Tsar Batu
Modern historical science claims that in the XNUMXth century the Russian principalities were conquered by some nomadic Tatar-Mongols who came from the northeastern steppes of Eurasia. The grandson of Genghis Khan Batu (Batu) commanded the hordes of invaders. But more and more history buffs are wondering: are academic scientists right? Konstantin Penzev decided not to confine himself to a rhetorical question, but to sort out this issue on his own. He analyzed a significant number of domestic and foreign sources and put forward his version of well-known events of that time. The author confirms it with numerous indisputable historical facts, documents and harmonious logical conclusions. The other day, he answered in detail questions from Red Star journalists.- Konstantin Aleksandrovich, from what sources do we know about Baty's campaign against Russia?
- There are not so many written sources on the Mughal history. The most important of them is the “Collection of Chronicles” by Rashid al-Din. Batu's campaign is most fully covered in Russian chronicles, which is quite natural.
- Mogul?
- I will explain. I use the term "Mughal" to get away from the association with the Khalkhin people, whose ancestor, in my opinion, the ancient Mughals are not. As is known, the history of any ethnos begins with the appearance of its self-name. The beginning of the ethnogenesis of the modern ethnos of the Mongolian-Khalkhin people (Khalkh Mongolchuud) should not be attributed to the end of the 12th - the beginning of the 13th century, but to the end of the 15th - the beginning of the 16th century, that is, by the time of Dayan-khan's rule (born in 1460 year, reigned from 1479 to 1543 year). It was at this time that the Khalkha self-name appeared.
Byzantine authors wrote about the "Mogul", which was considered a branch of the Tokhar. Rashid ad-Din wrote about the Mugulah. The term “Moguls” (Mongols) is a political name, not an ethnonym. In 1210 – 1211, the northeastern Mohees, who called themselves Dadan themselves, proclaimed the name of their ruling home, Da Mengu Guo. Chinese ambassador Pen Da-ya, who traveled to Dadan in 1233, argued that Mangu is "silver." The state of Dadan was thus called the Great Silver Dynasty - just like the state of the Khitan - the Great Steel Dynasty, and the Jurchen - the Great Golden Dynasty.
Business cardKonstantin Aleksandrovich Penzev - a writer-historian, a follower of Lev Gumilev. Born in 1965, in Ussuriysk, Primorsky Krai. After graduating from school he served in the Navy of the USSR, then he studied in Vladivostok at the Far Eastern Higher Engineering Marine School named after G.I. Nevelsky. Then he moved to live in Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Krai. He began writing in 2005, published by Algorithm Publishing House. Author of the books "Great Tataria", "Behind the Chinese Wall", "Arias of Ancient Russia", "Princes of Ros", "Khan Rurik", "Russian Tsar Batu". Konstantin Aleksandrovich refutes the standard version of the "cruel Tatar-Mongol yoke" and seeks to prove that over the centuries, two great peoples of Eurasia together built the state on the lands of their habitat.
- How old is the oldest record of annals concerning Batu's campaign against Russia?
- Information about the campaign of Batu is present in many lists of Russian chronicles. Some information about this campaign is not, in others there is only a brief mention. We may be interested first of all in the chronicles of the Vladimir-Suzdal and Kiev principalities, that is, Lavrentyevsky and Ipatievsky. The Laurentian list is dated 1377 year. The Ipatiev (academic) list dates from the first quarter of the 15th century.
- Is it possible to consider truly authentic copies of Russian chronicles, made centuries later after the invasion of nomads?
- Is it possible, for example, to consider as credible the course “History of the CPSU”? In principle, yes, but with some reservations. Sometimes very substantial.
Mikhail Dmitrievich Priselkov, a prominent researcher of the Russian chronicle, asserts that in the 15th century the “post-stardy” rewriting of Russian history took place, more precisely, the Russian chronicles: “The death of Byzantium (1453 year. –KP) and the overthrow of the Tatar yoke sharply affect the chronicle texts of that time as Moscow begins to process the chronicle materials in the spirit of the triumphant Moscow autocracy, intending already now this reading for the political education of the subjects. This processing, curious to characterize the political views and tastes of its time, but disastrous for the accuracy of the transmission of old chronicle texts, captures not only the Moscow grand-ducal annals, but also the annals of all other feudal centers. ” This is a quote from the History of Russian Chronicles of the 11th – 15th Centuries.
Was the rewriting of history mentioned by Priselkov first? Most likely no.
- Is it possible to trust the "The Secret Legend of the Mongols", compiled in 1240 year? I have heard the opinion that the origin of this “Mongolian-Chinese” manuscript is rather strange: it was discovered and acquired by the Chinese scholar Peter Kafarov (archimandrite Palladium) in the palace library of Beijing in 1872, and the Chinese somehow somehow quietly parted with her.
- The generally accepted opinion is this: the text of The Secret Legend was used to teach Chinese officials the Mogul language. This is an everyday learning material. That is, he, in theory, should not differ rare. Kafarov acquired a single Mughal-Chinese list, that is, generally only.
I do not suspect anything of Kafarov, he bought what he sold.
However, this is not the point. Many questions arise in connection with the language in which the document is written.
For example, the word "gelding" in Russian is considered to be a borrowing from the Mongolian, it is present in the text of the "Tale". Meanwhile, this word, which goes back to one root, is common in many Eurasian languages - morin (Mongolian), murin (Manchu), mal (Korean); in Tibeto-Chinese languages - the Chinese word ma, Old Siberian mran, ancient Tibetan rman; in Celtic languages - marc (ancient Irish), march (Welsh). From Celtic this form was borrowed into Germanic languages: marr / merr - horse / mare (Old Norse), marah / mariha - horse / mare (Old High German), mearh / miere - horse / mare (Old English) and, finally, in Russian - gelding.
So here. The spread of the word “gelding” across the expanses of Eurasia is connected not with the Tatar-Mongol invasion, but with the expansion of the ancient Indo-Europeans, who first domesticated the horse and invented the spicy chariot. Most likely, this word came to the Mughal language from Tocharian. The Byzantine historian George Pachimer, for example, reported: "... from the native Tocharians, who were called Mogul."
Tokhara, I will explain, is a people who in ancient times inhabited Eastern Europe, traces of which are found in the deeper regions of Asia, particularly in Xinjiang. The language of the eastern Tokhar is close to the Balto-Slavic and Germanic languages.
- How popular is Andrei Lyzlov's “Scythian Story” in research into the history of Russia of that time?
- Personally, I am not sure that the “Scythian history” can have any special significance when studying the Tatar period.
- Have any material traces of the “Mongolian empire” been preserved? Were archeological excavations carried out at the sites of the supposed location of the Juchi Ulus, the city of Sarai-Batu, and other horde settlements of the 13th century, as well as along hiking routes and battle sites?
- The Mogul Empire was a multinational state. The Mughals constituted an insignificant minority in it. Archaeologists still can not find Karakorum, the capital of the Mughal Empire, not to mention the things less significant. As for the correlation of archaeological sites with a particular battle, much depends on the accuracy of the dating.
- Have the originals of Khan's labels for reigning been preserved, any written documents of Mongolian military leaders and Russian princes?
- Khan's labels on the reign are not preserved. In fact, labels (letters) were written by the Horde administration to the Russian princes and the Russian princes to the Horde. For example, as the message of the Vologda-Perm Chronicle according to the London List states, “the prince's Olga and Rezansky had a thin mind in his head, and he put a trick in his heart, and the ambassador sent his mother many gifts of honor and gifts to him, and a label own writings ”(PSRL, T. 26. - M.-L., 1959 p. 328).
It is necessary to note the following circumstance. In the overwhelming majority of cases, it was the Grand Dukes who asserted (but were not appointed — this is a significant difference), and much less specific princes. The well-known historian Yuri Vladimirovich Krivosheev points to “the fact of the absence of strict direct control over the inheritance of tables in Russia by the Mongols”. In his opinion, the princes' trips to the Horde for approval of the rights of inheritance were “in many respects a formal act, and receiving the label was only confirmation of the accomplished event: the transfer of the principality by inheritance. The decisions of the Horde khans were of great importance in disputable situations, when two or more princes laid claim to this or that reign (mostly great). ”
The transfer of power in the Russian principalities was carried out primarily by birth. In feudal lords it was so accepted. The Horde basically acted as an arbitration court in the case of princely litigation.
- Are there many coins found in the XIII – XIV centuries? How to explain the bilingualism of the inscriptions on them - in Tatar and Russian? Why do you think there are no inscriptions in the Mughal language?
- Counterquestion. Who in the Horde and Russian principalities would understand inscriptions in the Mughal language? According to Rashid ad-Din, two thousand Mughal warriors were under the command of Batu. Taking into account wives and children - 10 thousands of people. This is a drop in the ocean. Most of the so-called "nomadic" vocabulary in Russian is Turkic in origin. Very few Mongolian borrowings came from the Kalmyk language at a later time, for example, Doha, Malakhai. Hence, exoticism like Lama and Datsan, which, in turn, came to the Mongolian languages from Tibetan. Burkhan - “god, spirit” - on behalf of the Buddha. All of them were really unfamiliar to most of the Russian ethnos.
- In what language did Baty and his military leaders speak?
- Carpini testifies: “We brought the letter and asked to give us interpreters who could translate it. They were given to us on the day of Great Friday, and together with them we carefully shifted the letter to the letters Russian and Sarratsin and to the letters Tatar; This translation was submitted to Batu, and he read it and carefully noted it. ”
- When and for what reason was the campaign against Russia started?
- Baty's campaign against the Ryazan and Vladimir-Suzdal principality began in December 1237 of the year and ended in May of 1238. In 1239, Baty came to the Chernigov principality, in 1240, stormed Kiev and then went to terrorize Central and Western Europe.
It is curious that he opposed the Chernigov principality together with Prince Yaroslav, the father of Alexander Nevsky. At least, the Lavrentiev Chronicle of 1239 says so: “That summer Yaroslav went to Kamenets to take Kamenets and to Princess Mihailova with a lot of them, bring them to her own name”. Kamenetz is a Chernigov city. Princess Mikhailova is the wife of Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, who was killed a few years later by order of Batu.
The Chernigov principality Jaroslav plundered just before the Batu campaign - in 1236 year. Tatishchev writes about it this way: “I went to Kiev, the Chernigov region, where there was no one to defend, ravaged and took heavy paybacks from the cities, came to Kiev. He himself sat down in Kiev, and in Novgrad put his son Alexander and, while he had done it, he let the novogorodtsev go. But not for a long time, he perpetrated a contract with Izyaslav that he would pay the payoff for Vladimir and return him to Smolensk, he returned. ”
- For what reason was the Batu campaign started?
This is the most difficult question. In fact, Batu intended to speak out against Hungary and Rome. Julian, a Hungarian Dominican monk, reports that "the prince of Suzdal (Yuri. - KP) conveyed verbally through me to the Hungarian king, that the Tatars confer day and night, as if to come and seize the kingdom of Hungarian-Christian," and that Tatars "have the intention to go to the conquest of Rome and further."
In the Vladimir-Suzdal and Ryazan principalities of Batu conducted mobilization. The Nikon Chronicle informs: “And after sending ambassadors to Grand Duke Yury of Ryazan, Ingvorovich, and his brother, Prince Olga Ingvorovich, and other Prince of Ryazan, asking them tithe in everything: in the prince, and in people, and in konekh, and in despekh” .
Konstantin Penzev, a writer-historian and author of the books “The Great Tataria”, “Behind the Chinese Wall”, “Arias of Ancient Russia”, “Princes of Ros”, “Khan Rurik”, “Russian Tsar Batu”, published in publishing house "Algorithm". Konstantin Aleksandrovich refutes the generally accepted version of the "cruel Tatar-Mongol yoke" and seeks to prove that over the centuries two great peoples of Eurasia together built the state on the lands of their habitat.
- Konstantin Aleksandrovich, are the approximate size and national composition of the Batu troops who came to the Russian principalities known?
- It is known that under the command of Batu were two thousand Mogul soldiers. From the metropolis, 12 (according to some sources - 14) princes and men of thousands were sent to help him. According to the "Secret Legend" and "Collection of Chronicles" by Rashid-ad-Din, the territorial-mobilization division of the Mughals consisted of thousands. Accordingly, the sent princes were the commanders of thousands. After the recruitment, produced in the Polovtsy steppe and North-Eastern Russia, the Tatar army was replenished with the Polovtsy and the Russians.
As for the figures of half a million, three hundred thousand and 140 thousands of warriors, this is the fruit of unbridled fantasy. Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences Nikolai Ivanovich Veselovsky assumed that 30 thousands of fighters had invaded the Russian lands as part of the Batyev troops: “According to the original plan, Batu was supposed to give 30.000 troops; there is no reason to think that this number was later changed in one direction or another ”(“ Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron ”).- What was the organization of his troops?
- The events of 1237 – 1238 (from December to May) show that infantry was the basis of the Bat’s battleship. The horses would simply have died out, as it happened in Napoleon, and in the last case horsemen began the summer. Batu was in possession of a siege technique, similar in characteristics to European large walling trebyusha (from the French trebuchet - “scales with a yoke”; in Russia, stone throwers were called vices - derived from the word “sling.” - Ed.). In the Russian principalities they knew how to make this technique.
- What is known to historians about the Batu Khan? Was information about his appearance, burial place preserved? Under what circumstances did he die?
- According to the Flemish monk Franciscan Rubruk, Batu looked like a Norman nobleman, commander of the French fleet Jean de Beaumont. However, there is one small nuance. In the Russian translation, Rubruk’s words look like this: “Batu carefully examined us, and we did; and in growth, it seemed to me, he looks like Mr. Jean de Beaumont, may his soul rest in peace. ”
Meanwhile, Hans F.K. Gunter, who did not use the translation by A.I. Maleina, states: "About the Khan of Batu, a German monk Rubruk writes that he looked like Jean de Beaumont, a Norman nobleman who commanded the French fleet during the landing of Louis IX in Egypt." Perhaps the words “for height” are an insert.
Some Russian chronicles claim that Baty died in Hungary in 1248 year. According to Eastern sources, Batu died between 1255 and 1257 years.
It's a difficult question. It is possible that we are talking about two Batys: about Chingizid Batu and about a certain Tatar voivode Batuy, according to the Nikon chronicler.
- How would you comment on the reports on the results of studies of Russian and foreign scientists who did not reveal Mongolian genes in the genome of the inhabitants of the European part of Russia?
- And why should they be there, these genes? Mughal was very small, and they were not sex giants. In addition, there is evidence of Mughal belonging to the Caucasians.
Rashid-ad-Din writes in the “Collection of Chronicles”: “Kubilai-kaan is the fourth son of Tului-khan, he was born from Sorkuktani begi, his nurse was the mother of the concubine Muka of the Naiman tribe. And so it happened that Kubilai-kaan was born two months before the birth of Muk. When Genghis Khan’s gaze fell on him, he said: “All our children are red, and this boy is black.”
Even at the beginning of the 14th century, most Chingizids were blond, as can be seen from the same “Collection of Chronicles”: “The third son (Bartan-bahadur. - K.P.) was Yesugei-bahadur, who is the father of Genghis Khan. The tribe kiyat-burdzhigin comes from his offspring. The meaning of “Burdzhigin” is “blue-eyed”, and, oddly enough, those descendants who have hitherto (i.e. before 1310 - KP) have descended from Esugei-bahadur, his children and his friend ( his kind), for the most part blue-necked and red. "
The funny thing is that millions of people read Vasily Yan’s highly artistic novel “Genghis Khan” and did not pay attention to his words about the appearance of Genghis Kagan: “The invasion of these savages from the northern deserts was terrible when their red-bearded ruler rushed at the head of the army.” It is unlikely that one of the readers wondered where a representative of the Mongoloid race could have a beard at all, and even a redhead.
- Which of the Russian princes offered resistance to Batu? - Mikhail of Chernigov slaughtered the Mughal ambassadors and fled to Hungary. In a way, this is resistance. The defense of Kiev was organized by Dmitry Dmitriy, whom Baty took after the pogrom to serve. Dmitry was put in defense of the city by Prince Daniel Romanovich Galitsky, the prince himself chose not to remain in Kiev. Yury Vsevolodovich did not take care of any kind of resistance at all, although he knew in advance about the campaign that Baty was preparing. Where was Yaroslav with the army, no one knows.
- How to explain why in 1238, Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich with his sons, unlike his elder brother, did not participate in the resistance to the invasion from the east? What is known about the relationship between the Grand Prince Vladimir Yuri and his brother Yaroslav?
- During the events of 1237 – 1238, both Grand Duke Yury himself and all his sons were killed. The sons of his brother, Prince Yaroslav, remained unharmed, and the chronicles call them by name, obviously, in order to stop any misunderstandings in the future. Such selectivity of the Moguls can be explained by the fact that there were some agreements between Yaroslav and Batu.
Perhaps Yaroslav took the Russian troops under his command to the side, and Batu unchecked cut the whole family of the Grand Duke. Yaroslav received the grand-ducal table and the military support of the Horde. In return, he apparently provided Baty with a mobilization base for the formation of the Horde army. Russian princes for solving internecine problems very often preferred to use mercenaries from outside - Varangians, Polovtsy, then Tatars. So they took care of their squad.
The conflict between Yuri and Yaroslav was. But conflicts over power and money were generally characteristic of princes, especially of that time. Meanwhile, and it is worth special mention, Yaroslav was a very ambitious man.
- And yet, why did Batyi favor Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and his son Alexander, relatives of his opponent who died in battle?
- We can say that they found each other. The Horde gave the Vladimir-Suzdal principality wide access to the eastern markets, which were then extremely profitable and promising. In these markets, Russian furs, known even in China, were highly valued.
Nikolai Konstantinovich Arzyutov in the book “The Golden Horde” states: “The whole military policy (Horde. - KP) was reduced to keeping such trade highways as from north to south - Volga and from west to east - land". The main trading route for the Russian principalities was the Great Volga Route, the lower reaches of which were controlled by the Horde.
In general, there were close mutually beneficial business relations between Batu, Yaroslav and Alexander.
- How to explain that the campaigns were undertaken in the winter, when the nomads, as is commonly believed, were unusual to fight? Is it possible that the Mongols in the conditions of the Russian winter could feed their horse composition? By the way, is it possible to establish its number today?
- Batyevets could not feed the many thousands of horse in the Russian winter. Furazhirsky and repair calculations on this issue, I cited in the book "Russian Tsar Batu." To those who doubt my words, I would recommend reading the memoirs of the beaten Napoleonic warriors.
If we keep in mind the usual predatory raid, usually transient and with the use of a small military contingent, then it is quite possible that a small amount of provisions, supplemented with food, obtained by robbery, will suffice. However, when we mean the thousands of military masses concentrated on a small territory, you will not live by robbery and hunting in the surrounding forests, especially in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality of the 13th century.
Nomads always went to Russia in the summer, but the Russians preferred to fight precisely in the winter, when agricultural work was completed and it was possible to mobilize without disrupting economic life.
- Why, after taking Torzhok in March 1238, Batu did not go to Novgorod, to which the 100 version remained?
- Obviously, someone met Baty on the way and said that his intervention is not required. At that time, Alexander Nevsky was in Novgorod.
- How do you explain that Baty did not pay attention to the cities of Smolensk, Polotsk and Turov-Pinsk principalities? In particular, were the Mogul squads just about 30 km east of Smolensk, one of the largest and richest cities?
- Batu was really very selective in his actions and somehow strangely dispersed. He even forgot to plant governors in the Russian principalities, which the Germans never forgot. For example, the chronicler reports: “In the summer of 6750 (1242), taking the Germans of Pskov and putting the governors of their own land. The prince is the great Alexander and he is the head of the governor, and they go to the land of Deutsche and their brother Andrey. ”
That is, the Germans seized Pskov and immediately established in it the Reich commander's office for the exploitation of the population. Obviously, Batu was interested in some other things than the conquest and exploitation of territories and the seizure of shopping centers.
Perhaps, the wild nomads, unlike the highly civilized Germans, did not understand anything in state affairs? Not at all. Rashid ad-Din, for example, reports on the 1223 events of the year: “Bala Noyon returned from Hindustan; cities that were within those limits, he captured and left the governors (shihne) ".
- Is the religious aspect traced in the motives of Batu's campaign? What kind of pagan response to the arrival of the “Greek faith” to the peoples of Eastern Europe?
- This is a very interesting question. Eastern sources report Mughal toleration. For example, the Persian historian Vassaf argues: “Although he (Batu. - KP) was a Christian faith, but Christianity is contrary to common sense, but (he) did not have inclination and disposition to any of the religious faiths and teachings, and he was a stranger to intolerance and boasting. "
The comrade-in-arms of Baty Meng-Kagan said: “We, the moals, believe that there is only one God, with which we live and with which we will die, and we have an open direct heart for Him ... But as God gave different fingers to his hand, He gave different people ways. "
Some Russian chroniclers call Batu a voivode and a man of a different kind than Chingizids. Perhaps this Batu was a pagan, and in “The Tale of Mamayev Massacre” Batu is mentioned as “Julian the Apostate”, i.e. as a person who has gone over from Orthodox Christianity to paganism.
- Is there a contradiction between the statements about the tolerance of Baty and the records of the chronicles, according to which Chernihiv Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich was “worn out” in the Horde for refusing to go through the pagan rite of purification with holy fire?
- Yes, there is a contradiction. In Russian history, there is such a character as the Polovtsian Grand Duke Basti. He lived at the same time with Batu, the grandson of Genghis Kagan. Some of the news about Basti, as I see it, can be attributed to Batu. Perhaps Basti turned out to be captured by the “Tatars” in the Battle of Kalka and, with “Tatar” assistance, was the organizer of the Horde. It is also possible that this particular Batu-Basti, the best friend of the pagan Kagan Ogedei, died in Hungary in 1248 year, about which Russian chronicles (in particular, Typographical) are reported, and after him the Horde was ruled by Chingizid Batu, aka Sain.
So, it was Bastiy who was baptized into the Orthodox faith before the Battle of Kalka. As we know, it did not help win the battle. Hence, perhaps, frustration and the transition to paganism.
- What was the purpose of the Batu campaign in Central Europe? Why did he stop in front of the southeastern borders of Germany and turned towards the Adriatic, leaving the already conquered Central European lands?
- Julian, a Hungarian Dominican monk, points directly to the main objectives of the Western campaign: Rome and the Hungarian kingdom. Obviously, it refers to Rome, located on the Apennine Peninsula, and not Constantinople, which, by the way, was at that time captured by the Crusaders. It is clear that the case was not without the influence of the Orthodox Patriarchate. Perhaps it was a response to the crusading expansion in Eastern Europe.
- What is your attitude to the version according to which Batu invaded the “Catholic lands” in order to assist the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, Friedrich II Hohenstaufen, in the fight against Pope Gregory IX?
- It is quite possible. It is not by chance that the papal curia, which inspired the aggressive policy of spiritual and knightly orders in Eastern Europe, was alarmed with the appearance of the Tatars on European frontiers. From here travel Carpini, Rubruka and other ...
- Did princely civil strife in Russia cease with the advent of Batu? How do you feel about the point of view of Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev, who considered Baty - according to his mission - “Carl the Great of Eastern Europe”?
- Lev Nikolayevich was also a poet, and some poetic perception of reality was characteristic of him. Meanwhile, Batu was practically the ruler of Eurasia. He earned income from his possessions in China and Iran, kept Western Europe at bay and had unquestioned authority in the imperial leadership.
As for the Russian civil strife, our princes had an extremely violent disposition, which was difficult to control. Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky wrote: “First of all, the Tatars began to relate to the Russia enslaved, eliminating or alleviating many difficulties that the North-Russian princes created for themselves and their country. The Horde khans did not impose any order of their own on Russia, being content with tribute, even poorly penetrated into the order that was in effect there. Yes, and it was difficult to penetrate into it, because there was no order in the relations between the local princes. ”
- In what ways could events have developed in Russia, if Batu's campaign did not take place?
- At that moment, the crusading attack on the Russian principalities was very strong, especially in the direction of Novgorod, one of the largest trade and craft centers of the Middle Ages. So Yaroslav and Alexander had no particular choice. By the way, the Teutonic Order in Latin is called Ordo domus Sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum in Jerusalem. In Latin, “odo” means “system, order, canon, corporation”.
- When did the term "Mongol-Tatar yoke" come into use?
- If I am not mistaken, the term “Mongol-Tatar yoke” was coined in the XIX century. By the way, a very ridiculous term. Rashid-ad-Din and the author of The Secret Legend claim that the Mughals slaughtered the Tatars in the year of Nokai (Dogs), i.e. 1202 year, and cut out clean, as they say, until the last Tatar. Here are the words from the “Secret Tale”:
From the beginning was the Tatar people
The executioner of our grandfathers and fathers.
We take revenge with blood
for blood.
Exterminate everyone with the sword:
Trying on the cart axle,
All who are above, betray the sword,
The rest are slaves forever
We will give away on all sides.
The main participants in the events of the Batu campaign period
Yuri Vsevolodovich (1188 – 1238), Grand Duke Vladimirsky. The son of the Grand Duke Vladimir Vsevolod the Big Nest. Killed in a battle on the City River in March 1238. During the invasion of Batu, almost the entire family of the prince died (wife, three adult sons and one daughter; only Dobrava’s daughter survived, married to Vasilko Romanovich, Prince Volynsky, but also along her line Yuriy’s family soon died out). Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1191 – 1246), Prince of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, who was, moreover, the Grand Prince of Kiev since 1236. After the death of brother Yuri, as the next most senior, he occupied the Vladimir Grand Prince's table. In 1243, Yaroslav was the first of the Russian princes to be summoned to Batu to the Golden Horde, who established him in Vladimir-Suzdal and, apparently, Kiev principality and recognized him as the “old prince of the Russian language”. Poisoned in Karakorum.
Mikhail Vsevolodovich (1179 – 1246), prince of Chernigov and Galitsky. The son of Prince Vsevolod Chermny and the daughter of the Polish prince Casimir II. In 1238, after Yaroslav Vsevolodovich left for Vladimir, he occupied the Kiev Grand-Ducal table, concentrating Galician, Kiev and Chernigov principalities in his hands. In 1239, during the invasion of Batu's troops into the Chernihiv-Seversky lands, he fled to Hungary; in 1241, he returned to Kiev, where he reigned until 1243, when the city passed into the possession of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich by the label of Baty. Then rules in Chernigov. Killed in the rate of Batu.
Daniel Romanovich (1201 – 1264), son of the first prince of Galicia-Volynsky Roman Mstislavovich. His younger brother - Vasilko Romanovich, Prince of Volyn. Daniel reigned in Galicia, in 1235, he lost it (the city was occupied by Mikhail of Chernihiv), but in 1239, he managed to return it. For a short time in 1240, the Kiev grand-ducal table was occupied, and as the army approached, Baty fled to Hungary. Upon returning to Galich, he fought with Rostislav, the son of Mikhail of Chernigov (1241 – 1245) and in the decisive Yaroslavl battle on the San River took over. In 1245 – 1246, he traveled to Batu to confirm his humility. Entered into alliance with Pope Innocent IV and in 1254, he was crowned king of Russia.
Yuri Igorevich (killed in December 1237), Grand Duke of Ryazan. Ryazan occupied the throne after the death of Ingvar, his elder brother in 1235. During the invasion, Baty tried to conclude a military alliance with the princes of Vladimir and Chernigov, only Murom princes responded to his call for help. He died in the defense of Ryazan. For 15 years the princely throne remained unoccupied. Only in 1252, Oleg Ingvarevich Krasny, the nephew of Yuri Igorevich, captured by the wounded in captivity during the capture of Ryazan, was released by Batu to Ryazan's reign.
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