What battle did Yuri Vsevolodovich take part in? Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich and the Tatar-Mongol invasion

43. St. George II, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and the invasion of Batu

In 1234, the Mongols completed the conquest of North China, and in 1235 a kurultai, a general congress of leaders, gathered on the banks of the Onon to agree on where to further apply their strength. We decided to arrange the Great Western Campaign. The goal was to reach "the last sea." In the east, the Mongol power was now washed by the waves of the Pacific Ocean, and it was necessary to reach the same border in the west. I mean, just simply conquer the world. Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, was identified as the leader of the campaign, in Russia he became known as Batu. Several more khans with their own contingents went with him, a nationwide mobilization was announced, each family allocated one son for the service.

Various historians estimate the size of the army in different ways, and with the widest range, from 30 to 500 thousand. Both extreme figures, as is often the case, have nothing to do with reality. The core of the army was indeed not so large, 40-50 thousand Mongols. But, besides them, the subordinate peoples of the “ulus of Dzhuchiev”, Central Asia and Western Siberia - the Turkmens, Karakalpaks, fragments of Turkic tribes, Sarts, Tajiks, Kipchaks, and Kangars - were raised on the campaign. Nobody asked their wishes. They ordered to put up a tenth of combat-ready men, so do it. Although many responded willingly. If you have been robbed and enslaved by the rulers of the world, why not find a benefit in this, rob and enslave others? Volunteers of all stripes also flocked under the banners of Batu, later among the Tatar commanders even two knights-crusaders from the Templar order were found. What difference did it make to them, Satanists, who to smash and rob?

So in general, the hordes gathered innumerable, 200-300 thousand. In 1236 they rolled to the Urals. The Bashkirs and Mansi withstood border skirmishes with enemy troops for 13 years, but could they really stop the avalanche? They were simply crushed. The princes and leaders were executed, and ordinary soldiers were included in the Mongol army. Following the Ural tribes came the turn of the Volga Bulgaria. She was credited with a long-standing "debt", an attack on the tumens returning from Kalki. And the Mongols did not forget such accounts. Who is guilty - revenge must overtake sooner or later. The Bulgarians had many trading cities and towns, they fiercely resisted, but one after another they turned into stinking conflagrations. The capital Bilyar also fell, or, as it was called in Russia, the Great Bolgar. Its inhabitants were destroyed without exception.

The surviving Bulgarians scattered in horror in all directions, appeared in Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov, Vladimir. But Grand Duke Yuri II knew that the Mongols were at enmity with Bulgaria and had good reasons for the war. And they never encountered Vladimir Russia, there were no reasons for conflicts. Not to intercede was for a foreign country. Mstislav Udaloy has already stood up for the Polovtsian "friends", that's enough. And the Bulgarians were never friends for the Russians, every now and then they annoyed. Of course, the disaster of a neighboring state was a very wakeful signal. But the mistake of the Russian princes was that they represented the Tatars like the Polovtsians - they would come, pillage and leave for their steppes.

The predictions seemed to come true. Having finished with Bulgaria, the horde flowed somewhere to the south. Although in fact, the attack on Russia at Batu's headquarters was already a foregone conclusion. The Mongols had excellent intelligence. From the Bulgarians, from the merchants, from the Russians they came across, they collected thorough information about the Russian principalities, cities, roads, and climate. Winter was considered the best time for the offensive. The Polovtsi on weakened horses will not be able to hit the rear, and the Tatars will be able to move along the frozen rivers, use the stocks of food and fodder that the Russians have prepared for themselves. The army left to the south only in order to cross the Volga in a convenient place and drive off the Polovtsi. To cover them against them, Batu left a screen, the corps of brother Mengu, and he himself with the main forces went to the Upper Don in late autumn 1237.

For the Russian princes, intelligence was much worse - it did not exist at all. Long gone are the days when the patrols of the knights monitored the situation in the steppe, gave signals of danger. In Ryazan, they learned about the threat only from the Tatar ambassadors who came to the city, two Khan officials and a certain "sorceress wife". Apparently, a translator, taken from Bulgaria or from the roamers. The delegation calmly and in a businesslike manner laid out the demand: submit to Batu. But not only in words, but to confirm them with deeds, to give a tenth of all wealth - livestock, horses, and people too. Let the princes allocate warriors, carts, slaves for the Mongol ruler.

Ryazan rulers, Ingor and Yuri, were shocked. This has not happened since the forgotten Khazar yoke. Pechenegs, Guzes, Bulgarians, Polovtsians robbed, drove away full, but no one even thought of dominating the Russians! The ambassadors were categorically answered:

“When there’s no one alive, you’ll take everything.”

They were not touched, allowed on to Vladimir, and sounded the alarm themselves. Ingor rushed to his relatives in Chernigov, Yuri Ryazansky began to form an army. They sent a messenger to Yuri II, asking for help. But the Vladimir Grand Duke was simply unable to help his neighbors! His elite regiments went with Yaroslav to the Dnieper! And in general, to enter the field battle looked like madness. Kalki's lesson was still fresh. And, again, the Tatars were assessed in the image of the Polovtsians, only the stronger, more skillful, and ferocious. It seemed more reliable to sit outside the walls of the fortresses. They will besiege and fizzle out, even if they take a city or two, overload themselves with prey, but what else do the steppe inhabitants need? Turned back ...

Ryazan princes were poor, they ruled in shares of small appointees. But the higher they kept their honor and military prowess. They did not really count on towns with wooden walls that had been burning many times, but they clashed with the Polovtsy more than once. They knew that the nomads could not withstand the attacks of armored squads. Regardless of everything, they decided to fight in the field. Everyone who could have arrived: Yuri Ryazansky, Fedor Yuryevich, Oleg and Roman Ingvorovich, princes Pronsky, Kolomensky, Muromsky. From a handful of detachments, several hundred soldiers each, an army was formed. Even, it seems, not bad, significant. But such a cloud of enemies crept out to meet them that even the bravest ones felt uneasy.

Yuri Ryazansky tried to enter into negotiations, sent his son Fedor with gifts to Batu. However, the khan judged that the time for negotiations had expired and ordered Fyodor to be finished. The masses of the Mongols and their vassals launched an attack. The Ryazan army fell apart among the princely detachments. Some collided and were cut to the last. Others saw that they were flown around from the flanks, ran and were exterminated in pursuit. Oleg Ingvorovich was taken prisoner wounded. Batu appreciated courage, offered to serve in his army. But the prince rejected the khan's favor. He emanated blood, felt that he was dying, prayed and prepared to appear before the Creator.

The Tatars poured into the Ryazan land, easily seized the cities left without defenders - Pronsk, Belgorod, Izheslavets. They have developed special tactics for invasions of foreign countries. Ahead of the main forces, special units were scattered in corrals, whose task was to sow terror. Raise a wave of panic to paralyze the very possibility of resistance. These pens did not take prisoners, were not interested in prey - they received their share from the second echelon. And they themselves only burned, killed everyone in a row, and in the most terrible ways. According to the chronicler, “I cut my breasts and bile out of my chest”, “some skin is odirahu, and some needles and chips for nails are biahu”.

Yuri Ryazansky with the remnants of the squad managed to escape from the battlefield, galloped to his city, armed the inhabitants, organizing the defense. But the city walls were not an obstacle for the Mongols. The method of taking them was scheduled by day. The required number of prisoners was led with the army in advance, they were driven out to work and on the very first day they surrounded Ryazan with a log tyn, stopping the sorties. At the rate of Batu, a thousand Chinese traveled to service the siege engines. They were unpacked from the convoy, they began to assemble and arrange. And the khan sent his subordinates to attack. Not Mongols, but second-rate contingents - Bashkirs, Turkmens, Bulgarians. If they die, the loss is not great. They drove in turns, today some, tomorrow others. The Mongols stood in reserve, urged on the mobilized. And the Ryazan people defended the walls without changing, they were exhausted.

On the sixth day of the siege, December 21, the battering machines and ladders were ready, and the decisive assault broke out. In the first echelon, the second-rate ones again ran, fresh, rested Tatars rushed after them. They broke through the defense. Ryazan was robbed and slaughtered for several days. The prisoners were crucified for fun, practiced archery at them. After a long abstinence on the march, the soldiers eagerly pounced on the women. The laws of Yasa did not apply to the defeated opponents, and this was not considered fornication. Legal reward, grab anyone who turns up under the arm, even a simple girl, even a boyar, even a princess. But it was strictly forbidden to take them with you and keep them with the army, and the Tatars, satisfying the need, ripped open their bellies, cut their throats. From Ryazan, smoldering ruins and heaps of corpses remained, and the horde on the ice of the Oka moved to Kolomna.

Meanwhile, in Chernigov, the Ryazan prince Ingor also did not break off any help - the Chernigovites and warriors of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich were still fighting for Galich and Kiev. Ingor drove back, and sent boyar Evpatiy Kolovrat forward. It was he who found a terrible picture, the kingdom of death. No native principality, no home, no relatives ... Evpatiy could not stand it. He gathered around him 1,700 warriors - those who managed to escape, took refuge in the forests and remote villages. With this handful, the boyar rushed to repay the enemy. More precisely, die. If everything around is lost, how can you live yourself? But to die with honor, in a military manner. They caught up with the Mongols, unexpectedly ran into the rear guards, broke through to the carts with siege weapons. There was no one to develop success, the brave men were surrounded and destroyed. But Batu liked their feat, he gave the few who survived not only life, but released them.

And Yuri II nevertheless scraped together warriors and militias in his cities, put his son Vsevolod in command and sent the Ryazan people to help. But she was late. Near Kolomna, the last Ryazan city, only the retreating prince Roman Ingvorovich met her. Both princes were hot and young. It was considered a disgrace to retreat further and give the people for extermination. Batu's vanguards attacked - together, fiercely. Many Tatars found their death in the Sich, they killed one of the khans, the beloved grandson of Genghis Khan Kulkan. But the Tatars developed in full force, and the battle ended in the same way as the previous ones. Roman and almost all of the Russian army perished under enemy arrows and sabers, Vsevolod, with a few companions-in-arms, broke away from the pursuit, rushed off to Vladimir.

Following Kolomna, the horde along the Moscow River came to Moscow. The youngest of the sons of Yuri II, Vladimir, reigned here. He was the only one taken prisoner alive. Other defenders and the population were put under the knife, the city was burned. Along the Yauza and Klyazma, Batu turned to the capital of the Grand Duchy. Villages burned along the river banks. The tiny garrisons of the graveyards left or entered into the last fleeting battles. How they fought, how they died, no one knows. We only know that these garrisons were.

And Yuri II found himself in a desperate situation. He sent with Vsevolod all available forces to Ryazan, and now he had almost nothing left. He sent calls to the Novgorodians, to Kiev to his brother Yaroslav. But Novgorod and Kiev were far away, and the enemy cavalry advanced swiftly. The sovereign found the only way out. Vladimir instructed his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav to defend, and he himself went to the Upper Volga to gather his army. Such a maneuver could be successful - if the city held out for at least some time, the Grand Duke would form a capable fist, threaten the rear of Batu and force him to lift the siege. But ... after all, this required Vladimir to hold out.

But where could he stay! The Mongolian tactics of sowing panic gave exactly the results for which it was designed. Refugees flocked to Vladimir, defeated warriors reached, they brought rumors one more nightmare than the other. On February 2, the Tatars appeared, showed the townspeople the brought Moscow prince, and the mood completely dropped. Confusion and doom reigned. Vsevolod and Mstislav Yuryevich were either eager to die “with honor and in the field” - to go beyond the walls and give the last battle, then they asked Bishop Mitrofan to be tonsured into the schema with their wives and boyars right now. There was no one to organize the many people crowded into the city. Someone went to the walls, shot arrows, others just prayed and waited for the end.

Batu realized that active actions on the part of the Russians could no longer be expected. He even detached part of the army in order to seize Suzdal "along the way" and replenish supplies. And Vladimir was taken according to the same schedule as Ryazan. On the first day they built a tyn, then assembled the vehicles, on the sixth day they ordered the assault. Princes Vsevolod and Mstislav with their squads tried to break through, but the encirclement was tight, they all were put. And the wives and children of princes, boyars and many townspeople locked themselves in the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. The Metropolitan blessed them to die, and she was already crawling through the cracks with acrid smoke - the Tatars smoked people out, set fire to wooden outbuildings, dragged combustible material to the gate. Some were lucky enough to suffocate peacefully. Then the doors burned down and the enemies kicked them out, broke into the temple to kill and maim.

They also robbed other churches, palaces, houses, and shoveled out expensive utensils. The streets merged into one nightmarish howl of the cries of the Tatars, screams of pain, death rales, stunned mooing of killed cows, screeching of pigs, hysterical moans of raped women, someone's last calls to their father, mothers - who were already swimming in pools of blood with released entrails and broken skulls. They drove prisoners into the siege camp, but more out of habit, out of inertia. There were too many of them, there was nowhere to put them, to drag them along and to feed them. They were deprived of what was more valuable, what could be taken away: jewelry, clothes. Thousands of half-naked and completely naked people froze in the February snow. The living were not required, and the dead were useful - let the rest of the Russians tremble, let them submit, let this fear of the victors be imprinted in them forever.

Baty became firmly convinced that the resistance of the Vladimir land had already been broken. Having destroyed the capital, he no longer kept the army together, he divided it without fear. So it was easier to saturate the horses and soldiers, and the coverage was wider. One corps went along the Volga to Gorodets, Galich-Mersky, another went to Pereyaslavl, the third to Rostov. 14 cities fell in two weeks. They were taken without a fight. After Vladimir, the people realized that fortresses were turning into traps, and they abandoned cities and scattered through the forests.

The enemies came across stubborn and stubborn defenders only in Torzhok. Having easily mastered the stone fortresses of Vladimir, they were stuck at the local log walls for two weeks. It turned out that it is quite possible to defend against the Mongols. The townspeople bravely repulsed attacks, went on sorties, not allowing the Tatars to approach and place siege weapons. They were waiting for help from Novgorod ... But the “brothers” of Novgorod, who had recently declared war on the Russian Grand Duke for Torzhok, now behaved differently. We discussed the disaster at the veche, argued and decided - not to send soldiers anywhere, to prepare to defend our own city. Moreover, another question, will Batu reach him?

Grand Duke Yuri II was also waiting for Novgorodians, waiting for his brother Yaroslav with regiments. He set up a camp in the Volga forests on the river. City. At his call, another brother came, Svyatoslav from Yuriev-Polsky, the nephews of Konstantinovich came from Rostov. They brought 4-5 thousand warriors, and that's it, there was no one else ... While the princes were waiting in the forests, even their own rich cities changed them. Rostov, Yaroslavl, Uglich, Tver entered into negotiations with the Mongols, paid tribute, provided food, horses, fodder, gave people to auxiliary detachments and carts. And for this they deserve mercy.

Moreover, hiding in the thickets, the sovereign could not really find out about the Mongols - their corps were reported from different sides, either they turned east, or west, or passed by. But the enemies clearly knew about the Grand Duke. The corps of Temnik Burundai was specially sent in pursuit of him. He interviewed the prisoners, residents of the same Rostov and Yaroslavl. The Tatars were discovered when they were very close and were already bypassing the Russian camp. On March 4, the princes built loyal knights for the battle, and for most it was the last. Burunday overturned and scattered the detachment with a mad onslaught.

After that, the fight broke into separate foci. The warriors rallied around the princes. Svyatoslav cut through the encirclement and left. A sharp saber blew off the head of Tsar Yuri II, and his entire squad perished around him. Vasilko Konstantinovich fought like a lion. Exhausted, he was captured. He was offered to join the khan's army. He refused. He replied that the enemies of the Fatherland and the faith of Christ cannot be his friends. Predicted:

“O dark kingdom! There is a God, and you will perish when the measure of your evil deeds is fulfilled! "

He was brutally killed and thrown in the Sherensky forest. Subsequently, miracles began to occur at the tombs of Yuri II and Vasilko, the Church recognized them as saints.

But that was later, and even before the fulfillment of the prediction of Vasil'ko Konstantinovich was very far away, several centuries ... The day after the battle of the City, on March 5, Torzhok fell. The attitude to heroism among the Mongols was, let's say, not entirely unambiguous. Sometimes valiant warriors were admired and honored. Well, the inhabitants of Torzhok, for their heroism, were ordered to put to death - everyone, without exception, from the very old to infants. However, Batu had something to be angry about. Summoning his dispersed corps, he moved to Novgorod, such a rich city was obviously included in the khan's plans. But the defense of Torzhok confused them. Spring was approaching ... The Tatars still managed to reach their goal, they could have captured it. However, Batu was not an adventurer, he considered all the options. And if Novgorod has to stand for several weeks? There was also a way back to the steppe. If the snows float, the rivers flood, the army will be cut off in the forests and swamps, the death of horses, famine will begin ... Before reaching Novgorod 100 miles, the khan turned back.

We did not go south along the same road along which everything was burned out. And the roads on the ice became more and more unreliable. We moved along the hills, along the sections of the rivers, and found ourselves near Kozelsk. The child Vasily from the Chernigov Olgovichi reigned in it. But the prince was a boy, and the boyars-guardians and vigilantes turned out to be brave and selfless people, they decided to fight to the death. And the townspeople in Kozelsk were the same, unanimously supported the decision. And the hordes of Batu by this time had significantly diminished. The khans saved the Mongolian core, and the auxiliary units melted away. They were the first to be thrown into attacks, no one cared about them, and they died from labor, disease, the inhabitants of Central Asia were ruined by the Russian winter. Now it was impossible to overwhelm the daring city with streams of soldiers, the first attacks were repelled.

But the Tatars could not leave either, in the south a thaw had already begun, flooded the roads with impassable mud. Batu preferred to stop at Kozelsk. When necessary, the khan knew how to act not only with horror. He forbade the destruction of the surrounding Vyatichi villages, treated the peasants graciously, and for this they began to carry bread, hay, oats to the enemy camp. Many centuries later, the inhabitants of Kozelsk remembered the betrayal, there were villages from which they did not take brides, did not marry girls there. Of course, the peasant supplies could not be enough for the entire army. The khan sent out foragers in different directions, and pointed out to hungry vassals: there are supplies in the city, take it and use it.

The assaults were repeated, the wooden walls were destroyed, the enemies burst into the ramparts, but the defenders stood firm, beat and threw the Tatars. They held out for seven weeks! Almost two months - under the showers of arrows, under stones and incendiary shells flying from siege weapons. But there was no help, the soldiers were dying, their strength was running out. Desperate, the Kozelites went on a sortie. For the Mongols, it came as a surprise. Warriors suddenly burst out of the city, flew into the camp, made their way to the siege engines and hacked them to pieces. They were not allowed to return for the fortifications. The commanders immediately dispatched troops, cutting off the heroes from the fortress. The last fight was terrible. The surrounded vigilantes of the boy-prince and the townspeople fought to the end, laid down 4 thousand enemies and died in the jumble of corpses themselves.

The Tatars called Kozelsk "an evil city". Batu marked him with the same honor as Torzhok. On the ruins of the fortress, only an incapacitated population remained - crippled, wounded, women, children. All of them were ordered to be cut, plundered and burned, which had not yet been burned. And by this time, the roads to the steppe had dried up, and then the Mongol army rolled towards the Don without delay and stop.

And what did the rest of Russia do when its northeastern part perished? Locked in the cities? Trembling with fear? Preparing to meet the enemy when he comes to their lands? No! The disintegration of the country and the people reached such a degree that the disaster of the neighboring principalities was not attributed to themselves at all! Yes, they didn't. It was this, and not the Mongol atrocities, that was the wildest, most shocking in the Russian tragedy. Other principalities were considered foreign states. Who cares if a catastrophe hits them? They did not help - it was still half the trouble. No, the rest of the Russians continued ... enthusiastically fighting each other! Defeating rivals seemed to be the most important thing, much more important than some Tatar invasions.

Mikhail Chernigovsky is firmly entrenched in Galich. To keep him, he entered into an alliance with the Hungarian White IV, engaged the son of Rostislav to his daughter. And Daniil Galitsky, who embroiled Yuri II and Yaroslav into the war with Mikhail, turned out to be a frivolous and unreliable ally. When it became clear that the Vladimir regiments did not frighten the Chernigov prince and did not force him to yield, Daniel entered into negotiations with him and agreed to a separate peace, receiving Przemysl for this. Now Mikhail could not be afraid of attacks from the rear, he raised all his forces, left Rostislav in Galich and moved to fight off Kiev and Chernigov.

Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was preparing to meet him fully armed, but just at that time the news reached Kiev that the Tatars were destroying the cities of Vladimir. The news is confusing, unclear, but capable of stunning anyone, the rich and populous Zalesskaya Rus collapsed in a month! Yaroslav withdrew his regiments, stationed for the winter in the Dnieper cities, and went home. Mikhail occupied the capital without a fight, triumphed, and took the title of Grand Duke of Kiev. Undertook to distribute the inheritance, awarded Chernigov to his cousin Mstislav Glebovich. And his son Rostislav imagined that now their family can run in Russia as they please. Immediately he did not give a damn about the agreement with Daniil Galitsky and seized Przemysl from him.

But the quarrel was very rash. Rostislav went on a campaign to Lithuania, and without him Daniel suddenly appeared near Galich. He did not besiege, he did not draw his sword, he simply drove up to the wall and shouted to the residents crowded there:

"People of the city, for how long do you want to endure the state of foreign princes?"

The boyars tried in vain to keep the people. The Galicians seethed, opened the gates and rushed to their beloved prince, "like bees to a queen." The nobility had no choice but to bow to Daniel "with a grinned face and licking their lips." He forgave the seditious in joy, told them only one thing:

"Correct yourself!"

However, Rostislav Mikhailovich was indignant, having lost his inheritance. He rushed to ask for troops not even to Kiev, not to Chernigov, but to Hungary, to the father of his bride Bela IV ... This is how Russia “defended itself” from the Tatar-Mongols. And from this the answer suggests itself: did she not deserve such a terrible punishment?

Konstantin, Yuri, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich - Grand Dukes of Vladimir-Suzdal. They reigned successively from 1212 to 1246. The most important event of this period was the invasion of Russia by the Mongol-Tatar hordes. From the moment of the first appearance of the steppe hordes to the complete defeat of South and North-Eastern Russia, only seventeen years passed.

VSEVOLODOVICHI, Konstantin, Yuri, Yaroslav. The grand dukes, the children of Vsevolod the Big Nest, reigned, respectively, from 1212 to 1219, from 1219 to 1238 and from 1238 to 1246. Disobeying the admonitions of their dying mother, the pious Princess Mary, the children began feuds. Bequesting the great reign, Vsevolod the Big Nest called the eldest son of Constantine a disobedient and handed the rule over to his beloved third son Yuri. Konstantin, considered this state of affairs a consequence of the boyars' conspiracy, did not obey the will of his deceased father and entered into a fight with Yuri.

In 1216, on the Lipitsa River, a bloody battle took place between Constantine and Yuri, in which Constantine was victorious. Yuri fled to Gorodets, and Constantine proclaimed himself the Grand Duke of Vladimir. Subsequently, the brothers were reconciled. Konstantin Vsevolodovich, bypassing his own sons, declared Yuri the heir to the Vladimir throne. Yuri, for his part, vowed to forget the strife and be a father to the young children of his older brother.

Grand Duke Konstantin Vsevolodovich reigned in Vladimir, engaged in the establishment of civil peace. He built churches, gave alms and ruled a fair trial. The chronicles emphasize the kind-heartedness of the Grand Duke: "He was so kind and meek that he tried not to grieve a single person, loving in word and deed to comfort everyone, and his memory will always live in the blessings of the people."

In 1219, after the death of Konstantin Vsevolodovich, Yuri Vsevolodovich became the Grand Duke of Vladimir. Learning that the Volga Bulgars captured the city of Ustyug, Yuri Vsevolodovich sent his younger brother Svyatoslav against them. Svyatoslav went down the Volga and entered the lands of the Bulgars. His swift victories frightened the Bulgars so much that they fled from their cities, leaving their wives, children, property to the victors. When Svyatoslav returned to Vladimir, Yuri Vsevolodovich met him as a hero and rewarded him with rich gifts. At the beginning of winter of the same year, Bulgar ambassadors came to Vladimir with proposals for peace. Yuri Vsevolodovich rejected all conditions and began to prepare for a new campaign. Having tested the power of the grand-ducal arms, the Bulgarians tried in every possible way to soften Yuri Vsevolodovich and, finally, with rich gifts, they persuaded him to peace.

The reign of Yuri Vsevolodovich was calm until 1224. This year, Russia first encountered mongol-Tatar hordes, who came from the depths of Asia, conquering with fire and sword everything that came their way. In the first battle of Russian squads with the Tatar-Mongols on the Kalka River, Yuri Vsevolodovich did not take part. The princes could not agree on the joint defense of the Russian land. Divided into small principalities and tormented by internal strife, Russia could not withstand the Tatar-Mongol invasion.

At the end of 1237 countless hordes of Tatar-Mongols, led by Khan Baty, invaded the lands of north-eastern Russia. The Ryazan principality became the first victim of Batyev's invasion. Ryazan was surrounded, and ambassadors were sent to the city. "If you want peace," the ambassadors said, "then a tenth of your wealth will be ours." - “When none of us will survive, then you will take everything,” the Ryazan prince answered. This answer predetermined the fate of not only Ryazan but also many other Russian cities. Ryazan was burned to the ground by the Mongols, and all its inhabitants were exterminated, young and old.

Yuri Vsevolodovich, realizing the mortal threat, went to Yaroslavl to gather an army. On February 3, 1338, having ruined Suzdal, Kolomna and Moscow along the way, Batu approached Vladimir and took the city by storm. The Grand Duchess Agafya with her children and townspeople took refuge in the Assumption Cathedral, where they were all burnt alive. The devastation of the Russian lands continued further in two directions: to Galich and to Rostov. Tatar-Mongols burned cities and villages, killed civilians, even small children did not avoid their rage.

Yuri Vsevolodovich managed to gather all combat-ready squads on the Sit River. But the courage of the Russian squads could not withstand the hordes of Batu. In a bloody battle (March 4, 1338) the entire Russian army was killed together with the Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich and his two sons. After the battle, the Rostov bishop Kirill found among the dead the body of Yuri Vsevolodvich in a princely attire (the head of the Grand Duke was cut off in battle and they could not find it). There was a rumor among the people that Prince Yuri managed to take refuge in the city of Kitezh on the shore of Lake Svetloyar, but Baty overtook him there and put him to death. At the same hour, Kitezh plunged into the waters of the lake. According to legend, Kitezh must appear in the world on the eve of the Last Judgment.

Yuri Vsevolodovich is the Grand Duke, during whose reign a terrible disaster struck Russia, leaving a deep mark in the history of Russia. Eight hundred years after that, we feel the Mongolian trace both at the level of the genotype of the people and at the socio-behavioral level of the people. The subsequent transformation of Russia into a multinational empire over the centuries, the annexation of territories once controlled by the Mongol horde are also consequences of the events that took place under Yuri Vsevolodovich. The death of the prince, princess and their children with an interval of a month suggests that the changes in the nature of the Russian state caused by the Mongols were very painful. Together with the princes, thousands of inhabitants of Russian cities perished, completely exterminated from young to old.

In 1238after the death of his brother, he assumed the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir Yaroslav Vsevolodovich... It was a courageous act, since it was not a flourishing land that fell to him to rule, but, as Karamzin put it, “Yaroslav came to dominate the ruins and corpses. In such circumstances, a sensitive sovereign might hate power; but this prince wanted to be famous for the activity of the mind and the firmness of the soul, and not for his kindness. He looked at the widespread devastation, not in order to shed tears, but in order to make up for the traces of it by the best and quickest means. It was necessary to gather the people scattered, to erect cities and villages from the ashes - in a word, to completely renew the State ”.

First of all, Yaroslav ordered to collect and bury the dead. Then he took measures to restore the destroyed cities and organize the administration of the Vladimir lands. As the senior Russian prince, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich distributed the cities and principalities of North-Eastern Russia among his brothers so that only one princely family would rule in each city at all times.

Meanwhile, in 1239 Batu Khan returned to Russia. This time it fell upon the southern principalities, which were not affected in 1237-1238. In the spring of 1239 his troops took Pereyaslavl and Chernigov, and on December 6, 1240 Kiev fell. "Ancient Kiev has disappeared, and forever: for this, once the famous capital, the mother of the Russian cities, in the XIV and XV centuries was still ruins: in our time there is only a shadow of its former greatness."

Having actually destroyed Kiev, the Tatars continued to move forward and in 1241 captured Lublin, Sandomierz, Krakow, defeating the troops of the Poles, Czechs, Germans and Hungarians. They reached the very Adriatic Sea and from there turned back.

By this time, the Grand Duke Yaroslav II managed to understand that the Tatars, more or less, leave alone only those peoples who show them submission. Not seeing an opportunity to fight them and wishing to somehow save their lands from a new invasion, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich made a wise decision to show the khan his humility... He, the first of the Russian princes, was not afraid or ashamed to go to bow to Khan Batu in the Golden Horde.

In the Horde, he was required to perform several pagan rituals, in particular, to walk between two fires and bow to the shadow of Genghis Khan (if he refused, death awaited him, and his land would be ruined). For a Christian prince, such a demand meant not only a terrible humiliation, but also a violation of the covenants of the Christian church. Faced with such a demand, other Russian princes preferred to choose not the easiest death. But Yaroslav Vsevolodovich went to great lengths to preserve the remnants of the people in the Vladimir-Suzdal land. If the prince made another, proud, decision, the Vladimir-Suzdal land could no longer exist at all, as many other states, for example, the Volga Bulgaria, disappeared from the pages of history. Batu was pleased with the obedience of the Russian prince and for the first time issued him a label (letter) for the Great Reign, that is, permission to be the Grand Duke.

Since then, any Russian prince who wanted to become the Grand Duke had to go to the Golden Horde to ask the khan for mercy, never knowing what awaited him: life or death. This is how Yaroslav Vsevolodovich ended his life. After the death of Khan Ogedei, he was going to receive a label for the Great Reign from his son, Khan Guyuk. In 1246, Yaroslav went to him in Karakorum, in Mongolia... The khan received the prince graciously and let him go with mercy, but seven days later, on the way home, Yaroslav died. It is believed that the cause of his death was most likely the poison that the mother of Khan Guyuk gave to the prince. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was buried in Vladimir.

Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was married twice, the prince had nine sons and three daughters. Yaroslav's son, Alexander Nevsky, went down in Russian history as one of the outstanding rulers, he was also canonized by the Orthodox Church.

Grand Duke Vladimir 1212 - 1216
Predecessor:
Successor:	Konstantin Vsevolodovich
Predecessor:	Konstantin Vsevolodovich
Successor:	Yaroslav Vsevolodovich
Religion:	Orthodoxy
Birth:
Buried:	Assumption Cathedral (Vladimir)
Dynasty:	Rurikovich
	Vsevolod Yurievich Big Nest
	Maria Shvarnovna
	Agafia Vsevolodovna
	sons: Vsevolod, Vladimir, Mstislav; daughters: Dobrava, Theodora

early years

Conflict with brother

Foreign policy

Mongol invasion

Canonization

Yuri (Georgy) Vsevolodovich (November 26, 1188 - March 4, 1238) - Grand Duke of Vladimir (1212-1216, 1218-1238).

Biography

early years

The third son of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Vsevolod Yuryevich Big Nest from his first marriage with the Czech Queen Maria Shvarnovna. Born in Suzdal on November 26, 1187, according to the Ipatiev Chronicle, and according to the Laurentian Chronicle - in 1189. Bishop Luke baptized him. On July 28, 1192, Yuri was tonsured and on the same day they put him on a horse; “And the joy is great in the city of Suzdal,” the chronicler notes on this occasion.

In 1207, Yuri took part in a campaign against the Ryazan princes, and in 1208 or 1209, standing at the head of the army, he defeated the Ryazan people at the Drozdna River (probably Trostna). In 1210 he took part in a campaign against the Novgorodians, who imprisoned his brother, Svyatoslav, in prison, and called Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny to reign; peace, however, was concluded without bloodshed. In 1211, Yuri married Princess Agafia Vsevolodovna, daughter of Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny, Prince of Chernigov; the wedding took place in Vladimir, in the Assumption Cathedral, by Bishop John.

Conflict with brother

A year later, Vsevolod Yuryevich, sensing the approach of death, decided to give his eldest son Konstantin Vladimir, and the next Yury (Vsevolod's second son, Boris, died back in 1188) - Rostov, but Konstantin demanded that both of these cities be given to him. The father got angry with him and, on the advice of the boyars and Bishop John, gave the grand-princely Vladimir table to Yuri, but this was a violation of the established order of inheritance.

On April 14, 1212, Vsevolod died, and Yuri became the Grand Duke. The next year, strife began between Yuri and Konstantin. On the side of the first was brother Yaroslav, and on the side of the second - brothers Svyatoslav and Vladimir. Yuri was ready to give Vladimir in exchange for Rostov, but Konstantin did not agree to such an exchange and offered his brother Suzdal. Yuri and Yaroslav went to Rostov, and Konstantin withdrew his regiments. For four weeks the brothers stood against each other and made peace, which, however, did not last long. Soon Vladimir Vsevolodovich captured Moscow, and Konstantin took Soligalich from Yuri and burned Kostroma. Yuri and Yaroslav, from whom Nerekhta was also taken away, again approached Rostov and began to burn the villages, and then, without entering the battle, reconciled with Constantine, after which Vladimir returned Moscow to Yuri. In 1215, Yuri established a special diocese for the Vladimir-Suzdal region, in order to destroy its dependence in the church relation on Rostov. Hegumen Simon was made bishop.

In 1216, the struggle between the brothers flared up with renewed vigor. Yuri began to help Yaroslav against the Novgorodians, and Konstantin entered into an alliance with the latter. Mstislav Udatny with the Novgorodians, his brother Vladimir with the Pskovites and their cousin Vladimir Rurikovich with the Smolnyans approached the capital city of Yaroslav, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and Yaroslav went to Yuri. The Grand Duke gathered a large army, "all the strength of the Suzdal land," and stood on the Kze River, near Yuriev-Polsky. Opponents then left Pereyaslavl in the same way towards Yuryev and settled partly near Yuryev, partly near the Lipitsa River. Before entering the battle, Mstislav made an attempt to make peace separately with Yuri, but he replied: "My brother Yaroslav and I are one person!" Negotiations with Yaroslav also did not lead to anything. Then Mstislav and his allies were sent to say: “We did not come for bloodshed, God forbid we see blood, it is better to cope first; we are all of the same tribe, so we will give seniority to Prince Constantine, put him in Vladimir, and you all have Suzdal land! " Yuri replied to this: "Come, go wherever you want, and tell your brother, Prince Constantine: overpower us - and then the whole earth is for you." The Novgorodians and the Rostovites settled down, joining together, on the banks of the Lipitsa; when Yuri retreated from his former place and fortified himself on Mount Obdova, then they also occupied the opposite Mount Yuryev. On April 20, at first, there were separate skirmishes between Novgorod hunters and Yaroslav's people, but Yuri, having sat down in the fortification, did not want to go into the open field. On April 21, the allies already wanted to go from St. George's to Vladimir, but Konstantin convinced them to stay. The Suzdal people, seeing the movement in their camp, thought that they were retreating, and left the mountain to strike in the rear, but the Novgorodians immediately turned to them. A battle took place, which ended in the complete defeat of the Suzdal people.

Yuri, having killed three horses, rode to Vladimir on the fourth, and by nightfall the remnants of the rati came. The victors, having approached Vladimir on April 24, stood under him for two days; despite the strong desire of the Novgorodians and Smolnyans to take Vladimir by storm, Mstislav did not allow them to do this and saved the city from defeat. Yuri, leaving the city, came to the victors. Under the peace treaty, he was forced to cede Vladimir and Suzdal to Konstantin, and he himself received Gorodets Radilov on the Volga. Bishop Simon followed him there. The very next year, Konstantin gave Yuri Suzdal and, leaving Rostov land as an inheritance to his offspring, recognized his brother as his successor on the grand ducal table. Constantine died on February 2, 1218, and Yuri became the Grand Duke for the second time.

Foreign policy

Yuri Vsevolodovich, like his father, achieved foreign policy successes mainly by avoiding military clashes. In the period 1220-1234, Vladimir's troops (including in alliance with Novgorod, Ryazan, Murom and Lithuanian) conducted 14 campaigns. Of these, only four ended in battles (victories over external opponents; 1220, 1225, 1226, 1234).

Already in 1212, Yuri released from captivity the Ryazan princes captured by his father in 1208, including Ingvar and Yuri Igorevich, who came to power in Ryazan as a result of the struggle of 1217-1219 and became Yuri's allies.

In 1217, the Volga Bulgarians raided the Russian land and reached Ustyug. To take revenge on them, Yuri sent a large army under the leadership of his brother, Svyatoslav, to fight the Bulgarian land; it reached the city of Oshel on the Volga and burned it down. At the same time, the Rostov and Ustyug regiments along the Kama came to the land of the Bulgarians and ravaged many cities and villages. At the mouths of the Kama, both rats united and returned home. Bulgarians in the same winter sent ambassadors to ask for peace, but Yuri refused them. In 1221 (1222) he himself wanted to go against the Bulgarians and marched towards Gorodets. On the way, he was met by the second Bulgarian embassy with the same request and was again refused. A third embassy with rich gifts appeared in Gorodets, and this time Yuri agreed to peace. In order to strengthen an important place beyond Russia at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga, Yuri at that time founded here, on the Dyatlovy Hills, the city of Nov Grad (Nizhny Novgorod). Then he built in the new city a wooden church in the name of the Archangel Michael (later the Archangel Cathedral), and in 1225 he laid the stone church of the Savior.

The founding of Nizhny Novgorod entailed a struggle with the Mordovians, using the differences between its princes. In 1226, Yuri sent his brothers against her, Svyatoslav and Ivan, and in September 1228, his nephew, Vasil'ko Konstantinovich, Prince of Rostov; in January 1229 he went to the Mordovians himself. After that, the Mordovians launched an attack on Nizhny Novgorod, and in 1232 she was pacified by the son of Yuri Vsevolod with the princes of Ryazan and Murom. Opponents of the spread of Vladimir influence to the Mordovian lands were defeated, but a few years later, during the Mongol invasion, part of the Mordovian tribes sided with the Mongols.

Yuri organized campaigns to help his former opponents in the Lipitsk battle: the Smolensk Rostislavichs, defeated by the Mongols on the Kalka - in 1223 to the southern Russian lands, led by his nephew Vasilko Konstantinovich, who, however, did not have to fight: reaching Chernigov, he learned about the defeat Russians and returned to Vladimir; and in 1225 - against the Lithuanians, who ravaged the Smolensk and Novgorod lands, which ended with the victory of Yaroslav at Usvyat.

In Novgorod, meanwhile, the struggle of the parties continued, in which Yuri also had to take part. In 1221, the Novgorodians sent ambassadors to him with a request to give them their son as princes. Yuri sent his young son Vsevolod to the reign of Novgorod and helped the Novgorodians in the fight against the Livonian Order, sending an army under the leadership of his brother Svyatoslav. Vsevolod, however, soon returned to Vladimir, and in his place Yuri sent, at the request of the Novgorodians, Yaroslav's brother. In 1223 Yaroslav left Novgorod for his Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and the Novgorodians again begged Vsevolod Yuryevich. This time there were some misunderstandings between Yuri and the Novgorodians; Vsevolod was taken from Novgorod to Torzhok, where his father came to him with an army in 1224. Yuri demanded the extradition of the Novgorod boyars, with whom he was dissatisfied, and in case of disobedience, he threatened to come to Novgorod “to give his horses to Volkhov to drink”, but then left without bloodshed, satisfied with a large sum of money and giving Novgorod the princes his brother-in-law Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich, Chernigovsky.

But the continuous change of princes in Novgorod continued: either Yuri's brother, Yaroslav, or brother-in-law, Mikhail Chernigovsky, reigned there. In 1228, Yaroslav, once again expelled from Novgorod, suspected the participation of his elder brother in his exile and won over his nephews Konstantinovich, Vasilko, Prince of Rostov, and Vsevolod, Prince of Yaroslavl to his side. When Yuri found out about this, he summoned all the relatives to a congress in Vladimir in September 1229. At this congress, he managed to settle all the misunderstandings, and the princes bowed to Yuri, calling him father and master. In 1230, the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Rurikovich and Mikhail of Chernigov turned to Yuri with a request to settle disputes between Mikhail and Yaroslav over Novgorod. With the participation of Metropolitan Kirill, Yuri reconciled the opponents; Yaroslav obeyed the will of his older brother and abandoned Novgorod, which was given to Mikhail's son, Rostislav. In 1231, Yuri went to Chernihiv land against Mikhail, who, in alliance with Vladimir Rurikovich, the Grand Duke of Kiev, began hostile actions against Yuri's son-in-law, Vasilko Romanovich, and the latter's brother, Daniel Galitsky. After this campaign, Mikhail lost Novgorod, which again passed to Yaroslav, after which for a hundred years only the descendants of Vsevolod the Big Nest were princes of Novgorod.

In the years 1222-1223, Yuri twice sent troops, respectively, led by the brothers Svyatoslav under Wenden and Yaroslav, under Revel to help the Estonians who rebelled against the Order of the Swordsmen. In the first campaign the Lithuanians were the allies of the Russians. According to the "Chronicle" of Henry of Latvia, in 1224 the third campaign was launched, but Russian troops reached only Pskov. Russian chronicles date Yuri's conflict with the Novgorod nobility around the same time. In 1229, the campaign against the order planned by Yaroslav did not take place due to disagreements with the Novgorodians and Pskovians, but in 1234 Yaroslav defeated the knights in the battle on Omovzha.

List of military campaigns of the Vladimir troops in the period 1218-1238

• 1220 - Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. Volga Bulgaria, Oshel
• 1221 - Yuri Vsevolodovich. Volga Bulgaria, Gorodets
• 1222 - Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. Order of the Swordsmen, Wenden
• 1223 - Vasilko Konstantinovich. Mongol Empire, Chernigov
• 1223 - Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. Order of the Swordsmen, Revel
• 1224 - Yuri Vsevolodovich. Novgorod land, Torzhok
• 1225 - Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Battle of Usvyat
• 1226 - Yuri Vsevolodovich. Chernigov principality, Kursk
• 1226 - Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. Mordva
• 1228 - Vasilko Konstantinovich. Mordva
• 1228 - Yuri Vsevolodovich. Mordva
• 1232 - Yuri Vsevolodovich. Chernigov principality, Serensk
• 1232 - Vsevolod Yurievich. Mordva
• 1234 - Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. Order of the Swordsmen, Battle of the Emajõgi River
• 1237 - Vsevolod Yurievich. Mongol Empire, Battle of Kolomna
• 1238 - Yuri Vsevolodovich. Mongol Empire, City River Battle

Mongol invasion

In 1236, at the beginning of the Mongol campaign in Europe, the Volga Bulgaria was ruined. The refugees were accepted by Yuri and settled in the Volga towns. At the end of 1237, Batu appeared within the Ryazan principality. The Ryazan princes turned to Yuri for help, but he did not give it to them, wanting to “scold the individual himself”. Batu's ambassadors came to Ryazan and Vladimir demanding tribute, but they were refused everywhere.

After destroying Ryazan on December 16, Batu moved to Moscow. Yuri sent his son, Vsevolod, to defend the borders of the principality. Having met the enemy hordes near Kolomna, Vsevolod entered into battle with them, was defeated and fled to Vladimir (the governor of Vladimir Eremey Glebovich and the youngest son of Genghis Khan Kulkan were killed). Batu, after this victory, burned Moscow, Vladimir, the second son of Yuri, took prisoner and moved on Vladimir.

Having received news of these events, Yuri summoned the princes and boyars to a council and, after much deliberation, went to the Volga to gather his army. Vladimir's wife Agafia Vsevolodovna, sons Vsevolod and Mstislav, daughter of Theodore, wife of Vsevolod Marina, wife of Mstislav Maria and wife of Vladimir Khristin, grandchildren and governor Pyotr Olesledukovich remained in Vladimir. The siege of the city of Vladimir began on February 2 or 3, 1238, the city fell on February 7 (according to Rashid ad-Din, the siege and assault lasted 8 days). Mongol-Tatars burst into the city and set it on fire. Yuri's entire family perished, of all his offspring, only the daughter of Dobrava survived, who had been married since 1226 to Vasilko Romanovich, Prince of Volynsky. On March 4 of the same year, in the battle on the City River, the troops of the Grand Duke were crushed at the camp by the secondary forces of the Mongols, led by Burunday, who followed a more northern route separately from the main forces. Among those killed was Yuri himself.

The headless body of the prince was found by the princely clothes among the bodies of the killed soldiers who remained unburied on the battlefield by Bishop Kirill of Rostov, who was returning from Beloozero. He took the body to Rostov and buried it in a stone coffin in the Church of Our Lady. Subsequently, Yuri's head was also found and attached to the body. Two years later, the remains were solemnly transferred by Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir.

Canonization

According to the chronicler, Yuri was adorned with good morals: he tried to fulfill God's commandments; I always had the fear of God in my heart, remembering the Lord's commandment of love not only to neighbors, but also to enemies, was merciful beyond measure; not sparing his estate, he distributed it to the needy, built churches and decorated them with priceless icons and books; honored priests and monks. In 1221 he laid a new stone cathedral in Suzdal instead of the dilapidated one, and in 1233 he painted it and paved it with marble. In Nizhny Novgorod, he founded the Mother of God Monastery.

In 1645, the imperishable relics of the prince were found and on January 5, 1645, Patriarch Joseph initiated the process of canonization of Yuri Vsevolodovich by the Orthodox Church. At the same time, the relics were placed in a silver shrine. Yuri Vsevolodovich was canonized as Holy Blessed Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich... His memory is February 4, according to the assumption of M. B. Tolstoy, "in memory of his transfer from Rostov to Vladimir."

Legends

Foundation of Kitezh... According to this legend, in 1164, Georgy Vsevolodovich rebuilt Small Kitezh (presumably modern Gorodets), founded the Feodorovsky Gorodets Monastery in it, and then went to a very remote region, where he set (in 1165) Big Kitezh on the shore of Lake Svetloyar, that is, actually the legendary city \u200b\u200bof Kitezh.

Prince's head... On the eve of the battle on the City River, the prince learned about the death of his entire family in Vladimir. The prince fought bravely with his retinue. At the end of the battle, he died a martyr's death; his head was truncated and presented as a gift to Khan Baty. According to legend, Batu traveled the battlefield with her as a winner. When the body and head of the prince, found on the battlefield, were combined, “the holy head clung to the holy body, so that there was no trace of cutting off on his neck; the right hand was raised as if from a living, indicating a feat. "

Testament of Yuri Vsevolodovich. “Get along with the Russians and do not disdain the Mordovians. It is a sin to fraternize with the Mordovians, but it is better than anyone else! And Cheremis has only black onuchs, and a white conscience! "

The gift of the Mordovian land. “The old Mordovians, having learned about the arrival of the Russian prince, sent him with the young people beef and beer. The young people ate expensive beef, drank beer, and brought land and water to the Russian prince. The prince-murza was delighted with this gift, accepted it as a sign of submission to the Mordovian tribe and swam further along the Volga River. Where a handful of land given to him by the slow-witted Mordovian youth throws on the shore - there will be a city, where he throws a pinch - there will be a village ... "

The first inhabitants of Nizhny Novgorod... According to legend, the first settlers in Nizhny Novgorod were artisans who fled from the boyar taxes from Novgorod. Yuri Vsevolodovich took them under the patronage and involved them in construction, thanks to which the first fortress was built in a year.

End of Nizhny Novgorod. “There is a small stream in Nizhny Novgorod near the fortress; it flows through the ravines and flows into the Volga near the Nikolskaya Church. His name is Pochainaya and they say that Yuri Vsevolodovich, the founder of Nizhny Novgorod, called this stream so, being struck by the similarity of the location of Nizhny Novgorod with the location of Kiev. In the place where Pochayna originates, there is a large stone on which something was previously written, but has now been erased. The fate of Nizhny Novgorod depends on this stone: lately it will budge; water will come out from under it and drown the entire Lower. "

A family

Wife - Agafia Vsevolodovna (about 1195-1238), princess of Chernigov.

• Vsevolod (Dmitry) (1213-1238), Prince of Novgorod (1221-1222, 1223-1224). He is married to Marina (1215-1238), daughter of Vladimir Rurikovich since 1230. Executed by order of Batu during the capture of Vladimir by the Mongols.
• Vladimir (1215-1238), Prince of Moscow, married since 1236 to Khristina (1219-1238) (origin unknown, presumably from the Monomashic family). Executed by order of Batu during the capture of Vladimir by the Mongols.
• Mstislav (1218-1238), married from 1236 to Mary (1220-1238) (origin unknown). He died during the capture of Vladimir by the Mongol-Tatars.

• Dobrava (1215-1265)
• Theodora (1229-1238)

Yuri Vsevolodovich Suzdalsky was born in 1189. Since the Laurentian Chronicle in an article for 1189 reports this event after the date of the funeral of the Rostov Bishop Luka - November 11, it is obvious that the next, fourth (and second of those who have reached adulthood) son of Vsevolod the Big Nest appeared until the first of March, when the new year was approaching in Russia.

In the fourth year of his life, on May 28, 1192, Prince George was tonsured - initiation into warriors. "The same days, and ride him on his horse. And there was great joy in the city of Judging." The father, presumably, widely celebrated the transition of his child to a new, masculine life, traditionally exposing the townspeople to treats. And none of the merry Suzdalians at that time could even imagine that probably the most unhappy of the Russian generals sat in the military saddle.

For the first time after this, the prince Yuri was mentioned in 1200, when he was eleven, when he accompanied his brother Svyatoslav to Novgorod with his father and brothers. The next year - a similar message about sending Yaroslav's brother to Pereyaslavl Yuzhny. Yuri is always with his father. He is mentioned in 1202 on the occasion of the consecration of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in the Knyagin's Monastery and after that he regularly participates in various celebrations and ceremonies, being next to his father. In 1207, Yuri Vsevolodovich took part in the campaign against the Ryazanites and the siege of Pronsk, nothing distinguished here.

Unlike his younger brother Yaroslav, he did not carry out independent orders until 1208, when he was sent against the Ryazan princes, who ravaged the outskirts of Moscow. Here Yuri, or his governors, managed to defeat the Ryazan people and capture prisoners. Thus, he was the first of the sons of Vsevolod the Big Nest and did not differ on the battlefield. The next year, the Grand Duke sent his sons, led by Constantine, against Mstislav Udatny to Torzhok. Most likely, Yuri also took part in the campaign. The collision did not come. Mstislav retreated - the forces were too unequal.

In 1211 Vsevolod Yurievich married his son George to the daughter of the head of the Chernigov princes Vsevolod Chermny. The wedding took place in the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, with a huge crowd of people. This marriage was supposed to consolidate the recently concluded peace with the Olgovichi. Obviously, the decision on this matter was made a year earlier, when Metropolitan Matthew came to Vladimir from Kiev as an intermediary, with a request for the conclusion of peace. The Chernigovites returned the previously captured Yuzhny Pereyaslavl and pledged to observe the interests of the Grand Duke in the south in everything.

This year has brought many changes. Since the eldest son Konstantin refused to fulfill his father's will, and intended to make Rostov the capital of the state, then even ahead of time Vsevolod, who felt the approach of death, was forced to assemble a Zemsky Sobor, at which Yuri was approved as the successor to the Grand Duke on the Vladimir table.

On April 14, 1212, in memory of Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome, Grand Duke Vsevolod the Big Nest died, who restored the greatness of Vladimir and his supremacy among the Russian lands. The twenty-two-year-old Yuri Vsevolodovich ascended the throne.

The first step of the young sovereign was the pardon of the Ryazan princes and Bishop Arseny, who had been languishing in captivity for five years. All of them were forgiven and sent home in peace. However, after the peaceful action in relation to the neighboring vassals, a campaign followed with Yaroslav to Rostov, against the elder brother, who insisted on his seniority. In fact, it was a struggle between Rostov and Vladimir, the old and new centers of Zaleskaya Rus. Svyatoslav went over to the side of his elder brother and the strengthened Constantine set out to take Vladimir away from Yuri. Peace was concluded under the walls of Rostov, but it turned out to be short.

Soon another brother, Vladimir, drove off to Rostov. For new negotiations, the brothers gathered at Yuryev Polsky, where Svyatoslav returned to Yuri's rule. For this he received this city as his inheritance. Constantine, however, endowed Moscow with Vladimir who held his side.

Less than a year later, Yuri, together with his brothers Yaroslav, Svyatoslav, Ivan and Davyd Muromsky, approached Rostov. Here on the river. Yidshe, a fierce battle took place, which did not bring victory to either side, however, the coalition troops were forced to leave, devastating the surroundings. In revenge, Konstantin attacked Kostroma and destroyed and burned it all, captivating the inhabitants. Meanwhile, Yuri and Yaroslav with their troops came to Moscow and "brought" Vladimir out of there. Tom had to go south - to reign in Pereyaslavl "Russian".

The opponents made it up with difficulty, preserving what they had. However, the balance of power was upset the following year by Yaroslav, expelled from Novgorod, who roused the Novgorodians and his own father-in-law, Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny, against himself. Yuri Vsevolodovich supported Yaroslav. On the side of Mstislav was his brother Vladimir Pskovsky. Opponents of Mstislav, naturally, supported Constantine with Rostov and Yaroslavl. The younger brothers, Murom vassals, mercenary detachments of the rovers, regiments of the Opolsk and Volga cities, came to the call of the Vladimir prince, and when the war approached the central regions of Suzdal, the smerds were also called into the militia. Strengthened by help from Smolensk, the anti-Vladimir coalition met with the troops of the younger Vsevolodovichs on Lipitsy - near Yuryev Polsky.

Yuri and Yaroslav, not risking an attack first, fortified on Mount Avdova, but Mstislav Mstislavich managed to turn the strengths of their position into a trap for inexperienced military leaders. The great battle was lost. Only killed Vsevolodovich lost more than 9 thousand people. The brothers ran in different directions. Yaroslav - to Pereyaslavl, Yuri - to Vladimir.

The townspeople greeted the defeated prince unkindly. They let him into the city, but did not defend him. As soon as the enemies surrounded Vladimir, fires began in him. First of all, the princely court caught fire. As a result, Yuri had to surrender and cede the capital, going to Gorodets. The victorious Constantine remained in Vladimir, but his power was weak and after a year, he was forced to call his brother from exile and give him Suzdal with the promise that after his death he would inherit the great table.

This promise was fulfilled unexpectedly soon, Prince Konstantin Vsevolodovich died on February 2, 1218, having managed to secure Rostov and Yaroslavl to his sons Vasilko and Vsevolod.

The first major military action of the new Grand Duke dates back to 1220. Yuri Vsevolodovich sent an army in boats under the command of his brother Svyatoslav on a campaign against the Bulgarians. Having landed near the city of Oshel, on June 14, the people of Vladimir entered the battle with the Bulgarians and drove the enemies into the fortress, which was soon taken. Apparently, no other goals were pursued except to encourage the Bulgarians to negotiate.

The reasons for the campaign were undoubtedly economic in nature. Most likely, he was a reaction to some kind of infringement of Russian interests (or the Russian community) in Volga Bulgaria. This state controlled the Volga trade route - one of the most important in world trade between East and West, where even a short transit delay or violation of the conditions previously established by agreements threatened with losses, a "crisis" of financial transactions in all markets of Eastern Europe, to which the Vladimir merchants, and with them princes. According to Yu.A. Limonov, "the campaign of Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich pursued precisely the renewal of the trade agreement with the Bulgarians and the protection of traditional trade deals." The chronicler emphasizes this in the conclusion of his narration about the campaign, which speaks of Yuri Vsevolodovich's negotiations with the Bulgarians: "and managing the old world, as if it was with his father Vsevolod and his grandfather Georgy Volodymerichi, and the ambassador with them (ambassadors Yu.S. ) their men lead their princes into the company and their lands according to their law. "

1221 for the Grand Duke was marked by the sending of the eldest son Vsevolod to reign in Novgorod, as well as the laying of a new fortress at the mouth of the Oka - Nova of the city of Nizhny. The construction of this strategically important fortress, which quickly turned into one of the largest and richest Russian cities, as time has shown, became the main positive contribution of Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich to the strengthening of national statehood.

Events followed their own course. The next year, the Grand Duke ordered to dismantle the dilapidated Church of the Mother of God in Suzdal, built under Monomakh, and in its place he laid the temple that now stands in the center of the Suzdal Kremlin. A year later, the Novgorodians showed the way to young Vsevolod Yuryevich, preferring Yaroslav Vsevolodovich Pereyaslavsky to him. This could complicate the relationship between the brothers.

In the same year, 1223, Yuri, in response to a request from Kiev for help against the Mongols, sent an army under the command of Vasilko Konstantinovich to the south, but they did not manage to reach Kalka and returned from Chernigov. The next year, Yuri sent his brother Vladimir, who had returned from Polovtsian captivity, with the Starodub and Yaroslavl regiments (the chronicle does not tell where), apparently, to help the Novgorodians, for a campaign to Yuryev, besieged by the order's army. As you know, the Novgorod proceeds were late.

The power of Yuri Vsevolodovich over his brothers and nephews, apparently, did not differ too much from the power of the Kiev prince in the south. In any case, Yaroslav did not reckon too much with his brother. Zalesye split into semi-independent appanages, and Yuri Vsevolodovich, as before him and Konstantin, had to maneuver between the interests of relatives, giving them the opportunity to reign in turn in Pereyaslavl Russky. It was not always possible to extinguish the discontent, and in 1229 Yaroslav and the Konstantinovichs almost began a strife. In 1232, Yaroslav rose again to his brother. It even got to the point of military action, which, however, did not lead to bloodshed.

At the same time, the Grand Duchy also retained the ability to pursue an active foreign policy in relation to other Russian lands and neighbors in the east. During these years, Ryazan, weakened by a terrible civil strife, finally lost its independence. Again he was forced to admit a certain dependence on the "lower lands" and Novgorod. Especially after the unprecedented devastation from the Lithuanians in 1225, when Yaroslav, who defeated them, distinguished himself. In 1226, Yuri and his nephews Konstantinovich personally led an army to help Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov against Oleg Kursk. The intervention of the Vladimir power quickly led to peace.

The most active was the Vladimir policy in the Mordovian lands, which became the arena of confrontation between Russia and Bulgaria. In the winter of the same year, Yuri sent Svyatoslav and Ivan with squads to the Mordovian forests. Without meeting much resistance, the Yuryevsk and Starodub squads ravaged the Mordovian villages.

“It is hardly possible,” writes Yu.A. Limonov, “to represent Russian-Mordovian relations only as raids from both sides. Already at the beginning of the 13th century, there were certain alliances, vassal-tributary relations between the Grand Duke of Vladimir and the Mordovian nobility. relations were highly developed. " In addition, the Vladimir-Suzdal princes were drawn into the internecine war of the Mordovian rulers - Purgas and Puresh, supported respectively by Bulgaria and Russia. The Polovtsians also joined the struggle, and the Russian colonists in the Mordovian lands - "Russia of Purgasov" also suffered from it. The strife in Mordovia lasted until the Mongol invasion.

In 1227, Yuri Vsevolodovich again sent the eldest son of Vsevolod to reign in Pereyaslavl Yuzhny, and soon he married his nephew Vasilko Rostovsky to the daughter of Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov.

A new campaign against the Mordovians took place in January 1228. The Grand Duke spoke in person, together with his brother Yaroslav, the Konstantinovichs and Yuri Davydovich Muromsky. The population fled in the forest "firmaments", destroying small detachments of the princely "young" in ambushes. Perhaps his main goal was not to destroy the Purgas volost, which held on to the Bulgarian orientation, but to protect his vassal Puresh. In any case, the Bulgarians, who simultaneously ravaged his volost as a result of the appearance of the Russians, were forced to flee. Among the participants in the campaign, Svyatoslav was not indicated, it is possible that he was sent to Pereyaslavl Yuzhny even earlier (than the record of Yu.S. about this appeared).

The next April, 1229, followed by a retaliatory raid of Purgas on Nizhny Novgorod, which was successfully repulsed. In the same year, for the first time after Kalka, reports about the Mongols ("Tatars" - Y.S.) reappear in the Vladimir chronicle: refugees from the Trans-Volga steppes and from the lower reaches of the Itil arrived in Volga Bulgaria - Saxins and Polovtsians. Following there appeared the beaten out by the Mongols from the line of the river. Yaik are Bulgarian "watchmen". In the face of the Mongol invasion, the rulers of Bulgaria were forced to seek an alliance with their northern neighbors. Peace was concluded for six years.

In Vladimir, they closely followed the events unfolding in Central Asia, and now in the Volga region, but they had not yet influenced the life of Russia, where in 1230 a new saint was canonized - a merchant who suffered for the faith from the Bulgarian Muslims, and then the Grand Duke married his son Vsevolod to the daughter of Vladimir Rurikovich of Kiev.

The earthquake that broke out on May 3rd during the liturgy became a terrible foreshadowing of the impending catastrophe. If in Vladimir only lamps and icons swayed along the walls, then in Kiev and Pereyaslavl some churches cracked, split into pieces, vaults collapsed; stones fell on the worshipers. An eclipse followed. The sun turned into a crescent like the moon, and red, green and blue pillars stood on its sides, as if fire descended from heaven to Kiev, where desperate people began to say goodbye to each other.

In 1232, when the Grand Duke again fought the northern, Vyatka outskirts of the Chernigov region, and Yaroslav burned Serensk here, the Tatars appeared on the Middle Volga, remaining to winter in the immediate vicinity of the Bulgarian borders ("When the Tatars came and the winter did not reach the Great Bulgarian City"). The source of V.N. Tatishcheva continues: "you poplenish and conquer much of the lower land of Bolgorsy and the cities of ruin." Taking advantage of the plight of Bulgaria, Yuri Vsevolodovich sent the son of Vsevolod, and with him the young Fyodor Yaroslavich, as well as the Ryazan and Murom princes, to conquer the Mordovians.

The South and West of Russia seethed in continuous strife, aggravated by the participation of the Polovtsians in it, while silence reigned in Zalesye. One after another, temples were built and decorated in Vladimir and the specific capitals. In 1235, it would simply be "peacefully (st)".

Meanwhile, the war was close by. It was in 1235 that the fate of the peoples of Eastern Europe was finally decided very far from their borders, on the Onon River, where the assembled kurultai of the Chingizids decided to continue the campaign "to the last sea." To strengthen the troops of the Jochi ulus, which was led by Khan Batu, Kaan Ogedei ordered all the ulus of the empire to allocate a significant part of the soldiers. In addition to the five sons of Jochi, seven more Chingizids were involved in the campaign. The best and most experienced commanders of Genghis Khan, who in the past had already studied the future theater of military operations - Subadey-Baatur and Jebe-noyon, as well as the recently advanced Burunday, took part in the campaign as advisers to the young princes. They all also commanded the tumans. Having received the order. the princes and temniks dispersed to their hordes, prepare the troops for a march, and soon, ahead of each other, moved west.

Throughout the first half of the thirties, the Mongol-Tatar detachments, limited by the forces of one Ulus Jochi (about 4 thousand Mongolian soldiers proper), continued to attack the outskirts of Volga Bulgaria. Now the ending has come. In the fall of 1236, the Mongol hordes united in the steppes of Lower Bulgaria and prepared for the final blow. Their number, according to the most objective estimates, reached 120 - 140 thousand people, but the representatives of the Mongol tribes themselves hardly exceeded a third of this army.

Upon joining, the army of the conquerors was divided into two parts. Batu personally led the northern group of tumans to the conquest of the Bulgar. The southern, smaller in number, sent to conquer the eastern Polovtsy and the Volga tribes (Moksha, Burtases and "Ardzhans"?).

The impregnable capital of Volga Bulgaria was taken by storm after desperate resistance. The inhabitants were mostly killed "for example". The rest were in slavery. Bilyar, the "Great" city of Russian chronicles, was taken by storm, despite six (!) Rows of walls, and the entire population was destroyed. The resistance of the Bulgars was quickly broken. All their cities fell, they were practically burned all sat down. The small country was simply flooded by the rampart of the invasion. The same thing happened in the offensive zone of the Southern Group of Mongolian Forces. By the fall of 1237, the Polovtsians were pushed back to the west, the Alans were looking for salvation in the mountains, and the Mari and Mordovians, for the most part, recognized Mongol rule over themselves. In the fall, the commanders of the Mongol formations gathered at a kurultai, at which they decided to invade Russia and discussed the plan for the winter campaign.

Messages from Russian chronicles about the death of Volga Bulgaria in the winter of 1236-37. breathe sympathy for the victims of the invasion and anxiety for the future. They sound a clear warning to their rulers who have refused to help their neighbors. This warning was appreciated. It is no coincidence that that winter Yuri Vsevolodovich married two youngest sons at once, Vladimir and Mstislav.

According to the Hungarian monk Julian, the location of the Mongols on the eve of the invasion and their plans in general terms in Russia were known. Moreover, the Vladimir-Suzdal sources seem much more informed about the approach of the Mongols than the South Russian or Novgorod ones. According to Russian informants of the traveling Dominican, the invasion forces were at that time divided into four parts. One of them came from the devastated Bulgaria to the eastern borders of Russia. Another, in the summer, had already attacked Ryazan border posts from the east. This news, perhaps, corresponds to the message about the capture of a certain Nuza on the Ryazan border (or to the east of it), in the area of \u200b\u200bwhich the "Tatars" stopped as a camp. From here they sent an embassy to the Ryazan princes with the demand to submit. The third part stood to the south of the "Voronezh Castle", which was, apparently, at that time the capital of the appanage principality in the Ryazan land. The location of the fourth Julian does not specify. It "besieges the whole of Russia." Perhaps for some time (by the beginning of autumn) it constituted a strategic reserve or a threat to the Polovtsy, being further south. No one then had any doubts that all these forces were just "waiting for the land, rivers and swamps to freeze with the onset of the coming winter, after which ... it would be easy to plunder the entire Russian country."

Julian's report letters contain unique information, including the state of mind. It can be seen from them that everyone in the Vladimir region at that time repeated a strange legend that the "Tatars" were avoiding storming fortresses, but only ravaging their surroundings. Perhaps the Russians and their prince had such an opinion due to the fact that almost the entire mass of refugees from Bulgaria were rural residents, while none of the defenders of the cities escaped. These conversations were superimposed on old memories of the Kalka pogrom, which left the impression of the new conquerors as typical steppe dwellers who did not begin to delve into the Russian lands. The mass consciousness presented wishful thinking and, as it turned out, those responsible for analyzing the situation and organizing the country's defense in their assessments and decisions did not at all rise above this traditional point of view.

The Ryazan princes sent the Tatar ambassadors-spies to Yuri Vsevolodovich, their overlord, telling the newcomers that they could not decide on their own about the transition to another power, and even earlier a messenger went to Vladimir asking for help. In the meantime, in Ryazan, they were preparing for battle.

And what about the Grand Duke of Vladimir, on whose decision the fate of at least half of Russia now depended? The chronicle explains his refusal to help the people of Ryazan by the desire to "take the abuse". Yu.A. Limonov sees here a repetition of the psychological situation of 1223, when the princes competed for the glory of a future victory.

At the most cursory examination, such a comparison does not hold water. As many as three equal leaders gathered on Kalka, who did not want to yield to each other in anything. With whom could the Grand Duke "compete" at home? Moreover, after Kalka and the pogrom, Bulgaria was no longer "up to glory." What is the glory of refusing to help your vassals? Rather, we can talk about the moral depression of the future victims of the invasion.

It seems that much closer to the truth D.G. Khrustalev, who explained the inaction of Yuri Vsevolodovich, on the one hand, by the real threat of an attack by the "Tatars" from Nizhny Novgorod, which he certainly had to fend off with a significant part of his forces, and, on the other hand, by the elementary desire to "sit out" from the formidable enemy, already the relationship of the union with the Bulgarians. As you can see, the main thing for the Vladimir prince was the desire not to get involved in the war, so as not to provoke a "retaliatory" invasion.

The Grand Duke, having exhaustive data about the Mongols' desire to conquer the Russian lands, really hoped that he would be able to wait out the invasion outside the Oka River and beyond the forests, and in the worst case, outside the city walls. It should be admitted that he had some grounds for such hopes. The first battle with the Mongols on Kalka was lost in the steppe. therefore, now, in the opinion of the Grand Duke and his advisers, it was necessary to choose a defensive strategy. Never before have the steppe inhabitants independently penetrated, neither in summer nor in winter, deep into the Zalesye. Living the experience of the past, and having only approximate information about the forces of the enemy, the organizers of the defense of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus did not have a good idea of \u200b\u200bwhat he was capable of; did not realize the degree of impending danger. Voluntarily or involuntarily, Yuri Vsevolodovich was preparing to repeat the disastrous path of the unfortunate Khorezmshah Mohammed ...

On the other hand, the preparation of the Grand Duchy for war at the beginning of the winter of 1237 did not inspire enthusiasm among outside observers. While the Mongols possessed a fair amount of people who knew several European languages \u200b\u200bat once, the Grand Duke could not even find a translator in his land to read the intercepted letter from Batu to the Hungarian king, giving it unread to Julian, who turned out to be quicker. The Dominican, having met Yuri Vsevolodovich, who transmitted through him a warning to King Bele about the Mongols' plans to conquer Hungary, hastened to leave, "... seeing that the country is occupied by the Tatars (the invasion of Ryazan has already begun? Yu.S.) strengthened and success is not expected ... ".

Under the "success of the case" can, of course, be understood as a mission to the pagan Hungarians, which worried the author more than the state of defense of Eastern Russia. Moreover, the monks made their way back from Vladimir "among many troops and robbers." The troops in the southwestern direction, apparently, were drawn to Kolomna, and under the robbers, perhaps, one should see the Vladimir smerds, who, not being included in the princely army, formed self-defense units against an unprecedented threat and guarded the roads at night.

The course of subsequent events is well known. The ill-fated Ryazan embassy to Batu won time to gather forces at the cost of their lives. A quick, covertly made advance to the border and a sudden attack of a small Ryazan-Murom army on the encampments of the Tumens nearest to it in early December, put the Mongols in a difficult position. Their commanders could not have imagined anything like this. However, the forces were too unequal. With the approach of other Mongolian formations, the Ryazan people suffered a natural defeat. Most of the Ryazan noble army - "domination" - perished somewhere on the banks of the river. Voronezh, "fighting one with a thousand, and two with darkness," although some of his units with Prince Roman managed to get out of the battle and retreat to Kolomna, and Yuri Ingvarevich, returning to Ryazan, led its defenders. The towns on the upper Don burned one after another. Then came the turn of Pronsk, Belgorod, Izheslavets, and the heroic six-day defense of Ryazan. On December 21, the tumens of the seven khans who besieged Ryazan managed, knocking down the last defenders from the walls, to break into the city. The fury of the conquerors knew no limits ...

By this day, apparently, all other Ryazan cities, including those to the north of the capital, had already been taken. So far, only Murom and Gorodets Meshchersky, who were on the sidelines, covered by forests, have survived.

Near Kolomna, which, most likely, then belonged to Ryazan, the enemy was not met by all the forces of the Grand Duchy. At least a third of them were supposed to stand in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, guarding the Volga direction, which was initially considered the main one, but it was here that the largest battle of the first winter campaign of the Mongols in Russia took place.

There is information that the voivode Eremey Glebovich was initially sent to Kolomna as a "watchman" - to control the situation and monitor the events over the Oka. The Grand Duke still hoped for the promise of peace, in exchange for the refusal to help the Ryazan people brought by the Mongol "idle" ambassadors? Only after the meeting of the Vladimir voivode with Prince Roman and receiving the relevant information from him, Vsevolod Yuryevich was urgently sent to Kolomna, as to the designated place of appearance of the main Mongols, with all available forces. This course of events explains both the absence of the remaining Vsevolodovich and Konstantinovich regiments near Kolomna, and the hopes of collecting them later beyond the Volga. To organize the defense of Moscow, the militia of which went to Kolomna, the prince Vladimir Yuryevich and the governor Philip Nyanka were sent.

Unwittingly united Vladimir-Ryazan forces under the command of Vsevolod Yuryevich, Roman Ingvarevich and voivode Eremey Glebovich. fought the Mongols under the walls of the fortress. In addition to the weakened Kolomna regiment and the squad of Prince Roman, this included the regiments of Vladimir (up to 5 thousand) and Moscow (up to 1 thousand), the own courtyard of Prince Vsevolod Yuryevich (about 0.5 thousand), the detachment of Eremey Glebovich (at least several hundreds of soldiers) and, most likely, most of the boyar detachments and nobles from Kostroma, Suzdal, Moscow region and the environs of Vladimir - the domain of the Grand Duke. This was probably more than the Ryazan, Pronsk and Murom princes were able to exhibit, but the number of troops gathered at Kolomna could hardly exceed 10-12 thousand people, but only a minority of them were professionals. Unlike the inhabitants of cities in other Russian lands, the townspeople of the Grand Duchy of that time rarely had the opportunity to take part in hostilities, which, moreover, were not intense. Seven tumens were advancing on them, somewhat thinner after the battle on Voronezh and the capture of Ryazan cities, but still quite full-blooded. Contrary to the opinion prevailing in the literature about the quality of Mongolian armor, it should be admitted that the Russians did not have a noticeable superiority in this matter, but the enemy possessed powerful long-range bows, which the Russians did not know. With the appropriate arrowheads, their arrows pierced not only ringed armor, but also shields.

However, the victory was not easy for the Mongols. The battle was fierce, lasted quite a long time and was in some way unique. In the course of it, the only major military leader, the youngest of the sons of Genghis Khan himself, Kulkan, was mortally wounded for the entire campaign, and indeed, for the entire era. It is known that the Mongol generals never approached the place of direct battle. How could this have happened? D.G. Khrustalev believes that during the battle the Tumen of Kulkan was defeated, i.e. the Russians broke through to the headquarters of the commander, reversing his connection. The same opinion is shared by V.V. Kargalov, believing that it was held with varying success. In principle, it is difficult to assume otherwise, although the most unforeseen accidents are possible in a war.

The annals say that with the beginning of the battle, the "Tatars" "bypassed" the Russian army, i.e. it accepted the battle in encirclement, which is not surprising given the 6-7 times the numerical superiority. Naturally, the opposite side had a desire to break through the extended battle formations of the enemy, especially if the bunchuk of one of the enemy commanders stationed on a hill served as a reference point for the breakthrough.

Unlike the Russians, who put all their strength and hope in the first and only onslaught, the Mongols did not put all their forces into battle at once, skillfully echeloning their formation and holding large reserves. Tumens, as well as smaller units, directed by various signals from their commanders, constantly and closely interacted in battle. The breakthrough was parried in a timely manner, fresh forces were brought in and the Muscovites, unable to withstand the enemy pressure, ran first. The rest of the Russians turned out to be "squeezed" to the nadolb - wooden barriers dug in advance, probably with the aim of limiting the enemy cavalry maneuver. Prince Roman died here, leaving behind a good memory not only in Russia, but also in a hostile camp. 70 years later, in the work of the Persian author Rashid ad-Din, only he, the only one of the Russian princes, is mentioned as a courageous warrior (!). The voivode Eremey Glebovich was also killed, and with them, many great-princely "men" and simple "warriors". Only Vsevolod Yuryevich "in a small squad" managed to break out of the new ring. Kolomna, which lost its defenders in the field. fell almost immediately. All sources point to heavy losses on both sides. We can assume that they were approximately equal - ten thousand each. The exact date of the Battle of Kolomna is unknown, but it is believed that it took place at the very beginning of January 1238.

The road into the interior of Russia was open. The regiments of the appanage principalities, which could well have been kept in Vladimir and sent to Kolomna at the right time, were still not assembled. Moscow was ahead of the Mongol horsemen. Probably not many of the Moscow regiment made it to her, but Philip Nyanka managed to organize the defense in such a way that the city held out for five days. It was not so small and very crowded. The conquerors had to build throwing machines here too. On January 20, the Mongols rushed to storm its dilapidated fortifications. Kulkan's blood cried out for revenge, and everyone in Moscow was killed, including the governor. Only the young prince was led further by the victors.

Having overcome the wooded watershed, the Mongols, somewhere in the area of \u200b\u200bmodern Bolshev, descended on the Klyazma ice and, as fast as possible, rushed along the knurled sled path to Vladimir. They reached the capital of Zaleskaya Rus on February 2, covering at least 450 kilometers in the 43 days that have passed since the capture of Ryazan. At the same time, when calculating daily crossings, the days of the siege of Moscow and the Kolomna battle should be discarded. It turns out very little anyway. But the enemy was not moving towards Vladimir at a walking pace. Something, or someone detained him. The ancestors knew a lot of ways for this. Unfortunately, the vicissitudes of this march did not make it to the pages of the chronicles.

Vsevolod, who rushed from near Kolomna, told his father about the death of the best part of his army. It was a catastrophe, the collapse of the entire previous political line of "non-interference" and passive defense pursued by Yuri Vsevolodovich. It made no sense for him to stay further in Vladimir. At least now, when almost everything was already lost, it was necessary to proceed to active actions and collect everything that could still be collected for a new battle with an already weakening enemy. Until now, the impregnable fortifications of Vladimir surpassed in power even the Ryazan and the prince, having decided to leave his family here, undoubtedly still hoped that the nomads would not be able to overcome them. He himself decided to go beyond the Volga. The Sit River was chosen as the gathering place for the forces of the appanage princes - a place that was both quite remote and not too far from the road to Novgorod, from where he was waiting for his brother Yaroslav with twenty thousand Novgorod troops. The decision of the Grand Duke to act outside his besieged capital had a long tradition; later, the Moscow Grand Dukes will act in the same way whenever the enemy is able to catch them by surprise.

Leaving Vladimir in the care of Vsevolod, Mstislav and his chief governor, Pyotr Oslyadjukovich, Yuri Vsevolodovich left for the north through Suzdal, Rostov and Uglich. Perhaps he also visited Yaroslavl. The squads of Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich of Yuryev, Vasilko of Rostov and Kostroma, Vsevolod of Yaroslavl and Uglich, as well as of Vladimir Konstantinovich of Belozersk, pulled back beyond the Volga. In Pereyaslavl, Yaroslav's estate, almost all of his squad, one of the most numerous and professional at that time, was absent. She was with her prince somewhere on the way between Kiev and Novgorod (there is no information about the fate of the Pereyaslavl city regiment). The decision made by the Grand Duke was in principle correct, on the City it was possible to gather up to 10-15 thousand soldiers, doubling this number in the event of Yaroslav's arrival, and then there would be enough strength for a new battle. It only took time. However, the central regions of the Grand Duchy remained at the mercy of the victor without any protection.

Approaching the walls of Vladimir, the Mongols tried to negotiate with the townspeople, hoping, as always, by deceit to persuade them to surrender. For this, the captive Vladimir was used, the sight of which was supposed to pity or frighten the people of Vladimir. When this did not happen, the prince was killed in front of the Golden Gate, and the enemies began to prepare for an assault. The siege work required many workers. To capture them, part of the army was sent to catch local residents in the vicinity of the capital, and the other went to Suzdal and returned two days later, chasing crowds of captive citizens dying in the frost. A day later, throwing machines and a wooden palisade were built around the doomed city, and on the morning of February 7, the assault began. In a few hours of shelling, the walls in the designated places were destroyed, the moat was filled up with damp forest and, according to signs, the "Tatars" rushed to attack. About,. who and in what quantity defended Vladimir is evidenced by the fact that the conquerors managed to overcome the walls of the New City from three sides, in four places. The surviving defenders were forced to retreat to the gates of the old or Pecherny city, but they could not resist there and rolled back to the stone detachment, in whose cathedrals the clergy confessed and tonsured citizens preparing for death.

Unfortunately, along with examples of courage and heroism, sources brought to us examples of a different kind. So, the Ipatiev Chronicle reports. That even before the start of the assault, Prince Vsevolod tried to appease Batu by appearing to him with rich gifts, but he no longer wanted negotiations and ordered him to be killed. Outside the city walls, apparently while trying to escape, Prince Mstislav also died.

When the resistance of the last defenders was ended, the Mongols broke down the doors of the Assumption Cathedral, where women and children of the grand ducal family were hiding with Vladyka Mitrofan, but they could not break through. Then they broke the surrounding buildings and set the temple on fire with logs. Everyone in the cathedral suffocated in the smoke. Then, as in Ryazan and Moscow, a total massacre followed.

With the fall of the capital, victory was not achieved, since the head of state was still alive and preparing to continue the struggle. Finding and destroying it as soon as possible became now the main task of the conquerors. According to Russian chronicles, from Vladimir, the Mongolian troops, divided, moved in different directions. More reliable modern researchers consider the information of Rashid ad-Din, from which it follows that after the capital of Yuri Vsevolodovich, another city, in which Pereyaslavl Zalessky is seen, was taken together by the Mongols. It was a powerful fortress, its siege lasted five days, and the assault on which entailed new losses. Here the invaders split up, starting their famous traditional "roundup" by the Tumens. Taking fourteen cities for the remaining days of February. Relatively small Mongolian detachments took these cities, including Dmitrov with its rather powerful walls, surprisingly easily, "on the move", "heap" or "exit", as they said then. However, the reason for this ease was not only the departure of the defenders. The Mongols were in a hurry and now, from the tactics of mass terror, they were forced to turn to mercy and decency in relation to those who were ready to buy off. There are no reports of massacres of the population and the burning of captured cities until the siege of Torzhok. It can be said with all certainty about the surrender of Rostov and Uglich, but this was undoubtedly not the case everywhere. In battles with the armed townspeople and villagers, the Mongol power continued to melt.

The invasion spread rapidly and already on February 22, one of the Mongol detachments was under the walls of Torzhok, having made a path from Vladimir no less than 350 km long. in two weeks (excluding the siege of Pereyaslavl), with transitions of 40 km. Taking the border Torzhok was very important. It was at this point that the army of Novgorod should have approached, if its inhabitants had dared to go to the aid of the Suzdal region, which had rescued them so many times. In addition, the Mongolian commanders could have assumed that it was in these places that the Vladimir prince could be hiding, counting on Novgorodian help. However, another Mongol detachment found refuge for Yuri Vsevolodovich, namely, the tumen of Burundai, which had previously captured Rostov and Uglich. Among the unaffected population of these cities, the energetic temnik probably found out the information he needed about the approximate or exact location of the Grand Duke's camp.

By that time, Yuri Vsevolodovich had been in the City for about a month. The forces of the four appanage princes named above should have gathered there quickly enough, the troops of Ivan Vsevolodovich Starodubsky, who was probably in the region of Nizhny Novgorod until mid-January, were absent, but the forces that he could bring were small. They were waiting, first of all, for Yaroslav with the Novgorodians. The wait dragged on. At the end of February, news came to the Grand Duke about the terrible death of his capital and his entire family. One can imagine what every day of delay cost him now, but without the Novgorod regiments he could not count on the defeat of the invaders. The Grand Duke and his entourage understood that it was impossible to impose a war plan on a more mobile enemy. It is worth getting out of the forests, as the impetuous "Tatars", evading to engage in battle in parts, will gather their huge forces into a fist in a short time and Kolomna will repeat itself. It is possible to defeat such an enemy only in a general battle, provided that he agrees to it, which means that the upcoming battle will still be unequal.

Terrain conditions did not allow a large enemy army to approach the Russian camp unnoticed, but the same conditions negatively influenced the conditions of the location of the arriving units, making it difficult to control them. The camp stretches for many miles along the City. The troops were stationed around small villages. The main part of the warriors was forced to huddle in huts made of spruce branches and dugouts.

It is surprising that even the army of Yuri Vsevolodovich, hiding in the forests, was practically taken by surprise. Burunday descended from the wrong side from where they were expecting? The ABC of military affairs at all times is the organization of combat support, primarily intelligence and security, especially after an unambiguous warning sounded along with the news of the fall of Vladimir: "... and they are coming to you." Both, as you can see, were present. The Grand Duke learned from intelligence that the Mongols had reached the Volga and were not far away. This can explain the sending of a detachment of the governor Dorozh to the threatened direction in sufficiently large forces - three thousand people However, it was too late. The swift Burunday was ahead of the clumsy forest men, he was already close.

While unanimously emphasizing the suddenness of the enemy's appearance, the sources still describe this moment in a rather contradictory way. The official Rostov chronicle reports that the "Tatars" who suddenly arrived found Yuri Vsevolodovich at prayer, and he came forward with his brother and nephews to meet them, after which an organized clash took place: "the wallpaper was surrendering." The Novgorod chronicle is also close to her in this. However, an unbiased South Russian source insists on the lack of proper precautions on the part of the commander: "... and if there is no guard, Bourondem would be driven out by the lawless. The entire city (fortified camp - Y.S.) was expelled and Prince Yury Oubish himself."

According to the Tver, the most detailed and objective chronicle, it turns out that Dorozh, who had recently been sent from the camp (to the west, to take the road from Ksnyatin), suddenly comes running, almost on his own with a cry: "And already, prince, they passed us around the Tatars ! ". In this case, "bypassed" should be understood as "appeared from the wrong side from which they were expected" and Dorozh himself, going in this direction, did not expect this meeting. Therefore, he did not send a messenger, remained with the detachment to restrain the enemy and, it seems, had already lost his subordinates. The enemy came not from the direction of Uglich, from where he was expected, but, in fact, from the rear, from the upper reaches of the City, from where the Novgorodians were expected to approach. Further, a Tver source reports that Yuri Vsevolodovich "put shelves near you, but nothing is successful." The forces, this time, were approximately equal, but the factor of military art was always decisive.

One can imagine how people who jumped out of the huts and dugouts at the sound of the trumpet, which surrounded the village occupied by the Grand Duke's retinue, grabbed weapons and ran to the banner, but did not really "finish" that is. they did not have time to arm themselves or take a place in the ranks. Moreover, the governors of Prince Yuri did not have time to properly "arrange" ie. build the gathering crowd. The Burundian riders were already racing at them, stretching the strings of their hideous bows to their ears. The troops of his relatives probably did not have time to approach. Perhaps only the Rostovites succeeded in this. Explored these places in the 19th century N.P. Sabaneev concluded that the bulk of the army, taken by surprise, fled along the City valley, covering it with corpses to the very mouth, as evidenced by the burial. The Mongols were not detained by either the notches or the detachment of Yuri Vsevolodovich himself, who, as can be assumed, was the first on the path of the attackers. However, the princes managed, as usual, to "leak". One loyal Vasilko cut himself down so that even the fierce Mongols, struck by his valor, tried to take him alive. The Grand Duke did not run anywhere either. He had nowhere and no one else to run to. He decided everything for himself and remained on the field of God's judgment, which became not a field of Russian glory, but sorrow.

Sources describing the campaign of the Mongols do not mention this battle. In the eyes of the conquerors, who saw so many regular battles, this episode did not deserve such a memory as, for example, the storming of Vladimir. About the ruler of Russia, Rashid ad-Din reports only that he fled into the forest, but was found and killed. In principle, it was so.

The people forgave Yuri Vsevolodovich for his blood-redeemed mistakes, recalling the time of his reign as a happy golden age. Pious people picked up his body, soon found the honest head, which Burunday introduced to Batu, and he threw it as a boring toy. Since this ruler, undoubtedly, was a man of positive spiritual qualities, the cult of the locally revered saint very quickly developed, and now the holy relics of the right-believing Grand Duke Yuri rest in a tomb in the same "golden-domed" cathedral that he loved to decorate.
Yuri Valentinovich Sukharev, Researcher at the Center for Military History of Russia at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Lived: November 26, 1187 - March 4, 1238
Government years: 1212-1216, 1218-1238

Representative of the Rurik dynasty. Yuri Vsevolodovich was the second oldest son of the Grand Duke. And his mother was Princess Maria.

Grand Duke Vladimirsky (1212-1216, 1218-1238). Specific prince of Rostov (1216-1218).

During the life of his father, Yuri Vsevolodovich reigned in Gorodets (1216-1217) and in Suzdal (1217-1218).

Yuri Vsevolodovich - Prince of Vladimir

Yuri Vsevolodovich, who was younger than his brother Konstantin Vsevolodovich, after the death of his father Vsevolod in 1212, according to his will, he received reign in Vladimir, and this was a violation of the established order of inheritance by seniority. Thus, Yuri inherited the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir, but could not keep it. A long and stubborn internecine struggle began between the brothers, Yuri and Konstantin.

In this civil strife, Constantine won, and in 1216 Yuri was forced to cede Vladimir to him after the Battle of Lipitsa (1216). Konstantin, having occupied Vladimir, sent Yuri to rule in Rostov and Yaroslavl.

The second time (already legally) Yuri Vsevolodovich took the title of Great prince after the death of his brother Constantine in 1218 at first everything went well. Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich waged successful wars with the Kama Bulgars and Mordovians.

In 1220 the Volga Bulgars captured Ustyug. Yuri Vsevolodovich sent his younger brother Svyatoslav on a campaign against them, who defeated them. After receiving gifts from the Bulgars and the conclusion of peace, with the aim of protecting the northeastern borders of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality and securing the interfluve of the Volga and Oka for Russia, Yuri in 1221 founded a fortress called Nizhny Novgorod.

Board of Yuri Vsevolodovich

But it was during the reign of Yuri the Second Vsevolodovich that a terrible misfortune happened in Russia, which the Grand Duke could not cope with. Here is how N. M. Karamzin wrote about this: “Until now, for two centuries or more, we have seen our ancient fatherland incessantly tormented by internecine wars and often predatory foreigners; but these times - so, it seems, miserable - were a golden age in comparison with the next. The time has come for a common calamity, much more terrible, which, having exhausted the State, absorbing its civil welfare, humiliated humanity itself in our ancestors, and for several centuries left deep, indelible traces, irrigated with the blood and tears of many generations. Russia in 1224 heard about the Tatars ... ".

After Khan Temuchin proclaimed himself Genghis Khan, i.e. the great khan, he sent the Tatars to the southern Russian steppes against the Polovtsians. The princes of Kiev, Chernigov, Volynsky and others, who ruled in the southern Russian principalities, felt the impending threat and, having united with the Polovtsy, met the Tatars on the river. Kalke. On May 31, 1223, the combined troops of the Russian princes and Polovtsians were defeated. The Tatars devastated the eastern banks of the Dnieper and left, it seemed, forever.

After the battle on the Kalka River, Rus first heard about the Tatars, but did not take them seriously. Before the battle on the Kalka River, the princes turned to Yuri Vsevolodovich with a request for help, but he did not send help and was even glad of the defeat of eternal enemies and rivals. He believed that the Tatars would not be able, under any circumstances, to harm the Vladimir lands. And he turned out to be wrong.

After the death of Khan Temuchin, the Tatars proclaimed his son Ogedei a great khan, who sought to continue his father's successful conquests. In 1235, Ogedei sent Tatar troops led by Batu, his nephew, to conquer Europe. In 1237 the Tatars defeated the Kama Bulgars and soon appeared within the boundaries of the Vladimir-Suzdal lands. Ryazan was taken at lightning speed.

From Ryazan, Batu in December 1237 went deep into the Vladimir-Suzdal lands. For several months, the Tatars, together with villages and settlements, were taken by storm in 14 cities: Moscow, Kolomna, Suzdal, Tver, Yuryev, Pereyaslavl, Dmitrov, Torzhok, Kolomna, Rostov, Volokolamsk.
The Vladimir army, led by the eldest son of Yuri - Vsevolod, could not stop the Mongols near Kolomna (the Vladimir voivode Eremey Glebovich and the youngest son of Genghis Khan Kulkan were killed in the battle).

The siege of the city of Vladimir began on February 3 in 1238 and lasted eight days. Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich was absent from Vladimir, as he began a new collection of troops on the City River. The attack of the Tatars on Vladimir was unexpected. Nobody has managed to organize a decent resistance. Busy with their own internecine feuds, the Russian princes were unable to unite their forces. But most likely, the combined forces would not have been enough against the Mongol invasion.

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North-eastern Russia lay in ruins: numerous cities were plundered by the Tatars and burned, people were killed or taken prisoner. Almost the entire family of Yuri Vsevolodovich died in the burnt-out Vladimir.

The death of Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich

On March 4, 1238, the troops of the Grand Duke Yuri Vsevolodovich met the Tatars on the river. City. Russian squads fought desperately and bravely. But this was not enough. The Russians were defeated by the minor forces of the Mongols, led by Burundai, who followed a different route separately from the main forces. Yuri Vsevolodovich died in this battle. The headless body of the Grand Duke was found on the battlefield by the Rostov Bishop Kirill, who took the body to the city of Rostov and buried it in the Church of Our Lady in a stone coffin. The prince's head was soon found and put to the body. After 2 years, the remains of Prince Yuri were solemnly transferred by Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to Vladimir in the Assumption Cathedral.

After the battle on the City River, the Tatars continued their advance northward and turned back just 100 km from the city of Novgorod. From that time on, a terrible Tatar yoke began in Russia: Russia became obliged to pay tribute to the Tatars, and the princes were to receive the title of Grand Duke only from the hands of the Tatar Khan.

In 1645, the imperishable relics of the prince were found and on January 5, 1645, Patriarch Joseph began the initiation of the process of canonization of Yuri Vsevolodovich. Then the relics were placed in a silver shrine. The Russian Orthodox Church ranked Yuri Vsevolodovich among the Saints as the Holy Blessed Prince George Vsevolodovich for his righteous life.

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Monument to St. Prince George (Yuri) Vsevolodovich and Bishop Simeon of Suzdal was built in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.
Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich was married to the Chernigov princess Agafya (1195-1238), the daughter of the Kiev prince Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Cherny.

• Vsevolod (Dmitry) (1213 -1237), Prince of Novgorod. Married to Marina, daughter of Vladimir Rurikovich. Executed by order of Khan Batu during the city of Vladimir by the Mongol-Tatars.
• Vladimir (1215-1238) Prince of Moscow, married to Christina (origin unknown, presumably from the Monomashic family).
• Mstislav (1218-1238), married to Mary (her origin is unknown). He also died during the capture of the city of Vladimir by the Mongol-Tatars.

• Dobrava (Dubrava) (1215-1265)
• Theodora (1229-1238).

All of them, except for Yuri's daughter, Dubrava, perished during the capture of the city of Vladimir by the Tatars.