Lipitskaya Battle (April 21 1216). Part of 1
800 anniversary of the battle of Lipica is dedicated!
History pre-Mongol Russia is full of princely strife. However, none of the battles of that time made such an impression on the chroniclers of its scope and ferocity as the battle of Lipica in 1216. The battle was quickly overgrown with legends and can rightly be considered the peak of internecine struggle of the Dotatar period.
The war, the outcome of which was decided by the Lipitsk battle, was caused by two reasons - the hostility between Novgorod and Vladimir land and the strife between the Vladimir-Suzdal princes themselves.
The feud that erupted between the sons of Vladimir Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, rooted in the orders made by him shortly before his death in 1212. Recognizing his elder son Constantine as his successor, his father demanded that he replace his inheritance in Rostov to his brother Yuri. But Constantine did not agree, "although take Volodym to Rostov." Then Vsevolod publicly dismissed the eldest son from the inheritance in favor of Yuri and after that Konstantin “raise his eyebrows with anger towards his brother, more so than Yurya”. In this dispute, he had reliable support in the person of the boyars and the “husbands of the town” of Rostov the Great - traditionally considering their city as the “oldest” in Zaleski land, they did not want to obey their “suburb” Vladimir. The thirty-year-old Rostov prince himself enjoyed the love and respect of his subjects, who considered that "God blessed him with gentleness to David, wisdom to Solomon." Among other Russian princes Konstantin Vsevolodovich was distinguished by a broad outlook, prudence and special education: "not saddening anyone, but wise everyone with spiritual conversations, often more than a book with companionship and creating everything according to written."
On the death of his father among the brothers there was a split. Vladimir, who ruled in Moscow, supported Konstantin, and Yaroslav, Svyatoslav and Ivan - Yuri, who in 1213 led them to march on Rostov. Konstantin stepped forward to meet them, sending off part of the troops to defeat Kostroma who had swung over to Yuri, which created a threat to his rear. The troops came together on the banks of the Ishni River and for some time stood against each other, confining themselves to small skirmishes. Not daring to attack the Rostovites, Yuri retreated, ravaging the surrounding villages. His only success was the expulsion of Vladimir from Moscow to southern Pereyaslavl. Constantine also held the Great Salt and Neroht, captured by him from Yuri and Yaroslav.
Meanwhile, in 1215, Mstislav Mstislavich, who reigned in Novgorod and was nicknamed for success in his numerous military enterprises, Udatny (later historians rewrote the nickname in “The Blessed One”), was invited by the Krakow prince Leszkom to take part in the march on Galich, captured by the Hungarians. At the assembled meeting, the prince declared to Novgorod: "I have business in Russia, and you are free in princes," after which, together with the retinue, you left to restore justice to the south. After his departure, supporters of the Suzdal princes took up the city. Taking advantage of the general location of the departed Mstislav, they offered to invite his son-in-law, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who ruled in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, to reign. The choice, however, was not a good one. Yaroslav, a stubborn and cruel man, immediately began cracking down on his genuine and imaginary ill-wishers, listening to all denunciations and slander. In the latter, a certain Fyodor Lazutinich especially succeeded, tirelessly slandering his enemies from among prominent citizens. In chains in Tver, Yakun Zubolomich and Novotorzhsky posadnik Thomas Dobroschenich were sent off, the yard of the thousand Yakun was defeated and his wife was captured. When Yakun, along with the posadnik, appeared to complain, Yaroslav ordered to arrest at the same time his Christopher. Outraged residents of Prusskaya Street killed the prince minions of Ovstraat and his son Lugotu, after which Yaroslav left Novgorod in anger. He retired to Torzhok, reserving his governor, Khot Grigorovich.
Yaroslav decided to break the obstinacy of Novgorod, repeating in their land what had already happened in his homeland, where the "suburb" had risen, humiliating the "oldest" city. He conceived "to draw Torzhok to Novgorod". Torzhok, which lay at the turn with Suzdal land, was a trade hub on the way to Novgorod and was always the object of aspirations of the Suzdal princes. Sowing in it, Yaroslav blocked the delivery of food to Novgorod and thus aggravated the disaster that befell it.
The fact is that the frost broke bread in Novgorod land and this caused a terrible famine in its consequences. Kad rye rose in price to 10 hryvnia, and kad oats - to three. Parents put their children into slavery for feeding. "Oh, mountain bjash! On a corpse, a corpse along the streets, a corpse along the field; I can't psi eat a man," the chronicler exclaims. The prince simply starved the city, not missing a single cart with grain. Novgorodians sent three embassies to Yaroslav - first Smena Borisovich, Vyacheslav Klimyatich and Zubts Yakun, then ambassador Yuri Ivankovich with Stepan Tverdislavich and other men, and then Manuil Yaglovicha with the last speeches. But the prince took all the ambassadors into custody, without giving any other answer. He merely sent a certain Ivorich Ponos there to take out Princess Rostislav Mstislavna from starving Novgorod. All merchants of Novgorod, passing through Torzhok, fell into princely prisons. In addition to Torzhok, the forces of the prince also occupied Volok Lamsky.
In such circumstances, 11 returned to February 1216 in Novgorod in Mstislav Udatny. Arriving at the Yaroslav's Court, he immediately proclaimed: "Either I will return the Novgorod husbands and the townships of Novgorod, or I shall lay my head in Veliky Novgorod!" This program was enthusiastically accepted by Novgorod. "For life and for death are ready with you!" - they answered the prince.
First of all, Mstislav outfitted a new embassy to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, electing the priest of the church of St. John in the Torgovshchina father Yuri. Apparently, he was counting on the fact that Yaroslav would not dare to treat the spiritual person as rudely as he did to secular ambassadors. These expectations were met. Arriving in Torzhok, oh. Yuri conveyed the words of his father-in-law to the prince: "My son, let go of the husbands and guests of Novgorod, get out of the New Bargaining and take love with me." In addition, as reported by the Nikon Chronicle, and VN Tatishchev after her, Mstislav demanded that her son-in-law live honestly with his wife and not allow her to hurt her concubines, and otherwise send her back to her father. Yaroslav really did not dare to seize the priest, however, he won back at the people of Novgorod who fell into his hands - they were all shackled and sent to imprisonment in the city of Zalez, and their property was confiscated. In total, according to the chroniclers, it was sharpened to 2000 people (the figure is probably greatly overestimated). Yaroslav undertook and active actions against the father-in-law who intervened in his affairs - they sent a 100 man to "Mstislav provoke from Novgorod". Yaroslav himself engaged in the construction of spotted on all roads and the collection of forces to confront the Novgorodians.
However, the “followers” sent to them, seeing the unanimity of their fellow countrymen, themselves went over to the side of Mstislav Udatny, who called for an open struggle at the meeting: “Let's go, brothers, we will look for our husbands, your brother, we will return your parishes, let there be no New Bargaining Great Novgorod, nor Novgorod Torzhkom. Where St. Sophia is here and Novgorod; and in many ways God and in small things are God and truth! " Novgorodians were inspired by the consciousness of their rightness, the hatred of the glorified knight-prince, like Mstislav Udatny. Earlier, in 1210, he had already freed them from the objectionable Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, their younger brother, the current oppressor, and even the powerful Vsevolod the Big Nest could not prevent it. They inspired hopes for success and the subsequent feats of arms and the very personality of Mstislav, which NI Kostomarov gave in due time and accurate characteristics. He called the prince "a model of character that could be developed by the conditions of life of the dottarian specific-veche period" and said that he was "a defender of antiquity, a guardian of the existing, a fighter for the truth ... He was the best man of his time, but not crossing that trait which the spirit of preceding centuries has assigned itself; and in this respect its life was expressed by its modern society. "
Mstislav Mstislavich, as an experienced military leader, acted quickly and decisively. Using his authority and family ties, he quickly, from February 11 to March 1, managed to put together a strong anti-sidal coalition. His brother, Pskov Prince Vladimir Mstislavich, and his cousin Vladimir Ryurikovich, Prince of Smolensk, firmly promised him their support. Vsevolod Mstislavich, the son of another cousin of Udatny, Prince of Mstislav Romanovich of Kiev, was to arrive with his retinue. Of particular value to this ally was the fact that Vsevolod was the brother-in-law of Konstantin Rostovsky, whose quarrels with Yuri and Yaroslav Udatny were well aware. Probably already in February 1216. Mstislav Mstislavich had every reason to count on the support of the Rostovites.
In turn, Yaroslav, aware of the seriousness of the situation, turned for help to the brothers, and first of all to Yuri. Behind Yuri was all the power of Suzdal land. The brothers responded to the call. Yuri immediately began collecting troops, and until then he sent a host to Yaroslav, led by his younger brother, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. Even hostile-minded Konstantin responded, sending his son Vsevolod to Yaroslav with a small retinue - he did not want to give out his plans before time and preferred to observe the development of events first.
"The month of March in 1 day, Tuesday on Pure Week" Novgorod-Pskov army acted in the campaign. On Thursday, the last supporters of Yaroslav, Volodislav Zavidich, Gavrila Igorevich, Yuri Oleksinich and Gavrilets Milyatinich fled to Torzhok with their families. They apparently warned him about the beginning of the war.
Going through the Seligersky way, the army entered the Toropetsky volost - Mstislav Udatny's father. Troops moved on a sleigh over the ice of rivers and lakes, sending out small detachments — pens to heal — to obtain food and feed for horses. Mstislav allowed the warriors to feed at the expense of the population, but ordered not to kill people and not to steal them into bondage. As a result, those who came out of starving Novgorod quickly “filled with kyrma themselves and horses.”
Meanwhile, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich led a major force (according to a clearly overvalued chronicler up to 10 thousand) laid siege to Rzhev, where tysyatskiy Yarun Vasilievich locked himself up and stubbornly resisted. He had all 100 warriors. The approach of the troops of Mstislav and Vladimir Pskov forced Svyatoslav to hastily lift the siege and retreat. Together with him, the detachments of Suzdal voevoda Mikhail Borisovich and Rostov prince Vsevolod Konstantinovich, which had begun to ravage the Toropetsky volost, also went away. Developing the achieved success, Vladimir Mstislavich, at the head of his 900 Pskov, swiftly hit Zubtsov. The town surrendered with the approach of the army of Mstislav Udatny. Here, the brothers were joined by the army of Vladimir Rurikovich, who came over the ice of Vazuza. After that, the combined forces move along the Volga to the mouth of the Holokholny, where they camp.
The army entered the borders of Suzdal land and was ready to strike. Having begun the campaign successfully, the knightly Mstislav Udatny now considered it not shameful for himself to repeat the peace proposals to the enemy - after Svyatoslav had escaped from Rzhev and Zubtsov’s fall, no one would dare to accuse him of cowardice or indecision. But Yaroslav stubbornly rejected all attempts at reconciliation. “I don’t want peace,” he replied to the ambassadors, “let's go and eat, go: the hare goes to the blood. But you will get one hundred of ours.”
Having received this answer, the Allies gathered for advice. Some of them wanted to go straight to Torzhok and end Yaroslav with one blow, but Mstislav reasoned differently: “If we go to Torzhk, then we will expose the Novgorod parish and that will be worse than the first. Brothers, let's go to Yaroslav’s parish. He will not leave and let his parish see there what God will give. " It was decided to go to Pereyaslavl - Yaroslav's fatherland. To choose this path, Mstislav Udatny had one more reason. “Let's go to Pereyaslavl, we have a third friend,” he said to Vladimir Rurikovich, hinting at his secret relations with Konstantin.
Without turning to Torzhok, the army moved to Tver and “burnt the village” along the road - the destruction of the enemy volosts was considered a military prowess and was one of the main means of warfare. Yaroslav, taking with him the captives, as well as his supporters from Novgorod - "the oldest men ... Novgorodstva and young Izbor", - as well as all the militia of Torzhok, went to Tver, trying to get to Pereyaslavl before the enemy army blocked the way there .
The guard sent by him drove only 15 versts and returned with the news that the Allied army was ahead. The allies did not know about his movement and reasonably feared the attack of the warriors of Yaroslav on their corrals. The brave Yarun brought news of Yaroslav. In the Annunciation of 25 in March, walking at the head of the vanguard, he hit a man in the 100's guard, attacked her and put him to flight. The battle killed 7 warriors Yaroslav, and 33 were captured. From their words it became known that Yaroslav had already taken refuge in Tver. Now, knowing this, the warriors of the Allied rati "ride in life without fear."
The further flight of Yaroslav from Tver to Pereyaslavl made for allies a senseless attempt to take this city. Instead, they took new steps to strengthen their ties with Konstantin Vsevolodovich. Smolensk boyar Yavolod was sent to him to Rostov. Vladimir Pskov with a mixed Smolensk Pskov detachment led the envoy to the Rostov frontiers. At the same time they captured the town Kosnyatin. Mstislav Udatny with the main forces, meanwhile, continued unhurried motion on the Volga ice, sending out pens to devastate the surroundings. His warriors burned volosts along the rivers Schose and Dubna. Reconnecting with Pskov, the Allied army went right up to the mouth of the Mologa, ruining everything in its path.
On Mologa, the princes-allies met the Rostov voivode Yeremey at the head of the detachment of 500 soldiers. He conveyed the message of Constantine: "Az is glad, when you hear your arrival; and here you are to help 500 husbands of rati; and send me my brother-in-law Vsevolod (Mstislavich) with all the speeches to me". Vsevolod immediately drove off to Rostov to complete the negotiations, and the rati continued on their way, but already by horse riding — the Volga opened up and the sledge carriage had to be left in place.
On the great Saturday of 9, April, the 1216 of the army arrived at the "Settlement on the river Sarah near St. Marina", where Prince Konstantin came with his team. Then he finally joined the coalition and kissed on the cross. On the Settlement princes and celebrated Easter.
Sarskoe Gorodishche - once a large Merya tribal center - at the end of XI century. fell into decay due to the rise of Rostov, but retained its value fortress. In the thirteenth century it was a powerful castle on a narrow, elongated ridge surrounded on three sides by the bend of the river Sarah. Four defensive walls, reinforced with wooden structures, crossed the floor part of the ridge. According to a preserved Rostov legend, this castle belonged at that time to the famous knight Alexander Popovich, who served Rostov and Prince Konstantin. This bogatyr has already gained fame in the past clash between Konstantin and Yuri, when "bravely, leaving Rostov, Prince of Yuryevs will beat the howl of theirs, beaten from him near Rostov on the river Ishna and under Ugodichi in the meadow many holes of bones are laid." Joining Popovich to the Allied rati was important not only because of his combat skills, but also because of the enormous prestige that the Rostov prince enjoyed in the retinue. In addition to his allies, such famous warriors as Dobrynia Gold Belt (Timonya Rezanich) and Nefedy Dikun joined the allies.
Before the attack on Pereyaslavl, the Allied princes sent Vladimir Pskovskiy back to Rostov - he should have waited for the approach called Belozersk rant to be called by Konstantin. Novgorodians hoped to capture Yaroslav in Pereyaslavl, however, coming up in Fomin's week (15 April) to the city, they took a prisoner, who said that the prince he hated had already left with the Pereyaslav regiment in Vladimir. Then Mstislav and Konstantin moved further and soon camped at Yuryev-Polsky, and the Rostovites settled down in a separate camp on Lipitsa. It turned out that the Allies were only slightly ahead of the enemy - a huge Suzdal army, almost having had time to take Yuriev, became on the banks of the Gza River.
Yuryev-Polsky, founded in 1152 by the great grandfather of Vsevolodich, Yury Dolgoruky, was located in a densely populated and affluent area of Suzdal opolya, in the lowland of the left bank of the Koloksha not far from the place where the Gza flows into it. The fortress of the town was defended by a four-six-meter ring shaft, as well as a moat that reached the width of 28 m. Two gates led into the citadel — the northern Rostov and south-east Vladimirskiye. Having managed to master Yuriev, Mstislav Udatny secured a powerful stronghold in the heart of the Suzdal lands just before the decisive clash.
Information about the Suzdal ratification, which the Allied princes had, made a frightening impression. Therefore, hoping to gain time before the approach of Vladimir Pskov, they started new negotiations with the enemy. They probably hoped to try and sow discord in the enemy's camp - the Novgorodians did not consider Yury Vsevolodovich their foe, and therefore they sent a Sotsi Larion to him with the words: “We bow to you, brother, we have no offense from you, but there is an insult from Yaroslav - and To Novgorod, and Konstantin, your elder brother. We ask you to reconcile with your elder brother, give him elderness according to his truth, and Yaroslav was let go of the people of Novgorod and Novotorzhan. Let no blood be shed in vain for human blood, so God will charge us. " Yury answered firmly and briefly to this: "We are one man with brother Yaroslav."
Then the same Larion was sent with peaceful speeches to Yaroslav. Mstislav Udatnyy transmitted to his son-in-law: “Novgorod is mine. And you didn’t grab the husbands of Novgorod on business, many Novgorod people also robbed of good, crying to you to God and I complain about offenses from you. You, son, release the prisoners, but Novgorod Volost So we shall reconcile and not shed blood in vain. " But Yaroslav regarded the peace proposals as manifestations of the weakness of the enemy, and therefore answered self-confidently and gloatfully: “We don’t want peace; your men are with me; you came from far away, but you went out like a fish to dry.”
Upon the return of Larion, the allies equipped the third embassy, this time addressing both Vsevolodichs: “Brothers, we are all of the Vladimirov tribe and came here not for war and ruin, not to take your peace from you, but we are looking for peace. You are according to God's law and Truth Give the Russian eldership to the greater brother Konstantin. You know yourself, that if you don’t love your brother, you can hate God, you cannot redeem anything. "
Yuri replied to the messengers: “Tell Mstislav that he knows how he came, but he doesn’t know how he will leave here. If our father himself couldn’t judge me with Konstantin, would Mstislav be our judge? And tell Brother Constantine: repent us, then yours will be all the earth. "
After the ambassadors had left, Yury called his boyars and brothers to a feast in his tent. Militant speeches were heard from everyone and only the old boyar Tworimir (Andrei Stanislavich) expressed himself differently: “Princes Yuri and Yaroslav! The smaller brothers are in your will, but in my guessing, it would be better for you to take peace and give the elder to Constantine. Do not look that there are fewer of them. Princes of the Rostislav tribe are wise, ryadny and brave, and their men, Novgorod and Smolensk, are daring in battle. And you yourself know about Mstislav Mstislavich that his courage was given to him more than anyone else. And nowadays Konstantin does not have the brave Alexander Popovich, his servants Torop and Dobrynia Golden Belt? "
Such speeches caused general indignation, and Yuri allegedly even tried to pierce the old adviser with his sword, but was retained by fellow soldiers. Yuri cooled down, especially since there were completely different speeches everywhere. The general mood was expressed by the "brave and insane" boyar Ratibor, who said: "Princes Yuri and Yaroslav! Never have never been either with your fathers, or with grandfathers, or with great-grandfathers, so that someone entered a army in the strong land of Suzdal and left it Yes, even if all the Russian land went to us - and Galician, and Kiev, and Smolensk, and Chernihiv, and Novgorod, and Ryazan, and even then we can not do anything. And that these shelves, so we throw their saddles! "
Inspired by Yuri and Yaroslav, they gave the governor a tough order, forbidding them to take prisoners in battle: "You got the goods in your hands. You will also have armor, horses and ports. And the person who takes the living will be killed. And the golden shoulder will be sewn and kill him, let us not leave a single living one. If anyone leaks from a regiment he will not be killed, but we shall seize him, in other cases we shall hang or crucify. And who among the princes shall fall into his hands, then we shall talk about them. " Banning to take captive even noble opponents, Suzdal leaders openly violated the existing rules of warfare. This is their command, apparently, even before the battle began, the Allied ratification became known. The warriors of Udatny and Konstantin understood that in a strange land they had no one to expect mercy and, in their turn, became hardened.
After the military council, the brothers retired to the tent and wrote a letter about the division of the possessions of their opponents, in whose defeat they had no doubts. Yuriy secured the rights to the Suzdal and Rostov lands, Yaroslav should have regained pacified Novgorod, and Svyatoslav was sued by Smolensk. Entering into the taste, the brothers decided to also give Kiev to Chernigov princes, and take Galich to themselves. After that, a messenger was sent to the camp of Mstislav Udatny with a proposal to go to battle on the plain at Lipica.
Fig. 1. The general course of the war (March 1 - April 24 1216)
By medieval scales, the armies involved in the Lipitskaya Battle were huge. However, to accurately determine their true strength, as well as the size of the losses, is now impossible. Information chronicles contradictory and unreliable.
It is known that with Mstislav Udatnyi 5000 Novgorodians approached Rzhev (as turned out by V.N. Tatischev, they turned into 500 riders), and 900 Pskov performed on Zubtsov. These figures seem to be quite real and, starting from them, it is possible to make further calculations. Smolensk land, which did not suffer the same disaster as Novgorod, was supposed to put up a larger army, but it could hardly have significantly surpassed Mstislav's army. After all, Smolyan had even less time for training than the Novgorodians, and they could not gather the forces of the whole earth. The campaign, apparently, was made by the city regiment and the prince's squad, the total number of which can be conventionally reduced to 6000. The army of Yuri and Yaroslav possessed an overwhelming numerical superiority, which can be seen from the way the allies rejoiced at the approach on the eve of the battle, even of the White Lake ratification, which was so small that it was not even mentioned separately in the general disposition - it fell under the command of Vladimir Mstislavich, who had led it, and merged with it pskoviches. From here it is logical to assume the forces of the Rostov citizens in the 3000 area, and the Belozertsev - no more than 1000. In general, thus, at the disposal of the Allied rati could be up to 16000 warriors.
Regarding their opponents, it is known that Yuri had 13 banners, and Yaroslav had 17. Under the banner here obviously means not only the banners themselves, but also individual combat units - units in 20-150 of copies, headed by a boyar, a city foreman or a petty prince. Given that in addition to the commander, one spear also included 10 warriors, you can roundly give the number of Yuri's forces somewhere in 7-10 thousand, and Yaroslav in 9-13 thousand people. No less than 5000 warriors should have been included in the regiment of the "lesser brotherhood" - Ivan and Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. The statement of the chronicler, as if with Svyatoslav and Mikhail Borisovich, an 10000 man came under Rzhev is clearly exaggerated. Otherwise, it is unlikely that they would have so quickly and practically without a fight would have retreated before the incomplete six thousand Mstislav and Vladimir. As a result, the army of Vsevolodich on Lipitsa can be calculated somewhere in the size from 21 to 30 thousand people. Its composition was more colorful than that of the Allied rati. Yuri commanded Suzdal - there was "all the power of Suzdal land: driven from the villages to the pees". Under the leadership of Yaroslav were his Pereyaslavtsy, city dwellers, Muromtsy (led by Prince Davyd Yuryevich), a small number of runaway Novgorod and Novotorzhan, as well as fairly large forces of rodents, their chronicles are equally on a par with the named contingents. Regarding them, it should be noted that, contrary to popular opinion, they were not at all "fertile bands of the eastern steppes, a prototype of the Cossacks." As a philological analysis of the origin of their name convincingly shows, as well as a comparison of the Russian and Hungarian chronicles, there were detachments of mercenary soldiers, people from the Lower Danube region, whose Russian population was engaged in fishing, river trade and piracy. At the head of their military detachments were often experienced Galician boyars ("Galician vygontsy") experienced in combat, and even rogue princes. The chronicles did not disclose the composition of the "younger brotherhood" regiments, but apparently, apart from the personal squads of Ivan and Svyatoslav, there was the militia of the Suzdal land "from the settlements", reinforced by warriors like Yuriat and Ratibor. This can be concluded from the fact that it was this flank that proved to be a weak point in the Vsevolodich battle line and showed the least stamina in the battle.
Both armies had in their ranks the famous knights-warriors, each of whom led their own small squad. Thus, the well-known Alexander Popovich, in addition to the servant of Torop, was bringing into the field "the other brave X of the grad 70". The bogatyrs in Russia were then called the people of God (for comparison, the knights-monks of the Teutonic Order bore the name of the nobility of God among the Russians), which indicates the special status that these heroes occupied in society. They could serve one or another prince or city, but at the same time retained a certain independence, which ultimately led 1219 to make their joint decision to serve only the grand prince of Kiev, as the traditional head of the entire Russian land.
Among the warriors of the Allied army, the annals name such warriors as Alexander Popovich, the Dobrynya Golden Belt (aka Timonya Rezanich) and Nefedy Dikun, and from the Suzdalians - Yuryat and Ratibor, who fell from Popovich’s hand. The Nikon Chronicle also calls some "Iev Popovich and his servant Nestor, the valor of the brave", the death of which in battle was mourned by Mstislav Udatny himself. This gave reason to say that Alexander Popovich had a brother-hero, Job or Ivan. However, there is clearly a distortion of the original text of the earlier Novgorod chronicle, where Ivanka Popovitsya was mentioned among the dead Novgorodians.
In the conclusion of the review, it should be noted that, when naming the number of troops, the chroniclers most likely had in mind only the "front units" who directly participated in the battles, not including in this number the guards and camp attendants. Taking into account these forces, the total number of troops should be increased two to three times.
To be continued
History pre-Mongol Russia is full of princely strife. However, none of the battles of that time made such an impression on the chroniclers of its scope and ferocity as the battle of Lipica in 1216. The battle was quickly overgrown with legends and can rightly be considered the peak of internecine struggle of the Dotatar period.
ROOTS OF CONFLICT
The war, the outcome of which was decided by the Lipitsk battle, was caused by two reasons - the hostility between Novgorod and Vladimir land and the strife between the Vladimir-Suzdal princes themselves.
The feud that erupted between the sons of Vladimir Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, rooted in the orders made by him shortly before his death in 1212. Recognizing his elder son Constantine as his successor, his father demanded that he replace his inheritance in Rostov to his brother Yuri. But Constantine did not agree, "although take Volodym to Rostov." Then Vsevolod publicly dismissed the eldest son from the inheritance in favor of Yuri and after that Konstantin “raise his eyebrows with anger towards his brother, more so than Yurya”. In this dispute, he had reliable support in the person of the boyars and the “husbands of the town” of Rostov the Great - traditionally considering their city as the “oldest” in Zaleski land, they did not want to obey their “suburb” Vladimir. The thirty-year-old Rostov prince himself enjoyed the love and respect of his subjects, who considered that "God blessed him with gentleness to David, wisdom to Solomon." Among other Russian princes Konstantin Vsevolodovich was distinguished by a broad outlook, prudence and special education: "not saddening anyone, but wise everyone with spiritual conversations, often more than a book with companionship and creating everything according to written."
On the death of his father among the brothers there was a split. Vladimir, who ruled in Moscow, supported Konstantin, and Yaroslav, Svyatoslav and Ivan - Yuri, who in 1213 led them to march on Rostov. Konstantin stepped forward to meet them, sending off part of the troops to defeat Kostroma who had swung over to Yuri, which created a threat to his rear. The troops came together on the banks of the Ishni River and for some time stood against each other, confining themselves to small skirmishes. Not daring to attack the Rostovites, Yuri retreated, ravaging the surrounding villages. His only success was the expulsion of Vladimir from Moscow to southern Pereyaslavl. Constantine also held the Great Salt and Neroht, captured by him from Yuri and Yaroslav.
Meanwhile, in 1215, Mstislav Mstislavich, who reigned in Novgorod and was nicknamed for success in his numerous military enterprises, Udatny (later historians rewrote the nickname in “The Blessed One”), was invited by the Krakow prince Leszkom to take part in the march on Galich, captured by the Hungarians. At the assembled meeting, the prince declared to Novgorod: "I have business in Russia, and you are free in princes," after which, together with the retinue, you left to restore justice to the south. After his departure, supporters of the Suzdal princes took up the city. Taking advantage of the general location of the departed Mstislav, they offered to invite his son-in-law, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who ruled in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, to reign. The choice, however, was not a good one. Yaroslav, a stubborn and cruel man, immediately began cracking down on his genuine and imaginary ill-wishers, listening to all denunciations and slander. In the latter, a certain Fyodor Lazutinich especially succeeded, tirelessly slandering his enemies from among prominent citizens. In chains in Tver, Yakun Zubolomich and Novotorzhsky posadnik Thomas Dobroschenich were sent off, the yard of the thousand Yakun was defeated and his wife was captured. When Yakun, along with the posadnik, appeared to complain, Yaroslav ordered to arrest at the same time his Christopher. Outraged residents of Prusskaya Street killed the prince minions of Ovstraat and his son Lugotu, after which Yaroslav left Novgorod in anger. He retired to Torzhok, reserving his governor, Khot Grigorovich.
Yaroslav decided to break the obstinacy of Novgorod, repeating in their land what had already happened in his homeland, where the "suburb" had risen, humiliating the "oldest" city. He conceived "to draw Torzhok to Novgorod". Torzhok, which lay at the turn with Suzdal land, was a trade hub on the way to Novgorod and was always the object of aspirations of the Suzdal princes. Sowing in it, Yaroslav blocked the delivery of food to Novgorod and thus aggravated the disaster that befell it.
The fact is that the frost broke bread in Novgorod land and this caused a terrible famine in its consequences. Kad rye rose in price to 10 hryvnia, and kad oats - to three. Parents put their children into slavery for feeding. "Oh, mountain bjash! On a corpse, a corpse along the streets, a corpse along the field; I can't psi eat a man," the chronicler exclaims. The prince simply starved the city, not missing a single cart with grain. Novgorodians sent three embassies to Yaroslav - first Smena Borisovich, Vyacheslav Klimyatich and Zubts Yakun, then ambassador Yuri Ivankovich with Stepan Tverdislavich and other men, and then Manuil Yaglovicha with the last speeches. But the prince took all the ambassadors into custody, without giving any other answer. He merely sent a certain Ivorich Ponos there to take out Princess Rostislav Mstislavna from starving Novgorod. All merchants of Novgorod, passing through Torzhok, fell into princely prisons. In addition to Torzhok, the forces of the prince also occupied Volok Lamsky.
In such circumstances, 11 returned to February 1216 in Novgorod in Mstislav Udatny. Arriving at the Yaroslav's Court, he immediately proclaimed: "Either I will return the Novgorod husbands and the townships of Novgorod, or I shall lay my head in Veliky Novgorod!" This program was enthusiastically accepted by Novgorod. "For life and for death are ready with you!" - they answered the prince.
First of all, Mstislav outfitted a new embassy to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, electing the priest of the church of St. John in the Torgovshchina father Yuri. Apparently, he was counting on the fact that Yaroslav would not dare to treat the spiritual person as rudely as he did to secular ambassadors. These expectations were met. Arriving in Torzhok, oh. Yuri conveyed the words of his father-in-law to the prince: "My son, let go of the husbands and guests of Novgorod, get out of the New Bargaining and take love with me." In addition, as reported by the Nikon Chronicle, and VN Tatishchev after her, Mstislav demanded that her son-in-law live honestly with his wife and not allow her to hurt her concubines, and otherwise send her back to her father. Yaroslav really did not dare to seize the priest, however, he won back at the people of Novgorod who fell into his hands - they were all shackled and sent to imprisonment in the city of Zalez, and their property was confiscated. In total, according to the chroniclers, it was sharpened to 2000 people (the figure is probably greatly overestimated). Yaroslav undertook and active actions against the father-in-law who intervened in his affairs - they sent a 100 man to "Mstislav provoke from Novgorod". Yaroslav himself engaged in the construction of spotted on all roads and the collection of forces to confront the Novgorodians.
However, the “followers” sent to them, seeing the unanimity of their fellow countrymen, themselves went over to the side of Mstislav Udatny, who called for an open struggle at the meeting: “Let's go, brothers, we will look for our husbands, your brother, we will return your parishes, let there be no New Bargaining Great Novgorod, nor Novgorod Torzhkom. Where St. Sophia is here and Novgorod; and in many ways God and in small things are God and truth! " Novgorodians were inspired by the consciousness of their rightness, the hatred of the glorified knight-prince, like Mstislav Udatny. Earlier, in 1210, he had already freed them from the objectionable Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, their younger brother, the current oppressor, and even the powerful Vsevolod the Big Nest could not prevent it. They inspired hopes for success and the subsequent feats of arms and the very personality of Mstislav, which NI Kostomarov gave in due time and accurate characteristics. He called the prince "a model of character that could be developed by the conditions of life of the dottarian specific-veche period" and said that he was "a defender of antiquity, a guardian of the existing, a fighter for the truth ... He was the best man of his time, but not crossing that trait which the spirit of preceding centuries has assigned itself; and in this respect its life was expressed by its modern society. "
CAMPAIGN
Mstislav Mstislavich, as an experienced military leader, acted quickly and decisively. Using his authority and family ties, he quickly, from February 11 to March 1, managed to put together a strong anti-sidal coalition. His brother, Pskov Prince Vladimir Mstislavich, and his cousin Vladimir Ryurikovich, Prince of Smolensk, firmly promised him their support. Vsevolod Mstislavich, the son of another cousin of Udatny, Prince of Mstislav Romanovich of Kiev, was to arrive with his retinue. Of particular value to this ally was the fact that Vsevolod was the brother-in-law of Konstantin Rostovsky, whose quarrels with Yuri and Yaroslav Udatny were well aware. Probably already in February 1216. Mstislav Mstislavich had every reason to count on the support of the Rostovites.
In turn, Yaroslav, aware of the seriousness of the situation, turned for help to the brothers, and first of all to Yuri. Behind Yuri was all the power of Suzdal land. The brothers responded to the call. Yuri immediately began collecting troops, and until then he sent a host to Yaroslav, led by his younger brother, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. Even hostile-minded Konstantin responded, sending his son Vsevolod to Yaroslav with a small retinue - he did not want to give out his plans before time and preferred to observe the development of events first.
"The month of March in 1 day, Tuesday on Pure Week" Novgorod-Pskov army acted in the campaign. On Thursday, the last supporters of Yaroslav, Volodislav Zavidich, Gavrila Igorevich, Yuri Oleksinich and Gavrilets Milyatinich fled to Torzhok with their families. They apparently warned him about the beginning of the war.
Going through the Seligersky way, the army entered the Toropetsky volost - Mstislav Udatny's father. Troops moved on a sleigh over the ice of rivers and lakes, sending out small detachments — pens to heal — to obtain food and feed for horses. Mstislav allowed the warriors to feed at the expense of the population, but ordered not to kill people and not to steal them into bondage. As a result, those who came out of starving Novgorod quickly “filled with kyrma themselves and horses.”
Meanwhile, Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich led a major force (according to a clearly overvalued chronicler up to 10 thousand) laid siege to Rzhev, where tysyatskiy Yarun Vasilievich locked himself up and stubbornly resisted. He had all 100 warriors. The approach of the troops of Mstislav and Vladimir Pskov forced Svyatoslav to hastily lift the siege and retreat. Together with him, the detachments of Suzdal voevoda Mikhail Borisovich and Rostov prince Vsevolod Konstantinovich, which had begun to ravage the Toropetsky volost, also went away. Developing the achieved success, Vladimir Mstislavich, at the head of his 900 Pskov, swiftly hit Zubtsov. The town surrendered with the approach of the army of Mstislav Udatny. Here, the brothers were joined by the army of Vladimir Rurikovich, who came over the ice of Vazuza. After that, the combined forces move along the Volga to the mouth of the Holokholny, where they camp.
The army entered the borders of Suzdal land and was ready to strike. Having begun the campaign successfully, the knightly Mstislav Udatny now considered it not shameful for himself to repeat the peace proposals to the enemy - after Svyatoslav had escaped from Rzhev and Zubtsov’s fall, no one would dare to accuse him of cowardice or indecision. But Yaroslav stubbornly rejected all attempts at reconciliation. “I don’t want peace,” he replied to the ambassadors, “let's go and eat, go: the hare goes to the blood. But you will get one hundred of ours.”
Having received this answer, the Allies gathered for advice. Some of them wanted to go straight to Torzhok and end Yaroslav with one blow, but Mstislav reasoned differently: “If we go to Torzhk, then we will expose the Novgorod parish and that will be worse than the first. Brothers, let's go to Yaroslav’s parish. He will not leave and let his parish see there what God will give. " It was decided to go to Pereyaslavl - Yaroslav's fatherland. To choose this path, Mstislav Udatny had one more reason. “Let's go to Pereyaslavl, we have a third friend,” he said to Vladimir Rurikovich, hinting at his secret relations with Konstantin.
Without turning to Torzhok, the army moved to Tver and “burnt the village” along the road - the destruction of the enemy volosts was considered a military prowess and was one of the main means of warfare. Yaroslav, taking with him the captives, as well as his supporters from Novgorod - "the oldest men ... Novgorodstva and young Izbor", - as well as all the militia of Torzhok, went to Tver, trying to get to Pereyaslavl before the enemy army blocked the way there .
The guard sent by him drove only 15 versts and returned with the news that the Allied army was ahead. The allies did not know about his movement and reasonably feared the attack of the warriors of Yaroslav on their corrals. The brave Yarun brought news of Yaroslav. In the Annunciation of 25 in March, walking at the head of the vanguard, he hit a man in the 100's guard, attacked her and put him to flight. The battle killed 7 warriors Yaroslav, and 33 were captured. From their words it became known that Yaroslav had already taken refuge in Tver. Now, knowing this, the warriors of the Allied rati "ride in life without fear."
The further flight of Yaroslav from Tver to Pereyaslavl made for allies a senseless attempt to take this city. Instead, they took new steps to strengthen their ties with Konstantin Vsevolodovich. Smolensk boyar Yavolod was sent to him to Rostov. Vladimir Pskov with a mixed Smolensk Pskov detachment led the envoy to the Rostov frontiers. At the same time they captured the town Kosnyatin. Mstislav Udatny with the main forces, meanwhile, continued unhurried motion on the Volga ice, sending out pens to devastate the surroundings. His warriors burned volosts along the rivers Schose and Dubna. Reconnecting with Pskov, the Allied army went right up to the mouth of the Mologa, ruining everything in its path.
On Mologa, the princes-allies met the Rostov voivode Yeremey at the head of the detachment of 500 soldiers. He conveyed the message of Constantine: "Az is glad, when you hear your arrival; and here you are to help 500 husbands of rati; and send me my brother-in-law Vsevolod (Mstislavich) with all the speeches to me". Vsevolod immediately drove off to Rostov to complete the negotiations, and the rati continued on their way, but already by horse riding — the Volga opened up and the sledge carriage had to be left in place.
On the great Saturday of 9, April, the 1216 of the army arrived at the "Settlement on the river Sarah near St. Marina", where Prince Konstantin came with his team. Then he finally joined the coalition and kissed on the cross. On the Settlement princes and celebrated Easter.
Sarskoe Gorodishche - once a large Merya tribal center - at the end of XI century. fell into decay due to the rise of Rostov, but retained its value fortress. In the thirteenth century it was a powerful castle on a narrow, elongated ridge surrounded on three sides by the bend of the river Sarah. Four defensive walls, reinforced with wooden structures, crossed the floor part of the ridge. According to a preserved Rostov legend, this castle belonged at that time to the famous knight Alexander Popovich, who served Rostov and Prince Konstantin. This bogatyr has already gained fame in the past clash between Konstantin and Yuri, when "bravely, leaving Rostov, Prince of Yuryevs will beat the howl of theirs, beaten from him near Rostov on the river Ishna and under Ugodichi in the meadow many holes of bones are laid." Joining Popovich to the Allied rati was important not only because of his combat skills, but also because of the enormous prestige that the Rostov prince enjoyed in the retinue. In addition to his allies, such famous warriors as Dobrynia Gold Belt (Timonya Rezanich) and Nefedy Dikun joined the allies.
Before the attack on Pereyaslavl, the Allied princes sent Vladimir Pskovskiy back to Rostov - he should have waited for the approach called Belozersk rant to be called by Konstantin. Novgorodians hoped to capture Yaroslav in Pereyaslavl, however, coming up in Fomin's week (15 April) to the city, they took a prisoner, who said that the prince he hated had already left with the Pereyaslav regiment in Vladimir. Then Mstislav and Konstantin moved further and soon camped at Yuryev-Polsky, and the Rostovites settled down in a separate camp on Lipitsa. It turned out that the Allies were only slightly ahead of the enemy - a huge Suzdal army, almost having had time to take Yuriev, became on the banks of the Gza River.
Yuryev-Polsky, founded in 1152 by the great grandfather of Vsevolodich, Yury Dolgoruky, was located in a densely populated and affluent area of Suzdal opolya, in the lowland of the left bank of the Koloksha not far from the place where the Gza flows into it. The fortress of the town was defended by a four-six-meter ring shaft, as well as a moat that reached the width of 28 m. Two gates led into the citadel — the northern Rostov and south-east Vladimirskiye. Having managed to master Yuriev, Mstislav Udatny secured a powerful stronghold in the heart of the Suzdal lands just before the decisive clash.
Information about the Suzdal ratification, which the Allied princes had, made a frightening impression. Therefore, hoping to gain time before the approach of Vladimir Pskov, they started new negotiations with the enemy. They probably hoped to try and sow discord in the enemy's camp - the Novgorodians did not consider Yury Vsevolodovich their foe, and therefore they sent a Sotsi Larion to him with the words: “We bow to you, brother, we have no offense from you, but there is an insult from Yaroslav - and To Novgorod, and Konstantin, your elder brother. We ask you to reconcile with your elder brother, give him elderness according to his truth, and Yaroslav was let go of the people of Novgorod and Novotorzhan. Let no blood be shed in vain for human blood, so God will charge us. " Yury answered firmly and briefly to this: "We are one man with brother Yaroslav."
Then the same Larion was sent with peaceful speeches to Yaroslav. Mstislav Udatnyy transmitted to his son-in-law: “Novgorod is mine. And you didn’t grab the husbands of Novgorod on business, many Novgorod people also robbed of good, crying to you to God and I complain about offenses from you. You, son, release the prisoners, but Novgorod Volost So we shall reconcile and not shed blood in vain. " But Yaroslav regarded the peace proposals as manifestations of the weakness of the enemy, and therefore answered self-confidently and gloatfully: “We don’t want peace; your men are with me; you came from far away, but you went out like a fish to dry.”
Upon the return of Larion, the allies equipped the third embassy, this time addressing both Vsevolodichs: “Brothers, we are all of the Vladimirov tribe and came here not for war and ruin, not to take your peace from you, but we are looking for peace. You are according to God's law and Truth Give the Russian eldership to the greater brother Konstantin. You know yourself, that if you don’t love your brother, you can hate God, you cannot redeem anything. "
Yuri replied to the messengers: “Tell Mstislav that he knows how he came, but he doesn’t know how he will leave here. If our father himself couldn’t judge me with Konstantin, would Mstislav be our judge? And tell Brother Constantine: repent us, then yours will be all the earth. "
After the ambassadors had left, Yury called his boyars and brothers to a feast in his tent. Militant speeches were heard from everyone and only the old boyar Tworimir (Andrei Stanislavich) expressed himself differently: “Princes Yuri and Yaroslav! The smaller brothers are in your will, but in my guessing, it would be better for you to take peace and give the elder to Constantine. Do not look that there are fewer of them. Princes of the Rostislav tribe are wise, ryadny and brave, and their men, Novgorod and Smolensk, are daring in battle. And you yourself know about Mstislav Mstislavich that his courage was given to him more than anyone else. And nowadays Konstantin does not have the brave Alexander Popovich, his servants Torop and Dobrynia Golden Belt? "
Such speeches caused general indignation, and Yuri allegedly even tried to pierce the old adviser with his sword, but was retained by fellow soldiers. Yuri cooled down, especially since there were completely different speeches everywhere. The general mood was expressed by the "brave and insane" boyar Ratibor, who said: "Princes Yuri and Yaroslav! Never have never been either with your fathers, or with grandfathers, or with great-grandfathers, so that someone entered a army in the strong land of Suzdal and left it Yes, even if all the Russian land went to us - and Galician, and Kiev, and Smolensk, and Chernihiv, and Novgorod, and Ryazan, and even then we can not do anything. And that these shelves, so we throw their saddles! "
Inspired by Yuri and Yaroslav, they gave the governor a tough order, forbidding them to take prisoners in battle: "You got the goods in your hands. You will also have armor, horses and ports. And the person who takes the living will be killed. And the golden shoulder will be sewn and kill him, let us not leave a single living one. If anyone leaks from a regiment he will not be killed, but we shall seize him, in other cases we shall hang or crucify. And who among the princes shall fall into his hands, then we shall talk about them. " Banning to take captive even noble opponents, Suzdal leaders openly violated the existing rules of warfare. This is their command, apparently, even before the battle began, the Allied ratification became known. The warriors of Udatny and Konstantin understood that in a strange land they had no one to expect mercy and, in their turn, became hardened.
After the military council, the brothers retired to the tent and wrote a letter about the division of the possessions of their opponents, in whose defeat they had no doubts. Yuriy secured the rights to the Suzdal and Rostov lands, Yaroslav should have regained pacified Novgorod, and Svyatoslav was sued by Smolensk. Entering into the taste, the brothers decided to also give Kiev to Chernigov princes, and take Galich to themselves. After that, a messenger was sent to the camp of Mstislav Udatny with a proposal to go to battle on the plain at Lipica.
Fig. 1. The general course of the war (March 1 - April 24 1216)
FORCES OF THE PARTIES
By medieval scales, the armies involved in the Lipitskaya Battle were huge. However, to accurately determine their true strength, as well as the size of the losses, is now impossible. Information chronicles contradictory and unreliable.
It is known that with Mstislav Udatnyi 5000 Novgorodians approached Rzhev (as turned out by V.N. Tatischev, they turned into 500 riders), and 900 Pskov performed on Zubtsov. These figures seem to be quite real and, starting from them, it is possible to make further calculations. Smolensk land, which did not suffer the same disaster as Novgorod, was supposed to put up a larger army, but it could hardly have significantly surpassed Mstislav's army. After all, Smolyan had even less time for training than the Novgorodians, and they could not gather the forces of the whole earth. The campaign, apparently, was made by the city regiment and the prince's squad, the total number of which can be conventionally reduced to 6000. The army of Yuri and Yaroslav possessed an overwhelming numerical superiority, which can be seen from the way the allies rejoiced at the approach on the eve of the battle, even of the White Lake ratification, which was so small that it was not even mentioned separately in the general disposition - it fell under the command of Vladimir Mstislavich, who had led it, and merged with it pskoviches. From here it is logical to assume the forces of the Rostov citizens in the 3000 area, and the Belozertsev - no more than 1000. In general, thus, at the disposal of the Allied rati could be up to 16000 warriors.
Regarding their opponents, it is known that Yuri had 13 banners, and Yaroslav had 17. Under the banner here obviously means not only the banners themselves, but also individual combat units - units in 20-150 of copies, headed by a boyar, a city foreman or a petty prince. Given that in addition to the commander, one spear also included 10 warriors, you can roundly give the number of Yuri's forces somewhere in 7-10 thousand, and Yaroslav in 9-13 thousand people. No less than 5000 warriors should have been included in the regiment of the "lesser brotherhood" - Ivan and Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. The statement of the chronicler, as if with Svyatoslav and Mikhail Borisovich, an 10000 man came under Rzhev is clearly exaggerated. Otherwise, it is unlikely that they would have so quickly and practically without a fight would have retreated before the incomplete six thousand Mstislav and Vladimir. As a result, the army of Vsevolodich on Lipitsa can be calculated somewhere in the size from 21 to 30 thousand people. Its composition was more colorful than that of the Allied rati. Yuri commanded Suzdal - there was "all the power of Suzdal land: driven from the villages to the pees". Under the leadership of Yaroslav were his Pereyaslavtsy, city dwellers, Muromtsy (led by Prince Davyd Yuryevich), a small number of runaway Novgorod and Novotorzhan, as well as fairly large forces of rodents, their chronicles are equally on a par with the named contingents. Regarding them, it should be noted that, contrary to popular opinion, they were not at all "fertile bands of the eastern steppes, a prototype of the Cossacks." As a philological analysis of the origin of their name convincingly shows, as well as a comparison of the Russian and Hungarian chronicles, there were detachments of mercenary soldiers, people from the Lower Danube region, whose Russian population was engaged in fishing, river trade and piracy. At the head of their military detachments were often experienced Galician boyars ("Galician vygontsy") experienced in combat, and even rogue princes. The chronicles did not disclose the composition of the "younger brotherhood" regiments, but apparently, apart from the personal squads of Ivan and Svyatoslav, there was the militia of the Suzdal land "from the settlements", reinforced by warriors like Yuriat and Ratibor. This can be concluded from the fact that it was this flank that proved to be a weak point in the Vsevolodich battle line and showed the least stamina in the battle.
Both armies had in their ranks the famous knights-warriors, each of whom led their own small squad. Thus, the well-known Alexander Popovich, in addition to the servant of Torop, was bringing into the field "the other brave X of the grad 70". The bogatyrs in Russia were then called the people of God (for comparison, the knights-monks of the Teutonic Order bore the name of the nobility of God among the Russians), which indicates the special status that these heroes occupied in society. They could serve one or another prince or city, but at the same time retained a certain independence, which ultimately led 1219 to make their joint decision to serve only the grand prince of Kiev, as the traditional head of the entire Russian land.
Among the warriors of the Allied army, the annals name such warriors as Alexander Popovich, the Dobrynya Golden Belt (aka Timonya Rezanich) and Nefedy Dikun, and from the Suzdalians - Yuryat and Ratibor, who fell from Popovich’s hand. The Nikon Chronicle also calls some "Iev Popovich and his servant Nestor, the valor of the brave", the death of which in battle was mourned by Mstislav Udatny himself. This gave reason to say that Alexander Popovich had a brother-hero, Job or Ivan. However, there is clearly a distortion of the original text of the earlier Novgorod chronicle, where Ivanka Popovitsya was mentioned among the dead Novgorodians.
In the conclusion of the review, it should be noted that, when naming the number of troops, the chroniclers most likely had in mind only the "front units" who directly participated in the battles, not including in this number the guards and camp attendants. Taking into account these forces, the total number of troops should be increased two to three times.
To be continued
Information