(1882). By this time, Russian popular indignation against the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's occupation had gained momentum due to the abuses and criminal behavior of the Polish army, and the loss of support among the pro-Polish faction of Russia's
boyar class due to the actions of King
Sigismund III. After
Prokopy Lyapunov rallied the First Volunteer Army in
Ryazan, Pozharsky promptly joined the cause and took a prominent part in the uprising in Moscow. Pozharsky was wounded on 19 March 1611 while defending his house at
Lubyanka Square and was transported by his adherents to the
Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius for convalescence. In autumn 1611, when Pozharsky was recuperating at his Puretsky patrimony near Suzdal, he was approached by a delegation who offered him command of the Second Volunteer Army then gathered in
Nizhny Novgorod to oust the Polish occupiers. Pozharsky agreed on condition that he would be assisted by
Kuzma Minin, a representative of the
merchants of Nizhny Novgorod that was instrumental in the army's founding. Although the volunteer corps aimed at clearing the Polish invaders out of Moscow, Pozharsky and his contingent marched towards
Yaroslavl first. There they resided for half a year, vacillating until the opportunity for rapid action was gone. A man of devout disposition, Pozharsky fervently prayed before
Our Lady of Kazan, one of the holiest Russian icons, prior to advancing towards Moscow. Yet even then he proceeded so slowly and timorously, performing religious ceremonies in
Rostov and paying homage to ancestral graves in Suzdal, that it took him several months to reach the Trinity, whose authorities ineffectually sought to accelerate the progress of his forces.
Battle of Moscow Finally, on 18 August 1612, the Volunteer Army encamped within five
versts from Moscow, just in time when
Hetman Chodkiewicz arrived with provisions to the relief of the Polish garrison barricaded within the
Moscow Kremlin. The very next day, Pozharsky advanced to the
Arbat Gate of the city and two days later he engaged with Chodkiewicz's contingent in a four-day battle. The outcome was in no small part due to decisive actions of Pozharsky's ally, Prince
Dmitry Trubetskoy, who captured the provisions intended for the Poles quartered in the Kremlin. As a result, a famine broke out among the Poles and they had to surrender to Pozharsky and Trubetskoy in October, after being guaranteed safe passage and humane treatment. Nonetheless, most of the Poles were slaughtered upon exiting the Kremlin and few survived captivity. The soldiers of Dmitry Pozharsky and
Kuzma Minin observed the obligations but Dmitry Troubetskoy's Cossacks attacked the prisoners and robbed them, killing many in the process.
After the war Pozharsky and Trubetskoy presided over the Muscovite government for half a year, until a new tsar was elected by the
Zemsky Sobor, whereupon Pozharsky was made a
boyar and Trubetskoy was honoured even more highly. The Time of Troubles was now over, but minor risings couldn't be subdued for an extended period of time. In 1615, Pozharsky operated against the
Lisowczycy and three years later he fell upon the forces of
Vladislaus IV, yet the conservative system of
mestnichestvo precluded him from taking supreme command in any of these engagements. He governed
Novgorod in 1628–30 and fortified Moscow against an expected attack of the
Crimean Tatars in 1637. Pozharsky's last taste of battle came during the ill-fated
Smolensk campaign, when he was relegated to secondary roles. As soon as peace had been restored, Pozharsky was given some enviable posts in the Muscovite administration. Among other positions, he managed the
Prikaz (Order) of Transport in 1619, the Prikaz (Order) of Police in 1621–28 and the Prikaz (Order) of Moscow Judges in 1637–37 and 1640–42. He was summoned by the tsar to confer with the English ambassadors in 1617 and with the Polish ones in 1635. In recognition of his services, he was granted extensive estates around Moscow, where he commissioned several churches, interpreted in retrospect as monuments to his own victory against the Lithuanians and Poles during a dire crisis in the history of Russian statehood. One such
tent-like church survives in his suburban estate of Medvedkovo. Another was the
Kazan Cathedral in Moscow, adjoining
Red Square from north-east, a direction whence Pozharsky's army arrived to salvage the Muscovites in 1612. Shortly before his death, he drew up his last will and testament, in which he cited income derived from the sale of alcohol (
kabaks), kept separate, as an act of piety, from those portions of his property that were bequeathed to churches. He also owned a large number of horses, carefully listed in the will, suggesting that he was a keen connoisseur of horses. Prince Pozharsky married twice and had three sons; his princely line became extinct with the death of his grandson in 1685. His granddaughter was married to Prince , the most famous Russian commander of the time. ==Legacy==