The myth of the "traitor" Alexander Nevsky
Eastern policy
In the role of Prince of Novgorod, Alexander Yaroslavich performed with 1236 on 1246. talented statesman and skilled defender of the interests of the Novgorod land and Russia as a whole. Prince Alexander defended the Baltic possessions well-mastered by Novgorod from the encroachments of Sweden and the Order and did not allow the West to seize the north-western part of Russia. This allowed Novgorod to preserve the role of the largest trading partner of the West, the original way of life and liberties. Veliky Novgorod retained the position of one of the strongest centers of Russia. At the same time, Alexander strengthened the position of his family, the influence of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality in the north of Russia increased markedly. For the Russian land as a whole, Alexander repulsed the onslaught of the Western rulers, behind whom stood the then "command center" of the West - papal Rome.
On the borders of the Novgorod and Pskov lands there was a lull. Sweden, the Order and Lithuania calmed down for a while. The most active soldiers of the West covered the Russian lands with bones. It took time to restore the combat potential. However, in the East, the situation was difficult. Baty defeated the Grand Duchy of Kiev. Galician-Volyn Rus, the least affected by the conquerors, tried to maintain its independence from the Horde. But Prince Daniel Romanovich nevertheless had to abandon the Kiev throne, pay a huge tribute and become the “peacemaker” of Khan Baty. Daniel Galitsky had to accept, although he did not abandon his plans and even made contacts with the West.
Pskov and Novgorod lands were not devastated by the Horde. But historically and economically they were closely connected with Vladimir-Suzdal Russia. For this reason, the Batu Khan, who was famous for his foresight, gave the label - the golden paizu - to the great reign of Vladimir Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, making him the eldest among the Russian princes. However, in the Horde also went the confrontation of various groups. Nevsky's father, Yaroslav, was summoned to the capital of the Horde and poisoned there on 30 September 1246, the mother of the great khan, Khansha Turakina. In this fact, none of his contemporaries did not express doubts. His body was brought to Vladimir and buried there. The Old Russian chronicler will note that the Grand Duke laid down his soul "for all his people and for the Russian land."
Khan Batu established on the Russian land a new grand prince. On the throne of Vladimir was seated uncle Alexander Nevsky - Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. Alexander not only remains on the Novgorod princedom, but also receives the city of Pereyaslavl in control. In 1247, Alexander Yaroslavich traveled to Orda to Batu. From there, following his brother Andrey, who had left earlier, he went to the Great Khan. The Novgorod prince had a difficult task, and not only his life depended on the successful solution of this problem. He had to decide on his relations with the Golden Horde khan Batu and the great Khan of the Mongol Empire. It was their attitude towards the Russian commander that determined his further fate and place in stories. Alexander Yaroslavich showed the main strategic line of Russia: an uncompromising, uncompromising struggle with the West, which seeks to destroy Russian civilization, the Russian "matrix" and alliance with the East, uniting the vast expanses of Northern Eurasia into the greatest and most powerful empire.
Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, like his father, and grandfather Vsevolod the Big Nest, soon showed himself as a subtle politician and skilled statesman. He considered the main objective of his trip to prevent the causes that led to new campaigns of the Horde in Russia. This was due to his strategic situation: Rome still forced Western knighthood to go on a crusade to the East. A new clash with the Order, Sweden, Lithuania, Poland and other Western centers was inevitable. In the case of normalization of relations with the Horde, Alexander Nevsky could strengthen the defense of the western frontiers and even go on the counteroffensive. Moreover, the Horde could support the Russian prince with military force.
It is also worth noting that, taking into account the myth of the "Mongol-Tatar" invasion, the policy of Alexander becomes even more understandable. From the East came not the “mythical Mongols”, but Russian relatives, the same heirs of the Great Scythia, which once stretched from the Carpathians and the Black Sea to the borders of India, China and Japan. Ordyntsy were Caucasians, carriers of the same anthropological, cultural, linguistic traditions that Russians-Rus Vladimir, Kiev, Galician and Novgorod Russia. The main difference was in religion: the Horde were pagans, in some elements of the culture remained Scytho-Siberian "bestial style". At the same time, there was still a dual faith on Russia itself, in Novgorod Russia many were outspoken pagans.
In the West and East, from geopolitical interests, hide the true story. They cannot recognize that Caucasians-Rus are the direct heirs of the most ancient civilization and tradition, which comes from the times of the Aryans and the mythical Hyberborea. What Caucasians gave impetus to the development of Japanese and Chinese civilizations, created a distinctive Indian civilization and "land of the Aryans" - Iran. That the "Mongols" did not establish the Mongolian empire, since the real Mongols at that time were a wild, small tribe of hunters and herders, who simply physically could not conquer huge China and dozens of states and nationalities. For successful conquests, which led to the creation of a huge empire, a powerful spiritual and material cultural base was needed. It was owned only by the heirs of the Great Scythia - Caucasians-Rus, superethnos Rus. In 1237-1240 there was a collision inside a huge super-ethnos Rus. Two branches of the Ruses clashed in a cruel battle. This should not be surprising. The Rus in their many thousands of years of history have repeatedly encountered in cruel wars. Suffice it to recall the feudal, princely wars before the invasion of the army of Batu, or the civil war before the accession of Vladimir I and after his death. Or the current hatred between the two Russian states - the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Then the Horde took up. They were one well-organized force. Unity, organization and discipline took up over the fragmentation of Russia and the egoism of the Russian princes, who indifferently watched them take by storm and burn nearby cities. However, the Horde were not "strangers", as Western "dogs-knights." They did not plan to invade the spiritual, cultural life of the Russian principalities. Pagans were tolerant of other people's beliefs. They did not plan to change the management system, seize and colonize lands, build their fortresses. They did not need it. Horde and so belonged a huge territory, inherited from their ancestors, the Rus-Scythians. That is, they were not going to impose their own orders on their brothers by blood, civilizational heritage. The Horde needed: 1) obedience - discipline, that is, submission to the king, the supreme ruler; 2) rent-exit for the army; 3) participation of Russian troops in the general wars of the empire.
At the same time it was necessary to solve the general problem of containing the West. Baty partially solved this problem during the campaign 1241-1242. It is worth saying that the simultaneous actions of Alexander Yaroslavich to defeat the Swedish and German knights in 1240-1242. They look very organic, if we consider the simultaneous strike of the Horde in Poland and Hungary. It turns out that the squads of Alexander and the regiments of Batuy acted on a huge strategic front from north to south, and ensured the defeat of the main Western powers that were attacking the Russian lands.
It is obvious that at that time Alexander Yaroslavich understood this perfectly well. For later times, when the true history of the census takers created the myth of the "Mongol-Tatar invasion" and "yoke", and then it was confirmed by Russian supporters of the Western version of the story, Alexander's actions were not clear. Moreover, they became the basis for accusations of "betrayal." They say that Alexander became the “Oriental despot” and even spoke out against the “patriots” of the princes who fought the Horde, forced Novgorod Russia to submit to the Horde. Allegedly, Alexander Yaroslavich was not a hero of the Russian land, but its traitor and oppressor, helping the "Horde invaders." And thus, Alexander allegedly interrupted the history of Russia, as part of European civilization, choosing not the western, but the eastern vector of development, condemning Russia and the Russian people to "age-old backwardness" before the "advanced" Western countries.
Not surprisingly, the prince of Novgorod humbled his princely, elite ambitions, pride, and decided to adhere to a peaceful policy with the Horde. The Horde in most cases condescendingly treated the Russian princes, who recognized their sovereignty and paid regular tribute. Disobedience of princes was cruelly punished. And ordinary people paid for it - townspeople and villagers. Princes could escape to neighboring lands or to the West. In case of refusal or concealment of the “exit”, the baskaks could have ruined and robbed the recalcitrant principality with the help of military force. Such punitive raids were accompanied by massive deportation into slavery of the young working-age population, the burning of cities and villages. Given the military-strategic situation, the fragmentation of the Russian land, the threat from the West, the great loss of life, Russia could not challenge the Horde. That is why Prince Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky all the years of his reign by any measures sought to prevent the Khan Baskaks from Russia, but to conduct all calculations with the Horde itself. Only a regular and large tribute from the Russian lands could keep the steppe kings from new punitive campaigns against the principality of Russia.
At the same time, Alexander did not groan before the Horde, he forced himself to respect the powerful masters of the East. So, on arrival in the capital of the Golden Horde, the prince had, according to custom, established himself at the conquerors of the Universe, to go through the cleansing fire of two fires and worship the pagan shrines before entering the tent of Batu Khan. All Russian princes were subject to such a rite. Refusal from him could lead to immediate death. Alexander Nevsky with all his firmness refused to go through the cleansing fire of fires and worship the Horde shrines. Then they brought him to the Khan's tent and Batu asked: “Why did you, the prince, not fearing death, refuse to perform our rites?” “Great Khan,” answered the Russian prince-warrior, “our Holy Scripture says:“ No one can serve two Gentlemen: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or one will be zealous, but about the other not happy. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, wealth) "". Having finished such a brief speech, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich bowed to Khan Batu and continued: “I worship you because you are a man and a king, but I will not bow to the creature. And the Holy Warrior (that is how the Horde's name was Genghis Khan after his death, without uttering the name of the greatest conqueror of world history) in his laws recognized the faith of foreigners. We receive Orthodoxy from birth from our ancestors and ask: not who you are by blood, but how do you believe? But we know another thing, that with the Most High all faiths are equal. And Russian people living together with other nations do not force them to change their beliefs. ”
Batu Khan was amazed by the bold speech of the Russian commander. The fact remains that after this the lord of the Horde received the Russian prince invariably mercifully. Acquainted with the life and customs of the Horde, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich concluded that the Russian principalities, without causing anger and punitive measures, could rather successfully gradually restore their lost military power. So it will be. The Horde empire will soon, by historical standards, fall into a systemic crisis caused by elite strife and the adoption of Islam as the state religion, and gradually Moscow will become the new center of the united Russian Empire, of which the Horde will also become a part.
P. Korin Alexander Nevsky
Prince "of the whole Russian land"
The outcome of the trip of brothers Alexander and Andrey Yaroslavichi to Sarai was the allocation of their possessions in Russia. Batu Khan distributed the land between them at first glance quite unexpectedly. But we can assume that the wise ruler did it not without long-term calculation. Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, retaining the Novgorod table, received from the tsar Baty the city of Kiev and "all Russian land". The Khan label gave the right to occupy the ancient Kiev throne. Prince Andrei Yaroslavovich “sede in Volodymer on the table,” that is, Batu Khan gave Alexander's father's capital city to his younger brother Alexander. Thus the brothers Yaroslavichi concentrated in their hands the most important and powerful tables - Novgorod, Kiev and Vladimir.
However, between the brothers, as the chronicler notes, “there was a direct message about the great reigning”. After this Khan's decision, it was just hard to understand who the Grand Duke was in Russia. Formally, Alexander Nevsky seems to be, but the largest and strongest principality of Vladimir was not administratively in his possession. On the other hand, Novgorod, where the eldest son, the heir of the Grand Duke of Vladimir, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, sat on the princely table, was dependent on the capital city of Vladimir. And Kiev almost completely lost its former meaning. Therefore, Alexander did not go to him, and settled in Novgorod. According to V.N. Tatishchev, the prince was still going to go to Kiev, but the people of Novgorod “retained his Tatars for the sake of”.
Events followed one after the other. Metropolitan Kirill, having left ruined Kiev, arrived in Suzdal. From there in 1251, he went to Novgorod. Prince Alexander Yaroslavich and the entire people of Novgorod solemnly met. At the request of the townspeople and villagers of Novgorod Russia, Metropolitan Kirill delivered Bishop Dalmat to the diocese. In ancient Russian history, this was a notable event. Soon after, Alexander Nevsky was seriously ill. A long journey through the expanses of Eurasia undermined his good health. It is possible that they also tried to poison him. The priests prayed for him in all the churches of Veliky Novgorod, the illness withdrew with difficulty. The chronicler will say: "Being his illness is hard." Yet the disease retreated and the prince rose to his feet. Novgorod cheered.
In the same year 1251 Novgorod Russia was struck by bad weather, which led to crop failure. In the summer it rained heavily and the water flooded the fields and pastures. Drenched bread and hay. Raging from the abundance of water, the Volkhov demolished a large bridge in the city. In the fall, it hit the early frost, which ruined the remaining crop. Novgorod was threatened with famine, but the townspeople managed to reasonably manage the small stocks of food left over from previous years, and overwintered, interrupted. Novgorodtsev saved the fact that peace reigned in their lands. The former victories of Alexander affected.
This hungry winter from 1251 to 1252 was the last year in the Novgorod rule of Prince Alexander Nevsky. The reason for this was the younger brother Andrei Yaroslavich, the Grand Duke of Vladimir. The relationship between the brothers was complicated. Andrei Yaroslavich entered into an alliance with Daniel of Galicia (to whom the pope offered the royal crown as early as 1246 — 1247) and decided to oppose the Horde.
At the same time, the masters of the West tried to seduce Alexander with the crown of the king. There is information about the two epistles of Pope Innocent IV to Alexander Nevsky. In the first, the Pope suggests that Alexander follow the example of his father, who allegedly agreed (the Pope referred to Plano Carpini) before his death to submit to the Roman throne, and also suggests coordinating with the German knights in the event of an attack by the Horde on Russia. In the second letter, the pope mentions Alexander's consent to be baptized into the Catholic faith and to build a Catholic church in Pskov, and also asks to receive his ambassador, the archbishop of Prussia. In 1251, two cardinals with a bull came to Alexander Yaroslavich in Novgorod. According to the chronicler's story, the Russian prince, after consulting with wise people, set out the entire history of Russia and in conclusion said: “We will eat the whole of good, but we do not accept teachings from you.”
To be continued ...
In the role of Prince of Novgorod, Alexander Yaroslavich performed with 1236 on 1246. talented statesman and skilled defender of the interests of the Novgorod land and Russia as a whole. Prince Alexander defended the Baltic possessions well-mastered by Novgorod from the encroachments of Sweden and the Order and did not allow the West to seize the north-western part of Russia. This allowed Novgorod to preserve the role of the largest trading partner of the West, the original way of life and liberties. Veliky Novgorod retained the position of one of the strongest centers of Russia. At the same time, Alexander strengthened the position of his family, the influence of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality in the north of Russia increased markedly. For the Russian land as a whole, Alexander repulsed the onslaught of the Western rulers, behind whom stood the then "command center" of the West - papal Rome.
On the borders of the Novgorod and Pskov lands there was a lull. Sweden, the Order and Lithuania calmed down for a while. The most active soldiers of the West covered the Russian lands with bones. It took time to restore the combat potential. However, in the East, the situation was difficult. Baty defeated the Grand Duchy of Kiev. Galician-Volyn Rus, the least affected by the conquerors, tried to maintain its independence from the Horde. But Prince Daniel Romanovich nevertheless had to abandon the Kiev throne, pay a huge tribute and become the “peacemaker” of Khan Baty. Daniel Galitsky had to accept, although he did not abandon his plans and even made contacts with the West.
Pskov and Novgorod lands were not devastated by the Horde. But historically and economically they were closely connected with Vladimir-Suzdal Russia. For this reason, the Batu Khan, who was famous for his foresight, gave the label - the golden paizu - to the great reign of Vladimir Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, making him the eldest among the Russian princes. However, in the Horde also went the confrontation of various groups. Nevsky's father, Yaroslav, was summoned to the capital of the Horde and poisoned there on 30 September 1246, the mother of the great khan, Khansha Turakina. In this fact, none of his contemporaries did not express doubts. His body was brought to Vladimir and buried there. The Old Russian chronicler will note that the Grand Duke laid down his soul "for all his people and for the Russian land."
Khan Batu established on the Russian land a new grand prince. On the throne of Vladimir was seated uncle Alexander Nevsky - Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. Alexander not only remains on the Novgorod princedom, but also receives the city of Pereyaslavl in control. In 1247, Alexander Yaroslavich traveled to Orda to Batu. From there, following his brother Andrey, who had left earlier, he went to the Great Khan. The Novgorod prince had a difficult task, and not only his life depended on the successful solution of this problem. He had to decide on his relations with the Golden Horde khan Batu and the great Khan of the Mongol Empire. It was their attitude towards the Russian commander that determined his further fate and place in stories. Alexander Yaroslavich showed the main strategic line of Russia: an uncompromising, uncompromising struggle with the West, which seeks to destroy Russian civilization, the Russian "matrix" and alliance with the East, uniting the vast expanses of Northern Eurasia into the greatest and most powerful empire.
Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, like his father, and grandfather Vsevolod the Big Nest, soon showed himself as a subtle politician and skilled statesman. He considered the main objective of his trip to prevent the causes that led to new campaigns of the Horde in Russia. This was due to his strategic situation: Rome still forced Western knighthood to go on a crusade to the East. A new clash with the Order, Sweden, Lithuania, Poland and other Western centers was inevitable. In the case of normalization of relations with the Horde, Alexander Nevsky could strengthen the defense of the western frontiers and even go on the counteroffensive. Moreover, the Horde could support the Russian prince with military force.
It is also worth noting that, taking into account the myth of the "Mongol-Tatar" invasion, the policy of Alexander becomes even more understandable. From the East came not the “mythical Mongols”, but Russian relatives, the same heirs of the Great Scythia, which once stretched from the Carpathians and the Black Sea to the borders of India, China and Japan. Ordyntsy were Caucasians, carriers of the same anthropological, cultural, linguistic traditions that Russians-Rus Vladimir, Kiev, Galician and Novgorod Russia. The main difference was in religion: the Horde were pagans, in some elements of the culture remained Scytho-Siberian "bestial style". At the same time, there was still a dual faith on Russia itself, in Novgorod Russia many were outspoken pagans.
In the West and East, from geopolitical interests, hide the true story. They cannot recognize that Caucasians-Rus are the direct heirs of the most ancient civilization and tradition, which comes from the times of the Aryans and the mythical Hyberborea. What Caucasians gave impetus to the development of Japanese and Chinese civilizations, created a distinctive Indian civilization and "land of the Aryans" - Iran. That the "Mongols" did not establish the Mongolian empire, since the real Mongols at that time were a wild, small tribe of hunters and herders, who simply physically could not conquer huge China and dozens of states and nationalities. For successful conquests, which led to the creation of a huge empire, a powerful spiritual and material cultural base was needed. It was owned only by the heirs of the Great Scythia - Caucasians-Rus, superethnos Rus. In 1237-1240 there was a collision inside a huge super-ethnos Rus. Two branches of the Ruses clashed in a cruel battle. This should not be surprising. The Rus in their many thousands of years of history have repeatedly encountered in cruel wars. Suffice it to recall the feudal, princely wars before the invasion of the army of Batu, or the civil war before the accession of Vladimir I and after his death. Or the current hatred between the two Russian states - the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Then the Horde took up. They were one well-organized force. Unity, organization and discipline took up over the fragmentation of Russia and the egoism of the Russian princes, who indifferently watched them take by storm and burn nearby cities. However, the Horde were not "strangers", as Western "dogs-knights." They did not plan to invade the spiritual, cultural life of the Russian principalities. Pagans were tolerant of other people's beliefs. They did not plan to change the management system, seize and colonize lands, build their fortresses. They did not need it. Horde and so belonged a huge territory, inherited from their ancestors, the Rus-Scythians. That is, they were not going to impose their own orders on their brothers by blood, civilizational heritage. The Horde needed: 1) obedience - discipline, that is, submission to the king, the supreme ruler; 2) rent-exit for the army; 3) participation of Russian troops in the general wars of the empire.
At the same time it was necessary to solve the general problem of containing the West. Baty partially solved this problem during the campaign 1241-1242. It is worth saying that the simultaneous actions of Alexander Yaroslavich to defeat the Swedish and German knights in 1240-1242. They look very organic, if we consider the simultaneous strike of the Horde in Poland and Hungary. It turns out that the squads of Alexander and the regiments of Batuy acted on a huge strategic front from north to south, and ensured the defeat of the main Western powers that were attacking the Russian lands.
It is obvious that at that time Alexander Yaroslavich understood this perfectly well. For later times, when the true history of the census takers created the myth of the "Mongol-Tatar invasion" and "yoke", and then it was confirmed by Russian supporters of the Western version of the story, Alexander's actions were not clear. Moreover, they became the basis for accusations of "betrayal." They say that Alexander became the “Oriental despot” and even spoke out against the “patriots” of the princes who fought the Horde, forced Novgorod Russia to submit to the Horde. Allegedly, Alexander Yaroslavich was not a hero of the Russian land, but its traitor and oppressor, helping the "Horde invaders." And thus, Alexander allegedly interrupted the history of Russia, as part of European civilization, choosing not the western, but the eastern vector of development, condemning Russia and the Russian people to "age-old backwardness" before the "advanced" Western countries.
Not surprisingly, the prince of Novgorod humbled his princely, elite ambitions, pride, and decided to adhere to a peaceful policy with the Horde. The Horde in most cases condescendingly treated the Russian princes, who recognized their sovereignty and paid regular tribute. Disobedience of princes was cruelly punished. And ordinary people paid for it - townspeople and villagers. Princes could escape to neighboring lands or to the West. In case of refusal or concealment of the “exit”, the baskaks could have ruined and robbed the recalcitrant principality with the help of military force. Such punitive raids were accompanied by massive deportation into slavery of the young working-age population, the burning of cities and villages. Given the military-strategic situation, the fragmentation of the Russian land, the threat from the West, the great loss of life, Russia could not challenge the Horde. That is why Prince Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky all the years of his reign by any measures sought to prevent the Khan Baskaks from Russia, but to conduct all calculations with the Horde itself. Only a regular and large tribute from the Russian lands could keep the steppe kings from new punitive campaigns against the principality of Russia.
At the same time, Alexander did not groan before the Horde, he forced himself to respect the powerful masters of the East. So, on arrival in the capital of the Golden Horde, the prince had, according to custom, established himself at the conquerors of the Universe, to go through the cleansing fire of two fires and worship the pagan shrines before entering the tent of Batu Khan. All Russian princes were subject to such a rite. Refusal from him could lead to immediate death. Alexander Nevsky with all his firmness refused to go through the cleansing fire of fires and worship the Horde shrines. Then they brought him to the Khan's tent and Batu asked: “Why did you, the prince, not fearing death, refuse to perform our rites?” “Great Khan,” answered the Russian prince-warrior, “our Holy Scripture says:“ No one can serve two Gentlemen: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or one will be zealous, but about the other not happy. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, wealth) "". Having finished such a brief speech, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich bowed to Khan Batu and continued: “I worship you because you are a man and a king, but I will not bow to the creature. And the Holy Warrior (that is how the Horde's name was Genghis Khan after his death, without uttering the name of the greatest conqueror of world history) in his laws recognized the faith of foreigners. We receive Orthodoxy from birth from our ancestors and ask: not who you are by blood, but how do you believe? But we know another thing, that with the Most High all faiths are equal. And Russian people living together with other nations do not force them to change their beliefs. ”
Batu Khan was amazed by the bold speech of the Russian commander. The fact remains that after this the lord of the Horde received the Russian prince invariably mercifully. Acquainted with the life and customs of the Horde, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich concluded that the Russian principalities, without causing anger and punitive measures, could rather successfully gradually restore their lost military power. So it will be. The Horde empire will soon, by historical standards, fall into a systemic crisis caused by elite strife and the adoption of Islam as the state religion, and gradually Moscow will become the new center of the united Russian Empire, of which the Horde will also become a part.
P. Korin Alexander Nevsky
Prince "of the whole Russian land"
The outcome of the trip of brothers Alexander and Andrey Yaroslavichi to Sarai was the allocation of their possessions in Russia. Batu Khan distributed the land between them at first glance quite unexpectedly. But we can assume that the wise ruler did it not without long-term calculation. Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, retaining the Novgorod table, received from the tsar Baty the city of Kiev and "all Russian land". The Khan label gave the right to occupy the ancient Kiev throne. Prince Andrei Yaroslavovich “sede in Volodymer on the table,” that is, Batu Khan gave Alexander's father's capital city to his younger brother Alexander. Thus the brothers Yaroslavichi concentrated in their hands the most important and powerful tables - Novgorod, Kiev and Vladimir.
However, between the brothers, as the chronicler notes, “there was a direct message about the great reigning”. After this Khan's decision, it was just hard to understand who the Grand Duke was in Russia. Formally, Alexander Nevsky seems to be, but the largest and strongest principality of Vladimir was not administratively in his possession. On the other hand, Novgorod, where the eldest son, the heir of the Grand Duke of Vladimir, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, sat on the princely table, was dependent on the capital city of Vladimir. And Kiev almost completely lost its former meaning. Therefore, Alexander did not go to him, and settled in Novgorod. According to V.N. Tatishchev, the prince was still going to go to Kiev, but the people of Novgorod “retained his Tatars for the sake of”.
Events followed one after the other. Metropolitan Kirill, having left ruined Kiev, arrived in Suzdal. From there in 1251, he went to Novgorod. Prince Alexander Yaroslavich and the entire people of Novgorod solemnly met. At the request of the townspeople and villagers of Novgorod Russia, Metropolitan Kirill delivered Bishop Dalmat to the diocese. In ancient Russian history, this was a notable event. Soon after, Alexander Nevsky was seriously ill. A long journey through the expanses of Eurasia undermined his good health. It is possible that they also tried to poison him. The priests prayed for him in all the churches of Veliky Novgorod, the illness withdrew with difficulty. The chronicler will say: "Being his illness is hard." Yet the disease retreated and the prince rose to his feet. Novgorod cheered.
In the same year 1251 Novgorod Russia was struck by bad weather, which led to crop failure. In the summer it rained heavily and the water flooded the fields and pastures. Drenched bread and hay. Raging from the abundance of water, the Volkhov demolished a large bridge in the city. In the fall, it hit the early frost, which ruined the remaining crop. Novgorod was threatened with famine, but the townspeople managed to reasonably manage the small stocks of food left over from previous years, and overwintered, interrupted. Novgorodtsev saved the fact that peace reigned in their lands. The former victories of Alexander affected.
This hungry winter from 1251 to 1252 was the last year in the Novgorod rule of Prince Alexander Nevsky. The reason for this was the younger brother Andrei Yaroslavich, the Grand Duke of Vladimir. The relationship between the brothers was complicated. Andrei Yaroslavich entered into an alliance with Daniel of Galicia (to whom the pope offered the royal crown as early as 1246 — 1247) and decided to oppose the Horde.
At the same time, the masters of the West tried to seduce Alexander with the crown of the king. There is information about the two epistles of Pope Innocent IV to Alexander Nevsky. In the first, the Pope suggests that Alexander follow the example of his father, who allegedly agreed (the Pope referred to Plano Carpini) before his death to submit to the Roman throne, and also suggests coordinating with the German knights in the event of an attack by the Horde on Russia. In the second letter, the pope mentions Alexander's consent to be baptized into the Catholic faith and to build a Catholic church in Pskov, and also asks to receive his ambassador, the archbishop of Prussia. In 1251, two cardinals with a bull came to Alexander Yaroslavich in Novgorod. According to the chronicler's story, the Russian prince, after consulting with wise people, set out the entire history of Russia and in conclusion said: “We will eat the whole of good, but we do not accept teachings from you.”
To be continued ...
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