Who is Stepan Razin? A brief biography of this historical figure is considered in the school curriculum. Let's analyze some interesting facts from his life.
Important
What is interesting about the biography of Stepan Razin? A brief summary of the main stages of the life of this person testifies to the connection with the life of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
At that time there was an increase in feudal oppression. Despite the king's quiet disposition and his ability to listen to his subordinates, uprisings and riots periodically arose in the country.
Cathedral Code
After its approval, serfdom became the basis of the Russian economy, any rebellions were brutally suppressed by the authorities. The term for searching for runaway peasants was increased from 5 to 15 years, serfdom turned into a hereditary state.
Stepan Razin, whose biography will be discussed below, led the rebellion, which was called the peasant war.
Portrait of Stepan Razin
The Russian historian V. I. Buganov, who has been collecting information about Stepan Razin for a long time, based himself on some of the surviving documents that were published by the Romanovs, as well as on information that was preserved far from the Volga. Who is he - Stepan Razin? A short biography for schoolchildren offered in a history textbook is limited to only a minimal amount of information. It is difficult for the guys to draw up a true portrait of the leader of the rebellious movement based on these facts.
Family information
Stepan Timofeevich Razin was born in 1630. His brief biography contains information that his father was a noble and wealthy Cossack Timothy Razin. The village of Zimoveyskaya, the possible birthplace of Stepan, was first mentioned at the end of the 18th century by the historian A.I. Rigelman. The domestic historian Popov suggested that Cherkassk was the birthplace of Stepan Razin, because this city was repeatedly mentioned in folk traditions of the 17th century.
Characteristic
The biography of Stepan Razin contains information that the ataman of the Cossack army Kornil Yakovlev became his godfather. Thanks to the Cossack origin, Stepan from childhood occupied a special place among the Don foremen, had certain privileges.
In 1661, he took an active part in negotiations with the Kalmyks as an interpreter, having excellent knowledge of the Tatar and Kalmyk languages.
The biography of Stepan Razin contains the fact that by 1662 he became the commander of the Cossack army, which went on a campaign against the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate. At that point in time, Stepan Razin had already managed to make two pilgrimages to the Solovetsky Monastery, and also three times to become the Don ambassador to Moscow. In 1663 he took part in a military campaign against the Crimean Tatars near Perekop.
The biography of Stepan Razin contains many interesting points. For example, historians note his genuine authority among the Don Cossacks, they allocate enormous energy, rebellious disposition. Many historical descriptions speak of the arrogant expression on Razin's face, his gravity and stateliness. The Cossacks called him "father", they were ready to kneel before him during the conversation, demonstrating respect and honor in this way.
Reliable information about whether he had a family, the biography of Stepan Razin does not contain. There is information that the children of the ataman lived in the Kagalnitsky town.
Predatory campaigns
The younger brother Frol and older brother Ivan also became Cossack leaders. It was after the execution of the elder Ivan, carried out on the orders of the governor Yuri Dolgorukov, that Stepan began to hatch a plan of cruel revenge on the tsar's administration. Razin decides on a free and prosperous life for his Cossacks, building a military-democratic system.
As a manifestation of disobedience to the tsarist government, Razin, together with the Cossack army, went on a predatory campaign to Persia and the lower Volga (1667-1669). His team robbed a trade caravan, blocked the movement of merchants towards the Volga. As a result, the Cossack homeless managed to free some of the exiles, avoiding a collision with a detachment of soldiers.
Razin at that time settled near the Don, in the Kagalnitsky town. Whites and Cossacks began to come to him from all over, forming a powerful rebel army. The attempts of the tsarist government to disperse the recalcitrant Cossacks were unsuccessful, and the personality of Stepan Razin himself was overgrown with real legends.
Razintsy, who acted under the banner of war, naively thought about how to protect Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from the Moscow boyars. For example, in one of the letters, the ataman wrote that his army was coming from the Don to help the sovereign in order to protect him from traitors.
Expressing hatred for the authorities, the Razintsy were ready to give their lives for the Russian Tsar.
Conclusion
In 1670, an open uprising of the Cossack army began. Together with his associates, Razin sent "charming" letters, urging him to join the ranks of his freedom-loving army.
Ataman never talked about the overthrow of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, but he declared a real war on clerks, governors, representatives of the Russian church. The Razintsy gradually introduced the Cossack army into the cities, destroyed the representatives of the authorities, established their own rules there. Merchants trying to cross the Volga were detained and robbed.
The Volga region was engulfed by mass uprisings. As leaders were not only the Razin Cossacks, but also runaway peasants, Chuvash, Mari, Mordovians. Among the cities captured by the rebels were Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan.
In the autumn of 1670, Razin met with serious resistance during a campaign against Simbirsk. The ataman was wounded, he was forced to retreat to the Don along with his army.
At the beginning of 1671, serious contradictions began to arise within the army. As a result, the authority of the ataman decreased, and a new leader appeared in his place - Yakovlev.
In the spring of the same year, together with his brother Frol, Stepan was taken prisoner and handed over to government authorities. Despite his hopeless situation, Razin retained his dignity. His execution was scheduled for June 2.
Since the tsar was afraid of serious unrest from the side of the Cossack army, the entire Bolotnaya Square, where the public execution took place, was cordoned off by several rows of people who were infinitely devoted to the tsar.
Detachments of government troops were also located at all intersections. Razin calmly listened to the whole sentence, then turned towards the church, bowed, asked for forgiveness from the people who had gathered in the square.
The executioner first cut off his arm to the elbow, and then the leg to the knee, then Razin lost his head. The execution of Frol, scheduled for the same time as Stepan, was postponed. He received his life in exchange for telling the authorities about the places where Stepan Razin hid his treasures.
The authorities failed to find the treasure, so in 1676 Flor was executed. In many Russian songs, Razin is presented as the ideal Cossack leader. Legends about the Razin treasures are passed down from generation to generation. For example, there is information that the chieftain hid his treasures in a cave near the village of Dobrinka.
The execution of the Cossack ataman did not bring peace and tranquility to the royal family. In the Volga region and on the Volga, peasant and Cossack wars continued after the death of Razin. The rebels managed to hold Astrakhan until the autumn of 1671. The Romanovs made great efforts to find and destroy the documents of the rebels.
The biography of Stepan Timofeevich Razin, a Don Cossack and leader of the Peasant War of 1670-1671, is well known to historians, and our contemporaries are more familiar with this name from folklore.
He was born a hereditary Cossack around 1630 in the village of Zimoveyskaya on the Don. His father was the noble Cossack Timofei Razin, and his godfather was the army ataman Kornila Yakovlev. Already in his youth, he stood out noticeably among the Don foremen.
Like all hereditary Cossacks, he was a true believer and made two pilgrimages to the Solovetsky Monastery. Several times he was part of the winter villages, that is, embassies from the Don Cossacks, and visited Moscow.
He knew the Kalmyk and Tatar languages and several times took part in negotiations with taishas - Kalmyk leaders. In 1663, he led a detachment of Cossacks, which included the Cossacks and Kalmyks, made trips to Perekop against the Krymchaks.
For his personal qualities, he was well known in the Don. A verbal description of the appearance of Stepan Razin has been preserved in a brief biography of foreign historical chronicles, which was left by the Dutch master Jan Streis. He describes Razin as a tall and sedate man. Strongly built, with an arrogant face and behaved modestly, but with dignity.
In 1665, his older brother was executed by order of the governor Yuri Dolgorukov, when the Cossacks tried to leave the Russian soldiers who fought with the Poles. This execution made a great impression on Stepan Razin.
In 1667, he became a marching ataman of a large detachment of Cossacks, which included many newcomers from Russia, and set off on his famous campaign “for zipuns” along the Volga to the Caspian and to Persia. Returning with rich booty, he stopped in the Kagalnitsky town. Believing in his luck and hearing how he robs destroyers and bloodsuckers, fugitives from all over the Moscow state began to flock to him.
He captured all the cities on the lower Volga - Astrakhan, Tsaritsyn, Saratov, after Samara.
From the Cossack speech, the movement grew into a large-scale peasant uprising, which covered a significant territory of the state.
The rebels received their first defeat near Simbirsk, where the ataman himself was seriously wounded. He was taken to the Kagalnitsky town. By this time, the mood on the Don had changed, desires for settling down and housekeeping began to prevail. After an unsuccessful attempt to take the Cossack capital Cherkassk, the grassroots Cossacks united and defeated the rebels, and their leader Stepan Razin, together with his brother Frol, was given to Moscow. After severe torture, they were executed at the Execution Ground.
"Through the obsession of the Byzantine ligature
It's time to distinguish features and cuts,
So that Russia comes out - the liberated Razin -
And unfolded, like a banner, the Sun-Ra.
(Alexey Shiropaev)
"Two terrible snakes tyrannize me."
(Stepan Razin)
Today we will talk in detail about one of the greatest Russian warlocks - Stepan Razin. Having successfully combined military skill and necromancy, he united under his command the Russian lands, which were larger than any European state of that time. The vile Muscovites did not manage to kill him completely, but they managed to captivate him with charmed chains and, through the ritual of dismemberment, imprison him in the guise of a lich - still alive, but motionless.
The topic is important, the conversation will be long, there will be a lot of letters.
Let's start with a little-known article from an early "Lemons"(highlighted in bold- I):
STEPAN RAZIN: LEGENDRare documents of the 17th century containing the facts of his biography are more striking than the legend about him.
Cossack, a well-known personality in the Don Cossacks even before the outbreak of the Great Riot, commander, military diplomat. According to a contemporary - the secretary of the Swedish embassy in Persia Kempfer, Razin knew eight languages. The fact is surprising, but quite explainable by the fact that the Don Army had permanent diplomatic and trade relations with Persia and Turkey, with its other not entirely peaceful neighbors. Repeatedly heading various embassies, Razin was his own interpreter, in addition to Russian, he spoke Tatar, Kalmyk, Persian, Turkish, Ukrainian, possibly Polish and Lithuanian. Razin must have been in Ukraine in 1665 as part of a Cossack detachment, who, together with Russian troops, fought for the independence of Ukraine from the Polish-Lithuanian state. In this war for arbitrariness, the governor Yuri Dolgoruky was hanged by the elder brother of Stepan Razin - Ivan. Persian and Turkish girls, captured by the Cossacks in robbery campaigns, were not uncommon on the Don, so the knowledge of these languages is not a mystery. Diplomats, military and current politicians, hey! Are you able to say at least "hello" in eight languages?
It is surprising that the man who was the personification of a bloody rebellion, anathematized for 300 years (the church is like a harlot - whoever they say, he will curse), twice went on a pilgrimage, crossed all of Russia - from the Azov to the White Sea - almost two thousand kilometers, - in the fall 1652, being a young man of 23, after repeated participation in campaigns to the Turkish shores, and again in the fall - already in 1661, after he represented the Don Army in negotiations with the Kalmyks. He conducted the negotiations successfully and, after waiting for the summer, Razin, who had reached the age of Christ and Ilya Muromets, went to the other end of the world - to the Solovetsky Monastery. Razin by this time had a lot - position, authority, name, well-being; it is worth mentioning that he was the godson of the ataman of the Don Cossacks - Kornila Yakovlev, that is, the godson of the head of a huge and powerful republic.
Two years after the pilgrimage, with the knowledge of the Army Sergeant, Razin, at the head of the Cossack detachment, makes a military campaign against the Crimeans. In the battle near Milk Waters, Razin's detachment is victorious, which was reported to the sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich.
And in the spring of 1667, Razin already arbitrarily led a detachment of Cossacks to march on Azov, which then belonged to Turkey. The small size of the detachment forced Razin not to take the assault. If events had turned out differently, Azov would have been taken not by Peter I in 1695, but by Razin in 1667.
Soviet historians, who date the beginning of the Peasant War in 1667, are not quite right. Before the Peasant War was still far away. Firstly, at first everything that happened concerned mainly the Cossacks: Razin challenges the rich, snickering part of the Don people who sold themselves to Moscow, who forgot the precepts of the Cossack freemen. His detachment rises along the Don and, as reported in historical documents, "many Cossack towns are ruined, passing merchants and Cossacks are robbed and beaten to death", "many owners and workers are beaten and hanged incessantly."
Further, the Razintsy stood between the rivers of Silence and Ilovlya (tributaries of the Volga with poetic names), robbed a caravan descending the Volga to Astrakhan, freed the exiles, who were a whole plow, chopped up the initial people, kissers, some of them roasted alive beforehand, from the patriarchal plow three "hung on a shoglu by the legs, and others by the head." (By what principle, I wonder, did they choose the method of hanging?)
It makes no sense now to talk about the cruelty of the Cossacks, the time itself was cruel, foreigners wrote that people in Muscovy are killed more often than dogs - in the streets, in quarrels and fights; torture was legalized by the state, for which there were professional executioners in every city, executions and punishments were carried out in public, and what can we say about those unfortunate ones mutilated by the Cossacks, if women in those days were buried alive in the ground for treason. Are we to judge those times with our morals ...
Then Razin went down the Volga, stopped at Tsaritsyn. The governor of the city ordered to shoot at the thieves' plows, but not a single gun fired- gunpowder came out fuse. Following this, Cossack Razin appeared to the stunned governor, muttering something about evil spirits, and demanded an anvil, furs and blacksmith tackle. Which was immediately provided. Near the Black Yar, Razin frolic again and flogged the governor of this city, who met on the way, putting him on the shore without pants after the execution. This, too, was not a Peasant War, everything that happened was pure robbery, only Razin’s actions differed from the previous robbers in a certain reckless scope and completely unthinkable arrogance.
By sea, the Razintsy approached the Yaitsky town. Leaving the plows and changing clothes, forty people, led by the ataman himself, knocked on the gates of the town, asking to be allowed into the church to pray. The gates were open, and the "pilgrims" cut the guards. Razintsy entered the town.
The streltsy garrison stationed in the Yaitsky town did not have time to resist or did not dare. However, Yatsyn - the head of the archery and his comrades conceived something against Razin. The ataman, who found out about this, punished them. They gathered a garrison in the square, and one of the archers (his name was Chikmaz) began to chop off the heads of his yesterday's comrades. The picture, I think, was incomparable: having chopped off 170 heads in two hours, Chikmaz must have been heavily smeared, blood covered his entire body and face with a crust - it was summer, it was hot; the agonizing corpses were thrown into the pit. Some of the condemned archers fainted from horror, and dragged them to the chopping block, having fallen into unconsciousness. Stepan was sitting right there, watching and, apparently tired, announced to the surviving archers that, they say, I forgive you, you can stay with me, or you can go. Sagittarius thought for a day and foolishly went somewhere. The Cossacks, led by the ataman, caught up with them outside the city and chopped them down.
The sincere guy Chikmaz earned the trust of the ataman and stayed with him for a long time.
The Cossacks settled in the Yaik town; it was necessary to eat something, and in the fall Razin defeated the Tatars at the mouth of the Volga, who did not want to share good. A little later, he defeated a detachment of the sovereign's military men sent by the Astrakhan governor to catch the troublemakers. "Nothing to catch - we're not hiding." Razin conceived a campaign against Persia - for rich booty, and attributing this period to the Peasant War is simply stupid - what kind of Peasant War is this outside of Russia, and besides, without peasants - Razin's detachment almost entirely consisted of Cossacks. Razin wintered almost peacefully in the Yaitsky town, and the thought of cracking down on the boyars had not yet mastered him. True, ambassadors came to the town three times with an exhortation to stop the robbery. The first time they were released, the second time one of the ambassadors was killed by Razin himself, the third time the ambassadors were hanged. Tired, probably.
In 1667, according to the "Catalogue of Earthquakes of the Russian Empire", there were earthquakes of great strength in the city of Shamakhi. In recent years, historical works have appeared, where this fact is given fundamental importance, and Razin's entire Caspian campaign, amazing in its scope and Cossack prowess, has been reduced to shameful looting. If we take into account the above fact about the earthquake, then the notorious looting is generally nonsense. Because the Cossacks appeared in those places a year later - in 1668, when the consequences of the earthquake were nullified, and because the Razintsy did not go far from the coast, fearing to be cut off from the plows, and Shamakhi is located a hundred kilometers from the coast. The tendency to humiliate the Russian national hero leads to the juggling of facts and outright absurdity. However, I can even help new interpreters of the history of the rebellion - in addition to the "Catalogue" there is a letter from a foreigner T. Brain, who lived in those years in Persia, which also mentions earthquakes - historians missed this letter, otherwise they would have danced with delight, - but it does not affect the essence of the matter - Persia was and remained the most powerful and fabulously rich state, and there is a lot of evidence that the cities in Persia flourished and did not lie in ruins, the richest markets worked, there was active trade with neighboring countries, and the Shah Abbas II paid for the work of a mercenary army. Yes, and T. Brain himself, who wrote about earthquakes, was not going to leave Persia, which means that it was not so scary.
So, Razin left the Yaitsky town for the Caspian Sea. The coast from Derbent to Baku was devastated. Surprisingly, foreigners, mostly Persians, joined the Cossack army. Razin communicated with them in their native language.
Having reached Reshat, Razin offered service to the Shah, which, by the way, is not customary in Soviet historical studies. Neither the leader of the Peasant War, nor the new Yermak - then Razin did not want to be a conqueror of lands for Muscovy. He asked for lands from the Shah, promising to serve faithfully; Agamir Osenov, a visiting Persian, mentioned Razin's personal meeting with the Shah. The Shah was playing for time - he clearly did not need such restless and arrogant neighbors, but it seemed impossible to destroy them. While the Razin Yesauls were negotiating with the Shah in Isfahan, Razin set a condition for the ruler of Reshat to pay the Cossacks 150 rubles a day and, in addition, feed them daily. That is, Razin practically imposed tribute on one of the Persian cities. And this is with two thousand people! What if there were ten thousand? The Cossacks, of course, did not allow them to count, therefore they ate and received money each for three. In addition, they had fun in the city, as best they could. In the end, the inhabitants of Reshat, tired of the Cossack drunkenness and lawlessness, caught them, insolent and drunk, by surprise and killed about four hundred people.
If history had stumbled here, the Shah would have had a hired Cossack army. She didn't stumble, fortunately.
Revenge was not long in coming. Leaving the ill-fated Rasht and arriving at Farabat, Razin asked to let the Cossacks into the city for trade. The ruler of Farabat believed the exhortations of the Cossacks in good intentions. They traded for five days, since before that they had looted a lot on the coast - they exchanged Persian good for Persian, on the sixth day Razin gave a sign - he touched his hat, and the holiday began: they massacred the whole city. The cruelty knew no bounds. Countless riches were transferred to plows, while the plows were upholstered in velvet and hung with silk sails. After Farabat, the Razintsy took Astrabat and, having plundered it, completely insolent, stood on the Miyan-Kale peninsula between Farabat and Astrabat - in the shah's forest reserve, where the shah's amusing yards. Two Persian cities were in worse condition than after the earthquake, I think, but Razin was not going to sail away - he strengthened the Cossack settlement and established trade - one Orthodox was exchanged for three Busurmans taken prisoner. The Shah hastily prepared for war.
In the spring, Razin's detachment spread to the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea - to the Trukhmen land. (Here, by the way, there were no earthquakes at all.) All the Turkmen camps that met on the coast were plundered, the Turkmen army was dispersed. From there, Razin returned to the west coast again, apparently, resentment for the massacre in Rasht did not allow the ataman to sleep. The Cossacks stood on Pig Island near Baku, plundered several villages near this city, but failed to calm down on their deeds. In June 1669, the Shah's fleet headed by the first commander of Persia, Meneda Khan, approached the Pig Island. The Persians, who had excellent weapons and fourfold numerical superiority, went to the Pig Island, as if on a holiday. With music. Khan even took his young son (and, according to legend, his daughter) with him, so that the children could enjoy the victory of the Persian army.
At first, everything turned out as Menedy Khan had planned: the Cossacks, at the sight of the approaching enemy, took a shameful flight. The Persians rejoiced. The pursuit was accompanied by the thunder of drums and trumpets. The Cossacks, as it turned out, did not even know how to control the plows - they barely moved, helplessly poking at each other. The Persians connected their ships with chains so that not a single Cossack plow could escape, and began to surround the Razintsy. Here the holiday began: unexpectedly, the Cossacks learned to manage, and moreover, unusually clearly and harmoniously, with their plows and turned towards the Persians. A cannon shot rang out from the central - Razin plow. The busa of Meneda Khan, marked by his own hoisted flag, caught fire - the core fell into the powder reserve, the Khan himself had to hastily move to another ship. But his burning bead began to sink and pulled all the other Persian ships tied with chains.
The Persians could not maneuver and therefore served as an excellent target. After a short and accurate shelling, the Cossacks began the direct extermination of the Persian army, which had fallen into terrible confusion. The entire army was destroyed in a short time. Khan, having lost his son Shebalda in the confusion of battle, left on three sandals. The Cossacks lost only a few dozen people killed. The news of the terrible defeat of the troops of Abbas II came to all the surrounding eastern countries, to the European powers.
The news also reached Moscow. And although the sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich sent an apology to Abbas II for the actions of the robbers, Muscovy clearly felt pride in his unreasonable subjects. The sovereign released the guilt to the Cossacks. "Forgive me, they say, just don't fool around anymore. They robbed you and sit still." It didn't work out nicely. It was impossible to stop.
Razin returned to the Don. From all over Russia, all the same oppressed and destitute were drawn to him, but also: thieves, murderers, rapists. Throughout the winter of 1669, Razin sent messengers to the hetman of the Right-Bank Ukraine, Petro Doroshenko, and the ataman of the Zaporizhia Army, Ivan Serko - he was looking for comrades for his plan. A little later, Stepan sent messengers to the disgraced Patriarch Nikon. If they all supported him - oh, Russia would have come apart at the seams, Moscow would have fallen ...
In May 1670, the Great Campaign began. Peasant War. Razin went to the Volga. Surrounding Tsaritsyn and leaving part of the army near him, Razin took up his usual business, in which he had not known defeat for a long time - he defeated the nomad camps of the Nogai Tatars. Returning after a hard battle to the walls of Tsaritsyn, Razin learned that the inhabitants of the city had opened the gates to their liberator, Father Stepan Timofeevich. The governor with a few people locked himself in the tower, from where the Razintsy, led by the ataman, who entered the city, smoked him out and drowned him the next day, at the request of the inhabitants of Tsaritsyn.
A detachment of archers with the head of Ivan Lopatin, sailing to the aid of Tsaritsyn, was defeated with the prowess characteristic of Razin, brilliance and cruelty: seven miles from the city, from behind a spit, Razin's boats unexpectedly surfaced towards the streltsy plows. The archers were about to rush to the shore, but there the cavalry sitting in ambush was waiting for them. Stunned, they rushed to Tsaritsyn, believing that the city had not yet been taken. Their horror was inconceivably great when cannons fired at them from the walls of the city in which they hoped to hide. Razintsy in all that massacre lost several people killed and wounded. From the archery detachment there were those who managed to surrender in time.
When I watched "Braveheart" with Mel Gibson, I felt sorry that we did not shoot such a film about Razin. And the charm would be that there is no need to invent anything about Razin - his whole life, all his military victories and human deeds and antics are delightfully interesting ...
Another detachment of archers under the leadership of Prince Lvov, sent by the Astrakhan governor, in which Razin's "charms" worked, as skillfully surrounded by Razin's troops as the previous detachment, surrendered to Razin without a fight.
The inhabitants of Cherny Yar themselves let the chieftain in, Kamyshin was taken by deceit. Razin went down the Volga so as not to leave Astrakhan in the rear.
The Astrakhan fortress was one of the best in Europe. Foreign masters said that she would stand against any army. Stone Kremlin: ten towers, behind them is the White City with stone walls up to ten sazhens in height, behind it is an earthen rampart with a wooden wall on it. The rampart has a deep ditch. There were five hundred cannons on three fortress walls!
With the governor of Astrakhan - Prozorovsky - Razin personally climbed a high fortress tower with a flat top - a peal. They were talking about something. The conversation came down to the fact that Razin gently pushed Prozorovsky, who was standing at the edge of the rumble. Going downstairs, Razin ordered his two sons to be hanged by their feet.
In total, in Astrakhan, by decision of the townspeople and the Cossack circle, 66 people were executed. Do you think a lot?
There was once a TV show where a bearded historian spoke in a penetrating voice about the unthinkable cruelty of the Razintsy and cited the following story as an example: when the Razin squalor entered Astrakhan, the governor, clerks, many archers locked themselves in the church. After futile persuasion to let them in, the Razintsy began to shoot at the carved gate - into the inside of the church, and with an accidental shot they killed a one and a half year old child in his mother's arms. Negligent mother, it is worth noting. There was nothing to climb into the church, the Cossacks did not eat babies, and there is not a single case when Razin would order the execution of women or children. From inside the church, by the way, they also shot, and there was no time for the Razints to mark.
Moreover, I dare to assert that Razin's atrocity, his irreconcilable cruelty in dealing with boyars, princes and clerks is a fabrication and a bluff. Representatives of the "white bone" Razin pardoned as often as he executed. Only obvious enemies were destroyed: in 1667 a caravan on the Volga was robbed - the patriarchal son of the boyar Lazunka Zhidovin was not touched and was even accepted into the detachment along with 160 yaryzhki; they took the Yaitsky town - the governor is safe and sound; in 1670, Razin stood up in a war against Boyar Rus - all the seed seems to have to be exterminated by the boyars, but no - they were not zealous in executions; they took Tsaritsyn - and the children of the boyars and the nephew of the voivode, captured - were spared, and, as reported in a historical document, "in the initial people in Tsaritsyn - on his Stepanov's order - the son of the boyars Ivashka Kuzmin ... and the cathedral priest Andrey"; Lopatin's archery detachment was defeated - over Lopatin himself, who was taken prisoner alive, Razin "ordered to abuse in every possible way, and they pricked him, and put him in the water," however, at the request of the archers who surrendered, they spared the half-head. But he participated in the battle against the Razintsy. In mercy to the vanquished - the greatness of a warrior, is not it? We follow further: in the Black Yar, the governor was spared; in the detachment of Prince Lvov, who surrendered to Razin near Cherny Yar, there were 80 officers and nobles who tried to escape, and this is how the participant in the events described it - the Dutch officer Fabricius, who was then under Prince Lvov: "... and there will be a massacre, yes Stenka Razin immediately gave the order not to kill any more officers, because among them, it’s true, there are still good people, such people should be spared.On the contrary, those who mistreated their soldiers will suffer a well-deserved punishment by the verdict of the ataman and the circle he called ." On the circle, Razin beats his forehead in front of the Cossacks, so that Prince Lvov would be spared. By decision of the circle, the prince and most of the officers were spared. In Astrakhan, Razin forbade touching church treasures and ordered to take care of Metropolitan Joseph and other spiritual shepherds. Before that, however, one of the priests, by order of Razin, was cut off his arm and leg, and the other was put in the water. (They stuffed stones into a bag and, putting a man in a bag, threw them into the river.) But these priests behaved inappropriately - began to denounce Razin, as if he was engaged in ungodly deeds. It was necessary to show the priests the lack of interest in such sermons, so that they would not embarrass the people. Razin "led the inhabitants of Astrakhan to the cross" - that is, the Astrakhans swore allegiance to him in order to "stand for the great sovereign" and "serve" Razin. And so that no one would have any doubts about Stepan Razin's loyalty to the sovereign and the church, Razin put the pseudo-tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich and the pseudo-patriarch Nikon on his planes, their names fit into the deeds of the predestination ... From Astrakhan, Razin, at the head of his army increasing every day, began to rise up the Volga, Samara and Saratov were taken, where, as in many other cities taken by the Razintsy, only a few were executed, according to the verdict of the townspeople. There were no mass bloodlettings, those who could not be killed were killed.
Lawlessness and drunkenness of the Cossacks is also a moot point. Without a doubt, it was difficult to reason with several thousand people, among whom there were many convicts, but: after the capture of the next city and the holiday that followed this event, from the next day Razin forbade drunkenness. For the theft, a Cossack caught was killed on the spot. According to the testimony of foreigners who were in Astrakhan during the uprising, fornication was the most serious crime among the Razintsy, and violence was severely punished. In the same Astrakhan, Razin forbade the use of swear words on the streets, what kind of drunkenness is there. Even the hater of Razin Kostomarov, noting that his army "was made up of fugitive thieves," says that the slightest disobedience was punished by death, that is, discipline reigned in Razin's army, comparable only to the discipline of the Tatar-Mongol army.
In early September, Razin approached Simbirsk. The tsarist militia under the command of Prince Yuri Borotyansky, which was going to help the city, was overturned. The Simbirsk prison was taken, the Razintsy besieged the small Simbirsk city, where the governor sat down with many people to death. During September, Razin carried out several brutal assaults, the ataman himself repeatedly went along with the Cossacks to the walls of Simbirsk, appearing in the most dangerous places.
In a short time, Razin was subject to the entire Simbirsk district.
Razin was in control of the entire lower Volga - the largest cities: Astrakhan, Cherny Yar, Tsaritsyn, Saratov, Samara, Simbirsk should be taken any day; half the way to Moscow was completed, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, where Razin intended to spend the winter, Murom and Ryazan remained.
Charming letters and Razin's envoys went in all directions of Russia. Razin sent letters to Kazan and Sviyazhsk, written in Russian and Tatar. Razin's envoys appeared twice in Moscow, walked among the people, admonishing the common people to honor the intercessor Stepan Timofeevich - to meet with bread and salt.
Trouble spread throughout Russia. Charming letters appeared even in the Karelian and Izhora lands, near the Svei border. Razin's messengers reached the Little Russian lands, to Poltava.
Even from Tsaritsyn, Razin began to send out his chieftains, so that they would go their own ways in Russia - to Moscow.
By mid-autumn 1670, when Razin commanded over 60,000 people, the rebellion assumed unheard-of proportions.
Only atamans moved through outlying towns: Stepan Razin's brother, Frol, went to Korotoyak; the named brother of Sepan - Lesko Cherkashenin climbed the Northern Donets, Tsarev-Borisov, Mayatsk, Zmiev, Chuguev were taken. Another Razin ataman, Frol Minaev, ascended the Don with the assistance of Colonel Dzinkovsky, who took the side of the rebels, took Ostrogozhsk and went to Voronezh.
Other chieftains sent from near Saratov and Simbirsk captured Alatyr, Kurmysh, Yadrin, Saransk, Kerensk, Penza and many other cities in a short time. The rebels approached Nizhny Novgorod and laid siege to Tambov. Rebels appeared near Tula and Suzdal, Kolomna and Yaroslavl. Unzha was taken to the northeast of Moscow, the rebels were moving towards Kostroma.
Razin's possessions by October 1670 exceeded the size of any European power. Under the name of Razin there were vast territories: the entire Volga, the entire Trans-Volga region, about 20 cities in Mesopotamia, part of Sloboda Ukraine, tens of kilometers north of Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, behind the back of the uprising lay the safe Urals ...
It was no longer a riot. It was an invasion. European newspapers wrote about the horrors in Muscovy: "The Moscow General Dolgoruky, sent against the rebels, demands an army of one hundred thousand, otherwise he does not dare to show himself in front of the enemy."
Moscow shook. An all-Russian noble militia was hastily created. The church anathematized Stepan Razin.
And what happened was what trembling Moscow prayed for: in early October, Razin's army, standing near Simbirsk, was dispersed. The muzhik turned out to be unfit for war and faltered at the first hard onslaught. The main strength and hope of Razin - the Cossack backbone, professional soldiers who followed Razin from Persia - was destroyed. Razin himself, under whom a horse was killed in battle, wounded by a shot squeaked in the leg and with a cut saber in his head, with a few people hastily returned to the Don: while the rebellion was blooming in Russia, urgently assemble a new Cossack militia - they shook Persia with two thousand, is there really no several thousand who want to drag boyar Russia by the beard!
Not found. It was agony: Razin rushed around the Don for half a year, the Cossacks did not follow him. The year 1671 has come. Razin was waiting for spring to climb the Volga again with several hundred people, where Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn still stood under his, Razin, name, where, in the interfluve of the Oka and Volga, Razin atamans in agony held the conquered lands, where the People were still raging.
And there was no mercy for the people from the governor. Cities wrested from the uprising were marked with great blood. NEVER, anathematized for ungodly deeds and cruelty, Razin did not arrange such horror that the royal governors blessed by the church did. A foreigner, an eyewitness to the suppression of the uprising of Stepan Razin, wrote: “It was terrible to look at Arzamas, its suburbs seemed like a complete hell, gallows stood everywhere ... scattered heads lay scattered and smoked with fresh blood, stakes stuck out here, on which criminals were tormented and often were alive on three days of indescribable suffering." Only in Arzamas, on the orders of the governor Yuri Dolgoruky, 11 thousand people were executed! And remember that in every city captured by Razin, only the governor and several of his henchmen were executed - a few! Remember the archery regiments and the officers in command of them, whom Razin pardoned from time to time.
But in Astrakhan, Razin executed as many as 66 people, you say. Do you know what happened in Astrakhan when it was recaptured from the rebels? The Dutchman Ludwig Fabricius, who was then in the city, recalls that the new voivode Odoevsky "ordered to arrest all Astrakhan residents ... he raged to the point of horror: the voivode ordered many to be quartered alive, someone to be burned alive, someone to cut out his tongue from his throat, someone to be buried alive in land. And so they did both with the guilty and the innocent. In the end, when there were few people left, he ordered the whole city to be demolished. "
Where is that bearded historian who whined about Razin's cruelty? If only he had learned to read books, if he had no conscience.
Where are those churchmen who for 300 years anathematized the Russian national hero Stepan Razin and his chieftains - have you forgotten the governor, or what? And until now, with those governors, share one well-fed table, and send an anathema wherever you go ... And these are our spiritual shepherds ... m ... ringing.
Razin was captured on April 13, 1671 - in the town of Kagalnik built by Razin, the Cossacks themselves, led by Stepan's godfather, Kornila Yakovlev, captured.
On June 4, 1671 Razin Stepan and his brother Frol were brought to Moscow. After the terrible two days of torture endured by Razin with inhuman stamina, his quartered on Red Square. When Razin had already cut off his arm and leg, his brother Frol became cowardly and shouted to avoid execution that he would reveal to the sovereign secret... Razin, tortured for two days, with a severed arm and leg, shouted to his brother:
Shut up, dog!
Razin's rebellion, which scattered like wild flowers and burning brands across Russia, was trampled on by the governors for a long time.
The last stronghold of the fleeing Razintsy - the Solovetsky Monastery - fell only in 1676. The same monastery where young Razin went on a pilgrimage ...
Like this. But this is only the outer layer of events. The racial (and, in part, occult) background, we will analyze in the second part of the article.
Stepan Razin - Don Cossack and ataman. In 1670-1671, he led the largest popular uprising - the Peasants' War.
Many consider Stenka Razin a violent robber, the hero of a song who, in a fit of anger and passion, drowned the Persian princess. That's probably all that his name is associated with, but in vain. Because all of the above is just a myth, fiction. In fact, Stepan Razin was an outstanding commander and politician. He became a "father" to all the humiliated and offended. No wonder the authorities were so afraid of him, even after his death he inspired them with a sense of fear, even though his quartered body dangled on poles near Moscow.
Childhood
Stepan Razin was born in 1630. Unfortunately, the exact date of his birth has not been preserved. Razin's homeland is the village of Zimoveyskaya, although according to other sources, his hometown is Cherkassk. Stepan's father's name was Timofey Razya, he lived in the Voronezh region. What caused him to move to the Don has remained a mystery. Perhaps he was driven by hunger, or maybe lawlessness and endless oppression, who will now say for sure. Timothy was strong, courageous, energetic, and very soon became "homey", i.e. rich Cossack. Not a single military campaign could do without him. He even brought his wife back from one such trip. He captured a Turkish woman, married her, and the young wife gave him three sons - Ivan, Stepan and Frol. Stepan became the godson of the ataman of the army Kornila Yakovlev himself.
Time of Troubles
In 1649, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov signed the "Conciliar Message", which finally drove the peasants into bondage to serfdom. The document stated that serfs could be inherited, and if they ran away, then the period of their search reached 15 years. After this law was passed, the country began to choke on rebellions and uprisings, many peasants fled from their masters, trying to find free lands and settlements.
Troubled times have come. In the Cossack settlements, “golytba” constantly appeared - poor peasants who asked to join the wealthy Cossacks. Fugitive peasants organized themselves into detachments, stole and robbed. The number of Cossack settlements grew, the Don, Terk and Yaik Cossacks became especially large. Accordingly, their military power was also strengthened.
Youth
1665 can be called a turning point in the biography of Stepan Razin. At that time, his older brother, Ivan, a participant in the Russian-Polish campaign, decided on an unauthorized withdrawal from the positions. He took his army and went to his homeland. The custom was that representatives of the free Cossacks could not follow the orders of the government. However, the army of Yuri Dolgorukov caught up with Ivan Razin and his fighters. Dolgoruky charged them with desertion and ordered them to be executed on the spot. After the news of the death of his brother reached Stepan, he fiercely hated the Russian nobility. He decides to fight with Moscow in order to put an end to the boyars forever. The situation of the peasants also worried Stepan Razin, and this was another reason to go with the army to Moscow.
Characteristic features of Razin were prowess and ingenuity. He was not accustomed to breaking through, he tried to settle everything diplomatically and by cunning. Thanks to this, Stepan from a young age was part of the delegations that represented the interests of the Cossacks in Astrakhan and Moscow. Stepan was considered a born diplomat who could handle even the most hopeless negotiations. During the well-known campaign, called "for the zipuns", all its participants could suffer. But after a short communication between Razin and the royal governor of Lvov, the army calmly went home, and with a supply of new weapons. Stepan Razin received a gift from the tsar's governor - an icon of the Virgin.
Razin managed to reconcile the representatives of the southern nationalities. When the Kalmyks and the Nagaybak Tatars entered into a confrontation, it was Razin who managed to act as an intermediary and prevent bloodshed from either side.
Insurrection
In the spring of 1667, Razin began gathering his troops. By that time, he managed to gather two thousand soldiers, with whom he set off along the tributaries of the Volga, simultaneously taking away everything of value from the ships belonging to the boyars and merchants. The authorities have not yet seen a riot in the robberies, because basically, all the Cossacks lived precisely at the expense of the usual robbery raids. However, Razin was simply not attracted by robbery. In a village called Cherny Yar, Razin mercilessly dealt with the archery troops, releasing everyone who was in custody at that moment. After that, his path led to Yaik. The rebel troops used a trick, penetrated into its territory, and completely subjugated the settlement.
In 1669, Razin's army became many times larger; fugitive peasants replenished it. Razin led his troops to the Caspian, where they fought the Persians. During one of the fights, Stepan managed to snatch victory from Mammad Khan by cunning. The boats of the Razin army pretended to be running from the Persian ships, and Mamed ordered to unite all his ships and completely surround the Cossack army. But then Razin made a tactical move, turned around and heavily fired on the main ship of the Persians. The ship began to sink, followed by the entire enemy flotilla. So, not having a large army, Stepan managed to snatch victory in the battle near Pig Island. Ataman was well aware that the Persians would not forgive him for the victory, they would begin to gather an army of much larger numbers. Therefore, he gave the order to advance to the Don through Astrakhan.
Peasants' War
In 1670, Stepan Razin began preparing his troops for a campaign against Moscow. He climbed up the Volga, visited all the cities and coastal villages. He tried to attract as many local residents as possible to his army. Razin came up with the so-called "charming letters" - letters that were distributed in every city. They said that the boyars could be put an end to if you joined the ranks of the rebellious army.
Not only those who were tired of enduring oppression reached out to the Cossacks. Among the volunteers one could see artisans, Old Believers, Chuvashs, Maris, Mordvins, Tatars, and even Russian soldiers who served in government troops. After wholesale desertion began to flourish in the army, the tsarist troops were replenished with Polish and Baltic mercenaries. But it was better for these soldiers not to fall into the hands of the Cossacks, all foreign prisoners of war were executed.
Razin deliberately started a rumor that the Cossacks gave shelter to the missing Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich and the exiled Patriarch Nikon. So the ataman tried to attract as many volunteers as possible under his banners.
In just one year, residents of almost ten Russian cities pulled up to him. Razin lost the battle near Simbirsk, this time luck smiled at Prince Yu. Baryatinsky. Razin was wounded and retreated to the Don.
For six months, the Kagalnitsky town became the place of residence of the ataman and his entourage. However, this state of affairs did not suit the local wealthy Cossacks, they decided to surrender Razin to government troops. The elders were afraid that Stepan's stay with them would cause royal wrath, from which all Russian Cossacks would not be healthy. In the spring of 1671, Razin was taken prisoner and, together with his entourage, was taken to Moscow.
Personal life
Historical documents did not preserve information about Razin's personal life. Although it is known that he had a son who continued his father's business. In the battle against the Azov Tatars, the young man was captured, but he was soon released.
The legend says that the second wife of the ataman was a Persian princess. She was captured by the Cossacks after the battle in the Caspian Sea. The girl became the mother of Stepan's children, but the chieftain became jealous and drowned her in the Volga. Whether it was actually, it was not possible to prove, most likely it is just a myth.
Death
At the very beginning of the summer of 1671, the stolnik Grigory Kosagov and the clerk Andrey Bogdanov delivered Stepan and his younger brother Frol to Moscow. They were brutally tortured and sentenced to death four days later. Razin was quartered on Bolotnaya Square. Frol could not bear what he saw, began to ask for mercy, promising to tell in return secret information about the treasures that Razin had robbed. Five years passed, no treasures could be found, so Frol was also executed.
Monuments to Stepan Razin
After Stepan was executed, the war continued for another 6 months. Now the chieftains Fedor Sheludyak and Vasily Us were at the head of the Cossacks. But they were not as wise and charismatic as their predecessor, so the uprising was soon crushed. The consequences of the popular struggle only aggravated the position of the serfs. The laws became even more stringent, the serfs were no longer allowed to change owners, and if the serf does not obey, then the punishment can be anything, even the most severe.
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We all know about this daring rebel, the leader of the rebellious Cossacks, not only from the school history course, but also from the famous song “Beyond the island to the core”, the text of which was written by Samara folklorist and poet Dmitry Sadovnikov in 1872. And this is not the only link that connects our city with the legendary folk hero. It turns out that in 1670-1671, power in Samara for 10 months belonged not to the royal governors, but to elected atamans, associates of Stepan Timofeevich Razin (Fig. 1).
Revenge for a brother
He was born around 1630 in the village of Zimoveyskaya on the Don. There is one historical coincidence here: exactly one hundred years later, another legendary ataman, Emelyan Pugachev, was born here. Under the name Pugachevskaya, this village exists to this day, and it belongs to the Volgograd region. As for Stepan Razin, he subsequently attracted great attention from both contemporaries and descendants, becoming a hero of folklore, the protagonist of works of art and scientific works not only in Russia, but also abroad.
And the first mention of this person in historical documents dates back to 1661, when the chronicles of the Cossack campaigns against the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire repeatedly noted the valor of the three Razin brothers - Ivan, Stepan and Frol. In 1662, Stepan, the middle of them, was elected supreme ataman. His brothers at that time also became prominent people, although they occupied places below Stepan in the Cossack hierarchy.
During the battle with the Turks in 1662 at Milk Waters on the Crimean Isthmus, the Cossacks won and returned to the Don with rich trophies. However, in 1665 there was a serious conflict, when the tsarist governor, Prince Yuri Dolgorukov, hanged his elder brother Ivan for his unauthorized departure to the Don during the war with the Commonwealth. This event, combined with the intensified attempts to deprive the Cossacks of the conquered liberties, could not but have a huge impact on the freedom-loving Stepan Razin.
It was this event that became a turning point in the whole future life of the ataman. At the next circle, he announced that he would personally take revenge on Dolgorukov and the entire Moscow authorities as a whole, and was also going to achieve a free and prosperous life for all the Cossacks under his command (Fig. 2, 3).
Since that time, Razin's hostility to the Moscow government turned into an open war against the tsarist regime. Thus, since 1667, the entire Volga route to Persia was blocked due to the actions of the rebellious Cossacks, which at that time was most worried not by the Russian authorities, but by the European trade missions in Moscow, which were losing huge profits (Fig. 4).
In the same year, thousands of Cossack troops led by Razin went on a campaign, first to the Lower Volga and Yaik, and then to the Persian cities on the Caspian coast. In Russian history, this voyage was called "a trip for zipuns." Just at this time, most likely, that infamous episode with the Persian princess, which is described in the song “Because of the island to the rod,” took place.
During a campaign along the Persian coast of the Caspian Sea, the Cossacks plundered the town of Astrabad, where they slaughtered all the men, and took away more than 800 young girls and women with them. From among them, Razin and his entourage selected about fifty of the most beautiful concubines, and the rest of the unfortunate, after a common three-week orgy, were all destroyed. However, Razin did not spare even the girls he liked, which was reflected in the famous song (Fig. 5).
In 1668-1669, Razin's Cossacks were mainly engaged only in robbing royal and foreign ships on the Lower Volga, but since the spring of 1670 their actions had already acquired the character of an open uprising. Ataman sent propaganda leaflets around the cities, which in those days were called “charming letters” (from the word “seduce”). In them, the rebels on behalf of Razin urged ordinary citizens not to pay predatory taxes to the royal treasury anymore, to kill the city governors who were disgusted with them, and then go to the service of the ataman. At the same time, Razin was not going (at least in words) to overthrow Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, but he declared himself an enemy of all official power - governor, clerks, representatives of the church, accusing them of "treason" to the tsar (Fig. 6).
In all cities and fortresses occupied by the Razintsy, representatives of the central government were killed or expelled, in return for which Cossack urban planning was introduced. Of course, it was not Razin himself and his Cossacks who became the leaders here, but local rebels and informal leaders, which happened, in particular, in the Samara Territory.
Rebellious city of Samara
According to archival documents, in the vicinity of Samara, the detachments of Stepan Razin first appeared on May 31, 1670. At that time, a fortress still stood on the site of our city, surrounded by a high palisade with watchtowers at the corners. Inside it, a small garrison led by the voevoda Ivan Alfimov, who was subordinate to about 100 cavalry and 200 foot archers, as well as several gunners, held the defense. Under the walls of the fortress were township and peasant households, trading shops and a bazaar (Fig. 7).
Having captured the settlement, the rebels began to storm the fortress. Two watchtowers were burned, but the rebels could not break through, after which they were forced to retreat down the Volga. This was stated in the reports to Moscow as follows: “And how the de thief Stenka came to Samara, and his de Grats people did not let him into the city, and he de vor Stenka, having robbed wine at the tavern in the settlement, ran downstairs, and near Samara de didn't hesitate an hour."
New detachments of Razin began to approach Samara on August 26. By this time, the “charming letters” mentioned above had done their job, and the mood in the city turned sharply towards the rebels. Cossack troops arrived at the walls of Samara for three days, and therefore on August 28, when the Razintsy began a decisive assault, the inhabitants of the fortress revolted, opened the gates and greeted the rebels as dear guests - with bread and salt and bell ringing (Fig. 8).
Samara governor Alfimov, several nobles and clerks were captured and "planted in the water", that is, drowned. Both archery centurions, Mikhail Khomutov and Alexei Torshilov, also went over to the side of the rebels along with their detachments. A day later, the local townsman Ignat Govorukhin began to manage the fortress, and the elected ataman Ivan Konstantinov, who declared freedom to everyone and freed the population from taxes, began to manage the military forces.
After the successful capture of Samara, the Razintsy went to Simbirsk, intending to storm Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod as well. 50 foot and 40 horse archers from Samara volunteered for this voyage. However, thanks to the scouts, the authorities immediately became aware of the rebels' campaign up the Volga. The regimental governor Yuri Baryatinsky, who arrived to defend Simbirsk, in his report to the tsar reported that he managed to get ahead of Razin, who “did not have time to come from Samara. And which advanced people walked in front of him above Samara, they turned back to Samara, having learned about me ... and your great sovereign of military people came ”(Fig. 9).
As you know, this campaign for Razin became fatal. The Cossacks in the battle with the tsarist troops near Simbirsk on October 4 suffered a complete defeat, and the ataman himself was wounded, and with a few associates fled down the Volga to the Don, where he hoped to restore his army. In his report on this subject, the Simbirsk governor reported that the "thief Stenka" with a detachment of Cossacks sailed past Samara on October 22, then stopping below the city to rest and replenish supplies.
In Samara itself, supporters of a free life continued to rule. To strengthen the defense of the fortress, a detachment of Yaik Cossacks under the command of ataman Maxim Besheny soon came here. So in the summer of 1670, many Volga cities, due to the revelry of the freemen of Stepan Razin, actually fell out of the power of Moscow, refused to pay taxes to the central treasury, and no longer sent their goods to the capital. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was extremely dissatisfied with this, and by his decree he ordered to gather an army in order to "catch the thief Stenka, and hang the thieves of serfs in Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn and Astrakhan."
In order to establish the number of rebels in the coastal cities, and to find out what means they have at their disposal, scouts were sent here for reconnaissance during the coming winter. In particular, a message came from our city from spies that “in Samara they recognized us, kept us chained and wanted to execute us, but people loyal to the sovereign helped us escape. And in total there are 90 Yaik, 10 Don and about 300 new-pribor (newly arrived - V.E.) Cossacks in the fortress ... And in total there are 700 people in Samara, five guns, but no gunpowder, and few grain reserves.
Treasures of the Cossack freemen
In the middle of winter, the head of the rebellious Samara, Ignat Govorukhin, was greatly concerned that for several months there had been no news about the fate of Stepan Razin, whom the city had recognized in August as the supreme ataman of the entire Volga freemen. And after some time, information was received from the tsar's spies in the fortress to the Simbirsk command hut that Ataman Maxim Besheny with a detachment of Cossacks had been sent from Samara down the Volga with a detachment of Cossacks in order to search for Stepan Razin. Other groups of Samara residents were also sent to Saratov, Tsaritsyn and Penza to contact the leader, but they all returned with nothing. Only with the onset of the spring of 1671, information began to come to the city that Razin had been captured by government troops.
It is now known that the capture of the legendary ataman occurred as a result of betrayal by the inner circle, which considered him guilty of exorbitant aspirations and overestimation of his strength. As a result, on April 14, 1671, in the Don city of Kagalnik, Stepan Razin, together with his brother Frol, was captured by his former colleague Ataman Konstantin Yakovlev and handed over to the tsarist authorities (Fig. 10). 
After interrogations and torture, the leader of the rebels was quartered on June 6 in Moscow at the Execution Ground (Fig. 11). 
Then the government began brutal reprisals on the ground and with the rest of the rebels. During the year, about 100 thousand of them were executed, many were impaled. Throughout the summer of 1671, rafts with gallows sailed along the Volga - as a warning to the rebels (Fig. 12).
Despite this, Razin's closest associates refused to believe in the death of their chieftain, and continued to fight with the supreme power. Already after the captivity of the leader of the freemen, a large detachment arrived in Samara from Astrakhan under the command of Ataman Fyodor Sheludyak, who joined up with the Cossacks of Ivan Konstantinov who were stationed here and moved to take Simbirsk. About a hundred Samara residents went with them. But in this battle near Simbirsk, the rebels were also defeated, and both chieftains with the remnants of their detachments fled back to Samara. But they did not know that on June 27, government troops entered the city without a fight, and here they seized Govorukhin and several other people close to him. Ivan Konstantinov, who returned to the city, was also ambushed, but Fyodor Sheludyak with several Cossacks on a plow managed to get away from the chase. Only in 1672 was he captured in Astrakhan and subsequently executed. Subsequently, one of the peaks in the Zhiguli mountains was named after him (Fig. 13).
As for the fortress of Samara, after the defeat of the uprising, its population was forced to confess to the sovereign and for several years to pay a huge fee to the royal treasury. At the same time, the steward Vavil Everlakov was appointed Samara voivode, about whom the decree on his appointment said: “Printing duties were not taken from him, because he was sent to the voivodeship involuntarily.” That same summer, Konstantinov, Govorukhin and some other leaders of the rebellious Samara were executed, and more than a hundred citizens were exiled to Kholmogory for an eternal settlement.
After Stenka Razin's adventures along the Volga, numerous legends were formed about him by the people. The most common of them tell about treasures that either the ataman himself or his Cossacks allegedly buried somewhere in the Zhiguli mountains. To this day, there are at least five caves on the Samarskaya Luka bearing the name of Stepan Razin: near the villages of Malaya Ryazan and Shelekhmet, at the foot of the Molodetsky and Usinsky barrows, and also on Mount Pechora, which stands on the banks of the Usa River. For hundreds of years, dozens of treasure hunters have tried to find Razin's treasures in these places, including the owners of the Samara Luka Orlov-Davydov, but luck has not smiled at anyone to this day.
It should also be noted that for several years the attention of all of Europe was riveted to the popular uprising of Stepan Razin, since the fate of the most important trade routes along the Volga, connecting the Western states with Persia, depended on its outcome.
Articles and even books about the Cossack rebellion and its leader even before the end of the rebellion appeared in England, the Netherlands, Germany and other countries, which were often fantastic in their details, especially regarding the "Russian savagery". Then many foreigners witnessed the arrival of the captive Razin in Moscow and his execution, since the government of Alexei Mikhailovich was very interested in this and tried in every possible way to assure Europe of the final victory over the rebels.
Interestingly, Stepan Razin, apparently, became the first Russian person about whom a dissertation for the title of master of history was defended in the West. This event took place on June 29, 1674 at the University of Wittenberg (Germany). The author of a scientific work on the Cossack ataman was Johann, whose work was repeatedly republished in different countries in the 17th-18th centuries (Fig. 14).
Valery EROFEEV.
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Peasant war led by Stepan Razin. In 2 volumes. - M., 1957.
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Works of art
Voloshin M. Stenkin court. Poem. 1917.
Gilyarovsky V.A. Stenka Razin. Poem.
Yevtushenko E. The execution of Stenka Razin. Chapter from the poem "Bratskaya HPP". 1964.
Zlobin S. Stepan Razin. Novel. 1951.
Kamensky V. Stepan Razin. Poem.
Loginov S. Well. Novel. 1997.
Mordovtsev D.L. For whose sins? Historical novel. 1891.
Nazhivin I. Stepan Razin (Cossacks). Historical novel. 1928.
Songs about Stenka Razin, stylized as folk / A.S. Pushkin.
Sadovnikov D. From behind the island to the core. Poetry, lyrics.
Tolstoy A. Court. Poem.
Usov V. Fiery pre-winter: The Tale of Stepan Razin. Tale. 1987.
Khlebnikov V. Razin. Poem. 1920.
Tsvetaeva M.I. Stenka Razin. Poem 1917.
Chapygin A. Razin Stepan. Historical novel. 1924-1927.
Shukshin V. I came to give you freedom. Novel. 1971. Screenplay of the same name.