sword. Vasili the Darkened was the first Russian Prince to be crowned at Moscow. After him came his son Ivan the Great, who was succeeded by his son Vasili III, who in turn was succeeded by the most monstrous figure in all Russian history, Ivan the Terrible, whose atrocities precipitated the extinction of the direct line of Rurik, and so gave opportunity for the ushering in of the Romanoff Dynasty.

ROMAN OF GALICIA

Now let us turn back to Vladimir Monomachus, whose line we have traced through and from his eighth son, Urii of Souzdal. Vladimir's first son was Mstislav, Grand Prince of Kieff, whose first son was Isiaslav, whose first son was Mstislav II. The first son of Mstislav II was Roman, of Galicia and Volhynia, and his first son was Daniel, surnamed Romanovitch and called "King of Galicia," who in his time was one of the most conspicuous and important princes in Eastern Europe and the founder of the Romanovitch branch of the family of Rurik.

Again let us turn back to Ivan, Grand Prince of Moscow, son of Daniel and grandson of Alexander Nevski. We have traced his line through and from his third son, Ivan II, father of Dimitry Donskoi. The first Ivan's first son was Simeon, Grand Prince of Moscow, known as Simeon Ivanovitch, and Simeon the Proud. He was the first to call himself Grand Prince of All the Russias and to proclaim Moscow as the supreme capital. He died of the Black Death in 1353 and was buried at Moscow in the Cathedral of St. Simeon, which he built. To his court at Moscow there came in 1341 from Eastern Prussia one Andrei, or Andrew, Kobyla, a nobleman adventurer, and entered his service. This Prussian became a Russian, prospered greatly, and had a son Feodor, or Theodore, Koschka, who married a princess of the Romanovitch branch of the line of Rurik and became the founder of four great Russian families, of which two, the Scheremetieffs and the Romanoffs, are distinguished to this day. is a curious coincidence that Nicholas II degraded his brother, the Grand Duke Mikhail, and excluded him from any share in the tercentenary celebration of the Romanoffs, for no other offense than marrying a member

It

of this very Scheremetieff family which sprang from the same source as the Romanoffs themselves. Feodor had a son Ivan, who had a son Sakhariya Ivanovitch, who in turn had a son, Roman Sakhariyavitch. The last named had two children, a son and a daughter. The son, Nikita, married Eudoxia Alexandrovna, a descendant of Andrei, eldest brother of Alexander Nevski, of Rurik's line. The daughter, Anastasia, became the first wife of Ivan the Terrible in 1547.

THE SONS OF IVAN

Ivan the Terrible the first Tsar of Russia, conqueror of Siberia, had numerous wives, and from his domestic infamies proceeded the downfall of his house. Anastasia Romanovna, the daughter of Roman Sakhariyavitch, bore him a son, Dimitry, who died in infancy; a second son, Ivan, whom the Tsar himself murdered; a third son, Feodor, and a daughter, Eudoxia; and then was herself murdered by court conspirators. A year later Ivan married a Tcherkess girl, whom he renamed Maria and who bore him a son, named either Vasili or Dimitry, who died in a few weeks. Maria died in 1569, and three years later Ivan married Martha Sobakin, who died within an hour of the wedding. A few months later he married Anna Koltovskoi, who was childless and whom he accordingly put into a convent so that he might marry another Anna, whom he also presently got rid of. In 1580 he married Maria Nagoi, and the next year planned to dispose of her and to marry Lady Mary Hastings, of England, if he could get her. But in the nick of time Maria Nagoi bore him a son, whom he named Dimitry, and thus saved herself from divorce or death. Happily Ivan himself died in 1584.

The successor to the throne was Feodor, son of Ivan the Terrible and Anastasia Romanovna. He was a weakling and was little more than a puppet in the hands of the Duma of five, of which the dominant members were Boris Godounoff, whose sister Irene was Feodor's wife, and Nikita Romanoff, Feodor's maternal uncle. Nikita died in 1586, however, leaving Boris supreme. Presently the

Polish throne fell vacant and Boris put Feodor forward as a candidate for election to it. Feodor could probably have secured it and thus have united Russia and Poland, but for his stubborn refusal to be crowned at Cracow or to recognize the Roman Catholic religion which prevailed in Poland. Thereupon the Poles elected Sigismund Vasa, of Sweden, to be their King and by so doing planted the seeds of great trouble between Poland and Russia. Next arose a conspiracy against Feodor by the Nagoi family, all of whose members had been banished from Moscow to Ouglitch. This was ruthlessly suppressed by Boris and resulted in the sending of the first political exiles to Siberia. A little later, in 1591, the young Prince Dimitry, who had been permitted to remain at Ouglitch was found dead with his throat cut. Suspicion was directed against Boris, but he discreetly had an inquest held by some of the very persons who suspected him, with the result that he was vindicated, the verdict being that Dimitry had killed himself in a fit of epilepsy.

BORIS, THE GREAT BOYAR

Feodor had but one child, a daughter, who died in infancy. In 1598 he himself died, and his widow retired to a convent. Boris Godounoff was thus left supreme and was presently elected Tsar, and for years reigned with skill and justice, winning rank as one of Russia's best