770 yo Ice Battle
I. Where?
Until now, historians have been arguing not only about the number of warriors who participated on both sides in the April 5 1242 battle, but also about the place of this battle. It’s not at all a fact that the Ice Slaughter took place, as many textbooks on stories, on Lake Peipsi. In versions of historians there are references to both Chudsky and Pskov lakes, as well as to Warm Lake (in the 13th century it was called Uzmen'e - a bottleneck, the strait that connects Pskov and Chudskoye lakes).
A quote from the book by Alexander Shirokorad “Peter the Great's Baltic mine” (M .: AST, 2008): “Of the ten historians who dealt with this issue (Kostomarov, Vasilyev, Trusman, Lurie, Porfiridov, Bunin, Belyaev, Tikhomirov, Paklar, Kozachenko) only Estonian Paklar made special surveys on the spot, while others tried to find a solution in the quiet of their offices. As a result, the alleged battlegrounds are scattered over a stretch of about a hundred kilometers! ”
In fact, he traveled to the site with three expeditions of enthusiasts and G. N. Karaev (1959, 1960, 1962) plus a reconnaissance survey conducted by him in 1961, but about that later.
Archaeological investigations aimed at finding evidence of the battle of 1242 of the year did not lead to any result. First, if the battle really happened on the ice of the lake, then part of the armor and weapons could drown. Secondly, swords, shields, helmets, chain mail had a high cost in the XIII century - and it is not surprising that what did not drown was tidied up.
The Novgorod first chronicle of the senior izvod points to Lake Peipsi: “Having seen Prince Oleksandr and Novgorod, put a regiment on Lake Chudsky, on Uzmeni, at Voronya Kameni; and nahasha on the Nemtsy and Chud regiment and a pig through the polk ... ”(cited from the publication: Novgorod first chronicle of the elder and younger izvodov. M .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1950, p. 78; quotation adapted).
The Novgorod first chronicle of the younger izvod also speaks about Lake Peipsi: “Having seen Prince Alexander and Novgorod, put a regiment on Lake Chudsky, on Uzmen, at Voronya Kameni; and advancing Lake Chyudskoye: there are a lot of bieshe of both of them ”(p. 295-296 decree ist.).
Let us look into the Lavrentiev chronicle: “Grand Prince Yaroslav, ambassador of his son Andrea to Novgorod Veliky, to help Oleksandrovi on Nemtsi, and I am victorious for Pleskov on the lake, and full of captivity, and return to Andrew to his father with honor” (quoted by : The Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles. Volume I. Lavrentievskaya and Troitskaya Chronicles. St. Petersburg, 1846. C. 201. If the chronicler said “beyond the Pleskov,” that is, beyond Pskov, then he probably meant the Pskov Lake.
An excerpt from the Life of Alexander Nevsky (manuscript of the mid-16th century by the Grebenshchikov Old Believer community in the city of Riga. In the book: Proceedings of the Old Russian Literature Department / Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House); Ed. V. P Adrianova-Peretz. - M .; L .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1947. V. V. S. 190-191):
“As for the victory of Oleksandr, the defeated 3 ship, and in the winter time and go to the German land in the power of greatness, do not boast more successes: reproving the Slovene language. Below him, take the grave of Plesk and Tia by planting them, the same prince Oleksandro is withdrawn, the city of Pleskov is free from captivity, and he took their land and burn them from the bottom.
But they proudly mated and solved: let's go [and] win Oleksandr, having him with our hands. When approaching, and the oleksandrone guard, the prince, Oleksandro, turned up against him and went against the sea, advancing on the sea of chyd, many of them were beshch: his father, Yaroslav, sent him to help his brother, Andrew, in a reminder of mine, ”. So, here is “the sea of chyudskoe”.
N. M. Karamzin did not say anything about the “meeting place”: “The Livonian Chronicler says that 70 of courageous Knights laid their heads there and that Prince Novogorodsky, capturing 6 officials, ordered them to be killed. The winner entered Livonia, and when our soldiers scattered for the assembly of food supplies, the enemy was defeated by a small forward detachment Novogorodsky. Here Alexander rendered the art of a prudent Military Leader: knowing the strength of the Germans, he stepped back, looked for a favorable place and started on Lake Chudsky [5 April 1242]] ”(“ History of the Russian State ”, volume IV). As we see, Karamzin - which was repeatedly noted by Russian historians - avoids indicating the exact location of the battle. "... I was looking for a favorable place and became on Lake Peipsi," - and the point.
N.I. Kostomarov: “Alexander sat in Pskov; Forward in the German Land were sent troops for the news. Alexander was expecting a new war; she had to follow from the Germans. Indeed, he soon heard that the German force had attacked the detachments sent to German Land, broke them and marched on Pskov. Meister Valk and the bishops went with confidence that things would get better on their side. German militia went on the ice across Lake Peipsi, with the aim of reaching Pskov with ice. But Alexander led the way of the enemies, and he made his way from Pskov on the ice with Novgorod and Pskov. Alexander set his troops in battle formation on the lake, near the Voroniy Kamen rock, on Uzmen, at the turn from Lake Pskov to Chudskoye. This place is so named because there are really crows constantly circling "(" Russian Republic. Northern Russian People's Rights during the Age and Species of the Veche Order. History of Novgorod, Pskov and Vyatka "). So, here is a turn from a lake to a lake, that is, the place is probably near the village of Pnevo — Uzmen, or Warm Lake.
S.Molovyov: “Arriving in Novgorod in 1241, Alexander immediately went to Koporye on the Germans, took up the fortress, brought the German garrison to Novgorod, part of it was released, only the traitors to the traitors and hung them up. But it was impossible to release Pskov so soon; Only next year, 1242, having traveled to the Horde, Alexander marched to Pskov and took him, with seventy knights killed with a lot of simple warriors, six knights taken prisoner and tortured, as the German chronicler says. After that, Alexander entered the land of Peipsi, in the possession of the Order; the army of the latter met one of the Russian detachments and smashed him utterly; when the fugitives brought Alexander the news of this defeat, he retreated to Lake Pskov and began to wait for the enemy on his ice, which was still strong on April 5. On the sun-rising, the famous battle began, known in our annals as the Battle of the Ice ”(“ History of Russia since ancient times ”, volume 3). Thus, according to Solovyov, the massacre took place on the ice of the Pskov lake.
Lev Gumilev had no doubt that the battlefield was Lake Peipsi: “In the winter of 1242, Alexander Nevsky with his Suzdal, or, as they said,“ Nizov ”ones, attacked the Germans and Pskov with the support of Novgorod and the German detachment. Freeing Pskov, he moved to the main forces of the Livonians, who were retreating, bypassing Lake Peipsi. On the western shore of the lake, by the Voronogo stone, the Germans had to take the fight "(" From Russia to Russia ").
Take a modern history textbook. Everything is simple: “The Knights broke the vanguard of Alexander and drove the prince to Lake Peipsi. Here, on April 5, one of the biggest battles in the battle for the lands of the Eastern Baltic States took place. Alexander's talent as a commander allowed him to defeat the Crusaders. ” (Pavlenko N.I., Andreev I.L., Fedorov V.A. History of Russia from ancient times to 1861 year. Ed. 3-e., Revised. / Edited by N. I. Pavlenko. M .: Higher School, 2004. C. 79.)
I see no reason to further cite different points of view on the question of exactly where the Ice Battle took place. Those wishing to get acquainted with the historiography of this confusing question refer to article by V. Potresovcontaining the maps and the book: The Battle on the Ice 1242. Proceedings of a complex expedition to clarify the location of the Battle on the Ice / Ed. ed. G.N. Karaev. Moscow - Leningrad: Science, 1966. 241 with. Historiographic materials from this publication on the Internet can be found [url = http: //] here [/ url]. Written sources, Western and Russian, - here or here.
I would like to make special mention of G. N. Karayev, a well-known investigator of the place of the Ice Battle. Here is what he writes about him and his expedition. Vladimir Potresov:
“Studies that would help clarify the events of seven centuries ago were undertaken by the military historian, specialist in the Middle Ages, Major General G. N. Karayev. Today it is not so indiscriminately scolding everything that was in Soviet times. Because it became, with what to compare. That expedition, which G.N. Karayev headed and successfully conducted on a voluntary basis, would be simply impossible to organize now. So, for a number of years, from 1956 to 1963, the expedition during holidays, vacations, and student practical classes dozens of people of various specialties worked absolutely free of charge: archaeologists, hydrologists, toponyms, geologists, and others. The military districts put at their disposal the most modern technology for those years: airplanes, helicopters, special boats. Scuba divers and divers surveyed the bottom of the lake, and groups of tourists in canoes found waterways that Alexander Nevsky could fundamentally move. ”
Expeditions, carried out by a team of G. N. Karayev, came to the following conclusions:
1) The warm lake - the chronicle Uzmen - in the northern part in the XIII century was blocked by a peninsula, of which only Meža Island (Piirissar) remained.
2) Voroniy Kamen is now the remnant of a “dome-shaped structure, represented by red-brown sandstone. The height of this hill was obviously not less than the dome of the village. Kallaste, currently reaching the height of 12 m. Voroniy Kamen, located on the northwestern tip of. Crow, which in those days was the right bank of the r. The idiots at its confluence with Uzmen, towering over the rest of the country on 12-15 m, served as an excellent guide and watchpoint. "
G.N. Karaev notes: “At this time, the otmezhevanny tubercle could still be found and mapped, but not much time would pass, and it would disappear completely, the remains of the Voronii Stone would undergo further destruction, and, finally, a time would come when only the historical the monument erected as a result of the research work of Soviet historians will remind the descendants of the place of the great battle of the Raven Stone, this silent witness to the feat accomplished by our ancestors. ”
Interpretation of the site of the massacre by G. N. Karaev:
Under the chronicle Uzmenyu refers to the channel connecting the Pskov and Peipsi Lake and now bears the name of the Warm Lake. Between the northern tip of Cape Sigovets, Stanok Island and the western tip of Gorodets Island, in early April, the ice was too weak (“sigovitsa”). But between Cape Sigovets in the north and the village of Pnevo in the south, in early April the ice was quite strong and allowed to be shipped through Uzmen. Moreover, Karayev writes, “on the eastern coast of Uzmeni there was a wide strip of shallow water, on which the water froze through to the bottom in winter. As hydrological surveys have shown, barely covered with water were formed on this strip. Such shoals, usually overgrown with reeds, are a frequent occurrence at the present time. In winter, when the water freezes, on an icy surface they remain stuck out from under the snow, like grassy islands, overgrown with reeds. ” District of the northeastern part of Uzmen in the 13th century was located at the crossroads of trade routes, was fortified (especially in the region of the mouth of the river Bile) and was densely populated. Here "there were, apparently, vast lands on which, from ancient times, they were harvesting fish, hay and other agricultural products." All this was convenient for the location of the troops.
Karaev writes:
“If, taking all this into account, carefully examine the outlines of the coastline of the islands of Uzmeni, as they were in the 13th century, according to the hydrological surveys carried out by the expedition, the following becomes obvious:
1) the battle could not have taken place directly at Voronogo Kamen due to the weakness of the ice at Sigowice;
2) north of the Voronii Kamnya, i.e. between it and the Podborovsky cape, this is also excluded, since the chronicle says that the defeated enemy was “a gonjerm along the ice to the Subolichsky coast” and To the west of these places extended vast wooded islands, and thus, pursuing "on the ice" was not possible;
3) to the south-west of Vorony Stone was a peninsula, much of which is currently flooded; it is now called Sigovets (cape), since its most northern tip is adjacent to the “sigovitsa”.
This section of the eastern coast of Uzmen was located in the 13th century. (as it is now) against the widest part of it - to the opposite bank, if you look directly to the west, to the village. Parapalo is currently more than 6 km away, and up to Cape Ukhtinka, where the broken remnants of the German knight’s army, very likely, ran - up to 8 km. Thus, in this respect, the area near the western coast of Sigovets cape very close to the direction of the chronicle. It is, however, not far from Crow Stone - less than 1,5 km; This fully explains the fact that the chronicler, when indicating the place of the battle, named this landmark, which is widely known in the area.
It is necessary, moreover, to keep in mind that at that time no one measured the distance between the shores and it could be called only very approximately by those participants of the victorious campaign, who later, from memory, told the chronicler about it. In addition, due to the fact that the description of the battle, placed in the annals, is embellished by the religious writings of the chronicler, it is natural to assume that the figure “seven” was named by him in this case as apocryphal in order to express the fullness of the victory over the enemy. ”
“Thus,” concludes G.N. Karayev, “the place of the Ice Battles is quite accurately determined by comparing the results of the expedition survey and the topographic data on it contained in the chronicle text. Due to the fact that the coastline at Cape Sigovets has now changed and moved to 300-400 meters to the east, the battle site should be understood as the stretch of warm Lake, located about 400 meters west of the modern coast of Cape Sigovets, between its northern extremity and latitude der. Isle".
In the thirteenth century the lake at this place was already than now (see on map).
The second question “where” concerns the two options offered by history: is it on the ice, or ashore?
“On both sides, the dead fell on the grass,” says Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. Karayev answered this question: “... having built up on the shallow water strip adjacent to the eastern bank of the Uzmeny, the Russian army was among the thickets of reeds protruding from under the snow, which is mentioned in the chronicle as“ grass ”.
Ii. How many?
Let us return to the chronicles.
In the Novgorod first chronicle of the eldest, we read: "... and Pade Chyudi bieschisla, and the German 400, and 50 with the hands of Yash and brought to Novgorod" (p. 78).
In the Novgorod first chronicle of the younger editions, the numbers changed: “... and Pade Chyudi, beschisla, and German 500, and other 50 by Yash and brought to Novgorod” (p. 296).
Therefore, the killed Germans were 400 or 500, captives - 50, and more was destroyed "without a number" Chud.
Laurentian chronicle and the number of soldiers and dead does not, alas, nothing. Her story "In the summer of 6750" generally fits into three lines.
The Life of Alexander Nevsky is a more artistic source than a documentary and historical one. Judge for yourselves: “But then, the Sabbath is a day, the rising sun, the wallpaper coalesced, and bych of evil, rubbing from spears of breaking, sound from a sword section, as if I were moving to the sea, I don’t see ice, covered everything with blood. Beshe many are full in his regiment, but the vedyhut is near the machinations of the ilk called God's rotor. Yako approaching the prince to the city Pleskova, sosretosha him with crosses abbots, priests in vestments of the city, and before the city singing the glory of the Lord Olexandr: posobivy Lord, meek Davyd wins Yati foreigners, faithful prince our oruzhiem cross svoboditi hail Pleskov from inoplemennik from inoyazychnik hand Olexander "(p. 191). In a word, “set.”
Karamzin writes on this topic: “Another winter lasted then in the month of April, and the army could safely operate on solid ice. The Germans hit our ranks with a sharp column; but the courageous Prince, striking at the enemies from the side, kneaded them; he broke, destroyed the Germans and drove the Chud until the darkest evening. 400 Knights fell from our swords; fifty were taken prisoner, including one who, in his arrogance, wanted to capture Alexander himself; Chudi’s bodies lay on seven versts ”(“ History of the Russian State ”, volume IV). As we see, the historian adheres to the information of the annals.
NI Kostomarov, in contrast to Karamzin, follows the Life of Alexander Nevsky, adding the maximum number of Germans killed from the chronicle: “The Germans moved to the Russians. According to the method of the then tactics, Alexander put his army of pigs: the construction was called a triangle, which formed a sharp end, turned to the enemy. Seeing the approaching enemies, Alexander raised his hands up and loudly in front of his entire army said: “God, judge me, and judge my argument with this eloquent people; help me, Lord, how you helped my grandfather Yaroslav against the accursed Svjatopolk! ”It was then the Saturday of the fifth week of the great fast, the day of 5, April. The sun has just risen. When the Germans approached, Alexander swiftly moved his pig with his snout against the enemy, and the German system was cut. Then, says the chronicler, conveying his story with the words of an eyewitness who reported the glorious deed to the news: “Then the crackling of breaking spears and the sound of the sword section rose. It seemed that the frozen sea had moved, and the great one was slashing the Germans and Chudi with us, and the ice was not visible: everything was covered in blood. ” Torn, lost the ranks, the Germans fled; Russians triumphantly chased them seven miles across the ice to the Subolichny coast. The chronicler has five hundred beaten Germans, and about Chudi says that her countless number has disappeared; some sank in the water: then in the spring time the ice was not strong; and of those who fled, many were with wounds, and died from wounds. Fifty Germans are taken alive ”(“ Russian Republic. Northern Russian national empire during the time of the specific veche order. History of Novgorod, Pskov and Vyatka ”).
S. M. Solovyov: “... the Russians drove the Germans across the ice to the coast at a distance of seven miles, killed 500 people from them, and countless multitudes, captured 50 knights” (“History of Russia from ancient times”, volume 3). Solovyov also used "The Life of Alexander Nevsky", and took the number from the chronicle.
Gumilev: “The number of knights proper was small - only a few dozen, but each knight was a formidable fighter. In addition, the knights were supported by foot mercenaries armed with spears, and the allies of the order - the Livs. The knights formed a "pig": the most powerful warrior in front, behind him - the other two, behind those - four, and so on. The onslaught of such a wedge was irresistible for lightly armed Russians, and Alexander did not even try to stop the blow of the German army. On the contrary, he weakened his center and gave the knights the opportunity to break through it. Meanwhile, the reinforced flanks of the Russians attacked both wings of the German forces. The Livas ran, the Germans resisted desperately, but since the time was springtime, the ice cracked and the heavily armed knights began to fall into the water of Lake Peipsi. Novgorod also did not allow the enemy to escape from the disastrous trap. The defeat of the Germans on Lake Peipsi 5 on April 1242 delayed their attack on the East - Drang nach Osten - which was the leitmotif of German politics from 1202 to 1941 year "(" From Russia to Russia "). So, "a few dozen" plus "livy".
And here is an excerpt from Senior Livonian Rhymed Chronicles:
"The Russians had such a rank (schar),
that every German attacked,
perhaps sixty people.
The Knights Brothers resisted quite stubbornly,
but they were overpowered there.
Part of the derpttsev out
from the battle, it was their salvation,
they were forced to retreat.
Twenty knight brothers were killed there,
and six were taken prisoner. "
"Sixty" people against one - a clear exaggeration of the losers, but the 20 killed knights and six captives - seems to be true. Why? Because there were few knights at that time and it was very expensive to maintain a knight with squires and horses.
Quote:
“... Pskov, for example, being captured by the Livonians, could contain only two such full-fledged soldiers. Of course, they marched along with their servants and squires, but even with them the number of such a knightly unit could not be more than 15 — 20 soldiers, and there were only 5 — 7 men in cavalry. At one castle of the Livonian Order, as a rule, accounted for one knight. He was called the commander, and he led the commissariat, which usually consisted of one castle and the surrounding land. From 1230 to 1290, the Order built around 90 locks on the territory of the Baltic States. From here it is easy to calculate the military capabilities of the order and the number of its troops.
It should also be noted that a year before that, 9 on April 1241, the Teutonic Order took part in the Battle of Legnica. Then the army of the Golden Horde under the command of the grandson of Genghis Khan Baidar defeated the combined Polish-German army under the command of the Krakow prince Henry II the Pious. Considering that quite a few Teutons died in that battle, no more than 60-70 knights of the order could take part in the Ice Battle (some ancient German sources speak of 30 knights, each of which still had 5-6 cavalry warriors). With the infantry supporting them, about a thousand and a half soldiers gathered, including poorly armed Estonians ”(source: "A red star").
A. Shcherbakov and I. Dzys in the book “Ice Battle” (Moscow: Exprint, 2001) write:
“There is practically no exact data on the number of sides during the battle on Lake Peipsi, but it can be approximately established.
The Germans, obviously, having taken the advance of the Russian detachments on the territory of the Derpt episcopacy and the Order of the Order for a regular raid, did not begin to force all the forces that were in Livonia (and given the fighting against the Lithuanians, it was simply impossible) and carried out total mobilization, but came up with warriors who were able to quickly assemble, without waiting for help from the Danes.
During this period, 60 Teutonic Knights were in Livonia, of which no more than 30 could participate in the battle at Lake Peipsi. After the Battle of Siauliai, no more than two dozen knights remained of the Order of the Sword, although it was unlikely that all of them were in the army that set out on the ice of Lake Peipsi. The Dorpat bishop with the knights accompanying him should also be taken into account, although it is generally unlikely that there would be more than fifteen people. In total, this will be no more than 65 — 70 knights.
Each knight was accompanied by up to a dozen squires, sergeants and armed servants. Most likely, all of them were equestrian in April 1242. With knights, it will be about 700 — 750 German fighters in a knightly army.
To participate in the campaign militiamen from Chud were involved. There is no exact data on their numbers: neither the Germans nor the Russians did not consider it necessary to reflect their numbers in the chronicles and chronicles. In the battle, they did not play any role. All of them, as you can imagine, were from five hundred to nine hundred, but no more. ”
Bottom line: roughly 1500 warriors, of which up to 70 knights.
On the Russian side, according to some modern estimates, there were about 2-3 thousands of warriors - that is, a little less than sixty per enemy. For example, in the above-mentioned book Shcherbakov and Dzysya "Ice Battle" provides the following data: "... the total number of Russian troops - no less than two thousand fighters, but no more than three."
Estimates of the Russian ratification in Soviet times, for example, those given in Great Soviet Encyclopedia, reached “15 — 17 thousand people”. At the same time, the number of crusaders was reported evasively: “great forces”, “large knightly troops”. It seems that Soviet historians believed the Livonian chronicles: 60 vs. 1.
On this occasion, historian and archivist Anatoly Bakhtin from Kaliningrad in April 2004 said Izvestia correspondent I. Stulova the following: “Image makers probably took part in the compilation of the Russian chronicles of that time, who, in order to recognize the significance of the victory or explain the reasons for the defeat, did not bother themselves with pedantry. The number of warriors in those times was indicated by one word “beschisla,” that is, a myriad of. This formulation gave historians an occasion to increase the order of the number of participants in the battle of Lake Peipsi by an order of magnitude. Unrealistic and unsubstantiated figures sounded like anecdote: eighteen thousand from the Russians, fifteen from the Order. By the end of the thirties of the thirteenth century, the entire population of Novgorod, including women, old people and children, was just over fourteen thousand people. Therefore, the maximum number of militia, which Alexander could call under his banner, could not exceed two thousand warriors. And the Teutonic Order, the majority of whose members shed their and other people's blood in Palestine for the Holy Sepulcher, during this period, consisted of approximately two hundred and eighty brothers and knights. No more than two dozen Teutons fought directly on the ice of Lake Peipsi. The rest of the thousandth mass that opposed the Russian squad was made up of Livonians and Chuds, the ancestors of the current Estonians. ”
I. Danilevsky writes: "Other historians are trying to" reconcile "the numbers given by the ancient Russian chroniclers, and the data of the Rhymed Chronicle, claiming that the chronicler allegedly cited the full losses of the enemy, and the Chronicle took into account only full-fledged knights. Naturally, it is impossible to either confirm or refute such conjectures. ”
Yes, it is impossible to either confirm or deny, but reading the Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, one can assume that the chronicler, who spoke about sixty against one, took into account only the knights, not taking into account the Livonians and even more so Chud. The Russian army was taken into account in full. Simple truth shines through the obscuring poetic text of the chronicle.
Perhaps we can take for granted the "minimalist" assumption that on the Warm Lake 1500 Germans and their allies fought against the 2000-2500 Russians - as the most plausible. Among the Germans there were “several dozen” heavily armed knights (it seems that Gumilev turned out to be the most accurate historian, as he put it very carefully), “but every knight was a formidable fighter”.
In conclusion, I will again quote “The Laurentian Chronicle”: “Grand Prince Yaroslav, ambassador of his son Andrea to Novogorod Veliky, to help Oleksandrovi to Nemtsy, and I will win for Pleskovoy on the lake, and full of fun, and return Andrey to my father with honor.” I will also quote a line from The Life of Alexander Nevsky: “... his father, Yaroslav, sent him to help his younger brother, Andrey, in a squad of retinue.” Speaking about the commander-winner Alexander, we should not forget about his younger brother - Andrew.
Until now, historians have been arguing not only about the number of warriors who participated on both sides in the April 5 1242 battle, but also about the place of this battle. It’s not at all a fact that the Ice Slaughter took place, as many textbooks on stories, on Lake Peipsi. In versions of historians there are references to both Chudsky and Pskov lakes, as well as to Warm Lake (in the 13th century it was called Uzmen'e - a bottleneck, the strait that connects Pskov and Chudskoye lakes).
A quote from the book by Alexander Shirokorad “Peter the Great's Baltic mine” (M .: AST, 2008): “Of the ten historians who dealt with this issue (Kostomarov, Vasilyev, Trusman, Lurie, Porfiridov, Bunin, Belyaev, Tikhomirov, Paklar, Kozachenko) only Estonian Paklar made special surveys on the spot, while others tried to find a solution in the quiet of their offices. As a result, the alleged battlegrounds are scattered over a stretch of about a hundred kilometers! ”
Nazaruk V.M. "Battle of the Ice", 1984 year
In fact, he traveled to the site with three expeditions of enthusiasts and G. N. Karaev (1959, 1960, 1962) plus a reconnaissance survey conducted by him in 1961, but about that later.
Archaeological investigations aimed at finding evidence of the battle of 1242 of the year did not lead to any result. First, if the battle really happened on the ice of the lake, then part of the armor and weapons could drown. Secondly, swords, shields, helmets, chain mail had a high cost in the XIII century - and it is not surprising that what did not drown was tidied up.
The Novgorod first chronicle of the senior izvod points to Lake Peipsi: “Having seen Prince Oleksandr and Novgorod, put a regiment on Lake Chudsky, on Uzmeni, at Voronya Kameni; and nahasha on the Nemtsy and Chud regiment and a pig through the polk ... ”(cited from the publication: Novgorod first chronicle of the elder and younger izvodov. M .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1950, p. 78; quotation adapted).
The Novgorod first chronicle of the younger izvod also speaks about Lake Peipsi: “Having seen Prince Alexander and Novgorod, put a regiment on Lake Chudsky, on Uzmen, at Voronya Kameni; and advancing Lake Chyudskoye: there are a lot of bieshe of both of them ”(p. 295-296 decree ist.).
Let us look into the Lavrentiev chronicle: “Grand Prince Yaroslav, ambassador of his son Andrea to Novgorod Veliky, to help Oleksandrovi on Nemtsi, and I am victorious for Pleskov on the lake, and full of captivity, and return to Andrew to his father with honor” (quoted by : The Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles. Volume I. Lavrentievskaya and Troitskaya Chronicles. St. Petersburg, 1846. C. 201. If the chronicler said “beyond the Pleskov,” that is, beyond Pskov, then he probably meant the Pskov Lake.
An excerpt from the Life of Alexander Nevsky (manuscript of the mid-16th century by the Grebenshchikov Old Believer community in the city of Riga. In the book: Proceedings of the Old Russian Literature Department / Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House); Ed. V. P Adrianova-Peretz. - M .; L .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1947. V. V. S. 190-191):
“As for the victory of Oleksandr, the defeated 3 ship, and in the winter time and go to the German land in the power of greatness, do not boast more successes: reproving the Slovene language. Below him, take the grave of Plesk and Tia by planting them, the same prince Oleksandro is withdrawn, the city of Pleskov is free from captivity, and he took their land and burn them from the bottom.
But they proudly mated and solved: let's go [and] win Oleksandr, having him with our hands. When approaching, and the oleksandrone guard, the prince, Oleksandro, turned up against him and went against the sea, advancing on the sea of chyd, many of them were beshch: his father, Yaroslav, sent him to help his brother, Andrew, in a reminder of mine, ”. So, here is “the sea of chyudskoe”.
N. M. Karamzin did not say anything about the “meeting place”: “The Livonian Chronicler says that 70 of courageous Knights laid their heads there and that Prince Novogorodsky, capturing 6 officials, ordered them to be killed. The winner entered Livonia, and when our soldiers scattered for the assembly of food supplies, the enemy was defeated by a small forward detachment Novogorodsky. Here Alexander rendered the art of a prudent Military Leader: knowing the strength of the Germans, he stepped back, looked for a favorable place and started on Lake Chudsky [5 April 1242]] ”(“ History of the Russian State ”, volume IV). As we see, Karamzin - which was repeatedly noted by Russian historians - avoids indicating the exact location of the battle. "... I was looking for a favorable place and became on Lake Peipsi," - and the point.
N.I. Kostomarov: “Alexander sat in Pskov; Forward in the German Land were sent troops for the news. Alexander was expecting a new war; she had to follow from the Germans. Indeed, he soon heard that the German force had attacked the detachments sent to German Land, broke them and marched on Pskov. Meister Valk and the bishops went with confidence that things would get better on their side. German militia went on the ice across Lake Peipsi, with the aim of reaching Pskov with ice. But Alexander led the way of the enemies, and he made his way from Pskov on the ice with Novgorod and Pskov. Alexander set his troops in battle formation on the lake, near the Voroniy Kamen rock, on Uzmen, at the turn from Lake Pskov to Chudskoye. This place is so named because there are really crows constantly circling "(" Russian Republic. Northern Russian People's Rights during the Age and Species of the Veche Order. History of Novgorod, Pskov and Vyatka "). So, here is a turn from a lake to a lake, that is, the place is probably near the village of Pnevo — Uzmen, or Warm Lake.
S.Molovyov: “Arriving in Novgorod in 1241, Alexander immediately went to Koporye on the Germans, took up the fortress, brought the German garrison to Novgorod, part of it was released, only the traitors to the traitors and hung them up. But it was impossible to release Pskov so soon; Only next year, 1242, having traveled to the Horde, Alexander marched to Pskov and took him, with seventy knights killed with a lot of simple warriors, six knights taken prisoner and tortured, as the German chronicler says. After that, Alexander entered the land of Peipsi, in the possession of the Order; the army of the latter met one of the Russian detachments and smashed him utterly; when the fugitives brought Alexander the news of this defeat, he retreated to Lake Pskov and began to wait for the enemy on his ice, which was still strong on April 5. On the sun-rising, the famous battle began, known in our annals as the Battle of the Ice ”(“ History of Russia since ancient times ”, volume 3). Thus, according to Solovyov, the massacre took place on the ice of the Pskov lake.
Lev Gumilev had no doubt that the battlefield was Lake Peipsi: “In the winter of 1242, Alexander Nevsky with his Suzdal, or, as they said,“ Nizov ”ones, attacked the Germans and Pskov with the support of Novgorod and the German detachment. Freeing Pskov, he moved to the main forces of the Livonians, who were retreating, bypassing Lake Peipsi. On the western shore of the lake, by the Voronogo stone, the Germans had to take the fight "(" From Russia to Russia ").
Take a modern history textbook. Everything is simple: “The Knights broke the vanguard of Alexander and drove the prince to Lake Peipsi. Here, on April 5, one of the biggest battles in the battle for the lands of the Eastern Baltic States took place. Alexander's talent as a commander allowed him to defeat the Crusaders. ” (Pavlenko N.I., Andreev I.L., Fedorov V.A. History of Russia from ancient times to 1861 year. Ed. 3-e., Revised. / Edited by N. I. Pavlenko. M .: Higher School, 2004. C. 79.)
I see no reason to further cite different points of view on the question of exactly where the Ice Battle took place. Those wishing to get acquainted with the historiography of this confusing question refer to article by V. Potresovcontaining the maps and the book: The Battle on the Ice 1242. Proceedings of a complex expedition to clarify the location of the Battle on the Ice / Ed. ed. G.N. Karaev. Moscow - Leningrad: Science, 1966. 241 with. Historiographic materials from this publication on the Internet can be found [url = http: //] here [/ url]. Written sources, Western and Russian, - here or here.
I would like to make special mention of G. N. Karayev, a well-known investigator of the place of the Ice Battle. Here is what he writes about him and his expedition. Vladimir Potresov:
“Studies that would help clarify the events of seven centuries ago were undertaken by the military historian, specialist in the Middle Ages, Major General G. N. Karayev. Today it is not so indiscriminately scolding everything that was in Soviet times. Because it became, with what to compare. That expedition, which G.N. Karayev headed and successfully conducted on a voluntary basis, would be simply impossible to organize now. So, for a number of years, from 1956 to 1963, the expedition during holidays, vacations, and student practical classes dozens of people of various specialties worked absolutely free of charge: archaeologists, hydrologists, toponyms, geologists, and others. The military districts put at their disposal the most modern technology for those years: airplanes, helicopters, special boats. Scuba divers and divers surveyed the bottom of the lake, and groups of tourists in canoes found waterways that Alexander Nevsky could fundamentally move. ”
Expeditions, carried out by a team of G. N. Karayev, came to the following conclusions:
1) The warm lake - the chronicle Uzmen - in the northern part in the XIII century was blocked by a peninsula, of which only Meža Island (Piirissar) remained.
2) Voroniy Kamen is now the remnant of a “dome-shaped structure, represented by red-brown sandstone. The height of this hill was obviously not less than the dome of the village. Kallaste, currently reaching the height of 12 m. Voroniy Kamen, located on the northwestern tip of. Crow, which in those days was the right bank of the r. The idiots at its confluence with Uzmen, towering over the rest of the country on 12-15 m, served as an excellent guide and watchpoint. "
G.N. Karaev notes: “At this time, the otmezhevanny tubercle could still be found and mapped, but not much time would pass, and it would disappear completely, the remains of the Voronii Stone would undergo further destruction, and, finally, a time would come when only the historical the monument erected as a result of the research work of Soviet historians will remind the descendants of the place of the great battle of the Raven Stone, this silent witness to the feat accomplished by our ancestors. ”
Interpretation of the site of the massacre by G. N. Karaev:
Under the chronicle Uzmenyu refers to the channel connecting the Pskov and Peipsi Lake and now bears the name of the Warm Lake. Between the northern tip of Cape Sigovets, Stanok Island and the western tip of Gorodets Island, in early April, the ice was too weak (“sigovitsa”). But between Cape Sigovets in the north and the village of Pnevo in the south, in early April the ice was quite strong and allowed to be shipped through Uzmen. Moreover, Karayev writes, “on the eastern coast of Uzmeni there was a wide strip of shallow water, on which the water froze through to the bottom in winter. As hydrological surveys have shown, barely covered with water were formed on this strip. Such shoals, usually overgrown with reeds, are a frequent occurrence at the present time. In winter, when the water freezes, on an icy surface they remain stuck out from under the snow, like grassy islands, overgrown with reeds. ” District of the northeastern part of Uzmen in the 13th century was located at the crossroads of trade routes, was fortified (especially in the region of the mouth of the river Bile) and was densely populated. Here "there were, apparently, vast lands on which, from ancient times, they were harvesting fish, hay and other agricultural products." All this was convenient for the location of the troops.
Karaev writes:
“If, taking all this into account, carefully examine the outlines of the coastline of the islands of Uzmeni, as they were in the 13th century, according to the hydrological surveys carried out by the expedition, the following becomes obvious:
1) the battle could not have taken place directly at Voronogo Kamen due to the weakness of the ice at Sigowice;
2) north of the Voronii Kamnya, i.e. between it and the Podborovsky cape, this is also excluded, since the chronicle says that the defeated enemy was “a gonjerm along the ice to the Subolichsky coast” and To the west of these places extended vast wooded islands, and thus, pursuing "on the ice" was not possible;
3) to the south-west of Vorony Stone was a peninsula, much of which is currently flooded; it is now called Sigovets (cape), since its most northern tip is adjacent to the “sigovitsa”.
This section of the eastern coast of Uzmen was located in the 13th century. (as it is now) against the widest part of it - to the opposite bank, if you look directly to the west, to the village. Parapalo is currently more than 6 km away, and up to Cape Ukhtinka, where the broken remnants of the German knight’s army, very likely, ran - up to 8 km. Thus, in this respect, the area near the western coast of Sigovets cape very close to the direction of the chronicle. It is, however, not far from Crow Stone - less than 1,5 km; This fully explains the fact that the chronicler, when indicating the place of the battle, named this landmark, which is widely known in the area.
S. Prisekin "Whoever comes to us with a sword, will perish by the sword" (1983)
It is necessary, moreover, to keep in mind that at that time no one measured the distance between the shores and it could be called only very approximately by those participants of the victorious campaign, who later, from memory, told the chronicler about it. In addition, due to the fact that the description of the battle, placed in the annals, is embellished by the religious writings of the chronicler, it is natural to assume that the figure “seven” was named by him in this case as apocryphal in order to express the fullness of the victory over the enemy. ”
“Thus,” concludes G.N. Karayev, “the place of the Ice Battles is quite accurately determined by comparing the results of the expedition survey and the topographic data on it contained in the chronicle text. Due to the fact that the coastline at Cape Sigovets has now changed and moved to 300-400 meters to the east, the battle site should be understood as the stretch of warm Lake, located about 400 meters west of the modern coast of Cape Sigovets, between its northern extremity and latitude der. Isle".
In the thirteenth century the lake at this place was already than now (see on map).
The second question “where” concerns the two options offered by history: is it on the ice, or ashore?
“On both sides, the dead fell on the grass,” says Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. Karayev answered this question: “... having built up on the shallow water strip adjacent to the eastern bank of the Uzmeny, the Russian army was among the thickets of reeds protruding from under the snow, which is mentioned in the chronicle as“ grass ”.
Ii. How many?
Let us return to the chronicles.
In the Novgorod first chronicle of the eldest, we read: "... and Pade Chyudi bieschisla, and the German 400, and 50 with the hands of Yash and brought to Novgorod" (p. 78).
In the Novgorod first chronicle of the younger editions, the numbers changed: “... and Pade Chyudi, beschisla, and German 500, and other 50 by Yash and brought to Novgorod” (p. 296).
Therefore, the killed Germans were 400 or 500, captives - 50, and more was destroyed "without a number" Chud.
Laurentian chronicle and the number of soldiers and dead does not, alas, nothing. Her story "In the summer of 6750" generally fits into three lines.
The Life of Alexander Nevsky is a more artistic source than a documentary and historical one. Judge for yourselves: “But then, the Sabbath is a day, the rising sun, the wallpaper coalesced, and bych of evil, rubbing from spears of breaking, sound from a sword section, as if I were moving to the sea, I don’t see ice, covered everything with blood. Beshe many are full in his regiment, but the vedyhut is near the machinations of the ilk called God's rotor. Yako approaching the prince to the city Pleskova, sosretosha him with crosses abbots, priests in vestments of the city, and before the city singing the glory of the Lord Olexandr: posobivy Lord, meek Davyd wins Yati foreigners, faithful prince our oruzhiem cross svoboditi hail Pleskov from inoplemennik from inoyazychnik hand Olexander "(p. 191). In a word, “set.”
Karamzin writes on this topic: “Another winter lasted then in the month of April, and the army could safely operate on solid ice. The Germans hit our ranks with a sharp column; but the courageous Prince, striking at the enemies from the side, kneaded them; he broke, destroyed the Germans and drove the Chud until the darkest evening. 400 Knights fell from our swords; fifty were taken prisoner, including one who, in his arrogance, wanted to capture Alexander himself; Chudi’s bodies lay on seven versts ”(“ History of the Russian State ”, volume IV). As we see, the historian adheres to the information of the annals.
NI Kostomarov, in contrast to Karamzin, follows the Life of Alexander Nevsky, adding the maximum number of Germans killed from the chronicle: “The Germans moved to the Russians. According to the method of the then tactics, Alexander put his army of pigs: the construction was called a triangle, which formed a sharp end, turned to the enemy. Seeing the approaching enemies, Alexander raised his hands up and loudly in front of his entire army said: “God, judge me, and judge my argument with this eloquent people; help me, Lord, how you helped my grandfather Yaroslav against the accursed Svjatopolk! ”It was then the Saturday of the fifth week of the great fast, the day of 5, April. The sun has just risen. When the Germans approached, Alexander swiftly moved his pig with his snout against the enemy, and the German system was cut. Then, says the chronicler, conveying his story with the words of an eyewitness who reported the glorious deed to the news: “Then the crackling of breaking spears and the sound of the sword section rose. It seemed that the frozen sea had moved, and the great one was slashing the Germans and Chudi with us, and the ice was not visible: everything was covered in blood. ” Torn, lost the ranks, the Germans fled; Russians triumphantly chased them seven miles across the ice to the Subolichny coast. The chronicler has five hundred beaten Germans, and about Chudi says that her countless number has disappeared; some sank in the water: then in the spring time the ice was not strong; and of those who fled, many were with wounds, and died from wounds. Fifty Germans are taken alive ”(“ Russian Republic. Northern Russian national empire during the time of the specific veche order. History of Novgorod, Pskov and Vyatka ”).
S. M. Solovyov: “... the Russians drove the Germans across the ice to the coast at a distance of seven miles, killed 500 people from them, and countless multitudes, captured 50 knights” (“History of Russia from ancient times”, volume 3). Solovyov also used "The Life of Alexander Nevsky", and took the number from the chronicle.
Gumilev: “The number of knights proper was small - only a few dozen, but each knight was a formidable fighter. In addition, the knights were supported by foot mercenaries armed with spears, and the allies of the order - the Livs. The knights formed a "pig": the most powerful warrior in front, behind him - the other two, behind those - four, and so on. The onslaught of such a wedge was irresistible for lightly armed Russians, and Alexander did not even try to stop the blow of the German army. On the contrary, he weakened his center and gave the knights the opportunity to break through it. Meanwhile, the reinforced flanks of the Russians attacked both wings of the German forces. The Livas ran, the Germans resisted desperately, but since the time was springtime, the ice cracked and the heavily armed knights began to fall into the water of Lake Peipsi. Novgorod also did not allow the enemy to escape from the disastrous trap. The defeat of the Germans on Lake Peipsi 5 on April 1242 delayed their attack on the East - Drang nach Osten - which was the leitmotif of German politics from 1202 to 1941 year "(" From Russia to Russia "). So, "a few dozen" plus "livy".
And here is an excerpt from Senior Livonian Rhymed Chronicles:
"The Russians had such a rank (schar),
that every German attacked,
perhaps sixty people.
The Knights Brothers resisted quite stubbornly,
but they were overpowered there.
Part of the derpttsev out
from the battle, it was their salvation,
they were forced to retreat.
Twenty knight brothers were killed there,
and six were taken prisoner. "
"Sixty" people against one - a clear exaggeration of the losers, but the 20 killed knights and six captives - seems to be true. Why? Because there were few knights at that time and it was very expensive to maintain a knight with squires and horses.
Quote:
“... Pskov, for example, being captured by the Livonians, could contain only two such full-fledged soldiers. Of course, they marched along with their servants and squires, but even with them the number of such a knightly unit could not be more than 15 — 20 soldiers, and there were only 5 — 7 men in cavalry. At one castle of the Livonian Order, as a rule, accounted for one knight. He was called the commander, and he led the commissariat, which usually consisted of one castle and the surrounding land. From 1230 to 1290, the Order built around 90 locks on the territory of the Baltic States. From here it is easy to calculate the military capabilities of the order and the number of its troops.
V. Serov "Alexander Nevsky's entrance to Pskov after the ice battle"
It should also be noted that a year before that, 9 on April 1241, the Teutonic Order took part in the Battle of Legnica. Then the army of the Golden Horde under the command of the grandson of Genghis Khan Baidar defeated the combined Polish-German army under the command of the Krakow prince Henry II the Pious. Considering that quite a few Teutons died in that battle, no more than 60-70 knights of the order could take part in the Ice Battle (some ancient German sources speak of 30 knights, each of which still had 5-6 cavalry warriors). With the infantry supporting them, about a thousand and a half soldiers gathered, including poorly armed Estonians ”(source: "A red star").
A. Shcherbakov and I. Dzys in the book “Ice Battle” (Moscow: Exprint, 2001) write:
“There is practically no exact data on the number of sides during the battle on Lake Peipsi, but it can be approximately established.
The Germans, obviously, having taken the advance of the Russian detachments on the territory of the Derpt episcopacy and the Order of the Order for a regular raid, did not begin to force all the forces that were in Livonia (and given the fighting against the Lithuanians, it was simply impossible) and carried out total mobilization, but came up with warriors who were able to quickly assemble, without waiting for help from the Danes.
During this period, 60 Teutonic Knights were in Livonia, of which no more than 30 could participate in the battle at Lake Peipsi. After the Battle of Siauliai, no more than two dozen knights remained of the Order of the Sword, although it was unlikely that all of them were in the army that set out on the ice of Lake Peipsi. The Dorpat bishop with the knights accompanying him should also be taken into account, although it is generally unlikely that there would be more than fifteen people. In total, this will be no more than 65 — 70 knights.
Each knight was accompanied by up to a dozen squires, sergeants and armed servants. Most likely, all of them were equestrian in April 1242. With knights, it will be about 700 — 750 German fighters in a knightly army.
To participate in the campaign militiamen from Chud were involved. There is no exact data on their numbers: neither the Germans nor the Russians did not consider it necessary to reflect their numbers in the chronicles and chronicles. In the battle, they did not play any role. All of them, as you can imagine, were from five hundred to nine hundred, but no more. ”
Bottom line: roughly 1500 warriors, of which up to 70 knights.
On the Russian side, according to some modern estimates, there were about 2-3 thousands of warriors - that is, a little less than sixty per enemy. For example, in the above-mentioned book Shcherbakov and Dzysya "Ice Battle" provides the following data: "... the total number of Russian troops - no less than two thousand fighters, but no more than three."
Estimates of the Russian ratification in Soviet times, for example, those given in Great Soviet Encyclopedia, reached “15 — 17 thousand people”. At the same time, the number of crusaders was reported evasively: “great forces”, “large knightly troops”. It seems that Soviet historians believed the Livonian chronicles: 60 vs. 1.
On this occasion, historian and archivist Anatoly Bakhtin from Kaliningrad in April 2004 said Izvestia correspondent I. Stulova the following: “Image makers probably took part in the compilation of the Russian chronicles of that time, who, in order to recognize the significance of the victory or explain the reasons for the defeat, did not bother themselves with pedantry. The number of warriors in those times was indicated by one word “beschisla,” that is, a myriad of. This formulation gave historians an occasion to increase the order of the number of participants in the battle of Lake Peipsi by an order of magnitude. Unrealistic and unsubstantiated figures sounded like anecdote: eighteen thousand from the Russians, fifteen from the Order. By the end of the thirties of the thirteenth century, the entire population of Novgorod, including women, old people and children, was just over fourteen thousand people. Therefore, the maximum number of militia, which Alexander could call under his banner, could not exceed two thousand warriors. And the Teutonic Order, the majority of whose members shed their and other people's blood in Palestine for the Holy Sepulcher, during this period, consisted of approximately two hundred and eighty brothers and knights. No more than two dozen Teutons fought directly on the ice of Lake Peipsi. The rest of the thousandth mass that opposed the Russian squad was made up of Livonians and Chuds, the ancestors of the current Estonians. ”
I. Danilevsky writes: "Other historians are trying to" reconcile "the numbers given by the ancient Russian chroniclers, and the data of the Rhymed Chronicle, claiming that the chronicler allegedly cited the full losses of the enemy, and the Chronicle took into account only full-fledged knights. Naturally, it is impossible to either confirm or refute such conjectures. ”
Yes, it is impossible to either confirm or deny, but reading the Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, one can assume that the chronicler, who spoke about sixty against one, took into account only the knights, not taking into account the Livonians and even more so Chud. The Russian army was taken into account in full. Simple truth shines through the obscuring poetic text of the chronicle.
Perhaps we can take for granted the "minimalist" assumption that on the Warm Lake 1500 Germans and their allies fought against the 2000-2500 Russians - as the most plausible. Among the Germans there were “several dozen” heavily armed knights (it seems that Gumilev turned out to be the most accurate historian, as he put it very carefully), “but every knight was a formidable fighter”.
In conclusion, I will again quote “The Laurentian Chronicle”: “Grand Prince Yaroslav, ambassador of his son Andrea to Novogorod Veliky, to help Oleksandrovi to Nemtsy, and I will win for Pleskovoy on the lake, and full of fun, and return Andrey to my father with honor.” I will also quote a line from The Life of Alexander Nevsky: “... his father, Yaroslav, sent him to help his younger brother, Andrey, in a squad of retinue.” Speaking about the commander-winner Alexander, we should not forget about his younger brother - Andrew.
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