On Fyodor's accession to the throne, he quarrelled with another boyar, Boris Godunov, and was expelled to his family patrimony in Shuya.
He was routed by False Dmitry I in 1606 and shared disgrace and imprisonment with his brother Vasily.
When the latter was elected Tsar, he put Dmitry in charge of the army which would lose its every battle against the Polish invaders and their allies.
At last he was relieved of his duties and replaced with a young cousin, Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, whom many regarded as the future tsar.
The rumour had it that Dmitry grew jealous of his much more successful colleague and poisoned Mikhail in his own house.