Pretending, at last, to be overcome by these entreaties, Boris consented to raise and lead an army to repel the Tartars, and he promised that should Providence prosper him in this enterprise, he would regard it as an indication that it was the will of Heaven that he should ascend the throne.  He immediately called all his tremendous energies into exercise, and in a few months collected an army, of the nobles and of the militia, amounting to five hundred thousand men.  With great pomp he rode through the ranks of this mighty host, receiving their enthusiastic applause.  In that day, as neither telegraphs, newspapers or stage-coaches existed, intelligence was transmitted with difficulty, and very slowly.  The story of the Tartar invasion proved a sham.  Boris had originated it to accomplish his purposes.  He amused and conciliated the soldiers with magnificent parades, intimating that the Tartars, alarmed by his vast preparations, had not dared to advance against him.  A year’s pay was ordered for each one of the soldiers.  The nobles received gratuities and were entertained by the tzar in festivals, at which parties of ten thousand, day after day, were feasted, during an interval of six weeks.  Boris then returned to Moscow.  The people met him several miles from the city, and conducted him in triumph to the Kremlin.  He was crowned, with great pomp, Emperor of Russia, on the 1st of September, 1577.

Boris watched, with an eagle eye, all those who could by any possibility disturb his reign or endanger the permanence of the new dynasty which he wished to establish.  Some of the princes of the old royal family were forbidden to marry; others were banished to Siberia.  The diadem, thus usurped, proved indeed a crown of thorns.  That which is founded in crime, can generally by crime alone be perpetuated.  The manners of the usurper were soon entirely altered.  He had been affable, easy of access, and very popular.  But now he became haughty, reserved and suspicious.  Wishing to strengthen his dynasty by royal alliances, he proposed the marriage of his daughter to Gustavus, son of Eric XIV., King of Sweden.  He accordingly invited Gustavus to Moscow, making him pompous promises.  The young prince was received with magnificent display and loaded with presents.  But there was soon a falling out between Boris and his intended son-in-law, and the young prince was dismissed in disgrace.  He however succeeded in establishing a treaty of peace with the Poles, which was to continue twenty years.  He also was successful in contracting an alliance for his daughter Axinia, with Duke John of Denmark.  The marriage was celebrated in Moscow in 1602 with great splendor.  But even before the marriage festivities were closed, the duke was taken sick and died, to the inexpressible disappointment of Boris.

The Turks from Constantinople sent an embassy to Moscow with rich presents, proposing a treaty of friendship and alliance.  But Boris declined the presents and dismissed the embassadors, saying that he could never be friendly to the Turks, as they were the enemies of Christianity.  Like many other men, he could trample upon the precepts of the gospel, and yet be zealous of Christianity as a doctrinal code or an institution.