Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky
Years of life: May 13, 1220? - November 14, 1263
Reign: 1252-1263

Alexander Nevsky - biography

Years of reign:

Prince of Novgorod in 1236-51, Grand Duke of Vladimir from 1252.

Alexander Nevsky is one of the most outstanding rulers of his time. N.I. Kostomarov very accurately formulated its role and significance in history. “The 13th century was a period of the most terrible shock for Rus',” he wrote. - From the east, the Mongols rushed into it with countless hordes of conquered Tatar tribes, ruined, depopulated most of Rus' and enslaved the rest of the people-population; from the north-west it was threatened by a German tribe under the banner of Western Catholicism. The task politician at that time it was possible to put Rus' in such a relationship with different enemies, under which she could maintain her existence. A person who has taken upon himself this task and laid a solid foundation for the further fulfillment of this task in future times can rightly be called the true ruler of his age. This is Prince Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky in Russian history.” (Kostomarov N.I. Russian history in the biographies of its main figures. M., 1991. P. 78.)

Alexander Nevsky was born on May 13, 1220 (1221?) in Pereslavl-Zalessky. By decision of his father Yaroslav, he reigned in Pereyaslavl and Novgorod. The princely tonsure of the youth Alexander (the so-called rite of initiation into warriors) was performed in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Pereslavl by St. Simon, Bishop of Suzdal, who was one of the compilers of the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon. It was from the gracious elder-hierarch that he received his first blessing for military service in the Name of God, for the defense of the Russian Church and the Russian land.

The first information about Alexander Nevsky dates back to 1228, when his father Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who reigned in Novgorod, quarreled with the townspeople and was forced to leave for Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, his family inheritance. But he left his two young sons, Alexander and Fedor, in the city of Novgorod in the care of trusted boyars. After the death of his brother Fedor in 1236, he was placed on the Novgorod table.

From an early age he accompanied his father on campaigns. Thus, in 1235 he took part in the battle on the Emajõgi River (in present-day Estonia), in which Yaroslav’s troops defeated the Germans. The next year, 1236, Yaroslav left for Kyiv, and made his son reign independently in the city of Novgorod.

In 1239, Alexander married the daughter of the Polotsk prince Bryachislav. Some historians say that she was the namesake of her husband at baptism.

Alexander - Battle of the Neva

Despite the strained relations with the Novgorodians, Alexander’s fame is connected specifically with the city of Novgorod. In 1240, Novgorod troops led by the still young Prince Alexander dealt a crushing blow to the Swedes on the banks of the Neva, who were heading to Rus' on a crusade with the goal of converting its inhabitants to Catholicism.

Before the battle, Alexander prayed for a long time in the church of St. Sophia, the Wisdom of God. And, remembering the psalm of David, he said: “Judge, O Lord, those who offend me and rebuke those who fight with me, accept weapons and shields, stand to help me.”

After Archbishop Spiridon’s blessing, the prince, leaving the church, strengthened his squad with the famous words filled with faith: “God is not in power, but in truth. Some with weapons, others on horses, but we will call on the Name of the Lord our God! They wavered and fell, but we rose up and stood firm.” It was after this battle, which ended in a brilliant victory, that the young prince began to be called Alexander Nevsky.

XV. ALEXANDER NEVSKY AND NORTHEASTERN RUSSIA

(continuation)

Alexander. - Neva Victory. - Battle on the ice. – Rivalry with brother Andrei. – Policy towards the Tatars. - Novgorod Troubles. – Tatar numerals and tribute collectors. – The last journey to the Golden Horde and the death of Alexander. – The nature of Tatar dependence established by him.

The personality of Prince Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Yaroslavich belongs to those historical figures of Northern Rus' who most reflected the main features of the Great Russian people: practical intelligence, firmness of will and flexibility of character, or the ability to adapt to circumstances. He spent most of his youth in Novgorod the Great, where, under the leadership of the Suzdal boyars, he took the place of his father Yaroslav Vsevolodovich; and from 1236, when Yaroslav received the Kiev table, Alexander remained an independent Novgorod prince. These years spent in Veliky Novgorod undoubtedly had a great influence on the development of his mind and character. The active, vibrant life of the trading city, the constant presence of Western foreigners and the almost continuous struggle of the veche with the princely power, of course, made a deep impression on him and greatly contributed to the development of that consistency of character and that flexibility, combined with a strong will, which distinguishes all his subsequent activities. Alexander’s very appearance, beautiful and majestic, corresponded to his inner qualities.

In 1239, twenty-year-old Alexander Yaroslavich married the daughter of the Polotsk prince Bryachislav. The wedding took place in Toropets, where he “fixed the porridge”, i.e. gave a wedding feast; “and the other is in Novgorod”; Consequently, upon returning to his reign, Alexander arranged a wide treat here too. Then he and the Novgorodians set up towns on the Sheloni River, i.e. strengthens the western outskirts of their possessions; Obviously, there was an urgent need for such fortifications at that time.

Battle of Neva 1240

As you know, Veliky Novgorod was so happy that the threat of Batu’s invasion passed it and only the southeastern part of its land was devastated. But at the same time, the western neighbors, as if by conspiring among themselves, are rushing to take advantage of the defeat of North-Eastern Rus' in order to squeeze Veliky Novgorod, take away its volosts, plunder, and ruin its suburbs and villages. They were: Swedes, Livonian Germans and Lithuania. It was here, in the fight against these external enemies, that Alexander discovered his brilliant talents and covered himself with unfading glory. The Swedes were the first to experience his heavy hand. It is known that for a long time there were clashes with the Novgorodians on the northern coasts of the Gulf of Finland, where the Swedes gradually spread their rule, and at the same time their religion. But we do not know exactly what was the immediate reason for the Swedish campaign against the Novgorodians in 1240, during the reign of King Erich Erikson. It is very likely that it was undertaken under the influence of papal messages, which encouraged the Swedes and Livonian Germans to subjugate the Russian Baltic lands to Catholicism by force. The real goal of the Swedish campaign was, apparently, the conquest of the Neva coast, and therefore the capture of the main route of Novgorod trade with North-Western Europe; Moreover, perhaps, Ladoga was also meant, which the Varangian kings had long sought to take possession of.

When news of the appearance of the Swedish militia at the mouth of the Neva came to Novgorod, Alexander did not want to waste time sending for help to his father, then the Grand Duke of Vladimir, or even collecting an army from various suburbs and volosts of Novgorod. He realized that success depended on speed and determination. And therefore, having prayed in the St. Sophia Cathedral and taking a blessing from Bishop Spiridon, he immediately set out only with the Novgorod and his own squad; On the way he joined the Ladoga residents and with these few forces hastened to meet the enemies. He found them encamped on the southern bank of the Neva at the confluence of the Izhora River, and, without allowing them to come to their senses, he quickly attacked them (July 15, 1240). The Swedes suffered a complete defeat; The next night they hurried on their augers to retire to their fatherland. According to the Russian chronicle, the Ladoga and Novgorod residents supposedly lost no more than twenty people killed. She describes the exploits of six Russian knights, the most distinguished; It is curious that three of them were Novgorodians, and the other three belonged to the prince’s own squad. For example, the Novgorodian Gavrilo Oleksinich, chasing enemies who were fleeing to a ship, jumped onto a board and was thrown from it into the water along with his horse; but came out of the water unharmed and returned to the battle again. Sava, one of the princely youths, made his way to the golden-domed tent of the Swedish leader and cut down its pillar; the tent collapsed; which made the Russians happy and brought despondency to their enemies. Another youth of the prince, Ratmir, beat many enemies on foot, was surrounded by them and fell from serious wounds. The Neva victory drew general attention to Alexander and gave him great fame. What a strong impression this victory made on his contemporaries is indicated by the legend that arose at the same time about the appearance of St. before the battle. Boris and Gleb to a certain Pelgusius, an elder of the Izhora land.

Battle on the ice with the Germans 1242

A more stubborn war was to occur with the Livonian Germans. Around that time, the Order of the Sword, having strengthened itself by uniting with the Teutonic Order, resumed its offensive movement against Novgorod Rus' and in particular directed its attacks on the Pskov region closest to it. In the very year of the Battle of the Neva, the Germans, together with the Russian traitor Yaroslav Vladimirovich (who followed in the footsteps of his father Vladimir Pskovsky), took the Pskov suburb of Izborsk. The Pskovites opposed them, but were defeated. Then the Germans besieged Pskov itself, where internal unrest was then taking place. According to the chronicle, the enemies were let down by some treacherous party led by Tverdil Ivankovich. This Tverdilo (it seems a descendant of the famous Novgorod mayor Miroshka Nezdilich) seized the mayor in Pskov and began to rage against his rivals; so many citizens with their families fled to Novgorod. Without meeting resistance, the Germans extended their conquests further; crossed the Luga River and, in order to strengthen this region, founded a fortress in the Koporye churchyard. Together with the crowds of Chudi and Vodi who were handed over to them, they reached thirty miles to Novgorod, captured merchants with goods, took away horses and cattle from the villagers; so there was nothing to plow the land with. To complete the disasters, Lithuanian raids on Novgorod land intensified at that time. Meanwhile, it so happened that the Novgorodians were then sitting without a prince.

The citizens, always jealous of their liberties and restrictions on princely power, managed to quarrel with Alexander, and he retired to his father in the Suzdal region. The Novgorodians sent to Yaroslav to ask the prince, and he appointed his other son Andrei. But they understood that in such difficult circumstances they needed Alexander, and they sent Vladyka Spiridon with the boyars to ask him. Yaroslav fulfilled their request. Alexander deftly and quickly corrected matters. He destroyed the Koporye fortress that was under construction, drove the Germans out of the Vodskaya region and hanged many of the re-transporters from Chud and Vozhan. But meanwhile, the Germans, with the assistance of traitors, managed to seize Pskov itself into their hands. Alexander begged his father to help him from the lower, or Suzdal, regiments with his brother Andrei; unexpectedly appeared near Pskov and captured the German garrison. From here, without wasting time, he moved to the borders of Livonia.

Before setting out on this campaign against the Germans, Alexander, as was his pious custom, prayed fervently in the cathedral church. By the way, according to the chronicle, he asked the Lord to judge between him and this lofty people. And the Germans, having gathered great strength, as if they boasted then “to conquer the Slavic people.” In any case, from the chronicle story it is clear that the struggle of Rus' with the Germans at that time already took on the character of tribal enmity, flaring up from German claims to dominance, which were truly exorbitant. The nature of the bitterness in this struggle is confirmed by the German chronicle, which says that up to seventy knights died in it; and the six knights taken prisoner were allegedly tortured.

When the advanced Novgorod detachments failed, Alexander retreated to Lake Peipus, and here on the ice he gave battle to the combined forces of the Germans and the Livonian Chud, somewhere near the Uzmen tract. This is the so-called The ice battle occurred on April 5; but the ice was still strong and withstood the weight of both fighting armies. The Germans lined up in their usual formation like a wedge (or, as Rus' called it, a pig) and penetrated right through the Russian regiments. But the latter were not embarrassed: after a brutal hand-to-hand battle, the Russians crushed and completely defeated the enemy; and then they drove him across the ice at a distance of seven miles. Some knights were taken up to fifty; They followed Alexander's horse on foot when he solemnly entered Pskov with the victorious regiments, greeted by citizens and clergy with crosses and banners. The author of the Legend of the Grand Duke Alexander, depicting his glory, which spread “to the mountains of Ararat and to Rome the Great,” exclaims: “O Pskovites! If you forget the Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich (who freed you from foreigners) or retreat from his family and do not accept him any of his descendants, who in misfortune will resort to you, then you will become like the Jews who forgot God, who brought them out of the work of Egypt and soaked them in the desert with manna and baked dyes.” After the Battle of the Ice, the Livonian Germans sent to Novgorod with a request for peace and concluded it, abandoning the Voda and Pskov regions, returning prisoners and hostages. Thus, Alexander repulsed the movement of the Livonian and Teutonic Orders to the eastern side of Lake Peipsi; This world established between both sides approximately the same boundaries that remained in subsequent centuries.

The Battle of Alexander Nevsky on the Ice. Painting by V. Nazaruk, 1984

Victory of Alexander Nevsky over Lithuania 1245

Novgorod Rus' took advantage of the victory moderately, leaving Yuryev and other possessions on the western side of Lake Peipus to the Germans; for besides them, there were then many other enemies. By the way, Lithuania, which was gaining more and more power, invaded the very depths of the Novgorod possessions. In 1245 it penetrated to Bezhets and Torzhok. Returning from here with a large crowd, pursued by the Novotors and Tverians, the Lithuanian princes took refuge in Toropets. But Alexander came with the Novgorodians, liberated Toropets from Lithuania and took away its entire population, exterminating up to eight Lithuanian princes with their squads. The Novgorodians then returned home. But Alexander considered it necessary to complete the blow in order to discourage Lithuania from attacking Rus'. He has one yard of his own, i.e. with one princely squad, pursued the Lithuanians in the Smolensk and Polotsk lands and defeated them two more times (near Zhizhich and near Usvyat).

Thus, Alexander tamed all three Western enemies of Rus' by force of the sword. But he had to act differently in another field, on the part of the Asian barbarians.

Alexander Nevsky's trip to the Horde and to the court of the great Mongol Khan

The author of the Tale of the Nevsky Hero tells that after the death of his father Yaroslav, Batu sent to call Alexander to the Horde and ordered him to say: “God has conquered many nations to me; are you the only one who wants to submit to my power? If you want to save your land, then come to me , may you see the honor and glory of my kingdom." Alexander took the blessing from the Rostov Bishop Kirill and went to the Horde. Seeing him, Batu said to his nobles: “They told me the truth that there is no prince like him”; gave him great honors and even many gifts. Such stories are nothing more than an ordinary decoration of a story about a beloved hero. The Horde did not shower our princes with gifts; on the contrary, the latter were there to diligently distribute gifts to the khan, his wives, relatives and nobles. According to other chronicles, the young prince had previously been to the Batyev Horde, probably accompanying his father there: no doubt, from this latter he learned to humble himself before the formidable Tatar force and no longer think about any open resistance. After the death of Yaroslav, his brother Svyatoslav Yuryevsky, who followed him, took the senior Vladimir table. But now any changes in the reigns were made only with the khan’s permission. Therefore, Alexander and his brother Andrei again went to the Golden Horde, probably to bother about reigning. Batu sent them to the Great Horde to Khan Meng. The brothers made this difficult and long journey. They returned home after about two years, carrying with them the khan's labels for both great reigns: Alexander - for Kiev, Andrei - for Vladimir. And in the past, nephews did not always respect the seniority of their uncles, but now even higher power has appeared over the princes, disrespect for old tribal customs is becoming more and more common. Even before the return of Alexander and Andrey, their younger brother Mikhail, Prince of Moscow, took away the great reign of Vladimir from his uncle Svyatoslav. But Mikhail, nicknamed Horobrit, soon died in the battle with Lithuania.

Alexander Nevsky and his brother Andrei

Alexander, obviously, was not happy that the reign of Vladimir went to his younger brother Andrei. Although Kyiv was considered older than all the cities of Rus', it lay in ruins. The Nevsky hero did not go there, but stayed either in Novgorod the Great or in his Suzdal volosts, waiting for an opportunity to take possession of the capital Vladimir. Andrei's carelessness helped him achieve this goal.

At that time, in Suzdal Rus' the memory of lost freedom and independence was still too fresh, both among the princes and warriors, and among the people themselves. Many eagerly endured the shameful yoke. Andrei Yaroslavich was one of them. Being the Grand Duke of Vladimir, he married the daughter of the famous Daniil Romanovich of Galitsky and, probably, together with his father-in-law, began to harbor plans to overthrow the yoke. But there were rivals and ill-wishers who informed Sartak about Andrei’s plans. The Khan sent an army against him under the command of the Horde prince Nevryu with the governors Kotyan and Alabuga. Hearing about this, Andrei exclaimed: “Lord! How long will we quarrel and bring the Tatars against each other; it is better for me to go to a foreign land than to serve the Tatars.” He, however, dared to fight, but, of course, was too weak to win it, and fled to Novgorod. Not accepted by the Novgorodians, he, his wife and his boyars, retired overseas to the Swedish king, with whom he found refuge for a while. Nevryu's invasion of the Suzdal land led to new devastation of some regions; Pereyaslavl-Zalessky suffered especially in this case. There is news, we don’t know how fair it is, which attributes the sending of the Tatar army to Andrei to the machinations of Alexander Yaroslavich himself. We only know that during the Nevryuev invasion (1252) Alexander was in the Horde near Sartak and returned from there with the khan’s label to the reign of Vladimir. Metropolitan Kirill II of Kiev and All Rus' was then in Vladimir. He, the clergy with crosses and all the citizens met Alexander at the Golden Gate and solemnly seated him in the cathedral church on his father’s table.

Alexander Nevsky and Novgorod

Alexander actively began to destroy traces of the last Tatar invasion of Suzdal land: he restored temples, fortified cities and gathered residents who had taken refuge in forests and wilds. But times were difficult, unfavorable for peaceful civil activity. Alexander I Nevsky spent his entire ten-year great reign in continuous labor and anxiety caused by internal and external enemies. Most of all, the affairs of Novgorod gave him trouble. Although the Mongol yoke, which weighed heavily on the Suzdal land, at first weakened its dominance over Novgorod the Great, however, at the first opportunity, the previous ones were repeated mutual relations these two halves of Northern Rus'. Having established himself in the great reign of Vladimir, Alexander resumed the policy of his predecessors, i.e. he tried to constantly keep Novgorod under his hand and appoint one of his own sons there as a prince, in essence, his governor. This place was taken by his son Vasily. The young man followed in the footsteps of his father, and soon managed to distinguish himself in the fight against Lithuania and the Livonian Germans, who again opened hostile actions against the Novgorodians and Pskovians. But the majority of the citizens of Veliky Novgorod most of all valued their veche orders and liberties and again began to be burdened by dependence on the strong Suzdal prince. In connection with these relations, there was an ordinary change of mayors. Stepan Tverdislavich died in 1243; he represents the only example of a mayor known to us who retained his place for thirteen years and died quietly in his position. When Vasily Alexandrovich occupied the Novgorod table, the mayor was Anania, beloved by the people as a zealous defender of Novgorod liberties. But Tverdislav’s family did not abandon their claims to the mayorship; his grandson Mikhalko Stepanovich, apparently, achieved this rank with the help of Suzdal supporters. The triumph of the people's side, however, was expressed in the fact that they expelled Vasily Alexandrovich, and called Yaroslav Yaroslavich, Alexandrov's younger brother, to reign.

The Grand Duke was not slow to show that he did not intend to tolerate such self-will. He quickly came with the Suzdal regiments to Torzhok, where his son Vasily was still holding out; and from here he moved to Novgorod. Yaroslav hurried to leave; The usual turmoil and stormy evenings occurred in the city. Smaller people, i.e. The common people, led by the mayor, armed themselves, gained the upper hand at the main meeting and swore an oath to stand as one person and not hand over anyone to the prince if he demands the handing over of his opponents. And the weaker, or more prosperous, sided with the prince and planned to transfer the posadnyship to Mikhalk Stepanovich. The latter, with a crowd of armed people, retired to the Yuryevsky Monastery, in the vicinity of the Settlement, or princely residence. The mob wanted to attack Mikhalko's courtyard and plunder it; but the magnanimous mayor Ananias kept her from violence. Meanwhile, some interpreters went to the Grand Duke and informed him about what was happening in Novgorod. Having positioned his army around the Settlement, Alexander sent a demand at the assembly for the extradition of the mayor Ananias, threatening otherwise to attack the city. The citizens sent the ruler of Dalmat and the thousand-man Klim to the Grand Duke with a plea not to listen to the slander of evil people, to put aside their anger against Novgorod and Anania and take their table again. Alexander was not inclined to these requests. For three days both sides stood against each other with weapons in their hands. On the fourth day, Alexander ordered to say at the veche: let Anania lose his post of mayor, and then he will put aside his anger. Anania left, and the Grand Duke solemnly entered Novgorod, greeted by the ruler and the clergy with crosses (1255). Mikhalko Stepanovich received posadnichestvo, and Vasily Alexandrovich returned to the princely table.

At this time, the Swedes again tried to take away the Finnish coast from Novgorod and, together with the Emyu people at hand, began to build a fortress on the Narova River. But at one rumor about the movement of Alexander with the Suzdal and Novgorod regiments, they left. However, Alexander wanted to give them a new lesson and continued his march into the interior of the country inhabited by Emyu; and beat a lot of people or captured them. According to the chronicle, the Russian army had to overcome great difficulties on this campaign in cold, foggy weather, in a region filled with rocks and swamps. The goal was achieved; for a long time after that the Swedes did not dare to attack the Novgorod borders.

Tatar census in Novgorod

Already in the next 1257, the Novgorod unrest resumed. This time the reason for them was a rumor that the Tatars wanted to introduce their tamgas and tithes into Novgorod.

In 1253, Batu died, followed by Sartak. Batu's brother Berke reigned in the Kipchak Horde. Around that time, the Great Khan Mengu ordered a general census of the inhabitants in all Tatar possessions in order to more accurately determine the amount of tribute from the conquered peoples. Such an order resonated heavily in the Russian land. Of course, in connection with this matter and to soften its conditions, Alexander Yaroslavich in the summer of 1257 traveled with gifts to the Horde, accompanied by some appanage Suzdal princes, including his brother Andrei, who managed to return from Sweden and reconcile with the Tatars. And the next winter the enlisted men arrived from the Horde; They counted the population in the lands of Suzdal, Ryazan, Murom and appointed their foremen, centurions, thousanders and temniks. Only monks, priests and other clergy were not included in the number, because the Tatars exempted the clergy of all religions from tribute. Such an exception was established by Genghis Khan and Ogodai, who were guided not only by Mongol religious tolerance, but probably also by political considerations. Since the clergy of all nations constituted the most influential class, the founders of the great Tatar Empire avoided inciting religious fanaticism, the dangerous effect of which they could notice especially among Muslim peoples. The Tatars usually registered all men from the age of ten, and collected tribute partly in money, partly in the most valuable natural products of each country; From Rus', as is known, they received a huge amount of furs. The main tributes were: tithe, i.e. a tenth of the grain collection, tamga and myt, probably duties on trading merchants and transported goods. In addition, the residents were subject to various duties, such as, for example, food and food, i.e. duties to provide carts and food supplies to Tatar ambassadors, messengers and all kinds of officials, especially taxes for the Khan’s army, Khan’s hunt, etc.

The severity of all these taxes and duties, and especially the cruel methods of collecting them, of course, were known to the Novgorodians, and therefore they were very excited when they heard that the Tatar enlisted men would come to them too. Until now, Novgorod had not seen Tatars within its walls and did not consider itself subject to the barbarian yoke. Stormy turmoil began. Hotheads, calling those who advised to submit to necessity as traitors, called on the people to lay down their heads for St. Sophia and Novgorod. Among these turmoil, the unloved mayor Mikhalko Stepanovich was killed. The young Prince of Novgorod Vasily Alexandrovich himself also sided with the ardent patriots. Hearing that his father was approaching with the Khan's ambassadors, he did not wait for him and fled to Pskov. This time, the Novgorodians did not allow themselves to be listed and, having presented gifts to the khan’s ambassadors, escorted them out of their city. Alexander was very angry with his son Vasily and sent him to Niz, i.e. to Suzdal land; and he severely punished some of his warriors for their rebellious advice: he ordered someone to be blinded, someone whose nose was to be cut off. The barbaric yoke was already making itself felt in these punishments.

It was in vain that the Novgorodians thought that they had gotten rid of the Tatar numbers. In the winter of 1259, Alexander again came to Novgorod with the khan's dignitaries Berkai and Kasachik, who were accompanied by a large Tatar retinue. Previously, a rumor was started that the Khan's army was already in the Lower Land, ready to move to Novgorod in the event of a second disobedience. Here again a split occurred: the boyars and noble people in general expressed consent to the census; and the smaller ones, or the mob, armed themselves with cries: “We will die for St. Sophia and for the houses of the angels!” These cliques frightened the Tatar dignitaries; they asked the Grand Duke for guards, and he ordered all the boyar children to guard them at night; and he threatened to leave the Novgorodians again and leave them as prey to the Khan’s terrible revenge. The threat worked; the mob calmed down and allowed in the numbers. Tatar officials went from street to street, listing houses and residents and calculating the amount of tribute. At the same time, the mob was angry with the boyars, who managed to arrange it in such a way that tribute was imposed almost equally on rich and poor; therefore, for the former they were easy, and for the latter they were difficult. At the end of the census, the Tatar dignitaries left. And it was already a considerable blessing for Novgorod that, probably at the request of the Grand Duke, the Baskaks did not settle there, as in other capital cities. Alexander installed his other son, Demetrius, as prince here. How unpleasant and alarming this last trip to Novgorod was for him is shown by the words spoken to Bishop Kirill. On the way back to Vladimir, the Grand Duke stopped in Rostov, where he was treated to cousins, princes Boris Vasilkovich Rostovsky and Gleb Vasilyevich Belozersky with their mother Marya Mikhailovna (daughter of Mikhail Chernigovsky, who was martyred in the Horde). Of course, the first thing upon arrival here was to pray in the Assumption Cathedral Church and venerate the tomb of St. Leontia. Here, accepting the blessing and kissing the cross from the hands of the famous scribe, the elderly Bishop Kirill, Alexander said to him: “Holy Father! by your prayer I went to Novgorod healthy, and by your prayer I came here healthy.”

Unrest against the Tatars in Suzdal land

However, there was no peace. As soon as the unrest caused by the Tatar tribute subsided in Novgorod, even greater ones arose in the Suzdal land itself, and for the same reason.

Around this time, the Horde rulers began to farm out tributes and taxes to Mohammedan merchants from Central Asia, i.e. Khiva and Bukhara; The Russian people generally called them besermen. Having paid large sums in advance into the khan's treasury, naturally, tax farmers then tried to reward themselves with interest and squeezed the last of their funds from the people. For any delay in payments they imposed exorbitant increases, or interest; They took away livestock and all property, and whoever had nothing to take, they took him or his children and then sold him into slavery. The people, who still vividly remembered their independence, could not bear such extreme oppression; Religious excitement was also added here, as fanatical Muslims began to curse Christian Church. In 1262, in large cities such as Vladimir, Rostov, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, residents rebelled at the ringing of veche bells and drove out the Tatar tribute collectors, and beat some. Among the latter was some apostate Zosima, in the city of Yaroslavl he was a monk, but then he converted to Islam, became one of the tribute collectors and, more than the foreigners, oppressed his former compatriots. They killed him and threw his body to be eaten by dogs and crows. During this disturbance, some of the Tatar officials saved themselves by converting to Christianity. For example, this is what the noble Tatar Bug did in Ustyug, who later, according to legend, acquired common love with his piety and kindness.

Naturally, this rebellion was inevitably followed by cruel retribution from the barbarians. And indeed, Berkai was already gathering an army for a new invasion of North-Eastern Rus'. At such a critical time, all the political dexterity of Alexander was revealed, who managed to avert a new thunderstorm. He went to the khan to “pray people from trouble,” as the chronicle puts it. Since the Novgorodians were again at war with the Livonian Germans, when leaving for the Horde, the Grand Duke ordered the defense of Rus' from this side. He sent his regiments and his brother Yaroslav Tverskoy to help his son Dimitri. The Novgorod-Suzdal army entered the Livonian land and besieged Dorpat, or the old Russian city of Yuryev. The latter was heavily fortified with triple walls. The Russians took the outer city, but could not take possession of the Kremlin and left without having time to recapture this ancient property of their princes. The main reason for the failure was that the Russians were late: they agreed with the Lithuanian prince Mindovg to attack the Germans at the same time; but they arrived already when Mindovg returned home.

Death of Alexander Nevsky

Meanwhile, Alexander, with great difficulty, begged the angry khan not to send troops to Suzdal land; and, of course, he had to bribe everyone who had influence on the khan with great gifts. He was also helped by the fact that the Sarai Khan was distracted by an internecine war with his cousin Gulagu, the ruler of Persia. Berke kept Alexander in the Horde for many months, so that the Grand Duke finally became seriously ill, and only then was he released. Being no more than forty-five years old, Alexander could have served Russia for a long time. But constant work, worry and grief obviously broke his strong body. On the way back, sailing the Volga, he stopped to rest in Nizhny Novgorod; then he continued his journey, but did not reach Vladimir and died in Gorodets on November 14, 1263. According to the custom of the pious princes of that time, he took monastic vows before his death. The author of the Tale of Alexander says that when the news of his death came to Vladimir, Metropolitan Kirill announced it to the people in the cathedral church, exclaiming: “My dear children! Understand that we are perishing!” The Metropolitan and the clergy with candles and smoking censers, the boyars and the people came out to Bogolyubovo to meet the body of the Grand Duke and then laid it in the monastery Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. Already contemporaries, apparently, ranked the late prince among the saints, among the saints of God. The author of his life, who knew Alexander in his youth, adds the following legend. When the prince's body was placed in a stone tomb, the metropolitan steward approached him and wanted to unclench his hand so that the archpastor could put a letter of release into it. Suddenly the deceased extended his hand and himself took the letter from the Metropolitan.

The significance of the activities of Alexander Nevsky

The main significance of Alexander in Russian history is based on the fact that his activities coincided with a time when the nature of the Mongol yoke was just being determined, when the very relations of conquered Rus' to its conquerors were being established. And there is no doubt that Alexander’s political dexterity greatly influenced these established relations. As a Grand Duke, he knew how not only to reject new Tatar invasions and give some rest to the people from terrible pogroms; but also with signs of deep humility, as well as the promise of rich tributes, he was able to prevent closer cohabitation with the barbarians and keep them away from Rus'. Already, due to their savagery and steppe habits, not inclined towards city life, especially in the northern wooded and swampy countries, unaccustomed to the complex administration of sedentary and more social peoples, the Tatars were all the more willing to limit themselves to a temporary stay in Russia for their Baskaks and officials with their retinue. They did not touch either her religion or her political system and completely left power in the hands of local princely families. Their khans and nobles found it so convenient and easy to enjoy the huge incomes from the conquered country, without bothering themselves with the petty concerns of court and administration, and most importantly, remaining among their beloved steppe nature. Alexander acted diligently and successfully in this sense; by removing the Tatars from interference in the internal affairs of Russia, limiting it only to vassal relations and not allowing any weakening of the princely power over the people, he, of course, thereby contributed to the future strengthening and liberation of Rus'. Apparently, he also deftly knew how to evade the well-known obligation of subordinate rulers to lead their squads to help the khan in his wars with other peoples. We repeat, he was a brilliant representative of the Great Russian type, who knows how to command and obey with equal dexterity when necessary.

Alexander Nevsky on Lake Pleshcheyevo. Painting by S. Rubtsov

The author of the life reports interesting news about the embassy of the Pope to Alexander. The Pope sent two “cunning” cardinals to him to teach him the Latin faith. The cardinals laid before him the Sacred History from Adam to the Seventh Ecumenical Council. Alexander, having consulted with his “wise men”, i.e. with the boyars and clergy, gave the following answer: “We know all this well, but we do not accept teachings from you”; then he released the embassy in peace. And indeed, we have papal letters to Alexander and his predecessors, which show the persistent efforts of the Roman Curia to subjugate the Russian Church. And in the letter of Innocent IV to Alexander, for this purpose, even false references are made to Plano Carpini, according to which Yaroslav’s father allegedly converted to Latinism while he was in the great Horde at Gayuk. There is not a word about this in the known records of Carpini.

The legend of Pelgusia, as well as the exploits of six husbands, were included in the legend of Alexander Nevsky, which is found in later chronicles (Novgorod, fourth, Sofia, Voskresensky, Nikonov.). We present this legend (according to Nov. 4).

“There was a certain man, an elder in the land of Izhera, named Pelgusia; the naval guard was entrusted to him; holy baptism, and living in the midst of his generation was a filthy creature, and his name was called Philip in holy baptism; living a life pleasing to God, on Wednesday and Friday being in greed; In the same way, God grant him the vision of a terrible thing. Having seen the strength of the military, he went against Prince Alexander, and let him tell him the camps, having found them. He stood at the edge of the sea, guarding both paths, and remained vigil all night; as if the sun began to rise and heard a terrible noise across the sea, and saw a single boat rowing, in the middle of the boat stood Boris and Gleb in scarlet robes, and besta’s hands were held on the frames, while the rowers were sitting like they were dressed in lightning. And Boris said: “Brother Gleb! tell us to row; let us help our relative Alexander.” Seeing Pelgusia such a vision and hearing such a voice from the saint, he stood in trembling until he left his sight; then, soon going to Alexander: he saw him with joyful eyes, and confessed to him one and only, as he had seen and heard. The prince answered him: “Don’t tell this to anyone.”

A remarkable analogy with this story is provided by a similar legend, which adorned the victory of Alexander’s contemporary, the Czech king Przemysl Ottokar, over the Ugric Belaya on the banks of the Morava in 1260. Ottokar himself, in his letter to the pope, says that one pious husband devoted to him, who remained at home for illness, on the day of the battle he was awarded a vision. The patrons of the Czech land, St. Wenceslaus, Adalbert and Procopius; Moreover, Wenceslaus told his comrades that their (Czech) army was weak and needed help (Turgenev Histor. Russ. Monumenta, II. 349).

Although the compiler of the Legend of Alexander says that he wrote from the stories of his fathers, and heard about the Neva victory from the participants and even from Alexander himself; however, the story of this battle is replete with obvious exaggeration regarding the enemies. Firstly, in addition to the Sveevs (Swedes), the Murmans (Norwegians), Sum and Yem allegedly took part in the enemy militia. There were supposedly so many killed enemies that three ships were filled with noble people alone; and the others for whom the pits were dug were countless. No more than 20 killed on the Russian side contradicts this too much and shows that the battle was not large at all. The name of the Swedish leader is usually not mentioned, although he is called the King of Rome (that is, Latin, or Catholic). Only in a few chronicles is Bergel added, i.e. Berger (Novgorod quarter). When describing the battle, some lists also say that their governor Spiridon (Novgorod First) was killed here; while the name of Spiridon was borne at that time by the Archbishop of Novgorod. As for the famous Folkung Birger, married to the daughter of King Erich, he was elevated to the dignity of jarl somewhat later, in 1248 (Geschichte Schwedens von Geijer. I. 152).

P.S.R. Years. The chronicles mention Alexander's trip to Sartak and the Tatars' campaign against Andrei in the same year, without connecting these two events. We find direct news of Alexander’s slander against his brother Andrei only in Tatishchev (IV. 24). Karamzin considers this news to be Tatishchev’s invention (Vol. IV, note 88). Belyaev tries to justify Alexander from this accusation by referring to the silence of the chronicles known to us and repeats the opinion of Prince Shcherbatov that the slander was made by his uncle Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, to whom he refers the words of Andrei: “until we bring the Tatars on each other” (“Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky ". Temporary Ob. I. and Others IV. 18). In his history, Soloviev considers Tatishchev’s news to be completely reliable (T. II, note 299). We also find it reliable, all things considered; Alexander obviously considered himself offended after the Vladimir table took possession of him younger brother, probably using some clever tricks in front of the khan.

About the great reign of Alexander Nevsky, see Chronicles of Lavrent., Novgorod., Sofiysk., Voskresen., Nikonov, and Trinity. See papal letters: to Yuri Vsevolodovich (Historica Russiae Monumenta. I. N. LXXIII) and Alexander Yaroslavich (ibid. LXXXVIII). Leben des heiligen Alexandri Newsky at Miller in Sammlung Russischer Geschichte. I.

XV. ALEXANDER NEVSKY AND NORTHEASTERN RUSSIA

(continuation)

Civil strife of Alexander's sons. - Princes of Rostov.

After the death of Grand Duke Vasily of Kostroma (1276), the last of the brothers of Alexander Nevsky, it was the turn of his sons; the eldest of them, Dimitri Pereyaslavsky, received the reign of Vladimir, and with it the table of Novgorod. But it was enough for the usual strife between the Novgorodians and the Suzdal prince to arise, and he already found a rival. It was his brother Andrei Gorodetsky. And before, the princes sometimes did not respect clan seniority, and now, when the will of the khan mainly decided the issue of reigns, rivals began to pay even less attention to seniority. Andrei, having received the label for the reign of Vladimir from Mengu-Temir, began a series of internecine wars with varying success. Three times he brought Tatar troops against his elder brother, and poor North-Eastern Rus' paid with new ruins for the ambition of unworthy princes. The third coming was especially difficult, when the Tatar governor Duden, sent to help Andrei by Khan Tokhta (son of Mengu-Temir), took Vladimir; Moreover, the Tatars again plundered the cathedral church of the Mother of God and generally took and destroyed 14 Suzdal cities, including Pereyaslavl and Moscow (1293). During these civil strife, Dmitry once fled overseas, probably to Scandinavia, and returned with a hired squad; and another time he retired to the south to Khan Nogai, a rival of the Volga khans, and received from him an army, with the help of which he regained his throne. After the third invasion of Andrei with the Tatars, Dimitri died in the next year 1294.

Andrei occupied the grand-ducal table for another ten years, i.e. until his death. But unrest and civil strife in the Suzdal land did not stop. Some appanage Suzdal princes rebelled against him and united in alliances for this purpose. Among his opponents were his younger brother Daniil Alexandrovich of Moscow and his cousin Mikhail Yaroslavich, one of the founders of the strong reign of Tver. Thus, Moscow and Tver, these future rivals, are allies in the fight against the senior Vladimir prince; obviously, the senior, or grand-ducal, city of Northern Rus' Vladimir, repeatedly devastated by the Tatars, gradually lost its former importance. Some smaller cities no longer recognize this primacy and strive to become a nucleus around which other volosts would gather. Only this search for a new strong core, a new princely branch that would lead further the history of Northern Rus', can explain those apparently devoid of historical meaning disputes and civil strife, servility to the Tatars and betrayals that marked the period of Russian history that came after Alexander Nevsky and continued until the time when Moscow’s superiority over all its rivals was clearly evident.

Andrei also had allies; of them, the most zealous is Fyodor Rostislavich, nicknamed Cherny, Prince of Yaroslavl - one of the more outstanding personalities among the appanage princes of his time. He belonged to the branch of the Smolensk princes, was the grandson of Mstislav Davidovich (known for his trade agreement with the Germans) and originally owned the Mozhaisk inheritance. Having married Princess Maria of Yaroslavl, he received the Yaroslavl inheritance; Having become a widow, he married the daughter of Khan Mengu-Temir. After the death of his elder brothers, he inherited the reign of Smolensk; but, however, he entrusted it to his nephew (Alexander Glebovich), while he himself remained in Yaroslavl. Fedor was a zealous servant of the khans. The princes of Rostov, Boris and Gleb Vasilkovich, the sons of that Vasilko, who, as we know, did not agree to serve Batu and was killed by the Tatars, were also distinguished by the same servility before the khans. These princes often traveled to the Horde with bows and gifts and lived there for a long time. Gleb also married a Tatar, like Fyodor Rostislavich Cherny, and Boris died there during preparations for the campaign against Yasov. Alexander Nevsky, as we noted, knew how to reject the participation of Russian squads in the wars of the Tatars with other peoples; but under his insignificant successors we see this duty in full force. So in 1277, the Northern Russian princes, at the behest of Mengu-Temir, went with the Tatars to the Caucasian countries and helped to finally conquer the warlike tribe of the Yasses, or Alans.

In some places of the Suzdal land, obviously, with the advent of the Baskaks and other Horde officials, significant Tatar settlements arose. There seemed to be a particularly large number of Tatars in Rostov and its environs. The residents, of course, suffered great oppression from them. However, even here the power of higher, Christian citizenship was sometimes manifested: some noble people from the Tatars were baptized and became the founders of many noble families in Russia. Particularly interesting is the local Rostov legend about a certain Horde prince, who was baptized by the Rostov bishop Kirill and received the name Peter. This Tsarevich Peter bought a plot of land in Rostov from Prince Boris Vasilkovich, on which he built a church and founded a monastery (Petrovsky) with the blessing of Kirillov’s successor, Bishop Ignatius. Prince Boris later became such friends with Peter that he fraternized with him, and they loved to hunt together with birds of prey on the shores of Lake Rostov. The zealous service of the Rostov and other princes to the Tatar khans, however, did not remain without some benefit for the conquered people; for, taking advantage of the merciful disposition of the conquerors, these princes saved many Christians from slavery and other disasters. However, the population of Suzdal Rus', by all indications, did not put up with the shameful yoke as easily as their princes, and more than once rebelled. So, in 1289, already under the sons of Boris Vasilkovich, the residents of Rostov looked with indignation at large number Tatars in their city, again at the ringing of the veche bell, rose up against their oppressors, plundered their houses and drove them out of the city. One of Boris's sons (Konstantin) hurried to the Horde and, probably, knew how to turn things around so much that the khan left this rebellion without punishment. And the expelled Tatars returned to Rostov

Alexander Nevsky is one of those names that is known to everyone in our Fatherland. A prince covered in military glory, honored with a literary story about his deeds soon after his death, canonized by the church; a man whose name continued to inspire generations living many centuries later: in 1725 the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky was established, and in 1942 the Soviet Order of Alexander Nevsky (the only Soviet order named after a figure of the Russian Middle Ages). For most Russians, his name evokes an association with the image created by N. Cherkasov in S. Eisenstein’s film “Alexander Nevsky”.

Alexander was born in 1221 in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky 1. His father, Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, was the third son of one of the most powerful Russian princes of the late 12th - early 13th centuries. Vsevolod the Big Nest, son of Yuri Dolgoruky, grandson of Vladimir Monomakh. Vsevolod (who died in 1212) owned North-Eastern Russia (Vladimir-Suzdal land). Yaroslav (born in 1190) received from his father the Principality of Pereyaslavl, which was part of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. Yaroslav's first wife was Konchak's granddaughter (daughter of his son, Yuri Konchakovich). Around 1213, Yaroslav married a second time (his first wife died or the marriage was dissolved for some reason - unknown) - to Rostislav-Feodosia, daughter of the Novgorod (later Galician) prince Mstislav Mstislavich (in the literature often referred to as "Udaly" based incorrectly understood definition of the prince in the message about his death as “lucky”, i.e. lucky). In 1216, Yaroslav and his older brother Yuri waged an unsuccessful war against Mstislav, were defeated, and Mstislav took his daughter from Yaroslav 2. But then the marriage of Yaroslav and Mstislava was renewed (a statement often found in literature about Yaroslav’s marriage after 1216 with a third marriage on the Ryazan princess - wrongly) and at the beginning of 1220 their first-born Fyodor was born, and in May 1221 - Alexander 3.

In 1230, Yaroslav Vsevolodich, after a difficult struggle with Prince of Chernigov Mikhail Vsevolodich (grandson of Svyatoslav of Kyiv "The Tale of Igor's Campaign") established himself to reign in Novgorod the Great. He himself preferred to live in his ancestral Pereyaslavl, and left the princes Fyodor and Alexander in Novgorod. In 1233, Alexander remained the eldest of the Yaroslavichs - 13-year-old Fedor unexpectedly died on the eve of his wedding. “And who does not favor this: the wedding has been arranged, the honey has been boiled, the bride has been brought, the princes have been invited; and there will be a place of joyful mourning and lamentation for our sins,” the Novgorod chronicler wrote on this occasion 4.

In 1236, Yaroslav Vsevolodich left Novgorod to reign in Kyiv (which continued to be considered the nominal capital of all Rus'). Alexander became an independent Novgorod prince. It was in Novgorod that he was in the winter of 1237 - 1238, at a time when a catastrophe befell North-Eastern Rus': hordes Mongol Empire, led by the grandson of its founder Genghis Khan Batu (Batu), ruined the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. 14 cities were taken, including the capital, Vladimir. In a battle with one of the Tatar (in Europe, including Rus', the Mongol conquerors were called “Tatars”) detachments on the river. Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodich, the elder brother of Yaroslav 5, died in the city.

After the Mongol troops returned to the Volga steppes in the spring of 1238, Yaroslav Vsevolodich came from Kyiv to the devastated Vladimir and occupied the main princely table of North-Eastern Rus'. After this, in 1239, he took vigorous action to strengthen his influence in neighboring lands. Yaroslav defeated the Lithuanian troops that captured Smolensk, and installed a prince allied with him here; made a successful campaign in Southern Rus' 6. In line with this policy, there was an agreement on the marriage of the eldest son of Yaroslav with the daughter of the ruler of a large Western Russian center - Polotsk. In 1239, the wedding of Alexander and the daughter of the Polotsk prince Bryachislav 7 took place. And the next summer, 1240, an event occurred that brought Alexander his first military glory.

In the first half of the 13th century. Swedish feudal lords launched an offensive against the lands of the Finnish tribes and took possession of southwestern Finland. Attempts to advance further to the East would inevitably lead to a clash with Novgorod, which owned the mouth of the Neva and the coast Lake Ladoga. And in 1240, for the first time since 1164, the Swedish army entered the Neva from the Gulf of Finland. They were led, perhaps, by Jarl (the second most important title in Sweden after the king) Ulf Fasi (the reliability of information from later sources that the Swedish forces were commanded by Birger, later the actual ruler of Sweden, is doubtful) 8. It is unlikely that the goal of the Swedes was a campaign against Novgorod itself; most likely, their task was to strengthen themselves at the mouth of the Neva in order to cut off the Novgorod land’s access to the sea and deprive it of the opportunity to resist the Swedes in the fight for eastern Finland 9. The moment for the attack was chosen well: the military forces of the princes of North-Eastern Rus', who often came to the aid Novgorodians in foreign wars, were weakened as a result of heavy losses suffered during Batu's campaign of 1237 - 1238.

What experience of participation in military campaigns 19-year-old Alexander had by this time is unknown. It is possible that he took part in his father’s campaign in 1234 against the German crusading knights who settled in the first third of the 13th century. on the lands of the Baltic tribes - the ancestors of the Estonians and Latvians, a campaign that ended in a successful battle for the Russians on the river. Emajõgi in South-East Estonia 10. Alexander may have also participated in his father’s actions against the Lithuanians in 1239. But, in any case, for the first time he had to act independently, make decisions himself and take leadership of military operations.

Having received news of the appearance of the Swedish army, Novgorod prince could take a wait-and-see attitude, send a request for military assistance to his father in Vladimir, and try to gather a militia from the inhabitants of the Novgorod land. But Alexander made a different decision: to immediately attack the enemy with only his squad and a small detachment of Novgorodians. “God is not strong, but in truth,” said, according to the author of the Life of Alexander, the prince, setting off on a campaign 11.

July 15, 1240, Sunday, Russian army suddenly attacked the numerically superior Swedes, camped near the confluence of the Izhora River with the Neva. The enemy, taken by surprise, suffered heavy losses. The second most important Swedish military leader (called “voevoda” in the Russian chronicles) and many noble warriors died. According to the Life of Alexander, the prince himself engaged in battle with a representative of the enemy army and wounded him in the face with a spear. 12 The battle stopped, apparently, with the onset of darkness, and the Swedes were able to bury the dead. Under the cover of darkness, the remnants of the enemy army boarded ships and sailed home 13.

At the end of the same 1240, the German knights-crusaders began aggression against the Novgorod land. During the first third of the 13th century. Knights of the Order of the Sword captured the lands of the Baltic tribes - Estonians, Livs and Latgalians. The Order's possessions came into close contact with the borders of Rus' (along the Narva River and Lake Peipsi). From the end of the 10s, direct clashes began. After the defeats suffered by the crusaders from Yaroslav Vsevolodich in 1234 and, especially, from the Lithuanians at Siauliai in 1236 (where almost all the knights of the sword died - 49 people), the Order of the Sword Bearers merged with the Teutonic Order settled in East Prussia (1237 .). The part of the united Order that received reinforcements from Prussia and Germany, located on the territory of modern Estonia and Latvia, became known as the Livonian Order. Not content with conquering the Baltic tribes, the crusaders tried to expand into Russian lands. As with the invasion of the Eastern Baltic, the papal throne in Rome stood behind the Order. The conquest of the Baltic peoples was sanctified by the idea of ​​converting them to Christianity; the war with Russia was justified by the fact that its inhabitants were, from a Catholic point of view, “schismatics” - adherents of the Eastern, Orthodox version of Christianity. At the end of 1240, the Germans captured Izborsk, a city on the western border of the Novgorod land. Then they defeated the army of the large semi-independent center of Pskov, and, thanks to a subsequent agreement with part of the Pskov boyars, occupied the city. In the North-West of the Novgorod Land, the Germans settled in the Koporye churchyard (east of the Narova River near the Gulf of Finland). All western part Novgorod possessions were ravaged by German troops 14.

The situation was complicated by the fact that at the height of the German offensive, in the winter of 1240 - 1241. Prince Alexander quarreled with the Novgorod boyars and went to his father in Pereyaslavl along with his “court” (druzhina) 15. The political system of Novgorod had certain specific features that were different from the system of other Russian lands. Here, the local boyars represented a significant force, who invited princes from different lands to the Novgorod table at their discretion. Often princes who did not get along with the local nobility were forced to leave Novgorod 16. This also happened to Alexander (sources do not report the reasons for the conflict).

Meanwhile, German detachments began to appear already 30 versts from the city, and the Novgorodians sent an embassy to Yaroslav Vsevolodich asking for help. Yaroslav sent the second eldest of his sons, Andrei, to them. Soon, apparently, it became clear that he could not properly organize a rebuff, and a new embassy was sent to Yaroslav, headed by the Novgorod archbishop with a request to send Alexander to reign in Novgorod again. And “Yaroslav gave birth to his son Alexander again” 17.

Returning to Novgorod, Yaroslavich actively got down to business. He directed his first attack (1241) on Koporye, a stronghold of the invaders. The fortress built here by the enemy was taken. Alexander brought some of the captured Germans to Novgorod, and released some; At the same time, he ordered the traitors from the Finnish-speaking Vodi and Chudi tribes who had gone over to the enemy’s side to be hanged. At the beginning of the next year, 1242, the prince with his retinue, an army from Novgorod and a detachment led by his brother Andrei, sent by his father to help from the Suzdal land, moved to the lands of the Order. At the same time, he blocked the roads connecting German possessions with Pskov, and then occupied the city with a sudden blow. The Germans who were in Pskov were captured and sent to Novgorod. Having crossed the border of the Order's possessions, Alexander sent forward a reconnaissance detachment led by the brother of the Novgorod mayor (the highest official Novgorod from among the local boyars). This detachment ran into the order's army. In the ensuing battle, the leader of the detachment, Domash Tverdislavich, died, some of the soldiers died or were captured, others fled to Alexander. After this, the prince retreated onto the ice of Lake Peipsi (the natural border between the Novgorod and order possessions) and took up a position near the eastern shore.

On April 5, 1242, Saturday, the order's army attacked the Russians. Having formed a wedge (in Russian sources of that time this formation is called a “pig”), the Germans and “Chud” (Estonians) managed to break through the defensive line made up of lightly armed soldiers, but were attacked from the flanks by cavalry detachments (obviously, the squads of Alexander and Andrey) and suffered complete defeat. Alexander's warriors pursued the fleeing enemy seven miles across the ice to the western shore of Lake 18.

According to the Novgorod chronicle, in the battle “Pade Chudi beshisla” (countless multitude), and there were 400 Germans; in addition, another 50 Germans were captured and brought to Novgorod 19. The Livonian source - "Rhymed Chronicle" - gives other casualty figures: 20 knights killed and 6 captured 20. This discrepancy, however, is most likely not due to overestimation enemy losses in the first case and underestimation of “our own” in the second. Actually, the knights of the Order constituted the best equipped and trained part of the German army, but numerically very insignificant: according to the same Chronicle, during the campaign against Pskov in 1268, out of every hundred warriors, only one was a knight of the Order 21. In addition to the knights, they took part in the battle their military servants, soldiers of the Bishop of Dorpat, probably detachments from German colonists-citizens. The Russian source gives an approximate total number of German losses; in Livonian we are talking only about order knights. According to researchers, in 1242 there were only about a hundred knights in Livonia, while a significant part of them fought with the Baltic tribe of Curonians 22. Thus, the losses of 26 people killed and captured were apparently about half of the number of knights who participated in the Ice War. massacre, and about a quarter of the total number of knights of the Livonian Order.

In the same year, the Germans sent an embassy to Novgorod asking for peace: the Order renounced all claims to Russian lands and asked for an exchange of prisoners. The peace treaty was concluded on 23.

While the war with the Order was going on in the North of Rus', tragic events were unfolding in the South. At the end of 1240, Batu's army invaded Southern Rus', captured Pereyaslavl, Chernigov, Kyiv, Galich, Vladimir-Volynsky, and many other cities. Having ravaged the southern Russian lands, Batu moved to Central Europe. Hungary and Poland were devastated. Mongolian troops reached the Czech Republic and the shores of the Adriatic. Only at the end of 1242 Batu returned to the Volga region 24. Here the western ulus of the Mongol Empire was formed - the so-called. Golden Horde. As conquerors, the Mongols began to impose their suzerainty on the Russian princes. The first to be summoned to Batu’s headquarters in 1243 was Alexander’s father, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yaroslav Vsevolodich, the strongest of the Russian princes at that time, who had not fought with the Tatars (during their campaign against North-Eastern Rus' he was in Kyiv, and during the campaign to Southern Rus' - in Vladimir). Batu recognized Yaroslav as the “eldest” of the Russian princes, confirming his rights to Vladimir and Kyiv - the ancient capital of Rus' 25. But the Golden Horde was still part of a huge empire stretching from the Carpathians to the Pacific Ocean. And Yaroslav was forced in 1246 to go to Mongolia, to the capital of the great khan - Karakorum - for approval.

Alexander, meanwhile, continued to reign in Novgorod. In 1245, the Novgorod land was raided by the Lithuanians, who reached Torzhok and Bezhichi. The prince chased after them and defeated them in several battles - at Toropets, Zhizhitsy and Usvyat (within the Smolensk and Vitebsk principalities); many Lithuanian “princes” were killed 26.

On September 30, 1246, Yaroslav Vsevolodich, Alexander’s father, died in distant Mongolia. He was poisoned by the mother of the great Mongol Khan Guyuk Turakina, hostile to Batu, whose protege in the eyes of the Karakorum court was Yaroslav. After this, Turakina sent an ambassador to Alexander with a demand to appear in Karakorum. But Alexander refused 27.

In 1247, Svyatoslav Vsevolodich, the younger brother of Yaroslav, became the Grand Duke of Vladimir (in accordance with the ancient Russian tradition of inheriting princely power, according to which brothers were given preference over sons). Alexander, according to the redistribution of tables, got Tver in North-Eastern Rus' (at the same time he retained the reign of Novgorod) 28. But at the end of the same year, the prince, together with his brother Andrei, went to Batu. Obviously, the Yaroslavichs appealed to the act of the khan's grant to their father, which gave his sons priority rights over their uncle to the great reign of Vladimir (later only the descendants of Yaroslav Vsevolodich claimed it). From Batu both went to Karakorum, from where they returned to Rus' only at the end of 1249. 29

While Alexander was in the steppes, two messages were sent to him by Pope Innocent IV 30. The idea of ​​​​contacts with Alexander Yaroslavich arose in the papal curia in connection with two circumstances. Firstly, his father met in Karakorum with the Pope's ambassador, Plano Carpini, and agreed, according to the latter, to accept the patronage of the Roman Church. Secondly, from Plano Carpini the pope learned of Alexander’s refusal to submit to the great Khansha. In his message to the prince dated January 22, 1248, the pope insisted that he follow the example of his father and asked, in the event of a Tatar offensive, to notify about it “the brothers of the Teutonic Order residing in Livonia, so that as soon as this (the news) reaches through their brothers to our knowledge, we could immediately think about how, with God’s help, we could show courageous resistance to these Tatars” 31.

The papal bull was apparently delivered to Alexander while he was at Batu’s headquarters in the lower reaches of the Volga. The Novgorod prince gave an answer, the text of which has not reached us, but judging by the content of the pope's next message (dated September 15, 1248), this answer was evasive or even mostly positive regarding the acceptance of the patronage of the Roman Church 32. Apparently, being in an uncertain position at Batu's court, the prince wanted to maintain the opportunity to choose depending on the results of his trip. In his second message, Innocent IV gave a positive response to Alexander’s proposal to build in Pskov catholic cathedral and asked to receive his ambassador, the Archbishop of Prussia. But the bull did not have time to reach the addressee - he was already on his way to Karakorum 33.

The new ruler Ogul-Gamish (Guyuk's widow) recognized (in 1249) Alexander as the “oldest” among the Russian princes: he received Kyiv. But at the same time, Vladimir went to Andrey. Thus, the inheritance of Yaroslav Vsevolodich was divided into two parts. Alexander chose not to go to distant Kyiv, which suffered greatly from the Tatar defeat in 1240, and continued to reign in Novgorod. Meanwhile, ambassadors from the pope came to him for a final answer to the proposal to convert to Catholicism. The prince responded with a decisive refusal 34.

Andrei Yaroslavich, having settled in Vladimir, entered into an alliance with the strongest prince of Southern Rus', Daniil Romanovich Galitsky, marrying his daughter, and tried to conduct (like his father-in-law at that time) a policy independent of the Golden Horde. This opportunity was apparently given to him by the grant of the Vladimir reign by the Karakorum court, hostile to Batu. But in 1251, Batu’s friend and protégé Munke became the Great Khan. This freed the hands of the Golden Horde Khan, and the next year he organized military actions against Andrei and Daniel. Batu sent Kurimsy’s army against the Galician prince, who did not achieve success, and against Andrei - Nevryuy, who ravaged the outskirts of Pereyaslavl. The Vladimir prince fled, finding refuge in Sweden (he later returned to Rus' and reigned in Suzdal). In the same year, even before Nevryuy’s campaign, Alexander went to Batu, received a label for the great reign of Vladimir, and upon his return (after Andrei’s expulsion) sat down in Vladimir 35.

From 1252 until his death in 1263, Alexander Yaroslavich was the Grand Duke of Vladimir. Having settled here, he took steps to secure his rights to Novgorod. Previously, the Novgorod boyars could invite princes from different Russian lands - Vladimir-Suzdal, Smolensk, Chernigov. Since the time of Alexander it has been established new order: Novgorod recognized as its prince the one who occupied the grand-ducal table in Vladimir. Thus, having become the Grand Duke of Vladimir, Alexander retained the Novgorod reign. There he left his eldest son Vasily, but not as an independent prince, but as his governor 36.

The Novgorod boyars did not immediately accept the new order. In 1255, supporters of an independent Novgorod reign expelled Vasily Alexandrovich from the city and invited Alexander’s younger brother Yaroslav (in 1252). former ally Andrew, who fled to Pskov and reigned there until 1255). Alexander moved to Novgorod in war, but did not storm the city, but preferred the path of negotiations. At first, he demanded to hand over his opponents from among the Novgorod nobility (Yaroslav fled from the city when Alexander approached). The Novgorodians agreed to recognize Alexander as their prince, but on the condition that they forgive the leaders of the rebellion. Finally, the prince softened his demands, limiting them to the removal of the objectionable mayor; this was done, Alexander entered the city, and peace was restored 37.

The next year, 1256, the Swedes tried to build a city on the eastern, Russian bank of the river. Narova. Alexander was then in Vladimir, and the Novgorodians sent to him for help. Having heard about the gathering of Russian troops, the Swedes abandoned their idea and sailed “overseas”. The prince, having arrived in Novgorod, set off on a campaign, and at first did not tell the Novgorodians who went with him what his goal was. It turned out that he planned to strike at southeastern Finland, captured by the Swedes in 1250. The campaign turned out to be generally successful: the strongholds of the Swedes in the land of the Finnish tribe Em were destroyed. But it was not possible to eliminate Swedish power over this part of Finland for a long time - after the departure of Russian troops, the Swedish administration restored its rule 38.

In 1257, the Mongol Empire carried out a population census in North-Eastern Rus' to streamline the taxation system. Alexander Yaroslavich, who then made a trip to the Horde, was forced to agree to conduct a census, maintaining his line on peaceful relations with the Tatars and recognition of the supreme suzerainty of the ruler of the Golden Horde and the great Mongol Khan. From the Suzdal land, the Tatar "numerals" went to Novgorod. The prince accompanied them with a military detachment. In the city, upon news of the Tatar demands for payment of tribute, a rebellion began, supported by Vasily Alexandrovich, who was still governor there. The Novgorodians did not give “tithes and tamgas” to the Tatar ambassadors, limiting themselves to gifts to the “Tsar” (Great Khan). Alexander and his detachment dealt with the rebels: he expelled Vasily from Pskov (where he fled when his father approached) and sent him to the Suzdal land, and to those who incited him to disobey, “cut his own nose, and took out the eyes of others.” In 1259, the Novgorodians, fearing a Tatar invasion, nevertheless agreed to the Horde census. But when the Tatar ambassadors, accompanied by Alexander, began to collect tribute, a rebellion broke out in Novgorod again. After a long confrontation, the Novgorodians finally conceded. Following the Tatars, Alexander also left the city, leaving his second son Dmitry 39 as governor.

In 1262, an uprising broke out in several cities of North-Eastern Rus' - Rostov, Vladimir, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, as a result of which the tribute collectors sent by the Great Khan were killed or expelled. There was no punitive campaign from the Golden Horde: its khan Berke at that time sought independence from the Great Khan’s throne, and the expulsion of the Great Khan’s officials from Rus' corresponded to his interests. But in the same year, Berke started a war against the Mongol ruler of Iran, Hulagu, and began to demand that Russian troops be sent to his aid. Alexander went to the Horde to “remove people from misfortune” 40. Before leaving, he organized a large campaign against the Livonian Order.

After the Battle of the Ice in 1242, the crusaders did not disturb the Russian lands for 11 years. But in 1253 they violated the peace treaty and approached Pskov, but were repulsed by the Pskovians and the Novgorodians who came to the rescue 41. In subsequent years, the knights tried to intensify the attack on Lithuania, but failed: in 1260, at Lake Durbe, the army of the emerging Lithuanian state was led by with its ruler Mindaugas inflicted a crushing defeat on the combined forces of the Teutonic and Livonian orders (150 knights alone died). The defeat of the crusaders caused a series of uprisings of the Baltic peoples they conquered. Under these conditions, Alexander entered into an alliance with Mindaugas, and the two winners of the Order began to prepare a joint attack on Livonia from two sides: Russian troops were to move to Yuriev (formerly an ancient Russian city established by Yaroslav the Wise in the land of the Estonians; captured by the crusaders in 1234 and called Dorpat; now Tartu), and Lithuanian - to Wenden (now Cesis).

In the fall of 1262, Russian troops set out on a campaign. They were commanded by Alexander Yaroslavich's son Dmitry and brother Yaroslav (who had by that time reconciled with Alexander and reigned in Tver). Along with the Russian forces went the army of the Lithuanian prince Tovtivil, who was reigning in Polotsk at that time. Yuriev was taken by storm. But the coordinated campaign did not work out: the Lithuanian troops set out earlier and had already moved away from Vendel when the Russians approached Yuryev. Having learned about this after the capture of the city, the Russian troops returned to their land. However, the campaign once again demonstrated the strength of the Order’s two opponents - Northern Rus' and Lithuania 42.

Alexander arrived in the Horde for almost a year. His mission, apparently, was a success: there is no information about the participation of Russian troops in the wars of the Golden Horde against Hulagu. On the way back to Rus' in the fall of 1263, the 42-year-old Grand Duke fell ill and died on November 14, 1263 in Gorodets on the Volga, having taken monastic vows before his death. On November 23, Alexander’s body was buried in the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vladimir. In his funeral speech, Metropolitan of All Rus' Kirill said: “My children, understand that the sun of the land of Suzdal has already set!” 43

In the literature one can find an assumption that Alexander, like his father, was poisoned by the Tatars 44. In the sources, however, such a version of his death is not found. In principle, there is nothing surprising in the fact that a long stay in unusual climatic conditions could affect the health of a person who was already middle-aged by the standards of that time. In addition, Alexander, apparently, was not distinguished by iron health: under 1251, the chronicle mentions a serious illness that almost brought him to the grave at the age of thirty 45.

After Alexander's death, his younger brother Yaroslav became the Grand Duke of Vladimir. Alexander's sons received: Dmitry - Pereyaslavl, Andrey - Gorodets 46. The youngest, Daniel (born in 1261) after some time became the first Moscow prince and from him went the dynasty of Moscow great princes and kings.

If the official (secular and ecclesiastical) assessment of the personality of Alexander Nevsky has always been panegyric, then in historical science his activity has been interpreted ambiguously. And this ambiguity naturally follows from the visible contradiction in the image of Alexander. Indeed: on the one hand, he is undoubtedly an outstanding commander who won all the battles in which he participated, combining determination with prudence, a man of great personal courage; on the other hand, this is a prince forced to admit supreme power a foreign ruler who did not try to organize resistance to undoubtedly the most dangerous enemy of Rus' of that era - the Mongols, and, moreover, helped them establish a system of exploitation of Russian lands.

One of extreme points view of Alexander’s activities, formulated in the 20s of the last century by the Russian emigrant historian G.V. Vernadsky 47, and recently mainly repeated by L.N. Gumilyov 48, boils down to the fact that the prince made a fateful choice between focusing on East and West orientation. By entering into an alliance with the Horde, he prevented the absorption of Northern Rus' by Catholic Europe and, thereby, saved Russian Orthodoxy - the basis of its identity. According to another point of view, defended by the English historian J. Fennell and supported by the domestic researcher I.N. Danilevsky, it was Alexander’s “collaborationism” in relation to the Mongols, his betrayal of the brothers Andrei and Yaroslav in 1252 that became the reason for the establishment of the yoke of the Golden Horde in Rus' 49 .

So, did Alexander really make a historical choice, and can one and the same person be both a hero and a collaborator-traitor?

Taking into account the mentality of the era and the peculiarities of Alexander’s personal biography, both of these points of view look far-fetched. The suzerainty of the Horde immediately acquired a certain semblance of legitimacy in the worldview of the Russian people; its ruler was called in Rus' by a higher title than any of the Russian princes - the title “tsar” 50. The dependence of the Russian lands on the Horde in its main features (including the collection of tribute) began to take shape back in the 40s of the 13th century. 51 (at a time when Alexander reigned in Novgorod and did not directly influence Russian-Tatar relations); in the 50s there was only a streamlining of the system of economic exploitation. After the death of his father in 1246, when Alexander became the strongest prince in Northern Rus', he really faced a choice: to maintain peaceful relations with the Horde, recognizing the supreme suzerainty of the khans over Russia (already recognized by this time by all significant princes of both Northern and Southern Rus') and resist the Order, or begin resistance to the Tatars by concluding an alliance with the Order and the religious head behind it Catholic Europe- by the pope (the prospect of a war on two fronts to the prince, who spent most of his life in Novgorod, near the Horde border, should have seemed unacceptable, and quite rightly so). Alexander hesitated before returning from a trip to Karakorum and firmly chose the first option only in 1250. What was the reason for the prince’s decision?

Of course, one should take into account the general wary attitude towards Catholicism and the personal experience of Alexander, who in 1241 - 1242, at the age of twenty, had to repel the attack on the Novgorod land of German crusaders supported by Rome. But these factors were also in effect in 1248, however, then the prince’s response to the pope’s message was different. Consequently, something that emerged later tilted the scales against the pope’s proposal. It can be assumed that four factors had an impact:

1) During his two-year trip across the steppes (1247 - 1249), Alexander was able, on the one hand, to become convinced of the military power of the Mongol Empire, and on the other, to understand that the Mongol-Tatars did not lay claim to the direct seizure of Russian lands, being content with recognition vassalage and tribute, and are also distinguished by religious tolerance and do not intend to encroach on the Orthodox faith. This should have favorably distinguished them in the eyes of the prince from the crusaders, whose actions were characterized by the direct seizure of territory and the forced conversion of the population to Catholicism.

2) After Alexander returned to Rus' at the end of 1249, information should have reached him that the rapprochement with Rome of the strongest prince of Southern Rus', Daniil Romanovich Galitsky, turned out to be useless for the cause of defense against the Tatars: the anti-Tatar crusade promised by the pope did not take place 52.

3) In 1249, the de facto ruler of Sweden, Earl Birger, began the final conquest of the land of Emi (Central Finland), and this was done with the blessing of the papal legate 53. Since ancient times, the land of Emi had been part of the sphere of influence of Novgorod, and Alexander had reason to regard what had happened as unfriendly towards act towards him from the Curia.

4) The mention in the bull of September 15, 1248 of the possibility of establishing a Catholic episcopal see in Pskov 54 inevitably should have caused negative emotions in Alexander, because Previously, the bishopric had been established in Yuryev, captured by the Germans, and therefore the proposal to establish one in Pskov was associated with the annexationist aspirations of the Order, recalling the more than one-year stay of Pskov in 1240 - 1242. in the hands of the crusaders. Thus, the prince’s decision to stop contacts with Innocent IV was associated with the realization of the futility of rapprochement with Rome to confront the Horde and with obvious manifestations of selfish motives in the pope’s policies.

But what happened in 1252? According to information from early chronicles and the life of Alexander, this year the Novgorod prince went to the Horde. After this, Batu sent an army under the command of Nevryuy against Andrei Yaroslavich; Andrei fled from Vladimir first to Pereyaslavl, where his ally, the younger brother of Alexander and Andrei Yaroslav Yaroslavich, reigned. The Tatars, who approached Pereyaslavl, killed Yaroslav’s wife, captured his children “and the people were merciless”; Andrey and Yaroslav managed to escape. After Nevryuy left, Alexander arrived from the Horde and settled in Vladimir 55.

The following interpretation of these events has become widespread in historiography: Alexander went to the Horde on his own initiative with a complaint against his brother, and Nevryuy’s campaign was a consequence of this complaint 56. At the same time, authors who have a positive attitude towards Alexander always tried to talk about what happened with restraint, not to focus on these facts, while J. Fennell interpreted the events of 1252 without any constraint: “Alexander betrayed his brothers” 57. Indeed, since Nevruy’s campaign was caused by Alexander’s complaint, there is no escape (if, of course, one strives for objectivity) from the recognition that it was Alexander who was to blame for the devastation of the land and the death of people, incl. his daughter-in-law; Moreover, no reference to higher political considerations can serve as a serious justification. If the above interpretation of the events of 1252 is correct, Alexander Yaroslavich appears as an unprincipled person, ready to do anything to increase his power. But is it true?

Alexander's complaint against his brother is not mentioned in any medieval source. There is a message about it only in V.N. Tatishchev’s “Russian History”; it was from there that it was transferred to the works of later researchers. According to Tatishchev, “Alexander complained about his brother Grand Duke Andrei, as if he had seduced the khan, taking a great reign under him, as if he were the eldest, and gave him his father’s cities, and did not pay the khan in full for exits and tamgas.”58 In this case, an uncritical judgment is unlawful, that Tatishchev quotes “apparently an early source that was not included in the chronicles” 59. The use in “Russian History” of sources that have not reached us is probable, but relates to other periods (primarily XII century). At the same time, Tatishchev’s work contains many additions that are research reconstructions, attempts to restore what the source “did not say”: unlike later historiography, where the text of the source is separated from the researcher’s judgments, in “Russian History” they are not differentiated , which often gives rise to the illusion of mentioning unknown facts where there is a guess (often plausible) by a scientist. This is the case under consideration 60. Article 1252 by Tatishchev as a whole literally repeats one of the sources he had - the Nikon Chronicle 61. The exception is the above passage. It represents a completely logical reconstruction: since Nevruy’s campaign took place after Alexander’s arrival in the Horde, and after the campaign he occupied the table that belonged to Andrei, it means that the campaign was caused by Alexander’s complaint against his brother; analogies of such developments of events are found in the activities of the princes of North-Eastern Rus' of a later time 62. Thus, we are not talking about the source’s message, but about the researcher’s guess, uncritically accepted by subsequent historiography, and the question is whether the sources provide a basis for such an interpretation of events .

Andrei Yaroslavich, apparently, really pursued a policy independent of Batu, but in his actions he relied on such weighty support as the label for the reign of Vladimir, received in 1249 in Karakorum from the hostile Khansha Ogul-Gamish 63. But in 1251 Batu managed to place his protege Munke on the Karakorum throne and the next year he organized two campaigns simultaneously - Nevryu against Andrei Yaroslavich and Kuremsy against Daniil Romanovich. Thus, Nevruy’s campaign was clearly a planned action as part of actions against the princes who did not obey Batu, and not a reaction to Alexander’s complaint. But, if we consider the latter a myth, then for what purpose did Alexander go to the Horde?

In the Laurentian Chronicle (the oldest of those containing a story about the events of 1252), the facts are presented in the following sequence: first it is said that “Prince Oleksandr of Novgorod and Yaroslavich released him as a Tatar and released him with great honor, giving him seniority among all his brothers,” then it tells about the Tatar campaign against Andrei, after which it tells about the arrival of Alexander from the Horde to Vladimir 64. Since he returned to Rus' undoubtedly after the “Nevryu army”, the words “let go and with honor”, ​​etc. should be attributed to the same time. Before talking about the Tatar campaign, the chronicler says: “Andrya’s prince Yaroslavich decided to run away with his boyars rather than serve as the Tsar.” 65. We are clearly talking about a decision made not at the time of Nevryuy’s attack (then the question was not “serve or flee,” a "fight or flight"), and earlier. Most likely, Andrei’s “duma” with the boyars took place after the Vladimir prince received a demand to come to the Horde. Batu, having finished with internal Mongolian affairs, decided to reconsider the decision on the distribution of the main tables in Rus', adopted in 1249 by the former Karakorum court, hostile to him, and summoned both Alexander and Andrei. The first obeyed the khan's demand. Andrei, after consulting with his boyars, decided not to go (perhaps he did not count on a successful outcome of the trip because of the favor shown to him in 1249 by the government of the now deposed and murdered Great Khansha). After this, Batu decided to send a military expedition against Andrei, as well as against another prince who did not obey him - Daniil of Galitsky, and to issue Alexander a label for the great reign of Vladimir. It should be noted that Nevruy’s campaign was a much more “local” enterprise than the campaigns against the princes who disobeyed Sarai in the early 80s. XIII century and in 1293 (“Dudenev’s Army”): only the outskirts of Pereyaslavl and, possibly, Vladimir were devastated 66. It is possible that such “limitedness” was a consequence of Alexander’s diplomatic efforts.

In general, it can be stated that in the actions of Alexander Yaroslavich there is no reason to look for some kind of conscious fateful choice. He was a man of his era, acting in accordance with the worldview of the time and personal experience. Alexander was, in modern terms, a “pragmatist”: he chose the path that seemed to him more profitable for strengthening his land and for him personally. When it was a decisive battle, he fought; when an agreement with one of Rus'’s enemies seemed most useful, he agreed to an agreement. As a result, during the period of the great reign of Alexander (1252 - 1263) there were no Tatar raids on the Suzdal land and only two attempts to attack Rus' from the West (Germans in 1253 and Swedes in 1256), which were quickly stopped. Alexander achieved recognition by Novgorod of the suzerainty of the Grand Duke of Vladimir (which became one of the factors thanks to which North-Eastern Rus' later turned into the core of a new, Russian state). His preference for the Vladimir table over the Kyiv table was a decisive event in the process of moving the nominal capital of Rus' from Kyiv to Vladimir (since it turned out that it was Vladimir who was chosen as the capital by the prince, recognized as the “oldest” in Rus') 67. But these are the long-term consequences of Alexander’s policy Nevsky were not a consequence of his changing the objective course of events. On the contrary, Alexander acted in accordance with the objective circumstances of his era, acted prudently and energetically.

Alexander Nevsky was born on May 30 (June 6), 1220. The second son of the Pereyaslavl prince (later the Grand Duke of Kyiv and Vladimir) Yaroslav Vsevolodovich from his second marriage to Rostislava-Feodosia Mstislavovna, daughter of the Prince of Novgorod and Galicia Mstislav Udatny. Born in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky in May 1220.

In 1225, Yaroslav “conducted princely tonsure on his sons” - a rite of initiation into warriors, which was performed by Bishop of Suzdal Saint Simon in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky.

In 1228, Alexander, together with his elder brother Fyodor, were left by their father in Novgorod under the supervision of Fyodor Danilovich and tiun Yakim, together with the Pereyaslavl army, who were preparing to march on Riga in the summer, but during the famine that came in the winter of that year, Fyodor Danilovich and tiun Yakim did not Having waited for Yaroslav's response to the request of the Novgorodians to abolish the religious order, in February 1229 they fled from the city with the young princes, fearing reprisals from the rebel Novgorodians. In 1230, when the Novgorodians called Prince Yaroslav, he spent two weeks in Novgorod and installed Fyodor and Alexander to reign in the Novgorod land, but three years later, at the age of thirteen, Fyodor died. In 1234, Alexander's first campaign (under his father's banner) against the Livonian Germans took place.

In 1236, Yaroslav left Pereyaslavl-Zalessky to reign in Kyiv (from there in 1238 - to Vladimir). From this time on, Alexander’s independent activity began. Back in 1236-1237, the neighbors of the Novgorod land were at enmity with each other (200 Pskov soldiers took part in the unsuccessful campaign of the Order of the Swordsmen against Lithuania, which ended with the Battle of Saul and the entry of the remnants of the Order of the Swordsmen into the Teutonic Order). But after the devastation of North-Eastern Rus' by the Mongols in the winter of 1237/1238 (the Mongols took Torzhok after a two-week siege and did not reach Novgorod), the western neighbors of the Novgorod land almost simultaneously launched offensive operations.

Nickname of Alexander Nevsky

The official version says that Alexander received his nickname - Nevsky - after the battle with the Swedes on the Neva River. It is believed that it was for this victory that the prince began to be called that, but for the first time this nickname appears in sources only from the 14th century. Since it is known that some of the prince’s descendants also bore the nickname Nevsky, it is possible that in this way possessions in this area were assigned to them. In particular, Alexander’s family had their own house near Novgorod, with the residents of which he had strained relations.

Reflecting aggression from the West

In 1239, Yaroslav repelled the Lithuanians from Smolensk, and Alexander married Alexandra, daughter of Bryachislav of Polotsk, and built a series of fortifications on the southwestern border of Novgorod land along the Sheloni River.

In 1240, the Germans approached Pskov, and the Swedes moved to Novgorod, according to Russian sources, under the leadership of the ruler of the country himself, the royal son-in-law of Jarl Birger (there is no mention of this battle in Swedish sources; the jarl at that moment was Ulf Fasi, not Birger) . According to Russian sources, Birger sent Alexander a declaration of war, proud and arrogant: “If you can, resist, know that I am already here and will take your land captive.” With a relatively small squad of Novgorodians and Ladoga residents, Alexander, on the night of July 15, 1240, surprised the Swedes of Birger when they stopped at a rest camp at the mouth of Izhora, on the Neva, and inflicted a complete defeat on them - the Battle of the Neva. Fighting himself in the front ranks, Alexander “put a seal on the forehead of the infidel who stole them (Birger) with the tip of a sword.” Victory in this battle demonstrated Alexander's talent and strength.

However, the Novgorodians, always jealous of their liberties, managed to quarrel with Alexander that same year, and he retired to his father, who gave him the principality of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. Meanwhile, the Livonian Germans were approaching Novgorod. The knights besieged Pskov and soon took it, taking advantage of the betrayal among the besieged. Two German Vogts were planted in the city, which became an unprecedented case in the history of the Livonian-Novgorod conflicts. Then the Livonians fought and imposed tribute on the leaders, built a fortress in Koporye, took the city of Tesov, plundered the lands along the Luga River and began to rob Novgorod merchants 30 versts from Novgorod. The Novgorodians turned to Yaroslav for a prince; he gave them his second son, Andrei. This did not satisfy them. They sent a second embassy to ask Alexander. In 1241, Alexander came to Novgorod and cleared his region of enemies, and the next year, together with Andrei, he moved to the aid of Pskov. Having liberated the city, Alexander headed to the Peipus land, to the domain of the order.

On April 5, 1242, the Battle of Lake Peipsi took place. This battle is known as the Battle of the Ice. The exact course of the battle is unknown, but according to the Livonian chronicles, the order knights were surrounded during the battle. According to the Novgorod chronicle, the Russians drove the Germans across the ice for 7 versts. According to the Livonian chronicle, the losses of the order amounted to 20 killed and 6 captured knights, which is consistent with the Novgorod Chronicle, which reports that the Livonian order lost 400-500 “Germans” killed and 50 prisoners - “and the fall of Chudi was beschisla, and the Germans were 400, and 50 with my hands I brought you to Novgorod.” Considering that for every full-fledged knight there were 10-15 warriors of lower rank, we can assume that the data from the Livonian Chronicle and the data from the Novgorod Chronicle well confirm each other.

With a series of victories in 1245, Alexander repelled the attacks of Lithuania, led by Prince Mindaugas. According to the chronicler, the Lithuanians fell into such fear that they began to “watch his name.”

Alexander's six-year victorious defense of northern Rus' led to the fact that the Germans, according to a peace treaty, abandoned all recent conquests and ceded part of Latgale to the Novgorodians. Nevsky's father Yaroslav was summoned to Karakorum and poisoned there on September 30, 1246. Almost simultaneously with this, on September 20, Mikhail Chernigovsky was killed in the Golden Horde, who refused to undergo a pagan rite.

The Great Reign of A. Nevsky

After the death of his father, in 1247, Alexander went to the Horde to see Batu. From there, together with his brother Andrei, who had arrived earlier, he was sent to the Great Khan in Mongolia. It took them two years to complete this journey. In their absence, their brother, Mikhail Khorobrit of Moscow (the fourth son of Grand Duke Yaroslav), took the great reign of Vladimir from his uncle Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich in 1248, but in the same year he died in battle with the Lithuanians in the Battle of the Protva River. Svyatoslav managed to defeat the Lithuanians at Zubtsov. Batu planned to give the reign of Vladimir to Alexander, but according to Yaroslav’s will, Andrei was to become the prince of Vladimir, and Alexander of Novgorod and Kyiv. And the chronicler notes that they had “a direct message about the great reign.” As a result, the rulers of the Mongol Empire, despite the death of Guyuk during the campaign against Batu in 1248, implemented the second option. Modern historians differ in their assessment of which of the brothers held formal seniority. After the Tatar devastation, Kyiv lost its dominant significance; therefore, Alexander did not go to him, but settled in Novgorod (According to V.N. Tatishchev, the prince was still going to leave for Kyiv, but the Novgorodians “kept him for the sake of the Tatars,” but the reliability of this information is in question).

There is information about two messages from Pope Innocent IV to Alexander Nevsky. In the first, the pope invites Alexander to follow the example of his father, who agreed (the pope referred to Plano Carpini, in whose works this news is absent) to submit to the Roman throne before his death, and also proposes coordination of actions with the Teutons in the event of an attack by the Tatars on Rus'. In the second message, the pope mentions Alexander’s agreement to be baptized into the Catholic faith and build a Catholic church in Pskov, and also asks to receive his ambassador, the Archbishop of Prussia. In 1251, two cardinals came to Alexander Nevsky in Novgorod with a bull. Almost simultaneously in Vladimir, Andrei Yaroslavich and Ustinya Danilovna were married by Metropolitan Kirill, an associate of Daniil of Galitsky, to whom the pope offered the royal crown back in 1246-1247. Same year Lithuanian prince Mindaugas adopted the Catholic faith, thereby securing his lands from the Teutons. According to the chronicler's story, Nevsky, after consulting with wise people, outlined the entire history of Rus' and in conclusion said: “We know everything good, but we do not accept teachings from you.”

In 1251, with the participation of the troops of the Golden Horde, Batu's ally Munke won the victory in the struggle for supreme power in the Mongol Empire, and already in 1252, Tatar hordes led by Nevruy were moved against Andrei. Andrei, in alliance with his brother Yaroslav Tverskoy, opposed the Tatars, but was defeated and fled to Sweden through Novgorod, Yaroslav gained a foothold in Pskov. This was the first attempt to openly oppose the Mongol-Tatars in North-Eastern Rus', and it ended in failure. After Andrei's flight, the great reign of Vladimir passed to Alexander. In the same year, Prince Oleg Ingvarevich the Red, captured in 1237 wounded, was released from Mongol captivity to Ryazan. Alexander's reign in Vladimir was followed by many years of internecine war in Rus' and a new war with its western neighbors.

Already in 1253, soon after the start of Alexander’s great reign, his eldest son Vasily and the Novgorodians were forced to repel the Lithuanians from Toropets, in the same year the Pskovians repulsed the Teutonic invasion, then, together with the Novgorodians and Karelians, invaded the Baltic states and defeated the Teutons on their land, after which peace was concluded on the entire will of Novgorod and Pskov. In 1256, the Swedes came to Narova and began to build a city (probably we are talking about the Narva fortress that was already founded in 1223). The Novgorodians asked for help from Alexander, who led a successful campaign against him with the Suzdal and Novgorod regiments. In 1258, the Lithuanians invaded the Smolensk principality and approached Torzhok.

In 1255, the Novgorodians expelled Alexander's eldest son Vasily and summoned Yaroslav Yaroslavich from Pskov. Nevsky forced them to accept Vasily again, and replaced the displeased mayor Anania, a champion of Novgorod freedom, with the obliging Mikhalka Stepanovich. In 1257, the Mongol census took place in the Vladimir, Murom and Ryazan lands, but was disrupted in Novgorod, which was not devastated during the invasion. Big people, with the mayor Mikhalka, persuaded the Novgorodians to submit to the will of the khan, but the smaller ones did not want to hear about it. Mikhalko was killed. Prince Vasily, sharing the feelings of the younger ones, but not wanting to quarrel with his father, went to Pskov. Alexander Nevsky himself came to Novgorod with Tatar ambassadors, exiled his son to “Niz,” that is, the Suzdal land, seized and punished his advisers (“cut off one’s nose, and plucked out the eyes of another”) and placed his second son, Dmitry, as prince with them. In 1258, Nevsky went to the Horde to “honor” the Khan’s governor Ulavchiy, and in 1259, threatening a Tatar pogrom, he obtained consent from the Novgorodians to a census and tribute (“tamgas and tithes”).

Daniil Galitsky, who accepted the royal crown in 1253 with his own forces (without allies from North-Eastern Rus', without Catholicization of the subject lands and without the forces of the crusaders) was able to inflict a serious defeat on the Horde, which led to a break with Rome and Lithuania. Daniel undertook a campaign against the Kyiv land - the possession of Alexander - and the great Russian historian N.M. Karamzin calls the plan to establish control over Kiev “liberation.” The Lithuanians were repulsed from Lutsk, after which followed the Galician-Horde campaigns against Lithuania and Poland, the break of Mindaugas with Poland, the Order and the alliance with Novgorod. In 1262, Dmitry Alexandrovich with the Novgorod, Tver and allied Lithuanian regiments undertook a campaign in Livonia and took the city of Yuryev, captured in 1224 by the crusaders.

Death of Alexander Nevsky

In 1262, in Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov, Pereyaslavl, Yaroslavl and other cities, Tatar tribute farmers were killed, and the Sarai Khan Berke demanded military recruitment among the inhabitants of Rus' [source not specified 167 days], since there was a threat to his possessions from the Iranian ruler Hulagu. Alexander Nevsky went to the Horde to try to dissuade the khan from this demand. There Alexander fell ill. Already sick, he left for Rus'.

Having adopted the schema under the name Alexy, he died on November 14 (November 21), 1263 in Gorodets (there are 2 versions - in Gorodets Volzhsky or in Gorodets Meshchersky). Metropolitan Kirill announced to the people in Vladimir about his death with the words: “My dear children, understand that the sun of the Russian land has set,” and everyone cried out with tears: “We are already perishing.” “The preservation of the Russian land,” says the famous historian Sergei Solovyov, “from trouble in the east, famous exploits for faith and land in the west brought Alexander a glorious memory in Rus' and made him the most prominent historical figure in ancient history from Monomakh to Donskoy.” Alexander became the favorite prince of the clergy. In the chronicle tale that has reached us about his exploits it is said that he was “born of God.” Victorious everywhere, he was not defeated by anyone. A knight who came from the west to see Nevsky said that he had passed through many countries and peoples, but nowhere had he seen anything like this “neither in the kings of the king, nor in the princes of the prince.” The Tatar Khan himself allegedly gave the same review about him, and Tatar women frightened children with his name.

Family of Alexander Nevsky

Alexandra, daughter of Bryachislav of Polotsk,

Vasily (before 1245-1271) - Novgorod prince;

Dmitry (1250-1294) - Prince of Novgorod (1260-1263), Prince of Pereyaslavl, Grand Duke of Vladimir in 1276-1281 and 1283-1293;

Andrey (c. 1255-1304) - Prince of Kostroma in (1276-1293), (1296-1304), Grand Duke of Vladimir (1281-1284, 1292-1304), Prince of Novgorod in (1281-1285, 1292-1304), Prince of Gorodets (1264-1304);

Daniel (1261-1303) - first prince of Moscow (1263-1303).

Evdokia, who became the wife of Konstantin Rostislavich Smolensky.

The wife and daughter were buried in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of the Dormition Princess Monastery in Vladimir

Alexander Nevsky was initially buried in the Nativity Monastery in Vladimir. In 1724, by order of Peter I, the relics of Alexander Nevsky were solemnly transferred to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Canonization

Icon of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky.

Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in the ranks of the faithful under Metropolitan Macarius at the Moscow Council in 1547. Memory (according to the Julian calendar): November 23 and August 30 (transfer of relics from Vladimir-on-Klyazma to St. Petersburg, to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery (from 1797 - Lavra) on August 30, 1724). Days of celebration of St. Alexander Nevsky:

August 30 (September 12 according to the new art.) - the day of transfer of the relics to St. Petersburg (1724) - the main one

Relics of St. Alexander Nevsky

Nevsky was buried in the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin in Vladimir, and until the mid-16th century the Nativity Monastery was considered the first monastery in Rus', the “great archimandrite.” In 1380, his relics were discovered in Vladimir. According to the lists of the Nikon and Resurrection Chronicles of the 16th century, during the fire in Vladimir on May 23, 1491, “the body of the great Prince Alexander Nevsky burned.” In the same chronicles of the 17th century, the story about the fire is completely rewritten and it is mentioned that the relics were miraculously preserved from the fire.

Exported from Vladimir on August 11, 1723, the holy relics were brought to Shlisselburg on September 20 and remained there until 1724, when on August 30 they were installed in the Alexander Nevsky Church of the Alexander Nevsky Holy Trinity Monastery by order of Peter the Great. During the consecration of the Trinity Cathedral in the monastery in 1790, the relics were placed there, in a silver shrine donated by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. In May 1922, the relics were opened and soon removed. The seized cancer was transferred to the Hermitage, where it remains to this day. The relics of the saint were returned to the Lavra Trinity Cathedral from the storerooms of the Museum of Religion and Atheism, located in the Kazan Cathedral, in 1989.

In 2007, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', the saint’s relics were transported throughout the cities of Russia and Latvia for a month. On September 20, the holy relics were brought to the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior; on September 27, the reliquary was transported to Kaliningrad (September 27 - 29) and then to Riga (September 29 - October 3), Pskov (October 3 - 5), Novgorod (October 5 - 7 October), Yaroslavl (October 7 - 10), Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg. On October 20, the relics returned to the Lavra.

A piece of the relics of the holy blessed prince Alexander Nevsky is located in the Temple of Alexander Nevsky in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria. Also, part of the relics (little finger) of Alexander Nevsky is located in the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Vladimir. The relics were transferred by decree of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' in October 1998 on the eve of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Bulgarian metochion Orthodox Church in Moscow.

Display of Alexander Nevsky in cinema

Nikolai Cherkasov as Alexander Nevsky

• Alexander Nevsky, Nevsky - Nikolai Cherkasov, director - Sergei Eisenstein, 1938.
• Mister Veliky Novgorod, Nevsky - Alexander Franskevich-Laie, director - Alexey Saltykov, 1984.
• Life of Alexander Nevsky, Nevsky - Anatoly Gorgul, director - Georgy Kuznetsov, 1991.
• Alexander. Battle of Neva, Nevsky - Anton Pampushny, director - Igor Kalenov, - Russia, 2008.