This day in history

1598 –Boris Godunov became Russian Tsar. After the death of the childless Feodor on 7 January 1598, self-preservation as much as ambition led Boris to seize the throne. His election was proposed by Patriarch Job of Moscow, who believed that Boris was the one man capable of coping with the difficulties of the situation. Boris, however, would accept the throne only from the Zemsky Sobor, national assembly, which met on 17 February .
During the first years of his reign, he was both popular and prosperous, and ruled well. He recognized the need for Russia to catch up with the intellectual progress of the West and did his best to bring about educational and social reforms