Alexander Nevsky - the name of this man is known to everyone. Even the smallest ones will remember that he won two fateful victories in the Battle of the Neva and on Lake Peipus. But often many remain behind the scenes controversial facts biography of the prince-commander. Today, on the day of the 775th anniversary of the Battle of the Neva, we will talk about something that not everyone knows.
At the Children's Museum Center (Kremlin, Sudeisky Gorodok, 3) there is an exhibition in “Alexander Nevsky. Prince and commander." It was specially prepared for the 795th anniversary of the hero, so that adults and children could get acquainted with the era in which Alexander Yaroslavovich lived. Indeed, for our city the name of the prince is especially significant; he ruled on the Novgorod land long years, in the city a street was named after him, a bust and a monument to the great warrior and diplomat were erected. Some call him a traitor, others call him a great savior. There is not enough evidence for a definite answer. And at the exhibition, surrounded by archaeological finds and ancient books dedicated to the prince, Anfisa Rodionova met with the elder research fellow Novgorod Museum-Reserve by Vladimir Varnaev.
Alexander Yaroslavovich is very interesting person, bright, unusual. He is called the main traitor of Russian history and the main hero. There are constant debates about his figure. But if you collect all the information about Alexander Yaroslavovich, you will get less than a page.
- Why do some consider Alexander Nevsky a traitor?
Alexander did not stand up to the army for his brother Andrei Yaroslavovich (by the way, he was the ancestor of the Shuisky princes, and Vasily was the last Rurikovich on the Russian throne), who, by raising a rebellion, brought about the second ruin of the Vladimir-Suzdal lands. Alexander did not want the second coming of the Mongols, so he immediately came and brought tribute. He could have been executed because of his brother. But he risked himself, went and stopped another invasion. In the 1990s, when they loved sensations, they said that the Mongols, with his hands, established a yoke over Russia. It's like juggling facts, putting them in the right sequence. The Mongols destroyed everyone who resisted, but it must be said that they were not pathological sadists, they needed tribute, taxes, money, they did not have the goal of destruction. Alexander was counting ahead.
There was such a people - the Tanguts, the state of Xi Xia, the modern territory of northern China. Population is about 10-15 million people. They resisted the horde, rebelled, massacred some of the Mongols, and the Mongols destroyed them completely. The same thing could happen to the Russians. The fact that we live now is the merit of Alexander. He didn’t want the Russians to be touched at all; he took the tribute himself to prevent fights. For eleven years he was the Grand Duke, and not once did a Mongol set foot on Russian soil.
Alexander Nevsky is a mysterious figure, not many facts from his life have been preserved, but are there any stories, legends, tales about him?
Oddly enough, in Russian culture, people's favorites end up in jokes, tales, and so on. They showed a film about Stirlitz, a lot of jokes about him appeared, Chapaev did the same. But there is nothing like that about Alexander. His people respected him too much. Even Vladimir, the baptizer of Rus' in epics, is a little funny, he acts wrongly, he deceives. They didn’t laugh at Alexander - authority. People remembered that blood was shed, they remembered what a hard worker he was. Alexander is sacred.
Why did he die, because he was still quite young? According to available sources, it was possible to establish that he was about forty years old at that time.
There is still controversy over the death of Alexander Nevsky. The life mentions that he fell ill when he was in the Horde for the fifth time. He stayed there for a year, he was released and on the border of Russian lands, in the town of Gorodets, present-day Nizhny Novgorod Region, where he dies. There is a version that he was poisoned, just like Yaroslav’s father. There are reasons to think so. Here it is important to understand Alexander’s relationship with Batu.
And they were very good, Batu respected the Russian prince. Not far from Valdai there is such a place - Ignach Cross, now there is a modern concrete cross installed there. Such crosses were installed on roads, so to speak: there is a path here. The Mongols, having passed through the Vladimir land and destroyed the Ryazan land, left practically no population. And they went to Novgorod, captured Torzhok (it was then Novgorod land), we reached Ignach Cross and stopped. They stood there for a week, and then turned around and left. Apparently, there were negotiations that only Alexander could conduct. This indirectly confirms that Alexander has a special relationship with Batu. Khan even offered Nevsky to become his son-in-law, his respect for Alexander was so great. Mongols are very interesting culture, she is tough, Asian and a little savage, but, nevertheless, they respected the heroes, even strangers. Apparently, Batu was conquered by Alexander’s diplomacy. Shortly before the death of Alexander himself, Batu dies and Berke Khan, Batu’s cousin, comes to power, so he hated Alexander. Perhaps there is a connection here. We can't prove or disprove it, but something happened there. It's a mystery: he was poisoned Grand Duke or perhaps he overworked himself, overextended himself.
The prince was buried in Vladimir; after all, the Vladimir principality was the main one at that time. But according to his merits, he should lie in Novgorod, of course. After all, I spent three quarters of my life here. And in 1724, when Peter I graduated Northern War, then announced that Prince Alexander is the heavenly patron of St. Petersburg. His relics were transported to St. Petersburg, and the Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded, later the rank was raised to a monastery.
Now the prince is much closer to Novgorod and very close to the place where he accomplished his first great feat. By the way, you can follow Alexander’s path in the Battle of the Neva (as well as in the Battle of the Ice) every Saturday at the Children’s Museum Center. Vladimir Varnaev developed a unique reconstruction game on a large scale model. Each participant receives the names of genuine historical participants in those events and the battle begins...
Majority modern people heard such a name as Alexander Nevsky, but few thought about why Prince Alexander was called Nevsky. And today we will try to answer this question, and also consider a few more interesting moments from the biography of the prince.
Alexander Nevsky was not only a prince, but also a commander. His biography includes many interesting and noteworthy facts, and we will pay attention to what he was called.
Why was Alexander Nevsky called Nevsky?
Prince Alexander, being an excellent tactician and commander, took part in many battles, but they named him Nevsky in honor of the Neva River, or rather, in honor of the battle on the river in which he took part.
History tells us that it was on the Neva that the prince accomplished a real feat, with only 200 fighters, he defeated an entire army of Swedes, including more than 2 thousand heads. A remarkable fact is that during this battle the prince himself managed not to suffer losses among his own squad.
Why was Alexander Nevsky called a saint?
In addition to the fact that Prince Alexander was given the nickname Nevsky, he was also called a saint. And why they began to call him that should also be told.
During his lifetime, Alexander Nevsky was a very respected person, since he was noted not only for his ability to fight and manage political affairs, but also had very good human characteristics, being a merciful and wise ruler.
All this led to the fact that after the death of the prince, with the publication of a literary work about his life, A. Nevsky was canonized. After this procedure was completed, he was quite justifiably and deservedly called a saint, and he is called that to this day.
Why is the story called “The Life of Alexander Nevsky”
Thanks to the feat described above, and other remarkable facts from the life of the prince, his achievements and outstanding life, he deserved to have a story written about him. This work was published in the 13th century, and many people are interested in why it received this name.
However, the answer to this question is simpler than in the case of the origin of the nickname “Nevsky”, and is quite obvious. The story tells about just one hero, as well as the details of his life, his campaigns, battles, etc. And this hero, of course, is Alexander Nevsky. That's why literary work and got this name.
In the winter of 1237/38, the multi-tribal hordes of Batu Khan, usually called by the collective name “Mongol-Tatars,” devastated the Ryazan and Vladimir-Suzdal lands. In 1239-1240 they devastated the southern Russian lands (which is in present-day Ukraine). The strategy of the “Mongol-Tatars,” if you believe the chronicle news of their invasion, was to first terrify the enemy land, passing through it with fire and sword, and then demand from its rulers obedience and regular payment of tribute. The Horde themselves did not establish colonies in the Russian lands, but for some time after the invasion their officials (Baskaks) lived there to census the population and collect tribute from them.
In establishing the vassal dependence of the Russian lands on the “Mongol-Tatars,” the Grand Duke of Vladimir Alexander Yaroslavich, nicknamed Nevsky, played a large role. The chronicle tradition, and after it Russian historiographers, habitually justify Alexander by the fact that the power of the Golden Horde left him no choice. He was forced to submit to the power of the khans in order to save Rus' from new devastating devastation. However, a careful study of the sources shows that these excuses are far-fetched. Alexander Nevsky was an active figure in establishing the Golden Horde yoke in Rus', hoping with the help of the khans to assert his power over other Russian princes. His reign was marked not by the weakening of the Golden Horde oppression, but by its strengthening and spread to those regions of Rus' that were not affected by Batu’s invasion. Punitive campaigns of khans against Rus' became the norm since the time of Alexander Nevsky.
In 1243, Batu called Nevsky’s father, Yaroslav Vsevolodich, to his headquarters in order to confirm him for the great reign. From that moment on, only that Russian prince was considered legitimate to whom the Horde khan gave the label to reign. In 1246, Yaroslav died, and, as usual, a struggle broke out between the brothers for the throne. But now the applicants had an arbiter - the khan, and two senior Yaroslavichs - Alexander and Andrey - went to him. Batu appointed Alexander, the eldest of the two brothers, as the Grand Duke of Kyiv and all Southern Rus', and Andrei as the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Novgorod. With these labels, the princes returned to Rus' in 1249. Alexander was dissatisfied, since the Kiev throne had long lost its actual significance, and was waiting for an opportunity to take away the reign of Vladimir from his brother.
The opportunity was not slow to present itself. Andrei intensively communicated with the Galician prince Daniil Romanovich on the subject of a general uprising against the Horde. Alexander, without a doubt, knew about this conspiracy, but not only did not join it, but, on the contrary, decided to go to the Golden Horde with a denunciation of his brother in order to obtain his volost from the khan. The huge “Mongol-Tatar” empire could not be controlled from one center, and Golden Horde with its capital in Sarai (in the lower reaches of the Volga) it has already become an almost independent state. It was then ruled by Khan Sartak.
An unknown chronicle used by historian V.N. Tatishchev, reports the following on this matter: “The prince is coming great Alexander Yaroslavich went to the Horde to Khan Sartak, Batu’s son, and the khan received him with honor. And Alexander complained about his brother Grand Duke Andrei, as if he had seduced the khan [Batu - Ya.B.], taking the great reign under him [Alexander - Ya.B.], as if he were the eldest, and took his father’s burghs, and did not pay tamgas to the khan in full The Khan became angry with Andrei and ordered Nevrui Saltan to go to Andrei and bring him before him.” The Horde army under the command of Nevryuy with a sudden invasion upset all Andrei's plans. He was forced to oppose the Horde with his few forces, was defeated and was forced to flee to the lands of the Livonian Order in the Baltic states. The Horde devastated the entire Vladimir-Suzdal land, burned, captured, and killed. After which Alexander, having the khan's label with him, sat on the throne in Vladimir. This was in 1252.
Most Russian historians, starting with Karamzin, without any reason, declared many passages in Tatishchev’s “Russian History” to be the author’s fiction. In their opinion, Alexander headed to the Horde after Andrei was the first to speak out against the khan, and Alexander did not want to join him, allegedly fearing the inevitable consequences of this action. However, they did not provide any rational arguments against the reliability of this news, except for the desire to whitewash Alexander. The news looks quite likely, especially taking into account the preceding and subsequent events. Major pre-revolutionary historian D.I. Ilovaisky considered Tatishchev’s version to be the most reliable.
In 1256, Batu died, and Berke became the supreme khan. Sartak was killed in the struggle for power, and Ulagchi became the governor of the Golden Horde. In 1257, Nevsky went to Sarai to see Ulagchi, and the latter demanded that all lands subject to Alexander, including Novgorod, be rewritten and pay tribute. Following the Khan’s instructions, Alexander personally came to Novgorod (in 1259) with the Horde Baskaks. Nevsky's son, Vasily, the governor in Novgorod, did not want to obey his father and fled.
Nevsky frightened the Novgorodians with brutal repressions. Even N.M., who favored him. Karamzin wrote that Alexander “executed the boyars, the mentors of the Vasilievs, without mercy. Some were blinded, others had their noses cut off.” Despite this, unrest did not subside in the city. Alexander and Horde officials were forced to flee Novgorod. But they promised to return with the Horde army and punish the population. This threat gradually led the citizens to submission. “The Mughals traveled from street to street, registering houses; silence and sorrow reigned in the city,” describes Karamzin.
There is no indication in any source that Alexander Nevsky bowed under the Horde yoke and brought the hitherto unconquered Russian lands under it because he hoped that in the future Rus' would be able to gather its strength and overthrow foreign rule. Not a single statement of Nevsky, transmitted to us by his contemporaries, preserved even a shadow of a hint of such motivation. All justifications for his actions based on the hope of overthrowing the yoke in the future were invented backdating, no earlier than the 19th century. Without inventing unnecessary entities, we are forced to assume, as the most probable, that Alexander Nevsky saw in strengthening the Horde yoke over Russia a means to strengthen his own power, and did not disdain to sacrifice the property and independence of the Russian land for this purpose.
Why he is considered a saint, you will learn from this article.
Why is Alexander Nevsky canonized?
Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky died on November 14, 1263 in Gorodets and was buried in Vladimir in the Nativity Monastery. Almost immediately, veneration of him began in Vladimir-Suzdal Rus'. And later the prince was canonized.
According to the “canonical” version, Prince Alexander Nevsky played an important role in Russian history. In the 13th century, Great Rus' was attacked from three sides - the Mongol-Tatars, the Catholic West and Lithuania. Prince Nevsky, who never lost a single battle in his entire life, showed great talent as a diplomat and commander, made peace with more strong enemy- Golden Horde. Having secured the support of the Horde, he repelled the attack of the Germans, while at the same time protecting Orthodoxy from Catholic expansion.
In Vladimir, already in the 1280s, the veneration of Prince Alexander Nevsky as a saint began; later he was officially canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Alexander Nevsky was the only secular Orthodox ruler not only in Rus', but throughout Europe, who did not compromise with the Catholic Church in order to maintain power.
With the active participation of Dmitry Alexandrovich, his son, and Metropolitan Kirill, a hagiographical story was written. For his feat of endurance and patience, Alexander Nevsky was canonized in 1549, and the Alexander Nevsky Lavra was founded in his honor in 1710.
Veneration as a saint for Alexander Nevsky began long before the prince was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. Where people sincerely and from the bottom of their hearts asked him for a miracle, it certainly happened. Legends say that the holy prince rose from the tomb and encouraged his compatriots to perform exploits, for example, in 1380 on the eve of the Battle of Kulikovo.
In memory of the holy prince, a monastery was built in St. Petersburg, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where, by decree of Peter the Great, the relics of Nevsky were transported in 1724. Peter the Great also decided to celebrate August 30 as the day of memory of Alexander Nevsky, in honor of the conclusion of a victorious peace with Sweden.
Why is Alexander Nevsky named Nevsky?
In 1239, the young (19 years old) Alexander Yaroslavich became a prince in Novgorod. Having learned about this, Swedes from areas neighboring Principality of Novgorod, decided to check how strong the new prince really is. Let us note that they did such checks more than once - such was the customs of those times.
In 1240, the Swedes landed at the mouth of the Izhora River, at its confluence with the Neva, set up a camp and began to methodically plunder the Izhora land. The elder of the Izhorians sent messenger after messenger to Novgorod with a plea for help, and legitimately asked why he was paying tribute if the young and daring prince-father was not able to protect him.
Finally, the Novgorodians came to the aid of the Izhorians. They walked, as is customary in such cases, in two groups - a cavalry squad led by the prince moved along the shore, and the militia partly followed, partly sailed in boats.
Horsemen arrived at the site of earlier foot militias. The sight of a serene Swedish camp, where food was being cooked in field kitchens, kindled warlike sentiments among the warriors, who rushed at the enemies immediately, without waiting for the main forces to approach. And this is not a matter of righteous anger: simply, according to the concepts of that time, most of the booty (or even all) during the campaign went to those who directly captured it - who dared, ate it.
However, the serenity and defenselessness of the Swedish camp turned out to be deceptive; the Swedes easily repulsed the attack. And here, having learned from the captured Russians that they were attacked only by the advanced part of the Novgorod army, and that the militia was approaching, the Swedes decided to wisely retreat. It was approaching nightfall; they didn’t fight at night then, so the Swedes quickly buried the dead, collected trophies and silently sailed downstream while it was still dark. The Russian chronicler wrote this: “Having dug a hole and buried the warriors, he departed that same night.”
That is, the legend about Alexander’s defeat of the Swedes on the Neva did not find any chronicle confirmation in the first place. The chronicler also makes it clear that during the Battle of the Neva, not a single Swede was captured by the Novgorodians. Although if prisoners were taken, they never forgot to indicate this in the chronicle. The chronicler is not happy with such indispensable information as trophies. Prince Alexander simply did not have them; every single Swedish galley (auger) left for their homeland with all their goods - their own and those looted from the Izhorians.
Thus, everyone knows Prince Alexander Yaroslavich by his nickname Nevsky, but this nickname is associated not with the place where the prince won a victory, but with the place where he actually suffered defeat, ingloriously losing his cunning enemy. And now, thanks to the showmen of Russian TV, the name “Nevsky” will be “the Name of Russia” for many years.
The candidate is well aware of the role of Alexander Nevsky in Russian history historical sciences, Head of the Department of Museology and Archeology at Pskov State pedagogical university Vladimir Arakcheev. Let's give the floor to a Russian scientist.
And then it happened like this... Before his death, Nevsky, as befitted a prince then, accepted monastic rank. After a hundred seconds extra years, in 1381, his relics were, as they say, found: that is, according to some signs, contemporaries suddenly decided that Alexander Nevsky died like a saint. The saint was given a nickname. In those days, the banks of the Neva were already lost to the Russians; they were on Swedish territory, and the nickname “Nevsky” did not mean anything to a Russian person at that time. Therefore, in his “Life” the prince was first mentioned as Nevsky - after the site of a battle a century ago. At that time, Rus', trying to free itself from the Tatar-Mongol yoke, really needed not holy martyrs for the faith, but holy warrior-heroes.
It is noteworthy that Nevsky was officially canonized only another 150 years later - in 1549, under Ivan the Terrible, that is, when the Russians, in the fight against Kazan, again needed examples of the heroism of their ancestors.
But true glory came to Nevsky under Peter the Great, who began the conquest of the Neva banks. That’s when the winner of the Swedes at the mouth of Izhora, as well as the winner of the Livonian dog-knights in the Battle of the Ice, was raised on the shield. The Alexander Nevsky Lavra was built in the city on the Neva. A shrine containing the prince’s relics was transferred from Vladimir to it. From this moment, as Russia's imperial ambitions grew, the cult of Alexander Nevsky spread.
And then Nevsky was needed again - this time by Stalin. And here Soviet historians, filmmakers and battle artists did their best. Princes Nevsky, Donskoy, Pozharsky acquired a beautiful historical meaning, becoming the glory of Russian weapons...
In general, Vladimir Arakcheev considers himself one of those modern historians, not burdened with ideological dogmas, who believe that in 1240, in the battle with the Swedes at the mouth of the Neva, the squad of the Novgorod prince Alexander, later nicknamed Nevsky, if not defeated, then won did not win, suffering serious losses.
Why is the Battle of the Ice called the Battle of the Ice?
Now let’s try to understand the second victory of Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich.
The “Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle” says that Bishop Herman of Dorpat decided to somehow go on a campaign to the Pskov lands. In a bloody battle, he captured Izborsk, killing from 600 to 800 Pskovites on the battlefield - this is where the information from the “Rhymed Chronicle” and the “Novgorod Chronicle” agree. After which the Livonians besieged Pskov. Taking into account their own considerable losses, they did not go for the assault, but, setting up camp near the walls of the city, began to wait. And they waited. The gates of Pskov opened and peace negotiations began. The boyar Tverdilo Ivankovich, loyal to Livonia, was placed at the head of the city, while the Livonians, leaving a small garrison, went home. The “Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle” clarifies: “Two brother knights and a small detachment were left there.”
And here is an interesting historical nuance! Next, having gathered the troops of the Novgorodians and Suzdalians, Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich and his brother Andrei set off on a campaign against Pskov. But not at all to the rescue of the Pskovites, but to profit by recapturing Pskov from the Livonians. We must not forget that internecine wars at that time were a constant thing in Rus', each of them ended with the same thing - the robbery of all kinds of movable property.
Another time, the Pskov people would simply take up arms to repel the neighboring robber prince, but Pskov in 1240 did not have the strength to fight Alexander, because it was occupied and already plundered by the Livonians. And therefore, as the “Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle” honestly writes, the Pskovites “rejoiced with all their hearts” at the arrival of Alexander. The Livonian knights (both) fled from Pskov, Alexander only managed to capture some of their bollards (squires).
After some time, inspired by this military success, the Novgorod-Suzdal army allegedly decided to take revenge on the Livonians, giving them a battle on their lands, so that it would not be a habit to go to Rus'. In fact, there is another historical nuance here. Prince Alexander was forced to “let the entire regiment live,” writes the Novgorod Chronicle. “Let the entire regiment prosper” - this ancient Russian expression means nothing more than permission to openly rob the local population in broad daylight due to the fact that the regiment simply had nothing to eat. And Alexander’s soldiers went to rummage through the Livonian villages...
The “Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle” confirms the information from the “Novgorod Chronicle”: “... in Dorpat they learned that Prince Alexander came with an army to the land of the brother knights, causing robberies and fires.” Having learned about this, the Livonian bishop sent knights to meet the enemy. Alexander hastily retreated, but the troops were carrying booty, and therefore the knights quickly overtook them. And at dawn on April 5, 1242, on the shores of Lake Peipus, a battle took place between the Livonians and the Novgorodians or ours and the Russians (if someone doesn’t like this definition, forget about it - this is a definition of purely “internal use”).
This is how the “Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle” describes the course of the battle: “...The knights came to unanimous opinion attack the Russians. The Germans began to fight with them. The Russians had many shooters who bravely accepted the first onslaught... It was seen how a detachment of brother knights defeated the shooters; there the clanking of swords could be heard, and helmets could be seen being cut... But those who were in the army of the brother knights were surrounded. The brother knights resisted quite stubbornly, but they were defeated there... Some of the Derpt residents left the battle, this was their salvation, they were forced to retreat. Twenty brother knights were killed there, and six were captured. This was the course of the battle. Prince Alexander was glad that he won. He returned to his lands. However, this victory cost him many brave men who would never go on a campaign again.”
As for the number of those who fought, some historians believe that in the Battle of the Ice the Livonian army numbered 10-12 thousand, and the Novgorod army - 15-17 thousand people. According to others, the number of those fighting did not exceed 4,000 on each side. According to L.N. Gumilyov, the number of knights was quite small - only a few dozen. But they were supported by foot mercenaries armed with spears. This is consistent with German data, which suggests that one order “hound” banner took part in the battle - 35 knights and about 400 cavalry squires. All the rest are the disregarded, somehow armed local population of Livonia - the Livs and the Chuds. Therefore, we will never even know the approximate number of soldiers who fought and fell: no one counted the number of those killed from the Chuds and Livs subject to the Germans. They, in the words of the Novgorod Chronicle, “are innumerable.”
Nevertheless, in the overwhelming majority of Soviet, and even modern, Russian books according to history, it is said that 400-500 German knights fell in the “Battle of the Ice”. This cannot happen because it can never happen. In the entire Livonian Order at that time there were about a hundred knights. Even much later, in the 1450s, in the entire Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order there were only 195 brother knights, of which there were 14 in Riga, 12 in Wenden Castle, and only six in Narva. IN best years Order, the number of knights in all of Prussia and all of Livonia did not exceed 2,000 people, which theoretically, together with the squires and other military servants of the order, provided the maximum possible army, which included up to 8,000 horsemen. But they never got together!
But let’s return to the term “Battle on the Ice”. Ice is nothing more than a beautiful literary setting. Neither the Novgorod chronicler nor the Livonian chronicler mentioned the knights leaving under the broken ice. They are not fools, dressed in heavy armor, sitting on heavy horses also dressed in armor, to rush onto the melting ice! Of course, the horses broke through the edge of the spring ice near the shore, breaking their legs, falling and throwing off their riders, but no one rode out onto the ice. So there was no battle on the ice, there was no ice broken under the weight of the troops, there were no Germans who sank to the bottom, there was no “ice” battle.
And there was simply no “massacre”. This is proven simply. The German chronicler arrived in Livonia in the late 70s of the 13th century. and at that time he could well have met people there aged sixty years and older who were direct participants in the Battle of the Ice. So, as described by the chronicler, all those military actions are a normal clash between Livonian feudal lords and Russians, caused by a purely local problem - another Russian robbery raid on the lands of the Tartu bishop in response to the Livonian robbery raid on Pskov land. If you believe the Russian chronicle, which could exaggerate the enemy’s losses, then 400-500 Livonians who fell in the 4000th army are small losses, and in the 10,000th army the losses are insignificant. Moreover, it was mainly militias from Livonian peasants who fell... It was later, with a light stroke of the pen of Soviet proletarian historians and the efforts of our fellow countryman-filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, that a local battle turned into an epoch-making “massacre”, where the power of Russian weapons defeated the dog knights , was cast in bronze of the words of Prince Alexander: “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword.”
We must pay tribute to Soviet historians - they tried to restore an event from deep antiquity using archaeological methods. In 1958, a complex expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences was sent to Lake Peipus to determine the true location of the battle on April 5, 1242. The expedition worked for eight years - from 1958 to 1966. As written in the report, large-scale research was carried out, a number of interesting archaeological discoveries were made (and how many dissertations were defended!) However, it was not possible to find the burial places of the soldiers who died in the Battle of the Ice, as well as the place of the battle itself. This is clearly stated in the expedition report. The mystery of the legendary battle remained unsolved.
Later it turned out that the associate professors and candidates had been looking in the wrong place for eight years! Already today, a group of Moscow amateur enthusiasts have been independently engaged in research on the Battle of Peipus (that’s the only way the researchers themselves call it) ancient history Rus', led by I.E. Koltsov. They discovered the remains of a fortified outpost, which was located two kilometers from the supposed site of the battle in the Uzmen tract. Behind the earthen ramparts of the outpost (gorodets) there was, hidden in ambush before the battle, a detachment of Alexander Nevsky’s brother, Andrei Yaroslavich. The discovery of an outpost, and then a nearby burial place of dead soldiers, allowed us to confidently conclude that the battle took place right here, between the villages of Tabory, Kozlovo and Samolva. Nevsky troops from the northwestern side (on right hand) were protected by melting spring ice Lake Peipus, and on the eastern side (along left hand) - fortifications, where the fresh forces of the Novgorodians and Suzdalians sat in ambush.
This place is located in the middle of nowhere, away from the roads. You can only get here on foot. This is probably why many authors of numerous scientific works We had never been there about the Battle of the Ice, preferring the creative silence of the library and study.
Hello from Dad
So, Alexander Nevsky, thanks to the television audience, became “In the Name of Russia”, a special military glory did not gain, having beaten only two dozen Livonian dog knights and crushed the forced, poorly armed Livonians and Estonians, of whom “there is no number.” Well, maybe he was a noble patriot-statist and collector of Rus'?
The so-called “second letter” of the Pope to Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich, dated September 15, 1248, has been preserved. From its text it follows that the Pope received a rather favorable response from the prince to his “first letter” - so favorable that when turning to “Alexandro”, the Roman the pope already calls him “illustri regi Nougardiae” (glorious king of Novgorod).
And then the Pope writes amazing words: “... you with all zeal asked to be included as a member of the single head of the church through true obedience, as a sign of which you proposed to erect in your city Pleskov cathedral church for the Latins (in Pleskowe civitate tua Latinorum Ecclesiam erigere cathedralem).” And then the Pope asks to accept his ambassador, the Archbishop of Prussia, for negotiations.
According to the “Life”, Alexander Yaroslavich, supposedly, to the proposal of the “Latins”, proudly replied: “... but we will not accept teachings from you.” But the “non-lifelike” Alexander Yaroslavich was much less categorical and much more diplomatic. Of course, it’s hard to believe that Prince Alexander promised the Pope to build a Catholic Cathedral in Pskov, perhaps, it was about a Catholic church for visiting overseas merchants. But one thing is clear: during his lifetime, the future Russian Orthodox saint did not hesitate to enter into contacts with the Catholic clergy hostile to Rus' and even “zealously seek membership in the single head of the church” if he saw some momentary interest in that. The same as in his relations with the Horde - but that’s a different story...