Boris Fyodorovich Godunov (, c. 1551 – ) was a famous tsar (emperor) of Russia. He ruled as a regent from about 1585 to 1598 and then as tsar from 1598 to 1605. In many ways he was a good tsar, but he had not inherited the throne. He became more and more anxious that a pretender would come who would claim to be Dmitri, the son of the previous tsar, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) and try to get the throne. Dmitri had actually been murdered. The story of Boris Godunov is told in Pushkin’s play "Boris Godunov" and in Mussorgsky’s opera "Boris Godunov", but the story told by Pushkin and Mussorgsky is probably not exactly how it really happened. Both Pushkin and Mussorgsky had read a book on Russian history written by the court historian Karamzin, written in 1803. Karamzin describes Godunov as a powerful tsar who was also a weak human being, but he changed some historical facts to fit in with this theory.